A Year in Books -- Vol. 1

Purpose: "A Year in Books" is an attempt to read fifty books during the course of a year.

Why? To read is to learn more about my own writing. By reading the highlighted books, spanning different topics and genres, I can pinpoint what I admire while highlighting what I want to stay away from. In short, read to become a better writer.

How? Through this log I'll be keeping track of each book I read and writing reviews of what I liked and what I didn't. The focus will be on writing style, the premise of the story, the emotions I felt, and major points I feel are important to remember for later.

Goal: 50 Books (by December 31, 2012)

The Book List

         1          

Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad -- Gordon Thomas

Description (Back Cover):

"Created in 1951 to ensure the future of an embattled Israel, the Mossad has been responsible for the most audacious and thrilling feats of espionage, counter-terrorism, and assassination ever ventured. For the first time ever, resulting from closed-door interviews between the author and Mossad agents, informants, and spymasters, as well as classified documents and top-secret sources, the truth about the Mossad is about to be revealed. From the Mossad agent in the Clinton White House who enabled Israel to call the shots in the ongoing Middle East peace process to the nuclear secrets smuggled out of the U.S. and used to jump-start Israel's own atomic weapons program, Gideon's Spies reveals the Mossad as it truly is: brilliant, ruthless, flawed, but ultimately awesome."

Thoughts -- "Book One: Gideon's Spies" 

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         2          

Ghost Story -- Jim Butcher
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         3          

Mastiff -- Tamara Pierce
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         4          

Daughter of Smoke and Bone -- Laini Taylor
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         5          

Great Book of Amber -- Roger Zelazny
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         6          

The Wild Ways -- Tanya Huff
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         7          

Ragnarok -- A.S. Byatt
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         8          

Fight Club -- Chuck Palahniuk
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         9          

The Invention of Hugo Cabret -- Brian Selznick
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         10          

11/22/63 -- Stephen King
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         11          

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet -- Jamie Ford
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         12          

Let's Pretend This Never Happened - Jennifer Lawson
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         13          

The Lady and The Lion -- Laurel Long & Jacqueline K. Ogburn
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         14          

Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore -- Stella Duffy
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         15          

The Looking Glass Wars: Vol.1 -- Frank Beddor
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         16          

The Lantern -- Deborah Lawrenson
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         17          

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy -- John le Carre
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         18          

The House of Lost Souls -- F.G. Cottam
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         19          

Maybe This Time -- Jennifer Crusie
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         20          

A Kiss Before the Apocalypse -- Thomas E. Sniegoski

Description (Back Cover):

Boston PI Remy Chandler has many talents. He can will himself invisible; he can speak and understand any foreign language (including the language of animals); and if he listens carefully, he can hear thoughts.

Unusual, to say the least - for an ordinary man. But Remy is no ordinary man - he's an angel. Generations ago, when he was known as the angel Remiel, he chose to renounce heaven and live on Earth. He's found a place among us ordinary humans, with friendship, a job he's good at - and love.

Now he is being drawn into a case with strong ties to his angelic past. The Angel of Death has gone missing, and Remy's former colleagues have come to him for help. But what at first seems to be about tracing a missing person turns out to involve much more - a conspiracy that has as its goal the destruction of the human race.

And only Remy Chandler can stop it...

Thoughts -- "Book Three: A Kiss Before the Apocalypse" 

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         21          

In the Bleak Midwinter -- Julia Spencer-Fleming
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         22          

My Song: A Memoir -- Harry Belafonte
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         23          

Poison Study -- Maria V. Synder
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         24          

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? -- Mandy Kaling
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         25          

The Book of Lost Things -- John Connolly
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To check out the next twenty-five books, go to -- "A Year in Books -- Vol. 2"