Book Challenge : May 2006

[MamaBug]

Ok I finally got around to starting a new one of these! Same guidelines as before. List your reads and let us know a plot and if you liked it. Feel free to keep track of how many you read this year, or set a goal ( mine is 250 extending from last year) and try to reach it before the end of December!

Happy Reading Ladies!!!!

[MamaBug]

#135 The Secret Lives of Fortunate Wives by Sarah Strohmeyer


I liked this book and it was nice brain candy which is all I can really handle at this point!

amazon:Perfectly timed to ride the wave of Desperate Housewives-mania comes a sharply sardonic tale of suburban sex-capades, social snobbery, and stock swindles from the author of the effervescent Bubbles mystery series. In the tony Cleveland suburb of Hunting Hills, where absurdly wealthy executives ensconce their couturier-clad wives in opulent McMansions and supply them with platinum AmEx cards, there are rules for wifely behavior that have nothing on the Ten Commandments. Trophy wives happily commit adultery and covet their neighbors with style and aplomb. As queen of this realm of riches, Marti Denton reigns supreme. Only one thing eludes her--the oh-so-sexy John Harding--and Marti isn't about to let a little thing like John's recent marriage to the mousy Claire or her own rocky marital state stand in the way. The mordantly observant Strohmeyer skewers the lifestyles of the rich and fatuous with spot-on irony, painting her pretentious socialites with broad, sarcastic strokes in an uproarious, upscale, tongue-in-cheek tour de force.

[Indigo73]

Haven't been reading much...

#71 Hunter's Moon by C. T. Adams & Cathy Clamp
#72 Moon's Web by C. T. Adams & Cathy Clamp
#73 Twilight hunger by Maggie Shayne
#74 The Myth of Monogamy by David P. Barash
#75 Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton
#76 Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton
#77 Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton
#78 Lunatic Cafe by Laurell K. Hamilton
#79 Love in Vein by Poppy Z. Brite
#80 Twice Bitten by Poppy Z. Brite

[cathe]

"The Blind Assassin" by Margaret Atwood

Whew! I finally got through this book. This was just not as compelling as other Atwood books I have read. It was beautifully written as always but just not that interesting - it got better as I went on but the first half really dragged for me. It was kind of three different stories intertwined and only one really interested me which of course was the one that there was the least of. It won the Booker Prize so I was really expecting something great . . . I don't know, maybe it was just me. Has anyone else read it?

[Bufomander]

just subbing -- getting ready to start #84 of the year.

[MamaBug]

WOW!!! I am soooo bad about this. I really wanted to finsih 200 for last year and didn't make it and at this rate I am not going too. I think I am going to start my count over from January! :

[cathe]

"Mojo Mom" by Amy Tiemann

I can't recommend this book enough. It was just what I needed. The book tells women how to get their "mojo" back after having kids - basically recreating your identity as a mother. Taking care of kids but also nurturing your own interests.

[Alkenny]

#44 The Doctor's Daughter by Hilma Wolitzer

One morning, Alice Brill awakes with a sudden awareness that something is wrong. There’s a hollowness in her chest, and a sensation of dread that she can’t identify or shake. Was it something she’s done, or forgotten to do? As she scours her mind for the source of her unease, she confronts an array of disturbing possibilities.

First, there is her marriage, a once vibrant relationship that now languishes stasis. Then there’s her idle, misdirected younger son, who always needs bailing out of some difficulty. Or perhaps Alice’s trepidation is caused by the loss of her career as an editor at a large publishing house, and the new path she’s paved for herself as a freelance book doctor. Or it might be the real doctor in her life: her father. Formerly one of New York’s top surgeons, he now rests in a nursing home, his mind gripped by dementia. And the Eden that was Alice’s childhood–the material benefits and reflected glory of being a successful doctor’s daughter, the romance of her parents’ famously perfect marriage–makes her own domestic life seem fatally flawed.

While struggling to find the root of her restlessness, Alice is buoyed by her discovery of a talented new writer, a man who works by day as a machinist in Michigan. Soon their interactions and feelings intensify, and Alice realizes that the mystery she’s been trying to solve lies not in the present, as she had assumed, but in the past–and in the secrets of a marriage that was never as perfect as it appeared.

An alright read, not deep like I like them but not boring niether.

#45 The Last Witchfinder by James Morris

From a writer who has been lauded as "an original -- stylistically ingenious, savagely funny, always unpre-dictable" (Philadelphia Inquirer) and "unerring" (San Diego Union-Tribune), who has been compared to Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, and John Updike, a writer whose pen has given us a devastating lampoon of the nuclear-arms race and an audacious answer to the outrageous question "What if God had a daughter?" -- from this writer, the critically acclaimed James Morrow, comes a novel of history, adventure, science, sex, satire, absurdity, and philosophy.
Jennet Stearne's father hangs witches for a living in Restoration England. But when this precocious child witnesses the horrifying death of her beloved Aunt Isobel, unjustly executed as a sorceress, she makes it her life's mission to bring down the Parliamentary Witchcraft Act. A self-educated "natural philosopher," Jennet is inspired in her quest by a single sentence in a cryptic letter from Isaac Newton: It so happens that in the Investigations leading first to my Conjectures concerning Light and later to my System of the World, I fell upon a pretty Proof that Wicked Spirits enjoy no essential Existence. Armed with nothing but the power of reason and her memory of Isobel's love, Jennet cannot rest until she has put the last witchfinder out of business.

Abrim with picaresque adventures -- escapades that carry Jennet from King William's Britain to the fledgling American Colonies to an uncharted Caribbean island -- our heroine's search for justice entangles her variously in the machinations of the Salem Witch Court, the customs of her Algonquin Indian captors, the designs of a West Indies pirate band, and the bedsheets of her brilliant lover, the young Ben Franklin. Finally, in a reckless and courageous ploy, Jennet arranges to go on trial herself for sorcery, the only way she can defeat the witchfinders now and forever. Rich in detail, rollicking in style, and endlessly engaging, The Last Witchfinder is a tour de force of historical fiction.

This was so not my thing...so boring I about drowned (I read in the tub...not a good place to fall asleep! )

#46 Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door by Lynne Truss

"Talk to the hand, 'cause the face ain't listening," the saying goes. When did the world stop wanting to hear? When did society stop valuing basic courtesy and respect? It's a topic that has been simmering for years, and Lynne Truss says it's now reached the boiling point. Taking on the boorish behavior that for some has become a point of pride, Talk to the Hand is a rallying cry for civility.
When did "please" and "thank you" become passé? When you call a "customer service" number, why does the burden of deciphering the automatic switchboard fall to you (and where are the real people, when you, the customer, need service)? Why do people behave as if public spaces are their own chip-strewn living rooms? Perhaps most importantly, how has it come to be that we are not allowed to object? Call someone out on rude or disrespectful behavior and you're likely to get an "Eff off" or worse. In a recent U.S. survey, 79 percent of adults said that lack of courtesy was a serious problem. For all of those fed up with anti-social behavior and suffering in silence, realize that you are the majority! Talk to the Hand is a colorful call to arms-from the wittiest defender of the civilized world.

Very quick read, and so true!

[Queen Gwen]

I totally missed the April thread. Probably just as well -- my To Read list is too long anyway.

#14 The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg
Our church read this for Lent. Some good, some bad, some funny, some stupid. His illustrating stories were funny, but sometimes I didn't get the point, like they were just inserted for the sake of their cuteness.

#15 Ella Enchanted by Gail Levine
I'd never read it before. It was fun. As soon as I finished it my 10yo dd snatched it away and read it twice in a row. Which was fun because we could discuss it.

#16 Pocketful of Pinecones by Karen Andreola
This has been on my To-Read list forever. Guess what -- it's really not very good. Good points: short chapters, tells how to make an icebox cake from graham crackers and applesauce, has some interesting stuff about Audobon, the last chapter is really pretty funny (after pages and pages of self-righteous tedium it struck me as funny that the dad accidentally set the outhouse on fire). Other than that, it was so prissy and sanctimonious I would vow never to homeschool if I had to turn into a person like that.

[grumo]

18. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros – Rereading this with my book group. I enjoy this one, but I like Caramelo much better.

[Bufomander]

#84 Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

newbery winner.... good story about a girl, a dog, a town.

[Alkenny]

#47 Oops: 20 Life Lessons from the Fiascoes That Shaped America by Martin Smith and Patrick Kiger

Oops may be the only American cultural history to ever include flaming elephants, government-funded psychics, and a cutting-edge cinematic technology known as "Smell-O-Vision." This chronicle of often overlooked snafus will delight fans of popular culture who appreciate that Americans' failures are as spectacular as their successes: bridges that collapse; flying cars that crash; sports promotions run amok; deodorant that nearly destroyed the earth; even failures that failed to happen!

Veteran journalists Smith and Kiger select twenty miscues, goofs, complications, and failures that shaped modern America and reveal the life lessons these gaffes teach, including:

Accentuate the Positive: How Thomas Edison Invented Trash Talk
Understand the Market: The 1967 Monkees–Jimi Hendrix Concert Tour
Desperation Is the Cradle of Bad Ideas: Cleveland Indians' Ten-Cent Beer Night
Sweat the Details: The Sixty-Story John Hancock Guillotine
Enriched by handy clip-'n'-save "Recipes for Disaster" (Marinated Myopia, Cooked Goose, False-Alarm Chili), Oops proves that when it comes to failure, truth is stranger than fiction.

One of those quirky non-fiction books I like.

[Astrid]

: May already?

[Bufomander]

#85 Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix -- author of the shadow children series.

from Amazon:

In Just Ella, Margaret Peterson Haddix puts a spin on the traditional tale of the glass slippers. In her version, Ella (sans "Cinder") finds her own way to the ball (there was no fairy godmother, despite the rumors) and wins the heart of the prince. But now she is finding that life at the palace as Prince Charming's betrothed is not as great as she thought it was going to be. In fact, it's downright boring for a self-reliant and active girl to do needlework all day or listen to instructions on court etiquette from the strict and cold Madame Bisset. Worst of all, Ella is beginning to suspect that Charming's beautiful blue eyes and golden hair are attached to a head with nothing in it. Her young tutor Jed, however, talks with her about serious things that really matter. Ella finally gets up the courage to announce to Charming that she doesn't want to go through with the wedding, but when she finds herself locked in the dungeon she realizes it's not that easy to walk away from a politically arranged marriage. In the end, as in all good fairy tales, our heroine and hero do manage to live happily ever after--but with a twist.

Nice one -- go female empowerment!

[**guest**]

Subbing. I don't get the chance to read much anymore but like to find out what others think about recently read books. That way, I can choose my books wisely. heh.

[fremontmama]

"The Blind Assassin" by Margaret Atwood

Whew! I finally got through this book. This was just not as compelling as other Atwood books I have read. It was beautifully written as always but just not that interesting - it got better as I went on but the first half really dragged for me. It was kind of three different stories intertwined and only one really interested me which of course was the one that there was the least of. It won the Booker Prize so I was really expecting something great . . . I don't know, maybe it was just me. Has anyone else read it?

I read that book a couple years ago. I kinda felt the same about it as I do most of Margaret Atwood's books. To me, they are sooooo dark. I just get a feeling of dread when reading them most of the time, and usually only half like the book by the time I am finished. But they are really wonderfully written, so I keep picking them up.

[konamama]

[PancakeGoddess]

19. The Baby Name Wizard : A Magical Method for Finding the Perfect Name for Your Baby by Laura Wattenberg

I thought this would be more of a *method* - which is what I really need. I have ridiculous priorities/requirements and we really need to name this baby. So, it WAS a nice book with interesting info, but I didn't get much of a choosing method out of it.

[Alkenny]

#48 Chronic Heartburn: Managing Acid Reflux and GERD Through Understanding, Diet and Lifestyle by Barbara Wendland, MSC, RD, and Lisa Marie Ruffalo

#49 Heartburn and Reflux for Dummies by Carol Ann Rinzler and Ken DeVault, MD

Both are self explanatory, I was reading up to help DH (he has an ulcer in his esophagus). The first book was more informative and included over 100 recipes for "reflux friendly" foods.

[Bufomander]

#86

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff.

Author's first novel. A girl from the U.S. goes to Britain to live with relatives when war comes. from the book flap:

"This is a story about love.
It's also a story about hate, which is why I left New York in the first place. You don't fly halfway across the world to live with a bunch of people you never met, just for a laugh.
I guess if I'd known where it was all going to lead, I might have thought twice about stepping onto that plane. I might have worried a little bit more about Edmond being my cousin.
And me being fifteen.
But I didn't. And in the end, those things didn't matter as much as you think they would.
In the end, the world had bigger things to worry about than us."