BeSerene's Books of 2008

Here we go!

The first book I read entirely in 2008 was Princess Academy by Shannon Hale.

Hale specializes in stories for girls that aim to entertain and empower. The first book of hers that I read, The Goose Girl, was a retelling of a less common Grimm's tale. In Princess Academy, Hale spins a tale that fits within the tone and parameters of a folk tale, but is (as far as I know) something of her own spinning. The themes of family love and recognizing your own importance underscore bright, pleasant prose and make for feel-good reading over all.

Second book of 2008: Enna Burning by Shannon Hale.

I'm on an author kick, apparently. In Enna Burning, Hale returns to Bayern, the world of her earlier book, The Goose Girl, and reminds us of the happy ending in the previous story (no spoiler there). In comparison with Princess Academy, Enna Burning and its predecessor deal with darker themes and consequences--war, manipulation, sickness and death share word-time with romance and friendship--but still promote the same message of empowerment, with strong-willed heroines and open-minded male counterparts. Just as enjoyable as Princess Academy, but definitely aimed at a slightly older crowd.

**pfft**

You've only read 2 books so far this year? Amateur. **wink**

So, you've only been telling me for forever that I need to read these books. Maybe I should borrow them sometime?

Oh, sure, make fun of me and then expect to borrow my books. Not likely.

No Shannon Hale for you!

Third of 2008: Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale.

Finishing up my Hale kick with her most recent book, a retelling of an uncommon Grimm's fairy tale, "Maid Maleen", but retold in the setting of the Mongolian steppes. This, like the rest of my recent reads, is a clever, empowering story of a resourceful girl who is anything but damsel-in-distress. I like that none of Hale's heroines are afraid to get their hands dirty, but, of course, the fairy tale ending is remarkably similar in all of these books.

Fourth of 2008: Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde

I love this series. L-O-V-E. It appeals to my silly side with it's sharpish wit, backwards puns, and convoluted, slightly satirical interpretations of the world; it appeals to my academic side with the plethora of literary allusions that make me feel like part of the club. Above all, however, it pulls me in with the charm of its fantasy: who among us doesn't want to literally get into a book?

Finished 22(ish) January 2008 (on vacation in Jamaica). Woot!

Fifth of 2008: Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams

I remember checking this out of the library several times years ago, perhaps even when I was in high school, and always returning it unread. I think the stiff formality of the language turned me off, but I finally got over that, or rather, allowed it to absorb me into the story, and thoroughly enjoyed this "Watership Down with cats". Williams does a great job of inhabiting the mind of a cat, from articulating the sounds of cat language to explaining the meaning behind the familar stretches, scratches, and that habit of turning several times on a spot before laying down. The story is typical quest, but what sets this apart is the imagined interactions between the various animals one encounters. Rather than taking the lazy way out and having all species speak remarkably good English, Williams spins a verbal reality that allows the reader to "hear", with astonishing clarity, the characteristics of squirrels, dogs, crows and, of course cats. One can almost picture the author in his den, surrounded by chittering, barking, squawking and meowing creatures, listening carefully and typing in the sounds just as he hears them. A delightful twist on a familiar story.

Finished 24 January 2008 (on the plane home from Jamaica).

Sixth of 2008: Aunt Dimity's Death by Nancy Atherton

Though this is listed as crime/mystery, as the first of an apparent series, this is more background information than mystery. Still, Aunt Dimity is a sufficiently charming spirit and the main (live) characters are likable. The circumstances are reminiscent of a Cinderella-story, which makes this a comfortable and comforting quick read. I read it all in one night and enjoyed it enough that I may pick up additional titles in the series.

Finished at 5:00 am, 28th or 29th of January (can't quite recall).

Seventh of 2008: Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander

This children's book reads like a kid's-eye-tour of ancient history. Jason and his cat, Gareth, travel through time to nine different historical times/places (everything from ancient Egypt to 1600's Germany) and experience brief adventures in each. The adventures get a little repetitive if you read too much of the story at once, but this would be perfect for reading aloud a chapter at a time and sparking a child's interest in times past.

Finished last day of January (ish).

Eighth of 2008: Tangerine by Edward Bloor

I picked this up at a library sale, for something like 30 cents, because Edward Bloor was a name I had seen on bookstore shelves and recommended lists recently. This, his first novel, was intriguing--Bloor's picture of Florida's citizenry paints them as just as odd and fixated on football as one expects. The book, though for young readers, deals with some serious subjects, including violence among teens and death. Though not the best I've read, this one is made particularly compelling by the young hero, who finds his strength and his voice after years of bullying. Could be inspiring for the right age group.

Finished at 2:00 am (ish) on 2 February 2008.

Ninth of 2008: The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russell

Another library sale find, this novel is one of the best science fiction pieces I've read (although, admittedly, I am more versed in the fantasy side of things). The non-chronological form engaged me as a reader and contributed to the steadily building suspense. The idea of Jesuits being the first to make contact with an alien race may at first seem the stuff of satire, but here it makes perfect sense, and what's more, one finds oneself genuinely invested in the characters and their welfare. Even though, from the beginning, you know that Sandoz is the only returning member of the mission crew, you still anticipate, agonize, and mourn the fates of the others, all of whom are offered to the reader with depth and understanding. This is an emotional book and the events it describes are sometimes shocking, but never does Russell treat the serious themes cavalierly -- ultimately, the tone of the book is gentle, even respectful. Beautifully done, overall.

Finished quite a while ago (I need to do these entries more quickly).

I loved the Sparrow back in '96 when it first came out. I have often wondered how it reads now, more than 10 years after publication. I tend to think of it as very 90's.

Why do you apparently come across all the good finds at the library sale? I'm beginning to think you've got an inside connection...

Avaland, I didn't think of it as particularly 90's, but I might not have noticed because I am a little oblivious to these sorts of contexts when I read for pleasure. I felt it was powerful and compelling; though, for me, the end felt oddly deflated, or perhaps deflating. Cathartic, perhaps? What was 90's about it from your perspective?

10: The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

A classic and a quick read -- I finished it in the space of two hours when I was tired of slogging through work texts and Bowen stories (see next). This is the story that asked us to question what might really happen if we had a the power to be invisible -- questioning the stability of the human psyche and human morality. Even with these questions, this is an adventurous and, dare I say, fun to read. Wells maintains a naturally quick pace that satisfies even while providing all the necessary information. The science may be fuzzy, but this is science fiction in its earliest apex.

11: Stories by Elizabeth Bowen

It took me ages to slog through this book. It's not that these were bad stories -- to the contrary, they were remarkable; it was like eating a pomegranate. Each story was a jewel-red fruit with a tiny kernel of hidden meaning. Some seemed, at first glance, listless or directionless, yet each insinuated itself so intimately in my head that I could not read two stories in a row. Thus, after weeks of reading, I have finally completed this small volume.

12: The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

I liked this novel more than I thought I would, having heard mixed reviews before reading it. It is interesting as a collection of character studies -- the lives and thoughts and types of people who read Austen -- but I have to say that my favorite part was the reproduction of original "criticism" (comments on Austen's work from her family, acquaintances, and scholars through history) in the back of the book. In these days of "trendy" Austen, it was nice to see how that tradition and perspectives on it have evolved. Frankly, though, I still long for those recent but bygone days when you could tell kindred spirits by whether or not they had read Austen. :)

13: White Noise by Don DeLillo

(It's funny that avaland mentioned The Sparrow being very nineties -- this book was totally '80's -- see the end of the review -- and I noticed it right away. Perhaps it's a matter of distance?)

Normally I am not a fan of postmodern fiction. I find that most postmodernists, or even postmodern authors who shun the title, are self-contradictory by nature; part of the postmodern mission is to reveal the fallacy and, usually, pointlessness of the human constructs that make up the world, but since the author making that point is participating in and depending upon one of those constructs (the book, for instance) in order to make the point, it seems to undercut itself. The phenomenal redundancy and contradictory nature of such a purpose make it almost impossible to find a truly compelling postmodern novel -- all that pointlessness makes one less inclined to make the effort of reading, I suppose.

At least, that was what I thought until I met Don DeLillo's novel, which compelled me to read it even full as it was with postmodern attitude. I became attached to the characters and their everyday ramblings -- an attachment almost unheard of for me when it comes to a postmodern text. I wanted to know what was coming next and, being thus motivated, I absorbed, investigated and appreciated the cultural commentary at work as well.

The postmodern perspective reveals itself in the idea of "white noise" -- random snippets of radio broadcasts and commercials that are inserted throughout the text, connecting us with concepts of technology, meaningless communication, and other constructed illusions that take the place of genuine relationships -- and the laughable academic "analysis" of everything from cereal boxes to Hitler. The academic setting, of course, appeals to me, but so does the attitude with which it is approached: the central scholar wears dark glasses and cultivates an imposing posture in order to "present" the figure of a distinguished department chair; the pop culture department faculty throws food and punches over film reviews and collective memories. These are exaggerations -- though not too much so -- that ask us to realize the ridiculousness of those who wrap themselves in the pursuit of false, socially constructed knowledge. The novel questions how we conceive of the world, mocks the power-construct of academia (again, even while existing within the system of scholarly literature) and interrogates the cultural and individual fear of death that is endemic in the United States.

This text is intrinsically linked to its era -- the 1980's -- through attitude and direct (pop) cultural reference (cassettes and leg warmers abound), but it also escapes those limitations and allows the reader to reflect, to question, to interrogate her own cultural moment, a process that is always worthwhile.

This may be the first postmodern text that I have genuinely liked.

14: Here There Be Dragons by Jane Yolen

I adore Jane Yolen. Actually, beyond that -- I want to be her, or at least be me with a life roughly parallel to hers. Yolen has written hundreds of books, from numerous fantasy classics to "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?" and every time I read something of hers, I like her and her work even better. This brief volume of poems and short stories -- all focused, obviously, on dragons -- is no exception. Some of these stories we've seen before, just in different shapes ("The Dragon's Boy", a short story here, was later expanded into a sequence of novels.) Some, particularly the poems, are fun and new and seem like an insight into Yolen's personality. I read this book in pieces, over time, and it seems to me to be a great "read aloud" book -- especially the poetry. Heartily recommended to fantasy fans, even the young ones, and to people who simply enjoy a great story.

15: Politically Correct Bedtime Stories by James Finn Garner

This is actually a Quality Paperback bookclub edition that also includes Once Upon a More Enlightened Time -- does that mean I get to count it as two books? No, I didn't think so.

These stories, for anyone who appreciates the satire, are hilarious. As one who loves fairy tales and has many of them memorized, I felt every change and "pc upgrade" knock brazenly at my funny bone. At the same time, of course, one realizes (as with most satire) that the ridiculousness is not that far off -- this is, after all, only a few steps farther than the sanitation of the Victorians or the early edits of the Brothers Grimm themselves, historical moments that enabled the "stories-for-children" designation that now defines fairy tales. In all seriousness, take a minute to compare the Disney versions to Garner's laughable and delightful spoofs -- not that different, are they? Fun to read and fun to realize. :)

Digression: For anyone who is still reading this list other than me (D?) -- I've realized why I seem to be struggling to reach the appropriate pace for 75 books this year. With 6 classes to teach, I read constantly... but NONE of the reading I do for work is actually a complete book. A story here, a poem there, 50 billion essays, but none of that counts for my list. Duh and dang. I am an idiot.

Okay, now that we've cleared that up...

16: The Clarion Awards, edited by Damon Knight

There are some amazing stories in here. This volume, something that I found in a used bookshop in Ann Arbor a couple months back, was put together in 1984 by Damon Knight (at the time still the leader and grandfather of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop) to celebrate up-and-coming writers who had passed through Clarion. Some of the contributors -- Lucius Shepard, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Dean Wesley Smith -- have done well for themselves in the genre and genre community, as Knight hoped they would, and others have not; even with fame and genre reputation aside, however, there is great value in this volume of diverse stories. Not all are science fiction, not all are fantasy -- some are neither -- but all are worth reading at least once.

17: Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke

Cornelia Funke, despite living on a different continent, has a great deal in common with Shannon Hale (see the first couple entries on this list); she writes bright, ambitious young women as central characters, usually heroines, and gives them marvelous adventures in which to prove and build themselves. You may know Funke from her wonderful Inkheart and Inkspell novels, but in this shorter, younger book, we find a simpler, sillier and utterly charming story. Igraine, like many of the young readers who identify with her, wants to be a knight -- an urge which, even as an adult, I totally understand, because who doesn't want to ride a charger and be able to wield a sword? Remarkably and delightfully, she succeeds in both familiar and unexpected ways. This is the perfect novel for readers who might be a little young for the darker themes of the Ink books, but still want to experience fantastic characters and adventures.

#21 I've realized why I seem to be struggling to reach the appropriate pace for 75 books this year.

That's what summer's for...to catch up!

Re book #12: I liked your comment on once being able to identify a kindred spirit by whether or not they read Austen. What with all the movie adaptations and such, I'm always skeptical when someone says they love Pride and Prejudice, and yet if you press them on the topic you find out it's the only Austen book (and sometimes the only book over 10 years old) that they've ever read. It's nice to see people reading the classics, but like you said...there are a lot of impostors out there.

I have never read Austen and plan to start with Emma....because it is one of the books on one of my top 100 lists and I thought I'd start there. Any comments, wunderkind or beserene?!?!? I think it is in the next TBR stack rather than the current TBR stack. I have to limit my TBR stacks otherwise they grow like the plant in Little Shop of Horrors.

How delightful to read Austen for the first time!

As for comments, if Emma is the one that first appealed to you, go for it. It really is witty, with enough satire to allow one to enjoy the (purposefully) annoying characters, and enough reality to enable a sense of familiarity, which is one of the most engaging things about Austen. Just don't watch the Gwyneth Paltrow movie in too close a proximity.

Emma isn't my personal favorite, though. I am actually a big fan of Mansfield Park, no matter what everyone says about Fanny Price, but I must confess that Pride and Prejudice is the one I've read most often.

As far as introductions go, I think Emma or P&P or Sense and Sensibility -- the three most well-known -- would each be a fine place to start. Each has its own appeal. The others are a bit different -- Northhanger Abbey plays with gothic convention, which doesn't appeal to some, and Persuasion is significantly less... frothy, I guess, than Emma at least, and MP, well, as I hinted above, not everyone takes to Fanny, the central character. I would read the big three first, then let yourself explore the others with an open mind. And if you really get into Austen you can pick up the volume of Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sandition, which contains both her early experiments and her last, unfinished work. It's fun to speculate what might have been with that last one, though of course one always wishes that she had had time to complete it.

To be fair, wunderkind, to all those folks who only read Pride and Prejudice because of the Keira Knightley movie (of which I liked the first half, then practically went into convulsions at the second, starting from when she stands on the cliff edge with her skirt billowing out -- when did this become Wuthering Heights? Honestly.) -- it is probably Austen's best and most likeable work (well, all her works are likeable, but P&P is particularly so).

But still, it is a bit annoying that Austen has become a fashionable accessory rather than a true love for so many. But, I suppose the trend will pass, and then those of us who have been patient will once again recognize each other in the classics section of the local bookstore, agonizing over whether to buy that new annotated version when, really, we already have at least three copies of most of her works... w, have you read Shannon Hale's Austenland? Hi-lar-i-ous for those who, down deep, wish they were Elizabeth Bennett (and that's pretty much all the women I know).

#24 -- dr, I totally agree. Hooray for summer reading!

It shall be my summer of Yeats this year, as I will be in Ireland to study Yeats in July, so you can expect to see quite a bit of him on this list a couple months from now. :)

Oh, and since I'm here -- 18: Birdwing by Rafe Martin

If you have read or heard fairy tales, as a child or as an adult, no doubt there has been at least once, when presented with the "happily ever after", that you asked "okay, but then what?" This YA novel attempts to answer that question -- the story begins where the fairy tale of the Swan Brothers (boys who were transformed into swans by an evil stepmother but saved by their sister who, under great hardship, wove nettle shirts for them) left off -- with the youngest brother, whose shirt wasn't quite finished, and who therefore was left with one swan wing instead of a left arm.

It's interesting to see the details that are addressed here -- I think Martin very successfully and very practically illustrates what would be the reality for a boy coming home with one swan wing -- there is plenty of bitterness, family issues, and also the physical challenges that go along with such a difference.

I like that Martin spins out the possibilities of destiny and choice using the same threads -- the young man, of course, must take a journey of self-discovery and, ultimately, learn why he has the wing and choose whether he will keep it. Toward the end, though, the novel gets a little too free with it's "everything is part of the plan" attitude -- by the time the love interest turns out to be a lost princess from a neighboring kingdom, the eyes have started to roll a bit. Despite stretching the limits of credulity (which I suppose is to be expected given its fairy tale heritage), this was certainly an enjoyable read and especially recommended for those who have been wanting to REALLY finish a fairy tale.

Thanks for the Austen comments. I am looking forward to reading her for the first time. The benefit of having ignored all of my English Lit. professors for so long when young and now going back and enjoying all of this stuff for the first time.

Interesting summer task!!! A very close friend of mine studied in Ireland, gaining a degree (I'm not sure which kind but post graduate) in Irish Lit, focusing on Joyce and Yeats.

Cheers!

Back again from my first trip to Ireland for the summer (and I go back in a couple of weeks for the Yeats thing, which I am excited about despite the fact that I have been laboring through his autobiographical writings for weeks without seeming to make a dent). In the meanwhile...

19: Album of Horses by Marguerite Henry

Oh lord, it's halfway through the year and I'm only on #19? Gracious. And I'm even counting the picture books. Well, within reason.

I've been on a Marguerite Henry kick, at least in terms of buying, for a while now (not sure when I decided to by all the first editions of her horse books, but there you have it), but it's only recently that I've been reading those copies that I have accumulated from eBay and antiquarian book shows.

I started with the books of hers that I had read as a child (I am desperately seeking, still, an A copy of King of the Wind, which was actually my favorite). One of my clearest memories of reading her books (and I must have been about 8 years old) is flipping through the Album of Horses, looking at Wesley Dennis's gorgeous illustrations, and picking out my favorite breed of horse. I must have checked this book out of the library 20 times as a kid, so there is something satisfying about finally owning it, finally sitting down to remember and recollect -- sometimes one needs a little nostalgia. And the best thing is, the text still holds up. It's not breed stats and conformation -- instead, most of the breeds here are accompanied by a brief description and a short story, whether a vignette or the biography of its most famous (to that date -- the '60s I think) member -- and Henry's simple and pleasant writing is showcased with its usual charm. Surprisingly, I got as much pleasure from reading this at age 30 as I did at age 8.

#20: You Wish: the Misadventures of Benjamin Bartholomew Piff book 1

This was quite a clever little YA book -- I finished it a while ago, but despite the ordinary plot (orphaned boy becomes remarkable hero, battles evil, saves magical world and/or day, gets to live happily ever after), the premise and circumstances are fresh and sharp. Much of the book is situated in the Wishworks factory, the place where wishes come from, and all the trouble begins when a boy (said orphan hero) makes a perfect, by-the-book wish... for infinite wishes. This, of course, throws the factory into chaos and the boy has to come to terms with his overstep and, naturally, fix the mess. It's quick and bright, has some nifty ideas (flying battle-chairs -- picture your La-z-boy with wings, shields, and a cannon -- are simply cool), and a pretty decent message about personal responsibility, so I have no trouble recommending it.

#21: The Last Dragon by Silvana de Mari

Another YA book, this one a translation from the Italian, and frankly one of the better treatments of classic character-types that I have read. Humans, elves, and dragons all interact in this book, but far from the "oo-woo-oo" awe and respect that tall, thin, gorgeous elves command in many other fantasy texts, the elf here is significantly more old school -- he's tiny, he dresses funny, and he doesn't really understand human beings at all. The communication conundrums are laugh-out-loud funny, but there are also tender moments here. The dragons, too, are more "realistic" in a certain sense than some of the more romanticized depictions in other novels -- sheep get eaten, people get bruised, and the reality of living with a fire-breathing carnivore is front-and-center at several points -- and the people are, well, people, which I appreciate. Add these treatments together and, despite the familiar elements of prophecy and quest, you have a fantasy novel that actually feels pretty original (a rarity). There is some violence and a bittersweet conclusion, so this won't suit little kids, but I think older kids all the way up to adults, especially those with some experience of fantasy tropes, will really appreciate the fresh treatment. Honestly, one of the best I've read in quite a while.

#22: Pocketful of Passage

I picked up this slim volume at a little book shop in Copper Harbor last summer, while we were vacationing there at the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula. It's a brief narrative about a young girl's summer living in one of the lighthouses on the islands that dot Lake Superior. The girl in question was a real person and, although the narrative is conflated to a single summer, she did live several summers on this particular island and in the surrounding area -- the daughter of a lighthouse-keeper, she had islands as her playground and the sound of the lake as her lullaby. The narrative does a fine job balancing the beauty of the area with the very real dangers of living and working in and on Lake Superior -- the weather changes and the shifting emotions of the lake can create real problems, as specified in a few of the anecdotes. Though this was a quick read (maybe an hour, tops), it was interesting and I would seek out other Great Lakes narratives because of it.

#23: Opus: his Sunday best by Berkeley Breathed

Comics count.

And Opus has long been one of my favorite comic characters. This collection of his weekly color strips highlights some of the funniest and most thoughtful moments in his long visual life, including the simple and hilarious "Now stop that!" moment (his almost-disappearance is one of my favorite strips -- both chuckle- and thought-provoking).

#24: War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

I needed to read this, since I had assigned it for my science fiction class in the fall, and since I can't remember the last time I'd read it, if I had read it at all.

I really enjoyed it, frankly. I'm glad I had the Broadview edition of the text, which has a few helpful footnotes as well as some articles on the Victorian context of the piece -- there are some terms and references that Wells uses that would otherwise be lost on the modern reader. I'm acquainted with the radio and film versions of this invasion narrative, but was still surprised at how engaging the original really was -- despite the Victorian setting and syntax, I found myself caught up in the first-person narration and reasonably invested in the happenings related to the central figure. There are, of course, moments of distance -- this is typical of most period writing, especially when the text makes technical or dated references -- but the story itself and the way it was framed intrigued and delighted me. No dry doorstops here -- I think my students might actually read this one. :)

Last year or the year before, I read The Time Machine and had a very similar experience. The mark of good authors is that their work is usually accessible and relevant, no matter how old. I found that was true with some other sci-fi/dystopian novels recently read Brave new World and 1984 and a horror classic Dr. jekyll and Mr. Hyde. These are fun reads but still relevant.

Wish I could take your sci-fi class!!!

Look at you and your marathon reading/posting!

blackdog, I think you are spot on about the relevance... I would add Fahrenheit 451 to that brief list also (I LOVE that book). I'm doing a dystopia section in my class, second half of the semester, but it will be brief. If only this weren't just a 200-level course, I could assign more novels. :)

You are welcome to take the class, as soon as you move to Michigan. See you soon, right? :)

D---

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just wait -- two weeks from now all posts will cease for months again. Alas, I am so inconsistent!

Oh, and instead of struggling the rest of the way through Yeats' sutobiographical writings, I've started reading Good Omens (again) -- do you think this is a bad start to my seminar?

---S

Nothing like a little comical armageddon to start a seminar off right, I always say.

#25: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Hooray! Halfway through the year and one third of the way through my mission. Wait... shouldn't those balance out a little closer? Oh well.

I love Good Omens. I'd read it before, but the hilarity of an armageddon gone awry was just what I needed this week. What else is there to say? It gets funnier every time. :)

#26: The Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley

This first book in the "Sisters Grimm" series reads like one part Lemony Snicket, two parts "The Spiderwick Chronicles" and a healthy dose of just about every other children's fantasy written in the last decade. Once again, we encounter would-be orphans who discover a here-to-fore hidden family history of magical obligation. Once again there is a quest -- this time with a miniature Snicket-style "whodunit" tossed in -- and once again... surprise... our heroes are miraculously successful -- if not totally victorious -- discover that they aren't quite as family- and friend-less as previously supposed, and learn a little something about themselves in the process. Woohoo.

To be fair, though this is pretty formulaic at its roots (as, frankly, many perfectly decent books are), there are some important twists. First, of course, there's the fact that our heroes are actually heroines (two young girls and one disorganized but feisty granny), which is refreshing. Second, the descriptive style, while aimed at the young and therefore occasionally overly didactic, has a certain detective-style realism (the 12-year-old is realistically annoying at moments, the 7-year old has a good emotional and behavioral range, the house is sufficiently but not overly disordered, and most of the characters are dynamic and occasionally surprising) that makes reading it a pleasant experience. Also, the fairy tale characters -- who, we discover, have much more to them than we the fairy-tale inundated reading public might expect -- are real characters, rather than stereo- or archetypes, with multiple levels of personality and motivation.

So, overall, though this somewhat cinematic first installment might be dreaming of Snicket-like success, it does seem to hold its own. If you like this style of books (and especially for those who found Snicket too depressing and Spiderwick too quick), this is definitely worth a read. Of course, I reserve final judgment until after I've read further into the series. Stay tuned...

#27: The Unusual Suspects by Michael Buckley

I couldn't very well start my seminar reading without investigating this new series further -- that would have been a disservice to fellow LTers -- so naturally, being the sort always willing to take one for the team, I picked up book #2 (long forlorn on the TBR mountain). And what happens? It ends with a cliffhanger!

:)

Well, now I HAVE to go read #3.

(By the way, #2 was more of the same, though I think it pulled me in a little more. Serious mayhem involved, which is delightful, and though this still seems to be a series for the tween set, this second volume had some scarier moments and some extra-cranky almost-a-teenager antics. It seems like the author is forcing a few things -- the time frame here is weeks rather than years, so the progress of characters seems a bit speedy, especially the intimations of a possible love toward the end -- but still a fun, fast-paced read.)

This will surprise no one: I spent an entire month reading and reading about Yeats AND NEVER FINISHED A BOOK. Oy.

I did, however, finish #28: The Problem Child by Michael Buckley. Okay, at this point, the series is still fun because one wonders what fairy tale icon will be skewered (metaphorically and/or literally) next, but I can see the edge of my patience with this. It is very much like Lemony Snicket, which could get a bit tiresome and repetitive in the middle numbers of the series, but not quite as witty and engaging. Hmm. Not in a rush for #4.

Also, before I actually left for the Yeats seminar, I read #29: How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read by Pierre Bayard. (Do we see desperation in this sudden shift of reading topic? Ah. Yes, yes we do.)

Funnily enough, I actually ended up reading this whole book, which seems its inherent irony, and then talking about it while I was attending the Yeats seminar.

First of all, this is a book tailor made for book academics -- so if you are in the engineering field or have otherwise never made it through a literature seminar on either side of the table, you can skip this book. But for those English grad students and, better yet, professors and authors out there, this little book is a gem. Here's what happens every few pages:

1. Laughing out loud ("ah hahahahaha!")
2. A pause ("oh, wait...")
3. Realization and acknowledgement ("actually, that's quite true")

I genuinely laughed at the witticisms, the tongue-in-cheek situations, the deliberately skewed allusions (the author admits that he has not "read" all of the books from which he has quoted in this volume)... but inevitably there were moments of pause, in which I realized that real scholarship was being snuck in under the radar, and that the really, really funny stuff was also true. Bayard's expansion on the idea of the "screen book" or the construct of memory that is a particular book to a particular individual -- he threads out some solid cultural theory here, in explaining how each of us has our own mental library of said constructs which we draw from when interacting with others on the subject of books -- is both fascinating and useful. I pondered as much as I chuckled, and came away from this text with a lot to think about in terms of how people read, remember, and discuss literature.

Not to mention some handy excuses for not "reading" those Yeats books. :)

Jumping forward in time, and I may have to backtrack if I find I missed one, we get to my vacation books. Not very many this year, but that was because I left the children's books and YA novels at home and concentrated on Science Fiction, in preparation for my SF class this fall. So, up north I read:

#30: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
I genuinely enjoyed this fantasy of a brotherhood of thieves -- the descriptions are gritty to the point of nausea on occasion, and the violence is both frequent and shocking, so the squeamish might not appreciate the depth of both character and setting here -- the filthy, squelching city is a lush character unto itself -- but anyone can grab hold of the adventuresome tale (the plot underpinnings are nothing new, but the dressing on that stand is both imaginative and satisfyingly familiar -- disguises, dashing about in shadows and mist, much buckling of swashes, that sort of thing). Heartily recommended for the adventurous.

#31: Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
I think this is what "they" mean by "the new weird" these days. Here is a hodgepodge -- one of its characters, Mr. Motley, might be taken as a metaphor for the entire text -- of bugs and biological splicing (men and women with animal or mechanical "additions" abound here), dark spirits and bright burning vengeance, star-crossed lovers (of a sort) and half-formed families. As with or perhaps more than #30, the city, ostensibly a setting, is as much a character as any of those walking and talking within the novel. This is part science fiction (chock-a-block with scientific method and reference), part dark fantasy, a smattering of steampunk (all the mechanical items or people are run off boilers), and a strong dose of pure nightmare (soul-sucking giant moths, anyone?) -- all the parts come together, however, in a gorgeous whole, which, intentionally rough-sewn in places, makes one feel sucked in and distanced all at once. Very good, but one that probably needs a second read to appreciate how all those pieces settle together.

#32: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
This is one that I actually assigned for my class and I have never been more glad that I did. Classic -- flawless -- and though it's aged in the intervening... forty-odd years, still as relevant and readable as ever.

#33: The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
Another complex read (none of the works I read on vacation were simple or short), but one that rewarded with moments of sheer pleasure (like reading Dickens or Austen, there are patterns here that must be appreciated). A strange combination of the historical and the post-modern aesthetic.

#34: Neuromancer by William Gibson
Not as smooth a read as I would have expected, but facinating never the less. Whatever post-modern technology is, you can bet that Gibson thought of it first.

Perhaps I'll write a little more on these later. For now, I need some sleep (and to decide what I am reading next).

Looks like you got some nice reading done on vacation. Yay!

Reading whole books has decidedly slowed down in the first few weeks of the semester. I feel like this list is missing some, but that might just be my sadness at the few books I've read. Of course, if I were counting sci-fi short stories (of which I've read at least 40 in the last few months in preparation for my class) and comic books (I just caught up on my Justice League series, though I seem to be missing #23) I would be ahead of the game. Hmm... wait a minute. I see a connection there. :)

Anyway, #35 was Bright Shadow by Avi, my favorite unknown author since childhood. Avi writes what I would call subversive children's books; not necessarily subversive in the political sense (though sometimes that's true too), but in the narrative sense these books defy convention and expectation as well as, much of the time, the traditional "happy happy" ending that children's books are "supposed" to have. In this particular book, we have magic, the journey of our hero -- a girl who unwittingly and unwillingly receives the last wishes of a kingdom -- mistaken identity -- her best friend and would-be love interest is mistakenly thought to be the wish-bearer -- death and a remarkably thoughtful though not really pleasant ending. Like everything I have read of Avi, this is intriguing and worth reading. It may not be as wonderful as The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, which is a favorite of mine from childhood, but it is quick and unexpected and just right for a rainy afternoon's entertainment.

#36 was another children's book, The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen, which I have been meaning to read (or reread, since I think I read it many years ago but I'm not sure -- man my memory gets worse every day) for several years. If Avi is thoughtful, unexpected, and often dark, this book from Yolen is deeply serious. At a Passover Seder, a young girl named Hannah opens the door for Elijah and is transported into the shoes of a girl named Chaya, in 1940's Poland. The book is the story of her transported experiences as a victim of the Nazi death camps. It's also about understanding and appreciation, about family, and ultimately about the importance of remembering the horrors of history. Though it is a more traditional narrative than recent treatments of the topic, such as The Book Thief which I found to be both original in style and extraordinarily emotional, I think that still, today, Yolen's book should be read by every child, and every parent, and especially by those whose distance from tragedy makes them unwilling or unable to be tolerant.

#37 was The Bell at Sealey Head, Patricia McKillip's new book. Patricia McKillip is my favorite living author and I was so surprised and pleased to find a new book by her at my local B&N that I sucked all the oxygen out of the store with my gasp. I had to purchase the book IMMEDIATELY, and had every intention of reading it right away, but a week passed, and then nearly another, before I had the time to dedicate to it. This is because I know that, once I start a McKillip book, I generally don't put it down until I am done. With this one, however, that rule was broken. I found myself able to pause, and perhaps not so absorbed into the narrative as with some of her other novels. That is not to say that there was anything wrong with the book -- McKillip's "good" is wonderful by anyone else's standards -- and though it did not have the emotional and philosophical intensity of my absolute favorite, In the Forests of Serre, or the entrancing characterization of The Changeling Sea, the novel was charming. It retains the fairy-tale flavor of so many of McKillip's books -- though with this one I could not identify a particular cultural heritage from which the text was drawing, so I may need to do more homework or that touch might have been simply tone this time around -- and genuine, appealing characters whom the reader naturally likes. The adventure -- the challenge which is usually the centerpiece of any good fairy tale and therefore any Patricia McKillip novel -- felt a little thin this time, perhaps because several of the characters one likes best sit out the final action in a closet, but the ending was satisfying anyway. I would be curious to know if McKillip was inspired by the Pacific shore, because there is a distinct sense of place here that seems more grounded in reality, even with the magical elements, than in previous novels. Overall, though this will not be be my favorite novel from her bibliography, it is a welcome return to many of the tropes and styles of classic McKillip, with just enough new and different to intrigue, if not entrance.

You read some very interesting books! Thanks for your well-written descriptions.

Beserene, I loved Lloyd Alexander as a kid but had never heard of Time Cat - sounds perfect! I'll look out for it.

Your description of The Devil's Arithmetic sounds like it is something right up my alley. I read Here There Be Dragons by Yolen earlier in the year, but this sounds completely different. I will definitely be watching for it!

alcottacre -- I love Jane Yolen, both as an author and an editor. In fact, I just picked up Neptune Rising at a book show today, which does with undersea folk what Here There Be Dragons did with dragons.

The Devil's Arithmetic is drastically different, as you say, of course, but still remarkable. It's rare, in my experience, to find a book that can convey the essential truths of the Holocaust yet still be something that children can and should read. Yolen's book is very human. I'm not sure how else to describe it.

Flossie -- I just got another Lloyd Alexander -- The Rope Trick -- which I cannot wait to read. I too enjoyed the Prydain Chronicles years ago, but didn't realize how many other books Alexander had written. I'm having fun finding and reading them now, though -- it's never too late, right? :)

You are welcome, Whisper! Glad to share and glad that someone is reading this! :)

More books! Hooray! I actually had a minute to read this weekend, so I finished one I had been working on and two that we brand-new additions to the TBR pile.

#38: Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer
I really enjoy this series, but as I was explaining to tapestry100 the other day, it has changed significantly. It started out as funny fluff -- a clever redux on the idea of fairyland (LepRECON is a division of the fairy police force), neatly threaded with the dreams of any 12-year-old boy (hey, who doesn't want to be a criminal mastermind?) -- but these days, after several volumes and the passage of years within the series, the tone has mellowed from fairy-tale-on-speed to a calmer, though still clever, attempt at emotional maturity. Whether this makes the later books better, worse, or simply different depends, I suppose, on the reader. Certainly, the fact that, by this volume, Artemis has "gone straight" and is trying to save his mother's life instead of gleefully wreaking havoc in order to reap illicit fairy technology for joy and profit makes this newest book less wickedly delightful. But the story, and the way Colfer deals with the title issue, is a fresh concoction with characteristic sharp twists. For those familiar with the series, the climactic scene has both predictable and surprising elements. The reappearance of a familiar villain did not bring me much joy (eligible for Most Annoying Villain Ever award), and I'm not sure how I feel about the fleeting romantic tension between two of the main characters; still, there were laugh-out-loud moments and hilarious mental visuals, as well as the sheer pleasure of having to figure out what's REALLY going on. Ultimately, one may not feel the same mischievous satisfaction as in previous installments, but especially for those attached to the characters, this is still worth reading.

#39: Ireland by William Trevor
I've been nursing myself through these stories for several weeks, mostly because one cannot read more than one of these thoughtful but often depressing gems at a time. Here are stories of Ireland in settings from the Famine Era up through the 1980's, over a hundred years of a culture in which its mythology was more positive than its reality. One can think of these as stories, but they are also insights into society and the social subconscious of a country. Some are disturbing, some -- like "Two More Gallants" -- cleverly and bitingly comment on Irish literary tradition, and a few reveal a glimmer of hope for readers and for Ireland. All are remarkable.

#40: The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
Having read and enjoyed Sarah Addison Allen's first book, Garden Spells, I was a little annoyed at the opening of this book, which makes it apparent that we are in for essentially the same premise: a lonely woman with grievous self-esteem issues, all of course stemming from a tragically dysfunctional childhood, stays in her house and uses substitute-love (in this case, candy and sweets she keeps hidden in her closet) to fill the hole in her life. It is a familiar scenario, and one wonders if Allen has been working through her own issues and these books are the result. The other annoyance is the very fact that the main character, the lonely woman in question, is unhappily overweight and obsessive about food, a too-common idea that has become tiresome to me (given that I am an overweight woman who enjoys food and does not feel that there is anything really wrong with her body). The (unintentional?) subtext in this premise is that there are only two alternatives for women: either you don't eat sweets at all, and thus are slimmer and therefore happier, or you hoard sweets and eat them in the dark, away from society, because a woman who eats candy must of course be unhealthy, ashamed and deeply unhappy. Still, despite my initial trepidation, I read on and found that the story had its charms. Sure, there are still issues of the necessity of external validation (the main character has a secret crush and the flowering of that relationship, the approval of her chosen man, pulls her from her shell -- another plot point that has become a cliched part of the literary ideal), but one does invest in the characters and, ultimately, cheer them on through the processes of self-discovery and romantic bloom. That's what this really is -- a Southern romance, with a veneer of magical realism (the mysterious visitor in the closet, the books that appear when needed, etc.) that makes up for in charm what it lacks in originality. You know, instinctively, that there will be a happy ending. Pleasantly, Allen has tempered the saccharine with a touch of the bittersweet and one finishes the book feeling satisfied, if unsurprised.

Wow! I am impressed - you read all those books in a minute! You are good.

Seriously though, I read The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor earlier this year and thought it was a gem of a book, so I think I will give Ireland a shot. I will also try The Sugar Queen, even though I am one of those overweight women who do not think there is anything wrong with having sweets when she feels like it, lol.

Hi
Like you, I enjoyed Garden Spells. I thought it magic like in quality and similiar to the writing style of Alice Hoffman.

I plan to read the Sugar Queen but it isn't at the top of the pile.

After reading your very well-written review I will try to move this one further up on the pecking order.

And, add me to the group of overweight people who take offense to those skinny little people who judge.

Glad I am not the only one who gets annoyed at the stereotypical portrayals of overweight women in popular culture. I'm all for being healthy, but if I want a piece of cake, I'm going to have a freakin' piece of cake. And if, when I'm done, I want another one, then I might very well have another one. And I don't close the blinds or hide it from other people because, frankly, I don't see anything to be ashamed of. The fact is, I'd rather be fat and happy -- enjoying life and food -- than skinny and miserable -- or stuck eating celery and beans -- any day of the week.

Whew! Okay, I'm done venting now. :)

Oh, yeah, and I read a couple more books. :)

#41: The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of by Tom Disch

I started reading this book as research for the sci-fi class I am teaching this semester, but I kept reading it because Tom Disch's writing is delightful. Erudite and opinionated, Disch had me laughing and nodding at some of the oddest things -- his perspective on Scientology is sharp and brilliant, for example, and his attitude towards Star Wars is something I can relate to. I did not agree with everything he had to say -- he harshes on some classics and some favorites -- but even when I found myself disagreeing, I thought his points were fair. Some were even enlightening. For anyone interested not only in science fiction, but in the impact of SF on the rest of the world, this is worth your time.

I moved #42: The Rope Trick, up the TBR pile pretty quickly because I was excited to read a Lloyd Alexander book that I had never heard of before. I will say, right off the bat, that this was no Prydain Chronicles. Still, it had its merits. The characters, though hard to pin down in terms of age (especially the main character, Lidi), are relatable and interesting. The dialogue is cute, without being annoying, and I found a pleasant chuckle or two tucked in the pages. The plot... well, it's derivative of quite a few other plots, including a few religious parables, parts of C.S. Lewis, and particularly "Zabalaawi", a story by an Egyptian writer (if I recall correctly) in which a man searches endlessly for a famous individual, only to fall asleep at a bar and miss the person he was searching for, who comes into the bar while he is sleeping. In the end, the reader is meant to understand (or so I have interpreted it) that the dream the man has while asleep is much more important than the individual he seeks -- the dream contains spiritual truth -- but the man can't see beyond his search. There are some connections there with Lidi, who like the man, can't let go of the one she is searching for. The Lewis/religious connection comes in most strongly at the end, when she finally does meet the one she sought through the whole book, and the reader is presented with an obvious death metaphor. If this review seems convoluted, rest assured that the book is not -- on the surface, this is a story, of certain charm, about seeking and finding magic. Pay attention to the subtext, however, and one may feel that the philosophical or spiritual agenda of the book is a bit muddled. This is what often happens when authors who write YA try to be didactic. In such a short space, plot threads have to form and resolve quickly in order to allow room for all that personal spiritual theory, so many moments in the story -- like the romance between Lidi and Julian -- feel too fast or forced, and those moments that one wishes were more significant or complex or sinister (this book could use a good dose of scary) generally end up being innocuous or simply convenient stepping stones for Lidi's search. There is a lot here, and some of it is good, but knowing what I know now, I would not have been in such a hurry to place this at the top of the stack.

#60 - you can vent whenever you want to! Especially when I agree with your venting!

Hey, it's your thread vent as much as you want!

Thanks for the recommendation of the Disch book - sounds like another one I would enjoy.

alcottacre: I could have said a lot more about Disch's book. It really is delightful -- definitely one that demands an active reader; in fact, once I finally finished it, I wished I had assigned it for my class. I assigned The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction as their critical text because it had several contributors and therefore a variety of perspectives, but The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of is so much more enjoyable to read, and Disch is so accessible for argument, that I actually think they would have gotten more out of it. Of course, these are the things we learn too late the first time through. :)

I have, however, taken the book into class, read some of Disch's assertions as starting points for discussion, and heartily recommended the book to the whole class.

Man, I hope Tom Disch appreciates what I do for him! ;)

judylou -- hooray! Another kindred spirit on the whole women-and-sweets thing!

We should start a club. Anti-Weight-Watchers or something? (Though that sounds militant -- I really don't have a problem with Weight Watchers -- in fact, for those who wish to lose weight, I think it is the smartest program out there, since it combines a support system with overall nutritional awareness -- and now I sound like a commercial! Sheesh!)

Is there such a thing as a Books-and-Chocolate Club? Because I would be all about that. My two favorite things... hmmm. That's what we should start. Forget militant -- share the love. Am I right or am I right?

:)

Hi. A few weeks ago, I started weight watchers (AGAIN)..must be the sixth time..
I've been eating very sensibly, but also having a piece of cake now and then. Thus far in two weeks, I'm down seven pounds...
Unlike one of the previous times when I did this program, I quit because it was too difficult.

Aha! We have uncovered a deep and lasting truth -- having a piece of cake now and then makes things easier!

Congrats on the seven pounds, Whisper. Every achievement is worth feeling good about. I'm sure you are a healthier you for the loss, and I'm glad that you have not sacrificed the cake. :)

Finished #43, Neptune Rising by Jane Yolen, today. I was right about this book, with its alternating stories and poems, being for the sea what Here There Be Dragons was for dragons, but with one major difference: in this book, almost every piece is sad. These are not pleasant bedtime stories, though each one is enjoyable and beautifully composed in its own way -- many of them end in death or heartbreak, and perhaps the reader is meant to understand that the sea always causes one or the other, and sometimes both. Its melancholy tone makes it a little less likely a read-aloud as the other was, but there is still a certain cadence to the poems and several of the stories that begs to be voiced and not just read. Yolen is good at that -- bringing out the reader's urge to share the story.

Chocolate and books, did someone say chocolate AND books? I'll be there!

Unfortunately, I won't be - I love books, but both dislike and am allergic to chocolate . . .

On the other hand, even though I am trying to lose weight, I am also of the opinion that completely cutting out the foods I love will only make me quit - so last night I had pizza, lol.

We changed our diet over a month ago, threw out all sugar and dairy products. We thought that my DH might be allergic to cheese, milk and other dairy and indeed his skin has improved a lot.
The result after a month: we feel better and we are loosing weight, without feeling hungry. Loosing weight was not the reason for the change, but we are both overweight, so it is nice.

alcottacre -- an allergy to chocolate? That's like nature's cruelest joke. But then again, at least you are blessed with disliking it, which should make the whole business easier. Should we include cheese in our books-and-chocolate club? I would hate to disenfranchise the non-chocoholics among us. :)

FAM -- I'm glad you found something that works for you. A good friend of mine, who happens to have Celiac's and therefore can't have gluten, made a similar change over a year ago and has lost so much weight that I was actually a bit concerned the last time I saw her. She says she feels a lot better, though she still seems sad much of the time (but that is probably other things entirely).

I just had a frightening thought: wouldn't it be horrible if the natural human emotional condition is actually sadness and it's only the sugar that buoys us up? Okay, so it wouldn't be that bad for me, given my sugar intake, but it would really suck for a lot of other people. :)

Whew! Thank heaven reality isn't like what I just imagined! (Hang on, that might be the first time I have ever said that. Hmmm... it just feels so... wrong.) LOL -- I raise my glass (of cocoa) to cake-eaters and non-cake-eaters alike!

BeSerene, I don't think the sugar does that ;-)
But sometime sweets (or other food you like) do make you feel better.

I still get sugar from fruits and juice and eat now and then a bit of dark chocolate. Don't want to be dogmatic (sp?) in the diet!

You can sign me up for the books-and-chocolate-AND-cheese club when you get around to forming it! ;) I'll bring the wine.

books
chocolate
cheese
wine

Are we in some type of science fiction time warp and have we all gone to heaven?

Can we add time to the list...time to read all the tbr piles of books.

Allergic to chocolate. Alcott, you are so lucky! I would willingly acquire one of those if I could. But not cheese. Never cheese. There's nothing I like better than a good stinky cheese on a cracker (or even my thumb). Limburger, I love you.

Well, the good news is that all those foods are allowed on WW--in moderation, of course! Unfortunately for me, none of them is core!

Be sure to read Sandra Boynton's Chocolate: The Consuming Passion--it will clear all possible excuses away.

And if you enjoy William Trevor's fiction, try a shorter novella-length book, Nights at the Alexandria, also set in Ireland during WWII,

Aren't we looking for a poet by the name of Omar Khayyam to make the party complete?

the poet sounds nice, but inviting Armond Assante as well -- simply to enjoy his looks -- might be an additional option.

Okay, now hang on. Our books-and-chocolate club has simply spiraled out of control. Not only do we have books-and-chocolate-and-cheese-and-wine involved, but we are holding our meetings outside of the linear timestream with the approval of Weight Watchers AND we are inviting a dead poet and Armand Assante? WILL THE MADNESS NEVER END?!

On the other hand, if we throw Colin Firth (in full-on Darcy mode, of course) and a pint of Bulmer's cider in there, I'm all set.

:)

PS: Read through 100 Words to Make You Sound Smart the other day as I was thinking nervously about scheduling my GRE exam. Doesn't count as #44 since I didn't read all the etymologies, but hey, I'm feeling the love and wanted to share. Apparently I've been spending all my time online rather than reading. Hmm... I don't think this plan was thought all the way through.

PPS: Prop, now I totally want that Boynton book. How did I not know about this? I love chocolate... and I love Sandra Boynton! HOW?!

Thanks for the rec.

This is one of Sandra's "adult" books that you have to search for in book stores. Sometimes in the humor section, sometimes in essays, sometimes on display because they cannot figure out where to put it. It is pure Boynton!

Message #80...
While we are planning, I'd like to add another character to the cast. One of the best adaptations of Jane Eyre was done by A&E (Arts and Entertainment.) Ciaran Hinds played the part of Mr. Rochester. Oh please, can we invite him to the tea party....

Well, if we're sending out invites, I'm requesting James McAvoy be added to the list, as well.

**beserene, I know this comes as no surprise to you ;) **

OMG, when he played Leto Atreides, that was the start of a long-distance love affair!

Ciaran Hinds rocks. Anybody else find him completely precious in "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day"? And, hello, who knew Ned the Pie-Man was so dead sexy? Let's add him to the list too.

So, to recap -- Our books-chocolate-cheese-and-wine-club will have the following "special" (otherwise known as imaginary) guests:

Omar Khayyam/Armand Assante
Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy
Ciaran Hinds as whoever he wants to be, so long as it's historical
James McAvoy as himself
sexy Ned the Pie-Man

Any other additions? Because while we are creating the imaginary guest list for our virtual club, the sky's the limit. Hey, if we have Omar Khayyam, we might as well have Shakepeare. Or, better yet, Marlowe, who I suspect is more fun at a party. :)

PS: Currently reading Something Beginning With P, which is quirky fun, but I haven't finished it, so no further numbers to add to the list. Alas.

OK, since I cannot have the chocolate (but I am so into the cheese thing - love the stuff, do not care how fattening it is!), I will requested a pot of Earl Grey or Caramel Rooibois for myself, since I do not imbibe. Think I can squeeze that in?

Tea for all! I heartily approve that addition to our menu, and am frankly shocked at myself for forgetting to include chai, which is my coffee-substitute (because coffee is gross -- yes, I know that almost everyone else in the world likes it, but it's gross).

Anyway, noticing that it has been many posts since I actually added to my book numbers, so here we go:

#44: Something Beginning With P, which I finally finished. My first impressions were correct -- there are some gems here, particularly pieces by Paul Muldoon and other talented poets -- but there are some lame ducks as well. The trouble with a big collection like this (there must be at least 100 poems in here, and no repeat authors) is that even Ireland runs out of great poets eventually, and even great poets aren't necessarily all that good at writing for kids. Seamus Heaney's contribution was good of course but could have been in any collection, which made it seem out of place here, but other contributions are so juvenile that one wonders whether the author might actually be a child (which would be interesting, but one hopes that the editors would provide a heads up or something). Definitely worth reading, and reading aloud, but any revisiting will be done selectively. PS: Some of the poems are in Irish, which I can't read, but I still count this book as done.

#45: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
I finally got around to reading this series and imagine my delight at finding the first book perfectly enjoyable. Granted, there is much here with which the reader will be familiar -- 12-year-old boy with authority issues and a broken home discovers that his awkwardness actually is a product of his inherent greatness (in this case, he is a demi-god); is discovered by those who know more than he does and taken to a special school (or, in this case, a summer camp for heroes-in-training); finds his BFFs and his natural skill at something or other (swords, here); atones with his absent parent symbolically and then literally (said parent happens to be... spoiler... the Greek god Poseidon); goes on a quest to prove his worth to parent, self, and peers, as well as to save the world (or Mount Olympus); returns home emotionally scarred but self-assured and physically intact enough to ensure a sequel. Yes, shocking, I know, but once again we have a YA fantasy that follows Joseph Campbell's hero's journey -- put on your surprised face.

Still, the familiarity here is part of the fun. I teach Mythology, so I found great joy in the occasionally sardonic and often funny mythological allusions -- Dionysus is being punished for yet another transgression and thus drinks Diet Coke instead of alcohol; Poseidon walks around dressed like a beach bum -- entertaining, and since much of myth is about the hero-quest, I found the plotline appropriate (oh, lest I forget, there was a prophecy -- always with the prophecy!) and the plot "twists" pleasantly predictable. Overall, I found this first installment perfect for its target audience -- 12-year-old boys -- yet still bright and amusing enough for those who have seen its like before.

#46: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
I decided to carry on with the series and imagine my surprise when the second book turned out to be better than the first! Granted, there still aren't many surprises, but the characterizations here are fuller and therefore more enjoyable, and the addition of new friends, like Tyson the over-sensitive Cyclops, make for more hilarity. Tyson is, in fact, my favorite character. How many 6-foot-3 thick-as-rhino-leather monsters do you know who cry when someone calls them a name? Yeah, me either. While the others are standard characters for this type of book -- Percy (our hero) gets into trouble all the time but is intensely loyal and physically gifted; Annabeth (BFF and, one can tell already, future love interest) is practical and intelligent (literally the daughter of the goddess of wisdom); Grover, BFF #2 and a satyr, is the goofy comic relief who needs to be rescued as often as he rescues; Chiron, a centaur and teacher, is old and wise and, while encouraging Harry, I mean Luke, I mean Percy to explore his gifts and save the world, also holds back part of the prophecy in an attempt to protect him from further emotional scarring -- Tyson, though participating in the "Gentle Giant" trope, is a little more unpredictable. You never know how he will react, from wanting to pet the ponies (Pegasi) to smashing heads (of bad monsters) to revealing his own mechanical/metal-working wizardry. Tyson steals the show, as far as I am concerned.

Another thing I appreciate about this series is that, while Riordan puts some spin on the familiar Greek myths, he stays pretty true to them rather than completely revamping them to suit his own narrative, as other authors have done. Everything that happens is logical within the context of Greek myth, even Tyson's metal-working skills (Cyclops are the workers at Hephaestus' forges), and being aware of the logical pattern of all these literary puzzle pieces gives the reader some satisfaction. Plus, there are attack sheep in this book. That alone should make it worth reading.

#47: The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
Okay, so this one wasn't quite as good as #2, but I blame that mostly on the fact that Tyson is hardly in it at all. Instead, we have a new "new friend", who is quite serious and never cries or pats the ponies or makes an expandable shield from a wristwatch. In fact, the tone of this book is generally more serious than the previous one (Grover does not at any point wear a wedding dress, which seems a shame). Yes, I get that the world within the series is getting darker, and the characters are getting older, so one ought to expect the more serious tone, but this again is what happens to so many of these types of series -- Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, etc. They start out bright and fresh and funny and then get bogged down in their own dark sides. While this is made up for by the deepening of the peril and the intensifying of the quest (keeps us reading, that's for sure), it's a shame because those of us who have read a few of these series (and that's not jsut adults, but kids too these days) are often most entertained by what is funny or fresh or irreverent about them. I mean, Rowling's one-liners were the best things about the first couple HP books, but then they got forgotten as the story progressed. It seems that something similar will be happening to this series. Does that mean I'll stop reading it? Nah. I'm still interested and it is still interesting. I don't own number 4 yet, though, so I will have to pause in the series for now, but I do look forward to reading more of Percy Jackson's adventures. (PS: People we like die in this book -- which is yet another familiar development -- so if your children started reading this series quite young, you might want to read this one with them.)

I will have to check out Rick Riordan's juvenile books. I have read the books in his adult Tres Navarre series, but not tackled any of his other works. Thanks for the recommendations - on to Continent TBR they go!

Oh, and I hate coffee just as you do, so we can bond over a "cuppa", lol.

mmm - coffee! Yummy!

:P

Those Rick Riordan books sound good - they're all "Percy Jackson and.." in the UK, which has rather put me off the in the past for exactly the plot-formula reasons you identify in your review of the first. But actually they sound really clever.

I also think those books by Rick Riordan sound good.
I have checked, but they are not translated (yet)...

I dont know who that is

#93 superpablo: If you are interested in finding out more about Rick Riordan and his books, his website is here: http://www.rickriordan.com/

Thanks, alcottacre.

I don't have internet at my house at the moment, so I haven't been on LT in a while. I have still been reading, of course, and though I am at work and don't have time for a full review, here's where I am:

#48: Bodily Harm by Margaret Atwood
I honestly think that Atwood is at her best when she writes SF and this is not SF. Though this is exquisitely crafted, I did not invest in the characters and, while I appreciated the social commentary, I didn't really care all that much about what happened.

#49: American Gods by Neil Gaiman
#50: Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
#51: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
I've been intending for some time to reread American Gods and reaquaint myself with Shadow so that I could read the novella that the end of Fragile Things (the novella is about Shadow). Technically, I read most of FT in 2007, but I am counting it here because I have finally finished it and then, while I was on my Gaiman kick and following the logical pattern (since the book is a companion, if not technically a sequel, to AG), I decided to read Anansi Boys. And I LOVED it. I have yet to find a Gaiman book that I dislike, but this one I really bonded with. WONDERFUL stuff.

Anyway, more later. At the moment I'm rereading Pride and Prejudice, because I made the mistake of watching the Keira Knightley movie (again) and was completely annoyed by the entire last half of the film (again). So much more satifying the way it was WRITTEN... but I digress. :)

Happy reading!

PS: Tried editing for touchstones but the AB one won't work at the moment. Odd.

I've enjoyed the Rick Riordan series too. Another YA series with similar feel is Chima Cinda Williams' books, The Warrior Heir, The Wizard Heir and The Dragon Heir.

I thoroughly enjoyed Anansi Boys as well. I thought Gaiman was much more successful than in American Gods in establishing atmosphere and embedding the mythology, as well as I just liked the characters better. Of course, the collaboration of Gaiman with Terry Pratchett in Good Omens has long been one of my favorites.

I haven't seen that movie, but I was just lying in bed last night thinking it was time to break out my copy of the A&E Pride and Prejudice again and get my fix of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy (done right!) for another year or two. ;-)))

(edited to try and fix the Anansi Boys touchstone)

Ronincat, please tell me that you have watched North and South? It is BRILLIANT. Okay, okay I am a bit obssessed with that movie. I will shut up now.

Good Omens still and forever remains my favourite book of ALL TIME. I couldn't give you a top 10 if you held me at gunpoint, but I still know what is number 1 on the list.

One of these centuries I am going to get to Neil Gaiman's books. I have had them home from the library a couple of times but it seems like something always happens and I do not get them read. I did manage to sneak Good Omens in this year, though.

FlossieT

Looks like I'll add yet another recommendation to the tbr mountain. I've not heard of Good Omens but certainly, experience has taught me to trust your judgments!

Thanks!
Linda

Linda, I wouldn't call it great "literature", but it is very, very funny, and also very clever, with a profusion of very sharp literary, cultural and historical references. It never fails to cheer me up.

Still no internet at home, but here I am, reading along. Real reviews later... um, sometime. Really.

#52: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
How can you not love this book? I read it again because I was longing to erase the Keira Knightley film from my mental film-reel, and after I read it, I watched the BBC/A&E version (oh yes, my dears, the Colin Firth one -- hellooooo!) and just generally had a geeky Austen-phile sort of week.

#53: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Wow. I know, obviously, that I might be a bit biased, given the magnificence of my obsession with everything Neil Gaiman writes, but really, wow. This was wonderful reading -- beautiful, but genuinely creepy as well.

#54: The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
Quite charming. Anyone who reads YA literature, especially classic children's stories, will find this odd gem humorous, if not Lowry's greatest work.

I've read some other books lately, but I'm not at home at the minute and don't have the stack in front of me, so I can't remember all of them. Sad, but true. But I did just finish At Large and At Small by Anne Fadiman (we could call that #55 I guess), which was, as everything I've experienced by her, wonderful. If you've never read her book Ex Libris, which is all about, of course, books, well then you are missing one of the greatest things known to booklovers. This collection of familiar essays, perhaps because of its variety of topics, lacks that unbelievable cohesive heart of the previous and therefore is not quite so all-engrossing as Ex Libris, but is witty, engaging, and fantastic never the less.

And back I go to my internet-less cave. La la la la... la.

#102 beserene: Just make sure that your internet-less cave is not bookless!

I completely agree about Ex Libris and make it a point to read the book at least once a year.

I will have to look for The Willoughbys. I have enjoyed The Giver by Lowry and hope this recommendation is just as good.

I have The Graveyard Book home from the library now and will be getting to it soon (I hope!).

>102 beserene: beserene. I have just finished At Large and At Small and when I finish this post I am going to write my review of it.

Re: Darcy. If I could have been anyone other than my wonderful self, I would liked to have been Darcy!

- TT

Have read several more books, but don't have them on hand to list. At the moment, though, I am reading Steampunk, the anthology edited by Jeff and Ann Vandermeer, and it's giving me nightmares. I like steampunk in general, because the Neo-Victorian aesthetic is fun, but some of these stories are downright disturbing! Will review later -- still no home internet.

Okay, I have a little catching up to do. Before At Large and At Small, which I mentioned above (though I'll just keep numbering with that as #55), I read:

#56: Batman: Story of the Dark Knight (no touchstone?)
Okay, so this is a little picture book, but I am totally counting it, because it is rockin' AWESOME. It's all of 20 pages long, with about 15 words per page, but how many books are there that explain Batman's origins for the 5-year-old crowd? The old-school glossy comic-style illustrations are simple and fun and I can't wait to read this to my friend's new baby. Get 'em while their young -- geeks unite! (I kind of like Batman -- can you tell?)

#57: Me & Nu: Childhood at Coole by Anne Gregory
This is a children's book, written from her own childhood perspective by the granddaughter of Lady Augusta Gregory of Coole Park, County Galway, Ireland (which is where I bought the book). At the turn of the 20th century, Lady Gregory, along with her good friend W.B. Yeats, started the Abbey theatre, now the national theatre of Ireland. Gregory was a playwright, editor, folklorist, and cultural icon, and she knew just about every Irish author of note at the time. The great joy of this book is the child-perspective on such iconic figures as Yeats (who isn't much fun when one wants to play games), and George Bernard Shaw (who steals jam and peeks during hide-and-seek). Anyone with an interest in Irish literature and culture will get a kick out of this sometimes rambling but always charming little book.

#58: Hatching Magic by Ann Downer
This was a fun little book, though not one that stays with you (apparently, since I only remember a little bit about it). There are dragons (wyverns) and wizards (of a sort) and villains (along with their demon familiars), but, through the accident of a time wormhole thingy, they run around in modern urban America, a place of only a slightly altered reality, and get tangled up with an ordinary girl who has always wanted a dragon. Enjoyable at the time, and with some funny moments, this is definitely a fine read for those younger fans of Harry Potter and other fantasy books.

Okay, so then I read the Fadiman book, which I've already mentioned (and really, really enjoyed), and then I read

#59: Clockwork by Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman writes dark stuff, generally, and I really loved the His Dark Materials trilogy, but this little book (and it is little) was downright creepy. It's a quick read, maybe an hour, but unless you like nightmares, don't read it at dark or you will be looking over your shoulder for the ironclad knight. Trust me. :)

#60: In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson is at his hilarious best when he writes travel memoirs, and this is, in my opinion, one of his funniest. This is the kind of book where you stop every few pages, in tears, and read aloud a passage to whomever happens to be in the room so that they can share in the hilarity. In this book, Bryson explores Australia, a country where walking in your backyard is likely to kill you (between the poisonous spiders, snakes, and jellyfish, not to mention the crocs, sharks, and ever popular koalas -- watch out, they bite -- you really can't move in Australia without the likelihood of being eaten), but the people are crazy enough not to mind. I'm not sure that it made me want to go to Australia (I'm sorry, but how many deadly spiders was that again?) but it definitely made me long for the kind of madcap camaraderie that apparently grows when one attempts to drive across the Australian outback for fun. Highly recommended. Man, that Bryson is a stitch. :D

#61: Chalice by Robin McKinley
I like Robin McKinley almost as much as Patricia McKillip -- her books are aimed at a younger audience, generally, so the prose is a little simpler, but she also uses folklore and fairy tales to inform and tranform her narratives -- but this was not my favorite book of hers. Let me qualify that -- it's not a bad book. In fact, there is much about it that is rich and original, and I even liked the bees (surprising for me -- see note about spiders above and you'll be able to tell my feelings on all things with more than four legs), but frankly, I was disappointed in the ending. SPOILER ALERT: McKinley does a lot of work here to set up an unusual relationship between the male and female main characters, but then ends everything in a very status quo fashion, with marriage and ordinary human connections. The ending is fine, because one does like these characters and wants it all to work out, but it would have been so much more interesting if the book had maintained its unfamiliarity and originality right to the end. A pleasant read either way, but particularly for those who prefer tidy happy endings to their fairy tales.

#62: Steampunk edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer
I read a review of another Vandermeer anthology that said these two, as editors, are very good at propaganda for their genre du jour, and I think that is true of them in this anthology as well. Steampunk is here treated like the hip, cool, look-everyone-is-doing-it sub-genre of the moment, which may or may not be true, but that sort of attitude inevitably leads to some overstepping; not all of these stories are dominantly steampunk and several are simply alternate histories that happen to have the odd airship (read: blimp, for those not in steampunk mode) or boiler-driven vehicle in them. It’s always difficult to define a genre, doubly so a sub-genre, but it seems to me that lately people are getting entirely carried away with inclusivity. Not every story with a blimp in it has to be steampunk, but perhaps because steampunk started out merely as a neo-victorian aesthetic, here the assumption seems to be that if it touches that aesthetic, it must be steampunk. Hmm. It works, I suppose for the purpose of the book, but obviously it kind of annoys me. Genre considerations aside, this anthology is still inconsistent. Some of the stories (like Ted Chiang’s “Seventy-Two Letters” which I had read and admired several years ago in an unrelated anthology) are lush and brilliant, some, frankly, suck (Stephen Chapman contributes a steam-nano hybrid which seems to want to be all things to all people – and we know how well that usually works – and offers an ending that’s in the running for “world’s lamest apocalypse”). Several of the best stories here can be found in other, more consistent anthologies, like the sublime Vanishing Acts (where I first encountered Chiang’s story); though I generally enjoy victoriana and do like a lot of steampunk, I probably won’t revisit this anthology as a whole any time soon.

#63: Feed by M.T. Anderson
Wow. I mean, wow. This is an extraordinary novel. It's Y.A. but definitely not for the really young ones, as it takes a very dark look at where our society could be headed. As I told my sci-fi students, its a little bit like the attitude behind "Wall-E", but with all the cuteness and hope sucked out. The novel is written from the first-person perspective of a teenage boy who has all his life had a "feed" connected directly to his brain, like 73% of the American population in this future. Imagine being bio-wired to the Internet. No need to learn -- anything you don't know, just think about it and the answer is looked up and transmitted to your brain. No need for TVs and DVDs or even game consoles -- watch everything in your head and feel like you are actually in the game. Want to shop? Constant customized advertising is streamed directly to your mind, and you know about every sale as soon as the markdowns happen. It's possibly one of the most disturbing future visions I have ever read, made even more so from the written perspective. This is so compelling, I'm thinking seriously about assigning it for a future course, but it's not a pleasurable book. I had to take a few minutes after I finished reading it just to cry and lament the all-too-plausible events. Read it. Seriously. Read it and then do anything you can to make sure it doesn't happen.

Re: 104

Tortoise, I read and appreciated your review. I disagree with you about the arctic essay -- having read much of the other things Fadiman has written, I am aware of her arctic obsession, so I was actually waiting for that topic to pop up and found it amusing -- and the coffee essay was, I thought, fine for a piece about coffee (which I don't actually like at all, so I just read that one quickly) but you are right that the final essay was an odd fit and definitely more disturbing than usual from Fadiman. I had kind of put that one out of my mind -- possibly because I didn't really know how to process it -- but I may revisit it at some stage. We'll see. Glad to know though, that there are others out there enjoying Fadiman's remarkable essays. :)

You can all tell, by the way, that I have taught my last class for the semester, because suddenly I realize that I have all of tomorrow to finish my grading, and even Monday if I really need it, so I have been slacking (read: hanging around here) for the past two hours. I know, I know -- I'll regret it later. I always do. :)

#108 beserene: Regrets? Life is too short for them - go read another book instead, lol.

Feed is already on Continent TBR but it sounds like I need to bump it up to the top!

>107 beserene: beserene - thanks for your comments - I will probably revisit Fadiman at some point and see if I like her arctic and coffee essays better the second time around - I may just not have been in the mood - it happens!

- TT

Glad to see other people enjoy Bill Bryson as much as I do. I just wish he'd get more books written!!
In A Sunburned Country was also published as Down Under - the one I have has that title - when I realized In A Sunburned Country was the same book, I was disappointed - I thought I had another Bryson on the TBR!
I think he should do one about Canada - it might take him a while to get it covered though.

#111: Diana, if he writes one on Canada, I will be sure to read it! Or any other country for that matter. I think Bryson is hilarious.

Bryson is hilarious. No "I think" necessary. And a Canada book from him would be hi-lar-i-ous. Someone should email him and tell him to get right on that. :)

Oh, and I read another book (#64!): The Shadow Thieves by Anne Ursu, which is apparently the first volume in the Cronus chronicles (not to be confused with The Kronos chronicles which is also currently underway and makes me wish people communicated more about these things) and also not to be confused with the Percy Jackson series, which like this series uses the "what if Greek myths were real?" tagline. This is not to say that Miss Anne Ursu is unoriginal -- no, indeed, I quite liked her book. It's not a first person narrative, but is written with that cadence and syntax typical of the American teenager's internal monologue. For that reason, some people will not be able to stand reading it, but as it sounds exactly how I thought when I was 13, I find it laugh-out-loud funny. That said, this is a darker picture of the Olympians than we find with Percy Jackson, and a more mundane picture too. The heroine (it's a girl this time, though she has a co-hero -- her cousin -- who is a boy so I'm not sure it totally counts girl-power-wise) is a human, with no divine blood and no special skills. She does have a few things going for her though, including a pretty spiffy cat (it's just a cat, and yet not, but I can't tell you more because it would give it away -- but don't worry, you'll figure it out pretty quickly) and she lives in Minnesota, which seems an odd fit for a story involving the Greek gods, but it works, and I like it. In fact, I really liked this whole book. It's very me. I kind of wish I had written it, but I am not that good. So, you know, read it. :)

Oh, and I did also finish #65, which was my freebie from the Penguin giveaway several months ago -- Common Sense by Thomas Paine. if you ever get the urge to read this book, try reading some passages aloud. It makes all the difference -- and causes you to take on this semi-British accent which can involve hours of amusement. Okay, seriously though, this was the Penguin edition from that lovely important thinkers series that they have, and so the conveniently pocket-sized book is really beautifully put together (it also contains "Agrarian Justice" by the way, which outlines a very early social security-like system) and of course Paine's thoughts, foundational as they are to our democracy, are both inspiring and important. The lack of a solid introduction or appendices, though, which a larger, more scholarly edition would have, means that you already have to be familiar with the full context of Paine's comments to appreciate them completely. This volume is designed more for those who want to admire Paine's words than for those who seek to understand them. Nice as an accessory for those occasions when you just want to look smart, but I wouldn't pay Penguin's prices for this slim version.

#113: Maybe if all of us pitched in and volunteered to pay some of Bryson's travel expenses, he would leave immediately! I bet Diana would be thrilled to put him up for a few days, lol.

Yeah!!
There's enough nutty people and weird places in this country to keep him going for months...years...

Bryson's funny, but I also love Tim Cahill's narratives. His story of the trek from South America to the northern reaches of Alaska had me nearly crying from the laughter.

I am not sure I have ever read any of Cahill's books. I will have to look for them. Thanks for the mention, Prop.

Yes, indeed -- thanks for the recommendation. I'll look up Cahill -- if he's as funny as Bryson, I'm so in.

Am counting The Time Machine as #66, even though I have not finished reading all of the appendices. I read the Broadview edition, which is wonderful for context, but I am simply not in the mood for 100+ pages on evolutionary theory, etc. I'll read the appendices if I ever decide to use this for a class. The novel itself, though, was a lot of fun -- I'm finding that I like Wells more the more I read him, though I think I am quickly coming to the end of his "classics" and may need to investigate some of his more obscure titles.

Thanks to LTer tapestry100, on whose computer I am currently typing this. And now I should probably stop paying attention to this and actually be sociable. :)

You can be sociable with us. We will let you :)

>118 beserene: be, I am planning to read 10 of Wells' obscure titles in 2009. We can compare notes. See my list on my profile.

- TT

Well, it's now January 4th of 2009 and I never did hit my 75 mark. Got bogged down in family obligations (some of which were an acceptable substitute for the delights of reading) in the past few weeks and didn't get to finish the books in this year's stack. I did read several things that I have not listed, though, so here they are:

#67: Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier
This is another of Marillier's YA fantasy novels (in case you hadn't noticed the trend in my reading) and, really, it's a romance novel at heart. There are some clever twists -- the villain turns out to be someone you almost suspected because s/he was too convenient to be good and too good to be true -- and the rendering of Istanbul into vivid descriptive glimpses turns out to be rather marvelous (I had lunch the other day with a former professor who had just been to Istanbul and Marillier's descriptions are pretty much physically and culturally accurate -- it was fun to talk about what was the same and different in the book vs. reality). Even with such diversions, the book is all about two people discovering how much they love each other, and you know the ending from the beginning, so if you are looking for stunning originality and edge-of-your-seat entertainment, look elsewhere. If, on the other hand, you are looking for that squishy, oh-so-lovey feeling, this is totally your book.

#68: Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
Oh yes, people, Percy Jackson is back! And not doing anything new at all! Woo! I do laugh about this series because it, like so much of kids/YA lit, is completely formulaic, but the formula is so much fun, you just can't help enjoying yourself. I liked this volume better than the previous -- it's thematically dark, but seems to have recollected itself from the abyss of over-seriousness, so funny moments abound and Tyson the teenage cyclops is again (for at least part of the novel) entertaining us with his comic madcaps and cleaning skills. The impending doom that was glowering over us in the previous books is still impending, of course, and I suspect that Riordan has another couple of volumes before the plot resolves itself. In the meantime, I will keep reading.

#69: National Velvet by Enid Bagnold
Like many girls, I was obsessed with horses as a child. You would think, then, that I would have read (over and over again) a book about a town girl who suddenly ends up with a field full of horses and wins the Grand National on the most unlikely horse of the bunch. Um, no. I don't recall ever having read this book before, and when I read it this year, as a 30-year-old, I discovered why: even if I had picked this book up as a kid, the style would have been so off-putting that I would have put it straight down again. That's not to say that there is anything wrong with this book; it's just as charming as a story about a girl and her horse ought to be, and there is a strong measure of realism, laced with a pragmatic tone, that prevents the whole business from becoming saccharine. But the dialogue is written in such a way that it was actually a struggle for me to completely follow it, until I let myself sink into the book and get used to it. I would suspect that the dialogue pattern -- which minimalizes words and assumes that words are there without actually including them -- is a product of observation, as it feels not only authentic but comfortable, once one is used to it, like a worn-in shoe. You can hear people speaking this way. But it is surprising for someone whose memories of the story are summed up as the Elizabeth Taylor movie version -- this is a more complex book than Hollywood would have you believe (as is so often true) but it's well worth the effort and ended up being earnest and enjoyable.

#70: Letters to A Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
Technically this is in the same volume as The Possibility of Being, but I haven't finished the poetry half, so I'm counting it as a book of its own. Just because I can. And because anything Rilke writes is beautiful and worthy of putting on a list. And because I really wish I was closer to 75. :)

#71 (and the last of 2008): Why the Long Face? by Ron MacLean
This was my early reviewer book (from November, I think, though I received it in December), only the second ER book I've ever gotten from LT, and as with the previous, I have mixed feelings on it.

MacLean has written a collection of short stories that, while they are loosely linked by common themes of family, journey, missing pieces and missing people, are really dramatically different one from another. Some seem like MacLean's personal therapy sessions -- "Aerialist" and "Symbiosis", the first and last stories, are about a parent learning to let go of his child, and the emotion in each is so tangible that one must assume that MacLean has first-hand experience with this oft-painful process. The rendering of that emotion into prose is a remarkable skill, and in those stories, when the therapy becomes more universal than personal, MacLean shines.

Other shining moments here include the obvious regard for the comic and the bizarre, as in "Dr. Bliss and the Library of Toast", in which the reader is treated to a lighter yet still razor sharp MacLean. As a comic-book reader, I found the idea of and angle on 'Dr. Bliss' amusing and real, a rare combination, and appreciated the oddity not just of the random inclusions (which the second half of the title hints at) but also of the characters, none of whom is particularly likeable but all of whom seem at least halfway familiar.

Unfortunately, reading all the stories herein reveals an inconsistency that is typical of contemporary short fiction -- and one of the reasons that I often wait for authors to get old and die before I read their short work, thus giving editors an opportunity to create a 'best of' collection and sparing myself the tedium of those less-than-sparkling little gems. (Harsh and lazy, I know, but there you are.) Several of the stories here get caught up in the modern/post-modern stylistic trap, becoming so wrapped up in non-linearity and cleverly incomplete phrasing that one loses the thread, and often the point, of the story. Others, like "Figure With Meat", have tripped into surreality a little too much, crossing the line from whimsical to annoying within a few brief pages.

Still, all that being said, there is more good here than bad, and more odd here than anything, so I'm glad I read it and would recommend it to those who appreciate literary short fiction, those who enjoy a measuredly post-modern take on the world, or those who have a great fondness for toast.

Congratulations on all the books you read. I added quite a few of your remarkable list to my tbr pile.

Looking forward to reading your 2009 posts.

I hope you had a wonderful time with your family over the holidays!

See you in 2009? I want you to keep suggesting YA fantasy books for me to read!

Yes indeed, 2009 here I come! I have officially moved to the 2009 75 books challenge group, so this is the last post on this thread. See you all over there!

Okay, so I know I said that the above would be the last, but technically I have another book for the list -- #72: The Intellectual Devotional, which I have been reading a page at a time all year and just finished. There. All done. :)