Wow Im a Slacker!

I committed to reading 100 books this year and I have failed.  What a huge bummer?!?!?!
Well this is what happens when life gets in the way - we sold a house and travelled some and I was over all lazy.  I will say having my EReader makes it a lot easier to read on the go.  I read several books on our one week vacation to Panama City.  Even though I received some KICKASS presents for Christmas (Mastering The Art Of French Cooking, a brand new bread machine, digital crockpot and other kitchen implements which make my heart soar) the best gift I was given was the Nook for my birthday.  I highly recommend a Nook or a Kindle

So since I haven't updated in a while its time to close out the year.  I wont read anything between now and Dec 31st so its safe to say this is the rest of the list with descriptions from either amazon or bn.com

37. I am Nujood Age 10 and Divorced by Najood Ali
Chosen by Glamour magazine as a Woman of the Year in 2008, Nujood of Yemen has become an international hero for her astonishingly brave resistance to child marriage. Sold off by her impoverished family at the age of 10, continually raped by her husband before she even reached puberty, Nujood found the courage to run away, and with the help of an activist lawyer, sympathetic judges, and the international press, she divorced her husband and returned home. Her clear, first-person narrative, translated from the French and written with Minoui, is spellbinding: the horror of her parents’ betrayal and her mother-in-law’s connivance, the “grown-ups” who send the child from classroom and toys to nightmare abuse. She never denies the poverty that drives her parents and oppresses her brothers, even as she reveals their cruelty. Unlike her passive mother, she is an activist, thrilled to return to school, determined to save others, including her little sister. True to the child’s viewpoint, the “grown-up” cruelty is devastating. Readers will find it incredible that such unbelievable abuse and such courageous resistance are happening now. --Hazel Rochman



38.  The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Starred Review. SignatureReviewed by Megan Whalen TurnerIf there really are only seven original plots in the world, it's odd that boy meets girl is always mentioned, and society goes bad and attacks the good guy never is. Yet we have Fahrenheit 451, The Giver, The House of the Scorpion—and now, following a long tradition of Brave New Worlds, The Hunger Games. Collins hasn't tied her future to a specific date, or weighted it down with too much finger wagging. Rather less 1984 and rather more Death Race 2000, hers is a gripping story set in a postapocalyptic world where a replacement for the United States demands a tribute from each of its territories: two children to be used as gladiators in a televised fight to the death.Katniss, from what was once Appalachia, offers to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, but after this ultimate sacrifice, she is entirely focused on survival at any cost. It is her teammate, Peeta, who recognizes the importance of holding on to one's humanity in such inhuman circumstances. It's a credit to Collins's skill at characterization that Katniss, like a new Theseus, is cold, calculating and still likable. She has the attributes to be a winner, where Peeta has the grace to be a good loser.It's no accident that these games are presented as pop culture. Every generation projects its fear: runaway science, communism, overpopulation, nuclear wars and, now, reality TV. The State of Panem—which needs to keep its tributaries subdued and its citizens complacent—may have created the Games, but mindless television is the real danger, the means by which society pacifies its citizens and punishes those who fail to conform. Will its connection to reality TV, ubiquitous today, date the book? It might, but for now, it makes this the right book at the right time. What happens if we choose entertainment over humanity? In Collins's world, we'll be obsessed with grooming, we'll talk funny, and all our sentences will end with the same rise as questions. When Katniss is sent to stylists to be made more telegenic before she competes, she stands naked in front of them, strangely unembarrassed. They're so unlike people that I'm no more self-conscious than if a trio of oddly colored birds were pecking around my feet, she thinks. In order not to hate these creatures who are sending her to her death, she imagines them as pets. It isn't just the contestants who risk the loss of their humanity. It is all who watch.Katniss struggles to win not only the Games but the inherent contest for audience approval. Because this is the first book in a series, not everything is resolved, and what is left unanswered is the central question. Has she sacrificed too much? We know what she has given up to survive, but not whether the price was too high. Readers will wait eagerly to learn more.Megan Whalen Turner is the author of the Newbery Honor book The Thief and its sequels, The Queen of Attolia andThe King of Attolia. The next book in the series will be published by Greenwillow in 2010. 
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.



39. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
Starred Review. Gr 7 Up--Every year in Panem, the dystopic nation that exists where the U.S. used to be, the Capitol holds a televised tournament in which two teen "tributes" from each of the surrounding districts fight a gruesome battle to the death. In The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, the tributes from impoverished District Twelve, thwarted the Gamemakers, forcing them to let both teens survive. In this rabidly anticipated sequel, Katniss, again the narrator, returns home to find herself more the center of attention than ever. The sinister President Snow surprises her with a visit, and Katniss’s fear when Snow meets with her alone is both palpable and justified. Catching Fire is divided into three parts: Katniss and Peeta’s mandatory Victory Tour through the districts, preparations for the 75th Annual Hunger Games, and a truncated version of the Games themselves. Slower paced than its predecessor, this sequel explores the nation of Panem: its power structure, rumors of a secret district, and a spreading rebellion, ignited by Katniss and Peeta’s subversive victory. Katniss also deepens as a character. Though initially bewildered by the attention paid to her, she comes almost to embrace her status as the rebels’ symbolic leader. Though more of the story takes place outside the arena than within, this sequel has enough action to please Hunger Games fans and leaves enough questions tantalizingly unanswered for readers to be desperate for the next installment.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


40. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
Grade 7 Up Following her subversive second victory in the Games, this one composed of winners from past years, Katniss has been adopted by rebel factions as their symbol for freedom and becomes the rallying point for the districts in a desperate bid to take down the Capitol and remove President Snow from power. But being the Mockingjay comes with a price as Katniss must come to terms with how much of her own humanity and sanity she can willingly sacrifice for the cause, her friends, and her family. Collins is absolutely ruthless in her depictions of war in all its cruelty, violence, and loss, leaving readers, in turn, repulsed, shocked, grieving and, finally, hopeful for the characters they've grown to empathize with and love. Mockingjay is a fitting end of the series that began with The Hunger Games (2008) and Catching Fire (2009) and will have the same lasting resonance as William Golding's Lord of the Flies and Stephen King's The Stand. However, the book is not a stand-alone; readers do need to be familiar with the first two titles in order to appreciate the events and characters in this one. Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK (c) Copyright 2010.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.


41. Wicked Appetite - Janet Evanovich
Fans of Evanovich have a new series to revel in, although a few characters are familiar. Lizzy Tucker has a way with cupcakes, and she’s inherited a great-aunt’s 1740 saltbox house in Salem, Massachusetts, plying her trade at Dazzle’s Bakery in town. Who should turn up in her living room but Diesel (Visions of Sugar Plums, 2002), who is extremely handsome, very strong, and not entirely human (if not entirely angelic). Diesel is locked into a cosmic battle with his cousin Wulf, specter-thin with more than an air of sulfur about him. Lizzy, who may or may not have a secret, special ability, is needed by Wulf and Diesel to recognize objects of magical power. What follows is a romp that careens wildly between impossibly silly and impossibly adorable (and includes the reemergence of Carl the monkey from Evanovich’s Plum Spooky, 2009). Lizzy gamely attempts to make sense of oddly magical occurrences (in possession of one of the magic charms, she can’t stop eating; in possession of another, she wants household goods and babies now), while simultaneously dealing with some fairly specific threats involving Wulf and resisting Diesel’s obvious affection and attraction. Classic Evanovich tropes like the replacement of trashed vehicles and the dumb-but-charming sidekick who refuses to learn from her mistakes are in evidence, as well as a gentle snarkiness about role-playing, angels and demons, and otherworldly almost-boyfriends. --GraceAnne A. DeCandido


42.  Mini Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella
The follow-up to Kinsella’s Shopaholic & Baby (2007) finds Becky and Luke Brandon’s daughter, Minnie, hitting the terrible twos. More than a handful for Becky, Minnie is already picking up on some of her mother’s bad habits, particularly when it comes to shopping. With frequent cries of “Miiiiine!” Minnie is the embodiment of the voice in Becky’s head that won’t let her say no to bargain buys and designer clothes. Becky’s far more financially conscious husband, Luke, wants Becky to cut back on her shopping, forcing the fashionista to become a recessionista and actually wear the many clothes in her closet more than once. Not to be deterred, Becky channels her energy into planning a huge surprise birthday bash for Luke, which quickly gets out of hand. She is also determined to convince him that, despite their difficulties with Minnie, they should have another child. It’s been three years since readers last enjoyed the company of Becky Brandon née Bloomwood, and this lively, good-spirited romp is bound to please fans of the series. --Kristine Huntley


43.  Decision Points - President George W. Bush

George W. Bush’s decisions were all correct. It was just the aftermath that sometimes became muddled. That, at least, is the impression one gets after reading this surprisingly robust memoir. For those who have missed “43” in the public eye (and for those who haven’t as well), his voice is evident on every page. Cocky, defiant, and, at times (especially when speaking about his family), emotional, this is the George Bush who insists that “everybody” believed there were weapons of mass destruction, that much of the blame for the post-Katrina fiasco should be put on Louisiana’s local governments, and that Harriet Miers would have made a fine Supreme Court justice, given the chance. He does admit some mistakes (“Mission Accomplished”), but he stands by his big decisions and backs up his claims, which is simpler to do when the other side isn’t chiming in with their opinions and/or facts. Those who have followed Bush and his presidency will find many of the personal stories here familiar (how he stopped drinking; his whirlwind romance with Laura), but there are some fascinating reveals as well, including his affection for Ted Kennedy, his sometimes-complicated relationship with Dick Cheney, and his read-between-the-lines digs at Colin Powell. Some political memoirs (hello, Bill Clinton) are bloated journeys that devolve into pages and pages of, “and then I met . . .” Bush, smartly dividing the book into themes rather than telling the story chronologically, offers readers a genuine (and highly readable) look at his thought processes as he made huge decisions that will affect the nation and the world for decades. Many will ridicule his thinking and bemoan those decisions, but being George Bush, he won’t really care. --Ilene Cooper



44.  The Post Card Killers - James Patterson

Paris is stunning in the summer
NYPD detective Jacob Kanon is on a tour of Europe's most gorgeous cities. But the sights aren't what draw him--he sees each museum, each cathedral, and each cafe through the eyes of his daughter's killer.
The killing is simply marvelous
Kanon's daughter, Kimmy, and her boyfriend were murdered while on vacation in Rome. Since then, young couples in Paris, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, and Stockholm have been found dead. Little connects the murders, other than a postcard to the local newspaper that precedes each new victim.
Wish you were here
Now Kanon teams up with the Swedish reporter, Dessie Larsson, who has just received a postcard in Stockholm--and they think they know where the next victims will be. With relentless logic and unstoppable action, The Postcard Killers may be James Patterson's most vivid and compelling thriller yet.

45.  Private - James Patterson

The police can't help you
Former CIA agent Jack Morgan runs Private, a renowned investigation company with branches around the globe. It is where you go when you need maximum force and maximum discretion. The secrets of the most influential men and women on the planet come to Jack daily--and his staff of investigators uses the world's most advanced forensic tools to make and break their cases.
The press will destroy you
Jack is already deep into the investigation of a multi-million dollar NFL gambling scandal and the unsolved slayings of 18 schoolgirls when he learns of a horrific murder close to home: his best friend's wife, Jack's former lover, has been killed. It nearly pushes him over the edge. Instead, Jack pushes back and devotes all of Private's resources to tracking down her killer.
Only one place to turn: Private
But Jack doesn't have to play by the rules. As he closes in on the killer and chooses between revenge and justice, Morgan has to navigate a workplace love affair that threatens to blow the roof off his plans. With a plot that moves at death-defying speeds, Private is James Patterson sleekest, most exciting thriller ever.

46. Sunday's At Tiffany's - James Patterson

Jane Margaux is a lonely little girl. Her mother, a powerful Broadway producer, makes time for her only once a week, for their Sunday trip to admire jewelry at Tiffany's. Jane has only one friend: a handsome, comforting, funny man named Michael. He's perfect. But only she can see him. Michael can't stay forever, though. On Jane's ninth birthday he leaves, promising her that she'll soon forget him. Years later, in her thirties, Jane is just as alone as she was as a child. And despite her own success as a playwright, she is even more trapped by her overbearing mother. Then she meets someone-a handsome, comforting, funny man. He's perfect. His name is Michael . . .

47.  The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake - Aimee Bender
Taking her very personal brand of pessimistic magical realism to new heights (or depths), Bender's second novel (following An Invisible Sign of My Own) careens splendidly through an obstacle course of pathological, fantastical neuroses. Bender's narrator is young, needy Rose Edelstein, who can literally taste the emotions of whoever prepares her food, giving her unwanted insight into other people's secret emotional lives—including her mother's, whose lemon cake betrays a deep dissatisfaction. Rose's father and brother also possess odd gifts, the implications of which Bender explores with a loving and detailed eye while following Rose from third grade through adulthood. Bender has been called a fabulist, but emerges as more a spelunker of the human soul; carefully burrowing through her characters' layered disorders and abilities, Bender plumbs an emotionally crippled family with power and authenticity. Though Rose's gift can seem superfluous at times, and Bender's gustative insights don't have the sensual potency readers might crave, this coming-of-age story makes a bittersweet dish, brimming with a zesty, beguiling talent. (June) 
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


48.  Moonlight Becomes You - Mary Higgins Clark
Pretty photographer Maggie Holloway begins Clark's latest (after Silent Night) lying in a coffin buried in a grave, pulling desperately at a string that leads to a bell with no clapper. How she got there is the essence of a convoluted tale of a ritzy Newport, R.I., retirement home whose well-heeled residents seem to die with alarming frequency, leading to high-profit turnover of their apartments there. Latest to shed her mortal coil was Maggie's much-loved stepmother, a fact that led intrepid Maggie to take an unwise amount of interest in the deaths-and also to question why several of the graves seemed to have little funerary bells on them. As usual with Clark, there is a stalwart admirer whose love does not immediately speak its name, and a surfeit of suspicious characters, including a scholarly funeral nut, a shady investment broker, a venal lawyer, a drunken, inept doctor and a nosy nurse. There's some fun in the sprightly Newport oldsters, and the many scenes and characters are shifted around smoothly and with a practiced hand. The bells gimmick seems no more than that, however, and the book is light on thrills-though there's nothing to put off Clark's myriad fans. Major ad/promo; Literary Guild main selection; Reader's Digest Condensed Books selection; paperback rights to Pocket Books; author tour. (May).
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


49. Pretend You Dont See Her - Mary Higgins Clark
acey Farrell, the heroine of Mary Higgins Clark's 15th novel, is having a bit of an identity crisis. While working as a real estate agent in New York, Lacey witnessed a client's murder, and now she's in hiding with a new name and a new life. But changing her identity doesn't completely remove Lacey from the web of danger and deceit that surrounds the crime; new clues keep popping up that suggest some kind of link between Lacey's family and the murder. Meanwhile, a new man comes into the heroine's life, further complicating an already murky situation. As any fan will tell you, Mary Higgins Clark never fails to deliver plot twists and turns that are as unexpected as they are thrilling. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.


I highly recommend the Hunger Games Series.  It was fantastic!  I had a lot of good reads this year.  I hope to make next year a little more reading productive - especially since we will be roadtripping to our next location.  Cant wait to start a new year, a new adventure and a new list of books!


I have started my blog for 2011 and remember I have a list of 09 reads too.  They dont all have descriptions but the author and title are there to use to search the reviews :)
Happy Reading!

I am SO FAR BEHIND!

I am so far behind in posting my books!  I have been trying to read as much as possible on my Nook.  I have been reading steadily but not quick enough.  I am a far cry from meeting my 2010 goal and that means I will fail two years in a row!  UNACCEPTABLE!  Apparently next year I need to lower my goal from 100 to 50 instead since Im sure I can attain that.  I am especially bummed because while I am reading quite a bit - I really had hoped to read more especially with Jonathan away in Kentucky.  At least I will have some travel time to read while going to New Jersey.  I can usually get in two books during that time.

Here is an update of what I have been reading since the Laura Bush selection.  I will try to list more frequently with the synopsis of each after this.  But here is the list from 18 on to now :)

19. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
20. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
21. The Brides Baby - Liz Fielding
22. Irresistible Forces - Brenda Jackson
23. The Second Short Life of Bree Tanner - Stephanie Meyer
24. Sizzling Sixteen - Janet Evanovich
25. Eclipse - Re-read before the movie premier:)
26. Nanny Returns : Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus- It was a cute quick read - but the first one was better :)
27. Weddings Can Be Murder - Christie Craig
28. Still Missing - Chevy Stevens
29.Beautiful Lies (Ridley Jones Series # 1) - Lisa Unger
30. Sliver of Truth - Lisa Unger (Ridley Jones Series # 2)
31. The Help - Kathryn Sockett
32. Heartsick - Chelsea Cain
33. Sweetheart - Chelsea Cain
34. Hour Of The Hunter - JA Jance
35. Buddha - Deepak Chopra
36. Scandel Sheet - Gemma Halliday


Ok thats the latest and greatest!  Im going through my Nook - archiving and heading back into the list of too reads for this year!  

18. Spoken from the heart - Laura Bush

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Bushes! I was so anxious for this book to come out- and I am already on Pre-Order for the George W Bush book. (He and I share a birthday!).

I found some parts of her childhood drag a little but it really did lend itself to explaining the type of woman she was then and is now. It was a great read and the first book I downloaded on my new nook!

See the Collector's Edition of Spoken from the Heart In this brave, beautiful, and deeply personal memoir, Laura Bush, one of our most beloved and private first ladies, tells her own extraordinary story. Born in the boom-and-bust oil town of Midland, Texas, Laura Welch grew up as an only child in a family that lost three babies to miscarriage or infant death. She vividly evokes Midland's brash, rugged culture, her close relationship with her father, and the bonds of early friendships that sustain her to this day. For the first time, in heart-wrenching detail, she writes about the devastating high school car accident that left her friend Mike Douglas dead and about her decades of unspoken grief. When Laura Welch first left West Texas in 1964, she never imagined that her journey would lead her to the world stage and the White House. After graduating from Southern Methodist University in 1968, in the thick of student rebellions across the country and at the dawn of the women's movement, she became an elementary school teacher, working in inner-city schools, then trained to be a librarian. At age thirty, she met George W. Bush, whom she had last passed in the hallway in seventh grade. Three months later, "the old maid of Midland married Midland's most eligible bachelor." With rare intimacy and candor, Laura Bush writes about her early married life as she was thrust into one of America's most prominent political families, as well as her deep longing for children and her husband's decision to give up drinking. By 1993, she found herself in the full glare of the political spotlight. But just as her husband won the Texas governorship in a stunning upset victory, her father, Harold Welch, was dying in Midland. In 2001, after one of the closest elections in American history, Laura Bush moved into the White House. Here she captures presidential life in the harrowing days and weeks after 9/11, when fighter-jet cover echoed through the walls and security scares sent the family to an underground shelter. She writes openly about the White House during wartime, the withering and relentless media spotlight, and the transformation of her role as she began to understand the power of the first lady. One of the first U.S. officials to visit war-torn Afghanistan, she also reached out to disease-stricken African nations and tirelessly advocated for women in the Middle East and dissidents in Burma. She championed programs to get kids out of gangs and to stop urban violence. And she was a major force in rebuilding Gulf Coast schools and libraries post-Katrina. Movingly, she writes of her visits with U.S. troops and their loved ones, and of her empathy for and immense gratitude to military families. With deft humor and a sharp eye, Laura Bush lifts the curtain on what really happens inside the White House, from presidential finances to the 175-year-old tradition of separate bedrooms for presidents and their wives to the antics of some White House guests and even a few members of Congress. She writes with honesty and eloquence about her family, her public triumphs, and her personal tribulations. Laura Bush's compassion, her sense of humor, her grace, and her uncommon willingness to bare her heart make this story revelatory, beautifully rendered, and unlike any other first lady's memoir ever written.

17. Just Take My Heart - Mary Higgins Clark

Didnt like it! This is a bummer. My mother in law actually got me hooked on these books because she had quite a few on her bookshelf and was lovely enough to share with me while on vacation. I generally love her writing, but for some reason this book bored me from the first couple of pages :(

I Have Entered the 21st Century!!!!

Yes - I have purchased an e-reader. It is the nook from barnes and noble. I have read one book (to be posted next) and I have to say I love it. I also played Sudoku last night until 1am. It has great features, long battery life (so far) and internet capabilities - although I havent figured out how to update my facebook status yet LOL.

So far- I am hooked! I will admit I was against the e-reader thinking it was the end of old bound books, the smell of the pages, the feel of holding an adventure in your hands - but all of that has subsided and I am totally addicted to my nook! Its great!

16. The 9th Judgement - James Patterson

It was good except one part towards the end. It was like Oh, let me throw this 2 page thing about Joe in there that makes no sense. I think Lindsey is going to be pregnant in the next book, I dont know why I have just been having that feeling.

During an intimate dinner party, a cat burglar breaks into the home of A-list actor Marcus Dowling. When his wife walks in on the thief, the situation quickly teeters out of control, leaving an empty safe and a lifeless body. The same night, a woman and her infant child are ruthlessly gunned down in an abandoned garage. The killer hasn't left a shred of evidence, except for a foreboding and cryptic message: WCF, the letters written in blood-red letters. With two elusive criminals on the loose, Detective Lindsay Boxer calls on the Women's Murder Club to help her stop them before they continue their spree. But before they can break either case, the Lipstick Killer changes his act and demands a ransom—not for a single victim, but for all of San Francisco. Lindsay puts her own life on the line—but will it be enough to save the city from this deranged killer?

15. The Moonlit Earth - Christopher Rice

With Christopher Rice being one of my absolute favorite authors - I have to say this book was not nearly as dramatic as the others he has written. It was a good book but I guess I was slightly disappointed.


At the start of this compelling cat-and-mouse thriller from bestseller Rice (Blind Fall), 30-year-old Megan Reynolds has returned to her mother’s house in posh Cathedral Beach near San Diego after being fired as head of a Northern California nonprofit organization for homeless kids that she tried to save using unorthodox methods. Megan soon faces a far greater challenge. Her beloved gay brother, Cameron, a handsome flight attendant for Peninsula Airlines, disappears with Majed, a suspicious Middle Easterner, in the wake of a terrorist bombing in Hong Kong that killed 60 people. When the FBI investigators point to Cameron as a suspect in the attack, Megan embarks on a dangerous mission to find her brother and help clear his name. Megan’s journey will test her endurance and her faith in family in unexpected ways. Rice sensitively charts the relationship of two close-knit siblings. (Apr.) bn.com

14. The Gospel According to Coco Chanel - Karen Karbo

14.

Synopsis

Delving into the long, extraordinary life of renowned French fashion designer Coco Chanel, Karen Karbo has written a new kind of book, exploring Chanel’s philosophy on a range of universal themes—from style to passion, from money and success to femininity and living life on your own terms.

More Reviews and Recommendations

Biography

Karen Karbo is the author of several books, including How to Hepburn, which the Philadelphia Inquirer called “an exuberant celebration of a great original.” Her writings can also be found in Vogue, Elle, Esquire, and Redbook. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

13. Bowden: How Bobby Bowden Forged A Football Dynasty - Mark Freeman

Product Description

He is a giant among coaches, a Hall of Famer with a legacy that spans six full decades of coaching, and arguably the greatest Division I college football coach in history. And now Bobby Bowden finally has a biography that befits his stature: Bowden by award-winning journalist and author Mike Freeman.

Based on six years of research and interviews with Bowden himself, not to mention the Bowden family, former players, and opposing coaches, Bowden is the complete stunning story of the making of a legend.

Despite growing up in the segregated South and witnessing the ugly racism of the time, Bowden still developed into one of the most race-sensitive coaches in college history. When sick as a child, he listened to the radio and gained a taste for war strategy and for Alabama football games on Saturdays. He played football in high school but decided he wanted to be a coach. After years of turning around smaller football programs, and following a tumultuous but successful head coaching tenure at West Virginia University, Bowden accepted the post at Florida State University (FSU), a failing program that was regularly beaten by in-state rival University of Florida. In fact, just the year before Bowden became coach, in 1975, the president of FSU contemplated terminating the program altogether, particularly because the team had won only four games in the past three years.

What Bowden accomplished at FSU is nothing short of miraculous: twenty-one bowl wins and two national championships. And he was the only coach to secure a top-five ranking in the Associated Press polls for fourteen straight seasons. A brilliant tactician, he helped usher the pro passing game into college football, after initially doubting it could work on the college level. He has been an unrivaled recruiter, not only coaching his players but also becoming a surrogate father to many of them, all while producing thirty-one consensus All-Americans over the course of his tenure. He spawned one of the greatest rivalries in sports against the University of Miami. He trails only Penn State's Joe Paterno in career victories.

Along the way he has had to deal with family tragedies, scandals, and the rise and fall of his three sons' coaching careers. But he has been steadfast, with his good humor intact and with Ann, his wife of sixty years, at his side, raising a family of six children and now twenty-one grandchildren. As he nears the end of his career, though, the critics have their knives out, claiming, among many other things, that he has become a dinosaur who clings to his job so that he can win more games than Paterno.

This work examines the total Bowden and is the first of its kind on a one-of-a-kind coach. Poignant, blunt, and eye-opening, Bowden is a towering biography of a man who has left his mark on FSU and the game of college football.

About the Author

Mike Freeman is a national columnist for CBSSports.com. Previously, he covered the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, and several college sports, and was an investigative and enterprise reporter for the New York Times and a columnist for the Florida Times-Union. He has also been a sports reporter, features writer, and investigative writer for the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and the Dallas Morning News. Freeman is the author of three critically acclaimed books: ESPN: The Uncensored History; Bloody Sundays: Inside the Dazzling, Rough-and-Tumble World of the NFL; and Jim Brown: The Fierce Life of an American Hero. His most recent book is The All-Time Biggest Sports Jerks: And Other Goofballs, Cads, Miscreants, Reprobates, and Weirdos (Plus a Few Good Guys).

12. The 8th Confession - James Patterson

From Publishers Weekly
Fans of Sex and the City ripoffs may best appreciate Patterson's eighth Women's Murder Club novel, his fifth coauthored with Patero (after 7th Heaven). Det. Lindsay Boxer, of the San Francisco police department, is searching for a killer who's knocking off the well-to-do without leaving any signs of violence on the bodies. The investigation is going nowhere until the department's repository of institutional memory recalls a series of unsolved killings from 1982, in which the unidentified perpetrator used a krait, a rare Indian snake, to poison the victims. Meanwhile, Boxer's gal pal, journalist Cindy Thomas, is pressing the police to devote resources to a low priority murder-that of a homeless man known as Bagman Jesus, whose real name is a mystery. The romance that develops between Thomas and Boxer's hunky partner, Det. Rich Conklin, includes a striking moment when Conklin, magician-like, slips "his hands into the flimsy fabric of her panties, making them disappear." Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover

11. Along Came A Spider - James Patterson

From Publishers Weekly
This second big winter thriller by a writer named Patterson (see Fiction Forecasts, Oct. 19) features a villain (a multiple-personality serial killer/kidnapper) whom the publisher hopes will remind readers of Thomas Harris's Hannibal Lecter, and a hero who is compared to those of Jonathan Kellerman. Unfortunately, the novel has few merits of its own to set against those authors' works. Hero Alex Cross is in fact a black senior detective in Washington, D.C., who is also a psychiatrist and has a facile but not entirely convincing line of sentimental-cynical patter. The villain is Gary Soneji/Murphy (read Hyde/Jekyll), who kills for recognition, and finally kidnaps the kids of prominent parents. Alex is soon on the case, more enraged by Gary's killing of poor ghetto blacks than by the Lindbergh-inspired kidnapping, and becomes involved with a gorgeous, motorcycle-riding Secret Service supervisor who is not what she seems. Soneji/Murphy is eventually captured--but can the bad part of him be proven guilty? There is even a hint at the end that he may survive for a sequel, though the reader has virtually forgotten him by then. Spider reads fluently enough, but its action and characters seem to have come out of some movie-inspired never-never land. If a contemporary would-be nail-biter is to thrill as it should, it urgently needs stronger connections to reality than this book has. Come back, Thomas Harris! 150,000 first printing; Literary Guild main selection. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

10. Sweet Little Lies: An L.A Candy Novel - Lauren Conrad

Nothing to write home about. It was an easy quick read but I liked the first book better.

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

How Sweet it is?

Jane Roberts was the average girl next door until she and her best friend, Scarlett Harp, landed their own reality show, L.A. Candy. Now the girls have an all-access pass to Hollywood's hottest everything. But there's more to life on camera than just parties and shopping. . . .

When racy photos of Jane are leaked to the press, she finds herself at the center of a tabloid scandal. She turns to her co-star Madison Parker for help, unaware that Madison is scheming behind the scenes. She might be Jane's shoulder to cry on, but does Madison really have Jane's back?

Scarlett's working on a scandal of her own. She's fallen for someone who's strictly off-limits—which means Scarlett has a big secret to keep . . . from the L.A. Candy cameras, the paparazzi staking out her apartment, even from her best friend.

Of course, nothing stays secret for long for the stars of the newest hit TV series, and all this drama couldn't be better for ratings. But can Jane survive another season in the spotlight?

In television star Lauren Conrad's dishy, entertaining novel about young Hollywood, the lies are only as sweet as the people tell-ing them.

9. 7th Heaven (The Womens Murder Club) - James Patterson

From Publishers Weekly
At the start of the gripping seventh Women's Murder Club thriller from bestseller Patterson and Paetro (after 2007's The 6th Target), San Francisco is still haunted by the disappearance of Michael Campion, the much-adored teenage son of a former California governor, three months earlier. Following up on a tip that Michael was last seen entering a prostitute's house, homicide inspector Lindsay Boxer and her new partner, Rich Conklin, are shocked when the hooker immediately confesses that Michael, who had a heart defect, died during sex and she disposed of his body. Lindsay's ADA pal, Yuki Castellano, is sure she has a slam-dunk case, but the trial soon takes a bizarre turn. Lindsay and Rich also scramble to track down a serial arsonist responsible for murdering a string of wealthy couples. Lindsay races to put the pieces together before the fires hit too close to home. In true Patterson style, the reader is privy to Lindsay's thoughts as well as the killers', ratcheting up the suspense an extra notch. Fans won't be disappointed with the twist at the end that not even Lindsay sees coming. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

8. The 6th Target - James Patterson

Review
"A maddeningly compelling read - the kind that only Patterson can assemble." (EdgeMiami.com )"Another outstanding addition to an already impressive body of work." (ArmchairInterviews.com )"Another masterpiece." (1340magbooks.com )"With THE 6TH TARGET, James Patterson once again proves that he is a great writer who can deliver a fast-paced story that can grab the readers and hold on to them until the very last page." (ReviewingtheEvidence.com )"It doesn't get much better than this--so sprint to your nearest bookstore and pick up a copy." (nightsandweekends.com )"Patterson and Paetro deliver an engaging, accessible, fast-moving read, with several intriguing plot threads and regular surprises up to the very last page. I always enjoy spending time with the Women's Murder Club and look forward to the inevitable shockers ahead in their seventh outing together." (Bookloons.com )
Product Description
When a horrifying attack leaves one of the four members of the Women's Murder Club struggling for her life, the others fight to keep a madman behind bars before anyone else is hurt.

7. The 5th Horseman - James Patterson

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
It is a wild race against time as Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer and the newest member of the Women's Murder Club, attorney Yuki Castellano, lead an investigation into a string of mysterious patient deaths--and reveal a hospital administration determined to shield its reputation at all costs. And while the hospital wages an explosive court battle that grips the entire nation, the Women's Murder Club hunts for a merciless killer among its esteemed medical staff. The newest addition to the top selling new mystery series takes the Women's Murder Club to the most terrifying heights of suspense they have yet to encounter. THE 5TH HORSEMAN proves once again that James Patterson is "the page-turningest author in the game right now " (San Francisco Chronicle).

6. 4th of July The Womens Murder Club - James Patterson

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Mega-bestseller Patterson teams up with journalist/novelist Paetro for a rousing fourth installment of the Women's Murder Club series. This time, bright, tough SFPD Lt. Lindsay Boxer is battling police brutality charges while chasing down a clan of murderers. When a botched police arrest of two gun-toting minors expands from a shaky preliminary hearing to what promises to be a nerve-rattling jury trial of Lindsay, she flees the pre-trial media frenzy for the serene haven of sister Cat's house in Half Moon Bay. But instead of finding relaxation and romance with her Homeland Security beau, Lindsay becomes embroiled in the ruthless crimes of a troika of killers who've been slashing and flogging victims all over town. With surprisingly little aid from the Murder Club, Lindsay performs her detective handiwork (and steps on the toes of Half Moon's police chief). As more bodies surface, sketchy suspects like a smitten grease monkey and a slimy porn star emerge, then the murderous threesome set their sights on Lindsay. Back in San Francisco, Lindsay is acquitted; she then rushes back to Half Moon Bay to apprehend the elusive villains and put to rest her unresolved first homicide case as well. Heroic super-sleuthing, a steadily gripping plot line and 146 snappy chapters add up to suspense fiction euphoria for Patterson's legion of fans. (One-day laydown May 2) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

5. 3rd Degree - The Womens Murder Club - James Patterson

From Publishers Weekly

From the start, Patterson's Women's Murder Club series (1st to Die; Second Chance) has felt like high-concept TV with a smart edge, featuring an appealing and reliable cast of four female crime busters (a cop, a prosecutor, a medical examiner, a reporter) who race along byzantine plot lines humming with blood and sex, romance and heartbreak. But Patterson is an author who will detonate readers' presumptions for the sake of story, and in the series' third installment, the prolific author, working with frequent collaborator Gross (The Jester, etc.), defies expectations in a shocking way. Readers will love him for it. San Francisco Homicide lieutenant Lindsay Boxer, who narrates most of the action, is jogging with assistant DA Jill Barnhardt when Lindsay notices two things: first, bruises on Jill's shoulder; then the explosion of a nearby townhouse, into which Lindsay rushes to save a child. With the juxtaposition of these two plotlines, Patterson jumpstarts this enjoyably convoluted tale. The townhouse, home to a greedy CEO and his family, was destroyed by members of a terrorist group calling itself "August Spies"; Lindsay's chase after the group, which commits further killings, brings her into close proximity to what promises to be a new series regular, Joe Molinari, deputy director of the Office of Homeland Security. Love blooms for Lindsay but, meanwhile, love has curdled at Jill's house, where Jill's husband is abusing her. Then comes the big surprise, and the story's remainder plays out at high emotion and warp speed. There's a calculated feel to all that happens, but clever manipulation of an audience serves Patterson as well as it served Hitchcock: his fans will only clamor for more.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

4. 2nd Chance - James Patterson

Didnt love it as much as the first. I think Im still pretty peeved that they offed Chris :(

Amazon.com Review
2nd Chance reconvenes the Women's Murder Club, four friends (a detective, a reporter, an assistant district attorney, and a medical examiner) who used their networking skills, feminine intuition, and professional wiles to solve a baffling series of murders in 1st to Die. This time, the murders of two African Americans, a little girl and an old woman, bear all the signs of a serial killer for Lindsay Boxer, newly promoted to lieutenant of San Francisco's homicide squad. But there's an odd detail she finds even more disturbing: both victims were related to city cops. A symbol glimpsed at both murder scenes leads to a racist hate group, but the taunting killer strikes again and again, leaving deliberate clues and eluding the police ever more cleverly. In the meantime, each of the women has a personal stake at risk--and the killer knows who they are.
2nd Chance speeds along at a Formula One pace through many tight curves, but unlike recent entries in the Alex Cross series, it doesn't sacrifice good characters to a twisted plot. Lindsay's the star, but there's a fine esprit de corps among the four women, who are even better developed here than in the first book. What makes them both convincing and interesting as a criminal-justice juggernaut is their willingness to stick their necks out, even if they suffer for it. If you haven't picked up a James Patterson novel in a while, this is a great time to start anew. --Barrie Trinkle --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

3. 1st To Die - James Patterson

The first book of the Womens Murder Club. The book read very quickly. My only complaint is the way they ended the love interest for Lindsay Boxer. I think this is going to be a series I really enjoy!

The Women's Murder Club pits four San Francisco women professionals against a serial killer who's stalking and murdering newlyweds in bestselling author James Patterson's newest thriller. Lindsay Boxer is a homicide inspector who's just gotten some very bad news. She deals with it by immersing herself in her newest case and soliciting the personal as well as professional support of her closest friend, who happens to be the city's medical examiner. The two women, along with an ambitious and sympathetic reporter and an assistant DA, form an unlikely alliance, pooling their information and bypassing the chain of command in an engaging, suspenseful story whose gruesome setup is vintage Patterson. "What is the worst thing anyone has ever done?" the killer muses to himself early in the narrative. "Am I capable of doing it? Do I have what it takes?" Answering his own question, he embarks on a murderous spree that takes him from the bridal suite in a Nob Hill hotel to a honeymoon destination in the Napa Valley and thence to a wedding reception at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. Dispatching his victims on the happiest day of their lives, he purposefully leaves enough clues for his distaff trackers to discover his identity and put him behind bars. But just when the women think they've got the case all wrapped up, the killer turns the tables on them in a bloody denouement that even the most discerning reader won't see coming. Patterson, author of the popular Alex Cross mysteries, promises future adventures for the Women's Murder Club, which may give him an opportunity to develop his heroines' characters more completely and win new fans among those who prefer their detectives in high heels and lipstick. --Jane Adams --This text refers to the Hardcover edition

2. Breaking Dawn - Stephanie Meyer

The final book of the twilight saga! To start - this book was my favorite but by the end I felt like Stephanie Meyer just wanted to stop writing the series so she just ended it as quickly as possible. I was let down at the end because it was like okay they all lived happily ever after. I hope the open ended-ness is leaving her free to write more installments or creating a new spin off. I just wish she would have kept the ending going with the same type of momentum the first books had. I am looking forward to this of all the movies to be made!


Amazon.com Review
Great love stories thrive on sacrifice. Throughout The Twilight Saga (Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse), Stephenie Meyer has emulated great love stories--Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights--with the fated, yet perpetually doomed love of Bella (the human girl) and Edward (the vampire who feeds on animals instead of humans). In Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final installment in the series, Bella’s story plays out in some unexpected ways. The ongoing conflicts that made this series so compelling--a human girl in love with a vampire, a werewolf in love with a human girl, the generations-long feud between werewolves and vampires--resolve pretty quickly, apparently so that Meyer could focus on Bella’s latest opportunity for self-sacrifice: giving her life for someone she loves even more than Edward. How close she comes to actually making that sacrifice is questionable, which is a big shift from the earlier books. Even though you knew Bella would make it through somehow, the threats to her life, and to her relationship with Edward, had previously always felt real. It’s as if Meyer was afraid of hurting her characters too much, which is unfortunate, because the pain Bella suffered at losing Edward in New Moon, and the pain Jacob suffered at losing Bella again and again, are the fire and the heart that drive the whole series. Diehard fans will stick with Bella, Edward, and Jacob for as many twists and turns as possible, but after most of the characters get what they want with little sacrifice, some readers may have a harder time caring what happens next. (Ages 12 and up) --Heidi Broadhead

Eclipse - Stephanie Meyer

My first book of the new year! I started the year entrenched with the Twilight Saga. I never thought it would be a series I would get into - but Stephanie Meyer's writing is so captivating I just couldnt tear myself away. It was not even about the "vampire story" which is something I have no interest in - every word on the page sucks you in!

from amazon.com

From Publishers Weekly
The legions of readers who are hooked on the romantic struggles of Bella and the vampire Edward will ecstatically devour this third installment of the story begun in Twilight, but it's unlikely to win over any newcomers. Jake, the werewolf met in New Moon, pursues Bella with renewed vigilance. However, when repercussions from an episode in Twilight place Bella in the mortal danger that series fans have come to expect, Jake and Edward forge an uneasy alliance. The plot patterns have begun to show here, but Meyer's other strengths remain intact. The supernatural elements accentuate the ordinary human dramas of growing up. Jake and Edward's competition for Bella feels particularly authentic, especially in their apparent desire to best each other as much as to win Bella. Once again the author presents teenage love as an almost inhuman force: "[He] would have been my soul mate still," says Bella, "if his claim had not been overshadowed by something stronger, something so strong that it could not exist in a rational world." According to Meyer, the fourth book should tie up at least the Edward story, if not the whole shebang. Ages 12-up. (Aug.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Happy 2010!!!

I failed miserably at my goal last year of 100. I only reached 61. This year instead of lowering the goal - I am keeping it the same! 100 books it will be.

I am starting the year finishing the Twilight Saga, and then moving on to two James Patterson series, The Alex Cross series and the Womens Murder Club. In addition to that, I will be running a book club so that will help to boost my numbers.

Happy reading 2010!