Julia's comments (member since May 22, 2009)

Julia's comments from the The Next Best Book Club group.

Thanks so much, Cynthia! It's such a cool thing you do for us!

Alright!! I have officially decided to wrap up this challenge. Back before I started I thought I would be reading to the wire! Alas! I have no other books near me and I start my weeklong job tomorrow... plus my apartment is sitting in boxes with only the bare essentials out!!

Anyway here is my final list and totals:

5 points:
2. Dance with the Devil - Sherrilyn Kenyon
4. The Bride Price - Anne Mallory
7. Queen Victoria - Walter Arnstein
10. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen

10 points:
2. The Lay of the Last Minstrel - Sir Walter Scott
5. The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupere
7. A Duke of Her Own - Eloisa James (6th in the series)
9. Women at Play - Barbara Gregorich

15 points:
1. What Happens in London- Julia Quinn
2. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever - Julia Quinn
3. A Rogue of My Own - Johanna Lindsey
5. The Money Book for the Young Fabulous and Broke - Suze Orman
7. Unpopular: Academy X - Andrew Trees
Popular: My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult
9. This Duchess of Mine - Eloisa James
The Turn of the Screw - Henry James

25 points
3. Outlander - Diana Gabaldon
The Painted Veil - W. Somerset Maugham
9. The Picture of Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde
The Gift of Fear - Gavin de Becker
Some Like it Wild - Teresa Medeiros

30 points
2. A Room With A View - EM Forster (Lucy)
On the Way to the Wedding - Julia Quinn (Lucy)
3. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
History of Love - Nicole Krauss
5. Chinese Cinderella The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter - Adeline Yen Mah ( GREAT memoir I found in the YA section. The subtitle says it all... you could really feel the unwantedness...)
The Dark-Hunters Vol.1 - Sherrilyn Kenyon (On the back of this one it said 13 and up so I assumed it was a YA manga :) )
Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
9. Beyond Heaving Bosoms
10. Seventh Son - Orson Scott Card

Totals
Points: 350
Books: 30
Challenges: 21
Pages: ~9,374

Not a bad ending total. Not quite halfway points wise.. but its a good show for my first challenge. Now I have a standard to set myself against for fall!! Good job everyone who finished!!

And WOAH Nicole!! You read that book in like an hour!! Superhuman speeds. Putting up a good showing for Ohio I see!!

Sara wrote: "Julia wrote: "9. Beyond Heaving Bosoms The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels"

How was this book? Was it as funny as their blog? I'm dying to read it!"

I am not a reader of their blog but after that book I want to check it out more. It was really witty and had a great perspective on the romance genre. My only problem with it was tat it was somewhat repetitive so it was hard for me to get into (in fact in the middle of it I read another romance novel!). I had done a research paper on romance novels in popular culture so it was interesting to see if their conclusion were the same as mine.

I did enjoy the "Chose your own adventure" chapter and the "How to fend off the 'OMG your read romance?! But your so smart!' questions"

But yeah it was funny. Multiple times I was laughing out loud. You should definitely check it out!

I think I can get one more update in after this... but here is my second to last update.

5 points:
2. Dance with the Devil - Sherrilyn Kenyon
4. The Bride Price - Anne Mallory
7. Queen Victoria - Walter Arnstein
10. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen

10 points:
2. The Lay of the Last Minstrel - Sir Walter Scott
5. The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupere
7. A Duke of Her Own - Eloisa James (6th in the series)
9. Women at Play - Barbara Gregorich

15 points:
1. What Happens in London - Julia Quinn
Dream Trip: London Itinerary
Hyde Park, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Museum of London, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the London Eye, St. James Cathedral, and of course a pub :) (Thank you wikitravel!)
2. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever - Julia Quinn
3. A Rogue of My Own - Johanna Lindsey
5. The Money Book for the Young Fabulous and Broke - Suze Orman
7. Unpopular: Academy X A Novel - Andrew Trees
Popular: My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult
9. This Duchess of Mine - Eloisa James
The Turn of the Screw - Henry James

25 points
3. Outlander - Diana Gabaldon
The Painted Veil - W. Somerset Maugham
9. The Picture of Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde
The Gift of Fear - Gavin de Becker
Some Like it Wild - Teresa Medeiros

30 points
2. A Room With A View - EM Forster (Lucy)
On the Way to the Wedding - Julia Quinn (Lucy)
3. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
History of Love - Nicole Krauss
9. Beyond Heaving Bosoms The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels
10. Seventh Son - Orson Scott Card

Finished... but not the Challenge
Chinese Cinderella
The Dark Hunter Manga Vol 1

Totals
Points: 320
Books: 29
Challenges: 21

Oh wow! Congrats to all the finishers! And I am going to cheerlead for all of those who are close!

A Couple of New Updates

5 points:
2. Dance with the Devil - Sherrilyn Kenyon
4. The Bride Price - Anne Mallory
7. Queen Victoria - Walter Arnstein
10. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen

10 points:
2. The Lay of the Last Minstrel - Sir Walter Scott
5. The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupere
9. Women at Play - Barbara Gregorich

15 points:
2. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever - Julia Quinn
3. A Rogue of My Own - Johanna Lindsey
5. The Money Book for the Young Fabulous and Broke - Suze Orman
7. Unpopular: Academy X A Novel - Andrew Trees
Popular: My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult
9. This Duchess of Mine - Eloisa James
The Turn of the Screw - Henry James

25 points
3. Outlander - Diana Gabaldon
The Painted Veil - W. Somerset Maugham
9. The Picture of Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde
The Gift of Fear - Gavin de Becker
Some Like it Wild - Teresa Medeiros

30 points
2. A Room With A View - EM Forster (Lucy)
On the Way to the Wedding - Julia Quinn (Lucy)
3. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
History of Love - Nicole Krauss
10. Seventh Son - Orson Scott Card

Finished... but not the Challenge
Chinese Cinderella
The Dark Hunter Manga Vol 1

Totals
Points: 265
Books: 26
Challenges: 17

Dawn wrote: "Finished 25.3 Cait's task- Lori -Dead until Dark (6-13-09) and Cynthia - The Gargoyle (8-14-09)

Tasks Completed 11
Books Read 18
Pages Read 8548
Points 165/940"

Dawn, how was The Gargoyle? I have it sitting in a pile in my room right now and my feelings keep wavering between excitement and trepidation.

Hey everyone! It's been so long since I've been here! Now that summer is almost over and there is no way I am going to finish (being in Seoul for a month really put a damper on reading... not that I am complaining!), I have rearranged some things on my list.

5 points:
2. Dance with the Devil - Sherrilyn Kenyon
4. The Bride Price - Anne Mallory
7. Queen Victoria - Walter Arnstein
10. Water for Elephants

10 points:
2. The Lay of the Last Minstrel- Sir Walter Scott
5. The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupere
9. Women at Play - Barbara Gregorich

15 points:
2. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever - Julia Quinn

Cast:
Miranda Cheever: Gemma Arterton
Nigel (Turner) Bevelstoke: Henry Cavill
Olivia Bevelstoke: Joanna Bool
Winston Bevelstoke: Anton Yelkin

5. The Money Book for the Young Fabulous and Broke - Suze Orman
7. Unpopular: Academy X A Novel - Andrew Trees
Popular: My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult
9. This Duchess of Mine - Eloisa James
The Turn of the Screw - Henry James

25 points
9. The Picture of Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde
The Gift of Fear - Gavin de Becker
Some Like it Wild - Teresa Medeiros

30 points
2. A Room With A View - EM Forster (Lucy)
On the Way to the Wedding - Julia Quinn (Lucy)
3. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
History of Love - Nicole Krauss
10. Seventh Son - Orson Scott Card

Finished... but not the Challenge
Chinese Cinderella
The Outlander

Totals
Points: 225
Books: 23
Challenges: 15

That took FOREVER! Lowlight: typing it all then losing it by accidentally clicking a link. Highlight: getting to look at pictures of pretty men to cast my book. :)

Brief update: I finished Outlander and I have a lot of opinions on the book. I don't have time right now to sit and type them. SO much to do!!

Currently reading: Queen Victoria and Dance with the Devil

(This post is to really just remind me how far I have read up to in the thread!)

Cynthia wrote: "Outlander is by FAR my favorite series...I'm dying for book 7 to come out in September...and I love that your talking up the challenge that's awesome"

Yeah, I can see why! It's such a good book so far. I am really thinking tossing aside the other book I was going to read for the 555+ challenge and getting the next in the series.

Yeah I talk up this challenge quite a bit! It's such fun!

Now my updates, which may be the only ones for a bit because of Outlander being so large!

5 points
7. The Bride Price by Anne Mallory (6/2)

10 points
5. Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupere (6/11)
I bought this book in Beijing, China while I was there to help me learn Chinese. It has one half in character, the other in english. I found myself flipping between the two (when translating got to tiresome!). It was a very cute story, and makes me want to read the book I selected for the Dance task (Dance With The Devil) right now, since they reference this book quite a lot!

10. Women at Play The Story of Women in Baseball/ a Harvest Original by Barbara Gregorich (6/10)
I learned a lot from this book that I did not know about women in baseball's history. At times it was a little cumbersome reading all the stats and gameplay (and I love baseball!) but I really enjoyed learning about the women pioneers in the sport, even the ones from today!

15 points
5. The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke by Suze Orman (6/6)

25 points
9. 1800s: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (6/1)
1900s: Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker (6/6)
2000s: Some Like It Wild by Teresa Medeiros (6/7)

30 points
3. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (6/4)
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (6/8)

Currently Reading
Outlander

Finished... but not the Challenge
Academy X, A Room With A View

Totals
Points Earned: 95/940
Books Read: 11
Challenges: 6

It's funny. This Summer Challenge is the thing that I talk about whenever someone asks how my summers going. Everyone seems to respond with a general interested sound ("Ohh really!"). Just a little tidbit.

Another tidbit for you: I am currently reading Outlander, and I had to take my cousin to the hospital today. So I got a good 4 hours of reading in the food court. One women stopped in front of my table and talked about how much she loved the series. I am about 200 pages in and already I am greatly enjoying the book. These 600 pages will fly.

Elizabeth wrote: The Duke And I (the one by Julia Quinn)
...

I LOVE that series! I am contemplating rereading Geoffrey and Lucy's book for the I Love Lucy challenge (since its right there staring at me as I type! lol)

I can see Anne as Daphne but I don't know about Eric... he is just so Hector from Troy for me. It's hard for me to picture him as a self-conscious duke!

A side note. In high school my latin teacher bought two life size (maybe even bigger) posters of Eric Bana as Hector and Brad Pitt as Achilles. He had them face each other on the wall, locked in constant epic battle. It was amazing just to sit in that class haha.

5 points
7. The Bride Price by Anne Mallory (6/2)

15 points
5. The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke by Suze Orman (6/6)

25 points
9. 1800s: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (6/1)
1900s: Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker (6/6)
2000s: Some Like It Wild by Teresa Medeiros (6/7)

30 points
3. The History of Love A Novel by Nicole Krauss (6/4)
I really enjoyed this novel told from two different perspectives. There are two protagonists, one an old man who immigrated during the holocaust and one a young girl trying to find something about herself. The only time I would get frustrated while reading is when it would be the end of a chapter, and I would be totally into the one who was narrating's story, and then be pulled back into the other. Soon I was sucked back in, but it was a little annoying. It was a heartwarming story.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (6/8)
Having read the Kite Runner and liked it, I didn't know what to expect from this novel. It was completely different, and I have to say I liked it a lot more. The two women protagonists soon won be over, and I felt myself thrown into their world. Hosseini writes in a way the draws me in completely. I finished this book so fast because of that.

Currently Reading
Women At Play, A Room With a View

Finished... but not the Challenge
Academy X

Totals
Points Earned: 75/940
Books Read: 8
Challenges: 4

Alright. I finally completed some challenges! I've been reading a book a day and some finally converged into giving me points.

5 points
7. The Bride Price by Anne Mallory (6/2)

15 points
5. The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke by Suze Orman (6/6)

I related this to the current financial crisis plaguing the world. I figured this would be a good book because not only am I young, fabulous and broke but taking the step to read this is showing that I do not want to fall into the same trap that many people have.

I have two articles: general financial crisis article and Suze Orman and the current economy

25 points
9. 1800s: The Picture of Dorian Gray (6/1)
Overall, I really liked this book. The themes of outer vs inner beauty and corruption of the soul are just some of the topics i would love to discuss in a bookgroup. Even just taking one quote completely out of context and discussing it would do it for me, that's how quotable this book is. Only one time did I find myself glazing over and that was when Dorian goes off for 30ish pages talking about (in detail that is a little too Tolkien-esque for my taste) what he deems outwardly beautiful. But despite that (or more aptly when Lord Henry came back) I was back to enjoying it.

1900s: Gift of Fear Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence (6/6)
I chose this book because it was recommended to me as something every woman should read about going back to the basics and relearning to rely on instinct to protect us from violence. It was a very interesting read (or I should say listen because I had the audio book version) and opened my eyes to subtle signals that I wouldn't have thought meant anything. The author is an expert in his field, and you can tell by just the way he reads/wrote his book.

2000s:Some Like It Wild (6/7)
Teresa Medeiros' new romance novel. Regency with a hint of Scottish. A nice read in follow-up to her other book Some Like It Wicked. Exactly what I needed today!

Currently Reading
Women At Play, A Room With a View, A Thousand Splendid Suns

Finished... but not the Challenge
Academy X
History of Love

Totals
Points Earned: 45/940
Books Read: 7 (though not all listed yet because of half completed challenges)
Challenges: 3

Sera wrote: "Julia, how did you like Dorian Gray - I read it last year and thought that it was very interesting. Keep me posted on History of Love, too. I have it at home, but I keep seeing mixed reviews abou..."

Dorian Gray was very interesting read! I think I would enjoy reading it in a book group due to so many quotes (especially by Sir Henry!) that provoke thoughts. I liked the overall themes of Beauty and corruption of the soul. The only time I felt my eyes glazing over was when he goes on for 30 pages about what things are beautiful in the world. Too much detail! ha

As for History of Love, I am really enjoying it thus far. There are three stories that I feel will intertwine eventually but right now are pretty separate. So sometimes I am really into Leo's story and then chapter change and we are back with Alma. It's initially frustrating but then you get back into the next story and forget about it.

Add me to the frustrated list! I keep reading books that are half of a challenge. I am trying to go through what I have from the library first, and when I ordered them I didn't actually do it by challenges! Oops.

Oh well. Back to the grindstone! I am having a blast.

Oh and the books that I have read that don't count yet are The Picture of Dorian Gray and Academy X A Novel. Just in case anyone was wondering. And I am about halfway though The History of Love A Novel

Oh wow! This thread grew since I was here last! I finished a book (that can actually get me some points) last night, and since it was for the ratings one I thought that I better not wait!

For 5.7 I read The Bride Price, a romance novel about A "natural son" of a Duke competing to gain entrance to society through a tournament and winning a title. Of course there is a girl they fall in love etc etc. Although they never actually said "I love you" which is interesting.

Anyway my rating was the 22nd.

Total points: 5

Ruby wrote: "I love PL! You might want to try to pick up the Norton Critical Edition of Paradise Lost which has informative footnotes conveniently located at the bottom of each page."

I may have to look into that. The copy I have of PL is an older small copy that I got from the library booksale for about 10 cents! It's quite outdated as I remember wishing I had footnotes for the footnotes!

For the author list, http://librarybooklists.org/literarybirt...

that website, which was posted earlier was really good and thorough. It has July 16th. And April 26.

Also Wikipedia date entries. You have to do a bit of reading, but you can find poets and playwrights there as well.

Looking at books for December 9th, I have Paradise Lost, which I have been wanting to read forever. I've always had a thing for Milton, but never actually have completely read Paradise Lost. The last time I tried I read the first 50 pages, got sick of not knowing any of the greek allusions and put it don to read a compilation of greek myths!

But also born on the 9th is Ki Longfellow, and her book The Secret Magdalene is the first book I've seen on GR with so many 5 star reviews! It sounds so interesting that I am pretty sure I am going to put Milton on the back-burner again!

Cynthia, I was hoping to relate Suze Orman's book The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke for the current events task to the financial crisis. If I find an article about the financial crisis would it work? Or if I found one with Suze talking about the financial crisis?

If it doesn't work for this task I'll fit it in as published in the 2000s.