Trying to kill him and failing ... just pisses him off!

That is all.

Book 43 - Sister of the Dead

Title: Sister of the Dead
Author: Barb and J. C. Hendee
Pages: 405
Grade: A-/B+

Summary: (From Booklist)
Magiere and her half-elf friend, Leesil, have finally given in to their feelings for each other and started a relationship. But they don't have much time to revel in their newfound bliss. They've decided to undertake a journey to find out the truth about Magiere's parentage and to try to find Leesil's mother. Accompanied by elfin scholar Wynn and her dog, Chap, who is actually a fay in a dog's body, Magiere and Leesil set out, unaware that they are being tracked by Welsteil, Magiere's would-be mentor, who betrayed her, and Chane, a vampire who harbors a passion for Wynn. Upon arriving in the village where she was raised, Magiere encounters hostility from some of the locals, but she presses on to the castle where her mother was taken by a corrupt nobleman, his son, and an otherworldly creature who possesses the answers Magiere is seeking.

My thoughts: This one I actually thought would be my least favorite in the series thus far. It might still in some way be. But I do have to give it credit. The last 100 pages pretty much managed to redeem well characters. But let's start at the beginning. Magiere and Leesil are about the only thing that made the book enjoyable at all for the first 300 pages. I don't much like Westiel and I detest Chane and Wynn. But when they finally gave me Magiere's backstory... it was well done. It answered everything I really cared about and it didn't take over 600 pages to do. Yes, JK I'm talking to you. It even made me genuinely respect in some manner Westiel's actions when prior to this I had merely not cared for him. I now know there is a bit more depth there and I am satisfied. I am even a tiny bit more satisied with Chane. Largely because I really am beginning to feel that he actually cares enough for Wynn...that maybe just maybe...he could do something awesome. However Wynn is just a whiny bitch. I can't stand her. Wah Wah Woe is her! Oh and Chap....totally awesome! If only because telling off the others of your kind and then basically forcing them to still do what you want....always perfection. I'd love to get a little more on that. Really a whole prologue to the series dealing solely with Chap would be amazing!

Up Next: I actually have no clue whatsoever! This should be fun!

Book 42 - The Zombie Survival Guide

Originally posted 06-02-07!

Title: The Zombie Survival Guide
Author: Max Brooks
Pages: 247
Grade: B

Summary: (Book Description)

Top 10 Lessons for Surviving a Zombie Attack

1. Organize before they rise!
2. They feel no fear, why should you?
3. Use your head: cut off theirs.
4. Blades don’t need reloading.
5. Ideal protection = tight clothes, short hair.
6. Get up the staircase, then destroy it.
7. Get out of the car, get onto the bike.
8. Keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, keep alert!
9. No place is safe, only safer.
10. The zombie may be gone, but the threat lives on.

Don’t be carefree and foolish with your most precious asset—life. This book is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now without your even knowing it. The Zombie Survival Guide offers complete protection through trusted, proven tips for safeguarding yourself and your loved ones against the living dead. It is a book that can save your life.

My thoughts: When the Zombies come...I'm prepared. Are you? *cackles* It was pointless, but it amused. Which is exactly what it was meant to do.

Up Next: Sister of the Dead, already started.

Book 41 - Four to Score

Originally posted 05-25-07!

Title: Four to Score
Author: Janet Evanovich
Pages: 313
Grade: A

Summary: (From Publisher's Weekly)
There's no such thing as a simple assignment for Stephanie Plum. When Maxine Nowicki, charged with stealing her boyfriend's car, skips her court appearance, she's fair game to be hauled in. No big challenge, thinks Stephanie. Wrong. Before the case is over, Stephanie will invade an Atlantic City casino with her intrepid allies: sneaker-shod Grandma Mazur; her colleague Lula, "a two-hundred pound black woman with blond baloney curls all dressed up like Cher on a bad day"; and Sally, a seven-foot transvestite rock singer. Although Stephanie is the bounty hunter, she's the only one of the quartet who isn't armed. She also loses another car and her apartment, moves in with handsome cop and longtime love interest, Joe Morelli (causing a stir in his family and hers), has several memorable run-ins with arch rival Joyce Barnhardt, discovers a corpse and, finally, catches her quarry.

My thoughts: I've begun to realize...these books really are my bad crack. They aren't masterpieces of literature and the main mystery isn't all that thrilling....but I love these characters. And I never fail to laugh. And sometimes that is exactly what a book should be for.

Book 40 - Survivor

Originally posted 05-24-07!

Title: Survivor
Author: Chuck Palahniuk
Pages: 289
Grade: A

Summary: (From Publisher's Weekly)
The rise and fall of a media-made messiah is the subject of Palahniuk's impressive second novel (after the well-received Fight Club), a wryly mannered commentary on the excesses of pop culture that tracks the 15 minutes of fame of the lone living member of a suicide cult. Tender Branson, aged 33, has commandeered a Boeing 747, emptied of passengers, in order to tell his story to the "black box" while flying randomly until the plane runs out of gas and crashes. Branson relates in his long flashback the vicissitudes of his life: a member of the repressive Creedish Death Cult, supposedly founded by a splinter group of Millerites in 1860, he is hired out as a domestic servant who must dedicate his earnings to the cult. Despite his humble beginnings, Branson finds himself on the edge of fame and fortune when the cult members begin their suicide binge, and he keeps himself on the media radar by using the psychic dreams of his potential romantic interest, Fertility Hollis, in which the girl accurately predicts a series of strange disasters. After a brief period at the top of the freak-show heap, Branson succumbs to the excesses of his trade when his agent mysteriously dies at the Super Bowl as Branson predicts the outcome of the game at half-time, simultaneously triggering a riot and turning him into a murder suspect. Branson's spookily matter of fact account of his bizarre experiences does not excite tension until the narrative is well under way, but the novel picks up momentum during the homestretch when Branson goes on the lam with Fertility and his murderous brother Adam, and the story steamrolls toward its nightmarish climax.

My thoughts: Like every other Chuck novel I've read, once more the satire and general commentary on society as a whole leaves me loving it. It's slightly disjointed...almost surreal at times. Lending to that is the set up of the novel. The pages and chapters slowly countdown...continually reminding you that the main character is on a plane that will be crashing by the time you reach the end.

Book 39 - A Simple Plan

Originally posted 05-24-07!

Title: A Simple Plan
Author: Scott Smith
Pages: 416
Grade: B+

Summary: (From Publisher's Weekly)
Once one accepts the bizarre premise of Smith's astonishingly adept, ingeniously plotted debut thriller, the book fulfills every expectation of a novel of suspense, leading the reader on a wild exploration of the banality of evil. Indeed, it is difficult to believe that a tyro writer could have produced so controlled and assured a narrative. When Hank Mitchell, his obese, feckless brother Jacob and Jacob's smarmy friend Lou accidentally find a wrecked small plane and its dead pilot in the woods near their small Ohio town, they decide not to tell the authorities about the $4.4 million stuffed into a duffel bag. Instead, they agree to hide the money and later divide it among themselves. The "simple plan" sets in motion a spiral of blackmail, betrayal and multiple murder which Smith manipulates with consummate skill, increasing the tension exponentially with plot twists that are inevitable and unpredictable at the same time. In choosing to make his protagonist an ordinary middle-class man--Hank is an accountant in a feed and grain store--Smith demonstrates the eerie ease with which the mundane can descend to the unthinkable. Hank commits the first murder to protect his brother and their secret; he eerily rationalizes the ensuing coldblooded deeds while remaining outwardly normal, hardly an obvious psychopath.

My thoughts: Quick, easy read. Wasn't truly monumental...I didn't really love it. But something about it kept me attached. I'll steal from the review from the Chicago Tribune. "[It was] like watching a train wreck. There is nothing to be done, but it is impossible to turn away."

Book 38 - Forever

Originally posted 05-23-07!

Title: Forever
Author: Pete Hamill
Pages: 608
Grade: A-/B+

Summary: (Publisher's Note)

Moving from Ireland to New York City in 1741, Cormac O'Connor witnesses the city's transformation into a thriving metropolis while he explores the mysteries of time, loss, and love.

My thoughts: It's a smart tale...that was really at its best, for me.... when Cormac was really living a life. I loved the beginning. The small boy growing up in Ireland. I loved his encounter with the Countess. And I loved the ending. The pace was nice at these points and I was completely enthralled. But this story, though revolving around Cormac becomes so much more once he reaches New York. It becomes in even more ways a tale about Manhattan. And even knowing that it was going to reach the year 2001...there is something about reading something like that...in a book...that just pulls you back to where you were at that moment. The description is raw, frightful, everything that you know it was. Hmm, sometimes books you find for three dollars are more than worth it. =)

Book 37 - Prozac Nation

Originally posted 05-18-07!

Title: Prozac Nation
Author: Elizabeth Wurtzel
Pages: 362
Grade: -

Summary: (From Publisher's Weekly) Twenty-six-year-old Wurtzel, a former critic of popular music for New York and the New Yorker, recounts in this luridly intimate memoir the 10 years of chronic, debilitating depression that preceded her treatment with Prozac in 1990. After her parents' acrimonious divorce, Wurtzel was raised by her mother on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The onset of puberty, she recalls, also marked the onset of recurrent bouts of acute depression, sending her spiraling into episodes of catatonic despair, masochism and hysterical crying. Here she unsparingly details her therapists, hospitalizations, binges of sex and drug use and the paralyzing spells of depression which afflicted her in high school and as a Harvard undergraduate and culminated in a suicide attempt and ultimate diagnosis of atypical depression, a severe, episodic psychological disorder.

My thoughts: "..I don't want to die. I don't want to live either..." It's a quote from the book... that sums up depression in about the best way possible I think. I don't know....I'm left feeling a bit raw after reading. Like I just was forced to stare at myself....while at the same time reading about someone I'm very much not. But the 'full of promise' lines...they just strike something.... *shakes head* This was just an intense reading experience. I just don't know what to say.

Book 36 - American Gods

Originally posted 05-18-07!

Title: American Gods
Author: Neil Gaiman
Pages: 588
Grade: A-/B+

Summary: (From Publisher's Weekly)
Titans clash, but with more fuss than fury in this fantasy demi-epic from the author of Neverwhere. The intriguing premise of Gaiman's tale is that the gods of European yore, who came to North America with their immigrant believers, are squaring off for a rumble with new indigenous deities: "gods of credit card and freeway, of Internet and telephone, of radio and hospital and television, gods of plastic and of beeper and of neon." They all walk around in mufti, disguised as ordinary people, which causes no end of trouble for 32-year-old protagonist Shadow Moon, who can't turn around without bumping into a minor divinity. Released from prison the day after his beloved wife dies in a car accident, Shadow takes a job as emissary for Mr. Wednesday, avatar of the Norse god Grimnir, unaware that his boss's recruiting trip across the American heartland will subject him to repeat visits from the reanimated corpse of his dead wife and brutal roughing up by the goons of Wednesday's adversary, Mr. World. At last Shadow must reevaluate his own deeply held beliefs in order to determine his crucial role in the final showdown.

My thoughts: I'm not very eloquent today....and there is so much about this book that deserves more praise then I'll get out here, but nonetheless I shall try. First off...the use of the word nonsensical! But the thing I really loved and enjoyed about this novel...was the small quaint little town...that you know is seeped in something strange but I loved every character there. I adored the mythology. The mere almost shades of the Gods of their original countries trying to thrive here...where there has never been much room for them. And I loved the side stories...they were possibly my favorite parts. So, you know....if you have any love of the myth/lore of old and an appreciation for the fantastical...I totally recommend.

Book 35 - The Deed

Originally posted 05-11-07!

Title: The Deed
Author: Keith Blanchard
Pages: 302
Grade: C+/B-

Summary: (From Booklist)
Jason Hansvoort lives an all-too-common 20-something existence: he has an unfulfilling job at an uncaring corporation, too many evenings spent in bars with friends, and a string of one-night stands to his credit, but very little direction in life. Then the beautiful Amanda, a Native American law student, finds him and tells him he may stand to inherit Manhattan Island if a 350-year-old deed can be found. Suddenly Jason finds himself with two goals worthy of pursuing.

My thoughts: Um, a fairly quick and easy read. However, it is quite anti-climatic. And the lead characters just don't seem fully fleshed out as characters. I think really while the basic storyline is well paced...and the story was complete...details were missing, which kept it from being a good novel. But again, quick read, mildly entertaining, and only cost me a $1.

Book 34 - Across the Wall: A Tale of Abhorsen and Other Stories

Originally posted 05-07-07!

Title: Across the Wall: A Tale of the Abhorsen and Other Stories
Author: Garth Nix
Pages: 305
Grade: A -

Summary: (Book Description)
Nicholas Sayre will do anything to get across the Wall. Thoughts of Lirael and Sam haunt his dreams, and he has come to realize that his destiny lies with them, in the Old Kingdom. But here in Ancelstierre, Nick faces an obstacle that is not entirely human, with a strange power that seems to come from Nicholas himself.

With "Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case," Garth Nix continues to explore the magical world of the Abhorsen Trilogy. In additional short stories that range from two widely different takes on the Merlin myth to a gritty urban version of Hansel and Gretel and a heartbreaking story of children and war, Garth Nix displays the range and versatility that has made him one of today's leading writers of fantasy for readers of all ages.

My thoughts: The Abhorsen Trilogy is possibly my all time favorite childhood fantasy series. So you know what...Garth Nix can go back to this world anytime he likes and I will follow. That is much how I came into contact with this collection, and I really enjoyed not just the novella but all the tales.

Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case - It was really just a pleasure to go back into this world that I've always so enjoyed. And the appearance of Lirael at the end certainly didn't hurt. It was a quick read, as are all things Garth Nix writes, but a fulfilling one, an enjoyable one.

Under the Lake - The first of two Arthurian tales. I adored it. The lady of the lake is possibly my all time favorite character from the myths....and I loved this new take on things.

Charlie Rabbit - It broke my heart. The short tale gives you just a brief glimpse into the lives of children facing like in the middle of a war zone. And sometimes the faith of a small child...isn't always for naught. You may not see it that way. Or even afterward view it the same way the small child did. But he was right. Charlie Rabbit did save them.

From the Lighthouse - Nix took a bit of a step into the Sci-Fi realm... and while I like the concept and the setting... due to its length...I think I just feel like I'm missing out on more of a story. But nice nonetheless.

The Hill - I adored this. The setting, the young boy, the old man, the cab driver, the young boy's father....everything seemed so fleshed out...though the short story is just that short. I didn't feel like I was just glimpsing this story. I understood this story. A love of a land and how it should be. Longing to the simplicity of the past before everything became all about money and greed and what you can get from something rather than just enjoying something.

Lightning Bringer - I appreciated it...and the lightning concept reminded me a bit of Something Wicked This Way Comes. But not one of my favorites.

Down to the Scum Quarter - Brilliant! I laughed. Choose Your Own Adventures...shall always be grand.. especially with the humor of well Nix.

Heart's Desire - The second of the two Arthurian tales, and once again I adored it. Because he picked up on my other favorite part of the myth. The twisted tale of Merlin and Nimue. I love this take how well why everything fell apart. Why a great man such as Merlin fell for Nimue to begin with. Loved it.

Hansel's Eyes - I love modern day takes on fairy tales. I always have and always will. Because the tales that were creepy when we were young...remain creepy to our older selves when they are taken from a hidden faraway fantastical world. And put into our own modern day one.

Hope Chest - Brilliant! I wish there was more. Or that it could be lengthened to an actual novel. There is so much here. And so much I am left wondering out. Plus...I have a soft spots for tales about ordinary women who suddenly come into powers and kick major ass.

My New Really Epic Fantasy Series - Just a riot! I laughed all the way through.

Three Roses - Just really short, simple, and sweet.

Endings - Another tale that I wish I had been given more of. Simply because it was so well awesome really. Because within three pages...there was so much story there. So much woven into that short amount of words. Love!

Thus endeth my Garth Nix love fest.

Book 33: Thief of Lives

Originally posted 05-06-07!

Title: Thief of Lives
Author: Barb and J.C. Hendee
Pages: 410
Grade: A

Summary: (From Booklist)
Former con-artists-turned-vampire-slayers Magiere (a half-vampire, half-human called a dhampir) and her half-elf partner, Leesil, return in this sequel to Dhampir. After she had taken care of the vampire problem in Miiska, her and Leesil's adopted village, Magiere assumed her vampire-hunting days were over. Now a successful tavern owner, she wants nothing more than to forget about vampires. But when a vampire kills a councilman's daughter in the city of Bela, Miiska officials pressure her to go hunt down and kill the vampire. At Leesil's urging, she reluctantly agrees. The trip gets off to a bad start when three hired thugs try to kill Magiere aboard the ship to Bela, and when she and Leesil begin investigating, Magiere is puzzled by the deliberate nature of the crime. Clearly, someone was trying to send a message. But was the sender a vampire or some other sinister, dark force?

My thoughts: Ok, this is typically the place where I would say profound things about writing and characters and what not. But no. Not this time. These books... are just Completely and Utterly awesome. Because the characters are so damn perfect. And the story...while well laid out...just kind of moves around their development...and I LOVE IT! I pimp it out. Read Dhampir. Read the series...and love it. That is all!

Book 32: Invisible Monsters

Originally posted 05-02-07!

Title: Invisible Monsters
Author: Chuck Palahniuk
Pages: 297
Grade: A

Summary: (From Publisher's Weekly) (Edited and condensed by me because well a bit too revealing elsewhere)
Palahniuk's grotesque romp aims to skewer the ruthless superficiality of the fashion world and winds up with a tale as savagely glib as what it derides. Narrator Shannon McFarland, once a gorgeous fashion model, has been hideously disfigured in a mysterious drive-by shooting. Her jaw has been shot off, leaving her not only bereft of a career and boyfriend, but suddenly invisible to the world. ... Adding to the plot's contrivances are the relentless flashbacks, heralded at the beginning of almost every paragraph with "Jump back to..." and the author's pretentious device of using a fashion photographer's commands ("Flash. Give me adoration. Flash. Give me a break") to signpost the narrator's epiphanies.

My thoughts: This, like the other novels by Chuck Palahniuk, is once more making a statement. It's gross. It's beautiful. It's unbelievable. And it's real. It's life. And it's not life. The people out of the spotlight...will go to any length to get the attention they crave. Not because they necessarily want the end product...but merely because they want all eyes on them. The people in the spotlight....can be led to do crazy things to get away from it. To get as far from it as possible. Because in the end...they just want to feel something that is real. It's a large generalization but at the same time oddly fitting.

Book 31: House of Leaves

Originally posted 05-01-07!

Title: House of Leaves
Author: Mark Z. Danielewski
Pages: 709
Grade: B+/A+ (The first grade given for my overall opinion of the book, the second grade for just how damn awesome the idea, format, and well everything about this book is.)

Summary: (From and Condensed by moi...from Amazon)
Had The Blair Witch Project been a book instead of a film, and had it been written by, say, Nabokov at his most playful, revised by Stephen King at his most cerebral, and typeset by the futurist editors of Blast at their most avant-garde, the result might have been something like House of Leaves. Mark Z. Danielewski's first novel has a lot going on: notably the discovery of a pseudoacademic monograph called The Navidson Record, written by a blind man named Zampanò, about a nonexistent documentary film--which itself is about a photojournalist who finds a house that has supernatural, surreal qualities. (The inner dimensions, for example, are measurably larger than the outer ones.) In addition to this Russian-doll layering of narrators, Danielewski packs in poems, scientific lists, collages, Polaroids, appendices of fake correspondence and "various quotes," single lines of prose placed any which way on the page, crossed-out passages, and so on.

My thoughts: This novel is seriously a combination of about three different stories in one. It's first off about Johnny Truant, the tattoo-shop worker whose life gets turned upside down one night in finding a complilation of papers. Those papers are the second story... a tale of a man, Zampano, and what his whole life revolved around, The Navidson Record. And the Navidson Record, portraying the tale of a photojournalist and his family moving into a house in the country to try to rebuild their relationship is the third story. The style amazes me. The work and thought that had to have gone into this. It's an essay...telling the main story...and footnotes telling the tales of the other two stories. And everything just flows. It works. And they are joined by appendices, letters, and photos. And though at times I felt like I was lost and confused...I think it was because I was meant to, and not because I couldn't follow the story. The thing that stuck out to me most, past the fact that this novel could at moments make me feel like darkness might descend upon me, was a review on the back that mentioned this was a 'love story.' I thought it was crazy. No where in the beginning could I see the connection. Yet as I finished The Navidson Record, it suddenly became quite clear that that is at least partially what House of Leaves is. It is a love story. It is a labyrinth. It is everything you are looking for and not at all what you would expect.

Book 30 - Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Volume 11

Originally posted 04-24-07!

Title: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Volume 11
Author: Clamp
Pages: 183
Grade: B

Summary: (From the back of the book)
The Dragonfly Race is set to begin in Piffle World, and the prize for one lucky lightweight aircraft pilot is an amazingly powerful battery in the shape of a feather. But for the four dimension-travelers, and one odd creature named Mokona, who have joined the competition, the feather represents more than energy–it’s one of Princess Sakura’s lost memories! And Sakura’s feather isn’t the only thing at stake. Despite President Tomoyo’s best efforts to protect the race using her wealth and resources, unexpected hazards keep popping up, and the perilous contest could lead to death for unskilled pilots . . . like the princess!

My thoughts: I was actually bored...this time. It's very sad really. The only thing that saved this for me was um Fai/Kurogane Yay!

Book 29 - Three to Get Deadly

Originally posted 04-23-07!

Title: Three to Get Deadly
Author: Janet Evanovich
Pages: 321
Grade: A

Summary: (Stolen from Publisher's Weekly)
Trenton, N.J., bounty hunter and former lingerie buyer Stephanie Plum (last seen in Two for the Dough) becomes persona non grata when she tracks down a neighborhood saint who has failed to show up for his court appearance. No one wants to help Stephanie, who works for her bail-bondsman cousin, Vinnie. While questioning admirers of the man nicknamed Uncle Mo, Stephanie is attacked and knocked out as she cases his candy store. She comes to next to the dead body of her attacker, who turns out to be a well-known drug dealer. Suddenly, she can't avoid stumbling across the bodies of dead drug dealers: one in a dumpster, one in a closet and four in the candy store basement. Stephanie suspects that mild-mannered Mo has become a vigilante and is cleaning up the streets in a one-man killing spree. But when she's repeatedly threatened by men wearing ski masks, she wonders if Mo has company and just might be in over his head. Despite her new clownish orange hair job, Stephanie muddles through another case full of snappy one-liners as well as corpses. By turns buttressed and hobbled by her charmingly clueless family and various cohorts (including streetwise co-worker Lulu, detective and heartthrob Morelli and professional bounty hunter Ranger), the redoubtable Stephanie is a character crying out for a screen debut.

My thoughts: The Stephanie Plum novels are possibly that I'm going to consider the best bad crack ever recommended to me. I never fail to laugh. And isn't that what you just need sometimes?

Book 28 - The Ice Child

Originally posted 04-18-07!

Title: The Ice Child
Author: Elizabeth McGregor
Pages: 368
Grade: A-/B+

Summary: (Stolen from Publisher's Weekly)
Making her U.S. debut with this dramatic, fast-paced tale of adventure, survival, romance and enduring parental love (human and ursine), British writer McGregor should reach a broad audience here. Acerbic young London journalist Jo Harper has an assignment to interview the wife of Doug Marshall, a British archeologist gone missing in the Arctic while pursuing the mystery of the Franklin Expedition, which vanished in 1845. While Jo has no interest in the story at first, it isn't long before she is fascinated by man and quest alike. When Marshall is rescued, she begins an affair with him and has a child, though her happiness is not fated to last. Three other narratives revolve around Jo's story: Doug's 19-year-old son John's painful attempts to capture "his father's true attention"; the deadly, icebound struggle of the Franklin Expedition, told from the point of view of a 12-year-old ship hand; and a polar bear's dedication to her cub. The protagonist of each segment fears being frozen out, both literally and emotionally, and struggles to survive very private trials. The book shifts its focus without losing steam when a tragic death and another disappearance occur, and a terrible discovery shifts the balance between the searchers and the sought-after. McGregor introduces perhaps one dramatic twist too many, but her novel otherwise artfully mixes historical background, up-to-date medical information about a rare disease, a bit of pop psychologizing and some upbeat lessons about the survival of the human spirit.

My thoughts: This story, while it has little to do with the book description, actually was much better than I expected. It told the story of 'parents' of different times, sexes, and species all trying to find safety and salvation for their 'children.' It struck a deep cord and truly warmed my heart.

Book 27 - White Night

Originally posted 04-15-07!

Title: White Night
Author: Jim Butcher
Pages: 404
Grade: A++

Summary: (Stolen from Booklist)

This time, when Harry Dresden gets a call from Murphy, it's off the record, because she has been demoted, things in SI are politically shaky, and the police have already declared a suicide. Once Harry gets a good look, though, the suicide is clearly a murder with magical intent. As he investigates, hoping as always to stop the killer before more die, evidence points to the worst possible suspect: his half brother. In another complicated case, there are a lot of very powerful players, and with the war between the White Council and the Red Court vampires, politics are played hard and fast. In tracking down the killer, Harry manages to catch the attention of the White Court vampires again, too. On top of all that, he is still teaching strong-willed, occasionally impulsive teenager Molly Carpenter, and the teacher-student dynamic is difficult for him. And oh, yes, Lasciel, the demon trapped in a coin Harry has secured under his summoning circle, is a lingering presence. As usual in the Dresden Files, of which this is volume 9, Butcher puts the characters in a lot of danger, creates appalling moral choices for them, and spins an excellent noirish detective yarn in a well-crafted, supernaturally charged setting. The supporting cast is again fantastic, and Harry's wit continues to fly in the face of a peril-fraught plot.

My thoughts: Wow. Can I just say Wow? It was another twisting turning ride that I couldn't put down from the moment I picked it up until the very moment I finished. The supporting cast were all integral to the plot. People from almost every previous book were present and accounted for in some manner. It was really just a joy to read. I never fail to be impressed by just how much planning has to go into these books. There is no other way to account how every person thrown in, of which there are many, all connected to the major plot of the story. Seriously...anyone who isn't reading this series...should be.

Book 26 - Something Wicked This Way Comes

Originally posted 04-13-07!

Title: Something Wicked This Way Comes
Author: Ray Bradbury
Pages: 293
Grade: B+/A-

Summary: (I like to steal from Amazon, I do I do.)

A masterpiece of modern Gothic literature, Something Wicked This Way Comes is the memorable story of two boys, James Nightshade and William Halloway, and the evil that grips their small Midwestern town with the arrival of a "dark carnival" one Autumn midnight. How these two innocents, both age 13, save the souls of the town (as well as their own), makes for compelling reading on timeless themes. What would you do if your secret wishes could be granted by the mysterious ringmaster Mr. Dark? Bradbury excels in revealing the dark side that exists in us all, teaching us ultimately to celebrate the shadows rather than fear them.

My thoughts: I love Bradbury. I love Bradbury largely because I'm always left with a message after I finish reading. I don't know that it is always the message everyone else has but I'm left with one all the same. This book is the story of two boys, best friends, who are trying to save their town. They aren't perfect. One of them even caves to the darkness. But the prevailing message of this novel, for me, is that laughter, happiness can defeat the darkness. A smile can scare off fear. Death isn't a scary, horrifying thing waiting to come get you. Death is just what happens. It's only scary if you allow the fear and the pain and the sorrow to overtake you. A dark, well thought out novel stating basically "Don't Worry...Be Happy."

Also, I should remember to recommend this come Halloween time to my book communities. Because unlike the standard 'horror/monster' novels like Dracula/Frankenstein... this novel actually had be tense at times. I was worried for the boys. And while not 'scary', I'd take dark, tense novel over standard classic monster novel that really doesn't do anything for me, for Halloween any day. (Mind you I say that with a deep love of both Dracula and Frankenstein...just saying they is not in any way the skury!

Book 25 - Brave New World

Originally posted 04-06-07!

Title: Brave New World
Author: Aldous Huxley
Pages: 259
Grade: A

Summary: (I like to steal from Amazon, I do I do.)

"Community, Identity, Stability" is the motto of Aldous Huxley's utopian World State. Here everyone consumes daily grams of soma, to fight depression, babies are born in laboratories, and the most popular form of entertainment is a "Feelie," a movie that stimulates the senses of sight, hearing, and touch. Though there is no violence and everyone is provided for, Bernard Marx feels something is missing and senses his relationship with a young women has the potential to be much more than the confines of their existence allow. Huxley foreshadowed many of the practices and gadgets we take for granted today--let's hope the sterility and absence of individuality he predicted aren't yet to come.

My thoughts: One of those books I actually finished in a day. Largely because it kept me interested enough to well not really put it down. Something about the fact that there is no true happiness I think was possibly the biggest thing I got from this. And I think it might well be true. With free will, the human race will never be happy. Because having the right to love, to care, to mourn, to solitude, to separation. All of these things....will at one point leave you unhappy. Relationships end, people die, isolation leaves you feeling well alone. But not having the right to those things....to be blindly happy, believing you belong to any and everyone. Everyone has a station they were mentally and physically developed to fit.. It's not happiness. It's a manufactured reality. There is no peace...no forever happiness. There is only this life or that life. And I think I prefer this one. Savage that that might make me. Heh.

Book 24 - Sense and Sensibility

Originally posted 04-04-07!

It was to my great horror the other day, while scanning my bookshelf that I realized I had never read Sense and Sensibility. I bought it around the same time I bought Pride and Prejudice...which I was rather young then... 14 maybe? Considering I'm 20 now...that's a long time for me to leave a book I actually want to read...sitting on a shelf. Well, that problem has now been fixed. Now to read Persuasion and obtain Northanger Abbey and I will have read every Jane Austen. My literary goals are special things.

Title: Sense and Sensibility
Author: Jane Austen
Pages: 331
Grade: A- (ish)

Summary: (I like to steal from Amazon, I do I do.)

Though not the first novel she wrote, Sense and Sensibility was the first Jane Austen published. Though she initially called it Elinor and Marianne, Austen jettisoned both the title and the epistolary mode in which it was originally written, but kept the essential theme: the necessity of finding a workable middle ground between passion and reason. The story revolves around the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne. Whereas the former is a sensible, rational creature, her younger sister is wildly romantic--a characteristic that offers Austen plenty of scope for both satire and compassion. Commenting on Edward Ferrars, a potential suitor for Elinor's hand, Marianne admits that while she "loves him tenderly," she finds him disappointing as a possible lover for her sister:

Oh! Mama, how spiritless, how tame was Edward's manner in reading to us last night! I felt for my sister most severely. Yet she bore it with so much composure, she seemed scarcely to notice it. I could hardly keep my seat. To hear those beautiful lines which have frequently almost driven me wild, pronounced with such impenetrable calmness, such dreadful indifference!

Soon however, Marianne meets a man who measures up to her ideal: Mr. Willoughby, a new neighbor. So swept away by passion is Marianne that her behavior begins to border on the scandalous. Then Willoughby abandons her; meanwhile, Elinor's growing affection for Edward suffers a check when he admits he is secretly engaged to a childhood sweetheart. How each of the sisters reacts to their romantic misfortunes, and the lessons they draw before coming finally to the requisite happy ending forms the heart of the novel. Though Marianne's disregard for social conventions and willingness to consider the world well-lost for love may appeal to modern readers, it is Elinor whom Austen herself most evidently admired; a truly happy marriage, she shows us, exists only where sense and sensibility meet and mix in proper measure.

My thoughts: I never finish a Jane Austen novel without being in some way amused. Because Jane Austen never fails to not well mock her own characters. Or exaggerate their flaws grossly. I adore it. I do. Elinor, I immediately relate to. And really I want her to have whatever makes her happy. Though in some weird way I think I wanted Col. Brandon to be like "OMG MARIANNE STFU...UR SIS IS TEH S3X!!!!!" Sadly no...he was just a sad pathetic little man in love. Whom I adored fully, but still. And Edward with his whole "SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP MOTHER. I AM GOING TO RUN OFF AND MARRY THIS GIRL I PROMISED TO MARRY 4 YEARS AGO AND DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT NOW BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT I SAID I WOULD DO." That's before said girl ran off with his brother. And he immediately after ran to Elinor to declare his undying love. But you know. Saying that, that is the other thing I love about Austen. She tells me where everyone ends up. I like things being wrapped up sometimes.

Book 23 - Paradiso (Divine Comedy)

Originally posted 03-15-07!

Title: Paradiso
Author: Dante
Pages: 165
Grade: B+/A-

Summary: (From the lazy mouth of Lisha)

The third and final part of the Divine Comedy. This is the poetic journey through Heaven.

My thoughts: Here is where I default by saying...I am not a Christian. However I grew up in churches...I like to think I know the bible better than most Christians seeing as I have actually read it. And I appreciate aspects of the religion. More than anything...the most interesting to me has always been the Catholics. Dante...while being ever so colorful...and ever so in the past...gives me a fun little look at past Christianity. What I noticed in this segment...rather than the other two...even he had some small concerns over his own religion...largely the way God was meant to deal with certain things...like the people who had come before said religion. People who might have been just as pure and pious and deserving of Heaven as those who came after. I enjoyed my realization that while he understood the rules of his religion what could and could not be done...he believed over that..that God was loving and merciful...should always be loving and merciful and therefore he could not understand partial exclusion of some. Which again I say came as a nice surprise because in the first two...I often got the feeling he was merely speaking out against what had been done to him...through his beliefs and his skill as a poet. Not that I'm saying he didn't...because well really...throwing enemies in hell and friends in heaven would have perks. But I think there is a little more there and I like it..a lot.

Book 22 - The Third Secret

Originally posted 03-13-07!

Title: The Third Secret
Author: Steve Berry
Pages: 376
Grade: A

Summary: (From Publishers Weekly)

Visions of the Virgin Mary, secret documents and politicking in the highest echelons of the Catholic Church—Berry (The Amber Room) combines combustive elements in this well-researched thriller. In 1917, the Virgin Mary revealed herself to three children in Fatima, Portugal, disclosing three secrets to the eldest, Lucia, who shared the first two secrets soon after their revelation but left the last to be disclosed upon her death. This third secret was released to Pope John XXIII in 1960 and made public by Pope John Paul II in 2000... or was it? The novel's stolid protagonist—Msgr. Colin Michener, longtime secretary to Clement XV, the novel's near-future successor to John Paul II—has reason to doubt the accuracy of the public version of the secret. Beleaguered by radically dogmatic cardinals and bishops, the embattled Clement XV also appears distressed by recent knowledge of secret documents regarding the Fatima messages. Before his inexplicable suicide, Clement sends Michener to Romania in search of a Father Tibor, who translated the third secret for Pope John XXIII and may hold the key to its mystery. Also on the case, if a step behind, is the ambitious and traditionalist Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Valendrea, with an eye on the papal throne.

My thoughts: Ok, I am a sucker for anything written by Steve Berry. Playing with the myths and hidden things of history and turning it into a twisting turning story...shall always make me love you. Admittedly...knowing how much they are the 'it' thing right now I've limited myself to well Dan Brown obviously...and Steve. He wrote about the Romanovs...The Amber Room....I loved and adored it all. He has one on the Templar's which I am a sucker for... and now the third secret at Fatima. Really....I love everything by him. So...if you like that kind of stuff...and you haven't read anything by him...*hits people over the head* DO IT!

Book 21 - Dhampir

Originally posted 02-26-07!

Title: Dhampir
Author: Barb and J.C. Hendee
Pages: 376
Grade: A

Summary: (From Booklist)

Magiere and her half-elf partner, Leesil, have the cleverest con in the land. Magiere claims to be a vampire hunter, while Leesil impersonates a vampire, and in a spectacular show of theatrics, she "kills" him--for a hefty sum, of course. But Magiere's modus hits closer to home than she thinks, for when she faces down a real vampire, she wins. Now fighting her natural calling, Magiere arrives with Leesil in the town of Miiska, where they intend to make an honest living as tavern owners. Unbeknownst to the pair, a group of vampires, led by the nefarious Rashed, resides in Miiska. When Welstiel Massing, a mysterious older man, confronts Magiere, claiming she is "the one," and she has an almost-deadly encounter with Rashed, Magiere discovers her true nature: she is a dhampir, a part-human, part-vampire warrior whose purpose is to battle vampires. The discovery leads to a pulse-pounding showdown with Rashed and his gang.

My thoughts: Less than 24 hours to read. Seriously was far more awesome then I thought it would be. It slightly reminds me of Buffy...and I am by no means the first to make that comparison. Tis awesome and I am looking forward to reading the rest. YAY FOR NEW FANTASY SERIES. (I'm so easy.)

Book 20 - Hell to Pay

Originally posted 02-14-07!

Title: Hell to Pay
Author: Simon R. Green
Pages: 264
Grade: A

Summary: (From the back of the book)

In the wake of the war that left the Nightside leaderless, Jeremiah Griffin-one of the last of the immortal human families-plans to fill the power vacuum. But his granddaughter has disappeared, and he wants John Taylor to use his special abilities to find her. Except someone-or something-is blocking Taylor's abilities.

My thoughts: WHERE IS SUZIE??? This book while as entertaining lacked something the rest were always full of, John's actual life. The only friend of his we really saw was Dead Boy...and they only give me Suzie in the epilogue. Tsk tsk. But I still look forward to the next one. And they are still oddly reminicent of Harry Dresden if Harry well killed more...cared less....wore white instead of black and actually didn't get hurt nearly as much. John has the good life...and the girl. LEARN FROM HIM HARRY. Though he lacks a Bob...and I miss his young little assistant girl..she pwned.

Book 19 - Inuyasha, Volume 2

Originally posted 02-10-07!

Title: Inuyasha, Volume 2
Author: Rumiko Takahashi
Pages: 190
Grade: A

Summary: (From an Amazon review that totally pwned)

This volume picks up right where its predecessor left off. Inuyasha and Kagome return to the past to do battle with Yura of the Hair, who seems to be all but invincible. Does she have any weaknesses whatsoever? And later on, our heroes meet up with Sesshomaru, Inuyasha's brother - only to discover that he is trying to rob their late father's grave, so that he may find an artifact hidden there and use it for his own purposes. This volume marks the first appearance of Sesshomaru, his toad-like servent Jaken, and Myoga, the flea-like guardian of Inuyasha's father's grave.

My thoughts: Ok, I'm sucked in completely. Inuyasha might have possibly just become my favorite. Why? Well because I love him. And I giggle. And um he is totally in love with Kagome. And really what is more fun than the ability to yell 'SIT!' when he pisses her off and have him just fall. I love it. HEHE!!! I am five.

Book 18 - Two for the Dough

Originally posted 02-10-07!

Title: Two for the Dough
Author: Janet Evanovich
Pages: 312
Grade: A

Summary: (From the bored mouth of Lisha)

Second in the Stephanie Plum series

My thoughts: I officially love these books. I read through them in less than a day. They are easy yet I get sucked in while reading. I laugh throughout. And I honestly think the writing is good. It twists, it turns...if Harry Dresden were female...a bounty hunter...and had no magical skill....he would be Stephanie. Because both of them...just seem to like trouble. Though admittedly Harry can more often than not get out of his own messes. Stephanie calls in Morelli who I love even more. LOVE!!!!

Book 17 - The Wonder Spot

Originally posted 02-10-07!

Title: The Wonder Spot
Author: Melissa Bank
Pages: 324
Grade: B+

Summary: (From Publisher's Weekly)

Bank is back with an equally entertaining first novel, starring Sophie Applebaum, a sarcastic, self-deprecating middle child from a suburban Jewish family who moves from a fish-out-of-water adolescence to a how-did-I-get-here adulthood. Likable Sophie's (mis)adventures in life and love include an attempt to use lyrics from Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me, Babe" to argue against the necessity of attending Hebrew school and a penchant for imagining her future life with men she barely knows (a potential beau's ability to cook fish becomes "a metaphor for the hard things we will face together"). A slightly cynical yet romantic optimism grounds Sophie—and gives Bank plenty of opportunities for clever quips: cribbing a career objective in publishing from a résumé handbook, Sophie diligently copies exercises found in the long-overdue library book 20th Century Typing, including "Know Your Typewriter," and she agrees to a blind date with a pediatric surgeon by noting that she possesses her own "pediatric heart." But this isn't just another urban chick-lit bildungsroman; Bank's work also features the intriguing transformations of the other Applebaums: a grandmother's slip into senility, Sophie's mother's dip into infidelity, a brother's turn toward Orthodox Judaism. Through it all, Sophie never quite escapes the sense of being a "solid trying to do a liquid's job," a feeling as frightening as it is familiar to those struggling to achieve a grownup self-awareness.

My thoughts: It was easy to read. It kept my interest. But it was a book that left me feeling like I'd accomplished nothing. There was no set happy ending and there was no real feeling of completion which well considering it told the life of a girl...not entirely without reason. It just isn't how I particularly enjoy my books. But again I state it was a nice easy read. Simple in way. So for me it was worth the read.

Book 16 - Haunted

Originally posted 02-05-07!

Title: Haunted
Author: Chuck Palahniuk
Pages: 411
Grade: B+

Summary: (From the back of the book)

Haunted is a novel made up of twenty-three horrifying, hilarious, and stomach-churning stories. They’re told by people who have answered an ad for a writer’s retreat and unwittingly joined a “Survivor”-like scenario where the host withholds heat, power, and food. As the storytellers grow more desperate, their tales become more extreme, and they ruthlessly plot to make themselves the hero of the reality show that will surely be made from their plight. This is one of the most disturbing and outrageous books you’ll ever read, one that could only come from the mind of Chuck Palahniuk.

My thoughts: I was grossed out, disgusted, amused, and confused. So it was the normal Chuck experience for me. While I've yet to truly like any book I've read by him this far (and I've only read two,) there is something to them that keeps me reading. So much truth about the sad sorry state of humanity is revealed in every stomach churning word. I fully intend to read his other books, and really if you can handle it, I fully recommend him to all.

Book 15 – Oliver Twist

Originally posted 02-01-07!

Title: Oliver Twist
Author: Charles Dickens
Pages: 285
Grade: B

Summary: N/A (Because I am far to lazy to type it up myself)

My thoughts: I read it fairly quickly, major plus. I don’t know that I have an actual opinion. It was plodding and predictable…character point of view jumped around. It was a typical Dickens novel. I do however always on some level appreciate his way with words and that I can always predict how his story will play out. They never bore me…but they never completely pull me in. It’s an odd thing. I don’t know how to describe it. But, in the end, Dickens was considered one of the best…and I think I can understand that. So yes, read a Dickens novel. It’s a rite of passage. This marks my second. Have to admit I adored Great Expectations more…

Book 14 – Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Volume 10

Originally posted 01-31-07!

Title: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Volume 10
Author: Clamp
Pages: 185
Grade: A

Summary: (From the back of the book)
The godlike being Ashura-ô has killed the equally skilled and mighty rival, Yasha-ô. But now Ashura-ô seems depressed. What this means to the country of Shura, none can tell . . . especially the five friends on a desperate journey through dimensions to find the memories of Princess Sakura–memories in the form of immensely powerful feathers. They’ve been racing from world to world, separated only to be united as enemies. Now young Syaoran is at the center of the maelstrom–and only wits, luck, and some help from his friends will save the tiny band from destruction.

My thoughts: I still REALLY love Tsubasa…I will continue to REALLY love Tsubasa. The entire world should totally love Tsubasa more… The Ashura/Yasha broke my heart…and obviously I should read more…seeing as Tsubasa is like AU reality for all Clamp charries ever. And ok…artwork pretty…flying machines..odd… and um Fai/Kurogane YAY!!!

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Volume 9

Originally posted 01-31-07!

Title: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Volume 9
Author: Clamp
Pages: 185
Grade: A

Summary: (From the back of the book)
Five friends continue their desperate search for Princess Sakura’s memories, which have been scattered across parallel worlds in the form of magically potent feathers. But this time Syaoran and Sakura are pulled from a tumultuous land where two factions battle over a statue of the God of Calamity–and into the realm of that very god! Now they find themselves on one side of a long, bloody conflict between two gods and their minions. Unfortunately the experienced fighters in their band, Fai and Kurogane, seem to be aligned with the opposition. In a war where the only ending is the death of a god, how can Syaoran and Sakura hope to stay alive?

My thoughts: I still love Tsubasa…I will continue to love Tsubasa. The entire world should totally love Tsubasa…and um Fai/Kurogane forever still. (Even if they are hardly in this volume at all.)

Book 12 - Love Story

Originally posted 01-29-07! Read sometime within the months of December and January!

Title: Love Story
Author: Erich Segal
Pages: 187
Grade: A

Summary: (From the back of the book)
Love means never having to say you're sorry...

He is Oliver Barrett IV, a rich jock from a stuffy WASP family on his way to a Harvard degree and a career in law.

She is Jenny Cavilleri, a wisecracking, working-class beauty studying music at Radcliffe.

Opposites in nearly every way, Oliver and Jenny immediately attract, sharing a love that defies everything ... yet will end too soon.

My thoughts: I read this book within about 2-3 hours. Which says both that it is that easy a read and it is that good. Somehow I’ve gone through life without knowing well this story. Which is unusually sad and I bless the little old lady at the goodwill who told me I should read it for it would break my heart. It was excellent…and she was right, it was heartbreaking. It is, simply, a love story. One you should therefore be forced to read.

Book 11 - The Book of Ruth

Originally posted 01-29-07! Read sometime within the months of December and January!

Title: The Book of Ruth
Author: Jane Hamilton
Pages: 328
Grade: B-

Summary: (The Oprah speaks…)
The Book of Ruth is a virtuoso performance and that's precisely why it can be excruciating to read. Author Jane Hamilton leads us through the arid life of Ruth Grey, who extracts what small pleasures and graces she can from a tiny Illinois town and the broken people who inhabit it. Ruth's prime tormentor is her mother May, whose husband died in World War II and took her future with him. More poor familial luck has given Ruth a brother who is a math prodigy; Matt sucks up any stray attention like a black hole. Ruth is left to survive on her own resources, which are meager. She struggles along, subsisting on crumbs of affection meted out by her Aunt Sid and, later, her screwed-up husband Ruby. Hamilton has perfect pitch, so perfect that you wince with pain for confused but fundamentally good Ruth as she walks a dead-end path. The book ends with the prospect of redemption, thank goodness--but the tale is nevertheless much more bitter than sweet.

My thoughts: I didn’t really like this book…but I didn’t not like this book. The writing style didn’t exactly appeal to me. I never really felt I had a complete grasp of the time frame of this novel. And it focused for a long time on Ruth’s younger life…yet you never got a good look at her younger life. I connected with the story more once she became the adult who had been narrating from the beginning. I had a firmer grasp of almost all aspects of the story then. But it’s so very depressing. I don’t really feel a chance for redemption…and so much of her life was wasted by the non-interference of others. While in real life that is often how it goes, in this story it just made me all the more upset. Overall final thoughts…It was alright, just not what I expected.

Book 10 - Sybil

Originally posted 01-29-07! Read sometime within the months of December and January!

Title: Sybil
Author: Flora Rheta Schreiber
Pages: 414
Grade: A

Summary: N/A


My thoughts: How does one say a book documenting the horrors of child abuse that led to 16 different personalities is a great book, because if you figure it out…that is what I want to say here. This book made me cry. It made me ache for Sybil. It was truly an experience all on its own. Multiple Personalities have always fascinated me…not on the level of ‘oh freak’ but just in a ‘what made it happen’ sort of way. The way the mind shuts down and creates a new person to deal with what the original person can’t cope with…truly the mind amazes me. It’s so very intent on protecting itself. It’s a true story…and it was an easy read. The woman its written by was actually a friend of Sybil’s…she even is well present in the tale itself. There is something about this story that touches me…I don’t really know how to explain it.

Book 9 - Like a Charm

Originally posted 01-29-07! Read sometime within the months of December and January!

Title: Like a Charm: A novel in voices
Author: 15 various authors; edited by Karin Slaughter
Pages: 336
Grade: B

Summary: (From the inside cover flap)
Desire leaves a man destroyed… A young girl’s curiosity reveals secrets better left hidden… Jealousy drives a woman mad… An obsession with numbers precipitates a deadly revenge… Ambition leads to a curious exchange… An uncanny likeness changes two lives forever… The hand of fate lies buried in the past…

One bracelet, sixteen charms…


My thoughts: The novel appealed to me simply because it was a story written in 16 parts by 15 different authors. It tells the story of a charm bracelet. Each charm has a story. I liked the set up. I liked the feel. I liked some stories better than others. I liked some writing styles better than others. Overall though, I enjoyed it. Plus it was a hardcover that cost me $3 new. So really…win/win for me.

Book 8 - But Inside I'm Screaming

Originally posted 01-28-07! Read sometime within the months of December and January!

Title: But Inside I’m Screaming
Author: Elizabeth Flock
Pages: 316
Grade: A

Summary: (From the back of the book)
While breaking the hottest news story of the year, broadcast journalist Isabel Murphy falls apart on live television in front of an audience of millions. She lands at Three Breezes, a four-star psychiatric hospital nicknamed the “nut hut,” where she begins the painful process of recovering the life everyone thought she had.

But accepting her place among her fellow patients proves difficult. Isabel struggles to reconcile the fact that she is, indeed, one of them, and faces the reality that in order to mend her painfully fractured life she must rely solely on herself.

My thoughts: I liked this novel a lot. It reminded me in some ways of The Bell Jar…and I connected with this book in a way I haven’t a book since that time. Elizabeth Flock has written two novels I have immensely enjoyed. I’m glad I picked them both up on a whim one Sunday before work.

Book 7 - Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Volume 8

Originally posted 01-28-07! Read sometime within the months of December and January!

Title: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Volume 8
Author: Clamp
Pages: 194
Grade: A

Summary: (From the back of the book)
Princess Sakura’s memories are scattered across multiple dimensions–and now she and Syaoran are part of an unlikely group of friends traveling from world to world to find them. Unfortunately the memories have been transformed into immensely powerful magical feathers, and those who possess them are seldom willing to give them up without a fight. The quest takes Syaoran’s odd bunch to a jungle world where helpless creatures are being terrorized by a sacrifice-demanding beast. When Syaoran, Mokona, and Sakura are separated from Fai and Kurogane, each group finds themselves on opposing sides of a conflict that threatens to destroy the future of a troupe of young women performers . . . and possibly the entire world!

My thoughts: I love Tsubasa…I continue to love Tsubasa. The entire world should love Tsubasa…and um Fai/Kurogane forever… That is all.

Book 6 - One for the Money

Originally posted 01-28-07! Read sometime within the months of December and January!

Title: One for the Money
Author: Janet Evanovich
Pages: 320
Grade: A-

Summary: (From Publishers Weekly)
First novels this funny and self-assured come along rarely; dialogue this astute and raunchy is equally unusual. The gutsy heroine introduced here is Stephanie Plum of Trenton, N.J., a recently laid-off lingerie buyer who has no job, no car and no furniture. She does have a hamster, a deranged grandmother, two caring parents and several pairs of biking shorts and sports bras. Finding work with her cousin Vinnie, she becomes a bond hunter and scrounges money enough to buy a gun, a Chevy Nova and some Mace. Her first assignment is to locate a cop accused of murder. Joe Morelli grew up in Stephanie's neighborhood. Possessed of legendary charm, he relieved Stephanie of her virginity when she was 16 (she later ran over him with a car). In her search, Stephanie catches her prey, loses him and grills a psychotic prizefighter, the employer of the man Morelli shot. She steals Morelli's car and then installs an alarm so he can't steal it back. Resourceful and tough, Stephanie has less difficulty finding her man than deciding what she wants to do with him once she's got him.

My thoughts: It’s the first novel in a series. Which obviously I needed another series. I have to say though; it made me laugh, a lot, through out most of the book. It was a nice, easy read that I completely enjoyed. If one likes Mystery and Sarcasm…by all means pick it up.

Book 5 - The Geographer's Library

Originally posted 01-28-07! Read sometime within the months of December and January!

Title: The Geographer’s Library
Author: Jon Fasman
Pages: 372
Grade: B+

Summary: (From Publishers Weekly)
A young reporter is caught up in a deadly centuries-long treasure hunt in this puppyish but brainy debut, a thriller steeped in arcane lore and exotic history. When Paul Tomm, a reporter for the Lincoln Carrier, a small Connecticut newspaper, looks into the demise of Jaan Puhapaev, an elderly academic found dead in his cluttered house, nothing seems out of the ordinary - until the pathologist performing the autopsy is himself killed in a freak car accident. Various locals and acquaintances offer reminiscences of the late professor that suggest Puhapaev was an extremely complicated (and perhaps dangerous) character. Tomm's discoveries lead him to a lovely young woman, a network of international smugglers and hidden alchemical libraries. Appealing more to the intellect than to the emotions, the book is slowed by the catalogue-like descriptions of precious objects that close many chapters, while the protagonist, however likable, is often too naïve to be entirely credible. Still, some deft plotting and lively writing bode well for the author's future literary endeavors.

My thoughts: The main story was decent. It took a long time to tie back to the beginning and I didn’t quite appreciate the ending but overall I liked it. My favorite part was actually the odd disjointed tales of the items. I really wish those had combined with the actual storyline more…or even been the story itself. There was a lot of potential there. If you like books by Dan Brown, Steve Berry…or those people who don’t make it onto my bookshelf but are in that vein I recommend it.

Book 4 - Running with Scissors

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Book 3 - The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings

Originally posted 11-28-06!

Title: The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
Author: Edgar Allan Poe
Pages: 415
Grade: C

Summary: (Where Lisha just tells you what's in the book....because if you don't know about Poe well psh on you)
This book houses 16 of his short stories, his one full-length novel, and 15 of his poems.

My thoughts: I don't like Poe. I never really have, not at length. Well, that's not entirely true. I have an appreciation for his poetry. I love the way he uses words. It's just when he comes to telling a story...he steals from himself, is overly wordy, and the endings are always a downer really. I must say...Poe is the first writer I've ever fallen asleep to. But allow me to again say...I appreciate Poe for what he represents. It's was a different style and not one I altogether dislike...it's just very much not one for me. His novel however might have been an easier read for me had I not already known so much about whaling ships that I discovered a few things not quite right in his tale. Though...let us find the positive. I loved The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter...the first of which was actually the one I fell asleep during...marvel at that. I loved the characters being carried over into another story...and something about the all knowing character appealed to me. If I weren't so tired I would find the quote about being able to retrace the end of a conversation back to its origins but sadly I am...so tired. Ah...now do I recommend Poe? Yes and No, I feel one should have experienced Poe in both forms. If you have not read a poem and a short story by Poe you should slap yourself and go do so now. As I am about to go reread the Raven...because um...I have a secret love for the rhythm. Which is not so secret now.

Book 2 - The Darkest Hours (Spider-Man)

Originally posted 11-22-06!

Title: The Darkest Hours (Spider-Man)
Author: Jim Butcher
Pages: 307
Grade: A

Summary: (From the back cover)
Peter Parker's life has hit a peaceful stretch. No evildoers have tried to flatten him in weeks, his marriage to Mary Jane is stronger than ever, and he's enjoying his job as a high school science teacher. Life is good.

Naturally, that doesn't last.

When Peter learns that his old enemy the Rhino is on a rampage in Times Square, he suits up as Spider-Man to stop the destructive villain in his tracks. But he's unexpectedly foiled in his attempts by the Black Cat, a former ally and old flame. The Cat informs Peter that the Rhino is just a distraction -- the real threat comes from a group of Ancients, members of the same race as the being called Morlun, who Spidey defeated in battle years earlier. The Ancients are now looking to exact revenge -- and hope to steal Spider-Man's life force in the process.

To defeat such powerful beings, Spider-Man is going to need all the help he can get, especially from the Black Cat. But what will Mary Jane Parker have to say about that? Peter isn't sure which is worse -- the Ancients trying to drain his life force, or the wrath of a jealous wife....

My thoughts: This is by no means a high form of literature, but Jim Butcher never fails to disappoint me. Quick-witted dialogue and action sequences that keep my full undivided attention has always been his thing. I openly admit to knowing little if nothing about the Spider-Man universe that didn't come from that little movie with Toby in it. But even with that, I've always had a love for the comic book verses and the super heroes. I recommend this book on the grounds that it truly did make me giggle for the first page in. But more then that, it cements to me just why Jim Butcher is the awesome. Therefore everyone...check out Jim Butcher's books. For snark and just a bit of magic, high paced action, and an actual well developed character I highly recommend the Harry Dresden series. Seriously it is love. If you love high fantasy....I really urge you to read the Codex Alera series. They are actually, I believe, his best work. Beautiful. Love fest over now.

Book 1 - Seabiscuit: An American Legend

Originally posted 11-21-06!

Title: Seabiscuit: An American Legend
Author: Laura Hillenbrand
Pages: 399
Grade: A

Summary: (Stolen from Amazon and edited down to what I cared about)
He didn't look like much. With his smallish stature, knobby knees, and slightly crooked forelegs, he looked more like a cow pony than a thoroughbred. But looks aren't everything; his quality, an admirer once wrote, "was mostly in his heart." Laura Hillenbrand tells the story of the horse who became a cultural icon in Seabiscuit: An American Legend.

Seabiscuit rose to prominence with the help of an unlikely triumvirate: owner Charles Howard, an automobile baron who once declared that "the day of the horse is past"; trainer Tom Smith, a man who "had cultivated an almost mystical communication with horses"; and jockey Red Pollard, who was down on his luck when he charmed a then-surly horse with his calm demeanor and a sugar cube. Hillenbrand details the ups and downs of "team Seabiscuit," from early training sessions to record-breaking victories, and from serious injury to "Horse of the Year"--as well as the Biscuit's fabled rivalry with War Admiral. She also describes the world of horseracing in the 1930s, from the snobbery of Eastern journalists regarding Western horses and public fascination with the great thoroughbreds to the jockeys' torturous weight-loss regimens, including saunas in rubber suits, strong purgatives, even tapeworms.

Along the way, Hillenbrand paints wonderful images: tears in Tom Smith's eyes as his hero, legendary trainer James Fitzsimmons, asked to hold Seabiscuit's bridle while the horse was saddled; critically injured Red Pollard, whose chest was crushed in a racing accident a few weeks before, listening to the San Antonio Handicap from his hospital bed, cheering "Get going, Biscuit! Get 'em, you old devil!"; Seabiscuit happily posing for photographers for several minutes on end; other horses refusing to work out with Seabiscuit because he teased and taunted them with his blistering speed.

My thoughts: This is literally one of the easiest Non-fictions I have ever had the opportunity to read. I would say the easiest but I've read quite a few lately that have also read quite well. At times I would catch myself forgetting to breathe during the description of a race...races to which I already knew the outcomes. I also love the writer's style, while so much of it is based in fact she still managed to give it a flare all her own that I loved and highly appreciated. Overall, my stand, if you like horses, the story of the underdog, pre-WWII America, or the tale of a spirit that lived on long after it's death...this is utterly a book you need to possess and read.

Once Upon a November

So, it all started in November. Everyone was challenging themselves to read 50 books in a year. Now, I know I easily read over 50 books in a year so I decided to up the challenge a bit and go for 100 books. Which since that's somewhere around 2 a week, it didn't seem that crazy. However, I'm beginning to realize it might just possibly be a bit out of grasp for me. I suppose only time will tell.

Anyway, my master plan went into affect on November 19, 2006. I'm up to book 42 right now. And dear blog, I plan to archive the whole adventure here. So be prepared for scary entries from eons ago, since my livejournal has been the happy home of this venture so far. I might also fill this with random tidbits from my other loves...largely my writing and Broadway obsessions... One never knows. On with the show I suppose. =)