Cmbohn's 1010, part 2

Here we go with round 2!

Link to 1st thread:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/70671

LDS books - FINISHED!

1. Yearning for the Living God - 4.5 stars
2. David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism - 2.5 stars
3. Profiles in Mormon Courage - 3.5 stars
4. Doctrines of Salvation, Volume 2 - 3.5 stars
5. Broken Things to Mend - 5 stars
6. Articles of Faith - 3.5 stars
7. If Life Were Easy, It Wouldn't Be Hard - 4.5 stars
8. Cat's Cradle - Okazaki - 3 stars
9. The Second Rescue - The Story of the Spiritual Rescue of the Willie and Martin Handcart Pioneers - 5 stars
10. Lemon Tart - 1 star

8 bonus points!

Information - FINISHED!

1. Eat This, Not That for Kids 3 stars
2. How to Cook Everything 3.5 stars
3. The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands 1.5 stars
4. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind 5 stars
5. The Trouble with Physics
6. Spineless Wonders: Strange Tales from the Invertebrate World 4 stars
7. The TMJ Healing Plan: Ten Steps for Relieving Persistent Jaw, Neck and Head Pain
8. Copernicus' Secret 3.5 stars
9. The Science of Star Wars: An Astrophysicist's Independent Examination of Space Travel, Aliens, Planets, and Robots 2 stars
10. 101 Things to Do with a Casserole 2 stars

5 bonus points

New Authors, Male - FINISHED!

1. Storm Front 4 stars
2. The Eye of the World 2 stars
3. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie 4.5 stars
4. Owly: Just a Little Blue 5 stars
5. Down the Rabbit Hole 4 stars
6. Watcher in the Shadows 4.5 stars
7. The Alchemyst 3 stars
8. The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu 4 stars
9. The Sleeping Car Murders 4 stars
10. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War 5 stars

5 bonus points

New Authors, Female - FINISHED!

1. After You'd Gone 3.5 stars
2. A Girl Named Zippy 4 stars
3. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day 5 stars
4. Black Ships 5 stars
5. Assassin's Apprentice 5 stars
6. Savvy 4 stars
7. Surviving the Applewhites 4.5 stars
8. When You Reach Me 4 stars
9. School for Sorcery 3 stars
10. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell 4.5 stars

7 bonus points

Returning Favorites - FINISHED!

1. The Eustace Diamonds 4 stars
2. The Chosen 5 stars
3. The Island of Dr. Moreau 4 stars
4. To Kingdom Come 3 stars
5. A Little Princess 4 stars
6. The Man Who Would Be King 4 stars
7. The Hollow, Agatha Christie 4 stars
8. Bats Fly Up for Inspector Ghote 4 stars
9. Fablehaven - Keys to the Demon Prison 5 stars
10. Shades of Grey - 4.5 stars

2 bonus points

America - FINISHED!

1. Albion's Seed - 5 stars
2. Team of Rivals - 5 stars
3. His Excellency: George Washington - 4 stars
4. Theodore Rex - 4 stars
5. Indian Givers - 4.5 stars
6. Written in Bone: Buried Lives - 4 stars
7. Johnny Tremain - 4 stars
8. Ironclad: The Monitor and The Merrimack - 4 stars
9. The West - Geoffrey Ward - 3.5 stars
10. Listening Woman - 3.5 stars

6 bonus points

Love - FINISHED!

1. Random Harvest 4 stars
2. The Amaranth Enchantment 4 stars
3. My Fair Godmother 4 stars
4. Beastly 3.5 stars
5. Mrs. Mike 5 stars
6. Garden Spells 3.5 stars
7. False Colours 5 stars
8. The Fire Rose 2 stars
9. Mansfield Park 5 stars
10. The Quiet Gentleman 5 stars

6 bonus points

War - FINISHED!

1. Band of Brothers: E Company - 4 stars
2. Scoop - 5 stars
3. A Needle in the Hand of God - 2.5 stars
4. Briar Rose - 4 stars
5. Vienna Prelude - 1 star
6. The Boy Who Dared - 3.5 stars
7. Doctor Zhivago- 1.5 stars
8. All Quiet on the Western Front - 5 stars
9. Night - Elie Wiesel - 5 stars
10. Interesting Times - 5 stars

10 bonus points

Death - FINISHED!

1. The Winter Queen - Akunin 2.5 stars
2. The 31st of February 3 stars
3. Some Danger Involved 4 stars
4. A Fatal Grace 3.5 stars
5. An Instance of the Fingerpost 4.5 stars
6. In the Woods 2.5 stars
7. She Walks These Hills 5 stars
8. The Oxford Murders 4 stars
9. The Reformed Vampire Support Group 3.5 stars
10. The Ransom Game 4 stars

6 bonus points

Surprise! - FINISHED!

1. The Darkest Evening of the Year 1 star
2. How to be a Perfect Stranger 4 stars
3. Good Night, Mr. Holmes 1.5 stars
4. Dance Hall of the Dead 4 stars
5. Cast for Death 3 stars
6. The Wreck of the Mary Deare 2 stars
7. Shards of Honor 3 stars
8. Pogo Stepmother Goose
9. Charters and Caldicott 5 stars
10. The Facts in the Case of E. A. Poe 4.5 stars

A little update to say that I *finally* watched the movie of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. It is different from the book, but I loved it. Amy Adams is wonderful as Delysia. And it had a fairy tale ending too. Very nice.

Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams, new author male category

Ingrid is a pretty typical junior high student. She's noticed a few cute boys, she hates math, she doesn't get along well with her big brother, she's tired of her braces, she loves soccer.

It's the soccer and braces that accidentally sort of get her into trouble. After an orthodontist appointment, she decides to walk to practice and winds up lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood. A friendly but odd woman invites Ingrid in to call a cab.

That would have been the end of the story, except that the woman is murdered later that night. Ingrid is afraid to tell anyone that she met the victim, since she's not supposed to talk to strangers and she knows her mom will freak out. But she left her soccer shoes in the dead woman's house and now she's afraid they will lead the cops straight to Ingrid's house.

But Ingrid is a little unlike most junior high girls I know in that Sherlock Holmes is her hero. What would he do? Ingrid decides to solve the case herself. Oh, and to get the leading role as Alice in the town play.

I really enjoyed this book. I started listening to it on audio, but when I found a paper copy at the library, I decided to take it home and finish it. I enjoyed both versions. One of the things that I found interesting about the book is that I could figure out some things that Ingrid hadn't figured out yet and that didn't get resolved. I don't think I've ever read a mystery for teens where every issue did not get resolved. It looks like several of these issues about Ingrid's family will carry over into the next book. Maybe a little on the light side, but since it is written for teens, I still think it rates four stars.

Down The Rabbit Hole sound good. I'll have to look out for a copy, thanks for the great review.

Team of Rivals, America category

I have always loved and admired Abraham Lincoln. I'm not sure exactly why, but he was certainly one of those people that we studied often in school. Later, the more I read of his words, the more I found to admire. But I have such a profound respect for him after reading this book.

I think what I learned most from this book is that his very qualities that made him such a great man - his generosity, his good humor, his even temper, his kindness, his drive, his affection - were the qualities that made him a great leader. He was able to work with just about anyone. He tried to bring out the best in people, but if they were still unwilling to cooperate, he usually found ways to get around them. His best friend was a man who could have been his worst enemy.

I admit that I cried when I read about Lincoln's death. It wasn't exactly a surprise ending, but it still made me cry as I read of his death, and even more when I read of how deeply he was mourned by all who knew him. Every man in his cabinet was deeply saddened by the loss of a man they each considered a friend.

For a man who was very private about his own religious beliefs and could not accept the existence of an afterlife, I can't help but believe that Abraham Lincoln was preserved by God for the very task he accomplished. It's hard to imagine another man who could have saved the union and end slavery at the same time. It is a miracle that he was able to accomplish as much as he did, and although his convictions cost him his life, Lincoln himself would have thought that a very small price to pay for his country. 5 stars

A School for Sorcery by E. Rose Sabin, new author female category

Tria has special magical powers that she's never had a chance to develop. So when she gets a chance to attend a school for people like her, she hopes this will be her big chance. Unfortunately, the school is nothing like she expected. She seems to be in trouble all the time. Making friends isn't as easy as she had hoped either, and the lessons are all theory, no practice.

It soon develops that there are opposing forces at work in the school, and Tria finds herself the only one who can save her friends. She'd better figure out how to use her powers or they're all in trouble.

I had high hopes for this book, but it turned out to be confusing and disappointing. I liked Tria, but wow, she is so dumb sometimes. Her intentions are good, but she never learns from her mistakes. The last part of the book was totally confusing, and it would have been so easy to make that easier to read. Not really recommended, although I might give the writer another chance later.

I agree on Down the rabbit Hole but it is a series so some things must be left open and I really thought all of them were fun books.
I also bought and had high hopes for School for Sorcery a couple years ago and was just as disappointed!
Hope your next one is better!

Thanks, susiesharp!

Charters and Caldicott by Stella Bingham, Surprise category

Just found this one at the library and it sounded promising.

Suppose that Bertie Wooster and the most asinine of his friends, Barmy Fotheringay-Phipps, have just retired from Civil Service, and decide to investigate a murder. That's exactly what this book is like. I loved it. I was very disappointed to find that although this has been made into a BBC miniseries, my library does not have it available, nor could I find it on Amazon. 5 stars.

Parting the Waters - Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement - abandoned book

I was planning on reading this one for the America category, but it is so much more than I was wanting. 1000 pages, and this is just the first volume about Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement. I started the book and was soon lost in a bunch of names I was only a little familiar with and some incredible detail. I think I will look for a shorter book and maybe tackle this one another time.

Watcher in the Shadows by Geoffrey Household, new author male category

Charles Dennim hasn't got an enemy in the world. So why would someone send him a bomb in the mail? Because he is also Baron Karol von Dennim, and he once worked at Buchenwald as a Gestapo. He was actually working undercover as a British agent, but whoever is trying to kill him apparently hasn't heard that part, so Charles had better come up with a plan fast if he wants to survive.

Dennim uses the metaphor of tethering a goat to catch a tiger, and he is using himself as the bait. But he has a few tricks leftover from his wartime service, and he just might become the tiger himself.

I really enjoyed this one. I could imagine it as a very tense movie, but the book was good too. Very frustrating as I was just 40 pages from the end and things were really intense when I just kept getting interrupted again and again! I finally managed to get rid of all the distractions and finish the last few pages. Very good.

Heading to Arizona for a funeral. I will catch up when I get back. Should be plenty of time to read on the drive down.

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, Love category

A mix between a straight romance and a fantasy. I guess it would be called magical realism. I liked most of the categories, although I didn't enjoy the main character, Claire, as much as some of the others. And the seduction under the apple tree bit was overwritten and unbelievable. I haven't decided if I will read more by this author or not.

His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis, America category

I mostly enjoyed this book. What I enjoyed: some biographical background that was entirely new to me, a feeling of place and how that was important to understand Washington, a sense of what made him tick and why he did what he did.

What I didn't enjoy: the preface was lots more about the author than about the subject, and it seemed to take a long time to give me that understanding of who Washington really was.

It wasn't as good as Washington's Crossing or Team of Rivals, but it was good and kept me reading.

Just realized I didn't post my review for this one.

Briar Rose by Jane Yolen, War category

Becca's grandma Gemma has always been a little different. She never liked to talk about her past. Instead, she told the same bedtime story for as long as Becca can remember - Briar Rose. Her dying words prompt Becca to search for the truth about her beloved Gemma and what she finds is more amazing and powerful than she could ever have expected.

I really liked this story. I like Jane Yolen, but for some reason, I never felt prompted to pick up this book, thinking it was some depressing, didactic story about the Holocaust. But the group read here prompted me to give it a try. I am so glad that I did. It is not the best book I've read so far this year, but it is very good. More for older teens, mostly because of mature themes and some very dark segments.

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott, new author male category

Josh and Sophie Newman find out their neighbor is really the alchemist of legend, Nicholas Flamel. Now weird things are out to get them. Fast paced, but for some reason it just didn't hold my interest. I don't think I'll read the next one in the series. My favorite part was the witch of Endor, but her part was too short. Good idea, but the execution was lacking.

The Facts in the Case of E. A. Poe by Andrew Sinclair, surprise category

Ernest Albert Pons is the reincarnation of Edgar Allen Poe. At least, he is convinced that he is. His psychiatrist Dr. Dupin, chosen simply for his name, doesn't buy it. After treating him for some time, the doctor challenges Pons to really get to know Poe, by retracing his steps from infancy to childhood, adulthood to death. Then he can finally see where Poe ends and Pons begins.

That was the plan, anyway. But somewhere along the line, the story becomes a mesh of the two men. As Pons delves deeper into the life of Poe, his own story keeps intruding. The early death of his mother, his lost love, and his narrow escape from death in the concentration camps along with almost his entire family. But the further the book progresses, the more it becomes obvious that while Pons is obsessed to the point of insanity, sometimes he is quite sane enough to question the motives of his doctor. Just who is telling the truth? Can the reader trust anyone in this complicated tale?

I really enjoyed this book. It is along the same lines as A Three Pipe Problem, where an actor gets himself enmeshed with the great Holmes. But the two are quite different. The Holmes book is more of a complicated murder mystery, reflecting the tone of the books by Doyle. This one does read like something Poe might have imagined, with an obsessive character driven to self-destructive acts and impulses which are either completely delusional or totally sane, and no way to distinguish between the two.

I would recommend this one. I just found it at the library and was caught by the title. If you are a fan of Poe or if you like the psychological novel, I think you would find a lot about this story to enjoy. Now I'm going to look for anything else by this author. 4.5 stars.

I love the idea of the character selecting his psychiatrist simply for the name -- how perfect. I may have to read this -- and the Holmes book as well. Sigh, so many books, so little time...

I started Vienna Prelude today. This is part of a long series about WWII and the beginnings of the Jewish state of Israel, so if I liked it, I would have a lot of books to read. Unfortunately, the writing is not very good, IMO. I'll keep with it a little longer, but I'm not really liking it yet.

Cindy, if you're looking for books about WW II and Israel, may I suggest Herman Wouk's books (if you haven't already read them)? I read The Winds of War and War and Remembrance many years ago, and thought they were wonderful, but it wasn't until last year that I got to The Hope and The Glory, which cover the time from Israel's War of Independence in 1948 to the Six-Day War in 1967. Wouk has a reputation for being historically accurate, and I enjoyed them a great deal.

I haven't read any of his books. Thanks for the recommendation, ivyd.

Vienna Prelude by Bodie and Brock Thoene, war category

I guess my gut feeling was right. I didn't like this book. I gave it until page 100 and skimmed around for a bit. It seemed like it was going to take a really long time to tell the story and get to where anything was going to happen. In the meantime, there was a lot of interior monologue going on, and the more I read, the less I cared about the characters. Elisa was so self-absorbed and so dumb! I just couldn't read anymore. 1 star.

However, I am going against the tide here, I think. Over on Good Reads, this book has pretty high reviews, but it really was not for me.

Oh, and I didn't comment earlier, but I finished one category! Done with the Surprise category.

The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling, returning favorites category

Kipling is one of those authors that I just about always enjoy. This collection was the Dover Thrift Edition and it had 5 short stories in it: The Phantom Rickshaw, The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes, The Man Who Would Be King, Wee Willie Winkie, and Without Benefit of Clergy. Of the 5, I liked the title story and the last one the best, but I enjoyed them all. The first one was a ghost story, the second a sort of horror story/suspense, and the rest were tales of Englishmen abroad and getting into trouble. If you haven't ever read Kipling, or if you only know him from the Just So Stories, you should give him a try. 4 stars

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, returning favorites category

We are reading this old favorite for book club. It was a fun reread, just like a bedtime story when everything has a happy ending. Sara is a little too wonderful to be true, but that's about right for a fairy tale. She is undoubtedly Cinderella, and if she isn't reunited with her beloved Papa at the end, she does find a new elderly Prince Charming and a new home.

I could say more, analyze it a bit, but maybe that would really be overkill. I think it's okay to just enjoy the story. 4 stars.

I loved The Lost Prince by this author too! I found an old copy in one of my Grandfather's barns when I was a kid. And of course the Shirley Temple movie version of A Little Princess is so cute!

DS
(bruce's evil twin :-))

Cindy - finally caught up with you! You've been busy and have read quite a few interesting books lately. I'll have to go back through your list more carefully, and I imagine at least a couple will end up on my own wishlist.

I'm planning on reading His Excellency this year as well. Sounds like I should skip the preface!

I somehow missed your new thread so I'm glad you mentioned it in your other one.

I recall seeing copies Charters and Caldicott by Stella Bingham. It's one of those that sounded good at the time but now it's back on my radar, thanks to you.

I'm glad to see you all here! I've missed all the comments.

Just started Doctor Zhivago and I'm already lost! Every page introduces at least one new character. I was tell my family about the book and my teenage daughter said, "Why are you reading such an emo book?" Good question. I'll give it about 40-50 more pages before I decide whether to keep going.

The Hollow - Agatha Christie, returning favorites category

Hercule Poirot is invited to a dinner at a country home. When he arrives, he finds a dying man artistically arranged next to the pool. But this is not a scene staged for his benefit - it's real. And Poirot finds that being an eyewitness doesn't make solving the crime any easier. There are plenty of suspects and everyone seems to know who did it except him.

This was an audio version read by Hugh Fraser, known for his portrayal of Poirot's sidekick Arthur Hastings. The wonder is that he is equally good at portraying Poirot. Once I was so caught up in his narration that I was actually surprised when he came back in with his regular voice.

Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World by Jack Weatherford, America category

This was an exceptional book. Full review coming later, but for now let me say that I really loved this book. The only reason I took off half a star is because it was written in 1985, so it's about 25 years old. Highly recommended.

The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu by Michael Stanley, new author male category

More later

#42-43 Looking forward to your comments on both these books - they both look interesting.

You finished a category? I'm not even close!

Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World by Jack Weatherford, America category

An amazing and powerful read. This covered this influence of Native Americans, or Indians as the author referred to them, on almost every aspect of modern life. Indians changed what the rest of the world ate and grew permanently. I knew that, of course. I had read elsewhere about how much of what modern people eat today came from the Americas. Imagine your daily diet without any tomatoes, potatoes, chocolate, chilis, corn, beans, and much, much more. Just corn and potatoes by themselves had revolutionized agriculture forever. The author cited a comparison of European agriculture based on before potatoes and after. Compared to the wheat that was the most common staple and potatoes, the wheat was inferior in the amount of work it took to grow it, its susceptibility to weather and predators, and most especially, to the amount of calories produced versus the amount taken to work the field. Potatoes gave over three times as much return. And then the population exploded, as Europeans finally had enough to eat and to trade.

And how about modern government. Think we got that from the Greeks and Romans? Think again. The US Constitution, which became the model for many other countries, was based not on the ancients but on the Iroquois. The whole idea of a balance of powers, of electing representatives, of governing by consensus, that all came from the Indians. The movies have this example of the Great Indian Chief, but in real life, most tribes were ruled by a council of elders, not by one guy who was in charge of everything.

So why did the Europeans manage to defeat the Native Americans? The main reason, the author felt, is not that the Indians were less advanced. It was just that they had chosen to focus on different things. Europeans used animal power, which the Indians couldn't use. The largest animal on the Americas was the llama, and it's not a beast you can plow with. The Europeans also invented machines and devices to make their work easier. But Indians had life pretty easy in some ways. Plenty of food, less trouble with fitting the environment. They had focused not on machinery or animal husbandry but on medicine, agriculture, transportation. Trouble was, none of these areas of expertise helped them stand up to an enemy that had them outmanned and outgunned.

My favorite example out of this book, the one that staggered my kids when I shared with them, is about the Incan highway system. The Incans built roads and bridges all up and down South America. In fact, some of those roads were transformed into the modern roads used there today. So when a village needed to send a message, they chose one of them who had trained for this purpose. He took the message, either in written or verbal form, and ran it up to the next stop - 250 miles away! That feat was not duplicated until the US came up with the Pony Express, but the Incans had managed to do it - without the pony. That dude from Marathon that delivered some message about a battle - what a wimp!

I really, really wish that I could read an updated edition of this one. In the last chapter, Weatherford talks about how native cultures are under attack, and with every death of an elder, society is losing that store of wisdom that may not be replaceable. Now that 25 years have passed, how much more have we lost? The secrets to curing more diseases with plants? The knowledge of food that will grow under adverse conditions - maybe even in space? The ability to calculate even more complicated mathematics, like the Aztecs had? We don't know. But I am glad that I read this book. It reminded me that the history of America did not start on Plymouth Rock or Jamestown or anywhere like that. America, under one name or another, has been here for thousands of years. 4.5 stars

Another abandoned book: Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, war category

I tried, I really did. I made it almost 100 pages in. I even looked the book up on Sparknotes to see if I was missing something that would motivate me to keep reading. No such luck.

My review on what I did manage to read:

Yura is a young Russian boy whose parents are aristocrats. The book opens with his mother's funeral and is followed immediately by his father's suicide. That pretty much sets the tone of the book. It is what I think of as typically Russian - lots of characters, lots of drama and passion, some religion and politics thrown in for good measure, and lots of unhappy people. In the 100 pages I read, there was 1 suicide, 2 attempts, 1 murder attempt, and 2 or 3 other deaths. These people seriously need some Prozac. And every single person who is on the page needs to be named, no way of telling who will be important later, unless of course you cheat and check on Sparknotes. I can't understand why this was ever classified as a romance.

Too much, just way too much. Not for me at all, certainly not right now, but probably not ever.

The Sleeping Car Murders by Sebastien Japrisot, new author male category

About 10 pages in to this book, I wasn't sure that I would like it. It starts with the discovery of a woman's body on the train. The police arrive to investigate. Then the writer starts referring to the investigating detective as "the man they called Grazzi." They called him Grazzi? Either that's his name or it's not. A small point of style, but I was afraid that there would be more little things like that that would just bug me. As I got into the book, however, the writer stopped referring to the detective in that way, I got caught up in the story, and I had no more problems.

As I said, the book begins with the discovery of a murdered woman on a train. The police have a list of the passengers in that car and start there. But one by one, their suspects/witnesses are murdered. What is going on? Will they catch the killer before everyone is dead?

I will admit that I guessed the murderer before the end, but I was lost as to why or how the crimes were committed. I wound up really enjoying this one. I haven't read others by this author, and since this is an old book, I'm not sure how easy it would be to find more by him. But I liked this one and I recommend it. Mine has an especially ugly cover - train tracks leading up to strange head - but ignore the cover, don't let the first chapter get to you, and give the book a try.

Bats Fly Up for Inspector Ghote by HRF Keating, returning favorites category

Keating is one of those authors that I really can't predict. He wrote one of my top reads of 2009, but also one of my worst reads. This one is in the middle, but more towards the top.

Inspector Ghote is chosen for a new assignment. He is recruited for the Black-money and Allied Transactions Squad, who investigate illegal transactions designed to circumvent income tax or import fees. There are some big sums at stake, involving shiploads of illicit gold. But twice in a row, when the squad goes to make a big arrest, someone has tipped the crooks off before they get there.

So who's the informer? Ghote's real job is to find out. As his time with the squad increases, he finds himself suspecting everyone. There are only 5 men on the squad. Who can be trusted? Ghote's instincts tell him to trust no one, but that attitude starts seeping into everything he does, even with his wife and young son. He'd better hurry up and solve this case before he loses it all.

I liked this one a lot, but I didn't love it as much as Under a Monsoon Cloud last year. This one doesn't have quite as strong a feeling of place. It would have helped also to read this one first, as it rather was rather spoiled by knowing that one of the characters was innocent, since he was in a later book. If you do want to read the series - and good luck, they are out of print but worth searching for - read this one before Under a Monsoon Cloud. Highly recommended.

The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu by Michael Stanley, new author male category

When a man is discovered murdered and mutilated at a holiday camp in Botswana, police assume they know what happened - another camper, now missing, must be the murderer. All they have to do is catch him. But if they want to catch the murderer, they must first find out who it is that was really murdered. The kind, caring schoolteacher everyone loved? A freedom fighter in Zimbabwe's messy recent struggle for independence? The longer they look, the more complicated it gets.

I really enjoyed this book. It is the second in the series, after A Carrion Death, but I didn't feel too lost by just jumping in. It's an interesting contrast to the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books which are set in the same country, just a few years earlier. It's interesting to see what has changed in the country - cell phones are everywhere, crime scene science has improved - and what hasn't. Detective Kubu's respect for his elderly parents is still very strong. And the situation with neighboring countries South Africa and Zimbabwe is still complicated.

This one is not really a cozy, like the Mma Ramotswe books, but more of a police novel. I recommend it and now I will have to go back and read the first.

Those look like some good mysteries. I am just starting to enjoy reading mysteries, and I don't really know any authors of non-cozies, so I am enjoying reading your reviews of these.

On The Sleeping Car Murders, maybe that "they called him Grazzi" bit is a too-literal translation? It looks like the author is French, and I think that is a more French way of putting it. In French, you don't literally say "my name is ___"; you say, "I call myself ___." (Which makes it sound like you might be giving an alias.) I can't remember now, but it may be the convention to say, "they call him" rather than "he calls himself" when giving the name of a third person.

It might have been that. I didn't think of that. It does turn out that it's a nickname - his name is Grazziano. But it kind of bugged me at the beginning. Still, I enjoyed the book. I haven't read very many French mysteries.

Calling Doctor Zhivago an "Emo book" really cracked me up :) No shame in quitting, I think!
The whole "three names and four nicknames" thing in classic russian literature tends to be pretty daunting...The again, the russian bricks I've actually read have all been worth it. This one, however, is not one of them, and is not rushing to the top of my TBR anytime soon.

I like Dostoevski and I like Solzhenitsyn, but this one was just too much. I think skipping this one would be a good idea.

So I have 29 books left to finish, counting the ones I'm reading now.

The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti, war category

Helmuth was a boy growing up in Hitler Germany who decided he just couldn't accept the Nazi philosophy. He and his friends start listening to the illegal broadcasts by the BBC. Soon they decide that listening is not enough - they want everyone else to know what is really going on. But then they are caught, and the penalty is death.

I enjoyed this story. I first heard of Helmuth Hubener because of a play performed about him at BYU. Hubener is a bit of a folk hero in Utah because he and his friends were LDS. I have read a biography written by one of his friends.

The reason for the relatively low rating is because that this was a book for teens. In fact, my daughter read it in 9th grade. Even for them, though, I think it skews a little young. My 12 year old could read this easily. I think the writer could have gone a little deeper. She talks about some of the torture that the Nazis used to break down Helmuth and his friends Brother Worbs, but doesn't give much detail about the emotional impact all this had. Maybe I'm a little harsh and on another day I would rate this higher. I think it would be a good book for a 12 or 13 year old to start learning about the World War II.

False Colours by Georgette Heyer, love category

Let me start by being honest - now matter how cheesy, how fantastic, how predictable, I love Georgette Heyer. She just makes me happy. I love that the characters are so much fun, that they are all smart or beautiful or witty or rich or all of these things and more, that everything works out at the end, that there are funny spots, I just love it all.

For the plot though -

Kit and Evelyn are twins. Kit arrives home from his service with the Diplomatic Corps in Vienna to find that Evelyn has disappeared, on the night before he was going to meet his fiancee's family. Kit's mother, who is a beautiful featherhead, convinces him to impersonate the missing twin. Against his better judgment, Kit agrees. And so all the trouble ensues. Kit falls in love with Evelyn's fiancee, he and his mother go to an amazing amount of trouble to keep up with the deception, but naturally, it all comes out. Everything wraps up neatly at the end.

Cressida is not my favorite Heyer heroine, but then, she is not the main character. Kit is, and I like him. Lady Denville and her large, good-humored suitor Sir Bonamy are also a lot of fun. It made me smile and it *almost* made me forget my back pain. Just what I needed.

I absolutely agree with you about Georgette Heyer. She has become one of my comfort reads, there's nothing better than knowing I am about to curl with on the sofa with a Georgette Heyer.

P.S. Hope you back is getting better.

I am feeling MUCH better. I'm currently deep into Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. It's been an odd sort of book. I didn't really care for the main characters until Strange came along, but I loved some of the ideas. I'm glad I stuck with it. I'm about halfway done. It is really big - almost 800 pages. I'm also proud of myself because I took my daughter to the bookstore today and didn't buy myself a single book! Oh, and I went to the library and only checked out an audiobook. I have so much I need to read at home already.

Finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - review later. For now, I'll just say that I'm glad I stuck with it.

Cindy, those 2 reviews were worth waiting for. I hope you'll post your comments for Indian Givers since there isn't another one and yours is very good. It lands on the wish list, as does A Carrion Death - the book that comes before The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu.

I also abandoned Dr Zhivago last year, and felt a little guilty about it. So much so that I rented the DVD and watched the movie. I know that the movie does not stay true to the book, but even so, it was just OK. Certainly not good enough to prompt me to give the book another try. I plan to try a different Russian this year - for my "Big Fat Russian Novel" category. Right now I'm thinking of Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.

@61 That would be a great choice, I think! I've read it three times, and it remains one of my absolute favourites.

Gosh, you are SO much harder grading the books you read than I am!!! :)
(But then, I don't often read far into a book I can't stand and rarely bother to give them a grade or review.)

And you seem to have been having a very hard time with finding good books to read lately. :(

I had to laugh at your comments of Dr. Zhivago. I've never read it but have read most of Tolstoy and Doestoevsky and have no intentions of ever going back to the Russian greats. I remember keeping long lists of who was who, and who was related to whom, and who had which nicknames. It's just not entertainment anymore.

Yeah, tastes change, and there's nothing wrong with that.

I'm already starting to think what I'm going to do with challenge 2.0 this time. At the rate I've been reading, I'll finish my first 100 books by the end of April, so I want to start thinking of what to read next. I think I'll go for another set of 10. Here's the categories I'm thinking of so far:

-historical fiction
-LDS books
-biography
-Europe
-debuts (I think this will be strictly mysteries)
-alternate worlds
-twists (for retold fairy tales and other familiar stories redone in a new way)

And that's as far as I've gotten. I want something to cover non-fiction, although I can certainly include that with the European books. I also want maybe a good creature feature idea or something like that. I just don't know what to call it.

Got it for another category! Adding Saturday morning matinee for another category. This will cover monster books, sci-fi with alien invasions, etc.

#64 I knew you were making good progress, but didn't realize that you were already so close to finishing 100 books! (In contrast, so far this year I've read about 32 books, only 15 of which are counting for my 1010 challenge.) I like your categories so far - especially debut mysteries!

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, new author female category

I don't know what my problem is this year, but I keep choosing these huge books! Albion's Seed at over 1000 pages, Team of Rivals at 800 or so, How to Cook Everything, His Excellency, George Washington, An Instance of the Fingerpost. And now, this one, which in some editions has around 1000 pages. Mine was MUCH smaller - under 800 pages!

But ignore the size of the book. (If you can - it's heavy!) This was an absorbing read that kept me interested.

I loved the idea - England using magic to defeat Napoleon. But it did get off to a slow start. It seems that while England did have magic, no real spell have been attempted in the last 150 years. What happened to all the magic? Is there anyone left who can actually DO magic? Yes. There is Mr. Norrell.

But Mr. Norrell, especially in the beginning, is not a very sympathetic character. He is fussy, jealous, and frankly, boring. I wasn't sure I really wanted to stick with this story. Then he does his first big spell against Napoleon. He creates an entire armada of ships, complete with sailors and cannons, made solely from - rain. What an enchanting idea! I loved it! So I decided I had to read what happened next.

Once Jonathan Strange comes on the scene (which sadly takes almost 200 pages!), the book picked up. Then Norrell tries a spell which drastically changes the situation. Suddenly England is in real trouble, and Napoleon is the least of it. The trouble is that the only people who seem to be aware of what's happening are also completely unable to tell anyone else.

I'm not sure who I would recommend this book to. I found it a captivating read, once it really got started. But not everyone will enjoy the pace or the scale of the book. I hate telling people that they need to read about 150 pages before they can tell if they will enjoy the book or not. I did, though, and I'm giving it 4.5 stars.

I tried to read this last year and just couldn't get into it, but I think I stopped before the 150 page mark.

>67 cmbohn: - I think that I have read more books this year that could have benefited from a good editor, it sounds like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell might be a good book to add to that list.

Last year one of my categories was writing and so many books said that one of the mistakes that a lot of first time writers make is putting too much stuff in the story that you don’t need (usually in the beginning) and for many the story would be helped by getting rid of the first part, in this case say maybe the first 150 pages? Bruce’s grandparents were well known editors so I have gotten to hear some stories about being editors from his mom & siblings. It really makes you appreciate a book that had a good editor, especially after reading a good book that could have benefited from one.

I love the alternate history stories that use magic! I am adding it to my wish list.

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

March recap
Another month over, time for a reading review!

Winners!

Team of Rivals - a huge book, but so well written and so well done in developing a clear picture of all the people involved. A Must Read for any student of US history.

Indian Givers - well worth reading. Each chapter uses a concrete example of whatever's being discussed, and plenty of research to back up every claim.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - see a trend? Lots of huge books, but all very, very good. After a slow start, I loved this book.

Charters and Caldicott - my pick for best of the Surprise category.

The Facts in the Case of E. A. Poe - hard to classify, but a captivating read.

Losers
More than last month. Let's hope April is better.

Vienna Prelude Overwritten and sentimental. Lots of Big Drama, but not a lot to really back that up. A sort of "Movie of the Week" look at WWII.

Doctor Zhivago Such a mess. Very Russian in feel, but not all Russian novels are like this. The best ones are very good indeed. This one - not so much.

Observations

23 books done this month.

I finished two categories this month, Surprise and New Author Female. Surprise is always an easy one, since I love to browse the library. But I've noticed that my highest rated books are ones recommended by other and not ones that just catch my eye. Still, I like being able to read things that I just plain want to read, no list necessary, so I think I will have to keep surprise books in the challenge somehow.

I didn't finish any LDS books this month. I think that's because with them, I like to have time to ponder and not just rush through. So they take longer. But I didn't even start any Information books. And all the mysteries wound up going in other categories besides Death.

Looks like I could finish this challenge by the end of April, but we'll see how it goes. I won't mind taking a little longer if that's what happens.

Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris, America category

I enjoyed this book. Roosevelt was an interesting person, full of contradictions. He was a man of action, but he loved to sit and read. He was definitely pro-America and wholeheartedly endorsed the Monroe Doctrine, but he also worked hard for peace. He was a family man, but his relationship with his oldest daughter remained a complicated one.

I learned a lot about the Roosevelt presidency from this book. I had no idea how close the US came to war, first with Germany and England and later with Japan. I also didn't realize that Roosevelt had tried to move towards civil rights, but faced such stiff opposition that he almost provoked another civil war. I did realize that he was the founder of the conservation movement in government and that he was a social reformer, but it was great to read the details.

My biggest complaint is that while I felt like I got a really good picture of Roosevelt, some of the other players remained a little shadowy. He just sort of dropped these Cabinet members in and didn't give much background of who they were, what they did before serving with the president, and how everyone fit in together. I got a lot of names, all right, but it was hard to keep them all straight. I also think there should have been more in there about McKinley's death and his assassin.

But overall, it is worth reading and I recommend it, especially if you are interested in US history. The author felt that Roosevelt was the most important president since Lincoln, and when I look at all his accomplishments, I might just have to agree. 4 stars.

There is a book up for giveaway over at goodreads that made me think of you.

Women in the Book of Mormon by Heather B. Moore

*touchstones won't work*

Thanks for thinking of me, susie! I will have to get over there and enter for it.

I need to add to my review of Theodore Rex. I was telling my daughter about the book. I was talking about his foreign relations and mentioned that Roosevelt predicted that the US would one day go to war with Japan, that Russia was headed for revolution, and that Kaiser Wilhelm seemed intent on ruling the world. "Wow, he was like psychic!" she said. So for what it's worth, Roosevelt may have been our only psychic president. Too bad he didn't seem to understand the economy enough to predict the stock market crash and the Depression.

Broken Things to Mend by Jeffrey R. Holland, LDS category

This book is a compilation of Elder Holland's talks in LDS General conference and on a few other occasions. As I read it, I found that it worked best for me to read a chapter or two and then ponder on it for a while. I got so much out of it. His talks cover a range of subjects, but all of them were so good. 5 stars.

I am currently listening to Articles of Faith on CD. I know I am not getting as much out of it as I would if I read it, but I also know that this is not taking anywhere near as long. I have the book too, so I'm going to keep listening and look through the book as well. It's interesting to me as well how everything you study or read fits together. This book is going along so well with the book by Holland and the one by Joseph Fielding Smith. Then I heard some scriptures and references relating to those books during the conference talks today. I didn't plan it this way, but I'm glad that I have all these books to study during Easter. It makes it more meaningful to me.

Double post! Internet troubles over here. Very slow.

Doctrines of Salvation, Volume 2 by Joseph Fielding Smith, LDS books category

This was a long book, at least it went slowly, but I am glad I read it. As I read it, I was struck by a couple of things. First, that time have changed quite a bit since it was written. Some of the policies he talked about have changed too. I had just read the chapters about family history work when I heard Elder Nelson's talk this weekend about the new Family Search and how it would work. However, the doctrine he talks about has changed very little.

So the next thing that struck me is that his audience was a little different too. I'm not sure how to explain that either; it was just a feeling. He also explained things *very thoroughly* - more than I felt was necessary.

I'm glad I read it, overall, but it was not as good as Volume 3, which I read last year. 3.5 stars.

Fablehaven 5: Keys to the Demon Prison

Seth and Kendra and their friends are ready to help them defend the world against the demon invasion. I don't want to give away too much, since this is just out and I'm sure that there will be a lot of people who haven't read it yet. In the last book, Seth and Kendra's parents were kidnapped by the Sphinx, and it was up to them to figure out how to get them back. They also needed to find a way to prevent the Demon Prison from opening. No spoilers, but let me say that they are not everything goes according to plan.

This is a great series, full of action. It's written for a little younger age than Harry Potter, but there are plenty of great themes in here. Mull is not afraid to put his characters through some tough things and not everyone survives. I loved the twist at the last book, and this one is also a very strong story. I may be a little generous in giving it 5 stars, but I was on the edge of my seat reading and shooed my kids away so I could finish the last two chapters in peace. Recommended for fantasy fans, and especially good for kids.

If Life Were Easy, It Wouldn't Be Hard by Sheri Dew, LDS category

For a brief little book, it packs a good-sized amount of stuff in here. I liked the anecdotes from her own life that she shared. I also liked the reminder that life is a test - but it's an open book test, and we are supposed to ask for the answers.

My favorite quote - "A change in behavior is not enough--we must have a change in nature." 4.5 stars

Dragon Spear by Jessica Day George, returning favorites category

Creel is just about ready for her wedding day, when a relaxing trip to visit her dragon friends Shardas and Velika turns into a desperate attempt to help avert a dragon war. I loved reading more about dragon culture and the ending was great. What a fun series, and I love Creel.

So I'm reading 5 books now, and last night, when I wanted something to read in the tub, what did I do? Started another book. See, the other books were all serious books and I wanted a bedtime story. So I'm also reading Last Respects by Catherine Aird, but it's a reread and I'm out of room on that category, so I guess it doesn't count.

No visitors to my thread in a while. I hope that doesn't mean I've gotten boring!

Not at all! I'm enjoying your mini-reviews of books I will never read. I just don't want to clutter up your thread when I don't have anything concrete to add. And I'm sure I'm not the only one...

Not boring. We're just not commenting much!

This thread is the main reason there's now a copy of Theodore Rex on my desk.

That's a relief!

>82 cmbohn: I love Catherine Aird's books, but I haven't read this one yet. I discovered her a few years ago at the used book store I frequent. One of her books caught my eye as I was browsing. (I think it was A Late Phoenix.) Since I like British mysteries and it was a bargain compared to the price of other paperbacks in the store, I thought I'd give it a try. I was hooked! Eventually I'll get hold of the ones I don't have yet.

I've been off-line for several days, but this is one of the threads that I always catch up one when I log on again. Like someone else said, I hate cluttering things up with non-constructive comments, but I lurk here all the time!

I realized that I do the same thing, so I'm trying to leave a comment more often. I love seeing what everyone is reading, but sometimes I don't have anything interesting to say.

RE 53 - this reminds me of a friend describing Anna Karenina as a Russian Danielle Steel book, fab!

RE 67 - I loved Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, but hated the last 2 or 3 pages.

#88 I have to remind myself to do that, too. I know I love getting comments, even when they don't really say anything, so I assume others like it too. I'll try to speak up more often!

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde, returning favorites category - category finished!

"It began with my father not wanting to see the Last Rabbit and ended up with my being eaten by a carnivorous plant. It wasn't really what I'd planned for myself -- I'd hoped to marry into the Oxbloods and join their dynastic string empire. But that was four days ago, before I met Jane, retrieved the Caravaggio and explored High Saffron. So instead of enjoying aspirations of Chromatic advancement, I was wholly immersed within the digestive soup of a yataveo tree. It was all frightfully inconvenient."

That was the first paragraph of this book. Let me say that this was undoubtedly the weirdest book I have read since The Eyre Affair by oh, by Jasper Fforde. When I first read it, I did not understand a single thing in that paragraph. Even now that I have finished the book, I'm not sure I could really tell you about it and make any sense at all.

But here's my best try - Eddie Russert and his father are on their way to a new town, a dumpy place called East Carmine. That's where Eddie meets Jane, and everything starts to go wrong.

The story is set in the future, about 500 years after Something Happened. No one knows what, but when it was all done, it left the survivors with a determination to hold their society together by following The Rules. The Rules cover everything from appropriate attire, conduct, and speech, to strange things like the prohibition of the number between 72 and 74. And your place in society is determined by what colors you can see. Eddie and his dad are Reds, but Jane is a lowly Grey.

I could tell you more, but by the time I was done explaining it, you could have already read the first 5 chapters, so if this sounds intriguing, then pick it up and see for yourself. It's very complicated, but I was really drawn into the story. There are a lot of things left unexplained at the end, but it's the first of a trilogy, and I can't wait to read the next one. 4.5 stars.

I can't believe that I lost your thread for so long, but I spent the afternoon catching up on just your reading. You've had some phenomenonal books in front of you. I was sure you had to be close to finishing the 1010 by now and I was right. If you're first to finish, you have to start the "I did it!" thread.

I'm glad I found you again.

I'm glad you did too!

Wow, you ARE almost done! That's a little depressing, since I'm only 1/3 of the way through...but good job! :)

Hey, we all go at our own pace. I think I've decided some of my neck pain is from reading, and that's got ME depressed. I need to figure out a way to read without straining my already unhappy neck muscles. Plus, I've gotten a lot of reading done because I'm not working as much as I need to and I haven't felt great. Now that it's nicer weather, I need to be getting more done around the house and the yard.

#95 Cindy, I hope you're feeling better with the nice weather finally here. Do you ever listen to audio books? That might be a way to relieve the neck strain - I use headphones if I'm up moving around or just play the CD's on the stereo if I'm sitting still with needlework or laundry or something.

>95 cmbohn: I have a friend that says he listens to about 5 audio books to every book that he reads. We usually just listen to audio books when we are on long car rides. We wouldn't want to actually talk to each other you know! We listened to Septimus Heap books 1 & 2 - Magyk and Flyte on our our trip to AZ.

DS

(Bruce's evil twin :-))

#97 My average isn't 5 to 1, but I'll bet it's pretty close to 50-50, especially if I'm doing a lot of "brainless" housework or spending a lot of time in the car. (We don't actually like talking to each other, either!)

I ought to listen to more. Right now, I have one for in the car, but none on CD for in the house. Sadly, the only tape player that works is in the car. I'm trying to rest the book on a pillow or read at the table instead of holding the book in my lap and look down. We'll see how it goes.

The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks, Death category

I guess the category is a stretch, really, but I'm going to put it there anyway.

Nina has been a vampire for a long time. Too long - about 35 years. And for the whole time, she's been going to this stupid support group with the same vampires and living undercover of darkness.

Being a vampire is not all Stephenie Meyer after all. (Imagine that.) It's extremely unpleasant. Nina hasn't been able to eat food for years. In fact, the smell makes her sick. She gets headaches all the time. She's tired. She's stuck at home. She has to drink blood - guinea pig, and it's not a pretty sight. And then she has to worry about people who might want to kill her.

That's what happens to one of the members of the support group in fact. He gets staked. Now he's nothing but a pile of ash. Fortunately, he wasn't much of a loss, but now Nina and the others are scared for their lives. Yeah, it stinks being a vampire, but dead is pretty final. So they'd better figure out who's behind it all. It's not like they can call the cops, is it?

This was a fun story, but nothing deep. I liked the idea, and it had some funny parts, but not very many. I would have enjoyed it more if there had been more humor. But I liked that Nina was finally able to charge of what was left of her life and do something. Fun for teens, a little light for adults, but still enjoyable.

I use a stack of three throw pillows when I'm reading in the comfy chair. I'm sure I look a bit odd, but I'm not looking down.

Cindy,

There s a website www.levenger.com that has all kinds of book related things and I've seen one that is a stand to set your book on that just sits on the table. I've been thinking about it too because I get cramps in my hands if I hold a heavy book for a look time. Maybe there is something out there for you to help with your neck angle. No harm in trying.

That's a great idea. I will have to ask for something like that for Mother's Day.

Copernicus' Secret by Jack Repcheck, information category

I picked this one up at the planetarium gift shop mostly because of the title, I think. I knew about Copernicus, and that he was the discoverer of the sun-centered solar system. But when I got into the book, I realized that there was so much I didn't know about him.

Copernicus was born in modern-day Poland. After his father's death, his uncle, a bishop, took care of him and his brother and paid for their university education. It was there that Copernicus began to study astronomy for the first time. But he never really did what you would expect. He got a degree in canonical law, not astronomy, and returned to Poland to become a canon. He almost completely gave up astronomy, except for his own private studies, which he didn't publish. And he became the town doctor. I also found that he became a military hero after he saved his town of Warmia from invasion and negotiated the peace.

It wasn't until the second half of the book that we get to understand how Copernicus and his discoveries became public knowledge, all because of his friendship with a young Lutheran mathematician and scientist.

I think this book could have easily been twice as long, and would have been better. But for an overview of Copernicus, his background and his discoveries, it is a good place to begin. I liked the pictures and illustration, and the last chapters, which covered the astronomers who succeeded him. Recommended. 3.5 stars

The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey, romance category

An early 20th century retelling of Beauty and the Beast, complete with Elemental Magic. Jason is the Firemaster, transformed through magical accident into a beast. Rose is the scholarly assistant he has found to help with his research. And Paul is the evil Apprentice with his own sinister plans to overtake his Master and enslave Rose.

Honestly, the best word for this story is silly. It wasn't a bad beginning, and I liked some of the secondary characters a great deal. But the idea that these two adults would be so smart about magic and so dumb about romance was hard to believe. And the evil bad guy plot seemed just borderline S/M, and I don't want to read about that at all. It never developed that way and instead of sinister, it read as - silly. What a disappointment.

I read The Fire Rose a number of years ago at the prodding of my daughter, and I agree with everything you are saying - it was really silly.

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, Love category

This is the rags-to-riches story of Fanny Price, a poor relation sent to live with her wealthy aunt and uncle and cousins, where she is unappreciated and lonely. Eventually, her family (some of them, anyway!) learn to love her and rely on her good nature and sweet disposition.

I was reading in someone else's thread about how so many people want all of Jane Austen's heroines to be Lizzie Bennett. Fanny couldn't be more different from Lizzie, but that doesn't mean she is less of a heroine, IMO. In fact, she reminded me a lot of my daughter, with her shyness and reluctance to be the center of attention, but her stubbornness about sticking to her principles. I still *love* Pride and Prejudice, but I loved this book too. The biggest contrast that I noticed, in fact, was that between Mr. Darcy and Edmund Bertram. And for annoying relations, I believe I would actually prefer to be related to Mrs. Bennett to Aunt Norris, although Mr. Collins is worse than either of them.

If you are an Austen fan, I really would recommend this book. I loved it. 5 stars

I'm glad you loved Mansfield Park! I have to admit that, try as I might, I just can't love Fanny Price as much as I love Lizzy Bennet...but I'm definitely warming to Fanny more and more. She's so admirable in sticking to her guns, even when her family, whom she really loves and wants to please, is pressuring her to do something wrong.

That was one thing I really liked about her. She doesn't criticize or cause trouble, but she doesn't change her mind either.

@91 Seen many positive mentions of Shades of gray, but this is one that triggered my interest for real. Onto the list it goes!

I love your sense of humour, by the way. Your dry little remarks in passing, like Being a vampire is not all Stephenie Meyer after all. (Imagine that.) cracks me up every time.

Let me know what you think when you read it, GingerbreadMan! And as for the humor, we seem to be a family of smart-alecks. When one of my kids complains, I point out that it's a family trait! We're all pretty sarcastic around here.

14 books left to go, counting ones I'm currently reading. January and February were such good months that I thought I might finish the whole challenge by the end of April, but it looks like it will take a little longer than that. I'm still OK with that!

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, war category, plus a book club book

The tagline on the book cover reads: The Greatest War Novel of All Time. I think 'The Greatest Anti-war Novel of All Time' would be more accurate. After finishing this book, it's no wonder to me that the third Reich banned this book. War is not presented as something heroic or glorious or patriotic, but as something ugly, dehumanizing, and very, very bloody.

Paul Bäumer enlists with a group of classmates after hearing over and over again from his schoolmasters about how their duty is to fight in this glorious war for their country. But it doesn't take more than a day at the front for Paul and his friends to realize that glory is the last thing on their minds. All they think about is survival. And when they are deep in the trenches, it is kill or be killed, over and over and over again.

The violence is almost non-stop, and it is incredibly graphic. Nothing is tidied up. So the men who forget their gas masks on time, the horses who are shot and scream for hours before someone can get to them and kill them, the man suffering alone on the battlefield, gurgling and crying and moaning for days, the miserable death of a comrade after his leg is amputated and the efforts to secure his boots before someone else does - it is all here, and it gets hard to take.

There are a few brief respites. Paul often stops, at least when he can, to ask himself what will happen to them all when the war is over.

Albert expresses it: "The war has ruined us for everything."
He is right. We are not youth any longer. We don't want to take the world by storm. We are fleeing. We fly from ourselves. From our life. We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces. The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in our hearts. We are cut off from activity, from striving, from progress. We believe in such things no longer, we believe in the war."

I had seen the movie, so I knew how the book ended, but the movie had to leave out much of the horror of the war. It captured very well the sense of isolation, the comradeship. But it's hard to make a war movie unless you make it violent.

I chose this book for book club, and I'm sure that some of the women will have found it too much to take. It is brutal. But there are exquisite parts in there, even some humor, and while I had to occasionally put the book down so I could breathe, it was a great book. So I recommend it, but with the caution that it is very strong stuff. And yet it is poetic at the same time. 5 stars

>113 cmbohn: An excellent review of All Quiet on the Western Front.

This was an assigned book in my 20th Century Lit class, at the height of the Vietnam War. I'm certain that I'll never read it again -- but it's a book that I'll never forget.

#113 Thumbs up from me for a great review. I'll admit, though, that you've given me second thought about whether to read the book. A book club might be the best reason for reading it - where you've got a built-in support group to talk about everything that is depicted. Is this the same group that read Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands? After dissing that book that they seemed to appreciate and then suggesting this one that you think they won't, they may begin to have second thoughts about keeping you in the group! ;-)

It is the same group! I hadn't thought of that, either! I hope it goes well. Next month we're totally switching gears for Pollyanna, which I haven't read since I was a kid. It's sort of uneven, but it is generally fun.

Hopefully it will be OK - it sounds like this book could generate a lot of good discussion, even if everyone doesn't like it, or even finish it. What an interesting group that must be - you certainly read a wide variety of things! It sounds like a lot of fun.

Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland by Sally M. Walker, America category

I love reading about forensic anthropology. I was happy to find out about this title. But when I found in the children's section of the library, I wasn't too sure what to think. It was a good surprise. Although it did sometimes have too many definitions of things I already knew, it made up for it by having more pictures than an adult book would probably have.

This book covers various graves found in Maryland that date from the colonial period. It has plenty of pictures, which is a definite plus, and a wide range of subjects. One of the most interesting discoveries was of a trio of lead coffins found in what had been a Catholic church. It was fascinating reading about what the researchers went through and what they learned. The saddest discovery was of the skeleton of a 15 year old boy, just sort of hidden under a house. The boy had signs of tuberculosis of the spine and severe abscesses in his teeth that would have caused constant pain and lead to widespread infection in his blood. There was also evidence that his master had tired of his inability to do his work and tried to beat him to motivate him to work harder. Instead, he killed the boy and then buried him under the house to cover it up.

It's not a long book, but I really enjoyed it. I think teens would find it an interesting read too, especially if they are interested in history, forensics, or crime.

>118 cmbohn: I think that one's on my wishlist! I remember reading about the discovery of the boy's skeleton somewhere. Maybe in Smithsonian Magazine.

The Science of Star Wars: An Astrophysicist's Independent Examination of Space Travel, Aliens, Planets, and Robots by Jeanne Cavelos

This woman is obsessed with Star Wars. I mean, seriously, beyond anyone I've ever known, obsessed with Star Wars. It's not obvious right at first, although on the flyleaf it told about how the author decided to become an astronomer after watching Star Wars for the first time. But as I was reading the book, I realized this was a whole different magnitude of fandom. She has obviously watched the movies hundred of times, and read every single book in all the series, at least once. But the reali giveaway was when she referred to Jar Jar Binks as "a loveable goofball." OK, that is just not normal.

But about the book - it wasn't quite what I expected either. It takes the whole Star Wars thing so seriously, and tries to seriously account for every aspect of the movie - the planets, the lifeforms, and so on. There wasn't enough tongue in cheek for me to be able to pay attention to the science. Only recommended for real Star Wars geeks.

>120 cmbohn: I really enjoyed The Science of Doctor Who but found The Science of Hitchhiker's Guide to be a bit on the light side. I think that The Science of Star Wars must be added to my collection!

DS

(Bruce's evil twin :-))

DS - You might like it. The one section that I found the most interesting was about Darth Vader's cyborg body and modern artificial limbs. That was pretty cool. But I gave up completely on the space travel section.

Spineless Wonders: Strange Tales from the Invertebrate World by Richard Conniff

Ready for some really creepy, bizarre, and fascinating stories? This book is packed with incredible stuff - and it's all true. Starting with the common housefly and ending with slime hags (ewww!), this takes various different "spineless wonders" and presents them in all their weird glory.

I was extremely glad to discover that fire ants are not likely to become my near neighbors, reminded again of why I *hate* mosquitoes, and found out what it takes to study beetles in the jungle. My favorites were the dragonflies - I just think they are beautiful - and the giant squid.

Even weirder than the creatures, though, are the people who study them. From the guy with a stained glass picture of a flea (no joke) to the researcher who pulled a gun on a fellow beetle enthusiast, these folks are odd. Imagine being married to the leech fancier. He had tanks and tanks of leeches in a barn. He didn't even make any money on them. But now, thanks to his research, pharmaceutical companies are scrambling to be the first to buy his discoveries and market the drugs based on what he has learned.

This one was fun to listen to in the car with my son. 4 stars

#123 Cindy, that does sound like a fun audio book to share with the kids. Our library only has it in print, though, so I'll have to settle for that. Thanks for the recommendation - you read the most interesting books!

Ooh, that one looks good! Am adding it to my wishlist.

The print copy would be great too, especially if it has pictures!

The Articles of Faith by James E. Talmage, LDS category

Talmage takes each of the LDS Church's Articles of Faith and goes through the doctrine behind each one. The book was based on a series of lectures Talmage gave while teaching. The Church then asked if Talmage would collect these into a book, which was first published in 1910, I think.

My biggest problems with the book were first, that it wasn't clear who the intended audience was. If it was for members of the church like myself, then the basic doctrines don't need so much explanation. I know who Joseph Smith is. If it is intended more for others to learn about what we believe, as I think it was the basic intent, then I think there is too much detail. I just can't see many outsiders picking this up for a little casual reading to learn more about the Mormons.

The other problem I have is that it is so old. For instance, when talking about the gathering of Israel, the modern nation didn't exist yet. The Church was still somewhat officially calling everyone to migrate to the West. The only temples were in Utah. So much of that has changed.

All that said, I did learn a lot from this book. One of the most interesting parts was about how and why the Bible is organized the way it is. I had never heard that before. I also really enjoyed the part about the 11th Article of Faith, which is about religious tolerance. I liked this quote, although the wording is old-fashioned:

"Happiness is foreign, liberty but a name, and life a disappointment, to him who is denied the freedom to worship as he may desire. No person possessing a regard for Deity can be conent if restricted in the performance of the highest duty of his existence. Could one be happy, though he were housed in a palace, surrounded with all material comforts and provided with every facility for intellectual enjoyment, if he were cut off from communion with the being whom he loved the most?"

I'm not sure who I would recommend this for. Members of LDS Church would surely learn a lot from it, but it is a little out of date. Those not of our faith and wanting to learn what we believe would be better off just reading the articles themselves. My rating might be a little high, but I did enjoy this book. It was just a little dense at times.

For those who are interested, here is a link to the Articles of Faith under discussion:
http://scriptures.lds.org/en/a_of_f/1/

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes, America category

Johnny is apprentice to a silversmith in Boston. When an accident leaves Johnny burned and unable to work, he has to find a new way of life. He settles in to a new home and starts meeting some very prominent citizens - John Hancock, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, Josiah Quincy - and before long, he is thrown in to the cause of liberty. Johnny's friendships are tested and he must figure out how he can best be a patriot himself.

I liked this book. I don't know how I managed to miss reading it before now. I guess I might have read it as a girl and forgotten it. But it was good to read it again, with all the stuff I've read about the Revolutionary War fresh in my mind. One of the things I appreciated is that there are very few clear bad guys or good guys. Both the British soldiers and the rebels believe in their cause, but on a personal level, they could easily be friends. But once shots are fired, those friendships have to be put aside for the cause of the war. I also liked how Johnny grows up during the course of the book, from a self-centered, cocky boy to a sober young man. Highly recommended.

#128 Looking forward to your comments. This is one of my long-time favorite books.

The review is up!

The Ransom Game by Howard Engel, Death category

Benny Cooperman is a small time private eye, stuck in Gratham, Ontario, and it's winter. He's daydreaming about joining his folks in Florida when a beautiful blond walks in the door. She wants to hire Benny to find her good friend Johnny Rosa.

Johnny is out of jail now, but he's got lots of folks out looking for him. Him or the half a million dollars ransom he managed to collect on the kidnapping that sent him to jail. Once word gets out that Benny is on the case, he's got folks looking for him, too.Things, naturally, take a few twists, and somebody winds up dead. Will Benny figure out who's behind it all before he's dead, too?

I don't read a lot of noir, but I found myself thinking about my friends here who would enjoy this book. It's different from my usual read, but I liked it too. I couldn't help guessing that Benny was making a few dumb mistakes, but it turned out that he was one step ahead of me too. This is the second in the series, and I didn't read the first, but I don't feel like I missed anything by reading them out of order. Probably out of print, but if you like the genre, worth looking for.

101 Things to Do with a Casserole by Stephanie Ashcraft and Janet Eyring, information category

If you've never heard of combining cream of chicken soup and, well, anything else, this is the cookbook for you.

My family are picky eaters. My son hates meat, one daughter hates most vegetables and lots of other things, and the other one hates macaroni and cheese. None of them much like casseroles. So why on earth did I bother with this cookbook? Because I like them. And frankly, I keep hoping that somewhere, there is a recipe out there that will make everyone happy. Besides pizza.

I didn't find it. But I did find a few more things that I would like to try, like mango chicken and southwest chicken rollups. And I found a few recipes that every one of my kids would hate, like tuna tater-tot casserole and even worse, fish and cheesy pasta casserole. It's like macaroni and cheese - plus fish sticks. Yeah, not going to happen.

I think I was expecting too much, but even so, too many of the recipes were too similar. We'll see how the ones I found go over. Until then, I'm not really recommending this one.

I like a good casserole now and then (especially spaghetti casserole, yum) but fish-based ones gross me out and make the house smell all fishy. I've never understood the popularity of those.

The Benny Cooperman mysteries sound interesting. I'll have to look for them. Good to know that I don't have to start at the beginning.

And Johnny Tremain is one of my all time favorite childhood novels. I fell in love with Rab. I should see if I still have my aged copy as it might be a good book to read with the kids since we are almost finished Howl's Moving Castle. My daughter is really into the Revolutionary War and was deeply impacted by a trip to the local battlefield (Cowpens, SC) during an anniversary reenactment. We're planning a trip this summer to Williamsburg and Jamestown to make absolutely certain that she understands that history is fantastically exciting.

I too remember Johnny Tremain with great fondness. Isn't it neat how these beloved childhood books linger in the memory!

Thanks for your review of 101 Things to Do With A Casserole. I have no intention of getting the book, but I have two grandchildren that are such fussy eaters, it's good to hear that others have to deal with meal issues as well!

>132 cmbohn: The problem with casseroles is a lot of people find it hard to get passed the "can of cream of x soup" phase.

Have you looked at Casserole Crazy: Hot Stuff for Your Oven! it has recipes for pizza casserole & chili cheese corn dog casserole.

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

I just got two new cookbooks and they aren't even in the database from LOC or Amazon so I'm going to have to add them manually sometime this week. Freezer Pleasers and The Busy Family are the titles. The pictures are gorgeous, now I just have to find a chance to make the food.

World War Z (stupid touchstone) by Max Brooks, new author male category

This book is freaking amazing. I'm not even talking about the actual plot; I'm talking about the writing. Brooks had to do some incredible world-building to even start this book. First, he had to imagine what would happen if there was a zombie war. How would it start? How would it spread? Which countries would be the most affected and which would be the least affected? How would people react? What would the government do? What weapons - if any - would work against the zombies?

And then the book is set 10 years after the war is over. So the there's a whole new set of questions - How would we begin to recover? What would have happened to society? What would life be like for the survivors? How would the environment have been affected?

As for the actual book, this is strong stuff. There is a lot of language, and a LOT of violence. It's seriously creepy. The undead are not pleasant. The stories of the survivors and how they managed to survive are sometimes not pretty at all. OK, they're never pretty, really, but some of them are some nasty slices of human behavior.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. My family was surprised when I got all squealy and fan-girl about it. I can't really explain it either. I don't normally read horror. But something about zombies - wow, so dang creepy! And fun somehow too! Yeah, I can't explain it.

I would *not* recommend this book for everyone. If you are considering reading it at all, pick it up and read the first few pages. If that just disturbs you too much, then you probably won't enjoy the book. And if you can't suspend disbelief long enough to accept the idea of a zombie plague, then I don't think you'd like it much either. But I thought it was amazing.

>138 cmbohn: Zombies. Have you seen the movie Pathogen?

It was written and directed by Emily Hagins. It is the first feature-length film directed by a teenager in America. She was 12 when she wrote, directed and produced it. If you are a fan of zombies you should check it out. I'm not a big zombie fan but she has been a guest at CONvergence (our youngest guest ever), so of course we had to get a DVD and have her autograph it! Everyone that I talked to loved the movie. I think it's amazing, just the fact that it exists is amazing, not very many people make movies when they are 12.

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

5 books left, plus the one I am listening to! I still need some for the LDS category, America, and War. I don't remember which ones I got from the library, but I think I have one each for America and War. So close!

and honestly, I'm not sure I could take a zombie movie! Books are one thing, actually seeing the rotting flesh - pretty stinking scary.

The Second Rescue: The Story of the Spiritual Rescue of the Willie and Martin Handcart Pioneers by Susan Arrington Madsen, LDS category

Every LDS knows the story of the Martin and Willie Hardcart companies, two groups of pioneers who started across the plains late in the season only to be caught by an early snowstorm. They bogged down in the mud and snow, suffered exposure from the horrible weather, and got frostbite from fording icy rivers. Many died, sometimes even entire families. They were rescued and brought in from the plains. When they arrived in Salt Lake with black and frozen limbs, half starved, they were taken into home and nursed back to health. But the graves on the plains were unmarked. For many years, it wasn't even clear how many died out there or who they were.

Little by little, helped by the stories of survivors and by researching all the documents that could be found, the church was able to piece together just what had happened. This story is about the effort to memorialize those lost on the plains and to provide temple work for them.

The Riverton Wyoming stake made it their mission to find these pioneers, the ones of the Willie handcart company, and tell their stories. They headed the efforts to research their identities, to get the temple work done, and then to provide a fitting memorial in Rock Creek Hollow in Wyoming.

The most touching story to me was of 10 year old Bodil Mortensen, a Danish girl, who was on those plains without any of her family. Since her family couldn't afford to all go to Zion at once, they sent the oldest daughter ahead to work and wait for the rest. Bodil was to come next, and the rest of the family to follow. But little Bodil was among those who froze and starved to death. The thought of that poor little girl, alone, with probably no one else who spoke her language, dying alone was pretty heartbreaking.

I appreciate this story as it reminds me first, how precious my family is, and second, how lucky I am not to have to suffer such privations just to practice my faith. Sure, I have to put up with some ridicule, but I haven't been burned out of my house or been shot at or starved out. Very inspirational. Recommended for Latter-day Saints.

Ironclad: The Monitor and the Merrimack by Arthur Mokin, America category (could be in War category also)

I was browsing the library, looking for something for my America category when I found the Civil War section. A lot of them sounded good, but when I saw this one, I realized that I really didn't know much about the naval battles in the Civil War. But I had heard that that marked the beginning of modern battleships, so I picked up a few books and looked through them. This one was the one that pulled me in, by the description of the whole event as a great story.

Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, was Lincoln's "Father Neptune," despite never being a sailor or seafaring type. But he did have an absolute dedication to his work. As he got into his new job, he realized what a chore he had cut out for himself. Many of their most experienced officers were Southerners. Most of the ships themselves were in the South. And the department was out of date, underfunded, and spread much too thin. It was his job to come up with something, anything, that could be crafted into a navy and prevent the Europeans from sending aid to the Confederacy.

The ships themselves were a huge part of this story. The Merrimack had been badly damaged and was awaiting repairs in Roanoke. If the South could get her fixed up, she was going to be the biggest threat to the blockade. So the North better come up with something to fight with and fast. They found Captain Ericsson. Ericsson, a native Swede, had designed a revolutionary ship, but he had a difficult reputation and prickly manner. Many were convinced this ship would never even float, much less win a battle. Lifelong sailors had a huge trouble making the shift first from sail to steam, and now they needed to shift from wood to steel. It was a huge gamble, and one the North had to win or the war would be lost and soon.

I really enjoyed this story. The only part I didn't love was that there was a little too much speculation in parts, which was distracting. I also wish there had been pictures. The only pictures were the ones on the cover. I had to go online to see what the ships had looked like.

If you are interested in naval history or the Civil War, I recommend this one. There are several books on the subject, but this was one even I, a complete landlubber, could enjoy. 4 stars.

The 31st of February by Julian Symons

Anderson's wife fell down the stairs three weeks ago. It wasn't that they were close. In fact, he can't remember now why he ever married her. But for some reason, he's falling apart after her death. Maybe it's because the police have been coming around asking questions. He's been finding strange letters. And his office calendar keeps changing its date. He can't keep his mind on his work at the advertising firm. What really happened to Valerie?

This is perhaps the book that Symons is best known for, but I didn't enjoy it as much as some of his others. A Three Pipe Problem was better. The feeling of being unable to know whether Anderson had really killed his wife, was he going crazy or was he being persecuted - it made for a good story, but it could have been better. What saved it for me was the ending. Suddenly, I looked at everything in a different light and it was much more interesting. 3.5 stars

I've reshuffled my books again, putting Lemon Tart in with the LDS books so I could fit The 31st of February in with the Death books. Now I have 5 books left! So dang close!

Oh, and I read my ER book, Time Among the Dead. Just awful. I really hated it. The only thing I liked about it was that it was short!

#145 With a teaser like that, I HAD to go read your review. "I wish I could wash my brain out." Very funny! Better luck next time.

Listening Woman by Tony Hillerman, America category

This one is a bit of a stretch, but here's the story. I had found a book about the Iroquois I was going to read for this category and was looking for another book when I passed the Tony Hillerman mysteries. 'Hey,' I thought, 'those are about Native Americans too!' So I swapped the books and took this one home. I will probably go back and read the other one another time, although it looked a little superficial at first glance.

Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn of the Navajo Police is looking for an excuse to get out of patrolling a Boy Scout encampment, so he goes looking through some cold case stuff. He finds the file on a double homicide that is still open. As he digs into the case, he is nearly killed by a crazy driver who laughs as he runs him down. And the more he looks, the more several unrelated cases seem to all tie together. Could a terrorist group be hiding out there in desert?

I really like this series. Taken individually, the stories are not necessarily the best. But the series as a whole is a little window into a different way of life, and I love the characters. I know the author is an Anglo from Oklahoma, so why he chose to write about the Southwest is a mystery. But from my perspective here in Utah, he does a great job of getting the feel just right. 3.5 stars

Cat's Cradle - Chieko Okazaki LDS category

Sister Okazaki uses the familiar symbol of the cat's cradle made out of string to illustrate an important principle. In that little figure, no one segment of string can say it is the most important. The string works all together, as one piece, or it doesn't work. If we approach relationships from the same perspective, we can get so much more accomplished than if we are worrying about who gets the credit, who is doing more work, or which jobs are more glamorous.

She talks a lot about her life with her husband and lessons she learned as a teacher and principal. She told some great stories, but I felt that it got a little repetitive at times. But it was a very inspirational book. The most touching part for me was when she talks about change and how we should react to change. Last week, my daughter was admitted to the hospital for depression and the next day my husband lost his job. Talk about some changes! We have had a lot of tough experiences the last few years, and I am not excited about this latest batch. I needed a reminder that there is One who 'changest not' and I can count on Him. 3.5 stars

Night - Elie Wiesel War category

An amazing and powerful book about the Holocaust. I'm sure there are a bunch of reviews on here and I'm not quite sure what to say. The edition I read had the author's speech from his Nobel Prize acceptance in the book. I'll share a couple of quotes from that.

"We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere."

"One person of integrity can make a difference, a difference of life and death. As long as one dissident is in prison, our freedom will not be true. As long as one child is hungry, our life will be filled with anguish and shame."

What makes these statements all the more meaningful is reading it after reading Wiesel's experiences. 5 stars.

April Recap

Winners!

The Second Rescue - The Story of the Spiritual Rescue of the Willie and Martin Handcart Pioneers some great stories in here

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War - stupid touchstone! So stinking cool!

Fablehaven - Keys to the Demon Prison - not perfect, I'll admit, but it was so much fun

Shades of Grey - it's good to read something really weird now and then

Mansfield Park - charming Cinderella story

Dragon Spear - nice ending to a fun series

The Quiet Gentleman - I love Georgette Heyer!

All Quiet on the Western Front and Night - Elie Wiesel, two powerful stoires of war and survival

Overall, another good month. I finished 6 categories this month alone: LDS books, information, new author male, death, love, and returning favorites. My best category this month was America, lots of books finished and lots of good ones in there. I still need to finish another book for the war category and finish the one I started for America.

But it wasn't all good this month! Here are the

Losers!

The Fire Rose - boring retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and I didn't like the ending

The Science of Star Wars: An Astrophysicist's Independent Examination of Space Travel, Aliens, Planets, and Robots - I got tired of this idea LOOOONG before the book was done

101 Things to do with a Casserole - not worth reading

So almost done and then it's on to the next challenge!

Love the Winners! and Losers! categories! It is always great when you have more winners than clunkers. I hate when my reading is littered with clunkers.,... it depresses me. Georgette Heyer is always a good comfort read in my opinion.

I think so too. I have Friday's Child which I am saving for when I need something to cheer me up.

@152 :: Aww, love Friday's Child! I want to marry the hero and all his friends as a collective unit. :) Hope you enjoy it!

So, if someone had never read any Georgette Heyer and wanted to try one, which two or three titles would you suggest?

@154 :: I know you're probably not asking me, but I couldn't resist answering this question! :) I'd recommend The Grand Sophy and Cotillion, which are two of my favorites, and also These Old Shades, which seems to be one of the most popular ones. But honestly, you can't go wrong no matter which one you choose! :)

Thank you!

I loved those as well, and would add Charity Girl to the list.

I am stuck in the middle of Polk's Folly, which I'm enjoying, but it's about the Civil War right now, and there's only so many times I want to read about the Civil War in a month. Or I could start War Trash or Sarah's Key, but again, I'm a little tired of war. My audiobook is The West - Geoffrey Ward and I'm enjoying it, but I'm just feeling a little uninspired. I even 'cheated' and read one of my next 100 books early.( A Free Man of Color - no review up yet, but I really enjoyed it.)

Grump, grump. I'm in a slump. I'll take Polk's Folly with me to the doctor's office and I'll read it then, but I need a break! It's frustrating to be so close to done, but all I want to do is read some fluff. And I don't even have any fluff in the house! All I got at the library was serious stuff.

I think you need to go back to the library and get an enormous pile of assorted fluff and read it until you are absolutely yearning for something substantial. Reading should never be an onerous chore and every single one of us needs a break now and then.

#158 I hate when that happens! Taking your book with you to the doc's is a good idea, though. Sometimes when you're FORCED to stick with just one book for a while, you can break free of the "slump". But it sounds like you really do need to go back to the library and pick up some fluffy books. Of course, if you're like me, then maybe you should just put all the books aside for a few days and do something else this weekend. Hope you're back on track soon!

I think you're right. I found Interesting Times last night. Nothing like a little Pratchett to make you feel better! Now I'm deep with Rincewind and Cohen the Barbarian.

#161 Wonderful! I can just imagine you smiling and sighing with contentment as you typed that!

Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett, War category

The Unseen University needs to send a wizard - make that 'wizzard' - to the Counterweight Continent. But they need someone expendable. That someone, of course, is Rincewind. Using Hex, a complicated new machine that seems to think on its own, they first summon Rincewind from his peaceful island hideout and then blast him into the unknown.

Rincewind, as anyone could have predicted, gets into trouble almost immediately. It seems the Counterweight Continent is in the middle of a Somewhat Aggressive Movement Slightly Against the Government. Or more plainly, a revolution. But one with lots of ideals and very little practical experience. All Rincewind has had experience in is in avoiding trouble - and he can tell this movement is heading for A LOT of trouble.

And then there's the Silver Horde, Cohen the Barbarian's elderly group with their own ideas about storming the palace. They have a new member, Teach, who's trying to teach them to be civilized. It's not easy.

I really, really enjoyed this one. Don't read it first - you need to read at least Eric first, but really reading - or even watching - The Colour of Magic is very helpful. Twoflower the tourist is back, and so is the Luggage. DEATH naturally has a part, since this IS a war we're talking about.

I loved Rincewind's efforts at helping the Horde win the war. His campaign to convince everyone that there is certainly NOT a host of 2,300,009 ghosts waiting to devour anyone who gets in their way is absolutely brilliant. And we get to meet the long lost cousin of Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler too. Exactly the antidote I needed to all the serious stuff I've been reading lately. 5 stars

***
I'm counting this for my war category, because it is about war. It's about idealistic revolutionaries and how they are going to revolt against the government in the name of helping the peasants, but of course, the peasants themselves are not going to run the new government, but really, it's all for them. It's about what happens in a society when the crazy warlords get too much power. It's about barbarians and civilization, and how that all sort of fits together. Yes, it's funny, laugh out loud funny, but it is about war. Really.

Also off-challenge: Victim - Josephine Bell

Old Mrs. Mellanby decides her house with its large rambling garden is just too much work for her to keep, so she lists it with a developer who plans to put three new homes in the spot. But when she goes to get planning permission, she suddenly finds herself the target of some mean and nasty gossip. Then her neighbor who had been firmly against the development changes her mind. But before she can tell anyone, she is found dead in her home. Gossips immediately finger Mrs. Mellanby as a murderer. The police rather halfheartedly investigate, and while they at least don't suspect Mrs. Mellanby at all, they don't seem to be getting any closer to figuring out what really did happen.

It's scandal and corruption on the local level, but it's remarkably nasty for all that. Mrs. Mellanby's grandniece moves in and enlists a friend to help investigate. It seems everywhere they look, there is some secret waiting to be uncovered. Who will be the next victim?

I like Bell's books and this one was good. She has a good sense of how villages work and a good feel for the many quirks of human nature. Recommended.

The West - Geoffrey C. Ward, America category - LAST BOOK!

This was an audioversion of 'An Illustrated History' which I found at the library. It goes along with a series by Ken Burns.

Liked:

The stories. Varied in tone and texture, covering MOST (more about that later) of the major players in the American West.

The narration. Done by the author and more like a story than a history.

The writing. Vivid and interesting.

Disliked:

The music. What's with the dramatic music now and then? Very distracting, at times, louder than the narration. Really irritating.

Where are the Mormons? That's my biggest complaint about this one. 4 tapes and NOTHING about any of the Latter-day Saints? Not Brigham Young, not Johnson's Army, not the Mormon Trail, not the colonization from Canada to Mexico, California to Winter Quarters? Nothing about the state of Deseret, or the polygamists hiding out from federal marshals? Come on, the Mormons were major players in the landscape and history of whole western half of the United States. All we get is a mere mention of a calf belonging to some Mormon pioneer being killed by the Lakota. Lame! I know I'm biased, but really, I don't see how you can leave us out altogether.

And the continual story of Indian tribe after tribe being lied to and cheated by the American government gets hard to listen to. I know that is the actual history, so it's impossible to tell about western expansion without their stories, but after a while, it gets really hard to hear. It seems like the very land that represented opportunity for so many living in the East and in other countries meant nothing but deprivation and war for the native peoples who were here first.

All in all, I would recommend this one. The audio version was abridged, which I normally avoid, but I really wanted to hear this story, so I think it was worth it. I'm glad I made it to 100, and now I'm on to my next set. We'll see how fast that one goes, but I'm in no particular rush.

Yay me! All done!!

Congratulations on completing your 1010 Challenge. At the rate I'm going I'll probably finish in September or so. Are you going to take on any other challenges for the balance of the year?

I've picked out another set of 100 books, but I'm not feeling the urgency to finish those in any particular time frame. I'm working on the 50 states Fiction or Non-Fiction challenge and the Endless Europe challenge, so that was part of my next set, but I also wanted to try some new mystery authors, so I'm looking forward to that too. I want to have the freedom to just read what appeals to me instead of having to stick to categories. I feel like I get a lot out of organizing my reads, because it encourages me to read some harder stuff, but I'm feeling a little burnt out, so I think it's time for a bit of a break. Plus I want to tackle some of the TBR books around my house too.

Congratulations! You may be through your second set before I get through my first one (and likely my only one)!

Wow, congrats on finishing your first 101010! You'll have to start the "I completed this challenge" thread. :) I look forward to see what you're reading for round 2, but I hope you enjoy your break first!

P.S. I see I'm too late, since you already started the thread! Congratulations again, haha.

Challenge recap

Best Of:

LDS Books Broken Things to Mend

Information The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

New Authors, Male World War Z - why doesn't the touchstone work?

New Authors, Female Black Ships

Returning Favorites The Chosen was probably better, but Shades of Grey is the stand out here

America Team of Rivals and Indian Givers

Love Mrs. Mike

War All Quiet on the Western Front

Death An Instance of the Fingerpost and She Walks These Hills

Surprise Charters and Caldicott

Favorite category America

Worst of:

LDS Books Lemon Tart - cliched cozy mystery

Information Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands - there's a shock

New Authors, Male The Eye of the World

New Authors, Female The Alchemyst

Returning Favorites To Kingdom Come

AmericaThe West - Geoffrey C. Ward, I think, but it wasn't bad. This was just a very solid category

Love The Fire Rose

War Vienna Prelude

Death In the Woods

SurpriseThe Darkest Evening of the Year

Overall, I had really good luck this time around with lots more winners than losers. I discovered some great new authors and cleaned up several off my TBR list. I didn't get to as many from my personal collection as I would have liked, but I will keep working on it.

I knew that you would be first to finish again. Congratulations on your achievement. Dont forget that since you were first, you have to start the "I finished, na.na.na" thread.

I did start it, although I labeled it a little differently. ;)