Read 100 books in 2008

But I did manage more than a hundred.

76:English as a Second Language (Chick lit)mwah
77:The Treasure of Montségur (Historical Fiction) (Did not like at all)
78:Such Good Boys (True Crime) okay
79:New Moon. (Teens) Loved it
80: Eclipse
81: Breaking Dawn
82:True Story Of Hansel And Gretel (Great!)
83:Sarah T. (Old fashioned)
84:I Capture the Castle
85:Queen of Babble Gets Hitched. (Chick Lit) I Liked
86:The Little Lady Agency
87:Burned Alive
88:Interview with a Vampire
89:The Vampire Lestat
90:Off Season
91:When Rabbits Howl
92:Escape by Carolyn Jessop
93:In a Far Country by Linda Holeman
94:The nature of Monsters
95:Marked by P.C.Castt
96:Glass Houses by Rachel Caine
97:Diamonds Take Forever
98:The Devil’s Right-Hand Man
99:Extreme by Sharon Osbourne
100:Take it Like a Man by Boy George

101:Rotten by Johnny Lydon
102:Shot in the Heart by Mikal Gilmore
103:The Executioner’s Song
104:The Turning by Jennifer Armintrout
105:Inside the Kingdom by Carmen bin Ladin
106:Freed to Kill
107:Because You Loved Me

Category: True Crime
Completed: September 13

When I was looking for a book about Angel Maturino Resendez The only one I found was this one.
To my big surprise when i tried to find what people thought about this book, I got lost. I looked everywhere, but I could not find a review on this book.

Because I could order it for only 4,50 euros new I decided to go for it. Mister Clarkson is a gifted writer so i knew it would not be money wasted.

This book is about Angel, a man who grew up in Mexico in poverty. To get some money he and his friends visit the US, illegally by jumping the trains. Gradually he starts to build up anger and a hatred for everything USA and then he starts killing people.

My thoughts on the book:
It was okay, nothing more.
It seems they hardly know anything about this man, why he did what he did. I guess that is why this book is more about facts.
I still think it could have been better written. maybe out of view of the victims? How they felt? Now it is fact after fact. No emotions and not much info about the people that died. It is interesting though and especially the first chapters I liked. (about his youth)
7.5 out of 10 stars

Category: True Crime
Completed: September 10

Bright, attractive, and both from good families, University of Texas college student Colton Pitonyak and vibrant redhead Jennifer Cave had the world at their beckoning. Cave, an ex-cheerleader, had just landed an exciting new job, while a big-money scholarship to UT’s prestigious business school lured Pitonyak to Austin. Yet the former altar boy had a dark, unpredictable streak, one that ensnared him in the perilous underworld of drugs and guns. When Jennifer failed to show up for work on August 18, 2005, her mother became frightened. Sharon Cave’s search led to Colton’s West Campus apartment, where Jennifer’s family discovered a scene worthy of the grisliest horror movie. Meanwhile, Colton Pitonyak was nowhere to be found.
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on Friday, September 12, 2008 I wrote about this book:

Good book that I enjoyed. Very well written but a sad story. 8.5

Category: Teens/ Paranormal
Completed: September 02-2008

Headstrong, sun-loving, 17-year-old Bella declines her mom’s invitation to move to Florida, and instead reluctantly opts to move to her dad’s cabin in the dreary, rainy town of Forks, WA. She becomes intrigued with Edward Cullen, a distant, stylish, and disarmingly handsome senior, who is also a vampire. When he reveals that his specific clan hunts wildlife instead of humans, Bella deduces that she is safe from his blood-sucking instincts and therefore free to fall hopelessly in love with him. The feeling is mutual, and the resulting volatile romance smolders as they attempt to hide Edward’s identity from her family and the rest of the school. Meyer adds an eerie new twist to the mismatched, star-crossed lovers theme: predator falls for prey, human falls for vampire. This tension strips away any pretense readers may have about the everyday teen romance novel, and kissing, touching, and talking take on an entirely new meaning when one small mistake could be life-threatening. Bella and Edward’s struggle to make their relationship work becomes a struggle for survival, especially when vampires from an outside clan infiltrate the Cullen territory and head straight for her. As a result, the novel’s danger-factor skyrockets as the excitement of secret love and hushed affection morphs into a terrifying race to stay alive. Realistic, subtle, succinct, and easy to follow, Twilight will have readers dying to sink their teeth into it.
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If you know me a little bit, my reading taste you would know this is not my normal genre.
I do read teen books but hardly any, but never paranormal although I do have Ann Rice’s Vampire books on my TBR pile.

My Friend Xeyra told me I would like it and even bought me a new copy!!

Well she was right.
Okay the writing wasn’t that good and the first half of the book was a bit too romantic for my taste and Bella a bit annoying.
Then the second part picked up the pace once she met his family and then it was a roller coaster which I could not out down.

I finished it during the night. The next morning even though I had some great new books to chose from I wanted to read book 2.
So I ordered book, 2,3 and 4 on play.com.

It is not the best writing but it is fun!

Category: True Crime
Completed: Sept.01 2008

For thirty-one years, a monster terrorized the residents of Wichita, Kansas. A bloodthirsty serial killer, self-named “BTK”—for “bind them, torture them, kill them”—he slaughtered men, women, and children alike, eluding the police for decades while bragging of his grisly exploits to the media. The nation was shocked when the fiend who was finally apprehended turned out to be Dennis Rader—a friendly neighbor . . . a devoted husband . . . a helpful Boy Scout dad . . . the respected president of his church.

Written by four award-winning crime reporters who covered the story for more than twenty years, Bind, Torture, Kill is the most intimate and complete account of the BTK nightmare told by the people who were there from the beginning. With newly released documents, evidence, and information—and with the full cooperation, for the very first time, of the Wichita Police Department’s BTK Task Force—the authors have put all the pieces of the grisly puzzle into place, thanks to their unparalleled access to the families of the killer and his victims.
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on Monday, September 01, 2008

WOW! What a great book. I was sitting on the verge of my seat reading the part where they caught him. My hands were shaking!
So amazingly written. Loved it.
Beforehand I did not know anything about this killer.
Now I am so glad I decided to wait cause there were other books out there but with very bad reviews..
This book is one of the best TC serial killers books I’ve read for a while.
10

Category: Fiction/ Non genre?
Completed: August 27-2008

Life has been hard on Addie French, but when she meets friendless Emma Roby on atrain, all her protective instincts emerge. Emma seems like a lost soul-someone who needs Addie’s savvy and wary eye. When Emma’s prospective suitor fails to show up, Addie breaks all her principles to shelter the girl at her brothel, The Chili Queen. Once Emma enters Addie’s life, the secrets that unfold cause both women to question everything they thought they knew. With Sandra Dallas’s trademark humor and pathos, The Chili Queen brings 1880s New Mexico to life in this unforgettable story of friendship, loyalty, love, and justice.
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on Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Just finished this book and I am sad that I am done with it. Really enjoyed reading this book. It was different than her other books but I liked it.
Once you get to the middle of the book you can’t put it down but even from the start I was immediately intrigued. I really enjoyed. Just added the 3 lasting Sandra Dallas books to my wish list I haven’t yet read..
9 out of 10.

Category: True Crime
Completed: Aug. 25 2008

From Publishers Weekly:
With serial killers a hot topic in the wake of Charlize Theron’s Oscar-winning performance in Monster, forensic psychiatrist Morrison’s memoir of working with more than 80 serial killers couldn’t be more timely. The author’s countless hours of interviews with John Wayne Gacy and others of his ilk have led her to a controversial conclusion: she believes there’s a serial killer gene (“He is a serial killer when he is a fetus, even as soon as sperm meets egg to create the genes of a new person”). Unfortunately, she offers little in support of this deterministic view, and she will offend some readers with an implied exoneration of criminals whom she describes as “completely unaware of the process leading up to murder,” despite the detailed planning and preparation displayed by many of them. And even readers who are willing to have an open mind about Morrison’s theories are likely to find some aspects of her report a little creepy, as when she discusses a treasured trophy she keeps in her basement: “I place John Gacy’s brain back in the box because my kids are calling for me upstairs.”
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on Monday, August 25, 2008

Well Now I remember why I did not like this book although it was such an interesting subject.
I totally do not agree with most of Helen Morrison’s theories. Yes I am not a doctor but I’ve read so many books about serial killers and books from the people that have a different opinion than she does, I think I know a little bit and she is wrong.

One thing that comes to mind. She was asked if John Wayne Gacy would have killed if there would have been a policeman in the room. She said YES! Well we all know how sly Gacy was, how he treated the cops who followed him, and I can assure you, he would not have murdered with a police man in the room.

I gave it a 6.6 last time I read it, now i give it a 5. . Thanks for sharing and if you don’t know much about those serial killers this book is interesting. You get to know a bit more about them, how they were in jail.

Just discovered the review of publishers weekly.
it seems I am not the only one who thinks this broad is crazy. lol

Category: True Crime
Completed: August 23-2008

On March 5, 1974 , the same day that rival motorcycle clubs roared through suburban Miami in celebration of their annual “Bike Week” , seventeen year old Amy Billig left home to meet a friend for lunch … and vanished. Several days later, Amy’s frantic mother, Susan Billig, received an anonymous phone call saying that her daughter had been carried off by one of the biker gangs. And so began Susan’s harrowing and extraordinary twenty-five-year search for her lost child an odyssey that led a desperate parent into the seedy heart of a dangerous subculture built on drugs, rebellion, brutality, and sex; a relentless hunt for the truth that showed her the best side of humanity…and the very worst.
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What a sad book this is. When I picked this book to read (Based on the raving reviews on amazon) I did not know what it was about. Yes someone was missing. Then I started reading and felt so sorry for Susan. I think this is one of the saddest books I’ve ever read. Here I was thinking, please find her now.
After I’ve read it I still had a lot of questions and could not forget the characters. For me that means it is a good book. That even when you’ve read it you still keep thinking about it.
9

Category: Fiction
Completed: August 18-2008

This entertaining second novel from the author of the well-received Buster Midnight’s Cafe could be a sleeper. Set in Depression-era Kansas and made vivid with the narrator’s humorous down-home voice, it’s a story of loyalty and friendship in a women’s quilting circle. Young farm wife Queenie Bean tells about the brief membership of a city girl named Rita, whose boredom with country living and aspirations to be an investigative reporter lead her to unearth secrets in the close-knit group, called the Persian Pickle Club after a coveted paisley print. Queenie’s desire to win Rita’s friendship (“We were chickens… and Rita was a hummingbird”) clashes with her loyalty to the Pickles when Rita tries to solve the murder of a member’s husband, in the process unearthing complicated relationships among the women who meet each week to quilt and read aloud to each other. The result is a simple but endearing story that depicts small-town eccentricities with affection and adds dazzle with some late-breaking surprises. Dallas hits all the right notes, combining an authentic look at the social fabric of Depression-era life with a homespun suspense story.
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on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 I wrote:

Typical Sandra Dallas style. I think this was her first bestseller. I liked it but when it started to be all about the murder, I wasn’t that happy cause it felt like I was reading a detective and I hate those.
All in all a very fun book. Love the atmosphere This author is always able to create in her books.
This is the third book I’ve read by her but my favorite is still The Diary of Mattie Spenser. 8.5

Category: True Crime
Completed: Aug. 14 2008

Description:
This shocking true account enters the minds of two depraved killers, a privileged teen and an ex-altar boy, who brutally murdered a well-respected realtor in New York City’s Central Park.
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on Friday, August 15, 2008 I wrote:

Well what can I say? The writing was not bad but the subject was not worth a whole book.
That sounds harsh and I do not mean the victim is not wroth it. Yes it was a very gruesome murder but those happen nearly every day alas.

It is sad that so many mistakes were made in this case. Normally if someone gets a plea bargain they have to testify against the person they committed the crime with.

7.5 cause the writing was good.
Finished this book yesterday