I’ve actually done quite a bit of reading over the last couple of weeks (while I was avoiding NaNo). Two books in series I’ve previously read, three new authors, and one author that I normally don’t read.

I read Confessor, by Terry Goodkind, the last in the Sword of Truth series. I really like these books, and I’ve enjoyed all of them. I discovered them quite by accident. I read something about one of the books, I think it was Temple of the Winds, and thought it sounded good. So, I went to the bookstore to get it. And discovered it was the fourth book in a series. I decided to try the first one, and was completely enthralled from the first sentence. I devoured that, and had to go back the next week to get the other three books. Terry Goodkind is not afraid to be very, very cruel to his characters, and I know I cried several times while reading the series. Parts of it are funny, parts of it are very serious. There are so many layers to the series that it amazes me. Confessor was a fitting ending to the series. I enjoyed it a lot, and I think he wrapped up everything neatly (although I would still love to read more in this world). Richard and Kahlan are great characters, and after reading the series, I feel like I know them personally.

Next up was Halfway to the Grave, by Jeanine Frost. I heard her speak this summer at Conestoga, on a panel about vampires, and I was impressed by what she had to say (Plus, she gave away really cool cover flaps of her book.). Halfway to the Grave is about a girl who lures vampires and slays them, in amateur fashion. One of her attempted murders goes awry when she tries to stake Bones, who takes her under his wing and trains her so they can go after a really bad vampire who is kidnapping and selling women. I wasn’t too sure about the first part of this book, but I ended up really enjoying it, and I’m looking forward to the next in the series. I thought Frost’s writing was strong, and she did a good job with this story.

The High King’s Tomb by Kristen Britain was a very enjoyable story. I stumbled over the first book in this series, and have been hooked ever since. (Strangely enough, I was checking Amazon to see if she had written anything new, and it happened to be this book’s release day). The characters are great, especially Karigan, and even minor ones are well-drawn. There is always a lot of action and mystery, and I enjoy that. (And dang it, I want Karigan and the King to get together!) I think I read somewhere that Kristen Britain is a protégée of Terry Goodkind’s, so the story quality is definitely good.

For some reason (my mother made me), I read Nicholas Sparks’ A Bend in the Road. I don’t normally read Sparks, because I’ve read several of his things in the past, and I just don’t enjoy them. This one wasn’t a bad story, and the writing was fine, but I figured out what was going to happen early on, and I’m not a big fan of predictability in my reading.

Also read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. I’ve heard a lot about this book this year, so I decided to read it. It was…a little strange. Mind you, I had to force myself to put it down at night, but it was an uncomfortable book to me. I thought it was odd that the characters’ names were never revealed, and the whole world was depressing to me. Good writing, just not a book I would read again.

Last up is A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. LeGuin. I’ve never read anything of hers before, and tried this one on a whim. I enjoyed it, despite its brevity and the formality of the language. Ged is an interesting character to me, and he grew a lot in this story. I’m now working on the second book in the trilogy.

I haven’t done much reading in the last week. In fact, for me, two books is quite sad. I read Keri Arthur’s Kissing Sin, which is the second book in the series. I actually like the main character, Riley, and her brother Rhoan quite a bit. She’s a pretty independent woman, which is always a good thing, in my opinion. A lot of the mystery from the first book , Full Moon Rising, is carried over, and some of the questions actually get answered. There are a lot of strong secondary characters, all sorts of strange critters, along with plenty of murder and mayhem. My only real problem with the book was some of the more…physical aspects, which seemed to be thrown in without regard to plot relativity. I understand that these werewolves are very sexual creatures, I just found it odd that Riley would be that fixated on sex (and with a stranger, at that), while she was running for her life. Maybe it’s just me. It’s certainly a lot tamer than anything Laurell K. Hamilton writes.

I also read Touch the Dark, by Karen Chance. I really liked this book a lot! The MC, Cassie, is a clairvoyant running from her old vampire master. The vampire senate turns up to help her, but she thinks they have ulterior motives. And she’s right. Cassie’s pretty funny at times, and her sidekick, a ghost named Billy Joe, is a trip. I like most of the vampire characters, and there’s even a war mage. All in all, a pretty cool book. I like the worldbuilding. I’m currently reading the sequel, Claimed by Shadow. It’s great, too, and I’m determined to finish it before NaNo starts!

Slightly off topic, but does anyone else watch Moonlight? I like this show. Surprisingly. I usually have issues with vampire movies/TV shows, but I enjoy this one a lot. It helps that the MC, Mick, is pretty attractive, but leaving that out, I think they do a pretty good job. Not terribly original, I guess, but still entertaining. And I hardly ever watch TV! Normally, all I watch is Lost (which of course, isn’t back on until FEBRUARY!). Now I’ve also added Moonlight and The Big Bang Theory, which completely cracks me up. Last night I laughed so hard I almost fell on the floor. (The line about Home habilus discovering his opposable thumbs almost did me in.)

One last thought. I’m going to try to post my NaNo progress here every day. My goal is to at least get my daily word count and total word count posted, along with any other thoughts. Good luck to any of you doing NaNo!

I haven’t had quite as much time to read this week as I’d like. Still, I did get a little bit of reading done, most of it quite enjoyable.

I finished reading the Kitty books by Carrie Vaughn, Kitty Goes to Washington and Kitty Takes a Holiday. I enjoyed both of these way more than the first book in the series. Kitty developed into a character I actually liked and cared about. Some of the developments in the third book caught me off-guard. (Ben? Didn’t see that one coming.) Plus, there were some pretty cool additions to the world. I like the skinwalkers concept a lot.

I also read Something Wicked by Catherine Mulvany. I don’t normally read a lot of things that are marketed as romance, even paranormal romance. Not that I have anything against romances. I started reading them at a young age, and I’ve read a ton of them. There are some very talented authors out there writing romance, and I still enjoy a good one every now and then. That said, I don’t pick up a romance unless it has another strong element to it (mystery, historical period or place I’m interested in, etc.). In addition to loving the title, Something Wicked, I liked the premise behind it as well. A vampire searching for a spring of miracles? Interesting. A vampire biker gang with a vendetta against said vampire? Even better. I liked the MCs in this book, and the history/flashbacks as well. Regan is a strong female character, which of course is always a good thing. And Nash was suitably conflicted and noble. This is actually the first book by Mulvany I’ve read, but I think I’ll be picking up more of hers in the future.

I’ve actually had some time to read this week. I read some things I really liked, too, which is always a good thing. Hmm… Where to start?

I read Kimberly Raye’s Dead End Dating and Dead and Dateless. They were both pretty funny. I like Lil, the main character. She’s a trip. I’m not much on shopping or name brands, myself, but it’s such a life-or-death matter to her that it’s hysterical. Sometimes she’s shallow, and she makes no apologies for it. And her family! Whew. Makes me tired just thinking about it. I loved that her mother is just horrified her brother is getting serious with a human woman. And her dad’s feud with the werewolf next door is a hoot. And the bounty hunter, Ty, well, he’s a great character.

I’ve also read Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn. I liked it, although I really didn’t care for Carl and Meg. Not a bit. Plus, the end was sad! Good character growth, though. Kitty changes a lot over the course of the book, and I liked that.

The best thing I read this week was The Bone Garden, by Tess Gerritsen. I’m a big fan of her work, and I really enjoyed this one. I likedthe two-stories-in-one aspect of the book, although I was really entranced with Rose and Norris’s story (set in the 1800s). It was appropriately bloody, and kept me guessing as to who the killer was (always a good thing). This one made me cry, though. But I do highly recommend it. Gerritsen is always a pleasure, and this one was no exception.

I haven’t read a whole lot of this week (I know, I know. Horrible.). I finally finished The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart. Not a bad ending, just sort of sad, full of horrible misunderstandings and mistakes. I didn’t cry, but it was still sad.

Then I finally got Betrayed, by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast (a mother-daughter duo). It’s the second book in the House of Night series, and I am really loving these books! I devoured this one, just like I did the first one, Marked. They are YA urban fantasy about vampires, but their take on vampires is completely unlike anything I’ve seen before. A vampire finishing school? Completely wonderful idea. I adore the characters in these books. Betrayed was awesome, but I wouldn’t really recommend reading it without reading Marked first. Everything will make more sense if you read them in order, and you’ll be attached to the characters as well.

Zoey Redbird is a great teenage character, full of self-doubts and insecurities, but knowing she’s something special and wanting to live up to that potential. Her group of friends are all well-realized and realistic teenagers as well. The Twins are interesting (Not the same race, but definitely separated at birth.) Damien is great (A gay fledgling vampire who acts like the fashion police?). And then there’s Stevie Ray (Now, who ever heard of an Okie vampire with a name like that?) And Neferet, the High Priestess of Nyx, really creeps me out. There’s a lot going on in this book, enough to keep me turning the pages even though there were a thousand other things I needed to be doing (Hello, working on my own writing?). It made me laugh several times, and made me cry as well. The third book in the series, Chosen, comes out in March 2008, and I can’t wait.

I’m also well into Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs. I enjoyed the first book in this series, Moon Called, and this one is shaping up to be good as well. I like the idea of skinwalkers, and the fact that neither the local werewolf pack or the vampire seethe know what to make of Mercedes Thompson. And she’s a mechanic, which is definitely an unexpected twist. Plus, the cover art is cool, with all of her tattoos and attitude on display. In this book, she’s after a demon-possessed vampire sorcerer, which is almost more than I can wrap my brain around.

So, that’s what I’m reading now. I’ve you’ve never tried P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast, or Patricia Briggs, I highly recommend them.

Also posted to my personal blog, A Figment of my Imagination.

One of my favorite things to do in the whole world is read. So, I’ve decided to make blogging about whatever book I’m currently reading a weekly thing. Not that the topic will necessarily be all that interesting or educational, but just because. Currently, I’m reading two books: The Wicked Day, by Mary Stewart; and All Together Dead, by Charlaine Harris.

I’ve had the Mary Stewart books on my TBR pile for a while. (Over a year, in fact.) Once I started reading them, I realized I’d actually read the first two before. Not that that detracted from my enjoyment of them at all. I actually liked them a lot. I enjoyed her take on Merlin, and a lot of the background and mythic stuff I think is great. I’ve always liked when books have layers of background information in them (Tolkien, anyone?), and this just made me like the books more. The writing is sort of formal, but that gives my mind a break if I read something in that style every once in a while. Now I’m on the fourth book, and I’m still enjoying it. I don’t think I’ve read this one before, either. It’s interesting to see things from Mordred’s point of view, and although I know how this has to end, I’d still recommend the series to anyone who loves fantasy. The Arthurian legends have been over-done, but I don’t think Stewart is on that list.

On to All Together Dead. Can I just say that I love this series? I finally borrowed this book from my best friend (who has the same taste in books that I do, so we swap a lot), and it’s been really difficult to put down. Of course, this is the seventh book in the series, so I’ve had plenty of time to get to know the characters. I love Sookie. And Eric. And Quinn. Boo to Bill, though. This book has a good mystery going, and the pacing is great, so I keep telling myself “One more chapter” for hours at a time. I love the close POV Harris sticks to with Sookie, and how real Sookie seems (sometimes I feel like I know her personally). If you like vampires, you should definitely pick this one up (and the rest of the series).