75 Books...More or Less! discussion
Archive (2010 Completed)
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Julie's 2010 challenge
31. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time IndianThis was good, interesting, sad, touching, heart-warming, and so many other things all at the same time. I really liked it.
32. The Adventures of Tom SawyerI really liked this one. Mark Twain knew how to tell a story with humor and charm. He had some interesting things on human nature like how if you tell someone that they cannot do something, then they just want to do it more. The way he demonstrated this was humorous, and I found myself laughing at several points. I think I'll have to pick up Huck Finn sometime soon.
This book also is one of those books that different audiences see differently. At one time, it was too racially accepting, but now it is seen as racist for its occasional use of the n word.
Julie, thanks for including the links - I've enjoyed checking out some of your books in more detail. I've added "The Radioactive Boyscout" to my "To Read" list. It sort of seems like a cautionary tale for me as the mom of a soon-to-be 10 year old who is mechanically minded and always trying to create something new.
The Radioactive Boy Scout was actually a bit scary just because it was non-fiction, but it was an interesting read. I hope you like it.
Julie wrote: "The Radioactive Boy Scout was actually a bit scary just because it was non-fiction, but it was an interesting read. I hope you like it."Julie, I probably will like it . . . but yes, I imagine it is frightening. I just hope that the powers that be learned something about this kid's ability to get his hands on nuclear material.
Yes, I hope the EPA and all those other organizations learned something valuable about fact-checking.
33. A Day No Pigs Would DieI read this in one of my high school classes. It was interesting but at times a bit awkward. Maybe that's normal for farm life, but some of what the Robert was exposed to seemed inappropiate for his age level. I don't know. Maybe it was just me.
Anyway, it was a fairly good story.
34. TemptedZoey's adventures continue. The story was fine, but I hated the ending. Cliff-hanger. I don't dislike it for the reason that you may think like that I am in agony waiting to find out what happens next. Actually, I disliked it because it was a terrible place to end, and it reaked of the "we must sell more books in the series" mentality. Oh well. I have been borrowing all the books, so they will not make any extra money from me.
35. Someone Like YouThis was OK, but I don't think it was as good as some of the other Sarah Dessen books I've read.
36. Nineteen Eighty-FourOh. My. Gosh. This book was amazing, even better than I had expected. It was so haunting and believable. I give major kudos to George Orwell for this one.
Julie wrote: "36. Nineteen Eighty-FourOh. My. Gosh. This book was amazing, even better than I had expected. It was so haunting and believable. I give major kudos to George Orwell for this one."
My husband and I were just talking about "1984" this evening. Believe me, it's been many years since either of us read it - the word "haunting" is an apt description.
37. Tell Me If the Lovers Are LosersThis was odd and not what I had expected. The characters did not seem too believable or real.
38. Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor, England, 1544This is fictionalized diary of Elizabeth I as a teenager. It was interesting and easy to read. It incorporated many historical facts as well.
39. Viola in Reel LifeThis was a YA book about a girl who loves to film. She goes to boardingschool and tries to understand things through film. It was a nice book to read and it kept my interest. I just have a soft spot for boarding school books.
40. Story of a GirlI had read some of this in a bookstore, and it had sounded interesting. It cost too much, so I did not buy it. A few months later, I found it in a library. It was OK, but I felt like it was a letdown. I did not really like the ending, and some of the characters did not seem very real. It was probably a 3/5.
41. Animal FarmThis was read in my Novels and Short Stories class that I'm taking in high school. I loved it. I did not know that we were going to be reading this or else I probably would not have read 1984 so close. In my mind, I kept comparing them. That was not really a bad thing, though, because it felt like I could appreciate them both more than I could have if I had just read them by themselves. This was surely a 5/5.
Julie,Interesting. I'm going to have to read Animal Farm, then. I am impressed with what you've read so far this year - a lot of different authors and subject types.
Thanks, Kay. I do try to read a good variety of books. There's so much out there, so I try to sample parts without gorging myself too much on one type.
42. Battle DressThis was a good one. It tells the story of a girl from a terrible home who goes to West Point for her military training. The author also went to West Point when she was younger, so she was able to give an insider's view of what it is like to be a girl in military training. I read this book quickly because I was engrossed it enough to try to read it soon.
Julie wrote: "28. The Radioactive BoyscoutThis was an expanded article on a teen who did experiments with radioactive materials in his shed. It was so different than what I usually read, so the ..."
I've been meaning to pick this one up for a while now. I'll give it a shot, but keep this in mind.
Don, I agree that a follow-up book would be nice. It would be good to see how she continues to grow, and maybe to see how her awful family is doing.
43. Confetti GirlThis was an impulse read, so I was not expecting a whole lot. It was OK, but I was not too enthused to keep going on it. I really liked her bibliophile dad, so I did not see the big deal about the way he was always reading.
On a positive note, the book's mention of Watership Down has made me want to read the book. I had heard of Watership Down before reading this, but I never really had any interest in reading it someday.
44. BurnedThis continued the story of Zoey Redbird and her friends. I like how the more recent books in this series put some more emphasis on other characters besides Zoey. I think that it makes the story more interesting and adds more layers.
I think that this one has included more fantasy-type elements than some of the earlier, but I see this as a positive change. This one was probably the most enjoyable to read so far in the series. The only thing that bothered me was the profanity, and that has been a problem throughout the entire series. Maybe that will get better, too (I hope).
45. The Hunger GamesI really enjoyed this one. It was one that I waited a while to read, but the wait was worth it. I want to read the next book sometime soon.
46. Jenna StarbornJane Eyre is one of my favorite books, so I was interested to see how this author redid Jane Eyre's story with a science fiction twist. Overall, I think that she did a good job since the book kept my interest very well.
Some of the parallels were very clever, so it was neat to see those parallels between Jane Eyre and Jenna Starborn.
47. Confessions of a Wayward PreppieRandom choice at the library. Judging by its amount of Goodreads reviews, this is not a very popular book.
It was OK, not great nor terrible. I am a fan of boarding school books, so that was a plus. However, some of the characters were really annoying. It was a quick read, so it's not like I wasted a lot of time on it.
48. Secrets of My Hollywood Life: On LocationThis is one of those Clique or It Girl type books, but it was better because the main character was not overly mean. It was refreshing to see a Hollywood character who was not acting terribly. This was very tame for teen girl fiction, as many of those books have lots of mean girls. This girl has some good moral grounding.
49. The CrucibleI forgot to add this one earlier, so it really should be #40 or so. Better late than never. We read this in my English III class, and I liked it. In my opinion, it was so much better than the other book we read for that class, Of Mice and Men.
We also watched the movie version when we finished the play, and the movie was actually pretty good. (Usually something gets messed up in the translation).
50. Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd HerdNice title, no? It caught my eye at the library, and as a self-proclaimed nerd, I had to read this book. It is a short story collection. There were some stories that I hated, others that were OK, and some that I thought were great. My favorites were One of Us, The Quiet Knight, and Freak the Geek. The Truth about Dino Girl was good, even if I didn't really like the ending.
Throughout the book were little comics that were often pretty funny. For example, the comic How to Hook Up at the Science Fair was hilarious.
I'm not sure if I would recommend the entire book, but some of the stories were pretty good. Maybe not worth a buy but at least worth checking out from the library or borrowing from a friend.
51. Catching FireBook #2 in the Hunger Games series. Fascinating with some plot twists. I'll have to read the next one to see how it goes for them.
52. House of StairsBook I found by browsing in the library. I'm glad that I picked it up because it was fascinating. I really felt for some of the characters, and the end was haunting/disturbing- but in a good way (if that makes sense). I mean "in a good way" by it was an effective way to end, not so much that it was happy ending.
I think that I may have to see if this author has written more books...
53. The Day the Senior Class Got Married: A NovelThis was about a girl who wants to marry her high school sweetheart after they graduate. However, there are some issues, like how she wants to go away to college and he just wants to enter the workforce. Their consumer economic class has a marriage project, so they explore the practical side of marriage (money issues, fighting, budgets, etc).
It was good but not great. A short book so it's not like I spent too much time on it. 3/5
Julie wrote: "46. Jenna StarbornJane Eyre is one of my favorite books, so I was interested to see how this author redid Jane Eyre's story with a science fiction twist. Overall, I thi..."
I just got finished reading Jane Eyre,a nd loved it, I may just have to give this one a try!! J.E. with a sci-fi twist?! Sounds like fun!
Julie wrote: "I hope that you enjoy it."Thanks!
54. Stranger in a Strange LandMy comments may contain spoilers, so read with caution.
SPOILERS!
I had heard so many good things about this book and had seen on so many must-read science fiction list. So I found a used copy at the local library's book sale and read it for myself.
Well. That was unique. I liked the concept of a human raised by Martians who goes back to Earth to meet his species. Kind of like a man without a home since he fits in with Martian culture but he is a human.
Its creativeness kept it from getting boring, and there were some great moments. For example, I liked when Heinlein talked of the :current events." That rich lady who was having a baby via surrogate mother but breastfeeding her child through horomonal treatments. How that one lady called her a hero to women everywhere. That cracked me up.
I also had to laugh whenever the Secretary General's wife was mentioned. Her belief in astrology in such an advanced time was funny. Then her idea that men should rule the world and women should rule the men.
Despite these good things, I feel like I did not completely understand the book. Er, as the characters in the book would say, I didn't completely grok it. There were some odd parts that did not really fit, and some of the writing was awkward, meaning that some of his descriptions were odd. On more than one occasion, he said that a woman had nice breasts by saying that she was a nice mammal specimen and her body showed it. That was such an odd way of saying it, so it interrupted the easy flow of the book.
And what was with the ending? Mike's "cult" church really creeped me out. I did not find it even semi-plausible that learning Martian would give all of Mike's followers all those speical powers like telepathy. I know that it's science fiction, so some of it is out there. However, I think that he could have included a better explanation of Mike's powers. The guy seemed like magic with all his powers (telepathy, making stuff disappear, etc), so it would have been nice to have an explanation. Heinlein could have said something like the speaking of Martian opened his mind to new possibilities, so he was not limited by human notions of what was possible. Thus he was able to push himself, under the instruction of the Old Ones, to train his mind to do things that no other human had done.
Overall, this book was good but not great. There were too many odd things to make it great in my eyes. I think that I will put this book aside for a few years and pick back up to see if my view of it has changed.
55. SingularityAwful cover but good book. This was a science fiction book about twin brothers who visit the house that their great uncle left to their mom when he died. There are some odd things in his home, and things get even stranger when they go into his locked playhouse. I really enjoyed it.
56. Heaven Looks a Lot Like the MallA super light read, but that's what I needed after Stranger in a Strange Land. Stranger in a Strange Land was not heavy reading, but it was so odd that I needed something drastically different to clear it.
Anyway, this book: A girl gets hit in the head in PE dodgeball and has a near death experience where she relives parts of her life. All of these have to do with purchases that she had made and how the events surrounding them influence her life.
It was OK, and I really needed a lighter read.
Mod
I liked your comment on balance. Light books can be so fun and help me to enjoy reading more.57. Dear Big V
A girl starts a virginity club at her local high school. This books goes through her experiences in this club and how other people react to the club. I think that the author handled the topic pretty well with humor and respect. I read through in a day because it was so easy to read through.
58.The Pox PartyThis was very different than a lot of other historical fiction concerning African-American slaves. This slave is being raised at a philosphical society as an experiment to see if black people, when given an education, could be equal to white people. Overall, a very interesting book but sometimes hard to read.
59. Dug Down Deep: Unearthing What I Believe and Why It MattersPart memoir and part book on why theology/orthodoxy is important. It seems that theology and orthodoxy have become dirty words because people tend to associate them with conflict. However, this book by Joshua Harris explores the importance of theology. Overall a very good book.
Julie wrote: "Dug Down Deep: Unearthing What I Believe and Why It MattersPart memoir and part book on why theology/orthodoxy is important. It seems that theology and orthodoxy have become dirt..."
Sounds extremely interesting!
60. Head Over HeelsI actually read the ebook version of this. It is a novel published by Sparknotes that has SAT vocab in it. The story was pretty cheesy and predictable, and some of the vocab usage seemed forced. However, it was a nice little vocab exercise to prepare for my upcoming SAT. It was nice how I could just mouse over the words to see what they meant, rather than running to get the dictionary.
The address if anyone's curious about it: http://www.sparknotes.com/satfiction/...
61. Katy's New WorldKaty is a Mennonite girl who wants to go on to normal high school, so she gets special permission from her church to do so. She feels like she cannot really fit into either world because she is the only one like that. It was pretty interesting to follow her progress throughout the book.
62. The Tribes of Palos Verdes: A NovelThis book started off good with a surfer chick and her twin brother. However, it gradually got worse, and the ending was dreadful in my opinion. Some people might like it, but it was not even close to my taste.
63. When It Happens
This was a nice change because it was better than my #62 book. Sometimes I just need a good book to "reset" my reading attitude.
64. Double IdentityI like Margaret Peterson Haddix, so I checked this one out without really knowing what it was going to be about. It was pretty good, though. I'm glad that I got it.
65. The Life of GlassBorrowed from the library without knowing anything about it, but it was surprisingly good.
67. Flowers for AlgernonI had read the short story in school, so I wanted to read this expanded novel form. The main story did not change, but he added a lot of things. Some of those new things were good, but some were iffy at best. I guess you win some and lose some.
75 Books...More or Less!
Books mentioned in this topic
Little Brother (other topics)Right Behind You (other topics)
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True Talents (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Cassandra Clare (other topics)Jules Verne (other topics)
Jules Verne (other topics)
Rosa Guy (other topics)
This is a very short about bullying. It had a valuable message that should be applied to prevent bullying. It was not always a comfortable book to read, as a bullied victim himself, the author had my complete attention on the topic.