group discussion
topic:
Finish Line 2009! >
Rachel's 50 Books for 2009
January
1. A Village Affair by Joanna Trollope
2. No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay
3. Nancy's Mysterious Letter by Carolyn Keene
4. The Gift of Christmas Present by Melody Carlson
5. What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn
6. The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld
7. Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff
8. 'Luuurve is a Many Trousered Thing...' by Louise Rennison
9. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
10. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis
11. The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis
12. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
February
13. The Point of Rescue by Sophie Hannah
14. To the Nines by Meg Cabot
15. The Sign of the Twisted Candles by Carolyn Keene
16. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
17. Got You Back by Jane Fallon
18. The Heavens Before by Kacy Barnett-Gramckow
19. Ya-Yas in Bloom by Rebecca Wells
20. The Abortionist's Daughter by Elisabeth Hyde
21. If You Could See Me Now by Cecelia Ahern
22. Missing Judy by Anne Cassidy
23. Forever Rose by Hilary McKay
March
24. Anne of Windy Poplars by L. M. Montgomery
25. Persuading Annie by Melissa Nathan
26. Airhead by Meg Cabot
27. The Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky
28. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
29. Ivy by Julie Hearn
30. Little Altars Everywhere by Rebecca Wells
31. Chasing the Dragon by Jackie Pullinger
April
32. Anne's House of Dreams by L. M. Montgomery
33. Don't Call Me Baby by Laurie Depp
34. Molly by Carol Drinkwater
35. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
36. A Crowded Marriage by Catherine Alliott
37. Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
38. Missing You by Meg Cabot
39. California Girls by Ann M. Martin
40. A Perfect Revenge by Annabel Dilke
41. Claudia and Mean Janine by Ann M. Martin
42. The Woman Next Door by Barbara Delinsky
43. 'Stop in the Name of Pants!' by Louise Rennison
44. The Italian's Love-child by Sharon Kendrick
45. The Outcast by Sadie Jones
46. Thanks for the Memories by Cecelia Ahern
47. Anne of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery
48. Starring the Baby-Sitters Club! by Ann M. Martin
Let's hope that this year is as successful as last year! In 2008 I managed 128 books and I plan to reach a similar amount this year.
---
May
49. Lady of Skye by Patricia Cabot
50. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
51. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
52. The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk by Carolyn Keene
53. The Mystery of the 99 Steps by Carolyn Keene
54. The Invisible Intruder by Carolyn Keene
55. The Girls in the Velvet Frame by Adele Geras
56. The Camera Never Lies by Laurie Depp
57. Claudia Kishi, Middle School Dropout by Ann M. Martin
58. Double Fudge by Judy Blume
59. Kristy's Big Day by Ann M. Martin
60. The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene
61. Babyshoes by Dawn Garisch
62. Danger in Disguise by Carolyn Keene
63. A Wonderful Little Girl The True Story of Sarah Jacob, the Welsh Fasting Girl by Sian Busby
64. The Treasure in the Royal Tower by Carolyn Keene
65. Bumps by Zoe Barnes
66. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
67. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
68. Mary Anne Saves The Day by Ann M. Martin
69. Riddle of the Ruby Gazelle by Carolyn Keene
70. Head Over Heels by Jill Mansell
June
71. Rainbow Valley by L. M. Montgomery
72. The Diplomat's Wife by Pam Jenoff
73. A Slipping-Down Life by Anne Tyler
74. Ten Out of Ten by Meg Cabot
75. The Last Concubine by Lesley Downer
76. Rasputin's Daughter by Robert Alexander
77. Frida Chosen to Die, Destined to Live by Frida Gashumba
78. Goodnight, Beautiful by Dorothy Koomson
79. The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory
July
80. Rilla of Ingleside (Anne of Green Gables No. 8) by L. M. Montgomery
81. Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama
82. The Language of Threads A Novel by Gail Tsukiyama
83. Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult
84. The Firm by John Grisham
85. The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
August
86. The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller
87. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
88. The Shunning by Beverly Lewis
89. The Sunflower Forest by Torey Hayden
90. Double Cross by Malorie Blackman
91. Hidden Talents by Erica James
92. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
September
93. Sex180 The Next Revolution by Chip Ingram and Tim Walker
94. Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson
95. Every Boy's Got One by Meg Cabot
96. Being Nikki by Meg Cabot
97. Logan Likes Mary Anne! by Ann M. Martin
98. Boy-Crazy Stacey by Ann M. Martin
99. Kristy's Mystery Admirer by Ann M. Martin
100. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
101. Dawn and the Older Boy by Ann M. Martin
102. Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella
October
103. Fooling Around by Francine Pascal
104. Spy Girl by Francine Pascal
105. Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? by Louise Rennison
106. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
107. The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
108. Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary
109. Ramona and Her Mother by Beverly Cleary
November
110. Legally Blonde by Amanda Brown
111. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
112. School of Fortune by Amanda Brown
113. Chronicles of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery
---
After that disappointing start to 2009, I read a fantastic book which simply blew Joanna Trollope and her depressing, selfish lesbians out of the water! No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay was a fanstic read and I didn't want to put it down. I can't wait to read his second book.
---
Okay, I now understand the statement on Wikipedia which said that the British publishers of Nancy Drew "revised" the books to suit the British audience. I just finished a very old copy of Nancy's Mysterious Letter which I reckon is an edition from the 1950s due to the style of drawings, but it appears to be the original 1932 text. The British books which I've read (one of which was published as early as the 70s) have a lot more detail in them, and appear to portray Nancy as a young woman in the 1950s, not the 1930s. There was a lot of comments about her being a brilliant and contentious driver, and several people lectured her on "not knowing her place" and being too independent for a woman of her age. Bess and George barely featured and Ned acted like he was formally courting Nancy! Nancy also wears evening gowns and sets out to buy a hat in the Emerson colours to wear to Ned's football game. As quaint as this book was, I definitely prefer the British Nancy Drew books. The mystery is much more complex and detailed.
Wow, I've actually managed four books in four days - I don't think I've ever read this fast before! I started read The Gift of Christmas Present by Melody Carlson, as per my mum and Lynne's recommendation, last night and finished it today when I came back from church. It was an easy read, even if it did tackle some serious issues, and it would probably put a lot of people in a Christmassy mood. It was a Christian novel, but didn't have a typical "and then they all become Christians and lived happily ever after" ending that some Christian books have. Overall, a nice, easy read, but not really my kind of book.
This review has MASSIVE spoilers!
I started reading Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff yesterday and wasn't quite sure whether I was going to like it or not. It sounded really interesting from the back, just the kind of book which I'd usually read, but as it was shrinkwrapped together with Jenoff's other book in Waterstones, I hadn't had a chance to actually read any of the book before I bought it. I'd seen a couple of review of it on here and a lot of people didn't seem to like the story; they didn't like the character of Emma/Anna and found the events of the book to be unbelievable.
I was immediately pulled into the book on the first page but then got a bit disappointed when the book leapt back to Emma and Jacob meeting and the early days of her marriage. The writing here seemed a bit stilted, and I realise now that Jenoff was probably just trying to give us an idea of the character of Jacob. It didn't really work. Even when we met Jacob later on I didn't feel like we knew his character at all. This is one of the faults with this book; I actually felt like I knew the character of Kommandant better than I knew Jacob, and I found that I didn't really care whether Emma saw her husband again or not. Even Emma admits in some places that she and Jacob disagreed on major things - he didn't want to have children and she was desperate for a family; he put his politics ahead of his wife, etc. Fortunately, after the small bit in the past tense about Emma and Jacob's marriage and him leaving her, the story got better. She went to the ghetto to be with her parents (I didn't understand this to start with, but I guess that it is only with the benefit of hindsight that we can tell that this was a bad decision - how was she to know what would happen to the Jews?). As soon as Emma is spirited out of the ghetto and to her aunt's house the story improved massively - I even found that I stopped cringing at Jenoff's writing. For some reason, the writing for the first 30-40 pages just seemed really stilted, but I didn't notice this elsewhere in the book so maybe it was because the first part of the book was in the past tense?
As I've visited Auschwitz and heard from survivors or tour-guides there of the amazing escapes which Jews made, I thought that Emma's story was altogether believable. Kitty Hart-Moxon (google her name; she's written a memoir) and her family escaped from their ghetto in Poland at least twice, and once nearly made it over the border into Russia. So I don't agree with the people who say that Emma's story isn't realistic; it is. When Emma started working for the Kommandant and doing tasks for the resistance I could sympathise with her fears and feelings. I can imagine that I would react the same as her in that situation - I would be the one who dropped all of the cards out of the safe because of nervousness. And as for her relationship with the Kommandant, I thought that Jenoff portrayed it very well. If Emma was spending so much time with him and so much time away from her husband it is natural that, even though she despises him and his work, she enjoys his affection and attention and finds herself attracted to him. Her emotions about him were also realistic, I thought.
I got a bit annoyed with Emma towards the end; it was a completely stupid decision to go and visit her parents in the ghetto. But - who wouldn't want to attempt to free their parents? We're all human beings. Even members of the Jewish resistance had emotions. The end came all at once and I wasn't at all sure what would happen after Emma saw the Kommandant on the bridge. I was glad that she and Marta made amends, and a bit surprised at her reaction to the Kommandant's death, but I suppose it was only natural. I somehow kenw that Emma and Lucasz would stay together, and although the story ended without really telling you how things ended, I thought it was fitting. To those who wanted a happy ending, they saw that Emma was going to finally be with Jacob. And to those who know that a happy ending would be a bit cliche, they know that there are still several years of the war to come, and anything could happen.
Overall, 8/10. I really enjoyed this book and will probably keep it, even if I will admit that the writing wasn't the best and that the character of Jacob seemed a little 2D.
Was feeling rather sick today so reread 'Luuurve is a Many Trousered Thing...' by Louise Rennison. Click on the link if you want my thoughts!
Finally finished Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, yay! I've never before struggled to read a book set to read by my English teacher so this was a strange experience for me. I did kind of like it towards the end but I really had to force myself to read this book. When we read To Kill a Mockingbird and The Crucible I gobbled them up within a few days, but with Great Expectations I was meant to have finished it by the time the Christmas holidays were over...which was sixteen days ago!
Re "The Commandant's Girl", I felt pretty much the same as you when I read the book. It wasn't necessarily the happy-ending type of romantic fiction that I was expecting, but it was a good portrayal of how a real person would deal with that type of conflict in their life and the choices that they would make to survive.
I listened to two books-on-CD while on the journeys from Edinburgh to York and back again.
10. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis
11. The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis
One reread this week - I've been terribly busy! It's incredibly hard to study and teach. I taught 11 classes of 12/13 year old kids this week, and although I was glad to be able to educate them about the Holocaust (Holocaust Memorial Day was on Tuesday) I was so tired when I got home that I was barely able to do homework, let alone read!
12. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
Review at the above link.
Read The Point of Rescue, my first Sophie Hannah book today. I can't wait to read more of her books! I've recently been reading quite a few thrillers but I think I'm going to tone it down a bit and rebound on chick-lit as they can be quite sad sometimes. As much as I enjoyed this book and didn't want to put it down (as I wanted to know who killed Geraldine and Lucy) I hated to read about Sally when "Mark" kept her prisoner and wanted to get her pregnant with his child. And "Geraldine's" diary entries horrified me - there was a part where she said she wanted to tell infertile women how lucky they were. How can anyone say something like that? I would be devestated if I found out that I couldn't have children; no matter what happens in my life, I would give up everything to get married and have a child. So that particular comment struck home. Anwyay, the mystery was really intriguing and the best part of the book (even if parts of the plot were a bit upsetting) but I didn't feel like I really knew any of the characters properly, except for Sally. Overall, 8/10.
Forgot to update this! I read To the Nines by Meg Cabot a couple of days ago, and really quite enjoyed it. I then read The Sign of the Twisted Candles by Carolyn Keene yesterday and also liked it. Febraury has been a good reading month so far :)
16. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger. I wanted to read this to see what all the hype was about but had a feeling that I wouldn't like it as I grew out of my chick-lit phase several years ago. I was so wrong! The main character in this book was so easy to relate to and the story was wonderful escapism; it was great to be able to stop memorising Human Resources legislation and sit down and read about the world of fashion and parties and money. I was totally engrossed in this book and found it impossible to put down. Can't wait to read more of Lauren Weisberger's books.
18. The Heavens Before by Kacy Barnett-Gramckow
I wasn't sure what I'd think of this book as I've found that some Christian fiction can be over-the-top and preachy, but this fictionalised account of Noakh's family before and after the flood was fantastic! I loved the character of Annah and reading about life in her settlement - it was so fascinating! I have to admit that the settlement was more exciting to read about than life in Noakh's lodge but the overall story was wonderful. I really want to read the other two books in this trilogy now.
19. Ya-Yas in Bloom by Rebecca Wells
Readt this on the plane to London and then at my uncle and aunt's house in Kent. Will review later.
20. The Abortionist's Daughter by Elisabeth HydeQuite liked the murder-mystery part - never guessed who the killer was! - but never really connected with any of the characters. Still, worth a read if you like murder-mysteries but not the best of its type.
I would totally suggest "Chasing Harry Winston" if you liked "Devil Wears Prada" it's a wonderful book.
And that's awesome you are at 20 books already!
Thanks Aprile, I'll look out for that book next time I'm at the library :)
Was ill on Wednesday so ended up staying at home in bed and rereading two books.
21. If You Could See Me Now by Cecelia Ahern
and
22. Missing Judy by Anne Cassidy
I read this book at least once a year, if not twice, and I still love it. It never fails to make me laugh out loud, and there aren't many books which do that.
23. Forever Rose by Hilary McKay
Two more for March:
25. Persuading Annie by Melissa Nathan
Great chick-lit! Melissa was a wonderful writer and the character of Annie was wonderfully portrayed. There are so many fantastic quotes in this book which actually had me laughing out loud.
26. Airhead by Meg Cabot
I think this is my favourite of Cabot's books so far - she seems to be improving with age. I really didn't want to put this down and read this in just two days. Can't wait for the sequel!
Haven't got much reading done recently as I've been studying a lot. I'm now studied out and have a viral infection (fantastic) so haven't been doing much other than reading for the last two days.
28. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
29. Ivy by Julie Hearn
Reviews at the above links.
Read this a few days ago:
31. Chasing the Dragon by Jackie Pullinger
And today I finished:
32. Anne's House of Dreams by L. M. Montgomery
and read:
33. Don't Call Me Baby by Laurie Depp
Rachel wrote: "35. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Wonderful - everyone needs to read this book!"
I'm glad everyone likes this. It's sitting on my table right now. I might bump it up to next in line :D
I've only seen a handful of bad reviews for this book so I do hope that you enjoy it as well. I truly had no idea what to expect from this when I started reading and I have to say that it's completely unlike anything I've read! :)
I've been reading quite a few kids books recently, but I kind of need to read something light alongside all of the dissertation work I'm doing right now.
41. Claudia and Mean Janine by Ann M. Martin
42. The Woman Next Door by Barbara Delinsky
43. 'Stop in the Name of Pants!' by Louise Rennison
Reviews at above links.
44. The Italian's Love-child by Sharon Kendrick
45. The Outcast by Sadie Jones
Will eventually write reviews for all these books!
Agh, I read Starring the Baby-Sitters Club! at some point this month and fogot to add it in! Book 48.
Eek, I'm done! Finished 49 yesterday and then 50 today.
49. Lady of Skye by Patricia Cabot
50. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
I'm quite pleased that I've got this many books read in just over four months - I definitely wasn't reading this much at this point in 2008. Plus, I'm staying with friends in Germany for June and July and probably won't have much reading material available, so this'll make up for it in my overall book count :)
Have read quite a few books since I last updated!
Earlier this week I finished
51. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
and then on Wednesday I read three Nancy Drew novels because I was ill in bed all day
52. The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk by Carolyn Keene
53. The Mystery of the 99 Steps by Carolyn Keene
54. The Invisible Intruder by Carolyn Keene
and listened this lovely audio book.
55. The Girls in the Velvet Frame by Adele Geras
Then today I read this quick teen read, which wasn't too impressive but quite relaxing.
56. The Camera Never Lies by Laurie Depp
I've been studying a lot recently so have been reading a lot of "comfort reads."
57. Claudia Kishi, Middle School Dropout by Ann M. Martin
58. Double Fudge by Judy Blume
59. Kristy's Big Day by Ann M. Martin
60. The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene
61. Babyshoes by Dawn Garisch
unread topics | mark unread
Books mentioned in this topic
A Village Affair (other topics)No Time For Goodbye (other topics)
Nancy's Mysterious Letter (other topics)
The Gift of Christmas Present (other topics)
More...
