100 Book Challenge - May & June (37-47)
These last 2 months have been hectic at school and work, which might be why I'm behind (or it might be Vanity Fair which I've been attempting to finish since early April and am only about 2/3 of the way through. I think it might be THE challenge of the year). Here's what I did finish:
#37 Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs. Approx 480 pages [Audiobook].
Summary from Amazon.com: Forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs exploded onto bestseller lists worldwide with her phenomenal debut novel Déjà Dead -- and introduced "[a] brilliant heroine" (Glamour) in league with Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta. Dr. Temperance Brennan, Quebec's director of forensic anthropology, now returns in a thrilling new investigation into the secrets of the dead.
In the bitter cold of a Montreal winter, Tempe Brennan is digging for a corpse buried more than a century ago. Although Tempe thrives on such enigmas from the past, it's a chain of contemporary deaths and disappearances that has seized her attention -- and she alone is ideally placed to make a chilling connection among the seemingly unrelated events. At the crime scene, at the morgue, and in the lab, Tempe probes a mystery that sweeps from a deadly Quebec fire to startling discoveries in the Carolinas, and culminates in Montreal with a terrifying showdown -- a nerve-shattering test of both her forensic expertise and her skills for survival.
#38 Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs. Approx 368 pages [Audiobook].
Summary from Amazon.com: Nine-year-old Emily Anne Toussaint is fatally shot on a Montreal street. A North Carolina teenager disappears from her home, and parts of her skeleton are found hundreds of miles away. The shocking deaths propel forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan from north to south, and deep into a shattering investigation inside the bizarre culture of outlaw motorcycle gangs -- where one misstep could bring disaster for herself or someone she loves. Kathy Reichs? astonishing bestseller pulses with cutting-edge scientific know-how -- and the narrative power of an award-winning crime fiction star.
#39 The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman. 368 pages.
Summary from Amazon.com: The New York Times bestseller: a true story in which the keepers of the Warsaw zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands. When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw-and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants-otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes.
With her exuberant prose and exquisite sensitivity to the natural world, Diane Ackerman engages us viscerally in the lives of the zoo animals, their keepers, and their hidden visitors. She shows us how Antonina refused to give in to the penetrating fear of discovery, keeping alive an atmosphere of play and innocence even as Europe crumbled around her. 8 pages of illustrations.
My Thoughts: This book nearly read like fiction, and I'd be shocked if it isn't eventually turned into a "they triumphed over the worst adversity" Holocaust movie that rivals Schindler's List.
#40 Catch a Mate by Gena Showalter. Approx 384 pages [Audiobook].
Summary from Amazon.com: Jillian Greene is always getting caught in the act-it's her job! Working at Catch a Mate, Jillian gets paid by suspicious wives to smile, flirt and prove that no man can be trusted around the opposite sex. But she never gets physical-until a heart-stoppingly gorgeous male walks in.…
Marcus Brody has just been hired to test female fidelity. But the last thing Jillian needs is a partner…especially an infuriating, irresistible man who's got her fantasizing about tearing off his clothes!
My Thoughts: This book was terrible. I don't think anyone, male or female, went even 30 seconds without thinking about sex for the entire duration of the book. The characters were basically shallow sex fiends, even for a romance novel they were caricatures. If you're looking for total smutty fluff, maybe you'd like it, though.
#41 The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho. 268 pages.
Summary from Amazon.com: How do we find the courage to always be true to ourselves-even if we are unsure of who we are?
That is the central question of international bestselling author Paulo Coelho's profound new work, The Witch of Portobello. It is the story of a mysterious woman named Athena, told by the many who knew her well-or hardly at all. Like The Alchemist, The Witch of Portobello is the kind of story that will transform the way readers think about love, passion, joy, and sacrifice.
#42 The Basics of Social Research by Earl Babbie. 550 pages.
Summary from Amazon.com: This thorough revision of Babbie's standard-setting book presents a succinct, straightforward introduction to the field of research methods as practiced by social scientists. Contemporary examples+such as terrorism, Alzheimer's disease, anti-gay prejudice and education, and the legalization of marijuana make this Fourth Edition thoroughly fascinating as it introduces you to the "how-tos" and "whys" of social research methods. The book's new qualitative coverage combined with its already strong quantitative material makes this new edition Babbie's best yet. Babbie, long respected in the field and renowned for his engaging and friendly writing style, gives you the tools you need for understanding social research methods and for applying these concepts both inside and outside the classroom+as a researcher and as a consumer of research. With a strong emphasis on ethics and additional qualitative material, this Fourth Edition is authoritative yet student-friendly . . . and engaging enough to help you connect the dots between the world of social research and the real world.
#43 A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire. 312 pages.
Summary from Amazon.com: In the much-anticipated third volume of the Wicked Years, we return to Oz, seen now through the eyes of the Cowardly Lion.
While civil war looms in Oz, a tetchy oracle named Yackle prepares for death. Before her final hour, a figure known as Brrr-the Cowardly Lion-arrives searching for information about Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West. Abandoned as a cub, his path from infancy is no Yellow Brick Road. In the wake of laws that oppress talking Animals, he avoids a jail sentence by agreeing to serve as a lackey to the warmongering Emperor of Oz.
A Lion Among Men chronicles a battle of wits hastened by the Emerald City's approaching armies. Can those tarnished by infamy escape their sobriquets to claim their own histories, to live honorably within their own skins before they're skinned alive?
My Thoughts: Much better than Son of a Witch. It managed to tie together all the weird random things that were unanswered in this series..
#44 Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs. Approx 448 pages [Audiobook]
Summary from Amazon.com: A commercial Jetliner disaster has brought Tempe Brennan to the North Carolina mountains as a member of the investigative agency DMORT. As bomb theories abound, Tempe soon discovers a jarring piece of evidence that raises dangerous questions -- and gets her thrown from the DMORT team. Relentless in her pursuit of its significance, Tempe uncovers a shocking, multilayered tale of deceit and depravity as she probes her way into frightening territory -- where someone wants her stopped in her tracks.
#45 The Relationship Cure by John Gottman. 309 pages.
Summary from Amazon.com: A groundbreaking, practical program for transforming troubled relationships into positive ones
My Thoughts: I really enjoyed Gottman's research-based but also completely sensible take on communication and relationships. My poor boyfriend is getting this one, and I'll definitely be reading more of Gottman.
#46 The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell. Approx 272 pages [Audiobook]
Summary from Amazon.com: The Wordy Shipmates is New York Times-bestselling author Sarah Vowell’s exploration of the Puritans and their journey to America to become the people of John Winthrop’s “city upon a hill”-a shining example, a “city that cannot be hid.”
To this day, America views itself as a Puritan nation, but Vowell investigates what that means- and what it should mean. What was this great political enterprise all about? Who were these people who are considered the philosophical, spiritual, and moral ancestors of our nation? What Vowell discovers is something far different from what their uptight shoe-buckles-and- corn reputation might suggest. The people she finds are highly literate, deeply principled, and surprisingly feisty. Their story is filled with pamphlet feuds, witty courtroom dramas, and bloody vengeance.
Sarah Vowell’s special brand of armchair history makes the bizarre and esoteric fascinatingly relevant and fun. She takes us from the modern-day reenactment of an Indian massacre to the Mohegan Sun casino, from old-timey Puritan poetry, where “righteousness” is rhymed with “wilderness,” to a Mayflower-themed waterslide. Throughout, The Wordy Shipmates is rich in historical fact, humorous insight, and social commentary by one of America’s most celebrated voices. Thou shalt enjoy it.
My Thoughts: I find Sarah Vowell absolutely hilarious on "This American Life" and she definitely makes history come alive in a way nobody else does.
#47 Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. 198 pages.
Summary from Amazon.com: Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her from a distance. The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe. Because there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth. This extraordinary first novel has captured the imaginations of teenagers and adults across the country.
My Thoughts: I wish there had been YA authors like Laurie Halse Anderson when I was in High School, and I'm honestly shocked that this book is 10 years old and I had never heard of it before recently. It's sad and funny and beautiful and dark and odd and real all at once.
47 / 100 books. 47% done!
18243 / 35000 pages. 52% done!
181 / 365 days in the challenge. 50% done!
#37 Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs. Approx 480 pages [Audiobook].
Summary from Amazon.com: Forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs exploded onto bestseller lists worldwide with her phenomenal debut novel Déjà Dead -- and introduced "[a] brilliant heroine" (Glamour) in league with Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta. Dr. Temperance Brennan, Quebec's director of forensic anthropology, now returns in a thrilling new investigation into the secrets of the dead.
In the bitter cold of a Montreal winter, Tempe Brennan is digging for a corpse buried more than a century ago. Although Tempe thrives on such enigmas from the past, it's a chain of contemporary deaths and disappearances that has seized her attention -- and she alone is ideally placed to make a chilling connection among the seemingly unrelated events. At the crime scene, at the morgue, and in the lab, Tempe probes a mystery that sweeps from a deadly Quebec fire to startling discoveries in the Carolinas, and culminates in Montreal with a terrifying showdown -- a nerve-shattering test of both her forensic expertise and her skills for survival.
#38 Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs. Approx 368 pages [Audiobook].
Summary from Amazon.com: Nine-year-old Emily Anne Toussaint is fatally shot on a Montreal street. A North Carolina teenager disappears from her home, and parts of her skeleton are found hundreds of miles away. The shocking deaths propel forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan from north to south, and deep into a shattering investigation inside the bizarre culture of outlaw motorcycle gangs -- where one misstep could bring disaster for herself or someone she loves. Kathy Reichs? astonishing bestseller pulses with cutting-edge scientific know-how -- and the narrative power of an award-winning crime fiction star.
#39 The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman. 368 pages.
Summary from Amazon.com: The New York Times bestseller: a true story in which the keepers of the Warsaw zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands. When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw-and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants-otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes.
With her exuberant prose and exquisite sensitivity to the natural world, Diane Ackerman engages us viscerally in the lives of the zoo animals, their keepers, and their hidden visitors. She shows us how Antonina refused to give in to the penetrating fear of discovery, keeping alive an atmosphere of play and innocence even as Europe crumbled around her. 8 pages of illustrations.
My Thoughts: This book nearly read like fiction, and I'd be shocked if it isn't eventually turned into a "they triumphed over the worst adversity" Holocaust movie that rivals Schindler's List.
#40 Catch a Mate by Gena Showalter. Approx 384 pages [Audiobook].
Summary from Amazon.com: Jillian Greene is always getting caught in the act-it's her job! Working at Catch a Mate, Jillian gets paid by suspicious wives to smile, flirt and prove that no man can be trusted around the opposite sex. But she never gets physical-until a heart-stoppingly gorgeous male walks in.…
Marcus Brody has just been hired to test female fidelity. But the last thing Jillian needs is a partner…especially an infuriating, irresistible man who's got her fantasizing about tearing off his clothes!
My Thoughts: This book was terrible. I don't think anyone, male or female, went even 30 seconds without thinking about sex for the entire duration of the book. The characters were basically shallow sex fiends, even for a romance novel they were caricatures. If you're looking for total smutty fluff, maybe you'd like it, though.
#41 The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho. 268 pages.
Summary from Amazon.com: How do we find the courage to always be true to ourselves-even if we are unsure of who we are?
That is the central question of international bestselling author Paulo Coelho's profound new work, The Witch of Portobello. It is the story of a mysterious woman named Athena, told by the many who knew her well-or hardly at all. Like The Alchemist, The Witch of Portobello is the kind of story that will transform the way readers think about love, passion, joy, and sacrifice.
#42 The Basics of Social Research by Earl Babbie. 550 pages.
Summary from Amazon.com: This thorough revision of Babbie's standard-setting book presents a succinct, straightforward introduction to the field of research methods as practiced by social scientists. Contemporary examples+such as terrorism, Alzheimer's disease, anti-gay prejudice and education, and the legalization of marijuana make this Fourth Edition thoroughly fascinating as it introduces you to the "how-tos" and "whys" of social research methods. The book's new qualitative coverage combined with its already strong quantitative material makes this new edition Babbie's best yet. Babbie, long respected in the field and renowned for his engaging and friendly writing style, gives you the tools you need for understanding social research methods and for applying these concepts both inside and outside the classroom+as a researcher and as a consumer of research. With a strong emphasis on ethics and additional qualitative material, this Fourth Edition is authoritative yet student-friendly . . . and engaging enough to help you connect the dots between the world of social research and the real world.
#43 A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire. 312 pages.
Summary from Amazon.com: In the much-anticipated third volume of the Wicked Years, we return to Oz, seen now through the eyes of the Cowardly Lion.
While civil war looms in Oz, a tetchy oracle named Yackle prepares for death. Before her final hour, a figure known as Brrr-the Cowardly Lion-arrives searching for information about Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West. Abandoned as a cub, his path from infancy is no Yellow Brick Road. In the wake of laws that oppress talking Animals, he avoids a jail sentence by agreeing to serve as a lackey to the warmongering Emperor of Oz.
A Lion Among Men chronicles a battle of wits hastened by the Emerald City's approaching armies. Can those tarnished by infamy escape their sobriquets to claim their own histories, to live honorably within their own skins before they're skinned alive?
My Thoughts: Much better than Son of a Witch. It managed to tie together all the weird random things that were unanswered in this series..
#44 Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs. Approx 448 pages [Audiobook]
Summary from Amazon.com: A commercial Jetliner disaster has brought Tempe Brennan to the North Carolina mountains as a member of the investigative agency DMORT. As bomb theories abound, Tempe soon discovers a jarring piece of evidence that raises dangerous questions -- and gets her thrown from the DMORT team. Relentless in her pursuit of its significance, Tempe uncovers a shocking, multilayered tale of deceit and depravity as she probes her way into frightening territory -- where someone wants her stopped in her tracks.
#45 The Relationship Cure by John Gottman. 309 pages.
Summary from Amazon.com: A groundbreaking, practical program for transforming troubled relationships into positive ones
My Thoughts: I really enjoyed Gottman's research-based but also completely sensible take on communication and relationships. My poor boyfriend is getting this one, and I'll definitely be reading more of Gottman.
#46 The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell. Approx 272 pages [Audiobook]
Summary from Amazon.com: The Wordy Shipmates is New York Times-bestselling author Sarah Vowell’s exploration of the Puritans and their journey to America to become the people of John Winthrop’s “city upon a hill”-a shining example, a “city that cannot be hid.”
To this day, America views itself as a Puritan nation, but Vowell investigates what that means- and what it should mean. What was this great political enterprise all about? Who were these people who are considered the philosophical, spiritual, and moral ancestors of our nation? What Vowell discovers is something far different from what their uptight shoe-buckles-and- corn reputation might suggest. The people she finds are highly literate, deeply principled, and surprisingly feisty. Their story is filled with pamphlet feuds, witty courtroom dramas, and bloody vengeance.
Sarah Vowell’s special brand of armchair history makes the bizarre and esoteric fascinatingly relevant and fun. She takes us from the modern-day reenactment of an Indian massacre to the Mohegan Sun casino, from old-timey Puritan poetry, where “righteousness” is rhymed with “wilderness,” to a Mayflower-themed waterslide. Throughout, The Wordy Shipmates is rich in historical fact, humorous insight, and social commentary by one of America’s most celebrated voices. Thou shalt enjoy it.
My Thoughts: I find Sarah Vowell absolutely hilarious on "This American Life" and she definitely makes history come alive in a way nobody else does.
#47 Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. 198 pages.
Summary from Amazon.com: Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her from a distance. The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe. Because there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth. This extraordinary first novel has captured the imaginations of teenagers and adults across the country.
My Thoughts: I wish there had been YA authors like Laurie Halse Anderson when I was in High School, and I'm honestly shocked that this book is 10 years old and I had never heard of it before recently. It's sad and funny and beautiful and dark and odd and real all at once.
47 / 100 books. 47% done!
18243 / 35000 pages. 52% done!
181 / 365 days in the challenge. 50% done!