2011 Reading Update - 1st Quarter

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I like to read a lot. Though I dropped the ball on the last quarter in 2010, I usually post an update every three months of what books I read that quarter. (Actually, looking back, I haven't posted an update since the second quarter of 2010.. my bad!)

Anyway, here's The List. Comments after!

COOL CACHE by Patricia Smiley 292pgs, 2/5

THE SENTRY by Robert Crais 320pgs, 4/5

JACK DANIELS STORIES by J.A. Konrath 316pgs, 4/5

THE LIES THAT BIND by Kate Carlisle 275pgs, 2/5

AT HOME by Bill Bryson 512pgs, 5/5

THE MISENCHANTED SWORD by Lawrence Watt-Evans 292pgs, 5/5

TO THE DEVIL, MY REGARDS by Gischler and Smith 80pgs, 5/5

THE CASTLE IN THE ATTIC by Elizabeth Winthrop 179pgs, 4/5

RUN by Blake Crouch 213pgs, 5/5

CHOKE ON YOUR LIES by Anthony Neil Smith 270pgs, 4/5

THE UNWILLING WARLORD by Lawrence Watt-Evans 248pgs, 4/5

SWIMSUIT by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro 400pgs, 4/5

BLOODTHIRSTY by Marshall Karp 377pgs, 5/5

A BAD SPELL IN YURT by C. Dale Brittain 314pgs, 4/5

THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST by Stieg Larsson 576pgs, 1/5

WORTH DYING FOR by Lee Child 400pgs, 4/5

NINE DRAGONS by Michael Connelly 480pgs, 2/5

GIDEON'S SWORD by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child 352pgs, 3/5

THE BLOOD OF A DRAGON by Lawrence Watt-Evans 236pgs, 4/5

SHAKEN by J.A. Konrath 304pgs, 4/5

WITH A SINGLE SPELL by Lawrence Watt-Evans 288pgs, 5/5

THE MONSTER OF FLORENCE by Douglas Preston & Mario Spezi  322pgs, 4/5

TAKING FLIGHT by Lawrence Watt-Evans 220pgs 5/5

SPELL OF THE BLACK DAGGER by Lawrence Watt-Evans 294pgs 4/5

So let's see... That's 24 books, clocking in at approximately 7,560 pages (That's an approximation because many of the books were in eBook format without an accurate page count, in which case I typically went with the paperback number)


That come to about 84 pages a day or a book every 3.75 days in the first quarter of 2010. Not my biggest quarter, in fact it's one of the smallest, but I was surprised I cracked twenty as busy as we've been and with the winter funk we got into.



Some good stuff here this time, mostly re-reads, surprisingly. I have a lot of new books in my to-read list, but eight of them I'd read before. Granted, most were from Lawrence Watt-Evans, as I'm in the middle of an Ethshar marathon right now and I have to read a Marshall Karp novel every quarter to keep my funny detective bone intact.


My favorite new read? At Home, without a doubt. Probably the only book in the bunch that I'll read over and over for enjoyment, though I did get a huge kick out of the new offerings from Conrad, Gischler, Smith and Crouch.


Least favorite? The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, without question. Overblown, boring and way overrated.

I have no idea what the next quarter will bring... I've already fallen in love with Nation by Terry Pratchett and I'm desperately hoping I can get my hands on Kill Me If You Can, the new novel from the Always Spectacular Marshall Karp and author extraordinaire James Patterson!  I can't wait to see how two authors that I really dig work together.


You can read reviews for most all of these over on Reviews Of Unusual Size by clicking them in the list! (Some are forthcoming, I'm a little behind on my reviews...)