17. Foundation by Mercedes Lackey

I know, its still Mercedes Lackey, but it was an actual novel, not an anthology! I promise, the book I'm currently reading is by someone else.

Like I said, Lackey has a lot of detractors but I've always enjoyed her books and have been able to ignore the people who critique her harshly. Maybe not anymore. This was by far, her most disappointing novel to date. You can say that she writes the same story over and over again, or at least has the same character archetypes. And yes, I will give you that. She isn't as terrible as Dean Koontz, who I found to have the most interesting plot ideas with the most cardboard cut out characters ever-- but how many stories can you write about noble, self-sacrificing people who give up their whole lives to serve their country? People who are so special and wonderful that spirit-beings chose them special out of everyone else?

Maybe reading all those short stories back to back then jumping right into this novel was a mistake. Maybe the book wasn't that bad. Well, maybe not. Mags is just another lovable orphan who is practically perfect in every way. He has a tough life, gets Chosen, goes to learn to be a Herald. Yeah, yeah I've READ THIS BEFORE. No, no-- Mags is different he worked in a MINE. He suffered from CHILD LABOR! Yeah, whatever. READ IT BEFORE.

Even more offensive than the re-treadness (yeah its not a word sue me) of the book was how after chapter upon chapter of origin story the last couple of chapters throw some weak plot threads that aren't even close to resolved, thus ensuring that the book is a series. I know that the next book is already out. I haven't checked but I'm willing to bet it is a trilogy. This really ticked me off.

I have nothing against book series. Sometimes I never want stories to end, so knowing there will be more is awesome. Is it annoying when series seem to be never ending? When you worry 'Gee, I hope nothing happens to the author...' Rest in Peace, Robert Jordan. Please, watch your health George R.R. Martin. Yes, that is annoying. One of the things I love the most about Jim Butcher's Dresden Files is that while it's a series and you get all that wonderful continuity of character, the books are all their own complete stories. So if he decided to stop, or something happened to him it would be sad but you wouldn't be hanging there wondering BUT WHAT HAPPENED???

This book however felt very much like she got to the end and threw some stuff in there just so she would make sure she'd get another book. It felt really haphazard and lazy. Mags isn't a remarkable enough character for me to really care enough to keep reading about him. He's no different than any other of the Herald's I've read about. I have a touch of OCD and one of the ways it manifests is a need to read everything by authors I "collect" so I am sure eventually I will read the rest of the series. But it will feel like a chore, not something I'm looking forward to like Ghost Story, the next Harry Dresden book or Dance of Dragons, the next Song of Fire and Ice book.

Hardback and definitely not good for me.

So... I started this blog on a whim because of a need to have a creative outlet. Unfortunately, I have an almost paralyzing writer's block. Unless a story grabs me by the collar and screams in my face to be written I have trouble getting the words out. So I figured a blog with a built in theme/purpose at the very least gave me a good starting point. I have now caught up to all the books I've finished so far this year. The posts will be less frequent now as I write once I finish them up.

16. Finding the Way edited by Mercedes Lackey

Last book of short stories set in Valdemar!

Print! Not good for me!

15. Crossroads edited by Mercedes Lackey

Next verse, same as the first.

I can't think of anything further to say. Read, it quick. liked the stories. Print format. Oh.... yeah, I think I said this in reference to the first book but these anthologies are by far the worst books for me. They are candy for the brain.

Now that I am putting out in public in front of people... some of whom I actually respect ;) ... I'm going to HAVE to start reading books that aren't quite so embarrassing.

14. Sun in Glory edited by Mercedes Lackey

I was sick. I just wanted a distraction.

I thought about lumping books 13-16 in a single post since all 4 books are practically the same but, decided that I started the blog to go over each book I read and I might as well do it right.

Plus I want to make you suffer. Both of you. ;)

Anyway, I sped through the popcorn fluff of this book in no time. Enjoyable but not memorable. Empty brain calories.

I noticed as I was reading it that I had received it for Christmas from my grandmother in 2003. How do I know this? Because she signed it, of course. In my family its a 'thing' where you are supposed to sign the books you give to someone. I have never liked this tradition--what if I wanted to sell the books to a used book store later? Or what if I had stumbled upon a rare and valuable first edition of something that I could sell when I was 80, when books are unheard of! ;)

I also bring this up for another reason. It was obvious that I had probably read this book before. Like I said, there are 4 short story anthologies I read back to back. I knew that 1 or 2 of them were new but couldn't remember which ones. So I read them all. And every one was new to me. Now... I have a terrible memory, everyone who knows me knows this. However, in general if you prompt me enough I will generally be able to pull the memories from the depths of my mind. It might be dusty and moth-eaten, but there will be enough there for me to not worry too seriously about my obvious diminished mental capacity.

Each of the stories in these 4 books were new to me. I'm not sure if that is saying something about the stories, my reading retention/comprehension or what but I did find it a little disturbing that I remembered absolutely nothing.

Also, the fact that this was a paperback book that I could not tell had been read before, ie non-creased spine, non-folded corners, etc made me feel kinda good about myself. Not that I'm a slob that destroys everything I touch but... well, accidents have been known to happen. ;)

13. Sword of Ice edited by Mercedes Lackey

I know that Lackey has her detractors. It's not like I think she's high art or fantastic literature but, I do have a special place in my heart for her.

Back in college a friend of my gf at the time skipped out on her apartment leaving my gf as her contact. We had to go clean up the mess left behind and part of the mess were all of her books. This woman read almost nothing but fantasy novels. Until that point I hadn't really read much of that genre. I find this absolutely shocking now since its been the predominant genre I've read since then but... we all start somewhere.

I grabbed all the books I could with covers that interested me and Lackey was the first author I read from that pile. I was transported to another world. At that time I was in a bad place-- finishing up school with a major I hated, dating a woman I was not in the least happy to be with, going through therapy for issues I didn't want to deal with. Escapist fiction was my savior.

This book is published fan fiction. Yes, there are published authors who wrote stories in it, but let's call it what it is. It's total fan fic. Not that I have a problem with fan fiction. I've read enough to get a degree in it, and I've written my fair share too.

This is the most popcorn, most fluffy, least good for me type of book I have read yet. I think I finished this book in a single day. Maybe two. It was fun but I can't say I remember much of it. Then again, I was sick when I read it so maybe I should give it some slack.

12. Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

I read a review for this in EW and it got what I remember to be high praise. I think they even called it a page turner. It sounded interesting-- a mystery story about a grail quest. Cool.

God this book was boring. Even more boring than the first half of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. It felt like one long boring history text about the Cathars and Catholics and god... it just was tedious. I managed to finish it somehow. I think she thought the ending was a "surprise" twist but it wasn't surprising at all.

Another book I'm not sure how to categorize because god it felt like a school book and should totally count as a good for me book!

At least it wasn't huge and heavy since I read it in print.

11. Duma Key by Stephen King

I mentioned in a previous review that I have read almost all of King's work. I started with Pet Sematary back when I was around 13 and have never really stopped. He is also one of the few authors whose work I collect in hardback. Which is a shame because a) his books are huge and heavy b) hardbacks are expensive. But since I started buying his books in hardback way back when I can't really change now. Yes, I do have a touch of OCD... And yes, it does bother me that the Dark Tower books were trade paperback books. And no, I'm not obsessive enough to hunt for the super expensive, super rare, ultra collectible hardback of the first one. Not to mention I totally hated the last book in this series so I don't feel like its really necessary to get it in hardback like I did for The Stand which is my favorite of his novels.

Anyway! I found Duma Key to be typical of King's work these days. Not horrible like Gerald's Game but not amazing like The Stand. The story was interesting enough to hold my interest and get me to lug this monstrosity back and forth everyday but not so amazing that I had to stay up late every night to read it.

Another physical book pulled from the bottom shelf of the bookcase, the one where I store all those books I have been getting for the last several years and never found time to read. And I'm not even going to prevaricate on this, so not good for me. Popcorn fluff.

10. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Oh my gosh, another good for me book!!! I have never seen this movie, nor read the book. I didn't know what the story was about other than a vague idea that it was probably going to end happily, that there was a Mr. Darcy in it, that Colin Firth had played Mr. Darcy and that he is the romantic lead of the novel. Oh, and that Elizabeth Bennet is a well thought of female protagonist.

I think perhaps waiting until later in life to read so beloved a novel may have been a mistake. It was a trifle disappointing. Not a bad book, and I think maybe I will enjoy the movie when I get around to watching it, but I didn't really think much of Elizabeth. And Mr. Darcy annoyed me to no end throughout the book.

My big conundrum is which version of the movie should I watch? The BBC miniseries with Firth? The Keira Knightley version? Or should I go all the way back and see Olivier play Darcy? Decisions, decisions.

I do have the zombie version of this book and plan on reading it, but wanted a bit of distance before tackling it.

Read the digital version.

9. A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer

I have been reading Archer since I can remember. I think Kane and Abel was the first book of his that I read. It was my mom's and I just decided one day that I was going to read adult books and started going through the bookshelf. This and Pet Sematary were the two that I remember most. Probably because I liked them enough to have stuck with the authors through almost everything they have written.

This book certainly wasn't high art but it was fun and kept my interest as I rooted for Danny Cartwright.

Still gonna give popular fiction the good for me? tag but I've concluded they don't count toward the 26 good for me books I've got to read. This was another print format.

8. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

The end of the Lisbeth Salander trilogy. Not as action-packed as the second book, but certainly not boring like the first one. It wrapped up the story and managed to do it in a way that had me engaged and engrossed throughout.

I had a weird sense of sadness when I finished this book. It was like saying goodbye to a good friend who is moving to another state. You know you can call or e-mail, but your relationship is gonna change cause they aren't gonna be there for you like they used to. Sure, I can re-read or even see the movies but... it will be a little different.

As for the movies, I have been reluctant to watch them. I hear Noomi Rapace is amazing as Lisbeth and I do eventually want to see them, but I think I need to put enough distance between the books and my eventual viewing of the movies. Plus I will have to be in the right frame of mind to read subtitles and lately I simply don't have the patience for that.

The more I'm thinking about it the more I'm leaning toward popular fiction books like this are not really good for me. This makes me super sad as so far I really only have 1/8 books I can definitely say are good for me. I was so excited to read this I went and purchased the hardback version as I simply couldn't wait for it to be paperback.

Since I'm differentiating I might have to do a post about my thoughts on e-books vs print books. 

7. Anne of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery

I enjoyed this book but after reading it decided that two Anne books was probably enough. Did I really need to continue to know that she and Gilbert eventually get married and have children? That they live a pleasant life filled with mild mis-adventures by Anne or her probable high-spirited children? Not really. Maybe if I run out of other things to read but... I have at least enough books I already own to last me the rest of the year AND a list of at least 13 more books to check out once I run through those.

Probably not good for me and read digitally.

6. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

I love Dorothy Snarker. I find her sense of humor and her interests coincide with mine pretty regularly. They can diverge (I didn't like Bitch Slap AT.ALL. and I'm not a Tina Fey/30 Rock fan) but in general we enjoy a lot of the same things. So when she went on and on about Anne of Green Gables I figured, oh what the hell maybe its time to see what the fuss is all about. Thank you again Project Gutenberg for access to books for free. ;)

Anne was tough for me to love. She was annoyingly cheerful and exuberant and exasperatingly upbeat and chatty. However, like everyone she meets in the books I eventually ended up completely enchanted by her. I also couldn't help but find massive subtext between her and Diana. I'm just saying.

Once again... good for me? It wasn't written for kids, but now is considered a children's book. Not sure where that leaves this. Read in the digital format.

5. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

I'm not sure how to talk about this book without also talking about the previous book in the Millennium trilogy, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I finished that book right after Xmas. Maybe even on Xmas day. I decided to read it simply because so many people were talking about it and as the address says... I am a Pop Culture Whore of sorts. I had a very difficult time with that book. So much of it was BORING. I felt like it took FOREVER for the story to get going and get interesting. I didn't care about stupid Mikael Blomkvist or Henrik Vanger and his desire to know what happened to his niece Harriet. Lisbeth was more interesting, but they kept switching back to stupid Mikael. Finally, 3/4 of the way into the book or so the character threads coalesced and the story finally, FINALLY got interesting.

I decided that the previous book had ended satisfyingly enough that I should check out the next book so I picked it up at Costco and gave it a try. Thank goodness I did! This was the first actual page turner of 2011. I could not put this book down. It was interesting and engaging from the get go and I thoroughly enjoyed the hell out of the ride. Lisbeth Salander is a fun, fucked up mess of a character and I recognize parts of her from women in my life.
Are there problems with these books? Sure. We could get into a discussion about the boob job, and the fact that Blomkvist is a total Gary Stu (the male equivalent of the probably more recognized term Mary Sue). However, I don't care. The book was fun and I loved every page of it.

I really do need to come up with a definition for good for me. Is it anything that isn't my normal science fiction/fantasy genre? Or is it more strict -- classics or non-fiction? Is any non-fiction book good for me-- Kristin Chenoweth's memoir is on my reading list where is that gonna fall? I'm really not sure.

This was the first book in 2011 that I read completely in print format.

4. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Years ago I saw this movie and loved it. Loved it, loved it, loved it. It helped that I think Emma Thompson is perfection and Kate Winslet is flawless. Was Emma way too fucking old to be playing Elinor? Hell yes. Did it matter? Fuck, no. The Xmas after I saw it I received The Complete Works of Jane Austen. It is a gigantic brick of a book and I was excited but promptly set it on the shelf as something I will read... later.

Back in 2007 I tried to read the book. The first book was this one and I figured it would be the easiest since I knew the story already. Yeah. Not so much. I decided I would read this... later.

Okay, it's time to read something good for me. I struggled SO.MUCH. through this book. It was big, it was heavy, it was dense and written for another era, for another country even. In the middle of slogging through the text I discovered Project Guttenberg and downloaded a ton of free books for my e-reader. I put this book back on the shelf and picked up where I had left off digitally.

I don't know if that is what made the difference or if I finally just managed to get into the swing of the extreme language differences but I finally managed to be charmed enough by the book to say that I enjoyed it. I should have started with another Austen story just to get my feet wet with her style and language, but then again I think it might have helped that knowing the story and the characters already helped the transition and any of Austen's works might have been difficult to read.

I was amazed at how funny Jane Austen is. How irreverent and keen an observer she was of her time. I see why women of today find an affinity for her and her characters and after reading this I looked forward to meeting Elizabeth and Fanny, the other two women so well loved from her books.

What I was most surprised at after reading this book was how un-self aware I have been. For some reason after I saw this movie I related so much with Elinor. Poor reserved, restrained Elinor trying to keep her emotions in check and held back by decorum and good sense. In reading the book I realized to my horror and chagrin that I am Marianne to a T. I am the 'rush into things with my heart leading the charge damn the consequences' person. Like Marianne, I have suffered for this and I read this book while going through the dark period of the end of my Willoughby affair. It seemed to make the comparison even more odious to me.

Not that I'm likely to change anytime soon. I am who I am... a 'wear my heart on my sleeve', overemotional, silly girl. But perhaps I have gained something from Marianne's example and try to take some of Elinor's restraint to heart. Yeah... somehow I kinda doubt that. ;)

This was the first definite good for me book. It was tough to get going, but I definitely felt a sense of accomplishment when I finished it and I did eventually enjoy it. It was also the first book of the year that I tried to read in actual book format but ended up switching to digital.

3. This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

I read this because someone I know read it and after her review I was curious since she said she related to it a lot.

It was a good book and was funny and a quick read, but it left me feeling empty and lonely inside. Maybe because of why I read it and how I related to it and the subject matter and how I knew she was relating to it and the subject matter. I don't know.

Again, not sure where this fits in on the whole good for me or not spectrum. Read in digital format.

2. The Truth of Valor by Tanya Huff

I really enjoy all of Tanya Huff's work but I think the Valor series is my favorite. This is the fifth book in the series about Gunnery Sgt. Torin Kerr. I enjoyed it, but it was probably my least favorite of the series just because Torin isn't military anymore and I think something is lost for the character having her be a civilian.

There was plenty of military action and Torin getting to be a badass, but it felt a little like it was lacking something the other novels had.

This book is mostly definitely not good for me, and is so typical of what I generally read. Read in the digital format.

1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I started this book last year, but I figure it counts because I finished it this year.

I used to share a Kindle account with some friends. This book was purchased by them and I had heard of it and so last summer I figured, what the hell I'll give it a try.

I didn't like it, so I stopped reading it, moving on to something else. Probably Glee fanfic. ;)

I decided to give it another shot a few days before the new year. I struggled through the beginning of the book. I couldn't understand why anyone would want to read this book. It was slow. It was in a heavy dialect. It was kinda boring. And then... I don't know, I guess I just gave myself over to the story and I really enjoyed it.

I have no idea if this book counts as good for me or not. It's not my typical reading fare, but its not like its Hemingway or something.

Welcome to my bookshelf

I've always been an avid reader, but somewhere in the last couple of years I stopped reading published works and lost myself in fan fiction. I discovered fan fiction back in 1995 in my first forays into the internet, but always managed to balance my fan fiction addiction with actual published works. Somehow, starting in 2008 I stopped reading books.

I decided that fan fiction was giving me an unrealistic view of the world, well an unrealistic view of love and relationships, so I stopped cold turkey at the end of 2010. I set a goal for myself for 2011 to read a book a week. I added a further stipulation that at least 26 of these 52 books must be "good for me." I think I'm going to have to wiggle out of that one maybe. ;) We'll see. At the very least 26 of the books can't be the normal sci-fi/fantasy books I normally devour like candy.

I decided to give a blog a whirl and figured this book reading project is a safe topic to start with.