TBR Challenge 2011!

Another year has gone by, and it's time to post my list of books to read for the TBR Challenge 2011! I selected 12 books plus 12 alternates/extra credits.




Here they are (in no particular order):

• John Sandford. Chosen Prey -- finished 1/30/2011
• Douglas Clegg. Dark of the Eye -- finished 3/2/2011
• James Lowder. Knight of the Black Rose -- finished 3/6/2011
• Robert Goldsborough. Murder in E Minor [substitute for Icon] -- finished 3/6/2011
• Michael Koepf. The Fisherman's Son [substitute for Native Tongue] -- finished 3/17/2011
• Robert Tine. Desperate Measures -- finished 3/18/2011
• Hugh B. Cave. The Restless Dead - finished 3/26/2011
•  Michael Reaves. The Shattered World -- finished 3/29/2011
• Ruth Rendall. End in Tears -- finished 5/28/2011
• Michael Bishop. Unicorn Mountain -- finished 7/12/2011
• Stan Pottinger. The Final Procedure [substitute for Upside Down] -- finished 7/15/2011
• Iain Banks. The Wasp Factory [substitute for The Gilded Chain] -- finished 7/22/2011

Alternates / Extra Credit:

• Michael Crichton. Sphere
• Angela Knight. Master of Wolves
• C.J. Cherryh. The Pride of Chanur
• Robert C. Fleet. Last Mountain
• Dave Duncan. The Gilded Chain
• John Ramsey Miller. Upside Down
  
• Vernor Vinge. A Fire Upon the Deep
• Patricia Wallace. Lullabye
• Robert Heinlein. The Green Hills of Earth
• Greg Iles. The Footprints of God

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

First sentence:

I had been making the rounds of the Sacrifice Poles the day we heard my brother had escaped.

Description:

Meet Frank Cauldhame. Just sixteen, and unconventional to say the least:

Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different and more fundamental reasons than I'd disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmerelda, more or less on a whim.

That's my score to date. Three. I haven't killed anybody for years, and don't intend to ever again.

It was just a stage I was going through.

My thoughts:

This was an interesting book about discovery, treasure and manipulation.

Date read: 7/22/2011
Book #: 20
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2011
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0684853159
ISBN-13: 9780684853154
Publisher: Simon and Shuster
Year: 1984
# of pages: 184
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Final Procedure by Stan Pottinger

First sentence:

"He heard a soft voice, a little girl's voice, singing quietly in the operating room."

Description:

"HE'S TRAINED IN THE SCIENCE OF EVIL...

Christmas Eve in Auschwitz, 1944. Hitler's Angel of Death, Dr. Joseph Mengele, and his brilliant young protégé, Adalwolf, are on the verge of a nightmarish medical discovery when the war brings it all to an end. But Mengele's insane visions for the Third Reich live on.

SHE'S SKILLED IN THE ART OF THE HUNT...

More than half a century later, FBI agent Melissa Gale's mission is to bring Adalwolf to justice before it's too late. He's emerged from the shadows of history to resurrect a biological terror and unleash it on the world. But tracking him is easier than Melissa imagined. Because for years, Adalwolf has been tracking her.

BUT WHICH ONE IS THE PREY?

Melissa and her unborn child have something Adalwolf needs--a genetic history that holds the key to his success. As a dance of death is engaged between hunter and hunted, Melissa realizes how far the last Nazi will go to fulfill his dark dreams for his Ultimate Solution--and just how far she is prepared to go to stop him..." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I liked this thriller about the past coming back to life. I especially liked Melissa gradually learning who Adalwolf is and how strong she could be.

Date read: 7/15/2011
Book #: 19
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2011
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Thriller

ISBN-10: 0312997256
ISBN-13: 9780312997250
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Year: 2003
# of pages: 342
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Unicorn Mountain by Michael Bishop

First sentence:

"Libby Quarrels was standing at the produce bin in the gigantic Safeway grocery store in Huerfano, Colorado, scrutinizing the bell peppers and hefting bag after cellophane bag of brown-edged celery stalks and runty carrots."

Description:

"KAR'TAJAN

Unicorn Mountain is the story of four people whose lives are transformed by a herd of unicorns. Libby is divorced, just getting by and unsure about how to react to the fact that she sometimes sees unicorns. Bo is dying and has no one to turn to until Libby takes him in. Sam is estranged from his wife and child and feels he probably deserved supernatural punishment. Paisley, Sam's daughter, is haunted by a recent personal tragedy.

Into their lives come the unicorns. Sam and Libby have seen them but are unsure of their reality. Then Bo begins to receive television transmission from another dimension that reveal that the unicorns are dying from an equine disease. Someone has to do something here, in this world, to save them...

Written with realism and compassion, Unicorn Mountain is a beautiful novel in which the magic works to make everything better. It is a deeply affecting story about salvation that will lift your spirits - and make you think again." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a very moving book about unicorns, AIDS, and learning new things about oneself and others. I liked how Libby, Bo and Sam gradually got to know each other better over time.

Date read: 7/12/2011
Book #: 18
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2011
Rating: 3*5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0586206175
ISBN-13: 978058206171
Publisher: Grafton Books
Year: 1988
# of pages: 495
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page