Thursday, September 20, 2007
TBR Challenge for August
Yes, this is how far behind I am.
First, a little explanation of the TBR Challenge. I have a huge TBR pile--about 400 books, more or less--and obviously, I wanted to read all those books when I bought them. But I noticed that when I just reach for a book to read, I tend to stick to the same kind of books, and overlooking some books so often that I don't even see them anymore.
Then somebody told me about the TBR Challenge concept, which sounded like a great way to get those overlooked books out of the pile, so I surfed around for a while looking for ideas. The problem was that all the ones I found were something like "read a romantic suspense," or "read a cozy mystery." Not very helpful. I already alternated genres, and I knew I'd just keep looking at the same romantic suspense books I looked at every time I browsed the TBR pile. I wanted something more random.
So with the help of the wonderful people of McNab, I came up with a monthly TBR Challenge that's fun and random. And that's where it really belongs, and why I took it off my sidebar--the sidebar was getting too long, and only people on the list really play anyway. (although it might go back on, now that Julia's put it on her sidebar) You're still welcome to play, if you like--you can find the various challenges by clicking TBR Challenge under Categories.
August's challenge was to read a book containing your name or the name of a friend or family member. My name isn't all that easy to find in books, so I took the second option and chose...
**** The Simple Truth by David Baldacci. Mystery.
...because the name of the first victim is Michael, which is the name of my brother-in-law.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Rufus Harms has been in a military prison for 25 years of a life sentence for killing a young girl. But he's been having flashbacks, and remembers now what really happened. So he sends an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Michael Fiske, a Supreme Court clerk, finds the appeal, which doesn't follow the proper procedures and should be turned down, but something about it interests him, so he takes it with him to check it out. One of the calls he makes is to his semi-estranged brother John, who's an ex-cop turned defense lawyer.
Before John returns the call, though, Michael is killed, and Sarah Evans, the Supreme Court clerk Michael had proposed to shortly before his death, contacts him, and they begin an investigation that brings them closer together and deeper in danger.
I really enjoyed the conspiracy plot, but the backstory and the Supreme Court tutorial went on too long and interrupted the story too much. It was interesting, but it really wasn't part of the story.
The romance plot, too, bugged me in spots. I had a very hard time understanding why Michael would propose to Sarah, when they'd only dated casually and hadn't even slept together. I also had trouble believing that Sarah fell in love with John at first glance.
But overall, the complex conspiracy and John's complex character saved the story for me.
...more
Categories: Books, 4stars, Mystery, TBRChallenge
First, a little explanation of the TBR Challenge. I have a huge TBR pile--about 400 books, more or less--and obviously, I wanted to read all those books when I bought them. But I noticed that when I just reach for a book to read, I tend to stick to the same kind of books, and overlooking some books so often that I don't even see them anymore.
Then somebody told me about the TBR Challenge concept, which sounded like a great way to get those overlooked books out of the pile, so I surfed around for a while looking for ideas. The problem was that all the ones I found were something like "read a romantic suspense," or "read a cozy mystery." Not very helpful. I already alternated genres, and I knew I'd just keep looking at the same romantic suspense books I looked at every time I browsed the TBR pile. I wanted something more random.
So with the help of the wonderful people of McNab, I came up with a monthly TBR Challenge that's fun and random. And that's where it really belongs, and why I took it off my sidebar--the sidebar was getting too long, and only people on the list really play anyway. (although it might go back on, now that Julia's put it on her sidebar) You're still welcome to play, if you like--you can find the various challenges by clicking TBR Challenge under Categories.
August's challenge was to read a book containing your name or the name of a friend or family member. My name isn't all that easy to find in books, so I took the second option and chose...
**** The Simple Truth by David Baldacci. Mystery.
...because the name of the first victim is Michael, which is the name of my brother-in-law.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Rufus Harms has been in a military prison for 25 years of a life sentence for killing a young girl. But he's been having flashbacks, and remembers now what really happened. So he sends an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Michael Fiske, a Supreme Court clerk, finds the appeal, which doesn't follow the proper procedures and should be turned down, but something about it interests him, so he takes it with him to check it out. One of the calls he makes is to his semi-estranged brother John, who's an ex-cop turned defense lawyer.
Before John returns the call, though, Michael is killed, and Sarah Evans, the Supreme Court clerk Michael had proposed to shortly before his death, contacts him, and they begin an investigation that brings them closer together and deeper in danger.
I really enjoyed the conspiracy plot, but the backstory and the Supreme Court tutorial went on too long and interrupted the story too much. It was interesting, but it really wasn't part of the story.
The romance plot, too, bugged me in spots. I had a very hard time understanding why Michael would propose to Sarah, when they'd only dated casually and hadn't even slept together. I also had trouble believing that Sarah fell in love with John at first glance.
But overall, the complex conspiracy and John's complex character saved the story for me.
...more
Categories: Books, 4stars, Mystery, TBRChallenge
Labels: 4 stars, books, mystery, tbr challenge
Comments:
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never read book by David Baldacci before, but it sound like you enjoyed the book for just that one day thing ;)
As for TBR Challenge, I was wondering why you took it off your sidebar ;) I may even quit doing this too, since as you said "it really belong to the McNab". I don't want to be doing this on my own LOL. But I will start doing it at the McNab group :)
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As for TBR Challenge, I was wondering why you took it off your sidebar ;) I may even quit doing this too, since as you said "it really belong to the McNab". I don't want to be doing this on my own LOL. But I will start doing it at the McNab group :)
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