Kittybee's 2009 Challenge!

Let's see, so far I have read...
1. The Tales of Beedle the Bard
2. The Hawk and the Jewel
3. The Hunger Games
4. This is Your Brain on Music
5. The Warrior Heir
6. The Wizard Heir
7. The Thief
Hopefully soon I'll have time to comment on them!

I look forward to hearing what you have to say about them! It's an interesting list of titles.

Oh, I want to hear about the 'Heir' books! I always see them at Chapters and wonder what they're like... :)

Nice list of books. I have The Hunger Games in my TBR pile. I'l be interested to see what you think of it.

Yes, what did you think of the Heir books? I've read all three to date, and it looks like the third really could wrap up the series.

Welcome to the group!

As you can see, we are all anxious to learn more about the books you have read.

And I have This is Your Brain on Music on my list (as well as several other music books) and am very keen to hear about that one...

Welcome!

Great start on your year!

Wow! Thanks for the enthusiastic welcome. I promise as soon as
I get more than five minutes with a computer I'll comment on the books I've read. Until then...
8. The Dragon Heir
9. The Queen of Attolia
10.On Fortune's Wheel

Actually, I sometimes wish I spent more time reading and less time commenting on LT! Maybe then I'd have read 10 books already....

#9: I read both The Queen of Attolia and The Thief by Turner last year and liked them, but I have not yet read The King of Attolia. Have you read that one?

Not yet. I haven't been able to find it in the stores/ libraries around here, so I've ordered it. I loved the first two and am looking forward to reading it!

11. The Confession of Fitzwilliam Darcy.

12. Unbridaled
13. Beat the Reaper

#14: I've heard some good thigs about Beat the Reaper. Did you like it?

I didn't hate it but didn't love it either. Beat the Reaper was an early reviewer book and wasn't something that I normally would pick out. Although I had some issues with it, I did end up reading it in one night and did enjoy certain aspects of it, but I can't say I would seek out other books by the author.

#6: Thanks for the additional info, Kitty.

14. The Sweet Far Thing

15. The King of Attolia.
Yay! At long last I finally have the time to sit down and actually write a few words about what I've been reading AND a computer with which to do it.
So to begin, The Tales of Beedle the Bard was rather underwhelming after the hype that goes along with anything Harry Potter related. It wasn't bad, but I'm glad I borrowed it from a friend. I probably would have been mad if I spent money on it.
Next I'll mention The Hawk and The Jewel, Unbridaled, and The Confession of Fitzwilliam Darcy because I have the least to say about these. They were all fluffy romances that were passed on to me by family or picked up when I wanted something on the lighter side to read. The Confession of Fitzwilliam Darcy wasn't terrible but as a P&P fanatic I didn't feel like she did Darcy justice.
I have already metioned my feelings on Beat the Reaper in a previous post so I'll not say anythings else on that.
That leaves the books I loved (or liked an awful lot). Since many of them are from series, I'll be refering to the series also. So in order of liked to loved...
The Sweet Far Thing was the end to the Gemma Doyle Trilogy. I enjoyed these books, but I don't know if I will go back and reread them over and over. I found Gemma to be an engaging heroine and the story intriguing, but what can I say? The book didn't end the way I wanted it to exactly.
Next in line are the Heir books; The Warrior Heir, The Wizard Heir, and The Dragon Heir. I really enjoyed these books and recommend them to anyone who enjoys YA fantasy. I've already started lending my copies out to friends.
I borrowed The Hunger Games from a friend who shares my affinity for YA SciFi and Fantasy. I love books set in dystopias and this was no exception. I can't wait for the sequal to come out. The ending of this book left me wanting more in a frustrating but good way.
On Fortune's Wheel is a book of The Kingdom. This series by Cynthia Voigt includes Jackaroo, one of my all time favorite books. I accidently read the sequel to this book (The Wing's of a Falcon) before I read it, so the events of that book make more since with the knowledge of the events of this book in mind. Anyways this was a great book and a wonderful love story.
Finally, my favorite books that I have read this year are hands down The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia. I love this series about the thief Eugenides and the clever way he deals with everything from saving his queen and stealing the queen of another country and becoming king. These are definatly books that I will read over and over, I can't say how much I loved these books!!!
I forgot to mention This is Your Brain on Music. I enjoyed this book almost as much as I love music. It was very interesting and someone who had no prior musical knowledge could understand it, and even if you do have some musical background (I sing and was in band) it was in no way tedious to read. Hmm, did that make sense?

Glad to see that you enjoyed The King of Attolia. I need to finish up that trilogy because I liked the first two books in the series very much.

>19 Kittybee: Yes, at least, it made sense to me :) Thanks for the reviews -- glad you got online.

16. The Shadow Within
This book is a reread, but I still counted it because I figure if I'm going to take the time to read it,I might as well count it :)
It is book 2 from a 4 book series called Legends of the Guardian-King. I love the whole series, but this one might be my favourite. It has everything I like in a book-fantasy,action, allegory,etc.

#22: The whole series looks good and I think I am going to give it a try. Thanks for the mention, kittybee.

I guess because of Valentine's Day, I've been reading a lot of romances recently. Must just be on my mind :) Anyways, the first of my Valentine's inspired books is 17. Ransom My Heart. I have enjoyed everything of Meg Cabot that I've read and this was no exception. Finn was a very likeable heroine and Hugo was a good complement to her character.

#24: My daughter is a big Meg Cabot fan, so I will mention the book to her.

It was a very fun read, I would definitely recommend it to another Meg Cabot fan :)

18. Compromised
19. The Red Siren
Happy Valentine's Day everyone! My two most recent books follow Ransom My Heart in being my second and third fluffy romance novel fixes this week. I enjoyed all three of these books. They all featured strong, fiesty heroines and being a redhead myself, of course I appreciated the fact that two of them were also redheads. Compromised was delightful and I really enjoyed all of the characters in it; it even had me laughing out loud a few times. It is about two sisters who come to London for their first season after growing up all over Europe. When the elder sister is accidently compromised at their ball, the younger sister and the man responsible for compromising her elder sister fall in love, but it all works out in the end. The Red Siren was also very enjoyable. It is about a woman who resorts to piracy to raise money to support herself and her two sisters so they don't have to marry abusive husbands like their other sister. She doesn't count on falling in love with the man she had stolen a ship from five years earlier and who is now trying to rid the Carolina coast from piracy.

20. The Snow Queen
I was very excited to find this in the book department at wal-mart. I hadn't even realized that there was a new book in the tales of the five-hundred kingdoms series out, but there it was! I really enjoy this series and this book was no exception, although even though it was shelved with romance, it isn't, it is more traditional fantasy. In this book, the Godmother Aleksia also known as the Snow Queen must set out on an adventure of her own when a which starts calling herself the snow queen and killing people and Aleksia gets the blame. Along the way you get to met a delightful cast of characters that band together to help her. I'd recommend it to any who like fairytalesque fantasy.

21. Gobbolino the Witch's Cat
This was a very cute book with adorable illustrations. This would be a great book to read aloud for a bedtime story. It will be added to my save for when I have children pile :)

22. The Three Musketeers
This book has been on my TBR pile for years and I FINALLY read it! I have to say I didn't like this as much as I thought I would. I loved The Count of Monte Cristo, so I had very high hopes for this but found it a little disappointing. That said, I did enjoy it, it just took me a while longer than usual to really get into the story. Also I found some of the characters quite irritating at times, but other than that no complaints. As slow as the beginning was, the ending was fast and exciting.

23. The Dante Club
24. The Princess and the Hound
25. Goose Chase
26. Just Ella

27. Crown Duel

I've been reading and awful lot of fantasy and YA books recently. However, the exception in my recent reads is The Dante Club. This book is a historical mystery/thriller. It is set in Boston shortly after the civil war and the main characters are some of the authors I read in American literature in high school. I have to say that this book really made these authors come alive to me. The gist of the story is Longfellow is translating The Divine Comedy from Italian to English to introduce America to the work of Dante for the first time. He and "the Dante club," other prominent authors and literary types of the time, are working on the translations when grisly murders start mirroring the passages of their translation. With their knowledge, it is up to them to find the murder. I found the book well written and felt it really captured the time and setting well.
The Princess and the Hound is a wonderful retelling of the beauty and the beast story with a twist, in this story the beast is the girl. I found George, the main character, to be very interesting and sympathetic and the atmosphere of the story was almost haunting. I would defiantly recommend this to anyone who likes adaptions of fairy tales.
Goose Chase was a fun book about a goose girl who is nice to an old woman and ends up getting "blessed" with perfect beauty, tears that turn to diamonds when she cries, and gold dust that falls out of her hair when she brushes it. After escaping from the tower she is locked in by her suitors, she and her geese go on many adventures to eventually find out the truth of who she is. I enjoyed the book, but can't say that I would reread it. I found some of the language irritating, because it was written in a faux-medieval style.
Just Ella was a retelling of the Cinderella story, except instead of living happily ever after with Prince Charming, he turns out to be a boring jerk. Once Ella discovers this she must escape the castle after she is thrown in the dungeon for telling him she doesn't want to marry him. It was an enjoyable quick read.
Finally, I get to the book I enjoyed the most out of this clump and one that will be going on my favourite reads of 2009 list...Crown Duel. It is the story of a young countess, Mel, who swears to her dying father that she and her brother will bring down the corrupt king and save their country. I found Mel to be a strong and feisty heroine and loved "watching" her overcome every obstacle along the way. The romance part of the story was perfect too, of all books it could have reminded me of, Pride and Prejudice is what came to my mind the most often.

>32 Kittybee:: thanks for the notes on The Dante Club. I've seen really mixed opinions of this - it's a book I acquired from BookMooch, swapped on another site without reading it after a swathe of negative comments, then recently bought again in the library sale... Michael Dibdin's A Rich Full Death, which also features a series of murders themed after the Inferno, is one of my favourite books, so I've got to at least give it a shot!

>33 FlossieT:: I recommend you give The Dante Club a try. I haven't heard of A Rich Full Death, but since it comes so highly recommended I will be adding it to my reading list. I also plan on reading The Divine Comedy which I've never read in its entirety. In school I think we just read sections, and reading The Dante Club really made me want to go back and fill in the gaps :)

28. Tam Lin

Tam Lin is the retelling of the Scottish ballad of the same name, but it is set on a Midwestern college campus during the 1970s. I wasn't sure what to expect from this book having never heard of it. After I got over my initial shock over some of the content, I really enjoyed it. The shock came from it being in the children's section at the bookstore and not the young adult where it should have been. It was not that there was anything bad in it, it just definitely wasn't a kids book. I will most eagerly be looking for other books by Pamela Dean to read.

I don't think Pamela Dean has written that much more. I know I have The Secret Country trilogy, which is much more a children's series than Tam Lin. Ah, The Dubious Hills is an adult book set in the world of the trilogy, and Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary is a YA book. I shall have to look for them.

>36 ronincats:: Thanks for the info about Pamela Dean. Is there a particular book that you'd recommend?

29. Crushed

Crushed is a YA novel and this review pretty much sums it up nicely. I felt that forgiviness was the overarching theme of the story and actually hurt for the characters while reading and rejoiced with them at the end.

From School Library Journal
Grade 10 Up–The characters in this novel have their secrets and make false assumptions about others, causing them all to be crushed in some way. Audrey's mother died when the girl was young and her father is in financial trouble. Clyde's mother is dying of cancer. Wickham, born of an affair 18 years earlier and new in town, is running from his own secret. The trouble begins when he romances Audrey, who is quickly taken with his seeming sophistication. He, on the other hand, is looking for someone to help him graduate and relies on her academic assistance. Painfully shy Clyde also has a crush on her and uses his father's computer program to investigate Wickham's past. When he tries to share what he discovers with Audrey, she rejects him. In the meantime, a slanderous paper is circulating secrets about students and teachers. When cornered by the school bully, Audrey tells him that Clyde is the author, even though she lacks evidence. This sets in motion the revelation of other secrets and the breaking of hearts. With the exception of Audrey's friend Lea's off-key change in personality, characters and situations ring true. Readers will sympathize with these individuals, some of whom mature, and some of whom do not. This quiet, sophisticated story will appeal to a small, mature audience.–Karen Hoth, Marathon Middle/High School, FL

30. Equal Rites

I love Terry Pratchett and think he should do nothing but write more books for me to read. Equal Rites is the story of Esk, a girl who is accidentally bestowed with a dying wizard's powers when she is born. With the help of Granny Weatherwax she goes to the university and together they save the day and make everyone accept the world's first female wizard. Of course it is hilarious :)

This was a reread, but I count it towards my total because if I'm going to take the time to read (or reread something), it sure as heck is going to count for something :)

31. Mort

Another Terry Pratchett reread :)
In Mort, Death comes to Mort with an offer he can't refuse, to become his apprentice. When Mort accidentally changes the course of history, he must put it to right with the help of Death's daughter, Death's mysterious man servant, and a (not very good) wizard. Visiting the discworld is always fun!

>38 Kittybee:: there's a new one called Unseen Academicals (about the University soccer team, I believe) expected out some time this year (probably late). I think he's finished writing it.

>40 FlossieT:: Akk! I can't wait!!

I just finished a re-read of Small Gods myself--it had been quite a while. Such fun to visit Discworld!

32. Sourcery

This is my third Discworld reread in a row! I think its time for me to end this binge and get back to the other books I've been working on for awhile. The next three books in my "I need to hurry up and finish these books" pile are Jesus for President, Winter's Tale, and The Book Thief.

33. City of the Beasts

Ok, I know this isn't one of the books I said I would be working on, but it is one that I've had for awhile now and have been meaning to read so it is allowed :)
City of the Beasts is the first book in Isabel Allende's YA series. I enjoyed the story, although I guessed right away what was going to happen. At times the narration was clumsy, but I suspect that is due more to the translation than anything else. The story follows Alexander, an american teenager, as he travels along with his grandmother and the International Geographic team to the Amazon to investigate the beast, a mysterious creature that is terrorizing the local soldiers, miners, and others up to no good. Alex and the guide's daughter, Nadia, end up befriending a very secretive tribe, solving the mystery of the beast, and saving the day. There is a good does of magical realism through out the story and I particularly enjoyed seeing both Alex and Nadia grow and mature through their trials and andventures.

34. Darwin Slept Here
35. The Thief
36. The Queen of Attolia
37. The King of Attolia

Darwin Slept Here was an early reviewer book. I misplaced it so, I am a few months late in reading it, but I have finished it and enjoyed it very much. The book follows the author, Eric Simmons, as he flees a boring post graduation existence and travels to South America to travel in Darwin's footsteps and see the things Darwin saw. The light, humorous style of the book was very enjoyable to read and the descriptions of places visited made me want to set off on an adventure of my own.

Yes, I know I read books 35-37 already this year, I just liked them that much :)

38. The Dark Is Rising

This is the second book in The Dark Is Rising Sequence which I believe consists of five books. I started reading this book when I was a kid and for whatever reason didn't ever finish it, so after all these years I have finally picked it back up and read it and enjoyed it very much. I read the first and forth book in the series as a kid and liked them and have no idea why I have never read the whole series. Therefore I am publicly stating my goal of finishing the series. Feel free to hold me accountable :) Anyhow, this book is about Will Stanton, a boy who on his eleventh birthday discovers he is the last of the old ones, a group of magical protectors of the Light and he is given the quest of finding the six signs that will help to protect them from the Dark. Basically the whole battle of good and evil thing.

39. Jesus for President
40. Imitation of Christ

I will be back later to comment on these two books :)

41. The Dashwood Sisters' Secrets of Love

>46 Kittybee:: loriephillips has just read the The Dark Is Rising sequence (too many 'the's!). I adore it now, but remember it being hard to get into as a child - definitely a book I picked up more than once before really managing to push forward. Glad you're enjoying them!

>49 FlossieT:: I remember trying to read it, not getting beyond the first or second chapter, and then it had to be taken back to the library. It is funny how sometimes books you can't get into the first time you try to read them often end up as favorites. The Hobbit and Atlas Shrugged are two that come to mind for me :)

42. Tuck

43. I am the Messenger
44. Falling Sideways

How did you like the Lawhead series? I just finished Hood a few weeks back and am ready to start on Scarlet... my mother just finished Scarlet a few days ago, and she emailed me going "Do you have Tuck? I need it RIGHT NOW!!!" Lol.

I liked the whole series, but Hood was definitely my favorite. I let a friend borrow Hood and Scarlet and she loved them too, and we were both excited when I found Tuck in the bookstore the other day! I am a little sad that the series is over though :(

45. Silent on the Moor

46. Ever

47. An Earthly Knight
48. Wizard's Daughter
49. The Temptation of the Night Jasmine
50. The Risk of Darkness

#57: How did you like An Earthly Knight, Rachel? It looks pretty good.

#58: I enjoyed it very much. I thought the author did a lovely job of interweaving the ballads of Tam Lin and Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight to create one story. I particularly liked that Jenny, the main character, was a strong character with the same flaws of any other teenage girl, but still was sweet without being cloying.

#59: OK, I will put it on the Continent. Thanks for the recommendation!

#60: Glad to add a book to your Continent after having so many of the books you have read added to my TBR pile! I hope you enjoy it :)

51. Among the Mad

This is the most recent Maise Dobbs mystery. I highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys mysteries. I love the way the author really makes you feel like you are there in the story. She does a great job conveying the atmosphere of England in the between the wars period of the twenties and thirties and writes so sympathetically about her characters.

I have the very first Maisie Dobbs book in my TBR pile - I'm always glad to hear recommendations for this series...really hope I like them!!

I love the Maisie Dobbs series and just got a reminder on another thread that I need to re-visit the series soon. Glad to see another fan of the series!

52. Sorcery and Cecilia

I loved this book! It was such a fabulous blend of fantasy and Jane Austeny goodness :) I can't wait to read more!

#65: I had a good time with it when I read it earlier this year as well, and found out from Roni that it is the first book in a series, so there are more to look forward to.

Yup, two more to enjoy. Don't know that there'll be any more, at least for a while, as Wrede is working on a new series of her own, Frontier Magic, with the first book just published (Thirteenth Child).

#66 & 67: Yay! You guys have made my day! I didn't know there are TWO sequels. More books to read :)

>65 Kittybee:: I read it earlier this year as well, and very much enjoyed it! I just picked up book #2 on the discount shelf at a nearby bookstore... hardcover for only $5.99!!! Whoo-hoo!!! I'll keep an eye on your thread to exchange thoughts when we both get around to reading it :)

#69: I have it on hold at the library. I hope whoever has it now is a quick reader ;)

53. The Graveyard Book
I enjoyed very much this book but the ending was rather melancholy and left me with several questions. I will have to read The Jungle Book now for bit of comparison.

I enjoyed The Graveyard Book as well, and I'm reading The Jungle Book at work during my lunch break. It's a perfect lunch time read since it's basically a bunch of short stories. To tell you the truth, though, I really don't see that it's much like The Graveyard Book, but maybe I'm missing the similarity.

#71: I had wondered how similar the two would be. Maybe its mainly the idea of an orphan boy being raised by an unlikely group- ghosts/ animals and not really anything else?

54. The Grand Tour

This is the sequel to Sorcery and Cecilia and while it was very fun, it didn't quite have the same charm the first book had. I think this mainly comes from it changing from a conversation via letters in the first one to a diary/ deposition format in the second. That said, I still have every intention of reading the third book in the series.

Wow, you were quick on the draw with that one! I'm not too sure about the diary format either, especially since the letters were so fun, but I think the third book goes back to letters. I *think*, but don't quote me on that! I'll get around to reading The Grand Tour eventually... there's just too many on the pile ahead of it right now... *sigh* :)

I hope the third book goes back to letters. I thought it worked better as more of a conversation between Cecilia and Kate, but since they are together for the entirety of the second book I guess it would be weird for them to write each other letters.

#73: I have not read the second book in the series yet, Rachel, but I am disappointed to hear that it strayed from the epistolary format. I thought that added a lot of the charm to the first book. For your sake, I hope the third book does revert to the letters!

55. Grave Goods

This is the third Mistress of the Art of Death book. I haven't read the second one, but skipping it didn't mess me up as they can be read as stand alone novels. I'd recommend it for anyone who wants a CSI type books set in the middle ages.

56. Coraline
57. Churched

I really enjoyed both of these books. Coraline is a delightfully creepy kids book that would have been a favorite if it had been around when I was elementary school-aged. It follows Coraline's adventures as she tries to save her parents from the clutches of her "other mother."
Churched is the memoir of Matthew Paul Turner of growing up as a fundamentalist baptist. At times it was laugh out loud funny and even though it wasn't very similar to my church background (I'm Episcopalian), I could relate to it having lived in the bible belt my whole life. I would recommend this book to anyone. It was just that funny.

#78: I will have to find Churched. I was raised in a fundamentalist Baptist church (still go to a Baptist church, in fact) and I bet I can relate to that book! Thanks for the recommendation, Rachel.

#79: I hope you like it Stasia!

58. The Dark Lord of Derkholm
59. Wildwood Dancing
60. Elske
61. Greenwitch

I've had a productive weekend :) I enjoyed all of these books very much, but don't have much time to say why right now...so I'll do my best in one or two sentences per book.
The Dark Lord of Derkholm was a fun twist on a middle earth sort of world being exploited by tourists from another world. I especially enjoyed the bits were Derk's family is covering for him while he's healing.
Wildwood Dancing was a reworking of the fairytales The Princess and the Frog and The Twelve Dancing Princesses with some Romanian folklore thrown in. I loved this book and will have to get a copy of my own for future rereads.
Elske is the fourth book of the kingdom by Cynthia Voigt. I have enjoyed this series and am sad to say good-bye to it (unless there's more?)
Greenwitch is the third book in the Dark is Rising sequence and I liked the way it brought the characters from the first two books together. I can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series!

Greenwitch was my least favorite of The Dark is Rising series when I first read it, but it has really grown on me over the years to become my second favorite. It has so much that is essential to the series even if you don't see it at the time.

And you know I will be waiting anxiously for your reaction to Dark Lord of Derkholm!

Roni, The Dark Lord of Derkholm was my first ever book by Diana Wynne Jones, but it won't be the last. I think I have another of her's in the pile I brought home from the library last week. Which one is your favorite?

The one you just read is! But, I also really like the Chrestomanci stories (Charmed Life, for one), and the Howl trilogy (Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Air, House of Many Ways), and the sequel to Dark Lord, Year of the Griffin. Her Spellcoats series is excellent, although very different from most of her other books, more classic fantasy. When I was young, I adored Dogsbody and read it over and over. And she has so many single story books, like Hexwood and Archer's Goon that are the favorites of others here on LT.

I'll have to look and see if the library has any/all of those, especially the sequel to the Dark Lord. Once I start a series I feel adrift if I don't complete it, knowing that the rest of the books are out there waiting to be read.

62. Runemarks

Runemarks is the story of Maddie, a girl who has a strange mark on her hand and is considered a witch by everyone in her village because she has powers and is different than all of them. The book borrows heavily from Norse mythology and involves quests to the underworld, battles, and gods that are rather disorganized and would rather kill each other than work together. I enjoyed the story though at times the book did seem unnecessarily long. Now I want to go and brush up on my Norse mythology :)

Hmmm that one sounds pretty interesting... I'll have to check it out. As for Norse mythology, I have a book called Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland that I'd recommend if you're looking for further reading, as well as Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs by John Lindow.

I'll have to add those to the TBR's. I also recently got The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul from bookmooch. I read it awhile ago and remember that it also featured Norse gods as characters, so I seem to have a theme going here :)

63. False Colours
64. Never After
65. Miracle Wimp

Comments to come...

66. Terminal Freeze

False Colours is another of my favorite Heyers. I love Kit and his relationships with women!

Woo-hoo, wedding is finally over! Now back to normal life:)

So, in order of reading...

False Colours - I enjoyed this book which was my first ever Heyer. It involves identical twins switching place and the expected complications that arise from said switch. My only complaint would be that a whole lot of nothing happens for the majority of the book.

Never After - This was a fun mishmash of just about every fairytale in the book. It involves a princess who wants adventure, a prince who wants a princess, and various other fairytale mainstays i.e. frog prince, Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin, etc. Everyone lives happily ever after, mostly :)

Miracle Wimp - This quick read reads more like the random musings of a high school boy rather than a story, but it works well. The book is laugh out loud funny in several parts, the drawings add to the story, and is like a flashback to high school. I enjoyed it very much despite the disparaging remarks about band kids (I was a band kid), even if there was some truth to them ;)

Terminal Freeze - Books by Lincoln Child and his sometimes coauthor Douglas Preston are like crack in book form to me. They aren't great literature and are fairly predictable, but I LOVE them. This book by Lincoln Child was typical fare; lots of blood and guts, a high body count (but none of the characters you care about), and everything comes to a neat and tidy conclusion at the end. It involves a team of scientists who find an unknown animal frozen in the arctic. It gets thawed out, is *gasp* still alive, and mayhem results. That pretty much sums it up.

67. Instead of Three Wishes
68. Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits

I'll comment on these later. Too tired to now :)

Glad to see that you survived the wedding! Normal life - what's that?

Hmm, to me normal life means not having to make multiple trips to the craft store a day to buy satin and tulle and all that other stuff associated with weddings. Now that my sister is married, my father has told me that when I find someone he will finance my elopement so as to save time and money. I think he is only half joking :)

Stasia had a quiz on her thread so of course I had to take it :)

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm  

You're probably in the final stages of a Ph.D. or otherwise finding a way to make your living out of reading. You are one of the literati. Other people's grammatical mistakes make you insane.

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

Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworms of the Universe Unite!!

And I'm taking the quiz from you, Kittybee!

Yay for books and quizzes!

69. Cemetery Dance
70. Dealing with Dragons

71. Nation

Akk! It seems like I've let my reading get ahead of my commenting again, so back in time we go to...

Instead of Three Wishes - This short story collection by Megan Whalen Turner, the author of The Thief, was fun, but did not have the oomph that her other books have.

Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits - This short story collection is by Robin Mckinley and Peter Dickinson. I love Mckinley but I've never read anything by Dickinson, so I thought I'd give this book a try. I can't recommend it enough. fter reading each story, I thought "hmm, that one was my favorite" and then I would read the next and fall in love with it. Anyways, the whole book is great! I was especially happy to see Damar make an appearance in one of the stories.

Cemetary Dance - Sheesh I had to put my foot in it this time. I go and say that Preston and Child never kill the characters I care about off and what do they do FIRST THING in this book? Kill one. Hmph! That aside, this book was everything I could hope for in a thriller from my favorite thriller boys. As long as they don't kill off Agent Pendergast they can stay in my good graces.

Dealing with Dragons An entertaining book with a spunky heroine. Only complaint is that I wish it weren't written for quite so young an audience. It seemed a bit slow at times.

Nation - Another wonderful book from the incomparable Terry Pratchett. If you haven't read this book yet, then go out right this very second to your bookstore or library of choice and get it. You won't be sorry. Mau and Daphne are going on my list of favorite people :)

Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits sounds really interesting since I love both Robin McKinley and Pter Dickinson. Thanks for the recommend.

I hope you like it Lorie! :)

72. The Mislaid Magician

This is the sequel to Sorcery and Cecelia and The Grand Tour. I was glad to see the book return to the epistolary form of the first in the series. Ten years have passed snce the previous book and Kate and Cecelia both have families. In this adventure they have to investigate the disappearance of a German magician nvestigating a new railway line. The book was entertaining, but the first in the series is by far my favorite.

73. Cybele's Secret

This is the sequel to Wildwood Dancing. In this book, Paula, the scholarly sister, travels to Istanbul with her father to sell and trade their goods and aquire a religious artifact for a collector. Anyways, Paula gets caught up in a quest along with her sister Tati, her bodyguard Stoyan, and the mysterious pirate Duarte. I enjoyed this book and hope there will be another sequel. Only complaint of sorts is as nice as Stoyan was, I was hoping Paula would end up with Duarte. I developed quite the crush on him over the course of the book and hope to see him again in a future book.

#104: I am going to look for that series. They look good! Thanks for the recommendation.

I hope you like it Stasia!

74. Little Brother

Shoot. I had a nice long review of this book all typed out, then my computer went fooey on me and now it’s gone. So here goes review take two...
I really loved this book. It was one of those edge of your seat, page turning ones, so I'm not sure why it took me so long to finish. I blame the heat. I thought the premise of this book was scarily believable. There is a terrorist attack on San Francisco and the Department of Homeland Security turn the city into a police state. Marcus, a seventeen year old high schooler, is arrested shortly after the attack and held as a person of interest. Even though he has nothing to do with the attack, he is imprisoned and when he is finally released he is told if he ever tells anyone what happened to him he will "disappear." He decides to fight the injustices being perpetrated against his city and ends up becoming the leader of an underground movement. Even though I'm pretty much technologically illiterate, I've always secretly wished to be a hacker, so I got to achieve my dream vicariously through Marcus :) I recommend this for people who like dystopian type books.

>103 Kittybee:: Oh yay, I'm glad to see that the third Kate & Cecelia book really does return to letters after all! Maybe that'll be my incentive to plug through book #2.

75. These Old Shades

This was my second Heyer and I enjoyed it even more than the first. Fun and frothy, but seriously what person in their right mind can't tell the difference between a nineteen year old girl and a nineteen year old boy. Um. Yeah. And also what kind of blind idiots could live around a girl pretending to be a boy for ALL THOSE YEARS and not catch on. The peasants of Paris must be beyond stupid. Once I put THAT behind me though the book was enjoyable and I liked pretty much all of the characters. I think I saw somewhere there is a sequel?

Whoopie! I've finished my challenge!! I'm thinking I should have set the bar higher? New Goal...150 by the end of the year!

Oh, yes, this is the only Heyer that has a sequel and it is fantastic IMHO! You will love it. Read it soooon!

ETA name of the book, Devil's Cub.

Oh goody! I will look for it today :)

Thanks Stasia! That is a super cute graphic :)

76. Take a Thief

This is the second book I've read from the Valdemar series. I have a thing for clever thieves so I was predisposed to like this book and it didn't disappoint. I'll be looking for others from this series in the future.

77. The Grey King

I thought I hadn't read this but I had. I'm not sure why when I was young, I read the first and fourth book in a series; perhaps I didn't realize it was a series? Anyhow, I really enjoyed this book. It is hard to say which has been my favourite because the whole series is so wonderful, but I think this is the frontrunner. In this instalement, Will Stanton goes to Wales to recover from a serious illness. Because of his illness, he has forgotten he is an old one and that he has a quest. Once in Wales, the pieces start coming back to him. With the help of Bran, a mysterious albino boy, he searches for a golden harp.

78. Beauty Sleep
79. The Storyteller's Daughter

Both of these wonderful books are retelling of fairytales. Beauty Sleep is obviously the story of Sleeping Beauty. I loved the way in this version she was no passive princess sitting around waiting for stuff to happen to her. I found this very much alive and normal princess much more easy to relate to than the traditional one.
The Storyteller's Daughter is a retelling of The Arabian Nights. I've never read a retelling of this story so this one was new territory for me and I must say that anything else has a lot to live up to. I recommend both books to those who enjoy retellings of familiar (or not so familiar) fairytales.

80. First Comes Marriage
81. A Song for Arbonne
82. Captain Wentworth's Diary

Hopefully, I'll be back later today to comment on these.

I'm back!
This has been one of those weeks where I've had maybe five seconds all week to log on and catch up on threads, so I have a lot of reading to do :) On the positive side though, I did get to go to the bookstore Friday and bought THIRTEEN books! It is a discount bookstore and we are having a tax-free holiday this week end so my total was only $30, so I don't feel quite as guilty. All in all, it was a good haul :)

So, to the books read this week...

First Comes Marriage was a fluffy romance set in regency England. I liked the female main character all along, but the male main took so getting used to before I warmed up to him. He was IMO kind of a robot for the first half of the book.

A Song for Arbonne was a fantasy set in a France-ish seeming country. I really enjoyed the story and came to care about the characters, but one thing I didn't like, was the way that he would introduce some characters give them enough history to let you get to know them and then you'd NEVER see them or learn anything about them again. I really enjoyed the ending though.

Captain Wentworth's Diary was Persuasion from Capt. Wentworth's POV. It was an enjoyable read but not groundbreaking by any means. He repeated himself a lot.

Hopefully cooler weather will come soon and I'll be able to read more!

I just got the first 3 books in the Huxtable series by Balogh in a couple of weeks ago. Catey has read them, but I have not had a chance yet. I will give First Comes Marriage a shot this week.

I thought it was very enjoyable. I hope you like it :) I have mooched the second one but haven't received it yet.

Eek, I haven't been able to get online very regularly for a few weeks so its very possible I am forgetting something, but this is what I've read since my last post.

83. Princess Mia
84. Then Comes Seduction
85. Things Not Seen
86. A Countess Below Stairs
87. The Year of Living Biblically
88. The Smart One and the Pretty One

I really liked all of these except The Smart One and the Pretty One. The premise of the book intrigued me, but I found both of the sisters irritating because they both seemed one dimensional and obtuse. I found it hard to care about the outcome of their dilemmas when I wanted to punch them in the face for most of the book.

I liked First Comes Marriage but I thought Then Comes Seduction was even better. It is a nice, fluffy bubble bath book.

Princess Mia was the customary fun I expect from a Meg Cabot book, though in this one Mia is dealing with depression. I loved the ending!

Things Not Seen was a book that I picked up at the discount bookstore a few weeks ago when they had their back-to-school special going on. I had never heard of it, but it sounded interesting so I went on ahead and bought it. Boy am I glad I did! I thought it was one of the most unique books I've read in a while. The idea is a boy wakes up one morning and he can't see himself. Overnight he has become invisible and the book deals with how he and his family handle the situation.

A Countess Below Stairs was another I picked up at the B-2-S sale. It is a YA romance set in England after WWI. A young Russian countess has to flee Russia with her mother and brother. Once in England they use all their money to send the brother to school, so the girl goes to work as a maid at the Estate of a young Earl coming home from the war. I found this book thoroughly enjoyable.

The Year of Living Biblically was hilarious. If you haven't already heeded the legions of people on LT who have recommended it, you should, because it is great.

Nice reading, Rachel! I enjoyed The Year of Living Biblically, too - I know Jacobs must have the most long-suffering wife in the world to put up with his antics. If you have not read The Know-It-All by him, I recommend it as well.

I laughed out loud when he was describing how she got back at him by sitting in every chair in the house! I haven't read The Know-It-All yet but it is on my TBR list. I really enjoyed the columns he wrote in MentalFloss magazine that were inspired by The Know-It-All, so I can't wait to get my hands on a copy :)

I think you will enjoy it!

Hey, Kittybee, have you gotten lost?

I'm still here :) The end of August/begining of September have been really busy for me with my sister's, father's and my own birthday. I haven't been able to do too much reading recently and haven't been on LT in over a week, but I have been getting new books left and right! Hopefully I will be able to get back into a reading frame of mind quickly. The hard part is picking which book to start :)

89. Mr. Darcy, Vampyre
90. At Last Comes Love
91. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

It was inevitable with the popularity of vampires right now and the perinnieal popularity of Pride and Prejudice that someone would combine the two. The result is Mr. Darcy, Vampyre. The reason why Mr. Darcy is so aloof and broading...he is a 150 year old vampyre, of course! This wasn't my favorite Jane Austen spin off, but it was definitly the most different. It took a while for the story to get going but eventually it picked up.

At Last Comes Love was the third book about the Huxtable family. Finally 30 year old Meg gets her chance at love. An enjoyable romance with a little mystery to boot.

I read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency back in high school when I first discovered Douglas Adams. As it has been about 10 years since first reading his books, I have been slowly revisiting them for the past year. I was surprised when reading this book for the second time how new it seemed to me. There were things I remembered but there was an awful lot I don't think I picked up on the first time around. I wish Douglas Adams had lived longer and had a chance to do more writing because he was so great.

Happy Birthday to all of you!

92. Catching Fire

At last!!!!! It is here! I had lost track of time and forgotten when the release date of Catching Fire was and then what do I see sitting temptingly on the the book shelf at the store. Of course I snatched it up and ran madly for the register laughing manically; I felt as if I had found the golden ticket. I was rather irate when I didn't get a chance to start reading for a couple of days but i finally made time to sit down and read it. At first I was a little disappointed because I thought it was a little slow going, but a few chapters in it picks up momentum and I couldn't put it down. I don't want to spoil it for anyone so I won't give anything away, but lets just say of all the possible ways this book could have gone, I wasn't expecting THAT to happen. (For those who have read it, the thing more towards the middle not the end.) I actually saw the end coming pretty far ahead, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment. Needless to say, I can't wait for the final book.

Woo-Hoo!!!!!! At last I have found a second job to supplement my income so I don't have to quit my current job which I love but is only part time and therefore does not really pay enough to live on. Starting Monday, I have a part time job taking care of baby pythons and boas! Yay job!!!!

I've seen this quiz on several people's threads and it looks like fun so here goes...

Using only books you have read this year (2009), answer these questions. Try not to repeat a book title.

Describe yourself:
The Red Siren

How do you feel:
Among the Mad :)

Describe where you currently live:
City of the Beasts

If you could go anywhere, where would you go:
The Grand Tour

Your favorite form of transportation:
On Fortune's Wheel

Your best friend is:
The Storyteller's Daughter

You and your friends are:
The Three Musketeers

What’s the weather like:
Silent on the Moor

You fear:
Falling Sideways I've sprained both ankles so far this year. This is actually a legitimate fear :)

What is the best advice you have to give:
Imitation of Christ

Thought for the day:
This is Your Brain on Music

How I would like to die:
Beat the Reaper

My soul’s present condition:
Catching Fire

I love that.......'How do you feel: Among the Mad'. Sums up how I feel around here as well ;)

Just found your thread... You've read some great stuff! Will star you for the future. :)

#130 Life certainly can get pretty mad sometimes can't it? Glad to know its not just me :)

#131 Welcome, welcome!! :)

Love your responses--that's a fun activity, isn't it?

Yeah, I've done a similar one where you have a list of questions, put your itunes library on shuffle and whatever song it lands on answers the question. Its been awhile since I've done that one. If I can find the list, I should put it on here :0) It can be pretty funny!

93. The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul

This is another Douglas Adams reread. In this book the old Norse gods are still around and walking the streets of London. There is no good way for me to sum up the story in a few words because so many crazy things happen, so I'll just say it is great fun and very enjoyable.

>135 Kittybee: funny, this is an Adams I could never really get into... and I don't remember the Norse gods either!! Am looking forward to the 'special editions' of H2G2 this year though - not long to go now...

I've heard other people say they didn't get into this one or the first Dirk Gently book, but I actually read these two before I ever read any of H2G2 so I think that is why I like them so much. They were my introduction to Douglas Adams so they have a special place in my heart :)

94. Quicker Than The Eye

Ray Bradbury has been one of my favorite authors ever since I first read one of his stories in my middle school english class. I am consistantly amazed at the scope of subjects one book of his short stories can cover. This collection was no exception; after finishing it I keep thinking about the stories and which was my favorite and I have a hard time just picking one. I guess my the ones I've thought the most about are Remember Sascha?, The Witch Door, and The Other Highway, but the whole collection is great.

#138: I have not read that one yet. Definitely need to find a copy. Thanks for the recommendation, Rachel.

Stasia, I'm almost through with The Know-It-All and am loving it. Yesterday when I was at Target, I saw that A.J. Jacobs has a new book, The Guinea Pig Diaries, so of course I bought it. I think he is one of the funniest nonfiction writers I've ever read!

I had not heard of The Guinea Pig Diaries, so you will have to let me know how that one is.

Working two jobs has seriously cut into my reading time, maybe if I give up sleep I'll have more time for reading :)
I have finally finished another book though, 95. The Know-It-All. I really enjoyed this book and I can reeaaallly relate to his feeling that he had forgotten most of what he learned in school. I just graduated last December and am thinking about going back for my Master's, but when I look at what I need to know for the GRE I already feel 60% dumber. It did make feel better that I knew the correct answer to his losing Who Wants to be a Millionaire question though ;) Anyways, it is a great book. Very funny!

#142: I enjoyed that one by Jacobs as well.

I know I have forgotten most of what I ever knew!

96. A Company of Swans

Woohoo! After not being able to do much reading, I've had lots of lovely free time in the last 24 hours to snuggle up with a book for hours on end. This was the perfect book to do so with. Harriet is the daughter of an overbearing professor and the only outlet she is allowed is ballet. When she is offered a spot in a company traveling to Brasil, she is told that she can't go but she ends up running away and joins them. There she meets and falls in love with a wealthy rubber baron. This was a nice romance, but I couldn't quite wrap my mind around how horrible her family was to her.

#144: That one is already on Planet TBR, so I do not have to add it again :)

97. The Morning Gift
98. Unseen Academicals
99. Foundation

Thoughts to come...

100. Silver on the Tree

Eek! I've just spent a good two hours catching up on threads. I believe Stasia's had 200 unread messages! Most of the others were a more manageable 30 or 40 messages, but even then I feel as if I should count it as another book :)

Well at long last I managed to get some reading done. So here are my thoughts on my most recent reads...

The Morning Gift was another nice YA romance from Eva Ibbotson. It takes place in the beginning times of WWII. I enjoy this author very much.

Unseen Academicals is the most recent Terry Pratchett. I enjoyed this very much esp. Mr. Nutt's character. I think in general I don't tend to be as critical a reader as some other people are, so some of the issues other people had with this and other recent Pratchetts I don't have. I did have to read a good bit into it before it really grabbed me though. There is a bit of sadness for me involved with the reading of a new Pratchett book knowing that he is dealing with Alzheimer's disease. My Grampie had Alzheimer’s and it is a disease I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

Foundation is (I think) the most recent of Mercedes Lackey's Valdamar novels. It is the story of the founding of the Herald’s collegium told through Mags a newly chosen herald. I enjoyed this very much though it is similar in many ways to Take a Thief.

Silver on the Tree is the final book in the Dark is Rising Sequence and while I very much enjoyed this book and the whole series I was left with a sense of sadness/melancholy at the way it ended.

Well that is me all caught up!

Glad you enjoyed Unseen Academicals--I did as well. I have Foundation coming up shortly on my TBR list--it is sitting here. Take a Thief was one of Lackey's better recent books, I thought, more like her earliest stories, so that is encouraging to hear.

I'm reading through Silver on the Tree slowly, savoring it chapter by chapter before the group discussion. Hey, it's based on Welsh mythology--it's a given that we will feel melancholy at the ending. Just like at the end of LOTR. It's the whole Celtic mindset, I think.

Glad you are caught up! Wish I were even close.

I haven't read very many of Lackey's Valdamar books so I don't know how it compares to the older ones, but I did enjoy Foundation very much. I think the character of Mags in this book reminded my in many ways of the boy in Take a Thief (which I read earlier this year and also enjoyed).

Yeah Silver on the Tree left me feeling the same as when I finished LOTR. It is hard to describe just what emotions you are feeling because you are happy that the quest ended successfully but everything else doesn't quite end the way you wish it would.

Congratulations on hitting 100 books, Rachel! You did it without even having to count my thread as a book :)

oops, missed that that was # 100. Congrats!!

Thanks guys! I'm not sure I'll make it to 150 but I am pretty happy with what I've achieved so far :)

Congratulations on the 100! I wasn't completely wild about Unseen Academicals, but I think I came to it with unreasonably high expectations.

I can understand having too high expectations for a new book. That has definitely happened to me before, but in this case I didn't really have many expectations being an American and not a sports fan I was more worried about not understanding the jokes, so I was pleased that wasn't the problem.

Well, you inspired me to pick up Foundation - Mercedes Lackey from the unfinished pile this weekend--I was already a third of the way through it when I set it aside for another book a couple of weeks ago. And as always with her books, it was a quick read. It was interesting to see the beginnings of the Collegium schools per se, but after a while, basically retelling the same story (abused youngster becomes a Herald and has a significant role to play in saving society as we know it) begins to pall. And Lackey has forgotten how to tell a story in one book. Still, a light and mostly enjoyable read.

I was beginning to wonder if most of the Valdamar books followed that pattern or if it was just the ones I happen to pick up :)

Eek! It has been a day shy of a month since my last posting, but at least I have managed to finish a few more books :)

101. Arrows of the Queen
102. Odd Thomas
103. Arrow's Flight
104. Exile's Honor

Hmmm, it seems like there was something else, but I can't think what it might have been.

What did you think of Odd Thomas?

Welcome back, Rachel!

#158 I really enjoyed it, though I had to take a few breaks while reading it because it was darker than my usual sort of reads. I do plan on reading the rest of the series. I thought Odd was a really believable person and enjoyed the first person narrative.

#159 Hi Stasia! I read Odd Thomas based off your recommendation :) Now, I have one less book to read from the many on my wishlist for which you are responsible.

I am glad you enjoyed Odd. I have read all the books in the series now and pretty much enjoyed them all.

Yup, me too!

105. Snow
106. Forever Odd

There is no way I'll get to 150 books by the end of this year, so that will be my goal for next year. I am glad I reached my initial goal of 75 this year (around June or July), but my pace has slowed during the latter part of the year due to the second job. Hopefully in the new year I'll be able to squeeze in a bit more reading time. Anyways...the books.

Snow was a retelling of the story of Snow White. It is set in the United Kingdom in the 1800s I believe. There were no seven dwarves, instead she is taken in by a group of five strange people. I particularly liked the way they were worked into her story. Recommended for those who like fairy tales retold.

Forever Odd is the second Odd Thomas book. I read this one much faster than the first. Somehow this one didn't upset and unsettle me as much as the first. I am really enjoying this series and find Odd's mind to be a wonderfully, quirky mind to be inside. I'll be reading the next in the series soon.
Question for those who have read Dean Koontz, are most of his books like these or are they lighter than what he usually writes?

Rachel, the 2010 group is up and running! I hope you will be joining us again.

Koontz is a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, he writes the (IMHO) excellent Odd Thomas series, then on the other he pumps out absolutely wretched stuff like his Frankenstein retelling. I think part of the problem is that too many people want to cash in on the Koontz name, so he (i) gets roped into bad "collaborations" that are really not much more than ghostwriting and (ii) doesn't get feedback from people when his stuff isn't very good. My strategy these days is to get recommendations on individual works of his before diving in.

Along those lines, Some of us read The Face this year as part of the Halloween reading list blackdogbooks put together. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it. It's less, for lack of a better term, ethereal than the Odd Thomas books, but still has an interesting spiritual side. And the plot twists are quite well done.

#164 I wouldn't miss it Stasia! I've had so much fun this year in this group!

#165 Thanks for the input about Koontz. I'll have to look up The Face and add it to the wish list :)

Well it doesn't look like I'm going to finish any more books before the year is out sooo...Grand total time *flings confetti* 106 books for the year! Yay! That is way more than I had anticipated reading. So, while I finished the 75 challange I didn't quite make it to 150. I think next year I'll try to read 125. It seems like a reasonable goal for me. And also, I have set a goal for myself to help me read books I already own and cut down on new purchases, so 75 of the total *MUST* be books I already own! I am going to try super hard to stick to this. Please feel free to yell at me if I'm not :)

See ya'll in 2010! Happy New Years!!!

Happy New Year to you, too. See you on the other side!

Happy New Year, Rachel!