Book Challenge: June 2007

[nancy926]

Hey, I get to start a new thread! Cool!

#36: Eagle Blue: A Team, A Tribe, and A High School Basketball Season in Arctic Alaska, by Michael D'Orso

Great book. He follows a boys' team for one season and manages to throw in a ton of stuff about Native living, public education, Alaska's problems and family life. I really enjoyed this.

#37: Fluke, by Christopher Moore

Funny, and a great send-up of field research (though I studied voles, not whales...but they're almost the same, right?). I did not laugh aloud, but I did chuckle inside quite a bit. I'm looking forward to reading more from Moore.

#38: Skin Game, by Caroline Kettlewell

Memoir of a "cutter" (woman who cut herself with a razor blade) - covers from about age 12 up to 25 or so. I started out not really liking the book, but wound up wanting to underline entire paragraphs. Take out the cutting part and whole chunks of it sound like my childhood, adolescence, and parts of my adulthood. Amazing, and I'm reading it again with a pencil nearby to take notes.

[Mamax3]

I don't know what number I am on but right now I'm reading The Clan of the Cave Bear, I've read so much about this series (Earth's Children) I thought that I needed to read it. Pretty good so far.

[Bufomander]

#81 Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban
good stuff -- forgot how interesting the time turner and shrieking shack elements were...

#82 The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
number 2 in the percy jackson and the olympian series -- juvenile lit. really really really like this series -- cathe, did you read the first one? (Lighting Thief) they are funny. basically a boy -- 13 yo? -- discovers he's actually a 'half-blood' -- that his father is posiedon -- just gets better from there.

#83 Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark
total fluff -- what can i say, i've got cramps today.

#84 Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
great story line -- young adult fiction -- elsewhere is the name of the place a 15 yo girl finds herself after she dies...

[cathe]

"The Body of Christopher Creed" by Carol Plum-Ucci

YA novel about a class freak who disappears - and how it affects who's left and what happened to him. Pretty good.

[serenetabbie]

I just returned the last batch of books to the library, and did not pick any up for myself! I will be putting a bunch on reserve again after reviewing my "to read" list though

I read;

The Guy Not Taken by Jennifer Weiner. Short stories, fluff. I like her full length books much better.

Mrs. Greenthumbs Plows Ahead, Five Steps to the Garden of your Dreams by Cassandra Danz. Loved it. Funny (how many gardening books can you say that about?!) and full of useful, practical information.

And... from a previous book challenge thread...

1000 White Women, The Journals of May Dod by Jim Fergus The journal of a woman who goes to live with the Cheyenne Indians through a gov't sponsored program. Loved this one too. Thanks for the suggestion!

That puts me at 22/48

[***Heather***]

#36 Something's Wrong with Your Scale
by Van Whitfield

Fiction. Surprisingly good. It's one of my library book sale finds. I bought 30 hardcover books and a library tote bag for $20. I'm thrilled to have all the books but it was quite embarrassing. I *almost* had to make 2 trips to my car! :

Ok, about the book. I started reading the first page and did a double take. The story was about a MAN (!) who was worried about his weight. Falls in love with a woman from his dieting group. It was a good story, but from an odd perspective. Talks a lot about being happy with how you are, being treated as a human being even if you are fat, the need for better plus sized clothes, service, respect etc.


#1 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, #2 Sacred Contracts, #3 Yummy Yarns, #4 The Face (Dean Koontz), #5 A Quaker Book of Wisdom, #6 Women of the Silk, #7 A Piece of Heaven (Barbara Samuel), #8 The 10th Insight (James Redfield), #9 Just listen (Sarah Dessen), #10 Building Green: A Complete How-To Guide to Alternative Building Methods Earth Plaster * Straw Bale * Cordwood * Cob * Living Roofs (Clarke Snell & Tim Callahan)#11 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix #12 Living Dangerously (Katie Fforde), #13 The Whole Parenting Guide: Strategies, Resources and Inspiring Stories for Holistic Parenting and Family Living (Alan Reder, Phil Catalfo, Stephanie Renfrow Hamilton), #14 An Inconenient Truth (Al Gore), #15 Urgent Message From Mother: Gather the women; save the world (Jean Shinoda Bolen), #16 The Brief History of the Dead (Kevin Brockmeier) #17 Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince #18 Second Thyme Around (Katie Fforde) #19 The Red Tent (Anita Diamont) #20 When the Heart Cries (Cindy Woodsmall), #21 The Brethren (Beverly Lewis), #22 Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt (Anne Rice), #23 The Tender Years (Janette Oke), #24 A Searching Heart (Janette Oke) #25 Plain Truth (Jodi Picoult) #26 Eragon (C. Paolini) #27 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams), #28 The Celestine Prophecies & #29 The 10th Insight (James Redfield), #30 The Honk and Holler Opening Soon (Billie Letts) #31 The Mermaid Chair (Sue Monk Kidd) #32 The Gunslinger The Dark Tower (Stephen King) # 33 A Certain Age (Tama Janowitz) #34 Rich Dad, Poor Dad (Robert T. Kiyosaki) #35 The COMPLETE Tightwad Gazette (Amy Dacyczyn) #36 Something's Wrong with Your Scale! (Van Whitfield)

[NewCrunchyDaddy]

#22: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bantam Anthology)
by William Shakespeare
edited by David Bevington

My review of A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bantam Anthology) can be found here.

I was in Midsummer my senior year in high school ... here are some pictures. What do you think, do I pull the costume off?

#1 Beowulf: A New Verse Translation, #2 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Audio), #3 Pudd'nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins: Authoritative Texts, Textual Introduction and Tables of Variant Criticism, #4 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Audio), #5 The Summoning of Everyman, #6 The Marrow of Tradition, #7 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Audio), #8 Billy Budd and Other Tales, #9 White Noise, #10 On the Road, #11 I'm an English Major – Now What?: How English Majors Can Find Happiness, Success, and a Real Job, #12 The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, #13 The Ox-Bow Incident, #14 Middle Passage, #15 King Lear (Bantam Anthology), #16 Native Son (The Restored Text Established by the Library of America), #17 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Audio), #18 To Kill a Mockingbird, #19 The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, #20 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Audio), #21 The Taming of the Shrew (Bantam Anthology), #22 A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bantam Anthology)

[NewCrunchyDaddy]

#23: The Merhcant of Venice (Bantam Anthology)
by William Shakespeare
edited by David Bevington

My review of The Merchant of Venice (Bantam Anthology) can be found here.

#1 Beowulf: A New Verse Translation, #2 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Audio), #3 Pudd'nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins: Authoritative Texts, Textual Introduction and Tables of Variant Criticism, #4 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Audio), #5 The Summoning of Everyman, #6 The Marrow of Tradition, #7 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Audio), #8 Billy Budd and Other Tales, #9 White Noise, #10 On the Road, #11 I'm an English Major – Now What?: How English Majors Can Find Happiness, Success, and a Real Job, #12 The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, #13 The Ox-Bow Incident, #14 Middle Passage, #15 King Lear (Bantam Anthology), #16 Native Son (The Restored Text Established by the Library of America), #17 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Audio), #18 To Kill a Mockingbird, #19 The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, #20 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Audio), #21 The Taming of the Shrew (Bantam Anthology), #22 A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bantam Anthology), #23 The Merchant of Venice (Bantam Anthology)

[konamama]

add more to the list :-)

[Hollysmom]

Subscribing....

I start back to work on Monday so I should get quite a bit more reading done on my commute. Good thing since I have about 30 books piled up to be read

[Igraine]

Since February I have read:


#1 The Golden Compass #2 The Subtle Knife #3 The Amber Spyglass P. Pullman #4 The No A$$hole Rule R. Sutton #5 Outlander by D. Gabaldon and #6 Common Sense Parenting Burke, Herron and Barnes.

Outlander was fun and a little surprising. My friends who recomended it did NOT tell me it was a historical romance. I normally would turn my nose up to books in that genre. I am glad I didn't know because I had a great time reading it and will continue with the series.

Common Sense Parenting was good and somewhat refreshng for a pretty mainstream parenting book. Not "AP" and yet I noted several similarities. NO spanking, yelling, shaming or guilting your kids. A big part of the book is devoted to having parents accept that they influence their children's behavior more than they realize. And some very good ideas about keeping calm. Some of the more behaviorally focused approaches would make many on MDC cringe, I would imagine. For me, more tools for my tool box.

Just started #7 The Explosive Child By Ross Green. I read it before I became a parent and figured it would be worth revisiting since I recommend it a lot to the parents I work for.

[BookGoddess]

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - My SIL recommended this book. Set in 19th century China, this is a beautiful and understated story.

A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel - A funny, lovely book about growing up in a small town in Indiana.

[snozzberry]

#20 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Ah, I'd forgotten how much I love this one. : I am now officially back in that HP addiction mode where I want to read during every free moment of the day.

[nancy926]

#39: Silver is for Secrets, by Laurie Faria Stolarz

YA fiction - third in a series about a young witch named Stacey Brown who has ominous dreams. This time she's at a beach house with her boyfriend and 4 of her friends, and the dreams are about another beachgoer named Clara. I was out of town for business and able to browse through a bookstore for nearly 2 hours....saw this and decided it'd be an easy read for the plane ride home. I still feel like the series is not all that great...nothing happens for 5/6 of the book and then suddenly it all goes wonky at the end. It's cool that someone is writing about a young Wiccan, though.

There is a fourth book but I have no desire to read it...but check with me again when I'm away on business next time.

I'm getting ready to start reading all the HP books again (the UK editions)...maybe another week or so. I know once I start, I will devour them quickly and then will have to wait for #7!

[Alkenny]

A Good and Happy Child by Justin Evans
"This debut novel grips readers from the first chapter, which introduces 30-year-old George Davies, a man whose life is falling apart because he is scared to death to be in the same room as his newborn son. When he consults a psychiatrist for help, readers are thrust into the past, encountering George as a pudgy, friendless boy whose father has just died under mysterious circumstances. Is George really possessed by a demon, or is he just losing his mind? Does he need an exorcism—as his father's friends believe—or should he be committed to the state asylum?"

I was expecting more from this. It was good enough to hold me to the end, but I don't know...something was missing.

[cathe]

Originally Posted by snozzberry

#20 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Ah, I'd forgotten how much I love this one. : I am now officially back in that HP addiction mode where I want to read during every free moment of the day.

That was my favorite of all the HP's.

[cathe]

"Dream When You're Feeling Blue" by Elizabeth Berg

Major disappointment. I usually like Berg's books but this was just silly - seemed like she just took generic stuff she researched about life during WWII and stuck it into this book.

"You Suck" by Christopher Moore

Well, all this mention of Christopher Moore lately so I thought I'd check out one of his books. I enjoyed this story of teen vampires (though I must admit, it made me feel pretty out of it - I didn't understand a lot of the (street) language) and I was definitely embarassed about walking around with a book with this title in big red letters. Moore is a very funny writer though - I loved the character of the teen goth girl who wants to join the undead. Definitely a fun book.

[cathe]

Originally Posted by Bufomander;8278387
#82 [B

The Sea of Monsters [/B]by Rick Riordan
number 2 in the percy jackson and the olympian series -- juvenile lit. really really really like this series -- cathe, did you read the first one? (Lighting Thief) they are funny. basically a boy -- 13 yo? -- discovers he's actually a 'half-blood' -- that his father is posiedon -- just gets better from there.

...

I don't think I read it - I'll go request it from the library. Thanks.

[fremontmama]

#22 The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory

Another historical fiction on the Tudor Family with Henry VIII and his many wives. This one takes place after Jane Seymour has died and is written from 3 perspectives, that of Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard (wives #4 and #5) and Jane Boleyn (Anne Boleyn's sister in law). Good as always. Fast read.

#23 The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

A story about a husband and wife who give birth unexpectedly to twins. The daughter is born with Down's syndrome, the son is fine, and he gives the nurse his daughter to take to an institution. She instead keeps the baby and raises the girl as her own. Great book. Almost done. Must finish before tonight's book club meeting.

[sunnylady303]

So far I read:

Confessions of a Teen Sleuth by Chelsea Cain. This book was wonderful. The premise is that it is written by the real Nancy Drew, who says that Carolyn Keene (the author of the Nancy Drew books) got a lot of stuff wrong and used her life unfairly. It is so so funny, especially for me, who read all the Nancy Drew books I could get my hands on as a child. The real story about her relationship with Ned, her friendships with Bess and George, what happened to her mom, and why Carolyn wrote all the books about her. So clever and so funny.

Homeschooling: The Early Years by Linda Dobson. Helpful and encouraging. Made me more excited to homeschool, but then all homeschooling books seem to do that.

The Way of Ignorance by Wendell Berry. Very complex writing. But he is brilliant and incisive as always. He really cuts to the core of issues. This was an essay book, some he wrote and some were speeches he gave. My favorite two essays were "Compromise, Hell!" and "Notes for the Kerry Campaign, If Interested." Part of why I read it is because we are moving to his community this fall. But I always enjoy his writing. He is one of my heroes.