July 2008 Book Challenge - Page 9

[snozzberry]

#44 Shelf Monkey by Corey Redekop

A clinically depressed bookworm gets a job at a mega-bookstore.

Witty at every turn. I liked all the book and author references, although I wasn't familiar with a lot of them. (And I thought *I* was a bookworm!) I didn't really believe the main characters' actions at the climax, but it was still an enjoyable enough read.

[Daffodil]

#13 - I Lock My Door Upon Myself - Joyce Carol Oates

In the early 1900's, a peculiar woman has an extramarital affair that ends badly. I liked some things in it, but the characters and events were described from too much of a distance for it to really grab me.

[Bufomander]

Originally Posted by Keeta

27. Kiln People - David Brin
This was a GREAT book. Fans of Snow Crash or Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon would love this, too. Albert is a private investigator in a world where "dittoing" - making copies of yourself - makes the world turn. Instead of working, people make copies of themselves (different color golems = different skills and different prices) to do their work for them - a green to wash your toilets and run errands, an ebony to do very detail oriented tasks, etc. War is run much like a football game, only with even more expendable players.

Good ole Albert gets caught up in a twisted game of betrayal and technological advancement when he's hired to investigate the apparent murder of a scientist involved with dittoing technology. What a whirlwind! A great SF-noir book, with clever puns and just the right kind of irreverence. Highly recommended!

I need to remember to ask dh if he's read this one -- we own snow crash.....

#94 A Colder Kind of Death by Gail Bowen
Another of the mystery series set in Canada/Regina. I like them -- just enough actual substance that I don't feel like I'm reading total fluff, too.

[cathe]

"M.I.A." by Michael Allen Dymmoch

I enjoyed this book about a women who's husband has just died. Her son and she are trying to cope with it - then a mystery about her past reemerges.

"Schooled" by Anisha Lakhani

I scored an advance reading copy of this one - and really enjoyed it. Reminded me of the Nanny Diaries but this was about the world of private school teachers and tutors (for the wealthy). Very fun.

[Bufomander]

#95 Money Changes Everything: 22 Writers Tackle the Last Taboo with Tales of Sudden Windfalls, Staggering Debts, and Other Surprising Turns of Fortune edited by Jenny Offill & Elissa Schappell

Interesting essays. Just a warning. Don't spend 4 days in a row looking on Craigslist for a apartment you can afford while also reading this book and then go to a party in an enormous two story house with a lovely finished basement where the people are talking about their iphones and how their kids have way too much stuff -- it may leave you over analyzing your place in this world.

[cathe]

"Penderwicks on Gardam Street" by Jeanne Bridsall

Nice sequel to "The Penderwicks" - sweet story about 4 girls who's father reluctantly begins dating after being widowed for several years.

[nancy926]

#38: The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards

I am probably one of the last 10 people in the country to read this. I started it over a year ago at my best friend's house but then we left and she was still reading it, so I couldn't take it. (Well, not without feeling bad, anyway.) Then I got it at a library book sale.

I wasn't all that into it the first time I started reading it, but this time I got right into it and for the most part I really enjoyed reading it. It got a bit heavy at times, but I liked the depth, the character development, and the many layers she weaves into the story. Good stuff.

Looks like I will read 40 books by my 40th birthday (9/26, hence the username).

[NewCrunchyDaddy]

#80 Duma Key
by Stephen King

My review of Duma Key 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

[kofduke]

#26 - Lunch Lessons, Cooper and Holmes

In prose both straightforward and practical, Cooper and Holmes cleverly avoid the depressing air of many of current nutrition manuals in their charge against the school lunch status quo; though they do note in the foreword that "thirty to forty percent of children born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes," they've largely jettisoned scare tactics in favor of practical, easy-to-follow solutions for the daily school lunch pail.

I never know how I feel about books like this one...great information, but I sometimes feel as if since I'm not ready to change our diets 100% I'm not doing anything, KWIM? Anyway, good information on the nutritional content of school lunches, very successful pilot programs to get kids more involved, and recipies for the laptop lunch container.


#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 Lesson

[snozzberry]

Hey book lovers! What book would you recommend about feeding solid foods? I've heard Super Baby Food is good, but I'm looking for something written by a nutritional professional, ykwim?

[Fiestabeth]

Originally Posted by snozzberry

Hey book lovers! What book would you recommend about feeding solid foods? I've heard Super Baby Food is good, but I'm looking for something written by a nutritional professional, ykwim?

Check out cathe's siggy.

[gabbyquilts]

#25 Little Heathens:hard times and high spirits on and iowa farm during the great depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish

Not very well written - I would not recommend this book.

[OMama]

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffery Toobin.

When I started reading this I wasn't sure if I would finish; while I was reading it, I still wasn't sure if I would finish it. But I did, though I did skim a couple of sections. I kept telling myself I was going to put it down but then I kept being somewhat intrigued by it as well, so I kept on slogging through. At times it was dry, but otherwise a fairly accessible read. It was a little tough since I realized there was a lot more detail than I needed but nevertheless this was an interesting foray into a world I knew nothing about. I definitely feel a bit more "educated" about The Court and the justices. I appreciated the history as well since it wasn't just about the current court, but the instead covered the last two decades or so. It was interesting as well to learn about how politics and personalities come in to play so much, in the nomination process and in the decision-making process of the judges.

[Bufomander]

#96 The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

Somebody here recommended this.... The first in a mystery series about a young girl who meets and develops a friendship with Sherlock Holmes. I liked it and the next two are waiting for me at the library.

[fremontmama]

#30 The Saffron Kitchen by Yasmin Crowther

A story of an Iranian woman who moved to England in her youth, and married and had a daughter there. After her daughter is grown, things happen that cause the woman to re-examine her life and go back to Iran, it's sort a journey of discovery for both women. The book alternates telling the story from both the daughter and mother's perspective. I enjoyed this book quite a bit, nice imagery and interesting story.

(I have to add that I think the story could have been expanded a bit, and then I would have LOVED the book, I wanted more, but what was there, I did enjoy)

[Jenifer76]

The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs

Journalist Jacobs decides to spend a year living as the Bible dictates. His rules range from the commonly known to the obscure. I found his writing to be humorous at times and a bit self-absorbed at others. All in all, a good read.

[cathe]

"Roommates Wanted" by Lisa Jewell

A lonely divorced man rents rooms in his large London house to a bunch of misfits - then decides he wants to sell the house but doesn't know how to let his roomers go. I really enjoyed this - I like this sort of English novels with quirky characters and happy endings. I'm going to check out her other books.

[FarmerCathy]

I will have to come back to number these. I'm visiting my parents at the moment.

#14 Return to the Garden by Shakti Gawain Ok, so I went to the local libraries book sale and picked this up in the garden section. It is not a garden book, but a personal growth book. I skipped the first part of it and got into the part about her life. It's basically a biography and how she has grown personally throughout that time until she published the book. She is an author of several self empowering books. After finding out it wasn't a book about someone going back to gardening after giving up on it I decided to read on since her personal life was pretty interesting. She reminds me of my older sister and how at one point she had several lovers at once and how she is trying to find herself. Anyway, don't really recommend it unless your into this sort of finding ones self.

#15 A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. I highly recommend this book if you like to hike and need a good laugh. Very good read especially the part about what to do when you encounter a bear. Very interesting and conflicting info he found. Anyway, loved it.

#16 A Great and Terrible Beauty By Libba Bray. Really liked this book and can't wait to read the next in the series.

[cathe]

"Promise Not to Tell" by Jennifer McMahon

I read another book by this author recently and decided to try this one as well. It was good - not great but I enjoyed it.

It was about a women who returns to town to figure out care for her alzheimer's afflicted mother. As soon as she gets there a young girls is murdered - in the same way her friend was killed thirty years ago.

[kofduke]

#27 - Hidden, Paul Jaskunas

An Indiana woman whose world was shattered in one fateful night spends the entirety of this meditative literary debut/sleepy thriller unraveling its events. Twenty-two-year-old Maggie's crumbling marriage takes its final blow when she is beaten nearly to death in her idyllic farmhouse, and Nate, her domineering and abusive husband, is put in prison for the crime...though everything Maggie remembers about that night suggests that Nate was the perpetrator, a convict about to be released claims responsibility.

This debut novel was excellent. The male author does an excellent job telling the story from the female protagonist's perspective. You are left inside her skin, like her, puzzling over the truth of the night she was beaten. The story is beautifully written and evocative of the place and time. Recommended.

#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