Roni ncats' Reading List for 2009 Part 2

Meant to open up a new thread when my messages hit 250, but also had to wait until I had time to figure out how to post the links between the old and the new. So here is my old thread:
Ronincats’ Thread

39. Wild Things: the art of nurturing boys, by Stephen James and David Thomas.

40. Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke
41. Cotillion by Georgette Heyer
42 Fit at 50 and Beyond: A Balanced Exercise and Nutrition Program by Michael Gloth with Rudy Speckamp
43. Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon
44. Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity by Bruce Bawer
45. Fairest by Gail Carson Levine
46. Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede
47. Witch Week* by Diana Wynne Jones
48 Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce
49. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
50. The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia McKillip
51. Dial-a-Ghost by Eva Ibbotson
52. Four British Fantasists: Place and Culture in the Children's Fantasies of Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, and Susan Cooper by Charles Butler
53. Eat This Not That-Supermarket Survival Guide and Eat This Not That The No-Diet Weight Loss Guide by David Zinczenko
54. The Zero Stone* by Andre Norton
55. The Quiet Gentleman* by Georgette Heyer
56. The Toll Gate* by Georgette Heyer
57. Uncharted Stars* by Andre Norton
58. Deepwood by Jennifer Roberson
59. Re-Thinking Christianity by Keith Ward
60. Good Omens* by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
61. Deepest Roots by Sheila Moon
62. City of Bells* by Elizabeth Goudge
63. Sister of Angels* by Elizabeth Goudge
64. The Blue Hills* by Elizabeth Goudge
65. The Unknown Ajax* by Georgette Heyer
66. The Magician's Book: A skeptic's adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller
67. No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman
68. The BFG by Roald Dahl
69. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
70. Fablehaven: The Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull
71. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
72. Earthman's Burden by Poul Anderson and Gordon Dickson
73. Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper
74. Zombies of the Gene Pool by Sharyn McCrumb
75. Red Bird: Poems by Mary Oliver
76. The Dragon of Trelian by Michelle Knudsen
77. False Colours* by Georgette Heyer
78. Catmagic by Holly Webb
79. Matilda by Roald Dahl
80. The Companions by Sheri Tepper

Let me be the first to congratulate you on joining the "2 thread gang!" :-)

Here is a list of books read so far this year. Reviews can be found in Thread 1:
Books Read in 2009, * indicates reread
1. Eight Cousins* by Louisa May Alcott
2. Rose in Bloom* by Louisa May Alcott
3. Ambulance Ship by James White
4. Mort* by Terry Pratchett
5. Soul Music* by Terry Pratchett
6. Frederica* by Georgette Heyer
7. Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett
8. The Wizard Hunters by Martha Wells
9. The Annotated Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
10. The Unadulterated Cat by Terry Pratchett
11. Rilla of the Lighthouse* by Grace May North
12. Ginnie Come Lately by Carola Dunn
13. Griffin's Castle by Jenny Nimmo
14. The Game by Diana Wynne Jones
15. Goblin Quest by Jim C. Hines
16. Twisted Tales From Shakespeare by Richard Armour
17. Remake by Connie Willis
18. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
19. The Reluctant Widow* by Georgette Heyer
20. A Little Princess* by Frances Hodgson Burnett
21. Tinker by Wen Spencer
22. These Old Shades* by Georgette Heyer
23. The Rescue of Ranor* by Wilanne Schneider Belden
24. Devil's Cub* by Georgette Heyer
25. Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
26. The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
27 So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading by Sara Nelson
28. Miss Seldon's Suitors by Jeanne Savery
29. The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines
30. Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
31. The Grand Sophy* by Georgette Heyer
32. Small Gods* by Terry Pratchett
33. The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson
34. The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
35. The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg
36. A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth Bunce
37. Territory by Emma Bull
38. Aunt Dimity's Good Deed by Nancy Atherton

Found you Roni! Congratulations on joining the 2-thread gang.

Thank you, Carolyn! And thank you, Stasia, as well!

You gals are FAST! I was still editing in my ticker and stuff, and here you are already!

Got you starred again, Roni!

Super -- it was time! :)

Ha! You tried to hide but I found you!

Nothing gets past you, Richard!

I've not been doing much reading lately--watching too much college basketball. My Jayhawks play tonight, but I've been watching all the tourney games.

Go Jayhawks, then! Are you from Kansas, or did you go to school there, or both? Or neither, since fandom is such a random thing most times.

I'm a baseball fan, so I watch the spring-training games for my guys (the Mets) on our local cable company's all-local-all-the-time sports network.

I am both a Kansan born and bred, and I went to school at the University of Kansas, undergraduate and graduate, so went 7 years of not missing a home game in Allen Field House. Not so random, in this case!

Is "Territory" a new Emma Bull? I haven't read any of her stuff in yonks.

Territory came out in the summer of 2007 in hardback, but just came out in paperback last month, so I just now bought it and read it. It is her newest.

She needs to get the darn sequel out! I hate sitting years when a story ends in mid-stream.

Her time lag is as nothing compared to some others. P. C. Hodgell only had 3 years between God Stalk and Dark of the Moon, but no one could find the latter. And then 9 years to Seeker's Mask and 12 years to To Ride a Rathorn. Diane Duane had five years between The Door into Fire and The Door into Shadow, then 8 years to The Door into Sunset, and we've been waiting 16 years for The Door into Starlight with no end in sight. I love both of those series dearly, but wish the authors would a) write more quickly (Hodgell) and b) stop getting distracted by other projects (Duane).

George R. R. Martin needs a kick in the butt, also.

Yeah, a LOT of people are complaining about him, but I found his first book a little dark for me, so am not repining in his case.

found you ronincats and starred this new thread!

>17 ronincats: It gets darker too... I am wanting to read the next but it's bleak.

GRRM: Nothing jolly about that fat man!

Nice to see that you've gotten a new thread, consider it starred! :) Hope you read plenty more books this year!

Catey

Gotcha starred.

>16 TadAD:, GRR Martin is one of those authors I really, really want to read but have decided to wait until the series is all out. The books are so big I feel I would forget a lot of facts unless I reread the series every time a new book came out and that's extremely time consuming when an author writes huge books.

>22 RebeccaAnn: You mean you don't want to do what I did? Read Bk 1, and then when Bk 2 came out read Bks 1 & 2, and when book 3 came out read books 1 & 2 again before reading 3...

Huh.

No, did that with the Harry Potter books.

>23 suslyn:, I did that with Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth novel and got so irritated by it that I just stopped reading them and decided to wait until they were all published before I read the series again. They're all out now and I've been trying to work up the resolve to reread the series. I read the first one in December, but haven't started the second...

Book 39 Wild Things: the art of nurturing boys by Stephen James and David Thomas.

I received this ER book in January, and have been slowly making my way through it ever since. In the interests of full disclosure, I am reading this book not as a parent but as a school psychologist with 30 years of experience in working with boys from preschool through age 13. This book is by two men who are both experienced counselors and fathers, on the topic of raising boys.

It took me a long while to get into this book, reading it as I typically do nonfiction, a section of a chapter a night several nights a week. I feared at first it would be one of those pop culture type books, a fear nourished by the cute little labels the authors placed on the different developmental stages. I found it slow going through the first third of the book, when the authors were describing the various developmental stages. Looking back, I think this was because of my familiarity with this information--which would not be the case with a parent reading this.

When the authors started Part 2: The Mind of a Boy, I perked up. This is my area of expertise, after all. And it was outstanding! The identification of common errors made in dealing with boys and strategies in working with them in brain-compatible ways on top of the descriptions (highly accurate) along with specific mini-sections dealing with major issues raised this book well above the average parenting book.

When I reached Part 3: The Heart of a Boy, I had difficulty putting the book down. I have powered through this section in the last three days! The insight, the specific examples, and the strategies and game plan for nurturing boys to emotionally healthy men are simply outstanding. I now plan to order this book for both of my nephews and their wives because I value its advice for raising their young boys (one age 5, one still in utero) so highly. I also have found rich ideas for strengthening my own counseling interactions with boys in my schools.

Two caveats: 1) the current formatting of the book as an ARC: the inserts about specific problem areas broke into the flow of the chapter text and were hard to read because of the different font. Hopefully, this will be addressed in the final published edition.
2) In the final chapter of the book, "Rituals, Ceremonies, and Rites of Passage", where the authors talk about ways of integrating our boys into the larger society, they make explicit their spiritual connection to God as part of this. If you are an atheist, this may be an issue for you, but it only impacts this chapter and not the many great chapters before it. If you are a member of a religion or agnostic, you will have no difficulty, and indeed, much benefit in incorporating this dimension into your parenting.

Of all the parenting books I have read over the years, and there have been many, this book is simply outstanding and receives my highest rating of 5 stars. I cannot recommend it enough to the parents of boys both for its insights and its suggestions.

Thanks for the review of Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys. It's sounds really good. I'm going to get it for my daughter who already has one boy and another one on the way in early June.

Is it too late if they're 27, Roni?

(Sigh) Fraid so, tiffin. At least for the insights of this book. But if they are starting a family of their own, good to read and pass on!

I've skimmed Lasagna Gardening and given up on Christopher Moore's You Suck after 50 pages. The latter was obviously a sequel, which I didn't realize when I picked it up at the library. I've heard good things about Moore, so I won't give up on him, but this isn't the book to start with. Hopefully I can now start a book I can count!

Roni, your review of "Wild Things" sent me to Amazon to send a copy to my daughter, mother of two boys.

Christopher Moore...A Dirty Job would be a better place to start than You Suck. Wacky. Not manic.

#26 - As the newly minted father of a second boy, "Wild Things" sounds like the sort of book I should be reading. Although my late grandfather, an old-school colonialist and WWII ex-Indian Army Major, would shout an emphatic "BAH!" or "Poppycock!" at a book like this. "National Service is the only way to turn boys into men!" or "Send them to the colonies. That'll sort them out!", where his answers to raising children. I still put a lot of store in his pragmatic ways, but I'm willing to take a modern approach ;)

Peter, the authors specifically address the "military model" of raising boys--makes for interesting reading. I'd be very interesting in hearing your reaction to the book.

#33 - Thanks for the feedback. I've been checking the book out over on amazon, and will include it in my next purchases bag! And by the way, thank you for the caveats - the chapter "Rituals, Ceremonies, and Rites of Passage" would have caused me to discard the book if I hadn't read your excellent review. I will definitely check back in and let you know my own thoughts.

If wishes were fishes... (thinking about the book on boys :)

Just posting here so I don't lose you!

Roni - Thanks for your rec of Wild Things. As the mother of two boys, I've been looking for a good book on raising boys, and I'll definitely add this one to my list. Is the book geared at any specific age - or is it applicable across ages? My boys are 5 and 8.

It is applicable across ages. It talks about the special needs and developmental challenges of each developmental stage up through adolescence.

Books that came into my house this week:
Trip to Costco:
Team of Rivals and
Diary of a Wimpy Kid, both as a result of LT recommendations.
School Book Fair:
Fairest by Gail Carson Levine
The Key to Rondo by Emily Rodda
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis because it is a NEwbery Honor Book
and
Book # 40, Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke

This is a very cute and fun children's book, for ages 8 to 11, by the author of the Inkheart series. As Igraine turns 12, her parents make a small error in conjuring up her birthday present and turn themselves into pigs who cannot work magic. Normally this would have been straightened out in time, but with an evil magician attacking the castle and trying to steal the Singing Books of Magic right now, it is quite inconvenient. Igraine is spunky and clever and saves the day in various ways.

Igraine sounds like a blast!

lo, Igraine sounds fun. And I'm mildly jealous about the Diary of a Wimpy Kid as I have heard good things about it.

I have Team of Rivals slated for my 999 Civil War read -- I plan to get to it after my "teaching" year ends--i.e., this summer! :-)

#39 & #42: Team of Rivals is a terrific book and I hope you both enjoy it!

I agree with the comments about Igraine, Roni, it does sound like a fun book.

#39 - A friend, knowing of my daily commute and interest in history, recently gifted me the unabridged audiobook version of Team of Rivals - It's 34 CDs!!! I've never listened to an audiobook longer that 15 CDs - I'm flabbergasted, and just a little intimidated.

Oh Peter I do hope it is a good version that will draw you in!

Book #41 Cotillion* by Georgette Heyer

A re-read of one of my favorite Heyers. Can't say much about the plot without running into spoilers. Best appreciated with a background of the typical Regency plots to set it against.

Okay, Aquascum picked this up somewhere on LT, and I cannot resist. But because I refuse to go through and HTML all the ones I've read to make them bold, I'll star them instead!

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 the ones you started but didn't finish

*1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
*2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
*3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
*4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
*5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
*6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
*8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
*9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
*10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
*11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
*13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
*14 Complete Works of Shakespeare - 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
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
*22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
*25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
*28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
*29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
*30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
*31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
*33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
*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
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
*46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy.
*48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
*49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
*52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
*54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth.
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
*58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
*59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
*62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
*65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
*70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
*71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
*73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
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-partial
*91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
*92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
*94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
*97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
*98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
*99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

46 read completely, and Shakespeare and Blyton collections, not read every one, but many of them.

Pass it on if it appeals to you!

Sure, it appeals...where do I find one without stars, itals, or whatever else?

Post 75, here. Bolds and italics won't show after copying.

30 including all of Doyle, plus partial Shakespeare. Tried to read Life of Pi two different years -- couldn't do it; won't try again. Tried Of Mice and Men but I was a kid last time. Will try again someday. I had some others I thought I'd read (like Les Mis) but I can't swear to it, so I left them off.

Bizarre how they have 'complete works' and then a part (Narnia, Shakespeare).

>49 aquascum: thanks, aquascum!

I thought that was weird, too, Susan, about having a whole body of work and then one of the works.

I have a few of these in my TBR pile, such as Cold Comfort Farm. And I never plan to read Tess of the D'Urbervilles--too depressing--or The Five People You Meet in Heaven (although I saw the TV adaptation). But there are others I plan to get around to some day, like the Sylvia Plath and The Time Traveller's Wife.

Book #42 Fit at 50 and Beyond: A Balanced Exercise and Nutrition Program by Michael Gloth with Rudy Speckamp.

This was an ARC that I received via the Early Reviewers group. It is a slender book, 168 pages. I was looking forward to it because I have been, for once in my life, watching my diet and trying to up my exercise this year, and I wanted to know if there were any special things I should be aware of for my age group.

Overall, I think this book is for the total beginner in this area. You have short, simple overviews of diet and exercise in a number of areas.

There were only two contributions that were new to me. One is the concept of "effective" calories--the calorie count of food minus the energy expended to process it. The other is the need to consume 20 grams of protein within 30 minutes after your exercise routine.

A nice feature is the appendix of web and book resources. I would recommend going straight to these resources, however, instead of reading this book, for the majority of persons interested in this area.

Another nice touch is the sprinkling of recipes designed by the second author who is a nutritionist, but these are only a sampling, and provided with limited nutritional information (calories and protein--I need fat and fiber to enter in my Points).

Overall, a basic introduction, clearly written, and useful for those with limited knowledge in these areas.

Wow, I did not know you fell anywhere near that agerange! I thought you were about 25.......at the most late 20's or very early 30's.

Huh.......you learn something new every day

surprised me too Luna, even though that's my age too -- but I always think I'm younger! LOL

I find it surprises you even more when it happens to you.

lol, I've got 30ish years to go so I've got a while to wait for the surprise!

You're not kidding, tiffin!

50 is the new 40 (only with hot flashes!). The surprising thing about it is how much faster the second half of life goes than the first half. I'm constantly amazed by that. The other weird thing is the way some younger people treat you like you are kind of ancient when, of course, you don't feel that way at all.

I know. It makes me want to spit when some chirpy young thing calls me "dear". Just because you can't see my cape, doesn't mean I'm not Wonder Woman, youngster.

"Sweetie" is very annoying. It makes me feel like I'm in my dotage. I stopped at a espresso stand the other day and the early twenty-something barista called me sweetie...twice ("Hi sweetie"..."Here you go, sweetie"...argghh!).

>60 tiffin: Tui...ROFL

I like it when the youngsters call me "sir" because, dammit, I have EARNED that respect! When I get a haircut or whatever, and some well-meaning individual tells me I look so much younger, it makes me feel like gluing the hair back on and dyeing it all white.

I AM NO LONGER YOUNG say hallelujah and I DO NOT WANT TO LOOK YOUNGER because nothing on this planet looks sillier than mutton dressed up like lamb.

Being 60 in 7 months is looming larger than 40 or 50 did, or is it just my memory going? 50 is the new 40, but 60 is...retirement age?

Yes, Roni, it is. And Hallelujah for it too. I feel better as a retired 60 than I did as a working 50.

I'd have to say something if someone called me "sweetie".

C'mon y'all...retirement age was set by Bismarck at 25 years past the usual time of death for the working class. 65 was ooold in 1880s terms. The equivalent now would be 85.

And our generation ain't gonna get to retire, ain't y'all been watchin' the news? No money to live on!

Actually, the state teachers pension system in California is one of the most secure in the world--much more so than Social Security. Unless the whole economy comes entirely apart--I'm looking at one, maybe two years max before retirement. Now, my TSAs took a big hit--thank goodness I don't have to depend fully on them.

Defined pension systems are wonderful (at least as long as your employer doesn't go bankrupt).

I was sharing with Fantasia how my shelf system worked in my office, so she could take advantage of her tall ceilings without taking up floor space, and had some pictures to share of it. Richard, you will not want to look.

This is the north wall of my 9x12 office/back bedroom.

All of the white shelves are hung from the thick horizontal metal bar at the top of the wall. The hardbacks are my professional books, with 3 tiers of paperback favorites squeezed in. The books on the back of the couch are my pb TBRs. The hardbacks and Trade paperbacks are stacked on the floor at the end of the couch. Yes, all those fuzzy things are cats. The bookcase at the end is made of 1x6 boards specifically to fit behind the door when it is open and to hold paperbacks. It is backless, so when the books are pushed all the way back, it has room for books I've just read in front, kind of. My major shelves are in the front bedroom, and when I get that cleaned up, I'll share pictures of it.

I envy your shelves. The only reason all of my books fit at the moment is that I've taken my science collections to my office, freeing up some space at home. Well, I also bought another "media storage unit" that is the perfect size for paperbacks. So now I have some bare spots that are slowly filling as I am giving rein to the desire to collect, expand, buy. I live in a 2-bedroom unit by myself and it is already crowded. Sigh.

Looking good! (the shelves) And on other comments... I got the hot flashes in my 40s :) Big shock too as I married at 40 thinking I still had time to have kids, mais non. While I'm getting a few bits of grey now, my hubby who is almost 10 years younger than me had all the grey and the wrinkles when we got married :) We're evening out now :)

>69 justchris: Yes, I cheated by taking half of my professional books to my school office, giving myself more room--which is now completely taken up, and I have about 10 linear feet of books read with no shelf home, and another 12 or so linear feet of TBRs with no shelf home. I got rid of about 400 books, mostly sff, about 15 years ago--found a USB that had just opened up and took the whole lot for credit--to open up shelves, but of course, what happens is that I keep buying books!!

Have I said that I have difficulty getting rid of books? However, I have to say that it is much easier these days to get rid of books that I know I won't reread with PaperBackSwap and BookMooch--especially since a lot of the so-so paranormal and trendy SF is very desired. Much easier than taking them to charities, who really don't want them, or USBs, who are incredibly picky these days.

Good to see you here, Susan!

Hi Roni...nice set-up! I'm envious.

Not of the *choo* obviously.

# 43 Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon

Read for a group read. This book is deservedly a classic for the breadth of imagination it developed in 1930. He was perhaps the first to develop the concepts of group minds, genetic engineering, and terraforming. His work was extremely influential on many early science fiction writers.

That said, this is a book that you had to read as a teenager to love, for modern readers. Stapledon was a philosopher by profession, and his book has no story. It is a dispassionate recital of the history of the race of man through millions of years and 18 stages of development. One can read it and say, "oh, that is interesting. What a range of imagination." But it is written in dry, scholarly prose with no protagonists to pull you in, no dialogue, not even when we finally get to the narrator's own looming tragedy are we able to really feel for him, so deadened have we been by the scope of years and multiple tragedies by that time. While I am glad to now be familiar with this classic, I am happier that I will never have to read it again.

#73: I am so not reading that one!

#74 Me either.

I think Roni's review is very kind and large-spirited. Something can be considered a classic, like For Whom the Bell Tolls, and still be unpleasant to a modern reader's sensibility.

The entire point of sharing views is this, Roni, and thanks for being succinct and clear in your review, unlike some of our compatriots over in the Group Reads-Sci Fi discussion thread.

What kind words, Richard! I appreciate them!

44. Saving Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity by Bruce Bawer

I pulled this off the shelf to recommend to Richard, and started skimming it--which quickly transformed into a complete reread. I love the first few chapters of this book with a passion. The next few are fascinating as Bawer traces the invention of millennial dispensationism, substitutionary atonement, and the Rapture in the 1800s in this country. As he moves up into modern day, I used to feel he became somewhat strident and overstating his position...but, among other things, after having a child come to me at work in an anxiety attack because her mother told her that Obama was the devil and the world would come to an end if he was elected (true thing--I couldn't make this up!), I am inclined to think that Bawer does not overstate. When I read Bawer, I love his discussion of the vertical dimension of religion as opposed to the horizontal dimension, and see a road to a living Christianity.

45. I'm falling behind! Too much time reading threads, or planting roses and tomatoes. So time for a new YA, Fairest by Gail Carson Levine. Actually, it's several years old, but only came out in paperback last fall, and I picked it up at the school Book Fair a couple of weeks ago. It says "New York Times Bestseller" on the cover, and I can well believe it. Levine takes fairy tale elements and combines them in new and completely original patterns to create an engrossing story of a girl coming to terms with herself as she is pulled into the heart of a crisis in her kingdom.

>78 ronincats: Roni...I cannot WAIT for Saving Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity to arrive! This sounds like the best fun I can have. Thank you x1000000000000000000 for remembering and recommending the book to me!

BTW, what up with the touchstone here?

I don't know what happened to the touchstone; it's still there in post #1 of this thread. It's totally disappeared now. I cannot WAIT for you to have read it so we can talk about it!!

I went to use my 30% off coupon at Borders yesterday. Very dangerous. Picked up what I intended, the new Patricia Wrede book, Thirteenth Child and the new Tamora Pierce book Bloodhound. Then I looked at the table of bargain books and picked up one on bridge, one on the Arts and Crafts look, three copies of The Strong-willed Child for work, and a chocolate emergency survivial kit for an upcoming birthday. Did I mention, dangerous?

Them coupons is a hazard, yeup yeup. The Bordures people know their onions.

Better late than never?

Copy the questions into your own post and answer the questions.

1) What author do you own the most books by?
Andre Norton--121 books

2) What book do you own the most copies of?
The Bible

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
No.

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Mr. Darcy, Captain John Staple, Ged

5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
Hard one. Lord of the Rings, maybe. Or a Georgette Heyer book. But I am a rereader of favorite books, so I have read many books many times, with different books emerging at different times of life.

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
The Laura Ingalls Wilder series

7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
A Homespun Regency Christmas

8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Nation by Terry Pratchett

9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
I can't be so presumptuous. It would depend on the person.

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
Terry Pratchett

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
They've done a good job so far with the Discworld books, so maybe another one of those.

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
Any book I am passionate about--they never measure up.

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I rarely remember my dreams.

14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
some of those paranormal romance books.

15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
The three volume set of A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus by John P. Meier--took me 9 months.

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I haven't seen many - and those would be the most popular, not obscure at all.

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
The French

18) Roth or Updike?
Haven't read either

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Dave Eggers

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Chaucer

21) Austen or Eliot?
Austen

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
Top Ten Popular books--I don't read much on the Best Seller list

23) What is your favorite novel?
Good Omens

24) Play?
Our Town

25) Poem?
Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas

26) Essay?
Henry David Thoreau.

27) Short story?
I Sing the Body Electric by Ray Bradbury

28) Work of nonfiction?
Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz

29) Who is your favorite writer?
See my profile.

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Dan Brown

31) What is your desert island book?
Nation by Terry Pratchett

32) And... what are you reading right now?
Four British Fantasists: Place and Culture in the Children's Fantasies of Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, and Susan Cooper by Charles Butler

I enjoyed reading your comments regarding Saving Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity by Bruce Bawer

I'm adding it to my list and hope to read it soon.

And since I'm still on my YA journey, I've also added Fairest

Thanks for two excellent recommendations!

I also enjoyed your review of Saving Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity... argh *reaches over to pick up her TBR notebook* :)

BTW, I finally made that thread... upload away:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/62782#1214464

Enjoyable reading as usual, thx :)

#46. Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede

There appears to be a trend to set fantasy in the midwest or west of this country lately. Jane Lindskold (Changer, Child of a Rainless Year), Emma Bull (Territory), and Lois McMaster Bujold (The Sharing Knife series) all have set their fantasies in the Southwest or Midwest. Now Patricia Wrede has started a new series called Frontier Magic with Thirteenth Child. This book follows the heroine, Eff (for Francine), from about 5 years of age up to high school age as her family moves to the frontier. A frontier outside the magic shield that protects humans from steam dragons and other magical creatures that, along with the natural predators, make settling the West a very chancy business. This book has somewhat of a YA feel to it due to the age of its heroine, but a fascinating depiction of an alternate reality corresponding to our early to mid-nineteenth century. It will be interesting to see how the further books develop, when Eff will be an adult. As usual, Wrede has great characterization as well as an intriguing setting.

I am slowly making my way through Wrede's books, Roni, so I am sure that I will eventually get to that one. It sounds interesting!

It is, but a much different tenor from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. I assume you are making your way through the four of them? I have the boxed set of four I am giving to a 6th grade class tomorrow--I read them the first chapter of Talking to Dragons on Read Across America day.

Yes, I have already read Dealing with Dragons and have the second book in the series home from the library now.

I think Talking to Dragons is a perfect read aloud -- great idea! I love the sound of the new Wrede series too... *sighs, longing for a local library* (Blackie just wandered in to peer intently at me... wonder what he wants?!)

People were reading some of the Chrestomanci books by Diana Wynne Jones, which reminded me that I had accidentally taken Witch Week to school with the Ibbotson's. So I retrieved it Monday while at work, and of course did not get home without starting it. This is definitely one of Jones' juveniles, the story of a group of children at a boarding school in a plane of existence where witches are burned to death. We take different POVs of the least popular students and their various problems, getting to know the class and their teachers, before everything falls apart and Chrestomanci is called in to help straighten it out. Easy reading, great for middle school, probably the weakest of the Chrestomanci books for me.

Now, back to Bloodhound.

I'm simply stopping by to say hello.

Always glad to be visited by you, Linda!

Along with several others here, I have recently finished Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce. This substantial book (534 pages sans appendices) is a sequel to Terrier and continues the story of Beka Cooper, a policewoman (they are called Dogs rather than cops) in Tortall 200 years earlier than the Tortall described in Pierce's later series, The Song of the Lioness, The Immortals, Protector of the Small, and the Trickster series (14 books in all). While Terrier was the story of Beka's apprenticeship, she has just become a full-fledged Dog in this book, and is sent to a neighboring city to investigate her first major case with a senior partner.

These books have a different tenor from the others, in part because we are dealing with an earlier time, but mostly because of the first person reporting by Beka. In general, although I am not a great fan of first person, it is handled well and believably through her journal. Some of the factors of major influence in the first book, the social structure of her friends and the cat Pounce, are seen relatively little in this book, while other key components (her ability to gain information from dust eddies and pigeons) have key parts but are not as prevalent. The police procedural and the character of the new city and its inhabitants are well handled. We see Beka mature, and I am looking forward to the third book, due out in 2010.

49. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinsey

Although I enjoyed Bloodhound quite a bit, I was working through some very busy days and only had a little time to read each day so it took me 4 days. I was ready for something quick, and I had picked this book up at Costco a couple of weeks ago. Definitely a quick and easy read. Our writer Greg is self-centered and gets himself into quite a lot of trouble--pretty typical for his age in most ways. The drawings are quirky and add to the enjoyment for this quick, light read. This one goes straight to my school "library"--it's just right for my fifth and sixth graders.

50. The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia McKillip

I very much enjoy the quality of McKillip's writing. Since first reading The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, which won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1975, and then her fantastic Riddlemaster Trilogy, her lyrical writing immediately transports me into another world.

This book deals, as her books so often do, with multiple levels of reality, from the interesting and ideosyncratic nature of our characters in the "now" (think English coastal village in the early 1800's), to the hidden society of Aislinn House, to the stories coming off of Gwyneth's pen. The different stories intertwine and support and enrich each other as a mystery is discovered, a wrong is set right, and our characters grow into themselves. Highly recommended.

This one is nearly as good as Od Magic, my favorite of her books of this decade.

And that brings me to 50 books, 1/3 of the way to my goal, with 2/3 of the year still in front of me (I was wondering for a while!).

I love everything of Patricia McKillip's that i have read, but for some reason I never aggressively pursued adding more of her books to my collection. And I am starting to realize that I am missing a lot. I will have to make more of an effort to comb thrift stores and secondhand bookstores. I'll certainly have better luck than finding old Heyer novels.

LOL justchris! That cracks me up -- but don't be too sure as I scour for both and usually come up with neither :)

Argh, I need to stop coming and reading your thread. Even more books to add to the wishlist. You are dangerous to me, go away and stop reading!! lol

Luna, I will do that if you make more kitten pictures and videos--that will distract me from reading!

#97 Congratulations on reaching your 50th book so far this year! It looks like you will have no trouble reaching your goal of 150 books for 2009.

Lol, I'll do my best but at the moment they are being so naughty that any time we are looking at them we can't take pics or video because they are misbehaving and we have to stop them. They are also exhausting to watch, and I'm tired anyway cos they have learnt how to climb into my bed and wake me up!

Litter training also not going so well, so with 4 kittens (2 of which are on 1/2 solids now) having little accidents, there is no time for pics!

Suggestions: when you don't actually have them out socializing them, place them in a bathroom with a litter box. Put a gate that they can't get through in the door, but that Luna the cat can jump over to get to them when she wants. They aren't misbehaving, they are just little action machines, but that means you need to limit their environment when you aren't actually working with them.

And then they fall asleep in the middle of it all and look so adorable!

Thanks, Lorie. I was wondering in March, but it looks like I'm back on stride now.

Good idea but Luna still comes and removes them from places she doesn't approve of them being. Any blockade we put up that she can clear, she attempts (and does!) clear with the kittens in her mouth as well. Even though they are 5 weeks old today!!

Just catching up on your thread - #26 Wild Things sounds really good, I'll be checking it out on Amazon.
#83 I've got a copy of Four British Fantasists which I haven't got around to reading yet, how are you finding it.

>107 avatiakh: Kerry, I'm over half way through the text part on my library copy of Four British Fantasists. It's slow going, frankly--very dry and scholarly. On the other hand, my familiarity with and love for the authors keep me going. NOT an engaging read, by any means, but it is giving me a lot of insight into their writings.

I suspected it would be like that, but will pick it up at some stage for the same reasons as you. The book I want to read Diana Wynne Jones: The Fantastic Tradition and Children's Literature which is by Farah Mendlesohn is just too pricey and not available here. Farah posts on a listserv that I belong to and she always gives interesting insights into British children's lit and science fiction, continually mentioning older publications that are still well worth reading. One of my best YA reads last year was The Freedom Tree thanks to her.

My library doesn't have it, but it looks like it is available in the California library system, so I will try to order in on interlibrary loan. Thanks for clueing me in about the DWJ book! Did you see that the info on her new upcoming book, Enchanted Windows, is online now?

This title made me choke on my 12th cup of coffee:
set it in space and stick a robot in it

Amazon.co.uk listing over here. Someone from the UK please procure and report! No copies available in the USA.

An anthology by a writing group--love the title, Richard! Yes, if any one reads it, keep me posted by all means!

#110 - I hadn't caught up on DWJ's latest book, but will look out for its publication. Takes a bit longer for the books to make it over here. Thanks for the tip.

I'll finally be trying out Diana Wynne Jones soon. I found a supercheap paperback version of Chrestomancy vol 1. But someone just loaned me a couple of nonfiction light reads and she probably doesn't want me to keep them for a year, so I should probably start on those first.

I love the image of Luncat's momma cat with the kitten in her mouth high-tailing it over the fence! Much nicer than when I was petting Blackie today (holding him in my arms like a baby -- his fav position) when Sooty decided to climb up my leg -- ouch!

Had half an hour to kill between work and a doctor's appointment, so pulled Dial-a-ghost off my fantasy shelf at school to fill the time in the waiting room. (I had to go ahead and drive down there early, or fight traffic all the way if I waited until the actual time.)

Dial-a-Ghost is a children's fantasy book by Eva Ibbotson for the age 8-11 range, as well as those of us who either never left or have returned to our childhood. In an England where ghosts are real ectoplasm and somewhat overpopulating London, we have a lovely family eking out existence in a small knicker shop, when they discover a new business that places ghosts with locations. Our family, however, instead of arriving at the ruins on the grounds of a convent, arrive at a big old imposing house by mistake. Here, an orphan has just inherited the estate, but his evil uncle and aunt are scheming to remove him so they can inherit instead. As part of their plan, they rented the most evil, vile, violent ghosts they could find, who hated children, to haunt the place.

What will happen? Who will prevail? Twists and turns, turns and twists, how ends our tale?

Lots of fun, this would be a great read-aloud to kids!

That wrapped up April.

12 Books
8 new, 4 rereads
10 fiction, 2 nonfiction
Of the 10 fiction, 7 fantasy, 1 science fiction, 1 regency romance, 1 straight children's book

Total for year: 51 books

Today, I finally wrapped up
#52. Four British Fantasists: Place and Culture in the Children's Fantasies of Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, and Susan Cooper by Charles Butler

I picked this up at the library because I have read and enjoyed nearly all the children's literature written by the last three authors. It is very dry and scholarly, a literature professor's thesis, and so it took me a while to work through, a chapter an evening on the evenings when I didn't fall asleep in the middle. I felt it did give me some insight into these authors, and it was interesting in its own way, but I got nowhere near the enjoyment I get from simply reading the authors themselves, and so I would recommend to you to go to the source and leave this book be.

#116: I have read a couple of Ibbotson's books, but not that one. Thanks for the recommendation, Roni!

Wow, I just remembered Dial-a-Ghost based on your description from my childhood! I think I got it out of the library on a couple of occasions and loved it. I guess I was 11ish when I read it.

What a blast from the past!

#116

I simply love your reviews! The consistently make me smile!

Thank you, Linda! That makes me smile.

And you both made me smile :)

Heavens! Don't post for a couple of days, and your thread gets lost 3 or 4 pages back!!

#53 Eat This Not That-Supermarket Survival Guide and Eat This Not That The No-Diet Weight Loss Guide by David Zinczenko

I'm going to count these two as one book. I read every word in the first, and all the text in the second, but they are most of all picture books. This explains their hefty price ($19.95 @), but to have that many color photos in a book has to be expensive to print.

In the first book, the typical format within the sections is to have photos of 7-8 foods on the right page with boxes giving certain nutritional information, and then a corresponding number of the same food types on the left page, also with boxes, that represent much lower calories and fat grams. For example, the difference between a can of Progresso White Clam Sauce (on the left) and Progresso Red Clam Sauce (on the right) is 70 calories, 9 grams of fat, and 530 mg of sodium. The book does this for staples in the refrigerator, the pantry, the freezer, snacks and sweets, and drinks, as well as a few short chapters on the produce aisle, meat and fish counters, and a save-money shopping guide.

The second book was the original one. It focuses on restaurant meals in the first half of the book--for example, if you are eating at KFC, the Creamy Parmesan dressing will add 25 fat grams to your meal. At Jack in the box, a Deluxe Hamburger with ketchup and mustard instead of the default Mayo-Onion sauce (90 calories, 10 g of fat) will save you 410 calories, 31 g of fat, and 825 mg of sodium over the Jumbo Jack with Cheese. Do you know that the WORST sandwich at Subway would be the tuna salad? Beats out the meatball hands down? While I could wish this would be more exhaustive, it really does help train you on what to look for when making choices, and I have started checking online the nutritional info for food chains before I go to them. It also has a chapter for foods to eat at certain places, such as the movies or the ballpark or vending machines, as well as certain types of restaurant food (chinese, italian, etc.) It has a chapter on the supermarket, but this was clearly much expanded upon and made much more useful in the next book, that reviewed above.

I went ahead and bought both of these since neither were available at my library, and I knew I would need time to look through them and really internalize the information. They are good reference books, and since I am seriously working on losing weight and therefore tracking my eating religiously through Weight Watchers Online (24 pounds since my Christmas holiday spike), I think they were worth the investment.

Great job! Hard work, I know!

#54 The Zero Stone by Andre Norton

This one is StormRaven's fault. He brought up Andre Norton on a thread about YA science fiction and mentioned this as one he would recommend. I have my own favorites, but I could not remember this one very well and went and reread it this morning.

As with much of Norton's science fiction and fantasy, we have a young protagonist who is alienated from family and society through no fault of his own. Hunted by others for an artifact that had caused the death of the man he had believed to be his father, he escapes one planet and then a spaceship to another planet when the former turns out to be another trap. En route, he gains the help of a telepathic mutant cat (it's more complicated than that) and is able eventually to win a new start. As is usually the case, we have a coming of age story with lots of action and an essentially optimistic outlook. Anyone who looks at my library will realize that Norton was a major influence on my reading in my teens, and that I have retained my affection for her writing, especially the early works.

I loved Eet! (The alien in The Zero Stone and its two sequels, for those not In The Know.) My very favorite Andre Norton will always be Forerunner Foray, with its focus on psychometry.

#124: Congratulations on the weight loss, Roni! I know how hard it is, believe me. I also bought copies of the Eat This, Not That books, although I have found the Supermarket version more helpful to me.

I've never read that one...

The Zero Stone was one of the ones I really liked. I'm not sure which was my favorite of hers. Star Gate and Secret of the Lost Race were the first two I remember reading, so they have a special place.

Okay -- there's another I don't have: Secret of the Lost Race *wishes desperately for a used-book store to go rummaging through*

>127 richardderus: I always love the telepathic animal/human partnerships in Norton's books, whether in Beast Master and Lord of Thunder, or in Moon of Three Rings and its sequel or Eet in this one.

>130 TadAD: It's hard to pick a favorite. I like the above, Storm over Warlock, Catseye (I like the Dipple books), Night of Masks. There are so many (I have 120 in my library, although a lot of those are her later books of course) and I haven't reread many of them for so many years, but these I know hold up over time.

Finally one I do have Night of Masks :)

#55 The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer

This is not one of my favorites, but it was voted upon for a group read and, what the hey, an unfavorite by Heyer is better than 90% of regencies in general. The plot is a little grimmer than most, and we don't see much interaction between the leads because most of the attention is on the mystery--that's why it's one of my less favorites. But the characterizations are great as usual.

That's another Heyer I haven't read.

Andre Norton was the first science fiction author I ever read, since my mom had a box of them when I was very small. Boy, did she get mad when I lost Sea Siege when I was in the first grade. I love Secret of the Lost Race. I know I read Zero Stone and the book following it, but my mom asked for them back many years ago and I have never reread them. I reread Night of Masks not so long ago, and it was okay. It just doesn't compare to the Solar Queen and Moon of Three Rings and The X Factor and Catseye and Daybreak 2250 AD and...so definitely many fond memories for me too. Sadly, I don't really like any of the newer works, particularly updating the old classics with the help of coauthors, with the exception of the gryphon trilogy. I think 1985 is about my cutoff date.

>135 justchris:: The Solar Queen was perhaps her best series (imo)...even though the Witch World stuff is more famous. I also liked the Time Trader stories.

It seems she introduced more kids to SF and Fantasy that any other author.

I loved the Solar Queen series and Witch World both (though not the later books, as I said). I liked the Time Trader series, but not as well. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I could relate to Dane Thorsson's youth and underdog status and I loved the consciously ethnically diverse crew of the Queen. And the Witch World series still has a unique flavor that really resonates with me and is still quite unlike other fantasy worlds.

#56 The Toll Gate by Georgette Heyer

This book also has a mystery embedded in it, like the last I read, but is one of my favorites. So I had to go read it when I finished The Quiet Gentleman to see why I like this one so much more. Well, for one thing, it is just so much more romantic! John Staple is a great character, one of her best, and Nell is truly a lady in need without being in any way a needy lady. Far away from the high society of London, the characters of the denizens of the countryside are developed with affection. The romance and the mystery intertwine, without one overbalancing the other, humor and suspense pace each other throughout the book.

Can you tell that I like it? Highly recommended.

Roni, good heavens! Get with the program! Regencies, faugh! We're talkin' about Grand Master Andre Norton, not some English gasbag called Heigh-ho or something!

Oh wait...it's your thread...errr, uh, Heyer's a good'un is she? *slinks off to sleep the sleep of the unjust*

Get back here, Richard!!! I am a great admirer of Grand Master Norton--I own 120 of her books, the most I own of any one author. And I am halfway through rereading Uncharted Stars, the sequel to The Zero Stone. Norton, Bradbury, Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein introduced me to science fiction in my teens. But Heyer IS the acknowledged Grand Master of the Regency romance. None other is able to capture the deft characterizations, the sparkling repartee, the verisimilitude of the times, the language, the humor, and the plots the way she does. She invented the field, and remains the Master. I doff my hat to both these ladies with great respect. Now apologize to the lady!

Edited to correct touchstones.

*mumbles*

Sorry.

*toe scuff*

Very nicely done, Richard Dear.

LOL I think we should keep dear Richard around :)
The Toll gate is one of my faves too.

#57 Uncharted Stars by Andre Norton

This sequel to The Zero Stone finds Murdoc Jern with financial problems after his ostensibly successful resolution of the plot of the former book. Blocked at every turn, he engages in riskier and riskier adventures while still seeking the origin of the zero stones. Eet is curiously reserved in this book, and even when it gets very active, works more with the Zacathan than Jern, but is the star of the finale. Lots of imaginative action, in the style of its time (1969).

Hi Roni...fun re-reading these, no?

Hmm, I've never read any Andre Norton or Georgette Heyer. I think I must investigate both :) recommendations?

You asked for it Kitty -- I foresee an inundation of recs :)

ETA PS: I'm really enjoying Norton & Edghill's The Shadow of Albion right now. Set in an alternative 1805 it kind of combines the best of what I love of each writer, at least that's my impression so far...

Yes, Richard, fun rereading them.

Kittybee, for Norton, give Moon of Three Rings, Storm over Warlock, or Year of the Unicorn to give Norton a try. Her best stuff was in the 60s, probably, and is older style fantasy and science fiction.

For Heyer, all of her regencies are quality. Some of my favorites are Frederica, The Toll-Gate, and The Masqueraders. The last is an Edwardian, a generation earlier than Regency period, and I also love These Old Shades with a passion, but some on LT find it to be too much. The latter is the only one with a direct sequel, Devil's Cub, which takes place in the early Regency period.

I finished Deepwood by Jennifer Roberson on Monday. It is the sequel to Karavans, which I read two years ago when it came out. Before I was tracking my reading on LT. There is definitely going to be at least a third book coming out in the series.

These are big, multi-POV books with complex plots. I hate big multiple POV books with complex plots. I love C. J. Cherryh for example, but Downbelow Station nearly killed me. I like books with a few key characters with whom I can identify. They can split out if we have time to get to know them beforehand, as in LOTR where the first book is the whole group together before it splits in book 3 into 3 different viewpoints. But I don't LIKE books that swing all over the place. I've had difficulty getting into the Malazan Empire for that reason.

These are big multi-POV books. A land under attack from two sources, a foreign conqueror who decimates settlements whenever they get too large, and a wild wood that changes people who get caught up in it. And the latter, Alisanos, is on the move, while the former, the Hecari, are just beginning to react to it.

We have a family fleeing from their home to relatives in another land, and taking a shortcut dangerously close to Alisanos. We have a caravan-master, a hand-reader. a messenger, a ale-master, all at a settlement where caravans take off from Sancorra to other lands to excape the Hecari. We have cousins who are a different race, Shoia--or are they?

In the first book, there is intrigue, tragedy (the settlement is decimated by the Hecari), relationship-building, and the family setting off. In the second, Alisanos moves for the first time in over a generation, capturing 5 of the 6 family members, generating a storm that destroys the settlement, and significantly affecting the paths of the cousins. Let's see, there are 5 POVs for the family as they are scattered afar, two for the cousins. Mercifully, the caravan-master, hand-reader, messenger, and ale-master stay in the settlement throughout and so are basically one POV.

Still, Roberson pulls it off. The books are quite readable, you find yourself identifying with key characters, you begin to care what happens to them, and at the end of the second book, you still have really no idea how all this is going to be resolved, so it isn't predictable. One hopes that Audrun is going to kick ass, but it isn't at all guaranteed how that is going to turn out. Lots of loose end to tie up at the end of Deepwood--unfortunately, I'm going to have forgotten half of this by the time the third book comes out.

Recommended for fantasy fans.

I'm simply stopping by to say hello

I like the sound of both Karavans and Deepwood. Hopefully they'll come up on BM at some point!

Thanks for the review.

>149 ronincats:: Re the Malazan Empire books. I'm holding off on them for the moment. Though you know I do like the big, multi-POV books from our disagreements over Downbelow Station (*smile*), Robert Jordan has put serious scars into my willingness to start any major series until the author actually finishes it. People keep recommending them to me and I keep saying, "When he's done, I'll buy them all and read them in a giant orgy of trying to keep track of everyone."

I don't know if you've every tried them but, if you like the big, sprawling epics but want to keep the character count down, you could try Glen Cook's Black Company series. I liked the first quintology a lot and thought the ending at that point was perfect. The continuations were not as good, imo, though not bad.

>152 TadAD: & 149 Hmmm... maybe that's what I don't enjoy about Downbelow Station as well. Generally I'm a huge fan of Cherryh so it bothered me that I just couldn't get into this series. Thx!

Hey, Roni, just waving as I catch up on threads yet again!

#148: Thanks for the recommendations! I've found some of the Heyer at the library and next time I go I'll be sure to look for the Norton.

59. Re-Thinking Christianity by Keith Ward
60. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

I've been working all week on Re-Thinking Christianity. It was fascinating. It went from "This is all stuff I already know" in the first few chapters, to "This is really interesting stuff" in the middle, got bogged down with Hegel and German philosophers two-thirds of the way through, and ended with a bang. Ward talks about the evolution of Christian thought and belief from the life of Christ as recorded in the Gospels, through the major change in focus and emphasis seen in Paul's epistles and the Gospel of John, and on through 5 other periods of major evolution of theology in Christianity. He talks about one of these, the Reformation, being based on the concepts of allowing diversity of interpretation, the right of dissent, and personal freedom of belief at its core. And he argues for the continuing growth of Christianity in relationship to the modern world. A very thought-provoking work, I shall be looking for more of his writings.

And then, to celebrate the end of spending a week on one book, I reread Good Omens today. Not a change of subject matter, or indeed necessarily of theology! I do enjoy this book. I know little of the movie "The Omen" but a lot of Revelation; this book plays both like a finely-tuned fiddle. Not necessarily a great book, but a very enjoyable and satisfying read.

Hey, you all still out there?

ET revise phrasing that didn't mean what I meant!

#156: I am promptly putting Rethinking Christianity on my Continent, Roni. It sounds very interesting. Thanks for the recommendation!

I now added Rethinking Christianity to my Amazon basket - although having bought a large number of books last week, it will be a while before I complete that order.

Which reminds me that Stealing Jesus hasn't arrived yet. Ordered that in early May so time to find out where that has gone.

Yes -- still out here! And faithfully reading the posts ;->

Yodeleewho-hoooooo!

I'm here too Roni!!

Present and accounted for......interesting review of Rethinking Christianity. I am going to keep that one in mind.

Yay! Good to know you all are still here--I do appreciate it!

Mac, I found Rethinking Christianity on the new book shelves at the library when browsing. Although I think I'll go ahead and buy it now.

Just stopping by to say hi and I check your thread regularly!

Roni - Add me to the list of people who are putting Rethinking Christianty on the TBR list. Have you read any of Ward's other books? I see he has written several. God: A Guide for the Perplexed piqued my interest.

*whew* caught up with you. Keep reading and reviewing, Roni...I'm following along.

Hello to you. Work is consuming this time of year as deadlines loom. I'm way behind on reading posts. When I do stop by, I haven't posted. Yours is a thread I follow.

Re-Thinking Christianity sounds like something I would enjoy reading.

I haven't read any of Ward's other books--he refers to several of them in this book and they sound interesting. His way of thinking is appealing enough to me that I'll probably check them out.

Thanks to all of you for letting me know you're out there!

Good Omens is an excellent choice to follow Rethinking Christianity. :) I may have to look for the latter; it sounds quite interesting.

#61 Deepest Roots by Sheila Moon

This is the third of a series of books for children by Sheila Moon, one which I did not know existed until a month or so ago when I found it by accident. The first book, Knee Deep in Thunder was written in 1967, and the second, Hunt Down the Prize, in 1971, and I read them both several times in the 70's, and spent rather too much to hunt down and purchase copies of them in the late 80s, pre-internet searches. I did not realize there was a third, which was indeed written much later in 1986. Now all three are available in a matching paperback set that can be found on Amazon. So I bought the third one to go with my old Atheneum hardbacks of the other two.

Each of these books has to do with Maris and her dog Scuro who are drawn to the Great Land to help protect in in times of crisis from our own land. The Great Land underlies all other lands and troubles from it can spill out into our own. The Old Ones are central to the well-being of the land, Grandmother, Grandfather, Dark Fire, and Owl, and the Guardians, various talking animals, work to make those goals come into being. Don't think Narnia--this is nothing like. This is based on Navajo mythology, and seeks to speak to the soul of how we treat others and work with others.

Some may find it a fault that these goals are very evident and that the characters speak openly of them, and may find the prose didactic and think that it lacks grace. However, I must say that I find the cadence and openness of the speech and the philosophy to be very true to what I have found working with people of the Dine and other native Americans. It is how they would instruct their own children and discuss among themselves important issues.

Worthy of your consideration, IMHO.

Edited to correct a mis-typed date. Thanks to Susan for catching it.

Stasia, after you reviewed City of Bells on your thread, and especially after the bookshop quote, I had to order all three books from the library. They were packed away in the stacks down in the central library, and I like to think that my checking them out will postpone the dread day when they will be discarded, just as I like to hope I will stumble over my own not-to-be-found copies in some forgotten corner. I picked up City of Bells just to look at when I got home from the library, and was 50 pages into it before I looked up, with the above book still to finish. Still, I have another quote to join that of being a bookseller. This one is Grandfather speaking:

"In my experience when people once begin to read they go on. They begin because they think they ought to and they go on because they must. Yes. They find it widens life. We're all greedy for life, you know, and our short span of existence can't give us all we hunger for, the time is too short and our capacity not large enough. But in books we experience all life vicariously."

I like the sounds of the Moon books. Are your first two dates correct? the 2nd is before the 1st...

No, I reversed the digits on the first--it was 1967, not 76. Thanks for catching it--I'll go back and change it now.

#62. City of Bells by Elizabeth Goudge

This is probably the perfect introduction to Goudge's writing for LTers, because of the way her love of books is inextricably interwoven into the story. It showcases her key themes of love of peaceful places, integrity, belief in people and in something beyond, rebirth. In some of her retellings of true events, the tragedy is unavoidable because the events have already happened and cannot be changed although they can be reinterpreted. Here, there is room for hope and peace and growth. And some of her most enchanting creatures are to be found here, especially Henrietta and Grandfather, although all her characters are to be cherished. If after reading this book, you are not captured, then accept that Goudge's writing is not up your alley. If you are, then delight that a whole body of works is now available to you.

Thanks to Stasia for inspiring this long overdue reread. I have the sequels, Sister of Angels and The Blue Hills (known as Henrietta's House in Britain), waiting for me, but as I noted on another thread...

I have two weeks of school left, and about 11 reports to get done in that time. Since each report takes 3 to 4 hours minimum, and my actual work time is still taken up with assessment, counseling, and meetings, it becomes imperative that I set aside reading for writing over this time--even though I REALLY, REALLY want to be reading instead. Ah, discipline, and the sense that what I do may make a difference in some child's life, as well as the knowledge that I'll still be working after the school year is over if I don't get busy now!

Okay, I failed. I failed miserably. I have not looked at a report today (well, strictly speaking, I did glance at a file for about 5 seconds) and I read Sister of Angels instead, sitting in the sun in the back yard, sipping ice tea next to my tomatoes (new pictures posted in the garden and flowers thread). At 155 pages, it was a quick read. This is not the full-fledged adult novel that City of Bells was. Expressly dedicated "For Those Who Love Henrietta", it is a novella expressly designed to showcase her in a lovely little story, great to be read at any time, but especially at Christmas time. Carrying on the characters of the first book with many of the themes, but in a more fable-type manner, it is deeply satisfying to "those who love Henrietta". The third book, The Blue Hills will be slightly longer, slightly deeper, and a wonderful way to bring Henrietta's story to a close. I will try to restrain myself to wait until after a report or two.

Whew! 3 months of posts to read! But I'm finally caught up with your thread.

I've never read Andre Norton so I've put your three suggestions on my TBR and hope to find one of them soon.

I'm also adding City of Bells to my "must read" list. I haven't read any for Elizabeth Goudge for at least 20 years but I remember the couple I read as being enjoyable. I haven't read this one and the quote really sold me! It is so true--and probably the reason why I'm reading twice as much now as when I was younger--not as much time left! :-)

I always get good ideas from you. I loved your comments about the Georgette Heyer books--She is one of my favorite authors and always a "go to" author when I need comfort reads! I love LT because so many people here realize what a great writer she actually was--imitators pale by comparison. Richard might even enjoy The Masqueraders--it always reminds me of a Shakespeare plot and it was where I first learned about the Jacobeans (boy, was that a long time ago!).

#174: What goes around comes around - I never would have picked up City of Bells without your recommendation, Roni! I am glad you enjoyed your reread.

#64 The Blue Hills by Elizabeth Goudge

The third of this series completes the books with Henrietta at their core. This book is a fairy tale without being a fairy tale (because nothing TRULY magic happens, as the author says), an enchantment and a look at our own pretensions and fears within the context of the familiar characters we have come to know and love in the previous books. Definitely recommended for the YA contingent here at LT, but with its charm and beautiful descriptive scenery for the adult readers as well. This was my favorite of the three when I was young.

#178: I am very disappointed my local library does not have that one!

#174 - I've now added City of Bells to my tbr list.

I need to read some Goudge!

Good luck with the rest of your reports! My mother is working on hers now too... or should I say, "going insane trying to get them done on time". You teachers work so much harder than many people give you credit for...!

Thanks, Faith. I'm recuperating from walking 34 fourth, fifth and sixth grade Peace Patrol members to the city swimming pool yesterday for a pool party field trip! Lovely, actually, but I'm a bit rosy today. Back to reports now, but the library finally got down to me on the waiting list for The Magician's Book by Laura Miller, her book on the Narnia books that was out this winter with interesting review, so I'm dipping into it.

I am looking forward to your thoughts on The Magician's Book, Roni - it is one that is definitely on my TBR!

You've had read some great books lately. I've managed to get a copy of City of Bells and will be reading it sometime in the near future. I'll also be interested in your thoughts on The Magician's Book, kiwidoc wrote a great review for it earlier in the year.

Well, I went to the local Scholastic Warehouse sale today, the one after they close down all their book fairs for the year and return everything to the warehouse, and where the books are all 50% off cover price. These things are dangerous!

Here are all the books I picked up for me from recommendations right here in LT:
Inkdeath
The Sea of Trolls
The Hunger Games
Fablehaven
Matilda and The BFG by Roald Dahl
No More Dead Dogs

And then in Spanish to send to Joyce in Panama:
Corazón de Tinta (Inkheart)
Despereaux (The Tale of Despereaux)
La telaraña de Carlota (Charlotte's Web)
Tuck para Siempre (Tuck Everlasting)
El Capitán Calzoncillos (Captain Underpants)
Yo, Naomi León (Becoming Naomi Leon)
El Límite de los Montes Negros (Land of Elyon Bk 1)
Vuelo a la libertad (Flight to Freedom)
Cuando Tía Lola vino (de visita) a quedarse (How Tia Lola Came to Stay)
Un Caballo llamado libertad (Riding Freedom)
El Joven y el mar (The Young Man and the Sea)

Quite a haul, no?

#65 The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer

This may be my favorite Heyer. Certainly I think she must have taken great joy in its construction. Taking place entirely at Darracott Place on the border of Kent and Sussex, the story deals with the arrival of Major Hugh Darracott who is the new heir after the deaths of his uncle and cousin. Because Hugh's father was disinherited after marrying a weaver's daughter in Yorkshire while in the military, no one in the family except Lord Darracott, his grandfather, knew of his existence prior to this. His grandfather bids him to the family estate to be "licked into shape".

With such a small canvas, the characters of all the family are vividly drawn with a wicked eye for detail. The challenge of melding in Yorkshire dialect with Heyer's usual accurate but unobtrusive use of the vernacular of the time is well met. The culture of the countryside in these post-Napoleonic times provides the dramatic and riveting climax of the story, which, unusually, brings out the best in everyone. Delightful all the way through, this is Heyer at her best, IMHO.

#187 Wow a great lot of good YA books you've managed to score. Enjoy The Sea of Trolls, the final book in the trilogy is due out later this year.
I read a lot of Georgette Heyer in my youth and my mother has collected all her books. I should borrow her collection sometime and reread a few including this one.

#188 roni

Ajax is definitely on my "A list" of Heyer's novels. That's a great review--you should post it on the book's main page. I went to give it a "thumbs up" but it isn't there.

Okay, I'll go do that! Thanks, Carolyn.

Wow, Roni, that is quite a haul - especially the books to send Joyce for the school library. She'll be over the moon!

ETA: your Heyer note made me sad. That's the book I unwittingly gave away or misplaced and it had been one from my uncle's bookshop in Scotland, a beautiful hardbound edition. *sniff*

Oh dear, Tiffin!!! That is downright DEPRESSING! Mine is an Ace paperback--I picked up all the Heyer romances in paperback in the 70s--but some of them are starting to fall apart.

Roni

I just gave it a thumbs up.

All my old Heyer's are in deplorable condition but many of them have been reprinted in the last couple of years so I'm trying to replace as many as I can. They are very nice trade paperbacks and Amazon has several are reduced prices.

# 192 Tiffin--

That is heart breaking! I have a bad habit of lending my favorite books and then forgetting where they are. I hope yours finds its way home!

My brain and my body are both fried. I'm just going to tell you all what I've been up to, and leave reviews until later. This was the last week of school, and I left school last Friday with 6 reports yet to do (psycho-educational evaluations--integrate and interpret all the findings--take me about 4 hours apiece unless it is a difficult case).

Could NOT make myself work on them over the weekend, only got the one done I needed first thing Monday morning, but then finished two on Monday, one on Tuesday, one on Wednesday and one during the work day on Thursday--staying up to 11 or so every night to get them done. Then I had to do my paperwork documenting all the testing and counseling I had done since January, take pictures of all my counseling kids, see my last few students, file all the student folders that are in progress, prioritize and organize my to-lists for the fall, and today (which was not a paid day--the kids left yesterday) I packed up my office at both schools so they can clean over the summer. 6 hours of strenuous work--started off organizing stuff, and ended up just throwing stuff into cabinets so I could get done by the end of the day and I am BEAT!

I finally finished The Magician's Book last night (no reports to write), and when I came home today, read No More Dead Dogs which was perfect for burnt out body and mind. I did not write down who it was on LT who brought it to my attention, but it is really, really cute, perfect for middle schoolers, very well done. I think it's better than Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Drat! I just looked in the box of books I bought at the Scholastic Book Fair last weekend, to see if I would read The BFG or Matilda next and realized that when I boxed up the Spanish books for Joyce that I sent off today after work, I missed Captain Underpants. I'll have to send it off separately.

Now I have a few days to clean up a seriously disorganized house before we drive back to Kansas to visit family. Ohhh, I am tired tonight.

Fortunately, Fritz, who was not eating last week and went to the vet on Saturday (see, two reasons so far why I was not writing reports last Saturday) has been responding to medication and has found his appetite again--like Kath, what with buying Advantage for the animals as well, it ran $300. $100 was for the blood tests which all came out negative--which is a good thing.

I am GLAD it is summer. Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy...

Roni

Take a deep breath in--now exhale slowly. Again--and again.

WELCOME TO SUMMER! The time of sanity and rejuvenation for teachers.

If I were technologically savvy I could put a cute picture here--so use your imagination of the greatest summer activity you can think of. :-D

Thanks, Carolyn! I needed that!

Whew, I'm tired just reading that. Sounds like you are ready for some well deserved vacation time!

Pick a really good book, one you've really been looking forward to or one you love to re-read for the vacation. Enjoy yourself.

Roni, were I there, I would have a chilled champagne bottle open for you to help yourself from while a professional masseur worked on your neck and shoulders and I made you whatever your favorite meal is.

Plus all the books you want for free.

As I am not, I send relaxation and satisfaction vibes. You should feel very proud of what you accomplish every day, simply by getting up and going to work. Certainly I am grateful to you, and all who do your thankless job. So thanks!

ETA: wait a second...that last means you're not thankless anymore...oh dear, can't come up with another word....

"that last means you're not thankless anymore...oh dear, can't come up with another word...."

thankless-than-you-deserve?
thanklessish?
underthanked? (although does that then mean an undertaker is someone who takes less than they deserve, and an underwriter is someone who does not write enough?)

But enjoy your vacation Roni :)

Take a very deep breath, Roni, and then start enjoying the summer!!

Thanks a lot, everyone. I feel thank-full! We spent yesterday shopping washing machines, after ours died on Thursday. And today it was delivered and I am washing clothes and starting to get my stuff together for the trip and working on de-cluttering the havoc that is my house right now. So I will be brief on officially recording my books.

#66 The Magician's Book: a skeptic's adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller.

I'd been on the waiting list for this at the library for months. It's a curious mix of personal memoir/history/reaction and formal litcrit. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I felt some of her chapters were a bit of a reach, but enjoyed her discussions of a wide range of literature in conjunction with the Narnia books. There are already some very nice reviews here on LT; I see no need to say more.

#67 No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman

This was the book I came home to on Friday after a hectic day packing up my offices as school for the summer. It was perfect. About middle-schoolers, but from several different POVs, this has something for everyone without ever fragmenting or becoming overwhelming. As I said earlier, I liked it better than Diary of a Wimpy Kid--I loved the characters, and really enjoyed the plot. Recommended heartily to all you other YA readers. I wish I had written down who it was who recommended it on their thread so I could thank them.

#68 The BFG by Roald Dahl

Now this one has gotten a lot of discussion in the group! I know Linda read it, and a bunch of others, so when I saw it at the Scholastic Warehouse Sale (half-price!) I grabbed it. A fun little story! I think what I enjoyed most was the BFG's mangled turns of phrase. I have Matilda waiting--got it at the same time.

#203: Since I am a huge fan of the Narnia books, I am going to have to check into The Magician's Book. Thanks for the recommendation, Roni.

Sounds like you picked up some bargains at the Scholastic Sale! I was one of the lovers of The BFG. Glad to see you liked it too.

#203 Roni

I happen to have a copy of The BFG that I picked up of 25 cents at a used book sale. I could use a quick and hopefully enjoyable read. I'm going to dig it out tomorrow! This isn't the first time I've seen it mentioned--I know Whisper 1 recommended it, also. I'm assuming it will fit in my fantasy category.

Oh, it will definitely fit into your fantasy category, Carolyn!!

# 203: Great book! It's so much fun!

Marian

scrumpdiddylicious! Especially the snozzcumbers!

Oooh, yuck! Especially NOT the snozzcumbers!!!

I'm so glad you liked The BFG. Wasn't it simply delightful? Didn't it make you smile? Didn't it tear at your heart string? And wasn't it just so darn creative that you wanted to jump inside Roald Dah'ls mind to see if you could possibly assimilate some of the magic?

You managed to find some really great books.

I send all good wishes in the hope that the remaining summer days/months will be more relaxing for you!

Thanks, Linda. We are off on a cross-country trip to visit family so I will be sitting watching the scenery go by for 3 days--good way to calm down.

I also read and enjoyed No More Dead Dogs this year, so I'm glad to hear that someone else liked it too! Have you read any of Korman's other books?

No, none, Zoe, but I'll be looking for them.

Happy Summer, Roni! I hope you enjoy some much needed R&R.

I listened to the audiobook of The BFG earlier this year - Natasha Richardson was the narrator. So, I still have her voice in my head when I remember the BFG saying, "Right? Or left?" Glad you enjoyed it!

Roni, shamefaced: I lost you when you started your new thread and only realised when you posted on mine that I couldn't remember reading yours recently... now partway through over 200 unread messages :(

Book #39, Wild Things, sounds fantastic. I've just grabbed a copy of 21st Century Boys by Sue Palmer off the shelf at work so will make a note - they look like they'd make a good pair.

If you happen to comes across used old copies of Korman's MacDonald Hall series, I would recommend them. Unfortunately, though, they've been "updated" and I think also simplified, which seems unlikely to be an improvement. His more recent books are more likely to be in their original form.

Book #69 Fablehaven: Book One by Brandon Mull

Haven't gotten too much reading in on my traveling, but did finish this children's fantasy yesterday. I get odd moments here and there to get online, so have fallen way behind on most of the threads--will have to concentrate on that when I get back to San Diego. I found Fablehaven to be adequate--not an original concept but pretty well done. The main female character was a good POV and had the most depth--her little brother was simply irritating, much like the character Kirk Douglas plays in the movie of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea--you know he's just going to be the a--hole who screws everything neat all up. The author cuts Seth a little more slack than I would. I'm interested in seeing if the second book, which I am starting, can build on and deepen this world.

Flossie, great to have you on board again! Glad you found this thread.

Thanks, Zoe, for the recommendation.

#70 Fablehaven: The Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull

Brother wasn't so irritating this book. On the other hand, I didn't see much additional character development and the action is leading to a predictable story arc. I can see people new to fantasy enjoying this, but for me it doesn't measure up to the top books--this is a middle range book. 2-1/2 stars.

#71 The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I have to admit, after reading the two Fablehaven books, I was wondering if my sensawunda had gone flat. Was I just jaded with children's/YA fantasy after so many years of reading in the genre? After all, others had really enjoyed those books while to me, they were just a tad too predictable, too didactic, too flat despite a number of positive factors.

Fortunately, The Hunger Games dispelled that fear! This book grabs you from the outset and never lets you down. Many others have written full reviews of this book by now. Suffice it to say that I started it at 9:30 last night and had it done by 5:00 today despite Fourth of July activities and a family reunion today. The world-building was excellent, the characters vivid, the tension vibrant. I only worry that the sequel will be a let-down.

I'm glad you enjoyed The Hunger Games. I read it earlier this year and loved it!

Count me in amongst The Hunger Games fans as well. I already have the sequel on pre-order.

I can't wait to get my hands on The Hunger Games as I've heard so much about it. Unfortunately, I am HIGHLY unlikely to get it on BM and I'm too broke to justify buying it new, so I guess I will just have to wait.

Glad you liked The Hunger Games. I'm a fan as well.

I'm patiently waiting oh hold at my library for The Hunger Games as well... from about 80th place to about 25th now.

I bought Hunger Games for my adult son and he's loving it. I just wish he's finish it so I could read it. He accidentally left is at my house Friday and I'm so tempted to jump the gun! But I will be nice and wait--I just he would get back in town so he could get it to finish it soon! (He's a slow reader, too.)

#72 Earthman's Burden by Poul Anderson and Gordon Dickson

#73 Over Sea, Under Stone* by Susan Cooper

Getting on the road this morning, won't be online until Sunday evening, will post reviews then.

Have a good trip!

Thanks! (you are FAST!)

I see that "Over Sea and Under Stone" is re-read. That is perhaps my favourite series of all time. I realy should go re-read them too :)

#74 Zombies of the Gene Pool by Sheryn McCrumb

When I recover from travel fatigue, I will review all of these latter three books. In the meantime, one of the best ways to recover is to read!

#75 Red Bird: Poems by Mary Oliver

These were suggested by Carolyn (Music Mom), and I greatly enjoyed them. Oliver is clearly influenced by one of my favorite poets, Dylan Thomas, but has her own distinct voice. This was a pleasure.

Congratulations...that's your 75th book :)

Congrats!

Thanks, sir and doc!

Promised reviews:

Earthman's Burden I think I would have enjoyed this episodic series of stories about the difficulties the literal Hokas have in adapting to Earth culture a lot as a teenager, but I have to admit that now it seems rather dated and silly.

Over Sea, Under Stone As you noted, sirfurboy, this was a re-read, actually an umpteenth reread, for the group read here on the 75 Book Challenge group. I have said before, and shall again, that the second book in the series is one of my "perfect" books, i.e., one of those that you turn the last page and sigh in repletion, "Now THAT was a story!" As far as the series goes, it has to contend with Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles for top marks for a children's fantasy series. But it is right up there! It looks like the group will go ahead and read the entire series, hopefully. Always enjoy it.

Sharyn McCrumb is a mystery writer. She has written two mysteries related to science fiction. Bimbos of the Death Sun was set at a science fiction convention with some hilarious events as the results of the foibles of fandom. Zombies of the Gene Pool takes on science fiction writers, and I had never read it. Someone mentioned it recently, and then I saw it at a used book store. It was well-written, and if I were more up on some of the writers being parodied, I would have enjoyed it more, but it was a quick and interesting read. (I have always read science fiction, but never been into fandom nor followed the personal lives of authors.)

#76 The Dragon of Trelian by Michelle Knudsen

I thought this was recommended by someone here, but can't find the conversation anywhere. This children's fantasy is the first of a series, but is a complete story in itself. I was able to identify with the two protagonists right away, the writing is good, and the tension/story movement is excellent. This story is not particularly deep or "significant", but is very enjoyable storytelling with a consistent and interesting world. 4 stars.

My order from Amazon came today, and what a disappointment! Have any of you ever done this? I pre-ordered Seeker's Bane by P. C. Hodgell, thinking it was the new one which I knew was at the printers, and instead it is a trade paperback combining two of the earlier books in the series that I already have in hardback. Don't you hate it when that happens? I hope the new Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Fall of Light, makes up for it to some extent.

#231 Roni

I'm glad you liked Red Bird--it was a nice way to complete the challenge, wasn't it. Now I assume you are going to plow ahead for another 75 since the year is a little more than half over. :-) I never thought of Dylan Thomas in connection with Mary Oliver, but I think I can see what you mean. Now when I get home I'm anxious to get out my Dylan Thomas--I haven't read him in quite a while and I do like his poetry.

I Read the two McCrumb books recently and enjoyed them--light and amusing, which can sometimes be a real relief!

Happy 75th, Roni. *crowd cheering noise*

Carolyn, read Thomas' Fern Hill and see if you see a resemblance in phrasing! Yes, I'm going for 150, which I did last year, but I'm behind my pace for 2008, where I had read 84 by midyear.

Thanks, tiffin.

After your reviews of Sharyn McCrumb's works, I'm interested in finding them. Hope the library has them--they sound like fun!

>236 ronincats:: Fall of Light is not getting great reviews by readers. Oh well...perhaps I'll wait until it shows up in a remainder bin somewhere or second hand. mangochris' review of it expresses my growing sentiment about this author completely: Well-written but slow. Somewhat disappointing for NKH, though I think her short stories are way better than any of her novels anyways (except maybe for The Thread that Binds the Bones, which is fantastic).

>241 TadAD: The cover of Fall of Light (hardback dust cover) is off-putting to me--it looks like a romance cover. It will have to wait, however. I have to read Sheri Tepper's The Companions first for a discussion next Tuesday.

Book # 77 False Colours* by Georgette Heyer

Another one of my favorite Heyer's re-read for a discussion group. Kit Fancon is one of her most charming male protagonists, and the story is delightful as usual. Highly recommended.

#78 Catmagic by Holly Webb

A short children's book picked up at the Scholastic Warehouse Sale for my lending library at school. A girl finds out that her uncle (and her dead father) have magical capabilities when she stays with him for the summer, and learns that her mother does love her. Very simple but good for third or fourth grade readers.

>234 ronincats: Bimbos of the Death Sun? What a FANTASTIC title.

And congrats on your 75! How was your trip?

Congratulations on reaching the 75 challenge goal!

Well, Linda, I finally got around to reading Matilda today, when I should have been reading something else. What a character! I got very uncomfortable when she was punishing her father, but as soon as she turned to Mrs. Trunchbull I was fine. Great descriptive writing too.

And thanks for recognizing my benchmark, everyone. Flossie, the trip was fine--three days driving from California to Kansas and three days back were uneventful, and it was great to be with family while back there. We went fishing and saw fireworks and got chigger bites--ahh, nowhere like home!

Book # 80 The Companions by Sheri Tepper

Sherri Tepper is an experienced and prolific writer. She has strong feelings about human and animal rights and how we should treat each other and the world(s) around us, and these often if not inevitable show up in her stories. Sometimes this is to the detriment of the stories but often it enhances them.

The Companions begins on an eerily dystopian Earth whose overcrowding is exacerbated by the Right of Return, where any colonist of other planets has the right to return to Earth, and planetary governments send their elderly back because it is cheaper than caring for them. Politic ON earth is all too familiar, but we also have a universe full of aliens, each species with its own agenda as well. This is well-done as well--similar to David Brin's Uplift trilogy in complexity and motivation.

But it all unfolds in the background and interaction of our main character, a young woman with fascinating antecedents who is involved in an arkist movement on Earth, saving the few remaining animals. When she gets the chance to accompany her half-brother on an important mission to determine if plant manifestations on a distant planet are signs of intelligent life or not, at the same time that political forces have pushed through eliminating pets on Earth, she takes her current project, 6 dogs and their trainers, with her to buy time for their planned planet to be ready for them.

Willogs, lost ships, family dysfunction, alien politics--all come into play to a dizzying if satisfying conclusion of a well-written story.

#247: I have not read any of Tepper's work other than Grass. Is there a recommended reading order or does it matter?

Very jealous of your tall tall shelves :)

I see that you read So Many Books, So Little Time! It has to be my favorite book about books! :)

Hi, Stasia, haven't seen you here for a while! Her first series is the main one where order matters. The True Game series is three sets of three books--the first that were published of hers. Interesting story--she was writing her complex fantasy/environmental books before such books became the highly popular genre they are now, and the publisher said, we can't sell this, give us something simpler--and that's where that series came from.

Grass is part of the Dubai series, a trilogy, but I haven't read the others (Raising the Stones, Sideshow). The Marianne books are also a trilogy. And there are a couple others which are duologies. But some of my favorites are singletons: The Revenants, Six Moon Dance, Gibbon's Decline and Fall. The last one is a nice one to contrast to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale; I really like it although I growled at men for two days after finishing it until the effects wore off!

Thanks for visiting, luvtink. Don't you love books about books?

Here I am at 250 messages and 80 books. Time to start a new thread here

#249

I did this post on So Many Books, So Little Time so I could look it up to see if I would like it. I'm leaving it for others who might want to check it out. Might be interesting--mixed reviews. I love books about books.

Just stopping by to say "Hi"--I've been missing you. Did you start a new thread and I missed it?

Yup, there's a link in message 251 here. Come on over, Carolyn!