April - Sept 2005

April 2005
Child Queen, by Nancy McKenzie
One of my favorite King Arthur stories. This tells the legend from Guinevere's point of view, starting with her childhood and ending not long after her marriage to a total stranger who happened to be the High King of Britain. There is also a sequel, High Queen, which details the peaceful years in Britain, and Guinevere's inability to produce an heir to the throne.

84 Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff
A book about people who like books. A woman and a bookseller strike up a friendship through letters as they talk about various books. It's short and sweet.

The Reptile Room, by Lemony Snicket
Book two, where the orphans go to live with Uncle Monty and his snakes.

The Wide Window, by Lemony Snicket
Book three, as they move to an aunt's house overlooking a lake full of leeches.

The Miserable Mill, by Lemony Snicket
Book four, when the older orphans are forced to work in a mill, where they are paid a piece of chewing gum each day.

May 2005
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon
A strange book about two friends who create a very popular comic book, and how that changes their lives. I don't remember a whole lot about it, except that I thought it was weird.

The Austere Academy, by Lemony Snicket
Book five, in a boarding school with an awful violinist as the prinicipal.

The Ersatz Elevator, by Lemony Snicket
Book six, the orphans live with some relatives way up in a penthouse. The female relative's main concern in life is what is "in" right now. At the beginning of the book, orphans are "in", so they agree to take care of them.

The Vile Village, by Lemony Snicket
Book seven, the orphans move to a village with the initials VFD, in hopes that it will give them a clue to the mystery behind their parents' death.

Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
A boy, his family, and some animals from the zoo all board a ship bound for Canada. The ship sinks and only the boy and a couple of the zoo animals make it onto a life raft. The boy must develop survival skills to keep himself and the animals alive while they float across the Pacific Ocean. Did I mention that one of the animals is a hungry tiger? I liked all of this book except the end, which may or may not be a cop-out.

Stiff, by Mary Roach
A book about corpses, which is fun to read during lunch breaks. It's an entertaining study of what happens to the body after death, including the physical changes, the possibility of the soul, and where bodies go that have been donated to science. It was recommended by a friend who was a lab assistant in anatomy & physiology - her job including preparing the bodies for lab use. Despite the slightly odd subject matter, it's a good book, and not really disgusting at all.

Girls in Pants, by Ann Brashares
The third summer of the sisterhood of the traveling pants. Lena, Carmen, Bridget, and Tibby have graduated from high school and this is their last summer before going separate ways to college. Bridget returns to soccer camp as a coach, Lena gets a job to escape her unhappy Greek grandmother, Carmen gets a job caring for Lena's unhappy Greek grandmother, and Tibby is in denial and in love with Brian.

June 2005
Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
A wacky - and surprisingly thick - book about secret codes in World War II and the people who broke them, and what they did with the information, and lots of other strange stuff.

Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt
An odd little fairy tale about a boy with eternal youth.

The Hostile Hospital, by Lemony Snicket
Book eight, the orphans are forced to work in the dusty basement of the hospital, where they find some old hospital records that might offer some clues.

The Carniverous Carnival, by Lemony Snicket
Book nine, the orphans join a traveling circus full of "freaks".

Hard Laughter, by Anne Lamott
A book about family, and how they come together in hard times. The main character is a young woman who discovers that her father is dying. Between caring for him, helping her brothers face reality, and carrying on with the rest of her life, she learns that there is always something to laugh about.

The Slippery Slope, by Lemony Snicket
Book ten, the orphans nearly die.

The Grim Grotto, by Lemony Snicket
Book eleven, the orphans hang out in a submarine-ish thing.

The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver
A family goes off the the jungles because their father is a minister and wants to reach out to the people of the jungle. The rest of the family isn't so enthusiastic about it, and the native people aren't so enthusiastic about it, and you can guess that it doesn't go too well. A pretty interesting book.

The True Story of Hansel & Gretel, by Louise Murphy
Okay, I don't remember anything about this book, which probably means I didn't like it much. Amazon tells me it's about two Jewish children who are dropped off in a forest by their father and evil stepmother during World War II. I don't think it was really that bad of a book.

Traveling Mercies, by Anne Lamott
An autobiographical book, the author explores a variety religions as she grows up, and each one has an effect on her life and the next step in her quest for faith.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by JK Rowling
Time to reread the series so far before book six comes out.

Me & Emma, by Elizabeth Flock
Two young girls have a rough life, with an unstable stepfather and a beaten-down mother. Fortunately, Emma is there to protect her sister and keep all the bad things from happening to her. At least that's what you think happens. This was a really good book, I think.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by JK Rowling
Hey, these are quick reads, okay?

July 2005
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by JK Rowling
I think this is my favorite so far. I'll let you know after I reread them all this summer before #7 comes out.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by JK Rowling

Another Fine Myth, by Robert Asprin
Ah, the Myth series. These are about fifth-grade level books for people who like puns and other wordplay, as you can tell from the titles. They are about Skeeve, a wizard-in-training whose master dies. With the reluctant help of a demon named Aahz, who has lost his powers and needs Skeeve's, he travels the universe. The two eventually become friends of a sort, and have all kinds of entertaining adventures.

Myth Conceptions, by Robert Asprin
Book two

Hit or Myth, by Robert Asprin
Book four - I got a little out of order by accident. Fortunately, it doesn't matter too much.

Myth Directions, by Robert Asprin
Book three

Myth-ion Improbable, by Robert Asprin
Book three and a half - it was written much later to explain some events that transpired between books three and four.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, by JK Rowling
At last! The new Harry Potter!

Myth-ing Persons, by Robert Asprin
Little Myth Marker, by Robert Asprin
MYTH Inc Link, by Robert Asprin
Myth-nomers and Im-pervections, by Robert Asprin
Books five through nine.

Magic Kingdom for Sale, by Terry Brooks
A man ends up in a kingdom with no king, with the goal of becoming the king in one year, or else. I could never really get into this book, and the ending especially annoyed me. I never should have left the Myth series...

Sweet Myth-tery of Life, by Robert Asprin
Something MYTH Inc, by Robert Asprin
Myth Alliances, by Robert Asprin and Jody Lynn Nye
Books ten through twelve.

Three nights in August, by Buzz Bissinger
An inside look at a weekend series against the Chicago Cubs, focusing mostly on St Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. I really enjoyed this book. Of course, I enjoy most books about baseball, but that's irrelevant.

August 2005
The Book of Three, by Lloyd Alexander
The Black Cauldron, by Lloyd Alexander
The Castle of Llyr, by Lloyd Alexander
The first three books of a great series about Taran, who begins as an assistant pig-keeper and moves up in life.

Myth-taken Identity, by Robert Asprin and Jody Lynn Nye
The most recent myth book, at the time. I haven't checked since to see if there are more.

Taran Wanderer, by Lloyd Alexander
The High King, by Lloyd Alexander
The last two books of the series. Did I mention that these are great books?

Chicken Soup for the Working Women's Soul, by Jack Canfield, etc
My mom buys me these books sometimes, and I enjoy reading them from time to time.

September 2005
The Paradise War, by Stephen Lawhead
A couple grad students in England accidentally find a port to a world several hundred years before. One becomes selfish and wants only what is best for him in this new world. One wants to save his friend and get back to their world without doing any damage. Of course, that doesn't happen, so he tries to make the best of it. A little odd, but I really enjoyed this series.

The Silver Hand, by Stephen Lawhead
The second book in the trilogy started with The Paradise War.

Soulmate, by Deepak Chopra
Boy meets girl, girl is unavailable, boy loves girl, boy finally gets girl, girl dies. The usual.

Travels, by Michael Crichton
A collections of short stories about various trips Michael Crichton has been on, climbing mountains, camping in jungles, and all sorts of other exotic stuff. Fascinating.