D is for Donnelly and F is for Ferris

I just finished listening to some good books.

The first is for my YA novel goal.  A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly.  I did not know at first that this was partially based on the true story of a murder case in Upstate New York.  It is the story of Mattie, a farm girl with big dreams of being a writer.  She lives with her father and sisters and is expected to help keep the farm running, especially now that her mother is dead.  She wants to go to college to learn to write, but between her father's objections and her growing feelings for a local boy, this seems like an unattainable dream.  As if that weren't enough, the dead body of a woman has just been brought to the hotel in which she works, and Mattie has evidence that the woman's death may not have been an accident.
I really enjoyed this story.  Mattie is a well developed and likable character.  It was also cool to hear the names of so many local towns in a book I was reading.

The second book is for my children's book list, although middle schoolers might like it too.  It is called Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris.  This is a funny, romantic tale about Christian, who grew up in the forest with his foster father, a troll named Ed.  He begins a long-distance friendship with Princess Marigold by using P-mail, mail delivered by pigeons.  Finally Chris decides to leave his sheltered forest life and go to the palace to get a job.  I loved this book.  The romance story was very touching, and the characters were very funny.  It had the elements of a fairy tale, with some more modern ideas and humor mixed in.

A is for Asher, and a new Gaiman novel

I've finished more books to add to my lists!

The first is another novel by Neil Gaiman for my adult novels goal.  I finally got around to reading American Gods.  It took me a while to get into this book.  At first I had no idea what was going on, and I wasn't sure if I liked the characters.  However, after a little while I finally really got into it and ended up loving the novel!  It tells the story of Shadow, who upon leaving jail is employed by the mysterious Wednesday.  He finds himself in the center of a nation-wide conflict between the old gods brought over by immigrants to America, and the new gods that many worship such as the media and technology.  The whole novel is very smart, and a great story.  It kept me surprised.  I didn't figure out the final revelation of the book until right before it was revealed, at about the same time Shadow figures it out.  I love when a book can make me gasp with surprise right up until the end.  Overall I liked Anansi Boys better for its story and characters, but American Gods was really fantastic.

My most recent YA novel is Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher.  I devoured this book because I was just dying to know what happened.  Clay goes home one day to find a set of 7 cassette tapes waiting for him.  They were recorded by Hannah, a girl from his school who killed herself two weeks previously.  She begins the tapes by saying that if you received the tapes, you are one of the reasons why she killed herself.  If that doesn't suck you in I don't know what will.  Clay spends the night listening to her story, walking all over town to various landmarks in her life.  While I sometimes got annoyed with her reasoning and tendency to blame, I think the character of Hannah was a strong narrator.  She takes the listener (and reader) on an interesting journey.  I strongly recommend this to anyone.

L is for Levithan

I just finished reading Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan.  I listened to it as an audio book.  My first impression was that the story was going to be annoying because the way it is read can be over the top sometimes.  However, once I settled in to the story and got to know the characters better I found it really enjoyable.  The story takes place in an idealized town where kids don't care about sexual or gender orientation.  The narrator is Paul, who has known he is gay since he was five.  The fact that he is gay is not the main point or a conflict in the book.  Rather, it is a story about him falling in love, and still struggling with feelings for a past boyfriend.  This is a refreshing read for teens that doesn't view being gay as being a problem.  After reading the whole book I will definitely recommend it to others.

H is for Shannon Hale

I just listened to a great YA audio book of The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale.  I shouldn't have been surprised that I loved it, because I tend to love stories that are retellings of fairy tales.  This novel tells the fairy tale of the same name by the Brothers Grimm.  It is about Ani, a princess who is betrayed by her guard and closest friend and must become a Goose Girl in a far away land before she can reclaim who she really is.  The characters are very well drawn, as is the plot.  There is always a sense of danger around Ani, and the reader feels that her peaceful life as a goose girl could be ended at any moment.

Reading like crazy

I've recently finished two wonderful novels for goal number 20.

The first is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.  This novel is a heartbreaking and touching story of family, regret, and redemption.  It is told from the point of view of Amir, who witnesses a tragedy committed against his childhood friend without doing anything to stop it.  He has to live with this decision for the rest of his life.  This novel was hard to read at points, but ultimately was worth it for its realism and the emotion it stirs.

T

The next is Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. This was one of those books that I had heard of, but I still had no idea what it is about.  It tells the story of a woman, Janie, growing up black in the 1930s.  Although she is technically 3/4ths white, and gets a lot of attention for her looks, ultimately she is considered a black woman.  Not only is this a novel about black people living in this time and place, it is truly a feminist novel in some ways.  Janie is not satisfied to always be second to the men she marries throughout her life, although it takes her some time to come to the realization that she can have some power over her own life and love.

Finishing the Han Solo Trilogy

I just finished the third book in the Han Solo Trilogy by A.C. Crispin: Rebel Dawn.  I enjoyed this trilogy as a whole, and the final book brought Han's narrative right up to where he meets a certain moisture farmer and an old man.  I think Crispin did a great job with his character and really explained where his character's mind set was in the first movie.  Of course, you know that Han isn't going to die, and he isn't going to live happily ever after with his love interest from the books.  Even so, I enjoyed this trilogy very much.  It provided good insight into the workings of Hutt society, as well as some interesting looks at Boba Fett.

More Han Solo

One more book to add for goal number 20, read 50 adult books I've never read.  This is the second in the Han Solo Trilogy: The Hutt Gambit by A.C. Crispin.  I enjoyed the continuation of the story of Han, especially because in this book he finds the love of his life:  the Millenium Falcon.  Perhaps a little too much information about the inner workings of the Hutts, especially how they reproduce, but overall enjoyable.

Percy Jackson

My "R" book for Children's chapter books is the first book in the Percy Jackson series, The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan.  I'm in the middle of the second book now, and I'm really enjoying this series.  I think Riordan was genius to come up with the idea that the Greek gods move around the world to reside in the leading nations of Western civilization.  This allows the ancient mythology to take up a new more modern life in the United States.  As a long time fan of greek mythology, it's really enjoyable to see characters, from the greatest gods, to the more minor creatures and demigods in a new way.

Zombies and Space Pirates!

I've added two new books to my complete pile

The newest adult book I've read is The Han Solo Trilogy: The Paradise Snare by A. C. Crispin.  This is the first in a trilogy.  I'm reading the second book now.  It's interesting to see the character of Han Solo when he was younger and dreamed of being an officer in the Imperial Navy.  Like all good star wars books it involved a lot of deception, romance, politics, and fighting.  I enjoyed it enough to commit to reading the whole series.  It will be interesting to see how Han goes from an street kid who doesn't want to shoot anyone, to the hunted man who shoots Greedo in cold blood in A New Hope.

My newest YA book is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith.  This is a fun book, which makes the Bennet girls into the bad-asses we all knew they were.  In between the romance and gossip of an English country town, we see zombie fights, and martial arts.  Can't wait to read Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters!

Becoming Jane Eyre

Becoming Jane Eyre by Shiela Kohler.

I was very interested to read this book, because Jane Eyre has been one of my favorite novels for many years.  I did not know much about Charlotte Bronte and her sisters, so I was looking forward to reading more about their lives.

I am not sure how much of this book was hard fact.  I know that many details of the Brontes' lives are unknown, and in those cases Kohler did a good job imagining what might have happened.  I thought she did a good job capturing the struggles of the Brontes' lives.  All of the siblings died very young, and they were never very prosperous.  My favorite parts were when the three sisters were interacting and discussing their different novels.  Kohler captured the support as well as competition that I imagine was present in a family of such creative individuals. 

The only thing I didn't always like was how many points of view the novel tries to cover.  I liked hearing from the different sisters, but I'm not sure I would have chosen to write from their father's point of view.  I probably would have just preferred it from Charlotte's point of view.  Also, the book is written in present tense.  At first this bothered me because I wasn't used to it.  However, once I was used to it this style helped me feel like I was standing in the room with this family, observing their daily life.

Book updates

Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper.

I have to admit, I have gotten sucked right in to this fantasy series.  The last children's fantasy series I read - Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles - were a little heavy-handed, so I wasn't expecting a lot here.  Now I can say I should not have lost faith is what has always been one of my favorite genres.

I'm not saying Cooper's stories are the most complex things I have ever read, although I felt a bit mind-blown during one reveal in this book's sequel, The Dark is Rising.  The story was a quick read, and exciting towards the end.  I still have many questions since I am just finishing up the second book of the five-book series.  I love the use of ancient English mythology in these books so far.  It isn't something I've been over-exposed to.  I feel like there are many legends I don't know, that I will happily discover through these books.  Looking forward to the rest of the series.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

When I was reading this book I was completely enthralled with the characters, and the voice of Suzie Salmon.  I thought using the voice of the dead Suzie was a very interesting way to learn about her family members in a very intimate way.  It was a good insight into a family's process of grieving and moving on with their lives.

Shiver: My first YA book for the list

I just finished Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater for task number 22. This is a young adult novel about Grace, a girl who has always been fascinated about the wolves that roam the woods near her house. She is particularly attracted to one wolf with yellow eyes who saved her from his fellow wolves in an attack when she was younger.

Grace eventually finds out that this wolf is Sam, a werewolf. Wolves in this book are human in the warm summer months, and become wolves when cold hits.
Unfortunately, their summers are limited, and this may be Sam's last one.

Sam and Grace meet and are instantly in love. The book was good, but a little disappointing. It was slow moving, and the two characters were immediately in love, even citing their time as two different species as part of their long relationship. Sometimes the voice of the characters was good, and they were compelling, but at other times the language was too flowery. Sam especially was a little too emo and poetic for my tastes. It was a quick read, and especially at the end I was hooked into the plot, wanting to know what happened. I just had higher expectations for this one.

I, Claudius

I started working towards goal number twenty today: Read 50 adult books I’ve never read before. I finished the remarkable I, Claudius by Robert Graves. Not knowing much about the history of Ancient Rome, I wasn't sure if I would find the subject of this novel boring or difficult to relate to. It was quite the opposite. The book is a fictional autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius, who was considered to be an idiot and an invalid by his family. He manages to survive several previous Emperor, all of his family to become emperor.

The book is fascinating because it is really less about Claudius than about his family members. We get his perspective on everyone from his manipulative grandmother Livia, his cruel uncle the Emperor Tiberius, and his nephew, the mad Caligula. I just found out there is a companion book that goes more into Claudius's reign, which I must read.

23. Go to a book signing

I consider this goal complete when/if: I go to an author's book signing and get a book signed by him or her

Why it's on my list: I like hearing authors read and talk, but I'm usually too shy to get my book signed by them

This goal will be written about when complete

Goal Status: complete

22. Read YA books by authors starting with every letter from A-Z

I consider this goal complete when/if: I have read a book written by a YA author whose name starts with each letter of the alphabet.

Why this is on my list: I love young adult literature, and am going to be a school librarian. I'd like to read wider in this category of books.

I will update in this blog

Goal status: In progress (17/26)
Asher, Jay.  Thirteen Reasons Why
Bray, Libba Going Bovine
Cabot, Meg Jinx
Donnelly, Jennifer.  A Northern Light
E
Forman, Gayle.  If I Stay
Grahame-Smith, Seth, and Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Hale, Shannon The Goose Girl
I
Jocelyn, Marthe Would You
King, A. S. Please Ignore Vera Dietz
Levithan, David.  Boy Meets Boy
Meyers, Walter Dean Handbook for Boys
N
Oliver, Lauren Before I Fall
Peck, Richard The River Between Us
Q
Reinhardt, Dana.  Harmless
Stiefvater, Maggie Shiver
T
U
V
Winters, Ben H. and Jane Austen.  Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
X
Y
Zusak, Markus The Book Thief

21. Read children’s chapter books by authors starting with every letter from A-Z

I consider this goal complete when/if: At the end of 1001 days I have read 26 children's books -- by authors whose lasts names begin with each letter of the alphabet.

Why it's on my list: I am going to be a school librarian and I want to continue reading children's literature in preparation.

This goal will be tracked by various posts in this blog


Goal Status: To Do (13/26)
A
Barry, Dave Peter and the Star Catchers
Cooper, Susan.  Over Sea, Under Stone
D
E
Ferris, Jean.  Once Upon a Marigold  
Gaiman, Neil Coraline
Henkes, Kevin. Olive's Ocean
I
J
Korman, Gordon One False Note
Le Guin Ursula, A Wizard of Earthsea
Martin, Ann M.  A Corner of the Universe
N
Osborne, Mary Pope The Magic Tree House book 1
Paterson, Katherine.  Bread and Roses Too
Q
Riordan, Rick. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The lightning Thief
S
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit
U
V
Wood, Maryrose.  The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1: The Mysterious Howling
X
Y
Z

20. Read 30 adult books I’ve never read before

I consider this goal complete when/if: I have completely read 30 books written for an adult audience in 1001 days

Why this is on my list: I love reading, and wanted a goal to live up to.

I will update as I read my books in this blog

Goal status: in progress (19/30)

1. I, Claudius
2. The Lovely Bones
3.  Becoming Jane Eyre
4. The Han Solo Trilogy: The Paradise Snare
5. The Han Solo Trilogy: The Hutt Gambit
6.  The Han Solo Trilogy: Rebel Dawn
7. Anansi Boys
8. The Kite Runner
9. Their Eyes were Watching God
10. American Gods
11.  The Complete Sherlock Holmes Volume I
12. The Bedwetter, Sarah Silverman
13.  Shutter Island
14. Room by Emma Donoghue
15. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
16. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
17. Bossypants by Tina Fey
18. The Help by Katherine Stockett
19.  I'm a stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson

19. Read 5 Shakespeare plays that I haven’t read before

I consider this goal complete when/if: At the end of 1001 days I have read five Shakespeare Plays that I've never read before

Why it's on my list: I love Shakespeare and would like to continue experiencing his work

This goal will be tracked by various posts in this blog


Goal Status: To Do (0/5)

18. Read 5 of my writing books

I consider this goal complete when/if: At the end of 1001 days I have read five of my current books about writing.

Why it's on my list: I have many of these books and need to actually read them.

This goal will be tracked by various posts in this blog


Goal Status: To Do (0/5)