Deedledee tracks her reading in 2015

I'm Canadian, I'm a librarian & I'm spectacular!

Feel free to follow me on Twitter: @dhcry

My 2015 reads:
January
1. Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith (YA)
2. Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb (read by Kate Reading)
3. Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris
4. Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand (read by Erin Bennett)
5. A Commonwealth of Thieves: the Improbably Birth of Australia by Thomas Keneally (read by Simon Vance) (ANF)
6. February by Lisa Moore
February
7. Walt by Russell Wagnersky
8. Wendy by Karen Wallace (YA)
9. Yes Please by Amy Poehler (read by Amy Poehler) (ANF)
10. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson (YA) (ebook)
11. Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain (read by Susan Bennett)
12. Torchwood: Lost Souls by Joseph Lidster (read by John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Gareth David-Lloyd and Freema Agyeman)
13. The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski (YA)
14. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin (read by Scott Brick)
March
15. The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (ebook)
16. The Blind Side: the Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis (read by Grover Gardner) (ANF)
17. The Other Story by Tatiana de Rosnay (read by Simon Vance)
18. The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
19. Us by David Nicholls (read by David Haig)
20. 100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith (YA) (ebook)
21. Better Nate than Ever by Tim Federle (JF)
22. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane (read by Tom Stechschulte)
23. The Guy Not Taken: Stories by Jennifer Weiner (read by Mary Catherine Garrison and Jordan Bridges)
24. The Reckoning by Patricia Tyrrell
April
25. How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World by Steven Johnson (read by George Newbern) (ANF)
26. Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar (read by Emilia Fox, Clare Corbett, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Daniel Pirrie, and Anthony Calf)
27. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (read by Lin-Manuel Miranda)(YA)
28. The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture by Terry O'Reilly (ANF) (ebook)
29. Guy in Real Life by Steve Brezenoff (YA)
30. Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
31. Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant: a Memoir by Roz Chast (ANF & AGN)
32. This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett (read by the author) (ANF)
May
33. The Messengers by Edward Hogan (ARC) (YA)
34. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (read by Jayne Entwistle)
35. The Arsonist by Sue Miller (read by the author)
36. Revival by Stephen King (read by David Morse)
37. The Son of a Certain Woman by Wayne Johnston (ebook)
38. The Ex-Debutante by Linda Francis Lee (read by Susan Bennett)
39. Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick (read by Julian Rhind-Tutt)
40. Frog Music by Emma Donoghue
June
41. A Touch of Stardust by Kate Alcott (read by Cassandra Campbell)
42. Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey (ebook)
43. Sweetland by Michael Crummey
44. Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater (read by Will Patton) (YA)
45. Just One Day by Gayle Forman (YA) (ebook)
46. The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson (read by Tim Kang, Josiah D. Lee, James Kyson Lee)
47. This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki (YGN)
July
48. The Revelation of Louisa May by Michaela MacColl (ARC)
49. Last One Home by Debbie Macomber (read by Rebecca Lowman)
50. Shift by Hugh Howey (ebook)
51. Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova (read by Skipp Sudduth)
52. Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King (read by Will Patton)
53. He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo (read by Liz Tuccillo and Greg Behrendt) (ANF)
54. I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson (YA)
55. The Third Day, the Frost by John Marden (read by Suzi Dougherty) (YA)
56. The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth (read by Alison Larkin)
57. Not a Match: My True Tales of Online Dating Disasters by Brian Donovan (read by Ax Norman) (ANF)
August
58. Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt (ebook)
59. Blood and Smoke by Stephen King (read by the author)
60. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (read by Kirsten Potter)
61. The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue
62. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow (ebook)
63. One Plus One by Jojo Moyes (read by Elizabeth Bower, Ben Elliot, Nicola Stanton, and Steven France)
64. Darkness be my Friend by John Marsden (read by Suzi Dougherty) (YA)
65. I Was Here by Gayle Forman (read by Jorjeana Marie) (YA)
66. Dust by Hugh Howey
67. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (YA)
68. Just Beneath My Skin by Darren Greer
69. The Last Asylum: a Memoir of Madness in our Times by Barbara Taylor (ANF)
September
70. Small Bones by Vicki Grant
71. And the Dark Sacred Night by Julia Glass (read by Mark Deakins)
72. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (read by Carroline Lee)
73. Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour (YA)
74. Funny Girl by Nick Hornby (read by Emma Fielding)
75. A Measure of Light by Beth Powning
October
76. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (read by Jenna Lamia and Adepero Oduye)
77. In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume (read by Kathleen McInerney)
78. Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern
79. All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner (read by Tracy Chimo)
80. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (read by Clare Corbett, Louise Brealey, & India Fisher)
81. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (ebook)
82. Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner (read by Tracy Chimo)
November
83. Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore (read by Euan Morton)
84. The Emperor of All Maladies: a Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee (ANF)
85. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (ebook)
86. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
87. A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve (read by Anna Stone)
88. The Last September by Nina de Gramont
89. I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios (YA)
90. Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld (read by Sheetal Sheth and Heather Lind) (YA)
91. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (read by Steve West and Fiona Hardingham) (YA)
92. Just After Sunset by Stephen King (read by various)
93. Fear the Worst by Linwood Barclay
94. The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider (read by Dan John Miller) (YA)
December
95. Cavendon Hall by Barbara Taylor Bradford
96. My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories edited by Stephanie Perkins (YA)
97. Furiously Happy: a Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson (read by the author) (ANF)
98. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (read by Dan O'Grady)
99. The Martian by Andy Weir (read by R.C. Bray)
100. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (read by Jim Fyfe) (YA)
101. The Young World by Chris Weitz (read by Jose Julian & Spencer Locke) (YA)
102. The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty
103. MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker (read by Johnny Heller)
104. The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman & Jay Bonansing

2014 reading stats:

I read a total of 110 books.

76% fiction
24% non-fiction

35% young adult or childrens
65% adult

35% in audiobook format
13% in ebook format
less than 1% graphic novels

90% were library books

Welcome back!

Good luck!

Dropping off a star. :)

Happy New Year!

New tattoo on my inner wrist.

New tattoo on my finger. This hurt like a bugger!

Heh heh heh. Those are pretty great.

Thanks! My friend said I look like a prison librarian.

Obviously you should show her these.

READ HARDER CHALLENGE

A co-worker has decided to take on the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge & I thought it sounded neat so I'm going to give it a try too:

*A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25 - The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider (comp. Nov 27)
*A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65 - Revival by Stephen King (comp. May 19)
*A collection of short stories - The Guy Not Taken by Jennifer Weiner (comp. Mar 29)
*A book published by an indie press - Just Beneath my Skin by Darren Greer (comp. Aug 28)
*A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ - The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters (comp. Mar 18)
*A book by a person whose gender is different from your own - Guy in Real Life by Steve Brezenoff (comp. Apr 18)
*A book that takes place in Asia - The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson (comp. June 26)
*A book by an author from Africa - The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (comp. Nov 3)
A book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture (Native Americans, Aboriginals, etc.)
*A microhistory - The Emperor of All Maladies: a Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee (comp. Nov 1)
*A YA novel - Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (comp. Apr 13)
*A sci-fi novel - Grasshopper Jungle (comp. Jan 5)
*A romance novel - The Ex-Debutante by Linda Francis Lee (comp. May 24)
*A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade - I've decided that as a Canadian I get to add the Governor General's Literary Awards count. - This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki (comp. June 28)
A book that is a retelling of a classic story (fairytale, Shakespearian play, classic novel, etc.)
*An audiobook - Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand (comp. Jan 17)
A collection of poetry
*A book that someone else has recommended to you - Walt by Russell Wagnersky
*A book that was originally published in another language -The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (comp. March 2)
*A graphic novel, a graphic memoir or a collection of comics of any kind - Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant: a Memoir by Roz Chast (comp. Apr 22)
*A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure - Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris (comp. Jan17)
A book published before 1850
*A book published this year - The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth (comp. July 28)
*A self-improvement book - He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo (comp. July 15)

Book #1
Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

Let's start this reading year off with a bizarre note.

Austin is a horny 16-year old boy trying to determine his place in the world and his feelings about both Robby and Shannon. Robby is his best friend & Shannon is his girlfriend and he's in love with both. During this journey of self-discovery an end of the world bug apocalypse takes place. Robby & Austin are trying to save everyone and themselves.

I'm really unsure how I feel about this book. It is odd, and honest, and repetitive, and full of action. I think I'll spend some time digesting it.

*Sci-fi book for the Book Riot Read Harder challenge.

Book #2
Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb

Lilly is struggling with her life as a immigrant in the country of her birth. As a young child her British parents left her at a Sufi shrine in Morocco, later she's sent to Harar, Ethiopia where she spends several years and makes a life for herself. She falls in love with a doctor but political unrest makes her have to flee to England.
The story jumps back and forth from her early years in Harar to her life in London in the 1980s.

>14 Deedledee: I read that one in university for a Can Lit course and a lot of the plot stuck with me, which is unusual for me.

Book #3.
Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris
Apparently Harris received death threats about the ending of the of her Sookie Stackhouse series. I think she stayed true to the characters she created.
This is my guilty pleasure read.

Book #4
Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand
This is really a seasonal read. Set at an Inn in Nantucket in the days leading up to Christmas, everything is falling apart for the Quinn family. Kelley's wife has just left him. He and his 3 eldest children (all with problems of their own) get together and commiserate about the ills in their lives.

Book #5
A Commonwealth of Thieves: the Improbably Birth of Australia by Thomas Keneally
It's hard to believe that the Europeans ever managed to settle in Australia, the food shortages alone should have made this colony a non-starter. Keneally tells us about the first few years, how the various prisons ships arrived, the fights with the aborigines, and how the families started ultimately went on to found successful communities.

A bit dry in parts but still interesting.

Book #6
February by Lisa Moore

This is less about the Ocean Ranger disaster and more about the lives of those left behind. Helen was left alone to raise 4 kids. It touches on the loneliness, grief, and tender moments of moving forward in life after loss.

Book #7
Walt by Russell Wagnersky

So Freakin' Creepy!

Walt is a middle-age, nondescript janitor at a grocery store. He collects grocery lists that people leave behind. He's also a suspect in the disappearance of his wife and in several peeping Tom cases. The novel, told primarily from his point of view, makes me want to check my locks, shred my grocery lists, put up heavier curtains, and get a giant dog. It's just that unnerving.

-A book that someone else has recommended to you in the Read Harder Challenge.

Book #8
Wendy by Karen Wallace
I enjoyed this book but it wasn't what I was expecting. Because the Wendy of the title is Wendy Darling, who went off to Neverland with Peter Pan I was expecting something a little more whimsical. What I got was a story about a young girl coming of age in early 20th century London with emotionally absent parents and an abusive nanny. I feel that the author would have been better off creating the character from scratch.

Book #9
Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Poehler talks about growing up just outside Boston, her years of work to get where she's at with Upright Citizens Brigade and Saturday Night Live, etc., and advice on being a working mom and more.

It had some good parts and some interesting parts but it was no Bossypants. It did lead me to think that I should really watch Parks and Rec.

I listened to the audiobook with guest appearances by Amy's parents, Seth Myers, Kathleen Turner, and Carol Burnett.

Book #10
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

David saw his father die at the hands of Steelheart when he was 8 years old. This was just after Calamity, some sort of supernatural occurrence that gave many people extraordinary powers, turning them in to Epics. The Epics could use their power for good but all of them have become supervillains, with Steelheart setting himself up as the emperor of Newcago.
Ten years later, David joins the Reckoners, a group of people fighting the Epics. He has vowed to avenge his father's death.

This is the first book in the Recknoners series.

Book #11.
Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain

Riley's sister, Lisa's suicide has cast a pall over her entire life. Her mother struggled with depression, her brother acted out and is an alcoholic. Now with her dad's passing she's finding out that Lisa was a murderer and may actually be alive.

Book #12.
Torchwood: Lost Souls by Joseph Lidster

This was written as a radio play for BBC Radio 4 based on the tv series Torchwood.
Although it wasn't the best thing I've ever read I did enjoy reconnecting with the Torchwood story & listening to Captain Jack Harkness help the team through another scrape.

Book #13.
The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

Read for the Forever YA Book Club.

The first book in the Winners trilogy.

This was a fast and easy read but not a great one. I didn't hate this book as much as some others did but it certainly had a lot of drawbacks for me. I wasn't pleased with how she handled the enslavement of a whole group of people. I wasn't happy with the romance. It just didn't feel real to me.

I do know I won't be reading more in this series.

Book #14.
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

“I do not like postmodernism, postapocalyptic settings, postmortem narrators, or magic realism. I rarely respond to supposedly clever formal devices, multiple fonts, pictures where they shouldn't be—basically, gimmicks of any kind. I find literary fiction about the Holocaust or any other major world tragedy to be distasteful—nonfiction only, please. I do not like genre mash-ups à la the literary detective novel or the literary fantasy. Literary should be literary, and genre should be genre, and crossbreeding rarely results in anything satisfying. I do not like children's books, especially ones with orphans, and I prefer not to clutter my shelves with young adult. I do not like anything over four hundred pages or under one hundred fifty pages. I am repulsed by ghostwritten novels by reality television stars, celebrity picture books, sports memoirs, movie tie-in editions, novelty items, and—I imagine this goes without saying—vampires.”

There are lots of great quotes in this novel & many other novels and short stories mentioned. I loved parts of it but did find that it was overall a fantastic story. There's lots of witty dialogue and cleverness but I feel like the characters suffer for this.

Book #15. The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

This book got huge raves & was a big best seller but I felt it was kind of "meh".

Allan Karlsson climbs out a nursing home window on his 100th birthday because he has no interested in taking part in the celebration they have planned for him. That's the start of an adventure that takes him all over Sweden and collecting a motley group of friends along the way. Interspersed with this story is his life up to the age 100, where he helps invent the atom bomb, dines with several US presidents, Stalin, and Mao, escapes a Soviet work camp and more.

- A book that was originally published in another language for the Read Harder Challenge

Book #16
The Blind Side: the Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis

I know next to nothing about football aside from what I've learned from Friday Night Lights but still found this book interesting. It's less about the game and more about the life of Michael Oher and the Tuohy family that took him in and cared for him when no one else did.

Book #17.
The Other Story by Tatiana de Rosnay

Famous author Nicolas Kolt is vacationing at a luxurious resort with his beautiful girlfriend. While there he reflects on the inspiration for his one (and only) novel, his inability to write a new novel, his desire for numerous women, and his desire for fame. Nicolas is a pompous, arrogant, self-centered twit who doesn't get better as the novel progresses. I expected him to come to some realization, some sort of redemption. There is a little development in the end but it's not much.

Book #18.
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

I didn't tear through this book as I have with others by Waters, at about the halfway point I started to feel it was a slog. It started with a lot of character development but then I don't feel the characters did much of anything - except in one dramatic scene that I won't describe because it would ruin the novel for anyone planning to read it.

Frances and her mother live on in their beautiful home in a nice area of London, but since the war they don't really have the means to do so. In place of servants Frances does all the work and they are just barely getting by so decide to take in lodgers (a.k.a. paying guests), the Barbers. As Frances' relationship with Lilian Barber deepens she tries to convince her to leave her husband then things take a ominous twist.

-A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ in the Read Harder Challenge

Book #19.
Us by David Nicholls
Douglas Petersen is a bio-chemist and one of those middle age guys who believes he knows how everyone should act, what they should do, how they should dress, etc. His son hates him and his wife is thinking of leaving him. In a last ditch effort to keep his family together they all take a trip together, but things don't go as planned and Douglas spends much of the trip by himself remembering the start of his relationship with Connie and his son's early years. Will this lead to a realization that he's pushing away those he loves most?

Book #20
100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith

Finn feels trapped by his life. He's 17 years old & suffers from debilitating epileptic seizures. His father is a best selling writer who wrote a sci-fi classic about beings that look like angels but eat humans. The main character's name was Finn. He feels trapped inside this book. But when Finn meets Julia and falls in love he starts to believe he can make his own destiny.

Book #21
Better Nate than Ever by Tim Federle

This book was recommended by a friend. I wasn't planning to read more in the series but because of the ending I will need to get the next book.

Nate doesn't fit in in Jankburg, Pennsylvania. He & his friend Libby come up with a plan to get him to New York to audition for ET: the Musical, but then things go comically wrong or is it cosmically right?

Book #22
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

US Marshalls Teddy & Chuck come to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a patient from the Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Teddy has another reason to be there, he wants to find out about secret experiments on patients and find a specific patient that killed his wife. But all is not what it seems, is Teddy being drugged, has Chuck been killed, what are the secret messages being left in code?

I knew there was a twist at the end of the book so I was waiting for it. It wasn't quite what I guessed.

Book #23
The Guy Not Taken: Stories by Jennifer Weiner

Short stories by Weiner exploring relationships between men and women and between parents and children. Written with her typical humour and frankness.

-A collection of short stories in the Read Harder Challenge

Book #24
The Reckoning by Patricia Tyrrell

Cate was kidnapped when she was just 3 years old. She has no real memories of her mother & father. She and Lester (her kidnapper) move around, squatting in abandoned shacks in the desert towns in Arizona. From time to time Lester calls Cate's mother to assure her she's okay. Then Cate does something terrible and Lester thinks it would be best if she has a mother's guiding hand so they drive to Virginia, to Cate's mother, the woman who hasn't seen her in 12 years. The woman who didn't believe any of those phone calls and believed Cate to be dead.

There were plot threads in this book that could have been cut & would have made it a tighter story. Interesting concept but not the best follow through.

Book #25
How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World by Steven Johnson

Johnson makes interesting connections between how one invention leads to another & another, even if those things don't, at first, seem connected. Such as how the telephone enabled us to build ever larger skyscrapers that wouldn't have been possible if businesses needed to do everything by messenger.

Book #26
Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar

This book made me want to read more about the Bloomsbury group. It was a fairly risque life for the early 1900s, with affairs and open marriages and madness.

Vanessa is Vanessa Bell (nee Stephen) was a post-impressionist painter and her sister, Virginia, was of course the famous writer Virginia Woolf. The novel is a fictional diary by Vanessa about life from 1905 to 1912. Parmar took historical facts and wove them in to an interesting narrative.

Book #27
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Aristotle (known as Ari) meets Dante at the pool, when Dante offers to teach him how to swim. The two boys become fast friends. Through the course of a couple of years their friendship becomes something more.

-A YA book in the Read Harder Challenge

Book #28
The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture by Terry O'Reilly

O'Reilly's radio show about marketing on CBC is always entertaining and so is this book. Even though I read this book I could "hear" O'Reilly's voice narrating the whole thing. It's an interesting history of advertising and marketing with lots of enlightening asides.

Book #29
Guy in Real Life by Steve Brezenoff

The April selection for the Forever YA Book Club, Guy in Real Life is about the romance that develops between metalhead Lesh and neo-hippie Svetlana.

- A book by a person whose gender is different from your own in the Read Harder Challenge

Book #30
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

It took me a long time to get into this book & I likely would've put it down if it wasn't for my work book club but I'm glad I stuck with it. At about the halfway point I became interested in the characters. I think that's about the same time that Dellarobia becomes more self aware.

Dellarobia & Cub were married in high school because she was pregnant; a child that they subsequently lost. They remain married 11 years later but she's unhappy & feels trapped. Then she discovers the butterflies roosting on the top of their mountain. They open a whole new world to her. But will it be enough to convince her to get her life in order?

Book #31.
Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant: a Memoir by Roz Chast

Chast tells freely of her parents' decline, their movement from independent lives to living in a care facility, and their eventual death. I say freely because she gives details that both make her look altruistic and terrible - and I think this is a very realistic portrayal. I'm getting at the point in my life where I'm concerned about my parents growing older & their health.

-A graphic novel, a graphic memoir or a collection of comics of any kind in the Read Harder Challenge.

Book #32
This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

I've had several books by Patchett on my to-read list for awhile. I picked this one up on audiobook not knowing it was a collection of essays. Now I'm going to move all Patchett books up higher on the list. I loved this book, despite my general loathing of essay collections. Patchett covers topics as far ranging as the very serious breakdown of her marriage, and death of her grandmother, to lighthearted stories about going on book tours, and how much she loves her dog. This is a great book!

>45 Deedledee: I adored Bel Canto when I read it. I say go for that one next. :)

Book #34
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

I can see why this book would appeal to some people but I am not one of them.

Eleven year-old Flavia de Luce is a brilliant chemist and amateur sleuth who solves the mystery of the dead man found in the cucumber patch in their garden.

Book#35
The Arsonist by Sue Miller

Frankie moves home after spending years in Africa working with an aid agency. Her parents are living in their summer home in New Hampshire in a small town suddenly plagued by house fires. And her father has started suffering from dementia. And she's met a new man.

For the most part I enjoyed this novel but I was not enamored with the end.

Book #36
Revival by Stephen King

Once again King writes about peeling back the layer that is "reality" and looking at the madness that lies beyond. Don't think that because he's written this sort of thing before that the book is boring. King does what he does best, builds strong characters that you begin to care for and then shoves them into terrible situations.

Jaime is only 6 years old when he meets Rev. Jacobs but that meeting will change his whole life. A few years later Jacobs' wife & young son are killed in a car accident and he loses his faith and begins a life long search for what is on the other side of death - a search that will profoundly affect Jaime & change many people's lives for the worse.

-A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65 (King is 67) in the Read Harder Challenge.

>47 Deedledee: I feel better now that I'm not the only one who bounced off Flavia! It should have been something I loved, but I just...couldn't.

>50 archerygirl: archerygirl
We're going to discuss it at book club on Thursday. I'm fully expecting to be the only one who hated it.

Book #37
The Son of a Certain Woman by Wayne Johnston

I really enjoyed Johnston's other books; his historical novels of Newfoundland. But I'm not so sold on this one.

>44 Deedledee: Love Ann Patchett, had somehow missed she had a collection of essays published and your comments make me think I'd like them so thanks, will add to the wishlist :-)

Book #38
The Ex-Debutante by Linda Francis Lee

I needed a romance novel for the Read Harder challenge & just picked this up on a whim. I'm sure there are better romances out there.

Carlisle finds herself drug back into the life of privilege and Texas society years after escaping to Boston. She's summoned by her mother to help with her latest divorce. In addition to helping with the divorce, her mother convinces her to organize debutant ball. Amidst all of this she has to contend with her ex Jack Blair, who's also the lawyer of her mother's soon to be ex-husband.

-A romance in the Read Harder Challenge.

Book #39
Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick

This book was not at all what I was expecting. I picked it up because it was recommended by a friend and was thinking it would be your typical teen paranormal book and I was so wrong. This book is excellent & I will be recommending to lots of people. Also, I listened to the audiobook read by Julian Rhind-Tutt. His narration was excellent & his voice was so well suited to the story.

Starting in 2073, the story moves backward in time, and each story connect in a number of ways. There are themes that recur in each section and the final part tells you how it's all connected together. Additionally, the writing style is very sparse but elegant.

Book #40
Frog Music by Emma Donoghue

I was kind of disappointed by this book. I enjoyed Room and Slammerkin by Donoghue and was looking forward to this novel, especially after having seen her read from it at the Central Library in Halifax. I feel that she did a lot of research on the characters (they're all based on real people in late 1800s San Francisco) and maybe by trying to tell their stories and do them justice she's unable to bring them emotional depth.
The best part of the book is the afterword where she talks about the research she did. I think I'd really like to read a non-fiction book about Jenny Bonnet.

Book #41
A Touch of Stardust by Kate Alcott

The reason I picked this book up, and all of the best parts of the book, are about Gone With the Wind. I love that movie!

Book #42
Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey

Set in the future when Earth is a barren wasteland and humanity lives in an underground silo, Wool is the story of those who seek the truth about why their lives are the way they are.

This story sucked me in right away & I plan to read the rest of the series.

Book #43.
Sweetland by Michael Crummey

I love Newfoundland author Michael Crummey, his books offer something different each time.

Moses Sweetland is a curmudgeonly old man who has lived on the island Sweetland for most of his life. The small community there is being resettled by the government so they'll no longer have to offer services there but Moses doesn't want to go. His obstinance is holding up the whole community from receiving a resettlement package so he starts to get death threats and more. Then tragedy strikes. Sweetland can't leave the island now but isn't allowed to stay.

This is a story about community and belonging, heartbreak and survival.

Book #44.
Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Book 3 in the Raven Cycle.
Although people die and there is a lot of darkness in this book it has several laugh out loud moments. I love Jessie Dittley and his reference to Blue as a special kind of ant! The Murder Squash Song, I can't even!
The epilogue was creepy as hell.

I listened to this on audiobook as read by Will Patton. That man's voice is amazing!

Overall a great read. Can't wait for the Raven King.

Book #45.
Just One Day by Gayle Forman

I'm still trying to process how I feel about this book.

Allyson always does what her parents tell her. She's on a cultural European tour that her parents bought her for high school graduation. When she gets back to the States she'll be going to the university her parents have chosen & taking pre-med to become a doctor just like her dad. Then she meets Willem. They run off to Paris for just one day. One day of adventure. One day out of life when she becomes LuLu, someone who is brave, a risk taker, and a little wild.

Book #46.
The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

This book is all over the place but a compelling read nonetheless.

Pak Jun Do starts his life in an orphanage, becomes a tunnel fighter, kidnapper, translator, and ambassador. Eventually he's deemed an enemy of the state and is sent to prison. He leaves prison with a different identity and starts a whole new, and more destructive, phase in his life.

Set in North Korea it's a story of deprivation, survival, propaganda, torture, and struggle.

-A book that takes place in Asia in the Read Harder Challenge.

Book #47.
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki

A slice of life and coming of age story.

Rose's family goes to the same cottage for 2 weeks every summer. Her friend Windy is in a cottage just down the road. They have certain rituals and traditions. But this summer is different, her parents are fighting, she's starting to notice boys, she and Windy are still friends but there's a slight difference in their relationship.

*A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade - (I've decided that as a Canadian I get to add the Governor General's Literary Awards count) for the Read Harder Challenge.

Book #48
The Revelation of Louisa May by Michaela MacColl

I received this as an Advance Reading Copy through LibraryThing's Early Review.

I struggled with this book. It took me way too long to read what was a simple book with a transparent mystery because I'd rather read anything else than pick up this book. Maybe it's because I've never read Little Women (or anything by Louisa May Alcott) or maybe it's because the plot wasn't that great.

Book #49.
Last One Home by Debbie Macomber

Not terrible but not great. A bit of fluff to listen to while doing housework.

A story about 3 sisters whose life has taken them on separate paths. Now that they're back together they have new, adult problems and all are looking for a fresh start.

Book #50.
Shift by Hugh Howey

A sort of prequel to Wool, in Shift we go back to before the silos were build and how it started. Then it covers time in the silos and catches up to Wool. I already have Dust on hold.

Book #51.
Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova

Imagine being told that you have a debilitating illness with no cure and no real treatment, that happens to Joe when he's told he has Huntington's Disease. And what's worse is that each of his children have a 50% chance of inheriting the gene for HD.

Joe is a tough Boston cop but this is going to be the fight of his life.

Genova teaches about HD without destroying the flow of the story.

Book #52.
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

Bill Hodges is a retired detective who really doesn't see any purpose to his life. His retirement has left him depressed and suicidal until he gets a letter from the Mercedes Killer, a man who drove through a crowd at a job fair killing and maiming and left no trace of himself. Hodges knows he must catch this crazed killer before something even worse happens.

Lots of action and adventure but certainly not one of King's best books.

Book #53.
He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo

This is a re-read for me, sometimes you just need a reminder.

-A self-improvement book in the Read Harder Challenge

Book #54.
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

This month's Forever Young Adult book club selection.

I tore through the first half of this book, not wanting to put it down but then the second half, well.... I think the interconnectedness of all the characters at the end is suppose to be the point but I found it just too coincidental.

Rainbow Rowell has been vacationing in PEI (the province next to mine) and decided to do a book signing there. A couple of friends and I decided to take the 2 hour drive to go get copies of her books signed. I brought Eleanor and Park. She was friendly & lovely.

Book #55.
The Third Day, the Frost by John Marden

The third book in the Tomorrow series, this focuses on the issues the group has with what they've done to take back their country. They're using guerrilla tactics to undermine the invading force and it's taking a psychological toll on all of them, in addition to the physical toll of constantly running, being shot at, not having enough to eat, and being terrified all the time.

>71 Deedledee: Jealous!

Book #56.
The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth

Neva is a 3rd generation midwife keeping a little secret from her mother and grandmother - she's pregnant. But her mother and grandmother both have secrets of their own.

It was an alright book but not one that I will likely remember for long.

-A book published this year in the Read Harder Challenge

Book #57.
Not a Match: My True Tales of Online Dating Disasters by Brian Donovan

A short, funny book about dating in the modern age. Donovan discusses some of the worst dates he's been on in his quest to find true love.

Book #58.
Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

This was such a sad coming of age tale. June is letting go of some of her expectations about life and realizing its unfairness. She loves her uncle Finn but she loses him to AIDS in the mid-1980's, a time when it's not well understood and being gay is still largely a secret. Then she meets Finn's partner Toby, a man she didn't even know existed, and works through her grief with him.

Book #59.
Blood and Smoke by Stephen King

Three short stories by King that all involve smoking/quitting smoking in some way, "Lunch at the Gotham Cafe," "1408," and "In the Deathroom". 1408 went on to be a movie starring John Cusack, so he was the person I pictured while listening to King narrate the audiobook.
Overall, I didn't think these stories were up to King's usual standard.

Book #60.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

A dystopian novel with a twist.

Starting on the night when civilization as we know it is ending (although most aren't aware of it at the time) the story moves back and forth in time to tell about how a few interconnected people are affected by the Georgia Flu - which decimates the world's population.

I found the parts about how the world changed as all its structures of civility fell apart to be the most interesting part of the book.

Book #61.
The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue

Historical fiction based on the scandalous 1864 English divorce case of the Codrington's.

Book #62.
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow

I picked this up on the recommendation of a friend and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I didn't hate it maybe I'll try another book by him to see what my opinion is then.

Book #63.
One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

A feel good book where everything works out alright in the end.

Jess has been a single mother for 2 years to her daughter Tanzie and stepson Nicky. She tries so hard and is unrelentingly optimistic but one bad thing heaped on another is making that almost impossible. Then she meets Ed. His life's gone to crap. These unlikely people end up on a road trip together with a gigantic slobbering dog and life changes forever.

Book #64.
Darkness be my Friend by John Marsden

Book 4 in the Tomorrow series follows Ellie, Homer, Lee, Fi, and Kevin as they take time in New Zealand to overcome the physical and psychological impacts of the war on them. Just as they're starting to feel safe again Colonel Finley asked them to go back to Australia to help the Kiwi soldiers find their way around. And then everything goes to crap.

Book #65.
I Was Here by Gayle Forman

Cody is devastated and trying to overcome her best friend Meg's suicide. In high school they were inseparable but then Meg goes off to college and never comes back. Cody goes to Meg's school to pack up her belongings and sees a whole other side to her friend. She starts to track Meg's last days and tries to figure out what led her to ending her own life.

Overall a good book but I was not a fan of the romance portion. It felt like it was thrown in because it's something expected in a teen book.

Book #66.
Dust by Hugh Howey

Dust is the 3rd book in the Silo series.
Juliette's return to Silo 18 has caused an uproar. Her ideas are dangerous. Her plans even more so!

I kind of got bored partway through this book but needed to finish it to know what happened to the characters.

Book #67.
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

A re-read & I'm still just in love with this book as the first time I read it!

Book #68.
Just Beneath My Skin by Darren Greer

Read this for my book club, the bleakest thing you can imagine. Set in rural Nova Scotia it focuses on poverty, drug use, alcoholism, child abuse, and that's the cheery part.

*A book published by an indie press for the Book Riot Read Harder challenge.

Book #69.
The Last Asylum: a Memoir of Madness in our Times by Barbara Taylor

Taylor talks about her time in psychoanalysis, her time in Friern (a psychiatric hospital), and her further time in psychiatric daycare.

I preferred the historical aspects of the book that talked about psychiatric care and patient treatment. The parts that weren't as compelling were her sessions with her psychoanalyst.

>68 Deedledee: Just Beneath My Skin sounds very dreary. I wonder if it was influenced by the stories of incest that came out of rural Nova Scotia in the '80s?

Book #71.
And the Dark Sacred Night by Julia Glass
Kit lost his job as a college professor and now mostly spend his time mopping about the house. His wife thinks that going on a quest to determine who his father was would help him not only get out of his funk but give him answers he's been searching for for his whole life.

Book #72.
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
All hell has broken loose at the annual Pirriwee School trivia night, there's a drunken brawl & someone has died. Was it an accident or was it murder? Going six months into the past we learn all the things that led up to that tragic night. Told from multiple points of view it explores bullying, violence, rape, and adultery in a small community.

Book #73.
Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour

This was the August title for the Forever YA book club.

What I liked:
- that Emi's being gay wasn't a big issue. She kisses girls and then they move on.
- that the character's race was also not the issue of the book

What I disliked:
-I found it really hard to believe that Emi has the job she has at her age. She's 18 and is finishing high school when the book starts but is already working full time at a studio and designing a set. If she'd been just a bit older, like out of high school, I might've been able to swallow this.
-And her best friend Charlotte also 18, also in high school, also works full time at the studio doing logistical stuff.

Overall I enjoyed the characters and the story but I kept being pulled out of it by my disbelief at her job.

Book #74.
Funny Girl by Nick Hornby

Barbara wants to be a comedien on tv like Lucille Ball but she's a pretty girl from Blackpool and doesn't see how it's ever going to happen. She sets off to London to find her fortune and a star is born!
I wish this book had spent more time in the 60's, the modern stuff at the end wasn't nearly as compelling.

Book #75.
A Measure of Light by Beth Powning

A fictional account of Mary Dyer, a Puritan who fled from persecution in England with her husband in the early 1600's. This novel talks about the harshness of life in early America, the continued religious intolerance, the lack of rights for women and, eventually when Mary becomes a Quaker, their brutal treatment.

Congrats!

Congrats on reaching the magic number!

Book #76.
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

I didn't realize until the author notes at the end that Sarah and Nina were based on real sisters who were powerful members of the abolition movement, early supporters of racial equality, and pioneers of the women's rights movement.
This book is about different types of captivity - the capitivity of race, of gender, of class, of religion.

Book #77.
In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume

I found the parts about the plane crashes facinating but there were too many characters to track and the book goes on for far too many years. I think it would have benefitted from some focus.

Book #78.
Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern

A slightly confusing thriller/mystery that has some excellent character development. McGovern does a great job of describing Cara and Adam's lives but the mystery part was a hit or miss (mostly miss). I do think I'll read more by her to see if any of her other books appeal to me.

Book #79
All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner
Allison is a typical suburban mom, taking her daughter to enrichment activities, working a job she loves, taking care of her parents, trying to stay connected to her husband but she has a secret; she's an addict. What started as a way to unwind becomes out of control as she struggles to make it through the day taking more and more pills.

Book #80.
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

This book has been very popular and I can see why, it's suspenseful and fast paced. What it isn't is consistent. The twist at the end doesn't make a ton of sense to me.

Rachel spends 5 days a week taking a commuter train into London. She goes by the same houses everyday & sees the same couple on their deck. She's made up a back story about them. She feels she knows them so when the woman she's been calling "Jess" disappears can she really be of help tracking her down?

Book #81.
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

What if you could live your life over again and fix your mistakes? Ursula can, and has, lived her life over, and over, and over again. She was born in the midst of a snowstorm in 1910 and in various lives she dies young, old, with her child, all alone, in the blitz, drowning, etc. It shows that every decision in your life, small or large, can lead your life down a different path.

Book #82.
Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner

Rachel meets Andy when she's just 8 years old in the ER waiting room. She's looking for something to entertain her during her long hospital stay, he's there for a broken arm. After this brief encounter they are in and out (and in) each others lives for the next several decades.

Book #83.
Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore
Irreverent, potty-mouth humour. The follow up to to Dirty Jobs but you don't need to have read that book to read this one. On the other hand, it wasn't quite as good as the first book.

Book #84.
The Emperor of All Maladies: a Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

It took me well over a month to read this book as I puzzled out the science.

Looking at cancer from it's earliest documented instances to present day and the various treatments that have been attempted to come up with a cure.

*A microhistory for the Book Riot Read Harder challenge.

Book #85.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
I can see why this book appeals to a lot of readers but it's not really my thing.

Precious Ramotswe opens a detective agency with the money she inherits from her father. This book, the first in the series, gives us the story of the beginnings and growth of her agency along with the cases she solves.

*A book by an author from Africa for the Book Riot Read Harder challenge.

Book #86.
The Call of the Wild by Jack London

I think the lesson of this book is that life is brutal and violent and if you're smart - and brutal and violent you will come out ahead. There is also room for love but that may lead to suffering.

A short novel, The Call of the Wild follows Buck, a domesticated dog stolen from California and sent to Alaska/Yukon to be a sled dog. He sheds his domesticity and becomes more wild and instinctual as the story progresses.

Book #87.
A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve

This book was so-so for me. There were some excellent parts but I didn't love it as a whole. I especially thought it was interesting when Margaret was interacting with various people in Kenya.

Margaret and Patrick move to Kenya for his career, a focus on equitorial diseases. In the course of a year they have a suffer several thefts, a horrific accident, and other tragedies. These add up to push their marriage to the limit.

Book #88
The Last September by Nina de Gramont.

This book grabs your attention from the very first page. de Gramont starts right in the middle of the action and then moves back in time to tell us how this came about.

Brett loves Charlie beyond all reason. She loves him, she suspects, far more than he loves her. She's loved him from the first moment she met him. But their marriage is unhappy, they're broke and broken. Living in Charlie's father's summer home they're trying to keep their marriage together. Then Charlie's troubled brother Eli comes to visit and Charlie is murdered.

I liked the book and felt it was a page turner but I didn't like the ending

Book #89.
I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios

This is one of those books that makes you want to skip work so you can keep reading it.

Skylar grew up in a trailer park in a tiny dessert town in California. Her life has been difficult and her whole goal has been getting out of Creek View, even going so far as to make a pact with her friend Chris that neither of them would get involved with anyone. Now she's graduated from high school and has been accepted to college with a scholarship. She's so close to getting out but then things go bad with her mom.
On top of all of this she connects with Josh, a guy she sort of knows who's just come back from Afghanistan. He's not the same Josh she knew before he left. War has changed him.

>105 Deedledee: Well I've learned something (always good). I had no idea McCall Smith was born and went to school in Zimbabwe.

I wondered if you had read either The Memory of Love or The Map of Love? Both are historical novels with strong romance elements, although set in very different parts of Africa (Sierra Leone and Egypt respectively).

Book #90.
Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

Two books in one. Darcy Patel writes a YA novel in a month and gets lucky enough to get the attention of an agent and a publisher. At the age of only 18 she's signed not only for the novel she's written but also for a follow-up. She comes of age in New York, navagating the vagaries of the publishing world and falling in love.
The other story is the one that Darcy is writing, about Lizzie who survives a terrorist attack and becomes a paranormal being who is able to see ghosts, and not all of them are good.

I loved this book and didn't want it to end! I wanted to continue to hang out with both Darcy and Lizzie.

>110 charl08: I've never been hit by a BB in my own thread before. I've added The Memory of Love to my TBR list

Book #91.
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

It took me a long time to read this book. I started it 3 times and have finally finished it. I think I wanted to like it a lot more than I did, which is unfortunate.

On the tiny island of Thisby there is a race every November with the capaill uisce (aka the waterhorses). The waterhorses are fast but blood thirsty, they eat flesh and will kill a human given the chance. The Scorpio Races are very important to the island and to Sean, a 4 time winner. Puck is taking part for the first time to try to win money to save her family home.

Book #92.
Just After Sunset by Stephen King

A collection of short stories written between the mid-70s to the mid-2000s. As with any collection some stories are better than others.
Gingerbread Girl had some really frightening moments. Graduation Afternoon was short but provocative. N. was disturbing and connected OCD with the thin line between our reality and that filled with disturbing monsters. A Very Tight Place was just super gross!

Book #93.
Fear the Worst by Linwood Barclay

This book started strongly and as it progressed I became more and more irritated with it. The characters and the action became more unbelievable.

Tim is a car salesperson whose daughter disappears and then in the convoluted plot she's somehow involved in human trafficing. He's also able to go up against hired killers without more than being clipped by a bullet.

94. The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

Kind of a meh book for me.

Ezra is a popular kid at school. He's a star on the tennis team. He's class president. He hangs out with the other popular kids. Then there's an accident that means he'll never play tennis again. His jock friends desert him. His girlfriend doesn't even visit him at the hospital.
When he goes back to school he must determine what to do with his life and this is when he meets Cassidy.

*A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25 for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge

Book #95.
Cavendon Hall by Barbara Taylor Bradford

On reading the summary I was expecting something along the lines of Downton Abbey, and it is... sort of. It was not nearly as sharp as a Downton episode. There were lots of characters that were not drawn very deeply or did things that seemed contradictory.

Book #96.
My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories edited by Stephanie Perkins

Christmast romance stories by some of the biggest names in YA.

Midnights by Rainbow Rowell:
I wish this was a stronger story.

The Lady and The Fox by Kelly Link:
Great! I think I'll have to check out more by this author.

Angels In The Snow by Matt de la Peña:
Kind of forgettable.

Polaris Is Where You’ll Find Me by Jenny Han:
Meh.

It’s a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins:
At first I thought it was going to be lame but it was great! Also this quote, "A fantasy flashed through her mind in which he dictated an endless list of juicy-sounding words. Innocuous. Sousaphone. Crepuscular."

Your Temporary Santa by David Levithan:
Another meh.

Krampuslauf by Holly Black:
I LOVE Holly Black and her stories of bad faeries. I do wish this had a scarier ending.

What The Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? by Gayle Forman:
Keep your eyes open for possibilities.

Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus by Myra McEntire:
Overly sweet.

Welcome To Christmas, CA by Kiersten White:
I was expecting that the cook would actually turn out to be magic & would disappear.

Star of Bethlehem by Ally Carter:
A traditional type of romance story.

The Girl Who Woke The Dreamer by Laini Taylor:
Fantastic! I want to read a full book of this.

Book #97.
Furiously Happy: a Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson

I listened to this one on audiobook but I have the hard copy on hold to go through a few of the chapters again and see the pictures.

Jenny Lawson takes some serious topics and makes them easier to deal with by making them absurd & HILARIOUS! Especially discussing her issues with depression, anxiety, and auto-immune disorders. She just has an wacky take on the world - her thought process on financial planning where she worries about spiders becoming currency, her upbeat take on being on anti-psychotics, AND every single one of her stories about Victor.

Trust me just go read this book.

Book #98.
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Don Tillman lives by a rigid schedule and set of rules. There is one optimal way to do things and that is it! He decides that the best way to find a wife is to create a 16 page survey covering everything from puntuality to drinking. Then a chance encounter with Rosie changes his life.

A typical screwball romance.

Book #99.
The Martian by Andy Weir

Through a series of accidents Mark Watney is left on Mars while the rest of his crew leaves to return to Earth. He's very resourceful and smart but how can he survive on a planet with nothing? This book is gripping and entertaining.

Initially I was put off at Watney explaining all the science and math because he's documenting this for NASA but once I was able to get past that the story was really plausible and interesting. I can see why it was made into a movie.

Book #100.
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Although the language is a bit dated (i.e. greasers, socs, heaters, rumble) the message is still relevant.

Ponyboy Curtis lives with his brothers and hangs out with other "greasers". They're the kids from the poor part of town and they fight with the "socs", the rich kids. When a soc gets killed Ponyboy runs for his life.

Woo hoo! Book 100! I've reached my goal for the year and can probably fit in a couple more before the end of the year.

I read The Outsiders for the first time this year, too, and really enjoyed it.

And congrats on 100!!

Book #101.
The Young World by Chris Weitz
I didn't realize this was part of a trilogy, now I'm going to have to go find book 2.

A bizarre apocalypse has taken place, an illness that has killed off those younger than 13 and those older than 18, leaving the world run by teenagers. Jefferson, a leader of a tribe of kids in Washington Square, NYC leads a group to find a cure for the sickness and bring back humanity.

Book #102
The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty

Ellen meets a guy that she thinks she can really fall for but there's one problem, he's got a stalker.

>125 Deedledee: I have The Hypnotist's Love Story on the shelf. What did you think of it?

>126 Familyhistorian: It was ok. I liked parts of it but felt like she could've done more with it.

Book #103.
MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker

I had no idea this was a novel before the movie and the tv show. And it's a series, there are 14 more books after this one.

The characters you know from the show are there (mostly) but the book goes into more detail about all the crazy stunts - things that would never had made it to tv in the 70s. Lots of talking about whores and drinking.

>127 Deedledee: Thanks, I won't expect too much of it when I finally get it down from the shelf.

Book #104.
Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman & Jay Bonansing

You don't need to have a background in the Walking Dead to read and appreciate this book, it stands all by itself.

Brian Blake is a failure. He's timid and not at all prepared for the end of the world. His younger brother, Philip is a take charge guy. Brian ends up following his younger brother and his brother's friends, and taking care of his niece, after the zombie apocalypse. They then begin to hunt for a place that is safe from both the 'biters' and the people.

Lots of action, violence, and gruesome detail (much like the graphic novels and the tv show).

Describe yourself: Funny Girl
Describe how you feel: Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant
Describe where you currently live: Winter Street
If you could go anywhere, where would you go? Sweetland
Your favorite form of transportation: 100 Sideways Miles
Your best friend is: The Girl on the Train
You and your friends are: A Commonwealth of Thieves
What’s the weather like? The Third Day, the Frost
You fear: The Walking Dead
What is the best advice you have to give? Fear the Worst
Thought for the day: I'll Give You the Sun
How I would like to die: Darkness be my Friend
My soul’s present condition: A Measure of Light

I think it's safe to say I won't complete another book in 2015 so here are my stats:

2015: 104 books
88% fiction
12% non-fiction

73% Adult
27% YA/childrens

54% Audiobook (big increase this year)
12% ebook
less than 1% graphic novel

89% belonged to the library

Books read in past years:
2014: 110
2013: 86
2012: 109
2011: 91
2010: 118

Find my 2016 thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/209618