bell7's 2010 Book List Part 2

Well, Stasia's right it's time for a new thread.

Here is Part 1 of my 2010 reading.

I'll be keeping a running tally of books and manga on the same thread, but separate counts, as well as monthly tallies of what I've read and brief commentary on favorites, number of abandoned books, etc.

Here are my threads in the challenge groups I'm participating in this year for a slightly different perspective of what I'm reading this year:
1010 Category Challenge
Dewey Decimal Challenge
Reading Globally and
Books off the Shelf Challenge
75 Picture Books

And finally, here are the number of books and pages (rough estimate, because I can't count audiobooks) read this year:

Got you starred!

Hey, Mary - welcome to the multi-thread club!

*STAR!*

Hey all, thanks for stopping by!

41. Rogue's Home by Hilari Bell

*If you haven't already read the first in the series, The Last Knight, this is a spoiler warning for that title.*

Returning from their adventures attempting to recapture Lady Ceciel, Sir Michael knows that returning without the lady will mean he is declared unredeemed. He will be marked with a tattoo and forever considered outside the law - he can claim no redress, nor is it a crime for another man to harm him. But this is the only way he can see of getting out of his father's requirement for him to work as a steward, and Michael is nothing if not stubborn. Meanwhile, a messenger finds Fisk and gives him a message he's been carrying for months. The contents are vague, but clear - his sisters need him.

This time around, we meet Fisk's family and get more of his backstory, which was only hinted at in The Last Knight. As before, the chapters alternate between Fisk's and Michael's points of view so we can get a really good sense of their character development, as idealistic Michael learns just how hard life can be as an unredeemed man and Fisk has a backhanded way of trying to give Michael his dignity back. Instead of a journey, this story is more of a mystery that close readers may be able to put together a little before the characters do, but what really makes these stories fun is spending time with Michael and Fisk. 4.5 stars.

And now (well, not now, after I get back from work, really) - I get to read the third book in the series, Player's Ruse for the first time. SO excited!

Something to look forward to after a day at work - terrific!

You betcha, it's more of an issue of getting me to do anything else when I'm reading these books...

Oh, I never let anything slide just because I have my nose in a book :)

yeah, just 'cause you're magic and can read while you do everything else. :)

April in review -

28. Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey
29. Affinity Bridge by George Mann
30. Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore
31. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
32. The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart (audio)
33. The Lexicographer's Dilemma by Jack Lynch
34. The Haunted Hotel: A Mystery of Modern Venice by Wilkie Collins
35. Changeless by Gail Carriger
36. Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones
37. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
38. Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
39. Steampunk edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer
40. The Last Knight by Hilari Bell
41. Rogue's Home by Hilari Bell

Books read: 12 (41)
Audiobooks listened to: 1 (3)
Graphic novels/manga: 0 (3)
Books abandoned: 1 (11)
Standouts: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, Enchanted Glass and The Lexicographer's Dilemma

Looks like you had a good reading month for April, Mary!

I did! It was really hard to pick favorites, because I enjoyed most of the books I'd read the past month.

Any month you enjoy most of the books you read is a good one!

42. Player's Ruse by Hilari Bell

*If you haven't read the first two books in the Knight and Rogue series, The Last Knight and Rogue's Home, this is a **spoiler warning** for those titles*

Over a year has passed since Fisk and Michael left Fisk's family. They have made a bit of a life for themselves - Michael working as a bouncer and Fisk copying and sewing. Then Rosamund, Michael's cousin and the girl he's in love with, shows up and asks for their help in finding her love, a traveling player named Rudy. When they travel to the town in which the players are working, Michael and Fisk manage to catch the eye of the sheriff by seeing a signal fire used by wreckers. Instead of asking them to leave when he finds out Michael's status as an unredeemed man, the sheriff requests that they stay while he conducts his investigations. Of course, a knight errant and his squire can't help but get involved.

This story took a little longer than the others to get going, and to be perfectly honest - though I'm very sad to be leaving this world behind for now - I didn't like it as well as the first two. Though the wreckers and the mysterious enemy of the players gives the story a hint of mystery, there is not as much adventure and some elements of the story seem a little forced in comparison to the earlier titles. Still, I enjoyed seeing Michael and Fisk's friendship and characters develop further. Their personalities really come through the narration, even given small details such as the dog that Michael calls True and Fisk calls Trouble. This is definitely a series I would reread with pleasure. 4.5 stars.

Hello! Checking in for Part 2...

Hi Ellie! Good to have you here!

43. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Tom Sawyer just can't seem to stay out of trouble, much to the chagrin of his Aunt Polly and other adults in his life. Among other things, he skips school, tricks his friends into doing his chores, and falls in love with the new girl. Though he's always up to something, you can't help but like this kid.

It's always a little strange to reread books that I first encountered as a child, and having my past and present reactions running through my mind. I remember reading Tom Sawyer for the first time when I was in elementary school, and really enjoying the chapter about whitewashing the fence. I was so proud of myself that I figured out how devious Tom was, even when the narrator didn't really tell me that he was tricking everyone. I still enjoyed it as an adult, but my reactions were different in a few ways. I had remembered it as more of a cohesive story, but it's really quite episodic. The characterization of "Injun Joe" didn't faze me as a child, but reading it now I was struck by the pervasive racism. A fun story, especially when Tom and Huck are up to shenanigans and discussing superstitions. 4 stars.

Edited to fix touchstone...

Hmm, Tom Sawyer definitely sounds like a worthwhile re-read as an adult... I remember the fence chapter as well, but not much else! Interesting to hear the different perspective now. I had a similar experience with Peter Pan a few years back, when I was shocked to realize how suggestive and potty-mouthed Tinkerbell was in the original story!

Yeah, that's pretty much all I remembered too, and a little about the stuff that happened late in the story. I never really liked Peter Pan much, but I could definitely see having different impressions as a child vs. adult for that story too.

44. Still Life by Louise Penny

"Miss Jane Neal met her maker in the early morning mist of Thanksgiving Sunday. It was pretty much a surprise all around. Miss Neal's was not a natural death, unless you're of the belief everything happens as it's supposed to" (1). So begins Still Life, a mystery set in the small Canadian town of Three Pines, Quebec, where everyone knows everyone and life goes by at a slightly slower pace. Jane Neal was a bit eccentric - not letting anyone beyond her kitchen, for example - but well-liked and about to enter a painting into an art show for the first time. When she is found dead, apparently the victim of a hunting accident, Inspector Armand Gamache is called in from the big city to piece together the events. He relies on intuition and good people skills in his investigation.

I'm late to the party with this one. A co-worker of mine named it as one of her favorite reads last year, and several people here on LibraryThing have sung its praises much more skillfully than I. All I can say is its one of those stories that gripped me from the first sentences. The blend of humor and seriousness, wonderfully vibrant characters and compelling mystery made this an incredibly difficult book to put down. I'm glad it's the first in a series, because I don't want to leave Three Pines behind. What else can I say? Still Life is definitely on my list of favorites for the month, and will probably make my list of top reads for the year. 5 stars.

#21: You are in for some good reading, Mary. The series definitely improves from book 1 onward!

That's good to hear! My library doesn't have book #2, but I'm going to be seeing if we can get it, since we have the rest of the series. The only question will be whether I will have the patience to spread them out 'til book #6 comes out in October (I think?).

Bury Your Dead's official release date is September 28th, Mary. At least it is according to Amazon. I already have it on pre-order.

ooh...very cool! So if I average one a month, I'll be doing well. Knowing myself, though, I don't think I'll have the patience to do that. :)

45. The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers

Optimus Yarnspinner is an aspiring author and a dinosaur living in Zamonia. As an inhabitant of Lindworm castle, he has had the best training under the tutelage of his authorial godfather, Dancelot Wordwright. On his deathbed, Dancelot bequeaths a manuscript to Optimus, a brilliant short story by an unknown author, and commissions his godson to go to Bookholm to discover the writer.

This is an endlessly inventive tale that mixes the ridiculous (literary dinosaurs) with smart bookish humor (author names that Optimus lists are anagrams of famous authors in our world). The odd mixture puts me in mind of the Thursday Next series, though in many ways the stories themselves are completely different. But if you have a good imagination, enjoy discovering literary references in unexpected places, and didn't mind the footnoterphone or the Cheshire Cat as librarian in The Well of Lost Plots, then I would recommend Moers' creative yarn. Though the fourth in a series, The City of Dreaming Books was the first that I read and I had no trouble reading it as a standalone. It runs a little long towards the end, but it was such a fun ride that I want to check out the rest of the series. 4.5 stars.

You are reading some great books. Congratulations on reading 45 thus far.

Thanks, Linda! I've really enjoyed the books I've been reading lately.

Your reading list is not so shabby either - I've just visited your thread to add Kindertransport to the ever-growing TBR longlist and added The Gardner Heist last week.

Thanks for the compliment. I think you will enjoy both books.

#26: I already have that one in the BlackHole. One of these days I may actually get my hands on it!

46. Her Mother's Hope by Francine Rivers

At age twelve, Marta knows what she wants out of life - she wants to continue learning, leave her family home behind, and own her own boarding house or hotel. Her abusive father takes her out of school and makes her work for families in their hometown of Steffisburg, Switzerland, but Marta makes the most of all she learns so that she can attain her dream. Family ties back home threaten to break her, however, for her sick mother and her gentle sister Elise stay behind. Her mother encourages her to fly, and Marta determines to do so regardless of her father's plans for her.

Covering about 50 years from 1901 to 1951, this is the story of Marta and her oldest daughter, Hildemara, and how their relationship is shaped by Marta's past. The two of them have very different temperaments, and their points of view dominate the story, but I connected and sympathized with both women. Unfortunately, none of the other characters are as fleshed out as Marta or Hildie. Time moves by fast, too, so that I was left wanting more information, though the story covers nearly 500 pages. Maybe I'm just not cut out for family sagas - I wanted Marta to have a story of her own, with more details instead of the broad brush strokes required to cover so much time in a short space. 4 stars.

Your latest read sounds very interesting!

Linda, I thought so. It reads fast, too, despite the length of the book.

I should probably add that this is a Christian author and publisher, because I know that turns some people off. I don't read a ton of Christian fiction myself, but I generally make an exception for Francine Rivers because she doesn't have the I-have-to-throw-a-salvation-message-in-here element in her stories. Her characters (or at least, some of them) have a relationship with God, and it's just part of who they are as characters.

47. Raising Bookworms by Emma Walton Hamilton

Please don't mind me...I'm pretty sure this is going to turn out to be a really long post while I figure out exactly how to review this book. But the review on the book page should turn out better as a result. :)

My Children's Literature teacher taught me to review a book for what it is rather than what I want it to be. I'm trying to separate my expectations of what I wanted Raising Bookworms to be from my reactions to what it is, but it's really hard to distance myself from the experience of reading a book in order to look at it more analytically than emotionally, especially when the subject matter is one near and dear to my heart: getting kids to read. I should be up front about what I expected. I was hoping for a list of resources and suggestions that either might be handy in recommending books to children and teens in my capacity as reference librarian or that I could use to subtly encourage my younger sister to read.

The suggestions in the book, however, are of much more use to parents. Hamilton's main premise is that we should connect reading with joy, and many of her techniques such as reading aloud, creating a book nook, keeping books in every room, and modeling a love of reading yourself, hearken back to this main theme. Each chapter focuses on one age group - baby and toddler, preschool, elementary school, and middle school. She warns in the introduction that a lot of the techniques carry over into other age groups, so reading from cover to cover can be repetitive. At the end of each chapter, she includes a list of some of her "Family Favorites" as suggestions. Most of her suggestions are common sense; perhaps because I took so many courses in children's services, I didn't find a lot that I had not already known. Despite the introduction, I found myself quickly getting annoyed with the repetitive structure of the book and the frequent use of italics. I did enjoy the chapter of various resources - recommended books, awards, and websites - which again, was more along the lines of what I had expected going in to it.

So, I was often bored or frustrated in the reading of the book, basically because it was not the book I wanted nor do I find it extremely useful right now, with no children and no real capability of putting her suggestions into practice either at home or at work. But what I did find was a handy resource to suggest to parents who want to interest their kids in reading from a young age and don't know where to start. The repetitive nature of her suggestions would probably be less obvious if you were to hone in on the applicable chapters for your children's ages. While the italics are still annoying (probably an editorial choice, but I felt like I was being talked down to) and the book suggestions put series titles out of order, it's generally a good resource and starting point for parents who want to positively reinforce reading in their homes.

Personal reaction: 2 stars
Recommending to parents: 4 stars

48. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Finn is a prisoner in Incarceron, the sentient prison originally intended as a utopia, but truly a savage place with Scum and outlaws and all-seeing eyes. Claudia is the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron. As the betrothed of the Prince, Claudia may apparently have an idyllic life, but she's in a prison of her own.

The world imaged in Incarceron is apparently sometime in the future. Huge scientific discoveries were made and a lot of technology could be available, but the people have purposely turned their backs on it, instead following a Protocol much like the Victorian Era. Both those inside and outside Incarceron still seemed imprisoned by Protocol and by the royal family - what Claudia's father refers to as "the game." The world-building is complex and sometimes confused me, but it builds up the tension and suspense in reading. Finn and Claudia are sympathetic characters, and I want to know more about each of them. I hope future titles in the series will further explore their backgrounds. 4 stars.

#35: I have had that one in the BlackHole for a while now. One of these days, I will actually read it (if my local library ever gets it, that is!)

hehe...my library just got it and I took it home right away. In fact, a few days before she got it in, the teen librarian was telling me about the books she was ordering just then, and she mentioned Incarceron. I got all excited and started talking about the book, but she started laughing. She called me over and showed me her order list - she'd put a note next to the book that read, "Mary will like this."

Yup, she knows my reading taste all right. :)

#37: Sounds like it! Aren't librarians wonderful?

I think so...I became one partly because my coworkers were so great. :) And because library people are happy in general - both those working there and those who come in the door. Not many other customer service-oriented jobs can say that.

Mary
You are right. Some of my favorite people are librarians..

Just popping in to say, that's a Francine Rivers book I haven't heard of before. Is it quite new?

>40 Whisper1: Me too, Linda. :)

>41 dk_phoenix: Faith, yes it is! It just came out in March, and the sequel is due out later this year (September, according to Amazon).

Graphic novel/manga count:

4. Mixed Vegetables Volume 1 by Ayumi Komura
5. Mixed Vegetables Volume 2

The daughter of a baker wants to become a sushi chef, but she doesn't want to disappoint her parents with the news that she will not be taking over the bakery when she graduates. So, her master plan is to marry the only son of the sushi shop owner. Funny and light, but don't read while hungry 'cause, well, there's lots of drawings of food...

6. Sand Chronicles Volume 1 by Hinako Ashihara
7. Sand Chronicles Volume 2

More dramatic and older than the other series, this is about a girl who moves from Tokyo to a small village where her mom grew up. When family tragedy strikes, she finds that some folks she thought were annoying at first become true friends.

49. Juliet by Anne Fortier

When Julie Jacobs' aunt dies, she received a letter that reveals her name is truly Giulietta Tolomei, a descendant of the real-life families that inspired Romeo and Juliet: the Tolomeis and the Salembenis. Her mother, Diane, had left behind a box with more information for her to find. Leaving her twin sister behind, Julie - or Giulietta - travels to Siena, Italy to follow the clues her mother left behind. She also meets members of the Salembeni, Eva Maria and her godson, Alessandro. As she becomes more and more wrapped up in the story of the previous Giulietta Tolomei and her love, Romeo Marescotti, Julie doesn't know whom to trust or who is telling her the truth.

I was most interested in the historical, literary angle of the book, and the sections set in 1340 worked best for me. The rest was in Julie's voice, and I didn't really connect with her as a narrator, especially in her description of her twin sister, Janice, and their relationship. Fortier's decision to narrate the story in first person also took away some of the tension, since it is very unlikely that the narrator will die. Though a fairly well-paced plot, I never really felt invested in the characters nor did I fully buy the modern-day romance. The narration is sprinkled with similes, some of which were fresh but many of which were unnecessary and only served to make the story feel even more over the top than it already was. A quick and fun summer story, but not one that I would reread. 3 stars.

#44: I already have that one in the BlackHole, but my local library does not have it yet, so I am not going to rush around trying to find it. I hope you enjoy your next read more, Mary.

Stasia, I received it through Early Reviewers and it's due to come out on August 17, so maybe your local library will still be getting it. I think I will enjoy my next read more - I was holding back on reading A Fatal Grace, telling myself it would be my treat for finishing my ER book.

>42 bell7:: Ah, alright, thanks! I'd better grab a copy for the church library before the ladies start complaining... haha. I'm a little behind with new releases this year, I bought a computer for the church library to *finally* catalogue everything on-site, but it's meant no new books for the first 6 months. Oh well! I might head out and grab that one this weekend, in that case.

#46: Thanks for the heads up about the release date.

I guarantee you will like A Fatal Grace more!

:) I think I will too. Actually, I'm holding off just a little longer on starting it because I have a busy Fri-Sat, and don't want to get too distracted by a good book (my sister's 6th grade graduation party is this weekend). Plus I'm reading a couple already, including The Sheepfarmer's Daughter which someone (Linda maybe? I'm going to have to start tagging these things...) recommended not long ago.

Sounds like a plan to wait until you have time to concentrate on the book. I suspect it is going to be a busy weekend for a lot of people.

50. A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny

Nobody particularly liked CC de Poitiers and no one, even in idyllic Three Pines, is particularly torn up now that she's been murdered. Even so, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache investigates, using his trademark respect and ability to read people.

The second in the Three Pines series, A Fatal Grace could be read before Still Life without a problem; however, readers with the inhabitants of Three Pines - such as Peter and Clara Morrow, Gabri, Olivier, Ruth, Myrna and, of course, Inspector Gamache himself - will appreciate the return of familiar characters and probably best be able to keep track of them all. Personally, I loved Still Life and was a little afraid I was going in to A Fatal Grace with unreachable expectations, but the book delivers in spades. This is a really delightful mystery series, including a smattering of human emotion and psychology, poetry, and hints of the past affecting the present for Inspector Gamache and his team. I really look forward to seeing how this series continues to develop. 5 stars.

I swear, this series is going to spoil me because not much else I've been reading lately comes even close to my sheer delight over these books.

#51: You ready to catch the bus to Three Pines with the rest of us?

Absolutely! :)

Good!

May in review -

42. Player's Ruse by Hilari Bell
43. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (audio)
44. Still Life by Louise Penny
45. The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers
46. Her Mother's Hope by Francine Rivers
47. Raising Bookworms by Emma Walton Hamilton
48. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
49. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
50. Juliet by Anne Fortier
51. A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny

Weirdly, I seem not to have including The Daughter of Time, even though I'm almost positive I posted about it. Oh well, see the post below for my review.

Books read: 9
Audiobooks listened to: 1
Graphic novels/manga: 5
Books abandoned: 1 (The Phantom of the Opera on audio wasn't working for me - I'm hoping to read it sometime this year, though)
Standouts: Still Life and A Fatal Grace - I'm loving this series!

51. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
(actually finished before Juliet, but apparently the post was forgotten!)

Alan Grant is laid up in the hospital after a fall through a trap door, and incredibly bored as a result. Best-sellers brought by well-meaning friends do not help his situation, but when Marta brings him some historical photographs, he suddenly takes an interest. Grant studies faces, and he comes across a photograph of a man he would have guessed to be a leader and a good man - only to find out it is Richard III. Surprised at his uncharacteristically wrong guess, he embarks on a research project to find more about the last Plantaganet king and the mystery of the murder of his nephews.

For a story in which there is not much action and little immediacy, the pace is fast and the mystery surprisingly intriguing. I enjoyed Tey's dry sense of humor from the beginning, and once Grant started sending people off to research Richard III and continuing with historical tidbits, I was pretty well hooked. I think I would have followed Grant and his friends' research better had I been better versed in the history of the British monarchy. As it was, there was one chapter thick with historical summary that bored me incredibly. I also wished for a bibliography or author's note or something as an endnote to tell me where to look up more information about Richard II or Henry VII or the Princes in the Tower. I was intrigued enough, however, to follow up with a nonfiction title and will certainly read more by this author in the future. 4 stars.

#56: That is my favorite of Tey's books. I just love it.

I enjoyed it quite a bit - I'm looking forward to trying some of her other books, hopefully soon.

Sheepfarmer's Daughter was probably me--I just re-read that trilogy before reading the brand new book out in that series. How are you liking it?

You're absolutely right, Roni. Sorry about my absentmindedness, but with everyone on LT recommending so many good books it's hard to keep them all straight. :) I'm a little over halfway through, and have been enjoying Sheepfarmer's Daughter so far. I like how the details of army life lend realism to the fantasy world. I'm not quite sure where the plot's going, but would probably pick up book 2 at this point to find out what happens.

52. The Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon

Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter runs away from home and an unwanted marriage proposal to join the army. She joins with Duke Phelan's company, a mercenary company, promising to fight for two years after training. Beginning with training and continuing as Paks rises through the ranks, we see Paks mature and deal with all manner of challenges from within and outside the company.

Though a fantasy, as evidenced by mention of orcs and elves, the focus on military life ground the story in a reality of its own, though names of towns or people may be unfamiliar. The story is mostly about Paks' coming-of-age, and readers don't really know all the whys and wherefores of the many battle until well into the book when Paks herself is rising in rank. There are hints of even more going on behind the scenes, but nothing spelled out in this first book of a trilogy. 4 stars.

Your latest read sounds very interesting.

#61: I have Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon checked out of the library at present. Maybe I will try The Sheepfarmer's Daughter next - if I can locate a copy. Thanks for the recommendation, Mary!

>62 Whisper1: Thanks, Linda.

>63 alcottacre: Stasia, you're welcome and hope you have better luck than I did - it was on the third step of ILLs, the one before I start looking outside of the state. Hope you like Remnant Population - looking at the work page, it looks completely different from what I read, so I'll be curious to read what you think.

And thanks, Roni, for the recommendation, too, because I never would've known about this series otherwise. :)

53. Talking to Dragons by Patricia Wrede

Daystar has lived with his mother at the edge of the Enchanted Forest, seeing princes and heroes stop by briefly in their questing. When the wizard Antorell shows up, however, things are a bit different. For one thing, his mother melts Antorell. For another, she goes in to the Forest and comes back with a sword about which she tells him little, just that he has to go in to the forest and figure out why he needs to be there. So Daystar sets out.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Dealing with Dragons, when I read it several years ago, and finally finished reading the series with this fourth book. Though it had been awhile since I read the others, I had no trouble following this one. In fact, readers who had never read the others may enjoy this one more since, like Daystar, they have very little knowledge of what he needs to do. I had a tough time thinking of Daystar as a believable sixteen-year-old. In addition to being unfailingly polite, just like his mother taught him, he's incredibly naive. I suppose I would be too if I'd lived with my mother at the edge of the forest and didn't really make friends with anybody, but it was a tough hurdle that I never really got over as I read his narration. Shiara, the fire-witch that Daystar meets in his travels, was a fun character that I liked despite, or maybe because of, her temper and willfulness. All in all, the series was a fun one that plays with conventional fantasy tropes, and I would recommend it to upper elementary or middle school fantasy readers. 3.5 stars.

I liked the Enchanted Forest Chronicles too, when I read them. The first and fourth books were my favorites. I am glad you liked them, Mary.

Actually, Mary, Talking to Dragons was written first, before the others, and so I read it before the others. It is rather fun to experience it before you know all the background from the other books.

Stasia, I did enjoy the series overall, though Dealing with Dragons is definitely my favorite.

Roni, I hadn't realized it was written first, but it does make sense that way. I thought it seemed odd to give all the background in, well, the end instead of the beginning. I may have had a better reaction to Talking to Dragons individually had I read it in publication order.

I loved the Enchanted Forest Chronicles! I even managed to convince my husband to read them, and he quite enjoyed them as well. Very funny, and I've gone on to read much more of Wrede's work because of that series.

Mary
I read A Season of Gifts today and note that you read this book in 2009. It was such a lovely, delightful masterpiece.

>69 dk_phoenix: I really enjoyed the series, though the only person in my family to read any of them was my sister, who only read the first one and isn't interested in reading the rest, even though she enjoyed it. (She's funny about getting recommendations from me - she'll read books I've read, but only if I keep my mouth shut and she either discovers them on her own or gets a recommendation from someone else.)

Outside of the Enchanted Forest series, the only book I've read by Wrede was Sorcery and Cecilia. I can't remember much about it except that I didn't like it quite as much, and I don't remember why. I should take another look at it. Are there any other of Wrede's books that you would recommend?

>70 Whisper1: Linda, I'm glad you enjoyed A Season of Gifts. I really love the books I've read by Richard Peck, though I think my favorite of the Grandma Dowdel books will always be A Year Down Yonder.

#71: I really liked Sorcery and Cecilia, but the follow up books I did not enjoy nearly as much. I hope you give it another try, Mary.

I probably will, Stasia, since I can't remember why I didn't think it was as good nor what the story was about other than the correspondence of two girls. I wonder if it will be one of those rereads where I have no idea what happened because it's been so long, or one of those where once I start the book I suddenly remember the gist of it? hmm...

I am glad you are willing to give it a second chance, Mary.

54. At Large and At Small by Anne Fadiman

In the Preface, Anne Fadiman quotes her father's regret that the familiar essay is dying, and declares her intention of this book to be her contribution to continuing the genre. She defines the familiar essay as one that includes both the personal (the "at small" of her title) and the general ("at large"). Each of the dozen essays in this collection also include the large and small in terms of topic, ranging from ice cream to Samuel Coleridge, as well as exhibiting Fadiman's broad knowledge base in literature and vocabulary.

One of my favorite essays was "Procrustes and the Culture Wars." Not only was it a topic that I was interested in - the culture wars as seen through four question regarding one's interpretation of capital-L Literature - but also my personal response in reading was pondering what my own response might be, what my own essay on the topic might be like. Even when I disagreed with her points, the essay was thought-provoking, smart, and witty.

One of the greatest strengths of this collection is Fadiman's ability to make disparate subject matter interesting, forcing me as a reader to only read one or two essays at a time, because I wanted to fully absorb what she was saying and think about the subject, rather than moving on quickly to something else as I could have done. Until now, I had only read Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader, her collection of essays on books and reading, but this collection has convinced me to try more of her titles.

I enjoy reading essays and Fadiman's Ex Libris is hands down my favorite in that genre.

Oh, I love Ex Libris! I'm of a mind to check out more essays, a genre in which I am sadly lacking. The Blogging for a Good Book blog had a post with a list of great essayists, which you might enjoy as well, Stasia. I might try E.B. White next - one of my brothers (the other one, not the one who recommended The Things They Carried - and good luck keeping track of my siblings!) told me he likes E.B. White's essays better than his fiction.

>71 bell7:: I also liked Sorcery and Cecelia, but maybe you didn't like the letter format? I found it really intriguing, and hope to read the sequels soon. As for her other books, I've read Magician's Ward and thought it was quite good, and -- while I haven't read them yet, but own a few -- I hear her Lyra novels are excellent... and don't have to be read in order! Huzzah!

>78 dk_phoenix: I don't remember, though letter format doesn't bother me generally...I love The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and 84, Charing Cross Road. Oh my, Patricia Wrede wrote whole series that I knew nothing about - I am going to have to remedy this....

I thought I had a long TBR list from working at a library and then I thought it was growing fast because of LT...and then I joined the 75-Book Challenge group. :::sigh:::

I like the Lyra books and The Seven Towers better than either the Sorcery and Cecilia or the Mairelon series, although I do like the latter as well.

#77: My favorite essayist, Montaigne, is on the list. He is the person who got me hooked on the genre. I was just thinking the other day that I need to give his book a re-read. I am going to tackle it a bit at a time as a year long project, probably next year.

Thanks, Faith and Roni, for the suggestions. I see I'm going to have some catchup to do on Patricia Wrede's books. :)

Yikes, if Montaigne is a year-long project for you, Stasia, I don't think I'll try to tackle it on a library borrow. It's a book I'd feel smart just owning though...hmmm... (my 82 unread-but-owned books are glaring at me).

Only 82 unread-but-owned books?! I have almost 1000, lol.

55. Book Lust by Nancy Pearl

The subtitle says it all - "Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason." The lists are organized alphabetically from "A is for Alice" to "Zero," which just about every genre and topic you can think of in between. Because it's organized topically, there is some overlap in books mentioned that fall into more than one category, with books like The Brothers K, for example, listed in both "Baseball" and "Mothers and Sons." Nancy Pearl, reader and librarian extraordinaire, also offers her comments on a book's plot or what she loved about it. I love that she's not afraid to give her opinion, saying upfront which books she loved and which sequels she did not think were as good. I know from listening to her podcasts and reading her blog that her opinions about books do not always coincide with mine, but I love that she doesn't try to sugarcoat her responses to try to appeal to more readers, because reading is personal.

This is not a book I would necessarily recommend reading from cover to cover unless you read widely and you could stand adding several books to your already large list of books to be read. I added about 30, and that was only by being really picky and rushing through some of the lists to get this book back to the library before it did more damage to my ever-growing TBR list. If it's not a book to be read straight through, however, it's an excellent book to own. I want this book. I want to be able to dip into it at random in the rare moments that I'm stuck for something to read. I want to be able to talk back in the margins - "No, The Makioka Sisters is dead boring, NOT like Jane Austen." I want to add books I've read that fall into each list that perhaps were published since Book Lust came out in 2003. The topical lists are also great for display ideas, and I admit to using one in the library soon after I started this book. Should you fail to find enough books to interest you here, there are more: More Book Lust, published in 2005, and Book Crush, similarly recommended books for children and teens. Personally, though, I'm going to wait until I can buy these, too. My TBR list is bloated enough as it is.

#84: I have not made it all the way through Book Lust yet (although I have owned it at least 5 years) because of the damage it was doing to the BlackHole. Of course, that did not stop me from buying Book Crush!

>83 alcottacre:, Stasia, Ah, but I've got limited space to work with (only two bookshelves in my bedroom). Give me a few years to catch up. ;)

#86: Shelves, schmelves - who needs them?

Well, I need a ton more because my books are all over everywhere :)

I refuse to even look at Book Crush until...well, until I can own it and read it slowly. I read a ton of YA fiction, and I just shudder to think what my TBR list would look like if I read it straight through.

Shelves...well, they're already overflowing. I have double-shelved and I have stacked books on top of the shelved ones, and I have a pile of books next to the shelves that won't fit. (I could double-shelve them on the half shelf that I have open at the moment, but then my organization scheme would be all messed up.) Give me time. When I have a place of my own, I plan on having a dedicated library that will probably also overflow once I really get going.

#88: I do have a dedicated library and it is very much overflowing!

lol...well, I wish you more shelves, then. Of course, then if you have any space at all, it's added pressure to fill it (you mean I have shelf space? Shopping time!).

Hi! Stopping by, trying to catch up. *waves*

Commenting way back to messages #61 and #63, The Speed of Dark is the one thing that I've read by Elizabeth Moon, and I really loved it. (It caught my attention because the main character has Autism, like my son.)

Hi, Terri, thanks for stopping by. *waves back* I caught up on your latest thread this morning and starred it. :)
I see I have some catchup to do with Elizabeth Moon's books as well as Patricia Wrede's. Her SF books sound fascinating!

56. The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The summer of 1943, Max Carver and his family move to the seaside. Their new home has been empty for some time, and was built by the Fleishmanns, a couple whose son, Jacob, drowned. The house seems creepy and full of secrets, including a garden of statues surrounded in mist that Max discovers nearby. Max also meets Roland, a boy who promises to take him and his older sister, Alicia, diving to see the Orpheus, a ship whose demise has a mystery of its own.

This debut novel of the author best known for The Shadow of the Windhas been newly translated into English. Though not as polished as his later works, The Prince of Mist definitely has moments of atmosphere that reminded me of Ruiz Zafon's adult books. The backstory is introduced kind of clunkily and the prose doesn't flow as well, but the deliciously creepy mystery kept me reading quickly. This is a story I can recommend to fans of The Ruby in the Smoke and other mysteries with a taste of the supernatural. 4 stars.

#93: Yep! I definitely need to get my hands on that one.

Hope you get it soon & enjoy reading it, Stasia!

Great books! I'm really interested in The Prince of Mist. I didn't know it had been translated into English and I loved his other books. I also am a Philip Pullman fan so this book looks right up my alley. Thanks for the recommendation!

Hi Marie, thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoy The Prince of Mist. Personally, I liked The Ruby in the Smoke better for its historical details and great characters, but The Prince of Mist reminded me of its combined mystery/supernatural feel.

Phew, finally caught up..

It's been way too long since I read your thread last. Found some nice sounding books on the way: The Hilari Bell books sound great, and Looking for Alibrandi and The Sheepfarmer's Daughter are also going on the TBR list. And coincidentally I just ordered Howl's Moving Castle from the library before I ventured into your threads. It's nice to be back :)

Glad you were able to catch up, Tanja! Speaking of Hilari Bell, I found out recently that she's working on a trilogy that will continue the story in The Goblin Wood, which I have yet to read. But everything I've read by her so far has been great. Hope you enjoy the others, too!

The Prince of Mist sounds great! Onto the Ever-Expanding List . . .

Hope you enjoy it, Terri!

Caught up!

#84 "This is not a book I would necessarily recommend reading from cover to cover unless you read widely and you could stand adding several books to your already large list of books to be read."

I think that book would probably make my TBR piles and wishlist into something approaching Stasia's Black Hole! Maybe best avoided..

#93 Glad you enjoyed The Prince of Mist, I have it reserved at the library. Hopefully I will get a copy soon!

>102 souloftherose: Hope you enjoy The Prince of Mist, Heather. And sorry that I seem to be de-recommending Book Lust. I did enjoy it, but it's the type of book I would like to have around for referencing or browsing when I'm in the mood to.

Oh, and just as a heads up, my reading is going to be changing significantly and soon. I'm probably not going to be finishing as many books per month as I have been, and I'm probably going to be reading more younger books because of a job change. I still have the assistant reference position that I've had for a couple of years, but I took a second part-time job in the children's room of another library that (between the two) brings me up to full-time hours!

So, any recommendations to bring me up-to-speed on elementary-age books? I've read some of the classics for that age group, as well as a couple of 39 clues, Junie B. Jones, Captain Underpants, all the old Matt Christopher books, and I'm pretty up-to-date on the Newbery Award winners.

Some that you might want to check out, Mary: Michael Buckley's Sisters Grimm series, Brandon Mull's Fablehaven series, John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series, Joseph Delaney's The Last Apprentice series, Joan Aiken's The Wolves of Willoughby Chase series, Avi's Crispin series.

I am sure there are others, but that's a start.

#104 I probably wasn't being very clear - I didn't think you were derecommending Book Lust, just commenting that it's a very dangerous book for adding to TBR piles and that's why I think I'd better avoid it!

Congratulations on the new job! I've just finished Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series (Mister Monday is the first book) and thought these were fun reads. I think they'd be suitable for 8-11s (is that elementary age?). Also Kenneth Oppel's Airborn was really fun.

The Charlie Bone series by Jenny Nimmo, the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage, the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix, the Dealing with Dragons quartet by Patricia Wrede. All the Tamora Pierce books, starting with Alanna and going up through Lady Knight and Trickster Queen, as well as her Circle of Magic series. Younger series include The Magic Treehouse series, Animorphs. Diary of a Wimpy Kid is huge at my elementary school right now, and they still love the Harry Potter books. There's a great big world out there.

Congrats on the new job!

>105 souloftherose: Heather, haha, that's what I get for editing and not reading the result all the way through before posting. I knew what you meant, but my response wasn't very clear. Because I enjoyed the book, I feel a little bad for saying in my review (even if half-serious, half tongue-in-cheek) not to read the book straight through.

Thanks for the recs and congrats! Here's what I haven't read -
1. The Sisters Grimm series
2. Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
3. The last two books in The Keys to the Kingdom series (ooh, perfect excuse to reread them all!)
4. Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan
5. Most of The Last Apprentice series - I did listen to the first one or two, and my were those creepy books to read before bed!
6. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
7. Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo - I think I listened to book 1, but did not follow it well.
8. Most of Tamora Pierce's books (though I did read the Alanna series)
9. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

I've read a handful of the Magic Treehouse books for some kids I babysat, the first two Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, and a lot of the Animorphs books (about 5? years ago, when they were brand new).

I think you should bump up Airborn on your list. I really love that series and you'll love the setting and characters!

I thought it was pretty funny that you started reviewing Book Lust right after Stasia's comment that she has over 1,000 owned-but-unread books. That's more than many people have in their whole libraries.

Having listened to Nancy Pearl on the radio in Seattle many times, along with having her come once to my book group of six women to discuss books with us, I would say that she is very much like many LTers here. She doesn't sound like some 'fancy-dancy' expert; she's just very good at briefly (but enthusiastically) describing the books that she's enjoyed reading, and explaining why in a very 'folksy, this-is-just-my-opinion kind of way. Even though I frequently haven't liked the same books as she, I still love listening to her.

>108 RosyLibrarian: Thanks, Marie, I might just do that. I've been thinking about reading Airborn and Mortal Engines this year in my exploration of steampunk.

>109 bonniebooks: Bonnie, that was great timing, huh? For the record, I have 83 according to my collections overlap stats. (But who am I kidding, the number will grow as I get more space...) I agree that Nancy Pearl comes across sounding as just a lover of books - I really liked that she wasn't afraid to give her opinion or sound enthusiastic about a book she loved. Like you, I haven't always liked the same books, but I still like listening to her podcast and reading her blog.

So, an update on my reading. I returned a couple of heavy-duty nonfiction to wait for another opportunity, kept reading a couple of books I'd already started, and added The Fairy Tale Detectives and Mister Monday to the currently-reading pile. The former works great as my audio on the way to work, which is essentially why I picked it. I'd been thinking about rereading the Keys of the Kingdom series so I could finish off Superior Saturday and Lord Sunday, but kept putting it off because they didn't fit into my 1010 Challenge. Well, now I can leave that unfinished (if need be - I only have about 30 books out of 80 left) with a clear conscience. :)

57. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

Though billed as a novel, this is a series of vignettes or short stories that each focus on a different character. These characters have one thing in common: their connection - often employment - with an English-language newspaper in Italy. The stories are told in chronological order, so even as we move between each character's point of view and story, the full picture that we begin to put together is of the newspaper itself. In between each story, we learn more of the back story of how the paper came to be in the first place, and by the end of the book the two stories - the character sketches and the story of the newspaper - have merged.

I'm rather conflicted about this book. I liked the format, which often reminded me of Olive Kitteridge. In the latter, the short stories taken together gave me a mosaic of this one character as seen from many points of view. In The Imperfectionists, each character's story eventually gives you a full picture of the newsroom. Each story is rather artfully done, too, with clever use of language and interesting - though very imperfect - characters. And here my conflict lies. I did not these characters, and I have a very tough time reading about characters that I dislike. By the time I realized that no one was going to be likable, I was too far in to abandon the book. I found the characters and the overall tone fairly depressing, so the more I think about the book, the less I like it. The writing is superb, though, and at moments I cared about the characters despite my dislike. So it tips the balance to 3 stars.

It's difficult for me to like a book if the main character is truly unlikeable; I don't think I could/would keep reading a collection of short stories if each new character introduced was unlikeable. I applaud your determination.

Well, I was halfway in when I realized I was really ambivalent about it...up to then, I'd enjoyed changing perspectives and the writing style but it kind of hit me all of a sudden that I disliked most of these people....generally I am not so determined, but I'd already read about 180 pages, so it seemed silly to abandon it then. :)

#111: I brought that one home from the library the other day due to numerous good reviews in the group. I hope I like it more than you did, Mary!

I hope you do, too! And hey, it may have been a bit of a mood thing even for me. I spent more than half the book thinking I was giving it 4 stars, but then when I sat down to review it, I was thinking I didn't like this, and I didn't like that, and....I really did start liking it less as I thought about it and reviewed it.

#115: I have been known to change my minds about books too when I sit down and really think about them, so I know how that goes.

Yeah, though I usually don't dock (or add) a full star in the process. I generally review a book soon after finishing it, and I often have a rating in mind and sort of approach the second half of my review as explaining why I rated it what I did. But sometimes I work out my rating in the process of the review, and that's what happened here. To make it even more confusing, I've become pickier about my ratings this year. 4.5 and 5 stars used to be satisfying reads, rereads, beloved books. There was a lot of "like" there. Now 4 stars is better than it used to be - maybe a book that I enjoyed but still had a niggling problem that I couldn't ignore - a book I liked and would recommend. If I think at the end, this is a book I would reread, I'll give it 4.5 or 5 stars, depending.

I have gotten so picky that if I find a book that I am interested in reading, I consult the ratings on LT first. If the book is rated lower than 3.5 stars, I will not read it.

I could see how that would be a good indicator, though I haven't consciously used the rating myself. However I learn about a book, I try to know just enough to know if I might like it or not. After that, I don't want to know. No spoilers, no opinions, no nothing because I want my thoughts to be my own. So I skim or skip over every mention of The Brutal Telling since I haven't gotten that far yet (though I have The Cruelest Month home from the library and will start it soon).

58. Mister Monday by Garth Nix

Arthur Penhaligon is just a normal kid, until the day he has an asthma attack during a school run, and two mysterious men pop out to give him a key and a book. Then Arthur starts seeing a huge house that's never been there before, and dog-like men that want his key start chasing him. But he doesn't even know what the key is for, or what he's supposed to do.

I wanted to reread the Keys to the Kingdom series so that I can remember the story before I read Superior Saturday and Lord Sunday now that the series is complete. Having listened to the audiobook read by Allan Corduner the first time, it was interesting comparing what stood out to me the first time versus my experience reading now. I remembered Arthur as a reluctant hero, and while that's still true, his character is much stronger than I remembered in doing what he has to do and making decisions about his life. The setting seems to be our world just a little in the future, after a pandemic of some sort, in which Arthur's birth parents died. Now twelve, he's asthmatic and should have died before the Will with a mind of its own chose him as the Rightful Heir. The House and the world created by the Architect out of Nothing make for an inventive fantasy world, and I found I'd forgotten a lot of the clever details like "washing between the ears." I look forward to revisiting the rest of the series, but I remembered the audiobooks so fondly that I may go back to that format for the rest. 4.5* stars.

*One of the quirks of my rating system is that if I'm rereading a book it's an automatic 4.5 to 5 stars - the rating I give to a reread-worthy tale the first time I read it. So I wasn't really thinking about the rating while I reread and it's generally a reflection of what I thought the first time through.

#119: I do not read the reviews because some people think that reviews should include detailing every plot point in the book! I stick to looking at the ratings in determining whether to read the book or not.

#120: I have the second book in the series, Grim Tuesday, home from the library now. That you are re-reading the series is a good sign for me.

I hope you enjoy the Keys to the Kingdom (I always want to write "of" unless the book is in front of me...) series, Stasia! It's been about 3 years and a couple hundred books between now and reading Lady Friday, so I figured I should remember what had happened so far before jumping in again at the end.

Makes sense to me! Since I have never read any of them before, I do not need to go back and re-read :)

Oh, the joys of discovering a series after it's completed. :)

ETA: Or being patient, of course. There's that too.

Patience? Never heard of it!

59. The Quickening by Michelle Hoover

Enidina Current and Mary Morrow are farmer's wives and neighbors. They are almost thrown together by circumstances, if not friends in the strictest sense of the word. The arc of the story focuses more on their internal struggles than on external events, as the women connect through family, poverty, and the hard work of the farms.

Enidina and Mary trade narration every chapter, sometimes telling the same stories from a different viewpoint, beginning during World War 1 and running through the decades. Sometimes their reminiscences provide a picture of their pasts and the narrative present (about 1950), but primarily the story takes place between the World Wars. I was not sure how much to trust either woman's point of view. At times, Enidina seemed confused about exactly what happened, and I had a hard time fully trusting Mary's description of events as well. Because time moves quickly, I sometimes had a hard time remembering character's ages. Enidina and Mary are the most fleshed out, which makes sense since they are narrating. I found myself sympathizing more with Mary, but liking Enidina more. Recommended for readers who enjoy a midwestern setting and character-drive stories. 4 stars.

#129: That one sounds interesting. I hope the local library gets a copy in soon! Thanks for the recommendation, Mary.

I hope you enjoy it, Stasia! I think it comes out next week.

Not counting this one for now...though maybe I'll start a "75 Picture Books" thread. One of the pages in the library where I work in the children's room told me this was her favorite book, and the art was so adorable that I had to bring it home and read it, even though no one in my family is really the right age for it.

Pete & Pickles by Berkeley Breathed (touchstones don't like this one - it's a link)

This is the story of the unlikely friendship struck up by Pete, a pig, and Pickles, a circus elephant who shelters in his house one night. The artwork is lovely and detailed. I enjoyed the humor conveyed in images, such as the pig-centric furniture in Pete's house, and the expressions on the animals' faces. The alliterative writing gives the story a good flow for a read aloud, and the pictures and story work together to present a really adorable, humorous tale. If I ever start collecting picture books to read to my kids someday, Pete & Pickleswill be near the top of the list. 5 stars.

60. The Fairy-Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley

Sisters Sabrina and Daphne Grimm have been moving from foster home to foster home ever since their parents' disappearance, and each home has been successively worse. Then, an old woman appears, claiming to be their grandmother, and taking them to live at Ferryport Landing. But Sabrina's parents always said their grandmother was dead, so she's not about to believe it, or any crazy things the lady says about being descendants of the Grimm brothers who may just have been recording history.

The first of the Sisters Grimm series has a little bit of everything: mystery, adventure, and fractured fairy tales. Sabrina and Daphne's relationship was good but realistic, with a little bit of good old-fashioned arguing and manipulation, and I enjoyed their interactions. I also had fun recognizing fairy tale characters and discovering the author's reinterpretations. L.J. Ganser's narration of the audiobook was well done, with each character instantly recognizable. My only complaint as an adult reader is that I saw some of the twists coming a mile away, but I daresay I wouldn't have noticed a bit as a child. 4 stars.

*Possible spoiler*: I liked how some of the characters you might expect to be good were bad, and vice versa. It wasn't cut and dried because the good guys had to temporarily team up with people they didn't necessarily agree with otherwise.

#130: Glad you enjoyed that one, Mary!

Thanks, Stasia. I'm trying to talk my sister into reading it now, even though she's a little older than the characters. I would recommend it to kids who liked the Spiderwick Chronicles (and she really did, even though she's 12), though I think some of the references will go over many kids' heads.

61. The Cruellest Month by Louise Penny

The third book in the Three Pines series promises to be different from the others from the very first page. As Easter approaches, the villagers are preparing for an Easter egg hunt, and a Good Friday seance that Gabri is going to spring on his unsuspecting guest, a psychic. The first seance breaks up rather lightly. Clara, Myrna, Monsieur Beliveau and the other participants decide to hold another at the old Hadley place because of the resident evil that seems to be in its very foundation. But when one of the participants in the second seance dies, Inspector Armand Gamache is called in to investigate.

I do not normally read books involving seances (too easily scared, I suppose), but I honestly think Louise Penny could get me to read almost anything in order to find out more about the wonderful people who live in Three Pines. Reading this series has kept me so riveted that I hardly know what to say when I've finished, except that I'm utterly satisfied. I love these characters, who seem very human to me because of the author's attention to human emotions - the best and the worst, what makes us noble and what drives us to kill. I can't recommend it highly enough. 5 stars.

PS - My American version of the title is The Cruelest Month. I find this exceeding surprising, given that the spelling "cruellest" is retained inside the text, the spelling has the double l's in the poem that the title comes from, and even the single quotation marks are retained. Why, why, why change it for the title only?
Little things like that distract me. Sorry...

Hi Mary
I'm catching up on your thread tonight. I very much like Book Lust, but as you and Stasia note, it is dangerous for the tbr pile. I never heard of Book Crush and have now added it my list.

Hi Linda, thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoy Book Crush, though I admit I have plenty of children's and teens books on my TBR pile and I am avoiding it accordingly. ;)

Re: my post #129, I decided to keep a separate thread of picture books, which can be found here.
Feel free to jump over if you like and add recommendations for favorites.

I am past the picture book stage in my own reading (barely), so I probably will not be over to your new thread, Mary, but I know plenty of people in the group who have younger ones will be! Also, be sure and check out Amber's thread for picture book recommendations. She is always reading books for Charlie.

That's OK, Stasia, that's part of why I decided to keep it separate - I did the same thing a couple of years ago in the 50 Book Challenge when I kept a separate thread for graphic novels. I was reading them to learn about them more than anything else. If it were part of my regular reading (ie., with my kids), I'd probably still keep it here.

I looked for Amber's thread in the myriad of 75 Bookers, and had no luck. Would you mind pointing me to her thread?

Here you go: http://www.librarything.com/topic/80119

Thanks, Stasia!

No problem! Glad I could help.

62. Strokes of Genius by L. Jon Wertheim

The 2008 final of the Championships, Wimbledon was one of the classic matches in tennis. Two of the best players in the world, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, took Centre Court and it was history in the making - either Federer would break Bjorn Borg's record of five Wimbledon championships in a row or Nadal would become the first man since Borg to win both the French Open and Wimbledon in one year.

It wasn't enough that it was a historic moment, both men were also at their peak, playing incredible tennis. Sports writer L. Jon Wertheim breaks down the match, describing key points, and discusses both men's backgrounds and styles of play. As a tennis fan, I remembered watching the match and how tense it was for me, and it was fun to revisit it as well as learning more about both players. The writing really detracted from my enjoyment, however. Sometimes Wertheim uses the oddest descriptions, such as comparing Nadal's biceps to yule logs, and at other time words seem to fail him so he describes something as "damn good" or "a hell of a point," which just struck me as bad writing when he couldn't think of anything else more descriptive. The other irritant was that he seemed to be more in Nadal's camp, usually describing as an Everyman or a journeyman who's just one of the guys, while Federer is described in less glowing terms as kind of above all that. I tried to remember that I had about two years of future knowledge, and that the book itself - at least when it came to tennis statistics - was out of date almost as soon as it was published, but as a Federer fan myself it was a little hard to get past that. If you're a tennis fan looking for more on the Federer-Nadal rivalry, I would recommend this book, but for most I would point to Levels of the Game by John McPhee instead. 3.5 stars.

I think I will skip that one, Mary. I am just not a big tennis fan.

The co-worker of mine who recommended it said that she thought it would be of interest to non-tennis-fans, but I disagree. I am a pretty good tennis fan, and I didn't exactly give it a ringing endorsement either. Ah well. The next few reads look like winners...

I'm currently reading The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories to try to finish it by Wednesday for the TIOLI, and Essays of E.B. White because I thought it would be fun to at least read some of his essays before reading his interview in The Paris Review Interviews Vol. 4 which I've slowly been making my way through since receiving it as a birthday gift. I also read about half of Dogsbody yesterday and enjoyed it very much until I realized that I had to wait until Thursday to finish it for it to count in July's TIOLI. Whoops!

I hope you enjoy The Ladies of Grace Adieu. Roni sent me a copy of Dogsbody, but I cannot read it for the July TIOLI because the ISBN ends in 8!

Thanks, Stasia. I've only finished the introduction and the first story, so I'm not sure yet what I think of it. Darn, I wish Dogsbody could've counted for you. I suppose you could always slip it in under the wire for June for a borrowed book (so could I, for that matter, but I figured it would be nice to get the points).

Or you could read Dogsbody in June for the 'book by an author with a three part name' challenge with me and elkiedee!

Hope you enjoy that one either way!

#147: Unfortunately, I do not think I will have time, Heather. I have one more I have to finish for June yet and I just started it in the wee hours this morning.

>147 souloftherose: Hmm...I could do that instead of finishing The Ladies of Grace Adieu. Actually, that sounds really appealing.

Off to go change the wiki....

>148 alcottacre: Ah well, it was a worth a try, Stasia. Hope you enjoy it!

63. Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones

The luminary Sirius has been accused of using a Zoi to kill another star. He knows he didn't do it, but he'd flown into a rage and couldn't really remember the details. He is convicted and given the sentence of being sent to find the Zoi. But he is sent as a dog, and he only has that dog's lifetime in which to find the Zoi and clear his name.

I love Diana Wynne Jones's stories because they always promise something fresh in the midst of a genre (and I read a lot of fantasy) that can be very cliche. Dogsbody is one of her older books, but it is no exception to this. Though the narration is third-person, we see through Sirius's point of view as he navigates earth as a dog. He definitely has a dog's nature, and has to work to find the memories of who he is and what he needs to do. The people he meets, helpful and otherwise, are well fleshed out. The story is one that I could see children growing up getting even more understanding and appreciation for the details as they grow older, so I could see this being a good family read-aloud. 4.5 stars.

I tried my first Diana Wynne Jones book this year and have been looking for more by her to read. This one sounds very interesting. Thanks for the suggestion!

>151 RosyLibrarian: Hope you enjoy it! What book did you read first?

64. The Ladies of Grace Adieu and other stories by Susanna Clarke

The short story collection by the author of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is set in the same world as the longer fiction tale. The "Introduction" by the "Director of Sidhe Studies, University of Aberdeen" gives the tales a pseudo-historical feel: either the tale itself is an alternate history, or illustrative of the legends of that world. Readers of Jonathan Strange may remember the use of footnotes - their similar use here adds to the feeling of history or a literary collection used in "Sidhe Studies." This adds a layer of complexity and cleverness to the collection.

The stories themselves I found of varying interest. Some confused me, many seemed dark. These fairies are governed by ethics much different from humans' and their interactions in the human world generally cause trouble, whether intended or not. Personally, my favorite was "On Lickerish Hill," the story of a girl, Miranda, whose mother promises the man Miranda weds that she can spin five skeins of wool a day. I enjoyed recognizing the tale, though it was told in a style very different from what I would have expected. If you've been thinking of trying Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, but were intimidated by the size, try this first to get a shorter introduction to Susanna Clarke's Faerie world. 4 stars.

152: I read Howl's Moving Castle at the recommendation of a friend. Very cute!

Mmm, I've also been wanting to check out Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Your thread is dangerous to my book buying budget! :)

hehe...sorry, Marie! Hope you have a good library system nearby. ;) I loved Howl's Moving Castle. Another fun one is Dark Lord of Derkholm - it's more on the silly end of DWJ's stories, poking fun at fantasy's tropes/cliches, but quite funny and good story in its own right. Oh, I'm done with The Ladies of Grace Adieu, so if it interests you, I can pass it along. It's a library discard, but just has some stamping.

Aww, that would be great! Thank you Mary! We can use Bookmooch if you would like so I can get you a point. My user name is casinocoffee. :)

And I will go check out Dark Lord of Derkholm. I like a book that doesn't take itself too seriously. Thanks!

Sure - I'll post it now and reserve it for you.

Hope you enjoy Dark Lord of Derkholm!

Thanks Mary! I finally figured out how to get to it - you'd think they'd tell you on your user page when something is being reserved. Can't wait!

You're welcome!

June in review -

52. The Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon
53. Talking to Dragons by Patricia Wrede
54. At Large and At Small by Anne Fadiman
55. Book Lust by Nancy Pearl
56. The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
58. Mister Monday by Garth Nix (audio)
59. The Quickening by Michelle Hoover
60. The Fairy-Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley (audio)
61. The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
62. Strokes of Genius by L. Jon Wertheim
63. Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones
64. The Ladies of Grace Adieu and other stories by Susanna Clarke

Books read - 11
Audiobooks listened to - 2
Books abandoned - 4
Standouts - At Large and At Small and The Cruelest Month

Well. And here I thought working full-time would slow my reading down, but you wouldn't know it looking at June. We'll see what July looks like when I throw in a move as well (not a huge one, thank goodness! Just me moving out on my own for the first time). There was a bit of turnover in my reading, though, as you can see from the 4 abandoned books and sudden appearance of...only 2? children's/teen books at the end of the month. Hmm...nope, it really doesn't look that different.

Still loving the Louise Penny series, though I'm trying to space out to about a book a month so that it will still be somewhat fresh in my mind when the newest book comes out in September.

65. Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix (audio)

This is a ***spoiler warning*** for the first book in the series, Mister Monday.

Arthur has just returned home from defeating Mister Monday and taking control of the Key to the Lower House. He chose to return home as a mortal, appointing the Will as trustee, and saved everyone from the sleepy plague. Now, it's Tuesday morning, which means that the next denizen - Grim Tuesday - has some power in the Secondary Realms, which includes Arthur's home. The Will informs him of trouble in the House, and Grim Tuesday's servants are troubling Arthur's family in an attempt to take the first Key from him. Will Arthur be able to survive the Far Reaches and gain control of the second Key?

Listening to the audiobook confirmed for me that I prefer listening to this series. Allan Corduner's narration and interpretation of characters makes the story that much more interesting, the pace that much more exciting. I'd forgotten a lot of the details of the story, and enjoyed it just as much the second time around. Arthur just wants to be a regular boy, but he has a sense of right and wrong and what he must do for himself, his family, his friends, and his home. Suzy Turquoise Blue is funny and loyal and has an interesting back story in her own right. I'm looking forward to rereading - er, listening - to Drowned Wednesday, the next book in the series. 4.5 stars.

66. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
(Actually finished before Grim Tuesday)

This book is so difficult to review, because it's a childhood favorite that I reread or listen to from time to time. I grew up on these stories, rereading them so often that I once knew Narnia like the back of my hand or better. Now, reading them is so much a nostalgic event, my past experiences and childhood wonder so wrapped up in the books, that I have trouble separating myself from the story.

This time, I listened to the HarperCollins production, read by Michael York. He does a decent job, though most of the characters sound different than I imagine. Also, he pronounced Aslan as "ASS-lan" instead of "AZ-lan," which annoyed me to no end. Still, it's a pleasant book for me to listen to before going to bed. If I miss some of the story from falling asleep, I know it almost instantly, and these are characters and places that I still love to revisit.

>162 bell7:: Now, reading them is so much a nostalgic event...

I have a special rating just for these kinds of books because I'm quite certain that I don't look at them in the same light as new books. I like them because they are long-time favorites...end of story.

double post...

Hello, Tad! I took a peek at your profile, and I see what you mean about your special rating. Both my sentimental favorites and my best books of the year are rated 5 stars, but in my reading notebook I rate sentimental rereads what I mentally call a "check plus by default" (I use a check minus, check, check plus format which roughly translates into 2 stars and lower, 3-3.5 stars, and 4.5-5 star reads). Basically, it means I'm rereading the book because I love it, and it's rated as soon as I write the book in as started.

But it's quite true that those stories are different from one year's favorite. When I reread Pride and Prejudice or The Lord of the Rings, for example, I'm not just reading the story, I'm reliving my past experiences of reading them - like the time I discovered how very funny Jane Austen is when two of my friends were ignoring me so I went hunting through their bookshelves out of boredom, or the time when I just had to keep reading The Fellowship of the Ring months ahead of when it was required for class because I just had to know what the Dark Rider was and why it was after Frodo. Remembering those instances is part of my experience of rereading the books now quite apart from the story alone.

Edited to try to fix touchstones.

>165 bell7:: I started The Lord of the Rings my last day at summer camp in 5th grade. I had run out of reading material and my bunkmate had it sitting on his bed. I came home, called the BookMobile people, had the three volumes (I didn't know about The Hobbit, yet) delivered, and read them in one continuous stream. My parents were good humored about it and brought food to my bedroom. How could I ever re-read it and not remember how mesmerized I was at that time in my life?

Absolutely! I remember as I finished each volume, we didn't always have the next one. I had to wait a little while (it felt like forever) at the end of The Two Towers for us to go to the library and see if The Return of the King was available on the book sale shelves. (It was...phew!) My mom had to hide a couple of books in her room so I had something to read for my literature class during the school year.

Oh, have you read The Annotated Hobbit? "Riddles in the Dark" was the most interesting chapter, because you could follow all the changes in the footnotes between when the book came out and when the publishers submitted a change to make it better work with The Lord of the Rings.

(Stopping now before I completely geek out...)

67. Terrier by Tamora Pierce

Over one hundred years before Alanna was living, Rebakah Cooper's dream was to be one of the Provost Guards, known as "Dogs." Given the chance to be a Puppy to two of the best, Beka can't wait to learn more but she's so shy that she can barely look her Dogs in the face. Then, her friend Tansy's son Rolond goes missing. So many go missing in the Lower City that there are not enough Dogs to look into it. Beka must use her ingenuity and magical ability to hear the dead to learn what happened to Rolond and the other children taken and killed by someone calling himself the Shadow Snake. Now, she just has to gather enough solid facts for her Dogs to take up the hunt as well.

I like Beka a lot. She's tough and she's determined. Her world is not always black and white - the Dogs take bribes but not to evil purposes, and there is only so much they can do in a city teeming with crime. Even though Beka's narrating the story, the other characters have meat on their bones. For example, Tunstall and Goodwin, Beka's Dogs, each have their own personality and we get a sense of their relationship as partners as well. There are a lot of characters to keep up with, so much so that there is a list in the back of the book, though I'd recommend you look at it only after finishing, as there are spoilers included. The story is well-paced, and even at 500+ pages, the last hundred or so read very quickly as the solutions to the mystery come together. I'll see what I think after reading the next book, but so far I think I might like Beka even more than I liked Alanna. 4.5 stars.

68. A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny

Inspector Armand Gamache and his wife Reine-Marie are away, celebrating their anniversary in a small hotel in the middle of nowhere. The Finney family are the other guests, "celebrating" a reunion, but each of them seem deeply unhappy underneath their surface behavior. When murder intrudes, Inspector Gamache and his team have a wealth of suspects to sort through: the question is not why but how?

I absolutely love this series, and I find it so hard to explain exactly why. I read more analytically if there's something I don't like, something I can focus on outside of the story. But the Three Pines series completely draws me in to that world, to these characters whom I've come to care so much about that I can smile or tear up depending on what's going on in their lives and hearts. I got up this morning with about 80 pages left, put on a pot of coffee, sat down on the couch to read and didn't get up to get my cup of coffee until I'd finished the book (and if you know me at all, you know almost nothing gets between me and coffee first thing in the morning). This fourth book in the series is the first to be set away from Three Pines, but I was not at all disappointed by the results. Once again, the characters' inner struggles are the focal point, because twisted human emotions are what lead to murder and Armand Gamache carefully exposes his own and others' secrets to find the truth. If you've been putting off reading the series, all I can say is, what are you waiting for? 5 stars.

#169: I am glad to see you are still enjoying the series, Mary!

#166 and 167

The summer before my senior year in high school, one of my best friends went to Chicago for the summer--this was a big deal for our small central Kansas town--and came back with the brand-new first-time in the US Ballantine paperback volumes of LOTR. She took about a week to read the first--gave it to me--I read it in a day. She took a week to read the second--I read it in a day, then absconded with the third and read it (in a day) and gave it to her to read. I remember I read it straight through the school day, hiding it behind my text books for all my classes!

The annotated version of the Hobbit sounds interesting--I didn't get that book read until a year or two later when it became available in my area.

>170 alcottacre: Yup, this was an all-thanks-to-LT-peeps find, I love it so far! I think I will cheat and read The Brutal Telling earlier rather than later, and to heck with trying to space it out in time for the next release. :)

>171 ronincats: Hi Roni! LOL...Love your story of appropriating LOTR. It reminds me of reading the Harry Potter books. Me and my brother and sister tried sharing the same copy once, and after that I made sure we had two so that a copy was available whenever anyone wanted to read it. Hope you enjoy The Annotated Hobbit, there's lots more information included than just the one chapter, and quite an interesting collection of illustrations from various editions. It's on my wishlist for my personal library.

OH - and speaking of my personal library, I'm very excited. I'm moving next week, renting a room in the home of some family friends. As it turns out, they have a bookshelf in the room I'll be renting. Which means I have enough shelf space not only for what I already own (I'm bringing two of my parents' bookshelves with me and I've been double-shelving when necessary), I might even have a little space for the books that I buy in the future! :)

69. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

Rosalind, Skye, Jane and Batty Penderwick are four sisters who go to a summer cottage on vacation with their father and the dog, Hound. At fourteen, Rosalind tries to keep order and mother the youngest, Batty, who is four. The four girls meet a boy, Jeffrey, and get into all sorts of scrapes during a summer they will always remember.

Though definitely set in the present day, The Penderwicks has a sort of old-fashioned, timeless quality to it. The words that kept coming to mind were cute, sweet, and funny. IPods and designer clothes aren't mentioned, and the themes are such that kids from all generations can relate to, like a child's relationship with a parent, so it's one that I would be willing to purchase and keep around to share with my own (future) children. I enjoyed listening to the audiobook for the first half of the story; unfortunately, the CDs skipped like crazy, so I had to finish by reading. I've already got the sequel on audio ready to go. 4.5 stars.

Congrats on the new place! It sounds perfect with all the extra book room you'll have!

I think I got your book yesterday, but the post man gave it to the apartment office and I never get home in time to catch them before they close, but I will acknowledge it on bookmooch just as soon as I can. Thanks again for sending it!

Adding The Penderwicks to the BlackHole. It sounds like one I would enjoy.

>174 RosyLibrarian: Thanks, Marie! I've moved all my stuff, but the unpacking may take me awhile as I figure out how to organize my books. :)

>175 alcottacre: Stasia, I hope you do enjoy it!

#176: My local library has both The Penderwicks and a follow up book, The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, so I put them both on hold.

I look forward to seeing your thoughts on them! I do have The Penderwicks on Gardam Street out from the library, but I'm waiting to listen to it until after I finish Drowned Wednesday in my reread of the Keys to the Kingdom.

#178: Drowned Wednesday is next up for me in that series too. Just not sure when I will get to it!

>179 alcottacre: - I'm about halfway through, Stasia, though I probably won't finish it for a few days yet.

An update on the unpacking situation - I have completely emptied out several boxes, and now I'm looking at my room wondering how they all fit in here before I started. I have several more boxes to unpack, but if I'm not mistaken I now have every book shelved, and a basket filled with my library books all ready to go. While I continue to unpack and organize, I'm certain that I won't get as much reading done. Yesterday, I'd planned on reading before I went to bed, but a power outage made that impossible (that was fun on my second day in the new place!). I do have to at least start Surprised by Joy before I see my aunt tomorrow, since I told her I bought it with her Christmas money and I know she'll want to know how I like it. :)

Off to unpack/reorganize some more! (Looking at it makes me uptight, I can't sit still in my room...)

#180: I like C.S. Lewis, so I am hoping you enjoy Surprised by Joy.

Good luck with your unpacking!

Thanks, Stasia! The end is in sight as far as that goes - just a few more boxes, but what's left will probably take me the longest because I've got a bunch of papers and things that I need to determine if I'm going to 1. keep for sentimental reasons, 2. file away or 3. throw out.
Or 4. keep on the floor in front of my filing cabinet until I either go through the stuff or move again! :)

#182: Number 4 seems to be the one I always opt for!

Yeah, I'll probably do that to a certain extent too. :) I'm going to at least try to file the filing that I had piled up before I moved, though.

And hey, at least my treat for all this hard work is a swim in the pool in the 90 degree weather!

Well, good! You get a nice treat for the end of a hard day.

#180 I have Surprised by Joy to read so I'll be interested in hearing what you think of it. I need to read more (or any) non-fiction.

#182 Number 4 is the option I normally go for. We managed to get a flat with a loft and I was adament when we moved that I was going to sort everything out properly rather than just putting it all up in the loft. The result? 9/10 months after moving in the spare room is still full of stuff waiting to be sorted...

#184 Enjoy your swim!

The result? 9/10 months after moving in the spare room is still full of stuff waiting to be sorted...

Our first move after grad school, the spare room was probably much like yours for a long time.

I opted for the attic last time we moved. Over a decade later, much of the stuff is still there. . . :(

As it turned out, I went through a lot of the paper. The old filing remains in a pile waiting to be filed, but I went through some old birthday cards and get well cards and such and got rid of a lot - kept a few really sentimental ones, but let go those I'd forgotten about entirely.

So, as far as I'm concerned, the unpacking's done! Woohoo!

Congrats on finishing the unpacking!

Great news on the unpacking! Now you can get down to the serious business of reading.

Congratulations on unpacking!

Thanks all!
And yes, Stasia, I am going to get down to the serious business of reading. :)

I did start Surprised by Joy yesterday, so when I see my aunt in a few hours, I will be able to let her know I started it. (That sounds terrible!) What I really mean is, I've been meaning to get to it ever since I bought it with my Christmas money, but now I've been prompted to do it so that I can let her know what I think.

And I'm definitely enjoying it so far. I think, perhaps because I read the Chronicles of Narnia over and over as a child, that reading anything by C.S. Lewis is pure enjoyment for me, a writing style as familiar as coming home whether I've already read the book or never picked it up before. This is one of the ones I've never read before. I've been making notes about where it crosses over with The Letters of C.S. Lewis, Vol. 1. I started the latter 'way back in January, but didn't make good progress because I suddenly realized it was telling me the story of Surprised by Joy in the footnotes. So that was part of the impetus for wanting to read this as well. I wanted to be able to match up the events in both and have a more complete understanding as I continue in the Letters. I have not yet caught up to the point I reached in the Letters, and when I do kind of depends on whether or not I can read in the car on the way to a bridal shower today (it will be a full car, and I dare say everyone will want to talk! Imagine!).

Good luck with reading in the car, but I do not think you are going to get any done!

haha...no, I didn't. I actually did read a little when my mom was driving us to the meet-up place, but I left it behind to be polite when we joined the other folks in the carpool. :)

Edited to add - though as predicted, my aunt did ask me about the book and I was honestly able to say that I started it yesterday, read about 50 pages and was really enjoying it so far!

70. Divided Allegiance by Elizabeth Moon

If you haven't read the first in the series, The Sheepfarmer's Daughter, this is a **spoiler warning** for that title.

After defeating Siniava, the Duke's company has allied with a former pirate. None too pleased with what her compatriots are doing and feeling a pull to other things, Paks leaves the company. Her personal quest will take her beyond what she ever could have imagined when she dreamed of becoming a soldier.

Paksennarion is a great character to spend time with, and I enjoyed the continuing development of her story. The world is more fully developed here - we encounter both elves and dwarfs. The plot is very episodic, which I don't always mind, but it made the plot feel a little meandering. Part of this may be that my reading of the book was more drawn out than usual, but I'm a little clueless as to the overarching storyline. We were given hints of Paks' destiny in Book 1, but I wasn't sure if she was any closer to it by the end of Book 2. In any case, I hope to see it all come together in Oath of Gold, which I will definitely be reading soon. 4 stars.

#195: I really wish my local library had more of Moon's books! I really enjoyed Remnant Population. The library does not have any of the books in the series you mentioned.

I re-read this trilogy this year in preparation for reading the new book out in the series, Oath of Fealty. I really enjoyed it all over again, and the new book is just as good.

>196 alcottacre: Stasia, my local library doesn't have any of her books. I had to get the first one from outside of my local system (but still within the state), but got the others from another library in Western Mass.

>197 ronincats: Roni, I started reading them on your recommendation, and have definitely enjoyed them. The military angle is different from my normal fantasy fare, and that's an aspect I've enjoyed as well (even if there was a lot of fighting in the first book, as you said, but at least I knew to expect it). Good to know that Oath of Fealty is just as good! Have you read the other books set on the same world, Liar's Oath and Surrender None? I thought they looked interesting as well.

71. Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix

Just returned from his contest with Grim Tuesday, Arthur would really like to be left alone. His leg is in a cast, he's in the hospital again... and he's received an invitation to luncheon with Lady Wednesday. When a tidal waves sweeps his hospital bed out into the Border Sea, his friend Leaf is carried out too, only to be taken away by a ship. How can Arthur save his friend, defeat Wednesday, and get the third key?

I'm enjoying re-listening to this series, narrated by Allan Corduner. He does an excellent job of giving each character a unique and appropriate voice, and retaining recurring character's voices through the various audiobooks. Drowned Wednesday was no exception, though plotwise I think it the weakest of my rereads so far. Some of the events seemed just too convenient, too easy. There wasn't the same tension as there was in the first book when Arthur had to fight Mister Monday for the key. Even so, it's still worth a read, or a reread, and I enjoy the complexity of the House and small details, like the attitudes of each part of the Will which seem to fit, somehow, the type of legalese that it would contain. 4.5 stars.

Just an observation on the series...for some reason this never occurred to me before, but whatever happened to paragraphs 1-2 of the will? Mister Monday had 3-something, and the others carried on from there but...hmm...
Don't answer that, if you know - I've only read through Lady Friday, and I suspect I'll find out when I get to the end of the series. :)

>198 bell7: Yes, I have them as well. They are backstory. Surrender None is Gird's story, and Liar's Oath is Luap's story afterward. Not as good as the core books, but interesting to those wanting to know more about the origins of the societies in the series.

Yeah, move's over! Happy reading! A swim can keep you cool for hours. I like to lie in the bathtub with an old favorite (book, I mean) when it gets really hot.

>200 ronincats: Thanks for the info, Roni! I am rather interested in that aspect of it. I love it when a fantasy story has just enough of a glimpse of history or a backstory that you feel like the author's created a world much deeper than what I can see in just the one story (much like Lord of the Rings with its nods to The Silmarillion). I'll probably look them up eventually.

>201 bonniebooks: Thanks, Bonnie! I hear tomorrow's supposed to get up to 100 here in MA, so I'll probably be taking advantage of the pool again soon! :)

72. The Goblin Wood by Hilari Bell

Makenna is a hedgewitch in a world in which only the priests' magic is allowed. After her mother's persecution, she escapes to the forest and befriends the goblins who are also suffering. She determines to take revenge, while protecting the goblins from people who would invade their wood.

Hilari Bell is one of my favorite fantasy authors, especially her Knight and Rogue series and the Farsala trilogy. The Goblin Wood is one of her earlier books, but she is going to be continuing the story into a trilogy, so I decided it was time to read it. I could see some early beginnings of the way she shifts perspective in her later books, though Tobin and Makenna's points of view aren't as finely done as, say, Michael and Fisk in The Last Knight. Makenna was a difficult character to like, as her reaction to her mother's death seemed ruthless to me. Still, it was an enjoyable read, and I'm looking forward to reading The Goblin Gate when it comes out in the fall.

Edited to take out my double-pasted review. :)

#203: My local library has a few of her books. I will have to give them a look.

ooh ooh ooh - which ones? :)

#205: A Matter of Profit, Shield of Stars, Sword of Waters, and The Wizard Test. That is it.

My answers to one of those ubiquitous memes (but this one looked fun):

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?

Generally, no, though I usually read while I eat lunch, and sometimes supper too.

What is your favorite drink while reading?

Coffee in the morning, tea or hot cocoa in the evening.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

Generally I do not mark up my books. (I had a college teacher once that wanted us to write in our books, and even counted it towards class participation...the one exception I ever made for fiction.) I do, sometimes, write in nonfiction, but only lightly in pencil.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ear? Laying the book flat open?

Once upon a time, I never used a bookmark, and I would splay the book out breaking the spine (which I sometimes still do) or memorize the page number. But ever since my library started selling bookmarks as a fundraiser and I started buying a bunch of them up, I've felt compelled to actually use them. Plus I'm getting old enough and reading enough books at once that I'd have a really hard time memorizing the page numbers anymore.

Fiction, Non-Fiction, or Both?

Both, but it's probably at least 80/20, weighted towards fiction

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?

When I can, I stop when there's a natural break in the action, either at the end of the chapter or (for those more devious authors that leave cliffhangers there) somewhere in the middle.

Are you a person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?

Since I usually read library books, no. I do feel a certain responsibility to keep the book in decent shape for the next reader.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?

Not usually, unless it's a really intriguing one. I sometimes keep a list and look up a whole bunch of words at once.

What are you currently reading?

Essays of E.B. White, The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman, Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis, and The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall

What is the last book you bought?

Rogue's Home by Hilari Bell

Are you a person that reads one book at a time, or can you read more than one?

As evidenced by my reading list above, I usually have a few going. Generally, I'm reading at least one fiction, possibly one nonfiction, and listening to an audiobook.

Do you have a favorite time/place to read?

No set time, though I find it less guilt-ridden if it's in the evening after work. I generally like reading on my chair by the window or in bed.

Do you prefer series books or stand-alones?

I might have a slight preference of series, because I do like following characters and their development, but there is also a point where series length can get ridiculous.

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?

No, but just because I don't know a lot of voracious readers like myself, so I tend to take this question more from my profession of librarian, and in that capacity I interact with so many different types of readers - For fantasy readers, I often recommend Diana Wynne Jones; for humor, Richard Peck; for boy reads, Anthony Horowitz or Gary Paulsen; for the teen librarian, I keep getting on her to read Jellicoe Road.

How do you organize your books? By genre, title, author's last name, etc?

Fair warning - only read this if you really want to know.

I have three bookcases in my room. The first one, nearest my chair holds first - all the books I have by C.S. Lewis and about the Chronicles of Narnia, then all the books by and about J.R.R. Tolkien. Then, all Christian nonfiction books, including devotionals, a concordance, and Bibles. Then fit all my children's and teen books of various genres except fantasy (more on this later). The fiction of the children's and teen books are organized by author.

In the second bookcase, I start off with other nonfiction, organized by subjects that seem to me to go together (this has nothing to do with Dewey - I have Shelf Life (381), 84, Charing Cross Road (814 or 818, depending on how you classify it), and Reading Lolita in Tehran (92X, bio) in close proximity to one another, for example). Next, all my fantasy - adult, teen and children's - fills out the bookcase, arranged by author. I would, in fact, single out more genres, and classics, if I had enough books to justify this.

The third bookcase starts off with poetry (only one volume), followed by adult fiction of all genres except fantasy. This takes up about two and a half shelves, followed by Shakespeare - plays and books about them and him. The rest of the bookcase is currently taken up with DVDs and CDs.

And (I did warn you) now you know exactly how this librarian organizes her books. :)

I do not believe in organization :) I would make a terrible librarian.

>206 alcottacre: I think A Matter of Profit was her first book, but I haven't read it yet. The only one of the batch I've read is Shield of Stars, and I've been meaning to go back to it to catch up on the series. It's been awhile, so I'm really fuzzy about the details, but I remember that I liked it. Hope you enjoy whatever you choose, and if it's one of the ones I haven't read, I'll be interested in seeing what you think to know which one to try next. :)

>208 alcottacre: LOL Stasia. I was a page first, and once you're the one putting away all the library books, you must believe in organization (if only that no system is perfect, but darn it put the book away properly or I'll never find them again. You also learn the most likely places for misplaced books.). I learned more about Dewey by shelving than I did from my classification course.

Just be glad I didn't go over all my specifications for why books go where in the nonfiction segment. I only have a few books on each subject, so it's a little confusing to, well, anyone but me!

#210: More shelves would probably immensely help my organizational skills, but I do not see that happening any time soon.

Yes, when I only had one bookcase, I think I started with a system and then just piled up all the extra in front of it until they fell and I decided it was time to start using my parents' bookcases.

Actually, two of the bookcases I now use were appropriated (I asked!) when I moved, and I'm borrowing the third. :)

73. Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster

Jerusha is an orphan at the John Grier home, a teen who has worked for her room and board since graduating early from high school. When one of the orphanage trustees anonymously provides her with money for college, she has the opportunity of a lifetime. Her story is conveyed in the letters she sends her benefactor - whom she calls Daddy-Long-Legs after a glimpse of his tall shadow - as she grows to know the wide world beyond the orphanage.

This book was written in 1912, and I couldn't help but make comparisons to the story of another orphan, published only four years before. Like Anne Shirley, Jerusha is full of life and humor, quirky phrases, and sometimes swinging from emotional highs to the depths of despair. She never knew a family, and she wants to be an authoress. But there are substantial differences as well. The format is almost entirely letters, and the author often calls attention to the fact that this is a story - Jerusha, who quickly renames herself Judy, often makes comments like "if we were in a storybook" or "if we were story characters." Judy also talks more about what she's learning academically, discussing such subjects as languages, biology, and philosophy. She has rather more progressive politics than Anne, who, I daresay, would find some of Jerusha's educated opinions shocking (and Rachel Lynde would have found them downright blasphemous). An entertaining read, but one that I would expect would interest adults interested in classic young adult literature or the history of women's colleges than today's teens. 4 stars.

Possible spoiler: I figured out the identity of Daddy-Long-Legs as soon as he showed up as more than a shadow. I kind of think Webster expected her reader to know more than Judy does, however, because she also seems to want to make us laugh at her sometimes (I know I did). End spoiler

#213: I am glad you enjoyed that one, Mary. Are you going to read the follow up book, Dear Enemy?

I plan to eventually, but I've got quite a few books higher on the TBR list at the moment. I started The Brutal Telling last night and expect I'll get through it quickly, since I'm only working a few hours today - I'd taken vacation time off from one job before I got a second, and decided I'd just keep the time off to get things done in the new place. But yesterday I fell down the stairs and bruised my foot a bit, so I'm considering it "enforced rest," and I've given myself permission to read all day instead. :)

Edited to try fixing the touchstone.

#215: Sorry to hear about your foot. Your day of "enforced rest" sounds like a good plan to me!

Thanks, Stasia. It's not bad, all things considered. I'm really just a bit stiff in various places and definitely a bruise near my big toe. I did manage to accomplish a bit, making some chicken soup and freezing it for later. It's quite an adjustment to go from being one of a large family to cooking for one. I have to remember that cooking one dish is not the same as one meal - it's more like four!

Oh, and The Brutal Telling is going well so far. I'm over halfway through, and I hope to finish it today, though at this rate probably tonight after work.

74. The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny

I just finished The Brutal Telling, the fifth book in the exceptional Three Pines series, and I am at a loss what to say. I've been hugely enjoying the series, assiduously avoiding spoilers to this one as I made my way through the series. Then, the next book due out on the fall was listed for Early Reviewers, and as I hurriedly scrolled past it (after requesting it, of course), my eye happened to catch one part of one sentence...which just happened to be a major spoiler. So, I thought, I guess I'll get an early idea of whether or not the books hold up to rereading. Is a mystery half so interesting when I already know the denouement?

I read most of the book today. All the facts seemed to point in one direction, and I like to think that even had I not read the spoiler, I would have been a smart enough reader to pick up the clues. Did that make it any less devastating? No. Oh no, not at all. The difficulty in this case is that, as Peter and Clara and the rest realize early on, the murderer is one of them rather than an outsider. I spent the entire time saying, "Please no, please no, please?" begging for there to be any other solution that what appears to be the simplest. I still hold out hope that there might be, but I will have to wait until September (or perhaps August should the algorithm smile upon me) to see if perhaps there might be alternative but still supremely convincing solution. 4.5 stars.

And an extra note on my rating - I didn't really like this any less than the others. Indeed, the ending was so melancholy and thoughtful that it will probably stay with me longer than the others. It more reflects my reading mood, that I wasn't getting into the story as much as the others for over half the book. I was reading fast, but the dread kind of slowly built up 'til the end, and that's when I was really invested.

One more to go and you reached the goal!

Congratulations!

218: I am glad you enjoyed it, Mary.

>219 Whisper1: Thanks, Linda! I was a little surprised typing "74" - actually went back and checked my count to make sure I was really that close.

>220 alcottacre: Thanks, Stasia. The series is high on my list of "books I'd like to own some day so I can read them whenever I want." :)

#221: The series is on that list for me as well.

Sorry to hear about your foot. Hope the day of resting helped.

I have just caught up with you on the Three Pines series and my thoughts on The Brutal Telling were very similar. As book 6 is only available to Early Reviewers in the US (grr) I had successfully avoided all the spoilers. I did sort of work out what was going to happen but as you say, spent the whole book thinking, please no! I actually went back to reread the first chapter when I found out the ending to see whether it would work knowing the ending and I thought it was very well done.

So what are we going to do between now and the end of September?!

>223 souloftherose: Thanks, Heather, my foot's feeling a lot better and only hurt a little when I put on heels for work today. :) I guess we'll just have to read other series between now and the end of September...but I did finish the book going, darn, now I have to wait and I don't want to!

I received The Brutal Telling as an ER book before I'd read any of the others. So I read all the others with that ending in mind . . . I'm sure it altered my perception of them somewhat.

>225 tymfos: oh my, Terri, I bet it would! I just put my hold on for book #6 at the library - I'm only 3rd in line, so should get it quick and pre-spoiler! :)

75. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Six years ago, Grace was dragged away from her tire swing and attacked by the wolves that roamed her woods every winter. Yet she's not afraid of them. There's one wolf in particular, one with yellow eyes, that seems to be an obsession of hers. That wolf is Sam, a boy who is only human in the summer, and has never spoken to Grace. Then a boy from her school dies, apparently attacked by wolves, and the whole pack is in danger.

I was disappointed overall. Despite the fact that Grace and Sam switch off telling me their love story, I never really connected with the characters. Sam's prose in particular was too embellished at times, even for an aspiring songwriter. But I'm not much for paranormal (or any other) romance, unless it's part of a larger story. So please, take what I'm saying with a grain of salt, because I'm probably not the type of reader the author had in mind. If you enjoy this sort of story, then I recommend it as a fast and fun read. It was a good read for hanging out one afternoon when I didn't want a deep read, but it's not a story that will stay with me, nor am I convinced that I want to read the sequel. 3 stars.

#227: I am sorry you did not enjoy that one more, Mary. I really liked it.

I hope your next read is more to your taste. I also hope the foot is feeling better.

That's OK, Stasia, I'm glad you liked it better than I did. The world would be a boring place if everyone read the same thing and thought exactly the same way about it. My foot is feeling better. It was just a bit bruised for a couple of days, but by Thursday I was wearing my dress shoes to work fairly comfortably.

July in review -

65. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (audio)
66. Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix (audio)
67. Terrier by Tamora Pierce
68. A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny
69. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall (half audio)
70. Divided Allegiance by Elizabeth Moon
71. Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix (audio)
72. The Goblin Wood by Hilari Bell
73. Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
74. The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny
75. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Books read: 7.5
Audiobooks listened to: 3.5 (I listened to the first half of The Penderwicks, but read the rest because the discs skipped so badly)
Standouts - Terrier, A Rule Against Murder and The Brutal Telling
Books abandoned - 5
Thoughts -
Apparently working full-time and moving did not slow my reading tremendously. I have read approximately one hundred and forty books per year since I've been keeping track, and if I average 11 per month I'll still be reading 121. I do find myself listening to more audiobooks now that I have more time in the car (getting to work, to the grocery store, etc.), and I do think I've been quicker to put down a book that I was not interested in. But as far as sheer numbers, not much has changed.

Nice summary! Glad your reading isn't suffering.

Sorry that book #75 wasn't a great one for you. But, congratulations on reaching the goal!

Congrats!

Whoo, congrats!

Congratulations! That is a lot of reading.

Congatulations on reaching 75!

Thanks all, for the congrats. :)

Congratulations on reaching 75 books! Sorry Shiver wasn't more enjoyable for you.

Woohoo! Congratulations on making it to 75! :)

Congratulations on reaching 75!

Congrats on 75!

Thanks everyone! I'm getting close to the 250 mark, so I've decided to start fresh with a post-75 thread.

Feel free to join me here.