Cammykittys 11 cats in 2011

I may regret this, but I'm going to join you in the 11 in 11! I'm hoping it will round my reading out a bit more, and I'm expecting it will be fun to chat with you, the other members of this challenge.




My floating dog on his way to another bench disappeared, so here's a non-floating dog, but he does need a rabbit to chase.

I'm shooting for three in each category, but will wimp out quickly and change it to two if I start feeling stressed. Call me a challenge baby! Okay, will try for 44. Yikes. :)

Here's the categories:
1. Green Chicks and Fanged Hicks: Adult science fiction/fantasy/horror
2. But I was crushing on the green guy! YA fantasy
3. The Green Guy is Dead! Mystery
4. The many facets of green: Short story collections
5. It's not easy being green: Auto/Biography/Memoir
6. Gold in the Green Hills: by South African authors
7. Writing that makes me green with envy: Nobel prize winning authors
8. Green and yellow grass: animal behavior
9. Verde! in the Spanish language
10. Falling for his green eyes: non-fantasy YA
11. Green grow the rushes oh: Classics

Sorry for all the green. Simply listing the categories without a bit of cutesy didn't seem a proper way to start off a challenge. Green though, probably won't be in the title of any of my books.

Made it!!! 12/12 thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=122353#2891173

Green Chicks and Fanged Hicks: Adult science fiction/fantasy/horror

1.Cloud Atlas
2.Clay's Ark by Octavia Butler
3. Among Thieves by Doug Hulick
4. Resurrection Code by Lyda Morehouse

Possibles
Kelly McCullough

2 off shelf

But I was crushing on the green guy! YA fantasy

1.47
2.Solitaire
3.Spell Keeper/Broken Legacy Book 3
4. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Possibles
Deerskin journeys challenge
The knife of never letting go journeys challenge
Lightning Thief journeys challenge

None off shelf, which is really sad because I own lots of unread YA fantasy.

The Green Guy is Dead! Mystery and True Crime

1.The Devotion of Suspect X
2. The Infamous Burke and Hare by R. Michael Gordon
3. A kiss before dying by Ira Levin
4. In a Gilded Cage

Possibles

Counterfeit son

In Cold Blood

The many facets of green: Short story collections

1.After the Quake
2.Wireless
3.Mojo: Conjure Stories
4. J-Boys: Kazuo's World, Tokyo, 1965

Possibles

A Fabulous, Formless Darkness

2 off the shelf

It's not easy being green: Auto/Biography/Memoir

1.Motorcycle Diaries
2.My Lord, What a Morning
3.Cave of the Jagua
4.Just Kids by Patti Smith

Possibles

A long way gone
A Mighty Hard Road
When I was Puerto Rican
Catfish and Mandala Journeys challenge
Persepolis
In Cold Blood

1 off the shelf. I don't regret my choices, but I have a few I'm still interested on the shelves too.

Gold in the Green Hills: by South African authors

1.July's People
2.Disgrace
3.Moxyland
4.The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut

Possibles

A Separate Development
Nelson Mandela's autobiography

2 off the shelf

Writing that makes me green with envy: Nobel prize winning authors

1. Walker and The Ghost Dance: Plays by Derek Walcott
2.Snow
3. Gandhi: A Pictorial Biography by Gerald Gold
4. The Stranger
4 1/2. Who killed Palomino Molero

Possibles
Beloved



I snuck a biogrophy on Ghandi in this section because the Nobel prize for literature is very much linked to the Nobel Peace Prize, which he never received the Nobel Peace Prize, although he was nominated five times. (according to wikipedia of course).

Green and yellow grass: animal behavior

1. The Loved Dog
2. The Life of Pi
3. For the Love of the Dog
4. Animal Ghosts by Raymond Bayless

Possibles

Why does my dog act that way
The latchkey dog

I stole the pic from bfertig. Too cute!!! & my dog would love to eat a book a day.

All 4 were off the shelves. A couple of these are a stretch for this category, but oh well. I'm keeping this category (in a wider form) in my 2012 challenge. Animal Ghosts really was about animal behavior. It was just rather less than scientific.

Verde! in the Spanish language

1. Mexican Short Stories / Cuentos mexicanos: A Dual-Language Book edited by Stanley Appelbaum
2. Spanish Short Stories 1 / Cuentos hispánicos 1
3. Spanish Short Stories 2 / Cuentos hispánicos 2
4.

Falling for his green eyes: non-fantasy YA

1.Dark Water by Laura McNeal
2.The Girl who would Speak for the Dead by Paul Elwork
3. No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman
4. The Outsiders by SE Hinton

Possibles
Chasing Redbird Journeys

1 off shelf

Green grow the rushes oh: Classics

1.Cakes and Ale
2.Seraph on the Suwanee
3. Doomsday Morning by CL Moore
4. Madam Bovary

Possibles

Vanity Fair
Dr. Zhivago

2 off the shelf

Welcome to the challenge, Cammykitty. I love how you managed to theme your categories together. I've starred you and am looking forward to chatting about our progress.

DeltaQueen> I think your books-off-the-shelves challenge was what inspired me to do this. & I'll be doing that challenge again too. I was looking at two shelves today and found just about all the books I'll need for this challenge on it, and those books hadn't even been on shelves two months ago. They'd been in bags. :) See you later!

It's not easy being Green" was sung by a famous green celebrity :)

Love your green connections between your categories - and looking forwards to seeing your picks :)

Sally> Yes, Kermie was quite the singer!!! I love his other hit too, "Rubber Ducky."

This looks lovely! I like your categories and the reasonable goal you've set for yourself -- I did a similar number in 2010 (though I'm hoping for a bit more this year... I may need to supplement with lots of graphic novels ;)). Looking forward to seeing what your read, especially for the categories where we overlap!

pam> I'll be running over to check your posts too!

Welcome! Will be looking forward to follwing your thread! (But um, wasn't "Rubber Ducky" by Ernie from Sesame Street?)

GingerbreadMan> Mea culpa!!! I'm getting old if I can mix up Kermit and Ernie!

Rubber Duckie, you're the one,
You make bathtime lots of fun,
Rubber Duckie, I'm awfully fond of you;

Woo woo be doo

Rubber Duckie, joy of joys,
When I squeeze you, you make noise!
Rubber Duckie, you're my very best friend, it's true!

Doo doo doo doo, doo doo

Every day when I
Make my way to the tubby
I find a little fella who's
Cute and yellow and chubby

Rub-a-dub-a-dubby!

Rubber Duckie, you're so fine
And I'm lucky that you're mine
Rubber Duckie, I'm awfully fond of you.

Every day when I
Make my way to the tubby
I find a little fella who's
Cute and yellow and chubby

Rubber Duckie, you're so fine
And I'm lucky that you're mine
Rubber Duckie, I'm awfully fond of -
Rubber Duckie, I'd like a whole pond of -
Rubber Duckie I'm awfully fond of you!

Sally> :) I'll confess, I sing a version of this to my dog whenever I give him a bath. "Dilly doggy, you're the one..."

Finished book one of the challenge. Dark Water by Laura McNeal. It is a YA romance - gringa falls for an Undocumented Mexican in CA when a wild fire hits. It's tragic, and you know it's going to be tragic from the first chapter on. I haven't finished digesting it, so don't look for my review until later. :) It was very well done, & I work in a school with a heavy Latino population. They'd like the book better if it weren't so gringo-centered, but they'll still love it. There isn't enough YA literature in the US that acknowledges the Latinos existence.

I've listed most of the books I hope to read. If anyone else is planning on the same books, it would be cool to coordinate our reading times if possible! Message me or leave a note here if it sounds like a good idea.

I finished my early review book, The Devotion of Suspect X and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I thought I saw exactly how it was going to end and didn't think it was much of a mystery. I figured it was a how-dun-it, not a who-dun-it. Silly me. I'll probably write my review tomorrow.

#3 I finished After The Quake Some of the stories were quiet and wonderful. Some of them were head scratchers - what was that about? I've got a brief review on the book page.

#4 down - classics category Cakes and Ale. A masterful piece not only on character, but perception of character... but a little marred by what I can best describe as literary peevishness.

#5 The Loved Dog. Nothing new, but if you've got a dog to civilize and don't know where to start, this book would help.

It won't teach you how to train your dog to float though, like the lovely white mutt in my ticker.

At this rate you'll be through your challenge in a couple of months! :)

Maybe! I'm sort of on vacation, so am reading faster than usual. I did read Pato por Presidente today. (Duck for President in the Click Clack Moo series). I was tempted to count it, but picture book isn't exactly what I was planning for my "in Spanish" section.

I read After the Quake a few years ago and felt like I really Didn't Get It. I mean, I followed more or less, but most of the stories were crazy-strange, exactly like you said: head-scratchers. Some of Miyazaki's films make me feel the same way. I sometimes wonder if it's because they are so tied to Japanese cultural knowledge that there are massive pieces I'm missing?

pam> That might be part of it, but I just finished reading The Devotion of Suspect X and was marveling at how similar our cultures are. Personally, I think it is Murakami's style. He's a character-driven writer. If there's something in the character you recognize, it's great. If not, then who cares. He does use some very subtle symbolism, like in "Landscape with a Flatiron." That one I loved.

Superfrog though definitely hinges on some cultural knowledge. Godzilla!!! I have several Asian-American friends who have a love-hate relationship to Godzilla. It's low budget fakey entertainment, and for many years the first thing (or only thing) people from the US thought of if you said "Japanese Film." That it would be people's impression of a whole nation is pretty offensive, but, at the same time, many of us have watched Godzilla and loved it in all its little-boy fantasy glory. My first response to the superfrog story was "huh," but when I made the dragon/godzilla connection, wow. I need to read that one again.

I finished Motorcycle Diaries. It was Che at his most benign. I'd love to know more about the last entry. It was the most "revolutionary" of the entire diary. He was quoting a man with missing teeth who was saying something about people dying in the revolution, but it wasn't very clear what he meant. It was also the only thing in the diaries that foreshadowed what Che was to become. The rest of it is an upbeat, cheeky retelling of two young men on a journey, with no explanation as to why they stop off at mines. It's clear that Che edited the diaries for publication. Nothing deeply personal was in it at all. As for the last bit, the translator noted that it was not clear when it was written or what town it took place in. It is a bit disjointed, but it wouldn't shock me to find it had been written after the fact.

Oh, I'd missed/lost your thread here on the 11 in 11! Love the category titles! I've got you starred now!

Cool! I'm listing Oh Lord, What a Morning as a memoir possible! Thanks for that suggestion.

I stretched my animal behavior section to include The Life of Pi. The animals, except of course the meerkats, behaved in ways I would expect them to. If he hadn't gotten this right, I would've thrown the book against the wall. (I'm one of the few people who hate Call of the Wild because the dog/wolf interaction didn't seem realistic to me.) The religious "dabbling", for lack of a better word, was interesting but Pi's survival didn't seem like a religious miracle to me. It wasn't, as his Uncle had sold it, a story to make you believe in God. I'm sure some people read it that way though. To me, that was Martel's genius. Everything he said was undercut by an awareness of the book as an artifact created by an unreliable author retelling a story from an unreliable (and fictitious) narrator. I really enjoyed this book and give it a 4 star, but from everything I've heard about it I expected it to be a 5. I'll probably be thinking about it for the next few days and I expect it will grow on me.

Years ago, I found Life of Pi to be an interesting read, but also not earth shattering. I was taken by surprise at the Big Reveal and I thought the book as a whole was very well-written (and what, you went into it knowing about the unreliability?), but it's not one of those that has had a great influence on me, at least, not as far as I can tell today. Most definitely entertaining, though; I couldn't put it down at the time.

Pam> I'm always on the look out for unreliable narrators, and I knew I was in for it the minute the author said he quit writing his novel on Portugal and mailed the notes to an address in Siberia with a return address in South America. 1st, novelists lie. Second, novelists almost never get rid of their notes. Third, young novelists are too poor to waste postage! As for the Big Reveal, isn't that unreliable too? The Taiwanese Zebra and the Hyena Chef aren't terribly convincing.

I loved The Life of Pi when I read it, but I read it as a straight adventure story. I also didn't see anything earth shatteringly spiritual about the book itself. It was a lot of fun however. :)

I hadn't heard anything about The Life of Pi before I read it beyond the "boy in a lifeboat with a tiger" setup so the ending astonished me and I had to rethink the entire book as a result.

39+40> I've been rethinking it a bit too. I read it as a fun adventure on one level, but I knew he was up to more. I think I was on a goose chase though because I thought it would be something about spirituality. To be honest, I read the book mostly as an animal behaviorist (I train dogs) and he got his facts right there. But the book wasn't about the animals! I wrote my reviews and then found myself laughing at myself because I'd missed the point. The point was the stories we tell ourselves in order to make sense of the world and survive. Pi got his hands on all sorts of stories, and he fabricated many others. This was metafiction at its subtlest.

Our local book discussion group did "Life of Pi" one month last year, but I didn't participate -- I was knee-deep in reading a lot of other stuff and was not in the proper mood to tackle the book, based on the little that I knew about it.

But I may have to get around to it one of these days . . .

tymfos> It's a fun book that can be read at many levels. But yes, it is 400 pages which can't always be squeezed in among the thousands of other pages you need to read.

I'll probably try Pi one of these days!

I just finished Wireless by Charlie Stross. It isn't fair to say the collection is uneven, but I did really get in to some stories and not into others. He always creates very unusual worlds for his stories, even his short stories, so sometimes it's a little difficult to acclimatize. Some of the stories were fabulous though. There was even a Jeeves & Wooster goes to Mars. Quite twisty, but I won't commit spoilerage.

#9 Cloud Atlas I loved this book until I got to the last two sections. I could have forgiven my critique on Frobisher's section, but the end really bothered me. I won't say more. Don't want to spoil it for someone else. Obviously, not everyone agrees with me.

I finished Mexican Short Stories. My real review is on the book page here http://www.librarything.com/work/book/66705713 & it's a good review if I can be arrogant about it. ;) The stories in this anthology were all written by authors born in the 1800s, so the Spanish is a bit tricky and you guessed it, no women. Most of the stories were really good though. Favorites were "Antonia" and "The Unclaimed Watch." "El Fusilado" is as chilling as Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" or maybe even more so. After all, this version isn't set in a town that presumably never was and never will be.

That is a good review! And yours is the only one for that book too.

Thanks! Bilingual books seem to get overlooked a lot!

#11 47 by Walter Mosley. I love Walter Mosley, but not this book. I love Science Fiction/Fantasy, but not this book. *sigh* My review is on the book page here: http://www.librarything.com/work/511965/book/69677685 Basically, the book was about a boy overcoming slavery. Cool. Great concept. Except the magic/science fiction element clashed with the realism of the piece. Zombie overseer. Little orange men. It just didn't work. But nobody sang "OompaLoompa Deedledee Do!"

Reading your review, I'm surprised you rated 47 as highly as you did! It sounds like one of those concepts that could either be amazed or not worth the time it takes to read it. It's too bad it didn't work out for you....

Pam> I think I save my 1s kind of like I save my 5s. 1s are for utter dreck that never, ever should have been published like the one mocked here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/99650

47 was a competent experiment that just never jelled. Sigh...

#12 Walker and The Ghost Dance: Plays by Derek Walcott

What can I say. These plays were rich, beautiful, complex and sad. No relationships were simple. The only drawback to these plays were that they were on the page. I would have loved to see them on the stage.

I've brought 47 home from the library a couple of times but never picked it up to read. Sounds like one I won't be reading any time soon, though I'll followup your recommendation of Trapped between Lash and Gun.
I thought I'd read Mosley before but I haven't, any you care to recommend?

I liked Walter Mosley Devil in a Blue Dress but I didn't get on with his fantasy/horror short story in Stories. So I think after your review I might stick to his noir.

54-55> Trapped between the Lash and the Gun is YA, actually younger YA but it makes a really good connection between gangs and slavery. It also also gives a very vivid picture of slavery, but not one that is too graphic for a 13 year old.

Walter Mosley is best known for his mysteries. Blonde Faith was good. Clfsha has probably read more of him than I have. I own a horror novel of his too, but haven't read it yet. I admire an author that refuses to be pigeon- holed into one genre.

"But nobody sang "OompaLoompa Deedledee Do!"". Ok, I nearly chocked on my tea there. lol!

57> Glad you didn't choke! I wouldn't want that on my conscience!

#13 July's People by Nadine Gordimer. This book could've fit in two of my categories. She is a nobel prize winner, but I decided to put her in South African writers. She is that too. July's People is about a South Africa and its people, depicted with such detail and subtlety, that only a South African could have written this book. It's an excellent novel, built on the misunderstandings and changing relationships that led to the violent South Africa of the 1980s. My review is here: http://www.librarything.com/work/85697/reviews/67649804

#14 Clay's Ark by Octavia Butler. Had to laugh as I glanced through other people's reviews of this book. One said it was the grossest Octavia Butler book they'd ever read, and since Octavia can do gross, that was an unpleasant thing indeed. ... I disagree. Octavia can get far more "gross." This novel had the plot structure of a horror novel, but the characters were too engaging and sympathetic for it to feel like it was truly horror.

I enjoyed it, but was wondering why it was in the Patternmaster series. It has an of-screen tie-in to a minor character in the second book of the series. Other than that, it is more like Fledgling which IMHO is a more uncomfortable read, except people have gotten used to vampires. Maybe when I finish the Patternmaster series, I'll figure it out.

@60 Hm. I remember Fledgling (my only Butler so far) as a pretty gentle book, especially in it's unfazed presentation of the human-ina relationship and how it redefines "family". Must have forgotten about the uncomfortable stuff.

61> Well, the vampire was prepubescent, but also not prepubescent. That was pretty icky. SPOILER & she eats one of her dad's lovers. SPOILER over: But to be fair to Clay's Ark, there was a level of human violence that isn't typical in Butler's worlds. I should have really compared it to Bloodchild, which is wormy creepy revolting.

#15 Mojo: Conjure Stories. I'll probably write a review of this tomorrow. About two of the stories were 5 star, three 4 star, and the others 3 star. No clunkers, and definitely a fun read for African-American history month. The collection included both African-American and white authors (Neil Gaiman) and each story approached magic differently... although eventually I thought I'd been at the "crossroads" enough.

re July's People - I have read a short story or two by Nadine Godimer, and have one of her books on my TBR pile, will definitely be bumping her up on the list after reading your review. I have read quite a few books set in South Africa, so look forward to reading her longer work.
I really loved Cry, the Beloved Country, and I enjoy Doris Lessing's books. I did enjoy Disgrace, very well-written, though tough in terms of the subject.

Hi!

I saw your review on Nadine Godimer, and contemplating if I should exchange one of the books in my category with Nobelprizewinners to her instead.

And - I really like the way you named your categories. Fun with a theme!:-)

64> Soffitta I'm hoping on reading Disgrace latter this month, after I'm done with my early review book. & Cry, the Beloved Country was on my parents' bookshelves when I was growing up. I should definitely read it some day, especially since I see people here are still reading it and still finding it relevent.

65> Hi Piggelin. You can't go wrong with any of the nobel prize winners really, but Nadine Godimer is definitely worth reading.

Thanks to both of you for stopping by!

#16 Solitaire by Kelley Eskridge. This was a YA novel, but it seems more appropriate for high school to me. Most kids in high school have moved on and started to read adult novels. The beginning set my allergy to big corporations into a flare up, but I took a benedryl and kept reading. ;) I'm glad I did. It was a very well written, well plotted book about relationships, especially relationships with damaged people. (Not a dysfunctional family book though.) I gave it 5 stars and you can read the real review here: http://www.librarything.com/work/153714/reviews/70178087

#16.02 Harlem Redux I got 7 pages in. Overwritten. Wanted to use a red pencil on it. The man was altered over the years. Altered??? Thats how show dog people describe neutered dogs. Men change, they don't alter!!!

Maybe aliens got to him :)

Or plastic surgeons who don't ask first?

Or alien plastic surgeons??? Scary!

#17 Disgrace. What a distasteful book.

Interesting review of Solitaire.

Love the comments on Harlem Redux.

#72 Any further comment on Disgrace?

Thanks tymfos.

Disgrace I'm a feminist, which isn't really a problem with this book. I don't think the author is a sexist jerk, but his protagonist is. It starts out with a professor seducing a student, being called before a committee to defend himself and he refuses too because he thinks he did nothing wrong. Spoiler time: Then there's a rape later, and I always find it hard to read about rapes. Protag didn't do it, but he continues to have a dreadful attitude towards women. Then, it ends with what I read as a symbolic suicide. The protag has been volunteering at an animal welfare organization and is starting to get attached to a dog. He helps putting down the unadopted dogs. I can deal with that. I've worked with dogs long enough to understand why shelters need to do that. I've been volunteering at a dog school for 8 or 9 years now and my ex used to work at the Humane Society. Anyway, the book ends when the protag puts down this three-legged dog he's gotten attached to. It's clear he could spare the dog, but decides not to, perhaps because he is still afraid of passion. Fear of passion is what got him messed up with the student in the first place. So did he move forward much? IMHO, no! & they killed a dog in order to get the protagonist from crappy point A to slightly less crappy point C. Someone who isn't so reactive towards sexism and violence towards dogs could probably get a lot out of the book. They might even interpret the euthanasia as an act of love. Me, I was stopped by everything I hated about the protagonist.

I don't think I'd like that book, either. Thanks for the warning!

Hi, I'm following your reading and enjoying your book comments. Anyway I'm adding Solitaire to my to-read list and passing on Harlem Redux. I read Disgrace years ago and don't really remember much except not particularly liking it.

Not the Coetzee for me to try. You probably saved me from a good cry!

Tymfos, your welcome! I almost quit reading it right away, but that Nobel prize sticker kept me going!

Probably Tanglewood. It's kind of sad that Disgrace was my first Coetzee because I'll never read his work again, and perhaps I would've liked some of his other books. I make fun of the writing saying that if you kill a dog in your mystery, better get a new pen name, but in this case for this reader, he better get a new pen name!

avatiakh> I don't think you'll be disappointed with Solitaire. I'm glad Small Beer Press decided to bring it back into print.

Well, Coetzee was out to create a thoroughly unlikeable character in unpleasant circumstances. Sounds like he was resoundingly successful.

Yes, he was resoundingly successful. I liked most of the other characters!

18# My Lord, What a Morning I don't know how to describe this book and my reaction to it in a short manner. It's Marian Anderson's autobiography. For those of you who aren't familiar with her, she was an African-American opera singer who opened doors for the people who followed her. She was humble, pious, and generous. I've always admired her, and cried the day she died. I really enjoyed this book, but can't say it was a great memoir or an intense read. If you want to know more, check out my review on the book page here: http://www.librarything.com/work/522933 I think Marian would be pleased.

Better yet, check out her music. Here's a video of her singing the spiritual the book was named for: http://www.librarything.com/work/522933

#19 Spell Keeper/Broken Legacy. Not in print yet. It's a bloodier Tamara Pierce type world. Warriors actually do take their pikes to horses in this one.

I thought your review of My Lord, What a Morning was very good! You put into words some of the things I was feeling about the book, but didn't find a good way to say. Thumb!

Thanks Terri! I had to think about My Lord for a bit before I could write that review. I had a lot of different reactions and feelings to it.

#20 Seraph on the Suwanee. Why couldn't she have finished the novel a few paragraphs earlier? Tell me the ending was her editor's idea. This was an excellent novel, so long as you didn't listen too much to the introduction, but then she had to spoil it on the last two pages. Grrrr!!! You can see my review here: http://www.librarything.com/work/book/66526784 My review doesn't quite do it justice, but I wasn't sure how to write much more without committing spoilerage. Sadly, I'm the only one to have reviewed it. I would like to hear what other LTers have thought about it.

What do you think - would you like to read Snow this month or do you rather push it ahead sometime?
I have no problem to read it later on, but I could also start with it end of next week as well. Let me know how you like to do.

I'm ready for Snow anytime. Is there anyone else reading it with us??? Let me know when works for you. Right now I'm reading Spanish short stories and an essay collection. They can easily be put down and picked up later.

Excellent - then let's start with it by the end of next week. ( I need this weekend to wrap up 1-2 books that I have ongoing since a while...).

As far as I know, it's no one else - I haven't really checked around, who else have it on their list...

I think it's just us too. Start end of next week works well for me. I'll talk to you soon!

I loved Snow. Thanks for the invite, cammy! I will join in!

Thanks for the invitation to join you for the group read of Snow, but I already read it so I will decline at this time. It's a great read so I hope others enjoy it as much as I did.

Good to hear from you Squeaky & Hemlok! Hemlok, when I figure out how we want to organize this, I'll send you the thread info. Cool! This will be fun.

I just got back into town today and am trying to finish up some of the books I started while I was gone. I will monitor this thread, but am not sure if I will get started right now. I'll tag along though.

benita> Sounds good! I've been real busy too so am not as far into Snow as I was hoping to be.

I set up a little thread to discuss Snow. It is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/112579

just getting aroudn to swinging by here. like your green theme for this year!

if you want another thumper of a book for South Africa - Nelson Mandela's autobiography is really really excellent - so well written it doesn't take much to for it to fly by. im sure i've reviewed it more thoroughly somewhere else as well.

Ive also been recommended The power of one - but haven't read it yet. so if you do, let me know what you think!

Thanks! Mandela's autobiography is a good idea! I'm sure it has it's depressing moments, but on the whole, it must be more hopeful than Disgrace.

see that was one of the incredible things - I didn't feel depressed at all reading his biography. he writes *that well*. his story is interleaved with so many inspirational aphorisms. its like reading an autobiography with fortune cookie fortunes that are actually meaningful. when i read it, i thought it would be fun to collect them, but that was one of those things i never got around to doing. im sure someone else has already pulled them together somewhere for their enjoyment or profit. maybe bartletts.

Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him quoted very often. I'm sure he should be.

Maybe one day I will reread it and flag them. But will leave that for later. He had some really great stuff on leadership, on human nature, on being able to look back at one's life, struggles, and accomplishments.

I'll definitely have to read it!

As for the challenge, alas, it's sidetracking me from other things I should be doing. Like research on a project that I've had going off and on for years. The challenge isn't meant to be stressful, although perhaps it is meant to be a distraction, so I'm not quitting but I am putting it on the back burner. I do like having a place to log and chat about my reading though, so I think I'll add a "non-challenge" ticker at some point. Perhaps next year, the 75 book challenge would be a fit for me, although I've got no intention of making sure I read 75 books instead of a bunch of doorstoppers!

#21 Snow Sorry, we didn't discuss much on our team read. This one is a hard one to discuss. I spent the first half trying to figure out who the narrator was and where to place my feet. On some level, it felt like a Russian novel crossed with metafiction. I still don't know what to say about it, other than I enjoyed it.

I hate to admit it but even though I did get it checked out I didn't get it read. I do want to read it at some point so will have to work on getting it done. Glad to hear that you enjoyed it. That is some incentive to get busy on it. I had read his book on Istanbul and liked it and his style so do want to read more of his stuff.

Benita, I'll be interested to hear what you think. It isn't the kind of book that you can just squeeze into 1/2 hour before bed, so I totally understand why you haven't had time!

#22 Doug Hulick's Among Thieves. It's a fabulous debut book, and you can tell that Doug is a historian by the rich world he has created. When I finished reading it, I said to myself "sweet!" Not because there is anything sweet about the book. There isn't. Everyone is working at cross-purposes, screwing each other over on the surface but with respect on a deeper level. Fantastic debut novel.

Good to see another positive comment on Among Thieves. It's just popped onto my wishlist recently and now has its place cemented by you and majkia.

I'm sure you'll like it, especially if you like fencing. For me, he's a local, so I'm excited to see his career get started.

#23 I'm sneaking The Girl Who would Speak for the Dead into my YA non-fantasy section, even though it doesn't quite fit there. This was an ER book, an historical novel inspired by the Fox sisters who tricked people into thinking they could communicate with the dead. The book was neither here nor there, not rich enough to be adult, not fast enough paced to be YA, not bad enough to be good or bad enough to be bad. Poor thing.

#24 The Infamous Burke and Hare by R. Michael Gordon. This was my March ER book. It was riveting, if not a bit stomach churning, not so much because of the murders that happened but because of the society that fostered these murders. Although by no means a complete look at 1800s Edinburgh, it is a rich and fascinating one. My review is here: http://www.librarything.com/work/book/71947513

The Infamous Burke and Hare does sound good. I will be keeping my eyes open for that one!

110> It is good! It's small press though, so unless you tell your library to get it you probably won't just stumble upon it.

@109 Sounds intriguing, I need something to wash the taste of that awful recent Burke & Hare Simon film out of my mouth!

I can't imagine making a movie about them. The myth perhaps, but as for reality? They were quarrelsome, lazy men who found it easier to murder than to dig up corpses like the other "resurrectionists." Hardly tragic heroes.

I think that's one reason I disliked it too dishonest to be a proper very dark comedy

I have no idea who Burke and Hare were, but am officially very intrigued.

It's a great historic book, but if you look at Burke and Hare as a fiction plot or a movie plot, it isn't going to work without altering the facts immensely. You can't even give us a good police investigator to follow, because the police were incredibly unaware of their activities for far too long. If you want a similar dark comedy, we've got Arsenic and Old Lace. I don't think it can be topped.

At the Surgeons' Hall Museum in Edinburgh you can see a pocketbook they made out of Burke's skin! The expression "truth is stranger than fiction" springs to mind. :)

#117 They mentioned that in the book. Apparently a lot of those were sold. Gross!!! It sounds so brutal. I wouldn't want to touch that! It's not like a saint's relic.

@118

Quite bizarre, right? I'm definitely going to pick up the Burke and Hare book!

119> Very bizarre! If you've been to Surgeons' Hall, you definitely have to read it. I'm surprised the surgeons want that in their museum. I'm thinking they'd prefer to forget the whole thing. It makes them look pretty bad!

Strangely enough there are some even weirder stuff there! The book just looks like a book, but there are some old surgical instruments that look more like torture instruments that really made my skin crawl. Absolutely fascinating, though, since I must admit to having a morbid streak. :)

I love the Surgeons' Hall museum, fascinating and alarming in equal measure! It almost reminds me of the museum in Krakenby China Mieville.

brrrr!!! There's enough stuff in a modern doctor's office to make my skin crawl.

great review and sounds interesting!
I first learned of Burke and Hare in Stiff when she was talking about uses of cadavers in medicine through history, and these neer-do-wells were also mentioned briefly as one of the Encyclopedia Britannica entry read by the guy who read the whole thing and wrote about it in The know-it-all.

The situation with people coming and going quickly and anonymously in society's underbelly kinda reminds me a bit of that described in Chicago during the Worlds Fair, in Devil in the white city

Ah, I should've guessed they would make Stiff. Mary Roach does some great writing on some bizarre topics. Another one of my friends said it sounded like Devil in the White City. I hadn't thought about the fact that so many people would be traveling into Chicago so no one would notice if they were gone. Very much the kind of victim Burke and Hare were looking for. I'm going to have to read Devil eventually.

#25 Spanish Short Stories 1 / Cuentos hispánicos 1 (Parallel Text) The other review called this collection "dated." I'm tempted to call it tedious. I really liked "Paloma" and sort of enjoyed a couple others, but the collection wasn't terribly varied, and you'd think no woman ever wrote in the Spanish language if this was all you read.

I had this at school, we read a couple of them, but as you said very much a male collection.

The Burke and Hare book sounds rather interesting . . .

128> It is. I think you'd like it.

Uh oh - My adult science fiction and fantasy section is now finished. And I have tons more of them on mount TBR.

#26 Resurrection Code by another local author, Lyda Morehouse. I'm soooo happy she's returned to this particular world: post major world war that has been blamed on people's lack of religious morals, so now it is mandatory that one be officially registered in a religion. & what's more, the archangels are on earth, doing His/Her bidding, and in this case, He/She has ordered them them to martyr a rather nice transgender prophet. I prefer the other books in the series, but this one was enjoyable and politically more daring than the others. However, it was much shorter than the others and didn't feel as rich as they did. (& the copyediting was rather poor, but oh well.)

It looks like you could hit your goal early since you're already more than halfway there, and then you could move your goal and add some more books. I too have already filled one category this year and that's my plan.

That is a good idea. Who knows what summer will bring?

#27 Cave of the Jagua Not really a biography or an autobiography, but it is as close as we're going to get to talking to a Taino since they are all extinct. They were unlucky enough to be the first tribe to meet Columbus. Interesting information, but the book got bogged down with methodology. Really bogged down. After awhile, I couldn't take it anymore. I skimmed the last few chapters.

#28 No More Dead Dogs Gordon Korman always does an excellent job of writing books at an easy reading level that will appeal to older kids. I love this because I'm often working with middle school kids who are reading at a 2nd grade level. When you're twelve and starting to call yourself a tween, Runaway Ralph isn't going to cut it.

In No More Dead Dogs, football *star* Wallace Wallace gets terminal detention for telling the truth, the book that the school play is based on sux. Thing is, detention means watching the play... and Wallace can't help but make suggestions. In the meantime, someone seems to be trying to frame him and he finds out who his real friends are. Very funny, very readable. Somewhere around 4 to 5 stars.

#29 Moxyland was a wonderful cyberpunk dystopia that only a modern South African could write, complete with softdrink sponsorbabies, rebels with a cause but perhaps not direction, corporatism, police violence and biotech dogs. What more could you ask for? I gave it 4 1/2 stars. I really loved it, and wanted to give it 5, but felt that should be saved for, what? Shakespeare?

Moxyland sounds good, but I am like you, I think I have rated only 2 or 3 books as 5*. It's a question of 5/5, that would mean it was perfect, and is anything? I suppose you could take it like a uni score of 20/20, which didn't mean 100%, it was more like the best that could be achieved.

Moxyland does sound good and I almost bought it on it's release over here but somehow never actually did get round to it. I do however have the follow up book Zoo City on the tbr shelves so I'll see how that goes first before looking at picking up Moxyland again.

soffita> I'll give 5s when I'm judging a book as a certain "type," as in Korman's No More Dead Dogs. It is what it is, a book for "reluctant readers," and it's a great book for reluctant readers. Moxyland though has a stiffer set of criteria for a 5 since it's written for adults, and has a lot of other cyberpunk novels to compete with. But I agree, 5/5 should be rare.

Wolfy> Tell me what you think of Zoo City when you get around to it. In Moxyland, she includes a list for further reading (that I'm growling about, because of course I'll enter all of them in my wishlist.) For some reason, I think Zoo City can't be as sharp as Moxyland but I'm just going on gut. I've never had my hands on a copy of Zoo City>

It may be a while before I get to it but there have been Lt'ers who's opinion I respect that have said good things about Zoo City. I have it scheduled for the Z read for my alphabet challenge but need to read a Y title first. Neither fit in any of the categories for this challenge though so who knows when I'll pick it up.

I haven't heard of the Alphabet Challenge. That could be a fun one. Two challenges are enough for me though. I'm in the books off the shelf challenge too, and find 11 11 really distracts me from that one.

I have 5 ongoing challenges but only 1 has a time limit which is this one. The category challenge has always been my primary focus with the others getting filled in as and when. Sometimes 1 book will be cross-posted into 3 threads so that helps. One of the reasons I chose the stepped version for this year though was to give a bit of breathing room so that I could make some progress in those other challenges as well.

Where is the books off the shelf challenge? Sounds like something I should be involved in *looking guiltily at a pile of recent 20 acquistions*

It's here.

Wolfy, I like your stepped challenge approach. What are your other challenges?

Soffitta, the Books off the shelf challenge is great, but sometimes it feels a little like dieting. A lot of the end of month posts read like: "I read 5 books off the shelf!!! but alas, my fill-in-the-blank-here dragged me into a bookstore... so I bought 6." It's helped (some) for me, since books are now becoming a housekeeping problem, but I'll confess to a year end book binge to prepare for this year's books off the shelf challenge.

& here's #30 for this challenge (a much lower # for BOS) A Kiss Before Dying. It was a joy to read such a tightly plotted mystery, and also interesting to read a book that feels like an historic novel. It was set Post World War II when a lot of the returning GIs were going to college on the GI bill. But of course, it was written during that time period and was therefore a "contemporary" mystery.

@cammykitty, as well as the 11 in 11 Category and Alphabet challenges I also have the Reading Globally, Europe Endless, and Fifty States challenges. I'm trying not to duplicate entries in those last three by making the Europe & US threads based on the crime/mystery/thriller genre.

Sounds interesting, and a good way to make sure your reading is diverse. I pop into Reading Globally once in awhile, and of course the South Africa thread there since I'm reading South African authors this year. Next year, I'm moving my reading to the Caribbean though!

The diversity is the main reason I started the challenges. Before joining LT I was pretty much totally fixated on Fantasy & Sci-Fi and thought the category challenge would be a great way to expand on what I read. Then it just snowballed from there.

I'm very much Fantasy & Science Fiction too, but I really do like reading books written by people from other cultures than my own. Some of my categories are sort of "good for you" categories, but if a book is only "good for me," I won't finish it. It has to be better than that!

I'll drop in with my two cents as well. I like the LT group reads, as I can generally read at my own pace and if I don't get the book finished I don't feel like such a heel, which is what happens when I don't get the book read for my real life discussion group. I get motivated by LT, but don't feel as much pressure. I can lurk on the threads and pop in when I want to do so. I also hear about lots of good stuff and am reminded of lots of good stuff I want to read.

I think my pile of books at home would keep growing no matter what I did with LT. My pile has also become a housekeeping problem so you are not alone. LT has also helped me stop buying as many books as I did in the past and make my use of the local libraries more consistent. Of course, the economic situation at home has also prompted more library use, but that is a good thing, for all of us.

Yes, libraries are great, and the more we use them, the more books they can get. We can make our housekeeping problem theirs! I've enjoyed some of the group reads too. I'm tempted to join the 70 book challenge next year even though I've got no intention of reading that many books, just because they seem to have a wide variety of lively group reads.

I agree -- group read with LT aren't nearly as much pressure as reading for a RL group that meets on a specific day.

I should probably join a group that pushes me out of my comfort zones more -- I have things set up so I can fit almost anything into one or another of my 11 in 11 categories, so it really doesn't push me very far. But, then, I don't want to get where reading is a chore, and I'm reading things I don't like because I "have to."

Books off the Shelf is good in that it keeps me looking at the bounty already on my shelves. Sometimes I forget about some of the good stuff I already have! But it really doesn't clear things out much. I, too, "binge buy" one year with the next year's challenge in mind.

I'll join in singing the praises of libraries -- I loved them even before I was hired to work in one.

A couple of my categories have pushed me out of my comfort zone, but a good group read helps to really appreciate the books more. For example, Disgrace. I didn't have a group read on that one, but hearing other people's comments and then looking up some information on the author has helped me appreciate that book. Without other input, I certainly wouldn't have seen anything in the book other than *ick*ness.

#31 completes my auto/biography/memoir section. Just Kids is a very sweet but odd love story, although that word "love" seems to need some qualifiers about Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe. I gave it 4 1/2 stars, partly because I just can't give out those 5 star ratings! And partly because I would've started at the second chapter. The early childhood stuff wasn't that interesting to me, although it is rather odd to think of Mapplethorpe as a Catholic altar boy.

I have a lot of trouble giving out 5s also. Don't quite know why. Although the book I'm reading now (my May ER) may just get one. We'll see.

154: I hope it earns a five! Let me know if it does.

I don't give out 5's either. However, I do keep a best of the year list.

A Kiss Before Dying is a really good book. It was recommended to me by VictoriaPL. I've found that the quality of the books I read has increased because I hear of such good books here on LT. It has also increased the number of books I own, but that's no bad thing. I love always having a wonderful choice of what to read next.

I totally agree Ridgeway, but I may need to build a library addition onto my house!

Benita, I should probably do a best list too. I always love reading everyone's best lists.

#32 completes the YA fantasy section. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. I'll say more about it tomorrow, when I've had time to think about it. What an odd, far-fetched yet enjoyable novel. It ends with quite a set up for a sequel.

#33 will probably be Ghandi: A Pictorial Biography. Even neither the book, nor Ghandi received a Nobel prize, I feel justified in sneaking it in under that category since biography is already a completed section.

To be honest, the Nobel Prize category has been a bit disappointing. The authors are absolutely beautiful writers, but often their subject matter can get pessimistic and morose. Pessimistic? That surprises me because I feel working towards peace, even in a cynical person, requires a great deal of optimism. Perhaps I've just made unlucky choices. (I'm speaking more of Coetzee and Godimer than Walcott, who is definitely a cynical optimist.) Confession: I couldn't get through Blindness.

#33 was in fact Ghandi: A pictorial Biography. It was a great crash course on Ghandi, and on India during the time period when it was trying to no longer be a colony. I had no idea that Ghandi had lived in South Africa, and had shaped many of his ideas about prejudice and equality while he was there. The pictures, of course, were fabulous.

>160 cammykitty:. So glad you liked it!

>161 auntmarge64: Thanks again!

#34 For the Love of the Dog by Patricia McConnell. I doubt I'll have time to write a proper review of this book because I'll be busy in the next few days, and computerless. Patricia McConnell has to be one of the best dog behaviorists writers in the US. This book is both funny, thought provoking and advanced enough to keep the interest of those of us who have read many, many dog books and worked with hundreds of dogs. It focuses on human and dog brain functions and emotions. Don't let that technical description scare you though. It is written in a very accessible style though so would not be inappropriate for the casual dog owner who wants to have a better relationship with their dog.

#35 Doomsday Morning by CL Moore, who is the posthumous guest of honor at a convention I'll be going to soon. I feel justified in putting this book in classics because it is older than I am, it is science fiction, and it still doesn't feel dated. A lot of science fiction feels dated by the time it is only 5 years old, especially near future science fiction which this is. Here's my review:

I have to admire any science fiction that can remain available for over 40 years and not seem dated. In Doomsday Morning, the United States has become totalitarian. Even the actors are a part of the propaganda machine. (Remember World War II movies, followed by anticommunism with Ronnie Reagan as head of the actors union? It isn't impossible.) A washed up actor finds himself in the middle of a shift in power. He can either help an old friend slide into the presidency by acting in a slightly amusing but constrained play, or he can ad lib a bit and join the rebels.

#36, another oldie, but it isn't quite old enough to sneak it into the classics. The Outsiders by SE Hinton. There's a reason kids are still reading this one as fast as they can. The first person narrator sounds very authentic, and the gang violence, sadly still resonates.

My son's English class read The Outsiders this past year, Katie.

I'm not surprised that some classes are teaching it. There are a lot of different ideas worth discussing about it. What I can't believe is that SE Hinton was 16 when she wrote it.

#37 Spanish Short Stories 2 / Cuentos hispánicos 2 This collection was much better than Spanish Short Stories 1 / Cuentos hispánicos 1. It included (applause) one woman, and the stories came from a broader range of countries. The authors chosen were still the safe literary heavy-hitters: Garcia Marquez, Fuentes (both Carlos & Norberto, no relation), Vargas Llosa, Cortazar. The stories though had much more joy in life, even when covering dark subjects.

If you're interested in my review, it is here: http://www.librarything.com/work/book/66452214

#38 finishes the Animal Behavior section. Animal Ghosts by Raymond Bayless. It was a poor attempt at proving that animals have an afterlife and have psychic abilities. For someone trying to prove these things, he spent a lot of time talking about "fraudulent" (his word not mine) mediums and unverifiable sightings.

Favorite quote: The medium devoted a large part of her performance to one purpose, and that was to victimize a mother and daughter whose husband and father had just died. Personally, I think such professional mediums are little, if any, better than a seller of dope, and their trade is one of the vilest. A black widow spider possesses higher ethics, and a shark more compassion.

In a way, this book made a nice (if a bit tedious) companion piece to The Girl who would Speak for the Dead. Animal Ghosts did explain how "ethical" mediums could make a living without charging money. A few days later, it was customary for the bereaved to give them gifts. It was also customary for the mediums to say that the gift was far too valuable and they would prefer money instead.

Speaking about psychics, did you hear about the short psychic who was running from the law? The headlines read: "Small medium at large"

Har har har. ;-P An oldie but goodie.

LOL! That is a good one. Goes along with the section in the book where the author got some very good information from his dead sister... who never existed. Not nice to set up psychics!

#39 Madame Bovary finishes off the Classics category. Queasy-making little book on betrayal at all levels of society. Brilliant ending. 5 star

Have you seen the Claude Chabrol film version of Madame Bovary? It's beautifully filmed and Isabelle Huppert is magnificent.

No, I haven't. I'll have to see if netflix has it. Thanks!

#40 J-Boys: Kazuo's World, Tokyo, 1965 finishes up my short story section. The back copy on this book claims it is a series of linked short stories, but I'm not really sure. Structurally, it felt more like memoir than anything else. It was very anecdotal, nearly plotless and devoid of tension. It was, however, a nice slice of life piece meant to share the experience of growing up in Japan in 1965. It's for a middle grade audience, but I'm not sure that audience will have the patience for such a quiet piece as this. Japan is high-interest right now though, thanks to all the manga and anime. It might find some happy teen readers.

#41 The Good Doctor finishes off my South African category. I'll have to admit, this was the most challenging category for me to fill. I choose it because my grandfather emigrated from South Africa. My grandfather died when my father was still quite young, so I never knew him and it's not like I felt like I grew up with a special heritage because of it. My uncle had kept up the ties to the family there. Now that my uncle has passed away, we've lost contact with anyone in South Africa but I still have a special interest in that country. Their history is tragic, and much of the post-apartheid fiction has a post-apocalyptic or even holocaust feel.

The Good Doctor, set in a homeland (think Indian reservation in US) that has become close to abandoned, has this feel. It's quite clear from the very beginning that the narrator is telling us about someone who is dead. As for himself, he's been marking time in his life. Jaded doesn't even begin to describe the depth of his cynicism. I absolutely loved this book, but I don't have a clue how I would begin to review it. I'll have to mull it over for awhile. I feel I should because the other reviews sound like other people read a different book entirely. That happens sometimes, doesn't it.

never know - there are lots of books titled The Good Doctor - maybe they did read a different book!

LOL! Could be.

#42 In a Gilded Cage completes the mystery section with a whimper. You warned me! Okay characters. Unbelievable dialog. Sketchy history. Flimsy plot. Thin motivation. It wasn't a book that made me want to put it down, but it wasn't really a rewarding read either. Are Rhys Bowen's other books better?

Hi Cammykitty, I've only read one of Rhys Bowen's books, Murphy's Law and it was pretty much as you describe above, I haven't scratched her off my list, but she's definitely light reading.

@ 179 -- I have been mildly enjoying Rhys Bowen's "Royal Spyness" books. I don't really read them for the mysteries, though, but rather for the fun of the 1930s setting. As DQ said, they are very light reading, and suspension of disbelief is definitely required! Still, they're fun summer reads, in my opinion.

180 & 181 - Yes, suspension of disbelief is very important. I liked Daniel and Molly, but I know men in 1918 didn't make excuses for "protecting" women by saying "maybe it's the way I was raised." As for the influenza, by the time the epidemic was over, it had killed more people than were killed in World War I. It wasn't talked of as "just a bit of influenza," and even in the first year no one would have talked about it as casually as Bowen's characters did. I enjoyed In a Gilded Cage, but I'd expected more because of all the awards she's received.

#43 The Stranger My review is here: http://www.librarything.com/work/2150/book/64499055 Very simple book. Very difficult book. I loved it but I'm sure I read it as something different than as a pinnacle of existentialism. I saw Meursault as someone whose brain was wired differently than other people's. I'll have to read it again because it has many levels. I'll also have to read more Camus.

Very interesting take on The Stranger. I only read it at Uni, so obviously we discussed it from the existential point of view - I should reread, if only to see how it reads when I don't have to think about writing on it! :)

I enjoyed your review of The Stranger, I read it a few years back and think I'll get back to it again to get more out of it.
Good luck on your last book, what have you got lined up?

@184 Ah, everything is better when there isn't an obligatory paper coming up!

@185 - The last book is a reprint of a collection of Spanish Language stories from 1960, Spanish Stories / Cuentos Espanoles. It's obviously for use in a classroom. It starts with El Conde Lucanor, Lazarillo and then Cervantes and then passes through Unamuno and Borges etc. 1 woman included though! and I'm enjoying the stories so far. I still need my training wheels though and check a few sentences against the English translation.

One woman, that's unusual! I don't think we studied a single female writer in all my years at school / uni doing Spanish. Glad you're enjoying the book so far. I haven't got a Spanish book on the go at the moment and feel a little guilty.

I know! It seems like most of the collections designed for English readers learning Spanish were published in the 60s and not a lot of effort was made to include women, so I appreciate it when I find it.



Her name was Emilia Pardo Bazon and she was the child prodigy of a nobleman. Her story, "The Revolver' would in modern times be the tale of an abusive husband. Of course back then it wouldn't be spoken of so bluntly. The theme was handled in a delicate and complex way, reminiscent of gothic horror.

Reading this collection makes me realize why Feminist Criticism came to be. The stories seem to be talking among themselves about marriage and the proper roles for men and women. I just finished the Unamuno story today and have 4 left. Now I'm very curious about the editor, Angel Flores. The authors represented are quite standard fare, but the stories are not.

#43 1/2 Who Killed Palomino Molero finishes off (properly) the Nobel prize category. Seems a quick, simple murder mystery. Ghastly corpse, but other than that many people sing like tweety bird. Simple, yes? Don't trust this author!!!

@189, I really do need to read something from that author and I do have The Bad Girl calling to me so might be picking that one next.

@190 The Bad Girl looks like a good choice. I hate to admit, he almost slipped Palomino Molero over me. I didn't realize how unreliable our narrator was. Wow. Obviously he is into characters and situations that are not what they seem.

#44 finishes the challenge with Spanish Stories / Cuentos Espanoles. This collection was first published in 1960 and is meant as an overview of Spanish Literature for the English speaking student learning Spanish. The choices in this contained all the usual suspects, but the stories themselves were unusual and thought provoking. I'm wavering between giving it 4 1/2 stars and 5. Considering the time period it was edited in, I'm leaning towards 5.

I'm eager to start with some new categories so I'll be started my 12 in 2012 now. South Africa is being replaced by the Caribbean and the Nobel prizes by Diversicon. I'm adding a "Begged/Borrowed or Stolen" category to try to take care of all those book bullets you guys have shot me with!!! The new thread is still under construction but it is here: http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=122353#2891173

and I've started reading Neuromancer, which I'm not yet enthralled with.

Congratulations on reaching your target. Glad you're staying on so I get to see what else I can add to the groaning tbr shelves.

Congratulations on finishing your challenge!!! Good luck on 12 in 12 - I'll be sure to follow your thread!

Good for you - I seem to have bogged down lately. Too busy thinking about my 12 in 12 categories.

Congratulations on finishing! I'll see you at the 12-12!

Congrats on the completed 11-in-11 and good luck on the 12-in-12 - see you there!

Thanks everyone!!! Yes, see you in 12/12!

It just occurred to me I should do a best of wrap up. Here it is. The best of category!

1. Adult SF&F Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick
2.YA SF&F Solitaire by Kelley Eskridge
3. Mystery The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
4. Short Stories Mojo: Conjure Stories edited by Nalo Hopkinson
5. Biography Just Kids by Patti Smith
6. South African authors The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut
7. Nobel Prize winning authors Walker and the Ghost Dance by Derek Walcott
8. Animal Behavior For the Love of a Dog by Patricia McConnell
9. Spanish language Spanish Stories / Cuentos Espanoles edited by Angel Flores
10. YA Dark Water by Laura McNeal
11. Classics Seraph on the Suwanee by Zora Neal Hurston

The overall favorite? Just Kids

12/12 is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/122353

Congrats on finishing this challenge, and I'll see you on the 12/12 thread.

Congratulations on completing your 11 in 11, and I am already following you on your 12/12.

Thanks!

Congratulations! What a good mix of books. I'll have to look out for the last short story collection you read, from what you say it sounds highly original. Many of the collections I've read like that have played it safe.
Off to have a nosey at your 12 in 12 line-up.

Getting caught up here so belated congrats on completing your challenge and I will be following your reading over on the 12 in 12!

Thanks, both of you. See you at 12 12!

Yes, soffitta, you'd like the Angel Flores anthology. Most of the stories were about interrelations between men and women - ideas about marriage etc. I loved seeing the ideas evolve, and the stories commenting on each other.

I picked up another anthology called something like 9 centuries of Spanish Literature. I've been reading bits of it in between Cecilia Valdes and yes, it has women in it!!! The poetry though is so far very badly translated, which makes me grateful that I'm only using the translations as a crutch at this point!

Congrats on completing your challenge!!

Thanks!