Holly's Year in Review

I was really hoping to get a post done that summarized my year in reading. What more fitting day to do that than December 31st! :-)

I try not to set goals for myself in reading or join reading challenges just because I like to read whatever I'm in the mood for at that time. I do read my book club books most months and I try to read ARCs I receive in a timely manner so I guess those are the most goal-oriented books I get to. Everything else just sort of goes with the flow. However, as 2008 was coming to a close I noticed I was very close to 52 total books for the year which would have been an average of one book per week! Considering I had about 35 books in 2007 and 23 or 24 the couple years before that. This year has been very productive in the reading department! I set 52 as a goal for myself. But got distracted by some knitting projects and the holidays so alas, I fell just a bit short at 50. But I'm pretty proud of my almost a book a week progress this year and hold to keep that up in 2009. I'm also pondering a couple challenges. There's an Art History Challenge that is calling my name. So we'll see. I may jump on the challenge bandwagon in '09.

Here's a list of many of the books I read in 2008 by rating:
Five Star Rating (I'm very stingy with this rating):
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
The Crossroads by Chris Grabenstein
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

Four and A Half Stars:
Masterpiece by Elise Broach
The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci
Bobbie Faye's Very (very, very, very) Bad Day by Toni McGee Causey
Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson #2) by Rick Riordan
Amadi's Snowman by Katia Novet Saint-lot
Naptime is the New Happy Hour by Stefanie Taylor-Wilder

Four Stars:
Fiendish Deeds (Joy of Spooking #1) by P.J. Bracegirdle
Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain
America America by Ethan Canin
Bobbie Faye's (kinda, sorta, not exactly) Family Jewels by Toni McGee Causey
Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center
The Innocent by Harlan Coben
Hold Tight by Harlan Coben
Diary of a Fairy Godmother by Esme Raji Codell
In the Woods by Tana French
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Real Murders by Charlaine Harris
Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris
The Beasts of Clawstone Castle by Eva Ibbotson
Marco Flamingo by Sheila Jarkins
The Power of Three by Laura Lippman
The Eight by Katherine Neville
The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett
Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs
39 Clues: Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

Three and a Half Stars:
Killer Heels by Sheryl J. Anderson
Woman in Red by Eileen Goudge
The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler
Schooled by Anisha Lakhani
The Fire by Katherine Neville
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott
Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Darla Snadowsky

Three Stars:
Heartsick by Chelsea Cain
Off the Deep End by W. Hodding Carter
Iris, Messenger by Sarah Deming
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster
The Pact by Jodi Picoult

Two and a Half Stars:
Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson

Two Stars:
Cinderella (As if you didn't already know the story) by Barbara Ensor
Atonement by Ian McEwan
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

And here is a list of a few books I hope to get to in the early part of 2009:
Etta by Gerald Kolpan
One False Note (39 Clues #2) by Gordan Korman
Knit Two by Kate Jacobs
The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian
What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn
The Witch's Trinity by Erika Mailman
The Ophelia and Abby Mystery Series by Shirley Damsgaard
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Magyk by Angie Sage
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and Happy New Year's Eve!!!

New Book Stash!!!

I recently went a little crazy and took advantage of Amazon's 4-for-3 promotion and bought several books. I haven't bought any books in awhile so I splurged a bit. They all came in the mail today!! Oh, what fun!


I got a couple chapter books that looked fun for when my daughter is ready to move on from Easy Readers. I've been on a Harlan Coben kick lately so there are a few of those. A friend recommended Steve Berry's books to me so I picked up a couple of those. I've always been curious about Sue Grafton's Alphabet series, but I'm anal and like to start at the beginning of the series, so I got A is for Alibi. Kathy Reichs 3rd Temperance Brennen installment, Deadly Decisions, because I enjoyed the first two. I like Sarah Strohmeyer's writing with the Bubbles books so I thought I'd try one of her fairy tale books with The Sleeping Beauty Proposal. Someone reviewed The Chatham School Affair on one of the book blogs I read and I thought it sounded interesting. And Shadow Catcher sounded good to me when I read about it as a Tournament of Books selection so I threw that one in the cart as well. Whew!

And as if those are not enough new additions to my overflowing bookshelves, I received a box from Allison in the mail last Saturday! Thanks so much Allison!


I'm so excited to read Jodi Picoult's Change of Heart (Thanks again Gwyneth!!), and Allison has been waiting forever for me to read the rest of the Bubbles books. (Allison, admittedly, you have me very intrigued now!) She also threw in the Pauline Sokol series as well as a Jennifer Crusie and Joan Duett. Oh, and Laura Lippman's What the Dead Know, which sounds right up my alley as well!

Oh, what fun it will be for me to go in search of a new book on my shelves! So many choices, so little time! :-)

Tournament of Books 2008

The Morning News has published their lists of books for the Tournament of Books 2008. And here they are:

Run by Ann Patchett
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
Petropolis by Anya Ulinich
Ovenman by Jeff Parker
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
You Don't Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem
New England White by Stephen L. Carter
Remainder by Tom McCarthy
The Shadow Catcher by Marianne Wiggins
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño
Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name by Vendela Vida
Shining at the Bottom of the Sea by Stephen Marche
What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman
An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England by Brock Clarke

Some interesting ones on there. Anyone read any of them? Run by Ann Patchett pops up here again. And I might take a look at The Shadow Catcher, a fictional book that uses Edward Curtis, a photographer whose goal was to document Native American cultures as part of the background story. His photographs were somewhat controversial because he would dress his subjects up in traditional costumes with traditional props, even if the people were more assimilated into the "modern" world. I wrote a grad school paper on him so I think it would be interesting to see how this book portrays him, even if its fictionalized.

Best novels you've never read...

While perusing Girl Detective during my morning coffee today, I came across a link to an article from New York Magazine. Sixty-one critics list their favorite underrated books of the last ten years.

The Munch Mancini Mystery Series by Barbara Seranella stood out to me as one Allison may be interested in. :-)

It was an interesting list. I recognized about 10 of the books and the rest were foreign to me. The Accidental was on the list, which you may remember I did not particularly like, but it seems the rest of the world did.

There was a link at the end of the article to another listing "Which novels from the past several years will be taught in 50 years?" I have Atonement sitting on my bookshelf. Hope to get to it someday.

Just rambling this morning. Happy Summer Reading!

Tournament of Books Champion

Cormac McCarthy's book The Road won!

Here's a link to an article on the final judging.

Has anyone read this? It seems to be everywhere these days.

Tourament of Books Finalists

	The Road by CORMAC McCARTHY
	v.
	Absurdistan by GARY SHTEYNGART

In a list kind of mood

I guess I feel like making lists today. I spent the girls' naptime looking through my last three issues of Bookmarks Magazine and made a list of the books that sounded interesting to me.

Fun story: From the time I learned to write, I made lists. Lists of EVERYTHING. Completely random things, I don't even know what were on my lists. My mom had a friend, she always said I was going to be a writer because I loved making lists. Not sure blogging counts as writing, but I have always enjoyed it. And I still make lists today. I have a little notebook that I have around all the time to jot things down when they come to me (groceries, household tasks, errands, books to read, etc.). And I'm constantly losing it and and asking my husband if he's seen my notebook. He makes fun of me, when I'm just walking around the house looking for something, he says, "Are you looking for your notebook?" That's how much I lose it. Anyway, here's to making lists...

The Pirates! in an adventure with Scientists by Gideon Defoe
The Torment of Others (part of the Tony Hill mystery series) by Val McDermid
The Greatest Man in Cedar Hole by Stephanie Doyon (this was on the Tournament of Books list last year)
The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde (Allison has reviewed this series before)
It's Superman by Tom DeHaven
The Last Witchfinder by James Morrow
My Latest Grievance by Elinor Lipman
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Ten Days in the Hills by Jane Smiley
The Uses of Enchantment by Heidi Julavits
The Mephisto Club (Jane Rizzoli/Maura Iles mystery series) by Tess Gerritsen
Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone
Hollywood Station by Joseph Wambaugh
Philosopy Made Simple by Robert Hellenga

Sidenote: Robert Hellenga is an English professor at Knox College (my alma mater). He also wrote The Sixteen Pleasures which was a well-received book. I never had a class with him but always heard wonderful things about him. I also haven't read his books yet, but hope to.

PS. I added a couple new blogs to the blog list in the side bar. If there are any other book blogs you love to read, please let me know and I'll add them to the list.

Tournament of Books 2007

Since it's almost March Madness, I thought I would check and see if this year's books were listed for the Tournament of Books yet. And they were.

Here's the list for 2007:
Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
One Good Turn, Kate Atkinson
Arthur and George, Julian Barnes
Brookland, Emily Barton
English, August, Upamanyu Chatterjee
The Lay of the Land, Richard Ford
Pride of Baghdad, Niko Henrichon, Brian K. Vaughan
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
The Emperor’s Children, Claire Messud
The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo, Peter Orner
The Echo Maker, Richard Powers
Against the Day, Thomas Pynchon
Firmin, Sam Savage
Absurdistan, Gary Shteyngart
Alentejo Blue, Monica Ali
Apex Hides the Hurt, Colson Whitehead

I won't be providing commentary this year, but may throw in an update every now and then. I haven't read any of the books on the list. Not sure any of them are really my kind of books, I'll have to look them up and see. Please post a comment if you've read any of these and what you thought of it.

Interesting coincidences

So I haven't finished any books lately, but I am in the middle of the second Bubbles book, which I am enjoying for its silliness. Bubbles visits Amish country. Quite entertaining. Coincidentally, I received my latest Bookmarks Magazine in the mail a week or so ago and read it cover to cover. One of the books it reviewed as an interesting read was Rumspringa by Tom Shachtman. He is the man who also created the documentary "A Devil's Playground" which I believe was nominated for an Oscar. Then 20/20 had a show on this week about Amish gone bad. It's so strange that all in a week's time three Amish related things have popped up in my world. Not that I'm particularly fascinated by the Amish. It's just interesting how coincidences pop up sometimes....

Here are some books that I thought sounded like they might be good that were also reviewed in Bookmarks:

Theft by Peter Carey--a novel set in the art world and about art forgery

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen--a novel about a man studying to be a vet who runs away to the circus in the Depression-era

The Bookwoman's Last Fling by John Dunning--a detective book in the book world. Part of the Cliff Janeway series.

The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue--a science-fiction book about a boy kidnapped by changelings who then take his place in the real world (or something like that). I'm not super into science fiction but this one is touted at a fairy tale for adults and sounded entertaining. (Allison, I thought this sounded like a book you might like.)

If anyone reads these before I have a chance to, I would love to know what you thought of them.

Summer Re-Runs

Okay, we've been a little slow here at the Bookshelf lately. I'm not helping, either, since I've been stuck in a re-reading rut. I'm hosting my book club next week and I haven't even bought the book! I'm hoping they'll be too distracted by my wonderful cooking to notice :) All my "new" reading lately has been childbirth/early childhood stuff (and baby name books!), and maybe there's just not room in my brain for anything else.

So, I thought I'd try to start a little bit of discussion. What books (if any) do you re-read, and why? If you're not a re-reader, why not? Here's my list:

Harry Potter: I secretly really, really want to go to Hogwarts. But reading these is the closest I can get :) I love visiting the world JK Rowling constructed. The books are rich and full of detail, and really just delightful to read. The characters are well-drawn and believable, and even though I already know what's going to happen, the getting-there is so much fun that I can read them over and over.

Jane Austen: I love reading about all the social rules and who follows them or breaks them. I love Austen's gentle satire of social conventions (which you could easily miss by skimming) through making characters ridiculous with dialogue. And every time I get to the end of Pride & Prejudice, I'm so happy that Lizzy & Mr. Darcy finally got together.

Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next Series: My inner English nerd loves the wordplay and literature references, but those couldn't stand alone without the entertaining characters and clever situations. Plus, I've always wished I could literally enter my favorite books, and I think the way Fforde manages this is an impressive feat of imagination.

Kate Atkinson: I love her writing. I bought Human Croquet on the bargain table of Barnes & Noble without having heard of Atkinson, and I loved it. And that's not even her best book! Her sentences are just a pleasure to read, and I enjoy the unfolding of her intricate plots.

Gregory Maguire: Even his "not as good" books are fun retellings of fairy tales. It's the familiarity of a story you've heard since childhood, but with variations. I think my favorite of his is Lost, which incorporates Jack the Ripper and A Christmas Carol, if you can believe that.

Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit: Because I'm a big nerd, that's why.

HItchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (and sequels): Because sometimes, you need a little insanity.

Janet Evanovich: It's nice that Stephanie Plum's life/career/family are so much crazier than mine :) Even in the less stellar books in the series, you're always guaranteed to laugh out loud at least once.

Rita Mae Brown's Mrs. Murphy series: Because there's something comforting and lovely about animals talking to each other and solving mysteries, even if the mysteries aren't all that interesting.

Dorothy Cannell: Cozy mysteries at their finest. An injection of Britishness, crazy family members, fun mysteries that make you wish you were poking around an old mansion with lots of secret passages.

Jennifer Crusie: Her contemporary romances are engaging enough to re-read. Welcome to Temptation and Manhunt are really the best.

There are more, I'm sure, but these are the most frequently re-read for me.

Better get started!

Britain's librarians have posted a list of books to read before you die right here.

I think I went to a really good high school (go, public education!), because I have read 23 out of 30, many of them in high school. I hadn't heard of Birdsong or The Master and Margarita before. A few of these I just haven't gotten to. And I just have to say, "The Lovely Bones????? Are you kidding me?" Man, I hated that book. Actually, I liked it until the convoluted, tacked-on ending, which ruined that book for me. Ugh.

Past Bestsellers

I haven't gone through all the years yet, but this site lists the top ten selling books of every year from 1900-1995. Pretty cool. It's a different kind of list than the "best books of the past X years" kind you usually see. Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool.

Holly, I know you read the Stephanie Plum books, and I just finished the second Bubbles book by Sarah Strohmeyer, and thought you might like them. The first is Bubbles Unbound. Bubbles is a hairdresser trying to make it as a journalist. She's a hoot. I also just finished A Dose of Murder by Lori Avocato, which is a total Stephanie Plum rip-off, but cute. The similarities are just too close to be coincidental. You can tell she pitched the series as "Stephanie Plum, but with a former school nurse turned insurance fraud investigator." Example: instead of Lula, the plus-size black sidekick, she has Goldie, the tall Creole transvestite. Jagger, the mysterious investigator who trains Pauline, is totally Ranger.

The Best Novel?

So, the New York Times Book Review decided to name the greatest novel in the past 25 years. Time Magazine has a lovely (and short) article about it here. Even better, Laura Miller, one of the judges explains here why she declined to vote.

The end result almost doesn't matter (but if you're dying to know, it's Toni Morrison's Beloved). It's a bizarre thing to do, gathering a group of judges to pick "the best" novel of any given period. Trying to distill literature into some sort of athletic contest with one "winner" is ridiculous. The picks were also nearly all by white men, though they did ultimately choose a black woman as the author of the "best" book. Overcompensating much? I love Toni Morrison, and I think Beloved is brilliant, but I also think this group of mostly old white guys choosing the best book might have been consciously trying to avoid accusations of favoring other old white guys.

I like what Time Magazine did with their list of the 100 best books since 1923 (Why 1923? Who knows?). It gives room for diversity, for a multitude of experiences and viewpoints, for authors trying to accomplish different things. The NYTBR exercise drives me nuts because literature is collective, not singular, and no one novel can represent all great novels of the last 25 years.

Hey, how'd I get on this soapbox? Can somebody help me down?

ToB Winner Announced!

Okay so I got bored with myself and my ToB commentary so I haven't posted in awhile. I also have still been knitting. I didn't like the first blanket I made at all, so I have started a new one and am only a quarter of the way done. And I have to have it done by the end of the month. Eek! Hopefully I can resume reading after that.

However, I did want to at least post the Tournament of Books winner for this year. I am utterly shocked, but The Accidental by Ali Smith was chosen. Perhaps I should give my audio book a second chance, perhaps the last four chapters of the book are what really make it. It's just so hard to believe that this is supposedly, in the biased minds of these literary judges, the best book of 2005! I think I will have to read some of the other books they've reviewed. Some of them sound so much better to me than the Accidental. But I suppose my viewpoint is from an entertainment point of view, while the judges may be coming from a more literary point of view.

Anyway, anyone read any good books lately?

ToB continues....

Never Let Me Go has moved on as did Home Land by Sam Lipsyte. The Greatest Man in Cedar Hole and The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova have fallen by the wayside.

I somewhat disagree with The Historian not being moved through to Round 2. I am only half way through the book, but I am really enjoying it. I guess it is somewhat dry and slightly academic (as the judge points out) so it can be a little hard to get through it all. But I tend to glance over paragraphs that get too wordy or boring, looking for the overall picture. I'll give an overall review of it when I finish, if ever. I am currently spending my minimal free time knitting a baby blanket for a friend so reading has taken a backseat.

ToB Round One continues

History of Love won out over The Time In Between.

Today's matchup was:
VERONICA by MARY GAITSKILL vs.
EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE by JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close will be moving onto round two, where it will go up against, History of Love, which ironically is the author's wife's book.

Tomorrow's matchup is:
NEVER LET ME GO by KAZUO ISHIGURO vs.
THE GREATEST MAN IN CEDAR HOLE by STEPHANIE DOYON

ToB starts tomorrow!

For those of you who are intrigued, the Tournament of Books begins tomorrow. Each day of the week you can go to the website and they will have a review of each day's matchup. From the ToB website:

"The first of many judgment days is tomorrow (a new judgment published each weekday until the tournament’s done), with judge Choire Sicha deciding between the highly regarded—and highly PR-machine’d—The History of Love by Nicole Krauss and Dave Bergen’s stealth bomber, The Time in Between. It’s guaranteed to be a joyful bloodbath. Welcome to the 2006 Tournament of Books."

TOMORROW’S MATCH:
KRAUSS'S THE HISTORY OF LOVE VS. THE TIME IN BETWEEN BY BERGEN

If anyone has read either of these and would like to give your own review. Please post a comment.

ToB Bracket announced!

If you click on the Tournament of Books link in the sidebar, you will see the list of judges and a place to download the tournament bracket. I have to say, I'm really amused by The Morning News writers. I think their explanations of their process are great and they don't take themselves too seriously. Which I love!

Anyway, check out the bracket, I may post a running commentary of the tournament and see if any of you have read some of the books on the list and your opinions of them. And whether or not you agree with the judges choices.

"what to read next?"

I thought I would try out the "What should I read next?" website since I'm on vacation and the girls are napping (I'm listening to The Accidental right now as well). I put five titles into the mix: The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, The Time Traveler's Wife, The Lovely Bones, The Poisonwood Bible, and The Known World.

The database spit back three pages of books. Some of them classics like Catch-22, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, 1984, etc. A few others I took note of:
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen

Ella Minnow Pea sounds interesting to me (and not just because I like the first name) and seems to fall into the same category as Jasper Fforde's books (Allison: you should look this one up!). There seems to be several books about book clubs lately. Besides Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons and The Jane Austen Book Club, there's also The Book Club by Mary Alice Monroe. I just think it's interesting this is such a hot topic.

I'd be curious to hear if anyone liked Life of Pi. And Cloud Atlas seems to keep popping up in things I've read. So I might have to add that one to my reading list. A friend of mine enjoyed Practical Magic as well as some others of Alice Hoffman's books.

Kind of a fun website to play around with.

What I'm reading

I finally got all of the books I'm currently reading in one place, so now I can tell everyone what I'm reading. I prefer to read one book at a time, but I currently have five going:

1. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. This Day in the Life: Diaries From Women Across America
3. A Series of Unfortunate Events -The Penultimate Peril, Book 12 by Lemony Snicket
4. Salem's Lot by Stephen King
5. I Married My Mother-in-Law and Other Tales Of In-Laws We Can't Live With -- And Can't Live Without

As may be apparent, I have wide ranging tastes and am a fairly voracious reader.