Books, books, books.

[psyche29]

OK, so several people on my friends list have decided to try to read fifty books this year.

I like the idea, but there's no way I'll manage that if I set it as a goal for myself. This being the case, I'm opting to make a list of books - in no particular order - that I am wanting to read, and will cross them off as I do.

I am willing to entertain suggestions, though I reserve the right to not take them. Don't suggest vampire books, please - they are a personal squick as they are damaging to my psyche, most especially when vampirism is glorified and/or regarded as something normal, something cool, something to be desired and/or something of which one shouldn't be afraid.

1. The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman
2. The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman
3. The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman
4. A Place Called Here - Cecelia Ahern
5. Where Rainbows End - Cecelia Ahern
6. The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
7. Letter to a Christian Nation - Sam Harris
8. The Sorceress - Michael Scott - FINISHED, 05/31/09
9. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
10. The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis
11. Till We Have Faces - C.S. Lewis ...I meant to read this when my sister checked it out for me last year, but never got to it before it had to go back...
12. Inkspell - Cornelia Funke
13. Inkdeath - Cornelia Funke
14. From the Kingdom of Memory - Elie Wiesel
15. Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
16. The Arctic Incident - Eoin Colfer
17. The Eternity Code - Eoin Colfer
18. Wobegon Boy - Garrison Keillor
19. Love Me - Garrison Keillor I checked this and Wobegon Boy out once as well, but didn't get a chance to actually read them, either.
20. Homegrown Democrat - Garrison Keillor
21. Dreams from My Father - Barack Obama
22. The Audacity of Hope - Barack Obama
23. The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory
24. The Constant Princess - Philippa Gregory
25. Damage - Josephine Hart
26. Sin - Josephine Hart
27. Oblivion - Josephine Hart
28. The Stillest Day - Josephine Hart
29. The Reconstructionist - Josephine Hart
30. The City of Ember - Jeanne Duprau
31. The Love of a Good Woman - Alice Munro
32. The Battle of the Labyrinth - Rick Riordan
33. The Last Olympian - Rick Riordan
34. The Quillan Games - D.J. MacHale
35. The Pilgrims of Rayne - D.J. MacHale
36. Raven Rise - D.J. MacHale
37. The Soldiers of Halla - D.J. MacHale
38. Magyk - Angie Sage
39. Flyte - Angie Sage
40. Physik - Angie Sage
41. Queste - Angie Sage
42. Graceling - Kristin Cashore - FINISHED, 05/02/09
43. A Game of Thrones - George R.R. Martin
44. Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
45. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
46. City of Bones - Cassandra Clare - FINISHED, 04/11/09
47. City of Ashes - Cassandra Clare - FNINSHED, 04/17/09
48. City of Glass - Cassandra Clare
49. Storm Front - Jim Butcher
50. Fool Moon - Jim Butcher
51. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer - FINISHED, 03/25/09
52. Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer

Okee, that's what I have so far. :)

Comments

[superbeffie.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, The Lovely Bones is one of my favorite books, but be warned that the first chapter is really difficult to read. Very unsettling. Awesome book though.

[psyche29.livejournal.com]

I've heard great things about it, but never this until today, when I went looking for a review on it. All the same, I'd like to read it, now. :) I'll have to let you know what I think.

[kazzy24.livejournal.com]

I started to read The Lovely Bones and it creeps me out, but I am gonna stick with it *lol*

Good to see you have some Cecelia Ahern on there! :D

[psyche29.livejournal.com]

Well, I did scour both the "what non-HP books are you reading" and "book recommendations" threads on Obliviate as I was compiling my list.... *hehe*

The Lovely Bones does sound rather creepy, but I think it'll be a great read. Let me know what you think when you're done?

*hugs*

[wandaxmaximoff.livejournal.com]

What's this Lovely Bones about? I hear the worlds creepy and I instantly wanna read it! *lol*

[psyche29.livejournal.com]

This is from Amazon.com's Review:

On her way home from school on a snowy December day in 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon ("like the fish") is lured into a makeshift underground den in a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer--the man she knew as her neighbor, Mr. Harvey.

Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, The Lovely Bones, unfolds from heaven, where "life is a perpetual yesterday" and where Susie narrates and keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working on her case. As Sebold fashions it, everyone has his or her own version of heaven. Susie's resembles the athletic fields and landscape of a suburban high school: a heaven of her "simplest dreams," where "there were no teachers.... We never had to go inside except for art class.... The boys did not pinch our backsides or tell us we smelled; our textbooks were Seventeen and Glamour and Vogue."

The Lovely Bones works as an odd yet affecting coming-of-age story. Susie struggles to accept her death while still clinging to the lost world of the living, following her family's dramas over the years like an episode of My So-Called Afterlife. Her family disintegrates in their grief: her father becomes determined to find her killer, her mother withdraws, her little brother Buckley attempts to make sense of the new hole in his family, and her younger sister Lindsey moves through the milestone events of her teenage and young adult years with Susie riding spiritual shotgun. Random acts and missed opportunities run throughout the book--Susie recalls her sole kiss with a boy on Earth as "like an accident--a beautiful gasoline rainbow." Though sentimental at times, The Lovely Bones is a moving exploration of loss and mourning that ultimately puts its faith in the living and that is made even more powerful by a cast of convincing characters. Sebold orchestrates a big finish, and though things tend to wrap up a little too well for everyone in the end, one can only imagine (or hope) that heaven is indeed a place filled with such happy endings. --Brad Thomas Parsons

[wandaxmaximoff.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sounds really good. I think I might add it to my list too. Thanks for the Amazon review. :)

[psyche29.livejournal.com]

Welcome. ;)

[wandaxmaximoff.livejournal.com]

Hum ... well, as you don't like vampire books, that's 90% of my suggestions out. Though, Anne Rice does have some great non-vampire books if you like creepy horror.

I've just started The Name of the Wind and the author admits he's influenced by Narnia and LOTRs, and already from just a few pages I can see those influences. It looks to be a good fantasy story, so I'll let you know what it's like when I've finished it.

Also, don't forget that The Sorceress goes on sale in May 2009 in the UK and US. ^_~

[psyche29.livejournal.com]

The vampire books thing wasn't aimed at you - it was just a general thing - though I admit to knowing it would seriously deplete your suggestion list. But I figured you knew how I felt about them, so-. *hugs*

Do let me know what you think of The Name of the Wind - if it sounds good, I'll add it to the list. ;)

And YESSSS!!! I can't wait for May, several books I want to read are coming out then, particularly the last Pendragon, the last Percy Jackson and of course, The Sorceress. *bounces impatiently*

[wandaxmaximoff.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know, I didn't think it was aimed at me. I just thought I'd point it out though. :P
As I said before though, Anne Rice is a great horror writer, and she has some awesome non-vampire books.

Yeah, I'll let you know what it's like. I really want to plow through it, but I have other stuff to do ATM that I really can't get lost in another book.

Yeah, the next fews months are gonna be great for books. There's The Sorceress, obviously, then there's the ninth of those The Southern Vampire Mysteries everyone seems to be into. Also, my sister told me The Name of the Wind has a sequel due out in April.

[psyche29.livejournal.com]

If I'm ever feeling the need for horror, I'll check with you for Anne Rice titles, how about that? ;)

[wandaxmaximoff.livejournal.com]

YAY!! :D

Sorry to keep bugging you about it, you know what it's like when you have a favourite author! ^_~

[psyche29.livejournal.com]

You're not bugging me about it at all, no worries. *hugs*

[wandaxmaximoff.livejournal.com]

*hehe* Cool!!

Not quite sure you'll be saying that when you see I've given you some more reccomendations. :P

[psyche29.livejournal.com]

LOL! No worries, recommend all you like, it never hurts to throw it out there. ;)

[wandaxmaximoff.livejournal.com]

True enough! ^_^

[loveweasleys04.livejournal.com]

A Song of Ice and Fire Series isn't on there

[psyche29.livejournal.com]

*grins*

Should it be?

*giggles at the sputtering indignation she knows is coming*

Why or why not? XD.

Winter is coming...

[loveweasleys04.livejournal.com]

OF COURSE!!

Okay so it isn't for the faint of heart. At all. There aren't a lot of happy endings. But the characters feel real in a fantasy set world. It has twists and turns and surprises. It is told from a multiple of first persons and it is amazing how GRRM can go from writing an coming of age girl to a middle aged father. So. So. Good.

Re: Winter is coming...

[psyche29.livejournal.com]

Should I stop teasing you and just add them to my list? *hehe*

*does exactly that*

Re: Winter is coming...

[loveweasleys04.livejournal.com]

Yes. Yes you should!

The books are A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, Storm of Swords, and Feast for Crows.

If you have any questions when you start it let me know. Their is an appendix in the back of each book to explain the Houses. :)

[wandaxmaximoff.livejournal.com]

Oh, I just thought of a few more books you should add to your list, if you're interested.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger; one of the most beautiful and tragic love stories I've ever read.

and

Noughts & Crosses series by Malorie Blackman, a series set in a world where the people with black skin (Crosses) are dominant over the white people (noughts), that tells the story of a couple (female Cross and a male Nought) that struggle in the fictional, racist dystopia.

[psyche29.livejournal.com]

The Time Traveler's Wife sounds interesting, if a bit confusing - I may add it to my list!

I read the whole Wikipedia page of the other series, but I don't know that I'll appreciate it much, so I'm reserving judgment on it.

Thanks!

[wandaxmaximoff.livejournal.com]

It is a little confusing at first, but once you get your head around it, it's amazing.

Fair enough on the other series I suggested. Even though I really enjoyed it, I can understand it isn't for everyone.