Hairballsrus-"The Second Year"-Starting Oct. 1rst

Greetings~! I'm hairballsrus and this is my second year of the 50 Book Challenge. Last year I managed to read 90 novels. I hope to at least match, if not better my number this year. At the moment, I haven't any great goals in mind, except perhaps to read more non-fiction. The Year End sort of snuck up on me. :) Reading suggestions are always welcome!

I'm currently reading The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club which is, there's no better word for it, dumb. But
luckily it's also short! :)

Party on your new thread!!

Medellia- That cat deserves some tuna!!

First books of the year...

1. The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club
2. I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason The first book of the series, but the second one I've read about
Cece Caruso, a full time mystery writer biographer and part-time amateur sleuth. I learned
lots of trivia about Erle Stanley Gardener. Personally, I've always loathed Perry Mason, but this book
was fun. I'm not going to run out and buy any Gardener books though. :)

Currently reading: Not in Kansas Anymore: A Curious tale of How Magic is Transforming America

3. Not in Kansas Anymore: A curious tale of How Magic is Transforming America

Signs, portents,...magic in the world around you. Most of the things these people see as signs or blessings from above sound more like self-fulfilling prophesies. If you cast a spell to see a lady in a red hat and then
see a lady in a red hat, is that magic or not? You have to choose. It's all about retraining your mind to see magic because you believe it's magic.

Today I saw five monarch butterflies on the trip from the grocery store to the library. Was it a blessing from the Goddess or a sign of the monarch migration that happens each year? My choice to make. Either way, they were beautiful.

Am I elf because I really am a elf or because I believe I am one? Well, actually, I don't believe I'm elf, I'm too short for one thing, maybe a hobbit...but definitely not an elf... but you get the jist. Really, magic and religion are cousins. In religion, you're beholden to a God, in magic, they are beholden to you. Attractive concept really.

There were some interesting bits in this book, some rather peculiar people that relish being peculiar and I'll blatantly channel Obi Wan Kenobi by saying all things are true "from a certain point of view." I especially liked the group that took what they liked and left the rest when creating their religion. Wow, I didn't know Wicca was founded by a man who was cruel to women. Bizarre considering it's all about empowering females. And so I'll round out this review with "as above so below" and "so mote it be." Take what you wish from that and chuck the rest.

4. Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain Road trip!

True story. The pathologist at Princeton Hospital assigned to do Albert Einstein's autopsy, Dr. Thomas Harvey, took his brain home after the procedure and kept it for forty years. In two cookie jars no less. Ewwww!!! Apparently there was no way to seize the er...property...because there aren't any laws on the books about that sort of thing.

He really did have the best of intentions and he became infamous, not famous, because of the act. He earned no money and his family fell apart due to the deed. Now he wishes to visit Einstein's granddaughter in California and free lance writer Michael Paterniti volunteers to be his driver. Einstein goes along for the trip riding in a Tupperware bowl in the trunk of the car.

God, I love non-fiction! Could have done with a bit more reporting and bit less about the author's own family troubles, but an interesting easy read all the same.

5. The Duchess of Kneedeep Despite the name, this is actually a sci/fi novel. A silly one. I did enjoy the brothel aptly named Missy Rose's House of Plenty Happy. ;)

6. The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Totally enjoyable creepy murder mystery with a supernatural twist. This apparently is the third in the series, so I have more of this author-combo to add to my TBR pile. Oh happy day. :)

I've had a horrible time trying to log onto this site of late... I don't know which side the problem falls on...

7. Sleep Demons I didn't realize this was as much a biography as anything else when I originally mooched it. Interesting info about REM cycles and assorted sleep disorders, including insomnia-which is my personal demon.
8. Tender at the Bone Another memoir, this one from the editor of Gourmet Magazine.

Tried an Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody book and promptly misplaced it, currently reading Thunderhead -another book by the Preston/Child duo. This one involves a lost city of the Anasazi.

9. Thunderhead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Had a much higher "body count" than I'm used to, but it prepared me for.....

10. Relic This is the first in the Agent Pendergast series and a pure monster fest by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. This one had an even higher body count and was apparently made into a film...a film I would never actually watch by the way...although I have been assured the book was bloodier. I'm not actually sure I would call that an assurance.... It had a good hook at the end and the DP/LC books are nice easy reads. I really like the main character, Special Agent Pendergast.

I have also just finished 11. A Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill. Joe Hill is Stephen King's son and follows in his father's footsteps with this ghost story. Neat idea, buying a ghost on-line and then having to deal with the haunting...
I had some trouble keeping interested. Maybe I've just read too many bloody books lately. I skimmed the main battle scene...just tired of the gore. And is there a reason to always kill the pets??? Kill the people, not the pets. Yuck.

Hi, hairballsrus!
I am with you on the pets. Also children. I can't read or watch things that involve hurting either of those. I just can't sleep at night. I saw that the movie Relic was on TV for Halloween, but I didn't see it. I am enjoying reading about the books you read. :)
--BJ

Hiya Billiejean!

Time for a fly by visit.... Lord, it's been so long since I've been on here, I'm not sure I remember what I've read. :) Let me think about this. These
aren't in order...

12. Murder with Peacocks The first in the mystery series and by far the best of the three I've read so far.

13. Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos Book 3 in same series. I read Book 2 back in August.

14. The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore. I cannot recommend this book enough. My personal Christmas tradition is to either read or
listen to this book. "First we feast, then IKEA!" A less than bright Christmas angel tries to fulfill a wish by bringing back a whole graveyard of zombies. "Behold!"
said the angel. "For I'm really not kidding."

15. Austenland Another dip in the pool of Mr. Darcy modern novels. Not bad.

16. Mary Modern Unable to have a child, a scientist clones her grandmother. Cool. This one had some nice twists, although it
did have a bit of a one-note villian so to speak.
17. Secrets of the Highlander Yeah okay, it's a romance. Book Six no less in a series I'm approaching backwards. I don't usually
list my romance reads, but this one is going to count for the whole series since I'm dipping in and out of the books this month. Nyyhhh!

Currently reading....The Historian...an interesting take on Vlad the Impaler, otherwise known as Dracula.
Also half way through The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber. Think The Davinci Code, but with
Shakespeare. After two renewals, I finally gave it back to the library because it was boring, boring, boring.....

Read some short stories of Connie Willis from her Anthology The Winds of Marble Arch.

I know I've read something else, but I'm blanking on it at the moment...

.

I've been reading from The Winds of Marble Arch lately, too. Some great stuff in there. And I, too, got rid of The Book of Air and Shadows without getting very far into it. Hope you enjoy The Historian--I see good things about it all over the forums.

Hiya Medellia! I only regret "Death on the Nile" isn't in Winds, because I think it's her best story. As for The Book of Air and Shadows,
I liked the story in the past, but had no sympathy or warmth for the characters in the present. I wanted the lawyer to get knocked
off by the Russian mob. "First, let's kill all the lawyers..." right? :)

18. The Historian I finally finished the sucker!!!!! I made good time through the first 500 pages and then stuck like creamy peanut
butter....I don't really think I wish to finish that sentence. This was like no other vampire novel I've read. I got a nice history of
The Cold War era, but...yes, there's a but.... Spoiler! Eek!!!! WHY Dracula would give these historians the journals and then discourage
them from doing any research makes no sense. Well, yeah, it does make sense, he didn't want to be found. But if he didn't want to
be found, why did he give them the journals?? He was praising their abilities to do research....which he
didn't want them to do.... A screwy loop of logic. And naturally the ending was vague....didn't expect anything
less.

19. The Spellman Files I really enjoyed this one. A family of private eyes trust no one, including each other and find surrveliance techniques and
blackmail are the best ways to keep each other in line. :) Looking forward to the sequel.

20. All Seated on the Ground by Connie Willis Okay, this could actually be counted as a short story, but it comes in book form. A Connie Willis
Christmas story. Not one of her best efforts, still amusing. Aliens come to earth, but all they do is "glare". Choirs and Christmas carols play important
roles. My Christmas Eve read.

I've been trying to read Pride and Prejudice....trying being the word, because I made the mistake of also watching all my P&P DVDs. I have 5 versions. :)
And I ripped the crap out of the front cover taking it to work, (oh the shame) so now I need a new copy.

I've now read the "good parts" versions of all the Janet Chapman Highlander novels, but I'm only counting the first book for the Challenge. The best book by far was Secrets of the Highlander, mostly because the hero WASN'T a Highlander. Go figure. :)
He didn't have quite as easy a time winning his bride.

Also twenty pages from the end of A Lost Tale. It takes place on the Isle of Man and involves Druids, unicorns and Nazis.

21. A Lost Tale Small tale about the Isle of Man at the beginning of WWII. Mostly, it's a character piece, not a great deal of action. The gravedigger, peculiar as he was, was the most fleshed out.

That's sounds like a pun, doesn't it? :)

22. Blind Lake by Robert Charles Wilson
Eh. Not his best by any means. Eagerly awaiting the third book in his
"Spin" series. As always, this novel took a 90 degree swing three quarters of the way through. I wouldn't say this book was pointless, but... Coming after such a success as Darwinia I think he decided to paint a much smaller canvas. It's mostly a study of human nature that just happens to include the discovery of alien worlds.

And the name of the main character changed from the blurb on the back of the cover to the first page. Whoops! An editor should have caught that. Very sloppy.

23. The Silent Gondoliers Okay, okay, it's more like a novella, but I'm so far behind right now, I have no pride. Besides, I love this story and have been looking for a new copy for ages. It finally popped up on a clearance rack for a dollar. Woo hoo!

Why do gondoliers no longer sing? What is the significance of Splat Corner? Does the author really have four and a half grandchildren??? Read the book to find out.

This is William Goldman folks-the creator of The Princess Bride. You are in safe hands and the illustrations are an added bonus.

I have just added the silent gondoliers to my wish list! Like everyone else, I LOVE the Princess Bride...

Estarriol- It's a very cute story.

24. The Sunday Philosophy Club

My first Alexander McCall Smith novel. The main character edits an ethics journal. So, basically, she stews over each of her actions for five or so pages, weighing the pros and cons, and then does what she wants to do anyway! :) She's nosy, sort of combination of Miss Marple and my mother-in-law. She also represents herself as a spinster, even though she's only my age, and I don't think I'm in my dotage quite yet.

I'm not sure I agree with her reasoning at the end of the novel. Murder is murder, although the Scottish law seems very strick. I'll probably continue with the series. An easy read.

#19: Coincidence: I'm currently reading The Sunday Philosophy Club. It's okay, though for me it lacks the instant charm of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, all 9 of which I just tore through while I had the flu. Don't know if they would be your cup of tea or not, but I adored them.

#20-I have the first in the other series as well, but I'm really not in the mood. You'll have to talk me into it. Do you have a 2009 challenge up? Did you move to the 75 Books List?

25. Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole

I have a confession to make. I LOVE books about the South Pole. I actually started reading this book in a bookstore back in 2002 waiting for my husband to pick me up. Yesterday I finally got to finish it. :)

Sad to say, the author's cancer has now returned, but this is certainly an inspiring tale. And it has all sorts of fascinating details about the coldest place on earth as well.

Not to mention I've learned a new use for superglue!

#21: I still need to wrap up my old thread and start a new one. I do have one going in a new group, Club Read, but I want to keep one in the 50 Book Challenge as well. I've not been around much the last month--last 2 weeks of December were spent in Texas visiting family, and since New Year's I've been very ill (my parting gift from Texas: the flu). So now I'm getting caught up.

If you want to be talked into the No. 1 Ladies' series, I wrote a bit about it here just today (post #12):
http://www.librarything.com/topic/50280
I'd say it's good for when you're looking for a light, uplifting read, one without whole lot of action.

I'm curious about the superglue. :)

#22-For the moment, I think I'll be sticking to the non-fiction track. I need to make up some time and non-fiction is usually a faster read for me. Come on vacation..... Plenty of time to read then.

First, however, I need to survive Valentine's Day. Did I mention I'll be blowing up 900 mylar balloons this year? I kid you not!

As for the superglue.... It's a medical use, not nearly as interesting as you probably think, but the use they found for a Crown Royal bag....that's another story all together. :)

OK, I may have to pick up a copy of this book! And 900 balloons?! I hope you're going to have a helium tank to help with that.

>24 Medellia:-
Medellia--Are you implying that I am full of hot air???? Really. I am shocked. Just shocked. Not offended in the slightest of course.... ;0

Okay, I spent this afternoon finishing the three books I've been dragging about for the past two weeks. So much for me saying non-fiction is a faster read...

25. Moon Dust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth by Andrew Smith.

I tackled this book because:

1. Being born at the end of the Summer of Love (that's 1967 to you lot) I missed most of the Space Race by my (lack) of age.

2. I am one of the four people left on the planet who hasn't seen the movie Apollo Thirteen nor have I read the book Lost Moon that it's based on.

3. I am married to a Space Nut twelve years older and I wanted to be able to have a semi-intelligent conversation with him about the race to the moon.

That being said, the book is actually about the nine astronauts still with us out of the twelve that actually set foot on the moon. I now know the difference between Buzz Aldrin and Alan Shepard and who Paul Conrad and Michael Collins are. I can identify an Alan Bean painting and marvel at the 30+ year career of John Young who not only flew with Apollo, but was also the first pilot of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1981.

Still I wish I'd created some flash cards. :) These men were ordinary and extrodinary and I enjoyed my time with them.

26. Tatooine Ghost by Troy Denning . First of all, I loathe most "pro" Star Wars novels. I truely do. They are painful to read, esp. the ones where Luke either A. Falls in love with a girl who then dies or B. Falls in love with a dead girl who remains dead. Yuck. That being said, I did have the intelligence to fall in love with Han Solo at the age of 12 (the year was 1980 and the film was The Empire Strikes Back) so I feel compelled to follow the Han and Leia saga wherever it may go. Most of the time it doesn't go anywhere you want it to lead. After my share of icky experiences with the New Jedi order novels (they killed CHEWIE!!!! and the youngest Solo-why give them kids only to knock them off? And why do they all need to be Jedis anyway? Why couldn't one of them just take after dear old Dad????) I won't touch the new stuff where Solos kill Skywalkers (was I the only person who actually liked Mara Jade as a bad guy? She kicked butt!!) or worse, Solos kill Solos. George please, people want to read this crap? I must have missed the boat.

Anyway, I've gotten away from the point, if there was one.... Oh, I know, Apollo, astronauts, see where this is leading, I felt the urge to read a Star Wars book in the wake of the Andrew Smith book and picked this innocent piece of fluff that takes place a mere six months after The Courtship of Princess Leia --a truely vile novel that only has its cover art to recommend it. In Ghost, Han, Leia and Chewie, plus C3PO are off to Tatooine to rescue a moss painting with a hidden code placed in it imperative to the survival of the Rebellion (why is it always so dad gum important? How about a secret code that's only mildly important) and only they can recover it (yeah right), etc. etc.

I liked the squibs. They reminded me of a combination of Alf the Alien and the Death of Rats from the Terry Pratchett Discworld novels. Rodents in robes. :) The secondary plot with Leia finally deciding to risk having children definitely falls flat since 1. Anakin dies. 2. Jacen turns to the Dark Side and 2. Jacina kills her own brother in the later novels. Everything Leia worries about actually comes true, so why does Han think she's being unreasonable??? I liked the flirtatious dialogue between the two, but I know a lot of fan fiction writers who "get" their relationship a lot better than it's portrayed here. Still, Troy Denning is one of the better SW writers I think. I guess I can't be totally scathing in my attack because I haven't read that much of the new stuff. It's possible the authors are fabulous but I'm just biased about wanting a happy ending. Humph!

27. How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks

This book made me laugh. And laugh. And laugh. From the moment our intrepid hero Roman, a five hundred and forty-four year old former monk turned vampire,gets his teeth stuck in a sex toy ( a lifesized doll ) in the first chapter and snaps off a fang, forcing him to lisp his swear words- "'Thit! 'Thit!"--I knew this was going to be a fun ride. And giving him a dentist with a fear of blood as his lady love was a wonderful touch. He's such a martyr, sitting around drinking garlic juice and his "harem" of lady vampires are a hoot too. The first in a series, I already have No. 5 on my bookshelf and will be reading it soon.

I can see the fact that they didn't address the main problem with vampire/mortal couples-i.e. the woman will grow old and die, as being a bit odd, but the novel was aiming for funny, and we've all had our share of the Angel/Buffy concept in the past.

28. All I Want for Christmas is a Vampire Another Kerrelyn Sparks novel.

This book was far less funny. Most of the humor came from the minor characters, the main love story was fairly dull, the Christmas angle was mostly a marketing technique, the plot was muddied and -to quote an old episode of Scarecrow and Mrs. King --"Frankly Ricky Joe, sex with you was always a MAJOR disappointment!!" Hope there's more "spark" in the other Sparks novels.

29. The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar

How to describe this book.... Punk fairies. Central Park. A bag lady who thinks she's a Greek general. Crohn's disease. Busted fiddles. New York Dolls guitar solos. A very bad production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Celtic flower alphabets. The Cornish Fairy Resistance Movement. Drinking shoe polish. A Community Arts contest. A 24/7 porn channel.

Irreverent humor. Funny and stupid at the same time.

Next!

30. The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders

A thinly disguised sci-fi satire of how America treats the rest of the world, this short novel is equal parts hysterical and embarrassing for those of us who call the US home. It has the Bush Administration written all over it. A leader with a brain that keeps falling off its rack...tee hee.

It also screams to be read out loud and passed among friends. This author is a treasure, a new generation Vonnegut and I love him!!!

The hard part wasn't in choosing a quote, but in choosing only one quote to print from this story:

"My people!" he shouted in the stentorian voice. "I shall speak now of us! Who are we? We are an articulate people, yet a people of few words. We feel deeply, yet refrain from embarassing displays of emotion. Though firm, we are never too firm, though we love fun, we never have fun in a silly way that makes us appear ridiculous, unless that is our intent. Our national coloration, though varied, is consistent. Everything about us is as it should be, for example, we can be excessive, when excess is called for, and yet, even in our excess, we show good taste, although never is our taste so super-refined as to seem precious. Even the extent to which we are moderate is moderate, except when we have decided to be immoderately moderate, or even shockingly flamboyant, at which time our flamboyance is truly breathtaking in a really startling way, and when we decide to make mistakes, our mistakes are as big and grand and irrevocable as any nation's colossal errors, and when we decide to deny our mistakes, we sound just as if we were telling the truth, and when we decide to admit our errors,we do so in a way that is truly moving in its extreme frankness! Am I making sense? Am I saying this well?"

Unfortunately this a library book and will need to be returned....darn it.

31. Tales of Beedle the Bard by She Who Must Not Be Named.

Cute. A Christmas present from my hubby.

Read these two while sick in bed earlier this week....

32. Arson and Old Lace Stupid amateur detective deserves to die, but doesn't-this being the first of a series.

33. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

‘Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamorous blonde Ukrainian divorcee. He was eighty-four and she was thirty-six. She exploded into our lives like a fluffy pink grenade, churning up the murky water, brining to the surface a sludge of sloughed-off memories, giving the family ghosts a kick up the backside.'

34. Fair Peril Feminist fantasy. Starts out strong, but loses its way.

35. Wicked Lovely Weak entry in the urban faery genre.

Spent a week on vacation and read nothing but trashy novels. ;) But I don't count those....sigh.

36. Gilda Joyce: Psychic Investigator Nothing
really psychic about it, but a cute YA all the same.

37. Tithe
Holly Black's books are a nice contribution to the urban faery genre.

38. Valiant Second in the Tithe series.

39. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink Slight novel certainly asks some important questions. I wanted to read this before seeing the film.

40. The Ghost in Love The newest by Jonathan Carroll

Boy howdy, this guy is strange and I love him!

I liked your quote from A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. Now that is a title to make me wonder and the quote makes me wonder even more. I guess I will have to add this one to the wishlist. :) Have a great weekend!
--BJ

bj- It was an interesting book to say the least! :)

41. City of Bones Book One in the Immortal Instruments Trilogy by Cassandra Clare This is by far the best urban fantasy series I've discovered this year. Most thought out universe, best fleshed out characters, etc. Leaves Holly Black's universe in the dust. A well deserved 5 star rating and to think I picked this book up at the library on a whim! :)

I have The Ghost in Love on my shelves, and some other Carroll books, thanks to recent recommendations from LT people. I'll probably read The Ghost in Love first--then I may proceed to you for a recommendation on which to read next.

Medellia- Carroll is great. Magical realism is the closest way to describe him. The Ghost was good, BUT I have a soft spot for some of his others. The Land of Laughs was my first encounter with him in the '80s and I still love it. Sleeping in Flame is fantastic and The Marriage of Sticks is great too. Characters wander in and out of his books, but you can read his stuff in any order.

42. Un Lun Dun by China Mieville An "eco-fairytale". Killer smog. Trash cans to the rescue. Flying double-deckers. Alice in Wonderland for the 21rst century. A bit long for the younger crowd. Lots of adventure, horrible puns and a sidekick character that kicks butt.

43. Dead Men Do Tell Tales by William R. Maples Non fiction about forensic anthropology. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

44. Ironside by Holly Black Next in the series. Personally I think the pun at the end was a cop-out, but I do enjoy the modern feel to these books of faerie.

Currently reading Sorcery & Cecelia ...a book I started in 1988. Decided it was time to finish it. :)

45. Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia C. Wrede The Regency Era with magic. In letter format.

46. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green A failed child prodigy has been dumped by 14 consecutive girlfriends, all named Katherine. Road trip!!

Currently reading Sex with the Queen.

47. Sex with the Queen Non fiction. I was a little disappointed with the chapter on Rasputin. It didn't tell me anymore than my tenth grade term paper did on the subject. :) In fact, this book read a lot like a term paper.

Spent five days trying to read A Perfect Mess . This is another non-fiction book about how chaos and disorganization actually benefits the universe. There. I gave you the whole point of the book in a sentence. Unfortunately the book wasn't a sentence long. :( I did learn some interesting trivia about cell phones and read about yet another bookstore I'd like to visit. Otherwise, this one was a dud.

48. Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz I read this one yesterday afternoon. A very different take on the vampire novel, this series has a lot going for it, but.....whoosh....look out for that plot point whiplash.

Currently listening to.....The Graveyard Book, The Laughter of Dead Kings and The Vampire Academy.

Currently reading The City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare. Still loving this fantasy series.

Page 45: "I don't want to be a man," said Jace. "I want to be an angst-ridden teenager who can't confront his own inner demons and take it out verbally on other people instead." :)

Page 126 : The High Warlock was wearing black leather pants, a belt with a buckle in the shape ofa jeweled M, and a cobalt blue Prussian military jacket open over a white lace shirt. He shimmered with layers of glitter. His gaze rested for a moment on Alec's face with amusement and a hint of something else before moving on to Jace, prone on the grass. "Is he dead?" he inquired. "He looks dead."

"No," snapped Maryse. "He's not dead."

"Have you checked? I could kick him if you want."

49. City of Ashes

I lost another one of my cats yesterday. Spark was a beautiful ginger tom, only 13 years old. Sometimes being a kitty mamma sucks, but the amount of love you get from each cat makes up for their short lives. Mostly. :( We miss you Spark.

I'm sorry about your loss :(

Oh, I'm sorry, Paula. It's been a tough year for you and your brood. I'm glad you have the good memories and that Spark had 13 happy years.

Spacepotatoes and Medellia-Thank you for your condolences. My husband said I had to finally admit we had cats instead of kids. But that doesn't make them any less important. I love all my beasties-past and present! :) The trouble is we acquired most of our brood between 94' and '98. That means they are all (minus Mikey the Wonder Kitten) in their dotage and we are going to lose them within the next five years. Their final illnesses really take it out of us. You have to fight, there's no other option, but cats are stoics and don't allow you to see how sick they really are until there's nearly nothing you can do. I am proud we were able to give Tiger nearly two extra years after her kidney disease diagnosis. We're currently keeping Spelunk (Spark's mom) happy and healthy with thyroid medicine and fluid therapy. With Spark, we were fighting in the dark. It looked like thyroid, but when he caught a cold, it quickly turned to something nastier, which meant his heart was failing. It isn't like you can get a transplant for your pet. What we did was for the best, but I can't help thinking we failed him by not figuring out the cause earlier.

All right, enough of that...I am up at one in the morning (granted I'm on vacation again this week) and here are the books for the past few weeks....

50. House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer Truely unique YA SF set in the near future and involving clones. Ends rather abruptly though.

51. Devil May Care by Elizabeth Peters Not my favorite Peters standalone, but the atmosphere in the book was nice and I loved (of course) all the aunt's pets.

52. Death's Acre Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab The Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales by Bill Bass Yes, I am a CSI fan, how could you tell? The truth is, it's a great book to read at work in the lunchroom. Grosses everybody out. :) Professor Bass was a bit repetitive, that's my only complaint. So I don't have a Phd in Forensic Anthropology, I can remember what's been stated in the chapter before. I think I liked the other book (#43) better.

53. Maskerade by Melissa de la Cruz Second in the Manhattanite vampire series. I really like all the cool ideas. Not such great character development. Jack Force (the boy everybody fights over) is very flat.

Okay, what should I read next? Whatever is overdue at the library or something from the large pile of Book Mooches I've been receiving? Lordy, I love BookMooch, but the website has turned me into more of a book packrat than I ever was before. I literally have a pile of books taller than me that I need to read. But of course when you're fishing around for a new book, your gaze hits upon one you don't actually own....

Sorry about your kitty.

And I am impressed that you have passed 50 already. Take care.
--BJ

I, too, am sorry you lost your kitty. Our pets are such an important part of our lives. We currently have 7 cats and 1 pup but lost one cat over the winter and it is hard. She just disappeared in the all the snow we got. People think we are a dumping ground so we get their shots for them, get them fixed and try to find each one a good home. If that doesn't happen, we keep them. Of our 7, all are rescues and we love each and every one of them and their quirky individual little habits. At one time we were up to 19. Whew.
Nice to meet you and happy reading.
belva

I've been enjoying your thread, and wanted to say you'll be in my thoughts on the animals; our family went through a spot like that up through Christmas--we lost four animals in about a year and a half, all to old age, having gotten them all around the same time. It's odd for me now to go home since it seems like a totally different house without the critters I grew up with. I'm at school with just a cat, but my family is now back to having two dogs, three cats, and a large ball python--all strays or shelter animals that needed homes, except for the snake. Us animal lovers do love chaos, don't we? In any case, we'll be thinking about you!

#41-42-43---Thank you guys! You obviously understand the importance of beasties! At the most, I've had 14 cats (in house only) and that's enough, trust me! :) We have made a conscious decision not to replace our animals too quickly because we wish to give the ones we still have as long and happy lives as possible. That means money. Medicines for cats don't always come cheaply. For example, I gotta buy flea meds this week. Sigh. Flame is trying to chew his fur off his backside again.

Luckily,I have an understanding vet who lets me run a tab and is less than five minutes from our house. We've also learned to give meds ourselves, including shots and I.V.s. Much cheaper. We have considered declaring ourselves a charity for tax purposes. Not sure how to go about that though.

Anyway...you know what I like about YA novels? You can consume them like popsicles. Yum! I read this one in the car yesterday while I was stuck in Lewisville,Texas for four hours. Not that I have anything against Lewisville....

54. Dead is the New Black by Marlene Perez

Three psychic sisters -Rose, Poppy and Daisy. Not that much plot. First in a series. Cute but predictable.

55. Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt Another trip to Lewisville....

Fantastic book, deserves all its awards. It's 1967 and Holling Hoodhood believes his teacher hates him.....Shakespeare. The Vietnam War. Yankee Stadium. Evil Rats. Cream puffs and chalk dust. Yellow tights with feathers. Bobby Kennedy. Running like Jessie Owens. Fried bananas.

Laugh out loud funny and I bawled like a baby at the end. Highly recommended, even if you've long since left your middle school years behind.

56. Frozen Rodeo by Catherine Clark Eh.

This time I wound up in Denton, Texas.... I cannot tell you how exciting this week of vacation has been...no really, I CANNOT tell you... Tomorrow I get to have my car inspected. However shall I bear the excitement? I'd better take a book along.

I believe you, I believe you!~! Ha! I forgot you were from Texas and you folks DO have those darned irritating inspections. My oldest daughter lives in Plano and she *itches about it every year. It is such an inconvenience to her. But she always has 3 or 4 books in her car so she probably does the same thing you will be doing or did.
I hope it went well and no fixes to be had.
Happy reading.
N/B

Nanny-

It's a small world. I work in Plano and live one suburb over.

As for the inspection.... I failed. I need new windshield wipers. I had one snap in half this winter during a cold snap. (no pun intended) I've already paid my forty bucks though and I'll be going back as soon as I go buy blades. Sigh. After all that, I forgot to bring a book and had to settle for what was in the car...a copy of The Fountainhead that I was supposed to mail to someone for Bookmooch, but they closed their account overnight and I wound up with an already packaged book> I'm not a fan of Ayn Rand...there was a reason I was parting with the book! :)

57. Wake Not so much a whole book, as a snack. Interesting idea. A teenage girl has the unwelcome ability to drop in on other people's dreams. She can't control it though, anyone who falls alseep near her sends her into a REM cycle as well.

58. The Mediator: Shadowland by Meg Cabot I read some of this series almost a decade ago. Yes, it's a cheesy teen series, but I also watch Ghostwhisperer when nobody is looking and this is esentially the same idea!

Back to work today..I walked into a mess. Isn't it always the case that it takes you two weeks to recover from a week's vacation. :)

Currently reading The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint . I haven't read a deLint in ages, shame on me.

Wake looks like a good one! My brother works in Richardson and lives in downtown Dallas. I know, that is the opposite of most people. He informs me that he is always driving against traffic, which is a plus. Everytime we go to Texas we stop in Van Alstyne for gas and a break. It is a great place to stop. Now that I will have two daughters in Texas next year, I guess they will know me by name there. :) Have a great day!
--BJ

Yeah, the highways around here turn into parking lots twice a day. Luckily, all I need are city streets to get where I'm going. :) Sorry, never heard of Van Alstyne.

59. The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint Two weeks before Halloween, Grace, a car mechanic, walks into her local neighborhood grocery store and unintentionally interupts an armed robbery. She is shot twice in the chest and dies at the scene. Three days later, she wakes up in her apartment....

Lovely mellow Charles de Lint. His early stuff is a bit violent. Not so this novel. If you like urban fantasy, you can't go wrong with this author. He's magic.

Hello there! Since you've read some de Lint, what would you recommend to me as a second foray? I read Trader a few years back and didn't like it at all. I appreciated the mythology, but thought the character interaction and development were rather contrived at times. Basically the chars just didn't sit right with me.

Maybe it's just me; I'm willing to give de Lint a second chance. Would you recommend The Mystery of Grace, or another book that's good?
Thank you!

Van Alstyne is pretty small. Just take 75 north past McKinney, Melissa, and Anna. There it is. Closer to you than Sherman. It made the national news one day (I can't remember why) and I was so surprised! Anyway, I know all the towns between Tulsa and Austin. Sorry about all that info. I enjoyed your review of The Mystery of Grace. Have a nice day!
--BJ

51# Aihre- Hmmmm....a de Lint to recommend.... My personal favorite is Someplace to be Flying which involves the end of the world, etc. followed probably by Yarrow which is about psychic vampires and explains where at least one author gets her ideas. I happen to enjoy "fairytales retold" and if you do too, you can try the duology Jack the Giant Killer and Drink Down the Moon. I remember reading Moonheart in high school and being driven nuts by this one character who constantly rolled cigarettes. :) It's a good book though, just long. I've never heard of anyone who didn't want to live in Tamson House after they read about it. This book has sequels.

I remember really liking the The Little Country which involves elves and Celtic music and also Green Mantle which involves Pan and the Mystery in the woods.

If you enjoy short stories, de Lint is famous for his Newford books. There's gotta be 200 or more stories at this point. Probably more. I'm not a big short story fan, although that doesn't stop me from collecting the books (I'm a bookaholic). :) My favorite story is The Moon is Drowning While I Sleep. He should win awards for his titles alone! Collections include: Dreams Underfoot, Moonlight and Vines, Tapping the Dream Tree, etc.

I've never read Trader, although I own it. Didn't appeal. I have a long list of de Lint books I need to read: Spirits in the Wires, Forests of the Heart, The Dreaming Place, The Wild Wood, etc. I keep trying to mooch a copy of Widdershins off Bookmooch, but it's rarely offered. People who read de Lint tend to keep de Lint.

He's also written some horror novels as Samuel M. Key.

Is that any help? Of course, talking about these books makes me want to re-read them!

#52 Billiejean--Duh! I live just off of 75.

60. 84 Charing Cross Road Always a joy. Read this for the first time probably twenty years ago. Love the film too.

61. Early Bird : A Memoir of Premature Retirement A writer decides to retire at twenty-eight, going as far as moving into a retirement condo in Florida. Amusing, fish out of water tale.

62. (pending) Graveyard Book I WAS reading this library book, until one of my cats decided to knock my lime-aide over on it and it absorbed the whole drink!

Currently reading The Blue Girl, anoher de Lint. I have to chauffer my husband around today so I should be able to get in some reading time... It looks like another stormy day in North Texas.

And can you believe that it can rain every single day (except one) for over a month? We are all going to grow gills! Sorry, I just can't get over this cool, rainy Spring. Boy, once the sun really hits, the plants will become gigantic!!

Maybe your cat knows something about that book that you don't! Actually, though, my daughter just loved that book. Have a great day!
--BJ

Couldn't get interested in Blue Girl, a book for another time I suppose...

63. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street A sequel to 84 Charing Cross Road. Not nearly as charming, but worth the read.

64. Stormy Weather The insanity that is Carl Hiaasen. He's a "balls up in the air" kind of comedy writer. Several insane storylines on a collison course with each other. Lots of fun. Ending a bit weak. I expected more of a punch line.

65. The Forest of Hands and Teeth Zombies. :) A bit undecided on this one, thought the main character was very selfish and the zombie attacks got a bit old.

66. Graceling by Kristin Cashore Fabulous. A magical world where people born with talents are called "Graces". Katsa's talent is "death". Or is it? The start of a series of course...sigh. Although in this case I am definitely looking forward to the rest of the books.

Ugh...I have to fess up to the library today about what happened to The Graveyard Book.....

67. A Dose of Murder Stephanie Plum wannabe. Uninspired.

68. Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy Two Shall Become One by Sharon Lathan Sequels to Pride and Prejudice tend to fall into one of two camps. Either Darcy turns out to be a cad, and Lizzy is in for a whole lot of misery-illigitimate children, affairs, abuse, etc. or they spend 400 pages saying things like...Darcy: I love you Elizabeth. Elizabeth: I love you more Mr. Darcy. Darcy: I love you more than that Elizabeth. Elizabeth: I love you even more than that Mr. Darcy. Yawn.

This book fell into the second camp. The first five months of wedded blisss....dull, dull, dull.

Also, the author admitted this novel began as a piece of fanfiction after she saw the most recent film of Pride & Prejudice. Several times in the book, she uses that film and not the book as her point of reference, even going so far as to quote film dialogue that Jane Austen never wrote. Rings quite a false note. I haven't anything against the film, but it isn't the be all and end all of P&P productions. And if you haven't seen the film, you wind up thinking "Huh?"

This is the start of a series....argh. I'm very hesitant about buying the next novel and I'm banging my head against the wall for having paid full price for this one!

69. Life as we Knew It An excellent "end of the world" novel! I suppose that should be an oxymoron, but it's not.

I thought this was going to be "the year of the non-fiction" book for me, but it's turning out to be "the year of the young adult novel" instead. No complaints. Some of this stuff is really well done! :)

Currently reading Garden Spells, which is a combination of Practical Magic and Like Water for Chocolate.

70. Garden Spells Sweet.

Going through a bit of a fallow period, at least with books I normally count.

I did read the first three of four in a romance series involving...get this....CSI vampires. :) Not bad, I think I actually enjoyed the books more while I was reading them though, than now thinking back on them. Blood Secrets, Dark Lies and ...something, something by Vivi Anna. The first had a strong hero,but a dippy heroine, the second had two strong leads (werewolves) and the third had a couple of witches (the hero is a damphir-half witch/half vampire, although his vampire side never shows its pointy teeth so I'm not sure why they bothered... All characters reside in Necropolis, a city of nothing but paranormals out in the west Texas country. The pictures on the covers imply it's a fairly large city (hidden from human eyes) but it only has one police force and for that matter one crime lab, so how big could it be? The BIG BAD was way to obvious, unless in the fourth novel something changes... That one involves a vampire with a rare blood disease (snort) and I can't get my hands on it until July when my bookmooch request is processed. Bear in mind these are romance novels, so the CSI part is nominal and the kissy kissy is amped up. Still, if it weren't for the CSI aspects, I never would have picked this series up.

I also read (same romance series) the first two of three of a miniseries about Queen Mab's daughters. The first was pretty well done until the characters fell into bed together and the rhythm ( no pun intended) was lost. Good side characters, etc. Honest laughs. Of course romance novels are purely a matter of taste, that's why there are so many of them, what works for some doesn't work for others.

Oh yeah, I also read Eternally by Maureen Child the first in a miniseries about immortal gauardians (same romance series-Nocturnes) . Eh. The second in the series Evermore was better that I read some months ago. I hate heroes with long flowing hair and both books describe them as such, but the book covers show them with short cuts instead. ;) Again, I would never have picked up this series except that I liked the cover paintings. Romance readers can be so fickle.....

Onto what I can actually count....

71. Monster by John Gregory Dunne

This is essentially the history of a screenplay -"Up Close and Personal" (a movie I've never seen because it always sounded stupid) and the background of the eight years it took to come to the screen. It was interesting, honest; I like books about what goes on behind doors in Hollywood, but for some reason I kept falling asleep each time I picked the book up. :) Might have had something to do with my stressed out month at work. This being the same reason I was reading romances and not much else....

Wow. I was amazed by how much money you can make by not having your works produced. Hooray for the WGA!

Not sure what I'll be reading next, with only three months left in my "year" and 29 novels to reach my goal, I'd better get started!

But first I'm off to the post office for my weekly BookMooch mailing. Nothing exotic this week, all US mailings and one to Canada. I had to pull back on my International mailings, too much for postage, yowza!

Good morning hbru;
Garden Spells sounds like an enjoyable read and is now on my TBR listing. (growing and growing)
And then just a quick question for you related to the above book--was that based on a true story?
thanx,
belva

Nanny- Monster is non-fiction, yes. The screenplay itself started out as non-fiction as well, but then Hollywood got hold of it. John Gregory Dunne wrote screenplays with his wife, Joan Didion. Both print journalists by trade. If you are interested in Monster and are on Bookmooch, I can reserve it for you. Just let me know.

Whoops! Forgot one. Read Saving Destiny, another Nocturne. Utterly stupid. Although I must admit the group orgasm was kind of funny. :)

Off to the post office!

So the dude really did die?

Which dude? The author John Dunne died. His wife wrote a book about it. The Year of Magical Thinking. The dude in the movie, played by Robert Redford, was totally created. Based on....1. the lover of Jessica Savitch (a biography of Jessica Savitch was what they were originally hired to adapt) who died in a car wreck with her in real life and 2. a cameraman who was shot filming a story and whose real life film footage was what the director used to create the scene in the film. I don't think her lover was a journalist, that's totally coincidental and in real live they died by driving their car off a bridge or some such thing and they drowned. Not a noble way to go at all.

Did I answer the right question?

Yes, thank you very much. It was the Robert Redford character I was wondering about. Actually, I was wondering about the whole story of Up Close and Personal and if it was true and so yes, you did answer my question.
belva

I may be the only one, but I actually really liked that movie! I had no idea that it was written Dunne and that he was Joan Didion's husband (her book is on my TBR but I haven't gotten to it yet). You learn something new everyday here on LT :)

spacepotatoes- You just never know,do ya...? :)

72. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Lovely and sad, but not nearly as fabulous as all the Book Lists insist. Still, I'm glad I read it.

>#67:
spacespuds:
I liked it too. I am just a sucker for romance I guess.
belva

Guess I'll have to watch the movie then...:)

73. The Bones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll I think this was the second book I ever read by Carroll. I found it long, long ago in a used bookshop in Tulsa and when I found a second copy at HalfPriced Books recently, I realized how long it's been since I read it.

For a Carroll novel, the message is pretty straight forward: abortion is bad, you'll pay for it in the end, you'll sacrifice something for your decision.

I'm not going to dip my toe into the pond of opinions on this subject. I'm not trying to rile anyone; I'm just commenting on the book. That's the background of the story: Cullen dreams each night about the fantasy land where her aborted son still lives. It's up to the reader to decide if the world is real, or if she's just essentially carrying on therapy for herself in her head. I'm pretty sure where Carroll stands on this and it isn't the side he usually takes.

There isn't nearly enough explained about the world; Carroll introduces all these interesting ideas and places, but it's all background. You never get to see the Wooden Mice or know where the Hot Shoes came from etc. For that matter, why on earth did he name the kid Pepsi??

Still, Carroll books are always an interesting ride because he writes like no one else.

This book sounds fascinating to me. I think I will have to get it. What a wonderful for someone to "discuss" a very controversial issue.
And another good, crisp, concise review on your part hbrus.
Thumbs up from me.
belva

Busy, busy, busy. But still reading. :)

74. The Land of Laughs Another fabulous Jonathan Carroll.

75. The Delicate Storm by Giles Blunt Political murder myster in Canada.

76. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince I had to read it again before seeing the film. From what I've heard, I think I'm going to like this one a lot. What can one say about Harry? I think I definitely got more out of this read compared to the speed read I did back in 2005. Never my favorite in the series, but definitely a need-to-read before heading to the theater.

77. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Wow! Such a satisfying read when you aren't racing through it and you've just read Book Six the week before. So THAT's what the book was about! :) Still cried when Dobby died. Still mad about Hedwig. Still think there should be more Ron and Hermione--- "Oi! There's a war going on here! D'you think you could just-just hold it in until we've got the diadem?"--- and what was that epilogue....? A teaser?

I really think the united theme should have made Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaw characters have larger parts. Muggles should have been involved too. Snape is still a slimy character, despite the reveal-all at the end.

Now of course, I'm in the mood to read fan fiction.
Enjoyed the film by the way...

78. Yarrow by Charles de Lint Probably haven't read this in ten years. A couple of years in a bedroom bookcase with a southwest exposure to the Texas summer sun has aged the book beyond its years. Although come to think of it, I bought it back in the 80's! Not all books live up to your memories. It's very obvious it's an early book for de Lint. Still liked it, just not as much.

79. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

80. Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach. Not as much fun as Stiff, but still worth a go. The author's humor is always a plus.

81. The Wednesday Letters Very well done for the type of book it is, but boy howdy, this sucker is sappy! Beware the sugar shock.

@73...I've been thinking of doing a full Harry Potter re-read, and that has clinched it! I raced through the final book when I first got it, too...looks like a second look is in order!

77-Estarriol-HP is definitely more enjoyable at a slower pace. :)

The first 2 novels in the Morganville Vampire Series:

82. The Glass House by Rachel Caine
83. The Dead Girls' Dance also by Rachel Caine

Very nice YA vamp series. Reminds me of Buffy in a lot of way. Non stop action, characters with complicated family ties, yadda, yadda.

I made a pledge last weekend that this year I cannot buy or mooch anymore books until I make it through the majority of need-to-reads I have at home. Sigh. I only have the first two books in this eight book series. One week out and I am tempted to break my own vow.... as Joss Whedon would say, grrrrr arrrrghhh!! So the Allen Public Library better have these books, that's all I'm going to say!

grrrrr arrrrghhh!!
Aww, I loved that little guy. :)

79> Hey! Haven't seen you in ages!

84. Disappearing Nightly Geeze. This book was silly. But sometimes silly is what you're looking for... The drag queens were a treat as was the villian with a lisp. And who would have known Altoona, Pa is a hotbed of evil? :)

#79: I've been lurking on your thread still! :) I fell behind on my 50 books thread and more or less abandoned it for my Club Read thread, which I also abandoned for long periods this year. Bad, bad!

81> Club read? Is that sort of like a group sing along? How's that going for you?

85. The Door Into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein Classic time travel novel, including, of course, a cat!

#82: :) It was a new challenge group this year, and has no "number challenge"--folks also comment on works that they haven't finished, or on individual essays, short stories, articles, etc.

If you're interested, my thread is here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/50280
I may try to get my 50 books thread started again sometime, but I've proved bad at keeping two threads going.

Speaking of cats, I hope the brood is well!

83> Sounds interesting; I have more than my share of unfinished books! I'll give it a look-see when I have more time. I'm thinking of extending my challenge year and starting over with everyone else in January. The nice thing I find about the challenge is that it gives me a goal-otherwise I piddle all over the place with my reading. And I still have a bad habit of reading all sorts of things I'm not supposed to include. :) Maybe I'll keep a running tab of both types of books next year. The cats are fine, by the way. We finally found a prescription food for Mister Bat that doesn't mess with his food allergies too much.

86. The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for this one-a young woman falls in love with a robot. Good, but not the classic everyone on Amazon claims it is. Maybe it's just that I don't like tragedies and the prose style, esp. at the beginning, was over the top. Gave me a headache. Of course, this is also the first day off I've had in ten days and I would have been better off taking a nap! :) Still, I'm glad to be done with it and now I can add it to my moochable pile that I'll be listing in January. Apologies to anyone who really loves the book. The main character just got on my nerves. I did love the bit about painting the whale on the ceiling and the seance at the end.

87. Fool Moon The Dresden Files #2. Werewolves of every variety and Harry Dresden, Professional Wizard. :) Having seen the show, the actors embody my mind's eye versions of these characters, complete with hockey stick. Shame he doesn't actually use one.... A bit of blood in this one, what werewolf tale would be without it?

Currently reading No. 3 in the series. Ghosts and faeries so far.

88. Grave Peril I enjoyed more of the beginning of this story than end, being much more of a ghost fan than a vampire fan... Still, I'm really having fun with the adventures of Harry and Bob and I think this book was better plotted than the last. It flowed better.

Oh, I love the Dresden Files...looks like you are about to pass me in that series! I have never seen the ScFi show, but I do have it in my Netflix queue.

Estarriol-I think you're still waaaay ahead of me.... :) You can watch the Dresden Files for free at hulu.com .

89. The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank The title pretty much says it all!

90. Midnight Alley No. 3 in the Morganville Vampires series. Really is like reading a Buffy episode. This one was considerably slower than the last two. Cool world building though. :) I have yet to figure out how any of these characters manage to stay alive considering how stupid they can be.

91. Feast of Fools No. 4 Honestly, I cannot understand why, (beyond teenaged lust) these couples would BE couples except that they live in the same house. And they jump to conclusions about each other so often it is mind boggling.

They've introduced a new Big Bad. Once again, I see so many similarities with Buffy.

92. The Year we Disappeared A non-fiction account, told in alternating chapters between a father and his daughter, of the year he was shot in the face while on patrol duty in a small Cape Cod town and the crisis the family suffered from the event.

93. Lord of Misrule
94. Carpe Corpus **love those Morganville titles***

Also read a few chapters in Harry a History, a book about Harry Potter fandom and the Leaky Cauldron website in particular. I never really frequented that site though, I was more of a Sugar Quill fan. Interesting interview with the lady behind the anti-Harry campaign. A bit of a nutter, as Ron would say. And I read the first couple of chapters in a popular science book The Dirt on Clean, a history of cleanliness. I haven't made it to the middle ages yet, not sure if I'm going to continue with the book. Also working on The Gospel According to Biff, which is an utter joy. Loved the "creation" of sarcasm.

So, I'm now caught up on my Morganville vamp antics, just in time to go back to work after a week's vacation-during which I accomplished nothing. Well, we did attempt to clean the carpets, but with a cat that suffers from irritable bowel disease this is never a complete task. We got some of the gunk up, let's leave it at that. I also mananged to pull all the unused video tapes off the two media bookcases in the living room and fill them with books instead. Switching chairs around on the Titantic really, I either need more bookcases or less books. Since I declared I wouldn't buy anymore books in August, I've acquired...maybe fifty? It's a disease. I know I need an intervention. As for starting to read the 200+ books in the house I'm backed up on....err....the last four books I've read **plus the two I dabbled in** were actually library books. :) Good in the sense I didn't BUY them, but not so good in my plan to actually read the bloody things....!

I'm considering starting to list some of my unread library and asking for votes from the audience on what I should read next. How's that sound? I am two weeks away from the end of my reading year, but I've pretty much decided to extend this year and begin again with everyone else in January.

Okay, picked out some options. Anyone have opinions about these?

Next To Read:

1. New Moon Need to get this one done before the film release
2. 13 and 1/2 lives of Captain Bluebear German author, Walter Moers. I read another book by him last year.
3. Based on the Movie: A Novel
4. City of Glass Third in the Cassandra Clare Immortals Trilogy. Actually read the first third last spring, but wanted to stretch out the series so I stopped.
5. The Crying of Lot 49 Bookmooch prize.
6. Raw Shark Texts
7. Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest Horror I think. More interested in the second in this series-which involves Civil War ghosts.
8. Garbage Land Non fiction.
9. Mr. Darcy Vampyre Couldn't resist the title. :)
10. The Man Who Turned into Himself Alternate universes, a personal love of mine.
11.The Reformed Vampire Support Group Got an ARC from Book mooch.

I hear ya on needing an intervention! I have promised myself that I'm going to seriously curb my book-buying for a few months (and I've been good for, well, two weeks anyway). I have too many TBRs and reading long books lately is not helping me to get through the stack. Plus NYC apartments aren't built like Texas houses, let me tell ya. :)

I've read none of your 11 books, though! So I have no opinions to offer. I will be interested to hear your thoughts afterward.

Okay....first of all, I made it through the first forty pages of The Crying of Lot 49 and I liked it. Mostly. It was absurd and I normally love absurd, but it's one of those books that's obviously supposed to have some extra meaning and I didnt feel the need to puzzle through the rest of the novel without having to write a paper on it. :) I'll return to it when I have an afternoon to spare.

95. Wishful Drinking A mini-autobiography of Carrie Fisher. Funny, but repetitive. There is no underwear in space! I'd like to see her one woman show that this is based on.

96. Wings to the Kingdom by Cherie Priest Okay, here's the deal. I made it 3/4 of the way through Four and Twenty Blackbirds by C.P. and misplaced it ! :P So I started this, the sequel, and finished it only to find the first novel hiding on my husband's side of the bed. Book hog! Now of course I know too much to really enjoy the first book. All the suspense has gone out of the journey. :( Still, I will finish it in the next week or so. The main character "sees dead people". In this case, the plot involves unsettled Civil War ghosts and a search for Confederate gold. That description is actually more interesting than the book. All of her male characters (excluding Dave the Uncle) seem to be the same person with different clothes. The author introduces her characters as if the reader already has a relationship with them and doesn't need to know any background. Really, it feels like it's supposed to be book four or five in a series as opposed to book two with side characters barely mentioned in book one. Also, this is listed as horror. Now I'm not a horror guru by any means, but this seemed a pretty lame plot if it was supposed to scare the begeezus out of me.

97. Special Agent; My Life on the Front Lines as a Woman in the FBI by Candice DeLong

My inner Scully enjoyed this on. :)

98. Defending Angels
99. The Night of the Gun: A Reporter Investigates the Darkest Story of His Life: His Own
100. The Wee Free Men

I can't comment on anything until I get some batteries for my keyboard! Takes way too long....

I'm loving some of your recommendations and reads. I really liked Wee Free Men, I much prefer this series to the "adult" books. I have gotten into the Dresden Files books and hope to continue with the series soon.

98> Thanks ever so! I just read what appeals...:) I love all Pratchetts. Going Postal is my favorite. How can you not like characters named Moist Von Lipwig and Adorabelle Dearheart?

101. Marsbound Not one of the better novels of Joe Haldeman, but certainly an easy read.

102. The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart A Halloween tradition. The Harry Potterish book of my (cough, cough) youth. My mum sold my copy at a garage sale and it took me twenty years to track down another one. The internet is a wonderful thing!

It's been sort of a tough week for me for readingwise. Started four library books and couldn't get interested in anything. Read a bit of the following..... Postcards from the Brain Museum, Volcano Cowboys, Three Days to Never and How to Ditch Your Fairy. Sometimes too many options is not a blessing.

Forgot one..

103. Grave's End: A True Ghost Story

Wow, I finally finished something. :)

104. Soulless Charming start to a new parnormal series taking place in
Victorian times. It took me ages to read this, including two days to read the epilogue (oh the shame) because I've been taking an anti-inflamatory med that knocks me out each night. Now that my foot is no longer throbbing, maybe I can get in a bit more reading.

105. Single White Vampire by Lynsay Sands Do I criticize what you read? :) Had a good start, but limped to the finish line. I have another book in the same series that one of my cats threw up on....perhaps an opinion I should pay attention to?

106. Volcano Cowboys Browsed through this while trapped in the car today.

I've been listening to a lot of audio books, some Dean Koontz, the new Terry Pratchett, etc. It's the right time of year to crack open The Stupidest Angel and listen to the Christopher Moore gem. Ooooh, and David Sedaris. Must listen to The Santaland Diaries as well.

I've just picked up Soulless, too, and so far it's great.

Hope your foot improves...!