pwaite's 2009 book challenge

1. How Not to be Popular by Jennifer Ziegler

Welcome to the group!

:)

welcome and happy reading !
I hope you'll enjoy your stay with us :)

Welcome and good luck this year, Pwaites!

2. The Wizard's Dilemma by Diane Duane

3. The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski

Thanks for the warm welcome! :)

4. Well Witched by Frances Hardinge

5. Pillage

6. Heart's Blood

*SPOLIER*
I can't believe Heart's Blood died!

Did you like Pillage? I just picked it up on a whim from Savers... and am unsure, but it was only $2 for the hardcover and couldn't resist such a deal.

It was OK. The dragon's did not come in till the second half of the book though.

7.Power of Three

I didn't mind Pillage either, I thought it was an interesting story, and I read it in one sitting... my only issue was that the dragons were introduced far too late into the story. I would have liked it if he'd made the story longer or modified it a bit to bring them in sooner. Either way, it's not bad - grab a cup of tea and whittle away a few hours with it :)

8. The Raven Ring by Patricia C. Wrede

>14 pwaites: That's one I enjoy quite a lot, Pwaites. I think it is enriched by reading the prior Lyra books so you know about the political alliances alluded to in the book, but I think this is one of Wrede's best written books. Did you enjoy it?

9. The Green Glass Sea

10. Book of a Thousand Days

#16: I have Book of a Thousand Days home from the library now. I hope I enjoy it as much as my daughter Catey did when she checked it out earlier this year. What did you think of it?

I enjoyed both books.

11. The Time Travelers

12. The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents

13. The Misadventures of Maude March (reread)

14. Benny and Omar

15. Samuel Blink and the Forbidden Forest

16. Gifts

17. The Time Thief

18. The Game (reread)

19. Maude March On the Run (reread)

20. The Last Apprentice (Revenge of the Witch)

21. Graceling

22. The Bar Code Rebellion

23. Birth of the Firebringer

24. Max: a maximum Ride Novel

What did you think of Max? I just picked it up and am a little wary. I really liked the first 3, but was a bit disappointed with the fourth.

The first three where better than it. However it's better than the fourth. I agree with you about being disappointed about the fourth. I was so excited about it coming out! After I read it my mood about it changed. I felt that Max's character was not as good as in the first three.

25. A Wolf at the door (reread)

26. Schooled (reread)

27. (year) 1. (month) Thunder Cave

28. 2. Dealing with Dragons (reread)
29. 3. Dragon and Thief (reread)
30. 4. Book of Enchantments (reread)

31. 5. Dragon and Soldier (reread)
32. 6. A Time Apart
33. 7. Hostage

34. 8. Dragon and Slave (reread)

35. 9. Dragon and Herdsman (reread)
36. 10. neighbors from outer space, it isn't very good

37. 11. Dragon and Judge (reread)

28. 12. Dragon and Liberator (reread)

29. 13. Thirteenth Child

30. 14. Sticky Situations Stories of Childhood Adventures Abroad

31. 15. the Seven Towers
32. 16. Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary (book 4)
33. 17. Boys are Dogs

44. 18. the tough guide to Fantasyland
45. 19. Dark Lord of Derkholm
46. 20. Philippa Fisher's Fairy Godsister

There was a problem with the numbering and to fix it i had to bump one of the numbers up.

47. 21. A mango-shaped space

48. 22. Philippa Fisher's Fairy Godsister
50. 23. The Patron Saint pf Butterflies
51. 24. The Reality Bug

52. 25. The Alchemyst (reread)
53. 26. Nation
54. 27. First Light (reread)

Congratulations on hitting the 50+ book point! You are moving right along.

55. 30. I,Q
56. 31. The Everafter war
57. 32. The Never War

58. 33. I put a Spell on You

Did anyone else notice how The Everafter War wasn't suppose to be released until May 1st but is on the shelves now? I know I already read it :)

I noticed the minute I saw it on the shelf in the book store

Hi pwaites - I've enjoyed reading a few of the books you've listed - I thought The Cabinet of Wonders was pretty good. For me Gifts was great and I've just got the next book in the series. I also really enjoyed Well Wished, have you read her The Folk Keeper, it delves more into folklore.

59. 35. Much Ado about Anne

I have never read it. I'll look in to it though.

60. 36. Ptolemy's Gate (reread)

61. 1. The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (reread)
62. 2. Now You See It

63. 3. The Infinity Code

Closing in on the 75 book point! Nice reading.

64. 4. Witch Dreams (reread)

64. 5. Storm: The Ghost Machine

65. 6. Storm: The Black Sphere
66. 7. The Rivers of Zadaa

67. 8. The Pilgrims of Rayne

68. 9. Necropolis

What did you think of the Gatekeepers series? I just heard of this series, and got a bit curious about it.

69. 10. The Book Thief

It is a wonderful series! Good characters, Good plot, it is a really good series. It is sort of one of those good vs. evil books. If you like those kind of books you would probably like it.

The Gateskeeper series looks like one I would enjoy. Thanks for the mention!

70. 11. Jaguar

71. 12. Oddest of all

72. 13. The Hound of Rowan (reread)
73. 14. Howliday Inn (reread)

74. 15.Cheaper by the Dozen (reread)
75. 16. The Second Siege

Congratulations on reaching 75!

Thanks! I'm going to keep going though.

76. 17. Black Water
78. 18. Raven Rise

79. 19. The Soldiers of Halla
80. 20. Benny and Babe

81. 21. The Secret Hour (reread)
82. 22. Half-Human
83. 23. The Magician (reread)
84. 24. Thieves Like Us
85. 25. Spellsinger (reread)

86. 26. The Sorceress (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)

87. 27. Touching Darkness (reread)

88. 28. Book One of the Travelers

89. 29. Thieves till we die
90. 30. Truesight

91. 31. Cryptid Hunters (reread)

92. 32. Ender's Shadow

>78 pwaites: Me and my friend have this inside joke/obsession with dinosaurs and I saw that at a used store and picked it up the other day. She's reading it now and I get it next. So it's pretty good, given you reread it?

I love the Ender books, did you enjoy Ender's Shadow? Since it's so different from Ender's Game, it's always interesting to see how people take to the shift.

It is pretty good. Ender's Shadow was not as good as Ender's Game in my opinion. Bean seemed very diffrent from Ender. Ender made a better main character.

True, I agree with that. But I love books from pov of another character. It usually fills in some gaps and shows the first characters in a different light. Always fun to do that :)

93. 1. Ender's Game (reread)

94. 2. Pure Dead Wicked (reread)
95. 3. Faerie Wars

96. 4. The Dark Lord of Derkholm (reread)

97. 5. Princess Ben
98. 6. The Last Olympian
99. 7. Wyrd sisters
100. 8. Book two of the travelers

#86: Wow! 100 books - congratulations!!

Thank you!
101. 9. The Seer

102. 10. Heir Apparent (reread)
103. 11. The Golem's Eye (reread)

104.12. Skulduggery Pleasant: Scepter of the Ancients(reread)
105.13. User Unfriendly

106. 14. Only You Can Save Mankind
107. 15. Johnny and the Dead
108. 16. A Hidden Magic

109. 17. Skulduggery Pleasant playing with fire (reread)

110. 18. The Dragons of Ordinary Farm

111. 19. Dogsbody

112. 20. The 13th Reality

How was The 13th Reality? It looks interesting!

It is a very good fantasy book! The realities are sort of like in some ofDiana Jones's books.

113. 21. the house of the scorpion

114. 22. Children of the River
115. 23. Witches Abroad

* steps quickly out of the way to avoid being read over*

wow! some good books here~ well done!

thanks!

116. 24. Making Money

117. 25. Dragon and Thief (reread)

118. 26. Pure Dead Brilliant (reread

119. 1. Monstrous Regiment

120. 2. The Help
121. 3. City of Dogs
122. 4. A Sending of Dragons

123. 5. Blood and Chocolate
124. 6. The Hunger Games

125. 7. The Last Knight
126. 8. A Knight and Rogue novel:rogue's home

127. 9. The Sorcerer's Stone
128. 10. The Sky Inside
129. 11. Rise of the Evening Star (reread)

130. 12. Grip of the Shadow Plague (reread)
131. 13. Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary (reread)

132. 14. The Chamber of Secrets
133. 15. The 13th Reality: The Hunt for the Dark Infinity
134. 16. The Search for Truth

135. 17. I am really not sure how to spell it, but it was something like Indigo. It was about merpeople.

136. 18. Harry potter and the prisoner of Azkaban

137. 1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
138. 2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
139. 3. Equal Rites
140. 4. The Merchant of Death (reread)
141. 5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
142. 6. The Ruby Key
143. 7. Guards! Guards!
144. 8. The Skull of Truth

145. 9.Elephant Run
146. 10.The Last Unicorn

147. 11. Men at Arms
148. 12. Feet of Clay
149. 13. Mort
150. 14. Reaper Man
151. 15. The Color of Magic
152. 16. Lords and Ladies
153. 17. Making Money (reread)

Wow! Up over 150 - congratulations!

thanks! Some are kind of sort though... :)

154. 18. Ella Enchanted (reread)

#115: How is Ella Enchanted? I have never read it.

It's good. It is a retelling of Cinderella.

Stasia, it's a charming book! I enjoyed it quite a bit when I read it several years ago, and the film version with Anne Hathaway is cute & entertaining to boot.

I have seen bits and pieces of the movie, but never the whole thing, and I am absolutely sure the book is probably better :)

The book is much better than the movie.

#120: I would say 99% of the time that is going to be true. I am going to pick up the book on my next library trip.

Hello

Hi?

155. 19. Black Water (reread)
156. 20. The Truth
157. 21. Soul Music
158. 22. The Light Fantastic
159. 23. Conrad's Fate (reread)
160. 24. The Pinhoe Egg (reread)

161. 25. Skulduggery Pleasant: the faceless ones
162. 26. Men at Arms (reread)

163. 1. Catching Fire
164. 2. Jingo
165. 3. Maskerade
166. 4. Hogfather

What did you think of Catching Fire? I just got my copy in yesterday and have not had a chance to read it yet.

I liked it better than the Hunger Games. I think more got done. I will warn you that it ends with a cliff hanger.

I HATE THAT!!

I agree! It will be months before the next one comes out!

167. 5. Feet of Clay (reread)
168. 6. The Fifth Elephant
169. 7. Carpe Jugulum

170. 8. River Secrets
171. 9. Sourcery
172. 10. Moving Pictures

173. 11. The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (reread)
174. 12. Howls Moving Castle (reread)
175. 13. The Light in the Forest
176. 14. Heir Apparent (reread)
177. 15. The Mysterious Benedict Society (reread)
178. 16. Darkwood
179. 17. The Knife of Never Letting Go Warning! It ends with a cliff hanger!

180. 18. A Hat Full of Sky (reread)
181. 19. Eric
182. 20. The Wee Free Men (reread)
183. 21. Night Watch
184. 22. Wyrd Sisters (reread)
185. 23. Sent

Closing in on 200! Congratulations.

Thanks. I wouldn't think to much of it. Some of the books are pretty short.

187. 1. Lords and Ladies (reread)
188. 2. The Truth (reread)
189. 3. The Farfield Curse
190. 4. Devil's Kiss
191. 5. The Gates
192. 6. Syren

How did you like Syren? My local library does not have it in yet, but I have read the rest of the books in the series already.

I liked it a lot. I think it is at least as good as the other books in the series.

Well, I hope my local library gets a copy in soon!

193. 7. Jingo (reread)
194. 8. Dealing with Dragons (reread)
195. 9. The Little Prince
196. 10. Unseen Academicals
197. 11. Searching for Dragons (reread)

198. 12. Carpe Jugulum (reread)
199. 13. Calling on Dragons (reread)
200. 14. Soul Music (reread)

Congratulations on hitting 200!

Thanks.

201. 1. The Candle Man
202. 2. Ptolemy's Gate (reread)
203. 3. And Another Thing...
204. 4. The Amulet of Samarkand (reread)
205. 5. The Golem's Eye (Reread)
206. 6. Talking to Dragons (Reread)

207. 7. Cat Among the Pigeons
208. 8. The Mysterious Benedict Society

I haven't posted in so long that there are some books that have been forgotten.

209. 1. Night Watch (reread)
210. 2. Mort (reread)
211. 3. The Tough Guide to Fantasyland (reread)
212. 4. Reaper Man (reread)
213. 5. Guards! Guards! (reread)
214. 6. The Fifth Elephant (reread)
215. 7. Wintersmith (reread)
216. 8. Monstrous Regiment (reread)
217. 9. The Last Hero
218. 10. The Last Continent
219. 11. Interesting Times
220. 12. Thud
221. 13. Small Gods
222. 14. Pyrimids

Are you joining us for the 2010 challenge group? It is up and running!

I think I will give up on keeping track of all the books I read.

That is too bad.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!