Hairballsrus's Nifty Fifty and Beyond....Starting Oct. 1rst.

This is actually a repost, since the first time I forgot to put my name in the Header. Whoops!


**Original message**Hello. Hello. This is a fabulous idea. Maybe I can't get motivated enough to stay in an exercise class, but I think I can read fifty books! Cross your fingers for me though. :)

My starting date was Oct. 1rst and I'm currently about fifty pages from finishing Wicked. I'll let you know what I think when I'm done.

Update: I finished Wicked on Saturday evening in the grocery store parking lot. :) Eeh. Three out of five stars. I don't think I'll be visiting this author again. First of all, I've never really liked The Wizard of Oz. This story, while certainly driving in a different direction, didn't drive anywhere I wanted to go. It was thought provoking; I'll give it that.

The first portion of the novel was hard to get through. Many of the ideas were visited, but then not brought up again. Being the cat lover that I am (I own 10 and am currently awaiting a new charge) I wanted to know what happened to Elphaba's cat! Go on, look. There's the cat on the inside cover along with Killyjoy the dog (we know what happens to him) and Chistery the monkey (we know what happens to him). But the cat? No such luck. Phooey! Elphaba didn't even miss her!

The tone of the novel was a bit uneven, aiming for comedy one moment and tragedy the next. I did love the jokes about the Wicked Witch of the East's death. Very droll.
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Listing All the Books of the Year in Order:

1. Wicked
2. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
3. Touch Not the Cat
4. Drowning Ruth
5. In a Strange City
6. Replay
7. Spin
8. A Fine and Private Place
9. The Book Thief
10. Conrad's Fate
11. Working for the Devil
12. Dead Man Rising
13. The Devil's Right Hand
14. The Looking Glass Wars
15. The Thirteenth Tale
16. Water for Elephants
17. Visions of Sugar Plums
18. Miracle and Other Stories
19. Daddy Long Legs
20. The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers
21. Plum Lovin
22. A Dark Traveling
23. Doctor Who: Human Nature
24. A Certain Slant of Light
25. Plum Lucky
26. Outside the Dog Museum
27. Tea with the Black Dragon
28. Spinners
29. The Annotated Alice
30. Fahrenheit 451
31. The Book of Lost Things
32. Confessions of Max Tivoli
33. Tracy and Hepburn: An Intimate Memoir
34. Stiff: the curious lives of human cadavers
35. Dark Sister by Graham Joyce
36. Ella Minnow Pea
37. The Lovely Bones
38. The Bone Lady
39. Goodnight Nobody
40. Anonymous Lawyer
41. A Dirty Job
42. Lean Mean Thirteen
43. The Uncommon Reader: A Novella
44. Sabriel
45. Axis
46. The Smoke Thief
47. The Salmon of Doubt
48. The Year of Magical Thinking
49. The Bear Went Over the Mountain
50. Auntie Mame
51. Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter
52. The Shadow of the Wind
53. Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryham
54. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
55. Mr. Darcy's Diary
56. Jesus Land
57. Midnight Magic
58. One Thousand Paper Cranes
59. Noble Intentions
60. I am the Messenger
61. City of Dreaming Books
62. Slaughterhouse Five
63. Special Topics in Calamity Physics
64. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
65. A Winter Haunting
66. The Last Man in the World
67. The Last Universe

2. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir Finished Oct. 7th

This has always been a favorite film and I bought the novel long ago at a library book sale. Raise your hand if you buy books and squirrel them away like nuts. One of my goals this year is to actually read some of my unread collection!

The film combines two plots, strengthens the tension and eliminates a child. :) Actually, it's the better of the two. But it really is hard to judge a novel for its originality when you're so familiar with it in another medium.

It was a charming little novel. 3 1/2 stars

3. Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart

Continuing my theme of Halloween plots, I reread this classic romantic suspense novel. I really didn't remember much of the plot, since I hadn't pick it up in twenty-five years. Most of this book was read while sitting in a Chinese restaurant, waiting to get a flat tire replaced. I was #12 in line and it took 3 hours. Good thing I always carry a book with me, eh?

4 stars

4. Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz

Finally finished this one today. Good ending, but the plot depends on too many coincidences.

3 stars

5. In a Strange City by Laura Lippman

This was my first foray into this mystery series and I really enjoyed it. I learned some more about Edgar Allen Poe as well.

4 stars

6. Replay by Ken Grimwood

Wow! Excellent time travel novel. I never would have even heard of it if I hadn't joined this site. Thanks Librarything!!

5 stars and a hearty thumbs up.

Sorry, I went back to work and fell off the radar!

7. Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

I went back to my bread and butter genre-sci fi.

One night the stars disappear and a shield surrounds the earth. Inside the shield, thirty years will pass, outside the shield...three billion. Will science or religion save the human race?

I haven't read a bad Wilson book yet. Some are slighter than others, but they all deliver a 90 degree turn 2/3rds of the way through the book. That's good sci-fi. Nothing is ever exactly what it appears to be.

****1/2

8. A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle =Two ghosts fall in love in a graveyard=

I always wondered why I'd owned this novel for twenty years and never read it. Now I know. Nothing happens! And when something does happen, it happens off stage so to speak. You can't fault Peter S. Beagle for his language skills (although this novel is obviously one of his early ones) but jeeze....a little action once in a while please! A 250 page book that took me over a week to read. How embarassing.

**1/2 Not recommended unless you have trouble falling asleep.

9. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Another LibraryThing suggestion. The story of a small German town during the Holocaust as told by Death. It's totally understandable why this is an award winner.

5 stars

**** After some consideration, I've decided not to count audio books, since the point (for me) of this challenge is to actually read more, but I am going to list them every once in a while. I may have listened to some more; these are the ones I remember.

October/November Audios

1. The Cat Who Saw Red by Lillian Jackson Braun
2. The Cat Who Lived High
3. The Cat Who Wasn't There
4. Making Money by Terry Pratchett
5. The Stupidest Angel: a heartwarming tale of Christmas terror by Christopher Moore I dare anyone not to snort their way through this audio. Tony Roberts is perfect as the narrator! The brain eating zombies only have two things on their minds. "First we feast! Then IKEA!!"

10. Conrad's Fate by Diana Wynne Jones

I seem to be on a bit of a YA kick. Cute. The plot seems to just clump together at the end, but all things do get explained. This novel involves a teenage Christopher Chant. I know I've read some more in this series, but it was a reallly long time ago. Anything that involves parallell universes in the plot is fine by me.

I know the house on my edition's front cover is supposed to be the Mansion, but it doesn't look remotely like it's described. That must be frustrating for authors since so often it's the cover that sells the book!

***1/2

If anyone has any good parallel universe books to recommend, feel free...

Oh, Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books take place in a fascinating parallel universe, and they are very funny. I will have to think, I know I have read other parallel universe stuff, but this is what jumps to mind right away.

Thanks for your suggestion sussabmax. I just wish I could get in the mood to read!

11. Working for the Devil by
Lilith Saintcrow
Lord, save me from authors who think short chapters are amusing! 52 chapters plus an epilogue in a book less than 400 pages long. This is the same reason why James Patterson makes me grit my teeth.

The premise for this universe really sounded promising- a practicing necromancer is hired by the devil to kill a rogue demon. She's assigned a "familiar" demon, who, considering the structure of the book, is destined to be her love interest. That's where the idea falls apart, because I cannot imagine these characters ever falling in love. Dante, the necromancer, is too full of herself and the demon Japhrimel, isn't given enough text time for either the readers or Dante to make much of him. He broods with his hands behind his back, ala Angel. Dante shares a pizza with him early on, allows him to back her up in several fights, and tada....300 pages in he's devoted to her, defies Lucifer and gives up his place in Hell? Sure. When You-Know-Where freezes over.

**

12. Dead Man Rising

The second in the Dante Valentine series. I really just don't know when to say when. Dante is back and is still full of herself, this time spending nearly 400 pages (but only 37 chapters!) whining about her lost love, whom she really doesn't love(IMO) and who really isn't lost, which I suppose is a spoiler, but not really, since if he really were dead, I wouldn't have bothered to read the book....sigh. An interesting world though, with a nasty world war in the recent past and a rise in the paranormal population, necromancers, shamans, werewolves, vampires, etc. The elements are there but this story needs some help. There's more repetition than character development and if I get to read one more description of Dante's nail polish, I'm bailing on this series. **

13. The Devil's Right Handby Lilith Saintcrow

Third in the Dante Valentine series. To give credit where it's due, she didn't mention Dante's nail polish until page fifty, which was very conservative for Saintcrow. She also didn't subject me to Dante fussing about how she can no longer get drunk-although later in the novel Dante does in fact buy a drink in a bar. Guess she was just being sociable. ;P

This series still needs a serious editor:

1.It takes until page 70 to get to the plot point mentioned on the back of the book. And then, that isn't even what the book is about. The Devil hires them to track down demons, but then doesn't bother to give them their names! Yes, there is a reason for that. Sort of. Maybe.

2. The timeline is skewed. Dante can't decide if she's been with her boyfriend for one year or several. It's written both ways.

3. Dante is practically invincible, bullets pop out of her body when she's been shot-but she keeps shifting her shoulder bag because it gives her blisters.

4. Dante spends over two hundred pages trying to decide if she trusts her demon boyfriend. Somewhere in there she crosses the line, because she's angry when he does betray her. Sorry, I missed that defining moment somehow.

5. Dante tries to protect her demon boyfriend from a man-made fire. She's afraid he'll get hurt. Hello? Demon? Fire? This woman is dumb as a stick.

6. The purple prose pen strikes again! My personal favorite is this tongue twister : "It was the end of that long dark time of early morning that is late afternoon to psions, when the normals have gone to bed and the streets unroll like ribbons alive with secrets, the time when old people in hospitals die smoothly and silently."
Is that a Bulwer-Lytton sentence or what? **

7. Don't even get me started on the contaminated blood sample that gave the demon Eve two mothers!

I'm free! There are two more books in this series, but I don't own them. Wheee!!!!

And yet, I really like the world Saintcrow has created. I just wish Dante didn't live in it.

14. The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

Reading the on-line reviews shows a love it or hate it attitude towards this book. I for one loved it. I don't think it's all offensive to have an author take Lewis Carroll's famous world and distort it-almost like looking at it through a looking glass.
The first chapters are a bit violent and juvenile, but if the reader continues, they'll be treated to a Wonderland that sure ain't their grandma's! Hooray for Beddor's imagination, contributing the slimy Jack Diamond, the noble Hatter Madigan, the Alyssian rebels and others. It isn't the Wonderland we're used to, but it's a Wonderland I'm willing to visit again. ****

I have never before heard of Frank Beddor's books- off to find them! I am an Alice-o-holic, I can't wait to check these out!

Estarriol-Like I said, the book is a bit violent, but another trip to Wonderland is always welcome!

15. The Thirteenth Tale

I usually don't read a lot of mainstream, but I fell for this Amazon.com suggestion. Not what I expected, but still good. ****

16. Water for Elephants
****
I've become a mainstream slut, haven't I? :) I love the ending to this one.

To be honest, I work in retail and my store has a very nice book department. Since I'm currently working overnights (woohoo ain't Christmas grand!), it's become my bookstore of choice. Normally, I'm a Halfprice Books kind of gal.

17. Visions of Sugar Plums

A Janet Evanovich "Stephanie Plum" Christmas story. It doesn't actually make much sense and my favorite character (Joe Morelli) only has a walk-on. Ranger doesn't even appear. Disappointing. Still funny though.

18. Miracle and Other Stories by Connie Willis

Christmas stories told by one of the scifi genre's treasures. I cannot say enough good things about this author. That's probably why she's my favorite!
*****

This is as much as an update to explain what I haven't read as what I have. Ugh. Blasted retail. This is my sixteenth year in the business and I know from experience that reading and holidays do not mix. I am much too tired and preoccupied. Following my own holiday traditions, once the New Year hit, I came down with a lousy cold. I can't read with a sinus headache. I just can't. Unfinished projects started in the past few weeks:

A. David Copperfield- Three chapters in, the novel sits on a stool in my kitchen waiting for me to be interested in it again. If I were a good person, I'd pick that sucker up! I am not a good person. Occasionally, one of my cats chews on it.

B. A novel by Tom Holt about The Flying Dutchman. The name eludes me for the moment, as does the book. I think it's in the car.

C. The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers- The latest Lillian Jackson Braun out in paperback this week and really crummy. Read the first chapter and that was enough. Sitting on my nightstand currently.

D. Plum Lovin -Stephanie Plum extra adventure also out this week in paperback. First chapter attemped? Maybe I read the back? It also looks dumb.

E. Read three short stories out of sci-fi collection The Man Who Had No Idea by Thomas Disch. Pretty amusing really. But I still have sixteen short stories to go.

F. About three quarters of the way through Kim Wilkins novel Giants of the Frost. I will most likely finish this one this week. Thank goodness. I really didn't like the first novel I read by this author, but the subject matter of Norse Gods made me willing to give this a try. The cold snap in Texas last week made reading a book about Norway sound fun. Now it's 70 degrees out and its lost its flavor!

G. The Other Boleyn Girl Three chapters in on this one too!

Okay, now onto what I HAVE read.

19. Daddy Long-Legs I read this today. Easy read and a YA novel I never got to in my youth.

I have also read.......a bunch of stuff that doesn't count. :(

Let me explain something. I'm a Doctor Who fan. I've loved the BBC show for over twenty five years. It went off the air in 1989, but in 2005 it was revived. The Doctor is a Time Lord, 900 plus years old, played by ten different actors over the years. A couple weeks ago I watched the 2007 Christmas special with the 10th Doctor (David Tennant.) It got me in the mood for Ten!Rose stories. Rose is another character, now lost in an alternate universe (The Doctor leads a strange life!) and not romantically attached to The Doctor in anyway. Not officially anyway. Not on the show. However, in fandom they are the ultimate time-travel starcrossed lovers and in my weakened state (cough, cough) that sounded like a fabulous thing to read about. So my fingers did some tapping on the old keyboard and I've probably read a thousand pages of fanfiction in the past few weeks. Good fanfic. Bad fanfic. Raunchy fanfic. Sweet fanfic. But fanfic nevertheless. Some of the authors are fabulous, as are their stories, but they aren't true published authors. So YES I have been reading. But I can't list any of it legally. Fair enough?

20. The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers Thank heavens for short books.

A transistional novel, big things happen to Mr. Q, which really don't phase him and the murder is a sub-plot. Whatever. Moving on...

21. Plum Lovin Some readers really like the Diesel character. I don't see why anyone is impressed.

I've been listening to my fair share of recorded material as well...

1. Homegrown Democrat by Garrison Keillor Esentially Garrison ranting and raving about the Republican party.
2. Pontoon also by Garrison Keillor A Lake Wobegon novel. Where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking and all the children are above average. Garrison always has better luck with short tales instead of long, but he's ALWAYS worth listening to. It's a shame the film about his radio show was so dreadful.
3. Ten Big Ones Another Stephanie Plum adventure. I've been listening to instead of reading a lot of the latter novels in the S.P. series. Getting tired of the character.
4. The Ressurection Casket One of the new Doctor Who novels read by Doctor #10 The new Doctor can be a bit manic-depressive. On screen it usually looks youthful and energetic. In audio form, he's just spastic. :)
5. Several Doctor Who audio adventures from Big Finish Audio:

*Valhalla-Doctor #7 and killer termites!
*The Game-Doctor #5 and Nyssa trying to survive a game that's also a war.
*Winter for the Adept-Doctor #5 and Nyssa trapped with a poltergeist.
*Pier Pressure-Doctor #6 and audio only companion Eveyln Smithe. While Doctor #6 (Colin Baker) was a brash character on screen, his audio adventures have brought him up several notches in my opinion. Boo to the BBC for not giving the actor better material.
*Bang Bang A Boom-Probably my favorite Big Finish Production. Doctor #7 and Mel in a blatant parody of Star Trek. It's time for the Galactic Song Contest at Dark Space Eight!

I am still reading some Doctor Who fanfic-I can't help it! This happens a few times a year; my reading is taken over by amatuer efforts. I like the nice thick tomes; when printed out they can be used as doorstops. ;) By the time Doctor Who returns to the BBC in the Spring, I'll loathe the thought of anything to do with the series. Overexposure.

22. A Dark Traveling by Roger Zelazny A little gem from the master creator of Amber. It's more like the first half of a novel that never got finished. ***

Still listening to DW Audio Adventures and audio novels:

*Singularity-Doctor #5 and Turlough in near future Moscow
*Sirens of Time-Confusing multi-doctor story
* The Stone Rose Fairly decent Tenth Doctor story with (who else) Rose Tyler traveling to ancient Rome. Esp. enjoyed the Doctor's time spent in the ampitheater.
* The Wishing Beast - #6 Doctor-something nasty lives in the woods! And how cool is it to have a vaccum cleaner that can suck up ghosts! Who ya gonna call?
* The Marion Conspiracy- Doc #6 up to no good in the Court of Queen Mary This is a favorite tale of mine.

23. Doctor Who: Human Nature by Paul Cornell

At last! A Doctor Who story I can count. Human Nature is one of the more famous NA Adventures, created originally for the Doctor in his Seventh Incarnation after the television program was cancelled. NA's were meant to be edgy, taking the Doctor and his conpanions places they'd never go on the screen. In HA, the Doctor takes the unprecidented step of turning himself human and living the life of a boarding school teacher, circa Britain 1913. He even has the audacity of falling in love!-something the Doctor has never done and it can be argued that he cannot do. This novel has since been adapted for the new television series, using the Tenth Doctor instead of the Seventh. This novel is fairly hard to find in physical form; it's now considered a collectible, but the BBC website has posted it in eBook form for free.

As for the story, I'm not very familiar with the NA's (Sixty novels in all) so I'm sure I didn't get all of the in-jokes. The plot however certainly stands up, the aliens are truely creepy and it was interesting to watch a side of the Doctor the series seldom portrays. I like the screen adaption of this novel, but I like the novel more. In both cases, I can't stand the Doctor's lady-love, but I think that's jealousy on my part. :) Doctor Who fans can be very possessive.

Interesting! I've seen the "Human Nature" episode(s) with the 10th Doctor--they were the first ones that my husband showed me. (He tried to rope me in...and it worked. :) I think I'll download the ebook--thanks for mentioning that!

Medelia12- The ebooks are on the Cult Who Site, dedicated to the Classic Series. I think there's a link from the main page. Another Who Fan! Let me know what you think!

24. A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb This was another LT recommendation. Fabulous. A ghost story with a twist. I sobbed through the last chapter. Always a good sign when a book grabs you that way. ****1/2

25. Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich The best of the In-Between-the Numbers series for Stephanie Plum. This time grandma has been kidnapped, along with a horse named Doug, and it's up to Stephanie and her nutty group of friends to rescue them. I especially loved Lula's attempts at using a rocket launcher. ***

Finishing off another audio book today-Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris Gotta love his disfunctional family! I'd love to know how much is truth and how much is out and out lies.

26. Outside the Dog Museum by Jonathan Carroll. This isn't one of his better efforts. *** His protagonists are starting to be too similar.

27. Tea with the Black Dragon A former Imperial Dragon finds himself in love with a Celtic fiddler. Slight fantasy which was fairly entertaining. ***1/2

28. Spinners: a novel by Anthony McCarten Teenagers impregnated by space aliens. Dead cows and crop circles. Hypnosis and Nietzsche. New Zealand's teeny, tiny towns. Interesting and sad. ***

29. The Annotated Alice: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll Illustrated by John Tenniel With An Introduction and Notes by Martin Gardner

Dratted touchstones. Sick in bed (on vacation no less) and severely in need of a "comfort read".

Looking Glass has always been my favorite of the two. Favorite chapters: 1. Looking-Glass Insects and 2. Wool and Water.

Great smelling book. 1960 Edition. Come on, you smell books, right? I love the smell of old books. I'll give a cookie to the first person who can find the quote in Farenheit 451 about the smell of books. Or a quote from another source I don't know about. "Friends, Romans, lend me your..."....noses!

RE: smelling books: guilty as charged! I'd grab my Fahrenheit 45 if it wasn't out on loan right now.

re The Annotated Alice; What did you think of the Wasp in the Wig chapter?? When I first got the book, I could see why Carroll didn't include it, but when I re-read it late last year, I thought it was great. Curious what another Alice lover thinks!
BTW, I never realized why the sheep shouts "FEATHER" at ALice until I read the annotated edition. I just thought she was being bizarre :)

Whoops! Double post.

#35-Medellia12...This quote's for you. "Faber sniffed the book. 'Do you know that books smell like nutmeg or some spice from a foreign land? I loved to smell them as a boy. Lord, there were a lot of lovely books once, before we let them go.' " My copy of Fahrenheit smells like pickle juice. :) What? I LIKE pickle juice.

#36-Estarriol- My copy didn't have the Wasp in the Wig chapter, just a mention that it was lost. I guess I need a newer copy; my hubby picked ours up at a library sale. I thought the sheep shouting "FEATHER" was just another bizarre touch too!

And the reading goes on...

30. Fahrenheit 451 I hadn't read this in years and years. I seem to remember there being more to it; it's awfully short and the ending seems a bit too.... How can you trust works of fiction to people like that without any check system? People CAN remember things wrong. They often do. Case in point: the way I remember Fahrenheit. Still, I loved the bit about Mildred's attempted suicide. Gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it. An impressive book, even if I remember it differently.

Here's a totally geeky moment from my life: I spent my honeymoon at a science fiction convention meeting Ray Bradbury!

Ha! Thanks for the quote. Your honeymoon sounds like fun to me! And I had a similar experience the second time I read Fahrenheit 451--it was a little disappointing, really, but I think the nostalgia is enough that I still count it as one of my favorites.

31. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

"High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David morns the death of his mother. He is angry and alone, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness, and as he takes refuge in his imagination, he finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld..."

Imaginative. Enthralling. Entrancing. Etc. Etc. I just kept reading when I should have been doing so many other things...laundry, liter boxes, yadda yadda. The character David did have a tendency to be a bit "Mary Sueish", but the story was inviting enough for me to overlook that. There are also quite a few Deus Ex Machina moments, but I'm quibbling...

This is a nice solid fantasy. Very readable. A bit gorey for the younger crowd. ****

Medellia-It's a shame you can't hold a story in "stasis" isn't it? But stories don't really change, we do. :(

32. The Confessions of Max Tivoli*** I really thought I would like this novel better. Max lives his life backwards, born an old man and destined to die a child.

Have you read the F. Scott Fitzgerald story "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"? Same premise as in #32.

There's an online version here:
http://www.readbookonline.net/read/690/10628/

Medellia-Thank you very much! No, I haven't read it. I hadn't even heard of it until I bought "Max". It's getting made into a film, isn't it? Benjamin that is, not Max.

There's a parallel war scenario with different endings that I really liked the short stories in the first volume, but then my husband gave me all four novel-length follow ups. The short stories were good. The novel-length followups were mind-bogglingly boring.

I'm not getting tired of Stephanie Plum, but IAM getting tired of Evanovich leading her into and out of Ranger's bedroom with NOTHING HAPPENING!!! Alright, we're on book 13 and NOTHING has HAPPENED since book 8. Come on, Janet, give out!

33. Tracy and Hepburn: An Intimate Memoir by Garson Kanin A nice fluffy read for Valentine's week. Basically it's a book of anecotes, some about him, some about her, some about the couple, many of them intimately involving the author. This is a love story, not the history of Tracy and Hepburn as a couple, but Kanin's own affection for them. Don't look for a hard study of Tracy's drinking or any mention of the world "adultery; you won't find them.

I really haven't seen that much of Tracy and Hepburn's work together and, considering they're usually mentioned in the same breath as Hollywood icons, I was surprised to learn they only made nine films together. They had some fascinating quirks, if the book is to be believed... :) ***1/2

Medievalmama-There's only so long Evanovich can stretch out romantic tension. I realize she wants the series to continue, but the Ranger/Morelli thing is just annoying. She's got Stephanie stuck in a rut. I for one am staunchly in the Morelli camp and want that relationship to move forward. Can't you just imagine Lula a bridesmaid at their wedding?!

34. Stiff: the curious lives of human cadavers by Mary Roach What happens to you when you donate your body to science?

This book appealed to the CSI-wannabe side of my personality; it was equal parts fascinating and disgusting. Like normal, the experiments described involving animals repulsed me far more than anything done to the cadavers. At least they killed the humans first before experimenting on them. Catapulting guinea pigs off cliffs and sewing second heads to dogs had a definite ick factor. As for my cadaver's hereafter, I'm torn being donating my brain to Harvard and having myself pulverized and turned into fertilizer. In the case of the second option, my husband can then plant me in the backyard, preferably with a drought-hardy crepe myrtle as my companion. ****

35. Dark Sister by Graham Joyce

In search of a new urban fantasy author, I have discovered Graham Joyce. This novel won the British Fantasy Book award. I don't think I would go that far. It was good, but it wasn't anything spectacular. In fact, for the first 250 pages, I wondered why it was even nominated.

A young marriage couple with children discover a hidden diary wedged in their boarded up fireplace. The diary is full of herbal lore from a long ago resident of the same house. Soon, the housewife starts to experiment with herbs and the Craft. Their relationship sours, the husband breaks his wife's nose and she moves out. Then, for the next 150 pages it's all about spite and revenge, a battle over child custody and taking lovers. True enough to life I suppose, but not all that fun to read. The one highlight is the therapist they take their three year old son to for his bad behavoir. The therapist tells them their son is fine, but they need to grow up!

Beware a novel where the back the cover is full of praise for the author, but not for the book your are reading. Everyone raves about The Tooth Fairy, another story by Joyce I haven't been able to track down. I'm still interested, but it isn't next on my list. ***

36. Ella Minnow Pea Another LT suggestion. ****

37. The Lovely Bones

I've been reading this on and off for a week. Interesting idea and well presented. Murders leave behind living victims as well. A bit soap-operish though. Some of the reactions to Suzie's death seemed so obvious.

38. The Bone Lady: Life as a Forensic Anthropologist Mary H. Manheim

Yet another book for my CSI-wannabe side. It's a slight book, could have used more detail.

Audio listening....

1. American Gods This is a long novel to listen to...since it's only on my computer and I can only listen to it in the house, I keep backing up to hear a section again.
2. Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 Garrison Keillor embraces his inner fourteen year-old. The bathroom humor got a bit old.
3. The Giver Another computer only book. About half-way through....
4. The Mephisto Club

39. Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner

It was fine, although the cult. refs got to be a bit annoying and the ending is unbelievable. But haven't I read this before? It was called Compromising Positions and it was better. **1/2

40. Anonymous Lawyer by Jeremy Blachman

Recommended by a co-worker. A hiring partner at a California law firm creates an anonymous blog and uses it to vent about his co-workers. Not able to use their names, he invents monikers for each-The Jerk, The Tax Guy, The Woman Who Missed Her Kid's Funeral, The One That Dresses Like a Slut, The Suck Up, etc. Hysterical easy read. ****

41. A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore

Charlie Asher has a new job.....he's a Death Merchant.

At first, I was afraid this was going to cover the same ground as Good Omens, but once the tropy wife character with her soul-dwelling breast implants and the Squirrel people were introduced, I realized that Christopher Moore is sort of like Terry Pratchett on acid. Wheee! What a ride! **** I still like The Stupidest Angel better though.

Wow, soul-dwelling breast implants and the Squirrel people. You know how to write a tantalizing review!

Medellia- What can I say? It's a gift. Have you read any Christopher Moore? Or Terry Pratchett? I'm not making this stuff up!

Currently reading three books and the first to finish is.....

42. Lean Mean Thirteen The newest Stephanie Plum adventure curteousy of the Allen Public Library. Loved the Beaver Bomb (and no, I'm not making that up either). I see a battle between Ranger and Morelli on the horizon. **** Not that much of a mystery in this one, but Lord, who reads these books for the mysteries? I just want to see how many cars Stephanie can destroy.

43. The Uncommon Reader: A Novella

I picked this up at the library yesterday and dropped everything else to read it. Queen Elizabeth II wanders into a mobile library after her dogs and hence begins an adventure in reading. A very novel idea with a great ending. I love books about books, although I still don't think I'm going to run out and read Proust. As far as I can tell, only the Queen and the sixth incarnation of Doctor Who actually like him. :)

Not sure why the touchstones aren't working.

44. Sabriel by Garth Nix

Wow! I seldom ever read high fantasy anymore, but I'm glad I gave this winner of the Aurealis Award a whirl. Excellent world building and a heroine with an interesting job. She's a necromancer, although in her case that means she puts the dead to rest. The Land of the Dead is presented as a mighty river, with Nine Gates for spirits to pass through. Cool. Sabriel's father has been pushed into The Land of the Dead against his will and it's her quest to bring him back. But that's just the start of the story....

Even better, there's two more novels set in this land as well as a volume of short stories. Ooooh, and the author just signed a contract to write two more- a prequel and sequel to Sabriel.

Currently reading...(or thinking about reading...) The Salmon of Doubt, The Year of Magical Thinking and Lirael -the next Garth Nix. Several other novels are calling to me, from BookMooch piles, the local (and fabulous) library system and HalfPrice Books sacks. Not to mention the stuff I picked up at the Goodwill Store. Sigh. I also feel the call of fan-fiction. Not too strong at the moment, but with the X-Files film looming on the horizon, I'm sure I'll get the yen for some Mulder bashing in the near future.

I think I love you, hairballsrus!

We have such similar tastes it's eerie.

You MUST read Tooth Fairy ASAP!

Couple other recommendations for ya:
The Witch's Boy
Tithe and it's follow-ups
the books of the Dresden Files, starting with Storm Front
The Big Over Easy and The Fourth Bear (Basically, anything Jasper Fforde

Punkpower-Good Lord, more?? Tithe is on my Bookmooch wishlist, I just mooched The Big Over Easy and it's on its way in the mail. I've read the first in the Dresden Files and own the first...five? Did I mention I hoard books for a rainy day? :) I haven't had much luck finding a copy of Tooth Fairy, but I'm still looking. I have read the Eyre Affair but am I the only person who hasn't read the others in that series?

Re #57: I haven't read either of them, but I think Christopher Moore needs to go on my (mountainous) list of authors/books to check out.

58: I liked The Uncommon Reader, too--read it at the beginning of the year, while in the airport/on the plane. (To DFW, by the way--I saw on your profile that you live there. I was raised in the area, and all my family lives there, though I don't anymore.)

I don't know if you ever read popular physics books, but I bought a book today called Physics of the Impossible (no touchstone, either), by Michio Kaku. It discusses the relative possibility or impossibility of things like time travel, force fields, phasers, teleportation, invisibility, and so forth. There was a TARDIS on the cover--I was powerless to resist. :)

Medellia- Your education has been sadly neglected if you've read neither Pratchett or Moore. Oh the shame.

Yep, I live in D/FW-in the great land of suburbs. I'm a Yankee by birth (PA); an Okie in years (20), and a Texan since the Millenium.

As for physics, I love watching anything on PBS about either black holes or string theory and I'm a sucker for a good time travel story (my favorite author is Connie Willis). But if the book expects my math skills to be up to par, I may need my hubby to translate for me. :)

45. Axis by Robert Charles Wilson

This is the direct sequel to Spin, #7 on my list for this year. The story picks up thirty years later on the new colony world of Equatoria. Then...not much happens. One big idea pops up towards the end of the book, but I was really hoping for more. Lots of room for more books though. This is the only sequel that Wilson has written I believe. Usually he smacks you over the head with a concept and then moves on to a totally different idea in his next novel. This seemed like an add-on. He built the house in Spin and Axis is just the attic. Maybe in the next novel he'll dig the basement.

Yeah, I know. I listed three other books that I was reading in the last post and haven't finished any of them. But I hate being hemmed in, even by myself. To quote Laura Croft's assistant in Tomb Raider-"I'm a rebel, me."

Yes, this sad deficiency in my education will need to be remedied. :) (Thanks for your response in my thread--you're so helpful!)

No math in the Kaku book. Tell your husband he can kick back and take a break when you read it.

I *loved* Connie Willis' To Say Nothing of the Dog. I read it this past summer, so I haven't gotten around to anything else of hers yet, but I know that I certainly will.

Spin and Axis are also both books I'd like to read. Your taste in books is awesome.

Geez. What a depressing day. I just found out Terry Pratchett has been diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer's.

He's donated 1 million pounds to research and apparently there's an internet campaign for fans trying to match his funds.

www.matchitforpratchett.org

I'm in denial right now; it isn't fair.

On a happier note#64- Medellia- As far as my reading tastes go, thank you very much! But I always envy people like you, who seem to read meaningful and literary works 24/7. I simply read what appeals to me at any given moment.

If you'd like the snail mail address for Connie Willis, I can e-mail it to you. She'll sign any book for you as long as you pay the shipping. I met her (eeek!!!!) at a con I went to in September and got the majority of my books signed then. What I didn't, my hubby mailed to her (along with her new short story compilation) for one of my Christmas presents. She is currently finishing another WWII time travel novel called "All Clear" -she thinks it'll need to be published in two volumes since it's large and her next project is a road trip novel about Roswell. She's very approachable in person (not to mention TALL!) and I basically dribbled on her shoe with fan girl syndrome when I wasn't shyly standing in a corner trying to get up the nerve to talk to her. She was celebrating her fortieth wedding anniversary that weekend, which was odd, because I had just celebrated my 40th birthday!

Recommends:

1. Lincoln's Dreams my OTHER favorite. Winner of the J. W. Campbell Award

2.The Doomsday Book A book I need to go back and finish. It is a time travel novel, but it involves the Plague Years of England and the subject matter got me down. I believe she won both the Hugo and the Nebula Award for this.

3.Uncharted Territory There are mixed reviews for this novella, but I thought it was hysterical.

4. Bellwether Short novel about the study of fads. You'll never look the same way at sheep again.

5. Passage Near death experiences.

6. Favorite Short Stories: At the Rialto, Ado, Even the Queen, Blued Moon, The Winds of Marble Arch, The Last of the Winnebagos, Death on the Nile (personal fav.)

She writes a Christmas story ever year. My favorite is "Inn".

Currently reading The Smoke Thief by Shana Abe -a fantasy/romance, given to me by a male co-worker. He read it by accident (thinking it was more fantasy than romance I suppose) and I promised to read it and give him my opinion. He loathed it. :)

That's awful about Terry Pratchett. Looks like there have already been a lot of donations for the Match It For Pratchett campaign--what a testament to the way he's reached people.

How neat for you to have met Connie Willis! I got all excited back in February when I met one of my favorite authors, Charles Baxter, so I know how you feel. I'll e-mail you shortly to get her address. I'm super stoked to hear about "All Clear"--I love books set in that period.

I'm glad you mentioned Lincoln's Dreams--I actually own it, and you reminded me that I haven't seen it in a while, which invariably means that it has slipped back behind the other books on the shelf. Will be retrieving that in a few. Your rankings and descriptions are very helpful, as usual. I'll probably read Lincoln's Dreams soon, and Uncharted Territory sounds like just the thing for me--I like to keep novellas around for times when I'm too busy to read a lot. I own Passage, but I haven't had time these past several months for such a long book.

Thanks again!

46. The Smoke Thief

Yep, it was a romance. My friend was upset because the hero was, in his words, "brutual" to the heroine. Not really. He just isn't used to reading the genre. This was a fairly tame example. The novelty for this series is that the characters are shapeshifters, capable of first turning to smoke and then to dragon form. Their society is hidden and ruled by an Alpha. The Smoke Thief is a halfing who has escaped the "shire" by faking her death, and is now using her unusual abilities to establish herself as a jewel thief in 1750' s London. I really like the 1800's better as a setting, everyone in this book is wearing those stupid wigs. ;) We all have our little nitpicks. I found the sequel The Dream Thief at HalfPrice Books for a buck. It sounds a little more appealing. The Smoke Thief was a bit bland and the sensual scenes were generic. If you aren't going to tailor your romance to the characters, why even bother to write the stuff?

#67- Charles Baxter? I can be a bit nearsighted when it comes to authors, since I've got a sf/fantasy background. I've read some Stephen Baxter novels.

#68: Yep, Charles Baxter. An American author from the Midwest. He's a fairly traditional sort of literary author--good characterization, lovely prose, well-crafted plots. There's a quiet sense of humor about his works that I really enjoy.

His best book is The Feast of Love. The plot is interesting, it's fairly romantic and funny, and the different voices are clear and quite well-done. But the best part of the book, and of all Baxter's books, is the finely drawn characterization.

47. The Salmon of Doubt: hitchiking the galaxy one last time by Douglas Adams

Basically, this is a collection of finished and unfinished pieces found on Douglas Adams' computers after he died. It includes eleven chapters of a Dirk Gentley novel, several interviews, a rather rude (and funny) letter to Disney Pictures, etc. My favorite bit is when he mentions that the abbreviation for the World Wide Web (www), actually takes twice as long to say. :)

Douglas, you died too soon. We miss you.

48. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

49. The Bear Went Over the Mountain by William Kotzwinkle

I loved this! But I'm way too tired to discuss it. Ugh. Trying to reverse from a night schedule to a day schedule-up at 3 a.m. to finish a book, but unfortunately I need to leave for work in an hour.

Edited 4/5 to add:

Story: A black bear finds a manuscript in a briefcase underneath a tree, claims it as his own and heads off to the big city to have it published. His encounters with the human race,(none of whom ever notice he's a bear) take him farther and farther away from his bearhood. Meanwhile, the real author abandons civilization and goes back to nature-literally. Yes, it could have been shorter. It's a one joke book. But it's a funny joke. :)

#70: I think I've been avoiding reading The Salmon of Doubt because I don't want to admit to myself that Douglas Adams is gone, and there'll be no more. He was so young.

#73-I totally agree with you there.

50. Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis

Here's a book I've meant to read for twenty years. Not really a novel, but a series of escapades linked together.

TA DA! I've made it to fifty books and I still have almost six months to go! Will I up the amount to 100? What are you, nuts? The busiest months of my work year are still ahead. I'm not sure I want to commit to that. Let's aim for 75.

More audio books... Still working on American Gods, mostly because I'm not listening in order and I'm totally confused. :) I love that narrator. I would listen to him read the ingredients list off the back of a box of toothpaste. In the car- Eleven on Top -more Stephanie Plum nuttiness, The Light of Other Days- a sci/fi mishmash by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter. Worm cams (mini worm holes Stargate SG-1 style) allow the population of earth to look into the past and present and naturally, they use them to spy on each other. Picture a society with absolutely no privacy. Lots of interesting ideas, not so great characters. I'm trying (and failing) to listen to The Power of Myth- the interviews conducted with Joseph Campbell by Bill Moyers. How can something be interesting and so dull at the same time? Mostly I suppose because the keep repeating themselves. I keep zoning out realizing I haven't heard a word for ten minutes. Switched over yesterday to Good in Bed. Yep, another Jenifer Weiner novel. Not nearly so "enlightening", but certainly more capable of keeping me awake on the morning commute.

51. Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter

Yeah, well, if you lived in a household full of cats, this title would have appealed to you too. The new line of "cozy mysteries" always seem to describe the meal each time someone eats. While the mystery wasn't that great, I finished the novel with an overwhelming desire to go to the grocery store. Where the heck can I find taragon mayo? ;)

Finished the audio abridgement of Good in Bed today. I am officially done with Jennifer Weiner's books. Just too...normal.

Now reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon .

52. The Shadow of the Wind

Whew! What a melodrama! An everything but the kitchen sink novel.

I've heard a lot of good things about The Shadow of the Wind. I have a million books to go before it, but I'll probably get around to it someday.

I read Bellwether this week--what a fun book! I've been needing light-hearted books lately, and a book about chaos rather strikes home these days. :)

#78-Glad you liked it! I'm giving Doomsday Book another go this week.... I was up at three a.m. on Wens., coughing and sneezing (I'm offically allergic to Spring) and trying to sleep upright in my computer chair, and I thought a book about the Black Plague might take my mind off my troubles!

53. Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryham

From a mystery series by M.C. Beaton. Book 10 or something. :P Why, pray tell, does the touchstone on this book only work when I spell it wrong? Peculiar.

Listening to more David Sedaris in the car. I love that guy!

I'm back! After an unintentional month off during which I read NOTHING! Sorry, sick kitties and a mother-in-law visit got in the way of my reading schedule. The good news is my mother-in-law went home and my cat feels much better. Now I've got so much to read I don't know where to start! I've lost over thirty days I still need to read 22 books before Oct. 1rst.

Welcome back! Glad your kitty's okay. :)

Small steps. Having seen Prince Caspian twice in the past two weeks....

54. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Reepicheep has a deathwish. I never noticed that when I was nine!

#80-Medellia-My whole clowder of cats came down with a cold, we even nicknamed Mr. Bat "Snot Bubbles" for a week. Unfortunately, TigerBabe's cold turned into pneumonia. Each day's regime: one dose antibiotic, two subcutaneous fluid treatments (i.e. hooking her up to an I.V.) and three tube feedings. She's now off the meds, on reduced water, but still isn't eating. She's taking in the sun, sitting next to me and looking out the sliding glass doors.

55. Mr. Darcy's Diary by Amanda Grange

Eh. A little dull. The "new parts" were far more interesting than the retelling of the known plot. Still, I've gotta get my Pride and Prejudice fix somewhere! There's only so many times you can return to the source material.

56. Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres

I heard about this a few years ago on NPR, so when it showed up on BookMooch, I snatched it. Very interesting memoir about two siblings surviving a Christian reform school in the Dominican Republic. I took this to court with me for jury duty. Ugh. Didn't get picked though. :)

#84: I've been eying (really? spell check tells me so--I would think "eyeing") Jesus Land in the store for a while. I'll officially add it to my wishlist.

I winced for your cats' sake (and yours!--I remember the stress of sick animals) when I read #82. Hope TigerBabe is taking food again, poor thing.

57. Midnight Magic by Avi YA taking place in Italy during Renaissance. Full of phrases like "A beast of burden never has enough legs." :P Eh. The cover art is better than the book.

58. One Thousand Paper Cranes The story behind the Children of the Atomic Bomb Peace Statue in Japan. I shouldn't really count it, since it's barely a hundred pages, but with my lack of progess lately....well, you get the idea.

#85-Medellia-I'm afraid TigerBabe still isn't eating. She's drinking a little. We're feeding her by hand now to make sure she doesn't get any food in her lungs.

Speaking of which, it's time to feed the beastie. She sits next to me when I'm on the computer, but we feed her in the bathroom so we can run either a vaporizer (morning and night) or a cool humidifier (sp?) during the afternoon to help her with her breathing and make her cough more productive. Yep, I love my critters. My "handle" is starting to make more sense now, eh?

***In other furball news, Cappa got his teeth cleaned this week and almost didn't come home because the vet thought he was too cute to let go and Mikie the Wonder Kitten had his front paws declawed after first destroying one side of our couch. Now I'm going to spend the rest of my afternoon NOT reading and catch up on Doctor Who!

TigerBabe- April 1994 to June 2008

Tigerbabe lost her final battle with kidney disease on June 14th. We had made the decision to put her out of her misery, but she beat us to it. She died at home and in my arms. I know I held on too long, we should have made the decision a week earlier, but both my husband and I were in denial. We're still in denial. We had battled her renal failure for almost two years, willingly giving her IV treatments every other day, and felt sure if we could just get her past the lung infection all would be well. Instead she threw us a side curve and developed asthma. Now I have asthma. I'm allergic to my cats when it comes to that, but my asthma is treatable. Her's wasn't. The recommended drugs only seemed to make things worse. I miss her and I'm going to miss her for a very long time. My household is still full of cats, but it's also empty.

She was and will always be "the best kitty in the world."

On the reading front, I've been reading to keep my mind off things...

59. Noble Intentions by Katie MacAliser I haven't read a whole lot of romance this year and what I have read, I haven't counted, but I'm going to include this one because it made me laugh, and I needed that. How can you not enjoy a Regency when one of the footman runs down the street yelling "Testicle! Testicle!" Just trust me, it was funny. It didn't have much of a plot, but then, do they ever?

60. I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak Not as good as The Book Thief , but still good. An uplifting YA novel if there's such a genre. People can change. Life doesn't have to be static.

61. The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for this fantasy. It was funny and it was clever, but it also was long. I kept thinking "Get on with it already." Still, a book about books is never a bad thing and you get a two for one with Mr. Moers, since he's an artist as well. The illustrations alone are worth the price of the book.

Currently reading Slaughter House Five.....

Paula, I'm so sorry. TigerBabe sounds like she was really something special. I'm sending good thoughts your way.

I've been eyeing both the Zusak and the Moers--now they shall officially go on my wishlist. Hope you enjoy the Vonnegut--I read it last year and liked it a lot (though I read it back in high school and disliked it--go figure).

62. Slaughter House Five And so it goes. I know I've read this before; I think I got much more out of it this time though. Liked it a lot as well.

Medellia-Thanks for your thoughts. Right now it just hurts.

What to read, what to read...I've got all this stuff I've mooched that I'd like to remooch, but then again there's all this stuff in this pile from the bookstore...then again, I went to a Janet Evanovich signing last Friday for Fearless Fourteen (EEK! She was very nice for the all of five seconds I got to speak to her and I got an invite to one of the local bookclubs while standing in line for over an hour-I was #67 in the second group of people) but I'm not in the mood for an Evanovich... er....I may just have to close my eyes and pick...

Ack, Fearless Fourteen is out?!?!? I haven't read Lean Mean Thirteen yet! I need to get busy.

So sorry to hear about Tigerbabe.

>90 sussabmax:-Run, run, run to the nearest bookstore Sussabmax. :)

63. Special Topics in Calamity Physics

Whoa. Of course, considering Blue's background, (no, not that one, the other one) it seems highly unlikely she would have swallowed whole Hannah's stories about the Bluebloods, not to mention how unlikeable she presented those characters (after sixty pages with them, I wanted to leave them in the woods), plus the invention (for no particular reason) of a fake town to put the University of Oklahoma in (a fact that probably wouldn't have annoyed me, except that I grew up there!) and the constant use of () (yeah these!) on any and all occasions, the story was still worth the price of admision. AND the idea that any Freshman student, even a Harvard one, would have the tenacity and backbone to write the whole tale down less than a year later seems highly unlikely... Still. As many "yeah right" moments as there were, I'm glad I continued on to the end, even though I originally stalled out around page 160.

Ooh, and I loved her Dad.

Next!

64. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow

I'm not sure what I expected to get out of this one...a society where death has been abolished, you can literally "back up" your memory and the main character has fulfilled his boyhood dream to live at Disney World. It just gets stranger after that. Might have made a better short story.

65. A Winter Haunting by Dan Simmons

Creepy. A horror novel by a fairly famous sf author. Apparently this was a sequel, but quiet capable of being read alone. The in joke is the main character is an author and is actually writing the first novel in this story. Ghosts, dogs of the underworld, skinheads and killer farm equipment... where on earth do I find these books? :)

In this case, it was a Bookmooch from the UK....

Next!

66. The Last Man in the World by Abigail Reynolds

This is one of the Pemberley Variations--a "What If" novel of Pride & Prejudice, in this case, what if Elizabeth married Darcy before she loved him. A bit too modern in tone, way over the top in spots and more than a little out of character (I don't believe for a minute either Darcy or Elizabeth would consider suicide) but definitely more readable than Mr. Darcy's Diary. Sort of like Pride and Prejudice fanfiction if that makes any sense. Read in one sitting.

Whoa! Just finished watching the Doctor Who season finale. A half human Doctor! Whoo hoo! I really didn't think Andrew Davies would go down that road. That's definitely a love letter written to the shipper fans. (Of which I am one. Ahem.) Although technically, according to the American film, Doctor #8 is supposed to have a human mother....but the movie was never really considered "fact"... Well, considering that Doctor Who was first introduced the day JFK died, there's a lot of history to muck about in. :) I hope they consider publishing some books about the parallel universe.

I see a lot of fan fiction reading in my future, which will definitely cut into my book reading time. Sigh.

Finished listening to When You are Engulfed in Flames David Sedaris is always a joy.

Guess I need to go pick a Doctor Who novel I can "count".

***Edited to hide some of my sheer geekiness.***

My husband and I were in Boston on Saturday, and by the time we got back home Sunday evening, we were itchy for the last episode. Downloaded it posthaste and watched it that evening. I enjoyed the heck out of it, though to be honest, I thought the actual "plot" part (and there wasn't much of it) was kind of rubbish. The character interaction, and everybody coming together, well, it was nice, it was fun. (Harriet Jones! Jack! Sarah Jane! Mickey! etc. :) I'm not sure whether the whole deal was more of a fanwank or a Davies-wank. The Donna ending was tragic (nooo! don't change her back into Donna from The Runaway Bride! I hated that woman!).

I read I Am the Messenger several days ago, btw, and enjoyed it. Loved Special Topics in Calamity Physics (last year) and thought Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom was okay (also last year).

Medellia-Yeah, the finale was more of an emotional journey than an actual plot driven story. Made you feel good and then silly for feeling good. :) Davies and crew are on the way out and a new head writer takes over for the 2010 series.

Not reading anything right now I can count. Busy busy at work and being comatose at home. Enjoying my new air conditioner!

67. The Last Universe

Finally got to the last 20 pages of this book. Quantum physics. Garden mazes. Probability clouds. And a cat named Shro-dee.

A heavy physical workload at work has left me tired and wrung out each day. Add in the 100 degree heat and my reading habit has been passed up for extra snooze time. I'm afraid to get out of my computer chair since most of my vertebrae have fused together. Medic! Lordy, gotta love this time of year. August 25th cannot come soon enough.

I lost another one of my cats today. It wasn't really unexpected, but it was also from out of the blue. At least, it feels that way. Two cats in five weeks... Sigh.

Let me introduce you to Stripes. Born sometime in 1995 and given in trade from a friend who did work on our first house in 1996. Yep, we got Stripes in a barter. A long haired tortiseshell kitty with a nasty temper and a mean right hook. My hubby named her Stripes because she had a caramel stripe down her nose. His nickname for her was "Yikes Stripes" and Stripes loved him. My nickname for Stripes was "Demon Seed" and she hated me.

Stripes was a "one human" cat.

Early on in our acquaintance she liked to knock the modem off line each time I tried to dial onto the Net. Don't tell me she didn't know what she was doing. I have never met a cat since that liked to sleep on top of the telephone. :) She also liked to sleep on top of my head when we went to bed at night and bit me if I dared to move. I shall refrain from showing you my scars.

In her later years, Stripes developed neurological problems. She went blind and this crisis actually changed her personality. No longer able to win every fight, she greeted each cat with a lick, not a claw. I still got occasionally nipped, but by no means as often. She made a peace with me of a sort. Unfortunately, Stripes never really developed a "map" of our house, preferring inside to bungle along until she ran into something and then correct her course.

As far as we can tell, she suffered a series of strokes, each taking more of motor skills away from her. First went her sight, then her purr, then her sense of smell, etc.

We had to make a decision today, a decision I didn't make fast enough for Tiger. Stripes is no longer in pain. She's no longer living a half-life and while we were never the best of friends, I am grieving for her. She deserves that.

So open a can of tuna for your beloved furry friends and please toast Stripes as you do so. Read a "cat" book this week perhaps. Read a "dog" book if you must. :) Please appreciate your animals.

Stripes 1995-2008

Banzai, Mr. Bat, Kappa, Flame, Spark, Bloomers, Spelunk, Oreo, Mikie Meowski and the two humans of this household send you their thanks.

I am so sorry for your loss. Two kitty losses in such a short period of time is really rough on a family, and my thoughts are definitely with you during this time.
I will read "Growltiger" to my Thibodeaux cat in honor of your two kitties this weekend!

Sorry that you lost another kitty so soon after the first. That is hard to handle, even if you weren't the best of friends. I have to wonder though--you were given her in barter from a friend who did work on your house? Doesn't barter usually work where you give something TO someone in exchange for work, rather than getting something else FROM them? Or, was that a different barter?

100-Estarriol-Thanks for your comment!

101-Sussabmax-I guess the point is he wouldn't do the work on the house UNLESS we'd accept Stripes! Not so much a barter, as a one way deal I suppose. But if you could see some of the things my hubby has "fixed" around the house, you'd understand why I wanted some help from outside. :)

Well, I'm back after a month. August is my hardest month at work, both physically and mentally. The eleven straight days of 100+ heat didn't exactly help either, but now the season (the BTS Season that is) is almost over. All I need to do now is clean up and retreat back into my own borders. Woo hoo! Vacation time in Sept. and Oct. is right around the corner.

Books of the month, in no actual order...

68. In Deep Voodoo
69. The Glass Castle
70. The Lightning Thief
71. Sea of Monsters mostly listened to as opposed to read
72. Rock Orchard Hysterical southern tale.
73. Witch Way to Murder Fairly decent start to a paranormal mystery series.
74. Cat's Cradle What can one say about Vonnegut ?
75. Another book that left such a grand impression, I can't remember the blasted title.

Read some romance I won't count. Tried to read Light by M.Harrison but stalled a quarter
way in. The main character is repulsive. Read half of Going Postal, but I've "heard" this novel so many times, I had trouble creating a new "reading" of it in my head. I just associate it too much with Stephen Briggs' voice. Currently listening to Carpe Jugulum, The Green Glass Sea, and TimeQuake, the last being dreadful. :P Halfway through
Love Among the Walnuts and considering reading either The Water Room or Searoad next. Or about a hundred other things....

Looking forward to September and to my favorite season, Fall. Coming up on the end of my Year of Reading, I will announce that my last two books are *supposed* to be The Winter Queen and The Summer Queen both by Joan D. Vinge. I made it three quarters of the way through TWQ last Sept. and then promptly misplaced the book. It has finally resurfaced and now I've got to finish the bloody thing. A fantastic "world building" author.

Ha--I read Timequake in my American lit class in college, and didn't care for it, either. I was scratching my head as to why my prof chose that particular Vonnegut novel (though I know the answer, which is that my former prof is a raging contrarian--and a very amusing one).

I believe I was in charge of holding you to finishing The Winter Queen (as per your post in my thread a while back)--thanks for making my job easy. ;)

Medellia-I haven't listened to all that much of it yet, but so far the only thing I've liked is the "author's note." :P

I remembered the name of my missing book!

*75. Ice Queen by Anne Hoffman
76. Love Among the Walnuts I'm not sure I even know where to start with this YA, but I did enjoy Atilla the Chicken and her blue feathers!

Currently about 20 pages from the end of
The Accidental Time Machine by Tim Haldeman. Very good.

77. The Accidental Time Machine A bit sexist towards the end. Wrapped up too well in too few pages.
78. Solstice Wood
79. Our Father Who Art in a Tree

re msg 95

If you're interested in reading an excellent story about the half-human doctor in the alternate universe with Rose, I recommend In Another Life. It is a great story and Sam writes very true to the characters.

Thanks bluesalamanders, I'll check it out!

80. Murder with Puffins

Jumping genres again...

81. The Sirens of Titan

#108: Was it any good? I bought it for my husband several months ago. (Malachi Constant was the name of his favorite local band when we lived in Minneapolis.) Haven't read it yet.

I read The Winter Queen a while back, and I now have The Summer Queen on my TBR pile--I may need to pick that one up soon!

Now I understand the nature of your barter--do me the favor of taking on this cat, and I will help with your house, right? Makes sense, although not the greatest beginning to a human-cat relationship, ;-). Glad it worked out for your husband at least...

Medellia- I think I liked Cat's Cradle more... Although Sirens was certainly amusing. "Rent a tent, rent a tent, rent a tent..." I'm trying to decide which one to read next. He's addictive! When I
finished Sirens, my first thought was how much Douglas Adams must have been influence by it. Can't find Vonnegut on Bookmooch, people who read him, keep him. Back to the library I go!

sussabmax-I really liked what I read of Winter Queen, although clubbing the seal people was a bit icky. Is that not a cool world or what?

82. Sunlight and Shadow A retelling of The Magic Flute. Yuck. I mean, not yuck to the opera, which I have not seen, except for that bit in Amadeus, but yuck to this retelling.
Cheesy 180 page book that kept putting me to sleep!

Currently waiting to be rained on by Hurrican Ike. Looks like most of it is going to head east of us.

83. God Bless You Mr. Rosewater Vonnegut's take on the rich and the poor in the US, most of which (due to a recently laid off husband) I
totally agree with.. Definitely a coarser work than the other novels I've read. He's obviously angry behind all of his silliness. A
favorite quote at random: "The difference between pornography and art is bodily hair!" The book wraps up far too quickly.

Currently in the midst of 1 Dead in Attic - a collection of columns by Times-Picayune (sp?) writer Chris Rose about
surviving in New Orleans the year after Katrina/Rita swept through. Very memorable. Very sad.

Ugh. Lack of sleep. Working overnights to help with a project in another area, but vacation looms on the horizon. I have a very, very large TBR pile. Well,
three piles actually. :) I'm not in the mood for The Summer Queen though. Maybe I could count it as my first book for next year's challenge? I'm
also torn between continuing my reading year on into December and starting a new year in January, or carrying on with the system I have now. Opinions?

84. 1 Dead in the Attic

I definitely need to read something upbeat after this. Starting vacation days today, off in search of fluffy fiction...

85. Naked Came the Manatee A round robin of Florida authors involving several severed heads and....a manatee named Booger. Once again
I ask myself where do I find these books? :) And why in God's name do I read them?? In this case, it was from Bookmooch.

Currently working on Lily Dale:The True Story of the Town That Talks to The Dead You pick your fluffy books and I'll pick mine.... Another
mooch....

86. Lily Dale: The True Story of the Town That Talks to The Dead This book was about twice as long as it needed to be
and a bit too heavy on the metafuzzies. In truth, the actual history of Lily Dale, NY and how it became a town of certified mediums
was quite interesting as were some of the more famous anecdotes (i.e. when Houdini came to town, etc) but the author's own
spiritual journey was a bit of a yawn. Being a reporter, a former religious reporter at that, she still remained a skeptic and
that was the right journalistic approach, but it didn't necessarily make it fascinating reading. Then again, if she'd had a
complete turn around, I wouldn't have bought that either. It would have been a "rolling eyeballs moment" as she puts it.
Basically, she became more open to the possibilites around her and the reader leaves the book feeling the same way.

87. The $64 Tomato I heard about this a few years ago on NPR and finally found it at the library. A New York gardener struggles to remain "organic", while battling every bug on the planet, not to mention SuperGroundHog. Loved the chapter on the gardener for hire who both looked and acted like Christopher Walken in "The Deer Hunter." :)

I think I'm done with non-fiction for a while. Despite the many, many books, not to mention the looming library late fees, nothing is calling my name at the moment.

Read the "good parts" version of a Amanda Quick "hysterical"--that I've forgotten the name of and....

88. The Trouble with Magic by Madelyn Alt

The first in another witch/mystery series. Eh. The murderer was obvious; the policeman was a doofus; the main
character was timid one minute and challenging the killer the next... I do however heartily applaud her obsession
with Magnum P.I., an obsession I shared in the mid 80's and the series seems to have a "big bad" (to borrow a Buffy
term) that it's heading for in the future.

One more day of vacation freedom, time for one more book?

89. Not a Girl Detective "We have every right to stay here! I was going to leave a carrot cake!"

A funny, creative mystery series involving a biographer of mystery writers-in this case she's working on a book
about Carolyn Keene...the multi-talents behind Nancy Drew.

And the final book of the reading year.....

90. Stolen Child by Kevin Donahue An interesting take on the changeling myth, telling the
story from both sides.

90 Books, One Calendar Year. Not bad. :)

Congrats!! Off to star your new thread...