Books Read in 2008

I did not read nearly as much in the Fall semester, the majority of the books below were completed prior to September. Probably because I became a major news junkie due to the election, and have not weaned myself back off the news feed.

Favorite Book

I really enjoyed THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova. It was a fun tour of Europe, history...and had a vampire thrown in for good measure. Learned alot about Vlad the Impaler.

PERFUME by Patrick Susskin ran a close second. Although I liked the movie of the same name, the book was far more enjoyable. A quick read.



Least Favorite Book

This is likely a sure sign of ignorance on my part, but the book I least enjoyed, and indeed only got thru two-thirds of as a result, was SNOW by Orhan Pamuk.

Mind you, it won a Nobel Prize, hence my attempt to push through it...but I failed. I have to assume the Nobel was for Pamuk's body of work, not just this book. Or so I hope, since I just couldn't see the brilliance the award implies.


Book(s) From Which I Learned the Most

I did not know much about Mongolia or the history of Genghis Khan prior to reading Conn Iggulden's two books on the subject (GENGHIS: LORDS OF THE BOW - and - GENGHIS: BIRTH OF AN EMPIRE).

Having read these books made the watching of "Mongol" much more enjoyable (understandable), and rocketed a visit to Mongolia to the top of my travel wish list. Already sent off for travel package information, maybe in a year or two.


Mindless Fun

Okay, I admit it, I read the whole "Twilight" series. And liked it. Couldn't put 'em down - once I started a book, it was an all night endeavor to finish it. And throughout I kept asking myself "why are your enjoying a book meant for high school sophomores??" Never answered it, but kept reading.

Which gave me some serious street cred at Christmas when I found my niece on book 3 of the series ;-)


Here's the year's list:

• A QUESTION OF EVIDENCE by Colin Evans
• BLACK ORDER by James Rollins
• BLASPHEMY by Douglas Preston
• BREAKING DAWN by Stephanie Meyer
• DREAMERS OF THE DAY by Mary Doria Russell
• ECLIPSE by Stephanie Meyer
• EXCAVATION by James Rollins
• GENGHIS: LORDS OF THE BOW by Conn Iggulden
• GENGHIS: BIRTH OF AN EMPIRE by Conn Iggulden
• HUNTERS OF DUNE by Brian Herbert & Kevin Anderson
• NEW MOON by Stephanie Meyer
• PERFUME by Patrick Susskin
• QUARANTINE by Jim Crace
• SANDWORMS OF DUNE by Brian Herbert & Kevin Anderson
• SNOW by Orhan Pamuk
• THE BANG-BANG CLUB: SNAPSHOTS FROM A FORGOTTEN WAR by Greg Marinovich
• THE DEVIL'S BONES by Jefferson Bass
• THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova
• THE JUDAS STRAIN by James Rollins
• THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy
• THE TESTAMENT by Eric Van Lustbader
• THE WHEEL OF DARKNESS by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
• TWILIGHT by Stephanie Meyer