Inspired to Write Again!

I decided to start a new blog in response to my good friend Jaime's interesting and thought-provoking blog. I feel that writing the blog will allow me to write more substantial posts, instead of just responses to comments. And, I will hopefully garner some useful comments in the process.

So, inspired by a post on favorite books, I will now create a list of my own. However, my list is not a typical favorites list, because I have too many favorites. Instead, I will call this list "Books that stuck with me", meaning books that I read, and then thought about for a long time afterwards. These are the books that made me want to find out if the author has written others like it. Most of these books are ones that I have read in the past year.

Books that Stuck With Me
1. As Simple as Snow by Gregorgy Galloway-I spent nearly a week after reading this book researching some of the ideas in it. An engaging, compelling mystery that leaves you wondering at the end. One of the best books I've read in a long time. It made me want to buy a shortwave radio.
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-the last HP book. Loved it. I thought it tied everything neatly together. I love how the characters mature throughout the series, and I think the writing has improved as well. I can't wait for the rest of the movies to come out! And, I still hope that Rowling might want to write one more...although I would be interested in seeing what else she can come up with.
3. Twilight/New Moon/Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer-I liked Twilight a lot. By Eclipse, I was a little tired of the series. I think that the quality has declined, and I think that the books are a little too long. However, I could not put any of these books down. I wanted to know what happened, despite my frustration with the characters of Bella, Edward, and Jacob. They felt very real to me. I am eagerly looking forward to the fourth book in this series, Breaking Dawn, which is due out in August. I think part of my annoyance with this series is the fact that it is soooo teen angsty, and I don't identify with that anymore. The phenomenon associated with these books is fantastic though, and they are probably some of the most popular books in our library. Did I mention that it's a vampire romance? Yeah...
4. Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz-Another vampire book. This time it's like a combo of Gossip Girl and...some vampire story. The first book was really good. I like the vampire lore that de la Cruz has created, and it's different from Meyer's version. However, the second book, Masquerade, was not nearly as exciting. I'm not sure how long this series can go, but I suppose I'll read the next few books, if and when they come out.
5. Unfinished Portrait by Mary Wesmacott-I've read this book probably 20 times. I still never get tired of it. And yes, I did re-read it this year. One of my favorite books ever. It was written by Agatha Christie under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. It fulfills my love of Victorian novels. A semi-romance, semi biography. Old fashioned and fantastic! (also very hard to find in print!)
6. A Great and Terrible Beauty/The Rebel Angels/The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray-The first book was excellent. The second was ok. The third was over 800 pages too long and quite tedious. However, I managed to scrape through it. Really popular with the 16 year old girl romantic/gothic/fantasy novel crowd. I thought the ending to the series was really lame, but the concepts in the books are really cool. It involves girls in boarding school, Victorian England, and a mysterious place called the Winterlands. I really wish it hadn't ended in such a tedious way. But A Great and Terrible Beauty is definitely worth reading.
7. This is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn by Aidan Chambers-A unique, massive tome about a girl and her experiences growing up. I didn't finish it, but it's one of those lovely novels that you can kind of drift through in pieces and feel good that you managed to get some of it read. I'll finish it someday!
8. The Red Leather Diary by Lily Koppel-A brand new book that I am still in the process of reading. One of the few nonfiction books that I like! It is about a diary that this woman, a writer for the NYT, found. It was written during the 1920s-early 30s. A very unique young woman was the writer. The story retells her life and her many interesting experiences. An excellent historical piece.
9. The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson-True story of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. It's cool because it's Chicago history combined with the story of the serial killer who was killing young women at the time...extremely creepy.
Well, that's all for now. I can't think of a 10th.