Books I’ve Read So Far This Year, Listed By Favorites

This morning, I promised myself that I would get a blog post up, no matter what.

I would like to claim to have a lot of work to excuse my laziness here but sadly, I can’t. The best I can offer is that a lot of different things came up this week and it probably fried my brain because I felt like all over the place. Still do, in fact, which means this post is not all that special.

So when I saw the Friday the 13th 13 book meme at Barbara’s blog yesterday, I thought that I could do that meme, too (and have something to post). I was supposed to name 13 of my favorite books I’ve read so far this year. Then I looked at my list of books I’ve read this year: 17 – with three re-reads!

Okaaay, so no book meme (and no blog post) for me on Friday.

But I liked the idea of naming favorite books, and it could come in handy at the end of the year when I think about my favorite reads, so I went with the gist of the meme.

Here is my list of books I’ve read so far this year, going from favorite to less favorite books (I read Cold As Ice twice this year so there are 16 books on the list):

1. Anne Stuart – Black Ice
2. Julie Anne Long – Like No Other Lover
3. Sandra Hill – The Love Potion (re-read)*
4. J. R. Ward – Lover Eternal (re-read)*
5. Kathleen O’Reilly – Nightcap
6. Tori Carrington – Reckless
7. Sophie Kinsella – Remember Me?
8. Larissa Ione – Pleasure Unbound
9. Sophie Kinsella – Can You Keep a Secret?
10. Connie Brockway – All Through the Night
11. Justine Davis – Backstreet Hero
12. Anne Stuart – Cold As Ice (re-read)
13. Carolyn Jewel – Scandal
14. Caroline Linden – What a Rogue Desires
15. Helen Brooks – Ruthless Tycoon, Innocent Wife
16. Shirley Kennedy – The Selfless Sister

[* These two books are re-reads and already on my list of favorite books. If not for that, they would have been placed higher than Julie Anne Long’s Like No Other Lover.]

Depending on what I focus on in ordering the novels, the list changes. Some books move up a few places, some down a few places, but there’s a line between the first eight books and the others that’s not crossed, so the overall impression of my favorite and less favorite books is accurate.

And what’s good to know at the end of the year: Black Ice is my number one read so far no matter what focus.

So Many Interesting Books To Read

And then there’s Linda Howard’s Open Season which is supposed to be funny and I always can use a laugh or two

and the other books listed on the sidebar

and the book I need to read for Keishon’s TBR Challenge

and I’m like:

because I can’t decide!

(yeah, I know, it’s that molehill-mountain thing again)

This Week’s Haul

From the library*:

• Barbara Kingsolver – The Poisonwood Bible
  
• Sophie Kinsella – Remember Me?
  
• a biography about E.T.A. Hoffmann, “a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror” (Wikipedia), by Rüdiger Safranski
  

* After I don’t know how many years, I got a library card again. I figured it’s a good way to get my hands on books I’m interested in reading but unlikely to buy myself (non-fiction in particular).

Books ordered:

• Kristin Hardy – Her High-Stakes Playboy / Sealed With a Kiss: 2 in 1; (US titles: Certified Male / U.S. Male)
  
• Sophie Kinsella – Can You Keep a Secret?
  
• Anne McCaffrey – The Rowan
  
• A. N. Wilson – The Victorians
  

In the mail:

• Lara Adrian – Veil of Midnight
• Kresley Cole – Kiss of a Demon King
• Megan Hart – Stranger
• Sophie Kinsella – Can You Keep a Secret?

I also bought:

*giddy, giddy*

Persona 3 – FES
I finally saw it in a shop and now it’s mine!

Two Dumb Things About Reading and Buying Books (And Me)

Okay, so I’m procrastinating here with this post when I actually have to work but when I look at the calendar in the sidebar it shows that there’s not one post on a Tuesday this month and for me, that reason is good enough.

So, two dumb things about reading and buying books in relation to moi.

Dumb Thing #1

I have nearly 100 books in my TBR pile, I have a couple of books I’m really interested in reading, all bought either in December or Nobember 2008:

Larissa Ione – Pleasure Unbound
It’s a favorite of some readers and it sounds interesting. I mean “…his quest to find his perfect mate before a horrific transformation claims him forever” (back blurb) – phew. And the next one will be out in March, 2009 so I should read this one already.

Caroline Linden – What a Rogue Desires
I bought this one because I really liked Linden’s What a Gentleman Wants and A Rake’s Guide to Seduction, which I read first and while I didn’t like it as much as What a Gentleman Wants it wasn’t bad either. It’s time I read this because Linden has a new one out in February, A View to a Kiss.

Deanna Raybourn – Silent in the Grave
I actually got it because I couldn’t resist the price. My inner bargain hunter couldn’t be swayed even after I pointed out that not buying the book would be even better money-wise than buying it for the greatly reduced price. Then I read the first two sentences and shut up:
“To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband’s dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor.” – Oh, goody.

Anne Stuart – Black Ice
I read one Anne Stuart: Hidden Honor which was mostly a fail. But the comments I read for this series sounded intriguing, so I finally bought the first one. And Carolyn Jean just wrote a post about Black Ice that really made me “OMG, I have to read this one right now!”

and yet, when it actually comes to sitting down and reading, I look at these books and I can’t decide or work up any interest even though I’m interested and then I end up reading nothing!

Dumb.

Especially because I had no problem reading two category novels and the two books for the blog challenges. Since writing these things down often helps me, let’s see if it works this time.

Dumb Thing #2

Now, with all this going on, I went and bought more books today:

Lara Adrian – Veil of Midnight
I really like Adrian’s Midnight Breed series and especially the world she created there because so far, it seems consistent. I read positive reviews about this one but actually, I would have bought this book even without them.

Kresley Cole – Kiss of a Demon King
This one is also a paranormal series I like. That I like it was actually the biggest reading surprise I had in 2008 because when I read A Hunger Like No Other, I was far from being wowed and I couldn’t imagine I would read another book in that series. But here I am, not reading any reviews for fear of reading a spoiler when I usually don’t have a problem knowing them. This series is just so much fun, I’m even tempted to read the first one again.

Megan Hart – Stranger
When I read my first Megan Hart novel, Dirty, back in 2007, I was a goner. I bought the next two and while Hart’s novels might not be “flawless,” the stories she tells and the way she writes them appeals to me greatly. The stories are honest, blunt, and raw, and I appreciate that a lot, especially because that’s something I miss in many romance novels (not that I think Hart writes romance). With Hart’s novels, I actually don’t mind that the books cost more than I’m normally willing to pay for a book, and I also have to say, I really like the covers.

I bought these with a gift certificate I got for Christmas. I was tempted to hop on the Internet and order them right on December, 24, (I want them!) but I got a hold of myself. And then my whatever slump kicked in big time and I actually don’t think I will read them right away when I get them (see dumb thing #1) but yeah, I had to buy them now.

Why?

I have a gift certificate for books for over a month now and haven’t used it yet.

Really dumb.

I also nearly bought:

• Robin McKinley – Beauty
• Richelle Mead – Vampire Academy

But I could stop me there.

Because buying books that are not auto-buys now would be

really, really dumb.