Lisa's #5-19 catching up
So, I've been a bit absent here. At the moment I think it's unlikely I'll make it anywhere close to the 50 book goal, but that's okay. With all the crazyness going on in my life at the moment, I decided pretty early on that it was okay if this wasn't a big priority to me this year. But anyhow...
5. Persuasion by Jane Austen
I've been reading through all of my Austen novels, and I really can't deny now that this one is my favorite, bar-none. I love them all for various reasons, but this one is the one I enjoy reading the most, the one I think has the most depth to it, and the one that sticks with me the longest after I'm done.
6. The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Yes, I reread it. Yes, I know I'm ridiculous. Yes, I still hated the first ten chapters. But I love the book. And I sort of wish there were a sequel... though not necessarily about the characters involved. Actually, I don't care for a sequel at all, I just want to sit S.Meyer down and ask her about Burns' story. Because you know she has it all in that head of hers.
7. Emily Windsnap and the Monster of the Deep by Liz Kessler
These are distractingly pretty books. Almost distracting enough to forget that they make absolutely no sense. Not quite, but almost. I think I bought the third one, too, so I may end up reading that... but I don't recommend them too highly. They're written for eight-year-olds, and you can tell. (As a random note, she makes the most incongruous references to literature I have ever seen.)
8. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
I've decided to read through all of these, too, since I think I've only read the first four or five, really, and I'd like to read through the rest of them. I haven't read them in ages, anyhow, so I'm really enjoying them. I've been having fun watching and identifying the ridiculous traits in myself that I'm fairly sure I inherited from Anne, because they certainly didn't come from my parents...
9. Surfacing by Isabelle Santiago
This isn't bias talking when I say that I love everything about this story. I loved it when it was highly controversial Rosfic, and I love it even more now because it has matured and cleaned up and, I think, has a much stronger ending. Every bit about this is rich and vibrant and hits you right in your gut, which is impressive since it's less than seventy pages long. Also, it's dedicated to me, which I have to admit is a thrill. >.>
10. A Short Guide to a Happy Life by Anna Quindlen
This is one of those little inspirational books. I sort of read it in a panic to up my numbers, I admit. And so that I could guiltlessly pass it on to my mother. It was good, though... nothing you haven't heard before, really, but good.
11. Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary by Brandon Mull
Utterly fantastic. Took a little while to speed up, but this was easily the best of the books so far. The fact that there is only one more book in this series is staggering to me. As eager as I am to read the new one, I don't ever want this series to end. I could watch these kids into their forties, probably. Mull has this meticulously planned out, though, so I guess I'll trust him. Seriously, though, what will I do when both Harry Potter and Fablehaven are done? I can't even count on that Olympian series everyone's talking about, because that one's finishing too.
12. Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor
Sadly not as good as I was hoping. I really loved the first book, but this one spent way too much time on the antagonists and not nearly enough on the pro's. It just feels like Beddor's fallen in love with his bad guys... and I have no interest in falling in love with them. What we did have of the good guys was really good, but all the bad guys being so smart and so devious just got tiring.
13. Tithe by Holly Black
Another meh. Black tries way too hard to be dark and edgy with this... it comes off really contrived. The "hip" Jersey kids are like awful caricatures of 90s punks. The faerie stuff is better, and I guess you could say that she was cranking the one up to highlight the contrast to the other, but it isn't done very well, I don't think. There's also something seriously off-putting about one of the secondary main characters. I don't know that I want to know what his storyline leads to...
14. Congratulations, Graduate by Hallmark Cards
I'm kind of surprised I'm even owning up to this one. It had some good quotes in it, though.
15. Oh, How Silly edited by William Cole
This is the first book of poems I ever bought myself. I reread it so I could give it away.
16. How to be Totally Miserable: A Self-Hinder Book by John Bytheway
Another shortish quote-type book I read so i could hand it off. Bytheway's an LDS speaker, and this was full of his witty little reverse-psychology stuff. Fun, short read.
17. Emma by Jane Austen
This took me so long to read this go-around. I was really bored with it for a long while, so I was reading it in bits and pieces, putting it down a lot. I wasn't sure why I had so little interest, when the other two times I read it I really enjoyed it, but it sort of makes sense now that I think about it. The first time you read Emma, you only see through Emma's warped perception and you're just as surprised as her at everything, and the second time you enjoy it like a confidant, because you're in the know, and you can see just where she's getting things wrong... but the third time? Just not quite as interesting. For me. But then I'm one of those who believe that each time you read a book it's different because you're different, so I may love it a fourth time, who knows?
18. Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
Just loved it. I found myself wanting to write down almost every word that Miss Lavender said. I really didn't appreciate when I was younger... well, any bit outside of Green Gables that didn't have Gilbert Blythe in it. (Or Diana, I guess) I was even more shipper-tunnel-visioned than I am now. So it's very nice to be reading these and be able to appreciate all the wide cast of characters involved. Even if I do still perk up when Gilbert's mentioned. ;)
19. Lexi James and the Council of Girlfriends by Melissa Jacobs
I think I can fairly definitely say that I'm just not a chic lit person. Every important business person in the book is a woman? Except for the one guy who's some sort of expletive or other? And every character speaks three different languages? And half the men in the book are named Michael? Really? (There were also at least two Johns) Also, just personally, I do not need to know every item of clothing every character is wearing the minute they step in the room. That said, the second half of this book was much better than the first half set it up to be. I'm a shipper. I don't want to not know until the last quarter of the book which guy she's going to end up with... there's enough uncertainty about that sort of stuff in real life, thanks. I do like the choices the main character winds up making, though, and a couple of the side characters were great. B_