jfetting's 100 books in 2017

Last year I failed miserably in this challenge (57 books) after several years of 100+, so this year I'm really for real going to read 100 books.

Specific goals:
1) 20% nonfiction
2) 20% books off the 1001 books to read before you die combined list
3) 20% books off my shelf

Wish me luck!

The best of luck to ye, Dr. Jennifer.
:-)

Good luck! All the best for 2017.

I think i shall steal your goal of reading 20% nonfiction. i am always conscious that I don't read enough non fiction.

I keep adding nonfiction books to my TBR list, and then not reading them. I'm hoping to change that this year.

Happy 2017 jfetting !

#1 The Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy by Christopher Hayes ****

Hayes argues that while meritocracy (that the ruling class is composed of the best/brightest/smartest/wisest etc, regardless of class or caste) is a great idea in theory, in practice it results in a hypercompetitive world in which the elites (usually wealthy) rig the system so that the best/brightest/smartest/etc in lower economic brackets do not, in fact, have access to the same education, opportunities, and power as the idiot children of the wealthy (I am paraphrasing). His solution is activism. He does not leave me optimistic. It is a disheartening time.

Published in 2012, Hayes seems to have almost predicted the current political climate in the US and the results of the 2016 election (not specifically Trump, but someone like Trump, and the anger against people like Clinton). To me, the most interesting quote is the following:

"This means that we are cursed with an overclass convinced that it is composed of scrappy underdogs, individuals who are obsessed with the relative disadvantages they may have faced rather than the privilege they enjoyed."

Fact, although I would argue that many, many people in many, many classes are also convinced that they are scrappy underdogs who are obsessed with the relative disadvantages they may have faced, while ignoring their privilege.

Two short ones in succession:
#2 Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry ***** (and the second NF book!) (and a re-read)

I've read it before, but this time I work in an environment where this stuff actually matters (it matters in a lab, too, but not to the same extent as in an office building). Everyone can work to improve their emotional intelligence, and this book give lots of helpful tips. I would love to buy it for various people, but that would probably not be taken well.

#3 The Prophet by Khalil Gibran *****

Not sure how I've never managed to read this one. I've seen bits of it before (the section on the children is the one with the 'your children are not yours - they are the sons and daughters of life's longing for itself' bit). The whole thing is lovely.

Excited to follow your reading again! I've also somehow only read excerpts of The Prophet as well. Need to remedy that this year.

I read The Prophet in college--may still have a copy tucked away somewhere, although it's not in my catalog. It was all the rage in the late 60s on college campuses.

I'm really trying to concentrate on my own books this year, after only reading 8 off my own shelves last year while adding 32 unread books ( I did read 52 of the 84 books acquired.). I've set a goal of 50. I read 15 nonfiction last year which is pretty par for the course.

I can see how The Prophet was big in the late 60s - it was originally recommended to me by soe lovely former-hippie friends.

I've been really bad in recent years about acquiring books and then reading things from the library. Nothing wrong with libraries, obviously, but I do need to do something about my own books. Even though I've been in Chicago now for a little over 9 months, I still don't have a library card, so I'm actually making a dent in the physical, on-my-shelf TBR pile. Of course, this means I'm not reading the new books that people are talking about.

#4 Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome ***** (off the shelf #2)

This is an absolutely hilarious book. After a couple of chapters I had to go look up when this book was written because the humor is still so fresh and not at all dated. Turns out it is from the 1880s or 1860s or something, which blew my mind. One of the funniest books I have ever read. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up.

My copy is a lovely Folio Society edition with great cartoon-y illustrations and beautiful, soft, shiny paper. Also highly recommended, if you can get your hands on a copy.

I strongly suggest you go find a copy of To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis and read it before Three Men in a Boat fades from memory!!!

Added to the wishlist. So it's a time travel book? Does someone time travel and meet up with Jerome et al?

Also, thank you for enabling me to go acquire a new book (even if it is through the library)!

>13 jfetting: Do you really want me to answer that question? ;-)

Seconding reading To Say Nothing of the Dog soon. I also loved Three Men in a Boat, and Willis is the best.

>14 ronincats: Probably not!

#5 In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin ***

Nonfiction book #3 was a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping for more about the landscape and the geology and the fossils; instead, it was a series of vignettes about various sheep farmers and former Nazis, combined with some stories about Darwin and Butch Cassidy (separate, not together). While Chatwin was significantly less cranky than Paul Theroux, he was also less entertaining than Theroux. I'm not sure if I was in the wrong mood, or if this genre is just not for me.

I picked this up b/c I've seen many, many beautiful photos from people who have gone hiking in Patagonia, and I badly want to go there myself, but it didn't work for me.

>11 jfetting: I really enjoyed Three Men on the Bummel, too, which sees the same group travelling around Europe. As with Three Men in a Boat, the humour still works just as well today.

I'll add that to the TBR pile too. Thanks!

#6 March, book one by John Lewis *****

I've never read a graphic novel-type book before. I've always dismissed them as comic books, and not worth my time (although I would say things like "Oh, I should read Maus" every once in awhile). But I was wrong - it's a much better style than I'd expected. It works really well for a memoir, especially of a life as eventful and full of action and historical events as John Lewis's. He is a national treasure, and the book is great.

#7 March, book two by John Lewis and #8 March: book three by John Lewis both *****

This trilogy was wonderful. I have a newfound respect for the graphic novel. It's a great genre for this story, and makes the events Lewis described come alive. Which makes this a pretty emotional book, given the number of times he or other people are beaten until they black out. The whole trilogy is told alternating between Lewis's life and Obama's Inauguration Day, and I cried multiple times. Especially reading it today.

>19 jfetting:, >20 jfetting: I have heard so many wonderful things about this trilogy. I'm also not into graphic novels, but I will make an exception for this.

#9 Tooth and Nail by Ian Rankin ****

This was a dark one, but still a great read. Inspector Rebus gets sent to London to help find a serial killer; Rankin throws in a lot of hints that made me think I knew who the murderer was, but that turned out to be misleading. I enjoyed it very much.

#10 Evening by Susan Minot **1/2 (off the shelf #3)

Meh. A wealthy, dying woman continually flashes back on her deathbed to a weekend she spent at a wedding in Maine. Despite her 3 husbands and her giant piles of money, she has apparently been unable to get over an engaged dude she banged that weekend. Epic true love.

Whew! I love the books you read. I might have to grab a couple for myself...

Oh, I'm glad that John Lewis's March got your thumbs up. Will have to check it out, I heard all about it earlier this year. (Tumultuous and nerve wracking times!)

Also, I did love Three Men in a Boat and To Say Nothing of the Dog.

Good luck with your 2017 reading, but looks like you're off to a great start. :)

#11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16
Griffin and Sabine, Sabine's Notebook, The Golden Mean, The Gryphon, Alexandria, The Morning Star all ****
Morning Star = book off the shelf #4

I have been quite sick lately, on day 14 of one of the worst colds I have ever had. I haven't had much attention for reading, so today (feeling a bit better) I made my way through some of these old favorites. All but The Morning Star are re-reads. I'm not entirely certain what on earth is going on with these, especially the last 3, but I enjoy the pretty pictures and the interactive nature of the series (just love reading other people's mail!). I wish people sent me beautiful postcards from all over the world, and letters on homemade paper.

>23 jfetting: Great review! Thanks for the warning.

>27 pamelad: you're welcome!

#17 Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl ***** (re-read)

If you haven't read it, you should.

Good news! You can have beautiful postcards from all over the world.

Check out www.postcrossing.com

I've been sending and receiving postcards and little messages of friendship for over a year now.

Another LT member turned me on to it.

>29 nrmay: REALLY?!?!?! This is the best news.

>29 nrmay: I've just signed up. I'm so excited to know that this exists!!

I'm so happy you decided to try postcrossing!
You can see my profile. I'm nrmay on that site too.

Since Christmas of 2015 I've received 246 cards from all over. I've exchanged notes and letters; received invitations to visit; and sent and received stamps, coins, momentos and books. I even met one of my postcrossing friends. She's an artist in Oakland CA.

I sent a card to Switzerland today!

Postcrossing is lots of fun. I haven't done it for a while since I have enough regular overseas postcard pals that I really didn't have the money for Postcrossing, or not more than one or so a month which seemed pointless.

re Griffin & Sabine, I don't recommend the new volume which takes place after The Golden Mean and before The Gryphon. It covers Griffin and Sabine getting to Alexandria and just felt sort of unnecessary (plus you're in a new country for a week and manage to get overseas mail there? I know it's a fantasy series, but it is basically set in our reality...). So much tactile pleasure in those books though.

Friends of mine named their cats Griffin and Sabine. :)

Postcrossing looks fun, I was quite an avid Bookcrosser (http://www.bookcrossing.com/) when I had the time.

#18 Morning Star by Pierce Brown *.5

This trilogy started out relatively well and then turned into torture porn. I skimmed/hate read this book, and seriously considered googling the outcome so that I could stop reading about beatings.

>35 jfetting: You are making me glad that I resisted getting started on this series, as torture porn is something I simply cannot abide!

>36 ronincats: Torture porn may be a bit of an exaggeration, but they are extremely violent and have very little plot.

I do love the description "hate read", although I feel your pain. (Why do we insist on finishing books that are horrible? Unless we have to for study, we really should be nicer to ourselves.)

>37 jfetting: Somehow, you just aren't selling me on these books, Jenn.

>28 jfetting: Took your advice and read Man's Search for Meaning. Thank you.

>40 pamelad: It's pretty amazing, right?

#19 Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman *****

I love his short stories. These are great - the collection may actually be as good as Fragile Things, and that is saying something.

>41 jfetting: Yes it is. I've lent it to a friend, and foresee recommending it to all and sundry.

#20 Victoria: A Life by A.N. Wilson **** (nonfiction #5)

I've been watching Victoria on PBS lately, and quite enjoying it, but you can never tell what is historically accurate and what is completely made up. So I read this enormous biography. She lived a long time and there are a corresponding number of pages. Previously I had read and enjoyed Wilson's After the Victorians, and this biography was also very good. Apparently V & A were actually very much in love (awwww) although they fought a lot, and she was a pretty terrible mother.

#21 A Death in Sweden by Kevin Wignall ***

This was a free Kindle First book that actually did not suck. It wasn't great, but "secret assassin in Europe" is really one of my favorite genres, and even inferior ones keep me occupied.

#22 The Trespasser by Tana French ****

I originally thought I was going to give this one 3 stars, since the narrator really annoyed me at first, but she grew on me. The mystery wasn't really that mysterious, but I enjoyed how Antoinette and Steve solved the crime. I basically read it in one sitting, which should tell you something.

#23 The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes **.5 (nonfiction #6)

On one hand,
1) he's probably right - sugar is going to kill us
2) he makes the really good point that currently, there is a lot of unnecessary and incorrect moral shaming around overweight/obesity. After all, if a calorie is just a calories, and generating a calorie deficit is all that is needed to lose weight, then obviously everyone who is overweight/obese is lazy and/or gluttonous. But the fact is that calories aren't all equal, and people who are overweight/obese AREN'T morally lacking and it isn't helpful to treat them as such. BC for many people, there is a lot more to weight loss than eat less and exercise more. Sad but true.
3) I did not know that cigarettes had sugar in them

On the other hand:
1) Taubes rants against the government and the sugar industry and scientists who mistake correlation for causation when it comes to dietary fat and obesity/diabetes/etc, and then goes and mistakes correlation for causation when it comes to sugar and obesity/diabetes/etc
2) He also throws around a lot of meaningless stats - 5 people had diabetes in 1800, say, and then the number skyrockets to eleventy billion in 1900, without providing any perspective (what % of the population, Gary. Not raw numbers)
3) This book is mind-bendingly, eyeball-meltingly boring, and WAY TOO LONG
4) After I finished, I went out and bought a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal

#24 Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger *** (nonfiction #7)

This one could have been much longer. I wanted more examples of how people band together in groups/tribes/military units, and how modern life has broken these types of bonds for many of us.

#25 To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis *****

Ronincats and mabith were absolutely right - this book is fantastic and I loved it. I was hoping it would be a "someone goes back in time and meets Montmorency and Jerome et al on the boat", and it wasn't really (although there is one memorable scene...), but it had the same delightful feel as Three Men in a Boat, plus it was hilarious, plus there was time travel. Thanks for the recommendation, you two. I loved it.

#26 Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann **** (1001 book #1)

I read this one slowly because I enjoyed it and because it required a little more concentration than may average before-bedtime reading. It's a sort-of retelling of the Faust story, set in pre-WWI, WWI, and 1920s Germany (but written by the entertaining and unreliable narrator during WWII). The narrator is telling the story of his brilliant composer friend, who made a pact w/ the Devil, and comparing his story to that of Germany during the Hitler years.

Recommended.

>47 jfetting: I somehow lost your thread this year, but now I've found it! I felt the same about The Trespasser, still great Tana French, but it didn't grab me right away. Not my favorite of hers, but still awesome.

I want to read another Thomas Mann book sometime (although reading Proust is putting a dent in my desire to read anything challenging besides it). All I've read so far is Buddenbrooks (loved it) which I understand is his most straight-ahead novel. Where would you go next for Mann?

Also, I'm jealous that you're back in Chicago! We're tied here for the next 20 years. :-(

1 - Cinnamon Toast Crunch is the best sugar cereal there is, so I fully support that choice (my hippie parents' restrictions on what we could eat at home are partly responsible for my sister and I being absolutely junk food/candy fiends).

Glad you enjoyed To Say Nothing of the Dog! I enjoyed it myself, though so many of the references to writers are Edwardian with their peak being in the inter-war period which kept jolting me out of the Victorian setting.

Glad to see your thoughts on Tribe. I've been eyeing it recently but would want more of what you mention.

>48 japaul22: I am so happy to be back. I enjoyed my time in St. Louis and in Maine, but Chicago is home in a way that they never could be.

Even a less-great Tana French novel is pretty freaking good.

I've only read Buddenbrooks and Doctor Faustus, and want to read more Mann in the future because I think both are pretty great. I'm torn on recommending Faustus to you - on one hand, it's wonderful. On the other hand, you are a professional musician and there is a lot about music in the book that I would have no idea if it is correct or not, and which may drive you nuts. But the narrator is fanastic. I'm thinking of either The Magic Mountain or Death in Venice for my next Mann. One is MUCH shorter than the other.

>49 mabith: My parents were very lenient on the sugar cereal front, and I'm still a junk food fiend. Some things are just delicious, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch is one of those things.

The more I think about Tribe, the more I wish he had expanded it. Still worth a read, but unsatisfying.

Have you read any other Willis? Is the rest of the series as good? I kind of want to read more of her work.

#27 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark ***** (reread)

God, I love this little novel. Miss Brodie and her set are a delight. Because I am also a giant fan of the movie (Young Maggie Smith at her most wonderful), I hear it all in Maggie Smith's voice.

So glad you enjoyed To Say Nothing of the Dog!! Yes, that one memorable scene...
Willis writes in a lot of different ways and even the other time travel books are very different in tone. Perhaps the closest in tone to this one is Bellwether, which does not involve time travel but has the same whimsical tone, as does her newest, Crosstalk.

I commend you for reading and summarizing a book that is "mind-bendingly, eyeball-meltingly boring, and WAY TOO LONG." My two cents: I gave up refined sugar last November (along with some other things) and I'm not tempted to go back because I feel like I no longer have those ups-and-downs with energy (I also gave up caffeine) and I'm no longer my sweet tooth's bitch, which has really helped with my self-esteem. I envy those who are able to eat it in moderation with no ill effects, but, alas, I have accepted that I am not one of them and haven't been since I was 27. Bitter pill to swallow. *sigh*

I also did not know that cigarettes had sugar in them. And I also hate raw numbers in a vacuum, and I'm not even a scientist :-)

I keep toying with the idea of giving up refined/added sugars, because I am absolutely my sweet tooth's bitch and now that I am older my metabolism has stopped letting me eat whatever I want with few consequences. I was hoping the Traubes book would inspire me, but it had the opposite effect. I've heard several anecdotes like yours (but oh, no caffeine! how?!?), and maybe someday I'll be able to do it too.

The problem is that I have no willpower - I say one morning "ok, no sweets today!" and then someone at work brings in donuts and my resolve goes out the window.

My house for all of early childhood had NO junk food (candy, chips, soda, etc... except on rare occasions), and really almost no processed food at all, so it went a bit further than sugar cereal, but who knows. We couldn't even put butter or salt on popcorn for the early years (just nutritional yeast). When I hugely cut sugar in my life my desire for salty went into hyperdrive, so I think there can still be a lot of difference in how individuals react to dietary shifts. I don't buy many sweet things beyond sorbet in the summer, and my willpower is great at moderation when there are witnesses, so that works for me mostly. Willpower is variable though, and for most keeping to moderation actually depends on NOT abstaining totally (studies on this come up a lot in popular science books relating to psychology/general brain stuff).

I've read all of Connie Willis' time travel books and Bellwether and have enjoyed all of them. There's still humor in the other time travel titles (just not the driving force), and actually To Say Nothing of the Dog is my least favorite of those. Loved Bellwether, I laughed so much in that.

I do not preach on this subject. It took me a long time to accept that I didn't want certain things in my diet. I went off to a health retreat where they fed you delicious vegan whole foods and presented lectures about how various substances/foods/whatever affect your body and made you go for long walks in the woods. Without that immersive experience I doubt I'd have had the willpower to make a bunch of changes at once. But now it doesn't take a LOT of willpower; it's actually understanding and feeling the effects that keep me on the path.

I had to do it. I had no energy. My mind is a lot clearer now and that's my biggest motivator. I hate feeling ineffective.

Alas, it sucks not to be 27 anymore, right? Ah, hamburgers, pizza, whole pints of ice cream, cakes, cheesy pasta, fried fish....booze. Good times.

ETA: And I'll never stop missing Coca-Cola. Coke is a beautiful thing. And I agree >56 mabith: I don't totally abstain from everything. I let myself nibble a little cheese or meat every now and then. But I am actually scared of the white sugar and caffeine.

>57 citygirl: Coke IS a beautiful thing. I get to have 1 per week, and I savor it. Close the office door, drink the coke...ahhhh....

A health retreat with someone else cooking delicious vegan food and making me go for long walks in the woods sounds fantastic.

>56 mabith: I'll have to read Bellwether and the rest, then.

I just got back from a trip to Savannah and I'm really very glad I didn't decide to try to cut back on sugar and other bad things before I went... I'm from Northern Illinois, but Southern food is my weakness.

#28 The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark ****.5 (1001 book #2)

This was almost as good as Miss Brodie. It's set in London between VE day and VJ day, and centers on a sort of boarding house for young, unmarried working girls. The action slowly builds (I think I was about halfway through before I realized that a tragic event was coming up), and then hits you all at once. I loved it.

I must read more Muriel Spark. I listened to The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and I liked it, but audiobooks are really just not for me. I suspect if I reread it in paper form I will LOVE it.

It is worth a re-read, and I can especially see how difficult an audiobook would be, especially if the reader was a non-Scot reading in a Scottish accent.

#29 A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles ***.5

I thought this was going to be a spy novel. Instead, it is the story of a man who in 1922 or something (not a spoiler - happens in the first chapter) is sentenced by the USSR to house arrest in a hotel for the rest of his life. The book is very charming, as is Rostov himself, and if I had not been expecting a spy novel at every turn, I probably would have liked it more. My fault, not the book's.

#30 The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead ****

This was really difficult to read. I liked the literal interpretation of the Underground Railroad, and the writing was fantastic. I can see why it won an award. But wow, a tough read. Horrifying in spots.

The main character is a slave named Cora, and I liked her character so much that after a few pages I had to go to the end of the book to find out what happened to her. Ridgeway, the slave catcher, is also a fascinating (and completely unlikeable, unlike Cora) character.

The Girls of Slender Means has been on my list for a while and you've bumped it up a few notches.

#31 Lab Girl by Hope Jahren ****.5 (nonfiction #8)

I wasn't expecting to like this book - I have a documented aversion to books about biology/biologists written for non-biologists. However, Jahren grew on me, and if you wanted to learn a lot about i) plants and ii) what being a scientist is like (admittedly, what being an extraordinary scientist - no postdoc! - during the Clinton administration, before W came in and ruined American science for a generation, is like) you could do a lot worse. The monkey story is hilarious. Her description of her bipolar disorder is courageous (science is still very much a suck-it-up-buttercup place when it comes to mental illness, unfortunately). In some ways - and I won't bore you with them - I think that she represents a lot of what is wrong with science today. However, the book is great, especially the parts about plants. Plants are cool.

I've been waffling on whether or not to read Lab Girl, but you've tipped me towards yes.

#32 White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg **** (nonfiction #9)

This country has been a terrible place for the poor over the past 400 years. Isenberg focuses on the south - maybe because the white trash/redneck stereotype is so linked to that region - and damn, has this class been dehumanized over the years. This is not the history you learn in school, kids - none of our founding fathers/great statesmen/etc come out looking good.

Interesting. Have you read Hillbilly Elegy? I have it on Audible, but I haven't listened yet.

>68 citygirl: So good of you to ask, citygirl! Because...

#33 Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance *** (nonfiction #10)

So apparently all of the books I put on hold back in November are coming in at the library now. This was billed as The Explanation For Trump all over MSNBC, but enough of the hype has died down since then that I wasn't expecting too much. Which is good, because I wasn't terribly impressed. It was ok, don't get me wrong, I didn't dislike it, but I'm never all that impressed by memoirs written by people in their 30s.

Some of what he wrote really rang true, though. I was raised pretty solidly middle-class, but there are many similarities between Vance's Kentucky family and my extended family in rural Wisconsin. My mom was the first in her family of 9 siblings (Grandpa was a dairy farmer) to go to college, and there is a notable difference in the income/lifestyle/career opportunities/retirement savings/political opinions of the families of the siblings who left (either via higher education or the military) and the families of the siblings who stayed. So I the mindset of his Rust Belt family and neighbors is strikingly familiar; they say a lot of the same things that I hear from some of my uncles.

I'm never all that impressed by memoirs written by people in their 30s.

Hee. I expect to find it fascinating when I get around to it. My background is black people from the south. I'm sure I'll have lots o' questions when I finally get around to it.

#34 Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond ***** (nonfiction #11)

This book was incredible. Horrifying and eye-opening and horrifying and fascinating. I can't believe this is happening. This book now joins The New Jim Crow on my list of books I wish I could force everyone to read. I even like Desmond's solution at the end.

You get both sides here (both the tenants' and the landlords'), and it's clear that Desmond is sympathetic to his subjects. I now need to figure out what I can do to help this.

#35 The Vegetarian by Han Kang **

I don't know. The imagery is going to stick with me, but this was not fun to read at all. At least it was quick.

Yeah, The Vegetarian was acclaimed but held no appeal for me, so it never made it to Mount TBR. It sounded horrifying, but not to any worthwhile end. What made you want to read it?

>71 jfetting: I bought The Vegetarian when I was killing time in a Barnes and Noble last year because I'd heard so much buzz about it. But now that I've read a bunch of LT reviews I really don't think I want to read it.

And, yes, Evicted is such an eye-opening book, just like The New Jim Crow was for me.

>72 citygirl: I had no idea what it was about - like japaul22, I'd heard a lot of buzz about it and thought I'd give it a shot. It was pretty terrible, and I don't understand the point of it. I'd recommend skipping it.

>73 japaul22: I had no idea how expensive housing in "bad" neighborhoods can be. Good lord.

>74 jfetting: Right?! Silly me, I assumed people lived in bad neighborhoods because it was all they could afford. The whole story is so much more sinister than that.

#36 Irresistible: the rise of addictive technology and the business of keeping us hooked by Adam Alter **** (non-fiction #12)

All of my nonfiction holds at the library are coming in. I'm getting a little tired of them, and I miss fiction that doesn't suck, but this was quite interesting. I feel a little bit better about my inability to put my iPhone down since the apps I'm hooked on (facebook, instagram, twitter - no snapchat because I am an Old) are designed to keep me hooked. Also, interestingly, workaholism is ALSO a behavioral addiction and I'm afraid I'm developing a bit of that too (and Netflix binges - basically the only thing this book describes that I do not relate to is video games - I don't care at all about video games).

So now I'm resolving to put the phone away at least a couple of hours before bedtime - I definitely do not need to check work emails at 10 pm (even if the company is paying for my phone), or Twitter, or whatever. I really do have a problem with insomnia after late-night phone usage.

Good luck. I know it can be hard, but you probably won't miss it as much as you think you will. What did it say about binge-watching? I do a lot of that.

I think I need to read that book! These devices are additions - can't go anywhere without either my iphone or my ipad.

>77 citygirl: The bit about bingewatching focused on the cliffhanger endings of many shows, and how netflix just starts the next episode within seconds after the previous one starting. You can sit there for hours.

>78 swimmergirl1: When I accidentally leave my phone at home, I get anxious. I'm hooked.

#37 The Sellout by Paul Beatty ****.5

I don't approve of US authors being eligible for the Booker, but if we have to win that, I'm glad it was this book by Beatty. It's thought-provoking and hilarious and I couldn't put it down.

Was that a recent development? US authors eligible for the Booker? A few weeks ago I saw that an American book had won and kind of dismissed it as nonsensical.
I do NOT approve.
Booker books are wonderful b/c they're in the language we speak but they are not about us!!!! They're British and Irish and Australian and Canadian and NOT AMERICAN.

WHY? Oh, the humanity....

ETA: I hope this isn't any effect of making American great again. Frankly, I'm tired of us and I think we should just go sit in a corner quietly for awhile.

>81 citygirl: Very recent - just in the last year or two. I think we have PLENTY of book awards for us (Pulitzer, the other ones, etc.) - NO NEED to steal the rest of the English-speaking world's awards.

And I agree 100% with your ETA - I think the whole world is tired of us.

#38 Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin ***** (nonfiction #13)

Damn, he's good. These essays are insightful and profound but also really readable - it's like having a very one-sided conversation with a very, very interesting speaker.

It is horrifying how little has changed in the decades since Baldwin wrote this.

Note: the touchstones are completely insane. Baldwin was in no way a Harry Potter novel. I tried to fix it and have no idea if I succeeded.

#39 The Gunslinger by Stephen King **** (re-re-re-read)

Refreshing my memories of Roland's adventures, and hoping to finish the whole series (finally) before the movie comes out, because there is no way I'm not seeing that. I haven't re-read this one since King revised it after finishing the series; the changes are noticeable but not offensive.

#40 The Godfather by Mario Puzo ***** (1001 book #3)

So The Godfather is one of my favorite movies; my Dad and I have had a father-daughter tradition (which probably began when I was around 8 or 9) of watching at least the first one together, and usually also the second, once a year. We love these movies. If you haven't read the book, you'll be pleased to know that both movies follow it very closely (some of the best lines are not in the book, though - Dad and I like "leave the gun, take the cannoli" the best) and it is great.

The Godfather is a good book, but I will caution you against reading any more Puzo. I don't know when exactly he started writing dreck, but I think you can safely stop there.

>84 citygirl: Good to know - I'll stick to the one. Thanks for the warning!

#41 The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King *** (re-re-re-read)

Not my favorite, but still a good and fast read. Roland gets himself some companions, and sees our world.

#42 The Waste Lands by Stephen King **** (re-re-re-read)

I really like the character Jake and his interactions with Roland, so this is one of my favorites in the series (bearing in mind that I've only read the first 5, I think. Maybe 4).

#43 Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman *****

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before that in my opinion, Gaiman is one of those rare writers who can do it all well - short stories, novels, children's books, and now myths. This is great fun, told with quite a bit of the Gaiman humor. My only experience with the Norse myths thus far had been the Thor and Avengers movies, so these are pretty much all new to me. I like Loki the best.

I didn't know Gaiman had written a Norse mythology. Ima check that out.

#44 A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James ****

The 2015 Booker prize winner is pretty great. It's a very violent novel (which I usually hate) about street gangs and politics in Jamaica in the 70s, 80s, and 90s (which I know nothing about), so I'm surprised I liked it so much. It is set up like As I Lay Dying, with different chapters narrated by different people, and it is a bit confusing at first but the narrators really make the book for me. I loved them and was sad if/when any of them died, no matter how murdering a murderer they were. The plot centers (sort of - it isn't a major incident, but everything else that happens is either leadup to or fallout from it) around the attempted assassination of character called the Singer, who a quick google search confirms is based on Bob Marley who ALSO survived an assassination attempt.

Read it. It is long but it is worth it.

Glad you also enjoyed A Brief History of Seven Killings! I think the length is so totally justified by the text. I'm excited to read more by James.

Me too. I loved his use of language and dialect and how he made me feel a connection to every single narrator - even the really really bad one(s). Plus I had a really hard time putting it down, and given that this really, really, really is not my type of book, that is saying something.

#45 The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova *.5

Once upon a time, I loved The Historian, with its descriptions of academic life and Budapest and vampires. I was thinking about reading it again, but I'm afraid to now that I have read this terrible book. It's so bad. I hated the main character - she's unbelievably stupid and naive for a 26 yo (which is young but not that young), and all the strings are tied up neatly, and the dog dies, and nothing really makes any sense, and somehow we're expected to believe a epic mystical love between a 26 yo woman who acts like she's 18 and some dude who is 50 *sigh*.

Is is so, so bad. Even Bobby, who is great, can't save the book.

I loved The Historian too, but really struggled with The Swan Thieves, so haven't tried anything else by her since.

>91 jfetting: that's too bad - I really liked The Historian too. Thanks for reading this so I don't have to!

I liked The Historian quite well (other than the very end), so I think you're safe to re-read. Glad to be warned off her other fiction though.

#46 Victoria by Daisy Goodwin

Decent book written in parallel with the PBS series. I liked the show better, but this was a quick easy read.

#47 A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marine Lewycka **.5 (1001 book #4)

Short and completely forgettable. I just finished it last night and I don't even remember what happened. I could have lived a long, full, productive life before I died without having read this book.

#48 Eline Vere by Louis Couperus **** (1001 book #5)

This would have been a 5-star book if I hadn't disliked Eline herself so much. I loved all of the other characters and the descriptions of life in The Hague whenever this book was set (turn of last century, maybe? I don't know). It feels a lot like House of Mirth to me (which I also loved), so if Wharton is your thing, maybe try this book too.

#49 The Islamic Enlightenment by Christopher De Bellaigue **** (nonfiction #14)

I'm embarrassed about how little I know about the history of this part of the world in general and Islam in particular. This book covers the cultural changes experienced by Turkey, Egypt, and Iran between 1798 and the 1980s, which arced towards Westernization and then back again. The author likes to blame British, French, and Russian colonialism for many of the problems in the region; I am on record blaming many of the world's problems on British colonialism and it never occurred to me to blame the French and Russians too! But it is an argument that I agree with and overall, I really liked the book.

#50 Wizard and Glass by Stephen King *** (re-read)

The 4th book in the Dark Tower series; this is the one that mostly covers a period during Roland's youth when he meets his One True Love. I like it, but it isn't as good as the ones with Roland, Jake, Eddie, and Susannah.

Definitely putting The Islamic Enlightenment on my list. If you're looking for more about Islam I highly recommend, Islam: A Short History by Karen Armstrong, Destiny Disrupted by Tamim Ansary, and If the Oceans Were Ink by Carla Power.

Thanks for the recommendations! Adding all these to the TBR, probably starting with the Armstrong since I enjoyed A History of God.

#51 Difficult Women by Roxane Gay *****

Wow! She's good. I barely even changed positions on the couch while reading this collection of short stories - and usually I try to space short stories out a bit. Some are disturbing, some are sweet, some are sad, some are pretty hot... I'm going to be reading more of her work.

#52 American War by Omar El Akkad ***

I was a little disappointed. The premise is great: the second American civil war occurs from 2075-2095, after climate change wrecks the coasts and Florida disappears altogether. The South (Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia) secedes and fights the rest of the country (although Mexico owns a big chunk). Much of the action is set in a refugee camp, where the protagonist Sarat lives with her family.

I'm trying not to give too much away (although even relatively non-astute readers like myself can figure out where this story is going within a chapter or 2), but it is an interesting reflection on how to radicalize a person. The parallels to what is going on in the middle east are pretty obvious, too, but not heavy handed. I just wish the story was more interesting. I can't put my finger on what went wrong and why it didn't click with me; all I know is that around 2/3 of the way through I was thinking "Ok can Sarat just release the damn virus and kill humanity already. I am bored".

#53 Autumn by Ali Smith ****

I'm not entirely sure what is going on with this book. Not much happens, the writing is lovely, and I really enjoy the 2 main characters. But overall it left me confused.

>102 jfetting: That description is delightful!

>102 jfetting: I read There but for the and was confused and kind of annoyed. But I'm still tempted to try this. I feel like, if nothing else, her books must always be intriguing in some way.

>104 japaul22: Definitely intriguing, and I didn't dislike reading it - it was just one of those books that made me feel like I'm missing something. ALSO I just read that it is on the 2017 Booker longlist.

The relationship between the 2 narrators is adorable and kind and sweet, and I suppose we could all use some of that these days.

#54 Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay ***** (nonfiction #16)
So a couple months ago, I listed this book as "want to read" on a different, much inferior book website where most of the people I know in real life list their books; I hang out there sometimes to quietly judge them. Anyway, I added this book to my list and this activity was immediately liked by 2 of my super conservative friends, which confused me - I follow Gay on Twitter and I would in no way call her politically conservative. This is a very long way to get around to saying that this book does not trash feminism as a whole, and if you think this book is going to say "manhating feminism ew!" you will be disappointed. Now feminism OBVIOUSLY has its flaws, as Gay points out, but they are more of the lack-of-intersectionality variety and less of the manhating etc. variety.

Also she discusses the Sweet Valley High books A LOT and God, I loved those when I was a kid.

#55 Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami **.5

I love Murakami's work SO MUCH and these stories really disappointed me. I like his magical realism, not a bunch of stories about sad dudes who talk about women in their lives as if the women were objects. There is one really great story about the monstrous vermin awaking from unsettling dreams and turning into Gregor Samsa which is absolutely fantastic. But not enough to redeem the book.

#56 Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King **** (re-read)

The 5th Dark Tower book is kind of long but pretty enjoyable. Roland et al are in another Western-ish town that needs saving. Father Callahan from Salem's Lot (my very first Stephen King book ever!) shows up and lends a hand. King is really using this series to connect much of his work into one multilayered universe, and I enjoy the cameos (The Stand is heavily referenced throughout).

There is no way I am going to finish the series before I see the movie. But I'll keep reading them anyway.

>106 jfetting: I was interested to read your comments sbout the Murakami book. I felt exactly the same and couldn't bring myself to finish the collection. So disappointing.

>107 Eyejaybee: I'd read a previous short story collection of his (After the Quake, maybe?) and was also unimpressed, although it wasn't quite as bad as this one. I hope he comes out with a new novel soon.

I loved Bad Feminist, in part because I found myself arguing with parts of it out loud. Very provocative. And, frankly, I am sooooo happy that Gay's book has found its way into conservative hands.

#57 Song of Susannah by Stephen King *** (off the shelf #5)

I didn't like this one as much as the rest of the series so far. I'm not sure what I think of Stephen King introducing himself as a character - but at least that character admits that all of his books are more or less offshoots of the story in this series. Actually, maybe I like the addition of King as a character. He's certainly hard on himself.

I'm now worried that not all of Roland's ka-tet is going to make to to the Dark Tower. These characters are pretty endearing, and I'm going to miss them if they get killed off.

#58 The Dark Tower by Stephen King **** (off the shelf #6)

Wow, it took me awhile to finish this last entry in the Dark Tower series - I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately - but overall I liked this one. Heartbreaking in places, and in some ways I think King tried a bit too hard to make it more than it needed to be (but if I had taken 30 years to finish a story, I would ALSO carry on as if it was Great and Important Literature).

The ending was perfect.

#59 A Colony in a Nation by Chris Hayes ***.5 (nonfiction #17)

Ok. So. I'm torn. On one hand, it is pretty interesting and I agree with his premise of 2 Americas, split mostly based on race and a little bit based on economics. He discusses the unfairness of the prison complex in the US - how black and brown people are much, much, much more likely to end up in prison or otherwise punished much more harshly than white people for the same offenses. And I also agree with him that when it comes to punishing crimes, we should level up (i.e., treat all people like we treat rich white dudes) rather than level down.

HOWEVER. We have a really great book already about how minorities receive disproportionally harsh punishments - it is called The New Jim Crow and it was not written by a rich white dude. Why did the rich white dude (who is one of my favorite liberal pundits, don't get me wrong, and also apparently a Cubs fan which is the best of all possible things to be) feel the need to write a much-less-well-researched book about the same thing? I suppose more is always better, but it grated on me a bit. Also, his example for who Americans are wrong for wanting to see punished harshly was that Stanford swimmer rapist guy. Which was tough for me - because I agree that no one should be defined solely on the worst thing they have ever done, and shaming and whatnot are terrible and unhelpful, and forgiveness is better - BUT boy do I disagree when his example is THAT case. I just felt like he had way too much sympathy for the swimmer rapist. Ugh. So now I have to examine my own irrational biases and that is annoying.

#60 A Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks ** (off the shelf #7)

Whatever. Mindless but not terribly entertaining.

Unfortunately, Jen, part of the value of Hayes' book might be for the simple reason that he is white. His arguments will come across as more palatable to some white people than the Alexander book's. It's the same thing with women. The same idea may be received differently because of the gender of the person advocating it. You know this. :-s Frustrating.

It is so frustrating. The only hope (since he mentions Michelle Alexander directly) is that the sort of person who thinks that someone like Chris Hayes has some unique and profound view on racism in America will pick up this book and maybe go find her book.

I keep imagining the reception The New Jim Crow would have received if Alexander was white and male. It would be like the mountains of praise heaped on Hillbilly Elegy, except that the mountains would be higher b/c TNJC is ACTUALLY GOOD.

Should anyone be reading my thread and not yet read The New Jim Crow, please do.

I'm afraid to read it. It's a daily struggle not to go insane when I hear/read the news. My new mantra: I will not let that man age me. I will not let him get me down

*huge sigh*

It's just getting worse and worse. I feel like it is only a slight exaggeration to say that he will get us all killed. *also huge sigh*

#61 Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders ****.5

Damn, that was good. That last chapter, especially - what a beautiful, crazy, messy world this is, and how lucky are we to have the opportunity to know it. A needed reminder in these difficult times.

I loved the style here, too - the little snippets of other accounts of the time, the tag-team storytelling style of Vollman and the other one.

#62 Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow **** (nonfiction #18)

I'm as hooked on the Hamilton cast recording as everyone else, and very much enjoyed the Chicago production when I saw it earlier this year. So I picked up a used copy of this giant biography and read it. The first time I tried to read it, I couldn't get in to it and was quite pleased w/ Lin-Manuel Miranda for leaving out all of the boring banking stuff. The second time I tried to read it, I flew through it and loved all of the banking stuff. By the end of the book, I was yelling at Hamilton out loud for the stupid nonsense he kept pulling.

I like how Chernow presents some more controversial ideas (the nature of Hamilton's relationship with Laurens, the nature of Hamilton's relationship w/ Angelica Church, Hamilton's parentage) without taking a stance either way. Some things we'll never know.

Burr really was a jerk. Miranda was too nice to him. He was a murdering murderer.

#63 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster ****.5

And to think that I almost gave up on this one after 75 or so pages! The story did not draw me in at first, and I wasn't really in the mood for YET ANOTHER story of an East Coast dude growing up in New York. This was so, so good though. It took me awhile to figure out the gimmick (so I won't tell you all), but once I did I loved it. The characters are fantastic (I loved ALL of the different Fergusons, especially the one who lost his fingers and the one who went to Paris. Well done Booker committee to put this on the shortlist.

#64 History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund *

SO TERRIBLE. How did this get shortlisted for the Booker? None of the characters' motivations made any sense. It wasn't that well-written. I hated it.

>119 jfetting: Oh good. I checked that out from the library and then thought better of it and never started it. Glad I didn't waste my time.

#65 The Monk by Matthew Lewis ** (1001 book #6)

Two grudging stars because the novel hadn't even been around for very long when he wrote this, so it is possible that all of the melodramatic events weren't cliches back then (licentious monks, women forced to become nuns, ghosts, Satan makes an appearance, etc). However, it's pretty bad, but not even so bad that it is funny.

#66 The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark **** (1001 book #7)

Loved it. You think you know where the story is going in the first or second chapter, but then the 3rd chapter reveals that it is going in a completely different direction. THAT direction is also incorrect, btw. As is the 4th. It's so good. You should read it.

#67 Everything Flows by Vasily Grossman ***** (off-the-shelf #8)

Fantastic, also horrifying. The style is really interesting. It starts out as what looks like a standard novel about a man who was released from a prison camp, but then there are asides from the POV of people who acted as informers, and a detailed and appalling description of the state-sponsored famine in the Ukraine in the 30s, and then a primer on Lenin, Stalin, and the Soviet government, and then an homage to the importance of human freedom. Grossman packed a lot into these 200ish pages, and I loved it.

#68 Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier ***** (re-re-re-re-re-re-read)

It's been awhile. Still as good as ever.

#69 The Only Problem by Muriel Spark * (also off-the-shelf #9)

That was surprisingly terrible. Even now I can't tell you why I bothered to finish it (ok, its because I have a goal of 100 books and it is Nov 19 and I had 32 to go). Such a waste of time.

#70 The Poe Reader by Edgar Allan Poe ***.5 (off-the-shelf #10)

I've been dipping in and out of this for a couple years now. Poe was one of those authors who was done to death in my school district (this time around, I skipped The Tell-Tale Heart. I never need to read that again), so I didn't really rush through this omnibus collection, which starts out with all the famous ones. BUT THEN if you are somehow able to drag yourself through yet another reading of The Fall of The House of Usher (never again, BTW. Never again) you get to his unbelievably fantastic detective stories, and some of his creepier fantasies that AREN'T inflicted on middle and high school students ad nauseum. The poems are there too; I skimmed them (again, there is NO NEED to read The Raven or The Bells or Annabel Lee YET AGAIN).

My favorites:
The Cask of Amontillado (which I would rank as my #2 short story of all time. #1 is Rapaccini's Daughter by Nathanial Hawthorne, if you are curious).
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
The Purloined Letter
The Gold-Bug (these last 3 are the detective ones)
A Descent into the Maelstrom
Ligeia

Fully in agreement re A Cask of Amontillado. I'm not sure if it's just because I love saying "amontillado." You know, I don't think I've ever had any. For 2018: find a (bottle) of amontillado.

Never had amontillado, but when I was in Madrid this summer, we went to this tiny dusty little bar that only served sherry. Turns out I HATE sherry (shouldn't have been surprised, given how much I dislike all fortified alcohols). It is fun to say, though, isn't it? Amontillado.

#71 Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin ***

I feel like I should have loved this book - I enjoy me some magical realism and lush, descriptive prose and cities. However. I had to force myself to read this - once I started, I could keep going, but I could have put it down about halfway through and never picked it up again and been fine with it.

#72 Nutcracker by E.T.A. Hoffman *****

An old favorite; the touchstone goes to the edition I've had since I was little, with the Sendak illustrations. It's a beautiful book.

#73 The Royal We by Heather Cocks ***

Gofugyourself is one of my favorite websites, so I read the first novel co-written by the 2 bloggers. It was ok. Fun, light, fluffy, and entertaining fiction novel about the courtship and marriage of a future king of Britain (WilliamNick) and his commoner bride (KateBex), except that Bex is an American and a Cubs fan. Good beach read, probably, or something to read when your attention is mostly elsewhere.

#74 There But For The by Ali Smith *** (1001 book #8)

I love her writing and how she tells a story. I have NO IDEA what story she is trying to tell.

#75 The Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness From the Modern Myth of the Self by Marilynne Robinson **** (nonfiction book #19)

This is a short but densely packed series of essays in which Robinson explores her common theme of the disservice that blind worship of science does to one of the profound ideas of Western culture - the self. I can see where she is coming from. This is an incredibly well-written and deeply thought out rebuttal of the nonsense spewed by competent scientists who feel the need to pontificate about non-scientific ideas (eg, Richard Dawkins). I have as little interest in scientists' views of religion as I do in religious peoples' thoughts on scientific data (unless those religious people are trained scientists - it does happen).

I really dislike Dawkins and really adore Marilynne Robinson AND I got to see her give a talk this past fall which made me an even bigger fan. So I'm biased.

#76 A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver *****

Haven't read poetry in ages - this was lovely.

#77 The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman **** (nonfiction book #20)

I can't actually review this right now, and possibly not ever, because it made me so angry. I'm fuming. Not the book itself - the book is great and I love Krugman and I am the choir to whom he preaches in this book - but the subject of the book. I shouldn't have read this right now, especially today, because I'm just so discouraged and disheartened and I don't see how any of this is ever going to get better.

He wrote this in 2007 and it's not better, it's worse, and going to keep getting worse, and it makes me sick.

#78 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens *****

So to make myself feel better I re-read this wonderful story about the nasty rich miser who learned that it is important to help other people while you are alive or they are going to dance on your grave when you are dead. SEEMS APPROPRIATE RIGHT NOW.

Then on Christmas eve I'll watch the 1953 Alistair Sim version with my family after church, and think about how very much better my own life is now than it was just a few short years ago, and how much even better it will be next year, and what I need to do to help make other people's lives better too, and hopefully regain my optimism and faith in humanity. A lot to ask of a movie, I know.

Additional yearly Christmas re-reads:

#79 The Birds' Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin *****
#80 The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg *****
#81 The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum *****

We wanted to watch that version of A Christmas Carol too, but couldn't find it on TV this year.

I love Kate Douglas Wiggin--I shall have to look for that book of hers.

#82 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling ***** (re-read)

This is one of my least favorite of the 7, but it's still pretty great. A little comfort reading.

#83 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling ***** (re-read)

I love this one. Lots of Dumbledore, lots of Snape, they are my favorites.

And with that, my 2017 reading is wrapped up. 83 is not 100, but it is still better than the 57 I read last year.

Specific goals:
1) 20% nonfiction (reality: 20/83 24.1%)
2) 20% books off the 1001 books to read before you die combined list (reality: 8/83 9.6%)
3) 20% books off my shelf (reality: 10/83 12.0%)

Succeeded brilliantly with the nonfiction category (although they were mostly political), not so much with the other two.

2017 Year-End Best/Worst List (nominees listed, winner in bold)

Best Fiction Book of 2017: Lincoln in the Bardo, A Brief History of Seven Killings, Three Men in a Boat, To Say Nothing of the Dog, 4 3 2 1
Best Nonfiction Book of 2017: Evicted, Bad Feminist, Alexander Hamilton, Victoria: A Life
Worst Book of 2017: The Vegetarian, The Shadow Land, The Only Problem, History of Wolves, The Monk
Least Offensive White Dude Explaining Things: Hillbilly Elegy, A Colony in a Nation, The Conscience of Liberal
Most Horrifying Nonfiction Book: The Case Against Sugar, White Trash, Evicted
Biggest Disappointment: The Royal We, Men Without Women, American War
2017's Literary Crush: Colson Whitehead, Colson Whitehead, Colson Whitehead (but seriously have you seen him? AND The Underground Railroad is great AND he is a really funny speaker)
What Was the Booker Prize Committee Thinking?: History of Wolves

Thanks for the warnings about History of Wolves and White Trash. Did you make it all the way through White Trash? My book mark is at page 38, and I couldn't make myself go back to it.

Off in search of Colson Whitehead.

Loved keeping up with your reading again this year! Will you be in 100 books group again in 2018?

AS of now, my list for 2018 is

here in the 100 books in 2018 challenge group

I also have a thread in the 1001 books to read before you die group, but I won't lie - I just cut and paste. Also I posted there exactly twice last year so if anyone wants to read my rambling thoughts, click on the above link.

>139 pamelad: I did make it through White Trash - I was horrified the whole time. I can see it being the type of book that wont work unless you are in a very specific mood.