I just finished my 50th book of the year, which is huge for me, especially considering it's just the end of October. Usually, I'm lucky to finish 50 by the end of the year. To celebrate, I'm going to list the books I've read this year thus far. I'll probably add to this post as I finish books, so I'll have a nice comprehensive list of books read in 2007, but as of first writing, it's just those original fifty. The links are mostly to my BookCrossing journal entries (I'm yourotherleft over there, for the record). While, for the most part, I wasn't doing much in the way of comprehensive reviews, the entries usually share my thoughts on the books in general. If the link is to Amazon, that's because I had a rather slackerish mid-year period where I wasn't saying anything much about the books that I was reading because I was all busy living my life in Boston (and because my internet connection in my apartment there was virtually worthless). It's sure been a great year for reading so far!
1. Sing Down the Moon - Scott O'Dell
2. The Fifth of March - Ann Rinaldi
*3. Truth & Beauty - Ann Patchett
*4. The Reluctant God - Pamela Service
5. The Best Place to Be - Lesley Dormen
*6. Black & White - Dani Shapiro
7. Angelica - Arthur Phillips
8. Disobedience - Naomi Alderman
9. A Place Called Ugly - Avi
10. The Dream Giver - Bruce Wilkinson
11. The Law of Dreams - Peter Behrens
*12. Away - Jane Urquhart
13. Dovey Coe - Frances O'Roark Dowell
*14. There Is No Me Without You - Melissa Fay Greene
15. The Circus in Winter - Cathy Day
16. The Man of My Dreams - Curtis Sittenfeld
17. Briar Rose - Jane Yolen
18. The Rich Part of Life - Jim Kokoris
19. One Mississippi - Mark Childress
20. Razzle - Ellen Wittlinger
21. Kira Kira - Cynthia Kadohta
*22. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
23. Castaways of the Flying Dutchman - Brian Jacques
*24. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
25. The Descendants - Kaui Hart Hemmings
*26. Shout Down the Moon - Lisa Tucker
27. Sloppy Firsts - Megan McCafferty
28. Seventh Son - Orson Scott Card
29. Echo - Francesca Lia Block
30. How To Be Lost - Amanda Eyre Ward
*31. The Other Side of You - Sally Vickers
32. Gingerbread - Rachel Cohn
*33. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling
34. Ana's Story - Jenna Bush
35. The Disciplines of a Godly Woman - Barbara Hughes
36. The Rest of Her Life - Laura Moriarty
37. Song of the Magdalene - Donna Jo Napoli
38. Bound - Donna Jo Napoli
39. The Phantom Tollboth - Norton Juster
40. Women of the Silk - Gail Tsukiyama
41. When Madeline Was Young - Jane Hamilton
42. Life Expectancy - Dean Koontz
*43. Small Island - Andrea Levy
44. A Three Dog Life - Abigail Thomas
45. No Great Mischief - Alistair Macleod
*46. Hard Love - Ellen Wittlinger
47. From Ashes to Life - Lucille Eichengreen
48. Even the Stars Look Lonesome - Maya Angelou
49. The Thief Lord - Cornelia Funke
*50. Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson
51. Sleep Toward Heaven - Amanda Eyre Ward
*52. A Northern Light - Jennifer Donnelly
53. The Spare Wife - Alex Witchel
54. The Wentworths - Katie Arnoldi
55. Willing - Scott Spencer
56. Boy Meets Girl - Meg Cabot
57. After You'd Gone - Maggie O'Farrell
Now a side note of reflection...
Having completed this project and thus reflected on my writings about the books I've read so far this year, I do proclaim that I will resist the urge to use the phrase "brings to life" or any form of the word "engage" in any and all future book reviews as my overuse of them thus far rather makes me ill. Every book's review or comment after about the 24th I approached with trepidation wondering whether I'd found the book "engaging" or whether "the author really brough the characters/situations/plots to life." I'm pretty sure I've dishonored at least two-thirds of these great books with my bizarrely redundant writing. Ugh! Should you catch me in the act of using these terms rigorously in my book reviews, kindly leave me a derisive comment or travel to north-eastern PA and give me a good kick in the head.
That being said, in the process of completing this project, I also noticed (with some glee) that of the 50 books I've read this year, I'd marked 13 as favorites on the list on my BookCrossing bookshelf. Hmmmm...wonder what you'll see in my blog tomorrow?
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Booking Through Thur...Friday
Due to the fact that Snow Falling On Cedars, though shaping up to be an excellent book, is rather a long and involved read, I'll have no choice but to entertain my readership (*crickets chirp*) with a sequence of memes and introspection at random. Hey! Wait! Come back! I promise it'll be interesting! But as my cousin sagely recommends, "People should never make promises they can't promise!" Ah, the simple genius of it all. But anyway, on with the show!
Hmmm, this question appealed to me because I tossed a book aside early this week. Like a lot of people, I used to be the sort that was rather unable to give up on a book. Then I joined BookCrossing and that all changed. I have roughly a zillion books. Rather, the total, I believe is hovering in the 900 range. Books come in a good deal faster than they seem to go out. That and I've undergone a pretty major shift in my reading preferences. I used to be wild about mysteries and horror novels and even the occasional romance. Now, literary fiction is my bread and butter, but I like to keep the others on hand as well for those many moments when I just want to breeze through something quickly. However, I've become a lot more critical of them, so if they aren't calling out to me right away when I start reading them, I usually don't hesitate to let them go. There are so many books in the house that I'm excited about reading, so if books don't grab me in pretty quick they get thrown by the wayside. I try to give everything a fair chance and try to divine when my mood is what's keeping from like a certain book rather than the book itself so I can save it to try again later. That said...here's a few that have remained unfinished...
Alentejo Blue by Monica Ali - I dug into this one earlier this week. It didn't even last long enough for me to put it up in my Books I'm Reading thing on the sidebar. I have to admit, I read Brick Lane by the same author, and despite all its critical acclaim and the fact that I've been to Brick Lane in London (which made me all the more excited about reading it)... I found it to be kind of boring, which was so unfortunate because I thought I was going to love it. I don't know why, but I thought the premise of Alentejo Blue sounded good, and maybe I'd enjoy her sophomore effort. Not so much. I tried twice...forced myself through about 30 pages, failed to get a sense of where it was going at all and upon reading a very unpleasant scene involving a dead cow and a truck decided I'd had just about enough. I have a really hard time with stuff that is just straight out gross and if I didn't love the book to start with, I'm so much more likely to put it down after something truly unpleasant.
Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles - Please don't write your books without using quotation marks when people speak. Unless your book is absolutely spectacular, I think it's a big stumbling block for readers...or maybe just for me...
Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham. This was a book I had to read in high school. I was always the kid who liked to read and would dutifully read all my summer reading (even if I didn't like what was chosen and was irritated at having to read something assigned during a portion of the year where I should have been allowed to read whatever I felt like...but that's another story). This is the only one I ever deliberately said, "I really can't stand this. I'm not going to finish it." and then consulted some Cliffs Notes to know the end for class. I was bored from the first page and couldn't understand the main character and his willingness/need to continually return to the ugly and self-serving Mildred (I think that was her name). He certainly was enslaved to her - as perhaps the title makes reference to - but I certainly had no interest in being enslaved to this.
The Stand by Stephen King - This falls into the category of books I didn't mean to abandon. I started reading it while on vacation, was really into it, then returned to school (or maybe I had to finish my summer reading, the cursed Of Human Bondage) and got distracted. Unfortunately, by the time I was able to get back to it I had forgotten so much of what happened I knew I would have to start it over in order to enjoy it at all. So back on the shelf it went. And there it remains.
Hmmm...well, that's all for today. Tune in tomorrow when it's possible that I'll discourse on my newfound verbosity (I'm sure you haven't noticed) and argue that it's okay to continue buying books regardless of the amount of books you already have, your total lack of funds, and the amount of friends and family members crushed by your collapsing book shelves.
I would enjoy reading a meme about people’s abandoned books. The books that you start but don’t finish say as much about you as the ones you actually read, sometimes because of the books themselves or because of the circumstances that prevent you from finishing. So . . . what books have you abandoned and why?
Hmmm, this question appealed to me because I tossed a book aside early this week. Like a lot of people, I used to be the sort that was rather unable to give up on a book. Then I joined BookCrossing and that all changed. I have roughly a zillion books. Rather, the total, I believe is hovering in the 900 range. Books come in a good deal faster than they seem to go out. That and I've undergone a pretty major shift in my reading preferences. I used to be wild about mysteries and horror novels and even the occasional romance. Now, literary fiction is my bread and butter, but I like to keep the others on hand as well for those many moments when I just want to breeze through something quickly. However, I've become a lot more critical of them, so if they aren't calling out to me right away when I start reading them, I usually don't hesitate to let them go. There are so many books in the house that I'm excited about reading, so if books don't grab me in pretty quick they get thrown by the wayside. I try to give everything a fair chance and try to divine when my mood is what's keeping from like a certain book rather than the book itself so I can save it to try again later. That said...here's a few that have remained unfinished...
Alentejo Blue by Monica Ali - I dug into this one earlier this week. It didn't even last long enough for me to put it up in my Books I'm Reading thing on the sidebar. I have to admit, I read Brick Lane by the same author, and despite all its critical acclaim and the fact that I've been to Brick Lane in London (which made me all the more excited about reading it)... I found it to be kind of boring, which was so unfortunate because I thought I was going to love it. I don't know why, but I thought the premise of Alentejo Blue sounded good, and maybe I'd enjoy her sophomore effort. Not so much. I tried twice...forced myself through about 30 pages, failed to get a sense of where it was going at all and upon reading a very unpleasant scene involving a dead cow and a truck decided I'd had just about enough. I have a really hard time with stuff that is just straight out gross and if I didn't love the book to start with, I'm so much more likely to put it down after something truly unpleasant.
Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles - Please don't write your books without using quotation marks when people speak. Unless your book is absolutely spectacular, I think it's a big stumbling block for readers...or maybe just for me...
Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham. This was a book I had to read in high school. I was always the kid who liked to read and would dutifully read all my summer reading (even if I didn't like what was chosen and was irritated at having to read something assigned during a portion of the year where I should have been allowed to read whatever I felt like...but that's another story). This is the only one I ever deliberately said, "I really can't stand this. I'm not going to finish it." and then consulted some Cliffs Notes to know the end for class. I was bored from the first page and couldn't understand the main character and his willingness/need to continually return to the ugly and self-serving Mildred (I think that was her name). He certainly was enslaved to her - as perhaps the title makes reference to - but I certainly had no interest in being enslaved to this.
The Stand by Stephen King - This falls into the category of books I didn't mean to abandon. I started reading it while on vacation, was really into it, then returned to school (or maybe I had to finish my summer reading, the cursed Of Human Bondage) and got distracted. Unfortunately, by the time I was able to get back to it I had forgotten so much of what happened I knew I would have to start it over in order to enjoy it at all. So back on the shelf it went. And there it remains.
Hmmm...well, that's all for today. Tune in tomorrow when it's possible that I'll discourse on my newfound verbosity (I'm sure you haven't noticed) and argue that it's okay to continue buying books regardless of the amount of books you already have, your total lack of funds, and the amount of friends and family members crushed by your collapsing book shelves.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Thursday Thirteen #2
This list is brought to you by my complete and utter lack of creativity. You're lucky, I almost posted a list of my rejected Thursday Thirteen ideas.
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1. A picture of my best friend and I acting like fools on the London Eye. I went to visit her while she was studying abroad in our junior year of college. We spent a good portion of the time on the Eye thinking of what ridiculous thing we would do when it came time for the picture. We determined to put our hands up and act like we were on the downhill of a roller coaster. Behind us in the photo is a really dour, disappoving looking couple that makes the shot that much more priceless. 2. A picture of my cousin Isaac. He's eight. He still thinks I'm "cool." Gotta treasure these moments. 3. My cell phone. Okay. I know this sounds shallow, but before I started moving all over the country I got one of those Verizon Chocolate phones - a red one. Not only does it make me feel super cool...it has around 120 songs loaded onto it (which came in handy for riding the T in Boston), takes great pictures (it houses the Boston photo documentary - for all those pictures you want to take when you don't feel like carrying a camera around), and I spent about a zillion hours talking to my family on it during all my travels. 4. My computer. Well, this should be obvious. I blog. I BookCross. I keep in touch with lots of friends on Facebook. I apply for jobs (one of which I am greatly in need of). Yeah, I'm lost without this thing. 5. Books! This is another shocker, I'm sure. Seeing as the shelves are in other rooms, only three are in here right now. My last read (The Thief Lord), my current read (Snow Falling on Cedars), and a read I'm considering for after that (Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog). Wherever I go, books aren't far behind. 6. A Ziggy comic I cut out of the Sunday comics. Most of the frames picture Ziggy racing toward the future. The last shows a picture pointing back toward the present and says "If you spend all of your time racing ahead to the future, you're liable to discover you've left a great present behind." It's something I need to be reminded of constantly. 7. My CD collection. It's grown quite expansive, and I find that unless I'm reading I have a hard time sitting in my room without playing some music. It's got all sorts of stuff - rock, pop, country, worship music, Gaelic music, instrumental movie soundtracks...you name it. 8. Feather Boa. I spent my four years of college in the same work study job in the Office of Annual Giving and really loved the people I was working for. They were very fun and easy going and hard working all at the same time. For a long time we had a pink and white feather boa of indeterminate origins hanging about the office. I once asked my boss if I could borrow the "office feather boa" for an event I was attending, which is kind of funny in and of itself. At the end of my time there, they gave it to me as a parting gift. 9. Stuffed Bear. Okay. Yes. I'm a "grown-up." I just moved back in with my parents. I still sleep with a stuffed bear. He's comfy. Wanna make something of it? 10. A Picture of my two favorite college roommates and I at a lacrosse game. They're still among my best friends, and I've never put so much effort into staying in touch. Our wacky lacrosse playing neighbors brought us all a little bit closer together sophomore year, and I don't know what I'd do without my two best friends now! 11. The Gettysburg Alumni calendar. I have little hope of ever loving my life as much as I did in college. Too bad I didn't realize quite how much I loved it then. *sigh* 12. Wood carvings of a toy soldier, a dog, and a bear. My grandfather carved them for me. He can't really carve anymore, but I still love these things that he made for me when he could. 13. The Memories Jar. This was a gift my grandmother brought back for me from a golfing trip she went on. I've stuck all sorts of tickets to events I've been to and all sort of assorted mementos into this jar down through the years. I love to pop it open every now and then and remember the events associated with the stuff in jar. |
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
The Thief Lord didn't really inspire me with a full-fledged review, so I'm borrowing Dewey's questiony thing to say something about it.
Title and author of book?
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
Fiction or non-fiction? Genre?
Childrens/Young Adult Fiction
What led you to pick up this book?
I'd heard lots of good things about it, and someone took it out of the Teen VBB on BookObsessed, so I bumped it up Mount TBR.
Summarize the plot, but don’t give away the ending!
Prosper and Bo, two children left orphaned upon the death of their mother, flee their Aunt Esther, a self-serving rich lady seeking to adopt only Bo as more of dress-up doll than a child while packing off his older brother to boarding school. The two take refuge in Venice, a mystical city their mother had often told them stories about before her death. In Venice, the brothers meet up with a gang of street kids who are provided for by the elusive Thief Lord. As it turns out, the Thief Lord is both more and less than he appears which is revealed when the children are sent on a mysterious errand for the even more elusive Conte. Throughout their journeys they meet up with Victor, a kindly bumbling detective originally hired to return Prosper and Bo to their immature Aunt, as well as kindly photographer, Ida, both of whom come to their aid when the worst comes to pass.
What did you like most about the book?
I loved the Venice setting. Funke brings the city full of waterways and winged creatures and hidden places to life. The setting itself contributes mightily to the story and its mystical premise. I liked the gang of kids as well and could picture them in their movie theater hideout. The plot is engaging and moves along at just the right pace to keep you reading to find out what exciting event will happen next.
What did you like least?
There were a few things that bothered me. One was the almost total lack of character development. Here are bunch of kids either without parents or with home lives so rotten they decided to strike out on their own, yet there seems to be almost no history and no context for any of the characters. Several of the main characters seem to be "just there," and we don't get any sort of idea about what drives them or why they are so dissatisfied with their past (or current) lives.
The adult characters kind of bothered me, also. For example, Ida: she grew up in an orphanage, supports the orphanage monetarily, and seems to care deeply about these abandoned children and their need to have a place to belong, but it doesn't dawn on her to actually consider adopting a child until these kids arrive on her doorstep. Nor does she seem to have any qualms about setting two ten-year-olds loose to go live on their own in a warehouse. Weird.
Share a quote from the book:
Back in the narrow alleys he wasn't usually afraid, but it was different here in the wide-open square. Bo called it the Lion Square. He knew that it had a proper name really, but he called it that anyway. During the day every cobblestone here belonged to the pigeons and the tourists. But at night when the pigeons slept on the roofs and the people lay in their hotel beds, the square belonged to the horses and the winged lion that stood among the stars. Bo was certain of that. pg. 75
Overall:
This is a good book...for someone a lot younger than me. I'm sure younger readers would be enchanted by this, but I found myself caught between taking it too seriously and too lightly. It's written like a book that wishes to be taken seriously - a book about homeless kids, rich kids unhappy in their circumstances, kids that want to be grown-ups so that they can be taken seriously. But it's also written in a sort of fairy tale sort of fashion with kids that seem old and adults who behave ridiculously which requires more suspension of disbelief to enjoy. I didn't know what kind of reader I was supposed to be to enjoy it, so I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have like to have enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend this to younger readers, though, who wouldn't need to struggle with my strange dilemma!
Title and author of book? The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
Fiction or non-fiction? Genre?
Childrens/Young Adult Fiction
What led you to pick up this book?
I'd heard lots of good things about it, and someone took it out of the Teen VBB on BookObsessed, so I bumped it up Mount TBR.
Summarize the plot, but don’t give away the ending!
Prosper and Bo, two children left orphaned upon the death of their mother, flee their Aunt Esther, a self-serving rich lady seeking to adopt only Bo as more of dress-up doll than a child while packing off his older brother to boarding school. The two take refuge in Venice, a mystical city their mother had often told them stories about before her death. In Venice, the brothers meet up with a gang of street kids who are provided for by the elusive Thief Lord. As it turns out, the Thief Lord is both more and less than he appears which is revealed when the children are sent on a mysterious errand for the even more elusive Conte. Throughout their journeys they meet up with Victor, a kindly bumbling detective originally hired to return Prosper and Bo to their immature Aunt, as well as kindly photographer, Ida, both of whom come to their aid when the worst comes to pass.
What did you like most about the book?
I loved the Venice setting. Funke brings the city full of waterways and winged creatures and hidden places to life. The setting itself contributes mightily to the story and its mystical premise. I liked the gang of kids as well and could picture them in their movie theater hideout. The plot is engaging and moves along at just the right pace to keep you reading to find out what exciting event will happen next.
What did you like least?
There were a few things that bothered me. One was the almost total lack of character development. Here are bunch of kids either without parents or with home lives so rotten they decided to strike out on their own, yet there seems to be almost no history and no context for any of the characters. Several of the main characters seem to be "just there," and we don't get any sort of idea about what drives them or why they are so dissatisfied with their past (or current) lives.
The adult characters kind of bothered me, also. For example, Ida: she grew up in an orphanage, supports the orphanage monetarily, and seems to care deeply about these abandoned children and their need to have a place to belong, but it doesn't dawn on her to actually consider adopting a child until these kids arrive on her doorstep. Nor does she seem to have any qualms about setting two ten-year-olds loose to go live on their own in a warehouse. Weird.
Share a quote from the book:
Back in the narrow alleys he wasn't usually afraid, but it was different here in the wide-open square. Bo called it the Lion Square. He knew that it had a proper name really, but he called it that anyway. During the day every cobblestone here belonged to the pigeons and the tourists. But at night when the pigeons slept on the roofs and the people lay in their hotel beds, the square belonged to the horses and the winged lion that stood among the stars. Bo was certain of that. pg. 75
Overall:
This is a good book...for someone a lot younger than me. I'm sure younger readers would be enchanted by this, but I found myself caught between taking it too seriously and too lightly. It's written like a book that wishes to be taken seriously - a book about homeless kids, rich kids unhappy in their circumstances, kids that want to be grown-ups so that they can be taken seriously. But it's also written in a sort of fairy tale sort of fashion with kids that seem old and adults who behave ridiculously which requires more suspension of disbelief to enjoy. I didn't know what kind of reader I was supposed to be to enjoy it, so I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have like to have enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend this to younger readers, though, who wouldn't need to struggle with my strange dilemma!
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Some of us read, some of us just buy books....
Today was a lovely fall day, and I spent it shopping. There was a small library book sale this morning, and I can never seem to resist uh.... supporting the library. Who doesn't love to pick up wish list books at the paltry sum of 50 cents a piece? I got 10, and my mom got 5 or 6...two of which piqued my interest, which is always good since we tend to make our book collection almost entirely shared. After that we headed off to Muncy to partake in a tasty coffee drink at the Seattle's Best at Borders (where I - much to my credit - didn't buy any more books), to scout out some Life Is Good clothes on sale (which is almost as common as pigs flying or hell freezing over - so naturally this endeavor failed), and to swing by the consumerist fantasy (or is it nightmare?) that is Sam's Club to buy chicken in bulk. Adding to the excitement was a moment of terror wrought by my dad's locking the keys in the car. Luckily, with a shout of "Don't panic! It's no big deal!" I was able to save the day with the help of my cell phone and my AAA card. Definitely getting my money's worth out of that one.
And now, the important stuff. A brief rundown of my most recent book acquisition...
Strange Fits of Passion - Anita Shreve
Go Ask Alice - Anonymous
Until I Find You - John Irving
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel - Louise Murphy (a duplicate copy for my permanent collection. Yay!)
The Best of Friends - Sara James and Ginger Mauney
Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin
Second Glance - Jodi Picoult
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim - David Sedaris
Bastard Out of Carolina - Dorothy Allison
A Great and Terrible Beauty - Libba Bray
The Mercy of Thin Air - Ronlyn Domingue
The Art of Mending - Elizabeth Berg
In other news, I'm pretty inspired by all the folks doing the 24 hour readathon and plan on stopping by and doing some unofficial cheerleading. I love to read, but 24 hours is quite the committment! Nonetheless, they're all making me think that I could be doing a great deal more of reading than I am - even if it's far shorter than 24 hours in a row. I have the attention span of a flea these days and seem to always be able to find an excuse to not read, which is a crying shame considering I do get such enjoyment out of it. So here's to reading! You can see what the readathon is all about and go visit the participants here.
And now, the important stuff. A brief rundown of my most recent book acquisition...
Strange Fits of Passion - Anita Shreve
Go Ask Alice - Anonymous
Until I Find You - John Irving
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel - Louise Murphy (a duplicate copy for my permanent collection. Yay!)
The Best of Friends - Sara James and Ginger Mauney
Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin
Second Glance - Jodi Picoult
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim - David Sedaris
Bastard Out of Carolina - Dorothy Allison
A Great and Terrible Beauty - Libba Bray
The Mercy of Thin Air - Ronlyn Domingue
The Art of Mending - Elizabeth Berg
In other news, I'm pretty inspired by all the folks doing the 24 hour readathon and plan on stopping by and doing some unofficial cheerleading. I love to read, but 24 hours is quite the committment! Nonetheless, they're all making me think that I could be doing a great deal more of reading than I am - even if it's far shorter than 24 hours in a row. I have the attention span of a flea these days and seem to always be able to find an excuse to not read, which is a crying shame considering I do get such enjoyment out of it. So here's to reading! You can see what the readathon is all about and go visit the participants here.
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