January/February 2011 Book Challenge Thread - Page 3

[zebra15]

Hi   Can I join... I usually read current fiction, or non- fiction. I was lucky enough to also get a NookColor for the holidays and that will make tracking what I read easier (lol).    Right now I think I'm reading 4-5 books for pleasure.

Oh ya BTW  I'm 'Zebra'  mommy to J,  J does homeschool and could probably outread me.

Thanks for letting me join this elite group of folks

[fremontmama]

Originally Posted by cathe 

I'm not sure . . . I also do Library Thing but don't like it as much as Goodreads . . .

Ah, cool.  I'm sorta hearing from everyone now that  Goodreads is the general consensus as the best one to try.  Thanks Cathe :)

Originally Posted by JessicaRenee 

I think I'll join in. Right now I'm reading "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down", Book #1. I'd like to read 12 books this year. Pathetic, yes, but hey, little grabby toddler hands and no attention span (what happened to my brain?! I used to read 1-3 books a week!) make it hard.

Welcome!  :D  I just finished that book too! 

Originally Posted by zebra15 

Hi   Can I join... I usually read current fiction, or non- fiction. I was lucky enough to also get a NookColor for the holidays and that will make tracking what I read easier (lol).    Right now I think I'm reading 4-5 books for pleasure.

Oh ya BTW  I'm 'Zebra'  mommy to J,  J does homeschool and could probably outread me.

Thanks for letting me join this elite group of folks

Welcome! :D

[cathe]

Trapped by Michael Northrop

YA novel about 7 teens trapped for a week inside their high school during a blizzard. It's a fast read. although I thought the teens managed just a little too well and always seemed to have a ready solution for every problem--including the rescue. The teen voice and story are engrossing, however, and I think teens will like this survival story.

like

[cathe]

Welcome Zebra15 and JessicaRennee!

[kofduke]

Summerland, Michael Chabon

Quote:

 Following the death of his mother, 11-year-old Ethan Feld and his father, a designer of lighter-than-air-dirigibles move to Clam Island, Wash. The island is known for its almost constant rain, save for an area on its westernmost tip called Summerland by the locals which "knew a June, July and August that were perfectly dry and sunshiny." In Summerland, Ethan struggles to play baseball for the Ruth's Fluff and Fold Roosters, with dismal results. But here, too, a mystical baseball scout recruits Ethan and escorts him through a gateway to a series of interconnected worlds that are home to magical creatures called ferishers and an evil, shape-changing overlord called Coyote. Ethan and two of his fellow teammates soon accept a mission to save these other worlds (plus the one they live in) from ultimate destruction at Coyote's hand. When his father's well-being is also threatened, Ethan's quest becomes all the more urgent.  

I chose this from my TBR pile, hoping that it would help lift my wintery doldrums.  While the book as a whole wasn't necessarily evocative of summer as I had hoped, it certainly had enough interest and adventure to keep my mind off the cold temps outside!

[kangamitroo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fremontmama 

My book club meets tonight, we're discussing Olive Kitteridge, which I read last year, and didn't care for.  I get to offer up the next batch we vote on.  I'm offering Sarah's Key, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and Little Bee.  Our will pick one from the three.  Can't wait to read all of them actually :D

Welcome to the new faces!

I forgot I also suggested Cutting For Stone, which is what we picked.  Started it on the bus ride home today, I think it's going to be really good.

fremontmama, we are on the same book wave:  i've just started Little Bee, and i'm next in line for Cutting for Stone at the library.

[fremontmama]

Originally Posted by kangamitroo 

Quote:

Originally Posted by fremontmama 

My book club meets tonight, we're discussing Olive Kitteridge, which I read last year, and didn't care for.  I get to offer up the next batch we vote on.  I'm offering Sarah's Key, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and Little Bee.  Our will pick one from the three.  Can't wait to read all of them actually :D

Welcome to the new faces!

I forgot I also suggested Cutting For Stone, which is what we picked.  Started it on the bus ride home today, I think it's going to be really good.

fremontmama, we are on the same book wave:  i've just started Little Bee, and i'm next in line for Cutting for Stone at the library.

Awesome.  You are going to like Cutting For Stone.  I'm cruising through that one.  Can't wait to start Little Bee!

[zebra15]

I dont read much of the genre that you ladies do however, since January

1. Only Son - Kevin O'Brien

2. Planning To Live - Heather Wardell

3. The 7 Wonders That Will Change Your Life - Glenn Beck/ Keith Ablow

4. Life, Love and a Polar Bear Tatoo - Heather Wardell

5. Carved In Bone - Jefferson Bass

6. Thirteen Reasons Why- Jay Asher

I love my NookColor.... I have so many dowloads to read... its Insane!

Books Read 6/?

[Bufomander]

Welcome new people!  :)

Rest of my January books:

16.The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie
17. Crooked House by Agatha Christie
18.Celebrating Girls:  Nurturing and Empowering Our Daughters by Virginia Beane Rutter
19. Fear Itself  by Andrew Clements

[fremontmama]

Originally Posted by zebra15 

I dont read much of the genre that you ladies do however, since January

1. Only Son - Kevin O'Brien

2. Planning To Live - Heather Wardell

3. The 7 Wonders That Will Change Your Life - Glenn Beck/ Keith Ablow

4. Life, Love and a Polar Bear Tatoo - Heather Wardell

5. Carved In Bone - Jefferson Bass

6. Thirteen Reasons Why- Jay Asher

I love my NookColor.... I have so many dowloads to read... its Insane!

Books Read 6/?

That's awesome you are enjoying your Nook!    It's fun to have a big ol' stack of books waiting in the wings, virtual or otherwise

And no worries about what you read, it's ALL good.   Just like our little "instructions" say, just have fun!

Originally Posted by Bufomander 

Welcome new people!  :)

Rest of my January books:

16.The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie
17. Crooked House by Agatha Christie
18.Celebrating Girls:  Nurturing and Empowering Our Daughters by Virginia Beane Rutter
19. Fear Itself  by Andrew Clements

How's the Agatha Christie?  I have her on my list.  I've never read any of her books!  I'm sure I'll like them though.  I'm sadly lacking in my classics repertoire.

[zebra15]

Originally Posted by zebra15 

I dont read much of the genre that you ladies do however, since January

1. Only Son - Kevin O'Brien

2. Planning To Live - Heather Wardell

3. The 7 Wonders That Will Change Your Life - Glenn Beck/ Keith Ablow

4. Life, Love and a Polar Bear Tatoo - Heather Wardell

5. Carved In Bone - Jefferson Bass

6. Thirteen Reasons Why- Jay Asher

I love my NookColor.... I have so many dowloads to read... its Insane!

Books Read 6/?

7. The Abstinence Teacher- Tom Perrotta
 

[kofduke]

Shakespeare:  The World as Stage

In this addition to the Eminent Lives series, bestselling author Bryson (The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid) does what he does best: marshaling the usual little facts that others might overlook—for example, that in Shakespeare's day perhaps 40% of women were pregnant when they got married—to paint a portrait of the world in which the Bard lived and prospered. Bryson's curiosity serves him well, as he delves into subjects as diverse as the reliability of the extant images of Shakespeare, a brief history of the theater in England and the continuing debates about whether William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon really wrote Shakespeare's works. Bryson is a pleasant and funny guide to a subject at once overexposed and elusiveI

 

I was expecting a laugh-out-loud Bryson read, and it's certainly not what I got -- it's an interesting enough, short story of Shakespeare's life, though.

[kofduke]

Sold, McCormick

Quote:

  As this heartbreaking story opens, 13-year-old Lakshmi lives an ordinary life in Nepal, going to school and thinking of the boy she is to marry. Then her gambling-addicted stepfather sells her into prostitution in India. Refusing to be with men, she is beaten and starved until she gives in. Written in free verse, the girls first-person narration is horrifying and difficult to read. In between, men come./They crush my bones with their weight./They split me open./Then they disappear. I hurt./I am torn and bleeding where the men have been. The spare, unadorned text matches the barrenness of Lakshmis new life. She is told that if she works off her familys debt, she can leave, but she soon discovers that this is virtually impossible. When a boy who runs errands for the girls and their clients begins to teach her to read, she feels a bit more alive, remembering what it feels like to be the number one girl in class again. When an American comes to the brothel to rescue girls, Lakshmi finally gets a sense of hope.

Brutally honest, beautifully written.

[cathe]

Lunch in Paris: A Love Story With Recipes by Elizabeth Bard

Memoir about a NY woman who moves to Paris and marries a Frenchman. She doesn't quite know what she wants to do with her life and if she will ever fit in in Paris but she eventually combines her love of food and writing and finds her niche. This was our book club pick and we will get together and cook dishes from the book. Most of them involve meat but I found the perfect one for me to make. Lemon sorbet (I will use the recipe from Lick It!) with a shot of vodka poured over it! I might make the stuffed eggplant too.

[zebra15]

January

1. Only Son - Kevin O'Brien

2. Planning To Live - Heather Wardell

3. The 7 Wonders That Will Change Your Life - Glenn Beck/ Keith Ablow

4. Life, Love and a Polar Bear Tatoo - Heather Wardell

5. Carved In Bone - Jefferson Bass

February

6. Thirteen Reasons Why- Jay Asher 

7. The Abstinence Teacher- Tom Perrotta

8. One Fine Day Your're Gonna Die- Gail Bowen  (90 pgs)

[cathe]

I just realized we never started a February thread so I changed the title to make this a Jan/Feb combo. We need NewCrunchyDaddy back to keep this organized . . . 

[cathe]

Okay . . . for my superbowl weekend readathon . . . trying to get through my pile of ARCs that I need to review.

Plain Kate by Erin Bow

A YA novel with lots of superstition, witchcraft, and magic. Pretty good.

Celia and the Fairies by Karen McQuestion

Middle-grade novel about a girl who has fairies in her yard and with their help hopes to save her family's home and business.

The PS Brothers by Maribeth Boelts

Cute, funny chapter book about two boys with family problems who want a dog to protect them and start a poop-scooping business to help them get it. This is a great one for 2-4 grade boys, especially reluctant readers.

[cathe]

Look Again by Lisa Scotoline

An interesting Jody Picoult type premise: a woman finds a "Have you seen this child" flyer and it's the spitting image of the boy she adopted 2 years ago. She tries but can't let it go and tries to find out if it really good be her son in the picture. It was okay . . .

[fremontmama]

Originally Posted by cathe 

I just realized we never started a February thread so I changed the title to make this a Jan/Feb combo. We need NewCrunchyDaddy back to keep this organized . . . 

Ha!  I didn't even *think* about it being February already!  Thanks for keeping it going!

[kofduke]

Originally Posted by cathe 

Look Again by Lisa Scotoline

An interesting Jody Picoult type premise: a woman finds a "Have you seen this child" flyer and it's the spitting image of the boy she adopted 2 years ago. She tries but can't let it go and tries to find out if it really good be her son in the picture. It was okay . . .

I love Scottoline -- probably because she writes about Philly -- but this one wasn't my favorite.  I like the ones that focus on Mary & Judy (two associates in an all-female firm) -- blanking on titles now -- one I recall is "everywhere mary went"