Sandi Shilhanek | 2008 Reading

As the year begins to wind down I thought it would be interesting to reflect back and share with one another how our reading year was. Let’s start with did you discover a new author this year? As I looked at my list I believe I read about two dozen new to me authors this year. I was pleasantly surprised with Shadow Of Turning by Valerie Hansen as it is a Love Inspired Suspense, and that’s not a line I normally read. I also was totally hooked on Running Scared by Cheryl Norman. Of course there were a couple of books in the new author tryouts that didn’t please me much, but I’ve decided to only focus on my favorites. What book do you think was the best one you read this year? Can you really limit yourself to only one? I of course cannot name just one. I loved everything I read by Susan Wiggs, and Robyn Carr. Both had books that had moments that made me cry. The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs was a discovery that I wish I had been warned about because it also had me crying. Can’t even think about closing out a favorites list without adding Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah.

Do you have a reading goal? Is it by books read or pages read? Is it to read so
many group reads or perhaps so many new authors? I always hope to read 100
books, and this year I didn’t make it. I do have the page count for each book
listed, but I haven’t mastered EXCEL enough to be able to figure out how to get
it to add that up for me!

What about audio books? Do you count those as part of your yearly total if you listen to them? Was there a favorite there? A new author? This year I discovered Mary Kay Andrews, and Harlan Coben in audio. I enjoyed Charley’s Web by Joy Fielding and can’t recommend it enough.

Next week we’ll discuss reading goals for 2009. Start thinking...

Sandi Shilhanek DFW Tea Readers
Readers 'n 'ritas Sandi's blog

Comments

11 comments posted.

Re: Sandi Shilhanek | 2008 Reading

Sandi, thanks for sharing your new & old faves! I'm going to look into some of these. I always enjoy reading your blog -- your friendly, at-ease tone makes me feel like I am sitting w/ you having a book chat. Happy 2009 to you!
(Pam Nolan 7:07am December 28, 2008)

Hey Sandi, how are you doing? This is a great blog topic. I discovered a couple of new authors this year. One of them being Karin Tabke. A friend of mine gave one of her books entitled, Have Yourself a Naughty Little Santa. It filled with hot sexual scenes, but the the plot was a wonderful one. The story was a great love story. It was very realistic.

I don't really have a reading goal, pages or number of books per year. I just love to read. It is very difficult to choose one book that was my favorite this year. I read too many great ones...you named two of my favs...Susan Wiggs and Robyn Carr. See you at the bar...

Peace and love,
Paula R.
(Paula Robinson 7:13am December 28, 2008)

I have one new author that really grabbed me this year. It's Silhouette Desire Author Emilie Rose and I'm managed to get copies of most of her back list and I'm gradually working my way through those books and so far absolutely no disappointments which solidifies her writing, imo.

Funny you should mention RUNNING SCARED by Cheryl Norman, its at the top of my pile for 2009 reading.

I'm ending the reading year the way I began it with rereads of books by my favorite author of all time, Betty Neels. But, I got lucky this time and picked up a reprint that was released last spring and I've never read it. Guess what else, the hero is not a doctor, the title is ALL ELSE CONFUSION.
(Livia Holton 8:45am December 28, 2008)

Pam, thank you for the ultimate
compliment! That was just too too
nice to say!

Paula, I just wishlisted that Tabke on a
trading site, and the next day it came
up for me. So now it's on the way.
She's in on of my yahoo groups, and
appears to be a nice person.

Livia, I hope you let me know what you
think of the Norman. I could hardly
put it down!

Hope everyone has a happy healthy
new year!
(Sandi Shilhanek 11:02am December 28, 2008)

Hi Sandi,
My favorite book this year was Suzanne Forster's THE PRIVATE CONCIERGE. THE ARRANGEMENT from 2007 by Suzanne was my favorite of 2007 and the best book in my opinion since her August 2005 THE LONELY GIRLS CLUB, which I consider the Gold Standard in Romantic Suspense.

I don't have any specific goals other than to read the books in my collection that remain unread.

Ray

Ray
(Ray Getzinger 5:13pm December 28, 2008)

Shhh...don't tell anyone but I haven't read The Private Concierge yet! I have however read the other two you
listed and enjoyed both!

Good luck in getting through your unread TBR!
(Sandi Shilhanek 5:27pm December 28, 2008)

Hi Sandi,
I did not reach my goal this year! I just wanted to increase the amount of books I read from last year. It won't happen! My most recent read was just posted on "the challenge"! At the moment my total is 148, hopefully I can add at couple more before the end of the year.
Great subject for the last "blog" of the year.
Happy New Year to all that stop here...
(Donna McClure 8:51pm December 28, 2008)

Thank you for sharing your post I did discover two new authors this year(Joanne Fluke and Leslie Meier) Otherwise that's all I can think of right now. Great subject too. I also enjoy reading your blogs.
(Maggie Roso 9:50pm December 28, 2008)

Hi Sandi--I don't set a goal for my reading--it's just something I do whenever I have a free minute, which doesn't happen often enough. I discovered a number of new authors this year, among them JR Ward (I know, I'm late to the game on that one!) and Stephanie Meyer, though I've only had time to read one of Meyer's. There are so many wonderful books out there, and I find that my TBR pile is already filled with my favorite authors--the auto-buys keep me really busy. Robyn Carr, Jayne Ann Krentz, Angela Knight, Christine Feehan...and the list goes on. I want to wish everyone a wonderful New Year, and lots of time to read in 2009!
(Kate Douglas 12:01pm December 29, 2008)

Hi Sandi,

Well, lets start with the easy stuff. If I finish the book I'm reading, I'll have surpassed last years' total by 5. And yes, I include the audios I listen to. Of course, they made us stop listening to them at work again, so my total count will probably go down next year.

I think I only read two new authors (to me) this year - Sandra Hill and Trish Wylie. Loved both. SH has this Cajun series and I love her Tante Lulu. Too darn funny. I definitely have to finish what she has out.

I did go back to reading SRS's this year. I use to years ago and got out of it (even though I have a nice collection to choose from). Starting back up in them made me remember what I loved about them to begin with.

Fav book of the year? Now that's hard - I like to many. It would probably be easier to mention the books that were just ok for me. I didn't read any I disliked, so that's cool! If I have to name a few, the SH series I mentioned above, The Alibi Man by Tami Hoag, SRS's Seduction Summer trilogy and Eternally by Maureen Child.

Wishing you and the boys (I include dh in "the boys") a very happy and healthy New Year!
(Amanda Reeder-erdly 10:36pm December 29, 2008)

I discovered HarperTeen.com
that offers some of their
books free and many the first
few chapters. Michael
Grant,Melissa Marr, & PC Cast
were just a few of the
wonderful YA authors that I
discovered this year.
(Lisa Richards 11:48am November 2, 2009)

Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!