Day: July 25, 2009

AUTHOR, Book Review, D, Read in 2009, READING CHALLENGES 2008, S

REVIEW: The Dyodyne Experiment by James Doulgeris & V. Michael Santoro

Tara

The Dyodyne Experiment
by James Doulgeris & V. Michael Santoro

Copyright: 2009
Pages: 448
Rating: 4/5
Read: July 20-25, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; Countdown Challenge;
Yearly Count: 37

First Line: Summer days in New York City could either be hot and oppressive or sparkling and glorious.

A research team has developed an amazing new technology: a computer system that can track people secretly with unimaginable accuracy. The system is called DaNA, and it is spread as a virus that can pass to others that the original person comes into contact with. What would make the country want to use this technology? Well, the idea behind it is that it can be used to track down criminals’ accomplices really trying to hone in on the drug cartel. But the research team gets orders from Homeland Security that they must put this system into use, before they can really test it out and work out all the kinks. What they find is unbelievable – six nuclear bombs hidden is six cities across the country. But as the team rushes to track down the terrorists in charge of these bombs, they find out something worse is happening …. DaNA is mutating and is spiraling out of control.

I received this book from Merritt Talbott at Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists for review. I don’t normally read books like this, but the blurb that she presented me just sounded too good to pass up. And when I finally got to reading the book, I have to say that I was definitely not disappointed! I found it to be a fast read, even with everything going on. It was easy to read as well, especially with some of the names and subplots it could have gotten confusing at times, but I had absolutely no problem with it. I really took to Sarah’s character, I thought that she was really well written and believable (which is something very important in my opinion). Overall I’m glad that I was given the opportunity to read this book, because I probably never would have seen or heard anything about it if I had not been contacted about it simply because it is a little out of my comfort zone, but I really do recommend this one to anyone.

Life

Buster says …

Tara

GET THIS THING OFF OF MY HEAD!!!

Busterandcone

So we got Buster fixed yesterday. I was hoping that he would be a good little boy and not give us any trouble this weekend while he’s still recovering from his surgery. …. WRONG, oh boy was I ever WRONG! He slept the entire ride home from the vet and was kind of out of it for a little bit. But by 8pm last night, he was ready to romp! And when I say romp, I really mean it. We usually take him to the hallway upstairs, shut all the doors, and play fetch. He was ready to go play that! He’s been a handful to say the least 🙂 Hopefully we’ll all survive this weekend!!

READING CHALLENGES 2008

Random Reading Challenge

Tara

RandomReadingChallenge

So Wendy over at Caribousmom has come up with a really neat challenge that I’m going to sign up for! It’s called the Random Reading Challenge; I’m looking forward to it because it’s going to really help me weed through my TBR pile. Part of my problem with reading from my TBR pile is that I have a lot of trouble picking which one to read next, so this one will definitely be helpful! Here is what Wendy wrote:

August 1, 2009 – July 31, 2010

Are you stuck in a rut? Do you always find yourself reading from set lists or feeling committed to reading one book while another book screams at you from your TBR mountain? Has your reading become completely scheduled? If so, the Random Reading Challenge may be just the thing to put the spontaneity back into your reading.

For this challenge, readers will be choosing books randomly from their TBR stacks. You may select one of three levels of participation:

Level I:

You are just a tad compulsive about your reading – you love your lists and schedules. Being spontaneous is not something that comes naturally to you.  To complete the challenge, force yourself out of your rut and read just six books.

Level II:

You really want to break away from all those lists, but you do still have a responsibility to your reading groups, other challenges and all those review books. Six books is too little, but twelve is too much. Stretch a little and read nine books for the challenge.

Level III:

Throw away the lists, don’t look at your schedule, bring on the joy that comes with the freedom to chose books randomly. Read twelve books for the challenge.

Rules (come on, you didn’t think I would be THAT random did you?!?!?):

  1. NO lists allowed. Books for the challenge are chosen one at a time when the mood strikes.
  2. Sign up at any time during the challenge period using Mr. Linky below. Please give me a direct link to your blog post about the challenge. If you do not have a blog, no worries. Simply enter your name and leave the URL box on Mr. Linky blank.
  3. Book reviews are not required, but if you want to write a review I will be providing a review Mr. Linky after August 1st.
  4. Books are selected one at a time using the following procedure:
  • Randomly select any number of books from either your physical OR your virtual TBR pile (I don’t care how you do this, but it must be random…no “cherry picking” allowed)
  • Assign a number to each book based on how many books you selected (ie: if you selected 14 books, assign each book a number from 1 through 14; if you selected 28 books, assign each book a number from 1 through 28…you get the idea)
  • Go to THIS SITE and use the TRUE RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR located in the upper right hand corner of the page to randomly select the book you will read. NO CHEATING – whatever the random number generator generates is the book you must read!
  • Each time you select a book for the challenge, you will use this procedure. You many select different books each time, choose a different amount of books each time, etc…have fun, mix it up, keep it random.

So I’m really looking forward to this! Not only am I in a rut, but I find myself wanting to rebel against the lists that I have made up for the challenges that I’m currently in. So I am going to commit to Level III and read 12 books. I think the way I’ll do it is make sure that all my books are up-to-date on my Goodreads page and I’ll use those numbers there; I haven’t taken any advantage of the ordering of the TBR pile there, so it will be completely random for me. So that will be my easiest method without “cherry picking.” I’m definitely looking forward to it!

My list will be kept here:

  1. The Piper’s Sons by Bruce Chandler Fergusson
  2. The Godwulf Manuscript by Robert B. Parker
  3. Denial by Keith Ablow
  4. Roses are Red by James Patterson
  5. Shall We Tell the President? by Jeffrey Archer
  6. Body of Evidence by Patricia Cornwell
  7. The Dying Game by Beverly Barton
  8. The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen
  9. The Camel Club by David Baldacci
  10. The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen
  11. The Coffin Dancer by Jeffery Deaver
  12. Pacific Vortex by Clive Cussler