2008 wrap-up.

I went way past my goal of reading 50 books this year...but the past two months have been so crazy I haven't really read anything at all. I would pick up a book, start it, and then put it back. I'm ashamed of myself!

I'm going to start 2009 with Brideshead Revisited, which I started and put away a month ago (hangs head in shame) and Agnes Grey (which has to go back to the library next Monday).

My goal for 2009 will be 60 books. I don't think I'll be able to read 80+ again, unless I count cooking and craft books! And I'll remember to actually post updates on my reading. This blog has been a bit neglected since October.

Yes, I'm still reading!

I just finished Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates. It's a rather depressing tale of an unhappy suburban couple in the 1950's. Their fanicful plans to escape their monotonous life confuses their children and neighbors, and leads to tragedy.

It was hard to enjoy this one. The Wheelers aren't very likable people, and it's a little hard to feel bad for them. It's still very well written and has a lot of truth to it, even nearly fifty years after it was published. I look forward to seeing the upcoming movie!

RIP, Michael Crichton...

I wasn't sure where to put this, because the doctor/ writer also director and creator of quite a few movies (Coma) and television shows (E.R.). But writing is where he started, so I'll put it here. I had no idea he was sick. :( I wasn't a huge fan of some of his books, but I enjoyed the movies made of some, like Jurassic Park.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/11/05/obit.crichton/index.html

Other book news- I'm still reading. I put some books aside because I had some craft and cooking books to look through, but I'll finish Brideshead Revisited this week, at least!

Something from live journal...

This is their daily "Writer's Block". My answer is below...

From Judy Blume to V.C. Andrews, there's always a book circulating among teens that their parents don't want them to read. What favorite book did you have to hide from your parents?

View other answers

Never had to hide anything from my parents. My mom is a librarian, and saw no reason to censor what I was reading. If she thought something was objectionable, she would tell me why she thought so, but not tell me I couldn't read it.

I read at college level in junior high. Mom didn't have a problem with me reading stuff like V.C. Andrews as long as I read more substantial stuff!

I read anything I could get my hands on. *confession time* The folks I baby sat for when I was in high school had a bunch of books like "Joy of Sex" and Dr. Ruth stuff...very accessible. I learned quite a bit from those babysitting jobs...O_o (and Mom had been in their house, so she knew what was on their shelves...) Seriously, though, if it was a book, I would read it. And my parents had no problem with that.

Finally, I have cracked open my books again!

I started listening to Brideshead Revisited on my mp3 player last night. So far I'm enjoying it- that fact that Jeremy Irons is the reader helps! I also finally started to read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. And I have checked out some "Inspector Lynley" novels- Well Schooled in Murder, For the Sake of Elena, Missing Joseph, and Playing for Ashes. I don't know when I'll get to them, but some are on cassette.

Three new Torchwood novels coming in November (they're already out in the U.K.), and three more next May! *is very happy*

A week without books?

I didn't read for a whole week. I'm ashamed of myself! I still have a huge stack of books to go through. I just added Brideshead Revisited, and a few of Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley novels. I'll get back to reading this week!

Another classic read...

Wuthering Heights. I actually liked it, despite the unlikable characters, especially the rather cruel and mad Heathcliff . It's a great story, and hard to forget. Obsessive love leading to madness, desire for revenge, innocents hurt, it's all there. No wonder this is considered a classic.

The BBC is filming a new version of Heights, starring Tom Hardy as Heathcliff. I wonder how good it can be.

So now I'm up to 71 books...

I just listened to the audio of Death of a Gentle Lady, even though I'd already read it. I just wanted to listen to a humorous Hamish Macbeth story after the gloom and doom of Heights!

Up next- Tennant of Wildfell Hall and Agnes Grey, then Villette and Middlemarch.

Maybe I didn't read it after all!

I thought I had read Wuthering Heights. I guess I was wrong, because I sure don't remember anything about it! I'm about a third of the way through it, and I like it. I wonder why I thought I'd read it and not liked it. Hmmm. I don't usually forget books, so I'm pretty sure that I hadn't read it!

I'll finish this one and Agnes Grey in a week. They're both short compared to the other books I have on my to-read list.

One more series finished!

I finished the last two Agatha Raisin novels- Kissing Christmas Goodbye and The Perfect Paragon. I loved Kissing Christmas Goodbye. It introduced new characters and has the most memorable Christmas dinner in the books. It's hilarious!

The new Agatha novel is called A Spoonful of Poison and will be out on September 30! I can't wait.

70 books now. I think I could make it to 100 this year...

Okay, now I know where I am...

I'm up to 68 books. I have two more Agatha Raisin stories to read, then I'll be up to 70!

I've recently finished The Murderous Marriage, The Wellspring of Death, The Wizard of Evesham, The Witch of Wychadden, The Day the Floods Came, The Love from Hell, The Haunted House, and The Deadly Dance. All were good, but I read them a bit out of order. Unlike the Hamish Macbeth stories, they do need to be read in order somewhat, or they get a bit confusing. In one book Agatha is married to James Lacey (briefly), in another she's persuing him, in another they're divorced and a new handsome neighbor has moved in next door. Also, she goes from amateur to professional private detective in The Deadly Dance, which I read early on. Oops. Lots of confusion, but once I really got to know the characters, I could pick up on the stories.

I'm finishing up The Perfect Paragon, and then the latest book published, Kissing Christmas Goodbye. I hope there are more Agatha stories coming soon! I know M.C. Beaton tries to release one Hamish and one Agatha each year, but I don't know when the next Raisin story will be out.

Overall, I think I liked the Hamish stories better, but the Raisin stories are a lot of fun. I love the supporting characters, such as Mrs. Bloxby, Sir Charles Fraith, and Bill Wong.

Up next, Middlemarch (which will be the first George Eliot novel I've ever read) and The Tennant of Widefell Hall(finally!). I'm also going to give Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights another try. It's been so long since I read it...my tastes have changed since then. I may discover something I like about it. Also, another Charlotte Brontë- Villette, and Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey. Then I can say I've read all three Brontë sisters!

Finally, I'm also reading The Rough Guide to Classic Novels (vol. 1). It's a bit similar to 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, but with fewer titles!

I'm losing track of what I've read!

I've finished a couple more Agatha Raisin novels. I'm not sure where I am in my total books read- but it's a lot! I finished The Wellspring of Death last night, and Love, Lies, and Liquor on Saturday. I still have six books to read in the series, and one more that I'm waiting for.

Three more...

The Agatha Raisin books are fast reads! I've finished three in the past few days- Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist, The Fairies of Fryfam, and I just finished The Case of the Curious Curate. I'll go into more detail later, too tired to think right now!

So now I'm up to 60! I might just make it to 100 books before the end of 2008.

Two more Agatha novels!

I read Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener and Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley this week. I'm starting to like this series a lot! There is a lot of humor in the stories, and Agatha is quite a character. A bit of a bitch, but a wonderful bitch! I'm reading the sixth book in the series right now, and I have all of them either checked out or on hold at the library.

Total books read for 2008: 56.

Speed reader!

I finished Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet last night. I read it in one sitting! It's the second book in the series. I'm trying to read them in order. I'm going to read the next two in the series, and hopefully I'll find the rest at the library!

Book number 54!

I finished Tourist Season the other night. It was good, but not as funny as some of Carl Hiaasen's other novels. This one is about a group of terrorists who want to take back Florida for nature and the Seminole Indians. They kill off tourists and plot to kidnap the Orange Bowl Queen. It has the usual Hiaasen themes of over development and the loss of nature. This one has a rather poignant ending.

I started to listen to Stormy Weather on audio CD, but after a few minutes, I remembered that I'd read it and hadn't liked it much- the only Hiaasen novel I didn't like. So I put it away, and I'm going back to M.C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin series.

I will never have plastic surgery....

I just finished reading Skin Tight. It's another early Carl Hiaasen novel, with his usual skewering of South Florida's excesses. This time, it's plastic surgery. It's funny and rather gross- after reading about a nose job and liposuction gone wrong, I decided that plastic surgery is definitely not for me! Some of Hiaasen's best characters are in this one- such as ex-investigator Mick Stranahan, who appears later in Skinny Dip, and "Chemo", a hit man who once suffered a bizarre facial electrolysis accident- and ends up with a weed whacker to replace the hand eaten by Mick's "pet" barracuda. The whole story is about a case Mick and the police couldn't solve- the disappearance of a college student who had just had a nose job. Doctor Graveline, who performed the operation, thinks Mick is ready to out him as the killer, so he sets out to kill him. And if that wasn't enough, a sleazy tabloid television host named Reynaldo Flemm is trying to get the story on his show. The book begins with the first inept hit man meeting his demise at the hands of Mick- or rather, the head of his stuffed marlin. It's a roller coaster ride from there to the end! There's gruesome ends for some characters- Graveline gets a taste of his own medicine (or in this case, a nose job), and poor Reynaldo goes under the doctor's knife for his story with disastrous results.

There's romance, sex, blackmail, greed, biting satire, violence, and crazy characters a-plenty. This novel is pure Hiaasen! I'm reading Tourist Season next.

Another book read!

I finished Mansfield Park last night. I ended up loving it. I loved the characters...though Fanny Price is a little bit too good to be believed at times. With the terrible parents she had, I have a hard time thinking she could have turned out well even after being taken in by her Bertram relatives. I loved hating the awful Mrs. Norris, who put down poor Fanny at every opportunity. Fanny's gradual acceptance by her aunt and uncle, and her friendship and later love with cousin Edmund made for good reading. I loved seeing the terrible cousins and the Crawford siblings get what they deserved. Like any Austen novel, the right characters end up together, the good characters are successful and happy (like Fanny's brother William) the bad ones are punished (though cousin Tom manages to grow up and behave better).

The tangled love stories were a bit confusing at first. I never liked Charles Crawford, and didn't feel the least bit sorry for him when he truly fell for Fanny and was rejected, and wasn't surprised that he wrecked Maria's marriage. His sister Mary seemed to be nice at first, but turned out to be selfish and greedy- revealed to Edmund at last after Tom's illness (her unspoken but obvious thought that Tom's possible death would mean more wealth for the younger Edmund). It was obvious that Fanny always loved Edmund, and that he would end up loving her despite believing that Mary was the only one for him.

This novel was definitely more serious than Pride and Prejudice or Emma. The ruin of Maria and near-ruin of Julia was more terrible (though not wholly undeserved) than Lydia's elopement in P&P, or the foolish engagement of Edward and Lucy in Sense and Sensibility.

So that was book #52!

Up next- Skin Tight by Carl Hiaasen, another one I haven't read before.

A great loss to the literary world...

From msnbc.com: "Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, the Soviet dissident writer and Nobel literature prize winner, has died aged 89, the Interfax news agency reported on Sunday."

Rest of the article here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26000555/

I've only read The Gulag Archipelago, and that was a long time ago. I need to read it again!

Amazing that he lived to be 89, considering what he went through in his lifetime.

Another detour...

I'm still reading Mansfield Park, but I've also been listening to other books. I read my first Agatha Raisin mystery by M.C. Beaton- Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death. I think it was the first one in the series. I loved it! I have several more Agatha Raisin audio books checked out from the library. I also checked out two more Carl Hiaasen novels that I've never read- Skin Tight and Tourist Season.

So I'm up to 51 books, and will easily make it to 60 before August is over!

Number 50!

I forgot to mention that Double Whammy was my fiftieth book. I have reached my goal for 2008, and it's not quite August!

I think I can manage another 15-20 books this year.

Double Whammy!

Just finished it. This one would have made a great movie! I never knew that Bass fishing could be such a bloodthirsty sport.

This one has so many great and gruesome twists. The best thing about Carl Hiaasen's novels is that the bad guys not only get what they deserve, they get them in creative and ironic ways.

There is also the usual Hiaasen plot about greedy developers destroying what's left of Florida's natural beauty. It's always fun to read the downfall of these jerks.

The week's reading...

As I've gotten into Mansfield Park, I've started to like it more. I'm sure I'll end up enjoying it. It seems to be more serious than Austen's other novels...

I'm a third of the way finished listening to Double Whammy. It's great. It's definitely early Hiaasen, but some of the recurring characters in his later novels appear.

Yet another classic I need to read...

Brideshead Revisited. Never read it before! My mother is ashamed of me. :p She wants to see the new movie version of it, so I'd better pick up a copy. Books are almost always better than the movies...and I've heard that this film really chops up the novel.

Started Mansfield Park, I can say it's not my favorite Austen. I'll keep reading it, though...

Not really "reading"...

I borrowed this terrific book from the library: 500 Handmade Dolls: Modern Explorations of the Human Form. It's really more of a picture book- it's filled with beautiful photos of art dolls, from the traditional to the unusual, dolls made from cloth, to dolls made from whatever the artist could get a hold of. I'm inspired. I'd love to try my hand at doll making again.




I suppose I could count it in my total number of books read! :p Each photo has a detailed explanation from the artist on how he or she came up with the idea for the doll, and what it was made of.

Oops.

So much for my reading plans for this week. I've read nothing since Thursday! I listened to Death of a Village on cassette tape, but that doesn't count towards my total because I'd already read it...

While house sitting for my sister this week, I've mostly watched movies and television. I will start Mansfield Park tonight, though!

Almost there...

I read the last two Torchwood novels over the weekend, bringing my total number of books read to 48!

Something in the Water was creepy- about an alien "water hag", who reproduces by implanting men with her "babies". Rather disgusting, but fun.

Trace Memory was better, and was more like a Torchwood episode. A man from the fifties survives a mysterious explosion and keeps popping up in different places in time- including the pasts of the Torchwood staff. Nice little glimpses into each character, and an interesting villain in the "men in bowler hats"- the aliens who are chasing the time shifter.

I keep finding books...

...by favorite authors that I somehow missed. I just downloaded the audio of Double Whammy by Carl Hiaasen to my MP3 player. It's one of his first books, so that's probably how I missed it! One summer, I read most of his books. I think there are a couple of others that I haven't read! I'll keep looking for them.

This doesn't mean that I'm not sticking to my current reading plan. That's the nice thing about audio books- I can read more than one book at a time.

No more Hamish. :(

I finished Death of a Dreamer last night. I've now read all of the series...and I'm really looking forward to the next one! Dreamer was pretty good.

I still have the two Torchwood novels to read, and will probably finish them this weekend. After that, I will finally (yes, really) read Wings of the Dove and Mansfield Park. I also have The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Middlemarch in my to-read pile. After I'm done with that, I'm going to start reading M.C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin series. I hope they're as good as Hamish Macbeth!

So by the end of the month, I will have met my reading goal for 2008! I think I may end up reading almost 80 before the year is out...so I will make 100 my goal for 2009. There are enough books in the world to do it!

One more Hamish left.

I finished Death of a Maid, Death of a Gentle Lady, and A Highland Christmas this week. Gentle Lady was the latest novel, and it was great. I think it would make a good movie! The Christmas Story was a cute change of pace- no murders for Hamish to solve, just a missing cat and stolen Christmas lights. Death of a Maid was a good one, too. Now I only have Death of a Dreamer left...then a long wait for Death of a Witch!

So that's 45 books. I've started the Torchwood novel Something in the Water. It's interesting so far.

42!

No, that's not the answer to the big question- Life, the universe, and everything! :p That' the number of books I'm up to. I finished four more Hamish stories! Death of a Dustman, Death of an Outsider, Death of a Traveling Man, and Death of a Charming Man.

Death of an Outsider had one of the most gruesome murders in the series...dead man put in lobster tank, lobsters eat corpse, lobsters get sent all over the U.K. and are eaten....I'll never eat lobster again! Very good story.

Death of a Charming Man was a good one, too. I loved the ending- Hamish nearly gets it wrong! Once again, I figured out the killer early on.

I have four more Hamish stories, then it's a long wait until next February for Death of a Witch.

I also finally found the last two Torchwood novels, so I'll read them next, then back to more "serious" reading.

Two more!

Death of a Dentist was okay, not the greatest. Death of a Macho Man was better, and it kept me guessing!



I'm almost finished with Death of an Outsider, one of the first Hamish stories. It's a little bit gruesome. After that, I have Death of a Traveling Man.

I'm not addicted. No, really!

I can quit whenever I want! :p



I finished Death of an Addict last night. I think it may be my favorite. Good story with Hamish going undercover as a drug lord!

So that's book number 36...I'm reading Death of a Dentist and Death of a Macho Man next.

I'm up to 35!

I've read seven books in the past ten days- all of them Hamish Macbeth!

They were all good:

Death of a Scriptwriter

Death of a Prankster

Death of a Bore

Death of a Celebrity

Death of a Nag

Death of a Village

and I just finished Death of a Perfect Wife.

Death of a Scriptwriter was my favorite, I think. I wonder if M.C. Beaton was thinking of the Hamish Macbeth television series when she wrote it (it came out a year or so after the show was over)? I loved the show, but aside from Hamish himself, the episodes really didn't follow the books much. I doubt she was upset by the changes like the author in Scriptwriter was!

I figured out the killer in Death of a Nag early on...and I didn't want the killer to be who it was. Beaton is so good in creating characters that keep you guessing!

Death of a Bore was not my favorite of the lot. It had another murder victim I just couldn't feel sorry for!

I have eleven more Hamish books on my shelf waiting to be read. I'll read them all, then I want to start the Agatha Raisin series. Before I read those, though, I have Wings of the Dove (still haven't read it!) and Middlemarch to read.


I think I should revise my goal to 75 books for the year...

Number 28!

Death of a Glutton is finished. That was a really good one! Funny and a little bit gross (the glutton of the title reminds me of the world's fattest man in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life!), and it one of the most creative deaths in the Hamish series! And again, the murderer's identity wasn't obvious until the end. I love that kind of mystery.

Well, thanks to Hamish Macbeth, I will not only reach my goal of reading fifty books this year- I will probably exceed it! I'm going to read every one of the novels the library has, and start on the Agatha Raisin series, too.

More Macbeth!

I finished Death of a Poison Pen last night. Another good Hamish Macbeth mystery! I can't stop reading these books! I'm halfway through Death of a Glutton.

Four more books, plus one I forgot!

Now I'm up to 26 books for the year. During my vacation last week, I managed to read four books! I'm completely hooked on the Hamish Macbeth stories. I read Death of a Gossip, Death of a Snob, and Death of a Cad. Cad was the best of the three. I actually had no clue about the murderer's identity until almost the very end!

I also picked up the Torchwood novel The Twilight Streets. It was okay. A very interesting premise, with glimpses into possible futures- but the dark vs. light aliens plot was a bit hokey. I'm still looking for the other two recent novels.

Finally, I had another book that I'd read earlier this year and forgot to list! Weird Virginia- part of the "Weird" travel guide series about odd and forgotten places in the world. There's a lot of stuff in Virginia I've never heard of...and it might be fun to take day trips to find them. I hope to read Weird USA, Weird New York, and Weird Kentucky sometime. I also hope there will be a Weird Colorado! Weird New Jersey has two volumes. Wow. I always knew New Jersey had a lot of weirdness in it...



I should be up to thirty books by the end of next week! I have four more M.C. Beaton Hamish stories to read, plus I'm almost done with Post Captain.

Another distraction!

My stack of to-read books keeps getting larger. My mom brought me Mr. Darcy's Daughters by Elizabeth Aston. I read it in a few hours. It was cute, but a little too much like the original Pride and Prejudice. The daughters are almost exactly like Lizzie and her sisters...especially the twins, who are even worse than Lydia! It's all the same story, daughters looking for suitable husbands- though the Darcy girls have an advantage their mother and aunts did not- they have money. Plenty of characters from P&P make an appearance, including Lydia, the horrible Caroline Bingley (now the Lady Warren), and Darcy's cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam, now married with children of his own. He and his wife take charge of the young ladies while Mr. and Mrs. Darcy are away. It would have been nice to see Darcy and Lizzie themselves twenty-plus years after P&P, but they are barely mentioned! Not one of my favorite reads of the year. This is just one of Aston's series of novels about the Darcy family...I probably won't bother with the rest. Well written, but a little boring. We've heard it all before.

20!

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day was wonderful. Very funny and sweet. Better than the movie (which was also wonderful)! I loved the style it was written in. It was a quick read, but filled with memorable characters finding themselves in tight (but hilarious) jams. When I was done reading, I was almost as exhausted as Miss Pettigrew was in the story's end! The only real difference between the book and the movie was a few character changes and omissions.

Winifred Watson was one of those authors who sort of disappeared after writing a few novels- I don't think any of her other works are available anywhere. Too bad. I've heard that they're all similar in theme- women getting second chances in life- but Miss Pettigrew was the only one with a light tone.

So that's twenty books for 2008. Thirty to go! I'll have two weeks almost to myself this summer, so I'll have plenty of time to read.

I'm picking up more Hamish Macbeth stories. Death of a Gossip is next, then Death of a Cad and Death of a Snob.

I'm up to chapter seven of Post Captain. I'm behind the rest of the reading group! I'll finish that one this week, just so I can get ahead!

18 and 19!

I finished Bloodsucking Fiends last night. I really should have read it before I read You Suck, but I couldn't get it. Oh, well, now You Suck makes more sense. Both books were hilarious and oddly touching. I hope there will be a third book- but there was a ten year gap between them, so I won't hold my breath. I just love Christopher Moore's characters!

I also finished Death of a Hussy, and will start Death of a Gossip tonight. I love the Hamish Macbeth stories, even though the killers are usually pretty obvious early on!

I'll also read Miss Pettigrew this week, and maybe finally get to The Wings of the Dove.

Book number 17!

I finished Howards End last night. It was wonderful. Another great E. M. Forster tale about class differences- from the wealthy (the Wilcox family) to the well-off middle class (Margaret and Helen Schlegel) to the desperately poor (the Basts), and how they connect. Forster, as usual, points out the prejudicial behavior in every class- such as Mr. Wilcox's refusal to see that the lower classes have worth and need help. Some of Forster's best characters are in this novel- Helen in particular is amusing (with her umbrella snatching) and passionate about her beliefs. All is centered on the home of the late Mrs. Wilcox, Howards End. She wills it to Margaret but her husband tears up the notice...only to fall in love with and marry Margaret years later. Margaret has to deal with Wilcox's horrible son Charles, her sister Helen's wild fancies, and Helen's friend Leonard Bast- which sets up the novel's final tragedy and scandal. Margaret believes in charity and compassion towards the less fortunate, and tries to make the Wilcox family believe as she does.

I love the themes of the novel- mainly that the classes are starting to blend together whether the rich want them to or not. In a way, the house called Howards End is a bit of a catalyst for change- it is there that Henry Wilcox begins to realize that he needs to connect with others both in and out of his class ("only connect..." as Margaret tells him). Also, there is the connection between Margaret and Mrs. Wilcox- Margaret's kindness leads to Mrs. Wilcox wanting to leave the house to her.

More reading to do this week! I'm almost finished with Death of a Hussy, and I have Death of a Gossip next. Plus, my mother gave me a copy of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, so I'll read that soon! I loved the movie. The book looks like a fast read. I also have a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel (Terok Nor- Night of the Wolves) that I can't wait to read. So by the end of May, I will have read 20 books. Still waiting for the three new Torchwood novels...and I just read that three more will be published in October!

Another finish!

I finished reading The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove the other night. It was funny! Any novel that has a giant, prehistoric sea beast trying to mate with a fuel truck (which then goes BOOM!) is going to be hilarious. The book is set in the same town as several other Christopher Moore novels, with some of the same characters. I think I liked this better than The Stupidest Angel.

I'm almost done with Howards End, and I'm listening to Death of a Hussy by M.C. Beaton. I love the Hamish Macbeth stories.



I'm almost half-way to making my reading goal already!

A cool site I found...

http://librivox.org/

Many public domain books read, unabridged, available for download for free!! They're read by volunteers, and many books are read by more than one person. That's a little confusing, but it's still nice to have a source for audio books I haven't been able to find at the library (or don't want to buy).

Speaking of audio books, I've got Howards End to listen to. I'm reading the actual book as well.

My online reading group is up to chapter four of Post Captain, one of the more amusing parts of the entire Aubrey/Maturin series.

I picked up another Christopher Moore novel- The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove. I just started it- it's just as weird as You Suck. I'm also waiting for Bloodsucking Fiends, which came before You Suck!

13, 14, 15!

Two non fiction books and the funniest novel I've read in ages!


Fantasy Cross Stitch by Lesley Teare- she's one of my favorite cross stitch designers, so I was looking forward to this book. It's going to be a long time before I can do anything from it, but I just loved going through it. I love her fairy designs more than anything! Her dragons are wonderful, too.

The Sweet Spot is filled with Asian-inspired desserts that I can't wait to try. Some of them are truly Asian in origin (such as red bean paste filled sesame balls), and others have Asian ingredients in Western desserts- for example, a layer cake made with green tea icing. The book has very detailed recipes and photos of the finished desserts.

Finally, I finished reading You Suck in one day! It was even funnier than The Stupidest Angel...and that one had me falling off of my seat laughing. You Suck made me laugh even harder. It's pretty hard not to be amused by a book about vampires in love... especially when the opening line is "You bitch, you killed me! You suck!" It's downhill from there, and it's fun.

Back to more serious reading...Wings of the Dove, and I also have Howards End on audio.

The books, they keep coming...

I put Mansfield Park aside again. I'll get to it next month. I just checked out You Suck by Christopher Moore. I loved his Stupidest Angel, so this should be good. I need something funny for a change. Wings of the Dove is so depressing.

More reading for me...

I just joined a reading group at live journal- mandc_read. They're going through the entire Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin series. I missed Master and Commander, but they've just started Post Captain, so I'll be reading the first chapter tonight. I've been wanting to re-read the series for a while, so this is as good a time as any! I loved those books, and the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is one of my all-time favorites now.

I won't be neglecting the rest of my reading list! I still have Mansfield Park and The Wings of the Dove to read this month.

I watched the new adaptation of Sense and Sensibility on PBS over the last two Sundays. I may just have to re-read that one, too! I skipped the new version of A Room with a View, though. I heard some bad things about it...S&S was wonderful, though.

Very behind in my reading...

I've started The Wings of the Dove, but haven't gotten very far yet. I hope I'll have time to read in the next few weeks.

Still waiting for the three new Torchwood novels- my local store doesn't have them.

I count craft/cookbooks in my reading lists, so I have read two books recently- a new cross stitch book, and a book about Asian-inspired desserts. I'll write them up later.

Book number 12!

This was a bit of fun reading: Read it and Eat by Sarah Gardner. It's full of fun suggestions for book club discussions and meals to go with them. It's by month, with themes for each month (Christmas, Banned Books, June Brides, etc.) and there are four bonus sections. Every month has four books, with a brief summary, a discussion guide, and menus to go with it. Gardner is very clever, even downright funny, with some of her menus: For example, a discussion of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle features an all-vegetarian menu! For Jane Eyre, there are tea sandwiches: The Rochester (slightly toasted), The Bertha (a bit nutty), and The Jane (plain, strong, and very good). This is a terrific guide for those planning future book club meetings.

Update March 18...

Two more books, bringing my total to eleven:

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

Classic romance with a good deal of humor. Forster really knew how to expose the absurdities of class differences. I love this novel! I read it through knowing how it would end, and loving every bit of it.

Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter

This falls under the love or hate category- I happened to love it. It's a strange story about a winged circus performer and the American journalist who follows her to get her story. "Is she fact or is she fiction?" The story is in three parts- London, St. Petersburg, and Siberia. It is a vivid portrait of the sideshow lives at the turn of the 19th/20th century. It's part fairy tale, part freak show. And it's an enjoyable ride. I need to find some of Carter's other works. It's a shame she died so young (back in 1992).

Up next, Mansfield Park (finally). And three new Torchwood novels will be out before the end of the month!

Reading log update...

I finished Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict in two nights. It was an amusing story about a 21st century woman who wakes up in the body of an Austen-era woman. I loved the idea, and it worked really well.

Next, I finished the last of the Torchwood novels that I had- Another Life. It was better than Border Princes, not as good as Slow Decay. It was the first novel published, so the characters weren't quite in tune with how they are on television.

My dad signed me up for a church Lenten study, and we had to read The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. I'm really not into books like these- I think they are designed for people who don't go to church regularly. It's not so bad, it's just stuff I've heard before, because I've been a churchgoer my entire life.

I'm finally reading Nights at the Circus. I'm really enjoying it so far. It's weird and wonderful.

I had to take The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen back to the library before I could finish it. I'll check it out later...much later, because I have so much else to read. Next up, A Room With A View, and Mansfield Park at last. I've put it off for too long! I have both on audio cassette.

So my total for the year so far is nine books. I'm pretty sure I'll make my goal. I've picked out a few books I want to re-read this year- Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky by Patrick Hamilton, a lost classic from the 1930's- being re-published in the U.S. this year (I have the U.K. edition); and Jane Austen's Emma. Nothing wrong with going back to a favorite every now and then!

More easy reading!

I read Torchwood: Slow Decay in one night! It was much better than Border Princes. It was a rather gruesome story about a weight-loss clinic that uses alien eggs as diet pills. This was more like a Torchwood episode than the last book. There was a clear story, where Border had multiple plots going on at once. And all the characters got to do interesting stuff. The author had a good idea about the personalities they have on the show- especially Captain Jack Harkness and his somewhat bitter sense of humor. Torchwood: Another Life is next. And I plan to buy Something in the Water when it comes out next month:



It looks like it's Owen-centric, which is fine, because he's my favorite character on the series.

Back to more "serious reading", I've started Nights at the Circus. I may have to put it aside, because I have two new novels from the library that I can't renew. Both are Jane Austen-related: Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler, and The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James.



I am a bit of a Jane Austen addict, so I'm sure I'll enjoy both books. They look like quick reads. I think I'm all set for my February/March reading!

Long time, no post...

I've made a good start on my goal of reading 50 books this year. In January, I read five: Atonement, Kite Runner, Wide Sargasso Sea, 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, and a Torchwood novel, Border Princes.

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die: Yes, I actually read it all. In fact, I've based part of my 2008 reading list on the recommendations! About 100 experts and critics give detailed descriptions on the books they chose and why they are "must reads". It is a little bit British-centric, though there are plenty of American and foreign language novels to chose from. Some choices had me scratching my head, such as American Psycho, but no novels by Cormac McCarthy, Amy Tan, or Anne Tyler were included. Other choices were totally expected, like all six of Jane Austen's finished novels, and nearly everything Charles Dickens wrote.

I loved Atonement and Kite Runner. Both had the similar theme of lies destroying lives, and the hope for redemption through later acts. Kite Runner gave a vivid picture of pre-Soviet/Taliban Afghanistan, and what the people went through.

I didn't like Wide Sargasso Sea as much as I hoped. I loved the idea- the whole back story of Mr. Rochester's first wife and how she went mad. I didn't have enough background about post-colonial Jamaica to understand some of the plot.

Just for fun, I've started reading novels based on the Torchwood television series. I read Border Princes first- it was entertaining, but not brilliant. Most movie/TV tie-ins are just forgettable time killers, and this one qualifies. Next in the series, if I can find it, will be Another Life. There's one more out now, and three new ones arriving in March.

More books on my shelf...

I just checked out several books from the library. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë; The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys; The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy; and He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trolloppe. I have several others on hold. I'm really serious about my reading this year!

I'm really looking forward to Tenant...Anne is the only Brontë sister I've never read. I'll probably read her Agnes Grey later this year, too. Charlotte's Jane Eyre is one of my favorite novels, and I can't wait to read Sargasso Sea, the prequel by Jean Rhys. I've read Emily's Wuthering Heights, but I didn't like it much. I may give it another try.

Another book I have to wait for, because the library only has one copy- Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus. A friend recommended it to me years ago but I never got around to reading it...

2007 in books...

I'm terrible. I don't think I've read twenty-five books this year- and many of those were cookbooks or craft books. But the novels I did get around to reading, I really enjoyed.

The big book event was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which was a very satisfying end to J.K. Rowling's series about the boy wizard. I'm sorry to see it all end, but at least there will be two more movies coming!

I don't usually read bestsellers as they come out- I wait a year or so. This year, I finally got around to reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire- and that came out years ago! I still hope to see the musical someday. The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri, was wonderful. I read it on my mother's recommendation, and because of the movie- which I have yet to see! The only new book I read this year was Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen. When he has a new book, I'm usually first in line at the library to get it! It wasn't his best, but I enjoyed it.

This year I also read The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It was the grimmest book I've ever read. I've never gotten so depressed after reading! It was an amazing book, though, very well written.

I read The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. I wanted to like it, I really did, but I got so bored. I think this is the first Dickens I didn't like much.

I finished the year with Little Children by Tom Perrotta. When I say finished the year, I mean it. I finished it on December 31! Another book I enjoyed despite the subject matter. I'd like to see the movie now...

I re-read some classics, like Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and Rebecca (the last two I re-read often!). I'll be doing that again in the coming years.

My goal for 2008 is to read fifty books- and I'll post them here as I read.

I'm beginning the new year with Atonement by Ian McEwan. I started it last week and I'm loving it so far. I keep meaning to read Austen's Mansfield Park, but other things got in the way. This year I will read it!