cckelly's 50 books

Hi,

What a great idea, keeping track of what we read. Please count me in, though I'm not on LiveJournal I'll do the LibraryThing community.

LT has gotten me to read more in the past 8 months, and on subjects more diverse, than I've read in years. I know I'm buying books at rates I've never before hit, and friends keep giving me books to add or swap. I've wondered just how much LT has influenced me and I'm also curious as to what I finish and why, and perhaps what books fall flat for me. And I do need help tackling my TBR piles, I swear they're breeding cause I don't buy THAT many books!

Okay, so far for the year 2007.

1. When the Storm Breaks by Heather Lowell Feb.
2. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown Jan.
3. The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Barry Jan.
4. Love at First Bite by Sherrilyn Kenyon Jan.
5. Mayflower Madam The Secret Life of Sydney Biddle Barrows Jan.
6. Tallulah, Darling: A Biography of Tallulah Bankhead by Dennis Brian Jan.

Added 3/29/2007 because I realize I never put this here, only on my review page.

Love at First Bite:
Several of these stories were highly readable and two actually crossed the border into enjoyable. I'm not normally into the 'romance novel' plot line, but it was fascinating to see how taking the romance genre framework and building sci fi and fatasy with good splashes of black made for more titilating bedtime reading than I'd supposed.

Of the four, only one was dragging. While it was well written, someone I always kept coming back to thinking "this would be better if each scene weren't so long". Also, it had strong Christian overtones and parallel symbology; it's a personal preference, but when I'm going to spend a little time with vampires and were-shifters, I don't want a heavily Christian-judeo, Westernized culter mojo as the "subtle" moral of the story. But this could be about my own prejuidices and others may not see this as strongly. I hope you can let it go and enjoy the story.

Each one is the perfect length for a quick read to pull yourself away from the days stresses and into a more relaxed state so you can go to bed.

5. (added) Mayflower Madam.

Well, if you must, only read the first 4 chapters or so, then skip to the conclusion. Or skip the conclusion, you know what happens anyway. The only interesting aspect was her innovation of bringing good business sense to the streets. That said, this woman is the soul of redundancy...she had a writer assisting her, couldn't the professional tell her that restating ad nauseum but only in a slightly different context is not the same as writing a full length memoir?

And come on, it's a book about prostitution, when she gets all moralistic about how her girls a properly brought up ladies who are companions and they simply don't "do" things like that! (insert slightly divergent from main stream sex fantasy) I began wondering when did the profession of high class call girl get to be so damn boring! It is kind of funny though to see a Madame get on her prudish high horse about other people's fantasies...maybe in the 80's people still believed someone who said, "I don't do that, I just provide the service for the weird, fringe people who want it." Grab a cheap glass of chardonnay and laugh yourself silly at the absurdity and hopefully you'll get drunk and pass out before the broken record repeats kick in.

7. A World of Curries: From Bombay to Bangkok, Java to Jamaica, Exciting Cookery Featuring Fresh and Exotic Spices by Dave DeWitt Jan into Feb.
8. The Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown Jan-Feb.

9. The herbal body book by Jeanne Rose Jan.

I'm going through my virtual shelf and I didn't realize I'd read so many already. I also didn't realize I had quite so many started that had already been 'forgotten'; I seem to start some books but when I take an intended break of a few days, I don't go back. Is this like Reader's specific ADD?

I think I need to make a shelf of just books In Progress. Great, mid 30's and already going senile. sigh.

10. Deception Point by Dan Brown

Added 3/29/07 cause I'm trying to get all my reading list's reviews in one place finally:)

This was my second Dan Brown book my first being Angels and Demons but I didn't realize they were the same author until after I'd finished. That being said, I can now see the similarity in style. Brown has one skill I appreciate, he manages to suprise the heck out of me with the villian at the end; I simply didn't see it coming. However, now being more aware of his style I'm not certain he will continue to pleasantly bamboozle me this way again.

I enjoyed Angels and Demons more but that may only be because I have a greater predispositiong to dislike organized religion than I do NASA, or even the political machine (though that margin is closer).

This is a good enough thriller ride, for me like an older rollercoaster in a smallish amusement park. It's ability to leave you breathless is in direct relation to how many other larger, faster, more death defying coasters you've ridden already that summer.

As many other people have mentioned in their reviews don't come looking for solid, scientific fact to back up this plotline; suspension of disbelief is a necessary tool for enjoyment of this book. If you want to turn off your mind and read the ficiton equivalent of a summer apocalyptic thrill movie, then grab a glass of ice tea hit the beach and give this book a try. If you don't have high expectations, you won't be disappointed.

11. Portofino by Franky Schaeffer
my ex gave me the trilogy as a gift. Finally finished the first book last night. Pretty good read; being raised by a father who was involved in a church with very similair zaniness, the passages where the mom uses prayer as a covert way to manipulate everyone into doing what she wants rang a little too close too home sometimes. For the last 5 chapters or so, I skimmed these page long prayers. Book was much more enjoyable for me after that.

12. The Hand: How its use shapes the brain, language, and human culture by Frank R. Wilson

Finished this last night, though I did have to skim a couple chapters focusing on anatomy. My headspace just wasn't there the past few weeks and those were a little dry for me.
Note to self: next time Re-read Chap 4, 6, 7 & 9 and the epilogue

However,
Chap 2 The Hand-Thought-Language Nexus
Chap 3 The Arm we brought down from the trees
Chap 8 The right hand knows what the left hand just did
Chap 10 The Articulate Hand
And Chap 11 (musicians) through Chap 14 are marvelous.

I definitely want to obtain a copy for my own reference library and re-read when I don't have to worry about library return dates and can delve more into the anatomy text.
This is a fabulous book, rich and thought provoking.

13. Rich Dad, Poor Dad

My quick thoughts:

Good at getting my creative mind working outside the box but could have been written in about half the pages. When the author tells another writer that he's a best SELLING author, not necessarily a best WRITING author, I laughed. Highly repetitive about key concepts, to the point that I often felt impatient and actually said aloud,
"just cause you learned this when you were a kid doesn't mean you have to teach it like you do kids. Enough repetition, next point already!"

Still very insightful, reminded me of things I knew instintively as a kid but forgot in the pressures of bills and responsibility as an adult. Also a very easy read, I finished this in about 5 hours, even taking notes. Though the drawings didn't quite clarify for me the way they seemed to for him, they seem oversimplified and didn't rock my world of understanding, but all in all, good book.

Would like to hear other suggestions besides real estate and investing in start up's; but the author doesn't seem to be able to leap up a level of abstraction into areas which he himself hasn't explored, only to use his own experiences as examples of the concepts he's trying to present. You'll need to put your own creative thinking cap on to apply these concepts to your own life.

14. The Church of Dead Girls Stephen Dobyns

This was good because the writing is so well crafted. Even though the plot moves as slowly as life in a small town, somehow it still managed to be something I looked forward to reading at the end of the day. Normally, I'd want a suspense novel about a serial killer to grab me, shake me by my collar and then drag on it's bumper as it drag raced over an old asphalt road but something about the style, the way the story wandered with lush vocabulary I found myself wanting to relax, spend some time and build a relationship with this story. As much as thriller fiction is normally a one night stand I catapault into for the thrills this became the one night stand I spent the whole weekend with and looked forward to crosswords and bagels on Sunday afternoon.

When it did start pitching down a steep incline toward a breath-holding conclusion I not only didn't want to deduce the ending in a gulp and speed read to the conclusion but I found myself reading against my nature in a slow, lazy pace wanting to make the weekend a three day holiday. I didn't want to let go. It was nothing I'd expect in this genre but all the suprises against my exptectations, I enjoyed having something different. I was sorry to see this one end even as I gloried in the climax and felt satiated. This is pleasure reading as it should be; well crafted, long enough to get to know without overstaying it's welcome and so richly written you not only know the characters, you intuit that you also know the author too.

Note to self: I might actually read this again in a few years. Keep it, don't swap. I liked it more than I even realized as I read it.

15. Sleep No More by Greg Iles

A good read. Suspenseful, enough twists to keep it interesting and pull you in. Obsession, murder, supernatural forces, betrayal...a soap opera with a Stephen King twist. Makes you wonder just how much sex, love and obsession can really drive a person to madness.

16. I Feel Bad About My Neck by Norah Ephron

Gift from the ex. Funny, whimsical though now I'm paranoid about 43 and the inevitable neck decline. I skipped a couple essays after skimming, read them another time but all in all, I've really enjoyed the humorous lines in many of this lady's films and this book is basically a series of essays of her humor. Very light reading, under 2 hours for the whole book but lifted the spirits a little on an otherwise down day.

"Normally, I'd want a suspense novel about a serial killer to grab me, shake me by my collar and then drag on it's bumper as it drag raced over an old asphalt road"

I LOVE that description, and I'm looking for the book! Happy Reading!

i'm enjoying your reading list. Loved Angels and Demons and the Mayflower Madam was fun trash i read a long time ago. You're bringing back memories.

Thanks for putting me onto The hand: how its use shapes the brain, language, and human culture by Frank Wilson

16. The Next Accident by Lisa Gardner

Hmm, another surprisingly enjoyabe thrill read; I stayed awake two nights in a row till 5 am to read this and the reading hangover today was still worth it. I'll admit, I'm probably more enamoured with this book because I could identify in a deeply personal way with the heroine (though I haven't committed matricide I must confess I've fantasized about gaping chasms opening in the earth under her chair at restaurants on occasion, but I digress). I didn't realize this was a second book and I wish I'd read them in order since it seems the story line which explains background was in the first, however, this plot and it's suspense are gripping enough to not need to have read the other.

So all in all, I liked the characters on many levels enough that I almost find myself disappointed they are fictional. The villians are brilliant and the true villian does manage to stay completely hidden until the end, and then was a startling surprise; I didn't see him coming though I did swallow the front man hook, line and sinker and allowed myself the indulgence of considering myself 'too deductively intelligent' to find any good thrillers only to have my humility restored by a writer who does an excellent literary slight of hand.

I plan now to go back and read the first book both so I can spend some more time with these characters and too see if Ms. Gardner's other books are on par with this as I hope she is. If she can do this twice I will add her to my burgeoning list of fiction writers whom I will follow for themselves. I believe this now makes 3 authors on this list from my LT reading challenge...and I didn't expect to even find one. Whatever did I do before LibraryThing???

Thanks for your comments ArmyAngel and NativeRoses.

NativeRoses, I can't recommend The Hand highly enough if you're into this type of science/medical genre. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of how the Hand has shaped humans in culture, brain development, social interaction, and many more. His list of suggested readings and citations include many others I've added to my "to be found and read soon" list. This author also wrote Tone Deaf and All Thumbs: An Invitation to Music Making, which I've also been planning to read but didn't realize it was the same author. The author manages to make the information reader friendly for non medical professionals without 'dumbing it down' so much as to bore the more sophisticated reader.

Let me know your thoughts once you've read it please, and enjoy!

17. Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs

Good enough, not great. This was a book that was just good enough to read.

The character is interesting in a dry, pedantic way; more like someone you'd watch as an interesting character across the room but not really want to invite for coffee and get to know personally. It's the same with the author; in reading her acknowledgments I found she'd had to do quite a bit of research in some obscure areas where she personally wasn't trained and when those areas came about in the storyline, it seemed she built the story to showcase her research and not the other way around.

The author does a good job at keeping you guessing about the villian but other than that,
most of the major plot points were highly predictable with such heavy-handed, obvious foreshadowing I always found myself bored by the time the event occurred and I had long since ceased to care.

I suppose that would be my biggest complaint, Deja Dead's big moments were so Deju Vu'ed I wasn't halfway in when I began to wish the book would hurry up and be Deja Done.

18. The Final Victim by Wendy Corsi Staub

What I liked about this book. I never saw the ending coming, I didn't recognize the villian before the heroine did but I accepted it a little sooner than she did. And the way the author writes, the descriptions, the setting, the family, it's as lush as the heavy atmosphere of a low country summer.

This being said, you'd be hard pressed to find a soap opera with half as many story twists, avarice, skeletons in the closet, Old Money Family made on ill gains, betrayals, and narcissistic-multi-personalitied characters all expertly hidden beneath a gauze vaneer of Southern chivalry and manners. And one of the reasons I never saw the who in who-done-it sooner is because Ms. Staub starts you out on a carnvial twisty ride of shifting perspectives from short bursts with each of many unnamed characters from the get go; I was too dizzy to do anything but hold on and read out the storm hoping for some kind of resolution before the book gave me vertigo and forced me to get off the ride.

There are worse things a thriller book could be but personally, I would have enjoyed this book more (and I enjoyed it quite a bit as is, mind you) if I could have stayed with each character perspective just a little bit longer sometimes; 2 pages per perspective with as many as 10 shifts per chapter, with each one rambling both through the current timeline as well as their past, that it was hard to keep up. Since some are not identified very far into the book and you have to infer who's talking by things they said before, I often wondered, "oh hell, NOW who's eyes am I seeing the world through?" The confusion is superb for masking the truth but it's like a free fall in the dark, you keep wondering where the horizon is and when you're going to collide with it.

Hmm, didn't I mention earlier wanting a thriller to grab my by my hair and drag me on it's bumper over a gravel road while drag racing? This isn't quite that ride, but it did remind me of those rides at 6 Flags where the arms of the ride are like a spider that swirl out of the center, flashing past each other at speeds which make it impossible to focus and each seat spins wildly on the end of it's arm. The ride where you can't walk straight for 5 minutes after you get off, or even stand up sometimes, and the whole time you wonder where the vomit's going to fly if that green faced 10 year old can't hold down his nachos and chili dog till it's done. Yep, that's what this book felt like.

And it's up for swapping on my sites, so enjoy!

19. Anastasia: The Riddle of Anna Anderson by Peter Kurth

Just finishing this one tonight. I have to be honest, the last few chapters which cover the various court room trials are quite the trial to read, so I've skimmed them. It's mostly a tedious rehashing of everything already covered, and dredging up characters from 20 to 30 years earlier in the story and listening to them redundantly rehash what was said, done, thought, written, etc. blah, blah, blah.

Overall, this is a rich and fascinating book, mostly because the story is a true to life mystery. I know that DNA evidence after her death was said to disprove her, but before I began this book I did a little online searching and found there still remains a lot of questions surrounding the DNA test done for possible nefarious interference from family members who were out to get Anna from the beginning. I was amazed at how many family members recognized her in their personal meetings only to go back to the whole of the Romanov clan and suddenly deny they'd ever thought her authentic, that they merely felt sorry for her and played along.

Note to self: I'd thought I was going to trade this off, and actually bought it to swap. But some of the history and the family tree charts make this possibly worth keeping. Also, it might be interesting to dig up a few other accounts, especially the DNA evidence, and do my own comparison. I'm not certain this author (as I'd been told before reading it) was so enamoured with the person and the story that he clouded things to appear to be in her favor when they actually weren't, which is why a comparitive study could assist with my own opinion.

20. The Stone Monkey by Jeffery Deaver

General notes:
This was enjoyable. This was my first exposure to this set of characters and even though it's obvious they've been established in earlier books I didn't find myself at too great a disadvantage in not knowing their history. All the characters are interesting, intelligent and have depth. The premise is strong, beings with an explosion and never loses it's pace. There's a saying in film making that a good movie is one where none of the structure stands out, if you notice it then something was done in error; that's how I felt about this book. I never stopped to think about the writing style, the development of character, plot devices etc. I simply fell into and was carried along by the story.

Of course, one of the aspects I admire most in the thriller genre is a suprise ending and this book fulfilled my desire; I didn't recognize the villain aka "The Ghost" until the story slapped me between the eyes with his identity. I did wonder if after reading a few novels by this author if I'd learn how to suss out his tricks or if he'd be able to keep me guessing. I'm intrigued by the charcters enough to find out and I plan to seek out others of the Lincoln Rhyme (and hopefully A. Sachs) series as well.

Personal notes to remember:
There was something about the Sachs character that has given me a great deal to ponder. This book brought home to me how vital the skill of extreme empathy is in a crime scene investigator- and made me contemplate what other professions or situations where it could be employed in manner positive for all involved.

Personally, except for what it brings to my acting and theatrical work, I've come to consider extreme empathy an exploitable weakness and thought it an aberration with few redeeming values. My history has made me think I could only improve my life by eradicating it completely. However, Sachs is almost prescient at her ability to unearth and interpret clues most would miss because she can literally get behind the eyes and in the mind of the crimal she pursues.

She also is vulnerable to the abyss of being consumed by this trait and the relationship with Rhyme, particularly how he promises and is able to always pull her back from the brink was enlightening. For the first time, I see a non-performing benefit to the almost disassociative level to which I can empathize with others and I'm going to ponder how else I can embrace it instead of my normal rallying against it and the contempt with which I've come to view it. Maybe I just need my own Rhymes.

21. The Magician's Wife by Brian Moore

This was step back to genres of my youth, novels about times and places far away from the world I inhabit. I picked this up for 50 cents at my library as one of it's discards partly because it was a leap away from the fiction which has predominated the last few years of my life, specifically the thriller/suspense/crime books I use for escape.

This did feel like a coming of age story even thought the protagonist is a married, adult woman. She discovers her core and has to evaluate her own morality and chooses to make a leap outside the boundaries of her social status, her nationality and her gender in order to be true her own sense of right and truth. In travelling to a place foreign to everything she's ever known, Algiers, she is able to see beyond her limited world.

I was also touched and intrigued by the love story between her and her husband, for though she doesn't believe she loves him, he truly does love her. She doesn't understand his love and maybe doesn't consider it a true, deep love but I think that is because it was a love out of place for the time. Her husband is driven in his life and his calling and seems to her aloof and ignorant of her true self and needs however, in one statement near the end of the book, the depth of his love for her and it's transcendence of 'loving someone' just because of superficial reasons demonstrates his willingness to accept her for everything she is and will be, and to love her and stand by her no matter her actions. I got the sense the character was still too immature and stuck in the romanticized views of love in her era to recognize her husband's love.

My imagination was captured by the images of Algiers and the vast, barren beauty of the Sahara. In this way, the book was deeply fulfilling for it reminded me of the attraction and awe I felt when reading stories of Africa and Middle Eastern lands as a child. I felt it very reminiscent of King of the Wind, and the images in The Magician's Wife carried me off in the same way.

For this reason, even though the ending was disappointing but only becasue it was closer to a real life 'ending', in that while a period in the characters life ended and the author simply stopped telling the story but leaves you to imagine the consequences of the experiences without tying things up in a neat, fictional ending, my heart loved where this story let my imagination fly. And it was a good diversion for a few nights. Not wonderful, not life changing, but written in a way that you could fall into it and envision things with clarity even though you've only ever seen them in your mind's eye.

Note to self: I should seek out more books set in Saharan Africa and spend more time reopening to the thrall that desert tribes, stories of the Turks and The Moors and Beduoins held for me as a child. This was a lovely memory to revist and what was most captivating in reading the descriptions of places like the Casbah and desert fortresses was reliving the excitment and mystery I felt when I was young, and how that grew into the love and joy I still feel when travelling to exotic places or diving into any culture, idea or world very different from my own. I realize it was stories with images like this which nourished the adventourous wanderer I became.

22. Can't Get Through: 8 Barriers to Communication by
Kevin Hogan

I took this out of the library without very high expectations but this book delivered more than I'd expected. A book I plan to add to my personal library and commit the unholy crime of highlighting, underlining and turning into a well thumbed life workbook.

Deals with business communication, interpersonal and intimate communication (friends, family and lovers) and also addresses what to do with your partner when communication has begun to decay or has broken down. Many of these points will seem basic to anyone who has really pondered what makes or breaks communication, but while the ideas may seem simple in theory, I know in my experience that the ones which aren't a natural part of my style are also the one which are the first to fall away when I'm emotional, stressed or feeling unheard.

A quick read. I read this in just under 4 hours last night even with taking a couple short breaks. Since one of the chapters is about being succinct and how too much detail will overwhelm and often drive people to cease listening to you (not that I've ever committed this sin. oh no.) I was pleased the authors demonstrated it in the text. This is crisp, each point is well demonstrated and explained and builds upon the last.

Even though the first read was quick, this has so much insightful information and 'simple ideas' which will take a life time of practice (and probably many doses of refreshing for moi) that it is worth going back to each chapter, finding the points most pertinent to your personal barriers and then focusing on a few a time to put into practice.

23. Perfidia by Judith Rossner

Quick, one night read. Written in an engaging, flowing style which drew me in as though I were actually listening to this troubled girl in person. Which deepened my empathy for her because while she spills her heart like a river to the reader, it emphasized how her isolation grew because she was forced to remain almost mute to everyone who entered her world about the very things tearing her soul apart.

A provocative, thoughtful story of the isolation of abused children; outsiders who've never been abused, neglected and brainwashed into silence to the outside world of their homelife cannot ever understand the mental shackles which forces these children to lead double lives, chained internally from ever reaching out for help. Her story also hits home with the fact that children will always, always find a way to blame themselves for all the failures in thier family, especially those of their parents to justify the abuse.

My only drawback was the confusion sometimes of the rambling sentences. The way in which they rambled was consistent, and seemed appropriate for a teen-aged character, so I assume it was intentional on Judith Rossner's part but at times I would need to reread a phrase several times in an attempt to understand it and still several times I gave up, deciding it was a colloquialism I wasn't acquainted with so couldn't fully grasp. This didn't happen often enough to turn me off the book, but it bordered on it.

24. Privileged information by Stephen White

Decent thrill read. More of a brain bending, who-done-it puzzle, with a slowly building, complex series of intertwining occurrences and just enough nonrelevant twists to keep you guessing. All done from the perspective a gifted psychologist who's life is being thrown into turmoil by the deaths of several people in the periphery of his life.

I like how the author writes and there are a few passages in here that really sizzle. A good sprinkling of lesser used but highly precise words that occasionally blend to form a sentece I re-read several times simply because the rolling of them on my tongue was pleasurable.

The one line I'll remember (and if I'm very honest am now seeking a conversation in which to use it) is when the protagonist goes into his favorite bookstore, The Tattered Cover, in Denver, Colorado, which he equates having done for books what Saks Fifth Avenue did for clothes.
"It was Disneyland for the cerebral set." p.222

I love, love, love this line. I like how it reads, I like how it sounds and damn, I wish I'd written it. It is so evocative I am desperately hoping this bookstore exists in life and would travel to Colorado just to visit it.

25. Simone de Beauvior byClaude Francis

This is my introduction to Simone de Beavior. I have not read any of her works that I'm aware of and I've only known of her and Sartre secondhand. I decided to use this as a means of getting a sense of her person and the arc of her life before I now dive into reading the works she authored.

This was at times a light read and in others a dense, history rich account of a centruy viewed through the eyes of one woman and her words. I'd read one review critcizing this as nothing more than gossip of the top existentialist names, but I didn't find that at all. More than anything else, this book made me think about my personal relationships, politics, sexuality, history, revolution and so many topics that I often had to put it down for a day and simmer in the ideas.

So many times I wanted to stop and stay with one passage, usually a quote of de Beauvior's. I wanted to underline and write back in the margins; something I rarely do in narratives. I chose to push forward, wanting to swallow the book as a whole and then move on to a few of de Beauvoir's own works before I return to this book and review those passages which felt as though written with me in mind.

I found something rare in this biography, lessons about myself. These ideas and realizations I will need to roll around, discuss and eventually wrestle out into writng for many months to come before I fully appreciate the depth and how these lessons will alter what I see as my world view and my self view.

26. Leaving Earth by Helen Humphreys

Read this yesterday in spare moments. Haven't had time to log onto LT before now. Will write thoughts later after I go through my scribbled thoughts.

27. The Blue Nowhere by Jeffery Deaver

It's official, I really like this author. I didn't even associate this book being written by him when I found it on the library sale table for a quarter, so it was lucky chance I stumbled onto it. This was equally as enjoyable, though written in a very different style, as The Stone Monkey.

Now I'm fascinated with the world of Hackers, Crackers and code. I think I'll dust off my old texts from that 6 month class on basic programming and this time, I'll actually be interested when I read them. lol.

28. Seduced by Moonlight by Laurel K. Hamilton

I'll be finishing this one up tonight and it will be a relief. This has turned out to not be my cup of tea. If you knew me then you'd realize that for me to plead the case of moderation in anything, especially well written literature, is irony of the highest humor. As I began this book, I was pulled in quickly and found myself looking forward to it eagerly. It was an unusual fantasy world shown to me by a writer with an unusual and fascinating imagination.

As I reached the halfway point however, the vivid descriptions and the length of them had worn out my patience. Perhaps I'm missing something coming into the series midway, but the plot points mentioned early which I felt were important, which I was intrigued by and held my breath wondering how they'd resolve never came. I've got less than 50 pages to read, and I'm beginning to think the author is going to wait until the next book to get to them, but I won't be going with her. Instead, the prose which carries me so adeptly inside this world of Fae went on and on and on...how long can one night last in a book, I wondered? Sadly the answer is, too long.

This book brought home an deeper understanding of my High-school English teacher's lament about the tedium of detail taken too far; damn, she was right, too much of a really well done thing does not necessarily make the whole piece stronger. And what is gorgeous and lush for 1 or 2 paragraphs after 4 or 5 chapters only made me want to pull my hair out and howl, "GET TO THE POINT ALREADY!@!!"

It's taken me 5 days to finish this and the last 3 days have been plodding. I never in my life imagined I'd say this, but there is just so many pages and pages of sex I can read. Even if it's evocative, imaginative and verdantly written like a jungle in monsoon. And when that detail is applied to the blood lust and violence, it's just painful. I skimmed the entire chapter where the UnSeelie Queen goes mad and slaughters her guards, too much of a good thing is like a hangover, you just sit quietly and wait for it to be over.

Sad, because this could have been a really wonderful fantasy romp -and some of the sex scenes are imagined brilliantly, who knew sex amongst the Fae would make human sex look dull?? With that in mind, I have not needed Ambien these last 5 to battle my insomnia and drag me into the realm of sleep, a few chapters of this book made sleep seem a welcome escape.

Wow, see, now I'm infected with it; I'm rambling on and on about how much this book disappointed me. How ironic. Such and easy trap to be lulled into and I finally see why it's so deadly to a writer. SIGH.

I'm sorry to hear you didn't like Seduced by Moonlight. Personally I love Laurell K. Hamilton, sadly even when the book is more sex than plot - however, she is one of the only writers I have ever read who can actually advance the plot through sex (and trust me, I read a lot of romance novels).

I do think you would have been better off starting at the beginning of the series with A Kiss of Shadows, the first few books definitely delve into the personality of the characters more and those first ones weren't all about the sex. And true each book is only a small portion of the overall plotline, but then that's the fun of a series, isn't it? That you can, spending maybe years of your life, be submerged in this alternate world - so different from your own - living vicariously through the characters.

P.S. Meredith is descend from about five different fertility gods and goddess....so most of her power is about sex.

Cheers!

29. Secret Survivors by E. Sue Blume

Amazing book. Broad, deep and well researched. One of the most profound reading experiences I've had in years. Life affirming, validating, and not so optimistic as to seem written by an idiot who has no clue but still offers hope.

This has been one of the most arduous reads I've attempted. Yet it also one of the most enlightening. I will probably need to reread this at least once more and then go back to it in a year from now. I've learned so much and hopefully I can help some people close to me with what I've learned. This has opened my mind to things I thought I'd already understood and shown me deeper aspects, like blowing the dust out of an attic I finally see things in the dark, filthy corners in ways I never have before. I may take a week off of reading and watch some mindless comedy movies or just go sit outside in the sun...I deserve an emotional and cognitive vacation after this one.

30. The rules : time-tested secrets for capturing the heart of Mr. Right by Ellen Fein

I forgot about this one. Read it in about an hour last night, picked it up off a book sale table. I needed a break from the mental heavy lifting of the book in my last post.

Some of this is obvious, doesn't everybody find someone with a hint of mystery and challenge more intriguing? Doesn't everyone appreciate something (be it promotion or a relationship) for which we've had to work and invest, prove yourself for?

But some seems too much like games and some of it seems to confirm why I lost interest in dating soooooooo long ago. I don't know about you, but I don't go out on dates hoping, dreaming and planning that each guy is future marriage potential. Quite the opposite. I'm not that interested in getting married. I go out to spend time with interesting people, (well, hopefully, not always), or try new things. I go out for an evening, not to plan my life. Geesh. On the rare occasion I date someone I don't know, I'm wondering if he'll be interesting enough, intelligent and challenging enough that I'll want to see him even one more time, much less forever. But that's just me.

But some of this stuff? Really? Do we need to give women advice that a first date, or bigger horror, a BLIND DATE, is not the time to think of the poor man as your therapist upon whom to dump all your honesty about your alcoholism, bewail him with stories of you abusive ex and overbearing mother??? That criticism isn't the way to empower a man and that you don't go into a relationship where you expect to change him into your perfect mate? That, oh boy, a first date is not the time to bring up the "M" word?? And that "A Rules Girl" never initiates sex, except maybe, possibly on a very rare occasion but only AFTER years of marriage or risk emasculating him, killing his desire and love for you? Come on.

And I was offended in places where the author presumes that every woman wants her one-night stands to be more, that there aren't any emancipated women who just enjoy sex and if they believe that, they're lying to themselves because deep down they really want that guy to be the special, magical "ONE" or to at least call the next day. Pishaw.

I think women can tell the difference between a guy they date for fun and a guy they date with whom they might be able to invest, or at least some women. And any woman who tells me that deep down, every woman wants the RING at all costs, that NO woman, EVER can have a light but passing fling without lying to herself is helplessly lost in a 1950's middle-America mentality or as deluded as she claims 'those other women' to be.

31. Toxic Parents: Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy and Reclaiming Your Life by Susan Forward

Hmm, somehow missed adding this to the list. I read this end of January on the suggestion of a counselor.

It is very insightful and covers the gamut of dysfunctional families, from abusive to neglectful, alcoholism and other addictions and how adults can work through they're past, when they should address it with the family members who hurt them and why forgiveness of the one's who inflicted harm should not be the first step on the journey to healing.

32. Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston

This book begins with the anthrax attacks just after 9/11, goes back in time to follow the eradication of Smallpox in the 70's and follows some of the work done by people studying Ebola. All of this is viewed in how a virus could be used in bioterrorism with massive, lethal efficacy.

Well written in an engaging style and a human perspective to give it a novelesque read deals with the science, including the ugly side of animal testing. He even manages to infuse parts of this tale with laugh out loud humor and it was enlightening to realize just how much an orange wielding Indian guru influenced the eradication of arguably the world's most deadly contagion.

However, if you're sensitive or morally against using living creatures for scientific study -as I am- there are a few chapters of this book which will be a painful and tear-jerking read. Have tissues at hand. I still found it necessary to skip several pages, it was simply to graphic and painful, especially since the author's writing style will make you feel like you 'know' one of the monkey's that dies for research.

Somehow this book manages to touch both the intellectual and emotional centers wrapped inside a very human drama.

I almost hesitate to add these because of their brevity, I suppose I'll have to read War and Peace or it's equivalent to balance:)

33. The Little Book On Vastu by Gyan C. Jain
Read on 5/17/07

This was a Mooch lagniappe, and it's mostly a picture book. I had no idea what Vastu was before reading this, and it seems based on the same ideology of Feng Shui. English was obviously a second language for the author and this book seems to presuppose the reader already has a concept of Vastu, but it was an amusing, brief introduction. However, I won't be adopting these principles since my current apartment is a complete wreck with all the wrong rooms places at the most disastrous compass points and thus I'd be doomed to poverty, loss and misfortune. Hmm, no thanks. So, this one will probably be added to my Swap Pile right quick! :)

34. So...Why Aren't You Perfect Yet for $4.95?: The Last Self-Help Book You'll Ever Need by Michael H. Popkin

I read this last night in about an hour and I loved it! This is funny as hell and while the author is obviously Jewish, you don't need to be Jewish to appreciate the satire about the guilt many of us felt from our parents to give us unconditional love as long as we be ourselves, do whatever we want, but for gods sake, be perfect!

For all my fellow recovering perfectionists out there, this book is great for those times you're knocking yourself unconscious against the glass ceiling of human limitations and need a reminder why perfect isn't always better. Let's forget perfection and strive for adequacy. :)

35. The Rookie Club by Danielle Girard

Finished this late last night. This was an experience I'm not used to in reading, this is a book I appreciate much more after it's completion than I did while reading it. Which is not to say I didn't enjoy reading it, I did. It may be that my head space has been distracted this week, with the death of my beloved degu Amos and an undercurrent of low-grade stress tugging at my mind which made it difficult to remember who was who in this story which has several central characters and a host of supporting ones all with external and integral plot lines swirling around the main story. Even though I read this over three days, each night I found myself thinking, "ok, who is this again and what is their story?" But again, I think more to do with where my head is at than any failure in the writing.

Things I really liked about this book
1) All the main characters are strong, real women. Even though they're cops, the author doesn't masculinize them to make it more acceptable to have a crime drama where all the key players are women and the men are relegated to the supporting cast and the villain.

2) The plot line is complex with many subplots weaving in, out and through it. And some of the smaller stories add depth but don't get tied up neatly at the end, so it feels truer to real life where things often happen around the central themes of life but not everything always has a conclusion, sometimes they just become less relevant or fade with time.

Hi, cc ~ I'm enjoying your reviews even more than I suspect I'd enjoy the books you're reviewing. :) But I'm definitely going to check out Church of Dead Girls. Thanks so much for sharing!

36. The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker

I've got notes to add about this, but I need to review them and write them later. But I have to say this, eye-opening, brilliant piece of work. And while I normally loathe jumping on any bandwagon, I give a full hearted agreement to the review I read of this book, EVERY WOMAN SHOULD READ THIS. And so should every man, come to think of it. There are so many lightbulb moments in how Gavin tells simple, basic truths that I'm going to re-read this again and again and memorize at least half of it.

37. Topping from Below by Laura Reese

I've seen mixed reviews on both this book and this author. This was my first of hers, stumbled upon at a library book sale and I didn't realize it was considered BDSM erotica until I began reading it.

I actually enjoyed this book a lot, on many levels. I find a familiarity in the writer's style, and before I knew it was her first novel, I could tell by how she writes that she still had that flush of enjoyment many authors begin with but lose; her writing just glows with the joy of crafting a phrase and her words sound wonderful on the ear. I found myself copying a few phrases both because she chose evocative, less commonly used descriptive words and because she has a way of stringing them into a sentence like a finely crafted necklace of beautiful stones.

I will also mention that while this author chooses some risque practices to include in her erotica, some of which are raw, she manages to write about these edge-play sex games in a manner that made things I'd normally have no interest in strangely, thrillingly erotic. Not saying I want to go experiment personally, but from the voyeur vantage of well written fiction I actually found it hot, and I appreciate that because I've found few writers can write sex scenes in a way which helps the audience let go and enjoy something they'd normally eschew. It's the closest I'll probably ever get to a few of these ideas but it was thrilling just the same.

Add to all this that these characters are complex, intricately written both with explicit words and between the lines. I found myself lost in their world and seeing things through their eyes, and I'd say this is one hell of a fine piece of fiction, with or without the sexual themes. Maybe not for the faint of heart, but c'mon, it's fiction, so it's safe to look over the edge and gaze into the abyss safely from your favorite arm chair.

My only disappointment was the author's choice, in the end, to make one of the characters a stereotype. Yes, it added to the suspense, it fit the plot line and it probably satisfies the puritanical ethic enough that some more conservative readers felt safer because the conclusion fits with the narrow minded sense of morality and from that point of view, it gives the character his 'just desserts' but I was disappointed. I'd come to think perhaps the characters would find happiness in their self acceptance even if they weren't in the "norm" of acceptable sexual expression by American standards. And I'd come to hope, even against my own initial inclinations, that this character (not giving away the ending so I won't say who) would prove to be a decent, albeit not mainstream, person with some qualities worth admiration since I'd come to respect, and even like, that character on many levels.

Oh, one last point well worth making. I applaud Laura Reese for making the distinction between the morality of right and wrong in an adult sexual relationship being determined by consent. This point isn't made until the end, and perhaps for reader's new to the mores of kinky sex they need the whole book to intuit an understanding before having it spelled out, but I was relieved and pleased when a character makes it clear that when it comes to intimate encounters between two people shouldn't be restricted by anything more than what they agree and negotiate between them as acceptable. She also makes a good case for when an adult can and can't (by value of their emotional health) give consent. It's also important to note that she does note that some people, even seemingly normal adults, can't necessarily give consent because of their psychological traumas and that a responsible, intelligent partner will recognize this and choose the emotional health of a partner over their own (and the other's) sensual needs. I just about stood up and cheered at how this issue was handled and that the author didn't give in to the prevailing morality and end with "all kinky sex is just wrong, no matter what and damaging to everyone who tries it."

38. A forgotten empress: Anna Ivanovna and her era, 1730-1740
by Mina Kirstein Curtiss

Hmm, what to say about this book? Well, I've been struggling through this all week, a little bit each night and I STILL had to go look up the title to add it here. Enough said?

Disclaimer: Please don't use this as a review. This was my very first biography of this era and much of this book was lost on me. What I write is mostly for my own remembrance and so that after I have gained more knowledge of this period, I can go back, reread this book and see if it makes more sense.

The history in this is very good, and I'll keep it for a reference. Maybe Mrs. Curtiss was hip in her day, but since this book is 3 decades old and I haven't read many of her historical writing contemporaries many the little asides she writes were lost on me. When she'd say something like, "What so-and-so said about Cardinal Blah-blah and his political aspirations could also be said of (insert name of minor Polish Aristocrat) in his dealing with the Russian Court in Anna's Grandfather's reign which was probably the precursor influence when Anna....etc."

She seems fond of tangential story lines of other historical people who lived within a century or so of Anna's time but she often mentions them for a sentence of two, scattered around various chapters, and yet never divulges enough history of these mentionables for the newbies to this era to ever get a sense of how the hell these tie in to telling Anna's story.

Occasionally, the writing is sparkling, the story she focuses on is intriguing and she draws the people she speaks of in flesh warm enough to be vivid and alive. But for the most part, one chapter of this book was more effective than a sleeping pill. Sigh. I'm giving up on this book with 4 chapters to go and I'm moving on to something else, I'll finish this one on a per chapter basis to fill in between stuff I enjoy more. Whew!

39. The Conspiracy Club by Jonathan Kellerman

Hmm, don't know how this didn't get added to my list! I read this beginning of Feb this year, think on the 6th and 7th, and it was so amazingly written that I decided to keep it for my collection and seek out others by this author.

Which I did today. I found a copy of Billy Straight at a book sale today and I remember being confounded that the name of this author kept catching my attention but I couldn't find him on my list of desired author's in my Palm. Darn, I only took one of 5 or more books by him from the pile!

Now I'm dying to find out if my second impression of Kellerman is even half as good as my first!

40. He's Just Not That Into You by Greg Bebrendt

Quick read early this morning when I couldn't sleep. It manages to be entertaining, funny and yet cut to the chase about some of the outrageous excuses we women will allow for men's behaviors. There were a few "ouchy" moments when I remembered mouthing of few of these myself over the years, perhaps even in my most recent relationship. Overall, I think it's worth a read, granted, some of the things women put up with seem so over the top you think to yourself, "Oh please, I'd never be THAT dumb." but Greg manages to detonate a reality bomb on stupidity and still build up the ego of his female audience, I sense he really likes women and he tells you repeatedly, you're too worthy, to wonderful to be wasting your time on any relationship you need to spend more time, emotions and energy making excuses for and feeling bad than enjoying. I imagine these are the things a brother or father would have said to me had I had either, but in the absence of male role models and guides, at least now I have a surrogate male voice to interject should I find myself ever making excuses for some man who's stringing me along and not that into me (not that that ever happens to me!:)

41. After the Affair by Janis Abrahms Spring Ph.D

This book was an impulse purchase at a bag-book-sale last weekend; I'm currently amidst the healing phase of the aftermath of an emotional betrayal in my last relationship, and while not exactly an affair, it was a breech in the emotional trust in which I'd found strength and security in for 2 years and which ultimately made me feel I had no option but to end the relationship in order to heal the heartbreak.

This past year has been a roller coaster of despair, heart-ache, anger and the ambivalence in negotiating the question of whether the relationship was worth saving or not. I didn't anticipate this book would have much to offer me because technically, there was no affair in the traditional sense, but I was amazed to find a reflection of my experience in the first chapter, "The Hurt Partner's Response: Buried in an Avalanche of Losses". For the first time in a year, I stopped worrying if I was going nuts and feeling guilty over my obsession with why I couldn't move beyond this pain or trust again.

Ironically, I listed this book for swapping before I opened it because, as I stated, I really didn't expect to find anything of use and had convinced myself I only bought it as a masochistic exercise to reopen this wound and wallow in my self pity and pain again. So, when I got a request to swap one day after I started reading it, I had to quickly skim the last few chapters in Stage 3: "Recovering From the Affair: How Do We Rebuild Our Life Together" and I took a lot of notes. Most helpful, beyond the assurance in the beginning that I am not alone, I'm not crazy and that the process I'm going through is common to partner's who trust is betrayed by their romantic partner and best friend, was the list of questions to ask myself, and for us to share with each other, about determining if there's enough value in the relationship to attempt salvaging and advice on how to proceed if we choose to rebuild.

While I'm no neophyte to exploring the relationship of my past with my abilities and difficulties in having any intimate bond, sexual or non, with people in my life, it was a good refresher to see how dysfunctions of my family might be exacerbating my pain today. Granted, I knew this, cognitively, prior to the book, but her list of questions which required me to probe deeper, to ferret out how I might be conflating that old pain with the pain caused by my partner and then how to use this as a tool for self growth (either with or without continuing the relationshiop) made this book worthwhile for me.

Lastly, if I choose to go back and rebuild with this person, I hope I keep in mind the caveat of acting as if I have loving feelings, acting as if I trust and can expect both of us to change in our relationship BEFORE I feel the loving feelings. She mentions, "If you wait until you actually feel the loving feelings to begin acting in a loving manner to your partner, you could well out wait the relationship." And I can swallow her definition of trust and forgiveness, in that forgiveness is a gift to be earned every day and trust can't be rebuilt on words alone, since the disparity of the words and the actions were what broke the trust, and that the betraying partner must earn trust with small, concrete actions over time.

But don't think the partner who was betrayed gets off the hook completely. In all relationships, it takes two people for anything to happen to the couple, and life events affect each one differently and often act as catalysts to the betrayal. The hurt partner must be willing to do some deep inner work to recognize and communicate in order to fix and avoid repeating history. I will admit I found all the info for the partner who cheated and empathizing with their struggles a bit much to swallow, but I'm still a lot more bitter than I care to admit and hopefully, in time, my heart will open to these ideas as well. This is a book written for couples, not just one side of the partnership, and I believe a lot of the exercises, questions and techniques are applicable to any relationship which needs some repair and to help rebuild after any betrayal, not just an affair.

I haven't yet told my ex about what I found in here, and that may be awhile coming. I think I'll take this book out of the library to dig into Stage 3 more, and spend a few weeks determining if I want to try to save the relationship or not, and this book helped me find a road map to do this process. I'm heartened that maybe now I have some tools to help me move beyond the torturous ambivalence I've been carrying and make an educated, thoughtful (not just emotionally driven) decision about whether I want to accept my ex'es offer to rebuild together. I'm certain I've still got a long road ahead but I'm am very grateful something nudged me to pick this book up and give it a try.

Okay, note to self: I've been reading too many necessary books and not enough thrilling fiction, so decided to spend the next couple weeks on just fun reading. Then, my mom calls me saying she found a bunch of books by some authors I'd mentioned I liked, and I found several good authors at a sale I went to...

Now...sigh....I have 3 Jonathon Kellermans, 4 Jeffry Deavers, 2 Greg Iles, and a couple new authors who sound fabulous. I'm so overwhelmed with choices of books I want to read NOW that I can't choose. URGH! But my next few weeks are crazy and I have almost NO time to read.

And it's all the fault of this BookChallenge list! I've been keeping track of the books I like, thus, I actually remember the author's who riveted my attention so now I'm blessed with TOO MANY great sounding books. I don't think I've ever faced this before. I've always had a big TBR pile, but usually, each time I reach for it, only 1 or 2 call to me. Now, I've got at least 10 books all clamoring for immediate attention (and that's just the fiction, don't even get me started on the wish list hits for NF I got this month so far on my swapping sites!) and my schedule got crazy, I have a full score in Medieval Latin to memorize in the next 5 weeks...this is torture!

hmmmm....Be responsible and work, or take 5 days and do nothing but read? Fake a mid summer flu and clear this weeks calendar and glut myself on reading but feel guilty or just get to read 1 book in the in between places and be a mature grown up? Oh the agony!! Damn, damn, damn.

42. The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver
finished 6/19/2007

Okay, I came into this series backwards when I read The Stone Monkey a few months ago, but I was so smitten with the characters I decided to go back to the beginning and get to know them better.

I'm so thrilled I did! Wow. First of all, I have to say, Deaver has a way of writing characters so alive, in all their beauty and their little, hidden inner quirks that they jump out of the book and join you. I really liked Amelia Sachs with her bravado and her fire in The Stone Monkey, but now I know her how she met Lincoln Rhymes, how he saw something in her no one else, including herself, saw and how he helped groom her into her talents. I also see how and why these two very different souls complement each other so magnificently.

But the story is also compelling. I have to admit, I was so drawn in to the characters and this world that I was just carried along, like riding a large swell out at sea to a satisfying but mysterious land. And what shocked me is that I was so lost in this, I stopped trying to outsmart the characters and blow the mystery out of the water before they did...I just wanted to ride with them. I even forgot to suspect many of the secondary characters as potential villians, I was actually bewildered and as caught up in events as the protagonists when the serial kidnapper was revealed. But I didn't even care, I just can't wait to start the next one in the series and spend time with my new 'friends'.

I'm completely a Deaver fan now. I'm enamored enough that I'd probably pick up anything by him and give it a try, regardless of genre.

I liked the movie so now after your glowing review I've added The Bone Collector to my TBR list!

I had to laugh at your post about choosing whether to read or be a mature grown up--I so recognize that choice! Good luck deciding. Also, your review of The Bone Collector really makes me want to read it. I don't actually need another book on my tbr list--I already have too many books on it to get through in a year. I need to go read some more, get some books off the list.

Susan

Oh please do try The Bone Collector, I've been reading a lot of this genre from my mother's hand me downs and there's something about Amelia, (doesn't hurt she's a red head too) in how broken she is inside, in very real and believable ways and how those demons flare out of her in ways that also make her dynamic and real.

And Lincoln Rhyme, the secondary plot around the euthanasia rights struggle from his perspective was such an emotional tangle, I felt it from both sides in that here is this brilliant, driven, mind that can do so much good but yet, faced with his loss and limitations I'm could sympathize with his desire not to hold on knowing at any time, he could realistically lose even the little left him and be a dynamic mind trapped in the body of a vegetable. I shudder at the thought.

Anyway, Morphidae, all I can say is I also enjoyed the movie with Angelina Jolie and Denzel Washington a few years ago, but it didn't stick. For the life of me, I couldn't remember much of it because the way Hollywood played it I didn't find it memorable, and the nuance that makes the characters live was lost. But I don't think I'll forget the book any time soon. I hope you enjoy, and let me know if you post your thoughts on LT after.

43. Jolie Blon's bounce : a novel by James Lee Burke

Okay, I don't care if this guy was voted one of the best American authors, this is 4 reading days of my life I'll never get back.

First, yes, his writing is well done, crafted and he does his southern drawl and colloquialisms like a low-country Louisiana native. And yes, he does build a multi-layer story filled with more characters than some small towns. But lordy, between the heavy dialect and the similarities between the characters, basically, all the men seem marginally educated, angry and either strung out or recovering and prone to mad bouts of violence and all the women are ball busters, teases or whores--the notable exception being the victim and the protagonists daughter who perhaps fill 6 pages out of 423 between both of them-- I, quite frankly got confused half the time who was talking and the rest just trying to get past the heavy accents and repetitive use of their limited vocabularies which made me either not understand WTF they were saying or not care...and often, both.

Still, you got to give this man points for consistency, his characters are consistent, they each say their semi-illiterate annoying colloquialisms over and over and over...oddly enough, a heavy southern accent WRITTEN isn't nearly as charming as hearing it spoken, particularly after 100 pages.

To be fair, I may simply be of the wrong gender to fully appreciate Mr. Burke's style; I suppose this is fiction written more the the masculine sensibility, since there is a lot of action, fighting, swaggering and a good dose of sex from the man's POV. But I began to wish they'd just beat each other senseless and get it over with, but noooo, like a bad horror movie, these guys just keep coming back for more and it all began to remind me, uncomfortably, like a sweltering summer night outside my crib when the dumb, local boys strung out of weed and cheap beer start smashing liquor bottles over each other's head and screaming incoherent obscenities cause somebody called somebody else's muther something I won't repeat. Yeah, great fun.

I'll admit it, half way into this book, I started skimming whole pages, only reading the first and last line of paragraphs and completely skipping a page here and there of the most annoying characters. And I'm proud I was that stubborn because frankly, by about page 150 I began fantasizing of something I've never done, skipping the whole middle section and reading the last chapter or two to find out 'whodonit' and moving on. If I'd had any idea where to pick back up so I could just tie the package neatly and end it, I would have. It was only sheer stubborness or stupidity (and yes, wanting to be able to add another book to my list, and not having wasted 4 days with nothing to show for it) which made me finish it.

So, it's off to a new home where hopefully, it will be loved "cause there's ain't none of that happnin' here, no." And I'm thanking the stars for book swapping sites today cause I might have been tempted to find out just how long it takes a paperback to burn in the BBQ.

Been a tough week for reading, I'm so exhausted at bed time I actually fall asleep with book in hand!
I'm also very scatterbrained, having a hard time focusing on any one topic,

so, currently working my way through
The Highly Sensitive Person really good so far.
The Traveller not too great yet, but it's early.
This is Your Brain on Music Brilliant but deep and my mind keeps wandering off for something lighter.
And Einstein's Dreams which I received a few days ago from a fellow BookMoocher, it's small and could be read in about 1-2 hours but so far is so wonderful I'm restricting myself to one chapter a day to make it last.

As a fan of James Lee Burke, may I just say that you dove into the middle of Dave Robicheaux's life and you might have done better to get to know him from the beginning of the series. I can certainly understand that the style and the characters won't suit everyone. But I've been heavily invested in Robicheaux's ongoing struggle with his personal demons since he found his adopted daughter in a sinking airplane and rescued her in Heaven's Prisoners, and I can't help hoping he eventually finds some peace with himself and his world. Now that you've found that world so distasteful, I don't suppose you'll want to try it again, but you never know!

Thank you for your comments about Burke, I recognize my opinion probably seems harsh and I don't write it here to offend anyone who loves or admires the book.

I didn't realize I had jumped in mid-series and perhaps, as I infer from your words, I'd appreciate the character having known him better. Strange, normally when I read a random fiction work, it's obvious if I've jumped in mid-series, but this book gave me the impression it was a stand-alone, though I can't remember why off the top of my head just now. And according to what you've said, it sounds as though the character's more heroic traits aren't as obvious in this 'chapter' as they may be in others.

I would not rule out another Burke book simply because one didn't strike my fancy, though I might not rush to read him again immediately. Thank you for your thoughts and if you'd like to share some ideas and your appreciation for other books by Burke you've enjoyed, I'd appreciate the insight and maybe if I read a few different of his works, not of this series, I'd develop an appreciation for his style which would then allow me to delve into this series again with a different perspective. I'm always willing to reevaluate my opinions when there's new information and thank you for taking a moment to share yours. :)

If you should decide to explore Burke further sometime, there is a lot of information on his books on his website:

http://www.jamesleeburke.com/about_the_author.html

Most of his books are in the Dave Robicheaux series. He has another protagonist, Billie Bob Holland, who doesn't have quite the same appeal for me, probably because I love the Louisiana setting of the Robicheaux stories so much, having lived there myself. Two of his early novels, Lost Get-Back Boogie and Half of Paradise do not belong to either series. He has also written a historical novel, White Doves at Morning, set during the Civil War/Reconstruction era, and featuring some of his own ancestors.

44. The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron

A very helpful, insightful book. While I already intuited a lot of the information in this book, seeing it confirmed in print from legitimate research was empowering. I kept this book more than a week past it's due date at the library because every time I went to return it, I'd decide to finish one more chapter and then realize I needed to read this book. I finally completed it 2 days ago and now I've ordered my own copy so I can highlight and write in the margins (not many books inspire me to do so, but since taking notes began to look like I was transcribing half the book, this one warrants interactive dialog).

Among the more interesting things I discovered is how common the crash from hunger is to those with sensitive nervous systems; it becomes more difficult to think, make decisions and regulate emotions when the stress of depleted blood sugar is screaming for replenishment.

Also, the idea of thinking of your body as an infant, and instead of fighting it and hating it for it's 'limitations' when it's hard to keep up with your non-HSP friends and their stimulation, is revolutionary for me. I've spent many years hating my body because it can't keep up with my mind and my curious nature, that I often have to stop activities long before I want to simply because I see the signs of collapse if I don't heed the body's needs for recuperation, quiet and solace. This at least gives me a framework with which to find more compassion for 'the enemy', my body, when it's nervous system is overwhelmed.

I'll try to give a true, unopinionated synopsis as soon as I go through my notes, there's a lot here and it's encouraging in many ways.

This sounds like a really interesting book, cckelly. I don't know if it actually applies to me, but it sounds like it could. Thanks for the recommendation and all the information on it.

45. The Guardians by Ana Costillo

Finished this last night. This book got better as I got into it particularly as my sensitivity to each character grew and their individual voices became fluid and familiar to me.

I really enjoyed this, however I wish I had a little more working Spanish under my belt since the author uses a wonderful sprinkling of that language in her sentences, going from English to Spanish to a blending of both in the colloquialisms of, what I suppose, is a sort of Spanglish common to the border towns. And since each character speaks independently in sections, I found I needed a few exposures to each in order to ride the flow of the writing and just immerse myself in the story. Once that happened it became fluid in a natural manner, as though I'd been listening to their dialects for years; my reading sped up and suddenly, the book far too brief.

Since I received this through LT's early reviewers program I need to write a more formal review, which I'll also include here.

Just realized I haven't updated this list in a long while, I've been 'snatch and gulp' reading a lot lately, reading about a dozen simultaneously as the mood strikes me.

So far, I've finished:
46. Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies and Why by Laurence Gonzales
Fabulous! I learned so much from this book, I didn't want it to end. Highly informative with information running the gamut from medical, psychological, brain chemistry and nature vs. nurture but interwoven with breath-catching, heart pounding stories of high adventure with life, and sometimes death, endings that were well enough written to drag you inside the experience. I can't recommend this book highly enough...I actually dragged my feet on this, not wanting it to be over.

47. Trapped In The Mirror by Elan Golomb Well written, informative but in my opinion leaned too heavily on anecdotal evidence of people known to and personal relationships of the author. For some reason it gave me the impression she was just a little too biased in favor of seeing narcissism's evil influence everywhere and I wondered if she had any friendships or relationships with someone who wasn't a narcissist or raised by one. Still, it was informative and eye-opening and worth reading.

hmm, can't recall the other titles right now. Have to check my catalog and fill them in later.

48. The Parrot's Lament: and other true tales of animal intrigue, intelligence and ingenuity by Eugene Linden

I borrowed this from the library and after reading it, I've decided I MUST own this for reference. Very well written, engaging, tender but not saccharine. He admits that many of the stories seem to anthropomorphise the subjects and tell you upfront, that becomes hard not to do when you go into this realm but he uses scientific studies as well.

This was a fabulous read. Of course I have a particular passion for books delving into the minds and hearts of all animals and critters but this is well written and acknowledges up front that it's not meant to be empirical data but instead a collection of observations by experienced animal handlers along with citing studies by "real" scientists and presented in very readable stories of acts and accomplishments of many different species.

First of all Mr. Linden admits that stories of animals doing heroic acts for their families, both human and their own species, and examples of pets who can read and step in to help or rescue sick caretakers along with other stories of empathy and compassion are abundant and so he chooses to not focus much attention on this, only in one chapter does he offer several, abbreviated examples of these behaviors and mostly to emphasize other amazing stories already told in more depth. With that in mind you can expect to find a lot of new information and stories you probably haven't already heard a thousand times over told by the bleeding hearts or PETA pushers.

From this book I have a deeper understanding now of how social grouping has encouraged the evolution of intelligence and one thing which I saw in a different light was how having a large, sophisticated brain comes at a high cost; the development and maintenance of the human brain has come at the cost of muscular strength and reactivity to the environment in large part because it requires a great deal of blood be diverted to it instead of other systems such as muscle, skeleton and the nervous system.

Many times Mr. Linden provides examples of animals, great apes, dolphins, orcas and others who surpassed limits previously deemed by science as human. Things like language acquisition, using money and barter, the ability to make a mental map of social constructs and some of the foundations of consciousness, deception, meta tools and tool making, long term planning and the ability to over-ride the maternal instinct to trust another species to provide care for an infant (using reason to overcome the limitations of the emotional response system).

He examines things such as humor and games played by animals in captivity often between species which would be mortal enemies in the wild, and how in many zoos larger apes have learned how to negotiate using forms of 'currency' along with bartering and trade.

He moves to explore deception, and one of the tenants of consciousness, the ability to recognize that other people (or beings) have a different mental world with knowledge, desires and impulses of their own in the chapters "Ah, Trechery" and "I Think That You Think That I Think That You Think..." where he gives stories -and some information gleaned in scientific studies- of animals who appear to demonstrate they can 'read minds' make mental maps, play mental chess with their keepers and use this information, and communicate it to helpers, to obtain their own objectives.

This book was also the first time I learned of a magical place in Africa, called Ndoki in legend by the Pygmy tribes, where the jungle is still pristine and has been left almost untouched by man for a millennium (at least as of the writing of this book in the mid 90's) and where the animals there had never encountered humans and approached them not as predators but almost as humans approach a new species to study. It is a great city of animals, with elephant highways and gorilla and chimp clans which share territory and live together unlike anywhere else in Africa. It is almost inaccessible and even the most skilled jungle trackers say that traveling in Ndoki is "very, very difficult."

Finally, I was left in a deep state of wonder and contemplation in the last pages as Mr. Linden asks,

"What is intelligence, anyway? If life is about perpetuation of the species, and intelligence is meant to serve that perpetuation, then we can't hold a candle to pea-brained sea turtles who predated us and survived the asteroid impact that killed off the dinosaurs. During our brief tenure of 200,000 years on this planet, we have pushed the biosphere's life-support system to the limit and played dice with the ozone layer and climate, two necessary preconditions for a habitable world and sustenance. How intelligent is that?

...And we are proving, without some controls to represent the long-term interests of the biosphere, our brand of intelligence is dangerous. Perhaps it has come and gone several times in different species in the past. The unfettered application of propositional abilities does not seem to be a prescription for long-term evolutionary success. Once minds break free of religious, cultural, and physical controls, they burn hot and fast, consuming and altering everything around them. Perhaps this is why higher mental abilities, though present in other creatures, are more limited and circumscribed.

A good deal of blood that goes to the brain in humans goes to the muscles in our closest relatives, the chimps and bonobos. The brain is literally subordinated to the demands of the body. It's a trade-off that is the rule in nature rather than the exception. One doesn't have to impute a plan to evolution to see an implied judgement that long-term success comes to those creatures who fit the needs of a larger ecosystem rather than those who presume to alter ecosystems to their needs."

49. The Wall by Jeff Long

Well this book broke my fiction dry spell. It's been months since I've been compelled to stay up all night to finish anything fiction. This book did it. I was exhausted last night since I'd had just under 5 hours of sleep the night before and I still couldn't put this down to go to sleep.

I will admit that partly the fascination might have been my latent desire to attempt rock climbing and my complete innocence to this world, and this book takes you deep inside the psyche and soul of some rock climbers with serious mojo. I found the the technical information, the vernacular, and the descriptions of the world as seen through the eye's of a climber, as fascinating as the story.

And the ending? whew! This was one creepy ending.

I will admit that the direction the story seemed to be hinting toward made little sense to me. I just couldn't see it. The characters believed it, and with what we were given, you felt the characters knew more than you did but I kept wondering, "how is Jeff going to pull all this together and have it make sense?"

But the vital information that holds the clue as to the truth is withheld until the last 10 pages or so, I didn't expect the outcome but it fit. However, not at all how I expected this to end. The people I thought were truthful, weren't. The people I suspected were creating elaborate hoaxes or simply mad were simply pawns. And the final outcome of who lived and who died was not anything like what I expected. But as the secrets came out, it all started coming together like an elaborate puzzle where the image is unknown and unknowable until the last few pieces go into place.

Anyway, I liked it. (Though I had nightmares in the few hours I did sleep from the ending, that's how deeply it affected me with it's creepiness.) And I swear, I still can't determine if the final act was driven by revenge or love. I just don't know if the one who did the deed which surprised me did it to get back at the person who they'd felt wronged them or to get them back. Could go either way. If anyone else has read this please feel welcome to share your opinions, but let's not give any spoilers, for those who haven't read it.

50. House of Smoke by J. F. F Freedman.

Wow, well here it is, the 50th book. Didn't realize this one was my 50th this was just a good, escapist novel to help me fall asleep during a stressful week.

This was decent, not great, mostly because it was highly predictable and I knew who the person behind the evil plot was almost from the onset, the character rang too phony as to be putting on a front. In real life, I might have taken the person at face value and thought they were a decent person, but in a book like this, it is too obvious.

One of the secondary bad guys caught me off guard but mostly because the character seemed neither that important nor interesting to really pay close attention to them.

There's some good suspense, a couple of interesting secondary plots and interpersonal things going on and a really decent, new love interest for the protagonist who I felt was neglected enough to be disappointing. For a short time I thought perhaps the author was going to make the new love interest into a villain, but when that didn't happen I thought maybe the author was leaving this person and relationship to be developed more fully in a future installment. At least I hope so, otherwise it just seemed like a fragmentary tributary which meandered but didn't have much purpose other than to step up in one crucial moment and then be cast aside, forgotten. And loose ends in fiction seems like a big no-no to me, but that could be my mishegaas.

All in all, readable, mildly enjoyable with moments which were quite engrossing but mostly a good-enough literary escape in the moment and then done and moved beyond. Kind of a lackluster de-fizzler for my monumentous 50th book for which to finally attain my big goal. Woo-whooo...

~cassandra

51. The Bourne Identity

Wow, what a great read. I saw this movie years ago but had forgotten most of it and instead of seeing it again, read the book. I'm so glad I did. This is so much better than a lot of the thrillers because the characters are more complex, yes the good guys are obviously good guys and vice versa, but this book seems to find shades of light and dark in many of them, not just the extreme polarity of good vs. evil. It's an adventure/action book that reads with some depth and I stayed up three nights till almost dawn, wanted to sleep but unable to put this down until I literally collapsed with it open on my chest.

Great, fun, fabulous read. Loved it!!

cckelly, I've been living in a cave and have never seen the Bourne films. We just rented the first one weekend before last. Very enjoyable and I was thinking of reading the books, but wondered how they compared to the movies.

p.s. congratulations on reaching 50!

According to my mother...the movies are not really like the books. The basic concept is the same, but that's about it. The Bourne Identity with Matt Damon is actually a remake of an older film with Richard Chamberlain, which is apparently much closer to the book.

I'm not certain how the movies stack up to the book, but I'd read they have some major differences and the book goes into greater depth with the characters, which adds to the story. That last part I'd agree with, the book was fabulous.

Incidentally, the other night I stumbled onto one of the sequels, The Bourne Supremacy, about 15 minutes in and decided to watch it. After about half an hour, I realized it had to either be a prequel to The Bourne Identity or there are some major differences from how the movie of Identity and the book conclude. Situations and things in this Bourne Supremacy would not work if both the 1st book and 1st movie had the same ending.

Hmm, that was tricky to write without giving away any of the story...if you haven't read it, it's probably gibberish. So...go read it! :)

~Cassandra

PS thanks for the congrats on the 50!
I had a reading dry spell for a couple months where I couldn't get into anything or finish a single book I started and I began to despair that with >10 cckelly: to go, I'd still fail to achieve my goal. Luckily, the literary rain is falling once more!

Bravo on finishing your 50th, cc! You certainly went out with a bang, doing an all-nighter to get to the end of it! Don'tcha love when books grab you like that?

52. Nine and a Half Weeks: a memoir of a love affair

Wow! Now this is one steamy book. Wait for a chilly night in late autumn, when you're alone and want to warm up down to your toes!! Whew.

I saw the movie when I was still a starry-eyed innocent in my early 20's and thought THAT was the most erotic, naughty, "shhhh don't let your mother know you saw it" thing going. But they really did twist the story to make it marginally acceptable for Hollywood and in doing so really took a lot of the impact out. Plus, I never really understood why the Basinger character fell for the man and why a simple little suggestion of a spanking (after what else she'd done and liked) had spooked her into leaving. Even to my tres innocent, virginal mind I remember feeling perplexed and thinking, "huh?"

But the book delves deep into the psyche of the woman and from her perspective, it really makes sense. And while the male character is only seen from an observer's perspective, you see a softer, human side in the book; he's much more rounded and not as damaged as the movie character.

And the ending! Wow. This ending made sense, it was tragic and sad, and I understood why I felt those emotions in the movie even though they were out of place in that ending. I must say, the last 2-3 paragraphs of this book were the most powerful and haunting last words.

I'll be thinking about these two people, wondering if they every found love or even a connection anything like the one they shared again. Wondering if after she realized what she desired, and healed from stumbling blind and too quickly into the darker aspects of her sexuality, did she ever discover her true self, her limits and thus find the security to fulfill her needs without destroying her self? Or was she left a husk, unable to feel passion and response with anyone else? And what happened to him? I inferred from some of his words that he'd never really connected with another love this way, that he was totally head over heels with her and perhaps a bit out of control with the freedom of sexual expression he discovered in their love...how did what happened to her affect him? If he was a soft and caring as he seemed to be, as was implied in other areas of how he cared for her and helpless, abandoned things, was he devasted? Was he destroyed? Did he retreat from ever opening to anyone again for fear that he wreaked destruction from his desires?

So many questions left lingering, like whispers in another room after dark. This book is often erotic, sometimes disturbing, utterly fascinating and damn it, it really made me understand the allure a relationship like this could possess. How it could open one to a world of erotic, sensual sensations potentially more addictive and much more thrilling than roller coasters. Akin to sexual sky diving if you were playing a form of Russian roulette with the parachutes; being given a pile to choose knowing one won't open but you won't find out until your falling. Go.

Now that sounds like a book for a cold winter's night, CC. Love the analogy at the end. Super review.

53. The I love Peanut Butter Cookbook by William I Kauffman

This was a very quick read, simple to prepare yet intriguing recipes all with peanut butter a primary flavor. And not just desserts, sandwiches or snacks. I was pretty impressed to find several Thai, Indonesian and African courses, from soup to main dishes, included in this 1965 cookbook; I've not seen many cookbooks of that era delving into such esoteric world cuisines alongside all American dishes.

Granted, as a serious cook book collector, particularly of many cuisines around the globe and a penchant for single ingredient specialty cookbooks, I will admit there was little in this cookbook I don't already have some similar version in another tome, but most of those are far more modern cookbooks.

Plus, this was written for the homemaker/mom of that era, to make these dishes with stuff she already had in the cupboard and so almost every recipes features much more simplified ingredient lists than most of my other cookbooks, along with some suggestions for using shortcut, convenience foods which remind me of the country-style, comfort-food home cooking mom made. Since one of my favorite people has a penchant for all things peanut butter, I think this will be a keeper alongside my other PB dedicated book, The Gourmet Peanut Butter Cookbook.

54. Kings Row by Henry Bellamann

Finished this last night after several weeks of trying to get through it. I began it a few months ago but put it down for awhile.

There are parts I enjoyed and parts I really had to drag myself through. Sometimes there was just so much tragedy, pain and confusion that it felt a little too much like life. And I didn't relate well to the main character, Parris, until after he returned from his training in Vienna as an adult; then he seemed to be deeper, more fleshed out and relatable. Perhaps it was the change of now he did things rather than seeming to be tossed about by the things done to him, and to the people around him. Perhaps that is the one of the most important shifts to adulthood and thus, the writer depicted this well.

the ending didn't seem much like a conclusion to me, just a point at which the writer stopped following the life of Parris. There was a subtle portend of major inner change about to erupt into positive external change for the character, but it was implied subtly and maybe it was just my wishful hoping this character find some joy and belonging at last.

Okay, I'll be honest, I read this only because I was named after one of the characters. My mother saw the movie of this, in which Ronald Reagan played Parris, when she was about 11 years old. From that moment on, she determined she'd have a little girl with golden curls and name her Cassandra. Me. So I decided to read this book, going in knowing it was a disturbing story line which my character was the focus of, and oddly enough, Mom tells me I read this as a teenager and was furious with her because of what happens to the character. Throughout this whole book, I never had a single memory of ever having read it before, not once. Which is odd for me.

So as I discovered the whole story behind the Cassandra in the book, I got to relive the whole, horrifying truth of her fictional life and marvel at how peculiarly fiction and reality can move along similar paths...my father was a monster, to thought not in quite the same ways as the character's father. I won't say more and spoil it for anyone else who might read it. Odd how that happened, almost makes an argument for life being predestined before we're even born. Almost. not quite.

55. In Sheep's clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People by George K. Simon, Jr. Ph.D

Very good information. Useful tools in addressing behavior of what he terms 'covert-aggressive' personalities; they aren't neurotic and hurtful because they're suffering, they're aggressive because it has been effective in getting them what they want.

Only issues with this book is that the publisher seems to have done this on the cheap and it was obviously not edited by a human being but by a computer. It has syntax errors and grammar which are technically not incorrect but clunky and make you have to read a few places a couple times.

56 Echo Park by Michael Connelly

Forgot to list this, finished it 11/28/2007. I liked this a lot, kept me up a couple nights way past sleep time and caused a couple of sleepy days, but worth it. Very real, believable characters and even allowed you some pity for the villain.

57. Blow Fly by Patricia Cornwell

Okay, I'll admit it. I only read this because I got a request for it on a bookswapping site and the huge blizzard which hit us this weekend made it impossible to get out and mail it right away. So I decided to check it out before I sent it out.

I think I read another of this series earlier this year, and was disappointed but this one was much better, in regards to I didn't find Ms Cornwell more fascinated with getting all of her newly learned information into the book than in actually writing a good story.

The major drawback, which wasn't insurmountable by any means, was the relationships and inner lives of the characters in this episode are highly complex and I obviously lost a great deal of the nuance and significance of much of this story for not having gone through the prior experiences with the characters.

I'd advise you not start with this one, though it does work as a stand alone book I think it would be much more engaging and thrilling if read in sequence.

Cornwell's earlier works were much more interesting, in my opinion. You are so right about the complexity of the personal relationships. Too much so, sometimes. In fact I think a lot of readers who once waited eagerly for each new Scarpetta novel abandoned the series at some point along the way because Scarpetta became too bitter, unsympathetic and downright unlikeable. Cornwell totally lost my respect when she brought back a character she had killed in a previous book. It's a shame, because she had a good thing going, and I just don't care to read her anymore.

58. The Edison Trait by Lucy Jo Palladino

Great book. As an Edison Trait adult, and quite probably the child of two Edison Trait parents, this was eye-opening. Explains a lot of why I get bored so easily unless there's abundant stimulation and why I'm the go-to girl in tense, chaotic, life-and-death situations yet get bogged down to almost crippling depression when the biggest decisions on my plate are 'laundry on Tuesday or Wednesday'?

Wish this had been around years earlier to help me learn more convergent thinking skills and the concept of hierarchical learning strategies. I'm now wondering how to retroactively teach myself these kinds of self-discipline over mundane matters such as consistent sleep times using various skills suggested in this book, and doing so by play-acting both the parent role and dealing with my willful inner Edison child.

Wonderful, wonderful book. Will be reading again many times and underlining, using as a reference.

Skipped a lot of the alternate medicine and Ritalin sections since those seem most helpful for actual children.

59. The Story of Forgetting by Stephen Merrill Block

Now this was one fantabulous book. I have 2 chapters to go, which I plan to read ushering in the New Year cause this is probably my favorite piece of fiction I've read this past year.

Got this in the early reviewers program and if this is the last book I "win" there, it was all worth it. Wonderful, wonderful, amazing. Can't believe this guy is 24. His mix of science-medical (even if some of the history is fictionalized) juxtaposed to his prose and then the complete fantasy of the Land of Isadora were so engrossing, I was under it's spell from the very first page.

I'll admit, this story happens to hit on several aspects that come very close to home for me, and thus this story and it's characters make a lot of 'sense' and feel as if they're almost parts of myself, so that may be tainting my opinion. Still, the writing is lush, evocative and compelling. The characters are full blooded, real and felt like they jumped off the page. And while I later learned some of the history of the genetics was fictionalized, he wrote it very true to the medical science texts I read so that I was ready to go out and dig up his sources to verify the account. While I'm not the best judge of science/medical text since I often read textbooks for fun, I still thought his use of a precocious, brilliant teenage boy who wants to find a cure for his mother's early onset Alzheimer's succeeded wonderfully in tying in the medical information in a real, true and engaging manner.

But I'm saving the rest of my thoughts for my official review, after I've read it all.

Happy New Year!!!

MY POSTED REVIEW FOR EARLY REVIEWERS OF LT:
I admit it, this book had me from hello. It is the most powerful, compelling first page of fiction I've read in a long time. I can't believe this is a first novel by a 24 year old author. Wow.

Stefan Merrill Block has somehow managed to write two very different protagonists with intimacy, clarity and depth. What amazed me more is that even though both these characters are a bit implausible if you look at the whole of them out of context, the way he draws them out and brings them into the minds-eye of the reader makes them not only believable but sympathetic. And he manages to bring this skill and give depth and complexity to supporting characters, too.

I'll admit I was predisposed to like this book because it touches on many subjects which fascinate me along with being very well written. Block's descriptions of one who stomps out silence in a bid to forget and one who feels the angst of the outsider who feels the angst of living in a strange family, are so crystal and bold as to resonate deeply and feel personal. I also enjoy reading science and medical non-fiction, and Block manages to intertwine the genetics and neurology bits wonderfully, through the voice of a brilliant teenage boy trying to comprehend and make sense of his mother rare form of early onset Alzheimers. But Block also writes characters and the fantasy/folktale stories of Isadora with equally vivid, rich strokes of his pen. I can't honestly say which of his styles I enjoyed more, and I enjoyed how he kept them separate, jumping from one to the other, but maintaining the flow of the whole.

As to the one reviewer I saw who complained they knew the ending half way into the book. I suggest this isn't a book I read for a surprise ending. Yes, I don't want a mystery or a thriller's plot spoiled too early on, but The Story of Forgetting isn't either of those. This isn't a treasure hunt or a dash to the destination. This is a leisurely October Sunday afternoon's drive through mountains of New England; you read it for the journey, the resplendent colors and the spectacular sights along the way.

Congratulations and well done, cckelly! You did it and more!

Happy New Year to you too, and best wishes for 2008 filled with lots of great books and even more time in which to read them!

I just discovered this fascinating thread, cckelly, after it is all done. What a year of reading! I loved your reviews -- so personal. That makes them something more than the ones you read on the book jacket. Thanks so much for sharing.

I just read through this too, and thoroughly enjoyed all your reviews as well. I've added a few books to my TBR pile through you also lol. It was interesting to hear your thoughts on Block--I have to say, it wasn't one that I enjoyed nearly so much--it was a bit too meandering for me and shifts/moments often felt awkward, though I agree the writing was beautiful. In any case, I just wanted to say hello and thank you for all the great time into reviews! I LOVE your mention of 'reader-specific ADD'--you're not the only one with it!

cckelly - we have a thread to chat and introduce ourselves. Come on over to the gathering place to chat!