Cmbohn's 999, part 2

Since I am already halfway done with my first 999, I want to go ahead and select some books for my 2nd set of 999 books for this year.

Categories:

Historical Fiction and Non-Fiction
Plays - completed!
New Mysteries - completed!
Global Reading - completed!
Non-fiction - completed!
LDS books, part 2 - completed!
Fantasy/Myth - completed!
Books I Haven't Read for 10 years or more - completed!
Books I found at the library - completed!

Edited to add my ticker!




Link to my first set http://www.librarything.com/topic/46595

I am *OFFICIALLY* all done! I finished the last book today, August 18th. Very happy!

Category 1

Historical Fiction or Non-fiction- 9/9

1. Lady Susan ****
2. Persuasion ****
3. A Countess Below Stairs ****
4. The Name of the Rose ***
5. Don Quixote **
6. The Companion - Ann Granger ***
7. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass ****
8. The Trouble in Thor ***
9. The Only Rose - Jewett ****

Alternates: The Warden, The Plague, The Black Arrow

Category 2

Plays - 9/9

1. All's Well that Ends Well **
2. A Comedy of Errors **
3. As You Like It ****
4. Waiting for Godot *****
5. A Raisin in the Sun ****
6. Long Day's Journey Into Night *****
7. Cyrano de Bergerac ****
8. Lysistrata **
9. Lady Windermere's Fan ***

Category 3

New Mysteries - 9/9 - meaning new to me

1. Murder Every Monday ****
2. A Three Pipe Problem ****
3. The Black Shrike *
4. Losing Ground - Aird ****
5. Filmi, Filmi, Inspector Ghote ***
6. Dearly Depotted ***
7. The Long Farewell ****
8. Ashes to Ashes - Lathen *****
9. The Blessing Way ***

alternate: Storm Front

Category 4

Global Reading - 9/9 - meaning not written by an American or Briton

1. Cry, the Beloved Country ***** - South Africa
2. The God of Small Things * - India
3. The Book Thief **** - Germany
4. The Dragon's Village *** - China
5. Still Life - Louise Penny **** - Canada
6. Winter's Tales ** - Denmark
7. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo **** - Sweden
8. Wife of the Gods **** - Ghana
9. The Tree of Man *** Australia

Category 5

Non-Fiction - 9/9

1. The Worst Hard Time ****
2. The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring **
3. American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation ****
4. Heroes Among Us ***
5. Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs **
6. Threads from the Web of Life ****
7. You Did What? Mad Plans and Great Historical Disasters **
8. Death from the Skies! ***
9. Bozo Sapiens****

alternate: The Fortune Cookie Chronicles
Undaunted Courage

Category 6

LDS Books, part 2 - 9/9

1. Mothers of the Prophets ***
2. Jesus the Christ - Talmage ****
3. A Heart Like His: Making Space for God's Love in Your Life ****
4. You Can Never Get Enough of What You Don't Need - didn't finish
5. Because He First Loved Us *****
6. Royal _target ***
7. A Modest Proposal ***
8. Putting on the Armor of God ****
9. Three Tickets to Peoria ***

alternate: Joseph Smith, the Prophet - Madsen

Category 7

Fantasy/Myth - 9/9 - FINISHED!

1. The Last Olympian ***** - LOVED IT!
2. The Lost Queen ***
3. The Queen of Attolia ****
4. Wildwood Dancing *****
5. Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary ****
6. Wizards at War ****
7. The Book of Lies - Moloney ***
8. The Wizard Heir *****
9. Grip of the Shadow Plague ****

alternate: The Naming, The Glastonbury Reader

Category 8

Books I haven't read in 10 years or more - 9/9 - ones I wanted to reread, many because of this challenge!

1. Watership Down *****
2. A Wrinkle in Time ****
3. Little Women ****
4. The Castle of Otranto ***
5. Heart of Darkness ****
6. The Reluctant Widow ****
7. Under Western Eyes **
8. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl - ***
9. The Joy Luck Club ****

alternate: Crime and Punishment, The Secret Agent

Category 9

Books I Found at the Library - 9/9

1. Silks ****
2. No Holly for Miss Quinn ****
3. Enthusiasm ****
4. Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra **
5. Death and the Visiting Fireman *
6. The Sword of the Rightful King ***
7. Death of a Fat God ****
8. Javelinas - Yule ***
9. Lost in Austen ***

So the ones I need the most help on are historical fiction and global reading. The eras I am most interesting in reading about are WWII and the Victorian era, but I wouldn't mind branching out a bit. And for global reading, I have mostly read English or American authors and settings, with some French authors. So I'm pretty open to something new.

Here are some suggested books for global reading. These are very well known and widely read books. These would be a good place to start as enough people have read them so that you can easily begin a discussion of them with others. The countries are the author's birthplace, not necessarily the setting of the book.

I'm Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti - Italy
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami - Japan
Snow - Orhan Pmauk - Turkey
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel - Mexico
The Reader - Bernhard Schlink - Germany
Smilla's Sense of Snow - Peter Høeg - Denmark
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak - Australia
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - Afghanistan
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy - India

That should get you started...

Thanks, SqueakyChu!

On your Mystery category I see Dearly Depotted -- have you read the 2 in the series before that? Mum's the Word is the first one and sets up all the characters and their interactions.

Did you know that Laurie R King is coming out with a new Mary Russell mystery called The Language of Bees?

Two others I'd suggest are Margaret Maron's Deborah Knott series that starts with the Bootlegger's Daughter and Laura Lippman who's first is Baltimore Blues (I'm reading this one now - I read some before but out of order so I'm starting at the beginning.)

For global reading, what about Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago or Tolstoy's Anna Karenina for Russia, March by Geraldine Brooks from Australia and last there is Louise Penny from Canada with her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series that starts with Still Life which I thought was very good.

I was just reading Madhatter22's thread and she had a mystery by Tana French (Irish) called In the Woods that sounded great ! There's another for your global reading. I'm putting it on one of my lists.

Thanks for the suggestions! I read March already for my 999, but I wasn't crazy about it. I will look at Still Life and In the Woods. I'm sure I will adjust these lists several times, but I wanted to at least make a start.

I may rework the LDS category slightly, as I'm waiting on things for the library, and it's holding me up a bit.

Already to start!

Review for The Last Olympian - spoilers!

If you haven't read this one yet and plan to read it, don't read this review! I'll try not to make it too spoilerific, but I don't want to ruin the book for anyone.

REVIEW:

If you've read The Demigod Files, then you know how this one begins. If not, let me just remind you that we're all set for the war that may just end the world, between the gods and the Titans. Percy and the rest of his friends from Camp Half-Blood are on the side of the gods, but as Percy has learned, too many of his friends and even minor gods have gone over to the side of the Titans. Kronos is causing some major trouble and the gods are very busy, trying to defeat him.

Oh, and remember that prophecy? The one in the first book, that we didn't really get to hear all of? This time, we get to hear the whole thing, and let's just say, it's not encouraging. You can tell from the beginning that this is going to be a real battle, and there are no guarantees.

All of my favorite characters are back in this one: Grover, Tyson, Annabeth, Nico, Chiron, Mrs. O'Leary, the centaurs, the pegasi, and of course, Percy. Rachel is here too, and Percy is getting a strange vibe from her. But Riordan doesn't spare his characters - this is war, and there are some heartbreaking casualties. No details, but it was intense in some parts.

One of the fun things is that Riordan introduces a new god or immortal in every book, and this one is no exception. Many of the characters are new this time around. And even some of the previous characters reveal themselves as being a lot more complex than we might have expected.

It was not a perfect book, really, but I love this series so much that I'm not going to nitpick. There was love, hate, death, war, humor, and nonstop action. What else could I want in this conclusion?

Review for Wife of the Gods

Detective Inspector Darko Dawson has been sent out to the countryside of Ghana to investigate the murder of a young woman. When he arrives, he must deal with the local healer, the rural police, and the local fetish priest, as well as reconnect with his extended family he hasn't seen since his mother's disappearance years earlier.

There are plenty of murder suspects, and the more Dawson looks, the more complications he finds. And his own temper isn't doing him any good either.

I've seen the book description, which compares this to the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books by Alexander McCall Smith. Perhaps. But I think that a better comparison would be to Inspector Morse. This is a darker book. Don't let the lush Ghanaian setting fool you - this is a brooding, imperfect police detective dealing with some morally complicated issues.

I really enjoyed the chance to read this book. There were some format issues I spotting that proofreading ought to take care of. But the story, the characters, the setting - all make this a great book to read. I hope this is just the first in a good solid series.

Review for The Lost Queen

Tania/Anita is back in the mortal world, and is she in trouble! She has been missing for 3 days and her parents are frantic. Then she keeps having visions of herself in a previous life which strike without warning. Her friends don't know what to think. At least she still has Eldric, even if her mortal parents blame him for everything. And she needs to find her real mother, Titania, before the Sorcerer King does.

I'm not sure why I didn't like this one as much as the previous one. There was plenty of action. And I liked the glimpses of faerie life and the conflict Tania was facing. I guess maybe Tania herself was bothering me. She just seemed to keep making stupid decisions which got her into trouble. Then towards the end, I was expecting the reunion to go differently. It was rather unsatisfying.

I will probably read the next one, just to see what happens. I hope it's worth it.

Review for Ashes to Ashes - Emma Lathen

The cardinal has made the decision to close St. Bernadette's Parochial School. They can't find enough teachers, enrollment is down, and costs are up. They have an offer to purchase from a real estate developer, and the church can't afford to turn it down.

However, the parents in the neighborhood are not ready to let the school close its doors without a fight. They organize a Parents League and file a lawsuit. Negotiations begin, but neither side is willing to give in. The Sloan Guarantee Trust is handling the multimillion mortgage, so John Putnam Thatcher is stuck in the discussions. Things are at a stalemate, when the president in the league - and the accusing party in the lawsuit - is found murdered in the church.

Soon things are really out of control. Protesters flock to the little neighborhood, tempers flare, and the violence mounts. Thatcher better figure out what's going on before riots start breaking out.

I was so excited to find this one at the used bookstore. I totally love this series, and even though there are lots of little ways in which this books gives away its age (references to the Dow Jones losing a whopping 30 points in one day!), the conflicts are still real. And although each book opens with a few paragraphs about Wall Street, it doesn't take an economist to appreciate these little gems. Definitely worth reading, but extremely hard to find!

Review for Fablehaven 3: Grip of the Shadow Plague

Fablehaven is under a mysterious threat. Some of the magical creatures are turning dark. None of the humans can figure out what is causing this plague, much less how to stop it. It looks like one of their most trusted allies has betrayed them.

I liked this one a lot. Kendra and Seth both got to try some really challenging things. I was glad to see that Seth found his own strength in this one, and has started learning to listen to advice.

Some wonderful fantastic creatures in here, but my favorite was the demon. I hope we meet him again.

If you haven't read the first two, don't start here - you will be completely lost.

cmbohn, some suggestions for WWII:
Suite Francaise
Tales of the South Pacific - the James Michener short stories that the musical was based on.
Catch 22

I'm a bit late though - your Historical Fiction category seems to be full.

Also recommending Possession - Victorian.

I'm always looking for good book suggestions!

I second Suite Francaise.

Review for Enthusiasm

This was a fun teen romance that was neat little twist on Jane Austen. Julie's friend Ashleigh is always having these phases, or 'enthusiasms.' Suddenly Ashleigh discovers Jane Austen, and decided to go all out. Julie finally persuades her not to wear long dresses to high school, but agrees to go along to a boys' school dance, where they can meet their Mr. Darcys.

Like I said, it was a fun book. Ashleigh reminds me of several people I know, but fortunately, not quite so obsessed. And just about every reader will spot where the story is going almost from the beginning. The fun is in seeing HOW we get there.

Julie is a good character, with a complicated family, complicated emotions, and I really wanted her to get what she deserved. Recommended for teens or adults.

Review for Waiting for Godot

Let me start by saying that I do not like angst-ridden or depressing books. Both my daughters, my mom, my sister, and myself have all dealt with depression, and some of us are still struggling. I do not need to read more about depressed people. Really, I just don't. So why did I put this book on my list? It wasn't like I didn't know what it was like. No, it was because I saw part of it, the first act, on TV and I was mesmerized. I couldn't get it out of my mind. But I never got around to reading it until this year.

The plot is simple. Two men, Estragon and Vladimir, are waiting for a third man named Godot to arrive. That's it. While they wait, they try to pass the time. Godot never arrives.

It sounds like a pointless play, doesn't it? But it adds up to so much more. I am not a theater critic, but I found so much to connect with in this play. This play, to me, is about the human struggle to find meaning in life, and about what happens if you NEVER find that meaning. What then?

This is a line I loved, from Estragon to Vladimir.
"We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist?"

I am a person with a great faith in my purpose in life. And yet, I think because of that perhaps, I am also a person who knows what it means to question whether there really is any meaning at all in my own life. I think that a person of faith has greater doubts than a person without. A person of faith knows that God exists, but knows that He is not present for us. A person without faith knows that there is no God, and doesn't expect anything else. So for me, I have struggled over and over with trying to find my own purpose here in this life.

The blurb on the front reads, "One of the most noble and moving plays of our generation, a threnody of hope deceived and deferred but never extinguished." The two characters wait for something to happen. In the meantime, they fuss with their clothes, they have a little something to eat, they meet other people and try to interact, but above all, they do nothing, because there is nothing to be done. And yet, they keep coming, every day, to wait.

Not everyone will appreciate this play. I tried to explain it to my daughter and she just didn't see the point in it at all. I'm not sure why it appeals to me. I think it is the fact that at the end of the play, Vladimir and Estragon are still waiting. I know that waiting.

What a beautiful review!

Review for Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra

With a title like that, you know it's not meant to be taken seriously. I'm fine with that. But well, it wasn't any fun either. One of Watson's acquaintances comes asking for help only to be murdered the next day by a mysteriously rodentine assailant. Holmes and Watson set off to Asia to track down the bad guy. Watson turns into a ladies' man, ending up in a Singapore brothel. Holmes has a crush on a Chinese woman. They find the bad guy and kill him.

And yet, like I said, it wasn't much fun. I got pretty tired of it. The whole romantic angle added nothing to the story. The only thing I liked about it was Captain Macdougall, a strangely named African Muslim. I liked him a lot. Whenever he left the story, I got bored.

Maybe for Holmesians, but I'm not going to read more by this author.

Review for Mothers of the Prophets

A good book, but certainly not great. The subject matter was interesting. But I had a real problem with the writing. One of the most annoying aspects was the way the writers would assume things about the women's lives. It would say something like, "We can guess that Sister X did this as a young woman." Why guess? If you don't know, don't put it in the book! I don't want speculation in a biography. I want stuff that has been verified. Otherwise it's fiction.

Review for Death from the Skies!

I will admit that I didn't finish this one. It was such a cool idea, and it was a lot of fun, but it did all start to blur into one big catastrophe. What is the difference between a gamma-ray burst and a supernova? And I didn't really get that chapter about black holes at all. I may give it another go later, but what I read was fun!

Review for The Book Thief

I liked this book. I really did. But I didn't *LOVE* it as much as I hoped I would. I heard so many rave reviews about this book that it was hard for it to live up to my expectation.

I loved Death as the narrator. I thought that was very cool. I also loved Liesel and Rudy. I think maybe the foreshadowing sort of took away from the emotional impact, though. For some reason, it just wasn't the amazing book I was expected, just a good book. Which is still a good thing. I'm glad I read it. Maybe after I think about it some more, I will change my mind.

Review for The Black Shrike by Alistair MacLean

I finally gave up on this one. So dated! Every time I started reading it, the hero was doing or saying something tough, and the love interest was acting like an airhead instead of the strong undercover agent she was said to be in the first chapter. I never did find out what 'The Black Shrike' was, and I just don't care.

Review for Lady Susan

If you think Jane Austen was all about the good girls who got their man, this little book would set you straight. Lady Susan is not a good girl. She is a manipulative, lying hypocrite. She is still quite good at getting her man, or someone else's man, or just about anything else she wants.

The story is told in letters back and forth, some by Lady Susan, some to her, and all of them about her. Lady Susan has made London a little hot for herself, so she has invited herself to stay in the country with her late husband's wife and family. This might have been awkward for some people. After all, she did try to persuade her brother-in-law not to marry. But she sails right in and makes herself at home. In no time, she is bewitched her hostess's brother and making plans for her daughter's marriage.

I really enjoyed this one. It was very short, but it was a fun book that I couldn't put down until I got to the end. I was hoping Lady Susan would get what was coming to her, but I won't tell you what happens.

Review for Death and the Visiting Fireman

A group of amateur enthusiasts are hired to entertain some visiting businessmen with a little theatrical. But in the middle of the staged highway robbery, someone takes a fatal shot at their highwayman.

This was the first mystery written by HRF Keating. He went on to write the Inspector Ghote books, which I love, and to be a noted critic and authority on mysteries. But he must have gotten a lot better as he went on, because this one was boring. The suspects are quarrelsome and unlikeable. The dead man is even worse. The policeman seems completely incompetent. And the so-called sleuth doesn't do much except snoop around in the middle of the night. I made it about halfway through and then skipped to the end. I was right about who the murderer was and the motive (not much mystery about it either), but it wasn't worth it to read the whole thing. Pass on this one.

Review for Wildwood Dancing

Jena and her 4 sisters have a secret. Every full moon, they find a portal into the Other World and dance the night away. But things are changing. Their father must leave their home and spend the winter away for his health. He leaves the castle in the care of Jena and her older sister Tati, and reminds them to ask their uncle for any help they need. But after he leaves, their uncle is killed in a hunting accident and their cousin Cezar takes over. And wow, does he take over. Suddenly the girls have little control over anything, because Cezar knows best.

Add to this the twist that Tati falls in love with one of the other visitors to the Other World, one who hangs around with a suspicious crowd. Vampires, anyone? Jena's own companion, a frog, starts acting differently too. It seems like just when things can't get any worse for the family, they do.

I really enjoyed this book. It's a mix of vampire folklore (it's set in Romania), the 12 Dancing Princesses and The Frog Prince, but it works surprisingly well. I really liked Jena, despite her flaws, and I loved the ending. Then I found out there's a sequel, Cybele's Secret, which might not be out yet. This one was a lot of fun.

Review The Long Farewell

Chief Inspector John Appleby is visiting Italy and takes the time to drop in on an old friend. Lewis Packford, a Shakespearean scholar, is pleased to see his friend, but Appleby gets the idea that he has a secret he's working on.

Just a few weeks later, Appleby is at Packford's funeral. His friend has committed suicide. But his lawyer thinks it was murder and wants Appleby to investigate.

Appleby finds that Packford had no shortage of motives for murder. He was a bigamist, he was deep in debt. But he also had a houseful of guests, and they all have secrets of their own. The more Appleby digs, the more he believes that this was no suicide.

I really enjoyed this one. I thought I remembered how this book ended, but I was wrong. I am so glad I found this one!

Review for No Holly for Miss Quinn

Miss Miriam Quinn moves into a quiet English village, expecting to enjoy the countryside and have a little privacy. Instead, she has hardly settled in when she gets a phone call from her brother. His wife is in the hospital and Christmas is days away. Could she please come and take care of the children while their mothers is in the hospital?

Miriam quickly learns that taking care of three active young children is harder than it looks. Her quiet Christmas spend redecorated her cottage is not going to happen. Instead she is stuffing a turkey, cleaning up the toddler's accidents, and visiting the hospital. Maybe this mothering thing is tough after all.

This is an old-fashioned book with an old-fashioned setting, but I really liked it. What struck me as the most old-fashioned thing about it wasn't the plot. The question of working woman versus homemaker is still a hot one. No, the most dated thing was the fact that Eileen was in the hospital for an entire week with abdominal pains! It turned out to be gall bladder trouble, but all they kept her for was to run tests and let her rest. I was in the hospital when they removed my appendix and I only spent 2 nights there!

Sweet book with sweet characters.

I had my children in Germany, where the Wochenbett is the rule--after giving birth, the mother and child remain in the hospital for an entire week to rest up and to make sure everything is fine. I had a c-section and was expected to stay until my stitches came out!

On 'Godot':
I'm one of them people who really didn't see the point in the entire production. ;) I really didn't like the fact that all they were doing was in fact, well, waiting...

40 - Wow! I had to practically beg to get 2 whole nights in the hospital after I had my youngest. And it was the labor from hell.

41 - Yes, I think that you either love it or hate it. I really enjoyed it, but I can see what you mean too.

On a bit of a reading break, as I am taking care of sick kids and playing with my (late) Mother's Day present, Endless Ocean for the Wii.

18/81 - The Sword of the Rightful King

I really like Jane Yolen and I love the Arthur stories, so this one seemed like a safe bet. However, I wasn't crazy about her Young Merlin trilogy. This one, happily, wasn't really connected with the Merlin stories. It revolved around Arthur, Merlin, Gawain and Morgause and a newcomer to court, the confusingly named Gawin.

Morgause is her normal rotten self, Gawain was a hero as always (he's my favorite, really), and there was much intrigue. I wound up only giving it 3.5 stars though, because the plot was just too complex to be believable. Arthur here was very easy to like. If you enjoy the Arthur stories, I think this one would be a fun one.

19/81 - Losing Ground - Catherine Aird

I was excited to see this latest in a series I really enjoy, featuring Detective Inspector CD Sloan and the almost-clueless Constable Crosby. This time, the action centers around first the theft of a painting and then around the arson involving the building in the painting. The building depicted is the center of a land development tangle involving preservationists, real estate developers, city planners, and a rock star.

I usually rate these at 5 stars, but this one seemed to me to be a little too much about, well, a little too little. The mystery didn't seem to be worth all the action. Things did heat up towards the very end, but until then it was pretty light. Still, I was happy to see a new book by Catherine Aird. I hope there's more to come!

I have a book of hers on my shelf, maybe I should move it a little higher up Toobie Mountain as it's always wonderful to have a new mystery series to read.

20/81 The Only Rose - Sarah Orne Jewett

This is a collection of four short stories by Sarah Orne Jewett.

"Aunt Cynthy Dallett" is about two friends to go to visit an elderly friend living in the mountains.

"The Only Rose" is a story about a woman who can't decide which of her three husbands' graves to place a special rose on.

"The Hilton's Holiday" is about a father who takes his two little girls for a special trip into town.

"Martha's Lady" is about a friendship that develops between a gauche young maid and a beautiful young lady.

When described like that, the stories don't sound like much. But taken all together, they present a view of a simpler, quieter kind of life, where visitors are something to be celebrated, where a letter is a real treat, where a visit into town is a big event. I got this one on audiotape, and that brought a new element to the story, as it became more storytelling, rather than just a reading. The pacing, the accents, the voices, all combined to make me really feel as if I were enjoying a quiet trip to the past.

I'm late to this conversation re: #12.. LOVED Like Water for Chocolate and it might be time for a re-read.

I went to a book signing for The Last Olympian on opening night. It's the end of this series, but he's writing a book about some of the other lesser gods and their kids who get mentioned in the series. And he's also working on a series about Egypt mythology. I'm looking forward to more Rick Riordan and perhaps should give his adult mystery series a try too.

#47 Earlier this year I read another anthology of sarah Orne Jewett's stories called New England Tales. Two of the stories were "Aunt Cynthy Dallett" and "The Hilton's Holiday." I thoroughly enjoyed both of them. "The Only Rose" sounds like one I'd love...must go find your collection. I really love her writing.

Your review was the reason I picked up this audiobook at the library, tututhefirst. It sounded like a wonderful read, so I was happy to find that my library had this collection of stories. I read some of her stories in college, but I hadn't read any since then. I'm glad you recommended her!

21/81 - Death of a Fat God by HRF Keating

I wasn't sure about this one. I really enjoyed the audiobook by Keating featuring India's Inspector Ghote, but the book set in England, Death and the Visiting Fireman, was really tedious and I couldn't finish it. I'm glad I gave him another chance.

Death and opera - a classic combination. So it's no surprise that this book set in a small English opera house would start with a death. But it wasn't a very permanent death, not as permanent as it was supposed to be. See, Tosca killed Scarpia. But he just wouldn't stay dead. And that began all the trouble.

Baritone Jean-Artaban has managed to make enemies of just about everyone involved in the little opera house - the director, the tenor, the pianist - his son, the contralto - she's his ex-wife, the soprano - his discarded mistress, and the ingenue, being introduced in a new opera, Death of a Fat God. Only the cleaning lady, Mrs. Craggs, has no particular grudge against him. But when someone is killed in an murder made to look like an accident, everyone is surprised it was someone else who died.

The police officer in charge of the case, Superintendent Pryde, doesn't seem to be up to the job. Only level-headed Mrs. Craggs can see through all the histrionics and the lies to spot the real killer.

I'm so glad I found this one! I love mysteries set on a stage or in the music world. Some of my favorites are Light Thickens by Ngaio Marsh, Swan Song by Edmund Crispin, and Funeral of Figaro by Ellis Peters. I'm surprised I hadn't read this one before, but I'm glad that I did find it. Not exactly a cozy, but not far off, in that the suspects all know one another, there is a closed crime scene, and an amateur sleuth. The difference, to me, is that of the feel. I love the irony in the conversations between Mrs. Craggs and fellow cleaning lady, Mrs. Milhorne. Recommended, but it will probably be hard to find. Any of the others I mentioned are also a lot of fun.

Cindy,
I think I'll have to look into these, they sound interesting.

22/81 - Dearly Depotted

Abby's neurotic cousin, Jillian, is finally getting married and Abby has agreed to do the flowers and be a bridesmaid. She wasn't counting on dead bodies. But when the groom's grandmother discovers one under a table, Abby jumps in to investigate. The police already have a suspect - her friend's new boyfriend. But Abby thinks they are too quick to draw conclusions. Oh, and what's going on with her hottie escort?

This is the third in a fun series. I enjoyed this one and the others, but I just don't enjoy books like this as much as I used to. The idea of a amateur detective gets a little hard to believe after a while. And why can't she figure out what's going on with Marco? This is the third book and there's been an attraction between them the whole time. Then she FALLS ASLEEP when she finally gets to spend an evening alone with him? What's up with that? I'm all for taking things slow, but she hasn't even decided if they are dating or not. How long is that going to take?

If you like cozy mysteries, this is a fun series. I like the characters, although Jillian is a bit much, and there's not this shove-it-down-your-throat thing that a lot of the 'theme cozies' seem to have. Yes, she's a florist, but it's not a DIY book for aspiring green thumbs. For myself, I would probably read another in the series if I got the chance, but I'm not going to go out and look for one.

Oops! I knew you were starting a new thread, but somehow missed you posting the new link. (I think I was diverted by thoughts of lemon cake!) Anyway, caught up with you now. Your review of Waiting for Godot makes me want to read it now. I have the same reservations as you did in the beginning, so if you like it, maybe I will too.

One other thing you said captured my interest as well:

I think that a person of faith has greater doubts than a person without...A person without faith knows that there is no God, and doesn't expect anything else. So for me, I have struggled over and over with trying to find my own purpose here in this life.

I think you've captured the core feeling that most (all?) people struggle with, to find meaning and purpose in their lives. And you're right, as an atheist, I don't expect an afterlife, but in my mind that just makes this struggle all the more difficult for me. So, thanks for talking about it; it's good to be reminded that my daily actions need to more closely represent what I most value and believe in.

Thanks for your comment, bonniebooks.

23/81 - Bozo Sapiens: Why to Err is Human

First of all - nice title. I probably wouldn't have picked it up if not for the title.

As the subtitle suggests, this is an attempt to explain human behavior, especially DUMB human behavior. Why do we take so many risks? Why do we procrastinate? Overeat? Cheat on spouses? Fall for get-rich-quick schemes? Succumb to mob mentality? There are a lot of reasons, but most of them have to do with the brain.

I enjoyed this book. The part about economics was interesting, in light of the current recession and my own financial bind. It helped me to see money a little differently, in terms of what I am using for and what I really want from my purchases. And the part about nutrition and eating habits was really useful, as I am on a diet - again - and trying to get serious about it this time. Apparently, the normal human condition is hungry. So trying to stuff that down with food every time it surfaces is going to inevitably lead to weight gain, because no matter how much you eat, you will still feel hunger now and then.

I enjoyed the book, and I did learn something from it. One minor quibble is that I would have liked to see an index, but maybe that will be there in the final edition, as I read the advance copy. Overall though, I'm not sure how much this book is as insightful as it wanted to be. It was fun, but I'm not sure it was deep.

cmbohn, Bozo Sapiens sounds interesting. I will have to look for it. Great title!!

>55 cmbohn:, Did you find that you were learning something new? Or was it stuff you mostly knew, but the info. was presented in an entertaining way?

Some of it was new stuff. The part about love and what attracts the opposite sex was something I had read before. But all the part that focused on economics was new to me, and fairly useful, as was the nutrition part. That wasn't completely new, but I never put it together in a way that made sense to me before. So I'm glad I read it.

Really late to the discussion, but wanted to thank you for your review of Waiting for Godot. I have read this several times over the years and always take something new from it.

Thanks, Tracyfox. I'd really like to see the play now.

24/81 Little Women

I have read this before, several times, but I haven't read it in a while. So after reading March by Geraldine Brooks I decided to reread the original and see how they fit together.

As I read it this time, I realized how little the reader really knows about Mr. March. Even when he comes home from the war, he is very much in the background, scarcely mentioned, while Marmee influences the whole book. And while I really enjoyed the book, even as an adult, I did find myself wondering about Alcott's own family life and how much that affected the story. I'm sure it was a major influence. The parallels are definitely there. But the critical essay at the end of the book seemed to infer a little too much, IMO.

It also mentioned Alcott's dissatisfaction with her own story, saying that she never felt that link with girls, and didn't like the way she had to tie everything up at the end with neat little love stories for each girl. She felt it weakened the story. Honestly, this was one time when knowing what the writer thought made the story LESS enjoyable to me. I liked the ending. Sure, it's neat and tidy, but it fits. I even like Jo's marriage to Professor Bhaer and her big house full of boys. Granted, Jo could have stayed single, like Alcott herself, and devoted herself to writing and taking care of her parents. But Alcott was unhappy with that too, taking satisfaction only in the fact that she was financially independent.

Rather a confused review, I guess! I enjoyed reading the book again, so maybe I should have stopped with saying that much!

25/81 & 26/81 - The Irregulars and Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs

You would think that a real life book about espionage would be interesting, but two books in a row proved that not to be the case. Maybe it's because the author has to leave out too much, or because there is not enough good source information, so the author has to guess. But both of these were hard to get through. Too much boring detail to get through and not enough pictures. Too much politics, not enough action.

I really enjoy Roald Dahl as an author, so I was looking forward to The Irregulars. I had no idea that Britain was working so hard to sway American policy toward World War II and get Americans involved. This should have been an interesting book. But I got lost in all the names, and if anything interesting happened, I missed it. Two stars is being generous, but I did enjoy the biographical parts about Dahl's family life and early writing career.

The second book was about the OSS, organized by division. WAAAAAY too much detail. There were maps, but I was still confused about what was going on. The most interesting part to me was about the 'amphibious squadron' - sorry, I had a Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow moment. But you know what I mean, the forerunners of the Navy Seals. I also liked the part about how the OSS got started. But I basically skipped around in this one too. Neither is recommended unless you are a major WWII buff or a big fan of Roald Dahl's.

27/81 - A Three Pipe Problem

Actor Sheridan Haynes is really Sherlock Holmes. Well, not really. But he does play him in a British television program. He has a bit of an obsession about the detective. They share the same initials. He even has a flat on Baker Street. If only life were as simple as it is in the books.

In real life, his Watson is an open homosexual, which bothers the intensely private Haynes. His wife is sleeping with the producer. They've rewritten his scripts to include a hint of romance. Traffic is horrible. And everyone seems to be laughing at him.

So when a new series of murders has all of London talking, Holmes - I mean Haynes - is determined to solve the case. Using the great detective's own methods, surely he can identify the murderer before Scotland Yard!

He starts by finding his own set of Baker Street Irregulars. The suspects - none other than his fellow cast members. Haynes seems to be getting close enough in his investigation to get himself into danger. Things escalate until no one - not Haynes, not the police, and not the reader - can tell who to trust.

I really enjoyed this book. The ending and the identity of the murderer was in question almost until the very end of the book. So many people looked guilty. This is more of a psychological mystery than a straight murder. Symons is brilliant at creating this sort of book, where you don't know what to expect at all. If you like cozy mysteries, this is very different, but if you prefer a book where there are more shades of gray than black and white, you will like this one. A well done twist on the classic Holmes story.

28/81 - Threads from the Web of Life

This was a lovely collection of essays, each focusing on a different scene. From ocean to forest to jungle, this book ranged all over the planet, explaining why nature works the way it does and how it got that way. It's hard to pick my favorite essay, but one standout was the one on the migration of squid. I also loved to read about the mysterious UFO also known as the white pelican.

Sometimes the writing was a little too lyrical, but I loved the section at the end of each essay, telling about the science behind the story, and the section at the end of the book, giving the reader options for further reading. A wonderful book for any nature lover.

Slightly stalled due to some crazy stuff going on at home. I'm hoping things will calm down and I get start concentrating on reading again.

29/81 Silks by Dick Francis

Although there are horses and races in the latest Dick Francis book, it's more of a courtroom drama than a book about racing. His hero, Geoffrey Mason, aka as Perry, is a barrister and an amateur jockey. When one of the professionals is arrested for murdering a colleague, Mason's worlds collide with all the explosion of a train wreck.

I enjoyed this one. I like courtroom book, so that part was fun. And Mason is a likable character too. I'm glad to see another book by Francis.

30/81 Javelinas - Yule

Just found this one at the library and the cute little pink nose on the cover convinced me that I had to take this one home. Full of photos of the collard peccary, to give them their official name. Some facts I didn't know, like that they turn colors in winter, with their coat fading light like some rabbits do. I also learned that the young are called piglings and weigh about 1 pound when born. And a reminder, in case anyone needed one, that while these critters are very appealing, they do not make good pets.

31/81 Lost in Austen - Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure

I didn't really have a great category for this one, but after hearing about it here on LT, I knew I had to find a copy to take a look.

What fun! This is a 'create your own adventure' book, with multiple storylines that allow you to choose which option you will follow. And you keep track of your points along the way, as well as your 'superior connections', character flaws, and so on.

I explored pretty much every path, but eventually, like Lizzie Bennett, I found my Mr. Darcy and settled down for a happy ending. But I could have been captured by gypsies, been locked in an attic by Fanny Price, married Captain Wentworth, or, worst of all! - married Mr. Collins. That story was especially funny too.

If you are not familiar with the Jane Austen books, this will not be as much fun. But for Austen lovers, it was quite funny and worth looking for.

32/81 Royal _target - Abramson

Janessa works for the CIA, and she's LDS. She meets Prince Garrett while on assignment. His country, a fictional European place called Meridia, needs more security and after the American embassy is bombed, they call in the CIA and Janessa heads to Meridia. Her undercover assignment is to pretend to be engaged to Garrett, while figuring out who's responsible for the bombing. But she soon finds herself with real feelings for him.

This is like a fairy tale romance for LDS. It's not even remotely believable, but I'm guessing that's why it's popular. Who doesn't want to find a handsome prince, one who just happens to be LDS, and live happily ever after in their fabulous castle by the sea? Sounds great, right? Oh, and she's gorgeous and smart too. It's like brain candy. It's fine once and a while, but too much will be just to sweet to swallow.

I may be a little harsh here. It's not like I hated the book. It was fun, and I'm glad I finished it. But I don't know that I'll read any more by this author.

33/81 The Trouble in Thor

Thor is a little mining town in Michigan. The whole town, from top to bottom, depends on the mine. In this book, Armstrong takes a look at several different families, with all kinds of relationships, and them examines what happens when a mine caves in, trapping 5 men. All kinds of tensions and drama erupt in the little community while they wait to see who will emerge from underground alive.

I enjoyed this story. Sometimes the dialogue was a little hard to follow, but the portrait of an older time was a convincing one. I wasn't quite clear on exactly when this was supposed to be set, but certainly times have changed. Still, just last year, here in Utah we had another cave in, and the drama and emotion while the whole town waited, holding their breath, that tension has not changed. Good solid book.

34/81 Murder Every Monday

After a little misunderstanding involving an oncoming train, the members of the Asterisk Club, a club so incredibly exclusive that one must be invited to join and even then it's not a given, decide to combine their expertise and make a little money by running a summer course in the country.

And what are they experts in? Murder, of course. Everyone, from the Colonel to Mrs. Braden to the new recruit Dina, has been acquitted of murder. Some of them more than once. So they set up shop in a run down country manor and begin offering courses on how to remove the Intended. Courses include Anatomy, Forensic Medicine, Poison, Grips, Electricity, Court Etiquette and Alibis, Automobiles and Firearms.

Classes are going well until one of the students gets a little carried away and actually Removes someone on the premises. This makes for great practice on Disposal, of course, but it does seem a joke in rather bad taste. Clifford Flush, in charge of the course, does not want to accuse anyone, but naturally, such behavior must stop.

I was very pleased to find this book at the secondhand store, after just loving her first book, The Wooden Overcoat. This one has the same crazy black humor as the first, with an entertaining cast. What really makes Branch a good writer to me is what she chooses to leave to the reader's imagination. Now I'm dying to read the next one!

Murder Every Monday looks good. I will have to add it to my Rue Morgue Press category. (I've already read Branch's The Wooden Overcoat and loved that.)

Rue Morgue's catalog also shows Lion in the Cellar and Murder's Little Sister.

I will definitely add them to my TBR list. This one was a lot of fun.

35/81 The Worst Hard Time

Having lived in Oklahoma during my high school years and traveled across the state often on my way to visit grandparents, I have seen a lot of the country covered in this heartbreaking story of the Dust Bowl. That may be one of the reasons why I picked up this book. The other reason, of course, is that so many other LT people were reading it and recommending it.

I had learned a little bit of the history of this time in school, including learning about Roosevelt's New Deal economics and how it affected farmers. But I have to admit that I didn't really understand what caused the terrible storms until I read this. Living in a dry country myself, I can see how hard it would be to try and get a living from the soil without rain. But here I have the mountains to break up the wind. Out on the prairies, there's nothing for miles and miles, and the wind just goes on and on. Without that grass to hold onto the dirt, it will just fly away. And the pressures on the farmers to plow more and more land left them with no understanding of why soil conservation is critical to keeping a nation from going hungry.

The stories told and the writing were indeed remarkable. I really got the feeling of how desperate a time it must have been. And those black and white photos of the storms and the dust they left behind were amazing.

But I didn't really enjoy this book. Maybe that was BECAUSE it was so well written, that I found it extremely depressing. Great, another story of how the dust killed off the cattle, the children, the land itself. It was a little more than I could imagine at time.

I think this might have been a case of right book, wrong time. I have so much going on in my life right now that I'm just not up to major drama and heartbreak in my book too.

36/81 Watership Down - spoilers!

Hazel, his brother Fiver, and some other rabbits set off to find a new place to live. Along the way, they encounter challenges they never expected and prove to be resourceful and brave.

For many folks, they have to wonder how good a book about rabbits could really be. But to paraphrase Lance Armstrong, it's not about the bunny. This is about a quest to find a safe place to call home.

From the preface, it seems that Adams was a little tired of being pressed to explain "what it all means." It started out as a children's story about rabbits. But whether he intended it that way or not, it became much more.

This is still one of my favorite stories. I love Hazel, the leader in spite of himself, who inspires his group by his compassion and common sense. I love Bigwig, tough and brave, but willing to learn something new. I love Dandelion and Blackberry, and they way the help their friends and never give up.

This time around, I especially loved the ending, when Hazel goes on to his reward. Just a great book. And if all you see in it is a story about some bunnies, that's okay with me. But to me it means a lot more.

When I read it, the Cold War was still going on with the Soviet Union, so it meant a lot more than a story about bunnies for me. I wonder how young people who didn't grow up with their parents fear about that, post WWII, will read this book?

37/81 The God of Small Things

Two children witness a horrible act of violence and are never the same. This was a very depressing read and I wish I had never picked it up.

38/81 A Raisin in the Sun

I really enjoyed this play. The book that I got had the original cast listed, including Ruby Dee, Louis Gossett, and Sydney Poitier. Talk about a dream cast!

When I think about the play, it's not so much one individual line that comes to mind as much as the general feeling, that the Youngers have struggled and worked and waited for a better life, but never can seem to find a break.

The play takes its name from a poem by Langston Hughes called, 'A Dream Deferred.' It's a powerful poem - what happens to a dream deferred? This is a beautiful case of a play built around a poem, one that encapsulates the struggle of Black Americans to have the kind of life they saw everyone else enjoying.

I'm frustrated. All the global reading books that I wanted to read are not available at the library. I just adjusted the list, but I was hoping to read some of the ones that Carlos has been reviewing on his list. Nothing! So I chose some more based on what I could get at the library, but this may change again.

bonnie - None of my kids have read Watership Down either, but I think it's still relevant. And it's a good read!

39/81 The Book of Lies - Moloney

A new boy arrives at the orphanage, but he can't remember anything about his past. All he knows is that his name is Marcel. Marcel quickly makes friends with an odd girl named Bea. Upstairs from their rooms is a strange wizard with a terrible beast. When Marcel and Bea steal a mysterious book, they learn that everything Marcel has been told about himself is a lie. They try to figure out how to use the book to discover the truth, but it will be a long more complicated - and more dangerous - than they expected.

I don't want to give too much away, but I did really enjoy this book. Marcel and his new friends are fun characters and the plot was suitably entertaining. The end sort of sets up a sequel, so some of the loose ends may be tied up there.

40/81 Lady Windermere's Fan

This play wasn't what I expected. I think I was expecting something like The Importance of Being Earnest, which is such a light and fluffy bit of fun. This one wasn't like that. There were still some very funny lines, like the familiar "I can resist everything except temptation," but the subject was more serious and the funny lines were just thrown in around the action.

Lady Windermere has only been married 2 years. She and her husband married as a love match. But now gossip has linked her husband with an older woman. Lady Windermere can't forgive or listen to her husband's attempt to explain that it's not really like that. A tangle of complicated situations that can't ever be explained follow, with mixed results. I might enjoy it more if I saw it onstage. As it is, it was fun reading, but nothing more.

41/81 Still Life - Louise Penny - halfway done!

Inspector Gamache of the Surete de Quebec arrives in a small town to investigate the death of a well-liked old lady. She has been found shot with an arrow. Was it accident or murder? There don't seem to be many suspects, but as he digs a little deeper, he uncovers lots of secrets in the little town.

I haven't read much in Canadian mysteries, so I was happy to hear about this one. I enjoyed the look at the little town, at Quebec life, at the language, and at the police force. Gamache is saddled with a rookie who just can't seem to learn from her mistakes. I found that little dynamic pretty funny. And I loved the characters.

This one was really well done. I thought I knew where the story was heading, but I was wrong. I just found out that there are 2 more in the series, and I am looking forward to reading them as well.

42/81 You Did What? Mad Plans and Great Historical Disasters

This was a collection of really bad decisions. They ranged from the Trojan War, to Napoleon's invasion of Russia to New Coke. Some were more fun to read than others. There were a couple in there that were too long and didn't seem to fit the rest of the stories. And it was fun to get to a few things that I actually remembered.

Nothing deep and meaningful, but a mostly fun collection.

Cindy, STOP....STOP!!

I'm falling behind. I am finally back into the retired ranks and trying to catch up on threads and I read yours and add 5 books to my wishlist. Stop it! I'll never catch up.

*evil chuckle!*

43/81 Filmi, Filmi, Inspector Ghote

Inspector Ghote is at first surprised and pleased to be sent to investigate the murder of a movie star. But when he gets there, he finds that this is not going to be the quick and easy case he hoped for. He knows very little about the film world, and lead after lead seems to go nowhere. This may be the case that ruins his career.

I like Inspector Ghote. He is a very sympathetic character, with real human emotions. He is dazzled by the lovely leading lady. He imagines himself covered in glory and at the center of attention. He gets furious with stubborn suspects. But he sticks with it until he solves the case.

If you like mysteries set around movies, you might also like Frequent Hearses by Edmund Crispin and The Mirror Crack'd by Agatha Christie.

44/81 American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation

I went to a discussion group last year where we talked about the Constitution, the Founding Fathers, and religion. I wish I had read this book before going, because I would have been more able to defend my case. This book examines the true religious principles that guided the writing of the Constitution.

The basic idea of the book is that religious freedom has always been important in the history of America. The Founding Fathers did not want to eliminate God, or Providence as they often referred to him, completely from public life, but that they felt it best to leave the matter as open as possible, so that each person could define that Providence however they wished. They also designed the Constitution and the Republic to make it more difficult for minorities to control the whole, but also so that they would also be protected.

Meacham does a great job in this book. I found it extremely readable, and certainly relevant. The book is not very long, but it has over 100 pages of appendix, including source notes, bibliography, and selected documents that he quotes in the book. The only thing it lacked was an index, which I would have appreciated.

Still, such a great book. Here is my favorite quote:

"Democracy is easy; republicanism is hard. Democracy is fueled by passion; republicanism is founded on moderation. Democracy is loud, raucous, disorderly; republicanism is quiet, cool, judicious--and that we still live in its light is the Founders' most wondrous deed."

cmbohn, another Inspector Ghote fan. Filmi, Filmi sounds good.

I really liked it.

45/81 Lysistrata by Aristophanes

The basic plot behind this book is pretty well known. The Greek women get tired of war and decide force a peace treaty. Their weapon of choice is sex - they will withhold intimacy from their men until the men agree to call off the war.

As might be expected, the dialogue is pretty full of innuendo and at time explicit reference to sex. There are lots of jokes about it. I'm not sure how this would be staged in today's world.

I was fine with that. What bothered me was the translation. For instance, apparently the Spartans had an accent that marked them out from the Athenians. The translator chose to interpret that as a country hick accent. Then there was the attempt to make the dialogue modern and hip, which is of course, at least 20 years out of date.

Not a bad play, although the whole idea shouldn't have taken as long as it did to stage. One act would have been enough. But if you want to read it, find a different translation. This one was done by Douglass Parker and it is really jarring to read.

*edited to correct translator!

46/81 Winter's Tales by Isak Dinesen

This was a collection of short stories, some with fantasy elements, some with a bit of romance, but all having the same sort of wistful feel to them. All the characters seem to be dissatisfied with life. Some of the stories are resolved, some are not.

I had a hard time reading these stories. They didn't seem to have a definite theme, and even the plots were hard to describe. My favorite story was 'The Heroine.'

Though I don't always agree with him, I always enjoy listening to John Meacham on Charlie Rose. I think I'll eventually read his book--after I read the 9 other socio-political books that I bought and promised myself I would actually read!

89> Are you sure the translator is William Arrowsmith and not Douglass Parker?

I read the play on my own years ago, but I don't remember the country hick accents, so it must have been a different translation. Aristophanes was Athenian, and would have made the Athenians come across as smarter/better than the Spartans.

92 - I'll have to check. That's what the site said, according to the cover. But now I can't find the book. I'll check when I can.

just catching up on threads...#86, American Gospel looks like an absolute for me...It's going on the wishlist, tbr, and the BIG HINT HINT to hubbie...

47/81 The Tree of Man by Patrick White - spoiler!

Wow, what a chunk of a book! 499 pages. And I don't know why that feels so big, as I have read some for the challenge that were even bigger, but it just felt like a really big book.

The book is all about an Australian couple, Stan and Amy Parker. It is sort of an epic, a great Australian novel, as it were. They build a home, work on their farm, raise cows, have a couple of kids, survive a flood and a fire, meet the neighbors. Stan goes off to war. Their son turns out to be a weak criminal type; their daughter a social climber. They both get old. Stan dies.

And believe it or not, that is really the whole book. Why did it take 499 pages? I'm not entirely sure. It's certainly not because of the dialogue. Both Stan and Amy are taciturn by nature.

Perhaps this is White's way of portraying the basic honest type of person who is always at the heart of a thriving nation. The Parkers are not every anyone special. But their lives are still important.

I didn't really love this book, but I did enjoy the style. I'm not sure if it's the writer or because he was Australian, but there are just small differences in the way the story is told. I had to read it a little more carefully, because he says so much without saying it straight out. So much of the story is implied in just a few words, which means the reader has to extrapolate and decipher the littlest clue.

I don't know if I will read more by this author or not, but this was certainly a change from what I normally read.

Booklizard - You are right; it was Douglass Parker. I just checked. And BTW, what a really hideous cover.

LOL. Thanks for checking. Was that the Dover Thrift Edition? I've gotten those before because they're so cheap, but maybe this is a case of you get what you pay for?

I just get everything from the library. That's the cheapest of all if you can remember to return the book on time!

Mine was from the library too!

48/81 A Comedy of Errors

Not one of Shakespeare's best. Two pairs of twins were separated shortly after birth, one pair gentlemen and one pair servants. They are reunited after a series of confusing events and mistaken identity.

It wasn't a bad play, and would probably be funnier on stage, but it didn't seem enough of a plot for 5 whole acts.

98> Poor underfunded libraries buying the cheapest books! LOL!

Yep!

49/81 Long Day's Journey Into Night

The Tyrones - mother, father, and two sons - spend a day more or less together in the country. Within the course of that day, we see all sorts of nasty little secrets that were only suggested in the first act.

This is the first O'Neill play I have read, and I have to say that I found it excellent. Not much fun, but really well done. The theme, to me, was that of excuses, excuses. The entire family has someone - someone else, that is - to blame for being the way they are. Mary blames her husband, her dead son, Edmund, life in general, not having her own house, her circumstances. Tyrone senior blames his difficult childhood, his lost chances. Both sons blame their parents. But in the end, every character admits the truth of why they are the way they are.

Every character except Mary. Despite many chances to admit the truth - she is a drug addict - she denies to the very end. And it is the difference between the men in the play, with their ultimate honesty, and Mary's self-deception that makes me angry with her and feel empathy for the others.

There is a chance, a small one, but still a chance, that Edmund will get well, that Tyrone will stop drinking, that Jamie will branch out on his own. But Mary is stuck where she is, dreaming and lying through her life.

Like I said, this wasn't exactly a fun play, but it was extremely realistic. Very well done and highly recommended.

50/81 As You Like It

I'm not going to go into the complicated plot on this one, but it's the one with Rosalind and Orlando, where Rosalind, for her own mysterious reasons, pretends to be a boy and flirts with Orlando, who is extremely dense, and never figures out that she is a girl.

Forget about whether this is believable or not. (It's not.) In fact, the whole plot is pretty darn farfetched. It is, however, funny in some places and thoughtful in other places. Like all Shakespeare, it's much better on stage than on paper, but it was still a fun read.

What I really enjoyed about the edition I read is that it had photos from the Royal Shakespeare Academy and others of the play, including a very young Alan Rickman as Jaques and a ludicrously costumed Kenneth Branagh as Touchstone. Very funny!

Edited to add that this puts me at 17/37 of Shakespeare's plays read.

51/81 A Modest Proposal - Bell

It was a fun, sort of chick lit story about some high school friends who stay friends. The main character, Lauryn, is a fashion designer who wants to design modest evening wear. It looks like there are going to be more in this series featuring some of the other friends, and I will probably read those too. But it's not like I was really wondering how the story would end. Very much a happy ever after ending, but that's fun sometimes.

52/81 Jesus the Christ - James Talmage

I am so pleased to be finished with this book! I really enjoyed it, but it was dense - lots of information, small print, end notes after every chapter with even smaller print, cross references. I think I've been reading this since February, and that's a really long time for me to be reading the same book.

It's a hard book to talk about, since it is so personal, but I really enjoyed it. Several times, I would have to put the book aside and think about it. My favorite part has been how it takes the 4 gospels and goes chronologically by what happened. It helped me sort of put things into place, when events happened.

53/81 The Wizard Heir

Seph, short for Joseph, is used to being sent from school to school. Ever since his first guardian died, he has been having a hard time settling in. And he can't get any straight answers about his family either.

So after another tragedy, Seph is sent to a new boys' school in rural Maine. At first, he's hoping this will be the help he's been looking for, someone to train him in magic and teach him how to be a wizard. But it becomes clear very early that this school is more like a prison, and he's going to have to be very lucky to escape with his life.

This was a great followup to the exciting first book, The Warrior Heir. I liked Seph, even though he was a bit cocky, and loved his courage and resourcefulness. This is a darker type of magic, in some ways, and certainly violent. There's no question that these are some nasty folks Seph is facing. I still can't decide whether to trust some of the folks in here. Unlike most teen fantasies, I really can't tell what to expect next or how this will all turn out. I can't wait to read the next one in this series.

54/81 Persuasion

Persuasion to me has seemed a little bit like the country cousin out of the Austen novels. Pride and Prejudice is the popular one, with all the movie adaptations and the novelizations and the good press. Emma is sort of a runner-up. It also has some good movie versions and a lot of humor and lighthearted fun. Sense and Sensibility is also popular.

But before last year, I knew nothing at all about Persuasion. I wasn't sure what the plot was; I never saw it on the big screen; I couldn't even tell you the main character's name. Then I saw the BBC version, the one with Sally Hawkins as Anne Elliot. I was mesmerized.

In case you don't know the story either, Anne is the middle daughter in a very proud, very vain family. Anne has always been overlooked. She fell in love with a young navy officer when she was young. She was 'persuaded' to end the engagement, hence the title. They were both young, neither had any income, and her family was opposed to the match.

Eight years pass. She has not forgotten him, but has convinced herself that he has forgotten her. Then events conspire to bring them together again. Will she get a second chance?

I really loved the story. I only gave it 4 stars, not because I didn't enjoy it, but because the ending was a little weak. Austen didn't seem to find the right way to wrap things up and just sort of tacked on the last chapter. Then I have to admit that I preferred the more romantic ending in the TV version too. But it was really well done and I loved it.

55/81 The Queen of Attolia

Gen is in big trouble this time - he's been captured in the castle of Attolia. That sets up the whole book.

I enjoyed this one, but not as much as the first in the series. One of the things I really loved about the first one was the blend of religion or myth and action. That wasn't as much of a element in this one, and I missed it. Still, I'm really looking forward to the final book.

Next Year!

I have noticed that I am not the only one thinking about what challenge to do next year. I've heard a couple of good ideas. Most folks seem to think that a 10-10-10 challenge would be a bit too much, but I would enjoy it. Still, it won't be much fun if there's no one else signed up. So I've also heard talk about a 8-9-10 challenge, which would be 72 books. Then today VictoriaPL suggested a Category Challenge, which would be open to each participant. That way, you could read as much as you want and just organize your reading by category.

Whichever we end up doing, I've already been thinking about what to read next year. The planning is so much fun! So here's what categories I have for next year.

1. LDS Books
2. Self Improvement
3. New Authors, Male
4. New Authors, Female
5. Old Authors, New Books
6. America
7. Love
8. War
9. Death

Right now, the only repeat is the LDS books, which I want to keep because it encourages me to make time for inspirational and spiritual growth. The Self Improvement is more of a catch-all, which can include cookbooks and other non-fiction, even stuff just for fun. The Death category is mostly for mysteries. If I could add another category, I think I would make it TBR list or maybe recommended by others. Not sure.

Love, War and Death. Interesting. Any particular War you want to read about? What are you thinking for the Death category - like murder mysteries or like the book Stiff?

Mostly murder mysteries, although I want to read The Crimes of Paris and Beyond the Body Farm. And for war, I have Band of Brothers, 1066, All Quiet on the Western Front and a few others.

56/81 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I heard so much about this book online that I wanted to try it myself. But I have to admit that I wasn't sure about it after I finished the first chapter. It looked like it was going to be about politics and big business, and I hate political thrillers. They just don't catch my interest at all. Happily, I kept reading and then the book shifted again and got into the main mystery. Mikael Blomqvist has been hired to look into the disappearance of Harriet Vanger 40 years ago. Lisbeth Salander, the character in the title, signs on to help in the search.

I wasn't sure how much I would like this one. It seems like when it comes to mysteries, what I enjoy is not what everyone else is enjoying. This has more graphic violence that the stuff I usually read, but I think most of it was necessary to the story and to understand the characters. The characters were certainly original. I loved Lizbeth - what a tough chick! The way she gets revenge on a sadistic lawyer was brilliant.

I will definitely read the next one in this series.

cmbohn, I love how you've got one-word themes for next year's challenge (#109). I've got so many categories I like (between the main challenge and the 6 new categories in 999 x 2) that I doubt I'd move to one-word challenges but it offers an interesting perspective.

Every fall, the Chicago Humanities Festival offers two weekend's worth of seminars, usually around a one-word title. It's always interesting to me how they can fit things into that category.

In some ways, I think the one word themes will be the most flexible ones!

57/81 The Blessing Way

I heard a lot about this series and I decided it was time to give them a try. The PBS version of Skinwalkers looked really good. I enjoyed the setting and the characters. But like many other reviewers, I liked the book until the ending. I felt like things were just explained at the end, but the reader wasn't shown how the motives were uncovered. I will read the next one in the series, and hope that they get better.

cmbohn, you are hurtling through this second challenge. Any day now I expect to see your third!

Maybe if I actually cleaned the house once in a while, I would have to slow down. But what's a few dirty dishes compared to a new book? ;)

58/81 Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary

I really enjoyed this one. I totally didn't see that big twist coming, but I loved it!

One of the things I did notice about this book is that the kids are finally seeing the results of not letting their parents in on the secret. I can't help but think that this is not the sort of thing they should have been keeping to themselves, and now come the consequences.

One definite warning: if you haven't read book 3, DO NOT read this one first. It would spoil book 3 completely for you.

I'm really looking forward to the next book!

59/81 The Joy Luck Club

I am the mother of two teenage girls. I am also a daughter. This means that the whole mother-daughter relationship is one that I have given a lot of thought and energy. Being where I am in my life, I read The Joy Luck Club with a very different perspective from the time I first read it.

Jing-Mei Woo learns that her mother had a family before the one she has now, complete with a soldier husband and twin baby girls. With the war in China bringing such danger and uncertainty, her mother takes her babies and flees into the countryside. But her strength begins to fail and she makes the difficult decision to leave the girls, along with everything she owns, and hopes that someone will find them and take care of them.

But life doesn't work the way she expected. She survives. For years, she knows nothing about the fate of her daughters. She remarries and has another baby daughter. Then she learns that her twins have survived. She tries to contact them, she plans a visit. But she dies before she can make that trip.

All of this takes place early in the book. The rest of the book focuses on lives of 8 women, mothers and daughters. The mothers have lives and stories to tell that their daughters have never heard.

I enjoyed this book, if it was not quite so emotional for me as it was the first time I read it. Instead it just reminded me of how complicated this relationship is and how much I need to work on it.

Cindy,
right now I'm reading the Kitchen God's Wife by Tan. It's kind of along the same lines as Joy Luck Club, but centers on one family - multiple generations. I'm only about 1/2 way through but I'm surprised at the direction it seems to be heading.

Cyderry - I think I read that one years ago, but I don't really remember much about it.

60/81 Heroes Among Us: ordinary people, Extraordinary Choices

ABC news reporter John Quinones profiles several people who are making a difference. From those who rescue people out of burning buildings or floodwaters, to a woman who saved Jewish children during WWII, to a man working to help homeless abandoned children in South America, there are so many stories of people who are heroes.

I liked the 'What Would You Do?' section, with occasions that might call for a little heroism. But my favorite parts were about Quinones himself - his time spent as a migrant farm worker, his dedicated parents to pushed him to get an education.

I'm not giving it more stars because the stories were not very detailed. But it is worth reading.

I'm a little frustrated because I wanted to read Crime and Punishment, but apparently so does everyone else. It's checked out at both libraries and on hold for a while. I don't really want to buy a copy. So I switched it with The Castle of Otranto. That should still be fun.

You don't read e-books? Most of mine are (palmtop's a great invention!), but many people don't like - bad for eyes or some such, they say.
But if you do, Crime and punishment would be easy to get on Gutenberg's.
*crawling away in awe with your progress*

I never thought of that! I am doing Cyrano de Bergerac via Daily Lit. But I would rather be able to curl up in bed with the book.

61/81 Three Tickets to Peoria

I think 3 1/2 stars would be the best rating for this one.

This book picks up where Almost Sisters left off. Definitely don't start with this one. You would be completely lost. I was pretty lost and I *did* read the first one. I think a little chart telling who is who at the beginning of the book would make it MUCH easier to read.

The three LDS friends wind up in some serious situations, Erin with marital trouble, Juneau unhappy because of a daughter's teen pregnancy, Deenie with a surprise pregnancy and illness of her own. I did sympathize with the women, but I have to agree with another reviewer who pointed out that these seem to be a little too many crises thrown in here. It seems like everything that could be a problem, was a problem. I know life is complicated, and I certainly have my share of trouble, but it was a bit too much for me. It read more like a soap opera than realistic fiction.

I admit though that I stayed up until 1:30 to see what happened. I will definitely read the third in the series, and hope that it is a little more realistic.

"I would rather be able to curl up in bed with the book."
Well, if you have a palmtop/pocket PC/organiser (I guess you don't) or a mobile phone, you can curl up in bed with it and read from the little buddy. I personally haven't used a mobile that way but there is software for reading books. Also handy when you are in a queue or travelling, since it means no extra weight to carry and many books with you!

62/81 A Heart Like His - Virginia Pearce

The subtitle for this book is "Making Space for God's Love in Your Life." That was really the focus of the book, starting with her experiences as she and a group of friends agreed to try opening their hearts to others and trying to see them the way God would see them.

The book is designed really as a workbook, with exercises on how to open your heart, stop judging others, and most of all, change your attitude toward others. I found it helpful. I agree with her that being kind and caring with neighbors or people you meet on a chance encounter is much easier than doing the same thing with your own family. But I need to keep working on that, so I'm glad I found this little book.

I agree with her that being kind and caring with neighbors or people you meet on a chance encounter is much easier than doing the same thing with your own family.

Isn't that the truth?! Not all that history there that makes comments multi-meaningful. (Hey! Did I make up a new word?)

63/81 All's Well that Ends Well

Well, it does end with Helena and Bertram married and living together, but he's a big jerk so I'm not sure why she wants him.

Helena is the daughter of a gifted physician, recently deceased. Bertram is a Count, newly become ward of the King of France. She heals the king and asks for Bertram as her husband for her reward. He (Bertram) is disgusted by her low rank and runs off to fight a war in Italy. For some totally unknown reason, she thinks it's her fault and sets off on a pilgrimage. Which just happens to take her to Italy.

I read the preface in this edition, which suggests that Shakespeare was adapting earlier stories, so the lame plot may not be entirely his fault.

I also hated the "clown" parts in this which just weren't funny at all. Then there are all these completely extraneous scenes and dialogues that just slow the action down and make my eyes gloss over. In the theater, that would be the time to run to the restroom.

There are a few good lines in here though. Most of them are at the beginning, so you could just stop there. Shakespeare seems to give the best lines to Helena and the King. He must have been playing favorites.

Absolutely not his best. I know that seeing the play is always better, but it just couldn't save this play. Don't bother!

64/81 The Name of the Rose

Brother Adso and Brother William travel to a remote convent in Italy. Brother William is there to work for a reconciliation between the Emperor's faction and the Pope's faction within the Catholic church. But his arrival also causes the abbot to investigate the recent death of a brother of their order. More deaths follow soon, and everything points toward an insider being behind it all. William is determined to find out what's behind all of this, even if it means discovering every secret the abbey possesses.

I read one review that describes this as The Da Vinci Code with brains. Possibly. But that doesn't necessarily make it an easy read. All the long, long, paragraphs, the highly technical religious controversies, and all the passages of Latin (With no footnotes! Why not?).

I almost feel like this was two books in one, one that I enjoyed - the mystery, the relationships, the setting - and then the long, pretentious stuff that's rather boring. I got to where I started skipping the boring stuff so I could get to the action. This edition had an afterword by the author, where he longwindedly defends his style and his writing. Maybe. But I disagreed with him. The stuff he defends as crucial to the book are the things I found myself skipping.

65/81 Cyrano de Bergerac

I will admit that my choice of this book was influenced by my daughter. She got to see this play performed at the Utah Shakepeare Festival and just loved it. She said all the girls thought it was great. Since I had a play category, I chose to read this one.

I am not quite as crazy about the play as she was, but I did enjoy it. I loved the first part of the play. Cyrano is a great character. What I didn't enjoy as much was the whole selfless adoration involved. I don't want to spoil it, but let me say that I felt Cyrano should have spoken up sooner.

16 books to go! I'm excited to be so close to end, but I feel like I'm losing steam a little bit. It seems like I left all the harder books for the end and I'm all out of 'fun' books. Still, before signing up for the challenges on LT, most of my reading WAS fun books, so I'm enjoying the chance to push myself and use my brain a little.

Read Suite Francaise next. It's a really good book. I had to write down the names of the characters because I'm so forgetful, but I very much enjoyed the story. In fact, after reading that book, I took another book by the same author out of the library. It was Fire in the Blood. Both my husband and I enjoyed both of those two books by Irène Némirovsky.

You're doing so well with this challenge. You don't really have much farther to go. Next year are you going for 100? :)

134 - I will have to get that one from the library, so I'll try to get it the next time I go. If I want to start something before that, I'll either grab A Countess Below Stairs or look for a Conrad book downstairs.

"16 books to go!"
Hey, you're forgetting to update your ticker. ;)

Yeah, I usually only remember about once a week. But thanks for the reminder.

Adjusted category 1 to include non-fiction, as we are reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass for book club.

66/81 Because He First Loved Us

This was a 'collection of discourses by Henry B. Eyring' of the First Presidency of the LDS church. I always enjoy hearing his talks, because he speaks so clearly and with such feeling. I actually remember him giving some of these talks, but it was great to read them all collected like this. I have two favorites in here, one called "Do Not Delay." This was a reminder that life is swift and uncertain, and if we want to make changes in our lives, the time to do it is now. I also really enjoyed the talk, "Always," where he talks about a young man he knew as a bishop who was killed in a climbing accident a few years later. It was a great story and I found myself tearing up.

Very inspirational and such great writing.

67/81 Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

I am going to count this even though I have read most if not all of it before. But since we are reading it for one of the book clubs that I am in, I wanted to include it here as well. Thanks to the suggestion of someone here on LT, I was able to read this via Daily Lit and it was a very quick read.

This is the short biography of Frederick Douglass. He writes about his life as a slave, how his mother died, how he learned to read, how he was beaten and starved, and how he decided to escape. He enlarged on this story later, but in this version of the story, he doesn't give any details of his flight to freedom. But you certainly get a vivid and horrible picture of slavery. I thought his words about the religious hypocrisy of his former masters was especially illuminating.

After reading this, I was surprised really that more slaves did not make the attempt to escape. He says that he never had any idea of escape until after he learned to read and realized what else was out there in the world. That may have been one reason. Douglass himself says that he almost changed his mind when he realized that his escape would mean the loss of contact with all his friends. I'm sure that such ties to friends and family was another reason that most slaves stayed put.

After reading this, I was motivated to read more about Douglass and what happened to him after he wrote this book. He was a very eloquent, even passionate man fighting for the cause of freedom and equal rights for both women and for slaves. This is a great story for young people to read, as it would help them understand how brutal slavery really was. Also important today, when there are still horrible acts of violence and injustice all around the world.

#140 I read this book earlier in the year for the first time, and found it to be very impressive. A short book and not hard to read, I think it ought to be required reading for high school students for all the reasons you mentioned.

Gosh, you've got Cry, the Beloved Country last in your "global reading' category. That's a good one to be left with! :-)

I'm looking forward to it!

68/81 The Castle of Otranto

What an entertaining mess!

This book was written in 1764, and started the whole Gothic craze that was so popular in the 19th century. But honestly, for a modern reader, scenes that were designed to cause fear and shock now wind up sounding really funny! I mean, take the opening. A father is planning the wedding on his only son. But before the ceremony can take place, a giant helmet falls out of the sky and squishes the groom to death. Who can take that seriously? And that's only the beginning, although really, it's the most ridiculous part.

If you want some entertainment, this is pretty fun. But I'm sure it's not entertaining the way the author meant it to be. It's just so dated. But it's still good for a laugh.

69/81 Under Western Eyes

Razumov is a loner, studying at the university and working hard. He is interrupted one day by another student, Victor Haldin, who confesses to the assassination of a government official just that day. Razumov realizes he must help Haldin, but he doesn't care about politics, only about the consequences if his involvement gets out.

Despite setting out to help Haldin, when things get complicated Razumov informs on him. Haldin is arrested and executed. (This may sound like a spoiler, but it takes place early in the book and is described on the back cover.)

When I started reading this book, I couldn't remember the story at all. I know I read it in college, but nothing that I was reading stood out to me. I think it's because I was confusing it with The Secret Agent, which is also about anarchists and the coming revolution.

Conrad uses this story to talk a lot about Russians and their psychology and how Westerners can never understand them. He also skips around in the story, going back several months, then jumping back ahead. It's confusing, and I don't think it works.

The story is told as if taken from Razumov's diary. The person telling the story is an English teacher he meets much later in the book.

I'm not sure I would recommend this one. Like I said, the timeline is rather confused. I felt like Conrad had an agenda in writing this book, and it got in the way of the story. I don't think I will read this one again.

Here I am, almost done with this challenge, and I can feel myself losing steam. I seem to want to read anything EXCEPT the books I have on my list. I'm not sure what's up with that, except maybe that they are all fairly serious books and I'm not interested in that right now. I have two I'm working on off and on, Wizards at War and Putting on the Armor of God. But I went to the thrift store today for something else and couldn't leave without buying a book or well, five. And now I'm reading Every Living Thing by James Herriot. I'm going to blame it on the weather.

Summers are vacation time where one gets a break from earnestly pursuing our literary goals, leaving us refreshed and eager to tackle our categories.

Don't fight it. Will some of the books that you WANT to read work in your remaining categories in place of your planned books? (I'm always in awe of everyone here who decides just which books they're going to read months in advance. For me, putting a book on a list is the surest way to lose interest in it.) If that won't work, then give yourself permission to take a week or two off from category reading and enjoy the breezy summer books you just bought.

You're doing better than I am. The only way I'm going to meet my challenge is if I change one of my categories, but then **laughing**that's the reason I did the challenge in the first place--to force myself to finally read those books! Oh well, it's been fun cheering others on--I'll be cheering for you when you cross the finish line! :-)

Thanks for the cheerleading! I am almost back on track. ;)

70/81 Wizards at War

Number 8 in the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane. Nita and Kit have to save the universe. Again.

If you haven't read the rest of the series, DO NOT start here. You will be so lost. And it has major spoilers for the previous books too. It does revisit a scene from High Wizardry, so that was fun, and it links closely with the previous book, Wizard's Holiday.

So without spoiling it in case you want to read the series and haven't yet, let me say that the universe is in a rather odd crisis. Dark matter seems to be spreading throughout and it's beginning to affect Life on all levels. And the darkness is also affecting the wizards. Soon, all Seniors will lose their magic, and it will all depend on the kids.

Luckily, the visiting wizards from Wizard's Holiday haven't gone home yet, and they stay to help in the fight against the Lone One.

This one was full of action and some great twists. Lots of character develpment in this one, and some major losses as well. I loved Carmela in this one - she is so funny. Some definite romantic tension as well, but I won't say more!

If you enjoy YA fantasy, this series is really worth a try. It is very original and well written. The first one is So You Want to be a Wizard.

71/81 A Wrinkle in Time

I vaguely remember reading this book for the first time - feeling like I had just discovered something really, really good. I was probably 12 or 13. I never did get much into hardcore sci-fi, but I loved this series.

Many years later, I picked this up more for nostalgia's sake than because I felt really compelled to read it again. This time around, I did enjoy it, but it wasn't the sort of experience I get when I pick up The Westing Game or James and the Giant Peach and say to myself, "Oh, boy, this is my favorite part!"

In case you haven't read it, this is about Meg Murry, her younger brother Charles Wallace, and a new friend named Calvin who set off to discover what happened when Meg's father disappeared. He was working on a top secret science project for the government, but that was years ago. Then Meg discovers the truth is even weirder than she could have expected, and that they must go and bring her father back.

Like I said, I enjoyed it this time, but it didn't have the same magic for me as it did the first time around. I did like that there was a character chart in the front of this edition, laying out how all the characters in her books are related (or not) and which books they appear in. I may go ahead and read the rest of the series, or I may not, and I admit that 4 stars is more than generous, based mostly on my younger reaction to the book.

Another reworking of the books. We are reading Don Quixote for one of my book clubs. It is HUGE! 1124 pages, not counting Introduction, Life of Cervantes, a note on the translation, translator's notes (which are totally different!), and the footnotes. I'm going to try for 100 pages a day. I wish I had bought the hardcover. This paperback doesn't look like it will hold up very well. Too soon to tell whether I will like it, but I sure hope so.

And since I seem to be having trouble finding a couple of the books that I thought I owned, I'm substituting for a couple there too.

Just an update to say that I am ready to smack Cervantes, in the unlikely event that he ever shows up. I was uncommitted to this book for the first 200 pages, but then somehow I started getting involved. I found myself caring about Don Quixote. Right now in the book, everyone else seems to have their own agenda and is totally fine with being dishonest to get their own way. Don Quixote, however, sticks to his own wacky code of honor. He may be completely misguided (and I'm not entirely sure about that), but he is true to what he believes to be right.

And then just when I was getting all interested, Cervantes throws this 'book-within-a-book' thing in there, and slows the pace WAAAY down for no apparent reason. Once that's over, it's back to Quixote for a bit, then he gets shoved out of the way for yet another long and boring story about some Christian who becomes a slave and how he escapes.

I told my husband that this may or may not be the first novel ever written, but fortunately, they don't write them like this any more!

72/81 Putting on the Armor of God

Cramer talks about the various ways the Adversary tries to distract us from our devotion to the Lord. A good book.

73/81 Heart of Darkness

Well, I hate to do it, but I'm taking the rating down to 4 out of 5 stars. I'm not sure why, but this time around, Joseph Conrad did not manage to induce the same level of fascination as he did the first couple of times I read this book. Maybe because the last time I read it was for a class, where we got to discuss it so much.

It's the story of Marlow, the classic man of the sea, and his trip down the river Congo to find Kurtz, the company man said to have native. But instead of being drawn into the story, this time I felt like Conrad was deliberately keeping the reader at arms' length. Marlow is telling the story, and an unnamed male listener is telling the reader what Marlow says. Then Marlow tells the listener who tells us what Marlow says somebody else says. Still with me?

Maybe the point of all those layers was to make the reader question the story a little more, to ask one's self how much you really know about someone else if all you know is what they say.

Anyway, it was good to read it again, but not as great as I remembered. I'm not sure why, but it must be a change inside me, because I *LOVED* this book back in college.

74/81 The Companion by Ann Granger

Lizzie Martin arrives in London for the first time. As her cabdriver takes her to her new address, they pass a body covered with a shroud. The body turns out to belong to Madeline Hexham, whom Lizzie is replacing as paid companion. Lizzie can't help wondering about Madeline and who could have wanted her dead.

I enjoyed this one. There was some great background about coal mining and life among the working class. Lizzie and the police inspector, Ben Ross, were strong characters.

This book reads like the first in a series, and if so, I wouldn't mind reading another one.

I stumbled on The Companion last year at the library and really enjoyed it.

FYI - It is the first in a series.... the next one is titled A Mortal Curiosity

75/81 Don Quixote

Well, I'm finished. I'm so glad to say that. Actually, I skipped about 200 pages and went to the end. I may or may not go back and read them, don't care much either way at this point.

I have been by turns engrossed and enraged by this book. My kids keep asking me why I am still reading it. I don't really know. Cervantes is an infuriating writer. For the first 200 pages, I didn't really care at all about Don Quixote. He was just this delusional guy that went around doing stupid things. But then I started sort of liking him. Yes, he's crazy, but he is a man of honor. He is completely mistaken in his actions, but he has a good heart.

But it just goes on and on and on! I got tired of Sancho Panza somewhere during Volume 2 and almost every time he started talking, I tuned out. Cervantes was using him as the comic sidekick, but I didn't find him funny at all. There were so many long passages of pointless arguments about this and that.

One thing I hadn't expected was an almost postmodern twist of Cervantes directly addressing the reader, in the guise of the author. That had a surprisingly modern feel. There was a sort of inside joke, with one of the characters early in Volume 2. Sampson, a neighbor, is telling Don Quixote and Sancho Panza all about this book he has read about them. That was kind of funny. But the humor was not enough to make up for all the long boring spots.

I also had a hard time reading it because of the style. The translator of my edition was Tobias Smollett, and it was done in the 18th century. A more modern edition might look more the way we're used to, with paragraphs after quotation marks, and no more of this two or three page paragraphs. It made it even more difficult to read.

All in all, I suppose I'm glad I read it, but I'm even more glad I'm done.

Hooray for you....leave it abandoned, and thanks for a good explanation for the rest of us who may be tempted to read it.

And somewhere my count is off! I'm not sure how that happened, but I think it is wrong.

My kids keep asking me why I am still reading it. I don't really know.

Because for the rest of your life, you will be someone who has read Don Quixote, even if it never comes up in conversation, it is now part of you. That thought kept me going during the draggy bits of The Brothers Karamazov and have made me vow to tackle at least one gigantic and "difficult" classic each year.

It's been soooo long since I've read Don Quixote, and pretty much all I can remember about it is the same reaction that you had. It's a part of our common cultural/literary knowledge, and, thus, gets referenced enough that I think it's one of those books that is worth while to read--at least the Cliff Notes version anyway! ;-)

Same with me re Don Quixote. For me, it falls into the same category as the long Russian novels, Dickens, most 19th century American lit -- I'm glad when I've read them so that I'll never feel the need to read them again!

Oh, but you might! The Brothers Karamazov was a reread for me this year--the group read inspired me to revisit a book I'd read so long ago it was no longer clear in my mind.

Yes... never say never...

But even the group read wasn't enough to inspire me to re-read The Brothers Karamazov, though I did enjoy reading the comments.

Cindy,
I read DQ earlier this year and for the same reason as what you stated, I couldnt answwer one question about the book now. It just wasn;t my type so it didn't stick with me.

Congratulations on getting (most of the way) through DQ. I've never been tempted by that particular book, but there have been others that I've tried but never managed to conquer (Moby Dick comes to mind). Take a bow!

All this talk about DQ (Dairy Queen) is making me hungry!!

I read it for a book club, so it will be interesting to see how I feel about it when we're done with the discussion.

And it is definitely the longest book I have ever read. I've read Brothers Karamazov and Gone with the Wind, but this one was much tougher for me.

76/ 81 Cry, the Beloved Country

Alan Paton is an amazing writer. I knew what this book was about, of course. And I expected it to be a good book. What I didn't expect was to be so moved by the story, by the words, by the writing.

Now that South Africa has made some strides towards equality, I find it so sad that Paton died before he could see what has happened in the country he loved.

This is one of my top reads of the year.

77/81 The Reluctant Widow

I was so excited to find this one! I read it back in college, but I've never been able to find a used copy of this. So when her books were back in print, I put this one at the top of the ones I wanted.

This is more of a romantic suspense than a straight romance. I would compare it to The Talisman Ring or The Toll-Gate.

Elinor has traveled to accept a new post as governess, but winds up taking the wrong coach and is instead invited to marry Eustace Cheviot, who is currently on his deathbed. (It's complicated.) Despite some reservations, she does marry and soon become The Reluctant Widow of the title. Then she finds that her late husband was even less respectable that she imagined, and that he was involved in espionage. Elinor is in over her head, and only Lord Carlyon, the man responsible for getting Elinor to marry in the first place, can help her figure out what's going on.

I compared this to The Talisman Ring, and I have to say that it is not as good. This book was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I got it, but the characters aren't as well developed as in some of her other books. There are funny parts too, but not some of the witty dialogue or outlandish schemes as in other books. Heyer fans will definitely enjoy it, but it is not my favorite.

#170 No wonder, Linda, you posted just before lunch. Did you get an ice cream cone yet?

#171 I'm curious what kind of book club reads this book - has it been an ongoing project? Or an over-the-summer read? Do you always read classics like this?

The book club just got started. Our first book was A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, which is a classic in a way, but not anywhere near as big as this one. Next month we're reading David Copperfield.

#175 WOW. What an ambitious group. That is wonderful. I'm envious of you finding a group of serious-minded people to read with.

I actually belong to 2 book groups. The other one is a lot less ambitious! :-)

#177 That probably a good thing - how could you keep up with 2 serious reading groups? Of course, now I'm even more jealous - having 2 groups of real live people to discuss books with. LT is the closest I've ever come to having a book group.

I'm loving it! We had one through my church a while back, but the woman in charge just got overwhelmed and it sort of died out. I didn't realize how much I missed it until we started up again.

Two books left! I'm waiting on Suite Francaise from the library and it's taking forever, and my daughter borrowed A Countess Below Stairs and can't find it in her room. So if I don't have either book by Tuesday at the latest, I'm going to substitute something else. I still want to read those two, but I want to finish my challenge! I am so dang close!

79/81 Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

I remember reading this in school and being so affected by it. So after reading a couple of other Holocaust books this year, (The Hiding Place, Man's Search for Meaning, The Book Thief), I was interested to see how this one fit in with them.

First of all, I read a different edition this time around. This is the whole version of Anne's actual diary. When her father first approved publication of the diary, he omitted some things he felt were too private or too negative to be shared with outside readers. This edition was the first one to contain her complete diary.

In comparing the two, I have to say that I preferred the edited edition I read as a teen. This one was a little tedious at times, if I can say that without being blasted. Many of the entries were really ordinary stuff. There was a lot about her relationship with her mother. I found myself overwhelmed sometimes.

I think what I really felt this time was that while the writing was not as powerful in this edition, the feeling was definite that the end came much too soon for Anne. She never got the chance to patch things up with her mother, or to further her education, or to fall in love. The diary just ends, and then the next thing we know about Anne is that she was arrested, sent to a prison camp, and died of typhoid. The end.

Still a good beginning for anyone learning about the Holocaust, but not quite as powerful, at least for me, in this edition.

80/81 The Countess Below Stairs

I love Eba Ibbotson's children's books, but only recently discovered that she also wrote some romances for young adults. This is the second I've read, and I really enjoyed it.

Anna Grazinsky is a Russian countess, forced out of her home by the revolution. She and her mother and brother move to England. They have lost everything. Anna's mother is mourning the death of her husband, so Anna is the one who takes care of the family. She finds a patron willing to pay for her brother's education and starts looking for a job. She finds a temporary job as a servant.

Rupert didn't expect to become the earl, but after his brother's death in the war, he inherits the title and the estate. The estate is run down and in need of some improvements. So Rupert is delighted when he finds a beautiful heiress to marry.

It will be no surprise that the heiress is a stinker, that Rupert and Anna fall in love, and that eventually, everything ends happily ever after. But it was a fun book and just what I needed. If you enjoy historical romance, this is a nice light story.

I have gotten tired of waiting for Suite Francaise to be available from the library, and have substituted Dragon Village instead. I found this one at the thrift store, and it looks like a really good find. It's the story of the Chinese Revolution in 1949 and the rise of the Communists. I'm enjoying it so far.

81/81 - the last book! The Dragon Village

Ling Ling lives a life of privilege in China. She lives with her aunt and uncle, who throw parties for the wealthy and powerful set. All around them, they hear that the good life is coming to an end for people like them, that Communism is sweeping the country, and that things will never be the same.

Ling Ling gets swept up into the excitement. When a friend from school asks if she can hide from the police for the night, she says yes, and suddenly she's questioning her upbringing and beliefs. Her aunt flees to Hong Kong, but her uncle tries to stay put a little longer. Soon he must leave too, and Ling Ling decides to stay and see what will become of this new nation.

She joins a group of land reform workers, whose job is to go out into the country, examine the land deeds of the landlords, and redistribute the land. Landlords will lose their wealth and status, and the peasants will be empowered.

Except that things aren't quite that simple. Reading this book, I have the benefit of hindsight. I could tell how naive Ling Ling is, how little she really knows of farming or of poverty, how little she understands human nature. All too soon, she finds that things are much more complicated than she imagines. There are tragedies along with occasional triumphs. Ling Ling learns more about herself than she imagined, and finds that she is capable of being independent.

I really enjoyed this book. I was anticipating a tragic end, but I was pleased to see that that wasn't the case, at least not completely. I found myself wanting to read more, to see what happens to the villagers Ling Ling meets and befriends. The title calls this an 'autobiographical novel', and I would love to know more about the author. The only notes in my edition say that the author was also a land reform worker, and I really want to know how much of her experiences are reflected in the book. I would recommend this to anyone who could find a copy. I found it very enlightening and a good story besides.

Congratulations on finishing the challenge!

Oh, and did I mention I am

Done!

(fanfare please.)

For my next trick, I am going to read my books for book club (both of them), browse the library, start my new job on Monday, and tackle some of the TBR books around my house. I may keep posting reviews to this thread though, as I want to keep in touch with everyone!

Keep reading!

Congrats!! I just knew you'd be next.

Do a half 999, or a 999 with 3 or 4 in each category. You know you want to.

And stealing an idea from lindapanzo, here is my best/worst list! (really, it's such a great idea!)

Best of Historical Fiction/Non-fiction: Persuasion
Worst: Don Quixote (no surprise there)

Best of plays: Waiting for Godot
Worst: All's Well that Ends Well

Best of New Mysteries: Ashes to Ashes - Emma Lathen
Worst: The Black Shrike, which was really more of a thriller than a mystery anyway, but still no good.

Best of Global Reading: Cry, the Beloved Country
Worst: The God of Small Things

Best of Non-fiction: American Gospel
Worst: tie between The Irregulars and Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs

Best of LDS books: Because He First Loved Us
Worst: You Can Never Get Enough of What You Don't Need - not because it was bad, really, but the style just put me off so much I couldn't finish the book

Best of Fantasy/Myth: The Last Olympian!
Worst: The Lost Queen

Best of Books I Haven't Read in 10 Years: Watership Down
Worst: Under Western Eyes

Best of Library Books: Death of a Fat God
Worst: Death and the Visiting Fireman
both by the same author!

Thanks, chrine! Maybe I will!

Most anticipated: Hands down, The Last Olympian. I know I get all squealy and fan girly, but I loved this series.

Biggest disappointment: The Irregulars. I like Roald Dahl so much, and the story sounded so good - handsome British writer secretly spies on the US - but the writing was just so boring. Very sad.

Biggest surprise: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It was NOTHING like I expected, and yet I really enjoyed it.

Favorite category: Fantasy/Myth. I love these! And I had some really good books in here: Wildwood Dancing, The Wizard Heir, Wizards at War. A lot of fun.

Hardest category: Books I haven't read in 10 years. All the ones I wanted to read were either lost or checked out! Frustrating. But interesting, because my opinions had changed on some of them.

I can't really pick a favorite book of the set, because it's so hard to compare. But I do have several that I will keep and read again.

Bring on the 1010!

Love getting the recaps when people finish. Thanks!

Congratulations! And stick around, please!

Congrats! I think you should stick around too, maybe add a cookbook category--or books with food or cooking related words in the title.

Congrats. I'm glad you liked my best and worst idea.

It's interesting that your best and worst in that one category were by the same author.

I hope you stick around.

Congratulations! I really enjoyed your recap lists (thanks, lindapanzo, for that idea).

I'm thinking of doing a 1/3 challenge for that last 1/3 of the year (3 categories of 9). When I finish the first one, that is... I'm getting close and aiming for Sept 9, but not sure I'll make it by then.

Cindy,

Great Job! I'm nearly there. 6 more to go! I want to make that 9/09/09 deadline!

Wow - TWO 999s finished! Very impressive. I enjoyed your best/worst list. =)

Shauna

Congrats!

I will take a page from your book and start commenting on the stuff I am reading and my faves/dislikes. I seem to be in this hellfire hurry to read everything in sight that I never stop to analyse it!

Thanks for some good recommendations...

This is a belated Congratulations!! You did this challenge twice this year, correct? I am baffled and awed.

Thanks! I think maybe I have too much time on my hands :) Books are (usually) cheaper than therapy!