2010 totals

Looks like I got through 52 books this year (and lots of People magazines!). I will always wish that I could get through more books, but there is never enough time to read all that I would like to.

There were a few standouts this year:

The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker. This was just a good read...the story of one girl's struggle with finding herself, but laced with enough humor to keep it light.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett. This one lived up to the hype.

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher. Dark and different. Looking forward to books 2 and 3.

Finishing out the year

I have gotten a little behind in listing my latest reads...

The False Friend by Myla Goldberg
I read this one after reading a review in People magazine. It was pretty good, although I am not sure I have any clue what happened. Did she? Didn't she? I don't know!

In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving by Leigh Anne Tuohy. A good read and an interesting follow up to seeing the movie "The Blind Side". And it is always cool to read a book set in a city you know!

The Power of Half: One Family's Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back by Kevin Salwen

There's a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell: A Novel of Sewer Pipes, Pageant Queens, and Big Trouble by Laurie Notaro
Love her books. This was a novel rather than an essay collection but it was still really funny.

Bryn and I are forming a bookclub (we are the only two members at the moment!) and are enjoying our first books...

The Fairy-Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm, #1) by Michael Buckley
The Unusual Suspects (The Sisters Grimm, #2) by Michael Buckley
The Problem Child (The Sisters Grimm, #3) by Michael Buckley
These books are great fun! Bryn has loved them and I am enjoying them a lot, too!

What!?!?

How is it that I have only read 45 books this year so far? I was hoping to read more than the 65 I read last year, but it isn't looking good for that goal right now! It always makes me sad when I add them up and realize there are so many books in the world left to read.

Bookclub book

So glad I am in a bookclub so I don't miss good books like:

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I never saw the ending coming. It has been a little while since I read a book that really grabbed me, but this one did!

Aha!

I had finished another book! Thanks to the library website and the "my reading history" feature, I figured it out!

Mr. Bridge by Evan S. Connell.
This one was as good as Mrs. Bridge, but equally disturbing. Both books just made me reflect on what a quick life it is and how so much of it is wasted and squandered. Not really uplifting, but a good reminder that we have but one shot to enjoy our time on this planet.

Hmmmmmm...

Seems like I should have read more than one book between my last post and this one, but I guess I haven't. Anyway...

Physik by Angie Sage>

Finally finished

Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carleton. It was a good book - I was just a little slow getting through it.

What a cool book

The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffeneger

It is short and wonderful graphic novel. A fascinating concept. Sad and hopeful and unique. I can't really explain it, but it was just one of those books that made me FEEL.

Aaargh

I did it again. I unknowingly started another trilogy that is unfinished. The final book is not due out until 2014. Sigh. It was a great book, though!

The Passage by Justin Cronin

I also read Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. Weird book, but worth the read.

Finally

The third book in the Hunger Games trilogy is out. And I read it. And I really wanted to love it. And I didn't. I am anxious for some other people to finish so I can chat with them about it - bookclub isn't for another week and a half!

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Hmmm...what have I read?

I have been guilty lately of starting multiple books and not finishing them and/or reading more than one book at a time. not things I usually do, so it is kind of making it difficult to remember what I have read!

Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich. How can you not like these books? They are just funny.

Turning Tables by Heather and Rose MacDowell. This is one of the books I got on my $1.98 Barnes and Noble book buying binge. Fun little book, for sure.

Family Feasts for $75 a Week by Mary Ostyn. Who doesn't need to save a little money on groceries? Although I am pretty sure I won't manage to feed my family on $75 a week, this book had some good tips.

Depressing

The last two books I read were both a little depressing.

Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell is about a well-to do woman who is not present in her life. As her children grow up, she finds she has no purpose or direction. This is really just a sad and tragic story, but a good reminder that we only have this one life to live and we can either participate in it or not, but there are no do-overs.

Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin
This book was good, but in keeping with the first book, it shows a disturbingly neglectful set of parents completely ignoring and damaging their children. Not a rainbow and bunnies kind of story.

Fun one

The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker

This was a funny one. A memoir that tells of the struggles of a 20 something Mormon girl living in the big city (NYC) and finding where she fits in.

Definitely ruined book 3

Specials by Scott Westerfeld for me.

The bad audio of the second book in the series did me in. I am not even going to read book 4. That is saying a lot as I am generally not one to leave a series unfinished, but since I seem to be wasting an inordinate amount of time playing Scrabble on my iPhone and reading magazines, my book reading time is limited. I am not going to waste that time on books I am not enthusiastic about!

Slow going

on the reading lately, but I have gotten a couple in:

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
My literature professor Aunt sent me this one and it was good! It took me a few days to really get into it, but now I am soooooo ready for books 2 and 3. I can't even really explain exactly what it is about - a living, breathing prison that has gone out of control. Definitely worth picking up at the bookstore or library!

Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
I listened to this one on Playaway and did NOT enjoy the reader. I am currently working on the nest book in this series, but I keep hearing the reader from the audiobook in my head and it is sort of ruining book 3...

Losing track

I have kind of lost track of what I have been reading, but here is what I can remember!

Flyte by Angie Sage
This was the second in the Septimus Heap series. Definitely a more fun, lighter read than the last couple of books I read!

When You Reach Me By Rebecca Stead
Another YA book that was pretty good. Sort of a Time Travelers Wife for kids concept...

Booth's Sister by Jane Singer
Free Kindle download. Not great, but interesting. Never thought about John Wilkes Booth's sister but might have to read her book now.

Slow Hands by Leslie Kelly.
Free Harlequin Kindle download. Gotta have some mindless, sexy reading every now and then!

To Sleep With the Angels:The Story of a Fire by David Cowan
Dad gave me this book - he remembered this fire happening in Chicago when he was young. A truly heartbreaking story...95 students and nuns killed in a school fire. The tragedy fueled a change in fire safety laws all over the world.

Wow

So I read two books that I would consider to be "not light" reading.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan is about two "Will Graysons" who meet unexpectedly in Chicago. Two of the characters are gay high school students and the book does a good job of capturing the angst of high school, being straight, being gay and just being without going overboard. I think.

Living Dead Girl was possibly the most disturbing book I have ever read. I can't even decide if I liked it or not. Written from the perspective of a kidnapped, sexual abuse victim who has been in her kidnappers "possession" for 5 years, this book is just downright horrifying. Probably not even a fraction as horrifying as living this scenario, but horrifying enough to make me want to vomit.

So there you have it. I think I might read something about rainbows and bunnies next.

As good as it gets

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is about as good as a book gets. Had to force myself to put it down three nights in a row. I was completely immersed in the lives of the characters - great writing.

A couple more

I am keeping track of books on Goodreads now, too. I can't decide whether it makes it easier or harder to keep double track!

Another YA book
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
I enjoyed this one, but it felt more "teen-agery" than some of the other YA books I have read. Of course that didn't stop me from moving on to the next book in the series...

Raising an American Girl: Parenting Advice for the Real World by Therese Maring

Interesting books

Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation by Michael Keller and Nicolle Rager Fuller
Having never made it from cover to cover of the original "Origin", I can't say whether this was an accurate adaptation. It seemed to stay true to the concepts and was definitely not as "dry" as the "real" book.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
This book was very interesting - it was written from the autistic main character's perspective as he attempts to figure out who killed the neighbor's dog. Quick read and definitely interesting insight into how the autistic mind might function.

I loved it...

just as much the second time through!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Slow going but having fun!

I finished two more books:

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Magyk by Angie Sage

Love the Oz books...I am looking forward to reading the rest of them at some point. If I remember correctly from reading them when I was a kid, they get quite weird with all kinds of strange and scary creatures. Baum is a brilliant writer, though, and it is such fun to read his books.

Magyk was the first in another YA series. It was really good, but I need to quit getting caught up in the series - they just make my TBR pile grow like crazy!

Finished...

The Maze Runner by James Dashner.

Darn it all - another first in a trilogy that is not yet all published. Guess I'll have to wait. Sigh.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

This was a kind of weird one. But totally enjoyable. And it made me cry so I obviously was attached to the characters and engaged in the story!

Book Club book

I finished The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.

Talk about depressing! A beautifully written book, but definitely not one that leaves you feeling good. From the very beginning, the struggles of the characters overwhelmed me. As one other bookclub member commented "you finish the book and know there is no hope for any of the characters".

Glad I read it but not one I will be reading over and over!

What I have read lately

Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich

Call of the Wild by Jack London
I had not read this one before so when Bryn checked it out from the school library, I thought it would be cool if we both read it and then discussed it. Yeah...was a dark one. Lots of death and brutality. Maybe not the best read for a 7 year old!

Can't resist a free ebook

I love free Kindle downloads. I haven't loved them all, but who am I to complain about a free book!?!

Icy Heat: A Heat series story by Leigh Wyndfield

I am in the middle of about 3 other books...I don't usually read more than one at a time and I always get a little frazzled when I have multiple books going. Hopefully I will get them all finished before too long!

Books

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter
A fun YA book about a girl's spy school. I picked this book up at the library book sale for $.25 and I certainly enjoy it far more than what I paid for it!

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
This one was recommended by my BIL and I got for free on my Kindle. It has a lot to say about the government invading the privacy of its citizens. I didn't agree with all of the doom and gloom and the character development could have been better, but overall I really thought it was interesting.

My Soul to Save by Rachel Vincent
Another in the series I started in December. Sometimes I wonder why I bother with a book under the "harlequin Teen" heading, but then I remember - they are fun, mindless reads that I can breeze through. They fill the same niche in my brain as my soap operas and I don't even have to set the DVR!

First books of the year

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.
This book is about a hermaphrodite who was raised as a female but was genetically male. I think the thing I enjoyed the most about it is that it was fiction that still felt kind of like nonfiction. I can't really explain this book but I did enjoy it. And it won a Pulitzer, so I obviously wasn't the only one who thought it was pretty good.

My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent
This is part of a YA series...maybe not classic literature but still a fun, quick read.

The Memory of Running by Ron McClarty
I read this book for bookclub...a great story about a single, overweight, in-a-dead-end job man whose parents and sister die. He ends up sort of accidentally embarking on a cross country bicycle journey. I particularly enjoyed it because although it delved into the emotional lives of the main character, it wasn't overly introspective or sappy.