New Moon by Stephanie Meyer

Spoilers be here.....You've been warned.


I didn't forget what it was like to be 18 and I honestly don't remember anyone that age acting like Bella does. Maybe I'm only remembering the good stuff.

Bella and Edward, back again. Bella turns 18 and is just simply devastated that she is now "older" than Edward, even though technically he's 110 years old (right?). She still wants to become a vampire, human life and family be damned.

Things get ugly at a Cullens sponsored birthday party when Bella cuts herself and the blood sets off a fury of vampiric lust. Fast forward to Edward and the Cullens' leaving town to protect Bella. Fast forward to months and months and months of mourning and lifelessness from Bella.

That out of the way, the most interesting part of the book was Jacob Black. Bella ends up spending more time with him during Edwards absence and they turn out to be a good pair. Until Jacob starts acting all funny. I didn't even need binoculars to see what happened. Jacob's a werewolf!

I think I watched too much Buffy to be surprised by this series.

Scuffles ensue, old vamps are back to kill Bella, Bella's an idiot and gets reckless, Edward needs to be saved from dying and Jacob and Edward can't be around each other, putting Bella in a pretty crappy position. Ah, centuries old blood feuds. Really puts a damper on friendships.

I finished this one in a few days. Mostly because I've had surgery and have tons of time on my hands but once I got past Bella's teenage meladrama, the plot got pretty interesting.

The next one has been requested from the library. Although someone already spoiled me on the whole series (thanks bunches) I'll go ahead and finish it.

I'm still at a loss for the rabid fangirl thing.....

Watchmen by Alan Moore

I finished this just after surgery so I probably didn't retain everything.

Watchmen starts off with the murder of a superhero. That right there is absurd and flies in the face of what we know and love about superheroes! This hero looked pretty sketchy so we'll move on. We're in an alternate reality where Nixon is president and the Russians are about to declare war...nuclear war, no less. Superheroes have been outlawed, unless they work for the government and most are in retirement.

Watchmen follows the superheros who are left as they try to figure out who is killing them. We also have a nice subtext pirate story in here.

All in all, great comic, soon to be movie. I can see why the movie will be R as this is pretty violent, bloody and corpse-ridden.

Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas by Chuck Klosterman

Fargo Rock City was my first intro to Klosterman. It was pretty well written and funny. For the most part, the rest of his work is the same.

This particular book is broken up into 3 sections. The first section is a series of his interviews with famous folks that he wrote for Spin, Esquire, etc. He interviewed Britney, Bono, Jeff Tweedy from Wilco, Thom Yorke from Radiohead, etc. All of the interviews were entertaining. Mostly because, as in the Billy Joel interview, even if he really likes the person he's interviewing, he'll still be honest in the article.

The 2nd part of the book articles that are just his opinions about certain subjects. As in, which bands are rated right (not overrated or underrated), his very odd stance on stem-cell research (there needs to be more Super People), the upcoming war against robots, and so on. All pretty funny stuff.

The last part is fiction and frankly, I just skimmed it. His non-fiction work was more entertaining.

Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz

I wonder when he dropped the R.

Koontz's new book came from the library cause his last few books have disappointed. Too disappointed to spend money on a hardback.

This new novel is about a wealthy internet bachelor, Ryan Perry. He made his fortune with a social networking site, Facebook....or Be2Do. Probably the same thing.

Along with his beautiful, golden girlfriend, Perry enjoys a life of sun, surf and whatever the hell he wants. He experiences a seizure of sorts while surfing. After a few more, he sees a doctor who tells him his heart is damaged and he will die within the year.

After a successful heart transplant, things turn topsy turvy as someone informs him in eerie ways, that they want his heart back.

There's obviously much more to the story but it's a good read and very intriguing. I actually read this within a day. Koontz's endings always fall a little flat for me lately, and this was just meh. The ride to the climax, however, was pretty good.

Not keeping up!

I haven't read much at all this year! I threw out Ron Paul's book because the library demanded it back and started a book by Chuck Klosterman. Hopefully I'll have something read soon.

2008 is finally over....

While 2009 does not appear to be starting well, I'm still happy 2008 is past.

My goal in 2008 was to read 70 books, up from 65 last year. I made it to 72. So I suppose that means the 2009 goal is going to be 75. Whew. I'm going to have to quit my job soon just so I can read more. Does anyone want to pay me to read?

My list of books for the year is found at Goodreads, rather than reposting all of them here.

I ended up purchasing more books yesterday. That's what I get for meeting a friend at a bookstore. I bought Henry James' Turn of the Screw and Daisy Miller. Granted it was $2.99 but I realized once I got home that I had already printed out The Turn of the Screw from Gutenberg and I have Daisy Miller on my ipod from Librivox. I really need to pay more attention.

I also got Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I thought my friend had bought the last copy but she didn't. Whoot!

I also received a free autographed copy of Bloodstone by Nate Kenyon. He's on Goodreads and sent out an offer of his book. I never pass up free books. Unless they are Christian or Romance.

I'm reading Ron Paul's The Revolution now and that will probably be my first book of this new year.

Happy New Year!