The year, and in books
Dec. 31st, 2007 01:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pjthompsonIt wasn't a horrible year, but not one of my favorites. Mostly it seemed to be dominated by the daily grind, although I did get another novel out of it that I think is, overall, a decent piece of work. There isn't a lot to say about the year, other than it went way the hell too fast—or not fast enough, perhaps. Here's hoping 2008...will be something else that doesn't suck.
As to the books: I seem to have been very distractible this year. My partially read list has grown to mammoth proportions. Some of that is because I tend to read nonfiction slowly and in bits and pieces as needed, and anthologies in fits and starts, but I also felt extremely restless in my fiction reading. Character is the most important thing for me in reading a book—if none of the characters capture me, I lose interest. Voice is another biggie. No matter how intriguing the world is, if the voice bugs me, I also won't be able to finish the book. Of course, if the character grabs me but the voice is off, I can sometimes finish. I'd say that was true with M. J. Rose's The Halo Effect. But another of her books, The Reincarnationist, had such problems with voice and infodumpage that I stopped reading. I'm just glad I got it for half price! It would have cheesed me royally to pay full hardcover price.
I may get back to it someday. You never know. That's the thing about my partially read list. Nothing there is completely a dead issue unless it says "recycled" next to the book.
I haven't listed the names and authors of those novels I read in draft in order to respect the authors' privacy. The grayed out areas of the list were already covered in this post marking the half year:
http://pjthompson.livejournal.com/301548.html
Fiction
1. Blood Lines by Eileen Wilks
2. Dead Beat by Jim Butcher
3. Draft Novel for critique
4. Innocent in Death by J.D. Robb
5. Fast Women by Jennifer Crusie
6. Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews
7. Black Ice by Anne Stuart
8. Death of a Stranger by Anne Perry
9. Draft Novel for critique
10. Unshapely Things by Mark Del Franco
11. Draft Novel for critique
12. Faking It by Jennifer Crusie
13. All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris
14. The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff (reread)
15. Undead and Unappreciated by Maryjanice Davidson
16. Chill Factor by Rachel Caine
17. The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton
18. Triangle by Katharine Weber
19. Territory by Emma Bull
(Loved it. One of my favorites of the year. Part of a duology so the abrupt ending surprised me until I found out a sequel was coming!)
20. The Machine's Child by Kage Baker
(Baker is a perennial favorite. I've been reluctant to finish the Company series because I'm going to miss everybody.)
21. Devil's Bargain by Rachel Caine
22. Devil's Due by Rachel Caine
(These two books are essentially one book, as the second picks up right where the first left off)
23. Draft Novel for critique
24. Euryale by Kara Dalkey
(A Juno reprint, not so much a paranormal romance as a historical fantasy. Another favorite for the year.)
25. Sharpe's Havoc by Bernard Cornwell
26. The Halo Effect by M. J. Rose
27. My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding, ed. P. N. Elrod (anthology)
28. Mistral's Kiss by Laurell K. Hamilton
(I have no shame.)
29. An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris
(Another perennial favorite. This one got very interesting, if you're following this series.)
30. Draft Novel for critique
31. A Lick of Frost by Laurell K. Hamilton
(I really have no shame, but this one actually had more plot and less sex than recent ones.)
32. Creation in Death by J. D. Robb
(Love these books.)
33. Draft Novel for critique
34. Spirits in the Wires by Charles de Lint
(Not one of his best.)
35. Gods and Pawns by Kage Baker
(No excuse not to read the final novel now.)
Non-fiction
1. Black Dahlia Avenger by Steve Hodel
2. My Dark Places by James Ellroy
3. Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach
(Snarky, hilarious, and sometimes infuriating. More Roach's journey towards a reevaluation of her position than a study of the field, but I enjoyed it.)
Partially read list
1. Brown's Requiem by James Ellroy
2. Snake Agent by Liz Williams
3. Guardian of the Horizon by Elizabeth Peters (restart)
4. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Tarot by Arlene Tognetti and Lisa Lenard
5. Reiki: A Comprehensive Guide by Pamela Miles
6. The Passion of Mary Magdalen by Elizabeth Cunningham
7. Chasing Eden by S. L. Linnea (recycled)
8. The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene
9. Magic and Witchcraft in Europe: The Twentieth Century, ed. Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark
10. The Undead by Roxanne Longstreet (aka Rachel Caine)
11. Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte
12. Nightlife by Rob Thurman
(Voices issues, I'm afraid. I seem to be alone in the world in this.)
13. Pleasures of the Night by Sylvia Day (recycled)
(Unbelievably, horrifically bad writing. I'm furious I paid $14 for this dreck.)
14. On the Prowl by Patricia Briggs, Eileen Wilks, Karen Chance, Sunny (anthology)
15. The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
16. Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie
(Predictability issues, even more than the usual one expects from romance, but I'll get back to this some day. I adored the "sequel" to this one, Faking It, which was like a madcap comedy of the 30s or 40s.)
17. Ghost Hunting: True Stories of Unexplained Phenomena from The Atlantic Paranormal Society by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson with Michael Jan Friedman
18. SPQR IX: The Princess and the Pirates by John Maddox Roberts
19. Ghost Hunter's Guide to Los Angeles by Jeff Dwyer
20. The Trickster and the Paranormal by George P. Hansen
(Actively working on this one. Truly fascinating.)
21. Dead of Night by J. D. Robb, Mary Blayney, Ruth Ryan Langan, Mary Kay McComas
22. An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
23. Psychic Shield: The Personal Handbook of Psychic Protection by Caitlin Matthews
24. Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson
25. Rituals of the Dark Moon by Gail Wood
26. The Reincarnationist by M. J. Rose
27. Haunted by Kelley Armstrong
(I loved what I read. I only put it down because I decided to read the series from the beginning (because I'm anal that way), but I've gotten stalled on Bitten. I may go back to this one and read it out of order.)
28. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
(This is a well-written book with strong characters. I think the problem is: I'm really getting sick of werewolves. Fortunately, only the first two in the series seem to deal with them.)
29. The Sons of Heaven by Kage Baker
(Currently reading and sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see if everyone I love survives the end of the series.)
As to the books: I seem to have been very distractible this year. My partially read list has grown to mammoth proportions. Some of that is because I tend to read nonfiction slowly and in bits and pieces as needed, and anthologies in fits and starts, but I also felt extremely restless in my fiction reading. Character is the most important thing for me in reading a book—if none of the characters capture me, I lose interest. Voice is another biggie. No matter how intriguing the world is, if the voice bugs me, I also won't be able to finish the book. Of course, if the character grabs me but the voice is off, I can sometimes finish. I'd say that was true with M. J. Rose's The Halo Effect. But another of her books, The Reincarnationist, had such problems with voice and infodumpage that I stopped reading. I'm just glad I got it for half price! It would have cheesed me royally to pay full hardcover price.
I may get back to it someday. You never know. That's the thing about my partially read list. Nothing there is completely a dead issue unless it says "recycled" next to the book.
I haven't listed the names and authors of those novels I read in draft in order to respect the authors' privacy. The grayed out areas of the list were already covered in this post marking the half year:
http://pjthompson.livejournal.com/301548.html
Fiction
1. Blood Lines by Eileen Wilks
2. Dead Beat by Jim Butcher
3. Draft Novel for critique
4. Innocent in Death by J.D. Robb
5. Fast Women by Jennifer Crusie
6. Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews
7. Black Ice by Anne Stuart
8. Death of a Stranger by Anne Perry
9. Draft Novel for critique
10. Unshapely Things by Mark Del Franco
11. Draft Novel for critique
12. Faking It by Jennifer Crusie
13. All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris
14. The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff (reread)
15. Undead and Unappreciated by Maryjanice Davidson
16. Chill Factor by Rachel Caine
17. The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton
18. Triangle by Katharine Weber
19. Territory by Emma Bull
(Loved it. One of my favorites of the year. Part of a duology so the abrupt ending surprised me until I found out a sequel was coming!)
20. The Machine's Child by Kage Baker
(Baker is a perennial favorite. I've been reluctant to finish the Company series because I'm going to miss everybody.)
21. Devil's Bargain by Rachel Caine
22. Devil's Due by Rachel Caine
(These two books are essentially one book, as the second picks up right where the first left off)
23. Draft Novel for critique
24. Euryale by Kara Dalkey
(A Juno reprint, not so much a paranormal romance as a historical fantasy. Another favorite for the year.)
25. Sharpe's Havoc by Bernard Cornwell
26. The Halo Effect by M. J. Rose
27. My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding, ed. P. N. Elrod (anthology)
28. Mistral's Kiss by Laurell K. Hamilton
(I have no shame.)
29. An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris
(Another perennial favorite. This one got very interesting, if you're following this series.)
30. Draft Novel for critique
31. A Lick of Frost by Laurell K. Hamilton
(I really have no shame, but this one actually had more plot and less sex than recent ones.)
32. Creation in Death by J. D. Robb
(Love these books.)
33. Draft Novel for critique
34. Spirits in the Wires by Charles de Lint
(Not one of his best.)
35. Gods and Pawns by Kage Baker
(No excuse not to read the final novel now.)
Non-fiction
1. Black Dahlia Avenger by Steve Hodel
2. My Dark Places by James Ellroy
3. Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach
(Snarky, hilarious, and sometimes infuriating. More Roach's journey towards a reevaluation of her position than a study of the field, but I enjoyed it.)
Partially read list
1. Brown's Requiem by James Ellroy
2. Snake Agent by Liz Williams
3. Guardian of the Horizon by Elizabeth Peters (restart)
4. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Tarot by Arlene Tognetti and Lisa Lenard
5. Reiki: A Comprehensive Guide by Pamela Miles
6. The Passion of Mary Magdalen by Elizabeth Cunningham
7. Chasing Eden by S. L. Linnea (recycled)
8. The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene
9. Magic and Witchcraft in Europe: The Twentieth Century, ed. Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark
10. The Undead by Roxanne Longstreet (aka Rachel Caine)
11. Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte
12. Nightlife by Rob Thurman
(Voices issues, I'm afraid. I seem to be alone in the world in this.)
13. Pleasures of the Night by Sylvia Day (recycled)
(Unbelievably, horrifically bad writing. I'm furious I paid $14 for this dreck.)
14. On the Prowl by Patricia Briggs, Eileen Wilks, Karen Chance, Sunny (anthology)
15. The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
16. Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie
(Predictability issues, even more than the usual one expects from romance, but I'll get back to this some day. I adored the "sequel" to this one, Faking It, which was like a madcap comedy of the 30s or 40s.)
17. Ghost Hunting: True Stories of Unexplained Phenomena from The Atlantic Paranormal Society by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson with Michael Jan Friedman
18. SPQR IX: The Princess and the Pirates by John Maddox Roberts
19. Ghost Hunter's Guide to Los Angeles by Jeff Dwyer
20. The Trickster and the Paranormal by George P. Hansen
(Actively working on this one. Truly fascinating.)
21. Dead of Night by J. D. Robb, Mary Blayney, Ruth Ryan Langan, Mary Kay McComas
22. An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
23. Psychic Shield: The Personal Handbook of Psychic Protection by Caitlin Matthews
24. Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson
25. Rituals of the Dark Moon by Gail Wood
26. The Reincarnationist by M. J. Rose
27. Haunted by Kelley Armstrong
(I loved what I read. I only put it down because I decided to read the series from the beginning (because I'm anal that way), but I've gotten stalled on Bitten. I may go back to this one and read it out of order.)
28. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
(This is a well-written book with strong characters. I think the problem is: I'm really getting sick of werewolves. Fortunately, only the first two in the series seem to deal with them.)
29. The Sons of Heaven by Kage Baker
(Currently reading and sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see if everyone I love survives the end of the series.)
no subject
Date: 2008-01-01 12:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-01 03:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-02 08:49 pm (UTC)That in a nutshell is why I don't buy books new except for a few favorite authors.