Jen's 2007 Book Challenge

I wanted to read 50 books in 2007. Luckily, I made a post in my MySpace Reader's Circle group back in Feb. about all of the books I'd read so far at that time, and I have been keeping a stack of "read" books since then, so it will be easy for me to re-create what I've done so far. I'm going to list everything I've read until now below, and will add books as I finish them. I'm not *quite* where I should be for more than half-way through the year, so I've got a little catch-up to do now...

I just started using LT, so most of these books are not in my library here yet, but they'll get there (I just got my CueCat in the mail yesterday, so this weekend will be FILLED with book adding!).

EDIT: A friend of mine laid hands on a cataloging program that is free to me, and so I'm not really cataloging on LT any more, but I like this thread, so I'm keeping this updated. I'm also on GoodReads.com, where I've been entering star ratings and reviews of books as I read them - if you want to read my reviews or friend me on GoodReads, you can find me at http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/202716.

1. Heart of Dorkness (The Collected Dork Tower, Vol. 3) - John Kovalic
2. Livin' La Vida Dorka (The Collected Dork Tower, Vol. 4) - John Kovalic
3. Shaking Her Assets - Robin Epstein and Renee Kaplan
4. Plain Heathen Mischief - Martin Clark
5. Once Upon Stilettos - Shanna Swendson (I am in LOVE with this series, BTW; this is the 2nd one. It's MADE for all of us girly dorks, because it's chick lit about a girl living in Manhattan who works for a company that makes spells for wizards, etc, who have to keep themselves hidden from non-magical people so as not to blow their minds - it's just a lot of fun, and very well-written for chick lit)
6. Foop! - Chris Genoa
7. S is for Silence - Sue Grafton (I'm interested in what other Grafton fans thought of this book - I was disappointed; it bored me. I think it's my least favorite Kinsey Milhone novel.)
8. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
9. Understanding Gamers (The Collected Dork Tower, Vol. 5) - John Kovalic
10. Fables Vol. 9: Sons of Empire - Bill Willingham
11. Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall - Bill Willingham
12. Watchmen - Alan Moore
13. The God File - Frank Turner Hollon
14. Between, Georgia - Joshilyn Jackson (FAVORITE. BOOK. EVER.)
15. Villa Incognito - Tom Robbins
16. Fat Girls and Lawn Chairs - Cheryl Peck
17. Creatures of Habit - Jill McCorkle
18. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
19. The Seduction of Water - Carol Goodman

On audiobook (I listen to audiobooks while I work out and on long trips):
20. Can't Wait to Get to Heaven - Fannie Flagg
21. Size 14 is Not Fat Either - Meg Cabot

I also read Can't Wait to Get to Heaven and enjoyed it immensely. I've been thinking of reading Between, Georgia and it sounds like it would be a good choice. Thanks!

Yep, Between, Georgia is an excellent choice in my opinion. I wasn't expecting much from it, and I was totally blown away by how awesome it was!

Anyway, I finished another book this morning:

22. Coraline - Neil Gaiman

Very spooky for a kid's book! I liked it a lot.

I remembered two more I read earlier in the year that weren't in my stack of finished books because I gave them to my husband to read right after I finished them:

23. Geek Love - Katherine Dunn
24. American Gods - Neil Gaiman

I know that lots of people don't consider comics or graphic novels as books, but this is my list and I do. You'll notice that my first post contained several Dork Tower books, 2 Fables books and Watchmen. I just started to read the Lucifer series, so those will be listed here as well. I thought about listing them all together as one book, but that would be inconsistent with the separate listings I made for Dork Tower and Fables, which I am not willing to change because those weren't complete series and this is. So I've decided to list the trade books individually, but I've decided to increase my reading goal to 75 books for 2007 to encompass the fact that these take less time to read because of their pictoral nature and because the page count is much shorter than an average book. Here goes!

25. Lucifer: Devil in the Gateway (Book 1) - Mike Carey
26. Lucifer: Children and Monsters (Book 2) - Mike Carey
27. Lucifer: A Dalliance with the Damned (Book 3) - Mike Carey

28. Lucifer: The Divine Comedy (Book 4) - Mike Carey
29. Lucifer: Inferno (Book 5) - Mike Carey
30. Lucifer: Mansions of the Silence (Book 6) - Mike Carey
31. Lucifer: Exodus (Book 7) - Mike Carey
32. Lucifer: The Wolf Beneath the Tree (Book 8) - Mike Carey

I caught up to my husband on the Lucifer books, because he's not so ravenous as me and reads about 10 different books at one time, so I'm stalled on those for now. But last night I finished:

33. Blue Monday: Painted Moon (Book 4) - Chynna Clugston

34. Scooter Girl - Chynna Clugston-Major
35. Lucifer: Crux (Book 9) - Mike Carey

36. Lucifer: Morningstar (Book 10) - Mike Carey
37. Lucifer: Evensong (Book 11) - Mike Carey

And with that, we have concluded the Lucifer series. It was AWESOME. If you're interested in new and different takes on traditional Judeo-Christian themes or free will or if you loved the Sandman series, you need to definitely go read Lucifer.

38. Spygirl - Amy Gray

39. Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! - Fannie Flagg

40. Damsel Under Stress - Shanna Swendson

41. Ghosts in the Snow - Tamara Siler Jones

42. The Last Girls - Lee Smith (audiobook)

43. The Jane Austen Book Club - Karen Joy Fowler

44. Mr. Timothy - Louis Bayard

45. Eating the Cheshire Cat - Helen Ellis

47. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen

48. Stardust - Neil Gaiman

49. In the Bleak Midwinter - Julia Spencer-Fleming

50. Jack of Fables: The (Nearly) Great Escape (Book 1) - Bill Willingham

51. F is for Fugitive - Sue Grafton

52. Bee Season - Myla Goldberg

53. Tricked - Alex Mitchell
(note: neither the title nor the author in brackets would bring up any possibilities of the correct links to the book or the author, so I left them out of this one. This is a really great graphic novel published by a teeny tiny press, so this is not surprising, but I do highly recommend it!)

Have you seen the movie StarDust? I saw where you read the book, and wanted to know your thought on which was better (probably the book) - just interested. I have a hard time reading books after watching the movie and wondered if the book was way different? BTW I LOVE Shanna Swendson's series! They are so much fun to read.

Sorry, Jadesbooks - haven't logged in for a few days, so I didn't see your message! I haven't seen the Stardust movie yet, though I'm chomping at the bit to do so! I'll let you know what I think after I see it - it looks fabulous, though it is rare for me to think a movie is BETTER than a book, but I may think it's a good film interpretation of the story or something :) Glad to hear from a fellow Shanna fan - I just think her books are so great!!

On to my most recent book!

54. Case Histories - Kate Atkinson

55. Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

56. Serenity Rose: Working Through the Negativity (Book 1) - Aaron A.

57. Broken for you - Stephanie Kallos
58. Looking for Alaska - John Green
59. The Garden Angel - Mindy Friddle

60. Frenemies - Megan Crane

61. Blankets - Craig Thompson

62. A Fountain Filled with Blood - Julia Spencer-Fleming

63. Uglies - Scott Westerfeld

64. Pretties - Scott Westerfeld

65. My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult
66. Love Fights Volume 1 - Andi Watson

67. The Virgin - Erik Barmack

68. Specials - Scott Westerfeld

69. Box Office Poison - Alex Robinson

70. The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman (this is a re-read; and touchstones aren't working properly right now)

71. The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman (this is a re-read)

72. The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman
73. Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson

74. Garnethill - Denise Mina

75. Ojo - Sam Keith

76. Something Rising Light and Swift - Haven Kimmel