December 2008 Book Challenge - Page 3

[Viola]

Originally Posted by Bufomander

I loved Life As We Knew It and I love Margaret Peterson Haddix.
What is Found about?

Babies are found alone on a plane, and then we jump ahead 13 years later to some children who get some weird mail saying nothing but, "They're coming for you" and they start investigating it and find out some very confusing things. Unfortunately, it's part of a series, so after all this big build-up, it doesn't quite resolve. You find out the mystery, more or less, but the story is just really getting started by the end. My daughter is wanting me to buy the next one, and I told her it's not out yet.

[Bufomander]

Originally Posted by Viola

Babies are found alone on a plane, and then we jump ahead 13 years later to some children who get some weird mail saying nothing but, "They're coming for you" and they start investigating it and find out some very confusing things. Unfortunately, it's part of a series, so after all this big build-up, it doesn't quite resolve. You find out the mystery, more or less, but the story is just really getting started by the end. My daughter is wanting me to buy the next one, and I told her it's not out yet.

Sounds like something I would like.

#133 To Play the Fool by Laurie R King

the second in the kate martinelli series. Set in San Francisco. Interesting stuff about the history of the spiritual/holy Fool.

[cathe]

"Lost Girls" by Robert Doherty

Same characters as in his "Bodyguard of Lies" - another action adventure/mystery based on the secret government agency The Cellar.

[Jenifer76]

Frangipani by Celestine Vaite

A wonderful look at the relationship between mothers and daughters. While the setting is Tahiti, there is a universal dynamic that relates to all mothers and daughters. Materena Mahi seems wise to everyone but her only daughter Leilani. Mahi doesn't understand why her daughter won't listen to her advice and open up to her Mom. Both women have to learn to follow their hearts and decide what is best for them.

[Bufomander]

#134 The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose

I read this one a while back, but when I picked up its sequel and started reading, I realized that I really needed to re-read this one first. I started it last night and finished it just now (and it's over 400 pages). I'm not sayin' it's high quality literature, but it's certainly a page turner, at least for me. And reincarnation isn't something I think about too often (was certainly a "no-no" in the circles I grew up in) and I find it interesting to ponder more.....

[kaliki_kila]

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

Whew! This took me forever to read! But I enjoyed it, slowly but surely. I think the artwork on the cover is so beautiful. It shows a boy leaning up against a tree and talking to a girl with some turkeys in the background. He is holding a scythe and she is holding a stick behind her back and even their hands are so beautifully painted.

Poor Jude. He just wanted to attend university and to be with the girl he loved and because of the times he lived in, he was forbidden to have either.

[cathe]

"Sweethearts" by Sara Zarr

Well, the title and cover of this book are totally misleading (happy to say). Someone recommended this book--not sure if it was here or on my children's book discussion group, but when I received it from the library it looked like a teen romance type of book. Anyway, it was deeper than that and very good. The book alternates between the past when Jenna (Jennifer) was an overweight social outcast in elementary school with only one friend--Cameron, another misfit who was being abused at home by his father go through a terrifying experience which you find out about bit by bit. One day he disappears without a word. Meanwhile, in the present, Jenna has reinvented herself at a new school. She's pretty, popular, has a boyfriend. Then Cameron shows back up in her life . . .

[NewCrunchyDaddy]

#103 Letters from a Nut
by Ted L. Nancy
introduction by Jerry Seinfeld

My review of Letters from a Nut can be found HERE.


#104 Life As We Knew It (Audio)
by Susan Beth Pfeffer
read by Emily Bauer

My review of Life As We Knew It (Audio) 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)

[kaliki_kila]

Originally Posted by NewCrunchyDaddy

#104 Life As We Knew It (Audio)
by Susan Beth Pfeffer
read by Emily Bauer

My review of Life As We Knew It (Audio) can be found HERE.

Great review! I loved this book! So how do you like audiobooks in general? I think I have only listened to one (I think it was Golden Compass) and I just remember being impatient that the person was reading too slow and there was too much music in-between scenes/chapters. I want to read the Harry Potter series again and I was thinking of listening to it on audio. Is the reader any good?

[NewCrunchyDaddy]

Originally Posted by kaliki_kila

Great review! I loved this book! So how do you like audiobooks in general? I think I have only listened to one (I think it was Golden Compass) and I just remember being impatient that the person was reading too slow and there was too much music in-between scenes/chapters. I want to read the Harry Potter series again and I was thinking of listening to it on audio. Is the reader any good?

I love audiobooks! As an English-Lit Studies undergrad, I don't get a lot of time for pleasure reading, so audiobooks are an outlet for pleasure reading. I do a lot of driving between work, school and home, so putting them on my iPod and going is great!

As for Harry Potter ... run don't walk to get them. Jim Dale, the reader, is simply amazing! (My reviews of the HP Audiobooks are HERE)

[kaliki_kila]

Originally Posted by NewCrunchyDaddy

I love audiobooks! As an English-Lit Studies undergrad, I don't get a lot of time for pleasure reading, so audiobooks are an outlet for pleasure reading. I do a lot of driving between work, school and home, so putting them on my iPod and going is great!

As for Harry Potter ... run don't walk to get them. Jim Dale, the reader, is simply amazing! (My reviews of the HP Audiobooks are HERE)

I googled and found some snippets of Jim Dale reading from the books. Ha! I love it! I have surprisingly only read through the books once and not many times like most people. I'll get the audiobooks.

[NewCrunchyDaddy]

#105 The Tales of Beedle the Bard (Standard Edition)
by J.K. Rowling

My review of The Tales of Beedle the Bard can be found HERE.


#106 The Jigsaw Man
by Gord Rollo

My review of The Jigsaw Man can be found HERE.


#107 A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas (Audio): Redux
by Charles Dickens
read by Jim Dale

My review of A Christmas Carol (Audio) 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

[kofduke]

%43 The Girls, Lori Larsens

Conjoined twins Rose and Ruby Darlen are linked at the side of the head, with separate brains and bodies. Born in a small town outside Toronto in the midst of a tornado and abandoned by their unwed teenage mother two weeks later, the girls are cared for by Aunt Lovey...at age 29, Rose, the more verbal and bookish twin, begins writing their story—i.e., this novel, which begins, "I have never looked into my sister's eyes."

This story of a pair of craniopagus conjoined twins, is lovely and melancholy. Ruby and Rose narrate their lives -- always together, yet with separate thoughts, separate likes, and separate loves. Their experiences are both diverse and simple. Yet despite their situation (the twins will not let it be called a predicament) Ruby and Rose share an abiding love for each other, and yes for themselves.


1-Garden of Beasts, #2-Passporter Guide to WDW, #3-Skylight Confessions, #4 - The Secret, #5 - The Kite Runner, #6 - Gone, #7 - Hidden Mickeys, #8 - Into Thin Air, #9 - Wolf Point, #10 - Ocean Breezes, #11 - Harmony Guide to Cables and Aran, #12 - East, #13 - Getting Started Knitting Socks, #14 - Keeping Faith, #15 - The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, #16 The Big Nap, #17 - Grave of God's Daughter, #18 - Daddy's Girl, #19 - Behind the Scenes at the Museum, #20 - America, #21 - The Little Friend, #22 - Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, #23 - Candyfreak, #24 - Devil in the White City, #25 A Playdate with Death, #26 - Lunch Lessons, #27 - Hidden, #28 Garden of Eden and other Criminal Delights, #29 The Amber Room, #30 The Keep, #31 March, #32 Triathlons for Women, #33 Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, #34 - Mirror, Mirror, #35 - The Kingdom Keepers, #36 Freakonomics, #37 - The Thirteenth Tale, #38 - The Jungle Law, #39 - The Double Bind, #40 - The Burnt House, #41 Devil's Corner, #42 - Affluenza, #43 The Girls

[cathe]

NewCrunchyDaddy - great review on Life as We Knew it. One comment on the mom being so clear thinking--that was one part I found slightly unbelieivable, especially her thinking to stock up on vitamin D in particular--how would she know they'd lose the sun.

Anyway--liked the review on Letters from a Nut. Think I'll get it for xmas for my dh.

[NewCrunchyDaddy]

Originally Posted by cathe

NewCrunchyDaddy - great review on Life as We Knew it. One comment on the mom being so clear thinking--that was one part I found slightly unbelieivable, especially her thinking to stock up on vitamin D in particular--how would she know they'd lose the sun.

Anyway--liked the review on Letters from a Nut. Think I'll get it for xmas for my dh.

Yeah, the medical portion of the "shopping spree" was a little deus ex machina, but otherwise...

[cathe]

"The Plague of Doves" by Louise Erdrich

Well, as much as I love Erdrich and was so excited about a new book from her, I just never got into this book--in fact I finally gave up about 2/3 of the way through . . . This was about native americans living on a reservation in North Dakota. The center of the book is an unsolved murder that several native americans were hung for -- but really, this is just one story after another and I never really felt anything about the characters pulling me to read on . . . wonder if anyone else has read this and how them liked it?

"Death Mountain" by Sherry Shahan

Now this was a page turner--read it in a couple of hours. It's a mid grade novel by a local author based on a personal experience when she was climbing Mt. Whitney. A couple of teenagers are hiking in the Sierra-Nevada mountains when a lightening/hail storm hits.

[NewCrunchyDaddy]

Originally Posted by cathe

"Death Mountain" by Sherry Shahan

Now this was a page turner--read it in a couple of hours. It's a mid grade novel by a local author based on a personal experience when she was climbing Mt. Whitney. A couple of teenagers are hiking in the Sierra-Nevada mountains when a lightening/hail storm hits.

I'll have to look this one up. I've been to the top of Mt. Whitney three times.

[cathe]

Originally Posted by NewCrunchyDaddy

I'll have to look this one up. I've been to the top of Mt. Whitney three times.

Really? Wow!

[becoming]

Things I Want My Daughters To Know - Elizabeth Noble

I really, really liked this one. I love her writing style, and I got a little too attached to the characters by the end--I miss them already!

[Bufomander]

#135 With Child by Laurie King
#136 Night Work by Laurie King
another two in the Kate Martinelli mystery series. set in San Francisco. good for when a person has cramps.
#137 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
a re-read with my dd -- she doesn't know it yet, but we are taking her to the play version on Saturday -- very exciting!