For years now I have been keeping a "Books to Read" list. It is full of old favorite authors, authors or books people have suggested or ones that caught my fancy. I don't even bother to count how many books are on it anymore...somewhere around 1500, I think. When I find an author I like, I like to ready everything they've ever written. Every couple of months I go through and review and update my list. Now that I use the library almost exclusively for my reading material, it makes it very easy to just pull a title off the list, put it on hold and go from there. I've been following this pattern since I started my books to read list back in high school in '85 or '86. There are titles on there that have been there for years and never been read. I don't want to take anything off because I might miss something really great if I do.
Well, this year I shook things up a little.
I did all kinds of things in 2008 that I haven't done in ages in my reading. I know you are all going to think this is really weird, but us bookworms get set in our little reading ways and it takes a lot for us to change. This year I went hog wild and just let myself browse and pick books off the shelf that caught my fancy that weren't on my book list. *GASP* I know, it's shocking, isn't it? Not only that, I allowed myself to choose a book by its cover. *GASP* *GASP* I even chose a book just because I liked the title. *scream of terror* I really went out of the comfort zone on that one. And - this is the really weird one - I started choosing books based on the PUBLISHING COMPANY. *fainting dead away in shock*
And you know what? It was great. I found some amazing authors and some terrific stories I wouldn't have ever read because of my strict adherence to a 25 year old habit. In my browsing, I came across a bunch of short story anthologies and discovered some authors that I really, really liked. I read some of their regular novels and found some great stories. I was introduced to a publishing company called Brava (part of Kensington books) that had so many great authors that I started going to the library and just pulling out books published by them, knowing there was a good chance it would be something I liked.
I was really on a paranormal kick this year. I love books about magic, vampires, were-animals, fairies, and all those great fantasy-type topics. I like them as romances or romantic/comedy/mysteries most of all. My favorite paranormal author that I found this year was Kim Harrison (thank you Shiloh, for the suggestion). I just fell in love with her Hollows series and go so caught up in the stories. I can't wait for the next one to come out. Alyssa Day, Sylvia Day, HelenKay Dimon, Candace Havens, Angela Knight, Kathy Love, Katie MacAlister, and Erin McCarthy were some of my other terrific finds with a paranormal bent. Oh, and I also read (well, listened to, actually) Eragonand really enjoyed it. I can't believe a 17-year-old wrote that book. Amazing. I'm in the middle of listening to the second one in the series called Eldest.
I discovered a couple of great mystery authors. Dana Stabenow writes a couple of mystery series about people that live in Alaska. I've really enjoyed the peek into this mysterious and fascinating land. I also discovered Lisa Scottoline who has a mystery series involving an office of lawyers in Philadelphia.
As far as just plain old fiction authors, I discovered Christopher Moore. Well, his books actually fall under the paranormal umbrella because his books are about some really weird stuff. His book You Suck: A Love Story was one of the ones I chose by its title. Any book that starts out "You bitch, you killed me! You suck!" has got to be good. I highly recommend any of his books that I've read so far. They have made me laugh out loud.
The book that made me think and disturbed me the most was The Ungodly by Richard Rhodes. It's a fictionalized story about the Donner Party and really brought home what the pioneers had to go through to get the West settled.
I just about finished listening to all of Dick Francis's books this year. I think there are two more titles on his list that I haven't read. I'm sad about that because I think he's a terrific storyteller. He's getting up there in age and I'm afraid we won't have too many more new titles of his to look forward.
All in all I finished the year with reading 115 books and 82 audio books. Not exactly my best year quantity-wise, but I enjoyed every book I read. Even the Dog the Bounty Hunter biography.
4 comments:
Inquiring minds wish to know: Will you be publishing your list?
Yes, where is this list? Us stupid people like to know what the smart people are up to.
Hey Kris!
It's Paige, you niece.
I have to tell you that I actually read a book series, and you know me...i NEVER read anything. Well right before Thanksgiving I read 4 books that were just AMAZING to me. I don't know if you are gonna wanna read them but i enjoyed them. The 4 books are by Stephenie Meyer(yes, she spells her name with an E instead of an A). Its the Twilight series. Twilight being the first book, New Moon the second, Eclipse the third book and Breaking Dawn being the fourth one. I must tell you that I had not heard of any of these books before the middle of November. My friends were reading them and they told me that they were realy good and that I should read them. Well I read all 4 book(all of them are 500 pages plus) in about 9 days. I was hooked after reading the first few chapters of Twilight. and yes i have seen the movie. But I'm writing to you to tell you that you should give the Twilight series a try. You don't have to if you don't want to, but i have never been able to recommend a book to anyone before. So its pretty fun.
I read the first two Twilight books. I'm waiting on the third book. So, far, I like them.
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