small town me's books

December 2011

2011-12-31T10:03:00.000-08:00

I usually alphabetize, but this month they are in the order I read them. Does it matter?

The Language of Flowers, Vanessa Diffenbaugh. What happens when you age out of foster care? Her gift for flowers helps her find a place in the world. Loved this book. I wanted to have my own box of flower cards.
The Marriage Plot, Jeffrey Eugenides. The boring plot. I'm writing this 3 weeks later and I can't remember what it was about.
I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, Alan Bradley. A Flavia DeLuce Christmas story. So there's death and poison.
Mr. Fox, Helen Oyeyemi. After starting this book 4 times, I finally gave up. Just couldn't get into it.
Sybil Exposed, Debbie Nathan. WTF??? Sybil was a fraud. Blame the psychiatrist.
God If You're Not Up There I'm F*cked, Darrell Hammond. His voices started out as an escape.
The Drop, Michael Connelly. Harry Bosch on the edge of retirement? Bosh!
The Scottish Prisoner, Diana Gabaldon. Jamie figures prominently in this, to tide us over till the next Outlander book.
The Sisters, Nancy Jensen. Tragedy and miscommunication separate two sisters. I would have liked a resolution in the end.
Neuromancer, William Gibson. On the top 100 Sci Fi Fantasy list, but it was a little too cyber tech for me. Plus the first 6 pages were missing, actually sliced out of the library book.
A Summer in Europe, Marilyn Brandt. Again, good reviews, but too wordy for me.
The Hidden Child, Camilla Läckberg. So much mystery in her little town of Fjällbacka. I'd love to visit there.
11/22/63, Stephen King. One of his best!
Breakfast at Tiffany's, Truman Capote. Plus 3 other short stories.
Amigoland, Oscar Casares. Elderly estranged brothers travel to Mexico to trace a family legend.
Anyone but You, Jennifer Crusie. Quick chick lit e-book library read. It gets 4 stars on Amazon but I wasn't that impressed. The sex with a younger man was hawt but the dithering about the age difference was nawt.

November 2011

2011-11-06T11:43:00.000-08:00

The Best of Me, Nicholas Sparks.
Cannery Row, John Steinbeck.
The Cat's Table, Michael Ondaatje
The Dovekeepers, Alice Hoffman.
The Family Fang, Kevin Wilson.
High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly, Donald Spoto.
Hotel Vendome, Danielle Steel.
Life Itself, Roger Ebert
The Map of True Places, Brunonia Barry
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
Orange is the New Black, Piper Kerman
Out of Oz, Gregory Maguire
Payback at Morning Peak, Gene Hackman
Some Girls: My Life in a Harem, Jillian Lauren
This Burns My Heart, Samuel Park
Travels With Charley in Search of America, John Steinbeck
Wickedly Charming, Kristine Grayson.

October 2011

2011-10-31T12:54:00.000-07:00

Too much needlepoint, too little reading.

I'm able to get a few library books on the Kindle now. I actually do not use my original first gen Kindle any more, but it's still plugged in and Ernest used it for The Time Machine for his English class.

I prefer the iPad. Besides the Kindle app, I've got Adobe OverDrive for more library ebooks. And I've got iBooks too, but I've only bought one book for that app so far.

3 Willows, Ann Brashares
1225 Christmas Tree Lane, Debbie Macomber
Anne Frank and Me, Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfield
Carrie, Stephen King
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, Alexandra Fuller
Drama: An Actor's Education, John Lithgow
The Girl in the Garden, Kamala Nair
Hemingway's Boat, Paul Hendrickson
Nightwoods, Charles Frazier
Secret Daughter, Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Stories I Only Tell My Friends, Rob Lowe
Vertical, Rex Pickett

September 2011

2011-09-30T11:25:00.000-07:00

Big Girl Small, Rachel DeWoskin
The Blind Contessa's New Machine, Carey Wallace
Bossypants, Tina Fey
Even Silence Has an End, Ingrid Betancourt
Eyes Wide Open, Andrew Gross
Folly Beach, Dorothea Benton Frank
Foundation, Isaac Asimov
Flash and Bones, Kathy Reichs
Happy Accidents, Jane Lynch
I, Robot, Isaac Asimov
The Kitchen Daughter, Jael McHenry
A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway
The Union Quilters, Jennifer Chiaverini

August 2011

2011-08-31T08:23:00.000-07:00

Summer days, road trips, and plane rides...perfect time for lots of reading.

Crunch Time, Diane Mott Davidson
Ender in Exile, Orson Scott Card
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
The Fifth Witness, Michael Connelly
A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin
A Gift of Grace, Amy Clipston
The Girl in the Blue Beret, Bobbie Ann Mason
Happy Birthday, Danielle Steel
Heat Wave, Nancy Thayer
Juliet Immortal, Stacey Jay
A Secret Kept, Tatiana de Rosnay
Silver Girl, Elin Hilderbrand
State of Wonder, Ann Patchett
Still Alice, Lisa Genova
Then Came You, Jennifer Weiner
This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Tiger's Wife, Tea Obreht
The White King, Gyorgy Dragoman
The Wilder Life, Wendy McClure
The Year We Left Home, Jean Thompson

NPR's Top 100 Science Fiction/Fantasy

2011-08-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

Some of my favorite books are on this list. It looks like I have a few more to read!

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien

2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert

5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin -- This is in my "to read" stack

6. 1984, by George Orwell

7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan

13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell

14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore

16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov

17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein

18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss

19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick

22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King

24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke

25. The Stand, by Stephen King

26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson

27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury

28. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut

29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman (well, just the first one)

30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess

31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams

33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey

34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein

35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller

36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne

38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys

39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells

40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny

41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings

42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley

43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson

44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven

45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin

46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien

47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White

48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman

49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke

50. Contact, by Carl Sagan

51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons

52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman

53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson

54. World War Z, by Max Brooks

55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle

56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman

57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett

58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson

59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold

60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett

61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind

63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson

66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist

67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks

68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard

69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb

70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger

71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson

72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne

73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore

74. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi

75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson

76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke

77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey

78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin

79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury

80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire

81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson

82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde

83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks

84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart

85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson

86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher

87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe

88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn

89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan

90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock

91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury

92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley

93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge

94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov

95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson

96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis

98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville

99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony

100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

July 2011

2011-07-31T19:36:00.000-07:00

Calico Pennants, David A. Ross. interesting premise...shiprecked man ends up on a timeless paradisical island with Amelia Earhart. But I didn't like the writing style.
Commencement, J. Courtney Sullivan. Smith grrls rule.
Dragon's Time, Anne and Todd McCaffrey. I am still a sucker for those dragons.
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon. Resourceful Afghani sisters start dressmaking to support the family.
Escape, Barbara Delinsky. Manhattan lawyer reconsiders her life.
French Lessons, Ellen Sussman. 3 intertwined stories of Americans and their French tutors.
In the Garden of Beasts, Erik Larson. The story of the American ambassador to Germany at the beginning of Hitler's regime.
Maine, J. Courtney Sullivan again. I liked Commencement better.
Robopocalypse, Daniel H. Wilson. Don't let those phones get too smart or we could end up like this.
The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon. The mystery behind a missing author and his all-but-lost book.
Sisterhood Everlasting, Ann Brashares...a touching followup to the Traveling Pants series. It might make you cry.
A Stolen Life, Jaycee Dugard. Buy this to support her, even if you can't bring yourself to read it. What a courageous young woman, to survive through this 18 year ordeal. This book did make me cry.
True Grit, Charles Portis. A classic.

For summer beach (or porch) reads, I would recommend Commencement and Sisterhood Everlasting. And if you like sci-fi, Robopocalypse.

I tried reading A Discovery of Witches but just couldn't get into it, and then it was overdue.

June 2011

2011-06-30T16:30:00.000-07:00

Across the Universe, Beth Revis. Interesting YA SF.
City of Fallen Angels, Cassandra Clare. Book 4 in the Mortal Instruments series, but the end sets up for another one. Intriguing mix of mortal and immortal characters, both good and bad.
Doc, Mary Doria Russell. Everything you didn't know about Doc Holliday. The shootout at the OK corral is just a footnote.
Dragongirl, Todd McCaffrey
Dreams of Joy, Lisa See. Excellent continuation of Shanghai girls.
The Eve Tree, Rachel Devenish Ford. Recommended by Green Girl, this did not disappoint.
The Gallow's Bird: #4 by Camilla Läckburg.
The Land of Painted Caves, Jean Auel. Repetitive. I had to slog to get through it. It helped that I watched "The Cave of Forgotten Dreams" the day before I started the book.
Mystery, Jonathan Kellerman
Nerd Do Well, Simon Pegg
Scarecrow, Michael Connelly. This was on my Kindle for ages...finally read it on my iPhone and was not disappointed.
Shanghai Girls, Lisa See. Ditto about the Kindle...with the Kindle app on iPhone I can read faster than ever. I finished Dreams of Joy before I finished this one, but it's ok to read them out of sequence.
The Stonecutter, Camilla Läckburg. Great Swedish mysteries. It's a mystery how I got that umlaut in there.
Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher.
A Turn in the Road, Debbie Macomber. Now I've forgotten what it was about, but it was nice while it lasted.
When the Killing's Done, T.C. Boyle. One of today's finest writers. Set offshore on the Channel Islands. History, mystery, modern dilemmas.

What's On My Lap: Duking It Out

2011-06-27T17:53:00.001-07:00

Both on my lap. Camilla's from Amazon UK. Simon's from the library. A little bit of both? I guess the one with the due date will win.

2011-06-19T18:35:00.001-07:00

Currently on my lap...

May 2011

2011-05-31T21:00:00.000-07:00

I might have forgotten a couple this month...

44 Charles Street, Danielle Steel
All Clear, Connie Willis
Dead Reckoning, Charlaine Harris
The Distant Hours, Kate Morton. Another winner by one of my new favorite authors.
Home, Bill Bryson. Finally finished it the second time around from the library and it did not disappoint.
Minding Frankie, Maeve Binchy. Always love her even though they are not the deepest reads.
The Preacher, Camilla Läckburg...my new favorite Swedish mystery writer. Her mysteries are personal, not political.
Red, Sammy Hagar. He's not as literate as Keef but it was a good rocknroll memoir.
The Replacement, Brenna Yovanoff. I have always been fascinated with changelings, going back to The Changeling by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.
A Room with a View, E.M. Forster. Ernest has to read this before school starts.
Transition, Chaz Bono

Details later.

April 2011

2011-04-30T14:22:00.000-07:00

Great reads this month. And so many! A week of vacation and laying off Frontierville for a while, that'll do it.

13 Rue Therese, Elena Mauli Shapiro. A box of mementos inspired this story.
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Amy Chua. It's just a memoir, not a parenting manual.
Blackout, Connie Willis. One of my favorite SF authors. Time travel to the London Blitz, part one.
The Dark and Hollow Places, Carrie Ryan. More than just dystopia, the world is overrun with zombies.
Dust City, Robert Paul Weston
East of the Sun, Julia Gregson. The Fishing Fleet.
Every Last One, Anna Quindlen. How do you survive a tragedy?
The House at Riverton, Kate Morton. A movie about the events at Riverton causes a 93 year old woman to relive them, with surprising twists.
The Ice Princess, Camilla Lackberg
Inkdeath, Cornelia Funke. My favorite fantasy writer.
The Keeper's Tattoo, Gill Arbuthnott. Y/A fantasy. What does Nyssa's tattoo mean and why are the Shadowmen after her?
Matched, Ally Condy. Y/A dystopia. Cassia's society decides everything.
Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart, Beth Patillo. Austen-based chick lit. Meh.
The Paris Wife, Paula McLain. Hemingway's starter wife, but he wrote of her, “I wished I had died before I ever loved anyone but her.”
The Peach Keeper, Sarah Addison Allen. There's a secret under the peach tree at the Blue Ridge Madam mansion.
Private Life, Jane Smiley. Meh
Speaking with the Angel, Nick Hornby et al
A Tale Dark and Grimm, Adam Gidwitz. Interesting weaving of Hansel and Gretel through other Grimm's fairy tales, but gosh, the Grimms did all the work for him.
A Vintage Affair, Isabel Wolff. British chick lit with vintage clothes. Win-win.
A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
A Woman in Berlin, anonymous

Overdue

2011-04-20T15:35:00.000-07:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

March 2011

2011-03-31T16:35:00.000-07:00

33 Men, Jonathan Franklin. Story of the Chilean miners.
Clara and Mr. Tiffany, Susan Vreeland. I wish it had pictures!
Clockwork Angel, Cassandra Clare. A precursor to the Mortal Instruments story.
Darling Jim, Christian Moerk. Jim was not darling.
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, Jacqueline Kelly. Charming story about an 11-year old girl, interested in nature and not the usual girl trappings of her time.
Freedom, Jonathan Franzen. I started this, but just couldn't finish it.
I Think I Love You, Allison Pearson. Revisiting a David Cassidy obsession.
The King's Speech, Mark Logue and Peter Conradi
Pretties, Scott Westerfield. Tally's a pretty now, and still making trouble.
Reckless, Cornelia Funke. On the other side of the mirror, it's not wonderland, it's a lot more dangerous.
A Red Herring Without Mustard, Alan Bradley. Nosy Flavia gets mixed up in more mystery.
The Reversal, Michael Connelly. Mickey Haller and Harry Bosch.
The Sentry, Robert Crais. Joe Pike and Elvis Cole.
Sing You Home, Jodi Picoult. Who gets custody of the embryos?
Specials, Scott Westerfield. And now Tally's special.
Those Who Save Us, Jenna Blum

February 2010

2011-02-28T16:06:00.000-08:00

Excellent batch of books this month. All library books. I must renew my Friends of the Library membership.

Cleopatra, Stacy Schiff. What's the fuss about Angelina not being dark enough? Cleopatra wasn't even Egyptian. Or black. She descended from Alexander the Great of Macedonia, which is north of Greece. Let's read the book, people.
Dirty Secret, Jessie Sholl. It made me itch. And clean my closet.
Family Affair, Debbie Macomber. Tiny story about finding true love by not fixing your cats. Please just spay and neuter. Love can find another way.
I'm Looking Through You, Jennifer Finney Boylan. Life in a haunted house. Did the house know she was a woman before she did?
In the Land of Invisible Women, Qanta A. Ahmed. She made a choice to work in Riyadh.
The Radleys, Matt Haig. When vampires try to go ~~straight~~ bloodless.
Rescue, Anita Shreve. An author I haven't read in a while. I liked this one.
The Red Garden, Alice Hoffman. From Johnny Appleseed to today.
Swamplandia!, Karen Russell. Will Swamplandia! be saved? I'm assuming I'm going to find out if I finish this in the car this afternoon.
Uglies, Scott Westerfield. Another good entry in the YA dystopia genre. Where was this genre when I was a disaffected teen?
Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand. Louie said he'd be an easier subject than Seabiscuit because he could talk. Excellent book.
What the Night Knew, Dean Koontz. I was off Koontz for a while, but I liked this one.

January 2011

2011-01-31T15:05:00.000-08:00

City of Glass, Cassandra Clare. I enjoyed this continuation of the Mortal Instruments series. Shadowhunters unite with Downworlders.
Fall of Giants, Ken Follett. So much history, wrapped up with some good characters.
Foreign Bodies, Cynthia Ozick. I didn't really like these characters.
Life, Keith Richards. Years of drug use did nothing to dull Keef's memory.
Moonlight Mile, Dennis LeHane. Follow-up to Gone, Baby, Gone.
An Object of Beauty, Steve Martin. Steve Martin, Renaissance Man.
Port Mortuary, Patricia Cornwell. Scarpetta in the first person still seems rather distant.
Traveling With Pomegranates, Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor. Mother and daughter travel and find themselves.

As I am horrible at reviews, I've linked these to their Goodreads pages. I highly recommend Traveling with Pomegranates and An Object of Beauty.

December 2010

2010-12-31T16:42:00.000-08:00

Well. Some books took a long time to read.

As Always, Julia. The letters between Julia Child and Avis DeVoto, as Julia worked on the cookbook.
Enslaved by Ducks, Bob Tarte. A friend said this was a "bedshaker," meaning her husband was laughing silently as he read it in bed. Pretty funny, but I thought they were crazy to have so many poultry pets.
The Heretic's Daughter, Kathleen Kent
In the Company of Others, Jan Karon. Father Tim in Ireland.
I Still Dream About You, Fannie Flagg
The Lost Hero, Rick Riordan
Louisa May Alcott, Susan Cheever
Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins.
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Aimee Bender. I wonder what she'd taste in my cooking?
The Wolves of Andover, Kathleen Kent. Prequel to The Heretic's Daughter.

November 2010

2010-11-30T15:08:00.000-08:00

I am bummed I didn't get through my big stack! I didn't finish the Bill Bryson. It was so full of interesting details that I spent a lot of time on it, and before I knew it, it was overdue. I'll have to put it on hold again. There were a couple others I had to renew.

At Home: A Short History of Private Life, Bill Bryson. The word "short" is misleading - it's jam-packed with interesting details.
Bound, Antonya Nelson. I wasn't bound by it.
Blockade Billy, Stephen King. Baseball story with a Stephen King twist.
Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins. #2 in the Hunger Games trilogy.
The Fall, Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. Evil, virulent, non-sparkling vampires.
Full Dark, No Stars, Stephen King. Lucky me, two SK's in the same month.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I had to re-read it!
Late, Late at Night, Rick Springfield. He didn't have to act very hard in his Californication cameo.
Medium Raw, Anthony Bourdain. I could just hear his voice in my ear as I read it.
Room, Emma Donoghue. A beautiful book, given its disturbing situation.
Safe Haven, Nicholas Sparks.
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, Beth Hoffman. This was sweet.
Spoiled, Caitlin Macy. Short stories about annoying spoiled people.
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Trespass, Rose Tremain
Unbearable Lightness, Portia de Rossi

October 2010

2010-10-31T21:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't got all my sentences written but October has been over for a while and I want to finish this post! Favorites are 1, 5 and 6.

Ape House by Sara Gruen.
The Confession by John Grisham. I haven't read Grisham in a long time -- this was good.
Extra Lives by Tom Bissell. How video games matter. My kids tell me that all the time.
A Gate at the Stairs by Lorie Moore. A nanny story.
The Hundred Foot Journey by Richard Morais.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I'm hooked.
The Kids are All Right by Diana and Liz Welch. Memoir of four kids dealing with the loss of their parents.
Legacy by Danielle Steel. Heroine loses her job and boyfriend, digs into her family's genealogy, and finds she is descended from a native american princess. Princess? That's Danielle Steel for you.
My Hollywood by Mona Simpson. Another nanny story.
Priceless by Nicole Richie. Good beach/fireplace read. Does she have a ghost writer, or can she really write?
Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs.
Star Island by Carl Hiassen. Not my favorite of his, but full of interesting characters.

September 2010

2010-09-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

A week ago, I thought, "What happened to my reading this month? I must have played too much Frontierville."

But I finished a few more so it's not too bad. It's not a race or a challenge, but I normally read a LOT so if my count is low it's either some boring books or a life thing is interfering.

Like Frontierville is life. HA.

City of Ashes, by Cassandra Clare. Sequel to City of Bones, which I read in July. Shadowhunters, vamps, weres, faeries, demons, and teen angst.
Composed, by Roseanne Cash. It would be great to listen her music while reading it.
Fly Away Home, by Jennifer Weiner. Another win!
A Gravestone Made of Wheat, by Will Weaver. I saw a lovely little movie called Sweetland, based on one of the stories in this book.
Little Bee, by Chris Cleave. Gretchen at work recommended it, and it was already in my library stack! Excellent book.
The Lost Cyclist, by David V. Herlihy. This was overdue with other holds on it so I couldn't finish, but what I read was interesting.
Mini-Shopaholic, by Sophie Kinsella. While I love the series, this was not one of my favorites. It might be time for Becky to grow up.
Packing for Mars, by Mary Roach. Thanks to my dad for introducing me to her humorous science. Beloved Niece and I are going to hear her speak Monday night!!!
Talking to Girls About Duran Duran, by Rob Sheffield. I tried listening to the music he was talking about but I still found the book boring and couldn't finish it. Read his Love is a Mix Tape instead.
The Tower, the Zoo and the Tortoise, by Julia Stuart. Odd little story, but enjoyable.
The Walk, by Richard Paul Evans. I guess I just don't like supposedly inspirational books.
Watermark, by Vanitha Sankaran. I kept putting aside this historical fiction of a mute albino paper-making poetess, for books that were due sooner, which was no fault of this book. So I kept coming back to it. I found this through a sidebar ad on Facebook.

My besties are in bold. I also linked to the author's websites, although I have not really looked at them.

I started this book blog as a personal reading diary, but I realize that's not so interesting for readers. So I am trying to include personal opinions.

What else would you like to see here? I can't offer you the books because most (all this month) of them come from the library...but I might be induced to occasionally find something at my local independent bookseller if I get enough interest!!!

August 2010

2010-08-31T11:46:00.000-07:00

All the Living, C.E. Morgan
The Bedwetter, Sarah Silverman.
Five Days Apart, Chris Binchy
The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, Philip Pullman
The Indifferent Stars Above, Daniel James Brown. Story of Sarah Graves, a Donner Party survivor.
Insatiable, Meg Cabot. More vampires.
In the Land of Invented Languages, Arika Orent. I never knew there were so many, besides Esperanto, Klingon and Elvish.
Into the Beautiful North, Luis Alberto Urrea. A girl's quest to find heros to save her town.
The Island, Elin Hilderbrand. Good beach read!
Last Night at Chateau Marmont, Lauren Weisberger. How new-found fame affects a marriage.
The Lonely Polygamist, Brady Udall. It's not an oxymoron.
Love is a Mix Tape, Rob Sheffield. A love story set to music.
The Prodigal Wife, Marcia Willett. I'd call this a good fireplace read.
Promises to Keep, Jane Green
The Red Queen, Philippa Gregory. Read The White Queen, then read this.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
The Vagrants, Yiyun Lee

July 2010

2010-07-31T18:40:00.000-07:00

Lots of good reads this month.

City of Bones, Cassandra Clare. Teen demon hunters in New York.
Committed, Elizabeth Gilbert. I liked this one better than Eat, Pray, Love. Interesting history of marriage.
Dancing for Degas, Kathryn Wagner. Bringing the art to life.
The Day the Falls Stood Still, Cathy Marie Buchanan. Very good recommendation from a friend (Lori?) and I learned about Niagara Falls, too.
Dead in the Family, Charlaine Harris. I don't want to spoil anything if you are watching True Blood and haven't read all the books yet!
Deception, Jonathan Kellerman. More Alex Delaware.
Family Ties, Danielle Steel. It didn't annoy me as much as Big Girl.
Heart of the Matter, Emily Giffin. I always like her books.
Island Beneath the Sea, Isabel Allende. Excellent story of a woman escaping slavery in Haiti/New Orleans.
The Lost City of Z, David Grann. Great true-life adventure. Brad Pitt plans a movie of it.
Lowcountry Summer, Dorothea Benton Frank. It was OK, but I liked some of her other books better.
Lucy, Laurence Gonzales. Thoughtful sci-fi about a "humanzee."
One Day, David Nicholls. Great read. Don't peek at the end!
The Passage, Justin Cronin. I got through it and ended up liking it after all. Yay!
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives, Lola Shoneyin. Family secrets spill out in a Nigerian family.
War, Sebastian Junger. War is hell, but the book wasn't.

I got a lot of reading done on the drive to Tahoe!

June 2010

2010-06-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

Catch Me in Castile, Kimberley Troutte. I know the author! A fun supernatural romance.
Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, Chelsea Handler. Trashy, I know. I couldn't help myself.
The Dead-Tossed Waves, Carrie Ryan. Sequel to #4.
The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Carrie Ryan. Y/A post-apocalyptic zombies. Excellent book.
Juliet, Naked, Nick Hornby. I love him.
Hannah's List, Debbie Macomber. Trying a little too hard with the oddball love interest, but it's still a good beach read.
The Last Train from Hiroshima, Charles Pellegrino. Devastating, shocking, amazing.
Midnight to the North: The Inuit Woman Who Saved the Polaris Expedition, Sheila Nickerson. Great recommendation from a friend.
The Red Pyramid, Rick Riordan. New series. I like it. I've always been fascinated by Egypt and learned a lot about the Egyptian gods from this book. BTW, he pronounces his name RYE-or-dan, not REAR-don as I would have thought.
The Reformed Vampire Support Group, Catherine Jinks. Y/A Funny nerdy vampires!
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, Stephenie Meyer...available free on line until July 5th! Read it for free...it's really short.
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Chris Crutcher. Y/A. Ernest has to read this over the summer for his freshman English class. I really liked it -- lots of teen issues, serious but with a sense of humor.
This Time Together, Carol Burnett. Tug ear!

I have been slogging away through The Passage but despite the rave review from Stephen King I am not enthralled...perhaps I have read too much post-apocalyptic (#3 and #4, plus we watched The Road this month) vampire fiction (#10 plus Abraham Lincoln Vampire Killer late last month) lately? It's due July 7th...will I finish???

I don't like that Y/A (Young Adult) label. Just because the books are about teenagers? Thanks to my niece for pointing me to a few great titles (#10 was one of them).

May 2010

2010-05-31T13:55:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed most of these books with the exception of The Three Weissmans. From the beginning, I didn't like the characters that much, which made it hard to get through. I wish I hadn't wasted the time.

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, Seth Grahame-Smith.
The Aloha Quilt, Jennifer Chiaverini.
Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Kate Atkinson
Bite Me, Christopher Moore
The Book of Lost Things, John Connolly
House Rules, Jodi Picoult
Just Kids, Patti Smith
Linger, Maggie Stiefvater
The Lotus Eaters, Tatjana Soli
Pearl of China, Anchee Min
The Postmistress, Sarah Blake
The Three Weissmans of Westport, Catherine Schine
The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag, Alan Bradley

April 2010

2010-04-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

Big Girl, Danielle Steele. Oh please, 25 pounds overweight is not a BIG GIRL. Get real, Danielle.
Brava, Valentine, Adriana Trigiani. Shoes! Family angst. Shoes! Love. Shoes!
The Brothers Grimm, Donald K. Mattinga
A Dark Matter, Peter Straub
The Girl Who Chased the Moon, Sarah Addison Allen. A magical story.
The Heights, Peter Hedges
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, Helen Simmonsen. A sweet love story.
The Poker Bride, Christopher Corbett
Poor Little Bitch Girl, Jackie Collins
Roses, Leila Meacham
Thorpe, Mary Dutton. The best book you've never read. If you liked To Kill A Mockingbird, you'll like Thorpe.
U is for Undertow, Sue Grafton. Only 5 letters left. : (
Winter Garden, Kristen Hannah

Greg Mortenson

2010-04-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea and Stones Into Schools, will be speaking at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara on May 4th.

March 2010

2010-03-31T18:45:00.000-07:00

Fewest books yet. What happened? Can I blame it on my son's South Park marathon?

I started The Children's Book from the library, but then my beloved niece gave me a pre-pub copy so I shelved it for a bit...I liked the part I read, though. Some other books just took a while...my favorites are in bold.

Alice I Have Been, Melanie Benjamin. The fictionalized life of the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland.
Enthusiasm, Polly Shulman. I loved the book I read last month...this is her first book. YA fiction, very good. Is everyone obsessed with Jane Austen?
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot. Story behind the cells that keep on going and going and going...
Nefertiti, Michelle Moran. I was obsessed with Egypt when I was 12, so I enjoyed reading this. However, it was Nefertiti's sister narrating. I would have preferred a first person narrative, or the sister's own story because she was a queen/pharaoh later.
Not My Daughter, Barbara Delinsky. Pregnancy Pact.
Secrets of Eden, Chris Bohjalian. But I kind of guessed whodunnit.
The Swan Thieves, Elizabeth Kostova. Slow moving...why do the multiple voices all sound the same? I almost wish I hadn't wasted so much time on this book.
The Summer We Fell Apart, Robin Antalek. The aftermath of a family falling apart...but their stories have happier endings than you would think.
Wench, Dolen Perkins-Valdez. Slave mistresses.

Read on! So many books, so little time.

February 2010

2010-02-28T20:05:00.000-08:00

9 Dragons, Michael Connelly. I don't read a lot of police/suspense, but Michael Connelly delivers every time.
Becoming Jane Eyre, Sheila Kohler. Charlotte Bronte writing her masterpiece.
Day out of Days, Sam Shepard. I started this, but just couldn't finish it.
Dirty Little Secrets, C.J. Omololu
The First Rule, Robert Crais
French Dirt, Richard Goodman
The Girl with Glass Feet, Ali Shaw. Strange, yet mesmerizing. I will never look at glass the same way.
Grave Secret, Charlaine Harris
The Grimm Legacy, Polly Schulman. This will be a fun young adult series.
Heat Wave, Richard Castle
Hollywood Moon, Joseph Wambaugh
I Am Ozzy, Ozzy Osbourne. An amazingly funny rockstar autobiography.
On Stranger Tides, Tim Powers. Great pirate/magic adventure, soon be the 4th PotC movie.
Open, Andre Agazzi
Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier
Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater. Excellent young adult adventure, better than Twilight but with werewolves.
Too Much Money, Dominick Dunne
Wild Child, T.C. Boyle

January 2010

2010-01-31T16:50:00.000-08:00

Big Man, Clarence Clemons. I admit, I read it for the Bruce bits.
The Christmas Cookie Club, Ann Pearlman. Tasty recipes.
Cleaving, Julie Powell. Sorry, I like the Amy Adams version of "Julie" better.
The Lacuna, Barbara Kinsolver. Took me a long time to read, but it got easier farther along.
Nanny Returns, Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus *
The Overnight Socialite, Bridie Clark *
The Penny Pincher's Club, Sarah Strohmeyer *
Pirate Latitudes, Michael Crichton. NEEDS MORE DEPP.
Stones Into Schools, Greg Mortenson. This is my book of the month!
The Widows of Eastwick, John Updike, took a long time to read and was pretty pointless
Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel,took me a long time to read, but it is good.

*These three would be great beach reads, except it's not beach season. Great curling up by the fireplace reads??

December

2009-12-30T10:16:00.000-08:00

I bought #2 from Amazon.uk to give to my niece for Christmas (it's not out here until May). I read it before I gave it to her. Bad Auntie! But I enjoyed it. That would be my book of the month.

I did NOT enjoy the John Irving. I wish I hadn't wasted the time.

Ford County, John Grisham
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Stieg Larsson
My Journey With Farrah, Alana Stewart
Knit the Season, Kate Jacobs
Last Night in Twisted River, John Irving
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, Rhoda Jantzen
The Original of Laura, Vladimir Nabokov
A Single Man, Christopher Isherwood
Slumdog Millionaire (Q & A), Vikas Swarup
The Vintage Caper, Peter Mayle
The Wedding Girl, Madeleine Wickham
The Witches of Eastwick, John Updike

November

2009-11-30T18:00:00.000-08:00

My goal over my Thanksgiving break was to finish the old stack of library books (6), read Under the Dome, and then attack the new stack. I did well!

Worst book: I wish I hadn't wasted my time on Angel Time. Disjointed...I liked the flashback best and there wasn't enough of it.

Best Fiction? I love me my Stephen King. And The Magicians.

Non-Fiction? All of them.

206 Bones, Kathy Reichs. I confess...I like Tempe Brennan more than Scarpetta. And I don't even watch "Bones."
Admission, Jean Hanff Korelitz. I feel sorry for kids applying for college these days.
Angel Time, Anne Rice. Ugh. Hit man who wants to be a monk goes back in time thanks to an angel. I liked the characters of the past best.
Breathers: A Zombie's Lament, S.G. Browne. Best Zombie book yet!
The Danish Girl, David Ebershoff. Fictionalized story of the first man to become a woman. This is a few years old. Something in the news made me pick it up.
Dracula the Undead, Dacre Stoker. Why is everyone trying to make vampires heros?
Flashforward, Robert J. Sawyer. Not so much a mystery as the TV show.
The Girls from Ames, Jeffrey Zaslow. Excellent, but compare and contrast with the next.
The Girls of Room 28, Hannelore Brenner. I was in tears.
Half Broke Horses, Jeannette Walls. Her grandma was a great character.
Highest Duty, Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger. No wonder he saved his passengers. He says he's not a hero, but he is.
The Last Song, Nicholas Sparks. Sappy, as usual. I still got sucked in.
The Magicians, Lev Grossman. Loved it. Think Harry Potter in college goes to Narnia.
Prism, Faye and Aliza Kellerman. Do teens really care about health care?
Prospect Park West, Amy Sohn. Trashy but a compelling read.
A Reliable Wife, Walter Goolrick. Don't get a mail order bride.
The Scarpetta Factor, Patricia Cornwell. I loved the earlier books, then there was a dead zone, but now I'm just not so interested in the characters anymore.
Under the Dome, Stephen King. 1000+ pages is not enough.
Up in the Air, Walter Kirn. Good book. Need to see George Clooney in the movie.

Damn, if I'd worked a little harder I could have hit 20. There is still time. It's only 6 p.m.

October

2009-10-31T21:00:00.000-07:00

Birds of a Feather, Jacqueline Winspear
Blindman's Bluff, Faye Kellerman
Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Cluture, Ellen Ruppel Shell
Even Money, Dick Francis and Felix Francis
A Little Bit Wicked, Kristen Chenoweth
The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown
The Magician's Elephant, Kate DiCamillo
Say You're One of Them, Uwem Akpan
Southern Lights, Danielle Steel
South of Broad, Pat Conroy
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley
True Compass, Edward M. Kennedy

September

2009-09-30T23:42:00.000-07:00

My book(s) of the month? #3, #8, #11.

Capyboppy, Bill Peet (recommended by Caplin Rous, capybara extraordinare)
Grave Surprise, Charlaine Harris
An Echo in the Bone, Diana Gabaldon. Cliffhangers galore!
It's Only Temporary, Evan Handler. See #12.
Longshot, Lance Allred
Maisie Dobbs, Jacqueline Winspear. Recommended by a friend at work. Thank you, Brenda.
Making Mischief: A Maurice Sendak Appreciation, Gregory Maguire
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, Katherine Howe
The Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict, Laurie Viera Riegler
Sea of Poppies, Amitav Ghosh. Excellent book, but hard to decipher the sailor dialect.
The Strain, Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. Scary vampires that do not sparkle!
Time on Fire, Evan Handler. I love him on Californication. This is his story of fighting leukemia at age 24.
Undead and Unwed, Mary Janice Davidson
The White Queen, Philippa Gregory

August

2009-08-31T20:46:00.000-07:00

Although I really enjoyed Water Music, it took me a while to get through it.

Best read of the month: The Girl Who Played With Fire.
Beach Read: Twenties Girl

Dragonheart, Todd McCaffrey
The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson
The Last Song of Dusk, Siddharth Dhanvant Shangvi
Magnificent Desolation, Buzz Aldrin
Many Bloody Returns, ed. by Charlaine Harris
That Old Cape Magic, Richard Russo
Plum Spooky, Janet Evanovich
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Rebecca Miller
Pygmy, Chuck Palahniuk
Summer Morning, Summer Night, Ray Bradbury
Twenties Girl, Sophie Kinsella
Water Music, T. C. Boyle

July

2009-07-31T16:36:00.000-07:00

Lots of summer reading! Sadly for me, I've finished the Sookie Sackhouse/True Blood series (at least until the new one comes out in October). A friend recommended the Harper Connolly series, but truthfully I like the vamps better. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was excellent.

Best Friends Forever, Jennifer Weiner
The Castaways, Elin Hilderbrand
The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder, Rebecca Wells
Dead and Gone, Charlaine Harris
Fearless Fourteen, Janet Evanovich
Finger Lickin' Fifteen, Janet Evanovich
The Fixer Upper, Mary Kay Andrews
From Dead to Worse, Charlaine Harris
Grave Sight, Charlaine Harris
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Jamie Ford
The Lace Makers of Glenmara, Heather Barbieri
A Lion Called Christian, Anthony Bourke and John Rendall
ommywood, Tori Spelling
My Sister, My Love, Joyce Carol Oates
The Private Patient, P.D. James
Return to Sullivan's Island, Dorothea Benton Frank
Snow in July, Heather Barbieri

Library Score!

2009-07-28T16:46:00.000-07:00

I love it when I find books from my hold list on the Express shelf!

Score! Finger Lickin' Fifteen! My hold position was 187 of 253.

June

2009-06-30T15:59:00.000-07:00

All Together Dead, Charlaine Harris
The Associate, John Grisham
The Help, Kathryn Stockett
Matters of the Heart, Danielle Steel
The Music Teacher, Barbara Hall
My Booky Wook, Russell Brand
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Seth Grahame-Smith
Smooth Talking Stranger, Lisa Kleypas
Tall Man: The Death of Doomadgee, Chloe Hooper
Tea Time for the Traditionally Built, Alexander McCall Smith
Totally Flaky, Diane Mott Davidson
We'll Always Have Paris, Ray Bradbury
The Winner Stands Alone, Paulo Coelho

Readprint.com

2009-06-14T14:56:00.000-07:00

I like this. Books online.

I'm reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies right now, and then going to readprint.com to read bits of the original. I'm able to do this because I have brief possession of my laptop right now! Ernest decided building a treehouse with his cousin was more fun than playing Maple Story or WoW on my laptop.

So many books, so little time.

May

2009-05-31T23:00:00.000-07:00

I can cross off another 2 books from the BBC top 100 list. (#13, Birdsong, and #31, The Story of Tracy Beaker.) Now I'm at 73 read, 27 to go.

Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
The Bright Side of Disaster, Katherine Center
Cloris, Cloris Leachman
The Forgotten Garden, Kate Morton
The Illustrated Man, Ray Bradbury
The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet, Colleen McCullough
It Sucked and Then I Cried, Heather Armstrong
The Lost Quilter, Jennifer Chiaverini
Love Child, Allegra Huston
Rage Against Heaven, Fred M. Stewart
Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury
The Story of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
Summer on Blossom Street, Debbie Macomber

I highly recommend Birdsong, The Forgotten Garden, and The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet.

April

2009-04-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

I'd like to highlight Soul Stealer this month. It's a very original story, a supernatural romance, written by a friend of mine. Wow, I know an author!!!! The PDF file is only $3.50, available from My Books and More. I got the Kindle/Mobipocket version and transferred it to my Kindle (via the wire it came with) in just a couple minutes.

Since then, I have found many free e-books through Good Reads. Even if there is not a Kindle/Mobipocket edition, it's easy to convert a PDF to Kindle-friendly, using the Mobipocket Creator Publisher Edition. (Free download.)

I'm not up to 10 word reviews this month. That actually requires me to think.

..so click on the links to Amazon. Or for Soul Stealer, to My Books and More.

I might have some words about a few of them.

Always Looking Up, Michael J. Fox. In the face of his medical issues, he is so POSITIVE. Wow!
Dead as a Doornail, Charlaine Harris. Love the vampires and weres and other supes.
Dead to the World, Charlaine Harris. Ditto.
Definitely Dead, Charlaine Harris. Ditto again. I think my friend Meredith has dibs on this set when I am done.
Everyone is Beautiful, Katherine Center
Handle With Care, Jodi Picoult *
The Geography of Bliss, Eric Weiner. Where is the happiest place on earth? He can't decide.
Go Down Together, Jeff Guinn. The true story of Clyde and Bonnie. They weren't Warren and Faye, but I do want to watch that movie again.
Knit Two, Kate Jacobs
Might as Well Laugh About it Now, Marie Osmond. I wish Donny would write a book. But maybe Donny's version would be boring. I love my wife, I have 5 sons, I still sing like a dream...Yes, I'm a Donny fan.
Murder at the Academy Awards, Joan Rivers. Fun and trashy.
Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell.
Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates. Kate and Leo were well cast. But it's a sad story of a bad relationship.
Soul Stealer, Kimberley Troutte... Hey, I know her! It's an enjoyable read --download it for only $3.50.
Still Life, Joy Fielding *
Swapping Lives, Jane Green
The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield. Thanks to Jen on the Edge for a great recommendation.
True Detectives, Jonathan Kellerman
While My Sister Sleeps, Barbara Delinsky *

I tried reading Night Train to Lisbon but just couldn't get into it.

Still Life and While My Sister Sleeps both dealt with women in comas. Still Life was a mystery, and While My Sister Sleeps was more in the Jodi Picoult realm. Of the three, I preferred the Jodi Picoult. I like her narration from different people.

March

2009-03-31T17:30:00.000-07:00

This month ranged from serious fiction to some lighter ones, with a couple memoirs thrown in. I loved Carl Hiassen's kids books "Hoot" and "Flush" -- "Scat" is just as good.

Cutting for Stone, Abraham Vergese
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Cory Doctorow
An Irish Country Doctor, Patrick Taylor.
An Irish Country Village, Patrick Taylor.
A Mercy, Toni Morrison
The Middle Place, Kelly Corrigan
One Day at at Time, Danielle Steel
The Piano Teacher, Jane Y.K. Lee
Scat, Carl Hiassen.
Things I've Been Silent About, Azar Nafisi.
Very Valentine, Adriana Trigiani
The Women, T.C. Boyle.

BBC top 100

2009-03-05T16:44:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Brightside turned me on to this, the BBC's All-Time 100 Most Loved Books. The ones I've read are in boldface. I've read...71, but I'm going as far back as high school for some of them. 29 to go.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien (this is 3 books to me)
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (Golden Compass, Subtle Knife, Amber Spyglass -- I count that as another 3!)
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks (but I did read his James Bond continuation)
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling (I've read the US version)
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles'
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce (not yet, but it's on my Kindle!)
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens (not yet, but I own it)
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

Why lie?

2009-03-05T13:48:00.000-08:00

Apparently, people lie about what they have read.

The study from World Book Day surveyed 1,342 people. They said they'd lied about reading:

1. 1984 - George Orwell (42%)
2. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (31%)
3. Ulysses - James Joyce (25%)
4. The Bible (24%)
5. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (16%)
6. A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking (15%)
7. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie (14%)
8. In Remembrance of Things Past - Marcel Proust (9%)
9. Dreams from My Father - Barack Obama (6%)
10. The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins (6%)

I could see lying about having read the Bible, but the others?

I read 1984 and War and Peace long ago.
Once I read part of the Bible.
Ulysses and In Remembrance of Things Past are on my Kindle. I've read a few pages of each.

And that's the truth.

February

2009-02-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

I've been enjoying Charlaine Harris's Sookie Sackhouse series, and am eagerly waiting for the DVD release of "True Blood."

Club Dead, Charlaine Harris
Cruel Intent, J.A. Jance
Dead to the World, Charlaine Harris
Fool, Christopher Moore
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Amanda Foreman
Living Dead in Dallas, Charlaine Harris
The Spare Room, Helen Garner
Testimony, Anita Shreve
True Colors, Kristen Hannah
Wit's End, Karen Joy Fowler
The Wordy Shipmates, Sarah Vowell

January

2009-01-31T06:00:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed my Kindle* in January, thanks to the plane ride and jury duty! Also, the stack of pre-pubs+ my beloved niece loaned me was pretty nice, too.

Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea, Chelsea Handler
+Blood Roses, Francesca Lia Block
*The Brass Verdict, Michael Connelly
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz
*Chasing Harry Winston, Lauren Weisburger
Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
+Disquiet, Julia Leigh
+The End of the Alphabet, CS Richardson
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
Heart and Soul, Maeve Binchy
+Jane Austen Ruined My Life, Beth Pattillo
+A Lion Among Men, Gregory Maguire
The Lucky One, Nicholas Sparks
On Writing, Stephen King
*Scarpetta, Patricia Cornwell
*When You are Engulfed in Flames, David Sedaris

December, plus 2 more Giveaways!

2008-12-29T15:04:00.000-08:00

I'm ending December a little early, just because I have a lot to do in the next few days.

Along Came Trouble, Sherryl Woods
Candy Girl, Diablo Cody
The Cricket in Times Square, George Selden
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
The Hour I First Believed, Wally Lamb
Mending Fences, Sherryl Woods
Moon Shell Beach, Nancy Thayer
The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Beverly Cleary
Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout
Secrets of a Shoe Addict, Beth Harbison
The Tales of Beedle the Bard, JK Rowling (I had to pry this out of Ernest's hands...it was his Christmas present!)

The Giveaways are:

~~A great classic duo for kids, The Cricket in Times Square and The Mouse and the Motorcycle. (Accelerated Reader book levels 4.9 and 5.1, if you're interested.)~~ OK, Debbie won these by about a minute.

~~A HAWT book for the grownups, Candy Girl. My husband even read this book, and he Does. Not. Read. Books. Period.~~ OK, Cheri's got that one! Cheri, email me with your last name and mailing address.

This giveaway was all about speed, so I can get them in the mail on Tuesday.

November, plus Giveaway #1

2008-11-30T17:00:00.000-08:00

I finally did it again -- another batch of 10 word reviews. And at last, the first of several giveaways.

Bella at Midnight, Diane Stanley. Girl saves the guy in this young adult Cinderella tale!
A Cedar Cove Christmas, Debbie Macomber. A light feel-good read just in time for Christmas.
A Good Woman, Danielle Steel. If only it was about a woman who wasn't skinny.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Great book, did I miss the Potato Peel Pie recipe?
Here's the Story, Maureen McCormick. "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha." That's all I can think to say.
Just After Sunset, Stephen King. Reining in on the horror, there's still loads of suspense.
The Lace Reader, Brunonia Barry. I got a little confused, especially looking through the lace.
Last Kiss, Luanne Rice. One year later, repercussions abound after a young man's murder.
John Lennon: The Life, Philip Norman. Very detailed account of his life before beatles and beyond.
The Looking Glass Wars, Frank Beddor. A Sci-Fi version of the classic Alice in Wonderland.
Lulu in Marrakesh, Diane Johnson.
One Fifth Avenue, Candace Bushnell. All the dish happening in a 5th Avenue apartment building.
The Other Queen, Philippa Gregory. Mary Queen of Scots felt she was the rightful queen.
The Others, David Guterson. Looking back at the eremitic life of his best friend.
Pieces of My Heart, Robert Wagner. A fine autobiography of a handsome man who loved Natalie.
Songs for the Missing, Stewart O'Nan. Family members trying to deal with daughter's disappearance.
Spellbound By Beauty, Donald Spoto. Hitch said actors are cattle, but he treated actresses worse.
Spook, Mary Roach. Roach's unique take on afterlife, but I liked Stiff better.
Wedding Belles, Haywood Smith. A mother thinks her daughter is marrying the wrong man.

Too many holds came in from the library this month! I never got into The Given Day (Dennis Lehane) and had to return it because someone else had a hold on it.

HERE'S THE GIVEAWAY PART: I read the new Stephen King on the Kindle. I am biting the bullet and giving away most of my "Stephen King Library" (that's what we called the bookcase upstairs) because they take up too much space. I have a lot of hardbacks of his more recent books. Want any? If I can find the bags in the garage, I'll update this list with all the titles. I know I have Cell, The Dark Half, ~~Everything's Eventual~~, From a Buick 8, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Insomnia, It, Lisey's Story, ~~Nightmares and Dreamscapes~~, On Writing, and I could go on. (I'm changing my mind already and thinking I will keep the short story collections.) Ernest has dibs on the Dark Tower books!

Anyway, if you want a totally FREE Stephen King book, leave a comment. I'll even pay the shipping (continental US only because they are heavy little buggers) as a Christmas Present.

Stay Tuned for a Giveaway

2008-11-13T17:17:00.001-08:00

I've got so many wonderful books, and so little room.

I want to spread the joy... in a few days I'm going to post a list of books. If you want one, comment. First one to ask for it gets it. I will pay the shipping (or in the case of my niece or M-I-L, visit you to deliver it! Nepotism is welcome at this book giveaway!)

So, stay tuned.

October

2008-10-31T13:53:00.000-07:00

I read less in October. I finally unpacked my "sewing" room, after three months, and unearthed a plethora of unfinished projects. This is what is currently cutting into my reading time:

Photo from Ehrman Tapestries.

Notice the copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales at the bottom of the photo? Sweet.

8 Sandpiper Way, Debbie Macomber
American Wife, Curtis Sittenfeld
Bone in the Throat, Anthony Bourdain
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, John Boyne
Devil Bones, Kathy Reichs
Fine Just the Way It Is, Annie Proulx
Gargoyle, Andrew Davidson
Girl Sleuth (Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her), Melanie Rehak
Look Me In the Eye: My life with Asperger's, John Elder Robinson
Life Beyond Measure, Sidney Poitier
Silks, Dick and Felix Francis
Yesterday's Weather, Anne Enright

September

2008-09-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

Babylon Rolling, Amanda Boyden
Chasing Darkness, Robert Crais
The Day I Ate What I Wanted, Elizabeth Berg
The House at Sugar Beach, Helene Cooper
Housekeeping, Marylynne Robinson
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain
Life Class, Pat Barker
The Mercedes Coffin, Faye Kellerman
My Boyfriend is a Twat, Zoe McCarthy
My Husband's Sweethearts, Bridget Asher
The Nineteenth Wife, David Ebershoff
The Turnaround, George Pelecanos
Waiter Rant, The Waiter
We Bought a Zoo, Benjamin Mee

August

2008-08-31T10:15:00.001-07:00

Many thanks to Beloved Niece, for giving me the prepub of "A Lion Among Men, Volume Three in the Wicked Years." She's doing receiving now -- she sees things first! Whoo--Hoo! Many thanks from a grateful auntie. I haven't finished it yet (too many library books due in just a few days), so it will show up on September's list.

Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman
Beautiful Boy, David Sheff
Bonk, Mary Roach
Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer (the beginning of the book was better than the end)
A Cartoonist's Life: Chas Addams, Linda H. Davis
The Colour of Magic/The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett
The Garden of Last Days, Andre Dubus III
Hold Tight, Harland Coben
In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan
Living Carelessly in Tokyo and Elsewhere, John Nathan
Married Lovers, Jackie Collins
Mistaken Identity, Van Ryn and Cerak families
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Winifred Watson (sweeter than the movie)
Mistress of the Revolution, Catherine Delors
The Monster of Florence, Douglas Preston
Off Season, Anne Rivers Siddons
The Plague of Doves, Louise Erdrich
Sleeping Arrangments, Madeleine Wickham (aka Sophie "Shopaholic" Kinsella)
Society's Child, Janis Ian (play the video below)
Such a Pretty Fat, Jen Lancaster, recommended by Vanessa!
A Summer Affair, Elin Hilderbrandt, reviewed by Jenn!

July

2008-07-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

I've spent a little less time reading and more time rearranging the house this month! I highly recommend "Escape," Carolyn Jessop's account of life within and escaping from the FLDS. For light summer reading, go for "The Beach House." And if you have a strong stomach, try "The Omnivore's Dilemma" or "Stiff."

The Beach House, Jane Green
Certain Girls, Jennifer Weiner
Comfort Food, Kate Jacobs
Escape, Carolyn Jessop
The Film Club, David Gilmour
The Front, Patricia Cornwell
I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Isheguro
The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollen
Rogue, Danielle Steel
Skeletons at the Feast, Chris Bohjalian
Stiff, Mary Roach (recommended by my father)
Things I Learned About My Dad in Therapy, Ed. Heather Armstrong
Toast, Nigel Slater
The Translator, Daoud Hari
Tweak, Nic Sheff

June

2008-07-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

Lots of "light" reading this month. I've been driving Ernest around a lot, and waiting... and waiting...must have a book while I wait. The Kindle is great for that.

Always Dakota, Debbie Macomber
Audition, Barbara Walters
Bright Shiny Morning, James Frey
Devil May Care, Sebastian Faulks
Domestic Affairs, Eileen Gouge
Light of the Moon, Luanne Rice
Love the One You're With, Emily Giffin
Manhunt, Janet Evanovich
People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks
Petite Anglais, Catherine Saunderson
The Shoe Queen, Anna Davis
A Spot of Bother, Mark Haddon
Starburst, Robin Pilcher
sTori Telling, Tori Spelling
Swine Not?, Jimmy Buffett
Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson & David Relin
Twenty Wishes, Debbie Macomber

Never Without a Book

2008-06-15T15:42:00.001-07:00

Even at age 7, I couldn't go anywhere without a book.

It's still true today.

May

2008-05-31T14:46:00.000-07:00

I went on some road trips, so I read 4 books on the Kindle. Three were by Stephenie Meyer. I am hooked. Breaking Dawn is out on August 2nd.

I'm trying 10 word reviews this month.

Bull's Island - Dorothea Benton Frank. I could see the plot coming from a mile away.
A Charmed Life - Liza Campbell. Living in a castle is not always a fairy tale.
Compulsion - Jonathan Kellerman . Classic Kellerman but I confess that Faye is my favorite.
Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert. I loved the Eat part; otherwise she whines a lot.
Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer. See the ten words for New Moon. Can't say more!
The Girl with No Shadow - Joanne Harris. Mother's Day gift from my niece, enthralling sequel to Chocolat.
The Heroin Diaries - Nikki Sixx. These diaries must be edited because they are reasonably coherent.
Home - Julie Andrews. Andrew's early life. Ends too soon! Please write more, Julie.
The Host - Stephenie Meyer. It's hard to share your body with an alien soul.
The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch. Life dealt him the cruelest blow and he's still positive.
Losing It - Valerie Bertinelli. She's still cute as ever. Shocker: She slept with *** (Don't click that link if you don't want to know.)
Mountains Beyond Mountains - Tracy Kidder. Dr. Paul Farmer makes a difference in Haiti treating AIDS.
New Moon - Stephenie Meyer. Cool vampires and hot werewolves. How can a girl choose?
Now and Forever - Ray Bradbury. Two different novellas from sci-fi master Bradbury. Liked them both.
Sunday's at Tiffany's - James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet. A light, fluffy read about an imaginary friend who returns.
The Third Angel - Alice Hoffman. Interwoven stories of three women in London, and a ghost.
Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Lahiri. Excellent short stories about Bengali expatriates, their lives and children.
World Made by Hand - James Howard Kunstler. Post apocalyptic novel, kinder and more positive than The Road.

I did it!

April

2008-05-01T14:39:00.000-07:00

Ah, Spring.

#1 and 2 took me away to beautiful locations. 8, 12, and 14 took me to beautiful art, and 9 made me wish I could sing.

Alentejo Blue; Monica Ali. Vignettes of a village in Portugal.
The Commoner; John Burnham Schwartz. Life as a "commoner" marrying into Japan's royal family. This is the pre-pub loaned to me by the bookstore owner, and I really liked it. How did she know?
Deluge; Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough.
Divisadero; Michael Ondaatje.
Dragon Harper; Anne and Todd McCaffrey.
Dreamers of the Day; Maria Doria Russell.
The Epicure's Lament; Kate Christensen.
The Great Man; Kate Christensen.
I Could Have Sung All Night; Marni Nixon.
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane; Kate DiCamillo.
The Palace of Illusions; Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.
The Painted Kiss; Elizabeth Hickey.
Starbucked; Taylor Clark. I am always annoyed that a small is tall, etc.
Woman In Red; Eileen Gouge.

Thank you Mrs. Mullins

2008-04-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

My niece works at our local bookstore. And sometimes shares pre-pubs with me. This weekend she loaned me one, specifically from the owner of the store who thought I'd like it. I was so flattered. Because I haven't bought a lot of books lately, I've been using the library. So I'm not the ideal customer.

I was so thrilled that the owner thought of me. And it's a great book. It'll be on my April list, with comments, I hope.

March

2008-03-31T08:17:00.000-07:00

March's List

The Bookseller of Kabul, Asne Seierstad
Change of Heart, Jodi Picoult
Double Cross, James Patterson
Firefly Lane, Kristen Hannah
The Gathering, Anne Enright
Her Last Death, Susanna Sonnenberg
Innocent Traitor, Alison Weir
Into the Volcano, Don Wood
Life's a Beach, Claire Cooke
Luncheon of the Boating Party, Susan Vreeland
A Man on the Moon, Andrew Chaiken
Mermaids in the Basement, Michael Lee West
On Tall Pine Lake, Dorothy Garlock
Positively False, Floyd Landis
The Sandman: Preludes, Nocturnes, Neil Gaiman
The Secret Between Us, Barbara Delinsky
The Street of a Thousand Blossoms, Gail Tsukiyama
The Venetian Mask, Rosalind Laker
The Winding Ways Quilt, Jennifer Chiaverini

February

2008-02-29T14:27:00.000-08:00

Short month, short list.

Bleeding Kansas, Sara Paretsky, Good book, sans the famous V.I. Warshawski
Book of the Dead, Patricia Cornwell*** Meh.
The Brief History of the Dead, Kevin Brockmeier*** This was new and different and I enjoyed it. Parallel stories of the recent dead, in a half life as long as someone on earth remembered them; and a woman on an Antarctic expedition (yes, bad things happen).
The Chocolate Lover's Club, Carole Matthews. Yum, yum. Chick lit and chocolate, swirled together.
Clapton: The Autobiography,Eric Clapton. Better than Slash's book.
Critical, Robin Cook. Another meh.
Evening, Susan Minot. This jumped around even more than the movie.
Honor Thyself, Danielle Steel , Amnesia.**
Mozart's Sister, Rita Charbonnier, Loved this book. Thanks Jen on the Edge, and your Good Reads.
Remember Me?, Sophie Kinsella *, Amnesia again.**
The Senator's Wife, Sue Miller *
Slash, Slash. Sex, drugs, rock n roll, over and over again. Then some rehab. I skimmed through it.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See * The best book I've read this month.
Still Summer, Jacquelyn Michard. Too much foreshadowing.
The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway. Frank read this for school. The lost characters were annoying. I guess they were supposed to be. I liked the descriptive bull fight scenes.
The Travels of a T-Shirt in a Global Economy, Pietra Rivoli. SPOILER ALERT: Cotton grown in Texas, shipped to China, knitted into T-shirts and shipped back to U.S.A, discarded T-shirts shipped to Africa.

* Read on my Kindle.

**Favorite amnesia book goes to Sophie Kinsella.

*** Favorite dead book goes to Kevin Brockmeier.

January

2008-01-31T15:15:00.000-08:00

The list is a little short this month. What happened? Maybe I've spent more time on the internet? I have about 3 more library books started. I also took a look at the stack of books in my closet. 9 bookmarked. Some for so long, I can't even remember how they started. Oops.

20th Century Ghosts, Joe Hill (Awesome short stories, read on my Kindle)
Duma Key, Stephen King (Joe Hill's dad. 'nuff said. You know who my literary secret boyfriend is.)
Enchantment, Orson Scott Card (found because I was looking for the following book on my Kindle, and also I love his Ender books)
Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, Donald Spoto (Beloved niece loaned me some pre-pubs etc. from her previous employer...this was a slightly damaged copy but I didn't care...Audrey Hepburn was a wonderful woman.)
Fire in the Blood, Irene Nemirovsky (very good)
A Free Life, Ha Jin (lovely story about Chinese immigrants, but I kept waiting for some crisis which never happened).
The Ghost, Robert Harris. (SK recommended this}
Gods Behaving Badly, Marie Phillips (FUNNY, and gave me a crash course on some mythology I had forgotten from college)
Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies, Carolyn Crimi (read in the library with second graders, gave a copy to my g/nephew)
Last Night at the Lobster, Stewart O'Nan (a small, sweet story about closing a restaurant and the people who are affected)
No Country for Old Men, Cormac Mccarthy. (Kindle) Powerful book, haven't seen the movie yet.
The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry, Kathleen Flinn. (Adventures at the Cordon Bleu. Brave woman, who was encouraged by her love and changed her whole life to go to Paris. And married said love. And became able to dream in French. )
Thank You for Smoking, Christopher Buckley. Funny. (I tried to read his new book Boomsday, but couldn't get through it. Needs more cowbell? No, needs more Nick Naylor i.e. Aaron Eckhart. Another SB)
Twilight, William Gay. (Another SK recommendation. I read the back page of Entertainment Weekly when SK does his thing. Otherwise I call it Entertainment Weakly.)

Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies

2008-01-23T15:19:00.000-08:00

The school librarian read Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies to the second graders today. I loved it. I won't spoil it for you. It made me miss all those hours I spent reading to my boys. Since MY boys have outgrown picture books, I am getting a copy for my g-nephew, Mr. Thomas.

Duma Key

2008-01-23T14:44:00.000-08:00

The new Stephen King just arrived from Amazon. Thank you, Brown Truck of Happiness, for delivering it in the rain. So I won't be doing much else today. Yes, I did buy the actual book. Not library, not Kindle. Stephen deserves that.

What's In It?

2008-01-19T20:19:00.002-08:00

Added to Kindle this month, this is in the order of "seen most recently":

The Subtle Knife (Ernest)
No Country for Old Men (FINISHED!)
Remembrance of Things Past (yesterday's add...I want to get some culture.)
The Golden Compass (Ernest FINISHED)
The Amber Spyglass (pending for Ernest)
20th Century Ghosts..Joe Hill..FINISHED! (Rock'n'roll fans, read Heart Shaped Box.)
Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Lady Rochford
Enchantment, Orson Scott Card (FINISHED!!)
The Talisman (King/Straub, because I love it and could read it a million times)
Gone With the Wind (ditto)
Confessions of a Shopaholic/Shopaholic Takes Manhattan. Because what woman isn't. (And if you aren't, I don't want to hear from you.)
The Pillars of the Earth (I read this years before Oprah, read the sequel a few weeks ago.)

WhooHoo, Kindle

2008-01-19T19:45:00.000-08:00

I always flip first to the back page of Entertainment Weekly, to see if it's my god Stephen King doing the column this week. Mrs. G, he's a secret boyfriend. And I don't care how geeky he looks. He's got the best imagination of ANYONE, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME. And geeks need love too.

So today was my lucky day. It was SK's day for the back page, and he likes his Kindle. So do I. We agree. How cool, that Stephen King agrees with me. It won't replace paper books, but it's an awesomely cool gadget.

Today I read No Country for Old Men for about an hour and a half (I'm almost done)...while Frank drove to his P2P meeting, and for a little while before the meeting started. It doesn't lose its place! That is a huge thing for me. (Now I've got some issues with NCfOM for its lack of apostrophes...except for one, I think it was "it's." I'll have to page back to see.

I already blogged about getting Ernest the book he forgot. He left his copy at school, so he read his chapter on the Kindle tonight.

What else is in my Kindle? See the next post.

Kindle Reaches the Next Generation...

2008-01-14T20:18:00.000-08:00

...because it was the usual crisis.

Ernest left his Accelerated Reader book at school and only discovered it on Sunday afternoon. The "OMG, I left the book at school" problem has caused crises (is that the plural?) with both children.

So I think I'm going to do this... if the book they're reading is on Kindle, I'm getting it. Quickly. It will prevent so much trauma.

Fortunately, The Golden Compass was available on Kindle for $3.19. In one minute. Since Ernest is planning on reading the rest of the trilogy, we also got The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.

So, there's another use for it. BACKUP.

Not to Worry. I will never replace paper books.

What can you read if you have no power?

But the Kindle has a niche in our home.

Kindle

2008-01-05T10:58:00.000-08:00

I got a Kindle, Amazon.com's new eBook reader. I love it. It will never replace paper books for me (I couldn't afford to read without the library), but it is wonderful for when I want to take a book somewhere. I always have a book, if I anticipate a wait: A wait to pick up Ernest at school, wait at the hair salon, wait at the dentist, wait at the orthodontist. And on a long trip, I take a stack. The Kindle holds up to 200 books and fits in my purse! I bought a few books, ranging in price from $5.49 to $9.99, comparable to paperback prices. The bad news, JK Rowling will not allow Harry Potter to be Kindle-ized. Oh well, there are lots of other books out there. I got Gone With the Wind!

December

2007-12-30T17:00:00.000-08:00

The Accidental Time Machine, Joe Haldeman

All Seated on the Ground, Connie Willis

Atonement, Ian McEwan

The Bone Garden, Tess Gerritsen

Born Standing Up, Steve Martin

Can't Buy Me Love, Jonathan Gould

The Christmas Pearl, Dorothea Benton Frank

Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman

Gentlemen of the Road, Michael Chabon

The Gravedigger's Daughter, Joyce Carol Oates

Home From Holly Springs, Jan Karon

If I am Missing or Dead, Janine Latus

Lord John and the Hand of Devils, Diana Gabaldon

Raising Demons, Shirley Jackson

Scoundrel Time, Lillian Hellman (Frank read this for school)

Shakespeare: The World as Stage, Bill Bryson

Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife, Irene Spencer

T is for Tresspass, Sue Grafton

Twilight, William Gay

World Without End, Ken Follett

A Year in the World, Frances Mayes

November

2007-12-03T12:39:00.000-08:00

This turned out to be a biography month.

Amazing Grace, Danielle Steel. She destroys San Francisco with an earthquake.

Away, Amy Bloom

Borat..., "Borat Sagdiyev "

Celebrity Detox, Rosie O'Donnell. Enough already!

The Choice, Nicholas Sparks

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, Laurie Viera Rigler

Deat Heat, Dick Francis

Elton: The Biography, David Buckley

I Am America, Stephen Colbert

Inside Job, Connie Willis

Interred with their Bones, Jennifer Lee Carrell

I Walked the Line, Vivian Cash. Johnny's love letters.

The Last Good Night, Emily Listfield

Life Among the Savages, Shirley Jackson

The New Year's Quilt, Jennifer Chiaverini. Her books keep getting smaller and less satisfying.

Playing for Pizza, John Grisham

The Prince of Nantucket, Jan Goldstein

Rhett Butler's People, Donald McCaig

Sandcastles, Luanne Rice

Schulz and Peanuts, David Michaelis

Slam, Nick Hornby

Steve and Me, Terri Irwin

A War of Gifts, Orson Scott Card

Withering Heights, Dorothy Cannell

I Bought A Book Today

2007-11-07T17:30:00.000-08:00

Sadly for my local bookstore and Amazon.com, I have cut back on my book purchases. I read them too fast, they sit on the shelf, and then I have to (sob!) get rid of them to make room for new ones. So I have tried diligently to use the library if at all possible.

But today we needed 2008 calendars. Ernest and I went to the Book Loft after school. And a paperback caught my eye. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman (Neverwhere, Stardust). $14.95. Short Stories.

Please be shelfworthy!

P.S. It was.

October

2007-10-29T14:51:00.001-07:00

The Abstinence Teacher, Tom Perrotta
Agnes and the Hitman, Jennifer Cruisie and Bob Mayer
Almost Moon, Alice Sebold
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kinsolver
Cage of Stars, Jacqueline Michard
A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess. Frank read this for school and dressed as Alex for Halloween.
Dear John, Nicholas Sparks
Drop Dead Beautiful, Jackie Collins
Giving, Bill Clinton
Gone Baby Gone, Dennis Lehane
Home to Big Stone Gap, Adriana Trininani
Philosophy Made Simple, Robert Hellenga
and The Sixteen Pleasures, Robert Hellenga
The Quilter's Homecoming, Jennifer Chiaverini
Run, Ann Pachett
Something More, Janet Daily
Spring Break, Charlotte Douglas
Sweet Revenge, Diane Mott Davidson
Tumbling Blocks, Earlene Fowler
Twilight, Stephenie Meyer
Wonderful Tonight, Patti Boyd

Hello!

2007-10-25T16:11:00.000-07:00

I've been keeping a list of the books I read. I thought it would be fun for me to blog it instead. I'm starting with September and will gradually work my way backward. No reviews, just a note if there was something I liked about the book.

September

2007-10-25T16:05:00.003-07:00

Among the Hidden, Margaret Haddix. Ernest read this for school.
Barefoot, Elin Hildebrand
Bones to Ashe, Kathy Reichs
The Bourne Identity, Robert Ludlum. It took me ages to read this.
Island of the Lost, Joan Druett. Great true story about two shipwrecks on the Auckland Islands south of New Zealand, with vastly different outcomes for the two crews.
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, Diana Gabaldon. While waiting for another outlander book, Lord John will have to do. There was the tiniest mention of our favorite lusty scotsman.
Mary Poppins and the House Next Door, P.L. Travers. I love the movie and the Broadway play. But I wanted to read the real thing. Read most of the series in August.
Mary Poppins in Cherry Tree Lane, P.L. Travers. Ditto.
Mary Poppins, She Wrote, Valerie Lawson Ditto.
The Mistress's Daughter, A.M. Homes
Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman. I love him! This was an expansion of the BBC miniseries. Truly a favorite!
The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc, Loraine Despres
Shane, Jack Schaefer. Frank read this for school. A classic.
Stardust, Neil Gaiman. Saw the movie, had to read the book.
A Thousand Splendid Suns, Kaled Hosseini. *An amazing book.
The Wedding Officer, Anthony Capella. Food and romance in WW2 Italy.

* = something I loved and would gladly read again.

August

2007-10-25T16:05:00.001-07:00

August seemed to be "Children's Lit Month" for me. I finished the Series of Unfortunate Events, and read most of Mary Poppins

Blaze, "Richard Bachman"
Burnt House, Faye Kellerman. I prefer Faye to Jonathan.
Butterfly Soup, Nancy Pinard
The Ever-Running Man, Marcia Muller
Interworld, Neil Gaiman
Mad Dash, Patricia Gaffney
The Manny, Holly Paterson
Mary Modern, Camille DeAngelis
Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers
Mary Poppins Comes Back
Mary Poppins Opens the Door
Mary Poppins in the Park
Mary Poppins in the Kitchen
Mary Poppins A to Z
Off Her Rocker, Jennifer Archer
On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan
The Overlook, Michael Connelly. I love Harry Bosch!
Red River, Lalita Tademy
Second Chance, Jane Green
A Series of Unfortunate Events #4: The Miserable Mill, Lemony Snicket
Ditto #5, The Miserable Mill
Ditto #6, The Austere Academy
Ditto #7, The Ersatz Elevator
Ditto #8, The Vile Village
Ditto #9, The Hostile Hospital
Ditto #10, The Carnivorous Carnival
Ditto #11, The Grim Grotto
Ditto #12, The Penultimate Peril
Ditto #13, The End
Sideways in Neverland, William Etling. Essays about the region where I live. Sideways? Neverland? Oh heck, I've given it away.
Swiss Family Robinson, Johan Wyss. I saw a cave house on the travel channel and that reminded me of this story.
The Tenderness of Wolves, Stef Penney
Web of Evil, J.A. Jance. I loke the Joanna Brady stories better.
You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs, Laurie Graff

July

2007-10-25T16:04:00.001-07:00

It was Harry Potter Month, but I managed to squeeze in a few other books. (It's summer: no work and all play.)

Back on Blossom Street, Debbie Macomber. Knit-lit.
The Boleyn Inheritance, Philippa Gregory. I'm a sucker for Tudor historical novels.
Dedication, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
A Dirty Job, Christopher Moore. Mr. Death is one of us.
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows...what can I say. I can't believe that Ernest was the first person in town to get his copy, and he still hasn't finished it. He says he's waiting till his school gets the Accelerated Reader test for it.
The Mercy Seller, Brenda Rickman Vantreas
Messiah of Morris Ave, Tony Hendra. So good and funny (he was Ian in Spinal Tap).
Michael Tolliver Lives, Armistead Maupin
Peony in Love, Lisa See
Sarah, J.T. Leroy. There was some controversy about this book. That usually makes me want to read it. I should have left this one alone.
Stargirl, Jerry Spinelli. Cute kid-lit, but skip the sequel.
The Watchman, Robert Crais. I need to request some of his older books.
Voodoo Heart, Scott Snyder. Before the Ruins...

June

2007-10-25T16:03:00.001-07:00

Baby Proof, Emily Giffin
Bungalow Two, Danielle Steel
Country Brides, Debbie Macomber
Edge of Winter, Luanne Rice
The Illuminator, Brenda Rickman Vantreas
Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Last of Her Kind, Sigrid Nunez
The Last Summer (of You and Me), Ann Brashares
Little Pink Slips, Sally Kostlow
Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
Obsession, Jonathan Kellerman
The Pesthouse, Jim Crace
Something Blue, Emily Giffin
Something Borrowed, Emily Giffin
The Truth About Diamonds, Nicole Richie
The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance, Catherine Ryan Hyde

May

2007-10-25T16:02:00.006-07:00

The God of Animals, Arun Kyle. Excellent book.
Baker's Apprentice, Judith Ryan Hendricks. Mmmm, bread.
Bidding for Love, Katie Fforde
Bread Alone, Judith Ryan Hendriks. Ditto bread.
Click, a compilation of short stories
Dewey Decimal System of Love, Josephine Carr
Flatland, Edwin Abbot. Life in a two-dimensional world.
Fool Me Once, Fern Michaels
I Feel So Bad About My Neck, Nora Ephron
Isabel's Daughter, Judith Ryan Hendricks
Land of Mango Sunsets, Dorothea Benton Frank
Maelstrom, Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
Model Summer, Paulina Porzikova
A Thread of Grace, Mary Doria Russell
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
Virgin Lies, Roderick Anscome
Whitethorn Woods, Maeve Binchy

April

2007-10-25T16:02:00.005-07:00

Burning Bright, Tracy Chevalier
Channeling Cleopatra, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
Fieldwork, Mischa Berliner
Final Exam, Pauline Chen
The Friday Night Knitting Club, Kate Jacobs
Grace (Eventually), Anne Lamott
Heyday, Kurt Andersen
Kaffir Boy, Mark Muthabane
A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah
Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult
The Post-Birthday World, Lionel Shriver
Sister Mine, Tawni O'Dell
The Spellman Files, Lisa Lutz
Ten Days in the Hills, Jane Smiley

March

2007-10-25T16:02:00.003-07:00

Busy Month!

The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
Chasing Justice, Kerry Max Cook
The Double Blind, Chris Bohjalian
Dreams of Trespass, Fatima Mernissi. A woman's life in a Moroccan harem.
Echo Park, Michael Connelly
Family Tree, Barbara Delinsky
Grania, Morgan Llywelyn. Grace O'Malley, the pirate queen.
Heart Shaped Box, Joe Hill***Yes, yes yes. Rock and roll horror! Talent runs in the family.
The Higher Power of Lucky, Susan Patron. Great kid-lit. Controversial because it talks about a dog's scrotum. Get over it!
Him Her Him Again, Patricia Marx
Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai
Labyrinth, Kate Mosse
Love in a Torn Land, Jean Sasson. A woman's life in Iraq.
The Merlot Murders, Ellen Crosby
Sisters, Danielle Steel
Shopaholic and Baby, Sophie Kinsella. I love the Shopaholic series.
Suite Francais, Irene Nemirovsky. WW2 memoir.
The Terror, Dan Simmons***Awesomely scary.
You Don't Love Me, Johnathan Lethem
Zoli, Colum McCann

February

2007-10-25T16:02:00.001-07:00

Only 12? February was a short month.

Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson. Ernest read this for school.
Forever in Blue: The 4th Summer of the Sisterhood, Ann Brashears
A Girl Named Disaster, Nancy Farmer. Ernest read this for school. One of his favorite authors.
Hollywood Station, Joseph Wambaugh
The Innocent Man, John Grisham
The Knitting Circle, Ann Hood
Shadow Dance, Julie Garwood
The Sheltering Sky, Paul Bowles
Skylight Confessions, Alice Hoffman
The Stupidest Angel, Christopher Moore
Them, Francine Du Plessix Gray
You Suck, Christopher Moore. LOVE, LOVE, LOVED IT

January

2007-10-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

Ballerina, Edward Stewart
Blood Sucking Fiends, Christopher Moore
Born on a Blue Day, Daniel Tammet
Crisis, Robin Cook
Inside My Heart, Robin McGraw
Irish Girls About Town, Maeve Binchy et al
Nature Girl, Carl Hiassen
Next, Michael Crichton
Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
Princess in Waiting, Meg Cabot
Scorpions, Walter Cook (Ernest read this for school.)