April - July 2008

April 2008
Angela’s Ashes, by Frank McCourt
I’ll admit it – I didn’t really like this book. The author grows up poor and Catholic. Life sucks. I’m normally okay with this type of book, but this one just bored me.

Bunnicula, by Deborah & James Howe
A family gets a new pet bunny, and the cat is convinced that it’s a vampire. The dog is sort of clueless, but goes along with the dog anyway. An amusing and quick read.

Thieves’ World, edited by Robert Asprin
Several fantasy authors contributed to this book, creating a world and each adding a couple characters and stories. It’s a cool concept, and an interesting read.

Pigs in Heaven, by Barbara Kingsolver
Let me just say that I’ve enjoyed nearly every Barbara Kingsolver book that I have read. This is no exception. The main characters from The Bean Trees, Taylor and her adopted daughter, Turtle, are a few years older and Turtle’s Indian tribe wants her back. Taylor must convince the lawyer that Turtle is better off with her. The characters are interesting, realistic, and funny, and the story is thought-provoking.

The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd
A teenage girl and her family’s black servant run away. The girl is escaping her abusive father. The woman is escaping the law after she runs into trouble on her way to register to vote in the 1960s South. They end up living with a beekeeping family of three sisters. The girl becomes a beekeeping, honey-making apprentice, and learns about herself, her mother, and how you don’t have to be related to be family. An excellent book, and the movie is pretty good as well.

May 2008
Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult
Always one who is drawn to current controversial topics, Jodi Picoult writes about that charming rite of passage in the 1990s and 2000s – the school shooting. The book focuses on the accused shooter and his family. It’s an intriguing look at the side of the story that is often overlooked by the media.

Julie & Julia, by Julie Powell
A directionless woman in New York City decides to cook every recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1 in a year. With a lot of help from her husband, much swearing, tons of butter, and an unwavering focus, she makes it with shreds of her sanity still intact, which is one of the more impressive parts. This book always makes me hungry, and makes me want to cook food that doesn’t come out of a box.

Hood, by Stephen Lawhead
This is book one in a brand new trilogy about Robin Hood. I’m a sucker for all things Robin Hood, and I like Stephen Lawhead, so it seemed like a win-win for me. It’s a bit political and sometimes confusing, but a good book nonetheless.

Peter and the Starcatchers, by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
The first in a series of books about Peter Pan, this book completely re-imagines the original story of how Peter Pan ended up as an ageless boy and met Wendy and Captain Hook. It’s delightfully entertaining, as you would expect from Dave Barry.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by CS Lewis
Prince Caspian, by CS Lewis
Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by CS Lewis
The Silver Chair, by CS Lewis
The Horse and His Boy, by CS Lewis
The Magician’s Nephew, by CS Lewis
The Last Battle, by CS Lewis
I can never decide which of the Chronicles of Narnia is my favorite. Even The Magician’s Nephew, with its foolish characters, has grown on me over time. I think they are all wonderful, whether or not you put stock into the Christian allegory behind them.

June 2008
Blindsided, by Brian Palmer
This was a manuscript that a friend of mine asked me to read, so I’ll keep the details to myself and make you read it when it is published. It’s about a woman whose husband and child are killed in a car accident (in the first chapter – I’m not revealing any secrets here) and how she copes with the loss of family and dreams all in one fell swoop. It’s very good.

The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster
My bi-annual re-read of this book. It’s awesome.

The Happy Hollisters on a River Trip, by Jerry West
I discovered that my mother had not given away my Happy Hollister books, and had to read this one again. It’s the first or second in the series, and introduces the Hollister family – Pete, 12; Pam, 10; Ricky, 7; Holly, 6; and Sue, 4. They have adventures and make friends and do all sorts of fun things that I could only dream about when I was a little kid.

A Salty Piece of Land, by Jimmy Buffett
A cowboy escapes from the midwestern US and ends up in the Caribbean, working at a fishing resort, then restoring an ancient lighthouse. It’s a light read, full of wacky island characters and decidedly non-boring-old-America escapades.

Phule’s Company, by Robert Asprin
The author of the pun-tastic Myth series also has a series (of at least two) about an outcast army commander on some random planet. He’s the son of a rich and influential man, so instead of kicking him out of the army, they give him a group of misfits and hide them all away in a dark corner of the galaxy. Naturally, the army turns out to be brilliant under their new commander, and many puns ensue.

July 2008
The Mermaid Chair, by Sue Monk Kidd
While not as awesome as The Secret Life of Bees, this was still a good book, about a family that lives on an island, then grows up and goes their separate ways. Upon returning to the island, the daughter has to confront her childhood ghosts – her father’s death and her crummy relationship with her mother – as well as decide what to do with her own life.

Shoeless Joe, by WP Kinsella
This is the book that my favorite movie, Field of Dreams, is based on. I think the movie is slightly better, but that may just be because I saw it several times before I ever read the book. You can’t go wrong with either one, really.

Scarlet, by Stephen Lawhead
Book two in his Robin Hood trilogy.

Just Play Ball, by Joe Garagiola
A non-fiction book by a former baseball player and broadcaster, I found this book to be sort of…blah. Normally I’m all about the anecdotes from a baseball player’s life, but for some reason, I didn’t find this to be all that interesting.

Lost in a Good Book, by Jasper Fforde
The sequel to The Eyre Affair, this book follows Thursday Next as she becomes a literary detective, chasing criminals through books and real life. Works of Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, and Charles Dickens are all featured in this novel, and it’s a fun time.

In Her Shoes, by Jennifer Weiner
A friend convinced me to read this, and I was pleasantly surprised – it’s not as airheadedly chick-flicky as the movie previews led me to believe. Two sisters are trying to get along as adults, after living completely different lives. It’s about family, believing in yourself, and how relationships can change as you get older.

Well of Lost Plots, by Jasper Fforde
Book 3 in the Thursday Next series finds Thursday hiding among unpublished books for some well-deserved rest and relaxation. Unfortunately, it’s not as restful as one might hope, and there is a murderer on the loose.

Love is a Mix Tape, by Rob Sheffield
A non-fiction book about a man who goes through mix tapes that he created for and with his wife, before she died unexpectedly. Each tape has a story as part of their relationship. It’s interesting, although I wasn’t familiar with a lot of the songs that he mentioned.

To My Dearest Friends, by Patricia Volk
A woman dies, and leaves two of her closest friends – who do not know each other well and seem like complete opposites – a note with a bit of a mystery behind it. The women discover that their friend had many different sides to her personality, and each only knew a small part of the woman they thought they knew so well.

Treason, by Orson Scott Card
A man discovers that in addition to regenerating body parts, as all of his kind are able to do, he can generate female body parts. Unfortunately, this is not a popular trait, and he is exiled. While making his way all alone, he finds other outcasts and begins to wonder why his society is the way it is, and ponder the possibility of a better life.

Howliday Inn, by Deborah & James Howe
The dog and cat from Bunnicula are boarded at a suspicious place while their family goes on vacation. Naturally, the cat is convinced that something evil is going on, and the dog is mostly concerned about his next meal.

January - March 2008

January 2008
Welcome to the World, Baby Girl, by Fannie Flagg
By the author of Fried Green Tomatoes, this book is about a woman who grows up in the country, then moves to the big city and tries to deny her small-town roots. She becomes fairly well-known, but suffers a breakdown and ends up back in her small town, much to her embarrassment. It’s not as good as I was hoping, but it’s okay.

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
You should already know what this book is about, but I’ll give you a brief reminder. Jane grows up sad and lonely, then becomes a governess. She falls in love with her boss and discovers that he has a lunatic wife. The house burns down with the lunatic, and Jane and her new lover live happily ever after. I’m not usually a big fan of the Brontes, Jane Austen, and the like, but I had a reason for reading this, and it wasn’t such a chore.

The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde
Thursday Next learns how to read into books, that is, move herself into the story as an observer. She is a literary detective, and she reads herself into Jane Eyre in order to catch a villain. She inadvertently changes the end of the book – it wasn’t originally so happy – which causes some problems among Bronte purists. This book is the first in a series of highly amusing and book-nerdy novels.

The Nanny Diaries, by Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus
A college student takes a part-time job as a nanny to a four year-old boy with an obsessive mother and workaholic father. The mother’s demands become more and more outrageous, the father’s lover expects the nanny to arrange their meetings, and the poor child just wants love and stability. A thoroughly amusing, yet sad, book based on some real experiences of the authors.

February 2008
The Lost Prince, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
A young boy grows up hearing from his father about the wonderful, but tiny, nation of his birth, and eventually learns that he is the next ruler of said nation. This book is full of hopefulness and national pride, no matter what the circumstances.

Hey, it was a short month, okay? I had school and work and only 29 days to squeeze in one children's book.

March 2008
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, by Roald Dahl
I actually read these in the college library between classes. Apparently March was pretty busy (which is odd since I had to fly to Oregon for a funeral – did I read textbooks on the airplane???). Anyway, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is pretty much just like the Johnny Depp movie (similar to the Gene Wilder version, but Johnny Depp’s is more faithful to the book). Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator is the sequel – the elevator takes the entire family up in space, where they meet some aliens, almost die, and are very grateful to return to Earth.

July - December 2007

July 2007
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by JK Rowling
Re-reads before the 7th book came out. Obsessed much?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by JK Rowling
Finally, the conclusion of the series. I enjoyed this book. There was some boring sitting around and waiting for the next exciting event to occur, but that’s okay – even Harry Potter has slow periods on occasion. The end was pretty satisfying, although the epilogue was sort of cheesy.

August 2007
Eragon, by Christopher Paolini
A fantasy story about a boy who discovers that a dragon has hatched and he’s supposed to go on an adventure with the dragon. This book was good for being written by a teenager, but not good enough that I wanted to read the next two books in the series. It isn’t the most original of stories, so it felt rather like I’d read it before.

Saving Fish from Drowning, by Amy Tan
It took me a while to get into this book. A group of tourists go to Burma/Myanmar, and it is not the fun holiday that they expect. Most of the group is kidnapped by some tribesmen who believe one of them is a deity. It’s not a bad book, it just starts a little slow.

September 2007
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Ann Brashares
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, by Ann Brashares
Girls in Pants, by Ann Brashares
Re-reads, again

October 2007
Forever in Pants, by Ann Brashares
I have no idea why I needed to read this book just nine months after the previous read, but that should tell you that it’s an enjoyable series.

Broken for You, by Stephanie Karros
This book is about a few people who are “broken” in their own ways – one character wants to return her inheritance of items stolen from Jews during the Holocaust, one character is seeking her ex-lover, and a couple other characters are just misfits. They all end up together, and find ways to use their talents to help the others heal. It’s both entertaining and meaningful.

Every Living Thing, by James Herriot
Another book of stories from the English country vet who wrote All Creatures Great and Small, etc.

November 2007
My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult
I’m really glad that I finished this book in a hotel room, alone, because the end is devastatingly sad. A girl is born for the sole purpose of being a living donor for her older sister, who has leukemia. When she is a teenager, Anna decides that she does not want to donate a kidney to her sister, Kate, so she hires a lawyer and sues her parents for medical emancipation. It’s a fascinating story about the ethics behind conceiving and using one child to provide for the health of another child.

Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli
Re-read (October 2004)

Love, Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli
The sequel to Stargirl, this book is a series of diary entries from Stargirl about her new town and how she misses the boy from the first book. Her perspective is always interesting – she sees things that most of us overlook or take for granted – but the first book was much better.

December 2007
An Acceptable Time, by Madeleine L’Engle
Polly O’Keefe, who is featured in several other books, goes to visit her grandparents and does some time traveling. Not one of my favorite L’Engle books, but not too bad either.

Saints, by Orson Scott Card
A young woman in Britain becomes a Mormon and moves to America, where she becomes one of Joseph Smith’s wives. At the time, most Mormons were not a fan of polygamy, so her marriage was kept secret. A very interesting story about early Mormons that explains polygamy without idealizing it.

Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
The story of the Wicked Witch of the West, this book was made into a musical that everyone told me was awesome. Naturally, I had to read the book. It’s okay – the idea is interesting, but there is far too much political nonsense for me.