2010 AAR Top 100 Results

Okay, so I managed to get my top 100 romances ranked into list form for AAR (although #40 - 100 are probably pretty interchangable).  Anyhoo, if my math is correct:

I've read 35 of the top 100 Romances
25 of my top 100 Romances made the list
Only 2 of my top 10 made the list (Outlander - Gabaldon and Knight in Shining Armour - Devereaux)
29 of the Top 100 are in my TBR pile
There are only 2 books I have no intention of reading on the list (On the Way to the Wedding - Quinn and Ransom - Garwood)

Here is the full list of AAR's Top 100 with my ratings/comments below.  I'm sorry if it's hard to read.  You have no idea how much time it took to figure out how to get this table into blogger without having to re-do the whole thing with HTML.

Okay - I can't get it to work properly.  It shows up in preview then disappears when I publish the post.  This may have something to do with the reason I keep dropping out of blog land.  I spend hours trying to get something set up on the blog - it doesn't work and then I don't want to look at it anymore.  Boo.

Okay so I sort-of got something to work.  Don't ask me how I managed to get the first one so easy to read and then not the rest.  I don't know and I'm not going back to do it again.  If you click on each picture it opens a little bigger.

Back Again

Who is the lonely bookworm?  If you asked me in 2009 I'd tell you to read my side blurb.  If you ask me now... she's a slacker!!!  Holy Moses - no posts since August and only a pitiful handful of posts all year.

Well - I'm back again.  It's been a busy/stressful year and I've had trouble finding time to read any of the other blogs let alone write my own.  I've filled most of my spare time with reading which is so very relaxing for me after spending so much time on the computer at work.  

But I miss writing about my books and I tried the handwritten journal but it's just not the same so I'm back and I'm going to try to post more often.  I've joined the 2011 TBR challenge so that should guarantee at least 1 post a month.  I also joined a challenge over on Shelfari and will be posting those reviews here as well so you never know maybe even two a month.

It used to be easier for me to post at work prior to my "pro"motion (you know the kind where you get more responsibility, longer hours and the same pay??) but when I was moved to my own office I got stuck with the slowest computer in existence so doing anything internet related on my lunch is beyond frustrating.

Anyhoo, onwards and upwards.  I'm going to be posting about AAR's 2010 100 Top Romances List next but I'll need sometime to compare it to my own list and already read pile.

E-Book Deal and Recent Reads

It's been a very busy few weeks for me.  I was on vacation last week and of course with the joys of full time employment that means double the work before I leave and double the work when I get back from vacation so I've been busy little bee.

In the meantime I have managed to squeeze in some reading.  The first book I read was To Speak for the Dead by Paul Levine which is the first book in his Jake Lassiter series.  If you've read some of my previous posts you may know that I'm a huge fan of Paul Levine's Solomon vs. Lord series (even though I loathe Victoria).  I'd been scouring used books stores trying to find the first book in the Lassiter series and having no luck.  Some time ago I'd signed up for Paul Levine's newsletter and a few weeks ago I recieved an e-mail that said Paul had re-released 3 books in e-book format.  The first two Lassiter books and one stand alone.  Not only that but they have been released at the (temporary) very attractive price of $2.99 - that's right $2.99 and what's more is that proceeds from the sale of the first Lassiter book goes to the Four Diamonds Fund which supports cancer treatment for children at the Penn State Hershey Childrens Hospital.  It's a win-win I had to buy them.

I've since read To Speak for the Dead and while I didn't enjoy it as much as the Solomon novels it was still a very good read and if your interested in courtroom legal thrillers I'd recommend scooting over to the website and purchasing the e-book.

I also read Missing Pieces by Joy Fielding - I spent the whole book waiting for something to happen and then it finally did and it was over in 2 pages.    Basically the writing was okay, the characters were thoroughly unlike-able and the suspense was non existent - just an overall mediocre read for me.


The last book I read was for the book club and I didn't expect to enjoy it but it's one of my best reads so far this year.  I'm going to post a full review on it later but The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton was totally awesome.  I finished the book and could not think of one negative thing about it.

Sookie and the Trouble Shooters

Well last week I read two more installments of series I have on the go.  The first one I read was All Through the Night A Trouble Shooters Christmas by Suzanne Brockmann and the second was Living Dead in Dallas by Charlene Harris.  I had mixed feelings about each of them.

Lets start with the Trouble Shooters.  While I did enjoy reading more about Jules and Robin  I was a little dissappointed to reach the middle of the book and realize this really wasn't a romantic suspense at all.  It was very much a contemporary romance with a bit of drama thrown in at the end.  Which is fine.  If I'm in the mood for a contemporary romance.  Which I wasn't.  I'm sure if I'd done a little digging around I would have realized this prior to starting but when I see Brockmann and Troubleshooters on the cover of a book I tend to assume things.  Otherwise I did quite enjoy the story.  I wish Will and Dolphina's story was a little more fleshed out since I really like Will from the previous book he was in but it is a novella so I can see why it was a tad abbreivated.

Now on to Sookie.  After I read the first book I mentioned that I had trouble warming up to Sookie.  I found I liked her quite a bit more in this book and I found the action/mystery was able to hold my attention more in this book as well.  My only problem this time is Bill.  He just seems so blah - like there isn't a whole lot of personality in there.  Eric on the other hand seems far more developed as a character and I find I enjoy the scenes with him far more than those with Bill but maybe that's intentional.  I haven't read a whole lot about this series other than that lots of people seem to like it so perhaps Sookie is going to go in a different direction.  I don't know but I don't really see whats so great about Bill.

Book Clubs

A few months ago I joined a book club with my cousin.  I'd been wanting to join a book club for quite sometime but I was never able to find one in my area.  My cousin won't read "those" books so we joined a general fiction club and since then I've discovered two things.

1. I enjoy general/literary fiction less than any other genre

and

2.  I seem to be a very different type of reader than readers of general fiction

I've never been a big fan of general fiction but every now and then I will pick one up that sounds interesting or that I've heard a lot of buzz about - 9 times out of 10  I don't get what all the fuss was about.  Well as I go to these meetings I'm realizing that the other people in the group seem to take away a lot more from these books than I ever do.  They find all kinds of hidden meanings and parallels to their own lives, life lessons, things that change their perspective on this or the next thing.  Meanwhile I'm sitting there and my biggest contribution is "I thought _________ was a jack ass."

Okay - so there's a little bit more to my comments than just that but I don't notice all those other things in the book and I've been really trying.  I notice the characters and their growth, the authors storytelling ability, the plot, the actual story, writing style which the others may note in their observations but there certainly isn't a lot of discussion on it.

There is a certain amount of book snobbery going on as well.  It's not blatant "genre fiction is trash" snobbery but when last months women's fiction choice was originally announced there was a certain amount of eye rolling that went along with it and although most of the members did enjoy it they were certain to say "even though it had no substance" or something along those lines.   Also someone mentioned that there were a few other book clubs at the store and one of them happened to be a paranormal romance book club.  When one of the older ladies questioned what a paranormal romance was the general answer was "Oh it's basically sex with vampires".  Well no it's not and I find it irritating that someone who works in a bookstore can have that opinion.  There is an employee there who is always sticking her ______ recommends sticker on paranormal romances and she has enjoyed some very good ones.  I would think that you could at least maybe say "Hey ______".  "I don't get this genre but since a lot of customers seem to enjoy it maybe you could recommend a good one to me so I have a better understanding of it".  

Oh well.  What can you do?  I've thought about joining the paranormal romance book club but they seem to be reading a lot of book 2's, 3's, 4's etc.  which would mean having to read 2 or 3 books prior to the book club book and that would be a bit of a paranormal over dose for me.