Terri's 75 Challenge for 2009

I haven't actually finished a book yet this year (I know, it's already the 3rd, but there you have it), but I thought I should get my thread started. No specific goals this year outside of the 75, although I am toying with The Brothers Karamazov after reading that a group was going to read it in February. I also debated about a 999 group, but I just hate to tie myself up to categories. I do better if I just see something on my shelf or in a thread and say, "Hm, let's try this." So that's how I'll go.

Welcome, 2009! Looking forward to bonding with all of you again!

I am part of your tribe, having not yet finished a book in 2009. I have several I am reading and almost finished. Soon..... meanwhile, nice to meet you and look forward to reading what you have to say if you read The Brothers.

1. The Book of the Unknown: Tales of the Thirty-Six by Jonathon Keats. A very interesting book to start off the year. The "Author's Foreword" and "Editors' Afterword" may have been there to give the stories some semblance of reason for being, but I found them fun and interesting on their own. Just a collection of stories, fables maybe, although I'm not sure that's a just description. A fun read.

Okay, having some fun with this ticker thing. *giggle*

Welcome back tloeffler! I look forward to reading your posts again this year.

2. The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson.
Loaned to me and recommended by my friend Jim. It's kind of a hard one to categorize. A porn star is thoroughly burned in an auto accident, and is visited in the hospital by a woman who claims they have been lovers for 700 years. I enjoyed reading parts of it (I liked the interspersed stories, although they didn't seem to have a purpose till towards the end, and their purpose was kind of weird), and it was written well enough, but it just didn't seem to know where it was going. There were parts that seemed to just go on and on without being necessary to the story. I can't say I didn't like it, but I can't really recommend it either.

I brought The Gargoyle home from the library the other day. It will be interesting to see how I feel about it since I have heard so many things both one way and the other.

>7 alcottacre: I'll be very interested to know what you think of it. I had a hard time writing anything about it, because I liked it and then I didn't, and I wondered if that made it good or not so good!

3. Spilling Clarence by Anne Ursu. What a great book. A fire in a psychopharmaceutical plant sends a cloud of "deletrium" over the town of Clarence. All of a sudden, people start remembering. But remembering isn't always a good thing, even when the memories are good. A neat little treatise on how our brains probably know what they're doing when they toy with our memories. I kept thinking of an old movie, one of my favorites, "What's So Bad About Feeling Good?" A very enjoyable read.

Hi Terry..
I note you have read two books dealing with fire...
I like your description of Spilling Clarence I've never heard of this book and thus I'm adding it to my ever growing tbr pile.

You read such interesting books! Thanks for your well-written reviews.

I hadn't noticed the fire thing, but you're right. Hmm. Maybe because it's been so cold lately...

I have no idea where I found Spilling Clarence but I know it's been on my TBR list for 5+ years. And I'm not sure why all of a sudden I checked the library for it, but the other day, I did, and it was there, and I got it and read it. Very, very glad I did!

I've added Spilling Clarence to my TBR pile as well. It sound different and very interesting.

#9: I will jump on the Spilling Clarence bandwagon, too!

For some reason, Spilling Clarence is ringing loads of bells for me - I think it was once recommended and I wasn't near enough to my wish list to add it. Thanks for bringing it back to light!

4. 1066 and All That by Walter Carruthers Sellar and Robert Julian Yeatman. TadAD mentioned this on sjmmcreary's thread, and it sounded fun, and my library had it, so I got it and read it. I've been awfully spontaneous this year for someone with so many books to read. Anyway, this was a lot of fun. The history of England, probably just like I remember it. Funny thing, though. On my (infrequent)breaks at work, I am reading Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States by Dave Barry, and it is in much the same style: highlights of American history, silly questions at the end of each chapter. Unlike Queen Victoria, I am amused.

Terri, I'm jealous - my library doesn't have it and so I've submitted an ILL request. Only one public library in the state (Jefferson City) shows it available, so I'm curious how you found it locally (You're not in Jeff City, are you?). Maybe you got a different edition than I'm requesting (1993, I think).

Anyway, it sounds like it will be worth the trouble - I'm looking forward to it. I've seen the Dave Barry book you mentioned, but didn't pick it up. If 1066 works out, I may look for it again.

Spontaneous is about the only way I read. For me to plan ahead and schedule books to be read is the surest way not to get any of those books read. I can decide on a few books that I want to do, but mostly I am at the whim of whatever crosses my path during the year!

I'm in St. Charles, actually, and I found one copy at the Kathryn Linnemann branch of the St. Charles City/County Library. It's definitely not the 1993 edition--it's part of the 26th printing in March of 1962! There is even one of those ancient pockets on the front page with a "date due" card in it, with the last date being November 12, 1969! It made it a lot more fun to read.

I agree about the scheduling books to read. I try to do it, but I always wind up finding something else to tickle my fancy and getting sidetracked. I've read some of the best books that way! Last year when I had a 3-week medical leave, I had my son choose 5 random numbers between 1 and 650, and I counted out those books on my LibraryThing library and read whatever they were. I ended up reading (and really enjoying!) some books that probably would have been shoved to the side. Good times!

I love getting those old books with the card pockets still inside! Sometimes, they have a different name stamped, too, as our library system has evolved by merging several smaller libraries together over the years. I noticed that there were several editions of that book, so I asked them just to request the most recent - but I'd rather have an older one than none at all.

What a fun way to choose books to read - sometimes I think it would almost be worthwhile to have an extended illness or medical absence, just to have the opportunity to read for hours each day. Almost.

5. Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States by Dave Barry. I've had this book at work for quite some time, reading a chapter whenever I could swing a lunch break. I made quite a spectacle of myself. Dave Barry is one of those authors who makes me laugh out loud. This particular take on history, as I mentioned above, is reminiscent of 1066 and All That except across the ocean. Funny, funny, funny.

6. Lizzie by Frank Spiering. Boy, this book made me mad. Being one of the I-really-don't-think-Lizzie-did-it folks, I was intrigued about the idea that Emma may have done it. But the only shred of evidence he provided was his own opinion. Not even a little bit of solid proof. Yet the author touts himself as having solved the mystery. I'm glad I read it, because I really do just absorb everything about this incident, but the insolence of this guy just burned me up. Okay, I'm better now. Sheesh.

#20: OK, now tell us what you really think of it . . .

Your experience with Lizzie reminds me of my reading of The Incredible Mrs. Chadwick in December. The author begins by telling us that there is no record of the first 13 years of Chadwick's life and then proceeds to 'invent' the first 13 years for her, including Chadwick seducing her (female) teacher at around 11 years of age and then gulling a 36-year-old man in return for sexual favors at approximately 13 years of age. There is no evidence that these things ever happened (by the author's own admission), yet here they are in a biography! Absolutely criminal. If I could rate a book lower than 1/2 star, I would.

#20 I hope you'll post a review, or at least a rating. When I look at the book page, there are no reviews and the only ratings are 4 and 4.5 stars. With no evidence to the contrary, it LOOKS like a great book!

How on earth does Mr. Spiering figure that Emma carried the murders off? I have always understood that Emma was away from home visiting friends, 3 towns away! Today it would be no problem, but then?

Oh, that's easy. She just SAID she went to visit friends, but didn't, then came back and parked her carriage in front of the house, murdered the Bordens (with Lizzie covering for her), then left again. He says no one ever questioned the friend she visited, so obviously she must not have been there. I've read a lot about this incident, and although I have no idea who did or didn't do it, most of the books I read at least have some kind of evidence or reasoning. This one: blechh!

7. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. I listened to this on my li'l MP3 player at work. It was good, though inconsistent. I really enjoyed the stories (gosh, I say that a lot. I must like stories) about the history of the Sarajevo Haggadah, but some of the parts where she got into the main character's life got a little dull, and I found myself having to back up and listen to them again. The reading was good, except for the accents. They were kind of annoying. But overall, I'm glad I listened to it. Those stories, you know...

>22 sjmccreary: Can I write a review of a book I don't own? (thank goodness I didn't buy it!) I can't figure out how to do it if I can. Maybe if anyone chooses the "conversations" they can connect to my gentle words above...

I think you have to have the book in your library in order to write a review. Some people only want books they own in their libraries, some put everything they read, whether they own it or not. Depends on how you treat books you read but don't own.

some great mentions; I'm adding Spilling Clarence to my list also! thanks

I just have to send out a great big THANK YOU to all of you in the 75 Group. I have somehow managed to lose the flash drive that had my TBR worksheet on it (titles, authors, library availability, who recommended and when), containing over 400 books. Gone. Although I am eternally optimistic (and praying daily to St. Jude, patron of impossible causes) that I will find it soon, I feel compelled to start a new list. But how will I remember all the really great books on it? Thanks to all of you, I can go to your posts, look at your Touchstone Works on the right side, and recreate the bulk of my list! This has been a God-send to me, because I was absolutely sick at all the good books I was afraid I'd forget. I feel much better now. So again, THANKS to all of you for the fabulous recommendations, and for the tool to bring my list back to life!

awww that is awfull to loose :-(
I hope you find it, in the meantime you can start to make your new (extended) TBR with this group and last years group...

#29: Terri, I am so sorry about your flash drive. I am glad that LT gives you some resources so that you can back track somewhat to recreate the list. In the meantime, I will be glad to make all kinds of suggestions for reading material, lol.

>29 tloeffler: what a mess!! That kind of thing happening to my booklists is what brought me to LT in the first place. Sorry.

>29 tloeffler:: What a sinking feeling that must have been. In a way I am grateful to be technology-challenged. I just have to keep up with my notebook with my many lists of books in it. Hope you can rescue your list out of Cyberspace somehow. :-)

The good news is, in just an hour on LT just going through your threads and checking out the Touchstone works, I have already found 50 books that I know were on the list, and I haven't even started on 2008 yet! And if the list ends up shorter, then there's a better chance I'll get them all read! But I highly doubt that's going to happen. I suspect I'll be back up to 450 in no time. Especially with the help of all my LT friends!

8. The Divide by Nicholas Evans. I read this for my book discussion group. I did not enjoy it. It starts out fine, with the discovery of a body and the family's reaction to it, but then it goes back and recreates the family's entire life, to no real purpose. I admit to having a bias against novelizations of the slow demise of a marriage. First wives are generally painted with a broad stroke that usually isn't very fair. And it just took forever to get to the victim's story, and then the end was just too pat. Several of the ladies in my book group will like this book, so I can't squelch it completely, but it did not appeal to me at all.

ETA: don't use my touchstone to look at the book. It takes you to a completely different book. Weird.

Message 20
Hi Terry
I've been out of touch and today is the first time I've had time to read some of the threads and posts.
I can see that you really did not like the Frank Spiering book. He did sound quite pompous didn't he!
Like you, he didn't convince me that Emma did it.

By the way, I like your reviews and the way you express your opinions about the books you read.

Message 29..sorry to hear of this loss and glad you have been successful in gaining back some of the info. lost.

Linda, Welcome back! I hope you had a great time.
Gee, am I that obvious about my opinions? (kidding--I'm not particularly subtle about anything!) Wouldn't it be fun to be able to know who did it?

I have to laugh--there were TONS of files on that drive, and the only one I'm worried about is my silly list of books I want to read someday. It's great to be among people who know how utterly devastating that is to me!

9. Call of the Wild by Jack London. I cannot believe I have never read this book. What a great story! I never imagined I would enjoy this, but I did. A lot! Amazing how he got into the dog's brain, and, having my own dogs with their own personalities, the thoughts he gave Buck were so realistic. I just can't say enough about it. It's short; if you've never read it, you should.
Connected Story: Our Library District chose this book for The Big Read in February, where they want everyone in the county to read the same book. Out of the million copies that they had, all of them were out and on reserve. And for whatever reason, this mother of 3 sons did not have a single copy in her house. Thanks again to LT! Because I had the foresight several years ago to convince my nephew to join LT and catalogue his books (check him out: BeaverMeyer), I was able to peruse his library and discover that he owned a copy, which he promptly loaned to me. Thanks, Beave! I'll buy my own copy now.

Well, here are the results of my Book Quiz (thanks, stasia!). I wish...

10. Not Quite What I Was Planning by Larry Smith. Recommended by one of you, but I'm not sure who. Thanks anyway! A fun little book, maybe too short to count, but I read long books too, so it should work itself out. Some of these really didn't seem to qualify as memoirs, but some were riotous. I wrote my own ("Mostly did all the right things") and I am forcing my co-workers to do the same. Good fun.

11. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer. I listened to the audio book. I probably enjoyed this more than any book I've read in a long time. I'm sure I would have liked reading it, but listening was awesome, and I'm glad I did it that way. It brought to mind another of my favorite audiobooks, 84, Charing Cross Road.

tloeffler: I'm so sorry about the loss of your list! Like Donna828, I'm very technology-challenged. In fact, this is the first semester that I'm keeping my gradebook on Excel instead of using an actual book, and I have to say that I'm terrified of losing the data somehow or other!

Well, you don't have to be technology-challenged or technology-capable to simply lose a flash drive. Nothing technological about it--I know it's in my house somewhere, or else it landed in the garbage. It's a matter of being memory-challenged more than anything else!

But thank you all for the kind thoughts. You'd be surprised (or maybe you wouldn't) at how quickly I'm replenishing my new worksheet with books to read!

12. The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story by Lemony Snicket. I probably shouldn't count this, but I'm going to any way. I was trolling through posts earlier today, and saw this on the list of Aether Cowboy. I couldn't resist the title, and I love Lemony Snicket books, so I went to the library after work. One of our county libraries has just undergone an amazing remodeling, and it is an awesome place. So I went there, took the book off the shelf, plopped into a comfy recliner, and just read the book right there. I don't think I've ever done that before, and it was fun. Only took me 15 minutes, but an awesome experience.

I have to ashamedly admit it: I... still... haven't read The Brothers Karamazov :(
My sister did, some 20 years ago (we're in our mid 30's), and raved about it.
So I think I'll join in and do it this year. Then we'll discuss it ; )

PLEASE don't be ashamed. Because then I'd have to be ashamed too, and there are too many other things to be guilty about! I remain intimidated by the book on the stand, but I will be stronger, knowing I'm not alone!

>44 tloeffler:: I have yet to read either Lemony Snicket Christmas-related story, and I am sorry for it. I also love his books, and I heard that this and The Lump of Coal are hilarious and well-written. Glad to hear it's true! ...and your library sounds lovely. I haven't been to mine yet (just moved here) but I'm hoping with (perhaps futile) hope that there will be large, plushy, comfortable chairs...

Ooh dk -- I do hope you're settling in well, finding stores, docs et al. It can be such a drag! Bon courage.

>47 dk_phoenix:: my sister-in-law bought my son The Lump of Coal for Christmas and it is fabulous. There's a great line in there about the Lump of Coal, "like many people who believed themselves to be artists, dressed entirely in black" (I'm paraphrasing, I'm sure he put it better).

ETA: I kept losing my flash drive so I tied it to a huge bottle-opener keyring and now find it much harder to lose. Less portable, admittedly.

#47, 48 Whenever we move, the library is always the 2nd thing I have to find (after the grocery store, and maybe the hardware store) - before less important things like doctors and dry cleaners and fast food joints. Otherwise, it just isn't home.

Call of the wild is one of my favorites too, and glad you join the ever growing group who liked The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society :-)

48/50: Thanks suslyn! It's been a process, sometimes I just drive an hour to the next city because I know where things are there and can't be bothered to find it here... I know, it's ridiculous, but sometimes I just need a little taste of the familiar. But I'm slowly finding things... last night my husband drove me to the library for the first time and said "Okay, you can take books out... but one strike and you're out, agreed?", referring to my terrible, terrible habit of borrowing books and forgetting to return them, thereby racking up enormous late fees in the process... what can I say, I like to keep books! I don't do it on purpose, but I blame my subconscious for forcing me to forget... LOL!

>49 FlossieT:: I will have to stop at the library this weekend and read A Lump of Coal. Unfortunately, it's "out" at the good library, so I'll have to go to one of the others. We have the greatest library system in the world: 13 branches in the county within a 30-minute drive and 4 within a 5-10 minute drive, so if a book is out at one branch, it's likely to be at another! I'll have to find something large and clunky to attach my next flash drive to. Sigh.
>50 sjmccreary:. I've never moved out of the same county, so I always know where all of the libraries are. Just last night at my mother's house, we were all comparing our library cards, and we all still have the same cards we had in 1986!

13. Uncivil Liberties by Calvin Trillin. A collection of his newspaper columns from the late 70's, early 80's regarding the politics of the time. Hilarious. He has such a deadpan way about him that just keeps me giggling. And it was kind of fun to read "old" history and compare his comments on what happened then with the way things have turned out now! He's another one of those authors who could probably make me laugh reading his grocery list. I met him once and have enjoyed his writing double since then.

>54 tloeffler:: I read one or two Trillins a year. He's one of the best humorists we have going. His Travels with Alice is one of my favorite books of its type. I even like his fiction (e.g. Tepper Isn't Going Out)—something that happens rarely with me...I rarely find an essayist whose novels appeal to me.

14. PS, I Love You by Ceclia Ahern. A nice enjoyable read, about a young widow whose husband had left her 10 instructional letters to open once a month after his death. It was a good premise, and I think she worked it well, but it was a little inconsistent. Some parts were written better than others, but overall, I'm glad I read it.

>55 TadAD: Tad, I've had Tepper Isn't Going Out on my list for ages. You've convinced me to hit the library tonight! Glad to know another Trillin fan. I really think he's underrated because he is so low-key and deadpan, but I've never read anything from him I didn't like. I'll have to read Travels with Alice too. I read About Alice last year, I think, and came away wishing someone would write a book like that about me after I died. Wonderful story!

15. Tepper Isn't Going Out by Calvin Trillin. Not only did I go to the library for this one, I brought home 5 others. We'll have a couple of laughing weeks. Loved it. Tad, I think the reason you liked it when you don't normally like novels by essayists is that it sounded almost autobiographical! I could see Trillin in Tepper's behavior through the whole thing, and I enjoyed it immensely!

Hi Terry

I've never heard of Calvin Trillin, so thanks for your comments about Tepper Isn't Going Out.

16. Obliviously On He Sails by Calvin Trillin. Subtitled "The Bush Administration in Rhyme." Whether you agree with his politics or not, there is no debating that he is a fabulous poet, maybe not in the classical sense, but all of his poems have perfect meter, and he has an incredible way with words. Good stuff.

>57 tloeffler:: You're probably right. Tepper could have been Trillin.

>58 Whisper1:: Linda, definitely try him. He's hysterical.

Tad

will do! thanks.

>56 tloeffler: I haven't read P.S. I Love You, but I saw the movie (Hillary Swank, Harry Connick Jr.). While the movie was just so-so, the music was good - it was the first time I've ever bought a move soundtrack album (or rather, downloaded from iTunes).

17. The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Wow. Probably one of the most powerful, saddest, optimistic, and all-around fabulous books I have ever experienced. I listened to the audio book narrated by Tom Stechschulte, which was a wonderful way to experience it. Scary because it's a world that may not be too terribly far away, but heartening because of the "good guys" who carry the fire. Just wow.

Terri
That's quite an affirmation! I'll add The Road by Cormac McCarthy to my list.

>63 tloeffler: - The Road was amazing, wasn't it! So far, it is my top read of the year!

The movie version of the book should be out this year sometime......Viggo Mortenson as the father.

I have a copy of The Road in my TBR pile. Maybe I'll bump it up and read it this weekend. It's getting great reviews here on LT.

Wow, a movie version. That's an interesting thought. I don't go to too many movies, but I'll probably see that one.

18. My World--and welcome to it by James Thurber. The first part of the book was vintage Thurber and hilarious. The second part was more about his travels in Europe, and, though it had some funny parts, mostly it was a little poignant. His travelling appeared to have taken place between the First and Second World Wars, and it was interesting to read, knowing what happened after 1938.

Terri..
I confess that I've never read any of Thurber's works. I like your description of My World--and Welcome to it. Would you recommend I start with this book, or is there another one that would be better to begin the Thurber journey?

I honestly have to say, Linda, that I don't think it matters how you read his books. He has that wonderful deadpan humor that keeps me rolling on the floor. His books include his illustrations, which are mostly line drawings of dogs and people. A lot of LTer's have recommended The Wonderful O, which I haven't read yet, but mean to very soon. My personal favorite so far is Let Your Mind Alone!, billed as "The Ultimate Debunking of the Inspirational How-To Books." I was stunned at how timely it was, considering the essays were originally printed in The New Yorker in the mid-30s. I laughed and laughed. I don't think you could go wrong with anything by James Thurber!

Thanks Terri

Having worked at a retreat center in the 1970's at the high of the "human potential" movement, I think I'll start with Let your Mind Alone. The stories I could tell...gessshhh.

>71 tloeffler:: I'm reading The Thirteen Clocks at the moment and am not quite sure what to make of it, but that book sounds hysterical - I'll look out for it. Thank you!

FlossieT
I read the Thirteen Clocks last year and liked it.

19. Travels With Alice by Calvin Trillin. A fun read, although I think I like his political stuff better.

20. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I read this because it was so highly recommended by so many of you. I didn't care for it at the beginning, but as it went on, it became more and more...not intriguing, I guess, but engaging maybe? What bothers me most about books like this and The Road is not how far-fetched they are but how we just don't seem that far away from those kind of things. A little scary. Still, I enjoyed them both. Probably liked The Road better. I still have The Handmaid's Tale high on the list, as soon as I get through some "required reading."

21. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen. I listened to this on my li'l MP3 player. It was read fabulously by Karen White. A little fluff, a little magic, a happy ending--it was pretty much a great book to listen to at work when the tasks get tedious. Very enjoyable!

#76: Since you liked Allen's The Sugar Queen, I also recommend Garden Spells by her.

I don't have any Thurber in my library. I think I'm missing out.

#77: Silly girl. I think you're the one who recommended The Sugar Queen to me last year after I read Garden Spells and loved it!

#78: Jadebird, you ARE missing out. For someone who wrote so long ago, he touches so many chords, and keeps me alternating between rolling on the floor and pondering the universe!

Okay, playing catch-up. I actually sat in the library again and read The Lump of Coal by Lemony Snicket the other day. I won't count it, because I counted The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming and between the two of them, they probably aren't even a whole book. Still, I laughed and laughed.

22. Blessings by Anna Quindlen. I re-read this for my book discussion group. One of my very favorite books. A newborn baby is left on the steps of the garage apartment of a young man working on the estate of an elderly woman. Blessings is the story of this young man's behavior after finding the child, and the transformations the child unleashes in the young man and the elderly woman. I've read this book twice, and could read it a dozen more times. By turns sad, happy, nostalgic, and retrospective, the book doesn't always progress the way you want it to, but it progresses along the way of the world.

23. My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor. I heard about this book on porchreader's thread, although I listened to the audiobook, read by the author. On the one hand, it was kind of fun to hear the excitement in her voice when she was talking about the anatomy of the brain (she loves what she does); on the other hand, her voice had a tendency to get annoying after a while. The anatomy can get a little boring, but it was fascinating to learn about different parts of it. And she got a little preachy and new-ageish at times. Overall, I'm glad I read it, but I can't really call it a good read. Wow, I'm sounding pretty wishy-washy myself. Oh, well. It's my thread.

Terri
I agree with you regarding Blessings. It is such a wonderful book!

My local library had the Leomony Snicket book The Lump of Coal and I didn't check it out. Now, after reading about your laughter, I will be sure to do so.

Smiles to you. I hope you are well. I'm having a hard time keeping up with all the posts, but don't want to miss yours.

Thanks, Linda! I have given up on trying to read ALL the posts, but I do make sure to get to yours (even though it seems to grow exponentially!). By the way, on your recommendation, I picked up From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler at the library when I was there. And now I see you have more of her books on the list! I noticed in my copy that it mentions a first book called Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth. I'm afraid I won't be able to resist that title! I also have Kira-Kira in my car CD player. Another fabulous recommend from you!

I hope you are feeling better. I've been thinking about you!

#79: Sorry, Terri. I guess I should make a list of what book I recommended to whom :)

24. Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata. Recommended so very famously by my friend
Whisper1! I listened to the audio book. Although the prejudice and poverty were consistent underlying themes, I found them to be overshadowed by the closeness of the children, and how they genuinely loved and cared for each other. Katie grows so much through the book, and even though I shed a few tears, I found it to be a great read. It kind of begs the question again, though: What makes a book a "young adult" book?

>84 tloeffler:: What does make a book a Young Adult book? I've been pondering that ever since I read The Book Thief.

Terri
I'm glad, and not surprised, that you liked kira kira (the touchstones rarely work on this book). Thus far it is my top read for 2009.

I agree with you regarding the conundrum of how to define a YA book. A few months ago, as I headed to the YA section of my local library, the librarian said "Be careful, you will find magic, realism, adult life situations, fears, tears, joy and sorrow in there."

Funny you should mention The Book Thief, Donna, because I read an interview with Markus Zusak once, where he said that he didn't set out to write an adult book or a young adult book, but just wrote what he wanted. Apparently it came out in Europe as an adult book, but the publishers in the US decided to promote it as a young adult book. It's a shame if the publishers get to decide (although I guess they have to put it where they can best promote it). Anyway, it seems arbitrary to me. I don't know if I'd classify either of these as young adult (unless, of course, that would make ME a young adult, and then, well, that works for me).

And Linda, I think my response to the librarian may have been "Hm. Sounds like the real world!"

Over here The Book Thief got an YA award, but I found it in the adult section of the bookstore. I think it can be both, loved the book anyway ;-)

25. Feeding a Yen: Savoring Local Specialties, from Kansas City to Cuzco by CalvinTrillin. Another book of columns, all dedicated to food. I wish I were as adventurous an eater as he is. It was great to read about obscure local specialties from all over the world, especially when written by someone who loves food as much as he does! A fun book!

26. Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs. Someone left this book behind and someone else put it on my desk "because I know you like to read." Well, I don't like to read everything, but I read this. I can't say I hated it, but it was kind of irritating for a reader like me. Everything works out perfectly, the writing was inconsistent and I found quite a few errors, and it just didn't play right for me. I still finished it, but into the donation box it goes.

#88--I agree with you Anita. It should be both. I guess there are reasons for having to classify them, but I find myself wishing they were all lumped together. I also loved it!

I have to know - what was the obscure local food speciality from KC? Some kind of BBQ?

Of course! Arthur Bryant's, to be exact, with a nod to Oklahoma Joe's. I don't know how up-to-date it is; the copyright is 2003. But it was the most ordinary food in the whole book! Fun comment: "When I've been asked if I can make any recommendations for someone who lives in New York and wants a taste of Kansas City-style barbecue, I always say, 'Catch a cab to Queens, get off at LaGuardia Airport, and fly to Kansas City."

27. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg. I did enjoy this book. It was a fun, short read, and just what I needed this week. Thanks, Whisper!

#91 I was betting on Gates instead of Arthur Bryants, which I don't care for. I'll bet there are hundreds of different places all over town, most are just neighborhood joints, and everyone has their favorites. I've never eaten at Oklahoma Joe's. Sometimes in our local news they run a story about someone who came into town for the day, picked up carryout, and took it back home. One guy flew in from far away, got food from 6 or 8 different places, and flew back home for a party, so that quote isn't so far fetched!

#92

You are welcome Terri. Actually (Marcia) allthesedarnbooks is the one who told me about this wonderful book.

I spent the weekend away without a computer and managed to get quite a few books read!

28. Deadline Poet Or, My Life As a Doggerelist by Calvin Trillin. I think Trillin is at his best when he is writing about politics, particularly when he's doing it in rhyme. He has such a fabulous sense of meter!

29. Good Dog. Stay. by Anna Quindlen. A story about her dog, short, sweet, a little sad, but not the tear-jerker of Marley and Me.

30. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. Recommended by a lot of people over the last few years, so I thought I'd at least try the first one. Listened to the audiobook. It was entertaining, but it didn't make me want to continue on in the series. Best of all, it was read by Nathaniel Parker, Inspector Lynley from the BBC series, whom I have an incredible crush on.

31. On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. A good book, maybe not great, but good. Made me think of all the times in our lives when one word or action would have changed everything. Short and kind of sad.

32. The Wonderful O by James Thurber. Not my favorite Thurber, but still good.

33. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn. I really enjoyed this book! Recommended by a lot of you, I finally read it. Although it was fun and amusing, there was an Animal-Farm-esque feel to it, an undercurrent of "it could happen, you know." Hopefully not! I tried to describe it to my family tonight (brothers & sisters) and they acted like I was touched in the head. Maybe I was adopted?

Terri
Maybe I was adopted?..This is a feeling I have often when I'm having discussions with my sisters. I laughed right out loud when I read your comment!

And, regarding your observation of the undercurrent of "it could happen, you know", I also had the same feeling when reading Ella Minnow Pea. And, in fact, thought of this after reading about the controversy of the Newbery Award winning book The Power of Lucky. Some librarians refused to stock this book because, oh horror, it contained the word "scrotum."

#95: Congratulations on the weekend reads! Looks like you had a good time.

34. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. I don't know how to characterize this book. I can't say "enjoyable" because I cried most of the way through it. Can't call it a "tear-jerker" because I really didn't feel manipulated into crying. Realistic? Well, told from a dog's point of view, it can't really be. And yet I can't remember when I felt so good about a book, especially when so much of it made me sad. Maybe it was the characters: I can imagine my dog thinking sometimes, Denny was just an ordinary guy doing the best he knew how, no one really behaved too much out of the ordinary. I loved this book, and I can't say why. This is weird.

#98 I really liked it too! I especially liked that it was from the dog's point of view.

Terry

Weird is a recommendation I understand. I'm adding this one to my tbr pile.

#98: I read The Art of Racing in the Rain just last week, and while I did not feel as strongly about it as you did (funny how some books just resonate with some people and not others), I did like it. I thought the narration from Enzo's point of view was very well done.

35. Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter. I feel like an ogre because I didn't like this book. How could anyone not like a book about a girl who spends 9 of her first 12 years in foster care, being abused by incompetent foster parents, being moved frequently, separated from her mother and her brother? Well, I hope it is possible to be in favor of foster care reform without liking this book. I don't doubt that every experience in the book took place, but I think what bothered me the most is that her mother's behavior was at least as abominable as the foster parents' behavior was, yet she continued to defend her mother, even to the point of keeping her last name. And the way she behaved when she was finally adopted, well, I'm afraid I'd have sent her back. I just found her entire attitude very off-putting. Kudos for the work she's done and what she continues to do, but I found no inspiration in this book.

I shan't count it, but I have to include it. Christmas Every Day by William Dean Howells. A VERY embarrassing story about this: I was at my Book Discussion Group tonight (see above: Three Little Words), and I couldn't find my copies, so I emptied out my bag and found an envelope with my name on it and a book in it. A former member of our group had given it to me in November last year before she had to quit and I had never even opened it. I'm so ashamed. Inside was this book with a note that she had picked it up at a Book Fair and thought I might enjoy it. Of course I did. I'll have to send a thank you note. A very cute, quaint little book, a 1996 re-release with beautiful illustrations. I enjoyed it.

36. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. A very intense book. I had a difficult time keeping the characters straight, and throughout the book, I kept drifting, but by the end I could see where the details that were boring me were important. I liked it okay, but not as well as I thought I would.

I'm sorry you were disappointed by the book. I have heard so many good things about it. Hope your next read it better!

A Lurker :)

Thanks for visiting, Eliza! Feel free to lurk all you want. I checked out your thread and found it interesting that you are Romanian. Just this week, I received a wedding announcement from a cousin of mine, and the announcement was in two languages. I sent my son to the internet to find out what the other language was, and it was Romanian! Funny how you run across things like that together.

I do have to say that, towards the end, as everything came together, I couldn't put The Sparrow down. I just had some trouble getting to that part!

#104: I am sorry you did not enjoy it more as well. The Sparrow made my list of memorable reads for last year. Do not give up on Russell, though, because she has some other very well-written books that are more inline with the historical fiction genre.

Chiming in on The Sparrow. I posted comments on another thread (cannot remember which one) regarding the fact that the violence was off putting for me. The book haunted me in a negative way.

Friends loved the book. I was in the minority regarding my feelings/thoughts.

I read The Sparrow about 10 years ago and didn't like it very much. I do plan to re-read it again this year because sometimes you have to read the right book at the right time to enjoy it and I want to give it another chance. My opinion may change on a second reading.

37. The River Wife by Jonis Agee. I read this with the Missouri Readers Group, and it's also on my local book discussion group's calendar later this year. I really wanted to like this book, and I really did like her style of writing. But there were too many stories, too many unanswered questions, too many superfluous characters. The stand-by-your-man parts were irritating, but I've met too many women like that in real life. I don't like it but I know it's out there. A LOT. I can't say I didn't find it interesting, just frustrating, because I'd be interested, and then *poof* we were someplace else. Kind of like watching television with a man...

38. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. I saw this on my son's bookshelf and decided to re-read it. I haven't read it since high school. Still a charming little book. I enjoyed it!

39. The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse by Robert Rankin. My Easter read for the year. A fun little sci-fi/humor/detective story that was pure silliness. I enjoyed reading it!

There's a sequel to Hollow Chocolate Bunnies that's good too - The Toyminator.

I added The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalpse to my list last year...I'll have to move it up a notch. Silliness sounds like a good thing!

Oh well, that's two folks who really didn't like The River Wife here on the 75'ers. And after I encouraged you all to read it. Sorry.

>113 blackdogbooks:. Don't feel bad, Mac. I'm not sorry I read it, just sorry that she didn't build on all the promise. A funny thing, too, after I finished it, I told my book discussion group at church that I had read it and wasn't sure they'd like it, and did they want me to pick a substitute book for that month? They all said no, that (a) just because I didn't like it didn't mean they wouldn't like it, and (b) some of our best discussions are about books we didn't like!

40. Clash of Civilizations Over An Elevator in Piazza Vittorio by Amara Lakhous. A very different, very interesting book. Each chapter is a character's ruminations on Amadeo, followed by selections from Amadeo's journal regarding that character. If I'm not mistaken, I believe this was TadAD's recommendation, for which I am grateful. A quick read, kind of like a murder mystery but presented in a unique way. I really liked it!

41. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I always feel like I'm the last one to read books that all of you have already gushed over. Oh well, I'll gush too. I really enjoyed this book also. I found it to be well-written, amusing, touching, melancholy--all in all, a very difficult book to put down. I may have to read more of his books.

#115: Clash was a Tad recommendation, Terri, so your memory is not mistaken.

Glad to hear you enjoyed The Graveyard Book!

#114 I'd be interested to know if your book group's opinion about River Wife is different than ours was here.

#117> I'll keep you posted! We don't read it until October, I think. I'm interested in what they think myself!

42. Mozart's Ghost by Julia Cameron. My notes show I got this suggestion from Whisper1. A nice bit of enjoyable fluff. Not great literature, but it didn't make me scream with irritation either, so a successful interlude.

Hi Terry
I agree with your assessment of Mozart's Ghost. It will not be one of my top reads of 2009, but it was pleasant.

I hope to read The Graveyard Book yet this month. And, like you, I added Clash of Civilizations Over An Elevator in Piazza Vittorio after reading Tad's comments. I've yet to read it and need to move it up further to the top based on your comments as well as Tads.

>120 Whisper1:. I think you will like it. It's very different from a lot of other things I've read. And I can't imagine ANYONE not liking The Graveyard Book, although I'm sure there is someone out there!

43. P is for Peril by Sue Grafton. I always like her books, although this one fell just a little short. I didn't feel like all the story lines came together as well as I would have liked. Still, I get started on one of her books and simply can't put it down. It always surprises me that I like these, because I'm usually put off by "serial" books. But I've been working on these since 1982, with a very long hiatus between when I started having kids and when they were nearly grown!

44. Cage of Stars by Jacquelyn Mitchard. I read this for my book discussion group. Mormon teenager Ronnie Swan has to sort out her feelings after the murder of her sisters. A lot of questions are raised about mental health, compassion, punishment and forgiveness. Very thought-provoking.

45. Larry's Kidney subtitled "Being the True Story of How I Found Myself in China with My Black Sheep Cousin and His Mail-Order Bride, Skirting the Law to Get Him a Transplant--and Save His Life" by Daniel Asa Rose. I got this book as an Early Reviewer. This is a hilarious and occasionally poignant story of a romp through China with Dan and Larry, trying to arrange an illegal kidney transplant for Larry, who's dying of kidney disease. Some of their exploits are so outrageous that I had to keep reminding myself that this was indeed a true story. Larry decides to kill 2 birds with one stone, and uses the trip to also meet up with his potential mail-order bride, Mary. The lessons learned, the memories dredged up, and Larry's bounces between pragmatism and irrational behavior kept me smiling through the whole book.

46. The Thirteen Clocks by James Thurber. Cute, but I think I like his essays much better than his stories.

#122: Cage of Stars looks very good and Larry's Kidney looks like a hoot, so on to the Continent they both go!

You poor thing! Like me, I'm sure your prayer every night is "Please, God, don't let me die till I've read all the books I want to read!" The bad news is, people keep writing them....

#126: Obviously the solution to the problem is to kill all the authors, rather than the lawyers (pardon me, Shakespeare). Then we would just have to keep all of the readers from turning around and trying to write :)

...and truth be told, even if everyone stopped writing books, we'd still have all these posts to catch up on. I could spend a week trying to read them all, and still not get caught up! Might as well keep the books!

#128: I could spend a week trying to read them all, and still not get caught up!

That is the reason I stay current on a daily basis. I am afraid if I ever get behind, I will never catch up, lol.

47. Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer. There was a group read of this last month, and I had the book, but other obligations prevented me from starting it in time. On several occasions, I almost returned it to the library, thinking, this really isn't my style of book. But I was unable to resist the recommendations of such august personages as Cait86, Ronincats, Caty M, Alcottacre, Allthesedarned books, and MusicMom41, so I kept it. I am SO glad I did. This was a delightful romp. It felt like Bertie Wooster and friends in a 19th Century "romance" novel, and I loved it. On the cover page of the library book, someone had written "Good, Fun." I couldn't agree more!

#130 - Friday's Child certainly was fun - I'm glad you decided to read it! I am looking forward to reading more by Heyer.

LOL and thanks for the compliment - I think you are an "august personage" too :)

Everyone else seems to be doing this, so I guess I will too, just for my own edification. I'll bet I beat 6, though...

The BBC apparently believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here:

How do your reading habits stack up? bold (*) those books you've read in their entirety, italicize (x) the ones you started but didn't finish--I'm not so hot with the HTML stuff. And if I own it and just haven't gotten to it yet (o)

*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
o7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
*8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
o10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
*11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
*13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
o14 Complete Works of Shakespeare - *read some, but not others...
*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
o20 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
*34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
*36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
*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
o43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
o44 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
o50 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
o60 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
o68 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
*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
x91 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
o99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Woo-hoo! 50%! And only one started-but-couldn't-finish.

Haven't been over in a while, but had to read your review of Friday's Child, and I've got you starred now so I won't lose you again!

48. Candide, or Optimism by Voltaire. My son had to read this for a class, and he suggested that I read it also. It was...interesting. The general theme was that "in this, the best of all possible worlds, everything that happens must be for the best." It seemed that the story existed to attempt to refute this philosophy, although it didn't. There was a lot of silliness, but I think what I took away was that, whether everything happens for the best or not, it happens, and we can look at it that way. I suspect this is what Candide means at the end when he states that "we must cultivate our garden."
I can't rave about it, but it was a surprisingly quick and easy read, and it was probably for the best that I read it!

#134 Was glad to read your comments - I've never read this before and have been curious about it. Happy to hear that it is fast and easy - I'm more confident about getting it, now.

Sandy, it's one of those books that I felt I should read sometime in my lifetime, and when my youngest son (of all people) said I should read it, I thought that was a sign. Try it. Like I said, it's not rave-worthy, but it's an interesting little book. I finished it in 2 sittings.

Sounds like a good summer vacation book - I'll give it a try.

49. Or So It Seems by Paul Steven Stone. This was a great book. It may not be for everyone, but the combination of hilarity, Eastern mysticism, reality and pathos hit me just right. It's kind of a difficult book to describe. Paul Peterson, during the course of being dragged by a female companion across her living room to her couch, reviews (with the help of the Bapucharya, spiritual leader of the Seekers for Truth) the major Milestones of his life. It's not a particularly eventful life, but we see the repercussions of decisions he has made--some good, some bad, but the point being that they ARE. Although it's not touted as being autobiographical, some of it must be, because Peterson's thoughts and emotions and reactions are so genuine. I particularly liked his (totally accurate!) descriptions of the singles dances! If you can keep your mind open and go with the flow, this is an enjoyable read!

I finished a lot of books in the last few days.

50. Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell. Read for a MO Reader's discussion.

51. Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway by Dave Barry. Dave takes on the history of the political process, from Early Human Governments to the elections in Florida in 2000, never once losing sight of the Giant Prehistoric Zucchini. The funniest part is the chapter about Florida.

52. The Search for Delicious by Natalie Babbitt. As a gift, I gave my son a LibraryThing subscription and I catalogued all the books that are still here at home. I found this among his collection, and decided to read it. It was a Scholastic Book, so I assume geared to children or young adults, but I thought it was a great read. Young Gaylen is sent out into the kingdom to poll the people and come up with what Delicious is (fried fish, pudding, apples, etc.). Of course there's a bad guy trying to create dissension, and a mermaid, and a happy ending. I really enjoyed it!

53. Einstein: His Life and His Universe by Walter Isaacson. I listened to the audiobook, read fabulously by Edward Hermann. 18 CDs--it took me well over a month. Before I read this book, what I knew about physics could have been written on my thumbnail. After I read this book, it could have been written on my palm. But this did not affect my enjoyment of this book at all. Einstein led a fascinating life, and the theories and equations were presented in such a way that, even though I didn't really understand them, it made me want to understand them. In spite of its size and subject matter, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a good biography of a very interesting person.

54. Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. This book got a lot of press here on the 75 Challenge, so I picked it up. This was an excellent thriller, taking place in Russia during the latter Stalin and early Khrushchev years. I did not realize that the killings were based on a real case. My son got out his Encyclopedia of Serial Killers and looked it up. Kudos to Smith for the way he worked that real story into the ending. Yes, it was a bit of a stretch, but it was compelling reading, and I liked it a lot.

Terri
Many on our 75 challenge have noted Child 44. Thanks for your additional comments. I have this book on my tbr pile and hope to read it this summer.

Since I am on a quest to read great YA books, I've added The Search for Delicious. I very much like your description.

#139: I am adding The Search for Delicious to the Continent, too.

I read Isaacson's biography of Einstein last year and thought he did a great job on it. Glad you enjoyed it.

I recently finished reading Child 44 and enjoyed it as well. It has sparked my interest in learning more about Stalinist Russia so I've added The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia to my TBR pile at the recommdation of several different people here on LT.

I have the Search for Delicious upstairs in my box of children's books yet to add to LT--I loved it.

>140 Whisper1:/141: Linda & Stasia, it is a little book and it took me less than half an hour to read it. Bump it up! You'll enjoy it.

>142 loriephillips:: Lorie, I'm also tempted to put The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia on my list. It looks daunting, but sounds compelling and seems highly rated.

Sometimes when I read a book like that, I become ashamed of myself because so much of this stuff was happening in the world during my lifetime, and I don't even know anything about it! Some examples: A Fine Balance and conditions in India; The Book Thief--who ever mentions the ordinary Germans during WWII? An Ordinary Man and Left to Tell about Rwanda. This is why I like getting my book ideas from other people. I may or may not like the books, but I read things I would never have considered reading before.

I just finished The Whisperers and it is one of my best reads of the year. Even though it is long, it is difficult to put down once you start it. It is not dry and academic at all, but is extremely readable, and there are families whose stories you come to intimately know.

Okay, you guys win. Onto the list it goes!

55. The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell. I think I got the idea to read something by Vowell from Tad. Good idea. This was great political humor. I listened to the audiobook read by the author, and although it took me a little while to get used to her voice, once I did, it went perfectly with what she had written. In the middle of it all, I think I learned a little history too. Good call!

#147: I have a couple of Vowell's books on the Continent. Maybe I should push them up a bit.

>147 tloeffler:: I'm glad you liked it, Terri.

56. I Am The Messenger by Marcus Zusak. Ed Kennedy's an ordinary guy who is suddenly chosen to make a difference in people's lives. I loved seeing the transition in him as he deciphered the messages and fulfilled them. A totally unbelievable fantasy, but one I really wanted to believe in, and one I enjoyed reading about. My favorite part was the last line: "I'm not the Messenger at all. I'm the Message."

I started to read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee last night, but had to stop after about 30 pages. Probably a great book, a story that needed to be told, but I just didn't think I could read 400 pages of horrible treatment of the Indians. I know how it ends, and I don't like it.

Okay, I have to share something (if anyone is reading this) hilarious. I was looking through my library's online catalog to see if any books on my list were "in stock" at the library close to work. I looked up Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and the listing for one branch said "Repair in Branch." Get it? Things Fall Apart, Repair in Branch? Well, I thought it was funny...

I also think it is funny.

Here is my funny story of the day.

Last night I took my sheltie Simon to the vet for his rabies shots..While waiting, someone gave the receptionist a plastic container that held his dog's stool sample inside.

The container was of a margarine here in the US that is called "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter."

I spontaneously laughed out loud...The waiting room was filled. People must have thought I was a loon.

I just laughed out loud when I read it! That is hilarious. I keep having to explain my library finding to everyone today. We must have a highly developed sense of humor...

highly developed sense of humor...and...A mark of intelligence?

I got a chuckle out of both these stories. I've spent the day reading Winter's Bone so I have nothing humorous to add. :-)

*giggle* Linda, that is funny. I probably would have laughed out loud and got strange looks my way too. Going to the vet is always an experience in and of itself, mind you...

Faith
It was one of those instances when I knew if I tried to explain what it was I thought was so funny, it would only make the situation worse.

But, I laughed so hard my side hurt.

Donna, do you like Winter's Bone?

Terry, I recently finished I Am The Messenger. I didn't like it as much as The Book Thief but then again, I think few books can compare to the power of The Book Thief

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is indeed a very sad, sad book.

Linda, I agree about The Book Thief. In fact, within the last week, I have loaned my copy to one of my teen nieces (a non-reader, if you can imagine! but I'm working on her) and given another copy as a gift to another teen niece. I enjoyed I Am The Messenger but it can't compare to The Book Thief.

57. The Law of Love by Laura Esquivel. This was an advance reader's edition from 1996 that I picked up at the book fair last year (or maybe the year before?). This was a very different book, and I'm not sure I can explain it. The bulk of the story takes place in Mexico City in the 23rd century. Azucena and Rodrigo, after 14,000 past lives, are Twin Souls who have finally discovered each other, only to be separated after one night. Azucena, with the help of her Guardian Angel, is simultaneously searching for Rodrigo and attempting to expose a prospective President of the Planet as the murderer that she is. The plot is very confusing, as bodies and souls are switched, and past lives swirl around. The writing is vintage Esquivel, though, and that makes it easier. The book also came with a music CD, and we are instructed throughout the book to listen to certain tracks to accompany the stunning illustrations of past lives and other significant events in the book.

58. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood. A delightful romp through The Odyssey from Penelope's perspective. It's a salute to Atwood's talent that she can write a book like this as well as a book like Oryx and Crake.

Terri
You and I share the same reading habits. I read The Penelopiad last year. I think Stasia read it recently.
I very much like your description "a delightful romp"

Here is a link to the J.W. Waterhouse painting of Penelope and the Suitors.
http://www.jwwaterhouse.com/view.cfm?recordid=36

What a beautiful painting! The colors are so brilliant. I just love how she is biting the thread with her teeth! So human! Thanks for sharing it, Linda!

To continue from above: We do seem to like many of the same books. Your name appears more often than any other on my TBR spreadsheet. I'm probably going to regret it, but I've added you to my interesting libraries and friends. I'll just have to read faster. Thanks for your fun comments all the time--I'm always excited to see a note from you on my thread!

59. Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers. I found this in a bargain bin at Borders, and although I must have known the movie was based on a book, I guess I never really thought about it. I found it to be another case of "the book is better than the movie." Sacrilege? Maybe. The book doesn't have Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, the book's Mary Poppins isn't quite so perky (possibly even bordering on the stern), Bert isn't a chimney sweep, the parents are much less visible, and there are twin babies included. But there was something warmer and more touching about the book, a bit more real-life in spite of the magic. And I liked it better.

There are four books, you know, and I agree--the Disney was quite different, much more sugary and saucy, with the character of Mary P. being much different (and more attractive).

I saw that there were additional books. Have you read them? Are they worthwhile? Sometimes an old series like that isn't worth messing with, but I did like this one, and it was short...

>166 tloeffler:: I've read Mary Poppins Comes Back as well as the first one and it was pretty good, also.

Sigh. All it takes is one positive recommendation...

Thanks, though!

YEs, the series holds up. It pretty much continues as it starts, as series of loosely connected episodes, so there is no build up to a grand finale, but just more adventures.

60. Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis. Read it for the Group Read, and still waiting patiently for the real discussion to begin.

61. Cooking With Fernet Branca by James Hamilton-Paterson. I believe that (once again) the idea for this one came from Tad. I giggled all the way through it. The story became more hilarious by being repeated from each person's point of view, and I was almost sad when they started speaking the same language! Very, very funny!

>170 tloeffler:: I particularly liked the fact that each thought the other was a lush for Fernet Branca and "humored" them by providing it. :-)

Wasn't that a hoot? I thought towards the end that I should have been counting the bottles they went through--it must have been cases!

62. Wild Things: Untold Tales From the First Century of the Saint Louis Zoo by Patricia Corrigan. The St. Louis Zoo was a major part of my growing-up years. I have memories, home movies, pictures by the score. I have always felt extremely lucky to have access to such a world-class zoo that was FREE. I remember the animal shows from the 60s & 70s and Phil the Gorilla. My kids grew up with the zoo, maybe without the animal shows, but with Phil (now stuffed), Big Cat Country, and the Jungle of the Apes. I now take my grandson and we wander through The River's Edge and see Raja, the first elephant born at the zoo, and Maia, the elephant born just days before my granddaughter. I read and enjoyed Patricia Corrigan's columns in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch years ago. So my expectations of this book were very high.
I was so disappointed.
Yes, there are some interesting stories about the founding of the zoo and the background of some of the animals. But the writing style is flat, the subject jumps around between paragraphs, the pictures don't always match the text, and (the very worst part for me), a page will all of a sudden say "Continued on page 65" and a different chapter will start on the next page. I loved the stories, I loved the pictures, but I hated the writing. So sad.

That's really too bad... sounds like they could have done so much more with it.

#173: Man, what a bummer! I hate when the expectations for a book do not live up to the book itself. I hope you have better luck with your next read, Terri!

ETA: Yes, I also read The Penelopiad recently, Linda's memory is intact. I enjoyed it, too, but not as much as I liked Oryx and Crake.

63. The Jew Store by Stella Suberman. This was the selection for our church book discussion group this month. This is not a book that I would ever have picked up on my own. In fact, I dreaded having to read it. At the risk of sounding racist (which I most assuredly am not), I was afraid of another sad book about the horrible trials a minority group has to weather. Instead, I found a truly delightful memoir. Aaron Bronson (nee Avram Droskowitz) left Russia for America, married a nice Jewish girl in New York, then headed south to Nashville. Apparently, in 1920s America, the dry goods stores in small towns were usually owned by Jews and called "the Jew store." The family moves to a small Tennessee town (Suberman has changed the name of the town and its inhabitants) and opens "Bronson's Low-Priced Store."
I think what I liked best about the book was the combination of ups and downs experienced by the family. They were part of the community, and became an integral part of the town's life. Yes, there were challenges, and they aren't glossed over, but there is always the mindset that this is how things happened at that time and place. A very enjoyable read.

>#175 Thanks for stopping by, Stasia. Hope all's well with your family.

I think the worst part about the Zoo book is that many of these were MY experiences, things that I have vivid memories of, and they were told so blandly. Maybe someone who had never experienced the Zoo would have had a different opinion about the book, but I can't help "analyzing" it colored by my past.

Which, Kath, if you're lurking about, brings me to a sudden revelation about your "star-rating" post on the 50-something thread. Maybe it isn't really possible to rate a book solely on it's merits. It's merits are going to be different depending on the "life experiences" of the rater.

Your thread is dangerous to my tbr pile. I like your description of The Jew Store and I'm adding it to the ever growing tbr pile

64. The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury. Last month, I started a LibraryThing account for all of the childrens books we've accumulated over the years, and as I've been cataloging those books, I've found a few that I've tossed on my own pile. This is one of those. Apparently, it had been made into a Hanna-Barbera cartoon at one time, and the book had a scene from the cartoon on the front. I was intrigued by a Ray Bradbury book with a cover like that.
I'm still puzzled. The book was a very good story about a group of young boys on Halloween who go to the local haunted house, and are given a trip through the history of Halloween by the house's resident. Along the way, they visit ancient Egypt, England, and Mexico, trying to save the spirit of their friend Pip while they learn the significance of their costumes. A quick read, but a rather dark story for a cartoon. I can only wonder how they pulled it off.
So thumbs up to the story, but I may have to tear the cover off of it...

>#178 I've finally figured it out, Linda. You write wonderful reviews of the books you read to entice me to read them. As long as I'm reading books you've already read, you're safe from me!

Clever, but it doesn't always work!

#176: Another one to add to the Continent!

#179: That one, too!

65. Blue Heaven by C. J. Box. A fairly intense thriller about two children who witness a murder, and have to hide out because they don't know who they can trust. I enjoy a good thriller now and again, and this was fine. If I were rating it, I'd give it 4 stars.

***POSSIBLE SPOILER***

The only bothersome thing was that the bad guys were ex-cops (this is presented fairly early on in the story, so not a real spoiler), and it always bothers me when folks who should be held to a high standard go bad. But I guess it happens.

I'll be glad when I'm done cataloging my kids' books. Last night I read Bunnicula by Deborah Howe and James Howe. I thought it was great fun, about a paranoid cat who thinks the new rabbit is a vampire, and the dog who tells the story. Then I read Ivan the Great by Isabel Langis Cusack about a boy named Robby who suddenly can't seem to make anyone believe him and his wise-cracking parrot Ivan, who teaches him about believing in himself. (All together now, "awwww..")

The funniest part? When I tried to "touchstone" Ivan the Great, the first thing that came up was One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous...

Terri
You got me again...(I'm smiling.) I've added Blue Heaven to my list.

What? Not Bunnicula???

Ah, yes, I've added Bunnicula to the list as well...

opps, Terri, I forgot to add that I noted Bunnicula is a series...

Yes, I saw that. I only have one more box of books to catalog, so if the boys don't have it, I'll have to be hitting the library! Sounds like a perfect excuse to go to the library, plop down in one of their overstuffed chairs, and spend an evening! Heaven...

66. Miss Julia Strikes Back by Ann B. Ross. Miss Julia is one of my guilty pleasures. I spend the whole time grumbling about how outrageous everyone behaves, and how outlandish the situations are, and I giggle and watch for the next book.

This week I also read 2 more books from my boys' collection. Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner. Winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, in print since 1929...I expected a great book. Maybe it was better in German, and maybe the translation I have (no date on the book anywhere, but it must be from the 70s or 80s--translated by May Massee) was absolutely ludicrous.
"We must plan some way to keep a closer watch on the man," he said. "Everybody think hard, please." So they all sat for a long time and pondered heavily." and
"Shucks, man," said the other cheerfully, "are you cross? The weather's too excellent for fighting, but it's O.K. with me."
It was like watching an old Saturday Night Live skit with the Wild and Crazy Guys or the "We want to pump...you up" gags. It did get kind of funny after a while.

And I read Ghosts Who Went to School by Judith Spearing which I expected to be stupid and was actually quite a fun little book to read.

And in between, I'm still struggling with The Brothers Karamazov. Imagine my evenings...

Then tomorrow is the last day of the Library Book Fair ($5.00 a bag). I should probably stop on the way home and get a new bookcase.

I read the Bunnicula series when my nephews (who loved them) were in the primary grades, 20 some years ago, and really enjoyed them for a children's series. How can you not love a series where one of the titles is The Celery Stalks at Midnight? I can't believe I pulled that one out of my long-term memory! And of course, vampires are big again now...

That settles it. One night this week, I'm going to the library to devour the remaining Bunnicula books. In 4 more weeks, I go back to teaching at night, and the fun will end. I'll make the most of the time I have left!

#191: I'll make the most of the time I have left!

Sounds like a great plan! I hope you get lots of reading done before your 4 weeks are up!

I'd better get a lot of reading done, because today I spent 2 hours and $15 at the Library Book Fair and came home with over 30 books!

Wish someone would have a Book Case Fair!

Don't we all? I certainly could use some bookcases!

I'm torn between wishing that my local library had book sales and being glad that they don't. What a wonderful 2 hours that must have been - hope you got some good stuff in there!

67. The Book of Phoebe by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith. I've had this book for ages, and may have read it back in the 80s, though I don't recall it. I'm trying to bop around in my shelves a little more than usual, so I picked it up.

Phoebe is pregnant, and the father is out of the picture. She decides to take a semester off from Yale and move to Paris, where she will have the baby with the help of her girlhood friend (now a star of the Folies Bergere) and give it up for adoption to a nice French couple. She falls in love with an artist, the son of wealth, and has adventures until the baby comes.
The story starts well, but then segues into reading Phoebe's teenage journal, where she tells a story, admits it's a lie, re-tells it, then finally gives the reality version. By this time I was kind of tired of her and her behavior, and I was glad to see the book end. Not horrible, but not terribly good either.

#196: OK, giving that one a pass. I hope your next read is better for you, Terri!

I probably shouldn't count this because it's a re-read of Book #11, but I'll mention it. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer. I had listened to the audiobook previously, and then I was given a paperback copy of it, which I blew off everything else for and finished in 2 sittings. Reading the book, combined with having listened to the audiobook, has bumped this up into one of my top ten reads of all time. I find the epistolary style to be perfect for this book--everything is seen from different points of view, there are enough serious letters to counteract all the exciting ones, and I can visualize all of the characters. None of them seemed over- or under-done. I loved it again!

And I did go to the library the other night, sit in an overstuffed chair by the window, and read Howliday Inn by James Howe. Another fun little read, #2 in the Bunnicula series.

68. The Dog Department by James Thurber. A hilarious collection of essays, drawings, and short anecdotes about dogs. Thurber writes about dogs like he's writing about people, and intersperses the humor with actual facts about the background of certain breeds, the training of bloodhounds, and his experiences with his own dogs' personalities. It's obvious he was a HUGE dog fan, and it's a delight to read his writing about them. Bonus: There is a "flip-book" in the lower right hand corner of a dog following a bug!

#198: I have not read that book by Thurber yet, Terri. Thanks for the recommendation.

69. The Wish Maker by Ali Sethi. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher. It's a coming of age story of a young boy in Pakistan. It was one of those books that I thoroughly enjoyed reading, but the first few chapters nearly put me off. Until the middle of the fourth chapter, nearly 100 pages in, the story jumped around so many time periods that I couldn't make any sense of it, and the conversations in the native language weren't translated. All of a sudden, though, he settled down, and the flashbacks were in chronological order, and it became riveting. I had to look up Pakistan's history after reading it to clarify several things. But even so, the book read well, and I'd have to give it 4 stars in spite of itself!

#200: One for me to be on the lookout for! Thanks for the recommendation, Terri.

And I really do recommend it, Stasia! It was so puzzling to me that I liked it so well in spite of having to re-read the first few chapters several times, that I finally concluded that maybe that's how we know "a good book" from just "a book we like." I guess we can forgive technical errors if the overall product is redeeming.

#202: I have added it to my Wishlist on PBS. I hope I enjoy it as much as you did!

70. Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell. An interesting story of a schoolteacher in the early part of the 20th century who receives an inheritance and decides to go to the Middle East, where her sister had been a missionary. She meets up and hobnobs with T. E. Lawrence, Winston Churchill, Gertrude Bell and others in Cairo in 1921. The history lesson was fascinating, although I didn't find Agnes, the narrator, to be very compelling. The ending seemed to drag on a bit. I'm sure she was trying to tie up loose ends, but there was no info there that couldn't be found on wikipedia, and it was weird. I did like this better than The Sparrow, but only because I found the latter to be a bit too intense for me. Sci-Fi is not my usual thing. All around, I'd give this a solid 3.75 stars.

We may have discussed The Sparrow previously, so I'm sorry if I'm being redundant. I agree with you regarding this book. It left me with a not so good feeling. I simply was haunted by what I felt to be the violence of it all. And, yes, it was intense.

We may have already talked about it, Linda, but I've slept since then. It's great to be at an age where every conversation is a new one! The Sparrow seems to be a favorite of quite a few here, but it was just too much for me. Not a bad book, but certainly no favorite. I'm glad to know there is someone else who feels the same--makes me feel like less of a goomba! Thanks!

Was it Stasia who started this little quiz? I'm thinking it was...Hit the nail pretty much on the head, I'd say:

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader

You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.

Literate Good Citizen Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm Book Snob Fad Reader Non-Reader What Kind of Reader Are You?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Terri
I haven't heard the word goomba since living near Roseto, PA as a child. Roseto, at that time was comprised of 99.99999% Italians.
I loved it!

Thanks for the flash to the past.

I am one of the LT people here who loves The Sparrow and I completely agree with you, it is intense. I think that very intensity is one of the reasons I love it so much. I have read all of Russell's books to this point and while there is not a bad one in the bunch (I recommend that everyone read all of her books), I do not think they live up to The Sparrow. Of course, that is just my opinion :)

Yes, Terri, the quiz came from my thread, but only after I stole it from Steph's (Cauterize's) profile page.

#208 Linda, I'm certainly not Italian at all, but I know we've always called each other goombas. As soon as I wrote it, I wondered if it was really a word, then decided that it's my thread and I can make up words if I want. It's nice to know that it's a real word!

#209 Stasia, I'm on a mission to read all of Russell's books. I like the fact that they are SO different from each other. I suspect that's what makes her a good author. If I hadn't known The Sparrow and Dreamers of the Day were written by the same person, I would never have been able to guess it.

Think of all the wonderful books that would never have been written if we all liked the same thing. That's why I like discussing books. We say in our church book discussion group that the best discussions come when at least one person doesn't like the book. When we all like it, the discussion is a little dull.

#210: Terri, one of the things I truly love about LT is the diversity of reading here. You can find someone reading something in every genre at one time or another! This site just goes to prove that everyone does not have to agree about everything in order to get along, lol.

Terri
Here you go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gomba
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gumba
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gumba

Wow, Linda, I didn't even spell it right!
I think the definition I always had in mind for it was "Italian for idiot" but I especially liked: "a pungent individual who tends to over explain things and/or includes every possible detail when telling stories and jokes even... no, especially when it isnt necessary. an otherwise intelligent person who doesnt realize the importance of brevity in certain situations. also takes an exceptionally long time to get ready before leaving to go anywhere. enjoys puns way too much to actually be human, though usually delivers them with exceptional timing, dryness, and cheesy wit."
ROFL

>213 tloeffler: I think that definition is perfect for the author of the book I'm reading right now.... I shall be sure to remember to use it when I get round to noting down my comments ;-)

71. Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin. Nothing more to say than has already been said. Wow. 5 Stars.

72. The Wonder Singer by George Rabasa. Mark Lockwood is assigned to interview legendary soprano Merce Casals in order to ghostwrite her autobiography. When Casals unexpectedly dies, a more experienced writer is brought in to take over the project. Afraid that someone else will not grasp the essense of the singer, he scoops up his tapes, picks up Casals' husband from the nursing home, and hunkers down to get his story written first. Chapters of the autobiography are intersperces with chapters detailing Lockwood's meetings with Casals and his subesquent escapades with her husband, her nurse, and a Casals impersonator.

The parts of the story in which Merce Casals is not an active participant are kind of uninteresting and implausible. The characters don't seem to behave true to the form that has been established for them. But when The Senora appears, whether through the autobiography or in flashbacks, the story comes alive. From her childhood, youth, and young womanhood in 1930's Spain, her career ups and downs, and her ascent into her "golden years," her story is a fascinating glimpse into the live of a diva, and what it takes for her to get to that point. Mostly well-written, and a quick read.

#215: The Wonder Singer piques my interest, Terri. Thanks for the recommendation!

73. The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin. Several people in this group recommended this, but I didn't care for it. I don't know if it was the translation or what, but I thought Erast Fandorin came off sounding rather stupid. The mystery was good, and I don't think it was a bad book, it just didn't appeal to me much.

74. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. Another WOW. I loved reading this book, and I'm still reeling from it. Very, very powerful. Very, very good.

#217: I am one of the Akunin lovers, Terri. Sorry you did not enjoy it more. He is endeavoring to write each of the Fandorin books in a different style, so you might find one of the other books in the series more to your liking.

75. Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper. Excellent story! Now I guess I have to read the rest of the series.

And I think that I will start a new thread for my "second 75." I did a devil of a job this year, and I'm kind of proud. If I can figure out how, I'll put a link on here, but I don't know if I've got the smarts yet.

Here is the link to Terri's new thread:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/68100#

Congratulations on reaching 75!

See you over on the new thread!