A list of the books I have read and maybe a review. Inspired by a biography I read about Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall who kept a list of every book he had ever read.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Short Story Collections
Monday, December 26, 2005
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Jennifer Crusie
Great fiction that shouldn't be relegated to the romance section.
Welcome to Temptation
Bet Me
Fast Women
Crazy for You
Faking It
Tell Me Lies
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Monday, December 19, 2005
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Dr. Heidegger's Experiment
The Great Stone Face
The House of the Seven Gables
Ethan Brand
The Birthmark
Rappacini's Daughter
John Steinbeck
I have read:
The Pearl
Sir Richard Francis Burton
The story starts with the Persian Shahryar, king of an unnamed island "between India and China" (in modern editions based on Arab transcripts he is king of India and China), who is so shocked by his wife's infidelity that he kills her and, believing all women to be likewise unfaithful, gives his vizier an order to get him a new wife every night (in some versions, every third night). After spending one night with his bride, the king has her executed at dawn. This practice continues for some time, until the vizier's clever daughter Shahrazad (the name is perhaps better-known in English as "Scheherazade" or "Shahrastini", which is a Persian name) forms a plan and volunteers to become Shahrayar's next wife. Every night after their marriage, she spends hours telling him stories, each time stopping at dawn with a cliff-hanger, so the king will postpone the execution out of a desire to hear the rest of the tale. In the end, she has given birth to three sons, and the king has been convinced of her faithfulness and revoked his decree.
Charlottte Bronte
Others:
Villette (1853)
The Professor: A Tale (1857)
E. M. Hull
Clarence E. Mulford
Buck Peters, Ranchman
Hopalong Cassidy Returns
The Bar 20 Rides again
Zane Grey
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Dean Koontz
Life Expectancy
Velocity
The Face
Odd Thomas
From the Corner of His Eye
False memory
Intensity - The first one I read. Absolutely horrible, but I couldn't put it down.
Tick Tock
Seize the Night
Fear Nothing
Sole Survivor
L. M. Montgomery
Anne of Avonlea
Anne of the Island
Anne's House of Dreams
Rainbow Valley
Rilla of Ingleside
Anne of Windy Poplars
Anne of Ingleside
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little House in the Big Woods (1932)
Farmer Boy (1933) - about her husband's childhood on a farm in New York
Little House on the Prairie (1935), a Newbery Honor book
On the Banks of Plum Creek (1937), a Newbery Honor book
By the Shores of Silver Lake (1939),a Newbery Honor book
The Long Winter (1940), a Newbery Honor book
Little Town on the Prairie (1941), a Newbery Honor book
These Happy Golden Years (1943), a Newbery Honor book
The First Four Years (1971, published posthumously)
Louisa May Alcott
I did like:
Jo's Boys
Little Men
Eight Cousins
Rose in Bloom
An Old Fashioned Girl
Under the Lilacs
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I have read all of the Sherlock Holmes stories: A Study in Scarlet 1888, The Sign of Four 1890, Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 1892, A Scandal in Bohemia, The Red-headed, A Case of Identity, The Boscombe Valley Mystery, The Five Orange Pips, The Man with the Twisted Lip, The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb, The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor, The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet, The Adventure of the Copper Beeches, Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes 1894, Silver Blaze, The Yellow Face, The Stock-broker's Clerk, The "Gloria Scott, The Musgrave Ritual, The Reigate Puzzle, The Crooked Man, The Resident Patient, The Greek Interpreter, The Naval Treaty, The Final Problem, The Hound of the Baskervilles 1902, The Return of Sherlock Holmes 1905, The Adventure of the Empty House, The Adventure of the Norwood Builder, The Adventure of the Dancing Men, The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist, The Adventure of the Priory School, The Adventure of Black Peter, The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton, The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, The Adventure of the Three Students, The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez, The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter, The Adventure of the Abbey Grange, The Adventure of the Second Stain, The Valley of Fear in September 1914, The Valley of Fear 1915, His Last Bow 1917, The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge, The Adventure of the Cardboard Box, The Adventure of the Red Circle, The Adventure of the Bruce-Pardington Plans, The Adventure of the Dying Detective, The Disappearance of Lady Francis Carfax, The Adventure of the Devil's Foot, His Last Bow, The Adventure of the Illustrious Client, The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier, The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone, The Adventure of the Three Gables, The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire, The Adventure of the Three Garridebs in January 1925, The Adventure of the Three Garridebs, The Problem of Thor Bridge, The Adventure of the Creeping Man, The Adventure of the Lion's Mane, The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger, The Adventure of Shoscombe Old
Jayne Ann Krentz
Soft Focus
Trust Me
Truth or Dare
Lost and Found
Light in Mirrors
Absolutely Positively
Grand Passion
Hidden Talents
The Golden Chance
Flash
Family
Eye of the Beholder
Eclipse Bay
Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility
Mansfield Park
Emma
Persuasion
Northanger Abby
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Gladys Malvern
John Grisham
A Time to Kill
The Firm
Pelican Brief
The Client
The Chamber
The Rainmaker
The Run Away Jury
The Partner
The Street Lawyer
The Testament
The Brethren
A Painted House - Not a lawyer book.
Tom Clancy
I have read:
Rainbow Six
Patriot Games
Clear and Present Danger
Martha Finley
The Esie Dinsmore series started out pretty good but as she grew up, everything was a bit too moral. I read:
Elsie Dinsmore
Elsie's Holiday
Elsie's Girlhood
Elsie's Womanhood
Elsie's Motherhood
Elsie's Children
Elsie's Widowhood - Once they killed off her husband, I just gave up. I think there are 5 more books in this Series.
I also read part of the Mildred Keith Series.
Mildred Keith
Mildred at Roselands
Mildred and Elsie
Mildred had a lot more spunk than Elsie, not quite so well-behaved.
Piers Anthony
Split Infinity
Blue Adept
Juxtaposition
Out of Phaze
Robot Adept
Unicorn Point
Phaze Doubt
James Fenmore Cooper
Of course I cried, it was a great book. I read a first edition copy I found in the basement of the Bucknell Library in Pennsylvania.
E. B. White
Stuart Little
The Trumpeter Swan - often overlooked since it hasn't been made into a movie. My favorite of this author.
Autobiographies
Lindy Boggs - "Washington Through a Purple Veil" - I loved the idea that the right clothing gets you anywhere.
"Reagan, In His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan That Reveal His Revolutionary Vision for America" by Ronald Reagan, Martin Anderson, Annelise Anderson, and Kiron Skiner
Pearl Buck
I have read:
East Wind, West Wind (1930)
The Good Earth (1931)
Sons (1932)
The Mother (1933)
A House Divided (1935)
Secrets of the Heart (1976)
I know I have read several others, but I can't remember the titles. I loved the rise and fall of power, money, and health over the course of the man's life. The tea leaves floating on the water.
Lemony Snicket
Samantha Saxon
J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter
1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (1997)
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998)
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999)
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000)
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003)
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005)
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
I didn't watch the movies past book four, but I enjoyed all of the books.
Lloyd Alexander
I really liked these books when I was a kid. I still need to read the Vesper Holly Series and try some of his novels. He is prolific!
Chronicles of Prydain
1. The Book of Three (1964)
2. The Black Cauldron (1965)
3. The Castle of Llyr (1966)
4. Taran Wanderer (1967)
5. The High King (1968)
Westmark
1. Westmark (1981)
2. The Kestrel (1982)
3. The Beggar Queen (1984)
Friday, December 16, 2005
Thomas Hardy
I hated this book. It was awful. The ending was atrocious. I am sure I cried.
Supposedly this book was written as a comment on English society. Maybe if I re-read it after reading a commentary explaining the book I would like it better.
Amanda Quick
I have read:
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Joan Aiken
1. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (1962)
2. Black Hearts in Battersea (1964)
3. Nightbirds on Nantucket (1966)
4. The Whispering Mountain (1968)
5. The Cuckoo Tree (1971)
6. Midnight Is a Place (1974)
7. The Stolen Lake (1981)
8. Dido and Pa (1986)
Apparently there are 5 more new books in this series that I haven't read yet. I will let you know how I like them.