Books of 2010: Final Tally!

[greenconverses]

1. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters
2. Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford
3. Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
4. 39 Clues #7: The Viper's Nest by Peter Lerangis
5. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
6. The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
7. The Oracles of Delphi Keep by Victoria Laurie
8. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
9. The Shadow Thieves (Cronus Chronicles 1) by Anne Ursu
10. Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
11. Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark by Ridley Pearson
12. O, Juliet by Robin Maxwell
13. Siren Song (Cronus Chronicles 2) by Anne Ursu
14. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahme-Smith
15. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
16. Catching Fire by Suzanna Collins
17. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
18. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
19. Lion's Heat by Lora Leigh
20. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith
21. Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
22. Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean
23. 39 Clues #8: The Emperor's Code by Gordon Korman
24. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
25. The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
26. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
27. Rumors by Anna Godbersen
28. Envy by Anna Godbersen
29. The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
30. Vampyres of Hollywood by Adrienne Barbeau and Michael Scott
31. Bengal's Heart by Lora Leigh
32. A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn
33. Beastly by Alex Flinn
34. The Princess and the Hound by Mette Ivie Harrison
35. 39 Clues #9: Storm Warning by Linda Sue Park
36. The Second Short Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer
37. The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart
38. Insatiable by Meg Cabot
39. Incarceron by Catherine Fischer
40. Immortal Fire (Cronus Chronicles #3) by Anne Ursu
41. Girl Stays in the Picture by Melissa de la Cruz
42. Android Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and Ben H. Winters
43. Splendor by Anna Godbersen
44. Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson
45. Glass Houses (Morganville Vampires #1) by Rachel Caine
46. Sea Change by Aimee Friedman
47. Front Row at the White House: My Life and Times by Helen Thomas
48. Dead Girls Dance (Morganville Vampires #2) by Rachel Caine
49. Midnight Alley (Morganville Vampires #3) by Rachel Caine
50. Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer
51. Sunshine by Robin McKinley
52. Feast of Fools (Morganville Vampires #4) by Rachel Caine
53. Lord of Misrule (Morganville Vampires #5) by Rachel Caine
54. Carpe Corpus (Morganville Vampires #6) by Rachel Caine
55. Fade Out (Morganville Vampires #7) by Rachel Caine
56. Kiss of Death (Morganville Vampires #8) by Rachel Caine
57. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
58. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
59. The Ghost and The Goth by Stacey Kade
60. Airhead by Meg Cabot
61. Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller
62. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
63. 39 Clues #10: Into the Gauntlet by Margret Peterson Haddix
64. Being Nikki (Airhead #2) by Meg Cabot
65. Runaway (Airhead #3) by Meg Cabot
66. How to be Popular by Meg Cabot
67. Teen Idol by Meg Cabot
68. Kiki Strike: The Empress's Tomb by Kirsten Miller
69. Pretty Little Liars #1 by Sara Shepard
70. Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson
71. The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood
72. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
73. Renegade by Lora Leigh
74. Ghost Town (Morganville Vampires #9) by Rachel Caine
75. Everlasting by Angie Frazier
76. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
77. Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
78. Midnighters: The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld
79. Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar
80. Fire by Kristen Cashore
81. Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright
82. Menage by Emma Holly
83. Midnighters: Touching Darkness by Scott Westerfeld

- Fire was good, but for all the hype I heard about it, I didn't like it as much Graceling. I just think it was too slow moving compared to the first book, even though I did like the world building in the Dells and some of the characters. I think there could have been some serious trimming of the book; there's just a lot of boring exposition and repetition. I do like Kristen Cashore's work in general because of her heroines and a lot of the feminist topics she manages to address in her books.

- Red Riding Hood is the book based on the new movie coming out and it really sucked. My full rant on this book is on my YA blog here. If you were following me on Twitter, you probably got the full brunt of my disgust for that book.

- For all the hype about Emma Holly, Menage kind of let me down. I was too busy giggling about her crazy euphemisms to enjoy the smut properly.

- Liked the second Midnights book better than the first. Bought the third as well. Scott Westerfeld, keep being awesome.

Currently reading: Midnighters: Blue Moon by Scott Westerfeld. Only a handful of pages in, and I'll probably finish it tomorrow.

Up next: ALL THE FUN BOOKS THAT ARE GONNA GET RELEASED IN 2011! :D

Comments

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

I wasn't very impressed with Graceling. It just felt too formulaic. And honestly I don't remember much about it other than she had different colored eyes and beat people up ;)

Woo fun books ;)

[greenconverses.livejournal.com]

Don't forget, she had a love interest named PO. Still lol'ing.

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

LOL, that's right.

[amanda (from livejournal.com)]

Have you ever consider reading either of Cassandra Clare's series?

[greenconverses.livejournal.com]

I've read a few pages of City of Bones and it didn't grab my attention right away.

[amanda (from livejournal.com)]

Clockwork Angel is so much better than the first series. Strong main character and an interesting steampunkish plot. I was glad I gave it a shot and read it.

[aimmyarrowshigh.livejournal.com]

I second this. It took me almost two years to make it through City of Bones (and I NEVER don't read a book straight through) but I read Clockwork Angel in a few hours.

[oneoffour111.livejournal.com]

Loved Graceling, but I'm with you re: Fire. The exposition... XP

I just finished Leviathan, though, and enjoyed it! Thanks for updating this every so often...it was fun to pick books based off your recommendations and know that I'd like them. Congratulations on reading the eighty-three books and good luck on your thesis!

[greenconverses.livejournal.com]

She just repeated herself to often in Fire; it was definitely a lot of showing and not telling.

I'm glad you liked Leviathan! Scott Westerfeld's quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

[jazzer272.livejournal.com]

Awsome books (: .. Have you tried reading Breathless by VJ Chambers? or Evermore by Alyson Noel? They're great books too :D

Ps: I admire your 83 read books D: I can't get passed 40 a year with all my clases and all u.u Anyways congrats!

[aimmyarrowshigh.livejournal.com]

- Red Riding Hood is the book based on the new movie coming out and it really sucked. My full rant on this book is on my YA blog here. If you were following me on Twitter, you probably got the full brunt of my disgust for that book.

SAME! I was/am so excited for the movie, but that book was hands-down one of the worst -- if not THE worst -- I've ever read. I wonder if that was partially because it was based on a movie and not the other way around; in a movie, the lack of background on the characters' lives wouldn't be so hit-you-over-the-head obvious because a lot can be conveyed in a glance or a glare. But in the book, everything about Daggorhorn's entire ~world made no sense, I wasn't sure whether it was even supposed to be like, part of Earth's history or some alternate-planet or alternate-history or what, and the red herrings about the wolf made the identity reveal at the end SO depressing.

I was really hoping for a complete overhaul of the legend in that Little Red would have been the Wolf all along, or at least Grandmother, but really? The hot werewolf guy really is the hot werewolf guy? Lame. I was also expecting/hoping for more of an exposure of the Little Red Riding Hood fable as a sexual/coming of age warning, judging from well, that being what the fable is, and the trailer, and werewolves being pretty sexy. And it being Chardwicke, who's a total nutbar in that way. But alas...




And a potential sequel? I don't even.

[greenconverses.livejournal.com]

I've read a lot of movie-to-book adaptations and I've never read one that sucks as bad as this one did. I think a good chunk of the problem is that it was a first book written by someone with a ~degree~ in Creative Writing. It was just a damn mess all over the place and she clearly didn't have a decent editor telling her NO YOU CAN'T WRITE SENTENCES LIKE THAT WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING.

I wasn't really that impressed with the ~retelling~ aspect of Little Red Riding Hood either. If it had been the grandmother, it would've been way more interesting. But the red herrings were all set up so awkwardly and it was confusing. I was just pissed that she went with the douche in the end not knowing for sure that he was, you know, a vicious murdering supernatural beast.