I’ve Been a Readin’ Fool Lately

Stacey asked for a book review, and since I’ve read a few books in the last few weeks, now seems like as good a time as any to do a Book Challenge update. (For you new readers, completing the Book Challenge requires me to read 30 books in 2007.)

Here’s what I’ve read since my last update.

Book 23 was this one. (SDBBE-ers should not click that link unless they want to be big cheaters and ruin the surprise.) It was kinda sorta okay. When I received it, I wasn’t sure if I would like it. While it was nothing I ever would have picked up on my own, the whole point of a book exchange is to try new things maybe find a new author/genre you never knew you liked, right? So I kept an open mind and started reading. And while I definitely won’t be picking up anything else by that author, I didn’t hate the book either. It was fine. The guy had a tendency to be a bit preachy at times. He also clearly thought he was very clever and he was also very proud and smug about how clever he was. I found myself rolling my eyes at him through much of the book. But there were other parts that I really enjoyed, too. I think the eye-rolling outweighed the enjoyment about 60-40, thus the lack of desire to read any more by the same author. But still, a 40% enjoyment rate isn’t too terrible.

Books 24, 25, and 26 were The Circle Trilogy by Nora Roberts. Heather sent these to me awhile back, and I was kinda sorta interested in them but never really got around to reading them. After completing last month’s SDBBE book, I needed something else to read and so picked up Morrigan’s Cross. About 20 pages in, I was hooked. It was a little more of a fantasy storyline than I would normally choose, but it sucked me in and would not let me go. I had a couple of books come in from my hold list at the library before I finished this one, but as soon as I turned the last page I picked up the second book in the trilogy, Dance of the Gods. At this point I was completely addicted, and spent every spare hour I had (and even a few hours when I should have been doing some freelance work) with my nose buried in the book. I finished that book in a couple of days, and, thanks to my husband’s understanding of my need to feed my addiction, read the entire third book, Valley of Silence, yesterday.

You guys, these books were so great. They’re about a circle of six people who come together from different worlds and centuries to fight an epic, world-saving battle against an army of vampires. In between all the cool vampire action there are some really great love stories, and the whole thing is incredibly romantic. I may have cried a little at the end of the third book, that’s how attached to the story and characters I was.

Heather, thank you so much for sending me these books! I absolutely loved them, and I’m so glad to have them on my book shelf so I can read them again whenever I want. This was definitely a case of trying something new that I wouldn’t have picked up on my own and discovering that I really really like an author. I can’t wait to pick up more of Roberts’ work.

November 3, 2007 | Filed Under Book Challenge 07, Books, NaBloPoMo 07 

comments

10 Responses to “I’ve Been a Readin’ Fool Lately”

  1. Lindsey on November 3rd, 2007

    Once I get through the books I have currently waiting for me to get through them, maybe I’ll try out some of the books that you liked!

  2. Erin on November 3rd, 2007

    OOO, I am so tempted to click that link…but I won’t.

    I’ve seen The Circle Trilogy at Ted’s store and thought about picking them up…perhaps now I will!

  3. Amberly on November 3rd, 2007

    Perhaps that’s why I love the author of the SDBBE book so much…..because I’m too much like him – I’ve always been taken as someone who appears pretty smug and proud of my cleverness. LOL

  4. Amberly on November 3rd, 2007

    P.S. Wait till you get the one I sent you yesterday…..just not my type of book. In fact, I only got to page 115 before I absolutely couldn’t take it anymore. Plus, the book was about 550 pages long (which wasn’t within the rules anyway so I feel completely justified not reading the whole thing). Good luck to you on it!

  5. Marmite Breath on November 4th, 2007

    I have a recommendation! Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani. I read the trilogy of her books in the space of about a week or so and enjoyed them immensely! Also, The Time Traveler’s Wife. Excellent!

  6. SJ on November 4th, 2007

    Man, I really need to read more…I really do.

    Good for you for all the great sounding reads, maybe, just maybe I’ll check some of them out :)

  7. Suzanne on November 4th, 2007

    I was given one of his earlier books as a Christmas gift and could not understand the allure. You pinpointed what it was: the smugness at how clever he was.

    I’m an atypical female reader, in that I only started reading Chick Lit when a coworker handed me Marian Keye’s “Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married”. It was hilarious.

    Though, if you like mystery/detective books, Faye Kellerman has an excellent series, the Peter Decker/Rena Lazarus books. Start with “The Ritual Bath”.

    Finally, one I stumbled onto quite by accident is a romance writer who is very witty, Katie MacAlister. She converted me, but the bar is way high for me to follow another author in that genre.

    (I wish I wasn’t buried in the study texts for my CLEP right now!)

  8. Britt on November 4th, 2007

    Ok, so tell me a little more about these books. If you were to rate them like amove, what rating would they have? Do they have naughty stuff like bad words and sex?

  9. Britt on November 4th, 2007

    I meant to say ‘rate them like a movie.’ Forgive my typo!

  10. Laurel on November 5th, 2007

    Seriously? Vampires and love stories? I’m there!

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