Book #84 -- William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, 87 pages.

Not exactly my favourite of Shakespeare's plays. In fact, I have to admit I find all the characters pretty pathetic. Does that make me a horrible English major?

Progress toward goals: 320/365 = 87.7%

Books: 84/100 = 84.0%

Pages: 21194/25000 = 84.8%

2009 Book List

cross-posted to 15000pages, 50bookchallenge, and gwynraven

givesushope
It's that glorious time of year when we reunite with loved ones (we neglected all year), stuff our faces to excess, and pass out in front of the TV. Perhaps a recalibration of the thanksometer is in order. A spin-off of the popular GivesMeHope.com site, this community invites you to document moments of kindness, generosity, and pure human love.

veggieslackers
Despite its mainstream appeal, Thanksgiving is not for everyone. There are those struggling with food disorders, for whom this day causes endless conflict. There are the cash-challenged, who can't afford the gluttony we've grown to expect. There are the lonely, who don't have loved ones nearby. And let's not forget the vegetarians, who decry the animal cruelty. But there's one more group we often overlook: the terminally lazy! This community of lazy vegetarians offers easy recipes for an animal-friendly feast.

fashin
Just in time for holiday shopping season, this fashionista community brings you the world of haute couture in the form of sumptuous photos, video clips, and candid commentary. There's also a sugary sprinkle of mainstream movie discussions and debates on such pressing social issues as manicure styles and celebrity colonics. If you need a break from the daily grind to indulge your girlie side, this is twinkly pink on steroids.

Title: The Bro Code
Author: Barney Stinson with Matt Kuhn
Themes/Topics: Humor, Bros

If you like the show How I Met Your Mother, you will find this book amusing. It contains the Bro Code, as written by Barney, complete with amendments. It is an extremely quick read, more anecdotal than anything, but a lot of fun. It also references the show often so this is a read for a true fan.

Title: Incantation
Author: Alice Hoffman
Themes/Topics: Religious Persecution, Family, Nature

Alice Hoffman is one of my favorite authors, but I didn't like this as much. Her young adult literature doesn't have the same feel as the rest of her writings, some of the nature imagery was there, but not enough for my liking.

The Forgotten Garden

Kate Morton

A foundling abandoned on a ship to Australia with no clue to her past but a small, white suitcase containing a book of fairytales, a children's author, a small cottage on a Cornwall estate, a hidden garden, and a garden maze - these were all shining elements in this incredible gothic tale of family secrets.

The Forgotten Garden is probably my favorite book of 2009! I absolutely loved it! It was just amazing!

I loved the gothic feel, and the fairytale aspect fit in just right, as did the homage to Frances Hodges Burnett's The Secret Garden, which was a fun aspect. Morton wove it all together to beautifully into one harmonius tale, told over several generations.

This is the perfect book for curling up with under the covers on a chilly winter night, or while sitting out on a garden bench in the shade of big tree during the summer. In other words, it's everything I look for in a book. It's magical!

64. Leviathan - Scott Westerfeld - 448 pages (9/10)

Scott Westerfeld already has one amazing world he created, the sci-fi world of his Uglies series, and now he's gone ahead and made a world that's even cooler. Not only is this an excellent alternate history or steampunk book, but it's filled with absolutely stunning illustrations by artist Keith Thompson. One of my favourites:


(it uploaded annoyingly tiny, but you get the idea. A jellyfish airship thing!)

Scott Westerfeld does an excellent, succinct job of summarizing his world in a short interview he did on John Scalzi's blog, Whatever. He states, "In the world of Leviathan, technology has split into two tribes: the Germanic Clankers, who are machine lovers, and the British-led Darwinists, who weave the life-threads of natural creatures into fabricated beasts. (To put it simply, in this world, Origins of Species was an instruction manual.)" In this book, there are tidbits of actual history, strange creatures, amazing technology, strong characters, and a truly original setting.

Alek is the son of the Austrian-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. His parents have been assassinated (though in a slightly different manner than actually happened in history.) His son, though he is unable to inherit his father's role because his mother was not of royal enough blood, is on the run for his life along with some bodyguards that I imagine look and sound like Arnold Schwarznegger. Deryn is a young Scottish girl who desperately wants to join the air force. She ends up joining and cross-dressing as a man to do so. I love me some crossdressing in novels, and this works really well.

Eventually, of course, Deryn and Alek end up meeting in a strange turn of events and begin to grow close despite being on opposite sides of a brewing war. They both must re-evaluate their prejudices about the other and have interesting debates about nature vs machines. I also enjoy that they both keep a secret - one is royalty and one is a girl. I won't go into too many plot points because I'm wary of spoilers, but is is definitely an excellent book by one of my favourite young adult authors. I appreciate it when those writing for a younger audience make it fun, but sneak in good life lessons and values. Westerfeld wrote an afterward clearing up was was history and what was fantasy for readers not familiar with WWI. This is one of my favourite reads of the year.


Booksforfood is my journal where I post reviews mainly of books, but also occasionally of gadgets, video games, films, and TV shows. I also sometimes post interesting news stories I come across, or blog about what it's like to be an ex-pat American in Scotland. If any of this sounds interesting, please feel free to friend me.

Here is book thirty-nine from my Book List 2009. The link leads to a more detailed review in my journal.

39. Title: The Maze Runner
Author: James Dashner
Pages: 374
Thoughts: Link
Review in five words or less: Intriguing puzzle; engrossing, fast-paced.
Personal Rating: «««« out of five.

The only thing Thomas can remember when he exits the lift is his name. He steps into a community filled with boys who have all been in his situation. One new boy arrives every month, and it has been that way for two years. The boys adhere to a strict schedule, so no one really has the time to tell Thomas much of anything at first. He must struggle to acclimatize himself and figure out what's going on from observation.

The boys live in a giant maze filled with traps and vicious creatures. They have been trying to solve the mystery of the maze for two years to find a way out. It is the responsibility of the Runners in the group to go out into the Maze and map out their assigned quadrants. It's a quite challenge because the walls of the Maze move regularly. Thomas immediately wants to join the Runners because it feels familiar to him—he just can't figure out why.

Then a mysterious girl shows up in the lift and things change rapidly and become more dire. They must work quickly to find a way out. They must work together to survive.

This was extremely fast-paced and I enjoyed it a lot. With each new chapter, the mystery of the Maze continued to grow, and it was interesting trying to figure out why the boys were there in the first place. My theories didn't match up with the end result, but I was completely satisfied with how it ended. The only thing I didn't really like was the girl. Her attitude was irritating and she seemed completely out of place in the story.

The book ended with a rather fascinating cliffhanger, and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel. Highly recommended.

39 / 50 books. 78% done!

13,902 / 15000 pages. 93% done!

This is absolutely NOT the sort of book I would ever buy or pick up on my own as 1) I use a bare minimum of make-up 2) I find cosmetics rather intimidating, and I'm self-conscious about shopping for them. However, I won this in a gift pack earlier this year, and after a few days of feeling like I look bleh, I figured it was as good a time as any to read it.

Actually, I was pretty impressed with the book. It lives up to the title, emphasizing that THINKING positively will reflect in a person's face and empower them more than make-up alone ever could. True, that. Carmindy (who does make-up on the show What Not to Wear) also emphasizes focusing on good facial features rather than covering up the bad. The book has chapters on each part of the face - lips, eyes, skin, cheeks - and shows techniques on how to handle different shapes/textures/colors. I especially liked the examples of how to apply eye shadow for different shapes and times of day; it makes me feel like actually trying out eyeshadow for the first time in, oh, three years. There's a chapter on tools, explaining different sorts of little brushes and thingamajigs. The back of the book shows real women of all ages and ethnicities and how they look before and after. Carmindy is very good at her job.

That said, sometimes the positive-emphasis was a bit overdone. Almost ever paragraph had sentences like: Fabulous! Gorgeous! The book also isn't bound for friendly use in a bathroom. It's hardcover and oversized like a coffee table book. Pages don't stay open on their own. As far as functionality, it would have been more prudent to make it glossy and spiral-bound. Those are the only gripes, though. It's a nice book for gals like me who might want to dress up every now and then, but don't exactly know how. I actually went out and bought a lip liner and pencil eye liner today. Whoa.

Found, bought, and read a book today:

Osprey New Vanguard #140: Armored Trains

It dealt with a topic about which I knew little, and fleshed it out interestingly. Nice photos, as well.

93. The Alchemist's Daughter- Katharine McMahon, 311 pages, 3/5
Historical romance about a sheltered country girl who finds herself introduced to the darker side of London society. I didn't really enjoy the story and I found the ending very unsatisfying.

94. Will- Christopher Rush, 496 pages, 4/5
William Shakespeare reminisces on his life from his deathbed as he drafts his will. This book was certainly colourful: sex, death and bodily functions on practically every page and lots of swearing. It quotes a lot of his plays too so if you're a fan it might be worth a read.

95. An Officer's Manual of the Western Front 1914-1918, 158 pages.
This densely packed little book contained reprints of some of the pamphlets available to British officers during WW1. Interesting information on trench design amongst others.

96. Vainglory- Ronald Fairbank, 200 pages, 1.5/5
Bits of this were amusing but for the most part I had no idea what was going on. Characters continually interrupted and talked over each other and in one chapter there was almost two pages of dialogue before the speakers were named. Far too confusing for me!

Books: 96 Pages: 25836

Jack Frost #1 by Jin Ho Ko
( Jack )</lj-cut

Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold

I've loved every one of Bujold's books so far and this one was no exception.

Set in the same universe as her Vorkosigan series, but rather earlier, it tells the story of engineer Leo Graf whose latest assignment is to train zero gravity welders at the Cay Habitat, orbiting the remote planet Rodeo.

But Leo's new students are no ordinary folk - they are "quaddies", genetically engineered humans with a second pair of arms instead of legs, and internal systems adapted ideally for life in freefall. More sinisterly, they are not legally people, so when new technology renders them obsolete before they've even begun working, Leo has some hard decisions to make....

Fruits Basket #23 by Natsuki Takaya
( Kyo )

The Lancelot Murders by J.M. C. Blair
( Merlin )

As it turns out I had a 30% off coupon for a new book. So I decided to see if I could find a nicer edition — one with a larger typeface that wouldn't kill my eyes like the library book was. I found a lovely copy that meets all my requirements. So now I can finish the book at a slower pace at a chapter a night or even more slowly at 30 pages a week (like I'm doing with Proust's books).

Book #83 -- Elizabeth Mavor, The Ladies of Llangollen, 216 pages.

In 1778, Eleanor Butler, 39, and Sarah Ponsonby, 23, eloped. With each other. The two women set up house in a cottage near Llangollen, Wales, and lived there together until their deaths, over 50 years later. The Ladies of Llangollen, as they became known, attracted the interest and friendship of many of the influential figures of the times, from royalty to poets and scientists. Wordsworth wrote poetry while staying in their cottage, and they were great friends with the Duke of Wellington. Whether or not the two ladies enjoyed a sexual relationship is (and probably forever will be) a matter of speculation. But that they enjoyed a romantic relationship, and behaved in all ways as if married to each other, is a matter of fact. Their simple way of life, their humour and strong opinions, and their devotion to one another shines clearly through Sarah's account book and Eleanor's journals, as well as their voluminous joint correspondence. Elizabeth Mavor brings it all together in this wonderful biography of two extraordinary women, far ahead of their time.

Progress toward goals: 317/365 = 86.8%
Books: 83/100 = 83.0%
Pages: 21107/25000 = 84.4%

2009 Book List

cross-posted to 15000pages, 50bookchallenge, and gwynraven

Poll #1484943 Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9

I've been struggling with the book. I'm about 1/3 done. Is it worth finishing?

On my way to work, this otherwise dreary, almost gothic sort of morning was brightened considerably by "Friday I'm in Love" coming up on my iPod. I had to bite my lips to keep from singing aloud.

I'm out for the weekend, going to visit my sister in San Francisco and to attend the baby shower. She was a tad bummed that no one leapt to go to the one she originally planned, but when she rescheduled, we were suddenly all available (not to mention more inclined to spend the money and time to visit since she was sooooo adorably happy that we could make it).

Also? She needs all the help she can get right now. It's T-minus one month until baby, and they still haven't come up with a name. You all might recall this little test of free association I did. I got the predictable response from fully half of you: I asked what you thought of when you thought of the word "Raiden," and most of you immediately jumped to Mortal Kombat.

The reason I made that poll? IS BECAUSE THAT IS SERIOUSLY WHAT MY BROTHER-IN-LAW WANTS TO NAME MY NEPHEW-TO-BE. My sister likes "Braden," but she jokingly said that if it's stormy when she delivers, it could be "Raiden." I leapt to conduct my scientific research so I could prove what an astonishingly bad idea that was. This weekend, I predict that we will spend much of our time continuing to dissuade them from that.

Seriously. Raiden? Even if his peers don't associate that name with Mortal Kombat (hey, the game isn't that popular now, to say nothing of five-ten-fifteen years from now), when he gets old enough to work, all the people who would hire him will be my age or older, and they will associate his name with Mortal Kombat. MUST STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING.

See you all Monday!

112. African Silences - Peter Matthiessen
A book about the author's travels in Africa during the '70's and '80's. He focuses mostly on the decimation of wildlife by poachers and locals, particularly the elephant before the ban on the ivory trade.
His style is very dry but also poetic, and exactly like his picture in the book. And there was an hysterical story about being attacked in the shower by a pet mongoose.

113. John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life - Paul C. Nagel
A biography of America's sixth president. This was really way more interesting than I expected, and the author only devotes one chapter to JQA's presidency, which he felt was not the most important thing that he'd achieved, and so not representative of JQA. I found myself being jealous of all the educational and travel opportunities that he had, and all that book buying!

114. All's Well That Ends Well - William Shakespeare
One of Shakespeare's comedies. I didn't like it, since it's basically about a beautiful, intelligent, and virtuous woman throwing herself away on a lying cheat who doesn't appreciate her. Ha ha.

115. The Trojan Women - Euripides
This play is set right after the fall of Troy, before the Greeks sail away. Troy is burning, all the men are dead, and the women are about to sail off from their homeland as slaves. The focus is on Hecuba, Andromache, and Cassandra, who has the best insane monologues.

116. Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream - Barbara Ehrenreich
The author's premise is that there is no job security anymore, even if you're educated and have held good positions in the past. To show this, she presents herself as a job-seeker, and tries to get work, with little success.

117. The Wisdom of the Heart - Henry Miller
A collection of essays and excerpts by Miller. On topics as varied as Balzac and whores, but then, it is Henry Miller.

118. Sherlock Holmes: The Collected Novels and Stories: Volume II - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The second of two volumes. This one contained The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley of Fear, His Last Bow, and The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. Throughly enjoyable.

119. The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje
Amazing. The movie is good, but the book is way better. I felt utterly cut adrift when I finished this.