Year In Review

This past year I read a boat load of books!!  I started keeping track of what I read and I'm really happy I did that.  It was a great way to see my progress and look back on some books I really enjoyed, and others that I couldn't stand.

I've read 72  books with a total of 26366 pages for 2010.

Some really memorable ones for better or worse -

 The Story Of O by Pauline Reage was a tough book for me.  Dealing with the bdsm lifestyle I had a hard time understanding what possessed that woman to put up with what she did.  On The Edge by Ilona Andrews was a great discovery author and book for me.  I haven't read the second in the series, Blue Moon but we'll see in 11.  I absolutely loved her Kate Daniels series!  Kate, and Curran were just fantastic.  Finding Queen Betsy and the Undead Series was a big treat.  They are just these light fun readings and Queen Betsy just cracks me up!!  A really great surprise and hands down the the best discovery for me is the Heartsick Series by Chelsea Cain.  Wow, that Gretchen Lowell is just evil!  Nothing like a crazy woman who serves up Drano on a spoon, and pulls your intestines through your stomach while you lay awake and paralyzed.  Her fourth in the series, The Night Season, comes out in March and I can't wait.  I also met Rachel Morgan from Kim Harrison's series.  I'm still reading those and I think they're great.  I do like Kisten.  First Drop Of Crimson, by Jeanine Frost was a let down for me.  This is her spin-off from the Night Huntress series and it just didn't pack the punch I was looking for.  The second, Eternal Kiss Of Darkness was better.  The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake was just a real downer!  Whoa that book was too much.  A sweet surprise was The Godmother by Carrie Adams, I really enjoyed that book. A book that made my heart race and scared the crumbs outta me, hands down, Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill.  Man o' man that was some book!

I read some really good Patterson books at the end of the year.  The Big Bad Wolf was great, as was Beach Road, now that one snuck a punch in that I never saw coming!!  I liked Postcard Killers as well.  Met Stephanie Plum and read one, two and sixteen of her series.  I find Grandma Mazur and the antics of Stephanie and her wacky crew hysterical.  I want to go back and read where she and Ranger hook up since I like him better than Joe Morelli.

I have joined some really fun challenges, Summer Reading, Summer Romance, James Patterson, Suspense and Thriller, In Death, RIP, Humorous PNR.  I didn't finish all of em, but a good chunk were completed and I'm looking forward to some new ones in 11-


TBR Challenge, hosted by me ;)
Mary Higgins Clark, hosted by Marce
I Want More, hosted by Marce as well.

Marce is my challenge enabling buddy :)  I can go to her blog, Tea Time With Marce to find some really great challenges.

Book clubs I belong to, Authors By The Alphabet, an online book club started by me, and will be hosted by each member each month, and All About Books, started by my sil and hosted in each members home at the end of each month.  I will start adding if the book I'm reading is a bcc, or book club choice :)

Did I have one fave in all of 2010, hhhmmm, yes I did.  I had a lot that I really enjoyed, but none that knocked my socks off like Outlander by Diana Gabaldon did to me.  That book touched me to my very core.  The story of Claire and Jamie is one of the most heartrending stories I have ever read!  Now, sadly the others don't have the same pull, not that they aren't good, but I find them dragging just a bit.

The biggest stinker in 10?  Hands down that goes to Eat Pray Love!!  I hated that book and all it's hype.  I never wanted to read it, but it was my book club's choice so I had to dive in nose held closed tight!  That's how it goes with book clubs, ya sometimes read what you normally never would, and it leads to some awesome discussion, and sometimes a change of heart.  Not in this case ;)

I'm looking forward to a new year of reading, with my book clubs and on my own.  I really hope to whittle down that darn tbr, but somehow I know more books will fill the spots I empty.  I hope you all had a great year of reading, and fill 2011 with even better finds!

Happy New Year!