Book Challenge 2008

Last year I challenged myself to read at least 12 books. One per month, and I think I did quite good most of the year but then as the year started to come to a close things looked a little dreary. Especially since the last time I mentioned the book challenge on here was on August 1st when I mentioned a book called Brothers Bishop by Bart Yates.

Looking at the year that came and went quite quickly I managed to read 13 books. Impressive considering how few I'd read had I not challenged myself. You can read my posts on the first 11 books here if you like. I never finished the list though because one thing or the other came in the way. Just like with TFGES (hush you in the back, yes you!)

The final two books of the year were the following

First was Blind Fall by Christopher Rice, ne of my favorite writers, the son of vampire writer Anne Rice. His books have nothing to do with vampires or the ghoulish things. He started out being the token 'gay author' (there are elements of the gay community in all his books and they do deal somewhat with this) branded by his first book A Density of Souls which happens to be one of my favorite books of all time. Granted I haven't read a lot but I know what I like.

Back to his book Blind Fall though, you'd better read what it says on the link up there. The link takes you to the UK Amazon shop where you can read a lot more about it and find his other books. The book did disappoint though, like the previous book of his, Light Before Day. They just don't measure up to his first two. Still Blind Fall is a good read and I found myself not wanting to put it down.

I bought this book Leave Myself Behind by Bart Yates because I'd already read his book The Brothers Bishop which I loved. This book Leave Myself Behind was his first book and I thought I should read it because I'd enjoyed the other one so much. Now it's been quite a while since I read it so I don't remember what it was about, but it was a good book. Although the story was a little convoluted. At least part of it. It was a good read though - so much so, that I haven't given up on the writer and purchased his 3rd book for the 2009 book challenge.

The ones mentioned so far were all winners, but they weren't all. I managed to give up on 3 books.


Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose didn't stand much of a chance as I was too impatient and the style simply wasn't something I'd want to put up with for 512 pages. I may have made it 20 pages in before putting it down.
The second and third book I didn't finish were actually linked as they were both by the same author.


I started reading Rupert Everett - Red Carpets & Other Banana Skins not once, but twice. Because I like him, his writing is not bad, and his life isn't at all boring. Yet something just didn't click with me and so I've finally resigned and know I won't ever finish it.

The other book Rupert Everett - Hello Darling, Are You Working? is also a more or less fictional version of his autobiography just the names were changed and bits left out. At least as far as I made it. It's also not a bad book, but it just didn't capture me. Have I learned my lesson about buying books written by celebrities yet? No, because I quite like the Geri Halliwell autobiographies, enjoy Joan and Jackie Collins, adore Kylie Minogues books and yes I didn't hate Naomi Campbells book Swan.

Well, that concludes the 2008 book challenge which was an overall success. Let's see what happens here in 2009!