Will I Ever Learn?

Fourth Updated Post: December 31
(44 of 52 books completed; 2 titles and 6 authors unread).
Third Updated Post: December 13
(38 of 52 books completed; 5 titles and 9 authors to go).
Second Updated Post: July 14 (29 of 52 books completed).
First Updated Post: March 18 (17 of 52 books completed).
Original Post: December 31.

I've got to stop visiting Joy! Every time I stop by, she's got something else going on that I can't resist joining. (It doesn't help that she is such an absolutely fabulous host, who makes me feel so welcome!) This is my latest find:

Click on the button to find out all the details!
I'll be filling in my authors and titles as I read them!

Authors
A~ Angelou, Maya (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings)
B~ Brooks, Geraldine (People of the Book)
C~ Clark, Carol Higgins (Laced)
D~ Davis, Kenneth C. (Don't Know Much About the Universe)
E~ Evanovich, Janet (Fearless Fourteen)
F~ Fox, Michael J. (Lucky Man: A Memoir)
G~ Giff, Patricia Reilly (Pictures of Hollis Woods)
H~ Harper, Charise Mericle (Fashion Kitty versus the Fashion Queen)
I~
J~ Jessop, Carolyn with Laura Palmer (Escape)
K~ Keyes, Daniel (Flowers for Algernon)
L~ Larson, Erik (The Devil in the White City)
M~ Murdock, Catherine Gilbert (Dairy Queen)
N~ Na, An (Wait for Me)
O~
P~ Pennypacker, Sara (Clementine)
Q~ Quindlen, Anna (A Short Guide to a Happy Life)
R~
S~ Sperry, Armstrong (Call It Courage)
T~ Truss, Lynne (Eats, Shoots & Leaves)
U~
V~
W~ Westerfeld, Scott (Specials)
X~
Y~ Yang, Gene Luen (American Born Chinese)
Z~ Zevin, Gabrielle (Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac)

Titles
A~ An Absolute Gentleman by R. M. Kinder
B~ Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
C~ Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright
D~ Double Cross by James Patterson
E~ Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
F~ The First Patient by Michael Palmer
G~ The Giver by Lois Lowry
H~ The Host by Stephenie Meyer
I~ InterWorld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves
J~ Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
K~ Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult
L~ Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
M~ Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West
N~ Nothing but the Truth (and a Few White Lies) by Justina Chen Headley
O~ The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
P~ Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Q~ The Quickie by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge
R~ Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella
S~ Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
T~ "T" is for Trespass by Sue Grafton
U~
V~ Violet on the Runway by Melissa Walker
W~ Windfalls by Jean Hegland
X~
Y~ The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond
Z~ The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman

Closing the Files

With only a few hours to go in 2008, there are a bunch of reading challenges that I'm just not going to finish. (There are a couple that I'm going to stick with until they're complete - even though it'll be past the deadline. More on those later.) Here is a final status report on those I've leaving behind me:

342,752 Ways to Herd Cats - 1/3. (I loved the quirky concept of this challenge, but it just didn't really work for me.)

Chunkster Challenge - 3/4.

Back to History Challenge - 11/12. (I almost finished this one.)

Every Month is a Holiday - 10/12. (This one - which I understand is now going to be a perpetual challenge - was a lot of fun. I didn't finish either August's or December's picks. I am tempted to try it again in 2009, but I'm resisting - at least for now.)

1st in a Series - 2/12. (So many series, so little time!)

Celebrate the Author - 4/12. (This was a fun idea but difficult for me to implement.)

Printz Award Challenge - 3/6. (I'm definitely coming back to some of these titles.)

Graphic Novels Challenge - 5/6. (It was a lot of fun to explore this genre a little. I'll definitely be reading more graphic novels in the future.)

Man Booker Challenge - 0/6. (This seemed like a good idea at the time.)

Reading Full Circle Challenge - 7 completed. (The best part of this one was making the lists.)

Suspense & Thriller Challenge - 8/6 for 2008. (Although I love suspense thrillers, this challenge wasn't really working for me. It's continuing into 2009, but I'm done with it.)

Cardathon - 4 completed.

A big thank you to all the hosts and other participants of these challenges!

The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond

Published in 2007. 369 pages.


A difficult book - emotionally - for me to read, in the same ways that The Deep End of the Ocean and Place Last Seen were difficult reads: bringing to surface my mother-feelings of fear, of guilt, of doubt, of blame. But it was a satisfying experience too - very much a page-turner as well as presenting some wonderful information and metaphors about memory and photography.

Other book bloggers' reviews of The Year of Fog: If you have read and reviewed this book, I would love to link your review here. Please leave me a comment or email me your link!

• Florinda (June 5, 2008)


• Joy (January 31, 2008)

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Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiacby Gabrielle Zevin

Published in 2007. 271 pages.


Unique premise, highly readable, a happy ending - and some thought-provoking moments too. What more could my inner-teenage girl ask for?!

I love the "table of contents" page:

I was . . . . . . . 5
I am . . . . . . 111
I will . . . . . . 229

(By the way, this was book eight of my dream to read a book-a-day to the end of the year. My seventh book was The Zookeeper's Wife. I'm officially nine books behind.)

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The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Storyby Diane Ackerman

Published in 2007.
368 pages (including footnotes, bibliography, and index).
Orion Book Award Winner in 2008.


I loved this historical account of a Polish atheist zookeeper and his Christian wife who helped save over 300 Jews during World War II. I learned some things about the war that I didn't know before, such as the Nazi's pursuit of Aryan perfection in the animal kingdom (in addition to among humans). I enjoyed a few laugh-out-loud moments about the absurdities of the crazy combinations of human and animal existence in the zoo. Most of all, I was moved - often to tears - by the small acts of heroism related in the book that ultimately made the defeat of the Nazis possible.

A good deal of the book is based on the diaries of the "the zookeeper's wife." Here are two of my favorites of her reflections:

During this time of seismic upheaval, more and more Ghetto dwellers washed up on the deck of the villa, arriving weather-beaten, "like shipwrecked souls," Antonina wrote in her diary. "We felt that our house wasn't a light, flimsy boat dancing on high waves, but a Captain Nemo's submarine gliding through deep ocean on its journey to a safe port." Meanwhile, the war storm blew violently, scaring all, and "casting a shadow on the lives of our Guests, who fled from the entrance of crematoriums and the thresholds of gas chambers," needing more than refuge. "They desperately needed hope that a safe haven even existed, that the war's horrors would one day end," while they drifted along in the strange villa even its owners referred to as an ark. [pages 208-209]

Why was it, [Antonina] asked herself, that "animals can sometimes subdue their predatory ways in only a few months, while humans, despite centuries of refinement, can quickly grow more savage than any beast"? [page 239]

I discovered that The Zookeeper's Wife recently received the Orion Book Award, which is "conferred annually to a book that deepens our connection to the natural world, presents new ideas about our relationship with nature, and achieves excellence in writing." (I am, therefore, including this book on my Book Awards Reading Challenge list.)

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9 for '09 Challenge

Hosted by Isabel
at the Challenge Blog
from 12/27/08 to 12/27/09

One Book From My Bookcase or Storage Area
in Each of Nine Categories:

Long
(For me, "long" is longer than 500 pages.)
The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver

Free
(Sent to me by other book bloggers.)
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson (from Becky)
or The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad (from Susan)
or Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah (from Florinda)
or
(Sent to me by a publicist or publisher.)
The Mercy Rule by Perri Klass
or The Suicide Index by Joan Wickersham
or
(Awarded to me by the local public lbrary.)
Our Lady of the Forest by David Guterson
or The Collectors by David Baldacci

Dusty
(Sitting on my shelves for at least 15 years!)
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

Used
(Previously owned by the local public library,
and I paid 25 or 50 cents for it.)
Daddy's Girl by Lisa Scottoline
or The Effects of Light by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
or How To Be Lost by Amanda Eyre Ward
or Tyrannosaur Canyon by Douglas Preston

Letter
("A" from my name in the title of the book.)
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

Strange
(Classics - especially really long ones - are definitely out of my comfort zone.)
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Distance
(Author's birthplace - China - is way more than 1000 miles from my home.)
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang

Alive or Not
(Author awarded the Newbery Medal in 1994 for The Giver.)
Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

Cover
(A book with a pretty cover.)
Sea Glass by Anita Shreve


Note: Three of these books can be used in other reading challenges.

In the Pub 2009

3M (or Michelle) is
keeping The Pub open
for a second year!

The challenge requirement is to read at least nine books published in 2009 - but no children's or YA titles, since we're "in the pub". The challenge blog (with more information) is here - and since this is one of the few challenges I actually finished in 2008 (although I never wrote a completion post), I just have to play along!

I have noted several 2009 releases by favorite authors that I'll want to get my hands on. I'll add more titles as I discover them.

• The Associate by John Grisham


• The Birthday Present by Barbara Vine


• Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult


• Second Opinion by Michael Palmer


• Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich


• Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

What's in a Name? 2

I was a dismal failure with this year's What's in a Name? challenge, hosted by Annie, completing just two of the six books. But Annie is at it again for 2009, and I'm going to give it another try.

The six selections for the challenge must again contain a specific element in the title (but these are different elements than for 2008):

• A book with a profession in its title


• A book with a time of day in its title


• A book with a relative in its title


• A book with a body part in its title


• A book with a building in its title


• A book with a medical condition in its title

These are my tentative picks:

• The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad


• Scrambled Eggs at Midnight by Brad Barkley and Heather Hepler


• Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
  or The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff


• Piece of My Heart by Peter Robinson
  or I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron


• House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III


• Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

Dewey's Books Reading Challenge

In Memory of Dewey

Hosted by Chris
at the Challenge Blog
January 1 - December 31
The challenge requires that participants read either one book from each of the years Dewey archived (2003 through 2008) - for a total of six - or else five books from any that Dewey reviewed. Here are some possibilities for me:

• Into the Forest by Jean Hegland (2003)


• Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos (2004)


• Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood or
  Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (2005)


• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon or
  Cell by Stephen King (2006)


• Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman or
  Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Adichie or
  We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (2007)


• Looking for Alaska by John Green or
  An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (2008)

She's All That! Poems About GirlsSelected by Belinda Hollyer

Illustrated by Susan Hellard.
Published in 2006. 128 pages.



Why I read this book: This anthology was a 2007-2008 Beehive Award Nominee in Children's Poetry.

From Hollyer's introduction:

If you asked 100 young women what being a girl is all about, you'd probably get 100 different answers. ... The girls in these poems are all that - and so are you. Whatever interests you most in your life, there's a poem in this book that will speak directly to you.

Among the poets included in the book: Ogden Nash, Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, Jack Prelutsky, Alice Walker, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Judith Viorst.

Two of my favorite poems: "What Are Little Girls ..." by Adrian Henri and "Poem for Two Voices" by Carol Diggory Shields.

(By the way, this was book six of my dream to read a book-a-day to the end of the year. I'm officially eight books behind.)

2008.77

2009 TBR Challenge

I didn't do particularly well with the 2008 TBR Challenge. I read just three books from my main list and four from my alternates list, for a total of seven of the twelve required. That's not going to dissuade me from signing up for the 2009 TBR Challenge though. Maybe this year I can make a dent in my massive TBR pile!

Basic Idea of the Challenge

• Pick 12 books - one for each month of 2009 - that I've been wanting to read (that have been on my "To Be Read" list) for six months or longer.


• Create a list of 12 "alternates" (books I could substitute for my challenge books, given that a particular one doesn't grab me at the time). (Optional.)


• Then, starting January 1, 2009, read twelve books from my lists, ending December 31, 2008.

Additional information and a sign-up Mr. Linky
can be found at the challenge blog.

My Main List
(alphabetical by title)

• Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood


• Bellwether by Connie Willis


• The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale


• A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray


• Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer


• The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd


• Peeps by Scott Westerfeld


• Playing for Pizza by John Grisham


• Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan


• Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See


• Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen


• Water Witches by Chris Bohjalian

My Alternates List
(alphabetical by title)

• The Birth House by Ami Mckay


• Any Bitter Thing by Monica Wood


• Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser


• Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson


• Inkheart by Cornelia Funke


• Life of Pi by Yann Martel


• Light from Heaven by Jan Karon


• Lincoln's Dreams by Connie Willis


• Loser by Jerry Spinelli


• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster


• A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson


• The Woods by Harlan Coben

Wait for Me by An Na

Published in 2006. 172 pages.


In trying to select an "N" author for the A ~ Z Reading Challenge, I reviewed my goodreads to-read list for something short and hopefully quick. I settled on Wait for Me, although I knew very little about it. Luckily for me, it was a good pick!

An Na's prose is lyrical; I found her words to be simply beautiful. Although the characters are not all fully developed¹ and the ending too vague for some readers' comfort², for me those things added to the dream-like, almost symbolic nature of the book.

I will definitely be looking for Na's other young adult novels about Korean-American girls, A Step from Heaven and The Fold.

The Wait for Me page on Na's website includes a music playlist.

(By the way, this was book five of my dream to read a book-a-day to the end of the year. I'm officially six books behind.)

2008.76


¹This was one complaint in several reviews I read.
²This was another complaint.

Fall into Reading 2008: The End

A big thank you to host Katrina at Callapidder Days!

My original goal was to read 26 books - a two-a-week pace. I ended up reading 14 books for this challenge. That's closer to one-book-a-week, but I enjoyed it anyway!

What I Read (alphabetical by title):

• The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant


• Bronte's Book Club by Kristiana Gregory


• The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier


• The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde


• Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott


• InterWorld by Neil Gaiman


• Janes in Love by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg


• Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen


• Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West


• A Simple Plan by Scott Smith


• A Short Guide to a Happy Life by Anna Quindlen


• Teach with Your Heart: Lessons I Learned from the Freedom Writers by Erin Gruwell


• To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel by Siena Cherson Siegel


• The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

What I Thought: There wasn't a book that I didn't enjoy. (Well, I didn't like The Chocolate War that much.) Looking back at the list, I realize that there is a wide range of genres - and I love that: fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels; a first in a series; young adult, a couple of children's books; recently published, and not so recent; even one re-read of an all-time favorite. Reading sure is fun!

Escape by Carolyn Jessop with Laura Palmer

Published in 2007. 413 pages.


Reading Escape, the memoir of a former polygamist wife in the FLDS Church - the cult formerly led by Warren Jeffs - is a bit like driving past a bad car accident on the freeway: one isn't sure that she really wants to see what happened but she can't help staring anyway.

A compelling read - I read nearly the whole thing in one day - Jessop's account illustrates the evil of a religion that teaches that women and children are a man's property and that discourages education and individual thought. The book could have used some better editing, as it sometimes rambles and repeats itself, but it's worth a look. Escape was a Salt Lake County Library's Reader's Choice pick for the second half of 2008.

(By the way, this was book four of my dream to read a book-a-day to the end of the year. I'm officially four books behind.)

2008.75

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Published in 2001. 374 pages.
2003 Alex Award.

Filled with clever wordplay, literary allusion and bibliowit, The Eyre Affair combines elements of Monty Python, Harry Potter, Stephen Hawking and Butty the Vampire Slayer. But its quirky charm is all its own.

- The Wall Street Journal

I'm definitely going to continue reading this series. I'm also having some fun at Jasper Fforde's quirky website.

Other book bloggers' reviews of The Eyre Affair: If you have read and reviewed this book, I would love to link your review here. Please leave me a comment or email me your link!

2008.66

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

Originally published in 1974.
Unabridged audio book published in 1993;
narrated by George Guidall.


This book has been described as "a brilliant, unflinching portrait of vicious mob cruelty and conformity in an exclusive prep school."

I think my expectations of The Chocolate War were too high. Although I found parts of the novel to have been brilliantly conceived - particularly the idea that something as banal as chocolate could be the cause of so much violence - the whole thing just didn't come together for me. I wanted to go away with some new insight or having been changed in some way. That just didn't happen.

The book has been widely challenged over the years. The book is second on the American Library Association's list of the 10 most challenged books of 2007. The reasons given are as follows: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Violence.

While I didn't find The Chocolate War to be all I wanted it to be, I'm still glad I read it. First, I think it's worthwhile to read books that are considered to be "classics." Second, it's important to me that I be allowed to judge a book for myself and not let those who would decide what is "good" or "appropriate" for me - and the rest of us - to do that.

Other book bloggers' reviews of The Chocolate War: If you have read and reviewed this book, I would love to link your review here. Please leave me a comment or email me your link!

• raidergirl3 (April 30, 2008)

2008.64

InterWorldby Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves

Published in 2007. 240 pages.


I adore tales about time travel and parallel universes and alternate realities. I also adore sweet male teenage characters with a bit of quirkiness. I adored InterWorld.

Joey Harker isn't a hero.

In fact, he's the kind of guy who gets lost in his own house.

But then one day, Joey gets really lost. He walks straight out of his world and into another dimension.

Joey's walk between the worlds makes him prey to two terrible forces—armies of magic and science who will do anything to harness his power to travel between dimensions.

When he sees the evil those forces are capable of, Joey makes the only possible choice: to join an army of his own, an army of versions of himself from different dimensions who all share his amazing power and who are all determined to fight to save the worlds.

Master storyteller Neil Gaiman and Emmy Award-winning science-fiction writer Michael Reaves team up to create a dazzling tale of magic, science, honor, and the destiny of one very special boy—and all the others like him.

All Neil Gaiman titles qualify for the Cardathon, and when I read Becky's review of InterWorld last December, I put it on my Cardathon list. I'd not read anything by Gaiman before - although I plan to read more in 2009. My 12yo daughter read InterWorld before I did - and she enjoyed it too.

(By the way, this was book three of my dream to read a book-a-day to the end of the year. I'm officially four books behind.)

2008.74

Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faithby Anne Lamott

Published in 2007. 257 pages.


I read Anne Lamott's previous compilations of personal essays on faith - Traveling Mercies and Plan B - in 2006. (I posted some thoughts here.) I liked Grace (Eventually) about as well as Plan B but not as well as Traveling Mercies.

What I love most about Lamott's writing is that her spirituality is so "real." She takes her everyday struggles - with things like body image and her teenage son and "forgivishness" - and finds God in them. She shares her vulnerabilities with us, her readers, and we are strengthened as we realize that we, too, can receive God's grace.

Here are a few of my favorite passages:

Sometimes grace works like water wings when you feel you are sinking. [page 50]

When Jesus was asked about beauty, he pointed to nature, to the lilies of the field. Behold them, he said, and behold is a special word: it means to look upon something amazing or unexpected. Behold! It is an exhortation, not a whiny demand, like when you're talking to your child - "Behold me when I'm talking to you, sinner!" Jesus is saying that every moment you are freely given the opportunity to see through a different pair of glasses. "Behold the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, and yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." But that's only the minor chord. The major one follows, in his anti-anxiety discourse - which is the soul of this passage - that all striving after greater beauty and importance, and greater greatness, is foolishness. It is untimately like trying to catch the wind. Lilies do not need to do anything to make themselves more glorious or cherished. Jesus is saying that we have much to learn from them about giving up striving. He's not saying that in "Get over it" way, as your mother or your last, horrible husband did. Instead he's heartbroken, as when you know an anorexic girl who's starving to death, as if in some kind of demonic possession. He's saying that we could be aware of, filled with, and saved by the presence of holy beauty, rather than worship golden calves. [pages 79-80]

The best way to change the world is to change your mind, which often requires feeding yourself. It makes for biochemical peace. It's almost like a prayer: to be needy, to eat, to taste, to be filled, building up instead of tearing down. You find energy to do something you hadn't expected to do, maybe even one of the holiest things: to go outside and stand under the stars, or to go for a walk in the morning, or in such hard times, both. [pages 252-253]

(By the way, this was book two on day three of my dream to read a book-a-day to the end of the year. Fortunately, I'd previously started reading this one, so I was able to finish it in the time I had today. I'm officially one book behind.)

2008.73

The Quickieby James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge

Published in 2007. 357 pages.


I am a fan of James Patterson. His Alex Cross series is a favorite, and I've enjoyed what I've read so far of The Women's Murder Club series. I've been less enamored of some of his stand-alone books, but others have been great. (For example, the love story Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas is one of my all-time favorite reads.) Michael Ledwidge, the co-author of The Quickie, was also Patterson's co-author on Step on a Crack, a promising new series.

Although I've had The Quickie on my to-read list since last year, I hadn't been enticed to make it a priority. (After all, I do have over 1000 books on that list!) But since I needed a "Q" title for the A ~ Z Reading Challenge, I decided that now was the right time to read it.

Reading James Patterson is a lot like riding a roller coaster. With short chapters and a lot of dialoque, it's quick - but it's also a thrilling experience. Going into it, you know that you'll be manipulated, but still you want to go along for the ride. That's exactly what The Quickie was for me!

Other book bloggers' reviews of The Quickie: If you have read and reviewed this book, I would love to link your review here. Please leave me a comment or email me your link!

• Debi (June 6, 2008)

(By the way, this was book one for day one of my dream to read a book-a-day to the end of the year.)

2008.72

If I Could

If I could read a book a day for the rest of the year, this is what I'd read (listed alphabetically by title):

1. Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger


2. Behind the Smile: My Journey Out of Postpartum Depression by Marie Osmond


3. Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voight


4. Escape by Carolyn Jessop


5. Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her
   by Melanie Rehak


6. Grace (Eventually) by Anne Lamott


7. Interworld by Neil Gaiman


8. The Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff


9. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin


10. The Quickie by James Patterson


11. The Rhyming Season by Edward Averett


12. She's All That: Poems about Girls by Belinda Hollyer


13. Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet
    by Xinran


14. Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Catherine Thimmesh


15. Undone by Brooke Taylor


16. Wait for Me by An Na


17. The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera


18. The X in Sex: How the X Chromosome Controls Our Lives
    by David Bainbridge


19. The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond


20. The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman

You may have guessed from some of the titles and authors' names that I'd like to finish the A ~ Z Reading Challenge. I'd also like to finish the Triple 8 Challenge - although I don't have quite enough books listed to do that.

It's not going to happen. I do have to work at least a few days between now and December 31, as well as prepare for and celebrate the holidays - and maybe get a little sleep. But still. A girl can dream, can't she?

Chocolat by Joanne Harris

Published in 1999. 306 pages.

Original cover.

Movie tie-in cover.

Chocolat was the pick for my book club's November/December meeting. We met last week - but I just finished the book today. I found it to be magical! Now I want to watch the film version. I'm also interested in the recent sequel The Girl with No Shadow.

2008.71

The House of the Scorpionby Nancy Farmer

Published in 2002. 380 pages.
2002 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
2003 Printz Honor Book.
2003 Newbery Honor Book.


What it is about (according to the description on the Newbery site): Farmer tackles the provocative topics of cloning, the value of life, illegal immigration, and the drug trade in a coming-of-age novel set in a desolate futuristic desert.

Why I read it: I'd been eyeing this book for quite a while, so when it was thrown out as a possible read for my church women's group book club, I enthusiastically agreed. I also included it on my Book Awards Reading Challenge list.

What I thought (and what the book club thought): I found this to be a thought-provoking read. I believe that the best science-fiction is commentary on current society - and The House of the Scorpion has a lot of say about many current "hot" topics. Of those who attended our book club meeting, two seemed to have liked it but the other two really disliked it. I hadn't finished the book at that point; I did find it to be a much slower read than I had expected. But in the end, I thought it was worth my time!

Other book bloggers' reviews of The House of the Scorpion: If you have read and reviewed this book, I would love to link your review here. Please leave me a comment or email me your link!

• Janssen (May 15, 2008)


• Emily (June 1, 2009)


• One Librarian (December 3, 2010)

2008.70

A Hole in Our World

Earlier this week, when I found out about the death of
book blogger extraordinaire Dewey of The Hidden Side of the Leaf, I sat at the desk in my office and cried. Dewey's absence is being - and will continue to be - felt throughout the book blogging community. I really don't have the words to express my condolences to her husband and son, nor can I adequately explain the impact Dewey had on me. I didn't know her "in real life," but I certainly considered her a friend.

I miss you, Dewey!
(Button courtesy of Bethany.)

• One of my first interactions with Dewey was an interview she did of me about a novel I'd recently reviewed. (Click for Dewey's post.)


• Seventy-two hours of the most fun I've had in the past two years were spent participating in the 24-Hour Read-a-Thon Dewey hosted three times. (I'm so pleased that some of the co-hosting helpers plan to continue this tradition as a legacy to Dewey.)


• It was through Dewey I first discovered the powerful young adult novel Thirteen Reasons Why, and Dewey is the one who sent my daughters and me the graphic novel The Plain Janes (and she helped build my appreciation for the genre).


• I've sporadically participated in others of Dewey's many book blogging projects too, including Weekly Geeks and the Bookworm Carnival. I've always enjoyed the community building she promoted! (And, again, I'm happy to know that others will be continuing these projects.)