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wyntir_knightOnce again I have hjoined the 50 book challenge. Maybe this time I'll be a little less picky about what I condsider to be a book and include comics and magazines ... well maybe full issues of National Geographic and Archaeology and comics once the story runs are complete. I don't know, it still feels like cheating to me.
Anyway, once again I present The List - in no particular order:
1. Silent Partner - Jonothan Kellerman
2. The Codex - Douglas Preston
3. Neuromancer - William Gibson
4. Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman
5. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kensey
6. Sandman: Book of Dreams - Various Authors, edited by Neil Gaiman
7. Saving Solace: Champions Volume 1 - Douglas W. Clark
8. The Echo - Minette Walters
9. A Morbid Taste for Bones - Ellis Peters
10. Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident - Eoin Colfer
11. In A Glass Darkly - Sheridan leFanu
12. Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald
13. Time Bomb - Jonothan Kellerman
14. King Solomon's Mines - H. Rider Haggard
16. Metropolis: a novel - Elizabeth Gaffney
17. One Lonely Night - Mickey Spillane
18. Tess of the D'Ubervilles - Thomas Hardy
19. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
20. The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck
21. The Book of the Dead - Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
22. The Devil in Babylon: Fear of Progress and the Birth of Modern Life - Allan Levine
23. Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Requires a Pagan Ethos - Robert D. Kaplan
24. The Pirate Hunter: The True Story Of Captain Kidd - Richard Zacks
25. The Children's Blizzard - David Laskin
26. Elmer McCurdy: The Life and Afterlife of An American Outlaw - Marc Svenvold
27. Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade - James Reston
28. Walking the Bible: A journey by land through the Five Books of Moses - Bruce Fieler
29. The Devil's Picnic: Around the World in Pursuit of Forbidden Fruit - Tara Grescoe
30. The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World - Jack Zipes
31. The Great Influenza - John Barry
32. Tea - Roy Moxham
33. A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire - Amy Butler Greenfield
34. Stalemate!: Great Trench Warfare Battles - J.H. Johnson
35. Triangle: the Fire that Changed America - David von Drehle
36. The Great Starvation Experiment: The Heroic Men Who Starved so That Millions Could Live - Todd Tucker
37. Fasting Girl - Michelle Stacey
38. Demon in the Waters - Gregory Gibson
39. Curse of the Narrows: The Halifax Explosion, 1917 - Laura Macdonald
40. Boy Soldiers of the Great War - Richard Van Emden
41. Treachery at Sharpnose Point: Unraveling the Mystery of the Caledonia's Final Voyage - Jeremy Seal
42. A Hanging Offense - Buckner Melton
33. The Men Who Stare at Goats - Jon Ronson
44. Out of Harm's Way - Jessica Mann
45. Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy - Diane Preston
46. Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
47. Eats, Shoots and Leaves - Lynn Truss
48. Heir to the Empire - Timothy Zahn
49. Tuesdays with Maury - Mitch Albom
50. A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine D'Engle
I've only read three books from the list so far, but with everything else going on, I guess that's no a bad start ... hmmm ... maybe I'll start including fanfiction in my list ...?
***
On to what I've read so far:
3 / 50 words. 6% done!
1) Eats Shoots and Leaves, by Lynn Truss
From the Publisher
A bona fide publishing phenomenon, Lynne Truss''s now classic #1 "New York Times" bestseller "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" makes its paperback debut after selling over 3 million copies worldwide in hardcover.
We all know the basics of punctuation. Or do we? A look at most neighborhood signage tells a different story. Through sloppy usage and low standards on the Internet, in e-mail, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species.
In "Eats, Shoots & Leaves," former editor Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled. From the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, this lively history makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with.
I can honestly say I really enjoyed this book. Sure, it looks just like a book about dry punctuation, but not only was it informative, it was also quite funny! And not only was it an entertaining read, it has helped me with my own writing. Every time I'm about to do something wrong, I just think of the handy dandy "punctuation repair kit" that was included with the book. Unfortunately, the book has made me a bit of a punctuation nazi and I'm seeing problems where I never saw them before.
2. Time Bomb, by Jonathan Kellerman
From the Publisher
Edgar Award winner Jonathan Kellerman once more explores the corruption of California''s golden coast and produces a novel of complex characterizations and nonstop suspense. By the time psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware reached the school the damage was done: A sniper had opened fire on a crowded playground, but was gunned down before any children were hurt. While the TV news crews feasted on the scene an Alex began his therapy sessions with the traumatized children, he couldn''t escape the image of a slight teenager clutching an oversized rifle. What was the identity behind the name and face: a would-be assassin, or just another victim beneath an indifferent California sky?
Intrigued by a request from the sniper's father to conduct a "psychological autopsy" of his child, Alex begins to uncover a strange pattern of innocence, neglect, and loss. Then suddenly it is more than a pattern -- it is a trail of blood. In the dead sniper''s past was a dark and vicious plot. And in Alex Delaware''s future is the stuff of grown-up nightmares: the face of real human evil.
I adore Kellerman's work and this was no exception. It's exciting, intriguin, and full of suspense, and it kept me guessing right up to the end. I love a good myustery and this was just that. I especially love that Kellerman has helped me love and care for the charactrers of Dr. Delaware and Detective Sturgis. I was not in any way disappointed by this instalment of the Alex Delaware Mysteries.
3. Heir to the Empire, by Timothy Zahn
From the Publisher
It's five years after Return of the Jedi: the Rebel Alliance has destroyed the Death Star, defeated Darth Vader and the Emperor, and driven out the remnants of the old Imperial Starfleet to a distant corner of the galaxy. Princess Leia and Han Solo are married and expecting Jedi Twins. And Luke Skywalker has become the first in a long-awaited line of Jedi Knights. But thousand of light-years away, the last of the emperor''s warlords has taken command of the shattered Imperial Fleet, readied it for war, and pointed it at the fragile heart of the new Republic. For this dark warrior has made two vital discoveries that could destroy everything the courageous men and women of the Rebel Alliance fought so hard to build. The explosive confrontation that results is a towering epic of action, invention, mystery, and spectacle on a galactic scale--in short, a story worthy of the name Star Wars.
This was a re-read for me and I liked it just as much this time as last time. It really is a pity that this series is no longer considered canon because Zahn had some fantastic ideas of where the story was going. Well, Lucas may not consider it canon, but for me, Zahn's trillogy always will be.
Anyway, once again I present The List - in no particular order:
1. Silent Partner - Jonothan Kellerman
2. The Codex - Douglas Preston
3. Neuromancer - William Gibson
4. Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman
5. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kensey
6. Sandman: Book of Dreams - Various Authors, edited by Neil Gaiman
7. Saving Solace: Champions Volume 1 - Douglas W. Clark
8. The Echo - Minette Walters
9. A Morbid Taste for Bones - Ellis Peters
10. Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident - Eoin Colfer
11. In A Glass Darkly - Sheridan leFanu
12. Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald
14. King Solomon's Mines - H. Rider Haggard
16. Metropolis: a novel - Elizabeth Gaffney
17. One Lonely Night - Mickey Spillane
18. Tess of the D'Ubervilles - Thomas Hardy
19. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
20. The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck
21. The Book of the Dead - Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
23. Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Requires a Pagan Ethos - Robert D. Kaplan
24. The Pirate Hunter: The True Story Of Captain Kidd - Richard Zacks
25. The Children's Blizzard - David Laskin
26. Elmer McCurdy: The Life and Afterlife of An American Outlaw - Marc Svenvold
27. Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade - James Reston
28. Walking the Bible: A journey by land through the Five Books of Moses - Bruce Fieler
29. The Devil's Picnic: Around the World in Pursuit of Forbidden Fruit - Tara Grescoe
30. The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World - Jack Zipes
31. The Great Influenza - John Barry
32. Tea - Roy Moxham
33. A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire - Amy Butler Greenfield
34. Stalemate!: Great Trench Warfare Battles - J.H. Johnson
35. Triangle: the Fire that Changed America - David von Drehle
36. The Great Starvation Experiment: The Heroic Men Who Starved so That Millions Could Live - Todd Tucker
37. Fasting Girl - Michelle Stacey
38. Demon in the Waters - Gregory Gibson
39. Curse of the Narrows: The Halifax Explosion, 1917 - Laura Macdonald
40. Boy Soldiers of the Great War - Richard Van Emden
41. Treachery at Sharpnose Point: Unraveling the Mystery of the Caledonia's Final Voyage - Jeremy Seal
42. A Hanging Offense - Buckner Melton
33. The Men Who Stare at Goats - Jon Ronson
44. Out of Harm's Way - Jessica Mann
45. Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy - Diane Preston
49. Tuesdays with Maury - Mitch Albom
50. A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine D'Engle
I've only read three books from the list so far, but with everything else going on, I guess that's no a bad start ... hmmm ... maybe I'll start including fanfiction in my list ...?
***
On to what I've read so far:
1) Eats Shoots and Leaves, by Lynn Truss
From the Publisher
A bona fide publishing phenomenon, Lynne Truss''s now classic #1 "New York Times" bestseller "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" makes its paperback debut after selling over 3 million copies worldwide in hardcover.
We all know the basics of punctuation. Or do we? A look at most neighborhood signage tells a different story. Through sloppy usage and low standards on the Internet, in e-mail, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species.
In "Eats, Shoots & Leaves," former editor Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled. From the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, this lively history makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with.
I can honestly say I really enjoyed this book. Sure, it looks just like a book about dry punctuation, but not only was it informative, it was also quite funny! And not only was it an entertaining read, it has helped me with my own writing. Every time I'm about to do something wrong, I just think of the handy dandy "punctuation repair kit" that was included with the book. Unfortunately, the book has made me a bit of a punctuation nazi and I'm seeing problems where I never saw them before.
2. Time Bomb, by Jonathan Kellerman
From the Publisher
Edgar Award winner Jonathan Kellerman once more explores the corruption of California''s golden coast and produces a novel of complex characterizations and nonstop suspense. By the time psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware reached the school the damage was done: A sniper had opened fire on a crowded playground, but was gunned down before any children were hurt. While the TV news crews feasted on the scene an Alex began his therapy sessions with the traumatized children, he couldn''t escape the image of a slight teenager clutching an oversized rifle. What was the identity behind the name and face: a would-be assassin, or just another victim beneath an indifferent California sky?
Intrigued by a request from the sniper's father to conduct a "psychological autopsy" of his child, Alex begins to uncover a strange pattern of innocence, neglect, and loss. Then suddenly it is more than a pattern -- it is a trail of blood. In the dead sniper''s past was a dark and vicious plot. And in Alex Delaware''s future is the stuff of grown-up nightmares: the face of real human evil.
I adore Kellerman's work and this was no exception. It's exciting, intriguin, and full of suspense, and it kept me guessing right up to the end. I love a good myustery and this was just that. I especially love that Kellerman has helped me love and care for the charactrers of Dr. Delaware and Detective Sturgis. I was not in any way disappointed by this instalment of the Alex Delaware Mysteries.
3. Heir to the Empire, by Timothy Zahn
From the Publisher
It's five years after Return of the Jedi: the Rebel Alliance has destroyed the Death Star, defeated Darth Vader and the Emperor, and driven out the remnants of the old Imperial Starfleet to a distant corner of the galaxy. Princess Leia and Han Solo are married and expecting Jedi Twins. And Luke Skywalker has become the first in a long-awaited line of Jedi Knights. But thousand of light-years away, the last of the emperor''s warlords has taken command of the shattered Imperial Fleet, readied it for war, and pointed it at the fragile heart of the new Republic. For this dark warrior has made two vital discoveries that could destroy everything the courageous men and women of the Rebel Alliance fought so hard to build. The explosive confrontation that results is a towering epic of action, invention, mystery, and spectacle on a galactic scale--in short, a story worthy of the name Star Wars.
This was a re-read for me and I liked it just as much this time as last time. It really is a pity that this series is no longer considered canon because Zahn had some fantastic ideas of where the story was going. Well, Lucas may not consider it canon, but for me, Zahn's trillogy always will be.