pammab's 11 in 11 challenge

In 2010, I had/am having a great time. I've also been very successful in increasing the number of books I read, which is delightful. So, although I'm still afraid of the full challenge, I'm going to return with a stepped challenge in 2011, to be started whenever I finish my 1010 Challenge (which I suspect will be in November 2010).

After literally months of thought, I think I've finally decided the categories I want to use next year! (And I swear, this phase is the funnest one for me.) So here I am again with my self-explanatory and self-corrective categories, even lifting categories from some people and some other challenges..... (thank you! it's a sign of respect and appreciation, I swear!)

11 Female Authors
10 Dewey Decimal Books
9 Recommendations
8 Award Winners
7 Authors and Books I'm Embarrassed To Admit I Haven't Read Already
6 (International) Authors (of Color)
5 Off-My-Shelves
4 Science & Math
3 Things I Want To Buy
2 Money & Investing
1 Not in English

I'm not going to bother to readjust my ratings here as I readjust them in my library, so the star counts you see here are those of my initial reaction. The stars in my library show my reaction after a bit more time.

11 Female Authors
Because I continually regret my Male or Female? stats.

1. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (2010.11.24): wow. time travel plus Middle Ages = win. ★★★★½ (review)
2. Black Powder War by Naomi Novik (2010.12.05): not as good as the others in the series. ★★★ (review)
3. Bittersweet by Nevada Barr (2011.02.27): small town and lack of plot reminded me of Jan Karon ★★★ (review)
4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2011.04.22): children are forced to fight to the death for the sport of others -- 5 stars for plot, 5 stars for world, 2 stars for characterization ★★★★ (review)
5. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (2011.05.16): second in series adds nothing you wouldn't have come up with in 10 minutes of thinking yourself ★★½ (review)
6. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (2011.06.07): better, but more political, where the series has a weak spot ★★★½ (review)
7. Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold (2011.08.01): delightful and inventive, with the formulaic bits echoing comfortably from series of old ★★★★ (review)
8. Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones (2011.12.13): not as shiny as I remember ★★★½ (review)
9. Kissing Kate by Lauren Myracle (2011.12.17): good for what it was, but what it was wasn't much ★★★½ (review)
10.
11.

Overall Star Distribution:
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5 *
3.0 **
3.5 ***
4.0 **
4.5 *
5.0

Queued up:
Laurie J. Marks Fire Logic (lesbian spec fic) *
Cherie Priest
Doris Lessing
Elisabeth Bear - New Amsterdam (steampunk) *
Sheri Tepper - Grass
Jessica Meats - Child of the Hive
Diana Wynne Jones - Howl's Moving Castle
Elizabeth Moon - Sporting Chance
Robin Hobb
Flannery O'Connor
Mercedes Lackey - The Outstretched Shadow
Marjane Satrapi - Persepolis
Shirley Jackson - We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Keri Hulme - The Bone People
C. J. Cherryh
Rachel Hawkins - Hex Hall (YA)
Kelley Eskridge - Solitaire
Lynn Flewelling
Miriam Toews - A Complicated Kindness
Gail Carriger - Soulless (steampunk)
Alison Bechdel - Fun Home
Isabel Miller - Patience and Sarah
Dorothy Allison
Connie Willis - To Say Nothing Of The Dog
Diana Gabaldon - Outlander
Elizabeth C. Bunce - StarCrossed (YA, good world building with religion)
Natasha Walter - Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism
Rivka Galchen - Atmospheric Disturbances
Tanith Lee
Kathryn Stockett - The Help

10 Dewey Decimal Books
Because I'm too chicken to join the Dewey Decimal Challenge yet.

1. 000 --
2. 100 -- Reading People by Jo-Ellan Dimitrius (2010.01.20): probably more useful for understanding how people judge me ★★½ (review)
3. 200 -- The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz (2011.09.24): meh. Buddhism has all the same benefits and is less enveloped in a hard-to-believe mythos ★★ (review)
4. 300 -- Tokyo Vice by Jake Adelstein (2010.08.31): sex + crime + yakuza = interesting ★★★★ (review)
5. 400 --
6. 500 --
7. 600 -- The Secret Laws of Attraction by Talane Miedaner (2010.12.17): typical but very useful relationship self-help ★★★★ (review)
8. 700 -- I'll Scream Later by Marlee Matlin (2011.11.06): autobiography fail ★★ (review)
9. 800 --
10. 900 --

Overall Star Distribution:
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0 **
2.5 *
3.0
3.5
4.0 **
4.5
5.0

Queued up:
000 -- Chaos, Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense
100 -- Games People Play, Emotions Revealed, The Satanic Bible, What Every BODY is Saying, Work Types
200 -- Breaking the Spell (Daniel Dennett)
300 -- My Gender Workbook, Visual Methodologies, Act Your Age!, Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, Publics and Counterpublics, Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism
400 -- Deaf tend your, Metaphor in American Sign Language, Reading Between the Signs, In the Land of Invented Languages
500 -- Brief History of Time, God Created the Integers, Seven Daughters of Eve
600 -- Mindless Eating, Never Eat Alone, Presenting to Win
700 -- Star Trek and History
800 -- The Name of the Rose
900 -- Angela's Ashes, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, A Field Guide for Female Interrogators, The memory chalet

9 Recommendations
Recommendations from friends, family, and acquaintances.

1. We3 by Grant Morrison (2010.11.30): very pretty graphic novel ★★★★ (review)
2. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (2010.12.21):very nicely imagined, very nicely slashy YA steampunk ★★★★½ (review)
3. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (2011.02.15): activist blogger Cory Doctorow does (entertaining) YA fiction ★★★½ (review)
4. Sex at Dawn by Ryan and Jetha (2011.02.19): very interesting history of sex, though I don't agree with the "monogamy isn't natural (so choose polyamory)" premise ★★★★ (review)
5. A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay (2011.05.16): world building and characterization were good. political machinations and unbelievably tight ending were less good. ★★½ (review)
6. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore (2011.11.20): didn't do it for me, but I had guessed that from the title ★★ (review)
7.
8.
9.

Overall Star Distribution:
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0 *
2.5 *
3.0
3.5 *
4.0 **
4.5 *
5.0

Queued up:
Never Eat Alone
Presenting to Win
Silverlock
Good Omens
Confessions of a Public Speaker
Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office
The Last Puritan
The Initiate Brother - Sean Russell
The Anubis Gates (steampunk)
Blankets, Too Cool To Be Forgotten, Therefore, Repent, Jimmy Corrigan The Smartest Kid on Earth, Fun Home, Clumsy, Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (graphic novels)
The Eyre Affair

8 (Potential) Award Winners
Because there must be something to those Nobels and Orange Prizes and even Tiptrees, right? As of 2010, I wouldn't even know....

1. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. (Hugo) (2011.1.8): so disappointing. boring "nuclear war is bad" navel-gazing that lacks a plot. ★ (review)
2. Anathem by Neal Stephenson (Locus) (2011.2.3): a very good example of spec fic worldbuilding, casting our own society into shadowed relief ★★★★ (review)
3. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Pulitzer) (2011.04.12): enjoyable family history memoir of a intersex gene that culminates in the narrator ★★★★ (review)
4. Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge (Hugo) (2011.08.24): great spec fic -- amazingly alien aliens and cool new ways to think about the universe ★★★★★ (review)
5. The Blue Place by Nicola Griffith (Lambda) (2011.11.27): tightly written but ultimately limited detective story ★★★★ (review)
6. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (ALA Best Books) (2011.11.30): eh, if I were a teenager I suspect it would have resonated more ★★★½ (review)
7. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (Newbery) (2011.12.22): I should have known better than to try this one.... ★★ (review)
8.

Overall Star Distribution:
0.5
1.0 *
1.5
2.0 *
2.5
3.0
3.5 *
4.0 ***
4.5
5.0 *

Queued up:
The Gilda Stories: A Novel (Lambda Award)
Spin (Hugo)
Cloud Atlas (Booker Prize shortlist)
Midnight's Children (Booker Prize)
My Name is Red (Nobel)
Blindness (Nobel)
Almost Transparent Blue (Akutagawa Prize)
Wolf Hall (Booker Prize)
Perdido Street Station (Hugo nominee, Tiptree shortlist)

(And with that, I'm a bit afraid this category may become my "science fiction written by white males" category, even if only unofficially.... :-p)

7 Authors and Books I'm Embarrassed To Admit I Haven't Read Already
Just what it says on the can.

1. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (2011.01.30): delightfully plot-twisty and respectful lesbian Dickens ★★★★½ (review)
2. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (2011.02.05): cute, whimsical... a bit frenetic ★★★½ (review)
3. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (2011.03.21): tale of 1800s magicians bored me ★★ (review)
4. Beloved (2011.07.07): enjoyable but a bit of a mindfuck ★★★½ (review)
5. All Quiet on the Western Front (2011.07.14): disturbing imagery, depressing-but-thought-worthy war book ★★★★ (review)
6. Hound of the Baskervilles (2011.08.19): quick, enjoyable, somewhat memorable detective story ★★★★ (review)
7.

Overall Star Distribution:
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0 *
2.5
3.0
3.5 **
4.0 **
4.5 *
5.0

Queued up:
Styron - Sophie's Choice - until a few months ago I was avoiding this book because I thought this was about an abortion. I know. *hangs head in shame*
Absalom, Absalom! - since high school I've been thinking about this one! but I am still Faulkner-less.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Nietzsche caught my fancy in junior high, though I've never read anything by him; this book in particular has been in my possession, in German, since around 2002, though I've never read it. I shan't be reading it in German.
Lovecraft
Marjane Satrapi - Persepolis
No Exit and three other plays - Jean-Paul Sartre

6 (International) Authors (of Color)
Oh, what an embarrassing category name....

1. Kindred by Octavia Butler (2010.12.10): much better slavery & time travel story than its first half led me to believe ★★★★ (review)
2. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua (2011.03.05): enjoyable memoir on Chinese parenting, excellence and effort ★★★★½ (review)
3. The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera (2011.04.27): enjoyable coming of age/mythology story, but I kept feeling like I was missing something... ★★★ (review)
4. Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko (2011.08.17): thoroughly forgettable novel about Native Americans and WWII ★★★ (review)
5.
6.

Overall Star Distribution:
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0 **
3.5
4.0 *
4.5 *
5.0

Queued up:
bell hooks
Walter Dean Myers - Fallen Angels
Henry Louis Gates - "Race," Writing, and Difference
Gloria Anzaldua - Borderlands
Ayaan Hirsi Ali - Infidel
Fumi Yoshinaga - Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 1
Jhumpa Lahiri - Interpreter of Maladies
Percival Everett - Wounded
Noriko Ogiwara - Dragon Sword and Wind Child
W. E. B. Du Bois
Abraham Verghese - Cutting for Stone
Vladimir Sorokin - Ice

5 Off-My-Shelves
Because none of the other categories is likely to involve books off my shelves, although I want to reduce my physical book holdings just to those I want to reread or share with others. Right now, though, I haven't read maybe half the books on the shelves... which means I can't make a decision to keep or pass on one way or the other. The situation must be remedied!

1. The Mystery of the Aleph by Amir Aczel (2011.01.11): solid book on the mathematics of infinity (which ... apparently causes those who study it to go mad?) ★★★½ (review)
2. Ammonite by Nicola Griffith (2011.10.05): a surprisingly good treatment of the everyone-on-the-world-is-female premise ★★★★½ (review)
3. Omnitopia Dawn by Diane Duane (2011.11.25): the Diane Duane formula, but now in a virtual reality context ★★★½ (review)
4.
5.

Overall Star Distribution:
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5 **
4.0
4.5 *
5.0

Queued up:
The Brothers Karamazov
The Shining
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
Possession
The Wapshot Scandal
How the Other Half Thinks
The Last of the Mohicans
The Grapes of Wrath
Jane Eyre
Work Types

4 Science & Math
Because I have these books and I never read them....

1. Thinking Strategically by Dixit and Nalebuff (2010.11.27): solid layman's introduction to game theory ★★★★ (review)
2. Matrices and Society by Bradley and Meek (2010.12.02): good book on how social scientists can benefit from mathematics ★★★½ (review)
3. Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen et al. (2011.12.15): truly excellent textbook ★★★★★ (review)
4. The Evolution of Cooperation by Axelrod (2011.12.24): how to succeed in game theory without really trying (or not) ★★★★ (review)

Overall Star Distribution:
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5 *
4.0 **
4.5
5.0 *

Queued up:
Chaos
Goedel, Escher, Bach
The Lady Tasting Tea
Trouble With Physics

3 Things I Want To Buy
I should educate myself before I get these things, right?

1. Practical Guide to Cat Care by Consumer Guide (2011.03.09): meh. way focused on illness and badness. ★★ (review)
2.
3.

Overall Star Distribution:
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0 *
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
5.0

Queued Up:
Proficient Motorcycling
something useful on car maintenance & repair

2 Money & Investing
Clearly out of my league on this "adult" topic, so all and any recommendations would be welcome.... 401ks, etc. are one big blob of vagueness to me.

1. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John Bogle (2011.12.07): explains why to believe in index funds ★★★★½ (review)
2.

Overall Star Distribution:
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5 *
5.0

Queued up:
Common Sense on Mutual Funds
The Four Pillars of Investing

1 Not in English
My German is rusty and this sounds like fun. Unfortunately I'm afraid of all the other languages I once knew, but we'll see.

1. Die Wand by Marlen Haushofer (2010.12.30): quite an affecting post-apocalyptic book, full of navel-gazing with a Little House on the Prairie tinge ★★★★ (review)

Overall Star Distribution:
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0 *
4.5
5.0

Skipped over but not forgotten:
Tintenherz, should I be so lucky as to find a copy
Die unendliche Geschichte
Der kleine Prinz
Emil und die Detektive

Extras
Just in case I want to read more than I can fit in the categories.... Or in case I need to re-jigger the categories.

Queued up:
Feed
Daemon
Languages of Pao
The Book Thief

And.... it's looking pretty obvious I don't have enough spaces to include all the white-man sci fi I want to read, or for any of the professional development stuff. (And if the professional development stuff knocks of fiction recommendations all year long, I may cry.) Not quite sure how to rejigger this yet.

Argh, why oh why are there so many good things to read?

I agree with you -- setting up the categories is definitely the funnest part! :) A lot of your queued-up reads look interesting. I'll be interested to read your thoughts on them!

Thanks for stopping by, christina! I'm looking forward to having thoughts on them too. ;)

Lots of great books lined up here, and in fun categories too. Including some overlaps that I'll be following extra closely.

As for the white male quota: I have been on a strict system of reading equally many books by female as male authors for a number of years. Which has prompted me to discover many new writers that I perhaps wouldn't have stumbled on otherwise in the prevailing male canon. But for 2011, it looks like I'm going to have to make an exception, settling for something like 65-35. There are just that many more males (mostly white ones, on top of that) on my physical TBR shelves at the moment, and I'm going to have to do something to recreate a balance. It's interesting how something like that, a stat that only I myself keep count of and care about, is so hard to forgo even temporarily!

I will sheepishly admit to using this thread *as* my TBR pile. The list of "things I'd like to read in 2011" keeps growing out of control.... >.<

The thing for me is that there are a lot of female authors out there that I've been hearing of for years and that I know others enjoy immensely, that I still haven't yet even tried. And I can't really explain why that is. It's a bit disturbing to me, because it seems to imply I may have been subconsciously forgoing these authors. So of course, I tiptoed off to make a category to combat it. (I have found, though, that I read series by women more than by men, so my LT stats are a bit skewed.)

Even 65-35 sounds like quite the goal even on its own. Some genres are a lot harder than others to find well-known and good female writers. It looks like you read a sizable number of those genres, so color me impressed at any ratio. :)

Edited for formatting issues.

1. Doomsday Book
Connie Willis
2010.11.24 / ★★★★½

I don't even know where to begin talking about this book. I can't do it justice, and I certainly don't know where to begin talking about it without spoilers. About all I can think to say is that I found myself captured by the two intertwined stories, one near-future science fiction and the other Middle Ages historical fiction reached through time travel. I'm sure it will stay with me for quite some time. Characterization, world building, plot, lightly handled themes and larger issues, ending when it did, the horror of the writing, even the title -- it was all very, very artfully done.

Because I can never just leave it at that, though, here is my complaint: the religious parallels (between God and those on the modern side of the time travel device) were just barely hanging over the edge into too heavy handed for my tastes -- though I loved that the author went there and I loved that Kivrin's experiences damaged her relationships with each in such a fundamental way, and I loved how the ending pointed both to that deep, deep damage and to hope.

All in all, this isn't quite one of those books that I'll be unable to stop thinking about for days... but it is definitely one of those books that I really loved reading and would recommend widely.

---
Category: Recommendations
Alternative Categories: Female Authors, Award Winners, Authors and Books I'm Embarrassed To Admit I Haven't Read Already

Edited for formatting, since I'm still working out what I want my thread to look like for this next year.

Great to start with a good one! Seen this recommended to bits on numerous threads, so no news there. But a well-written and balanced review, so thumbs up from me.

19 -- Love Connie Willis! It's great that you started with a book you ended up really enjoying. :) If you want to read more by her, I would strongly recommend To Say Nothing of the Dog, which is equally excellent but has a much lighter, more humorous tone. (I liked Doomsday Book a lot too, but I was basically crying the whole way through it!)

Edited to fix touchstone.

Another book to add to my growing list for next year's reading! Great start to the challenge.

20 and 22 GingerbreadMan and lkernagh, you should both read it if you have the chance! It really is one of those few books that I would not hesitate to recommend to just about anyone. I'm very happy to have kicked off this challenge with a good one. I hope the pattern sticks around!

21 Christina, To Say Nothing of the Dog is so totally on my list! ;) I've been trying to reduce the extent to which I go on author binges, but I think I probably *will* toss in another Connie Willis book sometime this year, if I've any luck.

Doomsday Book was very disturbing, yes.... There were a few of nights I actually tried to stay awake and read further just because I was afraid of what nightmarish scenes my subconscious might conjure up if I fell asleep right then!

2. Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life
Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff
2010.11.27 / ★★★★

Thinking Strategically was recommended on a website as a good layman's introduction to game theory, and that it very well is! Game theory takes a mathematical approach to interactions in which there is something to be gained/lost/shared; given your interests and what you perceive your opponent's interests to be, game theory offers a method to determining your "best" approach in a given situation. Chapters on sequential games, simultaneous games, strategic moves to turn a simultaneous game into a sequential game, cooperation, how to be unpredictable in the "right" way, how to make credible commitments, bargaining, and contracts were all very readable and littered with tangible examples from real life.

Previous to this book, I'd spent a fair amount of time reading secondary internet sources on game theory (including multiple rounds through the Wikipedia article), but I was still unsure about how it all fit together. This book brought all the moving pieces together in a way that finally makes sense.

Now, game theory as a field faces numerous criticisms (especially that its assumption that people always act to maximize their profits/utility is flawed); the book doesn't address these, and so I'm grateful that I'm lucky enough to already be familiar with them. Thinking Strategically also suffers from a handful of business examples that I Just Did. Not. Get. (for instance: what the heck is a poison pill??). To be fair, it did give some explanation of these examples, but it was still not enough that I could follow very well. It helps significantly that there are a wealth of other examples, from tennis, sailboat racing, and basketball, to all branches of politics, to selling VCRs in New York City. (Yes, the examples are almost all a bit 1991-dated, but the theory isn't. And examples of any sort are absolutely necessary to understanding this content.)

I was getting enough from the book that I decided partway through that I actually wanted to take notes. I'm going to post the 2 pages of teensy writing in the comments section of this book in my LT library for my electronic posterity.

---
Category: Science & Math
Alternative Categories: Dewey Decimal Books

How horrible is it that I'm considering buying a book on motorcycles just so it can fit into my Off-the-Shelves challenge, since it fits into no other categories?

Yeah. Oh dear. Perhaps a better tactic is to get really embarrassed about not having read it yet (even though I didn't know it existed until this morning). Eep.

We can provide you with whichever motivation you'd like - do you want encouragement to buy it? Shall we taunt and embarrass you at your lack of literary prowess? ;) As a default setting, I'm pretty sure that this group would automatically encourage you to find some shelf space and Buy That Book. But maybe you'd like some nudges to prevent you from spending money instead? So, what's your poison, my dear?

=D I know, I know.... Thank you for your offers to help! I've been trying hard not to buy new books out of fear of moving house within the next year, and it really doesn't fit into any of my challenge topics, so I've been at a loss. I *think* I've decided to pretend it's a sign that my categories need to be changed rather than that I'm a fickle, fickle reader (it's still early in the challenge season... right?), so I'm going to create a Things I Want category with space for it. ;) Your offers of encouragement (and especially of taunting) are very appreciated, though. Thanks, Laura!

3. We3
Grant Morrison
2010.11.30 / ★★★★

I'm a sucker for well-done twists on reality, and this graphic novel about three pets-turned-government-killers delivers. It's a bit gruesome, but it's a well done concept, and the plot is as tight as tight can be. It's also the best example I've yet seen of a graphic novel relying on the art to tell me the story. I was blown away by the security camera panes. Gorgeous.

---
Category: Recommendations
Alternative Categories: (none)

4. Matrices and Society
Ian Bradley and Ronald L. Meek
2010.12.02 / ★★★½

A good book on how social scientists can benefit from mathematics, in particular, matrix algebra. Discusses the basics of matrices and how to use them, then covers particular topics of interest to social scientists: input-output analysis, kinship systems and marriageability, Markov chains, and game theory, each with numerous applications. Game theory in particular gets a lot of attention -- first as to its uses, then as to its abuses, then as to how it can be used to understand conflict and cooperation. The book's discussion of abuses of mathematical models is particularly useful; it offers a good treatment of how people in many different fields are wont to misuse models, mainly through ignorance.

The real strength of this book is its examples from the social science literature. The authors include a result from sociology, for instance, that shows that the spread of gossip is entirely dependent on the likelihood that people pass on the original message or a false version of it -- if those probabilities are equal, then eventually half the population will believe each message, regardless of how small the probabilities of passing it on originally were. For me, this goes some way to explaining the 25%+ Americans who doubt Obama's citizenship.

For a social scientist allergic to math or unsure what the benefit of math could be to them, this book would be a perfect fit. I'd highly recommend it to such a person. Unfortunately I'd had much of this material previously in other ways; in that case, there's little new here (but there wasn't supposed to be).

---
Category: Math and Science
Alternative Categories: Dewey Decimal Books, Recommendations, Authors and Books I'm Embarrassed To Admit I Haven't Read Already

5. Black Powder War
Naomi Novik
2010.12.05 / ★★★

Black Powder War didn't hold my interest as much as previous books in the Temeraire series. The characters are just the same as before, and the setting is no longer particularly interesting either (they've left China and the coolness of the premise is two books old now). So in this book, it has to be all about the plot. And it's a pretty boring plot. They collect some dragon eggs in Istanbul. They traipse around Eastern Europe. They engage in long battles. An egg hatches. Napoleon grows yet stronger. Story ends. So sure, some of the battle scenes are good, and there are moments throughout the book that I enjoyed, but as a whole? Disappointing.

---
Category: Female Authors
Alternative Categories: Off-My-Shelves

26 That's the kind of helpfulness that makes one love LT in general, and Laura in particular!

I love Grant Morrison but I haven't read We3, I must go and track it down!

I do love Laura! That's the Best. Response. Ever.

And yes, clfisha, you must! I still don't really feel like I know what I'm doing with graphic novels, but I quite enjoyed We3 -- plus it came highly recommended from a friend who does know what he's doing! ;)

Aw, thanks, kids! *blushes*

6. Kindred
Octavia Butler
2010.12.10 / ★★★★

I thought the first 100 pages of this book were horrible, boring, didactic, full of telling and no showing. But then the next 150 were fantastic. And there I had been, doubting that being fantastic was even still possible for the book!

Modern black Californian Dana goes back in time to the antebellum South, her life tied intricately with that of a white slave master, who also happens to be her ancestor. Sound interesting? I scoffed a bit myself, but this book gets rave reviews, so I tried anyway. And the first 100 pages, I was horribly disappointed. There wasn't anything more in them than I would have written myself given that premise, and I'm anything but a writer (much less a good or a sensitive one). The whole time I wasn't sure what Butler's point in writing the book was, except to let us know that "Things were really bad back then. It was horrifying. You may not get it if I wrote yet another book set in that period, though, so here, let me send one of YOUR contemporaries back so you can better relate, and reiterate to you information from all the primary source materials I read and how bad it was!" Honestly, the book was making me a bit grouchy. The fact that slavery was bad in itself doesn't make a good novel, and there was literally nothing else in the book up until that point. I would have given up, had I not had faith in the book's abnormally high ratings.

But then in the second 150 pages, Butler did in fact blow me away. The characters were actually developed, the plots were actually developed, the world felt actually real. I found myself lost in the writing. So yes, all those voices in fact weren't wrong: Kindred is a wholly worthwhile read. It just takes a while to get there.

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Category: (International) Authors (of Color)
Alternative Categories: Female Authors

I don't read a lot of science fiction, but I do enjoy the occasional time travel book. Kindred sounds intriguing, and I've added it to my wishlist.

Kindred actually isn't science fiction as all. There is no science in the book, no spaceships, no aliens, no new worlds or futures. The thing that gets it labeled science fiction is the time travel, but it's never even explained how the time travel is possible. I think I read Butler preferred to think of Kindred as "grim fantasy" rather than science fiction, and I'd agree with that assessment. So yes, go ahead and read it with no fear of science fiction!

36 & 37> Octavia Butler did write science fiction. I haven't read Kindred yet, but it was more an exploration of race using time travel to make her point. Her science fiction though is not space opera, aliens, etc. What she was interested in was biology. Many of her stories involve people who were breed to fill certain functions.

pam> Category 1. Don't read Melusine> I've read the first three books in the series. They are pregnant with interesting dropped threads. I kept thinking she was doing this... Oh, no. She's doing this instead. etc etc etc. I loved her characters, but in the long run, I felt I'd written a more interesting book in my head while reading her book than the book I was actually holding in my hands. I kept reading the next in the series because I thought she was going to pick up those loose threads. After reading her blog though, I know the things that puzzled the reader puzzled her too. She admitted to the characters not letting her in on their secrets. Argh!

I thought Butler did something fresh and interesting with vampires in Fledgling, which I read earlier this year. But this is the only Butler I've read so far. I've been glancing at her dystopias, but Kindred has seemed much too "simple" a premise to me - much like you describe the first hundred pages. Great to read there's more to it!

Thanks for stopping by, cammykitty! I have wanted to read something by Butler for a while (woman? science fiction? black? good writer? these overlap so rarely...!). I looked at Butler's Xenogenesis series too, but the premise there also seemed a bit outlandish. I am suspecting it is something of a theme with her.

Thank you for your advice on Melusine! I'm actually really glad to hear I can cull something from the top category of the ever-lasting-and-ever-growing list.... It seems to grow exponentially, and I suspect they don't all deserve to be in the top tier of my reading priority. ;) I think the situation you are describing may drive me slightly mad, so, off that series goes for now.

* * *

GBM, I actually looked at Fledgling as well! I put it back when I decided I was more likely to enjoy a book dealing with slavery than one dealing with vampires (or alien interbreeding). Perhaps the vampires would have ended up being the least-Important-Intended-Message-y of the bunch, though. I actually truly wish that bloodsuckers as a premise didn't make me go a bit googley-eyed. I need a book on vampires so amazing that it makes me more amenable to the entire genre. ;)

Melusine did make me go mad! I wanted someone to benefit from my suffering. ;)

I liked Fledgling but not as much as everyone else seemed to. Wild Seed was far more interesting to me, and the second book in that series, I think it's Patternmaster, explored a lot of the same themes as Fledgling but without the vampires.

Xenogenesis has some funky aliens though Butler is really writing about humanity in that series. The slavery angle is approached from a different angle there. Butler always made me think when I read her books. She did write message fiction but did it her own voice and views. I'm not usually overly sad when I hear of an author passing. I did get a tear in my eye when I heard of hers.

Her death upset me a lot too. I'd met her at a book signing about a month before and everyone was being shy so I got to talk with her for awhile. She seemed to have so much vitality, and so many books still left in her.

There are a few people on this earth that I realized existed only a little bit too late. It's always a bit disappointing when I realize that my life has failed to intersect in some way. Butler was a bit that way for me too.

7. The Secret Laws of Attraction
Talane Miedaner
2010.12.16 / ★★★★

Relationship self-help book that reads more like pop psychology in the I'm Okay, You're Okay vein. I read this for professional development after hearing Miedaner talk about how most people are unaware of what they need, so they are very ineffective at getting those things (e.g., to be accepted, to achieve, for security, to be touched). She noted at the time that people who are good at recognizing and feeding others' needs get ahead in business, and she touted her own book as a place to learn more. Well, she got me.

In any event, Miedaner believes that most of us fulfill our emotional needs badly. We don't know what those needs are, we rely too much on our partners, we don't ask for what we need, we look to coworkers and other people who aren't close enough for inappropriate need fulfillment. 80% of this book is devoted to helping people identify their top four emotional needs and get them fulfilled in healthy ways (thus rendering you healthy enough to get a mate who really does fit). Miedaner also discusses establishing boundaries and enforcing them politely but firmly (boundaries like "don't interrupt me") and figuring out and living values to be happy in addition to no longer miserable.

Pretty useful book, all told. I would just recommend picking and choosing through the middle sections that discuss each of the needs, as they got a bit repetitive. (And oh, if only some of her examples went beyond the limited scene of boy-girl sex-love relationships...)

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Category: Dewey Decimal Books
Alternative Categories: Female Authors, Recommendations

8. Leviathan
Scott Westerfeld
2010.12.21 / ★★★★½

I really enjoyed this WWI-as-steampunk YA novel. Westerfeld engaged in some great worldbuilding with his distinction between adherents to hard engineering (machines) and adherents of Darwinist natural philosophy (biology). His reimagined WWI factions are incredibly tangible, and his concluding author's note on the authenticity of the setting was both necessary and very helpful. The book was wonderfully plotted in smaller and larger loops, and characters were great fun (especially on audiobook, which I recommend highly). I want more of this world and this author.

One of the highlights of the book for me was its increasing amounts of overt slashiness as the book moved forward from the initial YA-male-lead-and-YA-female-lead-living-separate-lives-but-clearly-going-to-develop-a-relationship-because-why-else-talk-about-both-of-them-in-such-detail beginning. I heartily applaud the author for not putting the kabosh on any of the inherent slashiness of a girl posing as a boy making very close friends with another boy, and I stood in ovation as Westerfeld had the boys repeatedly touch each other (fully clothed, in safe areas, in a totally non-sexual context, &c. &c. &c.). I regret only that we don't have any of born-boy Alek's perspective on the situation, because I'm horribly curious about what Westerfeld thinks is going on in his head. (On the other hand, the downside of my delight in the slashiness of this book's final pages is that I strongly suspect the revelation of Dylan's female body will come early in the next book, and I'm actually a bit hesitant to read further in case Westerfeld handles the revelation badly. I really don't want him to ruin what has been such a good run up until this point!)

Please note, by the way, that there really is nothing actually gay about this book, and unless someone is predisposed to see the gay in the story, s/he isn't going to be able to see it. I am 99.9% convinced the main characters' relationship -- which again, only happens at the very end -- will read to everyone just like a relationship from a buddy cops film. There is no reason for anyone at all to worry about kids reading this book, and there are all kinds of reasons for anyone interested in steampunk, alternate histories, or YA fiction to pick it up (see first paragraph). I'm just spouting and recording my thoughts here. Definitely recommended.

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Category: Recommendations
Alternative Categories: (none)

Leviathan is one of the books I have listed for my Steampunk category next year. Glad to see that you enjoyed it!

Oooooh, I've had Leviathan on my TBR list for a long time now, and your (fab) review has bumped it up even higher. Thank goodness 2011 is just a couple of weeks away now and all of my reading time will open up!

Following Leviathan, I am very much a Westerfeld fan now. I hope whenever you both get to it, that you enjoy as much as I was able!

(And as to 2011 -- I'm on vacation and it's making me happy as far as the reading goes, Laura. I hope you have time to similarly engage soon! ^_^)

Leviathan is already lined up for 11 in 11, but great recommendations akways feel good regardless. Flea, my wife, got Behemoth for christmas, but I just won't be able to make room for it in 2011. For now, at least...

Oh, and by the way: how do you make pretty stars like that?

I've just been copying and pasting those stars..... I suspect they are dependent on your font and that for some people they do not show up, but I don't care because I think they are pretty. :) I'm sure there is some alt-code you can type in to get the right character, if you care to search through your character map, though.

I have books by Connie Willis and Scott Westerfield on my list to read to for 2011 challenges. Octavia Butler is one of my favorite authors. I really enjoyed her Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents dystopian books. I've read that she was working on a third novel in the series but experienced a writers block and ended up writing Fledging instead.

I'm planning to read Leviathan for my 11-11 as well. Thanks for the review! Oh, and I need to check out Octavia Butler too!

Nice to meet you, goddesspt2! Our libraries actually overlap a fair amount, given the size differential. I think the consensus is pushing me toward picking up the Parable of the Sower at some point.... I almost wish I could put a dent in the TBR pile, but it's never going to happen. :)

Victoria, I actually feel like my reading this year has already solidified into a pattern of books I really wished I read that I learned about here because everyone talks about them, and books I really wished I read because no one talks about them and I want to see if they are any good. I hope you enjoy Leviathan when you get to it!

9. Die Wand (English translation: The Wall)
Marlen Haushofer
2010.12.30 / ★★★★

You know those books that are so deep and intense that when you finally sit back from them, you pause a bit, blink, and notice yourself breathing, slightly differently from normal? That's this one book 100%.

I don't know what to say about this book beyond the description itself: "A woman wakes up one morning in a mountain hunting lodge and finds herself locked in by an invisible wall, beyond which life no longer exists." It's quite an affecting post-apocalyptic book, full of navel-gazing with a Little House on the Prairie tinge. It's deep. It's meaningful. It's rather depressing. I feel like I've overcome something massive just to have stayed with the heroine and to have made it through this book (which also happens to be my first read ever in German). I expect this one to stick with me. Recommended. But not over the holidays.

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Category: Not in English
Alternative Categories: Female Authors

Edited for touchstones. Apparently the English translation is not the most popular book called The Wall.

Happy New Year, pammab! And congratulations on your first read in German (It sounds quite a tough one)!

I'm not sure why but #9 sounds appealing to me. I'd have to tackle it in English though. It has a great ratings distribution on LT.

I read The Wall many years ago, and it has stayed with me. I'll have to put it on my books to be reread list.

Thanks for the New Year's wishes, Rebeki! It actually wasn't that tough of a read stylistically (lots of description of life in the wilderness, where I actually have a decent vocabulary, thank goodness), but I mean, it's this lady living alone in the woods describing and reflecting on her experiences, and it's not like she has anything good going on in her life but physical labor (which is only good because it means she doesn't spend as much time thinking). So a tough read in a more esoteric sense, most definitely....

VisibleGhost, the high rating is actually part of the reason I picked The Wall up. I wouldn't have heard of it except for LT either. I've actually been increasingly trying to push my TBR list to include mostly books rated above 4 stars here....

arubabookwoman, I don't believe we've met before (and my apologies if we have). Very nice to meet you! And I do hope that your appreciation for Faulkner is contagious, as I'd like to pull off reading something by him this year but it's one of those things I'm dreading despite knowing I really am likely to enjoy the experience.... ;)

I'm getting so many new books-to-read from your thread, pammab!

I agree, this thread (and actually, all of pammab's threads) are a dangerous place to be, in the best possible sense!

@61, 62
Aw, thanks, guys! The situation is most definitely likewise.

I can only agree Die Wand sounds haunting indeed.

How is your "only above 4 stars" policy working out for you? I must admit I wouldn't trust people's judgement like that. I prefer the personal recommendation from someone I trust (like yourself :) Then again, I love checking up on something that sounds interesting and see that it has at 4,5 average. But books with an equal number of 0.5 and 5 ratings are luring too...

"Only" above 4 stars is a bit too strong, but on the TBR pile, I'm trying to push down the books under 4 stars and push up the ones above 4 stars. It's working pretty well as a sorting criterion, actually. It's not the only criterion I'm using, and a high rating is not enough to get me interested out of nowhere, but it's helping me make decisions -- like that despite hearing good things, I should wait on Boneshaker until I actually find myself turned on to zombies already....

The obscure books, of course, I'm reading no matter what.

Pam, that sounds like a useful sorting technique. Especially when you know you won't get everything read. Sometimes, if I've read a bit of a book and am not sure it's worth finishing, I'll let the ratings sway me. On the whole, LTers rate more harshly than people rating books on other sites such as Amazon, in my unstudied opinion. ;)

I completely agree. I trust reviews here a bit more than I do reviews elsewhere -- especially places like Amazon, and especially for certain genre fiction and for YA books....

Ditto - nothing gets a book onto my list faster than if someone here says how much they liked it. And I'm trying to adopt your 4-star policy for books I'm going to keep, because I'm not as much of a re-reader as I used to be.

How does that quote go? So many books, so little time...

Hi Pam, definitely looks like we have some reading overlap - I will be hanging around! Willis' Doomsday Book was one of my favourite reads last year and I also really enjoyed Leviathan by Westerfeld, in fact I have Behemoth reserved at the library at the moment.

I've heard lots of good and interesting things about Octavia E. Butler but never read any of her books. Maybe this year?

Hi again souloftherose (ah the joys of multiple threads ;)). I do think if you're going to try Butler, I'd recommend starting with something other than Kindred. I liked it, but not enough to want to rush out and read more by the author, so presumably there are better books by her out there....

10. A Canticle for Leibowitz
Walter M. Miller, Jr.
2011.01.08 / ★

I have never met such a disappointing book. A Canticle for Leibowitz greets us in three parts: in the first, we're introduced to the Earth post-nuclear explosion. Governments are in shambles and the Church has again taken on a central role in the world, providing services that governments are unwilling or unable to provide and keeping track of knowledge that would otherwise be lost (a nicely handled future-history echo to the Middle Ages). Bookleggers stole and transported books to save them from mobs that would burn them. Demons are real; the demon Fallout is one of the scariest, though no one knows exactly why, what it looked like, or what it did. In the first part of this book, the writing enthralled me, the world building enthralled me, the serious treatment of religion after apocalypse enthralled me.

Then we flash forward in time to reach each of parts 2 and 3. These parts met with with ungodly numbers of indistinguishable characters, numerous not-understandable wars, an utterly gratuitous scene in which Indians drink blood, endless moralizing on the evil nature of man, ridiculous amounts of stream-of-consciousness Deep Thinking, whining that feminine representations of Jesus are misrepresentations because Jesus had a temper, and then, to top it all of, a woman with two heads turns out to be the Blessed Virgin. What the effity eff?!?!? Oh, and by the way, of all four women in the book, the bicephalous lady is the only one that (1) has a name, or (2) has more than 2 pages involving her (the bicephalous woman gets maybe 5).

I cannot begin to express my disappointment and distaste for where this book went. At least now that I've finished it, I can move onto something better.

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Category: Award Winners
Alternative Categories: (none)

So why has Canticle been so popular? Is it a product of it's time, and now that our culture has changed, it's dated? I've always been told I should read this book, but I've resisted for some reason.

71 Gah. I'm a fan of dystopia and post-apocalypse, and have been very eager to pick up A canticle for Leibowitz, a book I didn't know about at all before seeing lots of buzz here on LT. Your review makes me a little hesitant though. Not because you hated it (cause tastes can differ even visavi people you usually share reading tastes with), but because stale gender representations tend to be one of my pet peeves as well.

I'll probably end up reading it at some point anyway, but there's a big risk I'll end up feeling just like you. Which doesn't exactly make me run my legs off to the bookstore.

73> I tend to believe her on the "stale gender representations" bit. The short stories included with I am Legend struck me as sexist now, but typical of that era of science fiction writers. I'm pretty sure Canticle was from the same era. Science Fiction was male dominated. We have to thank Ursula LeGuin and others for shaking that fraternity up. Sigh... It's going off my wish list.

71 I read it quite a few years ago and quite liked part 1 and 2. Even though the ending was a bit of a letdown, I remember that the story made me think - always a good sign. I'm also usually bothered by a lack of interesting female characters but I don't think I was as aware of gender politics when I read it as I am now. Or maybe, I forgave it because it's mostly set in a monastery. But, yeah, I see where you're coming from.

@72-75
A Canticle for Leibowitz was published in 1959, so it's very much part of the old skool science fiction fraternity, just as cammykitty points to. It wasn't the most dated thing I've read (Native Tongue would have to get that one, for horribly dated 80s feminist fears), but there were a handful of things that I'd chalk up to being a book of the 1950s -- one-dimensional portrayals of the Plains people as (literally) bloodthirsty and lack of women as the most salient examples. But as long as books have plots I can follow or characters I can recognize, I'm pretty willing to forgive them for echoing their environments.

A lot of people love this book all the way through and not just in 1 or 2 parts, though, so I suspect there may be something that I'm missing. If anyone passes by who is willing to explain their good impressions of the book, I really would love to hear it.... I certainly don't want to foster a only-rag-on-Canticle environment!

@75, paruline, do you remember what it made you think about? It's possible that it's just the theme of "nuclearization is quite literally evil" that didn't resonate with me, especially as I was young enough during the Cold War that I basically don't remember it....?

Oh, sad...sorry you had such a disappointing read;
Oh, relieved...one to not shift up my TBR yet *selfish*
Oh, glad - great review! :)

I do believe some of these books show their age - the ones which don't (and The Handmaid's Tale springs to mind here) show how well they are written and what well-devised concepts are the premise. - just my 2 cents. And the gender disparity may just reflect the age unfortunately.

I remember reading A Canticle for Leibowitz in the mid-sixties and being really impressed by it but I've never reread it. You've made me wonder what I would think of it today.

Thanks for visiting my page. I so admire everything you have read so far.
(International) Authors (of Color) and Off-My-Shelves are great categories. Money & Investing is especially wise - one that I want and should investigate - but I will bury my head in the sand and check your progress with this!

@76- well, I read it in my teens and it made me think about the cyclical nature of history and how we could be bound to repeat the mistakes of the past. And also about how tied our civilization is to science and technology. Anyway, that's what I - vaguely - remember about the book.

I read Canticle last year (or the year before?) for my real life bookclub, and I stopped reading it partway through Part 2. I couldn't put my thoughts into words exactly, but your review of it is pretty much spot-on. I felt and thought the same way about it, and during discussions when we talked about Parts 2 & 3, people said the same thing as you. I'm glad to have crossed that one off of my list!

Thanks for a great review! And I agree, it did seem like it was an (unfortunately) dated product of its time.

ah damn I just found an old copy of Canticle for Leibowitz on my shelf and was thinking about reading it. I have always been a bit hesistant to be honest but the gender issue puts me off further. Still I do have a copy so I should at least try it..

clfisha> Perhaps it's a quick one to clear off the shelves. I say give it thirty pages (or less) and then decide.

77 (Lman)
Lyn, I loved The Handmaid's Tale when I first read it, though that must have been back around 2000. It's probably due for a reread; I'm sure I'd see new things in it now that I hadn't before....

@78 (hailelib)
I'm sorry if I cast a bit of shadow on the glow of your memories, hailelib..... Canticle had so much promise for me for a while, I wish I hadn't been disappointed.

79 (FemmeNoiresque)
FemmeNoiresque, don't be so impressed with me! I've been counting books toward this challenge since -ahem- November. ;)

80 (paruline)
I actually really liked the themes of Canticle that you mention -- cyclical time and civilization's ties to science/technology. Thanks for the input. I'm thinking my reaction may also suffer somewhat from over-expectations, in addition to the lack of salience of nuclear fears and lack of living in the 1950s....

@81 (LauraBrook)
I'm actually rather glad I'm not alone in being so disappointed. From the reviews page, it looks like most people have strong positive feelings toward the book; I was a bit worried about being offensive by wording my exasperation so strongly. I know you're not absolving me, but still....

82 (clfisha)
clfisha, like cammykitty (83), I think it'd be worthwhile to start reading anyway. I actually highly enjoyed the first part of the book and the ideas and thoughts I got out were more than worth the time I put in to that part. And it's always possible that it'll speak to you all the way through, regardless of being suffused with the gender influences of late 1950s science fiction....

Edited to add in user names.

11. The Mystery of the Aleph: Mathematics, the Kabbalah, and the Search for Infinity
Amir D. Aczel
2011.01.11 / ★★★½

I'm glad I finally got to this one, and I wish I'd gotten to it long ago.

Focusing on the mathematics of infinity, this popular science book (and one-time national bestseller) traces the development of the understanding of infinity historically, blending mathematics for the uninitiated (if not the non-mathematical) with stories of personal lives and local color. Aczel uses chronology as a natural method to structure his discussion of how ideas influenced each other and developed onward, which is actually a very useful approach. I appreciated that aspect of the book, and I appreciated the ease and clarity with which the author pulled us through some very fascinating and complex ideas, from the Greeks to modern times. I most assuredly came out better educated and intrigued.

My quibble with this book, though, is that its examples run the gamut on the factors of each "am I as a reader supposed to be understanding this explanation?" and "can I understand it?". When I was both intended to understand and could understand, Aczel's explanations were wonderful; I really did learn a lot. Unfortunately, he often gave an overview of a mathematical proof and then moves on after a sentence or two, neither really explaining the overview nor explaining that he never intended to explain. This, I'd like to blame on sloppy editing -- editor choosing to delete paragraphs of cogent explanation because the book gets too into the weeds, without adding in appropriate transitions -- but it happened too regularly by the end of the book to be the editor's fault. A bit more smoothing would have helped the book, if not transformed it into something outstanding.

Aczel wins points for never repeating himself (nonfiction win!), for being honest about his philosophical viewpoint that mathematics has an existence outside from the minds of humans, and for writing so well as to make me very curious about what new information the next page would present. Nevertheless, though I can't express why, I still can't find myself rating this one as high as 4.0. As a result, 3.5 stars it gets. However, I'd have no qualms at all in recommending it for people interested in a basic introduction to the mathematical understanding of infinity (or in Cantor, fascinating mind that he was).

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Category: Off-My-Shelves
Alternative Categories: Dewey Decimal Books, Science & Math

Edited for touchstone.

Great review!

I just found your thread and have been reading through the discussion of A Canticle for Leibowitz with interest. I recently acquired a copy as I seem to be collecting dystopian books. I will have to see how it reads for me. Usually I can be forgiving, given the context they were written in. However sexism can be very off-putting.

I recently read The Handmaid's Tale as my first book for this challenge (And my first book of the year!). A very powerful and cautionary tale. I agree with others who say that it will likely stand the test of time far better than some other dystopian books.

Middlesex - I did not like this book at all. It started out strange and ended even stranger. It is interesting I will say that but not my cup of tea I suppose. Cloud Atlas, Midnights Children, and Wolf Hall are on my list to read as well. I've heard nothing but good about them so hopefully. Infidel is a great book ... highly recommended. Another foreign author that I read last year was Herta Muller- The Land of Green Plums. It's about a group of young people in Romania who have high hopes of a better life only to have them crushed. It won the International IMPAC award and was originally written in German. Thought you might be interested since you also have a not in English category.

I read a canticle for leibowitz in the 80s and only vaguely remember it - sounds like its not worth a re-read!

I read the handmaid's tale for my 1010 challenge and enjoyed it

Some very interesting reading here! You are off to a great start!

86, Bcteagirl, I've also found myself reading more dystopian books recently. They tend to leave me a bit drained but very thoughtful; I'm impressed and a bit jealous you're working through them yourself!

@87, vibrantminds, thanks for stopping by! It's very possible that I heard about Infidel from you. ;) I'll also look into The Land of Green Plums -- always good to have more recs (especially in German!)!

88, psutto, good to see you as well! The classic dystopian stories seem to be ones that a lot of people can relate to.

@89, Thanks, tymfos! You too. :)

90: Thanks! I finished 1984 today, another powerful read. I think I am going to make my next few books non-dystopian before I go back just for a short break :P I look forward to hearing more about what you think of other dystopian books! Any idea what will be next up?

Either of you dystopians tried We? It's dystopian, but with a sense of humor.

Funny you should ask, I was lucky enough to receive a copy in the mail just today! I am hoping to get to it as part of this years challenge, but am reading trying to read oldest the books entered into Librarything first, so I don't have buried books that never get read :P We shall see! If you enjoyed it I may just need to move it up in the pile :)

BcTea> Yes, you should move it up a notch or to.

I haven't tried We yet! I'll have to check that one out too. I'm actually not sure I've ever read any Russian literature at all....

Edited for non-loading touchstone....

We isn't as heavy as most Russian literature is rumoured to be. It's a good place to start if you want to read Russian lit.

I keep forgetting to read We it has been on my wishlist for ages.. hmm adding it to my 11 in 11 challenge

12. Reading People: How to Understand People and Predict Their Behavior
Jo-Ellan Dimitrius and Mark Mazzarella
2010.01.20 / ★★½

Probably more useful in showing me how people judge me than in teaching me to read others, this book takes an analytic approach to understanding people from their appearances. Honestly, it's not all that useful of a book; it doesn't reveal anything you wouldn't guess if you started deliberately analyzing and judging people from their mannerisms, appearances, and accouterments. I felt a few times like it was targeted at people on the autism spectrum, providing rules-based information on how to understand social situations that most people pick up on subconsciously. Still, in that it models the skill of judging people 300 pages over, it may yet make for a worthwhile read. I do feel like I'm more consciously aware of judgments I make and others may be making about me now, which means I've benefited from the book the way I'd hoped.

I pulled it down because I recalled flipping through it a year ago and being amazed and distraught at what I learned about how people were likely judging me.... After actually reading it, I wish I'd read something different for the 100s of my mini-Dewey Decimal challenge. Ah well.

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Category: Dewey Decimal Books
Alternative Categories: Female Authors (though I suspect it was ghostwritten to get the jury consultant author gigs on the talk show circuit after the O. J. Simpson trial)

#98 This sounds like a book that could give the reader something new to worry about, rather than being purely helpful!

Most definitely! I'm still working on the social skills & professional image thing myself, though, so it was useful....

13. Fingersmith
Sarah Waters
2011.01.30 / ★★★★½

Great page-turner. I'm afraid the "lesbian Dickens" descriptor is both over-used and undersells its originality, but the phrase does give a good sense of the appeal. In Fingersmith, a sheltered orphan petty thief joins in a plot with a once-gentleman, aiming to separate a 17-year-old heiress from her guardian uncle and her money... and innumerable twists ensue.

Fingersmith hits very many of my narrative buttons, including a bunch that I don't spend much time looking to library fiction to fulfill together anymore: books and lesbians and dialogue and worldbuilding and sex and twists and angst (oh my!). And these lesbians are neither evil nor dead! And their relationship doesn't come from nowhere! And despite taking on some difficult other issues, lesbianism here is not represented in a cause-and-effect relationship with mental illness or with general perviness or with lack of morals! And there is no overt Message about how lesbians are just like normal people! And best of all, Sarah Waters can actually write, which means this isn't just another piece of lesbian genre fiction, in which I feel the need to excuse some issues out of desperation for strong female characters or for writers who don't shy away from mentioning the love that dare not speak its name.

Because yes. This book has plot and worldbuilding and characterization in spades. I avoided putting it down. It would be richly worthwhile even without the lesbians (although much harder for me to review, given that I want you to read the plot details in the book, not here). For me, though, the lack of other respectful well-developed modern books with lesbian characters means that Fingersmith jumps above where it would otherwise reside -- which would just on the plot alone be 4.0 star-dom. Recommended.

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Category: Female Authors
Alternative Categories: Recommendations, Award Winners, Authors and Books I'm Embarrassed To Admit I Haven't Read Already

I loved Fingersmith when I read it last year. One of those books I found almost impossible to put down once started.

Great review, I really must get around to gettign a copy of Fingersmith.

#101 I, too, really want to read this now! I enjoyed Tipping The Velvet, but was rather lukewarm about The Night Watch. I imagine that Fingersmith will have the appeal of the former.

102 DeltaQueen50
I had the same experience. The plot of Fingersmith was too good and twisty to put down!

@103 & 104
*shoos you in that general direction* It's a surprisingly quick read, too. Moves fast, catches you up in it, and is easy to gulp down by the chapter.

Fingersmith is on my wishlist! Other people have been raving about her lately too.

Loved Fingersmith too. It has one of the biggest gasp moments I've encountered in a book. (Hooray for twists!) You who have read it know which one I mean :)

And I agree with pammab, this is not "lesbian fiction". It's a real page turner with interesting and believable characters - who happen to be lesbian.

14. Anathem
Neal Stephenson
2011.02.03 / ★★★★

Unbelievable world building. Unbelievable. The book is damn long and slow, but it all comes together. It builds on itself. It embeds you. Anathem is quintessential spec fic: it takes our world and then twists it just a bit, setting the entire story in a world similar to Earth but not quite the same, thereby opening up all kinds of intriguing parallels and things to think about. Stephenson re-introduces philosophy and art and mathematics and history in this new world, and twines them all with a plot that is tightly twisted around and in on itself.

This book pushed my intellectual enjoyment buttons, if not my "omg squeeeeee!" buttons. Three stand-out aspects to me that may not make much sense if you haven't read it: This book's treatment of religion is perfectly pitched: religion is not ignored, people even become believers, and the book indicates that religion has a lot to offer the world regardless of whether it represents anything "true". Number two, nothing gets tied up at the end. It's all tied together, but not tied up. Finally, in as much as the Earth plays a role, it still isn't "our" Earth. It's yet a different Earth. Which... wow. Way to bring home one of the main mind-bendy themes of the book.

Disappointments were few and mostly to be expected in Neal Stephenson. Despite all its characters and all the plot opportunities to have the characters interact, Anathem somehow fails the Bechdel test. Whoops. Similarly, despite the book's 1000 pages, recent publication, and otherwise thoroughness, somehow the very existence of same-sex couples was left only as an aside in a dictionary entry. Whoops again. Good thing I can still manage to identify with a self-centered academically-minded 18-year old straight male oaf.... *ahem*

But yes. This is definitely a good book, but it isn't one you should try to read for the plot. Although minor impacts happened throughout the book, but it offers no real crescendo or mind-blowing climax (thus the lack of sparkle required for my 5 star rating). It's the slow and steady world building that's the achievement.

(P.S. The audiobook is quite literally a work of art. For one, it features the best voice actor I've ever heard -- he imbues all the innumerable characters with their own voices and personalities, and manages to keep reminding us that the main character himself is only a kid. And the recording layers on eerily otherworldly music as well, and additional voices for dictionary entries, and it all comes together to a single impressive -- and clearly expensive -- experiential whole.)

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Category: Award Winners
Alternative Categories: Recommendations

Edited to fix the date... No, it is no longer January. Yikes.

106 & 107
Amen to that! I am glad I finally got around to Fingersmith....

I haven't read Stephenson yet. Great review!

Anathem is on my tbr shelves so I'm glad you enjoyed it. Won't be getting to it anytime soon though as I have The Baroque Cycle lined up for this year instead.

Starting with Stephenson is always fun! It's unfortunate that the man seems to write good-but-long books, or short books with significant flaws, in my experience. I'll have to look into the Baroque Cycle. I've also heard good things about Diamond Age.... Possibly later this year!

15. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll
2011.02.05 / ★★★½

Decided I needed a break from all the massive tomes, so I picked up Alice in Wonderland -- which I'd first tried to read on a bus back in the sixth grade but somehow never got into. My reaction this time around: I liked the whimsy and word play, but it really is rather frenetically paced, isn't it? I suspect I'd have enjoyed both parts more if I actually had been successful reading it as a child, or if someone had read it aloud to me.

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Category: Authors and Books I'm Embarrassed To Admit I Haven't Read Already
Alternative Categories: Recommendations, Off-My-Shelves

I get curious about the specific reference that you tried reading it on a bus in sixth grade. Why was that such a memorable bus?

113> I'm not sure about Alice. I read it as an adult and enjoyed it, but thought it was a satire on society that would go straight over the average kids head. I think it either tickles you, or it falls flat. It just depends on who you are. I'd rate it about 3 1/2 too.

Great reading and great reviews pammab! I've added The Wall to the wishlist!

Eeek, look at me with thread comments! Let me procrastinate further by responding. ;)

114 GBM
It was a very memorable bus! I don't know why. It was a long ride. A friend lent me Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I knew even then that it was a book I "should" read, but even then I couldn't get myself to. I guess I have more self-control now. ;)

115 cammykitty
There was satire in Alice? I think I'd benefit from some more literary commentary on it, really truly. For instance, I only knew the original of one of the nursery rhymes that get changed around in it -- Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Uh huh. Your call for more context resonates with me, since I'm pretty sure that much of it went over my head even as an adult.... Unfortunately. I did love the word play though.

@116 LisaMorr
But please be careful with 184603:The Wall, LisaMorr! It really was a rewarding read, but it also nearly ruined the cheeriness of my Christmas holiday.... It's a very pensive-making book. Fair warning!

It wasn't very consistent satire - not like Candide. I don't think I remember it well enough to discuss it terribly intelligently.

16. Little Brother
Cory Doctorow
2011.02.15 / ★★★½

My synopsis: Respectable geek boy decides to take on the DHS and the national security behemoth after a nasty motivating experience and as his and his neighbors' rights are gradually taken away. In the process, geek kid takes every opportunity to lecture the audience about technology and how it relates to privacy.

Boy, am I conflicted about what rating to give this book. It had so many good aspects, but I just can't get over the fact that this is OMG PREACHY MESSAGE FICTION. So much so that it regularly (regularly!) reminded of Left Behind in its ability to twist everything back to the central messages, which are, in order: (1) technology is cool, (2) the current national security system is bad, and (3) privacy is good. Arrrrrgh! It's like reading a libertarian treatise on Our Civil Liberties™.

Of course, the author really does handle these messages in a decent way. The technology explanations are nicely written and understandable (if provided by an unbelievably cocky teenager who manages to patronize at the same time he gushes about how cool something is -- even if it's as basic as wifi). He makes all this stuff exciting, and he's a better author than I'd have given him credit for. Little Brother has the added plus of treating all the awesome geek subcultures like the awesome geek subcultures that they are, and working from a whole lot of premises that I believe in. I'm sure I'd have been all over this book if I'd read it when I was a cocky and tech-interested geekkid....

The best way to nutshell this book, though, is just to point out that it should probably be marketed as "Cory Doctorow, activist blogger, does YA fiction". If that's your thing, or if you're a geeky nerdy techy kid, it's definitely for you. If not, you may just want to poke a bit more through the reviews before giving it a whirl.

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Category: Recommendations
Alternative Categories: (none)

#119 Love that review! (And I generally hate being hit over the head by a fiction author who has a political agenda and can't at least be subtle with it!)

Me too! Unsubtle agendas kill books for me. It's too bad, because this could have been a great one if it had been handled more cautiously.... Ah well. :)

17. Sex at Dawn
Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha
2011.02.19 / ★★★★

Human sexuality is evolutionarily multi-partner for both partners. Trying to be monogamous is therefore an ill-fated endeavor. (So is the distilled argument of Sex at Dawn.)

I learned a lot, but I didn't really see space for myself in this flippant book full of zingers, italics, and rhetorical questions. Mostly it just seemed like an argument for switching our normalizing allegiances ("it's not monogamy that's 'natural'! choose polyamory instead!"). Such an innovative premise makes for a lot of anecdotes and scientific finding recountings, most of which were very interesting (though some of which I'd consider specious, given my distaste for what counts as reasoning in anthropology), but I'm not big on "normalizing" any sexual behavior....

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Category: Recommendations
Alternative Categories: Dewey Decimal Books, Authors and Books I'm Embarrassed To Admit I Haven't Read Already

All four of my last books were by men! I'm failing my goal for a 50-50 division. Time to deliberately focus on some women writers.... (And finally time to get to SantaThing books!)

I liked your review of Anathem. I discovered Stephenson last year, with Snow Crash and I plan to read more. Some of his works seem quite daunting, though!

They are totally daunting. I started with Snow Crash too, but it's actually the weakest of the books I've read by him -- the whole "coders will get brain damage from looking at bitmaps!" bit was a bit whacked, to my mind, as were some of the linguistic things.... But I'd highly recommend Cryptonomicon if you like math and history and plots, or Anathem if you like world building.... Thanks for the compliment and stopping by!

Brilliant reviews on your last two reads, Pammab. You have a great way of giving a clear idea of the books you read, while tossing a few laughs in. Really enjoying this thread.

Thank you, GBM. I'm smiling. Likewise with you, of course.

18. Bittersweet
Nevada Barr
2011.02.27 / ★★★

Lesbian historical fiction Western. Reminded me a lot of Jan Karon in style.... but gay. Not much more to say.

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Category: Female Authors
Alternative Categories: Recommendations, Off-My-Shelves

19. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
Amy Chua
2011.03.05 / ★★★★½

What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it.

This is not a parenting book. It's a memoir about having virtuoso-level expectations for your children, and about being willing to use sticks as well as carrots to raise your children to excellence. Chua calls it the "Chinese model" and writes with ironic self-awareness -- but not any shame -- about screaming six-hour-long piano practice sessions with her elementary schooler, putting her three-year-old out in the cold, and how hard it was to lower her expectations for her dogs.

I found myself strangely sympathetic to Amy Chua's cause, methods, and the world she describes. This book reflects a subset of American culture, a desire for absolute excellence, an appreciation of hard work, and a childhood musical experience that I share. It was fascinating to see my experiences reflected back at me and the pieces threaded together. I know I credit my success to having recognized that excellence is never easy, to believing that being second means not having worked hard enough, and to having been caught up in the "virtuous cycle" of practice, praise, confidence, and enjoyment early on enough to recognize its rewards. Somehow, I managed to luck into working internally from the high-achieving patterns that Chua deliberately externally instilled in her daughters, if never with the level of intensity that Chua demands. Thank goodness, too, because her methods are torturous, even if they did get her daughters invaluable results -- both point results like performing Carnegie Hall in 8th grade, and lasting results like well-deserved faith in their ability to achieve anything given enough effort.

This is a book for the highly educated, the highly motivated, for people who care about status and success, for people who are living in circles where Ivy League educations for their children are a social necessity. That's Amy Chua's social class, that's who she is explaining herself to, and that is what her experiences reflect. I am honestly unsure how this book would read to those lucky people outside that framework, but I found it a fascinating and quick read.

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Category: (International) Authors (of Color)
Alternative Categories: Female Authors, Dewey Decimal Books

Edited for typo and category

@129 Sounds pretty terrifying. In a fascinating sort of way.

@130
It was terrifying! In a fascinating way, most definitely.

20. Practical Guide to Cat Care
Editors of Consumer Guide
2011.03.09 / ★★

Very low reading level plus very large font combined to make me think I was reading something written by a precocious fifth grader for the first 25% of this short book (cat breeds, nutrition, training, travel, things to buy in preparation, legalities). The second 75% focused in detail on "things that can go wrong" (cat diseases, cat first aid, dealing with a sick cat). This has all left me both a bit grossed out and not quite as informed about potential day-to-day issues as I was hoping. I'm not sure that information about 15 different parasites is likely to stick with me very long, and I suspect the internet would be a better source if I ever did need to get real information about, say, lungworm.

All in all, an okay read, but I can't recommend it.

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Category: Things I Want To Buy
Alternative Categories: Dewey Decimal Books, Off-My-Shelves

21. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
Susanna Clarke
2011.03.21 / ★★

Booooooring. Never found myself engaged in this one. Mr. Norrell and Jonathan Strange are magicians in Napoleon-era Britain. The plot, inasmuch as there is one, moves very slowly, and the worldbuilding bores. The style emulates 19th century writing (not really my thing). The characters and language are at points delightful, but not delightful enough to justify the length of the book....

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Category: Authors and Books I'm Embarrassed To Admit I Haven't Read Already
Alternative Categories: Female Authors,

@133 Didn't dislike it like you apparently did, but never quite got the hype for that one either. One of those books that was more fun to hear about than to actually read.

I didn't actually dislike it. I was just totally (and utterly) "meh" about it.... I suppose that doesn't really come through in my comments, though. It never engaged me.

That's kind of what I've heard about Jonathon Strange. It's on my TBR. I've heard it's a slow start, and then people either love love love it or it's just meh. Eye of the beholder. When I get to it, I guess I'll give it 100 pages. If I'm not into it by then, I'm probably not Susanna Clarke's kind of reader.

Hummm... 'meh' for a book that size sounds like a 'pass' for me.

137 I agree. Slow start is one thing, but after that many hours of reading, a book has to pay off with something better than "it passed the time."

@133-138 People, please don't turn away from JS&MN. If it helps to have another opinion, I found it delightful; the pages flew by. I mean, what's not to love about a mix of Austen, Dickens and historical fiction, with fantastic world building and glorious footnotes? Anyway, I loved it :-)

139 That's what I meant by reading 100 pages first! Enough people raved about it to get it on my shelves. I think it suits some people, and bores others. Not every book is for every reader. :)

>133 pammab:-140 What an interesting discussion of Jonathan Strange! I will probably get to it soon; it was loaned to me -- by someone who loved it, of course -- and I need to read it and return it.

I err on the side of liking it although it is a long meandering book I can see why it's not to everyone's taste though. Her short story book might be a good place to get a taste: The Ladies of Grace adieu.

I liked it, but I agree that very little happens - either you like the characters and the syrupy style of writing and don't mind that its plot-lite or you don't and then its a bit "meh" I guess - also some books really suffer from over-hype....

22. Middlesex
Jeffrey Eugenides
2011.04.12 / ★★★★

A three-generation history of an American family is not something I'd usually read, but I sucked it up for the sake of the Pulitzer -- and I was pleased. Middlesex uses a memoir format to chronicle the history of the people carrying a recessive intersex-causing gene from a small village in Greece. Eventually that gene arises in the protagonist and first-person author Cal Stephanides, who was raised as an American girl in Detroit; when her male secondary sex characteristics appeared during puberty, the world both turns on its head and doesn't. This book was delightfully ironic and aware, with some incisive commentary scattered throughout and delightfully rendered, such as Cal's thoughts on the disgusting space that are public men's bathrooms when using them for the first time. And despite dealing repeatedly with the tricky subject matter of gender, race, and class, Middlesex never pushed my disrespect buttons.

I found the writing in particular both stunning and excessive. Some of the descriptive writing blew me away and sent chills down my spine (this passage stands out: "Standing in line [in the Navy] all day brought on the very thoughts that Milton wanted to avoid, of a clarinet imprint, like a ring of fire, on Tessie's flushed thigh. Or of Vandenbrock, the kid from Omaha who'd drowned: his battered face, the seawater leaking through his busted teeth."). At the same time some of the more excessive hortatory stuff made me roll my eyes ("Sing now, O Muse, of the recessive mutation on my fifth chromosome! Sing how it bloomed two and a half centuries ago on the slopes of Mount Olympus, while the goats bleated and the olives dropped! Sing ...") *rolls eyes again*

All in all, though, I found Middlesex to be smart, crisp, and a joy to read.

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Category: (Potential) Award Winners
Alternative Categories: Recommendations

23. The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins
2011.04.22 / ★★★★

I found the plot and action to be fantastic in this future dystopian world in which children fight to death every year for the entertainment of their government. The audiobook had me missing my (regular!) exits on the highway and sitting in my car for ridiculous amounts of extra time after I'd arrived home. Yes, it was that good. The characters left more than a bit to be desired, however -- they were very readable, very shallow -- which pulls the rating on this one down. If the author continues to improve, I expect the next book in this YA series should really truly blow my world, though.

P.S. I found the audiobook reader to detract from the book.

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Category: Female Authors
Alternative Categories: Recommendations

24. The Whale Rider
Witi Ihimaera
2011.04.27 / ★★★

I kept feeling like this short story about a Maori girl who is ignored by her elders while she repeatedly proves herself worthy of her full heritage was an allegory. An allegory for what, I don't know. Possibly for women taking on a larger and more accepted role in Maori society and traditional life? I got nothin'. The story was interesting enough on its own, but I definitely felt like I kept missing some sort of key that would make it all pop.

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Category: (International) Authors (of Color)
Alternative Categories: Award Winners (1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up)

I haven't read The Whale Rider but I remember feeling like you did about the movie, especially since I'd been told the movie was sooooo good. Maybe if I read the book too? Maybe if I visit Australia and all the surrounding islands?

I just tore through The Hunger Games trilogy last week. I was surprised by how much I liked them, and how late I stayed up to finish each one. Just couldn't put them down once I got started reading.

@147
I wonder if the movie would add anything to my understanding of the book. I remember hearing good things about the movie when it came out, but not so much recently.

@148
I'm working on getting my hands on Catching Fire now! I'm glad it holds to the same standard.

149> Maybe. It was a cute movie. I still think I need to do some travelling though. ;)

great list here!

@150
More traveling is *always* better!

@151
Thanks, bfertig!

25. Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, book 2)
Suzanne Collins
2011.05.16 / ★★½

A typical middle-of-the-trilogy YA book. Only a handful times was I surprised or engaged by this novel. The characters continued to be flat, the world wasn't developed any further, and the action was all in repetition from the previous book (everyone goes back into the Games -- w00t w00t)... when it wasn't shockingly badly obvious. Plus the audiobook reader continued to annoy, and I continued to be frustrated by looking for a meaningful real-world parallel in the District/Capitol world. (What does the author mean by the caricatures of each that she's drawing?) Not particularly good; I'm disappointed. (But I'll probably still finish the series, because I can.)

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Category: Female Authors
Alternative Categories: (none -- maybe Award Winners if I stretch it)

26. A Song for Arbonne
Guy Gavriel Kay
2011.05.16 / ★★½

I started this book in March for the Guy Gavriel Kay group read. I've since renewed it twice, and it's overdue right now -- and it was only the fines stacking up that could get me to finish it. Now, don't get me wrong, A Song for Arbonne's a fine book. It's got strong worldbuilding (which I love) of a non-fantasy fake-take on historical France (which I don't), and it's got strong and enjoyable characters that will stick in my brain.... but about 2/3 of the way through A Song for Arbonne all turned to political machinations. Political machinations are just Not My Style. In fact, I am bored to tears by them. By the time I reached the last 100 pages, I was as excited to be reading more as I would be if someone was angling to play Risk with me -- namely, not at all.

Overall assessment: good book (probably a 4 star book for someone else), but just not something that fits my tastes. It's a close miss, but it's a definite miss. (And its ending is just too darn tight.)

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Category: Recommendations
Alternative Categories: Authors and Books I'm Embarrassed To Admit I Haven't Read Already, (International) Authors (of Color)

Bad streak. But a couple of enjoyable reviews! Sometimes I wish more of my fellow LT:ers would stumble on more books they dislike, because it really does make for entertaining reports!

Unfortunately so. :(

Of course I wish all my LT friends good reading all the time, really. But a bad book every once in a while makes things more interesting.

Hmmm... that's the first negative review I've seen of the Hunger Game series. I haven't read it yet, but I'm glad that everyone doesn't love it.

Suzanne Collins did a really good job with coming up with a great idea for a world and writing the action in the Hunger Games... but everything else comes up short. (But the stuff she does well is so original, it's hard not to be swept away....)

That makes sense.

27. Mockingjay
Suzanne Collins
2011.06.07 / ★★★½

I enjoyed Mockingjay (#3 in the Hunger Games series) more than Catching Fire (#2), and about on par with the first book, The Hunger Games. In this book we learn of the extra district whose existence had been sorely hinted at for books now, and we go on a political adventure as well as an action adventure. As I've been complaining about all along, the politics was a bit meaningless -- I couldn't find a good parallel to draw with our world. But that's okay, it was a quick and enjoyable read nonetheless.

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Category: Female Authors
Alternative Categories: (none)

28. Beloved
Toni Morrison
2011.07.07 / ★★★½

Enjoyable, but something of a mindfuck. I had no idea this was about slavery and ghosts. (Or maybe it wasn't about ghosts.) It felt like the sort of book I'd want to read multiple times and discuss in a group, because there was a lot there I felt like I was missing on audio. It was good.

By the way, the audiobook was read by Toni Morrison, and not only can that woman write, but she can read (unlike many authors). And her voice is amazing. *recommends listening to her*

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Category: Authors and Books I'm Embarrassed To Admit I Haven't Read Already
Alternative Categories: Female Authors, Award Winners (Pulitzer), (International) Authors (of Color)

Good to have you back!

@163
Thanks, GBM! Though I'm only on and off back. :( Life got busy and I haven't had much time to read -- much less make notes on what I read, much less read others' threads.... *hopes fervently this will resolve itself in time*

29. All Quiet on the Western Front
Erich Maria Remarque
2011.07.14 / ★★★★

I came into this book with no conception of what it was about. (I even somehow thought it was a classic Western). Well, it's a war book. A very depressing, very squirm-inducing, very heartache-causing book. The characterization is universal (or in less supportive terms, nonexistent), and the images will stay with me. It's a grand description of what created the Lost Generation of WWI.

War is terrible. This book more than anything makes me wonder what we're doing to ourselves by rendering war more and more like video games.

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Category: Authors and Books I'm Embarrassed To Admit I Haven't Read Already
Alternative Categories: Recommendations

Pam - We're planning a group read on Beloved in the 11 11 group for September. Join us then!!!

@166
I'll definitely join in the Beloved group read in September. I meant to read Morrison with the group read in September -- and then I ran out of audiobooks to read at my local library! (I'm actually considering an Audible account now... I need to do a bit more research about what the costs are compared to buying the books directly, but my library unfortunately but not surprisingly just doesn't have the depth of material that I'd like.)

30. Cryoburn
Lois McMaster Bujold
2011.08.01 / ★★★★

My first introduction to Bujold and the Vorkosigan series, which I've heard about in bits and pieces for years. I probably shouldn't have started with the one that was most recently published, but I was impressed at the way this story of investigation of fraud and cryofrozen bodies in a science fiction setting fit together. There's definitely a formula at work in this story, but it has more than enough twists and turns and interest to keep my interest, and I found myself delighted at the extent to which the science fiction setting was a) actually scientific, and b) intricately and naturally the setting of the story. I'll definitely be reading more in the Vorkosigan series; this was a delightful read.

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Category: Female Authors
Alternative Categories: Authors and Books I'm Embarrassed To Admit I Haven't Read Already

31. Ceremony
Leslie Marmon Silko
2011.08.17 / ★★★

Thoroughly uninspiring. My rating is neutral because in all honesty, I don't remember enough of this book about the fallout of WWII among Native Americans in the West to have an opinion. Maybe it's just one that requires more concentration than audiobook allows. To the right person or in the right context, it might be great. To me, it was forgettable.

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Category: (International) Authors (of Color)
Alternative Categories: Female Authors

32. Hound of the Baskervilles
Sir Arthor Conan Doyle
2011.08.19 / ★★★★

This was a quick and enjoyable detective read, but not a story that I suspect I'll find particularly memorable (with the possible exception of the imagery of the hound). I do see, however, why Sherlock Holmes persists even today as a big name author.

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Category: Authors and Books I'm Embarrassed To Admit I Haven't Read Already
Alternative Categories: Recommendations

33. A Fire Upon the Deep
Vernor Vinge
2011.08.24 / ★★★★★

Brief (spoilerless) synopsis: A Fire Upon the Deep comprises two stories that begin and end together. One focuses on two human children caught amongst a world of medieval aliens who have their own political battles. The other focuses on a battle against time and space to limit a superconscious Evil.

Reaction:I've decided that I love Vernor Vinge. His space-voyaging computer-aware science fiction is some of the best of its breed in providing plot while also playing with perspective, meaning, and culture.

Vinge operates at the nexus of hard science and soft science, and I love him for that. He's right there with the space ships and the computer science, but the bulk of his book isn't a straight space adventure -- it's sociology. Above all, his are hands-down the best alien races I've ever encountered in my life. They are truly, truly alien, in biology and in culture; they aren't just more trashy Star Trek-style humanoids. The alien Tines of this book, while not quite as jaw-droppingly alien as the Spiders of A Deepness in the Sky, still deliver many times over in exploring which aspects of culture belong to intelligent beings and which aspects of culture belong to biology. At the same time, Vinge's thought experiment of higher Zones in which theology and computer science become indistinguishable are just as fascinating and well-executed as his presentation of the Tines' group minds and medieval environment. Even his cross-galactic internet -- and details like its bandwidth concerns -- has a depth (and prescience) that I would be surprised to find in many books released today, much less in 1992.

I spot only two slight marred areas on the enjoyable novel that this is: First, like much good spec fic, Vinge throws you in to the new world from the very beginning, with explanations that become apparent only as you read. I tend to find this approach both highly frustrating and highly rewarding... Second, Vinge has a penchant for double- or triple-knotting his loose ends. That inability to let characters and worlds have lives apart from the author seriously grates on my nerves. Unfortunately there's not much I can do about that (though perhaps one day I'll learn to avoid reading his epilogues).

All told, I've decided that Vinge is one of the great SF authors of our age. I'd recommend him without reservation to fans of world building and spec fic.

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Category: Award Winners
Alternative Categories: Recommendations, Authors and Books I'm Embarrassed To Admit I Haven't Read Already, Off-My-Shelves

I'll have to read Vinge eventually. Good review.

I've never read any either but that review makes me want to. Given it a thumb so thanks pammab!

Glad it was helpful -- I hope you both do get around to him eventually!

34. Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan
Jake Adelstein
2011.08.31 / ★★★★

Quite enjoyable -- a reporter discusses his time covering vice crimes in Japan and what he learned there. Organized crime and all kinds of vice abound, replete with cultural differences from the United States. Tokyo Vice makes for a good anthropological-sometimes-verging-on-sociological read on Japan generally, or the yakuza (organized crime groups) or Japanese sex industry specifically. The author's writing training shows itself in a nice story arc throughout the book regarding the author's own slow and barely perceptible descent away from morality, an arc that serves to connect a series of topic-focused chapters.

Definitely worth picking a chapter or two from to read independently from the rest of the book (yakuza, anyone?), and enjoyable enough to read as a whole (though a few chapters are bogged down by sets of Japanese names that float in the ether without characterizations to attach them to).

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Category: Dewey Decimal Books
Alternative Categories: (none)

Ack! Hit by a Book Bullet, and so early in the morning that I didn't even have time to put my vest on. *sigh* Oh well. I've always been interested by the Yakuza, and this sounds like a good little intro to them.

@175-176 - The book bullet grazed my arm too. *sigh*

@176-177

Doooo iiiiiiiiiit! It's really hard to find books about the yakuza written in English, though apparently they abound in Japanese. It's strange because they are organized crime that is *so open* about their activities (they have business cards! store fronts! fan magazines!) -- it's relatively easy to get information on them, apparently, if you speak Japanese. Less easy if you don't.

My only other exposure to the yakuza was David Mitchell's Number9Dream.... This one was way more informative. ;)

First time I ran into the Yakuza was in Lyda Morehouse's cyberpunk/mystery/romance series. I think they show up in the third book Messiah Node. We thought she made them up, along with the Messiah Ward in Jerusalem (which may exist for all I know). Then a friend gave me a Japanese horror movie with a werewolf sort of thing and a medieval yakuza with a gatlin gun. They've got a long history! They just don't fit with our western stereotype of Japan.

Glad I stopped by here though its taken me a while since last time - looks like an interesting set of books so far, and I like your reviews.

Ergh. I apologize to both of you for keeping missing this thread, cammykitty and bfertig. I haven't had much time to read and even less to contribute here in the past few months, and I apologize for belated conversation responses.

35. The Four Agreements
Miguel Ruiz
2011.09.24 / ★★

Self-help cult classic => I was curious. But it's written at a really low level, and from the perspective of a religion/philosophy with a mythos that I don't buy into. At all. I'll give this one a pass and stick to my Buddhist texts with the same message from here on out, kthxbye.

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Category: Dewey Decimal Books
Alternative Categories: (International) Authors (of Color)

36. Ammonite
Nicola Griffith
2011.10.05 / ★★★★½

I never thought I'd enjoy a everyone-on-the-world-is-female story, but Griffith takes the hackneyed premise and turns it into something highly enjoyable. She teases out the political implications for the outside world of a virus from which men don't survive, carefully sets the stage for the reader to be able to believe in the pregnancy mechanism, and doesn't play any of the "isn't this a utopia" or "isn't this a dystopia" cards that I went into the book fearing. She writes an enjoyable coming-into-one's-own story with a protagonist whose flaws and strengths spoke to me, situated in a richly imagined world and amongst clearly imagined characters, with a voice that is thoroughly engaging and never verges on didactic. And just like the last work I read by her, Slow River, there are a number of scenes from Ammonite so tangible that I am sure they will remain with me for years to come.

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Category: Off-My-Shelves
Alternative Categories: Female Authors, Award Winners (Tiptree 1993)

Sounds lovely. I'm a fan of alternative reality and world-building, but have - like you - so far yet to read a take on an all-female world that works. Will surely look this one up. Great little review, thumbed.

183

Thanks, GBM! I hope you like Ammonite if you get to it. I think I came out on the a-bit-more-positive-than-average scale, but yep, thoroughly enjoyed.

37. I'll Scream Later
Marlee Matlin
2011.11.06 / ★★

Somewhat saccharine. Somewhat whiny. Anything but intellectual. I actually came out of this autobiography respecting Marlee Matlin less than I did going into it. I'll Scream Later is definitely the result of a fanbase that follows anything Matlin does, written by a woman who is still somewhat insecure with her life choices and feels the need to find a podium on which she can justify herself. Don't bother with this one unless you're obsessed.

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Category: Dewey Decimal Books (700)
Alternative Categories: Female Authors, Recommendations, Off-My-Shelves

That last one definitely doesn't sound appealing. Better luck with your next book!

Thanks, tymfos!

38. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
Christopher Moore
2011.11.20 / ★★

A fanciful biography of Jesus, told through the eyes of his childhood pal Biff. Honestly, I think the title says it all. If the idea of Jesus having a childhood pal named Biff makes you chortle, this book is for you. For me, it just doesn't do it. Anachronisms are not my style, and neither are small doses of previous cultures measured out without context for modern laughs. Your mileage will vary; this book works for a lot of people.

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Category: Recommendations
Alternative Categories: Off-My-Shelves

I've been reading a lot of stuff that I "should" read because it was given to me by others. I need to get off this kick and jump back into the stuff I'm excited to read -- more sci-fi, more fantasy, more stuff that makes me think. Well, at least, as soon as I finish the YA audiobook Uglies (which even though it is spec-fic, isn't exactly full of the shiny for me since I don't really wrestle with the meaning of beauty). Regardless, I intend to start reading books that make me much happier soon. ;)

39. Omnitopia Dawn
Diane Duane
2011.11.25 / ★★★½

Bad guys who are actually just misguided (or guided from alternative principles), shiny imagery from imaginative new worlds, big battles involving mythical creatures, the fundamental importance of small units of meaning, new beings coming into full consciousness, science taken just a step beyond what it can actually support, timely (eventually dated) references, a battle for the world as we know it -- this book does not fall far from the typical Diane Duane formula. With virtual-reality-based Omnitopia Dawn, however, Duane stages her terrific worldbuilding in a virtual reality game in our own near future, exploring these themes in a way that somehow feels more real than ever before.

Me, well, I liked it. She's got some cool ideas in here -- like the idea of developing code using a three-dimensional interface more like Tinker Toys than text -- and though the book was recent-news derivative and sometimes seemed to be trying too hard to prove its bona fides in internet culture, it was definitely worth the time I invested in reading it. The book has some great worldbuilding and some very alive characters. I just wish Duane had done something with the plot other than yet another trite big epic fantasy battle and new-race-coming-into-existence. That theme is a bit overdone for my tastes, both in the literature generally and by Duane in particular. I'd love to see a story set in this universe that is as fresh and potentially real as the 'verse itself.

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Category: Off-My-Shelves
Alternative Categories: Female Authors

40. The Blue Place
Nicola Griffith
2011.11.27 / ★★★★

Aud Torvingen runs her life based on analysis and her senses, with very limited room for emotions. When her ex-cop background involves her in investigating an arson at the request of an intriguing client -- an arson that killed a man and destroyed evidence of an artwork scam -- she becomes embroiled in a physically dangerous situation that, true to quick lesbian love attachment, also begins to risk her heart.

Aud Torvingen is a fascinating character. She's uncompromising; she's very good at what she does. She kills at least six people in the book, not out of passion but because it just makes sense. No regrets, no remorse. Self-preservation trumps all. One of this book's highlights for me was the tension between me identifying completely with Aud's personality yet being horrified by her actions, and the questions that that combination raises for who I am.

At the same time, the unfolding story of cross-continental deceit pushed me through the book, whereas Aud's love story and emotional thawing only raised the stakes. Throughout the book, I was never sure what would next be revealed. My interest in how the plot would be resolved -- and whether the author had the strength to kill her characters -- only increased as I read further.

The Blue Place is much more tightly written than Ammonite or Slow River, but it is also less deep. While it still has the lone-wolf-protagonist-finds-love-and-begins-to-unbend theme, it plays with fewer big ideas and has fewer insights than either of the previous books, perhaps because this novel is quasi-gritty real world detective drama rather than spec fic. While I (very) much enjoyed the technical prowess of this book, and came out of it thinking I had a new favorite among Griffith's work, in retrospect I find myself feeling some nostalgia for the more thought-provoking nature of her previous work.

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Category: Award Winners (Lambda Literary Award, 1998)
Alternative Categories: Female Authors, Off-My-Shelves

41. Uglies
Scott Westerfeld
2011.11.30 / ★★★½

Popular YA series that, like Buffy once did, takes adolescent concerns and moves them from vaguely frivolous to life-or-death. This series focuses on beauty -- what does it mean, how does one get it, when is okay to be obsessed with it, what does it limit you from, and so on -- but does so with the backdrop of a world in which everyone undergoes an operation to become beautiful. A few rogue outcasts build their own hidden city for those who refuse to undergo the operation; the authorities wish to crush said city; hijinks ensue.

I thought this was a fine book, but limited by the very ideas it was exploring. I found the plot device of the entire second half of the book, that prettiness and mental infirmity go together, to be trite. The idea that concludes the book and sets up for the next in the series -- that medical testing on a single individual over a short amount of time can "prove" the safety of a drug -- is also clearly a plot device lacking serious substance.

So, in my view, this book is long and ends up falling a bit flat. Perhaps if I were an adolescent worried about being beautiful, it would resonate differently. I suspect the rather moralistic story would be reassuringly supportive for such teens, so don't pass on this one if someone in your life needs that perspective.

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Category: Award Winners
Alternative Categories: (none)

Makes me kind of glad that Uglies won't be my first Scott Westerfeld read. I have starter books for a couple of other series from him to get to on the tbr shelves but not that one.

I wasn't completely sold on the Uglies series for me as a reader when I looked at and your review has given me comfort that my first instinct to look at other Westerfeld's books was a good one.

I think that's the right choice. I really enjoyed Westerfeld's Leviathan.... I think Uglies is just a case of fundamentally good writing, but focused on a theme that isn't entirely universal.

42. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing
John C. Bogle
2011.12.07 / ★★★★½

I quite enjoyed this easy-to-listen-to book that preaches that index funds are the only ones worth buying. I suspect this will be my new go-to gift for new college grads. It suffers a bit from a mild case of the endless repetition and the self-evident style of business books everywhere (which makes me glad I didn't pick up the Big version), and it didn't explain some concepts (like loads) that I was hoping for -- but those are just minor quibbles that detract slightly from 5 star content and presentation.

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Category: Money & Investing
Alternative Categories: Dewey Decimal Books (300)

43. Charmed Life
Diana Wynne Jones
2011.12.13 / ★★★½

Having read Charmed Life a long time ago, I returned to it recently to see whether it was as excellent as I remember. Sadly, I believe some of the charm of this one comes from not being able to see what is around the bend. Vibrant characters and a delightfully novel plot captured my attention even this time around (I do love quaint little English worlds with magic), but the story of Cat's gradual blossoming into being his own person despite a sister who takes advantage of every bit of him lacks the shiny that I remember it as having.

I'd like to try reading something by Diana Wynne Jones that I haven't ever read.

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Category: Female Authors
Alternative Categories: (none)

44. Introduction to Algorithms
Thomas H. Cormen, Charles E. Leiserson, Ronald L. Rivest, Clifford Stein
2011.11.15 / ★★★★★

Normally I wouldn't review a textbook, but reading this one is enjoyable.

It's one of the very best textbooks I've ever used. Unbelievably well written. Well organized. Great examples and pictures. Clearly explained proofs. It is easy to read and learn from. I'm surprised I was able to get an already-used copy of this book; I'll be keeping mine for a very long time.

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Category: Science & Math
Alternative Categories: Dewey Decimal Books (000), Off-My-Shelves

45. Kissing Kate
Lauren Myracle
2011.12.17 / ★★★½

Kate kisses Lissa. Lissa kisses back. Kate can't handle it, and heartbreak and some smaller amount of identity crisis ensue for Lissa.

This is a WYSIWYG book. Good for what it was, but what it was wasn't much. Nothing deep or interesting or even resolved here (plot? what's that?), but it takes on a typical YA theme and deals with it in a typical way. It does avoid the evil-or-dead lesbians trope. A fine potato chip book.

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Category: Female Authors
Alternative Categories: (none)

46. The Dark is Rising
Susan Cooper
2011.12.22 / ★★

This book is so not my style it isn't even funny. I despise wise old men. I absolutely despise tales of Light vs. Dark. I despise worldbuilding by dialogue fiat ("You are an Old One. You need only hear something once, and you will remember it forever."). I despise human characters who are somehow evil for having minds of their own. I despise books that have no real quest, and ones whose initial pages couch the fantastic as a possible dream sequence.

I think I may despise fantasy.

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Category: Award Winners (Newbery)
Alternative Categories: Female Authors

47. The Evolution of Cooperation
Robert Axelrod
2011.12.24 / ★★★★

Nice book on how cooperation can emerge even in a world of egoists -- based on simple computer models! I love this stuff. Axelrod is very entertaining and accessible, and succinctly expresses the implications of all his academic findings in daily life.

Turns out that when cooperation benefits everyone but is hard to ensure, the secret of your own success can be found in these axioms: Be nice. Don't be envious. Be provocable, but forgive if the other apologizes meaningfully. Be clear. A tit-for-tat strategy that is initially cooperative and then automatically echoes whatever the other person did in the last round is one of the best strategies you can use (more successful than the Golden Rule) -- even though you may never beat your partner, it is still the way to do the best for yourself, and improves society simultaneously.

Though the biology chapter reads like picked-and-chosen evidence and the book is a bit repetitious (all the better for assigning to university students), this book gets a thumbs up from me.

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Category: Science & Math
Alternative Categories: Dewey Decimal Books (300), Recommendations, Authors and Books I'm Embarrassed To Admit I Haven't Read Already, Off-My-Shelves

Wow. What would it take to make you give something one star? ;-) Your conclusion is respectable by the way - but it seems to be High Fantasy you despise.

Canticle for Leibowitz got 1 star.... :-/ I can still see the value in The Dark is Rising, I can! It just didn't really work for me. The bits with the modern day (eh, '70s) family were nice....

I read a lot of fantasy as a kid, and loved it to pieces. I think you're right, though, it is High Fantasy that has more of the elements that I've now realized I don't like. Like wizards treated seriously. (I love me some tongue-in-cheek wizards. And normal people with magical powers.) But increasingly I shy from this old white man with powers beyond the understanding of mere mortals whom everyone should obey because he is powerful and wise and always right even if his motives are not clear and he doesn't deign to clarify them stuff.... I will keep an eye out for this in the future, but I think you've just given me a much better (and probably nicer) way to identify what I should read or not.

Actually. I know you're right that it is limited to High Fantasy. I loved Temeraire, and I don't know how that could count as anything but normal(?) fantasy.

Merry Christmas!

You too, Laura!

The Evolution of Cooperation is going to be added to my wishlist now! Happy holidays and see you in the 12 in 12!

It was quite enjoyable, yes -- I hope you enjoy it as well! I believe there is a revised version of The Evolution of Cooperation out now as we ll (one that doesn't give multiple examples related to the Soviet Union ;)).

See you in the 12 and 12, Bcteagirl!

Summary of pammab's 11 in 11

I committed to a step challenge of 66 books in 2011, and read 47 (despite starting early). In 2011 itself I read 40. Despite missing the goal, this is still pretty great -- the 11 in 11 challenge accounts for the most books I've read in a relatively short period since I was reading Sweet Valley and The Saddle Club. I read at least 1 book in each category, managed to fill almost everything to more than 50%, and completely finished 2 categories. If I had allowed double-counting books, I would have been closer to finishing but still would have been short 3 categories -- all non-fiction. :(

Category Completions Ordered by Primary Assignment
4 of 4 Science & Math (100% of goal met)
1 of 1 Not in English (100%)
7 of 8 Award Winners (88%)
6 of 7 Authors and Books I'm Embarrassed To Admit I Haven't Read Already (86%)
9 of 11 Female Authors (82%)
6 of 9 Recommendations (67%)
4 of 6 (International) Authors (of Color) (67%)
3 of 5 Off-My-Shelves (60%)
5 of 10 Dewey Decimal Books (50%) could not have completed
1 of 2 Money & Investing (50%) could not have completed
1 of 3 Things I Want To Buy (33%) could not have completed

Percentage of 11 in 11 Reads Fitting into Each Category
49% Female Authors (210% of goal met)
43% Recommendations (222% of goal met)
28% Authors and Books I'm Embarrassed To Admit I Haven't Read Already (186% of goal met)
28% Off-My-Shelves (260% of goal met)
23% Award Winners (138% of goal met)
15% (International) Authors (of Color) (117% of goal met)
11% Science & Math (125% of goal met)
2% Things I Want To Buy (33% of goal met)
2% Money & Investing (50% of goal met)
2% Not in English (100% of goal met)
N/A Dewey Decimal Books (missed 400s - Language, 900s - History)

(Sadly this seems to indicate that I didn't quite even read 50% women this year....)

Dewey Decimal Distribution
000 -- 1 book -- Computer Science
100 -- 1 book -- Philosophy & Psychology
200 -- 1 book -- Religion
300 -- 6 books -- Social Sciences
400 -- (none) -- Language
500 -- 1 book -- Science
600 -- 3 books -- Technology
700 -- 1 book -- Arts
800 -- 33 books -- Literature
900 -- (none) -- History, geography

Ratings by Category
Only the Dewey Decimal category changes extensively when "all possible" books are used in the counting rather than just "selected" books.
4.1/4.0 Science & Math
3.8/3.5 Off-My-Shelves
3.6/3.7 Recommendations
3.6/3.2 (International) Authors (of Color)
3.5/3.5 Female Authors
3.4/3.8 Authors and Books I'm Embarrassed To Admit I Haven't Read Already
3.4/3.5 Award Winners
2.9/3.5 Dewey Decimal Books
N/A Things I Want To Buy
N/A Money & Investing
N/A Not in English

Overall: 3.5 stars

Longest Run of Above-Average Books:
4 books, from 12/10/2010 to 12/30/2010 (Kindred, Secret Laws of Attraction, Leviathan, Die Wand)

Longest Run of Below-Average Books:
3 books, from 4/27/2011 to 5/16/2011 (Whale Rider, Catching Fire, Song for Arbonne)

Highest-Rated Books:
A Fire Upon the Deep ★★★★★ (review)
Introduction to Algorithms ★★★★★ (review)

Lowest-Rated Book:
A Canticle for Leibowitz ★ (review)

Overall Star Distribution:
0.5
1.0 *
1.5
2.0 ******
2.5 ***
3.0 ****
3.5 **********
4.0 ***************
4.5 ******
5.0 **

Using this scale:
1 - Eek! Methinks not.
2 - Meh. I've experienced better.
3 - A-OK.
4 - Yay! I'm a fan.
5 - Woohoo! As good as it gets!

I'm going to put star distributions for individual categories in the category posts at the top of the thread.

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All in all, a great year. I'm very pleased. I only wish I'd had more time to read more in the middle of the year. Now to continue onward in my 12 in 12 Challenge thread.