lshelby's Reads in 2009

Okay, I've introduced myself in the 'Hi, I'm' thread. I guess I ought to start my book thread.

I'm planning on listing the books I don't finish, as well, just so I have a record of them, but I won't count them toward the 75.

And I'm going to try say *something* about any book I finish. But that's a really hard thing for me. I don't like to post anything negative about anyone's book -- there's too good a chance I will someday meet the person who wrote it -- but I'm much better at coming up with critical comments than positive ones. :(
(So this should be a very valuable exercise... possibly more valuable than reading the books in the first place.)


49/75 Books Read in 2009


Lost Count of Pages Read in 2009 :(

I decided not to join the 999 group, but just for fun I think I'll keep a running count of the categories I'm reading.

Fantasy: 20
SF: 4
Romance: 10
Mystery: 3
Humor: 2

YA: 11
Non-fiction: 15

Animals: 2
Space: 1
Sailing: 1
Human Behavior:2
Crafts: 1
History: 3
Cultures: 1
Sports: 1
Autobiography: 3

New Authors (to me): 21
Rereads: 6

Books I did Not Finish: 8 (at least)

>1 lshelby: Ish, I had some really useful advice many years ago (in another context) which you might like to consider. Use the sandwich technique i.e. Say something positive first, then the critical bit and end on another positive aspect.

Actually, I might use that technique myself!

- TT

2: but Tortoise, That means coming up with twice as many positive things to say than if I just say something positive!

-Shelby

BOOK 1
Moonlight by Susan Dexter

First book of the year! It's a very short book, though. Maybe I ought to make a page counter as well as a book counter... okay. Done. (Um, maybe I should mention that if anyone wants a plain color progress bar instead of one of those fancy tickers, they are welcome to one of mine?*)

What to say...
Okay, first I confess that I am a Susan Dexter fan, and that we own about eight of her books. This is a prequel to The Ring of Allaire. It's very YAish. It's short, the main character is very young, the story is simple. If that's not a turn off (it isn't for me, I read a lot of YA) I guess this is a good 'in' to the Allaire series.

Hmm... That wasn't very positive sounding. Clearly I need to work on this whole 'praising' business a bit more. :sigh:

How about: Good, solid, simple YA fantasy. No gimicks.

-Shelby

(*This is what the progress bar looks like when filled in all the way across. You can pick any color you want for it.)

I would be interested in your bar. Could you explain to me how to go about getting it? Thanks.

You just start typing an ordinary image link:


To update it, you just go and edit the n=1 to n=2, then n=3, etc.

If you would rather host the php code and graphics on your own php enabled server, just in case something happens to mine, PM me, and I'll send them to you.

Thanx!

Welcome to the group! I look forward to seeing what YA books you will recommend. I am trying to read more of them this year than I did last.

BOOK 2
Lions and Tigers and Mares.... Oh, My! by Gay L. Balliet

The back cover blurb declares the author a worthy successor to James Harriot, and I think that about sums it up. Gay Balliet's husband is a large/exotic animal vetrinarian, and she frequently goes along as assistant. This book tells about some of those visits. The 'one world' prologue subsequent references to her dream of all animal-kind (most particularly including humans) as a big family sort of lost me... as she herself points out at one point, 'even if you can teach the humans to do so, how are you going to teach the animals to not eat each other?' But I love reading about animals, and slight traces of woo-woo-ism aren't much of a detraction.

8: Thanks for the welcome, Alcottacre! I never know how much YA I'll read in any particular year, because, (as my first two books sort of indicate) my reading tends to be very eclectic. But I *hope* I make some good recommendations, because that will have meant that I scored some great finds this year. :)

BOOK 3
The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells

I first ran into Martha Wells near the end of last year, when I picked up The Wizard Hunters, and was very impressed. Alas, although Wizard Hunters is first in a series, it is a series that is a follow up to Death of the Necromancer, (and if I'm correct in my guess, a few of her other books as wel)l.

I really liked this book. It has interesting characters, a solid plot, great worldbuilding -- but I wish I had read them in order. Knowing what would happen later to these characters was distracting.

There is a website that might help you with reading the books in order. Wells' book listing is here: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/martha-wells/.

I'm a big Susan Dexter fan myself--I think I have all her books, including Moonlight, and she is an author who I regularly re-read. While I love the initial trilogy, I think The Wizard's Shadow is probably my favorite book overall--so many turns and twists and I love the characters!

I'm getting ready to read The Wizard Hunters for my book group chat, my first book by this author. Now I'm afraid I'll want to follow up on the earlier books and be distracted as well!

BOOK 4
Living in Space by G. Harry Stine
(Non-fiction)

Harry seems to think he knows exactly what he's talking about, and I suspect for the most part he does. But he declares "Human males and females show less sexual differentiation than any other animal species." Er. I assume he is automatically disqualifying all hermaphroditic and asexual animals in that declaration, but even so... less sexual differentiation than parrot species where "sexing" one's pet can only be done with any kind of assurance by a vet doing an examination of the bird's insides?

He may know a lot about aerospace, but as a biologist I suspect he makes a very good pilot.

I find his insistence that "space is for humans" and that of course a whole lot of us will end up living there rather charming though. :)

The book's copyright is 1997. If anyone has a recommendation for a more recent book on the subject, I'd be interested in hearing it.

12: Hi ronincats! ::waves:: If you read any of the her earlier books besides The Death of the Necromancer, be sure to let me know how you reacted. I'm still trying to decide if I want to hunt up copies, or just wait patiently for whatever she comes out with next.

BOOK 5
The Waterless Sea by Kate Constable

BOOK 6
Horsewatching by Desmond Morris

The Waterless Sea is YA fantasy, and the sequel to a book called The Singer of All Songs, which I read a while back when it first came out, and of course by the time the sequel was out I no longer thought to look for it. By the time I did pick up the sequel, mostly all I remembered of the first book was that I liked it. Fortunately, I managed to follow book two reasonably well anyway. And liked it also. Good worldbuilding and characterization, solid plot.

Horsewatching is written by a zoo director, or something like that, and is mostly about horse body language... although it delves into a few other things horsey.

Okay -- you're definitely reading my genre, and I'll be back for more soonest :) Glad to see you here

>14 lshelby:: Oh! I have the first book in that series, but I've never got around to reading it... good to know that your memory of it was positive... and that there's an enjoyable sequel to follow. :)

#14: It sounds like the Constable series is one I would enjoy, so I will try book one and see.

Unfinished --
Reader and Raelynx by Sharon Shinn
This was way too obviously a sequel and I had not read previous books in the set. I felt like more time was being spent following up on the previous books than moving this book's plot forward, so I put it down. I might try it again later if I ever get around to the other books.

As an aside, my 17 year old son was the one who picked this up. I believe it's the first Sharon Shinn book he has read. In spite of that fact, he actually finished it, although he said he didn't like it much. He claims that 'there are no believably male characters in this book, although one did an admirable job of concealing that fact until near the end.' (Yes, my son really does talk like that.)

BOOK 7
Peter and the Secret of Rundoon by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

Another YA fantasy. :)
This is the third book in a series, and I had already read and enjoyed the previous two. Which surprised me, to be honest -- when I picked up the first one I expected to be annoyed. I don't usually like it much when authors reinterpret the works of other authors. Wicked, for example, I disliked and did not finish.

This series (which starts with Peter and the Starcatchers) tells what happened before the start of Peter Pan. And the reason I like this one is because, unlike the original material, the worldbuilding in these books has bones.

Peter Pan operates on dream logic. Things are there because they are there, and they're cool, and they don't have to make sense... it's fantasy! But I happen to prefer fantasies that run on a sort of alternative physics, rather than the ones that run on dream logic -- and this series provides that internal conceptual structure to the Pan universe.

I'm afraid I find that rather cool. :)

BOOK 8
American Sailing Ships -Their Plans and History by Charles G. Davis

This is written by an old school sailor ... and by 'old school' I mean he was born in 1870.

The book was originally published in 1929 seems to be intended for model ship builders... they need to know exactly how these ships were built so that they can reproduce them in miniature. Fortunately for me, the author can't seem to resist going on about how and why they were built like that, and what it was like to actually sail ships like these. When he sticks to the subject of actually setting down the dimensions of the ships, he kind of loses me. Okay, to be frank, he frequently loses me anyway, as he assumes the reader will be familiar with ships and sailing, and the specialized vocabulary of the same is used with casual disregard for the possibility of any landlubber readers.

This doesn't stop the book from being stuffed full of cool and valuable information.... Like the Watch Bill and Station Bill of a First Class Frigate of 54 Guns, and explanation of what the make up and duties of the gun crews for a 24 and 32 pound cannon were (as described from *personal experience* from his time spent crewing on a frigate). I kid you not. In a book apparently intended for model ship builders.

I think this might just belong up there with Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army as a 'stealth' writer resource. :)

Now if I just wrote and wrote about ships :)

Bleh, I think February hates me. Which is especially unfair, because my birthday is in February.

But at least this year I did not spend my birthday in the hospital with a sick kid, so it could be worse.

While I was not managing to keep up to date with LT, I read at least two books.

BOOK 9: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
BOOK 10: New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

These are quite readable books, but they also have a great many snarkable elements. I read them because my daughter had the books pressed upon her by a friend, and so they were something I hadn't read before and were in the house.

I probably read at least one other book, and I know I didn't finish a couple more, but I can't remember what they are now. :(

February was a terrible month at my house, too -- I say we take a vote and wipe it off the calendar altogether. Except for the good days, like birthdays, of course. :)

>21 lshelby: & 22 Well I hope March is better for both of you!

Did not finish Deathweave by Cary Osborne

Thanks for the good wishes suslyn!

Alynnk, we have to keep the 29th of February, even if we lose everything else, because without it it the plot of my favorite Gilbert and Sullivan opera doesn't work.

(But I rather suspect that if we look into it we will discover that every single day in February is *somebody's* birthday. Alas for the best laid plans of mice and men and all that.)

#10 Have you tried Martha Well's Element of Fire? A really tightly woven tale with great characters and an excellent pace.

I have remembered another book I read during February.

BOOK 11: The Vampire Viscount by Karen Harbaugh

Now that I've found one of the missing books I can remember that I wanted to read some other vampire book after doing the Twilight thing, to assure myself that the eye rolling I did over Twilight was a Meyer thingy not a vampire thingy. I own almost no vampire books, so I had a very limited selection to choose from.

I would never have remembered that I had read this book last month based on that, however. Sadly the thing that stuck in my head was that because Karen Harbaugh doesn't (or at any rate, didn't) bother to research the card games her characters play, her descriptions of them are... um... memorably inappropriate. In the case of the Vampire Viscount, she is making it obvious that she has no clue what the game Faro is.

On the whole the story worked better for me than Twilight did, however.

Also found, two books I did not finish during February: The Riddle of the Lost Lover by Patricia Veryan, and Lord Sandhurst's Surprise by Maria Greene. The Veryan was a mistake on my husband's part, I've told him not to pick up Veryan's regencies for me because they ALL read like sequels, and I just don't like them enough to want to track down her entire ouvre and read it in order. Anyway, it was in the house, so I opened it up, only to get treated to an infodumpish recap of what was probably the plots of the previous two or three Veryan novels. I'm not sure why I didn't read the one by Greene, I just couldn't seem to make myself care about the characters.

BOOK 12: A Logical Magician by Robert Weinberg

This was a used book store find of my husbands, and is in the ye old modern man versus magic fantasy vein (although it's not actually all that old -- only 1995). I liked it. I wonder if the obviously intended sequel ever got published.

#25 No, I haven't bumped into that one yet -- but I'll be sure to keep my eyes open for it. Thanks for the recommendation!

I think have finished reading all the stuff I missed on my starred threads for February, except that while I got caught up on February, March has been getting ahead of me.

Also, with so much to catch up on, I've been feeling too overwhelmed to actually *say* anything. :(

My husband brought me home some more stuff to read...

Book 13: The Wicked Ways of a True Hero by Barbara Metzger

Book 14: My Lady Angel by I forget, and I already tossed it
Historical Romance disguised as a Regency -- all sex and no wit.
Won't be added my page count because of all the skimming I did.

Book 15: Lover's Knot by Maggie MacKeever

Book 16: Dragon Bones by Patricia Briggs
I had read this one before, although I didn't realize it until I started reading it.

I think maybe this was an experiment that just didn't work out for me.

I find the community here on LibraryThing very appealing, but I've had a lot of trouble managing to interact with it. At the beginning of this year I thought that maybe joining a reading challenge group would help me do so. But, alas, a brief flurry of activity followed by a long silence means that this is something that I *think* I want to do, rather than something that I *really* want to do.
:rueful grin:

But it's still kind of cool knowing that so many people are here busily reading away and sharing books with each other. Have fun, and maybe we'll bump into each other in some other groups sometime.



.

lshelby - I know what you mean on this to a degree. In my situation, I really want to do it, however I can never reach my goal of the 75 books, mostly due to family, work and just overall being busy at times, but I love the interaction. I am a lurker by nature and read posts and only post messages when I really have something to say, so if u enjoy posting and lurking around and the interaction between people on the posts stick around and maybe make your own challenge that isn't so big. :) If not that is okay too..

#29: Sorry that you did not find what you need in the group, lshelby, but perhaps just being on LT will inspire you. Keep up the reading!

#30: For me getting the books read is only a problem of getting books into my hands that I'm willing to finish. I read very quickly, and I have lots of time on my hands.

It's posting about it afterwards that's the problem. I feel like I ought to be able to do so without forcing myself, that I ought to have more to say about other people's reading lists. I like books, it makes sense that I would like to talk about them, right? I *want* to like talking about them. But the truth is that I don't seem to enjoy it very much at all. :(

I could remain in the group and just post a list of what I'm reading, but a large part of the reason I joined up was because I wanted the interaction with other people..

I feel very silly: wanting to interact with other readers, because I have a lot in common with them, but not actually wanting to talk about books. It's a dilemma I haven't quite figured my way around.

#32: There are plenty of people that just post what books they read on here. Not everyone likes to do reviews. I myself feel that I do not write good reviews. I am always afraid of giving to much of the book away.

Don't feel silly about it, everyone has their own thing. Not everyone likes to talk about everything. Choose to do what works for you. :) If I had more of a suggestion for your dilema I would give it, but please don't feel silly. You could always be a lurker on here like me and only say something when you really have something to say :)

#33 Okay, I'll try not to feel silly if you say so. :)

Books I know I read since the last time I posted.

17. Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede (YA, Fantasy)
18. Pretending You Care by Norman Feuti (Humor)
19. The Accidental Sorcerer by K. E. Mills (Fantasy)
20. Witches Incorporated by K. E. Mills (Fanatsy)
21. When the Star Kings Die by John Jakes (Science Fiction)
22. Otherwise Engaged by Jacquelyn Gillis (Regency Romance)
23. A Serious Pursuit by Ellen Rawlings (Regency Romance)
24. A Perfect Match by Meg-Lynn Roberts (Regency Romance)
25. Sophie's Halloo by Patricia Wynn (Regency Romance)

I know there are more, when I figure out what they are, I'll add them.

I know you don't like to talk about your books but what did you think of Thirteenth Child? I love Patricia C. Wrede!

I'd love to know what you thought of it as well. I read it as soon as it came out, and am interested in what others think.

I loved _Thirteenth Child_.

But I have to warn you that I'm hardly unbiased. Patricia Wrede is someone I know personally, and who has helped me with my own writing. Part of the fun of reading that book for me was seeing all the stuff she had talked about while she was writing it actually show up in the story.

On the other hand, I liked every book of hers I read *before* I met her, so maybe it's not just my partiality toward a beloved mentor. :)

The reaction of my family to _Thirteenth Child_ was mixed. My husband and one of my daughters really liked it. Another daughter found it "really, really slow", and my eldest son's reaction was "do you know how strange it is reading about the *youngest* in a large family?" (He's the oldest of six.)

Another one I missed:

26: What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People by Joe Navarro (Non-fiction)

I know I read at least one other book that was a collection of scientific papers on the subject of facial expressions. And I read at least two mysteries. One set in an american bed and breakfast, with someone being poisoned with rhubarb (so bad for business!), and one in england with an older divorced woman investigating the murder of a teen girl disguised to look like a sex crime when it wasn't... I liked her two new employees (the young man brought in to do the pet cases and then promoted, and the older photographer) better than I liked her.

Since I can describe these, although not name them, do I get to list my next book as 29? ;)

However you want to list your next book is fine!

I've remembered another book that I missed. It was about making dolls.
So...

30: Starwell by Alexei Panshin
31: The Thurb Revolution by Alexei Panshin

32: The Truth-teller's Tale by Sharon Shinn (YA Fantasy)
33: House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones (YA Fantasy)
34: The Plains Indians by Paul Howard Carlson (History)

...Just remembered another book I missed (I was going over my categories list and trying to figure out why I had 9 non-fiction books listed, but only 8 in the categories below it. I figured it it out. One was a humor book, listed above. Which reminded me that I had read a fictional humor book as well) ... :)

35: Fore! by P. G. Wodehouse

Is there any place that hands out egoboo for how eclectic one's reading list is?

Egoboo? No idea what that is . . .

According to wikipedia:

"Egoboo is a colloquial expression for the pleasure received from public recognition of voluntary work.
The term originated in science fiction fandom no later than 1947, originally simply used to describe the "ego boost" someone feels on seeing their name in print. As a reliable way for someone to get their name in print was to do something worth mentioning, it became caught up with the idea of voluntary community participation. As a result of this, in later years, the term grew to mean something akin to an ephemeral currency, e.g., "I got a lot of egoboo for editing that newsletter."

So I was basically saying "is there any place that hands out ego boosting public recognition for how eclectic one's reading list is?"

... I like the phrase "ephemeral currency". I gotta remember that one. :)

#45: Well, if there is, I would think it would be LT!

Thanks for the explanation - I am going to add that to my trivia knowledge.

36: The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, by David Grann (non-fiction)
37: Blessed Is The Busybody by Emilie Richards (mystery)

38: Forensic Detective: How I Cracked the World's Toughest Cases, by Robert Mann
39: Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna, Joseph Lemasolai-Lekuton
40: The Zulu War: A Pictorial History, Michael Barthorp

That's awesome that Patricia C. Wrede has been your writing mentor! She's been one of my favorite authors since I first read The Enchanted Forest Chronicles as a preteen.

What did you think of Facing the Lion?

Facing the Lion is a fascinating account, although it is written for young people and therefore a little shorter and less in depth than I would have liked.

The focus of the book is on overcoming challenges, and it is on this basis that the author picked the autobiographical material he chose to put into his book.

'Joseph' (in his home culture he is Lemasolai son of Lekuton) is a member of a surviving (although threatened) nomadic society. The Maasai of Kenya are required by law to send one child from each family to school. Because the Maasai move around, and the school does not, this means spending time away from their familes and most of the children quickly drop out of school, but Joseph was determined to make the most of his educational opportunities -- eventually attending an American university.

He was equally determined not to lose his native culture, and went to great lengths to get back to his family whenever school was not in session, no matter how far he had to travel to do so.

It's not easy finding a modern book written in english by a genuine nomad, whose home culture is completely unmodernized. Serious case of of 'Wow, what a find!' :)

Awesome! It definitely sounds right up my alley. Thanks for the info. It was already on my wishlist (someone recommended it because I love kids' lit), so it will certainly be moving up now.

41: Tribes of the Southern Plains (American Indians) by Time Life Books (Culture)
42: Lord Kelvin's Machine by James P. Blaylock (Steampunk)
43: The Worlds of a Maasai Warrior: An Autobiography by Tepilit Ole Saitoti

I also started but didn't complete a fantasy and a sf book, and read two Juvenile Non-fiction books that just seemed too short and slight to count for much.

If you want to count the 2 juvenile nonfiction books, by all means, count them. This is your thread and no one is going to gainsay anything you want to count :)

@53 I didn't log them anywhere, and I'm going to try make 75 without them.

Maybe if I get to the end and find myself a couple short I'll change my mind. ;)

44: Unseen Academicals (Discworld) by Terry Pratchett
45: Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
46: Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin
47: The Sword & Satchel by Elizabeth Boyer
48: The Castle of Llyr by Lloyd Alexander
49: Dragon Tempest by Don Callander

We are doing a group read of Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles in the 2010 group if you are interesting in joining us. Hope to see you there!

I kind of got them out of order then, didn't I? :)

I'm under the weather and so I've been pulling random books off my shelves.

I would probably have read The Book of Three instead, but the kids seem to have misplaced most of the series -- all I could find was 3 and two copies of 5. (I think we actually have three or four copies of 5, the school keeps giving them to us. My daughter came home with a copy of Sarah, Plain and Tall the other day saying excitedly "...and my teacher says its mine to *keep*!" "Dear, we already have four copies of that book." "Oh. ... Well, *this* copy's *mine*.")

I guess if there's going to be a group read happening, I'd better hunt down those missing books. :)

More copies of one book can be usefull.
When I was young, the youngest of 5 kids, I was always very happy with *my own* books. And more copies of one book were handy if I played school with my dolls ;-)

I, um, usually played superheroes with my dolls.

My own girls seem largely into action adventure instead. I know at least one of their dolls is a pirate, another one is a ghost, and one of the boy dolls is a prince of somewhere or other -- I think he has a pet tiger.

I seem to recall I saved my action adventure games for the pipecleaner/telephone wire people I made. I had an easier time getting them to hold their swords properly. When I wasn't playing with them, I would arrange them in heroic scenes on my shelves, duels, climbing up a decorative shoelace on a rescue mission of some sort, that kind of thing.

50: Red moon and black mountain by Joy Chant

Here's a couple questionable ones...

Talking With Winds, by L. Shelby
Dicing With Flames, by L. Shelby

But I've read each of them multiple times this past week, and that (and the revisions I'm doing which are why they are being reread) have kept me too busy to read much of anything *else*, so...

Are you going to be joining us for the 2010 challenge? The group is up and ready to begin the new year!