Something Fun For Your Busy Weekend...

Beth posted THIS and I thought I'd pass it along to you. The Bone series sounds like an absolutely hysterical group of books, especially if you have kids who don't like to read!!

Go check her post out!

Roommates Wanted...

Until you fall in love....

Roommates Wanted by Lisa Jewell
4 stars
R- 4

Very interesting. I enjoyed it, though it was risque enough that I can't give it a full 5 stars.
In 1990, Toby starts inviting random people to come live with him. People who are lost. Now it's 2004 and he's got to figure out how to make them leave.
Really an interesting commentary on life and the human condition.
This was a Reader's Choice, and like Almost Graceland, Roommates Wanted was absolutely not something I'd have picked up. It's probably considered Chick Lit, I think.

But I won't hold that against it.
;)

Almost Graceland

Almost Graceland by Steve Carlson
4 stars
R- 2

Okay, so this would have been better if I were an Elvis fan. As it stands, I have a passing familiarity with his music and everything I know about the man was learned from watching Lilo and Stitch ("Elvis was a model citizen").
So really, I'm sure a lot was lost on me in reading this book. But I still enjoyed it. It's a fun story and Ray Johnston is a likeable guy. I love his "prayers"-- which basically consist of him staring at the sky and talking to God (sometimes yelling) in a very "man-to-man" kinda way.
The "what-ifs" were fun and the explanation of continuing Elvis sightings was great.

Almost Graceland is a Reader's Choice book-- and this is what Reader's Choice is all about. Like assigned reading and book clubs, it's a reason to pick up books you never would have even thought about reading.

Another Great Kids Read

The Sherlock Files- Book 1
The 100-Year-Old Secret by Tracy Barrett
5 stars
JF 157 Pages
Not illustrated

This new mystery series is off to a great start!
Xena and Xander have just moved to London-- and discovered that they are direct descendants of Sherlock Holmes! The SPFD (Society for the Preservation of Famous Detectives) welcomes them by giving them Sherlock's book of unsolved cases. No naturally the kids decide to try their hand at solving them.
This was a really fun read, great for young readers. I don't know that I'll read it to Boo yet.... no pictures and I don't think she's quite ready to follow this kind of story (it would help to know who Sherlock Holmes is, for example). But for a elementary school reader it would be perfect.

Broken Sequel

The Broken Sword by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy
did not finish
R- 4.5 (not for quantity so much as tone-- the "risquety" was all mixed into the black magic)
Sequel to The Forever King

Holy dark. Actually "unholy" would be a better word.

Dark books do not bother me. Usually. This one did.

I'm disappointed. I loved the first one, but this was too much. Honestly made me feel kind of ill. The black magic was too descriptive and too pervasive. I can handle books about black magic to an extent, but this exceeded that.
And the knights were driving me nuts. Galahad is joined by the others, who have no idea how to function in the real world. (Well, the modern world. Whatever.) And they don't try to learn. (At least, they hadn't yet.)

And frankly, aren't characters supposed to grow and develop? 'Cause they were pretty stagnate. You know those sequels where everyone has forgotten everything they learned in the first book? Yeah. Except I'm not sure some of the characters learned much in the first one either. (Remember how I said Hal just wasn't as likeable as I wanted him to be? He doesn't change much through the course of the book.)

So I put it down. I can practically count on one hand books that I've not finished once I've started. (Huck Finn, for one.... and The Enchantress of Florence or whatever that one was called.... Honestly that's about all I can think of off the top of my head.)

But I just couldn't finish this one.

Assigned Reading

AMY posted something I found very interesting about assigned reading.

I must say I agree with her.

I LOVED a lot of the books I was assigned to read. Hated a lot of them too.

A Few I LOVED: (in absolutely NO particular order)
Number the Stars
The Giver
A Separate Peace
Othello
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Macbeth
The Chosen
To Kill A Mockingbird
War of the Worlds

Some I HATED:
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
Romeo and Juliet
Far From the Madding Crowd
The Martian Chronicles
Fahrenheit 451

I read countless others, but those are the ones that stand out at the moment. There are, of course, others that I just felt "blah" about. (Return of the Native comes to mind.)

But all in all, I think everyone is better for having to read things that they wouldn't normally pick up.

Especially in a world where lots of people don't pick up books at all.

State of the Onion

"[You] must be less concerned with the state of the union, and more concerned with the state of the onion."

Why they didn't use that for the tagline, I have no idea. They really should have.

State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy
4.5 Stars
R- 2.5
Reader's Choice

Ollie (Olivia Paras) is an assistant chef at the White House-- with dreams of becoming the executive chef as soon as her mentor retires. (The quote is something her mentor tells her. It made me giggle.)
All of her chances, however, seem to be dying as she 1) stops an intruder from entering the White House (with a frying pan); 2) meets said intruder only to see him get killed; 3) becomes the #1 target of an international assasin; 4) keeps butting heads with the new "Sensitivity Director" at the White House (who just happens to be a real jerk).

Great story. It was lots of fun. Not overly complicated... I had it figured out early, but a good read. This kind of falls into my "fluffy mystery series" addiction, but I picked it up because it's a Reader's Choice. (I've read 4/24 and it's still January. Not to shabby.)

The reason it didn't get the full 5 stars-- the jerk of a "Sensitivity director". He doesn't get his comeuppance! He'd better in the next one, 'cause seriously, the man's a menace.

(Ollie's next adventure is Hail to the Chief.)

Twilight Is Not Nearly As Controversial As I Thought...

Maybe that wasn't really a can of worms. Interesting.

How about King Arthur? No, you're right. Not a lot of controversy there. But some really good books....

The Forever King by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy
4.5 Stars
R-2.75

This was such an interesting read. King Arthur, Galahad and Merlin are all present and accounted for, though you may not recognize them at first! The Grail makes it's appearance too, with a very interesting history.

The pros-- fascinating treatment of all things Arthurian. All of the history of the Grail and everything was really cool. LOVED the treatment of Launcelot at the end. That guy just gets a bad rep. a lot.

The cons-- treatment of Christianity made me a little uncomfortable in places. Probably just me. Hal Woczniak is just not really a very likeable guy. Maybe that was part of the point, I don't know. Still, you just can't like him as much as you want to.

All in all, it was really good. I need to read the sequel now.
:D

Let's Open A Can Of Worms

Shall we?

Let's talk Twilight.

These books have caused quite a commotion! Almost as much as the Harry Potter books, and that's fairly impressive, especially in our "glued to the screen" society.

I have not read them.

They're really not even on my list.

Really.

I know a fair amount about them. I've heard summaries and reviews from various sources. And they are just not my style. And they're long enough, that that's a fair bit of time to devote to something that I'm not all that interested in. (The clip I saw from the movie did not help. Wow that was bad acting.)

And yet people are determined to convince me to read them. Which I find interesting.

I mean, in some ways that's what I do here, right? Try to convince people to read books I enjoyed. But I'd like to think I'm not putting undo pressure on anyone.

So what is it about these books that's causing reader riots? I don't know. I really honestly don't. From everything I've heard about these books, I just can't see why they're such a sensation.

It's just weird.

So-- what do you think? Come on, I know you have an opinion. This is one of those subjects where EVERYONE does!

I opened the can of worms-- go ahead and give it to me.

It's a Dog's Life

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
5 stars
R-3
Language

I first heard about this book on Jessica's Blog and when I saw it on the latest Reader's Choice list, I snatched it up!
This fabulous story is told entirely from the dog's perspective. Enzo sees everything and yet is trapped in a dog's body, not allowed to comment or interact on a human level. (Blasted lack of opposable thumbs!)
"I saw a film once. A documentary. On the television, which I watch a lot. Denny once told me not to watch too much. I saw a documentary about dogs in Mongolia. It said that after dogs die, they return as men."
And there's nothing he wants more. To return as a man, to meet Denny on equal terms. To walk up to Denny and shake his hand and say Enzo says hello.
This book was touching and endearing-- both funny and sad.
The kind of book you want to read again.

My Books Are Out Of Control

Natasha at Mawbooks posted an interesting question today-- How do you organize your books and what does it say about you?? So... here goes.
(Note, I only took pictures of the bookshelves in the main room...)

This one has-- LDS nonfiction and fiction; yf/ya stuff- fantasy and series; magazines; and scrapbooks.

And DH's big baseball stats book.
Because really, where else are you going to put something that big.
This one has classics, art/humanities, plays, more LDS fiction, classic civ.... action/adventure... more scrapbooks... It's a hodge-podge. But it's largely stuff of mine from college.
And it's largely because it looks cool.
(Maybe I don't want to know what all this says about me... hmm.)

I should explain that my genre classifications probably have more to do with my "reading moods" than they do with actual library or bookstore classifications. But because I read according to my mood, it makes sense to me to organize that way.
These are my historical fiction books. They're going to need another shelf soon.

The bottom of this one, which needs another shelf cut and put in, contains piles of sci-fi/fantasy. The rest of those are still in a box, because they haven't been unpacked yet.


Here are more classics and general fiction. We have a lot of cool editions of classics, so we try to display those where you can actually see them.

We also have a full bookcase in our room-- nonfiction, humor/comics, mystery, foreign language/German, etc.
And a FULL bookcase of kids stuff-- from picture books to jf/yf. It's in the hall.

Board books are all over the house. Literally.

(And then there are the 4 BOXES of books we're selling..... )

The books might be slightly out of control.

:D:D

Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming...

As in books, as opposed to tv shows. You loved it, though. You know you did.

The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
5 stars
R-1

This is, of course, another reread for me-- the third Sorcery and Cecilia book. (The second is fabulous also. As Kate and Cecy are together for the duration of the book, it's written in terms of a commonplace book and a deposition.) This one sees a return to actual letter-writing-- with the fabulous addition of the letters of Thomas and James! Kate and Cecy still carry the book, but the extra letters round things out. (Not to mention, they're hysterical. Those must have been so much fun to write!)

James to Thomas-- " I shall present myself as [a potential investor], and if that will not serve to pry loose some useful information, I warn you that I will sacrifice you as well.... I shall not, of course, mention your utter refusal to take your seat in Parliament... What has it been, twice in the last fifteen years?
So, if you should receive any inquiries about your interest in investing in railways, kindly do me the favor of responding with circumspection. That is to say, I'd appreciate it if you'd tell them you'r like more information, instead of telling them to go to the devil."

From Thomas to James-- "Dear James, In London are you? Bored rigid yet?...
I can promise you that if I had a truly reliable gazing ball, I would never again return to my home weary from the hardships of the road to find my sister-at-law still visiting. Certainly not when the visitor seems to labor under the impression that she is hiding froma mysterious organization that plots her demise. (Not that I don't occasionally sympathize with the urge to plot her demise.)....
I may come to London myself. There are some fates worse than boredom. Put in a word for me with Old Hookey if you think I can be of the slightest use..."

James' reply-- "No, I won't invite you up to London. Find you own excuse to avoid your domestic disasters. Not that I blame you for wanting to avoid Her Grace, the Duchess of Waltham-- or have you suddenly acquired some other sister-at-law whom you wish to avoid?"

As if that weren't entertainment enough-- when all 6 children are together (2 of Kate's and 4 of Cecy's) and start casting spells of their own.... well, you can well imagine the chaos that follows.

And if you can't, it just means you haven't read either of the other books. And you really should.

A Point I Forgot to Make...

From Knit Two. According to Dakota (who is about 18 in this book) email is a thing of the past.

I'm not even kidding.

She tries to check her email frequently because most of her friends are at least a decade older than her and still think email is the way to go.

Apparently I am officially old, given that I far prefer email to texting.

Who knew?

More Conspiracy Theory

Colby and David go to pick up McGill--

David- FBI. Don't do anything stupid.

McGill- (Grabbing video camera) You're being video taped, I'm warning you.

David- Hey, put that thing down.

McGill- Help, help. They're gonna kill me.

Colby- We're not gonna kill you.

Girl- What's going on in here?

Colby- Ma'am, we're the FBI. We need you to get in the other room, you two guys....

Girl- Randy, call the police.

McGill- Yeah Randy, go call the police. (Laughs) Fake badges? What, you guys think I haven't seen The Departed? You guys are here to execute me.

Girl- Let me see that badge.

David- Look, the badge is real and so is the jail you're going to sit it, now get outta here! Scram Move!

McGill- You can scare them, but you can't scare me. (Lays down on floor) I will not go quietly!

Colby- Will you go with pepper spray in your face?

McGill- (hops up) Okay, hands behind my back, right?

I love this scene. I really do. As they're leading him out, McGill starts yelling "Attica! Attica!" until they get to the door and he calmly asks if they're going left or right.

Hysterical.

You can watch the full episode (and others) HERE and you absolutely should.

:D

Conspiracy Theory

Seriously my new favorite episode of Numb3rs.

(Which, yes, is not a book. I realize this. But I'm feeling conflicted about the last book I read and don't want to review it. So there.)

McGill (conspiracy theory nut), Colby and David are on the rooftop of a building.

McGill runs to the rail and looks over.

Colby: "Watch yourself buddy."

McGill: "Oh don't worry about me, I won't fall."

Colby: "If I push you, you will."

I love that scene.

Wow... How Bad Is It When You...

don't know what you look like?

Seriously.

I have obviously not been getting enough sleep because it just occurred to me what's wrong with my "pic". Um, I wear glasses.

You wouldn't think I could forget the pesky things... especially since they seem to need cleaning like 600 times a day. But I did.

So I dutifully went back to meez.com to fix this rather egregious error.

Only to find out that there really are no good glasses on there. They all look weird.

So let's all just pretend I'm wearing my contacts.
;)

A Knitting Sequel

Knit Two by Kate Jacobs

3.75 stars

R- 3

Sequel to The Friday Night Knitting Club

Let me start by saying I really enjoyed the first book. And I liked this one.

But.... well, now I can see why every author that I've ever wished would write a sequel because as a reader I really want to know what happens to my favorite characters.... doesn't.

Because as much as I liked the characters and as fun as it is to learn what happened to them, if that's the only reason behind the sequel (reader curiosity) then it may feel a bit... forced. And this one did. The laundry lists of some of what everyone had been doing over the last five years... combined with the hinting about others things was just kind of stilted.

Don't get me wrong, I still liked it. The characters are still engaging, even if they are sometimes aggravating. And even if they sometimes completely contradict themselves on the same page. (Which they do. Darwin was starting to drive me nuts.)

In some ways, this makes them more real, but who was it that said something about things happening in real life or bad fiction? Sometimes it's possible to have characters that are just too real.

I'm not calling this bad fiction, really I'm not. It was a good read. I understand Darwin's dilemas even when they drove me crazy, and I'm glad that in her 40s Catherine finally figures life out... sort of. More or less anyway. And it's good to know that Anita isn't 100% perfect all the time. Her son is a scumbag, but what can you do. (And *SPOILER ALERT* that really should have been resolved. Honestly.) (Okay, that wasn't much of a spoiler... I really try to avoid spoilers.)

In the end, I guess the message is that life goes on. Whether we make good choices or bad, whether we like it or not.

And that's good to know.

The World's Longest Title

Thanks to everyone who commented on my renovations!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Anne Barrows
5 stars
R-1? if that.

Loved loved loved this book! I actually read it in October on a friend's recommendation, and now I find it on the new Reader's Choice list! Here's a brief summary:
A chance letter, written by a native of the Island of Guernsey to writer Julie Ashton, begins an exchange that draws Julie into this man's world and the world of his charming, funny and deeply human friends. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was born at the spur of the moment as an alibi to divert the Germans occupying the island when the residents were found out after curfew. The book is written as a series of letters. It is a celebration of the resiliency of captives surviving captivity.

This book was well-written, entertaining, and fascinating. The characters are wonderful.

What's your favorite WWII novel? It seems like I've read several lately... and they pop up on the Reader's Choice lists all the time. Is it because they are well-written or because there are just sooooo many of them?

A Little Renovation

So you may have noticed I've made some changes...
I've added labels so you can find posts, and added a brief ratings explanation to my sidebar.
And a few other things.

How does it look?

NEW READER'S CHOICE LIST

Woohooo!
(As if I didn't have enough to read without it....)

One book I had already read (check!) and two that were already on my list! AWESOME!
There are 24 this time around and I read one last night/this morning.

Singularity's Ring by Paul Melko
4 stars
R-2.75
some language (kind of randomly if you ask me, but whatever)

After 90% of the human race leaves in the "rapture", it's the pods that survive. Groups of people bonded to each other. They share thoughts, emotions, and act as one. (Most of the time.)
This book was fascinating (if not absolutely fabulously written... the writing was good, but there were a few things that the editors seem to have missed...). The book shifts from one perspective to another as one pod, Apollo Popadopulos, has to figure out what's happening to them.
And save the world.
Now if you ask me, the implications of pod life on society are profound and crazy all at once. I mean, what does that do to things like privacy and relationships?
Thought-provoking.

A Most Amazingly Gripping Read..

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
5 stars
R-2
disturbing scenes (halocaust)

Oh My Gosh. This book was gripping, fascinating, heartbreaking and fabulous. Tatiana de Rosnay beautifully intertwines past and present as Julia Jarmond discovers a secret that will change everything. I was completely drawn in-- but it was a difficult read too. Pregnant women or parents of small children beware. Either of those situations could make parts of this book crushing, absolutely crushing.
It is entirely fictional, though it is based around an actual event of WWII. And yet, knowing that exactly what happens in the book didn't actually happen isn't a comfort. Because the fact is-- even if those exact circumstances didn't occur, many things did that were just as heartrending, if not more so.
All in all, I'd classify this as beautifully painful.... or painfully beautiful.
Or both.

You absolutely should read it.

Love and Ambivalence

Have I mentioned I love Lisa Shearin? Do you know how cool (and seriously encouraging) it is to have an author you love find your blog and comment not once, but TWICE! Awesome.

And now for the ambivalence (which I think is a word and I think I'm spelling it right, but I am tired, so either or both could be a lie).

Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell
I'm not even sure how many stars to give this.
R-3 I guess
Language

I honestly don't know how I feel about this book. I wanted to love it. But.... I didn't. I just didn't. It seemed like it would be gripping.... but it really wasn't. I mean really wasn't. Normally, I can't just leave a book half finished. I'm thinking about it, I'm picking it up even when I don't have time.... but this one didn't do any of that for me. I left off a little over half way through and didn't even think about it for like 12 hours or more. It was weird.
The style was kind of hard for me to get into. If a book isn't going to be clear about who's narrating, it had better make up for it right off the bat with some gripping content.
I was bothered by the treatment of Mormons. Now, I absolutely understand (from both reading and writing) that the things characters do and say do not necessarily have ANYTHING to do with the opinions of the author. But really, is it necessary to have the characters say horrible things about every Mormon character that pops up? And yeah, I have a certain bias and it bugs me more than it would if they were picking on, say, Catholics or Methodists or something. Though I'd like to think it still would have bugged me. I mean, did we learn nothing from Hitler's treatment of Jews? People are people.
I knew what happened way too early. And really I don't think that's just me. Okay, there were details I hadn't worked out, but when you can already see the big picture, and really the main character should be able to as well, it makes the things he's doing seem rather dumb.
And finally, and maybe this is just prejudice on my part, I don't like defense attorneys. This really played into all the stereotypes.

Hmm... that review doesn't make me sound ambivalent, does it? Makes it sound like I hated it. But I didn't. Parts of it were pretty interesting. And the main character did have his moments of shining integrity. I guess part of the problem is that I don't know where this was supposed to leave me. It wasn't a story about integrity triumphing; and yet it wasn't a story about integrity losing.... but it did kind of feel like it was sneering at the integrity.
And it left me feeling.... naive. And feeling that the characters or the author or someone was sneering at that.
But you know what? If integrity is naive, I'll stick with naive.

There are worse things to be known for.

On A Related Note

I have a pile of books here from the library.
You're shocked, I know.

Here's what's sittin' here:
Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin (Yes, this probably qualifies as obsession, but I'm not taking it back yet. I'll take it back as soon as I buy my own copy.)
Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell (I'm actually half way through this.... it's... interesting.)
Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay
The Tale of Hill Top Farm by Susan Wittig Albert (Yeah, I've read this before, but I want to reread the series because I realized reading the most recent one that I'd forgotten a lot.)
The Forever King by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy
Knit Two by Kate Jacobs (Sequel to The Friday Night Knitting Club)
Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs
The Broken Sword by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy (Sequel to The Forever King)

What I Read in 2008

So, I wasn't going to post a full list. I really wasn't. I mean, come on, it's 107 books!
But, interestingly enough, I found, as I was wandering around various book blogs, that I wanted to know what all other people had read in 2008. So I figure there's a chance that someone somewhere might want to know what I read too.
Here goes--

January-
The Last Mortal Man by Syne Mitchell
Magic and Other Misdemeanors by Michael Buckley
Frill Kill by Laura Childs
Fool's Puzzle by Earlene Fowler
Never Can Say Goodbye by Robert Farrell Smith
Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott
Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples

February-
About Alice by Calvin Trillin
Haveli by Suzanne Fisher Staples

March-
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Babylon's Ark by Lawrence Anthony

April-
The Hindi Bindi Club by Monica Pradhan
A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander
Point of Entry by Peter Schechter
Austenland by Shannon Hale
Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George
The Fortune Quilt by Lani Diane Rich
Tutu Deadly by Natalie Roberts
The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton
Karma Girl by Jennifer Estep
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

May-
Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder
Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder
And Only To Deceive by Tasha Alexander
The Society of S by Susan Hubbard
The Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff
Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn
Tink North of Neverland by Kiki Thorpe
Consequences by Penelope Lively
Before I Wake by Robert J. Wiersema
Havoc by Jack DuBrul
Tales From the Hood by Michael Buckley
The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones
Hot Mama by Jennifer Estep
Tapped Out by Natalie Roberts
Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman

June-
Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz
The Golden Dream of Carlos Chuchio by Lloyd Alexander
Getting Away is Deadly by Sara Rosett
Vulcan's Fire by Jack DuBrul
Charon's Landing by Jack DuBrul
Ever by Gail Carson Levine
Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Bee's Kiss by Barbara Cleverly

July-
Wildlife Folklore by Laura C. Martin
Medusa Stone by Jack DuBrul
Pandora's Curse by Jack DuBrul

August-
The End of the Alphabet by CS Richardson
River of Ruin by Jack DuBrul
Deep Fire Rising by Jack DuBrul

September-
The Last Kashmiri Rose by Barbara Cleverly
Ragtime in Simla by Barbara Cleverly
The Big Over-Easy by Jasper Fforde
Persuasion by Jane Austen
You Can Never Find A Rickshaw When it Monsoons by Mo Willems
The Damascened Blade by Barbara Cleverly
Where Angels Fear to Tread by E M Forster

October-
The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
The Guernsey Literary and Potatoe Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shafer and Anne Barrows
Tug of War by Barbara Cleverly
Folly Du Jour by Barbara Cleverly
Daddy's Little Girl by Mary Higgins Clark
The Second Time Around by Mary Higgins Clark
Along Came a Stranger by Dorie M. Lawson
Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin
Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West
The Zookeepers Wife by Diane Ackerman
Whistling in the Dark by Lesley Kagen
Interred with their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell
Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan
Life on the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers
Whatever You Do, Don't Run by Peter Allison
Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigudadottir
Poisoned Pedigree by GG Vandagriff
Tangled Roots by GG Vandagriff
The War Against Miss Winter by Kathryn Miller Haines
The Maidenstone Lighthouse by Sally Smith O'Rourke
Armed and Magical by Lisa Shearin

November-
Armed and Magical by Lisa Shearin (again)
Pointe and Shoot by Natalie M. Roberts
Death Swatch by Laura Childs
A Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander
The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
Sisters of the Sword by Maya Snow
Odd Mom Out by Jane Porter
No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay
The Lumiere Affair by Sara Voorhees
Let There Be Suspects by Emilie Richards
Cankered Roots by GG Vandagriff
Of Deadly Descent by GG Vandagriff
The Tale of Briar Bank by Susan Wittig Albert
Blessed is the Busybody by Emilie Richards

December-
Beware False Profits by Emilie Richards
Dying for Chocolate by Diane Mott Davidson
Against Medical Advice by J. Patterson and H. Friedman
Catering to Nobody by Diane Mott Davidson
Chalice by Robin Mckinley
Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale
Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin (again)
Death at Bishop's Keep by Robin Paige
Elizabeth: The Golden Age by Tasha Alexander

So there it is, in all it's glory.
Enjoy.

A Movie Novelization

Which is not something I would normally read. But since it was done by an author I love, I figured, what the heck.

Elizabeth- The Golden Age novelization by Tasha Alexander
4 Stars
R- 3 ish

If you've seen the movie, I'm sure you know what to expect. I haven't actually seen it, so I went in blind. I did want to see the movie, though, and it's the kind of thing I like to read.
Anyway.
The style is a little jumpy, but I think it works. It didn't bother me, and that's something that ususally does. (And I must be more tired than I thought, 'cause this review is sounding a little jumpy!)
What I really did like- the writing of Elizabeth, the character. The contrast between Elizabeth the public queen and Elizabeth the woman was great-- especially during the two more personally pivotal events. (No, I'm not going to tell you what those were. Goodness.)
The other characters aren't as deeply developed, but it's not really about them, so you don't mind too much. And really, since a lot of them are historical figures, you don't need as much as you would if they were fictional.
What I was not as happy about-- the notes were really slim. I LOVE to read the research/historical notes in fiction like this and she didn't include a whole lot. There is some info, but more would have been awesome. (Yes, I'm a nerd.)

A Look Back...

Goodbye 2008. Which is such a very weird thing to say... hmm.

So... I posted monthly totals a little while ago. Add to those my NINE books for December, and we have 107.
Of those: 8 were for my book group (Only 8? Seriously? Let's see, we skipped March, and I guess July's book ran into August.... and I didn't read it anyway. Shocking, I know, but Shakespeare and moving soooooo don't go together! And of course, we skipped December, on the grounds that it's a crazy enough month on its own.)
Anyway
36 were Reader's Choice. (Plus rereading a couple of Reader's Choice.)

And what was my favorite, you ask. I honestly don't know.
Some books are just apples and oranges and you really couldn't say one was better than the other... and frankly, I'm just indecisive.
But I can say that the authors I've read a lot of this year are (in no particular order):
Tasha Alexander
Natalie Roberts
Lisa Lutz
Maria V. Snyder
Lisa Shearin
Jack Du Brul
G. G. Vandagriff
Deanna Raybourn
Michael Buckley
Sara Rosett
Barbara Cleverly
Jasper Fforde
Laura Childs
Sara Addison Allen
Emilie Richards
Diane Mott Davidson

Quite the list, really.

And in the spirit of the new year--
I want to read at least 100 books again this year.
I want to finish the Reader's Choice lists-- both of them.
I want to read more of what I own.... especially things that I'm not positive I need to own.
I want to read more to my kids. I don't actually like reading aloud as much as I should.

*A note about my kids. I do not want to put my children's information on this blog. However, it is sometimes difficult to blog without mentioning them.
So, for the purposes of this blog-- "Boo" is a preschooler. She loves books and is the one heavily into the Sneaky Pony series. "Mister" is a toddler. He too loves books, though sometimes his idea of devouring a book is a little to... well, literal.
I mean, I devour books too, but I try not to leave tooth marks.

Have I Mentioned How Much I HATE...

Not having internet!!! ACK!! Drives me nuts!!!

Happy New Year!

So... 2008. Total books read-- 107. Not too shabby. I'll give a better year in review tomorrow.... assuming I have internet.... since I'm not actually home, so I don't have my book of books.

Sorcery and Cecilia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
5 stars
R-1
YF

LOVE LOVE LOVE this book. And it's sequel... and the third one.
Cecilia and Kate are cousins writing letters in 19th century London. It may not be the 19th century London you're familiar with, though. (Unless of course you come from another dimension where magic use is entirely normal.) As the cousins discuss magic, the Season, and life in general, all sorts of crazy things end up happening!
I actually got to hear Patricia Wrede read part of the sequel manuscript at BYU's Life, the Universe, and Everything Sci-Fi convention about 6 years ago. (Yikes, was it really that long ago? Dang.) My fabulous cousin and I went, basically because I LOVE Patricia Wrede! (Seriously, if you haven't read her Dragon books, you totally should! Dealing With Dragons is the first. They're for kids and they're hysterical!)
Anyway.
We were inspired. So inspired, in fact, that we said, hey, we can do that.
Because the Cecilia books started with a letter game. Here's how it works-- 2 writers (you could do more, I guess, but that seems too complicated) create characters and exchange some basic setting information. VERY basic. The characters then exchange letters. FOREVER. Okay, not really, forever. But some of us take years to get the characters through one story year.
The main rule is- no discussion of plot.
NONE.
Because the fun of the game is not knowing what's going to happen next.

Since I'm sure you're dying to know-- yes, we're still playing. And naturally, we've started a blog. If you're interested (and I know you are LOL) you can find our antics at http://arriandkeish.spaces.live.com/ Keep in mind that it's going to make WAY more sense if you start at the beginning, so check the archives. March 20 is the first letter. (No, it wasn't posted in March, the letter is dated March).
I'll let you guess which one is me.

:D:D