Challenge: 50 Books discussion
*Retired* 2008 Lists
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Kelly B's 50 books!

3. Black Valley, by Jim Brown.
Kind of lame--it was supposed to be scary, but it wasn't in the slightest. Anyone know of an actually scary book?


6. The Temple of my Familiar, by Alice Walker.
My supervisor at my internship gave me Mary Pipher's book, and I was excited because I love her writing, and probably love her as a person. It was a wonderful thing to read when I was feeling discouraged at work. Many times it brought tears to my eyes, as I knew just what she was talking about!
The Temple of my Familiar was a tough read, but I'm glad I stuck with it. Alice Walker has many pearls of wisdom that shine out of this story, and I kept a list of quotes of hers that I loved.

6. The Other Boleyn Girl, by Phillipa Gregory.
This book was delicious and it's vivid imagery has even been invading my dreams. I really needed the escape of this story--stress over writing my thesis drove me to pretending I was living in the 1500's in the court of king Henry VIII. But I'm glad to be back, it's no fun being a woman in those times!



Keep 'em coming people--who has read the scariest book?






1. Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett
2. The Cruellest Month, by Louise Penny
3. Black Valley, by Jim Brown
4. All The Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy
5. Letters to a Young Therapist, by Mary Pipher
6. The Temple of My Familiar, by Alice Walker
7. The Other Boleyn Girl, by Phillipa Gregory
8. Shadowbridge, by Gregory Frost

9. What Was Asked of Us: An Oral History of the Iraq War by the Soldiers Who Fought It, by Trish Wood, with a foreward by Bobby Muller.

10. Child of God, by Cormac McCarthy
This is for readers who like Cormac and who can withstand some gruesome stuff. As usual, I liked it.

12. City of Bones, book 1 of The Mortal Instruments, by Cassandra Clare

13. Ravished, by Carla Simpson. This is a very bad romance novel. The romance is the only reason for reading it because the story is a mystery that is not very interesting. This is the first time I've read a romance novel, one of those bodice-ripping types. I don't think I need to go back for more. If I want some romance, I think I'll go straight for the erotica.
1. Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett
2. The Cruellest Month, by Louise Penny
3. Black Valley, by Jim Brown
4. All The Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy
5. Letters to a Young Therapist, by Mary Pipher
6. The Temple of My Familiar, by Alice Walker
7. The Other Boleyn Girl, by Phillipa Gregory
8. Shadowbridge, by Gregory Frost
9. What Was Asked of Us: An Oral History of the Iraq War by the Soldiers Who Fought It, by Trish Wood, with a foreward by Bobby Muller.
10. Child of God, by Cormac McCarthy
11. The Malady of Death, by Marguerite Duras
12. City of Bones, book 1 of The Mortal Instruments, by Cassandra Clare
13. Ravished, by Carla Simpson

Just finished books 14 and 15.
14. World War Z, by Max Brooks
15. The Man Sitting in the Corridor, by Marguerite Duras
World War Z was AMAZING. Freakin' crazy, and so different from what I expected. I keep trying to explain the premise to my partner, and I just can't get it into words in a way that makes sense! Has this book actually got me speechless? It's unlike anything I've ever read before; the format and the style. Zombies are scary. Especially when you really look at what it would take to fight and win a zombie war. How do you fight against something that needs no weapons, food, water, or rest? Not only that, but for every human they kill, they add to their army of zombies!
The Man Sitting in the Corridor is very deep. That's the only way I can explain it. I think I am going to be a lifelong fan of Duras. You can see my full review in my list of books (I don't know how to create the link directly to it).





I really enjoyed City of Bones, and I'm definitely going to go get the next one in the series when I get a chance. It's a YA book, which I didn't know when I got it, and I'm glad because I bet I wouldn't have given it a chance had I known. I really liked it, you should give it a try!

I read this simply because I have never read it before, and because I needed something short to read. My birthday is this weekend, and I know I'm going to get a pile of books, so I wanted something to hold me over until then, but that I could finish in time to start a juicy new read next week. Although, now it's thursday and I'm done with Animal Farm. Now I'll have to find something to get me through the next two days. Maybe I'll do some thesis reading....


17. The Pro, by (I can't remember right now)
This is a comic book about a hooker that becomes a super hero. Pretty funny. For mature audiences only!

*musing* I wonder what the difference is for me with stories like The Pact by Jodi Picoult. I liked that one a lot...(also a Lifetime movie, I'm pretty sure, but if not, definitely Lifetime-movie-worthy.)



18. Sandman, Book 1: Nocturnes and Preludes, by Neil Gaiman

19. Homicide, by David Simon
A journalist follows the Baltimore Homicide Deptartment for a year. The tv shows Homicide: A life on the streets, and The Wire are both by this author.
20. Sandman, Book 2: The Doll's House, By Neil Gaiman (graphic novel, but still around 200 pgs)
21. Sandman, Book 3: Dream Country, By Neil Gaiman
22. The Sadhu, Book 2: The Silent Ones, by Saurav Mohapatra (also a graphic novel, with kickass illustrations)
23. The Killer Inside Me, by Jim Thompson
This one was a story about a deputy sheriff in a small town in Texas, who is also a recovered murderer. Told from his point of view, you follow him as he relapses back into his "sickness". Disturbing and good.


This was the third in The First Law series. So good, a lot, lot, lot of fighting and violence.
25. I Am The Messenger, by Mark Zusak
The author of The Book Thief, which is on my bookshelf, waiting to be read. Really good, it's about a young man who gets playing cards in the mail with addresses or names, and he has to figure out what message he needs to give them. It's about doing good deeds and connecting with strangers.

This is the second of jim thompson's books I've read (he doesn't capitalize his name, apparently), and it is similar to the last one in that they are both noir crime fiction, and feature a basically crazy killer as the main character, so the reader is seeing the story from his point of view. Some of the dialogue is weird because they use a lot of sarcasm with each other, and so it can come across as dated, but it's still entertaining.
I just read Homicide this year too. I'm not super into cop-stuff really but David Simon is probably the smartest guy in America. The book was good!
I just saw your comment about Tripmaster Monkey, too--sorry it took forever to respond. Do you know the author Frank Chin? The book basically seems to be about him. Its about an angry Chinese American in 60s San Francisco trying to carve out a place for Chinese Americans in literature. It's pretty good, but I think I like Chin himself better.
I just saw your comment about Tripmaster Monkey, too--sorry it took forever to respond. Do you know the author Frank Chin? The book basically seems to be about him. Its about an angry Chinese American in 60s San Francisco trying to carve out a place for Chinese Americans in literature. It's pretty good, but I think I like Chin himself better.

Yeah, I agree, Homicide was really good, and really long. I heard David Simon wrote another book about following someone else, do you know about it? Is he following a gang member? Or whoever hangs out on a certain corner? I don't know where I'm getting that from, but that's what's popping into my head right now. Anyway, I don't think I really gravitate toward cop stories too much, but I guess I like true crime--or at least I did when I was a teenager. I liked learning about how they really solve crimes, though, and how difficult a job it must be.

I never can spell or pronounce his name right...anyway, another crazy and slightly gross book by the man who wrote Fight Club. This one is not one of my favorites. I just didn't care about the characters very much, and it seemed kind of shallow--you want more of the back story and you don't get it. Oh well.
The other David Simon book was just called the Corner (it got turned into an HBO miniseries too, but I haven't seen it). I think it deals with how the drug trade involves a family in Baltimore. Supposed to be good!


I loved this book, I couldn't put it down. Of course, I'm a war narrative junkie, and this is probably the most comprehensive, funny, and honest narrative from an Iraq War soldier. This is the same guy who became famous for his blog of the same title; there were numerous newspaper articles on him, as well as being featured on NPR. Good for him! I hope he continues to write.

This book was amazing. I could not put it down, and ended up giving up my school reading to read this over the course of four days. The author was in the Army National Guard and was sent to Iraq as an infantry platoon leader in 2003 just after the initial takeover of Baghdad. He was responsible for the lives of 38 men and was stationed in one of the worst, most violent areas of Baghdad.
At times this book is truly scary; to think that these men were sent over there with far from enough equipment is totally fucked up, there is no other way to say it. And the idiocy of Rumsfeld and his asanine ideas about going to war "with the Army you have, not the Army you want" shows that the morons running this war are truly out of touch. However, at other times, this book is really heartwarming--and hilarious. I laughed out loud many times, and the good things that they did for some of the local Iraqi people was really beautiful.

Set during the Civil War, about a fourteen year old boy who is sent by his mother to go find his father on the battlefield. He finds him in the wreckage of Gettysburg. Very explicit and dark, but beautiful writing similar to Cormac McCarthy.

This is a kind of complicated graphic novel about a Buffalo Soldier who is cursed with an evil gun that makes him kill one person a day. He rides around on a demonic horse that sprays fire from his nostrils, and neither of them can die. It's good, but sometimes hard to keep track of time. It seems to skip around, but I still liked it.

This book is so beautifully written. It is a memoir about the author's affair with her father. It is absolutely harrowing and disturbing and yet riveting. She is a courageous woman for be willing to write her story, and share it with the world.
1. The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett.
2. The Cruellest Month, by Louise Penny.
This one was a creepy murder mystery. Not usually my thing, but I enjoyed it and finished it in just a few days!