Reading Books For Pleasure

[FurryFury]

20.) The Death Cure by James Dasher 3/5

AKA Maze Runner 3

I didn't like this one that much but the conclusion was pretty good. Not sure how happy I am that I read three books in this series but it was okay over all I guess.

From Goodreads:

Thomas knows that Wicked can't be trusted, but they say the time for lies is over, that they've collected all they can from the Trials and now must rely on the Gladers, with full memories restored, to help them with their ultimate mission. It's up to the Gladers to complete the blueprint for the cure to the Flare with a final voluntary test.

What Wicked doesn't know is that something's happened that no Trial or Variable could have foreseen. Thomas has remembered far more than they think. And he knows that he can't believe a word of what Wicked says.

The time for lies is over. But the truth is more dangerous than Thomas could ever imagine.

Will anyone survive the Death Cure?

21.) This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer 4.25/5

I'm really enjoying this series. I've put other reading on hold while I relish it. The third one was even a little better than the two before for me. I'm starting the fourth one tonight.

From goodreads:

It’s been a year since a meteor collided with the moon, catastrophically altering the earth’s climate. For Miranda Evans, life as she knew it no longer exists. Her friends and neighbors are dead, the landscape is frozen, and food is increasingly scarce.

The struggle to survive intensifies when Miranda’s father and stepmother arrive with a baby and three strangers in tow. One of the newcomers is Alex Morales, and as Miranda’s complicated feelings for him turn to love, his plans for his future thwart their relationship. Then a devastating tornado hits the town of Howell, and Miranda makes a decision that will change their lives forever.

 

[FurryFury]

The Shade of the Moon by Susan Beth Pfeffer 4.5/5

The last book in the series? No! Nooooo! I want more. More please! Why can't you write faster than I can read?!?

I loved this series. It hit me right where I like books too.

From Amazon:

The eagerly awaited addition to the series begun with the New York Times best-seller Life As We Knew It, in which a meteor knocks the moon off its orbit and the world changes forever.

It's been more than two years since Jon Evans and his family left Pennsylvania, hoping to find a safe place to live, yet Jon remains haunted by the deaths of those he loved. His prowess on a soccer field has guaranteed him a home in a well-protected enclave. But Jon is painfully aware that a missed goal, a careless word, even falling in love, can put his life and the lives of his mother, his sister Miranda, and her husband, Alex, in jeopardy. Can Jon risk doing what is right in a world gone so terribly wrong?

 

[FurryFury]

Chinese Handcuffs by Chris Crutcher



I love Chris Crutcher's writing even though he is a sports nut and I don't get that. This one had a cat killed in it and a dog which really bothered me. But it was still a very good book. I'm glad I read it.

From goodreads:

Dillon is living with the painful memories of his brother's suicide -- and the role he played in it. To keep his mind and body occupied, he trains intensely for the Ironman Triathalon. But outside of practice, his life seems to be falling apart.

Then Dillon finds a confidante in Jennifer, a star high school basketball player who's hiding her own set of destructive secrets. Together they must find the courage to confront their demons -- before its too late.

This ALA Best Book for Young Adults is now available with a stunning new look. Two star athletes find the courage to confront painful memories in this gritty, realistic tale of friendship and healing.

 

[LustreMunky]

why read? there are pics here!

 

[FurryFury]

Because some of us LIKE to read. Some of us PREFER words. If you are not one of us, perhaps you should keep from being a troll in this thread.

why read? there are pics here!

 

[FurryFury]

25.) Whale Talks by Chris Crutcher 4.5/5

 

[FurryFury]

26.) Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher 4.75/5

Another fine book by Chris Crutcher, I'm so glad I'm reading his work this year! The beginnings endings and everything in between is deeply thought out, funny and really good.

 

[FurryFury]

27.) Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. 3.5/5

Such a long, strange book. It took about 70 pages of the nearly 800 for me to care. I found the scholarly footnotes bizarre in a work of fiction. Overall it was a decent read but I'm glad it's done.

28.) Let Me Go by Chelsea Cain 4/5

Really enjoyed this one even though Gretchen was back, again.

 

[unregistered]

 

[FurryFury]

*happy dance*

I loved this book! Your posts on his other books are inspiring me to pick up one (or more).

 

[FurryFury]

29.) The Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher 4.95/5

This one was really good too. Plus the author put himself and a book he has yet to write in the story providing an amusing twist. I love, love, love Chris Crutcher!

Eddie hasn't had an easy year

First his father dies. Then his best friend Billy accidentally kicks a stack of Sheetrock over on himself, breaking his neck and effectively hitting tilt on his Earthgame. Eddie and Billy were inseparable. Still are. Billy isn't going to let a little thing like death stop him from hanging in there with his friend. And when Eddie faces an epic struggle with the powers that be, Billy will remain right there beside him.

 

[FurryFury]

30. Breathe by Sarah Crossan 3.75/5

3.75/5

371 pages

This book was just okay for me. Most of the book I was wondering why I was
bothering to read it and if it would pay off and yet, near the end I got
really interested. So much so I now want to read the sequel, Resist.

From Amazon:

The world has no air. If you want to survive, you pay to breathe. But what
if you can't? And what if you think everything could be different? Three
teens will leave everything they know behind in Sarah Crossan's gripping
and original dystopian teen novel of danger, longing, and glimmering hope
that will appeal to fans of Patrick Ness and Veronica Roth.

National Book Award Finalist Kathleen Duey called Breathe "An amazing
story! Sit down. Inhale. Now, while you still can." Ever since the Switch,
when the oxygen levels plummeted and most of humanity died, the survivors
have been protected in glass domes full of manufactured air. Protected . .
. or trapped? Or controlled?

Alina's a revolutionary who believes we can save the environment. Quinn's
a Premium who's never had to worry about having enough air. His best
friend, Bea, is an Auxiliary who's never worried about anything but having
enough air. When the three cross paths, they will change everything.

Sarah Crossan's thrilling and provocative novel is about passion, about
yearning for something better, and about breaking free for the very first
time. The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books proclaims it an
"action-packed dystopian series opener to watch out for."

 

[FurryFury]

31.) Innocence by Dean Koontz 4.75/5

I really enjoyed this book. The whole slew of not nightmare producing, hopeful for humanity books that Dean Koontz is doing now is great. I also love his Odd Thomas books. His previous horror books like Hideaway are never again books for me so I'm thrilled he has this new warmer, human sort of novels that he is writing now.

LOVE!

From Amazon:

In Innocence, Dean Koontz blends mystery, suspense, and acute insight into the human soul in a masterfully told tale that will resonate with readers forever.

He lives in solitude beneath the city, an exile from society, which will destroy him if he is ever seen.

She dwells in seclusion, a fugitive from enemies who will do her harm if she is ever found.

But the bond between them runs deeper than the tragedies that have scarred their lives. Something more than chance—and nothing less than destiny—has brought them together in a world whose hour of reckoning is fast approaching.

 

[FurryFury]

32.) The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 4/5

I was actually able to read this book even though I could not read a Sherlock Holmes book by the same author. It was interesting and kept me wanting to know what was going to happen. However, the sick white, entitlement over other men and animals was a bit difficult for me. Part of that was that dealing with a new or unusual animal, was by killing it and mounting it or it's head. Disgusting.

From Amazon:

An exciting account of a jungle expedition's encounter with living dinosaurs, written with the same panache exhibited in the author's Sherlock Holmes mysteries. This 1912 novel, the first installment of the Professor Challenger series, follows an eccentric paleontologist and his companions into the wilds of the Amazon, where they discover iguanodons, pterodactyls, and savage ape-people.


33.) What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang 4.25/5

This Y.A. novel made me want to know what happened next, not just in this novel but in the two that come next.

From Amazon:

Fans of Stephenie Meyer's The Host will enjoy What's Left of Me, Kat Zhang's shocking, thought-provoking, and emotionally charged story of two souls sharing one body.

What's Left of Me, the first book of the Hybrid Chronicles, is set in an alternate reality where everyone is born with two souls. But one soul is naturally dominant, and in early childhood, the other soul fades away.

That didn't happen for Addie and Eva. Now fifteen, Eva clings to life inside the body she shares with Addie, although she can no longer speak or even move.

Addie does everything she can to hide the presence of her sister soul. Eva's very existence is illegal. If their secret is revealed, it could mean death for both of them.

 

[FurryFury]

Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris 4.75/5



A fairly good ending to a series I've enjoyed. However it's mean that she is quitting on us. And it's the first ebook I've been able to finish.


From Amazon:

THE FINAL SOOKIE STACKHOUSE NOVEL

There are secrets in the town of Bon Temps, ones that threaten those closest to Sookie—and could destroy her heart....

Sookie Stackhouse finds it easy to turn down the request of former barmaid Arlene when she wants her job back at Merlotte’s. After all, Arlene tried to have Sookie killed. But her relationship with Eric Northman is not so clearcut. He and his vampires are keeping their distance…and a cold silence. And when Sookie learns the reason why, she is devastated.

Then a shocking murder rocks Bon Temps, and Sookie is arrested for the crime.

But the evidence against Sookie is weak, and she makes bail. Investigating the killing, she’ll learn that what passes for truth in Bon Temps is only a convenient lie. What passes for justice is more spilled blood. And what passes for love is never enough…

Ironman by Chris Crutcher 4.5/5

Another good book by Chris Crutcher. So glad he is my author for the year!

From Amazon:

Bo has been at war with his father for as long as he can remember. The rage he feels gives him the energy as a triathlete to press his body to the limit, but it also translates into angry outbursts toward his teachers.

Now dangerously close to expulsion from school, Bo has been assigned to Anger Management sessions with the school "truants." With an eclectic mix of hard-edged students, Bo may finally have to deal with his long-brewing hatred for his father -- before it eats away at him completely.

 

[FurryFury]

Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick 4.75/5

I really enjoyed this one. I started it Saturday just enough to see if I was interested. Then really started reading it Sunday night. Finished it today. It's awesome except the ending is inconclusive. Thank goodness there are more books in the series!

From Amazon:
It could happen tomorrow . . .

An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.
Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.

For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling novel about a world that could be ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation.

Gripped me from beginning to end – dark, creepy and suspenseful. James Dashner,
New York Times Best-Selling author of The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials

A haunting and epic story of survival in a shattered world, ASHES is a must read.

Michael Grant, New York Times Best-Selling author of Gone

 

[FurryFury]

37.) Shadows by Illsa J. Bick 4.5/5

The second book was almost as good. I'm getting the third one!

The Walking Dead infects a dystopian YA series like The Hunger Games in a riveting, action-filled zombie apocalypse.

The Apocalypse does not end. The Changed will grow in numbers. The Spared may not survive.

Even before the EMPs brought down the world, Alex was on the run from the demons of her past and the monster living in her head. After the world was gone, she believed Rule could be a sanctuary for her and those she'd come to love. But she quickly learns that there are no safe havens anymore. Torn apart from Tom and Ellie, she's on her own and desperate to find her friends.

In a post-apocalyptic world full of savagery, Alex is in the fight of her life against the adults, who would use her, the survivors, who don't trust her, and the Changed, who would eat her alive.

Welcome to Shadows, the second book in the haunting Ashes Trilogy: where no one is safe and humans may be the worst of the monsters.

 

[Ebonyfire]

Hi FurryFury!

 

[FurryFury]

Hi!

How are you doing?

Hi FurryFury!

 

[FurryFury]

38.) Stone Cold by C.J. Box 4.5/5

Like all the C. J. Box books about Joe Perkins, this one was good. However, a higher level of dread was in me as a read it for his daugther, Nate and his dog. Too much tension isn't good in a book like this for me but thankfully that was not the level it got to, it was close.

From amazon:

The electrifying new Joe Pickett novel from the New York Times–bestselling author.

Everything about the man is a mystery: the massive ranch in the remote Black Hills of Wyoming that nobody ever visits, the women who live with him, the secret philanthropies, the private airstrip, the sudden disappearances. And especially the persistent rumors that the man’s wealth comes from killing people.

Joe Pickett, still officially a game warden but now mostly a troubleshooter for the governor, is assigned to find out what the truth is, but he discovers a lot more than he’d bargained for. There are two other men living up at that ranch. One is a stone-cold killer who takes an instant dislike to Joe. The other is new—but Joe knows him all too well. The first man doesn’t frighten Joe. The second is another story entirely.

 

[phoenixrhys]

37.) Shadows by Illsa J. Bick 4.5/5

The second book was almost as good. I'm getting the third one!

The Walking Dead infects a dystopian YA series like The Hunger Games in a riveting, action-filled zombie apocalypse.

The Apocalypse does not end. The Changed will grow in numbers. The Spared may not survive.

Even before the EMPs brought down the world, Alex was on the run from the demons of her past and the monster living in her head. After the world was gone, she believed Rule could be a sanctuary for her and those she'd come to love. But she quickly learns that there are no safe havens anymore. Torn apart from Tom and Ellie, she's on her own and desperate to find her friends.

In a post-apocalyptic world full of savagery, Alex is in the fight of her life against the adults, who would use her, the survivors, who don't trust her, and the Changed, who would eat her alive.

Welcome to Shadows, the second book in the haunting Ashes Trilogy: where no one is safe and humans may be the worst of the monsters.

Hi! You seem a little bit all alone in this thread, so I thought I would chime in.

I read Ashes, by Ilsa Bick, and I loved it. I was going through a YA post-apocalyptic strong woman heroine phase, and this one stood out. I liked the second one, though not as much as the first one. The third one ... well, I don't want to ruin anything for you. Read it, and then come back and we can talk.

Speaking of post-apocalyptic strong female character YA book, I'm rereading "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken so that I can read the sequel. Have you noticed, especially in the YA category, that nothing can be a stand alone book anymore? It's all got to be at least a trilogy ... and some of these stories can't hold up to a trilogy.

I also recently purchased the sequel to Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children, which is worth purchasing for the photographs, even if you don't like the story.

 

[FurryFury]

Hi and Welcome to the thread!

It's great to find someone who has read these Ilsa Bick books too.

Yes, a trilogy is a very common format. I usually like it but you are right some can't live up to a trilogy.

I'll have to check out, "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken.

I've read, Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children and I think the pictures are creepy! LOL

I miss the Life As We Knew It series by Susan Beth Pfeffer.

Hi! You seem a little bit all alone in this thread, so I thought I would chime in.

I read Ashes, by Ilsa Bick, and I loved it. I was going through a YA post-apocalyptic strong woman heroine phase, and this one stood out. I liked the second one, though not as much as the first one. The third one ... well, I don't want to ruin anything for you. Read it, and then come back and we can talk.

Speaking of post-apocalyptic strong female character YA book, I'm rereading "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken so that I can read the sequel. Have you noticed, especially in the YA category, that nothing can be a stand alone book anymore? It's all got to be at least a trilogy ... and some of these stories can't hold up to a trilogy.

I also recently purchased the sequel to Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children, which is worth purchasing for the photographs, even if you don't like the story.

 

[seela]

I recently re-read all Jeffrey Eugenides' books. I still love them, especially the literature references and meta in The Marriage Plot.

I'm now reading Blindsight by Peter Watts. I'm not yet sure what to think of it, but it seems potentially interesting. I hate vampire/zombie/mutant books and this one has a vampire in it, but only one, so I think the presense of a linguist evens it out and I'm gonna keep on reading.

 

[FurryFury]

I've read some Eugenides books I liked.

Re-reading can be like visiting old friends. I rarely do it but when I do I am usually glad I did.

I hope you enjoy Blindsight.

I recently re-read all Jeffrey Eugenides' books. I still love them, especially the literature references and meta in The Marriage Plot.

I'm now reading Blindsight by Peter Watts. I'm not yet sure what to think of it, but it seems potentially interesting. I hate vampire/zombie/mutant books and this one has a vampire in it, but only one, so I think the presense of a linguist evens it out and I'm gonna keep on reading.

 

[seela]

I've read some Eugenides books I liked.

Re-reading can be like visiting old friends. I rarely do it but when I do I am usually glad I did.

I hope you enjoy Blindsight.

Books are my stress-o-meter. Whenever I start feeling stressed out, for whatever reason, I start re-reading books that I have liked. I guess that way reading is even more relaxing for me, because I'm already familiar with the book. I don't have to concentrate so hard, the words just fly past and take me for a guaranteed pleasant ride.

I really have to thank you and many others who have contributed to this thread. I've read this whole through from the beginning and made a list of books that piqued my interest. That list has saved me in the library many times, when I haven't had any particular book in mind.