read 100 books in 2007

Book Category: Literature & Fiction
Completed: December 31st

Book Lover:

‘Women do different things when they’re depressed. Some smoke, others drink, some call their therapists, some eat … And I do what I have always done – go off on a book bender that can last for days.’

Whenever she’s in crisis – her marriage ends, her career stalls, her fantasy man shows signs of human frailty – Dora (named after Eudora Welty) escapes into not one, not two, but a carefully selected stack of books, shutting the door on the outside world until she emerges from her book binge strong enough to face her problems. Books have always been her saving grace, sheltering her during a difficult childhood and arming her with lessons and epigrams that are right for nearly every situation. But life is more complicated than a–book–a–day, and people – like her ex–alcoholic mother and judgmental sister – aren’t as compliant as beloved characters in a novel …

Whether she’s being seduced by a quotation–quipping Quixote, or explaining death to a child by reading from ‘Charlotte’s Web’, Dora is Every–reader, and her charming story, shot through with humour and humanity, will delight anyone who’s ever sought solace in the pages of a book.
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Some may love this book but for me it did not really do it.
It took me at least 130 pages to get a bit into the story and even though it did get a bit better, I was left a bit disappointed.

Never really could indentify with the main character I guess. Can’t put my finger on it.

7 out of 10

Book Category: Thriller
Completed: December 29th

Book Description:

Bestseller Koontz (The Husband) delivers a thriller so compelling many readers will race through the book in one sitting. In the Hitchcockian opening, which resembles that of the cult noir film Red Rock West (1992), Timothy Carrier, a quiet stone mason having a beer in a California bar, meets a stranger who mistakes him for a hit man. The stranger slips Tim a manila envelope containing $10,000 in cash and a photo of the intended victim, Linda Paquette, a writer in Laguna Beach, then leaves. A moment later, Krait, the real killer, shows up and assumes Tim is his client. Tim manages to distract Krait from immediately carrying out the hit by saying he’s had a change of heart and offering Krait the $10,000 he just received. This ploy gives the stone mason enough time to warn Linda before they begin a frantic flight for their lives. While it may be a stretch that the first man wouldn’t do a better job of confirming Tim’s identity, the novel’s breathless pacing, clever twists and adroit characterizations all add up to superior entertainment.
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Finished reading this morning.
As always a joy.(well minus one time) It was a quick read. I had some trouble getting into it at first but once I did I could not stop reading. I do think his books seem to look a lot like each other. (The Husband for instance) but still very enjoyable.

8.5 out of 10

Okay. I want to add all the other books I have read.

56: Alice’s Tulips
57: Look Away Beulah Land
58: The Legacy of Beulah Land
59: Fatal Storm
60: The Vanishing Point
61: The Sinking of The Eastland
62: The Devil’s Aritmetic
63: The Kitchen Boy
64: Ella Minnow Pea
65: Plain Truth
66: The Innocent
67: The Exiled
68: The Beloved
69: Angry Housewives eating Bonbons
70: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer
71: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story
72: To Sleep with the Angels
73: Silent Rage
74: Someone has to Die Tonight
75: One Child
76: Beyond Cruel
77: A Deadly Secret
78: Blood Stain
79: From the Mouth of the Monster
80: Angels
81: Blood and Money
82: Eye of the Beast
83: Ghost Girl
84: Flesh Collectors
85: Katherine
86: Cruel Deception
87: Life Swap
88: A Paper Life
89: A Night to Remember
90: Odd Mom Out
91: Confessions of a Black Widow
92: Mandingo
93: Sunne in Splendour
94: Courtesans
95: Geisha
96: Into the Wild
97: Women Behind Bars
98: Filthy Rich

(Ha I just checked my BC shelf on available and noticed pretty quik the first book I had forgotten. Filthy rich.)
I just knew I had read more.

I have not posted here for a while.
According to my BC shelf I’ve read about 96 English books. I know I always forget some books pus that I read some Dutch books I did not add, so I did manage this goal.
But I will try to read 4 more books to be sure.

Book Category: True Account, Non Fiction
Completed: July 3rd 2007

Book Description
The true story of the man eater of Rotenburg—and his willing victim

German native Armin Meiwes killed and ate a man who answered his ad on a cannibal website. Now, Cannibal discloses for the first time the true story of this real-life Hannibal Lecter—and his willing victim. And with details never before divulged to the public, it takes readers step-by-step through the unspeakable crime that fascinated and revolted the world.
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Finished last night . I could not put it down.
My God this book was so scary. I had to skip some parts (about the butchering for instance).

Very well written. Such an unbelievable story this is.
My only negative thing about it is that Lois Jones pretended to know what was in Bernd’s head at the time of his dying. On the other hand I understand she did that to make the book better, but for me that was not necessary. O that was such a hard part to. I am an avid reader of true crime books but this was one of the most disgusting and scariest books to read.

9 out of 10

Book Category: Non Fiction, History
Completed: July 2nd 2007

This engrossing disaster book concerns the Galveston hurricane of 1900, still by far the high-water mark in American natural catastrophes. Like the Johnstown Flood that occurred 10 years earlier (see David McCullough’s Johnstown Flood, 1987), nature’s wrath was mightily aided by man’s obliviousness. Larson highlights two central actors in the drama: the hurricane itself, beginning with its origin in Saharan westerly winds, and Isaac Cline, the Weather Bureau’s sentinel in Galveston. Setting the stage, Larson depicts a wealthy, optimistic Galveston, unconcerned by its site on a barrier island scant feet above sea level, blithely ignorant of the storm heading its way. En route to destiny, the hurricane previously walloped Cuba, but a Cuban forecaster’s intuitive prediction that Texas was the next landfall was not permitted to be telegraphed out by the Weather Bureau’s man in Havana. Skeptical of intuition, he believed in meteorological facts, which convinced him the storm was fizzling out east of Florida. For the main act, Larson reconstructs Isaac Cline’s day on 8 September 1900 and ratchets up the tension as clouds gather, the effective device being the sequence of perceptions that disaster was inescapable. Were the rolling waves worrisome? If not, the splintering of the boardwalk concentrated Galvestonians’ attention—but, by then, the single railroad out was cut. A further mark of Larson’s depth as a writer is his ambivalence about Cline, who may not have acted as heroically as depicted in his own memoir. Although the subject is grim, this telling is a deftly told fable of folly and fate.
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I find it to be an interesting read. You get to know more of how a storm works, the mistakes the weather bureau made but also the struggle of some of the survivors.
This book is a typical example of a book where you get to learn something but because it is written in such a way it is easy and enjoyable.
8 out of 10

Book category: Non Fiction
Completed: June 28th 2007

From Publishers Weekly
With a gripping journalistic style, novelist Godfrey (The Torn Skirt) recounts the story behind a horrific murder in a small British Columbia town. One November night in 1997, 14-year-old Reena Virk was savagely beaten and drowned under a waterway bridge. From a small East Indian community, Reena was alienated from her family and spent her time desperately trying to find a place with a tough crowd of teenagers, several of whom had been in trouble with the law. But one of the girls held a grudge against her, and Reena apparently was lured to her violent end by a promise of friendship. Seven girls and one boy initially were charged with assault. Two were convicted of murder: Warren Glowatski, now serving a life sentence, and Kelly Ellard, who was found guilty in 2005 after three trials. Godfrey is careful not to make judgments, but her informed writing reveals a remorseful Warren, an unrepentant Kelly (who denies her guilt) and other psychologically damaged members of the group, sharply etched, whose casual brutality, enabled by drug use, led to a brutal and senseless death. Godfrey’s account contains some recreated dialogue but overall is meticulously researched and harrowing to read.
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I discovered this book on amazon and there were lots of good reviews about it so I decided to buy it.
worth the money.

Really a good read indeed. Shocking story how teens kill a young girl.
Very well written and a book you can’t put down once you start reading.
9 out of 10

Book Category: True Crime
Completed: June 25th 2007

Dr. Anthony Pignataro was a cosmetic surgeon and a famed medical researcher whose flashy red Lamborghini and flamboyant lifestyle in western New York State suggested a highly successful career. But appearances, as this shocking insider account of Pignataro’s tailspin from physician to prisoner proves, can be deceiving and, for the doctor’s wife, very nearly deadly. No one was safe if they got in his way. With scalpel, drugs, and arsenic, he betrayed every oath a physician makes until his own schemes backfired. Now, the motivations of the classic sociopath are plumbed with chilling accuracy by Ann Rule. Along with other shocking true cases, this worldwide headline-making case will have you turning pages in disbelief that a trusted medical professional could sink to the depths of greed, manipulation, and self-aggrandizement where even slow, deliberate murder is not seen for what it truly is: pure evil.
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I did like the first story but I do feel Ann Rule makes the story to long.
It all go’s so slow. I am sure that doctor is horrible but that is another thing Ann Rule does. She puts every victim on a pedestal, they don’t seem to have any flaws . (well I prefer that than the other way around). It was a good read, not a very good read.

The short stories I am not very fond off
7 out of 10

As I am sure I am not the only book addict around here :) I feel a bit lonely on one of my 23 things goals.

http://www.43things.com/things/view/35843
It is called: Buy more Books.

Lately I have been buying so many books which means a lot of entries, but it seems I am the only one buying books. ;)

Conclusion, I want to feel less guilty so I’decided to invite my fellow read 100 books in 2007 friends to join this goal and tell me what you bought.

Come on my friends. I know you bought books.

Book Category: Literature/Fiction
Completed: June 18th

The Beulah Land Trilogy is among the best of the plantation novel genre. The first book, Beulah Land, details the trials and tribulations of the slave-holding Kendrick clan during the years 1800-1861
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I loved this book. Years ago I had read Beulah land translated into Dutch. Because I now prefer to read a book in the language it is written I had added it to my wish list.
A generous bookcrosser send it to me last year.
I could not believe my luck when I discovered on www.seriesbooks that this was just part 1 of a trilogy so of course I immediately added the other 2 books to my wish list.

As we speak book 2 Look Away Beulah Land is traveling to me through M-Bag and I ordered book 3 The legacy of Beulah land through abebooks.com and it has arrived.

Last week I finally re read Beulah land and it was just as good as I remembered. It is indeed one of the better plantation novels. It reads like a soap. The historical setting provides the backdrop for the story of the wealthy, prestigious Kendrick family and their many loves, mistakes, heartbreaks, and joys and it keeps you to the edge of your seat.
This book is a classic and I highly recommend.
10 out of 10