Keep track of all the books I read in 2008

Hmmm….not sure when, but I also read these:
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver
Rules, Cynthia Lord
Between Mom and Jo, Julie Ann Peters (December 08)
Persepolis, Marjane Straplis (December 08) 3 years ago

A dystopic fiction, I found it quite depressing. 3 years ago

28. Barbed Roses by Peter Yeldham
29. In the Cut by Susannah Moore
30. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

I thought it was time I wrapped up 2008. These were the last three novels I read, bringing my total to the round number of 30. In the Cut was a re-read. I loved Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. The book documents the author’s project to eat locally and grow much of the family’s own food for a year. It was an inspiring read. You can read more about it here. 3 years ago

In looking at the list I keep in the back of my writing notebook, I found that I’d left this one off my 43T log. It was on the shelves at the B&B I stayed at in Santa Fe and I read it for the first time.

Strange little book. 3 years ago

am so glad i did this!!!

my list has 73 books on it, though i’m sure there were a couple I forgot. But they get counterbalanced by ones that did make it on my list that are really very easy fast reads…

hmm… i had no idea about the numer of books I rnaormally ead in year, so i don’t know if this is typical for me or more than usual, but i suspect that there was a ton of procrastinative reading going on… hard to avoid when you work in a library 3 years ago

so i started a new book, but am pretty sure i wont’ be able to finish it before the new year!

what to do? do i count it in 08 or 09?

tell me what you think, 43friends! 3 years ago

7/08 Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella
8/08 Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Wisebergen
9/08 The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig
10/08 Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
11/08 When in Rome by Penelope Green
12/08 Bookends by Jane Green
13/08 Lucia Lucia by Adriana Trigiani

13 books… lets make it more in 2009! 3 years ago

60. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

61. Pulling Taffy by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore

62. Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman

63. American Pastoral by Philip Roth

64. Bottomfeeder: An Ethical Eater’s Global Search for Vanishing Seafood by Taras Grescoe

65. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

66. The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Dodge, M.D.

67. After Dark by Haruki Murakami

Doubt I’ll be able to squeeze in any more in the 1.5 days left of the year. I’m finally marking this done! Going to start a new goal for 2009 ASAP. 3 years ago

if you like Westerfeld’s Uglies series, you’ll probably like this, even though the whole premise is quite different…

i like how he writes!

3 years ago

This is such a strange book, only in that it has basically the same plot as Melissa Bank’s first book, The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing, but with a little less gravitas.

Banks’ humor kept me reading, but it’s the strangest thing to kind of know what’s going to happen because it was in the first book, slightly altered. Kind of sad if Bank hasn’t had any other notable experiences to draw upon. 3 years ago

Normally I get a lot done in a year, to me this is nothing since last year I read 200 books and I was already starting 10 others before the year ended….hopefully I can get in a few more before the year’s over, but this is what I have so far….

1. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty – 253 pages
2. Beauty’s Punishment – 233 pages
3. Beauty’s Release – 238 pages
4. The Vampire In Legend and Fact – 208 pages
5. Letters From Ruth’s Attic: 31 Daily Insights for Knowing God’s Love – 72 pages
6. Tales of Blood and Lust: Night Bites, Vampire Stories by Women – 259 pages
7. Never Cross a Vampire – 182 pages
8. Liquid Dreams of Vampires – 254 pages
9. Conviction – 465 pages
10. Food For Health & Healing – 368 pages
11. The Secret of Happiness – 162 pages
12. God’s Promises For Your Every Need – 340 pages
13. Secrets of my Hollywood Life – 250 pages
14. Baby-Sitters Club Book – 139 pages
15. Vampires Two Centuries of Great Vampire Stories – 621 pages
16. Weird Vampire Tales 30 Blood-Chilling Stories from the Weird Fiction Pulps – 442 pages
17. The Franchise Lebron James & The Remaking of the Cleveland Cavaliers – 206 pages
18. The Nasty Bits – 288 pages
19. The Clash – 136 pages
20. Indians Yearbook – 96 pages
21. Ordinary Horror – 230 pages
22. The Killing Dance -286 pages
23. Breaking the Da Vinci Code – 188 pages
24. Leave a Candle Burning – 319 pages
25. Blood – 354 pages
26. Nothing But Victory – 738 pages
27. Borrowed Time – 397 pages
28. Travels With Charley – 275 pages
29. The Gift and the Curse – 313 pages
30. The Long Tattoo – 199 pages
31. Up the Down Stair Case – 350 pages
32. The Making of the President 1960 – 447 pages
33. P.S. Your Not Listening – 215 pages (yes it’s spelled Your…it’s a teenager’s book, or young adult)
34. Fifteen American One-Act Plays – 308 pages ( I almost didn’t read this one, but I’m all about learning..so I did)
35. Peter’s Pence – 268 pages
36. Snackleton’s Vallant Voyage – 218 pages
37. Pier’s Anthony and Eternity – 378 pages
38. Wielding A Red Sword – 313 pages
39. 14 Great Tales of ESP – 303 pages
40. Ben Hur – 446 pages
41. 52 Miles to Terror – 124 pages
42. Mark Twain’s Best – 250 pages
43. All Quiet on the Western Front – 175 pages (I had to read it my freshman year, and a guy my sister-in-law works with gave her a big stack of books and it was in there so I figured I’d read it again and actually pay attention)
44. The Mayor of Casterbridge – 256 pages
45. A Death in the Family – 318 pages
46. Peace With God – 210 pages
47. An American Woman – 302 pages
48. The Growing Years of American Literature – 318 pages
49. A Second Book of Notification – 242 pages
50. A Second Book of Stories – 260 pages
51. Smashed – 343 pages
52. The Longest Battle – 304 pages
53. Elements of Style – 307 pages
54. The Official Cleveland Indians 2008 Yearbook – 96 pages
55. 2007-2008 Cleveland Cavaliers Media Guide – 340 pages
56. Cleveland Indians 2008 Information & Record Book – 520 pages
57. Cleveland Indians 2007 Information & Record Book – 515 pages
58. Two on the Run – 298 pages
59. Invasion – 338 pages
60. Broken Angels – 528 pages
61. The Man Who Smiled – 438 pages
62. Live Bait 386 pages
63. Want To Play – 454 pages
64. Size Doesn’t Matter – 280 pages
65. The Queen’s Fool – 488 pages
66. The Sweet Far Thing – 819 pages
67. Sex with Kinds: 500 years of adultery, power, rivalry, and revenge – 255 pages
68. Wideacre – 648 pages
69. House of Many Ways – 404 pages
70. Twins or Quads – 185 pages
71. The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly Heart-Pounding, Jaw-Dropping, and Gut-Wrenching Moments from Cleveland Indians History – 174 pages
72. The Truth War – 224 pages
73. Teacher Man – 258 pages
74. The Ghost Next Door – 124 pages
75. Why? – 144 pages
76.Heart of a Champion – 192 pages
77. Sex and the City – 289 pages
78. Wicked (spanish version) – 508 pages
79. Son of a Witch – 337 pages
80. Wicked Lovely – 328 pages
81. Harry Potter and and the deathly hollows – 759 pages
82. Harry Potter and the half blood prince – 652 pages
83. The Secret World of Alex Mack: Mistaken Identity! – 133 pages
84. The Secret World of Alex Mack: Take a Hike – 131 pages
85. The Secret World of Alex Mack: Father-Daughter Distaster! – 118 pages
86. The Secret World of Alex Mack: Bad News Babysitting! – 133 pages
87. The Secret World of Alex Mack: Alex, You’re Glowing! – 131 pages
88. The Secret World of Alex Mack: Cleanup Catastrophe! – 134 pages
89. The Baby-sitters Club – 139 pages
90. The Secret World of Alex Mack: Bonjour, Alex! – 133 pages
91. The Secret World of Alex Mack: Milady Alex! – 135 pages
92. Style Statement – 254 pages
93. Midnight’s Children – 522 pages
94. Earth Abides – 373 pages
95. Shoulder the Sky – 323 pages
96. To Serve Two Masters – 218 pages
97. Set the Seas on Fire – 387 pages
98. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking- 254 pages
99. The Big Sleep – 163 pages
100. Farewell, My Lovely – 203 pages
101. We – Yevgeny Zamyatin – 225
102. Shadow in the North – 331 pages
103. The Bridge – 288 pages
104. Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation – 117 pages
105. Imperium – 305 pages
106. The Vampire’s Secret – 390 pages
107. A Taste for Love – 221 pages
108. Hard Times – 300 pages
109. Those Who Save Us – 479 pages
110. Cuba libre – 349 pages 3 years ago

In the last few weeks, several events have made me hyper-focused on two things—the inqualities between the rich and poor in the world, but specifically India, especially in the cities and also the violence and anger that are bred by these and other inequalities.

First, I went to see (and was blown away by) Slumdog Millionaire, which is set (mostly) in Mumbai, India, the fifth largest and most impossible to define city in the world.

Second, the events of Nov 26 to Nov 29 in Mumbai caused chaos within both my external and internal worlds.

Third, I read The White Tiger, this year’s Booker prize winner and justly so.

I’ll write more about The White Tiger soon, but till then, just know that it is a book to be reckoned with, and once it captures your imagination, it will not let go willingly.

Prepare to meet the little discussed and uncomfortable underbelly of India…. 3 years ago

V. interesting fourth book in this “trilogy” :-)

I love how Westerfeld comments, via scifi, on our cultures propensity to be hyper aware of how we blog, socially network and in general stay a little too linked in to the net… 3 years ago

very interesting. Didn’t think the story would go in this direction until the very end of Pretties.

3 years ago

27. The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper

I read this book in one sitting. Six hours or so without a break.

This is the Penguin description of the book: The Tall Man is the story of Palm Island, the tropical paradise where one morning Cameron Doomadgee swore at a policeman and forty minutes later lay dead in a watch-house cell. It is the story of that policeman, the tall, enigmatic Christopher Hurley who chose to work in some of the toughest and wildest places in Australia, and of the struggle to bring him to trial.

A few years back I spent two months visiting Johannesburg, with my soon to be South African husband. It was my first trip there, my first time in Africa. We stayed on a farm that lay beyond a township called Diepsloot. Most days we would take the car and drive into the centre of town. We would travel past long stretches of ramshackle housing and poverty into shiny Sandton. I found it difficult to process, one short car trip yet such prosperity and deprivation co-existing side-by-side. I used to think that Australia lacked those extremes, that somehow everything was even. Neater somehow. And The Tall Man brings home for me, yet again, how Australia isn’t like that at all. It’s just that the dysfunction that plagues indigenous communities in Queensland isn’t one short car trip away. It’s takes hours to drive that distance. A divided South and North. Out of sight out of mind.

Chloe Hooper’s investigates the circumstances surrounding the death of Cameron Doomadgee on Palm Island in 2004. SMH says this about the novel’s themes, The Tall Man explores…the uneasy relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, the legacy of our cruel history, the poverty and problems that beset many remote Aboriginal communities, the unequal application of justice — but at its heart is a compelling human story in which hasty passion and terrible chance propelled one man to defend his character and his profession and the other to a painful, untimely death.

The Tall Man makes for a compulsive, thought-provoking and intense read. 3 years ago

52. When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris (audiobook)

Was a Sedaris virgin at the start of the month, and went on a little binge as you’ll read. These are excellent audiobook selections, read by the author himself.

53. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (audiobook)

54. The Batterer: A Psychological Profile by Donald G. Dutton

Some research for my NaNoWriMo novel. Heavy stuff (which is also probably why I didn’t finish in time).

55. The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie Angier

Very underwhelmed with this one. Perhaps this would be more intriguing for someone without a basic understanding of science, but for me it was just redundant and uninteresting. Also, I’ve read parts of Woman and found the writing to be stellar, but the writing in The Canon is just full of awful puns and is just…bad.

56. The Devil’s Picnic: Around the World in Pursuit of Forbidden Fruit by Taras Grescoe

Oh, FIVE STARS! See further review on Goodreads.

57. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris (audiobook)

58. Holidays On Ice by David Sedaris (audiobook)

59. Letters To A Young Poet by Ranier Maria Rilke

I always come back to this one for much-needed creative inspiration. This is probably the tenth time I’ve read it.

I missed fiction. Already started working on a book I was itching to read all month long. 3 years ago

I read most of this book in two days. I’m so glad it was recommended to me by several people. (Yay, Yesha!)

It’s true what you’ve read elsewhere, that it’s a booklover’s book. I found it a little slow starting, but absolutely compelling as I became immersed in the twisting, turning story. A little lurid here and there, but ultimately in the great tradition of Bronte and other 19th century writers of note.

Setterfield tells you that she’s going to tell you a story that will have a satisfying ending, and that’s a scary thing to do in an era where the ambiguous ending is so highly revered. I wonder if our currently unsettled economic times will usher in a return to the satisfyingly sewn up novel.

This is one that will stick with me for a long time.

It’s also had the amazing effect of getting me writing fiction again, after many months of having abandoned it for nonfiction. I’m so glad to be back with fiction. Setterfield helped restore my faith in it. 3 years ago

21. The Gypsy Tearoom by Nicky Pelligrino
22. Six Feet of the Country by Nadine Gordimer
23. The Currency Lads by Peter Yeldham
24. On Writing by Stephen King
25. The Forest for the Trees: An Editors Advice to Writers by Betsy Lerner
26. The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman

The Gypsy Tearoom , set in Italy, is an entertaining, light read and the story of a woman trying to regain happiness. I have three Nadine Gordimer books sitting on my shelf, and I decided it was finally time to read one of them. Six Feet of the Country is a collection of six short stories set in apartheid South Africa. The writing is masterful. The stories are understated and unbearably sad. I raced through The Currency Lads, a well-written and engaging historical novel set in 19th century Australia. On Writing and The Forest for the Trees were both re-reads – I was after a bit of inspiration. I thought that the first half of The Golden Compass was a bit sluggish in parts, but the novel really hit its stride from the mid-section onwards. 3 years ago

I think I might need to join a book club. 3 years ago

On loan from a … friend?

I don’t know where my funny went. :( 3 years ago

Recommended by a friend. 3 years ago

a sequel of Uglies which I already reviewed…

pretty great (pun not intended) Uglies was just superb… it’s a tough act to follow.

Still, Pretties is a fast-paced read that will keep you reading (mostly to find out just what happens to the inimitable Tally Youngblood) and then, of course, when you’re done, there is Specials waiting for you! (And, after that, Extras)
3 years ago

It’s a fun breezy read… postulating what would happen if a corporation adopted a child.

Jaiden Beale, the protagonist, is a likable teen who just happens to have a parent corporation instead of parents.

It does bring up some interesting ethical questions re: the environment, responsibility of corporations, and business culture. It would be a great book for a young teen/tween and parent to read and discuss together…
3 years ago

Lots of good photographs. Some interesting light historical context. A nice prelude to a visit to Santa Fe, since it has given me a little context for the architecture and art I’ll be encountering.

Especially worth it since I bought it at a thrift shop! (Fifty cents!) 3 years ago

Some of Eric Maisel’s writing books really work for me, and some of them leave me cold. This one was kind of in the middle.

It isn’t nearly as inspiring as “A Writer’s Paris,” perhaps because Maisel lives more of his life in San Francisco than in Paris. The Paris book inspired me to go spend three weeks in France last year and play at being an ex-pat writer for a week of that time.

This book doesn’t quite reach the same elevation. But it does have a few choice pieces of ad…more Some of Eric Maisel’s writing books really work for me, and some of them leave me cold. This one was kind of in the middle.

It isn’t nearly as inspiring as “A Writer’s Paris,” perhaps because Maisel lives more of his life in San Francisco than in Paris. The Paris book inspired me to go spend three weeks in France last year and play at being an ex-pat writer for a week of that time.

This book doesn’t quite reach the same elevation. But it does have a few choice pieces of advice. There’s always something in his writing books that really hits the nail on the head for me, and this time it had to do with keeping the desire to write alive. When working on long pieces, rekindling the passion is essential.

Also, he’s always, always a great proponent of writing in order to get writing done. Not running off, not taking a class, not starting a new MFA. Just writing.

The illustrations are loving, gorgeous and true. 3 years ago

read a little less
and DO a little more, hmm?

;) 3 years ago

UGLIES is a Great book (set in a stifling and yet alluring post apocalyptic civilization in which all aspire to be beautiful and well taken care of) that covers many of the same topics covered by GemX but much much MUCH better written. You will enjoy this even if you’re not a SciFi fan.

Really explores ideas of environmentalism, beauty – both physical and internal, the value of friendship, betrayal and redemption…. Plus, not only all this, but I love the cover!

Go READ it.
:-) (Unlike GemX, I was VERY happy to realize that this is part of a series of books. Can’t wait to get my hands on the next one – Pretties.)

3 years ago

blegh.
i only read it all the way through because after a bit, i just needed to know what would happen. Get some closure. Only to find, during the last 5 pages, that this is the FIRST book in what threatens to be a series. argh.

still, despite the fact that I despised much of the language in this book, it still had interesting premise and ideas. Not always elegantly constructed, but it forces reader to think about race, culture, struggle between haves/havenots, emphasis on physical perfection, shallow adherence to material values, different aspects of love, and fear of aging and death.

Even though I kinda hated this book for its relentless barrage of dumb and numbing (and overkill) newspeak , I must say that the fact that it addresses all of the above issues is a major positive. I guess that’s something that sci fi does well.

I just wish Ms. Singer had bothered to edit it a few more times before rushing to publication.
3 years ago

I don’t know why it took me so long to pick up this book. I think it was marketed as chick-lit. Which I thought meant lots of snarky comments about other women and lots of orgiastic shopping, especially for shoes.

The central character is flawed, funny and endearing. Just the kind of character I want to spend time with. The writing is deft and entertaining.

I had a good time with this, and was sorry to leave the story even though it had clearly and satisfactorily concluded. 3 years ago