Friday, December 30, 2011

Year In Review





Another year is coming to an end and it never ceases to amaze me now fast it goes by. Did any of you have some pleasant surprises in your reading? I did, belonging to a book club has afforded me some unexpected ones as well as some I found on my own.

There were some I was just not looking forward to and wound up so engrossed in, like Picking Cotton by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton and One Thousand White Woman by Jim Fergus . There is nothing better than losing yourself in a great book. There were some let downs, Fifty Shades Darker by EL James was a bit of a disappointment for me after the first, About Grace by Anthony Doerr was just horrific, Little Bee by Chris Cleave just didn't do it for me either. Very depressing both. Loved the Fever conclusion with Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning, gosh that Jerricho!

I was sad to see Charlaine Harris' series with Harper Connelly end with only four books in it.  I found them really good, Harper and Tolliver were great characters.   Two books I found through review buzz that I thought were great - Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire and Gabriel's Inferno by Sylvain Reynard.  Beautiful Disaster shocked the crumbs outta me because it is YA, and I vowed never to read YA again after the Twilight Saga, but this one was fantastic I have an enormous weakness for major alphas and don't really care how abrasive or rough they can be, you can read my quasi review and thoughts  *HERE*.  Same with Gabriel's Inferno.  Just loved the characters, Gabriel was very sexy.  My review is *HERE*

 I didn't meet any horrid baddies this year, read the latest in Chelsea Cain's series with Archie Sheridan and Gretchen Lowell, she really is my all time favorite psycho, I recommend this series highly, the last(so far) being The Night Season.  Did you hear that January Jones has been cast as Gretchen?

What book moved me the most and was my absolute fave of the year?  The Help by Kathryn Stockett!!  Read, read, READ this book!  It was just wonderful.  My book club read this in January and then in August we went as a group to see the movie and it was just fantastic!  My review is *HERE* every character was just so awesome.  This book was incredible.

What book made me uncomfortable, yet I couldn't put down, intrigued me yet angered me, made me feel things that I don't like to feel?  Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James.  I love Christian, I don't like Ana.  This is a very rough subject, but like a bad accident I couldn't look away, he and it just pulled me in.  So dark yet consuming...my thoughts *HERE*

I made some changes this year, I no longer will review every single book I read, just those I find so emotionally charged for me either with joy, anger, or disgust that I find I just need to share with you all, and that I don't need to post four or five times a week.  My life is full with so many other things that I love, I can't let blogging consume me to the point of not having time for them as well.  One thing you will always find here is my absolute honest opinion on the books I've read and what they made me feel.  I don't always go with the "crowd", if a book rots I say it!  You can always click on the book title to go to amazon and read the summary or the reviews.  I am not linked to their affiliate program, I just put it there so a fellow blogger can see what it's all about on their own whether I loved the book or not. I have another blog, you can get to it right on the side bar there, Mia Sogni Dolci, which is about me and mine, my crafting, cooking and family.  You'll find a bit more on that one so feel free to pop in to see what I might have baked or crafted or sounded off on.  I've posted what I baked and some family pics on it so check it out.

I have several I want to read in the new year, Discovery of Witches, The Night Circus to name just two that are at the top of my list and are sitting on my bookshelf.  Another that has been there for a couple of years now is Kushiel's Dart, I don't know if I can get into it yet, but I should just bite the bullet and give it a go.  I joined a great Serial Killers Challenge hosted my Marce over at Tea Time With Marce, just click her blog title to check it out.


Of course my TBR pile is just as giant as always, I don't think I can get that sucker down if I tried, there are just so many books and so little time....; )

Sunday, December 4, 2011

November Wrap Up


I feel like I just finished October!!  Wow this month just flew by.  Thanksgiving was wonderful filled with yummy food and family.  A very nice day.  Was hobbled since I blew my knee out and will be having surgery on the 9th, but the Dr. said I have to be up and around right away.  No going crazy, it take 6 wks for recovery, but after a few I can exercise, I won't feel good doing it, and he said we'll talk about running in time.  That bad meniscus just popped on me and it hurt like a b*tch!!!!

Got some reading done.  Read the latest in Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed series,  Deeper Than Midnight.  This was Hunter's book, the Gen One creation of bad guy Drago.  Not bad, I'll keep going.  For my book club we read One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus.  Let me tell you the reviews were so bad I was dreading this, but I just loved it!  Great great book, and I recommend it.  It made me sad for some of the things that happened, but a wonderful story.  Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire was really good too!  You can read my review *HERE*Gabriel's Inferno by Sylvain Reynard was another really good book for me.  My *REVIEW*.  Still don't know if the author is male or female. 

Just got done with Gideon by Jacquelyn Frank. I liked it, not too corny, I'll keep going on this one too.  # 4is Damien, the vampire, so I want to at least get to that one, and I think Noah's as well.  Not sure what direction I'll take next.  I'm in a thriller challenge, but I still feel like lovey  books with rough tough alpha males so we'll see.

For my book club we all had to come up with a list of possibles for the new year, here is my list -

Gods In Alabama is one I've been wanting to read for a while now.  Gargoyle's premise sounds real good, I hope it reads that way too!  Her Fearful Symmetry is another that has a good plot.  Of course Jodi Picoult tugs the heartstrings big time with Handle With Care and I think it makes for great book club discussion!  I'll let you know if we choose any of these books.













I have most definitely cut down in my reading these past couple of months, but that's ok, I've been real busy and will stay that way till the New Year.  I'm not missing the constant reviewing of every book I read, just one's that I feel really moved me.  Yes, I'm keeping track of what I read, not the pages, just what books.  I lose too many brain cells a minute to not do it, I don't like forgetting what I read.  I came across a blog post by Reading With Tequila about bloggers who brag about the goodies (freebies) they get.  Who cares what they do?  Who cares how many followers they have?  Is this a popularity contest to see who's liked the most?  There's a life to live out there folks, homes to take care of, children who need us, the gorgeous out doors to walk and enjoy in, time goes way to fast to waste it blogging for 6 to 10 hours a day!  Live people, read good books share about it, but get away from the puters and live!!!!

Till next time....

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