crazybatcow tries again - 20 books in 11 categories

I attempted the 10-10 challenge wherein I intended to read 10 books in 10 categories. Ended up reading 159 books, but they did not fall into the 10 categories. Turns out I read in binges so ended up with 30 books in one category and only 2 in another.

This year I'm going to try to read 20 books in 11 categories. About 40% of my reading is in audio format but I do not treat these books any differently than paper or ebooks.

I'm starting December 1 because I suspect I'll need the extra month to even get close to completing 220 books.

The categories:

1) Boy fiction (no, I don't mean YA - I mean fiction for big boys)
2) Girl fiction (chick-lit that doesn't fit under the Pornography category)
3) Women writing sci-fi (and non-paranormal fantasy)
4) Killing, murder and mayhem
5) I wanna scream (a.k.a. what am I doing reading this kind of stuff)
6) But it’s good for me (classics)
7) Not too old to learn something (non-fiction)
8) Plain ol’ sci-fi
9) Pornography (a.k.a supernatural romance)
10) Vampires, monsters and other manly horrors
11) Leftovers (unread titles from the 1010 challenge)

1) Boy fiction (no, I don't mean YA - I mean fiction for big boys)

1. The Black Ice - Dec. 17 - Much better than the first.
2. The Cold Dish - Dec. 26 - slow going with lots of characters and character development... a bit of suspense would have been nice.
3. Three Seconds - Jan. 9 - Slow to get going, although well-written and nicely plotted.
4. A Cold Day In Paradise - Jan. 17 - Good enough that I'll read another in the series to see if Alex grows a pair of his own.
5. The General's Daughter - Jan. 22 - decent army police procedural; too slow to be an action novel.
6. Point of Impact - Jan. 23 - covers a lot of ground; lots of gun info. Decent action.
7. Death without Company - Jan. 30 - very detailed, lots of character development. Main character gets beat up a lot. I'll read the next.
8. Hawke - Feb. 1 - Superman meets the Thunderbirds meets Prince Charles = Hawke.
9. Black Light - Feb. 8 - I ended up cheering for the stereotyped abusive and abrasive bad guy 'cause he was the least boring character in the book.
10. Darkside - Feb. 9 - my goodness, the supervillian was so super I'm suprised he didn't just cast a magic spell and escape.
11. Winter of the Wolf Moon - Feb. 10 - Alex still receives (rather than gives) the brunt of the beatings, but the characters are nicely filled out.
12. New York Dead - Feb. 25 - very good non-cheesy mostly non-stereotyped police/detective novel.
13. Pirate - Mar. 12 - action packed, a bit over the top, but entertaining none-the-less.
14. The Killing Kind - Mar. 12 - too many phantoms and political-religious instruction, not enough action.
15. The Hunting Wind - Mar. 18 - Slightly above average, fast paced mystery.
16. The White Road - Mar. 23 - Very suspenseful and any paranormal stuff ultimately gets a rational explanation.
17. The Sentry - April 6 - disappointing - lame hook to start the story, lots of characters just there to die.
18. Concrete Blond - May 7 - best in the series (once you skip the courtroom "drama" component).
19. Buried Secrets - May 20 - decent, not great - bit too convenient and not enough violence.
20. Gideon's Sword - May 22 - it's fast and fluffy - is that good? Not sure, but it's... fast and fluffy...
21. Murderers Row - Aug. 11 - first book in the Helm series that I read - not bad.
22. The Ambushers - Aug. 12 - about the same as the one before it in the series - not bad.
23. The Ravagers - Aug. 14 - another non-feminist but interesting spy-thriller from the 60s
24. Tanner on Ice - Aug. 18 - I didn't realize this was the last in a series - I like Tanner a lot.
25. A Stab in the Dark - Aug. 19 - Excellent, short and sweet mystery-thriller with a non-perfect protagonist.
26. Wild Town - Aug. 23 - a dumb criminal has sex with every woman in the book - oh, and a silly mystery too.
27. Mind Scrambler - Sept. 7 - bit darker than other Ceepak books but way excellent!! (I like dark.)
28. Knots and Crosses - Sept. 11 - wow, it was as lame as Tom Cruise playing Reacher in a movie would be
29. The Sins of the Fathers - Sept. 15 - I really really like Block's writing and this book was no exception.
30. The Informationist - Sept. 17 - Best "justice by toe of boot" story with a female protagonist that I've ever read.
31. Time to Murder and Create - Sept. 17 - not the best Scudder book, but typical Block: fast and engaging.
32. Rolling Thunder - Sept. 21 - as excellent as the others in the series.
33. Eight Million Ways to Die - Oct. 6 - in case you wondered: a struggling with booze Matt *is* as interesting as a drunk one.
34. When the Sacred Ginmill Closes - Oct. 18 - a decent mystery wound up in a retrospective of an alcoholic.
35. Flood - Oct. 19 - almost very good - just a bit too much detailing of things that didn't really need that much focus.
36. Rising Phoenix - Nov. 6 - main character didn't play a very central role, but it had an interesting storyline.
37. Out on the Cutting Edge - Nov. 6 - spare, sparse and to the point - just as good as the rest in the series.
38. Assassin of Secrets - Dec 1 - no point in reading a plagiarized book.

2) Girl fiction (chick-lit that doesn't fit under the Pornography category)

1. A Quick Bite - Dec. 14 - Skip it, you won't miss anything at all.
2. Undead and Unemployed Jan. 6 - Hilarious, short, and entertaining.
3. The Becoming - Jan. 29 - completely average non-humorous and non-pornographic vampire story.
4. Succubus Blues - Jan. 31 - great story, not enough sex to go into the porno category; author musta forgotten what a succubus really is.
5. Undead and Unappreciated - Feb. 3 - a bit too light and fluffy - author forgot to have anything actually *happen* in the book.
6. Speak to Our Desires - Feb. 8 - very nice little creepy thread sustained throughout the book.
7. Haunted - Feb. 14 - Turned out to be quite suspenseful - a surprise after the other "witch" books in this series.
8. Broken - Feb. 19 - too many characters, too much focus on how weak pregnant Elena is, but overall it was okay.
9. Darkfever - Mar. 15 - excellent story, disappointed that there was no resolution.
10. Bloodfever - Mar. 28 - oh, even better than book one, but a bigger cliffhanger too.
11. Faefever - Mar. 29 - wow - hot 'romantic' tension, great suspense, big cliffhanger though.
12. The Sharing Knife: Legacy - Mar. 31 - First clue: the opening scene has the main character chatting about her lovers penis size as they're shagging... just gets worse from there
13. If Angels Burn - April 16 - the sex isn't good enough to fit into the porn category & authors should know better than to write rape as 'romance'.
14. Private Demon - May 2 - author confuses rape with sex; not going to waste my time reading any more of this series.
15. First Grave on the Right - May 3 - Fast funny and fluffy - I enjoyed it.
16. Grave Sight - Sept. 16 - Really enjoyable, well written and suspenseful little novel.
17. Grave Surprise - Sept. 24 - It was not as much fun as the first - the antagonist's motivations didn't feel legitimate.
18. An Ice Cold Grave - Oct. 3 - I kinda liked the story, but the "romance" in it just creeped me out... think it was a bit much, and I'm pretty liberal.
19. Grave Secret - Oct. 9 - I like how it was resolved and I'm glad I'm done with this series.
20. Dead Witch Walking - Oct. 31 - turns out after start number 2 that it's a pretty good story.

The Candidates
Gone with the Wind
Thirteenth House
Dark Moon Defender
Kushiel's Chosen
Magic Bites
Kitty and the Midnight Hour

3) Women writing sci-fi (and non-paranormal fantasy)

1. Cryoburn - April 12 - Similar to other Miles books, though a bit less military and a bit more "sociopolitical"
2. Daughter of the Blood - April 14 - excellent dark fantasy with mature themes and a lot of suspense.
3. Heir to the Shadows - April 16 - read it in a single day, that's how engaging it is.
4. Queen of the Darkness - April 17 - I'm sad the trilogy is over but that didn't stop me from reading this installment in a day.
5. Dreams Made Flesh - April 19 - short stories (which normally I don't read) that filled in some gaps in the storyline.
6. Tangled Webs - May 8 - well... it's a halloween type tale with familiar characters, not the epic dark fantasy found in the trilogy.
7. The Invisible Ring - May 12 - it's as good as the trilogy! Very satisfying.
8. The Shadow Queen - May 22 - more internal/in-fighting than vs the "evil guys" but still pretty good.
9. Shalador's Lady - May 24 - nice wrap up to the storyline... wish there were more in the series!
10. Sebastian - Jun 15 - a poor replacement for the Black Jewel series.
11. Barrayar - June 21 - Nice backfill for Miles' storyline.
12. The Bone Doll's Twin - Aug. 10 - great premise but the author overlooked the fact that she needed to write a story here.
13. Hidden Warrior - Sept. 2 - more story than in the first book, though there are a lot of extraneous scenes which slowed it down

The Candidates
Cyteen
The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin
Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler
A Different Light
Stalking Darkness
The Silent City

4) Killing, murder and mayhem

1. Eyes of Prey - Dec. 11 - Main bad guy was ridiculous, and I don't like the silly drug-induced tangents; they don't ring true and addicts aren't high functioning enough to do what this guy did.
2. Worth Dying For - Dec. 29 - ahhh... Reacher is my hero!
3. Every Dead Thing - Jan. 18 - Great Reacher replacement. Story itself a bit too long and complex.
4. The First Rule - Jan. 24. - Excellent Reacher replacement - Pike is Reacher with more guns and more friends.
5. Sandman Slim - Jan. 26 - plot-less adventure along the lines of the Dresden Files, minus the humor.
6. I am Not a Serial Killer - Feb. 10 - If only it hadn't devolved into a sloppy YA horror-wannabe.
7. Dark Hollow - Feb. 21 - smack bang pow! Charlie (and crew) kill lots of people! But at least they were bad guys.
8. The Butcher's Boy - Feb. 23 - it was a lot drier than I expected but I like the main character - he's very similar to Block's Keller.
9. Sleeping Dogs - Mar. 24 - this was an excellent book - very similar tone and pacing as Block's Keller series.
10. Dexter by Design - April 8 - not the best Dexter but still some funny moments.
11. Psycho - April 12 - hard to believe that I hadn't read this sooner. Very thrilling, though the "wrap-up" was boring.
12. The Gray Man - May 11 - it's over the top but decent non-thinking entertainment.
13. On Target - July 2 - not quite as over-the-top but still decent non-thinking entertainment.
14. The Seven Days of Peter Crumb - well written, but there is absolutely no plot to make this book worth the time to read
15. People Still Live in Cashtown Corners - it's more sensible that Peter Crumb and a bit more believable... crazy people are dangerous I guess.
16. Zombie - Oct. 25 - Oates puts you into a psycho's head - very disturbing content.

5) I wanna scream (a.k.a. what am I doing reading this kind of stuff)

1. Faith of My Fathers - Feb. 20 - surprisingly suspenseful for a religious story - even if you already know the story of Manessah.
2. Furies of Calderon - April 21 - it's the story of a boy coming of age - can't think of anything less interesting.
3. Dark Need - May 5 - I said I was done with Viehl after book 2 but stupidly tried to read book 3 too... my bad.
4. Room - May 14 - book about a kid - should have hated it... actually, quite liked it, even though it's disturbing.
5. Curse of Chalion - May 14 - too much detailing of Caz's farts, oh and old-man young-girl perveyness too
6. 20 Years Later - May 29 - Way too YA... in fact, it's really a pre-teen story, not a Young Adult one.
7. Big Sick Heart - July 1 - more like a pro Alcoholics Anonymous and anti stem-cell treatise than a novel.
8. Soon I Will Be Invincible - July 14 - haha... I actually liked it. A comic-book style adult drama.
9. The Bronze Axe - Aug 1 - my only excuse is that I read it in French. My first French novel.
10. Alias: Free Fall - Aug. 17 - my 2nd book in French - it was fast and non-complicated.
11. Native Tongue - Aug. 22 - it's not nearly as funny or insightful as the author thought it was.
12. Dark and Hollow Places - Sept. 3 - great if you're a teenage girl with identity issues, not so great if you want to read about zombies.
13. The Sheriff of Yrnameer - Sept 13 - quite a bit like Hitchhikers Guide- too much so for my taste - funny but went on too long.
14. I Thought You Were Dead - Oct. 5 - completely out of my genre(s) but it is a very (emotionally-laden) good novel.
15. So Much Pretty - Oct. 6 - way too much work to keep the characters, voice and timelines straight... skip it.
16. The Killer is Dying - Oct. 24 - it's either too deep in meaning for me, or simply plotless. But well-written.
17. Imago - Dec. 28 - it's a political praise book for Nixon... oh, what? it's supposed to be sci-fi?

The Candidates
Secret Scripture
Cadillac Jack by Larry McMurtry
The Plague Tales
The Moral Sense
I, Claudius
Shantaram
What Dreams May Come
The Book of Night Women

6) But it’s good for me (classics)

1. Rebecca - Dec. 8 - A nice little mystery, as long as you can accept that the main character is too useless to speak up for herself.
2. Concrete Island - March 10 - well, it's not really a classic - but it sucked like one.
3. Invasion of the Body Snatchers - July 25 - it's a very frightening story/concept even though the datedness takes away from the suspense.
4. Moby Dick - Sept. 11 - It's a classic. Bad medicine but at least it's all over now.
5. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - Oct. 4 - quite a nice little spy-thriller; detailed and believable plotting that had me fooled until the end.
6. The Maltese Falcon - Dec. 15 - the origins of Noir? Dark and taut, a little dated, but decent story.

The Candidates
Frankenstein
Catch 22
Lord of the Flies
The Iliad
The Odessy
The Catcher in the Rye
Atlas Shrugged

7) Not too old to learn something (non-fiction)

1. Fitness Illustrated - Dec. 16 - Decent, detailed, introduction to the importance of fitness.
2. The Ice Man - Jan. 11 - Great fiction. Oh, wait, it's a biography? yeah, sure it is.
3. Free: The Future of a Radical Price - Feb. 24 - worth more than free, for sure. Great for geeks or business owners. Otherwise, why would you read this?
4. You Are Not A Gadget - March 11 - I didn't need to read a book to discover the technology isn't people.
5. Unbearable Lightness - Mar. 20 - Not a book for me but probably good for the right reader.
6. Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue - Mar. 29 - quick and fast and only a little bit lecturey... in particular when talking about Celtic.
7. Ultramarathon Man - April 15 - very inspirational - an interesting look at a (crazy) man who runs!
8. Candy Girl - July 5 - quite entertaining even if I don't believe her stated motivations for entering this "occupation"
9. Die Broke - July 15 - U.S. centric and dated for late '90s but kinda interesting anyway.
10. Monoculture - Aug. 2 - more like a journal article than a book - interesting look at the dollar value we apply to everything.
11. What the Bleep Do We Know - Aug. 3 - a little too fanciful for me - just live your life, you don't need to have someone tell you how.
12. The Creative Journal - Aug. 20 - well organized and has sufficient motivational material
13. Introduction to Mixed Media - Aug. 22 - a bit short, and not enough detailed examples on how to do the techniques
14. Arteffects - Aug. 29 - my skill set wasn't compatible with this book, but otherwise it's full of ideas.
15. Journal Spilling - Sept. 11 - great book for its genre - very helpful and some good ideas.
16. Destination Tent City - Sept. 18 - way to learn about the repercussions of drinking and driving... complete with a bit of self-pity
17. The Autobiography of an Execution - Oct. 25 - interesting and enlightening look at a controversial subject. Well argued.

The Candidates
The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story
The Demon in the Freezer
The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives
The World Without Us
The Undercover Economist
The China Study

8) Plain ol’ sci-fi

1. Shades of Grey - Jan. 16 - Excellently complex alternate/future mystery.
2. Through Darkest America - Feb. 12 - believable and creepy post-apocalypse story about a boy growing up.
3. Cloud Atlas - Feb. 19 - I guess I'm just not intelligent enough to appreciate this book.
4. The Alchemist - June 8 - I wanted to shake the protagonist: of course they're going to use it for their own advantage you idiot.
5. The Executioness - June 9 - what do you do when your children are "saved" against your will in order to make the world better?
6. Treason - July 18 - interesting premise, well written and just very mildly moralistic.

The Candidates
The Dreaming Void
Sun of Suns
Summertide
Divergence
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Destroyermen Into the Storm

9) Pornography (a.k.a supernatural romance)
1. Kiss of Midnight - Dec. 20 - the porn is okay; the plot is lame. Go read Ward or Frost instead.
2. Dreamfever - Mar. 30 - move from chick-lit to porn for this installment - very excellent read, very huge cliffhanger
3. Shadowfever - Mar. 30 - HOT, suspenseful, nice wrap up of an excellent series.
4. Covet - April 23 - it was okay but it certainly wasn't nearly as good as even the worst BDB book.
5. Crave - April 27 - it was marginally better than Covet, but not great by any means.
6. Eternal Kiss of Darkness - June 3 - Frost is one of the best vampire romance writers out there - this story is no different.
7. This Side of the Grave - June 7 - it's the 2nd weakest of the 7 books in this world, but it's not bad, it's just not great.
8. Succubus on Top - Dec. 31 - A lot of "story" not very much action or even sex... still, I'll read more in the series.

The Candidates
Succubus Dreams

10) Vampires, monsters and other manly horrors
(vampires, zombies, monsters, etc which are not intended to be "romantic")

1. The Passage - Dec. 15 - well... if it wasn't for the 400 page juvenile component in the middle, this would have been a great book.
2. Way of the Wolf - Dec. 22 - nicely woven post-apocalyptic vampire-related story.
3. Choice of the Cat - Jan. 23 - more military adventure than science fantasy but as good as the first book in the series.
4. Half the Blood of Brooklyn - Mar. 14 - not at exciting as the earlier ones - too much coverage of the political factions.
5. Aftertime Sophie Littlefield - May 15 - It was okay - I would have liked it better if I had related to Cass on any level, I did not.
6. The Reapers are the Angels - Aug. 1 - surprisingly thoughtful and mature zombie novel.
7. Beyond Exile - Oct. 10 - more militarily detailed than the first, but very engaging zombie-calpse novel.

The Candidates
Dying to Live by Kim Paffenroth
Jane Bites Back
Frankenstein: Prodigal Son
City of Night
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
The Way of Shadows

11) Leftovers (unread titles from the 1010 challenge)

1. UR - Dec. 8 - I think this is a better story in UR 787441. In this UR, it's just barely okay.

The Candidates
The Bell Jar
Brave New World
A Clockwork Orange
Knock on Any Door
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
Written on the Body
Someplace to be Flying
Forty Words for Sorrow
Beautiful Losers
The Lost Highway
Paradigm of Earth
Moonheart
Spiritwalk
Behemoth
Queen of the South
Annie on my Mind
Confederacy of Dunces
Native Tongue
Under the Dome

220 books? I am so impressed!!!

Well... I guess it's good to dream. I'll have to see where I am this time next year! Or pick shorter books... hehehehe....
(oh, and I'm starting a bit early too... I'll need the extra month!)

sigh... I've done it again - gone off and read way too many in one category and none in some others!! Silly trashy novels distracting me from all those classics!

I know what you mean... I would have finished my challenge last summer if it hadn't been for the distractive ones that kept me off course ;-)

Uh-oh... we're into November and I've only made it to 145 books... sigh... Guess there's not much chance of hitting my target, yet again. I guess in 2012 I'll have to pick a more realistic number...