verdelambton's '75 each' challenge

This is a double challenge for me. I intend to read 75 books to myself this year and 75 chapter books to kidlet (5 years old). Last year I managed 88 myself and 72 chapter book read alouds. Assuming I don't lose my voice at any point, I hope to keep my own level up and raise kidlet's count to 75 this year.

So far, my reads for January 2010 have been:
1. Flyte by Angie Sage
2. Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy I've owned this book for about 20 years now (I got it as part of some 'Great Writers' series when I was a teenager which consisted of a series of magazines with hard cover books attached). I can't believe I didn't read it before now.
3. The Ornament of the World by Maria Rosa Menocal
4. Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann
5. Physik by Angie Sage
6. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel A bit heavy going at times but I really liked it, which is perhaps somewhat surprising because, other than Edward Rutherfurd books, I don't really read much historical fiction. I'd heard it was quite good, saw it on the 14 day loan shelf at my library, and thought I'd give it a go. I'm glad I did.

OK, so I'll admit that numbers 1 and 5 on my list were read alouds but I added them to my own list as well because even if kidlet decided at this point that she didn't want me to read any more of the Septimus Heap series, I would keep reading them to myself anyway (same goes for the Mysterious Benedict Society books).

My read alouds have been:
1. Flyte by Angie Sage
2. My Haunted House by Angie Sage
3. The Sword In The Grotto by Angie Sage
4. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien Amazingly my husband read this one. I say 'amazingly' because he is dyslexic and I was so impressed he was prepared to tackle it as a read aloud.
5. Physik by Angie Sage
6. Frognapped by Angie Sage I suspect I may well be enjoying the Araminta Spookie books as much as kidlet.
7. Five Have Plenty of Fun by Enid Blyton I loved the Famous Five as a child but am finding them tough going as an adult. Five eat lots, drink lots, make a few inappropriate remarks, find their dog poisoned (or threatened with poisoning), get taken prisoner, escape, live to share another adventure (hurray ... or not!) Ah well, at least the series is finite.

So far, this year seems to be shaping up to be a bit of an Angie Sage year as read alouds go. Ah well, it makes a nice change from the seemingly endless Blytons last year.

Hmmm... some of those touchstone brackets don't seem to have worked properly. Not quite sure why that might be. Ah well, no time to worry about such things. Too many books to read!

Welcome to the group! I hope you (and the kidlet) reach your goals!

Welcome! Nice set of books so far.

Thanks alcottacre. Thanks drneutron.
7. Last night I finished
Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill

Although I've read a number of fictional (and non-fictional) accounts of the slave trade and slavery, this one was still interesting as I previously didn't know anything about the Black Loyalists and their settlement in Canada. Now I'm going to spend time on the Internet trying to learn some more about this part of history that was previously unknown to me.

This morning, kidlet was absolutely insatiable as regards her read alouds. In a three and a half hour frenzy (punctuated with numerous cups of tea), we worked our way through the final three books of the Spiderwick Chronicles

8. Lucinda's Secret by Holly Black
9. The Ironwood Tree by Holly Black
10. The Wrath of Mulgarath by Holly Black

At the end of each book I tried to escape but she kept pulling the next one out of goodness knows where and insisting we read 'just one more' (I fondly remember the days where the request for 'just one more' referred to chapters not whole books). She was clearly gripped by all of them and did not want them to end. However, as I read the last sentence of the epilogue of book 5 and triumphantly announced "The End!!", she scrambled to her feet, shot upstairs and said 'now let's finish the Famous Five!'. At this point I literally ran from the room :)

Is she learning to read at the moment? Otherwise, you might need to investigate the children's library's stock of audio books!

#4: I have The Book of Negroes (aka Somebody Knows My Name) home from the library now to read. Did you like the book?

#5 :) She is learning to read but sadly her thirst for thrills and mystery are not particularly well served by the emergent reader books she is able to tackle on her own right now. Frog and Toad and Henry and Mudge are delightful in their own way but they just don't encounter enough monsters or kidnappers in their adventures. I did try some audio books from the library a while back. Two of them were fantastic: Mary Poppins read by Sophie Thompson (aka evil Stella from Eastenders) and Winnie the Pooh read by the simply scrumptious Alan Bennett. However, the first led her to ask for the Mary Poppins book for Christmas and the second led her to beg for the umpteenth re-reading of our copy of Winnie the Pooh (so I guess I kind of shot myself in the foot there!)

#6 Yes, I did like Someone Knows My Name. Very much so. It didn't completely blow me away as it seems to have done to many other people whose reviews I have read but I gave it a 4/5 which, according to my personal rating system means I would recommend it and I kept looking forward to picking it up every day. A 4/5 also means that the characters engaged me enough that I really wanted to find out what happened to them.

K 11. Five on a Secret Trail by Enid Blyton

I've desperately tried to dissuade kidlet from making the next book another Famous Five but she is quite insistent. In fact, she has just declared that we can "read another book when we've finished the series". The next book is book 16 and there are 21 in the series. Maybe I'll have to take books 17-21 downstairs and accidentally drop them in the fireplace while she's out at school :)

Well, she obviously loves you reading to her but eek at 21 in the series. I keep telling Mike that he needs to be careful when getting books for our two, our older son is nearly 3 and loves being read to. It's an important criteria while they want to be read to that the books don't drive you completely crazy. Fortunately Mike reads his bedtime stories as I have to settle baby, I love reading good stories but do not want to read the Chuggington Annual or books about Fireman Sam (at least the latter are very short, 4 pages of a few words each).

#9 Yes, I forget just how frustrating it can be when your little one fixes upon a couple of really bad picture books and won't let you read anything else. In your case Chuggington (thankfully we left the UK before that came on television so we don't have any of those) and, in the case of our youngest, Balamory (we'd left the UK before they came on either but my mother dutifully recorded them onto DVDs and sent them over to us along with the books - "yeah! cheers mum!") Thankfully, we're now leaving Balamory behind us (I'm thinking of boxing those three books up and hiding them in the basement while they're no longer at the forefront of his mind).

Last night I finished
8. Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell.
This is a book I have meant to read for a long, long time. Finally done it (yay!) 4/5. I did enjoy Orwell's account of his time fighting in Spain but as soon as I started to come across all those dastardly acronyms representing all the different political groups and factions I'll admit that my eyes started to glaze over (to the extent that at one point my book thudded to the floor and woke me with quite a start). I studied the Spanish Civil War in some depth whilst an undergrad. and I seem to recall it all having a similar effect then (as Orwell says "It is a horrible thing to have to enter into the details of inter-party polemics; it is like diving into a cesspool"). All due credit to Orwell, he did keep the whole in-depth political analysis neatly contained in two chapters which he warned the reader about beforehand and informed them they could skip them if they liked. My two favourite quotes from the book are "As for the kaleidoscope of political parties and trade unions, with their tiresome names - P.S.U.C, P.O.U.M, F.A.I, C.N.T, U.G.T, J.C.I, J.S.U, A.I.T, - they merely exasperated me" (yip, I remember trying to figure out who was who while I was studying this period and it left me tearing my hair out). My other favourite quote is from right at the end of the book when he describes the sensation he felt on leaving war-torn Spain and arriving back in southern England. He describes the peacefulness of the countryside and how London was going about its usual civilized business then says "...all sleeping the deeep, deep sleep of England, from which I sometimes fear that we shall never wake till we are jerked out of it by the roar of bombs". Considering the book was originally published in 1938, a year before the onset of WWII and two years before the Blitz began, I wonder if he knew just how close to the truth he was.

#10: I have Homage to Catalonia in the BlackHole already. I am glad to see that you liked it.

I have a copy of Homage to Catalonia; hopefully I can read it later this year. Thanks for the nice review!

Finished
#9. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
I am not going to rate this book on the Library Thing rating system because I don't feel it's fair (after all, I hardly fall into the target readership category for this book). I'd probably give it a 3/5 though I can well see the appeal for middle graders. What can I say? Mildly amusing. Quite alarmingly, the bits of the book which made me laugh out loud most were those which described the rather oddball behavior of Greg's father (with which I found myself identifying rather too often). For example, when Greg is talking about Halloween, he explains that "On Halloween night, while all the other parents are handing out candy, Dad is hiding in the bushes with a big trash can full of water. And if any teenagers pass by our driveway, he drenches them. I'm not sure Dad really understands the concept of Halloween". And I'm thinking "must remember not to drench kids with water on Halloween.." In another part he explains how his dad gets mad really quickly and throws whatever he's got in his hands at you. This is accompanied by an illustration showing his father with a newspaper in his hand saying "Good time to screw up" and then a picture of his father building a brick wall with the words "Bad time to screw up". As someone with a rather fiery temper myself, I'm thinking "mustn't lose temper with kids whilst building brick wall" - thank goodness American walls are generally built from sheet rock ;)

10. Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip Book 2 by Tove Jansson
My in-laws bought me the four Moomin comic strip books for Christmas. Not only are they beautiful books as far as the physical books themselves go but the comic strips are so very funny too. I particularly liked the second strip in the book (Moomin Mamma's Maid) where the fun-loving Moomins with their eccentric and fairly anarchic ways contrast so beautifully with their new maid who feels she is perpetually persecuted, that everyone is out to get her and thrives on hard work and privation! I could definitely identify with Moomin Mamma when Mrs Fillyjonk from next door is suggesting that she should hire a maid like hers. When Mrs F sits down on the bed under which the family are hiding the dirty dishes ("It's so much tidier keeping dirty dishes under the bed"), she comments "But haven't you got a maid?", to which Moomin Mamma replies "Oh no... you see, we love housekeeping - sometimes, when we feel like it..." Then Mrs F explains her family routine, beginning with "Up at four every morning to air and clean and dust", to which Moomin Mamma replies "Oh...I see...MY family lies reading in the morning..." It's always nice to know that your family is not alone! 5/5

#14: Those look fun. I will have to see if I can find them. Thanks for the recommendation.

K 12. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Kidlet loved this book (5/5) and now wants to go out in the yard when the snow melts to build her own log cabin. I absolutely hate to admit this, as I know that this is a series of books about which people get very sentimental, but I didn't really share her enthusiasm (for the book that is - I thought the idea of building a log cabin in the yard was actually pretty cool!)

However, on the plus side, this first book has led to a couple of interesting conversation starters between the two of us. We have had a whole conversation about the rights and wrongs of eating meat which was very interesting and, this morning when I was reading a part of the book where Laura smacks her sister Mary, Pa sees her doing it, and so metes out his own physical punishment to Laura, Kidlet looked somewhat confused and said "but he's doing to Laura what she did to Mary and she got told off for that!!" This led to a conversation about the rights and wrongs of corporal punishment. I wait with anticipation to see what topics the next book will bring up!

#16: Wow! What wonderful conversations you and kidlet are having!

I love the descriptions and reviews of your readings to kidlet!

K 13. The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
I'll admit that I wasn't sure whether to read the Lemony Snickett books out loud to kidlet yet or not. I was afraid that they might be inappropriate for a 5 year old as she might not be able to cope with the situations in which the orphans find themselves IF the humour went over her head. However, I got the box set cheap from Borders a few months back and had been reading them myself (not that I wanted to read them myself you understand - ahem, ahem - just checking out their suitability for kidlet!) Anyway, based on my own reading, I decided that as long as my Count Olaf voice was kept more humorous than scary (as I believe it is supposed to be - he is a very humorous figure, after all, and was played by Jim Carey in the movie for a reason) then she should be OK. As it turned out, she loved this first book. She found Count Olaf hilarious and really identified with Violet (as she likes inventing things) and also with Klaus (due to his great love of books). She also loved Sunny's little outbursts and the fact that she loves biting things.

As I was reading, there were many interruptions with very excited comments (generally accompanied by much bouncing up and down on the sofa) like "oh! oh! I know what she's going to do! She's going to make a kind of ladder and climb up to the tower", or "So Count Olaf IS going to get all their money??!!". The excited interruptions and the physical bouncing is always a sign that a book is really engaging her and making her think ahead. Also, as her dad walked her to school the other day he recounts that she was raving on and on about the book and saying how she couldn't wait to get home to hear the end of it. She is now in something of an emotional whirl as she tries to decide between Lemony Snicket book 2 and Famous Five book 16 for the next step in our challenge. Please, please, for the love of my sanity, let it be Lemony Snicket!!!

Ha! If she does decide to stick with Lemony Snicket, you might also want to check out his short stories...I thought The Lump of Coal was especially excellent.

#20 I'd never heard of The Lump of Coal. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll be sure to check it out from the library.

Linda 11: Thank You Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
I love P.G. Wodehouse and have a growing collection of the hardcover collectors' editions by Overlook as they just look so nice lined up on the bookcase (books as functional ornaments - sure as heck beats ornamental thimbles). My favourite Wodehouses are not actually the Jeeves and Wooster ones (though I love them dearly too) but rather any which feature Lord Ickenham. One of the problems I find with the Jeeves and Woosters is trying to banish Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry from my head whilst reading them. This almost never works. Maybe I should just stop trying altogether, they are so funny in their roles after all.

This book was a little different from usual in that Jeeves is no longer in Bertie's employ (having been driven away by his insistence on playing the banjolele) but he is still around to offer advice, support and finally save the day. Other than the characters in these books, who are just so silly you have to laugh, I love the language ("What ho!..Bally thing. It was just so dashed odd...") My favourite part of this particular book was when Bertie discovers that Lord Chufnell, who he has been friends with for years, having been at Eton and Oxford with him, has the first name Marmaduke. He just knew him as 'Chuffy' :)

K 14: Five Go To Billycock Hill by Enid Blyton
This time it wasn't any of the Famous Five themselves who got kidnapped but the cousin of their friend (a Flight-Lieutenant no less). He was taken prisoner together with a colleague but managed to scribble a message for help on the back of a baby pig with a piece of black chalk which one of them found after a really deep root around in his pockets. The children then got their dog to have a good smell of said piglet then follow his scent through some tunnels and eventually locate the prisoners down a hole in a cave. Hurrah! The Five downed at least 350 sandwiches, 6 whole fruit cakes, 20 bottles of lemonade and an inordinate number of eggs and ham in this book. I was hoping to get some reading of my own done in the bath last night after I'd put the kids to bed but kidlet slipped in through the bathroom door and sat patiently on the bath rug like a little Buddha with Famous Five outstretched in front of her. I really must remember to lock that door!

Here in our part of Jersey we missed the brunt of the weekend's snow storm but it looks like we're due to get walloped overnight tonight and tomorrow morning which probably means a snow day. Kidlet is looking forward to this possibility as it means we can 'read more books!' I asked if she wouldn't rather go outside and play in the snow. She said I could read to her outside while she plays in the snow (but of course!)

Your stories of your daughter are hilarious. She's really addicted, isn't she? Where does she get it from?

#23 - Yes she is and I really have no idea where she gets it from ;)

K 15: Vampire Brat by Angie Sage
Book four in the Araminta Spookie series. Anything by Angie Sage I do not mind reading out loud. Although I feel the Araminta Spookie books are for slightly younger kids than the Septimus Heap ones, there is still enough in them to make them enjoyable not only for Kidlet but also for me. It was scary (contained vampires and the suggestion of werewolves) but was also funny and had a happy ending.

K 16: The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket
We read this book today when not outside playing in the snow. I felt I really had to put my foot down on the reading outside in the snow thing or who knew where we might end up - it was when I considered building an igloo so we could sit inside it and read that I realised our joint reading addiction was probably starting to verge on the ridiculous! I really am enjoying reading the Lemony Snickets out loud. Kidlet particularly liked this one as Count Olaf kept deliberately getting Mr Poe's name wrong and managed Mr Toe, Mr Doe and Mr Yoe. She thought this was hilarious and laughed like a drain each time he "got confused".

I don't think I've yet mentioned how impressionable Kidlet is as regards books giving her ideas. This is an issue which I have to bear in mind when picking books for her (when we got the picture book 'Library Mouse' out of the library, not only did the book have the effect of increasing her motivation in writing her own books, it also gave her the idea of slipping her own literary masterpieces onto the shelves at her school library!) So when Violet Baudelaire taped lots of pieces of white paper to the walls of her bedroom so that she could sketch her inventions, I was somewhat concerned. It was no real surprise when I went up to Kidlet's bedroom earlier this evening and found sheets of paper stuck all over her walls, covered in lots of doodling in marker pen. I asked her what they were. She said she was inventing a 'house making machine'. I smiled and said "that's nice!" She then asked me if we had any spare wires in the basement... Help!!

Linda 12: Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen
I picked this book up from the library last week. I can't remember for certain why now but I'm pretty sure it was as a result of reading somebody else's list :) I liked this book. A few characters to like, plenty to dislike, plenty of indignation to feel when a person or an animal gets mistreated and a nice, happy ending which managed to draw a few tears even from this fairly heartless old cynic. I loved seeing the old circus photographs throughout the book, I loved the way the story to'd and fro'd between Jacob as a young man and Jacob as an elderly man in a nursing home (I'm always something of a sucker for that kind of book) and I found the ending really satisfying and also funny (I just loved the conversation at the end as regards the literal baggage some characters would be taking forward into their new life). The author's note at the end detailing the true stories of the real-life elephant, Topsy was horrific and made me shed another couple of tears (that's me all cried out for the year now!) and the story of Old Mom and how she really did have language barriers really made me laugh as I had thought that was surely just a situation born of fiction. 4/5.

#25: I am glad you enjoyed that one. It was a favorite of mine a couple years back - so much so that I went out and bought my own copy so that I could reread it.

Linda 13: Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
A pretty enjoyable light read. I like to read Nick Hornby books when I'm feeling a little under the weather with a cold or flu as I don't have to think too hard and can enjoy laughing at his dysfunctional characters as I identify with some of their traits and neuroses here and there. This is one of those books which made me laugh out loud in a number of places and then proceed to read those bits out loud to my husband - a really annoying trait I've always had and which drives people nuts as they then come to read the book / newspaper / magazine themselves and have a sense of already having read it. To be fair, I'm somewhat under control as I now only do it if I've previously established that the person being addressed has no intention whatsoever of ever reading the book / newspaper / magazine in question. Very favourite quote from this book: '"I left Mike at home so we could have a proper girly chat." "Oh, goody," said Annie. Were there two words in the English language that combined more dispiritingly than "girly" and "chat"?' 3.5/5

K 17: The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket
Kidlet is continuing to love the Series of Unfortunate Events. This book was just as much enjoyed as the last three. In fact, with this book, Kidlet #2 (3 years old) even started to enjoy it too (in his words "because Count Olaf is funny"). Both kids adore the way that it is always really obvious to everybody except Mr Poe that the new character introduced in each book is Count Olaf and every time Mr Poe failed to see it they both screamed "but it's Count Olaf!" (complete, in Kidlet's case, with hand slapping forehead repeatedly). We really liked this book as even Count Olaf's name was obviously fake (Captain Sham) :)

One of the things that has amazed me about these books is that Kidlet often has a problem with books containing scary baddies and bad things happening. However, the author always makes sure that you know well in advance when somebody's going to be killed off. This manages to get her used to the fact at least a couple of chapters before it happens and it doesn't seem to bother her at all. Book 4, here we come.

K 18: The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket
Book four. Still funny. Still holding the kids' attention. Still beats the Famous Five.

K 19: The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket

Linda 14: Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder

3.5/5 - This book held my attention really well for the first 150 pages (Part 1) but my mind started to wander somewhat from the beginning of Part Two when Kidder joined the story, speaking with the ex-nun who had helped Deo out during his time in New York City and the couple who took him in there. Tracy Kidder's later journey back to Burundi with Deo similarly did not hold my attention and interest.

There were some minor parts of the book which bothered me (probably more than they should have). One was when Kidder was describing how Deo took a small commercial plane from Rwanda to Burundi during his first trip back there while a friend he'd made on the journey to Kigali did the last stretch by bus. The bus was attacked by militiamen and the travelers on it slaughtered. He writes "The bus had been owned by the weirdly, prophetically named Titanic Express". That line really bothered me. I think it could have been left out. Also, in one of the final chapters, Kidder comments that he witnessed English-language signs replacing French ones in Rwanda. He says "..which I took as evidence of the flourishing enmity between the French and Rwandan governments: a road sign that instead of "Bon Voyage" read "Good Away", a liquor store named Nigger Boy Saloon, which probably meant that hip-hop had arrived but without translation." This was another line which made me cringe and I felt the book could have done without it. For sure, include the fact that English was replacing French in some places, just please leave out the examples which seem almost to be poking fun at the local people.

Finally, towards the end of the book, I wasn't feeling much sympathy for Deo who was starting to seem somewhat arrogant towards his fellow countrymen. Another thing which stood out as slightly strange to me was why Deo insisted his father back in Burundi see a psychiatrist when he himself was so resistant to the idea of seeing one.

I know a lot of people loved this book but it just didn't do it for me, no matter how much I wanted it to :-(

Linda 15: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Didn't love it as much as I thought I would, having read all the really positive reviews. It was OK though.

Linda 16: Stitches by David Small
3.5 / 5
Graphic novel / memoir. Very sad. Very disturbing.

K 20: The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket
Another Lemony Snicket which had Kidlet on the edge of her seat. Like all the Lemony Snickets so far, very funny, very silly, quite suspenseful and a whole lot of new words for Kidlet's vocabulary. I just love the fact that she can now throw 'ersatz' into her everyday conversation AND know what it means ;-)

I really do enjoy reading the Lemony Snickets but I'm starting to flag now with book seven looming in front of me like a great, giant looming thing. I've got one night to prepare my argument for why we should read something else next (that's not Lemony Snicket...or the Famous Five). I'd really like to read Matilda by Roald Dahl. Wish me luck!

Good luck, Linda!

K 21: Christmas in Camelot by Mary Pope Osborne
One of the Merlin Missions from the Magic Treehouse series. This was a combined read aloud (i.e. we took it in turns reading a chapter each), which we do with all the Magic Treehouse books. This was THE very first book Kidlet picked completely on her own (during a school book fair). She very nearly didn't get it as apparently a parent volunteer told her it was "too difficult for a Kindergartner" and that she should pick a picture book instead. However, when I asked what she replied to this, she recounted that she opened the book up, read most of the first page out loud and thereby convinced her that this wasn't necessarily the case (you go girl!) We have been reading this book over the course of about 3 weeks (Kidlet likes reading to herself and likes listening to other people read but doesn't much like reading aloud for some reason) and, I have to admit, I lost track of the (fairly simple) plot somewhere around the beginning of week 2 (doh!). However, Kidlet seems to have remembered what was going on pretty well and I would say she enjoyed it as much as she does any book which she reads aloud herself (I guess compared with some of the books I read to her, the Magic Treehouse and Henry & Mudge just lack a certain something).

p.s. Tee hee! Kidlet's father has just come downstairs to announce that Kidlet is currently writing a fan letter to Angie Sage (author of the Septimus Heap books). Apparently she hasn't written it yet (let's hope she hurries it along as it's 9pm here right now) but the gist of what she is planning is something along the lines of "Dear Angie Sage, Please write more books as we are about to start book 4 of Septimus Heap and I'm afraid we are going to run out soon. Love Kidlet". Aw! Bless!

You go, Kidlet!

Linda 17: Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill
4*
I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't an easy read, by which I mean that some of the topics - child neglect and abusive relationships - are emotionally difficult ones to read about. However, I can honestly say that I probably cared more about Baby and what happened to her than any other character in a book I have read in the last couple of years. Baby is a really sad character who finds herself in a number of destructive relationships and every time she entered a new situation in which she was placed in danger I felt my heart wrench and found myself begging "Please, please, please don't let her be hurt any more / killed!". The notes in the back of the edition I had described Heather O'Neill's own childhood. Also incredibly sad. What a powerful book though. I do hope she writes more.

K 22: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo (audiobook)
Thinking back to Elkiedee's previous suggestion of children's audio books, I decided to have a look at the audio book collection whilst at the library yesterday. We got this one out as it is a book which I have seen a number of times but never really felt compelled to buy so figured it would make a good choice for audio book. It was a big hit, even though it is very sad in places, and we've listened to it twice this weekend (once at home and once in the car). Kidlet now wants to buy the book... Arggggghhhh (Linda sobs silently into a pillow!)

Oh dear, sorry!

Well, at least Kidlet has good taste?...Plus, the illustrations in the book are faboo, sorry to say :).

>>38 verdelambton: Lullabies for Little Criminals was one of my favorites in 2008. I still think about Baby from time to time. I keep hoping for another book from O'Neill.

#39: Kidlet does indeed have good taste. I agree with Jasmine - the illustrations in the book are excellent.

Am really enjoying your thread - I have 2 kids aged 5 and 3, and haven't been posting the books I'm reading with them but might start. We finished Emil and the Detective last night and I need something new, so will go and see if the Lemony Snickets are in the library.

We did Diary of a Wimpy Kid a few weeks ago too - Fletcher liked it but we didn't love it. Same with Emil, which I read as a kid and thiunk I liked, but it has note aged well!

Have you read Kidlet Charlie and the Chocolate Factory yet? (Have raced through your thread - sorry if you've already said!) It was a big hit here and had him building chocolate factories out of Lego.

#40 Tee hee. Don't be. It was something of a relief to go out in the car on Saturday and be able to look out the windows for once!

#41 Gah! OK, I've added it to our wish list! Right now I'm trying to cut back on our book purchases (which is why we were at the library at the weekend). We need to save up as it's our library's book fair on March 13th (Kidlet is itching with excitement already). I have to say I do love American libraries in general and in particular their book fairs and liberal lending policies. I was worried we were about to max out my card as I carried the towering pile of books Kidlet had chosen to the desk. Luckily I discovered the cards max out at 200 not 100! As Kidlet told the librarian when she asked her if she'd left any books on the shelves for other people "but I'm getting out non-fiction today! I've got animal books - river otters, rhinos, downy woodpeckers, raccoons..... but there are still others on the shelves like cheetahs, frogs....." That'll teach her to ask ;-)

#42 Maybe I'll send Nancy O'Neill a message similar to the one Kidlet has written to Angie Sage... "Dear Nancy O'Neill, I have run out of your books. Are you going to write another? Lots of Love, Linda"

#43 OK, you've both convinced me. Just nobody let Kidlet know Kate DiCamillo has written any more books! Shhhh!

#44 Thanks! If you do start posting your read alouds I would be very interested to follow the thread. I'm always keen to see and hear what books others with kids of similar age are reading and how the kids are enjoying them so that I can grab more ideas. I do hope your eldest likes the Lemony Snickets. I was reading the beginning of book 7 last night and Kidlet could scarcely keep her bum still on the chair as she started to suspect which character Count Olaf was this time. She was chortling away and screaming "Oh! Oh! High boots! Helmet hiding the eyes!! It's him! It's him!!!" I couldn't read the book for laughing!

When we first bought Charlie and the Chocolate Factory we read it over and over. It is one of her all time favorites although we always have to skip the chapter where Augustus Gloop gets sucked up the pipe as it upsets her. Why that upsets her and not the fates met by the other children I have absolutely no idea. I love the idea of the Lego chocolate factories. Lego building is Kidlet's second favorite thing to do after listening to books so I might suggest that to her! We also borrowed Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator out of the library but we both lost interest after the first three or four chapters.

100! 200!!

#45: Oh, but Kidlet must be read The Tale of Despereaux!

#46 Yes, crazy, I know. If my memory serves me correctly, we had a limit of between 6 and 10 books at libraries where I used to live in the UK. More is not necessarily better though. As a family member who also has two small children recently said to me "but how on earth do you keep track of hundreds of books??? I have trouble with the 20 my boys are allowed!" I told her that I used Library Elf, to which she replied "well yes, I get reminder emails too but the reminder emails sadly don't tell me where the boys have squirrelled them away!" Which was a fair point.

#47 Oh you are a bad, bad woman Stasia ;-)

Linda 18: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
Although for kids, I really enjoyed this book. It has spurred me towards making sure that we keep up Kidlet's already blossoming interest in science and the natural world (she was taking advantage of the melting snow yesterday on the way home from school to collect rocks and stones in a little bag that she could take home to wash and analyze - following a recent reading of Rocks, Rocks, Rocks by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace and is really excited about visiting the American Museum of Natural History this weekend as she wants to examine the dinosaurs - her current life's ambition being to become a paleontologist). I will make sure that she is presented with a copy of this book on her 9th birthday. I loved the main relationship in the book, between Calpurnia and her grandfather. The idea of this old man sharing his considerable knowledge about the natural world with his only granddaughter and encouraging her to think and enquire really touched me. There is one part of the book where granddaddy is trying to find out what exactly Calpurnia is taught in school which really made me smile:

"What are you studying in school? You do go to school, don't you?"
"Of course I do. We're studying Reading, Spelling, Arithmetic, and Penmanship. Oh, and Deportment. I got an 'acceptable' for Posture but an 'unsatisfactory' for Use of Hankie and Thimble. Mother was kind of unhappy about that."
"Good God," he said. "It's worse than I thought."

Thank goodness society has moved on in its ideas of what are and are not appropriate interests for women to have, though I have to say that listening to some of the little boys and girls in Kidlet's class expound their views on what is and isn't appropriate for her to do and be interested in as a girl has made me realize that we're not quite there yet! Even, for that matter, the well-intentioned but gender-led comments of adults, such as the checkout operator in our local grocery store who (to be fair) seeing Kidlet spinning in circles with her arms in the air in the line, exclaimed "Oh, how cute! Are you going to be a ballet dancer when you grow up?" In reply to which, Kidlet formed her very best Paddington Bear 'hard stare' and said "No. I'm going to be a paleontologist!" I was so proud I could have wept ;-)

#48: Oh you are a bad, bad woman Stasia

And proud of it! lol

#49: Sounds like Kidlet has a good handle on her future!

Wow, I love that story about kidlet's career aspirations. I hope she gets what she wants.

K 23: The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket
As well received as the other six. Very funny.

K 24: Teddy Robinson Stories by Joan G. Robinson
A book which we bought because I had such fond memories of it from my own childhood. Enjoyed as much by Kidlet 2 as by Kidlet 1. Now if only I could get my hands on a second-hand copy of The Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse. We're planning to visit the UK in the summer so hopefully I might get in a trip to Hay on Wye and find one there.

Linda 19: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.
This one took a while to read, even though I enjoyed it a lot, because I've been falling asleep about 5 minutes after the kids each night this week and hence haven't had much free time for reading. Enjoyable but I wouldn't have put myself in Rebecca Skloot's place for anything in the world. I believe she is a brave woman to have tackled this particular project. I think I need it all to settle in my head a bit before I comment on it any further. It raised a lot of interesting questions and I'll probably be spending the next week or two thinking them all over a bit more.

#47 - I was browsing The Book Depository website the other night and they had The Tale of Despereaux at 50% off. Oooooh! Click! Then I noticed they had a few 'easy readers' which Kidlet likes so much at 50% off. Oooh! Click click! Then our local Borders (which is closing down) had their bargain books down to 50% off today and the rest at 40% off. Which meant some Magic Treehouse Research Guides and a children's dictionary and a $1.50 copy of Olivia in Latin (of course!). Actually, I found it very hard to shop in the closing down Borders as people were really disrespecting the books and throwing them all over the place without a care. I spent most of my time walking around picking books up off the floor, putting them back on the shelves and trying to resist the urge to clip small children (and a few adults) round the ear whenever I saw them tossing more books on the floor. Oh, and it's our local library's book fair next Saturday. OK. New resolution needed here obviously. Erm. 'No new children's books after the book fair next weekend'.

#53: Maybe it would be easier just to cut off the clicking finger than to resolve 'no new children's books?' Ouch!

ETA: I hope the Kidlet enjoys The Tale of Despereaux. It should make for some interesting discussion at your house, I should think.

Linda 20: Little Bee by Chris Cleave

4 / 5. I had high hopes for this book as, when I went to pick it up from the library, the librarian said "Ooooh, is this one for you? It's really good!" (I'm getting used to the librarian commenting on my choice of books and always seeming to know when I've got something to pick up before I even tell her - maybe she can see the anticipation on my eager little face!) Anyway, I enjoyed this one even though it didn't blow me away as I thought it was going to. I couldn't help but keep thinking it could have been just a little better (maybe I'm expect too much). On the other hand, I'm not sure if there are any plans to make it into a movie but I could imagine it making quite a good movie. I am a great fan of British movies which blend humor and tragedy together in just the right amounts (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Billy Elliot, Brassed Off, Love Actually, etc. etc.), making the viewer laugh one minute and cry the next, and this would appear a prime candidate for that kind of work. I can vividly picture the funny but sad figure of little Charlie whose amusing grammatical mistakes typical of a small child and stubborn refusal to remove his Batman costume even at his father's funeral make the reader laugh while at the same time causing more complex emotions as it is obvious that he is struggling, in his own way, to make sense of his father's death.

I note that this book was originally published in the UK with the title 'The Other Hand'. I am normally dead against having different book titles for the UK and the US markets as it has caused me no end of grief in the past. However, in this case I have to say that I much prefer the US title.

K 25: Five Get Into A Fix by Enid Blyton

17 Famous Fives down, 4 to go. This was a strange Famous Five in so much as the children didn't seem to solve the mystery themselves but rather got involved in strange goings on after being told not to interfere then ended up trapped and needing somebody else to free them. In addition, there was some strange, extraordinarily magnetic 'metal' in the hills which stopped ploughs from ploughing, spades from digging, cars and bicycles from travelling up to the top and from which people could make bombs (!?) Added to this, it was also slightly different as there were a few references to religion which there haven't been in any of the other books (perhaps the most surprising thing is that such references didn't appear in other books as Enid Blyton wrote a number of religious books for children). I found this story to be one of the weakest so far (I suspect Blyton was flagging by this point) but it was livened up somewhat for Kidlet as it was set in Wales and so I adopted my amazing (not!) Welsh accent for all the Welsh characters. At one point they seemed to become Welsh with a slight hint of Italian but Kidlet was convinced they were authentic, which is what matters really ;)

Linda 21: Graceling by Kristin Cashore
I am not normally much of a fan of fantasy novels but this one was rather good. The beginning was really good and drew me right in - I really liked the idea of a heroine who could outfight all the men - yay, girl power! I did feel the book went downhill a little over the second half but it wasn't like the second half wasn't worth reading. It was still good just not as great as the first half. After the first part I was enthusiastically looking forward to reading Fire by the same author immediately afterwards. Now I'm figuring I'll probably pick it up from the library at some point. The first part was a 5 / 5, the second half probably a 3.5. Overall a 4 / 5.

#57: That is one of the books I need to get to this year. Some time. Just not sure when.

I agree that there was a bit of a letdown in the second half of Graceling...but oh! Fire was very good. The main female character is even more interesting IMO, especially because she starts out as a much weaker willed/more flawed character. Hope you enjoy it, when you get to it!

I've run into mixed reviews with Graceling, but I still plan to read it for myself sometime in the near future. It sounds like I might enjoy it.

OK willowsmom has convinced me, I'm going to get Fire out of the library when I'm next in :)

dk_phoenix: my opinion (FWIW) is that it's worth a read (I'm certainly pleased I bothered) just so long as you don't go into it with huge expectations and bear in mind that it's going to go downhill a little.

Linda 22: Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson
4.5 / 5
I really enjoyed reading Three Cups of Tea but felt at the time that it was marred somewhat by being written by a journalist who I wasn't wholly convinced knew Greg Mortenson all that well and whose writing style often seemed at odds with the gentle, modest manner which I assumed Greg Mortenson himself to have. I would always have read a follow-up book, regardless of who wrote it, as I could not fail to be astounded and fascinated reading about the amazing work which this rather remarkable man throws himself into with such passion. The fact that it was written by the man himself just made it even better.

There is one part in this book where Greg recounts how his young daughter asked him whether the kids in the schools he had built / was building had jump ropes and other play equipment. When he said no, she pointed out to him that all children love to play, especially those living in such difficult circumstances, and promptly began contacting people to gather together what in the end amounted to thousands of jump ropes to send to the schools, where they were received with absolute joy by the children there. The schools then asked if more play equipment such as cricket bats and soccer balls could be sent as well. From that point on, the organization made a point to include play equipment in every single school they built. I was just struck by the fact that a small child could see something so important that all the adults had failed to see. This made a fantastic story to tell Kidlet to show her that adults do not have a monopoly on good ideas and that small children can make a difference. I also couldn't help but smile when they described a group of elders with Taliban sympathies who paid a visit to one of their schools in Afghanistan to tour the facility. When they saw the playground they smiled, put down their weapons, spent the next half an hour playing on the swings, slide and seesaw then announced that they did not need to see inside the school itself - they were quite happy with what they saw but that when he went to their village to build a school, a playground was a must :)

Linda 23: Slam by Nick Hornby
4 / 5

I saw this book in the book store a couple of years ago but although I like Nick Hornby a lot I didn't buy it. It was marked as Young Adult fiction so I assumed it was for teenagers. Up until this point, the category of books called Young Adult Fiction had passed completely under my radar and I was amazed to see quite how large the section devoted to these books was. I was also quite disappointed to see that not only was Nick Hornby obviously writing for Young Adults but so was Carl Hiaasen (another author who I enjoy when I feel like a good laugh). What can I say? That was back in my unenlightened days when I didn't realize just how good some Young Adult fiction was and that it could appeal to 'ever so slightly older adults' as well as 'young adults'.

#63: I will have to look for that one. Thanks for the recommendation, Linda.

Kidlet 26: Mrs Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald

(Audiobook)
We listened to this audiobook on the way to and from the seaside last weekend. Kidlet enjoyed it and it was mildly amusing for the rest of us as well. We enjoyed listening to the problems each child suffered from and how they were cured by Mrs Piggle-Wiggle. The 'Never-Want-To-Go-To-Bedders' chapter was particularly fun as it reminded us so much of Kidlet and her brother. In fact, we arrived at a service station for a coffee break during this particular chapter and Kidlet's father actually remained in the car until he'd found out how these particular children were cured before going in to get his coffee! Overall, a silly book but fun for little ones.

Speaking about the 'never-want-to-go-to-bedders', we have great difficulty getting Kidlet to go to sleep in the evenings as her head is always buzzing with ideas and things she wants to do. I told her the other night that she had to go to bed (it was getting really late) but that if she really wasn't sleepy just yet she could take a few books with her into bed and look at them until she felt tired. In retrospect, this was a bit of a mistake as can be seen in the photo below!



Even worse, her brother decided that what was good for the goose was also good for the gander.

Kidlet 27: The Children of Green Knowe of L.M.Boston

5/5
Kidlet enjoyed this book and would like to write her own 'review' so I've agreed to type it just as she wants...

"I liked this book because it was not too scary and the people came to life again and I liked that. I also liked that it was Christmas and that the birds were able to come into the house and sit on branches and sleep there and there was also a cage for them where they could eat and drink. Tolly's favorite was the chaffinch who came into his room every day. Once there was even an owl in the room and all the other birds were frightened but the other birds were OK which was good. I especially liked Alexander and Linnet and Toby. Tolly always wanted to see them. I liked that they liked pets and that they were very special people to Tolly".

As a side note, this was yet another one of those books which gave Kidlet ideas. As she mentions in her review, at one point in the story Tolly's bedroom is decorated with branches and leaves and the windows left open at night so that the birds can come inside. At one point during the week when we were reading this book I was sitting in the study on the computer while the kids played outside. Kidlet came running indoors and thundered upstairs. I shouted "What are you up to?" The answer... "I'm taking some grass and leaves and acorns upstairs to my bedroom for the birds!" I winced slightly at the thought but didn't leap up from my seat until I caught sight, out of the corner of my eye, of her brother following close behind with an armful of sticks and tree branches. I really should vet every book before I read it out loud!

Nice pictures of book piles, TBR piles I guess ;-)

No, not bad and worse, very good kids who like to read!!!

#66: Tell Kidlet, nice review!

>66 verdelambton:: Ah, kidlet is a person after my own heart. My favorite scene was when Mrs. Oldknow butters Tolly's hands. I buttered mine and went outside but no birds would land.

#67 :-) Yes, TBR piles, though I'd much rather see them on the floor than on the beds. Just imagine the noise when one of them rolls over during the night!

#68 I told Kidlet that someone likes her review and she is very proud indeed. She's at school right now and is no doubt informing her teacher that she's changed her mind about being a paleontologist and wants to be a literary critic instead!

#69 Awwwwww! Maybe you used salted butter and the birds only like unsalted? ;-) Right now we're part way through The Treasure of Green Knowe and Kidlet is already walking round the house with her eyes closed, bumping into things and imagining what it must be like to be blind (the 'alive across the centuries' character in this book is Susan, a young blind girl).

>70 verdelambton:: Ah, that was probably it! ;-D

My second favorite scene from the series comes from Treasure—"Toby, call your deer."

#70: She will probably only change her career plans 50 more times, lol.

Linda 24: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

4.5/5

I really enjoyed this book. The story of this brash, late-19th-Century American who is transported back in time to 6th Century England where he uses his (obviously) vastly superior technological and scientific knowledge to impress the locals into thinking him a magical, all-powerful being who can even give Merlin a run for his money, had me laughing (or at least smiling) all the way through. In fact, Hank's run-ins with Merlin, who becomes increasingly jealous and angry at this usurper, are a hoot. My absolute favorite part had to be when Hank meets knight after knight on the lists. All the knights are heavily protected with full armor for both themselves and their horses, whereas Hank is armed with nothing more than a lasso which he proceeds to use to pull the knights off their horses and onto the ground. Finally, however, he is left weaponless when Merlin filches his lasso and informs the king that it was a weapon which "belongeth to the king of the Demons of the Sea...which can be used in but eight bouts only, and then it vanisheth away to its home under the sea". Unperturbed, Hank takes on the next knight. Seemingly unarmed he waits patiently for the knight to approach him then whips out a dragoon revolver and shoots him at close range ;-)

Throughout the book, Twain exposes the absurdity and cruelty of the three bastions of 6th Century British society; the Church, the nobility and the monarchy, pokes fun at the code of chivalry and knights errant and looks at the gullibility of the commoners whom they treat with such disdain and scorn. A witty satire which I suspect I will re-read again at some future date. I also now feel it might be time for me to re-read Gulliver's Travels.

#73: I have never read that one by Twain. I need to get to it. Thanks for the recommendation, Linda.

Linda 25: Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years by John Philip Jenkins

4.5 / 5

This book made for fascinating reading. It was by no means easy going and I had to keep referring to the appendices all the time to remember who was who and who believed what exactly but it was interesting and certainly worth the effort. I definitely learnt a lot about the early history of Christianity; a subject I knew relatively little about before I tackled this book (hence the continual to-ing and fro-ing between each chapter and the appendices!)

p.s. Gah! Touchstones drive me mad!

#75: That one sounds very good. Thanks for the recommendation, Linda. I will look for it.

Linda 26: Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

4 / 5
A light, enjoyable read which was just the thing for reading outside in the sunshine after three hours of planting bulbs, picking up those darned acorns I should have picked up in the fall before they started taking root in the lawn and moving heavy rocks around. I love novels which recount historical events I was ignorant about before I read them and this one was such a novel. I'm particularly keen to read about American historical events as I'm already struggling to keep up with Kidlet's learning about such things at school ("Sacagawea? Who? Let me see... isn't she that Indian lady on the back of the dollar coin? What did she do? I don't know! Helen Keller? Erm.... Two seconds dear, I just need to Google something...") I'm now off to see if I can find any non-fiction books about the yellow fever epidemic in my library catalog :)

#77: Linda, I can recommend The American plague : the untold story of yellow fever, the epidemic that shaped our history by Molly Caldwell Crosby. I read it a couple of years ago and it is pretty good.

I still need to read Fever 1793 though.

Oh cool. Thanks Stasia. I've just checked the library catalog and they not only have a copy but it's in too. Yay!

#79: Good! I am glad it worked out for you.

Linda 27: Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

4 / 5

For the first 100 pages or so I was completely confused as to who was who and what exactly was happening in this book. I very nearly put it down and gave in. It was only because I have real problems abandoning a book after page 80 or so that I stuck with it. I am very pleased I did. Around page 150 or so all started to become clear and I was hooked from there on in. What started out as bedtime reading turned into carrying around the house and reading whenever I didn't need both hands to do other things. This is generally a good sign that I'm enjoying a book.

#81: I really liked that one when I read it last year. Like you, I was confused at the beginning and I am glad I stuck with it too. I am glad you ended up enjoying it.

Kidlet 28: Mrs Pepperpot Stories by Alf Prøysen

5 / 5 (Kidlet's actual score is "565 + 112 more one hundreds" but the LibraryThing star rating system is really not geared up for such non-standard scores so we'll have to make do with 5).

I have fond memories of reading this book as a kid and was not at all disappointed reading it aloud to Kidlet and her brother. They thought it was a hoot and, I confess, so did I. I picked up a Norwegian copy of the book at a book fair a couple of years back and I'm now off to find it as I'd love to read it. My Norwegian language skills are pretty basic but I'm hoping with the stories fresh in my mind I can manage. As well as the general excitement each time Mrs Pepperpot shrank to the size of a pepperpot (every time I approached the words 'at that moment she...', both kids would scream "SHRANK!!!" at the tops of their voices), Kidlet also liked the fact that Mrs Pepperpot is an animal lover who takes in any waif or stray she comes across. I think in this book she managed to take in a kitten, a bird, a puppy, a piglet and a few others. I loved this as it reminded me of my grandfather who had a similar tendency to take in hopeless animal cases as he was an absolute sucker for a sob story. As far as I'm aware, he never managed a piglet but he did manage an injured duck which he kept in the bathtub (until my grandmother found it and ordered it out of the house) and even a monkey which he managed to keep for two whole days before my grandmother found out, so it did make me smile with fond memories :)

Sounds like Kidlet had a great time with that one and so did you! What great memories you guys are going to have.

Linda 28: The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers

4 / 5
A good read but I feel I would have liked it just a little bit more if I'd had a good run at it. I normally find that books like this one with rather complicated plots (people time travelling between three different centuries, magical people making replicas of people, people jumping between bodies and so on) work best if you can sit down and read them in a solid day or two. However, my reading of this book kept being disrupted by life in general and me falling asleep two minutes after I picked it up every night. Some nights I struggled valiantly for an hour or so, reading a bit, nodding off, reading a bit more, nodding off again but this broke up the story so much that I had a hard time following who was who, who was when and who was where :) I might go back and read it some day when I've got a couple of days I can set aside to doing nothing much else but read it.

#85: I think you are right, Linda - The Anubis Gates is one of those books that just seems to call for your undivided attention because so much is going on in it.

Kidlet 29: First Term at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton

Lots of 'jolly hockey sticks' fun at an English boarding school for girls.

Kidlet's review:
"I hated Gwendoline because she always played tricks on poor Mary-Lou. That's why nobody liked her. I liked Mary-Lou even though she was a bit scared of even earwigs and spiders and water. I still liked her. Once Gwendoline had put a spider in Mary-Lou's desk and when Mam'zelle went to see if it was true or not, the spider seemed to climb all over her and she was afraid herself even though she was a teacher and all the girls went round her tickling her and stuff pretending it was the spider and she was like "arrrggggh". I don't think that was right for Mam'zelle to be so scared like that though. Darrell Rivers didn't like Gwendoline either. She used to not like Sally and Mary-Lou until she became friends with them which was near to the end and it was a very fun book. Goodbye, see you again Malory Towers!"

#87: Kidlet's reviewing skills are coming right along!

Ah yes but you were spot on with your prediction that she would change her mind at least another 50 times about her choice of career. She now no longer wants to be a literary critic when she grows up. Inspired by Jamie Oliver, she now wants to be a chef. Can't wait to see what it'll be next week ;)

> 89
I am waiting for the weekly update in career plans of kidlet ;-)

Linda 29: NurtureShock by Po Bronson
3.5 / 5
Not sure what to say about this book. Some people would appear to have mentioned it in the same breath as Freakonomics. I'm not so sure about that. I loved Freakonomics but found this rather 'meh'. I probably learnt a couple of things but this is yet another non-fiction book which I felt would have benefited from being half the length it was (who knows? maybe I'm just losing the ability to concentrate properly?)

#90 :-D Hi Anita. How strange that you should happen by my thread today. I was catching up on some threads on the list this afternoon - having not read any for a couple of weeks - and I followed a rather lovely picture of some tulips on your thread through to your blog. I love the pictures of your dogs. They are so cute. I can't own dogs of my own right now (my kids are scared of dogs, my husband isn't fond of them and who knows when we might move country again?..) so I do enjoy fawning over other people's cute dogs. When I was at home we had a cross between a bearded collie and a black labrador. She had the long hair of the bearded collie and the black hair of the labrador - the only one of her litter, the others all had short hair. Ah, such fond memories. Thank you for sharing your two!

#91: I am skipping that one!

I hope you enjoy your next read more, Linda.

Today is "Take your son and daughter to work day" here in America. It has just turned 7 o'clock in the morning and kidlet and her brother have skipped off merrily with their father to sample the fun and games Google have planned for them today (first time little brother has been old enough to attend). And me? With the first time slot of more than two hours I have had to myself since kidlet was born nearly 6 years ago, I have great plans for today which are as follows... find comfy chair, open book, read and snack, read, read, read, snack, read, snack, read, read, read (NOTHING by Enid Blyton and nothing which requires too much brain power). Oh happy days!

#93: Congratulations on those plans for the day :) Love it!

Sounds like a great day!

I want to go and see the fun and games Google has planned for them, too!!!! My father worked in a smelly ole power plant.

Enjoy your day alone. My kids are 23 and 19 and I still don't get a day alone....ever...not once...I want one badly.

> 91: thank you!
I was not allowed to have a dog when I lived with my parents. So I walked many dogs from neighbors.
As soon as I lived on my own I got my first dog and have not been without at least one dog ever since ;-)
A longhared black bearded/labrador cross sounds good, must have been a great family dog!

Linda 30: House Rules by Jodi Picoult

3.5 / 5

This was my book choice for the Thursday to myself. I've only ever read one other Jodi Picoult (I got Keeping Faith out of the library about three years ago). I wanted something which didn't require much effort but would keep me interested enough to actually want to finish it and that's exactly what I got! I found it quite hard to rate this book as it's not the kind of book I normally read and certainly didn't blow me away but it definitely served its purpose for a day of easy reading. I settled on 3.5 (4 and above generally means I thought a book was really good. 3 is a 'meh!'. I guess 3.5 is a 'well it had its moments but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to anyone'). It was just what I needed at the time though. Plus, it has led me to want to find out more about Asperger's, so I've checked out Not My Boy! by Rodney Peete from the library as a first step.

An easy read, an empty house, a bar of Divine chocolate, Tracy Chapman playing on loop in the background - I can't think of too many better ways to spend my day!

#98: I am glad you had an enjoyable day to yourself, Linda!

Kidlet 30: Second Form at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton

5 / 5

Kidlet's review:
"In this book Daphne saved Mary-Lou from falling down from a great height because she was dangling down from a rock and so she lassoed her belt, tied it round her own wrist and Mary-Lou's wrists. She almost got up but she couldn't because the belt wasn't strong enough and then a rescue party came. The rescue party tied very strong rope around her. The book was great, just like the first one. I liked it."

Kidlet,
I love reading your reviews. I wish I had someone to read books with but my "kidlet" is 19! We enjoyed the Berenstain Bears books together when she was little.

#100: The book was great, just like the first one. I liked it.

You are on a roll, Kidlet!

Kidlet 31: Daisy and the Trouble with Zoos by Kes Gray

5 / 5

A bit of a departure from the others as this was Kidlet's first solo chapter book that wasn't Magic Treehouse (207 pages - she is very keen that I point this out) She finished it in one sitting last night and was bursting with pride this morning :)

Kidlet's review:
"Daisy is really, really funny. She goes to the zoo with Gabby and Dylan. They eat a birthday lunch because it's Daisy's birthday and she wanted seven candles on a very small mini roll. Her mother said it was really hard to fit and it would melt a bit but Daisy still wanted seven candles. She got the candles on the mini roll and on a birthday cake afterwards. Daisy got to feed the penguins because it was her birthday. It was a special birthday treat and a quarter of the surprise was going to the zoo with Gabby and Dylan. Daisy got her mother into very annoyance by she took a little penguin who was all alone on the ice and put it under her duffle coat. Her mother thought she was going to get arrested for taking the baby penguin home and the baby penguin went 'squawk, squawk, squawk, mee, mee, mee, mee!' Daisy is a very, very, very funny girl!"

btw, Kidlet is thrilled that people like her reviews and is particularly tickled pink that one of her 'readers' is called Mamzel ("just like the Mam'zelles in Malory Towers!!")

#103: Sounds like the Kidlet had a great time with that one. Congratulations on getting the first solo chapter book read!

Kidlet,
Mamzel (like Mam'zelle) is a shorter way of saying Mademoiselle which is Miss in French. My mother was French and Mamzel was the name of our sailboat. We gave it the shortest spelling because you pay for each letter when someone paints the name on your boat.

Keep on reading and reviewing, Mademoiselle Kidlet!

Linda 31: Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

5* / 5

I read about this book on a mailing list I am subscribed to as a member of Kiva.org (an organization which works with microfinance institutions around the world to help connect potential lenders who have $25 or more to lend with female - and some male - entrepreneurs in South America, Africa and Asia who need small loans to start or improve a business). What can I say? Wow! What a powerful book. Every now and then a non-fiction book comes along which just grabs me, doesn't let me go and leads me to make a few changes in my life. Last year I was extremely lucky and had that experience with three books: Still Alice by Lisa Genova, The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and Living Downstream by Sandra Steingraber. These were all books which changed my life in some small way. Half the Sky is another one of those books. For sure, it is a difficult book to read in that it covers a number of stories of truly horrific abuses against women in Africa and Asia which are powerful enough to move even the most hard-hearted person to tears but what I particularly liked about the book was the way the authors examined different ways in which charities and well-meaning Westerners have tried to help solve some of these problems in the past and the ways in which they failed because they hadn't really examined the situation well enough at the grassroots level and therefore ran into problems which they never imagined would stymy their well-intentioned efforts to help. This is not to say that the book is negative about helping, on the contrary, it just paints a picture of how it's not always possible to just throw money at a problem and hope it will disappear, It highlights how working with local people and fully understanding the problem at hand from a number of perspectives is essential before you can hope to solve it. I would recommend this book to anybody in a heart beat.

#106: That one has been in the BlackHole for a while now. I will have to track it down.

I am also a member of Kiva.org, but I do not remember seeing it there, only through LT. Hmm.

BTW, if you have not read Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus, I recommend you give it a try, Linda.

#107 I suspect that is because I am a member of the 'Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious' group who have their own mailing list. It was another group member who recommended it.

Banker to the Poor goes on my list for the library ;)

#107: Ah, OK. I thought I had missed something that I should have gotten. Just for the record, I am part of the 'Kiva Christians' group, lol.

Banker to the Poor gives the background for the microfinancing movement. If nothing else, I think you will find it interesting.

#109 :D

Cool. Our library has a copy so I look forward to reading it some time soon.

#110: Good! Then I look forward to seeing what you think of it.

Kidlet 32: The Worst Witch All at Sea by Jill Murphy

5 / 5

The fourth book in the Worst Witch series. Kidlet loved it but does not wish to write a review at this moment in time (apparently).

Linda 32 (neck and neck with Kidlet right now): Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet by Bill McKibben

5 / 5

Waiting for an Early Reviewer book seems to me a bit like waiting for a bus, there's nothing for ages then two come along at once ;) I received this book from the March list and Chef by Jaspreet Singh from the February list but this one actually arrived first so it gets read and reviewed first.

Copy of review follows:
"Bill McKibben's Eaarth has a quote from Barbara Kingsolver on the front cover which says "What I have to say about this book is very simple: Read it please. Straight through to the end. Whatever else you were planning to do next, nothing could be more important". Even though I like Barbara Kingsolver, I couldn't help feeling this message was just a bit over the top. And now, having read the book myself? Well, I'm not sure you need to jettison whatever you were planning to do next and read this book but it certainly is an important book which and one which I fully intend to recommend to those around me.

The first part of the book holds no punches whatsoever. McKibben's message is basically that climate change is not something which might harm the earth 50 or 100 years from now, it is already doing that right now and in ways that even those of us who might consider ourselves to be fairly enlightened when it comes to climate change might be surprised to learn. The scariest part of the book for me was where McKibben stresses how we have set in motion a series of environmental disasters which in turn trigger other environmental disasters and which cannot be stopped. They now have a momentum all of their own. The idea that remembering to take our reusable bags to the grocery store, buying recycled paper and having our kids walking or cycling to school instead of driving them will not be enough to stop the giant chain of events which is already set in motion is surely enough to send a shiver down the spine of any well-intentioned reader.

In the second half of the book, the author explores how we can hope to survive on this new planet we've created. Of course, the question is, if the planet truly is in the situation he's spent the first half of the book describing, is there any point in doing anything? Well, yes. At one point he likens the situation to landing a plane in trouble. You'll get nowhere by keeping the plane high in the sky and hoping for the best but you'll not achieve anything by just giving up and letting it crash either. The best we can do is attempt a slow and steady landing. This means society needs to stop relentlessly pursuing growth and expansion and start focusing instead on smaller and more local solutions to our needs from the food we eat to the energy which powers our daily lives.

In short, if you're looking for '101 easy ways to be green and save the planet', don't pick up this book. If, on the other hand, you want to inform yourself about the scale of the environmental problems we are currently facing and will increasingly face in the future, I would thoroughly recommend 'Eaarth'."

#113: Madeline (SqueakyChu) also liked that one. I am going to have to get my hands on it soon.

Linda 33: A Thousand Sisters by Lisa Shannon
3 / 5

Kidlet 33: Viking Ships at Sunrise by Mary Pope Osborne (another read alone)
5 / 5

#115: It is neck and neck: Linda and the Kidlet :)

Have a wonderful Mother's Day!

#116 Thanks Stasia. I hope you had a great Mother's Day too :)

Kidlet 34: Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone by J. K. Rowling

5 / 5 Actual score was "one thousand thousand thousand and 20 plus 5 and another hundred". I guess those in charge of LibraryThing just didn't think through their star rating system well enough to take children's scores into account ;)

What can I say? I wasn't sure about introducing Harry Potter just yet but Kidlet had been asking for it so I made the decision that books 1 and 2 would probably be fine but I'd certainly need to re-read book 3 before I read it aloud as I seem to recall that's the one with the dementors. I reckon 3-7 will probably wait a few years yet.

We started reading book one on Friday morning and on Friday afternoon Kidlet skipped into school with a stuffed owl in her backpack positively brimming with excitement, happiness and enthusiasm, all ready to share her new-found Potter-mania with her classmates. The result? A rather despondent Kidlet comes home that evening to announce that only one other kid in her class likes Harry Potter (and he LOVES it apparently). I was dumbfounded. 1. I couldn't believe that all the kids in the class had been read Harry Potter as they're only kindergartners and 2. Most kids love Harry Potter, don't they? ... It would appear not. Mind you, it would appear that all the other kids had watched the movie rather than read the book and the movie had scared the living daylights out of them (though some of the girls had assured Kidlet that this wasn't the only reason they didn't like it, it was "boring" as well). I guess High School Musical, Star Wars and Alvin and the Chipmunks are just more popular than Harry Potter round here.

Anyway, thankfully the "you're so uncool!" brigade haven't managed to put Kidlet off. On Saturday evening when she was supposed to be in bed I heard lots of noise from her bedroom and went to investigate. "What are you doing?" I asked. "I'm packing my bags for Hogwarts!", she replied as she manoeuvred her backpack to the bedroom door. "Oh yes?" "Yes, I got this special letter from Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall asking if I wanted to go" "But the paper's blank!" "No it's not! It's just special magic writing that only wizards and witches can read!" :D Then this morning after breakfast as we risked being late for school to finish the last two chapters, I read the last sentence, closed the book and she piped up "Can we read The Chamber of Secrets now please mom? PLEASE!"

My daughter is almost out of her teens and I enjoyed going to the book launches at midnight with her for the last three books. It was a treat to have her read aloud to me as we were driving home. I can't quite stay up for the midnight showing of the movies so that she does with friends. I was returning from a meeting and I drove past the theater where she was waiting with her friends from her school (all dressed up in capes, of course). As I pulled up to say hi, there was a chorus of greetings from students from my school. Way cool!

#117: Thanks, I did!

I am glad to hear that Kidlet's enthusiasm for HP has not been put off by her classmates lack of interest!

Linda 34: The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

3.5 / 5

I read this book after reading rave reviews here on LibraryThing. I guess it just wasn't for me. I have read that the next books in the series are better but I think I'll pass, for now at least.

Sorry you did not enjoy that one more, Linda. I hope you enjoy your next read more!

Linda 35: I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali with Delphine Minoui

3.5 / 5

This is a difficult book to rate. A quick and easy read, it highlights the plight of one young girl, Nujood, whose father gave her in marriage to a man three times her age when she was about 10 years old so that her family which was very poor would have "one less mouth to feed". I say "about 10" because, like many girls in rural communities in certain parts of the world, she has no ID or registration papers to mark exactly how old she is. The story is related in the first person and tells how Nujood runs away from her husband who not only ignored promises not to touch her until she'd reached puberty by raping her on the first night after she'd gone to live with him and his family but also hit her repeatedly. Nujood escapes from her husband and manages to get to a Courthouse in the Yemeni capital, where she initiates divorce proceedings against him. This case made headlines a couple of years ago and the book is certainly an uplifting one in as much as Nujood escapes from her situation and manages to give hope and strength to, what you must assume is a small, number of girls in the same situation to follow her lead. However, although the entire book is written in the first person, it is impossible to shake the feeling that Delphine Minoui wrote the entire thing based on a series of conversations with Nujood. The narration jars a lot. I wouldn't mind reading Nujood's own words and I wouldn't mind a book written by someone else about her experiences but the attempt to make it look as if the book has been written by Nujood and simply 'helped along' by Minoui makes it difficult to really enjoy. So, 5 out of 5 for Nujood herself (a remarkable young girl, without a doubt), 4 out of 5 for the story itself and 3 out of 5 for the way Minoui manages to put it together into a book.

#122: I have seen that one advertised repeatedly on Goodreads. I think I will continue to pass it by.

Kidlet 35: Raggedy Ann in Cookie Land by Johnny Gruelle

5 / 5

OK, so our 'mom reads aloud to Kidlet' challenge is now starting to morph into the 'mom reads aloud' + 'Kidlet reads to self' challenge as she's now reading independently in addition to listening to me droning on and on. She started reading this particular book last night at bedtime (8 o'clock) then poked me awake at 12.45am this morning to let me know that she had about 15 pages left but was going to sleep as she was tired and would finish it off after school today (which she's just done). Thank goodness kindergarten is only 12 - 3 in our neck of the woods is all I can say! Once she starts first grade in September it's an 8.30 start so I'll have to confiscate all the books from her room so that she's forced to go to sleep at a sensible hour. Anyway, I'll leave it there as apparently it's now time to go out into the back yard together and "create a beautiful land of cookies" :)

Linda 36: Chef by Jaspreet Singh

3.5 / 5

Early Reviewer book.

Review: http://www.librarything.com/work/8412247/book/58779232

Kidlet 36: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling

5 / 5

OK, so when I said we'd read the first two books then stop and wait a year or so before The Prisoner of Azkaban I hadn't thought that through well enough, obviously. Kidlet is now well and truly addicted to HP and is absolutely bouncing with excitement to find out what happens next. Dilemma!

Oops!

Linda 37: Misquoting Jesus by Bart D. Ehrman
3 / 5
Started off really quite interesting. Lost steam somewhere about the 2/3 point again (or maybe I just lost interest). Slogged my way on towards about 50 pages to go then decided there were so many good books to read out there it just wasn't worth the persistence. Took it back to the library quickly before I changed my mind.

Linda 38: Hope's Edge: A New Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappé
5 / 5
Much better once I started ignoring the little boxed snippets from Anna Lappé (Frances' daughter) and just read the main body of the text. Am now trying to work my way towards being a vegetarian (until I find a decent vegetarian salami and bacon replacement this is going to be difficult). Whilst I recognize that being vegan is best, I just couldn't face a life without home-made shortbread (though I'm sure my arteries would probably thank me if I did).

Kidlet 37: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
5 / 5
Loved it. Got a bit confused with the whole Scabbers the rat is really Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black is not really a baddie bit but other than that she was really excited and enthusiastic. It is Kidlet's sixth birthday this Friday and top of her list is a Harry Potter robe - along with the boxed set of Enid Blyton's Five Find Outers and Dog books and a couple of 'Daisy and the Trouble With...' books :) Thankfully it's summer so I can probably persuade her not to wear the robe in to school.

Kidlet has read a couple of chapter books herself over the last couple of weeks but I can't remember what they were. Will have to ask her. That's what happens when you don't update things for a while.

On the subject of salami and bacon replacements, have you tried (and can you get where you are) "cheatin' rashers"? We eat them, and while not perfect, they do have the smoky and probably chemically bit of the bacon taste that we like. I do agree, though, that these are the two hardest types of meat to give up!

#128: I tried Misquoting Jesus a few years back and gave up on it. I do not think I can blame you for doing the same.

I read Lappe's Diet for a Small Planet years ago, but have not read Hope's Edge. I will have to give that one a try. Thanks for the recommendation, Linda.

Glad to see you back, BTW!

So the HP question is no longer a dilemma? Kidlet has made the decision for you.

Do you know Jill Murphy's Worst Witch series? Other suggestions in relation to HP mostly seem a bit old.

#129 I've never seen those but I believe there are similar products. I just need to look. We do get Quorn grounds here though which is how I manage to avoid using mince. The Sunday roast is now made without chicken (nobody was eating it and in the end I realized it was wasteful on so many accounts). Now if only we could get Linda McCartney's Deep Country Pies. I miss those even more than British bacon strangely enough! I always pig out on them when I visit the UK.

#130 Yes, at first I was interested in reading about how the Bible had been changed over time but I think it just got a bit too in depth towards the end.

#131 Well... book 3 wasn't bad. I am wavering over book 4 (Goblet of Fire) but I'm fairly sure the others will be way over her head and I seem to recall they have a lot of much darker material / relationship stuff in them. For now we're reading Matilda by Roald Dahl. Yes, I read The Worst Witch when I was a kid and she has all of them - including the newer ones. We also managed to get the audio CDs out of our library. I was quite surprised they had them but they are a delight as they are read by Miriam Margolyes. We also found Paddington Bear CDs read by Stephen Fry in the library and bought the Children's Collection (Alice in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh and Wind in the Willows) read by Alan Bennett. Wonderful stuff. Saves me having to read on car trips too which has to be good!

Miriam Margoyles was at school with my mum and her sisters and they still keep in touch 50 years later. I have bought an Itunes download "published" by Persephone of one of their forgotten classics, and I have Katherine Mansfield's Bliss and other stories out of the library on CD, both read by her

My aunt went with her to Buckingham Palace when she went to meet the Queen, an honour for her achievements in her audiobook work. She apparently told the Queen about her work with prisoners, and how she liked working with paedophiles because they were middle class and had read Dickens....

#133 Cool! Neither of my parents went to school with anybody famous sadly but my mother-in-law was good friends with J. R. R. Tolkien's daughter Priscilla when they were both studying the same course at UCL way back. This was apparently when he'd already published The Hobbit but not yet the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Apparently she used to go round their house for tea while she and his daughter were doing their first work placements in Oxford. It would appear he spent most of his time in his study (no real surprise there I guess!) but I loved the fact that she says his daughter had a really wonderful collection of pictures in her room which fans had sent in to him representing their mental images of the characters from The Hobbit. My MIL is in her 80s so this, of course, was prior to book-to-movie adaptations ... and also students going out and getting hideously drunk when not in lectures, choosing instead to go round each other's houses for 'tea' :)

Linda 39: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

5 / 5

I picked up book three of this series in Borders about a year ago when I found it in amongst the bargain books because it looked good. I then filled in most of the series with books 1, 2 and 4 from various places. I bought these thinking that Kidlet might like them when she's a bit older and they've been living on the top shelf of her bookcase ever since. The other night I was in need of some very light reading and they were there and so I decided to give the first one a go. Boy am I glad I did!! Whilst still too old for Kidlet, I enjoyed it immensely. Fun, action packed and I've moved immediately on to book 2. I am now actively seeking out a cheap copy of book 5 because if the rest of the series is as good as book 1, I'm not going to be happy stopping at 4.

Kidlet 38: Matilda by Roald Dahl

5 / 5

We tried this book as a read-aloud some time last year but we couldn't get past the second chapter because Kidlet saw a picture of Matilda's parents and was 'scared'. We gave it another go over the past couple of days and the new, improved, big brave Kidlet merely laughed at the parents in the book, declaring that they were 'horrid'. Favorite moment for Kidlet was when Matilda willed the chalk to write a message to Miss Trunchbull on the chalkboard. She thought this was fantastic. Yesterday when I was preparing dinner, I caught Kidlet sitting at the kitchen table staring fixedly at her glass of water. Knowing her, she was probably trying to concentrate her powers on moving objects around like Matilda. After the last Harry Potter book she became convinced she was a witch and swore blind that she'd managed to turn the water in the bathroom sink green when she waved her hands over it :)

#135: I enjoyed the entire Percy Jackson series, Linda. I am glad you finally got started on them and are enjoying them.

I haven't read Percy Jackson but love Rick Riordan's 7 Tres Navarre novels for adults (crime/mystery) about a part time university teacher part time PI in San Antonio.

#137: I enjoy those too, Luci.

#137 I haven't read any of those. Might have to give one a try.

OK, Kidlet 39: Judy Moody by Megan McDonald

This was one of those chapter books Kidlet read on her own that I forgot about (and here was me thinking I'd managed to leapfrog her at last!)

Kidlet 40: The Twits by Roald Dahl

5 / 5

What's not to love about Roald Dahl's books, particularly when it comes to reading them aloud? The characters are so delightfully disgusting and despicable that you really can't help but throw yourself into the role and make up really horrible voices and facial expressions to go with them. Lots of fun for both of us.

Kidlet 41: The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton

5 / 5

Kidlet has a three-in-one book which contains The Enchanted Wood, The Magic Faraway Tree and The Folk of the Faraway Tree. She finished The Enchanted Wood last night. Kidlet's father has been away in the UK for the past week and hence mommy is a little more tired than normal of an evening. It was therefore with just a wee bit more than a cupful of annoyance that she was greeted when, for the second night running, she woke me up (at 12.30am - I thought she'd already gone to sleep hours before then) by laughing very, very loudly, very, very late at night after I'd already passed out with exhaustion for the day. I woke up in something of a panic, heart racing, to discover her stood next to the bed saying "The Saucepan Man is soooooo funny!! I've finished that one now mom!!" "Yes, that's great dear. Just super. NOW GO TO BED!!!!!!!!!"

Woot to the Kidlet!! Getting some good reading done!

Kidlet 42: My Naughty Little Sister by Dorothy Edwards

5 / 5

This is a book I read out loud last year. Kidlet read it herself last night and is now getting ready for school somewhat bleary eyed. Thankfully, next Tuesday is the last day of school. Kidlet is looking forward to summer vacation as it will mean she can read more books each day without me shouting at her to go to bed and without school 'getting in the way'. My sister-in-law sent me a link the other day to a British online store selling brooches which she suggested would make a wonderful gift for both myself and Kidlet. I was intrigued as I'm not really one for wearing much jewelry. It turned out to be a very simple affair which just says "Go away. I'm reading". Needless to say, I will be ordering one for each of us when we visit the UK in the summer!

Okay, I am new to your thread and I had to go back and read all of kidlet's reviews which as a homeschool mom I find very well done. Your tales of reading aloud together reminds me of similar happenings with my daughter when she was around that age...and she is now 16 and a voracious reader.

"You may have riches and wealth untold, caskets of jewels and baskets of gold, but richer than I you never will be, for I had a mother who read to me."

I've just read My Father's Places by Aeronwy Thomas, daughter of Dylan Thomas, a memoir of her childhood. While in many ways she was very neglected, some of the most interesting bits of the book were about her father reading to her (when she was able to read herself) and discussing the book and what the characters should have done.

#143 Hi chinquapin. Thank you for stopping by my thread and thank you for that wonderful quote. It gave me a warm, happy glow inside which has lasted all day :-)

#144 Thank you for sharing that. I remember being at a meeting at Kidlet's school earlier this year. I was talking to the principal about how much pleasure I got from reading aloud to Kidlet when the mother of one of Kidlet's friends (a very, very, very gifted boy) announced that she was so happy he could read chapter books at the age of 3 because she just didn't have time to read to him at bedtime any more as his younger brother monopolized her time. The principal looked rather alarmed and recounted how disappointed she was when her daughter, at the age of 11, told her she didn't want her to read the latest Harry Potter out loud because she was "too slow". Kidlet has only just started reading chapter books on her own over the last couple of months but I have to say that I have absolutely no plans to stop reading out loud to her in addition to this until she gives me a similar 'brush off'. I just enjoy it too much :-)

Kidlet 43: The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton

5 / 5

Kidlet 44: The Folk of the Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton

5 / 5

Kidlet has finally finished her Faraway Tree omnibus. She loved it. However, I began to realize yesterday as we visited the Met in New York that buying three-in-one type books, whilst often cheaper than buying each book individually, is not always a good idea. Kidlet's brother was happy taking a big (but thin) picture book with him on the train. Kidlet insisted on her omnibus. Sadly, whilst both kids promised faithfully to carry their books with them at all times, I inevitably ended up stuck with both of them. I just wish I'd had my camera with me though so I could have snapped pictures of Kidlet sat on the train into the city with nose stuck in book, Kidlet sat at the cafeteria in the Met with nose stuck in book, Kidlet sitting waiting for the subway with nose stuck in book, Kidlet sat by the Temple of Dendur...with her nose stuck in her book :)

I would love to have seen those pics, Linda! She sounds like a real corker.

#147 :-)

Kidlet 45: Third Year at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton

5 / 5 (but of course!)

This one was a read aloud. New characters and old get up to mild mischief, develop strong characters and constitutions, and play lots of lacrosse in English boarding school fashion. Huzzah! There were two new characters in this book: Wilhemina, otherwise known as Bill, a horse-mad girl with seven brothers, and Zerelda, the stereotypically over-confident, loud, brash American who is obsessed with her appearance and wants to be an actress when she grows up. I really do get the distinct impression when I re-read Enid Blyton books as an adult that old Enid had a real downer on Americans! Of course, being American, Zerelda had to have an American accent. Kidlet's comment? "Wow mom! Zerelda sounds reaaaalllly American!!!" "Yes dear, that's because your mother couldn't do a proper American accent to save her life and is over emphasizing absolutely every word!" Rip roaring fun!

Linda 40: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

4 / 5

The second book in the Percy Jackson series. Good fun, like the first one. I particularly liked the party ponies towards the end of the book. They rather reminded me of Bill and Ted from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure - "Dude! said a party pony as he unloaded his gear. "Did you see that bear guy? He was all like: 'Whoa, I have an arrow in my mouth!'" The centaur with the googly-eye glasses laughed. "That was awesome! Head slam!" Light reading, super stuff!

Sounds like you and the Kidlet are having fun reading this summer!

Kidlet 46: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling

5 / 5

It took a while but we finally reached the end. Dad has been listening in as much as he can as he hasn't read the HPs for a while and was keen to refresh his memory a bit. We took the book away over the long holiday weekend on our trip to stay with friends in Pennsylvania and I discovered, after the event, that our friends had been 'listening in' too as I read a chapter each night to Kidlet in her room and had 'very much enjoyed reliving it all' as well. We read it on the way there, we read it while we were there and we were very happy that we had it with us as we got stuck for the inevitable extra hour as we reached the Delaware Water Gap on our way home again. Who needs DVD players in the car when you've got a Harry Potter book with you? Actually, Kidlet has been amazing us recently with her seeming lack of confusion as she has been reading book 1 herself whilst I read book 4 and she watches the movie of book 2 (not all at exactly the same time but all over the course of the same week). We are NOT reading book 5 now. No, no, no. I put my foot down. Absolutely not. Help! What beast have I unwittingly unleashed? How am I going to convince her we have to wait a year or two to find out what happens next?? And...as we have a 7 hour flight coming up at the end of the month, a large Harry Potter might be a very handy thing indeed to have with us... We'll see!

Kidlet is moving right along with her reading, I see! Congratulations, Mom.

I've been catching up on your thread and thoroughly enjoying how you are reading with Kidlet. Recently my 20-year old daughter was feeling terrible. It occurred to me to take the book I had just started The Penelopiad and read aloud to her. I sat on the floor and had her sit between my legs leaning back on me while I read. I could feel her relax as I read and after an hour (ouch!) I had to move, get up and fix dinner.

#152 Your daughter is lucky. My mom stopped reading aloud to me when I was able to read for myself. I have sworn to myself that I will stop reading to Kidlet only when she asks me to. Some of the YA books on the market are so good that even if she doesn't want me reading to her when she's 12 or 13, I suspect I'll still read them myself and at least try to encourage a discussion of them after we've both read them instead. Speaking of good YA books...

Linda 41: The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
4 / 5
I am still enjoying this series and have even managed to get my husband to give the first one a try. He is reading it as I type and seems to be enjoying it so far. This is good because if he finishes it his total books read this year will rise to 4 ;-) Mind you, I shouldn't talk. I started the year managing 7 or 8 books a month and have now fallen to around 2 or 3. Ah well, I've got a 5 week vacation coming up and a whole host of British family members who haven't seen the kids for a year or two and are looking forward to spending time with them. I'm hoping this will translate into me having plenty of opportunities to put my feet up and read in peace :-)

Kidlet 47: The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage by Enid Blyton
5 / 5
A rainy day yesterday meant we managed to start and finish this book in one day. This is book 1 of a series of 15 (Kidlet got the boxed set for her birthday) and we both enjoyed it. I recalled from my own reading 30 years ago that the mysteries in the 'Five Find-Outers and Dog' books were always a bit more tricky to solve than the Famous Five or Secret Seven. I was not disappointed. After working through a whole list of suspects who all had very good reason to have burnt down Mr Hick's cottage containing his precious documents and papers it turned out that it was Mr Hick himself who had done it to claim the insurance money (shocking!!) The favorite character for Kidlet though had to be Mr Goon, the bumbling village policeman, who is nicknamed 'Clear-Orf' by the kids in the book because he is forever telling them to "clear orf!" For some reason this was found to be absolutely hilarious by both Kidlet and her brother who then proceeded to run around the house all day yelling "clear orf!" at each other... and their father when he came home from work...and me whenever I entered a room... and the mailman. Our poor mailman comes in for a lot of attention from the kids - if they're not giggling and telling him to 'clear orf' they're spying on him with their binoculars from the 'clubhouse' (the screened porch) in case he's a baddie up to no good. Thankfully he always greets them with a friendly wave and a cheery 'hello'. Unfortunately, I think Kidlet suspects this is a front - sigh!

The bonus of reading to her will come in good time. My daughter sometimes reads to me when I'm driving. This started when we were driving back from the release party of one of the H.P. books and I was almost as excited to start reading it as she was.

One thing I remember from the release of HP book 7 when we were in Australia was seeing young kids sitting in Starbucks with their noses in the book, walking along reading the book and even in some cases just sitting on the floor outside stores (presumably waiting for their parents to finish their shopping) reading avidly. It was a great sight which I will always remember. I was reminded of this earlier today when we went shopping in Target. Kidlet's younger brother was walking about the store pressing every available toy with a button which made an annoyingly loud noise (yes, he is THAT kid!) while Kidlet insisted on sitting in the main part of the cart so that she could read Teddy Robinson Stories while we shopped. She originally wanted to walk round the store reading but I pointed out that this would only end in tears. The cart was a compromise ;-)

Kidlet 48: Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone by J.K. Rowling
5/5
OK, so this is possibly a bit of a cheat as it has already been included on Kidlet's list for this year (I read it to her back in May). However, she has just finished reading it to herself and, considering she only started reading early reader books in April, I consider this a major achievement and worthy of inclusion :-) Just a pity she felt the need to wake me up (at 12.30 last night) to let me know this - is it any wonder I have permanent black bags under my eyes!

#155: I think it is a major achievement as well! Congrats, Kidlet!!

Kidlet 49: The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat by Enid Blyton
5 / 5
Book two of the five find-outers and dog series. Kidlet and her brother still find Mr Goon, the village policeman, shouting 'clear orf!' to be the funniest thing in the world and leap up and down cackling every time I read a 'clear orf' out loud. I have started to pause slightly before I say it which builds up the excitement even more as they know it's coming and sometimes start leaping up and down before the words have even left my mouth! Note to self: must remind kids that yelling 'clear orf' to people outside the house is not acceptable behavior... I am particularly thinking about immigration officials at Heathrow next week. Kidlet will be traveling on a US passport and must remember not to enter the UK yelling 'clear orf' unless she wants to find herself deported straight back to the US without her feet touching the ground ;-)

Kidlet 50: The Mystery of the Secret Room by Enid Blyton

Congratulations to the Kidlet for making it to 50!

Your 'clear orf' post is very amusing - I can picture it clearly! :)

#159 Kidlet says 'thank you!'. She would also like to point out that she is 'ahead of mommy by lots'.

#160 :-D We had to wait until page 90 something before he said "clear orf" in yesterday's book. When it finally came they nearly exploded!

Kidlet asked me this morning if she could have a new bookcase in her bedroom just for her Enid Blyton books. This reminded me of a cartoon I'd seen on an Enid Blyton fan site some time ago which I just searched for and found again so that I could share it here. We're not at this stage yet but as we've just ordered some more Blyton books from Amazon UK for delivery to grandma's house, we might be at this stage quite soon!

#161: I need those bookshelves!

Kidlet 51: The Mystery of the Spiteful Letters by Enid Blyton
5 / 5
With this book, Kidlet learned a valuable lesson: never read random bits from the last couple of pages of a book whilst waiting for it to be read to you. Needless to say, we knew who the villain was in this book before we'd even met her. Kidlet was so shocked and devastated I don't think it'll happen again. The kids have picked up two new Mr Goon expressions which they think are almost as funny as 'clear orf!' The first is 'Gah!' and the second is 'none of your sauce!'

Linda 42: Retrato en sepia by Isabel Allende
4 / 5
Not as good as some other Allendes I've read but I loved reading about the social customs and mores of Chilean high society in the late 1800s and learning a bit more about Chilean history. I enjoy Isabel Allende books because I like her style of writing and the language she uses (I feel the same way about Joanne Harris). I do wonder, however, whether I would like them as much if I read them in English. I suspect I wouldn't. Who knows though. Maybe one day I'll give one a go. Favorite quotes from this book: 'La memoria imprime en blanco y negro; los grises se pierden por el camino' and 'La memoria es ficción. Seleccionamos lo más brillante y lo más oscuro, ignorando lo que nos avergüenza y así bordamos el ancho tapiz de nuestra vida'.

Linda 43: The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan
4/5
I picked this up half price some time last year as a 'the kids will probably like it when they're older' book (we've got an ever-growing pile of those). Looking for an easy and fun read after the Isabel Allende, I took it down and read the first few pages. I then read all the other pages in quick succession! Great fast-paced fun and I'm sure the kids will like it when they're older. I'm not sure what the next one in the series will be like because it's not written by Rick Riordan (whose humor I am coming to like a lot) but, from what I can see of the reviews and ratings on LT, it should be just as good. I look forward to it.

#164: I am up to book 7 in the series, and with the exception of book 3, have really enjoyed them all. Book 3 is not really bad, but has a plot point that felt out of place to me.

Found your thread and starred it (after reading all the way through). Kidlet sounds awesome and it's so much fun seeing what she reads and how she reacts. I've got various friends with kids her age or a year older who are asking me for book recs (for the kids to read and for reading aloud) and I've been trying to think what would be appropriate for them in terms of content and level. This thread is giving me some good ideas and confirming that I'm on the right lines!

I also enjoy Allende's books. The first one I read was Daughter of Fortune. In a few years you will enjoy sharing her trilogy starting with City of the Beasts with Kidlet. I was so jealous of the lead character. I would have loved an aunt who worked for a magazine like National Geographic. How cool!

#165 - I'd heard that the one by Peter Lerangis isn't so good. Looking it up, that's book 3. Other than book 1, I have a copy of book 7 (it was cheap!) The Viper's Nest by the same author. Have you read book 7 yet? If so, was it any better than book 3? Here's hoping!

#166 - Yey! Happy to see you here!

#167 Ooooh! Interesting! I've never bought or read any of her books aimed at younger readers. Maybe it's time to give one a go. I hadn't actually read Daughter of Fortune before I read Retrato en sepia (I didn't realize it was a sequel - oops!) From what I gather, Daughter of Fortune was even better so I look forward to going backwards and reading it too.

Kidlet 52: The Mystery of the Missing Necklace by Enid Blyton
5/5
Book 6 in the series. This is the first one of these books where I actually remembered some of the plot from my own childhood readings. In an attempt to find a very expensive pearl necklace that a gang of thieves have stolen, Fatty dresses up as a waxwork Napoleon and hides in amongst the other waxworks to listen in to the gang's meeting (at the waxwork gallery, obviously!) late at night. Only thing is, he didn't reckon on Mr Goon, the village policeman, disguising himself as a waxwork policeman, standing in the row behind him and sneezing violently at a rather inconvenient moment, thus blowing his cover! Gadzooks! The kids' new favorite expression from this book is "you cheeky toad!" Their dad walked through the door this evening on his return home from a long day's work to be greeted by "Clear orf, you cheeky toad. None of your sauce!!!" I am soooooo looking forward to taking them to the UK next week - not!! They're going to be soooo amazed that their grandma doesn't have a single bottle of ginger beer in the house and that British kids don't actually spend every spare moment of their holidays lying in wait to knock off a passing bobby's helmet ;-)

#168: I have not read book 7 yet. I have it home from the library now though, so I will be getting to it soon.

I'm in full agreement with Stasia about the 39 Clues books -- they're great, except for book 3. I've read them through book 8, waiting on 9, and I was pleasantly surprised that book 7 didn't have the same problems as book 3. So, no worries there. :)

I am now really looking forward to reading the other books in the series :)

Linda 44: The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice by Christopher Hitchens
3.5 / 5
Interesting.

>172 verdelambton:: That title made me laugh...the juxtapositioning of "Missionary Position" and "Mother Teresa". Of course, I'm sure that was the point.

It's actually pleasant in NJ now that the heat wave has broken a bit, isn't it?

#173 :) I'm not so sure about the heat wave breaking. We went out to Hidden Valley yesterday for my husband's work 'picnic'. We spent the day boating on the lake, messing about in the pool, watching the kids ride ponies etc. I'd been very diligent ensuring the kids were both covered with rash guards, big floppy hats, sunglasses, sunscreen etc. but had, in the process, been rather neglectful of myself. Nose and shoulders somewhat sore this morning though thankfully looking a little less red than last night when I could have served as Rudolph's double!

Linda 45: The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd
4 / 5
I read and enjoyed Bog Child last year so thought I'd give this one a go too. A quick, enjoyable, light read. As the book is about a mystery solved by Ted, a boy with Asperger's, I couldn't help but keep thinking about The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time while I was reading it. I haven't read that book for some years now. I don't own a copy but remember thinking after I'd finished it that I'd probably go back and read it again some day. I think I might be time to start looking for a copy.

Kidlet 53: The Mystery of the Hidden House by Enid Blyton
5 / 5
Book 7 in the series (only 8 more to go!) Kidlet's favorite new expressions from this book were 'coo', 'lovaduck', 'spitty' (it's a pity) and 'swatisaid' (that's what I said).

#174: I also enjoyed Bog Child, so I will look for The London Eye Mystery. Thanks for the recommendation, Linda.

Don't look now, but Kidlet is ahead of you :)

#175 Yeeeeees, I couldn't help noticing that Kidlet was getting further and further ahead. Of course, the quick fix to this situation would be if I stopped reading to Kidlet ;-)

Kidlet 54: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
5 / 5
Another one which I have read out loud to Kidlet already this year but which she has just finished reading to herself. Kidlet has decided that these books definitely count towards her total if she reads them herself and I'm not about to argue (even if it would increase my chances of catching her up if I said 'no' - I've not stooped that low ... yet!) She has now started The Prisoner of Azkaban. At this rate I'll not have to make an executive decision about whether or not to read book 5 out loud as she'll have already read it to herself by the time I do :)

#177: At this rate I'll not have to make an executive decision about whether or not to read book 5 out loud as she'll have already read it to herself by the time I do

LOL!

Is flying to the UK on Monday and went to the library to check out their collection of audiobooks to prepare. There wasn't really much to choose from (I guess other people have already checked out their vacation audiobooks). I had a couple of not-particularly-interesting, grown-up audiobooks which I wasn't too keen on but which might do in a pinch. Then I examined the childrens' section. Hurrah! I now have A Wrinkle in Time, Midnight for Charlie Bone, Hoot, Flush and The Giver to see me through the 7-8 hour flight and the requisite long car rides round the UK over the next five weeks (we're doing London, Legoland!, Reading, Cardiff, Scarborough, Durham and Newton-on-Sea on the Northumberland coast). My biggest hopes vis-a-vis reading are for the rental cottage on the Northumberland coast as we'll have cousins the exact same age as our two for them to romp around with while mommy sits on the beach wrapped in cardigan and long pants and reads / listens to books on her iPod to her heart's content - yey!!!!!!) Actually, the biggest thrill is that grandma Agnes has, at age 82, decided to launch herself into the Harry Potter series and is currently halfway through book 1 so that she can discuss it with Kidlet when she visits. You've just got to love spunky old grandmothers who are prepared to alter their reading a little so that they can keep up to date with their grandchildren..... Anything I ever said about my mother-in-law which might have been in any way uncomplimentary I would now like to take back unreservedly. You rock grandma! We love you! :-)

That's brilliant re your MIL.

Sounds like you have a hectic time ahead of you. You may not even need the cardi and long pants if the weather is like it has been some days recently, though it is cooler up here than in London (no bad thing for me).

> Sounds like you have a hectic time ahead of you. You may not even need the cardi and long pants if the weather is like it has been some days recently,

Brilliant! I'll swap the cardi for a Bacardi then. Suits me ;-)

Have a great trip, Linda! Safe travels.

Love your spunky grandmother. What a great thing that she is reading to be able to discuss with her grandmother!

Hello, de-lurking on your thread to say I hope you have a great trip (if you read this before you go, or have access while you are away). I know Newton by the Sea (I go up there for a day out occasionally from Newcastle) and it has a fabulous beach (and not much else) so it should be ideal for plenty of beach reading while the kids play.

Kidlet
55. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
56. The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat by Enid Blyton
57. Ruby the Red Fairy by Daisy Meadows
58. Scarlet the Garnet Fairy by Daisy Meadows
59. Evie the Mist Fairy by Daisy Meadows
60. Fairy Secrets by Gwyneth Rees
61. Lexi the Firefly Fairy by Daisy Meadows
62. Daisy and the Trouble with Christmas by Kes Gray
63. Daisy and the Trouble with Kittens by Kes Gray
64. Zara the Starlight Fairy by Daisy Meadows
65. Well Really Mr Twiddle by Enid Blyton
66. Naughty Amelia Jane by Enid Blyton
67. Amelia Jane Again by Enid Blyton
68. Daisy and the Trouble with Giants by Kes Gray
69. Maisie the Moonbeam Fairy by Daisy Meadows
70. Morgan the Midnight Fairy by Daisy Meadows
71. Yasmin the Night Owl Fairy by Daisy Meadows
72. Ava the Sunset Fairy by Daisy Meadows
73. Fairy Treasure by Gwyneth Rees
74. Fairy Dust by Gwyneth Rees
75. More Milly Molly Mandy by Joyce Lankester Brisley
76. Flower Fairies of the Autumn by Cicely Mary Barker

Note: all of the fairy books and Daisy books were read at least twice.

One of the funniest moments of our entire vacation for me was when Kidlet was waiting in line at the American Embassy in London. We had been queuing outside for about 15 minutes before we could pass through security so, naturally, Kidlet was stood shuffling along in line with her nose stuck in a book. When we got inside the security check building, surrounded by security officials and police officers carrying enormous guns slung over their shoulders, the guy on the metal detector asked Kidlet to put her book in a box so he could put it through the machine. She fixed him with a steely gaze and replied "I am reading it". We finally managed to get her to part with it but she warned him in no uncertain terms "don't lose my place or I'll be really angry!". At this point one of the burly armed policemen was forced to surpress a hearty guffaw into a really loud cough :-)

There you are! I have been wondering if you were ever coming back :)

Love the story about Kidlet!

(and where is your vacation reading list, may I ask?)

Linda
46. Queste by Angie Sage
4 / 5

Kidlet seemed to lose interest in the Septimus Heap series after book 3 Physik so I'm reading these on my own now.

47. The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole 1999 - 2001 by Sue Townsend
4.5 / 5

I have no idea how I missed this book when it was first released but I was nosing around at my MIL's local library for something to read and was delighted when I saw it. Very, very funny and read from cover to cover in a day.

48. Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years by Sue Townsend
4 / 5

Very sad but very funny too. One thing I love about certain British films (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Billy Elliott, Love Actually, etc. etc.) is how they can make you cry your eyes out and laugh like your sides might be about to split in one sitting. This Adrian Mole was along those same lines. You can't help but feel sorry for poor Adrian but at the same time there are plenty of laughs to be found in the book. I couldn't help but laugh at Adrian's 4 year old daughter as she reminded me of Kidlet in her stubborn and rather eccentric ways.

49. Blue-Eyed Boy by Joanne Harris
3 / 5

I am normally a big fan of Joanne Harris but this one just didn't do it for me. I really enjoyed the whole of Gentlemen and Players and was then pleased with the clever twist at the end. In the case of this book, there was a similar twist at the end but the book was so convoluted and confusing that you could see that it was working up to a twist. So it wasn't really all that clever. The book in general was so confusing that I didn't really enjoy it.

50. Fattypuffs and Thinifers by André Maurois
3.5 / 5

Can't believe I've never read this before. It wasn't quite as great as I thought it would be but it was OK.

Overall, I think I did far too much newspaper reading and television watching in my spare time during this vacation. The book challenge went out of the window somewhat. Hopefully now I'm home again and don't actually have television any more I might get some more reading done.

I love seeing what Kidlet picks out to read to herself and I have a fantastic image of her staring down that guard!

#186: Ah! There is your list - I knew there had to be one somewhere. Congratulations on hitting 50 books!

#187 She can be quite fierce when she puts her mind to it. Especially when someone interrupts her reading. I now wish I'd bought her one of the badges my sister-in-law pointed out to me a while back which said simply "Go away. I'm reading" :-) And we are now most firmly in a fairy phase. I blame myself. We were in a book store in Hay on Wye during our trip and the kids were running round and driving me crazy. As I was desperate to browse I handed Kidlet's brother to his father with the strict instructions to go and lose him somewhere (it had been a long day!), plonked Kidlet on the floor, plucked two fairy books off the nearest shelf, handed them to her and said "sit and read a few pages of these and see if you like them". What on earth was I thinking??? She's now addicted to fairy books (which she finishes in about half an hour and which come in a series of 200 or 300 books). I've also had to sit through the latest Tinkerbell movie at the cinema and been conned into buying a fairy dress which not only cost a small fortune but was also the very devil to fit into a suitcase to bring home. I've also been wheedled into buying Cadbury's chocolate buttons which, according to the British fairy books, you need to leave on the windowsill to attract fairies. Fine whilst in the UK. Slightly more of a pain when you return to the US and can only buy chocolate buttons at a considerable mark up in the international food section of select supermarkets. Who would have thought books could be so dangerous!

#186 I wish that was congratulations on hitting 75 books and not 50 but I'm hopeful those congratulations will come at some point..probably New Year's Eve at this rate ;-)

That second part of my message was supposed to be addressing Stasia's message #188 not my message #186 of course. If it were it would mean I was responding to myself. Whilst I confess that it is not unusual to find me talking to myself, I don't usually write to myself.

#190: I don't usually write to myself.

Maybe you should! I am reading a book by Alice Steinbach where she mentions mailing postcards to herself so she does not forget different experiences :)

BTW - Regarding Kidlet and her consumption of fairy books - have you introduced her to Andrew Lang's The Blue Fairy Book series yet?

Ah, but American fairies have different tastes than English fairies and much prefer Reese's pieces!

#193 I've just informed Kidlet of this and she has accepted it completely. :-D Does this mean I can use the fairies as a convenient scapegoat when the Reese's pieces 'magically' disappear from this year's Halloween candy bowl like they did last year? (last year she suspected mommy). Burp!

#192 We visited the library this morning and all but cleared them out of Daisy Meadows fairy books (normally I don't mind buying children's books, in fact I secretly love it, but these ones are so rubbish - in my adult eyes at least - that I thought these were better borrowed from the library). I checked while I was there and they had all of Andrew Lang's fairy books. I got out the Blue one as it happened to be the one you mentioned. I'll let you know what she makes of it.

#194: The Blue Fairy Book is the first in the series. There are 12 in all, I believe, so they might keep Kidlet busy for a minute or two.

Kidlet 77: The Mystery of the Invisible Thief by Enid Blyton
5 / 5

Kidlet is still loving the Five Find-Outers and Dog series. This one was really difficult to read out loud because it was glaringly obvious who the thief was from page 2 onwards. It couldn't have been much more obvious if their name was included as part of the title. I guess I need to keep in mind that the books are aimed at young children as Kidlet didn't have a clue who the thief was until he was finally unmasked at which point, of course, she jumped up and down excitedly shouting "I KNEW it was him!!!" Hmmmm.

Kidlet 78: Amy the Amethyst Fairy by Daisy Meadows
I had to read this one out loud yesterday. It's a book. It's about a fairy called Amy. It has no plot. Boy am I in a curmudgeonly mood this morning or what?

Kidlet 79: Goldie the Sunshine Fairy by Daisy Meadows
It's a book. It's about a fairy called Goldie, etc. etc.

Kidlet 80: Felicity the Friday Fairy by Daisy Meadows
No comment

Kidlet 81: Lucy the Diamond Fairy by Daisy Meadows
Arggggghhhhh

Kidlet 82: Amber the Orange Fairy by Daisy Meadows
It wouldn't be so bad if Kidlet didn't firmly believe these books should be shelved under 'non fiction' at the library...

Kidlet 83: Harriet the Hamster Fairy by Daisy Meadows
I'm actually considering reading them myself and counting them towards my 75. Certainly a few slipped in before I tackle Edward Rutherfurd's 900 page New York might be a cunning strategy.

Kidlet 84: Bella the Bunny Fairy by Daisy Meadows
When we checked all these out, the librarian at first tried to stop us as "you are normally only allowed 5 books by one author or on any one topic". She only relented when I promised to bring them back as soon as they opened on Tuesday morning...

Kidlet 85: Saffron the Yellow Fairy by Daisy Meadows
...I also pointed out that Daisy Meadows surely couldn't be classed as one author as it was clearly a pseudonym for a number of writers as one person would surely have died of boredom before reaching book 150 or whatever ruddy number they are up to now in whatever blasted series ('The Regret Fairies', including Hilda the Hungover Fairy, Sara the Shamefaced Fairy, Tina the Tattooed Fairy...)

#196: LOL at the Kidlet and the fairies.

At least you were able to go and get them from the library. If she's still in the fairy phase next year, you'll have to get your relatives to help you stock up from the Book People (that way at least the books are cheap as chips and I'm sure I've seen fairy books in their stock).

Aha! I have my mother-in-law and niece coming over for Christmas. Perfect!

# 196. Laughing so loudly at the fairy books. Poor you. Is it actually worse than the Famous Five obssession? I sort of feel bad now for the things I put my parents through when I found favourite series' of books...

Kidlet 86: Jessica the Jazz Fairy by Daisy Meadows
Kidlet 87: Storm the Lightning Fairy by Daisy Meadows

Kidlet 88: Magic Muddle! by Margaret Ryan
A completely random pick from the library on my part. She loved it. Off this morning to get out the others in the series (thankfully a small series of just six books this time).

Linda 51: Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
5 / 5
Absolutely loved it. I meant to buy it when it came out but never got round to it (it is the first Jasper Fforde I don't own). Instead, I now have it on 14 day loan from the library. Jasper Fforde is one of the rare authors both my husband and myself really like and each night as I fell asleep reading this book, he would descend like a vulture, pick it up and read a chunk himself. It is the first time I've had a book with two bookmarks in it at once!

While I really, really liked the Nursery Crime books, I never enjoyed them quite as much as the Thursday Nexts. This new series, however, I think is just as good. Can't wait for the second book.

Kidlet 89: Joy the Summer Vacation Fairy by Daisy Meadows
Kidlet 90: Well Done Secret Seven by Enid Blyton

Linda 52: Alice in Sunderland by Bryan Talbot
4 / 5
Graphic novel which examines Lewis Carroll's links to the Sunderland area and looks at the more general history of the area. As an ex-pat Mackem, a great fan of Alice in Wonderland and a recent convert to the world of graphic novels, I found the book a compelling and interesting read and finished it within 24 hours. I learnt a lot of things I never knew about my home region and even found a few references to my home village which made me smile. However, I suspect that this book's interest to those who have no connection to Wearside would be minimal.

https://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_searchResult_tbp?st...

There's your link - 42 Daisy Meadows books for £20, ask your MIL to stock up now!

#203 Fairy-tastic! I just showed Kidlet the link and she positively screamed with excitement!

Kidlet 91: Lauren the Puppy Fairy by Daisy Meadows
Kidlet 92: Chloe the Topaz Fairy by Daisy Meadows
Kidlet 93: Sky the Blue Fairy by Daisy Meadows
Kidlet 94: Secret Seven Fireworks by Enid Blyton

Kidlet 95: Katie the Kitten Fairy by Daisy Meadows
Kidlet 96: Tara the Tuesday Fairy by Daisy Meadows
Kidlet 97: Sienna the Saturday Fairy by Daisy Meadows
Kidlet 98: Abigail the Breeze Fairy by Daisy Meadows
Kidlet 99: Jade the Disco Fairy by Daisy Meadows

Interestingly, we got a 'Parent Survey about Reading' home from First Grade today. I would fill it in this evening but I was rather hoping to finish Still Life by Louise Penny (book 53) this evening ;-) Anyway, the questions: 1. What impresses you about your child in this area? 2. What do you think are the influences that contributed to these strengths? 3. What concerns you about your child as a reader? (I think we all know the answer to that one and it's to do with a certain series of fairy books!) 4. List or describe your child's reading interests. 5. Which particular books and authors are your child's favorites? How can you tell? 6. In what everyday situations do you see your child read something (other than books)? Answer: Never, she's always got her nose in a book and is oblivious to everything else around her! 7. In what ways do you and other family members share reading and books with your child? (I guess I'd better not mention the fact that we have a joint 75 book challenge on Library Thing and she's currently kicking my butt as she approaches book 100 while I'm struggling to make the 75!)

Why not? That seems a very relevant answer. But actually, since you are also reading pretty much everything she is, you should add hers to yours!

#206 :-) For now I'm still optimistic that I'll make my 75 without having to desperately speed read all the fairy books (or the old Sandra Boynton board books for that matter) or add the read-alouds to my own total :-)

Speaking of which..
Linda 53: Still Life by Louise Penny
1 / 5 for the mystery, 4 / 5 for the characters and setting

I'm not generally a big fan of mystery books but I'd seen a lot of positive reviews of these books whilst lurking on other people's threads. I have to say that this one left me very confused in a way that a book hasn't done for a while. Normally I have one of three responses to a book: love, hate and 'meh!'. This one was more complicated. I did not like the mystery aspect of the book at all. I did not find the mystery at all interesting and was not at all surprised to find out who'd done it. This is surprising because I'm normally quite slow when it comes to figuring out who dunnit. I love watching Inspector Morse, Lewis, Frost and Midsomer Murders on television but get driven mad by my other half who sits there about halfway through going "ah yes! of course!" in that 'I know who did it' way while I'm still suspecting half the village. In fact, the only person I ever normally beat to figuring out who dunnit is Kidlet when reading the Enid Blyton mystery books - and not always then! So, a rather obvious mystery. Boo. On the other hand, I loved the setting and the community of interesting characters. Olivier and Gabri were superb, Inspector Gamache and Myrna were great and I thought Ruth was fantastic. I just love acerbic old ladies who aren't afraid to say what they think. I'm so looking forward to being one myself one day ;-)

Linda 54: Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip Book 3
5 / 5
The Moomins are so much fun I'm surprised they weren't made illegal years ago! In 'Club Life in Moominvalley', Mamma Moomin is upset that Pappa Moomin has joined a 'Rebel Fathers Club' complete with club tie. "I, too, would like to join a club and wear a special tie.." "What about Mrs Fillyjonk's club?" "No, it's so dull. They just gossip and sew, and I'm so scared of being elected to the committee".

#207: IMHO Linda, Still Life is the weakest book in the series. I do hope you will continue on with it.

#209: OK. I'll bear that in mind. I will almost certainly read the next one.

Linda 55: The Convent by Panos Karnezis

3 / 5

An early reviewer from the August batch. I really don't like doing reviews but it can be found here:
http://www.librarything.com/work/9530633/book/64688487

This book has leapfrogged my early reviewer from the May batch Burmese Lessons which I am finding quite tedious and can't seem to settle down to. I just got another couple of books out of the library this morning so I have a suspicion it may take a little while yet before that one is reviewed.

#210: I have no problem with putting that one on the 'Do Not Read' list. It does not sound like my cuppa. Nice review though, Linda.

I hope your next read is a better one for you!

Linda 56: The Giver by Lois Lowry
4 / 5
(Audiobook)
Every weekday I chalk up nearly 6 miles on foot dropping off and picking up Kidlet and her brother from their respective schools. Two and a half of these daily miles are done solo so I decided that I would borrow my husband's Android and start putting audiobooks onto it so that I could 'read' as I walked. This was my first audiobook and it has taken me nearly 2 weeks to finish (4 CDs). Up until now I'd only read 2 Lois Lowry books: Number the Stars and The Willoughbys. I knew that The Giver was one of her better-known books so decided to 'read' it next.

A very interesting story except that my phone would occasionally jump from track to track as I pounded the sidewalk so I was never quite sure whether I was hearing the tracks in exactly the right order. This created a bit of confusion but I think I eventually listened to most of it in the right order. The bit where Jonas' father 'released' a young baby really made me cringe with its somewhat graphic description of how he did it and the end left me skipping backwards a bit to make sure I hadn't missed anything as it seemed to end a bit abruptly but overall a worthwhile listen.

#212: I love The Giver and consider it Lowry's best book. The other two books in the trilogy do not live up to it, IMHO.

#213: I might give them a miss then. Too little time, too many books.

Kidlet: OK, so I've obviously screwed up somewhere on Kidlet's numbering system here. I keep a list of what she's read on my profile and a list here on the challenge and the numbers just don't seem to add up! She's read over 100 on the profile page and only 99 here. In addition to this, I've now got to 'religiously ;-)' fill in a "I read 10 minutes last night" chart for first grade every night as well (complete with title of book and parent's signature!) and I'm kind of losing it somewhat (we're logging approximately 3 hours a night which is kind of excessive considering the requirement is 10 minutes!). Re-reads are making up a large part of Kidlet's reading (I guess this has something to do with small children's 'comfort with the familiar' which seems to be kicking in right now). She's basically re-read the entire 'Daisy and the Trouble with...' series by Kes Gray at least twice (the funniest is when she reads them at breakfast with her book propped up against her cereal bowl - "Kidlet, go and get ready for school!"... "Wassat?".. "I said, 'get ready for school, now, we need to be there in 3 minutes!!!!' "But I'm reading!!!!" "Gah! What have I created here???!!!!". She has also read the 'pulp' fairy books by Ms Daisy Meadows at least five times each and I am seriously losing track!

Kidlet: 100? Airy Fairy: Magic Mess by Margaret Ryan (on the way to Ikea this morning)
Kidlet: 101?? Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew: Sleepover Sleuths by Carolyn Keene (on the way back from Ikea this afternoon, once she'd finished her frozen yoghurt and cleaned her hands thoroughly on a bunch of tissues!)

#214: What have I created here???!!!!

A reader! Congrats, Mom.

Linda 57: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life V1 by Bryan Lee O'Malley
3.5 / 5
Not a great book but entertaining enough that I've put a hold on book 2 at the library.

Oh and a whole bunch of fairy books for Kidlet (102 - 120 somethingish). Books about precious stone fairies and animal fairies and party fairies and Halloween fairies etc. I'll get round to logging them properly at some point (unless I fall into a coma as I'm doing it). Thank you to elkiedee for pointing me at the Book People. Aren't they just wonderful?! I had no idea they even existed. I put an order last night for the 42 book set of Daisy Meadows for the princely sum of £20 (about $30), together with two other 7 book packs and an additional set of books by Gwyneth Rees about a cat called Cosmo (because at £4.99 for 5 books I just couldn't resist). This nearly makes up for The Book Depository not offering 50% off most of their children's books like they did this time last year.

I take it back about the Book Depository. I've just ordered books 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Scott Pilgrim series for the princely sum of $19.14. Wooty woo! I've also re-read book 1 and would re-evaluate it as a 4 / 5.

#217: Congrats on the haul from The Book Depository, Linda!

Are you getting the books sent to a UK address? They also offer a bumper Roald Dahl collection (16 books!) for when Kidlet gets through her fairy books. I loved Fantastic Mr Fox and enjoyed the others in a box set of 5 at her age. And your younger child might like them as well. Next time I place an order I'm going to buy a Michael Morpurgo set of 16 books, I will read some sooner but then I'll keep them for the boys.

#218 :-D
#219: Yes, they're going to my MIL's address. Luckily I've discovered my niece is accompanying her at Christmas and I've persuaded her to help carry them. We already have most of the books in the Roald Dahl set. I saw the Michael Morpurgo set and was tempted to get them (even though Kidlet is still probably a bit young) but I don't know how far I can push my MIL (who already thinks we own far too many books in our house!)

Kidlet 103: The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton (re-read)
Kidlet 104: Upper Fourth at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton
Kidlet 105 - Kidlet 114: Georgia the Guinea Pig Fairy, Melodie the Music Fairy, Charlotte the Sunflower Fairy, India the Moonstone Fairy, Polly the Party Fun Fairy, Sarah the Sunday Fairy, Sophie the Sapphire Fairy, Molly the Goldfish Fairy, Holly the Christmas Fairy, Ella the Rose Fairy, Inky the Indigo Fairy, Emily the Emerald Fairy

Yes, the Daisy Meadows obsession continues unabated. Things got worse this week when she brought home two more of the darned things from the school library then another two on a day which wasn't library day. I said "Where did you get these two from?" (hoping to goodness she hadn't turned klepto and started stealing them) but it turned out she had wanted two particular ones on library day and they hadn't been there. The librarian said they did have a copy of each one at the other school where he worked and he would get them for her and deliver them to her classroom later in the week. Now that's exactly how a school librarian should be IMHO! Last year, by comparison, we had tears and wailing when a mother 'helping out' at the school library firmly told Kidlet she hadn't returned a book which Kidlet knew she had. When Kidlet replied that she had, the mother informed her "No you didn't because the computer says you didn't" (doh!) This led to weeks of (unnecessary) inner turmoil and anguish on Kidlet's part (unlike some Kindergartners, she took her library borrowing very seriously and prided herself on knowing exactly what was due back where and when). Anyway, nice to see the new school librarian doing what a good school librarian should (i.e. encouraging kids to read) .. even if it does mean he's also helping her get her rubbish fairy book fix! On an equally positive note, she asked her dad to re-read The Hobbit as her bedtime book last week which made me feel slightly better about the fairy fixation.

Some recent photos as the wall photos are a year out of date.

1. Kidlet's breakfast reading (note Teddy Robinson Stories propped open around the apple chunks bowl) and 'Teddy Macgill' seated to the left of the book!:


2. Kidlet sporting her new fairy dress (I can be a Daisy Meadows fairy too!) and Kidlet's brother sporting his home-made fairy dress (made by Kidlet as mom wouldn't buy him his own fairy dress - spoil sport!):


3. Kidlet engrossed in The Enchanted Wood on her way home from apple picking in upstate New York a couple of weekends ago:

What gorgeous photos of your beautiful kidlet.

Yes, fun pictures. I was an avid reader in 1st grade, but I'm sure I never read anything that thick!

#223: Me either, Roni!

Thanks for sharing the pictures, Linda!

#222: thank you.
#223: In another one of the photos I took on that journey home you can see a big red line where she'd been holding the book against her leg! Big books are really tricky when you're only little. Kidlet read Harry Potter 1, 2 and 3 quite happily but found book 4 impossible as we only have it in hard cover and she found it really difficult to physically manage - I'm having similar problems with the 900 page hard cover I'm reading right now. Actually, I'm thinking of buying my mother a Kindle for Christmas as she has Progressive Supranuclear Palsy which means she physically can't hold a book open properly any more as she is too weak. Maybe I'll get one for Kidlet too :-)
#224: my pleasure, of course!

I don't suppose anybody else saw the article in The Guardian yesterday which claimed that TV is just as good as books for pre-school children? If not, here's the link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/oct/01/desmond-morris-tv-books-toddlers. Now I realize I shouldn't have been reading to Kidlet all these years. Instead I should have plonked her down in front of the Teletubbies while I vegged out on the sofa reading my own books as I am just engaging in cultural snobbery by insisting on reading to her. How could I have been so stupid?! Grrrr.

#226: Well, I would respectfully disagree with The Guardian, as I think most people in this group would. I would like to know where Morris gets the documentation for such a claim.

My two love both - they do watch too much TV but they also adore being read stories, and they can also regularly be seen enjoying holding and looking at books.

227: Stasia, you disagree with Morris, not the Guardian, which is reporting his views. Sorry to be pedantic, but a lot of Guardian journalists and readers (like me) would disagree with him too. I will look on Mumsnet tomorrow to see if there's a discussion there, though we may have all been distracted by other issues today.

#229: No idea what Mumsnet is, Luci, but please do pass on any interesting discussion from that source.

http://www.mumsnet.com is a UK website for mums (and even some dads and others interested in issues like childcare). Lots of stuff there but the main thing that I use it for is the very busy discussion forums. Lots of newspaper articles come straight from the mumsnet discussion boards.

Luci

#231: OK, thanks for the info.

Kidlet 115: Crystal the Snow Fairy by Daisy Meadows
Kidlet 116: Stella the Star Fairy by Daisy Meadows

Tuesday was library class. Kidlet managed to score two Daisy Meadows. Apparently, the librarian left her to browse the library catalog on his computer and choose up to three other ones "which don't have 0 copies next to them, which means they are in my other school library and I will bring them over and put them on your desk tomorrow morning". I am sooooo loving this guy! She was so proud. She also proudly told me how she had two other girls from her class asking her to choose fairy books off the shelf for them. Honestly... peddling Daisy Meadows books in First Grade! By Third Grade she'll be pushing crack behind the bike sheds!

#233: By Third Grade she'll be pushing crack behind the bike sheds!

Nope, Kidlet is too smart for that!

Linda 58: New York: The Novel by Edward Rutherfurd
4 / 5

Superb but requires stamina! This book is probably responsible for my current insomnia. Normally, if I wake in the night, I put my lamp on, read a few pages of whatever book I am currently reading and then fall back to sleep. This book is a) so physically heavy and b) so unputdownable that I would wake at 12.30 then lie reading until 3 or 4am. I'll probably read his Ireland books next but as there are two of them and they're both around 800 pages long, I'll almost certainly wait until 2011 otherwise I may never reach my goal of 75!

Linda 59: Scott Pilgrim Versus the World by Bryan Lee O'Malley
4 / 5

Very silly. Not side-splittingly funny but a fun read nonetheless.

Kidlet 117 - 126 Isabelle the Ice Dance Fairy, Tia the Tulip Fairy, Bethany the Ballet Fairy, Fern the Green Fairy, Brittany the Basketball Fairy, Serena the Salsa Fairy, Olivia the Orchid Fairy, Danielle the Daisy Fairy all by Daisy Meadows, The Flower Fairies by Emily Rodda, The Third Wish by Emily Rodda

#235: I have not read any of Rutherford's books. I will have to give them a try. Thanks for the recommendation, Linda.

#236: If you like sweeping historical sagas that run over the course of 300 or 400 years with not only well-developed characters but also entire families of characters witnessed over several generations then Edward Rutherfurd's your man. I have all of his books but have only read London: The Novel, Sarum and now New York: The Novel. I tried reading The Forest but gave up after about 200 pages. FWIW, I much preferred London and New York to the other two because you get to learn a bit about real people who lived in those cities in the times covered and the history of the cities in general and I guess it helped that I already had an interest in both cities.

Linda 60: If I Stay by Gayle Forman
3 / 5
Meh.

#237: It looks as though the local library has both the London and New York books, so I will give them a try some time. Thanks for the input, Linda!

Linda 61: Batman: Year One by Frank Miller

4 / 5

Actually this was book 58 but I forgot to add it at the time. I happened to spot it on the trolley next to the new books shelves at the library the other day on my way out, checked it out and rather enjoyed it. I'm not sure for how much longer I'm going to be able to keep claiming I'm not a graphic novel fan.

#239: I'm not sure for how much longer I'm going to be able to keep claiming I'm not a graphic novel fan.

I think the ruse is over :)

I've added London: The Novel to my ever-expanding wishlist. It sounds right up my street :-)

I haven't managed to update my 75 book challenge as often as I normally do over the last couple of weeks as I have recently started translating Spanish loan profiles into English for kiva.org in my spare time (when Kidlet and her brother are in school or happily engaged doing something together). I confess that I have completely lost track of Kidlet's books but she is still merrily continuing with the Daisy Meadows fairy books, re-reading all the Daisy and the Trouble With.. books over and over without seeming to get bored with them (though if she doesn't stop saying 'double plus' all the time - an expression which Daisy apparently uses - I might have to confiscate them because it's driving me mad), is up to In the Fifth at Malory Towers in the Malory Towers series and has now started on American Girl books from the library. I have to say that I was somewhat alarmed by the whole American Girl thing but the books don't actually seem as bad as I'd expected.

Linda 62: Aberystwyth Mon Amour by Malcolm Pryce
3 / 5
I bought this book for $1 at our library book fair earlier this year based on the fact that Amazon used to regularly recommend it to me based on the fact that I like Jasper Fforde. Well, it was amusing in places but certainly nowhere near as good as Jasper Fforde. I doubt I will be reading any further books by this author.

Linda 63: 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
5 / 5
Filled myself a nice relaxing bubble bath while the kids were at a party last week and spent a very enjoyable hour indeed reading this wonderful little book.

Linda 64: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
4 / 5
Very funny like the rest of Bryson's books.

Glad to know you enjoyed 84, Charing Cross Road, Linda. It is one of my all-time favorites!

Linda 65: Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus

4 / 5

Now that I have no time left to read any more because I'm spending every free second I have translating loan requests for Kiva.org, it was very interesting to read this book by Muhammad Yunus, the father of microfinance and Nobel Peace Prize winner. Yunus is a truly inspirational man who has served the poor of Bangladesh and, by extension, the poor in other countries of the world, through his vision for social justice for all through access to credit regardless of social or economic status. Truly a man among mice! A reference in this book also led me to my next read which is currently on order from the library: Give Us Credit by Alex Counts. I will no doubt now be reading plenty of graphic novels and comic strips over the next month to reach my goal of 75!

#244: I very much enjoyed Yunus' book too when I read it a couple of years ago. I am glad you did as well, Linda.

I will have to check and see if I have Give Us Credit in the BlackHole. If not, I am going to put it there.

Kudos to you for your work with Kiva. I love that organization.

Linda 66: Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness by Bryan Lee O'Malley
4 / 5

Linda 67: Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together by Bryan Lee O'Malley
4 / 5

Both very silly but good fun.

67 down, 8 to go.

#246: 67 down, 8 to go.

You can do it, Linda!

Linda 68: A Fistful of Rice by Vikram Akula

2.5 / 5

Warning - I almost certainly got out of the wrong side of bed this morning!

I read this book as I was interested to hear about how a for-profit approach to microfinance might work (though, I'll admit it, I was somewhat skeptical). However, by the end of this book by Vikram Akula, the head of the Indian microfinance company SKS, I was not only convinced that it was a bad idea but also wanted to scream at Mr Akula and slap him repeatedly (and I'm not generally predisposed to violence!)

In my view, he seemed far too caught up in his own celebrity (did he perhaps forget to mention that he'd met Bill and Melissa Gates, Warren Buffet and Rahul Gandhi? - hell no!). I just got really tired of hearing about his influential friendships and how he had met with this and that rich, famous person and I just could not keep hold of the idea he gave in the first chapter of the book, that he really cared about poor people and was only approaching microfinance from a for-profit angle because it was, in his opinion, the only way to truly help as many people as needed help to lift themselves out of poverty. By chapter four, I was all but convinced that he cared very little for poor Indians except as a commodity from which he could make money.

The idea of companies providing his microfinance clients with free samples of their products and advertising on their passbooks and the thought of his MFI providing large companies with very detailed information about his clients, their houses, their lifestyles and businesses left me feeling quite alarmed. He comments at one point in one of the later chapters about how his MFI also helps very poor people and doesn't ask for anything from them in return (i.e. they give these people handouts rather than loans). He suggests that this is because he's really keen for them to be able to claw their way out of extreme poverty... however, I couldn't help but shift the feeling that he was more interested in creating potential new clients for his MFI whose data and lives he could then 'sell' to commercial sponsors and investors than he was in any truly altruistic motive.

In short, after reading nearly 200 pages of this self-aggrandizing ego trip, I had firmly decided that Vikram Akula is almost certainly the very last author I would ever want to find myself sat next to at a dinner party :-)

#248: Skipping that one! I have planted it firmly on my 'Do Not Read' list. Thanks for the heads up, Linda!

Linda 69: Les Schtroumpfs Noirs by Peyo
5 / 5

I bought this book in Switzerland about 20 years ago when my brother was doing his 'year out' in Geneva. I haven't read it in that long... Kidlet and her brother have become Smurf fans fairly recently after being given my old Smurf collection, which I picked up last time I visited my mother, to play with and after having watched the video of Father Abraham and the Smurfs on YouTube about 56 more times than I wanted to hear it (so I guess that would be 57 times in total!) I just ordered the English version of this book from Amazon for Kidlet for Christmas (along with the other couple that have been released). Interestingly, the original bad black smurfs are now purple. A sign of the times I guess.

I re-read this original to myself the other night then Kidlet and her brother wanted me to read it out loud, so I had to read each speech bubble out loud in French, followed by an on-the-fly English equivalent. I just knew those French interpreting classes I did at Uni. would pay off some day :-) Great fun... "Gnap! Gnap!"

Linda 70: Kick-Ass by Mark Millar
3.5 / 5

A friend recently spotted my Scott Pilgrim collection on the bookshelf and said he'd been thinking of reading them after recently watching a movie called 'Kick Ass' with Nicholas Cage. He assured me it was very funny. Unfortunately, I cannot stomach any movie with Nicholas Cage in it so I had to pass on that. However, I found the graphic novel in the library. That 3.5 star rating might not be entirely fair. I did enjoy it, it was very silly and it made me laugh out incredibly loud in a few places. And, once again, that bit of light relief was just what I was after (of course it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I have less than 3 weeks remaining to read 5 books!)

#250: of course it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I have less than 3 weeks remaining to read 5 books!

Of course it didn't! Everyone knows that 75 is just a number :)

Linda 71: Small Loans, Big Dreams: How Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus and Microfinance are Changing the World by Alex Counts
4 / 5

#252: I need to read that one. I wish my local library had it.

BTW, Linda - the 2011 group is up and running. I do hope you will be joining us again! http://www.librarything.com/groups/75booksin20111

#253 I'll be setting myself up there very soon. I was toying with the idea of moving over to the 50 book challenge instead this year but, heck, I like a challenge!

Linda 72: Moomin Book Five: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip by Tove Jansson
5 / 5
The Moomins are positively perfect in every way. Love them to pieces! Favorite quote has to be from the worrisome Fuddler who comments "I'm unsure and muddled and fuddled and have complexes and probably environmental inhibitions! Excuse me!" I think Fuddler and I have a lot in common!

Linda 73: Moomin Book Four: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip by Tove Jansson
5 / 5
Funny, funny, funny. A glass of wine in hand, a box of after eight mints on lap, older niece upstairs keeping kidlet and her brother amused. A singularly perfect Boxing Day.

Favorite quote (in Moomin and the Comet):
(Snork Maiden to Moomin, pointing at a poster) "Look! There's dancing tonight!"
(Moomin) "Dancing! When the Earth may be doomed!"
(Snork Maiden) "But, Darling that isn't until Sunday!"

I received Tove Jansson's The Winter Book for Christmas and I've had the theme tune to The Moomins stuck in my head for two days now. I love it!

#255: A singularly perfect Boxing Day.

Good for you, Linda!

Linda 74: Little Princes by Conor Grennan
4 / 5
An early reviewer book from last month. No time to do the actual review now as I have another book to read before midnight!!!!! Will do it later.

Go, Linda, Go! You can do it!!

Thanks for that bit of cheerleading Stasia! As a result of which....... (drum roll please!).......

Linda 75: Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe by Bryan Lee O'Malley
4.5 / 5

Talk about scraping through at the last minute. Good job I wasn't planning on War and Peace as my last book of the 2010! 'Scuse me, I'm off to launch some fireworks!!

Well done!

Well done, and happy new year!

Thank you guys!

OK, review for Little Princes follows:
(I'm afraid as I wrote the review for this book, I decided to downgrade its rating from a 4 to a 3.5)

I had mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoyed reading about the Nepali children, their histories and their lives. The little boy called Jagrit, in particular, had me laughing out loud. I could just picture him and he was wonderful. I also really enjoyed learning more about Nepal, a country I didn't really know too much about before I started this book. I appreciated the humor as well. However...

The author's romance didn't interest me at all and as it gradually started becoming more and more central to the overall story I confess that I started to lose interest and my mind started to wander (up until that point I'd been really enjoying the book). The author's re-discovery of Christianity also left me feeling slightly nauseous. Of course, that's just my personal reaction, YMMV :-) *

Overall, I would have given this book 4.5 / 5 for the insights into Nepal and the humorous but, at the same time, endearing descriptions of the children in the story. However, I had to reduce my rating to 3.5 because I found the author, his romance and his religious re-discovery highly predictable and quite boring. Sorry!

Congrats!