Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic 50 Book Challenge 2012/What I've Read in 2012

That's one of my favorite books.

I'm into the what-happened-next stuff, so it's mostly with Han and Leia's children and whatnot. I'm going to at least re-read a couple of the Legacy of the Force series novels (definitely number five, which is "Sacrifice". It's my favorite and I actually cry at one part ). And then I need to catch up on the newer series, Fate of the Jedi.

But that might have to wait because I just cracked into an Agatha Christie last night and I might go on a murder mystery spree first...

Oooh! I LOVE Agatha! My favorite is "Murder of Roger Ackroid". I think I've read EVERYTHING she ever wrote (with the except of Curtain, which I'm holding off on since it's the last the Pirot novel and the mysteries with the husband and wife team, because they annoy me).

There is a ebook Clues to Christie which is a short bio and bibliography of Christie free as a iBook for iOS devices. (google) Free as a Kindle book also. Clues to Christie.

I've read this too, but for apocalyptic end-of-the-world fiction, I prefer "Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank. Yes, it's dated (set in central Florida before the onset of the Disney empire) but still very engrossing.

And, of course, for the granddaddy of Apocalypse Fiction, the short story that I read as a kid in a science fiction anthology, the story that really got that "sense of wonder" going, try "A Pail Of Air" by Fritz Leiber. What can I say? It hit me at a sensitive time.

Books I have read so far:

1. The Sun's Bride by Gillian Bradshaw. 260 B.C. Isokrates of Kameiros, from Rhodes, is the helmsman of a new trireme that captures a pirate ship. On board is Dionysia, the escaped mistress of the King. She carries important letters that will spark a crisis between Greece and Egypt. Isokrates, a self-made man, feels he is too poor for a Companion of the King. But you never know...

2. Discovering The Soul of Service by Leonard L. Berry. The author did in-depth studies on twelve organizations of various types to see how they managed to be tops in their field. Readable and enjoyable, but duplicating the mindset of the successful organizations isn't all that easy.

3. The Black Tower by P.D. James. Would you believe that this is the first P.D. James book I've ever read? It certainly won't be the last. Detective Adam Dalgliesh, invalided and recovering, is asked by an old friend to visit. Unfortunately, the old friend dies before Adam gets there. Heart attack? Or murder? And it goes on from there.

4. Soft Target by Stephen Hunter. Terrorists take over the Mall of America in Minneapolis. Any book that begins with Santa getting shot in the head (sorry) definitely grabs your attention. Tense and absorbing.

"Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank is an excellent book. For many years my absolute favorite post apocalyptic book used to be the first one that I read of that genre, Stephen King's "The Stand". Now that I've read so many others, it's hard to say which is the best.

As I've said previously, I'm an absolute sucker for PA stories and novels, so thanks for sharing your favourites. Got some checking out to do!

As for me, one of my all-time favourites is Robert McCammon's Swan Song. Joan, if you love The Stand, and haven't read this one you might want to give it a go as you might just enjoy it. It covers a similar theme and tone, but even better than King imo. And I say that as a great fan of King's early works, including TS.

LabRat

New reads:

N1. The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett [English]

I'm probably late to the party with this book, lol. It's only the second book by Pratchett I read, but even from the first few pages of the first one I knew I'd love him. The man writes brilliantly. If only I could write one tenth as well as he does, I would be a happy person. It's an amazing world (though I admit I didn't get all the specifics about how their sun works, lol) and I just love the humour!

My favourite tales from the book were The Sending of Eight and The Lure of the Wyrm.

I'm totally borrowing the next book from the friend that lent me this one asap.

Re-reads:

R1. Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (Around the world in 80 days) - Jules Verne [Greek]

I love Jules Verne. I own several of his books and I intend to re-read, if not all, at least my favourite ones (which would be like 10 out of 12?) during this year!

5) The Disappearance by Philip Wylie. Great book. Men and women are separated by an unknown mechanism, each thinking that it is the other that has disappeared. The story is how they learn to cope without the other sex.

Yeah! More PA suggestions! Thanks!

Joan

#1. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Best. Christie. Yet! (Haven't read all of them yet, so I can't say 'ever' now can I?) I've loved every single Agatha Christie novel I've ever read (and to a certain extent, I worship her ), but for some reason, never got around to this one. Before this, my favorites were "Cards on the Table," "Death in the Clouds," and of course, the ever popular "Murder on the Orient Express." But this one... /shivers/ I literally had chills from it. Never saw it coming at the end. Loved the incorporation of the sinister nursery rhyme, too. Definitely recommended to any and all murder mystery lovers...

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Mouserocks:
<strong> #1. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie



I also liked "Alas, Babylon". It's one of those books I had heard of (title only) because it had been assigned in some English class (but not one I had took). I stumbled over it while searching for something to read that wasn't in German, while spending a year in Germany (my German was good, but not THAT good). I could only find "classics" in English like that one in the library in my town. Oh, darn. Rediscovered my love of "Pride & Prejudice" that year as well.

This is one reason that I love my Kindle. One of the reasons I finally caved in and bought it was because I realised that I couldn't keep adding 20-30 books per year to my already groaning bookcases. Not to mention every other possible space around the house.

The Kindle enabled me to pack away a huge part of my collection in boxes in the attic as I was able to get Kindle copies of all of them. So if I get the urge to revisit an old favourite, it's there on the Kindle. And I lost about two-thirds of the content of my bookshelves, so plenty of space for anything new.

Perfect!

LabRat

4. The Blue Edge of Midnight - Jonathon King
A new series I found. I liked this book and looking forward to the next.

Yes! I agree!

In her autobiography, Agatha Christie mentioned that she had to have a sort of deus ex machina (the message in the bottle, or whatever it was at the end) to tell the reader (and the police) who really did it and how it was done. Because, as the way it stood, how could you know? (Those who have read the book will understand what I mean; for those who have not read the book, I definitely don't want to spoil anything.)

#3 Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner

Interesting story about how four women's lives become drawn together.

6) The First Patient by Michael Palmer--- Entertaining story.

7) Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Storm Warning) by David McKoy and Lynn Hallbrooks. Story is fairly good. The writers need a good editor.

R2. Les Cinq cents millions de la Bégum (The Begum's Fortune) - Jules Verne [Greek]

I had only read that once or twice, years ago, and I barely remembered what happened in the book. Of course, some things started coming back to me as I read, some others I guessed thanks to being too familiar with the author (and some of the typical literary clichés), but overall I enjoyed a fresh read.

As is the case with most of Verne's books, there was an intriguing plot and a very inventive fantastic world. There's an obvious bias against Germans in the book (it was written after the Franco-Prussian war), which could be annoying, but then you realize a German with ideas similar to Herr Schultze's ones from the book really came forward less than 60 years after its publication, and it becomes creepily prophetic instead.

Anna - Yay for you! I have never met anyone else who has read this obscure Jules Verne novel.

Our public library had a copy of it when I was a kid. Alas, some years later, vandals dropped a smoke bomb in through the book return slot; the ensuing fire destroyed a fair amount of the library's collection.

In my opinion "The Begum's Fortune" is a lesser Verne, but as you say, still interesting and with much to offer. Like Mozart, even inferior Verne is better than many other authors' best.

Question to others on the boards - has anyone else read this book? Posters on the boards seem to be a group of fairly well-read people who have wide-ranging interests.