reading list 2004

New books: 44 ( 10,758 pgs )

Longest book: Fortress Draconis (513 pgs)
Shortest book: The Little Prince (83 pgs)
Oldest book: Gulliver’s Travels (1726)
Newest book: The Five People You Meet in Heaven (September 2003)
Best book: Song for the Basilisk
Best children’s/YA book: A Long Way From Chicago
Worst book: Stormblade
Most disappointing book: The Battle of Evernight

L.M. Montgomery, Anne Of The Island
L.M. Montgomery, Anne Of Windy Willows
Michael A. Stackpole, Fortress Draconis
Boyd K. Packer, The Holy Temple
Michael A. Stackpole, When Dragons Rage
Roald Dahl, The Witches
Lionel Davidson, Under Plum Lake
E. Nesbit, The Story Of The Treasure Seekers
Richard A. Knaak, The Legend Of Huma
Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl
Nancy Varian Berberick, Stormblade
Patricia Mckillip, Song For The Basilisk
Louis L’amour, Bowdrie
Gene Brewer, K-Pax
Vivian Vande Velde, The Rumpelstiktskin Problem
Alexandre Dumas, The Count Of Monte Cristo [Abridged]
Gordon B. Hinckley, Standing For Something
Patricia Mckillip, Winter Rose
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels
Louis L’amour, Reilly’s Luck
Cecilia Dart-Thornton, The Ill-Made Mute
Cecilia Dart-Thornton, The Lady Of The Sorrows
Cecilia Dart-Thornton, The Battle Of Evernight
Owen Wister, The Virginian
Margaret Maron, Up Jumps The Devil [Audiobook]
Barry Lopez, Crossing Open Ground
Terry Tempest Williams, An Unspoken Hunger
Leslie Marmon Silko, Storyteller
Robert Mcdowell, Ed., Cowboy Poetry Matters
James Galvin, The Meadow
Richard Peck, A Long Way From Chicago
Teresa Jordan, Riding The White Horse Home
Richard Peck, A Year Down Yonder
Kate Dicamillo, Because Of Winn-Dixie
Jerry Spinelli, Stargirl
Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet In Heaven
Kate Dicamillo, The Tiger Rising
Patricia Wrede And Caroline Stevermer, Sorcery & Cecelia
Caralyn Buehner, Fanny’s Dream
Crockett Johnson, Harold And The Purple Crayon
Eric Carle, The Grouchy Ladybug
Judith Viorst, Super-Completely And Totally The Messiest
John Lithgow, Micawber
Antoine De Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince [English Translation]

Bowdrie

by Louis L’Amour

Confession: I read a Louis L’Amour novel. Does that make me a bad person?

The summary from Amazon.com pretty much sums the book up:

“It was a name that caused the most hardened gunmen to break out in a cold sweat. Chick Bowdrie. He could have ridden the outlaw trail, but the Texas Rangers recruited him because they didn’t want to have to fight against him. Pursuing the most wanted men in the Southwest he knew all too well the dusty trails, the bitter cattle feuds, the desperate killers and the quiet, weather-beaten, wind-blasted towns that could explode into actions with the wrong word. He had sworn to carry out the law, but there were times when he had to apply justice with his fists and his guns. They called in the Rangers to handle the tough ones and there was never a Ranger tougher or smarter than Bowdrie.”

Confession: Actually, it was…enjoyable.

Song for the Basilisk

by Patricia McKillip

I’m going to be honest: for the first two chapters, I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I was so frustrated after rereading the beginning three times that I actually looked up a summary online. Of course, I didn’t look at what happened later in the book, but it was unbelievably helpful to have a clue where the story was starting.

After that I loved the book. I mostly read it on my break at work, and it was hard to switch back to employee mode every time: not because I was so interested in what would happen next (although I was), but because I felt so involved in the story. Involved to the point where I was exhausted, completely drained, by the time I finished reading. I don’t think I’ve ever read something that took up all of my emotions like that.

For that reason, I probably won’t read it again for a while. Not until I’ve recovered.