Book Lists 2019 Book • Page 5

Update

2019 List:
1. 1Q84 - Haruki Murakami
2. Skyward - Brandon Sanderson
3. Deadhouse Gates (Malazan #2) - Steven Erikson
4. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs - Stephen Brusatte
5. Origin - Dan Brown
6. Stinger - Robert McCammon
7. The Border - Don Winslow
8. Dreamcatcher - Stephen King (currently reading)
9. The Fall of Hyperion (Hyperion #2) - Dan Simmons (currently listening)

I absolutely loved The Border by Don Winslow. All 3 books in that series are so good.

 

Is that a sequel to The Force?

 

No it's part of the Power of the Dog series. Power of The Dog, The Cartel, and The Border... but if you liked The Force you should absolutely read this series

 

The Force continually pops up on something that I should be interested in but every time I come back to it to read what it's about it doesn't interest me in the slightest

 

Got ya, well it's good if you ever convince yourself to read it. Although I like The Power of the Dog series more than The Force. It's about this DEA agent who is battling with the Mexican cartels. It's a great "thriller" series.

 

I may cave one of these days haha. Good to know a bit more love from here though. May sway my decision

 

Hooray! Glad you liked Brother. Have you ever read anything from Jack Ketchum? I know you're not dying to add another white man to your list but he's one of my all time favorites. No supernatural, just pure humans being terrible. After I finished reading every Stephen King book he was the first author who's entire bibliography I went through.

I've never read a Zdarsky comic or a full Daredevil run but I've been reading the new series and I agree it's really great. Die kicks ass, and Infidel was probably the best comic I've read all year, a masterpiece.

Let me know how you feel about Unbury Carol and Experimental Film.

 

Btw, I've said this before but the Endymion series is like a billion times better than Hyperion, it's definitely the best Sci-Fi I've read. I hope you like Dreamcatcher since it's my favorite book of all time, but a lot of people don't (including King) so who knows.

EDIT: Oh wait, just noticed Stinger, how'd you feel about that? I fucking love that book.

 

Well I loved Hyperion so if the series gets better then I'll be extremely pleased. I am liking Dreamcatcher so far but I'm only about 200 pages in and things are really just kicking off. So it's tough to really give many thoughts on it yet. And I liked Stinger a good amount, although I think the whole rattlers vs renegades stuff kinda turned me off a little. I kept picturing them as these skinny little white kids that are a "gang" and it just seemed a little silly, but maybe that's just me.

 

Personally I much preferred Fall of Hyperion to Hypersion since it's more of a straightforward narrative as apposed to connected stories. Endymion keeps that up.

 

Comics:
1) Happy!
2) A Study In Emerald

Audiobooks:
1) Midnight At The Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew J. Sullivan
2) The Fifth To Die by J.D. Barker
3) Guess Who by Chris McGeorge
4) An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena
5) A Stranger In The House by Shari Lapena
6) The President Is Missing by James Patterson
7) The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor


Books:
1) Elevation by Stephen King
2) The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas
3) Two Can Keep A Secret by Karen M. McManus
4) The Hiding Place by C.J. Tudor
5) The House Next Door by James Patterson
6) Hunting Annabelle by Wendy Heard

Updated as of today

 

Updated:

On The Come Up: Angie Thomas can nail voice. Excellent follow up to THUG, thought not quite as powerful--but I didn't expect it to be.

Less: Won the Pulitzer, was interesting enough. Wasn't what I wanted, but gave me ideas on how to write a book around traveling disguised as something else, haha.

Willful Child 2 & 3: Not nearly as fun as the first one, but devoured them nonetheless. Lots of random laugh out loud moments that MacLeod Andrews as the narrator 100% created.

Kingdom of Ash: Sarah J. Maas stuck the damn landing.

Two Can Keep A Secret: Meh. Her other one was better.

The Power: Excellent concept, weird execution, weird result. Glad I read it.

Lady Astronaut 1 & 2: EXCELLENT READ THESE NOW

A Dangerous Collaboration: I adore these quirky little historical mysteries, not the least of which because of the slow burn romance that's killing my soul.

The Ruin of Kings: Excellent new introduction to the genre, worth the hype.

 

I liked that there were less characters in Two Can Keep A Secret but I definitely agree. The mystery for One was much better.

Still really like her writing and will stick with her

 

Meant to post this earlier. My review of Hunting Annabelle. Please don't trash my writing (I know it sucks):

After reading many recent thriller and mystery type books in the past several years, I realize how formulaic and generic parts of the story and writing can be. This, however, surprised me, especially the ending. While there were still some formulaic and generic plot points and how things ultimately played out, I genuinely didn't completely see the ending coming. I was able to figure out who the culprit was, but the twist afterwards was crazy in a good way.

As someone who grew up in a small North Texas town, outside of Dallas, I appreciated the nuance and descriptiveness given. I really was able to picture everything described in my head and I enjoyed that. I also thoroughly enjoyed the descriptive nature of Sean's mental illness and being able to peer into his mind and get his thoughts on everything as well.

My only real issue here is with the ending. I wish that it would have been more thoroughly fleshed out and given a few more answers to lingering questions. Overall, good debut novel and interested to see what Wendy Heard puts out next.

Full Disclosure: I received an ARC Kindle copy of Hunting Annabelle through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

 

Update!

 

Imagine Me Gone was devastating

 

finished two this week, absolutely adored both of these.

 

I just finished Hex this afternoon, so I'd like to take a second to publicly thank @Vivatoto for recommending it and, in an indirect way, robbing me of sleep for the rest of my life.

 

Hell yeah! That book is so fuckin wild. I remember hating like the first 20ish% (was reading on kindle) because I was so confused, by the tone as much as by what was happening but when it clicked I was all in. Such an interesting take on "hauntings." Also, on a side note I can not get rid of that image of the tower of falling babies from my head which is one of the most ludicrous and obscene images ever, lol.

 

It went from 0 to 100 so quickly, but I couldn't put it down once things started getting wild. I remember audibly gasping last night when Steve cut Katherine's stitches because I knew it was going to happen, but I had no idea it would happen like that. But yeah, there's a lot of haunting imagery that'll be sticking with me for a while, which is definitely a sign of a well-written book.

 

Saw you started The Hiding Place. I'm curious of your thoughts after you finish.

Did you read The Chalk Man?

 

I did! I thought the twist at the end was just a little too wild, but it was fine. I'm already enjoying The Hiding Place more than The Chalk Man; I might revisit the latter towards the end of the year.

 

I liked the ending of Chalk Man but it was definitely out of left field for sure. It changed the vibe of the whole book after that imo.

Let me know when you finish The Hiding Place cuz I need clarification haha

 

Just finished it! I liked it better than The Chalk Man; I think Tudor writes better supernatural horror than realistic horror. I think my biggest qualm with the book is that it became more predictable as details became revealed. When Marie killed Annie with the crowbar in the mass grave, I knew exactly where the story was going. But on the flip side, I didn't see Marie being behind everything and not Stephen coming. As for the epilogue...it was fine.

Overall, while I'm glad I got it from the library and didn't buy a copy, I enjoyed it! It was a fun read.

 

Damn, you read fast! I was so confused by the end tbh I'm still unsure how Annie came back to life and whatnot I'm bad about remembering alot of things so lately I've been reading the actual book and then listening to the audiobook too to see if it clears up things.