Janoorani's 999 Challenge

I'm not sure what all of my categories will be, but here's a first draft:

1. Book Club Books
2. DD Books
3. History
4. Historical Fiction
5. Mystery/Thriller
6. Science & Science Fiction
7. Biography/Autobiography
8. Young Adult
9. Professional Reading

Here are some books to add to my categories:

1. I already know what January's book club book is so I'll be reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Since it's a young adult book, I'll also be able to add it to Category 8. Hee, hee.

I like your categories - Professional Reading is one maybe I should have included, but since I'll have to do it anyway - no fun there! Of course, if I had included it, I would have a much better chance of getting through 81 books!

What is DD books?

a fellow librarian.. I will have to pay attention to your professional reading category.

#3 - I chose to "force" myself to do professional reading, because, since I work from home, I tend to read the "fun" stuff and leave my professional books for "later." Then I never get around to reading them. I thought if I can get through nine professional books this year, I'd feel a lot less guilty about all the fun stuff I read.

#4 - I try to read a lot of journal stuff (ASSIST and ACM mostly) but that doesn't really count. I'm going to do some more reading on database management, and I'm thinking about a re-read of Organizing Information by Dagobert Soergel. I had to read it for a class in Library School, but feel I could use the refresher for understanding entity relationships, etc. I'll definitely be checking out your library, too.

#3 - Forgot to explain DD - it's for Dorothy Dunnett. I'm going to re-read the entire Lymond Chronicle series, King Hereafter, her poetry anthology and one of her mysteries. So that would be for Category 2:
1. The Game of Kings
2. Queen's Play
3. The Disorderly Knights
4. Pawn in Frankencense
5. The Ringed Castle
6. Checkmate
7. King Hereafter
8. The Lymond Poetry
9. Operation Nassau

OK, here's some updates:

My Categories:

1. Book Club Books
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

2. DD Books
- The Game of Kings
- Queen's Play
- The Disorderly Knights
- Pawn in Frankincense
- The Ringed Castle
- Checkmate
- King Hereafter
- The Lymond Poetry
- Operation Nassau

3. History

4. Historical Fiction
- King Hereafter

5. Mystery/Thriller
- Operation Nassau

6. Science & Science Fiction

7. Biography/Autobiography

8. Young Adult
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

9. Professional Reading

Here's an update for the Young Adult Category:

8. Young Adult

- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

- Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken

I do primarily reader's advisory work, so I tend to fall behind on professional reading. But I do have applications out for youth services positions and reference..

Shannon
Good luck with your applications. I'd love to work as a librarian here in Washington, but have not even gotten far enough through the application process anywhere to get an interview. I've been chief of technical services in one large library, and director of a small technical library, as well as very active in an SLA division, but no one here in Washington seems to be interested in me. So I work part-time form home as a digital librarian for a large corporation. It requires a level of technical skill that I'm still learning. I really need to make more time to read the right stuff.

Here's a new update:

My Categories:

1. Book Club Books
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
- The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

2. DD Books
- The Game of Kings
- Queen's Play
- The Disorderly Knights
- Pawn in Frankincense
- The Ringed Castle
- Checkmate
- King Hereafter
- The Lymond Poetry
- Operation Nassau

3. History

4. Historical Fiction
- King Hereafter
- Cotillion by Georgette Heyer - completed 1 January 2009

5. Mystery/Thriller
- Operation Nassau

6. Science & Science Fiction

7. Biography/Autobiography
- Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford

8. Young Adult
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken

9. Professional Reading

- Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay--I will very interested to read your thoughts on this book! She is one of my favorite poets but I've never read a bio of her. I do know that for her times she was considered "unconventional."

Yes, she is tied with Marianne Moore for my favorite poet.

Well now 12 & 13, you both have me feeling very guilty. One of my resolutions since I moved to Maine and started working in the library here is to read more Maine authors. SO....I think I will have to add Savage Beauty to my 999 list....not sure if I will wedge it into the Poetry category, or the bio's. Either way methinks it's definitely worth a look.

#13 janoorani24

Marianne Moore was my mother's favorite poet and is also one of mine--we used to read her together.

#14 totothefirst

I also have both a poetry category and a biography/memoir category. I guess I'd better see which one has more room!

I wish I could interest my daughters in poetry. I used to memorize poems when I was younger, partly for the beauty of the language, but also, so I have something to occupy my mind with when I'm bored, and don't have a book near by. Stuck in traffic?...recite poetry in your head. Waiting in line?...ditto. But my daughters just pull their cell phones out and start text messaging. Oh well.

One of my daughters is going to have to read Hamlet for a class, so I'm thinking of reading it too...I wonder if I can count it as "historical fiction?''

Hey -- since your daughter is reading it for class put it in the YA category! ;-)

You should read it when she does--not only is it a great play, but maybe you could talk about it together. Be sure to rent one of the movies, too, so you can watch it. I liked the Mel Gibson version even though quite a bit was left out. If you choose that version you could discuss what's missing in the movie and how much difference it made to Shakespeare's intent to leave out Fortinbras (The last scene in the play.)

When I was in high school my Dad and I read several of the Shakespeare plays together--ones that I wasn't studying--just for fun. Of course, I didn't have a cell phone and neither of us watched very much TV.

Thanks for the great suggestion, MM41! I have seen the Mel Gibson version of Hamlet, and will put it in my Netflix queue so my daughter and I can watch it together.

My other daughter is going to read Hiroshima by John Hersey, so that gives me an opportunity to finally read that one, too. I also have pictures of Hiroshima that I can share with her. I traveled there when I was a high school exchange student back in 1974.

Yet another update:

Here's a new update:

My Categories:

1. Book Club Books
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
- The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

2. DD Books
- The Game of Kings
- Queen's Play
- The Disorderly Knights
- Pawn in Frankincense
- The Ringed Castle
- Checkmate
- King Hereafter
- The Lymond Poetry
- Operation Nassau

3. History
- Hiroshima by John Hersey

4. Historical Fiction
- King Hereafter
- Cotillion by Georgette Heyer - completed 1 Jan 09

5. Mystery/Thriller
- Operation Nassau

6. Science & Science Fiction

7. Biography/Autobiography
- Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford

8. Young Adult
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare

9. Professional Reading

janoorani24

I read Hiroshima for our library "all community group read" a couple of years ago. It is really a powerful book--especially with the added material when he went back many years later and did a follow-up on the people he had interviewed shortly after the bomb was dropped. Your pictures will add a lot to her experience of the story-I wish I could see them!

I started Lady Chatterley's Lover already. It's re-read for a book discussion this coming Friday. So far, I'm finding it very slow going. I think this is partly because I'm on a Georgette Heyer binge right now. I'd much rather read a good historical romance than D. H. Lawrence. He's so dull!

I finished a book already, and I guess it falls under my Historical Fiction category.

4. Historical Fiction
- King Hereafter
- Cotillion by Georgette Heyer - completed 1 Jan 09

Another Update to add a book to the Mystery/Thriller Category:

Here's a new update:

My Categories:

1. Book Club Books
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
- The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

2. DD Books
- The Game of Kings
- Queen's Play
- The Disorderly Knights
- Pawn in Frankincense
- The Ringed Castle
- Checkmate
- King Hereafter
- The Lymond Poetry
- Operation Nassau

3. History
- Hiroshima by John Hersey

4. Historical Fiction
- King Hereafter
- Cotillion by Georgette Heyer - completed 1 Jan 09

5. Mystery/Thriller
- Operation Nassau
- Rift Zone by Raelynn Hillhouse

6. Science & Science Fiction

7. Biography/Autobiography
- Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford

8. Young Adult
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare

9. Professional Reading

Another Update to add a book to the History Category:

My Categories:

1. Book Club Books
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
- The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

2. DD Books
- The Game of Kings
- Queen's Play
- The Disorderly Knights
- Pawn in Frankincense
- The Ringed Castle
- Checkmate
- King Hereafter
- The Lymond Poetry
- Operation Nassau

3. History
- Hiroshima by John Hersey
- The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas L. Friedman

4. Historical Fiction
- King Hereafter
- Cotillion by Georgette Heyer - Completed 1 Jan 09

5. Mystery/Thriller
- Operation Nassau
- Rift Zone by Raelynn Hillhouse
- High Stakes by Dick Francis

6. Science & Science Fiction

7. Biography/Autobiography
- Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford

8. Young Adult
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare

9. Professional Reading

Message edited to add High Stakes to Mystery/Thriller category.
Message edited to show completion of books in italics

For the Book Club Category as well as the Young Adult Category I finished The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie on 10 January. This was truly one of the best books I've read in a long time! This book is about a 14-year-old Spokane Indian boy who decides to leave the reservation to attend high school in a nearby town. It is written as diary entries and illustrated with cartoons (although these are minimal and don't detract from the writing). If I had read this when I was younger, I think it would have affected me the same way A Wrinkle in Time and Exodus did. For that reason, I give it five stars -- meaning Pure Bliss.

Note: As I've noted elsewhere, the Touchstones for this book and the author don't work. Could this be some diabolical way to limit people's access to descriptions of the book? I know it has been banned by some school districts. I can't believe LibraryThing would do this, but it does seem odd that the Touchstones don't work for a book and author who won the National Book Award.

Another Update to add books:

My Categories:

1. Book Club Books
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
- The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
- Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy by William Barrett
- Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
- The Good Mother by Sue Miller

2. DD Books
- The Game of Kings
- Queen's Play
- The Disorderly Knights
- Pawn in Frankincense
- The Ringed Castle
- Checkmate
- King Hereafter
- The Lymond Poetry
- Operation Nassau

3. History
- Hiroshima by John Hersey
- The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas L. Friedman
- Cook and Peary: The Polar Controversy, Resolved by Robert M. Bryce

4. Historical Fiction
- King Hereafter
- Cotillion by Georgette Heyer - Completed 1 Jan 09
- Alaska by James A. Michener

5. Mystery/Thriller
- Operation Nassau
- Rift Zone by Raelynn Hillhouse
- High Stakes by Dick Francis
- The Private Patient by P. D. James
- Winter Prey by John Sandford

6. Science & Science Fiction
- The Beginning and the End by Isaac Asimov

7. Biography/Autobiography
- Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
- The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller
- The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

8. Young Adult
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare

9. Professional Reading

I'm adding the following to the appropriate categories:

3. History:
- Cook and Peary: The Polar Controversy, Resolved by Robert M. Bryce

4. Historical Fiction
- Alaska by James A. Michener

5. Mystery/Thriller
- Winter Prey by John Sandford

6. Science & Science Fiction
- The Beginning and the End by Isaac Asimov

7. Biography/Autobiography
- The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

Adding Books to several categories:

My Categories:

1. Book Club Books
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence - Completed 25 Jan 09
- Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
- Peace Like a River by Leif Enger Completed 5 Feb 09
- The Good Mother by Sue Miller Completed 3 Feb 09
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato-Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
- Three Junes by Julia Glass
- The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
- Doubt by John Patrick Shanley

2. DD Books
- The Game of Kings
- Queen's Play
- The Disorderly Knights
- Pawn in Frankincense
- The Ringed Castle
- Checkmate
- King Hereafter
- The Lymond Poetry
- Operation Nassau

3. History
- Hiroshima by John Hersey
- The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas L. Friedman
- Cook and Peary: The Polar Controversy, Resolved by Robert M. Bryce
- Collapse by Jared Diamond
- Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis
- The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea
- The Post American World by Fareed Zakariah

4. Historical Fiction
- King Hereafter
- Cotillion by Georgette Heyer - Completed 1 Jan 09
- Alaska by James A. Michener
- The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
- The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

5. Mystery/Thriller
- Operation Nassau
- Rift Zone by Raelynn Hillhouse
- High Stakes by Dick Francis
- The Private Patient by P. D. James
- Winter Prey by John Sandford

6. Science & Science Fiction
- The Beginning and the End by Isaac Asimov
- Six Not So Easy Pieces by Richard P. Feynman

7. Biography/Autobiography
- Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
- The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller
- The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
- Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields
- Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading by Maureen Corrigan - Completed 24 Jan 09
- Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin
- Soft Spots by Clint Van Winkle

8. Young Adult
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

9. Professional Reading
- Intellectual Property: Everything a Digital-Age Librarian Needs to Know by Timothy Lee Wherry
- Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose by Francis-Noel Thomas and Mark Turner
- Understanding Digital Libraries by Michael Lesk
- Rethinking Information Work: A Career Guide for Librarians and Other Information Professionals by G. Kim Dority

I finished Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence. What a waste of time! I can't believe I went through a D.H. Lawrence phase once and actually read others of his books. Never again.

Thank you for strengthening my resolve never to try him again. I think it was Sons and Lovers I finally had to stop reading--back when I was OCD about finishing everything! I'm better now--except if I own a book that I put aside I won't get rid of it in case I ever decide to finish it. Since I ran out of shelf space a few years ago and haven't stopped adding books to my library I will have to deal with that problem next! :-D

No problem! Still trying to get the bad taste out of my mouth. I actually finished Sons and Lovers and Women in Love many long years ago. I definitely remember how awful they both were, but I must have been going through some sort of sadomasochistic phase.

#29, 30, 31 I picked up Lady Chatterley's Lover years ago at a yard sale, but never got very far into it. Of course, at that time, I didn't read much of any substance and figured that I was just being lazy. I've always figured that I'd go back and try it again sometime. But, maybe I won't. You know, I don't even remember that it was terrible, only that it wasn't very interesting.

#32 That's just it - it is a shockingly boring book, but you keep reading it -- hoping to find something that qualifies it as the classic, as is claimed and then the end just dribbles away. The only good thing is that I'm also reading Irrational Man by William Barrett right now, and it's interesting to me to see how Lawrence was probably one of the first existentialists with all of his talk about Nothingness and the loss of man's purity to industrialization. It was nice to be able to draw such parallels, but since I don't really admire existentialism, it still didn't go far toward redeeming the time I wasted on reading such a dreary book.

To me, if you want a good classic to read that talks about the English pastoral world and sexual relations between men and women, I'd recommend anything by Thomas Hardy.

#33 janoorani24

I think you may have nailed the reason Lawrence has been considered a "classic" all these years. Existentialism was very big popular when I went to college and those books were very popular then. I wonder if Lawrence will remain as popular in the 21st century as we move into "new" ideas? I agree, the biggest problem with his work is that I find him boring. Life is to short to read "boring!"

I agree with you. I read Lawrence in college at around the same time I was taking philosophy classes that dealt almost exclusively with Existentialism. The seminar in philosophy I'm involved with right now is reading Barrett's book on existentialism, but that's just because it was one of the books chosen this year (the other was Plato's Symposium). The moderator for our group described existentialism as a philosophy that has gone out of favor.

I finished The Good Mother by Sue Miller today. I read it for a book discussion, and can't say I really enjoyed it much. The main character seems really shallow and selfish to me. I really think I need to get back to genre fiction; what I need right now is a good mystery with a nice tidy resolution at the end. Unfortunately, it's on to Peace Like a River for another book discussion.

I haven't read Peace Like a River yet, but last year a lot of LTers raved about it, so this one may be a better read for you. I hope so. It's frustrating to feel obligated to read a book you don't care for when there are so many good reads out there!

ETA I'll check back to see what you say about it, to see if I should add it to my growing TBR. :-)

Oh, MusicMom -- you should definitely put it at the top of your TBR pile. I'm supposed to be working right now, but I spent the morning finishing Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. WOW! I find it hard describe how much I liked this book. It was especially good to read something so well written after my last two disappointing reads. I wish I could write nice reviews like yours, and will look forward to reading what you have to say about it once you read it. I don't know if I liked it more than The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, but it's such a relief to have read a good book after Lady Chatterley's Lover and The Good Mother, that I'm going to give this one 5 stars.

I guess I can add you to the list of those who raved about it. :-) I'm adding it to my TBR list--now I just have to find time!

I added Soft Spots to my Biography/Autobiography category today (it's an Early Reviewer book). I also added Alias Grace to my Historical Fiction Category. It's actually for a book discussion, but that category is full, and this can go in another category.

Book 6 was To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, which I had checked out of the library. It's hard to believe I had never read this. I can see why it's a classic. I thought she got the tone and language of the South in the mid-1930's just right. Even her very minor characters were so completely drawn, I could actually picture them. Definitely 5 stars.

Book 7 was The Wish by Gail Carson Levine. I hadn't meant to read it, but started glancing through it to see if I wanted to add it to my BookMooch inventory, and found myself drawn in. It only took a couple of hours total to read.

Here's an updated category list:

My Categories:

1. Book Club Books
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence - Completed 25 Jan 09
- Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
- Peace Like a River by Leif Enger Completed 5 Feb 09
- The Good Mother by Sue Miller Completed 3 Feb 09
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato-Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
- Three Junes by Julia Glass
- The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
- Doubt by John Patrick Shanley

2. DD Books
- The Game of Kings
- Queen's Play
- The Disorderly Knights
- Pawn in Frankincense
- The Ringed Castle
- Checkmate
- King Hereafter
- The Lymond Poetry
- Operation Nassau

3. History
- Hiroshima by John Hersey
- The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas L. Friedman
- Cook and Peary: The Polar Controversy, Resolved by Robert M. Bryce
- Collapse by Jared Diamond
- Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis
- The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea
- The Post American World by Fareed Zakariah
- The Night the Mountain Fell: The Story of the Montana-Yellowstone Earthquake by Edmund Christopherson - Completed 20 Feb 09
- The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell - Completed 8 Mar 09

4. Historical Fiction
- King Hereafter
- Cotillion by Georgette Heyer - Completed 1 Jan 09
- Alaska by James A. Michener
- The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
- The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
- Suite Francaise by Irène Némirovsky - Completed 18 Mar 09

5. Mystery/Thriller
- Operation Nassau
- Rift Zone by Raelynn Hillhouse
- High Stakes by Dick Francis
- The Private Patient by P. D. James
- Winter Prey by John Sandford
- Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell

6. Science & Science Fiction
- The Beginning and the End by Isaac Asimov
- Six Not So Easy Pieces by Richard P. Feynman

7. Biography/Autobiography
- Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
- The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller
- The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
- Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields - Completed 17 March 09
- Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading by Maureen Corrigan - Completed 24 Jan 09
- Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin
- Soft Spots by Clint Van Winkle - Completed 18 Feb 09

8. Young Adult
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Completed 13 Feb 09
- The Wish by Gail Carson Levine - Completed 13 Feb 09

9. Professional Reading
- Intellectual Property: Everything a Digital-Age Librarian Needs to Know by Timothy Lee Wherry
- Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose by Francis-Noel Thomas and Mark Turner
- Understanding Digital Libraries by Michael Lesk
- Rethinking Information Work: A Career Guide for Librarians and Other Information Professionals by G. Kim Dority

I finished books from two of my categories, History and Memoir. The memoir was an early reviewer book called Soft Spots and I made myself finish it so I could get the review written and hopefully get more early reviewer books. I didn't particularly enjoy the book and only gave it 2 1/2 stars.

The other book was a quick read last night when I should have been fixing dinner. Someone in one of my book discussion groups mentioned she had been looking for The Night the Mountain Fell by Edmund Christopherson, and I vaguely remembered buying it when I was in Yellowstone a couple of years ago. It's only 88 pages long, so I read it in about an hour. Pretty fascinating account of the Montana-Yellowstone earthquake of 1959, but written in a very quaint style.

I finished a book from the History category, though it is really not a history book, more of a commentary about the found of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630's.

The book was The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell. While I did enjoy the book , and learned a lot about a part of American history I knew almost nothing about, I find it so hard to categorize this book. There is no index at all, so it's not really a history book. Vowell links the past with current events in some places, which I found interesting. I did come away from the book with a great desire to read more about the period surrounding the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

I'll give the book 3 stars.

Wordy Shipmates sounds like it would be a fun one to read this summer. I think books that ignite interest in an era of history you haven't considered reading about before have really done their jobs! I haven't read much of anything about the American colonial period since I left school and it would be fun to revisit that era from a more mature view. Thanks for the nice review!

You are coming right along on your 999 challenge! :-)

Thanks, MusicMom. I'm actually behind on my reading this year compared to last year, but I find myself much busier, and I've been trying to take up my sewing hobby again, which I had let lapse for a couple of years.

We discussed Wordy Shipmates last night at the Seattleites Group monthly book discussion. All agreed they enjoyed the book overall, but found the parts where she gets into Theology slow-going.

Bookworm, the radio show, had a great interview with Sarah Vowell late last year. You can listen to it online or as a podcast (http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw/bw081120sarah_vowell). I have the book on my wish list and after this discussion will bump it a little higher.

I finished Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields today. One of my book groups is reading it as a follow-up to last month's book, "To Kill a Mockingbird." It was an OK biography. There wasn't anything in it that really moved me. Since it wasn't authorized by Harper Lee, I thought it was too light on personal things. It was very well researched, and I learned a lot about Harper Lee's relationship with Truman Capote, which I had known nothing about before. I'd give it 3 stars, though I won't buy a copy of my own -- it's a library book.

I just completed Suite Francaise by Irène Némirovsky this morning. I haven't read any of her other books, and this is an incomplete draft of her final novel. She was working on it when she was sent to Auschwitz where she died. I liked the book, and appreciated the Appendix, which includes her notes for completing the book she actually planned 3-5 inter-related novellas). She was a beautiful writer, and described people's reactions to living through World War II and the Nazi occupation of France with great feeling. I highly recommend the book.

I went on a little reading binge yesterday and finished Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, which I had been gnawing away at for awhile. The only other book by Atwood I've read is The Handmaid's Tail, which I thought was utterly brilliant. I didn't like this one nearly as much. I thought there was too much of Dr Jordan's fantasy life and crude thoughts about women in it. I also thought the book dragged on for way too long, and had a very pat ending.

Then in quick succession, I read Between Two Seas by Carmine Abate and Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell. Interesting that these two both had plot lines built around the Mafia. I would never have picked Beat the Reaper to read on my own; it was a book discussion group pick. I'm not sure I liked it, since it is very gruesome and has a lot of extremely foul language. It certainly held my attention, though, since I barely put it down. The book by Carmen Abate was better. It had great characters, and a good story.

Here's an updated category list:

My Categories:

1. Book Club Books

- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence - Completed 25 Jan 09
- Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
- Peace Like a River by Leif Enger Completed 5 Feb 09
- The Good Mother by Sue Miller - Completed 3 Feb 09
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato-Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
- Three Junes by Julia Glass
- The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
- Doubt by John Patrick Shanley - Completed 17 Apr 09

2. DD Books

- The Game of Kings
- Queen's Play
- The Disorderly Knights
- Pawn in Frankincense
- The Ringed Castle
- Checkmate
- King Hereafter
- The Lymond Poetry
- Operation Nassau

3. History

- Hiroshima by John Hersey
- The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas L. Friedman
- Cook and Peary: The Polar Controversy, Resolved by Robert M. Bryce
- Collapse by Jared Diamond
- Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis
- The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea
- The Post American World by Fareed Zakariah
- The Night the Mountain Fell: The Story of the Montana-Yellowstone Earthquake by Edmund Christopherson - Completed 20 Feb 09
- The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell - Completed 8 Mar 09

4. Historical Fiction

- King Hereafter
- Cotillion by Georgette Heyer - Completed 1 Jan 09
- The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer - Completed 31 Mar 09
- The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
- The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood - Completed 20 Mar 09
- Suite Francaise by Irène Némirovsky - Completed 18 Mar 09
- Between Two Seas by Carmine Abate - Completed 20 Mar 09

5. Mystery/Thriller

- Operation Nassau
- Rift Zone by Raelynn Hillhouse
- High Stakes by Dick Francis - Completed 9 Apr 09
- The Private Patient by P. D. James
- Winter Prey by John Sandford
- Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell - Completed 21 Mar 09

6. Science & Science Fiction

- The Beginning and the End by Isaac Asimov
- Six Not So Easy Pieces by Richard P. Feynman
- Fit at 50 and Beyond by Michael Gloth
- Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis - Completed 30 Mar 09
- Spin by Robert Charles Wilson - Completed 11 Apr 09

7. Biography/Autobiography

- Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
- The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller
- The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
- Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields - Completed 17 March 09
- Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading by Maureen Corrigan - Completed 24 Jan 09
- Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin
- Soft Spots by Clint Van Winkle - Completed 18 Feb 09

8. Young Adult

- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Completed 13 Feb 09
- The Wish by Gail Carson Levine - Completed 13 Feb 09

9. Professional Reading

- Intellectual Property: Everything a Digital-Age Librarian Needs to Know by Timothy Lee Wherry
- Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose by Francis-Noel Thomas and Mark Turner
- Understanding Digital Libraries by Michael Lesk
- Rethinking Information Work: A Career Guide for Librarians and Other Information Professionals by G. Kim Dority

I finished books from my Historical Fiction and Science/Science Fiction categories within the past couple of days:

Out of the Silent Planet is a really delightful early science fiction book. One of the things I loved was the way Lewis explains Mars' surface features using what little was known about the surface in 1938. His descriptions of space travel and arrival on an alien planet are quaint and improbable, but he seems to have tried to base his writing on scientific fact as he perceived it then. I will try to find the other two books in the trilogy to read.

The Convenient Marriage is set in the 1770s, so it is regarded as a Georgian romance, rather than Regency. The descriptions of dress and the language used are Georgian, but many of the mores and scruples in the story are bordering on the more strait-laced Regency period. This was one of Heyer's few Georgian romances, and I believe, her last one before she turned away from that period. I liked the humor in the story, but didn't like the characters as well as I do in most of her other books.

Hi, Janiece

I haven't "seen" you lately! But I've been having trouble keeping up with all the posts and still get some reading done!

I thought Out of the Silent Planet was wonderful and quaint when I read it last year. This is the first one in Lewis' Ransom Trilogy. I also read Perelandra and That Hideous Strength and Planets in Peril by David C. Downing, which is a critical study of the trilogy. It was one of my reading "projects" last year and I enjoyed it immensely.

I love Georgette Heyer but I agree that The Convenient Marriage is not in the first tier. For a Regency with a similar plot have you read Friday's Child? Some of us did a group read of that last month and it is cute. I enjoyed it, although it also is not in my first tier of Heyer reads. I was glad to read it again, though, because its was better than I had remembered it from the first time i read it many years ago. However, I prefer the novels with either a strong heroine or a strong hero--or preferably both. (The Toll Gate comes to mind!)

Hi, Music Mom!

It's nice to "hear" from you. You really whet my appetite for the other books in Lewis's trilogy (they are on my Amazon and BookMooch wish lists).

I've been trying to pace myself on Georgette Heyer. I just ordered four more of her books from Amazon.uk, since I can get new paperbacks from them for editions not yet available here.

I know what you mean about spending too much time reading posts, and not having enough time to do reading.

Just finished High Stakes by Dick Francis for my Mystery/Thriller category. This book was originally published in 1975, and was reprinted in 1993. Somehow, I missed it both times. It was, as usual, excellent. I have honestly never read a Dick Francis book I didn't like, and keep all of them because they are so great for re-reading. The hero in this one is a toy designer and owns a few racehorses. The revenge he takes on those who swindle him pales in comparison to the revenge they take on him. At least, that's my opinion.

I started a science fiction book on Friday for my Science/Science Fiction category, and simply couldn't put it down. I went and found a park on Saturday where I wouldn't be disturbed or distracted and pretty much read it straight through. The title is Spin by Robert Charles Wilson, and it was pretty darned good. I don't think it was great because his physics seems shaky to me, but the plot was interesting, and the characters were believable. The dust-jacket description gives away too much, but basically the story explores the methods Earth uses to discover why the stars and the moon disappear one night, and what the future of the Earth holds. The author is an award winning science fiction writer whom I met while at a conference in Toronto a few years ago.

Jan

I'm adding Spin to my SciFi category for this year. It sounds like it would interesting--and a complete new author for me.

MusicMom,
I hope you like Spin. It's a really good example of what I consider "classic" science fiction. Lots of science, no fantasy. It does drag in places, and I had trouble really "believing" his science, but I still enjoyed it overall. I bought it directly from the author at a conference where he was present. I got it before it won a Hugo, but at least it shows the author knows what he's doing, or he wouldn't have won such a prestigious prize. I tend to stick with Heinlein, Asimov, Norton, and other more classic SciFi authors, so it was pleasant to find a good read by someone new.

I read Doubt by John Patrick Shanley today. It was only 52 pages long, but I wish I could have read it more slowly. It was very good. I haven't seen the movie yet, but now I want to rent it from Netflix. Here is a quote from the preface,

"Doubt requires more courage conviction does, and more energy; because conviction is a resting place and doubt is infinite -- it is a passionate exercise."

4 1/2 stars.

Putting my category list here so it's closer to the bottom:

My Categories:

1. Book Club Books

- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence - Completed 25 Jan 09
- Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
- Peace Like a River by Leif Enger Completed 5 Feb 09
- The Good Mother by Sue Miller - Completed 3 Feb 09
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato-Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
- Three Junes by Julia Glass
- The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean - Completed 6 May 09
- Doubt by John Patrick Shanley - Completed 17 Apr 09

2. DD Books

- The Game of Kings
- Queen's Play
- The Disorderly Knights
- Pawn in Frankincense
- The Ringed Castle
- Checkmate
- King Hereafter
- The Lymond Poetry
- Dolly and the Singing Bird - Completed 28 Jun 09

3. History

- Hiroshima by John Hersey
- The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas L. Friedman
- Cook and Peary: The Polar Controversy, Resolved by Robert M. Bryce
- Collapse by Jared Diamond
- Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis
- The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea
- The Post American World by Fareed Zakariah
- The Night the Mountain Fell: The Story of the Montana-Yellowstone Earthquake by Edmund Christopherson - Completed 20 Feb 09
- The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell - Completed 8 Mar 09

4. Historical Fiction

- The Mathematics of Love by Emma Darwin - Completed 22 May 09
- Cotillion by Georgette Heyer - Completed 1 Jan 09
- The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer - Completed 31 Mar 09
- The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
- The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood - Completed 20 Mar 09
- Suite Francaise by Irène Némirovsky - Completed 18 Mar 09
- Between Two Seas by Carmine Abate - Completed 20 Mar 09
- The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer - Completed 22 Apr 09

5. Mystery/Thriller

- Dolly and the Singing Bird - Completed 28 Jun 09
- Rift Zone by Raelynn Hillhouse
- High Stakes by Dick Francis - Completed 9 Apr 09
- The Private Patient by P. D. James
- Winter Prey by John Sandford
- Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell - Completed 21 Mar 09
- Old Boys by Charles McCarry - Completed 16 Jun 09

6. Science & Science Fiction

- The Beginning and the End by Isaac Asimov
- Six Not So Easy Pieces by Richard P. Feynman
- Fit at 50 and Beyond by Michael Gloth - Completed 21 May 09
- Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis - Completed 30 Mar 09
- Spin by Robert Charles Wilson - Completed 11 Apr 09
- Earth Abides by George R. Stewart - Completed 25 Apr 09
- His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik - Completed 18 Jun 09

7. Biography/Autobiography

- Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
- The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller
- The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
- Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields - Completed 17 March 09
- Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading by Maureen Corrigan - Completed 24 Jan 09
- Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin
- Soft Spots by Clint Van Winkle - Completed 18 Feb 09

8. Young Adult

- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Completed 13 Feb 09
- The Wish by Gail Carson Levine - Completed 13 Feb 09
- Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis - Completed 19 May 09

9. Professional Reading

- Intellectual Property: Everything a Digital-Age Librarian Needs to Know by Timothy Lee Wherry
- Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose by Francis-Noel Thomas and Mark Turner
- Understanding Digital Libraries by Michael Lesk
- Rethinking Information Work: A Career Guide for Librarians and Other Information Professionals by G. Kim Dority

The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer - This is one of Heyer's Georgian romances, and it's different from many of her books, since there is more of an element of adventure in the romance. A very enjoyable read. I liked the way everyone gets sorted out into couples by the end. 3 Stars

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart - Truly a classic. I'm not sure it should have been classified as science fiction, since the only SF aspect is that it's set in a near future to late 1949 when it was written. It's certainly post-apocalyptic and still very timely for today with the even more rapid spread of disease brought about by global transportation. I thought the bit about losing our ability or desire to read was very sad. 4 Stars

The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean - A nice novel about the effects of memory and the on-set of Alzheimer's. Also a good history of the suffering in Leningrad during the Nazi siege in WWII. 3 Stars.

Looks like you had some enjoyable reading. I always enjoy Heyer and The Talisman Ring makes a nice change of pace from the Regency novels. She's just fun to read.

I've had Madonnas of Leningrad on my "check it out" list for a while. I've never hear of Earth Abides but it sounds like one I should hunt for--it would fit in my 999 challenge and sounds like it would be interesting.

Earth Abides would be great for your 999 Challenge. I think it was the first winner of the International Fantasy Award (fantasy in the sense of science fiction in the early days, and not in the sense of fairies and magic) in the early '50's. I love early science fiction stories because it's so interesting to see what these writers thought the future would look like and how they use their current science to portray it. For example, in this book, sulfa is used liberally on wounds to prevent infection because penicillin was still not in wide use in 1949. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury bases the entire idea of firemen being used to burn books on the fact that the use of asbestos in building construction had eliminated the need for firemen to extinguish fires. Another very early science fiction book I recommend is Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy. This book looks at a Utopian future versus the dystopian future of Earth Abides and Fahrenheit 451.

I've decide to do something new and add audio books to this list starting with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis, which I just finished listening to today. I listen to quite a few audio books (mostly while I'm doing housework or needlework), and I had never thought to add them before now, but when I look back on them, it always feels as though I've read them. Sometimes, I even get more enjoyment out of a well-read audio book than I do out of the printed book.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader was something I downloaded for my i-pod. The narrator for my version is Derek Jacobi. His reading style is very good, and I love the way he pronounces Edmund and Eustace's names. This story features Edmund and Lucy who return to Narnia by falling into a picture with their irksome cousin Eustace. They meet up with Prince Caspian again and sail in search of Aslan's kingdom across the sea. The story contained more noticeable Christian allegory than I noticed in the other books, but it wasn't an overly annoying intrusion into the story.

I'm putting the following book into my Science/Science Fiction category. It did contain scientific information about how human's metabolism changes and they age, and the effects of eating protein right after exercising that I found useful.

Fit at 50 and Beyond: A Balanced Exercise and Nutrition Program by Dr. Michael Gloth is a short book aimed at the over-50 population looking for fitness advice specific to their age group. It begins with a chapter on aging and evolution and the principles of overcoming obesity and then moves into chapters on eating and exercising with a progression from general guidelines to more specific eating plans and exercise programs.

The book has some notable flaws, which I’m not sure might just have to do with the fact that my copy is an Advanced Reader’s Copy, so some of the flaws may be taken care of in the final publication copy. First, though there is an index listed in the Table of Contents, there is no index. Secondly, the photos of the people doing the exercises are of very poor quality. Also, adequate explanations for some of the exercises, such as Straight Arm Pullovers, are not given. Another design element of the book was very annoying for me. There is a section of recipes as the final chapter, but recipes are also sprinkled throughout the book. This makes using the recipes difficult, though the final chapter does contain the explanation that the book isn’t intended to be a cookbook. If the book is indexed before final publication, I suggest adding an index entry for recipes and subheadings for each recipe so they are easier to find.

The strengths of this book are first of all the title. It tells someone who might be looking for a book that addresses the needs of an older person wondering about fitness that this book might fit that need. Also, the short length might make it less intimidating for someone just starting out on a fitness program. The best part of the book is Chapter 10, the final review and summary.

I’m only giving this book 2½ stars. I have better fitness books on my shelves, notably Fitness for Life by Matt Roberts and You on a Diet by Michael F. Roizen.

I delayed getting anything done this morning so I could finish The Mathematics of Love by Emma Darwin. The story is set in two different times and follows the experiences of a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars in about 1820 and a few days in the life of a teenage girl in 1976. The two characters are joined through the use of letters written by the Waterloo veteran. It's hard to believe this is a first novel because it is so well plotted and the characters are so realistic. I'll put this in my historical novel category.

#28 - Old Boys by Charles McCarry. completely enjoyable thriller/spy novel. My favorite McCarry character, Paul Christopher is barely present in the book, but it was still a great read.

#29 - His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik. I'm embarrassed to admit how much I liked this book. It's completely improbable (dragons with aviator riders in the Age of Napoleon), but the story moved along nicely. It reminded me a little of Patrick O'Brien and Anne McCaffrey combined. I'd read the other books in the series if they came my way. It's not the type of Science Fiction I'd planned on reading this year, but it's not really historical fiction either, and Fantasy isn't one of my categories. I guess I'll put it in my Science Fiction category.

Finished a book from my DD category and it will also fit in my Mystery/Thriller category - Dolly and the Singing Bird by Dorothy Dunnett.

The book is a Johnson Johnson mystery featuring a world-renowned coloratura soprano as the singing bird of the title. It is primarily set on Johnson’s yacht, “Dolly” during a sailing race around the Hebrides.

The soprano, Tina Rossi, is trying to meet up with her lover, a scientist who has been accused of sabotage and who might be a murderer, while trying to avoid various other men who are pursuing her for their own ends. There is one murder early on in the book, a lot of blackmail, and plenty of the back-and-forth intellectual banter and the mysterious allusions Dunnett does so well. The mystery seems to revolve around who killed the first man, and who is trying hardest to keep Tina from her lover, and why. Another mystery is the identity of the saboteur.

I didn't think it was one of DD's best books, but it was only the second mystery she wrote, and I think she was still experimenting with the genre.

The Man on the Boulevard by Georges Simenon. A good 1950's era mystery by an author I like. Set in Paris with great scenes of the Grand Boulevards area. I love the way Maigret is always ducking into a bistro for a drink.

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert. A memoir of a year spent by the author "finding herself" in Italy, India and Indonesia. I liked the part about Italy the best, but found reading the intimate details of her depression tedious. Overall, I liked the book -- it's well written and held my attention for the most part.

Putting my category list here so it's closer to the bottom:

My Categories:

1. Book Club Books

- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence - Completed 25 Jan 09
- Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
- Peace Like a River by Leif Enger Completed 5 Feb 09
- The Good Mother by Sue Miller - Completed 3 Feb 09
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato-Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
- Three Junes by Julia Glass - Completed 27 July 09
- The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean - Completed 6 May 09
- Doubt by John Patrick Shanley - Completed 17 Apr 09

2. DD Books

- The Game of Kings
- Queen's Play
- The Disorderly Knights
- Pawn in Frankincense
- The Ringed Castle
- Checkmate
- King Hereafter
- The Lymond Poetry
- Dolly and the Singing Bird - Completed 28 Jun 09

3. History

- Hiroshima by John Hersey
- The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas L. Friedman
- Cook and Peary: The Polar Controversy, Resolved by Robert M. Bryce
- Collapse by Jared Diamond
- Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis
- The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea
- The Post American World by Fareed Zakariah
- The Night the Mountain Fell: The Story of the Montana-Yellowstone Earthquake by Edmund Christopherson - Completed 20 Feb 09
- The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell - Completed 8 Mar 09

4. Historical Fiction

- The Mathematics of Love by Emma Darwin - Completed 22 May 09
- Cotillion by Georgette Heyer - Completed 1 Jan 09
- The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer - Completed 31 Mar 09
- The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
- The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood - Completed 20 Mar 09
- Suite Francaise by Irène Némirovsky - Completed 18 Mar 09
- Between Two Seas by Carmine Abate - Completed 20 Mar 09
- The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer - Completed 22 Apr 09

5. Mystery/Thriller

- Dolly and the Singing Bird - Completed 28 Jun 09
- Rift Zone by Raelynn Hillhouse
- High Stakes by Dick Francis - Completed 9 Apr 09
- The Private Patient by P. D. James
- Winter Prey by John Sandford
- Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell - Completed 21 Mar 09
- Old Boys by Charles McCarry - Completed 16 Jun 09
- The Man on the Boulevard by Georges Simenon - Completed 14 July 2009
- The Gnostic Mystery by Randy Davila - Completed 5 Aug 09

6. Science & Science Fiction

- The Beginning and the End by Isaac Asimov
- Six Not So Easy Pieces by Richard P. Feynman
- Fit at 50 and Beyond by Michael Gloth - Completed 21 May 09
- Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis - Completed 30 Mar 09
- Spin by Robert Charles Wilson - Completed 11 Apr 09
- Earth Abides by George R. Stewart - Completed 25 Apr 09
- His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik - Completed 18 Jun 09
- The World Without Us by Alan Weisman - Completed 22 Jul 09

7. Biography/Autobiography

- Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
- The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller
- The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
- Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields - Completed 17 March 09
- Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading by Maureen Corrigan - Completed 24 Jan 09
- Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin
- Soft Spots by Clint Van Winkle - Completed 18 Feb 09
- Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert - Completed 15 July 2009

8. Young Adult

- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Completed 13 Feb 09
- The Wish by Gail Carson Levine - Completed 13 Feb 09
- Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis - Completed 19 May 09
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle - Completed 22 Jul 09

9. Professional Reading

- Intellectual Property: Everything a Digital-Age Librarian Needs to Know by Timothy Lee Wherry
- Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose by Francis-Noel Thomas and Mark Turner
- Understanding Digital Libraries by Michael Lesk
- Rethinking Information Work: A Career Guide for Librarians and Other Information Professionals by G. Kim Dority

It took a long time to come from a "distant" library but I finally read Earth Abides this week. It was appropriate to read this week because we are up at our house in Vallejo, which is near San Francisco (where I was born, incidentally--SF that is) so it was kind of eerie reading the story so near to where it takes place and in an area I can easily visualize because I've been there so many times! I agree with you--I'm putting it in my classic category instead of science fiction. This is the first post-apocalyptic novel I've ever read and I found it fascinating.

Just yesterday I discovered that there have been 2 novels (at least) that deal with what happens when most of the world's population is wiped out by a plague: The Last Man by Mary Shelley(1826) which takes place in the year 2100, and The Scarlet Plague by Jack London (a novella written in 1912) in which a grandfather tries to describe to his grandchildren what the world was like before a plague wiped out most of the human race "60 years ago". The London work takes place in the same area where Earth Abides does. I wonder if Stewart was influenced by London's piece. From the description of London's story it sounds as if the people have ended up similarly to the way they do in Stewart's novel. I may try to find these 2 books--it would be interesting to compare these 3 stories that start with the same premise. However, I already have A Canticle for Leibowitz and On the Beach so those will probably be the next post apocalyptic novels I read.

Thanks for moving your lists down--it made it easier for me to check what you are reading. I'll be interested to see what you think of Three Junes--someone gave that to me quite a while ago and I haven't read it yet.

Gotta go write that review! :-)

MusicMom, I'm glad you've had a chance to read Earth Abides and I'll definitely read your review on your site. The other two post-apocalyptic books you discovered look very interesting, especially the Jack London one. Maybe I'll make "post-apocalyptic" a category for next year.

I think I have A Canticle for Leibowitz somewhere. I know I've meant to read it for many years, but have never gotten around to it. I'm looking forward to your review of that one. I've bought several books because of your great reviews.

I've started Three Junes and so far like it. I'm guilty of not having completed it before the Book Discussion Group at my local library discussed it. Even so, I'll try to finish it soon. I'm so far behind on my reading this year!

I finished listening to the audio book, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle - This was a life-changing book for me back when I read it the first time. I think I was about ten and though I'd liked to read before then, this really made me a life-long reader. This "re-reading" was an unabridged audio book read by L'Engle herself, and though I would necessarily buy more audio books narrated by her (if she ever narrated any others), this was a real treat for me to hear one of my favorite authors reading my favorite book of hers. Five stars.

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman - finally finished even though I started it for a book discussion that was in June. Chilling account of not only what the Earth would be like if all humans were to disappear at once, but even more so for the account of the horrors we are visiting on our planet today. This book scares me, and has already made me at least a more conscious consumer of plastics and energy. It's so hard to change old habits, though. Four Stars.

Finished Three Junes by Julia Glass on the 27th, but the heat wave here in Seattle is making it very hard to get on my computer. I liked this book quite a lot. It's amazingly well-written for a first novel, and justifiably won the National Book Award. Glass has a great ability to write from a man's point of view, though I may be wrong, since I don't really know what a man's point of view is. The book is three inter-related stories about one Scottish family and their American friends and connections. I read this for a book group, and highly recommend it for discussions. 3 1/2 stars.

My new book shelves are coming tomorrow so my library is in piles all over the house--but about to get totally organized (at least, that's the plan!). I will be setting aside a shelf to put TBRs (just a few at a time--half my library is TBR!) and it looks like Three Junes should go on there. I actually own (they were both gifts) two books by Julia Glass but I can't think of the title of the other one--I'll find out when I shelve all the fiction.

I got new, custom bookshelves last summer, and quickly ran out of room on them; so then I joined BookMooch to get rid of some of my books. It doesn't seem so bad to give away books when I know they are going to someone who really wants them. The only problem now is finding room for all of the books I've mooched from someone else! Good luck with your new shelves!

Your Doubt quote -

"Doubt requires more courage conviction does, and more energy; because conviction is a resting place and doubt is infinite -- it is a passionate exercise."

Reminds me of an Alan Watts quote from The Wisdom of Insecurity -

Belief clings, faith lets go.

Fantastic essay on the danger of needing to have unwavering belief in anything and how faith with all that it brings (including fear and doubt) pays off with so much more. The kernel of corn was used as an example - strong belief clings to the kernel of corn because you have it and you want to keep it; faith allows you to plant it even though you may lose it because you know it can bloom.

I've always liked that - I'll have to check out Doubt.

I finished The Gnostic Mystery by Randy Davila yesterday. It will go in my Mystery/Thriller category, though there wasn't much mystery, and no thrills. I read the book because it's an Early Reviewer book, and I like to get the reviews written so I get more books. Though the books I've gotten through this program have been mostly pretty bad, so I'm not sure if it's worth it. Here is the review I wrote:

The Gnostic Mystery by Randy Davila is a fictionalized explanation of the Gnostic Christian movement thinly disguised as a thriller. There are no thrills in the book, and few redeeming features.

The story goes back and forth between the lives of two Palestinian teenagers who discover ancient scrolls in a cave near the Dead Sea, and an incredibly clueless, yet very successful and rich, American businessman visiting Israel. The boys who discovered the scrolls hide them in a tree, from which they are stolen and sold to tourists by a cousin of one of the boys. One of the tourists is the American businessman, who ends up showing it to an attractive (of course) religious scholar who translates the scroll and explains in nauseating and elementary detail its significance as an Early Christian Revelation. The rest of the story concerns finding the second scroll (sold to a schoolteacher from Baltimore) and more dumbed-down explanations of Early Christian beliefs.

The characters in this short novel are really only there so that the author can write a book about Gnostic beliefs. It just barely hangs together as a novel because the characters are so poorly written. The Palestinian teenagers might as well be Texan or Iowan. There is nothing in their behavior that sets them apart from poorly written American teenagers. The businessman is supposed to be very successful and smart, but comes across as very ignorant and naïve. There is no real action in the book, and certainly no suspense, so comparing it to The Da Vinci Code, as the blurb on the jacket does, is highly misleading. Here’s an example of some of the dialogue:

““Let’s open it up,” Caleb said.
“Do we have to?” Youseff pleaded…
“These could be valuable ancient writings,” Caleb said…
“Oh, stop being such a baby,” Caleb scoffed, “and lets head back. I want to take it to the antique shop and find out what it is.””

““An ancient letter from the Gnostics,” Punjeeh exclaimed, “What a find, Jack!”
Jack stared blankly across the desk at Chloe, Punjeeh, and Professor King. He was really feeling like a first grader in this group. Finally he had to ask, “So who the heck were these guhnostiks?” He deliberately pronounced the silent G.”

The best thing about this book was that it wasn’t very long, only 197 pages. It was very poorly written, and had hardly any plot. It does contain a bibliography with works I recognize from noted Gnostic scholars, and I did actually learn some things from the book that I hadn’t known before; however, I prefer to learn about religion from non-fiction books. I like to read novels for pleasure, especially when they’ve been compared to The Da Vinci Code. This wasn’t a pleasurable read, and I only slogged through it so I could write a review for the LibraryThing.com Early Reviewers Group. I don’t recommend this book, but do recommend a book for people who might be looking for a different interpretation of Jesus’ life: The Secret Magdalene by Ki Longfellow.

I totally agree with your evaluation of The Gnostic Mystery (my review is on my challenge thread and in my library), and also with your recommendation of The Secret Magdalene, one of my favorite books this year.

Ivyd,
I read your review of The Gnostic Mystery, and wish I could write so well. I'm still trying to become a better reviewer. I also chose The Secret Magdalene as one of my favorite books of the year when I read it last year.

Re-read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. This is the selection for this month for one of my book clubs, and I hadn't planned on re-reading, since I have read it at least two other times. But I rented the movie, and after watching it, decided to go ahead and re-read the book. I'm so glad I did! It reaffirmed my belief that it's one of the best books of the 20th Century. Such language, such insight into Montag's character! So good after The Gnostic Mystery! This will go in my Science/Science Fiction category. BTW, the movie was very good, but in a different way from the book. It was very well directed by Francois Truffaut, and the eerie score was perfect. I didn't enjoy the character of Montag as it was played Oskar Werner, but Julie Christie was great.

Putting my category list here so it's closer to the bottom:

My Categories:

1. Book Club Books

- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence - Completed 25 Jan 09
- Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
- Peace Like a River by Leif Enger Completed 5 Feb 09
- The Good Mother by Sue Miller - Completed 3 Feb 09
- The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea - Completed 18 Sep 09
- Three Junes by Julia Glass - Completed 27 July 09
- The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean - Completed 6 May 09
- Doubt by John Patrick Shanley - Completed 17 Apr 09

2. DD Books

- The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett
- Queen's Play
- The Disorderly Knights
- Pawn in Frankincense
- The Ringed Castle
- Checkmate
- King Hereafter
- The Lymond Poetry
- Dolly and the Singing Bird - Completed 28 Jun 09

3. History

- Hiroshima by John Hersey
- The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas L. Friedman
- Cook and Peary: The Polar Controversy, Resolved by Robert M. Bryce
- Collapse by Jared Diamond
- Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis
- The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea - Completed 18 Sep 09
- The Post American World by Fareed Zakariah
- The Night the Mountain Fell: The Story of the Montana-Yellowstone Earthquake by Edmund Christopherson - Completed 20 Feb 09
- The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell - Completed 8 Mar 09

4. Historical Fiction

- The Mathematics of Love by Emma Darwin - Completed 22 May 09
- Cotillion by Georgette Heyer - Completed 1 Jan 09
- The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer - Completed 31 Mar 09
- The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
- The Coffee Trader by David Liss - Completed 1 Sep 09
- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood - Completed 20 Mar 09
- Suite Francaise by Irène Némirovsky - Completed 18 Mar 09
- Between Two Seas by Carmine Abate - Completed 20 Mar 09
- The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer - Completed 22 Apr 09

5. Mystery/Thriller

- Dolly and the Singing Bird by Dorothy Dunnett- Completed 28 Jun 09
- Rift Zone by Raelynn Hillhouse
- High Stakes by Dick Francis - Completed 9 Apr 09
- The Private Patient by P. D. James
- Winter Prey by John Sandford
- Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell - Completed 21 Mar 09
- Old Boys by Charles McCarry - Completed 16 Jun 09
- The Man on the Boulevard by Georges Simenon - Completed 14 July 2009
- The Gnostic Mystery by Randy Davila - Completed 5 Aug 09

6. Science & Science Fiction

- The Beginning and the End by Isaac Asimov
- Six Not So Easy Pieces by Richard P. Feynman
- Fit at 50 and Beyond by Michael Gloth - Completed 21 May 09
- Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis - Completed 30 Mar 09
- Spin by Robert Charles Wilson - Completed 11 Apr 09
- Earth Abides by George R. Stewart - Completed 25 Apr 09
- His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik - Completed 18 Jun 09
- The World Without Us by Alan Weisman - Completed 22 Jul 09
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - Completed 8 Aug 09

7. Biography/Autobiography

- Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
- The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller
- The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
- Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields - Completed 17 March 09
- Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading by Maureen Corrigan - Completed 24 Jan 09
- Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin
- Soft Spots by Clint Van Winkle - Completed 18 Feb 09
- Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert - Completed 15 July 2009
- Frozen in Time by Nikki Nichols - Completed 16 Aug 209
- The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama - Completed 3 Sep 09

8. Young Adult

- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Completed 13 Feb 09
- The Wish by Gail Carson Levine - Completed 13 Feb 09
- Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis - Completed 19 May 09
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle - Completed 22 Jul 09
- Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman - Completed 14 Aug 2009
- Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale - Completed 2 Sep 2009

9. Professional Reading

- Intellectual Property: Everything a Digital-Age Librarian Needs to Know by Timothy Lee Wherry
- Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose by Francis-Noel Thomas and Mark Turner
- Understanding Digital Libraries by Michael Lesk
- Rethinking Information Work: A Career Guide for Librarians and Other Information Professionals by G. Kim Dority

re 80:

Thanks, janoorani! But I thought your review was great, and especially liked your inclusion of excerpts from the book.

Have you read any other "alternative Gospel" books that you've found interesting? I've read a few, and have a couple more on my tbr stack, but haven't found anything that comes even close to The Secret Magdalene.

For my biography/memoir category: Frozen in Time: The Enduring Legacy of the 1961 U.S. Figure Skating Team by Nikki Nichols tells the story of the U. S. figure skaters, coaches and their families who all perished in a plane crash on their way to the World Figure Skating Championships in Prague in 1961.

The book begins by describing the U. S. Nationals in 1961 and the subsequent North American Championships held within days of the team’s departure for the World Championships. Through descriptions of the competition, the author introduces the top finishers and gives descriptions of their lives, their families and their sacrifices in getting to where they were in 1961.

Although the end of the story is known, the author does a very good job of building tension before her description of the accident as the airplane the entire team was on crashed when landing outside of Brussels, Belgium.

The book is exhaustively researched and written well. The only quibble I have is with the chapter that attempts to describe what some of the team members may have been doing aboard the aircraft during the flight, although Nichols makes clear that this is entirely speculation based on her study of the individual team members.

I had never heard of this tragedy before so I’m glad someone has written a book about these athletes and their families. I think anyone interested in figure skating, whether as a spectator or a participant would like this book, but it would also be of interest to anyone who likes to read histories about tragedies such as the sinking of the Titanic. Frozen in Time compares favorably with other books of this nature such as Alive by Piers Paul Read and The White Cascade by Gary Krist.

For my young adult category: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. This book was aimed at adults rather than teens, but I think older teenagers would like it, too. It's a very hard book to put down once you start it, so luckily, it's a quick read. It tells the story of an ordinary man who leads a very ordinary life in London until he helps a girl whom he finds bleeding on the street and then disappears into her world underneath London. It's kind of a "coming-of-age" story even though its protagonist is an adult. It has some very gory parts, so I don't recommend it for younger than about 14.

Great review of Frozen in Time--I gave it a "thumbs up!" Thanks for the suggestions of the other two "disaster" books. I'm thinking about a disaster category next year and I've added these to my wish list.

Your touchstone for Alive took me to the wrong book so I posted the correct one here (assuming it works correctly for me!) for otherss who might want to check it out.

I've had Neverwhere on my TBR for years--I think it's time to borrow it from my son and finally read it! Both of my sons have been wanting me to read it and both have it. Luckily one of them lives only 5 minutes from our house so I won't have to buy it! :-)

Thanks, MusicMom! I don't think I've ever gotten a "thumbs-up" before.

Also, thanks for correcting the Alive touchstone - I tried to correct it, but it didn't take. I look forward to seeing what you read if you have a "disaster" category next year.

I'm very far behind on my reading this year compared with where I was this time last year. I don't think I'm going to finish 81 books this year at the rate I'm going. I just finished The Coffee Trader by David Liss for my 40th book. It was for one of my book clubs (though it'll go in my Historical Fiction category), and so I made myself finish it, but I must say it was a disappointment. I didn't develop any liking for the main character, Miguel, and thought he was very whiny. The two main female characters, Hannah and Geertruid weren't very well-developed, and none of the minor characters was like-able or memorable. I really had to force myself to finish the book. It dragged on for page after page and pretty much made me want to scream with boredom. I normally love historical novels, and usually like books set in this time period, but this was boring, boring, boring. The only thing in the book's favor is that it seems to have been well-researched, and some of the imagery of Amsterdam in this time-period was good. Not great, just good.

Well, after the disappointing Coffee Trader, I started a book that's been in my TBR pile for too long and finished it in practically one sitting. I did take a little time to sleep, but not much. Just finished the utterly delightful Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale for my Young Adult Category. I know it's a young adult book, and I shouldn't compare it to The Coffee Trader, but this was head and shoulders above that clunker. It's one of my favorite genres, the fairy tale retold. This is set in an imaginary Mongolian Steppes kind of world. The main character, Dashti, is very well developed, and she grows throughout the story into someone you really wish you could know in real life. The minor characters are also well-drawn, and the cultural setting is very inventive and interesting. Basically, Dashti saves herself, the high-borne lady she serves, and a kingdom -- all through the use of healing songs she learned from her revered mother. I liked pretty much everything about this book, and am sorry my girls think they're too old for me to read to them, because I'd love to share it with them the way I did Ella Enchanted, the Harry Potter books, A Little Princess, etc.

I started The Coffee Trader earlier this year and got about halfway through and it sort of got abandoned--not purposely but I just didn't pick it up again. Your review sums up very well what I thought about the book. Now I think I won't bother to finish it--even though it goes against the grain. It doesn't sound like it is going to get any better. :-)

ETA I'm adding Book of a Thousand Days to my wishlist. It sounds great!

Music Mom I'm so glad I'm not the only one who felt disappointed by The Coffee Trader. I had high expectations for it, but ended up feeling like I'd had to drink a cup of instant Folger's with no sugar or cream instead of a Carmel Macchiatto from Starbuck's! I'm always nervous when I post a less than stellar review because I feel like someone must have really liked the books I don't, or they wouldn't have been published. I can't believe I don't agree with The Cleveland Plain Dealer and their comment that the book was "expertly plotted and excellently written." The blurb goes on to say the "it has all the qualities readers want in novels -- romance, mystery, suspense, betrayal and redemption, a feeling for how people lived in other times and places." I didn't think it had any romance - just a fixation with exploitative sex with women who are supposed to love giving in to the strong male master (servant girls having sex with the males in the household and wives who are forced to have sex with their husbands because it's their duty), the mystery was thin, the suspense was the really boring part of the book, and there was no redemption that I could see was truly felt, though the betrayal was very sad. I do think the only thing that the book had going for it was a surface glimpse at what life in Amsterdam in the mid-1600's was like (tedious and harsh, with lots of beer).

Book of a Thousand Days really did have many of the things a good novel should have -- great romance, beautiful language, imaginative setting, good plot, well-drawn characters (especially the main character), sacrifice and redemption. I mentioned to my daughter (14 years old) that I really liked that the book wasn't boring, since the book I read just before it was really boring. She said that, of course, books for kids can't be boring because then kids wouldn't read them! If only more adult writers would adhere to that philosophy.

I finished The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama audio book while out on my morning walk. Finishing this one caught me by surprise, I was enjoying listening to it so much. I even went back to make sure I hadn't missed any sections.

The narration by Barack Obama made this book a special treat. The President has such a wonderful speaking voice, and is so passionate about what he believes in and in his belief that we can all be better people and the country would be an even greater place if everyone was passionate about changing something, and actually did something to effect that change. Loved the book and especially the fact that this was an audio book. It felt like Obama was speaking directly to me.

Completed on 18 Sep 09 - The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea. I have ambivalent feelings about this. I was very interested in the history of this story, and think Urrea told it well; however, I'm not enamored of his style of historical writing. Parts of it were too speculative for me, and I didn't really enjoy his slang and informal way of writing. The book tells of one particularly horrible border crossing attempt by a group of Mexicans, and of their (potential) experience. Most of what they experienced is speculative, since the author wasn't able to actually interview any of the survivors. The good points of the book are the way it humanizes both the illegal immigrants, and the Border Patrol people who try to help them. I recommend this to anyone interested in this type of history, and overall it was a good book. It goes in my History and Book Club Categories.

#44
Even Money by Dick Francis and Felix Francis
3 Stars
Completed on 24 Sep 09
Mystery/Thriller Category

Even Money by Dick Francis with his son, Felix, is the latest Dick Francis mystery/thriller to be published (2009). I believe it is the third book written by Dick Francis with his son’s input. I have not read the other two.

As with all Dick Francis books, this one features the world of horse racing in the plot, in this case with the protagonist being the owner of an on-track betting concern. It opens on the day he discovers that his father, whom he had though dead for the past 36 years, shows up at the end of a racing day and introduces himself. Other characters in the book include a computer geek assistant, a bi-polar wife, an unsympathetic policeman, and the usual Dick Francis “heavies.”

I tried very hard to like this book because I’m a huge Dick Francis fan. In fact, I have all of his books except Sport of Kings. I’ve even read most of them more than once. I realize they aren’t great literature, but I’ve always found them to be enjoyable, satisfyingly quick reads. But this one left me flat. Since it is the first new book of his I’ve read since he started working with his son, I hope I’m not feeling badly about the book simply because of that. I’d feared Francis wouldn’t write anything else after his wife died, and was pleased when he started collaborating with Felix. The plot didn’t move very quickly, and most of the writing was dull, lacking the edge I expect from a Dick Francis novel. There were also annoying inconsistencies in the story line that I don’t think Mary Francis would have let slip by. I’m surprised the editors didn’t catch the most egregious one.

I certainly recommend this book to any Dick Francis fan, but to anyone new to the author, it isn’t his best by far. Read one of his earlier novels, such as “Whip Hand,” then once you’re a fan, read this one to compare it to his best. 3 stars, though I would have only given it 2½ if it weren’t Dick Francis.

Putting my category list here so it's closer to the bottom:

My Categories:

1. Book Club Books Category Complete

- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence - Completed 25 Jan 09
- Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain - Completed 29 Sep 09
- Peace Like a River by Leif Enger - Completed 5 Feb 09
- The Good Mother by Sue Miller - Completed 3 Feb 09
- The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea - Completed 18 Sep 09
- Three Junes by Julia Glass - Completed 27 July 09
- The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean - Completed 6 May 09
- Doubt by John Patrick Shanley - Completed 17 Apr 09

2. DD Books

- The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett
- Queen's Play
- The Disorderly Knights
- Pawn in Frankincense
- The Ringed Castle
- Checkmate
- King Hereafter - Completed 17 Oct 09
- The Lymond Poetry
- Dolly and the Singing Bird - Completed 28 Jun 09

3. History

- Hiroshima by John Hersey
- The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas L. Friedman
- Cook and Peary: The Polar Controversy, Resolved by Robert M. Bryce
- Collapse by Jared Diamond
- Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis
- The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea - Completed 18 Sep 09
- The Post American World by Fareed Zakariah
- The Night the Mountain Fell: The Story of the Montana-Yellowstone Earthquake by Edmund Christopherson - Completed 20 Feb 09
- The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell - Completed 8 Mar 09

4. Historical Fiction - Category Complete

- The Mathematics of Love by Emma Darwin - Completed 22 May 09
- Cotillion by Georgette Heyer - Completed 1 Jan 09
- The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer - Completed 31 Mar 09
- April Lady by Georgette Heyer - Completed 13 Oct 09
- The Coffee Trader by David Liss - Completed 1 Sep 09
- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood - Completed 20 Mar 09
- Suite Francaise by Irène Némirovsky - Completed 18 Mar 09
- Between Two Seas by Carmine Abate - Completed 20 Mar 09
- The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer - Completed 22 Apr 09

5. Mystery/Thriller

- Dolly and the Singing Bird by Dorothy Dunnett - Completed 28 Jun 09
- Rift Zone by Raelynn Hillhouse - Completed 24 Oct 09
- High Stakes by Dick Francis - Completed 9 Apr 09
- The Private Patient by P. D. James
- Even Money by Dick Francis and Felix Francis - Completed 24 Sep 09
- Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell - Completed 21 Mar 09
- Old Boys by Charles McCarry - Completed 16 Jun 09
- The Man on the Boulevard by Georges Simenon - Completed 14 July 2009
- The Gnostic Mystery by Randy Davila - Completed 5 Aug 09

6. Science & Science Fiction

- The Beginning and the End by Isaac Asimov
- Polaris by Jack McDevitt - Completed 26 Oct 09
- Fit at 50 and Beyond by Michael Gloth - Completed 21 May 09
- Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis - Completed 30 Mar 09
- Spin by Robert Charles Wilson - Completed 11 Apr 09
- Earth Abides by George R. Stewart - Completed 25 Apr 09
- His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik - Completed 18 Jun 09
- The World Without Us by Alan Weisman - Completed 22 Jul 09
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - Completed 8 Aug 09

7. Biography/Autobiography Category Completed 28 Oct 09

- I am Spock by Leonard Nimoy- Completed 28 Oct 09
- Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford - Completed 28 Oct 09
- Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields - Completed 17 March 09
- Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading by Maureen Corrigan - Completed 24 Jan 09
- The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain Completed 29 Sep 09
- Soft Spots by Clint Van Winkle - Completed 18 Feb 09
- Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert - Completed 15 July 2009
- Frozen in Time by Nikki Nichols - Completed 16 Aug 2009
- The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama - Completed 3 Sep 09

8. Young Adult

- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Completed 13 Feb 09
- The Wish by Gail Carson Levine - Completed 13 Feb 09
- Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis - Completed 19 May 09
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle - Completed 22 Jul 09
- Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman - Completed 14 Aug 2009
- Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale - Completed 2 Sep 2009

9. Professional Reading

- Intellectual Property: Everything a Digital-Age Librarian Needs to Know by Timothy Lee Wherry
- Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose by Francis-Noel Thomas and Mark Turner
- Understanding Digital Libraries by Michael Lesk
- Rethinking Information Work: A Career Guide for Librarians and Other Information Professionals by G. Kim Dority

#45
The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
Completed 29 Sept 09
3 1/2 stars
Book Club Books; Biography/Autobiography Categories

The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain (though written when he was apparently still primarily known as Samuel Clemens) is a travelogue of a trip to Europe and the Middle East in 1867. Clemens was sent on the trip as a reporter for the Daily Alta California and sent correspondence back to it and other newspapers throughout the trip and then compiled all of his writings into a book in 1869. The trip was billed as a “pleasure trip” to Europe and the Holy Land, and Henry Ward Beecher and General Sherman were among its original subscribers, though they didn’t actually go on the trip.

Clemens tells the story of this expedition with a great deal of humor and this helped make the book seem very contemporary. I liked the descriptions of traveling through Europe the best, but really got bogged down towards the end of the book where Clemens’ descriptions of the Holy Land became too gloomy and monotonous. Since the primary purpose of the excursion seems to have been religious, the trip to the Holy Land was probably meant to be the highlight, but Clemens lost me with his excruciatingly detailed account of what they experienced there.

Considering this was one of Clemens’ very early works (pre-Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn), I found his writing style to be very readable. He had a tongue-in-cheek attitude toward religion that I’m sure must have offended many of his readers, but it’s refreshing to think of how many readers probably weren’t offended by it. Given that it’s a book of its time, there is a lot of subtle and not-so-subtle racism and xenophobia, especially toward Arabs and Palestinians. This aspect of the book is why I’m only giving it 3½ stars.

I also read The Innocents Abroad for my 999 and gave it a similar rating - a 3. Do you plan on reading any more Twain?

I don't really like Twain. I read this book for a book discussion. I tried reading Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn when I was younger, but didn't enjoy them and never finished either book. The only other book of his I can remember reading is The Prince and the Pauper, which I did like. We also had to read The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County in school, but it was a short story, and not too bad. I have found that some classics that I'm sure I wouldn't have liked when I was younger, such as Vanity Fair have given me a nice surprise lately. Maybe I should give Twain another try, but there are way more books out there I'd rather read.

#46 - April Lady by Georgette Heyer
Audio Book Narrated by Eve Matheson
Completed 13 October 2009
3 1/2 stars
Historical Fiction Category - Completes category.

Delightful romp into the world of Georgette Heyer's Regency romances. Listened to some parts more than once because the narration by Eve Matheson was sooo good. I'll have to be on the look out for more audio books narrated by such a great voice.

I've never tried an audio of Georgette Heyer. That would be a perfect way to experience her if the narrator is good.

I signed up for audible.com as part of a deal to get some free software for my computer. Funny thing is, I use audible.com a lot (great prices for audio books and a good selection), and have never used the free software! I'm currently listening to a memoir by Leonard Nimoy narrated by Nimoy. Great stuff -- such a wonderful voice. I tend to listen to audio books while doing housework or driving, but the April Lady book was so good, I finished it this morning while not doing any other task.

I belong to audible.com but haven't used it lately because I used to download them on my ipod and that is having a problem right now. My son it trying to fix it--but he's so busy he hasn't gotten a chance to really work on it.. When I get it up and going I will see if I can find April Lady.

#47 King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett
Completed 17 October 2009
5 stars
DD Category

King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett is Lady Dunnett’s exhaustively researched historical novel that postulates that Earl Thorfinn of Orkney and the historical Macbeth were one and the same man. Dunnett reached this conclusion after several years of study of every book she could find on the period (1000 – 1060) as well as source documents found throughout Europe. The novel took six years to complete, and tells the story of the Viking leader of Orkney, Earl Thorfinn, and his eventual rise to power as King of Alba (Scotland). It is also the love story of Thorfinn and his wife Groa.

The story tells of Thorfinn’s consolidation of the Orkney Islands and the northern-most part of the mainland of Scotland, which he inherited from his father, and his eventual conquest of most of the rest of current Scotland. Incredible detail of the history of all of Northern Europe is provided throughout the novel. It’s like reading a well-written history of the late Dark Ages and includes some of the early history of William the Conqueror, who is still only the Duke of Normandy when this story is set.

The characters in this book are full of the life you would expect from a Dunnett character. I felt as if I could have reached out and touched any one of them. Perhaps that could be counted as a flaw, since I don’t believe we would have much in common with a person living at that time in Europe, since they were probably very different from us psychologically. However, one feels a great deal of sympathy with the characters and this made the book very easy to read. Thorfinn and Groa are the main characters, but all of the secondary characters are great, too. It’s a little hard to keep track of all of them at first, but I found it easier as the book went along and I got to know them better.

King Hereafter was written after Dunnett completed the Lymond Chronicles and her plotting skills are well advanced here. She uses a lot of the same elements from her other historical novels, to include the betrayals and extreme loyalties of dear friends, a growing love between the two main characters, well choreographed action sequences, and breath-taking scenic descriptions. It contains all the nuanced delight in language of Dunnett’s other books.

Overall, this book is Dunnett’s masterpiece. I savored every word and will make time to read it again someday. I like the Lymond Chronicles best of all of Dunnett’s books, but this is an amazing work of scholarship disguised as a great novel.

What a great review! It has been years since I read the Lymond chronicles but I remember that they were wonderful. Since I am also a big fan of Shakespeare's Macbeth I think I should try to find Dunnett's version. I'm betting hers would be more historically accurate! :-D

Wonderful review, Janoorani! And it sounds like a book I will love.

#48 The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy by Maya Slater
Completed 17 October 2009
2 1/2 stars
Read because it was an Early Reviewer Book and I felt I owed a review. Would fit into my Historical Fiction Category if I hadn't already completed it.

The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy by Maya Slater is supposed to be the long lost diary recording the events of Pride and Prejudice from Fitzwilliam Darcy’s point of view.

Essentially, the novel is just a long series of diary entries recording the life of Mr. Darcy from the first day he meets Elizabeth Bennet to shortly after his second proposal to her. To keep the entries from becoming too mundane, the author adds in a fictionalized friendship between Darcy and Lord Byron and little hints of what might have been going on historically at the time the diary year is supposedly set. She also makes use of some images that are more reminiscent of a Philippa Gregory novel than Jane Austen. Because of the diary form, not much effort has been put into character development.

I read the book in one sitting, and wasn’t very impressed with its depth. We get to see inside the head of Darcy, but the other characters aren’t very well developed, and Elizabeth ends up being a very minor character. The friendship with Lord Byron seemed contrived, and Darcy’s friendship with his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, wasn’t very believable. A little more was made of his friendship with Charles Bingley, but Bingley came across as kind of a namby-pamby and a patsy of Lord Byron’s. The historical details the author adds do not jive with the years in which Pride and Prejudice was originally written (1796-1797). Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice before the start of the Napoleonic Wars, and details from the diary would have set the novel at least ten years after Pride and Prejudice was originally written. There were also hints in the diary about the Luddite Riots (1811-1812), which also did not take place until well after the original dates of Pride and Prejudice. However, if these details weren’t in the diary, the book really wouldn’t have much at all going for it. A slightly better imaginary Darcy diary is Mr. Darcy’s Diary by Amanda Grange. A much, much better telling of the story from Darcy’s point of view is the trilogy of books by Pamela Aidan (An Assembly Such as This, Duty and Desire, and These Three Remain).

The imaginary diary of Mr. Darcy rests on historical facts thrown in that don’t really support Pride and Prejudice; however, they are what makes this book interesting. Finding out a little bit about Regency England while reading a mildly good book would make this book appealing to readers who like historical romances that are light and airy and don’t require a lot of knowledge about the era described.

#104 and #105 - Thank you both for your kind comments. I hope you do enjoy the book when you read it. I'm kind of a Dorothy Dunnett fanatic, so I'm always nervous about recommending her to other people, because I tend to care too much if they don't like her writing. Ivyd, if you haven't read any of her other books, I don't recommend this one as your first. It's very long, and there are tons of characters. Her style of writing takes some getting used to -- she can be very subtle when describing relationships and the thoughts of her characters. I found myself re-reading many parts of this book just to make sense of what happens later. Because I also can't seem to help reading more than one book at a time, it took me about seven months to get through King Hereafter, so I lost a lot of the continuity, which is another reason I kept having to go back to re-read parts.

>107 janoorani24: Thanks for the advice, janoorani. I haven't read any books by Dorothy Dunnett, but everything you say makes me think I might like them very much. And looking at your library, it seems that we share a lot of interests, and opinions about books. I'm not sure when I'll get to them -- probably next year, since I'm trying to reduce Mt. TBR for the rest of this year.

#49 Rift Zone by Raelynn Hillhouse
Completed 24 Oct 09
3 stars
Mystery/Thriller Category

A convoluted thriller set in Berlin and Moscow in April 1989. The plot wasn't bad, and Hillhouse is well-versed in former Soviet and East German cultures. Fairly unbelievable situation that is gotten out of a little too slickly. Not bad for a debut novel.

#50 Polaris by Jack McDevitt
Completed 26 Oct 09
3.5 stars
Science/Science Fiction Category

Up until about three-quarters of the way through Polaris, I was going to give the book 4 stars. But the ending dragged on for too long, and the final resolution left me flat, and wasn’t up to the quality of the rest of the book. The story revolves around the disappearance of the passengers and pilot off the spaceship, Polaris, sixty years before the story takes place. The book is a science fiction/mystery and does a credible job at both genres. The narrator, Chase Kolpath is a spaceship pilot and assistant to the antiques dealer/historian Alex Benedict. Chase is very intelligent and strong, and gets herself and Alex out of several tense situations through the use of both her brains and her physical strength. It was therefore disappointing that Alex figures out the mystery before she does, and has to explain it to her (I figured it out about two chapters earlier). The character development and details of the future were exceptionally good for most of the book, and I will look for the other books in this series to read, but the ending was a letdown, and I have a quibble with the way the spaceship computer is programmed in one scene to lie and attempt to kill. 3½ stars.

>107 janoorani24:: LOL--at myself, not you! So that's what "DD" stands for! I went from "Drunk and Disorderly" to "Dungeons and Dragons." I haven't read any of those books so didn't realize that they were all by Dorothy Dunnett. You are a fan! :-)

eta: I caught your thread mid-year so missed the posting that explained this.

Thanks for stopping by, bonnie! Drunk and Disorderly would make a great category title; the Dunnett book I'm reading now is The Disorderly Knights. I do highly recommend Dunnett if you enjoy historical fiction.

I am late to the party but I read King Hereafter this year as well and can recommend it also. I think it is possibly the most impressive historical novel I have yet read. I kept saying "wow" as I closed the book at the end of a reading session. It also gave me a very different perspective on European history for that time. Most of what I have read focuses on England, France and the Mediterranean. This novel integrated the events taking place in northern Europe into that picture for me.

Hi NeverStopTrying! I just looked at your profile and see that we share some great books.

I moved across country a couple of years ago, and it took forever to get my books out of the boxes and catalog them all. I'm still finding some I missed.

#51 I am Spock by Leonard Nimoy
Completed 29 Oct 09
4 stars
Biography/Autobiography Category

Absolutely mesmerizing audio book narrated by Nimoy himself. Talks about his craft, how he developed the character of Spock, and other details of his acting and directing career up through 1995. One of the best books I've listened to. Maybe it's because I'm such a huge Star Trek fan.

#52 Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford
Completed 28 Oct 09
3 stars
Biography/Autobiography Category

I really enjoyed reading about the grueling work in professional kitchens. My husband was a professional chef for many years, everything from line cook, to sous chef at a Michelin Star restaurant, to being offered a job as executive chef at the Kennedy Center; whereupon he decided he'd had enough of 19 hour days, went back to school and is now an engineer (14 hour days behind a desk). I never appreciated his work until I read this book. I'm not at all sure what Bill Buford sees in it. It's obviously just a hobby for him and he must be independently wealthy to take so much time away from his writing job to travel to Europe to work for nothing. Buford writes well, and he cares greatly for his teachers, I just didn't like the fact that he's so privileged to be able to do something as a hobby, and not because he has to or has any desire make the leap to professional. He also obviously has an absolute angel for a wife. She gives up her job as an editor to travel with him to Italy on one of his trips.

I enjoyed that book too--even the description of sausage making and butchering. I sure think about how cooks in even the best restaurants handle food, especially meat (putting their lips and hands all over it) after reading that book though. Ugh! Some of the stories. ;-(

As a died in the wool Star Trek fan, I guess I should look for I am Spock! I really sounds like it would be interesting. I'm always interested in how people learn and develop their "craft."

If you like Star Trek, you'd like this audio book. I think the audio version is probably better than the printed version, primarily because of the internal dialogs Nimoy has with his character Spock, and the way he changes into the character of Spock. The audio performance is awesome.

#53 Ghost Walk by Marianne Mcdonald
Completed 30 Oct 09
Mystery/Thriller Category - Category Complete
2.5 stars

I wanted to get one book in this year that would match a Halloween-ish theme, and the ghost in the title of this book seemed to fit. First of all, I have no idea why the author chose this title, since I can't see that it relates to anything in the book. Very light mystery, almost no character development, poor plot, unlikeable characters -- overall very blah.

Putting my category list here so it's closer to the bottom:

My Categories:

1. Book Club Books Category Complete

- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence - Completed 25 Jan 09
- Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain - Completed 29 Sep 09
- Peace Like a River by Leif Enger - Completed 5 Feb 09
- The Good Mother by Sue Miller - Completed 3 Feb 09
- The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea - Completed 18 Sep 09
- Three Junes by Julia Glass - Completed 27 July 09
- The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean - Completed 6 May 09
- Doubt by John Patrick Shanley - Completed 17 Apr 09
- Extra Book The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer- Completed 12 Nov 09
- Extra Book Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo - Completed 20 Dec 09

2. DD Books

- The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett
- Queen's Play
- The Disorderly Knights - Completed 29 Nov 09
- Pawn in Frankincense - Completed 30 Nov 09
- The Ringed Castle
- Checkmate
- King Hereafter - Completed 17 Oct 09
- The Lymond Poetry
- Dolly and the Singing Bird - Completed 28 Jun 09

3. History

- Hiroshima by John Hersey
- The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas L. Friedman
- Cook and Peary: The Polar Controversy, Resolved by Robert M. Bryce
- Collapse by Jared Diamond
- Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis
- The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea - Completed 18 Sep 09
- The Post American World by Fareed Zakariah
- The Night the Mountain Fell: The Story of the Montana-Yellowstone Earthquake by Edmund Christopherson - Completed 20 Feb 09
- The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell - Completed 8 Mar 09

4. Historical Fiction - Category Complete

- The Mathematics of Love by Emma Darwin - Completed 22 May 09
- Cotillion by Georgette Heyer - Completed 1 Jan 09
- The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer - Completed 31 Mar 09
- April Lady by Georgette Heyer - Completed 13 Oct 09
- The Coffee Trader by David Liss - Completed 1 Sep 09
- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood - Completed 20 Mar 09
- Suite Francaise by Irène Némirovsky - Completed 18 Mar 09
- Between Two Seas by Carmine Abate - Completed 20 Mar 09
- The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer - Completed 22 Apr 09

5. Mystery/Thriller - Category Completed 30 Oct 09

- Dolly and the Singing Bird by Dorothy Dunnett - Completed 28 Jun 09
- Rift Zone by Raelynn Hillhouse - Completed 24 Oct 09
- High Stakes by Dick Francis - Completed 9 Apr 09
- Ghost Walk by Marianne Macdonald - Completed 30 Oct 09
- Even Money by Dick Francis and Felix Francis - Completed 24 Sep 09
- Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell - Completed 21 Mar 09
- Old Boys by Charles McCarry - Completed 16 Jun 09
- The Man on the Boulevard by Georges Simenon - Completed 14 July 2009
- The Gnostic Mystery by Randy Davila - Completed 5 Aug 09

6. Science & Science Fiction

- The Beginning and the End by Isaac Asimov
- Polaris by Jack McDevitt - Completed 26 Oct 09
- Fit at 50 and Beyond by Michael Gloth - Completed 21 May 09
- Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis - Completed 30 Mar 09
- Spin by Robert Charles Wilson - Completed 11 Apr 09
- Earth Abides by George R. Stewart - Completed 25 Apr 09
- His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik - Completed 18 Jun 09
- The World Without Us by Alan Weisman - Completed 22 Jul 09
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - Completed 8 Aug 09

7. Biography/Autobiography Category Completed 28 Oct 09

- I am Spock by Leonard Nimoy- Completed 28 Oct 09
- Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford - Completed 28 Oct 09
- Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields - Completed 17 March 09
- Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading by Maureen Corrigan - Completed 24 Jan 09
- The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain Completed 29 Sep 09
- Soft Spots by Clint Van Winkle - Completed 18 Feb 09
- Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert - Completed 15 July 2009
- Frozen in Time by Nikki Nichols - Completed 16 Aug 2009
- The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama - Completed 3 Sep 09

8. Young Adult

- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken - Completed 27 Dec 09
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Completed 13 Feb 09
- The Wish by Gail Carson Levine - Completed 13 Feb 09
- Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis - Completed 19 May 09
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle - Completed 22 Jul 09
- Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman - Completed 14 Aug 2009
- Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale - Completed 2 Sep 2009

9. Professional Reading

- Intellectual Property: Everything a Digital-Age Librarian Needs to Know by Timothy Lee Wherry
- Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose by Francis-Noel Thomas and Mark Turner
- Understanding Digital Libraries by Michael Lesk
- Rethinking Information Work: A Career Guide for Librarians and Other Information Professionals by G. Kim Dority

I think I can download I Am Spock from audible.com. I will try to do that when I have time--it would make a good "walking" book!

You read 3 books this year that I had planned to read but didn't get to:

Innocents Abroad
Three Junes and
The Madonnas of Leningrad

I own them all--should I be digging any of them out to put on the "short shelf?"--i.e. to be read soon.

Hi Carolyn,

All three books are worth reading if you have time, especially Innocents Abroad. It was surprisingly good, though very long, and the ending part where Twain is in Palestine could have been greatly reduced. I think the newspaper he was writing for pushed him to include a lot of detail for this part of his trip. I don't know what version you have, but one of the ladies in my book discussion had the Oxford edition, and it looked great! Lots of maps and pictures. I read it on my Kindle, and didn't have the benefit of the maps, etc.

The Madonnas of Leningrad had its good points, but it only earned three stars from me. It's an interesting story about the onset of Alzheimer's and has some good history about the siege of Leningrad, but the minor characters are hazy.

Three Junes was better, though I would have liked the relationships with the father to have been more thoroughly described. I thought it was an especially good book for a book discussion, which is why I read it.

If I hadn't read all three for book discussions, I wouldn't have read any of them. None of them are really my favorite style and none got more than 3.5 stars, which equates to about a B+.

I've looked over some of the books you read this year, and I think you'd be a little disappointed in the two contemporary novels, but might like Innocents Abroad. The two newer books are both a little shallow, and lack the type of poetic writing I like in the books I rate 4 stars or above. Since I lack the time to read the books I really want to read, I wouldn't waste it reading any of these books by choice, but you seem to be a much faster reader, so these may be worth fitting into your schedule.

I look forward to reading your reviews if you do read any of these! Cheers, Jan

Thanks, Jan! That really helped. I actually am a rather slow reader but since I've "relocated" my life has slowed down and I have more time to read--I also watch very little television so I read while everyone else watches TV. :-) But I also feel the need to use my reading time wisely because there are so many good books and so little time left for me to read!

I will read Innocents Abroad because I usually enjoy Mark Twain and it sounds like a good book to use as "bedtime" reading--it doesn't matter how long it takes since there is no plot to keep track of. Unfortunately, I have a used Signet Classics edition--no maps!

The others I think I will pass on. I don't mind reading lighter books or even "junk" if it is going to be fun but mediocre books drive me crazy. I get so disappointed when the book has potential but the writer hasn't worked hard enough (or didn't have the talent?) to make it a great read. That really is time wasted because I end up frustrated instead of entertained. Luckily I got one of them for free and the other on a bargain table so I have no compunction about giving them to our used book sale in February.

I'm glad I thought to check with you first! The only advantage of leaving my Book Group behind when I moved is that I'm no longer compelled to read a book in order to discuss it. I still get their list and I read the ones that interest me--and send them the review I write for LT.

I wish I had thought to do that with my old Book Group. I moved almost three years ago, and have lost touch with them, but they were great! We read some really good books together. I was in three groups when I first moved here, but I dropped one because the books were so awful, and the discussions too structured.

I'm reading two Dorothy Dunnett books simultaneously right now to try to get a couple in for my challenge. I've read both of them more than once, so I don't have to worry about keeping the plots straight, but I am sooo enjoying her writing. She's one of the few authors I make the time to re-read every few years.

Between book group books and LT Early Reviewer books this year, I've ended up reading a lot of mediocre, and just plain bad, books. I'm actually relieved I didn't get an early reviewer book this month. I have three to finish and review right now.

I've been pretty luck with my ER books--although I only try for books I really want to read. I got one this month that is an American history book--a biography of a general who was a known spy--which sounds very intriguing. In August I got The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind which was a memoir of an African boy that I enjoyed tremendously. I think I've had 5 ER books since I started requesting in 2008 and I've only had one that was disappointing--it wasn't terrible (well maybe it was! but I had no trouble finishing it, thank heaven) but it could have really been much better if the author could have "gotten over herself!"

It has been so long since I read the Lymond chronicles that I really ought to read them again. Unfortunately, my copies didn't make the move and my library doesn't have them. Time to start scouring my used book stores. Is The Game of Kings first? I have only vague memories of bits of the series so it will be like reading them the first time. It should be fun!

Next year I'm planning to read some longer books and some classics so I anticipate I will be reading fewer books--I hope I can at least reach 75!

That's so sad about your Dorothy Dunnett books not making the move. I have a large collection with duplicates and even some triplicates of all of the Lymond books, and duplicates of a couple of the Niccolo books, and even a couple of the mysteries. I even have two copies of King Hereafter. I rescue forlorn Dunnett books whenever I see them. I hope you can find some good used copies.

Game of Kings is first, then Queen's Play. This year, because it is available on audible.com, I started with the third book, The Disorderly Knights. I've also already begun the fourth book, Pawn in Frankincense. After I finish those two, I may go immediately to Checkmate and skip The Ringed Castle. Checkmate is probably my favorite book of all time, although it may be tied with Lord of the Rings.

Next year, since I know I can't read 100 books (I have trouble making it to 60), I'm thinking about making one or two of my categories challenges to myself. I'm thinking about a cookbook category where I make 10 new recipes each from 10 cookbooks and a quilting category where I make one project from 10 quilting books. Then I thought of having one category where I read at least one book or set of books of over 1000 pages. I have some history books that fall into that category, as well as some series books like Lord of the Rings.

#127 That is a very cool idea - 10 categories, each with a personal challenge. I like it!

I've also been thinking about having my categories next year but not putting a limit on how many to read in each one--2 books could make a category and I would be allowed to read as many mysteries as I can cram into a year! :-D

#129 LOL! Aren't you going to do that no matter what? Do you really need permission?

I've already read more books in my mystery and historical fiction category than will fit. I've really been bad on my professional reading category this year -- haven't finished a single book. At least I now know where my weaknesses are.

#130 & 131

Actually, the first few months this year I was trying to be very careful not to read more mysteries than my 999 challenge allowed--which was 9. Then I decided to add another mystery category so I could have 18. By October, I realized that I was being waaaaay to serious about this whole thing and now I'm set for an "orgy" to end the year! ROFL

#131, 132 I had a mystery category in the 999, but quite happily used mysteries to fill up other categories, too, like next in the series, or new author, or foreign settings, or historical, etc! I definitely agree that there is no point in being so serious about the whole thing - unless that is how you enjoy approaching it. I really liked the structure, but never hesitated to read whatever I wanted to, regardless of whether it fit in the challenge or not!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Completed 12 Nov 09
Book Discussion Category (even though it's #10 in that category)
3.5 stars

I was told by someone whose opinion I normally trust that this was a piece of fluff, and so I was a little reluctant to waste my time reading it; however it is a book club selection for next week, so I started it this morning and finished it this evening. Yes, it’s a little fluffy (or I wouldn’t have been able to read it so quickly), but it’s also a very good story. It’s set in England and on the Channel Island of Guernsey immediately after World War II. It tells the story through letters, and some telegrams and diary entries. In the beginning, the primary letter writer is Juliet, who is a writer searching for a story. She begins a correspondence with someone in Guernsey about a book he found with her name and address in the flyleaf.

The stories of the islanders’ struggles and heroism during the Nazi occupation of Guernsey are heartbreaking. I love historical fiction where I learn something new, and this had a lot of facts I hadn’t known before. Interspersed throughout the book are the character’s reactions to works they’ve read in the course of their membership in the Literary Society of the title. Juliet eventually travels to Guernsey and falls in love with it and the people. In spite of the essential sadness of the story, some judicial use of humor by the author lightens the tone.

Normally, I’m not a fan of epistolary novels, since I usually think an author chooses this style to opt out of good plot and character development. In this case, though, the book ends up being a real page-turner (which for me means the plot is good), and I fell in love with many of the characters, especially Elizabeth, whom we only see through others’ eyes.

The book was well written for a first (and, unfortunately, only novel). I did have the conclusion figured out well before the end, but it’s such a quick read, I didn’t have time to get annoyed with the author for building in artificial suspense. Although it isn’t as great a novel, it reminded me a little of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

All in all, a nice day spent reading an enjoyable book. I’m giving it 3½ stars.

I love your review--and we both had the same reaction to the book. I said "it is a 'cut above' fluff." I read it last year but discovered I hadn't posted my review, so I dug out lasts years journal and remedied that. However, I have to admit--I do like epistolary novels. :-)

Thanks so much Carolyn. I'm always so nervous about my reviews, but a compliment from you (your reviews inspire me!) is a compliment indeed!

Both a good and fair synopsis, Janiece! I thought the book was a bit too sentimental to be a great story, but it was an enjoyable afternoon's read, for sure.

Thanks, Bonnie. By the way, I, too, love childrens' books, and have kept almost all of my kids' picture books. Some of them are pretty ragged from being read so much, but that just shows which ones were the favorites. My younger daughter's name even comes from a picture book that my older daughter loved (The Whales' Song by Dyan Sheldon). Thanks so much for stopping by.

#55 The Disorderly Knights by Dorothy Dunnett
Audio Book Narrated by Andrew Napier
DD Category
Completed 29 November
5 stars

#56 Pawn in Frankincense by Dorothy Dunnett
DD Category
Completed 30 November
5 Stars

I listened to The Disorderly Knights on audio (narrated by the incredible Andrew Napier) while simultaneously reading Pawn in Frankincense. Knights is the third book in the Lymond Chronicles and Pawn is the fourth. Since I’ve read both books before more than once and also listened to both before, this wasn’t as confusing as it sounds. It actually helped me gain more insight into the characters of Philippa and Francis.

Knights begins with Francis being sent to the island of Malta by France to warn the Knights of St John of an impending attack by the Turkish fleet. It moves from there to Northern Africa and the fall of Tripoli, and then back to Scotland where Francis must battle a truly evil man. Pawn begins in the Swiss Confederation and moves through France, along the coasts of North Africa and Greece and finally ends up in Constantinople (Stamboul) in a quest to destroy the evil discovered in Knights, and to rescue a child. Throughout both books, the character of Francis continues to grow and become more complicated. In Pawn, Philippa’s character also begins to grow in importance and complexity.

Because both of these books are among my favorite books of all time, I have nothing but praise for them. They have absolutely everything I believe makes for a good book – great settings, historical accuracy, poetry of prose, characters to both deeply love and hate, and above all, a truly fabulous story. They aren’t easy books to read, but for me that’s what makes them so good to re-read. I discover something new every time I re-visit them. The Lymond Chronicles would be my first, and possibly only choice if I were forced to choose which books to take with me to a desert island or a distant planet.

In my opinion, Dorothy Dunnett has no comparison as an author, but she herself said she started to write the Lymond Chronicles because she didn’t have anything good to read after finishing a Mary Renault novel. So if you like Mary Renault’s historical fiction, chances are you might like Dorothy Dunnett as well. 5 stars (I’d give more if I could).

#57 Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo
Completed 20 December
Book Club Category (#11 in that category)
Three Stars

This book relates the rather boring life of Lou (Lucy) Lynch and the town he grew up in in up-state New York. Most of the book is narrated by Lucy, but significant parts of it are narrated by his wife, Sarah, and friend Bobby. I admire the language used, and liked the book for the most part, but it dragged on for too long, there were too many loose ends, and the ending just fell apart. I finished the last 200 pages today as my celebration of Do Nothing But Read Day. I'm glad it's done so I can go on to something more interesting. Recommended for lovers of contemporary fiction, with tragedy (although fairly mild tragedy in this book), and angst, and regrets of how life might have been.

#58 Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
Young Adult Category
Completed 27 December
3.5 stars

I read my first Joan Aiken book when I was about 11 years old. I've loved her writing ever since, but had a lot of trouble tracking down her books after libraries started weeding them out a few years ago. Fortunately, a lot of them have been reprinted in the past few years, so I've been slowly collecting the ones I haven't read. Black Hearts in Battersea follows the story of Simon, a character from The Wolves of Willoughby Chase as he moves to London to begin his studies in art. Lots of adventure ensues with a nice ending. A new character, Dido Twite, is introduced and I know she appears in other books, so I'm looking forward to continuing my reading of Aiken. This book was a little too juvenile for me now, but I can see why Aiken's writing appealed to me when I was much younger. She has nice, tight plots, likable characters, and tidy endings. I'll give this one 3.5 stars.

I have really enjoyed your thread in 2009. Where will you be posting in 2010? I'd like to continue reading your reviews--you give me good ideas of what to read -- and sometimes what to avoid! :-)

Reading Summary for 2009:
Book Talley for 2009

Books Acquired 318 (31 read this year)
Books Read 58 (Pages: 18,519)
Audio Books heard 5
Audio Books bought 7 (5 heard this year)

Best reads for 2009

January

Fiction: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Non-fiction: Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading by Maureen Corrigan

February

Fiction: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Non-fiction: I didn’t have an outstanding non-fiction read for February

March

Fiction: Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis
Non-fiction: The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

April

Fiction: Doubt by John Patrick Shanley
Non-fiction: I didn’t have an outstanding non-fiction read for April

May

Fiction: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis
Non-fiction: I didn’t have an outstanding non-fiction read for May

June

Fiction: Old Boys by Charles McCarry
Non-fiction: I didn’t have an outstanding non-fiction read for June

July

Fiction: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Non-fiction: The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

August

Fiction: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Non-fiction: I didn’t have an outstanding non-fiction read for August

September

Fiction: Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Non-fiction: The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

October

Fiction: King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett
Non-fiction: I am Spock by Leonard Nimoy

November

Fiction: Pawn in Frankincense by Dorothy Dunnett
Non-fiction: None completed

December:

Fiction: Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
Non-fiction: None completed

Top Ten Reads for 2009

Fiction

1. King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett
2. Pawn in Frankincense by Dorothy Dunnett
3. The Disorderly Knights by Dorothy Dunnett
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Non-fiction

1. I am Spock by Leonard Nimoy
2. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
3. The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
4. The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
5. The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea

999 Challenge Category Summary

1. Book Club Books Category Complete

- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence - Completed 25 Jan 09
- Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain - Completed 29 Sep 09
- Peace Like a River by Leif Enger - Completed 5 Feb 09
- The Good Mother by Sue Miller - Completed 3 Feb 09
- The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea - Completed 18 Sep 09
- Three Junes by Julia Glass - Completed 27 July 09
- The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean - Completed 6 May 09
- Doubt by John Patrick Shanley - Completed 17 Apr 09
- Extra Book The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer- Completed 12 Nov 09
- Extra Book Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo - Completed 20 Dec 09

2. DD Books

- The Disorderly Knights - Completed 29 Nov 09
- Pawn in Frankincense - Completed 30 Nov 09
- King Hereafter - Completed 17 Oct 09
- Dolly and the Singing Bird - Completed 28 Jun 09

3. History

- The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea - Completed 18 Sep 09
- The Night the Mountain Fell: The Story of the Montana-Yellowstone Earthquake by Edmund Christopherson - Completed 20 Feb 09
- The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell - Completed 8 Mar 09

4. Historical Fiction - Category Complete

- The Mathematics of Love by Emma Darwin - Completed 22 May 09
- Cotillion by Georgette Heyer - Completed 1 Jan 09
- The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer - Completed 31 Mar 09
- April Lady by Georgette Heyer - Completed 13 Oct 09
- The Coffee Trader by David Liss - Completed 1 Sep 09
- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood - Completed 20 Mar 09
- Suite Francaise by Irène Némirovsky - Completed 18 Mar 09
- Between Two Seas by Carmine Abate - Completed 20 Mar 09
- The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer - Completed 22 Apr 09

5. Mystery/Thriller - Category Completed 30 Oct 09

- Dolly and the Singing Bird by Dorothy Dunnett - Completed 28 Jun 09
- Rift Zone by Raelynn Hillhouse - Completed 24 Oct 09
- High Stakes by Dick Francis - Completed 9 Apr 09
- Ghost Walk by Marianne Macdonald - Completed 30 Oct 09
- Even Money by Dick Francis and Felix Francis - Completed 24 Sep 09
- Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell - Completed 21 Mar 09
- Old Boys by Charles McCarry - Completed 16 Jun 09
- The Man on the Boulevard by Georges Simenon - Completed 14 July 2009
- The Gnostic Mystery by Randy Davila - Completed 5 Aug 09

6. Science & Science Fiction

- Polaris by Jack McDevitt - Completed 26 Oct 09
- Fit at 50 and Beyond by Michael Gloth - Completed 21 May 09
- Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis - Completed 30 Mar 09
- Spin by Robert Charles Wilson - Completed 11 Apr 09
- Earth Abides by George R. Stewart - Completed 25 Apr 09
- His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik - Completed 18 Jun 09
- The World Without Us by Alan Weisman - Completed 22 Jul 09
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - Completed 8 Aug 09

7. Biography/Autobiography Category Completed 28 Oct 09

- I am Spock by Leonard Nimoy- Completed 28 Oct 09
- Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford - Completed 28 Oct 09
- Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields - Completed 17 March 09
- Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading by Maureen Corrigan - Completed 24 Jan 09
- The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain Completed 29 Sep 09
- Soft Spots by Clint Van Winkle - Completed 18 Feb 09
- Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert - Completed 15 July 2009
- Frozen in Time by Nikki Nichols - Completed 16 Aug 2009
- The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama - Completed 3 Sep 09

8. Young Adult

- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Completed 10 Jan 09
- Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken - Completed 27 Dec 09
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Completed 13 Feb 09
- The Wish by Gail Carson Levine - Completed 13 Feb 09
- Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis - Completed 19 May 09
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle - Completed 22 Jul 09
- Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman - Completed 14 Aug 2009
- Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale - Completed 2 Sep 2009

9. Professional Reading None Completed

#142
Thanks, Carolyn! As you can see above, I copied your ideas for a year-end summary of my 999 Challenge. Here's a link to my 1010 Challenge:

Janoorani24's Quirky 1010 Challenge

Happy New Year!

Really enjoyed your summary--You read several books that I have enjoyed in the past but I'm delighted To Kill a Mockingbird made your top list for 2009. It's one of my favorite books of all time--a frequent reread for me.

Thanks for the link--I'm gpoing over and star you right now. Happy reading in 2010!

Fun summary to read, but what really caught my eye was: Three hundred plus books bought this year and thirty-one of them read!? Yikes! LOL! Forget the other challenge groups--LT definitely needs a Bookaholics Anonymous group for most of us, doesn't it?

Actually, that's over 300 books acquired. A lot of them were gifts or book mooched, but most of them were purchased. Counting them up made me realize I may have a problem, if only because I've run out of bookshelves to put them on! "My name is Jan, and I'm a bookaholic."

LOL! Nice to meet you, Jan!