Challenge: 50 Books discussion
2010
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*Laurie's List - 2010*
date
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Dead Until Dark - I enjoyed this, and I also like the HBO series. I like Tara in the HBO series so am glad they created/added her. It made me feel bad in the book that Sookie really had no one to go to. I wonder if her and Bill's love can be sustained, though? It would be nice to have the quiet that he brings to her mind, but perhaps that novelty will wear thin, as he can be a very bad vampire! A very fun read, all-in-all, and a good way to kick off the New Year! I finished 32 in '08 - not a great percentage - but am trying to meet at least that - and hopefully the full 50! - in '09!
32 is a great number. It's better than zero I think. Good luck in '09 :)
#2 - The Thin Man - Dashiell Hammet. I enjoyed this, though could not figure out the ending. This book is from the 1930's starring the characters of Nick and Nora Charles. Nick is a Private Investigator and gets pulled into helping figure out a murder mystery. I would have liked for the author to let the reader into Nick's head a bit more, though. I didn't really understand why he thought and did some of the things he did. I can see why these characters were adapted for movies - most of the book is dialogue. I like Nora, she was so secure in her relationship with Nick! And boy-oh-boy, can those two really drink! It was entertaining, all-in-all.
#3 - The Phantom of the Opera - I'm really glad I read this book before going to see the musical next weekend. I've seen the show before, and have seen the recent movie adaptation a couple of times. I love the music from those. The book gives a great insight into the minds of the characters and the catalyst for some of the actions and decisions they make. There were some parts that were pretty fantasic, as in the hard-to-believe sense of the word. All in all, very enjoyable when making sure to remember the context of the times in which it was written.
Have fun at The Phantom! That's my hubby's favourite musical!
Aprile wrote: "Have fun at The Phantom! That's my hubby's favourite musical!" Thanks, I am looking forward to it!
#4 - Finished The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz today. I liked it OK, it got a little annoying in places.
A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O'Nan- First of all, Eeeww!! Necrophilia.
- I'm curious also about the ending? When he gets out of the lake with his shovel and heads back to Friendship to be with the ones he loves. Does that mean he is going to properly bury everyone in Friendship because he loves the town and the people so much. Or, does it mean he is going to dig up his wife and daughter and play house with them again? I kind of take it to mean both, but more-so the being with his family. (Again, eeewww!! He knows what he is doing on some level because he mentions that he should have used more fluid when his wife's jaw starts to show or droop or whatever. How nasty (and sinky!) to be sitting around with a corpse?? And, he even bathes her - gross).
- Is he is crazy already or does this epidemic push him over the edge? I looked up some information on diphtheria and not everyone is susceptible to it, so Jacob probably was the carrier and infected all those people. I didn't find anything that mentioned that the infection can cause people to go crazy, though, so that does not seem to be related to the disease. By burning the elderly woman alive in her nephew's (or whatever relation's) house, and having to kill the cow, the cat, etc., does he just go mad or was he already a little bit ways down that path? Seems to me that we're led to think he's already troubled, at a minimum, seeing as how he won't ride a horse and the way he takes such painstaking pride in his work as the undertaker. Seems to me like he considers that his primary job and being the town preacher is secondary. We just experience so much more detail of him taking care of the dead than preaching. And what was up with the statement about the war guy that he fed and when he buried him Jacob had to make sure his shirt sleeves were down so that people wouldn't see the strips of skin missing? Is he a cannibal, too?
- I didn't really care much for the 2nd person narrative. I'm guessing it was written that way to impress that driven to extreme's, anyone is capable of anything. "You did this" and "You did that" just didn't really resonate with me, though. If anything, it made me more detached from the story.
Living Dead in DallasFun stuff!!! I'm digging this series. Can't decide yet if I am on "Team Bill" or "Team Eric"!
The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau. I like this YA series. It's entertaining for me: interesting to see how the Emberites interact with the people from Sparks and how we take so much for granted these days.
Stardust by Neil Gaiman. An entertaining read.
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle. This was intriguing, especially in light of the press surrounding Sherlock Holmes with the movie out (which I've yet to see). It was interesting learning how Holmes and Watson met, and seeing how Holmes solved the mystery. Also neat how deduction was done by characters in pre-CSI days (with some liberties given!)! Fun, all-in-all.
The Diamond of Darkhold - Jeanne DuPrau. This is the last (I think) of the City of Ember series. It ties things up nicely, so assume it is the last of them. It was a very enjoyable series for me - at least books 1, 2, and 4. Book 3, enh, it was OK, but at least everything that was a bit confusing about book 3 tied in together at the end of book 4. (Spoiler) I was happy Lina & Doon ended up together. :-)
Dead to the World - Charlaine Harris. (Spoiler...)I was a little disappointed that Harris let Eric be brainwashed still at the end and not remember his time at Sookie's house. And, I was a bit disappointed in Sookie for, essentially, taking advantage of Eric when he couldn't remember the details of his true identity. I get that sex and lust play into the series as essentials for vampires, that blood and lust and sex are all mixed together for them, but it seemed like kind of a cop-out to have a plot line where Sookie and Eric are all hot 'n heavy but it isn't really authentic. She almost goes for him in Club Dead, so why not let him remember at the end of this one, and that, I think, would be a bigger "win" for Sookie...that SHE got to be the one who manipulated and got what she wanted. I don't understand, either, why he was running toward her house, how he got there. I guess we're supposed to think he ran to her because she is the only one that he has any remotely true feelings for, but how he vanished just was kind of glazed over. "I guess Pam got Hallow to talk." Well, obviously, but what did she say? that would have been a good chapter. Like a couple other books in the series, the end just kind of wraps up quickly with some loose ends. Who knows, maybe they get tied up in the next book?
Sundays at Tiffany's - James Patterson & Gabrielle Charbonnet. This was a pretty good love story book. I don't know why they chose the title to be Sundays at Tiffany's, though. Sundays at Astor Court or Sundays at the St. Regis would have made more sense. Tiffany's doesn't really have that much to do with anything going on in the book, I didn't think. The love story is nice, but leaves you with questions. Is he an angel? Is he really human? What about the kids? But, I don't think the point of the book is to get into all that. Just, instead, to make you believe in the power of true and destined love.
#8 - Scratch Beginnings by Adam Shepherd. An interesting project that Adam Shepherd embarked upon - $25 and the clothes on his back. He went from living in a homeless shelter to sharing a duplex with over $5,000 in his bank account. As he admits, his circumstance was different from others as it was only him, no family to tie him down or to have to support. It was an interesting take on how one person dove into the meaning of the American Dream.
#10 - Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander. A few things come to mind right away about this book...1) Wow, Lady Emily and Colin sure do have a lot of sex! 2) It amazes me how long of honeymoon's wealthy Englishmen took in the late 1800's. 3) I would be so mad if my honeymoon were interrupted by a murder investigation. 4) The foreshadowing in the book is about as delicate as a sledgehammer. Nevertheless, it was an entertaining read for the fourth in the series.
#12 - The Moth Diaries by Rachel Klein. I'm still processing this book - all I know for certain is that I really liked it and that I am still not sure what really happened. It's very easy to get wrapped up in the fixation of the narrator and believe that (spoilers coming...) Ernessa is a vampire and it sucking the life force from Lucy. On the other hand, if you take a step back, it's easy to rationalize that the narrator was in love with Lucy and Lucy loved Ernessa and therefore the rejection the narrator feels manifests itself in delusions. It's fascinating. It's also very in-tune to the young adolescent girl's neuroses: do the other girls like me, why am I so different, what is wrong with me, why don't I want to grow up... It could very well be that Lucy was sick and just had good days and bad days and happened to wander out into the field and die. It could be that Ernessa was keeping up a family tradition of journaling weather patterns and her ancestors went to the same school. It's much more likely for the story, though, that she really is a vampire and fell into such a state of desire for Lucy that she had to consume her.
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein. Alas, I do not fully grok for I am only an egg. Waiting will fulfill.
#1 - A Study in Scarlet - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
#2 - Heat Wave - Richard Castle
#3 - Human Anatomy & Physiology - Longenbaker
#4 - The Diamond of Darkhold - Jeanne DuPrau
#5 - Dead to the World - Charlaine Harris
#6 - Once Bitten, Twice Shy - Jennifer Rardin
#7 - Sundays at Tiffany's - James Patterson & Gabrielle Charbonnet
#8 - Scratch Beginnings - Adam Shepherd
#9 - The Van Alen Legacy - Melissa de la Cruz
#10 - Tears of Pearl: A Novel of Suspense - Tasha Alexander
#11 - Law & Ethics for Medical Careers, fifth edition - Karen Judson, Carlene Harrison
#12 - The Moth Diaries - Rachel Klein
#13 - Dead as a Doornail - Charlaine Harris
#14 - Another One Bites the Dust - Jennifer Rardin
#15 - Biting the Bullet - Jennifer Rardin
#16 - Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
#17 - Bitten to Death - Jennifer Rardin
#18 - Medical Insurance - Valerius
#19 - Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
#20 - Frostbite - Richelle Mead
#21 - To A God Unknown - John Steinbeck
#22 - Percy Jackson & the Olympians - The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan
#23 - Blue Bloods - Keys to the Repository - Melissa de la Cruz
#24 - Commencement - J. Courtney Sullivan
#25 - One More Bite - Jennifer Rardin
#26 - Percy Jackson & the Olympians - The Sea of Monsters - Rick Riordan
#27 - Percy Jackson & the Olympians - The Titan's Curse - Rick Riordan
#28 - Percy Jackson & the Olympians - The Battle of the Labyrinth - Rick Riordan
#29 - Percy Jackson & the Olympians - The Last Olympian - Rick Riordan
#30 - The Complete Diagnosis Coding Book - Safian
#31 - Bite Marks - Jennifer Rardin
#32 - Definitely Dead - Charlaine Harris
#33 - All Together Dead - Charlaine Harris
#34 - From Dead to Worse - Charlaine Harris
#35 - Dead and Gone - Charlaine Harris
#36 - Dead in the Family - Charlaine Harris
#37 - The Complete Procedure Coding Book - Safian
#38 - Gods Behaving Badly - Marie Phillips
#39 - Jane Bites Back - Michael Thomas Ford
#40 - The Demigod Files - Rick Riordan
***2009***
#1 - Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse Series)
#2 - The Thin Man - Dashiell Hammett
#3 - The Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux
#4 - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz
#5 - A Prayer for the Dying - Stewart O'Nan
#6 - Living Dead in Dallas - Charlaine Harris
#7 - The City of Ember - Jeanne DuPrau
#8 - The People of Sparks - Jeanne DuPrau
#9 - College Success Guide - Karine Blackett and Patricia Weiss
#10 - The Prophet of Yonwood - Jeanne DuPrau
#11 - Business English, fourth edition - Barron's
#12 - Club Dead - Charlaine Harris
#13 - Medical Office Procedures - Becklin
#14 - Stardust - Neil Gaiman