Books that I have read in 2008
Books - 26.
Pages - 9248
1 Tick Tock by Dean Koontz
Finish Date: Monday, September 1, 2008
Pages: 338
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
First Sentence: Out of a cloudless sky on a windless November day came a sudden shadow that swooped across the bright aqua Corvette.
Last Sentence: This is reality, tofu man, because reality is what we carry in our hearts, and my heart is full of beauty just for you.
Summary: (From AudioFile) Narrator B.D. Wong takes on the character of Tommy Phan, a Vietnamese immigrant trying to escape a home-brewed spell run amok. The story races through a terror-filled night as Tommy and his new friend, Deliverance Payne, try to outsmart a demon bent on murder. The many and varied facets of the tale, including suspense, family power struggles and New-Age spiritism, all come to life under Wong's expert narration. With subtle variations in tempo, tone and even volume, he keeps the listener riveted as the astonishing plot unfolds...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 338
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
First Sentence: Out of a cloudless sky on a windless November day came a sudden shadow that swooped across the bright aqua Corvette.
Last Sentence: This is reality, tofu man, because reality is what we carry in our hearts, and my heart is full of beauty just for you.
Summary: (From AudioFile) Narrator B.D. Wong takes on the character of Tommy Phan, a Vietnamese immigrant trying to escape a home-brewed spell run amok. The story races through a terror-filled night as Tommy and his new friend, Deliverance Payne, try to outsmart a demon bent on murder. The many and varied facets of the tale, including suspense, family power struggles and New-Age spiritism, all come to life under Wong's expert narration. With subtle variations in tempo, tone and even volume, he keeps the listener riveted as the astonishing plot unfolds...
Favorite Quotes: NA
2 The Good Guy by Dean Koontz
Finish Date: Thursday, August 14, 2008
Pages: 448
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
First Sentence: Sometimes a mayfly skates across a pond, leaving a brief wake as thing as spider silk, and by staying low avoids those birds and bats that feed in flight.
Last Sentence: NA
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Timothy Carrier, a quiet stone mason having a beer in a California bar, meets a stranger who mistakes him for a hit man. The stranger slips Tim a manila envelope containing $10,000 in cash and a photo of the intended victim, Linda Paquette, a writer in Laguna Beach, then leaves. A moment later, Krait, the real killer, shows up and assumes Tim is his client. Tim manages to distract Krait from immediately carrying out the hit by saying he's had a change of heart and offering Krait the $10,000 he just received...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 448
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
First Sentence: Sometimes a mayfly skates across a pond, leaving a brief wake as thing as spider silk, and by staying low avoids those birds and bats that feed in flight.
Last Sentence: NA
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Timothy Carrier, a quiet stone mason having a beer in a California bar, meets a stranger who mistakes him for a hit man. The stranger slips Tim a manila envelope containing $10,000 in cash and a photo of the intended victim, Linda Paquette, a writer in Laguna Beach, then leaves. A moment later, Krait, the real killer, shows up and assumes Tim is his client. Tim manages to distract Krait from immediately carrying out the hit by saying he's had a change of heart and offering Krait the $10,000 he just received...
Favorite Quotes: NA
3 Every Secret Thing by Ann Tatlock
Finish Date: Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Pages: 365
Genre: Drama Novel
First Sentence: The first thing I want you to know is that there really is a state called Delaware.
Last Sentence: I open the screen door and step onto the stoop, waiting for him there with open arms.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Beth Gunnar has returned to her alma mater, Seaton Prep, to teach English. She is haunted by an unresolved mystery from her student days—the unexplained disappearance of a favorite teacher—but discovering what happened to Mr. Dutton is not all that absorbs Beth's attention. She reconnects with a high school flame and becomes something of a surrogate mother to a precocious, charming student named Satchel Queen. Beth's Christian faith also deepens, though Tatlock handles that theme with a refreshingly light touch...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 365
Genre: Drama Novel
First Sentence: The first thing I want you to know is that there really is a state called Delaware.
Last Sentence: I open the screen door and step onto the stoop, waiting for him there with open arms.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Beth Gunnar has returned to her alma mater, Seaton Prep, to teach English. She is haunted by an unresolved mystery from her student days—the unexplained disappearance of a favorite teacher—but discovering what happened to Mr. Dutton is not all that absorbs Beth's attention. She reconnects with a high school flame and becomes something of a surrogate mother to a precocious, charming student named Satchel Queen. Beth's Christian faith also deepens, though Tatlock handles that theme with a refreshingly light touch...
Favorite Quotes: NA
4 Cross by James Patterson
Finish Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Pages: 393
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
First Sentence: I'm Dr.Thompson, with the Berkshires Medical Center.
Last Sentence: NA
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Forensic psychologist Alex Cross's storied career in private practice, with the FBI and as a Washington, D.C., cop has brought him into contact with all kinds of seriously disturbed killers, but his 12th outing from bestseller Patterson (after 2005's Mary, Mary) may be the ultimate in lunatic deadliness. Beginning with a flashback to the murder of Cross's wife, Maria, Patterson quickly introduces Michael Sullivan (aka the Butcher of Sligo). What follows is a frenetically paced series of brutal rapes and killings by Sullivan, once employed by the mob as a freelancer and now at war with them. Cross juggles being a single parent and being involved in the dangerous game of tracking serial killers until he finally decides to give it up for his family...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 393
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
First Sentence: I'm Dr.Thompson, with the Berkshires Medical Center.
Last Sentence: NA
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Forensic psychologist Alex Cross's storied career in private practice, with the FBI and as a Washington, D.C., cop has brought him into contact with all kinds of seriously disturbed killers, but his 12th outing from bestseller Patterson (after 2005's Mary, Mary) may be the ultimate in lunatic deadliness. Beginning with a flashback to the murder of Cross's wife, Maria, Patterson quickly introduces Michael Sullivan (aka the Butcher of Sligo). What follows is a frenetically paced series of brutal rapes and killings by Sullivan, once employed by the mob as a freelancer and now at war with them. Cross juggles being a single parent and being involved in the dangerous game of tracking serial killers until he finally decides to give it up for his family...
Favorite Quotes: NA
5 Beach Road by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge
Finish Date: Monday, July 7, 2008
Pages: 310
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
First Sentence: Seventeen and criminally cute, Nikki Robinson sulks through the sultry afternoon trying to keep from staring at this useless shocking-pink cell phone.
Last Sentence: Isn't that right, Wingo?
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Bestseller Patterson shows signs of having gone to the well too often in this slapdash collaboration with de Jonge, his coauthor on The Beach House (2002). Tom Dunleavy, a former professional basketball player and local East Hampton legend, is getting by as an underworked and unmotivated attorney. His sports glory days and his one true love are long in the past, but he gets second chances at personal and professional redemption when three locals are gunned down, apparently in the aftermath of racial tensions arising from a heated pickup game of hoops. The police seize on Dante Halleyville, the country's best high school star, as their suspect, and Dunleavy must dust off his old courtroom skills and enlist his lost love, Kate Costello, as his partner.
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 310
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
First Sentence: Seventeen and criminally cute, Nikki Robinson sulks through the sultry afternoon trying to keep from staring at this useless shocking-pink cell phone.
Last Sentence: Isn't that right, Wingo?
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Bestseller Patterson shows signs of having gone to the well too often in this slapdash collaboration with de Jonge, his coauthor on The Beach House (2002). Tom Dunleavy, a former professional basketball player and local East Hampton legend, is getting by as an underworked and unmotivated attorney. His sports glory days and his one true love are long in the past, but he gets second chances at personal and professional redemption when three locals are gunned down, apparently in the aftermath of racial tensions arising from a heated pickup game of hoops. The police seize on Dante Halleyville, the country's best high school star, as their suspect, and Dunleavy must dust off his old courtroom skills and enlist his lost love, Kate Costello, as his partner.
Favorite Quotes: NA
6 Playing for Pizza by John Grisham
Finish Date: Sunday, July 6, 2008
Pages: 258
Genre: Drama Novel
First Sentence: It was a hospital bed, that much appeared certain, though certainty was coming and going.
Last Sentence: He allowed himself a smile of deep satisfaction.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Third-string Cleveland Browns quarterback Rick Dockery becomes the greatest goat ever by throwing three interceptions in the closing minutes of the AFC championship game. Fleeing vengeful fans, he finds refuge in the grungiest corner of professional football, the Italian National Football League as quarterback of the inept but full-of-heart Parma Panthers. What ensues is a winsome football fable, replete with team bonding and character-building as the underdog Panthers challenge the powerhouse Bergamo Lions for a shot at the Italian Superbowl. The book is also the author's love letter to Italy. Rick is first baffled and then enchanted by all things Italian-tiny cars! opera! benign corruption!-and through him Grisham (The Firm) instructs his readership in the art of gracious living, featuring sumptuous four-hour, umpteen-course meals...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 258
Genre: Drama Novel
First Sentence: It was a hospital bed, that much appeared certain, though certainty was coming and going.
Last Sentence: He allowed himself a smile of deep satisfaction.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Third-string Cleveland Browns quarterback Rick Dockery becomes the greatest goat ever by throwing three interceptions in the closing minutes of the AFC championship game. Fleeing vengeful fans, he finds refuge in the grungiest corner of professional football, the Italian National Football League as quarterback of the inept but full-of-heart Parma Panthers. What ensues is a winsome football fable, replete with team bonding and character-building as the underdog Panthers challenge the powerhouse Bergamo Lions for a shot at the Italian Superbowl. The book is also the author's love letter to Italy. Rick is first baffled and then enchanted by all things Italian-tiny cars! opera! benign corruption!-and through him Grisham (The Firm) instructs his readership in the art of gracious living, featuring sumptuous four-hour, umpteen-course meals...
Favorite Quotes: NA
7 All That Remains by Patricia Cornwell
Finish Date: Sunday, June 29, 2008
Pages: 373
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
First Sentence: Saturday, the last day of August, I started work before dawn.
Last Sentence: I opened the windows and drove west toward home.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Edgar, Anthony, Creasey and McCavity Award winner Cornwell ( Body of Evidence ) combines bone-rattling suspense with an insider's view of forensic science as her sleuth, Richmond, Va., medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, investigates a series of grim murders of young couples. With bone fragments being, in effect, all that remains of badly decomposed corpses, Scarpetta, Richmond homicide detective Pete Marino, ace reporter Abby Turnbull and even psychic Hilda Ozimek must employ their combined expertise--and a good deal of raw courage--to trace the killer...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 373
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
First Sentence: Saturday, the last day of August, I started work before dawn.
Last Sentence: I opened the windows and drove west toward home.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Edgar, Anthony, Creasey and McCavity Award winner Cornwell ( Body of Evidence ) combines bone-rattling suspense with an insider's view of forensic science as her sleuth, Richmond, Va., medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, investigates a series of grim murders of young couples. With bone fragments being, in effect, all that remains of badly decomposed corpses, Scarpetta, Richmond homicide detective Pete Marino, ace reporter Abby Turnbull and even psychic Hilda Ozimek must employ their combined expertise--and a good deal of raw courage--to trace the killer...
Favorite Quotes: NA
8 The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin
Finish Date: Sunday, June 15, 2008
Pages: 384
Genre: Drama Novel
First Sentence: Every season of my nanny career kicked off with a round of interviews so surreally similar that I'd often wonder if the mothers were slipped a secret manual at the Parents League to guide them through.
Last Sentence: Well, then, Grace, let's go home.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) A blistering satire based on the real-life experiences of former New York City nannies McLaughlin and Kraus, this hilarious examination of the upper echelons of Manhattan society and the unlovable Park Avenue X family is flawlessly complemented by Roberts's limber, metamorphosing vocal performance. Depicted by the Academy Award winner's detached, patronizing tone, Mrs. X, a housewife, has little more to do than spend her adulterous, workaholic husband's seven-figure salary on manicures, designer clothes and floral arrangements. She delegates the care of her bratty four-year-old son, Grayer, and other small "errands" (e.g., shopping for a 50-guest dinner party) to an NYU grad student, Nan...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 384
Genre: Drama Novel
First Sentence: Every season of my nanny career kicked off with a round of interviews so surreally similar that I'd often wonder if the mothers were slipped a secret manual at the Parents League to guide them through.
Last Sentence: Well, then, Grace, let's go home.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) A blistering satire based on the real-life experiences of former New York City nannies McLaughlin and Kraus, this hilarious examination of the upper echelons of Manhattan society and the unlovable Park Avenue X family is flawlessly complemented by Roberts's limber, metamorphosing vocal performance. Depicted by the Academy Award winner's detached, patronizing tone, Mrs. X, a housewife, has little more to do than spend her adulterous, workaholic husband's seven-figure salary on manicures, designer clothes and floral arrangements. She delegates the care of her bratty four-year-old son, Grayer, and other small "errands" (e.g., shopping for a 50-guest dinner party) to an NYU grad student, Nan...
Favorite Quotes: NA
9 CSS Mastery by Andy Budd
Finish Date: Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Pages: 245
Genre: Website Design
First Sentence: NA
Last Sentence: NA
Summary: (Book Description) While CSS is a relatively simple technology to learn, it is a difficult one to master. When you first start developing sites using CSS, you will come across all kinds of infuriating browser bugs and inconsistencies. It sometimes feels like there are a million and one different techniques to master, spread across a bewildering array of websites. The range of possibilities seems endless and makes for a steep and daunting learning curve. By bringing all of the latest tips, tricks, and techniques together in one handy reference, this book demystifies the secrets of CSS and makes the journey to CSS mastery as simple and painless as possible. While most books concentrate on basic skills, this one is different, assuming that you already know the basics and why you should be using CSS in your work, and concentrating mainly on advanced techniques...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 245
Genre: Website Design
First Sentence: NA
Last Sentence: NA
Summary: (Book Description) While CSS is a relatively simple technology to learn, it is a difficult one to master. When you first start developing sites using CSS, you will come across all kinds of infuriating browser bugs and inconsistencies. It sometimes feels like there are a million and one different techniques to master, spread across a bewildering array of websites. The range of possibilities seems endless and makes for a steep and daunting learning curve. By bringing all of the latest tips, tricks, and techniques together in one handy reference, this book demystifies the secrets of CSS and makes the journey to CSS mastery as simple and painless as possible. While most books concentrate on basic skills, this one is different, assuming that you already know the basics and why you should be using CSS in your work, and concentrating mainly on advanced techniques...
Favorite Quotes: NA
10 Inspirability by Pash
Finish Date: Monday, June 9, 2008
Pages: 238
Genre: Graphic Design
First Sentence:
Last Sentence:
Summary: (Amazon.com) It's hard for graphic designers to stay inspired when they're constantly working on deadline. Inspirability gives them a fresh look at how to keep those creative fires burning in the real world, with: -Interviews with 40 design luminaries, including Stefan Sagmeister, Paula Scher, Milton Glaser and Margo Chase -Fascinating pictures the designers took of themselves and their offices, as well as samples of their design work -Revealing insights into what inspires each designer on a day-to-day basis. This book offers an original take on one of the most requested topics by graphic designers. It's a must-have tool for lasting inspiration!
Favorite Quotes:
Pages: 238
Genre: Graphic Design
First Sentence:
Last Sentence:
Summary: (Amazon.com) It's hard for graphic designers to stay inspired when they're constantly working on deadline. Inspirability gives them a fresh look at how to keep those creative fires burning in the real world, with: -Interviews with 40 design luminaries, including Stefan Sagmeister, Paula Scher, Milton Glaser and Margo Chase -Fascinating pictures the designers took of themselves and their offices, as well as samples of their design work -Revealing insights into what inspires each designer on a day-to-day basis. This book offers an original take on one of the most requested topics by graphic designers. It's a must-have tool for lasting inspiration!
Favorite Quotes:
11 Frankenstein: Book 2 - City of Night by Dean Koontz
Finish Date: Saturday, June 7, 2008
Pages: 455
Genre: Horror Fiction
First Sentence: Having come to life in a thunderstorm, touched by some strange lightning that animated rather than incinerated, Deucalion had been born on a night of violence.
Last Sentence: The perfect hostess is creative, patient, and has a long memory - as does a wise wife.
Summary: (From Booklist) Dean Koontz's Frankenstein, volume one of which, Prodigal Son (2005), was a pulse-pounder all the way, is going to be a trilogy. But don't expect to relax all that much. This book cooks, no second-volume doldrums anywhere in it. Its short, punchy chapters, 80 in all, seem to reflect the whole saga's TV miniseries origins in their jump-cutting between plot trajectories, but that seeming also owes much to the visualizability, so to speak, of everything in the book. But enough about technique. The manufactured young man who went AWOL from 200-plus-year-old Victor Helios-ne-Frankenstein's labs in Prodigal Son turns out to be not the only improved Frankenstein monster who is behaving strangely. Since he was created autistic for experimental purposes, he may be the least strange of the lot. Some of his "normal" fellows are mutating a la Alien, none more spectacularly than Victor's body guard...
Favorite Quotes: Every setback must be viewed as an opportunity, a chance to learn.
Pages: 455
Genre: Horror Fiction
First Sentence: Having come to life in a thunderstorm, touched by some strange lightning that animated rather than incinerated, Deucalion had been born on a night of violence.
Last Sentence: The perfect hostess is creative, patient, and has a long memory - as does a wise wife.
Summary: (From Booklist) Dean Koontz's Frankenstein, volume one of which, Prodigal Son (2005), was a pulse-pounder all the way, is going to be a trilogy. But don't expect to relax all that much. This book cooks, no second-volume doldrums anywhere in it. Its short, punchy chapters, 80 in all, seem to reflect the whole saga's TV miniseries origins in their jump-cutting between plot trajectories, but that seeming also owes much to the visualizability, so to speak, of everything in the book. But enough about technique. The manufactured young man who went AWOL from 200-plus-year-old Victor Helios-ne-Frankenstein's labs in Prodigal Son turns out to be not the only improved Frankenstein monster who is behaving strangely. Since he was created autistic for experimental purposes, he may be the least strange of the lot. Some of his "normal" fellows are mutating a la Alien, none more spectacularly than Victor's body guard...
Favorite Quotes: Every setback must be viewed as an opportunity, a chance to learn.
12 Frankenstein: Book 1 - Prodigal Son by Dean Koontz
Finish Date: Saturday, May 31, 2008
Pages: 469
Genre: Horror Fiction
First Sentence: Deucalion seldom slept, but when he did, he dreamed.
Last Sentence: This child of Mercy, in the spidery dark, smiles.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) In this grisly thriller, the first in a new series by bestsellers Koontz and Anderson, Dr. Frankenstein has survived into the 21st century, masquerading as biotech tycoon Victor Helios. Helios wants to replace flawed humanity with his New Race, people born and fermented in pods, their personalities programmed by him, their imperfections removed in the lab. But at least one of his creations has become a serial killer, trying to assemble the perfect woman from parts of many...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 469
Genre: Horror Fiction
First Sentence: Deucalion seldom slept, but when he did, he dreamed.
Last Sentence: This child of Mercy, in the spidery dark, smiles.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) In this grisly thriller, the first in a new series by bestsellers Koontz and Anderson, Dr. Frankenstein has survived into the 21st century, masquerading as biotech tycoon Victor Helios. Helios wants to replace flawed humanity with his New Race, people born and fermented in pods, their personalities programmed by him, their imperfections removed in the lab. But at least one of his creations has become a serial killer, trying to assemble the perfect woman from parts of many...
Favorite Quotes: NA
13 Brother Odd by Dean Koontz
Finish Date: Monday, May 26, 2008
Pages: 365
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
First Sentence: Embraced by stone, steeped in silence, I sat at the high window as the third day of the week surrendered to the fourth.
Last Sentence: NA
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Bestseller Koontz's third Odd Thomas novel (after Forever Odd) offers an irresistibly offbeat mix of supernatural horror and laugh-out-loud humor. A resident of St. Bartholomew's Abbey, a monastery in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Thomas has the ability to see the spirits of the dead, a gift he has used to resolve mysteries and prevent future tragedies. As the story opens, the seer is unsettled by visions of bodachs, sinister ghostlike entities whose appearance precedes some dire tragedy. Thomas frantically searches for some sign that will help him head off disaster, even as St. Bart's is thrown into turmoil by the disappearance of one of its members...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 365
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
First Sentence: Embraced by stone, steeped in silence, I sat at the high window as the third day of the week surrendered to the fourth.
Last Sentence: NA
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Bestseller Koontz's third Odd Thomas novel (after Forever Odd) offers an irresistibly offbeat mix of supernatural horror and laugh-out-loud humor. A resident of St. Bartholomew's Abbey, a monastery in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Thomas has the ability to see the spirits of the dead, a gift he has used to resolve mysteries and prevent future tragedies. As the story opens, the seer is unsettled by visions of bodachs, sinister ghostlike entities whose appearance precedes some dire tragedy. Thomas frantically searches for some sign that will help him head off disaster, even as St. Bart's is thrown into turmoil by the disappearance of one of its members...
Favorite Quotes: NA
14 Make The Right Choice by Joel Zeff
Finish Date: Monday, May 26, 2008
Pages: 160
Genre: Career Development
First Sentence: NA
Last Sentence: NA
Summary: (From the Inside Flap) Joel Zeff creates energy. His spontaneous humor and insightful messages have thrilled audiences for years. A national speaker and humorist, he has presented to more than 1,000 companies and organizations. He connects to his audience with humor that has them laughing so uncontrollably that their mascara runs, their cheeks hurt, and their bellies ache. And he doesn't do it alone. Volunteers from the audience join him on stage and play an integral role in an improvisation game in front of hundreds or thousands of people—something they have never done. He expects nothing less than their success. He expects the volunteers to focus and work together as a team; communicate effectively; posi-tively support each other; and take responsibility. In Make the Right Choice, Joel shares his expe-rience and insight on creativity, communication, teamwork, passion, and fun. With wit, a sharp observational eye, and playful irreverence, he discusses the choices we all encounter in our careers. We each have the ability to take initiative and make the right choice to live a more creative, passionate, effective, and productive life...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 160
Genre: Career Development
First Sentence: NA
Last Sentence: NA
Summary: (From the Inside Flap) Joel Zeff creates energy. His spontaneous humor and insightful messages have thrilled audiences for years. A national speaker and humorist, he has presented to more than 1,000 companies and organizations. He connects to his audience with humor that has them laughing so uncontrollably that their mascara runs, their cheeks hurt, and their bellies ache. And he doesn't do it alone. Volunteers from the audience join him on stage and play an integral role in an improvisation game in front of hundreds or thousands of people—something they have never done. He expects nothing less than their success. He expects the volunteers to focus and work together as a team; communicate effectively; posi-tively support each other; and take responsibility. In Make the Right Choice, Joel shares his expe-rience and insight on creativity, communication, teamwork, passion, and fun. With wit, a sharp observational eye, and playful irreverence, he discusses the choices we all encounter in our careers. We each have the ability to take initiative and make the right choice to live a more creative, passionate, effective, and productive life...
Favorite Quotes: NA
15 Icebound by Dean Koontz
Finish Date: Sunday, May 18, 2008
Pages: 408
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
First Sentence: NA
Last Sentence: NA
Summary: NA
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 408
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
First Sentence: NA
Last Sentence: NA
Summary: NA
Favorite Quotes: NA
16 Whispers by Dean Koontz
Finish Date: Saturday, May 10, 2008
Pages: 509
Genre: Horror Fiction
First Sentence: Tuesday at dawn, Los Angeles trembled.
Last Sentence: As they walked toward Laurenski, the autumn rain hammered softly on them and whispered in the grass.
Summary: (Book Description) For 35 years, Bruno Frye has lived in the shadow of the mother who made his heart beat with constant fear. And even though she died five years ago, the whispers still haunt him in the dark... enough to make him kill-and kill again. Hilary Thomas is one of his intended victims. And she's about to learn that even death can't keep a bad man down...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 509
Genre: Horror Fiction
First Sentence: Tuesday at dawn, Los Angeles trembled.
Last Sentence: As they walked toward Laurenski, the autumn rain hammered softly on them and whispered in the grass.
Summary: (Book Description) For 35 years, Bruno Frye has lived in the shadow of the mother who made his heart beat with constant fear. And even though she died five years ago, the whispers still haunt him in the dark... enough to make him kill-and kill again. Hilary Thomas is one of his intended victims. And she's about to learn that even death can't keep a bad man down...
Favorite Quotes: NA
17 Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult
Finish Date: Thursday, April 24, 2008
Pages: 355
Genre: Drama Novel
First Sentence: When the monsters finally came through the door, he was wearing a mask.
Last Sentence: NA
Summary: )From Publishers Weekly) One plot element¢a case of child molestation involving a Catholic priest¢in Picoult's latest novel (after Salem Falls) now seems eerily prescient, but that's only part of the saga she weaves, which is primarily an indictment of the current criminal justice system. Nina Frost, an assistant district attorney in Maine, knows how hard it is to obtain a conviction for a sex crime when the victim is a juvenile, so when her five-year-old son, Nathaniel, identifies their priest as being the man who raped him, Nina's grievances with the system become personal. Frustrated by the threat of an unsatisfactory legal outcome, she takes the law into her own hands, killing the priest in open court...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 355
Genre: Drama Novel
First Sentence: When the monsters finally came through the door, he was wearing a mask.
Last Sentence: NA
Summary: )From Publishers Weekly) One plot element¢a case of child molestation involving a Catholic priest¢in Picoult's latest novel (after Salem Falls) now seems eerily prescient, but that's only part of the saga she weaves, which is primarily an indictment of the current criminal justice system. Nina Frost, an assistant district attorney in Maine, knows how hard it is to obtain a conviction for a sex crime when the victim is a juvenile, so when her five-year-old son, Nathaniel, identifies their priest as being the man who raped him, Nina's grievances with the system become personal. Frustrated by the threat of an unsatisfactory legal outcome, she takes the law into her own hands, killing the priest in open court...
Favorite Quotes: NA
18 My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Finish Date: Thursday, April 3, 2008
Pages: 448
Genre: Drama Novel
First Sentence: NA
Last Sentence: NA
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) The difficult choices a family must make when a child is diagnosed with a serious disease are explored with pathos and understanding in this 11th novel by Picoult (Second Glance, etc.). The author, who has taken on such controversial subjects as euthanasia (Mercy), teen suicide (The Pact) and sterilization laws (Second Glance), turns her gaze on genetic planning, the prospect of creating babies for health purposes and the ethical and moral fallout that results. Kate Fitzgerald has a rare form of leukemia. Her sister, Anna, was conceived to provide a donor match for procedures that become increasingly invasive. At 13, Anna hires a lawyer so that she can sue her parents for the right to make her own decisions about how her body is used when a kidney transplant is planned. Meanwhile, Jesse, the neglected oldest child of the family, is out setting fires, which his firefighter father, Brian, inevitably puts out...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 448
Genre: Drama Novel
First Sentence: NA
Last Sentence: NA
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) The difficult choices a family must make when a child is diagnosed with a serious disease are explored with pathos and understanding in this 11th novel by Picoult (Second Glance, etc.). The author, who has taken on such controversial subjects as euthanasia (Mercy), teen suicide (The Pact) and sterilization laws (Second Glance), turns her gaze on genetic planning, the prospect of creating babies for health purposes and the ethical and moral fallout that results. Kate Fitzgerald has a rare form of leukemia. Her sister, Anna, was conceived to provide a donor match for procedures that become increasingly invasive. At 13, Anna hires a lawyer so that she can sue her parents for the right to make her own decisions about how her body is used when a kidney transplant is planned. Meanwhile, Jesse, the neglected oldest child of the family, is out setting fires, which his firefighter father, Brian, inevitably puts out...
Favorite Quotes: NA
19 City of Bones by Michael Connelly
Finish Date: Saturday, March 15, 2008
Pages: 394
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
First Sentence: The old lady had changed her mind about dying but by then it was too late.
Last Sentence: He held the boxes against his chest and waited in the rain.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Harry Bosch is at the top of his form which is great news for Connelly fans who might have been wondering how much life the dour, haunted LAPD veteran had left in him. His latest adventure is as dark and angst-ridden as any of Bosch's past outings, but it also crackles with energy especially in the details of police procedure and internal politics that animate virtually every page. What other crime writer could make such dramatic use of the fact that the front door of a house trailer swings out rather than in, creating problems for a two-man team of detectives?
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 394
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
First Sentence: The old lady had changed her mind about dying but by then it was too late.
Last Sentence: He held the boxes against his chest and waited in the rain.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Harry Bosch is at the top of his form which is great news for Connelly fans who might have been wondering how much life the dour, haunted LAPD veteran had left in him. His latest adventure is as dark and angst-ridden as any of Bosch's past outings, but it also crackles with energy especially in the details of police procedure and internal politics that animate virtually every page. What other crime writer could make such dramatic use of the fact that the front door of a house trailer swings out rather than in, creating problems for a two-man team of detectives?
Favorite Quotes: NA
20 The Girl Next Door by Patricia MacDonald
Finish Date: Sunday, March 2, 2008
Pages: 290
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
First Sentence: Nina Avery tried to concentrate on her highlighted script.
Last Sentence: Her father had seen to it before he left her.
Summary: (From Booklist) Nina Avery is taking a break from her acting "career" (she survives on bit parts in soaps and the occasional commercial) so that she can help her father adjust to life on the outside. Nina was only 16 when she found her mother dead, stabbed with a kitchen knife. But Nina's father, Duncan, a doctor, found her first, and he was implicated, charged, and eventually convicted of murdering his wife. Nina never thought he was guilty, unlike her older brother, Patrick...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 290
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
First Sentence: Nina Avery tried to concentrate on her highlighted script.
Last Sentence: Her father had seen to it before he left her.
Summary: (From Booklist) Nina Avery is taking a break from her acting "career" (she survives on bit parts in soaps and the occasional commercial) so that she can help her father adjust to life on the outside. Nina was only 16 when she found her mother dead, stabbed with a kitchen knife. But Nina's father, Duncan, a doctor, found her first, and he was implicated, charged, and eventually convicted of murdering his wife. Nina never thought he was guilty, unlike her older brother, Patrick...
Favorite Quotes: NA
21 The Double Bind by Chris Bonjalian
Finish Date: Saturday, March 1, 2008
Pages: 360
Genre: Literary Fiction
First Sentence: Laurel Estabrook was nearly raped the fall of her sophomore year of college.
Last Sentence: NA
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Readers will be startled to learn early on that the heroine of this engrossing puzzle, 26-year-old Laurel Estabrook, was born in West Egg. Wait a minute, wasn't West Egg where Jay Gatsby lived? Laurel works in a Burlington, Vt., homeless shelter and is trying to overcome mental and physical scars incurred from a brutal assault some six years earlier. After being given a portfolio of photographs taken by a recently deceased resident of the shelter, Bobbie Crocker, she becomes obsessed with questions surrounding what appears to be a picture of herself shot on the day of her attack...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 360
Genre: Literary Fiction
First Sentence: Laurel Estabrook was nearly raped the fall of her sophomore year of college.
Last Sentence: NA
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Readers will be startled to learn early on that the heroine of this engrossing puzzle, 26-year-old Laurel Estabrook, was born in West Egg. Wait a minute, wasn't West Egg where Jay Gatsby lived? Laurel works in a Burlington, Vt., homeless shelter and is trying to overcome mental and physical scars incurred from a brutal assault some six years earlier. After being given a portfolio of photographs taken by a recently deceased resident of the shelter, Bobbie Crocker, she becomes obsessed with questions surrounding what appears to be a picture of herself shot on the day of her attack...
Favorite Quotes: NA
22 Identity by Milan Kundera
Finish Date: Saturday, February 23, 2008
Pages: 168
Genre: Literary Fiction
First Sentence: A hotel in a small town on the Normandy coast, which they found in a guidebook.
Last Sentence: Every night.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) In his second novel written in French (after Slowness), Czech-born novelist Kundera employs spare prose in the service of a meditation on the precarious nature of the human sense of self. Recently divorced ad executive Chantal, on a vacation with her younger boyfriend, Jean-Marc, believes that she is too old to be considered attractive by other men. For Chantal, identity is defined by the perceptions of strangers. Her dreams, to the extent that they impose a "leveling contemporaneity of everything a person has ever experienced," disturb Chantal. They remind her that she has a past, when she feels that she exists only in the present, that she is who she is only at any given moment. When she returns from her vacation, she begins to receive letters from an anonymous admirer. She suspects each new man she encounters to be the mysterious scribe and fantasizes how each might perceive her...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 168
Genre: Literary Fiction
First Sentence: A hotel in a small town on the Normandy coast, which they found in a guidebook.
Last Sentence: Every night.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) In his second novel written in French (after Slowness), Czech-born novelist Kundera employs spare prose in the service of a meditation on the precarious nature of the human sense of self. Recently divorced ad executive Chantal, on a vacation with her younger boyfriend, Jean-Marc, believes that she is too old to be considered attractive by other men. For Chantal, identity is defined by the perceptions of strangers. Her dreams, to the extent that they impose a "leveling contemporaneity of everything a person has ever experienced," disturb Chantal. They remind her that she has a past, when she feels that she exists only in the present, that she is who she is only at any given moment. When she returns from her vacation, she begins to receive letters from an anonymous admirer. She suspects each new man she encounters to be the mysterious scribe and fantasizes how each might perceive her...
Favorite Quotes: NA
23 Moral Hazard by Kate Jennings
Finish Date: Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Pages: 175
Genre: Drama Novel
First Sentence: How would you have me write about it?
Last Sentence: Look, Ma, the world.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) This short, self-assured novel by Australian-born Jennings (Snake) brilliantly depicts the complicated life of a working woman on Wall Street during the dot-com boom. Cath, a freelance writer in her 40s, is married to Bailey, who's 25 years her senior. When he develops Alzheimer's, she takes a speech-writing job at an investment bank to pay for his expensive medical care. Wry but realistic, and realizing her position in a rigid boys' club hierarchy, she suppresses her liberal sensibility and defers to the chauvinists who dominate the firm, even cozying up to Horace, the company's most Machiavellian executive...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 175
Genre: Drama Novel
First Sentence: How would you have me write about it?
Last Sentence: Look, Ma, the world.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) This short, self-assured novel by Australian-born Jennings (Snake) brilliantly depicts the complicated life of a working woman on Wall Street during the dot-com boom. Cath, a freelance writer in her 40s, is married to Bailey, who's 25 years her senior. When he develops Alzheimer's, she takes a speech-writing job at an investment bank to pay for his expensive medical care. Wry but realistic, and realizing her position in a rigid boys' club hierarchy, she suppresses her liberal sensibility and defers to the chauvinists who dominate the firm, even cozying up to Horace, the company's most Machiavellian executive...
Favorite Quotes: NA
24 Cold Fire by Dean Koontz
Finish Date: Sunday, February 17, 2008
Pages: 430
Genre: Horror Fiction
First Sentence: Even before the events in the supermarket, Jim Ironheart should have known trouble was coming.
Last Sentence: Purpose.
Summary: NA
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 430
Genre: Horror Fiction
First Sentence: Even before the events in the supermarket, Jim Ironheart should have known trouble was coming.
Last Sentence: Purpose.
Summary: NA
Favorite Quotes: NA
25 The Door to December by Dean Koontz
Finish Date: Sunday, February 3, 2008
Pages: 510
Genre: Horror Fiction
First Sentence: As soon as she finished dressing, Laura went to the front door and was just in time to see the Los Angeles Police Department squad car pull to the curb in front of the house.
Last Sentence: It's enough.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Published pseudonymously in 1985, Koontz has revised this thriller portraying a pediatric psychiatrist's attempts to unravel the mental trauma suffered by her estranged nine-year-old daughter...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 510
Genre: Horror Fiction
First Sentence: As soon as she finished dressing, Laura went to the front door and was just in time to see the Los Angeles Police Department squad car pull to the curb in front of the house.
Last Sentence: It's enough.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Published pseudonymously in 1985, Koontz has revised this thriller portraying a pediatric psychiatrist's attempts to unravel the mental trauma suffered by her estranged nine-year-old daughter...
Favorite Quotes: NA
26 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Finish Date: Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Pages: 400
Genre: Literary Fiction
First Sentence: I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975.
Last Sentence: I ran.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Hosseini's stunning debut novel starts as an eloquent Afghan version of the American immigrant experience in the late 20th century, but betrayal and redemption come to the forefront when the narrator, a writer, returns to his ravaged homeland to rescue the son of his childhood friend after the boy's parents are shot during the Taliban takeover in the mid '90s. Amir, the son of a well-to-do Kabul merchant, is the first-person narrator, who marries, moves to California and becomes a successful novelist. But he remains haunted by a childhood incident in which he betrayed the trust of his best friend, a Hazara boy named Hassan, who receives a brutal beating from some local bullies...
Favorite Quotes: NA
Pages: 400
Genre: Literary Fiction
First Sentence: I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975.
Last Sentence: I ran.
Summary: (From Publishers Weekly) Hosseini's stunning debut novel starts as an eloquent Afghan version of the American immigrant experience in the late 20th century, but betrayal and redemption come to the forefront when the narrator, a writer, returns to his ravaged homeland to rescue the son of his childhood friend after the boy's parents are shot during the Taliban takeover in the mid '90s. Amir, the son of a well-to-do Kabul merchant, is the first-person narrator, who marries, moves to California and becomes a successful novelist. But he remains haunted by a childhood incident in which he betrayed the trust of his best friend, a Hazara boy named Hassan, who receives a brutal beating from some local bullies...
Favorite Quotes: NA