Let's see how badly I fail this challenge...

Last time I did a challenge I asked myself to pick 25 different genres and read a book from each...It's now five years later and I still haven't read my mystery selection Dante Club or diary selection Diary of a Young Girl (I absolutely couldn't stand Anne and wanted to strangle her...I know, I'm going to hell).

So here are my successes of the new year:
1) The Left Hand of God - meh
2) Aesop Revisited: A Collection of Classic Fables Retold for the Modern World - ZZZzzz...

Welcome to the group! Hopefully this one will work out better than the last. :)

Glad to have you join us. I hope, like Jim, that this challenge works out better for you.

And you know, from one challenged challenge reader to another (I barely managed to squeeze out forty last year): it's not about the goal of journey, but about what you see on the way! I am here for the third year now, never managed to get to 75, but I very much like the tips on books and support from other readers. So I hope you'll have a good reading year!

I'm not "challenged" so to speak, but I think I might have reading ADHD. I'll read half a book, go on to the next one, read half of that, go on to the next one and then go back and finish the first one (from where I left off) three years later, like I did with The Historian. Thankfully something is screwy in my brain so that I can remember the book as though I had read it the day before until I finish it when I lose most (if not all) of it.
You should see my currently reading page! (http://www.librarything.com/catalog/benuathanasia/currentlyreading)
And that doesn't take into account series I'm in the middle of, or bathroom books that don't get entered into my library until after I've finished them (bathroom books are technically the property of my mother, but she'll only ever read a book once then give it away. I, on the other hand, am a book hoarder. If I've read a book, I own it. No if, ands or buts).

Oh, I do that too! It's horrible, because I'm afraid I don't have your photographic memory... I like your reading list though.

3) Most Evil Men and Women in History - A bit disappointing in parts, but the author's voice was good.
Up next - Specimen Days

I read The Left Hand of God a couple years ago for Early Review and enjoyed it well enough, though I don't remember many plot details by this point or have any particular interest in reading any sequels. "Meh" indeed. :P

Good luck this year!

Just finished
4) Specimen Days (101068 word count)-
The mixture of dialog and sensory details was like that of oil and water; staccato, halting, disjointed, etc. It just didn't seem to flow nicely.
The stories were incredible in the theoretical sense and I know that, years from now, I'll have no idea why I didn't like the book, but the way the stories were executed just seemed over-done and over-thought whereas they should have been as simple and elegant as the work of Walt Whitman that is quoted throughout the book.
In my opinion, each story was very slow to start, had an amazing center (I'm not going to say exposition, climax, etc. because those terms don't seem to really apply to this work...it's more complex than that), and finished leaving you feeling empty. Like going out to dinner at a fancy haute-couture restaurant and only getting an appetizer.
Oh, well. On to the next book...

Okay, this is a complete cheat, but I just started a new job, so I'll let it slide this one time.
I began working as a K8 librarian on Friday at a school that has not had a librarian in 2(!) years. As such, EVERY book needs to be re-shelved. So as I'm shelving the "early reader" books, I read a couple and created a list of others I need to read. The ones that I read this week were:
5) How Many Days to America? (1016 word count) by Eve Bunting - This was a really sad/sweet story about a family fleeing Cuba. I don't think the intended age group would understand it unless A) a family member/friend had been through that and they knew about the issues with Cuban immigration already or B) the teacher had a really in-depth discussion with them about it.
6) The Name Jar (2004 word count) by Yangsook Choi - This was a really cute story about a girl that moves to the US from Korea. On the first day of school, the kids on the bus tease her about her name, so she decided to change it to something more "American." Her classmates all help out by putting suggestions in a name jar for her. It has a really beautiful message about acceptance, cultural awareness and patience.
7) Click, Clack, Moo (403 word count) by Doreen Cronin - Some cows get their hooves on a typewriter and start making demands of the farmer. It's pretty damn funny. I think people of all ages will like this book.

Edit: I forgot
8) Jouanah (2089 word count) by Jewell Reinhart Coburn - This is an interesting take on Cinderella. The beginning (explaining what happened to Jouanah's mother) is a bit WTF? but the rest of it is really good.

By the way, I was taught there is no 'cheating' in this challenge... if it works for you, it's OK! I even post audiobooks sometimes.

9) Flares of Memory by Anita Brostoff - The stories were all very well chosen and extremely well written (I'm guessing ghost writers because there's no way EVERY Holocaust surviver they found just HAPPENED to be an excellent, thoughtful and creative writer). The editor's introductions to each chapter annoyed me greatly; she told you what kind of lesson you should take away from each story and even gave away some of the endings. She should have ONLY explained the unifying theme in each chapter.

10) Tops and Bottoms (777 word count) by Janet Stevens - Very cute story about taking responsibility for your own responsibilities.

11) The Four Gallant Sisters (2593 word count) by Eric A. Kimmel - I don't remember this story from when I read the complete works of Grimm, but it is a very interesting story with a very progressive message considering when it was originally written.

12) The Twelve Labors of Hercules (2002 word count) by Marc Cerasini - A bit /too/ condensed for my taste. Each labor was basically - receive labor, solve problem, knew labor - no depth of any kind to speak of. It also seemed to be missing part of the conclusion; Hercules was bored so the oracle told him to complete 12 labors for the king. He completes the tasks but he learns no lesson and he even gets out of doing an extra task, so they obviously weren't to his liking. One final knitpick - I am absolutely SICK of authors using all the Greek names but then saying "Hercules;" Hercules is his ROMAN name. "Heracles" is his proper Greek name; either stick with the Greek or the Roman; don't switch back and forth willy-nilly.

13) Felix and the Worrier (414 word count) by Rosemary Wells - I didn't know they made stories about paranoid schizophrenics for children. As always, Rosemary Wells' story is adorably illustrated with only a so-so story line.

14) The Little Rabbit (802 word count) by Judy Dunn - Very cute photography work. I really wish it offered some lessons on responsible pet ownership, however.

15) Punctuation Takes a Vacation (558 word count) by Robin Pulver - Not as well executed as I would have hoped. Yes, it shows the confusion that occurs when punctuation is used however the writer chooses, but all the issues it shows have the punctuation in such a way that anyone could figure out the writer's intention (such as a question mark mid sentence).

16) Possum Magic (496 word count) by Mem Fox - Very...original. The illustrations ruined it for me, but the story was adorable.

17) Knuffle Bunny (211 word count) by Mo Willems - I have no idea how this book can be so acclaimed. The story line is fairly typical of many children's books I read as a child and the illustrations are absolutely terrible.

18) White Socks Only (1453 word count) by Evelyn Coleman - An absolutely beautiful story, if not a bit unrealistic. Too bad civil rights issues weren't solved as easily in the real world as they were in this book. I loved how it twisted around the conflict to show just how ridiculous segregation was (or is, depending on your location in the world).

19) Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens by J. M. Barrie - W...T...H? Parts of it made very interesting set-ups for the canon of Peter Pan, but parts of it were definitely not appropriate for children; the last chapter deals greatly with children dying (falling out of their prams, being left to starve/freeze in the gardens, etc.) and Peter burying their dead bodies. It also mentions the "bad fairies" slaughtering children that get discovered in the gardens after closing time. This, to me, is the reason that you can't just /trust/ that a children's book is appropriate for its intended audience (this and the original Little Mermaid).

20) When Jessie Came Across the Sea (1836 word count) by Amy Hest - Beautifully illustrated!!! I like how the lessons Jessie and her grandmother learned early on in the book (learning to sew and learning to read) came back to be useful to them later on. The ending was absolutely adorable (if not a cloying), but I won't give it away!

21) Jackalope (2231 word count) by Janet Stevens - I love the legend of the jackalopes, so I thought I would really like this story. It seems to be a bit disjointed, though. I get the lesson that it's trying to teach (be yourself/love yourself, etc), but jackalope wasn't really any better off as himself. He could have used his antlers to protect himself when he was a jackalope, or he could have had the speed and agility to escape without the antlers. And the antlers only became a problem because he lied (and they grew, a la Pinocchio); if he hadn't lied, he would have had the protection, speed and agility he needed to protect himself from coyote, yet the lesson about not lying is completely glossed over. Whatever.

22) A Chair for my Mother (1068 word count) by Vera B. Williams - I like this story, but I'm confused as to how it became such a "classic." I'm sure most first graders/kindergartners have read this book at one point or another. The illustrations are inferior, the storyline is blase, and there's no real "lesson" that I can find. It's a decent story, but there are far better stories out there worthy of such prestige.

23) The Anne Frank Case (5007 word count) by Susan Goldman Rubin - This is a difficult story to classify. It's obviously intended for younger children, yet most young children haven't learned about the Holocaust, yet. It's also about Holocaust deniers and there are many school aged students who aren't aware such a thing exists, let alone the little children that this book seems intended for. As an adult, I really love the book (even though it feels like something is missing), but how many adults (other than bibliophiles) actively seek out picture books?

24) The Butterfly (3253 word count) by Patricia Polacco - This book succeeds everywhere that The Anne Frank Case fell short. It serves as an introduction to the Holocaust without getting too graphic or into too much detail. It simply lets children know that very bad people hurt Jews for no reason during WWII. I was very surprised to read the author's note and learn that it was a true story, making it all the better.

25) Kitten's First Full Moon (260 word count) by Kevin Henkes - Ah, Kevin Henkes, how can I not love you? This book is *squee* for the sake of *squee.* For those of you not fluent in internet parlance, that means cute for the sake of cute. This is a very good beginning picture book and require absolutely no higher order thinking skills. Completely adorable.

26) The Story of Jumping Mouse (1775 word count) by John Steptoe - I took it home because the cover was cute. I'm not gonna lie. The story was good as well. I'm not sure if it qualifies as fable/parable/myth whatever but if had a really good ending I didn't predict.

27) The Princess Diaries III (48851 word count) by Meg Cabot - I decided to re-live a little bit of my youth by reading this. The story was decent enough but it's so friggin' preachy. You can't go a page without hearing about vegetarianism, save the earth, save the horseshoe crabs, fight the corporate machine, sell-outs, blah, blah, blah. It's a young adult book Cabot, stop trying to sell your agenda. I'm pretty damn liberal, but this just had me gagging. It was like reading the leftist equivalent of Westboro Baptist Church. The whole book even began with a rant about Thanksgiving and genocide. We are ALL aware of the fact that years AFTER the first Thanksgiving, European settlers basically destroyed the natives, but I hate to break it to you, Thanksgiving was possibly the ONE time we DID have a good, working relationship with the Native Americans. I can't believe I used to enjoy this.

28) The Medusa Plot (45584 word count) by Gordon Korman - The way the authors of this series blend fact with fiction is absolutely astounding to me. I feel compelled to look up every little "fact" stated to see if it's true or simply part of the Cahill canon, but I stop myself because I REFUSE to destroy the temporary suspension of disbelief with this series (at least until I've finished it).

29) A King's Ransom (39894 word count) by Jude Watson - Want...next...book...NOW!!!

30) Princess Diaries IV (50762 word count) by Meg Cabot - Mildly less preachy than the last, but how many times is Mia going to fall for her grandmother's schemes before she finally realizes that no matter what, she cannot be trusted? ESPECIALLY if she's showing some kind of emotion. I work with a LOT of students in Mia's age-range and few of them are as dense as this girl (in MANY matters, not just with regards to her grandmother).

I've decided to classify this series as "crack" fiction (much like the works of Francesca Lia Block and Stephanie Meyer); it isn't written particularly well, the characters are unappealing, and the characters' interactions with each other and the events of the story are unrealistic...yet for god only knows what reason, I "enjoy" it and I usually end up feeling better about myself...probably because I see these horribly unworthy "heroines" and realize that I (and most of humanity) am a crap-load better than these people.

31) Son of Neptune (117675 word count) by Rick Riordan - The first two hundred pages or so were ridiculously slap-stick and absurd. Goofy if you will. It definitely wasn't the quality I had come to expect of Riordan's writing. Yes, he's a very comical writer, but he's generally more tactful about it; instead this was just tacky. The story as a whole was very disconcerting; basically you have to ignore everything you ever learned about canon from the other stories. It's almost like Riordan was displeased with the original series and decided to attempt it from a different angle. It definitely picked up a great deal during the second half and, of course, the battle sequences were all phenomenal. I hated that so many of the characters we've come to know and love were absent from this.

32) The Invention of Hugo Cabret (25083 word count) by Brian Selznick - Thank god...I saw the movie and thought it was decent but it definitely wasn't worth ANY of the Oscars it won. It was slow and the cinematography was NOTHING like what I'd been led to believe (in fact I thought it was horrible compared to other recent films). From an intellectual standpoint, it was interesting, but FAR from entertaining.
After reading the book, I'm convinced that everyone on the award panel read the book instead of watching the movie. The book succeeded everywhere the movie failed. The visuals were infinitely better; the mood was consistent throughout the entire work; Hugo was a likable character we got to watch grow (instead of the annoyingly precocious boy he was in the movie); and the book was fast paced enough to not get tedious, but slow enough that you could savor everything happening. I applaud Selznick.

33) Ok, my personal New Years Resolution was AT LEAST one book a week and the week is quickly winding down. There was no hope that I'd finish The Federalist Papers or Dracula this week, so I pulled out a really quick 'bath tub' read to meet my deadline.
Persephone the Phony (16063 word count) by Joan Holub is freakin' adorable. I truly love this series. I'm a huge mythology buff and the myth of Hades and Persephone has always been a favorite of mine.
I don't like how many modern interpretations show Hades as being cruel and heartless (the Percy Jackson series, Disney's Hercules, etc). There's little evidence in ancient mythology that Hades was a "mean" god (in fact he seems the most fair and least selfish of his family) and this book did a really good job of portraying how misunderstood Hades is.
Persephone seemed dead-on with her overpowering, controlling mother and her own insecurity. I love that the story shows that, what a lot of children's books portray as "negative" feelings, are completely OK; it's alright to be upset, it's alright not to agree with your friends (the only time children's books show this is if the friends are doing something a-moral).
All-in-all it was really cute. My one nitpick is that at the beginning of the school week, they are on day 23 of school, at the end of the week they are on day 65...the Greek calendar must have been REALLY interesting.

34) Among the Impostors (34305 word count) by Margaret Peterson Haddix Luke's growth in this book seemed a bit radical and out of character for me. I know he's been forced to grow up pretty quickly, but it just didn't seem to mesh well with his experiences and personality.

Congratulations on your new job, and your reading is fascinating! You are already almost halfway there!

35) I Am A Star (12805 word count) by Inge Auerbacher - I could have done without the poetry. It took me out of the "feel" of the memoir. I would have happily traded the poetry for more details.

36) True Stories of Pirates by Lucy Lethbridge - Absolutely fascinating. The author didn't glamorize, glorify or embellish any of the stories as often happens with tales of pirates, she simply told them as they were. I loved learning about the women pirates (Anne Bonny, Mary Read and Mrs. Ching). I also loved hearing about the different areas of pirating; of course you always hear about the West Indies and Caribbean, but hearing about South East Asia and New England was pretty damned interesting too.
I could have used a glossary of some kind since some of the words were antiquated and a timeline (since the book was not chronological) would have been really nice as well. Oh well, just some things to think about for the next edition.

37) Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark (4737 word count) by Mary Pope Osborne - I was proctoring an exam today (CMTs) and every kid finished the test when there were still fifteen minutes left. They were all reading silently, so I thought I would as well. I picked this book up expecting to feel brain cells dying as I read it. I was very wrong; I can see why my students enjoy this series so much. It's very well written (albeit extremely simplistic) and interesting. It was an extremely quick read (I had it finished before the time was up) and is educational, to boot (some of the "facts" are incorrect - T-Rex was not the '"largest meat-eater" ever, that distiniction goes to the gigantosaurus - but given the fact that it's a children's book, I'll allow it). All in all, I think I'll continue the series (at this rate I can have it done in a week or two).

Update:
38) Magic Tree House: The Knight at Dawn (5340 word count)
39) Magic Tree House: Mummies in the Morning (5105 word count)
40) Magic Tree House: Pirates Past Noon (5324 word count)
41) Magic Tree House: Night of the Ninjas (5428 word count)
42) Magic Tree House: Afternoon on the Amazon (4517 word count)

I really wish I'd found this series when I was little; I can't believe it came out in the early 90s, where the hell was I?

43) Magic Tree House: Sunset of the Sabertooth (4926 word count)
44) Magic Tree House: Midnight on the Moon (5683 word count)
45) Magic Tree House: Dolphins at Daybreak (4663 word count)
46) Magic Tree House: Ghost Town at Sundown (6367 word count)
47) Magic Tree House: Lions at Lunchtime (5313 word count)
48) Magic Tree House: Polar Bears Past Bedtime (5724 word count)
49) Magic Tree House: Vacation Under the Volcano (5833 word count)

50) Magic Tree House: Day of the Dragon King (5607 word count)
51) Magic Tree House: Viking Ships at Sunrise (5502 word count)
52) Magic Tree House: Hour of the Olympics (5086 word count)
53) Check It Out! The Book About Libraries (515 word count)
54) The Doorbell Rang (282 word count)
55) Silly Sally (164 word count)

56) The Federalist Papers (189954 word count) - Holy hell. I can't believe I finally finished this. There were parts I agreed with, there where parts I found ridiculous and there where parts where I knew every word but am fully convinced, when put together, mean gobbledygook.

One of my favorite parts was when one of the writers (my edition doesn't indicate who wrote which part, Hamilton, Madison or Jay) stated that it was foolish to think that those with money intentionally seek to live near others with money and that the distribution of wealth is spread out evenly across the regions.
Even back then that was a foolish fallacy; the wealthy would settle where there were decent resources (fertile land, rivers, ore, etc.) whereas the have-nots were left with the dregs. (Federalist LX. The Same Subject Continued {Concerning the Power of Congress to Regulate the Election of Members})

It was also interesting to see that the writers expected the House and the Senate to be relatively close in size (I really wish I'd done more highlighting so I could re-read this particular piece).

My absolute favorite quote is this: "...it is a notorious fact that Connecticut, which has always been regarded as the most popular state in the Union..." LOL...we're popular? I'm curious to know in what way they meant; we have good laws? Large population? We know how to have a good time? All I know is, our capital, which is called "New England's Rising Star" is little more than a supernova: collapsing in on itself before it explodes in a destructive burst (no hate to Hartford...wait, yes, plenty of hate to Hartford, except West Hartford).

57) Two hours in the bathtub and I completed The City of Ember (59937 word count) - My former fifth graders hated it because of the pacing. I kind of agree, but still enjoyed it. It took far too long to get anywhere interesting and then all the exciting stuff just kind of.../happened/ and then fizzled out: very little excitement. I suppose I enjoyed it because I like analyzing society. This book is like the Communist Manifesto if Marx and Engels had experienced the day-to-day reality of Soviet Russia.

58) Farm Boy - Not bad, per se, but disappointing. When you market a book as the sequel to something, readers generally expect them to be similar: to have the same air about them. This book was obviously for a different age demographic, had a vastly different writing style, and if MM hadn't specifically stated the characters were the same from the first book, I wouldn't have had known it; the characters of Joey and Albert were very flat. I would have liked it a lot better if it hadn't raised my hopes about it being a follow-up to one of my favorite books.

59) Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen (31140 word count) - This took off from the previous book very well; Paulsen has a very even, predictable voice that doesn't waiver much from book to book. I was a bit disappointed with the anti-climactic ending; Brian may as well as fallen into salvation.

60) So, I finally broke down and had to see why, of the 18 copies of Diary of a Wimpy Kid (19784 word count) my library has, 15 have been stolen. I read it and, I must say, I was rather impressed. It is witty, clever, insightful, and perfectly structured for low level readers. Jeff Kinney has a phenomenal grasp of what it means to be a middle school student. I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series.

61) ASA: Antonyms, Sentence Completions, Analogies GRE Preparation Guide - I was surprised how good this was. Most test guides are dry and very tedious to read; this guide broke up the monotony with humor, lots of fun GRE-based terminology and not-so-subtle jabs at ETS testing and the GRE itself.

62) Dracula (153595 word count) - Stoker did a phenomenal job creating plot, setting, character and unique character voices. I found the entire piece absolutely fascinating; the way characters interacted with one another and their circumstances, the way the different journals and letters wove together to form the work and especially the view Stoker created of Victorian England. Bravo to Mr. Stoker for creating a heroine that was accurate to the period for her rank (very submissive, pious and gentle) and yet still someone girls can look up to. She took responsibility for her own fate and fought for her future, rather than allowing others to do all the work.

My only gripes were with the following:
A) Quincey Morris - The American cowboy seemed so woefully out of place and useless. I can see why he and Lord Godalming are usually booted from modern adaptions. At least Godalming acted as a purse and a form of authority when they were performing questionable activities.

B) The ending - Just...ugh. You'd have to read it to understand why I didn't care for it.

63) The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (17050 word count) - Just finished this; I'm crying. This is a very good, very simple, very elegant story about love. Not romance, but love in its purest and truest form.
My mother is a huge Kate DiCamillo fan. She made me read The Tale of Despereaux, a book I could not stand. It took me three years from her original insistence that I read it for me to read Edward Tulane because of my dislike of Despereaux. Even then, I only read Edward Tulane because I walked into her class when they were reading the second to last chapter. It made me cry then and it made me cry tonight. It's just so well written (unlike this review).

64) Tonight on the Titanic (5301 word count)
65) Buffalo Before Breakfast (5579 word count)
66) Tigers at Twilight (5136 word count)

Ok, I really love this series, but I have to say this: Morgan is a royal b****! She keeps knowingly throwing these little kids into horrific situations many adults couldn't deal with, and often needlessly! Would it have been so hard for her to send Jack and Annie to Pompeii the day BEFORE it blew its top? Or Ancient China the day BEFORE the Dragon Emperor decided to burn the books? What's her deal?

67) The Story of My Life (71219 word count) by Helen Keller

67) Dingoes at Dinnertime (5530 word count)
68) Civil War on Sunday (5991 word count)

69) Revolutionary War on Wednesday (5041 word count)
70) Twister on Tuesday (5127 word count)
71) Earthquake in the Early Morning (5882 word count)

72) How to Be a Pirate (27308 word count) by Cressida Cowell

73) Stage Fright on a Summer Night (6219 word count)
74) Good Morning, Gorillas (6129 word count)

75) The Wide Window (31699 word count)
76) The Miserable Mill (28990 word count)
77) The Austere Academy (33697 word count)

I get into a lot of arguments with people online about sequels versus originals. There are far too many people out there who believe it is impossible for a sequel to be better than the original. All of those people should read this series. The first two books bored me and the third was only the slightest bit better. The subsequent books seem to just get exponentially better and better. I'm really glad I stuck with this series; the narrator is hilarious, the plots are extremely funny (if not a bit slapstick), the characters are likable and, best of all, I find myself actually caring what happens next.

78) Thanksgiving on Thursday (6131 word count)
79) High Tide in Hawaii (6222 word count)

Well, let's see, how badly HAVE you failed this challenge? You zoomed past 75 with 63% of the year still to go. Congratulations!!

Yeah, but look at how many of those books are less than 20K words.
I still feel I'm slacking.
Most "adult" novels are around 60K-120K words.

Still, congrats!

80) Pinduli (1384 word count)
81) Throne of Fire (113038 word count)
82) The World According to Humphrey (26755 word count)
83) The Khan's Daughter (1606 word count)
84) The War With Grandpa (21877 word count)

SPOILER
Decent story, horrible ending (no lesson learned, spoiled brat gets his way, blah, blah, blah).

85) The Ersatz Elevator (39933 word count)

I still love the Series of Unfortunate Events, but this one irked me. The main plot made no sense to me:

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER!!!
The Baudelairs discover that Olaf is hiding the triplets in the basement of their building and intends to use the auction to sneak them out. When they discover this plot, his accomplice pushes them down the elevator shaft to hold on to them until they can be collected.

Why was it necessary to hold the triplets in the basement of the building only to sneak them out of it?
What was the purpose of putting them there to begin with?
Why did he have to sneak them out: everyone who was anyone was on his payroll?
Why did he have to sneak them out: there was a second exit?
Why not just shove the Baudelairs down the shaft to begin with and use the second exit and auction to hide THEM? After all, they may not have liked the accomplice, but they trusted them.
It was all very convoluted and unnecessary.
END SPOILER

86) Don't Let the Pigeon drive the Bus! (161 word count)
87) The Vile Village (39357 word count)
88) The Hostile Hospital (37752 word count)
89) The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (983 word count)
90) Memoirs of a Goldfish (782 word count)
91) The Carnivorous Carnival (43681 word count)
91) The Slippery Slope (53274 word count)
92) The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? (241 word count)
93) All's Well That Ends Well (27169 word count)
94) The Grim Grotto (48671 word count)
95) The Penultimate Peril (40557 word count)
96) The End (51747 word count)
97) Antony and Cleopatra (26456 word count)
98) The Golf Gods Are Laughing
99) The Beatrice Letters (6972 word count)
100) As You Like It (23015 word count)
101) Comedy of Errors (16199 word count)
102) Among the Betrayed (33881 word count)
103) Among the Barons (37343 word count)
104) Coriolanus (28863 word count)
105) Among the Brave (48549 word count)

106) The Science of Jurassic Park

I absolutely loved this book. I generally love "the science of..." type books, but this one was particularly well written. I believe this book can be relatively broken up into three sections:
Section 1: Mourn for your youth - I grew up with Jurassic Park. I obsessed so much over it that I devoured anything Michael Crichton in middle school. During a stay in the hospital, my mother and I read Jurassic Park and The Lost World to one another. The beginning chapters of this book all basically start off with: it's not possible, but assuming it were, this, this and this would go wrong. It completely ruins the suspension of disbelief.
Section 2: Get rid of the science curriculum in public schools - I learned more about Earth science, geology, biology and other natural sciences reading this than I did attending a math and science magnet school and studying engineering. It's incredible how easy the authors made complex concepts to understand.
Section 3: Let's punch Ian Malcolm - I always had a sneaking suspicion Malcolm was blowing smoke out of his ass; this book provided all the scientific and mathematical reasons that he really was an arrogant asshole.

107) Among the Enemy (43625 word count)
109) Cymbeline (28502 word count)
110) Among the Free (42794 word count)
111) Julius Caesar (20599 word count)
112) The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (728 word count)
113) The Serpent's Shadow (98599 word count)
114) Sold (33702 word count)

115) Song of the Sparrow (38577 word count) - This had all the potential of being wonderful, but fell flat for me. It was a truly wonderful rendition of the Lady of Shalott; I especially loved how she made it realistic historical fiction as opposed to magic and fantasy (as is standard with Arthurian legends). What truly ruined this book for me was the format. I have to give plaudits to Ms. Sandell for making the attempt at writing it in lyrical form, however there was nothing /lyrical/ about it. Simply breaking up sentences in odd places and spacing things weirdly does not a song make. It just made the whole story sound halting to me; it was very difficult to get into. Then there was the resolution of the conflict between Elaine and Gwynivere:

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

How convenient to end their feud with "You're jealous of me? But I'm jealous of you!" This trope in juvenile fiction has been cliched for a looonnnggg time.

END SPOILER END SPOILER END SPOILER

Yet another good idea, poorly executed.

I enjoy your reviews and I couldn't agree more about the ending of Dracula.

116) Stardust by Neil Gaiman (59001 word count) - As with most of Mr. Gaiman's work, it took me a while to stop asking myself "what the hell was he smoking...and where can I get some?" He writes some of the weirdest sh*t I've ever seen. That being said, the "weirdness" and originality of this book couldn't make up for how stale it was. The action was stagnant, the characters were extremely flat, and, even with the uniqueness of the story, it felt horrifically cliched in parts. I knew exactly what was going to happen and how it was going to end long before I got near the end. I was very disappointed with this piece.

117) You Might Be a Redneck If - I never thought I'd say this, but I guess Jeff has just gotten boring over the years. Either that, or it just isn't as good when you can't here his tones and inflections.

118) Fight Club (49962 word count) - Absolutely incredible and addicting. A psychological mind-fuck. I couldn't put this down! The ending was very different than the movie and I'm still trying to decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. The movie ended very up in the air (which added to the disjointedness of the whole piece) whereas the book ended with a bit more closure and a last second *dun dun duh!* Part of me craves a sequel, but another part of me says that there is NOTHING that can be done to add to this book; any follow up would merely detract from its greatness.

119) Serving Gifted Students Within An RtI Framework - When I review books, I examine the book for a) what it claims to be and b) who the _target audience is (for instance, I won't fault an Arthur book for simplistic language and stale plot, just as I won't fault a Defoe work for showcasing poor morals). So let's examine this book on both fronts:

What it claims to be (from the blurb on the back):
"Serving Gifted Students Within An RtI Framework is a practical book that provides an overview of RtI models in gifted education and describes specific details about developing levels of service, monitoring student progress, differentiating curriculum at each tier, and collaborating with gifted educators."

First of all, it isn't very practical; it's Spartan. It doesn't develop any of it's more useful (practical) points and instead elaborates on the minutiae ad nauseum. Most of the first two chapters is stuff that you should have learned in your education programs if you are a teacher or administrator (i.e. the history of special education, NCLB legislation, and CCSS legislation). No one really needs to know the /history/ of these things; you just need to know how it applies to teaching and how it affects you and your students...the /practical/ stuff.

"specific details about developing level of service" - Yeah, no. There was almost none of that. It explains what each of the tier levels are and how students progress from one level to the next, but not a whole lot of what goes on IN each level and certainly not how to develop instruction in each level.

"monitoring student progress" - Yes, it details this. And doesn't shut up about it. This is what I think is primarily wrong with education; everything gets reduced down to data and assessment. The prevailing thought seems to be that these aren't students; they are widgets that we are churning out of a factory. "What are our quarterly gains and losses?" These are not statistics; these are CHILDREN. Children whose futures depend on US!

"differentiating curriculum at each tier" - It gave more or less three options: send the kid to a gifted class, skip them ahead a grade, or ship them off to early college classes. Thank you for those useful tidbits. There was a very brief bullet list of seven ideas to help differentiate (embed creative problem solving, ask higher level questions, adding depth and complexity to the content). This is no-brainer stuff you should be differentiating for ALL you students anyway.

"collaborating with gifted educators" - This is helpful...to an extent. It talks about the responsibilities of each person in the school as far as RtI goes and some ideas on how to collaborate. The problem here is that, as an individual, you have almost no control over that. For example, at my school, we have only a part-time guidance counselor, a literacy coach who has "checked out", no mathematics intervention program to speak of, an overworked vice principal, grade-level partners who have little to do with one another, special education teachers who are bogged down with the students that the law requires them to focus their attention on, etc. I need to know more about what I can do, as an individual, to help my students. I have to be able to prepare for the inevitability that I'll be doing it on my own. How do I handle that kind of situation?

As for _target audience:
If it's meant for teachers...good luck. A lot of what it discusses (the necessary school resources, what kinds of staff to hire, scheduling, curriculum, etc.) is completely out of the teacher's hand.
If it's meant for administrators...I really hope that they'd be looking into a book that sounds a lot less like one of my graduate research papers and more like a /professionally/ written book.

As for the niggling little things that get to me when I read:
This book was drier than a saltine in the desert. Holy crap, I can't believe I was actually able to get through it in two sittings without falling asleep!

The authors needed a bit more consistency. They went back and forth between referring to nonspecific students as "she/he" and "she." This is educational research; educational research goes by APA formatting which frowns on gender specific pronouns. They should have just used the indefinite "the student."

120) The Field Guide (9844 word count)
121) The Seeing Stone (9347 word count)
122) Lucinda's Secret (9838 word count)
123) Totally Joe (34692 word count)
124) Ironwood Tree (9444 word count)
125) Wrath of Mulgarath (13043 word count)
126) The Hidden Stairs and the Magic Carpet (7439 word count)
127) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (46333 word count)
128) NRA Guide to the Basics of Pistol Shooting
129) Schindler's List (134710 word count)

130) Les Miserables - (530982 word count)

131) The Hunger Games: Official Illustrated Movie Companion (18624 word count)
132) The Hunger Games: Tribute Guide
133) All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome
134) The Law of Superheroes - I requested this via ARC due to an interest in both comic books and the law (my interest in comic books became an addiction that I forced myself to give up). I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the subject matter was all advanced in an approachable and amusing way. The book does not presuppose any knowledge of comic books, their characters, or the law on the part of the reader. The reader's view of the work would likely be substantially altered if they possess any prior knowledge, but it is not a necessity.
The arguments and theories are presented in a purely logical way. All laws and precedents are stated within the book (where appropriate) and summarized in layman's terms if appropriate.
The book does not focus on any specific area of the law, instead going in-depth into criminal and civil law, real estate law, tax codes, international law, common law, etc. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that many things you'd think would only be an issue in a "super-world" (telepathy, resurrection, etc) actually have legal precedent in the United States.
Some small suggestions:
1) The book focuses too much on Marvel and DC comics. More from Dark Horse and other not-quite-as-mainstream companies would have been interesting.
2) Don't spend so much time on Marvel's Civil War; yes, it was a huge event with many legal implications, but it is by no means the only.
3) Some kind of summation to round the book of would have been lovely instead of simply "Ta-da, the end!" (No, it didn't really end that way, but pretty close - It was kind of like coming to the end of a street and dropping off a cliff; it just ended).

135) Wild About Books (520 word count)
136) Rocket Writes a Story (1125 word count)
137) Teaching Children With High-Functioning Autism
This was an incredibly well-written, accessible, useful and, often, amusing look into the world of teaching students with autism.
It gives you just enough background history on autism diagnoses, legislation, and educational strategy and technique to guide the reader without boring them. It offers valuable insights into the world of autistic children and their parents that are useful at any age level. Too many books focus on autism as a "childhood" disorder (I even had a doctor tell me only children had autism!!!), but this gives techniques, strategies and anecdotes for all grade levels (and even some post-educational information).
The wealth of resources and useable tables to aide instructors is wonderful (some I'll be using for myself!).
I really liked this book. It didn't talk down to the readers but, at the same time, did not assume any prior knowledge on the subject; much like a teacher introducing a new concept!

138) Cell (121556 word count)
139) Princess Bride (91426 word count)
140) Warriors: The New Prophecy Starlight (75199 word count)
141) The Library Dragon (983 word count)
142) Tomas and the Library Lady (1216 word count)

143) The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare
144) Gregory, the Terrible Eater (871 word count)

145) Himeji Castle: Japan's Samurai Past (1623 word count)
146) Taj Mahal: India's Majestic Tomb (1577 word count)
147) Windsor Castle: England's Royal Fortress (1581 word count)
148) Palace Of Versailles: France's Royal Jewel (1496 word count)
149) King Ludwig's Castle: Germany's Neuschwanstein (1525 word count)
150) Castle Dracula: Romania's Vampire Home (1585 word count)

151) Roots (278020 word count)
152) Little Women (183833 word count) - Initially, I didn't like this book because it felt rather pointless. After further reflection, it seems to me that this book is like the precursor to sitcoms; each chapter is like a new episode with new "adventures." It wasn't half bad. Not my favorite, but not too horrible.
153) Am I Blue? (55652 word count) - A wonderful collection of short stories about teenagers dealing with their own sexuality and that of those around them. The collection is fairly well balanced between gay/lesbian/bi/questioning/confused (no transgender, sadly enough). I wish the book didn't so blatantly advertise its contents, though. For many teens, it's a very frightening and confusing thing to think about sexuality, so they might not be as apt to pick this book up if all their friends can see what it's about.
154) The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights (336019 word count) - Some of the more memorable stories. A lovely selection. It would be wonderful if the notes were footnotes instead of placed in the appendix (really annoying to flip around 700+ pages to find a translation for something minor), but the authenticity has been well preserved. The language is flowery, beautiful, and a bit antiquated (I can feel like a smart feller!).

155) Silas Marner - (71294 word count) Not as good as I remember, but wonderful nonetheless. The earliest section of the book (Marner's setup by William) felt oddly out of place with the rest of the book, but once you get past that, it's a great story. Silas's relationship with Eppie reminds me of Jean Valjean's relationship with Cosette to the point where I question whether the father/adopted daughter was a common theme of the era?

155 - Wicked - (word count 153353) I went into this book expecting to adore it. I very quickly found myself bored stiff. The political and religious rhetoric is grinding on the nerves, the sexual scenes are as awkward as two virgins going at it, it's almost impossible to enjoy any of the characters or their personalities. The entire book just feels full of itself; all pomp with no circumstance.
I really, really tried to like this book, but not two-thirds of the way through, I found me bribing myself to finish it (I abhor leaving books unfinished). I really just want to slam my head down on the table until I kill a few braincells so then MAYBE I can enjoy this crap. After finishing this book, I've firmly decided to donate all my books by Maguire to a local charity. I'm sorry to anyone who ends up reading them.

156) - Wind in the Willows - (word count 58286)
157) - Persuasion - (word count 87978) This book makes me feel like Ms. Austen was not happy with Pride and Prejudice and simply wanted to redo it. Either that, or she saw what made it great and just reused a lot of the same ideas. You have a well-to-do family that has only daughters. Because there are only daughters, the estate is going to go to an estranged cousin. There's talk of marriage between the cousin and the second oldest daughter, but it doesn't happen. Meanwhile, the third oldest daughter is the first to get married and gets a big head about it. The second oldest daughter has a pseudo-relationship with an emotionally distant man whose true feelings and motivations cannot be divined. Aside from the obvious recycling of old ideas, I didn't find the dialogue as interesting or the settings as vividly described as in P&P. I was very disappointed with this (from an Austen-standpoint. Compared to any other romance writer, overall it was still good).

158) Werewolves and Other Shapeshifters in Popular Culture - I liked it well enough, but it's definitely not for those with a casual interest in the subject.

My biggest gripe with this book is that probably about 2/3 of it is massive summaries of the books it's talking about (including MANY spoilers).

The analysis was all very interesting and presented many views I had (for the most part) never considered before. The inclusion of the author's own analyses about their work (Rowling, Meyes, Lewis, etc.) was rather fascinating to see.

I was much happier reading it once I'd decided to view it less as an analysis on the different themes of shapeshifting YA literature and more as an elongated booktalk on shapeshifting YA literature.

edit: The inclusion of X-Men's Wolverine in this book somewhat undermined the overarching concept a bit. He is not a "wolverine/human mutant" as the book states. He is a mutant with the codename of Wolverine. Not in anyway, shape or form, an actual wolverine.

159) How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed Ability Classrooms
160) The Pocket Thomas Merton
161) Mythology - Edith Hamilton - (110,534 word count) This is a very good launching point for any interest in mythology. It doesn't offer a whole lot of viewpoints and, in some cases, goes so far to state there aren't other sources available when there most certainly are. My biggest problem with it was the near total lack of citations. In many/most cases it tells you who the author was where she got her source, but rarely does she tell you the actual literary work (with the exception of the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid). The language is also strangely archaic, despite the work's relative recency. Very good overview of mythology though. Just don't take everything it says as the gospel truth.

162) Politically Correct Bedtime Stories
163-181) Arthur books by Marc Brown - (13843 word count) - As a huge fan of the television series, I was greatly disappointed at the lazy and sub-par writing of the books. The illustrations are very poorly done as well (especially if you have older editions of the books). Not good. just watch the show; it's on at seven on PBS every morning.
182) A Tale of Two Cities - (135420 word count)
183) Civil Disobedience - (9357 word count)

184) Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Sharks and Other Sea Monsters - Very interesting. The language it a bit difficult for younger readers, but I believe middle school students with a bit of gumption and an admirable vocabulary would very much enjoy this book as well as the incredible pop-ups. The pop-ups are truly what make this book magnificent.
185) Fellowship of the Ring - (177227 word count) - The first chapter was a painful bog through details, but after that, things start to pick up significantly. There's still a lot of minutiae, but once you realize that you can ignore most of the tiny details and gloss over them (since they have nothing to do with anything), it gets much better.
186) You Be the Jury (03) Courtroom III - I'm twenty-five and these things still kick my ass. Very amusing and interesting, though.
187) The War Poems Of Siegfried Sassoon - Absolutely beautiful and, at times, heart-wrenching. Too bad it isn't more "mainstream"; more people need to be exposed to this vision on WWI.
188) The Little Prince - (16534 word count) I get that this is "ground-breaking" in its quirkiness. I get all the metaphors, analogies and symbolism. I get that it's a good story; I just don't see how it's worthy of all the mind-blowing praise. It is very so-so, in my opinion.

189) I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell - I don't care what anyone says; this is the funniest shit ever. There were a few stories that went too far, but even Tucker admits which they are. If you are insulted by this, you were probably one of Tucker's victims, in which case I have no sympathy for you. If these women are slutty enough to get into these positions, they deserve everything they got.

190) Once: A Lullaby
191) The Canary Prince - (1700 word count)
192) Night Gliders
193) Flying Squirrel at Acorn Place - (1109 word count)

194) The Great Gatsby - (47094 Word Count) - To me, this is very typical, run-of-the-mill, nothing special, piece of realistic fiction (I was so tempted to write piece of... something else). Due to the fact that it's supposed to be this gold-standard of literature, I feel the need to be a bit more critical of it. This is my honest-to-goodness opinion of the book:

It's People Magazine for the thinking man. That is to say, its pretty, pretentious words and syntax mask the fact that the plot was an inane, stale cliche during the time of the Ancient Greeks: overdone, obnoxious love-triangles. Not a single damn spark existed between any of the couples in this book.

Jay is portrayed as being "mysterious" and "intriguing," but it's very hard to create any interest in a character with a "mysterious past" when everything we see of him in the present is so flat and boring. Gatsby is like those really horrible holographic cards that used to come in cereal boxes; you can see how flat they are, but there's this cute little illusion of depth that simply isn't there.

If you're a reasonably intelligent person that wants to hide the fact that they are entertained by such plebeian tripe as MTV Cribs and TMZ, this crap is for you. It's all about the dramatic lives of the "haves" as viewed by a member of the middle class.

195) Owen's Marshmallow Chick - (139 Word Count)
196) Zoom on my Broom - (170 Word Count)
197) Platypus
198) 1984 - (88942 Word Count)

199) Why Do Men Have Nipples?
200) The Jungle Books - (50772 Word Count)
201) Count of Monte Cristo - (463958 Word Count)
202) Hamlet - (30066 Word Count)
203) The Tragedy of King Lear - (27507 word count)
204) Titus Andronicus - (21628 word count)
205) The Life and Death of King John - (21698 word count)
206) Much Ado About Nothing - (17227 word count)

207) Skunks! - (506 word count)
208) How Superman Came to Earth
209) Adventures of Superbaby
210) When Superman was Superboy
211) Superman in Metropolis
212) Dinosaur Time - (490 word count)
213) King Richard II - (23291 word count)
214) The Two Towers - (143436 word count)
215) Henry IV Part 2 - (27625 word count)
216) A Midsummer Night's Dream - (17227 word count)
217) The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead
218) Henry V - (27441 word count)

219) George-isms
220) Henry VI part 1 - (22770 word count)
221) Henry VI part 2 - (26778 word count)
222) Henry VI part 3 - (25827 word count)
223) Prentice Hall Literature: Copper Edition
224) Richard III - (31084 word count)
225) Two Gentlemen of Verona - (18287 word count)
226) Henry VIII - (25811 word count)
227) Shakespeare Fandex
228) Troilus and Cressida - (27531 word count)
229) Taming of the Shrew - (22153 word count)
230) Love's Labour's Lost - (22881 word count)
231) Othello - (27860 word count)
232) Return of the King - (134462 word count)
233) A Wolf at the Door and Other Retold Fairy Tales - (36109 word count)
234) Measure for Measure - (22867 word count)

235) Merchant of Venice - (22248 word count)
236) Ninth Grade Slays - (61874 word count)
237) The Winter's Tale - (25943 word count)
238) Timon of Athens - (19628 word count)
239) Henry IV part 1 - (22770 word count)
240) Very Rude Limericks
241) Tenth Grade Bleeds - (63430 word count)
242) F for Effort
243) Pericles, Prince of Tyre - (19647 word count)
244) Alice in Wonderland - (26435 word count)
245) Nastiest Things Ever Said About Republicans
246) Eleventh Grade Burns - (70346 word count)
247) Vampires - Jane Yolen - (51075 word count)
248) Oedipus at Colonus - (15577 word count)

249) Twelfth Grade Kills - (71416 word count)
250) Vegetarian Recipes with Just 3 or 4 Ingredients
251) Magic Tree House: Christmas in Camelot - (11153 word count)
252) Two Noble Kinsmen (25424 word count) (My last Shakespearean piece! I have officially read all of Shakespeare's {known} works!)
253) Anne of Green Gables - (97364 word count)
254) Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve - (11205 word count)
255) Summer of the Sea Serpent - (11122 word count)
256) Winter of the Ice Wizard - (11217 word count)
257) The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories
258) Carnival at Candlelight - (11833 word count)
259) Season of the Sandstorms - (11815 word count)
260) Antigone - (11061 word count)
261) Electra - (12060 word count)
262) Night of the New Magicians - (11651 word count)
263) Blizzard Of The Blue Moon - (12481 word count)
264) Dragon of the Red Dawn - (11384 word count)
265) Monday With a Mad Genius - (12638 word count)
266) Dark Day in the Deep Sea - (11676 word count)
267) Eve of the Emperor Penguin - (12547 word count)
268) Bhagavad Gita - (19148 word count)

269) Moonlight on the Magic Flute - (11797 word count)
270) Future Directions
271) A Good Night for Ghosts - (13010 word count)
272) Leprechaun in Late Winter - (13376 word count)
273) A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time - (13479 word count)
274) A Crazy Day with Cobras - (13469 word count)
275) Dogs in the Dead of Night - (13792 word count)
276) Abe Lincoln at Last! - (13166 word count)
277) A Perfect Time for Pandas - (13819 word count)
278) Peter Pan by Phoebe Wilson
279) Peter Pan
280) Sunrise, Sunset
281) The Great Redwall Feast
282) Vampire High: Sophomore Year
283) Your Personal Penguin
284) Welcome to Molly's World
285) Hercules by Lisa Ann Marsoli

It's 10:30PM, December 31st 2012. Let's see what I can complete in one last hurrah.

286) Hercules
287) Hachiko Waits

I just ordered MORE books, and it is ALL your fault...

Hachiko Waits

;)

See you in your 2013 thread...where is it?

My "fault" - You say that like it's a bad thing, lol

I'm in a few different challenge groups this year:
Benuathanasia's 75 in 2013
13 Books in 13 Categories in 2013
250 Books in 2013
Club Read (EVERYTHING I read this year, not just books)

250????

No way, not for me...