Terri's 75 books

1. Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg. Disappointing start. I'll never get 75 read if I don't start reading books that I like!

Welcome to the group, Terri. Come on over to The Kitchen and tell us a little about yourself.

But how will you know that you like them, if you don't read them first;-)

Looking forward to seeing what else you will be reading.

Finally, #2. I finished Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. I snagged this as an Early Reviewer, but did a poor job of finishing it "early." Oh well, January was a rough month. Maybe I shouldn't have chosen to do 75 books in the year that I'm trying to tackle Ulysses. I loved Olive Kitteridge, though. I rarely re-read books, but I can see myself re-reading this one.

3. Have You Found Her? by Janice Erlbaum. Interesting book, sometimes irritating, but overall I liked it.

You'll be fine reading Ulysses as your 75. Count it as two and count your much needed Bloomsday book as well.
It's a much smaller beast then people make it out to be.

4. The Kept Man by Jami Attenberg. A quick read (I need more of those!) but ultimately disappointing. I really hate it when an author has a great premise and then bails on me.

5. Light on Snow by Anita Shreve. Re-read this one for book group. I still love it!
6. Sweet Potato Queens' Field Guide to Men by Jill Conner Browne. I really love these books. This one seemed a little tamer than the others. I can't help but think the marriage thing makes a difference.
7. Peter and the Shadow Thieves by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. I liked the first book of the series better. Funny how you can almost figure out which author contributed to which chapter! A fun romp all the same.

8 & 9. Ulysses by James Joyce. I believe I will take two on this book, even though I listened to the audio book. One more life's goal fulfilled! And I really enjoyed it. Difficult to follow in spots, but nothing a good annotation couldn't help me out with, and I just LOVED the language and word play. Definitely worth my time. I'm so very proud of myself!

Good For You!

10. Something Rising (Light and Swift) by Haven Kimmel. I love Haven Kimmel, and I loved this book. It doesn't appear to be too critically acclaimed on LibraryThing, but I liked it a lot.

11. Once Upon A More Enlightened Time by James Finn Garner. Blessedly short. I didn't enjoy it very much.

12. The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay. I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected to. The characters weren't believable, and the book couldn't seem to decide what time period it belonged in.

13. A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle. Bleah. I guess I've read too many self-help books along the way. This said nothing I haven't heard before, but he said it in an absolutely painful way.

14. Pay It Down! by Jean Sherman Chatzky. It was okay. I was hoping for more suggestions that maybe I hadn't tried yet, but nothing earth-shattering. Oh well. It was a quick read.

I am truly impressed with your completion of Ulysses. I got through the first chapter and got a bit bogged down, putting it away for another time. You mentioned annotations, help me out here. Were you reading a particular version or did you have a companion book? I'd love to know so that I can try that for my next time through.

15. The Senator and the Priest by Andrew M. Greeley. I really and truly hated this book.

Tloeffer you poor thing. It seems like you have not been running into many books you liked. Hey maybe you should read over other 75ers books and see what they had to say as a way to get suggestions on what next to read. Better luck on your next read.

Well, I have found a new way to decide which books to read. I'm on a 3-6 week medical leave, so I gave my geeky son the job of choosing 5 random numbers between 1 and 642. If one of the books had already been read, I moved down one on my alphabetical list. Great Fun! And the first book on the list:
16. Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
And guess what? I loved it! I have high hopes for the others. But no, I won't tell till I get to them.

I think I just had a bad batch of choices from our Book Discussion Group. The downside of letting everyone choose a book. Maybe next year I'll just choose them all...

Sorry to hear that you are on medical leave (hope everything is OK), but what a novel way to decide what to read! Maybe I should let my girls choose my reading for me - on the other hand, maybe not, they are teenagers . . .

Yes, everything is okay, thanks. My son is 20, so I just let him pick numbers, and I counted out the books! He'd never have chosen the books for me.

#17. Up Periscope by Robb White. I was really surprised that I liked this book! Never dreamed I could enjoy a Scholastic Book from the 60's about a submarine, but I did! A quick read, but interesting.

18. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Not one of "The Five" but an incidental audiobook. Not really incidental either--a really thought-provoking and interesting one. I took a lot of notes to use as discussion with my Medical Law & Ethics class.

19. The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer. The third random book. An excellent book. Just reinforces my thought that sometimes there are better role models for young men than their own fathers, even if they are less than perfect people otherwise. Maybe it's the faults that make them such good role models...

20. Briarpatch by Ross Thomas. An old mystery book that I may or may not have read back in the 80s, but it was Keith's #4 pick, so I read it again. It was okay. Not nearly as bad as I was afraid it might be.

21. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson. Listened to the audiobook to and from Indy today. A fun listen. I was just having a conversation with someone this week on those same lines, about how life was simpler in the old days. Makes me sound really old, doesn't it?

Sounds like your son is doing an admirable job picking out books for you! I read The Tender Bar last year and really enjoyed it, and felt the same as you about The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. Bill Bryson normally gives me some pretty good laughs.

22. And the number 5 book picked by Keith? Drum roll, please. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. An interesting book, not quite what I was expecting. More philosophical than story, but at the risk of being repetitious, interesting. 5 more days till I go back to work. Wonder what I can accomplish in that time?

23. The Traveler's Gift by Andy Andrews. Someone had recommended this to me years ago, and I ran across it in the library & decided to read it. It was okay. The premise was great (a depressed guy is sent to several people in the past for inspiration), but I was disappointed in most of the visits. Only one or two seemed pertinent. Oh well. An quick & easy read.

24. Bonk by Mary Roach. You know, there's a lot to be said about meeting the author before reading a book. I had read & loved Stiff, so when she came to town last week, I went. Sometimes her books seem irreverent or to have too many footnotes, but that's the way she talks, and it was delightful. So I think I enjoyed the book more than I would have if I hadn't met her. Very funny in a warped sort of way (perfect for a warped sort of gal like me).

25. I Believe in Ghosts by Danton Walker. I found this in Keith's room while looking for another book. A quick read. I like reading about supernatural experiences, but most of these were not very interesting.

26. The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton. I wasn't sure I would like this book (an Early Reviewer copy), but I loved it. It was a lot more down-to-earth than most girlfriend stories.

27. Let Your Mind Alone! by James Thurber. I just love James Thurber. He is like the Dave Barry of his generation. I laughed and laughed. Funny how a book debunking "self-help" written in the 1930's can still seem so relevant. My new favorite quote in the whole world: "I imagine I'll have a remarkable time, wherever I end up."

#29: You are not alone in your love of James Thurber. I have several of his books (uncatalogued as of yet), and laugh out loud every time I read them.

28. More Captions Courageous by Bob Reisner. Okay, this one is probably cheating, but I read plenty of big books, too. I thought this would be funnier than it was, although I loved Venus de Milo saying "I met a very disarming gentleman last night."

29. Waiting for Gertrude by Bill Richardson. I don't know when I have last enjoyed reading a book as much as I did this one. It's a story of cats living in Pere Lachaise cemetery, some of whom are "translations" of those buried there. The main character is Alice B. Toklas, who is, of course, waiting for Gertrude, and the story is told through her narration, letters sent among the other cats, nocturnes, and some of the most clever verse I have ever heard. I was just blown away.

Is this Bill Richardson, the Canadian humour writer from British Columbia? Or another Bill Richardson?

Must be. It says: "...a very popular writer and radio personality in Canada." I'd never heard of him before. This was one of those "titles that I found intriguing so I had to get the book." Glad I did!

30. N Is for Noose by Sue Grafton. One of my favorite series. I usually get tired of a series after a while, when they all start being the same story, but she's managed to keep these fresher than most. This one wasn't as compelling as others have been, but I liked it.

Yes it's "our" Bill Richardson I have read one of his humour books Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast - very funny and captivating. He was very good on radio too.

I'm going to have to get the Bachelor Brothers' book, since I enjoyed Gertrude so well.

31. The Brontes Went to Woolworth's by Rachel Ferguson. Everyone was just going on and on about it, I had to get it. It was okay, entertaining but terribly confusing, especially at the beginning. Once I got the hang of what was going on, I enjoyed it much more, although I though the ending was odd.

32. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. It was interesting, but I was kind of disappointed in the way that the reading of characters in & out of books only worked at the author's convenience. Silly, I know, but that stuff irritates me. Still, it was a fun read.

33. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

34. A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. I didn't like it as well as Curious Incident...The beginning was draggy, but it picked up toward the end and I liked it better from midway on.

Wow the Thurber book (another fan here) and the Bill Richardson book sound wonderful. (Muttering under breath, I do not need more books, I do not need more books, I do not need more books).
A Spot of Bother also sounds interesting.

How did you like The Last Lecture? I saw a TV news show story about Randy Pausch and have wondered about the book.

Re--your post number 17--I've done something similar with deciding what to read next, except with the kids grown up and away, I use an online random number generator.

I'll definitely be visiting your thread again--but I have the feeling it will be only add to Mount TBR!

It's not a matter of need, it's a matter of want! Highly recommend the Richardson book if you like something a little different.

I'm a little nervous about commenting on The Last Lecture. It's one of those things where you hate to say anything uncomplimentary because the man is dying, but I just didn't care for it. I don't know, maybe it seemed too...self-serving? I know why he wrote it, but it just didn't appeal to me.

Yeah, my kids are grown too, but I hated for him to miss the geeky pleasure it gave him to pull those numbers out of his hat!

On my way to see what you've got going...I suspect you'll have the same effect on me!

35. Duma Key by Stephen King. Okay, blackdog, you win. I liked it. In fact, I couldn't put it down for the first 2/3-3/4 of it (which is saying a lot, because I borrowed it from a friend, and he had the hardcover edition, and that thing weighs a hundred pounds). Then it got a little weird, and I wanted to quit, but I had to see what direction he was going to go with it, and then I was pleased with how he finished it. Even though his genre is not my cup of tea, I have to concede that the man can certainly write.

36. March by Geraldine Brooks. Disappointing. I thought the premise sounded as though it would be good, and the premise was good, but I found myself really getting irritated at the characters Mr. and Mrs. March. I don't suffer fools gladly, either in real life or books, and I just wanted to slap them frequently. It was a good telling of the horrors of the Civil War (in particular, the primitive medical treatments). But it's hard to stomach in a novel where the characters make you frown.

#45 Sorry to hear that. It has been on my TBR shelf for several years now, alongside The March, published around the same time and absolutely wonderful.

Cool! I'm glad you liked Duma Key. It's my favorite King book in recent memory. This one felt like some of his early books that I love.

I am so glad you perservered and finished. I think King is often overlooked because of his reputation in the horro genre. What most people don't understand is that he bleeds in and out of a couple of genres and that even his horror can often be more ghost story than gore. Whatever the genre, his characters are always very complete and real.

Now, I know you said his genre is not your cup of tea, but I am going to recommend that you try anohter of his recent books sometime. Blaze is in the tradition of a true ghost story and it is intended as an homage to Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. This is one of King's best in my mind. There isn't a lot of gore and there is even less weird than Duma Key. It's a really quite sad and haunting book, examining one of King's favorite themes, the ill treatment of unusual people.

37. Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs. I really hate to diss a book that a publisher sends me. And I really tried to find something redeeming about this book, I did. Without success, though. I know there are a lot of people who like this kind of book, but I am not one of them, and this was totally trite. I didn't like it at the beginning when she was whining about turning fifty, and I didn't like it at the end when she solved everyone's problems and managed to find a younger man who adored her. Way too treacle-y for my taste.
(Side note: I disliked it so much that I put it aside to read Stephen King! and of course, I'm glad I did)

38. Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach. Most every review of this book I've seen states it's not as good as Stiff or Bonk. Even Mary Roach said it didn't do as well. I have to agree with that, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. I just laugh and laugh at some of the stuff that comes out of her mouth/pen.

Ooh, I just noticed--this takes me over the halfway mark! Time for cake! (okay, it's always time for cake, but still.)

What kind of cake? I want some, too! (as long as it is not chocolate)

I was just lloking at a recipe for Lemon-Basil Cake . . .

OK, everyone to Cariola's for cake!

Lemon basil cake? Very interesting! I've never met a cake I didn't like. I guess I celebrated by getting really busy and not reading/blogging as much as I would have liked. Sigh. Still isn't catch-up time, but at least I can add what I've finished.
39. Once Upon A Day by Lisa Tucker. It was good. It ran hot and cold. I liked the story, but some parts were just too unbelievable, but then the "lessons" were good, but then it got weird....
40. Gone, Baby, Gone by Dennis Lehane. Also a good book. I would have preferred to have read it in one or two sittings rather than over a period of time like I did, because the twists & turns confused me some. Not a very satisfying ending, but a realistic one. That's a sad statement.
41. The Middle-Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze by James Thurber. I do so love James Thurber. And I can keep his books at work and read one or two stories at lunch each day. Fun.

42. Nasty Feng Shui by Lottie Anderson. My son is a feng shui devotee, so I picked it up at the library sale. Mostly just ways to use feng shui to pep up your life, or mess up someone else's (these usually involve moving furniture or redecorating their bedroom. Imagine, say, my ex-husband letting me into his bedroom to rearrange it?). One notable fact: she used the expression "spot on" at least once every 3 to 4 pages. I can't remember where that discussion took place, but I just read it several days ago, so every time I saw that expression in the book, I laughed and laughed.
43. Lost by Gregory Maguire. Very much a disappointment. I love his way with words, but this book drove me crazy. FAR too many different stories, none of which really went anywhere. It was like he had some leftover story ideas and decided to put them all in one book. Sad face.

I tried to read By Love Possessed by James Gould Cozzens because it was a fiction best-seller the year I was born, and I found it at the library sale. It was unbearable. Then I tried listening to an audio book of Keeping the House by Ellen Baker. Again, it was unbearable, and I shut it off part way through the first disk. Sigh. Vacation on the beach next week. Bringing many books. Hopefully, one will be redeeming!

Busy August. Much reading; no time for writing!

44. The Sweet Potato Queens' Big Ass Cookbook and Financial Planner by Jill Conner Browne. Always a hoot to read.

45. Thunderstruck by Erik Larson. Loved it. Where does he come up with these obscure connections?

46. Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeffrey Lindsay. Suggested by my son. Actually a fun read, even if it is about serial killers. I was surprised to have liked it.

47. Walk Yourself Thin! by David A. Rives. A book about exercising! With exclamation points! Instructions to walk, in a silly writing style, with a pretty insulting chapter about overweight people.

48. The Ride of Our Lives by Mike Leonard. A disappointment.

49. 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs: The Election That Changed the Country by James Chace. A very good history lesson. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

50. Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography by Lemony Snicket. Fun. A slight disappointment if you expect secets from his other books, but a lot of silly old pictures with funny comments. I still enjoyed it.

51. Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. Book Two, not as good as Book One (much gorier), but still a good read.

52. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. An excellent read. I couldn't put it down. I liked best that she told the story matter-of-factly, without judging her parents or whining about her fate.

53. The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. Recommended by a friend. I really, really did not like it at all.

54. A Tree Grows in Brookly by Betty Smith. Re-read for a book discussion. I really did like this book.

55. A Heckuva Job: More of the Bush Administration in Rhyme by Calvin Trillin. Fabulous. I love Calvin Trillin, and his poems are laugh-out-loud. A great sense of meter and humor.

hi
So good to see that someone else really, really did not like Rick Warren's book. Though, we are in the minority regarding this.

I joined a study group thinking it would be good to not work so hard and get out of the office and the house. Yikes...I found that each week I felt like a big mouth by kindly disagreeing with comments by those who were so taken and enthralled by it.

Honestly, I found Warren to be very critical, self-important and judgmental.....The group members strongly disagreed. I was ok with that and it was not argumentative. But, I came away wondering why people felt this was a life-changing book.

opps..just read one of your previous posts regarding The Glass Castle I book club I've recently joined has this on the list to read for October. I'm glad to read your positive posts as I'll be reading this book in the next week.

Hey Terri - I'm just tackling Lemony Snicket's unauthorised autobiography and agree with your comments (only halfway through). Really interesting list you've got though!

#61. That is EXACTLY how I felt about Warren! I'm relieved that I'm not the only one in the world. I tried very hard to like it, because I really like the person who recommended it, but like you, I could not see how anything in there was going to change my life, except for the worse. And I'm considered a fairly spiritual person! Thanks for validating me! And I hope you enjoy The Glass Castle!

#63. Flossie, thanks for the comment. I like that--"interesting list." Could it be any more eclectic? I never have an answer for someone who asks "What kind of books do you like to read?" My answer is usually "Available ones."

56. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. Not at all what I expected, but I really enjoyed reading it! It made me feel all magical.

57. Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende. A very interesting book, although sometimes too bogged down in detail, and rather gory. Not my favorite by her, but still good.

58. The Invisible Wall by Harry Bernstein. I read this for our book group, and I just loved it. A very quick read. Bernstein wrote this memoir of his childhood at age 93, and it comes across so fresh. It's not often that you read a book about a Jewish family in WWI England rather than WWII Germany, and the love story was just wonderful.

Terri, I love that you have such a nice mix of fiction and non-fiction. I have hardly read any non-fic this year (which I attribute to having had rather a messy real-life existence and therefore using my reading time to escape rather than think seriously - still not really an excuse...).

And I'm always pleased to find someone who's read Ulysses, of course :-) I did a dissertation on one section as part of my degree, and hence took it on holiday to Tenerife - getting a giggle out of reading it by the pool alongside everyone else with their Jackie Collins and Barbara Taylor Bradfords kept me going...

#65 tloeffler: I had the same reaction to Like Water for Chocolate when I read it several years ago - not at all what I expected, but I very much enjoyed it.

I am going to have to put The Invisible Wall on Continent TBR sounds like. Thanks for the recommendation!

59. Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williams by Paul Hemphill. I love biographies. I guess it's the Nosy Parker in me who wants to know all the details of someone's life. And I like Hank Williams. My father always listened to his music, and I hated it, but as I grew up, I developed an appreciation of old-style country and hillbilly music. That being said, this was one of the most poorly-written books I have ever read. The author's biases were blatant, his style went from using five-dollar words to using slang, utterly inconsistently, and the whole book just rankled me. I know, the 50- page rule, but I was interested in the subject matter, so I finished it. I'll have to find a better one...

60. Visits from the Drowned Girl by Steven Sherrill. Strange, but interesting, slightly disturbing. Did one of you recommend this or did I just extrapolate it from a suggestion of The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break, (which I've reserved at the library)? Anyway, I think I liked it.

Hi, I've missed your thread in the past, but shall be sure to follow it now--you've got some interesting reads.

I recently finished listening to The Invisible Wall in audio form and enjoyed it very much. Thanks again for that recommendation.

Were you aware that Bernstein has done a follow up book? It is called The Dream: A Memoir and follows the family once they move to America. I have not yet had a chance to read it, but suspect it will probably be as good as the other.

I had heard that he wrote a second book. I'm anxious to read it. I enjoyed the first so much!

Work has been extremely time-consuming--I hope I can make it to my 75! Here's the latest:

61. What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool. Recommended by one of you! I enjoyed it, and I particularly enjoyed watching the PBS Jane Austen series after having read it!

62. The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho. I didn't like it as well as The Alchemist.

63. The Sleeping Doll by Jeffrey Deaver. A friend insisted that I read this. I didn't like it, but it wasn't really my type of book.

64. The Gospel According to Judas, by Benjamin Iscariot by Jeffrey Archer. This was a fascinating retelling of the New Testament from the eyes of Judas, but not as you'd expect. Well footnoted.

65. A Christmas Journey by Anne Perry. I just felt like reading a Christmas book. This is not a Christmas book. I was disappointed.

66. Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay. Wow, I've been reading a lot of books by authors named Jeff. Hmm. Anyway, I didn't like this as well as the first two, but I still liked it. My son insists I need to get the TV show and watch it.

67. The Reluctant Journey of David Connors by Don Locke. I did not expect to like this book, but I liked the excerpt I read, so I decided to try it. I couldn't put it down. It was one of those "Good News" books, and those books tend sometimes to get a little preachy. This one had a message, but kept it low-key, and even though it was a fantasy book, it didn't get too smarmy. I really, really enjoyed reading this!

Terri
I agree with you regarding Anne Perry's book A Christmas Journey Like you, I was disappointed. It seemed dull and flat.

I read book #61 and liked it a lot. I'm glad to hear your comments.

And, congratulations on near completion of the 75 book challenge...hang in there!

68. O is for Outlaw by Sue Grafton. After 3 weeks of working 10-12 hour days, maybe now I can settle down and finish seven more books!

>74 tloeffler: Tlo, at the rate of one a day, with Christmas day off - no problem! :)

- TT

HA! Wouldn't that be nice? I have 4 in process (one at work, one on my coffee table, one in my iPod and one in my CD player). Hopefully I'll finish some of those and move on. I'm going to have to find some really short books to read! Like:
69. Godparents: A Celebration of Those Special People in Our Lives by Michelle DeLiso. Short, but a fun read.

70. Fair Game: A Lady's Guide to Shooting Etiquette by Piffa Schroder. A fun little book with tongue-in-cheek tips for the lady invited to a shooting party.

71. To Dance with the White Dog by Terry Kay. In my quest to make it to 75 for the year, I pulled out some of the shorter books that probably would have languished on my shelves for years. This was one of them. My expectations were low. But this was a great read. Maybe not classic literature, but I enjoyed the time I spent reading it (except at the end, when I cried). Nothing wrong with a little fluff now and again...

Absolutely nothing wrong with fluff every now and again! I think it is the fluff a lot of times that keeps me sane (?), lol.

I will add To Dance with the White Dog to Continent TBR. Thanks for the review.

72. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen. My very first book-on-mp3-player. It's a sad thing that I discovered this. Now there is NOTHING I can do where I can't be reading/listening to a book (except possibly reading another book). This was another delightful story. There is just enough of the mystical in me to really enjoy this kind of a book, where nature becomes alive and we all have a particular propensity for something unusual. Brought to mind some aspects of Like Water for Chocolate.

73. Reading Alcottacre's posts last night, I noticed she had read The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh recently. I remembered that I owned a 1948, 25-cent paperback of the book, and it was short, so I read it. I chuckled all the way through it.

Don't forget to read Allen's follow up book to Garden Spells called The Sugar Queen. It is good, too.

Glad you like The Loved One. Short and sarcastic, isn't it?

I already have The Sugar Queen on my TBR list! Thanks again to you--I saw it on your post & added it the other day! Now, I don't remember if this one was your fault too (I think it was), but:
74. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. Finished in a day, even a work day! I was so tickled with it when I finished that I planned to force it on my 13 year-old niece (who I am determined to turn into a reader, in spite of her reluctance), but my 24 year-old son was sitting there when I finished, and asked to read it next. I enjoyed it immensely!
AND (drum roll):
75. Ireland: A Novel by Frank Delaney. No, I did not read this in a day. I've been listening to the audiobook in my car for weeks, but finished it last night. A fabulous book, especially read by the author. I'm not a bit Irish, but this was one of the neatest books I've ever experienced. Stories about Ireland's history, tucked within another story (interesting in its own right), told by the person who wrote the book in a fabulous accent--irresistible!

And I did it! Just in time to start my 75 in 2009! Woo hoo!

I am beating the timpani now!! Woo Hoo!!

>83 tloeffler: Terri, Great feeling isn't it. I just managed to finish 50 books in 5 months - just had to get there. So congrats on achieving your target.

- TT

TT, I was just reading your posts. Very interesting reading you do! I was glad to find someone who disliked Heart of Darkness. I tried very hard to read it and had to give it up. My son came home for Christmas and is trying to talk me into trying it again, but I don't know--too many good books to read! I am also a big Wodehouse fan. At one time, I had read every Wodehouse book in the library! I was tickled to find out that he wrote the lyrics (music too? I'm not sure) to the song "Bill" from "Showboat." I loved that song best even before I knew that!

>86 tloeffler: Terri, I don't think PG wrote music he was a lyricist who worked with some excellent composers including Jerome Kern.

- TT

Go Terri! Well done - and glad that Wrinkle in Time sneaked in there too. There are at least three more (that I know of) to follow it up with but personally I think the first is the best.

congratulations Terri!
onward to 2009 :-)
Anita

Congrats, Terri.
I've just mooched Wrinkle in Time thanks to your review!

Oh, I hope you love it, Diana. It is one of the books I read every year, even though it is young adult.

I don't think I read it back in the 60's when I was a young 'un. Or if I have, I've forgotten. Being middle-aged is great, you can reread everything.

Sure enough! I read a lot of young adult books last year and had a good time doing it, so I am going to continue into 2009 as well.

I have a few I want to reread this year including Anne of Green Gables and Lord of the Flies. I will be reading Hatchet by Gary Paulsen later today as I am teaching it to one of my classes after the Xmas break.

Beth (my oldest daughter) read Hatchet a couple of years ago for a book report, but I have never read it. Maybe I should give it a try, too.

My students informed me there's a movie too - I have it from the library, the movie has a different name - it's not handy and I can't remember it. I hope the book is bearable! One of my students has already read it and he liked it. It's culturally removed from most of their lives (ESL students) but it's what the school's got....

Beth seemed to like it, and she is not a reader, so maybe your kids will too. I hope so anyway.

I liked Hatchet, athough it is some time ago that I read it.