LibraryLover23's 2013 Challenge

Just getting things organized...this will be my sixth year as a member of LT and my fifth as a 75-er. Previous threads (more for my benefit than anyone else's really) can be found here:

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Reading List

January
1. Hearts In Atlantis by Stephen King
2. The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
3. The World Of Downton Abbey by Jessica Fellowes
4. People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate Of Lucie Blackman by Richard Lloyd Parry
5. Under The Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
6. The Disreputable History Of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
7. On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft by Stephen King
8. Anne Of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

February
9. Dead In The Family by Charlaine Harris
10. Life After Death by Damien Echols
11. The Slippery Slope by Lemony Snicket
12. The Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett
13. Blue Shoes And Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith

March
14. Zodiac by Robert Graysmith
15. Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler
16. Unbroken: A World War II Story Of Survival, Resilience, And Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
17. Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny
18. Defending Jacob by William Landay
19. Winterdance: The Fine Madness Of Running The Iditarod by Gary Paulsen
20. The Last Of The Bird People by John Hanson Mitchell
21. Anne Of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
22. Patches Of Godlight: Father Tim's Favorite Quotes by Jan Karon

April
23. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
24. Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich
25. The New Girl by R.L. Stine
26. Dreamcatcher by Stephen King
27. The Surprise Party by R.L. Stine
28. The Overnight by R.L. Stine
29. The Prize Winner Of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words Or Less by Terry Ryan
30. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
31. All Over But The Shoutin' by Rick Bragg
32. One Shot by Lee Child
33. The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier

May
34. Lady Almina And The Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy Of Highclere Castle by The Countess of Carnarvon
35. Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
36. The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
37. The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
38. Writings To Young Women From Laura Ingalls Wilder: On Life As A Pioneer Woman edited by Stephen W. Hines
39. The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler

June
40. Hershey: Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life Of Wealth, Empire, And Utopian Dreams by Michael D'Antonio
41. Blacklands by Belinda Bauer
42. Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris
43. The Last Town On Earth by Thomas Mullen
44. Tomorrow, When The War Began by John Marsden
45. Montana 1948 by Larry Watson
46. No Safety In Numbers by Dayna Lorentz
47. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
48. Dog On It by Spencer Quinn
49. Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
50. No Easy Way Out by Dayna Lorentz
51. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

July
52. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
53. Anne Of The Island by L.M. Montgomery
54. How To Pinch A Penny Till It Screams by Rochelle LaMotte McDonald
55. Son Of A Gun: A Memoir by Justin St. Germain
56. Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
57. Her Last Breath by Linda Castillo
58. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
59. The Good Husband Of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith
60. The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket

August
61. The Lumby Lines by Gail Fraser
62. The Heist by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg
63. The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
64. The Boxcar Children #1 by Gertrude Chandler Warner
65. Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer
66. Mama Does Time by Deborah Sharp

September
67. Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
68. Thereby Hangs A Tail by Spencer Quinn
69. 61 Hours by Lee Child
70. The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls
71. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
72. To Fetch A Thief by Spencer Quinn

October
73. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
74. Never Go Back by Lee Child
75. Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris
76. The Other by Thomas Tryon
77. Book Lust To Go: Recommended Reading For Travelers, Vagabonds, And Dreamers by Nancy Pearl
78. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

November
79. The Maid's Version by Daniel Woodrell
80. The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story Of Those Who Survived The Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan
81. Stranger Than Science by Frank Edwards
82. Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris
83. Trail Of The Spellmans by Lisa Lutz
84. Murder With Peacocks by Donna Andrews
85. The Complete Tightwad Gazette: Promoting Thrift As A Viable Alternative Lifestyle by Amy Dacyczyn

December
86. The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Spencer Quinn
87. A Fistful Of Collars by Spencer Quinn
88. Wishin' And Hopin': A Christmas Story by Wally Lamb
89. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
90. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
91. A Little House Christmas Treasury: Festive Holiday Stories by Laura Ingalls Wilder
92. After Dead by Charlaine Harris
93. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
94. Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich
95. Kitty And The Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn
96. Winter Prey by John Sandford
97. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
98. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
99. Writings To Young Women On Laura Ingalls Wilder: As Told By Her Family, Friends And Neighbors edited by Stephen W. Hines

Sadly, since the King's Dear Constant Readers readalong is now somewhat defunct, I'm going to keep track of my Stephen King reading here. There's hope yet! (Although I'm still going to keep track of my SK reading here.) I've read his bibliography up to this point, these are the ones that are left (I'm skipping some of the e-books and things). Titles came from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King_bibliography although of course, more can be added at any time.

Hearts In Atlantis
On Writing
Dreamcatcher
Black House
Everything’s Eventual
From A Buick 8
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
The Colorado Kid
Cell
Lisey’s Story
Blaze
Duma Key
Just After Sunset
Under The Dome
Blockade Billy
Full Dark, No Stars
11/22/63
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through The Keyhole
Joyland
Doctor Sleep

Welcome back!

>4 drneutron: Thanks, drneutron!

Here's a list of the series I'm currently reading, or ones that I hope to start soon:

Aidan, Pamela—Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman series (read 1 out of 3) Next up: Duty And Desire
Alexander, Lloyd—The Prydain Chronicles (read 0 out of 5) Next up: The Book Of Three
Banks, Lynne Reid—The Indian In The Cupboard series (read 1 out of 5 but want to reread them all) Next up: The Indian In The Cupboard
Bradley, Alan—Flavia de Luce series (read 1 out of 5) Next up: The Weed That Strings The Hangman’s Bag
Castillo, Linda—Kate Burkholder series (read 5 out of 6) Next up: The Dead Will Tell
Castle, Richard—Nikki Heat series (read 2 out of 5) Next up: Heat Rises
Cronin, Justin—The Passage Trilogy (read 1 out of 3) Next up: The Twelve
Dobson, Joanne—Karen Pelletier series (read 2 out of 6) Next up: The Raven And The Nightingale: A Modern Mystery Of Edgar Allan Poe
Evanovich, Janet—Stephanie Plum series (read 20 out of 20) Next up: ???
Grafton, Sue—Alphabet Mysteries (read 2 out of 23) Next up: “C” Is For Corpse
Harris, Charlaine—Harper Connelly series (read 1 out of 4) Next up: Grave Surprise
Harris, Charlaine—Lily Bard series (read 5 out of 5)
Harris, Charlaine—Sookie Stackhouse series (read 13 out of 13)
Harris, Thomas—Hannibal Lecter series (read 1 out of 4) Next up: The Silence Of The Lambs
Karon, Jan—Father Tim series (read 2 out of 2) Next up: ???
King, Stephen—The Dark Tower series (read 4 out of 8) Next up: Wolves Of The Calla
Littlefield, Sophie—Stella Hardesty series (read 2 out of 4) Next up: A Bad Day For Scandal
Lutz, Lisa—Izzy Spellman series (read 5 out of 6) Next up: The Last Word
Montgomery, L.M.—Anne Of Green Gables series (read 3 out of 6) Next up: Anne Of Windy Poplars
Nix, Garth—The Abhorsen Trilogy (read 0 out of 3) Next up: Sabriel
Penny, Louise—Three Pines series (read 6 out of 9) Next up: A Trick Of The Light
Pullman, Philip—His Dark Materials series (read 1 out of 3) Next up: The Subtle Knife
Quinn, Spencer—Chet and Bernie Mysteries (read 5 out of 6) Next up: The Sound And The Furry
Roth, Veronica—Divergent Trilogy (read 1 out of 3) Next up: Insurgent
Smith, Alexander McCall—Isabel Dalhousie series (read 5 out of 9) Next up: The Lost Art Of Gratitude
Smith, Alexander McCall—No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series (read 8 out of 14) Next up: The Miracle At Speedy Motors
Snicket, Lemony—Unfortunate Events series (read 11 out of 13) Next up: The Penultimate Peril
Stewart, Mary—Arthurian Saga series (read 0 out of 5) Next up: The Crystal Cave
Tolkien, J.R.R.—Lord Of The Rings (read 1 out of 4) Next up: The Fellowship Of The Ring

1. Hearts In Atlantis by Stephen King (523 p.)
Set up into five interconnected stories, this one started out strong, but petered out a bit by the end. The first and best story, "Low Men In Yellow Coats," is about a young boy's friendship with the old man who moves into the apartment upstairs. That one, which had elements of fantasy, had me absolutely enthralled, while the others were more straightforward accounts of life during and after the Vietnam War, and were a little jarring with their different tone and subject matter. But for that first story alone, which I loved, this one was worth it.

Welcome - you are very organized with your series information. And you have some good ones here. I really like the Karen Pelletier series. I wish there were more of them.

>8 BLBera: Thanks! I’ve been tweaking that series list for awhile now, it’s forever in danger of expanding further! And I loved the Karen Pelletier series, the first one (Quieter Than Sleep) was one of my favorite reads of last year. I’m looking forward to the rest!

2. The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong (390 p.)
Enjoyable teen thriller where the main character thinks she sees ghosts and gets sent to a group home for troubled teens, only to realize that her powers are in fact real, and the other kids in the home have powers as well. I liked this one, it was fast-paced with an intriguing set-up, although it’s the first in a series and it ends on a pretty big cliffhanger. I don’t have the wherewithal to seek out the others right now, but as a stand-alone it worked just fine for me.

3. The World Of Downton Abbey by Jessica Fellowes (303 p.)
Interesting coffee table-type book with lots of pictures and information about the TV show. The most interesting parts to me were actually the real-life tidbits about aristocratic families from that time period. A pleasant read for any fan of the show.

Hi

A few years ago I was on a huge Stephen King run, but then it fizzled while I was reading Duma Key. I still have my bookmark where I left off... I did not dislike the book, but just did not finish reading it. Well, maybe this year!

>12 jayde1599: I had a similar experience around the time of Needful Things. I didn't come back for a number of years, and I guess I wouldn't really say I'm back even now, since I read his books more selectively now.

I am not now, nor have I ever been, a Stephen King fan. His writing just does not do anything for me. I know I am in the minority though! :)

Stasia, me either. He can weave a yarn, but his writing itself makes me crazy.

>12 jayde1599:-15 I guess for all his popularity he's still a hit-or-miss kind of guy! I can understand the not finishing some of his chunksters, at least one of them (Insomnia) I had to skim because I just couldn't take it anymore... But for the most part I'm a big fan, and I really like the readalong I'm doing because you get to see how all of his stories interconnect; it's a lot of fun. :)

4. People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate Of Lucie Blackman by Richard Lloyd Parry (454 p.)
Oh man, this book. So far I've read three books (one of which was mostly pictures) in these first three weeks of the year, but yet I managed to read this 450-pager in a day and a half, which should give you some indication of my feelings toward it.

Parry writes an excellent true crime yarn about the disappearance of a young British woman, Lucie, who was working as a "hostess" in Tokyo. The book exposes the seedy underside of Tokyo and for me was just about unputdownable. From the ineptness of the police, to the somewhat bizarre actions of Lucie's father, to the eventual trial of the man responsible, Parry covers it all in great detail, but without any of the dryness that you sometimes find in non-fiction books. I was especially intrigued by this story because I was in Japan staying with a host family for a few weeks around the time the crime took place. I don't remember hearing anything about it while I was there, but it just made it all the more spooky and unsettling while I was reading this. An excellent read all-around, and although it's still early, I can easily see this making my best-of-the-year list.

5. Under The Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes (280 p.)
Eh, I'm of two minds about this book. The writing was very lyrical which was hit-or-miss for me at times, although I loved the elaborate food descriptions. And the accountant in me would dearly love to sit down with this woman and ask how she could possibly afford this vacation home in Tuscany and all the things that went with it. So while I liked some things about it, others just kind of annoyed me.

6. The Disreputable History Of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (345 p.)
A fun YA novel about a teen girl who decides to infiltrate the all-boys secret society at her elite boarding school. It has a lot of hijinks and wordplay throughout which I particularly enjoyed. I did think it ended slightly strangely however, almost as if it was setting itself up for a sequel. I don't know that there is one offhand, but I had a good time reading this anyway.

7. On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft by Stephen King (297 p.)
King's combination "how-to" book and memoir. As someone not concerned with writing fiction, the parts on grammar and writing styles weren't nearly as interesting to me as his reminisces on his early writing career and the van accident that almost killed him. Those parts were fascinating indeed. I hope he writes a full-scale autobiography someday.

8. Anne Of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (309 p.)
Uh-oh, this might be the year of Anne. Because now that I've started this series I want to jump right into the next one and read them all back-to-back; if I didn't have a million other reading commitments already I would probably do just that. Maybe I'll do it as a once-a-month thing, and I have a book of Anne-related Christmas stories that I can save for the end of the year.

Anyway, this is a reread for me but it's been years since I last read it. I had a smile on my face the whole time I was reading it (except for the end of course, when I was appropriately sad). Truly one of the best characters in children's fiction, I can't wait to find out what happens next.

January Books Read
1. Hearts In Atlantis by Stephen King
2. The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
3. The World Of Downton Abbey by Jessica Fellowes
4. People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate Of Lucie Blackman by Richard Lloyd Parry
5. Under The Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
6. The Disreputable History Of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
7. On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft by Stephen King
8. Anne Of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

January Books Acquired
None!

9. Dead In The Family by Charlaine Harris (311 p.)
Tenth Sookie Stackhouse book and it's starting to get a bit old. I can barely keep up with all of the vampire/fairy/werewolf politics and I don't like how Sookie can go from happy-go-lucky to a towering rage in the space of a sentence. And yet, I can still find some redeeming qualities. I like the Southern atmosphere and the interactions with some of the side characters. I'll still see this series through to the end (and the TV show remains a guilty pleasure) but these later books haven't been living up to the promise of the first few unfortunately.

10. Life After Death by Damien Echols (399 p.)
From the book description, which explains it all much more succinctly than I can:

In 1993, teenagers Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, Jr.—who have come to be known as the West Memphis Three—were arrested for the murders of three eight-year-old boys in Arkansas. The ensuing trial was marked by tampered evidence, false testimony, and public hysteria. Baldwin and Misskelley were sentenced to life in prison; while eighteen-year-old Echols, deemed the “ringleader,” was sentenced to death. Over the next two decades, the WM3 became known worldwide as a symbol of wrongful conviction and imprisonment, with thousands of supporters and many notable celebrities who called for a new trial. In a shocking turn of events, all three men were released in August 2011.

Now Echols shares his story in full—from abuse by prison guards and wardens, to portraits of fellow inmates and deplorable living conditions, to the incredible reserves of patience, spirituality, and perseverance that kept him alive and sane while incarcerated for nearly two decades.

I find the whole WM3 case fascinating and disturbing in equal measure. Although I take any memoir with a grain of salt, I thought this one was particularly well done; I had a hard time putting it down between readings. Some events were glossed over which was a little disappointing (I couldn't quite grasp how he ended up in a mental institution for instance), but others were covered in detail which made up for it. If you've seen any of the documentaries or have an interest in the case this is a good companion piece, told "how it really was" in Echols' own words.

11. The Slippery Slope by Lemony Snicket (337 p.)
Tenth book in the Unfortunate Events series. The previous book ended on a cliffhanger, with the Baudelaire orphans getting separated, and this one picks up right where that one left off, with Violet and Klaus heading down a mountain while in a caravan that has no brakes. All the books in this series are off-the-wall zany and I get a big kick out of them. I'm looking forward to finishing these last few so I can finally see how it all plays out...they better have a happy ending is all I can say!

12. The Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett (991 p.)
A chunkster that's taken up most of my reading this month, this is the story of a 12th century English village, its inhabitants and the building of its cathedral. In all honesty when it came time to describe how the cathedral was coming along, and words like "transepts" and "flying buttresses" were used my eyes would glaze over, but the interactions between the large cast of characters kept the story interesting. The basic premise involves bad guys knocking down the good guys in some way, the good guys regaining the upper hand, and the bad guys coming along and knocking them down again. Over 1,000 pages. But it did manage to keep me entertained through those 1,000 pages, with the caveat of the aforementioned architecture thing. I liked it, I'm glad I read it (and actually I saw the miniseries first so I knew what to expect) but I don't see myself ever rereading it which, for me, would be a mark of greatness.

13. Blue Shoes And Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith (227 p.)
Seventh in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. As always, these are gentle reads about life in Botswana, more about the people and day-to-day activities than about the cases they have to solve.

February Books Read
9. Dead In The Family by Charlaine Harris
10. Life After Death by Damien Echols
11. The Slippery Slope by Lemony Snicket
12. The Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett
13. Blue Shoes And Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith

February Books Acquired
Zodiac by Robert Graysmith (used, snagged it from one of those "take a book, leave a book" things)
In Siberia by Colin Thubron (used)

I really want to re-read all the Anne books now... I'm glad you thought People Who Eat Darkness was as great I did! Got you starred.

>29 allthesedarnbooks: Thanks! I've sadly gotten a little sidetracked in my quest to read all the Anne books, but I'm definitely making it a point to get to them all this year.

14. Zodiac by Robert Graysmith (355 p.)
True crime about the Zodiac serial killer who targeted mostly women and young couples in San Francisco in the 60's and 70's. I'm not sure which is scarier: the fact that they never caught the guy or that there were so many possible suspects. The story is laid out very clinically, with a lot of dates and times and who was doing what when. But that did help to keep it all straight and all of the facts Graysmith presented more than held my interest throughout.

15. Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler (277 p.)
This one follows the same pattern as some of Tyler's others: a stubborn, stuck-in-their-ways character whose life gets upended by someone slightly off-kilter. In this case it's Liam, who after he was recently left go from his job as a teacher, moves into a new apartment, falls asleep and wakes up in a hospital bed with no memory of how he got there. At the neurologist's office a few days later he meets a woman acting as someone's "rememberer" and Liam decides to see if she could possibly help him with his memory problems. Not my favorite Tyler (that's reserved for Saint Maybe), but still heads and tails above the usual fare.

16. Unbroken: A World War II Story Of Survival, Resilience, And Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (473 p.)
A fascinating look at Louie Zamperini, an Olympic runner and World War II bombardier who (among other things) spent 40-some days in a life raft adrift in the Pacific Ocean before getting captured by the Japanese and sent to a POW camp. This one is primed for a Hollywood movie--it's hard to believe it all actually happened.

OMG, Saint Maybe! That's one of my favorite books ever. There's a pretty good movie adaptation, too, have you seen it?

>34 allthesedarnbooks: There's a movie adaptation?! *Runs off to check Netflix* Bummer, it's not there, but it looks like it was a Hallmark movie, maybe the Hallmark store near me has it, they have a pretty good selection of their movies. Thanks for letting me know!

17. Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny (371 p.)
Sixth in the Three Pines/Inspector Gamache series and in my opinion the best one yet. This one follows several cases at once, with Gamache working on a mystery involving Samuel de Champlain in Quebec, Beauvoir following up on the case from the previous book in Three Pines, and a flashback to an earlier incident involving the young Agent Paul Morin. As always, the atmosphere is what makes these books stand out, with lots of elaborate descriptions about the places, sights, sounds, weather and food. Good stuff.

Bury Your Dead is my favorite in the series. I love the setting in the historical society in Quebec City.

18. Defending Jacob by William Landay (Kindle library loan)
A man who works as a district attorney tries to defend his son when he's accused of murdering a classmate.

Spoiler-y

I heard great things about this book, all saying things like, "twist ending! shocking ending! wait til you get to the ending!" so of course the whole time I was reading it, rather than just sit back and enjoy the story, I kept trying to figure out what in the world the twist ending was. Of course my guess was way off as I can never tell whodunit until the author spells it out for me, but rather than being shocked at the ending I would say I was rather...haunted by it. A very good book overall, and I highly recommend it, just maybe try to avoid any spoilers going into it.

>37 cbl_tn: I loved the setting too--the atmosphere is what makes those books stand out I think. And the description of the seasons! And the food, and the people... :)

>35 LibraryLover23:, Yeah, I think it is a Hallmark movie. I remember I got it for my grandma, because I thought she would enjoy it too lol. If you can't find it at the store, they sometimes play it on the Hallmark channel. If I ever see it on, I have to watch, and then I have to reread the book.

>40 allthesedarnbooks: I try to reread the book every other year or so. (I just checked--it looks like I read it in 2010 and 2012.) It's one of those that if I was stuck on a deserted island and could only take a handful of books, I'd want that one with me. :)

19. Winterdance: The Fine Madness Of Running The Iditarod by Gary Paulsen (256 p.)
I try to read certain books at certain times of the year, so when I overhead a news story recently that said the Iditarod was starting I thought, "Perfect time to read my Iditarod book!" And I flat-out loved it, in addition to learning about the race, Alaska and life with dogs, I laughed hysterically throughout. Paulsen dives into dog-sledding headfirst, knowing very little about what's involved, and in that respect he reminded me a lot of Bill Bryson in A Walk In The Woods. But Paulsen does a great job of bringing the experience of sledding to life, in vivid, eye-opening detail.

20. The Last Of The Bird People by John Hanson Mitchell (179 p.)
From the book's description I had a hard time figuring out if this book was true or not: it's about a group of mixed-race hunter-gatherers who lived undetected in the forests of New England for generations until they were discovered by a white man who eventually joins them and wants to learn their ways. It is fiction, however, and not a true story, but an interesting story nonetheless. It's told in the form of a deposition by one of the "Bird People;" he describes the journey they take with their new guide, Randall, who leads them south along the Appalachian Trail to Florida. It's a fast, short read, and although I found the Bird People a little strange at times with how they lived and acted, the story still managed to keep me engaged.

Bury Your Dead is my favorite Penny book also.

>44 thornton37814: I liked how she was able to keep the tension going with all three storylines. I'm looking forward to the next in the series, although it's nice to space them out and have something to look forward to!

21. Anne Of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery (277 p.)
Second in the Anne Of Green Gables series. I was a little unsure of the new characters at first, (like Dora and Davy, the twins Marilla adopts who are a little too twee for my taste) but really, how can you dislike anything about the Anne books? This one covers her time teaching at the Avonlea school, and I made it a point to mainly read it at night, which was a nice, soothing way to end the day.

22. Patches Of Godlight: Father Tim's Favorite Quotes by Jan Karon (192 p.)
Father Tim's quote book (he of the At Home In Mitford series), made to look like it was written in his own hand, with some of his notes scrawled in the margins. A lot of religious quotes but also ones on love, character, reading, etc. If you like quotes, you'll like this book.

“If you cannot read all your books...fondle them---peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on the shelves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that you at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them, at any rate, be your acquaintances.”
--Winston Churchill

"Why don't you get a haircut? You look like a chrysanthemum."
--P.G. Wodehouse

March Books Read
14. Zodiac by Robert Graysmith
15. Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler
16. Unbroken: A World War II Story Of Survival, Resilience, And Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
17. Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny
18. Defending Jacob by William Landay
19. Winterdance: The Fine Madness Of Running The Iditarod by Gary Paulsen
20. The Last Of The Bird People by John Hanson Mitchell
21. Anne Of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
22. Patches Of Godlight: Father Tim's Favorite Quotes by Jan Karon

March Books Acquired
The Prize Winner Of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids On 25 Words Or Less by Terry Ryan (used)
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson Braun (used)
The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lilian Jackson Braun (used)
The Cat Who Turned On And Off by Lilian Jackson Braun (used)
The Blind Mirror by Christopher Pike (used)
Son Of A Gun: A Memoir by Justin St. Germain (won through LT Early Reviewers)

23. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (180 p.)
Read in preparation for the movie. It was a quick read and I was pleasantly surprised by both how readable it was and how well it holds up. It's also much darker in tone than those glittery movie previews would lead you to believe.

24. Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich (Kindle library loan)
By number nineteen in the series these books about wildly inept New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum definitely have a sameness to them, but I don't care, they're fun, enjoyable, easy reads that always make me laugh. This one involves an apprehension at a nudie beach, a three-foot tall tiki statue, and a Pepto-Bismol pink bridesmaid's dress, among other things.

25. The New Girl by R.L. Stine (168 p.)
27. The Surprise Party by R.L. Stine (167 p.)
28. The Overnight by R.L. Stine (148 p.)
Boy, do I love my 90's-era teen horror novels. Although technically these are late 80's, as they're the first three in the Fear Street series by R.L. Stine, one of the bestselling authors, ever. And in fact, I have more books by him than any author on my shelves, about 60 altogether. But anyway, I have no idea if today's teens and pre-teens would enjoy these books as much as I did when I was young, they're rather hokey to me now as an adult, with lots of cringe-worthy jokes and things. And every chapter ends on a cliff-hanger, usually with someone's shoulder getting grabbed from behind or something like that. But to me, they are really great fun and a great trip down memory lane. Of the three I think The Surprise Party was the strongest with a bit of a twist ending I wasn't expecting, and The Overnight was also surprisingly well done, with some genuine tension and thrills. I guess there's a reason Stine is one of the bestselling authors of all time.

26. Dreamcatcher by Stephen King (882 p.)
So good, I think I read the first 200 pages in one sitting. Four friends go to their cabin in the Maine woods and all hell breaks loose when a strange man wanders into their camp. A reread for me, I'm glad I held on to my copy, I can see myself rereading this again in the future.

29. The Prize Winner Of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids On 25 Words Or Less by Terry Ryan (367 p.)
Delightful memoir about the author's mother, who raised her ten kids by winning word contests in the 50's and 60's. Their father was around too but was unreliable due to his drinking. Throughout it all, Evelyn Ryan kept a positive, upbeat attitude that helped carry the family through difficult times. Highly recommended.

30. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume (222 p.)
After her father is killed while manning his 7-Eleven store, fifteen year-old Davey moves with her mother and younger brother to live with her aunt and uncle in Los Alamos, New Mexico. While there, she tries to come to terms with her grief and to create some sort of new life for herself.

This is probably one of Blume's best young adult books, the grief that Davey experiences is gut-wrenching and the book moves along at a rapid-fire pace, so much so that I couldn't put it down.

31. All Over But The Shoutin' by Rick Bragg (329 p.)
Interesting and very readable memoir about the author's life, from his hardscrabble Southern childhood to his eventual role as a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter. It was surprisingly funny at times and I liked how he wrote most of it in his Southern vernacular.

32. One Shot by Lee Child (466 p.)
My first Jack Reacher novel and definitely not my last. Reacher travels to a small town in Indiana to investigate a shooting that was committed by someone he knew in the army. While there, he finds out that what at first seems to be a straightforward case actually has another side to it. Since this is the first Reacher novel I've read I did have some questions (like how does he pay for things if he doesn't work?) but overall I thought it was an enjoyable, action-packed read.

33. The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier (304 p.)
Historical fiction that switches back and forth in perspective, from a wife and mother in 16th century France, to an American woman also living in France and trying to find out more about her ancestry. It started out strong but I never really warmed to the main character and the ending took a turn for the bizarre that I didn't really like. I love, love Chevalier's Girl With A Pearl Earring, maybe I should just stick to that.

April Books Read
23. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
24. Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich
25. The New Girl by R.L. Stine
26. Dreamcatcher by Stephen King
27. The Surprise Party by R.L. Stine
28. The Overnight by R.L. Stine
29. The Prize Winner Of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words Or Less by Terry Ryan
30. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
31. All Over But The Shoutin' by Rick Bragg
32. One Shot by Lee Child
33. The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier

April Books Acquired
Ahhh, April. Or, as I like to call it, the month of a thousand books. My birthday is in April so I often receive books as gifts, my favorite library branch has its annual sale and I also recently went to a great used and new bookstore in Harrisburg, PA called The Midtown Scholar. And to top it all off I also got some random freebies.

From The Midtown Scholar:
In The Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis Of 1692 by Mary Beth Norton
Writings To Young Women From Laura Ingalls Wilder: On Life As A Pioneer Woman edited by Stephen W. Hines
Writings To Young Women On Laura Ingalls Wilder: As Told By Her Family, Friends And Neighbors edited by Stephen W. Hines

Gifts:
Open House by Elizabeth Berg
The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta
How To Pinch A Penny Till It Screams by Rochelle LaMotte McDonald (my kind of book)
1,000 Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles
Lady Almina And The Real Downton Abbey by The Countess Of Carnarvon

From the library book sale:
Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris
Sorcery & Cecilia Or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
Thirteen Tales Of Horror by Thirteen Masters Of Horror edited by Tonya Pines
Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Road To Memphis by Mildred D. Taylor
Fairy Tales Of Ireland by W.B. Yeats
The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings
Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan
Dog On It by Spencer Quinn
Jenna Starborn by Sharon Shinn
Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Curtains by R.L. Stine
Your Money Or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship With Money And Achieving Financial Independence by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin
Tomorrow, When The War Began by John Marsden
Mama Does Time by Deborah Sharp
Look For Me By Moonlight by Mary Downing Hahn
Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs
A Break With Charity: A Story About The Salem Witch Trials by Ann Rinaldi
Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce
Pompeii by Robert Harris
Bait And Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit Of The American Dream by Barbara Ehrenreich
Look Again by Lisa Scottoline
Letters Of A Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart
The Central Market Cookbook by Phyllis Pellman Good and Louise Stoltzfus
A Common Life: The Wedding Story by Jan Karon
The Boxcar Children #1 by Gertrude Chandler Warner
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

Last but not least:
Why My Third Husband Will Be A Dog: The Amazing Adventures Of An Ordinary Woman by Lisa Scottoline
The Kitchen Boy: A Novel Of The Last Tsar by Robert Alexander

I better get reading...

Edited to add: I forgot one: Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks, which I got at the book sale. And after I got home I realized it was signed by the author! Bonus!

34. Lady Almina And The Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy Of Highclere Castle by The Countess of Carnarvon (310 p.)
Don't ask me to explain British royalty titles because I have no idea. But this non-fiction book, which I enjoyed very much by the way, is about Lady Almina, one of the countesses of Highclere Castle, which is the setting for the TV show Downton Abbey. The book, written by the current Countess, tells the story of how Almina's dowry from her wealthy father, Alfred de Rothschild, helped secure Highclere's legacy, and how when World War I occurred she helped turn the castle into a hospital for injured soldiers. Her husband the earl also plays an important role in the book, he was one of the men who found King Tut's tomb in Egypt.

But Almina is the real star of the book and it was interesting to see how her life mirrors the show and how different times were back then.

35. Mystic River by Dennis Lehane (401 p.)
Excellent book. Dark and moody with a lot of atmosphere. This is the second Lehane I've read (behind Shutter Island), and I really like his writing style, I had a hard time putting the book down between readings.

This one is about three friends, one of whom was abducted when they were children, and how that event affects their lives when they're grown-up. And like Shutter Island, you're not sure how everything will play out until the very end, which made it that much more gut-wrenching.

36. The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (404 p.)
I read one of Connelly's Harry Bosch books a year or so ago and I think I preferred it a little bit more over this one, but only because I like "cop" books better than "lawyer" books. But that's not to say this one wasn't good, on the contrary, I very much enjoyed this tale of a lawyer who has to defend a client even when he knows he's guilty. A good, solid read.

37. The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (Kindle library loan)
The first in a fantasy trilogy, this one started out strong but petered out a bit by the end. A friend recommended it to me, comparing it to Harry Potter because the main character attends a school for magic, but it didn't inspire nearly the same level of joy and excitement in me that those books do.

And because it was the first in a trilogy, it didn't so much as tell a complete story in itself, but rather just related a series of vignettes in the narrator's life without any clear resolutions. Not really for me I'm afraid.

38. Writings To Young Women From Laura Ingalls Wilder: On Life As A Pioneer Woman edited by Stephen W. Hines (116 p.)
Before she wrote the Little House series, Wilder wrote articles for local newspapers on life as a farmer's wife. The second in a set of three (for some reason I couldn't find the first one), it's a short, interesting little book interspersed with pictures of Laura and her home in Missouri. There's not many glimpses of the children's books that came later, but even still, if you're a fan of Wilder, you'll probably enjoy these books.

39. The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler (342 p.)
Tyler is one of my favorite, favorite authors, she could probably write a phone book and I'd be enthralled. This one, similar to her many others, follows two mismatched characters over the course of their marriage, from their meeting during World War II through to old age, checking in with them during major points of their lives. A great read, as always.

May Books Read
34. Lady Almina And The Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy Of Highclere Castle by The Countess of Carnarvon
35. Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
36. The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
37. The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
38. Writings To Young Women From Laura Ingalls Wilder: On Life As A Pioneer Woman edited by Stephen W. Hines
39. The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler

May Books Acquired
Student's Vegetarian Cookbook: Quick, Easy, Cheap, and Tasty Vegetarian Recipes by Carole Raymond
Beyond the Moon Cookbook: More Vegetarian Recipes From the Author of Horn of the Moon Cookbook by Ginny Callan
Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers: Fresh Ideas for the Weeknight Table by Moosewood Collective (all freebies that a relative was getting rid of)

40. Hershey: Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life Of Wealth, Empire, And Utopian Dreams by Michael D'Antonio (305 p.)
Hershey is a local company and a local town, so I admit to having more than a passing interest in this subject matter. (I also had the Chocolate World theme song running through my head every time I picked up the book...although that's neither here nor there.)

I learned a lot about Hershey that I didn't know before, for instance: he had a sugar cane plantation in Cuba and he tried to replicate the Hershey, PA town there; he started making caramels first, and it was only after failed attempts in places like Philly and New York that his business took off back in his hometown; he booked passage on the Titanic but due to a business delay never got on board, and other fascinating tidbits. He's definitely a benevolent, grandfatherly-type figure around these parts, so it was interesting to get a more balanced look at the man and the company.

41. Blacklands by Belinda Bauer (221 p.)
Whoo-whee was this a good, creepy read. When Steven's uncle was young he disappeared on his way home from the store, a local child murderer was suspected of the crime, but they never found the boy's body. Steven thinks that if he can find his uncle, maybe he can bring peace to his mom and grandmother, so he decides to write a letter to the killer in prison, asking him where the body is buried. This sets off a cat and mouse game that had me on the edge of my seat and flying through the pages. If you'd like an atmospheric, fast-paced read, this one's for you.

42. Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris (325 p.)
After being less than impressed with the last few Sookie Stackhouse books, imagine my surprise when I found that I truly enjoyed this one, and found it on par with some of the earlier books in the series. Plus, it had Lily Bard! She's my favorite of Harris' heroines and I was especially happy to see her back and kicking butt. Not to mention the fact that Bubba's in this one too, and putting on a show no less. Now I really want to read the last two books to see how everything wraps up (happily I hope).

43. The Last Town On Earth by Thomas Mullen (404 p.)
A fascinating premise--during the great influenza of 1918 some towns quarantined themselves to try to avoid the flu; Mullen imagines what that would be like in the fictional town of Commonwealth, Washington. While it had some great twists and turns that I didn't see coming, I thought it was a little draggy in places which knocked it down a few notches in my esteem. Interesting in its portrayal of life during the epidemic, but not something that I enjoyed wholeheartedly.

44. Tomorrow, When The War Began by John Marsden (286 p.)
Very good YA novel about a group of Australian teens who, after returning home from a week-long camping trip, find that their families and the townspeople were taken prisoner by a foreign army. They must then decide whether to go back and hide, or try to save those that they can. I must admit that if this was the first in a duology or a trilogy I would happily seek out the rest, but when I saw that it was the first in a series of seven I was a little bummed. I don't really feel like reading seven books in this series, but as a standalone, it worked fine for me.

#70: I have started that one. Glad to know that it is a good read!

>71 alcottacre: Yes, it's very good. And I was surprised at how few Australian slang words I know!

#72: It does not surprise me at all how few I know. Do Australians speak English? :)

>73 alcottacre: Ha! Yeah, really. I loved the town names--Wirrawee is really fun to say in your head as you're reading. :)

Finally catching up on threads. I loved the Fear Street series when I was younger. In need to re-read the ones I kept. Those, and Christopher Pike. I sold a bunch on ebay a few years back to make room on my shelves.

>>#73

Stone the bleedin' crows, luv, you must be a few snags short of a barbie!

>75 jayde1599: I'm not at a point where I can get rid of mine just yet, although they definitely take up more room on my shelves than any others! I have such a soft spot for Christopher Pike's stuff in particular, I try to reread one every few months or so just for the fun (and nostalgia) of it.

>76 lyzard: Lol! It's a testament to how dense I am that I had to read that sentence more than once until I realized what you were saying. :)

45. Montana 1948 by Larry Watson (175 p.)
This short little book packs quite a wallop; it's about a young boy's coming of age after he learns a devastating family secret. Recommended, but it's not a pleasant read by any means.

46. No Safety In Numbers by Dayna Lorentz (263 p.)
Very good YA thriller about a group of people who are quarantined in a mall after a bomb carrying a deadly virus is discovered. I won the second book in the series through the Early Reviewer program, so I thought it was wise to read this one first and I'm very glad I did. It's fast-paced and tightly plotted, with alternating viewpoints from two boy teens and two girl teens, and an ending that makes you want to find out what happens next.

47. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (355 p.)
In honor of the big 1-5-0 anniversary I thought it was high time I got around to reading this fictionalized account of the Battle of Gettysburg. It won the Pulitzer for a reason, by telling the story of the battle from both points-of-view, you get a well-rounded portrait of the conflict. And how about that Chamberlain!

48. Dog On It by Spencer Quinn (305 p.)
Delightful mystery told from the perspective of a dog named Chet, who solves crimes alongside his owner, a PI named Bernie. Laugh-out-loud funny and sweet, I highly recommend it.

49. Red Dragon by Thomas Harris (454 p.)
The first book that features Hannibal Lecter, who is all the more creepy because he remains in the background behind the main bad guy, a psychopath named Frank Dolarhyde. Very violent and definitely creepy, I want to read the books before I watch any of the movies...if I can stomach them.

I really enjoyed The Killer Angels. I read it around the same time we visited Gettysburg. There was just a huge article here in Maine about the Anniversary and Maine's role in it. I was familiar with the 20th Maine, but I didn't know that the 16th Maine had a big role as well. On the first day of fighting they were ordered to hold their position so the rest of the Union army could flee back towards Gettysburg. They tore up their flags to avoid the Confederates taking them, when they knew that it was going to be their last fight. Only 38 members of the regiment avoided being captured, wounded, or killed.

50. No Easy Way Out by Dayna Lorentz (470 p.)
The second book in the No Safety In Numbers series picks up right where the first one left off: following a group of teens who are trapped in a quarantined mall, and fighting a virus that is killing off people one by one. Whereas the first book presented the characters as normal teens in an unusual situation, in this one, the teens descend into a Lord Of The Flies, every-man-for-himself scenario with things going from bad to worse, to even more worse, and on and on. It was this bleakness that made me like the book less than its predecessor, while I was interested to see what happened to Shay, Lexi, et al., I was disappointed at the sheer lack of humanity springing up from characters that I previously liked. I'm glad that I won this book through Early Reviewers and got a chance to read this story and catch up with these characters, but for sheer likability I preferred the first book over this one.

>83 jayde1599: That is fascinating, thanks for sharing! The Chamberlain chapters were my favorite in the book, his life story is really interesting and I really liked how he and the rest of the Maine regiment were presented. I love learning about the Civil War, it's a fairly new interest of mine and I have it in my head that I should read and learn as much as I can about it. (And visit sites, if possible!) There have been all kinds of articles and news stories about the battle here too, I live not too far from Gettysburg and hearing about it made me want to get to the book sooner rather than later.

51. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (97 p.)
A collection of letters between Helene Hanff, a freelance writer living in NYC, and Frank Doel, a used book dealer in London. I've read so many positive reviews on this site that when I saw a used copy while on vacation I quickly snapped it up. Just as delightful as everyone said it would be.

June Books Read
40. Hershey: Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life Of Wealth, Empire, And Utopian Dreams by Michael D'Antonio
41. Blacklands by Belinda Bauer
42. Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris
43. The Last Town On Earth by Thomas Mullen
44. Tomorrow, When The War Began by John Marsden
45. Montana 1948 by Larry Watson
46. No Safety In Numbers by Dayna Lorentz
47. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
48. Dog On It by Spencer Quinn
49. Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
50. No Easy Way Out by Dayna Lorentz
51. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

June Books Acquired
No Easy Way Out by Dayna Lorentz (won through LT's Early Reviewers)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carleton
The Lumby Lines by Gail Fraser
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (all used, bought on vacation)

52. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks (213 p.)
I must confess that Sparks' stuff can be a tad too schmaltzy for me, although I do admit to reading a deskmate's entire collection of Sparks' books during one particularly slow period at work. I've been wanting to try them again to see how I feel about them nowadays, and I guess the result is that like the many movie adaptations that have been created from his stories, these books are light as air and while enjoyable enough, not something I want to revisit too often.

53. Anne Of The Island by L.M. Montgomery (244 p.)
Third in the series, Anne is now off to college and making some big decisions about her life. These books are a sheer delight to read, I actually spent all of last Saturday afternoon doing nothing but sitting around and reading this one mostly straight through. It was bliss.

54. How To Pinch A Penny Till It Screams by Rochelle LaMotte McDonald (232 p.)
Very dated as it was written pre-internet but I still managed to find some useful tidbits, and I always enjoy personal finance books.

55. Son Of A Gun: A Memoir by Justin St. Germain (242 p.)
Vivid and compelling memoir about the author's mother's murder. St. Germain was in college when he learned that his stepfather had shot and killed his mother, the novel describes that time period, as well as a time ten years later, when St. Germain returns to his Arizona hometown to piece together what he knows about the crime. Interspersed throughout are tidbits on Wyatt Earp and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which St. Germain uses to illustrate the "Old West" attitude of people like his stepfather. The landscape is also vividly described, adding to the book's theme of isolation. Overall I thought it was a very well-written, moving memoir, and one of the best non-fiction books I've read so far this year.

56. Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (276 p.)
Set in Depression-era Mississippi, this is the story of the Logan family who, because they own their land, are not subjected to the same level of hardship as their sharecropper neighbors. When they try to help those neighbors, however, they end up attracting the wrong kind of attention from the white landowners in town. The story is told from the perspective of Cassie, the second eldest child, who throughout the course of the story, learns about race, poverty and above all preserving the land. A very good children's/young adult book, I'm looking forward to continuing the Logan family's story in Let The Circle Be Unbroken.

57. Her Last Breath by Linda Castillo (308 p.)
Fifth in the Kate Burkholder series. Kate, who was raised Amish, now works as a police chief in the small Ohio town where she grew up. All the books deal with the Amish in some way, and in this latest entry, Kate has to figure out whether a hit-and-run accident involving a buggy was done on purpose. Thankfully not as explicitly violent as some of the books from earlier in the series, but still just as compelling.

58. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (850 p.)
A romance/adventure story where a woman, Claire, who's vacationing with her husband in Scotland in 1945, gets transported back to the Scotland of 1743 and falls in with a clan of rowdy Highlanders. She ends up falling for one of them, Jamie, and much mayhem ensues. Overall I thought it was a fun, frothy read with a lot of action to keep the plot moving, I'm just not sure I liked it quite enough to read all the rest in the series. Maybe I'll keep an eye out at the library book sales and if I come across any, I'll make up my mind then.

59. The Good Husband Of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith (213 p.)
Eighth in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. As always, the cases take a backseat to the interaction between the characters, and gallons of bush tea are drunk. Still delightful even eight books in.

60. The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket (323 p.)
I'm nearing the end of the Unfortunate Events series and anxious to see how it all wraps up. In this one, the Baudelaire orphans find themselves on a submarine and once again having to deal with dastardly Count Olaf and his cohorts. I loved how the Earth's water cycle was described in detail as a way of distracting you from the "sadness" of the book.

July Books Read
52. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
53. Anne Of The Island by L.M. Montgomery
54. How To Pinch A Penny Till It Screams by Rochelle LaMotte McDonald
55. Son Of A Gun: A Memoir by Justin St. Germain
56. Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
57. Her Last Breath by Linda Castillo
58. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
59. The Good Husband Of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith
60. The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket

July Books Acquired
None!

61. The Lumby Lines by Gail Fraser (319 p.)
First in a series about a couple who leave their hectic lives and settle down in a quaint town called Lumby. They buy an old, burned-down abbey and restore it, eventually turning into an inn. Although the townspeople are distrustful at first, they eventually warm up to Mark and Pam, who find their place among the (somewhat) eccentric townsfolk.

I thought this would be right up my alley as I usually have a thing for this type of story, but alas, it wasn't up to a Mitford level of greatness. Still enjoyable, just not a favorite.

Lumby is different from Mitford. I think I like Mitford better too, but I still enjoy Lumby.

it wasn't up to a Mitford level of greatness. Still enjoyable, just not a favorite.

Good to know as I have only recently started the Mitford books and haven't tried any of the Lumby books yet.

>99 thornton37814: Hmmm, now you make me think I should give the other Lumby books a try...

>99 thornton37814:, 100 I think I prefer Mitford because I like Father Tim so much and I didn't feel that same connection with any of the Lumby characters. But again, I did like it, it's just that I love Mitford!

HELLO!!!!

That was my grand entrance. I haven't kept up with your thread and I missed so much.

You have been reading some great books. The Mitford series are a lot of fun. I even got my mom reading them. I loved Outlander. I have read most of the series and enjoyed all of them but to each their own.

>102 cal8769: Hello back at ya, cal! Thanks, it's been a good year of reading so far, although I feel guilty about not keeping up with my Stephen King reading more. So many books/threads, so little time!

62. The Heist by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg (audiobook)
I'm a big fan of both the Stephanie Plum series and the Monk TV show so I thought this one would be a lot of fun. And it was. It was wonderfully narrated by Scott Brick, who did just enough inflection to differentiate between the characters without being over the top, but was also perfectly deadpan when he needed to be.

The story is about an FBI agent who arrests a handsome con artist she's been chasing for years, only to have the FBI insist he help her with a case involving an even bigger con artist. Light, funny and great in audiobook format.

63. The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (381 p.)
Very interesting look at the woman whose cells (taken without her knowledge or consent) became vastly important to science by being used to cure diseases and develop vaccines. But her family wasn't informed until years after her death and they never received profit or recognition. No easy solutions are offered but it was an informative, fascinating read.

64. The Boxcar Children #1 by Gertrude Chandler Warner (154 p.)
Picked this one up at the library book sale, mainly for nostalgic purposes. I honestly thought it was first published in my childhood, especially with that 80's-ish picture on the front cover, so imagine my surprise when I saw that the first copyright listed is from 1942! And after doing some more research, it turns out it was actually written and first published in the 1920's. So although I enjoyed that little bit of trivia, I really can't recommend this one to anyone but the youngest of readers because I'm afraid it doesn't really hold up well. There's not a drop of realism anywhere in the story, about a group of kids who "make do" on their own while living in a boxcar, which is probably why it remains popular with kids after all these years.

65. Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer (389 p.)
Both my mom and sister are fans of Spencer's romance books. I'd never tried any of her stuff before so I thought I'd give it a shot...and I did like it, I just got a little tired of the "I love you," "No, I love you" style of writing. But I was interested to see where the story would eventually end up, and there were some surprises that I didn't see coming. I particularly liked the character of Lula Peak, the town floozy who I actually found to be the most interesting.

66. Mama Does Time by Deborah Sharp (326 p.)
A so-so mystery that gets bonus points because it's set in the South (one of my favorite spots for mystery settings). Mace has to try to prove her mother's innocence after a dead body is found in her trunk and she gets thrown in jail. Along the way Mace draws the attention of the real killer(s) and starts to fall for the police detective in charge of the case. Not quite as fun or funny as I was hoping for, but certainly not a bad read by any means.

I haven't read Spencer in years but I always enjoyed her. Maybe I need to be on the look out for some books of hers.

I liked Mama does Time too. Toward the end I wish it had more......something. It had a lot of potential and I always meant to track down the second book in the series but never got around to it.

>109 cal8769: I was pleasantly surprised by the Spencer book. It was better than I thought it would be.

And you're right about Mama Does Time. It wasn't bad but it was definitely missing that "something." If you read any others you'll have to let me know what you think!

August Books Read
61. The Lumby Lines by Gail Fraser
62. The Heist by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg
63. The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
64. The Boxcar Children #1 by Gertrude Chandler Warner
65. Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer
66. Mama Does Time by Deborah Sharp

August Books Acquired
Never Go Back by Lee Child (won through LT's Early Reviewers)
Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris (used)

67. Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson (Kindle library loan)
I adored this one, about a young woman whose uncle leaves her his Montana homestead claim in his will, forcing her to try to survive the harsh climate and hard work on her own. I'm an absolute sucker for prairie/homesteading stories and this one was very well done. It's geared toward the young adult age range and possibly considered Christian fiction as well, although it wasn't heavy-handed at all. Might be one of my favorites for the year.

68. Thereby Hangs A Tail by Spencer Quinn (309 p.)
This is the second in a series featuring Chet the dog and his owner Bernie, a PI. Not quite as laugh-out-loud funny as the first one, I think because I was more familiar with the setup, but still a charming read for animal lovers and mystery fans.

69. 61 Hours by Lee Child (383 p.)
As far as action novels go, this one ranks pretty high on my list. Jack Reacher finds himself stranded in a snowy South Dakota town after the bus he's riding on crashes, and he ends up helping the local police try to take down a meth ring. There's mounting tension as the action counts down from sixty-one to zero. Good stuff.

70. The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls (269 p.)
I've read each of Walls' books so far and I'm starting to think she can do no wrong. Even though this one is fiction (it's the story of two sisters whose mother all but abandons them), it has shades of her non-fiction book, The Glass Castle. The storyline is similar in that the girls have to fend for themselves, and like that one, it moves along at a breakneck pace that kept me wholeheartedly interested, even while I was also dreading what might happen to the girls.

71. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey (457 p.)
This one has been getting a lot of buzz lately, a YA novel about an alien attack and how the last few remaining humans try to survive. I was a bit taken aback while I was reading it because all the reviews had led me to believe it would be told exclusively from the point of view of a girl named Cassie, when in fact, Cassie was relegated to the sidelines for a chunk of the book while another character, a boy nicknamed "Zombie" told his part of the story. Thankfully Cassie came back in the end and the last quarter of the book was action-packed and unputdownable. Well-written and engaging, and it even had some humor throughout to lighten the dark subject matter.

72. To Fetch A Thief by Spencer Quinn (309 p.)
Third in the Chet and Bernie series, this one involves a missing elephant named Peanut and a clown named Popo who wants her and her trainer back. No matter how many of these books I read in this series, something tells me that every time Chet and Bernie get separated I'm going to be really, really worried until they get back together.

September Books Read
67. Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
68. Thereby Hangs A Tail by Spencer Quinn
69. 61 Hours by Lee Child
70. The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls
71. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
72. To Fetch A Thief by Spencer Quinn

September Books Acquired
April and September are my two big book-buying months and this year was no exception. At work we have a book swap where, in addition to gifts for others, I snagged a copy of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn for myself. For "free" I'll take it!

Then, at a local retirement home community where they have the awesomest book sale ever, I got the following. Everything is in like-new condition and nothing cost more than $1.
Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky
Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet by Jamie Ford
Last Scene Alive by Charlaine Harris
State Of Wonder by Ann Patchett
The Professor's House by Willa Cather
Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
The Game Of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
What Jane Austen Ate And Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting To Whist--The Facts Of Daily Life In 19th Century England by Daniel Pool
Behind The Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, And Hope In A Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
The Likeness by Tana French
A Week In Winter by Maeve Binchy

Finally, I also went to a nearby thrift store where I got Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech and Hard Tack And Coffee: A Soldier's Life In The Civil War by John D. Billings. Not a bad haul overall and the total cost for everything was $10.

73. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (468 p.)
I really, really liked this one. It's historical fiction about a real, 18th-century woman named Grace Marks who was accused of helping to murder her employer, Thomas Kinnear, and his housekeeper/mistress Nancy Montgomery. Another worker, James McDermott, was also accused, he claimed Grace put him up to the task whereas she claimed she was innocent and forced into it against her will. Atwood writes the story mainly from Grace's point-of-view, as a sort of stream-of-consciousness narrative where she tells her life story to a doctor who wants to help her.

As in real life, you never get the full picture of Grace's guilt or innocence, rather you're left to come to your own conclusions as to whether she's to be pitied or reviled. It was this ambiguity that made the whole thing that much more fascinating.

74. Never Go Back by Lee Child (397 p.)
When it comes to action novels, you can't go wrong with a Jack Reacher book. This one finds Reacher traveling to DC to meet up with Susan Turner, the woman he met during the course of his time in South Dakota during 61 Hours. When both of them are framed for crimes they didn't commit, they go on the run to find out who is targeting them and why. An enjoyable, fast-paced read, and another solid entry to the Jack Reacher series.

75. Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris (327 p.)
I loved the first few books in this series, then I thought it got bogged down a bit in the middle, and now I'm loving the books again. Sookie has her usual mix of crazy adventures and the ending sets up an intriguing storyline for the last book. I can't wait.

Made it to 75, although it was a bit of a struggle. I was in a major reading slump for most of the month and I had a hard time settling down with just one book. What pulled me out of it though was reading one of Nancy Pearl's Book Lust books, her enthusiasm for certain topics and authors made me excited to start reading again.

Congrats!

Great job! i was in a slump a lot this year. I have only read 40 books but I have about 20 started and I lost interest. Darn the real world, work, crocheting and the internet!!

congrats!!

>123 drneutron:-125 Thanks everyone! Cal, I hear ya, darn the real world interfering with our reading time...

76. The Other by Thomas Tryon (288 p.)
A creepy good read about twins, one of whom appears to be good, while the other appears to be very, very bad. Not quite as good as Tryon's Harvest Home, but that's probably because HH is a sentimental favorite of mine.

77. Book Lust To Go: Recommended Reading For Travelers, Vagabonds, And Dreamers by Nancy Pearl (301 p.)
There's nothing like reading one of Pearl's Book Lust books to get you out of a reading slump. The woman is a reading machine. If only I could read as much as she does!

78. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (295 p.)
A fabulous, funny romance about a man who decides to create a questionnaire (entitled The Wife Project) to help him find the perfect woman. The only trouble is, Don isn't like most men, and his stringent rules might have to be broken when Rosie comes along and doesn't fit his profile. I believe there might be a sequel to this debut novel, which I will happily look for in the future.

October Books Read
73. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
74. Never Go Back by Lee Child
75. Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris
76. The Other by Thomas Tryon
77. Book Lust To Go: Recommended Reading For Travelers, Vagabonds, And Dreamers by Nancy Pearl
78. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

October Books Acquired
Sworn To Silence by Linda Castillo
A Little House Christmas Treasury: Festive Holiday Stories by Laura Ingalls Wilder (gift card)

Awesome Author Story: I met Linda Castillo! She of the Kate Burkholder series fame. She came to a local library branch and it was scarily intimate, there were maybe only a dozen people there and you could just go up and start chatting with her. I was too shy to do that at first, but she talked to the whole group for about an hour, about things like where she gets some of her ideas and how she felt about the Lifetime movie they made of one of her books, and how she was first able to break into the publishing world. Then at the end she signed copies of our books which is why I bought a copy of Sworn To Silence. At that point I was able to talk to her a bit and she was super nice and she posed for pictures. She timidly asked if I had read any of her books and I was like, "Are you kidding? I've read them all!" I've never been at any event like that before, where it was so up close and personal with an author but it was really, really cool. And she gave a little teaser about her next book, which comes out this summer. I can't wait!

130: She came to a local library branch
So she did. Not a familiar author, but I've just flagged that library's event page. I've been around, but not actually in the building.

>131 qebo: It's a really nice branch, they have a little cafe inside and a nice selection of books. And cool author events! By the way, I didn't forget about our possible get-together, I'll be in touch eventually!

That would be fun to meet her. I enjoy her writing.

>133 cal8769: It was really cool. I'm a big fan of the Kate Burkholder series so it was really fun to meet the author behind one of my favorites.

79. The Maid's Version by Daniel Woodrell (164 p.)
A short but powerful novel about a dancehall explosion in Missouri in the 1920's that killed dozens of people. A lot of the chapters are short and follow an almost stream-of-consciousness style, checking in on different characters who were connected to the event. But the main viewpoint comes from Alma, a maid whose sister was killed in the explosion and who truly knows what happened that day. Woodrell certainly has a way with words and his style is sparse but poetic.

80. The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story Of Those Who Survived The Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan (340 p.)
Excellent nonfiction about the Dust Bowl of the 1930's. Egan talks about the factors that caused it and how even today there are still parts of the land that have yet to recover. He also follows the lives of several people who lived through it, including one man who kept a diary of his bleak day-to-day existence. As a fan of books like The Grapes Of Wrath, I found this to be a particularly fascinating read.

81. Stranger Than Science by Frank Edwards (224 p.)
Published in the 50's, this book is made up of "unsolved mysteries" that science can't explain. Sometime I'd like to go through and research some of these tales, but for now it was just an interesting little book that I read here and there over the last few months.

Catching up:
82. Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris (338 p.)
Huh. So that's how the series ends. I have to say (and this part is vaguely spoilery), for a series about vampires they sure didn't play a very large part in the final books. But I did enjoy it, I'll have to read others' reviews, I gathered most people weren't too happy about the ending but I'm willing to roll with it.

83. Trail Of The Spellmans by Lisa Lutz (373 p.)
What I tend to forget about this series is that even though most of it is light-hearted and funny, there are parts that will absolutely gut you. And I really liked Ex-Boyfriend #13!

84. Murder With Peacocks by Donna Andrews (332 p.)
As a cozy mystery this was enjoyable enough, but I don't see myself reading the rest of the series. I think because the main character was such a wet blanket when it came to organizing all those weddings, but that could just be me reliving my own bad bridesmaid memories.

85. The Complete Tightwad Gazette: Promoting Thrift As A Viable Alternative Lifestyle by Amy Dacyczyn (959 p.)
Nothing gets me going when it comes to personal finance more than this book. Whenever I finish it I flip back to page one and start all over again.

November Books Read
79. The Maid's Version by Daniel Woodrell
80. The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story Of Those Who Survived The Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan
81. Stranger Than Science by Frank Edwards
82. Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris
83. Trail Of The Spellmans by Lisa Lutz
84. Murder With Peacocks by Donna Andrews
85. The Complete Tightwad Gazette: Promoting Thrift As A Viable Alternative Lifestyle by Amy Dacyczyn

November Books Acquired
Inferno by Dan Brown
Wishin' And Hopin': A Christmas Story by Wally Lamb
Sugar Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke
Pioneer Women: Voices From The Kansas Frontier by Joanna L. Stratton
The Voyage Of The Narwhal by Andrea Barrett
Love In A Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
Wild Swans: Three Daughters Of China by Jung Chang (all used)

86. The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Spencer Quinn (308 p.)
I loved this one, probably as much as the first in the series. Chet and Bernie have to solve a missing-persons case that, as usual, goes a bit awry. And I thought the last scene was pitch-perfect.

87. A Fistful Of Collars by Spencer Quinn (309 p.)
Didn't like this one as much as the previous but you can't really go wrong with this series. Chet is described so perfectly it makes me want to find the nearest dog and give him a big squeeze.

I like some of the Donna Andrews cozies better than others in her "bird" series.

>141 thornton37814: Yeah, the wedding aspect of that one bugged me, but it's entirely possible I would enjoy some of the others more. Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to dismiss them!

88. Wishin' And Hopin': A Christmas Story by Wally Lamb (273 p.)
A cute Christmas story about a boy's Catholic school Christmas pageant. Laugh-out-loud funny and a perfect read for this time of year.

89. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (159 p.)
How timely this read was! I finished it just before I saw a news story about a new baby seat-type thing which has a space for an iPad that the baby can watch. So of course I flashed to Bradbury's futuristic world where everyone is surrounded by screens blaring info at you 24/7. Although I wasn't totally nuts over his writing style (I think I prefer his short stories), I still thought the subject matter was fascinating and eerily prescient.

90. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (419 p.)
I was loving the first half of this story and busily trying to figure out what was going on when "the twist" happened and my enjoyment flew right out the window. I care about characterization first and foremost and I couldn't stand any of the characters in this book. And that ending? Ugh. This one didn't work for me at all.

91. A Little House Christmas Treasury: Festive Holiday Stories by Laura Ingalls Wilder (139 p.)
A collection of the Little House Christmas stories, one of my favorite series. Just what the doctor ordered.

92. After Dead by Charlaine Harris (195 p.)
A short little book that wraps up all of the characters' histories from the Sookie Stackhouse series. At least half of them I couldn't even remember but it was nice to get an epilogue on Sookie's storyline.

93. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall (Kindle library loan)
Delightful children's book about four sisters and their summer vacation. I loved the characters and the story, a great read all around.

One of these years I need to add Lamb's Wishin' and Hopin' to my holiday reading. A great batch of recent reading!

>149 lkernagh: Thanks! I have had a pretty good run lately. December's usually a good month for me to crank out a bunch of books.

94. Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich (295 p.)
Yes, these books all tend to have a sameness to them and no, Stephanie hasn't fully decided yet between Ranger and Morelli, but I don't care. These books are like snuggling up with a favorite, comforting blanket, you know just what you're going to get. Plus it has Lula, Grandma Mazur, and a giraffe named Kevin.

I enjoyed The Penderwicks when I read it last month. I hope to get to the sequels at some point.

>152 cbl_tn: I really liked it too. Not sure when I'll get to the sequels either but they're definitely on my radar now!

95. Kitty And The Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn (Kindle library loan)
Enjoyable first book in a series about a werewolf DJ who hosts a late-night radio program for other supernatural creatures. The characters in this one were all interesting, from Kitty's fellow pack members to the hired killer who was out to get her. I have the second book in the series on my shelves so hopefully I'll get to that one soon.

96. Winter Prey by John Sandford (336 p.)
Excellent but very disturbing mystery about a child pornography ring in a small Wisconsin town. This is one of the early books in the Lucas Davenport series, and the setting of a town stuck in the deep freeze of winter added extra atmosphere to an already edge-of-your-seat thriller.

97. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson (80 p.)
A Christmas classic that I could probably recite verbatim. The Herdmans (who were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world) teach the town a lesson when they take over the annual Christmas play. In Googling this book I see that the author passed away earlier this year, which makes my reread seem a bit more poignant this holiday.

98. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green (318 p.)
I don't know if I want to say that I enjoyed this book as the subject matter was awfully depressing: two kids who meet at a cancer support group and end up falling in love. But I did like it, it's my first John Green and probably not my last, although with my million other reading commitments I probably won't get to them anytime soon.

99. Writings To Young Women On Laura Ingalls Wilder: As Told By Her Family, Friends And Neighbors edited by Stephen W. Hines (118 p.)
Short little book filled with brief interviews of Laura and Almanzo's Missouri neighbors. It's a kid's book so it's fairly basic and repetitive, and reading it reminds me that a.) I'd like to reread the Little House series, and b.) I'd like to read some of the other books about Laura and her family, like The Ghost In The Little House.

December Books Read
86. The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Spencer Quinn
87. A Fistful Of Collars by Spencer Quinn
88. Wishin' And Hopin': A Christmas Story by Wally Lamb
89. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
90. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
91. A Little House Christmas Treasury: Festive Holiday Stories by Laura Ingalls Wilder
92. After Dead by Charlaine Harris
93. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
94. Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich
95. Kitty And The Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn
96. Winter Prey by John Sandford
97. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
98. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
99. Writings To Young Women On Laura Ingalls Wilder: As Told By Her Family, Friends And Neighbors edited by Stephen W. Hines

December Books Acquired
Crampton Hodnet by Barbara Pym
The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke
Jass by David Fulmer
1 Dead In Attic: After Katrina by Chris Rose (all bought while I was on vacation in the Big Easy)
Revisiting Grammie by Jem Nolt Nelson (won at a Christmas raffle)
Speaking From Among The Bones by Alan Bradley (won through LT’s Early Reviewers)
Joyland by Stephen King
The Brontes: Wild Genius On The Moors: The Story Of A Literary Family by Juliet Barker (gifts from my Secret Santa, Cobscook!)
John Steinbeck (Up Close) by Milton Meltzer (a gift)
Mr. Monk In Trouble by Lee Goldberg (a gift)

I'm calling it, it looks like I'll finish the year with 99 books read. It's so close to 100 but I doubt I'll finish either of the two books I'm reading tonight. And I'll be moving on to the 2014 group soon!