Megan Coughlin's Books Read in 2004

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Title

Author

Comment

1

The World According to Garp

John Irving

How in the world did they make this a movie?

2

Stone Cold

Robert B. Parker

His books always go too quickly.

3

The Conspiracy Club

Jonathan Kellerman

Different protagonist than his usual.

4

Dead North

Sue Henry

Pretty good entry in this Alaskan series.

5

A Deceptive Clarity

Aaron Elkins

  

6

Mallory’s Oracle

Carol O’Connell

Interesting series (so far)

7

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: a Fair and Balanced Look at the Right

Al Franken

Thoroughly researched, occasionally infuriating, generally enjoyable.

8

Shadows on the Koyukuk

Sidney Huntington (as told to Jim Reardon)

 A memoir from a true Alaskan pioneer and frontiersman. He ran trap lines from the time he was a baby, and when he was 6 or so, he and his siblings survived alone for a month when his mother died (dad was on a hunting/trapping trip, I think).

9

Murder on the Yukon Quest

Sue Henry

 This entry in the series takes place during a major dogsled race, which is kind of neat.

10

The Man Who Cast Two Shadows

Carol O'Connell

Good series.

11 The Monk Who Vanished Peter Tremayne These are good Celtic books.
12 Lost Light Michael Connelly   
13 The Nun's Tale Candace Robb   
14 Oh, the Things I Know! Al Franken Meh.
15 Jeeves in the Morning P.G. Wodehouse   
16 Life with Jeeves P.G. Wodehouse Three books I'd read previously.
17 The Hyde Park Murder Elliott Roosevelt   
18 Cardington Crescent Anne Perry Unsatisfying ending.
19 Me Talk Pretty One Day David Sedaris Re-read in Mexico.
20 Skinwalkers Tony Hillerman Re-read in Mexico.
21 A Thief of Time Tony Hillerman Re-read in Mexico.
22 Murder Must Advertise Dorothy L. Sayers Re-read in Mexico.
22 1/2 Dog is My Co-Pilot Editors of "Bark" Magazine Skimmed them both in Mexico.
23 Salon.com's Wanderlust Don George (editor)
24 Killing Orders Sara Paretsky   
25 Why Not Me? The Inside Story of the Making and Unmaking of the Franken Presidency Al Franken Okay, but nothing is quite as good as Lies & the Lying Liars.
26 The Cheshire Cat's Eye Marcia Muller   
27 Weighed in the Balance Anne Perry   
28 Blood Shots Sara Paretsky   
29 Trophies and Dead Things Marcia Muller Lots of nice brain candy in a row.
30 Who in Hell is Wanda Fuca G.M. Ford Re-read.
31 Grave Consequences Dana Cameron   
32 Paris to the Moon Adam Gopnik I enjoy his stuff in the New Yorker, of which this is an expansion, or collection, I'm not sure.
33 Help Wanted: Orphans Preferred Earl Emerson Re-read.
34 Stone Angel Carol O'Connell The protagonist really is a sociopath, but she's not so malign.
35 The Twisted Root Anne Perry   
36 Judas Child Carol O'Connell   
37 A Christmas Journey Anne Perry Not much larger than a novella featuring one of the most likable characters in one of her series, as a young woman.
38 Blood Shots Sara Paretsky   
39 Sudden Mischief Robert B. Parker

Re-read.
40 Death of a Stranger Anne Perry   
41 Martin Chuzzlewit Charles Dickens

Decided to read it because I became fascinated by the title when I read it in "The Eyre Affair." I didn't think there actually was a Dickens novel of this title.
42 Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter Galadriel Waters Fun to skim. It was published before Book 5 came out, and they made some good guesses.
43 Indemnity Only Sara Paretsky The first VI Warshawski novel
44 Paragon Walk Anne Perry   
45 The Hunter's Tale Margaret Frazer   
46 Guardian of the Horizon Elizabeth Peters From the "lost journals" of Amelia Peabody, which is good, since now that Rameses and Nefret are grown and have kids, it's good to go back to the earlier years.
47 Blacklist Sara Paretsky A post-9/11 Warshawski novel.
48 The Anodyne Necklace Martha Grimes Library booksale purchases that turned out to be re-reads, but I'm okay with that.
49 Murder in the Hearse Degree Tim Cockey
50 Murder on the Iditarod Trail Sue Henry   
51 High Country Nevada Barr   
52 Widow's Walk Robert B. Parker Re-read.
53 The Labors of Hercules Agatha Christie Re-read
54 The Woman Who Married a Bear John Straley

Re-read
55 The Curious Eat Themselves John Straley Re-read
I think I've been failing to keep track.
56 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J.K. Rowling   
57 Washington Schlepped Here Christopher Buckley Another in the series of books based on the premise of authors giving a "walking tour" of their hometowns.
58 The Bear Went Over the Mountain William Kotzwinkle The bear almost names himself "Half," but thinks it sounds too Scandinavian, so he goes with Hal Jam.
59 The Queen and I Sue Townsend A reformist Prime Minister is elected, and the Royal Family must go on the dole.
60 Longitudes and Attitudes Thomas L. Friedman Collection of his columns after 9/11. Excellent, but depressing to read in real-time how quickly we lost the good will of the world.
61 Genome Matt Ridley A book in 23 chapters (one per chromosome).
62 Whisker of Evil Rita Mae Brown Always fun; first book read on my roadtrip.
63 Lost in My Own Backyard Tim Cahill Another of the "Crown Journeys" walking books, this one about Yellowstone.
64 Bad Business Robert B. Parker   
65 The Amateur Marriage Anne Tyler   
66 A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson Took up most of my road trip reading time, but I thought it was great. There isn't much you haven't learned before, but I know I can always use a science refresher, and his focus on the people involved makes for an entertaining read.
67 The King's Bishop Candace Robb Owen Archer books from my b'day.
68 The Riddle of St. Leonard's
69 A Gift of Sanctuary
70 A Noble Radiance Donna Leon Good, Venice-based mysteries recommended by Nancy Pearl. (Another b'day present.)
71 Uniform Justice
72 Bad Land: An American Romance Jonathan Raban On the settling of Montana. I like Raban's stuff, but I'm not as enamored with it as a lot of folks around here seem to be.
73 The Living Annie Dillard I'm not sure I'm crazy about her as a novelist. The last book I read on my roadtrip (not too many!).
74 Foul Matter Martha Grimes Good departure from her series.
75 Backstabber Tim Cockey This is a fun series.
76 Loaded Dice James Swain Great series featuring an ex-cop who catches casino grifters.
77 Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned Kinky Friedman Only okay. Kinky is not the protagonist of this one.
78 Shell Game Carol O'Connell I really like this series.
79 The Prisoner of Vandam Street Kinky Friedman Another of his more introspective novels.
80 Dead Famous Carol O'Connell   
81 Every Secret Thing Laura Lippman   
82 The Well of Lost Plots Jasper Fforde These novels truly are unique. What creativity!
83 The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town Lillian Ross, ed. Some of the earlier "Talk" stories are especially interesting to read, featuring now-famous people at the beginnings of their careers.
84 Whispers of the Dead Peter Tremayne   
85 Red Tide G.M. Ford   
86 By a Spider's Thread Laura Lippman   
87 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John Le Carre I know it's a bit late for me to start reading cold war novels, but Nancy Pearl keeps mentioning this as a classic, and I thought I should see what the fuss was about. It's good, but I don't really feel like I got to know George Smiley that well, nor any of the other characters. I kept feeling like I'd missed some backstory. Is there a previous book featuring Smiley?
88 The Dearly Departed Elinor LIpman   
89 Jane and Prudence Barbara Pym She's a great writer.
90 Excellent Women
91 An Unsuitable Attachment
92 Melancholy Baby Robert B. Parker Sunny Randall seems pretty much like Spenser in drag.
93 Mind of the Raven Bernd Heinrich Very interesting studies of ravens, primarily in Vermont and Maine.
94 The Winds of Change Martha Grimes Melrose Plant has to pretend to be an expert in turf and enameling (in the garden) this time.
95 Eats, Shoots and Leaves Lynne Truss   
96 High Country Fall Margaret Maron  
97 The Last Juror John Grisham Really? I read this? Oh yeah, I think I remember it. Actually, it was pretty good.
98 McNally's Bluff: an Archy McNally novel by Vincent Lardo Lawrence Sanders Citations on this series are getting odd. I think Archy is getting more supercillious in Lardo's hands.
99 A Taint in the Blood Dana Stabenow   
100 The Dangerous Hour Marcia Muller   
101 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon Wow. Excellent. I'd resisted it (primarily because of the eponymous dog's death), but it isn't particularly dark: just strange.
102 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers Finally read this, which has been sitting in my queue forever. Avoids being gloomy or maudlin.
103 Ten Big Ones Janet Evanovich These are definitely books to get from the library, not to buy, but they pass the time for a day.
104 Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Douglas Adams Re-read. So brilliant. Why did DNA have to leave us so soon?
105 Where the Heart Is Billie Letts I resisted it, because wasn't it made into a mediocre movie? But Nancy Pearl said it was good, and she was right.
106 Back Story Robert B. Parker Re-read.
107 Potshot
108 The Bum's Rush G.M. Ford Re-read.
109 Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal Eric Schlosser I sort of expected a screed (one to which I'd be sympathetic, but a screed nonetheless), but thought it was an interesting look at the men behind fast food restaurants and suppliers, and workers in restaurants and slaughterhouses. Glad I don't eat fast food, though.
110 Monday Mourning Kathy Reichs Enjoyable series, if nothing earth-shattering.
111 Double Homicide Faye and Jonathan Kellerman Really 2 unrelated novellas (not the hoped-for interaction between Milo Sturgis, Alex Delaware, and Pete and Rina Decker). Neat binding, though (flip over to get the next book).
112 Slow Burn G.M. Ford Re-read.
113 Skinny Dip Carl Hiaasen Always good.
114 All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists Terry Gross Transcripts of some of her "Fresh Air" interviews. The interviews with George Clinton and Bootsy Collins are a hoot.
115 The Murder Room P.D. James Always good.
116 Jerusalem Inn Martha Grimes Re-read. Gosh, I enjoy her Jury/Plant series.
117 A Redbird Christmas Fannie Flagg A short, pleasing little book.
118 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen Re-read. And a great one to be reading whilst nursing my foot injury and wrapping up 2004.

Last updated: January 3, 2005
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