December 2008 Book Challenge - Page 7

[FarmerCathy]

#34 The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Loved the book, hated the ending.

[Bufomander]

Originally Posted by NewCrunchyDaddy

So did everyone know that there is a companion book to Life As We Knew It?


Thought everyone might like to know.

Thanks! put it on hold. very exciting.

Originally Posted by Bufomander

Thanks Cathe! I just asked them to order it...

bummer--they just chastised me for asking for a book that hasn't been published yet.

Guess my last one for the year is going to be
#142 Unnatural Causes by P.D. James
Another in the Adam Dagliesh series -- liked it better than the one before -- reading the next one now and I think I'll stick with the series after all.

[cathe]

[QUOTE=Bufomander;12885991]Thanks! put it on hold. very exciting.


bummer--they just chastised me for asking for a book that hasn't been published yet.

/QUOTE]

How rude! I'd have thought they could preorder -- oh well. Put it on your calendar for March

[kaliki_kila]

Originally Posted by FarmerCathy

#34 The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Loved the book, hated the ending.

yup.

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

Pretty good. I have been traveling for the holidays so my reading has been choppy and distracted.

[mammastar2]

Londonstani by Gautam Malkani

About four 'rudeboys' in a South Asian suburb of London. The dialogue's in kind of a mix of a patois, with some US slang and text-speak (u instead of 'you', that kind of thing). Narrated by Jas, who was picked on in school, where he was a bit of an achiever - he's now been taken somewhat under the wing of the toughest of the crew, Hardjit. They have a scheme reprogramming cellphones, and eventually get introduced by their old schoolteacher to a 'success story' from their school who went to Cambridge but who, as it turns out, takes their scheme to the next level.

It was a fast, engaging read. Very scatological, pretty violent, and really quite funny in parts. Malkani does those parts well, but then whenever a character is supposed to be speaking for an extended period, he plunks in a little stilted mini-lecture. I understood why much better when I read an interview with him, and he said that the novel was basically an extension of the ideas behind a thesis he wrote in university!

I found the 'shock' ending a little weird and depressing, although apparently it's supposed to be a hopeful intimation of the porousness of youth pop culture identities.

Also wasn't keen on how one-dimensional and negative the mothers in the book all are, more so than the fathers. While trying to be very modern and porous and all that, Malkani still seems big on the 'negative mother' theory of masculine identity.

[mammastar2]

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Aw, I liked this one. How sweet and beautifully written!

[cathe]

Originally Posted by mammastar2

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Aw, I liked this one. How sweet and beautifully written!

My dd's and I love that book too. Also, I'm not much for books made into movies but the movie of Winn Dixie is a really nice family movie--makes me cry every time.

[mammastar2]

I read it to see what my dd was so passionate about! She got it for Christmas for Santa (on request - her teacher had begun reading it aloud to her second grade class, then never finished it), and finished it in a day - I can see why.

[Keeta]

72. Inverted World - Christopher Priest

Hard SF - This novel is by the same author as The Prestige, which was also adapted to film (and totally messed with my mind!) This book is no different. Whoa, this was a mind-trip! Not at all the kind of book I usually read, but I feel smarter having read it, if that makes any sense. I had no idea it was "older" when I started - it was first published in 1974 - and I'm glad I didn't, because I tend to look slightly down my nose at older SF (just because the theorized technology of the future is usually so far off and amusing!).

Here's a little description, because it's kind of hard to explain:

The city is winched along a track through a devastated land full of hostile tribes. Tracks must be freshly laid ahead of the city and carefully removed in its wake. Rivers and mountains present nearly insurmountable challenges to the ingenuity of the city’s engineers. But if the city does not move, it will fall farther and farther behind the “optimum,” slipping into the crushing gravitational field that has transformed life on earth. The only alternative to the city’s forward progress is death.

Anyway, this is an unraveling mystery of a book where you are literally just trying to wrap your mind around the physical dimensions of the setting - the normal laws of physics do not apply.

If you need a book to make you shake off the dust in your brain, this one would do it. Wow is about all I can say!

I'm a little bummed I didn't make it to 75 books in 2008, but I'm going to just be happy with 72! :

[Daffodil]

#24 - Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Well, with only a few hours to spare, I managed to reach my modest goal for 2008 - 24 books. I liked this one, especially once I got near the end, but it just wasn't the kind of book that could really grab me and makes me love it. It kind of reminded me of the John Irving books I've read, which seem lacking in the same sort of way, though I have a hard time pinning down exactly what my problem with them is.

[NewCrunchyDaddy]

#109 Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus (Longman Cultural Edition)
by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
edited by Susan J. Wolfson

My review of Frankenstein can be found HERE.



#110 Flight
by Sherman Alexie

My review of Flight can be found HERE


#1 The Time Machine, #2 The Shining (Audio): Redux, #3 Curious George, #4 Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, #5 The Tragedy of Othello, Moor of Venice (Bantam Anthology), #6 A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four, #7 "A Study in Emerald", #8 The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead, #9 Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them, #10 Quidditch Through the Ages, #11 On the Day You Were Born, #12 The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Bantam Anthology), #13 The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare, #14 Rubyfruit Jungle, #15 John, Paul, George & Ben, #16 The Merchant of Venice (Bantam Anthology): Redux, #17 Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time, #18 Trent's Last Case, #19 Cyrano de Bergerac: A Heroic Comedy in Five Acts, #20 Animal Dads, #21 Faggots, #22 A Day with Wilbur Robinson, #23 And Then There Were None, #24 Eating Between the Lines: The Supermarket Shopper's Guide to the Truth Behind Food Labels, #25 Henry IV, Part One, #26 Zami, A New Spelling of My Name: A Biomythography, #27 Twelfth Night, or What You Will (Bantam Anthology), #28 Murder Must Advertise, #29 Stagestruck: Theater, AIDS, and the Marketing of Gay America, #30 Angels in America, A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, Part One: Millennium Approaches, #31 The Tragedy of Macbeth (Bantam Anthology), #32 Stone of Destiny: The Story of Lady Macbeth, #33 Ian Pollack's Illustrated King Lear #34 Celtic Folklore Cooking, #35 Angels in America, A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, Part Two: Perestroika Revised Edition), #36 The Winter's Tale (Bantam Anthology), #37 Tolkien's Art: A Mythology for England, #38 The Body (Audio), #39 Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption (Audio), #40 Four Past Midnight: The Sun Dog (Audio), #41 The Tempest (Bantam Anthology): Redux, #42 World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, #43 Science Verse, #44 Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich and Other Stories You’re Sure to Like Because They’re All About Monsters and Some of Them are Also About Food. You Like Food, Don’t You? Well, All Right Then, #45 Case Histories, #46 Time Bandit: Two Brothers, the Bering Sea, and One of the World's Deadliest Jobs, #47 Why Pandas Do Handstands and Other Curious Truths About Animals, #48 Rolling the R's, #49 Spooky ABC, #50 A is for Arches: A Utah Alphabet, #51 Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest, #52 E is for Evergreen: A Washington Alphabet, #53 Beowulf (Longman Anthology), #54-60 The Harry Potter Series (Audio), #60 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Audio), #61 The Gingerbread Girl (Audio), #62 A Whale Hunt: Two Years on the Olympic Peninsula with the Makah and Their Canoe, #63 Heart-Shaped Box (Audio), #64 The Host, #65 Why War is Never a Good Idea, #66 Spicy Hot Colors: Colores Picantes, #67 To Everything There is a Season, #68 Charles Fort: The Man Who Invented the Supernatural, #69 Stick: Great Moments in Art, History, Film, and More..., #70 America: A Patriotic Primer, #71 A is for America: An American Alphabet, #72 Just How Stupid Are We?: The TRUTH About the American Voter, #73 Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Pre-School Years, #74 S is for Shamrock: An Ireland Alphabet, #75 The Brief History of the Dead, #76 The Ruins, #77 Marvel 1602, #78 The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square, #79 The Preservationist, #80 Duma Key, #81 Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence, #82 The Wood Are Dark: Restored and Uncut, #83 Wild About Books, #84 Tarzan of the Apes, #85 Breaking Dawn, #86 Backyard Giants: The Passionate, Heartbreaking, and Glorious Quest to Grow the Biggest Pumpkin Ever, #87 Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana, #88 Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters, #89 Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World, #90 Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, #91 Middle Passage: Redux, #92 Donald Duk, #93 The Historian (Audio), #94 The White Boy Shuffle: Redux, #95 Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (Audio), #96 Secret Window, Secret Garden (Audio), #97 Persuasion, #98 The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, #99 Bag of Bones (Audio): Redux, #100 Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders (Audio), #101 American Woman, #102 Dark Blue Suit and Other Stories: Redux, #103 Letters from a Nut, #104 Life As We Knew It (Audio) #105 The Tales of Beedle the Bard (Standard Edition), #106 The Jigsaw Man, #107 A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas (Audio): Redux, #108 Paradise Lost (Blackwell Edition), #109 Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus (Longman Cultural Edition), #110 Flight

[kaliki_kila]

A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle

The story is about a man named Michael, who has lived in a graveyard mausoleum for the past 20 years. He befriends the ghosts that live there and is fed by a raven who brings him food and news from the outside world. Hard to believe that this was written when Beagle was only 19 years old - it sounded very wise.

That does it for me for the year. 121 books!

[fremontmama]

Well, I am finishing the year a bit shy of my 75 book goal with a grand total of 49 plus reading 4 books at the moment. I'm enjoying all 4....

The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher (I was sucked in by the cover )
The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery
And How to Become a Famous Writer (or something like that) by Ariel Gore

Happy New Year everyone! :

[FarmerCathy]

Sweethearts by Sara Zarr

I finished it at 5 minutes after midnight, but if I don't post it now I will forget. Great book, loved it. So good. I think I finished it in a little over 24 hours.

[NewCrunchyDaddy]

#111 Just After Sunset: Stories
by Stephen King

My review of Just After Sunset can be found HERE


And that rounds the year out for me at a nice 111. A full 11 over my goal : Happy New Year Everybody!


#1 The Time Machine, #2 The Shining (Audio): Redux, #3 Curious George, #4 Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, #5 The Tragedy of Othello, Moor of Venice (Bantam Anthology), #6 A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four, #7 "A Study in Emerald", #8 The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead, #9 Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them, #10 Quidditch Through the Ages, #11 On the Day You Were Born, #12 The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Bantam Anthology), #13 The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare, #14 Rubyfruit Jungle, #15 John, Paul, George & Ben, #16 The Merchant of Venice (Bantam Anthology): Redux, #17 Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time, #18 Trent's Last Case, #19 Cyrano de Bergerac: A Heroic Comedy in Five Acts, #20 Animal Dads, #21 Faggots, #22 A Day with Wilbur Robinson, #23 And Then There Were None, #24 Eating Between the Lines: The Supermarket Shopper's Guide to the Truth Behind Food Labels, #25 Henry IV, Part One, #26 Zami, A New Spelling of My Name: A Biomythography, #27 Twelfth Night, or What You Will (Bantam Anthology), #28 Murder Must Advertise, #29 Stagestruck: Theater, AIDS, and the Marketing of Gay America, #30 Angels in America, A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, Part One: Millennium Approaches, #31 The Tragedy of Macbeth (Bantam Anthology), #32 Stone of Destiny: The Story of Lady Macbeth, #33 Ian Pollack's Illustrated King Lear #34 Celtic Folklore Cooking, #35 Angels in America, A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, Part Two: Perestroika Revised Edition), #36 The Winter's Tale (Bantam Anthology), #37 Tolkien's Art: A Mythology for England, #38 The Body (Audio), #39 Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption (Audio), #40 Four Past Midnight: The Sun Dog (Audio), #41 The Tempest (Bantam Anthology): Redux, #42 World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, #43 Science Verse, #44 Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich and Other Stories You’re Sure to Like Because They’re All About Monsters and Some of Them are Also About Food. You Like Food, Don’t You? Well, All Right Then, #45 Case Histories, #46 Time Bandit: Two Brothers, the Bering Sea, and One of the World's Deadliest Jobs, #47 Why Pandas Do Handstands and Other Curious Truths About Animals, #48 Rolling the R's, #49 Spooky ABC, #50 A is for Arches: A Utah Alphabet, #51 Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest, #52 E is for Evergreen: A Washington Alphabet, #53 Beowulf (Longman Anthology), #54-60 The Harry Potter Series (Audio), #60 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Audio), #61 The Gingerbread Girl (Audio), #62 A Whale Hunt: Two Years on the Olympic Peninsula with the Makah and Their Canoe, #63 Heart-Shaped Box (Audio), #64 The Host, #65 Why War is Never a Good Idea, #66 Spicy Hot Colors: Colores Picantes, #67 To Everything There is a Season, #68 Charles Fort: The Man Who Invented the Supernatural, #69 Stick: Great Moments in Art, History, Film, and More..., #70 America: A Patriotic Primer, #71 A is for America: An American Alphabet, #72 Just How Stupid Are We?: The TRUTH About the American Voter, #73 Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Pre-School Years, #74 S is for Shamrock: An Ireland Alphabet, #75 The Brief History of the Dead, #76 The Ruins, #77 Marvel 1602, #78 The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square, #79 The Preservationist, #80 Duma Key, #81 Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence, #82 The Wood Are Dark: Restored and Uncut, #83 Wild About Books, #84 Tarzan of the Apes, #85 Breaking Dawn, #86 Backyard Giants: The Passionate, Heartbreaking, and Glorious Quest to Grow the Biggest Pumpkin Ever, #87 Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana, #88 Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters, #89 Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World, #90 Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, #91 Middle Passage: Redux, #92 Donald Duk, #93 The Historian (Audio), #94 The White Boy Shuffle: Redux, #95 Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (Audio), #96 Secret Window, Secret Garden (Audio), #97 Persuasion, #98 The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, #99 Bag of Bones (Audio): Redux, #100 Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders (Audio), #101 American Woman, #102 Dark Blue Suit and Other Stories: Redux, #103 Letters from a Nut, #104 Life As We Knew It (Audio) #105 The Tales of Beedle the Bard (Standard Edition), #106 The Jigsaw Man, #107 A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas (Audio): Redux, #108 Paradise Lost (Blackwell Edition), #109 Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus (Longman Cultural Edition), #110 Flight, #111 Just After Sunset: Stories

[NewCrunchyDaddy]

January 2009's thread is up and ready HERE.


For those interested, there is a great little thread HERE to share your favorite reads of 2008.

[snozzberry]

#70 Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Rating: 2/5

Summary: High school junior Aislinn can see faeries, but they're not all glitter and Tinkerbell. Try cruel. But now one faery in particular is stalking her, and he just so happens to be a faery king looking for his queen.

Review: I loved the premise of this book, but I didn't connect with the main character. She was whiny and constantly turning to her older, overly protective not-a-boyfriend for help.

I also had a really hard time with all the changes in point of view. There's a way to do that well (try The Penderwicks, for one), and this ain't it. The point of view changed several times in a chapter, sometimes within the same scene. I never felt like I could settle into a character and really see through their eyes.