Jessi's Reading List - 2010

[Jessi]

So I didn't do one of these last year, but think it is high time I did. My aim for the year is above 48 books which was my total in 2009. However, I would really love to read above 60.

 

Edited (16 July 2010): New Target on account of already having finished 54 books (Woop Woop!) - 100 books is now my aim

 

Thats the utimate goal... so here we go...

 

Read in 2010...

 

1. Poison Study - Maria V Snyder

2. The Tales of Beedle The Bard - J K Rowling

3. Magic Study - Maria V Snyder

4. Becoming Queen - Kate Williams

5. Double Cross - Malorie Blackman

6. Living Dead In Dallas - Charlaine Harris

7. Splendour - Anna Godbersen

8. Theodore Rex - Edmund Morris

9. Mayflower - Kathryn Lasky

10. Blitz - Vince Cross

11. Uneasy Lies The Head - Jean Plaidy

12. An Utterly Exasperated History Of Mordern Britain - John O'Farrell

13. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

14. Frank - Annette Dunlap

15. Evermore - Alyson Noel

16. Edward VII - Christopher Hibbert

17. Club Dead - Charlaine Harris

18. The Last Grand Duchess - Ian Vorres

19. The Last Station - Jay Parini

20. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

21. Voyage on the Great Titanic - Ellen Emerson White

22. Last Voyage of the Valentina - Santa Montefiore

23. Winston and Clementine: The Personal Letters of the Churchills - Mary Soames

24. Fire Study - Maria V Snyder

25. Quidditch Through The Ages - J K Rowling

26. Sally Hemings - Barbara Chase Riboud

27. Missiles in Cuba - Mark White

28. Traitors of the Tower - Alison Weir

29. Dead To The World - Charlaine Harris

30. Queen Alexandra - Georgina Battiscombe

31. Anastasia's Secret - Susanne Dunlap

32. Thirteen Days - Robert F Kennedy

33. Europe Since 1870 - James Joll

34. Kissed by an Angel - Elizabeth Chandler

35. The Night Watch - Sergei Lukyanenko

36. Cuban Missile Crisis Documents from University (3x) = 291 pages

37. The Roosevelts - Peter Collier

38. Burned - PC and Kristin Cast

39. The Crusades - Christopher Tyerman

40. Dark Continent - Mark Mazower

41. The Kings Secret Matter - Jean Plaidy

42. American Adulterer - Jed Mercruio

43. St Thomas's Eve - Jean Plaidy

44. Jackie, Ethel, Joan - J Randy Taraborrelli

45. The Pearl - Douglas Smith

46. Katherine - Anya Seton

47. The Short Second Life Of Bree Tanner - Stephanie Meyer

48. Inkheart - Cornelia Funke

49. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J K Rowling

50. The Carrie Diaries - Candace Bushnell

51. Marley and Me - John Grogan

52. Dead as a Doornail - Charlaine Harris

53. Dear John - Nicholas Sparks

54. No Place Like Home - Pen Farthing

55. The Last Song - Nicholas Sparks

56. Tinkling The English - Dara O'Briain

57. No Place Like Home - Pen Farthing

58. Franklin and Winston - Jon Meacham

59. One Dog at a Time - Pen Farthing.

60. Alice - Stacy A Cordery

61. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

62. Englands Mistress - Kate Williams

63. Transported - Goldie Alexander

64. The Romanovs 1818 - 1959 - John Van Der Kiste

65. The House of Special Purpose - John Boyne

66. Lord Robert - Jean Plaidy

67. Divine By Mistake - PC Cast

68. Patriot Hearts - Barbara Hambly

69. A Rhyming History of Britian - James Muirden

70. Mill Girl - Sue Reid

71. A Dog Year - John Katz

72. Unbroken - Beverley Callard

73. The Notebook - Nicholas Sparks

74. Jack Duckworth and Me - Bill Tarmey

75. The Hobbit - J R R Tolkien

76. The Shadow of the Pomgranate - Jean Plaidy

77. Coronation Street Saga - Katherine Hardy

78. The Gilded Chamber - Rebecca Kohn

79. The Italian Matchmaker - Santa Montefiore

Edited December 20, 2010 by Jessi

[Jessi]

To Be Read List:

 

History:

1. De Courcy, Anne: Debs at War

2. Battiscombe, Georgina: Queen Alexandra (Finished: 2 Apr)

3. Campbell, Christy: Band of Brigands

4. Foreman, Amanda: The Duchess

5. Fraser, Antonia: Marie Antoinette

6. Fulbrook, Mary: Europe since 1945 (UNIVERSITY)

7. Garfield, Simon: Our Hidden Lives

8. Gristwood, Sarah: Elizabeth and Leicester

9. Guy, John: My Heart Is My Own

10. King, Edmund: Medieval England

11. Hibbert, Christopher: Edward VII (Finished: 16 Feb)

12. Hobsbawn, Eric: The Age Of Extremes (UNIVERSITY)

13. Massie, Robert: Nicholas and Alexandra

14. Mazower, Mark: Dark Continent (Finished: 21 May)

15. McCullough, David: 1776

16. O’Farrell, John: An Utterly Exasperated History Of Modern Britain (Finished: 31 Jan)

17. Rees, Laurence: Behind Closed Doors

18. Smith, Douglas: The Pearl (Finished: 5 Jun)

19. Soames, Mary: Clementine Churchill

20. Soames, Mary: Winston and Clementine: The Personal Letters of the Churchill’s (Finshed: 7 Mar)

21. Williams, Stephanie: Olga’s Story

22. Weir, Alison: Henry VIII

23. Weir, Alison: The Six Wives of Henry VIII

 

 

Fiction:

24. Anderson, Hans Christian: Anderson’s Fairy Tales

25. Alcott, Louisa May: Little Women

26. Alexander, Goldie: My Story, Transported (Finished: 13 Aug)

27. Austen, Jane: Emma

28. Austen, Jane: Mansfield Park

29. Austen, Jane: Northanger Abbey

30. Austen, Jane: Persuasion

31. Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice (Finished: 5 Aug)

32. Austen, Jane: Sense and Sensibility

33. Bronte, Charlotte: Jane Eyre

34. Boyne, John: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

35. Burnett, Frances Hodgson: The Secret Garden

36. Cross, Vince: My Story, Blitz (Finished: 25 Jan)

37. Dunant, Sarah: In the Company of the Courtesan

38. Emerson White, Ellen: My Story, Voyage on the Great Titanic (Finished: 1 Mar)

39. Fforde, Jasper: The Eyre Affair

40. Furnivall, Kate: The Russian Concubine

41. Funke, Cornelia: Inkheart (Finished: 19 June)

42. Gaskell, Elizabeth: North and South

43. George, Margaret: Helen of Troy

44. Gee, Sophie: The Scandal of the Season

45. Gregory, Philippa: The Other Queen

46. Gregory, Philippa: The Queens Fool

47. Gregory, Philippa: The Favoured Child

48. Godbersen, Anna: Splendour (Finished: 15 Jan)

49. Gilbert, Henry: Robin Hood

50. Grahame: The Wind in the Willows

51. Hardy, Thomas: Tess of the D’Urbervilles

52. Kaye, Marilyn: Gifted

53. Kohn, Rebecca: The Gilded Chamber (Finished: 15 Dec)

54. Lasky, Kathryn: Mayflower (Finished: 22 Jan)

55. Lawrence, D. H: Lady Chatterley’s Lover

56. Lee, Harper: To Kill A Mocking Bird

57. Lewis, Hilda: I, Jacqueline

58. Martin, Lee: Gangsters Wives

59. Mayo, Stephfordy: New Moan

60. McIntosh, Fiona: Royal Exile

61. Montefiore, Santa: Last Voyage of The Valentina (Finished: 5 Mar)

62. Montefiore, Santa: The Swallow and the Hummingbird

63. Montefiore, Santa: The Butterfly Box

64. Montgomery, L.M : Anne of Green Gables

65. Nesbit, E: The Railway Children

66. Niffenegger, Audrey: The Time Traveler’s Wife (Finished: 6 Feb)

67. Noel, Alyson: Evermore (Finished: 13 Feb)

68. Plaidy, Jean: The Kings Secret Matter (Finished: 23 May)

69. Plaidy, Jean: Saint Thomas Eve (Finished: 30 May)

70. Reid, Sue: My Story, Mill Girl (Finished: 20 Sept)

71. Ryan, Robert: Early One Morning

72. Sewell, Anna: Black Beauty

73. Sheers, Owen: Resistance

74. Sittenfeld, Curtis: American Wife

75. Sparks, Nicholas: Dear John (Finished: 13 July)

76. Steel, Danielle: Silent Honour

77. Stevenson, Robert Louis: Kidnapped

78. Thackeray, William Makepeace: Vanity Fair

79. Thomes, Rosie: Isis and Ruby

80. Tolkien, J.R.R: The Silmarillion

81. Tolkien, J.R.R: Unfinished Tales

82. Zusak, Markus: The Book Thief

 

To Be Read: 82 (8 January 2010)

Edited December 20, 2010 by Jessi

[Jessi]

Wish List:

Anderson, Laurie Halse: Chains

Anthony, Evelyn: Imperial Highness

Anthony, Evelyn: Victoria and Albert

Brodie, Fawn: Thomas Jeffeson: An Intimate History

Beer, Edith Hadn: The Nazi’s Officers Wife

Croft, Christina: Most Beautiful Princess

Dreifuss, Jerome: The Romance of Catherine and Potemkin

Eastland, Sam: The Eye Of The Red Tsar

Feldman, E: Lucy

Gregory, Kristiana: Catherine: The Great Journey

Gulland, Sandra: Mistress of the Sun

Harris, Charlaine: Grave Sight (McRecommends)

Hill, Lawrence: The Book of Negros

Hough, Richard: Victoria and Albert

Jenoff, Pam: Almost Home

Kirwen, Anna: Victoria (My Royal Story)

Lasky, Kathryn: Marie Antoinette

Lasky, Kathryn: Elizabeth

Larsson, Stig: The Millennium Trilogy

Montefiore, Santa: The Affair

Morrow, James: The Last Witchfinder

Nagel, Paul C: The Adams Women

Plaidy, Jean: Louis the Well Beloved

Plaidy, Jean: The Thistle and The Rose

Rohan, Zina: The Officers Daughter

Sebba, Anna: American Jennie

Tufft, Ron: Red Cloth, Yellow Cloth

Williams, Charles: The Last Great Frenchmen

Whittle, Tyler: Albert's Victoria

 

Wish List of book yet to be released:

Morris, Edmund: Colonel Roosevelt (Released: 23 Nov)

Edited September 6, 2010 by Jessi

[Jessi]

Bought in 2010:

 

January:

 

Brands: Traitor to his Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Cast, P.C: Divine by Mistake (Finished: 2 Sept)

Cordery, Stacy A: Alice (Finished: 1 Aug)

Collier, Peter: The Roosevelts (Finished: 10 May)

Dunlop: Frank: The Story of Frances Folsom Cleveland (Finished: 7 Feb)

Hall, Coryne: Little Mother Of Russia

Harris, Charlaine: Club Dead (Finished: 17 Feb)

Meacham, Jon: Franklin and Winston: A Portrait of a Friendship (Finished: 21 July)

O’Toole, Patricia: When Trumpets Call

Pakula, Hannah: An Uncommon Woman

Snyder, Maria V: Fire Study (Finished: 10 Mar)

Van Der Kiste, John: The Romanovs 1818 – 1959 (Finished: 29 Aug)

Vorres, Ian: The Last Grand Duchess (Finished: 20 Feb)

Williams, Kate: Emma Hamilton (Finished: 13 Aug)

 

February:

 

Byatt, AS: The Children's Book

Chandler, Elizabeth: Kissed by an Angel (given to me by a friend) (Finished: 27 April)

Dean, Debra: The Madonnas of Leningrad

Dunant, Sarah: Sacred Hearts

Hosseini, Khaled: A Thousand Splendid Suns (Finished: 24 Feb)

Kurnivall, Kate: Under A Blood Red Sky

Parini, Jay: The Last Station (Finished: 23 Feb)

Tolstoy, Leo: Anna Karenina

Tolstoy, Sofia: The Diaries of Sofia Tolstoy

 

March:

 

Dunlap, Susan: Anastasias's Secret (Finished: 12 Apr)

Harris, Charlaine: Dead To The World (Finished: 28 Mar)

James, Eloisa: Desperate Duchesses

Kennedy, Robert: 13 Days (for Uni) (Finished: 23 Apr)

Hamley, Barbara: Patriot Hearts (Finished: 11 Sept)

Hosseini, Khaled: The Kite Runner

Lovell, Mary S: The Mitford Girls

Lukyanenko, Sergei: The Night Watch (Finished: 30 April)

Lukyanenko, Sergei: The Day Watch

McTaggart, Lynne: Kathleen Kennedy - Her Life and Times

Mercurio, Jed: American Adulterer (Finished: 29 May)

Mitchell, Margaret: Gone With The Wind

Morrow, James: The Last Witchfinder

Plaidy, Jean: Lord Robert (Finished: 31 Aug)

Plaidy, Jean: Madame Du Barry

Pollard, Eve: Jack’s Widow

Seton, Anya: Katherine (Finished: 7 Jun)

Weir, Alison: Katherine Sywnford

Weir, Alison: Traitors of the Tower (Finished: 27 Mar)

Wilson, Dorothy Clarke: Alice and Edith

 

April:

Cast, P.C and Kristin: Burned (Finished: 13 May)

Mantel, Hilary: Wolf Hall

Norton, Elizabeth: Jane Seymour

Snyder, Maria V: Storm Glass (given to me by my aunt)

Taraborrelli, J Ranndy: Jackie, Ethel, Joan (Finished: 3 Jun)

Weir, Alison: The Captive Queen

 

May:

Boyne, John: The House of Special Purpose (Finished: 30 Aug)

Clarke, Stephen: 1000 Years of Annoying the French

O'Briain, Dara: Tinkling the English (Finished: 19 July)

 

June:

Arnold, Gayner: Girl in the Blue Dress

Bushell, Candace: The Carrie Diaries (Finished: 4 July)

Campion, Emma: The King's Mistress

Cheek, Mavis: Amenable Women

Erikson, Carolly: Great Catherine

Harris, Charlaine: Definately Dead

Harris, Charlaine: Dead as a Doornail (Finished: 10 July)

Harrods-Eagles, Cynitha: Anna

Hibbert, Christopher: Victoria – a Personal History

Meyer, Stephenie: The Second Short life of Bree Tanner (Finished: 14 June)

Motley, Annette: Men on White Horses

Plaidy, Jean: Plantagenet Prelude

Plaidy, Jean: The Shadow of the Pomegranate (Finished: 25 Nov)

Schlink, Bernhard: The Reader

Smith, Douglas: Love and Conquest

Weir, Alison: The Lady in the Tower

 

 

July

Leroux, Gaston: The Phantom of the Opera

Farthing, Pen: One Dog at a Time (Finished: 23 July)

Farthing, Pen: No Place Like Home (Finished: 13 July)

Sparks, Nicholas: The Last Song (Finished: 18 July)

 

August

Cast, PC: Divine by Blood

Cast, PC: Divine by Choice

Dickens, Charles: Oliver Twist

Figes, Orlando: Natasha’s Dance

Ibbotson, Eva: The Secret Countess

Kerr, Judith: Out of Hitler Time

Lauren, Kate: Fallen

Lieven, Dominic: Russia Against Napoleon

Stiefvater, Maggie: Shiver

 

September

 

Adams: The Letters of John and Abigail Adams

Burstein, Andrew: Jefferson’s Secrets

Duff, David: Alexandra: Princess and Queen

Erickson, Carolly: The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette

Furnivall, Kate: The Jewel of St Petersburg

Gill, Gillian: We Two

Gregory, Philippa: The Red Queen

Katz, Jon: A Dog Year

Katz, Jon: A Home for Rose

McCullough, David: Mornings On Horseback

Murden, James: A Rhyming History of Britain (Finished: 16 Sept)

Romanov, Olga Alexandrovna: 25 Chapters Of My Life

Van Der Kiste, John: Edward VII’s children

Van Der Kiste, John: Queen Victoria’s children

Westin, Jeane: His Last Letter

Withey, Lynne: Dearest Friend

 

October:

Callard, Beverley: Unbroken (Finished: 10 Oct)

Clark, Mary Higgns: The Christmas Collection

Goodwin, Daisy: My Last Duchess

Hardy, Katherine: Coronation Street - The Complete Saga (Finished: 13 Dec)

Montefiore, Santa: The Italian Matchmaker (Finished: 20 Dec)

O'Grady, Paul: At my Mothers Knee

Smith, LJ: Night World

Tarmey, Bill: Jack Duckworth and Me

 

November: None

 

December:

Follett, Ken: The Pillars of the Earth

Morris, Edmund: Colonel Roosevelt

Edited December 20, 2010 by Jessi

[Jessi]

Poison Study By Maria V Snyder 4.5/ 5

I was given this book for my birthday by my aunt, who had read it and loved it. We have similar tastes in reading and I am so glad she did give it to me – it was a superb story and different to a lot of the fantasy I have been reading lately. I found it had solid characters and a strong heroine who still manages to keep that strength when she fell in love with the very charismatic hero, who I fell for too. After reading this I went straight on to Magic Study, which is the second book in the trilogy.

Edited January 3, 2010 by Jessi

[Kell]

I recently read and enjoyed Poison Study too and plan on getting hold of the sequels in the near future. Unexpectedly great writing when I was expecting a quick, non-challenging read. A really tight plot with great characters.

[Jessi]

Magic Study is great too from what I've read so far (230 pages in). The series is better than what I thought it'd be too. A pleasent surprise

[Ben]

You got the same 2009 total as me!

 

Good luck with your reading in 2010.

[Jessi]

You too

[Jessi]

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J K Rowling (4/5) REREAD!

Easy, quick and fun to read, The Tales of Beedle the Bard are supposedly the tales many of our favourite Harry Potter characters grew up with. I got this book last Christmas and had not read it since last New Year so picked it up again and really enjoyed it once more. I think reading this at the beginning of the year is going to become somewhat of a tradition for me!

[Kate]

I enjoyed Tales of Beedle the Bard when I read it. I found it a nice addition to Harry Potter

[Ben]

As did I. I thought it was fantastic and the little additions by our Headmaster himself just made the whole thing even more superb. I think I might have to re-read this at some point in the year.

[Jessi]

Make sure you do Ben, if anything, I enjoyed them more second time about!

 

I continue to be amazed by Rowling's creativity! You can just tell how much she has thought it all through.

 

I think my favourite tale is the Fountain of Fair Fortune

[lexiepiper]

That was my favourite too

[Ben]

It's been a while but I remember enjoying that one as well, and I will definitely get around to reading them again now you recommended them so highly when read for a second time!

[Jessi]

Great minds lexiepiper

 

 

 

Magic Study by Maria V Snyder (4/5)

The plot may be more complicated than that of its prequel, but Magic Study continues with the same fast paced plot with old and new characters. Yelena leaves Ixia for the initially sunnier climate that Sitia provides and although her parents welcome her back without question, the same cannot be said of her brother. Then arriving at the Keep, twenty year old Yelena is a stranger among a younger set of people as she learns about her magic. But soon enough, she is embroiled in a hunt for a mass murderer, bringing the same action that Poison Study provided. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend the study series if you like fantasy with a dash of romance!

Edited January 7, 2010 by Jessi

[Jessi]

Becoming Queen by Kate Williams (4/5)

I started this a few months ago. Historical biographies always seem to take me much longer to get through than fiction. However, I wanted to finish this book over the holidays (along with Theodore Rex... well one out of two isn’t bad, right?).

I am really glad I persevered with this book, it turned out to be a cracking read. Having seen The Young Victoria and then a TV special by Kate Williams, I was thoroughly inspired to buy this book. It tells the story not only of Queen Victoria by also her ill fated cousin, Princess Charlotte, who had she not died in childbirth, would have been queen of England. For me what made the book so interesting was that it spanned the transition period from one age to another in British history, from the extravagant Georgians to the forward thinking Victorians.

This was really well written and I am definitely going to keep my eye out for anything else Kate Williams writes, as well as getting my hands on a copy of her book, England’s Mistress, about Emma Hamilton.

Edited February 17, 2010 by Jessi

[Mac]

Whoa! Jessi! that is waaaaay too organised, man!

 

Good work! Mine's just a big pile of OMG that I plunge into, chucking books everywhere until I find one I want. I need thrashing, really. A damn good thrashing, I tell you.

 

Anyway. Hope you're well. Toodles.

[Jessi]

Haha - I am beginning to regret it now Mac. When I started typing up my TBR pile, it seemed like a good idea, but I honestly didn't realise just how many books I have! At this rate, I won't be buying any books this year (yeah, right!) because I am going to feel too guilty

[Mac]

Now, you see, my problem is that I cannot walk past a bookshop. It's draws me in like it has a tractor beam or something. I then simply cannot leave until I have a shiny new book in my hot, sweaty mitts, clutched to my breast like a suckling babe.

 

Hmmm...dubious imagery, there...

 

So, my piles are bigger than yours...

 

Piles, anyone? PILES?!?

[Jessi]

So it isn't just me! I hate walking passed book shops, I feel as if I am going to miss out on something if I do! I also get trapped on amazon for hours looking at books!

 

So I just finished and I have 82 books to read! Ahh!!!

 

My bookshelf is overflowing and I have piles on it too!

[Kylie]

You have some great reads coming up, Jessi! I look forward to reading your thoughts on them.

[Mac]

Crumbs, Jessi. There's loads on there that I haven't even heard of! I prove myself an ignoramus.

 

If you like, check out my thread McReccomends (I'm not sure how to make a link to it, but if you do a quick search, you'll find it) and have a look at some of the things I think are cool. You might agree with me. You might not. Ain't that the great thing about this site?!?

 

Happy days. Oy oy!

[Jessi]

Thanks Kylie

 

Will do Mac - it is! I'm really enjoying hanging out here! Its a great board. Still... I don't I hope like too many of your McReccomends! I really don't need to add any books to the TBR pile right now, LOL!

Edited January 9, 2010 by Jessi

[Jessi]

Double Cross – Malorie Blackman (4.5/5)

Having read the other books in the Noughts and Crosses series, I had to finish it up the series. I must admit, I had my reservations about it. I was worried there wasn’t going to be a happy ending up until the last page. Having read the previous novels, I needed Callie and Sephy to live happily ever after.

After all the twists and turns of the previous books, this one follows in similar fashion. Callie Rose is much more central to this book than her mother as is her relationship with childhood friend Tobey, who ends up narrating most of it. After the two of them finally come to terms with the fact they don’t only want to be friends, tragedy strikes as gang war fair takes over Tobey’s life. Events spiral out of his control, and he is force to confront how the gangs influence harms his nearest and dearest, but can he escape unharmed and not end up in jail?

While not being as enthralled as I was by Sephy and Callum in Noughts and Crosses, Callie and Tobey’s story is romantic, passionate and about fighting for what you want even when you don’t best know how to do it. As well as this, the teenage awkwardness of first love radiates off the book (he tells her he smells like biscuits when they both know she wearing the perfume he gave her!). The romance is played out realistically and sweetly, even if I did want to whack Tobey about the head a couple of times. I laughed out loud and I cried at the end.

I was not disappointed by this well written book and am glad I finished this series. It was a brilliant read!