Challenge: 50 Books discussion

I'm late to the party, but started the year with the goal of reading 120 books. This is/was an ambitious goal, but one that seemed close to achievable in the middle of winter when I was unemployed and had nothing but time on my hands. Now that I'm working my free time is considerably less, but I'm hoping that by participating in the 50 Book Challenge I'll keep at it.

Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia

An engrossing and unsettling memoir. The writer starts out covering the trial of a snake-handling Holiness preacher, accused of attempted murder, and ends up on a spiritual journey, exploring life in snake-handling churches and examining his own faith. The passages about spiritual ecstasy and snake-handling were especially riveting.

The House with a Clock in Its Walls

When I was little, our twice annual car trips to the Midwest to visit our extended family seemed to take *forever* (in reality, about 12 hours). My parents attempted to pass the time by checking out books on tape from our local library. 'The House With a Clock in Its Walls' was one such book-on-tape and was a story enjoyed by my entire family and remained a favorite throughout my youth.

Some notion came over me a couple of weeks ago at that same local library, and I checked out the book. At age 27, it was just as enjoyable as at 7. It's got all the components of a great story: an orphan, a Victorian mansion with a turret, magic, witches and wizards, the end of the world. This edition also has Edward Gorey's wonderful illustrations. A thoroughly delightful read for all ages!

Big Boned


Good old Meg Cabot, always delivering lovable heroines and plots that trot right along. I read this last week because I knew I would need something on the lighter side before diving into the new Song of Fire and Ice book.

Looking forward to the next Heather Wells mystery, whenever it comes out!

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking


I'm a not-very-good cook who would love to be a great chef. Hazan's cookbook was recommended by a friend who is a fantastic cook, and it was absolutely illuminating. About 30 pages in, I thought "man, I'm doing everything wrong!" And you will feel like that as you read this book. She has very exacting standards, and she is very peculiar about ingredients - only fresh, whole cloves of garlic that you chop yourself, never the stuff in a jar, etc. But by faithfully following her recipes to the letter I have managed to make some really tasty stuff, and learn a lot about flavor, food, and kitchen techniques in the process. This will be one cookbook that I definitely buy!

One for the Money

Raylan

A Dance With Dragons

** spoiler alert ** Mr Martin has done it to me again. I'm absolutely, completely hooked - like a junkie - on his SoFaI saga and now have the long, indeterminable wait until the next one.

"A Dance with Dragons", much like its predecessors, is filled with fighting, treachery and power struggles, as well cruelty, sex and desire. This book was so damn good I had to limit the time I spent with each day so as not to neglect my other responsibilities.

There were times when I felt exhausted by Martin's over reliance on the gross out factor; how often was soup described as greasy, the flux described in delighted diarrheal detail, or weeping wounds fixated upon? The more critical side of me also thought the book was simply too long, and would have benefited by further editing. The absolute fanatic in me knows that I would have gleefully read another thousand pages.

I feel absolute anxiety about the fates of Tyrion, Dany and even Cersei - if that fiend is killed off a big vein of fiendish-ness will be lost in Westeros. And Jon Snow! Oh, Jon Snow, you really do know nothing if you didn't see that rebellion coming.

I cannot wait to read the next book, whenever it may make an appearance. I'm so looking forward to more Brienne, Jaime, Sansa, Littlefinger, and Tyrion and hopefully, Jon Snow. Aw hell, I'm looking forward to reading about all of them. Write on, George RR Martin!

An Uncertain Place: A Commissaire Adamsberg Mystery

Fantastic. Commissaire Adamsberg is back in all his glory. This fast-paced mystery starts off with seventeen feet being found outside Highgate Cemetary in London and the action travels all the way to Serbia. This story is full of the usual Vargas eccentricities, but it never reads as twee or overwrought. Adamsberg's unique approach to solving crime - "cloud-shoveling" - leads him along a twisty path, as he faces danger, conspiracies, and a centuries old grudge.

Those who are big fans of Danglard may be disappointed as he features much less in this story, but he does get a love interest..

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin

A meticulously researched, harrowing account of the early years of Hitler's reign in Germany. Told through the letters, diaries and memoirs of US Ambassador William Dodd, who served 1933-37, and his family - particularly his daughter, Martha - this book tracks the hopeful American family's gradual disillusionment and eventual disgust with the Third Reich.

The book mainly focuses on the first year of Dodd's ambassadorship, 1933-34, culminating in a recounting of the Night of the Long Knives in June 1934, in which hundreds of "enemies" of the Third Reich were murdered. It focuses quite keenly on the personal life of the Dodds and their acquaintances. Though Ambassador Dodd was from the beginning skeptical and concerned about the Third Reich, his daughter Martha was initially swept away by the Nazi pageantry and engaged in a number of affairs with Nazi officials, including Rudolf Diels, the head of the Gestapo. There will be times in the reading of this book when you will want to shake Martha.

I really enjoyed In the Garden of Beasts, and appreciated the amazing amount of research and fantastic detail woven throughout the book.

Two for the Dough


Another wacky adventure about lingerie buyer-cum-bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. I loved the idea of stolen munitions being hidden in budget basement caskets, and appreciated how the fugitive's character developed from massive jerk to super-scary maniac.

Three to Get Deadly

Big Questions


The illustrations are lovely and the concept - birds, and a snake, and occasionally other woodland creatures discuss "The Big Questions" - is clever. However, I just couldn't bring myself to read it with any attention or regularity, so I gave up around page 400.

Lady of Skye


This is the first full-on romance I've ever read and I am impressed! The heroine was pretty awesome, saved lots of lives, and shock of shocks, wore trousers in the 1840s! Girlfriend also did some impressive epidemiological work and figured out how cholera was transmitted, thus preventing an outbreak in her community on the Isle of Skye. The hero mostly just stood around in awe of her.

A very good read!

Four to Score

Things are starting to feel repetitive in the burg, a neighborhood of Trenton, NJ where Stephanie Plum works as a bounty hunter. Once again, Stephanie is tasked to find a "failure to appear," a fugitive who has skipped bond. Once again, Stephanie's apartment is damaged and her car is destroyed (this time it was drenched in gasoline by a grouchy drag queen before being set ablaze by a fugitive's chainsmoking mother). Once again, Stephanie will have to deal with sexism, petty crime, and a pistol-packin' granny before she can catch her man (in this case, her woman). Yet I still found this an enjoyable read with a satisfying conclusion. I have a sneaking suspicion I'll be reading book 5.

Pawn of Prophecy

Oh boy, what to say, what to say. I picked up this book after reading some positive reviews. I was looking for another fun fantasy series. Instead, I got this. While there were elements of this book that were really enjoyable, there were some major downers as well. In one way this is a road trip/quest book. This can be done well (see 'The Two Towers') or it can be done poorly, as in this book, which seemed an interminable description of roads, dirty inns, and crummy food. The protagonist, a teenage boy named Garion, was annoying and clueless, the adults were unknowable, and not in an oooh, they're mysterious! way. The author simply neglected to give them much real character or voice, in spite of telling the readers that they're important, quite regularly.

Oh, and one one the characters rapes his wife yet we're meant to believe that she's the jerk in the relationship? No, thank you.

Death Comes to Pemberley

Yes, it was a bit slow, yes, the solution to the crime was foreseeable, and yes, there was a lot of space wasted with characters repeating details of what occurred in the pages prior, but man, PD James has still got it! I have this image of her in my mind, speaking to her agent and saying "Yes, that's right, I'm writing 'Pride and Prejudice' fan fiction. Because I can. I'm PD James, bitch!"

However, it was weird to hear so little of Elizabeth's voice in this, and that is one of the greatest failings of this book for me. It's as though this murder mystery could have taken place on any estate, with any cast of characters. That is my biggest qualm with this story, and those interested in reading it simply because it takes place at Pemberley and involves the Darcies, Wickhams, and Bingleys will be disappointed. However, those looking for a reliable, James mystery will not be disappointed.

[book:Seize the Day|52782

Wilhelm is searching for reassurance and finding none. Unemployed, living in a hotel, despised by his father and his wife, he spends a day reflecting on his decisions, obsessing over his actions and the actions of others, and desperately searching for someone to save him. He puts his faith in a swindler and loses the rest of his money; his father refuses to help him; his wife won't even talk to him. I found myself alternately frustrated at the absurdities in Wilhelm's behavior and deeply empathetic with his precarious position in life. An immensely moving read!

Outsider in Amsterdam

A complex, layered mystery!

It's hard to think of just the right words to describe this book, especially as Gilmore, the author, does such a fantastic job of relating the tragedy of his family into such beautiful words. It's a harrowing, saddening read, but so masterfully told that I was completely sucked into the lives - and ultimately, the demise - of the main characters of this memoir. I confidently recommend this book to everyone.

Green Rider

Done -finally and thank goodness! - with this book. Repetitive, dull, in need of a thorough editing, and obviously influenced by much better peers (LoTR comes to mind - there's even a magic crystal in this book called the Light of Somial). I'm always happy to see tough heroine succeeding (and saving the king!) but really, this book was such a disappointment.

Ghost Cat

Fantastic blast from the past! I found my childhood copy of this book while home from work, and it was the perfect anecdote to food poisoning! A well-told family mystery with a likeable young protagonist just coming into her own. I remember being genuinely creeped out as a kid reading this, but as an adult can appreciate the skill of the writer in weaving some very complex family drama into an enjoyable mystery read for kids.

Hark! a Vagrant

For fans of literature, comics, history, Canada, drawing, or Napoleon. Or for people who hate all those things. You'll still love this ridiculously delightful book.

Abandon

Forever Princess

What can I say, I love Meg Cabot! Like all her books, this one features a smart, funny, endearing (young) woman, someone whose side you can't help but be on, even when she's being incredibly dense. This book is the conclusion to her 10 book series on Mia Thermopolis, who finds herself thrust into public life at age 14 under very unusual circumstances. A delightful trip down YA lane.

Unfamiliar Fishes

Fantastic and fun read about the colonizing and eventual Americanization of Hawaii.Of particular interest was the rise and fall of Kamehana I's many successors after the arrival of New England missionaries, who did their best to exert influence and authority upon the Hawaiian ruling class. I would have enjoyed more discussion of Hawaii's creation myth and a more in-depth look at the period between when Hawaii became a US territory (1898) and when it became a state (1959). Overall, this was an engaging read on a subject I know very little about - and it's left me eager for more knowledge.

High Five

Stephanie Plum, back for more fun! This time Stephanie gets tangled up in a Treasury investigation while searching for her missing uncle. Hijinks ensue.

She Went All the Way

Bitterblue

Oryx and Crake

'Oryx and Crake' is an unsettling imagining of a dystopian future North America. While I really, really enjoyed this book, I couldn't help but think that certain aspects, in the last 100 pages or so, were just Atwood's head first rush to end the book quickly. I could have easily read another 50-100 pages on Snowman's interactions with the newcomers, but Atwood chose instead to leave us with a lady or the tiger ending. Still, I loved this book. I love how weird and sad it was, and how weirdly, sadly funny it was.

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging

Size 12 and Ready to Rock

Good Morning, Killer

On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God

One of those books read while house-sitting when you've finished the books you brought with you. Georgia is a bit of a tyrant - rude and bossy to her friends, sassy to her parents, and hopeless with boys. I was left laughing and cringing at her antics, and very, very glad my own teenage days are far behind me.

A Foreign Country

Me Talk Pretty One Day

I re-read this book every few years. Sedaris is one of those writers who can make me laugh and cry in equal measure - and occasionally at the same time! "The Youth in Asia" had me sobbing and laughing this go-round.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Black Hearts in Battersea

Joan Aiken is my queen. This book follows Simon's adventures in London as he learns to paint, befriends a waif, and saves royalty.

The Crystal Cave


Lyrical and fantastical exploration of the myth of Merlin. This book starts with his early years and follows Merlin into early adulthood, becoming sage to Vortigern, recognized by his father Ambrosius and eventually aiding Ambrosius's younger, ambitious brother Uther.

Merlin is sympathetically portrayed as a isolated child who thrives despite the disdain shown him by his extended family, and as a young man with an insatiable desire for knowledge and a startling ability to prophesy. I found this book very enjoyable, even though it was occasionally dry. I will be reading the next book in this series!

Flowers in the Attic

Bel Canto

Underworld

Twixt Firelight and Water: A Tale of Sevenwaters

We Have Always Lived in the Castle

This book is delightfully creepy. Felt very gothic. The narrator is unreliable which makes it all the more mind boggling.

Shadowfell

The Girl She Used to Be


Twilight with mafiosos. In this, the US Marshals Service are the werewolves, and the mafia are vampires. There's even a bit of virginity fetishization.

Yes, it's an imperfect metaphor. I seem to be the only person not crazy about this book, so I'll take my imperfect metaphor and call it a day.

Wolf Hall

The Future of Us

Foe

Half Broke Horses