Tag / Jessica Knoll

by admin

Prolific Authors – Two Books

It is time once again to take a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, I’m once again on pace to set a new record for books read in a year, so I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August of this year. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 114 books, so there should be some movement over the past two years.  Without further ado, it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much over the years.  We begin today with the 40 authors I’ve read two times, one fewer than two years ago.

Laura Caldwell

I have no idea how I came across the work of this local author, but I must have enjoyed it enough to go back for seconds.  Unfortunately, she passed away in 2020, leaving behind a back catalog of fourteen novels and two non-fiction books.

Michael Chabon

Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, the most recent of the two works of his I’ve read.  I have another, Wonder Boys, waiting in the to read pile, so he rise up some day.

Matthew V. Clemens

The co-author, with Max Allan Collins, of the final two chapters of the Reeder and Rogers trilogy.

Ready Player Two – Ernest Cline

Ernest Cline

The man responsible for both Ready Player One and Ready Player Two.

Bill Clinton

The former president has co-written two novels with James Patterson.

Michael Connelly

The creator of Harry Bosch makes his first appearance thanks to his Renée Ballard spin-off series.

Laura Dave

I read my second novel from her, The Night We Lost Him, earlier this year.

Felicia Day

The first author here that I’ve happened to meet in person.

Cameron Dokey

She makes the list based on two entries in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series.

Warren Ellis

The comic writer, currently in exile after being called out for abusing women, makes the list thanks to two prose novels.

David Fisher Continue reading →

by admin

2024: The Year In Books

As 2024 comes to a close, my fourth full year of remote working, I managed to once again surpass my previous records by completing a whopping 61 books, two books more than my previous high set last year and my fourth consecutive year completing the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge.  I completed the challenge in mid-November and surpassed last year’s total in mid-December.  I read 22,622 pages, by far my highest total of all time and just the second time I’ve managed to surpass 20.000 pages.

Of those books, only five were non-fiction and, of the remaining 56 novels, only five were tied to a TV show, either as the source material or as a tie-in.  None of the books came out of my dwindling “to-read” drawer, with two hard covers, two paperbacks, 53 e-books and no audiobooks.  I continued to take advantage of my library card, which helped me procure 46 of the books I consumed throughout the year.

Over 69% of the books I read this year were by authors I had read before. The 19 authors that I read for the first this year were:

Jessica Knoll Isabella Maldonado Kathleen McGurl Lisa Taddeo
Lisa Jewell Millie Bobby Brown J.M. Dillard Lee Goldberg
Avery Cunningham Margot Douaihy R.F. Kuang Jessica Simpson
Jeffrey Lang Dayton Ward Holly Wilson Karin Smirnoff
Walter Beede Michael Connelly Rob Harvilla

Karin Slaughter, Jeffery Deaver, Laura Lippman, Elin Hilderbrand, Jessica Knoll, Michael Connelly, Minka Kent, Lee Goldberg, Rebecca Forster, Stephen King, and Sarah Pekkanen were the authors that I read multiple titles from during 2024.

17 of the books I read were released this year, while only three of them were released last century, with the oldest first published in 1997.

Continue reading →

by admin

Book 14 (of 52) – Luckiest Girl Alive

Luckiest Girl Alive – Jessica Knoll

Ani FaNelli seems to have it all, a fancy Manhattan apartment, a top job in the publishing industry, and a blue-blood fiancé.  On the inside, however, she is broken, ruined by what happened to her in high school.  When she agrees to participate in a documentary looking back at what happened at her prestigious school, she finally confronts the demons that she has hidden for years and just might find the closure she has been looking for.

I first added Luckiest Girl Alive to my to-read list based on its inclusion on a list of “new” Gone Girls.  When I checked it out last week, I was unaware that 1) it was by Jessica Knoll, who I had just read for the first time less than two months ago and 2) I had seen the movie adaptation starring Mila Kunis last year.  I even mentioned both of these facts in my review of Bright Young Women and it still didn’t stick.  This was not as pleasant an experience as my previous one with Knoll’s work.  The attempt to make FaNelli a sympathetic character came way too late and was sort of forced into the last chapter or two, making the ending feel rushed.

by admin

Book 7 (of 52) – Bright Young Women

Bright Young Women – Jessica Knoll

In January of 1978. an unnamed serial killer (*cough*Ted Bundy*cough*) attacks a sorority at Florida State University, killing two and maiming two others.  When the sorority president sees him fleeing the scene, she embarks on a journey to prove that the man wanted for numerous murders out west was the one she saw.  She teams up with an older woman, whose girlfriend went missing years before, to find out the truth, both in the 70s and today.

A nominee for Best Mystery & Thriller in last year’s Goodreads Choice Awards, Bright Young Women, by Jessica Knoll, blends the historical facts of Ted Bundy’s reign of terror with the fictional victims of an unnamed sorority in Florida and a troubled young woman finally finding her footing in Washington.  This is my first experience with Knoll’s work in book form, though I did see the adaptation of her Luckiest Girl Alive, starring Mila Kunis, last year.  I’m sure I will check back in on her at some point.