Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic 50 Book Challenge 2016/What I've Read in 2016

Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Lord Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan leaves Barrayar to go to the planet Kibou-daini to investigate a corporate scam, leading to a merry chase involving terrorists, cryopreserved people slumbering in their coffins, and much derring-do. Major events at the very end of the book.

Thief of Hearts by Teresa Medeiros
Regency romance, but too fluffy even for me, a long-time romance reader.

Pines by Blake Crouch.
Secret Service Agent Ethan (forgot his last name) wakes up with no recent memory, no wallet, no phone, no identification in the small town of Pines, Idaho. Why do the local law enforcement seem curiously unwilling to help him? Why can't he leave the town? What about finding the federal agent he was looking for, an agent found dead in a ramshackle house on the edge of town? Very mysterious, with an out-of-the-box ending.

Sword Sworn by Jennifer Roberson.
I was hampered by the fact that this book seems to be about #7 in a series and I had not read the previous six. There was a lot of referring to events in previous books, although the author did make sure one could follow along. It's labeled "The Final Adventure of Tiger and Del", the Southern sword dancer and the Northern Sword Singer. OK but not great.

Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs.
Third in the "Bones" series about Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist practicing in both North Carolina and Quebec. Tempe has to deal with biker gangs, drive-by shootings, and deaths of children. So far I have liked this series and intend to read more.

6. Super Friends: Flying High, by Nick Eliopulos

I read this to my 4-year-old niece, and couldn't resist making comments while reading it. It opens with Batman swinging around Gotham City on a sunny day (and smiling). This is very OOC, and I said so. Later, a bunch of seagulls steal people's food at the beach, and this is supposedly strange behavior (no; that is completely normal for seagulls). I know it's a book for early readers, but I couldn't resist. Later, I heard my niece "reading" the book (repeating verbatim everything I had said/read). If she's anything like me, she'll re-read the book when she learns to read on her own and be very annoyed to find that I added things that weren't in there.

#5 Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

A friendship develops between two very different women: a 91-year-old woman with a hidden past as an orphan-train rider and the teenage girl whose own troubled adolescence leads her to seek answers to questions no one has ever thought to ask.

This was an enjoyable story. While I didn't always care for Molly, the story gave me insight as to what she was dealing with.

Joan

#6 The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand

A girl struggles to cope with her father leaving and her brother's suicide.

What struck me most about this book was that this fictional story's setting was where I live. And the author had all the details right! The streets, the restaurantes, the mall. Turns out the author graduated from the University in my town.

Joan

11.22.63 - Stephen King

I loved this. I was enthralled from start to finish. This is King on top form. Well rounded, believable characters you can root for and a plot with more twists than a twisty, turny thing - as Blackadder would say.

As ever with King, one of his great strengths is to make the ordinary - even the mundane - interesting. And, again, this was about a lot more than just a time travel tale.

I also loved the cameos. Christine up to her usual evil tricks and It being my favourite ever King novel, the cameo from Derry and especially the cute scene with Bev and Ritchie were a delight.

I've just seen this is being turned into a mini series. I'll look forward to that. Although the disaster that was Under the Dome doesn't give me hope. <g>

LabRat

I'm with you, LabRat. I think this was one of King's best works. As to a TV adaptation, if they just stick to the book, it could be good. But if they try to drag it out, I don't have high hopes for it.

Joan

7. The Little Engine That Could, by Watty Piper

A train full of food and toys for children suffers from a broken engine. After begging several other engines for help and being rejected, a little blue engine volunteers to take the train over the mountain.

Little Black Lies - Sharon Bolton

I've always enjoyed Bolton's thrillers and adore her Lacey Flint series, but this one...hoo, boy! The Falkland Islands setting was interesting, but it didn't help alleviate the unremitting bleakness of the plot. Peopled with characters I couldn't much like and found it hard to care about and the final third was utterly farcical. Not one of her best. Very disappointing.

LabRat

8. The Last Vampire, by Christopher Pike

This YA vampire novel, written over a decade before Twilight, was interesting except for one thing -- the main character is a complete and total Mary Sue. Alisa Perne, aka Sita, is a 5,000-year-old vampire from India. She's Aryan, so she's got blonde hair, blue eyes, and looks to be the same age as she was when the first vampire, Yaksha, transformed her (about 20). She can jump so high she appears to be flying, has the strength of six men, and heals instantly (unless she gets decapitated or staked through the heart, in which case, she will die). She has been hanged twice and crucified four times, but she got over it. She was present for the building of the pyramids, the American Civil War, and the moon launch at Cape Canaveral. She has rubbed elbows with some history's most famous people, including Krishna, Socrates, and Bram Stoker (all of whom she decided not to bite). She meets a high school student named Ray (whose father she killed for getting too close), perceives that he is the reincarnation of her 5,000-years-dead husband, Rama, and transformed him into a vampire. She also meets a high school boy who is dying of AIDS and uses her blood to cure him (but not transform him into a vampire). At the end of the book, she gets staked through the heart when her house explodes, which one might presume would be fatal, but since there are about nine books in this series, I'm guessing she got over it.

At least Alisa/Sita doesn't sparkle.

#7 The Selection by Kiera Cass

I stole this one from my daughter's book shelf. A futuristic dystopia in which women are selected to come to the palace and vie for the Prince's affections. Light but fun.

Joan

#8 The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison

A chilling psychological thriller about a marriage, a way of life and how far one woman will go to keep what is rightfully hers.

Initally I was expecting more traditional characters. Both the husband and wife has serious issues. While I didn't like either of them, it was interesting to see how the plot developed.

Joan

#9 Raise a Happy Teenager by Suzie Hayman

What can I say? I've got two teenagers. Nothing new in this book.

Joan

9. The Last Vampire II: Black Blood, by Christopher Pike

Mary Sue Sita, the last vampire, continues her adventures. She made her high-school-age true love into a vampire at the end of the last book, then got staked through the heart. Obviously, though, it didn't kill her, since she's the main character of the sequel. Also, it turns out that she and Ray aren't the last vampires, since somebody is making cruel, vicious vampires in L.A. Sita must stop them, because they're a threat to humanity. As such, she and Ray go to L.A., where Ray promptly gets himself killed. At the end of this one, Sita is slowly dying while she makes an FBI agent into a vampire. Since there are approximately seven more books in the series, I'm guessing she gets over it again. (Seriously, the books are entertaining enough to keep reading them, but Sita is definitely a Mary Sue.)

10. Sooner or Later, by Elizabeth Adler

I just couldn't get into this book, and it took me months to finish it. A mentally ill serial killer stalks his relatives with vengeance and money on his mind.

#10 Saving Grace by Jane Green

Grace seems to have a perfect life. After she hires a new assistant for her novelist husband, things start to fall apart.

I knew this would be in the lighter vein but some of the plot holes were just silly (i.e. she has no income and her credit cards are cancelled yet she has no money worries).

Joan

#11 The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

Nine Americans and their epic quest for gold at the 1936 Olympics.

I wasn't sure I was going to get through this one. The writing was dense, with lots of little details. It was interesting getting the perspective of life at that time and all the obsticles these men faced. Some of the passages about rowing got a bit long.

Joan

#12 The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain


An entertaining story but it pushed credibility in several instances. I've enjoyed other books by this author more.

Joan

11. Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway, by Dave Barry

Since it's the silly season (aka an election year), I decided to reread this book. It's funny and spot-on.

12. The Last Vampire 3: Red Dice, by Christopher Pike

Sita Sue, having survived her near-death cliffhanger at the end of the last book, continues her reign of awesomeness by getting into a fight with the LAPD, helped by the former FBI agent she made into a vampire at the end of the last book. She wins, of course, steals a helicopter, and flies off toward the mountains/desert in it. Instead of using common sense and going somewhere close enough for the helicopter to make it (in this case Big Bear or Lake Arrowhead), she tries to fly to Lake Mead in Nevada because it's warmer than the mountains. This does not work out well, and it causes the rest of the story to happen (which involves a mad general, a 700-year-old vampire hybrid who was once a priest, and experiments on vampires). The story is pretty decent, but Sita is still a Sue.

#13 The Elite by Kiera Cass


This is the second book in the Selection series. It's definitely light reading - good for doctor's offices. I'm not impressed by the main character.

Joan

#14 The Death and LIfe of the Great American School System by Diane Ravitch

A frank discussion of the damage done by No Child Left Behind reforms.

Joan