City of Dark Magic, by Magnus Flyte (2 stars)
Cold Vengeance, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (3 stars)
Two Graves, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (3 stars)
The Blood Gospel, by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell (4 stars)
The Boleyn Inheritance, by Philippa Gregory (4 stars)
Safe Haven, by Nicholas Sparks (3 stars)
The Roswell Conspiracy, by Boyd Morrison (4 stars)
All About Lulu, by Jonathan Evison (3 stars)
Spiral, by Paul McEuen (3 stars)
The Time Keeper, by Mitch Albom (2 stars)
Innocent Traitor, by Alison Weir (4 stars)
I also did a re-read of Preston and Child's Fever Dream (4 stars) before reading their next two. In addition, there were several books this month that I started but gave up on: Fortuna, by Michael R. Stevens; The Inner Circle, by Brad Meltzer; and Diary, by Chuck Palahniuk.
So . . . this year has been a full one so far! I'm aiming for 75 again, and at this rate I'll reach that goal before the end of the summer. I wouldn't expect this pace to keep up for the entire year, but I'll take the momentum while I've got it. This would be quite the lengthy post if I shared my thoughts on all these books, but, of course, if you're curious what I thought, you can look me up on Goodreads . . . or just ask.
I think it's kind of funny how I've taken to historical fiction. It wasn't a genre that ever really interested me, and a year ago it would have been a stretch to read one at all, let alone two in a single month (The Boleyn Inheritance and Innocent Traitor). A lot of the reviews I've seen suggest that Weir's books are more historically accurate than Gregory's, but to be honest, I don't really care about that. It's fiction. It's entertainment. Sure, it adds a layer of interest to know that these WERE real people, but while I'm reading, they're just characters in a story. Whether they do or don't act exactly as their real life counterparts did . . . it just doesn't matter. Not to me, anyway.
Moving forward, I'm currently re-reading Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Identity, and I plan to follow it up with the next two in the series. Whether I'll continue farther than that, I don't know, but I definitely wanted to read the first three, since they're the ones Ludlum actually wrote. Also, now that I'm FINALLY up-to-date on the Preston/Child novels, I'd like to read some of their individual ones. So I'll probably be checking those out in the near future, before they publish another Pendergast novel and I get behind again.
So . . . what have you been reading lately?
Your posts. ;)
ReplyDeleteIt's good you get the momentum now! You can count that at least for November, you'll be more focused on NaNo if you do it again.
-J
Wow, I actually read one your January reads a while back:"Safe Haven". The movie is coming up soon too!
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that you've been reading historical fiction. I love that genre! I am always intrigued that there was a real person, not just a character. It always spurs me on to research more on the person or event.I can't think of the name of the one I finished recently, but it was good. When I remember, I will pass the title on.-Marilyn
I'm almost finished with City of Dark Magic and I'm really loving it so far! It's too bad you didn't care for it -- then again, now I'm wondering if something crazy happens near the end that's going to change my current opinion. But we certainly can't like them all!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your recent comments on my blog -- I always love to read your thoughts. (And I think I wrote half a novel myself in response to your James Rollins comment!)
P.S. I am most impressed by this list of 11 books in one month, I am a bit on the slow side and I always wish I had more time!
Well, my comment was a novel itself. lol
DeleteI'd say if you're loving City of Dark Magic you will probably love it in the end. There was no big twist that ruined it for me. It was just very different from what I expected, and not really for me.
And 11 books in a month is on the high end, although I'd say a couple books a week is about my average. Yeah, I whip through them. I've got a lot of time, though.
This might be a case where I didn't have much in the way of expectations going in and it worked to my benefit since I was pleasantly surprised by how much I am enjoying it -- good to know things don't get too much nuttier than they already are though!
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