Coming up this Saturday ... Jim Gleason's Little People - Part 2

From WWR

Leave a list of books you have read with a short synopsis/review.

Debry's Reading List

Books I have read or tried to read in 2006

1. Twisted by Jonathon Kellerman – 5 stars as most of Kellerman’s mysteries; nice to read about Petra Conner for a change. Kellerman scores big on developing another memorable character.
2. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón– 5 stars!!! Best Book I have read in a very long time, mystery, history, intrigue, good vs. evil, love, lust, pains of growing up – this book has it all!
3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald – Read half of it and probably won’t finish it.
4. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger – 5 stars An absolutely great book. A superb love story that even men will even appreciate. I hear there is going to be a movie – a shame!
5. Slaughter-House Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. – 4 Stars Good Book but classic literature??? I am not so sure. Not sure why it was a banned book at one time.
6. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood – 3 Stars Futuristic novel that is somewhat weird and probably entirely possible; Atwood's has great imagination!
7. The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster – 5 Stars A real page turner. A couple of items were a little silly but could be overlooked. The writing was top notch and character development was outstanding. I need to read more of his books.
8. Pocketful of Names by Joe Coomer – 4 Stars. It loses a star because everything was too conveniently wrapped up in the final pages. You need some of the mystery to continue. Good book. Lady artist living in isolation on a Maine Island. She soon loses that isolation when a stray dog shows up.
9. A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler – 4 Stars. Good book however I felt a little shortchanged at the end. I was expecting some type of epiphany for Barnaby but I either missed it or it didn’t occur.
10. Bitter Harvest by Ann Rule – 3 Stars. Good true crime novel. Repeated much of the same material toward the end. The only reason I read this book is because the crime was local and I remember the events well. This genre just doesn’t interest me enough to read more. However Ann Rule writes very well.
11. Oracle Night by Paul Auster – 5 Stars. I really like Auster. This one kept me guessing as to how things would be wrapped up in the end – some things weren’t…not that there is anything wrong with that!
12. Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God by Joe Coomer – 5 Stars - my second Coomer novel and I think I will read the rest of them. I learned some things about archeology in this one.
13. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams – 2 Stars – Although it is highly acclaimed, I found it odd. The satirical insights were amusing and I did laugh more than once, so it gets a Star for that and star for being short. If the book was any longer I doubt I would have finished it.
14. The Mineral Palace by Heidi Julavits 2 Stars – It started out slow and then gained momentum; however in the end it just turned out to be a sad story with enough misery to go around the world twice. I probably would have rated it higher but I just wasn’t in the mood for this kind of a story.
15. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood – 5 Stars – I couldn’t put it down. This book was much better than the Handmaid’s Tale. The book is futuristic and not entirely unfathomable.
16. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood –No Stars – I couldn’t finish it. I read 100 pages. The plot was overly complicated and the character was unlikable.
17. Rage by Jonathan Kellerman – 4 Stars – A typical formulaic Kellerman work. Kellerman has definitely got it. It loses a star because the ending was trite and unimaginative.
18. The End of Faith by Sam Harris – 2 Stars – Written by an atheist for an atheist of which I am not. He did make some good points about organized religion being at the root of many violent situations. I found myself skimming towards the end.
19. Apologizing to Dogs by Joe Coomer – 4 Stars – Well-written and very funny. The ending left me wondering a bit too much about what happened to the characters. Also, unlike his other books I didn’t really learn anything new, e.g. in his other books I learned about the history of Maine, lobster fishing and archeology. This book was devoid of anything new for me.
20. Timbuktu by Paul Auster – 5 Stars Short Book and a great story written from a dog’s point of view. Loved it!!
21. Time and Again by Jack Finney – I didn’t finish it. I read about 50 pages and just stopped. I am sure this is a good book. I just wasn’t in the mood. I will try again later.