My Reading List

For those of you who aren't aware of this, all published books are assigned an ISBN (International Standard Book Number). Any bookseller worth it's salt can use the ISBN to order you the book in question. So I'll try to include ISBN numbers (yes, that is redundant, just like saying HTTP protocol is redundant :) below whenever I list a book.

I'm rating each book with a 0 to 5 system: 


  0 = I disliked the book, and do not recommend it at all.
  1 = The book was just tolerable enough to finish.
  2 = The book was okay but nothing to write home about.
  3 = The book was fair enough to read at least once.
  4 = The book was enjoyable and definitely worth reading.
  5 = I thoroughly enjoyed the book or it had a lasting impact.

A book that has no rating at all is either in the middle of being read, or I've not had the chance to rate it yet.

My Reading List At-A-Glance:

  1. You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! (Rating: 5)
  2. Standard of Honor (Rating: 4)
  3. Cryptonomicon (Rating: )
  4. The Sign and the Seal (Rating: 3)
  5. Taking Charge of Adult ADHD (Rating: 5)
  6. The Everything Health Guide to Adult ADD/ADHD (Rating: 5)
  7. Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood through Adulthood (Rating: 5)
  8. Jenkins--The Definitive Guide (Rating: )
  9. The Eight (Rating: 3)
  10. Face of Betrayal (Rating: 4)
  11. The Case for a Creator (Rating: )
  12. The Truth About Muhammad (Rating: 5)
  13. El sueño de América (Rating: )
  14. The Case for Faith (Rating: 5)
  15. Empire (Rating: 5)
  16. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest (Rating: 4)
  17. The Case for Christ (Rating: 4)
  18. Ender in Exile (Rating: 4)
  19. Marsbound (Rating: 4)
  20. Knights of the Black and White (Rating: 4)
  21. Hand of Fate (Rating: 4)
  22. The Complete Wizard of Oz Collection (Rating: )

My Reading List -- Detailed View:

  1. You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?!
    Rating: 5 

    Kate Kelly and Peggy Ramundo
eISBN-13: 978-0-743-28894-1
Pages: 336
Started: 2012-03-21
Finished: 2012-04-08

Another book about ADD/ADHD.  This one is chock full of information, all
directed towards living successfully with ADD.  The more I learn about this,
the more I understand how lucky I am to have learned successful coping 
mechanisms early on in life, and that my ADD is very mild compared to many.
  2. Standard of Honor
    Rating: 4 

    Jack Whyte
ISBN: 978-0-399-15429-4
Pages: 614
Started: 2012-03-19
Finished: 2012-03-25

The second of a "trilogy-in-the-making".  I enjoyed this one as much as the
first.  Not as much of a mystery, this one builds on the main character and
his ideas of honour and how they are challenged throughout his life.
  3. Cryptonomicon
    Rating: 

    Neal Stephenson
ISBN: 0-06-05-1280-6
Pages: 1152
Started:
Finished:
  4. The Sign and the Seal
    Rating: 3 

    Graham Hancock
ISBN: 0-517-57813-1
Pages: 600
Started: 2012-03-03
Finished: 2012-04-14

This book was an interesting bit of non-fiction.  In short, it detailed the
author's search for the lost Ark of the Covenent.  In its own way it tied
in quite nicely with the "Knights of the Black and White" that I read a
while ago, as it tells of clues left by the Templars as to where the ark
can be found today.
  5. Taking Charge of Adult ADHD
    Rating: 5 

    Russell A. Barkley, PhD with Christine M. Benton
ISBN: 978-1-60623-338-2
Pages: 294
Started: 2012-03-06
Finished: 2012-03-13

This book takes a very pragmatic approach, and has lots of helpful information.
I plan on buying a copy, because it's more of a long-term workbook approach,
covering different facets of life and how ADHD affects them and how
to work with each.
  6. The Everything Health Guide to Adult ADD/ADHD
    Rating: 5 

    Carole Jacobs and Isadore Wendel, PhD, MSCP
ISBN: 978-1-60550-999-0
Pages: 288
Started: 2012-03-01
Finished: 2012-03-09

Another book with helpful information about ADHD.  This one has more details
about learning to successfully adapt to having ADHD and treating it (also it's
more recently published, so it covers some treatment advances).  I like that
it has information and advice for family members in dealing with a loved one
who suffers from ADHD.
  7. Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood through Adulthood
    Rating: 5 

    Edward M. Hallowell, M.D., and John J. Ratey, M.D.
ISBN: 0-684-80128-0
Pages: 319
Started: 2012-02-22
Finished: 2012-03-05

I've been recently diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder), and found this book helpful in understanding what this means
and how to deal with it successfully.
  8. Jenkins--The Definitive Guide
    Rating: 

    John Ferguson Smart
ISBN: ??
Pages: 446
Started: 2012-02-18
Finished:
  9. The Eight
    Rating: 3 

    Katherine Neville
ISBN: ??
Pages: 550
Started: 2012-01-30
Finished: 2012-02-08

Interesting read.  The plot divides into two mirroring veins that intertwine
real historical persons with fictional characters.  Entertaining, but all in
all not quite believable, especially toward the end.  Oddly enough, I can
see this being a better movie than the book that it is.
  10. Face of Betrayal
    Rating: 4 

    Lis Wiehl
ISBN: 978-1-59554-705-7
Pages: 284
Started: 2012-01-20
Finished: 2012-01-23

Another great mystery by this author.  I have to see if she's written
others!  I really enjoy the realistic portrayal of people's various
spiritual outlooks on life without being proselytizing.
  11. The Case for a Creator
    Rating: 

    Lee Strobel
ISBN: 978-0-310-24209-3
Pages: 411
Started: 2012-04-14
Finished:
  12. The Truth About Muhammad
    Rating: 5 

    Robert Spencer
ISBN: 1-59698-028-1
Pages: 214
Started: 2012-02-08
Finished: 2012-02-16

Well-documented and disturbing eye-opener.  Reveals a very real and dark
side to Islam.
  13. El sueño de América
    Rating: 

    Esmeralda Santiago
ISBN: 978-0-06-092828-5
Pages: 344
Started: 2012-01-07
Finished:
  14. The Case for Faith
    Rating: 5 

    Lee Strobel
ISBN: 0-310-22015-7
Pages: 300
Started: 2012-01-08
Finished: 2012-01-09

This book covers faith based on biblical Christianity, and relies heavily on
"The Case for Christ" as a foundational premise.  The chapter I found most
helpful was "Objection #8: I Still Have Doubts, So I Can't Be a Christian".
  15. Empire
    Rating: 5 

    Orson Scott Card
ISBN: 978-0-765-31611-0
Pages: 351
Started: 2012-01-09
Finished: 2012-01-10

Frighteningly realistic!  A good lesson in political moderation.
  16. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest
    Rating: 4 

    Stieg Larsson
Pages: 563
ISBN: 978-0-307-26999-7
Started: 2011-12-21
Finished: 2011-12-24

The first two of this series ("The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo", and "The
Girl Who Played with Fire") were much more intense than this one, and
were impossible to put down.  This one was very slow for the first half of 
half of the book.  And it had a rather anticlimactic ending.  I rate the
first two as fives, but this one only merits a four.
  17. The Case for Christ
    Rating: 4 

    Lee Strobel
ISBN: 0-310-22646-5
Pages: 297
Started: 2011-12-18
Finished: 2011-01-08

This book covers the evidence in support of the historical accuracy of the New
Testament Documents regarding the life and teachings of Jesus.
  18. Ender in Exile
    Rating: 4 

    Orson Scott Card
ISBN: 0-7653-0496-1
Pages: 377
Started: 2011-12-17
Finished: 2011-12-20

So far in the Ender series, I've read "Ender's Game", "Speaker for the
Dead", "Xenocide", and this book.  I've thoroughly enjoyed them all.
  19. Marsbound
    Rating: 4 

    Joe Haldeman
ISBN: 978-0-441-01595-5
Pages: 296
Started: 2011-12-19
Finished: 2011-12-19

I liked the different spin it puts on science fiction: The narrator is a
teenage girl.
  20. Knights of the Black and White
    Rating: 4 

    Jack Whyte
ISBN: 0-399-15396-9
Pages: 548
Started: 2011-12-14
Finished: 2011-12-31

Starts out slow, then picks up into a very interesting read in a currently
popular genre (Mystic Religious Secrets).  The first of what looks to be an
enjoyable series.  It recounts the beginning of the Knights Templar and their
doings in Jerusalem.
  21. Hand of Fate
    Rating: 4 

    Lis Wiehl
ISBN: 978-1-59554-706-4
Pages: 311
Started: 2012-01-01
Finished: 2012-01-05

Fun, quick mystery!  I loved the twists!
  22. The Complete Wizard of Oz Collection
    Rating: 

    L. Frank Baum
ISBN: Barnes & Noble e-book
Pages: 1304
Started: 2011-11-15
Finished:

Most folks don't realise that there is a series of "Wizard of Oz" book.  I
read many of them as a child, and I'm re-reading them again as an adult, to
see what an adult perspective does to them.