RedBowlingBallRuth's year of reading (2012). :)

Yet another year has come and gone - and oh man did it go by fast! Here's to another read of excellent reading - and hopefully, also some excellent living. :D

Top ten reads of 2011 (in no particular order):

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
The Outcast by Sadie Jones
The Hunger Games-triology by Suzanne Collins (a bit of a cheat.. but hey!)
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontê (reread, but still)
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

My 2011 threads:

1) http://www.librarything.com/topic/106236

2) http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=127554

I'm looking forward to another year on LT, and the many great reads just waiting to be picked up and enjoyed. :)

Happy New Year! Dutifully starring the new thread. :)

Glad to see you back with us again, Ine!

Welcome back!

Good to see that you are here.

#3: Hi, LL! Thank you, happy new year to you too! :) I need to find your new challenge and star you too.

#4: Thank you Stasia! :) Glad to be here.

#5: Thank you! :)

#6: Thank you, Piyush! :)

1) The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafòn

As I was a big fan of both The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game, I high hopes for The Midnight Palace - and while I enjoyed it, it didn't quite live up to either of them.

A group of friends growing up in an orphanage in Calcutta form a secret group, calling themselves the Chowbar society and meeting in an old building they call the Midnight Palace. As the day of their sixteenth birthday dawnes, and they're officially adults, the past of their leader Ben comes back to haunt him.

While fast paced and exciting, The Midnight Palace seemed somewhat blah - I was never truly engrossed in the story nor did I care about the characters. Hoping for a better read next time!

Sorry to hear that you did not enjoy The Midnight Palace more, Ine. I loved The Shadow of the Wind but to date, that is the only one of Zafon's books that I have read.

I hope your next read is a better one for you!

2) Mengele Zoo by Gert Nygårdshus

Mino is only a child of seven-years-old when his little, peaceful village deep in the South-American jungle first begin to see signs of the huge, noisy machines moving in on their homes and lives. Huge international companies have set their sights on his the jungle that is his home; they've found oil - the liquid gold that they're more than willing to kill and destroy in order to attain.

When his village refuses to cooperate with the oil companies and the local gringos, fatal and gruesome consequences follow, leading Mino to believe that the only way to fight violence is with violence.

Equal part fantastical and gruesome, Mengele Zoo is a tale of the greed and ruthlessness people and companies are capable of in the pursuit of wealth, and what happens when one individual decides to fight back - using his cunning mind, stealth and death as his weapons.

A good read; interesting, inspiring, dark and disturbing. A look at what happens when one's ideology - be it that of wealth or an environmental protection - is followed to the extreme.

Sorry to hear about the Zafon book. I was thinking of trying The Prince Of Mist sometime; maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up too high. But I'm glad to see your next read was better!

Overall I really enjoy Zafòn as an author - while The Midnight Palace was meh, I loved The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game. Hopefully The prince of Mist is more like the latter two than the first. :)

3) The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

This is a book I've been wanting to read for a very long time, and I'm glad that I've finally gotten around to it.

The premise of The Picture of Dorian Gray is just so interesting and creepy, and combined with Wilde's wonderful prose it makes for a great read.

Will definitely read more Wilde, only wish he wrote more novels.

4) På vegne av venner (On Behalf of Friends) by Kristopher Schau

This short little book packs quite the punch - it's both poignant and humorous at the same time.

One day while reading the newspaper Schau, a comedian/musician/tv-personality here in Norway, read an obituary signed "On behalf of friends" that piqued his curiosity. The obituaries signed with this are the one's paid for and organised by the state, as the deceased had no family or friends to do it for them.

Schau wanted to know who these people were and how they ended up alone, so decided to attend every on-behalf-of-friends-funeral in 2009 - he lasted until April.

Interesting, sad, beautiful.

5) Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

When I read Uglies last year, I was dissapointed - it just wasn't what I expected it to be. Since then I've adjusted my expectations accordingly and thusly enjoyed the second insallment in the series; I thought it was fun and exciting - nothing fantastic, but still an easy, accessible read.

6) Looking for Alaska by John Green

This was a book I kept seeing and reading about everywhere, so I just had to give it a go.

Pudge leaves his home and all that he know to attend a boarding school and pursue what he refers to as "The Great Perhaps". Here he meets the enigmatic, beautiful and troubled Alaska Young, and nothing is ever the same.

While I enjoyed Looking for Alaska I didn't find it lifechanging or mind-altering or any such thing as it seems it were to many of its fans - I simply thought it was a decent read.

7) The Fallen Idol by Graham Greene

This eerie and disturbing little novel tells the story of young Philip whose parents are away over the weekend. He is to be looked after by his butler Baines and his wife Mrs. Baines, a man he views as his best friend and a woman he neither trusts nor like. As he is caught in the drama of the adults that are supposed to take care of him, Philip finds himself trying to do the right and moral things in a immoral and wrong situation.

8) The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

This is a book that has been oh-so raved about here on LT, and, as it turns out, rightfully so. This book is pure magic - a book to be enchanted by, to get utterly lost in and with characters to fall in love with. In short, I really enjoyed The Night Circus, and I can see myself rereading it again and again in years to come.

>18 RedBowlingBallRuth: Oooh good, that one's very high on my to-read-soon list. Glad to hear you liked it so much!

Hi LL! Hope you will like The Night Circus just as much whenever you end up reading it - it's a good read. :)

January wrap up:

1) The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafòn
2) Mengele Zoo by Gert Nygårdshaug
3) The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
4) På Vegne Av Venner by Kristoffer Schau
5) Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
6) Looking for Alaska by John Green
7) The Fallen Idol by Graham Greene
8) The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Books read: 8
Pages read: 20
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Total books read: 8
Total pages read: 20

This month has been sort of a mixed bag, with some really good books and some not so good ones. Standouts of the month were Mengele Zoo, with his thought provoking plot and real, oh-so-human and very memorable characters, and The Night Circus which was just joy and magic and excitement and nostalgy. :)

9) Lord of the Flies by William Golding

I first read this classic novel in 2009 and as I could remember very little of it, I thought the time was nigh for a re-read.

A group of young boys are stranded on a deserted island after their plane crashes, and with no adults around, are left to fend for themselves the best they can. Quickly an attempt at organising the group is made and a leder, Ralph, is appointed. For a while this makeshift system with a few set rules and a distinct leader seems to work, until Jack and his hunters start undermining the system in an attempt at gaining power.. and from here, things take a turn for the worse.

Golding's Lord of the Flies explores what might happen when human beings are removed from the framework and norms of society; when the instinct to survive takes over and the power of group mentality kicks in - it's dark, gritty, disturbing and sadly (in my opinion) very plausible.

I'd love to read this book in a school situation or as a part of a book club - it lends itself perfectly for deeper discussion and musings.

A thought provoking, interesting and quite frightening read.

10) The Maze Runner by James Dashner

This book was such a thrilling read; packed full of fast paced action from the very first page. While often compared to - and to a certain degree, righfully so (imo) - The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner wasn't quite as good. Though almost as nailbitingly exciting as The Hunger Games, I felt that it lacked depth in regards to its characters, something that made me not become terribly attached to or involved with any of them.

Non the less, a very exciting read. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel sometime soonish.

11) The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

The Portrait.. was my first ever Joyce, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Written in his tell-tale stream of conciousness way of writing, I found this novel to be quite challenging at times. As with other stream of conciousness works I've read, I found that reading aloud helps a lot.

The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man follows Stephen Dedalus, from growing up as a child in Ireland, through adolescence and into becoming a young man. We read as he explores different ways of viewing the world, and starts challenging the religion of his childhood. It's really clever how Joyce's writing changes and developes alongside Stephen as he goes from being a child to becoming a young man.

Not sure if I'm sold enough on Joyce just yet as to give the very intimidating Ulysses a go. Think I'll give Dubliners a shot sometime in the future though :)

12) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

I seem to be on an dystopian kick lately. Well, it is one of my favourite genres, so why not?

In a world under constant threat of war with the superior and highly dangerous "buggers", the American government has taken it upon themselves to find and train individuals, children as young as six, for the role of commander in the upcoming war. The stakes are high to say the very least - the entire human race will be extinct if the buggers win.

At the age of six Andrew "Ender" Wiggins is chosen as one of these promising individuals, and his life - and the history of life on earth - is forever changed.

I was surpried by the darkness and violence of Ender's Game, somehow I didn't expect that. However, I think that it's just this darkness that makes it stand out and be so special. Ender, as a character, is one of the best I've read in a very long time - he's complex, tormented, oh-so-real and he breaks my heart.

I loved this book so much. I know there are more books in this series, but I'm unsure wether to give them a go or not. I've read several places that the series go downhill from here.. but but I want more of Ender! I think I just might continue with the series.

On Ender: By all means try them, but don't expect the same kind of story. They are more, what, maybe cerebral? Anyway, they are still good, but I never read more than the original trilogy even though there are like 6 more. Mostly I think because they just weren't quite of the same quality.

Thank you for your input, scvlad! I figure I'll read the next book and take it from there. If it doesn't float my boat, I'll just stop :)

13) Summer Crossing by Truman Capote

In Summer Crossing, Capote's relatively newly discovered first novel, we meet Grady McNeil, a rich, privileged and beautiful New York socialite. When summer comes around she refuses to join her sister and mother as they flee the heat of the city, instead she stays behind alone nursing her relationhip with the enigmatic, Brooklyn-born Clyde - a boy from a totally different world than her.

I must say, I really enjoy Capote's writing and I quite enjoyed this novel. Will read more of Capote's in the future.

14) The Death of Bunny Munro bu Nick Cave

As with everything that Nick Cave does The Death of Bunny Munro is dark, violent, gritty and quite twisted. It's also quite beautiful in its own way.

After the tragic death of his wife, Bunny takes his son with him on the road as he crosses the country as a traveling salesman selling women's skincare.

Modelled after the bestial Man of Solanas' SCUM Manifesto, Bunny Munro is one of the least likeable characters I've ever read abot, yet there's something sad and very fragile about him - however disgusting he is and how vile his actions are. I really liked Bunny Junior though. Poor kid.

While not as good and interesting as Cave's first novel, And the Ass Saw the Angel, The Death of Bunny Munro is still, while not enjoyable, an interesting read.

15) The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

When I started reading The Forest of Hands and Teeth I was positively surprised. It was exciting, engaging, it had a mystery and there were zombies! (This was my first ever zombie book). Somewhere along its 300 pages it just drizzled from a "Wow!", to "meh, I like it", and I'm not sure why.

Mary, the main character, is a very strong and independent female protagonist. I really liked her. She curious, intelligent and a dreamer. She knows there is more the to the life of her village, knows there must be more out there than The Unconsecrated (aka zombies) and she never ever gives up. What I didn't like so much about her is that she had a teeny tiny streak of Bella in her - lusting over the one boy she cannot have, and cannot live without.

I might give the second book in the series a read in the future, as the ending did leave me wondering what's next for Mary.

16) Blockade Billy by Stephen King

Not King at his best, but still a worthwhile, quick read.

While the title story, Blockade Billy wasn't all that great for me (I have no interest in nor knowledge about baseball what so ever), the short story "Morality" was quite good. Creepy and unerving, strangely compelling in its offputtingness - it would've made a good book I think.

If you're a fan of King you'll problably find it worth your time ("Morality" especially!), if not - well, then most likely not.

Better late than never, hey!

February wrap up:

9) Lord of the Flies by William Golding
10) The Maze Runner by James Dashner
11) The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
12) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
13) Summer's Crossing by Truman Capote
14) The Death of Bunny Munro by Nick Cave
15) The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
16) Blockade Billy by Stephen King

Books read: 8
Pages read: 2072
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Total books read: 16
Total pages read: 4084




February has been quite a good reading month for me, although perhaps not that varied - a bit heavy on dystopian novels. Favourite read of the month is Ender's Game - such a good book!

Nothing wrong with being heavy on dystopia.........in a strange way, it cheers me up, when I realise that however bad things are, they aren't THAT bad yet!!

Hi, lunacat! I just love dystopian novels, it's something about how dark and real they are. I simply can't get enough! That's a good point; it makes our world seem almost sane in comparison. What I love about them most though, is how thought provoking they are - how they really give food for thought (well, the good ones at least!)

..speaking of dystopian novels..

17) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

As the movie adaptation is coming up, I thought a reread of this favourite 2011 read of mine was more than due - and I was glad to discover that it was just as good the second time over. Eventhough I this time knew the plot and all its twists and turns it was still just as much an emotional rollercoaster. I love Katniss as a character, and I can't wait to reread the rest of the books in The Hunger Games-triology.

18) Animal Liberation: the Definitive Classic of the Animal Movement by Peter Singer

This book is equal parts interesting, fascinating and gruesome. It's an important book that everyone should read, in my opinion. It offers a different view on what it means to be a person, and opened my eyes to how we, humans, try to justify our unacceptable treatment of animals by ways of our "superiority". Parts of this book made my blood boil - it shocked and horrified me.

Regardless of what your viewpoint is regarding the subject of animal liberation, it is important to know (imo) what actually goes into producing the products we use everyday - that we consume, put on our skin and spend our hard-earned money on - and then go ahead and decide wether the price is justifiable or not to you. I personally vote not.

19) Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss

On a much lighter note.. I had never read a Dr Seuss book before, and so I decided to do something about it. This book is so cute! And also very clever and wise, and I quite enjoyed it. I think I would have loved it had I read it (or had it read to me) as a child. Will read definitely read some more Dr Seuss in the future. :)

20) Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

I was quite dissapointed by this book. While I usually love Atwood, and the book's subject matter seemed right up my alley, it just somehow turned out to be something I did not quite enjoy. The story itself was interesting, I just couldn't get into to it somehow.

21) The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

This is one of the books that I see people rave about all the time, claiming it to be life-altering or something. And while I liked The Perks of Being A Wallflower, I didn't find it neither rave-worty nor life-altering. A good thing that came out of reading it though was that I discovered the song Asleep by The Smiths, which is SO beautiful. So thanks for that Chbosky!

22) The Giver by Lois Lowry

Who'd've thunk? Another dystopian novel.

I really liked The Giver, it seemed to a be bit different than a lot of dystopians I've read. In a society where everything is uniform and equal; your place and contribution to society chosen for you by a council, along with your spouse and children (the allowed two) - birthed from another woman and assigned to you; where emotions and physical pain is avoided and unknown, one is chosen to know all that society do not. He will gain the memories of love, death, pain, war and sorrow and become the Giver.

A good book.

March wrap up:

(Man, catching up is no fun.)

18) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
19) Animal Liberation by Peter Singer
20) Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss
21) Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
22) The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
23) The Giver by Lous Lowry

Books read: 6
Pages read: 1612
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Total books read:23
Total pages read: 5696




Overall, a quite good reading month. On top would be Peter Singer's Animal Liberation, as I found it to be such an important read. I also really enjoyed The Giver and Green Eggs and Ham (and, of course The Hunger Games, but that sort of doesn't count).

I really liked The Giver too! The second and third in the trilogy took the story in a different direction than I expected, but they were interesting too. I think The Giver is my favorite, though, because the ending is open to interpretation.

24) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling

As I skipped my annual tradition of re-reading the HP-series, I thought I should to it this year - albeit with a slight twist. Instead of reading the actual physical book like I always do, I this time opted to go for the audiobook read by Stephen Fry. Fry + Potter = heart

Mr Fry does an excellent job narrating the book, and I really enjoyed it. My only problem, which is of no fault of either Mr Fry, Mrs Rowling nor Mr Potter, is that I have a hard time focusing on what I hear and not zoning out. This is probably the reason I haven't really ever listened to audiobooks - my mid wander. Still, as always, it's so nice to be with Harry and his friends again. It feels like home :)

25) The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway

I wasn't really expecting to enjoy The Old Man and the Sea - from previous experiences with Hemmingway I've found his writing to not be my thing - and was pleasantly surprise when I did. For some reason, this time the writing style wasn't a dud for me. Rather, I found it quite beautiful. I read The Old Man and the Sea as a grand fantastical adventure, albeit a sad and quite tragic one. Perhaps Hemmingway is more for me than I thought? :)

26) On Writing by Stephen King

To be an author has always seemed to me to be a dream job, so I'm always interested in a good book about the art of writing. I'm not an aspiring author or anything, just find the subject utterly fascinating. In addition, I'm also a huge King buff. Alas, On Writing should be just my thing - and it was. I really liked the more autobiographical part of this book, it was really interesting. The writing part actually had some good pieces of advice I thought, and I really liked how he showed how he edit his texts by showing a text pre-edited then after - explaining the changes he did and why.

Reccomended for fans of King as well as people interested in some writing tips.

27) Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

Ugh, I did not like this book. At all. Why do people seem to like it so much? I don't get it.

The story did have potential I thought; two people with the same name, living two completely different lives, meeting by a fluke and their lives becoming intertwined. While I quite like John Green's writing, I couldn't stand David Levithan's - which I think is a big part of the reason this book did not appeal to me. And the character of Tiny Cooper? And the angry Will Grayson? And that one girl that I can't remember the name of? All awful.

Ew.

28) The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan

Oh, Ian. I do love your writing, so beautiful. I liked how the beauty of McEwan's words contrast so with the gritty, dark and twisted story told in The Cement Garden. Upon opening this book I knew nothing about what it was about, and was quite shocked and slightly disturbed by what I found. This book may be off-putting and offensive to some, but I found it interesting more than anything.

The basic plot line goes as following: a small nuclear family is shattered as the father and husband suddenly and unexpectedly dies, leaving the family to cope without him. As their mother soon after fall sick and is bedridden, the four children are left to fend for themselves and keep the facade as best as they can.

I really liked The Cement Garden, well, as much as you can like something so.. untasteful.

29) The Hours by Michael Cunningham

When I first read this book many years ago I remember being sorely confused. This was before I had read Mrs Dalloway and knew about the tragic life of its creator Virginia Woolf. I just didn't get it then. Now, being a slightly more well read and educated woman (and having seen the movie adaptation, which is brilliant!) I thought the time once more was nigh to read The Hours.

The Hours are like one of those books that you feel like you should love. It's got all the elements you're looking for in a good book, but somehow you just .. don't love it. (Am I the only one this happens to?) I love the concept of The Hours, I love its writing, I love the characters - I just don't love The Hours. And I don't really know why.

April wrap up:

24) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling
25) The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway
26) On Writing by Stephen King
27) Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
28) The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan
29) The Hours by Michael Cunningham

Books read: 6
Pages read: 1397
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Total books read: 29
Total pages read: 7093




I loved revisiting Rowling's magical world this month, as well as having a writing session with Mr King. The hat goes off to McEwan for creeping me out, and while Mr Green and Mr Levithan are banished to the corner of shame.

#40: Hi Hibernator! Glad to see you too enjoyed The Giver. I didn't realise it was part of a triology! Cool. Yeah about that, what did you make of the ending? While reading I was sure everything went well, but upon some post-reading reflection I'm not so sure. Do you reccomend the other two in the series? I might give the second one a go I think.

Well, I guess I interpreted the ending of The Giver rather pessimistically. I think if you liked The Giver, then you’ll like the other two books as well. They took the story in an interesting direction. They are quick reads, so yeah, I’d definitely recommend them—even if they don’t have QUITE the power of The Giver.

>36 RedBowlingBallRuth: I've also been reading books I never got to as a child nor got to read to a child since we didn't have any. Some are hits, some are misses. But it's fun to try them out.

> 42 The Old Man and the Sea was the first Hemingway I read and I really liked it. It was almost a shock to read another book by Hemingway as I really disliked it (The Sun Also Rises.).

#47: Thanks for that, I will check them out! :)

#48: Hi Morphidae! :) I agree, it can be great fun. I also find it interesting reading some of the children's books that are considered classics in other places - I'm not sure many children in Scandinavia (well, at least in Norway) were read books by authors such as Dr Seuss and the like. We're more of the Astrid Lindgren (Pippi Longstocking) and Winnie the Poo type - at least when I was a child. Therefore I like reading these types of books to gain the pop cultural references, and to be let in on all the fun really :)

I haven't read The Sun Also Rises yet, but it's next on my Hemmingway-list as it's the favourite of a good friend and Hemmingway-enthusiast of mine. I've got a feeling I won't feel towards it as I did for The Old Man and the Sea. But we'll see! (As longs as it's not like A Call for Arms, which I did not enjoy)

30) Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

This was my first Marquez, and I'm not sure what I think. While the language is beautiful and the story compelling and interesting, I somehow found myself quite bored.

The day of her twelfth birthday Sierva Maria, the daughter of a faultering noble family, is bitten by a dog and contracts rabies. Believed to be possessed by a demon, Sierva Maria is brought to a convent and isolated in a cell, where she awaits her exorcism. Then she meets the man that is to perform her exorcism, Father Cayetano Delaura, and they fall in love.

I will Marquez another go I think, because he does write beautifully. I'm thinking either One Hundred Years of Solitude or Love in the Time of Cholera.

31) The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

I picked up this book because I needed something quick and easy to read in a period of stressful exam revision, and for that it did its job well. However, I felt it completely lacked any depth whatsoever. I found I didn't care one bit about any of the characters and the non-stop action sequences quickly went from being exciting to becoming increasingly grating.

Not a very good read in my opinion. Hoping the next and last book in this triology turns out better!

I read The Scorch Trials and felt the same way. When I finished the series I still felt the same way. :)

Welcome back, Ruth! You've read a lot of good ones lately, including a bunch that are on my TBR list. Glad to hear you liked The Giver as I just picked that one up at a book sale the other week.

Somehow lost track of this thread, and now you are apparently missing since a month and a half!

Hi Ruth - I had the same experience as you reading The Old man and the Sea. Disliked Hemingway, reading him last year - but this was a very good read. A universal story that captured me from start to finish. Gives me little more hope that I might like some of his other novels.