My year in books …

• Posted in About Books, Books I've Read, On Writing

With all the best-of, year-end lists floating around the Web, I thought I’d recap my year in books:

Books read: 67. That’s better than one per week, which isn’t too shabby. I hope to read at least 70 books in 2009. 😎

Genres read: Fantasy, romance, mysteries, thrillers … just about everything except non-fiction. I’m not a big non-fic fan (probably because I have to read so many news stories for work).

New authors I read: Stephanie Meyer, C. L. Wilson, HelenKay Dimon, Kresley Cole, Roxanne St. Claire, Linda Lael Miller, Elizabeth Vaughn, Jackie Kesslar, Ilona Andrews, Catlin Kittredge, Rachel Caine, Kelley Armstrong, Patricia Briggs, Austin Grossman, Rick Riordian, Eric VanLustbader … and several others. I’ll read anyone once. I’m happy to report several of these authors made the grade for me, and I’ll be reading more of their books.

Authors I read again: Jim C. Hines, Lee Child, Robert B. Parker, Stephen Hunter, Marjorie M. Liu, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Elizabeth Vaughn, Lisa Kleypas … and several others.

Best read: Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas. Loved it. Absolutely loved it. A great contemporary romance and coming-of-age story. Must get my hands on the two sequels …

Runner-up: Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughn. A great fantasy romance with a very likable heroine.

Worst read: InterWorld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves. I just didn’t enjoy this young adult book, which is a sci-fi cross between The Matrix and A Wrinkle in Time. Then again, I’m not the world’s biggest sci-fi fan to start with.

Runner-up: Twilight by Stephanier Meyer. I liked it … until Bella found out Edward was a vampire. After that, the book and its obsessive love story just didn’t work for me.

Strangest read: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. I know this take on Batman is highly lauded, but I just thought it was weird. Then again, I’ve thought most of the stuff I’ve read by Miller is weird. So maybe it’s just me.

New series I discovered and enjoyed: The Bullet Catchers series by Roxanne St. Claire and the Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole. I plan on reading and catching up with both of these series in 2009.

Series I’d read before that left me a little puzzled: The Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward. I loved the parts of Phury’s book that dealt with John and his two friends, but the romance (what there was of it) with Phury and Cormia just didn’t work for me. Still, Ward is a great writer, and I have high hopes for the next book in the series.  

Books I wrote this year: 4, which includes Spy 2 and all three of the Assassin books (I had to revise the first Assassin book so much I practically rewrote it).

Books I plan to write in 2009: I need to revise Spy and Spy 2, do another draft or two to polish Assassin 3, and write Assassin 4. I also want to write my urban fantasy western and maybe try my hand at a young adult novel.

What about you guys? What were some of your favorite reads (or things you wrote) for 2008? Share in the comments. And happy reading in 2009! :ww:

2 Responses to “My year in books …”

  1. Brian says:

    The best surprise I got reading this year was a graphic novel called Tamara Drewe. I had never heard of it or the author when I picked it up at the library, and it turned out to be a wonderful story.

    Twilight was the biggest let down for me. I got all four books as a present, and I was very disappointed by Twilight. I read Twilight after Jinx, and your Bella was much more interesting than Meyer’s Bella.

    Though I’ve got to say New Moon, which I wouldn’t have read if I didn’t already have the book, was a lot better. So I’m planning finishing up the series this year.

    Favorite Comic Book: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

    Least Favorite Comic Book: Runaways Vol. III

  2. Jennifer Estep says:

    I believe one of my friends mentioned that title to me. He enjoyed it as well.

    Well, that’s nice of you to say. I don’t think my Bella was quite as whiny as Meyer’s was.

    I don’t know, I just think there’s something wrong with vampires who *sparkle*. And the whole, emo, Romeo and Juliet storyline didn’t do anything for me either.

    I enjoyed the Buffy comic too. Loved the arc with Faith. I’m still behind on reading those though …

    I also read the first four of five Angels, but I didn’t particularly care for those. Gunn … I never liked Gunn and I didn’t like him any better in the comic. Then again, I also hated that Whedon killed Wesley off in the last episode, so maybe that’s why I just didn’t enjoy the comic.

Back to Top