July Reads

[Anamnesis]

Perv: A Love Story by Jerry Stahl-4.5/5

The Night Listener by Armistead Maupin-4/5

The Queen's Fool by Phillipa Gregory-4/5

Nefertiti: Book of the Dead by Nick Drake-3/5

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill-2/5

 

[Fantasy Moon]

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Dark Dreams by Roy Hazelwood
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Undead and Unwed by Mary Janice Davidson

I have to say that the worst reading experience of the month was Wolves of the Calla.

 

[Anamnesis]

I have to say that the worst reading experience of the month was Wolves of the Calla.

It could have been worse. It could have been Heart-Shaped Box, which is definitely my least favorite book of the month (and possibly one of my least favorites of '07). Oddly enough, the author of HSB is the son of Stephen King.

Anyway, what didn't you like about Wolves of the Calla? And have you read the other Dark Tower novels?

 

[Fantasy Moon]

It could have been worse. It could have been Heart-Shaped Box, which is definitely my least favorite book of the month (and possibly one of my least favorites of '07). Oddly enough, the author of HSB is the son of Stephen King.

Anyway, what didn't you like about Wolves of the Calla? And have you read the other Dark Tower novels?

I couldn't finish that book once it got to the dogs having shadowy selves that attacked.

There was a lot of ramblings in my opinion. I felt the book could have been cut in half and been better for it. Less is more, you know? Throwing the plates was interesting though. Two more books and I'll finally have the series done (and they're all going to be packed away after that).

 

[-Carlos-]

I just read two:

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (reread)
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

 

[SFG75]

Started out really slow this month, I didn't complete the first book until the second week. The Aulette book was o.k., nothing to write home about. The king book was a good read and a definite improvement from Lisey's Story. Re-read The Eye as nothing else was appealing, it was a good jump start to my reading month. The Burroughs book was the star of the month, a definite treat.

Greed & Glory on Wall Street; Ken Aulette
Blaze;Stephen King
The Eye;Vladimir Nabokov*re-read
Runnings With Scissors; Augusten Burroughs
The Great Depression: 1929; John Kenneth Galbraith

 

[beer good]

The Lions of Al-Rassan - Kay, Guy Gavriel 3/5
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bryson, Bill 4/5
The Speed of Light - Cercas, Javier 4/5
The Sirens of Titan - Vonnegut, Kurt 4/5
Lisey's Story - King, Stephen 3/5

 

[abecedarian]

Cancer Ward-Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 5/5

A Sorrow Beyond Dreams-Peter Handke 3/5

We Have Our Voice-Reesom Haile 3/5

The Wild Trees-Richard Preston 4/5

Diverse Lives: Contemporary Stories ed. Jeanette Lingard 2/5

Born in Death-J.D. Robb 3/5

Dark Celebration- Christine Feehan 3/5

Dark Torte- Diane Mott Davidson 3/5

Rhythym and Revolt: Tales of the Antilles-ed Marcella Breton 2/5

HP and the Deathly Hallows-J.K. Rowling 4/5

Fortune's Fool-Mercedes Lackey 3/5

Liberian Writing pb. Horst Erdmann Verlag 1/5

Cat Pay the Devil- Shirley R. Murphy 3/5

 

[Anamnesis]

There was a lot of ramblings in my opinion. I felt the book could have been cut in half and been better for it. Less is more, you know?

I liked the book, but I agree that some scenes were overlong. The passages explaining Father Callahan's past were the ones that I felt could have been cut from the book. I don't think his story was completely unimportant to the book, but it could have been its own separate novella. I remember reading that King originally wanted to do a sequel to 'Salem's Lot but never got around to actually finishing it. Thus, Father Callahan's rambling backstory in WOTC. Ah well.

 

[Kenny Shovel]

Pelagia & The Black Monk - Boris Akunin
Special Assignments - Boris Akunin

Poor effort really. Although I am a third of the way through Bleak House after a couple of day this month...

 

[abecedarian]

Pelagia & The Black Monk - Boris Akunin
Special Assignments - Boris Akunin

Poor effort really. Although I am a third of the way through Bleak House after a couple of day this month...

How does Sister Pelagia rate compared to Erast Fandoorin? I really liked The Winter Queen.

 

[Baddie]

The girl who played with fire - Steig Larsson 3/5
The air castle that blew up - Steig Larsson 4/5

 

[Kenny Shovel]

How does Sister Pelagia rate compared to Erast Fandoorin? I really liked The Winter Queen.

They’re a similar style, both being a mixture of various ‘old school’ investigators but in a late 18th century Russian setting. I guess the main difference is that Sister Pelagia, being a nun, is obviously more physically passive than Fandorin – she’s a teacher of gymnastics rather than an all action hero. Akunin also uses her vocation as a way to develop the story without the central figure – in this last story a series of male characters are dispatched to try and solve the mystery before Sister Pelagia makes her entrance.

So, if you like one, you’ll probably like the other – but I’d start with ‘and the Black Monk’ as it’s much better than ‘and the White Bulldog’.

 

[abecedarian]

They’re a similar style, both being a mixture of various ‘old school’ investigators but in a late 18th century Russian setting. I guess the main difference is that Sister Pelagia, being a nun, is obviously more physically passive than Fandorin – she’s a teacher of gymnastics rather than an all action hero. Akunin also uses her vocation as a way to develop the story without the central figure – in this last story a series of male characters are dispatched to try and solve the mystery before Sister Pelagia makes her entrance.

So, if you like one, you’ll probably like the other – but I’d start with ‘and the Black Monk’ as it’s much better than ‘and the White Bulldog’.

I'll check into it eventually..I'm still trying to get to Vassily Grossman too...

 

[Prairie_Girl]

Drag King Dreams by Leslie Feinberg
Freakonomics ~ Levitt, Steven D.
Rise and Shine ~ Quindlen, Anna
Girls Guide to Hunting & Fishing ~ Bank, Melissa
Couldn`t Keep It To Myself ~ Lamb, Wally
Sickened ~ Gregory, Julie
Harry Potter and the Dealthy Hallows ~ Rowling, J. K.

 

[wilderness]

Fightclub - Chuck Palahnick (spelling?)
Q and A (vikas Swarup)
Orpheus Lost (Jannet Turner Hospital)
Almost French - Sarah Turnbull

lani

 

[Dharma]

July:

"O anjo mudo" - Al Berto.
"Siddharta" - Herman Hesse
"Therapy" - David Lodge
"Até Amanhã, Camaradas" - Manuel Tiago
"Sons and Lovers" - D. H. Lawrence (it doesn't totally count since I only read half of it)

Dharma

 

[neuropolitique]

July was the month for one word titles;

Hunger - Knut Hamsen
Beowulf - Translation by Seamus Heaney
Grendel - John Gardner

Got through a good bit of Descartes' Error by Antonio R. Damasio, but lost interest. He makes some very interesting points, and really changes how you view thinking and reason, it's just too bad that he does it in the first three chapters.

 

[RedGlazzies]

A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
Animal Farm - George Orwell
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer

...I wish I could have read more but...summer school math drained all of my time....

but hey, now i'm free to read all i want until fall semester!!!

 

[jaynebosco]

Since I was working on Goblet of Fire throughout the month, I was only able to get done two books:

That Summer by Sarah Dessen
A Love Woven True by Tracie Peterson & Judith Miller

I hope to get a couple more done during August.