Challenge: 50 Books discussion

1. Florabama..... finished it; Not the greatest start for 2010! I need some good, exciting books to get me reading!

2. The Cook Camp by Gary Paulsen I read this with my 4th grade son....we both cried....a lot! I was trying to just read my page when I start hearing wimpering; sure enough, Gavin is bawling! I think it's good for rough and tumble little boys to read about others' hardships. We had some great discussions about this book!

3. The Help REally interesting...especially having never been to Mississipi or certainly never lived anywhere or in a time where most white people had black maids. Seriously, the women don't work outside their homes and they have other women come in and basically raise their children. These aren't all 'rich' women out doing charity work-- boggles the mind. I did enjoy reading the book!

4. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver Great book....so much history that I need to understand but loved learning about!

5. The Book of a Thousand Days Loved this one, too!

6. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson Eating disorders and cutting all rolled into one story! Sadly, I've seen these girls--who seemingly have everything but starve, throw-up and/or cut themselves to gain control and/or to feel something. It's very sad. LHA does a good job at getting into the story without being sappy. Too many books that deal with these topics just don't make sense.

7. Her Fearful Symmetry Weird/captivating and just plain odd!

8. My Life in France by Julia Child Interesting--especially when thinking back to the Lacuna and the McCarthy era of U.S. history. A time period that I don't know anything about....

9. The Giver Decided to read it as many reading teachers at my school have their classes read it (had in the past)--I'd always get calls complaining about it. Hmmm.... didn't love the book; Hated parts but I think it's acceptable for middle schoolers.

10. Columbine by Cullen Nothing that new or earth shattering....just pretty sad!

11. Candide by Voltaire Huh? Why did I read this?

12. The Perks of Being a Wallflower For being an 'odd, wallflower' this kid has a lot more excitement than I did in high school!

13. Peace Like a River Pretty interesting, wish there were more 'tied up endings', but I guess not everything comes in a neatly tied up package!

14. Animal Farm Read this with my daughter over spring break (so she could get ahead for freshman English). Amazingly, I had never read it--although it was always assumed that it'd been read in classes I took! Hmmmm....

15. The King of Torts by John Grisham Loved this book; Class action lawsuits! Totally out of the realm of public school -- so this was very interesting!

16. Oxygen by Carol Cassella I took a break from The King of Torts to read this book for bookclub. Loved that it took place in Seattle. Interesting to see the lawsuit from the doctors side-- and how creepy people (hospital administrators) can be in order to save their own skin!

17. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Wow! What a book....for being Young Adult, it kept this 40 something very entertained!!!! It would be great for a book discussion if I could get grown women to read it!

Leslie wrote: "17. The Hunger Games by Susan Collins Wow! What a book....for being Young Adult, it kept this 40 something very entertained!!!! It would be great for a book discussion if I could get grow..."

LOL - I'm 40 something myself and absolutely loved The Hunger Games & its sequeal Catching Fire. I had no idea it was a YA book when I purchased the ebook. I found out after I purchased it. Good thing, because I don't think I would have read it had I known it was YA. Now I'm just waiting for the 3rd installment Mockingjay to be released in August.

I am anxiously awaiting Catching Fire....and then Mockingjay! Who would have thought!!

I am also anxiously awaiting Mockingjay. I thought both the Hunger Games and Catching Fire were magnificent. I picked them up for some light reading and was completely blown away.

18. Garden Spells Chick lit with a gardening theme!

19. Not My Daughter Hmmm....ripped from the headlines? I actually thought it was a true story --remembering the story on the news. This was clearly an adaptation of the news story. A little corny.

I would have to agree with you on the book. It was like reading the newspaper. The book was well written but the story was for sure corny.

20. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins Good sequel to The Hunger Games.

21. The Girl Who Chased the Moon Interesting and easy to read!

22. The Associate by John Grisham John Grisham is hot! The book was a quick ready as compared to his other books!

23. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Not as 'hard to put down' as the first two, but still very good! I didn't see it all coming....I really want to go to Sweden now!!!

24. The Swan Thieves Note to self--the last two books were LONG....you'll never make 50 if you keep this up! That being said, The Swan Thieves was interesting!!!

25. Beautiful Creatures--another too long book! I think there was a great story in here, but I spent sooo much time reading and nearly falling asleep that I almost just gave up!

Leslie wrote: "25. Beautiful Creatures--another too long book! I think there was a great story in here, but I spent sooo much time reading and nearly falling asleep that I almost just gave up!"


that was exactly my feeling on this one

26. Here Be Dragons

27. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

28. It's Raining Cupcakes
29. The Blue Bloods
30. Primavera
31. The Body Finder
32. Stuck in Neutral

Trying to read books for the CBC Cavalcade of Authors program.

33. Linger Twilight goes to the wolves!

34. Charles and Emma The story behind Charles Darwin....I think it might be a movie?

35. A Place of Hiding I should read shorter books if I even think I'm going to make 50 this year! This one was 800 pages! Ridiculous!

36. The Compound Very interesting book--young adult but pretty intense premise!!!

37. POD Strange???

38. With No ONe as Witness Long....

39. Twisted

40. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader