Frankie Whippet's April 2009-April 2010 Reading

I use to read an awful lot but more recently I've stopped making time for it. I've begun at the start of April 2009 with some easy-read trash to get back in the habit:

1. Gossip Girl by Cecily Von Ziegesar
2. You Know You Love Me: A Gossip Girl Novel by Cecily Von Ziegesar
3. All I Want is Everything: A Gossip Girl Novel by Cecily Von Ziegesar
4. Because I'm Worth It: A Gossip Girl Novel by Cecily Von Ziegesar

None worth more than 2 stars but they were a guilty pleasure in high-school and sometimes you need that sort of thing?

5. A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

4 stars, a wonderful novel and one I've been meaning to read for a while. It reminded me how much I use to enjoy reading.

6. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

3 stars, I expected more from this. A friend spoke very highly of it and with all the research that has clearly gone into the writing I expected something more literary. Pleasant, easy fluff on subject matter that interests me.

I think nice weatehr brings out my need to read fluffy books so I definitely count them :-) I agre about Water for Elephants. It was alright but from all the hype about it I expected a lot more. Good luck with your challenge!

Hi!
Just wanted to say Welcome to the 50 book challenge and good luck. You are off to a good start.
--BJ

7. The Road by Cormac McCarthy

5 stars, a re-read - just as brilliant as I remember. I'd been craving a re-read of this book and I went out and bought it this afternoon and read the whole thing this evening.

8. The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea Poems by Mark Haddon

4 stars, a really lovely little book. I loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and it's one I've re-read several times. Haddon's poetry definitely didn't disappoint me.

9. Accordion Crimes by E. Annie Proulx

4 stars, one of my absolute favourite authors. I never don't enjoy reading her.

>4 FrankieWhippet: I had no idea Mark Haddon wrote poetry! I recently read Curious Incident and really liked it but I'd never have guessed that Haddon would be a poet too. I'm intrigued!

spacepotatoes, you should definitely check his poetry out. I thought it was so charming and, as with Curious Incident, he's such an observant writer.

MAY

10. Everything You Need by A. L. Kennedy

5 stars, AMAZING. I loved this book, I was apprehensive picking it up because I usually assume that a book of this length could do with some editing but Kennedy's writing is just perfect. I got that amazing good book afterglow when I finally put it down.

11. Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters

3 stars, I expected a bit more from this book after reading some great reviews. I really enjoyed it, a good biography and it's worth reading but I wasn't blown away.

12. Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee

5 stars, this book had a bookmark in it close to the end but I decided to start from the beginning as it had been well over a year since I started it. Loved it, so well written.

13. The Anatomy of Wings by Karen Foxlee

4.5 stars, I loved it. I grew up in a regional Queensland town somewhat like the one in the story and could see everything described by the author so clearly. The familiar words and some beautiful descriptions (in one of the final chapters the author describes a gathering storm in a particularly accurate and beautiful way) made this a wonderfully engaging read for me.