Challenge: 50 Books discussion
*Retired* 2008 Lists
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Abby's Reading List
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Not as cute as Sammy's Hill but still not bad.
Next up is The Entitled by Frank Deford or The Amateurs by Halberstam.

Racy and maybe slightly inappropriate for public reading but hilarious nonetheless.

A novel in 10 short stories. It was pretty good but I got a little tired of it by the end.

7. God Save the Fan - Will Leitch
Meh on the first, loved the 2nd (a must-read if you read Deadspin or love sports)

In my senior year English class, my teacher gave us the assignment of re-reading a book we had read when we were younger to see if we had a new perspective on the book and its main themes. The Giver was definitely one of these books. I think I understood it much more then when I read it when I was in junior high. Still very good and a little creepy. I'm thinking about re-reading Catcher in the Rye for the same reason.

The book I've been working on every Tuesday when I have an hour to kill in the library.



I really liked this one, even though I've been unhappy with her as of late. In my opinion, the most recent books have been very similar to her earlier books and less funny.

Phenomenal book. It was a quick read but fascinating. It was clearly written and easy to understand, and you sympathized with all the characters. I'm excited to see the movie they are making based on this book.

I read The Giver for the first time in college, in a course on literature for elementary grades, and it was one of the first books that really opened my eyes to the fact that there are some great messages in children's books that I never understood as a child. This revelation was actually part of what made me decide to become an elementary school teacher, rather than what I had been studying for before.
It made me realize that I need to get kids involved with what they are reading so that they can critically analyze the story and grow from it rather than plow through it to say they've finished another one. The Giver will always be special to me because it lead to all of this for me.
I am also looking forward to reading Plum Lucky. I have never read Janet Evanovitch but I've heard she's great and I am big into girl detectives (left over from my Nancy Drew days), so I can't wait to read that one.

I felt compelled to finish it even though I didn't like it all that much.

Another one of my Tuesday in the library books. Easy to read, funny and well-written. I'll have to read more of her books!

Not a difficult read but still pretty good.
I started listening to Steve Martin's "Born Standing Up" on my ride to work this morning. Fascinating and read by him so it's even better. I'm trying to read Omnivore's Dilemma although I keep misplacing the book and I'm hoping to start What is the What today.

I went stagnant for a while, both because of books I didn't want to finish and because of a lack of time. This book was a good one to get back in the habit with, because it was funny, cute and very easy to read.

Ditto the comment on 20.
22. Born Standing Up, Steve Martin (book on cd)
Absolutely worth listening to. He may not have had the most interesting life, but he's got a way with words, and you really get more out of it by having him read it to you.

It wasn't bad at all. She writes well, and didn't try to paint an overly sympathetic picture of herself and her coworkers.

25. Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Ann Brashares
Two easy reads I enjoyed very much. Sometimes Brashares does try to get a little too deep, and it comes off as detached and vague, but the books seem very realistic. I own the fourth book but need to get my hands on the third.

A slightly different twist on the girl-meets-boy, girl-loses-boy, girl-gets-boy-back story. A pleasant surprise and I liked it much better than I had thought I would.

Not for the easily offended, but hilarious. She has so many strange and wacky adventures. I hope she writes another book!
I'm currently working on Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk. It's my first one by him, and I'm kind of ambivalent on it.

Mike Lowell is wonderful, so I really enjoyed this book.

It took a little while to get used to the strange syntax but I really enjoyed this book.

A quick read, and very interesting, but the subject matter's pretty grim. For some reason, disaster management fascinates me.

An interesting view into Alabama football fans and their love for the team.

The memoirs of a prominent female anchor on ESPN. It was quite interesting and a very quick read.

I'm hoping I can make it to 50...we'll see.

Interesting insight into people who work on the front lines of retail and service jobs.
I really liked this book, although it was a little uncomfortable to read for me. I usually have a hard time getting through books when I don't feel a particular connection to one of the main characters, (in this case, I didn't like Florence at all) but I was glad that I pushed through. McEwan has a beautiful prose.
I'm excited to push myself to read and finish 50 books!