Read 24 Books in 2008

Você sabe se alimentar? by Dr. Soleil

A book my alternative medicine doctor recommended. It was written in France by a group of researchers, it’s mainly about how much industrialized products hurt our bodies and they should be avoided like the plague. It goes a little too far at times, recommending things impossible to be done by most people in the contemporary world. But most of the suggestions, like eating mainly sprouts and seeds and stop eating read meat, are plausible and applicable.

Couldn’t find a edition in English.

3.5/5

24 A Million Little Pieces
by James Frey
It is really a fantastic book even if he made up a lot of it. You can generally tell which parts he made up because they are a bit hard to beleive. He was trying to sell books, its understandable. Still a good book.

by Ian Rankin
It was quite good though I’m not a huge Mystery fan which is not to say that it wasn’t a good book.
22 The Street of a Thousand Blossoms
by Gail Tsukiyama
It took me a long time to get through but only because I was very busy. It is really fantastic. When I read the back I was a little sceptical. A book about a sumo wrestler and a Noh mask maker? hmm.. But it was an interesting story about a family’s surivival thourgh WW2 and the years to follow.
23 A Fine Balance
by Rohinton Mistry
This was the best of the three by far. I can’t even explain. It was funny and sad and heart breaking and shocking. Just go read it!
I’m reading A Million Little Pieces right now so I shall be done this goal soon. :O

Horrific story about the life of an abused child. Even though I’ve read this entire book, I still can’t even begin to guess why this kid’s mother decided to treat him so terribly—-starving him, beating him repeatedly, rubbing a diaper full of crap on his face and telling him to eat it, making him sit in a tub full of cold water and forcing him to keep his head underwater, telling him to lay down on the hot stove, making him vomit to see if he had eaten anything during the day because the mother would not allow this kid to eat. I mean, she was an alcoholic but there are so many things that happened that are just so f*cked up. And in the first chapter, he writes about the good times before the abuse, how his whole family would go out and have fun and spend a lot of time together. There isn’t much written about what exactly did happen, what her motives were for torturing one of her sons but not the others… maybe I’ll find out in the sequel to this book…

Awesome, moving & powerful. I read it almost in one sitting

Third book in the series and just as funny and entertaining as the first two. Still, I need a break once in a while from the “Stephanie Plum” books. I think I’ll go for “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini next, just for something different. I’ve read his first book, “The Kite Runner” and loved it.

When you have a goal like this to read more books than you usually do in a certain period of time, it’s really helpful to read a book like this where you keep wanting to turn the pages, wanting to know what happens next because nothing is predictable. It’s great suspense.
A man, Marc, wakes up after being shot and sees that his wife is dead from bullet wounds and his 6-month old daughter is missing. A ransom note arrives which gives Marc hope. It says, “We are watching, If you contact the authorities, you’ll never see your daughter again. There will be no second chance.” Marc is desperate to bring his daughter home, but trying to do that almost gets him killed. One of my favorites so far this year.

Last year I only read one book a month but I should be doing a bit more reading this year… I’ve read 14, have 10 to go.

Favorite books of the year so far:

1) “My Friend Leonard” by James Frey – [sequel to “A Million Little Pieces” and in my opinion it’s just as good. It’s unpredictable and I like the writing style]

2) “Tis” by Frank McCourt – [sequel to “Angela’s Ashes”... awesome writer, and an awesome memoir]

3)”Nobody Nowhere” by Donna Williams – [Written by an autistic woman who writes about her struggles with dealing with people and the world. Very interesting, I learned a lot about autism and how it can affect people.]

4) “One for the Money” by Janet Evanovich – [First book of a now 14 book series that introduced me to the world of a character named Stephanie Plum, New Jersey bounty hunter (and an amateurish one at that) She’s just trying to make enough money to pay her rent, working for her cousin Vinnie, but she gets into a lot of danger doing it. She becomes friends with a couple of prostitutes and her love life is non-existent but she’s a bit playful and flirty with a cop named Morelli. I started reading this series because of the reviews on amazon, and these really are great books to read in between reading books with a more intense and serious plot.]

5) “Paradise” by Judith McNaught – [First book I’ve read by this author and I loved it, it’s a wonderful romance with really well developed characters and an unpredictable plot. If you’re into romances and haven’t read anything by Judith McNaught, I suggest you pick up this book =) ]

6) “The Girls” by Lori Lansens – [I had no idea what this was about before picking it up, but it’s a book about two girls named Rose and Ruby who are joined at the head. Rose wants to write a story about her life before she dies (not necessarily to show it to anyone, it’s just something she feels she has to do for herself) The author really makes the story seem real because in some ways the girls live like ordinary people, but of course in some ways it is difficult, when it comes to relationships, love, getting around, privacy issues among other things) She asks her sister Ruby to start writing her part too although Ruby doesn’t consider herself a good writer. In seeing both sides of this story, Rose and Ruby’s, you see the contrast in personalities, views, and interests even though some people consider the girls sometimes as “one person”. It’s a moving story , I love it.]

7) “Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini – [I read this because of the positive reviews on amazon, and I completely agree that this book is awesome.]

8) “Darkly Dreaming Dexter” by Jeff Lindsay – I started reading this book after I found out that there ARE books about the character I’ve come to love on the television series “Dexter”. Dexter is a killer who only kills “bad people”, such as child rapists and people who have murdered the innocent. I love his character, he’s one of the first likable “bad guys” that I’ve read about. He’s a neat and organized killer who erases his tracks but it’s hard to tell when or how he’ll get caught by either the cops—or a murderer who may find out Dexter’s out to get him.]

1984 by George Orwell

Very well written, The Choice genuinely makes you feel like you know the characters. Nicholas Sparks brings their personalities to life and when they suffer through some of the hardest, most life-changing events your heart breaks. The ending made me so tense that my jaw hurts now! Haha. This was a very touching, sweet book that has made me view my marriage in a new way. It actually made me fall in love with my husband all over again. = )