Books I’ve Read

FyreFly’s Awesome Book Blog Search

2009…   81 Goal is 100 books in 2009…

My Rating System

currently reading:   The Hobbit /JRRT

on tap:   Sarah’s Key / Tatiana De Rosnay and 31 Hours / Masha Hamilton

DEC 09 (5/nn, 78/81)

As You Wish  / Jackson Pearce **

Green Grass, Running Water / Thomas King ****

The Virgin Blue / Tracy Chevalier ** (Dewey Challenge)

Proust was a Neuroscientist / Jonah Lehrer ***** (Science/Dewey)

Tea for Ruby / Sarah Ferguson **

NOV09 (7/7, 73/76)
The Mandarin / Eca de Queriroz  (gift) ****
Midnight Cowboy / James Leo Herlihy  (LitFlicks) ****
We Were the Mulvaneys / Joyce Carol Oates **** (gift)
Shooting The Boh / Tracy Johnston (Women Unbound) ***
Restless Sleep / Stacy Horn *** (CR menage)
The Borden Tragedy: A Memoir of the Infamous Double Murder at Fall River, Mass., 1892 / Rick Geary *** (CR menage)
The Whale Rider /  Witi Ihimaera (Women Unbound) ***

OCT09 (10/10, 66/69)
The Halloween Tree / Bradbury (RIPIV) 145 ***
The Victoria’s Secret Catalog Never Stops Coming / Jennie Nash **** 153
Catie Copley / ***
Through Black Spruce / Joseph Boyden **** 359
The Giver / Lois Lowry *****  208
The Vintner’s Luck / Elizabeth Knox **** 284 (Oct NZ Book Challenge)
The Wednesday Sisters / Meg Waite Clayton (IRL bookclub)****
Mister Pip / Lloyd Jones (NZ Book Month) *****
Juckets / Joyce Keller Walsh (for Literary Road Trip Challenge) ***
Lolita / Vladimir Nabokov (readalong w/ softdrink) ***

SEP09 (6/6, 56/59)
The Help / Kathryn Stockett *****  (for IRL bookclub)
False Witness / Anita Rodgers ***  (first ever ebook)
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies / Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith *** (RIPIV)
Something Wicked This Way Comes / Ray Bradbury *** (RIPIV)
Firefly Lane / Kristin Hannah ***
The Father of All Things / Tom Bissell *** (World Citizen)

AUG09 (7/7, 50/53)
My Sweet Charlie / David Westheimer *** (IRL Bookclub)
My Father’s Paradise / Ariel Sabar **** (World Citizen)
Lost and Found / Jacqueline Sheehan ***
Population 485 / Michael Perry ****
The Jane Austen Book Club / Karen Joy Fowler **
On Mystic Lake / Kristin Hannah ***
The Geography of Bliss / Eric Weiner **** (World Citizen)

JUL09  (9/9, 43/46)
Talk Before Sleep / Elizabeth Berg **
A Prayer for Owen Meany / John Irving ***** (readalong with Softdrink)
Last Night in Montreal / Emily St. John Mandel ****
The Day the World Ended at Little Bighorn / John C Marshall III *** (IRL Bookclub)
The Last Beach Bungalow / Jennie Nash ***
Chocolat / Joanne Harris ****
The Book Thief / Markus Zusak ***** CFWP = Care’s Five Whole Pie Rating
Olive Kitteridge / Elizabeth Strout *****
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society /  Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows *****

JUN09  (7/7, 34/37)
Nothing but Ghosts / Beth Kephart ****
Alphabet Juice / Roy Blount Jr. *****
The Only True Genius in the Family / Jennie Nash **** (invitation from author)
The Coast of Summer / Anthony Bailey **** (gift from cuz Linda)
The Women’s Guide to Powerboating / Sandy Lindsey ***
The Housekeeper and the Professor / Yoko Ogawa **** (IRL Bookclbu)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian / Sherman Alexie ****

MAY09 (4/4, 27/30)
Thunderstruck / Erik Larson ***
The Awakening / Kate Chopin ***
Popular Music from Vittula / Mikael Niemi ****
The Man Who Mistook His Wife… / Oliver Sacks *** (Science)

APR09 (8/10, 23/26)
The Art of Racing in the Rain / Garth Stein *****
In the Woods / Tana French ****
A Lesson Before Dying / Earnest J Gaines ***
84, Charing Cross Road / Helene Hanff ****
The Wednesday Letters / Jason F. Wright **
DNF – Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close / Jonathon Safran Foer
Still Alice / Lisa Genova ****
Their Eyes Were Watching God / Zora Neale Hurston *****
DNF – Pillars of the Earth /  Ken Follett
Math Curse / Jon Scieszka ****

MAR09 (6/6, 15/16)
The Pilot’s Wife / Anita Shreve ***
The Blind Assassin / Margaret Atwood **** Review Part 1 and Part 2
Note to Self / Samara O’Shea ****
One True Theory of Love / Laura Fitzgerald ****
Enthusiasm / Polly Shulman ****
Life and Times of Michael K / J.M.Coetzee ****

FEB09   (4/4, 9/10)
An Unfinished Marriage / Joan Erickson ** or ***, I can’t decide.
Mauve / Simon Garfield ***
The Remains of the Day / Kazuo Ishiguro ***
Gods Behaving Badly / Marie Phillips ***

JAN09 (5/6, 5/6)
Looking for Alaska / John Green *****
Anne of Green Gables / LM Montgomery ****
Persepolis / Marjane Satrapi ****
The Orchid Thief / Susan Orlean ***
Twilight / Stephanie Meyer **
DNF – The Audacity of Hope / Barack Obama (it was good, tho!)

HHHHH

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2008 Books I’ve read… 5 star ratings                             75!

Dec (8 )
Julie & Julia / Julie Powell
Something Out There / Nadine Gordimer
Coraline / Neil Gaiman ****
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle / David Wroblewski ***
There’s A Slight Chance… by Laurie Notaro ***
Nobodies by John Bowe ****
How To Tell When You’re Tired by Reg Theriault **
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency – Alexander McCall Smith **

Nov (7)

The Road / Cormac McCarthy ****
Christine Falls / Benjamin Black **
The Exes / Pagan Kennedy ****
The Mathematics of Love / Emma Dawson *
Interpreter of Maladies / Jhumpa Lahiri *****
Marley & Me / John Grogan
Join Me / Danny Wallace ***
Something Wicked This Way Comes – Ray Bradbury – df

Oct (6)
Mystic River – Dennis Lehane
The Lace Reader / Brunonia Barry **
Cimarron / Edna Ferber ****
The Soloist / Mark Salzman ****
The Bridges of Madison County / Waller
We Have Always Lived In The Castle / Shirley Jackson *****
The Wisdom of Eve by Mary Orr and Reginald Denham (A Play in 3 Acts) ****

Sept (7)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie / Muriel Spark *** 1/2
Garden Spells / Sarah Addison Allen ****
The Crime Writer / Gregg Hurwitz ****
The Prophet / Khalil Gibran ***
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter / Carson McCullers ****
Montana 1948 / Larry Watson ****
Home Town / Tracy Kidder ***

Aug(7)
The Tale of Devereaux / Kate DiCamillo ****
My Sisters Keeper / Jodi Picoult ****
A Curious State of Affairs / Jan Marshall ***
The Little Prince / Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – 5 stars
Geek Love / Katherine Dunn  – 5 stars
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao / Junot Diaz  – 4 1/2 stars
Queen of the Road / Doreen Orion  – 5 stars

july(5)
Life of Pi - Yann Martel  ***
The Way LIfe Should Be / Christina Baker Kline ****
Who Moved My Cheese – Spencer Johnson – no review, rating a generous **
Stardust – Neil Gaiman ****
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood *****

june (5)

When We Were Orphans – Kazuo Ishiguro
Goodbye, Mr. Chips – James Hilton ***
A Separate Peace – John Knowles *****
Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro **** 1/2
The Book of Air and Shadows – Michael Gruber ****

may(3)
The Color Purple – Alice Walker ***** my review
Matrimony - Joshua Henkin  3 1/2 stars my review
Never on These Shores – Stephen R. Pastore *
Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers – didn’t finish (no good reason)

april (4)
Occasion For Loving – Nadine Gordimer – didn’t finish, couldn’t seem to get into it…  I wanted to!
House of Meetings – Martin Amis **** my review
On Chesil Beach – Ian McEwan **** 1/2
The Memory Keepers Daughter – Kim Edwards ** my review
The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett ***

march(10)
I’jaam – Sinan Antoon *****
St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves – Karen Russell ****
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – Jean-Dominic Bauby ****
I Sent A Letter To My Love – Bernice Rubens ****
Garden State – Rick Moody unfinished *
Still Life with Elephants – Judy Reene Singer **
Battle of Cowpens – Kenneth Roberts ***
Everyman – Philip Roth *** 1/2
Atonement – Ian McEwan ****
Burning Bright - Tracy Chevalier  ***

february(4)
Wind, Sand, Stars – Antoine de Saint-Exupery **** 1/2
Saints & Strangers short stories – Angela Carter **** 1/2
Villa Incognito – Tom Robbins – didn’t finish, bored with it
My War:  Killing Time in Iraq – Colby Buzzell *** 1/2    my review

january(5)
Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen ***
The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion ****
P.G.Wodehouse - Portrait of a Master by David A. Jasen ***
The Alphabet from A to Y With Bonus Letter Z! – Steve Martin *** 1/2
The Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams ****

http://deweymonster.com/?page_id=127 Dewey’s Guide for Writing Reviews…

2007  What I Read in 2007 (qty 30 but I may have missed some)
(no particular order, bold = I liked it a LOT, B2M = book to movie)

No Country for Old Men – Cormac McCarthy  ****
Mayflower – Nathaniel Philbrick ***
The Golden Compass – Philip Pullman B2M   *** 1/2
We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver ****
The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory B2M *** 1/2
The Nanny Diaries – Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus ***
the sweetest dream - Doris Lessing *** 1/2
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield *** 1/2
Five Dysfunctions of a Team – Patrick Lencioni ** 1/2
Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera B2M ****
Garlic & Sapphires – Ruth Reichl *****
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
The Alchemist - Paul Coelho     – I don’t think I have reviews before this – I started blogging about this time….
The Emporer’s Children – Claire Messud
The Grass Harp – Truman Capote B2M
My Wife Thinks I’m an Idiot - Mike Greenberg
Excellent Women – Barbara Pim
Eat Pray Love – Liz Gilbert
Hetty – Charles Slack
The Celestine Prophecy – James Redfield
Skylight Confessions – Alice Hoffman
House on the Strand – Daphne DuMaurier
Past Perfect – Susan Isaacs
Little Earthquakes - Jennifer Weiner
In Her Shoes – Jennifer Weiner B2M
Charlemagne bio – Derek Wilson
Henry Ward Beecher bio  - Debby Applegate
House on Mango Street – Sandra Cisneros
On Writing – Stephen King
Lisey’s Story – Stephen King
Guide to Taste,Quality,Style – Tim Gunn