2009 Challenge

So, I was reading on Mom's blog...a while back, and she linked to Becky (who I don't think I know...), who talked about reading challenges. Including one where you pick xx amount of topics, and read xx amount of books in them. The "xx" is the last 2 numbers in the year.

So, in 2009, you have 9 categories and you have to read 9 books in each category. I thought this sounded like fun, so I chose my own categories.

1. 9 Award Winners-- Doesn't matter what kind of award, so long as it's won one.
2. 9 Re-Reads-- This one will, of course, fill up the fastest.
3. 9 Books by Men-- I tend to read books written by women. I should work on that.
4. 9 Classics Everyone Should Read (But I Haven't)-- AKA the books I should have read in my college classes, but read the Cliff-Notes instead (No...I only read the Cliff-Notes for one book, I promise)
5. 9 YA Novels-- YA= Young Adult.
6. 9 New Vampire Books
7. 9 Books That Take Place in the South
8. 9 Biographies
9. 9 Books Starring Librarians.

So...here we go!

Blood Sins

Okay, so before now (and excluding the Thief Series), Kay Hooper has written books that are supernatural stand-alones. I mean, they're all about the in the same vein, but you don't need to read one before the other. Some times they mention the same people, but it's different.

Well, this time, it's not like that. I'm assuming that the third book in this set is going to be...well, more complete, but this one was kinda...weird.

It's shorter. It seems more like an outline than a the real book.

The storyline was fine, but underdeveloped. We never really find out what it is that Cody can do, but it's good. And what's up with the romance thing? Tessa and Sawyer never really get together. They just kind of skirt around it.

But I'm glad they took Samuel out. I'm really hoping that she fleshes that out more next book.

Which won't come out for a year.

I was disappointed. But it was okay.

Random Epiphanies and Why I've Been So Quiet

So, I had a really random epiphany today.

I'm re-reading Tribute by Nora Roberts, and I realize why I'm not such a big fan. I don't want to be Cilla, and I don't want a guy like Ford. I don't want their jobs, their cars, their lives.

Not that I want to be every character I read, but Nora Roberts has a way of making everything seem so cool.

One of the big reasons I always wanted to try playing the cello again was because Callie plays it in Birthright. A crazy awkward guy like Bo from Blue Smoke? That'd be cool.

But Cilla is a house rehabber, and Ford is...well, not my favorite NR man ever.

So that was my epiphany.

And why have I been so mysteriously absent lately? Well, I was working on homework, and then I re-read Divine Evil, then tried to read Broken by Kelley Armstrong, but decided that I'm really not that into her books. They take too long to get into, and I'm not sure how much I like the characters. Too much emotional drama, and I have enough of that in my own life, thanks.

And re-reading Tribute has taken me days, though who knows why. Nothing like today where my lunch break ended and I had something like 8 pages left. Makes me crazy.

Working Stiff

Tori Carrington is a husband and wife team who get together and write mystery novels starring Sophie Metropolis. Working Stiff is the 4th of this series.

Sophie is a Greek-American living in Queens. Specifically, she lives in Astoria, which (at least in the book) is like New York's own Little Greece.

Sophie is a private investigator, and she's had her share of odd cases. She mostly finds lost pets (see Sophie Metro for the reasons why...) and cheating spouses cases. She has a loud family who's always in her business, an office manager who is afraid of a lot of things and Puerto Rican, and having trouble deciding between two men.

Does this sound like any other fictional PI to anyone?

Anyway, in this book, Sophie has two major cases. The first is to find a missing body that disappeared from her aunt's mortuary. The second is to prove the innocence of a kid who's about to go on trial for killing his girlfriend.

As usual, she stumbles around, finally figuring things out...in an odd, round-about way. She and Dino (her Greek boyfriend who has great husband potential) get into a big fight, and she finally hooks up with Jake (a man of mystery who's not really husband material, but for one night he's pretty amazing. Oh, and he frequently gets her out of trouble).

And, she solves the mystery. Thankfully. Both of them.

I like these books. They're Stephanie Plum meets "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"

I'm serious. She even has an annoying dog.

Oh, and she and Rosie (her office manager) believe that there is a vampire family.

And she is continually having run-ins with the Mob (where she was actually fitted for cement shoes in Dirty Laundry).

The End of November

So, November is over. You know what that means here at Have Pen, Will Travel (huh...maybe I should change it to Have Book, Will Travel...)

Time for the monthly recap.

Here we go.

27 books. 2 non-fiction. 11 re-reads (impressively short!).

Oh...and 1 that I'm half through. Which is not included in the list, because in order for me to count a book, I have to have finished it.