Storeetllr's 2011 Reading List (Part 2) - Summer

Continued from http://www.librarything.com/topic/105025

I was hoping I could hold out until July 1 before starting a new thread ~ you know, the half-year mark ~ but at 250+ I guess it's time to start a fresh new thread, and how better to begin it than with an image from my 2011 Women Reading desk calendar.



I want to be one of those lovely ladies lounging on the marble steps. I have reddish hair and look really good in coral, so I guess I choose to be the one reclining against a pillow while being read to, feeling the warm breeze on my bare skin as it wafts through the open window, bringing with it just a hint of salt tang from the Aegean Sea (or is that the Mediterranean there in the background?). Yes, I could definitely get behind that!

Oookaaay, back to reality.







I'm really looking forward to getting a lot of reading done during the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, lying out by the pool in the shade with my Kindle or my iPod or a print book in one hand and an iced green tea (or mai tai, whatever works) in the other. I'd like to read more graphic novels, more sci fi, more noir mysteries, maybe a classic or two (Middlemarch, or Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, which I started awhile back and keep plugging away at slooowly but surely, or The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim who wrote one of my favorite romantic novels The Enchanted April).

Whatever books I end up reading, I hope I find as much pleasure in them as I have in most of the books I've read so far! There were quite a few 4-1/2 starred books, but only a few 5 starred books:

Maus II: A Survivor's Tale
The Girl Who Played with Fire
Leviathan
The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly and
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (which imo is a 5+ star book)

Added to the 5-star list on 8/16/11 (my Fifth Thingaversary!):
Still Live With Crows by Preston and Child

Added to the 5-star list on 9/12/11:
Watership Down on audio (another 5+ star book)

Books I've read so far this year:
Jan.
1. The Sandman: Death
2. V is for Vendetta
3. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
4. Dark and Stormy Knights
5. The Anatomy of Ghosts
6. The Killing Circle
7. The Whisperers
8. Dante's Divine Comedy: A Graphic Adaptation
9. Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began
10. Blankets
Feb.
11. The Bridge of Birds
12. Soulless
March
13. Summers at Castle Auburn
14. Treachery in Death
15. Troubled Waters
16. Duma Key
17. Spook
18. The Vampire Tapestry
19. Midnight in Death
20. Where Shadows Dance
21. American Gods
April
22. Empire
23. Darkness, Take My Hand
24. The Girl Who Played With Fire
25. The Killing Floor
26. One of Our Thursdays Is Missing (4)
27. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (4.5)
28. The Reversal (4)
29. The City and The City (3)
30. Leviathan (5)
31. Treason at Lisson Grove (4.5)
32. The Painted Caves (3)
May
33. Behemoth (4.5)
34. Kitty and the Midnight Hour (4.5)
35. The Passage (2.5)
36. The Rising Waters (3.5)
37. Kitty Goes to Washington (4.5)
38. Fearless Fourteen (4)
39. Quicksilver (4)
40. The Fifth Witness (5)
41. Dead of Night (3.5)
42. Finger Lickin Fifteen (4.5)
43. The Help (5+)
44. Relic (3.5)
45. Heartstone (4)
June
46. Rebecca (4.5)
47. Reliquary (4)
48. Kitty Takes a Holiday (4)
49. Kitty and the Silver Bullet (4.5)
50. The Cabinet of Curiosities (4.5)
51. Slaughterhouse Five (4.5)
52. Lucifer: Dalliance with the Damned (4)
53. The Circular Staircase (4)
54. Still Live With Crows (5)
55. Brimstone (4.5)
56. When Beauty Tamed the Beast (4)
57. The Grand Sophy (4.5)
58. Jane Eyre: The Graphic Novel (American English, Original Text) (4)
July
60. Lucifer: The Divine Comedy (4)
61. Lucifer: Inferno (4)
62. The Exile (3.5)
63. The Song of the Lark (4.5)
64. The Black Moth (4)
65. The Return of the Dancing Master (3.5)
66. Faceless Killers (3.5)
67. Midnight Crystal (4)
68. The Man from Beijing (3.50
69. Mockingjay (4.5)
70. Dead Reckoning (4)
71. The Discworld Graphic Novels: The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic (3.5)
72. Must Love Hellhounds (3.5)
73. Lucifer: Evensong (4.5)
August
74. John Constantine: Hellblazer: All His Engines (4)
75. The Forest (3.5)
76. The Lord of Scoundrels (4)
77. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls (3-3/4)
78. The Best Intentions (3.4)
79-1/2. Storm Front (4)
79-1/2. The Unwritten (3.5)
80. Small Favor (3.5)
81. John Constantine: Hellblazer: The Fear Machine (3-3/4)
82. Arabella (4)
83. Shield's Lady (4)
84. Chew: Taster's Choice (4)
Sept.
85. Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (4)
86. Blue-Eyed Devil (4)
87. Dance of Death (3.5)
88. Book of the Dead (4)
89. John Constantine Hellblazer: Bloodlines (3-3/4)
90. Changeless (3.5)
91. Atlantis Complex (3)
92. I, Lucifer (4.5)
93. Watership Down (5+)
94. Blameless (3)
95. Turn Coat (4)
96. Devil's Cub (4)
97. Lucifer: Exodus (4) and Lucifer: Mansions of Silence (3.5)
98. The Beast of Chicago (3.5)
99. Lucifer: The Wolf Beneath the Tree (4) and Lucifer: Crux (4)
100. These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer. (4.5)
101. Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft (3.5)
102. Woman in Black (3.5)

*slides in and yells, "TaDa!"*

I'm the first poster. Wheeee!

Wheeeee indeed! Welcome, Morphy! Now brush off the smudge from where you slid in and come set a spell! Tell me what you are planning for the summer.

Reporting in :D

No school! For the last year I've gone full time (during last summer too) and I'm taking the summer off. I'll be reading and cross-stitching, mostly.

Sounds like a perfect plan for a perfect summer, Morph! Cross-stitching in the summer seems so much more weather appropriate than knitting. :)

Hi, Sara!

That's a pretty cool picture. Happy thread 2. :)

Love your opening picture. Wouldn't it be nice to loll around on a cushion and have someone read to you!

I do not think I could loll very long without something in my hands. I am not a very good loll-er :)

Checking in, Mary!

46. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. 4.5 stars. Well, what can I say about this classic thriller that hasn't been said before? Hmm, okay, how about: I couldn't believe how timeless this novel is, how fresh it seems, even though it was published in 1938. Also: There were times I wanted to slap the unnamed (and somewhat unreliable) narrator upside the head, her unremitting diffidence getting to me after page after page of it, and for no real reason that was apparent in the story. And: I usually like bad boy heroes, but Maxim, not so much. He seemed willfully ignorant of what was going on around him. But. But. The writing was so amazing, from that first memorable sentence to the last. I felt I knew the characters, could see them and even hear them. Mrs. Danvers is as creepy a character as I've ever met, and now the Thursday Next novels make a whole lot more sense to me. (I read Jane Eyre in order to prepare for The Eyre Affair and really should also have read Rebecca prior to reading that series.) Manderlay itself was a star character, and it was as if I walked the halls of the house, ran along the path in those dark woods, heard the rain come down on the roof of that derelict boathouse. And although I already knew the denoument and the ending from hearing countless discussions about it, I found myself breathlessly turning pages to see what happened next, as if I'd never heard of the book before. Now that is good writing!

They did an awesome job on the movie with Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine.

I was wondering how they managed to adapt it to film and keep the delicious creepiness that was partly the result of the protagonists' internal dialogue. I may have to break down and get the DVD.

A lot of close ups of faces from what I remember. Excellent acting though Laurence was a bit over the top. But I did see why he was considered a heart throb back then.

Okay, I've got it on order from Amazon (cheap! only around $4.00!). Yes, Olivier was heartthrob material back then. Today I think he would just look smarmy.

Have you seen Tangled? There's a great line about giving someone the "smolder." That reminded me of Laurence.

lol No, but I'll have to check it out.

I liked Tangled except for the singing - not unexpected in a Disney flick. When they weren't warbling, it was a fun movie.

I don't know if you read Carsten's (ctpress) thread but s/he just read Rebecca too.

Not yet, but I will now. Thanks! I've seen a number of discussions on Rebecca by different LTers in the past few days. Funny how you don't see something for a long time and then you do and then it's everywhere. :)

Rebecca is on my list to read for a TBR Challenge. I've been wanting to read this for a long time. Good to know you liked it so much!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, Julie! I was a little hesitant to read it, after hearing all the hype, plus being as it was written quite awhile ago, I wasn't sure how it would hold up against today's standards for a thriller. But I thought it did beautifully!

# 10: Good review! Nice to read some other thoughts on the novel, as I'm still unable to shake off Rebecca. Mrs. Danvers must be the mother of all evil housekeepers. You cannot top that. What surprised me was the dreamlike, flashback narrative - it was very effective - no wonder the novel was an instant success.

I will order the Hitchcock-DVD also - looking forward to go relive this story, or as they say: Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

I very much enjoyed Rebecca too, Mary. I am glad to see you liked it!

Oh, I did like Rebecca, too! I read it as a teenager and re-read it last year (or thereabouts) and still thought it was fabulous. I do like the Fontain/Olivier adaptation as well.

(And, psst, wasn't it Thursday Next in The Eyre Affair, not Tuesday?)

For those of you who read about my library website login issues in Mary's previous thread: all sorted. I had to request my pin & password, which were NOT the default ones (last four digits of phone & first three letters of street name) but something generated at random. (I have no idea why either.) And I've now reset it all to my standard(ish) username & password, and am having fun exploring the new functionality. (Whee!)

Good catch, wookie ~ It was Thursday Next. I'm down with a horrible cold and on OTC meds and not at my peak in mental acuity. Going to make that little change right now! Thanks for pointing it out.

Glad you got your library logon issues sorted!

Hi Mary!! Stopped to check up on you. Thumbed your review of The Help. Thanks for reminding me I need to get around to reading that one!! Hope you get rid of that nasty cold fast and feel better!!!

>22 ctpress: Thanks, Carsten! Yes, Mrs. Danvers is the epitome of creepy. And that opening line is just so mesmerizing. Did you notice how the last line mirrored the opening line?

>23 alcottacre: Thanks Stasia!

Hi, Tammy! I hope you enjoy The Help as much as I did!

I hope I get rid of it, too. I've had quite enough of the sneezing, coughing, stuffed-up feeling! Plus my daughter's here from NY for a week, and we haz plans! So I can't be under the weather any longer.

47. Reliquary by Preston and Child. 4.0 stars. In this a sequel to Relic, the first in the Agent Pendergast mystery/thriller series, something is committing murder and mayhem in a way that is eerily similar to that caused by the Museum Beast 18 months earlier, and Pendergast joins forces with Lt. d'Agosto and Dr. Margo Green to stop the murders and try to prevent what turns out could be an even greater disaster. Although the premise of Reliquary is just as outlandish as Relic, I must be getting used to it because I found it more easily acceptable. Also, the writing was tighter and there weren't so many long-winded passages concerning the technical details of the weird science underlying the whole thing. Looking forward to The Cabinet of Curiosities, the third in the series, where the character of the fascinating Pendergast begins to be fleshed out.

48. Kitty Takes a Holiday by Carrie Vaughn. 4.0 stars. In this the third book of the fantasy series featuring Kitty the Werewolf DJ and radio talk-show host, Kitty retreats to a mountain cabin in far from civilization, ostensibly to write her memoir but reaslly to lick her wounds and recover her equilibrium after having been put through the wringer in Washington D.C. But trouble follows fast on her heels, and she finds that she has become the target of a particularly nasty kind of witchcraft. Then an old friend is bitten by a lycanthrope and brought to her for her help in getting through the first full-moon change.

This series has become one of my favorite guilty pleasures to the point that, as soon as I finished this one, I went ahead and got the next on Kindle. I wouldn't normally have done it, but I needed something light and easy to read because I've been sick with a really nasty head and chest cold which is making it hard to read anything too heavy. But, though it is definitely lighter fare, it's surprisingly well-written, with characters that are mostly not cardboard cutouts and just the right amounts of sex, humor and angst.

I love the Kitty series. Just be wary of her non-Kitty books. Discord's Apple was awful.

# 27: No, I don't notice the mirroring. Please explain - but I like the surprise ending that's only hinted by the ashes......

>31 ctpress: I misspoke (that's what I get for not referring to the book before opening my mouth). It was actually the last paragraph which seemed to bring the entire novel full circle, specifically "The road to Manderley lay ahead." When I read that, it was like an echo of the opening paragraph, where she dreamed about the moving along long road to the house.

I like the last line too, so unutterably sad, almost poetic, and leaving everything to the imagination. I was wondering about the staff, though, and how they fared. From what she said in the beginning, I would guess they were okay, since she only referred to the dog.

>30 Morphidae: Yes, I think I remember hearing that before (maybe from you! ;). I stayed up till 4 a.m. to finish Kitty and the Silver Bullet, which I liked so much I even dreamed about it, sort of, and which left me with such a happy feeling. I was thinking that the series could have ended with this book and it would have made an almost complete story arc, with only a few loose ends left to tie up. Glad I am that it didn't end!

49. Kitty and the Silver Bullet by Carrie Vaughn. 4.5 stars. A perfect ending to a great story arc. In this one, Kitty must return to Denver for family reasons and gets caught up in a vampire war that also involves the local werewolf pack. I just finished this at 4 a.m. today and am already jonesing for the next in the series. I haven't felt like this about a series since I discovered Sookie Stackhouse and devoured one right after the other until I got to the last one (at the time, there were maybe four or five in the series) and had to wait for the next to come out. At any rate, the Kitty books have been a great way to pass the time while I recover from the nasty bug that's had me down the past few days and to take my mind of my misery!

My daughter is visiting me from NY until Sunday morning, so I probably won't be doing a lot of reading while she's in town. Today we're going to go to the beauty salon to get our hair cut. She's also going to get highlights, and I'm going to get a pedi. (Very necessary, that, I assure you!) Then out to have a sushi dinner with her dad and his wife (we're all on such good terms) and after that, maybe a DVD and a glass of wine (for her; I'm sticking to hot lemonade with honey, hold the whiskey).

A new one is coming out in the next month or two! Whoo hoo!

50. The Cabinet of Curiosities by Preston and Child. 4.5 stars. Audio.

I just spent 20 mins. reviewing this and then forgot that LT changed the protocol so that when I clicked on the touchstone, rather than open a new screen, the link appeared on this screen so I lost it all. So annoying. I'm not going to redo it tonight. Suffice it to say this was one good, dark mystery thriller with scads of the bizarre and fantastical, wonderful villains and ne'er-do-wells, and a new insight into FBI agent Pendergast.

I think I have only read the first book in the Preston/Child series. One of these days I will get back to it.

ETA: Congratulations on hitting 50 books for the year, Mary!

My library sold Relic the day I wanted to borrow it, and I couldn't find it anywhere in the sale piles....

I also thought Relic had an outlandish plot, but was enjoyable nonetheless. I need to get back to the series.

Thanks, Stasia! I stopped reading ARCs and Early Review books and am enjoying my reading this year immensely!

Divine Nanny ~ I am so sorry to hear that. I'd love to loan you my audio version of it; if we lived nearby, I'd download it on your MP3 player.

Outlandish indeed, chinquapin, and the next two were just as out there, but, once I suspended disbelief, I really enjoyed them a lot!

Hiiii Maaaary!!!

51. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. 4.5 stars. Kindle. Slaughterhouse Five refers to a building in a meat-packing facility in Dresden before it was destroyed by Allied forces during WW2 where Billy Pilgrim was held as a prisoner of war. The novel is about Billy Pilgrim, fumbling his way through life, surviving where more capable men fall, and how he is able to mentally travel through time. I wasn't quite sure what to think of this novel while I was reading it. Parts of it were powerful and amazing and other parts were "huh?" At the end of the day, though, I found I had enjoyed it a lot and got a lot out of it. If I were so inclined, I could do a huge critical analysis of the novel and its symbolism and meaning. No longer being in school, however, I won't, but I will say that I think that this is one novel where the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

I have not yet read any Vonnegut. One of these days!

I didn't realize how much I enjoyed Slaughterhouse Five until I realized that days later I was still thinking about it. Not many books do that to me.

I had the exact same reaction to the book :-)

52. Lucifer: Dalliance with the Damned by Mike Carey. Graphic novel. 4 stars. Something about Lucifer Morningstar appeals to my dark side, in much the same way, I guess, as does Dexter, the serial killer. This was not the first in the series ~ that wasn't available at my library tonight and I wanted to read a Lucifer graphic novel NOW, so I got this one (which is, I guess, the third in the series). Since I know the basic premise from the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman, it was okay, but I intend to go back to the first as soon as possible and then read them all in order, including this one, which will no doubt be even better when read in its proper order.

Anyway, in this one, Lucifer has created a new universe and peopled it with an Adam and Eve, with his only caveat being NO WORSHIP ALLOWED. PERIOD. Not even of him. There's even a snake in the garden, but its shtick is somewhat different from the one in the original Garden. Then there are the Lilim, the children of Lilith, Adam's first wife, who got tired of dealing with a stupid male and left to find a better life for herself leaving to Eve the joys of domestication, and they in conjunction with Mazikeen (also a Lilim), Lucifer's consort, are angling for a piece of the action in the new universe. I really enjoyed the part about the human soul who became the boy toy of the daughter of the highest of the dukes of Hell, and how he got his own back and helped quell a rebellion by a rival duke at the same time. Other parts were kind of boring, but not so boring I didn't want to read it. As far as the illustrations went, some were really good, while others were too simplistic or distorted or just not well drawn.

>43 alcottacre: That's what I said, Stasia, for years and years and finally picked up this one. Really glad I did.

>44 Morphidae: Yes, I've been thinking about it too. There's so much to it!

>45 divinenanny: :) Have you read any other Vonneguts?

Mary- Good review of Slaughterhouse. I loved this one too. I just read (listened to) Cats Cradle and would like to get back into more of Vonnegut's work.
Funny, I've been reading Season of Mists, where Lucifer Morningstar makes a strong appearance.

The question wasn't to me but I'll answer it anyway. I haven't read anything else by him but I think Cat's Cradle is on my TBR list.

Okay, then, it's settled. Next Vonnegut will be Cat's Cradle! We can compare thoughts on that one, Mark and Morphy!

Thanks, Mark. I read Season of Mists, which where I first met Lucifer. I've also just learned about a couple of other series where he makes an appearance. More graphic novel series I have to read.

BTW, I just discovered the Pasadena library has a whole wall of graphic novels in the fiction section! So exciting. Besides the Lucifer books I picked up yesterday, I brought home Persepolis 2 and Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution (not sure the author so didn't touchstone it). Although there's a lot of manja, I'm going to enjoy browsing the shelves for new graphic novels.

You are lucky in having a library that carries a lot of graphic novels, Mary. I wish I could say the same.

Yes, I agree, I'm very lucky. I belong to both the L.A. City Central Library and the Pasadena Central Library, and both are wonderful, not only for that but for many other reasons. Living in/working in big cities is a blessing in some ways as well as a curse in others. :)

I am lucky in my local library system, but it just does not stock a lot of graphic novels unfortunately.

53. The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Kindle. 4 stars. In many ways, this novel is a cliche of the Gothic mystery, with its improbably plot and every mystery plot device ever imagined thrown into the mix, including: a spooky house, mysterious goings-on in the night, faces at windows, strangers popping up unawares in the dark, screaming maids, inexplicable knocking sounds, and enough murder and mayhem to satisfy an axe murderer. What saved it, at least for me, was the unremitting atmosphere of unease and potential danger that was evoked and a pretty good feel for of the time period (automobiles were just coming into vogue but hadn't yet replaced the horse-and-buggy; gaslights and telephones were in use; and the attitudes of the time). I may never read another Rinehart, but I'm glad I read this one as it was (I have read) one of the first of the "modern" novels of intrigue and highly influential on subsequent cozies. I've also read that Rinehart was known as America's Christie. I liked the feisty protagonist, the middle-aged spinster Rachel Innes, though she sometimes got on my nerves too, and I enjoyed the repartee among the characters and the unexpected humor that popped up every now and again.

#54: That book sounds awfully familiar. I think perhaps I downloaded it to my Nook last year? I cannot check since I do not have it here at the office with me, but will try and remember to do so later.

# 42: My remembrance of Slaughterhouse Five is for some reason a blur. Remember it as a difficult read, but I want another shot at it. Right now I'm in the middle of Cat's Cradle and enjoying it a lot.

>55 alcottacre: Haha that's funny Stasia. There are so many books on my Kindle that I too have forgotten what is there! I need to go through the index every so often just to remind myself what I have. I keep meaning to but haven't figured out a system yet to keep things organized.

>56 ctpress: Glad to know you are enjoying Cat's Cradle since that's my next Vonnegut.

I was telling my sister about reading Slaughterhouse Five, and she was shocked that I hadn't read it back in the 70s or whenever it was published. I said it was probably because it was considered a classic even back then, or at least was classed as literary fiction. I had been so traumatized in my freshman year of high school by having to read Dreiser's An American Tragedy that I swore I would never read anything of a literary or classic nature again. Sadly for me, I stuck to that vow until I was in my 40s and discovered the joys of classic and literary fiction (I think my first classic was My Antonia which I adored, and then I went on to read others by Cather, then Hemingway, F. Scott, Faulkner, Joyce (The Dubliners), Austen, Bronte, Elllison, Allende, and continuing).

The book that traumatized me was Great Expectations which we read in 6th grade gifted. I also didn't read another classic unless forced to until my 40s. I think my first, or at least the first I adored, was The Count of Monte Cristo.

# 57: Know all about it. High school required reading have ruined a lot of classics for me too. Most of them danish classic literature. Luckily I had a friend who in my twenties introduced me to Austen, Dostoeysky and others reading aloud from them when we met. I got hooked.

I was a good and rebellious teenager and refused to read classics in high school. Felt so alternative, saying I won't read a book only because it is considered a classic. Then later I thought, the reason that something is considered a classic might also have something to do with quality... And I enjoyed many classics since then... :-)

I just downloaded The Circular Staircase. It will be perfect for my Timeless Mystery category over at the 11 in 11 Challenge. Rinehart will be a nice break from all the British crime writers I have been reading in that category.

>58 Morphidae:, 59, 60 Not sure which Group it's in, but there's a thread somewhere on LT where the posters talk about the trauma of being forced to read "classics" in high school either before being completely ready (mature) enough or where there was no guidance given. My aforesaid sister's classic horror was Old Man and the Sea. Said it put her off literary works for years. On the other hand, while in h.s., I had an English teacher who assigned us the reading of Hamlet, but instead of throwing us to the wolves (so to speak), we read portions of it and she discussed it with us in class every day, which made it much more understandable, exciting almost, and thus I have never had the same loathing of Shakespeare that I had for others.

Morphy ~ I haven't read Great Expectations but want to someday. I did read A Tale of Two Cities before being traumatized in h.s. I enjoyed it but haven't read any other Dickens since, except, I think, A Christmas Carol.

Carsten ~ You were lucky indeed! I wasted 20 years before getting into classics/great literature. My intro was when I went to a community college when my daughter was about 3 years old, after I had been a stay-at-home mom for that time and felt my brain was turning to baby mush. I took English 101 and had to write a thesis on critical essays about a classic. I chose My Antonia. Wonderful experience.

divinenanny ~ How did you get away with refusing? I wanted to but was threatened with a failing grade. It was in my freshman year, when I was still wanting to please. Had it happened in my second or third or even senior years, my own time of rebellion, it might have been a different story. :)

Judy ~ Hope you enjoy it! But a caveat: I was thinking about it just today and remembered something I meant to put in my review which I'll mention briefly. Certain parts of the novel are very politically incorrect, uncomfortably so. When I read those bits, I had to remind myself that this was the thinking of many people back in the early 1900s when the book was written. I didn't like it, but I was able to go on with the story. Just a heads-up.

I swore I would never read another Dickens but then a few years ago tried A Christmas Carol for a GD group read, I think, and it was fine. Then I read David Copperfield via DailyLit and again, it wasn't that bad. So I think I'll try Great Expectations at some point and see if 30+ years and a voluntary read helps it.

Yes, I think sometimes maturity and the ability to choose to read it is what is required for some classics. Except I will NEVER try to read An American Tragedy or anything else by Dreiser as long as I live. I loathed it that much.

I know that on her thread at some point, Jenny (lunacat) discussed how she hated classics because Wuthering Heights was foisted on her when she was in high school. I think a lot of the love or hate of the classics is due to the teacher. I read The Scarlet Letter for the first time as a freshman in college and had an absolutely wonderful teacher who brought the book alive for me and to this day it remains one of my favorites.

54. Still Life With Crows by Preston and Child. 5 stars. Okay, I admit I am hooked on the Special Agent Pendergast mystery/thrillers in a big way. In this one, Pendergast investigates a rash of apparent serial killings in rural Kansas that may be connected in some strange way with three Indian burial mounds and the massacre in 1965 of the Forty-Fives (a bunch of Civil War veterans who went west after the war and had been slaughtering Native Americans for fun & profit) by a band of Cheyenne warriors. Along the way, Pendergast manages to alienate the sheriff (as usual), befriend a friendless, rebellious Goth teenager, and help a whacked-out 'Nam vet, all the while working his Pendergast charm and using his almost superhuman abilities to find the killer before anyone else ends up dead in a cornfield.

>65 alcottacre: Exactly right, Stasia! Without the life experiences that comes with age and that would provide insights and comprehension, a student being forced to read most classics without the guidance of a teacher who can help the student grasp the deeper meaning and make the novel, as you say, "come alive," is just wrong. Any teacher who does that is lazy and does a great disservice to his students.

#66: *sigh* Yes, I am going to get back to that series if it kills me! lol

#67: Any teacher who does that is lazy and does a great disservice to his students.

And I would add - does not belong in the teaching profession:)

Amen to that!

My teacher wasn't lazy by any means. But forcing 6th graders to do in depth analysis of Dickens on a chapter by chapter basis is a bit much.

#62, @Storeetllr Well, all these nice summaries.... :D And for most classes (English, German and French) it didn't matter what we read, as long as it was ok by the teacher and it was a set amount of pages. I read The Cider House Rules for English, and a bunch of articles about The X-Files in German and French. For Dutch I used summaries and bluffed my way through the oral exam... Can't believe I let that chance to read those wonderful books pass me by. Still haven't read many Dutch classics, but one day....

#62 - Mary, thanks for the heads up. I have noticed some discrimination in a few of the "timeless' mysteries that I have read. I love both Josephine Tey and Dorothy Sayers but have had a few uncomfortable moments with each of them.

My high school classic most hated book was Moby Dick. And it did put me off classics for years and years.

>72 DeltaQueen50: Okay, just wanted you to know ahead of time so it didn't jar you out of the story. :)

>73 chinquapin: After all I've heard about that novel, I have no interest in reading it, although I know of one or two who have found it brilliant. Did you ever try to reread it in in adulthood?

55. Brimstone by Preston and Child. 4.5 stars. Continuation of the Pendergast series. I can't seem to get enough of the strange FBI agent. I am so addicted, in fact, that I am going from one directly to the next. In this one, Pendergast and D'Agosta head to Florence in search of a particularly demonic murderer. I loved reading about their adventures in Italy. The descriptions brought me back to that wonderful place. And the mystery was good too. I hated the ending though I can't say why or might let out a spoiler. Went straight to the next: Dance of Death, this time on audio.

56. When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James. 4 stars. Lovely Regency romance. Linnet, a beautiful but somewhat outspoken daughter of a lesser nobleman, has been ruined without having done anything wrong. In fact, everyone in the ton thinks she is pregnant by the royal duke who first wooed here and then threw her over, though she never did more than kiss him once or twice (and they weren't all that great of kisses either). She is sent to the wilds of Cornwall to marry Piers, the crippled son of a duke who wants more than anything for his son to marry and produce an heir, though the rumor is Piers is incapable of performing in the bedroom, so the duke figures the illegitimate child of royalty is the next best thing. I know it sounds a bit melodramatic, but really it does work. The middle part was a just a bit slow, and I'm really not into sex scenes (though I must admit the few in this novel weren't obnoxious), but the first half and last quarter ~ even with a bit more melodrama toward the end ~ were just wonderful. There were some really fun characters and situations, a lot of delightful repartee and some gentle humor. I don't read romances as much as I used to do (mostly because the sex got a bit much to the detriment of character development and dialogue, not to mention plot), but I enjoyed this one very much and think I'll be looking out for more of Eloisa James in the near future.

57. Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer. 4.5 stars. Another delightful Regency, starring Sophia, who is even more outspoken and forthright than Linnet of the above-mentioned romance. In this romantic comedy of manners, Sophy's papa must travel to Brazil on a diplomatic mission, so he sends her to stay with his sister in London while he is gone, hoping his sister will arrange a good marriage for her before he returns. Sophy, who has had an unusual upbringing, quickly makes friends with her cousins, except the eldest Charles who is short-tempered and judgmental and engaged to be married to one of the most unpleasant women who ever felt it her Christian duty to make everyone around her miserable. Cecilia, the second eldest daughter, had made a brilliant conquest of an earl who is decent and loves her and wants to marry her, but she has thrown him over for a beautiful but penniless poet with no real prospects. Hubert, the second eldest son, has gotten himself into a nasty mess with gambling debts and is afraid to ask Charles (who holds the purse-strings in the family) for help. Sophy, an incorrigible meddler, decides to do what she can to resolve everyone's problems ~ and she can do a lot, being a very resourceful and intelligent young woman. This is only my second Heyer, and I wonder I haven't read more of her. Without any sex scenes (see above mini-review for my opinion of the inclusion of too much sex in romance novels), she has managed to write one of the best romances I've ever had the pleasure of reading, with delightful characters, a wonderful sense of place, and amusing dialogue that rings true to the ear.

Hi Mary, The Grand Sophy sounds really good. I don't know why but I thought I had read it until I read your review and realized I haven't yet. This will be corrected at some future point!

Hi, Judy ~ It was good, so good that I've picked up another Heyer to read next on my Kindle. What are your favorite Heyers? There are so many!!!

I haven't read all of Georgette Heyer's books by a long shot, but I think my favorites may have been These Old Shades for the story, April Lady I loved for the dialogue and my recent read of Friday's Child was excellent especially for the supporting characters. I can honestly say I have yet to be disappointed by one of her books.

I have The Black Moth on my Kindle, then after that I think I'll read April Lady (because good dialogue is one of my favorite parts of a novel), then move on to the others. I just started reading Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (which I am really enjoying so far - about 11% of the way in) on my Kindle, so it may be awhile before I get back to Heyer.

58. Jane Eyre: The Graphic Novel (American English, Original Text) by Charlotte Bronte, adapted by Amy Corzine, illustrations by Joe Sutliff Sanders. 4 stars. Graphic Novel. I read Jane Eyre for the first time a couple of years ago and loved it, and for me this would never have been able to take the place of the novel, but it was a lovely adjunct to the novel.

Mary, I know what you mean when you say it may be awhile before you can get back to Heyer. With so many good books being pushed around here written by authors I didn't know before, it's hard to find time for some old favorite authors. But in the greater scheme of things, I guess having too many book choices isn't a bad problem to have.

What's the saying? You can never be too thin or too rich or have too many books to read? lol

59. The Sentry by Robert Crais. 4 stars. Good mystery but a bit odd for this series. No time for a more extensive review at the moment but wanted to get it on the list for June.

60. & 61. Lucifer: The Divine Comedy and Lucifer: Inferno by Mike Carey. 4 stars. Graphic novels. Yum.

62. The Exile by Diane Gabaldon. 3.5 stars. Graphic novel. How Claire and Jamie met. It was okay, but Jamie didn't look anything like I'd pictured him when I read Outlander, so I had a bit of a hard time getting into it. ETA: And it left so much out that the story almost didn't make sense.

Somehow I missed your transition to a new thread way back, but I found you today! It's hard to go wrong with a Heyer, but with your fondness of mysteries, I'd think The Reluctant Widow would be a favorite. Also, Black Sheep and Frederica--not mysteries but some of her best romances.

Hi, Roni! Glad you found me again! Thanks for the Heyer tips. I like my mysteries a bit dark, even hard-boiled, more than cozy, but I have a feeling Heyer wouldn't be unbearable even if it were more cozy than noir.

Thanks for coming to see me on my thread, Mary. The Heyer I mention above is not one of her mysteries, but regencies with an element of mystery in their plots--thoroughly entertaining. I only tried one of her mysteries long ago, and I have since heard it was one of her poorer ones. I keep intending to try again some day.

63. The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather. 4.5 stars. Kindle. I've loved every Cather novel I've ever read, and this is no exception. Loved the characters and the narrative describing Colorado, Arizona, Chicago and New York, as well as of the creative process, loved the story of Thea Kronborg, her struggles and triumphs. My daughter is a performer with a wonderful singing voice, though it's not operatic, so throughout much of the novel I kept thinking of her and her creative process.

#76: I have The Grand Sophy sitting on my nightstand waiting for me to get ot it one of these years.

#89: I am another Cather fan! Her My Antonia is one of my all-time favorite books.

Hi, Stasia! My Antonia is my favorite Cather too!

Just finished another Georgette Heyer and am struck anew by how much I enjoy her writing, though it is rife with melodrama and sentimentality, but her characters! and her descriptions of the milieu!

64. The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer. Kindle. 4 stars. In this one, a wrongly disgraced nobleman's son who has become a highwayman, rescues a damsel in distress with whom he falls in love, though he nobly refuses to besmirch her name by offering for her. Jack, the hero, was okay, but the dastardly Duke of Andover was the really interesting character. I wonder if he ever got his own story.

He metamorphosed into the Duke of Avon in These Old Shades and Devil's Cub, one of my favorite characters. The Black Moth was one of her earliest books, and several of the themes she first tries out there show up in slightly later books. For example, the wrongly disgrace nobleman's son becomes a smuggler in The Talisman Ring, another really fun story.

#91: Cool beans!

>93 ronincats: Oh, goody!

>94 alcottacre: :)

I believe she wrote The Black Moth when she was fifteen. So she certainly showed her talent at an early age. I loved These Old Shades and now I must get to Devil's Cub if the same characters appear!

>96 DeltaQueen50: Oh, wow! That is impressively prodigious! Almost intimidating. :-) I'm definitely going to look for These Old Shades and Devil's Cub to read next.

Oh, they do, Judy, they most certainly do! This is the only Heyer duo that actually is connected story-wise.

65. The Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell. 3.5 stars. Audio. Lindstrom (pls. forgive any misspelling of names) is a Swedish detective who goes out on medical leave after discovering he has cancer. While he is waiting for treatment to begin, he hears that his former parter has been murdered in a particularly gruesome manner and decides to see if he can help the investigating detectives find out what happened. Gritty, dark and angsty, it should have been right up my alley, but I just could not connect with the characters or feel much compulsion to find out what happened. I know a lot of LTers like Mankell, but I found this mystery at least a bit boring while, at the same time, the actions of the protagonist somewhat unbelievable. I'm listening to Faceless Killers now, which seems to be going about the same way for me.

I have not read any Mankell yet although I know a bunch of the LTers do like him. I have enjoyed the series from PBS starring Kenneth Branagh though.

66. Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell. 3.5 stars. Audio. Okay, so why, if this one struck me much the same as the last Mankell, am I now listening to The Man from Beijing? I must enjoy them on some level, right? (BTW, the reader of The Man from Beijing is Rosalyn Landor, which so far is making a HUGE difference to the enjoyment factor! Grover Gardner read The Return of the Dancing Master and Dick Hill read Faceless Killers. Both had interminably boring voices, and Dick Hill drove me nuts with his mumbling whenever he was reading the protagonist's thoughts.)

>100 alcottacre: Hi, Stasia. I didn't know it was a PBS series. I'll have to check them out sometime. With any luck, they'll have it at the library and I can just borrow the series.

#102: I got the discs from Netflix for the series, Mary, so if you have a membership with them you can get it.

I'm in a feud with Netflix (not really a long story but stupid) so that's not an option. (Though maybe I can talk one of my friends with a Netflix subscription into getting the series and letting me watch it. ;)

Ok, no Netflix. Got it.

67. Midnight Crystal by Jayne Castle. 4 stars. This is the third in the Arcane Society's trilogy featuring the Burning Lamp. It is set on Harmony, in the distant future. In this one, the new Ghost Hunters Guild Boss, Adam Winter, hooks up with the new head of J&J Investigations, Marlowe Jones. He's got to find the lamp for the usual reason (he will become a Cerberus and go mad if he doesn't), but there's another reason he needs it. He's discovered is a strange mirrored maze that may be the energy source that has powered the alien artifacts, but it's energy has become out-of-sync. If the instability is allowed to continue, it will result in the destruction of all the alien ruins both under and aboveground, and that will also take out a huge portion of most of the cities and towns of Harmony, which have been built around those ruins. Fun and light entertainment for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

68. The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell. 3.5 stars. Audio. An entire town in the Swedish countryside is wiped out by a mass murderer one cold January night, and the police are stumped. By serendipity, a judge stumbles on a couple of clues that the police disregard. These clues lead her to Beijing and result in her running for her life. I'd probably have liked this more if it hadn't been so heavily laden with political and philosophical meanderings. Some would have been fine ~ some of the history of the Chinese railroad workers in the American west and of the early days of the Chinese Cultural Revolution were fascinating ~ but they went on and on and on... And it took me a long time to finish this audiobook because I kept falling asleep while listening to it. So, anyway, it wasn't the reader this time (Rosalyn Landor) but I think I'm pretty much done with Henning Mankell.

So, today is my birthday, and it is going to be a very quiet, low-key birthday. The only special thing I did was load up my Kindle with a bunch of ebooks for my upcoming trip to Chicago for my niece's wedding in August. I bought Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls, After Midnight, Masquerade (a short story by Susanne Alleyn), and Simpler Living: A Back to Basics Guide to Cleaning, Furnishing, Storing, Decluttering, etc. Needless to say, I won't be reading the last one on my trip, but I thought it would be a good idea to refresh my resolution to clean, furnish, store, declutter, streamline and organize my life.

I will be doing more shopping for Kindle books later. The foregoing books ~ all being offered free or at special low prices ~ cost me a grand total of $4, so I figure I can buy at least another four or five, one of which will be one of the Kitty series. (After all, it is my birthday!)

Oh, one more special thing I'm doing to celebrate: I started listening to Mockingjay, the last of the Hunger Games trilogy last night. So far (two discs in), I like it.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Mary! Mine was yesterday. Yah for all the July birthdays!

Happy Birthday!

Hope You Had A Blessed Birthday!

Happy Birthday! Today is my husband's birthday as well.

A 'Happy Belated Birthday' from me too, Mary. Sorry I missed the day.

A very merry unbirthday to you (since I missed the real day)!!

Belated Happy Birthday Mary!! Hope you had a great day!!

Mark! Happy belated birthday, my fellow Leo and LT friend! Hope you had a great day!

Thanks, Roni, and please tell your husband happy belated birthday & many happy returns of the day from a fellow Leo and July 26 birthday celebrant.

Thank you so much Sara, Mark, Julie, Jacqueline, Roni, Stasia, Amber and Tammy for your kind birthday (and unbirthday) wishes.

69. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. 4.5 stars. Audio. I heard some people didn't like the last book of the trilogy, but I thought it was pretty darn good. Not a happy read, by any means, but strong. I did guess what Catniss would do toward the end, there, at the execution, but the book in its entirety was not at all predictable. What I did find difficult to take was how violent it was, how unflinching when it came to showing the realities of war and the amorality of people who lust for power. So, though it's hard to say that I "enjoyed" the book, I did think it was really good, even though so many of my favorite characters ended up dead. (I hope that was not a SPOILER.)

I am glad to see that you enjoyed the Hunger Games trilogy, Mary. I did too, although I am one of those who was disappointed in the final book.

Can I ask why you were disappointed, Stasia? I know it wasn't a happy read, but I thought it was very well done.

70. Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris. 4 stars. The latest Sookie Stackhouse is less a novel than a series of short stories strung together, yet I enjoyed it not least of which because it hinted at a major turn in her personal love life. It starts with Sam's place being firebombed, then Sookie learns more about the history of her family and about her own talents, then Claude plays a rather malicious joke on her, then the attempts of Vincent to destroy Eric heat up, then...then...then... Well, you see what I mean. Harris ties it together with the loosest of strings, and at the end you know this was just a (in a manner of speaking) pleasant interlude before the next big thing happens.

#120: Mockingjay just did not live up to the first two books for me. Katniss was too passive(? - I am not sure that is the word I am looking for) Anyway, I did not care for it as much as I did the others.

Yes, you're right, things did "happen" to Katniss more in Mockingjay, what with (POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT?) her being injured and drugged up through half of the novel, as opposed to the way she took charge most of the time in the first two. I thought she made up for a lot of it with that one act toward the end, though.

71. The Discworld Graphic Novels: The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett. 3.5 stars. I think you need to have read the first two Discworld novels to really get everything, but I did enjoy it enough to consider reading the first in the series.

ETA my favorite character was A'Tuan.

72. Must Love Hellhounds. 3.5 stars. Includes "The Britlingens Go to Hell," an okay but not brilliant short novelette by Charlaine Harris in which bodyguards Batanya and Clovache travel to Hell to protect a client who's planning to steal something that belongs to a sexually sadistic Lucifer; "Angels' Judgment," a paranormal romance in the Guild Hunter series by Nalini Singh; "Magic Mourns," a romantic urban fantasy by Ilona Andrews, in which Andrea, a Knight, helps a shape-shifter to find a stolen corpse, but first they must get past a three-headed dog; and "Blind Spot" by Meljean Brook, which I just couldn't get into, though it was the shortest in the bunch. I liked the middle two best.

73. Lucifer: Evensong by Mike Carey. 4.5 stars. Graphic Novel. Even though the Lucifer in these graphic novels has no interest in stealing anyone's soul and basically seems to want only to be free of Creation, I can't help hearing in my mind the Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" as I'm reading them. In this one, both Lucifer and his Father are outside of Creation, leaving in charge a half-human/half-angel, and the concepts of good and evil, Heaven and Hell, and the like are turned on their heads.

Also included in this volume is Lucifer: Nirvana, a standalone, and may I say the artwork in this one is outstanding. I liked it and the story a lot and would give it a 5 star rating if it were on its own.

Happy birthday! Sorry I didn't visit during your birthday week (or month, even), but better late than never. :)

How funny, I just finished reading a different Mike Carey graphic novel: The Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity. (Review will be written another day.) It was good, although quite different in plotline from the Lucifer books (which I must get from the library!).

Thanks, wookie! No worries ~ I plan to do the real celebrating in August when I get together with family in Chicago.

I've got one of Carey's John Constantine graphic novels on the stack now and am still looking for one or two of the earlier Lucifer volumes. I'll have to see if I can get The Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity. I see it's part of a series too.

I just realized that a much more important anniversary than my birthday is coming up in August. On August 16, I will be celebrating my 5TH THINGAVERSAURUS! How about that! Five years of sharing good times with good friends from all over the worldl and participating in (or lurking around the edges of) great discussions about one of my favorite things ~ books ~ plus a number of other favorite things that may not seem to be directly connected to books but are often important to the enjoyment of the reading experience. I refer, of course, to food and drink: desserts, chocolate, lemonade, tea, coffee, as well as pets, music, art and photography, crafts, and travel.

Ooh, better start planning immediately what 5 books you are going to get to celebrate! It's traditional, you know.

#129> Not just traditional, but MANDATORY. And then let us all know what you bought and make us all jealous. :)

Happy (almost) Thingaversary!!

Squeee! Permission to BUY 5 books?! Outstanding! *scurries off to start the list*

74. John Constantine, Hellblazer: All His Engines by Mike Carey. 4 stars. Graphic Novel. This is one of the later volumes, so I was slightly at a disadvantage, but it was good enough to earn 4 stars and to get me looking for the earlier ones in the series. Kind of a scruffed up, unnice Harry Dresden on acid. Or something like that. :) I like!

I've had you starred here for quite some time and kept hoping I'd catch up, but I've just decided I'll jump right in to say hi and try to stay current from now on. At least, the intention is there. :-)

Haha, staying current, one of my most cherished dreams yet still so far away! ;-) It's great just to have you stop by once in awhile for a quick hello, Ilana. No pressure, hear?

Mary, you don't know how much I love the sound of that, thanks! :-)

:) Well, it would be pretty unfair to expect it from you when I haven't had time to stop by your thread for quite awhile either. lol I always enjoy it when I do get by to catch up, of course, but... We do the best we can, you know?

#131 No, you get to buy 6 books! Do not forget the 'one to grow on!'

>137 alcottacre: Oh, Stasia ~ thank you for that reminder! One question: do e-books count do you think? I'd like maybe a couple print books and the rest e-books.

Yes, e-books count.

Looking forward to seeing what 6 books you decide on Mary. Congratulations on your soon-to-be Thingaversary - wow, five years - you must have been one of the early ones. Does anyone know when Librarything started up?

Great news, Stasia! It should be easier to decide if some can be e-books.

Thanks, Judy ~ and good question. I have a vague idea that LT started a year or so before I joined, though I could be wrong, but since Tim Spalding started in August of '05, I kind of think that's about right.

75. The Forest by Edward Rutherfurd. 3.5 stars. The history of the Old Forest from the time of William Rufus to the present. A little wordy, with a lot of information about forest life that I skimmed.

Congratulations on hitting 75, Mary!

Congrats!

Congratulations on passing the 75 book mark!!

Thanks, y'all! 75 books and my 5 year Thingaversary, all in the same week! It can't get much cooler than that. I still haven't figured out what my 6 books are going to be, though. (Book-buying is a very serious enterprise for me.)

#146: Book-buying is a very serious enterprise for me.

I can relate! I am sure most of us here can relate, actually.

>147 alcottacre: Speaking of which, I need to get to the local library's book sale soon before it's too picked over! They only have a one day sale.

Congrats with the 75. I have no idea what Thingaversary is - but any reason to buy some new books works with me :) Hurry to the library so you can scratch yourself through the many vultures down there.

76. Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase. 4 stars. It's not often I give a romance novel a 4 star rating, and even less often that I can buy it for 99 cents, but this one is a winner on both scores. I never really felt close to Jessica, though I liked her a lot ~ really enjoyed her attitude and admired her strength and intelligence ~ but Dain! Oh, my! Talk about a wounded hero. I felt his pain deeply and longed to see him heal. In the course of the adventure, the story had me grinning, choking back a tear or two, smiling and generally cheering for Jess and Dain. Only a couple of strong secondary characters, but this was a well-written strong story with pretty good dialogue. It's one I think I might someday want to reread, just for the pleasure of watching Jessica do her stuff. :)

>147 alcottacre: You're right, of course, Stasia. I just meant that, since I so seldom buy books ~ maybe 2 or 3 during the course of a year ~ buying six at one time will be a really intense experience.

>148 thornton37814: That's a great idea for where to buy at least some of my six. I wonder when the next sale is at my local library.

>149 ctpress: Hee hee ~ I'll just be one more vulture picking away at the treasure of used books. Anyway, thanks, ctpress! I joined Library Thing on August 16, 2006, which makes this my Fifth Thingaversary.

# 151: Aha....joined LT march 2010 - which means I can only buy ONE lousy book! Gotta be a big heavy one.

>152 ctpress: So in March 2012, you will be able to buy three: one for each year, and mustn't forget the one to grow on. :)

I just read Lord of Scoundrels too and enjoyed it about as much as you did. I also preferred the hero to the heroine. She was a little uninteresting in comparison.

Yes, that's it, Morphy. Uninteresting. I think it's because she wasn't as fleshed out, her motives and inner feelings not gone into as much, and there was a kind of disconnect between what she did and why. I liked her, but she wasn't quite as real as Dain.

Didn't make it in time to congratulate you on 75 books, but better late than never: BRAVO!

Thanks, Ilana! Never too late!

>155 Storeetllr: Which is different from most romances. It's usually the heroine that is all fleshed out and the hero is flat in comparison.

I can't imagine only buying 2-3 books a year! My husband would be so relieved. :)

Boy, I thought I was doing well by setting a target of buying only 10 books this year. I cannot imagine only buying 2-3 every year!

I better not mention the 230 new books that have entered our house already this year. But most were free, either old books from my dad, or books people at work gave away... but I couldn't imagine only 10 books a month, let alone a year....

>158 Morphidae: Hey, that's right! I hadn't thought of that.

>159 JulieC0802:, 160, 161 It's only because I have no room for more books ~ and I have about 25 banker boxes filled with books in my storage unit, which I'd like to bring home before I start adding to the number. I am planning to install a wall of bookshelves in the living room, get all my books out of storage and put on the shelves, and then if there's room start buying again. I do, however, borrow at least a dozen books every two weeks or so from the library, and I have been buying ebooks for my Kindle, which I forgot to factor in when I said 2-3. That's really 2-3 print books, not virtual books. Of ebooks, so far this year, I'd say I bought about a dozen, and I got another dozen or so free. So it's not as bad as it sounds. :)

77. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith. 3-3/4 stars. Kindle. I got this one for 99 cents from Amazon.com, though I was afraid I wouldn't like it, but guess what! I did! It had nowhere near the style or the wonderful dialogue of the real P&P, but I enjoyed reading about Lizzy and Jane and Mary (and even silly Lydia and Kitty) wielding katanas and chopping off heads and performing feats like the Leaping Leopard and other martial arts moves under the eye of their doting but grimly determined warrior father. I'll be getting the next in the series (I guess it's a series) which I tried once and didn't like at all but which I apparently was just not in the mood for at the time.

The second one is not as good as the first, but if you read it in the same spirit (just for fun), then it is quite good :D

#163: I may have to break down and read that one at some point, but probably not any time soon :)

It's not literature by any stretch of the imagination, but it was fun! Sorry to hear the second wasn't as good as the first. I'm hoping though that having read the first I'll be able to enjoy the second at least a little. The only reason I tried it is because I'm on vacation this week and decided I'm not going to read anything heavy or serious (unless I want to). So I read it on the flight back from Chicago, and it was a perfect plane read. Just enough to take my mind off the fact I was flying, not enough to cause me any real mental effort.

78. The Best Intentions by Candice Hern. 3.5 stars. Kindle. Oh, how I love summer vacations ~ lying in the sun (or, in my case, shade) by the pool, sipping a cool drink (iced tea for me) and reading whatever takes my fancy, the lighter and easier-to-read the better! And it doesn't hurt when the light easy read is a romance that is as fun as Hern's The Best Intentions is. Here we have Hannah, an awkward young woman, young for her age, with a penchant for medieval architecture, whose widowed older half sister has set her sights on a rich, handsome earl, a widower himself, with two young daughters. Apparently this is the second of a duo where the setting is a house party in the country. Anyway, I enjoyed it and intend to look for more from Candice Hern.

I am glad you found a good book to enjoy on a lazy summer's day, Mary!

Hello Mary, just dropping by your thread, and I recognised the painting at the top - I've just seen it on display in a gallery (The Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight near Liverpool) which I visited while on holiday. They do look very relaxed and enjoying reading/being read to, don't they!

Hi, Genny! Thanks for dropping by! I really love that painting ~ how great that you have seen it in real life! Yes, they do look relaxed and happy reading on that lovely portico, or whatever it is.

*waving at Mary*

Hi, Stasia! I'm going to try to post a photo of my great (grand?) nephew Noah whom I met just last Saturday for the first time. Also one of his baby brother Jonah with my daughter.





ETA Yay! Success! Noah's so funny ~ he apparently loves to toddle around in high heel shoes.

Great pictures, Mary. Cute kids and your daughter is beautiful!

I second what Judy just said! I just did a double take on the high heels, hadn't noticed them the first time! :-)

Thanks, Judy! It was so wonderful meeting the little ones at the wedding in Chicago last weekend. I only hope I get to see them again before they are teenagers. (The last time I got back to Chicago was 5 years ago, and the time before that was 15 years earlier.)

ETA Although if I don't see Noah until then, I can blackmail him with that pic of him in the high heels. lol

What terrific pictures, Mary!

This spammer is getting around the threads this morning! Flagged this post and the profile - hopefully it will be gone soon!

Mary- Thanks for sharing the photos! Hope you had a nice time in Chicago. The weather has been very nice here, the past 2 weeks.

Thanks, Alana. Yes, those high heels. His mom says he is constantly stealing her shoes. lol

Thanks, Stasia. Baby Jonah is precious, of course, but Noah is a real joy! And energy! He never stopped going all throught he reception, though he was very quiet and well-behaved. He just kept moving.

Hey, Mark ~ I had forgotten you live in the Chicago area! Yes, the weather was really nice for Chicago in August, except on the day of the wedding. I haven't driven through that heavy a rainstorm in years!

79a. Storm Front by Jim Butcher. 4 stars. Graphic novel. Pretty good adaptation, though brief and not covering the entire story. Also, I always think of Harry Dresden as much handsomer than the drawings of him in this one. I liked the way Karryn was portrayed, though, and the bit with the vampire was really cool.

79b. The Unwritten by Mike Carey. 3.5 stars. Graphic novel. This was part 2, and I think I needed to have read part 1 in order to really get it. Still it was a worthy graphic novel, and I really liked the premise (what I understood of it, which had to do with Tom Taylor, the son of legendary author Wilson Taylor and inspiration for the character of Tommy Taylor, Boy Wizard, a bestselling series of Harry Potter-like fantasy stories for children, who appears to have the same sort of wizardly talents as his namesake character in the books). First Tom is in prison, accused of murder, then he escapes into a nightmare vision of Stuttgart under the Nazis, where Goebels is creating a mythos out of a Jewish novel. I will probably reread it after I read part 1 because, even not understanding a lot of it, I thought it was pretty impressive story.

Mary- I'm so glad you have immersed yourself in these graphics. I have been obsessed with them too. They are perfect "in between" books. I find myself setting my "regular" book down, picking up a IN and reading 20-30 pages and starting the cycle over.
I'm nearly finished with sweet Tooth Vol 3. I love this series. Also finished Locke & Key, the 1st in a series and it was fantastic.
Have not read the 2nd volume in The Unwritten. I need to get to that one.

Yes, me too! They are the perfect interim read when I can't really settle on a novel or non-fiction book.

I keep "favoriting" posts that talk about great graphic novels and adding others to my LT wishlist, so keep the suggestions coming! :) In fact, when I was at the library yesterday, I was looking for Chew due to someone on LT raving about it, but I couldn't remember the author's name so didn't find it. I'll put it on hold as soon as I get a chance. I also tried to find The Stand graphic novels at the library but no luck, and no luck at any of the online booksellers I've tried so far. I may have to dig deeper.

Right now I'm reading The Rabbi's Cat 2 after having gobbled up the first The Rabbi's Cat yesterday and am just loving them. Next up are two more John Constantine adventures: The Fear Machine and Bloodlines.

I read all The Rabbi's Cat these past few months and I agree they're a lot of fun. I'll be keeping an eye out for what other graphic novels you've got going.

80. Small Favor by Jim Butcher. 3.5 stars. I know, I usually give Dresden novels a 4 or 4.5 star rating, but I just could not seem to get into this one and only forced myself to finish it so I can go on to the next. I felt much the same about Summer Knight which I powered through too. Anyway, there was pretty much nonstop fighting and monsters and angst in this one, whereas I seem to prefer an occasional quiet moment of magic and introspection. There also was not so much humor in this one, though maybe the time for humor is pretty much over in Dresden's world, considering what is coming. Well, on to Turn Coat and then Changes, which is one I am not looking forward to, and then after Ghost Story I'll be caught up after two or more years of reading this series.

81. John Constantine ... to be continued

ETA John Constantine: Hellblazer: The Fear Machine by Jamie Delano. 3.75 stars. Okay, I read it in one setting, and it was very strange and I admit to having skipped some of the writing (the pictures were enough to give me the gist of what was happening, and I was on enough bad trips in my wild and misspent youth that I don't want to read about someone else's, thank you very much). Anyway, John is running from the law after having been unjustly (more or less) accused of mass murder by sorcery, and he falls in with a tribe of wandering hippies, one of whom is a sweet but very scary little girl who can read minds and sort of tell the future. She gets herself kidnapped by some very bad men who are using psychics to manipulate events in order to sieze power. One of the by-products of this is The Fear Machine. It was pretty good, even though I did not like the scenes of John's bad trip.

#186: to be continued

I am looking forward to it! :)

Heh, Stasia. I was so tired last night when I wrote that I had forgotten the title! It's John Constantine: Hellblazer: The Fear Machine by Jamie Delano.

I hope you get some rest!

Thanks, Stasia. As to my getting some rest, I stayed up way past my bedtime last night again. My laptop memory is about at 10%, so to free up some space I was deleting books from my iTunes library ~ ones I've listened to but do not intend to listen to again and ones that I tried to listen to (sometimes more than a few times) and just could not, either due to the reader or the writing or lack of interest in the subject matter. Before I deleted anything, though, I listened to a bit of it again, just to be sure. Anyway, I'd deleted about five or six audiobooks when I got to Blue Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas. I started listening to it and for some reason it clicked and four hours later I realized I'd have to finish the deleting job another time but that Blue-Eyed Devil was not going to be one of the audiobooks that gets deleted.

82. Arabella by Georgette Heyer. 4 stars. Although I thought the heroine was just a tad passive, except for her passion for rescuing unfortunately (loved Ulysses) and the hero's behavior a bit unrealistic, I enjoyed this romanatic comedy of manners a lot. It reminded me of the romance between Lizzy and Mr. Darcy, only with more humor. I have to say I liked the characters and situation in The Grand Sophy best of all the Heyers I've read so far. Heyer had such a deft touch with the Regency romances she wrote, especially the characters, even the secondary and tertiary characters. Next Heyer up is, I think, Frederica.

Oh, you will love Frederica, I predict!

I hope so, Roni! It sounds like a really good one.

I enjoyed Frederica, Mary. I hope you do too!

I'll let you know, Stasia, but so far I've loved all the Heyers I've read so far. Some more than others, of course, but all were very well done and enjoyable.

I have only read a couple of her romances, but those that I have read, I have enjoyed. One of these days I will manage to get to The Grand Sophy which has only been sitting on my nightstand for 2 years or so now.

I think you will really like The Grand Sophy, Stasia. It's my favorite Heyer, followed by Black Moth. I know I have a gazillion more Heyers to read before I can really say which I like best, but so far...

83. Shield's Lady by Jayne Ann Krentz. 4 stars. This romance is set on a planet in the distant future where hundreds of years earlier two colony spaceships crash landed on separate continents and lost track of each other. The survivors built their societies based on the philosophy of classes and clans and predicated on the businesses of the classes that were on each (the ship that crashed in the east were mostly financial and technical types; the one that crashed in the west were artists and craftsmen). Sariana, a young woman from the east, flees to the capital of the west to recover after a devastating setback puts paid to her ambitions to become an executive in one of her clan's businesses. There she becomes the business advisor for the Prime Family of the Jeweler Clan which has gotten into financial difficulties and lost an artifact that gives them their status. She recruits Gryph, a lord of the Shield class, to locate the missing stolen artifact. Of course, sparks fly and romance blossoms, and villains, strange alien artifacts and otherworldly "pets" abound. Obviously, I enjoyed it, but then I usually enjoy the lighthearted stuff that Krentz writes under all her noms de plume.

84-1/2. Chew: Taster's Choice by John Layman. 4 stars. Graphic novel. Parts of it were gruesome, but others were lol funny. I loved it and can't wait to read Vol. 2, which is waiting for me in bed and will constitute the second half of #84.

85. Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand by Carrie Vaughn. 4 stars. Another fun Kitty Norville novel. In this one, she goes to Vegas and ends up in the middle of a sexy bunch of performing lycanthropes, a strangely magical magician, and a group of supernaturals-hating gun-toting fanatics.

#198: I usually enjoy the lighthearted stuff that Krentz writes under all her noms de plume.

Me too :)

86. Blue Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas. 4 stars. Audio Kleypas is one of those authors where I know before I even start reading anything of hers that it will be good, and this one did not disappoint. I was a little put off when I started it, the accents were a bit jarring (very Texas drawly), but I soon got used to it and from there on had no problems with it. The story is a little darker, a little less fluffy than her other romances, but that didn't detract. Haven comes from a family of strong, domineering men (father and 3 brothers), an unengaged father, and a critical mother who died when Haven was a teen, leaving her with loads of guilt and the desire to please in order to be loved. She marries Nick, a control freak, and eventually ends up fleeing that mentally and physically abusive relationship, and begins slowly to build up her self-esteem. When she takes up with Hardy, a wild bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks, with a history of bad blood between himself and Haven's brothers, all the men in her family pressure her to give him up for her own good. This is the story of a woman's journey of recovery and, while there was the obligatory happy-ever-after ending, the way there was not ever assured.

84-1/2 (second half; see 199 above for first half). Chew Part 2. 3.5 stars. Graphic. Enjoyed this one too and can't wait for the next in what I hope will be a long series. However, it seems there is a story between the first and second, where Tony Chu met his lady love, and wonder if and when that will be told.

87. Dance of Death by Preston and Child. 3.5 stars. Audio. The story of the epic struggle between Pendergast and his insane genius brother Diogenes has the special agent racing against time to stop Diogenes from murdering all his friends. I had a dreadful time finishing this; I even took a month's-long hiatus from it to because the intense nature of the story was making me too nervous. A true thriller if there ever was one.

88. The Book of the Dead by Preston and Child. 4 stars. The final book in the Diogenes trilogy; almost as intense as the second but somehow infinitely easier for me to get through. Okay, I really can't give much of a synopsis without giving away what happens in Book 2, so all I will say is I can't wait for the next in the series so I can see what Pendergast and his cohorts get up to.

89. John Constantine: Hellblazer-Bloodlines by Garth Ennis. Graphic. 3.5 stars. Not my favorite for some reason, but still good.

Hi Mary, I've added "Chew" series to my wishlist. I am adding a graphic novel category to my 12/12 challenge next year and looking for candidates.

Hi, Judy ~ I hope you enjoy Chew as much as I did. Can't wait to see what other graphic novels end up on your 12/12 challenge list!

90. Changeless by Gail Carriger. 3-3/4 stars. Book and Audio. Part of my Sept. Series and Sequels month challenge (http://www.librarything.com/topic/122271).

I started out reading this in print and found it a bit boring (hence the minus 1/4 star), but then I had a chance to listen to it on audio and enjoyed it a lot more. In this second book of the Parasol Protectorate, something is causing the vamps and werewolves of London to lose their supernatural powers, while, at the same time, Alexia's husband Lord Maccon scurries off to Scotland to deal with an alpha-less clan of weres. The ending infuriated me (not because of the author but some of the characters) ~ I was ready to slap Maccon and his hideous Scottish relative. After all Alexia did for them! The jerks. I hope they fall into a bog. >:-(

Of course I went right out and picked up the next in the series ~ again on audio. ;-)

91. The Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer. 3 stars. Audio. Not up to its usual excellent fun level.

92. I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan. 4.5 stars. Impressive. Reminiscent of The Screwtape Letters

Mary- I just picked up Chew Vol 2. Thanks for the reminder. I had forgotten about it.

Hi, Mark ~ Enjoy!

93. Watership Down. 5 stars. Audio. Brilliant story of a bunch of rabbits. Charming without being precious. Has not palled in the 30 or so years since I first read it.

I can't believe it's been about 30 years since I read Watership Down as well. It's one of those books that stays with you and often comes to mind.

From the weekly thread, I thought I should look for your thread and add to the Watership Down love! Ralph Cosham's narration is perfect. I was afraid the story wouldn't hold up for me after 30+ years but it certainly does.

Judy ~ I know, right? 30 years? Yikes!

Welcome, Joanne! I completely agree with your assessment. Cosham had the voices of all the rabbits spot-on! I had a hard time getting into my next audio after the wonderfulness of Watership Down and, in fact, intend to listen to it again soon.

94. Blameless by Gail Carriger. 3 stars. Audio. I'm not sure how much of the relatively low 3-star rating is due to the reader (I normally like Emily Gray's performances, but in this one there are looooong pauses not only between chapters, but also between scenes and even between sentences in the same paragraph, as well as odd hesitations and emphases, as if she wasn't paying attention to what was actually happening in the story; I admit though that part of the problem may have been the editing) and how much was due to the somewhat boring (for all the nonstop action) story itself. Anyway, without too many spoilers, in this one, Alexia, having been tossed out by her idiotic werewolf husband (honestly, I don't understand how someone that stupid could have attracted Alexia in the first place, much less be the alpha of the premier pack and the head of the supernatural police force) as well as by her ridiculous family, flees to Italy with only her lesbian inventor friend and her secretary, a man whom she had inherited from her father, to find out about her past and escape from the homicidal vampires and their minions. I know this is more-or-less a pastiche on the romantic/paranormal/steampunk subgenres, but most of the characters are simply over-the-top and the story a bit too too. My opinion only, and please take this with a grain of salt as I fully intend to read the rest of the series (though I think in print, not audio, from now on).

95. Turn Coat by Jim Butcher. 4 stars. Audio

96. Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer. 4 stars. E-Book

97. Lucifer: Exodus and Lucifer: Mansions of Silence 4 and 3.5 stars, respectively. Graphics.

98. The Beast of Chicago by Rick Geary. 3.5 stars. Graphic.

99. Lucifer: The Wolf Beneath the Tree and Lucifer: Crux by Mike Carey. 4 stars. Graphics.

100. These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer. 4.5 stars. E-Book.

Woot! 100! Congratulations!

I've got Devil's Cub on the shelves, Georgette Heyer's always a great read.

Thanks, wookie!

Yes, she is. Devil's Cub was her first novel, written (I heard) when she was a teenager, so it's a bit over-the-top in the melodrama department, but even so I enjoyed it a lot more than many romances by more experienced more modern historical romance writers. I think the wit and humor tip the scales for me.

101. Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill. 3.5 stars. Graphic.

102. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. 3.5 stars.

103. Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel. 5 stars. Graphic. (read earlier in the month but omitted from the lists)

Actually, The Black Moth was her first novel, which later metamorphosized into These Old Shades. I love the way that Fanny and Rupert re-enact their original adventure in Devil's Cub plus I love Mary Challoner's stoic personality contrasted with the, yes, somewhat but most deliciously melodramatic events. Heyer is usually at her best when balanced on the edge of farce, with her great characters carrying the day.

Congratulations on passing the 100 book mark!

Sorry, you are right Roni. I meant the The Black Moth, also melodramatic but, as you say, deliciously so.

Congrats on 100+!! and so many 4 star books,looks like you know how to pick'em!!

Thanks, Tammy. It's not hard to have a lot of 4 star & + reads when you usually don't bother to finish anything that you don't like enough to give a 3 star rating to, and even some of those go by the wayside. :)

104. Dog On It by Spencer Quinn. 5 stars. Audio. First in a mystery series from a dog's pov. Okay, how is it possible that this isn't too cute and anthropomorphic? I don't know, but it isn't. I just love Chet (the dog) and will definitely be continuing this series. My heartfelt thanks to the LTer(s) who recommended it, and, if I can recall who that was, I'm going to be sending them thank you notes.

RichardDerus recommended Dog On It on his thread simply ages ago. And I'm sure others have mentioned it elsewhere as well, but that was the first mention I saw. I've got the first book, but haven't found time to squeeze it into the reading schedule as yet. Will have to bump it up a bit now it's got two excellent recommendations!

Oh, wookie! It was so much fun to listen to it. The reader had the dog down so pat...it wasn't a goofy voice, but the pauses and emphases were so doggish. I've had lots of dogs over the years (well, 6), and I bet if they could have talked (the smarter ones, anyway), they'd have sounded a lot like Chet. I went right out and got the next two in the series, and I have one more after that and then I think there's another on the way.

I'll have to scoot over to Richard's thread and thank him for his reccie, because I think you are right and he is one of those I heard mention it.

Congrats on 100 books Mary!

I'll have to look up Dog On It with that 5 star rating of yours!

Thanks for your recommendation of the Cosham audiobook of Watership Down. I'm looking for what to spend some of my credits on, and I might go for that one, as I'm another who read the book about 30 years ago and loved it then.

If you loved it then, Genny, I think you'll really enjoy the audio version. Let me know!

105. Die Trying by Lee Child. Audio. 4 stars. Last book of September and of the 3rd quarter (already!!!!!) and of the Sequels and Serials challenge. Pretty good end!

106. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. 4.5 stars. Graphic. Another one I finished yesterday, Sept. 30, but forgot to list. Wasn't sure about it at first, but by the end I was smiling through my tears and started all over again at the beginning.

Good grief! I can't believe summer's over already (though today's pretty hot here in Pasadena, CA). or that this thread has 232 posts on it. Time for a new thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/124472

>232 Storeetllr: Oooooh, I LOVE books like that. Pushing it up on Mount TBR.

Chiming in on the Selznick book - I read it recently and loved loved loved it. Morphy, push it even farther up the pile, because I *know* you'll love it too.