MissTeacher reads her little eyes out! 120 in 2009!

Hi all!
I've decided that since the third month ends tomorrow, and that so far I've read thirty books, I'm going to go for 10 books per month! So maybe I don't completely fit into this group, but it's close enough for me.

I have a little catching up to do with my posts, but with Spring Break starting tomorrow, I should be up to speed soon.

So good to be here!

January

#1: Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
started 12/30/09, finished 1/3/09, ****1/2
Reviewed

#2: Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
1/3/09 - 1/4/09, **

#3: Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende
1/4/09 - 1/10/09, ****1/2
Reviewed

#4: The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore
1/10/09 - 1/11/09, ****1/2
Reviewed

#5: The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott
1/11/09 - 1/15/09, ***

#6: The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
1/15/09 - 1/16/09, ***1/2

#7: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
1/16/09 - 1/17/09, **1/2

#8: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
1/17/09 - 1/18/09, ***1/2

#9: Eragon by Christopher Paolini
1/17/09 - 1/21/09, ****

#10: The Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer
1/21/09 - 1/31/09, ***

February

#11: Reincarnation by Suzanne Weyn
1/31/09 - 2/1/09, ***1/2

#12: Eldest by Christopher Paolini
2/1/09 - 2/8/09, ****

#13: Notes From the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
2/8/09 - 2/15/09, (half a star)
Reviewed

#14: Children of the River by Linda Crew
2/13/09 - 2/16/09, **1/2
Reviewed

#15: Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson
2/16/09 - 2/17/09, ***1/2
Reviewed

#16: War Trash by Ha Jin
2/17/09 - 2/18/09, ***1/2
Reviewed

#17: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz
read 2/21/09, **1/2
Reviewed

March

#18: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
2/26/09 - 3/1/09, ***
Reviewed

#19: The Courts of Love by Ellen Gilchrist
3/1/09 - 3/2/09, ***
Reviewed

#20: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
3/2/09 - 3/9/09, *****!
Reviewed

#21: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
3/9/09 - 3/10/09, ****
Reviewed

#22: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
read 3/10/09, ***1/2
Reviewed

#23: High Above Hawai'i by Erin McCloskey
read 3/16/09, ****
Reviewed

#24: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
read 3/17/09, ***
Reviewed

#25: Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
3/10/09 - 3/26/09, ****1/2
Reviewed

#26: Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr
read 3/26/09, ***
Reviewed

#27: Scotland: The Story of a Nation by Magnus Magnusson
3/15/09 - 3/27/09, ***1/2

#28: Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
3/27/09 - 3/28/09, ****
Reviewed

#29: Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes
read 3/28/09, ****1/2
Reviewed

#30: The Name of This Book is Secret by Psuedonymous Bosch
3/28/09 - 3/29/09, ***1/2
Reviewed

#31...I hope I finish it in time...Flush by Carl Hiaasen

Welcome MissTeacher. I hope you enjoy your time here. This is a great group and I am sure you will find it a good fit no matter the number of books you read.
You, MissTeacher are a very fast reader. And so-------just want to know; how are you finding the Gabaldan series? I noticed that you rated them highly. I loved and love them and reread them every other year. I did think the first one was the best and really liked the way she developed her characters.
Again, welcome and happy reading.

Welcome - you've read a great selection of books already. Are you going to read Brisingr?

I'm not especially fast except when I read young adult books, or I'm really really into a book. I have a two-and-a-half week break coming up, so I'll probably be burning through them pretty quickly.

I'm planning on starting Voyager very, very soon. Outlander was the greatest new book I've read in quite a while, so I'm hooked. Plus, I'm descended from the Frasers, and the end of Dragonfly in Amber just spurred me to discover if my ancestors were sold through the West Indies after the '45. I knew they were slaves, just didn't know how they got that way...

And yes, I plan on reading Brisingr during the break too. My school's library just got its copy, so I'm waiting until all the kids leave tomorrow to check it out. I don't want to take it if a student is dying to read it. I'm crossing my fingers...

#31: Flush by Carl Hiaasen
3/30/09 - 4/1/09, ****
Reviewed

#32: Dirty Little Angels by Christopher Tusa
read 4/1/09, ****
Reviewed

#33: Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
4/1/09 - 4/2/09, ***1/2
Reviewed

#34: Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt
4/2/09 - 4/5/09, ***
Reviewed

#35: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald
read 4/5/09, **
Reviewed (Short review: Just go see the movie.)

#36: The Sound of Building Coffins by Louis Maistros
4/5/09 - 4/6/09, *****
Reviewed (Short review: The best book I've read this year.)

#37: Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
4/6/09 - 4/7/09, ****
Reviewed (Short Review: Really gets in your head.)

Edited because it isn't March anymore. And to add review link.

#38: You Suck: a Love Story by Christopher Moore
4/7/09 - 4/8/09, ***1/2
Reviewed (Short Review: It bites. In a good way.)

#39: Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love by Myron Uhlberg
4/8/09 - 4/9/09, ****
Reviewed

#40: The Bobby Gold Stories by Anthony Bourdain
4/9/09 - 4/10/09, ****
Reviewed (Short Review: Short and sweet--in a way.)

Edited to remove an stray star.

#41: Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
read 4/10/09, ***1/2
Reviewed (Short Review: Silent and still--an excellent character study with very little characterization.)

(Stolen from FicusFan who stole it from lycomayflower)

Copy the questions into your own post and answer the questions.

1) What author do you own the most books by?
Shakespeare or Isabel Allende

2) What book do you own the most copies of?
I have numerous versions of Romeo and Juliet in my home and my classroom.

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Not at all. English is changing, and believe it or not, most English teachers no longer teach against it.

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Umm...Jamie from Outlander or Rents from Trainspotting (I like the accent?)...

5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
Romeo and Juliet. I read it about once a year, and then read the No Fear version with my 7th graders.

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
Yes, Romeo and Juliet. I first read it in 5th grade. But I also really loved Bridge to Terabithia and The Indian in the Cupboard, not to mention all the Sweet Valley Twins books.

7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
Notes from the Underground by Dostoevsky. It has ruined the big D for me for a while.

8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
The best new book was definitely The Sound of Building Coffins by Louis Maistros. But I did reread One Hundred Years of Solitude last fall.

9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Hmm...I don't like to force books on anyone. Maybe the City of the Beasts trilogy by Allende, so my students and I could discuss it.

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
Allende? Has she won one? I don't keep up with it.

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Outlander!!! But they'd never get Jamie right, unless they used the guy I saw standing in line for a roller coaster at Busch Gardens this weekend. He looked like Jamie. But I don't think he was Scottish (though we were in the Scotland section of the park. Hmm).

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
Twilight. Oh, wait... Well, they should stop right now so they don't ever ruin Breaking Dawn.

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
OK, this was a recent one: I was in a medieval castle, and my boyfriend was really Jamie from Outlander, and I was Claire. I was attending to some wounds of his when an evil Claire came and tried to trick him into seducing her. So naturally, myself and the evil Claire did battle and somehow Jamie/my boyfriend turned into a green ghoul and blasted a hole in the stone wall of the castle...

14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
Hmm...I try not to read lowbrow stuff if I can help it. I try to read YA books that have some substance, but The Name of this Book is Secret was a bit lower than most.

15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
The Sound and the Fury. I don't think I finished.

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I've seen virtually every Shakespeare play performed. I went to an arts high school, and the drama department put on at least two or three a year. My favorite over all is the Spanish version of Romeo y Julieta which I took my students to see last year.

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
J'aime les francaise!

18) Roth or Updike?
Updike, I guess.

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
I've not read either. I do like the covers of Sedaris' books, and I do believe he's from NC, so I suppose I have to say him.

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
There's no contest there.

21) Austen or Eliot
Definitely Eliot.

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
The Victorian classics. Can't stand them, so it isn't too embarrassing.

23) What is your favorite novel?
Chronicle of a Death Foretold or One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez, depending on my mood. Or Trainspotting, or The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty.

24) Play?
I bet you can guess! I also like A Streetcar Named Desire a lot, and MacBeth.

25) Poem?
Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay", Ginsberg's "Howl", The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, "I Don't Know What You Thought Hops" by Denizen Kane, I could go on and on and on.

26) Essay?
Hmm. Not much for essays since college. Maybe I'll get back to them someday.

27) Short story?
"A Continuity of Parks" by Julio Cortazar, "The Most Beautiful Drowned Man in the World" and "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings" by Garcia Marquez.

28) Work of nonfiction?
Basically any language-learning publication or dictionary is like chocolate to me. No matter the language.

29) Who is your favorite writer?
I bet you can guess this too!

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Hmm...perhaps Stephanie Meyer, but just because the Twilight series wasn't actually good until Eclipse.

31) What is your desert island book?
One Hundred Years of Solitude...the title fits.

32) And... what are you reading right now?
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.

#42: No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
4/10/09 - 4/13/09, ****
Reviewed (Short Review: Flat, dry, and chilling.)

Psst. It was Richard who had it and stole it from someone. Not me (I am completely innocent I tell you). Too much work involved in this one for me to do it.

Woops! Sorry, I didn't mean to incriminate the innocent!

HI MissTeacher,

Looks like we have read a lot of the same books. It is interesting how we can rate some books equally highly (Ines of My Soul amongst others), yet others we can disagree on quite markedly (Outlander for example).

Based on your review, I have placed The Sound of Building Coffins on hold at the library. It sounds wonderful!

Judy

judy - I think you'll like Building Coffins. It is definitely mystic realism at is rawest. The whole Outlander series is kind of a fluke for me, as I've never read (actually, I've stayed away from) romance books. I think my heritage comes into a big account there! Go Frasers!

Woops - forgot to post the latest!

#43: Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
4/13/09 - 4/15/09, ****1/2
Reviewed (Short Review: A funny, sincere take on religion.)

#44: Super in the City by Daphne Uviller
4/15/09 - 4/16/09, **1/2
Reviewed (Short Review: Great, if we could just cut the main character out completely.)

Edited to change the rating, yet again.

#45: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
4/16/09 - 4/17/09, ****
Reviewed

#46: Bone in the Throat by Anthony Bourdain
4/17/09 - 4/19/09, ****
Reviewed (Short Review: Appetizing!)

*Just a cool note: I noticed the date on my review, and couldn't help being in awe of the fact that I wrote this review fourteen years before I was born! Way to go me!*

Where have I been?

#47: Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
4/24/09 - 5/10/09, ****
Reviewed (Short Review: Don't read the review--just read the book!)

A rare nonfiction!

#48: Career Renegade: How to Make a Great Living Doing What You Love by Jonathan Fields
5/12/09 - 5/13/09, ****
Reviewed (Short Review: Well worth it if you ever sit and wonder, how great would it be if I could just ___________ all day.)

#49: Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon
5/10/05 - 5/25/05, ****1/2
Reviewed (Short Review: ditto to my Voyager short review!)

Oooh, I'm reading Voyager right now and I think it's my favorite so far. I'm having such a hard time putting it down, and I have work I should be doing! Happy to see that Drums of Autumn will be something to look forward to.

You certainly do have something to look forward to! The one thing I love about the Outlander series is that each book so far has been it's own distinct world while remaining faithful to that which threads them together. Voyager was hot, muggy, sensual...Drums of Autumn is crisp and dark green. They're remarkable!

#50: Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore
05/25/09 - 05/27/09, ***
Reviewed (Short Review: It sucked. In a good way.)

Wasn't as sleepy as I thought! I read this little gem just now.

#51: The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Jane Coatsworth
read 05/27/09, ***1/2
Reviewed (Short review: Sweet, and not as sad as I expected.)

#52: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
05/31/09 - 06/04/09, ****
Reviewed

#53: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
05/27/09 - 06/07/09, ***1/2
Reviewed

#54: Fool by Christopher Moore
06/07/09 - 06/14/09, ***1/2
Reviewed

#55: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
06/14/09 - 06/16/09, *****
Reviewed (Short Review: Wow.)

#56: Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties by Beth Kobliner
read 06/23/09, ****
Reviewed (Short Review: It's already helped.)

I've kinda been slack on this, so let me hit you all at once...

#57: Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
finished 7/22/09, ***1/2
Reviewed (Short Review: Crazy!)

#58: The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
finished 7/25/09, ***1/2
Reviewed

#59: Last Year's Model by Carol Alt
finished 7/26/09, ***1/2
Reviewed

#60: Flight Paths of the Emperor by Steven Heighton
finished 8/3/09, ***1/2
Reviewed

#61: Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore
finished 8/8/09, ****
Reviewed