Mission 101: Read 101 books in a 1001 days

Mission 101 Part II

2012-02-07T00:00:00.003-06:00

Well, since my first Mission 101 went so well, I am starting over again. We now have Mission 101, Part II.

Start Date: May 12, 2009

End Date: February 7, 2012

(note that I have dated this post as my end date so it always stays on top. Scroll down just a bit to see my latest post)

My progress so far:

1. The Echo Maker -- Richard Powers
2. Sold -- Patricia McCormick
3. The Abstinence Teacher -- Tom Perrotta
4. The Girls -- Lori Lansens
5. Icarus Girl -- Helen Oyeyemi
6. Peony in Love -- Lisa See
7. A Hundred and One Days -- Asne Seierstad
8. Charity Girl -- Michael Lowenthal
9. Academy X -- Anonymous
10. Belle de Jour -- Anonymous
11. Persian Girls -- Nahid Rachlin
12. Admissions -- Nancy Lieberman
13. Acceptance -- Susan Coll
14. The Writing on the Wall -- Lynn Sharon Schawartz
15. Home -- Julie Andrews
16. The Two of Us -- Peter Smith
17. I Walked the Line -- Vivian Cash
18. A Good Dog -- Jon Katz
19. Partly Cloudy Patriot -- Sarah Vowell
20. Saving Monticello -- Marc Leepson
21. Rats -- Robert Sullivan
22. A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers -- Xiaolu Guo
23. Floating Brothel -- Sian Rees
24. Stiff -- Mary Roach
25. ~~Goat -- Brad Land~~ Finished 6/14/2009!
26. The Majic Bus -- Douglas Brinkley
27. Living at the Edge of the World -- Tina S.
28. Swallows of Kabul -- Yasmina Khadra
29. Lost Daughters of China -- Karin Evans
30. Life on the Outside -- Jennifer Gonnerman
31. Leap of Faith -- Queen Noor
32. A Dog Year -- Jon Katz
33. Americana -- Don DeLillo
34. Worldy Shipmates -- Sarah Vowell
35. White Noise -- Don DeLillo
36. Amerika -- Franz Kafka
37. The Working Poor -- David Shiper
38. The 19th Wife -- David Ebershoff
39. Moloka'i -- Alan Bernnert
40. The Oldest Friend -- Sonny Kleinfield
41. Candy Girl -- Diablo Cody
42. Haunted -- Chuck Palahniuk
43. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down --
44. ~~Skinny Bitch -- Rory Freedman~~ Finished July 6, 2009
45. Dog Spelled Backwards -- Moredci Siegal
46. No God in Sight -- Alyaf Yrewla
47. This Way to the Gas Ladies and Gentleman -- Tadeusz Borowski
48. Beasts of No Nation -- Uzodinma Iweala
49. Nickel and Dimed -- Barbara Ehrenreich
50. ~~The Joy Luck Club -- Amy Tan~~ Finished 6/3/2009
51. A Memoir of Misfortune -- Su Xiao Kang
52. The Inheritance of Loss -- Krian Desai
53. The Case of the Missing Books -- Ian Sansom
54. Black Girl/White Girl -- Joyce Carol Oates
55. White Girl -- Kate Manning
56. Come Back -- Claire Fontaine
57. Surviving Justice -- Dave Eggers
58. The Camel Bookmobile -- Masha Hamilton
59. The Pact -- Jodi Picoult
60. Ugly -- Constance Briscoe
61. Beyond Ugly -- Contstance Briscoe
62. Educating Alice -- Alice Steinbach
63. The Dancing Girls of Lahore -- Louise Brown
64. The Children's Hospital -- Chris Adrian
65. Water for Elephants -- Sara Gruen
66. The Book Thief -- Markus Zusak
67. Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith -- Gina Nahai
68. The Good Life -- Jay McInerney
69. Shanghai Diary -- Ursula Bacon
70. An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England -- Brock Clark
71. Journal of the Dead -- Jason Kersten
72. The History of Love -- Nicole Krauss
73. Love, Greg and Lauren -- Greg Manning
74. Desert Flower -- Waris Dirie
75. Pledged -- Alexandra Robbins
76. A Walk in the Woods -- Bill Bryson
77. Forget You Had a Daughter -- Sandra Gregory
78. The Geography of Bliss -- Eric Weiner
79. A Superior Death -- Nevada Barr
80. Lottery -- Patricia Wood
81. Ambulance Girl -- Jane Stern
82. Good Dog. Stay. -- Anna Quindlen
83. Dewey -- Vicki Myron
84. Without a Map -- Meredith Hall
85. Call of the Wierd -- Louis Theroux
86. Solider's Heart -- Elizabeth Samet
87. Ghost Town -- Patrick McGrath
88. There Are No Children Here -- Alex Kotlowitz
89. Infidel -- Ayaan Hirsi Ali
90. Gifts -- Nuruddin Farah
91. Preserving Memory -- Edward Linethal
92. The Bear's Embrace -- Patrica van Tigham
93. The Fire of Five Hearts -- Holly Smith
94. Sara and Eleanor -- Jon Pottker
95. The World According to Garp -- John Irving
96. Life of Pi -- Yann Martel
97. I Coose to Live -- Sabine Dardine
98. Still Life with Woodpecker -- Tom Robbins
99. Welcome to the Monkey House -- Kurt Vonnegut
100. Bloodletting and Other Miraculous Cures --
101. Atlas Shurgged -- Ayn Rand
102. The Subway Chonicales -- Jacquelin Cangro
103. When You Are Engulfed in Flames -- David Sedaris
104. Grand Cenral Winter -- Lee Stringer
105. Walking -- Matthew Sanford
106. The Otherside -- Alex Kotlowitz
107. Honeymoon in Tehran -- Azadeh Moaveni
108. My Freshman Year -- Rebekah Nathan
109. Fish -- T.J. Parsell
110. Lessons in Taxidermy -- Bee Lavendar

Skinny Bitch

2009-07-07T01:28:00.000-06:00

This book was a bunch of crap bias. it started off all cute and good and then all of a sudden tells you that you must become a vegan and eat only organic. It also throws in some chapters about how the government is horrible and awful and we can't trust the USDA or EPA. (the chapter is literally called, "Trust No One") Oh and a whole chapter on how they slaughter cows, pigs and chickens in very graphic detail. Common. This is so not realistic for most people. I get the whole vegetarianism thing. I really do. That is one thing... vegan is whole other thing. This book was not at all what I expected. I felt like the authors were just out to push their own personal agenda against the government.

Goat -- Brad Land

2009-06-14T22:30:00.001-06:00

This book was interesting, but in all reality I wasn't actually all that surprised by the violence of the fraternity hazing. I had read about it before and heard about it before so I wasn't completely shocked. It's amazing how cruel some people can be to each other. There were some cringes inducing moments -- mostly for me during the first part of the book, not the fraternity part. I think what was the saddest part of this book was the internal struggle Land went through and also the relationship with his brother. That part was harder to take than the actual descriptions of the beatings and hazing. Overall a pretty good memoir. Quick read and kept my attention.

The Joy Luck Club

2009-06-04T11:30:00.001-06:00

I had been meaning to read this book (along with other Amy Tan) for a long time. We are going to be reading parts of this book in our Advanced ESL class this summer, so I thought it would be a perfect time to ready it. I loved this book. It was so beautifully written. All of the stories tied together wonderfully. I liked how each story could also be read seperately also and no other context was needed. Usually I am not a huge short story fan, but this was just fantastic. In my copy of the book it has a chart listing the mothers and the daughters and that helped tie everything together for me. I also loved how the first story and the last story just tied the whole book together in such a wonderful way.

Mission 101: Read 101 books in 1001 days.

2009-05-11T12:14:00.050-06:00

Here's the deal. I have already started my Mission 101 through livejournal. I decided to make a new blog dediciated just to this project.

I plan to use this medium for keeping track of my progress and sharing my feelings on books in general.

(NOTE: I have dated this post for the end date of my mission, because I always want it to appear as the top entry, just scroll one down to see the newest post..)

Start Date: August 8, 2006

End Date: May 11, 2009

Here is my progress so far:

1. ~~The Burn Journals -- Brent Runyon~~ Finished 1/12/08!
2. ~~A Piece of Cake -- Cupcake Brown~~ Finished 8/20/07!
3. ~~Gifted -- Nikita Lalwani~~ Finished 03/05/09!
4. ~~Eat, Pray, Love -- Elizabeth Gilbert~~ Finished 1/22/08!
5. ~~Eyes, Breath, Memory -- Edwidge Danticat~~ Finished 3/10/09!
6. ~~So Many Books, So Little Time -- Sara Nelson~~ Finished 3/8/08!
7. ~~House of Paper -- Carlos Maria Dominguez~~ Finished 3/9/08!
8. ~~Summers with the Bears -- Jack Becklund~~ Finished 1/26/08!
9. ~~Julie and Julia -- Julie Powell~~ Finished 8/31/07!
10. ~~Marley and Me -- John Grogan~~ Finished 12/29/2008!
11. ~~Bunny Tales -- Izabella St. James~~ Finished 11/25/07!
12. ~~The Talking Horse and The Sad Girl and The Village Under the Sea -- Mark Haddon~~ Finised 3/20/2009!
13. ~~Burned Alive -- Souad~~ Finished 7/15/07!
14. ~~Wonderful Tonight -- Pattie Boyed~~ Finished 5/14/08!
15. ~~The Keeper of the Lime Rock -- Lenore Skomal~~ Finished 5/10/07
16. ~~Forever Lily -- Beth Nonte Russell~~ Finished 2/1/08!
17. ~~Girlbomb -- Janice Erlbaum~~ Finished 4/20/09!
18. ~~Hey Ranger! -- Jim Burnett~~ Finished 1/28/09!
19. ~~The Dogs Who Found Me -- Ken Foster~~ Finished 9/9/07!
20. ~~Have You Found Her -- Janice Erlbaum~~ Finished 12/1/08!
21. ~~The Bookseller of Kabul -- Asne Seierstad~~ Finished 6/2/07!
22. ~~The End of the Alphabet -- CS Richardson~~ Finished 1/11/2009!
23. ~~Marked for Life -- Joie Davidow~~ Finished 4/1/2009! (sort of)
24. ~~Why New Orleans Matters -- Tom Piazza~~ Finished 4/30/07!
25. ~~Take the Cannoli -- Sarah Vowell~~ Finished 5/22/08!
26. ~~How I Learned English -- Tom Miller~~ Finished 11/11/08!
27. ~~The First Verse -- Berry McCrea~~ Finished 7/27/07!
28. ~~Superfoods RX -- Steven Pratt~~ Finished 1/26/09!
29. ~~Free Food for Millionaires -- Min Jin Lee~~ Finished 9/22/08!
30. ~~Special Topics in Calamity Physics -- Marisha Pessl~~ Finished 4/13/08!
31. ~~Falling Man -- Don DeLillo~~ Finished (sort of) 10/15/07!
32. ~~The Uncommon Reader -- Alan Bennett~~ Finished 3/20/2009!
33. ~~Here's the Story -- Maureen McCormick~~ Finished 3/22/2009!
34. ~~What is the What -- Dave Eggers~~ Finished 7/1/07!
35. ~~Restless Virgins -- Abigail Jones~~ Finished 2/21/08!
36. ~~The Headmaster Ritual -- Taylor Antrim~~Finished (sort of)9/29/08!
37. ~~Upstate -- Kalisha Buckhanon~~ Finished 8/15/08!
38. ~~My Sisters Keeper -- Jodi Picoult~~ Finished 10/27/2008!
39. ~~The Mole People -- Jennifer Toth~~ Finished 2/4/2009!
40. ~~Hope and Other Damgerous Pursuits~~ Finished 2/18/2009!
41. ~~A Breath of Fresh Air -- Amulya Malladi~~ Finished 9/4/07!
42. ~~The Polysyllabic Spree -- Nick Hornby~~ Finished 12/6/07!
43. ~~Gossip of the Starlings -- Nina de Gramont~~ Finished 5/2/2009!
44. ~~The Year of Magical Thinking -- Joan Didion~~ Finished 11/8/2008!
45. ~~Autobiogrpahy of a Face -- Lucy Grealy~~ Finished 7/9/08!
46. ~~Sickened -- Julie Gregory~~ Finished 7/29/07!
47. ~~The House on Mango Street -- Sandra Cisneros~~ Finished 4/22/2009!
48. ~~Kabul Beauty School -- Deborah Rodriguez~~ Finished 8/9/08!
49. ~~A Confederacy of Dunces -- John Kennedy Toole~~ Finished 1/23/2009
50. ~~The Worst Noel --- Various~~ Finished 12/16/07!
51. ~~Assassination Vacation -- Sarah Vowell~~ Done (sort of) 7/11/07
52. ~~Truth and Beauty -- Ann Patchett~~ Finished 7/21/08!
53. ~~Half in Love -- Malie Meloy~~ Finished 2/6/08!
54. ~~The Noodle Maker -- Ma Jian~~ Finished 8/3/07!
55. ~~The Kiss -- Kathryn Harrison~~ Finished 4/5/2009!
56. ~~Snow Flower and The Secret Fan -- Lisa See~~ Finished 9/14/07!
57. ~~A Thousand Splendid Suns -- Khaled Hosseini~~ Finished 11/10/07!
58. ~~Playgound -- Jennifer Saginor~~ Finished 11/16/07!
59. ~~The Reader -- Bernard Schlink~~ Finished 5/18/07!
60. ~~American Dreams -- Sapphire~~ Finished 12/16/07!
61. ~~The Myth of You and Me -- Leah Stewart~~ Finished 1/25/08!
62. ~~Ex Libris -- Anne Fadiman~~ May 10, 2009!!
63. ~~The Zookeeper's Wife -- Diane Ackerman~~Finished!(sort of) 10/12/2008
64. ~~The Almond -- Nedjma~~ Finished 1/7/08!
65. ~~A Long Way Gone - Ishmael Beah~~ Finished! 3/28/2009
66. ~~Sweetness in the Belly -- Camilla Gibb~~ Finished 6/4/08!
67. ~~Darfur Diaries -- Jen Marlowe~~ Finished (sort of) 4/20/08@
68. ~~Delicate -- Mary Sojourner~~ Finished (sort of) 9/26/08!
69. ~~Desert Dawn -- Waris Dirie~~ Finished 10/6/07!
70. ~~Love, Stargirl -- Jerry Spinelli~~ Finished 3/5/08!
71. ~~Anthropology -- Dan Rhodes~~ Finished 12/10/07!
72. ~~The Love Hexagon -- William Suttcliffe~~ Finished 12/22/07!
73. ~~Windows on the World -- Frederic Beigbeder~~ Finished 5/5/07!
74. ~~Dying to Cross -- Jorge Ramos~~ Finished 1/10/2009!
75. ~~Grayson -- Lynne Cox~~ Finished 10/21/07!
76. ~~The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu~~ Finished 12/2/07!
77. ~~Dark -- Kenji Jasper~~ Finished 4/7/07!
78. ~~Digging to America -- Anne Tyler~~ Finished 12/15/06!
79. ~~The Namesake -- Jhumpa Lahiri~~ Finished! 8/12/06
80. ~~The Man of My Dreams -- Curtis Sittenfield~~ Finished 12/26/06!
81. ~~How Are We Hungry -- Dave Eggers~~ Fished 2/25/07!
82. ~~Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather -- Gao Xing Jian~~ Finished ??
83. ~~Caramba! -- Nina Marie Martinez~~ Finished! 9/27/06
84. ~~Peel My Love Like An Onion -- Ana Castillo~~ Finished 1/10/07!
85. ~~The Bridegroom -- Ha Jin~~ Finished! 9/16/06
86. ~~Are You Experienced? -- William Sutcliffe~~ Finished 3/4/07!
87. ~~Ties that Bind, Ties that Break -- Lensey Namioka~~ Finished 10/1/06!
88. ~~Lucky -- Alice Seabold~~Finished 1/3/07
89. ~~John -- Cynthia Lennon~~ Finished 3/25/07!
90. ~~The Monkey Wrench Gang -- Edward Abbey~~ Finished! 8/24/06
91. ~~For One More Day -- Mitch Albom~~ Finished 11/6/06!
92. ~~My Moral Enemy -- Willa Cather~~ Finished! 2/14/07
93. ~~A Spot of Bother -- Mark Haddon~~ Finished 3/21/07!
94. ~~The Kite Runner -- Khalde Hossein~~ Finished 1/9/07!
95. ~~Funny in Farsi -- Firoozeh Dumas~~ Finished! 10/21/06
96. ~~Dear Exile -- Hillary Liftin~~ Finished 10/22/06!
97. ~~Mr. Muo's Traveling Couch -- Dai Sijie~~ Finished 1/28/07
98. ~~The Facts Behind Helinski Roccamotios -- Yann Martel~~ Finished 9/5/06!
99. ~~The Secret History -- Donna Tartt Finshed~~ 12/6/06!
100. ~~Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close -- Johnathan Safron Foer~~ Finished 10/10/06!
101. ~~Hotel of the Saints -- Ursula Hegi~~ Finished! 2/9/07

Mission 101 (Part I) Complete!

2009-05-10T22:01:00.004-06:00

Woot! So I did it. I finished my (first) Mission 101! With less than a few hours to spare. I feel great! So great, that I am doing it again! I am starting over with another 101 books to read in a 1001 days. This time I hope to read more than that many books in 1001 days.

If I had to choose my top 12 books of the Mission they would be as follows:

1. What is the What
2. The Secret History
3. A Piece of Cake
4. Have You Found Her
5. The Kite Runner
6. A Thousand Spendid Suns
7. Eat, Pray, Love
8. Special Topics in Calamity Physics
9. Sweetness in the Belly
10. The Bookseller of Kabul
11. The Namesake
12. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

So, above this post you can see the list of books I actually read. Now below, in case anyone is interested, is the list of books I had orginally listed for this mission. (in case you are too lazy to compare, I crossed out the ones I read!) So out of the oringal 101 books, I only read 14 of them. I can't believe it! (I blame my discovery of bookmooch and paperback swap.) The list was always changing. But I am still making a brand new list for Mission 101 Part II. It helps me to be organized. I know the list will still change.... maybe just not as much at Part I? We can only wait and see...... and on we go.

1. Bridge of San Luis Ray -- Thornton Wilder
2. The Facts Behind Helinski Roccamotios -- Yann Martel Finished 9/5/06!
3. ~~Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close -- Johnathan Safron Foer~~
4. Juneteenth -- Ralph Ellison
5. The Story of B -- Daniel Quinn in progress
6. ~~Dear Exile -- Hillary Liftin in progress~~
7. No Longer at Ease -- Chinua Achebe
8. The Obituary Writer -- Porter Shreve
9. An Unfinished Life -- Mark Spragg
10. I Am A Pencil -- Sam Swope
11. The Love Germ -- Jill Neville
12. A Superior Death -- Nevada Barr
13. Life of Pie -- Yann Martell
14. The Unbearable Lightness of Being -- Milan Kundera
15. Babyji -- Abha Dawesar
16. The Known World -- Edward P. Jones
17. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter -- Carlson McCullers
18. Lamb -- Christopher Moore
19. The Mambo Kinds Play Songs of Love -- Oscar Hijuelos
20. ~~A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf -- John Muir~~
21. Sapagonia -- Ana Castillo
22. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down -- Anne Fadiman in progress
23. The Orchard Keeper -- Cormac McCarthy
24. The Sleeping Father -- Matthew Sharpe
25. The Confessions of Max Tivoli -- Andrew Sean Greer
26. The Little Friend -- Donna Taritt
27. Middlesex -- Jeffrey Eugenides
28. Reading Lolita in Tehran -- Azar Nafisi
29. Dawn -- Elie Weisel
30. Living to Tell the Tale -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
31. The Poisonwood Bible -- Barbara Kingslover
32. ~~Malinche -- Laura Esquivel~~
33. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn -- Betsy Smith
34. ~~Hey Ranger! -- Jim Burnett~~
35. Donald Duk -- Frank Chin
36. ~~Caramelo -- Sandra Cisneros~~
37. Drop City -- T.C. Boyle in progress
38. The World According to Garp -- John Iriving in progress
39. ~~The Namesake -- Jhumpa Lahiri~~
40. The Tao of Pooh -- Benjamin Hoff
41. The Te of Piglet -- Benjamin Hoff
42. ~~The Monkey Wrench Gang -- Edward Abbey~~
43. Idyll Banter -- Chris Bohjalian
44. About Grace -- Anthony Doerr
45. Magical Thinking -- Augusten Burroughs
46. Innocent Erendria -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
47. ~~In Evil Hour -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez~~
48. Jasmine -- Bharati Mukherjee
49. One Life at Time, Please! -- Edward Abbey
50. Prodigal Summer -- Barbara Kingslover
51. Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules -- David Sedairs
52. The Sound and the Fury -- William Faulkner
53. Driving Over Lemons -- Chris Stewart
54. Iron Lake -- William Kent Kruger
55. Into Thin Air -- John Krakauer
56. Hayduke Lives! -- Edward Abbey
57. Little White Car -- Danuta De Rhodes
58. Nectar in A Sieve -- Kamala Markandaya
59. ~~The Bridegroom -- Ha Jin~~
60. War Trash -- Ha Jin
61. Son of a Witch -- Gregory Maguire
62. Crows in the Wheatfield -- Adam Braer
63. The Blue Flower -- Penelope Fitzgerald
64. The Prophet of Zongo Street -- Mohamned Nasshu Ali
65. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly -- Jean-Dominque Bauby
66. The Mistress of Spices -- Chitra Divakaruni
67. The Language of Threads -- Gail Tsukiyma
68. A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains -- Isabella Bird
69. The Secret Lives of Cowboys -- Tom Groneberg
70. The Third Life of Grange Copeland -- Alice Walker
71. Native Son -- Richard Wright
72. Villa Incognito -- Tom Robbins
73. A Walk in the Woods -- Bill Bryson
74. Wilderness Tips -- Margaret Atwood
75. Everything is Illuminated -- Johnathan Safron Foer
76. The Infinite Plan -- Isabel Allende
77. The Devil, Deflina Verlea and the Used Chevy -- Louis Garcia Robinson
78. The Night My Mother Met Bruce Lee -- Paisley Rekdal
79. Crackpots -- Sara Pritchard
80. Baggage -- Emily Barr
81. Journal of the Dead -- Jason Kersten
82. ~~Caramba! -- Nina Marie Martinez~~
83. Cuba -- Emily Barr
84. The Bookshop -- Penelope Fitzgerald
85. Handmaid's Tale -- Margaret Atwood
86. Things You Should Know -- A. M. Homes
87. ~~Lucky -- Alice Seabold~~
88. ~~Delicate -- Mary Sojourner~~
89. Death Be Not Proud -- John Gunther
90. Aunt Carmen's Book of Practical Saints -- Pat Mora
91. Goat -- Brad Land
92. The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams -- Nasdijj
93. I, Lucifer -- Glen Duncan
94. A Loyal Character Dancer -- Xiaolong Qiu
95. Fluke, Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings -- Christopher Moore
96. Under the Banner of Heaven -- Jon Krakauer
97. ~~The Bookseller of Kabul -- Asne Seierstad~~
98. Solace -- Mary Sojourner
99. Dead Men Tapping -- Kate Yeomans
100. Agua Santa = Holy Water: Pat Mora
101. ~~Peel My Love Like an Onion -- Ana Castillo~~

Ex Libris

2009-05-10T21:45:00.002-06:00

So, as with most short stories/essays, I always tend to have trouble. I did actually enjoy most of these essays. A few I had a hard time relating to, but even so I was able to take away something from them. I think my favorite is still the very first essay called "Marrying Libraries". It came at a perfect time as actually this is happening to me at this moment. I am not getting married but my boyfriend and I are combining books/libraries. So I could relate! I also really liked "Ancestral Castles".

Anyhow, I chose this book to read right now because I thought it would be a great ending to my challenge! This was book 101! I did it! With, actually, less than a day to spare... more on this in the next post!

Gossip of the Starlings

2009-05-03T13:44:00.001-06:00

I was hoping for a little more depth in this book, but I still really enjoyed it. I was hoping for a little more of something like The Secret History and this didn't quite compare. However, the language was beautiful. This was wonderfully written. I had a hard time with the whole Latin American undertone and could have done without it. It just didn't quite seem to fit in with the rest of the story to me. Overall, I really enjoyed this book.

The House on Mango Street

2009-04-23T12:20:00.000-06:00

I have been meaning to read this for a long time. Usually short stories don't do much for me, especially when they don't seem to connect of have any kind of fluency. This was so not the case in this book. I loved the way these short tid-bits of stories flowed together and made it almost dream like. Everything was deliberate in this book, and I liked it. I found this book almost had some touches of Magical Realism (of which I am a huge fan) but yet somehow was able to stay grounded to reality, which I also find important. This was just beautiful.

Girlbomb

2009-04-21T09:07:00.001-06:00

I really enjoyed this book. I kind of wish I would have read this book first, before I read Have You Found Her. (I LOVED have you found her.) I think If would have read this first, it would have made Have You Found Her even better for me. Anyhow, besides that this book was fascinating. I love memoirs and I love reading about choices other people make in their lives. It's hard to believe that her mother would just let her live at a homeless shelter and group home for over a year. When I was in high school I don't think I was any where close to being able to make the decisions she was able to make, be them good or bad decisions. I am glad she was able to pull her self out of everything she went through and become a productive member of society.

The Kiss -- Kathryn Harrison

2009-04-05T22:45:00.001-06:00

This memoir was fascinating. It was very artfully written and I couldn't put it down. I have to say I found it very sad and painful at times. What a life Harrison lead in her twenties. It's hard to imagine. She tells is quite beautifully. It's amazing that she was able to pull herself through it all and come out okay on the other end. For anyone who didn’t know their father growing up and seeking that connection later, I can only imagine how it would feel.

Marked for Life

2009-04-01T23:32:00.001-06:00

Honestly, I couldn't even finish this book. I was so bored. I didn't care about her family or where she grew up. I wanted to hear more about how her birthmark effected her and I felt like she just spent too much time talking about her grandparents and the small town she grew up in. I just didn't care. It was boring. I just put it away. Moving on.....

A Long Way Gone

2009-03-29T13:18:00.001-06:00

So, I really did like this book. It started out slow for me. I wonder how much of the beginning was sort of "made up" versus being the actual truth. He was so young, how could he possibly remember all of that. I mean, I am sure it is all based on what he does remember, but I doubt that it's exact. Once he was actually recruited into the army, that is when the book got really interesting to me. I was pretty blown away by his story. This book reminded me a lot of What is the What in a way and I think I do prefer that book this one. I really found the story of his rehabilitation to be the most interesting part of his story. It’s truly amazing that they are able to rehabilitate any of these young men after the horrors they had been though. I had never really thought much about it until I read this story. I do have to say though, I HATED the ending. What? I was upset that he didn't go on to tell his story of how he made it to the US after everything he had been though. I get what he was trying to do with the ending, but it was too abrupt for me. I really want to hear how he was able to make it out of Guinea and into the US. Besides the ending, this book was really quite fascinating and really set my brain in motion.

Here's the Story

2009-03-22T00:06:00.001-06:00

I found this book to be quite engrossing. Who knew Marcia Brady was a cocaine addict. Yes, the book was also very sad. I think Maureen McCormick is probably still pretty messed up, even though she tried to tie the book up in a happy ending. I am not so sure I buy it. I did however like that she really barred all this memoir. I really found it fascinating. The only complaint I had was that chronologically she jumped around a lot. I had a hard time keeping track of what year it was. She would tell a story about something that happened in the 1984 and then a few paragraphs later would talk about something that happened either earlier or later and then come back to 1984. Other than that, I was actually impressed with her writing. Every easy to read, yet again, very engrossing. For anyone who likes the Brady Bunch or is even interested in the 1970’s or who just likes a good memoir, I would recommend this.

The Uncommon Reader

2009-03-20T14:40:00.000-06:00

I think some of the British humor was lost on me, I still enjoyed this short read about the Queen of England discovering the joy of literature late in her life. It was funny, though again I think some of it went over my head. I thought the characters were well developed for it being only a 120 pages. Nicely written, not a word was spared.

The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea

2009-03-20T07:41:00.001-06:00

I much prefer Mark Haddon's novels to his poetry. There was maybe one poem I actually enjoyed; mostly they just didn't make any sense to me. I have never been much of a poetry fan to begin with (exepct for Longfellow and Bukowski) but for some reason I keep trying. I think I should just give it up and realize poetry just isn't for me. This book of poems did not help.

Eyes, Breath, Memory

2009-03-11T08:53:00.001-06:00

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were very fullfilling. I loved the Magical Realism touch to it. It was beautifully written, but bordered just a bit on chick lit. That's okay though, it was still a great, quick read. I am looking forward to reading Danticat's other book, Krick, Krack.

Gifted

2009-03-06T00:56:00.001-06:00

I was excited about this book. I thought the premise was interesting, But in the end I was disappointed. There wasn't much follow through on some of the initial parts of the story line that I liked (her first trip to India for instance). It started of varying between the mother, father and Rumi's point of view, but stopped once she went to Oxford and I thought that was disappointing. I also had a hard time connecting to the characters. Rumi was just to weird for me, and the mother really got on my last nerve. I also didn't like the father character at all. Plus the ending did nothing for me. So it goes.

Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits

2009-02-18T22:10:00.001-06:00

I liked this book well enough. It wasn't what I had expected after the first chapter. The stories were interesting. I liked how the book was divided into two parts; the story of before they decided to immigrate and then the story of what happened to them after they arrived. It was very well written, but nothing to jump for joy about. I liked the different take on immigration. I am used to reading books about people immigrating to the US, so this was a nice change.

The Mole People

2009-02-04T23:48:00.001-06:00

I found this book fascinating! It was an easy read and well written. Who knew that many people were living "down there". I enjoyed reading about the different types of homeless in the city and how they group themselves. This book was more about homelessness in general in NYC than anything. It kind of jumped around a lot and some of the stories told I still have a hard time believeing. Though, I do believe Toth wrote what she was told. I am sure many of those stories were made up by the people she encountered rather than Toth herself. The most fascinating part of the book I think for me was the anatomy of the city and the underground. Learning about the different levels of the tunnels and subway is a bit mind boggleing.

Hey Ranger

2009-01-28T10:51:00.001-06:00

This was entertaining in it's own right. But I wouldn't say it was stellar. It kept my attention, but just bearly. (I actually put the book down twice and came back to it...) The stories were funny, but often a little short. The writing was pretty plain. I don't know.. maybe I am biased. These stories didn't seem all that extraordinary. They were pretty predictable to say the least. People do dumb things in parks and wilderness areas when they don't know what they are doing. Good thing we have rangers like him to help them become educated on how to act and behave in the wilderness.

Superfoods RX

2009-01-26T20:14:00.001-06:00

This was kind of an extra book. I have been trying to incorporate some more non-fiction into my reading diet. I thought this book was pretty fantastic. I loved how it gave you all different aspects on the foods recommend. The history of the food, WHY the food is good for you, WHAT the food can do for you and WHO the food might benefit most. There was a lot of scientific information that sometimes I tended to glance through, but it was all very useful information. Then the book broke it down very easily for anyone on how it could be incorporated into our diet. It also gives lots of easy recipes which is great. The book was also honest about the fat content and how it should be eaten. It really inspired me to go out and throw everything in my fridge and cupboards away and start fresh. Good stuff.

A Confederacy of Dunces

2009-01-24T01:05:00.001-06:00

This book was just plain crazy, but I loved it. The characters were fantastic. I think my favorite was the mother. I just thought she was great and well developed. I had a love/hate relationship with Ignatius though out the book. Sometimes I took pity on him and other times I just wanted to hit him. I see this book as more of stage play than anything else. I think it would just be utterly hysterical. I can’t say this will go down as one of my all time favorites, but it defiantly one of those books that will be in my brain for a while.

The End of the Alphabet

2009-01-12T10:30:00.000-06:00

This was a tragic little book. It was kind of a downer. I loved however, the way the book was constructed and I loved the idea of in his last days of life traveling around the world visiting a city for every letter of the alphabet. I was sad that the mission was left uncompleted in the end. The writing lacks very little, which is fantastic. It was a quick little read, which I intend to read again to get the full force of it. There is much to be found in this book.

Dying to Cross

2009-01-10T23:22:00.003-06:00

I was hopeful about this book as the topic is very interesting. BUT sadly, I was just bored. Yes, it is VERY tragic what happened to the people in the back of the truck. But the way it was written, I couldn't follow. There were way too many people and names and everything jumped all around. I couldn't keep straight who was who. Plus, I don't really see why this was made into a book. There wasn't that much to say about the incident honestly. It's a news story, not a book. Yes, it brings to light a lot of immigration policy issues, which is good. But I just don't think it was worth making into a book.