Thursday, December 30, 2010

Saying Goodbye to 2010

Here is a list of books I've read this year. You may or may not find them interesting...I'll give a comment on some of them.  I've had a great time the last six months on this little lame book blog. I've read some great books and have been introduced to some new writers thanks to book bloggers that I have found on Twitter.  Amazingly, some of these great people allow me to follow their Twitter feed and some are even following me back. (total pressure...I still have yet to perfect my tweeting skills. One day I'll master it, I'm sure.)

BOOKS FOR 2010

1. The Secret Life of Bees- Sue Monk Kidd

 JR WARD
2. Dark Lover #1
3. Lover Eternal #2
4. Lover Awakened #3
5. Lover Revealed #4
6. Lover Unbound #5
7. Lover Enshrined #6
8. Lover Avenged #7
9. Lover Mine #8
10. Black Dagger Brotherhood Insiders Guide
~This series will be on my reading list each year. Yes...they are that good.  At work we refer to them as vampire porn.  It's a great story about a group of vampire warriors known as the Black Dagger Brotherhood.  These warriors are fighting to save the extinction of their race.  They live in Caldwell, NY- and I have to admit that I was tempted to search out their mansion when I was in NY for that Lee Child book signing this year.  Every night when I would see a flash of light in the NY skyline, I knew the brothers were out slaying Lessers.  This series comes complete with a glossary and....an Insiders Guide.

CHARLAINE HARRIS
11. Dead Until Dark
12. Living Dead in Dallas
13. Club Dead
14. Dead to the World
15. Dead as a Doornail
16. Definitely Dead
17. All Together Dead
18. From Dead to Worse
19. Dead and Gone
20. Dead in the Family
~If I have to tell you anything about this series...something is wrong with ya! I started this set after I finished the BDB series. My coworker had received the series as a gift and I was just starting my love affair with reading.  Did you know Charlaine Harris will be at Bouchercon 2011 next year in St. Louis? If you want to know more about Bouchercon and find out what you need to do to attend, you can find information about it here.

ANNE RICE
21. Interview with a Vampire #1
22. The Vampire Lestat #2
23. Queen of the Damned #3
24. The Tale of the Body Thief #4
25. Memnoch the Devil #5
26. The Vampire Armond #6
27. Merrick #7
28. Blood and Gold #8
29. Blackwood Farm #9
30. Blood Canticle #10
31. Pandora #11
32. Vittorio the Vampire #12
~I know, I know. I was on a vampire kick...who hasn't been at one time or another?  Actually, I borrowed these books from my friend, Vicki and fell in love with the series.  Anne Rice is the only author I know that can write three entire pages about the desert and not make me fall asleep.  In fact, her characters are so well developed that I know they actually exist.  They have to be real! Every once in awhile, you'll find me referencing them on-line in a comment somewhere.  For example, I left this comment when I was trying to win an e-book:

My heart and soul belong to the crime writing community, but...I read just about anything that sounds interesting minus sci-fi. Ya, if I can't pronounce the name of the planet or the moon in some ones world, I pass on the book. I also have a soft spot for vampires. (Marius, did you find the scattered notes I left for you in New York?) See...vampires are real, right?

In all honesty, I love books that have characters I can relate to with story lines that keep me so entertained that I don't mind missing a meal or two. I haven't come across a book I haven't liked but once, and even then, it was probably my own mood that killed it for me. (I won the book!)

DEAN KOONTZ
33. Frankenstein Series
34. Mr. Murder
35. Dark Rivers of the Heart
36. The Husband
37. Intensity
38. The Face

39. Lightland- Kenny Kemp
~this was a great book...until the end when every other page was missing.  Uh-did you find a cure for that virus or not???

40. At First Sight- Nicholas Sparks
41. The Last Song- Nicholas Sparks
42. A Bend in The Road- Nicholas Sparks

43. Change of Heart- Jodi Picoult

44. Love The One You’re With- Emily Giffin

45. Prayers For Sale- Sandra Dallas

46. CRASHERS- Dana Haynes

47. Vanished- Joseph Finder
~I'm in love with Nick Heller...just in case Mr. Finder has any doubts.  Bring on the former flame in the next book. I'm totally ready for her.

48. The Betrayed- David Hosp

JEAN JOHNSON
49. The Sword #1
50. The Wolf #2
51. The Master #3
52. The Song #4
53. The Cat #5
54. The Storm #6
55. The Fire #7
56. The Mage #8
~read these for a friend to see if they were worth reading...they aren't!

ANDREW GRANT
57. EVEN (2)
58. Die Twice
~I have a super soft spot for Mr. Grant and the David Trevellyan series.  The longevity of this series and Mr. Grant's happiness is extremely important to me.  If you buy the series and are not satisfied...contact me at sabrinaogden@gmail.com. I'll refund your money.  The series is that GOOD!

59. Dracula- Bram Stoker

LEE CHILD
60. Killing Floor #1 
61. Die Trying #2
62. Tripwire #3
63. Running Blind #4
64. Echo Burning #5
65. Without Fail #6
66. Persuader #7
67. The Enemy #8
68. One Shot #9
69. The Hard Way #10
70. Bad Luck & Trouble #11
71. Nothing to Lose #12
72. Gone Tomorrow #13
73. 61 Hours #14
74. Worthy Dying For #15
~With this series came my Reacher Worthy Status Chart...the chart where I measure my Reacher worthiness...I might be developing a new chart when I complete the series...just starting book #15, and only having it return when a new book is available.  At this point, in all honesty, I'm not sure if I'm in love with Jack Reacher or Lee Child. 

75. Farm Fresh Murder- Paige Shelton
~I met Paige Shelton at a book signing here in Salt Lake.  I wanted to make sure I was supporting authors that live in my area. We've since become friends and enjoy regular lunch dates.  My review of Farm Fresh Murder-my very first "review"-was so liked by my readers, they actually told me to do more. Go figure!

SUZANNE COLLINS
76. The Hunger Games
77. Catching Fire
78. Mockingjay

79. How To Grow Up and Rule the World- Vordak the Incomprehensible
80. Opposing Energies- J.W. Collier

81. The Great Bridge- David McCullough

82. Terminal Damage- Do Some Damage Gang
83. Eight Pounds- Chris F. Holm
~I lumped these two collections of short stories together because this was my first introduction to short stories. I had no idea people wrote short stories and had them published and available for readers.  I'm not sure why this was so amazing to me, but my readers fell in love with the idea just as much as I did. The idea of being able to pick up a book and read a complete story in a short amount of time was priceless for many of my blog followers that have no free time.  I plan to introduce them to more of these options next year. Oh...I also met a new bad boy that I fell in love with. Yes, Oscar...I'm talking about you!

84. The Stupidest Angel- Christopher Moore

85. A Christmas Carol- Charles Dickens

There ya have it! My end of the year post complete with really weird commentary.  Thanks for reading my blog and I look forward to visiting with you next year...which by the way, is going to ROCK!

3 comments:

Sara said...

Congratulations on such a successful year! You have named one of my favorite authors (Dean Koontz...I think I have almost all of his books)and I hear that the Black Dagger Brotherhood is EXTREMELY addictive. One of these days I will read the series. I have been on a vampire kick since Twilight (yup, I'll admit it). AND I couldn't find "The Stupidest Angel", but your post made me want to read Christopher Moore. I saw another one I am reading right now called "Bloodsucking Fiends" and absolutely love it. Thanks for having this blog!

gbeck said...

WOW! What a list. I wish I could read half as many books in a year. I must be a really slow reader. Thanks for giving us this entertaining and informative blog to read this year and some of the books you reviewed are definitely on my list of must reads. I think I really need to read the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Happy New Year!!

Gilion at Rose City Reader said...

That is a LOT of reading! And you certainly like your series, don't you? My goodness. I laughed that you read 8 books in a series only to determine that the series wasn't worth reading. :)

I'm a Reacher Creature myself, so I can totally understand ripping through that series in a year.

Happy 2011!