kcs_hiker's 100 for 2010

count me in.. took '09 off, did a lot of reading for work, puttered a bit, reread some favorites

now I'm back

1. The Coral Thief by Rebecca Stott: I liked this book, though many seemed not to. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of upheaval in the scientific world with the upheaval in France and Europe in the early 1800's.

2. Jubal Sackett by Louis L'Amour: 3rd (or is it 4th?) in the Sackett series, this book follows Jubal, the youngest son of Barnabas Sackett, west to find his destiny. A longish story that could've done with cutting 30 pages or so of Jubal's repetitive naval gazing about his destiny amongst the mountains. Still, a good story in the line of Sacketts, and introduces some new characters into the saga.

3. Wicked by Gregory Maguire: Fantastic retelling of of an old classic. Wish I had read it before going to see the show... might have understood what was going on a little better.

A lot of people really enjoyed Wicked but I could not get into it (I tried twice!). I would love to see the play though.

> loriephillips: I really enjoyed the book... it took me while to get into it though. Dont give up, the second half has a lot more action.

4. Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam; memorable story. Will buy a dozen copies for my HS Physics class.

5. The Hadrian Memorandum by Allan Folsom; advanced readers copy, so will review on page. Quick impression?? Not too bad for a conspiracy type story that's been done to death. A little convoluted for my taste, but it all came out good in the end.

6. Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston; I like the Agent Pendergast stories a lot. This one combined some historical fiction with a somewhat unbelievable premise to produce a tense, nail-biting ending. I love the way Preston weaves the museum into stories...makes me a big fan!

7. Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart; Delightful book! An encyclopedia filled with tidbits of information about known and unknown poisonous and nasty plants.

8. Owls Well That Ends Well by Donna Andrews; another cute entry into the wacky world of Meg Langslow and her family. This one involves a yardsale from hell and... well, no spoilers here.

Oh, I've been amused by Meg Langslow as well. Good to hear that this one is a fun romp too!

9. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells; long overdue reading of this classic work of science fiction. Read online at Project Gutenberg.

10. just finished The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall; I have to say that I am very impressed with the creativity of this story (although the last quarter was rather blatantly borrowed from Jaws). It was definitely a page-turner... Hall will do well in his writing if he keeps producing novels like this.

Agreed. Hall is very creative!

13 I heard a rumour that they had sold the film rights, I think it would make an amazing movie.

I see Matt Damon as Eric Sanderson... not sure about Clio/Scout.

hmm I cant really think of anyone.. although Tilda Swinton springs to mind (but probably becuase she is reading it on youtube!) As long as the get Ian the cat right I dont mind :)

11. The Plague Year by Jeff Carlson; nanotechnology out of control? check. Gruesome post-apocalyptic world? check. etc. This fits in well with my end-of-the-world reading theme over the last few years. Not as good as say..The Stand or On the Beach but still pretty enjoyable.

12. The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley; I generally read a couple of these types of books a year. This one was very illuminating, exploring the habits of millionaires... living within in your means, being frugal, etc. Great advice for our times, even though the book was written in the mid-nineties. I don't expect to become a millionaire... but maybe to accumulate enough wealth to not worry about going to the doctor and to put my kids through college.

13. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon; meh, I liked this story well enough... the hardbitten, lovelorn, depressed, alcoholic, looking for redemption detective has been done before; Chabon's setting is certainly unique and what qualifies the book as "alternate history". I'll definitely follow up with The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.... huh no touchstone?

14. The Guns of Bull Run by Joseph A. Altsheler; the first in a series of YA fiction written about the Civil War. Lots of hyperbole, lots of "we're the good guys and they're the bad guys". Read it on Project Gutenberg... not sure if I'll continue the series or not.

15. Parasite Rex by Carl Zimmer; ugh, prepare to completely grossed out by this fascinating look into the world of parasites. I will be assigning this book to my advanced biology classes next year... look forward to the discussions and expressions of disgust.

16. In Plain Sight by C.J. Box; picked this up the library thinking it was the first in the series... it's not, but I still enjoyed it despite my OCDness about reading series in order twitching every time a reference was made to prior events. I like the setting (I worked the mountains of Wyoming for three summers) and I like the protagonist. I'll definitely find the first in the series and continue reading.

17. League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Volume 1 by Alan Moore; needless to say, this is an excellent graphic novel, but certainly an acquired taste.

18. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe; what can I say about this book? It is/was a book that I needed to read... but not sure that I would necessarily recommend it to anyone else. Being a pagan has made life in my spouse's family and in our community a bit uncomfortable at times.... but fortunately I get along well enough with most people so long as I can keep my mouth shut. So relating to the characters told in this story is not at all difficult for me. I hope that Ms. Howe brings us more stories like this.

Any discussion groups going on this book?

19. Butcher's Hill by Laura Lippman; third in the Tess Monaghan series and the best so far. I lived for a year and a half in D.C. as a kid and my dad took me to a couple of Orioles games... when the Orioloes were good. I don't remember much about Baltimore other than that my Dad was very particular about how we drove to the stadium. Ms. Lippman does an outstanding job of describing her city, both good and bad. I look forward to continuing the series.

20. The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley; another "childrens" book that most children won't be able to read or appreciate. Very good; I haven't read the first book in the series yet, but I'll definitely put it on my list.

I'm glad you liked The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is just as good. I didn't know they were books for kids. At my local book store they are in the adult mystery section, but I thnk older kids would probably enjoy them (even though there are no vampires or werewolves!).

I thought that I saw that the books were up for a YA award. Now I can't find where I saw that. These are definitely not your typical "kids" books, although I think that my 12 yo son with a bent towards math & science might enjoy them. My athletic 14 yo daughter, probably not so much, although I will recommend the books to both.

21. Washington Irving's Tales of the Alhambra adapted by Robert C. Goldston; excellent stuff! These children's tales are timeless and instructional as well as giving us a peek into a different time and culture. I don't know why the touchstone doesn't work, other than it is a fairly old book.

22. The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan; this is the first by Pollan that I have read. Naturally, as an amateur naturalist and a professional biology teacher, I loved it. I especially enjoyed the section on tulips...

23. Ford County by John Grisham; if you're a Grisham fan, you'll love these stories. Thieves stealing from thieves, amazingly stupid people, prejudice and love... it's all here.

24. World War Z by Max Brooks; reread for a discussion found here.

25. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury; it's interesting that on the 111 Science Fiction books to read etc list over on Green Dragon, Bradbury has 6 or 7 entries, of which I haven't read any. As I recall I've tried on occasion to read his work, I remember trying The Martian Chronicles as a kid in amongst Edgar Rice Burrough's martian books... and being disappointed, giving up after a few pages. F451 has (and rightfully so) long been considered a classic, but I rank it up there with 1984 and Brave New World; books that your high school lit-fic or sci-fic class might make you read, but you find yourself sadly disappointed in while reading them. And I won't bore anyone with a rant on trying to teach a love of any kind of fiction in a high school class...

fixed both

some comments on Fahrenheit 451; Bradbury was obviously a very angry young man when he wrote this book. I'm sure that a large part of that anger stems from fear (fear that's implicit in his novel) of living during the Cold War, Korean War, and post World War 2.

Originally published in 1951, it's hard to imagine that the technology and information overload that they were exposed to in that day were in any way comparable to what came later. Compare this picture with the four walls of TV and continuous interactive input described by Bradbury... and that picture was in 1958! Even today with kids walking around with bugs in their ears and cell phone texts coming and going every 20 seconds or so (I once timed my daughter.. it was about 20 secs per buzz on her phone).

We live in an information age unimagined and unimaginable to authors like Bradbury. And yet the vision he had of the future, along with Orwell and others is nothing close to reality. Their pessimism makes me wonder when we complain about the problems of today..

26. Chess for Zebras by Jonathan Rowson; took me a long time to finish this book (3 years?). I don't use a board or program to read the analyses, I try to do them in my head (preparing for solitary confinement at some point in my life I guess...). Great book, great analysis, learned a lot about chess and the mentality of the chess player.

27. The Passage by Justin Cronin; ARC, finished today, reveiw is here. I'll add some more comments later... the story does pick up in the last third of the book (fortunately).

28. Round Ireland With a Fridge by Tony Hawks; charming, funny and pointless.

29. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris; Oh ha ha ha! So Stephanie Meyer DIDN'T think up the whole vampire-werewolf-beautiful girl menage-a-trois by herself?? If I was Ms. Harris I'd be suing Stephanie Meyer for at least a portion of the gaziilions she made off of her blatant ripoff... oh wait.. how'd I like the book? Funny, much sexier than Bella and Edward, and Sookie is SO much better at taking care of herself. I laughed, snickered and ROFLedMAO at Bubba.

30. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley; I know I know I read these two out of order... but that didn't lesson the enjoyment any. I hope Mr. Bradley keeps up with this series.

31. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson; R.L. Stevenson never fails to please. This is of course a classic, seminal work, and one that I had never read. I've now rectified that error, and in the process discovered yet another favorite story.

32. Ride The River by Louis L'Amour; continuing my read through the Sackett books. Again I don't remember reading this story when I was a youngster... this was one of the weaker books in the series to date. I like that Louis is trying to bring in a female character (Echo Sackett), but he does a poor job if it, basicly reincarnating the typical Sackett archtype in a female form.

That said, this is still a fun read and introduces the basis for some of his later stories (Borden Chantry). We've jumped quite a bit forward in time to the 1840's. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series because we will get to Tell, Orrin, and Ty Sacket pretty soon.

33. Impact by Douglas Preston; Mr. Preston might want to stick to his Agent Pendergast stories. While the premise of this story was interesting, the significant plot flaws and poor characterization ruined it for me. Preston collaborates with Lincoln Child on his museum stories (which I enjoy very much). He might ask Mr. Child to help him out with his other books too.

34. A Pirate of Exquisite Mind by Diana & Michael Preston; started this way back last year to participate in a group read & got bogged down about half way through. Fascinating look at the late 1600's exploration of the world.

35. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde; edited to remove snark.... not sure where that came from. Anyway, I enjoyed this story and I'll continue to read the series. I also think I'll pick up a copy of Jane Eyre.

36. Blood of Victory by Alan Furst; my first by Furst. I've had a copy of several of his books in my TBR pile for a while. I knew that I would like him as an author once I finally got to reading one of his books... and I wasn't disappointed. Similar to John LeCarre, but less ... obscure? Anyway Blood of Victory was a great introduction and I look forward to reading the rest of his books.

37. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson; ambitous beginning to a series. Nice world-building and decent characterization. I picked this up on a recommendation of a student and was pleasantly surprised. It may take me a while to get through the entire series...

38. The Professor's House by Willa Cather; Willa Cather is one of my favorite American authors when she's writing about the plains or the southwest (I like her much much better than Steinbeck). It distresses me when I read about how her work was ignored for so long. The Professor's House is described as one of her weaker books... but I enjoyed it very much. The aging professor juxtaposed against the younger, more adventurous explorer speaks to me in a way that I look for in books. Highly recommended, especially for fans of Cather.

I think I liked The Professor's House better than some of her bigger and famous-er works (My Antonia, for example). She is a wonderful writer, I agree.

39. Ill Wind by Nevada Barr; two books in a row about the Anasazi cliff dwellings... what are the odds? Love the settings for these books, and am starting to like the protagonist, Anna Pigeon, just a little better.

40. The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks; my first by Banks. A very deep provocative story... however I couldn't help but feel as if I was very gently having my leg pulled. I quite enjoyed the story, but was a bit unsurprised by the ending. I look forward to more of the Culture universe stories...

41. The Far Reaches by Homer Hickam; the third in the series, but the first one for me... I sure hope that the hero/protagonist, Josh Thurlow, did himself a little better in the first two books because he sure acted like a petulant, reluctant hero in this story. Not sure if I'll look for the rest in the series...

42. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer; Wow! Gruesome and realistic apocalyptic novel. Starting the sequel now...

43. The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer; I didn't think it could get any grimmer in Ms. Pfeffer's post-apocalyptic world. I was wrong. This sequel is the same story told from a different perspective, and as others have pointed out, isn't as good. More plot holes and weaker characters. I'd like to know what happens next..AFTER the first winter. Perhaps the third book addresses that...

44. The Brotherhood of War: The Lieutenants by WEB Griffin; a reread (for like the 5th time) in celebration of Memorial Day. I found that I had less patience this time around for WEB's vices and pet peeves... still one of my favorites by him.

45. The Deep Blue Good-By by John D. MacDonald; It was 1983, I was 24 years old and was reporting aboard the USS Kitty Hawk CV-63 stationed in San Diego. The Kitty Hawk, being an aircraft carrier, spent a lot of time at sea operating off the coast of SoCal, doing practice ops, workups etc. I, being an E3 quartermaster, had a lot of time on my hands between the 4 hours on, 8 hours off watch rotation... and naturally I found my way to the ship's library. There I met Travis McGee, salvage consultant beach bum. The library had nearly all of the 21-book series and I took my time reading them. Travis is a bit more dated today than he was 25 years ago, and I haven't read MacDonald in almost 20 years... but I still savor the texture and the craft of John D. MacDonald's writing.

46. Nightmare in Pink by John D. MacDonald; my least favorite (by far) of the Travis McGee novels. Set almost entirely in New York, this story lacks the vigor of Travis operating on his home turf, and involves way too much pontificating on the evils of society... along with the more-than-usual introspective naval gazing... anyway this is probably the one story in the series in which I'm GLAD I'm not Travis McGee.

47. A Purple Place For Dying by John D. MacDonald; hmmm 20 years of reading experience... notices plot flaws... realizes that plot flaws don't detract from the basic truths and messages of the story... happy!

Travis McGee on his broken down steed to the rescue, this time somewhere in the southwest desert country. Another good story told in an intersting setting. MacDonald is still setting up his world, introducing characters and character traits. Eighteen stories to go!

48. On Basilisk Station by David Weber; excruciating detail on the hardware and the politics, slow story line. Hopefully the following stories will skip some of the worldbuilding details and focus more on moving the story along. Enjoyed the book nonetheless.

49. Bright Orange for the Shroud by John D. MacDonald; continuing my reread through this great series... wondering why I never followed up on my intention to buy and live on a houseboat.

50. Darker Than Amber by John D. MacDonald; more with Travis; a little darker story, less sex more fighting and plotting. Meyer gets involved, whichis a good thing.

51. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris; second Sookie Stackhouse novel, this series is SO MUCH BETTER than Twilight! But.... too much sex (or too explicit) for those middle school girls, I suppose.

52. Solar by Ian McEwan; hmmm, liked the science, hated the depressing personality of Michael Beard. Hated it because I can see bits and pieces of myself...

will need a few days to ruminate on this book...

#62> I agree, I took a while to ponder Solar. Overall, I liked it, but I had to step away from it a while to work that out. :)

53. Daybreakers by Louis L'Amour; ah finally, Orrin and Tyrel Sackett, and a brief mention of Tell. And my favorite L'Amour character of all, old Cap Rountree. The best is still yet to come..

54. The Quick Red Fox by John D. MacDonald; one of the best IMO. No Meyer, but my favorite McGee woman of all the books, Dana Holtzer. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for the series), McGee loses her in the end. One wonders what today's feminism makes of Travis McGee.. nothing good I suppose, but I think MacDonald recognizes something fundamental about men AND women in his stories, about value and the value we place on ourselves. Who knows... I definitely think there are worse role models.

55. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane; was there anybody who read this who didn't figure out what was going on by p. 200? That didn't make the ending and the details any less disturbing... will have to watch the movie now to see how the story transfers.

56. Lando by Louis L'Amour; the first Sackett novel written (at least according to fantastic fiction), written in 1962 and sets the stage for later novels. L'Amour appears to still be learning the craft of the western with this book with some obvious plot flaws and rabbit trails. Still and all, he IS the master and this story still entertains.

57. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman; hmmm not sure about this book. Kept putting it down, then picking it up, then putting it back down again. It didn't help that I couldn't get Nicole Kidman's and Sandra Bullock's images out of my head...

58. The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper by John D. MacDonald; one of the weaker McGee books IMO. Too many characters, too many plot twists, too much social commentary... and no Meyer or Busted Flush. Still I didn't remember who dunnit til the end (which only means that I read it ONCE before instead of multiple times).

59. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson; thought I would try this book to see what all the fuss was about... will hustle off to the library this morning to get the second in the trilogy! Excellent excellent story! The contrast of Swedish cultural mores with the ones in the US is striking. Sweden (and European countries in general) is far more liberal when it comes to sex, sexual partners, and sexual practices... and yet the whole story is about sexual crimes against women edited: my mistake... I reviewed before I had completely finished the story, made a mistake about the motivation of the murderer... duh!.

Anyhow, I didn't find the story particularly dark, or the rape/torture scenes any more icky than many others by best selling authors (Harlan Coban comes to mind), and I found myself really liking some of the characters...although I'm not sure that I admire Blomkvist (the obvious author stand-in) very much at the end of the book.

I look forward to The Girl Who Played With Fire which I picked up yesterday from the library.

More reviews here: kcsthisandthat.blogspot.com

I'm also one of the last people in the world (it seems) to read Dragon Tattoo. I have it on hold at the library - glad to see that it lives up to the hype.

60. Sackett by Louis L'Amour; William Tell Sackett, the older brother to Tyrel and Orrin, taller, wiser, tougher, and just as fast with a gun. Tell plays a role in a number of following books, but this introduction includes a fair description of the mountains in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico.. which I greatly enjoyed.

@69> I really do need to get around to reading The Girl With the Dragon tattoo soon.

61. Corsair by Clive Cussler with Jack Dubrul; a novel of the "Oregon Files" (related to but not part of NUMA with some overlap of characters); yes indeed Muslims really DO want to kill Americans, General McChrystal (he'd fit right in on the Oregon)got it right with his contempt for liberal politicians, etc etc... I must say that I'm disappointed that Cussler would put his name on a book that makes such a determinedly political statement. The story itself isn't bad, but it's hard to miss the unflattering, not-so-veiled references to the current administration and for me that tends to ruin the fun that I expect from a book with Clive Cussler's name on it. Back to the NUMA files.

This is the first of the "Oregon Files' books that I've read... DuBrul is apparently a much better author than the first guy (Craig Dirgo) who co-authored the beginning two books of the series. I may try another book in the series, but if it's as politically negative, I'll skip the rest.

>70 jfetting: & 72; yes do. I enjoyed the book despite some flaws, and the hype surrounding the upcoming movie is just beginning (or maybe it's been going for a while and I'm just now becoming aware of it)... check this fun blog

62. This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer; very disappointing. Brings the two families from the first two books together, but then the two protagonists proceed to act incredibly selfishly, helping to destroy all that they worked so hard to build. It made me so angry that I almost refused to finish the book. Not a great way to wrap up the trilogy.

63. The Dreadful Lemon Sky by John D. MacDonald; a ho-hum Travis McGee novel. MacDonald takes on the 'evils' of the marijuana culture. Meyer plays a fairly significant role, and we meet another likeable McGee girl.

I'm sorry to hear that This World We Live In was such a disappointment. I really like the first book in the series, but I thought the second one was not as good. The third book is on my TBR pile, but I'm in no hurry to read it.

64. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson; holy cow! That's it, that's all I can say.

65. The Habanero Cookbook by Dave Dewitt; great little cookbook, with some history of the habanero pepper, some interesting Central America & Caribbean travelogue, and a bunch of fun recipes. I love growing and cooking with habaneros... my family not so much.

66. Mojave Crossing by Louis L'Amour; Tell and Nolan Sackett hook up in Southern California. Great historical setting for a hohum story.

I like iftyzaida's reading roundup... here's mine

kcs's reading roundup as of 30 June:

books read to date: 66/125 (bumping my challenge to 125)
male to female authors: 52/14 (I counted Diane and Michael Preston as female as her name was first)
Traditional Science Fiction: only 7?! (wow, not so many years ago that would have been a much higher number. I did not count the apocalyptic fiction books, though...)
Fantasy: 2 (not surprising..)
Non-traditional Science Fiction, i.e. Vampire books, Jasper Fforde, etc: 5
Apocalyptic fiction: 7 (I think... the boundaries are a bit blurred anymore. I counted The War of the Worlds as apocalyptic)
Non-fiction: 7/66
Character series books: Sookie Stackhouse (2), Travis McGee (8), Sackett (6), Flavia DeLuce (2), Lisbeth Salander (2), Last Survivers (3), Honor Harrington (1), Anna Pigeon (1), Meg Lanslow (1), Tess Monaghan (1), Agent Pendergast (1)
Rereads: only 2 (well except for all the Travis McGee and Louis L'Amour, but it's been 20+ years on those)

heh much harder to categorize books these days, isn't it?

in the midst of 2 weeks of boy scout camping... but did get 2 books read

67. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson; satisfactorily concludes the trilogy, great courtroom scene!

68. End of the Drive by Louis L'Amour; short stories including one with Tell Sackett. Very good and the afterword written by his son was excellent.

ok done with Boy Scout camping... finally! Smelly clothes sorted in the garage, kicking back in the recliner, AC on... ok what did I read while I was there??

69. Feed by Mira Grant; not quite what I expected from a zombie novel, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

70. War Party by Louis L'Amour; more classic short stories by the master of westerns. Enjoyed it very much.

71. The Turquoise Lament by John D. MacDonald; starting to get out of order... but that's ok as the stories aren't really sequential; this one is a little later in McGee's career, he finds another true love, saves her life this time, but loses her anyway. Very satisfying.

72. Galloway by L'Amour again; Flagan, Galloway, Parmalee, and Logan (very nearly as bad a man as Tell Sackett) all star in this very good Sackett story.

73. The Sackett Brand by Louis L'Amour; ok starting to get tired of the Sackett Family... basically the whole family makes an appearance in this book; Tell loses his true love, and the whole bunch of em come running to help him avenge her. That's it, that's the whole story.

@81> Nice breakdown! Its tough getting a pithy label for sub-genres! I like the re-read column and the series breakdowns as well - think I may swipe the idea if you don't mind!

85> swipe away.. since I swiped YOUR idea in the first place ;-)

science fiction has split into so many subgenres that we may as well combine them all back into just plain science fiction again... but the differences between a book by Peter Hamilton and one by Jasper Fforde are so enormous that it just doesn't feel right to put them in the same category.

In the end, though, it's a nice problem to have, especially for people like us who read so many different things...

74. The Empty Copper Sea by John D. MacDonald; and that's why we read JDM's books folks! Wow! Once in a while he will up and smack you in the face with how good his writing is. This particular story starts out slow and drab... and then just explodes with some of the best descriptions, philosophy, characterizations, ... hell I don't even know why it's so good... I just know I recognize it when I read it.

75. Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes; this powerful book is destined to become a war classic. I don't guess I have much to say about it...

upon further reflection, I find that I do have a few things to say about Matterhorn...

1) the author manages to capture the fact that the entire USA managed to lose that war. It wasn't solely the fault of the politicians, glory seeking ambitious officers, grunts in the field, or the protesters back home. The racial conflicts, the class conflicts, the indecisive political conflicts... all contributed to the unrest and unpopularity of the war. Merlantes describes all that.

2) War is full of injustices, and Merlantes spends quite a bit of time documenting those injustices... so much so that I quickly tired of it. Fighting in Vietnam was no different than fighting in Korea, or Guadalcanal, or Bastogne, at least for the foot soldier. Merlantes spends about half the book getting to that point.. but he DOES get there.

3) two small things really bothered me, and illustrates the absolute lunacy of war and those who attempt to wage it... first was the military policy on the scouts (recon soldiers using dogs); when the soldier rotated home, the dog was destroyed because they wouldn't or couldn't retrain the dog to work with another soldier... the scout in the book had reupped (volunteered for another 6 month tour) twice so that his dog wouldn't be killed.

The second thing was that when a soldier was wounded and evacced to a hospital ship, he was basicly stolen blind. He had to PAY to get a new weapon(s) when he returned to his unit because the sailors on the damned hospital ship stole and sold his weapons.

There's not a lot of new information in this book about the conflict in Vietnam. I'm sure that in 20 or 30 years (maybe sooner) we will have similar books written about Iraq & Afghanistan.

Now I'm done...

Can't say I'm keen to read about the Vietnam War, but this is the second interesting review I've read on Matterhorn (today, no less!). Will definitely keep my eyes open for a copy.

76. The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King; I'm glad that I finally decided to start this series (and don't quite understand how I could have been so unaware of it for so long...). Delightful, charming, witty, and very much in the style of the Holmes tradition. I've ordered the next three books in the series and look forward to many hours of enjoyable reading.

I like Laurie King's series as well. There are other good one's in the series and some that are not quite as good, but The Beekeeper's Apprentice is the best in my opinion. I look forward to seeing what you think of the next one.

77. In Big Trouble by Laura Lippman; very satisfying continuation of Tess Monaghan's career as a PI. Set in San Antonia instead of Baltimore, introduces some more new characters... all in all a good read.

*fixed touchstone

78. The Sky-Liners by Louis L'Amour; we meet Flagan & Galloway Sackett, brothers seeking their fortune (sound familiar?) heading west ahead of an angry mob of bad men (sound familiar?), escorting a beautiful young woman (sound familiar?), told from Flagan's viewpoint in which he describes Galloway as the "woman's man" but Flagan gets the girl in the end (sound familiar?), etc etc. It doesn't help that I've already read Galloway, a book further along in the series, in which the whole basic plot gets done again... one does wonder whatever became of Judith (the beautiful girl/woman in this book) when he goes a courting the beautiful girl in the later story...

ho-hum

79. The Sun Over Breda by Arturo Pérez-Reverte; one cannot race through these fairly short books. Pérez-Reverte must be enjoyed and digested, especially his Captain Alatriste novels. I anxiously await the release of the movie in the US (with Viggo Mortenson playing Alatriste... my wife also anxiously awaits ;-) ).

with Viggo Mortenson playing Alatriste... my wife also anxiously awaits ;-) )

Well, now I'm interested too!

apparently the movie was released in the US in 2007... however netflix has yet to offer it.

I caught bits of the movie on tv here (Australia) last year - I liked what I saw.

Have not yet found Sun over Breda at the bookshops, will have to be more forceful about tracking it down...

I just discovered that the sixth Alatriste book is being released in English next month (Sept) so that's exciting.

Pirates of the Levant

80. The Green Ripper by JDM; not one of my favorite Travis McGees. But very popular and very depressing. Instead of fighting local bad guys, Travis now takes on the world of international terrorism (and never mentions a Muslim). Written in 1979, what's so depressing is how little the world has changed in 30 years.

81. Beadwork Techniques of the Native Americans by Scott Sutton; fascinating how-to book on getting started on beadwork. I'm looking forward to producing museum quality beadwork by this time next year ;-)

82. The Lonely Men by Louis L'Amour; a Sackett novel that I had never read. Tell Sackett always finds a way out of trouble... and the one person who most deserved to die, didn't.

83. Crimes by Moonlight edited by Charlaine Harris; a nice collection of mystery/horror stories. Vampires and werewolves are well represented. Some of the stories were tremendous; I especially liked the ones by Lou Kemp, William Kent Krueger and a new Mike Hammer story written by Max Allan Collins along with Mickey Spillane. I WAS offput just a bit by the predominance of Charlaine Harris's name and picture splashed all over the book, as I felt her story was one of the weaker ones included.

84. One For the Money by Janet Evanovich; a comfort re-read, been a rough couple of weeks and I needed something quick, light, and easy. Stephanie never fails to entertain.

85. Boone's Lick by Larry McMurtry; one of my father's favorite authors, I've never been that keen on McMurtry's stuff. I thought I would give his westerns a second look (I DID read Lonesome Dove a few years ago and enjoyed it) and picked up this book, and unsurprisingly enjoyed it very much. It's almost a YA book, written from the viewpoint of a 16 year old... very realistic, humorous, and very entertaining.

86. Free Fall in Crimson by John D. MacDonald; we learn something about McGee's past, we meet my favorite McGee girl of all, Anne Renzetti, and it turns out that Meyer has a sex life. Good story.

87. She by H.Rider Haggard; I can see why this is considered one of the precursors to all speculative fiction... but my god was it hard to read! The dialogue was excruciating... anyhow I'll keep after it.. King Solomon's Mines up next.

88. Treasure Mountain by Louis L'Amour; one gets the feeling that Louis is merely pumping these out for the dollars at this point... nothing new here

89. In Pharoah's Army by Tobias Wolff; what can I say? I wish that I'd read Wolff 10 or 15 years ago, I might be a different, a better person, if I had. This Vietnam memoir is a coming of age story, a finding ones self story... bitter, humerous, and in the end has something for nearly everybody. I'm very glad that I stumbled across it. Thanks to whomever posted the brief review that compelled me to search for it.

90. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson; charming and entertaining. Surely I wasn't that callow and self absorbed when I was younger... was I?

91. Mustang Man by Louis L'Amour; one of my complaints against L'Amour's writing is that all the main characters are the same. This book features Logan Sackett, who is indistinguishable from Tell Sackett or Flagan Sackett even though he is a Clinch Mountain Sackett, rougher around the edges, known as an outlaw etc. But.. now we have Nolan/Tell/Flagan in an interesting story about a very real place with all-to-likely events. Good stuff, despite a few very noticeable plot flaws. I'm nearly done with this series...

92. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson; an oldie but a goodie. I couldn't help but feel that I had been there before... but after reading about Ms. Jackson and her influence on Stephen King, I realized that King 'borrowed' a lot of stuff from her... flattery I suppose.

Just cathcing up on the many threads..

@107 I enjoyed King Solomon's Mines althought it helps that I viewed it as a tongue in cheek way, oh and it's quite short! I keep meaning to read She but other books keep catching my eye.

@110 The old film is worth a look too. Have you tried her We Have Always Lived in the Castle, I think it's slighty better than than the haunting

thanks claire, I'll look for a copy of We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

93. Pale Gray for Guilt by John D. MacDonald; another one of the good ones, but it seems like the good ones always involve a McGee girl dying...

94. Dread Empire's Fall: Praxis by Walter Jon Williams; I've been itchy for quite a while wanting to read something space empirey... and this book scratched that itch very nicely. It's the first in a trilogy naturally, but I have all three so that won't be a problem. I like the characterizations and the setting, I do have a few quibbles about some things, but will wait until I read the entire trilogy to comment as they may work themselves out.

95. Ride the Dark Trail by Louis L'Amour; a refreshing change from the last few books, while Logan Sackett isn't far from the Tell/Flagon/Nolan mold, this story is different enough to show why L'Amour is considered the master of the western. Includes the second female Sackett.. Emily Talon.

115 You know I don't think I have actually ever read a western. I am quite shocked by that fact is Louis L'Amour a good plavce to start?

lol Claire... I don't know, L'Amour is cliched and repetitive and not terribly meaty, but he DID write a lot of books so it's likely that you could find something to like. Try the Sacketts series for a good place to start.

I might suggest Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry as sort of THE classic western. Zane Gray wrote a bunch of novels back in the first half of twentieth century, but like a lot of the writing from that era, they can be hard to read. An overlooked classic, IMO is The Cowboy and the Cossack by Clair Huffaker... if you can find a copy.

96. Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich; I know, another reread, fluffy bodice-ripper romance disguised as crime fiction etc etc. I can't help myself, I read these books and laugh hysterically every time at Lula, Stephanie's grandma Mazur and the character I most identify with... Stephanie's father. I'm an unapologetic fan.

I have read precisely one western: Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses. I don't think it's exactly typical of the western genre, however! (I've heard good things about Lonesome Dove, but am yet to source a copy.)

#118> I've only read one Janet Evanovich (Hard Eight), and I'm afraid I didn't like it. I'm willing to believe though that maybe I shouldn't have jumped into the middle of the series...

>119 wookiebender: yes as soon as Stephanie actually started having sex with everyone (instead of the mere anticipation), it became more about that than anything else... also once Ms. Evanovich starting adding characters I felt the quality started going down. Still she's up to 16, so it still must be working for her.

97. Dress Her in Indigo by John D. MacDonald; this is one of MacDonald's most complex McGee stories, and one of his best in many ways. Set in Ouxaca Mexico, McGee and Meyer meet and interact with a number of marvelous characters, some very very good, and some very very bad. Very satisfying and one of the many reasons I am rereading this lonnnngggg series of books.

98. Dread Empire's Fall: The Sundering by Walter Jon Williams; book two in the trilogy, turns out that I wasn't mistaken in the first book... the protagonist IS more than just a bit of an ass. Moves a little slow, not unusual for the middle book. Looking forward to the big climax and the bringing of everything back together in the last book.

99. Star Island by Carl Hiaasen; normally I like Hiaasen's books... but he appears to be losing the battle with his anger over what his favorite part of the world is coming to. This story is cynical, bitter, and angry... and just a bit compelling.

100. The Long Lavender Look by John D. MacDonald; another pretty good story in the series and yet another dead McGee girl. I have GOT to get me a houseboat...

101. Lonely on the Mountain by Louis L'Amour; the final volume in the Sackett saga... brings the 3 brothers together in a mission to help a 4th Sackett in an unusual setting for L'Amour.. the Canadian Rockies. I'm kind of sad to have finished this nostalgic tour... but can console myself with the knowledge that Louis wrote some 60+ other westerns if I ever start missing him.

102. Dead Man's Walk by Larry McMurtry; brilliant introduction to Gus MacRae and Woodrow Call. The beauty and the brutality of life in the early 1800's in Texas and regions west is humorously described by McMurtry. Funny, sad and infuriating.

103. Complete Book of Cacti and Succulents by Terry Hewitt; am working on a couple of cactus gardens, one in the backyard and one in my classroom.

104. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell; it is the rare book that leaves me weeping by its end. This is a rare book. I look forward to reading his others.

You should start with Cloud Atlas. ( in my opinion)What I like about Mitchell is that all his books that I have read are all very different.

105. Cinnamon Skin by John D. MacDonald; I am nearing the end of the McGee books. This one wasn't so great... JDM is running out of new ideas and energy by this point in his life.

106. The Lonely Silver Rain John D. MacDonald; the very last Travis McGee... and an incredibly satisfying end for the series. I still have a couple of books that I missed along the way to read, fortunately. Otherwise I'd be even sadder than I am.

127 Glad to see I wasn't the only one with tears at the end! I 2nd Cloud Atlas although it's very different as its interwoven short stories crossing many genres. Howevet I did like number9dream a lot, modern with slight post modern twist its a very very good story, its a good brigding novel too between his other odder books.

107. Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich

108. Dread Empire's Fall: Conventions of War by Walter Jon Williams; satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.... except that the guy doesn't get the girl in the end... what?

109. Four to Score by Janet Evanovich; yes school has definitely begun, I'm having trouble getting into anything too meaty.

110. A Darkness More Than Night by Michael Connelly; anytime I get in a rut, I grab a Harry Bosch book to pull me out of it. Except this story wasn't about Harry exactly. It's told from the viewpoint of another of Connelly's characters; so now I have to go find the books about this new guy.

This story read like it was just crying for a movie to be made. Psychological, dark, tense...

111. A Deadly Shade of Gold by John D. MacDonald; lots of Cuban "Bay of Pigs" references in this story written in 1965. Another visit to Mexico, another dead McGee girl, a visit to LA, and McGee gets shot... good story!

112. High Five by Janet Evanovich; finished Sept 29

113. The Sackett Companion by Louis L'Amour; finished Oct 4; not as good a companion book as I had hoped. Louis obviously thought that he had quite a few good writing years left in him when he wrote this book. It's a great loss that he died the same year (1988) this was published. Lots of interesting historical notes.

114. Hot Six by Janet Evanovich; finished Oct 5

115. The Family Trade by Charles Stross; finished 10 Oct. I grabbed this in a mooch from someone because it looked good. And it was.... I guess. Not really intriguing enough to make run out and buy the rest of the series, I'll wait til they pop up on BM.

116. Seven Up by Janet Evanovich; finished 13 Oct.

117. The Poet by Michael Connelly; finished 16 Oct. One of Connelly's earlier and most well known books. Features a reporter tagging along with the FBI on a nationwide hunt for a serial cop-killer. I was a bit unsatisfied with the ending.

118. One Fearful Yellow Eye by John D. MacDonald; finished 7 Oct. Almost done with this series. I'm not sure I had read this one before... but I knew who the bad guy was from pretty early on. McGee loses the girl.... again.

it's interesting that the two most memorable Travis McGee stories are the last two for me to reread...

119. City of Bones by Michael Connelly; Harry Bosch can't get a break when it comes to women; he loses a good one in this story

120. A Tan and Sandy Silence by John D. MacDonald; JDM's most sociopathic killer yet, and one of the most memorable scenes written in all of these books

121. The Scarlet Ruse by John D. MacDonald; fills in the last gap in the series... 21 books about Travis McGee, Meyer, The Busted Flush, and a host of other characters. Like finishing the Sackett series, I can console myself with the fact that if I ever get to missing the style or characterizations... JDM wrote a whole slew of other books.

122. There are a few books that one keeps returning to; books from which the characters, the settings and the stories shape our own lives and outlooks. All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot is one of those books. I stumbled across this book while unpacking one of the few remaining boxes from our last move (2 1/2 years ago; good god has it been that long already!?) and sat and reread it in just a day or two. Timeless... the stories were just as fresh as if I was reading them for the first time.

It is with high anticipation (and not a little trepidation) that I embark upon yet another new series; one that I've never read (not a single book!). Yes I'm starting Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series. I have a copy of Fer-de-Lance and I'm off... some 46 books +/- a couple. I expect to take most of 2011 getting though this list of books and will gladly report on every last one of them ;-)

123. Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout; a case of the original suffering in comparison to the imitators, perhaps. Although I suppose the readers in the 30's and 40's said the same thing about Conan Doyle's stuff. An interesting introduction into a world that reminds me nothing so much as of Dick Tracy. Looking forward to enjoying many many reprises...

124. Midnighters: The Secret Hour by Scot Westerfeld; much like the beginning of Uglies it took me a while to get interested in this book. However, aside from a few plot flaws, I enjoyed the story. I'll look for the sequels.

125. On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle; cute little cozy mystery. I like the coffee setting and coffee lore and recipes. Again I'll look for the sequels...

126. The Girl the Gold Watch and Everything by John D. MacDonald; the nice thing if you like MacDonald is that he wrote a LOT of books. This book was one of the first that I ever read by him (sheesh was it really THAT long ago?) and remains a favorite still.

127. Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling; a reread of a favorite...

128. Holmes on the Range by Steve Hockensmith; Made me laugh out loud! Great introduction to the Amlingmeyer brothers... aka Sherlock Holmes on the range and his trusty sidekick.

129. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein; I had never read this story. It was written in 1966, and I pretty much avoided anything written by Heinlein after 1960... the dirty old sexist man is very much present in this book in his endless commentary and discussion (wishful thinking?) about the polygamous family culture in the Lunar society. I'm not a prude by any means, and am certainly not morally opposed to any of Heinlein's ideas... it's just that, by his writing, he seemed to have thought about it AN AWFUL LOT! Still, this was a very good story about revolution and relationships, and I'm glad that I read it.

I'm borrowing Holmes on the Range from a friend of mine, who also really enjoyed it! (Good to hear another positive comment, the name is a bit naff. :)

I read too much Heinlein as a teenager. Can't go back to him at all. (Don't tell me, the young nubile highly intelligent women were all attracted to an older, balder, tubbier, red headed man? It's all a bit beyond "wishful thinking" to me!)

I don't know Wookie, I loved RAH as a teen and still reread some of my favorites (juveniles mostly). I wonder if RAH were still alive today what he would make of his reputation as a dirty old sexist man... he did write a number of strong female characters; Hazel Stone of The Rolling Stones (introduced btw in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress) and he never seemed to disparage women's abilities in math and/or science, which cannot be said for many authors both now AND in the past.

One COULD make an argument for his contribution to the sexual revolution, and women's 'liberation' I suppose...

but I won't.

130. A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs; first in the John Carter series. I've been looking forward to rereading this set of books from my teen years. Although the story didn't disappoint, I can see the flaws and contrived parts of the story. Still...

131. Hard Eight; 132. To the Nines; 133. Ten Big Ones all by Janet Evanovich; I don't know, some may dislike Stephanie and her hijinks and her inability to pick between two handsome studs, and her never-ending failure to EVER have stungun/pepper spray available for takedowns... but SHE IS FUNNY! I laughed so hard I cried.

134. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson; excellent excellent easy to read history of science. I will be using this in my high school biology and physics classes. He DID get one thing wrong however... but I digress, he got most of it right.

135. Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich; see above!

136. Twelve Sharp
137. Lean Mean Thirteen &
138. Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich; it looks like I will be able to complete this series this year (as there's only two more books and I have them in hand). I had not read thirteen or fourteen before, having given up on the series a couple of years ago. Stephanie appears to be finally growing up a little, exhibiting some maternal instincts and a bit more responsibility towards her job. This may or may not be a good thing for the series... but it's got to be hard, coming up with new ideas that are still funny...

139. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling; yes I've joined the bandwagon of rereading the HP series over Christmas break. I was surprised to find my self tearing up a bit as I reread the familiar settings and characters... hope this isn't a trend as there's lots of ground to cover.

Merry Christmas for those who celebrate it and happy holidays for everyone else!!

kids aren't up yet... what?? It's 6:30! Alas they are growing up. A few minutes of sleep is worth more than Christmas morning excitement...

bring on the grandkids

140. Visions of Sugarplums by Janet Evanovich; imagine my surprise to find this series of 'half-numbered' Stephanie Plum books. This book is 8.5 I think... short read, fun Christmas story, new man in Stephanie's life. I read it in about 45 minutes and enjoyed it.

141. Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich; in a series full of scenes that make one laugh, this book contains the funniest scene yet.

142. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K Rowling; still good!

wrapping up my 2010 reading. Is it New Year's eve already? This year seemed to just fly by... I always heard that's what happens when you get old(er).

Anyway, I've absolutely loved reading everyone's reading lists and reviews. I've picked up more books that I can probably read in my lifetime... just from this one year! I look forward to next year's discussions and lists.

Here's my wrap-up for 2010;

- finished with 148 books
- completed two series (and very close to a third): Louis L'Amour's Sackett series & John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series. I'm missing one 'half-numbered' book out of Janet Evanovich's series.
- I read one Charles Dickens Great Expectations (reviewed below)
- read 12 non-fiction (hoping to bump that number in 2011)
- and most importantly, I kept up with the 100 in 2010 reading group!

143. Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich; I kind of went on an Evanovich tear in December.. reading 12 of her books this month. You can usually read one in an hour or two. This was the last in the numbered series (until she writes the next one) and one can tell that she's thinking about wrapping things up for Stephanie and her crew.

144. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens; I know that had I been required to read this book for 9th grade English, I'm pretty sure that I would have hated it. As it was it took me better than a month to get through the first half of the story... and then I raced through the second half in a couple of days on my Christmas Kindle. A classic story of poor boy makes good, loses his good fortune, finds it again through sacrifice and character and hard work. Lots of interesting examinations of British class separation and discrimination, expectations, and dry humor. Looking forward to more by Dickens.

145. Plum Lovin'
146. Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich; I actually like these short holiday-themed books a lot. Plum Lovin' is about Valentine's Day (a holiday that I've long despised despaired of ever getting right is a better description) and one that you can imagine that Stephanie has problems with (two men in her life and all). Very humorous stuff.

147. My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse; one of the reasons I was so excited to receive a Kindle was the opportunity to read some of the classic authors along with some not-so-classic but really entertaining ones. Jeeves falls into the second category. The short stories are hilarious (although a bit repetitive). I look forward to reading more by Wodehouse.

148. The League of Frightened Men by Rex Stout; I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this series... Stout takes a long time to tell a story, and Nero Wolfe is not a sympathetic character at all. Perhaps it's my generation... I know that my mother loved these stories. Anyway this second book took me a while to read and finish, but finish it I did, and it has a bit of an unexpected twist at the end.

that's it for 2010!! Happy New Year everyone, be safe tonight and see you all next year!