Here are the books I read in October. (You’ll have to forgive the short descriptions because, well, we’re moving TOMORROW.):

1. Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult (405 p.) An Amish girl murders her newb0rn baby … or does she?

2. An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan (218 p.)
3. Duty and Desire by Pamela Aidan (238 p.)
4. These Three Remain by Pamela Aidan (335 p.)– Pride & Prejudice told from Mr. Darcy’s point of view.

5. Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath (252 p.) Why do some ideas or marketing ploys stick, and some don’t? Fascinating look at why.

6. Fledgling by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (375 p.) A couple years ago, the authors wrote this book live, without a net, publishing one chapter a week of the draft on the internet

7. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (324 p.) What if you needed a boy to fight a war to save the world? You turn it into a game, of course!

8. Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card (469 p.)– The Ender’s Game told from Bean’s point of view

9. Gateway by Sharon Shinn (280 p.) New YA book from one of my favorite authors. Except … I think this is the first book of hers I didn’t love. It wasn’t dreadful, but I thought it was predictable.

10. Knitter’s Book of Wool by Clara Parkes (207 p.) Clara’s excellent new book about wool, wool, wool. Review here at Knitting Scholar.

11. How I Learned to Cook edited by Kimberly Witherspoon and Peter Mehan (306 p.) It took me a while to get around to reading this, but it was fun–first-person accounts by a whole slew of professional chefs about how they got into the cooking business.

12. Joust by Mercedes Lackey (442 p.)
13. Alta by Mercedes Lackey
14. Sanctuary by Mercedes Lackey
15. Aerie by Mercedes Lackey–a series of fantasy books in an Egypt-like world with dragons, this tells Kiron’s story, from becoming a “dragon boy” to when he escapes serfdom back to his own country. The first one is my favorite, the next two are good and round out the story nicely. The fourth? Kind of a waste of time.

16. Skies of Pern by Anne McCaffrey (468 p.) Naturally, Anne McCaffrey’s dragon-rider stories are my favorites, this is the last of the “real” ones, written mostly by her, with her familiar characters. Even if it’s not the best, it’s good to see Lessa, F’lar, Jaxom, F’lessan and the rest again.

17. Jovah’s Angel by Sharon Shinn (389 p.) The second of the “core” Samaria trilogy, telling Alleluia’s story, when suddenly, Jovah no longer hears the angels and calamitous weather threatens everyone.

18. Swing, Swagger & Drape by Jane Slicer-Smith. Review here at Knitting Scholar.

19. Getting Things Done by David Allen (259 p.) Well! I wish I’d found this one about three months ago. (Or six … or even a couple years ago.) What a great system for organizing your time … it’s just … right now, with the current house-moving chaos, it’s impossible to put any of this into effect! It’s great though–definitely recommended.

• Tags: Monthly Reading List, Reading • Permalink:Books Read in October 2009 // 2 Comments »