Leah's 2010 Categories

My goal is to read sixty books with a minimum of three from each category.




1. An Alternate History (Historical Fantasy/Steampunk)
2. Creatures in the City (UF Authors I Haven't Read)
3. End of the World or Brave New One (Apocalyptic/Dystopian)
4. Girls Kick Ass (F/UF Series)
5. The Fav List (Favorites)
6. The Pile (To Be Read)
7. The Yang of SF/F (Male Authors)
8. The Yin of SF/F (Female Authors)
9. Who Done It (Crime Fiction/Mystery)
10. You Must Read This (ARC/Book Club/Recommended)

An Alternate History

The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman 12-10-2010
The Queen's Bastard by C. E. Murphy 4-6-2010
His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik 7-9-2010

Creatures in the City

Deadtown by Nancy Holzner 4-15-2010
Mind Games by Carolyn Crane 6-3-2010
Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire 2-23-2010
Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill 7-27-2010
Something from the Nightside by Simon R. Green 5-29-2010
The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint 5-17-2010

End of the World or Brave New One

Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey 1-12-2010
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 7-13-2010
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins 8-12-2010
Under the Dome by Stephen King 7-22-2010
Unwind by Neal Shusterman 3-30-2010

Girls Kick Ass

Chloe Neill: Friday Night Bites 8-1-2010 / Twice Bitten: A Chicagoland Vampires Novel 8-3-2010
Jocelyn Drake: Dawnbreaker 6-11-2010 / Pray for Dawn 7-19-2010 / Wait for Dusk 7-23-2010
Lisa Shearin: Armed & Magical 6-26-2010 / The Trouble With Demons 6-27-2010 / Bewitched & Betrayed 6-28-2010
Seanan McGuire: A Local Habitation 3-5-2010 / An Artificial Night 9-19-2010
Stacia Kane: Unholy Magic 7-24-2010 / City of Ghosts (Downside) 8-5-2010
Vicki Pettersson: City of Souls 1-23-2010 / Cheat the Grave 7-5-2010

The Fav List

Changes (Dresden Files, Book 12) by Jim Butcher 5-6-2010
Cast in Chaos by Michelle Sagara 8-9-2010
Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris 5-15-2010
Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews 5-25-2010
Naamah's Curse by Jacqueline Carey 7-16-2010
Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs 4-27-2010

The Pile

Chill Factor (Weather Warden) by Rachel Caine 4-19-2010
Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold 4-11-2010
Dead to Me by Anton Strout 6-2-2010
Dreams Made Flesh by Anne Bishop 3-27-2010
Witch Craft by Caitlin Kittredge 4-1-2010

The Yang of SF/F

First Lord's Fury by Jim Butcher 1-7-2010
The Princess Bride by William Goldman 5-30-2010
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein 10-18-2010
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien 12-14-2010

The Yin of SF/F

Arkfall by Carolyn Ives Gilman 9-4-2010
Child of the Prophecy by Juliet Marillier 3-10-2010
Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin 5-11-2010
The Cipher (Crosspointe) by Diana Pharaoh Francis 6-6-2010
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin 3-24-2010
Keeper of Light and Dust by Natasha Mostert 6-22-2010
Stardoc by S. L. Viehl 10-1-2010

Who Done It

The City and The City by China Miéville 9-27-2010
Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris 1-2-2010
Labyrinth (Greywalker) by Kat Richardson 11-24-2010
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson 2-16-2010

You Must Read This

Dark and Stormy Knights 6-23-2010 by P. N. Elrod
Out of Mind (Court of Angels) by Stella Cameron 4-30-2010
Stitches: A Memoir by David Small 2-4-2010
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin 6-20-2010
Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane 5-12-2010
When Blood Calls by J.K. Beck 9-4-2010
WWW:Wake by Robert J. Sawyer 8-16-2010

Finished in January:

City of Souls - 4th in the series, took awhile to get used to the superhero aspect but her writing is tight and the overall story arc has several twists that keep me interested.
First Lord's Fury - Decent ending to the Codex Alera series, but you knew where you were headed from the first novel. Butcher's greatest strength is his characters and tight plotting.
Grave Secret - More cozy mystery than paranormal but Harris delivers.
Santa Olivia - Not like the Kushiel series at all but still excellent writing, review.

Finished in February:

Rosemary and Rue - really enjoyed this, definitely will read the next one. Good characterization and interesting well-paced plot.
Stitches: A Memoir - My first graphic novel and wow. Powerful, review.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Really enjoyed this thriller who-done-it. Not too crazy about the hero but the heroine is so interesting I can't wait to read more about her.

Finished in March:

A Local Habitation - good, looking forward to the next one.
Child of the Prophecy - good, review.
Dreams Made Flesh - Four stories set in the same world as the Black Jewels Trilogy. Not as interesting as the trilogy but still satisfying.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - The writing is what made this fantasy good. It's unusual and grabs you from the beginning. Jemisin does characterization very well and there is a satisfying ending.
Unwind - really good, review.

Finished so far in April:

Witch Craft - 4th in the series and just OK urban fantasy, last one I will read.
The Queen's Bastard (The Inheritors' Cycle) - I still can't decide if I actually liked the heroine or not. I understood her motivations at first and was actually hooked until the weird twist at the end. I can't elaborate without giving away a major spoiler but it was really bizarre and rather off putting. Sort of like putting green olives in strawberry ice cream, who would do that? I am not sure if I want to read the next in the series.

Finished:
Cordelia's Honor - My fist Lois McMaster Bujold. Several people have touted this author (especially this particular series) so I have somewhat high expectations. Update: I was not disappointed. Review.

Up Next:
Deadtown - This was blurbed by two authors I enjoy so I am hopeful this will be an entertaining urban fantasy. It's getting harder and harder to find something interesting much less original in this genre though.

Finished:
Deadtown - Ok, nothing to write home about. Review.

You have some interesting books so far this year. You're description of The Queen's Bastard intrigued me--mostly from the olive comparison. I like to eat black olives on my tuna sandwiches. . . apparently that's not common practice? At least not with the people I know. I checked the page for it and there seem to be a lot of mixed reviews for that one. I might see if the library has it, just to find out the 'horrible' thing the main character does that seems to have everyone in a huff/confused.

Finished:
Out of Mind (Court of Angels) by Stella Cameron - what a disappointment. Review

Katelisim - I love black olives lol, I was just saying the weird twist at the end was like eating strawberry ice cream with green olives in it. Wouldn't that taste be odd and rather unexpected? Black olives and tuna though? Perfectly good. :)

Finished:
Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs - She never disappoints. If you want to try urban fantasy start with her.

Finished:
Changes (Dresden Files, Book 12) by Jim Butcher - Another UF author who never disappoints. Great read.

Finished:
Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane - surprisingly good read, review.

Finished:
Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin - fun read.
Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris - not the best in the series but still pretty good.
Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews - I think the action in the previous book was more interesting but the dynamics b/w the characters make up for it. Excellent.

Interesting categories! I see you recently finished Mystery of Grace. I'm working on that one right now.

Finished:
Something from the Nightside by Simon R. Green - Ok but a bit of a disappointment, review.

mathgirl40 - Thanks! I liked Mystery of Grace. What did you think? I really enjoyed the characters but it was a bit of a sad ending.

Finished:
The Princess Bride by William Goldman - I think I enjoyed this purely because I saw the movie first and loved it. I have no idea how I would've reacted to this if I had read it first. I was a bit surprised by how much of the dialog was exactly the same. Great stuff.

Finished:
Dead to Me by Anton Strout - Really bad world building (just ridiculous - Fraternal Order of Goodness - F.O.G.ies/train oracle/ghost sniffers) and annoying characters (seriously, Simon is an idiot). I am at a loss to understand if this was a serious effort at writing an Urban Fantasy novel or if Mr. Strout was attempting to mock the genre. It wasn't done well enough to pull off the latter and it's in need of several rewrites to pull off the former.

Finished:
Mind Games by Carolyn Crane - Really good! Original and very interesting premise, unusual heroine and good pacing.

Finished:
The Cipher (Crosspointe) by Diana Pharaoh Francis - enjoyed this one. Interesting magical system and maritime setting with a touch of romance.

Finished:
Dawnbreaker by Jocelynn Drake - OK, review.

Finished:
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin - good but depressing.

Finished:
The Keeper of Light and Dust by Natasha Mostert - liked the combination of martial arts, mysticism and magic.

Finished:
Dark and Stormy Knights by P. N. Elrod - enjoyed most of the stories, review.

Finished:
Armed & Magical, The Trouble With Demons and Bewitched & Betrayed by Lisa Shearin - fun light fantasy reads with goblins and elves.

Finished:
Cheat the Grave by Vicki Pettersson - good read, really like this series.
His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik - one of my favorite reads of 2010.

Naomi Novik's Temeraire Series is really good, isn't it! I have read and enjoyed the first three of the series and am looking forward to the 4th, 5th and 6th.

I picked His Majesty's Dragon up this past weekend given this discussion -- looking forward to starting it in a little bit yet!

>DeltaQueen50 - I am about to start the second one. Several gals in my book club have read the first three as well but found the third one a bit tedious. Did you find that as well?

>pammb - I thought it was well done. I haven't read much with dragons in it but the gals in my book club said often they aren't portrayed well and I might not like them but they were definitely the most interesting characters in His Majesty's Dragon. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Finished:
The Hunger Games - wow, where were these kind of books when I was a teen? This was almost as disturbing as Unwind.

Re #40 - I actually may be in the minority here, but I really loved the third book. It was the second book that I found sort of dragged. I mentioned this to my daughter, who was the one that originally brought these books to my attention, and she said that she and most of her friends preferred the second book to the third.

I also loved The Hunger Games and the second book Catching Fire was excellent as well.

Finished: Naamah's Curse by Jacqueline Carey - Couldn't put the book down but somehow I was disappointed with this installment. Maybe it was the lack of political intrigue that defined the Kushiel Series or maybe I just didn't connect at all with Moirin's main love interest, Bao. I do like Moirin quite a bit however so I am looking forward to the last book, Naamah's Blessing.

Finished:
Pray for Dawn by Jocelynn Drake - told from Danaus' point of view and that probably saved this series for me. Finally some interesting things happen and it ends on a big cliffhanger. Fortunately the next one comes at at the end of this month.

Finished:
Under the Dome by Steven King - pacing and characterization well done, didn't get bored during the entire 1000 page read. I found the ending to be a bit simplistic after all that build up though.

Finished:
Wait for Dusk by Joycelynn Drake - satisfying, several ends tied up.
Unholy Magic by Stacia Kane - good read but Chess' drug habits and bad decisions are starting to get on my nerves. She is definitely an unusual heroine and none of her behavior is far fetched given her background but I am ready for her to have some good fortune come her way.

Finished:
Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill - well written and funny, really enjoyed this. Nothing truly original here but Neill has a witty voice with excellent characterization and pacing. Looking forward to reading the rest in the series.

Finished:
Friday Night Bites and Twice Bitten (Chicagoland Vampires) by Chloe Neill - a bit of a disappointment after enjoying the first one. The humor is missing and the story becomes a bit predictable.
City of Ghosts (Downside) by Stacia Kane - OK, wouldn't say I am eagerly anticipating the next in the series though. There is a bit of a bog in the magical details but Kane is developing Chess' character if a bit slowly.

Finished:
Cast in Chaos - really good. Haven't read any of her other series and I understand this one to be more fantasy-light for her but I love it. It's one of my favorites.

DNF:
WWW:Wake by Robert J. Sawyer - got 2/3rds of the way through and couldn't pick it up again. It was so boring. It's written like a young adult novel and not a very good one at that. Quite a disappointment.

@50, I'd read the blurb on the back of that one and thought it sounded like an interesting read. Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it.

>51 AHS-Wolfy: - I thought the same thing but somehow it just never got there.

Finished:
Catching Fire - not quite as compelling as the first but I'm hooked.
Arkfall - really good, I can see why it was nominated for a Nebula. My favorite SF read this year so far.
When Blood Calls - disappointing but to be fair I am picky about my paranormal romances. There are only a handful of authors that do it well and even that's not guaranteed every time.

Finished:
An Artificial Night - really good UF series, this was the best one yet.

Finished:
Labryinth - good read, one of my favorite paranormal mystery series. Lots of series plot threads tied up in this one.

Finished:
The Half-Made World - cool premise but disappointed in characterization.
The Hobbit - great story, really enjoyed the writing.

DONE!!

Congraulations on completing your challenge - good timing as well!

Yay! Another reader crosses the finish line - Congratulations on finishing your challenge!

Congratulations!

Thanks! :)

Congratulations, Leah!