What are YOU reading in 2010?

As you read your way through 2010, list your books here, and give a brief comment on the book, if you like.
This isn't a challenge, but a nice way to a) keep a record of the books you read; and 2) share your thoughts and recommendations.


These are my books so far for 2010:

1. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (*5 stars*)
2. The Humbling by Phillip Roth (*2 stars* ~ disturbing)
3. Push by Sapphire (*3 stars* ~ made into the movie "Precious")
4. A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein (*2 stars* ~ started out great then petered quickly)
5. Tavern on the Green Cook Book (*2 stars* ~ only a few originals which look worthwhile to make)
6. Easy Gluten Free Baking by Elizabeth Barbone (*5 stars* ~ tons of super-delicious and easy recipes)
7. A Princess of Landover by Terry Brooks (*2 stars* ~ just wasn't my cup of tea, but I think my daughter would love it)
8. Maggie’s Miracle by Karen Kingsbury (*3 stars* ~ very cute, very sweet Christian romance that had me teary in a few spots)
9. The Highlander Touch by Karen Marie Moning (*no stars* ~ really poorly written Highlander romance set in the 1600s? It was just BAD.)

What a great idea...

This is January 2010

Revelation by C J Sansom. 5*****The third book in a series about Tudor lawyer Matthew Shardlake.
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon. 5***** Loved it.
Katherine the Queen by Linda Porter 5***** A biography about Henry VIII's sixth wife. Fascinating history.
An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon 5*****. Loved it.
The Lady of the Butterflies by Fiona Mountain. 4****Set in the English civil War and is about a lady who likes to collect butterflies!
Conflict of Empires by Sam Barone.4**** An epic book set in the Bronze age and mainly about fighting.
Evermore by Alyson Noel. 3***In the style of Stephenie Meyer, just not as good.
The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse 5***** Wonderful evocative book set in France and has themes of love and loss. A weepy !
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffeneger 5*****Gloomy and Gothic with a little bit of magic. Great read.

O.... what a great list! I can't wait to see what everyone is reading ...

Reread Echo in the Bones - we all know about this book but liked it better the 2nd time around

Picture Perfect - Jodi Picoult - An anthropologist is hired on a movie set, falls in love and marries the abusive star. She hides out at an Indian reservation and discovers herself to confront her inner demons.

The Pioneers - James Cooper - written in 1845ish about life in the early settlement of New York. Really interesting considering how long ago it was written, especially if you like historical fiction. I can see how Sara Donati conceived Into the Wild based on this book.

The Courtier's Secret (can't remember the author)- Freespirited nobleman's daughter always dreamed of being a Musketeer and disguises herself as such and then falls in love with another Musketeer. Very cute.

The Huntress - Susannah Carroll - 4th in the series of the Ladies of Faire Isle. Each book highlights a different daughter of the earth. Enjoyable series

The Shack - Wm.Paul Young - Currently reading. A tragedy occurs where a father's daughter is murdered in a Shack and he goes back to spend a weekend there at the request of "God" for a spiritual confrontation. It is a good book and my sister in law and friend at work said that I need to read it to the end, but honestly, I'm in a reading place where I just want to escape in fantasyland. I've been through my spiritual reading phase and can see that this is a really good book in that genre, but if I knew a child was murdered, I wouldn't have started it.

The Shack has been in my reading pile since April of last year. So many friends (and Sister from my RCIA class) told me how great it is... but I just can't pick it up. It just sits there. Maybe, like you, constantino, I've done my share of spiritual reading and I just want fun, interesting, grab-you-by-the-seat-of-your-pants and make-you-sigh-in-contentment fiction.

Well, I will try this but I know I am going to feel bad compared to you all. I just don't have enough time to read these days, about 1/2hr in the morning with my breakfast and 45mins at lunch-3 days a week. Sometimes I can squeeze in a chapter or 2 on the weekends.

Started my new year with Lover Avenged - J R Ward - the most recent book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series and I really liked it. Lots going on but really fun.

Dead and Gone - Charlaine Harris - the most recent of the Sookie Stackhouse books - very fun and very fast read. I just started it Friday and I will finish probably in the morning.

Then I am back to The Fiery Cross.

I'm rekilting Outlander. I barely have time for that.
I'd like to reread Pride and Prejudice. Maybe I'll squeeze it in this weekend.
I recently finished Sara's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. That was wonderful.

I am reading A year with Thomas Merton. Each day the author has an entry. I only read a page a day. It will take me 365 days.

I am currently reading the second book in Sara Donati's Into the Wilderness series, which features the saga of Nathaniel Bonner and Elizabeth Middleton. Within the next few months, I plan to have read all six of the books (Dawn on a Distant Shore, Lake in the Clouds, Fire Along the Sky and Queen of Swords), including the last one in the series, The Endless Forest, to be released on January 19th.

Also slated for reading during 2010 are:

James Fenimore Cooper's, The Pioneers, whose story precedes the ItW series,
Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series (City of Bones; City of Ashes; City of Glass),
Suzanne Collins' Catching Fire and
Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture.

Adding to my list:

10. Dark Lover by JR Ward ~ book #1 in the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Wrath meets Beth.

One other book on my list that I forgot to include is Rosina Lippi's (aka Sara Donati) Homestead, a novel about an isolated village in Austria and the lives of its inhabitants, spanning from 1909 to 1977. It is written as a series of short stories told from the perspective of different characters.

Laura, I am dying to know what you think of Dark Lover. I love Wrath.

*sheepishly shy grin* This was my 2nd re-vhamp of Dark Lover. I'm not sure which of the BDB are my favorite, but Wrath is at the top of the list.

I love them all too. My favorite is the one I am reading at the moment. Since I just finished with Rhev, he is my current fav.

After Fiery Cross, I think I will pickup the Dark Hunter series.

I will be reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I tried to reserve it and there are 269 people ahead of me. My colleague said she will put it in my mailbox tomorrow. So I will be reading that. I heard it is amazing.
Am still rekilting Outlander, with notes.
My AP Spanish is reading El Colonel no Tiene Quien le Escriba by García Márquez, so I will need to revamp that one. With notes.
I will be rekilting Echo as well.

Costantino, I should have mentioned this earlier but The Shack is wonderful. Everyone who has read it loves it.
Jayne, you will love Cassandra Claire. She has another one following the City of Glass. It is called City of Fallen Angels.

Just finished the following (but haven't finished the Shack - I promise that I will but needed a break from the anguish for a little while):

The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Dominique - The story of a ghost who died accidentally in the prime of her life in 1920's New Orleans. She can't get to the other side and attaches herself in about 60 years to a young couple who are at a cross-roads in their relationship. As the story unfolds, mysteries are revealed about why she can't pass from the world, what happened in her past, why this couple at this time.

The Rose of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon - This is the story of 2 young women in the 1800's, Rose Barr and her cousin Mariella Langwood. Rose is the feisty one while Mariella is the quiet obedient one until Rose throws all caution to the wind and follows Florence Nightengale to the Crimean war in an effort to become a nurse which has been her dream. She disappears and through a series of events, Mariella embarks on a journey to find out what happened to Rose and discover the truth about the rumors circulating regarding Rose. Along the way, she starts challenging all of her beliefs and innocence about life and love and faithfulness.

The Temptation of the Night Jasmine - Lauren Willig - This is part of a series of The Pink Carnation but I never read any the others. It starts in the present with a young Harvard woman doing her dissertation on spys, etc., in King George's court. As she starts to read two women's correspondence, the story goes into what happened to them. There's Kings, Nobles, Dukes, Courtiers and of all things The Hell Fire Club which I learned a little more about. This was a great little story and I liked the way it went back to the future every so often. I'll probably read the rest of the series when I finish the rest of my stack, including The Shack.