2Q 2009 - Summary

Here's a quick roundup of the books that I read during the second quarter of 2009—April, May, and June.

April was a very average month in that I completed 9 books containings 2627 pages. Of these, there were two trilogies. Nora Robert's Sign of Seven trilogy: Blood Brothers, The Hollow, and The Pagan Stone. Jacqueline Lichtenburg's Dushau trilogy: Dushau, Farfetch, and Outreach.

Every book read in April was mass-market paperback, every one registered with BookCrossing, and every one sent to a member of BookObsessed. The Nora Roberts trilogy went to BooksnBeer, promised to her since the December 2008 YBS swap, while the Lichtenburg trilogy went to KathyB who won them in April's Series Swap. Two of Vicki Lewis Thompson's “Nerd” books were mailed to Jordanne who won them in February's YBS swap.

In May, I took a long combined business and personal trip which gave me plenty of time to read: 13 books, 4474 pages, and only one was a conventional paper book. I did “read” one book via unabridged audio CD, and the rest were electronic books loaded onto either my Kindle or Sony reader.

By June, I knew I had to buckle down and apply myself to the large stack of books which I had offered in swaps and VBBs at BookObsessed. I only completed eight books in June, with a total of 2407 pages. Half of those went to reading pals at BookObsessed, one was an unabridged audio book, and the other three were electronic books.

Breakdown by genre: 9 mysteries, 8 fantasies, 5 science-fiction, 3 PUF (paranormal & urban fiction), 2 romance/chick-lit, 1 historical fiction, 1 non-fiction, and one book that defies definition so I called it “mainstream”.

• April
1. Nerds Like It Hot by Vicki Lewis Thompson
2. Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts
3. The Hollow by Nora Roberts
4. Dushau by Jacqueline Lichtenburg
5. Farfetch by Jacqueline Lichtenburg
6. Outreach by Jacqueline Lichtenburg
7. Death of an Obnoxious Tourist by Maria Hudgins
8. My Nerdy Valentine by Vicki Lewis Thompson
9. The Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts
• May
1. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
2. The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday by Alexander McCall Smith
3. Winter Study by Nevada Barr
4. In Twilight's Shadow by Patti O'Shea
5. Pendragon: The Merchant of Death by D J MacHale
6. Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas
7. The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
8. Dragon Blood by Patricia Briggs
9. Ashes to Ashes by Lillian Stewart Carl
10. Hal Spacejock by Simon Haynes
11. Swapping Lives by Jane Green
12. Nessie and the Living Stone by Lois Wickstrom and Jean Lorrah
13. Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Jennifer Rardin
• June
1. The Price of Silence by Kate Wilhelm
2. HeartSick by Chelsea Cain
3. The Art Thief by Noah Charney
4. The Ghost and Mrs. McClure by Alice Kimberly
5. Milford Spitz and the Very Fast Machine by James S Hoch
6. A Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham
7. The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks
8. Nessie and the Viking Gold by Lois Wickstrom & Jean Lorrah