A Year in Books: Part 4

Hallelujah, I made it.  Please note that I've written four consecutive posts.  You're welcome.

I have so much to do to get ready for tomorrow and Wednesday that I'll keep this as short as possible - on to the books!



31.    After a big ol' novel like American Gods I needed something to read (or listen to) that I didn't have think very hard about and this was recommended to me by Goodreads somehow. And since I love both the Sherlock Holmes character (having watched all of the BBC series) and Bram Stoker's Dracula this seemed like just the thing.  I ended up liking it and I'm not going to lie, I may just read any successive books.
3 Stars

32.    Oh Nora Roberts.  Why you gotta do me like this? Last year I saw that she was writing a new trilogy and I had enjoyed quite a few of her other trilogies so I thought, why not! The first book in the series was.... just okay.  And being the glutton for punishment that I am I signed up for the pre-order for the second book and folks, I hated it.  It took me FOREVER to slog through this dang thing! I can't explain it.  Also, I'm hoping the third book (I am such a sucker) won't suck so hard.
1 Star

33.    I am not quite sure where this suggestion came from, maybe I was trolling Goodreads or Book Page but it came highly recommended.  It just so happened that my Beloved and I were walking through Kroger (to waste time while Jet's was making our pizza) and they had a table of books with this one on it! w00t! A very good book.  Enough so that I recommended it to a friend and she too loved it.  The rest of the books are on my list to read further down the road.
4 Stars

34.    Another suggestion from Cari! (Thanks Cari!)  This was an amazing book, all 32 hours of it! The first three quarters of the book were sssslllloooowwww and then BOOM! It picked up and I lovedy love love love the last 1/4 of the book.  I realize that she had to set up the characters (which she did very well) but there were points where I wanted to tear my hair out.  Plus BBC is making it into a TV Series.  Sweetness!
4 Stars

35.    One of the characters from American Gods gets his own story fleshed out.  I liked this book a lot, there was a good twist and something that I hadn't expected.  If you've read American Gods this'll be right up your alley.
4 Stars


36.    Ohmygoodnessgracious! How is it that the girl who wishes she even knew that being an ornithologist was a thing, had never read this book? I'll tell you how - I bought the dang thing, didn't realize I had it and let molder away on my bookshelf for YEARS.  However, I'm really glad that I finally downloaded it to listen to because I really, really enjoyed this book! It had me Googling all kinds of birds/facts.  Every birdwatcher/ornithologist wanna be needs to read this book.
4 Stars


37.    Ooph.  You want to read a depressing book? Read this.  It had the misfortune of being both wholly sad and implausible.  What else.... um.  It's (barely) about knitting.  That's it.
2 Stars


38.    I would say I feel sorry about adding this short story on my list but, Flavia! There is nothing I can say other than if you're a Flavia de Luce fan then this 99 cent short story is a must.  It's enough to tide me over until January and the release of the newest book As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust.
5 Stars


39.    I originally heard about this book on NPR when they interviewed the author and promptly went home and purchased it, where it sat on my Kindle ever since.  And in an effort to read some of the books that have been there the longest I downloaded the audiobook to listen to on my way to and from work.  Historical novels at their best.  I love how the author draws such beautiful scenes of 7th century life.  Wow! I had a lot of difficulty in the beginning differentiating between people, places and items because of the Old English/Old Irish/Anglisc/British/Latin - phew! But once I got the hang of it and looked in the glossary things got better.  I loved Hild's wild, frenetic world and her calmness.  Good, good book.
4 Stars (once again, I think it should be at least 4.5 - 4.75)

40.    BLERG! This book, I tell you.  Don't you hate it when a book in the series just stinks? I really enjoyed the first book, the second book was pretty good and this one? Craptastic.  From the first few pages I kept yelling at the book (the cats did not enjoy this) because the author is, from one chapter to the next, switching perspectives.  I used the like the lead male character, Matthew, but all I saw of him in this book was him being overbearing, mean and crazy amounts of possessive.  Pffft.  The Diana from the first book wouldn't put up with that horse manure.  Also, for reals? The ending wasn't an ending at all! Dang it! Whatevs.  I'm over it.
2 Stars

A goal that I set for myself and exceeded.  That makes up for the near misses, no?

And that, my pretties concludes my 1st annual Year in Books Review.  I'm resting my eyes and ears for now and deciding how many books I plan to challenge myself to read in 2015!