Books Read in 2011

[Harkonis]

Finished Game of Thrones, now working on Clash of Kings

[Eco-Logic]

I just finished Deadline by Mira Grant and found it to be even better than the first book in the Newsflash series, Feed.  Great series though, if you like the Joe Ledger books I think you'll like these...

I also finished Foolmoon by Jim Butcher (Harry Dresden Book 2).

And today I started Assassins Apprentice by  Robin Hobb, very much looking forward to it.

[Isgrimnur]

Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin

A truly enlightening book about the period between 1932 and 1945 that covers the institutionalized death that was enacted on the lands between Germany and the Soviet Union, covering the famines applied to the Ukrain, Stalin's purges, and, of course, the Holocaust.

The book is full of personal details of those who suffered and died at the hands of these two countries, and gives a much deeper insight into how the policies developed and evolved, how they ere applied, and the justifications in play at the time.

[Moliere]

Read all 5 in about 6 weeks:
“Game of Thrones” by George Martin
“A Clash of Kings” by George Martin
“A Storm of Swords” by George Martin
“A Feast for Crows” by George Martin
“A Dance with Dragons” by George Martin

Only six more years until the next one...   

[PeteRock]

Finished Gideon's Sword, Preston and Child's newest character series.  I can't say I am anywhere near as enamored with the character of Gideon Crew as with Pendergast.  The story is fast-paced and includes a lot of action, but I don't believe Crew is an interesting enough or even believable character to carry a series. 

[Scuzz]

America 1908 by John Rasenberger

This is one of those books where the author details the events that occurred during the year that had a lasting effect on America and the world. Rasenberger admits in the opening of the book that there was nothing magical about the year and that nothing happened in 1908 that couldn't have happened some other year.

He does spend time discussing, and telling the story of many interesting events...

The rise of the Wright Brothers as the pre-eminent experts on flight.

The final year of Teddy Roosevelt's presidency and the 1908 election.

The story of the automobile. The rise of Ford and the story of an auto race from New York to Paris.
 
The Race Riots of Springfield, Illinois, and the story of how northern white America was turning against the black race, and how this led to the NAACP.

Peary and Cook's race to the North Pole.

The birth of the Progressive Movement.

The National League pennant race between the Cubs and Giants.

Overall I enjoyed the book. Rasenberger's writing style isn't flashy or compelling, but enough of what he is writing about is to make you want to read the book.


3.5 of 5 *

[Eco-Logic]

I just finished Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb.  I enjoyed it pretty well, not quiet as much as I thought I would.  Still, onto the 2nd one, Royal Assassin.

Eco

[PeteRock]

Got my hands on the newest Pendergast book Cold Vengeance from the library and starting it right now. 

[lildrgn]

Got my hands on the newest Pendergast book Cold Vengeance from the library and starting it right now. 

Awesome. Didn't know there was a new one. Thanks for the tip!

I'm now reading a book called The Terror of Living by Urban Waite.

[PeteRock]

Got my hands on the newest Pendergast book Cold Vengeance from the library and starting it right now. 

Awesome. Didn't know there was a new one. Thanks for the tip!

While many of the Preston/Child books can be read in any order, there are a few meant to be read in succession, such as Relic/Reliquary and Dance of Death/The Book of the Dead, and now Cold Vengeance is a direct sequel to the storyline presented in Fever Dream.  So far it starts out fast-paced and doesn't let up.   

[Isgrimnur]

A Storm of Swords - on to book 4.  I'll get caught up eventually.

Th1rteen R3asons Why, young adult fiction that piqued my interest because it was featured here:

[lildrgn]

Finished The Terror of Living. Excellent first book. Now reading Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd.

[PeteRock]

Got my hands on the newest Pendergast book Cold Vengeance from the library and starting it right now. 

Awesome. Didn't know there was a new one. Thanks for the tip!

I'm now reading a book called The Terror of Living by Urban Waite.

Just finished Cold Vengeance.  Outside of Book of the Dead in the Diogonese trilogy I think this may be one of my favorite Pendergast books.  You get to see a slightly different side to him, and also learn that while he is always quite resourceful, he is downright frightening when he fears no repercussions.  I really enjoyed it.  Now I need to figure out what to read next, granted if I have any time.   

[rshetts2]

good to hear about Cold Vengeance,  looking forward to reading it.  Ive really enjoyed most of the Pendergast books though they seemed a bit off after the Diogenes Trilogy, glad they are getting back on track.  BTW one of my personal favorites from the Pendergast series of books was Cabinet of Curiosities.  Quite a bit of what happened in that book has had effects through out the rest of the series.

[Eco-Logic]

good to hear about Cold Vengeance,  looking forward to reading it.  Ive really enjoyed most of the Pendergast books though they seemed a bit off after the Diogenes Trilogy, glad they are getting back on track.  BTW one of my personal favorites from the Pendergast series of books was Cabinet of Curiosities.  Quite a bit of what happened in that book has had effects through out the rest of the series.

Cabinet of Curiousities is my favorite Pendergast novel as well.

[PeteRock]

good to hear about Cold Vengeance,  looking forward to reading it.  Ive really enjoyed most of the Pendergast books though they seemed a bit off after the Diogenes Trilogy, glad they are getting back on track.  BTW one of my personal favorites from the Pendergast series of books was Cabinet of Curiosities.  Quite a bit of what happened in that book has had effects through out the rest of the series.

Cabinet of Curiousities is my favorite Pendergast novel as well.

You know, I often forget that one yet it was quite a story.  I think I enjoyed Book of the Dead so much because the Diogenese trilogy kept me so riveted from start to finish.  But Cabinet was a hell of a ride.  As rshetts2 mentions, the stories started to falter after Book of the Dead, and while I didn't quite love Still Life With Crows, it still surpassed Wheel of Darkness and Cemetery Dance (I'd say Wheel of Darkness was my least favorite).  I enjoyed Fever Dream and really enjoyed Cold Vengeance. 

[PeteRock]

As an FYI for Joe Ledger fans (author Jonathan Maybery), the next book in the series is entitled Assassin's Code and due for release on April 10th, 2012.   

I almost want to read Patient Zero again as it was by far my favorite story in the series so far.   

[rshetts2]

I just got an interesting email from Barnes & Noble.  I wasnt aware of this but when Michael Crichton passed away, Richard Preston was hired to finished his last novel, Micro.  It comes out in November.  After so many collaborations with Child, it will be interesting to see what he does with material from Crichton.  Its on my wish list now.

[Scuzz]

Thud by Terry Pratchett


This is the 7th in the Night Watch series. I began these books wanting to know all about Carrot and wanting to see where he would go, but Partchett took them into another direction and I have to say he was right. With Vimes as the main character the last three books have been among the best of the series.

Thud is an entertaining book about the problems with Trolls and Dwarves.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes Pratchett..and has read the first 6 books of the Night Watch series.

4 of 5 

[Crusis]

Well it took 5 weeks but I finally finished Dance with Dragons. It was definitely tame compared to the first three books. Now working on Clash of Kings for the forth time. <Insert my British friend, Lee's, smart ass voice "What didn't you understand the first time?">

[rshetts2]

regarding Robert Jordan's Knife of Dreams  a Wheel of Time novel.

I really started to get bogged down with Jordans Wheel of Time series a few years ago and put off reading anything past Crossrroads of Twilight  ( #10 I believe )  Anyway, Ive since read some of Brandon Sanderson's work and really enjoyed it, so I decided to read Knife of Dreams to see how the last book written by Jordan fared.  Holy Crap!  He tied up a ton of major threads!  I enjoyed the book a lot and was pleased that he actually made some serious advancement in the story line.  It was the best book in the series in quite some time.  After seemingly getting buried in the series by numerous side threads and incidental characters, Jordan spends the vast majority of Knife of Dreams with the major players in the series.  That still brings a lot of threads as there are 5 main plotlines running but the focus is definitely on Rand, Perrin, Mat, Egwene and Elayne, and there is either conclusion or major movement it all of their current stories.
 Im very interested in what Sanderson does with the final 3 books.  I know that Jordan had everything plotted out and that Sanderson is writing everything true to Jordans vision but Im curious to see if the style stays true to form.    Anyways, if you stalled out like I did and havent read Knife of Dreams, I think you'll enjoy it quite a bit, I know I did.

[Isgrimnur]

A Feast for Crows

A Dance with Dragons

I'm all caught up!  This was my first read through of AFfC, so any pending "disappointment" was tempered by knowing that I had the next book in place.  All in all, I'm still enjoying the stories and look forward to reading the finale in the nursing home.   

[lildrgn]

Finished Cold Vengeance recently as well. Also enjoyed it quite a bit. Much better than the past two novels. And, unlike the past two novels, this one ended and left me wanting MUCH MUCH MORE.

Now reading Headhunters by Jo Nesbo.

[JayDee]

Just finished Game of Thrones, great book but I'm going to take a one-book break before I dive into Clash of Kings. Up to 19 books on the year. Goal was 26, or one every two weeks. Seven left to go, but I'm halfway through two textbooks that I need to finish by the end of the year (which I'm totally counting), so I really only have five more novels to read by the end of the year. I can do it!

[lildrgn]

Headhunters is done. Now onto Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua.

[Isgrimnur]

White Eagle, Red Star: The Polish-Soviet War 1919-1920 and The Miracle on the Vistula

A decent survey of the scuffle between the Poles and the Russians.  It goes into some of the political mindset, including the fight of the Poles no not live under the puppet control of the Entente after The Great War and some of the internal power struggles of the newly-formed Soviet Russians as they also fought consolidate their empire, while also trying to foster the worldwide worker's revolution.

It took me a significant time frame to get through the book, as my ASoIaF re-read was in there as well and not being familiar with any of the names on the Polish side of things or the geography of the area made it a bit harder to follow than most other history tomes I've read.

[JayDee]

Finished up another Lee Child book in my continuing quest to get through all of the Reacher novels in order.

Next up: Moneyball

[JayDee]

Moneyball complete. Great book, and great movie too.

[rickfc]

Working my way through The Dark Tower again. Just finished Book 3: The Waste Lands early this morning. Starting Wizard and Glass tonight. 

[lildrgn]

Just finished Stolen Souls by Stuart Neville. Awesome, brutal and a fast read. Now reading War by Sebastian Junger.

[Soulchilde]

Books Finished this year:

David Dalglish

A Dance of Cloaks (Shadowdance Trilogy, Book 1)
A Dance of Blades (Shadowdance Trilogy, Book 2)
Night of Wolves (The Paladins Trilogy, Book 1)
Clash of Faith (The Paladins Trilogy, Book 2)
The Half - Orcs (Omnibus Book 1, 2 & 3)
The Shadow of Grace (The Half Orc, Book 4)

Don Hoesel

Elisha's Bones

Jay Asher

Thirteen Reason Why

Jim Butchers

Ghost Story: A Novel of the Dresden Files

Lee Child

Killing Floor (Jack Reacher, No. 1)

Robert Crais

The Sentry

Richard Kadrey

Sandman Slim: A Novel
Kill the Dead: A Sandman Slim Novel

Paul S. Kemp

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Decieved

Gary A Ballard

The Bridge Chronicles (Book 1 & 2)

Tom Clancy

The Cardinal of the Kremlin

Rick Yancey

The Monstrumologist



Currently Reading:

David Dalglish

A Sliver of Redemption (The Half-Orcs, Book 5)


On Deck

J.A.Jance

Until Proven Guilty ( J.P. Beaumont Mystery)

Douglas E. Richards

Wired

Robert Crais

Monkey's Raincoat

John Jackson Miller

Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith #1: Precipice

Steve Erickson

House of Chains: Book 4 of the Malazan Book of the Fallen

Rick Yancey

The Curse of the Wendigo (Monstrumologist)

[Isgrimnur]

Delta Force: The U.S. Counter-Terrorist Unit and the Iran Hostage Rescue Mission by Col. Charlie A. Beckwith, USA (Ret.) and Donald Knox

This book is as much memoir for Col. Beckwith with his exchange program with the SAS, adventures in his career, and fights with the Powers That Be as much as it is a book about Operation Eagle Claw.  Th book as a whole was enjoyable, and I really enjoyed seeing his take on things and his attitudes to try and get Delta off the ground over the course of his career. 

As an investigation of Eagle Claw, the view of the operation is limited by his viewpoint.  He was not as involved in the complete planning as Col. James H. Kyle (The Guts to Try).  But you do get closer to the operators that were expected to go in and perform the heavy lifting of actually taking down the compound.  You get to see the information gathering, preparation, training, and issues from the view of the unit commander. 

That being said, I still have Bowden's book out from the library to read with the grand historical perspective on deck.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

This work of fiction starts off in a promising manner.  It's a universe that was created, has it's own science fiction rules, roles of protagonist, antagonist, sidekicks, etc.  But there was an issue and things went a bit south in the creation, so there are quirks, and the universe isn't quite right.  The setting is ripe for a sort of ludicrous comedy in a vein of a Douglas Adams novel.

Instead we get a main character that's a depressed, undriven 30 year-old time machine repairman that's stuck in a holding pattern, not really living life after his father disappeared ~10 years prior after doing all of the theoretical and practical work to invent time travel.

While I didn't find the character to be unsympathetic, at times, I didn't really care that much about him either.  I guess that's as much part of the design as any failings of the author.  He's not a protagonist to start.  He's as much a background character as most other people in the universe.  But I felt like I didn't quite get the book that it could have been, one as much amusing as poignant. 

And then the book just kind of ends.  You get a bit of resolution, things go a bit differently than you're led to believe, you get a perfunctory look at what's beyond the denouement, and then it ends.  A winner is you, thanks for playing. 

Meh.  I honestly wouldn't recommend it to anyone as a good book.  It's an interesting setting let down with a mediocre story.

[lildrgn]

Done with War/Sebastian Junger, now onto Cherry Bomb/J.A. Konrath.

[rshetts2]

For those of you who have read Vernor Vinge's awesome novel, A Fire Upon The Deep, (and if you havent you should, it won both the Hugo and Nebula awards and is one of the best sci-fi books Ive ever read)  he just released a direct sequel to it.  Its called The Children of the Sky and its available for the Nook for $12.99  Its likely on Kindle as well.  I wasnt aware he was even writing this so it was a cool surprise when I saw it in the new releases. Cant wait to read it.

[Eco-Logic]

I finally finished Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy and absolutely loved it. 

Not sure what I'm going to read next. 

[Isgrimnur]

I finally finished Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy and absolutely loved it. 

Not sure what I'm going to read next. 

The Liveship Traders Trilogy by Robin Hobb.  It's not quite as good, but I didn't struggle to finish it.  Besdies, you need to read those before going back to the first book's setting for The Tawny Man Trilogy.

[Eco-Logic]

Hey, great to know.  I definitely planned on reading The Tawny Man Trilogy, and will take your advice and read Liveship Traders first.  It seems pretty highly regarded as well. 

I would like to read another stand-alone book before jumping into another trilogy though and am looking for SF recommendations (I'll post a new thread so we don't junk up this one).

[Crawley]

Read the novella "As The World Dies: Untold Tales Vol 1" by Rhiannon Frater the other day. If you like zombie stories and haven't read her "As the World Dies" trilogy I would get on that. Its one of the best zombie series I've read. The trilogy is being re-release by Tor and only the first book is available. The second book is due out on the 8th. The last one isn't due out till April of next year.

But there's also this "Tales" book that got released. It has two stories in it. The first one is really short. It's a prequel to the main character and won't do much for anyone who hasn't read the series but answers a bit of a mystery. The second story however can be read by those who haven't read the series and still be enjoyed. It deals with a minor character from the book and shows his initial days of the zombie outbreak, how he survived and how he got where he was in the trilogy. Its a quick read you can complete in two or three hours but is a page turner.

There are a few minor spoilerish scenes but nothing that would ruin reading the books later.

I surprised myself by getting a little choked up when a couple of the characters from the trilogy entered the story. I hadn't realized I had grown attached to them till they were there on the page. Will have to read those books again soon.

In any case Tales is $3 on Kindle. Worth it for those who have read the trilogy. For those that haven't you would have to judge is $3 worth a few hours reading; but I'd recommend the first book in the series as a starter.

[Crusis]

There are a few minor spoilerish scenes but nothing that would ruin reading the books later.

I surprised myself by getting a little choked up when a couple of the characters from the trilogy entered the story. I hadn't realized I had grown attached to them till they were there on the page. Will have to read those books again soon.

In any case Tales is $3 on Kindle. Worth it for those who have read the trilogy. For those that haven't you would have to judge is $3 worth a few hours reading; but I'd recommend the first book in the series as a starter.

Rhia is a good friend of mine. I just passed on your kind words to her.

[Eco-Logic]

I'm about 50 pages into Zero Sight by Justin Shier and really dig it so far.  It is considered YA, but I had no idea before starting it and definitely recommend it regardless.

Here is the blurb.

Meet Dieter Resnick. Dieter is the sole child of an abusive single father, a perennial schoolyard brawler, and Ted Binion High's number one academic prospect. Dieter is terrified of staying poor. He has few friends and is absolutely obsessed with earning a college scholarship. He's also a latent mage--one of the few humans left that can bend the manaflows to their will.

Too bad no one told him. Now a boy is dead.

Meet Rei Acerba Bathory. Rei is a second year student at Elliot College, the premiere magical training academy in North America. She's also on an all-liquid diet. Rei acquired her odd speech and mannerisms living among her centuries-old kin--strange vampiric creatures that have carved out the Midwest as their playground. She can kill a man without blinking, but has a serious weakness for puppies. Thanks to a childhood spent living cloistered from the public, Rei knows little of modern society. She'd do well to make some friends, but her fellow trainees despise her. Rei is the first of her kind to be admitted, and many hope to make her the last.

Dieter was raised in the grimy outskirts of Las Vegas. Rei was homeschooled in a Chicago mansion. Both are on their way to Elliot College. Both believe the other is a creature of idle fantasy. In ten hours, they're going to be at the center of a war fought by shadow actors. In eleven hours, they're going to become a weft-pair, bound together by the most sacred spell in the magic canon. And in twelve hours? Well, in twelve hours, they've got to get to class...

Zero Sight is a full-length young adult fantasy novel, 107,000 words or about 350 pages. The entire novel is provided DRM-free based on reader requests. Because of graphic situations, Zero Sight is only recommended for readers 16 years and older.