meltwhilehorse

Sadly, I did not have nearly as much reading time as I would have liked in '09... In fact, I cannot remember reading a bad book last year. Statistically, this means that I did not read enough. Still, here is one I REALLY loved

#1 of '09: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Phillip K. Dick is trying to answer this question, and exploring the philosophical boundaries of what it means to be human while he's at it. They made the Blade Runner movie based on this book all these years ago, but there is so much more to it than a simple sci-fi story with a moral component.

wow hmmm... books of 2009
both series by laurel k hamilton
all three of the series by richel mead
cirque du freak by darren shan
both series by kim harrison
okay i really don't have a list i'm constantly reading and i really don't keep track its one of the pitfalls of working in a bookstore

 Hi guys,

I'm doing my A Levels (PreMed) studies in Malaysia, currently in my first half of the semester.

This would sound totally stupid/random,god forgive me, but going through some med forums, I realize that I constantly meet doctors who said they excelled in high school (top of the class, chem/biology genius,and the list goes on...), and not a single one of them sounds like a normal person (normal as in, above average) .

I'm still a bit shaken (cuz I'm still in my experimenting stage), my question is; 

Can a dedicated and passionate average joe become a doctor? It seems like a lot of med students I hear have top score results, best in their class, won science fairs, etc.... I know how competitive med school is (we're constantly reminded by our lecturers everyday *sigh*), and it sounds intimidating, so I wonder if its too late to dream about entering medicine when my results are mediocre to good enough, but not great. =I

And, do you know any med student/doctor who's considered to have a typically 'normal' college/high school? 

# 1: Virtual Light by William Gibson:

Rydell picked up Monica's copy of People and found a picture of Gudrun Weaver and the Reverend Wayne Fallon. Gudrun Weaver looked like an actress in her forties. Fallon looked like a possum with hair-implants and a ten-thousand-dollar tuxedo.

Synopsis: In post-apocalyptic California, two people's lives collide. Rydell, a rent-a-cop who attracts trouble like *ahem* honey attracts flies, and Chevette, just a girl in the wrong place at the wrong time, unaware that she's stepped in it, bigtime, on an international espionage scale.

( William Gibson. You either love him or you hate him. And by this point in the review, you already know what side you're on. )

lj://user/Obsessed_reader


I didn't get to read anywhere near as much this year as I would have liked but here goes anyway ;-)

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Anne Brashares
The Second Summer of the Travelling Pants - Anne Brashares
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen ( I actually read this twice this year)
Hood - Stephen Lawhead
Vanity and Vexation - Kate Fenton
Jane Austen Ruined My Life - Beth Pattillo ( I also read this one twice)
Nights in Rodanthe - Nicholas Sparks
Dear John - Nicholas Sparks
Meg - Steve Alten
The Trench - Steve Alten
The Loch - Steve Alten
Domain - Steve Alten
Ressurection - Steve Alten
Atlantis - David Gibbons
World Without End - Warren Murphy and Molly Cochran
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
The Last Templar - Raymond Khoury (again twice lol)
The Bible of Clay - Julia Navarro
Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind
Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone - JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - JK Rowling
Breaking Dawn - Stephanie Meyer
Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
The Host - Stephanie Meyer
Confessions of a Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella
The Patriot Witch - CC Finlay
Angels and Demons - Dan Brown
The Druid Made Me Do It - Natale Stenzel
The Testament - Eric Van Lustbader
Heaven - VC Andrews
Dark Angel - VC Andrews
Outbreak - Robert Tine
The Bone Collector - Jeffrey Deaver
Taken - Thomas H Cook
Archangel Crusader - Vijaya Schartz: 
Star Trek - Alan Dean Foster
The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen - Syrie James
2012: The War for Souls - Whitley Streiber
Before Dishonor (Star Trek TNG) - Peter David
Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict - Laurie Viegla Rigler (twice)
The Blue Nowhere - Jeffrey Deaver
The Stone Monkey - Jeffrey Deaver
Plague Ship - Clive Cussler
The Empty Chair - Jeffrey Deaver
The Coffin Dancer - Jeffrey Deaver
Bad Moon Rising - Sherrilyn Kenyon
Dark Lover - JR Ward
Lover Eternal - JR Ward
Lover Awakened - JR Ward
Lover Revealed - JR Ward
Lover Unbound - JR Ward
Lover Enshrined - JR Ward
Lover Ahvenged - JR Ward
The Princess Bride - William Goldman
Fallen Hearts - VC Andrews
P.S ILove You - Cecelia Ahern
Darcy's Story - Janet Aylmer
Praying For Sleep - Jeffrey Deaver

OK I've been slacking on my book reviews so this is going to be a 3 book review in one post, but all 3 books are form the same series so I hope it isn't too intense.

Kiss of Crimson (Book 2 Midnight Breed Series)
Publishing Year: June 2007
Pages: 387
Rating: 4/5

( Synopsis )

( Verdict )

Midnight Awakening (Book 3 Midnight Breed Series)
Publishing Year: December 2007
Pages: 369
Rating: 4.5/5

( Synopsis )
( Verdict )

Midnight Rising (Book 4 Midnight Breed Series)
Publishing Year: April 2008
Pages: 356
Rating: 4/5
( Synopsis )
( Verdict )

Book Count 2010: 1

This is the giant list of books that I've read this year. I was hoping to hit one hundred, but having a busy work schedule and trying to have a life pretty much interfered with that. I did come close at 78, though. Without further ado, here it is:

( 'Tis a long list... )

I've read 40 books in total this year. Here they are..

Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy - Douglas Adams - ***

And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie - ****

The Body in The Library - Agatha Christie - ***

Cat Amongst The Pigeons - Agatha Christie - ***

The Clocks - Agatha Christie - ***

Endless Night Agatha Christie - **

The 4:50 From Paddington - Agatha Christie - ***

Hickory Dickory Dock - Agatha Christie - ****

The Moving Finger - Agatha Christe - ***

The Pale Horse - Agatha Christe - ****

Appointment With Death - Agatha Christie - ***

Death in The Clouds - Agatha Christie - ***

Death on The Links - Agatha Christie - *

Five Little Pigs - Agatha Christie - ***

The ABC Murders - Agatha Christe - ****

Cards on The Table - Agatha Christe - ***

Shop Girl - Steve Martin - **

The Pleasure of My Company - Steve Martin - ***

Lady Cottingtons Pressed Fairy Book - Terry Jones - **

Catcher in The Rye - J.D. Salinger - **

The Diary of A Nobody - Grossmith - ****

Mother Night - Kurt Vonnegut - *****

Animal Farm - George Orwell - ****

1984 - George Orwell - *****

Dirty Jokes and Beer - Drew Carey - *

The Sound of Laughter - Peter Kay - **

Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me - Louise Rennison - ***

The Old Man and The Sea - Ernest Hemingway - *****

A Clockwork Orange - Anthiny Burgess - ***

Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden - ***

Charmed Life - Diana Wynne Jones - **

Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare - ****

Richard II - Shakespeare - ***

Richard III - Shakespeare - ***

The Worlds Wife - Carol Ann Duffy - ***

Northern Lights - Phillip Pullman - ***

Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall - Spike Milligan - ****

Deception Point - Dan Brown - *

My French Whore - Gene Wildre - ***

Ritual - Mo Hayder - ***

Dante's Inferno - Dante Alghieri - *****


I didn't realise quite how much Agatha Christie i'd read until I see it here, the goal for this year is to read at least 50.

Happy new year everybody =]

I read 50 books this year and am so happy I met my goal, but I'm even happier that I read some really great books!

( books read in 2009 )

Best reads of 2009: Q&A, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, The Hunger Games, Catching Fire

Worst reads of 2009: The Shack, The Alchemyst, Sundays at Tiffany's, A Wrinkle in Time

My list of books read in 2009.
Not counting comic books, manga, and graphic novels; nor texts read initially for school.

1) The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari), by Murasaki Shikibu (translated by Edward G. Seidensticker)
2) The Haiku Seasons: Poetry of the Natural World , by William J. Higginson
3) The Turn of the Screw, and other Stories, by Henry James
4) My Work is Not Yet Done, by Thomas Ligotti
5) Suspects, by David Thompson
6) The Antigua Stamp, by Robert Graves
7) Soccer in Sun and Shadow, by Eduardo Galeano (translated by Mark Fried)
8) Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari), translated by H. Jay Harris
9) The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
10) Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
11) True Grit, by Charles Portis
12) The Stranger (L‘Etranger) , by Albert Camus (translated by Matthew Ward)
13) The Book of Songs: The Ancient Chinese Classic of Poetry translated by Arthur Waley, new edition with additional translation by Joseph H. Allen
14) Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
15) The Book of Beasts: Being a Translation of a 14th Century Bestiary, by T.H. White
16) The City and the City, by China Miéville
17) The Big Picture: Filmmaking lessons from a life on the set, by Tom Reilly
18) Gomorrah (Gomorra), by Roberto Saviano (translated by Virginia Jewiss)
19) The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
20) The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
21) As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams (Sarashina nikki) by Lady Sarashina (translated by Ivan Morris)
22) Tales of Moonlight and Rain (Ugetsu monogatari) by Akinari Uyeda (translated by Kengi Hamada)
23) Don’t Look Now: Selected Stories, by Daphne Du Maurier
24) Dracula, by Bram Stoker
25) The Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England, by Brock Clarke
26) The Sundial, by Shirley Jackson
27) Humpty Dumpty in Oakland, by Philip K. Dick
28) The Archaeology of Knowledge by Michel Foucault (translated by A.M. Sheridan)
29) The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
30) To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis


I read ten more books this year! Yay!
Feel free to leave any questions or comments.

It's that time again...

Note: Novels were ones I read in 2009, not necessarily published in 2009.

( Under the cut because I do tend to go on. )

# 95: House of Mystery vol. 1: Room and Boredom by Matthew Sturges, Bill Willingham and Luca Rossi:

"Over the years I've worked up a brief yet effective speech introducing the bar and some of its more outre elements. It saves a lot of trouble with the new kids.

Now then, this is the House of Mystery. It's a mystical place located at a supernatural crossroads between many worlds. Anyone who can find it is welcome to enter. We have a fully stocked bar, the kitchen is open until midnight, and we don't serve anything that's still alive. There was an incident.

This is a pretty mixed crowd, as you can see, so you discuss politics and religion at your own risk. Sex is fine--just not on the tables. If you do cause any trouble, you'll instantly regret it, because the scary pirate lady will hurt you and then toss you out on your ass.

Monday is ladies' night."

Synopsis: A graphic novel about a haunted house, bar and girl. Not necessarily in that order.

( If there was a soundtrack, it would be by PJ Harvey. Hell, I think there might need to be a soundtrack. )

# 93: The Curse of the Blue Figurine by John Bellairs:

Night lay over the little cluster of green-roofed cottages. Now dark clouds came rushing in to cover the stars, and it rained. Wet drops pattered on the slanted roofs and on the gravel path. It rained for half an hour, a heavy pelting downpour. Then the clouds, driven by a strong wind, blew on past over the ragged top of Hellbent Mountain, and the stars shone down once again. Instide the cabin Johnny and the professor slept on. The chain lock and the sliding steel bolt held the door fast. But what was this? A tiny tinkling sound, and the chain fell from its groove.

Synopsis: Ebil finds a new home in the soul of Johnny Dixon, a pudgy, near-orphan in 1950s Massachusetts, who stumbles into a trap laid by an evil sorcerer/Catholic priest.

( Nothing says festive holidays like a good old fashioned evil curse. )

Important to say this book was based on TV show Criminal Minds, which is my current guilty pleasure.

That being said, on with the review.

 

( Finishing School )

 

Is there a book about female military commanders? I just asked a friend and she said 'you mean like Honor Harrington?' No, I mean real ones.

# 92: Slow Dance in Autumn by Philip Lee Williams:

The Blaze Motel was usually below industry-standard occupancy because the rooms were never held more than two hours at a time. It consisted of two cinder-block wings painted an appalling yellow, with a gravel courtyard in the middle. The office was in front of the building on the right. I parked and went in and took Ginny with me. Huel Toomey was the proprietor, and when I got inside, he was standing on the cluttered desk, holding a copy of Stockman's Journal and trying to squash a spider that was scuttling frantically across the ceiling.

Synopsis: World's worst PI (who has read every book in creation) skulks around Atlanta screwing up a case, banging one of the players and drinking his own liver in a blender. It's like if Sam Spade sucked at being a detective and went on a bender.

( Oh yes. You read that correctly. Like a patient etherized upon a table. Mm-hm. )

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http://www.amazon.com/100-Must-Read-Books-The-Essential-Man-s-Library-Part-I/lm/RCN3MKLVVPRXV/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full

Ayn Rand! (although a female author is listed for The Master and Margarita, for some inscrutable reason--and who wrote The Picture of Doran Gray?)

#91: Chile Death by Susan Wittig Albert:

"Sure, come on over," shae said, when I reminded her that our morning conversation had been interrupted. "In fact, come for supper. I made potato salad and marinated some chicken. Clyde's gonna put it on the grill so's I can take a load off my tired feet. We won't have a thing in the world to do but sit in the yard and criticize his cooking."

Synopsis: Breezy, sassy culinary mystery featuring the unsinkable China Bayles, this time helping her shot-in-the-line-of-duty boyfriend get out of his depression by assisting when he judges a chili cookoff. Which totally would have worked had someone not dropped dead in the middle of the contest.

( Yeah, I'm just going to read them in the order the library flings them at me. )

# 90: Ice Storm - Anne Stuart:

Madame Isobel Lambert was exhausted. It had been a draining weekend in the Lake District--she'd played with her hosts' obstreperous children, gone on long hikes, eaten too much rich food, drank too much red wine, wrestled with her conscience and killed two men. All that without a cigarette. She was not in a good mood.

Synopsis: Coolly unemotional superspy Isobel Lambert takes on the job of a lifetime when she volunteers to bring in international terrorist "Serafin", a man who, eighteen years ago, she shot and killed, thus dooming herself to a life of superspyingness. Ing. Ness.

( Three guesses where this is headed. )