| (Most of) The Books Cindy Read in 2004 |
| büke title | arthur | date red | knotes |
| Ten Big Ones | Janet Evanovich | ?/2004 | I love these books. I absolutely think Janet Evanovich is a hilarious writer and these books entertain the daylights out of me. It's almost time to go back and read them again from the begining. She's got other books out there as well and I've got to start on them. |
| The Psycho Ex Game | Markoe and Peieboy | ?/2004 | Eh. Not much to say. I don't remember all that much about it. I know I didn't hate it but nothing about it stuck with me. |
| Can You Keep a Secret? | Sophie Kinsella | ?/2004 | I'm finished with substance, I'm going back to garbage. Chick lit should fall into that category I believe. A friend of mine said her book club was going to read this. It was ok. Shallow, but a quick easy read. I'm not rushing out to buy all those shopaholic books though. |
| The Jane Austen Book Club | Karen Joy Fowler | ?/2004 | When I think back over what I read over the 2nd half of the year, the books I read can be divided into 2 types; ones I think are going to make me think and ones I just want to read because they are easy and entertaining. Normally I call those books ones of "substance" and "garbage". This is one of those ones that I thought I could consider as one of substance. All the reviews were pretty good and lots of people were talking about it. I should add a new category - overrated. This book bored me to death. I must have lost my edge, maybe I've been out of school too long and can't read a book critically any more. I just didn't get this one. If you are reading this and can offer me some profound insight, let me know because I just didn't get it. It reminded me of that other goofy book everyone ranted about and I absolutely didn't get Bel Canto. Ick. I think the thing that bothers me the most about this is I'm such a huge Jane Austen fan. I mean, I named my dog Darcy for heavens sake. And yes, if you really want to know, I named my female cocker spaniel bassett hound mixture Darcy because she was jet black, had these huge brown eyes and I hated her on sight because she wasn't a labrador. So I named her Darcy because I fell head over heals in love with her in a matter of minutes. Yes, I'm a nut. |
| The Buffalo Soldier | Chris Bohjalian | ?/2004 | Still good stuff but not nearly as haunting as some of his other works. This guy really does write well. I've still got a couple of his books to read but I'm off this kick for a bit. |
| Trans-Sister Radio | Chris Bohjalian | ?/2004 | I'm on a Bohjalian kick now. I don't have the order correct since I neglected to keep this section updated but I know I read all of his books one after another. I'm remembering that I really liked this one. It's a little odd and somewhat disturbing. I'm not sure how I'd feel if this happened to me. Brief synopsis, man and woman meet, fall in love, man believes he is trapped in a woman's body and gets sex change. Woman and man deal with their relationship afterwards. Interesting premise. Hard questions about what is love really. I'm not sure the book answers it for me but it made me think a bit and that in my book (ha pun intended) is what makes a book a good one. |
| The Law of Similars | Chris Bohjalian | ?/2004 | After reading Midwives back in March, I made a promise to myself that I'd read all of Bohjalian's books. This one was ok... Not nearly as wonderful as Midwives but still worth reading. His others are better. |
| Wicked | Gregory MaGuire | ?/2004 | I read this sometime in the summer. I was searching for something and was intrigued by the premise. This actually turned out to be a very difficult book to read. HOWEVER... the story itself haunted me. Then, doing what I normally do when I've read something that gets me thinking, I started searching on the Net to see what other people thought. Imagine my surprise to find the book had been turned into a musical and had been playing on broadway for over a year. I read reviews, looked at the pictures, then ordered the soundtrack from amazon. I fell in love with it. Chris and I have talked about going to NY so we could see it but as I write this in Feb of 2005, both the actresses playing Glinda and Elphaba have gone on to do other things. I'm still haunted by the story. I suggested the book for our October book club. No one liked it and I don't think anyone finished it. It's a tough one but very interesting. |
| Middlesex | Jeffrey Eugenides | ?/2004 | Another bookclub choice. The same guy wrote the Virgin Suicides. I liked this one much better. It had more substance and didn't seem to to try to be so trendy. Interesting read. |
| The Time Traveler's Wife | Audrey Niffenegger | ?/2004 | This was a Bookclub book. Interesting choice. I was very haaunted by it. Most of the girls weren't all that enthused but I really enjoyed it. |
| Devil's Waltz | Johnathan Kellerman | 6/2004 | |
| Silent Partner | Johnathan Kellerman | 6/2004 | |
| Over the Edge | Johnathan Kellerman | 6/2004 | |
| Therapy | Johnathan Kellerman | 5/2004 | |
| Hidden Prey | John Sandford | 5/2004 | |
| Bergdorf Blondes | Plum Sykes | 5/2004 | |
| Folly and Glory | Larry McMurtry | 5/2004 | |
| The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters | Elisabeth Robinson | 5/2004 | |
| Plum Island | Nelson DeMille | 5/2004 | |
| Guardian of the Horizon | Elizabeth Peters | 4/2004 | |
| Paradise | Larry McMurtry | 4/2004 | |
| Grass Angel | Julie Schumacher | 4/2004 | |
| Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret | Judy Blume | 4/2004 | |
| Wagging Tails, Swishing Tails, Fluffy Tails and Other Tales | Judy Fuson | 4/2004 | |
| Emma | Jane Austen | 3/2004 | |
| Pride and Prejudice | Jane Austen | 3/2004 | Ah Mr. Darcy. In case anyone wondered, our cocker-basset, his "female" namesake. I'm not going to offer any opinions on P&P, that would be silly. But I'm onto Emma now and of course, Chris bought me the BBC production on DVD. It's about time I read something that isn't on the best seller list. I'm out of practice reading anything that isn't mindless. |
| Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason | Helen Fielding | 3/2004 | An oldie but goodie... Those of you who have read this will completely understand my Jane Austen kick. I haven't found anything new that I'm interested in reading so why not re-read. |
| The Jester | James Patterson | 3/2004 | Couldn't even finish this book. I hated it. |
| The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (BC) | Mark Haddon | 3/2004 | Hummm... I can't say much about this one yet. We selected this book for our March Bookclub pick and we still need to discuss it. I will say this, I found it very interesting and I'm glad I read it. |
| Midwives | Chris Bohjalian | 3/2004 | Ok, I loved this book. I love the way Bohjalian writes. I love the depth and knowledge that he gives you about his characters. I loved the story. I'm very excited because I've found a new author and I can't wait to read his other stuff. Of most of the new authors (new to me anyway) this guy stands apart from all the others. If you are reading this review, READ THIS BOOK! |
| The Virgin Suicides | Jeffrey Eugenides | 3/2004 | I don't know what made me pick this up. I got somewhat obsessed with the book after I finished it. It reminds me of the "Blair Witch" stories. While I know this is fiction, I found myself searching for more information - and guess what? There isn't any. I can't quite figure out why this is Sofia Coppola's favorite book. That - and I didn't really see the humor everyone talks about. This would be a good bookclub book. We could all argue about it. Maybe that would leave me more fulfilled... |
| House of Sand and Fog | Andre Dubus III | 2/2004 | Well written and an interesting way of telling the story. Not a bad book, I just didn't like how it turned out. It left me wondering exactly what happened as opposed to wrapping things up. I get very frustrated with works like this. It's like he ran out of story and just decided to stop. The point of view of the two main characters is good though. Getting inside their heads and seeing why the do the things they do is nice. Now to see the movie. Something tells me the movie was very hard to write and decipher from the book. There's just too much internal dialog to make sense on film without voice overs. We shall see... |
| The Last Juror | John Grisham | 2/2004 | Ah... Grisham is back to his old tricks. Thank Goodness! Finally something from him that I'm happy to have read. Great character development and a terrificly paced story. Chris even liked it too. If you like older Grisham stuff, this is throw back to when he actually told a real story. |
| P.S. I Love You | Cecilia Ahern | 2/2004 | Eh... The jacket looked interesting but the book failed to move me like I thought it would. Story about a young woman learning to cope with her husbands untimely death. He leaves her a "list" of things to do to help her through her grief. Not a bad first novel, but like I said, it didn't really get to me. |
| Widow's Walk | Robert B. Parker | 2/2004 | Vintage Parker... I know it's not anything substainal, but I love Spencer. |
| Isle of Dogs | Patricia Cornwell | 2/2004 | This is a totally different Cornwell... I liked it, but I'm not going into a lot of detail... funny, good plot and a total departure from the Scarpetta novels. |
| Black Notice | Patricia Cornwell | 1/2004 | Not bad. It's honestly the last "real" Scarpetta book. Last Precinct is close as well, but it seems like Cornwell has changed her style. See my notes from Blow Fly. |
| Blow Fly | Patricia Cornwell | 1/2004 | Ok, I've read most everything of Patricia Cornwell's, then there was this one. I'm honestly not sure she wrote this book. Scarpetta is on the outs with her job and there's a lot of other junk going on... but mainly, it's like it was written in 3rd person. It bothers me how different the style is of this book than her others. Which is why I had to go back and re-read Black Notice. Weird and very bothersome. |
| The Last Precinct | Patricia Cornwell | 1/2004 | Pretty good. It's typical Cornwell. As you can see I'm reading things a little out of order but what the heck. |
| Unsung | Linford Detweiler | 1/2004 | YUCK! If I get this desparate to write a book and produce something like this, someone should smack me. Stick to writing songs Linford. You are WAY out of your element. But who am I to judge? All I write is directions and web copy crap. I give him points for trying but.... er... Still Yuck. |
| The Conspiracy Club | Jonathan Kellerman | 1/2004 | |
| To the Nines | Janet Evanovich | 1/2004 | |
| One for the Money | Janet Evanovich | 1/2004 | |
| Visions of Sugar Plums | Janet Evanovich | 1/2004 | |
| Hot Six | Janet Evanovich | 1/2004 | |
| High Five | Janet Evanovich | 1/2004 | |
| Four to Score | Janet Evanovich | 1/2004 |