Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter

Started 6/14/12
Ended 6/20/12



Description:

Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."
"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.
Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.
When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.
While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.
Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation..

Books to Movies

As I am struggled to finish reading Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter before the movie out June 22, 2012, I thought about all the books I have read in the the past which have been made into movies. I usually believe the books are better than the movie since our imaginations are better than what they project into the movie.
Harry Potter 1-3, The Lord of the Rings, and The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo have been the only movies  that I feel have been just as good as the book. With Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter I feel the movie will be better than the book. There is too much history in the book and not enough vampire hunting. The premise of the book is to get the reader to take a different look at Abraham Lincoln but really all I read was his path to the presidency. Yes the parts of the book which contained the hunting was gruesome and action packed but those instances were few and far between. I will include more of my thoughts on this book when I am done, I am only 68% done with this book, it has almost been a week since I started.
Here is a list of books which I can recall to have read which have been made into movies...are there some you have read that are not on this list which you would recommend? Please feel free to comment and I will make sure to read it. I am always open for suggestions. I will read anything.


A Time to Kill
Along Came a Spider
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Confessions of a Shopaholic
Dear John
Harry Potter 1-7
In Cold Blood
Interview with a Vampire
Kiss the Girls
Kite Runner
One for the Money
Pelican Brief
Runaway Jury
Running with Scissors
Something Borrowed
The Chamber
The Client
The Devil Wears Prada
The Firm
The Fountainhead
The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo Series 1-3
The Help
The Hunger Games 1-3
The Last Song
The Lord of the Rings
The Lucky One
The Namesake
The Nanny Diaries
The Notebook
The Pillars of the Earth
The Rainmaker
The Thorn Birds
To Kill a Mockingbird
Twilight 1-4
Water for Elephants
White Oleander






Authors:
John Grisham, Truman Capote, Sophie Kinsella, J.K. Rowling, Ann Rice, Khaled Hosseini, Augusten Burroughs, Emily Griffin, Lauren Weisberger, Ayn Rand, Stieg Larsson, Kathryn Stockett, Suzanne Collins, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jhumpa Lahiri, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, Ken Follett, Colleen McCullough, Harper Lee, Stephenie Meyer, Sara Gruen, Janet Fitch, James Patterson, Janet Evanovich


Thursday, June 14, 2012

Judgement in Death

Started 6/13/12
Ended 6/14/12

Book 12


Description:

In an uptown strip joint, a cop is found bludgeoned to death. The weapon's a baseball bat. The motive's a mystery. It's a case of serious overkill that pushes Eve Dallas straight into overdrive. Her investigation uncovers a private club that's more than a hot spot. Purgatory's a last chance for atonement where everyone is judged. Where your ultimate fate depends on your most intimate sins. And where one cop's hidden secrets are about to plunge innocent souls into vice-ridden damnation.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Witness in Death

Started 6/11/12
Finished 6/13/12

Book 11


Description:

When a celebrity is killed right before her eyes, New York detective Eve Dallas takes a new place in crime - as both officer and witness to murder...



Opening night at New York's New Globe Theater turns from stage scene to crime scene when the leading man is stabbed to death center stage. Now Eve Dallas has a high-profile, celebrity homicide on her hands. Not only is she lead detective, she's also a witness - and when the press discovers that her husband owns the theater, there's more media spotlight than either can handle. The only way out is to move fast. Question everyone and everything...and in the meantime, try to tell the difference between the truth - and really good acting.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Loyalty in Death

Started 6/10/12
Ended 6/11/12

Book 10


Description:
New York cop Eve Dallas returns to face her most ingenious foe--a "secret admirer" who taunts her with letters... and kills without mercy.

An unknown bomber is stalking New York City. He is sending Eve Dallas taunting letters promising to wreak mass terror and destruction among the "corrupt masses." And when his cruel web of deceit and destruction threatens those she cares for most, Eve fights back. It's her city ... it's her job... and it's hitting too close to home. Now, in a race against a ticking clock, Eve must make the pieces fit--before the city falls.(less)

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Conspiracy in Death

Started 6/8
Ended 6/10

Book 9



Description:

Lt. Eve Dallas and her assistant Delia Peabody, are called to a crime scene by Officer Ellen Bowers, and Officer Troy Trueheart. A homeless man is killed, his heart removed. The man's heart is removed though, with the skill of a surgeon. Dallas and Peabody both know a serial killer is preying on the city sidewalk sleepers, and all of the cities resources, and Eve's billionaire husband Roarke, give her no solid leads, except a free clinic run by a saintly doctor, Dr. Louise Dimatto. Soon though, three are dead, and Eve is running out of time.
Unfortunately for Eve, trouble is also coming from within the police force. Officer Ellen Bowers is deranged, and obsessed with Eve. She obsessively writes a journal about all the terrible things that, she believes, Eve has done. One night, going home to her apartment, still obsessing, Bowers is attacked, and killed.
The blame is quickly placed on Eve, who is stripped of her badge, and goes into a deep depression. Only her husband Roarke can bring her back, and help her figure out why four people are dead, and the terrible jealousy that motivated these murders.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Midnight in Death (novella)

Started 6/7
Ended 6/8

Book 7.5

This is a novella in between the In Death series. It was only 96 pages...I don't think I should include it in my challenge. I had to read it since it is part of the series.


Description:

Eve's name has made a Christmas list, but it's not for being naughty or nice.  It's for putting a serial killer behind bars.  Now the escaped madman has her in his sights.  With her husband, Roarke, at her side, Eve must stop the man from exacting his bloody vengeance—or die trying...




Holiday in Death

Started 6/6
Ended 6/7

Book 8


Description:

No one likes to be alone during the holidays. For New York's most posh dating service, Personally Yours, it is the season to bring lonely hearts together. But Lieutenant Eve Dallas, on the trail of a ritualistic serial killer, has made a disturbing discovery: all of the victims have been traced to Personally Yours. As the murders continue, Eve enters into an elite world of people searching for their one true love--and a killer searching for his next victim. A world where the power of love leads men and women into the ultimate act of betrayal...

Vengeance in Death

Started 6/2
Ended 6/5

Book 6



Description:

He is an expert with the latest technology...a madman with the mind of a genius and the heart of a killer. He quietly stalks his prey. Then he haunts the police with cryptic riddles about the crimes he is about to commit--always solved moments too late to save his victims' lives. Police lieutenant Eve Dallas found the first victim butchered in his own home. The second lost his life in a vacant luxury apartment. The two men had little in common. Both suffered unspeakable torture before their deaths. And both had ties to an ugly secret of ten years past--a secret shared by none other than Eve's new husband, Roarke.


Ceremony in Death

Started 5/30
Ended 6/2

Book 5



Description:

Conducting a top secret investigation into the death of a fellow police officer has Lieutenant Eve Dallas treading on dangerous ground. She must put professional ethics before personal loyalties. But when a dead body is placed outside her home, Eve takes the warnning personally. With her husband, Roarke, watching her every move, Eve is drawn into the most dangerous case of her career. Every step she takes makes her question her own beliefs of right and wrong--and brings her closer to a confrontation with humanity's most seductive form of evil...