Mystery & Suspense Challenge 2011

I did such a bang up job on this challenge last year, I figured why not give it another go.  So I'm signing up for the Mystery & Suspense Challenge 2011 hosted once again by Carolyn of Book Chick City.

The rules are the same as last year, but I will let Carolyn explain them to you:

Sign Up

•To sign up you MUST make a post on your blog about participating in the challenge - you then use the URL of the post to sign up to the challenge by adding it to Mr Linky. DO NOT just add your blog URL - this will be deleted. Also please be aware that unless you show you are joining the challenge with a participation post your ARC will not be sent. (Yes, all participants get a free ARC!)

•You must add the button to your sidebar - make sure that it links back to this post so others can join the challenge if they wish. Easiest way to do this is to copy and paste the code displayed above!

Other Details

•Timeline: 01 Jan 2011 - 31 Dec 2011

•Rules: To read TWELVE (12) mystery & suspense novels in 2011 (12 is the minimum but you can read more if you wish!)

•You don't have to select your books ahead of time, you can just add them as you go. Also if you do list them upfront you can change them, nothing is set in stone! The books you choose can crossover into other challenges you have on the go.

•You can join anytime between now and the later part of next year.

•At the beginning of Jan 2011, you will find a link to specific month to add your reviews. There will be a monthly prize too courtesy of the lovely Simon & Schuster - you must be signed up to the challenge and add the link to your review to be entered into the monthly prize draw.

So those are the rules and I can't wait to get started.  I'm going to try harder this year to post my wrap-up once I'm done with the 12 books though and not wait until I've read 3 times that amount.

Welcoming in 2011!

I would like to thank everyone who has ever taken the time to read even one of my posts over the last year.  I'm grateful beyond words to all of you who feel like I have something to contribute to the book blogging community.  I'm look forward to the coming year and would like to wish you all a blessed New Year.  One that will bring you everything you need and then some.

Happy New Year!

Top 10 Favorite Books of 2010

With this year ending and a new one beginning, I thought it best to post my favorite books of 2010.  Like last year's list, these will be books that I read for the first time this year, no rereads.  Some of these books were published this year but most were published prior to that.  It was harder to narrow it down this year.  I"m not sure if that's simply due to the fact that I read more this year or if it's just because I read more really good books over the last 12 months, despite the handful of really horrible reads sprinkled throughout.  I was actually toying with the idea of making this a Best/Worst of list but decided against that.  So with nor further ado, here are my favorite, in no particular order, books read in 2010.  If you click the title it will take you to my review of the book.

The Terror by Dan Simmons

In the Woods by Tana French

The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie

The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff

Solstice Wood by Patricia A. McKillip

The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers

Raven Stole the Moon by Garth Stein

The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet by Myrlin A. Hermes

In the Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White

Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

When a strange creature is spotted in numerous locations all over the globe, an American ship is set out to investigate and kill the creature that is starting to threaten ships in every ocean.  On board that ship is a French professor, Pierre Aronnax.  Through a series of events the professor discovers that not only is the creature a submarine, but ends up on that same submarine for a trip around the world.

As with, Journey to the Center of the Earth, this was a work by Jules Verne that I had always wanted to read, but never got around to it.  I'm glad I've read this one but I'm not really sure how often I'll be pulling it out.

For me, this book seems to be a strange combination of scientific journal, travelogue, and adventure story.    The story actually starts off in such a way that I was hooked from the beginning, the pace is fast and the writing style zips you along from page to page.  Where I ran into problems with this book is the science part of it, I really don't know how accurate all the scientific terms describing oceanic life are, but what I do know is that they take up multiples pages at a time and I tended to find myself skimming those sections.  The professor goes into great detail describing all the different species he sees out the gallery window as they are traveling through the waters.  When he isn't describing them, he's talking about them with his assistant who ended up on the submarine with him.  I know it's probably me, but I could have used more action and less description.

Where this books shined for me, were the action scenes.  Even the scenes where Captain Nemo leads the professor out of the Nautilus for jaunts on the sea floor are fascinating to read and I found myself wishing I was there to see everything for myself.  Thankfully there were enough of these segments to keep me reading the book and in a way they felt like rewards for plodding through all the other stuff.  Even the scenes that weren't very long captured my imagination.  Remember the giant octopus scene from the movie?  In the book it only takes up 2-3 pages but is so intense that it's what most people know about the book.

After I was done reading it, I was better able to understand why so many people love this story.  Now while I enjoyed it, I'm not one that loved it.  For me the descriptions were just too much for me and the characters were a little one dimensional and never really developed beyond where they are introduced to us.  Even with that though, I'm happy I read it and will probably do so again, but not anytime soon.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Tess McGill

I was going to end this month and this year with another Christmas FFC, but I realized 4 a month would be fine.  So instead I'm going back to one of my favorite movies of the 80s and a character that I love for a lot of the same reasons I love Brantley Foster from "The Secret of My Success".

Tess McGill, from "Working Girl", is a bright young woman who is tired of being stuck in the secretarial pool and when she realizes she is never going to get where she wants in her current job, it's off to the next one.  At first she thinks she found the dream job, she has an understanding boss (Sigourney Weaver) who is willing to listen to ideas and even share the glory if they come true.  So when Tess comes up with a terrific idea for an acquisition, she takes it to her boss and when she's told it didnt' pan out, she didnt' think much of it.

Tess didn't discover the truth until a skiing accident left the boss hospitalized in another state.  When Tess is set on a mission to her home in order to send a few things out to her, she discovers that in fact the idea did pan out and that the deal is already in the works.  Now I don't know about you, but that would have pissed me off.  Unlike Tess though, I probably would have spilled the beans right then and there, and then quit.  Luckily Tess didn't do that.  Instead she decides to get even and impersonates her boss in order to close the deal and maybe the her bosses old job.

Tess is a strong, independent woman who goes for what she wants and refuses to back down when others keep putting roadblocks in her way.  She goes for the job and the man, and ends up with both.  She is also that kind of person that is always underestimated and not normally taken very seriously.  She is a little ditsy, with over the top hair and a sense of style that only a child of the 80s could love.  But underneath all that is a keen intellect and a drive to succeed, a wonderful combination to have in a character.

Thriller & Suspense Reading Challenge 2010 Recap

The goal of the Thriller & Suspense Reading Challenge 2010, hosted by Carolyn of Book Chick City, was to read 12 books in a year, I'm afraid I blew this one out of the water and probably should have done a recap post months ago, but I forgot about it.  So for the challenge, I ended up reading 38 books that I counted towards the challenge as I was reading them.  I think I could have counted some more books, especially the urban fantasy books I read.  Since I didn't think of it as I was reading them, I didn't think it would be fair to count them now.

Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen

The Big Four by Agatha Christie

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie

In The Woods by Tana French

Partners In Crime by Agatha Christie

Houses of Stone by Barbara Michaels

The Dragon Scroll by I.J. Parker

Daytime Drama by Dave Benbow

Tough Cookie by Diane Mott Davidson

The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie

Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

Vanish With the Rose by Barbara Michaels

Into the Darkness by Barbara Michaels

A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen

Black Water Rising by Attica Locke

The Secret Keeper by Dorien Grey

The Mysterious Mr. Quin by Agatha Christie

When Dreams Bleed by Robin Cain

The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie

Eye of the Crow by Shane Peacock

Death Mask by Graham Masterton

The Secret (Of Happiness) by Demosthenes Armeniades

The Case of the Daring Divorcee by Erle Stanley Gardner

Never Wave Goodbye by Doug Magee

The Spy Who Haunted Me by Simon R. Green

Peril at End House by Agatha Christie

i'd know you anywhere by Laura Lippman

The Terror by Dan Simmons

The Tuesday Club Murders by Agatha Christie

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

The Dead Boys by Royce Buckingham

The Sentinel by Jeffrey Konvitz

The Insane Train by Sheldon Russell

Secrets of a Christmas Box by Steven Hornby

Deck the Halls by Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark

Santa Cruise by Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark

Dashing Through the Snow by Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark

Mailbox Monday for 12/26/10 (The Christmas Edition)

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme created by Marcia at The Printed Page and is being hosted all this month by Lady Q at Let Them Read Books

I was so happy when i got my blogger Secret Santa package late last week.  My partner was Pam who lives in Elizabethtown, PA and she did a wonderful job.  She doesn't have a blog for me to link, otherwise I would have.  She got me paperbacks of both  The White Gryphon by Mercedes Lackey and Stolen by Kelley Armstrong.  She also gave me a Charlie Brown & Snoopy teacup and a Snoopy bookmark.

When I got my Christmas card from my friend Pablo, he sent $10 in it so I went straight to the book store to buy something.  I ended up with a paperback of Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen, plus I bought a paperback of Finding The Way edited by Mercedes Lackey.

I won a paperback of The Conqueror's Shadow and an ARC of The Warlord's Legacy, both by Ari Marmell.

My good friend, Michelle of The True Book Addict sent me this wonderful trade paperback of SciFi Christmas stories, Christmas Stars edited by David G. Hartwell.