staci426's 1010 challenge

I'm excited to try the challenge this year. I would like to read 10 books in 10 categories, I'll allow for overlap since I've never actually read 100 books in a year. It should be fun trying. Like many of the other members, I would like to read books that I already own in paper format, but I've been finding it much easier reading in audio & ebook format lately, so not sure how that is going to work out.

My categories:

1. Fantasy
2. Science fiction
3. Historical fiction
4. Mystery
5. Non fiction
6. 1001 Books to read before you die
7. Next in a series
8. Francophone (books originally written in French or taking place in a French speaking country, maybe even try a book in French)
9. Classics
10. Blindness/vision (books with a blind or visually impaired character or related to vision in some other way fiction or nonfiction)

Bonus: finish at least one of the short story collections I've been working on. I would ideally like to read one short story in between each paper book that I finish.

Note: As of 3/7/10 I decided to switch #9 from Sounds familiar/Rereads to Classics. Most of the books in that category would have been classics anyway, and I'm not feeling motivated to do any rereading. The one book that was there so far fits the new category.

Category 1: Fantasy

1. The Bone Doll's Twin by Lynn Flewelling finished 2/11/10
2. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay finished 3/28/10
3. Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg finished 4/18/10
4. Pyramids by Terry Pratchett finished 4/12/10
5. Nation by Terry Pratchett finished 5/17/10
6. Kraken by China Mieville finished 8/25/10
7. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle finished 11/20/10
8. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis finished 11/30/10
9. Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis finished 12/22/10
10. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr finished 12/31/10

Category 2: Science Fiction

1. Brothers in Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold finished 1/3/10
2. Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold finished 1/18/10
3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins finished 1/30/10
4. Julian Comstock: a Novel of 22nd Century America by Robert Charles Wilson finished 4/27/10
5. Agent of Change by Sharon Lee finished 6/8/10
6. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm finished 8/4/10
7. Anathem by Neal Stephenson finished 10/6/10
8. Saturn's Children by Charles Stross finished 11/15/10
9. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi finished 12/22/10
10. Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold (overlap) finished 11/24/10

Category 3: Historical Fiction

1. Ice Land by Betsy Tobin finished 2/5/10
2. Dissolution by C. J. Sansom finished 3/24/10
3. Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian finished 4/16/10
4. Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann finished 6/1/10
5. Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte finished 6/30/10
6. The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland finished 7/31/10
7. The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell finished 8/31/10
8. Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon finished 10/27/10
9. The Secret River by Kate Grenville finished 11/22/10
10. The Black Tower by Louis Bayard (overlap) finished 10/29/10

Category 4: Mystery

1. Death in a Strange Country by Donna Leon finished 2/10/10
2. The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri finished 2/28/10
3. Still Life by Louise Penny finished 4/3/10
4. The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall finished 5/3/10
5. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler finished 6/12/10
6. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson finished 6/25/10
7. Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris finished 7/6/10
8. Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear finished 7/26/10
9. Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell finished 10/11/10
10. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie finished 11/12/10

Category 5: Non Fiction

1. The Suspicions of Mr. Wicher by Kate Summerscale finished 1/9/10
2. Culture Warrior by Bill O'Reilly finished 3/18/10
3. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan finished 6/27/10
4. Here's the Deal: Don't Touch Me by Howie Mandel finished 6/6/10
5. Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku finished 7/11/10
6. Rescue Ink by Rescue Ink finished 7/25/10
7. The Lost City of Z by David Grann finished 9/5/10
8. Mysteries of the Middle Ages by Thomas Cahill finished 10/17/10
9. Antarctica on a Plate by Alexa Thompson finished 11/27/10
10. The Story of My Life by Helen Keller (overlap) finished 2/22/10

Category 6: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

1. The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West finished 1/16/10
2. The Body Artist by Don Delillo finished 1/28/10
3. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson finished 5/4/10
4. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut finished 7/8/10
5. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer finishned 7/18/10
6. Gabriel's Gift by Hanif Kureishi finished 9/12/10
7. Rasselas by Samuel Johnson finished 10/26/10
8. The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster finished 11/6/10
9. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood finished 11/14/10
10. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon finished 12/23/10

Category 7: Next in a Series

1. Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold finished 2/20/10
2. Conspiracy in Death by J. D. Robb finished 2/25/10
3. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins finished 3/6/10
4. Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold finished 3/15/10
5. A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold finished 4/25/10
6. Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold finished 6/13/10
7. Messenger by Lois Lowry finished 7/22/10
8. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins finished 9/25/10
9. Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold finished 11/24/10
10. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson (overlap) finishes 6/25/10

Category 8: Francophone

1. Murder in Montparnasse: a Mystery of Literary Paris by Howard Engel finished 3/11/10
2. The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier finished 7/5/10
3. The Widow Clicquot by Tilar J. Mazzeo finished 5/29/10
4. Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry finished 6/15/10
5. Candide by Voltaire finished 6/28/10
6. My Life in France by Julia Child finished 8/5/10
7. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas finished 9/25/10
8. A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny finished 10/16/10
9. The Black Tower by Louis Bayard finished 10/29/10
10. Eugenie Grandet by Honoré de Balzac finished 11/15/10

Category 9: Classics

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen finished 1/14/10
2. Kim by Rudyard Kipling finished 6/6/10
3. The Call of the Wild by Jack London finished 5/31/10
4. Silas Marner by George Eliot finished 6/17/10
5. The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan finished 8/16/10
6. Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe finished 8/16/10
7. Carmilla by Sheridan LeFanu finished 10/21/10
8. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde finished 12/24/10
9. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott finished 12/17/10
10. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf finished 12/27/10

Category 10: Blindness/Vision

1. Homer & Langley: A Novel by E. L. Doctorow finished 2/7/10
2. The Story of My Life by Helen Keller finished 2/22/10
3. Max Carrados the Classic Blind Detective by Ernst Bramah finished 6/26/10
4. Blindness by José Saramago finished 4/13/10
5. WWW:Wake by Robert J. Sawyer finished 5/22/10
6. Crashing Through by Robert Kurson finished 8/8/10
7. Blood Price by Tanya Huff finished 9/25/10
8. The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham finished 10/10/10
9. Brother Ray by Ray Charles finished 12/31/10
10. The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier (overlap) finished 7/5/10

I’m not going to plan out my books ahead of time, but here are some of the books that I own and am thinking about in each category:

Fantasy:

Talyn: A Novel of the Korre by Holly Lisle
Naamah's Kiss by Jacqueline Carey
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Across a Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn
Fool’s Errand by Robin Hobb
Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan
Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay

Science Fiction:

Dune by Frank Herbert
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Historical Fiction:

The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble
Helen of Troy by Margaret George
The Thrall’s Tale by Judith Lindbergh
The Passion of Artemesia by Susan Vreeland
The Religion: A Novel by Tim Willocks
Empress Orchid by Anchee Min

Mystery:

Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs
Visions in Death by J.D. Robb

Non fiction:

I don’t actually own any non fiction books that I haven’t read yet, but my library has a large selection of audio books that I will choose from.

1001 Books to Read Before You Die:

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Hamid Mohsin
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
The Double by José Saramago
Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan LeFanu
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
The Accidental by Ali Smith
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

Series:

Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik
The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
The Song of Susannah by Stephen King
Pyramids by Terry Pratchett
Warlord by Jennifer Fallon
Shadow Gate by Kate Elliott

Francophone:

Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Sena Jeter Naslund
The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier

Sounds Familiar:

These will mostly come from the library, Project Gutenberg or Librivox

Blindness/Vision:

18 Seconds: A Novel by George D. Shuman
Blood Price by Tanya Huff
Homer and Langley by E. L. Doctorow

Bonus: Short Stories

1. The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold finished 2/26/10
2. In the River by Justin Stanchfield from The Year's Best Science Fiction 24th ed finished 3/7/10
3. Winterfair Gifts by Lois McMaster Bujold finished 5/17/10

Finished my first book for the year:

1. Brothers in Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold ****
Category: Science fiction (1/10)
Format: audio download from library, 9:56 hours

This was a group read on another site I belong to. This is number 7 in the series I believe. I'm really enjoying these. This one features Miles having to juggle the duties of Lt. Vorkosigan in the Barrayaran military & Adm. Naismith of the Dendarii Merceny troops. It was a fun quick listen.

2. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale *** 1/2
Category: Non Fiction (1/10)
Format: Audio download from library 9:47 hours

I finally finished my second book of the year. This was a non fiction account of a murder that took place in England in the 1850's, a young boy was found with his throat slashed in the privy. All the evidence leads to the murderer as one of the people living in the house, but the local authorities refuse to believe it could be any of the family. Detective Jonathan Whicher is sent to investigate. I enjoyed this. It started out a bit slow, but as the story got going, the pace picked up. The story also gives a brief history of the beginnings of detectives in crime solving and how popular they have become in Victorian society. Also how some of the famous detectives in literature were fashioned after Whicher, especially in Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone. I actually think I'm going to look into reading that one soon just to make a comparison. Overall, an enjoyable read.

You've got some great books in your "planned" lists. Under your fantasy section I have read the Otori Series by Lian Hearn and loved it, also anything by Guy Gavriel Kay is usually great. I am a newbie to the fantasy genre and have been really lucky here on LT to have been given some great recommendations.

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher sounds really interesting, I will have to be on the lookout for that one.

#16 Yes, I'm excited to get to the Otori books. I 've had them sitting on my shelves for a while now and am determined to get to them this year. I've heard nothing but good things about them. Guy Gavriel Kay is also a favorite of mine and I'm excited to get to at least one of his this year. I actually used to read nothing but fantasy for years, LT has helped to branch me out into other genres. I think no matter what you're looking for LT is a great resource.

3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen ***1/2
Category: Sounds familiar/Rereads (1/10)
Format: Audio download from library 11:43 hours

I vaguely remember having read this in high school, over 17 years ago, but didn't remember anything about it once I got into the story this time. I've had an aversion to Jane Austen for some reason, not really sure why, but had no desire to read anything by her. Then, last year I read and enjoyed Northanger Abbey so I decided to give this one a try. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I really liked the characters, especially Elizabeth. My one quibble was with the ending. After listening to the last sentence and realizing that it was the last sentence, I felt a little let down. I think she could have done a bit more with it. Not really sure what I was expecting, but it was a bit more than a line about her aunt. But overall, an enjoyable read

I read Dune for the first time last year, and I really liked it. I was surprised, really, because I didn't think it would be the sort of thing I would enjoy - too hard core sci-fi or something. But it was very readable and I totally got caught up in it.

Dune is a masterpiece but the series declines on a steady pace after that. The next 2 or 3 are not bad books but by the time you get to the cashtie-ins by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson then I'd hope you'd stopped reading them by then.

From your other possible reads I would recommend The Lies of Locke Lamora as it was one of the best books I read last year. As mentioned previously, the Otori series is also very readable.

Whichever ones you choose, I hope you have a good year.

I haven't tried any of the Dune books yet but my fiance recently read the first two. He absolutely loved the first and found the second a slog. But several friends of ours who love the series promised him that the third and fourth are better than the second. And then to quit.

I second Locke Lamora - what a fun read that was! The sequel, Red sails under red skies was very good too.

I see you have a Saramago in one of your other categories, but his Blindness would be a good pick for your Vision category.

re: Dune, I've had this one on my shelf for a while and have been really looking forward to reading it. I've heard before that the later books in the series aren't as good, so we'll see if I feel inclined to go on with the series once I finish the first book.

I'm also excited about getting to The Lies of Locke Lamora. That one's been on the shelf for awhile too. I've heard nothing but good things about it.

re: Saramago, I put The Double on my list because I actually own that one. I have had Blindness in the back of my mind for my vision category, I just have to find a copy of it.

4. The Return of the Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West ****
Category: 1001 books (1/10)
Format: paperback, 80 pages

This was a great little story. I'm so glad I have finally read it. It tells the story of Chris, a soldier recently returned home from WWI with no memory of the past 15 years of his life & the three women who love him, his cousin, Jenny, who narrates the story, his wife, Kitty, who he does not remember and Margaret, the girl he thinks he is still in love with who he hasn't seen in over 15 years. West uses such beautiful, descriptive writing. I highly reccomend this book.

5. Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold ****
Category: science fiction (2/10)
Format: audio download from library 18:08 hours

This is the next installment of the Miles Vorkosigan series. I'm really enjoying these books. Miles is growing on me as a character. In this story, we get to know his brother/clone Mark. He is quite an interesting character also. Looking forward to seeing what happens next. I might move this one into my next in series category somewhere down the line, but for now I'll keep it in science fiction.

I finally finished another book. I had started listening to Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant but I just was not able to get into it, so decided not to finish. Then last night I found a short audio that I finished tonight.

6. The Body Artist by Don Delillo ****1/2
Category: 1001 books (2/10)
Format: audio 2:55 hours

I am surprised by how much I really enjoyed this book. I've never read anything by this author before and didn't know anything about the story so wasn't really sure what to expect. It told the story of Lauren Hartke, her husband's suicide and her grieving process which includes the mysterious man she finds in her house. I really liiked the writing and the language DeLillo used. Th story just seemed to flow along. I just wanted to keep listening (and I was kicking myself for starting it too late last night to be able to finish it in one sitting). I also thought it was read beautifully by the narrator. I don't know if I would have enjoyed this as much if I were reading it in print format. I am intrigued now to read more from this author and also want to go back and relisten to this one.

7. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins *****
Category: science fiction (3/10)
Format: audio download 11:11 hours

This is the story of 16 year old Katniss. A girl from District 12 who keeps her family alive by illegal hunting. When her younger sister is chosen at the Reaping, she volunteers to take her place at the Hunger Games. A contest where a boy & girl from each district are chosen to fight to the death. I didn't really know anything about this story going in, just that it was a young adult dystopian novel that everyone here on LT seems to love. I didn't even read the summary before I started. If I had, I might not have even read the book. The premise does seem a bit morbid. But I am so glad that I did read this. It's my first 5 star book of the year. The story was so engrossing, I finished listening to it in less than 2 days, I just did not want to stop. And I loved the characters, even the minor characters were great. Overall a highly entertaining & enjoyable read. Can't wait to find out where she goes from here.

I can't wait to find out either. The Hunger Games was one of my favorite books from last year. My library has the second book but there is quite a long wait list, I hope to get to it by this summer, if not before.

Yes, I'm on the wait list too for my library's audio download of book 2. It should be about 2 months or so before it gets to me. I don't usually like to read books in a series close together anyway, so I don't mind a little wait. Don't think I'd want to wait until summer though. Hope it gets to you sooner.

8. Ice Land by Betsy Tobin ***1/2
Category: historical fiction (1/10)
Format: audio download from library 10:52 hours

This story takes place in Iceland in the 11th century. The story features the Norse gods living as humans and follows the stories of Freya, the goddess of love & beauty and a girl, Fulla, who's being raised by her grandfather who is trying to get her betrothed and taken care of. It took a little while for me to figure out where the story was going and what the connection between the main characters was going to be. I did enjoy the story, but I was not that crazy about the writing style. The story was told from different viewpoints, the two women and then also Dvalin, a half dwarf who was a friend of Fulla's father. This made things a little confusing. But it was interesting reading about the gods and everyday lives of the people of the time, I did not know anything about Norse mythology or this area or time period. Overall, this was an enjoyable read.

I also abandoned a book out of my Francophone category, The Princess of Cleves. I just was not getting into it and found it somewhat confusing. Couldn't keep all the different names straight.

9. Homer & Langley: A Novel by E. L. Doctorow ****
Category: blindness/vision (1/10)
Format: audio download from library 7:07 hours

This is my first book in my blindness & vision category. One of the main characters is a blind man. This is loosely based on the true story of two eccentricd brother, Homer & Langley Collyer, who were found dead in thier New York City home full of junk & clutter. The story is told from Homer's point of view. He is blind. Langley was injured in WWI, so neither brother can really work. The brothers become more & more reclusive as time goes on, barely leaving the house or seeing people. And they gather more & more stuff, especially newspapers. I really enjoyed this book. This was my first experience with Doctorow and I feel he did a wonderful job of portraying the slow demise of these two men. This was a very enjoyable read and I look forward to reading more by this author. This book can also fit under historical fiction, but I don't think I'll need help fitting books into that category.

10. Death in a Strange Country by Donna Leon ***1/2
Genre: mystery (1/10)
Format: audio download from library 8:40 hours

Finished my first mystery for the year, and I thought it was a pretty good one. This is the second book in this mystery series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti set in Venice, Italy. In this one, an American is found dead in a canal and turns out to be from the American military base in the area. There is also the side mystery of paintings stolen from a prominent home. I really enjoy these books. This is the second one I've read, but I didn't start with the first book. I don't feel as though I've missed much by reading out of order. I like the character of Brunetti, as well as his family. It's interesting reading about how the system works in Italy, which can also be a bit frustrating, because I did not feel satisfied with the conclusion of the mysetery. Overall, an entering read, I look forward to continuing with more in this series.

11. The Bone Doll's Twin by Lynn Flewelling ***1/2
Category: fantasy (1/10)
Format: ebook read on Blackberry 5414 pages

Finally finished this one, it always takes me so much longer to finish a print book than an audio book. This one took a little over a month, but not because it wasn't good. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I've had this on my to read list for a while now and finally got around to it because it was a discussion book on another site I belong to. This was a somewhat dark fantasy that takes place in a land traditionally ruled by women. However, the throne has been usurped by the half brother of the last king and the country is going downhill. The story focuses on Tobin, the king's nephew. He is really a girl, disguised as a boy at his birth with the use of outlawed magic. He is destined to be the queen who will save the land. But in this story, we learn of his childhood away from court and politics. I really liked the characters of Tobin & his squire Ki. I look forward to seeing how the story and characters progresses in future books.

12. Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold *****
Category: next in a series (1/10)
Format: audio download, 14:32 hours

This is next in line for the Miles Vorkosigan series. This can also fit under science fiction, but I don't have any in my next in line category yet, so putting it there. This was my favorite in the series so far. I think each book is a little better than the next. Miles is really growing on me as a character. Can't wait to see what happens next.

13. The Story of My Life by Helen Keller ***1/2
Category: blindness & vision (2/10)
Format: audio download 3:31 hours

This is the second book in my blindness and vision category. It is the autobiography of Helen Keller, who became blind and deaf as a young child following an illness. She eventually learns to communicate when her parents hire Anne Sullivan as her teacher. She teaches Helen the sign alphabet that she reads in her hand. She even eventually learns to speak and read lips. Helen was a remarkable young woman. She was able to get into and graduate from college, was an avid reader, proficient in several langauages and lived as "normal" a life as possible.

14. Conspiracy in Death by J. D. Robb ***
Category: Next in a Series (2/10)
Format: audio download 11:57 hours

This is the 8th book in the Eve Dallas "in Death" future/mysteyr/romance series. In this one, Dallas investigates the murder of a homeless guy who turns up dead with his heart surgically removed. Several more victims are found that match the profile and her suspects are prominent surgeons in the city. I'm starting to get a little bored of these books, I'm not really sure why. One thing that really bothered me in this book was Dallas, she is just way too stubborn for my liking. I was almost ready to give up after the last book, but decided to give this one a go. I thought maybe the audio format, would add something to it for me, but I thought the audio version was horrible. I did not like the reader at all, I thought she gave some of the characters horrible accents and am surprised that I actually made it through to the end. I will definitely not be listening to these in audio any more. I have a few of the later books in the series that I bought, I think I'll probably just skip ahead to those rather than trying to read the series in order.

15. The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri ***
Category: mystery (2/10)
Format: audio download 4:05 hours

This is the second book in my mystery category and so far I seem to have an Italian theme. This is the first book in the Inspector Montalbano mystery series that takes place in Sicily. Montalbano is investigating the death of a prominent Sicilian politician who died from a heart attack, however he feels as though there is more to the case than meets the eye. I don't know if I just wasn't paying close enough attention to what was going on in the story, but I feel as though I missed a lot. Maybe it was just the style. It seemed very choppy, jumped around, I almost thought I was listening to an abridged version of the book, but my copy said it was unabridged. I might try one more in the series and try to follow along better.

Short Story: The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold ****1/2
Category: bonus, short stories
Format: ebook on my cell phone, 986 pages

My plan with the short stories was to finish at least one of the collections I've been working on. This one didn't come out of any the collections, but I'm listing it anyway since it was so good. It takes place in the Miles Vorkosigan series. This falls between The Warrior's Apprentice and The Vor Game, which are probably my least two favorite books in the series, shortly after Miles graduates from the Academy. His father, the Count, sends him to the back country town of Silvy Vale to act as his voice in a case of accused murder. I really enjoyed this story. Bujold really shows off her writing skills here. There is some real character growth in Miles here too. I had just decided to read this one because it was the only thing I happened to have on my phone to read at the time that I was looking for something to keep me occupied for a minute. The story that takes place here, was referred to in the last novel in the series that I had read, Memory, so it made things a little more clear to that story also.

16. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins *****
Category: Next in a series (3/10)
Foramt: audio download 11:37 hours

This is the excellent sequel to The Hunger Games which I read in January. I didn't think I'd get to this one as soon as I did, but my hold came through quicker than expected from the library. In this installment, Katniss thinks that if she can just get through the Victory Tour of the Districts, then she can get back to her normal life in District 12. But she in for a shock after a surprise visit from President Snow and a new twist to the next Hunger Games. This was a great second book. I'm not sure if this is planned as a trilogy or more books, but usually the middle books aren't as good as the first in a series. But I found this one just as exciting. Not sure when the next book is due out, but I will be eagerly awaiting it's publication.

I've been on hold for Catching Fire for ages, it's slowly moving up. I think I am about number 33 or so now. I loved The Hunger Games and I'm really looking forward to finally getting my hands on it! Glad to see you rate it so highly.

#40 Wow! I thought I was going to have a long wait when I was number 10 on the list when I signed up, but 33 is sitll going to be a pretty good wait. It's definitely worth it though. I thought this one was just as good as the first.

I've decided to change one of my categories, number 9, Sounds Familiar/Rereads, to Classics. Most of the books I would have put in that category would be classics anyway and I haven't really been motivated to do a lot of rereading.

DNF: Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Category: 1001 books or Classics
Format: trade paperback from my shelves 416 pages

I decided to put this one aside for now. I just have not been motivated to read it. I've made it to page 128 and I started back in early January. I do want to finish this some time in the future, but it's just not capturing my attention right now.

I finished a short story today for my bonus category. And it was one from one of the collections I've been working on, The Years Best Science Fiction 24th ed. The story is In the River by Justin Stanchfield. It was a quick read, only 16 pages, which I was able to finish in one sitting. It was about a mathematician who makes contact with an alien race to try to figure out their math. It was a good short story, but I don't think I'd want to read a whole novel in this setting. Finishing this story puts my total from this book at 11/28. I hope to get this book finished off this year. I would like to read one short story in between each actual print book that I finish.

17. Murder in Montparnasse: a Mystery of Literary Paris by Howard Engel ***1/2
Category: Francophone
Format: audio download 7:50 hours

This is a mystery set in Paris in the 1920s featuring a cast of English speaking expatriots living in Paris, with a few native French characters thown in. The group consists mostly of would be writer & painter types, fashioned after real people of the time. The main mystery is the death of one of the French women from the group, made to look like a killer modeled after Jack the Ripper. But our main character, Mike Ward, an aspiring Canadian writer working as a translator, thinks it's one of the group of friends. The smaller mystery is the missing manuscript of one of the group, Jason Waddington, modeled after Hemmingway. I thought this book was OK. I was drawn to it because of the Paris setting which makes it fit into my Francophone category. I actually enjoyed reading more about the writers & their lives, than the actual mystery aspect of the book, that seemed more of an afterhought. From what I can find about this author, whom I had never heard of before, he is a Canadian mystery writer with a series featuring deteective Benny Cooperman that takes place in Ontario. This book was not part of that series. I might see if I can find some of his other works for my mystery category.

Finished a few books that I forgot to post last week, and one last night, bringing my total up to 20 so far for the year.

18. Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold ***1/2
Category: Next in a series (4/10)
Format: audio download 12:44 hours

This was the next installment of the Miles Vorkosigan series. This is the only one of the series that I actually own in print, but I decided to listen to the audio version because it would be quicker for me. In this one, Miles joins another imperial auditor on the planet of Komarr to help investigate an accident. I wasn't as crazy about this one as the last few. There were parts in the middle where it seemed to drag a bit. Still an overall enjoyable read, looking forward to seeing what happens next.

19. Culture Warrior by Bill O'Reilly ***1/2
Category: non fiction (2/10)
Format: audio download 6:01 hours

This was an enjoyable listen. Last year, I listened to O'Reilly's A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity and really enjoyed it, so wanted to try more of his books. I did not like this one quite as much as the other, but still found it an enjoyable listen. In this one, he discusses the culture war that he feels is going on today between the traditionalists and the securlar progressivists in America. O'Reilly reads the book himself, I believe he has a good reading style, it feels more like he's telling you a story rather than reading a book. His books wouldn't work being read by anyone else and I don't think I would enjoy them as much in print either.

20. Dissolution by C. J. Sansom ***1/2
Category: historical fiction (2/10)
Format: audio download 9:05 hours

This could also fit under mystery, but I'm putting it in the historical category for now. This was set in England during the reign of Henry VIII. Thomas Cromwell sends Matthew Shardlake, a hunchback lawyer, to investigate the murder of a royal commissioner sent to a monestary to facilitate its closing and transfer to the government now that the Catholic church has been outlawed. Once there, Shardlake discovers more than the original murder, and works with his assistant to get to the bottom of things. I thought this was pretty good. I don't really know much about this time period, so it was good to learn some things. I enjoyed Sansom's writing & story. I think Shardlake is a very interesting character and look forward to seeing how he develops as the series goes on.

Did Not Finish: Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho
Category: 1001 books
Format: audio download 5:30 hours

I'm not counting this one since I didn't finish it.
I made it about half way through this one and decided I had no desire to finish it. I felt a little guilty since it was so short for an audio, but I just was not enjoying this one. The reader had a bit of an annoying voice. I also did not like the writing style and I did not care about any of the characters or what happened to them.

21. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay ***1/2
Category: Fantasy (2/10)
Format: Audible download 24:10 hours

This is an epic story of war, politics, magic, love, death. A few survivors are trying to bring Tigana back to the land of the Palm. It has been conquered and magically erased by the sorceror Brandon of Ygrath. I think I'm in the minority here when I say that this was not my favorite book by Kay that I've read. I'm not exactly sure what it was about this one that I didn't like. This was my first book by Kay that I've listened in audio format, it was very long and seemed to take forever to finish. I was having a hard time keeping all of the characters straight, and I never really connected with any of the characters for some reason either. In the end I didn't really care if Tigana came back, I just wanted this to end. Normally I really enjoy long, epic stories like this, but I'm thinking they work better for me in print rather than audio. Still great writing from Kay here, but my favorite of his is still The Lions of Al-Rassan.

22. Still Life by Louise Penny ****
Category: mystery
Format Audible download 9 hours

This is the first book in the Three Pines mystery series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. A woman is found killed in what appears to have been a hunting accident in the village. Gamache is sent to investigate. We meet an ecleclitc group of residents of Three Pines & investigators from Montreal. This is the second book in the series I've read, I started with the most recent book, The Brutal Telling which I thought was great, so I wanted to start from the beginning. The charm of these books is not necessarily the mystery, it's the setting & characters. Penny's writing makes you feel as though you're a part of the village. I'm looking forward to spending more time here in the future.

Works in progress:
Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg category: fantasy/book
Pyramids by Terry Pratchett category: fantasy/ebook
Blindness by José Saramago category: blindness & vistion/audio
Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian category: historical fiction/audio
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins category: classics/ebook
Max Carrados by Ernest Bramah category: blindness & vision/ebook

I finished two more books earlier this week.

23. Pyramids by Terry Pratchett ****
Category: fantasy (3/10)
Format: ebook on my Blackberry equal to a 352 page paperback

About two years ago, I decided to reread the Discworld books in order from the beginning. I hadn't read all of them at that time, and it had been a while since I had read most of the books. This one is number seven, but it was actually the first one I had ever read. I didn't really remember anything about the story though. It's a stand alone that take places in the small kindgdom of Djelibeybi known for it's pyramids. Teppic has just finished his training at the Assassin's Guild when he has to return home to take over as king after his father's death. Things aren't going as he had expected. I found this one very enjoyable. I enjoyed the parody on ancient Egypt and the little bit of ancient Greece thrown in as well. Hopefully, I'll be able to get to a few more books in the series this year. Highly entertaining!

24. Blindness by José Saramago ***1/2
Category: blindness/vision (3/10)
Format: Audible download

Unnamed people in an unnamed city start to go blind all of a sudden. The government sends them into quarantine in an abandoned mental assylum, where they are threatened with being shot to death by the armed guards if they try to escape and must fend for themselves. One woman who can still see, the doctor's wife, pretends to be blind so she can go with her husband. She tries to help the internees to live as normal as possible in these conditions, but things quickly turn to filth, hugner, violence, degradation. Saramago has painted a very bleak picture of humanity here. I decided to read this book right after watching the movie, which I believe was a mistake. The movie, actually follows along with the book for about 3/4 of the way very faithfully, so I was actually a little bored with the book as I was listening because it was so similar. The ending of the book goes into much more detail than the movie, but by that time, I just wanted to finish. I also think that listening to an audio version of the book had me miss out on part of the experience of reading it in print. From what I've seen in other reviews, Saramago writing can be a bit difficult to follow, with run on sentances, sparce use of punctation, unclear who's talking to who. That wasn't noticeable to me in the audio. I'm not sure if I really liked this book, but I'm glad I read it and may even come back to it in a few years to try it in print form.

25. Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian ***
Category: historical fiction
Format: audio download from library, 13:26 hours

This is the first book in O'Brian's extensive Aubrey/Maturin series. Capt. Jack Aubrey has been given command of his first ship in the Englsh navy during the Napoleonic Wars. He asks his new friend, Steven Maturin, to join him aboard as ship's doctor. We follow the ship and learn about the everyday lives of the sailors aboard a ship duing war time, as they hnnt for the possiblitiy of prizes and fight the French & Spanish. This was an Ok book for me. I was actually a tad bit dissappointed. I had been wanting to read this ever since I had seen the movie that was made several years ago which I really enjoyed. I felt the book dragged a bit here & there and found myself losing interst. I am glad to have read it, though. I enjoy this time period in history. I'll probably try a few more in the series before I make a decision on whether to read all of the books.

>25 staci426: I think that the movie takes episodes from the first three books.

I felt much the same way about Master and Commander. But a friend advised me to keep going; I liked the 2nd book better and was hooked by the end of the third book. I ended up reading all 20 books plus the unfinished 21st and was sorry when they ended.

If you're interested in the technical aspects that he sometimes goes into at great length, there are several "companion books." I had one and found it helpful in understanding the many nautical terms.

#50 Thanks for the info. I didn't realize that about the movie. It's been so long since I've seen it that I don't really remember much about it except that I enjoyed it.

That's what I was thinking might happen with the books. I've heard so many good things about the series. I was figuring with a series as long as this one, the books are bound to get better as they go along. I will definitely give a few more a try.

I finished three more books recently. All of them pretty good.

26. Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg ****
Category: Fantasy (4/10)
Format: Hardcover omnibus featuring both books in the series from my shelves

This is the first book in a very well-written fantasy duology by Carol Berg, a new to me author. The book is told in first person point of view by Valen. A rebellious pureblood (a superior class who has the use of magic) who is in hiding from the control of his family and the restricting rules of the Registry that governs the lives of purebloods in the land of Navronne. The land is at war, three princes fighting to rule the country, the land and people going to ruin and religious upheval as well. Valen finds shelter in a monestary of Karish monks, where he finds himself getting pulled into the middle of things he would rather not. This was a very enjoyable book. It did seem to start out a bit slow for me, but once things picked up, I did not want to put the book down. Valen is such a complex and interesting character. The one draw back of the book was that it ends right in the middle of things. You definitely have to read the next book to get any kind of resolution to the story. I do own the second book, but needed to take a break from this story for a bit. But I will be picking it up soon.

27. A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold ****
Category: Next in a series (5/10)
Format: Audio download from the library, 18:51 hours

This is my next installment in the Miles Vorkosigan series. This installment takes place with Miles at home on Barrayar, where he is trying to court the recently widowed Ekaterin Vorsoisson, unbeknownst to her. There are a lot of other story lines going on in this one as well. Miles' clone brother, Mark, takes a trip home from Beta Colony, the Koudelka sisters finding love, the planning of the Emporer's wedding & succession issues in a couple of houses. There was a lot going on here, but as always, Bujold does a great job in handling it all. I would probably rank this one as my second favorite so far, after Memory, which I enjoyed the most. I think I only have one more left to go in the series. I'll be sad to see it end.

28. Julian Comstock: a Story of 22nd Century America by Robert Charles Wilson ***1/2
Category: Science Fiction (4/10)
Format: Audible download, 20:48 hours

This is the story of Julian Comstock as told by his friend, Adam Hazard. It's the 2170's in a post apocolyptic America. Most of the modern technologies of the 20th & 21st centuries no longer exist and the nation is at war with the Europeans. America is ruled by President, Declan Comstock, and the Dominion Church is also important in the governing. The practice of non-Christian religions is not acceptable in most parts of the country. Julian is the nephew of the president, his father has been killed for alleged treason. Julian is eventually conscripted into the army where he becomes a hero amongst the soldiers and the Americans who read about his exploits in the press. But he's got a different idea of where America should be going.
I have really been looking forward to reading this book ever since I read the short story, Julian Comstock: a Christmas Story. I thought I would really enjoy a novel set in that world, and here it is several years later. I thought this was pretty good. It did seem to move a bit slowly in places for me, and I didn't really feel as though I connected with the characters. But overall, I thought it was enjoyable and am glad to have read it.

@52 :: I really enjoyed Flesh and Spirit too! I agree with you that the pacing is quite slow, especially at the beginning, but the plot completely sucked me in. I haven't gotten around to reading Breath and Bone yet, but it's waiting on my bookshelf!

29. The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall ****
Category: Mystery (4/10)
Format: Audible download around 9 hours

This is a mystery set in modern Delhi, India featuring private detective, Vish Puri. He is working on three main cases, the missing servant of the title, the investigation of the fiancé of a famous war hero's granddaughter and his own assassination attempt. I really enjoyed this book. It was a really quick, entertaining read for me, i didn't want to put it down. The characters were great, I found myself chucking aloud to some of Puri's comments & habits. I enjoyed the setting as well. I'm not familiar with modern Indian life, so I'm not sure if Hall has given an accurate portrayal, but it seems as though he has. I hope to see many more books in this series.

I'm adding The Case of the Missing Servant to my wishlist, I really enjoy reading mysteries set in other countries.

#57 I hope you enjoy it! I also enjoy mysteries that take place in other countries and time periods. I actually just noticed that all of the mysteries I've read so far this year, take place outside of the US.

30. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson ****
Category: 1001 books (3/10)
Format: paperback from my personal library, 176 pages

I didn't really know anything about this book before I started reading it, just that it was one of the 1001 books to read before you die. I was pleasantly surprised. I found this a pretty enjoyable read. It tells the story of a young girl, Jeanette, being raised by a very religious, Pentacostal, mother in England. Jeanette is very much involved with the church as well and is planning to become a missionary. Until she realizes as a teenager that she loves other girls and has to figure out how this is going to affect her life with her family and church. I really enjoyed Winterson's writing style. The story is told in first person from Jeanette's point of view and then there were little snippets of fariy tale type stories interspersed. I will definitely be looking out for more by this author.

31. Nation by Terry Pratchett ***1/2
Category: fantasy (5/10)
Format: audio download from library, 9:33 hours

This is the only non-Discworld book by Pratchett that I have read. It's the story of Mau, a young boy who is the only survivor of a tsunami type disaster on his small island, known as the Nation, and Daphne, a young girl shipwrecked on the island during the storm. Together they help to build the Nation back up as other survivors start flocking to the island for refuge. I enjoyed the book, but not as much as most of the Discworld stories. The humor was a bit more subtle, not as many laugh out loud moments. Overall, an OK read, but looking forward to more Discworld books.

Finished another short story, Winterfair Gifts by Lois McMaster Bujold. Part of the Miles Vorkosigan series. This one fits in perfectly to where I am in the series, in between A Civil Campaign and Diplomatic Immunity. I wasn't actually planning on reading this one, I just happened across it while I was browsing my library's website for audio downloads. It was a short one, so figured I'd give it a quick listen. It was told from the point of view of one of Miles's guardsmen. It's the period leading up to the wedding and guests & gifts have arrived from off planet for the occasion. This was another enjoyable addition to the series.

32. WWW:Wake by Robert J. Sawyer ****
Category: blindness/vision (4/10)
Format: Audible download

The main storyline here is of a 15 year old girl, Caitlyn Decter, who has been blind since birth. She undergoes experimental surgery to restore her sight. It seems as though the surgery did not work, but then Caitlyn begins to be able to see what appears to be the actual world wide web. I thought this was a pretty good book. I didn't really have this one on my radar until I heard an interview with the author on a podcast where he mentioned his main character was blind. I thought that he did a good job of portraying her blindness. I'm not sure how well he did portraying the teenage aspect of her character, I don'r really know any teenagers now, but it seemed like he was trying too hard on that end of things. Also the narrator that did her parts in the audio was a little annoying. The book features four different narrators for the four different story lines (plus a bit by the author himself). I was confused by the different story lines and waited through the whole book for the connections to become clear, which only happened so far for two of them. There were definitely a lot of unresolved points in this book, which I was a little disappointed about. Will definitely be looking forward to the rest of the series. Looks like some interesting ideas that he is working with here.

33. The Widow Clicquot by Tilar J. Mazzeo ****
Category: Francophone (2/10)
Format: audio download from library, 9:27 hours

I have been wanting to read this book for quite some time now, ever since I heard the author on a podcast that I enjoy listening to. I'm not a wine or champagne person and had never heard of Veuve Clicquot before. But I love French history and the Widow sounded like a fascinating person. Usually I find non fiction, biographical type books a bit of a slog, but this was a quick easy listen. The reader did a great job, especially with the French. And the story itself, how Madame Clicquot built this champagne company during the early 19th century, when women were expected to live the traditional wife & mother type of life. She was a remarkable businesswoman, coming up with new techniques in the champagne making process, unique marketing ideas with the famous yellow labels & risky decisions that paid off magnificenlty in the end. Not everything worked out for her, but overall she was a great success, and her company is still stands today. So, even if you're not a champagne lover, I reccomend this book if you want to read about a strong successful woman.

34. The Call of the Wild by Jack London *****
Category: Classics (2/10)
Format: audio download from library, 2:58 hours

I was pleasantly surprised by this little book. I don't remember ever having read anything by Jack London in the past so I was not sure what to expect. This book is told from the point of view of Buck, a dog, who was stolen from his comfortable home on the ranch and sold into work as a sled dog during the Alaskan gold rush. He transfers from owner to owner, some ok, some abusive, one great. He learns to adapt to life working on the sled team and quickly makes his way to leader of the team. Of course, it's impossible to really know how a dog thinks, but I think that London has done a great job giving us Buck's point of view. I was very leery about this when i started this & realized the dog was the main character, but I think it worked well. Buck goes on an amazing journey in this book, both literally with his travel up to the Alaskan wilderness, and also his internal journey from a happy pet, to a working sled dog and eventually to that truly wild dog that had been calling to him. A book hasn't affected me like this or made me cry in a while. Even now, trying to write up my thoughts here, I'm getting a little misty eyed thinking back on the story. I'm really happy to have read this book and look forward to discovering more of London's works in the future.

35. Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann ***1/2
Category: Historical Fiction (4/10)
Format: Audible.com download, 7:10 hours

I'm listing this book under historical fiction, but the reason I chose it was because it's on the 1001 books to read list and it sounded like it might be interesting. It was the fictionalized account of two German scientists in the early 19th century, Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Friedrich Gauss, their two different approaches to the sciences and how they eventually meet and become friends. Gauss is a reknown mathematician and astronomer who never travels. Von Humboldt is more a naturalist who travelled extensively in South America and later Russia. The book goes back and forth telling the story of both men's lives. I enjoyed the book, but I think I wasn't paying close enough attention while I was listening because I felt like I kept missing something. The book was originally written in German and I don't believe the translator did the best job. Especially in the beginning, some of the phrasing seemed awkward, it's hard to tell if it was the translator or if that's just how it was written. My one last complaint was that I wasn't crazy about the reader on the audio. But I did enjoy the story and am glad to have read this one.

36. Kim by Rudyard Kipling ***
Category: classics (3/10)
Format: audio download from library, 10:17 hours

This is the story of Kimball O'Hara (Kim), an orphaned white boy living with & blending in with the natives of Inda during the late 19th century. He meets a Tibetan Lama and joins him on a journey to find a holy river. Along the way, he eventually meets up with his father's military troop and is taken in by them and sent to school. Kim is trained as a spy for the British, but he also longs to rejoin his Lama on his serach for the river. I thought this book was OK. It took me a while to get through, I struggled with it a bit in the middle and almost gave up. I stuck it out but felt a little underwhelmed by the whole thing. I've seen it listed as an adventure story, but it just did not seem very exciting & adventurous to me. It was interesting to learn about Indian life & culture at the time.

37. Here's the Deal: Don't Touch Me by Howie Mandel ****
Category: Non fiction
Format: audio download from library, 5:02 hours

This was a fun quick listen. I'm not really a fan of Howie Mandel's, but when I saw he was the new judge on America's Got Talent and that he had this book, I thought it might be interesting to see what he had to say about his life and his OCD issues. He did not spend a lot of time on the OCD, but he did give an open, honest account of it. He also seems to have a lot of other issues, lactose intolerant, color blind and ADHD. Mandel read the book himself, which added a fun aspect to the story. He did some of his cartoon voices that he is known for, including Gizmo from the Gremlins movies which I was not aware of. He talks about his rise from the local comedy scene in Toronto, to the hit show, Deal or No Deal. I really enjoyed this book. There were some laugh out loud moments, but there were also some jokes he played on his friends that were just plain mean. He does apologize for this and chalks it up to his ADHD which causes him to act impulsively without thinking about the consequences of his actions. Overall, a fun, light-hearted, entertaining listen.

I've finished quite a few books that I haven't gotten around to posting about yet. June has turned into a great reading month for me.

38. Agent of change by Sharon Lee ***1/2
Category: science fiction (5/10)
Format: ebook read on my cell phone, about 320 pages

This was the first book published in the Liaden Universe series. Val Con yos'Phelium, a spy for Liad, has just finished his most recent assignment and getting ready to leave the planet, when he meets up with ex-mercenary Miri Robertson and helps her escpae an assassination attempt. They form a tentative partnership/romance while trying to escape their pursuers. This was a quick, fun sci fi read with a slight romantic element. The Liaden Universe looks to be an interesting place peopled with some interesting characters. I look forward to discovering more of this series.

39. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler ****
Category: 1001 books (4/10)
Format: audio download from library, 6:11 hours

This is the first book featuring private detective Phillip Marlowe, he is hired by retired General Sternwood to investigate a book dealer blackmailing his daughter. The trail leads to stories of deception, jealousy & murder. I was surpised by how much I enjoyed this book. This was my first noir-type mystery that I've read and wasn't really sure what to expect. I thought Chandler's writing was great, I enjoyed his descriptions and his use of similes really stood out to me. I was thinking I should write some down as I heard them, and regret now that I didn't. Will definitely be reading more of these books.

40. Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold ****
Category: next in a series (6/10)
Format: audio download from library, 10:53 hours

This is the last of the published books in the Miles Vorkosigan Series. In this one, Miles is sent to Quaddiespace in his capacity as Imperial Auditor to look into an incident that occurred with a Barrayan ship. Miles and Ekaterin were on their way home from their honeymoon, where their children are almost ready to be born. Miles meets up with former Dendarii merenary, Bel Thorne, to help with the situation. I thought this was a good installment in the series. I like seeing Miles in a more mature role, new husband, expectant father. I would have liked to see more of Ekaterin's point of view in this story, but overall it was an entertaining read. Eagerly awaiting the release of the next book.

41. Silas Marner by George Eliot ****
Category: Classics (4/10)
Format: 7:19 hours

Silas Marner is forced to leave his hometown after false accusations. He settles into a lonely life as a weaver, where he hoards his money & keeps to himself. When his money is stolen, he is in despair until a young girl shows up in his cottage one winter night. Her mother has died and nobody know who the father is. Silas decides to take in the child and raises and loves her as his own daughter. I really enjoyed this book. I like Eliot's writing very much. She makes you feel as though you are part of the story and that her characters are old friends. One minor complaint with the audio version. I think the reader went a little overboard with some of his characters. But otherwise, an enjoyable read.

42. Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry *****
Category: Francophone (3/10)
Format: ebook on my cell phone

This is the story of a pilot who is stranded in the Sahara desert. He meets the little prince who seems to have appeared from nowhere. The little prince tells the pilot the story of his tiny planet, where he cares for three volcanos and a rose & has to pull out the baobabs that will otherwise overtake things. He tells of his decision to leave his planet, of the people he meets on the other planets who are all too busy to really pay any attention to him. Then how he ends up on Earth. This is a charming story that holds special meaning for me. It was the first book I ever read in French and it was also the favorite book of my French advisor in college, so always brings back memories of her. I read this again in French this time, it's the first thing I've read in French since I finished college back in 1997, so it's been awhile, but I was able to make it through without a problem.

43. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson ****
Category: mystery (5/10)
Format: audio download from library, 20:17 hours

This is the conclusion of the Millennium Trilogy featuring Lisbeth Salandar & Mikael Blomkvist. In this one, Lisbeth is recovering from serious injury and preparing for a trial. Blomkvist is preparing a story even bigger than the Venestrum affair. This was another unputtdownable adventure. Not quite as much action as the first two books, but I still couldn't wait to find out what happened next. I thought it was a great conclusion to a great story. Such a shame that we won't be able to see more from Larsson in the future. He has created some wonderful characters here who I would love to see more of.

44. Max Carrados: the Classic Blind Detective by Ernest Bramah ***1/2
Category: blindness/vision (5/10)
Format: ebook

I came across this ebook on the Barnes & Noble website when I was looking for something else. It was less than $2 and thought it would work good for my blindness category so gave it a try. It was a series of eight stories featuring Max Carrados, a blind detective, who assists his friend Louis Carlyle solve baffling mysteries. The stories take place in England in the early 20th century and were apparantly as popular, maybe even more so, as the Sherlock Holmes stories which were published at the same time. I found the stories entertaining. Carrados uses all of his other senses which have become extremely heightened because of his blindness, almost to an unbelievable extent, to help him solve the case. Overall, an enjoyable read.

45. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan ***
Category: non fiction (4/10)
Format: audio download from Audible.com

In this book, Pollan asks the question, what's for dinner? and investigates four different ways Americans get their food today and prepares a meal after each section. He starts off with industrial farming, mainly focusing on corn. It's amazing how much corn is produced in this country and how much is not actually eaten as an actual ear of corn. Next he talks about oraganic farming and prepares a meal from Whole Foods Market. Next is a small local farm, with a meal prepared locally wtih fresh from the farm ingrediants. And finally hunting/gathering with a meal prepared from items, he foraged for in his community and hunted for himself. I thought the book was Ok. It seemed to drag a bit for me in the middle and took much longer for me to finish than I thought it would. I enjoyed the ending section with the local foraging section the best I think. I'm not exactly sure how I'm supposed to feel now after reading the book. Am I supposed to be paying more attention now to what I'm eating? Am I supposed to change what I'm eating? I still as feel as though I'm going to eat what I want and not worry about where it came from. It was an interesting book though & I want to read his other works as well.

46. Candide by Voltaire ***
Category: Francophone (4/10)
Format: audio download from library, 3:30 hours

Candide is a young man living a happy life in a German castle, under the tutelage of his dear Pangloss, who follows an optimistic philosphy, all is for the best. Candide is eventually expelled from the castle, and embarks on a journey throughout Europe & South America, consisting of a series of events, each one worse than the next. This was a very short book, less than four hours to listen to the whole thing, but I feel like I missed half of what was going on. I was not really paying close enough attention. I enjoyed it, but I think I need to reread it in print format to really appreciate everything that Voltaire had to say in this.

47. Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte ***1/2
Category: historical fiction (5/10)
Format: audio download from Audible.com

This is the story of retired soldier, Diego Alatriste, who is now working as a hired swordsman in 17th century Spain. He is hired by some mysterious masked men to ambush some English travellers. But when the time comes, Alatriste has second thoughts, which leads to a series of events that will change Alatriste's life. This was a fun story. I enjoyed the Spanish setting. I'm not familiar with much of Spanish history and it was nice to have a different perspective from the English or French that I am more familiar with. My one minor complaint about the book was that I didn't really like how the story was told from the point of view of Alatriste's young squire, Inigo. I like the character of Inigo, but I don't want to see things from his perspective, I'm really not even sure why, it just didn't seem right to me for some reason. But other than that, I enjoyed the book and look forward to reading more.

Inigo's narration irritated me too. And I found it even worse in the second book of the series, Purity of Blood. But several people have said he improves with the third, Sun Over Breda.

48. The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier ***
Category: Francophone (5/10)
Format: book from my library, 250 pages

This is the story of the creation of the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries in Paris and Brussels in the late 15th century. Starting with the commisioning, moving onto the painting of the designs, then the actual weving of them. Each chapter is told in first person perspective from a different person involved in the tapestries, from Nicholas, the painter, to Aliénore, the blind daughter of the weaver. I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would from reading the description. I did not like the format, it made the story feel very choppy for me, plus I never really liked any of the characters. I did enjoy learning about the process of creating the beautiful tapestries and that was really the only reason I kept reading to see how they would turn out. This was my second book by this author, I read The Virgin Blue two years ago and wasn't that crazy about that one either. Maybe I'm just not a fan of this author.

49. Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris ****
Category: Mystery (6/10)
Format: audio download from Audible.com, 11:11 hours

A wealthy, 16 year old Saudi Arabian girl is missing and her family hires desert guide & friend, Nayir, to try to find her. She is found several days later, dead. The medical examiner rules the death an accidental drowning, however, Nayir, and a femail medical examiner, Katya, do not believe it. They form a tentative partnership to find out the truth about what happened to Nouf. I really enjoyed this book. Thye mystery aspect was great, kept me guessing to the end. But what I enjoyed most was the glimpse into the lives of modern Saudis, men & women alike. I know nothing about this culture or the Muslim religion and found this a fascinating and enlightening read. I am looking forward to more by this writer.

Hi Staci, I read Finding Nouf earlier this year and also loved it. Her next book is called City of Veils and is either just out or due to be out shortly. I think this is the start of a very good series.

re The Lady and the Unicorn

I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would from reading the description. I did not like the format, it made the story feel very choppy for me, plus I never really liked any of the characters. I did enjoy learning about the process of creating the beautiful tapestries and that was really the only reason I kept reading to see how they would turn out.

My feelings, too. This was the 4th book that I read by Tracy Chevalier, and I will not read her again unless she writes a book that is consistently getting very high praise. I loved Girl with a Pearl Earring, but in my opinion it's the only one of her books worth reading.

Haven't been around LT much the past couple of weeks. Have gotten some books finished though that I will post about.

#74 I probably discovered Finding Nouf by reading your thread. I need to start keeping track of where I found the books that I keep adding to my wishlist. I agree that it looks to be a good series.

#75 This was only my second Tracy Chevalier book. I still might give Girl with a Pearl Earring a try since it does seem to get good reviews, but probably not any time soon.

50. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut ***1/2
Category: 1001 Books (5/10)
Format: Audio download from library, 5:26 hours

This was the story of two men, Dwayne Hoover, a Midwest car saelsman who is slowly starting to lose it, and Kilgore Trout, a prolific science fiction writer who nobody knows, and how they're lives become connected. This was the first book by Vonnegut that I actually finished. I tried Cat's Cradle last year, but gave up about half way through. I enjoyed the story & finished it, but I just don't really get it. I feel like I totally missed the point and need to reread it more carefully to get a better appreciation for it. I did enjoy though & will try at least one more by Vonnegut.

51. Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku ***1/2
Category: Non fiction (5/10)
Format: Audio download from library, 11:50 hours

The subtitle of this book is "A Scientific Exploration into the World of PHasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel" and that is exactly what the book was. Kaku takes a look at popular ideas of science fiction writing & movies to see if they can really happen with what we know about physics today. I am not a science person at all & I've never taken a physics class. I decided to read this book because my boyfriend is into the science channel and watches a lot of shows dealing physics and the universe & Kaku is a frequent contributor on those shows who he likes. I'm also a fan of science fiction, so this sounded like a fun idea. I felt like the science in the book was pretty accessible, but i did get a little bored at some times, but not enough to give up. I think one of the things that kept me going to the end was the reader on the audio. I found his voice very soothing and pleasant.

52. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer ****
Category: 1001 books (6/10)
Format: Audio download from Audible.com

This book has a few different parts. Sections which are letters written by Alex, a young Ukranina man, to Jonathan Safran Foer, a young American Jewish man who had come to the Ukraine to try to find the woman who helped his grandfather escape from the Nazis during WWII. Alex and his grandfather were Jonathan's translator & driver on his trip. Alex is writing an account of the trip which he sends to Jonathan. The other part of the book is Jonathan's book that he is writing about his family, going back to the Jewish shtetl of Trachimbrod in the Ukraine during the 1700s. Alex is a great character. His English is not the greatest and I think the reader did a great job with this on the audio. There was a separate reader for the parts of Jonathan's book who I didn't think was as good as the Alex reader. The story was very funny at parts, but did become much more serious towards the end. I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed this.

53. Messenger by Lois Lowry ***
Category: Next in a Series (7/10)
Format: Audio download from library, 3:44 hours

This is book 3 in The Giver Trilogy and it was a bit of a disappointment. Matty is a young boy who has been living in Village with a blind man known as Seer. Village has always been a frienldy welcoming place, allowing anyone to take refuge there. But things are changing in Village and they want to close it's gates forever. Matty works as a messenger between Village and the outside communities and tries to get in one last trip before Village is closed off forever. I was blown away by The Giver when I read it a few years ago, but each book in the series seems to have gone downhill since. I was glad to see the connection between the first two books in this volume. But I feel as though Lowry could have done so much more with this book. This one felt much more simplistic and geared to the younger audience than the first book did. I'm glad to have finally finished the seried, but overall, a bit of a let down.

54. Rescue Ink by Rescue Ink ***1/2
Category: Non fiction (6/10)
Format: Audio download from library, 5:52 hours

his is a non fiction book about a group of tattooed, biker type guys from NYC that have formed an animal rescue group called Rescue Ink. This book tells about some of the guys, how they got into working with the animals and some of their memorable cases. I stumbled accross this book while I was browsing through my library's available books for audio download and thought it sounded interesting. I love animals and am especially affected by those in need. I think what these guys are doing is great. They are definitly not your stereotypical animal rescue worker. I don't think this worked that great as a book. I felt as though they were jumping around too much and as I was reading I thought this would make a great TV show. Then when I was telling my boyfriend about the book, he said they did have a show that he had seen before. I will definitely be looking out for the show and am glad to have discovered these guys.

76 :: I'm not in love with Tracy Chevalier either, although I thought Girl with a Pearl Earring and The Virgin Blue were OK. My favorite of hers is probably Falling Angels.

#78: The Virgin Blue was the first one by Chevalier that I read and I wasn't that crazy about it. I'm not familiar with Falling Angels but will keep that one in mind if I decide to give her another try somewhere down the line.

55. Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear ***1/2
Category: Mystery (7/10)
Format: Audio download from library, 10:02 hours

Maisie Dobbs is a young lady in 1929 London who sets up shop doing investigations with the help of her former employer Lady Rowan Compton and teacher & mentor Maurice Blanche. Her first case involves The Retreat, a farm where wounded soldiers from WWI have come to find refuge following the war. The story goes back and forth between the present, setting up her new office & working on the Retreat case, and the past showing how Maisie came to work for Lady Rowan, then study under Maurice Blanche and then becomes a nurse at the war front. I had heard good things about this series so decided to give it a try when i found a copy for download from the library. I enjoyed it. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, I didn't realize the story would be going into the past events in as much detail as it did, but I did like that. I'll be looking forward to see how the series progrersses.

I've had the Masie Dobbs series on my wishlist for awhile, so it's nice to see what someone who actually has read one thinks - I am looking forward to eventually trying one myself!

56. The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland ****
Category: Historical Fiction (6/10)
Format: audio download from Audible.com

This was the fictionalized account of a real woman, Emily Carr. She was a Canadian painter from British Columbia who lived & worked during the early part of the 20th century. She was an independent woman for the time, who defied the wishes of her family and expectations of the community to pursue her dreams of being an artist. She was especially passionate about painting the local Indian villages and people, eventually deciding to paint as many totem poles in their natural environments that she could before they started to disappear. She would travel alone into these villages and usually became accepted by the people there. This book also shows the struggles of the Native Indians as they try to conform to the new governmental and Church rules, while trying to keep some of their traditions alive. I really enjoyed this book. So far, I've been a fan of all of Vreeland's works that I have read. I really like her writing style, I could beautifully visualize Emily's paintings in my head. I had never head of this artist before and don't really know how accurate everything in this book was relating to her life. But from what was portrayed here, she was a remarkable & fascinating woman, always staying true to her convictions.

57. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm ****
Category: Science Fiction (6/10)
Format: ebook read on my cell phone, about 256 pages

Disease and disaster have struck the Earth, civilation is collapsing and people have become infertile. A family sets up an isolated self sufficient community to try and save humanity by cloning themselves. They belive the clones will eventually become fertile aagain, and thus begin to revive the population. However, the clones reject this idea and create their own way of running things in the community. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It did take a little bit for me to get into, but once I hit part two it started to move along more easlily for me. This book was written in the 1970's and you can definitely tell it's not a modern writing style, but I really like the writing in this, very concise, nothing that didn't need to be there. She brought up some very interesting ideas about community and individuality, creativity and free thinking.

58. My Life in France by Julia Child ****
Category: Francophone (6/10)
Format: Audio download from library, 11:18 hours

Like the title says, this is the autobiographical account of Julia Child's life in France. Her husband, Paul, is sent to Paris in a diplomatic position in the late 1940's and Julia decides to make the best of this new setting, totally embracing the French culture, especially it's food. She wants to learn how to cook this way and decides to enroll in The Cordon Bleu cooking school, where she excels. She starts a collaboration with two French women teaching classes and working on a cookbook that will eventually become Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She and her husband also spent some time in Germany and Norway and of course the US, but they always seemed to have had the strongest connection to France. I didn't really know much about Julia Child before starting this book, I might have seen an episode or two of her TV show, but of course I knew who she was. She was quite an interesting woman and she did a great job on writing this memoir. She made me want to try some of her recipes even though I'm not a huge fan of French cooking. I might like to pick this up in print at some point, it looks like the actual book also contains photos taken by her husband at the time and other things that would not have been in the audio version. I'm glad that I decided to give this one a try. Bon appetit!

59. Crashing Through by Robert Kurson ****
Category: Blindness/Vision (6/10)
Format: audio download from library, 10:13 hours

This is the story of Michael May. He was blinded as a young child by a chemical explosion. His parents do not allow him to use his blindness as an excuse, he is treated just like the other kids in the family. He He goes to regular schools and acts like a typical boy growing up, doing whatever he wants to do, despite his blindness, such as driving his sister's car. He learns how to ski, spends time in Africa as a teenager, runs his own business and has a great wife and kids, even coaching his son's soccer team. While at the eye doctor's with his wife, the doctor thinks he might be a candidate for a surgery to help restore his vision. He has to make the decision of whether his life is complete the way it is, or does he want to take the risks for the possiblity of vision. This was a great book. Even without the parts about the vision restoration, May's life makes a compelling story. He never allows his blindness to hold him back from his dreams and is an inspiration for the blind and the sighted alike. The audio version also featured an interview between May and the author several years after the surgery which was a nice touch.

60. The Thirty Nine Steps by John Buchan ***1/2
Category: Classics (5/10)
Format: ebook on my cell phone, about 128 pages

It's 1914. Richard Hannay has been in London, but is getting bored. He's getting ready to head out when a mysterious man shows up at his apartment asking for his help. He's uncovered a plot that's going to kill the leader of Greece. A few days later, Hannay discovers the man dead in his apartment and he sets off to Scotland to try to outrun the police, who will think he is the murderer, & the real murders, who are involved in the plot. This was a fun, fast paced adventure. Some of the scenarios that happen are just a bit too conveniant & implausible, but that didn't really detract from the story. I didn't really know anything about this book before reading it, expect that it's on the 1001 books to read before you die list and I was glad to discover it.

61. Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe ***1/2
Category: Classics (6/10)
Format: Audio download from library, 11:37 hours

The full title of this book gives a good summary of the story: "The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, Etc. Who Was Born In Newgate, and During a Life of Continu'd Variety For Threescore Years, Besides Her Childhood, Was Twelve Year a Whore, Five Times a Wife (Whereof Once To Her Own Brother), Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon In Virginia, At Last Grew Rich, Liv'd Honest, and Died a Penitent. Written from her own Memorandums." I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I enjoyed it much more than Robinson Crusoe. The story moved along at a pretty good pace and the audio reader did a great job. Although Moll seemed to be a pretty immoral person and it seemed very unbelievable that one woman could have lived through everything she described, she was a likable character and I hoped she would eventually get her life in order.

Finished two more books, one in fantasy & one in historical fiction. I feel as though I'm making pretty good progress in my categories. I've been trying to keep them even and so far I've finished between 6-7 in each.

62. Kraken by China Miéville ***1/2
Category: Fantasy (6/10)
Format: Audio download from Audible.com

Billy Harrow is a curator at the Darwin Center in London where he discovers their giant squid exhibit has been stolen. He is contacted by a secret branch of the police and gets caught up in a side of London most people do not realize exists: cults that worshop the squid, animal familiars, Londmancers. Billy is on the run to try to find the squid and stay one step ahead of the police & whoever else might be trying to find the squid. This was a strange book. It's my second by Miéville, I read The City and the City last year and enjoyed it more than this one. This could have been a good story, I just felt like it was all over the place and seemed like I was missing something important the whole time I listened. Maybe it works better in print. I still want to try some of Miéville's earlier works.

63. The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell ****
Category: Historical Fiction (7/10)
Format: Audio download from library, 12:56

This is the story of Uhtred, an English boy in the 9th century. He is heir to his father's lands, but then when his father is killed by the invading Danes, he is actually taken in and raised by the Danes who killed his family. He learns how to fight and the Danish ways as they raid the English. Uhtred eventually goes back to the English under King Alfred, who is trying to unite the kingdoms of England to defeat the Danes. I really enjoyed this one. I like Cornwell's writing & the reader of the audio really brought things to life. I didn't realize this was the first in a series, but I look forward to returning to these characters in future books.

The Last Kingdom sounds good! I don't think I've ever read an historical fiction set in the time of King Alfred.

64. The Lost City of Z by David Grann ***1/2
Category: Non fiction (7/10)
Format: Audio download from library, 10:04 hours

This is the story of Percy Fawcett, an English explorer whose expedition in South America goes missing in the 1920s and the author's quest to try to find out what really happened to them. Fawcett had made several successful expeditions to the area in the past and thought there was still a lost civilization to be discovered, but never returns from his last trip. His wife never gives up hope that he will be found alive and other explorers of the time tried to find his party to no avail. Grann studies all the materials himself and takes a trip to try to follow Fawcett's route to discover once & for all what really happened. I liked this one. Grann did a good job of melding his trip & Fawcett's. It was a fast paced, enjoyable read.

I've abandoned my first book in quite awhile now, Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente from my fantasy category. I was really looking forward to this one and had heard nothing but good things about it. I made it over half way through, but just could not go on. I didn't like the writing style, the characters or the setting. I also didn't like the reader of the audio, she was starting to get on my nerves. I thought the author was trying too hard to make everything sound pretty and over half way through the book, I still had no idea where the story was going.

65. Gabriel's Gift by Hanif Kureishi ***1/2
Category: 1001 Books (7/10)
Format: paperback from my shelves, 221 pages

This is another good read from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die that I never would have discovered without the book. Gabriel is a teenager in modern day London. His parents have split up. His dad, a former guitar player for pop star Lester Jones, is trying to make it on his own, while still living in his glory days from the 70s. His mom is working as a waitress and hires an au pair, Hannah, to take care of the house & Gabriel while she works & parties. Gabriel is stuck in the middle. He finds solace in his artwork, drawing, painting & his main aspiration, movie making and also in his twin brother, Archie, who died when they were little. This was a nice story. Gabriel was an interesting character. His parents were really starting to get on my nerves, but everything seemed to come together in the end. There's not a whole lot going on here, it's a brief glimpse into the life of a family, but it's an entertaining, well written visit.

I have The Lost City of Z on my TBR list. It sounds like one I will enjoy. Thanks for the review!

66. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas *****
Category: Francophone (7/10)
Format: Audio download from library, 46:56 hours

Edmund Dantes comes home expecting to marry the woman he loves & settle down to a peaceful life. But he is wrongfully accused by his friens and imprisoned. He escapes after fourteen years and comes back as the myserious Count of Monte Cristo to pull off the ultimate revenge. This is a very poor description of an amazing book. This was one of the longest audios that I've listened to, but the time just seemed to fly by. I had to force myself to stop listening to get some sleep in parts. This book has something for everyone, adventure, intrigue, romance, betrayal, revenge, redemption. This is my favorite read of the year so far and I don't think anything else will compare for the rest of the year.

67. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins ****
Category: Next in a series (8/10)
Format: audio download from library, 11:45 hours

This is the conclusion to the Hunger Games Trilogy. Katniss agrees to be the Mockingjay, the face of the rebels out of District 13 as they fight to overthrow the Capitol. I thought this conclusion was pretty good, but I didn't have that same on the edge of my seat excitement I felt with the first two books. There was still alot of tension & action in this one, but something just felt a little off to me. I thought the ending was a bit rushed and Katniss started to annoy me a bit. I feel like I'm contradicting myself here somewhat. Overall I was satisfied with the conclusion of the series, but I feel as though something was missing from this book to get there.

I've read and seen many adaptations of The Count of Monte Cristo but I've not as yet read the original. I plan on rectifying that oversight in next year's challenge. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much.

#92...I had never read or seen any adaptations of the book before. I went into the story not really knowing anything about it. I just added a movie adaption to my Netflix queue so will look forward to seeing how it works on screen. Hope you enjoy it when you read it next year.

68. Blood Price by Tanya Huff ****
Category: Blindness/vision (7/10)
Format: Mass Market Paperback from my shelves, 272 pages

Vicki Nelson is a former police officer in Toronto who quit after being diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenterative eye disease which causes night blindness & loss of peripheral vision, who is working as a private investigator. She is hired by a college student to find the vampire that killed her boyfriend and several other people in the city. People have been turning up dead with their throats ripped out & drained of blood and the media is creating a frenzy with headlines of vampires. Nobody really believes it's a vampire, but Vicki takes the case. Then she meets Henry Fitzroy, a 450 year old vampire, the illegitimate son of Henry VIII, and they work together to try to find what is really killing these people. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I didn't think I was going to enjoy it as much as I did. This is my first modern vampire book, although I think this one came out long before the current craze. The only reason I wanted to read this was because I have retinitis pigmentosa and wanted to see how an author handled a character with the disease. I thought she did a great job on the vision aspects, I liked Vicki's habit of always pushing her glasses up her nose and she really seemed to have a good feel for what it would be like for someone who had RP. I enjoyed the rest of the story too. I like the connection that is forming between Vicki & Henry and I look forward to reading the rest of the series to see where things go.

69. Anathem by Neal Stephenson ***1/2
Category: Science Fiction (7/10)
Format: Audio download from library, 32:27 hours

I couldn't come up with a brief summary of this book, so I'm going to copy the synopsis from Barnes & Noble.com "For ten years Fraa Erasmas, a young avout, has lived in a cloistered sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside world. But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand poised on the brink of cataclysmic change—and Erasmas will become a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world, as he follows his destiny to the most inhospitable corners of the planet . . . and beyond. " I really enjoyed this book, even though I felt like a lot of it went over my head. Even though this was very long, it moved along at a pretty good pace for most of the story, there were a few places where the story did drag a bit. I thought that Stephenson created a really intersting world with some great characters. I will have to reread this book some time in the future, but I want to read it in print format and take my time to try to get a better understanding of everything that was going on.

70. The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham ***1/2
Category: Blindness/vision (8/10)
Format: Audio download from Audible.com

Bill Masen, recovering from eye surgery in the hospital, wakes up one morning to find that almost everyone else around him has gone blind, following an unusual meteor shower the night before. Society quickly deteriorates and the sighted try to work together to restore some type of order and rebuilding. They also have to deal with the triffids, poisonous plants which have been uprooting themselves and attacking humans. I enjoyed this one. I did think he was going to do more with the triffids than he did, but overall, I thought it was good. You can definitely tell this was written in the 50s, especially with the Soviet Union references, but that diddn't detract from the story for me. The ending made it seem as though there was going to be a sequel which I was looking forward to, but I didn't find that he ever wrote one.

71. Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell ***1/2
Category: Mystery (8/10)
Format: Audio download from library, 8:58 hours

Swedish detective, Kurt Wallander, is sent to investigate the gruesome murder of an elderly farm couple. The only clues seem to be an unusual knot on a noose that was used and the dying woman's last word, foreign. This brings up anit-immigrant feelings that seem to be prominent amongst some of those in Sweden. We're also introduced to Wallander's personal life, his father who seems to be going senile, his estranged daughter, his wife who has just left him. This looks to be the start of a good series. I enjoyed the Swedish setting and Wallander looks like he will be an interesting character to get to know. Looking forward to reading more of these books

There is a sequel to The Day of the Triffids but not written by John Wyndham. It's called The Night of the Triffids and written by Simon Clark. I've only just read the first one myself and saw there was a series page for it. Even though it's release date was considerably later than the original, the sequel is supposed to be written in similar style and is set 25 years after the end of the first book.

Ah.. I'd been planning to borrow Anathem on audio from the library, but perhaps I should reconsider that notion.... I was worried already what with the length, but they have so little on audio that I'm actually interested in, I had hoped it would be okay. I know I'm not very good at paying attention to audiobooks, so perhaps I should pass on this one....

#98 That's interesting about the sequel. I'll have to keep an eye out for it. I was hoping that Wyndham had written one though. The ending seemed like it could be a possibility to me anyway. It'll be interesting to see what someone else does with it.

#99 It was a good audio production, I think the reader did a good job with it, but I did find my mind wandering at some points, especially towards the end. One other disadvantage to the audio version is that it didn't include the appendix that is in the book. One of the advantages though was that it was good for pronounciation.

72. A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny ****1/2
Category: Francophone (8/10)
Format: audio download from Audible.com

It's Christmas in Three Pines and newcomer CC de Poitiers is murdered during the annual curling match on the ice. But noone seems to have seen anything amiss. Nobody seems very upset about her death either, not even her family or her lover. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache comes to the village from Montreal to lead the investigation. There also seems to be a connection to a case in Montreal of a murdered street woman. This is the second of the Three Pines mysteries, but this is my third visit (I started out of order). I really enjoyed this one very much. Even though I had a hunch of who the killer was before the murder even happened, that didn't detract from the enjoyment of the story at all for me. I love getting to know the inhabitants of Three Pines and the investigators. Looking forward to my next visit. I put this in my Francophone category since Three Pines is in Quebec and Penny uses a lot of French phrases in the book.

73. Mysteries of the Middle Ages by Thomas Cahill ****
Genre: Non fiction (8/10)
Format: Audio download from library, 10:21 hours

From the synopsis on barnesandnoble.com, "After the long period of decline known as the Dark Ages, medieval Europe experienced a rebirth of scholarship, art, literature, philosophy, and science and began to develop a vision of Western society that remains at the heart of Western civilization today." Cahill introduces us to many of the important people & places of Medieval Europe including, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Abelard & Heloise, Francis of Assissi, Thomas Aquinas, Dante and many others. This was a fun quick listen. I really enjoyed Cahill's writing style, kept me engaged throughout the book. I didn't realize until I had finished listening that this is actually the most recent installment in a series that he has written, the first one being How the Irish Saved Civilization. I definitely plan to look for that one and the rest.

Haven't posted here in a while, but I have finished a few more books. I'm just going to do a quick list.

74. Carmilla by Sheridan LeFanu Classics 7/10, Audio ****

I enjoyed this gothic vampire story which was written several years before Dracula. I didn't realize it was part of a collection, In a Glass Darkly, which I definitely plan on looking for.

75. Rasselas by Samuel Johnson 1001 Books 8/10, Ebook ***

I read this one via daily email installments, it was pretty short, only 41 parts, but it was pretty slow going for me. Only reason I read this one was because it was one of the 1001 books.

76. Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon Historical Fiction 8/10, Audio ***

This was an Ok historical adventure story. I almost felt like I was listening to an abridged recording, but it was the full story. I don't think I was paying close enough attention.

77. The Black Tower by Louis Bayard Francophone 9/10, audio ****

This was a great historical mystery, taking place in France after Napoleon with the restoration of the Bourbon's on the throne. I really enjoy reading about this period in French history and this one did not disappoint.

78. The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster 1001 Books 9/10, Audio ****

This is my first Auster work and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I don't really think I understood everything that was going on with this one, but I enjoyed Auster's writing and look forward to reading more by him.

Finished a few more books over the past few days and actually finished off my first two categories. I have been trying to spread out my reading evenly over the categories so that I wasn't concentrating on one category at a time and had a variety of reading throughout the year.

79. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie *** 1/2
Category: Mystery (9/10)
Format: audio download from library, 8:30 hours

Hastings is visiting at Styles when the lady of the house turns up dead in bed. She appears to have been poisoned. The police are called in for the inquest and Hastings runs into an old acquaintace, Hercule Poirot, a renowned Belgian detective, and gets him to help solve the case. This is Christie's first book featuring Poirot. I enjoyed this one. I've read several of Christie's other Poirot stories, but have decided to start over again from the beginning. I did find Hastings a bit annoying in this one. I also found the reader of the audio annoying. It was read by a woman, but the story was told from Hastings' point of view, so I would have preferred a male reader. But overall, it was enjoyable and I'm looking forward to making my way through the rest of the books.

80. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood ***1/2
Category: 1001 Books (10/10) category complete
Format: Audio download from library, 18:26

Iris is an old woman now, looking back on her earlier life with her family and sister, Laura and the events leading to where she is in life today. There is a lot going on in this book, the narrative flashes back to the past and there's also excperts of the novel written by Laura and discovered after her death about a secret love affair where the man is writing a pulp sci fi type story. There were also newspaper clippings about events of the time interspersed. This was my first book by Atwood and I enjoyed it. It did take me a little while to get into things and try to figure out where the story was going. There is definitely a lot going on here, but it all works and lends to an interesting, enjoyable experience.

81. Saturn's Children by Charles Stross ***1/2
Category: Science fiction (8/10)
Format: Audio download from Audible.com

Humans have gone extinct (I missed exactly how long ago, but it seemed like a very long time). The universe is populated by artificial robot types. Freya belongs to a line of sisters created as human pleasure toys but has been trying to stay afloat by taking on other jobs since there are no more people around. She is hired to do some interplanetary smuggling and gets involved in a confusing political plot. This was an Ok read. This was my second book by Stross, I read Halting State two years ago and enjoyed that one a little more. I found my attention wandering at times with this one and found myself a little confused over who was who. But overall, it was an interesting read.

82. Eugenie Grandet by Honoré de Balzac ***
Category: Francophone (10/10) category complete
Format: dailylit email installments, 69 parts

Eugénie lives with her parents in the village of Saumur in post revoluntionary France. Her father is an old miser who doesn't like to part with his wealth. Her cousin, Charles, comes to visit from Paris only to find that his father has gone bankrupt and is ruined. M. Grandet sends him off to the Indies to try to make his own wealth, but Eugénie has fallen in love and given him all of her gold before he leaves. This leads to turmoil within the house. This is only the second book that I've read in French since leaivng college in 1997, so I'm sure that I missed quite a bit here, but I think I got the overall gist of the story. I thought it was ok, but easy to put aside for awhile. I started reading early in the year, would forget about it for awhile, then come back to it. It was always easy to come back to.

I know it's a terrific feeling to finally complete some categories - congratulations!

Heading towards the end of the year. My reading is slowing down a bit now this time of year with the holidays and everything. I'd rather be listening to Christmas music than reading. I do have five more books that I've finished though, to post about. I've made it much further along in this challenge than I was expecting. If I allow for one overlap book per category, than I might be able to finish. We'll see how the rest of the year plays out.

83. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle ***1/2
Category: Fantasy (7/10)
Format: Paperback from my shelves, 304 pages

I've been wanting to read this book for awhile and am glad to have finally gotten around to it. A unicorn has been living a happy life, alone in the forest for some time when she finds out she may be the last unicorn alive. She decides to leave the comfort of her forest to try to find others of her kind. She is joined in her quest by Schmendrick the magician and later Molly Grue who has been living with a group of bandits. Their quest takes them to King Haggard, who may have something to do with the missing unicorns. This was a sweet story. It did take me a bit to get into the story, but once I got into the flow of the story and the writing, it was easier. I really liked Beagle's writing and found myself chuckling in places. Overall, a good old fashioned, fantasy.

84. The Secret River by Kate Grenville ****
Category: Historical Fiction (9/10)
Format: Audio download from library, 11:02 hours

This book takes place in the early 19th century. William Thornhill grows up on the streets and on the river in London. He is convicted of theft and sentenced to hang, but gets a last minute reprieve and is sent to Australia as a convict instead. He is able to have his young family come as well. Once the family gets to Australia, they have to try to make a life for themselves in this new land, dealing with the other convicts & settlers as well as the native aboriginals. This was a really good book. My description doesn't really do it justice. I haven't read much about Australia, especially in this time period. I thought it was fascinating to learn how they lived. I really enjoyed Grenville's writing, her descriptions of the area and the people were great.

85. Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold ***1/2
Category: Next in a Series (9/10)
Format: Audio download from Audible.com 10:32 hours

This is the most recent installment in the Miles Vorkosigan series. In this one, Miles is on Kibou-Daini investigating a possible scam involving cryo-preservation. It was fun to visit Miles again. I'm a fairly newcomer to this series, reading most of the books earlier this year, but became quickly hooked. Miles is such a great character and he has a great supporting cast too. I was hoping for more of the home front in this one, to seek Miles as a husband and father, but the family was in the background on this one. It was still an entertaining addition to the series.

86. Antarctica on a Plate by Alexa Thomson ***
Category: Non fiction (9/10)
Format: Audio download from library, 12:18 hours

I stumbled across this one while browsing through my library's audio download selection and thought it sounded interesting. The author is bored with her career in the city and decides to give it up to work as a cook at a camp in Antarctica for a season. I enjoy cooking related memiors and I thought this would be interesting hearing about the difficulties of trying to cook in a tent in Antarctica, but I was somewhat disappointed. I felt as though the cooking aspect of the whole trip was not the main focus of the book, which I thought it would be from the description. It was fascinating reading about life on a camp in Antarctica, but I wanted more food talk. Then something happened at the end of the book that really disappointed me. Overall, not really what I was expecting, but still somewhat interesting.

87. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis ****
Category: Fantasy (8/10)
Format: audio download from library, 4:22 hours

This was a reread for me. I received this book as a gift when I was about 12 or so, and wasn't all that interested in it at first, I hadn't discovered the joys of fantasy yet. I finally got around to reading it one day when I didn't have anything else around and couldn't believe how much I enjoyed it. I didn't realize it was part of a series at the time or I would have gone and found the rest of the books and have them read in less than a week. When I saw the trailer recently for the newest movie I decided it was time to read the rest of the series and decided to start with a reread of this one. I thought about whether to read them in chronological or publication order and decided to go with publication order. It didn't have the same magic that I remember from my first read, but it was still enjoyable. I'm looking forward to discovering the rest of the series.

88. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott *****
Category: Classics (8/10)
Format: Audio download from library, 18:39 hours

I am so glad to have finally read this book. It was such a charming story. I started reading it without really knowing anything about it, just that it was about the four March sisters. I was surprised by how much I really enjoyed this. It did seem that everyone was just so good all the time, and it did get a tad preachy in places, but that didn't detract from my enjoyments. I loved the descriptions and especially the relationship between the sisters. I haven't had such a good cry over a book in a long while. Highly recomended.

I finished off several more books in December, bringing my total up to 95 books for the year. I'm just going to list these last few books without any comments:

89. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi category: science fiction (9/10)

90. Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis category: fantasy (9/10)

91. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon category: 1001 Books to Read (10/10)

92. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde category: classics (9/10)

93. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf category: classics (10/10)

94. Brother Ray by Ray Charles category: blindness/vision (9/10)

95. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr category: fantasy (10/10)

With these last books and allowing for 5 overlaps, I am declaring myself as having completed the challlenge. I had a lot of fun with it over the past year and never thought that I would actually finish it. I've decided that I'm not going to do it this year though. I just want to read whatever strikes me at the time and I'll post over on the 75 books challenge thread.