callen610's 50 Book Challenge -2009

This will be the first time I've participated in a challenge - I can't wait!
I will be editing this first message to keep a list of the titles and number of pages I've read. Ratings and sometimes reviews will be added below. The first few books on my TBR "pile" are The Coffee Trader, Chocolat, and a yet-to-be-determined biography to be read with my students.

Cheers!
~Corrina

Titles:
1. The Coffee Trader by David Liss, ★★★1/2 (1/5)
2. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell, ★★★★1/2 (1/7)
3. A Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier, ★★★1/2 (1/20)
4. V for Vendetta by Alan Moore, ★★★★ (1/28)
5. Chocolat by Joanne Harris, ★★★★ (2/6)
6. The Girl with No Shadow by Joanne Harris, ★★★★ (2/16)
7. The Wordy Shipmates (Audio) by Sarah Vowell, ★★★★ (2/17)
8. When You Are Engulfed in Flames (Audio) by David Sedaris, ★★★★1/2 (3/9)
9. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, ★★★★ (3/19)
10. Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography by Douglas Keister, ★★★1/2 (3/31)
11. Darwin's Ghost: The Origin of Species Updated by Steve Jones - 4/1
12. Sense and Sensibility (Audio - read by Flo Gibson) by Jane Austen, ★★★★ (4/2)
13. Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen by Fay Wheldon, ★★★★1/2 (4/11)
14. The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maartin Troost, ★★★1/2 (4/27)
15. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler, ★★★★1/2 (4/29)
16. Dunk by David Lubar, ★★★★ (5/1)
17. Life of Pi by Yann Martel, ★★★★1/2 (5/4)
18. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett, ★★★★ (5/7)
19. The God Delusion (Audio) by Richard Dawkin, ★★★★1/2 (5/11)
20. The Yellow Wallpaper (Short Story) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, ★★★★ (5/12)
21. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, ★★★★★ (5/16)
22. How to Be Good by Nick Hornby, ★★★ (5/19)
23. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguru, ★★★★1/2 (5/28)
24. Whose Freedom? by George Lakoff, ★★★1/2 (6/10)
25. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, ★★★★1/2 (6/10)
26. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood, ★★★★1/2 (6/12)
27. Ecological Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, ★★★1/2 (6/19)
28. "Lawns" (Short Story) by Mona Simpson, ★★★1/2 (6/17)
29. "Admiral" (Short Story) by T.C. Boyle, ★★★ (6/18)
30. "The Year of Silence" (Short Story) by Kevin Brockmeier, ★★★★1/2 (6/18)
31. "Galatea" (Short Story) by Karen Brown, ★★★ (6/19)
32. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, ★★★ (7/26)
33. Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson, ★★★★ (8/3)
34. Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief by Dale McGowen, ★★★★★ (8/5)
35. Eggs by Jerry Spinelli, ★★★ (8/12)
36. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, ★★★1/2 (9/4)
37. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (Audio) by David Sedaris, ★★★★ (9/4)
38. True Mom Confessions by Romi Lassally, ★★ (9/12)
39. Shelf Discovery by LIzzie Skurnick, ★★★★ (9/30)
40. The Secret Summer by Ruth Chew, ★★★★ (10/19)
41. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly, ★★★★★ (10/30)
42. Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume, ★★★★★ (11/1)
43. The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed, ★★★★★ (11/5)
44. Script and Scribble: The Rise and Fall of Handwriting by Kitty Burns Florey, ★★★★ (11/8)
45. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, ★★★★★ (12/8)
46. A Christmas Carol (Audio performed by Orson Welles & Lionel Barrymore) by Charles Dickens, ★★★1/2 (12/09)
47. Fresh Air: Faith, Reason and Doubt (Audio) by Terry Gross, ★★★★1/2 (12/10)
48. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, ★★★★1/2 (12/23)
49. "Serials" (Short Story) by Katie Williams, ★★★ (12/26)
50. "Pride and Prometheus" (Short Story) by John Kessel, ★★★ (12/29)




Other books that I started to read and put down (either for good or just for now):

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt - NOT a book to read while you're 7 months pregnant!
Jane Austen and Zombies - just....eh
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson - still want to finish but other more "fun" books were calling to me
A Canticle for Leibowitz - still need to finish the last 30 or pages, but I know it will be very disturbing, so I'm putting it off
Classroom Instruction That Works - read 90% of it, but not in order
Midnight Sun - a silly read, but so repetitive that I can't bring myself to finish the last 40 pages

Book 1: The Coffee Trader by David Liss (2003)
Information: Historical Fiction, 384 pages
Read: December 31, 2008 - January 5, 2009
Rating: ★★★ 1/2



Summary
This novel is told through the perspective of two Portuguese Jews living in 1659 Amsterdam: Miguel Lienzo (3rd person) and Alonzo Alferonda (1st person memoir). Miguel is in debt from several unsuccessful transactions on the Dutch Commodities Exchange, and develops a scheme involving coffee with his business partner, Geertruid.

Opinion
This was an uneven reading experience for me. It took a couple chapters to get comfortable with the unlikable/complex characters, the dual narration style, and the complications of the various transactions involved in Miguel's trading. Hannah's character was refreshing and added a woman's perspective of Jewish life in Amsterdam, which I found to be engrossing. However, I grew a bit weary of Miguel's running around to and from Geertruid, the Exchange, and Joachim - until his coffee scheme and romantic interest began to take shape.

Resources
Coffee Trader Reading Group on Library Thing: here. (Now ended but a terrific resource!)
Author Website: here.

Book 2: Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell (2008)
Information: Non-fiction, 285 pages
Read: January 7, 2009 - January 13, 2009
Rating: ★★★★ 1/2 Stars



Summary

Gladwell describes the overlooked factors that influence why certain people are successful - family, birthplace, birth date, parenting style, culture, etc. The book explores why "genius" isn't as much as an influence as some may think, and reveals the hidden advantages that led to successful hockey players, computer programmers (such as Bill Gates), lawyers (such as Joe Flom), pilots, and math students - among many others.

Opinion
This was a fascinating book that changed the way I view successful people, and even the potential of my own students. Gladwell's theories are a strong challenge to the typical pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps view of getting ahead in the United States.

I am going to have to check out that book Outliers. It looks really interesting.
--BJ

Thanks for the review of Outliers. Check out Blink if you haven't read it. It's another one that makes you stop and rethink how you make decisions. I've got Outliers on my TBR list. Maybe I should bump it up a few. Good luck with the challenge!

Thanks, theresak1975 - this is my first attempt at a challenge here. I read Gladwell's other two books-The Tipping Point and Blink, and I liked this one the most! I think because I was able to connect to more information on a personal level.

Hi callen610 and welcome to the 50 book challenge. My husband is a Malcolm Gladwell fan. I've yet to try his books, though they always sound interesting.

Book 3: A Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier (2006)
Information: Science Fiction, 252 pages
Read: January 7, 2009 - January 20, 2009
Rating: ★★★ 1/2



Summary

This novel takes place in an apocalyptic future where a lethal, fast moving virus has been released into the world, already suffering through a series of wars. It involves a fascinating concept of a City where humans live after their death as long as there is someone on Earth still alive who remembers them. Then they disappear from the City. In rather mundane afterlife, humans have no heartbeats, and don't age, but can apparently get injured.
As the deadly pathogen ravages the Earth, the population (and boundaries) of the City suddenly soar and then plummets until th citizens realize that the only people left are linked to the last survivor on Earth - Laura Byrd.
The story shifts between the lives and memories of the people in the City (Laura's parents, childhood friends, colleagues, a former lover, mail carriers, panhandlers, etc...) and Laura's long struggle to survive when her research mission in Antartica gets derailed.

Opinion
I was fascinated by the concept of this novel when I first heard the author interviewed on Fresh Air last year. Laura's chapters are a bit tedious, but moments of profound insight kept me going through the less interesting bits. I enjoyed most the early chapters that built up the details and "rules" of the Dead City. However, I wanted to know much, much more. For example:
When people "pop" into the city in random locations, how do they cope?
There are restaurants, but where does the food and other supplies come from?
Where does the garbage go?
What happens when couples parted at death meet and one now has a different
partner?

Book 4: V for Vendetta by Alan Moore, David Lloyd (2008)
Information: Graphic Novel/Science Fiction, 296 pages
Read: January 22, 2009 - January 28, 2009
Rating: ★★★★



Summary
This novel is set in a fictional late 1990s London that has been taken over by a fascist dictator after a devastating nuclear war has wiped out Africa & Europe. The leader controls society through "Fate" (a computer) and various agencies - the "Ears" (audio surveillance), "Eyes" (video surveillance), "Nose" (police), and "Mouth" (propaganda broadcasts). The main plot centers around V (a mysterious person in a Guy Fawkes costume who commits various acts of murder and mayhem) and Evey (a 16-year-old orphan who is rescued by V after an attempted assault).

Opinion
I may be biased by my positive opinion of the movie, which I saw first. (I doubt I would have read this if I hadn't enjoyed the movie so much.) Despite some dated things (like the computers), the plot was interesting and kept me reading. I didn't enjoy the songs in the novel, because I don't read music and couldn't "hear" the intent of the author and didn't recognize many of the lyrics, but the rest was very good. My first graphic novel.

I like how you display the cover, then your summary, and finally your opinion--so neat, in both sense of the word! I've read all of Malcom Gladwell's books and am thinking about reading The Coffee Trader. I've got you starred and will keep checking back!

Thanks, bonnie! I can't really take credit - I "borrowed" aspects of the format from several other LT users. Gladwell's books are always fascinating and fairly easy to understand. After I'm done with The Girl with No Shadow, I'm trying to find something to read to celebrate Darwin's 200th birthday. I should probably go with The Origin of Species since I've never read it....

Cheers!

~Corrina

I've read that there are a lot of new books about Darwin because of the upcoming anniversary, but I also think I heard one of these biographers say that The Origin of Species is quite readable. I think I'm going to read one of the biographies sometime this year.

Book 5: Chocolat by Joanne Harris (1999)
Information: Fiction, 242 pages
Read: January 30 , 2009 - February 6, 2009
Rating: ★★★★



Summary

This novel is told from the perspectives of two characters: Vianne Rocher and Francis Reynaud. Vianne and her six-year-old daughter, Anouk, have been living a “gypsy” life – traveling from place to place under various names. They arrive in a small French town just before Lent. Their eccentric disregard for Catholic customs (opening a Chocolaterie during Lent, Vianne’s bright wardrobe, vaguely pagan superstitions, etc.) put them at odds with a few of the more traditional locals. Francis Reynaud, the young Curé, is obsessively vindictive, but has his own secret past. As Vianne’s chocolates begin to win over more and more locals and their lives begin to intertwine, Reynaud is determined to yank out the “weeds” that have popped up in the town, including Vianne and Anouk.

Opinion

This is a lovely novel and was a perfect read during the dull, dragging days of February. Vianne & Anouk are charming and I came to wish that I could transport myself into Le Célèste Praline to savor a cup of chocolat and have Vianne tell me what my favorite is. When I began to read, I thought that it was set in the 1940s or 1950s, but later realized it was the 1990s. However, I think the fact that the book isn’t strongly rooted in a particular era adds to its mystical qualities. How much “magic” is supposed to be real – I’m still not sure.

>13 callen610: I assume you've seen the movie? How does it compare?

Yes, I saw the movie many years before I read the book, and then again just after I finished it. I was disappointed that they changed the antagonist from the priest to a mayor in the town - I suppose due to some concern about offending people from the Catholic faith. But....other than that and a more traditional "happy" ending, I thought it was true to the spirit of the novel. I enjoyed watching it - and Juliette Binoche was fabulous as always! I'm reading the sequel now, which has really started to get good.

Book 6: The Girl with No Shadow by Joanne Harris (2008)
Information: Fiction, 444 pages
Read: February 6 , 2009 - February 16, 2009
Rating: ★★★★



Summary

The sequel to Chocolat, this story begins about four years after the previous novel ended. It takes place between Halloween and Christmas in the early 2000s. Like Chocolat, the story is told in alternating first-person narratives - Vianne Rocher (now known as Yanne Charbonneau), Anouk (her 11-year-old daughter, now known as Annie), and Zozie de l'Alba (a woman skilled in identity theft and other "magical" charms). As the story opens, Vianne is living an inconspicuous life in Paris with her daughters - Anouk and 4-year-old Rosette. She runs a faltering chocolaterie and is dating Thierry, a "stolid" older businessman. Zozie soon incorporates herself into their life - reviving the chocolaterie and becoming Anouk's confidant. The suspense builds as more is revealed about Zozie's and Vianne's histories and Zozie's true intentions toward Vianne, Anouk, and Rosette.

Opinion
Oh how sorry I was leave these characters behind! It was an unexpected treat to even find this book in my local library. After a bit of a slow start, the story pulled me in until I was hard pressed to put it down even when I needed to. I was pleases to see Roux back, and with the many new characters, didn't much miss the other characters from Lansquenet. One of my main questions from the first book, the mystery of Vianne's possible abduction, is resolved thank GOD - I think I would have had to write Harris had it not been! Overall, this is an excellent follow-up to Chocolat - at once more magical and more rooted in reality, too. Vianne's feelings
at seeing her daughter grow up and away from her hit home as I anticipate similar feelings watching my own daughter gain independence.

I was looking over the posts on my chain in the challenge and noticed you were one of the first to comment--regarding listening to books. I thought I'd return the favor and come see how you are doing on your challenge. Okay, that was a mistake! You do such a nice job displaying and commenting on your books that now I see I need to add Outliers, Chocolat and The Girl with No Shadow to my list of books to read. I hope I can find at least a couple of them in audio format.

Thanks! I've "borrowed" the format from what I've liked of several other users. Outliers would be great on audio, but I couldn't find Chocolat at my local library and The Girl with No Shadow might be too soon to have out on audio. I hope you can find them, though!

Great thread! I will be starring and checking back. I've had both Outliers and Chocolat on my periphery for a while, but your threads have convinced me to add them to the official TBR list/virtual pile!

I am still working on my review for The Wordy Shipmates, but I wanted to say that I saw Sarah Vowell speak last Tuesday night at a local lecture series. She was great! She read a "smattering" (her words) - a lot from The Wordy Shipmates, but several other pieces from her other works as well. I wish there had been more time for her to answer other questions and that the questions had been better, but, of course, I didn't raise my hand, so I probably shouldn't gripe! They also announced next year's visiting authors:

Khaled Hosseini - loved both The Kite Runner & A Thousand Splendid Suns
Geraldine Brooks - really liked Year of Wonders
Pete Hamill - I'm unfamiliar with him
Richard Russo - I've heard of him, but never read his work
Sara Gruen - read and enjoyed Water for Elephants
Jeffrey Toobin - I've see him on CNN, but have not read any of his works

There's no way I can get to all of these, but even seeing one would be awesome!

Hi Callen!

I really enjoyed your reviews and have starred your thread. I love the way you list each book! How do you post the cover art? I've seen it done on other threads also and would love to do it on my challenge. It makes each book even more tempting :)

You mentioned quite a few books that I've been wanting to read, and now I'm off to add Chocolat and The Girl with No Shadow to that list!

Book 7: The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell (2008)
Information: Non-fiction, History, Audio
Read: January 29, 2009 - February 17, 2009
Rating: ★★★★



Summary
Sarah Vowell's witty (and thoroughly researched) take on the early years of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and its various off-shoots - Rhode Island, etc... Told mainly through the words of John Wintrop (the first mayor of the settlement which would eventually become Boston). It discusses his Modell of a Christian Nation sermon which included the famous "city on a hill" reference, and details the struggles and personality conflicts of the settlers (including Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson) and cooperations/conflicts with local native communities. (Read by the author.)

Opinion

After reading the above summary - boy does that sound BORING! But, really....it's not! Although crammed with tons of detailed information, Vowell is expert at quirky connections and insightful modern connections that lighten what could otherwise be a rather dense subject. Although I enjoyed the audio version of the book, the section on Native American conflicts would probably have been easier to follow had I been able to look at text to help me keep the names straight.

I've seen Sarah on a bunch of different talk shows and can only imagine she was great to see live. Very clever. I've read all of her other books and have thoroughly enjoyed them. Can't wait to read this one!

Book 8: When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris (2008)
Information: Non-fiction, Humor, Audio
Read: February 23, 2009 - March 9, 2009
Rating: ★★★★ 1/2



Summary
A series of essays drawn from Sedaris' experiences including his parents leaving his five siblings and him with a bizarre babysitter who makes them scratch her back with a monkey's paw (eewww!), attempting to bring his "pet" spider to Paris, and buying a human skeleton for his boyfriend Hugh. The last is a lengthy essay on his history as a smoker and his eventual trip to Tokyo to quit.

Opinion

This was the perfect commute audio - brief sections and hysterically funny! Sedaris reads his own essays, and I can't imagine them any other way. I guess I'm a sucker for liberal, unique-voiced, agnostic, non-driving NPR contributers - I just realized that this is my second in a row. Hmmmm.....

Resources
Sedaris on The Daily Show promoting this book: here.
Sedaris reading a section of the book on Letterman: here.
A June 2000 interview with Sedaris by Linda Richards for January Magazine: here.

Callen - David Sedaris came to my university to promote this book, so we went to hear him speak. He read some of the essays from it - strangely, we laughed so hard that our stomachs hurt at the event but then afterward my friend read the book and said he didn't enjoy at as much. I've been putting off reading it myself because of that. Have you read his other stuff? I really enjoyed Me Talk Pretty One Day.

Thanks for the links! I love hearing David Sedaris read his own stories! And that just increases my enjoyment when reading his books as I can hear his voice in my head. Nothing has made me laugh harder in recent years. I'm trying to wait until this book comes out in paper, but you're not helping! ;-)

P.S. Pretear, you should read Naked. It's still my favorite!

I have Naked in my TBR pile. Based on your suggestion I think I'll read it next. : )

Pretear & Bonniebooks - I definitely think that listening to Sedaris perform his essays is MUCH better than reading them. His voice is so unique. There are a few tracks on this collection that are read live that are really good. (I think hearing others laugh encourages you to do the same!)

"I think hearing others laugh encourages you to do the same!"

There's actually been research on that; we don't tend to laugh at something funny as much when we're alone. I think that's why I recommend Naked so highly. It's been one of the few books that had me laughing outloud in the bookstore--so much so, that I had to buy the book and finish it in the privacy of my own home!

P.S. His voice is so delightful! I have to chuckle though as the first couple of times I heard him on NPR, I thought I was listening to a woman.

I completely agree about group laughter. I think the only other author that makes me laugh very hard in private is Christopher Moore (Practical Demon Keeping and Lamb are my faves.) It's not the same kind of humor as Sedaris but definitely 'laugh out loud in private' funny.

OK, that's the second time today I've heard C. Moore's name mentioned so I'll have to go check him out!

Book 9: For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway (1940)
Information: Historical Fiction, 471 pages
Read: February 27 , 2009 - March 19, 2009
Rating: ★★★★



Summary
Robert Jordan, an American Spanish professor who has been teaching in Spain, becomes involved in the country’s Civil War during the mid-1930’s. The narrative jumps in as Jordan is traveling with Anselmo, a much older local man who assists him as he crosses enemy territory to complete his mission of destroying a bridge for the antifascist (socialist) group. During the few days that Jordan is in the mountains, he becomes involved in a power struggle among the guerilla group he must work with, and falls in love with a young woman, Maria, who was rescued by the group after a train attack. There’s a pretty succinct summary on page 167 of the novel:

“….a lousy show like this, co-ordinating two chicken-crut guerilla bands to help you blow a bridge under impossible conditions, to abort a counter-offensive that will probably already be started, you run into a girl like this Maria.”

Opinion
This was not an easy novel for me to get into. I was battling against the first dozen or so pages, frustrated with the fact that I had no idea of the time period, setting, or purpose of the characters. Who ARE these people? What are they DOING? What war IS this? And on top of that, it reads like an awkward translation – all “thee” and “thou” instead of “you” and the swearing apparently edited out. So…you have bizarre sentences such as “Do to the unprintable and unprint thyself.” or “I obscenity in the milk.” Of course, rather that drawing attention away from the cussing, I found myself running through all the various options in my head that would make sense in the sentence! (Could that have been Hemingway’s intent? I wonder…)

I’m not sure exactly when in the novel it happened, but I finally started to feel comfortable with the language and came to care about the characters and their circumstances. I was reminded a lot of the current war in Afghanistan – also with fighting in the mountains with various local guerilla bands that foreign forces attempt to work with or oust depending on the goals of each. The scenes where Jordan reflects on the merits and cowardice of suicide are fascinating considering Hemingway’s own fate. I would read Hemingway again, but have no urge to immediately jump into another of his novels.

Resources
NPR segment about both McCain and Obama citing this novel as a favorite: here.

I've also had a lot of trouble getting into Hemingway. For Whom the Bell Tolls has been sitting on my bookshelf for about 8 years. I've tried reading it about 5 times and never get past page 50. Part of it is not understanding the cultural/historical events that he references, but I think that part of it is that I'm just not a huge fan of Hemingway's writing style. I know that's probably blasphemy, but oh well! Maybe I'll give it another shot or read a different one of his books. Glad to see that you ended up getting something out of reading it.

I've only read two short novellas by Hemingway - The Snows of Kilimanjaro and The Old Man and the Sea. The first one I didn't like at all and the second one I liked quite a bit. However I wasn't very impressed by his writing style in either so I'm kind of afraid to approach one of his longer works.

From what I gather from your review, I'm not missing that much, huh?

Ahhh this one is in my TBR pile too. I may bump it down the queue based on your review.

I am so glad to see that I wasn't alone in my struggle with Hemingway. I had read The Old Man and the Sea about two years ago, but as a novella, it had a very different feel - and none of the archane (sp?) language in For Whom the Bell Tolls. I think at the end, I would say that it was a powerful novel - one that gave me a lot to think and talk about as I was reading it, and one I still think about now. I'm also glad to have a Hemingway novel "under my belt". With that said, the last fifty pages couldn't go quick enough for me. On to some lighter reading for now! I'm finishing listening to Sense and Sensibilty, which I read over ten years before, and finishing reading Darwin's Ghost.

I finished an Austen recently myself so I'll be curious to see what you think of Sense and Sensibility!

I had similar issues with the language of For Whom the Bell Tolls, but what really frustrated me about the story, until I caught on, was that the book opens with this plot of blowing up the bridge that had to be done ASAP. Then you get 2/3 of the way through the book, barely any time has passed, and they're still on about whether or not to blow up the bridge. In the end, though, I enjoyed it too. I thought there were some beautiful passages in it and the themes Hemingway explores are interesting.

Book 10: Stories in Stone: The Complete Guide to Cemetery Symbolism by Douglas Keister (2004)
Information: Non-fiction, Field Guide, 278 pages
Read: March 29 , 2009 - March 31, 2009
Rating: ★★★1/2



Summary
A guide to identifying the various forms and styles of cemetery structures - tombs, crypts, headstones, vaults, mausoleums, etc... Also includes chapters devoted to the different types of decorations and symbols found on monuments: flora, fauna, religious, and an extensive section on benevolent societies (Masons, Elks, etc...). Entries have detailed descriptions with quoted references to literature and holy texts, and many color photos.

Opinion
This was a fascinating guide which would be helpful on a cemetery visit. The earliest chapters were the most interesting to me - I skimmed most of the religious quotes and the long section at the end regarding benevolent associations. I won't buy this, but will certainly take it out next time I visit a cemetery, and it has piqued my interest in the subject enough to possibly search out a more extensive history. (Thanks to Pretear for the recommendation!)

#40: That book seems really interesting, cemeteries have always fascinated me. :) Really hope Waterstones has this one, because I don't think it will be available in any of our Dutch stores.

Tammiejx - I'll bet you've got way more interesting burial grounds where you are!! I've always been drawn to cemeteries myself. My grandparents would take me on Memorial Day to visit all of our relatives' graves and tell me stories about each person. (As I got older, the stories got more and more "honest"!) I am still amazed at how many local cemeteries were simply dug up and the people's remains deposited elsewhere when the land got to be too valuable - ugh! What ever happened to "rest in peace"?

This BBC list seems to be a hot topic lately, so I thought I'd throw my hat into the ring....
The ones in bold are the ones I've read. The BBC estimates that most (British?) people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here:

(I read 32)

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (sort of...just the first one...)
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (how is this different than #33??)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson (Yeah! Bryson is on here!)
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt.
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
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Well...I did better than I thought I would, but I'm wondering what the criteria for this list was. (I am a sucker for lists of any sort, but it would be helpful to know what this is!)

Thanks so much for copying this list out for everyone. I hadn't seen it before. Love those lists. :) Have a great day!
--BJ

Okay...after some digging around, I found the source of the BBC Top 100 list. Apparently, in an online poll of 2,000 people for World Book Day (who knew there was such a thing? cool!), people were asked to name the top ten most precious books they have read. That explains why the complete works of Shakespeare are on there as well as Hamlet. Actually, I'm surprised that the list is so....."classic". Of course, the type of people going to worldbookday.com to take the poll is not a representative sample of the population as whole.

The article with further explanation is here.

Yes, thanks for sharing! It made me feel good to see how many of them I've read--exactly half. Regarding how "classic" the list is--that fact also made me feel good. In my early 20's, I realized I was not nearly as well read as I thought a college graduate should be. From then on, I made an effort to read more classic literature. For the last twenty years, that effort has been augmented by listening to books. That is how I made it through Three Musketeers and Crime and Punishment. Hearing the reader, George Guidall pronounce the French and Russian names was a significant part of my enjoyment of those works.

Ahhh you finished it already. : ) I'm glad you enjoyed it. I had to put it down because Jared Diamond was coming to my university to lecture and I wanted to read Collapse before his arrival. I'm going to pick up Stories in Stone again as soon as I'm done with it. Definitely let me know if you stumble upon anything similar to SiS that you enjoyed.

#46 - I, too, have felt that I should be reading more classic literature and have made a conscious effort to do so after high school. I agree that listening to some things on audio really helps. I've been wanted to read The Three Musketeers, so maybe I'll try that on audio.

#47 - Lucky for you to see Diamond! I really enjoyed his Guns, Germs, and Steel. How was Collapse?

Book 12: Sense and Sensibility (Audio) by Jane Austen (Performed by Flo Gibson (1811)
Information: Fiction, CNY Women's Book Club, Audio
Read: March 10, 2009 - April 4, 2009
Rating: ★★★★



Summary
After their father dies (and must leave his estate to a son from a first marriage) his daughters and wife are forced to leave their beloved home and move to a much smaller cottage. Eleanor, the eldest daughter, is the more sensible - keeping her feelings to herself and taking care of the rest of her family. Marianne, the second daughter, is all emotion - refusing to hide her feelings and believing that one can only truly fall in love once. Their mother is much like Marianne, which leaves Eleanor to be the stability of the family. Without giving too much away...both Marianne and Eleanor fall in love with men who might be considered "above" them due to the girls' lack of money. Each match encounters difficulties and misunderstandings.

Opinion
Spoiler Alert? This was a reread for me for my local Book Club, so I listening to it on audio this time. Flo Gibson does a nice job of performing the book with variations for each character's voice. Just as the proverb says that you can never step in the same river twice....I don't think you can ever really read the same book twice and have the same experience. As a reread at the age of 32, it did not quite live up to my memories of reading it at 18. I much more identified with Marianne the first time - most likely due to my own naive ideas about love/emotions - and this time there were moments when I wanted to strangle her! Such self-centeredness! I didn't understand why Colonel Brandon loved her. Her similarity to his previous love? Also - that business about Brandon's ward (and Willoughby's involvement) was a bit too familiar to the Wickham/Darcy's sister debacle in Pride and Prejudice. All that said, however, it was a pleasant spring read and it only lost a 1/2 star since the first time I read it.

Just popping in to say I enjoyed your reviews! Especially the Sedaris and the V for Vendetta. I might picked up the Sedaris, since it's an "embarrassing" gap for me, but I think it's also because, now that I've researched him, he's famous for being on your NPR, etc. And since I barely know what NPR is, not living where it is broadcast, maybe it's not so embarrassing, after all! Or, at least, that's what I'm telling myself.

I also have mixed feelings about S&S- I read it for the first time at the end of last year. I didn't feel there was enough "balance"; Elinor didn't seem to gain any sensibility and only Marianne had to learn the hard lessons.

Cauterize - I agree about Elinor. There really was only that one scene where she let loose. Also....you've reminded me that I spelled her name incorrectly in my review - oops! "Eleanor" is more traditional here, and I was listening to the audio, so....

#48 - It's very good, it's slow at the beginning but I had a hard time putting it down. Guns, Germs, and Steel is in the TBR pile.

I'm lagging a bit on posting reviews (preparing for my Maternity Leave, gestating, etc....), but I've read some really good books lately....

Fay Wheldon's Letter to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen was very good - I would like to go back and savour some parts that I rushed through in my excitement to finish.

The Sex Lives of Cannibals was also pretty good - reminded me a bit of Bill Bryson.

Just finished The Jane Austen Book Club for my local Book Club - a pleasant read, and fun to tease out all the parallels to the novels.

Just about done with both Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion on audio (I think I need to read the actual book when I'm done - there's a lot I'm not quite getting) and Life of Pi. I am dying to know what the big "twist" is at the end of the novel, but am holding myself back from looking it up!

Up next is The Yellow Wallpaper, The Uncommon Reader, and The Remains of the Day.

That's an interesting mix coming up. Happy reading!

Congratulations Corrina!

I love your attitude that maternity leave = reading time - I used to be like that on school days if I was poorly. It was time I needed to be off anyway so I always settled in with a book and a cup of tea to make the most of it!

I have The Sex Lives of Cannibals on my wish list and love Bill Bryson, so I might boost it up the 'to buy' shortlist for this summer. If you liked The Jane Austen Book Club, have you seen the movie? Maria Bello as Jocelyn, sexy Hugh Dancy as Grigg... If you haven't, do - it's such a cheerful lovely film, one of those you can watch every time you feel miserable and you never get tired of it!

Thanks for the good wishes, ellie! I did see the movie based on The Jane Austen Book Club. I thought it was good, but in an entirely different way than the book. I was disappointed that all the characters seemed about ten years younger, but I guess that's Hollywood. I'm very glad I read the book first. For the same reason, I'm holding off on watching The Remains of the Day until I'm done reading it.

Bill Bryson is one of my all-time favorite authors. I have read everything he's written, so I hope he's busy writing something new! One of my favorites of his is A Short History of Nearly Everything. Have you read it?

I have it, but I haven't read it yet - I love his others though. I took Notes from a Big Country to uni with me to cheer me up in handy bite size pieces.

I read The Jane Austen Book Club years before I saw the movie, but by the time I got the film I couldn't remember a thing about the book. I re-read it post-movie and enjoyed it more that time, as it expanded on the characters. I guess doing it the other way round must narrow them down a lot instead... I hope that makes sense, it's rather late here and I should probably get off to bed now!

Book 13: Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen by Fay Weldon (1984)
Information: Fiction
Read: April 6, 2009 - April 12, 2009
Rating: ★★★★1/2



Summary
Written as a series of letters to her niece, Alice, expressing her advice and opinions on a variety of subjects - the merits of reading Jane Austen (and other authors), being an author, and living life in general.

Opinion
A terrific book, even after more than twenty years. I rushed through it to see what she had to say next, but need to go back with pen and paper to glean our her recommendations, particularly in what to read. It heads back to my TBR pile! (Would that be "TBRA"?)

#58: I already have this book in my TBR, but your rating just cements its place. Thanks!

Book 14: The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost (1984)
Information: Non-fiction, Travel
Read: April 20, 2009 - April 27, 2009
Rating: ★★★1/2



Summary
The author and his girlfriend end up on one of the most remote islands in th Pacific. While she is busy working for a government agency trying (mostly in vain it seems) to improve the living conditions of the islanders, Troost is essentially a house-husband attempting to write a novel while surfing, searching for edible food/clean water, and driving off wild dogs.

Opinion
Although Troost comes across as rather annoying in the first and last chapters when he is off the island, the book is a nice mix of self-deprecating humorous personal antecotes intermixed with histories of the islands. His attempts to find out the scandal involving President Clinton and a cigar is hilarious.

Amount of reading is curtailed for now...but for a good reason. :-)
We just had our second daughter Saturday morning and sleep, diaper changes, feedings, and keeping daughter #1 feeling good about things is taking up most of my energy! Finishing Remains of the Day and adding posts about the other books I've finished will have to wait.....

Congratulations!~!
Special times at your house.
I do hope you are getting enough rest. I, at first, always slept when the baby slept. Best of luck with your wonderful little family.
And Remains of the Day is wonderful, is it not?
belva

Awww, babies, sweet babies! I'm jealous! ;-) Congratulations from me too!

hey callen38, I'm looking at your comments on book 3 and had an 'oh, a kindred spirit' moment when i got to all the questions you had while reading the book.

happens to me all the time with books, movies, TV series and, of course, life itself. that's undoubtedly why the patron goddess of queriers (sic) created search engines.

dunno if you've reached 'the yellow wall paper' yet but i tell you, that's probably one of the scariest, gets-in-your head short stories I've ever read. I'm delighted for you that it's on your list.

happy reading.

Congrats on the new baby!

congratulations! Two daughters - you are so lucky! I'm glad that both you and the baby are doing well.

Congratulations on daughter #2!

Congratulations! :D

Congratulations! xx

Book 22: How to Be Good by Nick Hornby (2002)
Information: Fiction
Read: May 16, 2009 - May 19, 2009
Rating: ★★★



Summary
This is the story of a British couple, Katie and Daniel, living a typical middle class liberal life with their two children. After several years of marriage, they are on the brink of divorce. Daniel, author of an "Angriest Man" column, undergoes a transformation after visiting Dr. GoodNews (a "healer" of sorts) and vows to actually "walk the walk" of his liberal views. The results are unexpected - somewhat.

Opinion
Hornby does a terrific job of immersing the reader in the frustrations and ever-repeating spirals of nasty marital arguments. I really felt as though I were there with this couple. Which is why I couldn't wait to be finished with it. Although there were amusing sections and thought-provoking sections, it wasn't enough to have me look forward to picking up the book again. I kept thinking ahead to what I would read next to lighten up my mood. I didn't want to spend another minute with this family. Disappointing, as I have loved all of Hornby's other novels.

Hmmm, might not bother taking this one on holiday then...

Thanks to all for the good wishes! I've actually been doing a lot of reading while the baby sleeps, but my posting has fallen behind. (It's not as easy to type with one hand!) So....my posts will be out of order until I can catch up. (Just thought I would explain why #22 is after #14!)

ellie - I definitely would not recommend How to Be Good as a vacation book!

So many good books on your list, I think I'll skip this one. I just read in Brain Rules that marital satisfaction goes down on average a whopping 70% with the birth of a child--can you believe that?! I'm not trying to depress you; I think it helps to know that obviously lots of other people are going through the similar experiences. I, myself, remember feeling both my happiest/fulfilled and most vulnerable during those times. I wouldn't have wanted to read Hornby's book right then; I think it would have made me feel too anxious.

I've only ever read High Fidelity by Hornby but got A Long Way Down through Bookmooch and have been saving it for the summer - when I'm done with exams. Have you read that one? Is it good? Pray tell - let me know whether I should be excited about reading it! :)

oh and bonniebooks - that is a frightening statistic and one of the reasons I'm seriously considering whether I ever want to have kids...

Bonnie - I've heard that same statistic. I would agree that having children does add a layer of potential stress to a relationship - but also so much joy. I also think it depends on when you have children. My husband and I were married for nearly 7 years before having our first daughter. I think being older (I was 30 - he 42) helped us out, and we'd had plenty of "us" time to really cement our relationship. I think I'm a much better parent now than I would have been in ten years ago.

Girlunderglass - A Long Way Down is a terrific book - I listened to it on audio. About A Boy is also excellent. Just as a heads up - both have suicide as a theme - but it's not as much as a downer as you'd imagine. Hornby's young adult book, Slam is also pretty good, too.

I second the recommendation for About a Boy, but with the disclaimer that I've only seen the movie. Going with the general rule that the source material is usually better, I'd bet the book is really good.

One of my best uni friends was in the film version - I must be biased now - but I also read and loved About a Boy! I loved the movie of High Fidelity - but was maybe a bit young for the humour of the book at the time - and have A Long Way Down still to read. I've heard good things...

I have also heard great things about A Long Way Down and it is currently on hold at my library. I liked reading High Fidelity as well.

Book 16: Dunk by David Lubar (2002)
Information: Fiction, Young Adult, 259 pages
Read: March 10, 2009 - May 1, 2009
Rating: ★★★★



Summary
"I wanted to make the marks dance like puppets on a string. I wanted to shout and scream at the world from the safety of a cage. I wanted to be the Bozo."
It is the summer before his junior year in high school for Chad, and he is mesmerized by the new clown in the dunk tank at the Jersey shore where he lives. Chad has two summer goals: work up the courage to ask the girl he likes out and work as a clown in the dunk tank. Of course, there are plenty of roadblocks - misunderstandings with police, his mothers refusal to let him get a job, his best friend's sudden illness, the new tenant living upstairs... By the time the summer ends, Chad has changed in ways he hadn't anticipated.

Opinion
Dunk was a fun read and I really enjoyed learning about the tricks and techniques behind the scenes at carnivals. The methods of the really good dunk-tank Bozos were incredible - who to select, what to say, how far to go. I was never a "mark" myself (for reasons I now understand), but my younger brother was always reeled in every year at the New York State Fair. This novel would appeal most to 12-18 year-olds, especially boys. It was a success as novel selected as the school-wide read at the middle school where I teach. The actor who does the voice of the Bozo on the audio version came in to read for us and he was incredible. A terrific summer read - and parents would probably like it too!

Book 15: The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler (2004)
Information: Fiction, CNY Women's Book Club, 286 pages
Read: April 20, 2009 - April 29, 2009
Rating: ★★★★



I really missed the characters in this novel when I was done reading. I'd sometimes catch myself thinking, "Oh..Jocelyn would really like that....." or "I wonder what Grigg would think of this author?" It was great fun to tease out all the parallels between this novel and the plots of the Austen books - and there are quite a few, although I'm sure I've missed several. Of course, it made me want to read them all again, and pick up some Ursula LeGuin, too, thanks to Grigg!

Book 23: The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
Information: Fiction, CNY Women's Book Club, 245 pages
Read: May 19, 2009 - May 28, 2009
Rating: ★★★★1/2



I can't imagine why I waited so long to read this! A terrific book - I love how the story gradually builds and events have more (or different) significance than you realize at first. Your perceptions slowly shift as Stevens recalls and reflects on events. I also found the world of butlers/housekeepers/valets/etc fascinating. It reminded me a bit of the movie Gosford Park in that way. I left the book mulling over several questions:

To what extent should we be loyal to our employer? Do we have an obligation to only work for people who are morally upright? If so, how far do we take that and what criteria do we use?

Do we really only recognize the "turning points" of our lives in retrospect?

If government based on "the will of the people" was considered old-fashioned (and a failure!) by some during the 1930's, what does that mean for our general ideas about "progress" - what other seemingly obvious rights have shifted back and forth rather than progress in a linear way?

That last question is a good one! I think about it in terms of women's rights in other parts of the world not evolving, and even devolving. Or our losses in terms of our legal rights, or rights to privacy (with so much information about ourselves going online). I'll have to go back and read this book again. What I remember about this book--no, I better go back and read it because I think I'm combining memories of two books into one. Anyway, have I told you how much I like your reviews?

The Jane Austen Book Club did the same thing to me! The characters got under my skin, I started reading Emma and immediately added Ursula Le Guin to my wish list.

Now you HAVE to see the film (Maria Bello as Jocelyn, the gorgeous Hugh Dancy as Grigg, Emily Blunt as Prudie...) - it's one of my favourite movies and I know I can stick it on any time and finish up with a huge smile on my face!

I read The Jane Austen Book Club years ago, and all I can remember is a character who decided to let herself go -- she stopped coloring her hair, wearing make-up, and started wearing sweatpants rather than squeezing herself into pantyhose, etc. Every now and then I feel like doing that! I also read Weldon's Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen. It was wonderful! Alice, with her purple hair, was not what one imagines as a typical Austen reader. If you haven't already, read Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Syrie James. It involves a little time travel! It's one of my favorite Austen spin-offs.

Bonnie - Thanks! I was doing summaries too, but the "work-to-worth" ratio wasn't good, especially when there are so many out there that are better than I could ever write! Your comment makes me think of Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale. I heard her say in an interview that everything in the book done to women to take their rights away actually happened somewhere in the world - just not all at the same time and place. I think she even saved all the newspaper clippings to prove it.

Ellie - I have seen the movie version! I really liked it, but in a different way than the book. The characters were all ten years younger (I guess that's just Hollywood...) and I missed the details about the characters, but the I really liked Maria Bello as Jocelyn. I don't think I've seen Hugh Dancy in anything else.

OwlCat - I also loved the idea of "letting yourself go"! I think she decided to just not look in any mirrors anymore - ha! Of course, it didn't stop her from getting married again... I'll have to check out the Syrie James book you mention.

Callen, I really enjoyed your reviews on The Jane Austen Book Club and Remains of the Day. With the former, I've seen the movie and liked it, so it's already on my TBR. It's where I also first heard about Ursula Le Guin and that's why I read The Left Hand of Darkness this year. For the latter, I'm one of those people who haven't gotten around to it yet, but I am really regretting it!

Book 20: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892)
Information: Fiction, Short Story, 1001 Books to Read Before You Die, 17 pages
Read: May 11, 2009 - May 12, 2009
Rating: ★★★★



I was surprised to discover how early this story was written (1892). I'd read other reviews that call its psychological aspects dated, but perhaps that's because later in the 20th century they had become overused in literature. I read this story over breakfast in two days and both times I drove to work haunted by the woman's mental struggle and her descriptions of that wallpaper. Apparently some of the treatments described were based on Gilman's own experiences. How awful to be told not to read, draw, or even pick up a pen! I truly believe that doing something useful is necessary to preserving mental health. Also..what about her poor baby? Doesn't she ever see her child? Perhaps she was suffering from post-partum depression.

Good questions! I just got The Yellow Wallpaper from the library and am looking forward to reading it this weekend.

Book 24: Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything by Daniel Goleman (2009)
Information: Non-fiction, Consumerism, 247 pages
Read: June 13, 2009 - June 19, 2009
Rating: ★★★1/2



I'll cut to the chase: go to GoodGuide.com here and Skin Deep here and don't be fooled by "green" or "eco-friendly" labels.

That's the core of what I got out of this book.
Perhaps I wasn't so into it because it's similar to other things that I've read in the last few years (The Omnivore's Dilemma, for one) that deal with the impact of our purchasing decisions. This book explores how much we can find out (and how much more we are blocked from knowing) about the impact of consumer items on the Geosphere (climate/environment), the Biosphere (life, including ourselves), and the Sociosphere (human conditions, such as working conditions). I found the book interesting, but it was a bit TOO jammed packed with detailed examples. If I was a manufacturer or a buyer trying to make my company better, I would find those sections more interesting. But, I'm not - and although there were sections that made me really angry at the lack of regulations in this country (the U.S.), mostly I was bored. However, I highly recommend listening to the author's interview on KQED here.

Perhaps I wasn't so into it because it's similar to other things that I've read in the last few years...

That happens to me to if I've already read a lot on a subject. I think that's why there's such a diversity in people's reactions to a book. If this was the first time you were hearing all this, maybe it would be amazing--well, at least more interesting. But you've got to be honest about your reactions based on who you are, and what you know, now.

Perhaps I wasn't so into it because it's similar to other things that I've read in the last few years...

Yeah, I know what you mean. There's a few topics and themes right now that I'm avoiding like the plague because I'm burned out on them. I'm consciously making a decision to stay away from them so when I go back, it'll become new again and I can judge those ideas with a fresh eye.

I've done the same thing every few years. Once it was Peak Oil, then Tudor historical fiction. Around last year I OD'd on novels about people who were starving (The Road, 1984, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Poisonwood Bible, etc...) and just HAD to cleanse my palette with some lighter stuff. So I read Chocolate, some Jane Austen and....uh...um....the Twilight series. Of course, all in the name of research into what my 6th grade students are into. ;)

Sometimes it's not bad to immerse yourself in a topic for awhile though. I'm into a classic Greek / Mythology thing now - reading The Iliad and hopefully soon the YA book The Lightning Thief.

Book 26: The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood (2005)
Information: Fiction, Mythology, 199 pages
Read: June 10, 2009 - June 12, 2009
Rating: ★★★★1/2



Summary
An alternate telling of The Odyssey from the perspective of Odysseus' wife. Part of "The Myths" series - classic myths retold by famous authors in a modern way. (Other authors include AS Byatt and Karen Armstrong.) This is mainly Penelope's story as she presses her readers to understand her point of view and what really happened. She relates the events of her birth, marriage, long wait for Odysseus, and battle against the Suiters. Her narrative is interspersed with poems and choruses by the twelve maidens hung on Odysseus' orders on his return.

Opinion
A short but very satisfying novel, and it was much more humorous than I expected with such chapter titles as "Helen Ruins My Life" and "The Suitors Stuff Their Faces". It makes me aware of how much "knowledge" I have about history that may be skewed since it's only told from the perspective of the conquering men. It made me want to read the original Odyssey and the other works in "The Myths" series. You only have to be generally familiar with the basic story to appreciate this book. Some lines that struck a chord with me:

Page 7, describing her birth and ancestry:
"However, it never hurts to be of semi-divine birth. Or it never hurts immediately."
(This made me think of the children of the famous such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, etc...)

Page 43, advice from her Naiad mother:
"Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can't go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does."

Page 112, on her idea to say that Athena gave her the idea to weave the shroud for her father-in-law:
"...crediting some god for one's inspiration was always a good way to avoid accusations of pride should the scheme succeed, as well as blame if it did not."

>93 callen610:: For me, I'm burned out on paranormals, cold wars stories, historical immigration and Regency romances.

Good review on The Penelopiad... I'm planning on getting to that one soon, hopefully!

Book 25: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (2005)
Information: Fiction, Suspense, 406 pages
Read: June 3, 2009 - June 8, 2009
Rating: ★★★★1/2



Summary
A novel about twins, about telling stories, and about telling the truth. Margaret Lea has been summoned to the Yorkshire estate of the reclusive Vida Winter to write her biography. Miss Winter is an acclaimed and prolific writer whose personal background has been successfully hidden for years. She tells a different outlandish story to each interviewer who asks her - until now.

Opinion
I was enthralled by this book for about the first 2/3, but the last bit became a bit too daVinciCode-esque for my taste. There were just too many shifts, twists, and contortions that started to make it feel like the author had worked back from the end - like the time when I was ten that I reglued all the stickers on my rubik's cube to make it look like I had "solved" it. Ta-da! That's how it felt to me toward the end. However, with that being said, I just loved most of the book. It was very suspenseful, blending Miss Winter's and Margaret's stories with the novels that had influenced them. There were also many times where I felt that Setterfield wrote in a fresh way - an observation or metaphor that was thought-provoking.

For example:

Page 5, Miss Winter's letter to Margaret:
"What succor, what consolation is there in truth, compared to a story? What good is truth, at midnight, in the dark, when the wind is roaring like a bear in the chimney?"

Page 26:
"All children mythologize their birth. It is a universal trait. You want to know someone? Heart, mind and soul? Ask him to tell you about when he was born."

Page 29, Margaret's reason for preferring old books:
"The reason is simple: I prefer proper endings. Marriages and deaths, noble sacrifices and miraculous restorations, tragic separations and unhoped-for reunions, great falls and dreams fulfilled; these, in my view, constitute an ending worth the wait."

Page 41, Margaret's seeing Miss Winter's library:
"...what better way to get to know someone than through her choice and treatment of books?"

There is also a great passage (p. 46) where Miss Winter describes her imagination as a compost heap where her stories take root, and another (p. 289) where Margaret describes a sensation of starting a new book before the traces of the previous one has left.

Book 18: The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (2008)
Information: Fiction, Suspense, 120 pages
Read: May 2, 2009 - May 7, 2009
Rating: ★★★1/2



Summary
Queen Elizabeth happens upon a traveling library on the grounds of Buckingham Palace. Feeling obligated, she takes out a book and develops a passion for reading that leads her to neglect some of her duties and take others a bit too seriously for the nation's taste.

Opinion
A pleasant read, but not fabulous. The ending was quite a surprise. I especially enjoyed the parts detailing the inner workings and expectations of the Queen's meetings with various people - how staged it is, including the Queen's "off the cuff" remarks. It is interesting to suppose that people don't really want a real conversation with the Queen.

Book 27: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (2006)
Information: Fiction, Young Adult, Fantasy, Mythology, 392 pages
Read: July 22, 2009 - July 26, 2009
Rating: ★★★



I really wanted to like this book more than I did. The concept was interesting - a twelve year-old boy discovers that his father is actually Poseidon. His ADHD is really his alert battle senses and his dyslexia is because his mind was intended to read Greek. Okay...but my overall impression was that this novel was a Harry Potter rip-off.

callen, great reading lately, and I love when you include quotes!

Ah - I didn't love Penelopiad as much as Atwoods other books but I do agree that it was pretty humorous especially her interactions with Helen.

I already had The Thirteenth Tale on my TBR, but your review made me bump it up the list!

Are you planning on getting Atwood's new book, The Year of the Flood? Oryx and Crake was my least favorite of her work so far but I love her so much I bought the new follow up novel out of pure loyalty.

I haven't heard of it. I've only read a couple of Atwood's works: A Handmaid's Tale and The Penelopiad. I'll definitely read her again, but I'm not sure what should be next. Maybe The Robber Bride?

Read the Blind Assassin and Alias Grace first. I didn't love The Robbery Bride, I mean it's good but I really loved the first two I mentioned. Cat's Eye is also good. I would avoid Surfacing unless you really enjoy old style feminist literature.

Book 39: Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading by Lizzie Skurnick (2009)
Information: Non-fiction, Reading, Memoir, 424 pages
Read: September 25, 2009 - September 30, 2009
Rating: ★★★1/2



I first heard about this book from an NPR interview with the author (Talk of the Nation?). From the back cover:

"Remember that book you read at that time in your life when everything seemed to be going crazy - the one book that brought the world into focus and helped soothe your raging teenage angst?"

As someone who once ate nothing but baked potatoes with salt for a full day while pretending to be Laura Ingalls in The Long Winter and shoved Flowers in the Attic into my mattress to hide it from my mother, I figured this book would be right up my alley. I enjoyed most of the essays, but some were repetitive after awhile (did it really need two entries on Clan of the Cave Bear?),and I only skimmed the entries of the books I had not read. If you read and loved A Wrinkle in Time, The Secret Garden, The Cat Ate My Gymsuit, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Jacob Have I Loved, The Bridge to Terebithia, Flowers in the Attic, or ANYTHING by Judy Blume - then this book is worth a least a skim.

A small critique: the book includes contributions by Meg Cabot , Laura Lippman, Cecily von Ziegesan, and Jennifer Weiner - but it's not easy to quickly identify which contributions they are.

I used to be a big Judy Blume reader in my tween days. I haven't read too many of the other titles you mention in your review but this sounds like an interesting collection anyway. Another one for the TBR :)

I loved almost all of those books, so it looks like I'll have to read Shelf Discovery!

Book 40: The Secret Summer(Original Title: Baked Beans for Breakfast by Ruth Chew (1974)
Information: Fiction, Young Adult, 128 pages
Read: October 15, 2009 - October 19, 2009
Rating: ★★★★



This book was handed down to me as a preteen from some older cousins and somehow I lost track of it over the years and wasn't able to recall the title. For years I searched on and off and FINALLY mountebank over at the Name That Book group was able to help me out based on a few details:

"It was about a brother and sisters whose parents go away during summer vacation and leave them with an awful baby-sitter who wants to feed them stewed tomatoes all the time. They run away to go camping at their traditional family spot - buying Steno gear and such.... and camp out on an island..... They eventually find some old woman's house - they clean her attic to earn some money and then when they are found out they get to stay with this woman for the rest of the summer."

It was worth the $15 dollars I paid on Amazon to get this book back - reading it again was like time traveling back to visit my ten-year-old self.

Book 38: True Mom Confessions by Romi Lassally (2009)
Information: Non-fiction, Parenting, 288 "pages"
Read: September 10, 2009 - September 12, 2009
Rating: ★★



I forgot where I heard about this book - maybe a parenting magazine? First, I'm happy to say that I didn't buy it - it was a from the library.
My first complaint: some of these "confessions" are rather silly.
My second: there is only one entry per page - what a waste of space! This could have been a pamphlet.

Not worth the time to read or the money to buy. May be worth perusing if you aren't paying for it.

Aahh...I should mention that the "book" is a compilation from the website truemomconfessions.com.

What are the confessions like?

Well....not that memorable since I can't recall much! Things like letting the dog eat a kid's throw-up rather than cleaning it up in the middle of the night....calling in sick but still pretending to go to work in order to have some time off...cheating on their spouse (those were rather disturbing, really). They were only a line or two long - one per page. It really could have been a pamphlet. But... maybe worth checking out of the the library for 15 minutes of a chuckle or two.

I was just curious because of your review. : ) I'm not a mother (and it seems, at this rate, I will never be) so I don't really relate to these topics.

Book 42: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (1970)
Information: Fiction, Young Adult, 160 pages
Read: October 30, 2009 - November 1, 2009
Rating: ★★★★★



Hearing the author of Shelf Discoveries talk about this book made me want to read it again and I'm so glad I did. Although a few things seemed dated (who wore a pad with a BELT?), the themes and adolescent struggles are so universal that it's no surprise young girls still love this book. (I do hear that a newer version has updated a few things to keep it relevant.) Another "stepping back in time" book from my past.

It's a little disappointing to hear that the book has been updated but if it means another generation of girls will fall in love with it, I can't complain too much (depending on what those updates are). I used to LOVE this one and Starring Sally J. Freidman as Herself. Brings back a lot of good, and awkward, teenage memories :)

Is that the one where Sally lies a lot, ends up going to Tarrytown over the summer, and gets stuck in a dumbwaiter? (It's odd the things you remember from your childhood books!)

Book 43: The Hemingses of Monticello (Audio) by Annette Gordon-Reed (2008)
Information: Non-fiction, History, Audio
Read: September 15, 2009 - November 4, 2009
Rating: ★★★★★



This is was a terrific book. It's not just about the enslaved family living at Monticello and the Sally-Thomas relationship, but about the institution of slavery, small pox, the predicaments of women in the society at the time, and so many more things. My commute was a delight knowing I could immerse myself in that world and learn something new. This book completely obliterated for me many of the (mostly unconscious) assumptions I had about that time period. For example, I know think "enslaved person" rather than "slave", and realize that many of the Mamie, plantation slave images come from a much later time in American history, and that black Americans had MORE rights in the 1790s than in the 1850s. Yes, it's a bit long-winded, but well worth it.

Books 45 & 48: The Hunger Games & Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (2008/2009)
Information: Fiction, Young Adult, Science Fiction
Read: November 26, 2009 - December 7 & December 16-23, 2009
Rating: ★★★★★, ★★★★1/2





Awesome books - both of them! Essentially, the plot involves a post-apocalyptic future in the U.S. where citizens from the 12 conquered districts must send two of their teenagers (a boy and a girl) to the capital to fight to the death live on t.v. The second is just slightly less juicy than the first - but that's pretty typical of middle books. Waiting until September for the third is going to be tough.

I've just bought The Hunger Games - with so many people singing its praises it might have to be my next read now the chaos of Christmas is nearly over! Sounds like a good one to curl up with one of these winter days.

It is! And it's the perfect book to read in between some heavier tomes - a great "palate cleanser", so to speak.

It's looking good for reaching 50! I do hope you are planning to continue to chronicle your reading in 2010--new and old books. I really appreciate your reviews.

Book 46: A Christmas Carol (Audio-performed by Orson Welles & Lionel Barrymore) by Charles Dickens
Information: Fiction, Audio
Read: December 8, 2009 - December 9, 2009
Rating: ★★★1/2



I'm really hoping that this audio version was abridged from the book because it was a bit disappointing. I was hoping for more somehow. Perhaps the plot has gotten so jumbled up in my mind with all the versions - Disney with Mickey, Scrooged, etc... that I think it's different than what is actually written. I'll read it next year instead. (The performances were excellent however...)

Book 35: Eggs by Jerry Spinelli (2008)
Information: Fiction, Young Adult
Read: August 12, 2009 - August 12, 2009
Rating: ★★★



I love Jerry Spinelli, but this was disappointing. It wasn't bad, just a lot like his other books. Pseudo-orphan hooks up with quirky character...... I'd rather reread Maniac Magee or Stargirl again.

Books 49 & 50: "Serials" (Short Story) by Katie Williams and "Pride and Prometheus" (Short Story) by John Kessel (2009)
Information: Fiction, Fantasy
Read: December 24, 2009 - December 29, 2009
Rating: ★★★



"Serials" had an interesting premise (rampant serial killers everywhere-and sort of funny) and I liked the author's clever use of footnotes, but that's about it. "Pride and Prometheus" was about Mary Bennett meeting up with Dr. Frankenstein. A bit like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but much shorter with some interesting insights into what the characters might be doing about 9 years after P&P ends.

HOORAY!!!! I DID IT!!!!!!!

Congratulations!

Congratulations! That is particularly an achievement with a new baby in the house!

Thank you both!
lbradf - a few of my books have some "nibbled" corners - the 7 month old is at the stage where EVERYTHING goes in her mouth! See you both in 2010!

2009 Reading Recap:
(The numbers don't always add up to 50 because either (1) I didn't have the information (2) The categories are not mutually exclusive OR (3) I can't add!)

Fiction: 32
Non-fiction: 16

Female Authors: 23
Male Authors: 23

New Authors: 35
Previously Read Authors: 13

Audio: 8
Short Stories: 4
Young Adult: 8
Classics: 3
Realistic Fiction: 8
Science Fiction: 4
Fantasy: 1
Mystery/Suspense: 2
Historical Fiction: 4
Books About Reading: 6
Novels by or about Jane Austen: 4

My Favorites of 2009
I have had a wonderful reading year! And I don't think it's a coincidence that I joined LibraryThing late last year.
Some of these coincide with my ratings, but some I'm including based on how much they've "stayed with me". They are listed within each category in the order I read them.

Top Ten Fiction
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen by Fay Whedon
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguru
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Top Five Non-fiction
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
When You Are Engulfed in Flames (Audio) by David Sedaris
The God Delusion (Audio) by Richard Dawkin
Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief by Dale McGowen
The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed

: ) congrats. I didn't make it this year but I'm looking forward to 2010.

Are you starting a new thread for 2010, Corrina? Could you post us a link on here if you do?

Good idea, ellie!

Thanks to all who've stopped by and offered comments and suggestions! I'm going to try to tackle 75 Books for 2010 - my new thread is here.

Congratulations on reaching 50! The Thirteenth Tale was one of my favourites of this year too and several others on your list on my TBR for this year. I'll be following you in 2010!

Congrats on hitting 50! I'll be following your thread in the new year!

Do you have a new thread?