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Books you've read in 2012 (1 Viewer)

Ockeghem

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I've been working my way through the following books as time allows. The books on the Fabs and the Apocryphal Gospels are quite good.
Cameron, A. Last Pagans Of Rome (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).
Ehrman, B. D., ed. Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).
Julien, O., ed. Sgt. Pepper and the Beatles: It Was Forty Years Ago Today (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008).
Pugliese, S. G., ed. Answering Auschwitz: Primo Levi's Science and Humanism After the Fall (New York: Fordham University Press, 2011).
 

Richard Travale

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I just started reading 'The Hunger Games' by Suzanne Collins
I just finished 'Ysabel' by Guy Gavriel Kay. Liked it a lot, but didn't absolutely love it like 'The Fionavar Tapestry'.
 

DaveF

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This year brings new habits:
(*) Dead-tree books for work, during lunch. Those will be slow reads.
(*) Kindle books and some physical copies for home, as I feel like it, travels, when I feel like it. I'm erratic for home reading.
(*) Audible.com subscription for the daily commute. An Xmas present from my wife, but didn't start it until February. Into my first book, and I really like the service and app.

(*) And trying to resume our former habit of reading children's books with my wife, at night. That faded away a year or so ago. And now we're so distracted by cable TV... But I'm trying to carve off time for that again.


So what have I read...?

The Dresden Files, up to book 8 or so. Love Jim Butcher's series.

The Windup Girl, by Bacigalupi, Paolo. Good, not great, scifi-ish drama.

Fuzzy Nation, by Scalzi. Good, not his best. Interesting to read both it and the original, Little Fuzzy by Piper Beam.

The God Engines by Scalzi. Really enjoyed this novella. Sortof a sci-fi "idea" book in the vein of Azimov: take a concept and wring out its possibilities.

Batman Returns by Frank Miller. Good to re-read. I'd forgotten all the details from my first read over a decade ago.

Sandman, volume 1, by Neil Gaimen. A re-read from my grad school comics education. Also fun, though a bit clunky.

Pawn of Prophecy and Queen of Sorcery (books 1 & 2 of The Belgariad) by David Eddings (audiobook). Re-reading my favorite teenage series. It holds up pretty well, but I'm wondering now (a) how was this my favorite series and (b) why didn't anyone tell me to read the superior LOTR? ;)

Green by Ted Dekker. (audiobook) What is this? Awesome! Have to now get the initial trilogy.

I'm 2/3 through The Time Traveler's Wife (audiobook). Good stuff.
I'm starting V for Vendetta (never read it).
And I'll probably be starting up In The Plex by Levy.
 

mattCR

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I'm burning through the Mitch Rapp series, currently on "Memorial Day" It's up and down; the prior book was kind of blah, this has been somewhat good; American Assassin (the newest, but a prequel so think 1st in the series) was the one that made me read the rest .. we'll see where it goes.

Picked up and read "Shadows in Flight" The new Bean book (think Enders Game) and I found it terribly disappointing, but *shrug*
 

MrsMac

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Oh gads, I love to read, but this year has been a bit of a disappointment, as I've had a lot of books that I set aside.
I'll start with the only 5-star read: “Bridge of Scarlett Leaves” by Kristina McMorris. Fantastic writer. She also wrote "Letters From Home", and that made my top reads list last year.
Others, in no particular order, that I've enjoyed:
“B is for Burglar” by Grafton, Sue
“The Burglar in the Closet” by Block, Lawrence
“The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling” by Block, Lawrence
“Naked Heat” by Castle, Richard (not as enjoyable as the first book in the series, but good for fans of the show).
I also read “Full Black” by Thor, Brad and found it very disappointing. Disheartening, as he’s always been a top author for me.
I'm currently reading another "Burglar" book from Block, and I have 4 more sitting here on my Kindle. All of my library holds arrived at the same time!
 

MrsMac

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DaveF said:
"Castle" is a real author? The show is based on books? Or are the books from the show?
The real author is "under wraps", but it's a great promotional gimmick. If you look at Amazon, you'll see Fillion's picture shown for the author, and I understand that at Comic Con he signed books as himself and Castle. :D
The books are based on the show, sort of. They read as though they are books that Castle is researching and writing, so all the characters are there, but with different names. Kind of a hoot to read.
 

Edwin-S

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Right now I'm reading an E-book version of "The Count of Monte Cristo". I had never read the book before, but was curious to see how it compared to the last movie adaptation made a few years back. Since the book was a free download on the Kobo site I decided to finally read it. So far, the movie adaptation really stripped out a lot of the book. The machinations of the Count in the book really are intricate compared to the film. I am quite surprised at how a lot of the observations on finances and the use of power still have a lot of relevance to today's world.
 

DaveF

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The Time Traveler's Wife

This is a tragic love story wrapped up with time-travel. Henry spontaneously time travels, usually backwards, to other times and places. There, he meets the young Claire who grows up knowing this strange man, and falls in love with him. And as an adult, she introduces herself to Henry before he has met her, and he falls in love with Claire. It was good, but not quite great. Its complication makes it hard to fully connect to the characters a bit.


It is a good audiobook, with a male and female narrator, which add some extra nuance to the portrayal of Henry and Claire. Though at times their reading might have been too subdued. And listening to the book reveals the movie to be an excellent adaptation.
 

MrsMac

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Finished my "Burglar Bernie" book, and read another Nero Wolfe and now I'm reading "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer. Difficult to read knowing the ending.
 

DaveF

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I really liked "Into Thin Air". Read it when it first came out.

If you've not read it, read "Into the Wild". It was also really good.
 

DaveF

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Small Favor by Jim Butcher. Book 11 of Dresden Files. Audible version, read by Jim Marsters (yes, "Spike"). Superb production. More fun from Harry Dresden.
But I'm encountering weaknesses of audiobooks: I can't easily flip back a skim the beginning to check missed details in light if the twist ending. And because I listen during my commute, I miss details with my split attention.
I'm now listening to Black by Ted Dekkar. I listened to Green last year, which was great. Good thing too, because Black is terribly read. It must have come from a "mill", churning out audio versions as quickly as possible, regardless
 

Stan

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Restarted, once again, Stephen King's The Stand, should keep me occupied for months, most of it lounging out in the sun working on my tan.
Haven't bought it yet, but read a review on Packing for Mars and it looks very interesting and factual. Looks like a behind the scenes story describing the logistics of sending people to Mars.
Tried reading Contact by Carl Sagan, and gave up after about 100 pages. It is absolutely nothing like the film and put me to sleep They didn't even just take liberties and combine characters, story lines or other bits and pieces to make the movie. From what I read, the only thing in common between the film and the book is the title "Contact". Otherwise, at least in the first 100 pages, there is absolutely nothing related between the two. If anyone hase something better to say, I may give it another chance.
 

Stan

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DaveF said:
The heart of story is similar, but it's a long book and a short movie :)
Maybe I'll give it a second shot. It's just that I loved the movie and I thought the book was dreadful. Might just bite the bullet and force myself to finish it.
 

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