2011 Books: 11-25

Ah, books.  Yes, those wonderful things I not only used to have time to read, but posted on about once a month if not more often?  That vastly neglected hobby of mine that hasn't quite fallen by the wayside, but has definitely experienced a severe reduction in the amount of time I can devote to it?  Remember those?

While trying to get caught up with polish pics, I remembered that I am even further behind with my book list.  I only managed one lonesome post over the course of the entire year - but I have still been reading.  Not so much as a few years ago - before I started the blog, I read 130 books in a year; I think that was 2008.  This year I didn't even quite manage to break 60, but I still want to share so I'll be posting up in chunks of about 15 books between my NOTD pics.  Maybe not as much commentary as I've had previously, but this will definitely be on my resolution list to do better with in 2012.

#11

Ill Wind

Rachel Caine

Weather Warden Book 1

Paranormal Romance

I'm kind of refreshing my own memory as I go back over these (I do keep a "master" list, separate from these blog posts).  This was a series that had been on my list for a long time, and once I got into it I wished I had gotten around to it sooner =)

#12

River Marked

Patricia Briggs

Mercy Thompson Book 6

Paranormal Romance

Mercy is one of my favorite characters. I wondered if married life might slow her down but if the honeymoon is any indication, things will stay ... interesting.

#13

Nightshade

Michelle Rowen

Paranormal

#14

Masques

Patricia Briggs

Sianim Book 1

Fantasy

This is a reprint of one of Patricia's very first books, and as a writer myself I found it very interesting not only to read some of her older work, but to read the author's note with her own impressions of it around (IIRC) 20 years later

#15

Wolfsbane

Patricia Briggs

Sianim Book 2

Fantasy

#16

Shadowfever

Karen Marie Moning

Fever Book 5

Paranormal

I was soooo looking forward to this one, and it was well, WELL worth the wait.  If you haven't read the Fever series yet, I highly recommend it.  So many paranormal series lately are set in a world where the vampires, werewolves, etc. have already "come out" to the world - and this series starts before that, lets you see how these characters deal with the magical world kind of being revealed right before their eyes as everything starts to go to hell.  I could not predict where this was going, I felt surprised right up until the very end, and it was very, very satisfying.  While this is the last book of the series, I'm glad to know the author will continue to write in this world.

#17

Blood Song

Cat Adams

Blood Singer Book 1

Paranormal

This was a series I hadn't read much about before starting it, I picked it up mainly because I'd enjoyed the Sazi series so much.  And over the course of the series I grew to like it quite a bit - Celia is a smart character, which unfortunately sometimes seems a bit rare.  How often do you find yourself thinking to a character "No!  Don't do that you idiot!  Don't go there without telling someone!  Don't go in the dark basement with no flashlight!" etc.  I didn't experience that with her - things just get totally messed up despite her doing her best to prevent it.

#18

Siren Song

Cat Adams

Blood Singer Book 2

Paranormal

#19

Heat Stroke

Rachel Caine

Weather Warden Book 2

Paranormal Romance

#20

Heat Wave

Richard Castle

Heat Book 1

Mystery

When I learned that there was some ghost writer creating the books from the TV show & writing as Richard Castle, that the actor went to book signings & no one knew who was actually putting pen to paper, I was fascinated.  When I picked it up & realized that it read just like the show watches, I was very pleased – and when I realized that unlike TV, Heat & Rook (Rook – Castle – get it?) actually get together, I was very very happy.  If you like the TV show, the books are a must IMO.

#21

Chill Factor

Rachel Caine

Weather Warden Book 3

Paranormal Romance

#22
Tiassa

Steven Brust

Vlad Taltos Book 13

Fantasy

This series is scheduled to be 18 books long IIRC ... but with the time between publications, I hope it's finished before I'm like, 50 LOL.  I try to NOT anticipate the next book too much because I might end up waiting 2 or 3 years between them.

#23

Demon Song

Cat Adams

Blood Singer Book 3

Paranormal Romance

Celia is just drowning in delicious men (thus my classification change from just paranormal to paranormal romance) but unfortunately also trouble ... and demons ... and vampires.

#24

Dead Reckoning

Charlaine Harris

Sookie Stackhouse Book 11

Paranormal Romance

An enjoyable read, but I guess I’m just not that impressed with Sookie overall compared to some of the other series that I’ve been reading.  With less time to read overall, I have to be more selective to a point, and while Sookie is still on my list & I love her - she's no where near the top.

#25

Windfall

Rachel Caine

Weather Warden Book 4

Paranormal Romance

So, that's installment #1 of me being caught up - there'll be 2 more to get me current & then I can actually move on to 2012 =)

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Books 6-10

Well, I feel like this is very overdue, yet I don't have that much to post.  I am at like half of the pace that I wanted to set ... but here are the last few books that I've read so far this year.

#6

Kitty's House of Horrors

Carrie Vaughn

Kitty Norville Book 7

Urban Fantasy

This turned into kind of a tough book to read.  I mean, the synopsis gives away the fact that there's going to be some people dying, but a lot of them surprised me.  I thought some of them could have gotten off being horribly maimed or something, so they could at least get patched up & come back in later books, but no.  By the end of the book the ranks are pretty thin.

#7

The Last Olympian

Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson & The Olympians Book 5

Teen Urban Fantasy

There have been a lot of comparisons drawn between Percy Jackson & Harry Potter, but I have to say there is one area where Percy beats Harry hands down & that is:  the ending.  I HATED the end of the Harry Potter series.  Ugh.  It just wasn't satisfying (& anyone who's read them, I'd be curious to hear if you agree with me or not).  Percy's ending, on the other hand, was very satisfying.  Not everyone got out unscathed, but I didn't expect them to.  Things went the way they were really supposed to, if not the way I anticipated.

#8

Inked

Anthology

Urban Fantasy

This anthology featured stories by:  Karen Chance, Marjorie M. Liu, Yasmine Galenorn & Eileen Wilks

A themed kind of anthology, revolving around tattoos, both mundane & mystical.  Not to a ridiculous extent, but they showed up in each story.

#9

Changing the World: All-New Tales of Valdemar

Anthology - Edited by Mercedes Lackey

Fantasy

This anthology featured short stories by: Mercedes Lackey, Rosemary Edgehill & Denise McCune, Elizbeth A. Vaughn, Mickey Zucker Reichert, Elisabeth Waters, Kristin Schwengel, Brenda Cooper, Stephanie D. Shaver, Michael Z Williamson, Kate Paulk, Sara Hoyt, Tanya Huff, Fiona Patton, Judith Tarr, Nancy Asire, & Ben Ohlander

These were really SHORT short stories, with this many authors, but it helped to make it a quick read.

#10

Iorich

Steven Brust

Vlad Taltos Book 12

Fantasy

I know I say this a lot ... but this is one of my favorite series =)  I've been waiting for this book for I think about a year & a half, and it did not disappoint.  Magic, intrigue, lots of dry humor & plenty of action & violence to keep things interesting.

This is, hands down, one of the most complicated series I've ever read, in part because they are not written/published in chronological order.  This particular book was 5+ years further down the timeline than I expected, but I'm guessing the next book or so will go back & fill in the gaps.  Probably sounds absurd, but with Brust's writing style it works - there may be mention of something that happened earlier, and you think "I'd like to know more about what went down there" & then the next book you get the whole story.  Yet ever novel could stand alone & make sense even without knowing the back story.

I've also just got to mention that I love it when someone reads a book I've recommended & really enjoys it.  If even just one reader is interested & reads just one of the books I've posted, that is awesome =)  I've recently got a guy at work started reading the Dresden Files & we talk about it - he's only on the 2nd book but he really likes it.  Just gives me a warm fuzzy LOL.

Thanks for reading.  =)

~Colette