Readermom68, Better late than not at all

I love this idea I'm hoping it will work well with my Books off the Shelf group. So far I'm thinking of these groups; 1. YAL, 2. Bookclub Books, 3. NonFiction/Memoir, 4. Brain Candy, 5. Started but got sidetracked, 6. Been on the shelf a really long time, 7. Suggested by Friends or Library Thing, 8. Good for Me Books, 9. Mysteries, 10. Can Hardly Wait

YAL:

1. Life of Pi Read, see Msg 17
2. The Last Olympian Read, see Msg #15
3. Elsewhere
4. Peter and the Shadow Thieves
5. Graceling
6. The Book Thief
7. Fablehaven Rise of the Evening Star
8. Uglies
9. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
10. I am the Messenger

Bookclub Books:

1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Read see Msg#14
2. Queen of the Road, Dorien Orion Read 2/10
3. Mudbound Read, see Msg #16
4. The Glass Castle Read, see Msg #24
5. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan see Msg #27
6. Lottery see Msg #29
7. The Outlander see Msg #31
8.
9.
10.

Non-Fiction/Memoir

1. John Adams
2. Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer
3. Einstein
4. The Glass Castle Read, see Msg #24
5. Musicophilia
6. Born on a Blue Day
7. The Good, Good Pig
8. Thunderstruck
9. American Sphinx
10. Franklin and Winston

Brain Candy

1. Scarpetta
2. Book of the Dead
3. The Twelfth Card
4. The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocolypse Read, see Msg #22
5. Sweet Revenge see Msg#30
6. Lethal Legacy Read, see Msg #23
7. The Art of Deception
8. The Lost Symbol
9. Digital Fortress
10. Farm Fatale

Started But Got Sidetracked

1. Wild Life
2. The Emperor of Ocean Park
3. A Walk in the Woods
4. A Natural History of the Senses
5. Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God
6. The Kite Runner Read, see Msg #19
7. Motherless Brooklyn
8. The Ghost of Hannah Mendes
9. Watership Down
10. Empire Falls

Been on the Shelf a Really Long Time

1. I Know This Much is True
2. The Last Girls
3. Headlong
4. Crossing to Safety
5. Fingersmith
6. Jewel
7. The Slow Way Back
8. In the Country of the Young
9. Cordelia Underwood
10. Forever

Suggested by Friends or LibraryThing

1. The Help
2. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan see Msg #27
3. The Mapmakers Wife
4. Doomsday Book
5. The Poisonwood Bible
6. March
7. The Book of Illusions
8. One Thousand White Women
9. Love Walked In
10. Julia's Chocolates

Good For Me Books

1. House of the Seven Gables
2. In the Country of the Pointed Firs
3. Night
4. The Forger
5. Big Bang
6. Kidnapped
7. A Staggering Work of Heartbreaking Genius
8. The Odyssey
9. Fahrenheit 451
10. The Woman in White

Mysteries

1. Among the Mad Read, see Msg #23
2. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie Read, see Msg #28
3. The Forgery of Venus
4. The Raphael Affair
5. Ghostwalk
6. The Case of the Missing Books
7. An Unsuitable Job a Woman
8. The Big Overeasy
9. The Masque of the Black Tulip
10. The Beekeeper's Apprentice

Can Hardly Wait

1. When Autumn Leaves Read, see Msg #23
2. 3782972::Olive Kitteridge
3. In the Garden of Iden
4. Lark and Termite
5. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
6. The Swan Thieves
7. Dear George Clooney Please Marry My Mom see Msg #34
8. Mockingjay see Msg #35
9.
10.

I'm leaving some of this blank because I know there are books lurking out there that I don't know anything about yet, but will grab me and I'll have to read them as soon as I get them.

Welcome to the challenge! You have some good books on here.

Hi Readermom - Lots of good books! Also FYI, there is a 1010 group read planned for John Adams, date not set but leaning towards April. Here is the thread, in case you're interested: http://www.librarything.com/topic/78546

Here's what I posted for my review of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society:

I thought this book a literary treat. While small in size it brings up many compelling issues. Told completely through letters from various characters, it touches on many issues without preaching, allowing the reader to ponder how they themselves might react to the given set of cirucumstances. I would highly recommend this novel.
(I didn't add a synopsis because several prior reviewers already had)

It set in the year just following the end of WWII in England and later on the Isle of Guernsey. While fictional, its gensis comes from the fact that Guernsey was occupied by the Germans during most of WWII.

I give it 5 stars.

I'm sad to say that I finished The Last Olympian and with it The Percy Jackson Series. I wasn't disappointed. I thought Riordan did a great job bringing to the series to a close. It didn't offer any huge surprises or plot twists and yet everything wasn't quite the neat tidy package that a less congident writer might deliver. The writing was crisp with enough action to keep those with short attention spans hooked, but it also delivered a well constructed story and the humor series fans have to come to expect.

If any agenda can be had it's that Riordan clearly left the door open for another series that may feature previously secondary characters or new ones. It's hard to fault him and yet I was just a bit put off by that. While a follow-up series wouldn't change the original series, it makes me think of those TV shows that couldn't let a good thing come to a natural end. I'm thinking 'Joanie Love Chachie' or 'Joey'.

I give it 5 stars.

Finished Mudbound today. What a great story. The subject matter isn't great. The fact that there are people who truly believe the color of a person's skin makes them better or worse than someone else is something I will never be able to comprehend. But Hillary Jordan presented a compelling story that was believeable and tragic and yet in the end uplifting. It's set primarily in the Mississippi Delta during and just following WWII. It's told from alternating points of view by the members of two southern families, one white and one black. It takes a very bleak time and makes it accessible; just as you reach a level of discomfort that makes you want to look away she shifts gears allowing the reader a break and the ability to stay with a difficult (subject wise) story.
It's not a new story, but it's told in a fresh way and well worth your time.

Made it through Life of Pi. I have to say, it just wasn't my kind of story. Lots of people rave about it, but for me it was a tough read. Man verses self has never been one of my favorite topics. I guess that means I'm not very introspective. I don't want to give it a bad review however, as it was well written. But since I was a bit challenged to keep my interest in the story going, the author's proclivity to add numerous stings of adjectives or examples really began to grate on my nerves. If you like survival stories with man, or in this case teenage boy, facing the elements alone this is a story for you, especially if you add in the presence of an enormous Bengal tiger. For me if was tedious. Sorry all you Life of Pi lovers, I am not a convert.

Welcome to the Challenge, even if you didn't like Life of Pi!

I finally finished The Kite Runner. For me this was a hard read, probably because it was way too much like reading the news and I often am looking for an escape when I'm reading. Anyway, I did end up liking it in the way you appreciate a good story even if the subject matter is difficult. I thought the author did a good job of giving the reader a bit of hope without providing a disneyesque ending that might have been more pleasing for the readers but untrue to the story itself.

I agree with your thoughts on Kite Runner - well said!

Thanks!

I threw in the towel on Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse. I don't want to put this book down since I chose not to finish it. It was just not my kind of writing. I can't really put my finger on why it bugged me, it just did. If I had to say one thing, I guess for me it was just a little too caught up in being clever, and that became more important than the story, so instead of blending with the story, for me it obstructed it.

On my vacation I managed 3 books, all on the 1010 Challenge. Lethal Legacy, Among the Mad and When Autumn Leaves.

I really liked my brain candy book, Lethal Legacy. It's part of the Alex Cooper series and it was a fun read. I really like that Linda Fairstein had not fallen off in her writing but has continued to turn out good, well thought out mysteries.

Among the Mad also lived up to the previous books in the series and delivered a really good story along with some very timely food for thought, even though the story is set in 1930s London.

Finally, When Autumn Leaves was a bit of a disappointment for me. I really wanted to like it more than I did. It's not a bad book, I just felt she took the easy way out a few too many times to tie up story lines, or equally that she left the story lines hanging in a very unfinished manner. Having said that, it was a horrible book and I did find some enjoyment in it.

Just finished The Glass Castle a memoir by Jeannette Walls. I kept finding myself shaking my head as a read. It's a very engaging story and easy to read but the fact that this child made it to adulthood and became a productive member of society seems to be an act of God. At this point I'm thanking God for the parents I have and how they chose to raise me. While this could have devolved into one big lament (with darn good reason), instead Walls chose to simply tell her story seemingly without judgement. She allowed the voice of her child self to speak instead of coloring everything with the eyes of her adult self. I particularly liked how she showed how her perception of her parents changed as she grew up.

>24 Readermom68: That's an interesting observation about writing through the eyes of her child self rather than her adult self. Have you read Angela's Ashes? I had the same reaction to it. Frank McCourt kept his story from being maudlin by sticking to a child's perspective rather than giving an adult interpretation of his childhood. It seems to be an effective way of writing.

>23 Readermom68: I read Among the Mad over New Year's. There hasn't been a Maisie Dobbs novel that I haven't liked yet, and I'm looking forward to the next one in the series.

Lethal Legacy is on my TBR pile. Other books keep putting themselves in the way. I think I'll like it when I finally get around to reading it!

I LOVE all the Maisie Dobbs books. I went to a small book chat with Jaqueline Winspear and she was terrific. She talked about how her grandmother had inspired this series for her, as her grandmother was around the age of Maisie character as she makes her way through the stories. She also told us a lot about England during the time period her books are set in that is not included in the books.

I really like all of Linda Fairstein's Alex Cooper novels. There haven't been any where I thought she just sort of 'phone it in'.

I finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Here's the review I posted:

I thought this was an excellent book. It certainly made me glad that I was born in the time and place that I was. The writing is wonderful. The pictures the author paints with her words are vivid. The story of women living within the confines of rules and social norms that I as a western woman find barbaric and oppressive was thought provoking. And isn't that the best kind of book.

You want to pity these woman, but you can't. In part because they perpetuate the suffering by treating the women that come after them the same way they were treated, but also and more importantly in my mind because they found ways around their social confines that allowed them to soar.

Knocked off The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Here's my review:

This was a fun read. It's a good, solid British mystery. The main character, Flavia, is extremely precocious 11 year old resigned to the fact that she will have to solve the case of the murder victim who so ungraciously landed in her garden. I often pitied the poor inspector who was working on the case. I was able to figure out who did it pretty early on and I don't usually try too hard to do this, so those of you looking for an edge of your seat, keep you guessing mystery, this isn't it. For those of you who enjoy the development of the characters just as much asf the mystery then this is your cup of tea. It's not quite Agatha Christie but it's not too far from her.

Finished Lottery. Here's what I wrote in my review:

I enjoyed this book immensely. It's a great story, maybe a little predictable but well told, humorous and touching. I spent much of the time worrying about the main character, Perry, who is not retarded, just 'slow'. It's a credit to the author's writing ability that she engenders, at least for me, a concern that at times made me afraid to turn the page. Perry's world is filled with those that want to take advantage of him and I was always afraid that someone finally would 'get him.' It's up to the reader to decide if Perry is taken advantaqe of or not, but it's well worth reading the story to form your own opinion.

This was such a great story and in world so bent on acquisition, it's food for thought.

Finished Sweet Revenge by Diana Mott Davidson. She managed to produce another fun read. It certainly wasn't a taxing read, but the mystery was good, made sense and wasn't immediately obvious halfway through the story. This is another in the Goldy Shultz, 'Goldilocks Catering' series. I give it 3 stars.

Finally managed to finish The Outlander by Gil Adamson. I want to say I liked this book, but I definitely did not. I could not connect with the main character. It also seemed as though the story never really came together. I think this might have a been a very good short story but in trying to make it a novel the author felt compelled to think up filler that would keep the reader from finding out why the main character killed her husband. This is not a spoiler, you find this out right away. The story touches on loss of faith and mental illness and fidelity but just seems to throw them out without any real exploration or development. It was a struggle to get through.

Good comments regarding The Outlander. I read the book last year and what I was more taken with was the descriptive scenery and how the author handled the event of the Frank Slide. The main character was definitely reserved and hard to connect with - maybe written that way on purpose, I don't know.

Thanks.

Just finished Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom and loved it! It's a YAL that I received through the Early Review here at LibraryThing. It's a short read but very well done. It brings up a lot of food for thought regardless of how old you are. Here is the review I posted with the book:

I loved this book. It's a spot an story of how one young girl tries to deal with the break-up of her parents marriage and the things that follow like step-parents, half-siblings and parental dating. It's poignant but also really funny. The main character, Violet, is right on the edge of being over the top, but Ms. Nielsen did a wonderful job of reining her in so that while her antics cause you to shake your head, they aren't so out there as to not be believeable. Kids and adults both will root for Violet as she tries to find a way through the maze of emotions and loyalties that the break-up of a family leaves behind.

I don't usually buy books in hardback, but Amazon had such a great deal on Mockingjay I didn't make myself wait for the paperback. Boy am I glad I didn't. This is classified as YAL but it has so much to offer older readers as well. It's the final book in the Hunger Games Trilogy. The author's writing is a crisp and well paced as it was in the first two books and the story is definitely not a disappointment. The thing I like best about the book is how the author refused to portray the story as black and whilte, right and wrong but stayed in this wonderful (yet frustrating) area of gray that makes the reader really think about the actions and thoughts of the characters. Well worth the time!