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67. The Lace Reader If you liked the thirteenth tale, get this book! The stories aren't similar at all, but I got the same 'vibe' from the book! Very good~
68. Queenbees and Wannabees -- middle school is hell for a lot of kids! This book really reiterated that fact! There were some helpful hints for parents to use when dealing with the issues. It's sad, but I don't think the parents who most need to read those books actually do!
65. Lamb The Gospel According to Biff Christ's Childhood Pal Paperback I was expecting less f*bombs and languages; THe author really knows his Bible/history of the period!
66. I was told there'd be Cake Again, I was hoping for funnier--I could see that some would think this was hilarious, but it wasn't so much for me right now!
63. James and the Giant Peach Grab a 9 year old boy and get ready to laugh! My son was cracking up so much there were times he couldn't read his page (we do the you read a page/I read a page shared reading plan).
64. Percy Jackson and the Titans Curse I wish I'd had these books when I was in middle school. These are well written and interesting with so much mythology! I'll bet lots and lots of kids are turned on to mythology now!!!
62. Black White and Jewish Unique book--more about poor parenting skills by people who should know better than actually getting into the cultural aspect's of Rebecca Walker's life!
59. Septembers of Shiraz Interesting story of Jews in post Revolutionary Iran.
60. Dead until Dark I actually read this as a break in between some of the other books. I liked it...now there's an HBO series based on the books--alot more sex and skin than was in the book! (lots of Australian actors/actresses, too).
58. Rasputin's Daughter Young adult book on the murder of Rasputin as told by his daughter. Interesting--a lot less of the sex etc. than in other books about Rasputin (because it's a young adult book).
56. Crank Not my favorite style of book to read; I can see how young adults would like this story of addiction and what happens to every one around you when you are addicted.
57. Tweak Growing Up on Methamphetamines The companion book of Beautiful Boy written by the addict, Nic. Harder to follow than the dad's book, but an interesting look at addiction.
51. Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together Very good; Kind of scary that the 'slavery' occured here (in America).
52. The Mistress of Spices: A Novel Great book...kind of boring in the middle, but picked up again at the end.
53. In the Devil's Garden: A Sinful History of Forbidden Food Good choice for foodies!
Whew! I made it to 50 before school started! Let's just say, this was one weird combo of books!
47. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream Hardcover Barack Obama just couldn't compete with the other books I had on my shelf this summer. He's got some great ideas, but how could he complete with vampires, WWII , the FLDS or the Bolyen's?
48. Reviving Ophelia A review of all that we've heard/read about how girls' true selves are taken away from them as they get older. We do live in a world where often beauty is more important than brains (for girls). Sad.
49. Beautiful Boy The dad's point of view- a story about a boy who becomes a meth addict. Honest, gripping- scary!
50. Breaking Dawn Having read this, I suggest the author read Reviving Ophelia. Breaking Dawn was such anti-feminism drivel. The whole goal is to have a baby. The one, non-vampire, female isn't 'complete' because she cannot procreate. I won't go into it--because it's all over the discussion boards of goodreads, but this was a giant step back for girls. Bella, the main character, could have been much more. (I'm not, at all, saying motherhood isn't an option-but as the mother of a young teen, I want my daughter to make sure she's got lots of options besides being a mom. Also, being a mom shouldn't dumb you down- enough!)
46. Skeletons at the Feast WWII is ending; the Germans haven't quite lost the battle; however, the Russians are hot on the trail. The character development, I felt, was good. I hated that, while fiction, much of the horror was undoubtly true. War is hell! The fact that both sides are raping, killing innocents etc. doesn't make it any 'better'. It just validates how I feel about the war in Iraq!
45. The Woman who Loved Reindeer This was kind of weird (I guess it won't seem so strange when I read Breaking Dawn ). It reminded me of a Scandinavian folk tale -esp. since many of their 'words' sounded like Scandinavian words. Good but odd --definitely fantasy!
Hey Leslie!
So glad that you may someday down the road give "The Eyre Affair" another try. You never know....
Read "New Moon". LOVED it! Funny huh?? Cannot wait to read the next two!!
I am adding "The Last Lecture" to my list as well. How inspiring. I cannot wait to read this book!
45. The Last Lecture Obviously great and inspirational....my favorite lines/chapter titles were: Don't complain, just work harder; Don't obsess over what other people think; No job is beneath you; Make a decision: tigger or eeyore.
It's probably a book to re-read when feeling sorry for oneself!
44. Bright Shiny Morning I didn't love this, although it was a very quick read! I hate the 'no punctuation style'--It just makes me have to reread parts to make sure I got it right! Some of the stories woven through the book were interesting, depressing etc. Some were introduced but never re-visited. I wondered why he even put them in (except to make the story longer).
43. The Fool's Tale I had heard this was like a Phillipa Gregory book only using Welsh history as the backdrop. It was interesting. The ending was odd; however, I guess it fit! It's definately a book you need to be in the mood for...and it gets better after the first 75 or so pages!
42. Stolen Innocence It's a creepy concept that these men are so controlling and that men and women actually buy into it. I guess if you were born into the FLDS, you'd know nothing different; however, this girl, Elissa Walls, was the daughter of a man who joined with his wife. Of course, he picked up a couple of additional wives later on!
41. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian My sister, a school librarian, had this in her car on our recent 'mini-vacation' (not so vacationish for her...since I had my two children with me!). Young adult literature that all of the "Abercrombe" crowd should read-- poor, Native American kid leaves the rez school to attend an all white school in Reardon, Washington. He makes it through his freshman year; however, there are hurdles and hurdles! Good Book!!!
Hey...thanks for the suggestion to try it again! You know, sometimes a book just doesn't work for you and then....down the road, it's just right! I'll give it a try in a few months (or years)!
Hi Dawn,
Had to add my support for The Eyre Affair and Lost in a Good Book. Once you get into the books you are hooked. My daughter gave me those to read and I can hardly wait to read the third one.
Hi Leslie!!!Just went back and read some of your posts that I had missed and see that you have read quite a few books that I think will be quite interesting for me to read!!
Sorry you couldn't get into "The Eyre Affair". I LOVED that book and the following two that I have read (or am currently reading lol). There is some weird stuff that you have to try and wrap your head around and I admit you have to have a slightly warped way of looking at things to get into it, but I really enjoyed it. Hope someday down the road you give it another try.
I LOVED the movie "Stardust". It was amazing. I am looking for the book, but so far, it has alluded me. SIGH. I am also looking for a copy of "Shopgirl" that doesn't cost and arm and a leg. Books are spendy here in Canada.
Didn't like Atonement. I may at some point try and go back and read it, but I don't know. It was just SO hard for me to try and get into. May have just been the time as well. We will see.
I lived in Florida. And yes, the system there SUCKS!! Its horrible. When I lived there (1999-2001) there were over 10,000 children in the system. I met a woman that took out a second mortgage on her home to add on so she could take more kids in because she hated what she saw in the system. But there are few like her. I think I will add that book to read as well.
Happy Reading!!! :)
40. Away Very, very quick read for a book over 200 pages! It follows Lillian, a Russian Jew who has seen her family slaughtered, through a trip to America where she becomes mistress with a father and his gay son (seperately). She then finds out her daughter, Sophie, may be alive and in Siberia. It goes from there... to Seattle, to Alaska,interesting. I liked how the author gives us a brief synopsis of what happened to characters after they left Lillian's story.
39. Escape I highly recommend this book...With the recent events in Texas at the FLDS ranch, Escape is a timely book to read!It's hard to believe that the FLDS church even exists in modern day America! It's more similar to the Taliban than any group/organization/cult I've ever read about!
The writing isn't great;however, the story is pretty scary and amazing that she was able to leave. It's frightening to think of the children and women being abused. Also, we don't hear much about the boys that get kicked out, but there must be lots of them....since it's mainly older men getting to marry lots and lots of women.
38. The Boleyn Inheritance Another historical fiction novel with Phillipa Gregory's twist. The story revolves around Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard rising to be Queens of England. Strange and scary....
37. Shoe Addicts Anonymous O.K. Kind of makes me mad when people are so self-indulgent that they have no will power!
36. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking This was interesting. While I agree that sometimes you need to go with your gut decision or your 'blink' intuition/interpretation, I also think that sometimes people make one judgement and aren't willing to accept that circumstances could cause some one to act a certain way. I still think "Knowledge is power".
34. the Devil's Cup Fun and interesting...I wish, just for a month or two, that I had the carefree life the author appears to have. Follow this lead, follow that lead.....
35. Growing Up Amish: The Teenage Years (Young Center Books in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies) The book gave a lot of good information; however, I felt like I didn't get the 'detailed' information that would clear up misconceptions that I probably have regarding the Amish. The whole concept of their 'running around years' wasn't explained that clearly. I thought I'd read somewhere that the teenagers would live outside of their homes/communities and really get wild. This didn't really expand on this.
33. Earthly Joys Not my favorite of Philippa Gregory's books. I thought it had potential, but it was too long without an exciting storyline. The introduction of the tulips and chestnuts was interesting. I'd have preferred more information on his trips to find new plant life. If anything, it made me glad I didn't live in the 1600's!!!
32. The Appeal John Grisham writes a good book! While maintaining an interesting story line, the underlying point of having our judges appointed, not elected, comes through loud and clear. It was nice to see that there are some lawyers in the world, while fictional, who care about clients and try to do the right thing (although, in the end they get screwed!).
30. Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally Very much along the lines of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable Miracle. It was fun to read since I'm closer to British Columbia.
31. Certain GirlsFun, quick read. Not as predictable as some of her other books. Chick-lit at it's finest!
29. Queen of Dragons Really good book! I think it helped that I had been reading some 'out there' books --because I'm not sure how believable it would have been otherwise! Mari, the main character, is part of a race of creatures who can be dragons, humans or smoke/mist! Good times!
28. Living History by Hillary Clinton. This is the second book by a 'candidate' that I've read for book club. While Hillary has had an interesting life, the book shows little emotion. I've got to believe this was calculated to help her run for the white house; however, I'd have liked her to say a little more strongly that she was mad at Bill for his infidelity and/or that she'd like to ring Kenneth Star's neck! She's like Martha Stewart in the 'no emotion' manner!
I've just started Queen of Dragons ! I hope it's good!
26. People of the Book I enjoyed this after the first 50 or so pages. It started out slower but picked up. The historical context of the preservation of the Sarajevo Haggadah was interesting.
27. How Reading Changed my Life I almost feel like I shouldn't count this book. It's very short, but it advocates for reading!
25. the Queen's fool I liked this a little more than the Other Boleyn Girl. For some reason, it was quicker to read. I think the author does a good job of dealing with historical fiction!
24. Austenland I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I might. It may be that I'm so busy with the end of the school year that I'm forcing myself to read --so it's not really fair. I felt like the main character was a whiner.
That is an excellent idea to read all of the candidates books...I'm sure it will give an interesting perspective and background going into the elections. I think I will add them to my "to-read" list as well. Thanks!
22. The Other Boleyn Girl I found this to be an interesting historical novel. Obviously, there were a lot of liberties taken with some of the facts, but it was still interesting! This was a long, long book!
23. Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir I read this for book club...not something I probably would have picked on my own. The McCain family is very patriotic. I'm not sure if this would sway my vote one way or the other! We're reading Hillary's book next (Obama's in June!)
21. Three Little Words What a sad commentary of how we, in the US allow the people (children) least able to take stand up for themselves to be treated! The foster care system in Florida is horrid. I am sure other states probably have equally disturbing stories. This girl, Ashley, came through a lot of awful situations with success. We should all support the Guardian Ad Litem/CASA programs.
I tried to read The Eyre Affair; I just can't get into it!!!
19. Atonement I enjoyed reading this on spring break! I just wish I hadn't seen even the advertisements for the movie--Robbie just shouldn't have been played by Mr. Tumnus (from the LIon the Witch and the Wardrobe).
20. Blood and Chocolate Interesting take on the werewolf theme!
18. P.S. I Love You This took no brain power to read. The Irish terms and phrases were interesting. I mainly read during the boring parts of the baseball games on T.V. (go Mariners!)Now I'm going to rent the movie--along with Stardust!
17. The Thirteenth Tale I was sure I had the book figured out, but I didn't! As I was reading it, I kept thinking 'This is supposed to be so good. Why am I not loving it?' I never 'gave it up', but it took me awhile until I absolutely had to keep on reading even though I was tired! By the end, I really liked it. The best part was the author wrapping up the loose ends of minor characters! Now that I look back on the book, I really loved it.
16. Stardust I expected to like this book more than I did. It was interesting, but not quite as exciting as I'd been led to believe it would be. The idea of a fairy tale for adults is unique. Having pictures through the writing made for an enjoyable read.
15. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali . Wow! She is an amazing woman! I am going to have to read more about Islam. I guess that I'd always been taught that Muhammad (the founder) was very into equal rights for women. I'd never heard that he consumated his marriage to a nine year old wife (his 3rd wife)! Ugh!
I'm going to have to verify a lot of the information that was presented. It's amazing that some one, especially a female in an oppressive culture, could come out of such a horrific childhood to become such a voice for the downtrodden of society!
I know what you mean about Wicked. I really liked it, but there were parts that I read and then had to stop and be like 'what the heck just happened right there?'; some parts just got bizarro! I had to just read it and let judgment go, and then I enjoyed it much more.
Jennie, it took me a lot longer to get through it than I thought it should! (That's why I read Skinny Bitch- which took no time at all-- next). It helped that I was substituting and got to have 20 minutes of silent reading for 6 class periods a day!
Dawn, for me, Wicked did pick up - when Elphaba gets a love interest! Aren't the Twilight books interesting! I haven't seen girls so into a series for years. It kind of bothers me that some of the girls might be a bit young--lots of sexual tension!!!
Hi Leslie!Read "Twilight" and LOVED it. Am waiting to get to the bookstore to get "New Moon". There was a bit of that book at the end of "Twilight" and I was instantly hooked on that book as well and CANNOT wait to get into it! I think these are the best books I have read since Harry Potter. For me anyway. And I loved Harry. Totally.
I DID not like "Wicked". At all. I started it, and couldn't get into it at all and was really rather annoyed by it. Does it pick up? I may someday go back to it, but right now...UGH. My friend loved it though. And I loved the play. THAT was amazing.
I'm just starting The Historian, and it has been recommended to me from everyone from my library director to my next door neighbor. Problem is, I can't read more than 2 pages before falling asleep. It is better than alcohol and sleeping pills (probably, that is, I'm not one for mixing). Please, please tell me it gets more engaging. The story is interesting (when I'm awake), and I like the characters... maybe I'm just tired.
