#55:
In for a Penny (Rose Lerner)

#56:
Let Sleeping Rogues Lie (Sabrina Jeffries)

#57:

Storm Front

#58:

This Rake of Mine

#59:

Running Hot

#60:

Soulless: The Parasol Protectorate

#61:

Changeless: The Parasol Protectorate

#62:

Fool Moon

Movies:

#16: Dinner for Schmucks

#17: Eurotrip

#18: Dinner for Schmucks

#19: The Tooth Fairy

Books

#47: Mad Jack by Catherine Coulter

#48: At Last Comes Love

#49: The Keeper

#50: Seduce Me at Sunrise

#51: Dresden Files: Storm Front

#52: Led Astray by a Rake

#53: Red Hot Lies

#54: The Twelve Lies of Christmas

#55: Up in the Air

Movies

#15: She’s Out of My League

#40: Orcs by Stan Nicholls is a wow-breathtaking saga to read. I was really impressed by the sweeping military storyline, the “feel” of the setting and the story, and the journey the orcs were on. I was not impressed by the last 10 pages of the book, but that’s neither here nor there– I forgive denouements when the rest of the book is really good.

#41: Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition Dungeon Masters Guide. Erm. I found a D&D group. Need I say more?

#42:
The Ideal Wife by Mary Balogh… cute Regency romance.

#43:

Much Ado About You by Eloisa James– one of my favorite Regency romance writers. This one is the first of the Essex sisters romances (I’ve read 2 others).

#44:

The Island of Lost Maps by Miles Harvey. Geography buff that I am, when I saw this in a bookstore in New Haven, CT, I immediately added it to my to-read pile. Very good book on cartographic crimes– particularly the stealing of old and rare maps.

#45: The Enchanted Moment by Barbara Cartland.Erm. Post-WWII England romance novel which was not one of the best love stories I’ve ever read. Cartland doesn’t usually disappoint, but I felt there was something infinitely lacking in this one.

#46:

The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King. I read this when I was about 14 years old and staying at my aunt’s apartment because a sprained ankle was keeping me from summer camp. I loved it then, and I love it still. I thought to myself “Oh, maybe the story was more simplistic than I remember,” and I was right– there is a lot of fore-telling in this novel. But oh, my– after reading the Dark Tower series and then coming back to The Eyes of the Dragon, I was just floored.

Movies

#13: The Men Who Stare at Goats – amusing and fun.

#14: The A Team – we will buy this on DVD, it was so awesome.

#31: The Watchmen. Did I read this before? I don’t remember, but the movie is so true to the book, it’s hard to recall if I read it, or just saw it. It is, of course, a classic. So dense with meaning and impact, I think I could write a dissertation on it, except I’m not in love with it (the way…. well, never you mind– my relationship with Sir Gawain is strictly a platonic and personal matter!)

#32: Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Genre. At times it reads like a history of superhero comics, and at times it reads like “why those other guys are wrong.” I’m not entirely convinced by Coogan’s arguments, mainly because I don’t think he made them methodically enough. But it’s a good, scholarly-tasting book.

#33: The Walking Dead: vol. 4. Zombies and other monsters, mostly human.

#34: Four in Hand – Regency romance about a bachelor rake and his 4 beautiful wards (listened to audiobook).

#35: The Spymaster’s Lady. As promised by Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, this is an excellent book. It’s also a romance novel, but at its core– it’s a good book.

#36: Lord of Raven’s Peak. Viking-era romance novel. It was OK, but it seems like the author had a lot more story she wanted to tell than she was able to completely fit in. Coulter’s a good writer, though, so she kept the focus where it needed to be: the love story.

#37: Enchanting Pleasures. Regency romance, enjoyable and as with most of James’ novels, with a twist of Shakespeare thrown in for good measure.

#38: Duchess by Night. Georgian romance– from the line of happy widowed duchesses that James writes about.

#39: In the Prince’s Bed. Regency romance. Can you tell I’m on a romance kick this weekend?

Movies

#11 Zombieland

#12 Sherlock Holmes

#23: Pink Gingerbread – a novella ebook about a woman who goes into the woods to find the man she dreamed about as a child. Little conflict, no emotional movement– it was not a story, but rather a writing exercise that I could have done without reading.

#24: Will Eisner’s Comic and Sequential Art – a book on creating comics by the master.

#25: Invincible, Vol. 2 – hardcover collection of a bunch of the comics from Invincible, which is one of my favorite comics.

#26: Memory – a short novel that seems autobiographical (but probably isn’t) about a man who grows up in a post-Holocaust family with a big, terrible secret, and his forgiveness of his parents for that secret. I don’t know… this probably would have been a better autobiography, but as fiction, it lacks something (conflict, maybe).

#27: The Writer’s Guide to the Business of Comics – a slightly outdated guide to comic publishing.

#28: Save the Cat! – an excellent book on story structure for aspiring screenwriters. I disagree with some of the movie beats as broken down on the Save the Cat blog– at various points, I’m left wondering if they’re just kind of skimming over time or fudging where the beat should fall.

#29: Fables 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers (tpb) – Another one of my favorite comics, in trade paperback. Wooden g-men invade the mundane world.

#30: Finding Mr. Right – I listened to this on audiobook. It’s hard to explain the concept in a minute or less. After her death, the protagonist returns to earth to try and help her best friend find a new husband (cause she, the protagonist, had been cheating with her best friend’s now-late husband). But her mission is complicated by the fact that she must do so from the form of… a Welsh corgi. It’s a really entertaining story, but the plot is pretty transparent from about a third of the way in, and you’re just along for the ride, hoping there will be some surprises on the way (there aren’t).