I failed to post my September books in time, so you get a 2-month roundup today:
#52
I always have trouble with these books that tell two stories in one novel. One of the stories is usually removed by the contemporary one by a few generations, and is often the protagonist’s mother or grandmother or whatever.
Soul was a free ebook download, and it didn’t impress me. I couldn’t figure out where the author was going with it. Was it going to be a thriller? A suspense? It seemed to have classic elements of a “wretched excess” plot, only with the woman becoming obsessed with revenge on her ex. Typically, sex and drugs turn her around and keep her from fulfilling the murderous legacy of her grandmother. I would like to read a book where the woman who wants revenge on her lying cheating husband (a) isn’t deranged, and (b) doesn’t turn out to just need a good lay and some mood-altering pills.
#53
A very good book, told in comic book format, on the history of comic art and how they work the ways they do. Principally theory.
#53
Practical application of a comic book. 🙂 It’s a trade paperback continuing the modern, updated, set-in-the-00’s story of Peter Parker, teen superhero. Trade paperbacks collect several individual issues into one.
#54
Trade paperback collection of The Walking Dead, a zombie comic book. One of the problems I have with this one (and with a lot of zombie stories) is its beginning– the hero wakes up in a hospital after a coma. It’s “movie coma:” he has all his reflexes and physical strength, and somehow he’s managed not to be detected and eaten by the zombies that have overrun the hospital. Other than that, however, I find this to be an engaging storyline. My 10 year old nephew enjoys it, too, because there’s a kid in it.
#55
A Scandalous Lady by Francesca Shaw
It took me forever to finish reading this ebook, and I have no idea why. It’s a lively little Regency romance starring a “proper” young lady and her beau…. except she’s living a secret double life as an actress, and he’s an honorable rake set out to seduce her as an actress and, later, marry her.
#56
If it took me forever to read A Scandalous Lady, it took me a day to read Lord of Scoundrels, and this one may have had what the other lacked: humor. Not that Scandalous wasn’t fun, but that Lord of Scoundrels was highly amusing, with plenty of occasions for the hero and heroine to engage in witty dialogue. Also, the heroine had a lot of backbone and moxy, and the whole thing just kicked up the fun enough.
#57
The memoir of a woman who lost over 170 pounds. She doesn’t say what diet she used, but the book is more of a record of her journey from morbidly obese to “normal.” There are parts I wish she hasn’t glossed over, like the transition between not exercising and walking, or the transition from walking to jogging and then running. These are, after all, important parts of the journey, and I missed the more “real” moments of that process with her. However, I know most of this is drawn from her blog, and she may simply have not posts about or recorded that very thoroughly. This is a great, and inspiring book.
(not numbered)
Listened to this as an abridged audiobook. I don’t count abridgments in my “how many books in a year” challenge, so I’m not adding this one to the count. But I wanted to include it so I don’t forget that I read it. I suspect that this is a book that preaches to the choir. If you’re politically left, you’ll enjoy it. If you’re not, you won’t.
#58
Mystery/thriller, listened to the unabridged audiobook on my iPod. The setup almost sounds like a bad joke: “A firefighter, a cop, a journalist, and a lawyer….” But I won’t ruin the punch line. It was a good thriller novel with twists and turns and only the normal amount of predictability.
#59
While you’re waiting for me to write, edit, and publish Getting Buried in Vegas, check out Soulless, a zombie apocalypse novel with an interesting origin twist (the origin is supernatural, rather than biological/scientific). I read it on the Kindle in a couple of days– a dedicated reader could probably read it tonight between Trick or Treaters.