Jessi's 100 books for 2011

I just joined Library Thing today! I'm so excited :) I used to use Visual Bookshelf through Living Social, but I'm not a big fan. Last year I managed to get through 80 books of my 100 goal, so I'm trying again in 2011.
So far...
January 11th House of Leaves Honestly, I may have to revisit this one, because I don't think a first read-through even scratched the surface of what's going on in there.
January 12th I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced This was a quick read. I mainly picked it up because it was a bargain bin item on the Kindle, but it was a very good story.
Today, I started 7209548::Die Henkerstochter I'm not sure why Library Thing seems to be having issues finding the right link to that book. I'm reading the English version "The Hangman's Daughter," when I put that title in, I only get "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter." So far, I'm just not sure what to think about this one. I guess I'm just having a hard time caring. I'm only halfway through, however, so something could still happen to change my mind.
I can't wait to read everyone else's lists to get ideas for future books to read. :)

Hi Jessi! Welcome to LibraryThing, and welcome to the group! Good luck with your reading goal this year.

Regarding touchstones, they're tricky beasties. When you type in The Hangman's Daughter (with brackets), you'll see next to the link that appears to the right of the textbox, a link called "(others)". Click on that, and you'll get a list of books to choose from - hopefully the one you want will be in there!

Ditto on the welcome, and good luck on the goals!

Welcome Jessi. Looking forward to reading about your reading.

Welcome!

I did House of Leaves a year or two ago, and I'm ashamed to admit that I gave up halfway through. I'm not sure why, because I wasn't /not/ enjoying it, and it's definitely an experience to be had. I suspect I was just lazy and had something else tempting me on my shelf.

Welcome. House of Leaves is an odd book, I enjoyed story about the house but the narrator and his footnotes irritated me beyond belief! I think I started skipping them towards the end.

Well, I read the whole thing, footnotes and everything, and to be honest I think I just didn't get it. I thought the story was interesting, and that the author wrote a very ambitious book, but I have to be honest that I really didn't understand the cult-like following that this book attracts...

Thank you for the welcome :). I worked 80 hours this week, so I didn't have a ton of time to get through my list, but I did manage to read the lost symbol. I liked Angels and Demons well enough, but I guess I just wasn't that impressed with the series as a whole. My mother really wanted to read the latest book, so I did. It was entertaining, but definitely not something I'll remember in a month or two.
I also read Half broke horses, which I enjoyed, and will probably read Jeannette Walls's previous memoir as well, at some point.
Currently working on Don Quixote mostly because I always said I would read it, and never seem to fit it in. I didn't have anything else I was dying to read, so it worked its way to the top of the list. :)

(By the way, finished The Hangman's Daughter. It was pretty good in the end. I guess it didn't really redeem itself from an OK book to a good book until the last 20% of the book. Just my opinion, though.)

5. How I Learned to Love the Walrus It was pretty bad. Good thing is was free.
6. Cleopatra: A Life- Was pretty good, however due to the lack of resources that the author had to work with when creating this biography, the book leaves you with more questions than answers about Cleopatra. Schiff has some good points, and it was well written. Overall, I'm glad I took the time to read this one.
7. (Still working on Don Quixote.
8. Forgot to add The Lost Symbol

9. The Curious Incident of the Dog and the Nighttime This one has been popping up on my recommended list for a long time on Amazon, Library Thing, and Living Social books. Not only that, but my husband brought it home from the book store one day because he thought it looked good. All those hints and I STILL didn't read it until this week. I'm glad I finally did though, it was a really amazing book.
10. Memoirs of a Holocaust Survivor It was free on the Kindle, and I was getting tired of Don Quixote (which I still haven't finished.) This was a really short novel or short story, but it was an amazing account of how the writer escaped death as a Jewish man in Auschwitz.

I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time near the end of last year based on someone's recommendation. I'm glad you liked it!

Oh, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is an excellent read! I'm glad you enjoyed it too!

(Touchstones borked again today.)

11. Honeymoon with My Brother. I read this one mainly because I have a similar feeling of apathy toward my siblings as the author did in the beginning of the book. I think we all have family members we loved as children, but are unable to create that same relationship as adults. Unfortunately, the author didn't spend more than a few sentences per chapter talking about his growing relationship with his brother. However, it was a pretty great travel memoir, as the author is very good at describing places and making you feel like you're there with him.

Just seconding (thirding?) the Curious Incident.

Logged on and realized I haven't updated in quite awhile. Have a new book to add to the list:
12. Blind Your Ponies was a great book that I read last week about a highschool basketball team in a small town in Montana. I'm not a fan of basketball, but I still enjoyed the book. I think the book wasn't really about basketball, anyway, but more of a commentary on small town American living. Although the ending was what I would consider a happy one, a large portion of the book is not cheery. The themes of loss, alcoholism, abuse and lonliness are front and center. In the end, the only complaint I have is that I think the author should have given it another 50 pages or so to wrap up a few of the trailing story lines. The ending was somewhat abrupt, but I still prefer a book that ends a bit too soon to one that continues to prattle on long after you've stopped caring.

13. Not Without Hope. Quick read about that physical trainer and those NFL players that were stranded in the Gulf of Mexico when their boat collapsed. Nick Schuyler, the sole survivor, chronicals the almost 48 hours he spent out in the ocean, watching his friends slowly succumb to hypothermia and die, and how that experience changed him. Schuyler's writing is understandably a bit rough around the edges, since he himself is not an author (althouth I think he worked alongside one for the book.) Many sentences are repeated word-for-word several times, sometimes creating an awkward reading experience. Worth it though for the experience of the incredible story.

14. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis: Read this one because I joined the 11 in 11 in 2011 category and one of my categories is the 1001 list. Overall, not impressed. I know the main character is meant to be hypocritical and unlikable, but it made the book a little painful to read after awhile.

15. Hollowland. Great book, if a bit short. Its one of those books that has an ending that's not an ending. Some people complained that they wanted a sequel, but I'm not sure that a sequel would feel right to the story. In any case, in Hollowland a 19 year old girl tries to navigate her way across the western U.S. to find her brother in a zombie-infested future. Along the way they encounter religious cults, wild tigers (and a lion), bands of mauraders, and a few friends. Overall, an almost too quick book, but a great afternoon read.

16. Slave, a terrifying true account of a woman who was abducted from her small Sudanese villiage at the age of 12 and forced into slavery. She recounts her happy childhood (including her circumscision) leading up to the attack on her villiage when she was taken. Sold to a household run by a cruel woman for about the equivalent of 150$ she endures terrible working conditions and abuse. Eventually she realizes that her situation is not normal and finds the means to make her escape. Mende remembers amazing detail about her experiences. For me, the story reached a new level of shocking when I realized that Mende is only about a year or two older than me. While I was a highschool junior, she was a 19 year old making her ezcape from slavery. The fact that this still takes place today is a disturbing and terrifying thought.

17. Ar'n't I a Woman? Revised edition. Maybe the last book I read influenced this purchase. I was at my local used bookstore browsing the American History section when this book caught my eye. Reading the first few pages, I found it easy to read and compelling, so it ended up coming home with me. Although I usually try to limit my reading to the Kindle or borrowed books to combat my tendency to book-hoard, I had to make an exception for this one.
Based off of White's doctoral dissertation, Ar'n't I a Woman sheds light through the myth to reveal the factual information about female African-American slaves. This book introduced new information to me about U.S. slavery, but it also encouraged me to put more thoughts into my misconceptions about that period of time in our history.

18. Shanghai Girls. I'm a huge fan of Gail Tsukiyama, and probably as a result, I get a lot of automatic recommendations for Asian fiction, including Shanghai Girls Since I've read everything that Tsukiyama's ever written already, I figured I'd give it a try. Definitely not as good. Although it was a sad and overall well written story, it seemed a little shallow and one sided. I felt irritated at the main character for always deciding that everyone is automatically evil if it means they want her to do something that she doesn't want to do. Eventually she realizes that everyone around her has other motives besides making her upset, but that's pretty much the entire plot. Ending was a bit abrupt. Overall...3 and a half stars.

19. Dirty Little Angels. Got this one as an Member's giveaway book, so thanks to Tusa for making that possible. Overall though, I felt like this book wasn't quite right. The main character, Hailey, is a middle class white 16 year old from New Orleans, but that's not how it reads in the book. In the book I really felt like she was much younger, maybe 9 or so, and that she was a little too nonchalant about the drugs and sex and beatings going on around her for someone who supposedly grows up in middle class suburb. Or did she? That part is never really explained in detail, and there seems to be a lot of conflicting information.
The first page sucks you right in with beautiful imagery reminicent of She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb, but the rest of the book doesn't follow. It reads more like a short story than a full novel because of the lack of detail written in about the character's thoughts and motives. The book flips back and forth from a great book to a mediocre book. Hailey herself seems a little bit more damaged than a 16 year old with no other problems other than two unemployed parents and an unfaithful father really should be. She seems totally willing to follow around Moses, who plays the evil man in the book, but doesn't really feature front and center as much as the book description would lead you to believe.
Overall, its a book that has its moments. 3 stars.

20. Wrecker by Summer Wood (The touchstone doesn't work for this book...I emailed them about it, hopefully they fix it so that I can link it.)

I received this book as an Early Reviewers book, and to be honest, I didn't expect to like it. I felt like I couldn't relate to a story about foster care and adoption. I don't have a single personal experience dealing with either one of those things.
It didn't matter.
Wrecker is a beautiful book about a young child (named Wrecker...yeah, it takes place in the late 60's) who's mother loses custody of him after getting caught up in drugs (and other things, but I'll try not to spoil the plot.) She's sentenced to 30 years of prison, not eligible for parole for 15 years, leaving her 3 year old son to the foster care system. After bouncing around a little bit, Wrecker ultimately comes to rest with his mother's sister's husband, Len. Len has his own problems, however, since his wife (Wrecker's aunt) is brain damaged after a terrible illness, and is already more than he can handle. Not knowing what else to do, Len takes Wrecker to the three women who live next door. Wrecker ends up being raised, almost literally, by a village. The book details the wonderfully written story about his childhood, his early adulthood, and the experiences of the woman who ends up claiming him as hers.
The book is very entertaining from page one, and it never crosses the line into becoming too sappy or emotional. It also wasn't over-dramatic in its story-telling. I loved it, and I couldn't put it down. So glad that LibraryThing sent it.

21. Read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand finally. This one has been on my to-read list for awhile, but kept getting bumped. I think it was mainly a cost issue for me. The actual book costs almost $30 full-price, and even the Kindle book is $9.99. It may sound unreasonable, but I go through a lot of books...even spending 10$ on every one of them would be a big hit to the budget. Meanwhile, the book was so popular that my local library had a waiting list of almost a year to get it. I also had a lot of other books waiting that I already owned, so it was put off.
Last night, I decided it was finally time.
Unbroken is kind of like Not without Hope...if Nick Schuyler had spent 45 days at sea instead of 45 hours, and had been subsequently captured, tortured and enslaved by the Japanese in POW camps for two years afterward. Although at least Zamperini had climate on his side. Unbroken is very well written (Hillenbrand is an amazing author,) so it lacks the awkwardness of some true-life stories. The story is so amazing that you often find yourself forgetting that its nonfiction. The book is brutally honest about the characters, but manages to be respectful to them as well. So glad that I read it. Besides an amazing story, I also learned a lot about WWII that I did not know before. Hillenbrand is so amazing that I'm probably going to have to go out and read Seabiscuit.

I've been eyeing Unbroken for some time... $9.99 isn't unreasonable for a kindle edition. There's just a lot of other books I want to read too...

22. The Name of the Wind. Pretty good book, even if it started out a little awkward for me. Started book 2 in the series today.

23. The Wise Man's Fear The second book in the Name of the Wind series. I felt like this book was actually much better than the first one, even though I've noticed that lot of other people don't agree (according to Amazon reviews, at least.) Some complained about the small amount of time covered in the story...but why would that even matter? This series is everything that a fantasy series should be, and avoids a lot of the common pitfalls. I would recommend it to anyone, even if they didn't think they were big fans of fantasy before.

I keep eyeing this on our shelves and telling myself that I cannot start a book that big until the rest of my reads are done! You are tempting me, though!

Glad to hear you liked it!

24. Republic: A Novel of America's Future Amazing and creepy book about an alternate American future where the Department of Homeland Security essentially tramples of everyone's rights in the name of preventing terrorism. I wouldn't generally pick out this kind of book, but I'm glad I read it.

25. Jerusalem Maiden by Talia Carner. (Touchstones aren't working for this one, yet.) I received this book as an Early Reviewer book, and I already reviewed it, so I won't write the whole thing down again. The short of it is that I found it a little tedious and didn't really enjoy it. Thanks to Library Thing though for giving me the opportunity to read and review the book.

26. Stiff a surprisingly funny and lighthearted book about what is actually done with grandma after you donate her body to science. Despite the subject matter, it comes off as only a little morbid, and there's even a few laugh-out-loud moments.

I did like Stiff very much, takes the edge off mortality I thought. I do keep meaning to try her other books too.

27. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks...too amazing for words...has anyone else read this one?

I agree, Stiff was a great read. I was less impressed with Spook, and would love to read Bonk and Packing for Mars.

And The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is on the wishlist! Maybe with my birthday money...

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was a really great book, I can't wait for you to read it :)

28. Finished Alphabet of Thorn today. I read this one at the suggestion of someone in the FantasyFan's book group, and I'm glad I did. McKillip is a very talented fantasy writer.

These are some of the first comments I've seen about The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks... it's very highly rated.. ok ok I'll buy a copy. Sheesh let go of my arm ;-).

Along with Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken I guess I'll be covering the top of the 2010 best books list.

I thought that the Henrietta Lacks book was fantastic - infuriating, but fantastic. The subject matter was the infuriating part - I know it happened a long time ago, but the lack of informed consent with the family for follow-up tests was horrible. And OMG the "lets stick a piece of radium up in your parts to cure your cancer" description was revolting.

Well, to be fair, radiation ribbons are still inserted vaginally to treat reproductive cancers today. The fact is, that back then they just didn't know that the dosage wasn't a matter of more is better. That's one of the reasons I love reading books like this. I love reading about how current medical practice began.

29. Heirs of Mars (Guess LT doesn't have a touchstone for this one yet). The author of this one is Joseph Robert Lewis. Pretty good action-packed beach read. The dialogue was a little cheesy, and it was more action than substance, but not a bad story.

41, I don't usually bother with the top book lists, either, but I feel like those two are some great exceptions :) I hope you enjoy them as much as I did

30. The Burning Sky (also, no touchstone) by Joseph Robert Lewis. I encourage other people to go out and read this one and tell me what you thought, because it was a really fun action book. However, deep thoughtful literature it is not. Still, it was a good time.

31. The Siege. It was one of those books where the paragraphs could very often be poems. Dunmore writes beautifully of the starvation and suffering during the 1941 German siege on Leningrad. The story follows one family's suffering and survival during this terrible time in Russian history. Although the story is fiction, you can tell that it was well-researched. Definitely recommend.

Oh dear, everyone seems to have read The Siege but me! I really must track down a copy at some stage.

I had never even heard of it before I joined LT, but I started feeling the same way reading other people's posts. It was a really beautiful book. Makes me glad that I joined LT, LT users have great tastes in books.

32. One Hundred Years of Solitude. This one's a classic, so I'm sure that anything I can say that hasn't already been said. Its a beautiful book, although it can be a little hard to follow since time has very little meaning, people seem to be able to die only when they're tired of living, and fully half the characters in the book have the same name. Everyone's in the same family, and it becomes difficult to remember who's the father/uncle/brother of whom. After you get used to that, however, its a beautiful book, and a true portrait of everything that is both good and terrible about humanity.

33. City of Bones I read this one under a recommendation from the Fantasy Fans group. It was included by a LT member in his/her list of fantasy books that had an interesting/original setting. Although I'm not sure it was all that original, Wells definitely does an amazing job of describing the scenery. I give the creativity in making up a whole new world with its own creatures and describing it in beautiful and specific detail a 5 star review. However, the story only deserved a 3 star review in my opinion. I thought some of the characters were overly complicated while other interesting and important characters weren't delved into at all. There were also a few plot lines that never went anywhere. Overall, still a pretty good book, 4 stars.

I absolutely hated "The Curious Incident of the Dog and the Nighttime," so I'm thinking we have opposite tastes in "literature" i.e., you go for the more critically-acclaimed, while I go for more of the fun to read. I wanted to read "How I Learned to Love the Walrus" (I know you hated it) but it's listed on Kindle for $3.99. Where did you get it for free? Thanks!

52...I thought I was the only one who hated "The Curious Incident," lol. My mom had to read it for some odd book club/CE thing at work and I picked it up after she was done.

HuntingtonParanormal - No, definitely not the only one! I did finish the book, but only because it was short and I wanted to find out the answer to who killed the dog. I ended up skimming a lot.

CarolChanning subscribe to Pixel of Ink.com (they also have a FB page) and check out their free books every few days or so. The walrus was probably a limited time offer, most of them are. Most of the free ones are either Christian Fiction or Raunchy Romance (an odd combo.) Every once in awhile, I find something good in there, though.

Haven't had a lot of time to post, and I kind of fell behind. I'll just toss these up, real quick.
34. Element of Fire gave it 4 stars, but I think I liked City of Bones slightly better.
35. Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy. Obviously a work read. Was super-excited to find it, though.
36. Catching Caroline Trashy romance at its finest. This was a collection of short stories, although it sort of felt like the author couldn't be bothered to write the actual story, so she only wrote the dirty bits.
37. Gemini Moon was free or 1$ on the Kindle. It was pretty good, so I got the next in the series, which was...
38. Shadow Moon Probably won't read any more of these, though. The author switches characters after Shadow Moon, and I just don't care that much.

39. Touch by Alexi Zentner. Very, very good book. I already reviewed it, so I won't drag it all out again.

40. Thirteen Little Envelopes Not sure why the touchstones don't like this one. It was a cute little book about a high school senior following her dead aunt's step by step instructions while back packing through Europe.

41. The Plague. As part of my 2011 reading goals, I wanted to read 11 books from the 1001 books to read before you die list. So far, the few I've read from the list have been a very good experience. This one was ok...it tells the story of a north African town isolated due to an outbreak of plague. Its a commentary on isolation and the solidarity of healthcare workers.

42. The Orchid Thief Great book about the obsessive collectors of orchids. It was about more than that though, it was also about the history of orchid collecting, the collectors themselves, the orchids, the breeders, the poachers, and the laws that govern the Florida land where they reside in the U.S. Very good book, even though I have to say I never really gave orchids more than a second thought before reading it.

43. Beyond the Bougainvillea. Thought it was a book about a girl growing up during the depression. Turned out to be about a constant stream of abusive rapists...wtf.

44. A Song for Lya Breezed through this novella at work tonight. Very interesting fantasy/sci-fi combination

Oh, I liked The Orchid Thief very much too. I'll avoid Beyond the Bougainvillea though....

62 I'm learning that free Kindle books should probably be regarded with at least some degree of suspicion.

45. The Five People You Meet in Heaven Not sure why I finally decided to read this one after avoiding it during its peak hype time. I've seen it criticized as not being a real book. This isn't a sentiment that I agree with at all. I thought it was a story that is beautiful in its simplicity. Albom doesn't waste a single word, which is an epic achievement in my opinion.

46. The Emperor of All Maladies. I loved this book! I think this book toes the perfect line between being a great medical nonfiction book for healthcare workers and lay people. Plus, I love books about medical history, anyway, so I'm alittle biased.

I often avoid reading books during their peak hype time ... The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo comes to mind, and then when I DO read them, I wonder why I waited so long.

Still have never read A Thousand Splendid Suns or The Kite Runner though...

@65 You're really missing out with Thousand Splendid Suns and Kite Runner. I know what you mean though, I tend to roll my eyes at bestsellers. I'm also in the 11 in 11 in 2011 group though, and one of my categories is "Bestsellers" pretty much because I avoid them. My perfect examples are Twighlight and Eat, Pray, Love both of which I will probably never touch.

47. So I was out of town last week at a conference, which kept me very busy. I brought my Kindle, but I didn't have any time to pick it up while I was there. So, I have a lot of catching up to do. Read Wurthering Heights in the last 48 hours. (Technically, I had started it before I left, but more than 80% of it has been since I returned.) Wurthering Heights is probably the best known, if not the first, book about abusive and dysfunctional families, which is of course a premier topic in modern literature. Definitely worth the time to read, and its free on the Kindle, which is a bonus.

48. The Hunger Games
49. Catching Fire
50. Mockingjay

Stayed up all night reading these, caught a quick nap very early this morning and then continued the series through most of today. Don't say this very often, but I literally could not put them down. Glad I didn't skip over these, you shouldn't either.

51. Forest of Hands and Teeth Recommended by LT, probably because of the Hunger games series. FoHaT wasn't knock-you-on-your-ass good like Hunger Games was...but it was still a good zombie read.

I had the same problem with the Hunger Games trilogy. My need for sleep lost out to my need to know what happens to Katniss et al.

52. The Dead-Tossed Waves Not as good as the Forest of Hands and Teeth. I'm going to read the third one, mostly to finish the series. Given the drop in quality between the first and second books though, I'm hesitant.

53. Dark and Hollow Places The third book in the Forest of Hands and Teeth series. Better than the second book, but not a ton. I'm moving on from teen fiction now, I think I've had quite enough for the year. :)

54: Winged Obsession Already reviewed it, since it was an Early Reviewers book. Reads like a novel, very entertaining.

55. A Land of Ash by David Dalglish (LT doesn't have a touchstone for it, I guess). A series of short stories centered around one disaster. I don't usually enjoy books of short stories, but I liked this one.

56. Agnes Grey. Although I had to read some other Bronte literature in highschool, I had never read a book by Anne Bronte. I have to say that I found it to be funny, and moving. I've always loved books from that period because of the emphasis that they place on social interactions, and this one was not a disappointment. Bronte tells the story of Agnes, a young woman who becomes a governess to support her family, and the trials that she endures from other people along the way. It was also a quick read, which helped to hold my attention span. :)

I enjoyed Agnes Grey as well. Anne Bronte was a new to me author too.

57. The First Husband by Laura Dave. Fairly new book, maybe that's why LT didn't have a touchstone for it. I read this book under the forceful recommendation of a friend, I probably would not have, otherwise. I did end up enjoying it more than I thought. I would recommend this book to anyone who just ended a relationship that they thought would last forever.

58. Unfamiliar Fishes. A very interesting history of Hawaii, focusing mostly on the period of time when the white missionaries/explorers were active in Hawaii, leading up to it becoming a state. Although Vowell is very funny, I still had a hard time staying interested in the subject matter.

59. The Secret Life of Bees Finally read it...its been showing up on my recommended list for quite awhile. Glad I did :)

60. Dead Reckoning. This latest Sookie installment was pretty bad. Pretty sure Harris is just writing whatever pops into her head now, without thought to crazy ideas like sentence structure or plot. I'm too invested to stop now though.

61. Bound by the Heart another free Kindle book, which I've learned to be suspicious of (unless they're classics, of course.) I expected this one to be a cheap n dirty, and although it was a romance novel, with 3 or 4 mildly graphic sex scenes, it was also a pretty good book. I'd hurry and download this one to your Kindle while its still free.

62. The Wind and the Sea Convinced to read this one because of the previous posting, which was a free book on the Kindle.

63. Vestal Virgins: Suspense in Ancient Rome Member Giveaway book that takes place in ancient Rome during the time of Nero. Loved it!

64. The Maze Runner I guess I was really trying to fill the post Hunger Games void. This one actually was about 95% successful, definitely going to read the rest of the series.

65. The Scorch Trials Number 2 in the Maze Runner series. Not quite as good as the first one, but very, very close. Before this year, I would have told you that I definitely was not interested in teen fiction, but now I'm starting to wonder. Definitely something compelling about the genre. In any case, I can't wait until the third book in this series comes out in October.

66. A Thousand Sisters I almost forgot to add this one to the list! That would be a shame, because its an amazing story about a woman who wakes up one day and decides to do her best to change the lives of women in the Congo.

67. Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Contients. I can't figure out why LT can find a book just fine when I add it to my library, but can then the touchstone doesn't exist. I bought this book after reading the previous one, and I think it shows because the theme is sort of the same. In Wanderlust, however, the main character chronicals her travels from her childhood to young adulthood in which she wanders and loves freely. Its a beautifully written book, and although I usually hate books with too much self reflection, I think its because when its done badly, its REALLY bad. This book, however was REALLY good, and I definitely recommend it.

68. The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb This was a really great book about an amazing historical character that I had never even heard of before. Reading this book made me want to read more about her and P.T. Barnum. It reads a lot like Benjamin's first book, but its definitely worth the read.

69. The Glassblower of Murano This book was recommended to me by a coworker, who raved about it. Although it was a pretty good piece of historical fiction, and well written, I just didn't see what she was so excited about. The story features a young woman who travels to Italy to learn more about her ancestors after her husband leaves her for an older and less attractive woman (the main character can't fathom why he would do this, but she speculates about it at length.) Upon arriving there, she is of course immediately inducted into the oldest and arguably most elite group of glass blowing artisans in Italy. Nevermind that she seems to have only completed a portfolio of a handful of glass projects, and the guild has never allowed women in, she breezes right through. The story explains this as her being taken advantage of because her ancestor was a famous historical glassblower, and because the current owner of the place wants to play it up in an ad campaign. Ok, fine, I'll bite. The rest of the story where she pursues the truth about her ancestors, which flips back and forth to the ancestor's perspective in the weeks before he died, is actually pretty good. Overall, this book might be worth your time.

70. No Touch Monkey. A cute little book with funny travel anecdotes. Not a great book.
71. Smokin Seventeen Newest Evanovich book, pretty good, but this series probably needs to wrap up soon.

I ALMOST gave in and bought Smokin Seventeen, but resisted. I've got enough to read while I wait for the paperback. These books are like a safety blanket for me, lol...but I do think the same formula is getting a tad old, lol.

72. A Dance with Dragons another absolutely amazing book by George R.R. Martin. He finally finished this book, and of course I had to buy it instantly on the Kindle, and I read it in 4 days..so now I have a long, long, long time to wait until the next one. Sigh. Anyway, anyone who hasn't read this series should definitely run out and get it, now.

73. Predators I Have Known Actually read this one before A Dance With Dragons and I completely forgot about it. I guess that shows how memorable the book is. It was interesting, but not great collection of snippets of stories from the author's travels and experiences with mammals. It came across as disjointed, however, and just left me wishing to know more about some stories while I wished others hadn't been included.

74. I've been on vacation for the last 4 days and have been keeping off the laptop, so I haven't posted much (except from my cellphone.) As a result, I'm pretty far behind. To catch up.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Ok, so I'm not counting this one because I've read it before. Because we were driving more than 9 hours from our home in Michigan to Washington D.C, I thought this audiobook would entertain my 10-year-old. I was right, and the reading of it definitely meets expectations.

Catharsis Partially read this one on the trip down, but I finished it the day we arrived to the hotel (August 4th.) I got this book on the Kindle awhile back for free and kept meaning to read it. I think the only reason that I finally did was because it was one of the only books on my Kindle, and I didn't have wifi access to download more. Anyway, if you're a Stephen King fan, I highly recommend this book, because it was very very much like a Stephen King novel in style and topic. The basic premise is that there exists a town where evil people are drawn and that every generation or so a "cleansing" occurs where all of the evil people are slaughtered during a blizzard and all of the pure people survive. Very solid book. The only part that annoyed me is that all of the evil people's backgrounds are described except for one. She's killed, so we assume she's evil, but its never explained exactly what she did. More annoying than anything, it wouldn't have really added much to the story to know the answer.

A Bed of Spices Read this one over the 5th/6th of August. It was also another Kindle freebie that I was hoarding. Despite not generally having much luck with free Kindle books, I must have been feeling lucky this week because this one was also good. It was a beautiful romantic story about a wealthy Christian lord's daughter and a poor Jewish merchant's son. Very sad, but very beautiful, and in the end it was uplifting.

The Light Horseman's Daughter Checked another free Kindle book off the list. This one reminds me a lot of Beyond the Bougainvillea However, that book was gawd-awful and this one was pretty good. They feature similar stories, both have strong female characters that prevail despite many obstacles during a time when women could generally not be self sufficient. Skip BtB though, and read this one.

Was in the mood for sci-fi, so upon LT's recommendation, I read (#77) Dragonflight. Really more of a fantasy book, actually. The back story seems more sci-fi, which is that a group of humans settle an Earth colony on a distant planet. Thousands of years after the fact, the colony no longer remembers where they came from. During that time, they have learned that those among them can telepathically communicate with the large native lizards which can open wurm holes to travel instantly from place to place (the lizards, not the telepathy.) These dragon-riders feature prominently in the planet's politics. In the end, it comes across more as fantasy since the science behind this is not delved into, but taken as simple fact by the characters. Good book though, and I enjoyed it. I will probably read another in the series (which is lengthy.)

Since it was my turn to drive for the last 5 hours of our trip back from D.C., I turned the audio book back on and finished listening to (#78) The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. I'm sure that the Douglas Adams series needs no review from me, but I will add that if you're going anywhere in a car with kids in the age 10 range and up, it makes for pretty good entertainment for them. I suppose the kind of people who have DVD players in their car don't have to worry so much about this, but I'm not one of those people.

Well, I'm relieved to finally be home from this vacation, but unfortunately I'm going back to work tomorrow night. That will probably slow down my reading, but I'm glad I was able to get ahead a little bit after slacking for so long.

On our last journey we had an audiobook of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone read by the wonderful Stephen Fry. (I believe it's a different narrator for the US market.) The kids were spellbound (ages: 6-and-a-bit and 8-heading-towards-9). Love the idea of Hitchhikers for the next journey, but probably will hold back for a few years yet. :)

I enjoyed the Pern series when I read them as a teenager (I still want my own dragon), but have not read them since. They started out strong, but got soapy as they went on, if I remember correctly. Definitely worth reading for a few more books, though!

79. Finished listening to Life, the Universe and Everything today after my pre-work nap. Working midnights over the next few days, so I probably won't have much time to read, but I think I did pretty well over my vacation. The next book on my list is Dawn of Prophecy, since I need some more fantasy books for the 11 in 11 in 11 challenge.

80. I read My Heart Stopped Beating which I got as an early reviewer book. Upon reading it, I felt a little shorted this month. The book was a garbled mess. There were a lot of mixed up words and typos (terrible translation? terrible writing? who knows.) In any case, I'm glad I didn't pay any money for this book, because it was very disappointing. On the up side, it was only 140 pages.

81. Howl's Moving Castle was a beautifully written fantasy novel, I've been hearing hype about this one for awhile, and I'm glad I read it.

82. Dracula I started this one beore Howl's Moving Castle, but it took me awhile to get through it. I was having trouble with it, so I took a break, read another book and came back to this one. My mom tells me all the time that this is her favorite book. Not a huge surprise, since she loves vampire books (although at least she doesn't say that Twilight is her favorite.) I personally don't care all that much for vampire books. The only one that I can even remember reading was Interview with the Vampire. I guess I've also read the Sookie Stackhouse series, which are vampire books.
I did enjoy Dracula, especially the character of Van Helsing. I think probably because doctors don't get to be monster killing heroes very often. I wouldn't say that it was my favorite book in the whole world, but it was definitely worth the time.

83. The Temple Dancer Finally read this one after a year of it sitting on my to-be-read list. After all that, I was sort of disappointed. I guess I just put it up on too high of a pedestal. It was a pretty interesting book, the story was unique, and in the end things didn't work out just perfectly, or even predictably. I like that in a book. I think the only complaint I have is that I just didn't care about the characters very much. I gave it 3 and a half stars.

84. The Lost City of Z follows the journey of British explorer, Percy Fawcett, who disappeared into the Amazon jungle in 1925. Grann keeps you very engaged in the story of Fawcett's life and obsession during a time when very few people had traveled outside of their own country, much less to somewhere as far and exotic as the Amazon jungle. Fawcett made several trips into the Amazon, narrowly surviving each one, in search of a lost civilization that he believed to be there. When he finally made a journey that he never came back from, the world began to speculate. Grann makes his own journey into the Amazon to retrace Fawcett's steps and makes an important discovery. For those of you who don't think you care for non-fiction, I'd urge you to give this book a try, because I think you'll find its easy to get caught up in.

84 it is very much like an adventure novel itself isn't it?

It was! I was actually more caught up in that book than in any of the adventure-type books that I've read recently.

85. The Lincoln Lawyer I'm not usually into mystery/law type books, but I kept seeing this one popping up on the recommended list. I'm really glad that I read it, it was a very funny and clever novel, and I look forward to the next one in the series.

86. The Swarm by Frank Schatzing. This one was a chunkster, at 956 pages. Luckily, I bought the Kindle edition (as I frequently do when faced with the prospect of lugging a book of that size around.) I read this one because I've been trying to dip my toes into the 1001 books to read before you die list. At first, I didn't really understand why this book made it onto the list. 1001 books are supposed to be unique or ground-breaking in some way...and this just seemed like a piece of pulp fiction to me. Reminded me a lot of the movie 2012, actually. There's lots of running and screaming done by the public, about a zillion scientific experts trying to fix it, and the government not listening. No surprise this one's been picked up for a movie deal, the transition is going to be pretty seamless. 75% of the way into the book, I had decided that although it was entertaining, it wasn't much else. Ok, so the author's point is that we need to stop polluting our environment, and the ocean is getting really pissed at us. Maybe its just my generation, but I don't feel like that story gets points for being unique.

In the last 25% of the book, however, things turned around. It turned into a long, philosophical discussion about what it means to be human. Our view of ourselves, our place in world evolution, and what exactly it would mean to us if we discovered ourselves not to be the most intelligent life form on this planet. I can see how it would come across as preachy, but I thought it was fascinating. I think that turning apocalyptic fiction into self reflection is what all writers are trying to do with the genre, but this is the first time that I've had it work on me. The only criticism I have is that this book could have been trimmed down to half its size and still accomplished the same job.

87. The Hollow. I should have followed my first instinct with this one. A woman that I work with was pretty much continuously gushing about this book. As in...talking about it on FB 2-3 times a week and bringing it up in unrelated conversation. Upon first conversation with her, I had kind of decided the book was teenager romance literature of the Twilight variety. I could not understand why this grown woman, who's intelligence I had complete faith in, was so obsessed with it (I guess that happens with Twilight, too.)

Finally, I was like...seriously? Fine. I'll read it.

I looked it up on Amazon and upon seeing the cover, which is of a pale, goth-looking girl wearing a large pendant, I sighed inwardly. This wasn't looking good. I decided to reserve it at the library, since I didn't want to pay money for it. I was kind of embarrassed to be seen reading it, much less owning it. I actually read it after coming home from night shift, after my husband had left for work because I knew he'd laugh at me. I actually almost stopped reading it like 5 times because it was just too much teenage angst for me.

On a maybe unrelated note, what is going on with the font size in teenage literature? As far as I can tell, teenage girls have perfectly good eyesight, there is no need to enlarge the type in their books until a 90 year old woman can read it from 50 feet away. This 350 page book is about 4 inches thick due to the large lettering and huge spaces between lines.

The synopsis of the book is this : (Which DOES contain spoilers.)

Abbey is a junior in high school when her best friend since they were toddlers, Kristen, turns up missing and is presumed dead (her body is actually found later in the book.) Abby is of course, crushed, and miserable. Not much else along that plot line is brought into the book, other than the discovery of Kristen's diary, which still doesn't add much to the plot.

Abbey starts spending a lot of time in the cemetery where Kristen is buried (although it does sound like she spent a lot of time there before Kristen died, as well.) She visits Washington Irving's grave fairly often as well, as this all takes place in Sleepy Hollow... She starts to see this boy, Caspian, around. First at Kristen's funeral, then at the cemetery and of course she falls immediately in love (because, after all, he is hot.) She starts to meet him on a regular basis at the cemetery, and other places, and the book starts to become consumed with every little one of his actions, which she analyzes and re analyzes. She can't understand why he won't hold her hand, kiss her...why he won't give her his cell phone number...blah blah blah. Meanwhile, I'm realizing that this book is centered around one single element of surprise, which my coworker has already spoiled for me. Caspian is a ghost. So are a few other people in the book, but since they don't advance the story one iota, I'm not even sure why they're included.

The book pretty much ends after that, triumphant in its ability to completely and utterly shock you, to make up for the complete lack of a story before or after.

So this series is a trilogy, but I can only picture it going downward from here, so I will not be participating.

Great review of The Swarm - on my wishlist it goes!

Great review of The Swarm, I'm glad it turned around for you! For me, it was on the 1001 list for being part of the zeitgeist, but you're quite right about the ending, which is another reason for being on the 1001 list. (And kudos to the author for making all that science work in a work of fiction!)

Great review of The Hollow too, I shall be avoiding that one. :)

88. Before I Go To Sleep. I actually read this one on a whim last night. I have been working on Open Heart, but Before I go to sleep was a book that I had put on hold at the library, and I knew that there were a lot of people waiting.

Before I go to sleep is a psychological thriller. I feel like the point of that genre is to really freak you out, and make you question your own sanity a little bit. I have read a little bit of the genre (wouldn't say that I'm necessarily a fan), but I have never been freaked out by any book that I can remember like I was freaked by this one.

The story centers around Christine, who after a brain injury, awakes every morning with no memory of her life past age 20 or so (sometimes even earlier.) Every morning her husband, Ben calms her down, shows her pictures from their life, and then heads off to work. She also gets daily calls/visits from her therapist, who's helping her to recover her memories. Things are dandy until one morning she wakes up and finds a journal that she's been writing in. Carved into the cover are the words "Don't Trust Ben."

I don't want to give too much away, but I promise this will be a book that you stay up until 4am to finish, and that you're going to have a lot of trouble sleeping after you read it.

Oh, I've heard great things about Before I Go To Sleep even before your review. I must track down a copy!

Haven't been on here in forever! I started school back up this fall and unfortunately, I haven't had much time for extra reading. I have read some, but I've definitely slowed down a lot.
Since I was last on, I've read:

A Change of Heart This was a free Kindle book that I downloaded awhile back. I actually really liked this book, even though its not what I generally like to read. It was the story of a middle-aged woman who's husband leaves her for her young girlfriend and the changes that her life goes through as a result of it. The description on the back cover does not do it justice. Its a very complex story that describes the changes that a woman's life is going through in a way that is truthful and deep.

Doodling-Cute little novelette about people falling off the Earth into an asteroid field because the world is just moving too fast. I think I paid about 1$ for this one on the Kindle, was definitely worth it.

Don of the Living Dead-I like zombie books, and this one was a lot of fun. The main character is generally unlikable in the beginning of the book, but he grows on you as he and his group try to escape the zombie invasion.

Dead of Night I received this book as part of the Early Reviewers club, and although it wasn't my favorite zombie book ever written, it was pretty good. It was unique in that the story describes the actual beginning of the zombie infection, whereas most books cover it in very general terms as some event that happened previous to the story being told.

For Time and Eternity-Recommended for me on Amazon, so I used my monthly book borrowing credit for the Kindle to get it. What did I learn? That apparently Amazon believes that I am a religious bigot that hates Mormons. I was especially unimpressed when in her interview in the back of the book, the author states that its "really too bad" that Mormons and Christians are getting along better now than historically, because the Bible does not teach us to be tolerant. No joke, she actually said that. The story isn't too bad, it talks about religious turmoil that a young woman suffers from when she leaves her strict Christian family to live with her Mormon husband, who later marries a second wife at the urging of the community. Reading the book, I thought it seemed like the author was being a little harsh toward the Mormon religion, since most of the book characters hate Mormons. But, I thought, its a historical book, and during the time, Mormons weren't looked well upon. I might have enjoyed it if the author didn't make it so clear at the end that the story comes from a place of intolerance and hate.

Pathfinder Great Sci-fi book about people who are able to manipulate time and space on a new human colony.

Beyond the Paw Paw trees I loved this book as a kid, and I was so excited that Amazon re-released it.

...apparently Amazon believes that I am a religious bigot that hates Mormons...

Ouch! I guess with some things, especially those involving taste, people are still far better than computers and algorithms.