112. Basics of Genealogy Reference: A Librarian's Guide...Jack Simpson
113. Who Do You Think You Are?...Megan Smolenyak
114. Discovering Your Scottish Ancestors...Linda Jonas & Paul Milner
More genealogy books!
115. Smokin' Seventeen...Janet Evanovich
This book was kind of blah. I was actually kind of disappointed in it. Hope she gets back on her game for the next book.
Quote:
Dead bodies are showing up in shallow graves on the empty construction lot of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. No one is sure who the killer is, or why the victims have been offed, but what is clearis that Stephanie’s name is on the killer’s list.
Short on time to find evidence proving the killer’s identity, Stephanie faces further complications when her family and friends decide that it’s time for her to choose between her longtime off-again-on-again boyfriend, Trenton cop Joe Morelli, and the bad boy in her life, security expert Ranger. Stephanie’s mom is encouraging Stephanie to dump them both and choose a former high school football star who’s just returned to town. Stephanie’s sidekick, Lula, is encouraging Stephanie to have a red-hot boudoir “bake-off.” And Grandma Bella, Morelli’s old-world grandmother, is encouraging Stephanie to move to a new state when she puts “the eye” on Stephanie.
116. A Dance of Dragons...George R.R. Martin
I love this series! There were so many cliffhangers that I just can't wait to read the next one...I hope it won't be years before it comes out!
Quote:
In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance once again--beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has three times three thousand enemies, and many have set out to find her. Yet, as they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the queen, with an entirely different goal in mind.
To the north lies the mammoth Wall of ice and stone--a structure only as strong as those guarding it. There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, will face his greatest challenge yet. For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creatures of ice.
And from all corners, bitter conflicts soon reignite, intimate betrayals are perpetrated, and a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, will face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Some will fail, others will grow in the strength of darkness. But in a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics will lead inevitably to the greatest dance of all. . . .
117. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children...Ransom Riggs
This book was really great! I love the fact that he used actual photographs for the story. The only problem is they didn't defeat the big bad guys, just a couple of little ones, so I really hope he writes a sequel. I want to find out what happens next to these characters.
Quote:
As a kid, Jacob formed a special bond with his grandfather over his bizarre tales and photos of levitating girls and invisible boys. Now at 16, he is reeling from the old man's unexpected death. Then Jacob is given a mysterious letter that propels him on a journey to the remote Welsh island where his grandfather grew up. There, he finds the children from the photographs--alive and well--despite the islanders’ assertion that all were killed decades ago. As Jacob begins to unravel more about his grandfather’s childhood, he suspects he is being trailed by a monster only he can see. A haunting and out-of-the-ordinary read, debut author Ransom Rigg’s first-person narration is convincing and absorbing, and every detail he draws our eye to is deftly woven into an unforgettable whole. Interspersed with photos throughout, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is a truly atmospheric novel with plot twists, turns, and surprises that will delight readers of any age.
118. Secrets of Tracing Your Ancestors...W. Daniel Quillen
119. The Troubleshooter's Guide to Do-It-Yourself Genealogy...W. Daniel Quillen
120. Courthouse Research for Family Historians...Christine Rose
121. Evidence: Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian...Elizabeth Shown Mills
122. Tracing Your Scottish Family History...Anthony Adolph
Still more genealogy books!
Monday, August 15, 2011
June ~ 2011
96. A Game of Thrones...George R.R. Martin
Quote:
Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.
Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.
97. A Clash of Kings...George R.R. Martin
Quote:
A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon—who hold sway over an age of enforced peace are dead, victims of royal treachery. Now, from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.
98. A Storm of Swords...George R.R. Martin
Quote:
Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as violently as ever, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey, of House Lannister, sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the land of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, the victim of the jealous sorceress who holds him in her evil thrall. But young Robb, of House Stark, still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Robb plots against his despised Lannister enemies, even as they hold his sister hostage at King’s Landing, the seat of the Iron Throne. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons still left in the world. . . .
But as opposing forces maneuver for the final titanic showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost line of civilization. In their vanguard is a horde of mythical Others--a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. As the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords.
99. A Feast for Crows...George R.R. Martin
Quote:
It seems too good to be true. After centuries of bitter strife and fatal treachery, the seven powers dividing the land have decimated one another into an uneasy truce. Or so it appears. . . . With the death of the monstrous King Joffrey, Cersei is ruling as regent in King’s Landing. Robb Stark’s demise has broken the back of the Northern rebels, and his siblings are scattered throughout the kingdom like seeds on barren soil. Few legitimate claims to the once desperately sought Iron Throne still exist—or they are held in hands too weak or too distant to wield them effectively. The war, which raged out of control for so long, has burned itself out.
But as in the aftermath of any climactic struggle, it is not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters start to gather, picking over the bones of the dead and fighting for the spoils of the soon-to-be dead. Now in the Seven Kingdoms, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed, while surprising faces—some familiar, others only just appearing—are seen emerging from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges ahead.
It is a time when the wise and the ambitious, the deceitful and the strong will acquire the skills, the power, and the magic to survive the stark and terrible times that lie before them. It is a time for nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages to come together and stake their fortunes . . . and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors.
I've really enjoyed this series so far. There is so much going on, you never want to put the book down! My only complaint is that he takes so long to write the books! The fifth is supposed to come out next month, but I imagine it will be years before the final two are released. I understand why they take so long - they are around 800-1000 pages each and are extensively researched - I'm just impatient and don't want to wait!
100. Tales from the Hood...Michael Buckley
101. The Everafter War...Michael Buckley
102. The Inside Story...Michael Buckley
Trying to finish up the Sisters Grimm series. The final book should be out the end of this year or sometime early next year. They have taken a surprising twist that I never saw coming!
103. Death on the Family Tree...Patricia Sprinkle
Quote:
With grown-up kids and a husband always on the road, Katharine Murray's nest would be empty if it weren't for her Aunt Lucy—until the elderly woman dies. Now Katharine's saddled with her Aunt's worldly belongings—mostly knickknacks destined for the dumpster. But there's a priceless Celtic necklace among the dross—and a diary written in German, neither of which Katharine's ever seen before.
Determined to find out where these objects came from, Katharine unwittingly discovers a branch of her family tree she never knew existed—namely Aunt Lucy's brother Carter, murdered more than fifty years ago after a mysterious trip to Austria. And when Lucy's artifacts are stolen, and the main suspect turns up dead, Katharine realizes she must solve a burglary and two unsolved homicides separated by a half-century . . . before more than her family secrets end up dead and buried.
104. Sins of the Fathers...Patricia Sprinkle
Quote:
Always ready to help a friend, Katharine Murray has made her way to Bayard Island off the coast of Georgia with Dr. Flo Gadney, to attend to an unsavory errand. Burch Bayard, local patriarch and greedy landowner, has a nefarious plan to build McMansions up and down the island—and over graves that may belong to Dr. Flo's ancestors!
The friends set to work to make sure that Dr. Flo's family tree has its roots in the old cemetery, a task made very difficult by the lack of Southern hospitality from the island's inhabitants. One old woman even tries to shoot them! But when that woman later turns up dead, Katharine and Flo realize there's more than bodies buried on that land. And if they keep unearthing the island's secrets, they might be digging their own graves.
105. Daughter of Deceit...Patricia Sprinkle
Quote:
Katharine Murray's elegant Atlanta home has been viciously vandalized! She's prepared to devote all her time to getting it back in tip-top shape—until she meets Bara Weidenauer. Once a picture-perfect socialite, Bara has fallen on some hard times. Her husband, Foley, has hightailed it out of their marriage, and she's convinced he'll try to take her for every penny she's got. While scouring her house for anything of value to hide from her greedy ex, Bara finds a box of military medals that once belonged to her father, a beloved war hero. Eager to know the story behind these precious trinkets, she enlists Katharine's help.
But as Katharine digs deeper into Weidenauer family history, she discovers that everything Bara believed about her father may have been a lie. And when Foley is found shot to death, Bara's world turns to complete chaos. It's up to Katharine to expose this family's secrets from the past and the present . . . or the future will be very grim indeed.
This is a neat little series. I really enjoyed her writing style and the characters were fun. I think I'll try another of her series.
106. A Malignant House...Fay Sampson
I gave this series another try, but this one was even worse than the last. You'd think it was set back in the 1940s-1950s where women get walked all over by their husbands and sons. The storyline itself was good, but I was just irratated with almost all the characters which ruined the book for me. I won't be reading any more in this series.
107. Hit List...Laurell K. Hamilton
Yes! I was so excited to get back to more plot, less sex! I hope she keeps it up...plus I love Edward!
108. Dead Reckoning...Charlaine Harris
109. Pale Demon...Kim Harrison
Recent books in a few series I like. All three were great, especially Pale Demon. I can't wait for the next one!
110. Shaking the Family Tree...Buzzy Jackson
Quote:
In her new book, Jackson (A Bad Woman Feeling Good), inspired by her background studying American history and the recent birth of her son, tracks her family genealogy and takes the reader along for the ride. Before she can learn who her ancestors are, Jackson must learn the ins and out of genealogy, which she does by attending seminars, joining a local genealogical society, learning from the field's experts and, yes, going on a genealogy cruise. In conversational and witty prose, she conveys not only how much fun she is having but also what she is learning. But genealogy culture is just half of the story, the other half being Jackson's search for her family tree. While her quest starts innocently enough as she reaches out to her mother and father soon she finds herself embarking on a series of quirky adventures like looking for lost graveyards, hanging out with Mormons, going to her high school reunion, and finding out the Confederate South still exists.
111. Social Networking for Genealogists...Drew Smith
Quote:
Social Networking for Genealogists could also have been featured in our 'Computer Shelf' section, but is reviewed here for its fine guide to applying social network services to genealogical searching. It describes the social networks available on line, considers how they can be used by genealogists, and tells how to share information, photos and videos with family and friends. From blogs and wikis to Facebook, this shows how to use these social networking tools for family history research and is a key acquisition for any genealogist's collection!
I'm cleaning out my mom's house this summer, so not much time to read. I am trying to re-start my genealogy research, though, so I have a few like these to read.
Quote:
Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.
Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.
97. A Clash of Kings...George R.R. Martin
Quote:
A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon—who hold sway over an age of enforced peace are dead, victims of royal treachery. Now, from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.
98. A Storm of Swords...George R.R. Martin
Quote:
Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as violently as ever, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey, of House Lannister, sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the land of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, the victim of the jealous sorceress who holds him in her evil thrall. But young Robb, of House Stark, still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Robb plots against his despised Lannister enemies, even as they hold his sister hostage at King’s Landing, the seat of the Iron Throne. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons still left in the world. . . .
But as opposing forces maneuver for the final titanic showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost line of civilization. In their vanguard is a horde of mythical Others--a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. As the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords.
99. A Feast for Crows...George R.R. Martin
Quote:
It seems too good to be true. After centuries of bitter strife and fatal treachery, the seven powers dividing the land have decimated one another into an uneasy truce. Or so it appears. . . . With the death of the monstrous King Joffrey, Cersei is ruling as regent in King’s Landing. Robb Stark’s demise has broken the back of the Northern rebels, and his siblings are scattered throughout the kingdom like seeds on barren soil. Few legitimate claims to the once desperately sought Iron Throne still exist—or they are held in hands too weak or too distant to wield them effectively. The war, which raged out of control for so long, has burned itself out.
But as in the aftermath of any climactic struggle, it is not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters start to gather, picking over the bones of the dead and fighting for the spoils of the soon-to-be dead. Now in the Seven Kingdoms, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed, while surprising faces—some familiar, others only just appearing—are seen emerging from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges ahead.
It is a time when the wise and the ambitious, the deceitful and the strong will acquire the skills, the power, and the magic to survive the stark and terrible times that lie before them. It is a time for nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages to come together and stake their fortunes . . . and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors.
I've really enjoyed this series so far. There is so much going on, you never want to put the book down! My only complaint is that he takes so long to write the books! The fifth is supposed to come out next month, but I imagine it will be years before the final two are released. I understand why they take so long - they are around 800-1000 pages each and are extensively researched - I'm just impatient and don't want to wait!
100. Tales from the Hood...Michael Buckley
101. The Everafter War...Michael Buckley
102. The Inside Story...Michael Buckley
Trying to finish up the Sisters Grimm series. The final book should be out the end of this year or sometime early next year. They have taken a surprising twist that I never saw coming!
103. Death on the Family Tree...Patricia Sprinkle
Quote:
With grown-up kids and a husband always on the road, Katharine Murray's nest would be empty if it weren't for her Aunt Lucy—until the elderly woman dies. Now Katharine's saddled with her Aunt's worldly belongings—mostly knickknacks destined for the dumpster. But there's a priceless Celtic necklace among the dross—and a diary written in German, neither of which Katharine's ever seen before.
Determined to find out where these objects came from, Katharine unwittingly discovers a branch of her family tree she never knew existed—namely Aunt Lucy's brother Carter, murdered more than fifty years ago after a mysterious trip to Austria. And when Lucy's artifacts are stolen, and the main suspect turns up dead, Katharine realizes she must solve a burglary and two unsolved homicides separated by a half-century . . . before more than her family secrets end up dead and buried.
104. Sins of the Fathers...Patricia Sprinkle
Quote:
Always ready to help a friend, Katharine Murray has made her way to Bayard Island off the coast of Georgia with Dr. Flo Gadney, to attend to an unsavory errand. Burch Bayard, local patriarch and greedy landowner, has a nefarious plan to build McMansions up and down the island—and over graves that may belong to Dr. Flo's ancestors!
The friends set to work to make sure that Dr. Flo's family tree has its roots in the old cemetery, a task made very difficult by the lack of Southern hospitality from the island's inhabitants. One old woman even tries to shoot them! But when that woman later turns up dead, Katharine and Flo realize there's more than bodies buried on that land. And if they keep unearthing the island's secrets, they might be digging their own graves.
105. Daughter of Deceit...Patricia Sprinkle
Quote:
Katharine Murray's elegant Atlanta home has been viciously vandalized! She's prepared to devote all her time to getting it back in tip-top shape—until she meets Bara Weidenauer. Once a picture-perfect socialite, Bara has fallen on some hard times. Her husband, Foley, has hightailed it out of their marriage, and she's convinced he'll try to take her for every penny she's got. While scouring her house for anything of value to hide from her greedy ex, Bara finds a box of military medals that once belonged to her father, a beloved war hero. Eager to know the story behind these precious trinkets, she enlists Katharine's help.
But as Katharine digs deeper into Weidenauer family history, she discovers that everything Bara believed about her father may have been a lie. And when Foley is found shot to death, Bara's world turns to complete chaos. It's up to Katharine to expose this family's secrets from the past and the present . . . or the future will be very grim indeed.
This is a neat little series. I really enjoyed her writing style and the characters were fun. I think I'll try another of her series.
106. A Malignant House...Fay Sampson
I gave this series another try, but this one was even worse than the last. You'd think it was set back in the 1940s-1950s where women get walked all over by their husbands and sons. The storyline itself was good, but I was just irratated with almost all the characters which ruined the book for me. I won't be reading any more in this series.
107. Hit List...Laurell K. Hamilton
Yes! I was so excited to get back to more plot, less sex! I hope she keeps it up...plus I love Edward!
108. Dead Reckoning...Charlaine Harris
109. Pale Demon...Kim Harrison
Recent books in a few series I like. All three were great, especially Pale Demon. I can't wait for the next one!
110. Shaking the Family Tree...Buzzy Jackson
Quote:
In her new book, Jackson (A Bad Woman Feeling Good), inspired by her background studying American history and the recent birth of her son, tracks her family genealogy and takes the reader along for the ride. Before she can learn who her ancestors are, Jackson must learn the ins and out of genealogy, which she does by attending seminars, joining a local genealogical society, learning from the field's experts and, yes, going on a genealogy cruise. In conversational and witty prose, she conveys not only how much fun she is having but also what she is learning. But genealogy culture is just half of the story, the other half being Jackson's search for her family tree. While her quest starts innocently enough as she reaches out to her mother and father soon she finds herself embarking on a series of quirky adventures like looking for lost graveyards, hanging out with Mormons, going to her high school reunion, and finding out the Confederate South still exists.
111. Social Networking for Genealogists...Drew Smith
Quote:
Social Networking for Genealogists could also have been featured in our 'Computer Shelf' section, but is reviewed here for its fine guide to applying social network services to genealogical searching. It describes the social networks available on line, considers how they can be used by genealogists, and tells how to share information, photos and videos with family and friends. From blogs and wikis to Facebook, this shows how to use these social networking tools for family history research and is a key acquisition for any genealogist's collection!
I'm cleaning out my mom's house this summer, so not much time to read. I am trying to re-start my genealogy research, though, so I have a few like these to read.
May ~ 2011
78. A Discovery of Witches...Dorothy Harkness
I loved this book! I am so glad it is a trilogy, but I can't believe I have to wait until 2012 for the next one!
Quote:
It all begins with a lost manuscript, a reluctant witch, and 1,500-year-old vampire. Dr. Diana Bishop has a really good reason for refusing to do magic: she is a direct descendant of the first woman executed in the Salem Witch Trials, and her parents cautioned her be discreet about her talents before they were murdered, presumably for having "too much power." So it is purely by accident that Diana unlocks an enchanted long-lost manuscript (a book that all manner of supernatural creatures believe to hold the story of all origins and the secret of immortality) at the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and finds herself in a race to prevent an interspecies war. A sparkling debut written by a historian and self-proclaimed oenophile, A Discovery of Witches is heady mix of history and magic, mythology and love (cue the aforementioned vampire!), making for a luxurious, intoxicating, one-sitting read.
79. Artifacts...Mary Anna Evans
Quote:
The shifting little isles along the Florida Panhandle-hurricane-wracked bits of land filled with plenty of human history-serve as the effective backdrop for Evans's debut, a tale of greed, archeology, romance and murder. The latest in a long line of courageous and resourceful women, Faye Longchamp can trace her mixed ancestry back to a slave and a once magnificent plantation house, Joyeuse, which she now claims by heritage and squatter's rights and whose very existence is a closely guarded secret. Faye ekes out a living by illegal "pothunting" and acting as an assistant on a legitimate archeological dig, but her discovery of a human skull and the subsequent murder of two archeology students threaten her precarious existence. While Evans stretches credulity with the sheer number of unlikely elements that make up the plot, including a mysterious Indian and a 19th-century diary, the rich setting and the lively characters that aid or bedevil Faye in her quest more than compensate. Readers should welcome this strong new heroine.
80. Relics...Mary Anna Evans
Quote:
Soon after archeologist Faye Longchamp joins a team in rural Alabama researching the "Sujosa," an isolated dark-skinned people with Caucasian features and an unusual resistance to AIDS, she discovers that the man in charge of the project has made a hash of the preliminary dig. Faye determines to prove her own worth by planning the excavation of a more likely site, but she gets sidetracked when an act of arson kills Dr. Carmen Martinez, an oral historian who was gathering old tales and songs to learn about the group's mysterious origins. The apparent suicide of an 18-year-old Sujosa boy deepens the puzzle.
81. Effigies...Mary Anna Evans
Quote:
In Evans's intriguing third mystery to feature archeologist Faye Longchamp (after 2005's Relics), Faye and her Native American assistant, Joe Wolf Mantooth, leave Joyeuse Island, Fla., for a dig in rural Mississippi at the site of a proposed highway. They arrive during the Neshoba County Fair, a weeklong celebration during which residents put aside their differences to honor the area's mixed-race heritage. But when the archeologists discover another important site on the property of Carroll Calhoun, a racist with ties to the KKK, he not only refuses to let them excavate but tries to bulldoze what might be a sacred Choctaw burial mound. In the ensuing clash, racial tensions hit the boiling point over who has rights to the mound. Calhoun is then found dead, his throat slit with an ancient Indian blade, and Faye investigates after suspicion falls on Joe and other area Native Americans. Though Evans has been compared to Tony Hillerman, her sympathetic characters and fascinating archeological lore add up to a style all her own.
82. Findings...Mary Anna Evans
Quote:
Faye Longchamp is overjoyed to be paid to do archaeological work she would have done anyway - excavating a site that was once her family's. That joy ends abruptly when intruders break into a dear friend's house and leave him dead among the scattered remains of Faye's artifacts. But the open wall safe is untouched, and choice artifacts are left in their cases.
There seems to be no motive at all for the vicious crime - unless the thieves were aware of the fabulous emerald he had been holding minutes before his death. But Faye had only uncovered it that very evening, and she had told no one.
When his widow asks Faye to organize the relics left broken on the floor, Faye realizes that something is actually missing - not an emerald nor a valuable painting, but her field notes.
Faye seeks out the story behind the mysterious emerald. How was her fieldwork connected to her friend's death? The key to all her questions must be buried in the field notes now held by the killers. Now, it is only a matter of time before they come for Faye.
83. Floodgates...Mary Anna Evans
Quote:
Faye and her team are excavating a plantation site outside New Orleans, next to the battlefield where Andrew Jackson's army defeated the British in 1815. When students doing post-Katrina cleanup find the remains of what appears to be a drowning victim from the hurricane, a dumbbell resting atop the pelvis suggests foul play to Faye. The police ask Faye and her fiancé, Joe Wolf Mantooth, to assist in what becomes a murder investigation, the victim having been identified as a fellow archeologist, Shelly Broussard, who worked with rescue teams after the storm. Passages from a book about the Katrina disaster by a local author and extracts from the memoirs of a 19th-century military engineer provide insights and historical perspective. Faye's landlady, a part-time voodoo-mambo or priestess, adds spice.
Yay! I found another great series! I'm just waiting on the last one from the library!
84. A Throne of Fire...Rick Riordan
I haven't decided if I like this series or the Percy Jackson series the best. Growing up, I loved mythology and Greek and Egyptian were my favorite, so it's fun revisiting them in a whole new way. The books kind of remind me of Neil Gaiman's book, American Gods. It is sad to see how the gods are forgotten and seem to sort of fade away or become ridiculous parodies.
Quote:
In this exciting second installment of the three-book series, Carter and Sadie, offspring of the brilliant Egyptologist Dr. Julius Kane, embark on a worldwide search for the Book of Ra, but the House of Life and the gods of chaos are determined to stop them.
85. The Paleo Solution...Robb Wolf
Not much new information than what you can find in any similar book. I like his writing style, but if he said "Buttercup" one more time, I was going to scream!
86. The Unusual Suspects...Michael Buckley
87. The Problem Child...Michael Buckley
88. Once Upon a Crime...Michael Buckley
89. Magic and Other Misdemeanors...Michael Buckley
More cute books in the Sisters Grimm series. I'm making my nieces read these this summer!
90. Oceans of Blood...Darren Shan
Another book in the prequel series to the Cirque du Freak series (Turtle is loving that series.) This one is okay, not as good as the others.
91. Cate of the Lost Colony...Lisa Klein
I would have loved reading this when I was younger; I was obsessed with the Lost Colony. This may have rekindled my interest - I need to find some non-fiction books now.
Quote:
Cate, 14, is a maid for Queen Elizabeth until her emotions get the best of her. When a romance develops between Cate and Sir Walter Ralegh, the jealous queen declares, "He. Is. Mine" and sends her to the Tower.However, the smooth-talking Ralegh is able to convince the queen that the young woman should be sent to America, thinking that he will eventually join her. Clearly this forbidden relationship doesn't evolve, and Cate's life becomes consumed with surviving in Roanoke with hostile Natives threatening to attack. She enlists the help of Manteo to learn their language and, predictably, a romance grows from that. Chapters containing Ralegh's writings and memorandums alternate with those about Cate and Manteo, who is educated in English and charged with negotiations with the Natives. While the writing is smooth and easy to follow, only true American-history enthusiasts will find this novel interesting enough to read in its entirety.
92. Fresh Quilting...Malka Dubrawsky
93. Quilting for Dummies...Cheryl Fall
94. Ultimate Quilting Bible...Marie Clayton
Thinking about taking up quilting again; it's been many, many years since I've done any!
95. In the Blood...Fay Sampson
Okay (I'll definitely read more in the series), but not as good as Rett MacPherson. I didn't mesh with the characters as well.
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Suzy Fewings is an avid genealogical researcher, and she is thrilled when she discovers that one of her ancestors, one Thomas Loosemore, a church warden in the sixteenth century, had the same name as her son, Tom. But the discovery loses its fascination when further research reveals that Loosemore was most likely a murderer. Her research into the past takes a backseat, however, when a modern-day murder takes place. A 16-year-old local girl, Julie Samuel, is found brutally slain, her body left in a drainage ditch. Even more horrifying is the fact that Tom, who dated Julie in the weeks before her murder, suddenly becomes a suspect in the investigation. Shocked, Suzy begins to wonder if the sixteenth-century Thomas Loosemore could have passed down a curse to her own Tom. As the investigation progresses, Suzy's happy family begins to unravel, as Suzy and her husband think the unthinkable--that Tom is Julie's killer. The conclusion is as surprising as it is tragic. A gripping story and a believable depiction of how a family can be destroyed by guilt and doubt make this a fine read for crime fans.
I loved this book! I am so glad it is a trilogy, but I can't believe I have to wait until 2012 for the next one!
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It all begins with a lost manuscript, a reluctant witch, and 1,500-year-old vampire. Dr. Diana Bishop has a really good reason for refusing to do magic: she is a direct descendant of the first woman executed in the Salem Witch Trials, and her parents cautioned her be discreet about her talents before they were murdered, presumably for having "too much power." So it is purely by accident that Diana unlocks an enchanted long-lost manuscript (a book that all manner of supernatural creatures believe to hold the story of all origins and the secret of immortality) at the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and finds herself in a race to prevent an interspecies war. A sparkling debut written by a historian and self-proclaimed oenophile, A Discovery of Witches is heady mix of history and magic, mythology and love (cue the aforementioned vampire!), making for a luxurious, intoxicating, one-sitting read.
79. Artifacts...Mary Anna Evans
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The shifting little isles along the Florida Panhandle-hurricane-wracked bits of land filled with plenty of human history-serve as the effective backdrop for Evans's debut, a tale of greed, archeology, romance and murder. The latest in a long line of courageous and resourceful women, Faye Longchamp can trace her mixed ancestry back to a slave and a once magnificent plantation house, Joyeuse, which she now claims by heritage and squatter's rights and whose very existence is a closely guarded secret. Faye ekes out a living by illegal "pothunting" and acting as an assistant on a legitimate archeological dig, but her discovery of a human skull and the subsequent murder of two archeology students threaten her precarious existence. While Evans stretches credulity with the sheer number of unlikely elements that make up the plot, including a mysterious Indian and a 19th-century diary, the rich setting and the lively characters that aid or bedevil Faye in her quest more than compensate. Readers should welcome this strong new heroine.
80. Relics...Mary Anna Evans
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Soon after archeologist Faye Longchamp joins a team in rural Alabama researching the "Sujosa," an isolated dark-skinned people with Caucasian features and an unusual resistance to AIDS, she discovers that the man in charge of the project has made a hash of the preliminary dig. Faye determines to prove her own worth by planning the excavation of a more likely site, but she gets sidetracked when an act of arson kills Dr. Carmen Martinez, an oral historian who was gathering old tales and songs to learn about the group's mysterious origins. The apparent suicide of an 18-year-old Sujosa boy deepens the puzzle.
81. Effigies...Mary Anna Evans
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In Evans's intriguing third mystery to feature archeologist Faye Longchamp (after 2005's Relics), Faye and her Native American assistant, Joe Wolf Mantooth, leave Joyeuse Island, Fla., for a dig in rural Mississippi at the site of a proposed highway. They arrive during the Neshoba County Fair, a weeklong celebration during which residents put aside their differences to honor the area's mixed-race heritage. But when the archeologists discover another important site on the property of Carroll Calhoun, a racist with ties to the KKK, he not only refuses to let them excavate but tries to bulldoze what might be a sacred Choctaw burial mound. In the ensuing clash, racial tensions hit the boiling point over who has rights to the mound. Calhoun is then found dead, his throat slit with an ancient Indian blade, and Faye investigates after suspicion falls on Joe and other area Native Americans. Though Evans has been compared to Tony Hillerman, her sympathetic characters and fascinating archeological lore add up to a style all her own.
82. Findings...Mary Anna Evans
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Faye Longchamp is overjoyed to be paid to do archaeological work she would have done anyway - excavating a site that was once her family's. That joy ends abruptly when intruders break into a dear friend's house and leave him dead among the scattered remains of Faye's artifacts. But the open wall safe is untouched, and choice artifacts are left in their cases.
There seems to be no motive at all for the vicious crime - unless the thieves were aware of the fabulous emerald he had been holding minutes before his death. But Faye had only uncovered it that very evening, and she had told no one.
When his widow asks Faye to organize the relics left broken on the floor, Faye realizes that something is actually missing - not an emerald nor a valuable painting, but her field notes.
Faye seeks out the story behind the mysterious emerald. How was her fieldwork connected to her friend's death? The key to all her questions must be buried in the field notes now held by the killers. Now, it is only a matter of time before they come for Faye.
83. Floodgates...Mary Anna Evans
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Faye and her team are excavating a plantation site outside New Orleans, next to the battlefield where Andrew Jackson's army defeated the British in 1815. When students doing post-Katrina cleanup find the remains of what appears to be a drowning victim from the hurricane, a dumbbell resting atop the pelvis suggests foul play to Faye. The police ask Faye and her fiancé, Joe Wolf Mantooth, to assist in what becomes a murder investigation, the victim having been identified as a fellow archeologist, Shelly Broussard, who worked with rescue teams after the storm. Passages from a book about the Katrina disaster by a local author and extracts from the memoirs of a 19th-century military engineer provide insights and historical perspective. Faye's landlady, a part-time voodoo-mambo or priestess, adds spice.
Yay! I found another great series! I'm just waiting on the last one from the library!
84. A Throne of Fire...Rick Riordan
I haven't decided if I like this series or the Percy Jackson series the best. Growing up, I loved mythology and Greek and Egyptian were my favorite, so it's fun revisiting them in a whole new way. The books kind of remind me of Neil Gaiman's book, American Gods. It is sad to see how the gods are forgotten and seem to sort of fade away or become ridiculous parodies.
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In this exciting second installment of the three-book series, Carter and Sadie, offspring of the brilliant Egyptologist Dr. Julius Kane, embark on a worldwide search for the Book of Ra, but the House of Life and the gods of chaos are determined to stop them.
85. The Paleo Solution...Robb Wolf
Not much new information than what you can find in any similar book. I like his writing style, but if he said "Buttercup" one more time, I was going to scream!
86. The Unusual Suspects...Michael Buckley
87. The Problem Child...Michael Buckley
88. Once Upon a Crime...Michael Buckley
89. Magic and Other Misdemeanors...Michael Buckley
More cute books in the Sisters Grimm series. I'm making my nieces read these this summer!
90. Oceans of Blood...Darren Shan
Another book in the prequel series to the Cirque du Freak series (Turtle is loving that series.) This one is okay, not as good as the others.
91. Cate of the Lost Colony...Lisa Klein
I would have loved reading this when I was younger; I was obsessed with the Lost Colony. This may have rekindled my interest - I need to find some non-fiction books now.
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Cate, 14, is a maid for Queen Elizabeth until her emotions get the best of her. When a romance develops between Cate and Sir Walter Ralegh, the jealous queen declares, "He. Is. Mine" and sends her to the Tower.However, the smooth-talking Ralegh is able to convince the queen that the young woman should be sent to America, thinking that he will eventually join her. Clearly this forbidden relationship doesn't evolve, and Cate's life becomes consumed with surviving in Roanoke with hostile Natives threatening to attack. She enlists the help of Manteo to learn their language and, predictably, a romance grows from that. Chapters containing Ralegh's writings and memorandums alternate with those about Cate and Manteo, who is educated in English and charged with negotiations with the Natives. While the writing is smooth and easy to follow, only true American-history enthusiasts will find this novel interesting enough to read in its entirety.
92. Fresh Quilting...Malka Dubrawsky
93. Quilting for Dummies...Cheryl Fall
94. Ultimate Quilting Bible...Marie Clayton
Thinking about taking up quilting again; it's been many, many years since I've done any!
95. In the Blood...Fay Sampson
Okay (I'll definitely read more in the series), but not as good as Rett MacPherson. I didn't mesh with the characters as well.
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Suzy Fewings is an avid genealogical researcher, and she is thrilled when she discovers that one of her ancestors, one Thomas Loosemore, a church warden in the sixteenth century, had the same name as her son, Tom. But the discovery loses its fascination when further research reveals that Loosemore was most likely a murderer. Her research into the past takes a backseat, however, when a modern-day murder takes place. A 16-year-old local girl, Julie Samuel, is found brutally slain, her body left in a drainage ditch. Even more horrifying is the fact that Tom, who dated Julie in the weeks before her murder, suddenly becomes a suspect in the investigation. Shocked, Suzy begins to wonder if the sixteenth-century Thomas Loosemore could have passed down a curse to her own Tom. As the investigation progresses, Suzy's happy family begins to unravel, as Suzy and her husband think the unthinkable--that Tom is Julie's killer. The conclusion is as surprising as it is tragic. A gripping story and a believable depiction of how a family can be destroyed by guilt and doubt make this a fine read for crime fans.
April ~ 2011
49. Scent of the Missing: Love & Partnership with a Search and Rescue Dog...Susannah Charleson
I've always been interested in working dogs, so this book was a fun read! I think I'd like volunteering with a similar group. I've got some similar books on hold at the library.
This book focused on the first two years of her dog Puzzle; I want to read more about some older dogs who have been doing this for a while. Also, I wish she had talked more about the technical aspect of it, but I did enjoy the personal stories she added in.
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In the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, Susannah Charleson clipped a photo from the newspaper: an exhausted canine handler, face buried in the fur of his search-and-rescue dog. A dog lover and pilot with search experience herself, Susannah was so moved by the image that she decided to volunteer with a local canine team and soon discovered firsthand the long hours, nonexistent pay, and often heart-wrenching results they face.
Still she felt the call, and once she qualified to train a dog of her own, she adopted Puzzle, a strong, bright Golden Retriever puppy who exhibited unique aptitudes as a working dog but who was less interested in the role of compliant house pet. Puzzle's willfulness and high drive, both assets in the field, challenged even Susannah, who had raised dogs for years.
Scent of the Missing is the story of Susannah and Puzzle's adventures together and of the close relationship they forge as they search for the lost--a teen gone missing, an Alzheimer's patient wandering in the cold, signs of the crew amid the debris of the space shuttle Columbia disaster. From the earliest air-scent lessons to her final mastery of whole-body dialog, Puzzle emerges as a fully collaborative partner in a noble enterprise that unfolds across the forests, plains, and cityscapes of the Southwest. Along the way Susannah and Puzzle learn to read the clues in the field, and in each other, to accomplish together the critical work neither could do alone and to unravel the mystery of the human/canine bond.
I'll probably be reading a bunch of YA/J books for a bit. Turtle has a stack he wants me to read, so we can talk about them.
50. Birth of a Killer: The Saga of Larten Crepsley...Darren Shan
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This adventure story traces the early life of master vampire Larten Crepsley. Sent to work in a Dickensian factory, young Larten kills the abusive foreman and flees. He takes shelter in a cemetery crypt where he meets the 500-year-old vampire General Seba Nile, who explains to the terrified youngster that vampires aren't evil. Although they drink human blood, just as the legends say, they do not harm those on whom they feed. When he invites Larten to travel with him as his assistant, the boy agrees. As the first entry in a projected series, this story includes quite a bit of exposition. The plot action covers more than 20 years, taking Larten through his first "blooding" and into full vampire status, and features his first meetings with mysterious Cirque owner Hibernius Tall; Seba's vampire ally Paris Skyle; and the vampaneze Murlough. At times, the pacing feels rather rushed with the effort to introduce many important characters, settings, and themes from Shan's "Cirque du Freak" saga (Little, Brown). Transitions are often abrupt, jumping several years between chapters. A cliff-hanger ending promises further revelations. "Cirque du Freak" aficionados will be intrigued by this glimpse into Crepsley's formative years, but the uninitiated will want to read the original books first.
51. The Grimm Legacy...Polly Shulman
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Feeling left out from her stepfamily at home and from her classmates at her new school, Elizabeth is delighted when she gets a job at the New York Circulating Material Repository, a library that loans objects of historical value. She's particularly intrigued when she's given access to the Grimm Collection, a secret room that holds magical objects from the Brothers' tales, e.g., seven-league boots, a mermaid's comb, and the sinister mirror from "Snow White." However, when the items start to disappear, she and her fellow pages embark on a dangerous quest to catch the thief, only to find themselves among the suspects. This modern fantasy has intrigue, adventure, and romance, and the magical aspects of the tale are both clever and intricately woven, from rhyming charms to flying-carpet rides. The author brings the seemingly disparate elements together in the end, while still making certain that her protagonist's problems are not completely solved by the world of magic. Shulman's prose is fast paced, filled with humor, and peopled with characters who are either true to life or delightfully bizarre. Fans of fairy tales in general and Grimm stories in particular will delight in the author's frequent literary references, and fantasy lovers will feel very much at home in this tale that pulls out all the stops.
52. The Worst Witch at School...Jill Murphy (two books in one - The Worst Witch and The Worst Witch Strikes Again)
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Mildred Hubble is the worst witch at Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches - she's always getting her spells wrong. But she manages to get by until she turns Ethel, the teacher's pet, into her deadly enemy.
Summer term at Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches has just begun and disaster-prone Mildred Hubble is in deep trouble again - all because of the new girl, Enid Nightshade, who isn't nearly as placid as she look.
53. The Zombie Chasers...John Kloepfer
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Zack Clarke's suburban Phoenix neighborhood seems normal–until almost everyone mysteriously transforms into a zombie. Zack, his geeky friend Rice, and his eighth-grade sister Zoe's glamorous but snarky friend Madison are seemingly the only ones unaffected. That means that all the zombies in the neighborhood–including Zoe–are determined to devour them. They need to defend themselves but can only find a plastic baseball bat and a fire extinguisher. Meanwhile, Zack and Zoe's parents are at a parent-teacher night at their school–do they even know what's going on? This first volume in a new series leaves readers hanging at the end, but it's a quick, fun read, loaded with jokes and middle-school sarcasm. Kloepfer's descriptions of the zombies and their feeding habits, and Wolfhard's cartoon characters with guts and drool hanging out, are not for the faint of heart (or weak of stomach).
54. Zombiekins...Kevin Bolger
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All is well in Dementedyville, U.S.A. That angry mob wielding pitchforks and torches? Why, they're just going over to the yard sale at the spooky house owned by Widow Imavitch! That's just where fourth-grader Stanley is headed, too, and he leaves with Zombiekins—a Frankensteinian stuffed animal that is part bear, part bunny, part lizard . . . and ALL EVIL! At school the next day, Zombiekins' bite turns the class tattletale into an undead monster. (“In some ways it's an improvement,” admits Stanley.) When the plush terror escapes, no realm is safe—not music class, the playground, or the teachers' lounge. Even the little kids have been transformed into “kinderzombies.”
A couple of zombie books from Turtle. They were okay, although I can definitely see why young boys would like them!
55. Land of Painted Caves...Jean Auel
This was just alright...certainly not the climatic ending I was expecting. I really hope she changes her mind and writes some more. I hate that she ended this way.
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What began 30 years ago with Auel's best-seller The Clan of the Cave Bear (1980), namely the phenomenally popular Ice Age-era Earth's Children series, comes to an end in the sixth installment. Now a wife and mother, Ayla lives among the Zelandoni, the people of her mate, Jondalar, but she hasn't forgotten the ways of the people who raised her. Ayla is training to become a spiritual leader, and her devotion to this calling takes its toll on her union with Jondalar. On their journeys, Ayla and her friends contend with earthquakes, a band of marauding rapists, and even an outbreak of prehistoric chicken pox.
56. The Sisters Grimm: FairyTale Detectives...Michael Buckley
Very cute!
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Buckley has created a world in which humans and fairy-tale creatures live side-by-side in rural New York in an uneasy alliance. Brought here by Wilhelm Grimm in an attempt to save them, the Everafters are now kept in check by the man's descendants. Enter Sabrina and Daphne Grimm, two sisters seemingly abandoned by their parents, who have been brought to live with a grandmother whom they thought was dead. Heartbroken and wary, the girls are immediately swept up in a mystery that includes giants, pixies, fairies, and witches. Readers well grounded in their fairy tales will get the most pleasure from recognizing the characters–Prince Charming, Jack-the-Giant-Killer, the Three Pigs, the Magic Mirror, and more–but the fast pace, sly humor, and cleverly inserted vocabulary lessons will entertain even those who are meeting the characters for the first time.
57. Libyrinth...Pearl North
I loved this one! Awesome plot!
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Despite her seemingly humble role as a library clerk in a forgotten colony, Haly is the keeper of a remarkable secret. In a world in which books are both revered and feared, she has the power to hear the words of the tomes around her. When a rival group called the Eradicants, who believe that the books are evil, plots to destroy the ancient library where she lives and works, Haly is forced to make difficult choices to protect the lives of those around her. This debut novel is based on the premise of librarians as the protector of knowledge, defending literature from those who have abandoned the written word.
58. Family Skeletons...Rett MacPherson
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Victory "Torie" O'Shea is a thirtysomething wife, mother, amateur genealogist, and museum docent living in Missouri. When local shopkeeper Norah Zumwalt asks Torie to research her family tree and a short time later ends up brutally murdered, Torie feels compelled to investigate the crime, despite warnings from the local sheriff to mind her own business. What she finds is a decades-old murder, a mysterious case of mistaken identity, and a bizarre love triangle. MacPherson's story has an appealing down-home style and offbeat charm, and Torie, a midwestern version of Kinsey Milhone, is smart, sassy, and full of Missouri spunk.
59. A Veiled Antiquity...Rett MacPherson
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Missouri historical tour guide and genealogist Torie O'Shea (Family Skeletons, 1997) brings down-home sensibilities and acute insights into small-town life when she investigates the death of a reclusive woman whose body is found at the bottom of her basement steps. Although the woman was not a native of New Kassel, Torie is surprised at the lack of kinfolk at the funeral and at the woman's will, which states that no one outside the town can bid on her antiques-filled house. Poking into the woman's home while doing a little informal detecting, Torie finds a key and some old documents written in French taped to the underside of the kitchen table. She and the sheriff are stunned when the woman's documents appear to point to the identity of the famous man in the iron mask. What, they ask themselves, would someone in a small Missouri town be doing with such valuable letters?
This is a cute little series I heard about a while ago and finally decided to read. I love that the heroine is a genealogist and works for the historical society, but she's my age (30's) and not significantly older.
60. The Scorch Trials...James Dashner
I really liked The Maze Runner and this one was just as good! I can't wait for the final book to come out - there were so many cliffhangers in this one! If you liked the Hunger Games Trilogy, you should definitely check out this one.
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Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. No more puzzles. No more variables. And no more running. Thomas was sure that escape meant he and the Gladers would get their lives back. But no one really knew what sort of life they were going back to.
In the Maze, life was easy. They had food, and shelter, and safety . . . until Teresa triggered the end. In the world outside the Maze, however, the end was triggered long ago.
Burned by sun flares and baked by a new, brutal climate, the earth is a wasteland. Government has disintegrated—and with it, order—and now Cranks, people covered in festering wounds and driven to murderous insanity by the infectious disease known as the Flare, roam the crumbling cities hunting for their next victim . . . and meal.
The Gladers are far from finished with running. Instead of freedom, they find themselves faced with another trial. They must cross the Scorch, the most burned-out section of the world, and arrive at a safe haven in two weeks. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.
Thomas can only wonder—does he hold the secret of freedom somewhere in his mind? Or will he forever be at the mercy of WICKED?
61. The Dead-Tossed Waves…Carrie Ryan
Not quite as good as the first book, but it did set up nicely for the third and final one. Can't wait to find out how it all ends.
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Timid, thoughtful Gabry has grown up safely in the city of Vista She lives in a lighthouse with her mother, Mary, the daring heroine of The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Delacorte, 2009), whose job it is to kill Mudo—zombies—as they wash ashore. Then one night, Cira, Gabry's best friend, and Catcher, Cira's brother, convince her to sneak outside Vista's walls. With the attack of one Breaker—a fast zombie—everything changes: a friend is killed, Catcher is infected, and Cira is imprisoned and destined for the Recruiters, the army that protects the loose federation of cities left after the Return. Feeling both guilty for having escaped punishment and self-destructive after the revelation that Mary in fact adopted her, Gabry pushes herself to cross the city's Barrier again.
62. Guide to Search and Rescue Dogs…Angela Eaton Snovak
63. My Haunted House…Angie Sage
Turtle didn't finish this one because he thought it would be scary and it wasn't. It was more cutesy than anything else. Definitely recommend for young girls (2nd-3rd grade), but I won't read anymore of them. I do want to try her Septimus Heap series...I heard it's great.
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Araminta Spookie lives in a sprawling haunted house. She spends her days hunting for ghosts, avoiding her cranky Aunt Tabby, and helping her nocturnal Uncle Drac. In the first book, her aunt wants to sell the house and the little girl does all she can to scare away potential buyers. Things turn out better than expected when the ghost-loving Wizzard family shows interest but decides instead to move in with the Spookies.
64. The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda…Tom Angleberger
Awesome, awesome! It had a great message that really needs to hit home with Turtle lately. Plus, I learned how to make a cool origami Yoda!
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For Tommy, the only question is whether or not Origami Yoda is real. Of course he's real as a small puppet on Dwight's finger. But does the oracle possess magic power? In order to find out, he decides to compile scientific evidence from the experiences of those who asked Origami Yoda for help. His friend Harvey is invited to comment on each story because he thinks Yoda is nothing but a "green paper wad." Tommy also comments because he's supposedly trying to solve the puzzle. In actuality, the story is about boys and girls in sixth grade trying to figure out how being social works. In fact, Tommy says, "…it's about this really cool girl, Sara, and whether or not I should risk making a fool of myself for her." The situations that Yoda has a hand in are pretty authentic, and the setting is broad enough to be any school.
65. Reckless…Cornelia Funke
Cornelia Funke is one of my favorite YA authors and this book was right up there with her Inkheart trilogy. Lately I've been loving books that reference fairy tales and this one had a lot in it. I wish I could get into Jasper Fforde's books that are like this. Maybe I'll try them again this summer.
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Funke takes readers on a new adventure into a magical place where the dark side of fairy tales holds sway. Jacob Reckless, like his father before him, escapes into the Mirrorworld, and all is well until his younger brother, Will, follows him in and falls under the enchantment of the Dark Fairy. Through an injury, she turns him slowly into a Goyl, a person made of stone. Jacob is determined to rescue his brother and restore him to himself. Accompanied by his companion, a shape-shifter girl/vixen named Fox, and Will's girlfriend, Clara, Jacob journeys with Will to find the antidote to the spell. With a large cast, including a dwarf, powerful fairies born from water, deadly moths, man-eating sirens, unicorns, and the terrifying Tailor with fingers ending in blades and needles, the story includes multiple fairy-tale motifs as the characters grapple with fear and despair while on their seemingly hopeless quest. The action picks up midway through the book and races to an exciting climax.
66. Lover Unleashed…J.R. Ward
Another good one in the BDB. I hope she writes about Blaylock and Quinn next!
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Payne, twin sister of Vishous, is cut from the same dark, seductive cloth as her brother. Imprisoned for eons by their mother, the Scribe Virgin, she finally frees herself-only to face a devastating injury. Manuel Manello, M.D., is drafted by the Brotherhood to save her as only he can-but when the human surgeon and the vampire warrior meet, their two worlds collide in the face of their undeniable passion. With so much working against them, can love prove stronger than the birthright and the biology that separates them?
67. Revolting Librarians Redux: Radical Librarians Speak Out…edited by Katia Roberto and Jessamyn West
Great book! Gave me a lot to think about especially since I will be applying to library schools this coming winter.
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This compilation of witty, insightful, and readable writings on the various aspects of alternative librarianship edited by two outspoken library professionals is a sequel to Revolting Librarians, which was published in 1972. The contributors, including Alison Bechdel, Sanford Berman, and Utne Reader librarian Chris Dodge, cover topics that range from library education and librarianship as a profession to the more political and spiritual aspects of librarianship. The contributions include critiques of library and information science programs, firsthand accounts of work experiences, and original fiction, poetry and art. Ten of the original librarians who wrote essays for Revolting Librarians back in 1972 reflect upon what they wrote thirty years ago and the turns that their lives and careers have taken since.
68. A Comedy of Heirs…Rett MacPherson
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As a genealogist for a historical society in New Kassel, Mo., Torie O'Shea must examine her own family's history in this third entry in MacPherson's cozy series (A Veiled Antiquity, etc.). As she prepares to host her family's annual Christmas reunion, Torie is sent an anonymous packet of newspaper clippings. They reveal that her great-grandfather Nathaniel Ulysses Keith was shot to death in 1948 on his front porch while his family was inside the house. Because she had been told as a child that Keith died in a hunting accident, Torie now wants to know which story is true. Like a bloodhound on the scent, she scans library microfilm records to prove the veracity of the articles, then visits the county sheriff for further information. What she learns isn't pleasant: her ancestor was a brute to his children and publicly unfaithful to his wife. The list of people who wanted to kill him is as long as it is convincing. Torie's best sources of information, however, are the relatives about to descend on her home. When an aunt tells her that Keith's wife and children sat listening to his groans until he died, Torie is horrified. Could her great-grandmother have sanctioned the murder? Not according to another aunt who was inside the house that day. But since that aunt didn't see the killer, it's up to Torie to ferret out the culprit and clarify her family history. Torie's large, eccentric family provides plenty of entertaining characters, and MacPherson skillfully connects the family's many subplots (pregnancies, sibling rivalries, new romances) while keeping the murder at the center of the intrigue. Although the title promises comedy, there's much more than humor at stake in this heartrending tale of family pride and the coverups to keep it intact.
69. A Misty Mourning…Rett MacPherson
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Seven-months pregnant Missouri genealogist Torie O'Shea takes time off from her historical society job to travel to West Virginia at the invitation of a family friend, 101-year-old Clarissa Hart, in this absorbing small-town cozy, the fourth in an excellent series. The night after she and her 80-something grandmother, Gert, arrive at the Panther Run Boardinghouse, Clarissa suffocates in her sleep. Was it an accident, or murder? The local sheriff believes the latter, and Torie is a prime suspect because Clarissa's new will leaves the boardinghouse to her. In order to clear her name, Torie has to use her skills as a historian to unravel a tangle of mystery and intrigue leading back to the early years of the century, when her great-grandmother kept the boardinghouse and Panther Run was a "company town." Fans of O'Shea's earlier adventures may be disappointed not to see much of her husband and mother, but grandma Gert is a delight, and a large cast of minor characters, including two of Torie's more distant relations, adds to the fun.
Absolutely love this series! Quick reads and she's a genealogist!
70. Gladiatrix…Russell Whitfield
Really interesting book! Lysandra was hard to like as a character because she was just too damn arrogant, but eventually she grew on me. I'm reading the non-fiction version now.
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The Ancient Roman public's hunger for gladiatorial combat has never been greater. The Emperor Domitian's passion for novelty and variety in the arena has given rise to a very different kind of warrior: the Gladiatrix.
Sole survivor of a shipwreck off the coast of Asia Minor, Lysandra finds herself the property of Lucius Balbus, owner of the foremost Ludus for female gladiators in the Eastern Empire. Lysandra, a member of an ancient Spartan sect of warrior priestesses, refuses to accept her new status as a slave. Forced to fight for survival, her deadly combat skills win the adoration of the crowds, the respect of Balbus.
But Lysandra's Spartan pride also earns her powerful enemies: Sorina, Gladiatrix Prima and leader of the Barbarian faction, and the sadistic Numidian trainer, Nastasen. When plans are laid for the ultimate combat spectacle to honor the visit of the emperor's powerful new emissary, Lysandra must face her greatest and deadliest trial.
70. Killing Cousins...Rett MacPherson
71. Blood Relations...Rett MacPherson
72. In Sheep's Clothing...Rett MacPherson
73. Thicker Than Water...Rett MacPherson
74. Dead Man Running...Rett MacPherson
75. Died in the Wool...Rett MacPherson
76. Blood Ballad...Rett MacPherson
I really liked this series and I would love to read more, but it looks like she dropped off the face of the world! Her website isn't even active anymore.
77. Gladiatrix: The True Story of History's Unknown Woman Warrior...Amy Zoll
This book was okay, but not what I was expecting. I thought it would be more about female gladiators, but most of the book was about males. There were just little snippets here and there about females and hardly any at all about the skeleton recently found that is thought to be a gladiatrix.
I've always been interested in working dogs, so this book was a fun read! I think I'd like volunteering with a similar group. I've got some similar books on hold at the library.
This book focused on the first two years of her dog Puzzle; I want to read more about some older dogs who have been doing this for a while. Also, I wish she had talked more about the technical aspect of it, but I did enjoy the personal stories she added in.
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In the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, Susannah Charleson clipped a photo from the newspaper: an exhausted canine handler, face buried in the fur of his search-and-rescue dog. A dog lover and pilot with search experience herself, Susannah was so moved by the image that she decided to volunteer with a local canine team and soon discovered firsthand the long hours, nonexistent pay, and often heart-wrenching results they face.
Still she felt the call, and once she qualified to train a dog of her own, she adopted Puzzle, a strong, bright Golden Retriever puppy who exhibited unique aptitudes as a working dog but who was less interested in the role of compliant house pet. Puzzle's willfulness and high drive, both assets in the field, challenged even Susannah, who had raised dogs for years.
Scent of the Missing is the story of Susannah and Puzzle's adventures together and of the close relationship they forge as they search for the lost--a teen gone missing, an Alzheimer's patient wandering in the cold, signs of the crew amid the debris of the space shuttle Columbia disaster. From the earliest air-scent lessons to her final mastery of whole-body dialog, Puzzle emerges as a fully collaborative partner in a noble enterprise that unfolds across the forests, plains, and cityscapes of the Southwest. Along the way Susannah and Puzzle learn to read the clues in the field, and in each other, to accomplish together the critical work neither could do alone and to unravel the mystery of the human/canine bond.
I'll probably be reading a bunch of YA/J books for a bit. Turtle has a stack he wants me to read, so we can talk about them.
50. Birth of a Killer: The Saga of Larten Crepsley...Darren Shan
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This adventure story traces the early life of master vampire Larten Crepsley. Sent to work in a Dickensian factory, young Larten kills the abusive foreman and flees. He takes shelter in a cemetery crypt where he meets the 500-year-old vampire General Seba Nile, who explains to the terrified youngster that vampires aren't evil. Although they drink human blood, just as the legends say, they do not harm those on whom they feed. When he invites Larten to travel with him as his assistant, the boy agrees. As the first entry in a projected series, this story includes quite a bit of exposition. The plot action covers more than 20 years, taking Larten through his first "blooding" and into full vampire status, and features his first meetings with mysterious Cirque owner Hibernius Tall; Seba's vampire ally Paris Skyle; and the vampaneze Murlough. At times, the pacing feels rather rushed with the effort to introduce many important characters, settings, and themes from Shan's "Cirque du Freak" saga (Little, Brown). Transitions are often abrupt, jumping several years between chapters. A cliff-hanger ending promises further revelations. "Cirque du Freak" aficionados will be intrigued by this glimpse into Crepsley's formative years, but the uninitiated will want to read the original books first.
51. The Grimm Legacy...Polly Shulman
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Feeling left out from her stepfamily at home and from her classmates at her new school, Elizabeth is delighted when she gets a job at the New York Circulating Material Repository, a library that loans objects of historical value. She's particularly intrigued when she's given access to the Grimm Collection, a secret room that holds magical objects from the Brothers' tales, e.g., seven-league boots, a mermaid's comb, and the sinister mirror from "Snow White." However, when the items start to disappear, she and her fellow pages embark on a dangerous quest to catch the thief, only to find themselves among the suspects. This modern fantasy has intrigue, adventure, and romance, and the magical aspects of the tale are both clever and intricately woven, from rhyming charms to flying-carpet rides. The author brings the seemingly disparate elements together in the end, while still making certain that her protagonist's problems are not completely solved by the world of magic. Shulman's prose is fast paced, filled with humor, and peopled with characters who are either true to life or delightfully bizarre. Fans of fairy tales in general and Grimm stories in particular will delight in the author's frequent literary references, and fantasy lovers will feel very much at home in this tale that pulls out all the stops.
52. The Worst Witch at School...Jill Murphy (two books in one - The Worst Witch and The Worst Witch Strikes Again)
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Mildred Hubble is the worst witch at Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches - she's always getting her spells wrong. But she manages to get by until she turns Ethel, the teacher's pet, into her deadly enemy.
Summer term at Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches has just begun and disaster-prone Mildred Hubble is in deep trouble again - all because of the new girl, Enid Nightshade, who isn't nearly as placid as she look.
53. The Zombie Chasers...John Kloepfer
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Zack Clarke's suburban Phoenix neighborhood seems normal–until almost everyone mysteriously transforms into a zombie. Zack, his geeky friend Rice, and his eighth-grade sister Zoe's glamorous but snarky friend Madison are seemingly the only ones unaffected. That means that all the zombies in the neighborhood–including Zoe–are determined to devour them. They need to defend themselves but can only find a plastic baseball bat and a fire extinguisher. Meanwhile, Zack and Zoe's parents are at a parent-teacher night at their school–do they even know what's going on? This first volume in a new series leaves readers hanging at the end, but it's a quick, fun read, loaded with jokes and middle-school sarcasm. Kloepfer's descriptions of the zombies and their feeding habits, and Wolfhard's cartoon characters with guts and drool hanging out, are not for the faint of heart (or weak of stomach).
54. Zombiekins...Kevin Bolger
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All is well in Dementedyville, U.S.A. That angry mob wielding pitchforks and torches? Why, they're just going over to the yard sale at the spooky house owned by Widow Imavitch! That's just where fourth-grader Stanley is headed, too, and he leaves with Zombiekins—a Frankensteinian stuffed animal that is part bear, part bunny, part lizard . . . and ALL EVIL! At school the next day, Zombiekins' bite turns the class tattletale into an undead monster. (“In some ways it's an improvement,” admits Stanley.) When the plush terror escapes, no realm is safe—not music class, the playground, or the teachers' lounge. Even the little kids have been transformed into “kinderzombies.”
A couple of zombie books from Turtle. They were okay, although I can definitely see why young boys would like them!
55. Land of Painted Caves...Jean Auel
This was just alright...certainly not the climatic ending I was expecting. I really hope she changes her mind and writes some more. I hate that she ended this way.
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What began 30 years ago with Auel's best-seller The Clan of the Cave Bear (1980), namely the phenomenally popular Ice Age-era Earth's Children series, comes to an end in the sixth installment. Now a wife and mother, Ayla lives among the Zelandoni, the people of her mate, Jondalar, but she hasn't forgotten the ways of the people who raised her. Ayla is training to become a spiritual leader, and her devotion to this calling takes its toll on her union with Jondalar. On their journeys, Ayla and her friends contend with earthquakes, a band of marauding rapists, and even an outbreak of prehistoric chicken pox.
56. The Sisters Grimm: FairyTale Detectives...Michael Buckley
Very cute!
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Buckley has created a world in which humans and fairy-tale creatures live side-by-side in rural New York in an uneasy alliance. Brought here by Wilhelm Grimm in an attempt to save them, the Everafters are now kept in check by the man's descendants. Enter Sabrina and Daphne Grimm, two sisters seemingly abandoned by their parents, who have been brought to live with a grandmother whom they thought was dead. Heartbroken and wary, the girls are immediately swept up in a mystery that includes giants, pixies, fairies, and witches. Readers well grounded in their fairy tales will get the most pleasure from recognizing the characters–Prince Charming, Jack-the-Giant-Killer, the Three Pigs, the Magic Mirror, and more–but the fast pace, sly humor, and cleverly inserted vocabulary lessons will entertain even those who are meeting the characters for the first time.
57. Libyrinth...Pearl North
I loved this one! Awesome plot!
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Despite her seemingly humble role as a library clerk in a forgotten colony, Haly is the keeper of a remarkable secret. In a world in which books are both revered and feared, she has the power to hear the words of the tomes around her. When a rival group called the Eradicants, who believe that the books are evil, plots to destroy the ancient library where she lives and works, Haly is forced to make difficult choices to protect the lives of those around her. This debut novel is based on the premise of librarians as the protector of knowledge, defending literature from those who have abandoned the written word.
58. Family Skeletons...Rett MacPherson
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Victory "Torie" O'Shea is a thirtysomething wife, mother, amateur genealogist, and museum docent living in Missouri. When local shopkeeper Norah Zumwalt asks Torie to research her family tree and a short time later ends up brutally murdered, Torie feels compelled to investigate the crime, despite warnings from the local sheriff to mind her own business. What she finds is a decades-old murder, a mysterious case of mistaken identity, and a bizarre love triangle. MacPherson's story has an appealing down-home style and offbeat charm, and Torie, a midwestern version of Kinsey Milhone, is smart, sassy, and full of Missouri spunk.
59. A Veiled Antiquity...Rett MacPherson
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Missouri historical tour guide and genealogist Torie O'Shea (Family Skeletons, 1997) brings down-home sensibilities and acute insights into small-town life when she investigates the death of a reclusive woman whose body is found at the bottom of her basement steps. Although the woman was not a native of New Kassel, Torie is surprised at the lack of kinfolk at the funeral and at the woman's will, which states that no one outside the town can bid on her antiques-filled house. Poking into the woman's home while doing a little informal detecting, Torie finds a key and some old documents written in French taped to the underside of the kitchen table. She and the sheriff are stunned when the woman's documents appear to point to the identity of the famous man in the iron mask. What, they ask themselves, would someone in a small Missouri town be doing with such valuable letters?
This is a cute little series I heard about a while ago and finally decided to read. I love that the heroine is a genealogist and works for the historical society, but she's my age (30's) and not significantly older.
60. The Scorch Trials...James Dashner
I really liked The Maze Runner and this one was just as good! I can't wait for the final book to come out - there were so many cliffhangers in this one! If you liked the Hunger Games Trilogy, you should definitely check out this one.
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Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. No more puzzles. No more variables. And no more running. Thomas was sure that escape meant he and the Gladers would get their lives back. But no one really knew what sort of life they were going back to.
In the Maze, life was easy. They had food, and shelter, and safety . . . until Teresa triggered the end. In the world outside the Maze, however, the end was triggered long ago.
Burned by sun flares and baked by a new, brutal climate, the earth is a wasteland. Government has disintegrated—and with it, order—and now Cranks, people covered in festering wounds and driven to murderous insanity by the infectious disease known as the Flare, roam the crumbling cities hunting for their next victim . . . and meal.
The Gladers are far from finished with running. Instead of freedom, they find themselves faced with another trial. They must cross the Scorch, the most burned-out section of the world, and arrive at a safe haven in two weeks. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.
Thomas can only wonder—does he hold the secret of freedom somewhere in his mind? Or will he forever be at the mercy of WICKED?
61. The Dead-Tossed Waves…Carrie Ryan
Not quite as good as the first book, but it did set up nicely for the third and final one. Can't wait to find out how it all ends.
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Timid, thoughtful Gabry has grown up safely in the city of Vista She lives in a lighthouse with her mother, Mary, the daring heroine of The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Delacorte, 2009), whose job it is to kill Mudo—zombies—as they wash ashore. Then one night, Cira, Gabry's best friend, and Catcher, Cira's brother, convince her to sneak outside Vista's walls. With the attack of one Breaker—a fast zombie—everything changes: a friend is killed, Catcher is infected, and Cira is imprisoned and destined for the Recruiters, the army that protects the loose federation of cities left after the Return. Feeling both guilty for having escaped punishment and self-destructive after the revelation that Mary in fact adopted her, Gabry pushes herself to cross the city's Barrier again.
62. Guide to Search and Rescue Dogs…Angela Eaton Snovak
63. My Haunted House…Angie Sage
Turtle didn't finish this one because he thought it would be scary and it wasn't. It was more cutesy than anything else. Definitely recommend for young girls (2nd-3rd grade), but I won't read anymore of them. I do want to try her Septimus Heap series...I heard it's great.
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Araminta Spookie lives in a sprawling haunted house. She spends her days hunting for ghosts, avoiding her cranky Aunt Tabby, and helping her nocturnal Uncle Drac. In the first book, her aunt wants to sell the house and the little girl does all she can to scare away potential buyers. Things turn out better than expected when the ghost-loving Wizzard family shows interest but decides instead to move in with the Spookies.
64. The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda…Tom Angleberger
Awesome, awesome! It had a great message that really needs to hit home with Turtle lately. Plus, I learned how to make a cool origami Yoda!
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For Tommy, the only question is whether or not Origami Yoda is real. Of course he's real as a small puppet on Dwight's finger. But does the oracle possess magic power? In order to find out, he decides to compile scientific evidence from the experiences of those who asked Origami Yoda for help. His friend Harvey is invited to comment on each story because he thinks Yoda is nothing but a "green paper wad." Tommy also comments because he's supposedly trying to solve the puzzle. In actuality, the story is about boys and girls in sixth grade trying to figure out how being social works. In fact, Tommy says, "…it's about this really cool girl, Sara, and whether or not I should risk making a fool of myself for her." The situations that Yoda has a hand in are pretty authentic, and the setting is broad enough to be any school.
65. Reckless…Cornelia Funke
Cornelia Funke is one of my favorite YA authors and this book was right up there with her Inkheart trilogy. Lately I've been loving books that reference fairy tales and this one had a lot in it. I wish I could get into Jasper Fforde's books that are like this. Maybe I'll try them again this summer.
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Funke takes readers on a new adventure into a magical place where the dark side of fairy tales holds sway. Jacob Reckless, like his father before him, escapes into the Mirrorworld, and all is well until his younger brother, Will, follows him in and falls under the enchantment of the Dark Fairy. Through an injury, she turns him slowly into a Goyl, a person made of stone. Jacob is determined to rescue his brother and restore him to himself. Accompanied by his companion, a shape-shifter girl/vixen named Fox, and Will's girlfriend, Clara, Jacob journeys with Will to find the antidote to the spell. With a large cast, including a dwarf, powerful fairies born from water, deadly moths, man-eating sirens, unicorns, and the terrifying Tailor with fingers ending in blades and needles, the story includes multiple fairy-tale motifs as the characters grapple with fear and despair while on their seemingly hopeless quest. The action picks up midway through the book and races to an exciting climax.
66. Lover Unleashed…J.R. Ward
Another good one in the BDB. I hope she writes about Blaylock and Quinn next!
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Payne, twin sister of Vishous, is cut from the same dark, seductive cloth as her brother. Imprisoned for eons by their mother, the Scribe Virgin, she finally frees herself-only to face a devastating injury. Manuel Manello, M.D., is drafted by the Brotherhood to save her as only he can-but when the human surgeon and the vampire warrior meet, their two worlds collide in the face of their undeniable passion. With so much working against them, can love prove stronger than the birthright and the biology that separates them?
67. Revolting Librarians Redux: Radical Librarians Speak Out…edited by Katia Roberto and Jessamyn West
Great book! Gave me a lot to think about especially since I will be applying to library schools this coming winter.
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This compilation of witty, insightful, and readable writings on the various aspects of alternative librarianship edited by two outspoken library professionals is a sequel to Revolting Librarians, which was published in 1972. The contributors, including Alison Bechdel, Sanford Berman, and Utne Reader librarian Chris Dodge, cover topics that range from library education and librarianship as a profession to the more political and spiritual aspects of librarianship. The contributions include critiques of library and information science programs, firsthand accounts of work experiences, and original fiction, poetry and art. Ten of the original librarians who wrote essays for Revolting Librarians back in 1972 reflect upon what they wrote thirty years ago and the turns that their lives and careers have taken since.
68. A Comedy of Heirs…Rett MacPherson
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As a genealogist for a historical society in New Kassel, Mo., Torie O'Shea must examine her own family's history in this third entry in MacPherson's cozy series (A Veiled Antiquity, etc.). As she prepares to host her family's annual Christmas reunion, Torie is sent an anonymous packet of newspaper clippings. They reveal that her great-grandfather Nathaniel Ulysses Keith was shot to death in 1948 on his front porch while his family was inside the house. Because she had been told as a child that Keith died in a hunting accident, Torie now wants to know which story is true. Like a bloodhound on the scent, she scans library microfilm records to prove the veracity of the articles, then visits the county sheriff for further information. What she learns isn't pleasant: her ancestor was a brute to his children and publicly unfaithful to his wife. The list of people who wanted to kill him is as long as it is convincing. Torie's best sources of information, however, are the relatives about to descend on her home. When an aunt tells her that Keith's wife and children sat listening to his groans until he died, Torie is horrified. Could her great-grandmother have sanctioned the murder? Not according to another aunt who was inside the house that day. But since that aunt didn't see the killer, it's up to Torie to ferret out the culprit and clarify her family history. Torie's large, eccentric family provides plenty of entertaining characters, and MacPherson skillfully connects the family's many subplots (pregnancies, sibling rivalries, new romances) while keeping the murder at the center of the intrigue. Although the title promises comedy, there's much more than humor at stake in this heartrending tale of family pride and the coverups to keep it intact.
69. A Misty Mourning…Rett MacPherson
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Seven-months pregnant Missouri genealogist Torie O'Shea takes time off from her historical society job to travel to West Virginia at the invitation of a family friend, 101-year-old Clarissa Hart, in this absorbing small-town cozy, the fourth in an excellent series. The night after she and her 80-something grandmother, Gert, arrive at the Panther Run Boardinghouse, Clarissa suffocates in her sleep. Was it an accident, or murder? The local sheriff believes the latter, and Torie is a prime suspect because Clarissa's new will leaves the boardinghouse to her. In order to clear her name, Torie has to use her skills as a historian to unravel a tangle of mystery and intrigue leading back to the early years of the century, when her great-grandmother kept the boardinghouse and Panther Run was a "company town." Fans of O'Shea's earlier adventures may be disappointed not to see much of her husband and mother, but grandma Gert is a delight, and a large cast of minor characters, including two of Torie's more distant relations, adds to the fun.
Absolutely love this series! Quick reads and she's a genealogist!
70. Gladiatrix…Russell Whitfield
Really interesting book! Lysandra was hard to like as a character because she was just too damn arrogant, but eventually she grew on me. I'm reading the non-fiction version now.
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The Ancient Roman public's hunger for gladiatorial combat has never been greater. The Emperor Domitian's passion for novelty and variety in the arena has given rise to a very different kind of warrior: the Gladiatrix.
Sole survivor of a shipwreck off the coast of Asia Minor, Lysandra finds herself the property of Lucius Balbus, owner of the foremost Ludus for female gladiators in the Eastern Empire. Lysandra, a member of an ancient Spartan sect of warrior priestesses, refuses to accept her new status as a slave. Forced to fight for survival, her deadly combat skills win the adoration of the crowds, the respect of Balbus.
But Lysandra's Spartan pride also earns her powerful enemies: Sorina, Gladiatrix Prima and leader of the Barbarian faction, and the sadistic Numidian trainer, Nastasen. When plans are laid for the ultimate combat spectacle to honor the visit of the emperor's powerful new emissary, Lysandra must face her greatest and deadliest trial.
70. Killing Cousins...Rett MacPherson
71. Blood Relations...Rett MacPherson
72. In Sheep's Clothing...Rett MacPherson
73. Thicker Than Water...Rett MacPherson
74. Dead Man Running...Rett MacPherson
75. Died in the Wool...Rett MacPherson
76. Blood Ballad...Rett MacPherson
I really liked this series and I would love to read more, but it looks like she dropped off the face of the world! Her website isn't even active anymore.
77. Gladiatrix: The True Story of History's Unknown Woman Warrior...Amy Zoll
This book was okay, but not what I was expecting. I thought it would be more about female gladiators, but most of the book was about males. There were just little snippets here and there about females and hardly any at all about the skeleton recently found that is thought to be a gladiatrix.
March ~ 2011
31. High Voltage Tattoo...Kat Von D
32. Frostbitten...Kelley Armstrong
33. Waking the Witch...Kelley Armstrong
34. The Body Art Book...Jean-Chris Miller
35. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon...David Grann
Really interesting book! It actually read more like fiction, which was cool because it is all true!
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In 1925, renowned British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett embarked on a much publicized search to find the city of Z, site of an ancient Amazonian civilization that may or may not have existed. Fawcett, along with his grown son Jack, never returned, but that didn't stop countless others, including actors, college professors and well-funded explorers from venturing into the jungle to find Fawcett or the city. Among the wannabe explorers is Grann, a staff writer for the New Yorker, who has bad eyes and a worse sense of direction. He became interested in Fawcett while researching another story, eventually venturing into the Amazon to satisfy his all-consuming curiosity about the explorer and his fatal mission. Largely about Fawcett, the book examines the stranglehold of passion as Grann's vigorous research mirrors Fawcett's obsession with uncovering the mysteries of the jungle. By interweaving the great story of Fawcett with his own investigative escapades in South America and Britain, Grann provides an in-depth, captivating character study that has the relentless energy of a classic adventure tale.
36. Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian...Avi Steinberg
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In this captivating memoir, Steinberg, a Harvard grad and struggling obituary writer, spends two years as a librarian and writing instructor at a Boston prison that's an irrepressibly literary place. True, his patrons turn books into weapons (and one robs him while out on parole), but he's beguiled by the rough poetry of inmate essays and "kites"--contraband notes secreted in library books--and entranced by the "skywriting" with which they semaphore messages letter-by-letter across the courtyard. And there's always an informal colloquium of prostitutes, thieves, and drug dealers convened at the checkout desk, discussing everything from Steinberg's love life to the "gangsta" subculture of Hasidic Jews. Gradually, the prison pulls him in and undermines his bemused neutrality. He helps a forlorn female prisoner communicate with her inmate son, develops a dangerous beef with a guard, and finds himself collaborating on the memoir of a charismatic pimp whose seductive rap disguises a nasty rap sheet; he has to choose sides, make queasy compromises, and decide between rules and loyalty. Steinberg writes a stylish prose that blends deadpan wit with an acute moral seriousness. The result is a fine portrait of prison life and the thwarted humanity that courses through it.
37. Not Quite Burnt Out, But Crispy Around the Edges...Sharon M. Draper
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This book of inspirational stories and essays is designed for any teacher who has survived the first week of the first year of teaching. It offers memories of the joy of teaching, tells compelling tales of tragedy as well as survival, and provides opportunities for laughter; which is sometimes the only remedy for difficult situations.
38. Forbidden Creatures: Inside the World of Animal Smuggling and Exotic Pets...Peter Laufer
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On the heels of his acclaimed The Dangerous World of Butterflies, investigative journalist Peter Laufer is back to chronicle his worldwide quest to penetrate the underworld of international animal smuggling. In Forbidden Creatures, Laufer exposes the network of hunters, traders, breeders, and customers who constitute this nefarious business—which, estimated at $10 to $20 billion annually, competes with illegal drug and weapons trafficking in the money it earns criminals.
Laufer asks: What is being smuggled, from where and why? What is being done to stop the illegal trading and irresponsible breeding? Taking readers to exotic and often lawless locales, Laufer introduces brazen and dangerous traders and wealthy customers whose greed and mindless self-interest perpetuate what is now a crisis of survival for a growing number of wild species.
Woven throughout with riveting stories from law enforcement officials and federal prosecutors, Forbidden Creaturesis a compelling, first-person narrative written in Laufer’s hallmark conversational, entertaining style.
I'm trying to up my amount of non-fiction reads. These three were all great, but I really enjoyed the Forbidden Creatures.
39. The Last Speakers: The Quest to Save the World's Most Endangered Languages...K. David Harrison
Fascinating! Maybe some linguistic anthropology is in my future; I'd love to learn more!
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Parallel to the extinction of biological species in our world, human languages are disappearing one by one. These tongues originated over millennia inside geographically isolated communities for whom modern methods of transportation and communication have proven mixed blessings. Harrison details the work of linguists who are speeding to preserve these tongues for posterity. He travels to Siberia to meet Aunt Marta, one of the last speakers of Tofa, a Turkic tongue. Although a scientist and a rigorous analyst of language grammars and structures, Harrison is particularly intrigued by the personalities of these mostly elderly yet fully engaged people who bravely face the end of what has been a nurturing society. Harrison compellingly details reasons why the rest of the world ought to care about these vanishing languages and what can be done to ensure that they live on despite the irresistible ascendancy of today’s rapidly evolving world culture.
40. Free-Range Kids: How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry!)...Lenore Skenazy
I've been meaning to read this one for a while. It was definitely validating! I was surprised at some of the statistics; I thought it was more dangerous today than it was when I was a kid, but it's really not.
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Skenazy flies the black flag of America’s Worst Mom, a title this syndicated columnist and NPR commentator earned by allowing her nine-year-old son to ride the New York City public transit alone in 2008. Here, she puts parents' fears to bed by examining the statistical likelihood of the dangers we most fear (murder, baby-snatching, etc.). Drawing on facts, statistics, and humor, she convincingly argues that this is one of the safest periods for children in the history of the world, reiterating that mostly, the world is safe and mostly, people are good. Even the lowest-flying helicopter parents would have trouble disagreeing that we have entered an era that says you cannot trust yourself. Trust a product instead. Skenazy argues that it’s time to retire the national pastime of worrying and that childhood is supposed to be about discovering the world, not being held captive. The obvious has never been so hilarious.
41. Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World...Vicki Myron
Great, great book! It had me laughing and crying!
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One frigid Midwestern winter night in 1988, a ginger kitten was shoved into the after-hours book-return slot at the public library in Spencer, Iowa. And in this tender story, Myron, the library director, tells of the impact the cat, named DeweyReadmore Books, had on the library and its patrons, and on Myron herself. Through her developing relationship with the feline, Myron recounts the economic and social history of Spencer as well as her own success story—despite an alcoholic husband, living on welfare, and health problems ranging from the difficult birth of her daughter, Jodi, to breast cancer. After her divorce, Myron graduated college (the first in her family) and stumbled into a library job. She quickly rose to become director, realizing early on that this was a job" I could love for the rest of my life." Dewey, meanwhile, brings disabled children out of their shells, invites businessmen to pet him with one hand while holding the Wall Street Journal with the other, eats rubber bands and becomes a media darling. The book is not only a tribute to a cat—anthropomorphized to a degree that can strain credulity (Dewey plays hide and seek with Myron, can read her thoughts, is mortified by his hair balls)—it's a love letter to libraries.
42. Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Story of an Owl and His Girl...Stacey O'Brien
Another one that made me cry!
Quote:
Owls permeate literature and mythology, an ancient animal ("some 97 million years" old) that has fascinated for centuries; still, few people have had as intimate an encounter with the mysterious night birds as biologist O'Brien. As a student researcher at Caltech, she fell in love with an injured four-day-old barn owl and seized the opportunity to adopt him permanently. She named him Wesley, and for 19 years kept, cared for and studied him, forging a tremendous relationship with the still-wild animal, as well as a vast understanding of his abilities, instincts and habits: "He was my teacher, my companion, my child, my playmate, my reminder of God." Her heartwarming story is buttressed by lessons on owl folklore, temperament ("playful and inquisitive"), skills, and the brain structure that gives them some amazing abilities, like spotting a mouse "under three feet of snow by homing in on just the heartbeat." It also details her working life among fellow scientists, a serious personal health crisis, and the general ins and outs of working with animals. This memoir will captivate animal lovers and, though not necessarily for kids, should hold special appeal for Harry Potter fans who've always envied the boy wizard his Hedwig.
43. What Schools Ban and Why...R. Murray Thomas
Quote:
While some may argue that cell phones are necessary in today's school setting, others would suggest they are disruptive. While some may argue The Catcher in the Rye should be banned, others may say it is essential reading for American students. More recently, some schools have banned all of the Harry Potter books from their library shelves. Few would argue that a ban on weapons is a bad thing, but who determines what should be considered a weapon? In some schools, restrictions are placed on Web access, but who decides what to allow and what not to allow? Where do the lines get drawn? Here, Thomas reviews the many areas of censorship in our schools and helps readers draw their own conclusions.
44. The Teacher Chronicles: Confronting the Demands of Students, Parents, Administrators, and Society...Natalie Schwartz
It is sad and scary the things teachers have to put up with these days! Especially how little they are appreciated and paid!
Quote:
Based on revealing interviews with more than 50 teachers, The Teacher Chronicles dismantles the misconception that teachers have low-pressure jobs, work until 3 p.m., enjoy summers off, and accept mediocre salaries to pursue fulfilling careers. Teachers deal with an array of behavioral issues in their classrooms that undermine their ability to teach effectively. Well-intentioned efforts among parents to advocate for their children can create intense pressure on teachers and convey distrust, endangering the vital parent-teacher relationship. High expectations for student performance from a broad group of interested parties, including parents, administrators, school boards, superintendents and government entities, trigger stress and anxiety. Teachers confront the painful issues affecting children in our society, such as poverty, abuse, neglect, emotional distress and mental illness.
45. Murder at the Library of Congress...Margaret Truman
I had to sneak a little fiction in!
Quote:
The theft from a private museum in Miami of a painting by 19th-century artist Fernando Reyes of Columbus offering his book of privileges to Ferdinand and Isabella sets off the action in this latest Washington, D.C.-insider tale from Truman (Murder at the Watergate, 1998, etc.). The bulk of the novel, however, unfolds at the nation's venerated reference institution. Gallery owner and former attorney Annabel Reed-Smith was looking forward to two months of research for her lead article of a special issue of the Library of Congress publication Civilization to be devoted to Columbus. Rumors have persisted for centuries about a possible second diary of the voyage to the New World written by Bartolom? de Las Casas, the explorer's confidant and friend. Annabel's work takes on greater urgency when she comes upon the dead body of pompous Las Casas expert and LC employee Michele Paul in the cubicle next to hers. Back in Miami, journalist Lucianne Huston is assigned to cover the art theft, during which a guard was killed. When she learns of Paul's murder, the reporter suspects a connection between the two crimes, as does Annabel, who discovers that another Las Casas expert disappeared about eight years ago. Meanwhile, the day-to-day operation of the Library proceeds full-tilt as Cale Broadhurst, the current Librarian, has his hands full dealing with Huston and the rest of the press, not to mention members of Congress. Truman shows readers the art theft at the start of the book, so the mystery centers around who killed Paul and how his demise is connected to the art heist. A clue to the murderer is tipped clumsily; the discovery of the killer's identity comes as something of an anticlimax, but the fun of the book is getting to it. The Library is the real star, and D.C., as always in Truman's mysteries, proves fertile ground for intrigue.
46. Why Boys Fail: Saving Our Sons from an Educational System That's Leaving Them Behind...Richard Whitmire
Quote:
Boys are falling behind in school. The world has become more verbal; boys haven't. Even in their traditionally strong subjects of science and math, boys are hit at a young age with new educational approaches, stressing high-level reading and writing goals that they are developmentally unable to achieve. The gap between male and female achievement has reached the college level, where only 40 per cent of graduates next year will be male. This doesn't just mean fewer male doctors and lawyers, it also means fewer men in the careers that previously did not require post-high school degrees but do now. "Why Boys Fail" examines the roots and repercussions of this problem and spells out the educational, political, social and economic challenges we face as we work to end it.
47. The Trouble with Boys: A Surprising Report Card on Our Sons, Their Problems at School, and What Parents and Educators Must Do...Peg Tyre
Quote:
Tyre delivers a cogent, reasoned overview of the current national debate about why boys are falling behind girls' achievement in school and not attending college in the same numbers. While the education emphasis in the 1990s was on helping girls succeed, especially in areas of math and science, boys are lagging behind, particularly in reading and writing; parents and educators, meanwhile, are scrambling to address the problems, from questioning teaching methods in preschool to rethinking single-sex schools. Tyre neatly sums up the information for palatable parental consumption: although boys tend to be active and noisy, and come to verbal skills later than girls, early-education teachers, mostly female, have little tolerance for the way boys express themselves. The accelerated curriculum and de-emphasis on recess do not render the classroom boy friendly, and already set boys up for failure that grows more entrenched with each grade. Tyre touches on important concerns about the lack of male role models in many boys' lives, the perils of video-game obsession and the slippery dialogue over boys' brains versus girls' brains.
48. Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth about Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do...Lawrence Kutner & Cheryl Olson
At least I know I wasn't crazy! This book certainly made me feel better about things I have been saying for years.
Quote:
Listening to pundits and politicians, you'd think that the relationship between violent video games and aggressive behavior in children is clear. Children who play violent video games are more likely to be socially isolated and have poor interpersonal skills. Violent games can trigger real-world violence. The best way to protect our kids is to keep them away from games such as Grand Theft Auto that are rated M for Mature. Right?
Wrong. In fact, many parents are worried about the wrong things!
In 2004, Lawrence Kutner, PhD, and Cheryl K. Olson, ScD, cofounders and directors of the Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media, began a $1.5 million federally funded study on the effects of video games. In contrast to previous research, their study focused on real children and families in real situations. What they found surprised, encouraged and sometimes disturbed them: their findings conform to the views of neither the alarmists nor the video game industry boosters. In Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth about Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do, Kutner and Olson untangle the web of politics, marketing, advocacy and flawed or misconstrued studies that until now have shaped parents' concerns.
Grand Theft Childhood takes video games out of the political and media arenas, and puts parents back in control. It should be required reading for all families who use game consoles or computers.
32. Frostbitten...Kelley Armstrong
33. Waking the Witch...Kelley Armstrong
34. The Body Art Book...Jean-Chris Miller
35. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon...David Grann
Really interesting book! It actually read more like fiction, which was cool because it is all true!
Quote:
In 1925, renowned British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett embarked on a much publicized search to find the city of Z, site of an ancient Amazonian civilization that may or may not have existed. Fawcett, along with his grown son Jack, never returned, but that didn't stop countless others, including actors, college professors and well-funded explorers from venturing into the jungle to find Fawcett or the city. Among the wannabe explorers is Grann, a staff writer for the New Yorker, who has bad eyes and a worse sense of direction. He became interested in Fawcett while researching another story, eventually venturing into the Amazon to satisfy his all-consuming curiosity about the explorer and his fatal mission. Largely about Fawcett, the book examines the stranglehold of passion as Grann's vigorous research mirrors Fawcett's obsession with uncovering the mysteries of the jungle. By interweaving the great story of Fawcett with his own investigative escapades in South America and Britain, Grann provides an in-depth, captivating character study that has the relentless energy of a classic adventure tale.
36. Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian...Avi Steinberg
Quote:
In this captivating memoir, Steinberg, a Harvard grad and struggling obituary writer, spends two years as a librarian and writing instructor at a Boston prison that's an irrepressibly literary place. True, his patrons turn books into weapons (and one robs him while out on parole), but he's beguiled by the rough poetry of inmate essays and "kites"--contraband notes secreted in library books--and entranced by the "skywriting" with which they semaphore messages letter-by-letter across the courtyard. And there's always an informal colloquium of prostitutes, thieves, and drug dealers convened at the checkout desk, discussing everything from Steinberg's love life to the "gangsta" subculture of Hasidic Jews. Gradually, the prison pulls him in and undermines his bemused neutrality. He helps a forlorn female prisoner communicate with her inmate son, develops a dangerous beef with a guard, and finds himself collaborating on the memoir of a charismatic pimp whose seductive rap disguises a nasty rap sheet; he has to choose sides, make queasy compromises, and decide between rules and loyalty. Steinberg writes a stylish prose that blends deadpan wit with an acute moral seriousness. The result is a fine portrait of prison life and the thwarted humanity that courses through it.
37. Not Quite Burnt Out, But Crispy Around the Edges...Sharon M. Draper
Quote:
This book of inspirational stories and essays is designed for any teacher who has survived the first week of the first year of teaching. It offers memories of the joy of teaching, tells compelling tales of tragedy as well as survival, and provides opportunities for laughter; which is sometimes the only remedy for difficult situations.
38. Forbidden Creatures: Inside the World of Animal Smuggling and Exotic Pets...Peter Laufer
Quote:
On the heels of his acclaimed The Dangerous World of Butterflies, investigative journalist Peter Laufer is back to chronicle his worldwide quest to penetrate the underworld of international animal smuggling. In Forbidden Creatures, Laufer exposes the network of hunters, traders, breeders, and customers who constitute this nefarious business—which, estimated at $10 to $20 billion annually, competes with illegal drug and weapons trafficking in the money it earns criminals.
Laufer asks: What is being smuggled, from where and why? What is being done to stop the illegal trading and irresponsible breeding? Taking readers to exotic and often lawless locales, Laufer introduces brazen and dangerous traders and wealthy customers whose greed and mindless self-interest perpetuate what is now a crisis of survival for a growing number of wild species.
Woven throughout with riveting stories from law enforcement officials and federal prosecutors, Forbidden Creaturesis a compelling, first-person narrative written in Laufer’s hallmark conversational, entertaining style.
I'm trying to up my amount of non-fiction reads. These three were all great, but I really enjoyed the Forbidden Creatures.
39. The Last Speakers: The Quest to Save the World's Most Endangered Languages...K. David Harrison
Fascinating! Maybe some linguistic anthropology is in my future; I'd love to learn more!
Quote:
Parallel to the extinction of biological species in our world, human languages are disappearing one by one. These tongues originated over millennia inside geographically isolated communities for whom modern methods of transportation and communication have proven mixed blessings. Harrison details the work of linguists who are speeding to preserve these tongues for posterity. He travels to Siberia to meet Aunt Marta, one of the last speakers of Tofa, a Turkic tongue. Although a scientist and a rigorous analyst of language grammars and structures, Harrison is particularly intrigued by the personalities of these mostly elderly yet fully engaged people who bravely face the end of what has been a nurturing society. Harrison compellingly details reasons why the rest of the world ought to care about these vanishing languages and what can be done to ensure that they live on despite the irresistible ascendancy of today’s rapidly evolving world culture.
40. Free-Range Kids: How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry!)...Lenore Skenazy
I've been meaning to read this one for a while. It was definitely validating! I was surprised at some of the statistics; I thought it was more dangerous today than it was when I was a kid, but it's really not.
Quote:
Skenazy flies the black flag of America’s Worst Mom, a title this syndicated columnist and NPR commentator earned by allowing her nine-year-old son to ride the New York City public transit alone in 2008. Here, she puts parents' fears to bed by examining the statistical likelihood of the dangers we most fear (murder, baby-snatching, etc.). Drawing on facts, statistics, and humor, she convincingly argues that this is one of the safest periods for children in the history of the world, reiterating that mostly, the world is safe and mostly, people are good. Even the lowest-flying helicopter parents would have trouble disagreeing that we have entered an era that says you cannot trust yourself. Trust a product instead. Skenazy argues that it’s time to retire the national pastime of worrying and that childhood is supposed to be about discovering the world, not being held captive. The obvious has never been so hilarious.
41. Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World...Vicki Myron
Great, great book! It had me laughing and crying!
Quote:
One frigid Midwestern winter night in 1988, a ginger kitten was shoved into the after-hours book-return slot at the public library in Spencer, Iowa. And in this tender story, Myron, the library director, tells of the impact the cat, named DeweyReadmore Books, had on the library and its patrons, and on Myron herself. Through her developing relationship with the feline, Myron recounts the economic and social history of Spencer as well as her own success story—despite an alcoholic husband, living on welfare, and health problems ranging from the difficult birth of her daughter, Jodi, to breast cancer. After her divorce, Myron graduated college (the first in her family) and stumbled into a library job. She quickly rose to become director, realizing early on that this was a job" I could love for the rest of my life." Dewey, meanwhile, brings disabled children out of their shells, invites businessmen to pet him with one hand while holding the Wall Street Journal with the other, eats rubber bands and becomes a media darling. The book is not only a tribute to a cat—anthropomorphized to a degree that can strain credulity (Dewey plays hide and seek with Myron, can read her thoughts, is mortified by his hair balls)—it's a love letter to libraries.
42. Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Story of an Owl and His Girl...Stacey O'Brien
Another one that made me cry!
Quote:
Owls permeate literature and mythology, an ancient animal ("some 97 million years" old) that has fascinated for centuries; still, few people have had as intimate an encounter with the mysterious night birds as biologist O'Brien. As a student researcher at Caltech, she fell in love with an injured four-day-old barn owl and seized the opportunity to adopt him permanently. She named him Wesley, and for 19 years kept, cared for and studied him, forging a tremendous relationship with the still-wild animal, as well as a vast understanding of his abilities, instincts and habits: "He was my teacher, my companion, my child, my playmate, my reminder of God." Her heartwarming story is buttressed by lessons on owl folklore, temperament ("playful and inquisitive"), skills, and the brain structure that gives them some amazing abilities, like spotting a mouse "under three feet of snow by homing in on just the heartbeat." It also details her working life among fellow scientists, a serious personal health crisis, and the general ins and outs of working with animals. This memoir will captivate animal lovers and, though not necessarily for kids, should hold special appeal for Harry Potter fans who've always envied the boy wizard his Hedwig.
43. What Schools Ban and Why...R. Murray Thomas
Quote:
While some may argue that cell phones are necessary in today's school setting, others would suggest they are disruptive. While some may argue The Catcher in the Rye should be banned, others may say it is essential reading for American students. More recently, some schools have banned all of the Harry Potter books from their library shelves. Few would argue that a ban on weapons is a bad thing, but who determines what should be considered a weapon? In some schools, restrictions are placed on Web access, but who decides what to allow and what not to allow? Where do the lines get drawn? Here, Thomas reviews the many areas of censorship in our schools and helps readers draw their own conclusions.
44. The Teacher Chronicles: Confronting the Demands of Students, Parents, Administrators, and Society...Natalie Schwartz
It is sad and scary the things teachers have to put up with these days! Especially how little they are appreciated and paid!
Quote:
Based on revealing interviews with more than 50 teachers, The Teacher Chronicles dismantles the misconception that teachers have low-pressure jobs, work until 3 p.m., enjoy summers off, and accept mediocre salaries to pursue fulfilling careers. Teachers deal with an array of behavioral issues in their classrooms that undermine their ability to teach effectively. Well-intentioned efforts among parents to advocate for their children can create intense pressure on teachers and convey distrust, endangering the vital parent-teacher relationship. High expectations for student performance from a broad group of interested parties, including parents, administrators, school boards, superintendents and government entities, trigger stress and anxiety. Teachers confront the painful issues affecting children in our society, such as poverty, abuse, neglect, emotional distress and mental illness.
45. Murder at the Library of Congress...Margaret Truman
I had to sneak a little fiction in!
Quote:
The theft from a private museum in Miami of a painting by 19th-century artist Fernando Reyes of Columbus offering his book of privileges to Ferdinand and Isabella sets off the action in this latest Washington, D.C.-insider tale from Truman (Murder at the Watergate, 1998, etc.). The bulk of the novel, however, unfolds at the nation's venerated reference institution. Gallery owner and former attorney Annabel Reed-Smith was looking forward to two months of research for her lead article of a special issue of the Library of Congress publication Civilization to be devoted to Columbus. Rumors have persisted for centuries about a possible second diary of the voyage to the New World written by Bartolom? de Las Casas, the explorer's confidant and friend. Annabel's work takes on greater urgency when she comes upon the dead body of pompous Las Casas expert and LC employee Michele Paul in the cubicle next to hers. Back in Miami, journalist Lucianne Huston is assigned to cover the art theft, during which a guard was killed. When she learns of Paul's murder, the reporter suspects a connection between the two crimes, as does Annabel, who discovers that another Las Casas expert disappeared about eight years ago. Meanwhile, the day-to-day operation of the Library proceeds full-tilt as Cale Broadhurst, the current Librarian, has his hands full dealing with Huston and the rest of the press, not to mention members of Congress. Truman shows readers the art theft at the start of the book, so the mystery centers around who killed Paul and how his demise is connected to the art heist. A clue to the murderer is tipped clumsily; the discovery of the killer's identity comes as something of an anticlimax, but the fun of the book is getting to it. The Library is the real star, and D.C., as always in Truman's mysteries, proves fertile ground for intrigue.
46. Why Boys Fail: Saving Our Sons from an Educational System That's Leaving Them Behind...Richard Whitmire
Quote:
Boys are falling behind in school. The world has become more verbal; boys haven't. Even in their traditionally strong subjects of science and math, boys are hit at a young age with new educational approaches, stressing high-level reading and writing goals that they are developmentally unable to achieve. The gap between male and female achievement has reached the college level, where only 40 per cent of graduates next year will be male. This doesn't just mean fewer male doctors and lawyers, it also means fewer men in the careers that previously did not require post-high school degrees but do now. "Why Boys Fail" examines the roots and repercussions of this problem and spells out the educational, political, social and economic challenges we face as we work to end it.
47. The Trouble with Boys: A Surprising Report Card on Our Sons, Their Problems at School, and What Parents and Educators Must Do...Peg Tyre
Quote:
Tyre delivers a cogent, reasoned overview of the current national debate about why boys are falling behind girls' achievement in school and not attending college in the same numbers. While the education emphasis in the 1990s was on helping girls succeed, especially in areas of math and science, boys are lagging behind, particularly in reading and writing; parents and educators, meanwhile, are scrambling to address the problems, from questioning teaching methods in preschool to rethinking single-sex schools. Tyre neatly sums up the information for palatable parental consumption: although boys tend to be active and noisy, and come to verbal skills later than girls, early-education teachers, mostly female, have little tolerance for the way boys express themselves. The accelerated curriculum and de-emphasis on recess do not render the classroom boy friendly, and already set boys up for failure that grows more entrenched with each grade. Tyre touches on important concerns about the lack of male role models in many boys' lives, the perils of video-game obsession and the slippery dialogue over boys' brains versus girls' brains.
48. Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth about Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do...Lawrence Kutner & Cheryl Olson
At least I know I wasn't crazy! This book certainly made me feel better about things I have been saying for years.
Quote:
Listening to pundits and politicians, you'd think that the relationship between violent video games and aggressive behavior in children is clear. Children who play violent video games are more likely to be socially isolated and have poor interpersonal skills. Violent games can trigger real-world violence. The best way to protect our kids is to keep them away from games such as Grand Theft Auto that are rated M for Mature. Right?
Wrong. In fact, many parents are worried about the wrong things!
In 2004, Lawrence Kutner, PhD, and Cheryl K. Olson, ScD, cofounders and directors of the Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media, began a $1.5 million federally funded study on the effects of video games. In contrast to previous research, their study focused on real children and families in real situations. What they found surprised, encouraged and sometimes disturbed them: their findings conform to the views of neither the alarmists nor the video game industry boosters. In Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth about Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do, Kutner and Olson untangle the web of politics, marketing, advocacy and flawed or misconstrued studies that until now have shaped parents' concerns.
Grand Theft Childhood takes video games out of the political and media arenas, and puts parents back in control. It should be required reading for all families who use game consoles or computers.
February ~ 2011
20. The Primal Blueprint...Mark Sisson
21. Neanderthin...Ray Audette
22. The Paleo Diet...Loren Cordain
23. The Double Comfort Safari Club...Alexander McCall Smith
I was finally able to force myself to finish this book. I don't know what my problem was...I usually really enjoy this series. Hopefully, I won't have the same problem next month when the newest one comes out.
24. The Clan of the Cave Bear...Jean Auel
25. The Valley of the Horses...Jean Auel
26. The Mammoth Hunters...Jean Auel
27. The Plains of Passage...Jean Auel
28. The Shelters of Stone...Jean Auel
I still love this series! I think I started them too soon, though...there's still about a month before The Painted Caves comes out!
29. In the Land of Long Fingernails: A Gravedigger in the Age of Aquarius...Charles Wilkins
This book was okay. It had some slow areas and it seemed like they spent most of their time smoking marijuana. I really wish he had more information on the actual graveyard and what went in it. There were a few tantalizing tidbits of graveyard history, but not enough.
Quote:
In the summer of 1969, author and journalist Wilkins (High on the Big Stone Heart) got a summer job as a gravedigger in a Toronto cemetery. His strange-but-true memoir of that summer will fascinate, disturb and most certainly entertain. From a gravedigger's strike to the exhumation of (most of) a corpse, the rogues and oddballs that Wilkins works alongside will both compel and repulse; a perfect example is Wilkins's abrasive, alcoholic, Scottish foreman, whose hostility belies (though sometimes reveals) a touching sense of humanity. Set against a turbulent era, the cemetery seems to exist outside of time, in a realm of intractable taboo, a curious combination of irreverence and sanctity that Wilkins captures effortlessly. With a deft command of both character and language, Wilkins's story could easily double as an out-there novel, but of course it's all the more engaging for its authenticity. Wilkins distills his bizarre day-to-day into a cohesive narrative and a compelling commentary on the times, a perfect trip for those who weren't able to take off work for the Summer of Love.
30. Primal Body, Primal Mind...Nora Gedgaudas
Interesting, but basically all the same info I've read in other Primal/Paleo books.
21. Neanderthin...Ray Audette
22. The Paleo Diet...Loren Cordain
23. The Double Comfort Safari Club...Alexander McCall Smith
I was finally able to force myself to finish this book. I don't know what my problem was...I usually really enjoy this series. Hopefully, I won't have the same problem next month when the newest one comes out.
24. The Clan of the Cave Bear...Jean Auel
25. The Valley of the Horses...Jean Auel
26. The Mammoth Hunters...Jean Auel
27. The Plains of Passage...Jean Auel
28. The Shelters of Stone...Jean Auel
I still love this series! I think I started them too soon, though...there's still about a month before The Painted Caves comes out!
29. In the Land of Long Fingernails: A Gravedigger in the Age of Aquarius...Charles Wilkins
This book was okay. It had some slow areas and it seemed like they spent most of their time smoking marijuana. I really wish he had more information on the actual graveyard and what went in it. There were a few tantalizing tidbits of graveyard history, but not enough.
Quote:
In the summer of 1969, author and journalist Wilkins (High on the Big Stone Heart) got a summer job as a gravedigger in a Toronto cemetery. His strange-but-true memoir of that summer will fascinate, disturb and most certainly entertain. From a gravedigger's strike to the exhumation of (most of) a corpse, the rogues and oddballs that Wilkins works alongside will both compel and repulse; a perfect example is Wilkins's abrasive, alcoholic, Scottish foreman, whose hostility belies (though sometimes reveals) a touching sense of humanity. Set against a turbulent era, the cemetery seems to exist outside of time, in a realm of intractable taboo, a curious combination of irreverence and sanctity that Wilkins captures effortlessly. With a deft command of both character and language, Wilkins's story could easily double as an out-there novel, but of course it's all the more engaging for its authenticity. Wilkins distills his bizarre day-to-day into a cohesive narrative and a compelling commentary on the times, a perfect trip for those who weren't able to take off work for the Summer of Love.
30. Primal Body, Primal Mind...Nora Gedgaudas
Interesting, but basically all the same info I've read in other Primal/Paleo books.
January ~ 2011
1. Sizzling Sixteen...Janet Evanovich
2. U is for Undertow...Sue Grafton
3. The Lost Hero...Rick Riordan
Just catching up on some series I like.
4. Cemetery Dance...Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
The latest in the Pendergast series. Can't wait for the next one!
5. Port Mortuary...Patricia Cornwell
This book was "meh." It had such promise in the storyline, but the writing was really choppy. To be honest, it was hard to get through. Half the time I didn't know what was going on. And, of course, the ending was very anti-climatic. Boring, ho-hum, very disappointing.
I'm so sad because I really enjoyed the earlier books in this series.
6. Ape House...Sara Gruen
Loved it! There was actually a couple of parts that made me cry; both from horror and happiness. I've always been fascinated with Great Apes that could communicate with ASL or a Lexigram (like Koko the gorilla) and this book was full of it. I think I'm going to look for some non-fiction books on this topic.
7. Some Girls: My Life in a Harem...Jillian Lauren
This was an interesting book. I enjoyed the author's writing style. I wish she had gone into more details about her time in Brunei, but, overall, a good read.
8. Bone Magic...Yasmine Galenorn
9. Harvest Hunting...Yasmine Galenorn
10. Shakespeare's Landlord...Charlaine Harris
11. Shakespeare's Champion...Charlaine Harris
12. Shakespeare's Christmas...Charlaine Harris
13. Shakespeare's Trollop...Charlaine Harris
14. Shakespeare's Counselor...Charlaine Harris
15. Darkly Dreaming Dexter...Jeff Lindsay
I started a couple of new series. The Lily Bard series was really good (nothing like Sookie, but still good!) I really wish she would write more, but she said she is done with this one.
I got to watch one episode of the t.v. show Dexter and I liked it, so I wanted to read the books before watching anymore. I hear the first season follows the books, but the other seasons have original storylines.
After Dexter, I may start another Charlaine Harris series.
16. Dearly Devoted Dexter...Jeff Lindsay
17. Dexter in the Dark...Jeff Lindsay
18. Dexter by Design...Jeff Lindsay
19. Dexter is Delicious...Jeff Lindsay
This series was great! I loved that it was set in Miami, so I recognized a lot of the areas and cultural remarks. I hope he writes more and now I can't wait to watch the t.v. show.
2. U is for Undertow...Sue Grafton
3. The Lost Hero...Rick Riordan
Just catching up on some series I like.
4. Cemetery Dance...Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
The latest in the Pendergast series. Can't wait for the next one!
5. Port Mortuary...Patricia Cornwell
This book was "meh." It had such promise in the storyline, but the writing was really choppy. To be honest, it was hard to get through. Half the time I didn't know what was going on. And, of course, the ending was very anti-climatic. Boring, ho-hum, very disappointing.
I'm so sad because I really enjoyed the earlier books in this series.
6. Ape House...Sara Gruen
Loved it! There was actually a couple of parts that made me cry; both from horror and happiness. I've always been fascinated with Great Apes that could communicate with ASL or a Lexigram (like Koko the gorilla) and this book was full of it. I think I'm going to look for some non-fiction books on this topic.
7. Some Girls: My Life in a Harem...Jillian Lauren
This was an interesting book. I enjoyed the author's writing style. I wish she had gone into more details about her time in Brunei, but, overall, a good read.
8. Bone Magic...Yasmine Galenorn
9. Harvest Hunting...Yasmine Galenorn
10. Shakespeare's Landlord...Charlaine Harris
11. Shakespeare's Champion...Charlaine Harris
12. Shakespeare's Christmas...Charlaine Harris
13. Shakespeare's Trollop...Charlaine Harris
14. Shakespeare's Counselor...Charlaine Harris
15. Darkly Dreaming Dexter...Jeff Lindsay
I started a couple of new series. The Lily Bard series was really good (nothing like Sookie, but still good!) I really wish she would write more, but she said she is done with this one.
I got to watch one episode of the t.v. show Dexter and I liked it, so I wanted to read the books before watching anymore. I hear the first season follows the books, but the other seasons have original storylines.
After Dexter, I may start another Charlaine Harris series.
16. Dearly Devoted Dexter...Jeff Lindsay
17. Dexter in the Dark...Jeff Lindsay
18. Dexter by Design...Jeff Lindsay
19. Dexter is Delicious...Jeff Lindsay
This series was great! I loved that it was set in Miami, so I recognized a lot of the areas and cultural remarks. I hope he writes more and now I can't wait to watch the t.v. show.
November ~ 2010
98. Spider Bones...Kathy Reichs
99. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth...Jeff Kinney
99. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth...Jeff Kinney
October ~ 2010
93. The Red Pyramid...Rick Riordan
Quote:
Riordan takes the elements that made the "Percy Jackson" books (Hyperion) so popular and ratchets them up a notch. Carter, 14, and Sadie, 12, have grown up apart. He has traveled all over the world with his Egyptologist father, Dr. Julius Kane, while Sadie has lived in London with her grandparents. Their mother passed away under mysterious circumstances, so when their father arrives in London and wants to take them both on a private tour of the British Museum, all is not necessarily what it seems. The evening ends with the apparent destruction of the Rosetta Stone, the disappearance of Dr. Kane, and the kidnapping of Carter and Sadie. More insidiously, it leads to the release of five Egyptian gods, including Set, who is their mortal enemy. Carter and Sadie discover the secrets of their family heritage and their ability to work magic as they realize that their task will be to save humanity from Set, who is building a destructive red pyramid inside Camelback Mountain in Phoenix. The text is presented as the transcript of an audio recording done by both children. Riordan creates two distinct and realistic voices for the siblings. He has a winning formula, but this book goes beyond the formulaic to present a truly original take on Egyptian mythology. His trademark humor is here in abundance, and there are numerous passages that will cause readers to double over with laughter. The humor never takes away from the story or from the overall tone.
94. Rumspringa: To Be Or Not To Be Amish...Tom Shachtman
Quote:
A teenage Amish girl sits in her buggy, one hand dangling a cigarette while the other holds a cellphone in which she is loudly chatting away. This girl, like many Amish teens 16 and older, is in a period called rumspringa, when the strict rules of community life are temporarily lifted while an adolescent chooses whether to be baptized into the church and abide fully by its laws. Shachtman, a documentarian who began studying this phenomenon for the film The Devil's Playground, is a sensitive and nimble chronicler of Amish teens, devoting ample space to allowing them to tell their stories in their own words. And their stories are fascinating, from the wild ones who engage in weekend-long parties, complete with hard drugs and sexual promiscuity, to the more sedate and pious teens who prefer to engage in careful courtship rituals under the bemused eyes of adult Amish chaperones. Shachtman's tone is by turns admiring—of the work ethic, strong families and religious faith that undergird Amish life—and critical, especially of the sect's treatment of women and its suspicion of education beyond the eighth grade. Throughout, Shachtman uses the Amish rumspringa experience as a foil for understanding American adolescence and identity formation in general, and also contextualizes rumspringa throughout the rapidly growing and changing Amish world. This is not only one of the most absorbing books ever written about the Plain People but a perceptive snapshot of the larger culture in which they live and move.
95. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest...Ken Kesey
Quote:
Boisterous, ribald, and ultimately shattering, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the seminal novel of the 1960s that has left an indelible mark on the literature of our time. Here is the unforgettable story of a mental ward and its inhabitants, especially the tyrannical Big Nurse Ratched and Randle Patrick McMurphy, the brawling, fun-loving new inmate who resolves to oppose her. We see the struggle through the eyes of Chief Bromden, the seemingly mute half-Indian patient who witnesses and understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the awesome powers that keep them all imprisoned.
96. This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All!...Marilyn Johnson
Quote:
In an information age full of Google-powered searches, free-by-Bittorrent media downloads and Wiki-powered knowledge databases, the librarian may seem like an antiquated concept. Author and editor Johnson (The Dead Beat) is here to reverse that notion with a topical, witty study of the vital ways modern librarians uphold their traditional roles as educators, archivists, and curators of a community legacy. Illuminating the state of the modern librarian with humor and authority, Johnson showcases librarians working on the cutting edge of virtual reality simulations, guarding the Constitution and redefining information services-as well as working hard to serve and satisfy readers, making this volume a bit guilty of long-form reader flattery. Johnson also makes the important case for libraries-the brick-and-mortar kind-as an irreplaceable bridge crossing economic community divides. Johnson's wry report is a must-read for anyone who's used a library in the past quarter century.
97. Black Magic Sanction...Kim Harrison
Quote:
Riordan takes the elements that made the "Percy Jackson" books (Hyperion) so popular and ratchets them up a notch. Carter, 14, and Sadie, 12, have grown up apart. He has traveled all over the world with his Egyptologist father, Dr. Julius Kane, while Sadie has lived in London with her grandparents. Their mother passed away under mysterious circumstances, so when their father arrives in London and wants to take them both on a private tour of the British Museum, all is not necessarily what it seems. The evening ends with the apparent destruction of the Rosetta Stone, the disappearance of Dr. Kane, and the kidnapping of Carter and Sadie. More insidiously, it leads to the release of five Egyptian gods, including Set, who is their mortal enemy. Carter and Sadie discover the secrets of their family heritage and their ability to work magic as they realize that their task will be to save humanity from Set, who is building a destructive red pyramid inside Camelback Mountain in Phoenix. The text is presented as the transcript of an audio recording done by both children. Riordan creates two distinct and realistic voices for the siblings. He has a winning formula, but this book goes beyond the formulaic to present a truly original take on Egyptian mythology. His trademark humor is here in abundance, and there are numerous passages that will cause readers to double over with laughter. The humor never takes away from the story or from the overall tone.
94. Rumspringa: To Be Or Not To Be Amish...Tom Shachtman
Quote:
A teenage Amish girl sits in her buggy, one hand dangling a cigarette while the other holds a cellphone in which she is loudly chatting away. This girl, like many Amish teens 16 and older, is in a period called rumspringa, when the strict rules of community life are temporarily lifted while an adolescent chooses whether to be baptized into the church and abide fully by its laws. Shachtman, a documentarian who began studying this phenomenon for the film The Devil's Playground, is a sensitive and nimble chronicler of Amish teens, devoting ample space to allowing them to tell their stories in their own words. And their stories are fascinating, from the wild ones who engage in weekend-long parties, complete with hard drugs and sexual promiscuity, to the more sedate and pious teens who prefer to engage in careful courtship rituals under the bemused eyes of adult Amish chaperones. Shachtman's tone is by turns admiring—of the work ethic, strong families and religious faith that undergird Amish life—and critical, especially of the sect's treatment of women and its suspicion of education beyond the eighth grade. Throughout, Shachtman uses the Amish rumspringa experience as a foil for understanding American adolescence and identity formation in general, and also contextualizes rumspringa throughout the rapidly growing and changing Amish world. This is not only one of the most absorbing books ever written about the Plain People but a perceptive snapshot of the larger culture in which they live and move.
95. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest...Ken Kesey
Quote:
Boisterous, ribald, and ultimately shattering, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the seminal novel of the 1960s that has left an indelible mark on the literature of our time. Here is the unforgettable story of a mental ward and its inhabitants, especially the tyrannical Big Nurse Ratched and Randle Patrick McMurphy, the brawling, fun-loving new inmate who resolves to oppose her. We see the struggle through the eyes of Chief Bromden, the seemingly mute half-Indian patient who witnesses and understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the awesome powers that keep them all imprisoned.
96. This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All!...Marilyn Johnson
Quote:
In an information age full of Google-powered searches, free-by-Bittorrent media downloads and Wiki-powered knowledge databases, the librarian may seem like an antiquated concept. Author and editor Johnson (The Dead Beat) is here to reverse that notion with a topical, witty study of the vital ways modern librarians uphold their traditional roles as educators, archivists, and curators of a community legacy. Illuminating the state of the modern librarian with humor and authority, Johnson showcases librarians working on the cutting edge of virtual reality simulations, guarding the Constitution and redefining information services-as well as working hard to serve and satisfy readers, making this volume a bit guilty of long-form reader flattery. Johnson also makes the important case for libraries-the brick-and-mortar kind-as an irreplaceable bridge crossing economic community divides. Johnson's wry report is a must-read for anyone who's used a library in the past quarter century.
97. Black Magic Sanction...Kim Harrison
September ~ 2010
88. I Am Nujood, Age 10, and Divorced...Nujood Ali & Delphine Minoui
89. The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider's Guide...J.R. Ward
90. Dark Angel...Karen Harper
This was a good story, although a little hard to believe at times. I did enjoy recognizing some of the places and customs mentioned (We went to Amish country a few weeks ago.) I will most likely try and find the other books in this series.
Quote:
Well-researched and rich in detail, this addictive follow-up to 2004's Dark Harvest transports readers back to the peaceful Amish community in rural Maplecreek, Ohio. Young spinster schoolteacher Leah Kurtz becomes involved in a conflict between her horse-and-buggy culture and futuristic genetic research after she agrees to adopt the infant daughter of a friend dying from one of the hereditary diseases that plague the Plain People (in real life as well as in fiction). Vicious graffiti targeting "English" outsider Mark Morelli, a doctor researching disease cures, sets a sinister mood that grows darker when his ultra-responsible, teenage Amish assistant mysteriously vanishes. After someone switches Leah's adopted baby in the cradle for another infant, Leah and Mark team up to investigate a series of unsolved disappearances that may lead back to Leah's former fiancé, who abandoned her at the altar years earlier.
91. The Help...Kathryn Stockett
Loved this one! It brought back a lot of memories of stories my grandparents told. However, I did not like the ending. It seems like lately, I keep reading books that just end abruptly, with several ends left untied. There were a couple of characters in this book that I wish I could have found out what happened to them.
Quote:
Set during the nascent civil rights movement in Jackson, Miss., where black women were trusted to raise white children but not to polish the household silver. Eugenia Skeeter Phelan is just home from college in 1962, and, anxious to become a writer, is advised to hone her chops by writing about what disturbs you. The budding social activist begins to collect the stories of the black women on whom the country club sets relies and mistrusts enlisting the help of Aibileen, a maid who's raised 17 children, and Aibileen's best friend Minny, who's found herself unemployed more than a few times after mouthing off to her white employers. The book Skeeter puts together based on their stories is scathing and shocking, bringing pride and hope to the black community, while giving Skeeter the courage to break down her personal boundaries and pursue her dreams. Assured and layered, full of heart and history, this one has bestseller written all over it.
92. The Maze Runner...Jame Dashner
Another good one. The author liked to repeat some things and expressions over and over (which got annoying at times), but the storyline was awesome. I'll definitely get the second book when it comes out next year.
Quote:
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.
Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.
Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.
Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.
89. The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider's Guide...J.R. Ward
90. Dark Angel...Karen Harper
This was a good story, although a little hard to believe at times. I did enjoy recognizing some of the places and customs mentioned (We went to Amish country a few weeks ago.) I will most likely try and find the other books in this series.
Quote:
Well-researched and rich in detail, this addictive follow-up to 2004's Dark Harvest transports readers back to the peaceful Amish community in rural Maplecreek, Ohio. Young spinster schoolteacher Leah Kurtz becomes involved in a conflict between her horse-and-buggy culture and futuristic genetic research after she agrees to adopt the infant daughter of a friend dying from one of the hereditary diseases that plague the Plain People (in real life as well as in fiction). Vicious graffiti targeting "English" outsider Mark Morelli, a doctor researching disease cures, sets a sinister mood that grows darker when his ultra-responsible, teenage Amish assistant mysteriously vanishes. After someone switches Leah's adopted baby in the cradle for another infant, Leah and Mark team up to investigate a series of unsolved disappearances that may lead back to Leah's former fiancé, who abandoned her at the altar years earlier.
91. The Help...Kathryn Stockett
Loved this one! It brought back a lot of memories of stories my grandparents told. However, I did not like the ending. It seems like lately, I keep reading books that just end abruptly, with several ends left untied. There were a couple of characters in this book that I wish I could have found out what happened to them.
Quote:
Set during the nascent civil rights movement in Jackson, Miss., where black women were trusted to raise white children but not to polish the household silver. Eugenia Skeeter Phelan is just home from college in 1962, and, anxious to become a writer, is advised to hone her chops by writing about what disturbs you. The budding social activist begins to collect the stories of the black women on whom the country club sets relies and mistrusts enlisting the help of Aibileen, a maid who's raised 17 children, and Aibileen's best friend Minny, who's found herself unemployed more than a few times after mouthing off to her white employers. The book Skeeter puts together based on their stories is scathing and shocking, bringing pride and hope to the black community, while giving Skeeter the courage to break down her personal boundaries and pursue her dreams. Assured and layered, full of heart and history, this one has bestseller written all over it.
92. The Maze Runner...Jame Dashner
Another good one. The author liked to repeat some things and expressions over and over (which got annoying at times), but the storyline was awesome. I'll definitely get the second book when it comes out next year.
Quote:
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.
Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.
Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.
Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.
August ~ 2010
Well, I survived my self-imposed book ban and now get to dive back in!
80. The Bone Garden...Tess Gerritsen
Hmmm, I liked it, but I didn't. It really didn't work as a suspense/thriller novel, but I enjoyed the storyline from the past. I wish she had just kept the present storyline out of the book and concentrated on Rose and Norris.
Quote:
38-year-old divorcée Julia Hamill discovers a skeleton buried in the garden of the Boston house she's just moved into; the ring found with the remains was in fashion in the 1830s, the fractured bones suggest murder. Flashback to 1830: medical student Norris Marshall, an outcast among his wealthier classmates, meets Rose Connolly in a Boston maternity ward, where Rose's sister recently died of childbirth fever. When several gutted bodies turn up in deserted alleyways, Rose and Norris are the only ones to catch a glimpse of the killer, dubbed the West End Reaper. Norris, Rose and Norris's fellow student, Oliver Wendell Holmes, race to uncover the truth behind the slayings, which will remind many of Jack the Ripper's crimes. In the present, Julia is able to trace their progress with the help of a relative of the house's former owner.
81. Presumed Guilty & Keeper of the Bride...Tess Gerritsen
Two short(ish) stories in one book. Both of them were pretty good.
Quote:
Miranda Wood thought she had seen the last of Richard Tremain, her rich and married ex-lover—until she discovered him stabbed to death in her bed. With her knife. With her world falling around her, Miranda is determined to clear her name and discover who killed Richard. But proving her innocence may become secondary to staying alive.…
After Nina Cormier was jilted at the altar, the empty church exploded. Then someone tried to run Nina off the road, and she realized someone wanted her dead—but who? That's what Detective Sam Navarro needs to find out…fast. With a nightmare unfolding around them, Sam and Nina decipher the stunning truth. Now they're at the mercy of a brilliant madman who plays for keeps.…
82. Gravity...Tess Gerritsen
This one was awesome! I really didn't know if I would like it or not because I'm not much interested in space, but this book was really, really good. I had to read it in one sitting!
Quote:
Dr. Emma Watson has been training for the adventure of a lifetime: to study living beings in space. But her mission aboard the International Space Station turns into a nightmare beyond imagining when a culture of single-celled organisms begins to regenerate out of control -- and infects the space station crew with agonizing and deadly results. Emma struggles to contain the outbreak while back on Earth her estranged husband, Jack McCallum, works frantically with NASA to bring her home. But there will be no rescue. The contagion now threatens Earth's population, and the astronauts are stranded in orbit, quarantined aboard the station -- where they are dying one by one...
83. Family Power: The True Story of How the "First Family of Tae Kwon Do" Made Olympic History...Jean, Steven, Mark, & Diana Lopez
Although the writing was a little choppy and sometimes the fight recaps were a little repetitive, overall it was an interesting book.
Quote:
The Lopez family set new records at the Beijing Olympics with three siblings on the same U.S. taekwondo team-and a fourth sibling as their coach. Mark took the silver medal, and Steven and Diana both brought home the bronze, with big brother Jean coaching them to victory. Here, for the first time, is the inspiring story of a family united behind a dream.
In 1972 Julio Lopez and his wife Ondina emigrated from Nicaragua, hoping for a better life for their family in America. In an atmosphere of love, support, mutual respect, and healthy competition, their children trained hard in taekwondo, daring to dream they might reach the pinnacle of their athletic field in the Olympics. Told in turn by Steven, Mark, Diana, and Jean, this is the incredible story of how one close-knit family's boundless determination and rock-solid support system took them from their home in Texas to Olympic glory in Beijing.
84. Amazon: The Ghost Tribe...Rob MacGregor
This was great, but it was another one that just abruptly ended. There were a few loose ends left, so I'm going to see if there is a sequel.
Quote:
A brutal gale batters the pilgrim ship Seaflower, driving the ill-fatedvessel off-course toward the coast of South America, leaving it to the mercy of bloodthirsty pirates and murderous tempests. The year is 1627. And so begins a drama that will ultimately span centuries, as destinystrands a handful of luckless European voyagers in the most inhospitable jungle on the Earth. In a world unfathomed, they must bury their dead and push on deep into the dark and savage land explorers will one day call Amazon. For them, there is no going back--only treacherous miles of lush, impenetrable beauty that camouflages sudden and terrible death. And there are others waiting and watching, ready to destroy to preserve what no one may truly possess. But here, in this strange and violent place of wondrous discovery, a small band of settlers is determined to endure at all costs, to build a new life in a merciless wilderness--and to forge a remarkable society that will be there to greet another group of the desperate lost more than three hundred years in the future.
85. Catching Fire...Suzanne Collins
86. Mockingjay...Suzanne Collins
Second and third book in the Hunger Games Trilogy. Great books!
87. Lover Mine...J.R. Ward
Latest in the BDB series. Love these!
80. The Bone Garden...Tess Gerritsen
Hmmm, I liked it, but I didn't. It really didn't work as a suspense/thriller novel, but I enjoyed the storyline from the past. I wish she had just kept the present storyline out of the book and concentrated on Rose and Norris.
Quote:
38-year-old divorcée Julia Hamill discovers a skeleton buried in the garden of the Boston house she's just moved into; the ring found with the remains was in fashion in the 1830s, the fractured bones suggest murder. Flashback to 1830: medical student Norris Marshall, an outcast among his wealthier classmates, meets Rose Connolly in a Boston maternity ward, where Rose's sister recently died of childbirth fever. When several gutted bodies turn up in deserted alleyways, Rose and Norris are the only ones to catch a glimpse of the killer, dubbed the West End Reaper. Norris, Rose and Norris's fellow student, Oliver Wendell Holmes, race to uncover the truth behind the slayings, which will remind many of Jack the Ripper's crimes. In the present, Julia is able to trace their progress with the help of a relative of the house's former owner.
81. Presumed Guilty & Keeper of the Bride...Tess Gerritsen
Two short(ish) stories in one book. Both of them were pretty good.
Quote:
Miranda Wood thought she had seen the last of Richard Tremain, her rich and married ex-lover—until she discovered him stabbed to death in her bed. With her knife. With her world falling around her, Miranda is determined to clear her name and discover who killed Richard. But proving her innocence may become secondary to staying alive.…
After Nina Cormier was jilted at the altar, the empty church exploded. Then someone tried to run Nina off the road, and she realized someone wanted her dead—but who? That's what Detective Sam Navarro needs to find out…fast. With a nightmare unfolding around them, Sam and Nina decipher the stunning truth. Now they're at the mercy of a brilliant madman who plays for keeps.…
82. Gravity...Tess Gerritsen
This one was awesome! I really didn't know if I would like it or not because I'm not much interested in space, but this book was really, really good. I had to read it in one sitting!
Quote:
Dr. Emma Watson has been training for the adventure of a lifetime: to study living beings in space. But her mission aboard the International Space Station turns into a nightmare beyond imagining when a culture of single-celled organisms begins to regenerate out of control -- and infects the space station crew with agonizing and deadly results. Emma struggles to contain the outbreak while back on Earth her estranged husband, Jack McCallum, works frantically with NASA to bring her home. But there will be no rescue. The contagion now threatens Earth's population, and the astronauts are stranded in orbit, quarantined aboard the station -- where they are dying one by one...
83. Family Power: The True Story of How the "First Family of Tae Kwon Do" Made Olympic History...Jean, Steven, Mark, & Diana Lopez
Although the writing was a little choppy and sometimes the fight recaps were a little repetitive, overall it was an interesting book.
Quote:
The Lopez family set new records at the Beijing Olympics with three siblings on the same U.S. taekwondo team-and a fourth sibling as their coach. Mark took the silver medal, and Steven and Diana both brought home the bronze, with big brother Jean coaching them to victory. Here, for the first time, is the inspiring story of a family united behind a dream.
In 1972 Julio Lopez and his wife Ondina emigrated from Nicaragua, hoping for a better life for their family in America. In an atmosphere of love, support, mutual respect, and healthy competition, their children trained hard in taekwondo, daring to dream they might reach the pinnacle of their athletic field in the Olympics. Told in turn by Steven, Mark, Diana, and Jean, this is the incredible story of how one close-knit family's boundless determination and rock-solid support system took them from their home in Texas to Olympic glory in Beijing.
84. Amazon: The Ghost Tribe...Rob MacGregor
This was great, but it was another one that just abruptly ended. There were a few loose ends left, so I'm going to see if there is a sequel.
Quote:
A brutal gale batters the pilgrim ship Seaflower, driving the ill-fatedvessel off-course toward the coast of South America, leaving it to the mercy of bloodthirsty pirates and murderous tempests. The year is 1627. And so begins a drama that will ultimately span centuries, as destinystrands a handful of luckless European voyagers in the most inhospitable jungle on the Earth. In a world unfathomed, they must bury their dead and push on deep into the dark and savage land explorers will one day call Amazon. For them, there is no going back--only treacherous miles of lush, impenetrable beauty that camouflages sudden and terrible death. And there are others waiting and watching, ready to destroy to preserve what no one may truly possess. But here, in this strange and violent place of wondrous discovery, a small band of settlers is determined to endure at all costs, to build a new life in a merciless wilderness--and to forge a remarkable society that will be there to greet another group of the desperate lost more than three hundred years in the future.
85. Catching Fire...Suzanne Collins
86. Mockingjay...Suzanne Collins
Second and third book in the Hunger Games Trilogy. Great books!
87. Lover Mine...J.R. Ward
Latest in the BDB series. Love these!
July ~ 2010
We've just finished moving to a new house, new city, new state! In order to get the vast amount of work done as quickly as possible, I am declaring a self-imposed book ban for the month of July!
June ~ 2010
61. When I Was Puerto Rican...Esmeralda Santiago
Very interesting memoir. When I have time, I think I will try and read the other two books in the trilogy.
Quote:
Esmeralda Santiago's story begins in rural Puerto Rico, where her childhood was full of both tenderness and domestic strife, tropical sounds and sights as well as poverty. Growing up, she learned the proper way to eat a guava, the sound of tree frogs in the mango groves at night, the taste of the delectable sausage called morcilla, and the formula for ushering a dead baby's soul to heaven. As she enters school we see the clash, both hilarious and fierce, of Puerto Rican and Yankee culture. When her mother, Mami, a force of nature, takes off to New York with her seven, soon to be eleven children, Esmeralda, the oldest, must learn new rules, a new language, and eventually take on a new identity. In this first volume of her much-praised, bestselling trilogy, Santiago brilliantly recreates the idyllic landscape and tumultuous family life of her earliest years and her tremendous journey from the barrio to Brooklyn, from translating for her mother at the welfare office to high honors at Harvard.
62. Upstairs Girls: Prostitution in the American West...Michael Rutter
This was a great book. The author told a little about the history of prostitution in the West and then added a few profiles on famous prostitutes like Big Nose Kate, Madame Ah Toy, and Mary Ellen Pleasant. Although the writing was a bit cliched at times, all-in-all it was an interesting introductory book. I would love to find a book that goes into more detail.
Quote:
Prostitutes make up one of the most engaging chapters in the story of the American West. Upstairs Girls opens a window on the lives of these women for hire - why they turned to prostitution, who they worked for, and what their lives were like.
63. Bullet...Laurell K.Hamilton
I can't copy a summary from my iPhone, but this is the newest Anita Blake book. It was good. Still more sex and no mystery, but I feel like we are finally leading up to something. Without putting out a spoiler, let's just say I was really happy with Richard and Asher in this one.
Now just to wait over a year for the next one (or more...I read that she might go to only writing one book a year!)
64. Eaters of the Dead...Michael Crichton
As always, a good book from Michael Crichton. I forgot how much I like his books.
Quote:
The year is A.D. 922. A refined Arab courtier, representative of the powerful Caliph of Baghdad, encounters a party of Viking warriors who are journeying to the barbaric North. He is appalled by their Viking customs—the wanton sexuality of their pale, angular women, their disregard for cleanliness . . . their cold-blooded human sacrifices. But it is not until they reach the depths of the Northland that the courtier learns the horrifying and inescapable truth: He has been enlisted by these savage, inscrutable warriors to help combat a terror that plagues them—a monstrosity that emerges under cover of night to slaughter the Vikings and devour their flesh.
65. Dead Wrong...Mariah Stewart
This was also a good one. There was much more going on than what this summary says. I've already downloaded the next three books in this series and can't wait to find out what happens next.
Quote:
It was inescapably chilling, as if the murderer was methodically working his way down a page torn from the phone book. The three victims brutally killed in their own homes had one thing in common: they were all listed as M. Douglas. The fact that Mara Douglas is next on the list has her jumping at shadows, until FBI agent Aidan Shields shows up to make sure she doesn’t become the fourth victim.
The summaries don't say it, but the first three books (Dead Wrong, Dead Certain, and Dead Even) are really about three criminals who play a game by telling each other three people they would want to die and then they would switch lists. It was supposed to be just talk until one of them decides to make the game real. The last book (Dead End) doesn't have anything to do with that, but it has the same characters and wraps up a couple of loose ends from the other books.
66. Dead Certain...Mariah Stewart
Quote:
With her stalker captured, antiques dealer Amanda Crosby can finally sleep at night. Having worked hard to put the nightmare behind her, Amanda has vowed to never be a victim again. But when her business partner, Derek England, is found with a bullet through the back of his head just hours after she left an incriminating message on his voice mail, Amanda finds herself in danger of becoming a victim of another sort.
All the evidence points to Amanda as Derek’s killer, and Chief of Police Sean Mercer is building the case against her. But when another of her colleagues is found brutally murdered, it’s obvious that someone other than Amanda is behind the killings. Suddenly Amanda is a target once again, as a diabolical killer circles ever closer—and the only thing that stands between her and becoming the third and final victim is the man who had tried to put her behind bars.
67. Dead Even...Mariah Stewart
Quote:
FBI Special Agent Miranda Cahill has always played by the rules: always maintain a respectful professionalism, and never mix business with pleasure. Except when it comes to fellow agent Will Fletcher. Their on-again, off-again relationship has left painful scars even he has never seen.
Now, a series of murders has the two agents racing to outwit a killer before he can strike again. Miranda and Will know that lives depend on identifying intended victims and tracking them down before the killer does. But as they begin to unravel this homicidal agenda, it becomes clear that Miranda may be the last and final target in a twisted game. With the clock ticking, time is running out on a killer who is determined to cross Miranda’s name off his hit list . . . permanently.
68. Dead End...Mariah Stewart
Quote:
Avon County, Pennsylvania, detective Evan Crosby is called in to investigate when several schoolgirls from well-to-do families are found murdered in the same manner. Then other girls are found dead, seemingly killed in the same way, but the new victims are Hispanic and unidentified. With the help of his girlfriend, FBI profiler Annie McCall, Crosby determines there are two killers and elects to concentrate on the case of the unclaimed girls. Crosby's romantic relationship with Annie is complicated by memories of her fiance, FBI agent Dylan Shields, who died during an FBI operation--his death unsolved. Evan, hoping to provide closure for Annie by reinvestigating Dylan's killing, makes discoveries that bear on the current cases. Evan and Annie make sympathetic leads, and Stewart effectively frames the fast-paced story with details of police investigation and profiling techniques.
69. Birthmarked...Caragh O'Brien
I really hope she writes a sequel. I can't wait to see what happens next! Great book!
Quote:
In a dystopian world of the future, apprentice midwife Gaia, who has served the Enclave faithfully along with her parents, is thrust suddenly into a crisis. She delivers her first baby independently of her midwife mother and takes it to the Enclave inside the Wall as the first of her monthly quota of three newborns. Then her parents are arrested and she learns that they will soon be executed. Gaia springs into action and smuggles herself into the Enclave to rescue them. What follows is an exciting, almost breakneck adventure, as Gaia tries to discover what information the Enclave wants from her and her mother and tries to save both of them from prison. Along the way there is a mildly romantic turn to the story as Gaia develops a friendship and attraction to one of the soldiers, a man with a mysterious past. This world is one in which a small society, composed of an elite inside the Wall and a subservient class outside, is completely cut off from knowledge of anyone or anything outside of its borders. The rulers are authoritarian and mysterious and resemble a monarchy rather than the strictly ideological communitarian system in Lois Lowry's The Giver (Houghton, 1993). The cliff-hanger ending sets up the action for a sequel.
70. Dead Until Dark
71. Living Dead in Dallas
72. Club Dead
73. Dead to the World
74. Dead as a Doornail
75. Definitely Dead
76. All Together Dead
77. From Dead to Worse...All by Charlaine Harris
78. Dead in the Family...Charlaine Harris
79. Touch of Dead...Charlaine Harris
I thought I'd finally check out the Sookie Stackhouse books. Cute, but I like Laurell K. Hamilton's earlier works better.
Very interesting memoir. When I have time, I think I will try and read the other two books in the trilogy.
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Esmeralda Santiago's story begins in rural Puerto Rico, where her childhood was full of both tenderness and domestic strife, tropical sounds and sights as well as poverty. Growing up, she learned the proper way to eat a guava, the sound of tree frogs in the mango groves at night, the taste of the delectable sausage called morcilla, and the formula for ushering a dead baby's soul to heaven. As she enters school we see the clash, both hilarious and fierce, of Puerto Rican and Yankee culture. When her mother, Mami, a force of nature, takes off to New York with her seven, soon to be eleven children, Esmeralda, the oldest, must learn new rules, a new language, and eventually take on a new identity. In this first volume of her much-praised, bestselling trilogy, Santiago brilliantly recreates the idyllic landscape and tumultuous family life of her earliest years and her tremendous journey from the barrio to Brooklyn, from translating for her mother at the welfare office to high honors at Harvard.
62. Upstairs Girls: Prostitution in the American West...Michael Rutter
This was a great book. The author told a little about the history of prostitution in the West and then added a few profiles on famous prostitutes like Big Nose Kate, Madame Ah Toy, and Mary Ellen Pleasant. Although the writing was a bit cliched at times, all-in-all it was an interesting introductory book. I would love to find a book that goes into more detail.
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Prostitutes make up one of the most engaging chapters in the story of the American West. Upstairs Girls opens a window on the lives of these women for hire - why they turned to prostitution, who they worked for, and what their lives were like.
63. Bullet...Laurell K.Hamilton
I can't copy a summary from my iPhone, but this is the newest Anita Blake book. It was good. Still more sex and no mystery, but I feel like we are finally leading up to something. Without putting out a spoiler, let's just say I was really happy with Richard and Asher in this one.
Now just to wait over a year for the next one (or more...I read that she might go to only writing one book a year!)
64. Eaters of the Dead...Michael Crichton
As always, a good book from Michael Crichton. I forgot how much I like his books.
Quote:
The year is A.D. 922. A refined Arab courtier, representative of the powerful Caliph of Baghdad, encounters a party of Viking warriors who are journeying to the barbaric North. He is appalled by their Viking customs—the wanton sexuality of their pale, angular women, their disregard for cleanliness . . . their cold-blooded human sacrifices. But it is not until they reach the depths of the Northland that the courtier learns the horrifying and inescapable truth: He has been enlisted by these savage, inscrutable warriors to help combat a terror that plagues them—a monstrosity that emerges under cover of night to slaughter the Vikings and devour their flesh.
65. Dead Wrong...Mariah Stewart
This was also a good one. There was much more going on than what this summary says. I've already downloaded the next three books in this series and can't wait to find out what happens next.
Quote:
It was inescapably chilling, as if the murderer was methodically working his way down a page torn from the phone book. The three victims brutally killed in their own homes had one thing in common: they were all listed as M. Douglas. The fact that Mara Douglas is next on the list has her jumping at shadows, until FBI agent Aidan Shields shows up to make sure she doesn’t become the fourth victim.
The summaries don't say it, but the first three books (Dead Wrong, Dead Certain, and Dead Even) are really about three criminals who play a game by telling each other three people they would want to die and then they would switch lists. It was supposed to be just talk until one of them decides to make the game real. The last book (Dead End) doesn't have anything to do with that, but it has the same characters and wraps up a couple of loose ends from the other books.
66. Dead Certain...Mariah Stewart
Quote:
With her stalker captured, antiques dealer Amanda Crosby can finally sleep at night. Having worked hard to put the nightmare behind her, Amanda has vowed to never be a victim again. But when her business partner, Derek England, is found with a bullet through the back of his head just hours after she left an incriminating message on his voice mail, Amanda finds herself in danger of becoming a victim of another sort.
All the evidence points to Amanda as Derek’s killer, and Chief of Police Sean Mercer is building the case against her. But when another of her colleagues is found brutally murdered, it’s obvious that someone other than Amanda is behind the killings. Suddenly Amanda is a target once again, as a diabolical killer circles ever closer—and the only thing that stands between her and becoming the third and final victim is the man who had tried to put her behind bars.
67. Dead Even...Mariah Stewart
Quote:
FBI Special Agent Miranda Cahill has always played by the rules: always maintain a respectful professionalism, and never mix business with pleasure. Except when it comes to fellow agent Will Fletcher. Their on-again, off-again relationship has left painful scars even he has never seen.
Now, a series of murders has the two agents racing to outwit a killer before he can strike again. Miranda and Will know that lives depend on identifying intended victims and tracking them down before the killer does. But as they begin to unravel this homicidal agenda, it becomes clear that Miranda may be the last and final target in a twisted game. With the clock ticking, time is running out on a killer who is determined to cross Miranda’s name off his hit list . . . permanently.
68. Dead End...Mariah Stewart
Quote:
Avon County, Pennsylvania, detective Evan Crosby is called in to investigate when several schoolgirls from well-to-do families are found murdered in the same manner. Then other girls are found dead, seemingly killed in the same way, but the new victims are Hispanic and unidentified. With the help of his girlfriend, FBI profiler Annie McCall, Crosby determines there are two killers and elects to concentrate on the case of the unclaimed girls. Crosby's romantic relationship with Annie is complicated by memories of her fiance, FBI agent Dylan Shields, who died during an FBI operation--his death unsolved. Evan, hoping to provide closure for Annie by reinvestigating Dylan's killing, makes discoveries that bear on the current cases. Evan and Annie make sympathetic leads, and Stewart effectively frames the fast-paced story with details of police investigation and profiling techniques.
69. Birthmarked...Caragh O'Brien
I really hope she writes a sequel. I can't wait to see what happens next! Great book!
Quote:
In a dystopian world of the future, apprentice midwife Gaia, who has served the Enclave faithfully along with her parents, is thrust suddenly into a crisis. She delivers her first baby independently of her midwife mother and takes it to the Enclave inside the Wall as the first of her monthly quota of three newborns. Then her parents are arrested and she learns that they will soon be executed. Gaia springs into action and smuggles herself into the Enclave to rescue them. What follows is an exciting, almost breakneck adventure, as Gaia tries to discover what information the Enclave wants from her and her mother and tries to save both of them from prison. Along the way there is a mildly romantic turn to the story as Gaia develops a friendship and attraction to one of the soldiers, a man with a mysterious past. This world is one in which a small society, composed of an elite inside the Wall and a subservient class outside, is completely cut off from knowledge of anyone or anything outside of its borders. The rulers are authoritarian and mysterious and resemble a monarchy rather than the strictly ideological communitarian system in Lois Lowry's The Giver (Houghton, 1993). The cliff-hanger ending sets up the action for a sequel.
70. Dead Until Dark
71. Living Dead in Dallas
72. Club Dead
73. Dead to the World
74. Dead as a Doornail
75. Definitely Dead
76. All Together Dead
77. From Dead to Worse...All by Charlaine Harris
78. Dead in the Family...Charlaine Harris
79. Touch of Dead...Charlaine Harris
I thought I'd finally check out the Sookie Stackhouse books. Cute, but I like Laurell K. Hamilton's earlier works better.
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