63-65

I read some more of the books Scott and Chadya gave me. I think after the one I'm currently reading, I only have three left :( But then again, time to get to more "book club worthy" books!!

First of the trio was Gun Lake by Travis Thrasher. You know how sometimes you just read a book and it matches stuff that's going on in your life so it seems like a better read than it really was? Well, I haven't decided yet, but this might be one. It was an interesting read, but I found all the dissecting storylines confusing and with almost all the characters names being really similar it was hard to keep them straight. Still, it wasn't preachy and that's always a plus when you're reading Christian Lit.

Next up was the The Negotiator by Dee Henderson. This is part of a huge series about a family called the O'Malleys. This is the kind of book I would have loved in my teens. It's got action and a hint of romance without being uber mushy. I think it's the kind of book I'd like when I need something brainless, but good. Overall I enjoyed it, and I wouldn't mind reading the rest of her books...but I'm not sure I'd pay for them.

And last of all was The Best of Evil. Based on the title, I wasn't sure I wanted to read Eric Wilson's book. I've kind of played out the Ted Decker/Robert Liparulo books for now. But two pages in I was looking for a pen to highlight whole paragraphs. Unfortunatly, the whole book is not as beautifully written as those first few pages; Wilson tends to wax eloquent every once in a while and then get focused on the story and wax off. But I did enjoy this book enough that I picked up the next in the series to keep going with the story. Interesting point, Wilson wrote the Expiration Date book I wrote about a few posts back. I'd never guessed I was reading an author I'd already read.

59, 60, 61, 62

I was in Alberta earlier this fall and my wonderful hosts sent me home with a suitcase FULL of books! I finally had some time to start reading.

Expiration Date by Eric Wilson is the story of a man who has fallen on hard times. Returning home to live with his parents (and get his life sorted out) he meets a woman on the bus who makes a strange promise to him. Soon the hero finds that by touching the skin of those he comes into contact with their death date is revealed to him. There's a side story that involves Russian royalty, and all in all the story reminded me a lot of Frank Peretti. An intersting and fast paced read.

Next up was Stolen Lives by Brian Reaves. This one is a story of revenge, grace and redemption. Interestingly though both of these books were written by Christians, neither really bashes you over the head with the salvation story - which I like. In fact, both of these stories were probably meant to appeal to non-Christians but hook them into finding more about Christianity. Just a guess. Another good story, this one had me reading as fast as I could to find out what happened.

Months ago another friend of mine leant me two books from an author she's recently become addicted to. I finally remembered I had her books and read them. Even Now and Ever After by Karen Kingsbury. Honestly, just from reading the backs of the books, these aren't my kind of stories. And after reading them, I can say they're well written and interesting, but the kind of thing I would have read about 20 years ago. Still, they now I can say I've read KK and I know I probably won't seek her out.

57 & 58

Hmn, somewhere along the line I stopped blogging about books as I read them.

After I finished Playing with Fire, I devoured the other book I'd bought by him. By happy chance I'd picked up the two books that followed the PR book I read this summer. And even odder, I read them in sequence. So Strange Affair was the third of his books and I have to admit, I'm hooked. Britmystery along the lines of PD James or Ruth Rendell.

I feel like I quickly read another book before I had to start on the book for our book club. As I haven't quite finished that, I won't mention it yet. Suffice it to say it was last month's book and I'm still not quite done! However, I've recommitted to reading all the books I started this year and haven't finished (unless they were rubbish) so there's a stack of them waiting for me. After book club meeting, I finished Early Days by Miss Read.

Then it was on to Blue Hole Back Home by Joy Jordan Lake. EXCELLENT book, though I almost feel like I need to read it again and not be so emotional about it this time.

56

I picked up a Peter Robinson mystery earlier this year. It was a British mystery and pretty good as I recall. So when I saw two more of his mysteries for $1 each this weekend, I snapped them up. Asked the girl at the desk to forgive me my fluffy choices, but I needed them for the plane. She seemed quite offended and said he definitely wasn't fluff...and after reading "Playing with Fire" I agree. Peter Robinson can spin a mystery with the best of them. And unlike a lot of mystery writers, his stories aren't too easy to figure out. There's lots of spins and turns, but because of how he narrates his stories, they're not annoying. In fact, they're kind of natural. The sort of thing that really would happen if you were investigating the murder.

So I didn't read a KK book after all, but I think this was well worth the detour.

55

What a black hole September was...I re read The Cellist of Sarajevo for my book club. That took a lot longer than I wanted it to. Though I do think it was worth it.

Then I picked up The Geographer's Library. By the first page I was completely hooked...although I really thought the book was going one way and it turned out to be very similar to a Da Vinci Code type of story. Awesome, awesome story if you like those sort of stories. Which I do.

Next I'm going to try some Karen Kingsbury....

53 & 54

My inlaws know how much I love to read so they stocked my room here with books. I have no idea how I'm supposed to read them all considering how busy they've been keeping us! However...

The first book was The Lazarus Trap by Davis Bunn. It was a sort of Bourne Identity story, but clean. Written by a Christian, but not overtly Christian. And a good story.

The second one is the first of a trilogy by Melanie MOREY Jeschke. Yes Morey, just like me. The book is called Inklings and it's very Christian and not my usual type of book. Sappy romantic. But hey, it's a good holiday read!

51 & 52

Phantom Prey by John Sanford

This one was surprisingly good for a crime novel picked up from the little store on the beach. I had brought Friday Night Knitting Club and just couldn't get into it. So I bought this. Think I finished it that day too.

I tried to read FNKC for another week or so and it just wasn't doing it for me. So I read the end. And even after finding out the terrible thing that happens and the sappy ending I just didn't care about anyone in the book. So I traded it in.

And picked up Things I Want My Daughters to Know by Elizabeth Noble. And really, REALLY enjoyed it. Plus, it's written by a Brit so all the britishisms sounded authentic. AHHHH

49-50

Oh man. Ever since I joined a book club earlier this spring, I've been trying to branch out with my reading. I walk into a bookstore and try to find books that I think are book club worthy...or at least out of my normal range of reading. I bought myself a little book case which I keep next to my room and anything that might be interesting goes there on my To Read pile.

A few months ago I picked up 39 Steps. The book is a little Jeeves and Woosterish in that it's the story of a rich young man who is bored with life. He's returned to England after working in mining in South Africa and is finding British society life just a little tedious. He decides that if nothing exciting comes his way within the next few days he will return to South Africa.

That's when adventure comes into his life in a big way. You can read more about the novel and the author here. Suffice it to say, I really enjoyed this book and this style (the author himself calls it a Shocker novel, popular in the early 20th Century.)

Another book I picked up on a whim was I Capture the Castle. The cover of the book was gorgeous and the tag on the front said, "The acclaimed novel is now the most romantic novel of the year." I'd never heard of it, but that intrigued me. Here's what the back of the book says, "I Capture the Castle tells the story of seventeen - year old Cassandra and her family, who live in not so genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle. Here she strives over six turbulent months to hone her writing skills. She fills three notebooks with sharply funny, yet poignant entries. Her journals candidly chronicle the great changes that take place within the castle's walls, and her own first descent into love. By the time she pens her final entry she has "captured the castle" - and the heart of the reader - in one of literature's most enchanting entertainments."

Even though this book is set in the early 20th Century, I thought it had been written recently. I'm not sure why. And while this book reminded me of Pride and Prejudice (Cassandra and her sister joke that they are Brontesque Austen characters), the story is original and charming and I was really sad to finish it. Oh. And it was written in 1948. In case you're wondering. And here's something else that shocked me. Dodie Smith (the author) wrote the novel, The Hundred and One Dalmations. I didn't even know it was a book!

47/48

*sigh* I seem to read in spurts these days. I think mebbe I'm too busy cause I keep forgetting to bring books along in the car. And that's the only time I have to read these days. I did finally finish a couple books tho'.

Book one (or 47 depending) was Echo Park by Michael Connelly. I had brought a different book along to read at the beach on Sunday, but I think I could already tell it wasn't my cuppa tea. So when Libs and I wandered into the local bookstore, I was drawn to this mystery. A few pages in and I was shocked when I realised it wasn't a Britcop story. You mean there are other mysteries out there? And it was good. For a beach read, ya know?

I finished that and went back to my original book The Ha-Ha by Dave King. The back of the book reads:

Howard Kapostash has not spoken in thirty years. The small repository of gestures and simple sounds that he uses to communicate leads most people to assume he is distrubed, and no one understands that Howard is still teh same man he was before a war time injury. But when he agrees to help an old girlfriend by opening his home to her nine-year-old son, the presence of this nervous, resourceful boy in his life transforms Howard utterly. He is afforded a rare glimpse of life outside his shell - with all its exuberant joys and crushing sorrows.


Sounds good, no?

Well it was way too crass for me so after a few chapters I gave up and moved on to Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson. Who, incidentally penned some of my favorite movies that used to be books. Like Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls. So I thought this one would be awesome. After all, the entire premise of the book was, "What if your imaginary friend from childhood was your one true love?" Sweet, right?

And there was so much potential in this book. In fact, after the first few chapters I was promising myself I was going to read every one of Patterson's books. But the deeper I got into the book, the less satisfying it got. Michael (the imaginary friend) just doesn't seem developed enough as a character to be real (maybe that's the point?) and most of the story telling reads like Shopaholic and Imaginary Friend. Actually, that's about the level of this book and I expected so much more.

James Patterson doesn't actually seem to write his own novels, of all the books listed on the two pages at the back of this book, he'd actually penned maybe 15 and the rest were coauthored. Which makes me wonder why he's such a great author. Why not just sell your ideas and let someone who can write do the writing? Okay, I won't judge based on one book. And maybe this wasn't supposed to be better than chick lit. But it could have been...

Book 46

A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell.

This was recommended to me by my good friend Christine along with the last book I read, Year of Wonders. If you're wondering why my pace slowed so dramatically with these two books, it's because the reading was so, so heavy.

While both were impossible to put down and really well written, captivating stories (I loved all the characters in both books), I can't decide if I loved the stories or hated them. And maybe that's the mark of a good book. They have stirred such emotion in me that, well, I don't even know how to verbalize it until I've had more time to process. I highly recommend both.

Forty Five

I took a bit of a vacation from reading, mostly because I couldn't decide what to read next. I finally lit upon Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. Wow!

Let me tell you something about myself. 1. I hate to read out loud. And 2. I read constantly. Especially in the car.

Last Saturday we took a one hour drive east and I brought along Year of Wonders. For some bizarre reason I decided to read the first page out loud to Andrew. And then we were both hooked so I had to read for the whole car ride. There and back. And then he made me read to him that evening while we sat on the couch.

You can not even begin to realise what an act of will (and what a sacrifice!) this was for me. Because I hate reading out loud and it was so much slower this way. Well, for the sake of our marriage I finished the book myself and gave it to Andrew to finish himself.

Book was incredible. Reminded me a tad of Stephen Lawhead, but I think that's partly because of the time period it's set in. I will say one negative thing...I didn't love the ending. It seemed like such a departure from the rest of the book. But then, maybe that's because I'm used to how Stephen Lawhead ends his books.

42-44

Oh Sheesh. See what happened is, I had to read a book for my book club. Which I had to find first. And then I lost it. And then I kept thinking I'd find it. Which I didn't. So finally I ordered it from Amazon. But it put a serious dent in my pacing.

Here, quickly because I have to go out, are 42-44:

Wit's End by Karen Joy Fowler (author of Jane Austen's Book Club)
The Water's Lovely by Ruth Rendell
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

All good, though Peace was definitely my favorite. The Water wasn't my favorite Rendell and I'm not positive if I loved Wit's End enough to read the Book Club.

40 & 41

Book 40 was a teeny little collection of short stories my mum got me for Christmas. The collection is a set of two (does that qualify as a collection?) previously unpublished Christmas stories by Louisa May Alcott (author of Little Women and one of my favorite authors when I was a little girl). The stories are very much in the same vein as the Little Women books and made me want to quickly read through those stories again.

But then I picked up Month of Summer by Lisa Wingate when we stopped at Nuggets on Saturday. I don't even know how to describe what this book was about...Love? Forgiveness? maybe grace? The story is alternately told through the point of view of Rebecca and Hanna Beth. Thirty five years ago Rebecca's father left her and her mother for Hanna Beth. since the day she and her mother left their home to move to California, Rebecca has not had any contact with her father.

Then Hanna Beth has a stroke and Rebecca's father (who suffers from Alzheimers and dementia) and step brother (who is mentally challenged) are left to fend for themselves. Rebecca gets a phone call from the police letting her know that if she doesn't fly home to Dallas the social services will take over.

And the story progresses from there.

I found myself relating to this story a lot more than I wanted to. Here's a quote from early on that I thought really captured what it's like to be the adult child of a broken marriage (to set it up, Rebecca thought she had put her dad and new family out of her mind. She'd spent her entire life trying to forget him and the pain of losing him. Now she's in Dallas and about to meet her dad and step brother again:)

"Unfortunately, the pain had travelled with me across the country, across the years, and as I stood outside her door, it was as fresh and as much a part of me as it had been that twelfth summer. It stabbed as sharply now as then - like a chronic injury, reawakend by a careless movement, a sudden strain caused by the burden of picking up something too heavy. It's intesity surprised me. I'd expected, in this adult body, safely entrenched in a life that was completely separate from that of Hanna Beth and my father, to be able to maintain a comfortable detachment, a reasonable objectivity. Instead, I wanted to lock myself away someplace quiet, and nurse the raw spot until it stopped burning."

And then talking about what it would be like for her daughter if her own marriage were to break up, "Would her confident smile, her openness, her self-worth slowly diminish until she found trust a struggle, faith a chore? Would she always feel vaguely inadequate, unworthy, as if she had to prove something to be more than she was, because no one could love her for just herself?"

Well, anyway, I guess my point is that it seems Wingate is particularly good at characterization and at capturing human emotion. Good read.

39: Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy

Maeve Binchy is one of my favorite authors. And so I was pleased as punch that so many of my favorite characters from previous books made it into this story.

At 452 pages, I was worried that it would take me a couple of weeks to read, but I managed to finish it in just over a day. I was that caught up in the story. Love it.

38: The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

Somehow, I lucked out with my book selection this year. I don't think I've had a stinker yet.

The Cellist of Sarajevo is completely different from the other books I've read this year. I wish I had some profound words to share with you to explain how deeply it affected me. I can tell you this: the writing reminded me somehow of Douglas Coupland, which is funny considering Galloway is also a BC writer. It's an awful, horrible story, and yet it's strangely hopeful at the same time. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

37: Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

After only a few pages, I already loved this book so much I had to change my Facebook status and share my love with the whole world. In fact, after gobbling this book up (I'm going to have to read it again, more slowly this time!) I have only one criticism: It was obvious to me that whoever wrote this book was not British. The voices of the Guernsey characters were quite blatantly American to me. And that was a bit sad. But I decided that I liked the book enough that I would overlook that fact. And luckily they weren't annoying American. Just not British.

36: The Minotaur by Barabara Vine

I can't believe I didn't know Ruth Rendell wrote under the name Barbara Vine. Though why I should have known, I'm not sure.

I first discovered Ruth Rendell when my mum used to watch Ruth Rendell mysteries. As is typical of most crime shows set in modern times, Ruth Rendell's mysteries always seemed to have what I'll call dark twists. Let's just say they're not exactly the sort of thing I feel comfortable watching with my parents. Probably for that reason, Ruth Rendell isn't my favorite mystery writer. But when I read a reivew of Minotaur, I was intrigued. I logged on to amazon where Minotaur is alternately described as "a sort of blend of Edgar Allan Poe and Anthony Trollope" and Brontesque.

I gobbled this book up in less than a day and was delighted to see that Rendell as Vine has written several other novels. In fact, I see that many of Minotaur's reviewers call this one of Vine's weaker books. Let's hope they're right, because I can't wait to read more!

35

A Very Long Engagement by Sebastian Japrisot,

Whew, talk about culture shock! After all those charming little books about British country life, this one was a bit tough slogging! Actually though, I think it was a case of reading the right book at the wrong time. I've been awfully tired lately and very distracted by my yard (I looooooooove yardwork even more than I love books!) and this book deserves more attention than I was willing to give it just now. However, it's a borrowed book and I always feel as though borrowed books should be read (and returned!) promptly if possible.

The premise of the book is this: Five French soldiers are marched to their own front lines where they will be tossed into no man's land with their hands tied behind their backs. Their crime? Three of them had attempted to escape the atrocities of World War One by purposefully injuring their hands. One injured himself as a form of protest and one was actually injured in an accident. However, self mutilation to escape active duty is considered treason. Five bodies are recovered and the men's families are notified that they were killed in the line of duty.

Mathilde is the fiance of one of the condemned men. She cannot accept that her Manech is dead and so she begins a search to find out the truth of what really happened that fateful night.

The story, originally written in French and translated to English in this version, is told through a series of flashbacks, letters, memories and real time occurences.

As I said above, if I'd had more time and fewer distractions, I think I would have loved this book. Especially as my great grandfather is rumoured to have been a French defector. Our story is a bit jumbled and confused, but it seems he married my great grandmother, had a son (my grandfather) and then disappeared. Or was found and taken back to France to be similarly dealt with. Either way I felt a connection to this story.

The story is beautifully written and very intersting. And the ending was (in my opinion) very satisfying (though not a Hollywood ending). I think I'll have to try to find the movie version - if nothing else to watch the beautiful Audrey Tatou play Mathilde.

30-34

Finished the Miss Read Books at last! My mum polished them off in a matter of days, it's taken me the whole of this year so far (and part of last!) still...here they are:

30: Friends at Thrush Green
31: Celebrations at Thrush Green
32: Year at Thrush Green
33: Early Days (The autobiography of Miss Read)
34: A Glass of Blessings, Barbara Pym. Yes, that's right. I've started a new author. Quite like her too.

I've got something like 24 books in my To Read cupboard, so can't stop to comment, must keep reading!!

24 - 29

Village Affairs
Farewell to Fairacre
Gossip from Thrush Green
Affairs at Thrush Green
At Home in Thrush Green
School at Thrush Green

20-23: More Thrush Green

I decided to stop farting around and read all of Miss Read's remaining books in one go. I managed to figure out the chronological order of the books and it's been most satisfying reading them that way. So, in addition to Thrush Green which was my 19th book, I've read: Winter in Thrush Green; News from Thrush Green; Battles at Thrush Green and Return to Thrush Green.

I've been trying to decide if they're suitable children's books. There's nothing questionable in them, but they're not told from the point of view of children. Still, they remind me a lot of the Little House and Anne of GG books.

17 - 19

My brother bought me Clinton Kelly's Freaking Fabulous for my birthday. This book has been on my amazon.ca wishlist for eons. Now I know to go read a book before I put it on my wishlist! I love What Not to Wear and I've bought Stacy and Clinton's book on what to wear for my sister. It was hilarious. This book could have been hilarious if it wasn't so crass. I don't know if I'd even feel right about giving it away it was that bad. Some good tips in it though, but I think I'll look for a better book on being fabulous.

Then my friend Chadya got me Nick Arrojo's book on hair. I devoured this one too. And it was good....but I still feel like I need to visit his salon.

And finally, I started the first of Miss Read's Thrush Green books, Thrush Green.

14 - 16

Miss Read's Farther Afield brilliant as always.

James Rollins added me as a friend on Facebook. Because I joined his fan page. So I have nothing but good to say about Black Order. Of course it helps that it was a Sigma Force book and I LOVE that series...

Miss Read's Over the Fence is a mishmash of stories, some of which I've heard before. It seems as though she's confused some timelines in a few of them, but maybe I'm the one who is confused. There's only one more Fairacre book left, then I start on the Thrush Green ones.

And luckily James Rollins has four books coming out this year so I won't run out of his books yet...

12 & 13

Another of the reasons I love the Miss Read books so much is that I can identify with the main character, Miss Read. She's a spinster school teacher who is a little bit frumpy, a little bit untidy and a whole lot of fiesty. Me if the world had turned out differently. And she loves that she's a spinster! Rejects all attempts to marry her off, and revels in her solitude. If only I'd read these 15 years ago! (I kid, I kid...)

Obviously I loved Miss Read's Tyler's Row.

I wish I could say the same for Dan Brown's Digital Fortress. People have been recommending this book to me for ages and it's been on my radar at least that long. When I finally broke down and read The DaVinci Code, I quite enjoyed it.

It didn't help that the first few chapters of Digital Fortress were so excruciatingly painful. People who can't write romance shouldn't try. And if it's not necessary (it really wasn't), leave it out! Then there was the glaring spelling error straight off the bat. And I don't like being patronized. The story's key characters are cryptographers. How come I figured out one of the biggest clues the first time I looked at it, and it took the whole book for the scientists to figure it out? And then the kill code? The thing the characters were laboring through the whole book to find? I saw the clue and knew the answer. The cryptographers took another six or so chapters to figure it out. Totally shot the author/characters credibility for me.

*sigh*

Maybe this whole spy/thriller genre is just getting too predictable.

Ten and Eleven

Have you noticed a pattern to my frenzied reading yet? I could be plowing through these Miss Read books, but I'd feel guilty for reading so many so quickly. So that I don't feel quite so guilty, I'm trying to read one by her, then one by someone else. It still feels like cheating when I'm reading James Rollins...

This time around, the Miss Read book was Mrs. Pringle. This book was delightful. Have I mentioned yet that it's all set in the English countryside? My mum says nothing changed from the time these stories were set until she was a girl growing up in Eastbourne. So really, reading the Miss Read books is almost like reading about my mum's life. I love it!

Then I read Ice Hunt by James Rollins. This is like his crossover book. It still follows the basic formula I was complaining about in my previous posting, but he's starting to move towards the type of story he tells in his Sigma Force books. You know, I complain about how he follows a formula, but the stories are riveting. Action packed. CRAZY imaginative. And scary in a Michael Crichtonesque sort of way. This one didn't disappoint.

9: Excavation by James Rollins

Last summer I discovered James Rollins. Fell madly in love with his books, which reminded me so much of a cross between Michael Crichton and Dan Brown. But the first books I read by him were from the Sigma Force series. Lately I've been reading his older books. And boy oh boy do they follow a formula:

• Archaeological team/scientific team/military team sent off to remote region to discover/investigate something.
• Unknown to them, there is a team of bad guys who are after the same information.
• Doubly unknown to them, the bad guys have paid off a member of their team.
• Triply unknown, there is some scary element of surprise awaiting them in the remote area (usually weird, albino, monster creatures).
• They become trapped. Usually underground.
• The bad guys are waiting for them above ground.
• The monsters are closing in on them underground.
• Someone dies, and is resurrected.
  
• Cheesy love story. With gross/unrealistic smoochy bits near end.
• Bad guys ALL die.
• Good guys lose one (usually heroic military type) guy and everyone else lives happily ever after.

Change the scenery around and everyone's hair/eye colour/and accent and you have a new book.

The stories themselves are interesting, if only they weren't so predictable.

7 & 8

I've been wanting to read PD James' The Private Patient for a while. I was hoping to get a copy of the book for Christmas, and when that didn't happen, I thought I'd get it at Costco. Of course the book was sold out and as the paper back is due out next month, the hardcover is nowhere to be seen.

That is until a copy of it mysteriously showed up at my place of work. I waited ten days, but when no one claimed the book, I borrowed - and devoured - it.

And it was marvellous. I love the Adam Dalgliesh mysteries. In fact, my only complaint was that it felt like goodbye. By the end it felt as if all the major character's lives had been tidily fixed. Which I suppose, as PD James is in her 89 year, might be appropriate.

The 8th book I've read this month is A Peaceful Retirement by Miss Read. Another lovely book. In fact, this might be my favorite so far. Good thing mum has more on order as I think I'm quite addicited...

1-6

Well, I only managed to read 50 books in 2008. My minimum goal is 50 books a year, so I just squeaked in. But in 2007 I read 54 so I've fallen behind. Luckily, I've already read 6 books this year (started book 7 this morning) so I might be able to beat my goal this year.

Books 1-3 were part of another trilogy called The Chronicles of Fairacre by Miss Read. The individual books are Village School, Village Diary, and Storm in the Village. My mum got me onto these books and they are such a refreshing change. A little like Bollywood movies...they're sappy sweet, full of old fashioned morals, and guaranteed not to have anything untoward.

Books 5 & 6 were also Miss Read books, Miss Clare Remembers and Emily Davis. I have 8 or more of these in my book cupboard and I'm highly looking forward to them.

Book 4 was Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella. She definitely follows a pattern in her books, but that doesn't make them any less loveable, just a little familiar.