Book #74 was Outlander, the first book in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. The back of the book reads:

Claire Randall is leading a double life. She has a husband in one century, and a lover in another…

In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon–when she innocently touches a boulder in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach–an “outlander”–in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of our Lord…1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire’s destiny in soon inextricably intertwined with Clan MacKenzie and the forbidden Castle Leoch. She is catapulted without warning into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life …and shatter her heart. For here, James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a passion so fierce and a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire…and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

I can’t say enough about this book. I was in love with it by the time I’d read 100 pages. In fact, it’s an 800+ page book and I read it in about 4 days. And I’ve *already* reread parts. I think I’ve read the final chapter 4 times now. I’m not sure what makes it affect me so. It’s very passionate, and the suspense in parts is so much that I think I stopped breathing. I mean, you’re pretty sure that certain people aren’t going to die, but you’re not *quite* sure. And at one point there’s a decision that has to be made, and there’s no foreshadowing of what that decision might be. Sometimes you can tell by the number of pages left in the book, but this could have gone either way. I almost stopped reading because I didn’t want her to make the choice I didn’t want!

Anyway, I am hooked. I went out on Monday and bought the next 4 books in the series, and I can’t tell you the last time I paid full price for paperbacks. I started the second book last night, and already my mind is racing!

Book count: 74
Pages in book: 896
Page count: 30,601
Words in book: 294,555
Word count: 8,978,914

Book #75 was Cruel & Unusual, book #4 in Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta series. The back of the book reads:

“Killing me won’t kill the beast” are the last words of rapist-murderer Ronnie Joe Waddell, written four days before his execution. But they can’t explain how Dr. Kay Scarpetta finds Waddell’s fingerprints on another crime scene — after she’d performed his autopsy. If this is some sort of game, Scarpetta seems to be the target. And if the next victim is someone she knows, the punishment will be cruel and unusual…

Not a bad installment. I don’t enjoy these early ones as much as the later ones. The wrap-ups often seem clunky and convenient. Lucy’s character in this one is somewhat harsh, but there’s shadows of what’s to come with her.

Book count: 75
Pages in book: 416
Page count: 31,017
Words in book: 100,467
Word count: 9,079,381

1,000,000 words surpassed — 2/2/06
2,000,000 words surpassed — 2/14/06
10,000 pages surpassed — 3/10/06
3,000,000 words surpassed — 3/16/06
4,000,000 words surpassed — 4/3/06
5,000,000 words surpassed — 5/30/06
50 books surpassed – 6/12/06
20,000 pages surpassed — 6/29/06
6,000,000 words surpassed — 6/29/06
7,000,000 words surpassed — 7/21/06
8,000,000 words surpassed — 8/18/06
30,000 pages surpassed — 9/3/06
9,000,000 words surpassed — 9/6/06