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Definitely not for meArchive for March, 2007
« Previous Entries Saturday, March 31st, 20071st Quarter Report 2007
Books read:
1. Angle of Repose - Stegner - Rating: 4
2. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency - Smith - Rating: 4.5
3. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - See - Rating: 5
4. Atonement - McEwan - Rating: 3.5
5. Peace Like a River - Enger Rating: 4.5
6. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane - DiCamillo - Rating: 4.5
7. The Birds by Aristophanes Rating: 2.5
8. The Black Pearl by Scott O’Dell Rating: 4.5
9. Silas Marner by George Eliot - Rating: 4.5
10. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert L. Stevenson - Rating: 5
11. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Rating: 5
12. Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton (bookclub pick) Rating: 4
13. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins Rating: 4.5
14. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad Rating: 5
15. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Rating: 5
16. The Echo Maker by Richard Powers Rating: 4
17. The Road by Cormac McCarthy Rating: 4.5
18. The Myth of Me and You by Leah Stewart Rating: 3.5
19. Everyman by Philip Roth Rating: 1
20. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Rating: 4.5
21. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke Rating: 4
22. The Giver by Lois Lowry Rating: 4.5
Pages read: 6033
New authors: 20
Male authors: 15
Female authors: 7
Rating of 4 and up: 18
Rating 3.5 and below: 4
From the Stacks Reading Challenge: 5 of 5 completed
Winter Classics Challenge: 5 of 5 completed
TBR Challenge: 10 of 12 completed
Chunkster Challenge:5 of 10 completed
By the Decade Challenge: 8 of 15 completed
Spring Reading Thing Challenge: 0 of 5 completed
Banned Book Challenge: 3 of 7 completed
Reading Across Borders Challenge: 2 of 10 completed
A-Z Title and Author Challenge: 18 of 52 completed
Once Upon a Time Fantasy Challenge: 1 of 5 completed
Pulitzer Challenge: 2 of 12 completed
NYT Notable Book Challenge: 3 of 10 completed
Popularity: 6% [?]
Saturday, March 31st, 2007Books Read in March 2007
15. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Rating: 5
16. The Echo Maker by Richard Powers Rating: 4
17. The Road by Cormac McCarthy Rating: 4.5
18. The Myth of Me and You by Leah Stewart Rating: 3.5
19. Everyman by Philip Roth Rating: 1
20. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Rating: 4.5
21. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke Rating: 4
22. The Giver by Lois Lowry Rating: 4.5
Pages read in March: 2613
Pages read in 2007: 6033
Have you reviewed any of the above titles at your own blog? If you wish, enter them into Mr. Linky below.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Saturday, March 31st, 2007The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Giver
by
Lois Lowry
1993
179pp
Newbery Medal
Rating: 4.5
I really, really liked this book. It is another “Big Brother” story similar to Fahrenheit 451 or 1984. Scary, scary.
Jonas is eleven years old. When he is twelve, he will receive his “assignment” or job from the Elders of his community. Everything is decided by the Elders. Who marries whom. Which occupation you will have. Which children you will raise. And even who has to be “released” from the community. When Jonas is selected for a special position that only one other person in the community has, it is considered a very high honor. What Jonas discovers about this “honor” changes his life completely.
I read this for the Banned Book Challenge. I’m not sure why it would be contested. Perhaps because there is some talk about the “stirrings” of beginning s* x u ality in Jonas. I didn’t have a problem with this, but I’m really glad I read it before I gave it to my 13 and 12 year old sons to read. This book will make for a great discussion.
Also reviewed by
- Lisa - March 31, 2007
- I’ve never read this either but have always been interested. I just finished Fahrenheit 451 last night, and wow.
- Amanda - March 31, 2007
- I love this book! It is a fantastic read and people always have different ideas of what actually happened at the end.
- booklogged - March 31, 2007
- This is one of my favorite books. Like you I wondered why it had been banned. I found the following site that lists some reasons:
http://www.northern.edu/hastingw/Giver.htmlLowry didn’t write a sequel, but she did write 2 companion novels: Gathering Blue and Messenger. Of these, Messenger is the best, but I think you need to read all 3 for full appreciation. - Les - April 3, 2007
- I read this 5 or 6 years ago and absolutely loved it. Gave it a perfect 10, as I recall. Definitely time for a re-read!
Popularity: 18% [?]
Friday, March 30th, 2007All Star Friday — Arthur & George
Info below taken from Overbooked.org
Title: Arthur & George
Author: Barnes, Julian
Starred reviews from: Kirkus, LJ, PW, Booklist
A masterful novel about low crime and high spirituality, guilt and innocence, identity, nationality and race, this tale is a profound and witty meditation on the fateful differences between what is believed, what is known, and what can be proven. Two men’s lives become interwoven and each becomes the other’s salvation.
I will be reading this for the NYT Notable Book Challenge (and the Chunkster Challenge if read before June 30).
All Star Fridays presents a book which has received starred reviews from at least three publications.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Thursday, March 29th, 2007Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Inkheart
by
Cornelia Funke
2003, 544 pp
Rating: 4
Meggie is a 12 year old girl whose father never reads aloud to her. He gives her books, he tells her stories, but he never actually reads from a book to her. One night a mysterious man comes to visit them–his name is Dustfinger. Dustfinger warns Mo (Meggie’s father) that a man named Capricorn is after a book in Mo’s possession called Inkheart.
It is then that Meggie find out why her father never reads to her. He has the ability to bring characters “alive” out of the book he is reading. The catch is, though, that someone else from the real world disappears into the book at the same time.
The adventure that follows includes Meggie’s missing mother, her great-aunt Elinor, Inkheart’s author Fenoglio, and several characters that have come out of their books.
I enjoyed this story very much and listened to it on CD with my entire family on a road trip this past week. The movie is being filmed now and will star Brendan Fraser, Eliza Bennett, Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, Andy Serkis, among others. I can’t wait to see it!
- Amanda - March 29, 2007
- I just started this book and though only on chapter 3, I love it already. I was so glad to see your review! Much more to look forward to as I continue reading!
- Suey - March 30, 2007
- This is one of my favorite books of all time, the sequel too, Inkspell. Do you plan on going on to read that one? Wow, it ended in quite a cliffhanger and so I’m anxiously awaiting the third book, which I think will be next year sometime. Long wait!
Popularity: 20% [?]
Wednesday, March 28th, 2007Wordless Wednesday #8
Popularity: 6% [?]
Tuesday, March 27th, 2007Once upon a Time Fantasy Challenge
Quest 1
1. Inkheart - Cornelia Funke
2. The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde
3. Phantastes - George MacDonald
4. The Princess and the Goblin - George MacDonald
5. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke (also for the Chunkster Challenge)
Popularity: 4% [?]
Friday, March 23rd, 2007Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury
Year: 1951
190 pp.
Rating: 4.5
I cannot believe I haven’t read this book before. It deserves its “classic” status and should be read by all. This book is scary. Really. Scary. It is similar to 1984–a picture of what society could become if we let it.
Montag is a fireman who doesn’t put out fires, he starts them. He burns books and the houses that contain them. His wife Mildred watches and listens to “the wall” all day, basically a huge screen TV. Almost all of the city dwellers are TV zombies, and then when they’re not watching “the wall”, to make themselves feel better they go out and ride their cars at dangerously high speeds. Most are on any number of pills.
Montag doesn’t notice anything is wrong with his life until he meets 17 year-old Clarisse, his next door neighbor. She is different. She notices things he doesn’t notice. Her family actually talks to each other. She is happy and asks him if he is. He says he is, but later at home admits to himself he isn’t. He starts to question himself why, and from there he changes his life completely.
A quote that stood out because of its resemblance to today:
“I’m afraid of children my own age. they kill each other. Did it always use to be that way? My uncle says no. Six of my firends have been shot in the last year alone. Ten of them died in car wrecks. I’m afraid of them and they don’t like me because I’m afraid. My uncle says his grandfather remembered when children didn’t kill each other. But that was a long time ago when they had things different. They believed in responsibility, my uncle says. Do you know, I’m responsible. I was spanked when I needed it, years ago. And I do all the shopping and housecleaning by hand.”
A world where all people do is watch TV and become progressively more violent. A world where books and ideas are “dangerous”. A world where “happiness” is supreme, but no one is happy. A very scary world indeed.
Also reviewed by:
- Danielle B. - March 23, 2007
- I haven’t read this book since high school…along with Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies…and the Steinbeck classics…all books I hope to find time for this summer
- Lisa - March 23, 2007
- This is on my TBR challenge list!
- Daphne - March 27, 2007
- I love your last paragraph - sounds a lot like today, doesn’t it?? I’m planning on reading this next month for my Banned Books Challenge.
- Grominou2 - April 9, 2007
- A very good movie was made from this book by famous French director François Truffaut.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Friday, March 23rd, 2007All Star Friday 3/23
Publication Date: May 2007
ISBN: 1594489505
Starred reviews from: PW, Kirkus, Booklist
Click on the cover to go to Amazon for the plot summary.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Thursday, March 22nd, 2007Booking through Thursday 3/22
Short Stories? Or full-length novels?
Definitely full-length novels, but I appreciate a good short story now and then.
And, what’s your favorite source for short stories?
This year I will be reading some short story collections from the 2006 New York Times Notable Fiction list.
Popularity: 4% [?]
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