Wednesday, January 14, 2009

What should I read next?

Every time I finish a book, I then face the dilemma of choosing my next read from a towering pile (actually THREE towering piles) of books I've acquired but not yet read. It's a really hard decision for me because I want to read them ALL. So I've decided to add a new and EXCITING little number here. YOU, yes YOU, get to decide which book I read next. Each time I finish a book, I will grab 3-5 books from my piles and put a poll over to the right, where you can vote on my next read. Since I review the books I read here, you can essentially have me test read the books for you if you think they are ones in which you might be interested.

So anyway, last night I finished Plum Island by Nelson DeMille. This morning I selected for your decision-making pleasure, the following: The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst, Step on a Crack by James Patterson and either Brimstone by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child OR The Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

I need some info on the Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child book (I'm looking at YOU Shauna, if you still come by here that is, I know it's been a while since I've been around). You might remember that I read a Preston/Child book a while back entitled The Book of the Dead (reviewed here) that turned out to be the seventh (I think) book in a series revolving around FBI Agent Pendergast. Being the anal retentive individual that I am, I prefer to read series books in order, even when they stand alone perfectly well. Since I also happen to buy most, if not all, of my books from bargain tables and library sales, or get them from Bookmooch, I don't happen to have all of the previous six to choose from, but I do now have two of them (assuming both of them come before The Book of the Dead), and I might as well read them in order. So Shauna or anyone else who might know, which of the two Preston/Child books here comes first?

Okay, now go VOTE. Because I'm drinking my coffee, but I have nothing to read while I am doing so. In the future, I will have to put these polls up the day before I'll finish a book, so there's one on deck. I guess today I'll just clean the house or something, maybe put away Christmas decorations, until the poll time is up. This time, I'm only going to give 12 hours of voting time, since I'm needing a decision NOW, but in the future I'll give 24 hours. Now VOTE!!!

10 comments:

Tess said...

OK. I can help with this. I have read ALL of the Preston/Child books.

Brimstone comes before Wheel of Darkness. There might even be some Pendergast novels BETWEEN those two though. If you go to their website, they have a great page that tells you which order they recommend reading in.

Anyway, I really liked all of the Pendergast novels.

Fiona Picklebottom said...

tess - Thank you! I looked up the site and found the chronological order of the books, which for anyone else interested is here. So Brimstone it will be if the Preston/Child option wins.

Fiona Picklebottom said...

Oh, and Tess... you forgot to VOTE! Get on it, dude.

Pickles and Dimes said...

Tess is right. Brimstone comes a few books before Book of the Dead, and Wheel of Darkness is right after it. I have the Monster of Florence on request from the library, but I'm 133rd in line!

I also can vouch for the greatness of The Dogs of Babel. Lovely book.

Chantal said...

I voted but I have to admit that I did eeny meeny miny mo cause I have never heard of any of these. I too enjoy reading books in order. For a while when D was little I was reading the Sue Grafton Alphabet Mystery Series (A is for Alibi, B is for Burglar.) I think I am at G. I need to get back to that.

Jess said...

OK, I never read books like this so I have no idea. But the Dogs of Babel SOUNDS interesting.

Alice said...

am thoroughly useless.. i know nothing about any of these books. but i voted anyway! :-)

Shelly said...

This is awesome. I love polls!

Anonymous said...

I picked the Dogs of Babel because I liked the title. Otherwise, I am clueless.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for stopping by....and yes, Drive Thru would be idea if we didn't have so much snow...oh. And if the bank hadn't lost my email money transfer this morning.

Seriously universe? I mean...really?

I've read Wheel of Darkness....weird...but OK. I have a basket of 'next to read' books on my table right now. I went on a bit of a post-apocalyptic bender and bought like 15 around Christmas. Plus a couple vampire ones.

I am reading Edgar Sawtelle right now. Kind of having a hard time getting into it. Also started "Plague Year" in the bath last night (I have work books...for lunch...and home books...'cause I'm just that geeky) and it seems like it will be a good read. Different at any rate.