Category: READING CHALLENGES 2008

AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, G, Read in 2008, READING CHALLENGES 2008

By Order of the President by W.E.B. Griffin

Tara
By Order of the President
by W.E.B. Griffin

Copyright: 2004
Pages: 608
Rating: 3/5
Read: Dec. 14-26, 2008
Challenge: Celebrate the Author

First Line: As he climbed the somewhat unsteady roll-up stairs and ducked his head to get through the door of Lease-Aire LA-9021 – a Boeing 727 – Captain Alex MacIlhenny, who was fifty-two, ruddy-faced, had a full head of just starting to gray red hair, and was getting just a little jowly, had sort of a premonition that something was wrong – or that something bad was about to happen – but he wasn’t prepared for the dark-skinned man standing inside the fuselage against the far wall.

When a Boeing 727 is hijacked from Angola and is flown to an unknown location, the various security agencies of the United States race against the clock to find out where this plane has been taken to and what the hijacker’s intentions are. Unfortunately, those same agencies end up in a power struggle to find the plane first. The President gets fed up with all the in-fighting and asks an outsider, Major Carlos G. Castillo, a West Point graduate and a pilot to get to the truth of the missing airplane. But what Castillo finds out in the end is not only surprising but terrifying, and Castillo must move very, very fast in order to wrap things up before it’s too late.

Military-esque books are very much out of my comfort zone, which is why it took me so long to read this book. However, I did really enjoy this one quite a bit, which would be why I hung in there to finish reading it. I would have given it a higher rating, but I thought that the ending could have been a lot better than it was. It was all a little too neat for my personal tastes. But this is the first in a series which I am definitely going to want to keep an eye on in the future.

READING CHALLENGES 2008

Countdown Challenge

Tara

countdownOkay, so 3M is hosting the Countdown Challenge. The point of this challenge is to read 9 books published in 2009, 8 in 2008, 7 in 2007 … you get the point. And the best part of this is that it’s actually RETROACTIVE to August 8th, 2008! So I’ve already done quite a bit of reading that can count towards this challenge.

Click here to visit the page of this Challenge.

Rules: As stated above, read 9 from 2009, 8 from 2008, etc., for a grand total of 45 books. This challenge is running from 8/8/08 until 9/9/09. Here’s my list:

2009

  1. Heart of Ice by Gregg Olsen
  2. The Osiris Alliance by Jack Ford
  3. The 8th Confession by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro
  4. BoneMan’s Daughter by Ted Dekker
  5. The Dyodyne Experiment by James Doulgeris & V. Michael Santoro
  6. Dancing with Ana by Nicole Barker
  7. Swimsuit by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

2008 (Completed)

  1. A Cold Dark Place by Gregg Olsen
  2. One Last Scream by Kevin O’Brien
  3. Compulsion by Jonathan Kellerman
  4. Trust Me by Brenda Novak
  5. Quicksand by Iris Johansen
  6. The Chemist by Janson Mancheski
  7. Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain
  8. The Midnight Twins by Jacquelyn Mitchard

2007 (Completed)

  1. All the Pretty Girls by J.T. Ellison
  2. Heartsick by Chelsea Cain
  3. Last Known Victim by Erica Spindler
  4. The Sleeping Doll by Jeffery Deaver
  5. In the Woods by Tana French
  6. I Heard That Song Before by Mary Higgins Clark
  7. Over Your Dead Body by David L.

2006 (Completed)

  1. A Necessary Evil by Alex Kava
  2. Judge & Jury by James Patterson
  3. New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
  4. The Witness by Sandra Brown
  5. The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry
  6. Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris

2005

  1. Presumed Guilty: What the Jury Never Knew About Laci Peterson’s Murder and Why Scott Peterson Should Not Be on Death Row by Matt Dalton
  2. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
  3. To the Power of Three by Laura Lippman
  4. Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris

2004 (Completed)

  1. Night Fall by Nelson DeMille
  2. Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
  3. Black Creek Crossing by John Saul
  4. White Hot by Sandra Brown

2003

  1. The Falls by Karen Harper
  2. She Loves Me Not by Wendy Corsi Staub

2002

2001 (Completed)

  1. Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
READING CHALLENGES 2008

RYOB 2009

Tara

ryob2009Okay, so MizB is challenging us to “Read-You-Own-Books” in 2009. I DESPERATELY need this challenge!!! This is something that will help me clear off some of these shelves that I have!!

Click here to visit the page of this challenge

Rules: Set the amount of books that you want to read from your shelves.  The challenge runs Jan 1 – Dec. 31, 2009.

Okay … so I am going to set a goal of 50 books. And at least 25 of those books must be on my shelves before January 1st. That way I’m cleaning out some of my books that I currently own and leaving some wiggle room for newly acquired books 🙂

My list will be kept here:

  1. Final Jeopardy by Linda Fairstein (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  2. Jack & Jill by James Patterson (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  3. Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  4. C is for Corpse by Sue Grafton (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  5. Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  6. To the Power of Three by Laura Lippman (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  7. Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  8. The Secret Between Us by Barbara Delinksy (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  9. The 6th Target by James Patterson (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  10. Hearstopper by Joy Fielding (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  11. The Broken Parachute Man by Robert B. Bolin (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  12. Heart of Ice by Gregg Olsen (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  13. Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  14. Capital Offense by Kathleen Antrim (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  15. 7th Heaven by James Patterson (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  16. Whispers by Lisa Jackson (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  17. The 8th Confession by James Patterson (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  18. A Tisket, a Tasket, a Fancy Stolen Casket by Fran Rizer (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  19. Snagged by Carol Higgins Clark (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  20. In a Dark Time by Larry Watson (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  21. Sail by James Patterson (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  22. Cat & Mouse by James Patterson (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  23. The Piper’s Sons by Bruce Chandler Fergusson (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  24. Executive Privilege by Phillip Margolin (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  25. An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  26. She Loves Me Not by Wendy Corsi Staub (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  27. When the Bough Breaks by Jonathan Kellerman (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  28. Michelangelo’s Notebook by Paul Christopher (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  29. The Godwulf Manuscript by Robert B. Parker (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  30. The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  31. ‘D’ is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  32. A Bone to Pick by Charlaine Harris (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  33. Pop Goes the Weasel by James Patterson (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  34. The Murder of Laci Peterson by Cliff Linedecker (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  35. The Double Eagle by James Twining (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  36. Silent Witness by Richard North Patterson (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  37. Denial by Keith Ablow (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  38. The Aztec Heresy by Paul Christopher (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  39. Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  40. No Place Like Home by Mary Higgins Clark (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  41. Roses are Red by James Patterson (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW
  42. The Sorority: Eve by Tamara Thorne (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  43. The Sorority: Merilynn by Tamara Thorne (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  44. The Sorority: Samantha by Tamara Thorne (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  45. Violets are Blue by James Patterson (Acquired in 2009) REVIEW
  46. The Book of Names by Jill Gregory & Karen Tintori (On shelf before 2009) REVIEW

Acquired in 2009: 26
On Shelf Prior to 2009: 20

READING CHALLENGES 2008

Book Awards II Challenge

Tara
Book Awards II Challenge
Rules:
*Read 10 award winning books
*Must have five different awards in your ten titles
*Overlaps are allowed; no lists required
*August 1, 2008 – June 1, 2009
After looking at the lists on the main page, here are some of my picks. These are just the ones that I already own; my list will undoubtedly change.
  3. BRAM STOKER AWARD: Bag of Bones by Stephen King
  4. NATIONAL BOOK AWARD: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
  5. NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD: Atonement by Ian McEwan
  6. TBD
  7. TBD
  8. TBD
  9. TBD
  10. TBD

READING CHALLENGES 2008

Presidential Reading Challenge

Tara
Presidential Reading Challenge
Click here to go to the main page
Rules:
*I am choosing to do Level 3
* Read 5 books
* Can be fiction or nonfiction, has to be about President/First Lady or some connection to the President
* July 4, 2008 – July 4, 2009

I have yet to choose my books. I will add to this list as I go, but I will definitely be reading something on Lincoln and something on Kennedy.

READING CHALLENGES 2008

1% Well-Read Challenge

Tara

1% Well-Read Challenge
Rules:
*Read 10 books in 10 months from the book 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
*May change your list and may cross-post with other challenges
*Runs May 1, 2008 – February 28, 2009
  1. Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex
  2. Ian McEwan, Atonement
  3. Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
  4. Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha
  5. Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace
  6. James Ellroy, The Black Dahlia
  8. Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
  9. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein

READING CHALLENGES 2008

Suspense & Thriller 2008/09 Challenge

Tara

Suspense & Thriller Challenge
Rules:
*Read 12 books (6 in ’08; 6 in ’09)
*Each one has to be from a different subcategory listed on the main page
*Jan. 1, 2008 – Dec. 31, 2009
2008:
  7. J.T. Ellison, All the Pretty Girls (serial killer thriller)
  8. W.E.B. Griffin, By Order of the President (military thriller)
  9. Laura Lippman, To the Power of Three (drama thriller)
  10. Patricia Cornwell, Postmortem (forensic mystery)
  11. James Patterson, The 8th Confession (police procedural thriller)
  12. Fran Rizer, A Tisket, a Tasket, a Fancy Stolen Casket (cozy mystery)