I heart books!

On a reading kick...thank you summer!!

2011-08-21T09:24:00.001-07:00

Following my werewolf kick I swapped into some general fiction, picking up The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. The novel is about a Chinese boy growing up in Seattle during World War II who befriends a Japanese girl. She and her family are sent away to concentration camps along with all of the Japanese Americans living in the city. It's a time period that has always interested me and a perspective I've never read from before: the persecution of Americans by Americans based simply on fear. the Hotel was a beautiful story and I would recommend it for sure.

I then picked up When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman. The book is divided into two parts, the first when the main character, Elly, is a young girl in 1968, and the second in 1995 after Elly has grown up. I really enjoyed the first part with a number of laugh out loud moments, but the second was much more serious and less enjoyable for me. I did like the book on the whole, but it became much more poignant in the second half.

Finally I tore through the Help by Kathryn Stockett. Typically I don't read a book before seeing the movie (most often I'm just terribly disappointed by the movie if I read the book first, so I'll see the movie and read the book afterwards), but I was really interested in reading this one, so I went for it. I absolutely loved this book! The protagonists were likable and the antagonist was awful. I'm really looking forward to the film now...and I desperately hope I won't be disappointed...

On a side note, Brad and I went into Coles bookstore yesterday and I looked around and saw all of the books that I've read recently in physical form. It was odd to see the tangible copies when I've just known them on my kobo. I was looking at them, thinking "that looks like a book I'd like to read" when I have already read them...weird.

There Be Wolves!

2011-08-02T06:09:00.000-07:00

Recently I went through a little kick of reading teen fiction (which has been made acceptable by the Twilight phenomenon, I tell myself). It never hurts to have something lite when camping and that's exactly what I went for. I started off with finally reading Shiver by Maggie Steifvater. The long and short of it is that it's very much a Twilight type book written for fans of Team Jacob; girl watches wolves out her back window and becomes possessive of one with funky eyes, girl meets boy with same eyes, puts two and two together and discovers that boy is a werewolf, boy and girl begin intense relationship (far too intense for 17 year olds). All in all though, I'm not going to lie, I really enjoyed it. The second (Linger) and third (Forever) book in the series were also good, though not quite as much. It was definitely an easy read, but sometimes that's just what a girl needs.

I finished Shiver while camping and didn't have book two and three yet, so I swapped into another bit of teen fiction, also wolf related, that I had been wanting to read; Red Riding Hood by ...I have no idea. I had bought it without doing proper research, apparently. I knew it had sometime to do with the movie and thought that it was what the new movie was based on. How wrong, I was. Turned out, it was the book based on the movie. From a very early age I learned that books based on movies are TERRIBLE and this one was no exception. It's like the writer watches the movie and transcibes the scenes, making terrible attempts at filling in the internal dialogue. The most common sentence in the book was "Valerie felt...". It was just horrible. The plot was the only thing that kept me going whatsoever, not to mention it was a really really easy read. Regardless, it was one of the worst written books I've picked up in more than a decade. PASS.

A Range of Topics

2011-07-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last book update and while I haven't had heaps of time for reading, I have been plugging away at several volumes. The first I polished off was Garbo Laughs by Elizabeth Hay. I absolutely loved Late Nights on Air and thought I would try another of her stories. Sadly, this one fell flat with me. The "jacket" described it as "a funny sad-eyed deliciously entertaining novel about a woman caught in a tug of war between real life and the films of the past. Inflamed by the movies she was deprived of as a child Harriet Browning forms a Friday-night movie club with three companions-of-the-screen: a boy who loves Frank Sinatra a girl with Bette Davis eyes and an earthy sidekick named after Dinah Shore". Sounds great, right? Not so much. It was very poignant but I didn't find much of it "funny" at all. Just sad. It didn't help that I really have never seen any of the movies that were referenced (though I'd love to) so I missed out on all of the references. Very ho-hum as far as I was concerned. Not writing off Elizabeth Hay though. I may try something else by her in the future.
After the disappointment of Garbo, I moved on to the next book in the "Earth's Children" series; The Shelters of Stone. I was nervous going into it after the Plains of Passage was so terribly disappointing and DREADFULLY boring. But Shelters provided at least a great deal more interaction with other characters. Still, for such a long book, very little actually happens. I think it can be summed up by this passage I read on a book review blog "Ayla is introduced to someone new. New person is wary about being so near to a wolf. Ayla explains they have to let Wolf smell their hand so they can be introduced. They do, and are charmed when Wolf licks their hand. Ayla explains the process of domestication. Then there's a good 3-4 pages about limestone rock formations or leather making or the habits of the woolly rhinoceros, then Ayla is introduced to someone else. Lather, rinse, repeat". That's more or less the jist of it. If you've read the first 5 books, go ahead and delve into this one, but don't expect miracles (even though it is a marked improvement over the last book in the series).

Finally, I launched myself (somewhat nervously) into Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I remember buying a copy in my tween years and wanting to read the epic romance of Heathcliff and Catherine. Not going to lie, it was probably a good thing that I got bored with the language back then. I was grossly misinformed as to the content of this novel. It is not a romantic story of tortured love ala Rome and Juliet. Well, I suppose it sort of is... Heathcliff falls in love with Cathy who, not knowing he is listening to her conversation with a friend, says she could never marry him but loves him with all her heart. He only hears the bit about not being able to marry him and runs off for several years. She, in the meantime, being a fickle silly girl, marries some other guy. Heathcliff returns and is a fairly terrible person. He starts spending time with her again and she somehow goes utterly mad and dies. But not before having a baby. He also marries Cathy's husband's sister and she has a baby and runs off from evil Heathcliff. Heathcliff is horrible and cruel and tries to make everyone's lives miserable for the rest of the book until he goes insane and dies. That's about it. That being said, it was fairly entertaining, all the madness notwithstanding.

Mare sent me my next book for my Birthday (which hasn't come yet, but I opened the package early. Whoops!). Clinton Kelly's Oh No She Didn't. It's a style guide chronicling the 100 biggest style mistakes women make. The book was like a written version of What Not To Wear, which I always enjoy and filled with a much sassier side of Clinton than he lets out in the show. Definitely an entertaining read.

Following that I read Hide and Seek by Shayna Krishnasamy. This was a short story, which I typically don't read because I prefer something to really get into. I also don't know how to review short stories...it was short and well written, I'd say. Fairly dark and a little unnerving. I think it was for adolescents, but whatever. Every now and again everyone needs something simple, right?

2011-05-05T06:10:00.000-07:00

It's been rather a while, but it took me quite a long time time get through the Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. I've read two of his other epic stories, Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, both of which were excellent, so I had high hopes for Giants. The story follows several individuals around the world in the lead up to World War 1, through the war, the Russian Revolution, and the aftermath of the whole mess. Two families in Wales, another in Russia, one in Germany, and one in the United States. All of the story lines were intertwined and it was fascinating to read about the war from the fictional perspective. It was a gigantic book (my kobo showed 42 chapters at an average of about 90 pages, though the pages are a bit smaller than a printed page) but I never once found myself bored or wondering when things would move on. I'm looking forward to the next in the trilogy, though I have no idea when that will come out.

Three books, and a series finished

2011-03-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

I picked up the Queen of Swords by Sara Donati (book 5 in the Wilderness series) and tore through it quite quickly. I think it was probably my least favorite of the series. This portion took place in New Orleans which, while rife with character, I didn't enjoy as much as the stories in the American wilderness. It was good, don't get me wrong, and it was a fairly easy read, much like the other books that just pull you through the story. I was happy to complete it and move on to the next installment in the series. A quick break was required though, as (coincidentally) on the day I finished Queen of Swords, a coworker lent me a book that she had won at a work event.

Who Moved My Cheese by Dr. someone or other is about reluctance to change and the effects it has on one's life as well as the process of learning to change and what that process can do to oneself. It literally took me a couple of hours to read. Nothing earth-shattering about it. The long and short of it is that some people easily adapt to change and they are often the happiest. Others adapt only when they realize they will suffer if they don't and then can learn to be happy like those who change quickly. Finally there are those who don't change and in their refusal are scared and often become left behind. Very easy book. I don't know if I'd recommend it or not...

Having found my Cheese I was able to pick up the final book in the Wilderness series The Endless Forest. This was probably the easiest of the series and had the feel that it was wrapping things up. I was happy with the storyline and the way all of the different characters' (spanning two generations) stories tied up nicely.

I've finally moved on to The House At Riverton, the first novel by Kate Morton. About halfway through and loving it so far!

The Forgotten Garden

2011-01-30T14:47:00.000-08:00

Following my sprint through Bite Me, I had hoped to have similar luck reading An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin. One of my favorite books was Shopgirl, also by Martin, so I had hopes this would also pique my interest. Sadly, I lost my drive to keep reading and took that to mean it was time to move on. (Maybe it's time I started a blog about the books I've put down recently?)

Skimming through the list of books on ye olde kobo, I realized I had bought the Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton (or did Mum buy it?), so I decided to give it a go. The funny thing about kobo books is that, as soon you as you have bought them and loaded them to your devise, the only way to remember what they're about is to actually start reading, or go online. There is no synopsis on the back cover...being that there is no back cover for which to have this printed.

I started into the story and next thing I knew I was being swept away by the characters. The story is of 38 year old Cassandra whose grandmother passes away, leaving her with a cottage in England and a mystery to go along with it. Nell, the grandmother, was found on the docks of an Australian town at 4 years old and discovered the parents who raised her weren't her biological parents. Cassandra sets off from Australia to England to find out who her grandmother really is. The story shifts time periods from 2005 to 1975 to 1907 and back. I was totally captivated through the whole tale and would definitely recommend it.

First One Down

2011-01-05T13:49:00.000-08:00

With my goal of reading 40 books this year in mind (we'll see how that goes!), I have finished the first for 2011. I borrowed Bite Me by Christopher Moore. This is the latest from one of my favorite authors and the third in his vampire series. A far cry from the Twilight saga, these stories take on a morbid twist with lots of bizarre characters and humorous moments. I've read all of Moore's books and while this series is not my favorite of his, it was thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless. I suspect a sequel may be on the way though... One can hope!!

The Last of 2010

2011-01-05T13:25:00.000-08:00

For whatever reason I decided to end of 2010 by slogging through two of the driest, slowest books I've tackled in years.

Months ago, Mare and I decided to read Jane Austen's Emma. We decided to read it together as a way of making sure we stayed on track and finished it. I've seen the movie (with Gwyneth Paltrow) and really liked it, and I also have enjoyed watching Clueless which is based on this story as well. Unfortunately the book itself was a terrible slog. I don't know how many times Mare and I had to convince each other to carry on. It took months. Just when I was fairly certain that something was going to happen....nothing did. Again and again and again. I honestly can't figure out how a book with so little plot could have lasted through the ages. Anyway, I think it's safe to say I would not recommend anyone read it. (I've also heard that of all Austen's works, this is one of the hardest to get through, which does make me feel somewhat better).

After finally closing Emma, I picked up the 4th book in Jean M Auel's Earth's Children series: The Plains of Passage. Yet another very slow moving book. Auel has made colourful description somewhat of her trademark and I was expecting it to some degree...but the extend to which the descriptions went on was bordering on torturous. The story followed a pattern though: Description of foliage, terrain and animals, declaration of love from the two main characters, descriptive sex scene, description of foliage, terrain and animals, declaration of love, sex scene (complete with the frequent use of the word "manhood"), Description of foliage, terrain and animals, declaration of love, sex. I think you're getting the picture. When the two main characters actually encountered other people it became interesting (except that each time they encountered a group of people there would be the cursory "my what a strange accent she has" thought from the new people with regards to Ayla. I get it, she has a funny accent. I didn't need to be told 13 times). I'm not going to lie, I did rather a lot of skimming through the description bits...and the sex. Believe it or not, I do intend to read the next one in the series. I suspect there will be substantially less description as I believe the two main characters have reached their final destination and the travelling aspect (with changes in scenery) will be at a minimum.

So, with the final page of Plains I officially reached 34 books read in 2010. Not too bad, if I do say so myself! That's more than one every two weeks. I'm hoping to read 40 this year. Though we'll see how that goes. It's good to have goals, right?

Book 4 Followed by a Break from the Series

2010-11-20T21:44:00.000-08:00

I'm finding myself completely enthralled by Sara Donati's Wilderness series. I read Fire Along the Sky in one of those "can't put it down" phases. The 4th book in the series follows the grown children of the characters from the first book. I'm finding that I enjoy the characters and stories more with each book. There aren't any main characters that I don't like and, as I always hope, the bad guys more or less got what they deserved and the good guys more or less got what they deserved. The story was a fantastic pace and had just enough intrigue to keep it moving without being overwhelming and confusing. I want to move onto the next book, but I think I might deviate from the series and move into the Earth's Children series by Jean M. Auel (of which I have already read the first three).

Fire Along the Sky was a great book to have on the plane rides to and from Halifax, but I found myself closing the last chapter just as we were taking off leaving Calgary for Regina. I hadn't had the foresight to load up the next book before I left for the maritimes, so I was left wondering what to read. I had loaded the Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud by Ben Sherwood and was meaning to pick it up, so I tested the waters by checking out the length of the chapters. Pleasingly short! I started it on the plan ride on Tuesday and finished it this evening. The story is about a boy who is in a terrible car crash with his brother. Both die in the crash but Charlie is brought back by a first responder (trust me, not a good part of the book to read in public...I had a really hard time not crying on the plane and I do try not to be that crazy person who cries in public places while reading...that person always seems a little unstable). The long and short of it, without ruining anything, is that years later he meets a girl, has a perfect date with her and then finds out she has been lost at sea. It was a good story, if not a little bizarre. It reminded me quite a lot of Nicholas Sparks books and was somewhat predictable though still a good read. One random thought though: the cover doesn't really fit the story. Anyway, it was still a good read. I'm debating whether I want to watch the movie. I'm not sure how I feel about Zac Effron as Charlie...

Thirtieth Book

2010-10-24T09:29:00.001-07:00

I had looked at A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick a number of times in the bookstore, but never ventured to pick it up. When Mum found out she was getting a kobo this summer, she bought a few books online, including this one. So I reaped the benefits of her purchase! The story is about a lonely, very wealth man living in rural Wisconsin who places an ad in the paper looking for a companion. Catherine responds and comes to live with him and be his wife. She plans to murder him. The story follows unfolds detailing each of their sordid pasts and describing them as terribly sad people who have had a really rough go at life. The reader learns of the complex web being woven around the main characters and around the midway mark of the book I had no idea how it would end. It's a dark book, but I very much enjoyed it and would recommend it.
I had bought Home by Shayna Krishnasamy for a couple of dollars on the kobo website. The story sounded somewhat reminiscent of the movie the Village by M. Night Shamalan, which I enjoyed, so I figured it was a pretty safe gamble. It was a great fantasy-type story about a young blind woman who lives in a secluded village in the woods. One day a young boy appears in the village and the villagers decide he is a threat to their peace and he must go, so the young blind woman offers to take him back to his home. As the story progresses we learn the woods they live in are dying and things are taking a terrible evil turn. I really enjoyed the story and it was a nice easy read. It also reminded me somewhat of the Book of Lost Things by John Connolly in that it was an eerie fantasy where the natural world has gone off.

After that, I read a tangible book (ie, not on the kobo). I found David Sedaris' new book Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk at Walmart for 30% off. I bought the tangible book because it had some pictures. :) Sedaris has a very twisted sense of humour and this book intrigued me. It's written as a series of little stories about animals, much like Aesop's Fables, but the animals are jerks, liars, backstabbers and really kind of awful. Some of the stories made me grin, but none made me laugh out loud, and the vast majority were so bizarre and gruesome that I was left thinking that maybe reading this book wasn't benefiting me at all. When I asked Mum if she wanted to read it I warned her that if she did and she reached a point where it was too bizarre and gruesome but thought that maybe it would get better, she should know that it does not. The stories get weirder and more grotesque with each passing tale. I finished it in an evening and have been thinking of donating it to a used bookstore or the salvation army or something, but I'm a little afraid that someone might pick it up unknowingly and be horrified by the stories. I'm not sure what to do with it now.
And that makes 30 books this year. I'm certainly not going to be able to read 52 as I had hoped (one a week), but we'll see how many more I can get under my hat before the year is up.

In Series

2010-10-06T19:09:00.000-07:00

After reading Sara Donati's Into the Wilderness, I started trying to track down a copy of the second book in an e-version. I looked and looked and couldn't find it so I when I finally stumbled upon it on the sony site (yay sony!) I started right into Dawn On A Distant Shore. Erin had told me that she started reading the series midway through and then read the first books afterwards and that the first one wasn't nearly as good as the later ones. She was totally right. The second book was much more interesting and a much better read. I found myself tearing through it. I had the third book all lined up and ready to go and was very interested in going right into it but decided to read something else in between.

I picked up Kiwis Might Fly by Polly Evans. The true story of a girl who goes to New Zealand to find a "realy Kiwi Bloke" who hadn't gotten soft with evolution, it sounded like a fun read. I still haven't finished it. I liked the writing style for the most part, but it just got boring. I think it would have been a hoot to read as a daily blog, but as a novel...meh. I finally gave up when I realized I wasn't reading because I wasn't interested. So I moved onto other things.

When I heard that Diana Gabaldon was creating a graphic novel of the first Outlander book I was nervous but somewhat intriqued. Then I saw some of the drawings that would come and I was mildly horrified and my anxiety was not alleviated in the least. The drawings were not only NOT what I had pictured the characters to look like, but they were so far from what I had pictured that I wasn't sure it was the same story. So when the graphic novel came out, what did I do? I went out and bought The Exile in hardcover right away! I read the story cover to cover and probably had a frown on my face through most of it. The story was ok, I guess, but I think the thing that worked best about Outlander (on which this book is told from one of the other characters and involves something of a side story) is the description and the emotion and the thoughts and internal dialogue of Claire. In a graphic novel that's pretty much non existent. For the most part Claire just looked annoyed and kept saying "Jesus H Roosevelt Christ". Sigh. It was suggested that I return the book as no one would know I had read it, but I do have the whole series and I think I want to give it one more try and study things a little more. But I certainly won't be expecting much.

After I gave up on Kiwis I decided to go for something that would most likely be a hit: the third in the Wilderness Series Lake In the Clouds. The second book in the series was better than the first and this was better than the second. I ripped through it in just over a week and in the times that I wasn't reading I found myself wishing I could be. That's the sign of a good story as far as I'm concerned. I was a bit confused to start with as the story started out several years after the second book ended and the author eluded to some pretty major events that happened between books but I double checked online and sure enough I hadn't missed a book in between. The story broadened and followed different characters who had grown up since the second book, making it a more varied story and more interesting. Plus, the move away from some of the main characters from the first two books was a good change as I wasn't terribly attached to them. I'm excited for the next book, though I've decided to take another break before starting it. I do have rather a lot of other books to read and I can see this series becoming fairly consuming.

I've been reading again!

2010-09-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a few weeks since my last post here and in that time I've polished off four more books. Granted, they weren't difficult or even very big books, but I enjoyed most of them.

I picked up the Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World One Correction at a Time by Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson. Being the sort of person who enjoys proof reading (though rarely on my own work) I thought this would be right up my alley. The story is based on Jeff and Benjamin's road trip around the US searching for and correcting typos and grammatical errors. For the most part it was cute and kind of funny. The verbose language and writing style seemed a tad on the pretentious side at times. My newsroom background made this slightly more irritating than it would have been otherwise. I'm a fan of saying things concisely. Don't get me wrong, I love a beautiful description, but I found the tone of the story was written in such a way that they were using words for the sake of it. It got on my nerves. Regardless, it was an interesting story and I giggled at just about every typo and error they encountered on the road trip. Plus, the end had some interesting reference material explaining why certain grammar rules apply.

After this one, I picked up Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern. The book is just a series of chapters each starting with a quote from his dad followed by the story that lead up to that quote. After each chapter there are a number of other random quotes. I was laughing out loud multiple times during the two days it took me to polish this one off. In reading some of the brief quotes to Brad we were both in tears. I would absolutely recommend this one to anyone who needs a good laugh. I'll also be watching the show starting this fall with William Shatner.

Mare and I started reading Emma by Jane Austen after this, but as we're having a bit of trouble getting through it, I swapped quickly and briefly to the Big Love by Sarah Dunn. The story is about a girl whose boyfriend goes out for mustard and calls to say he's not coming back. I don't have much to say about this chick lit book other than Meh. Pass.

Next, on my Mum's recommendation I swapped to something non-fiction and read Outliers: the Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. The book examines what makes people successful. It was a really interesting read and somewhat satisfying to discover that successful people have an awful lot of factors contributing to their success beyond the typical "rags to riches" story. I particularly liked the explanation that for anyone to become a professional or expert at something they have to commit 10,000 hours to practicing. That tells me that if I put 10,000 hours into scrapbooking (I'm about halfway there) I'll be a pro. Not that that will get me anywhere, but it'll be fact. Ha! Definitely an interesting read though.

Three More for the Shelf...

2010-08-06T16:36:00.000-07:00

So after reading the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I found myself mildly annoyed to find that I absolutely had to read the next one. The Girl who Played With Fire was consistently more exciting than Tattoo. It was exciting just about all the way through and I very much enjoyed the character development. It ended on somewhat of a cliff hanger, yet it still felt like it wrapped up nicely. Nothing drives me up the wall more in books than a story that has a sequel and is left hanging at the end of the book. I have great admiration for a novelist who can leave a story open to continuation without feeling like the story cut off mid sentence.

After Fire I took a brief hiatus from the Girl Who books and read something different on the kobo for a change. I picked up The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. Disappointing. It started off threatening to make me sob like I did in Marley and Me as Enzo the dog told about getting old. The rest of the story, as told by Enzo, followed his owner Denny's marriage, birth of his daughter, death of his wife, and resulting custody battle with the in-laws. The book was full of meanness and Denny constantly being beaten down by life. It was not an upper. I sort of enjoyed Enzo's character voice, but for a dog who was being written as a dog, he bordered into way too human at times. I for one, am a big believer in dog personalities, but Enzo became almost creepily person-like at times and then would flip back to being totally dog-like on the next page. The book was also peppered with analogies to car racing and techniques that I assume were supposed to be a metaphor for life and the trails and tribulations, but I'm not a fan of car racing and was big-time bored by these chapters, despite Enzo's enthusiasm with recalling specific racing moments. I would give The Art of Racing in the Rain a pass.

I did finish it in about two days however, which left me without a book and drawn back to the Girl Who saga, promptly buying The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. The final book in the trilogy did not disappoint. The excitement and intrigue and conspiracies ran throughout and there was just enough bad-guy behaviour to make it really satisfying when the good guys got a leg up every now and again. References to the first book occasionally really reinforced for me that Larsson had intended to write the story in three parts and that it wasn't just a coincidence that after the success of his first book he wrote two more. I'm totally with the rest of his fans who feel his untimely death was a terrible shame.

NOW, I'm onto The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World one Correction at a Time by Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson. So far, so good!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

2010-07-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

At my mum's recommendation I picked up the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson...about 10 days ago. In general mysteries/suspense aren't my favorite genre, but I was sucked in by the hype, and in general I didn't feel disappointed. The first half was a bit slow for my liking, but the second half really grabbed me and sucked me in. I was lucky enough to be able to read for long periods of time Thursday, Friday and Saturday while we had our garage sale and while things were quiet. I didn't find it terribly suspenseful, but I also didn't want to put it down. So much so that i postponed cleaning up from the garage sale until I finished it yesterday afternoon. There characters were interesting and I honestly had no idea who the murderer was until it was presented to me, which must be the mark of a good mystery. While it was definitely a gruesome novel with some truly terrible crimes, it felt like justice was served and I was pleased with the outcome. The last couple of pages annoyed me though...and while I wasn't planning to read the sequel right away the last two pages made me go to my computer and purchase the Girl Who Played with Fire and download it to the kobo which I started yesterday. I guess my other books will have to wait.
I've heard there are critics that felt there was too much description ("I don't care what they had for breakfast", etc) and I completely disagree...however the one thing I will say is that if all people in sweden drink as much coffee as the characters do, I'm surprised more people don't have ulcers! It almost made my stomache churn to think about another cup of coffee.

Water For Elephants

2010-07-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

Following my journey Through the Looking Glass I decided it was time to read one of the "tangible books" that people have lent me (as I find I now have to refer to books that aren't on my kobo), so I picked up Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. The story is about a young veterinarian in the 30s who finds himself traveling with a train circus. I'm finding that I'm not actually a big fan of books that take place during the depression, but I still did enjoy this one. There was plenty that was upsetting - animal and people cruelty - but the it all seemed rather matter of fact and somehow better that way. I kept thinking as I read that it wouldn't be long before it was made into a movie. Low and behold as I was looking for a picture of the cover for this blog entry, I found that it has been made into a movie for release next year. The story ends well enough which was a relief as it always seems to be a bit of a crap shoot as to whether a book filled with trouble and badness will end well. More interesting (and significantly more disturbing) was the afterward where the author talked about her inspiration for the book and the history of train circuses and elephants. The moral of the story, as far as I can tell, is don't piss off and abuse an elephant: not only do they remember, but they seem to get more angry about it as time passes...though I couldn't blame sweet Rosie for what she did.

Two Classics

2010-07-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

As a way of encouraging the other to actually read the classics, Mare and I have previously decided to read them together. We set goals for reading for the week and go over our thoughts when we chat. The book(s) we tackled this time were Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. We had only intended to read Alice but were both astounded at how quickly we were able to fly through it. What started as "we'll read 5 chapters by Tuesday" quickly turned into "I think I can finish it before Tuesday, you?" A truly bizarre story, I felt like it was fairly disjointed and nonsensical. I had heard once that it was a parody of British politics and government at the time it was written, cleverly disguised as a children's novel. Unfortunately I know nothing of British politics and government at the time, so I rather felt it was lost on me. I was even more confused by the total lack of most things from the movie (either the animation or the new tale), but it seems most of those things were actually from Through the Looking Glass; another truly bizarre disjointed story. I had thought at the start that it made more sense than Alice but by the end (which took me two days to reach) I was not so sure. Frankly, I'm still not sure.

Two on the Kobo

2010-06-28T06:23:00.000-07:00

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger was the first book I read on my Kobo. It was excited when it came out last fall and wanted to read it right away, but wasn't willing to purchase it on hardcover: too expensive and too difficult to balance a hardcover comfortably in bed. But my kobo solved both of those problems for me and I was able to read it happily. Well, as happily as a person can read a strange story about two generations of twins and their obsessions and deceits. I did very much enjoy the novel and the characters, even when they displayed their particularly evil and deceptive sides. The end left me feeling a bit cut off. It was another book that just sort of stopped suddenly.

Following Symmetry I proceeded with a book taht I bought based solely on the title. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender caught my eye online and I read the exerpt and found I liked the writing style and premise of the story. This one I tore through over the weekend. The story, about a girl who finds she can taste people's emotions in the food they make, was a delight. Granted, it did get pretty weird about halfway through when Rose discovers her brother has a "special skill" all his own, but the story had such a poignant touch of reality and the day to day life of a "typical" family living in the suburbs of california, it was really enjoyable. Definitely a good read for the summer.

Into the Wilderness

2010-06-20T08:10:00.000-07:00

I wrapped up Into the Wilderness last night. I did enjoy it, though there were parts that were just a bit too long winded descriptive for me. As a whole though, the novel moved along at a good pace and had a lot of interesting characters (though it was unnerving when I read the list of "important characters" at the start of the novel and it spanned several pages). One particular chapter early on made reference to Ian Murray, Claire Fraser and Jamie Fraser who are characters from the Outlander series (which is my very favoritest!) and I became both intrigued and very nervous. It was interesting to have them name-dropped, but I was very concerned that meant they would appear later on and I'm not ok with someone else writing about them. I also don't really see the point in having them name-dropped as it was just a bit confusing. The main character, Elizabeth, was a bit too prim and prissy for my liking at the start but, as I hoped she would, she did develop as the story went on into a stronger willed character, less constrained by society.
I guess all in all, it was a good story and I am curious to read the following books (three more I think?)

A Package in the Mail

2010-06-08T06:16:00.001-07:00

I came home at lunch yesterday and found a parcel sitting in my mailbox. It was small, shaped like a paperback novel and the return address said "Erin Brinkman". I knew it would be a book, so I unwrapped it quickly to see what she had sent me. The book is Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati. The quote on the front cover is by Diana Gabaldon, one of my favorite authors, so Wilderness has officially bumped its way to the top of my reading list. Thanks Erin!

Kurt Vonnegut...huh...

2010-06-08T06:12:00.000-07:00

I just finished the Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut. I'm not really sure what to say about it. Weird. I could get all intellectual about it and discuss the theme of free will and how we apparently have none...but I don't think I could do justice to it. I'll sum it up in one word: Bizarre.

While Reading...

2010-05-26T06:20:00.000-07:00

While I was reading Travels in the Scriptorium the pages would fall in a certain way and I would be struck by a severely creeped out feeling. Why do I feel like I'm being watched?

2010-05-22T08:52:00.001-07:00

I bought a book based on its cover. I judged it by its cover and judged correctly. Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant was exactly as I assumed; bizarre, witty, clever, wonderful. I would go so far as to say this is one of the best books I've read in years. I don't know if it's a case of every once in a while a book comes along and hits you at the right time in your life, but Tortoise certainly hit me. The way Audrey (Oddly) thinks about things and analyzes situations was so strangely familiar to the way I think and notice things. It is chalk full of plays on words. And the chapters told from Winnifred the tortoise's perspective were delightful and adorable, everything from her perspective on being warm, to her thoughts on Shakespeare's writing style and how he "uses so many exponents". The Tortoise was a complete delight to read and I want to read it again. It definitely gets my recommendation.
The enjoyment I got from reading this book may have heightened my disappointment with Jennifer Weiner's Best Friends Forever. I've read a number of her books and they tend to vary from enjoyable to so-so, but this one was a let down all around. The supporting characters were frustrating and the plot was very predictable. I felt like I had seen this book in cheesy tv show or movie format a million times.
Following BFF, I picked up a book I'd been eyeing up at the bookstore for some time. Travels in the Scriptorium by Paul Auster was finally in the discount bin at $2, which was a bit of a red flag for me, but I decided to risk it anyway; for $2.10 after tax, can't go wrong, right? Wrong. The only merit to this book was that it was only 143 pages long. The story was about a man who wakes up in a room and has no idea who he is, where he is or how he got there, but the people that come to his room throughout the day are angry with him to varying degrees. It's all very mysterious, yet very flat. To start with, I didn't care for the writing style, but I went on with it anyway. The story took many different paths and hinted at many different things, and I began to feel really let down when I realized I had about 6 pages left in the novel and nothing had been revealed or wrapped up in the least. Nothing was explained, nothing wrapped up and there appeared to be no point to any of the subplots. Maybe I'm missing something, and it was actually literary genius...but I suspect the people who would refer to it as such are just trying to sound clever. I have only one word for this book: pass.
I think I'm going to move on to to some Vonnegut. I could use a bit more of the bizarre.

One off my list

2010-05-06T15:37:00.000-07:00

I finished a book I've been meaning to read for quite a while now; The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. The story, which was made into a movie that I would also like to see, is about a 15 year old who has a love affair with Hanna, a woman more than twice his age, in Germany in the years following World War II. She disappears suddenly one day and he encounters here again years later when he visits a courtroom as a law student and sees her on trial for hideous crimes of war. The story is sad, but mysterious and seems so real and plausible. I found it interesting how a situation that should be so morally wrong could seem almost acceptable from the perspective of the boy. That being said, I still can't quite wrap my head around how Hanna could allow herself to be romantic with a teenage boy...that was always in the back of my mind while I read. It was well written though, and I definitely think it's worth a read. It makes me want to see the movie and how they interpreted the story.

The book I'm reading now is called "Come, Thou Tortoise". It's bizarre, and I'm very excited to get into it!

Reading on Holidays

2010-04-30T06:07:00.000-07:00

During our trip to Vegas I made a point of sitting by the pool each day (gotta take advantage of situations when they present themselves) and while sitting by the pool I was reading Spanish Fly by Wil Ferguson. Ferguson is the author of, among others, Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw, and Generica, both of which I have read and greatly enjoyed. Spanish Fly had the same type of tongue in cheek humour that is present in his other books. I enjoyed it, though at times it seemed somewhat repetitive. The story is told from the perspective of Jack McGreary, a young man living through the depression who gets taken in by two con artists. Much of the story seemed to be talking about the various cons of the era and stories of who had pulled what off, or which con artist had been the first to do which con. It was interesting, but at times, rather than hear about another con, I found myself hoping for more plot. It was definitely an easy read; not quite fluff, but definitely motored along nicely without too much effort, and god knows I love a short chapter! I would recommend it....but I think I would have rather read it in paperback...hardcover is a bit cumbersome for reading by the pool.

When we were leaving Las Vegas (isn't that a song?) I bought a paperback copy of Maeve Binchy's newest Heart and Soul. Binchy stays true to form at all times. I've read a number of her books and each one can be counted on to be charming with some very quirky characters. Heart and Soul is about a heart clinic in Dublin and the people whose lives were effected by it, either by working there, receiving treatment, or a number of other loosely tied in scenarios. I'm not a big fan of short stories, and I was about a third of the way through the book when I realized this particular novel was a series of short stories that all tied in together. Tricky. I have preferred some of her older books that are focused on set characters, but she's such a pleasant story teller, I was willing to let it slide.

Two More for March

2010-04-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

In the remainder of March I ripped through two books.

The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland, and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

The Gum Thief seems to be about par for the course for Coupland from what I've read. Weird characters who are almost unlikeable but somehow it feels like a betrayal to dislike them. I wasn't terribly interested in the first third, but the chapters were so simple and short it was hard to not feel like I was making progress (it's one of my little OCD reading quirks: I have to feel like I'm making progress when I read, so I'll look at how many pages I've been through, or how thick those pages are). The second third and into the final quarter (is this measurement making any sense?) was quite good and I found myself genuinely interested in what was going on with the characters. I busted up a few times when Bethany was describing the pigeons in London: "If London is a meal, then pigeons are the parsley on top of it, except instead of being green and crisp, they're grey and hobbling and missing toes, and while they may appear to be technically cute, they also appear to be riddled with disease and mites." The end left me feeling sort of sad again. I'm undecided about it as a whole.

The Lovely Bones was basically what I had heard: really good and about a really terrible topic. I loved the perspective of Susie watching everything from her heaven. I think I finished in about three days (again, my OCD about seeing how much progress I made). I'm really interested to see the movie, though I think that it will be hard to watch too. This is a definite recommended read...but I must say that I awsn't really a big fan of the end with a weird out of body experience, and a less than satisfying ending for the antagonist. I'll leave it at that though.

Monsters of Templeton

2010-03-11T17:47:00.000-08:00

I originally bought The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff because I thought it might be something of a fluff book. A nice easy read. I was partially wrong.

It was an easy book to read simply becasue it flowed so well and her writing was totally captivating. But it was not fluffy. The story was deep and spanned generations with enough of the truly bizarre (a legitimate seamonster that suddenly dies and surfaces in the lake of a small town, a woman who can set fire to buildings simply by being upset, a man born so hairy that his father calls him his "little baboon"), that I was completely engrossed in it. It did take me a while to read, but that was more because of life getting in the way. Not once did I put it down because I'd had enough. The end was a wee bit "tied up with a pretty bow" but Groff made it all better with the epilogue which tells what the monster was thinking on it's last day: "fish and fish and fish and fish...." which made me giggle. (There is actually more to the epilogue, but that did it for me right there).

It might be a good book to read a second time just because there were so many characters and so much geneology that I feel like I missed a lot the first time through or that I wasn't sure which characters where related to which. I definitely recommend it though.

Brida

2009-12-22T05:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evening I finsihed Brida by Paulo Coelho. I've read a number of his books and Brida didn't disappoint me. The story is about an Irish girl, Brida, who is learning about the world of being a witch. It's difficult to write the word "witch" without imagining ugly green women in black robes and point hats, or people being turned into other creatures with magic potions. This was not that kind of witch. Throughout the book, Brida learns about the world and magic as it has passed down from generations of spirituality. The strong tie to Christianity was very interesting as well.
In every one of Coelho's books there is a passage or two that really striked home with me. This was that passage:
"...the age of miracles was returning, and no one could remain indifferent to the changes the world was beginning to experience. Within a few years, the power of the Tradition of the Sun would reveal itself in all its brilliance. Anyone not already followiung their own path would begin to feel dissatisfied with themselves and be forced to make a choice: they would either have to accept an existence beset with disappointment and pain or else come to realize that everyone was born to be happy. Having made their choice, they would have no option but to change..."
It reminded me of my latest motto: "I would rather be happy". Given any number of choices, whenever possible, I will choose to be happy.
Coelho is a beautiful storyteller and his books are multidimentional. One of the things I like best about them is that if I feel like really contemplating them, he gives plenty to work with, but at the same time his stories can be taken simply as stories.

I saw the bandwagon, it circled my block a couple of times while I toyed with the idea of hopping on, but finally let it pass.

2009-12-12T08:15:00.000-08:00

I read the Twilight Saga. It took me two and a half weeks. In all fairness, the first three books took me a week, and the final one was the last week and a half.
I'll break it down a wee bit:
Twilight: so-so. Lots of brooding, lots of whining, lots of swooning. Some story. Definitely an easy read. By the end though, I was interested and wanted to keep going to book two.
New Moon: also lots of brooding, quite a lot of whining, and some swooning. Mostly I just found myself tearing through it to get to the end and the exciting bits. I like Jacob.
Eclipse: Not so much whining. Lots of brooding though. Jacob changed quite a lot...can't say as I liked him much anymore. This was definitely my favorite of the series though.
Breaking Dawn: ...just plain weird. I didn't like it. The characters seemed to have a totally different voice and like all of a sudden Stephanie Meyer didn't have to hold on to any shred of realism anymore and just went hog wild with mystical powers and bizarre events. I'm really not sure how they'll make it into a movie without it being totally grotesque and creepy.

All of that being said, I liked the Twilight movie, and I really enjoyed New Moon the movie (I'm fairly sure I'm branding myself as some sort of creepy perv by saying that Jacob is daaaaaaamn fine! He-llo!).
For your reading enjoyment, check out this blog entry I found online: "Reasons Why Twilight the Movie May Be Better Than The Book".
Points 3, 5, 11, 22, and 27 really hit home for me.

But, as my dear friend Mare said when we were discussing the first two books "Imagine if we'd been reading these ten or fifteen years ago! I'd have my bedroom plastered with Twilight posters!" And I concur.

Moving Right Along...

2009-11-20T05:15:00.001-08:00

Oh so much time has passed since I bought An Echo in the Bone. I took my sweet time with it, not sitting down to read unless I knew I could get through a chapter uninterupted. Well, those moments are few and far between, so I didn't finish it until my plane was landing in Halifax at the end of October. This is the 7th book in the Outlander series, and anyone who has read a book series beyond three or four installations can understand just how involved the plot can get. Diana Gabaldon, being an expert story teller, did not let me down. The beginning was a little slow to get going and started with a lot of storyline on a relatively new character who I'm not totally sold on yet. That's not to say he's not a really solid, well developed character with believable ideas, background, etc. I just mean I don't know if I like the guy. Ha! For the first quarter I was starting to wonder whether it would turn back to Claire and Jamie and really focus on them (which, let's face it, is the whole reason for the books). And, being the amazing writer that she is, Gabaldon continued to lead me down the road and everything came together and I understood why she had written the way she did. (Not that I had any doubt). The end was so encompassing that I actually decided to forgo some of my naps on the plane in favor of finishing Echo. I can say there definitely will be at least one more book in the series as she left one plot line in a total cliffhanger. I almost didn't realize it until I closed the book and breathed a contented sigh while reflecting over the various story lines. Then it hit me - "wait, what about----??? AHH!!" There's something terribly unfair about knowing you have to wait 3-4 years to find out what happens.
While in Halifax, Maureen and I did a lot of touring around the city, but on the first day when we turned the corner from her house, we walked right past a used book store that she said she'd never been in. I dragged her in and we started looking over the stacks and stacks of books. I was looking for something easy, something simple, but something still interesting. I finally picked up a paperback called Trick of the Eye by Jane Stanton Hitchcock. The cover made it sound like a murder mystery. I suppose it was. It was certainly an easy read, but not very gripping, and not very engaging. And the "twist" at the end...well, I suppose it was unexpected, but I didn't really care by the time I got there.
Now I've started a book that Norma lent to me: Hung Jury by Rankin Davis. Interesting point though, the copy she has says it's an unedited book proof, so it has many typos and spelling mistakes. There have also been a few sentences that see a bit clumsy and I'm sure would be re-worked before a final print. Interesting, though. (and it appeals to the part of me that has always thought it would be neat to be a book editor).

Excitement!!

2009-09-22T06:17:00.001-07:00

Today is the day I've been waiting for!! It is the official release date for An Echo in the Bone, the 7th book in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. FYI, you won't hear from me for a solid week while I tear through this volume.
I've already told Brad that I don't want to be disturbed unless the house is on fire...even then, just let me know if there's structural damage, otherwise I'm sure the firefighters can deal with it; I'll be busy.

The Honeymoon Reading

2009-09-13T12:34:00.001-07:00

I didn't quite get as much reading in as I had hoped on the honeymoon, but I did tear through two chick-lits.
The first was Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. This book by Laurie Viera Rigley follows a girl who has recently had her heart broken by her *scumbag* fiance and wakes up in Jane Austen's era/settings in the body of another woman. It's fluff, for sure, and sometimes the main character, Courtney/Jane, was irritating, but for the most part it was a decent read that left me neither fulfilled, nor let down by the end.
I quickly moved on to Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner. The sequel to Good in Bed which I read last summer was not as fulfilling either. The novel is divided between Cannie and her daughter Joy as they plan Joy's bat mitzvah. Joy reads the book that Cannie wrote and sort of falls apart after learning her mom was not interested in having a baby in the first place and that her dad is a loser. It was alright and I, again, tore through it in about two days. I was a little disappointed just because the first one had been so good.
Then again, it's hard to expect much more than fluff from chick-lit, and fluff was what I got.
I'm not reading anything right now because I'm counting the days to the release of Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon, the 7th book in the Outlander series. I've been waiting for FOUR years for this one to come out, and I'm going to be waiting at the door of Coles on the 22nd! EEEEEEEEEEeeeeeee!

A major accomplishment!

2009-08-09T19:40:00.001-07:00

Well, an accomplishment in my eyes anyway. A few months ago I set out to read all of the books that people had lent to me. I wanted to return the three that Mum had sent me home with first so that I could bring them back to her when we head to Smithers for the wedding, and then I wanted to read the other daunting books that friends had lent me before I started any of the many many books I've recently purchased for myself.
I started with Gap Creek by Robert Morgan. The cover said "The Story of a Marriage" and it seemed like a good place to start. It's one of Oprah's Book Club books which really doesn't mean much to me. It was reasonably short, but took a little while to get through. The story was good, but it was one of those books where the characters encounter hardship after hardship and things just keep getting worse with no reprieve. By the time I was halfway through I was almost anxious each time the author introduced a new character coming to the door of the little cabin. The end was not terribly uplifting either, but the main character, Julie, had so much strength it kept me going.
After that I read the Birth House by Ami McKay. While the characters faced huge hardships in this story too, it was filled with hope and the underlying feeling that good would triumph and the antagonists would get what was coming to them. I loved the characters and burned through the story in just over a week.
The last book that Mum lent me was Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts. It was made into a move which I haven't seen but would like to. The story is about a girl who's loser boyfriend abandons her at a WalMart in Oklahoma. I was really pleasantly surprised by this one. The characters were endearing and charming and seemed very real. I tried to rent the movie over the weekend but couldn't find it.
Once those three were done, I moved on to the books that friends had lent me, starting with the Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. Bev had sent me home with this book almost a year ago and it sat on my shelf, but I finally decided to take a crack at it. It's written in the form of a legitimate reference for the event of a zombie uprising. The author never breaks from the tone that it is all very real and plausible. I have known a lot of people who would have really enjoyed it (and some who may have taken it fairly literally), but I found it to be a little tedious. Maybe it's just that I'm not really interested in zombies...I'm not sure. Not my cup of tea, but then again, I'm always game to try a new kind of book.
Finally, the last book that was lent to me was World Without End by Ken Follett. This one is the sequel to Pillars of the Earth which I read last year. It was certainly the most daunting of the books I've read lately coming in at 1014 pages in hardcover (I'm not really a big fan of hardcover as they're so cumbersome to read). Much like Pillars, the characters were really well written and relateable, but also very distinctly good or bad. There wasn't a lot of grey area. Some started as neutral but became corrupted, whereas others just further developed their evil natures. I found Pillars a little harder to read...it seemd the characters faced one terrible hardship after another and just when things were starting to look up their hopes would be dashed. World Without End definitely had a lot of that, but they seemed to triumph more often, or maybe they were just stronger. It was a really good read though, and I absolutely would recommend it to someone with a lot of time on their hands.
I plan to take three or four books with me on our honeymoon. Hopefully I'll get a chance to get some more reading in. Now that I'm on to the books that I've bought for myself, I can enjoy them without feeling like I should be reading something else.

Finally!

2009-03-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

I've actually had some time to read lately! Whooooooeee, it's been nice. I polished off Fool, Sundays at Tiffany's, and I'm about halfway into Bloodsucking Fiends.

So let's see...Fool, by Christopher Moore. One of my favorite authors, Moore has a truly twisted sense of humour which I absolutely adore. Fool is his attempt to make Shakespeare roll over in his grave. The book is loosely based on King Lear, told from the jester's perspective. Moore willingly admits that he hasn't really tried to stick to the story and has incorporated bits and pieces from other works (the three witches of Macbeth). I was hugely entertained by the novel and the wild liberties Moore takes. I've read all but one of his books, and despite knowing how extremely crude (and occasionally disgusting) he can be, I was still a little surprised to read some of the scenes and see the lines he crossed. Fun though, for sure. Quite literally though, the part that made me laugh the hardest was long after the story ended and Moore was explaining how he came to the decision to write the story and talks about how in his research, after watching countless Lears rage at the storm at the peak of their insanity, he was about ready to leap onstage and kill the guy himself.

After finishing off Fool, I switched gears to Sundays at Tiffany's. I don't know about this one. It was definitely what I was looking for: pure fluff, and had sweet characters. They were very one dimentional though. Very very flat. Often the sentence structure reminded me of things I had written in elementary school. Twice, chapters started with "Here's what happened next". Seriously? Is that necessary? I assume that the following paragraphs would state what came next since I'm still reading the same book. I think the author was trying to be cute and relateable but came across as trite and redundant. All in all, I will never re-read it, but it was a good filler for a while.

Now into Bloodsucking Fiends, another from Christopher Moore and the last one that I need to read. So far so good. Typical Moore...twisted, amusing, fantastic characters, fun plot. All in all, enjoying it!

I know I've raved a few times about Moore, but here's an experpt from his website that I enjoyed as an intro to the schedule of his book tour destinations:

"You know I think the world of you and would like to make peanut butter toast for each and every one of you (unless you have a peanut allergy, in which case, I’d like to make you toast and stab you in the leg with an epi pen.)"

The Big Read

2009-02-23T05:26:00.000-08:00

In 2003, the BBC released their list of the top books according to readers in Great Britain. I gave it a look over and have read 15 of the 100. Not bad I guess, but I'd like to give it a fair go and see how many I can actually get through. There are a lot of books here that I've always wanted to read (Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Hitchhikers Guide, etc), and I figure in conjunction with my new years resolution (which isn't going so well), I'm going to look to this list for inspiration. The 'X' means I've read it. Hopefully I can add a few more 'X's by the end of the year...though I imagine reading Lord of the Rings might have to be it's own New Years Resolution.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne X
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger X
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott X
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres X
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien X
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett X
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson X
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert40. Emma, Jane Austen X
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens X
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett X
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell X
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding X
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac X
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel X
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho X
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez X
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

The Hour I First Believed

2009-01-14T07:19:00.000-08:00

Being sick is definitely no fun, but the upside to it is more time to read. I'm somewhere around page 200 of The Hour I First Believed.

The first hundred pages were a little slow going and I wasn't sure if I could get past a general dislike of the main character. I guess he's fairly typical and a fairly average person, there are just a lot of traits that I just don't like and have a hard time relating to.

The book has picked up though and I had a really hard time putting it down last night. It's hard to take too. I know that it shouldn't come as a surprise to me, but it's trying on my nerves and emotions.

Here's a quick look at a paragraph from the write up on Chapters:

"When forty-seven-year-old high school teacher Caelum Quirk and his younger wife, Maureen, a school nurse, move to Littleton, Colorado, they both get jobs at Columbine High School. In April 1999, Caelum returns home to Three Rivers, Connecticut, to be with his aunt who has just had a stroke. But Maureen finds herself in the school library at Columbine, cowering in a cabinet and expecting to be killed, as two vengeful students go on a carefully premeditated, murderous rampage. Miraculously she survives, but at a cost: she is unable to recover from the trauma. "

I Don't know why I thought it would be anything but hard to take, but so far in the past 50 pages or so I've been in tears a number of times.

Anyway, that's where I'm at with it for now. I expect it to get harder and harder to take.

A New Year

2009-01-01T19:14:00.000-08:00

Last year it was my personal goal to read 52 books. One book each week. I was doing really well for the first few months of the year, but things started to trickle off (as they often do) and life caught up with me, demanding my time and leaving much less for one of my favorite passtimes. I did, however, manage to soak up 26 books, so that's not too bad.
This year I'm going to set a more achievable goal for myself. I want to try to read 30 books if I can. That's where this blog comes in. I will be chronicling the books I read as I go.
To start off 2009: The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb.