*71) Matchless A Christmas Story (Gregory Maguire)

and *72) What-the-Dickens The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy (also by: Gregory Maguire)

the first was kinda sad. a quick read, but more or less the story of The Little Matchstick Girl, and the second surprisingly entertaining and not at all what I became accustomed to with Wicked The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

*70) Japanese Fairy Tales (Yei Theodora Ozaki)

Neat little book that gives a nice intro to fairy tales other than what we're used to growing up with.

*69) Vittorio The Vampire (Anne Rice)

Another book where vampires actually react properly when introduced to the sun. It was nice to meet another of Anne's creations.

*68) American Fuji (Sara Backer)

It turned into a light mystery when I wasn't looking. Fun book.

*66) A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)

Slightly helped my opinion of the author, but I more wanted to read it to see how it compared to the many versions I've seen in film form.

*67) Innocent Traitor (Alison Weir)

One of the few books I gave five stars to; wonderful read about England's Nine Days Queen

*65) The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)

*64) Full Dark House (Christopher Fowler)

Interesting, but not what I was anticipating.

*63) The Shadow of the Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafon)

Very similar to The Angel's Game; I liked them both, but prefer the other.

*62) Bloody Irish (Bob Curran)

Fun Halloween read about Irish vampire legends.

*61) Red Earth and Pouring Rain A Novel (Vikram Chandra)

A change of pace for me that eventually turned into 'that which must be conquered'

*60) The Rossetti Letter (Christi Phillips)

Not normally something I would have picked up, but it surprised me.

*59) An Irish Country Doctor (Patrick Taylor)

Grandmother recommended it...fabulous book.

*58) Collected Poems Edgar Allan Poe (Edgar Allan Poe)

*57) The Lost Symbol (Dan Brown)

I am at a loss for words with this one. If you liked his other two Robert Langdon books, this will not disappoint.

*56) The New Vampire's Handbook A Guide for the Recently Turned Creature of the Night (Joe Garden)

Had fun with this one. Definitely a 'goodread'

*55) Fairest of All A Tale of the Wicked Queen (Serena Valentino)

YA book about how the Wicked Queen from Snow White ended up a villain. Believeable premise. Surprisingly good. Maybe a bit too dark for younger children.

*54) The Reincarnationist (M.J. Rose)

Really interesting book. The author makes me want to return to any followups that I know will come later.

*53) Mr. Darcy, Vampyre (Amanda Grange)

What a fun book. I'll definitely come back to this in the future.

*52) Tipperary A Novel (Frank Delaney)

I wasn't as enthralled with this one as I was with the other of his I've read, Ireland: A Novel, but it was still good.

I can't believe I've already gone through the 50, and I still have time left. Let's see how many others I can tack on to the list...

*51) A Charmed Death (Madelyn Alt)

*50*) Murder is Binding (Lorna Barrett)

Not the same kind of guilty pleasure mystery, but a book about books...and a cat named Miss Marple. Need I say more?

49) Death: A Life (George Pendle)

Interesting, but not as funny as I expected it to be.

48) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)

I finally got around to this one...and finished it in about three hours. What a fun book.

47) The Old Man Mad About Drawing A Tale of Hokusai (Francois Place)

Cute little YA book; fast read; good art

46) The Vampire Armand (Anne Rice)

Nice segue back into the Vampire Chronicles, I loved learning more about Armand!

45) The Trouble With Magic (Madelyn Alt)

New guilty pleasure. Fun little mystery.

44) Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict (Laurie Viera Rigler)

Liked the first one much more than this...maybe something a little different next.

43) Accidentally Dead (Dakota Cassidy)

...um...yeah...two words...vampire smut. Probably won't come back to this.

42) The Darcys & the Bingleys A Tale of Two Gentlemen's Marriages to Two Most Devoted Sisters (Marsha Altman)

Not too bad as far as Austen sequels go, but I've read a few others I've liked better.

41) The Looking Glass Wars (Frank Beddor)

I can't wait to read the other two...and apparently there's also a graphic novel following the 13 years Hatter Madigan spent looking for the princess. Love it!

And yet more fluff books:

*) xxx...HOLiC vol. 2
*) Stray Little Devil vol. 1
*) Stray Little Devil vol. 2
*) Stray Little Devil vol. 3
*) Stray Little Devil vol. 4
*) The Tarot Cafe vol. 1
*) The Tarot Cafe vol. 2
*) The Tarot Cafe vol. 3

I'm surprised with how quick I finished that last one, but now I'm on another of Frank Delaney's books, and I definitely won't be able to speed through it. I've hit another milestone though, so that feels nice.

Wow Carrie! You are almost to 50! I gotta catch up! The studying is on for the exam so I am on my way.

40) Jane Austen Ruined My Life (Beth Pattillo)

Fun read, will give Austen fans a case of the 'what-ifs'

39) Salem's Lot (Stephen King)

...what can I say...this was a heck of a brick to get through. A bit too long in proportion to the amount of 'action' in its pages. Good read, but not fabulous.

and...indefinitely on hiatus: Weird History 101 (John Richard Stephens)

38) 101 Things You Didn't Know About Jane Austen The Truth About the World's Most Intriguing Literary Heroine (Patrice Hannon)

Not what I was expecting. Could have been better.

37) The Kingdom Keepers (Ridley Pearson)

another YA book, but really entertaining.

36) Great Feuds in History Ten Struggles That Shaped the World (Colin Evans)

Collection of vignettes; some drier than others. Not really excited by it, but not terribly bored either.

and another graphic novel:

*) xxx HOLiC, vol. 1

35) The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaiman)

YA book, but well worth the read.

34) Mr. Darcy's Diary (Amanda Grange)

I've been sorely neglecting my reading; maybe because I have so much thick history stuff I want to get through. This was a comfort read while I'm bogged down with the others. Fabulous book, felt a little bit like The Confession of Fitzwilliam Darcy, but still good

And another fluff book:

*) Nightmare Inspector, vol. 7

33) ghostgirl (Tonya Hurley)

Cute book, but I was less than thrilled.

And...from all that empty space between my last book and this, more Graphic Novel filler:

*)Bride of a Water God, vol. 2
*)Nightmare Inspector, vol. 3
*)Nightmare Inspector, vol. 4
*)Nightmare Inspector, vol. 5
*)Nightmare Inspector, vol. 6

...My problem is that I'm in the middle of too many history books at the moment, and not really wanting to get back into them. So, for the time being, I'm diverting myself with Mr. Darcy. :)

32) The Angel's Game (Carlos Ruiz Zafon)

Got this one through a 'Firstreads' book giveaway, and I couldn't be happier this was the one they sent on. Fabulous book!! Mystery, slash crime, slash part religious commentary...really interesting book. For those of you who like cyclical books, ones that seem to come full circle, you'll find it in this.

I ought to crack down on the reading for edification thing, rather than the reading to kill time thing.

Graphic novel fluff:

*) Cardcaptor Sakura: Master of the Clow vol. 2
*) Nightmare Inspector vol. 2

I've got four in the works, and two (not of those four) that I really want to get to...we'll see

31) The Know-It-All One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World (A.J. Jacobs)

Recommended for lovers of miscellany

30) No Touch Monkey And Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late (Ayun Halliday)

Neat little 'what not to do on your travels' type book.

Yet more graphic novel fluff:

*) Bride of the Water God vol. 1

Yeah, I can see that, but out of all of those 'set in the future' books from years back, this is one of the few that can still cast a shadow because there are definately parallels between the society that existed in the novel, and the one we live in.

I guess I wasn't as throughly disturbed as I could have been because I have enough faith that mankind still reads; why would we destroy our knowledge and history en masse?

But everything else in that book: being a visually media based culture, speeding through life and not connnecting with people, not taking the time to ask questions...the dumbing down of people as a whole...those are scary because we could head that way.

Carrie wrote: "29) Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)

Better than I was expecting, I would definitely return to this one."

I read this book about 3 years ago and it totally creeped me out - all the parallels to how our world is today. I kept thinking of Blue Tooth being the equivalent of those ear things and Reality T.V. being like the full wall display that sucked everyone in!

29) Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)

Better than I was expecting, I would definitely return to this one.

28) Macbeth (William Shakespeare)

First time I read a Shakesperean play that wasn't a school assignment.

Fluff reading; more graphic novels. I don't know what's wrong with me, I just haven't been in the mood...

*) Nightmare Inspector vol. 1
*) The Record of a Fallen Vampire vol. 2