Before we get to this month's wrap-up, let's re-cap the year so far:
So far this year, my top 5 favorite books, (excluding short-stories/novellas) written this year, have been:
1. City of Lost Souls (a "Mortal Instruments" novel) written by Cassandra Clare
(*this one is this month's "Runner-Up" - we'll get to that momentarily...)
2. Dark Revelations (a Level 26 novel) written by Anthony Zuiker & Duane Swierczynski
3. Deadheads: Evolution - written by Franklin E. Wales
4. Deadlocked (a "Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood" novel) by Charlaine Harris
5. Pavlov's Dogs - written by D. L. Snell & Thom Brannan
My top 5 favorite movies (released this year) have been:
1. The Avengers
2. The Grey
3. John Carter
4. Prometheus (this month's pick for best movie of the month!)
5. The Raid
As far as iPhone Apps go, I can't really recall which ones have been released this year, specifically, so instead, I'll give you my top 5 albums (released this year) so far:
I haven't been reviewing music, on a month-to-month basis, as it generally takes me several "listenings" before I feel that I can reasonably review an album...
1. A Different Kind of Truth (by Van Halen)
2. Apocalyptic Love (by Slash)
3. Dark Adrenaline (by Lacuna Coil)
4. The End is Where We Begin (by Thousand Foot Crutch)
5. True Defiance (by Demon Hunter)
Let me also mention 'Living Things' (by Linkin Park) - just released yesterday - so far, so good - sounds a whole lot better than 'A Thousand Suns'!
Well, there you have my "year-in-review" thus far...
On to this month's wrap-up:
Best Book of the Month:
'Killing Carla' [aka 'Slice'] by: Billie Sue Mosiman
(to re-cap from my G+ post - "In this book, Mosiman has created a serial killer that you won't soon forget!")
Runner-Up:
'City of Lost Souls' - by: Cassandra Clare
(as stated above, this is part of the "Mortal Instruments" series - #5 to be exact.
I'm not sure what exactly it is, but I really dig these books, and I am hoping that the 1st book turns into a decent movie...)
Other books that I read this month:
Welcome to Hell: An Anthology of Western Weirdness (edited by Eric S. Brown)
As I'm typing this, I'm realizing that I never created a post about this one on G+...
Let me rectify that, by saying that this is an enjoyable anthology!
(specifically the stories written by Max Booth III, Franklin E. Wales, and Tonia Brown - out of the 14 stories included, their three were my favorite stories)
As for Eric S. Brown, I have been aware of his name for a while, yet I have not yet read anything by him. However, I enjoyed his Introduction to this anthology (as well as his selection of stories) enough that I went ahead and bought his 'Bigfoot Apocalypse' set (Books 1 - 3 of his 'Bigfoot War' series) on my Nook, so stay tuned for a review of those, down the road...
Alarums - by: Richard Laymon
Off-genre-topic; my two youngest have been asking for a pet, for quite some time now (not really conducive to traveling) however, we decided on a couple of Guinea Pigs...
Why am I telling you this?
Because I read a book on them - 'My Guinea Pig' - by Immanuel Birmelin
(I have never really been a fan of Guinea Pigs, but after having read this book, and having had them, since the beginning of the month, I must say that they do make great pets for young ones!)
Best Movie of the Month:
Prometheus
(I am a huge fan of the Alien series, and this one does not disappoint!)
Runner-Up:
Brave
(I have heard mixed reviews on this one...
I for one loved it! So what if it's not a "traditional Pixar story" - it is still an excellent film!)
Other movies that I watched this month:
(in the order that I watched them)
The Aggression Scale (think a violent 'Home Alone')
Gone
Piranha 3DD (unfortunately, due to an extremely limited theatrical release, I was unable to see this one in 3-D)
A Lonely Place to Die
She's Crushed
Super Shark
Jersey Shore Shark Attack (I am not sure if it matters or not - I have never even seen one second of Jersey Shore - either way, this movie is still lame!)
Mother's Day (the re-make)
Dark Tide
War Horse
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Piranhaconda (unfortunately this one did not live up to my expectations - it had such great potential - which leaves '2-Headed Shark Attack' as the reigning "B-movie" of this year!)
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Choppertown: The Sinners
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
Colombiana
The Innkeepers
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Arachnoquake
21 Jump Street
The Artist
Bigfoot (I am going ahead and including this one, as it is this Saturday night's SyFy movie - here's hoping that it's as good as I'm hoping for...)
I haven't really played too many new iPhone games this month - mostly I've just been playing Zynga's "with Friends" line-up (Chess with Friends, Hanging with Friends, Scramble with Friends, and Words with Friends) with friends of mine ;-)
Great Games!
I'm sure that I will find some new (true) games by this time next month though, so until then...
Jason
Posts
