Bonniebook's Best of Your Best 2010 Challenge, Chapter 4

If we haven't talked before, here are the links to Bonniebook's Best of Your Best 2010 Challenges: chapter 1, chapter 2, and chapter 3

I'm still following old friends wherever they go, but because I’m naturally disorganized, this is the only challenge I'm doing in 2010. You all feel like "real" friends to me; hope the same is true for you too. Happy reading, everybody!

...in 2010:

October:
96: Graceland - Chris Abani (10/27/10)
95. The Lexicographer's Dilemma - Jack Lynch (10/25/10)
94. The Slap - Christos Tsiolkas (10/23/10)
93. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson (10/18/10)
92. Eliot Allagash Simon Rich (10/17/10)
**. Lost in a Book - Jasper Fforde (audiobook, unfinished)
**. Hardball - Sara Paretsky (audiobook, unfinished)
91. We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver (10/5/10)
90. Look at Me - Jennifer Eagan (10/2/10)

September:
89. The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett (9/29/10)
88. Goat, A Memoir - Brad Land (9/27/10)
87. Labor Day - Joyce Maynard (9/26/10)
86. The Post-Office Girl - Stephen Zweig (9/--/10)
**. Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design - Faith Levine
85. A Guide to the Birds of East Africa - Nicholas Drayson (9/11/10)
**. Shanghai Girls - Lisa See (book group, audiobook, 9/10/10)
**. Looming Tower - Lawrence Wright (audiobook, unfinished)
84. A Fatal Grace - Louise Penny (9/04/10)
83. Still Life - Louise Penny (9/02/10)
82. Montana 1948 - Larry Watson (9/01/10)

August:
81. The Way Men Act - Elinor Lipman (8/28/10)
80. Notes From the Underwire - Quinn Cummings (8/27/10)
79. Flood - Andrew Vachs (8/26/10)
78. Emigrants - Vilhelm Moberg (8/23/10)
77. Free For All: oddballs, geeks, and gangstas in the public library - Don Borchert (8/21/10)
76. The Help - Kathryn Stockett (bookgroup re-read, 8/21/10)
75. Time Was Soft There: A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co. - Jeremy Mercer (8/20/10)
74. Hidden Brain - Shankar Vedantam (8/19/10)
73. Mrs. Bridge - Evan S. Connell (8/18/10)
72. Math Doesn't Suck - Danica McKellar (8/17/10)
71. Open House - Elizabeth Berg (8/16/10)
70. Molly Fox's Birthday - Deirdre Madden (8/15/10)
**. Mother Tongue - Bill Bryson (Unfinished, due back at the library)
**. The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein (audiobook, 8/15/10)
69. Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life - Amy Krouse Rosenthal (8/14/10)
68. Await Your Reply - Dan Chaon (8/13/10)
67. Letters to a Young Teacher - Jonathan Kozol (8/11/10)
66. Old Filth - Jane Gardam (8/10/10)
65. Blackwater Rising - Anne B. Jones (8/09/20)
64. Say You're One of Them - Uwem Akpan (8/08/08)
**. The Invention of Everything Else - Samantha Hunt (Unfinished/due back at library)
63. Admission - Jean Hanff Orelitz (8/06/10)
62. Columbine - Dave Cullen (8/05/10)
61. The Wilderness - Samantha Harvey (8/04/10)
**. The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien (audiobook, 8/01/10)

July:
60. Ellen Foster - Kaye Gibbons (a re-read, 7/30/10)
59. Burnt Shadows - Kamila Shamsie (7/26/10)
**. An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination - Elizabeth McCracken (audiobook, 7/24/10))
58. At Large and at Small: Familiar Essays - Anne Fadiman (7/23/10)
57. Home - Marilyn Robinson (7/17/10)
56. The Air We Breath - Andrea Barrett (7/--/10)
**. The Little Friend - Donna Tartt (Stopped reading)
55. The Three-Day Road - Joseph Boyden (7/10/10
54. The Housekeeper and the Professor - Yoko Ogawa (7/--/10)

June:
53. Agnes Grey - Anne Bronte (6/--/10)
52. Dead Aid - Dambisa Moyo (6/28/10)
51. Family Album - Penelope Lively (6/19/10)
50. The Bird Artist - Howard Norman (6/17/10) for book group
**. School of Essential Ingredients - Erica Bauermeister (audiobook, 6/14/10))
49. Girl in Translation - Jean Kwok (6/13/10)
48. My Detachment - Tracy Kidder (6/11/10)
47. Mistress of the Art of Death - Ariana Franklin (6/09/10)
46. Brookland - Emily Barton (6/7/10)
45. Lace Reader - Brunonia Barry (6/05/10)
44. The Wild Things - David Eggers (6/04/10)

May:
43. Sweet Dates in Basra - Jessica Jiji (5/30/10)
42. Belong to Me - Marisa de los Santos (5/22/10)
41. Half the Sky - Nicolas Kristof (5/16/10)
40. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood (5/16/10) A reread
39. Wild Swans - Jung Chang (5/14/10)
38. Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami (5/12/10) Mark's May Group Read
37. In the Woods - Tana French (5/09/10)
36. Cost of Living - Mavis Gallant (5/07/10)

April:
35. Little Rock: Crisis at Central High - Karen Anderson (4/25/10)
34. An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England - Brock Clarke (4/--/10)
33. House at Sugar Beach - Helene Cooper (4/20/10)
32. Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer (4/16/10)
31. Blankets - Craig Thompson (4/08/10)
30. Blindness - Jose Saramago (4/03/10)
29. Strength in What Remains - Tracy Kidder (4/01/10)

March:
28. Tigana - Guy Gavriel Kay (3/30/10)
27. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer (3/29/10 & reread on 4/26/10)
26. Scottsboro - Ellen Feldman (3/26/10)
25. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Burrows (reread, 3/22/10)
24. Fun Home - Alison Bechdel (3/16/10)
23. Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold Story of English - John McWhorter (3/15/10)
22. Netherland - Joseph O'Neill (3/14/10)
**. Goodnight Nobody - Jennifer Weiner (audiobook)
21. A Room for Learning - Tal Birdsey (3/11/10)
20. Crazy Like a Fox - Ben Chavez (3/06/10)

February:
19. Gifted - Nikita Lalwani (2/28/10)
18. Thirteen Moons - Charles Frasier (2/26/10)
17. The Devil's Highway - Louis Alberto Urrea (2/22/10)
16. 1995453::The Ministry of Special Cases - Nathan Englander (2/20/10)
15. Game Change - John Heilemann & Mark Halperin (2/19/10)
14. Let the Great World Spin - Colum McCann (2/18/10)
13. Little Bee - Chris Cleave (2/16/10)
12. 8446450::Zeitoun - David Eggers (2/15/10)
**. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane - Katherine Howe (audiobook)
11. The Good Mayor - Andrew Nicoll (2/05/10)

January:
10. 712012::The Twin - Gerbrand Bakker (1/25/10)
09. The Hunger Games - Susan Collins (1/23/10)
08. A Homemade Life - Molly Wizenberg (1/17/10)
07. The Idea of Perfection - Kate Grenville (1/15/10)
06. You Remind Me of Me - Dan Chaon (1/10/10)
05. Mozart and the Whale: An Asperger's Love Story - Jerry Newport (1/09/10)
04. The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right - Atul Gawande (1/08/10)
03. Cancer Made me a Shallower Person by Miriam Engelberg (1/04/2010)
02. Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel (started in 2009, finished 1/04/2010)
01. Michelle, a biography by Liza Mundy (started in 2009, 1/02/2010)

...Seattle Public Library books checked out this week:

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day - Jeff Hertzberg
The Good Soldiers- David Finkel
Heart-Shaped Box - Joe Hill
Parrot & Olivier in America - Peter Carey
The Tennis Partner - Abraham Verghesi


Currently reading:

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
The Good Soldiers
Heart-Shaped Box (audio book)
Parrot & Olivier in America
Reading in the Brain

For new and old friends I come bearing gifts: My alphabetized list of books created from the "Ten Favorites of 2009" lists proffered by many of your LT friends on my bonniebook's Best of Your Best, 2009 challenge. I plan on choosing most of my books for 2010 from this list, but will also pick from my ever growing wish list--and, of course, I'll continue to make "bonnieruns" to my favorite independent bookstores. Note: I'm going to strike through the books I've already read, so if you want the "clean" version, go to message #177 in my bonniebook's 2009 challenge here. It's also fun to look at the individual lists to see who recommended what.

An Alphabetized List of Your Top Tens for 2009

Abani, Chris: GraceLand
Ackerley, J. R.: Hindoo Holiday
Adamson, Gil: The Outlander
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi: Purple Hibiscus; The Thing Around Your Neck
Adiga, Aravind: The White Tiger
Achebe, Chinua: Things Fall Apart
Alexie, Sherman: Absolutely True diary of a Part-Time Indian
Ali, Ayaan Hirsi: Infidel
Allen, Sarah Addison: Garden Spells
Anderson, Laurie Halse: Wintergirls
Anderson, M.T.: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Volume 1
Antunes, Antonio Lobo: The Fat Man and Infinity
Armstrong, Kelley: The Summoning
Atwood, Margaret: Alias Grace; The Handmaid's Tale; The Penelopiad; The Robber Bride
Auster, Paul: The New York Trilogy
Azzopardi, Trezza: The Hiding Place
Bahr, Howard: The Black Flower
Baker, Russ: Family of Secrets
Bakker, Gerbrand: The Twin
Balzac, Honore: Old Goriot
Banks, Ian: The Player of Games
Barbery, Muriel: The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Barlow, Tony: Sharp Teeth
Barry, Brunonia: The Lace Reader
Batataille, Marion: ABC3D
Bauermeister, Erica: The School of Essential Ingredients
Bazell, Josh: Beat the Reaper
Beals, Melba Pattillo: Warriors Don't Cry
Bemrose, John: The Island Walkers
Benson, E.F.: Mrs. Ames
Benson, Mary: At the Still Point
Bhutto, Benazir: Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West
Bishop, Holley: Robbing the Bees
Bolano, Roberto: 2666
Boyle, Kay: Thirty Stories
Boyne, John: Mutiny on the Bounty
Bourdain, Anthony: Kitchen Confidential
Bradbury, Ray: Dandelion Wine
Bruen, Ken: The Guards
Bryson, Bill: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid; Notes From a Big Country
Bulgakov, Mikhail: The Master and Margarita
Butcher, Jim: Princeps' Fury; Turn Coat
Canfield, Dorothy: The Deepening Stream
Carroll, Lewis: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Cather, Willa: My Antonia; The Song of the Lark
Chabon, Michael: Yiddish Policeman's Union
Chace, James: Acheson: The Secretary of State Who Created the American World
Chang, Jung: Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
Chaon, Dan: Await Your Reply
Chaplin, Charlie: My Autobiography
Childe, Julia: My Life in France
Clarke, Gerald: Capote: A Biography
Coelho, Paulo: The Alchemist
Collins, Susan: The Hunger Games
Collins, Wilkie: The Woman in White
Conroy, Pat: The Water is Wide
Cooper, Gwen: Homer's Odyssey
Cooper, Helene: The House at Sugar Beach
Courtenay, Bryce: The Power of One
Cullen, David: Columbine
Cummings, Quinn: Notes From the Underwire
de la Parra, Teresa: Iphigenia
Dallas, S.: Tall Grass
Diamond, Jared: The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution of the Human Animal; Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Dickens, Charles: Hard Times; Little Dorrit
di Lampedusa, Giuseppe Tomasi: The Leopard
Dinesen, Isak: Out of Africa
Dittmer, John: The Good Doctors
Djebar, Assia: So Vast the Prison
Doctorow, Cory: Little Brother
Donoso, Jose: The Obscene Bird of Night
Dunn, Mark: Ella Minnow Pea
Du Marier, Daphne: Rebecca
DuPrau, Jeanne: The City of Ember, The People of the Sparks
Earley, Tony: Jim the Boy
Easterly, William: The White Man's Burden
Elliot, George: Silas Marner
Emecheta, Buchi: The Joys of Motherhood
Enger, Leif: Peace Like a River
Erdrich, Louise: The Plague of Doves; The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
Eugenides, Jeffrey: The Virgin Suicides
Evans, Pollly: On a Hoof and a Prayer: Exploring Argentina at a Gallop
Fallada, Hans: Every Man Dies Alone
Farmer, Paul: Pathologies of Power
Ferris, Joshua: Then We came to the End
Fforde, Jasper: The Big Over Easy; The Fourh Bear
Figes, Orlando: The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia
Follett, Ken: Pillars of the Earth
Ford, Jamie: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Francis, Brian: Fruit
Frank, Anne: Diary of a Young Girl
Frank, Thomas: What's the Matter With Kansas?
Fraser, Antonia: The Pleasure of Reading
Frazier, Charles: Thirteen Moons
Frost, Jeaniene: Halfway to the Grave
Fuller, Alexandra: Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight:
Funke, Cornelia: Inkheart
Gaiman, Neil: The Graveyard Book
Galloway, Janice: Clara
Galloway, Stephen: The Cellist of Sarajevo
Garton-Ash, Timothy: The File
Gaskell, Elizabeth: North and South; Wives and Daughters
Genova, Lisa: Still Alice
Goldsworthy, Peter: Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam
Goodwin, Doris Kearns: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Grace, Patricia: At the Still Point; Waiariki
Grandin, Temple: Animals Make Us Human
Grann, David: The Lost City of Z (unfinished)
Graves, Robert: I, Claudius
Greene, Graham: The Ministry of Fear
Grenville, Kate: Secret River; The Idea of Perfection
Groff, Lauren: The Monsters of Templeton
Grossman, Vasili: Life and Fate
Gruen, Sara: Water for Elephants
Gurnah, Abdulrazak: Desertion
Haddon, Mark: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Hage, Rawi: De Niro's Game
Hakamura, Ishio: The Remains of the Day
Hajdu, David: The Ten-Cent Plague
Hale, Shannon: Rapunzel's Revenge
Hammett, Dashiell: Red Harvest
Hanff, Helene: 84 Charing Cross Road
Harding, Paul: Tinkers
Harvey, Samantha: The Wilderness
Helm, Sarah: A Life in secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII
Hollinghurst, Alan: The Line of Beauty
Hoesseini, Khaled: A Thousand Splendid Suns
Hoffman, Alice: Blackbird House; The Ice Queen
Hornby, Nick: The Complete Polysyllabic Spree; Housekeeping vs. The Dirt
Houellebecq, Michel: Atomized/The Elementary Particles
Hustvedt, Siri: What I Loved
Huxley, Aldous: Brave New World
Ishiguro, Kazuo: The Remains of the Day
James, Henry: Portrait of a Lady
Jamison, Kay Redfield: Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illnes and the Artistic Temperament
Jansson, Tove: The True Deceiver
Jelloun, Tahar: This Blinding Absence of Light
Jones, Gail: Sorry
Jones, Lloyd: Mister Pip
Johnston, Wayne: The Colony of Unrequited Dreams
Jordan, Hillary: Mudbound
Kamkwamba, William: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Kapuscinski, Ryszard: The Shadow of the Sun
Kawabata, Yasunari: The Master of Go
Kay, Guy Gavriel: Tigana
Kent, Kathleen: The Heretic's Daughter
Kirn, Walter: Up in the Air
Kluger, Steve: Last Days of Summer
Knisley, Lucy: French Milk
Koestler, Arthur: Darkness at Noon
Kopelman, Jay: From Baghdad, with Love: A Marine, A War and a Dog
Krakauer, Jon: Into the Wild
Kramer, Clara: Clara's War, One Girl's Story of Survival
Krasikov, Sana: One More Year
Kristof, Nikolas: Half the Sky
Lahari, Jumpha: Interpreter of Maladies
Lamb, Wally: The Hour I First Believed
Land, Brad: Goat: A Memoir
Lansens, Lori: The Girls
Larson, Kate Clifford: Bound for the Promised Land
Larson, Stieg: The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo; The Girl Who Played with Fire
Lawson, Mary: Crow Lake
Le Carre, John: Smiley's People; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Lehane, Dennis: The Given Day
Levy, Andrea: Small Island
Levy, Ariel: Female Chauvinist Pigs
Lewis, C.S.: Till We have Faces
Lipman, Elinor: Inn at Lake Devine
Lively, Penelope: Family Album
Llosa, Mario Vargas: Conversation in the Cathedral
London, Joan: Gilgamesh
Longfellow, Ki: The Secret Magdalene
Lovell, Mary: The Biography of Jane Digby, A Scandalous Life
Ludum, Robert: The Bourne Trilogy
Lychack, William: The Wasp Eater
Lynch, Jim: Border Songs
MacDonald, George: The Highlander's Last Song
MacMillan, Margaret: Paris 1919
McCann, Colum: Let the Great World Spin
McCarthy, Cormac: All the Pretty Horses; Blood Meridian; The Road
Macintyre, Ben: Agent Zigzag
Mackinnon, Amy: Tethered
Maguire, Gregory: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Mandel, Emily St. John: Last Night in Montreal
Mann, Charles: 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
Mantel, Hilary: Wolf Hall
Maraini, Dacia: The Silent Duchess
Marchetta, Melina: Jellioe Road
Mahjoub, Jamal: Traveling with Djinns
Martel, Yann: Life of Pi
Matin, P.D.: Body Count
Matthieseen, Peter: Shadow Country
Maugham, Somerset: Of Human Bondage
Mawer, Simon: The Glass Room
Maynard, Joyce: Labor Day
Mee, Benjamin: We Bought a Zoo
Melling, O.R.: The Hunter's Moon
Mercer, Jeremy: Time Was Soft Here; Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs
Mistry, Rohinton: A Fine Balance
Mitchell, David: Cloud Atlas; Black Swan Green
Montgomery, Lucy Maud: Anne of Green Gables
Monroe, Alice: The View From Castle Rock
Moore, Christopher: Lamb
Morrison, Toni: Beloved; A Mercy
Mortensen, Greg: Three Cups of Tea
Morton, Kate: The Forgotten Garden
Morton, Kate: The House at Riverton
Murakami, Haruki: Norwegian Wood; The Wild Sheep Chase
Murphy, Lynda and Julie Rugg: A Book Addict's Treasury
Myron, Vicki: Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat
Nemirovsky, Irene: Suite Francaise
Newport, Jerry and Mary: Mozart and the Whale: An Asperger's Love Story
Niffenegger, Audrey: The Time Traveler's Wife
Nicoll, Andrew: The Good Mayor
Nolen, Stephanie: 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa
Novogratz, Jacqueline: The Blue Sweater
Obmascik, Mark: The Big Year
O'Brien, Tim: The Things They Carried
O'Connor, Flannery: Wise Blood
Ogawa, Yoko: The Housekeeper and the Professor
Olmstead, Robert: Far Bright Star
O'Reilly, Tim: The Twitter book
Otsuka, Julie: When The Emperor Was Divine
Palahniuk, Chuck: Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey
Parker, Dorothy: Complete Stories
Patchett, Ann: Bel Canto
Pausch, Randy: The Last Lecture
Pears, Iain: An Instance of the Fingerpost
Peck, M. Scott: In Search of Stones
Pennell, Joseph Stanley: The History of Rome Hanks and Kindred Matters
Petterson, Per: Out Stealing Horses
Phillips, Jayne Anne: Lark & Termite
Plotz, David: The Genius Factory
Pollan, Michael: The Omnivore's Dilemma
Proulx, E. Annie: The Shipping News
Raabe, Tom: Biblioholism: The Literary Addiction
Remarque, Erich Maria: All Quiet of the Western Front
Reynolds, Sheri: The Rapture of Canaan
Rhodes, Dan: Gold
Rhodes, Jewel Parker: Douglas's Women
Roberts, Richard Samuel: A True Likeness
Robertson, Don: The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread
Robinson, Marilynne: Gilead; Housekeeping
Rosenthal, Amy Krouse: Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life
Roth, Joseph: The Radetzky March
Ruesch, Hans: Top of the World
Rushdie, Salman: Midnight's Children (unfinished)
Russell, Mary Doria: A Thread of Grace
Sabato, Haim: The Dawning of the Day: A Jerusalem Tale
Sandoz, Mari: Crazy Horse
Safran Foer, Jonathan: Everything is Illuminated
Saramago, Jose: Death with Interruptions
Satrapi, Marjane: Persepolis
Savage, Sam: Firmin
Scheeres, Julia: Jesus Land
See, Lisa: Shanghai Girls
Setterfield, Diane: Thirteenth Tale
Shaara, Michael: The Killer Angel
Shaffer, Mary Ann & Ann Barrows: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Shamsie, Kamila: Burnt Shadows
Sheff, David: Beautiful Boy
Shields, Carol: The Stone Diaries
Shlink, Bernhard: Flights of Love
Sigman, Dr. Aric: Remotely Controlled: How Televison is Damaging...
Silvey, Craig: Jasper Jones
Singh, Khushwant: Train to Pakistan
Small, David: Stitches
Smith, Helen: Not So Quiet
Smith, Tom Rob: Child 44
Spiegelman, Art: Maus I; Maus II
Stanisic, Sasa: How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone
Stein, Garth: The Art of Racing in the Rain
Steinbeck, John: East of Eden; The Moon is Down; Of Mice and Men
Stewart, Amy: Flower Confidential
Stockett, Kathryn: The Help
Strout, Elizabeth: Amy and Isabelle; Olive Kitteridge
Suskind, Patrick: Perfume: Story of a Murderer
Tartt, Donna: The Secret History
Thackery, William Makepeace: Vanity Fair
Thiong'o, Ngugi wa: Wizard of the Crow
Tinti, Hannah: The Good Thief
Toews, Miriam: The Flying Troutmans
Tobin, Betsy: Ice Land
Toibin, Colm: Brooklyn
Tremain, Rose: The Road Home
Triolet, Elsa: A Fine of Two Hundred Francs
Tsiolkas, Christos: The Slap
Tye, Larry: Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend
Unsworth, Barry: Land of Marvels
Urgresic, Dubravka: Thank You for Not Reading
Urrea, Luis Alberta: The Hummingbird's Daughter
Valenti, Jessica: The Purity Myth
Verghese, Abraham: Cutting For Stone; The Tennis Partner
Vincent, Norah: Voluntary Madness: My Year Lost and Found in the Looney Bin
Waugh, Evelyn: Vile Bodies
Waters, Sarah: Affinity; Nightwatch
West, Rebecca: Return of the Soldier
White, Antonia: The Lost Traveller
Wiesel, Elie: A Mad Desire to Dance; Night
Wilde, Oscar: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Winterson, Jeanette: Oranges are not the Only Fruit
Wood, Charlotte: The Submerged Cathedral
Woolf, Virginia: Jacob's Room; A Room of One's Own
Wouk, Herman: The Glory; The Hope
Wroblewski, David: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
Wyndham, John: The Day of the Triffids
Yglesias, Rafael: Happy Marriage
Young, Emily Hilda: Miss Mole
Young, Fellicity: Harum Scarum
Young, William: The Shack
Zafon, Carlos Ruiz: The Shadow of the Wind
Zakaria, Fareed: The Post-American World
Zaniewski, Andrzej: Rat
Zusak, Markus: The Book Thief

It's September October, so I've got to get serious about my New Year's Resolution: By the end of the year 2010, there will be no more than 10 50 books in this list. Oops! Lol! I've succumbed to the "LT Fever."

Found this in A Book Addict's Treasury:

It would be a good thing to buy books if one could also buy the time to read them; but one usually confuses the purchase of books with the acquisition of their contents. Arthur Schopenhauer, 'On Books and Writing' (1851).


List of Books To Be Read in 2010 sometime soon:

Angier, Natalie: The Best American Science Writing, 2009
Auster, Paul: The New York Trilogy (Friends of SPLibrary, Fall sale)
Baker, Nicholson: The Anthologist
Bennett, Alan: The Uncommon Reader (bonnierun, Thingaversary)
Blackmon, Douglas: Slavery by Another Name (bonnierun/wishlist, Third Place Books, 12/22/09)
Carleton, Jetta: The Moon Flower Vine (bonnierun, Powell's, 10/17/10)
Chaon, Dan: You Remind Me of Me (bonnierun, Third Place Books, 12/22/09)
Chalmers, Robert: Fortune's Bastard * (Ryan's book)
Chang, Jung: Wild Swans (rec by arubabookwoman)
Clark, Brock: An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England (bonnierun, Powell's Books, 12/31/09)
Coelho, Paula: The Alchemist
Dangor, Achmat: Bitter Fruit (Friends of SPLibrary, Fall sale)
Dehaene, Stanislas: Reading in the Brain
Dietsch, Deborah: Live/Work: Working at Home, Living at Work (bonnierun, Thingaversary)
Egan, Jennifer: Look at Me (Friends of SPLibrary, Fall sale)
Ehrenreich, Barbara: Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream *
Emecheta, Buchi: The Joys of Motherhood (bonnierun, Powell's, 10/17/10)
Enright, Anne: The Gathering
Erdrich, Louise: The Bingo Palace
Ferber, Edna: So Big (bonnierun, Powell's, 1017/10)
Frazier, Charles: Thirteen Moons
French, Tana: In the Woods (bonnierun/discounted, Third Place Books, 4/10)
Gallant, Mavis: The Cost of Living (Christmas gift/Ryan, 2009)
Galvin, James: The Meadow (bonnierun, Thingaversary)
Ghosh, Amitav: Sea of Poppies (bonnierun/discounted, Third Place Books, 11/09)
Hamid, Mohsin: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Harding, Paul: Tinkers (Friends of SPLibrary, Fall sale)
Hodgson, Barbara: Hippolyte's Island (bonnierun, Powell's, 10/17/10)
Hosseini, Khaled: A Thousand Splendid Suns
Johnston, Wayne: The Colony of Unrequited Dreams (bonnierun, Powell's 10/17/10)
Kimmel, Haven: She Got Up Off the Couch (bonnierun, Powell's, 10/17/10)
Kinzer, Stephen: Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq *
Kramnick, Isaac: The Godless Constitution: A Moral Defense of a Secular State *
Kristof, Nicholas & Sheryl WuDunn: Half the Sky (Christmas gift/Ryan, 2009)
Land, Brad: Goat, A Memoir (Friends of SPLibrary, Fall sale)
Levine, James: The Blue Notebook (bonnierun, Powell's, 10/17/10)
Mahfouz, Naguib: Palace of Desire (Third Place Books, a TBR w/ arubabookwoman)
Maynard, Joyce: Labor Day (bonnierun, Thingaversary)
Mistry, Rohinton: Family Matters
Mitchell, David: Cloud Atlas (bonnierun/best of your best 2009, Powell's Books, 12/31/09)
Morrison, Toni: A Mercy
Mueenuddin, Daniyal: In Other Rooms, Other Wonders
Murakami, Haruki: Norwegian Wood (bonnierun/best of your best 2009, Third Place Books, 12/22/09)
Murakami, Haruki: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle *
Naipaul, V.S.: A House for Mr. Biswas (bonnierun, Powell's, 10/17/10)
O'Brien, Tim: In the Lake of the Woods (Friends of SPLibrary, Fall sale)
Pears, Tim: In the Place of Fallen Leaves (gift from Bonnie/brenzi)
Perstein, Rick: Nixonland *
Rushdie, Salman: Midnight's Children (unfinished)
Rich, Simon: Elliot Allagash (bonnierun, Powell's, 10/17/10)
Safire: Push (Friends of SPLibrary, Fall sale)
Saramego, Jose: Blindness (bonnierun, Powell's Books, 12/31/09)
Shriver, Lionel: We Need to Talk About Kevin (Friends of SPLibrary, Fall sale)
Simonson, Helen: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand (bonnierun, Powell's, 10/17/10)
Sittenfield, Curtis: American Wife (Friends of SPLibrary, Fall sale)
Smith, Dodie: I Capture the Castle (bonnierun, Powell's, 10/17/10)
Smith, Zadie: White Teeth *
Straight, Susan: I Been in Sorrow's Kitchen and Licked out all the Pots (Friends of SPLibrary, Fall sale)
Thaler, Richard: Nudge *
Thiong'o, Ngugi Wa: Wizard of the Crow (best of your best 2009/Alcottacre, Third Place Books, 12/22/09)
Toltz, Steve: A Fraction of the Whole * (rec by Ryan, bonnierun)
Tyler, Anne: If the Morning Ever Comes (Friends of SPLibrary, Fall sale)
Undset, Sigrid: Kristin Lavransdatter * (gift from LT/Maggie?)
Vowell, Sarah: The Wordy Shipmates * (bonnierun, Third Place Books, 1/09)
Warren, Robert Penn: All the King's Men (bonnierun, Powell's, 10/17/10)
Weiland, Matt (edit.): State by State * (Christmas gift/Ryan, 2009)
Wroblewski, David: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle * (Costco/discounted, 1/09)

*Books started and unfinished, or parts skimmed over and want to reread

I'm going to keep posting my "Top Ten Favorites of 2009" for those of you who want to know whether we might have similar reading interests. I was surprised that 2 mysteries/crime detective novels made it onto my list along with Lush Life--not my normal genres at all, but some of you LT-ers *coughMarkcough* convinced me that they were great stories and you were right! I read a total of 140 books last year, not including a few re-reads or the dozens of children's books I read as part of my work. Don't know if I'll read as many books this year, given my new resolution to get out more, but if I give up even half of my TV time, I might read even more. Either way, I know that your recommendations will greatly add to my reading enjoyment.

I'm know I'm cheating a bit by recommending two books-about-books here: Ex-Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman and Housekeeping vs. Dirt by Nick Hornby. But I loved them both and I wouldn't have gone looking for A Complicated Kindness if not for Hornby's quote about Toews which I think could be used to describe all of my favorites:

"You may think you don't want to read about the problems of growing up Mennonite, but the great thing about books is that you'll read anything a good writer wants you to read."


My Top Ten favorite books in 2009:
1. The Help - Kathryn Stockett
2. The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway
3. Mudbound - Hillary Jordan
4. A Complicated Kindness - Miriam Toews
5. The Coroner's Lunch - Colin Cotterill
6. The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls
7. The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Michael Chabon
8. What is the What - David Eggers
9. Still Alice - Lisa Genova
10. Lush Life - Richard Price

Other books in contention for the #10 spot:
A Case of Exploding Mangoes - Mohammed Hanif
Gardens of Water - Alan Drew
Property - Valerie Martin
Sharp Teeth - Toby Barlow - because it surprised me how much I enjoyed a book about werewolves--and I just loved that cover!
Gold - Dan Rhodes
The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga

My favorite re-reads in 2009:
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Special Topics in Calamity Physics- Marisha Pessl
During the Reign of the Queen of Persia - Joan Chase
Isabel's Bed and Inn at Lake Devine - Elinor Lipman
Water for Elephants - Sarah Gruen

A list of some of my favorites of 2010 coming soon:

I still want to use book covers to more easily find my comments about books I've read, so I'm going to ask all you graphic-loving LT-ers to please not post any graphics on my thread--just because I kept messing up my lists last year, either skipping over books, misnumbering a book, or posting a book twice. I'm thinking the covers will stand out a lot better if they're the only graphics, though I'll probably still mess up, knowing me. Hope you all will still join me in talking about books and our lives--I love all your comments! :-)

64. Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan (8/08/10)

These short stories about African children growing up in the worst conditions you can possibly imagine are just devastating. I wasn't even sure I could read past the first one. I think I preferred Half the Sky, as terrible as those--all true--stories were, because the authors included many ideas at the end of the book for how one could help.

65. Blackwater Rising by Anne B. Jones (8/09/10)

I started out half-listening to the first couple chapters of this mystery/crime novel on my computer while trying to get work done, but found I was just missing too much--and didn't want to. The guy reading it had a great voice for it, but I didn't have the patience to sit and listen, and do nothing else, so I went ahead and borrowed the book from the library and read it myself. The main character, an African American, is a lawyer, not a detective, but finds himself having to do a whole lot of sleuthing to get out of the mess he's gotten himself--and his family--into when he rescued a white woman/"damsel in distress" from a back-water bayou in Houston. This book is about the changes that oil dollars have brought to the city; corruption/politics; pollution; race; unions vs. management--lots to chew on and very timely, given what's going on in the gulf right now.

66. Old Filth by Jane Gardam (8/10/10)

I didn't think I was going to like "Old Filth" (Which means "Failed in London, try Hong Kong") at all, but found that I did. The main character, Sir Edward Feathers--a retired judge, very rich, very uppercrust--couldn't recognize his own feelings if they knocked on his door and invited themselves to tea. And if you know me, you know that he's just the type of character I love to hate. Go read Theampersand and Narratorlady reviews. When books and lives are this interesting and complicated--and both sad and funny--I can't begin to begin to fashion my own thoughts and feelings into a coherent whole. All I'll say is: I rrrather liked it!

67. Letters to a Young Teacher by Jonathan Kozol (8/11/10)

I've loved some of Kozol's other books, but this one was just OK. Still, even though I disagreed with him sometimes in this book, I totally respect and admire him for his deep, true commitment to revealing what happens to the "have not's" in our educational system.

68. Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon (8/11/10)

I'll just entice you by including the first paragraph of this book:

We are on our way to the hospital, Ryan's father says.

Listen to me, Son:

You are not going to bleed to death.

Ryan is still aware enough that his father's words come in through the edges, like sunlight on the borders of a window shade. His eyes are shut tight and his body is shaking and he is trying to hold up his left arm, to keep it elevated. We are on our way to the hospital, his father says, and Ryan's teeth are chattering, he clenches and unclenches them, and a series of wavering colored lights—greens, indigos—plays along the surface of his closed eyelids. On the seat beside him, in between him and his father, Ryan's severed hand is resting on a bed of ice in an eight- quart Styrofoam cooler.

69. Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (8/13/10)

Loved this book! Krouse's brain works the same way mine does--very tangential, and highly distractible. Only she's also so funny and witty, not like me at all, but I like to pretend. ;-)

** The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (audiobook, 8/15/10)

A dog's tale about his owner's life as he deals with his wife's death and his in-laws' outrageous attempts to keep custody of his daughter. Though I could certainly relate (I've dealt with cancer, plus the deaths of 2 of my sisters, also due to cancer--maybe I just know too much), I found the story a bit maudlin/sentimental and the characters one-dimensional. I tried to imagine the reader who was equally interested in reading about car-racing and cancer--I guess you're out there! ;-) I like the idea of a book told from the point of view of a dog, though, and the author did this fairly well. Dog lovers will probably lap this one up!

**Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson

(Unfinished due to time constraints, but I'll come back to it. Recommended)

70. Molly Fox's Birthday (8/15/10)

Couldn't figure out the reason for this book even being. Please read UnderMyAppleTree's review. She describes my thoughts perfectly, with the exception of these words: "...and the writing was beautiful from a literary point of view."

71. Open House by Elizabeth Berg (8/16/10)

Samantha's husband has an affair and leaves her before she even knows what's happening. Samantha's confused; she thought she had been living the "perfect" life with her husband and 11-year-old son--or, at least she had been doing her part towards creating that vision. Some of Samantha's actions probably happen only within the realm of fiction (e.g., in retaliation, she immediately goes on a shopping spree and buys a Tiffany bracelet worth $3,000, then decides she doesn't really want it and hands it out her car window to a homeless woman). The practical side of me hopes so anyway. And I couldn't believe that this woman didn't have at least a few good local friends to rely on (some of the plot relies on a long-distance friend), but I eventually just gave that all up and enjoyed Berg's story about a woman who struggles to create a life for herself and her son that more truly reflects her values, her needs, and her dreams.

I think this is a common enough situation for women. IMO, our marriages are (or "were" in my case) more often weighted toward our husband's needs and values than our own. I think women are both made that way, and socially reinforced, for caring more about the needs/interests of our partners than vice versa. So, this book falls into the category of chicklit for me, but would probably be good for some interesting discussion around the kitchen Starbuck's table.

Bottom line: If you like Jennifer Weiner or Maria Santos, you will probably like Elizabeth Berg as well.

72. Math Doesn't Suck (8/17/10)

A bit heavier on cutesy mnemonics rather than the underlying concepts than I would like, but given the messenger, a good overall messages for teenage girls who think they're not good at, or interested in, math.

73. Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell (8/18/10)

Mrs. Bridge and her family give me the shivers. It's a personal thing.

75. Time Was Soft There by Jeremy Mercer (8/20/10)

An insider's look at Shakespeare and Company, and its nonconventional, but mostly talented, inhabitants. What LT-er wouldn't want to read all about this exceptional bookstore and the Paris that surrounds it?

76. The Help by Kathryn Stokkett (book group, 8/21/10)

This was a reread, and I have to admit that it didn't hold up on the second reading as much as I thought it would. Last year, The Help was at the top of my "Top Ten." I still enjoyed the story a lot--and still love Aibileen and Minnie--but probably won't put it in my top ten this year.

77. Free for all by Don Borchert (8/8/21)

Not as interesting or amusing as I thought it would be.

78. Emigrants by Velhelm Moberg (8/23/10)

79. Flood by Andrew Vachs (8/26/10)

This book was a mistake; I think I wanted to reserve the book Fludd. According to the forward, Vachss was a superintendent of a Prison (or a juvenile detention center, I can't remember exactly) and tried to write about the sexual abuse of children and prostitution, but no one was listening, so he decided to write fiction that would get people thinking and caring about these issues. I have to give him props for that, but this dark crime novel had unrealistic characters and a sometimes ridiculous plot--though probably no more than most books of this genre. And I did finish it.

80. Notes From the Underwire by Quinn Cummings (8/27/10)

Former child actor, Quinn Cummings, writes about the everyday problems and prideful moments of her life as a child actor, former child actor, agent, aspiring screenwriter, wife and mom. No exceptional truths here, but Cummings is exceptionally funny while sharing her version of "life's lessons."

81. The Way Men Act by Elinor Lipman (8/28/10)

Not nearly as good as Inn at Lake Devine or Isabelle's Bed, but I very much enjoyed my evening with Lipman anyway. Good escape reading with some thoughtful issues about relationships of all kinds.

Got my books at least posted, though I've still much to say about them. Hope y'all haven't forgotten me in the time I've been gone. I have to figure out a new balance in terms of how I spend my time on LT. I think I'm following way too many people, but only because by the time I finish reading all your posts/threads, I probably could have read another book. Witness how many more books I read in August, for example, when I wasn't on LT every day.

I think I'm going to resort to the "I'll follow you, if you follow me" method for a while, so "lurkers" identify yourselves! ;-)

Heads up: Message #2 lists the books from the library I'm going to be reading over the next several weeks. Following that, I'm going to focus on my tbr pile (msg #4 above), so that I can buy myself more books for Christmas guilt-free. If you're interested in dialoguing with me about any of these titles, please jump in anytime.

Like that list of library books, just about every one looks like a gem.
Mrs. Bridge and her family give me the shivers. It's a personal thing. - I need to know more.

Found you again, Bonnie!

Bonnie- Welcome back, my friend! You have been missed! you set up another nice thread! It looks like you had a terrific month of reading! I will return!

Welcome back! It's great to see the progress you've made on your list (surely more than I would have, I'm too much of a disorganized reader!) and your thoughts on what you've been reading. I just finished Montana 1948 too, so I'll be interested in seeing your thoughts.

Welcome back!! and woot!!! for getting this whole thread set up in the middle of the night without interruption :) Your tbrs (msg #4 and especially #2) have a lot of books not on my radar so I'll be interested in your comments.

>7 bonniebooks: Say You're One of Them -- thanks for the "devastating" warning; it doesn't warn me off, just warns me to find the right time to pull it from my tbrs

>15 bonniebooks: Couldn't figure out the reason for this book even being
well now I have to look up Molly Fox's Birthday!

>16 bonniebooks: wrong cover image, missy (eta: or wrong title, but I thought you were going to read Open House?)

So interesting about The Help re-read -- I never re-read, but that book is one I've thought to! Was all the tension gone? Or was there no layering/complexity to uncover?

Between your Elinor Lipman marathon and the fun books you've been reading, I think you'll like The Pursuit of Alice Thrift.

Hi, Bonnie! Welcome back. :-)

Hi, Bonnie. Welcome back. I'm going to have to go over your posts up-thread in more detail later on. They look interesting. I don't think I realized before that your Best of Your Best list was of other LTers book choices. Also, liked your idea to use ** instead of numbers for books you started but didn't finish. I haven't been listing those at all but would like to keep a record of them.

I'll be back!

Welcome back!
Found you and starred you...

Holy cow! You come back with a big bang, Bonnie.

I forget the number of the post, but I'm guessing that the shivers you got from Mrs. Bridge weren't shivers of delight? One of my favorite books, but I told someone (in RL) recently that it was a book about living that life of quiet desparation that Thoreau talked about. Sadly, I think India Bridge lived a pretty normal life for the upper middle class in Kansas City in the 1950's (or was it earlier than that?).

The Missouri Readers will be reading Mrs. Bridge for their October choice. Guess who recommended it? I think it will generate some good discussion.

Hi Bonnie, welcome back! You look like you used your time away wisely ;)

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy Letters to a Young Teacher as much as I did. It was my first (and sadly, to date, only) Kozol book, so that may have made a difference! Looking forward to following more of this excellent reading year.

Holy Moley!! First, I've always wondered how many books I could read if I'd get off this darn computer. I probably wouldn't read as many as you, Sis, but still, I know I'd read more than I do now.

Second, how in the heck did you manage to get everything posted without interruption. I know it was the middle of the night but I also know there are people on LT in the middle of the night. Kudos my friend.

Third, the books: I'm especially interested in Mrs. Bridge, which I've got on my shelf, Black Water Rising which was on the Orange Prize shortlist and Old Filth another old Orange Prize candidate. Then there's Await Your Reply which I know you know I have on my shelf and I'm anxious to get to, heh, heh.

You've done some terrific reading but it's good to have you back:)

Hi Bonnie, Hope you got lots of reading done during the recent *floods*. Guess summer is over...

I see Kristin Lavransdatter is on your list of reads in 2010. Please don't let it be one of the 10 you don't get to: it's fantastic, IMHO. Especially the first in the trilogy, but they are all good.

Wow, Bonnie - that's a great list of books you've read. I have The Hidden Brain in my TBR Tower, so I'm going to hold you to your promise to come back and tell us more about this.

I've also got Open House in my TBR Tower and have been in 2 minds about whether or not I want to bother reading this. So far, the reviews that I've read have been less than encouraging. Maybe I'll keep this for one of those days when I suffer from mush brain, where nothing sticks.

Hi Bonnie! Glad to see you're back!!!! That list you have for August is quite a list!

>28 avatiakh:: Kerry, because of my own upbringing, as well as my current values, I'm both jealous and repulsed by Mrs. Bridge and her family. Probably most people won't feel the degree of physical aversion that I did, but I think Donna is right--it will make for a good discussion. And, btw, Donna, arubabookwoman recommended Mrs. Bridge to me, so you're off the hook as far as blame goes. Well, I wouldn't blame her either, because I really do recognize that it's a personal thing. And, anyway, looking in from the outside, some people might have seen many commonalities between me and Mrs. Bridge while I was still married.

Hi, everybody who's welcomed me back. I'll be over to visit your threads tonight and tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing what you've been reading as well--and I just know I've missed out on some great conversations.

surely more than I would have, I'm too much of a disorganized reader!

>31 bell7:: Mary, what's a "disorganized reader?" I'd rather call you "flexible" or "spontaneous!" I'm a naturally disorganized person, who likes things organized--but in my own funky way. I'm only temporarily organizing my reading, because, first, I do think I got a good crop of books from the library this time and I really want to (should) read them all--though I'm trying to change my attitudes about this (see below). And, second, I so don't want to be organized, so don't want my own tbr's hanging over me. I'm trying to get rid of them, so that I can read whatever I want next year. (Yeah, yeah, I know, I can read whatever I want this year too.)

One change I've been working on is to think of all the reserved books that flood in all at once as just my own little mini-library from which to pick and choose, and not feel like I have to read all of them just because I checked them out.

>32 detailmuse:: MJ, did you read any reviews for Molly Fox's Birthday yet? I think I had too many good books to choose from--and maybe I was reading too much? (Before others accuse me, I'll just say it: Blasphemy!) The writing is good, but I just did not enjoy spending the day with M. Fox's friend and/or strolling down memory lane with her all that much.

I want to talk to you more about The Help. Right now, I can only compare it to my experiences with movies. Sometimes I really love a movie, and am seriously moved by the experience of watching it, but don't necessarily want to see it again. Other movies don't have the same impact, but I enjoy watching them over and over again. Hmmm... This maybe isn't the best analogy, let me try again...

Take Pride and Prejudice, I've read that book several times. I know exactly what's going to happen and when, but still enjoy reading it, because I love Austen's writing. Or a little book like Ellen Foster. Maybe not a classic, but I love every sentence in that book. I can repeat sentences over and over in both those books and still be delighted by them. In contrast, there's beauty in some of Stockett's characters, but not in her sentences. Is this making sense? I want to think some more about this.

In the meantime, thanks for the "Woot!" I think that's the first one I've ever gotten in my lifetime! :-)

>34 phebj:: Pat, yeah, I like to separate out the books I didn't finish, as well as the audiobooks.

>36 Donna828:: "...it was a book about living that life of quiet desparation that Thoreau talked about. Sadly, I think India Bridge lived a pretty normal life for the upper middle class in Kansas City in the 1950's..." That's it, Donna! I think Mrs. Bridge will make for a good discussion, especially if you have women in your group who are of differing ages and grew up in different economic/social classes. Always love hearing your comments; you are such a thoughtful reader.

>37 AMQS:: Anne, Savage Inequalities was such a fantastic book, though "fantastic" is probably the wrong word, since Kozol was so good at describing the terrible/awful conditions that too many children have to try to learn in. It's so unfair that we expect students to test equally well when their learning environments are so grossly unequal.

#42 - thanks Bonnie, I didn't mean to be nosy, but I had glanced at the book's LT page and it didn't seem to be a controversial book. I probably won't read it but its been noted.
Oh and I know what you mean about rereads and re-watchs. Some movies/books I absolutely love and I will never watch/read them again in case they lose their magic. Others are safe to go back to again and again.

Well, Bonnie, if today is any example, I've already lost my balance when it comes to reading books versus being on LT. We'll see if I can learn to control my addiction. Of course, some people in my life might call my reading an addiction, so...

So, regarding the books you might be interested in, I'm not going to predict. It would be great if you read some (one?) of them while I still remember some details--my memory ain't what it used to be, Sis!

And it could be that I'm just not that popular, but my strategy for getting all my messages posted first is to post a big warning to please not post until special logo disappears.

#44 In contrast, there's beauty in some of Stockett's characters, but not in her sentences. Is this making sense?

Absolutely! There are some books where the plot or characters are good, but I don't come away spellbound by the language itself. Others I could luxuriate in because the language is so "mud-luscious" and "puddle-wonderful". Some off the cuff examples for me are The Blue Notebook, The Illuminated Soul, and The Gendarme. There are some writers whom I just cannot appreciate because their language sounds so unbeautiful to my ear, like Hemingway and Melville. But most books fall somewhere in between.

>39 labfs39:: Lisa, isn't that just the way it is? Rain the last week before school, then great weather while the kids are adjusting to sitting at their desks all day.

>40 cameling:: Caroline, sounds like a good plan for reading Open House. I think it's just kind of book you would expect it to be, and I totally need those kinds of books in my life. The Hidden Brain is another kind of book that I love to read. The Brain That Changes Itself is totally fascinating, for example. I dare anyone not to get something from that book.

>47 labfs39:: There are some books where the plot or characters are good, but I don't come away spellbound by the language itself.

"That's what she said!" ;-)

Hi Bonnie--Wow--You really did read up a storm during your hiatus!

Sorry you didn't like Mrs Bridge. I guess that means you won't be reading Mr. Bridge??? My feelings about the book were that she was a sad, lost, lonely character who had no clue about how to connect with another person. (The time period was well before the 50's--I think it was pre-WW II, so definitely the social rules at that level were stricter than now). Mostly I pitied her--definitely not repulsed.

Well--maybe one day I'll recommend a book you'll like. lol

Hi, welcome back, and what a list of reads!

I have your new thread starred now.

>49 arubabookwoman:: Well--maybe one day I'll recommend a book you'll like. lol

Ha! Ha! You really are on a roll, aren't you, Deborah?

#44 "Take Pride and Prejudice, I've read that book several times. I know exactly what's going to happen and when, but still enjoy reading it, because I love Austen's writing."

Oh yes I have the same feeling about Pride and Prejudice too. I've re-read it many times. I know what's going to happen when and I still get excited over the same things again and again. The same goes with something like Bram Stoker's Dracula and many of my Agatha Christie mysteries.

On the other hand there are books like The Joy Luck Club, which touched me when I read it. But I doubt I would want to re-visit it because it might not feel the same.

Hi Bonnie

Nice to see posts from you!

>43 bonniebooks: Yes, Bonnie, spontaneous is perhaps a better word than disorganized for my reading. I'm thinking of skipping any category challenges next year to read whatever I want, when I want. My only possible limit will be to try to focus a little more of my reading on the hundreds of books already on the TBR longlist. I've recently gone through my various TBR lists (scraps of paper, lists online) and have almost finished compiling them into one notebook rather grandly entitled "The Ever-Growing TBR List," and will date it when I've finished to better enable me to determine what books were on it for a longer period of time.
(Guess I just illustrated your point, huh?) Spontaneous, flexible but not disorganized. :)

Welcome back Bonnie!

Inn at Lake Devine and Isabelle's Bed are my favorite Lipman novels too. Bur I read all of them.

Hi Bonnie!! Hope you are having a nice weekend!!

Welcome back! And holy smokes, woman! That's some serious reading you've been doing. I see lots of titles from my TBR, though, and I'm glad to see that The Case of Exploding Mangos made it as a runner-up for your top 10 list. I picked that one up from the bargain shelf in the spring, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

Welcome back Bonnie! Now that's an eclectic group of books. I also wonder what I could get done if I stayed away from my computer for a month.

I hadn't heard of Say You're One of Them, but after your post it's at the top of my want-right-now list. And since your reviews forced me to add 4 more books to my BookMooch list, I was esp. glad to read that bit about the Tiffany bracelet in Open House. Maybe it's picky, but I know I couldn't get past a scene like that. Even if the author made it believable, I'd be way too annoyed at the main character! One more book on my TBR pile I don't have to read. :)

Hi Bonnie! We've got some of the same books on our TBRs. I'm looking forward to reading White Teeth soon. The Gathering is on my stack too, but I'm not quite as excited about that one after reading some less than enthusiastic reviews. I look forward to seeing what you think!

>56 alphaorder:: Hi, Nancy! I've lent Inn at Lake Devine to a couple of younger readers and I was so glad that they loved it too. Elinor Lipman has been one of my 'go-to' authors when I just want to relax and not think too hard (or suffer too much) when I read. Can you think of any other authors like her that you would recommend?

Hey, Tammy! My long weekend has stretched out to include all of this week actually. I think my students need to get settled into their school routines, so I don't start tutoring again until next week. I have a list of things to do, but of course I've been playing on my new iPad. Warning to anybody who's interested in getting one: You can spend all day, just looking at, and playing around with, the free apps for it! ;-) And since I can't type as easily on it, I've been reading threads here on LT, but not commenting. I've gotta fix that, though, because I've been missing out on some good conversations.

Wow, an iPad! I'm so jealous. I can't wait to hear what it's like to read books on.

>59 madhatter22:: Maybe it's picky, but I know I couldn't get past a scene like that. Even if the author made it believable, I'd be way too annoyed at the main character!

I know, I almost didn't keep reading myself! To be fair, if I really love a story and the main character, I can forgive a lot of unrealistic plot lines. Oh well, that's our prerogative as readers, huh? It would be interesting if you did read it--you might not have been as bothered by the actual scene as I was.

>58 spacepotatoes:: Ha! Ha! Thanks, Andrea. I was really going to town, there, wasn't I? All my library books have been starved for attention this week though.

>60 porch_reader:: Amy, we'll have to make The Gathering more palatable by reading it together, OK? Even though I shield myself from knowing too much about a book before I read it, I've acquired some negative feelings/expectations about quite a few of my tbr's. Maybe I'll end up liking them better for that. ;-)

>63 phebj:: It's been great to read on, though mostly I've been reading 'how-to' manuals, but then I've read books on my laptop very happily. I think you've just got to know yourself. A Kindle may be a more ideal reading experience, but I love all that I can do on my iPad. And I just love all the visuals and feel of it. A Kindle was just too boring and one-dimensional for my A.D.D. self!

Hi Bonnie! I looked through your book posts ... and then skipped the other messages. Sorry, I just fall behind so quickly! But I'm here and checking in.

and 83. Still Life and 84. A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny

Around my birthday, I just lay on my couch for a couple of days and, among other things, read the first two Louise Penny novels. I had just said that I wasn't going to buy them right now, but found them for $2.50 before my 20% discount. I have too many LT friends who love talking about the Three Pines community, so will just say I'm glad I know what they're talking about now.

>64 bonniebooks:: Very true! At that point I would know more about the character and might be able to overlook the bracelet incident. :) I'm looking at that one scene out of context.
Well I do already own it ... and depsite what I said, I'd find it hard to get rid of a book I hadn't read yet! :)

>67 bonniebooks: I have too many LT friends who love talking about the Three Pines community, so will just say I'm glad I know what they're talking about now.

Just keep reading Bonnie. Those two aren't the best ones.

Bonnie- Just swinging through to say hi! Hope you have a nice weekend and miss seeing you around!

>67 bonniebooks:, 69 - What Bonnie said - they just get better and better!!

Haha! Ms. Penny caught another one!

It's like a very very enjoyable plague. No one will judge you if you indulge further.

Welcome to the iPad club! I've found that I've gotten pretty quick typing on it, just takes a little getting used to it.

>73 drneutron:: Oh, I'm motivated, Jim!

>69 brenzi:, 71, & 72: What were your favorites, all you LP fanatics? ;-)

>70 msf59:: Hi, Mark! Glad to see you! (And everyone else who has come by to wave, "Hi!" I'm so far away from catching up with all my old LT friends, but cutting way down too. I used to follow and comment on hundreds of threads, and loved it, but just can't keep it up if I'm going to get all my piles of books read this year. My goal: To start the year off with a clean slate (minus the Christmas books I assume I'll be getting.) I've got two books coming for my "Thingaversary", but after that the only books I'll be reading for the rest of year are ones that I can borrow, or the ones that I already own. Which reminds me, I'm going to put some pics of my books on my profile. I love that I have books in every room in my house and I thought that would be a fun series of pics to represent who I am. Coming soon...

85. Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson

Aaaah! I just loved this book--so charming and funny. Made me want to go out on my deck and watch for my hummingbird friend. Just right for a morning's read in the sun. But that's just the top layer. There's actually some important commentary there about the political conditions in Kenya too.

>74 bonniebooks: Well my favorite by far is the last one, Bury Your Dead with Book 5 The Brutal Telling a close second. I have enjoyed watching Penny grow as a writer.

ok, I'm waaaaaay behind here and am going to refer all the way back to #23: Moberg's The Emigrants. How was it? It has been sitting on my shelf looking daunting (tackling the Swedish will take some stamina that I don't know that I have these days...).

On your TBR list: in the love-it-or-hate-it camps, I fall into the love it side with Cloud Atlas. And Wizard of the Crow is a great one, too.

Good luck!

Bonnie- A generous LT friend sent me a copy of Guide to the Birds of East Africa, so I'm looking forward to it.

I also have a copy of A Guide to Birds of East Africa that I bought while on vacation in July. I'm glad to see you liked it.

Each Penny book is a little better than the one that preceded it but they really should be read in order.

Hi Bonnie, that's a very cool idea about posting pictures of some of your books in their various settings. I may have to steal, errr...I mean borrow that plan!

76: Hi Other Bonnie...my heart is pitter-pattering in its own little happy dance. Too much caffeine? No, I'm excited because I have the last (and apparently best) two Penny books to look forward to.

My favorite Louise Penny books are the last two as well, The Brutal Telling and Bury Your Dead. Glad to see you on the Three Pines bus with us! :)

Hi Bonnie!! How nice to see you again. Missed ya! I have been daunted by everyone's well-thought out and long reviews to the point where I haven't written ANY for about a month. I like your method and just might be able to crank out a few sentences. Maybe. Oh well. Kids are back in school so I hope to have more time on LT now. Hugs!

>75 bonniebooks:: Wasn't that delightful? That's become a rather constant recommendation to friends over the last couple years.

>77 ljbwell:: Lisa, I liked The Emigrants; I just didn't know how to talk about it. I want to talk about the author's voice, and how it reflects when it was written (the 1940's) and by whom it was written (A Swede), and about whom it is written (farmers and day-laborers who despite their efforts just keep getting poorer and poorer), but it just felt too difficult to get started. I wanted to wait until I could discuss it with Deborah (arubabookwoman) in person, since she was the one who recommended this book to me. The book isn't at all difficult or daunting to read though, and I'm interested enough in the family to follow their experiences in America.

>78 msf59: & 79: So, Mark and Joanne, have you started reading A Guide to the Birds in East Africa yet? Don't want to oversell it, but it is a lovely read.

>80 Donna828:: Donna, I'm so slow at getting around to things, that by the time I get my pics posted, you can claim I'm stealing the idea from you! ;-)

>81 BookAngel_a:: Angela, I wasn't that thrilled with the 'Miss Penny' books I've read so far, but it is fun being on the bus with you all! :-)

>82 Berly:: Hi, Kim! Happy to see you too! Even though I've been almost incognito on the threads this last month, I really love it here (my second home) and have missed seeing and talking to you too. Glad we're both back at the same time, though spending hours on my iPad every day has cut down my time dramatically for visiting my LT family. I spent the last day and a half trying to make one app work for me--though have to say the designers were fantastic in their response. (Found out they were college students in Arkansas.) I want to talk to you about the technology you've incorporated into your children's school library--I'll PM you on that, so we don't get too far away from book-talk here.

>75 bonniebooks:: Tad, that book reminds me of Nick Hornby's comment--in Shakespeare vs. Housekeeping, I think--about what a good writer will make you want to read. I'm going to have to go grab that quote and put it at the top of my threads, because I'm always thinking about it when I read a book like this. There's description after description of birds I'm never going to see, yet still loved it. In fact, that's part of the charm of the book. I'm not at all interested in going out for those kinds of bird-watching walks, but I loved tagging along with Mr. Malik. :-) And, hey, loved getting to "see" you at Richard's party!

Oops! Edited to add some comments to people I inadvertently ignored up above. If I still missed you, I apologize. I enjoy each and every visitor who comes my way! :-)

** Handmade Nation by Faythe Levine

Loved the stories about the artists, but, with a few exceptions, the illustrations of their work were not appealing to me at all. I want a book like this to have gorgeous pictures that I could be happy looking at over and over again, even if I know that I'll never try any of these crafts myself. That's what I want from books like this--the feeling that, "Oooh! I want to learn how to do this!" Or, "I wish I could do this!" I can appreciate the talent and hard work that went into some of these artists' work, but if these pictures are representative examples, I wouldn't look twice at most of their booths at an arts fair.

eta: I didn't give this book a # on my list, because I didn't read each and every story.

So, today I'm going to go pick out my books for my "Thingaversary." Yesterday was my official two-year anniversary, and I have to say that my life has been richer for being here on Library Thing and I don't even want to imagine my last two years without all of you! You're kind, you're smart, you're funny. And you love reading and talking about books as much as I do. A BIG THANKS for being in my life! (I'm not shouting, I'm cheering for all of us!)

Happy Thingaversary Bonnie!! Do you have 2 books in mind that you are going to purchase or are you going to browse first?

Congratulations, my friend! It's great having you part of the LT Tribe!

Bonnie

I know Faythe, as she is from Milwaukee. I saw her speak at an event and just browsed through the book. I agree with you about the quality of the work. What I got most from her presentation was that this is really about the culture of Handmade Nation, not the quality of the work. :)

Happy Thingaversary! Looking forward to seeing what you pick out!

Lisa, did you see my recent edit above about The Emigrants? I think you'll like it better than you think.

Tammy & Lisa: I've got so many serious books in my TBR pile that I want to read something lighter, but I want to choose "Thingaversary" books that I'll be glad that I've bought, and that I might want to read again. Got any suggestions? :-)

Thanks, Mark! You've been a loyal friend. I know I can always count on the Bonnie Book Club members (Ha! Ha! remember that?) to be here even in the quiet times. :-) Now where's my 'Sis' anyway? ;-)

Nancy, that's exactly what I got from it and in spite of my harsh-sounding comments about the illustrations, I really did enjoy the book for just that reason.

Oops, I did, but neglected to mention it. Thank you! It sits looking at me. It isn't so much the subject matter, which I think sounds *really* interesting, but the thought of that much older-school Swedish, that I find daunting. I know I'll read it one day, and your input makes it seem less frightening.

Recommending books is always such a scary thing - especially knowing you've only got 2, so what if you hate the one I recommend? That said, One Big Damn Puzzler has its faults, and can be a bit heavy on the farce, but for all the Shakespeare references I picked up on, I know I missed several more. Misfortune has kind of a Middlesex meets Dickens-ish feel. Winter's Tale isn't light, but is a *beautiful* magic realism book. Finally, for a slim, light read, there's Erik Orsenna's Grammar is a Sweet, Gentle Song. I cannot recommend this one highly enough, too. Think The Little Prince of language. I've never read a book that I didn't own and then still want so badly to have it sitting on my shelf.

But feel free to ignore all of these! :-)

Happy Thingaversary, Bonnie!

I remember when you joined LibraryThing, Bonnie. Surely, that couldn't have been two years ago! I've enjoyed your comments and your friendship since that fateful date. After saying that, can I be your "cuz"? I think your Sis is busy with her big book now. She said earlier that Slap was getting to that unpudownable point!

Happy Thingaversary Bonnie, and as I say about all the good things in life - Where does the time go?

And nope, haven't started The Guide to Birds of East Africa yet but it's being very patient. Soon, soon!

Bonnie

Happy, Happy LT anniversary!

Happy Thingaversary, Bonnie! I hope you choose something from your Salon :)

Happy Thingaversary!

Happy Thingaversary, Sis. And many more to come.

Happy Thingaversary! Can't wait to hear what you get.

Thanks, all! I wasn't able to get to my favorite bookstore on Sunday, so am waiting until Friday when I can spend the whole day there.

Hey, Bonnie, I've been searching for your thread these last few days and can't find you. Boo-hoo! Will you post something, so that your thread rises to the top? Or, you could even put a link on your profile--that way I'll never lose you. :-)

86. The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zweig

I really, really liked this book; the writing, and the translation, is terrific. Life is so bleak for Christine, a post-office clerk living in a small town outside of Vienna, sharing a rented room with her sick mother post WWI. Suddenly at 28, she gets to spend one glorious week in a luxurious hotel with a rich aunt who has come over from America. And just as suddenly, it's all torn away and she has to go back to a life that is no longer bearable because of all that she now knows. Before she seemed half-dead, now Christine's full of anger and despair. It's not that she wants to take anything away from someone else, she just wants to have a little something too. This is not a happily-ever-after story, but I enjoyed it (maybe the wrong word) because I thought I was getting a very true picture of what life was like for so many people who lost so much in the war and were just barely getting by as a country tries to restore itself.

>101 bonniebooks: I just updated the link to my thread on my profile page Bonnie. It was there but it was a link to my old thread. Hey, wait a minute, I have been posting there anyway.

Great review of The Post Office Girl and it sounds like something that I would like very much.

Hi, Bonnie. Glad you liked The Post Office Girl. I read Zweig's The Royal Game and Other Stories earlier this year and loved it so this seems like something I would enjoy.

Bonnie- Good review of The Post-Office Girl and I should know, since I'm The Post-Office Man. Actually, I've been on the waiting list at my library, for this one, for quite some time! Bummer! I loved Chess Story.

Happy slighly-belated Thingaversary! :)

Happy Thingaversary!!

Enjoyed your review of The Post Office Girl and I am going to read something by Stefan Zweig soon, either this or Chess Story.

Hi, Bonnie! Can’t wait to see what books you pick up for your ‘Thingaversary’!

I definitely need to move The Post Office Girl out of the BlackHole. Thanks for the reminder, Bonnie!

Nice review of The Post-Office Girl, Bonnie; I'll read this in November or December.

Belated happy Thingaversary! Enjoy your celebratory book acquisitions!

I lost you for ages!

Bonnie, Mark, Pat, Stasia, and Darryl: I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of The Post-Office Girl if/when you read it. I do have a little bit more to say about the ending, and the author, but don't want to be a spoiler. Cushla, I looked for Chess Story while at the book store today, hoping to get a used copy, but no luck!

But...Yaaay! I finally picked out my "Thingaversary Books." They are: Every Man Dies Alone, and Labor Day. We won't talk about the 4 other books I bought. As I said on the Thingaversary thread, all the books together were less than 2 hardbacks, so, in effect, I've bought the equivalent of 2 books which is a fair interpretation of the Thingaversary Rules as far as I'm concerned. ;-)

eta: Thanks, Andrea, Cushla, and Porua for your Thingaversary wishes. Buying books guilt-free is a wonderful thing! :-) The other 4 books that snuck into my bag were: The Meadow, The Uncommon Reader, The Ministry of Special Cases and Live/Work--all used copies or bargain books.

I cannot wait to see your review of Every Man Dies Alone which has been in the BlackHole for at least 2 years now.

I swear I will read Every Man Dies Alone by the end of November. It's been languishing on my sheves since last April. I picked up The Ministry of Special Cases at a book sale last spring so it would be nice to get to that too. Great Thingaversary celebration Bonnie!

The Friends of Seattle Public Library is having their sale this weekend. For those of you who know that Seattle is a city of readers (lots of bookstores to go with those Starbucks), you wouldn't be surprised to see the crowds pawing through tons of great books. FOSPL expects to make a million dollars! I stayed mostly in one room, and saw about half of my 100+ "favorites" (listed in my book collection). I kept exclaiming over them and trying to shove them into strangers' hands, but they just wouldn't take them. It pained me to think of all the LibraryThingers who would have grabbed them up for a buck apiece. I didn't find any books on my list that I was super, super excited about, but for a dollar a piece, I think I have some fairly good reading.

I don't know why some of these titles and/or authors aren't loading. I mean, Anne Tyler?! Anyway, here's what I bought today and the reasons why:

American Wife (I had taken this one off my list, but enough people had talked about it that I figured it was worth a dollar to check it out for myself.)
Bitter Fruit - Achmat Dangor (Now that's a pretty cover! Plus, it was a finalist for the Booker)
I Been to Sorrow's Kitchen and Licked out all the Pots - Susan Straight (Just love the title!)
If Morning Ever Comes - Anne Tyler (Because I was surprised to find a title by her that I haven't read--hope there's not a reason for that!)
In the Lake of the Woods - Tim O'Brien (Because I loved The Things They Carried)
Look at Me - Jennifer Egan (Because I wanted some light reading, and it was a National Book Award finalist)
The New York Trilogy - Paul Auster (Because I had just started listening to this, and thought it might be better read)
Push (Because the movie Precious was based on this book)
Stones From a River (Because it's one of my "favorites" and I've long regretted that I didn't have a copy in my library)
Tinkers - Paul Harding (Because it won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and I thought Laura had liked it, but oops! Oh well.)
We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver (Because it was an Orange Prize winner)

Today I only bought books that LT friends have recommended which was lots harder than you would think. I saw lots of books by authors I was searching for, but not the right titles. Because I walked there and was going to have to lug them home (3 miles), I was pretty cautious, but tomorrow I think I'll go back and pick up some some books just because I like their covers--I need a little surprise in my life. ;-)

I just finished Tinkers last night and really liked it, Bonnie. I hope you do too.

Great haul! Congratulations.

>111 tymfos:: Terri, I missed your posting above earlier. Thanks for stopping by!
>112 sibylline:: Isn't it nice that we found each other again, Lucy?
>114 alcottacre:: I'm really looking forward to that one too, Stasia! I've just heard so many great things about it.

>115 brenzi:: If I can wait that long, maybe we can read Every Man Dies Alone together, Sis! I don't know what other people will think about The Ministry of Special Cases but I've been surprised at how that story that has just stuck with me since reading it in February, so I want to read it again.

#116 Loved your description of the book sale. I'm going to have to keep track of when the SPL does their sales and plan a trip to Seattle at the same time (maybe we can make it a LT meetup weekend).

I LOVED In the Lake of the Woods and We Need to Talk about Kevin. Hope you do too.

I'm going to be reading The Ministry of Special Cases early next year for a book club. So glad you liked it.

Hope you have a good day at the sale if you go back today!

I started Post Office Girl a bit back, but got distracted by something else - will need to pick it up again.

Am eager to hear what you think of Labor Day.

I read the Susan Straight probably over a decade ago, but remember liking it.

Thanks for reminding me that I need to pick up Push.

I have just started Third World America.

Happy reading!

Nancy

Hi, Bonnie! Just checking in, and hijacking your thread to say that if anyone is interested in discussing Mrs. Bridge or even interested in reading what others say about it, the Missouri Readers will begin our discussion on October 4 right here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/98573
Feel free to join in!

>119 phebj:: Pat, good to know that you loved In the Lake of the Woods; I thought I had read something to that effect recently on LTI, so felt fairly confident about picking it up. I think The Ministry of Special Cases will be a great book to discuss, even if you don't like it as much as I did. And, so you can start planning, the library has another sale in the Spring. You are welcome to stay at my house when you come. With the money you save on a hotel room, just think of how many books you could buy guilt-free! :-) Anybody else interested?

>120 alphaorder:: Nancy, I finished Labor Day this morning. I loved it! It's so my kind of book. Huffington is always so fun to listen to--so smart and funny, I'll have to check out Third World America. (Lol! The title that first came up in Touchstones was Pat Buchanan's book!)

>121 tloeffler:: Lol! Of all threads, to post that info. on, you picked mine, Terri? Really?! (If you watched the "news" on Saturday Night Live, you'll know how I'm saying that last word.) Really! ;-)

Well, I picked yours because you were the first one I came across that mentioned Mrs. Bridge, and some discussing was going on (I know, it was over a hundred posts ago, but I'm a little behind). And sometimes, when I've listened to book discussions about books I haven't liked, I've come away with some different insights on the book. So you weren't random. Just there.

I know, I was just joshing ya. Really! ;-)

Bonnie- Looks like an excellent haul, my friend! I have both In the Lake of the Woods & We Need to Talk About Kevin waiting in the stacks. I recently read Jennifer Egan's latest and loved it. I read Tinkers earlier in the year, good but unfortunately not great.

Looks like a good collection. It's been awhile since I read In the Lake of the Woods, but I remember really liking it. The New York Trilogy is also a really good one. Enjoy them all!

Bonnie, I'm salivating over the idea of a million dollar book sale. Our measly $100,000+ sale is coming up in Springfield, MO near the end of October. I'll be working at it and buying from it as usual.

I've listened to the first half of Every Man Dies Alone, and it is excellent. It's a good audio book, but I'm going to look for the print version as well to add to my permanent collection. It's that good!

We Need to Talk About Kevin is one of the most disturbing books I ever read. Also, it's in the "can't put down" category.

>125 msf59:: Dang If you didn't like a book, I'm in trouble. I guess I'll put Tinkers closer to the bottom of my tbr pile. With luck, we might be reading one of the other two at the same time. Which reminds me, I followed, and enjoyed, the group-read on Blindness. Sounds like it was big hit. You're the master of the group-reads, Mark!

>126 ljbwell:: Good to know there are multiple satisfied readers of In the Lake of the Woods here at LT, Lisa. I hope I don't regret deleting the audiobook of The New York Trilogy and reading it instead.

>127 Donna828:: I might have the figures wrong, Donna; I was quoting a friend, and didn't actually see those figures myself. There were many hundreds of thousands of books there, for sure. I decided not to go back again yesterday, since I had previously made the commitment to get my tbr's to under ten by the end of the year. Hope you'll be able to find something good amongst the measly 1,000's of books you have to choose from--ha! ha! Laughing at myself, not you.

I'm really looking forward to Every Man Dies Alone, although that sounds weird, considering the topic. I can totally related to wanting to read a book, rather than listening to it. That's putting one more layer between you and the story.

>128 brenzi:: Thanks for the warning, Bonnie! I'll have to pick a weekend when I know I won't have to stop reading. :-)

I've got two books to review, but that will have to wait until later in the week.

Hi Bonnie--Wish I could have gone to the library sale with you. I'd have given you a ride home, so you could have bought many more books (although you got some good ones). One day you will get over your tbr phobia! (lol)

Hi Bonnie - Good fun at the library sale!

I loved Tinkers and Labor Day.

I am also a fan of Tinkers, Bonnie. I just read it this past week.

Every Man Dies Alone was ( is) a terrific book. I have to read more now that Hans Fallada's other books have been republished.

Deborah, you lovely enabler you. So, we've got a date for the sale in the spring? I just might be able to get over "my phobia" (lol) at a dollar a book. How's Boden and mom doing? You're not gushing nearly enough for a grandma. Step it up, girlfriend! (I'm typing on my iPad and typed "girlfiend" first. Word of warning, everyone: I've been typing on my iPad and that's the reason for the escalation in spelling errors--or that's what I like to tell myself.)

Good to hear, Joanne and Stasia. Two hands up for Tinkers--yaay! It's such a small book, it's tempting me.

I haven't heard anyone yet not love Every Man Dies Alone.

Dang it! The one thing I haven't learned to do is scroll down to the end of my message when I go up to fix and/or add something. I just wanted to add that I'm hoping it rains next Saturday, so I can curl up under a comforter and read all day.

#135: Just for you, Bonnie, I hope you get your wish!

87. Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

I just loved this book, but then I'm a sucker for child narrators, and I loved 13-year-old Henry right from the start. I'll write more, but just posting book covers today.

88. Goat, a Memoir by Brad Land

I didn't love this book, but I wanted to read it, so I could discuss it with my younger son who just left college and his fraternity brothers.

89. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

What reader wouldn't love watching the Queen of England get addicted to reading and see how she begins to make those connections between the books she's reading and her own life, then how her life begins to change because she is a reader. This is a cute/sweet and funny book, but maybe a little subversive too, considering that Bennett is writing about the queen as he (and we) might like her to be--or want her to become--rather than how "one" might see her now. I want to talk to someone from England. It seems like this "sweet" book could lead to a lot of disappointment with the queen as she appears to the general public. Does anybody know if she does read much?

#137: I have heard good things about that Maynard book (as opposed to her more recent book, The Good Daughters which I have not heard good things about), so I will have to track down a copy soon.

#139: I enjoy that one a lot, but I understand how it can be a bit subversive. Sorry, I do not live in England so I cannot answer your question for you, Bonnie.

Labor Day was one of my memorable books of 2009. It was so simple, but so deep. In fact, I must get it back from Cheli and re-read it sooner rather than later. Even though I think I knew at the beginning what was going to happen, I wanted to go on and see how these tragic characters could achieve some sort of salvation. A must read..

I absolutely loved Labor Day which was probably one of the reasons I was so disappointed with her newest, The Good Daughters.

>88 msf59:: Someone else mentioned Goat to me. What did you/didn't you like about it?

Adding Labor Day Bonnie; sounds good and I haven't read anything by Maynard.

Glad you loved The Uncommon Reader Bonnie. I thought that was a delightful book. I'm also going to check out Labor Day after all these recommendations.

Labor Day will be one of my "favorites" as well this year. Stasia, I would be surprised if you and Bonnie didn't love it.

Tad, I didn't love Goat because of the topic, but also because of the dreamy, messed up quality in the writing and the author, himself, since this is a memoir. I could relate to how the author had gotten himself into a situation where he was severely beaten and empathize as well with how that incident continued to terrorize him. But it was disturbing to read about his participation in hazing as part of joining a fraternity when his mental health was already so fragile. I thought Land had some important things to say about hazing and fraternities, including the difference between his complicated relationship with his brother versus most of the actions of his fraternity brothers in the name of "brotherhood," and I'm glad he finally got out of it, but he was messed up (imo) before the beating, before the hazings that, I have to confess, made his story less appealing to me.

90. Look at Me by Jennifer Egan

I had read the first part of this book before. I must have borrowed it from the library, then returned it unfinished. I kept thinking this book was going to pull together, but it really failed to--for me, at least. So many story lines going on in this book--not sure the author ever knew what she was going for. I think my first inclination was right--it really wasn't worth finishing.

Bonnie- I loved Egan's latest, A Visit From the Goon Squad and I just mooched The Keep. Sorry this one didn't work out for you!

#147: I think I will be skipping that one. I gave The Keep at try and it did not do anything for me either. I will give A Visit from the Goon Squad a go and if that one is a bust, I will swear off Egan's books.

I liked A Visit from the Goon Squad, so looked at Egan's backlist but didn't get much interested in any. Glad to read everyone's comments; I'll wait and take a look at her next release.

Fascinating, isn't what we like and don't like. I like Egan a lot, especially liked The Keep, so far that is my favorite. I agree Look At Me wasn't as successful but I still liked it well enough. The first one The Invisible Circus convinced me she was very talented.

A Visit From the Goon Squad is probably similar to Look At Me in that all the story lines made for a book that was very hard to follow, back and forth in time, but I ended up liking it. It did take a lot of concentration though. I haven't read anything else by her.

Congratulations on reading 90 books thus far this year.

I'm adding The Post Office Girl to be tbr pile. Your review is excellent!

Loved Tinkers and think The Uncommon Reader sounds quite good. Would love to talk library technology with you when you want. Will leave you my email in a PM. Hugs!!

>146 bonniebooks:: I felt the same way about Goat. You can't help feeling horrified and sympathetic about the attack and how badly it devastated him (though I totally agree with you that he had Issues even before that), but it's hard to keep up the sympathy when he's making things worse by willingly subjecting himself to the degradation of hazing. I just kept wanting to give him and his brother a good shaking.
Besides all that, I didn't think the writing was strong and the story just kind of trailed off at the end. I was surprised that I'd heard nothing but good things about it.

I wasn't familiar with Labor Day but I'm sold even before the review - another book for the wishlist.

Sounds like there's a real diverse response to Egan's books (what's new about that?) yet some agreement in there about how she writes. Maybe if I had liked the main character more, I would have liked the book more--that's such a flaw of mine--but in her acknowledgments, it sounds like even her editors were encouraging her to rework some of her characters, so as to get the story to come together a little bit more. I don't necessarily assume that I won't like her other books (I might have even already read The Keep); I just have too many other books that I know I want to read instead.

Thanks, Linda, I'm glad I could entice you. :-) I'm surprised by how many books I've read this year so far. I'm starting to think about coming up with a new plan for how I choose my books next year though, because reading more books hasn't necessarily generated more "winners" for me. Am I getting jaded? Am I reading too quickly? I know I don't give as much time to thinking about a book after I've read it before I jump right into another one. I've got to decide how/where I get my books next year too. I don't think I can be as delighted with a book when it's not mine--when I've gotten it from the library, as opposed to "discovering it for myself" at the bookstore. And buying it afterwards doesn't quite satisfy that itch either.

Kim, I can't imagine any reader not enjoying The Uncommon Reader, though primarily for it's 'entertainment' value, rather than it being great literature. I have a friend, though, who's a 4th grade teacher who's all excited about incorporating parts of this book into her teaching about the connections between reading and writing--can't wait to see how that goes. I wouldn't have thought to use this book with kids at all. Funny how much a reader brings to a story.

Shauna, I too was surprised that Goat was applauded as much as it has been. Oh well, so much happens between the reader and the writer that you can't really say that we all read the same book. I'll be interested to hear what you have to say about Labor Day--it was a book that I just wanted to enjoy rather than write about (though I'd love talking about it with someone--for me there's a huge difference between the two). Come back and share your thoughts when you've read it.

I know I don't give as much time to thinking about a book after I've read it before I jump right into another one.

That's a big problem for me too. Especially since joining LT, I have so many books that I want to read that it's sometimes hard to focus on what I'm currently reading let alone what I've just finished.

so much happens between the reader and the writer that you can't really say that we all read the same book

So true!

Maybe if I had liked the main character more, I would have liked the book more--that's such a flaw of mine

Oh, I don't know if I'd call that a flaw. I think it's just a way of reading, and I know that my reading experience is hugely affected by how I like or connect with or sympathize with the characters (or not). I've read that there are four elements of story we readers place varying importance on it: pace/plot (fast, slow, in-between), character, setting/mood (I want to say this was one, but I forget), and writing style (mood might have overlapped with this one...). We each have different combinations of what's important to us, and that can be affected by our mood as well. I'm the type of reader that's in it for the characters first, the writing second. If I love the characters, I'm less concerned with the pace of the plot. Ditto with the writing. If I'm loving the characters and I'm in the mood for a fast-paced book, I'm more forgiving of mediocre writing.

And I loved Labor Day. So much packed into one weekend, yet it felt so real. I didn't even mind that there were no quotation marks.

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

This was an interesting book to read after reading Columbine earlier this year. So interesting to think about how we might identify those kids who end up killing themselves and/or others before they get to that point. OK, I've used the word "interesting" twice, but the psychology major and mom in me just find these stories incredibly..."interesting."

Shriver's child character sometimes reads more like a "made for TV" character (as does the story), but there are many elements that I could relate to as a mom, a wife, and a teacher. It's so easy to look back in hindsight and know what we should have done or seen, and so easy to blame ourselves and our actions (or our failing to act) for what our children do that's wrong, bad, unhealthy, unsafe, etc. (Though we aren't nearly as generous with ourselves in accepting the same amount of credit for what they do well/right.) And society does often look to blame the mother (or parents) first--not because we're unfeeling or so critical, but we all want to make sense of things, so as to prevent them from happening again, or to us.

This wasn't a great book, but the topic (in our real lives) is just so...compelling. There! I found a different adjective.

Nice adjective. Good girl! LOL. Not for me right now. See below.

I have found that I am enjoying my reading more again now that I am NOT climbing on the band wagon and reading the latest LT craze. It means that I can't always join the conversations, but I am reading books that better fit my mood. I am back to combing my bookshelves and my favorite bookstore and letting the book "jump" into my hands. I have everyone's recommendations in the back of my mind and some of them call to me at a later date. Case in point, I just read The Help, which my LT friends read and gushed about months ago. Glad I waited and it IS worth gushing over!

I am back to combing my bookshelves and favorite bookstore and letting the book "jump" into my hands.

Ooh, I love that picture! :-)

Pat and Kim, I wonder how many of us are sucked into wanting to read this book or that one (right now!) because of being on LT? Which, don't get me wrong, I feel so glad to have discovered LT, and being able to count such terrific people as friends!

Mary, where did you read that! Do you remember? Was it Nancy Pearl? I want to read more about that.

#160: I am very much of a moody reader and have been known to haul library books back because I was not in the mood to read them just then. I always try to give a book at least 2 shots. After trying it twice if I still do not like it, I will give it a permanent pass.

Bonnie- Good review of We Need to Talk About Kevin. I have had this one on my shelf for awhile, after hearing some terrific buzz!

>162 bonniebooks: I think it was one of the reader's advisory books I read for fun/professional development. Maybe The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction by Joyce Saricks, though I daresay Readers' Advisory in the Public Library (which I haven't read yet) would cover appeal elements more broadly, as she seemed to be referring back to this in the one specifically about genres. In the intro, there's discussion of "appeal elements," a list which even in the RA books looks a little different (sometimes four, sometimes more, sometimes different names...).

If you didn't want a whole librarian-oriented book about recommending books to others (though I recommend them if you do! I actually found them to be very helpful in articulating what I like/dislike about certain books), you can check out the Wikipedia article on reader's advisory. And if you're interested, here's an interesting example of the types of questions and answers that illustrate what these different appeal elements really "look" like in a story.

>163 alcottacre: Huh, I'm pretty similar in that, Stasia. I have a book now that I was just soooo excited to reach page 50 so I could return it...but I'm leaving it on the TBR list for now just in case I find myself in a different mood and ready to read it.

Loving everything Mary has to say. I'm more of a character/writing style reader. Luscious prose will sell me on a book even if the plot is lacking. I love beautiful language.

Bonnie, I thought We Need to Talk About Kevin was an absolutely compelling read. I could not put it down, even for a second. And then of course there's the ending.

Off to check out the wikipedia article about reader's advisory:)

I have read many fine books ( and some disappointing ones) through LT.
However, it is special discovering a book or author on my own. I have browsed through book stores and gone to book readings for my personal discoveries. I also trust certain friend's recommendations.

I go for character and writing style too, Bonnie. Guess that's why we're sisters. :-) I just came back from reading the Wikipedia article, then a jaunt through through ALA--very interesting. Thanks, Mary!

I sometimes succumb to LT recommendations (the Stieg Larsson and Louise Penny books come to mind). But mostly I read whatever I want to read.

# 167 “However, it is special discovering a book or author on my own.”

So true! I love discovering authors on my own. For example, my dad has some old story collections and anthologies. I read them as a kid and I keep looking for the authors featured in them all the time. Last year I read Stanley Weyman and this year I’ve read F. Marion Crawford, E.V. Lucas and W.W. Jacobs. Discovering old time authors who are virtually unknown today and reading and reviewing their books are my favourite things now. :-)

A most interesting conversation you've got going here, Bonnie. It will come as no surprise to you and Bonnie R. that I am in that slower-paced group that focuses on writing style and psychological story lines.

Thanks, Mary, for pointing out the wikipedia article. Very interesting!

I'm also in the group with Kim and Porua (and others I suspect) who pretty much read what we want to read. That's why I was so glad to get my latest ER review written. Free at last!

Glad to provide you all with food for thought!

Quite a - er - thought-provoking discussion about how you choose books to read. I think I treat LT recommendations similarly to how I treat recommendations in real life. As I get to know other people's reading tastes, I see where we overlap and might be prodded to try something I might not have heard of otherwise but am fairly sure I would enjoy. It's not much different from how I might take a random person's recommendation with a grain of salt, but if my brother or sister or mother or friend recommends something to me I can use what I know of their reading tastes to get a sense of whether or not I would enjoy it.

But I do like to read whatever I want, when I want to, which is why I 1. take so long to review ER books 2. give myself permission to stop reading a book that's not working for me and 3. will probably not be doing an "category" challenges next year...

I would never give up LT--I value my company here too much--but it is a very different experience for me when I go to my favorite bookstore now.

First, I've read quite a few of the brand new paperbacks because I heard about the books on LT and borrowed them from the library already, or I heard something that's made me think that I wouldn't like the book that much. Add in the books with the unappealing covers or titles (yes, I'm one of those people heavily influenced by both) and there's just not as much on the table to be excited about.

Second, I look at the new hardbacks and feel like many of those are going to be old news by the time they come out in paperback as well. I know I'm sounding like a "glass-half-empty" person, but I loved that old feeling of going into a bookstore and knowing absolutely nothing about most, if not all, of the new paperbacks. It felt like such a feast before, and now it's a bit like looking at a bunch of other people's half-eaten meals or left-overs. OK, I don't feel as negative about it as that sounds, but I don't get that joy of discovering something on my own feeling as I used to, and I sometimes miss that. On the other hand, I can find a lot more sure-fire good reads on the bargain tables--though, again, I've often read many of those already too. (I just can't stop complaining, can I?).

I guess I'm just trying to say I can relate to what Cyrel and Porua are saying.

First, I would say that since I have been an LTer the quality of my reads has grown exponentially. I'm reading many more 4+ star books than I ever did before. In addition, I'm reading classics that I've never considered reading and finding a whole new, wonderful world of books. I couldn't be happier.

As far as waiting for the paperback editions, I guess that doesn't bother me. If I really want to read a new book, I request it from the library (waiting for Room and Freedom right now) and there are just sooo many books to read it's not a problem for me.

As a librarian who spends over 50% of my time doing RA, I find this discussion fascinating. I personally have found hundreds of books to read that I wouldn't have found except for LT (we're a tiny library and our book purchases are VERY limited, so most of our stuff is done VIA ILL). Having the window of watching what others are reading and saying about that book really helps me to understand perspectives of my local readers and offer them books based on LT readers AND other book review sources.

Being able to incorporate the LT (and to a certain extent book bloggers) reader's perspective into the "Professional" advice one finds in tools like Novelist, PW, Kirkus, etc. really has helped me find interesting new books both for me and my patrons. In fact, this whole idea was the subject of a presentation I gave last week at the Maine Library Associations annual conference...showing librarians how to incorporate Web 2.0 sources into RA. I really hyped LT as a source for good reviews by intelligent READERS who would tell it like it is, because they're not making any money from pimping the book.

Anyway thanks to all of you for terrific reading choices and recommendations, and many many thanks to Bonnie for hostessing this discussion. Talk about hijacking a thread!!!

No hijacking going on here, Tina--I'm in the thick of it! :-) I'm so in agreement with you about relying on LT reviews over, for example, the excerpts in the front or backs of books or even the lengthier full reviews.

The way I look at it, I still am faithful to picking out books I want to read and not reading something just because lots of people on LT like it. That said, LT has served to expose me to several books that fall into that category, but that I wouldn't have known about otherwise.

Other influencing factors? Book reviews & end-of-year fave lists from newspapers I respect, and just going into a bookstore and looking for that mix of title/book cover, blurb, and reviews that jumps out at me.

Love the discussion here!

Occasionally, someone will post about a book, and it will strike me as just what I want to be reading. More often, I note things that I might want to read at some point -- when I'm in the right frame of mind, a different season, have more time, etc.

When a book catches my eye, I'll often go to LT to see what others thought of it -- especially if I see comments by someone whose tastes I've found to be similar to mine.

But I think I'm still a pretty moody, independent-minded reader. That's why I struggle with category challenges . . . I use them as a tool to "stretch" my reading and keep me out of ruts, but sometimes it just doesn't work for me.

Like I’ve said before my dad’s books have been a great resource for me. I’ve found many new authors through them. Surprisingly, I get great recommendations more often from books than from people. For me books have provided quite accurate recommendations and have lead me to more books. For instance, I got to know of the play, A Kiss for Cinderella by J. M. Barrie, from an Agatha Christie short story. I read Ben Johnson’s Every Man in His Humour because I read an excerpt of it in Thomas Love Peacock’s Nightmare Abbey. And I found out about Nightmare Abbey from the book The Tale of Terror: A Study of the Gothic Romance. Quite a chain of recommendations!

Love that picture of following the trail of authors and titles pulled from your reading, Porua. You would go crazy reading Special Topics in Calamity Physics. I still want to read Woman in White (as well as some others) because of that book.

I actually had a great time consulting my iPad, including breaking down my wishlist by individual LT members' recs the last time I was at the bookstore. It was so helpful as I was trotting through the stacks looking for used books. (And it's going to be great when I hit Powell's this weekend--if they have Wi-Fi.) But it was at the front tables where I felt the loss I described in #172. It's a small price to pay, I guess, for all that I've gained since becoming a member at LT.

Glad to see the discussions on We Need to Talk About Kevin. I am listening to the audiobook, and I actually had to call my niece and ask her to talk me into finishing it! It's not a bad book, it's just such a depressing one, and I told her that if the ending is stupid, I want to quit now. She said no, keep going, so I am. And like you say, Bonnie: it's compelling.

# 179 People seem to have such extreme reactions regarding Special Topics in Calamity Physics! It’s kind of confusing me. Should I read it? Would I like it? I don’t know what to think.

#179/181: My opinion (for what it is worth) - interesting idea that gets silly by the end, and predictable. There are better books out there, many of them mentioned in Special Topics... And thank you, Bonnie, now I understand why lately I've been intrigued by Woman in White every time I see it in a bookstore... :-) (btw, I just finished a book that normally I would not have given a 2nd look - based on title & cover - if it hadn't been for LT. rah.)

>182 ljbwell:: That's a good point, Lisa. There are just as many books that I wouldn't look at/for if not for recs my LT friends. Donna had a similar conversation going on her thread --the cover that she thought was boring was much more appealing to me, while the cover she liked would have been passed over by me.

>181 Porua:: Porua, I liked Special Topics.. for all her references/connections to familiar books--she's very clever! But I also loved the writing style; the narrator is so tangential in her thinking--which is how I think, so loved it for that reason as well. And I really liked the cover--this one:

Picked up Special Topics a few weeks ago based on Madeline's recommendation and this conversation is making me push it way up the pile.

BTW, that's the smallest book pic I've ever seen Bonnie LOL; can't really see what the cover looks like;-)

I went to Powell's in Portland today and with wishlist in hand, and only an hour to ramble (which is a crime against humanity to allow me so little time there), I did pretty darn well. With the exception of Elliot Allagash which I just had to buy because Ant Farm is so laugh-out-loud funny, and which was 30% off anyway, I paid used-book price -- though some are brand new. (You should see my never-been-opened hardbound of Hippolyte's Island, Deborah. It even has a fold-out map -- cool!) Here's my haul:

The Moonflower Vine by J. Carleton (Donna828)
The Joys of Motherhood by B. Emecheta (arubabookwoman)
So Big by Edna Ferber (lindsacl)
She Got Up Off the Couch by Haven Kimmel (Madhatter)
Hippolyte's Island by Barbara Hodgson (arubabookwoman)
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by W. Johnston (brenzi, cushla)
A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul. (arubabookwoman, kidzdoc)
Elliot Allagash by Simon Rich (Guardian, UK)
I Capture the Castle by D. Smith (librarylover23, teelgee)
The Blue Notebook by J. Levine (kidzdoc)
All the President's Men by Robert Penn Warren (brenzi)

Scoooooooooore!

Nice Bonnie! And all within an hour! I'd love to get to Powell's one day. I shop them online when I can. A couple of your finds have been lanquishing, unread, on my shelves. I'll have to check out the Simon Rich book as I also loved Ant Farm as well as Free-Range Chickens.

Great list of "new" books, Bonnie. Some I haven't heard of so will have to check them out. Powell's is huge. It's good you had your list. I always end up in bookstores without a list and then go blank as to what I'm looking for. Have fun in Portland.

Gah I'm sooo jealous of you for getting even an hour in Powell's. A few of those are already on my shelf but I'd love to have any of the others. Lucky you, sis.

I've never been to Powell's *blush*. A hard confession to make for a bibliophile living in the Northwest!

Btw, The Blue Notebook is amazing. Right up there on the most powerful books scale. Hard to believe that a middle-aged British man living in Minnesota could write so convincingly from the perspective of a girl child prostitute in Mumbai. It blows to pieces my stance on authenticity of voice. Anyway, great book. I will have to read what Darryl wrote about it.

Nice haul -- enjoy! Several of those books are in my TBR pile, especially The Moonflower Vine and A House for Mr. Biswas. I've read -- and enjoyed I Capture the Castle. Hope you do, too!

Great haul, Bonnie!

I know what you mean about it being a crime against humanity to allow so little time in Powell's - I felt the same way on my visit to The Strand in NYC. I could have spent weeks in there with no problem!

Bonnie- Sounds like a mighty haul! I'm not familiar with many of the titles but since most of them are LT recs, they must be good! Enjoy!

Hardball by Sara Paretsky and Lost in a Book by Jasper Fforde

I listened to parts of both these books on my iPod while traveling back and forth to Portland (3 hours each way). While I appreciated having something to listen to, most of the time these kinds of books felt like so much "blah, blah, blah..." to me--especially Fforde's book. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have continued listening to either book if I had been at home and had other choices, though I might have finished Hardball had I been reading it because there were the underlying issues of racism and politics in Chicago during the time of civil rights movement, a riot during Martin Luther King's visit to the city in the late 60's, and Vietnam. In spite of Fforde's book being titled "Lost in a Book," there was hardly anything in this book about reading and books. I'm not criticizing the books, necessarily; I just need more character development--characters who are more introspective, who are dealing with real problems/dilemmas, who understand how an event/events can impact the rest of their life.

92. Ellot Allagash by Simon Rich

I would call this book an absurdist morality tale for high schoolers, but keep in mind that some of Rich's main characters are so cynical, it may have the opposite effect--possibly buttressing a belief that everybody cheats if/when they can get away with it, and that money is often the key to doing just that. While the main character is sympathetic, and learns some important lessons, even he doesn't seem to have much regret until he gets caught. This book is a quick read, but too ridiculous for me to love, and not nearly as funny as even a few pages of Ant Farm. I was entertained while reading it, but not that much "there" there. I say borrow or wait to buy at the "used book" price.

Help! I have to recommend a book for a book group, the members of which frequently don't read the book, but if they do, often prefer lighter/easy reads (e.g., The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society). Looking at the books I've read this year, I think they would like (and might even read) these books: A Guide to the Birds of East Africa, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, Labor Day, The Uncommon Reader, and The Housekeeper and the Professor. Which one do you think would lead to more discussion?

edited to fix Touchstones.

Bonnie, I've only read A Guide to the Birds of East Africa and The Uncommon Reader, but I think both have potential to be good discussion books. East Africa has birds/hobbies, HS/adult rivalries, and quite a lot of politics. Uncommon has books: has reading changed your life? Do books/reading affect the way you look at things? Why do you read, etc. Uncommon perhaps has the advantage of being shorter... The other books you mention are all on my wishlist. *sigh* Someday...

I've read uncommon reader and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. The Major would make an excellent book discussion, and if your group is of the light/easy reads ilk, they'll love it!!

Interesting question, Bonnie.

Of your listed books, I've only read The Uncommon Reader and The Housekeeper and the Professor. The Uncommon Reader has good "questions" for a book club (it's almost like a reader's guide is built in), but I much preferred Housekeeper as a read. It's interesting that you see Guernsey Literary as an easy/lighter book than these two. Uncommon Reader was the fluffiest for me. I found Guernsey to have both interesting literary questions about how we rely on books to get us through and which books do that for us; and historical interest. I think Housekeeper is the most thought provoking about life, whereas the other two are books about books.

I haven't been in a book club for a while though, so maybe I'm out of touch. :-)

I've read Labor Day, Uncommon Reader and The Housekeeper and the Professor and so can only speak to them. I think they would all generate some great discussion but I lean more toward Labor Day. It would be interesting to talk about what everyone would do in that situation and how plausible they think it is. Just my opinion...sounds like fun whatever you decide!

a book group, the members of which frequently don't read the book
frequently? well that's frustrating

From your list I've only read The Uncommon Reader. I liked it. Short and simple to read, probably the same to discuss. There's an outside chance it would capture someone into the world of books, and it might fit a group that likes the idea of reading more than reading itself. If they liked The Guernsey... (which was light but IMO not simple; the epistolary style, history and literature required some readerly engagement), I'd choose one of the other books that has multiple topics and layers.

Glad you found The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, and I hope you like it!

I've read The Uncommon Reader and A Guide to the Birds of East Africa. I think either would work pretty well - the UR is so short, surely they would read it?! (I guess it depends if they really love reading, or are in a book club for the coffee and cake. If so, maybe they would like the Birds of East Africa more.).

For the life of me, I don't understand those "coffee and cake" clubs disguised as book groups. But that's just a cranky ol' lady's opinion! I think all the titles you've suggested sound great. I've only read Labor Day and The Housekeeper and the Professor, but I want to read the others. Be sure and let us know which book you choose.

>185 bonniebooks:: Regarding your book haul...why only one hour in Powell's? You must have had help gathering up all those books in such a short time. I had to limit my time at the Tattered Cover when I was there in August, and I'm still sad about the books I left behind.

Oh, what I meant to tell you...I havent read I Capture the Castle. I do own it and want to read it so maybe you read my mind! I hope you like The Moonflower Vine. It was a hit with the Missouri Readers but the setting may have had something to do with its popularity.

Thanks, everybody, for your input. It makes me feel more confident about all of my choices, but I'm still thinking and may even add to the list. A short, easy-to-read book that is nevertheless excellent writing and set within another country or culture is sort of what I'm looking for. Suggestions are welcome. :-)

Cushla and Donna, I guess the group is a bit of a "coffee and cake" group, but that's sort of my own fault. My best friend and I had been in a small book group of serious readers that fell apart, so we begged some of our friends and neighbors to form a book group with us. They are all smart, creative, and busy women who live very full lives. Time for reading comes after supporting their kids' interests and activities, their spouse, family demands (e.g., cooking dinner), work, etc. Can you imagine that?! Lol! They're coming along though. ;-)

>202 Donna828:: Regarding your book haul...why only one hour in Powell's? You must have had help gathering up all those books in such a short time.

Donna, it helped that I had my list in alphabetical order by author. I had wanted to use my iPad, but couldn't access their Wi-Fi, and I had to stay in Fiction, darn it! But, get this, a very nice Powell's employee let me access my wish list on LT, then copied the whole thing out for me--all 29 pages! I left a written compliment for him, but left out the "29 pages" part; I don't think he knew quite what he was getting into when he volunteered to copy it. ;-)

And ignore my earlier comment--I really couldn't afford to do any "rambling." My experience felt more like going to the grocery store with your list in hand, kids in tow, and only 10 minutes to shop for a week's worth of groceries--I was on a tear! Not exactly the zen Powell's experience I would have liked. I only had that hour, because I had my 87-year-old mom with me and an hour of sitting on a hard bench, waiting for me, was almost too much for her even though she had my son to keep her company. I was in Portland for his birthday (which we did celebrate), but I told him that entertaining his grandma for the hour could be his birthday present to me since he missed mine this year. ;-)

Well apparently I'm really late to this party but I'll throw my two cents worth in. I guess it's nice that your friends are helping you out with this book club thing but that would drive me insane. On the other hand, I have had no luck with RL book clubs because no one wanted to read any of the good books that I wanted to read and I got stuck reading something by Charlotte Vale Allen one too many times. (Never heard of her? Of course you havent, even though she's written a gazillion formulaic books.)

Anywho, for people who don't have time to read I would go with The Uncommon Reader on length alone.

>204 brenzi:: Bonnie, I'm still taking suggestions, so you're not late--not ever! Now if we were all spectacularly rich, we could form a group on LT and take turns coming to each other's house once a month. Wouldn't that be great?! All sing along now: Dreeeeeeam. Dream, dream, dreeeeam. Dreeeeam...

I got stuck reading something by Charlotte Vale Allen one too many times. (Never heard of her? Of course you havent, even though she's written a gazillion formulaic books.)

I went to a book store in Grants Pass, Oregon and there were rows and rows of authors who had written dozens of titles. They were obviously very popular and I had never heard of any of them.

eta: I just found this quote and added it to post #4 above (wherein I had repeated my promise only last month to get all but ten of my tbr's read before the end of the year) to make myself feel better. Hope it does the same for all of you. Sigh... Let's all spend a few moments imagining another reality where books come with a time coupon.

It would be a good thing to buy books if one could also buy the time to read them; but one usually confuses the purchase of books with the acquisition of their contents. Arthur Schopenhauer, 'On Books and Writing' (1851) in A Book Addict's Treasury

Singing along with Bonnie: Dreeeeeeam. Dream, dream, dreeeeam. Dreeeeam...

I agree with the comments on The Uncommon Reader. From the sounds of it, the book would be a great one for your group.

>205 bonniebooks: Ok I'm stealing that quote outright. It's just too good to pass up.

I love the quote!

I'm glad you got to go to Powell's--we should make a day trip sometime--and you got some good books.

I didn't get to the Strand while I was in NYC. :(

Boden's beginning to smile. I have only one more week til I have to leave him. :( On the other hand, I have a whole week left to enjoy him. :)

Nice haul, Bonnie! I haven't read The Blue Notebook yet, but I should get to it sometime soon.

The Uncommon Reader is short and non-intimidating for those who don't often READ the selected book. And I think there's some potential for discussion as a group. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand has more potential topics for discussion, though. But most important is a book that your book group will actually read, right? :)

Hi Bonnie!
Regarding msg #195. I haven't yet read the books you mentioned, but I have a few to suggest.

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
A fictional account of the lives of 2 women, who were fossil hunters in the 1880's in England.

Undress Me in The Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman I saw this one on your wishlist. This is an interesting, but easy read. Sometimes travel memoirs allow the reader to live a bit vicariously.

or something by Robert James Waller, maybe Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend or High Plains Tango. Waller's books are often short, easy reads. There is always a little bit of romance and a little bit of tragedy.

How about The Widow Clicquot or The Help? The first is about a woman in the champagne industry, historical and enjoyable. And everyone know about The Help.

Bonnie--I was breezing through some threads and saw you bought I Capture The Castle partly on my recommendation. I hope you like it whenever you get to it! I'll be sure to keep tabs on your thread from now on--lots of interesting topics covered here!

So, Kidzdoc, I guess that speaks to the power of your opinion that I added a book to my wish list based on your comments about a book you haven't even read yet.

Tammy, I think they might really like Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven--they said recently that They like books that include travel and other countries and other cultures.

Kim, I remember your review of Widow of Cliquot. You made it sound really interesting, and while they would probably like it, I grew up Mormon and even though I'm an atheist now, my negative feelings about alcohol have stuck with me. It's totally an illogical bias considering alcohol--in moderate amounts--is supposed to be good for you now, along with coffee which I also don't drink. Too bad the Mormon church wasn't against ice-cream--I'd be a lot skinnier now. We've read The Help and, you're right, they did like it.

Bonnie-lol about the Mormon/ice cream thing. I am not much of a drinker, but I do like my champagne with a little cassis in it. So, how about The Lonely Polygamist?!

Do you think your book club would be interested in young adult fiction? I thought Does My Head Look Big in This? was very good and would lead to interesting questions. It's about an Australian Muslim girl who decides to start wearing the hajib. Her school was issues with it, and her parents worry for her. Her friends offer the all important beauty and boy tips. Short, humorous, but thougt-provoking about how we make decisions about our professions of religion, how society looks upon the wearing of the head scarf in general, and in schools in particular, and how being different can sometimes be affirming, even in adolescence.

Thanks for the link, Bonnie.

It is easy to find your thread. I will return to catch up with your reading.

Love, R

Ditto to the support for Uncommon reader. If they like travel and experiencing new places, and don't mind humorous autobiographical essays, there's David Sedaris' Me talk pretty one day.

Complete non sequitur re: #205 - I completely misread it as (or read it right, but heard it in my head as) Grass Pants, Oregon, which I thought was a great name for a town.

>218 ljbwell:: LOL! "Grass Pants!" Love it! Thanks for your suggestions, everyone, re: my book group selection. I like hearing them and it helps me fine-tune my reasons for (or not) selecting a book for this very special group. I still haven't decided on a book; I've got to do it by tomorrow evening. Several of them prefer audiobooks, so I'm going back to my favorites as well as what I read last year, as they may be able to get older titles more easily from the library.

93. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

A thoroughly enjoyable day's read that's funny-funny, but also funny in the way that people's behavior can be funny even when they don't intend it to be. Sweet, poignant. Major Pettigrew, Mrs. Ali, and the town they live in made me think about...well, all sorts of things: How we can convince ourselves that even if we're doing the wrong thing, it's for the right reasons; how we justify our behavior and our prejudices by surrounding ourselves with people who think the same way we do; how we often don't question the values/beliefs of our community until we fall prey to them; how some people, no matter that they are born and lived all their lives in a country, will still be perceived as "foreign" or "outsiders," by many people; how the people with power/prestige tend to want to keep it by excluding others; how blithely ignorant and insensitive people are of other cultures and/or cultural perspectives; how rewarding yet sometimes really tough it is to be a parent when our children do things we don't like--or how tough it is to see yourself in your child's eyes; how romance and love isn't just for kids; how we can go on living our lives out of fear, custom, or comfort; or how much capacity we all have for change to the very end of our lives.

This is a charming story with plenty for me to think about--if I wanted to--or I could just cruise along and enjoy the travails of an elderly man who has "stuck to his guns" for most of his life. I'm tempted to select this for book group, but half the members are 10-15 years younger, still with kids at home and spouses. I don't know how much they would relate to Major Pettigrew--I was actually surprised at how much I could.

Wow, that's a fantastic review, Bonnie. I actually took Major Pettigrew's Last Stand out of the library earlier this year but didn't have time to get to it in the two weeks I had it for. I'll definitely have to take it out again after reading your review. Sounds like a great book for a book club.

ETA: I just went to the book's work page to thumb your review but didn't see. You should post it there, it's a great review.

What a terrific review Bonnie! It makes me want to run out and get it (Is it in PB yet?) Funny and with something to think about too? Sounds just about perfect.

I appreciate the compliment, Pat, but I think my comments are more about me than much about the book which is why I don't post reviews. I know that anybody who clicks onto LT can peer into any group and any thread, so my comments aren't really private at all; but I like to pretend it's just me and my friends here and I've got some privacy to blurt out whatever I'm thinking and/or feeling--silly me!

It's for much the same reason that I voted "no" re: Tim's proposal to attach names to our "thumbs." I know that lots of libraries link LT's reviews to their library site and I think that's great. I rely on LT reviews because I think you all are much more my kind of readers than, say, Amazon. Plus, I don't have to wade through the commercial aspect here. But I want to preserve as much privacy as I can; I don't want any Tom, Dick, or Harry who's just clicking onto LT to see my name in the reviews, then be able to click on my profile--it feels too much like Facebook, etc. Do I sound like a curmudgeon?

Not at all, Bonnie. I totally get the privacy thing. My facebook and email accounts were hacked earlier this year (by someone in Nigeria that then sent all my contacts emails asking for money to bail me out of jail in London) and the whole experience was very creepy. That's actually why I didn't use my full name for my LT user name.

For the most part, I only communicate with people in the 75 Book Challenge group on LT but every once and a while I get a friend request from someone on LT I've never heard of and don't seem to have any books in common with and it makes me think twice.

Anyway, I certainly do not think you're a curmudgeon.

I totally want my thumb to remain anonymous!! Great review BTW. Does My Head Look Big In This sounds really good and I have the David Sedaris book -- might have to move it up in the pile.

I'm surprised you haven't read it yet, Bonnie. It is in paperback and I know you would thoroughly enjoy it. It's not a dark book at all in spite of my more serious thoughts. It's quite comic--totally your kind of humor. I thought most of the book was pretty light while I was reading it (still do) but after writing out those comments, I've convinced myself that it might be meaty enough for a book group discussion. I don't know, though, practically every book I read could send me to those same thoughts.

eta: Kim, I start laughing when I read the title Does My Head Look Big in This, and David Sedaris is always funny. Me Talk Pretty has quite a few stories about his experiences in school (he had a lisp, I think, for which he was getting 'pulled out' for special instruction) so I know you'd find it interesting as well as funny, given how involved you are in your girls' school(s).

eta again: Oh my gosh, Pat! That would totally turn me off of Facebook--though I know that once I have grandkids (what you visualize will come true) I'll probably be on something like that, so that I can get daily updates and pictures (still visualizing!) Re: the posting of reviews and being public on LT; I'm such a hypocrite, because I want everyone else to still post their reviews.

#220: Love your review, Bonnie. I loved Major Pettigrew when I read it earlier in the year and am glad to see you enjoyed it as well!

Bonnie - great comments on Major Pettigrew. For some reason the publisher sent me a free copy when it was first out and I'd never even heard of it (how nice was THAT). Anyway, I've heard wonderful things and must read this soon, obviously.

I enjoyed reading your thoughts on Major Pettigrew, Bonnie. It's been on my to-read list for a while now.

# 223 No, Bonnie you definitely don't sound like a curmudgeon.

As a 20-something year old, I belong to a generation where all of my friends are heavily in to Facebook. Uploading pictures of their private moments and updating their status all the time is what they do for living, it seems to me. I on the other hand, refuse to divulge any personal information anywhere. What I love about LT is that I can be totally myself here but my privacy remains intact. I don't accept friend requests from people I don't know and only interact with people I want to interact with. LT is good the way it is. I wouldn't like it to change.

Morning Bonnie- "...you definitely don't sound like a curmudgeon". Now, why would anyone think that? Hee hee! I was lucky enough to mooch a copy of Major Pettigrew and it's on it's way. It's been on the WL forever.

Bonnie, I did seriously think about "de-friending" facebook after that episode but I couldn't give up the ability to see all the pictures that friends and relatives post. So now I just use it for that. I almost never post anything myself. I did, however, change the email and password I use for that account and make sure I never use it for any other account. (Part of what I did wrong the first time was have the exact same login info for both fb and email, so once you got into one account you could easily get into the other, and I wasn't always logging into the secure part of the site, i.e. https--not http.) Oh well, live and learn.

LT tops Facebook by about a million per cent in my world. Although I do like to keep up with my nonreading cousins on FB. My kids post less than I do!

I very much wanted to snag a copy of Major Pettigrew at the library book sale last week. I'm guessing that's the kind of book people tend to hold onto as there were no copies available. I did score a HC copy of The Invisible Bridge that I'm grateful for.

>223 bonniebooks:: Bonnie, you are definitely uncurmudgeonly. Just honest...that's what I love about you! I am beginning to post fewer 'official' reviews unless I have something important (imo!) to say or the book needs more reviews. I see no point in adding my two cents to a book like The Art of Racing in the Rain that already has almost 200 reviews posted.

Ditto to all the kudos about your Major Pettigrew review. I've added it to my hold list at KCLS.

P.S. Public thumbs? Ick!

94. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas

I'm not sure how to talk about this book. It is (imo) extremely rude and crude--as are most of the characters. They often aren't likeable, but they were real, complex people so were interesting even when I was recoiling. I think this book was personally interesting to me, because when I was growing up children were spanked (pants pulled down, with wooden spoons and knitting needles) and slapped. I worked hard to not be that kind of parent, but I know those kinds of people, and understand what leads them to behave that way. I believe Christos Tsiolkas did too. Lots more issues in this book than just "the slap." Too much sexism, bad parenting, infidelity, domestic violence, alcoholism, and drug abuse for me to say I enjoyed this book, but I still wanted to keep reading. But it was disheartening to read how prejudice and racism continued to play out in these Australians' lives. (Tania, and all the rest of my Aussie friends, what did you think of these characters' beliefs and/or comments? Do they represent a significant portion of Australians now?) But, again, Tsiolkas helps us to understand these characters even if we really don't like them.

Edited to fix Touchstone, added a few issues that I would love to talk about with my Australian LT friends.

I've decided to take The Slap out of the library rather than buy it. It seems like either a book you love or, as you said, recoil from and I'm not sure which I'm going to be.

95. The Lexicographer's Dilemma by Jack Lynch

Not the best in this category, but reading these kinds of books makes for an interesting and relaxing morning for me. Skimmed some parts, but read enough of it, to list it. Lynch describes how our English language has evolved over the years, as have our beliefs about what is "proper." I think I can eventually give up the who/whom distinction--sometimes--and I don't worry anymore about ending a sentence with a preposition, but do you all think that eventually I'll have to put up with, "Me and Kathy went..." type sentences? Aaack!

do you all think that eventually I'll have to put up with, "Me and Kathy went..." type sentences?

I certainly hope not!

#237: I will have to look for that one. Thanks for the mention, Bonnie!

I went back and added a few more comments about The Slap in response to yours, Pat. It's not a book I would want to keep, because I'll never be interested in reading it again (and I sort of wish I hadn't read it in the first place), but I did want to keep reading.

(Tania, and all the rest of my Aussie friends, what did you think of these characters' beliefs and/or comments? Do they represent a significant portion of Australians now?)

That's funny, because that's the question my book club asked too. I discussed it with some Aussie friends here on LT and they basically said "yeah, those people exist, but no one I know". Which would be my reaction if the book was set in Canada and the question was asked of me.

>241 Nickelini:: That is funny. OK, I'm letting all you Aussies off the hook; you don't have to speak up for all your countrymen--and women. ;-) The name-calling just sounded so blatant. It felt like reading a book about the 60's-70's here in the U.S.

>235 bonniebooks: Uh huh, yes and it bordered on porn to me. Unlikeable characters with assorted social ills. Ugh.

Interesting review of The Slap. It reminds me a bit of what we'd said about The Corrections - dislikable characters, but complex and need to keep reading. It also hearkens back to The Bone People, though in that case, despite what characters do to each other, I thought it was a beautifully written book - tough to read, but beautiful.

Re: #237: I've loosened up on split infinitives, dangling prepositions, and who/whom in the interests of clarity and less awkward sentence structure - especially spoken English. But 'Me and Kathy went...' is just plain wrong. 'Between you and I...' is another that drives me bonkers. Spoken or written. Wrong, wrong, wrong. :-)

#244 I agree about The Bone People. I appreciated it and its writing, but I don't know if I "liked" it. Especially the ending... I'm still debating about The Slap. Maybe if I find a copy at the upcoming TPB used book sale!

Hi Bonnie. I think I will pass on The Slap, but good review.

96. Graceland by Chris Abani

I will pass on The Slap, too. Thanks for the insightful review.

Hi Bonnie. Great review of The Slap. I'd been curious about it, but I have such precious little time for reading, this is one that certainly won't make my TBR.

What did you think of Graceland, Bonnie?

I'm trying to think of how to explain my reaction to Graceland, Darryl, without necessarily trying to summarize what the book is about--I'm terrible at that. As a whole, the book felt choppy/disjointed as Chris Abani hops back and forth in describing the main character's (his?) childhood in a rural village versus his days in the slums of Lagos, Nigeria (and the recipes from his mother's journal felt totally out of place/context), but there was absolute realness and beauty on the individual pages.

eta: Oops! I accidentally closed this posting before I was finished. I would definitely recommend this book for the stories that Abani can tell even though it didn't quite come together for me. I should probably wait until I have something more specific to say, huh?

Bonnie- How are you? Well, it looks like that's 2 books I don't have to worry about! Whew! Maybe the next couple will be gems! Miss seeing you around!

#220-sorry to be so behind....I too really enjoyed Major Pettigrew and want to thank you for the nudge about book group. I'm now in charge of the new book group at our library and this would be a great one for the group we have. I think this is one of the most enjoyable reads I had this year.

>253 tututhefirst:: Mine too, Tina! After I told my group we were reading Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, I discovered it wasn't in paperback yet--which is a rule I made (paperbacks only) when I started the group, so I have to follow it, right? We're now reading A Guide to the Birds of East Africa which I know they'll like, though it may not be as discussable for this group.

OK, moving to a new thread here

Bonnie - I got Major Pettigrew's Last Stand in paperback last spring. Maybe it's just not available in the States? Try amazon.ca or bookdepository.com out of the UK.

Saw this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/30/tim-dowling-blush-shame-stude... and it reminded me of your comments at #237.