VioletBramble's 2017 Category Challenge

Hi! I'm Kelly. This will be my 7th year participating in the Category Challenge. This year my challenge categories are based on episode titles from the television show Gilmore Girls. Gilmore Girls is one of my top ten favorite television shows and Rory Gilmore, voracious reader, is one of my favorite characters. For those who may not be familiar with Gilmore Girls; the show is about a single mother, Lorelei, and her teenaged daughter, Rory, who live in the small, quirky town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut.



Rory's love of reading is a big part of the show. Fans of the show have created The Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge. The challenge is to see how many of the 339 books mentioned during the series seven seasons you can read (or have already read). Rory Gilmore Reading List


For this years challenge I have 17 categories - just because I was still able to come up with 17 categories. ( I have 18 categories for 2018s challenge, but after that I will have to come up with a new plan) I'm not planning on any set number of books per category. I'm also hoping to get more time to spend on LT this year and to write reviews on more books than I managed last year.
Happy Reading and Happy New Year!

The Hobbit, the Sofa and Digger Stiles - fantasy

1) Ink and Bone (The Great Library)- Rachel Caine
2) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay- J.K. Rowling
3) Summerlong- Peter S Beagle

Reading list:
Ink and Bone (The Great Library)- Rachel Caine ✔
The Iron Dragon's Daughter- Michael Swanwick (mar) - didn't finish
Summerlong- Peter S Beagle (mar) ✔

A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving - books by Korean-American authors or books set in Korea

1) The Orphan Master's Son- Adam Johnson
2) Silvern - Christina Farley
3) Brazen - Christina Farley

Reading list:
Native Speaker- Chang-Rae Lee
The Calligrapher's Daughter: A Novel- Eugenia Kim (sept)
The Orphan Master's Son- Adam Johnson (apr) ✔
Brazen (The Gilded Series) - Christina Farley (jun) ✔
Silvern (The Gilded Series) - Christina Farley (jun) ✔

Blame Booze and Melville - fiction

1) Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage- Haruki Murakami
2) Welcome to Braggsville- T. Geronimo Johnson
3) Angle of Repose- Wallace Stegner
4) State of Wonder- Ann Patchett
5) Speak- Louisa Hall
6) The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay- Michael Chabon

Reading list:
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay- Michael Chabon ✔
State of Wonder- Ann Patchett (jul) ✔
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage- Haruki Murakami ✔
Angle of Repose- Wallace Stegner (apr) ✔
Welcome to Braggsville - T. Geronimo Johnson ✔
Speak- Louisa Hall ✔

Dead Uncles and Vegetables - mysteries

1) Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter - Tom Frankin
2) How the Light Gets In- Louise Penny
3) The Long Way Home- Louise Penny

Reading list:
How the Light Gets In - Louise Penny ✔
The Long Way Home- Louise Penny ✔
The Nature of the Beast- Louise Penny
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter- Tom Franklin (may) ✔
The Transcendental Murder - Jane Langton - did not finish

Love & War & Snow - short stories

1) The Ballad of the Sad Cafe and Other Stories- Carson McCullers
2) The House on Mango Street - Sandra Cisneros
3) The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven- Alexie Sherman

Reading list:
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven- Alexie Sherman ✔
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe: and Other Stories- Carson McCullers ✔
The House on Mango Street- Sandra Cisneros (jul) ✔

Tippecanoe and Taylor, Too - politics and history

1) The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot- Naomi Wolf
2) March: Book One - John Lewis
3) March: Book Two- Johns Lewis
4) March: Book Three- John Lewis

Reading list:
It Can't Happen Here- Sinclair Lewis
The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot- Naomi Wolf ✔
A People's History of the United States- Howard Zinn (jun)
Dancing at the Devil's Party: Essays on Poetry, Politics and the Erotic- Alice Striker (aug)

Back in the Saddle Again- picking up series I haven't read in a few years

1) The Magician King- Lev Grossman
2) The Magician's Land- Lev Grossman
3) Goldenhand- Garth Nix
4) Lair of Dreams - Libba Bray
5) The Broken Eye- Brent Weeks

Reading list:
Lair of Dreams A Diviner's Novel - Libba Bray (nov) ✔
The Broken Eye (Lightbringer) - Brent Weeks (dec) ✔
The Magician King (The Magicians) - Lev Grossman ✔
The Magicians Land (The Magicians) - Lev Grossman ✔
Goldenhand (Old Kingdom) - Garth Nix (jun) ✔

Tick, Tick, Tick, Boom! - steampunk and dystopian fiction

1) The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
2)

Reading list:
The Affinity Bridge- George Mann (sep)
The Windup Girl- Paolo Bacigalupi (apr) ✔
Stand on Zanzibar- John Brunner (jul)
The Water Knife - Paolo Bacigalupi (oct)

We Got Us A Pippi Virgin - children's literature

1) The Story of the Blue Planet- Andri Snaer Magnason
2) The Girl Who Drank the Moon- Kelly Barnhill
3) The Island of Dr. Libris- Chris Grabenstein
4) Matilda- Roald Dahl
5) Madame Pamplemousse and her Incredible Edibles - Rupert Kingfisher
6) Madame Pamplemousse and the Time-Travelling Cafe- Rupert Kingfisher

Reading list:
The Island of Dr. Libris- Chris Grabenstein ✔
The Fourteenth Goldfish- Jennifer L Holm (sep)
Matilda - Roald Dahl ✔
The Story of the Blue Planet- Andri Snaer Magnuson ✔

Paris is Burning - fiction and nonfiction set in, or about, Paris

1) The Dud Avocado - Elaine Dundy
2) Markets of Paris - Dixon and Ruthann Long
3) The Patisseries of Paris - Jamie Cahill
4) My Life in France- Julia Child

Reading list:
My Life in France- Julia Child (apr) ✔
The Dud Avocado- Elaine Dundy ✔
Markets of Paris Food, Antiques, Artisanal Crafts, Books and More, with Restaurant Recommendations ✔
The Patisseries of Paris: Chocolatiers, Tea Salons, Ice Cream Parlors, and more ✔

Introducing Lorelei Planetarium - books about the universe

1)
2)

Reading list:
The Elegant Universe- Brian Greene (apr)
The Fabric of the Cosmos- Brian Greene

Always a Godmother, Never a God -- books on spirituality, religion, myth

1)The Power of Myth- Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers
2)Shambhala : The Sacred Path of the Warrior- Chögyam Trungpa
3)Taking the Leap- Pema Chödrön
4)Ramayana - Sanjay Patel

Reading list:
The Power of Myth- Joseph Campbell ✔
Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior- Chogyam Trungpa ✔

Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days -- summer reads, books about summer, 'light" reads

1) This One Summer- Jillian Tamaki, Mariko Tamaki
2) We Learn Nothing: Essays- Tim Kreider
3) You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)- Felicia Day
4) The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray

Reading list:
This One Summer - Mariko Tamaki ✔
We Learn Nothing: Essays- Tim Greider ✔
Oral Sadism and the Vegetarian Personality- Glenn Ellenbogen (dec)
The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray: A Critical Appreciation of the World's Finest Actor ✔
You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) - Felicia Day (may) ✔

Help Wanted - misc non-fiction, self-help, instructional

1) How to Relax- Thich Nhat Hanh
2) The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It For Life- Twyla Tharp
3) The Outliers- Malcolm Gladwell

Reading list:
The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It For Life - Twyla Tharp (may) ✔
How to Relax (Mindfulness Essentials) - Thich Nhat Hanh ✔
The Outliers- Malcolm Gladwell ✔

Star-Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers --young adult

1) The Weight of Feathers- Anna-Marie McLenore
2) The Most Dangerous Place on Earth- Lindsey Lee Johnson
3) The Square Root of Summer- Harriet Reuter Hapgood
4) Caraval- Stephanie Garber
5) The Last Leaves Falling- Sarah Bernwell

Reading list:
The Weight of Feathers- Anna-Marie McLemore ✔
The Last Leaves Falling- Sarah Bernwell ✔
The Square Root of Summer- Harrier Reuter Haploid ✔
The Most Dangerous Place on Earth - Lindsey Lee Johnson ✔

Love, Daisies & Troubadours -- poetry

1) Brown Girl Dreaming- Jacqueline Woodson
2) Milk and Honey - Rupi Kaur
3) Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude - Ross Gay
4) How to be Drawn- Terrance Hayes
5) Scattered at Sea- Amy Gerstner
6)Out of the Dust- Karen Hess

Reading list:
Brown Girl Dreaming - Jacqueline Woodson ✔
Out of the Dust- Karen Hesse (sep) ✔
Scattered at Sea- Amy Gerstler (jun) ✔
Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude- Ross Gay ✔
How to be Drawn- Terrence Hayes ✔

Norman Mailer, I'm Pregnant! -- unplanned reading

1) Introvert Doodles - Maureen "Marzi" Wilson
2) Thessaly: Witch for Hire
3) Taller Tales
4) Transmetropolitan: Back on the Street
5) My Favorite Thing is Monsters
6) Goldie Vance- Hope Larson
7) Buffy The High School Years: Freaks & Geeks - Faith Erin Hicks, Yishan Li
8) Proposition Player
9) Sleeper: Season One
10) Sleeper: Season Two
11) Goldie Vance: Volume Two
12) The Music Shop

Planned Reading for the AwardsCAT, CATWoman and SFF/SFFF KIT

JAN:
Classics by Women:
Dud Avocado ✔
Ballad of the Sad Cafe ✔

SFF/SFFF you should have read in 2016:
The Magician King ✔

FEB:
Award: The Morning News Tournament of Books:
Welcome to Braggsville ✔

MAR:
This One Summer (Caldecott) ✔
Brown Girl Dreaming- (Newbery) ✔
The Iron Dragon's Daughter- (World Fantasy Award) - didn't finish

SFF/SFFF Religion
Summerlong ✔

APR:
Pulitzer:
Angle of Repose ✔
The Orphan Master's Son ✔

Women's Bio/Auto/Memoir:
My Life in France ✔

SFF/SFFF Dystopian/Ap
The Windup Girl ✔

MAY:
Edgar:
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter ✔

Women in the Arts (hosting):
The Creative Habit ✔
You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) ✔

JUN:
National Book Award:
Scattered at Sea ✔

SFF/SFFF Series:
Goldenhand ✔
Brazen ✔
Silvern ✔

JUL:
Bailey's:
State of Wonder ✔

Women of Color:
The House on Mango Street ✔

Hugo:
Stand on Zanzibar

AUG:
Women's NonFiction;
Dancing at the Devil's Party

SEPT:
Women's - Children's lit. YA and graphic novels:
Out of the Dust ✔

Steampunk:
The Affinity Bridge

OCT:
Women- Regional:
The Calligrapher's Daughter

SFF/SFFF - Near Future:
The Water Knife

NOV:
New York City Book Award:
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay ✔

SFF/SFFF Historical:
Lair of Dreams ✔
Speak ✔

DEC:
Diagram Prize For the Oddest Title of the Year 1986 (prize from another country (England)):
Oral Sadism and the Vegetarian Personality

SFF/SFFF Magic Systems (hosting)
Broken Eye ✔

Books bought in 2017:
1) Night Sky With Exit Wounds
2) Ariel
3) A Tiding of Magpies
4) The Book Thief - anniversary hard cover to replace my paperback copy.
5) Introvert Doodles
6) The Invisible Library
7) Madame Pamplemousse and the Time- Traveling Cafe
8) Our Revolution
9) Vivas to Those Who Have Failed
10) Rabbit Cake
11) The Underground Railroad
*** thingaversary books
12) The Gut Makeover
13) The Vegetarian Student Cookbook
14) Pop Sonnets
15) Carmer and Grit
16) The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
17) Ten Dead Comedians
18) The Mystery of the Ivory Charm
19) The Brothers Grimm 101 Fairy Tales
20) Peter Pan (Word Cloud Classics)
21) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Tales (Word Cloud Classics)
22) Caraval
***
23) All The Birds in The Sky
24) The Best American Poetry 2016
25) Another Brooklyn
26) As Brave As You
27) Homegoing
28) The Invisible Orientation
29) Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone- Ravenclaw edition
30) Moby Dick
31) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
32) The Odyssey
33) The U.S. Constitution and Other Key American Writings
34) Leaves of Grass
35) A Great Reckoning
36) The Essex Serpent
37) The Animators
38) Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Goo
39) A Court of Thorns and Roses
40) My Favorite Thing is Monsters
41) Born a Crime
42) Ancient Trees
43) Everything I Never Told You
44) When Breathe Becomes Air
45) Lab Girl
46) Slaughterhouse Five
47) Akata Witch
48) The Lovely Bones
49) A Man Called Ove
50) Cold Pastoral
51) There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce
52) Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk
53) Letters to the Lost
54) The Secret Loves of Geek Girls
55) Girl in Disguise
56) Madame Pamplemousse and her Incredible Edibles
57) On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century
58) The Last Magician
60) No is not Enough
61) Stephen Florida
62) The Girls
63) The Hidden Life of Trees
64) Bad Feminist
65) Notorious RBG
66) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
67) WarCross
68) Wonder Woman: Warbringer
69) The Language of Thorns
70) Dandelion Wine
71) The Bedlam Stacks
72) The Best American Poetry 2017
73) Memoirs of a Polar Bear
74) The Good Witch's Guide
75) The Librarians and the Lost Lamp
76) Binti
77) The Handmaid's Tale
78) Doctor Who
79) The Gone World
80) Blackwing
81) The Secret History of Wonder Woman
82) Redshirts
83) A Farewell to Ice
84) Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York
85) Nevernight
86) Godsgrave
87) Neverwhere
88) Black Widow Red Vengeance
89) Practical Magic
90) Harry Potter A Journey Through a History of magic
91) The Sun and her Flowers
92) The Princess saves Herself in This One
93) We Are Okay
94) Winter of Our Discontent
95) Caramelo
96) You Are a Badass
97) Autumn
98) Goldie Vance Vol 2
99) Woman Hollering Creek
100) Devotions
101) The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck
102) The End We Start From
103) The Comet Seekers

Planned Reading for January:

CATWoman:
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe
The Dud Avocado

SFF/SFFF:
The Magician King

RandomCAT:
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay

Other reading:
Ink and Bone
The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot
The Story of the Blue Planet

For the holidays I got two cool book related gifts. My friend Andrean, who last year made me some very pretty Book Cover marshmallow treats, made me a glass. She has a special machine that makes the cut-outs and then she applies them to the glass. My sister gave me a Canvas on Demand of a bookshelf to color. I plan to color in a book on the canvas whenever I finish reading one of my challenge books.

Welcome back! I love the picture for your steampunk category, and the glass is beautiful! Looking forward to following your reading in 2017. :)

Love your theme and the way you've chosen episode titles to fit your categories! I almost used "The Hobbit, the Sofa and the Digger Stiles" as my fantasy category also. :) Looking forward to seeing what you read!

I love your categories. My daughter and I started watching Gilmore Girls a few months ago, and we've made it to about midway through season 4. I just hope Netflix doesn't decide to take them off before we can finish them all.

>22 rabbitprincess: Thanks rp. I don't remember where I found that gold dalek on wheels but I think it's really pretty.

>23 christina_reads: Thanks Christina.

>24 virginiahomeschooler: Thanks. I'm sure you'll have time to watch all the Gilmore Girls episodes before they disappear from Netflix. They have the new series to promote and seven seasons of old episodes is a good draw.

I see some books I'm interested in on your planned reading list, particularly in your Paris category.

You've set up a really fun challenge. I'm starring and looking forward to your reviews. Should I admit that I've only seen one episode of The Gilmore Girls? I keep meaning to go back and see more.
>21 VioletBramble: What a great, and creative, friend!

This is a great set-up, I really need to take a closer look at Rory Gilmore!

Bacigalupi is one of my favorite. Authors and Windup Girl one of my favorite books. I hope you enjoy them too!

I really enjoyed the recent episodes of the Gilmore Girls though I was a little disappointed that Rory let Logan mistreat her so.

Have a wonderful year!

Great categories and I am looking forward to following along once again.

>21 VioletBramble: I love the quote, it also applies to me. I feel a little uneasy if I end up somewhere with no book. And if there happens to be a little time to read, and I have no book? Then I'm gutted ;)
Happy new year and happy reading to you.

Great categories! I'll look forward to following along.

Wow-great categories!

Love your categories, I'm a huge Gilmore Girls fan. The four part special fell a little flat for me, but there are episodes from the early seasons that I could watch over and over again.

>26 dudes22: Hi Betty. Thanks for visiting my thread.

>27 mstrust: Hi Jennifer. I read your short story noir earlier. Very nice - and congratulations. You should definitely make time to watch more Gilmore Girls.

>28 MissWatson: Thank you.

>29 mamzel: The two Bacigalupi books on my challenge will be the first time I've read him. I've heard great things.
I was disappointed in the whole portrayal of Rory in the new series. It's as if she hasn't grown up at all.

>30 DeltaQueen50: Thanks Judy.

>31 LovingLit: Hi Meghan. Nice to see you over here in the category challenge. Happy New Year!

>32 VivienneR: Thanks Vivienne.

>33 Tess_W: Thank you Tess

>34 lsh63: Hi Lisa. I agree, the new Gilmore Girls was not as good as the original. They should have changed more and matured over the 10 years.

1) Ink and Bone (The Great Library)- Rachel Caine
Fantasy, Alternate history, Libraries, Books about books, Series
Pages: 384
Rating:

This book is set in 2025 in an alternate history (future?) where the Great Library of Alexandria was not lost to fire. The Great Library is now the main library in a world wide network of libraries. The library controls access to books and knowledge. It also controls the distribution of news and information. Everyone receives messages on iPad-like devices. In this world people are not allowed to own physical books.
Jess Brightwell comes from a family in the black market book business. They steal and sell rare original books to those who can afford to pay. Jess is pressed into service as a book runner by his father. His favorite part of running books is getting to read the rare volumes. His father realizes that Jess is not really cut out for the rougher aspects of the family business. He decides to buy Jess a chance to enter the Library Training Program. If he is admitted, and passes, Jess can become a scholar in the library. Once inside he will be able to smuggle books out for his family to sell. Jess is thrilled- he has secretly dreamed of becoming a scholar in the library. But shortly after Jess becomes a postulant in the training program he realizes that what's happening inside the library is not what he expected and that his life is in danger.
I felt pulled into the story immediately. I liked the world building and the many multi-layered characters. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series. Highly recommended.

Just as an aside: The author, Rachel Caine, included a soundtrack list at the end of the book. Since I enjoyed the book-- and the world building-- I checked out all 50 songs on the list. The list was extremely heavy with Celtic music -- particularly for a book set in London, Oxford, and Alexandria. I ended up making a short -- 12 song-- Ink and Bone soundtrack. Mine has less Celtic music, which I enjoy in limited amounts. For those who may be interested, here is my soundtrack playlist:
1) Santiago - Lorena McKennitt
2) Come With Me Now - Kongos
3) The Resistance- 2Cellos
4) The Engine Room - Runrig
5) Dolan's 6AM - Beoga
6) Benedictus- 2Cellos
7) Supermassive Black Hole- 2Cellos feat. Maya Rivera
8) The Story That Never Starts - Abney Park
9) The Oak & Holly Kings - The Dolmen
10) Mombasa - 2Cellos
11) Take Me To Church - Hozier
12) To Be Alone- Hozier

2) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay- JK Rowling
Screenplay, Fantasy, Harry Potter, RandomCAT
Pages: 293
Rating:

This is the screenplay for the movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It's a story built around the original book with this title, which is part of a set of Harry Potter school textbooks.I had seen the movie before reading the screenplay, which was helpful in making sense of the stage directions in sections that were a little technical.
Newt Scamander, Magizoologist, travels to 1926 New York City. He is on his way to Arizona to release a Thunderbird in it's natural habitat. Before Newt can head west a few of the fantastic beasts he is carrying in his magical case get loose and cause havoc in New York City. This brings Newt to the attention of MACUSA - The Magical Congress of the USA. Specifically, Tina Goldstein, ex-auror. Tina, her sister Queenie and a No-Maj (aka Muggle) named Jacob Kowalski help Newt locate his beasts. This story is tied to the world of the Harry Potter books by the presence of the evil wizard Grindelwald.
I enjoyed the story -- and the movie. I love visiting the magical world of JK Rowling.
My one issue with the book is the random doodles throughout. I liked the doodles of the beasts but the other doodles were just there to take up space. The book could have easily been 40-50 pages shorter without all the doodles.

I got my Gilmore Girls POP! figures today. I love them. I think Sookie looks the best

>36 VioletBramble: - I think I might take a BB on this. You've made it sound very interesting although I'm not usually drawn to books set in alternate/future worlds.

>36 VioletBramble: BB for me too! I've seen a few review of Ink and Bone, but yours is the first to convince me that I need to add it to my TBR!

Fun categories & set up. I just started watching Gilmore Girls a few months ago. These people drive me a little crazy but it's doing something right because I'm almost done with the 6th season. :)

3) The Magician King- Lev Grossman
Magic, Series, Fiction, Fantasy, SFF/SFFFKIT
Pages: 400
Rating:

The second book in the Magicians Trilogy. Picked for the SFF/SFFF KIT for a book I should have read in 2016. I meant to read this book last year when I started watching the SyFy television series based on the books. Season 1 is adapted from parts of the first two books and I had only read the first book -- years ago.
Quentin, Julia, Eliot and Janet are the Kings and Queens of the magical land of Fillory. Fillory is one of many worlds to which the magicians (who are from Earth) have access. Quentin is still the main protagonist. Luckily he has matured a little and is less whiny so his chapters are not as difficult to get through in this second book. Quentin is bored. He sets out on a quest to collect taxes from the Outer Islands. Julia goes with him. His quest turns into a quest to save magic in all of the multiple worlds. The quest chapters alternate with chapters that tell Julia's story. Julia's story occurs during Quentin's time at Brakebills College for Magic (book 1). Her chapters explain why Julia seems changed, possibly no longer human.
While I preferred the school setting of the first book, the second book was a much quicker read, easier to get through, the characters less annoying and occasionally funny. The ending was good.
"This isn't how it ends!" Quentin said. " I am the hero of this god-damned story, Ember! Remember? And the hero gets the reward."
"No, Quentin," the ram said. "The hero pays the price"

I like the books. The television show is much better. I'm looking forward to season 2 starting on the 25th.

4) Ballad of the Sad Cafe and Other Stories- Carson McCullers
Short stories
Pages: 152
Rating:

This is a collection of one novella (Ballad of the Sad Cafe) and 6 short stories. McCuller's prose is beautiful. Events unfold slowly. This is southern gothic literature, but of the lonely outcast/misfit variety, not the depressing bleakness of the stories of Flannery O'Connor.

>39 dudes22:, >40 christina_reads: Yay! I hope you enjoy the book

>41 madhatter22: I know what you mean about Gilmore Girls. After watching it for years I realized that I find Lorelai obnoxious and her humor often childish. She's most obnoxious in season 7 after the Palladino's lost control of the show.

Love the setup for your category reading!

>37 VioletBramble: - That cover is fabulous!

>44 VioletBramble: I've started season 7 and I'm seeing what you mean!

Just sharing because I'm gonna miss these guys.

Love the set-up and enthusiasm - good luck with your 2017 reading

Love your setup. And I'll be on the lookout for Ink and Bone.

Today women and their male allies marched in over 300 cities across the USA and around the world. I marched in the Women's March in NYC. The streets were packed. My group was actually stuck at 2nd Ave and 49th street for about 30 mins. We finally made it to Trump Tower at 1430. The church across the street started ringing their bells. It took us about a minute to recognize that they were playing This Land is My Land. Best part of a great day.

>45 lkernagh: Hi Lori. Thanks for visiting.

>46 madhatter22: Oh, yeah. I actually just watched the season one episode where she gives the tickets to the Bangles concert --- Sookie's tickets --- to the Chilton girls. Those aren't your concert tickets to give away Lorelei.

>48 ErinPaperbackstash: Thanks Erin. Good luck with your 2017 reading challenge as well.

>49 markon: Thank you. Oh good, I hope you find it and enjoy it.

5)The Story of the Blue Planet- Andri Snaer Magnason
Translated from the Icelandic by Julian Meldon D'Arcy
Illustrated by Aslaug Jonsdottir
Children's literature
Pages: 135
Rating:

The Blue Planet is a planet full of children that never grew up. Only children - and plants and animals- live on the planet. The children are wild and do what they want. Once a year a cave full of sleeping butterflies would awaken and circle the entire planet in a day. It was the happiest day in the year.
One day a grown-up, in a spaceship, lands on a small island on the blue planet. He convinces the children on the island that they are bored. He shows them how to have fun all the time if they pay him a bit of their youth. The children discover that their fun is hurting children on the other side of the planet. They refuse to go back to being bored until one of the children volunteers to sacrifice his heart to fix the situation.
This is a story about how all our actions have consequences; for ourselves, for others, and for the planet.

Today I went to The Hall of Magic, an interactive installation of rooms based on places in The Magicians series of books by Lev Grossman. It's taking place all week to celebrate the second season of the television show, which starts tonight. The top two photos are from the Library. The room with the wall of bottles is the Apothecary. The blue glowing bottles are in the classroom. The bottom pic is me, as a constellation, in the Constellation room.
In the Apothecary Room there was a woman who read your palm and sorted you into your magic house. In The Magicians there is physical magic, psychic magic, healing magic, herbalists, naturalists, etc. Since I'm a nurse who studies herbal medicine I went in wondering if I might get sorted as a healer or an herbalist. I heard a few people ahead of me picked as healers. That woman looked at my hand and said to me " You love to read. You love to learn. You love knowledge. You have knowledge magic". I was floored because I do love all those things. Of course anyone looking at me can tell I'm a huge nerd, so maybe just a lucky guess on her part. I didn't even know there was knowledge magic, but I am stupidly jazzed to have been sorted into that house.

>53 VioletBramble: I haven't seen the show or even read the books yet, but this looks really fun. This and your earlier post about the 2nd book made me want to finally get around to The Magicians.

>54 madhatter22: While I would normally recommend the books over the movie/show, in this case, I'd recommend you watch the show.

6) The Dud Avocado- Elaine Dundy
CATWoman, Fiction, Paris
Pages: 260
Rating:

Set in 1950s Paris, France. Sally Jay Gorce is an American girl on her own in Paris. In her formative years Sally Jay frequently ran away from home. Her rich Uncle Roger made a deal with her just before her 13th birthday. Stop running away, graduate high school and college and he would pay for her to go anywhere she wants for two years. It is Sally's greatest desire to be on her own with no one to answer to, stay out all night, eat and drink what she likes and have sex. Along the way she falls in love with all the wrong people, does some acting, aways dresses inappropriately for the occasion, and unknowingly gets involved with a stolen passport/ prostitution scheme.
The book was funny in places. The last half of the book was a quick read as there was more going on. While the book was good it never really pulled me into it's world. I didn't really like Sally Jay. She's scatter brained, always losing things and making bad decisions, but I got the feeling that the reader is supposed to think that she's intelligent.
About the title: " His avocado arrived and he looked at it lovingly. "The Typical American Girl." he said addressing it. " A hard center with the tender meat all wrapped up in a shiny casing." He began eating it. "How I love them" he murmured greedily. "So green - so eternally green". Sally Jay declares herself a dud.

7) The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot - Naomi Wolf
Politics, NonFiction
Pages: 176
Rating:

A "letter' written by Wolf during the George W Bush era detailing why she believes that the Republican party is strategizing to become a permanent majority and keep control of the US government. She lists the ten steps a leader will take to " close down a democracy or crush a prodemocratic movement, whether by capitalists, communists or right-wing fascists."

The ten steps:
1) Invoke an External and Internal Treat
2) Establish secret prisons
3) Develop a Paramilitary Force
4) Survey Ordinary Citizens
5) Infiltrate Citizen Groups
6) Arbitrarily Detain and Release Civilians
7) Target Key Individuals
8) Restrict the Press
9) Cast Criticism as "espionage" and Dissent as 'treason"
10) Subvert the rule of law

Wolf gives examples of how GWB put all these steps into action. The book was written before Obama won the 2008 election. According to Wolf if the Republicans had won America would have become a fascist state. Now the USA has a new president who is already putting these steps into action. Some of them he can skip -- the secret prisons and paramilitary forces of the Bush era still exist. It's a very scary time. Wolf's main advice to defeat a fascist take over of the government, is for all Americans to become and remain "awoke".

Recap for January:

Books read in 2017: 7
Books read in Jan: 7
Books off the shelf 2017: 7
Fiction: 6
NonFiction: 1
Male author: 2
Female author: 5
Pages read in 2017: 1800
Books bought in 2017: 2

In November I went to California with my sister, niece and some friends. My niece and I needed to return home before everyone else because of work and school. The day we left someone told us that the really good vegetarian restaurants were on Valencia. I recognized the name of the street from the Talk like a Pirate Day treasure hunt at LT as one of the answers - The Pirate Supply Shop 826 Valencia. I asked my sister to stop by the shop and take a photo if she actually went to Valencia. She went and sent me a photo. I forgot all about it until the other day. My sister hosted "Cousin's Day" at her house this past Saturday. She handed me a box and said "Oh, I got these for you in San Francisco and forgot about them".



She got the patch, which is an 826 in the shape of a sea serpent because she thought it was cool. I have discovered that the coins, which I wanted to call doubloons, are actually called Reales ( the silver) and Escudos ( the gold).

Planned Reading for February:

AwardCAT: Morning News Tournament of Books:
Welcome to Braggsville- T. Geronimo Johnson

RandomCAT:
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage - Haruki Murakami

Other reading:
March: Book One - John Lewis
March : Book Two - John Lewis
March: Book Three- John Lewis
The Melt Method- Sue Hitman
The Weight of Feathers- Anna-Marie McLemore
The Transcendental Murder- Jane Langton

>58 VioletBramble: Ooh. Haven't gone into the pirate supply store in quite a while. My nephews would love some of those coins! Love that patch design too. Thanks for the reminder. Did you get to any of the veggie restaurants?

Dropping a comment so that I get to follow your thread - happy reading! (I'm a little behind, so apologies for the generic comment - better to come, I hope.) :)

>60 madhatter22: I didn't get to go to Valencia at all. My sister and friends did eat in some of the vegetarian restaurants there. They tortured me by texting photos of good food while I was at work.

>61 -Eva-: Hi Eva! Thanks for visiting. No worries. I'm frequently very far behind on threads. Sometimes I read all the threads but don't post anything. Depends on my mood.

>36 VioletBramble: Ink and Bone sounds great - I'll take a BB.
>47 VioletBramble: Me too.
>50 VioletBramble: Great pics, thanks for sharing!

>64 LisaMorr: - Hi Lisa! I hope you enjoy Ink and Bone. I miss Obama more every day.

LT went down or glitched as I was posting my books up in >63 VioletBramble: and I lost my whole review. I tried a few days later but it was officially down. I'm now going to do a really quick catch up to bring me to the end of February. This next week will be really busy so I'm sure I won't complete any more books this month.

8) March: Book One- John Lewis, Andrew Aydin Illustrated by Nate Powell
Memoir, Graphic novel, Civil rights, Selma, Politics
Pages: 128
9) March: Book Two
Pages: 192
10) March: Book There
Pages: 256
Overall rating:

This is Representative John Lewis' (5th District, Georgia) autobiography in graphic novel form. The story starts with two young boys meeting Representative Lewis in Washington, DC on the January 2009 inauguration day of Barack Obama. He tells them about his involvement in the civil rights movement. Book One covers his young years growing up on a farm and as a child preacher. It includes the lunch counter sit-ins that started the peaceful (on the part of the protestors, anyway) protests for civil rights. Book Two tells about the Freedom Riders, the various non-violent student groups, and the March on Washington. Book Three includes the March in Selma and the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Lewis was right in the middle of the civil rights movement and he was friends or acquaintances with all the leaders - Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, and Malcolm X.
An important work of American history. Highly recommended.

11) Introvert Doodles - Maureen "Marzi" Wilson
Illustrations, Introversion
Pages: 176
Rating:

I picked this up on a whim at the book store. Doodles about introverts, some of which have popped up on my FB thread now and then.

12) Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage- Haruki Murakami
Fiction, Japan, Coming of age, RandomCAT
Pages: 400
Rating:

Tsukuru Tazaki was one of a group of five very close friends all through school. His four friends all had names that contained a color. His name means "to build or make". He has always felt colorless and empty. Tazaki went away to Tokyo for university to study railway station design (his obsession). His friends stayed in their hometown. During the summer of his sophomore year his friends cut off all communication with him without explanation. He never tries to contact them. Many years later he tries to start a relationship with a woman, Sara. She can tell he has some emotional blockage from his past that keeps him from being really involved in the relationship. He tells her about being rejected by his friends and she urges him to confront his past. Tazaki travels back to his hometown and to Finland to speak to his old friends and discover what he did that made them reject him.
I enjoyed this book despite it being somewhat depressing in parts. It was a slow read in a nice way. The book lacks most of the metaphysical elements that Murakami usually utilizes. Also, there were no cats. I kept waiting for the obligatory cat to show up but none did.
I loved the design of the inner book jacket -- a map of the Tokyo train system. I love transit maps.

13) Welcome to Braggsville- T. Geronimo Johnson
Fiction, American south, AwardCAT -- Morning News Tournament of Books
Pages: 354
Rating:

D'aron Davenport, from the small town of Braggsville, Georgia, heads to UC Berkeley for his freshman year. A politically incorrect party costume gets him kicked out of the party with two other people - wearing versions of the same costume - and his roommate. The four become friends. D'aron's roommate, Louis Chang, wants to be a kung fu comedian. Charlie is an athlete from Chicago. Candice -from Iowa- is very liberal and likes to put on demonstrations. D'aron mentions, during a classroom discussion, that his hometown has yearly Civil War reenactments. His professor thinks it would be a great place for a demonstration. The four friends plan to travel to Braggsville on spring break - the time of the reenactment. D'aron's family throws a big BBQ for them upon arrival.During the BBQ D'aron's father gets wind of the plan for the demonstration the next morning and tells him to call it off.
The plan for the demonstration during the reenactment was to put on a fake lynching. D'aron tells his friends that he can't do it because his father asked him not too. Charlie, who is African-American, is relieved; he doesn't want to do it either. Louis and Candice decide to do it on their own over D'aron's protests. The fake lynching goes disastrously. The small town of Braggsville is plunged into the spotlight as the place of a modern day lynching.
D'aron has to deal not only with the murder of his friend but with his family and hometown who feel betrayed by the act and it's consequences.
The murder happens fairly early in the story and the rest of the book deals with the emotional aftermath for the remaining friends, the inquest to find out what happened and how the town of Braggsville deals with the situation.
The writing style was a little strange. There was so much slang used the author had to include a glossary at the back of the book. It was occasionally hard to tell which character was speaking and there were some passages where I had no idea what was happening or what those pages had to do with the rest of the story.

The Transcendental Murder--Jane Langton. The first book I didn't finish so far this year. I Pearl ruled it on page 54-- nothing had happened and I wasn't liking any of the characters.

Recap for February:

Books read in 2017: 13
Books read in Feb: 6
Books off the shelf 2017: 13
Fiction: 8
NonFiction: 4
Graphic novel, etc: 4
Male author: 7
Female author: 6
Pages read in 2017: 3306
Books bought in 2017: 5

Planned reading for March:

AwardsCAT:
Brown Girl Dreaming- Jacqueline Woodson - Newbery Honor Book
This One Summer- Jillian Tamaki - Caldecott Honor Book
The Iron Dragon's Daughter- Michael Swanwick - World Fantasy Awards

SF/SFF :
Summerlong- Peter S Beagle

Other reading:
We Learn Nothing: Essays- Tim Kreider
Anger - Thich Nhat Hanh

and finish these books started in Feb:
How to Relax- Thich Nhat Hanh
The Weight of Feathers- Anna-Marie McLemore

>70 VioletBramble: I think that's a title I will happily skip. Neither the writing style nor the subject appeal to me.

>68 VioletBramble: I have a library hold on Introvert Doodles. It looks amusing!

14) Brown Girl Dreaming- Jacqueline Woodson
Poetry, Memoir, Novel in verse, AwardCAT, Civil rights, NYC, Children's literature
Pages:350
Rating:

In this memoir in verse Woodson tells us her life story and the history of her family. When young she lived near her father's family in Columbus, Ohio. After her parents separation/divorce she moved with her siblings to Greenville, South Carolina to live with her maternal grandparents. This was in the mid 1960s and Greenville was a center for civil rights activities. In the early 1970s the Woodson siblings moved with their mother to Brooklyn, NY.
The verses tell the story of each family member, Woodson's love of reading, writing and story telling, the lushness of the south verses the energy of New York, the civil rights movement, and friendships.
My family, like Woodson's, moved from a small town to New York City in the early 1970s. Woodson and I are roughly the same age and her cultural touchstones are identical to mine - I too listened to the songs she writes about and watched those television shows. ( I had nearly forgotten about The Big Blue Marble!) I could also identify with Woodson's love of empty composition books, reading and storytelling. I loved this book. Highly recommended.

composition notebook

And somehow, one day, it's just there
speckled black-and-white, the paper
inside smelling like something I could fall right into,
live there - inside those clean white pages.

I don't know how my first composition notebook
ended up in my hands, long before I could really write
someone must have known that this
was all I needed.

Hard not to smile as I held it, felt the breeze
as I fanned the pages.
My sister thought my standing there
smiling was crazy
didn't understand how the smell and feel and sight
of bright white paper
could bring me so much joy.

And why does she need a notebook? She can't even write!

For days and days, I could only sniff the pages,
hold the notebook close
listen to the sound the papers made.

Nothing in the world is like this -
a bright white page with
pale blue lines. The smell of a newly sharpened pencil
the soft hush of it
moving finally
one day
into letters.

And even though she's smarter than anything,
this is something
my sister can't even begin
to understand.

15) This One Summer- Mariko Tamaki, Jillian Tamaki
Graphic novel, Coming of age, Summer, AwardCAT
Pages: 320
Rating:

Coming of age story about two pre-teen girls, Rose and Windy, who spend the summer, as always, with their families at their summer cottages on Lake Awago. Roses parents are fighting as her mom struggles to overcome her sadness at having miscarried, while swimming in the lake, last year. The girls also manage to involve themselves with the gossip and drama in the lives of the local teenagers -- the girlfriend of the cashier at the small local store is pregnant. Not a lot happens - the girls watch R rated scary movies, eat lots of sugary junk food, go swimming and spy on the cashier - "The Dud"- and his friends.
I have previously read another Mariko Tamaki graphic novel; Skim. The story in Skim was better, more fleshed out, but the illustrations in this one are much better.

16) The Weight of Feathers- Anna-Marie McLenore
Young adult, Fairy tale, Fiction
Pages: 320
Rating:

A retelling of Romeo and Juliet. The story centers on two families of traveling performers. The Palomas perform as mermaids in sequined tails. The Paloma women have a scale-like birthmark. The Corbeaus are tightrope walkers that wear large wings made of peacock feathers and perform in trees. The Corbeaus grow feathers in their hair. The two families end up in the same town every year during a Blackberry Festival. Each family blames the other for an incident that happened in this town 20 years prior. The wooded lake area where both families perform suddenly flooded killing members of both families. Both families think the other practices black magic and have superstitious beliefs about any contact.
Cluck Corbeau and Lace Paloma, both teenagers, meet one night, but have no idea of each others identity. A few days later an industrial accident happens in town. Cluck rescues Lace and takes her to the hospital. In the process a black feather like mark was burned into Lace's arm. Her family realizes that Cluck is a Corbeau and see the feather mark as bad luck. They tell Lace she is no longer part of the family and she plans to leave town. On the way she stops at the Corbeau trailer to say thank you to Cluck. He does not know she's a Paloma and she gets hired to do make up for his family. The two start a relationship. Eventually both families find out and the secret of what really happened 20 years before is discovered.
This was a quick read and I felt pulled into the story early on, the two main characters were interesting enough, but overall I felt the story was just okay.

17) We Learn Nothing: Essays- Tim Kreider
Essays, NonFiction
Pages: 235
Rating:

A collection of essays by political cartoonist and essayist Tim Kreider. The essays include stories about the time he almost died after being stabbed in the throat, his uncle's mental illness and criminal past, the gender reassignment surgery of a long time friend and discovering his birth mother and half-sisters and finally feeling genetically connected to other people. In turns funny and poignant these essays will make you think about your own life and the strategies you use to make it through.
The book includes some of Krreder's cartoons which I had difficulty reading -- the conversation bubbles were hand lettered and tiny. Recommended.

>70 VioletBramble: - Sorry to read about the issues with the Johnson read. The premise of the story sounds fascinating, but I hate it when a book doesn't deliver or has other problems.

18) Markets of Paris- Dixon and Ruthann Long
Paris, Food and Drink, Shopping, NonFiction
Pages: 255
Rating:

A travel guide about the street markets of Paris, concentrating on those that sell food, antiques, books, and postcards. Also mentioned are some restaurants and tea shops. Best information in the book: the secret, nearly line free entrance to the Louvre - with access to bathrooms. Published in 2006 so the information may or may not be currently accurate.

19) The Patisseries of Paris- Jamie Cahill
Travel, Paris, NonFiction, Food and Drink
Pages: 254
Rating:

A travel guide about places to eat in Paris, concentrating on patisseries, chocolatiers, tea salons, and ice cream parlors. Many of the patisseries featured also serve savory food options. This book made me so hungry.

20) How to Relax - Thich Nhat Hanh
NonFiction, Meditation, Relaxation
Pages: 120
Rating:

A small book that's part of a 5 part series that offers short meditations on relaxing, resting, de-stressing, doing nothing and solitude.

Riding out winter storm Stella here in NYC. We expected 15-20 inches of snow but have actually gotten more icy rain than snow. Looks like less than 6 inches of snow outside my window. I'm happy to be hiding out in my apartment. I've made a pot of tea, have a good book to read, Season 1 of Mr Robot to watch and other things to keep me busy.

Glad to hear that the storm doesn't seem to be as bad as predicted. The most important thing is that you still have power. Enjoy your tea and your book!

>84 VioletBramble: Mr. Robot is perfect for binge watching! Enjoy!

We also lucked out here in RI when the snow changed to rain early. Made for heavy snow when there was some to be shoveled, but luckily our son-in-law showed up to help my husband. (I was inside sick - I do usually help.)

21) Summerlong- Peter S Beagle
Fantasy, Myth, Fiction, SF/SFFKit
Pages:238
Rating:

A retelling of the Persephone myth. Joanna and Abe are a long term couple, more than twenty years together, not married. Abe is retired and Joanna is near to retirement. They live on Gardner Island, near Seattle. While dining at their favorite restaurant they meet their waitress, a mesmerizing young woman named Lioness. She is new in town and needs a place to stay. They invite her to stay in an apartment over Abe's garage. Once Lioness is living with them they start to notice strange things: the weather is always spring-like, she can pull arm loads of flowers from the ground, she can speak to whales, and can move from place to place without seeming to actually move. They also realize that she is hiding from someone. By the time her mother (Demeter) and her husband (Hades) come to take her back home she has changed the lives and relationship of Abe and Joanna.
The story was okay. The most interesting parts were where the mythical came to life in the present. As always Beagle's prose is lovely.

>85 DeltaQueen50: Thanks Judy. We got lucky and most of the storm missed us.

>86 mamzel: I was only able to watch the first three episodes of Mr Robot that day. I needed a little break from the corruption and bleakness of the super rich being in control of everything -- on the show and in real life. I just have the last two episodes to finish. Then I can look for season 2.

>87 dudes22: I'm glad you also escaped the worst of the storm Betty. The best thing about living in an apartment is that I never have to shovel snow. My brother in law works for the sanitation department and has a plow on his truck so he goes over to my mother's house and clears her driveway.

Second dropped book of the year: The Iron Dragon's Daughter. I tried to read this one multiple times in the ten plus years that I've owned this book. I didn't even get to page 50 this time.

22) Milk and Honey- Rupi Kaur
Poetry
Pages: 196
Rating:

A friend gave me this book of poetry for solstice/Christmas. This is poetry primarily meant for women, about relationships. The poems are grouped into four sections; the hurting, the loving, the breaking, and the healing. The poems are mostly in the form of short prose poems and use simple language.
Many of the reviews I've read of this book talk about this being amazing poetry and something new, maybe groundbreaking. I found the poetry to be good and often very frank. I read a lot of poetry, esp. by women, and I found nothing new here.

i want to apologize to all the women
i have called pretty
before i've called them intelligent or brave
i am sorry i made it sound as though
something as simple as what you were born with
is the most you have to be proud of when your
spirit has crushed mountains
from now on i will say things like
you are resilient or you are extraordinary
not because i don't think you're pretty
but because you are so much more than that

23) Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude - Ross Gay
Poetry
Pages: 102
Rating:

This is the first poetry I've read by Ross Gay. The back of the book tells me that he is a professor of poetry at Indiana University and is on the board of the Bloomington Community Orchard. Many of these poem are about fruits, vegetables, fruit bearing trees, trees in general, insects, family, life, and death.

ode to sleeping in my clothes

And though I don't mention it
to my mother
or the doctors
with their white coats
it is, in fact,
a great source of happiness,
for me, as I don't
even remove my socks,
and will sometimes
even pull up my hood
and slide my hands deep
in my pockets
and probably moreso
than usual look as if something
bad has happened
my heart blasting a last somersault
or some artery parting
like curtains in a theater
while the calvary of blood
comes charging through
except unlike
so many of the dead
I must be smiling
there in my denim
and cotton sarcophagus
slightly rank from the day
it is said that Shostakovich slept
with a packed suitcase beneath
his bed and it is said
that black people were snatched
from dark streets and made experiments
of and you and I
both have family whose life
savings are tucked 12 feet beneath
the Norway maple whose roots
splay like the bones
in the foot of a man
who has walked to Youngstown, Ohio
from Arkansas without sleeping
or keeping his name
and it's a miracle
maybe I almost never think of
to rise like this
and simply by sliding my feet into my boots
while the water for coffee
gathers it's song
be in the garden
or on the stoop
running, almost,
from nothing.

24) The Girl Who Drank the Moon- Kelly Barnhill
Fantasy, Children's literature, AwardCAT
Pages: 388
Rating:

A coming of age fairy tale about a witch, a very small dragon, a bog monster, a boy, a sorrow eater, a very sad town, a madwoman, and a girl who turned magic when she was just a baby because she was fed moonlight.There are three interconnected stories that merge into one by the end. The prose was lovely, esp the sections about the magic of words and paper.
I enjoyed the story but felt that it took a long time to read, esp for a children's book.
Winner of the 2017 Newbery Award. Recommended.

Recap for March:

Books read in 2017: 24
Books read in March: 11
Books off the Shelf 2017: 23
Fiction: 11
NonFiction: 8
Graphic novels: 5
Poetry: 3
Male author: 12
Female author: 13
Pages read in 2017: 6,082 ( 2776 in March)
Books bought in 2017: 7

Planned reading for April:

SF/SFF Kit:

The Windup Girl

AwardCAT: (Pulitzer Prize)

Angle of Repose
The Orphan Master's Son
The Elegant Universe

WomanCAT:

My Life in France- Julia Child

>88 VioletBramble: I'd read Beagle's work for the first time last year, with The Last Unicorn, and liked it very much. I'll have to keep this one in mind.

>96 mathgirl40: I love The Last Unicorn. Last year I read Beagle's short story collection, The Line Between, which contains the sequel to Unicorn. The entire collection was pretty good.

25) My Life in France - Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme
Memoir, CATWoman
Pages: 352
Rating:

I found this book on the give-away shelf in my buildings laundry room. This was around the time that the movie Julie & Julia was being shown on cable movie channels frequently. I had watched the movie a few times, mainly because the Julie portions of the movie take place just across the bridge from where I live and I'd been trying to place which block they'd filmed on based on the neighborhood landmarks. (my copy has the movie-tie-in cover)
This is Child's memoir of her time in France, Germany and Norway between 1948 and 1961, including her time at Le Cordon Bleu and the writing of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The last section of the book covers her return to the US and her television show The French Chef. The memoir is co-written by her nephew and it reads as if it's a long story that she's telling him; it has a conversational style. Included are many photos taken by Julia's husband, Paul Child. As I neared the end of the book I started skipping over the descriptions of recipes with their extensive instructions for preparation. Mainly because all the recipes were meat, fish or poultry dishes. There was not one description of a vegetable dish in the entire book.
I'd recommend this book to fans of Julia Child or books about cooking. If you're not in those categories, skip this one.

I liked Meryl Streep in the movie and used to watch the Julia Child show. I found when I was reading the book that I kept hearing Julia speaking in my head. I enjoyed the descriptions of their life in France too.

Julia certainly had a distinctive and memorable voice. She has a wonderful life story! I used her cookbook yesterday to cook my leg of lamb!

26) The Orphan Master's Son- Adam Johnson
Fiction, North Korea, AwardCAT- Pulitzer Prize
Pages: 456
Rating:

Pak Jun Do grew up in an orphanage in North Korea. He is put in charge of the other orphans; naming them, deciding who eats and handing out work assignments. This leads him to believe that he is the son of the Orphan Master. He also believes that the beautiful woman whose photo hangs in the Orphan Master's room is his mother, a singer who was kidnapped and taken to Pyongyang. The reader never knows if these are truths or the dreams of an orphan. When North Korea suffers a prolonged famine- "The Arduous March"- the Orphan Master gives all the orphans to various government agencies. Jun Do is given to the Army where he is trained as a "tunnel rat" who sneaks into South Korea, via a series of dark tunnels under the DMZ, to steal supplies. Once he becomes skilled in combat in the dark he is picked to work as a kidnapper. His skill in picking up the Japanese language while kidnapping Japanese citizens is noticed. He is sent to language school to learn English. He receives a "listening post" on a North Korean fishing vessel in the East Sea. He spends his nights listening to American and Russian radio communications. He also listens to, and becomes obsessed with, the nightly ramblings of an American female rower who is lost at sea. After an incident involving the US Navy he is made a hero. He is sent on a diplomatic mission to Texas to retrieve something the Americans stole from Kim Jung Il. His team returns to North Korea having failed. Jun Do is sent to a prison camp. While working in the mine at the camp he encounters Commander Ga, one of the most powerful people in the government and main rival of Kim Jung Il. Jun Do kills Commander Ga and assumes his identity. EVERYONE openly pretends he really is Commander Ga. Even Kim Jung Il. Jun Do/Commander Ga's plan is to rescue Sun Moon, North Korea's favorite actress, wife of the real Commander Ga, and obsession of Kim Jung Il and Jun Do.
In between all the adventure and espionage the reader is shown how the people of North Korea learn to live and hopefully survive in a country where everything functions just to make one man happy and convince everyone else of his divine greatness.
This is an amazing book. It's also a nearly relentlessly depressing book. I finished reading a few days ago but can't stop thinking about the book.

Jun Do heard the story as if it were being broadcast from some far-off, unknown place. Real stories like this, human ones, could get you sent to prison, and it didn't matter what they were about. It didn't matter if the story was about an old woman or a squid attack - if it diverted emotion from the Dear Leader, it was dangerous.

Hi Kelly! Just dropping in to wish you a happy weekend! :)

>92 VioletBramble: sounds like a great book! I like the poem you featured.

>101 VioletBramble: and this one, wow. There are a few North Korean books floating about at the moment. This one sounds pretty powerful!

>102 LauraBrook: Hi Laura! Thanks, I had a good weekend-- I marched for Science in the rain. Hope you had a good weekend. Nice to see you at Litsy. I'm still trying to find my way around there.

>103 LovingLit: Hi Megan! Hope you had a good summer and that you and your boys are doing well. Oh, The Orphan Master's Son is a powerful book. I haven't heard of other books set in North Korea. I'll have to research and see if I can find some.

27) The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
SF/SFF Kit, Dystopian, Bio-terrorism, Bangkok, GMOs
Pages: 347
Rating:

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I SHOULD have liked it more than I did. The story has many elements I generally enjoy; dystopian future, genetically modified foods gone wrong, evil corporations, plagues, and it's multicultural. I think it was just bad timing. I'm emotionally exhausted by the current political climate and its push to put corporations before people. My current anxiety level about real life is too high to enjoy this type of story right now. Also, the only character I cared about was the Windup Girl, Emiko, an engineered being.

28) The Island of Dr. Libris - Chris Grabenstein
Children's literature, Books about books
Pages: 242
Rating:

Billy and his mom are spending the summer at Dr. Libris' lakeside cabin. There is a nearby island. When Billy reads books from Dr Libris' library the stories come to life on the island. Billy and his new friend, Walter, row out to the island and become involved in the story. Their participation requires them to take books from the library to the island and read them aloud to make the stories happen and characters from various books interact with each other.
I couldn't help but compare this book to Grabenstein's other books; Escape From Mr Lemoncello's Library and Mr Lemoncello's Library Olympics. Both of those books are excellent; full of book knowledge, trivia , and love. In comparison this one was disappointing. The bookish parts of the story were not as interesting but will hopefully inspire young readers to look up all the books used to tell the story. Also, Mr Lemoncello was great as a genius book lover who wanted to share that book love with children. Dr Libris wants to use Billy's ability to bring stories to life in order to become rich.

>105 VioletBramble: I'm sorry you didn't like it more. Looking back on when I read TWG it was a much calmer political environment. I loved it so much that I reread it before a year went by. It turned me into a Bacigalupi fangirl. (And I love saying his name!)

>107 mamzel: Yeah, I think I should have read the book three years ago. I feel like I would have liked it much more.
Bacigalupi is a great name.
I still have The Water Knife to read later this year.Hopefully I'll like that better.

29) How to Be Drawn - Terrance Hayes
Poetry
Pages: 97
Rating:

This is the first I've read poetry by Terrance Hayes. The poem are about family, race and art. A couple of the poems were styled as Q&A, graphs and schedules. I didn't like those particular poems but liked the majority of his other poems. This was my favorite:

Barberism

It was light and lusterless and somehow luckless,
The hair I cut from the head of my father-in-law,

It was pepper-blanched and wind-scuffed, thin
As a blown bulb's filament, it stuck to the teeth

Of my clippers like a dark language, the static
Covering his mind stuck to my fingers, it mingled

In halfhearted tufts with the dust. Because
Every barber's got a gift for mind reading in his touch,

I could hear what he would not say. He'd sworn
To never let his hair be cut again after his daughter

Passed away. I told him how my own boy,
His grandchild, weeps when my clippers bite

Behind his ear, but I could not say how
The blood there tastes. I almost showed him

How I bow my own head to the razor in my hands,
How a mirror is used to taper the nape.

Science and religion come to the same conclusion:
Someday all the hair on the body will fall away.

I'm certain he will only call on me for a few more years,
The crown of his head is already smoother

Than any part of his face. It shines like the light
In Tiny bulbs of sweat before the sweat evaporates.

Recap for April:

Books read in 2017: 29
Books read in April: 5
Books off the Shelf 2017: 28
Fiction: 14
NonFiction: 9
Graphic novels, etc: 5
Poetry: 4
Male author: 16
Female author: 14
Pages read in 2017: 7,576 (1494 in April)
Books bought in 2017: 10

Planned Reading for May:

AwardsCAT:
Edgar Award:
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter - Tom Franklin

CATWoman:
The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It For Life- Twyla Tharp
You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)- Felicia Day

SF/SFF Kit:
The Magicians Land- Lev Grossman
Dawn - Octavia E Butler

Hopefully I can finish Angle of Repose, one of my Pulitzer reads I couldn't finish in April. It's really lovely but a much slower read than I anticipated.

Love the Gilmore pics! They remind me how much I loved Young Rory.

30) Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter- Tom Franklin
Mystery, AwardsCAT - Edgar Award, Fiction
Pages: 304
Rating:

An excellent mystery set in Mississippi. Larry Ott is bookish and weird. A loner in his small Mississippi town. He loves reading Stephen King and other horror books. He is bad at sports. He has only one friend - a secret friend - Silas. In his junior year of High School he gets a chance to take the girl of his dreams on a date. She never returns home, is never seen or heard from again. Everyone in town suspects that Larry raped and murdered her. The police are never able to prove anything. As an adult, Larry lives alone on his parents farm, an outcast in town. The towns people refer to him as "Scary Larry". Everyday he opens his father's automotive repair shop, where the only customers he ever gets are strangers passing through with emergencies. Twenty-five years after the first disappearance another girl from town goes missing. Everyone suspects Larry. When Larry is discovered shot in his home and the remains of the girl are found buried on his property the town is sure he is guilty. Everyone except Silas, who is now the only police officer in town. Silas is the only one who is also certain that Larry did not kill that girl 25 years ago. He's the only one that knows Larry could never have murdered anyone. Silas has his own guilt about the incident that happened in the past. Silas finally owns up to what he should have done in the past and sets out to find the truth.
I've never been so happy with the conclusion of a mystery as I was with this book. Poor Larry.
Recommended.

31) The Magician's Land- Lev Grossman
Fiction, Fantasy, Series, SF/SFF Kit
Pages: 416
Rating:

The conclusion to The Magicians trilogy. All the storylines are brought to satisfying endings - Alice is saved, magic is saved, and Fillory is saved.
Highly recommended.

Magic and books: there aren't many things more important than that. But there are one or two. We saved Alice, and now we're going to save Fillory.

You only had to see a unicorn lay open the side of a centaur once, the ribcage flashing white where the ripped skin flopped down, to swear a mighty oath never to fuck with or even look at another unicorn again. I'm putting down the hearts and fluffy clouds and backing away slowly. Don't want any trouble here. You can have all the rainbows.

32) You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)- Felicia Day
Memoir, NonFiction, Gaming, CATWoman
Pages: 304
Rating:

On average, a random person on the street won't know my work, but there are certain places where I'm a superstar, like San Diego Comic-Con, and...other places like San Diego Comic-Con.

In this memoir Day, "The Queen of the Geeks", covers her semi-hippie upbringing, her years of home schooling, getting into college at 15 and graduating with two degrees ( music/ violin and math), and deciding to become an actress. While looking for something to fill her time between auditions Day discovered on-line gaming. She became addicted to gaming and spent 12-18 hours a day playing World of Warcraft. Eventually Day would develop, write, produce and act in her own web series about gaming, The Guild. The show was a hit with gamers.
I'm not a gamer and don't know of Day from The Guild. I know her as an actress on shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse, Supernatural and Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, among others. I've also watched her play board games and talk about geeky topics with her friend Will Wheaton on his television show where he plays board games with famous geeks ( I have forgotten the name of the show).
Her memoir is fun and painfully honest. If you're reading to see if she name drops her celebrity friends I can tell you that those instances are few. Joss Whedon and Will Wheaton are the only ones mentioned by name.
Recommended for those with an interest in pop culture, gaming, acting or Felicia Day.

>113 VioletBramble: I agree that this was an interesting and satisfying mystery!

33) The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It For Life- Twyla Tharp
NonFiction, Creativity, CATWoman
Pages: 243
Rating:

Tharp discusses creativity, her rituals, what works for her, why it's good to fail sometimes, finding mentors and what to do when you are in a creative rut. Tharp is a master choreographer so many of the examples are based in the world of dance. She also uses real life examples from the worlds of music, film, visual arts, and business.
The best parts of the book were the great quotes about books:

If you're like me, reading is your first line of defense against an empty head. It's how you learned as a child. It's how you absorb difficult information. It's how you keep your mind disciplined, If you monitor your reading assiduously, it's even how you grade your brain's conditioning; like an athlete in training, the more you read, the more mentally fit you feel. It doesn't matter if it's a book, magazine, newspaper, billboard, instruction manual, or cereal box - reading generates ideas, because you're literally filling your head with ideas and letting your imagination filter them for something useful. If I stopped reading, I'd stop thinking. It's that simple.

Reading, conversation, environment, culture, heroes, mentors, nature - all are lottery tickets for creativity. Scratch away at them and you'll find out how big a prize you've won.

I read for a lot of reasons, pleasure being the least of them. I read competitively, remembering Mark Twain's admonition that "the man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read". I read for growth, firmly believing that what you are today and what you will be in five years depends on two things: the people you meet and the books you read. Mostly, I read for inspiration.

.

Recap for MAY:

Books read in 2017: 33
Books read in May: 4
Books off the Shelf 2017: 32
Fiction: 16
NonFiction: 11
Graphic novels: 5
Poetry: 4
Male authors: 18
Female authors: 16
Pages read in 2017: 8,843 (1267 in May)
Books bought in 2017: 11

Another bad reading month. But at least I had good excuses this month -- big social events. And the books I did manage to read were all good books.

Planned reading for JUNE:

SF/SFF Kit - Series:
Silvern- Christina Farley
Brazen- Christina Farley
Goldenhand - Garth Nix

AwardsCAT - National Book Awards
Scattered at Sea- Amy Gerstler
A People's History of the United States- Howard Zinn

I'll continue reading my April Pulitzer Prize book Angle of Repose. It's very good but taking me a very long time to read. I'm probably not even 25% into it yet.

I was watching "@"midnight last night (I find it hysterically funny at times) and it took me a while to remember where I recognized one of the players, Sebastian Bach, from and finally clicked he was one of Laine's band members!

>120 mamzel: LOL. I wonder what Sebastian Bach would think about being known for Gilmore Girls instead of Skid Row. I believe Hep Alien actually played at SXSW one year.

>121 VioletBramble: I hope he wouldn't be offended since I'm not a big fan of that genre of rock.

>122 mamzel: He seems like a laid back kind of guy. He probably has a lot of fans from his years on The Gilmore Girls.

34) Silvern- Christina Farley
Pages: 376
Rating:
35) Brazen- Christina Farley
Pairs: 350
Rating:
Fiction, Fantasy, Series, Korean mythology

These are the second and third books in a trilogy that uses Korean mythology to frame the narrative. In the first book, Gilded, 16 year old Jae Hwa Lee moved to Seoul, South Korea with her father. Her mother died four years earlier. Jae Hwa is an archery champion and a black belt. Jae Hwa's grandfather tells her about a family curse; The Korean demigod, Haemosu, has been stealing the soul of the oldest daughter of each generation of her family for centuries. Her aunt has been kidnapped and is held in the Spirit World. Jae Hwa went into the spirit world, rescued her aunt - who remains in a comatose state -defeated Haemosu and inherited his lands. In the process she has become part human, part immortal.
In Silvern Jae Hwa, her boyfriend, Marc, and her best friend, Michelle, join forces to stop Kud, The God of Darkness from retrieving the White Tiger orb and starting a war between North and South Korea. Michelle is killed. In order to save Marc, Jae Hwa makes a deal with Kud. She sells her soul to Kud and becomes his slave and assassin.
In Brazen Kud sends Jae Hwa to China to retrieve the Black Turtle orb. Kud has the Red Phoenix orb. Once Jae Hwa has the White Tiger and Black Turtle orbs Kud will be able to control all three because of his contract on her soul. Kud will then be able to control not only Korea but every country on earth. Is Jae Hwa strong enough to defeat Kud and save the world? Will it cost her her humanity?
The first and third books in the trilogy are strong. Jae Hwa is a strong, believable female heroine. The action segments are good but all the characters are just a little too good at kicking immortal bum. I asked my Korean friends about the mythology, specifically the Orbs. Not one of them had heard of these 5 special Korean orbs. The mythological creatures and demigods in the book are actually part of Korean mythology.

36) Angle of Repose- Wallace Stegner
Fiction, American West, Pulitzer Prize
Pages: 672
Rating:

I started reading this in March for the April AwardsCAT, Pulitzer Prize. I've finally finished it. This is a very slow, contemplative sort of book. Frequently I was bored reading this book. Ultimately it was worth working my way through it. It's brilliant in a non-flashy way. Definitely deserving of the Pulitzer.
Lyman Ward is a retired history professor. He's suffering from a progressive, degenerative bone disease that leaves him unable to care for himself. He is separated from his wife. He has moved into his grandparents isolated house. While trying to figure out his own life he starts going through his grandmother's papers. He decides to write a book about her life.
Susan Burling Ward was an East Coast artist and writer. She married Oliver Ward, a self-made engineer she hardly knew. They move out to California where they are some of the first settlers. Times are hard. Oliver suffers many failures and losses. Susan supports the family with her art. This is the story of their marriage. At some point Susan did something that broke her family apart. They stayed married and for the most part continued to live together. Oliver was never able to forgive her. The book is 672 pages and the reader discovers what this thing Susan did MAY be around page 600. Seriously, it's dragged out forever. Lyman's estranged wife comes to visit him at the cabin. At the end Lyman is contemplating his own ability to forgive.

37) Scattered at Sea- Amy Gerstler
Poetry
Pages: 77
Rating:

Gerstler is one of my favorite modern poets. I enjoy her quirky, strange poems.

Thoughts of Trees at Twilight

Distant trees are first to blacken,
silent as druids or choked-back vows.
Back at the house, pillars dimly
mimic them. Some trunks glow copper,
like girls' arms raised in balletic gesture,
which brings a lump to the throat. How
long will the girls these trees worship
(and by whom they are worshipped
in turn) be this vulnerable, this pitiless,
amidst symphonies of orchards,
the year's last windfall apples heaped
in bruised tribute at their feet?

Interesting to see a fantasy series featuring Korean mythology. It would also be interesting to read about the mythology on its own.

>1 VioletBramble: I hadn't realized that all the books mentioned in the Gilmore Girls have been compiled into a list! It seems rather an unfair comparison, really, given that the show writers didn't need to actually all read the books to mention them... :) Though that list is pretty fantastic and comprehensive.

>128 pammab: It is a good list but I sort of wish they had kept it to the books Rory read instead of every book mentioned. Babe is listed because Lorelei once said "That'll do pig".

Happy Summer Solstice to those in the Northern Hemisphere. It's the longest day of the year. Go have some fun !

Jersey Shore Vacation Again
Frank Finale

The same "Don't Wanna Go
Home" crowds walk the boards,
breathe in hot dogs, suntan lotion,
saltwater taffy,creosote. At night
bands vibrate floors with fifties
revival songs, hard rock, country.
Bartender rings up change
to the clink of empty bottles.
In the corner, the silent TV.
Morning surf roar. Water and air.
Breathe in crystals of mica-glinting
sea, till salt speckles lungs
and mind becomes clear
as a gull's sweep over the jetty.
It's the summer solstice.
Step up. Take a chance.

>125 VioletBramble: - Very happy to see the high praise for the Stegner book. My Pulitzer Prize reading tends to produced mixed results... love some, appreciate but struggle with others and then stare, struck dumb as to how a book read won the prize. ;-)

It was my son's birthday so we had a great celebration. It's a great time to have a birthday party.

I hope yours was fun too!

>131 lkernagh: I've liked all the Pulitzer Prize winners I've read so far. Some of them make you work to find their greatness but they have all been really well written. But I know what you mean. I have stopped reading Booker Prize winners after many duds. Whatever the Booker Prize judges look for in a book is not what I look for in a book.

>132 VivienneR: Wow, a summer solstice birthday! So lucky. Glad you had a fun family celebration. I had a very good solstice. No celebrations, just relaxation.

38) Goldenhand- Garth Nix
Fantasy, Series, Magic, SF/SFFKit
Pages: 344
Rating:

The fifth book in the Abhorsen Chronicles/ Old Kingdom series (if you count the prequel Clariel). The Old Kingdom is one of my favorite fictional worlds, esp the Glacier of the Clayr and their library. Lirael is my favorite character in the series. This book picks up shortly after the events at the end of Abhorsen. Lirael is the Abhorsen-in-waiting, training with the Abhorsen, Sabriel. Abhorsens are necromancers that return the dead to Death when they try to return to life. Lirael is called to help at an emergency that involves an outsider, Nicholas Sayre, a school friend of Sabriel's son, Sam. In order to help Nick Lirael must take him to the Glacier of the Clayr. Lirael has not been back to the Glacier since she was forced to leave. Lirael is worried that the Clayr may not welcome her back since she does not have The Sight and never felt a part of them.While at the Glacier Lirael receives a message from her long dead mother who abandoned her as a child: a nomadic horde, led by one of the Greater Dead, Chlorr of the Mask, is about to overrun the Old Kingdom. The Abhorsens and the forces of the Kingdom have to defeat their calvary, sorcerers, weir woods and send Chlorr through the Ninth Gate of Death.
I enjoyed this addition to the Abhorsen chronicles. All the old characters are present and I like all the new characters. I loved that the Librarians showed Lirael how proud of her they are and that they had prepared welcome back gifts. The book ended with some open story lines so I'm hoping there will be more books in the series.

Recap for June

Books read in 2017: 38
Books read in June: 5
Books off the shelf: 37
Fiction: 20
NonFiction: 11
Poetry: 5
Graphic novels, etc: 5
Male authors: 19
Female authors: 20
Pages read in 2017: 10,661 (1819 in June)
Books bought in 2017: 38

Planned reading for July:

AwardsCAT:
State of Wonder
Stand on Zanzibar (also for SF/SFFKit)

CATWoman:
The House on Mango Street

Other reading:

The Power of Myth
Outliers
some graphic novels I borrowed from a co-worker
finish The Most Dangerous Place on Earth



Since it's summer now I wanted to share this: an ice cream shop here in New York has a Gilmore Girls Ice Cream. The flavor: coffee, chocolate pudding, snickerdoodles, pink Pop Tart sprinkles. Sounds disgusting.

Gilmore Girls Ice Cream! I will take..... oooohhhh....... coffee. I like the idea of snicherdoodles ice cream, just not sure about the pink Pop Tart sprinkles one. ;-)

>137 lkernagh: Unfortunately all those flavors are mixed together in one ice cream. Plus it is crazy expensive.

>138 VioletBramble: - Oh...... Yuck!

I get the chocolate, snickerdools, and sprinkles.... but what's the chocolate pudding a reference to? (And what are they thinking, blending perfectly delicious ice creams into a single dish? -_- )

>140 pammab: The chocolate pudding is from an episode where Emily serves chocolate pudding for desert at dinner. Lorelei takes it as a sign that Emily cares about what Lorelei and Rory want. (chocolate pudding being Rory's favorite desert). Turns out it was just a fluke and Lorelei screams at her mother "What about the chocolate pudding?' or something like that.

39) The House on Mango Street- Sandra Cisneros
Fiction, CATWoman
Pages: 110
Rating:

Esperanza Cordero tells stories of her family and the people in her Hispanic Chicago neighborhood in short, almost verse like chapters. The writing is sparse and direct but beautiful. At 110 pages this book seems slight but tells powerful stories.
I picked my copy up from the give-away shelves in my buildings laundry room. It was someones school copy and is annotated throughout.
Recommended.

40) The Most Dangerous Place on Earth- Lindsey Lee Johnson
Fiction, Bullying, Early Reviewers
Pages: 288
Rating:

This story follows eight students from an affluent California community. In 8th grade seven of these students cyber-bullied another classmate, Tristan Bloch. Tristan had sent a love letter to Calista Broderick and it was posted to Facebook by another student. One day instead of going to school Tristan committed suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. The story then jumps ahead to 11th grade. Each of the eight students gets a POV chapter that describes them and their life now. Calista is the only one whose life was changed by Tristan's suicide. The eighth student, Elizabeth, didn't bully Tristan. She is incredibly shy and has no friends. Everyone thinks she is stuck up. She only seems to exist in the story to 1) be the only nice person, and 2) be tricked into giving a party that the entire school attends, bringing all the characters together in one place for one more tragic event.
Johnson does a great job of giving each character a different voice. She writes really well and I found this a quick read. I pretty much hated all the kids except Tristan and Elizabeth. The rest were all selfish entitled jackasses. Oh, and I'm so happy I didn't go to school in the time of social media and cyber-bullying. What a nightmare.

41) The Power of Myth- Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers
Mythology, Folklore, Comparative religion
Pages: 293
Rating:

The complete transcript of the 1988 PBS documentary. The televised documentary was 6 hours in length but Moyers had interviewed Campbell for 24 hours. Mythology, folklore and religion are compared among diverse world cultures throughout time.
My favorite sections were the discussions of the wacky Masonic symbolism on the US $1 bill and Campbell's assertions that in the west we do not respect the earth because the Bible tells us that man has dominion over all and nature is to be conquered by man. Man is not part of nature but above it according to God. Campbell says attitudes in the west changed only with the introduction of eastern religious practices.

42) The Sandman Presents: Taller Tales- Bill Willingham
Pages: 224 Rating:
43) The Sandman Presents: Thessaly: Witch For Hire- Bill Willingham
Pages: 96 Rating:
44) Transmetropolitan: Back on the Street- Warren Ellis
Pages: 144 Rating:

One of my co-workers lent me these three graphic novels. I really enjoyed the Thessaly book and the four Thessaly stories in Taller Tales. I've liked all the Willingham Fables graphic novels I'd read in the past so wasn't surprised. Getting through Transmetroploitan was a chore. It was often inventive but far too often disgusting for no discernible reason. At the end I was left wondering what the point of the story was supposed to be.

45) State of Wonder- Ann Patchett
Fiction, Botany, Amazon, AwardsCAT
Pages: 353
Rating::

Marina Singh is a pharmacologist who works for a large American Pharmaceutical company. Her co-worker Anders is sent to the Amazon to check on the research of Dr. Annika Swenson. Dr Swenson has been studying fertility -- specifically the prolonged fertility of the women in an Amazonian tribe - for decades. When Anders is reported as dead his widow, and the company, ask Marina to go to the Amazon. She is to look into Ander's death and Dr Swenson's research.
This is well written but so dense throughout most of the book that it is a slow read. It raises questions of imperialism and the use of human subjects in medical research. Esp. subjects that aren't aware they are being studied, don't speak the language of the researchers, and have not been informed or given consent to participate.

46) Outliers: The Story of Success- Malcolm Gladwell
NonFiction, Psychology
Pages: 308
Rating:

Gladwell argues that successful people got that way not just through intelligence, personality, or ambition. He discusses how other factors figure in success. These factors include culture, family, decade of birth, time of year you were born and unique opportunities presented to you at the right time.
This was a fun, quick and interesting read. Highly recommended.

July Recap

Books read in 2017: 46
Books read in July: 8
Books of the Shelf 2017: 41
Fiction: 23
NonFiction: 13
Poetry: 5
Graphic novels: 8
Male authors: 24
Female authors:23
Pages read in 2017: 12,476 (1815 in July)
Books bought in 2017: 54

Planned Reading for August

CATWoman -NonFiction:
Dancing at the Devil's Party: Essays on Poetry, Politics, and the Erotic- Alicia Suskin Ostriker

Other reading:
My Favorite Thing is Monsters ✔
The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray ✔
The Square Root of Summer
The Secret Loves of Geek Girls
The Last Leaves Falling
The Long Way Home
How the Light Gets In
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven ✔
Born a Crime ✔

>134 VioletBramble: Nice review of a great series. I am not sure if Lirael is my favourite character. That accolade probably goes to the Disreputable Dog or Mogit. Still, when I read Lirael, I think that was perhaps when I saw this series move from "a really good read" to "literature".

>150 sirfurboy: Thanks. I love the Disreputable Dog as well. She and Lirael are a great team. I was ambivalent about the Mogit until I read Clariel. Now I hate him for what he did to her.

>151 VioletBramble: Yes Mogit's character is darker. I suppose when I suggest he could be a favourite, I don't mean in a heroic way, but rather in the depths of character he is given. Clariel was a sad story.

47) My Favorite Thing is Monsters- Emil Ferris
Graphic novel, Monsters, Chicago, Art, WW II, LGBTQ, Mystery
Pages: 386
Rating::

Karen Reyes is a 10 year old who lives in Chicago with her mother and her brother, Deeze. Karen is obsessed with monsters, monster magazines and monster movies. She thinks of herself as a werewolf girl. One day their upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, is found dead, shot in the chest. The police label it suicide but Karen is convinced that Anka was murdered. Anka was a German Jew who survived WWII. She has long told everyone that someone powerful is searching for her. Karen decides to investigate Anka's death. Anka's husband has a collection of cassette tapes on which Anka tells the story of her life and how she survived and the powerful people whose secrets she knows.
When Karen's mother is diagnosed with cancer Karen starts taking the garbage out very late at night. She's hoping a werewolf or some other monster will be out there waiting to attack her and give her "the bite". If she gets "the bite" she can then bite her mother and they can become immortal monsters.
Karen's brother Deeze is an artist. He teaches her how to draw and paint. He takes her to art museums. He also has a reputation for violence. He may be responsible for two murders.This volume ends with a cliffhanger.
The art in this graphic novel is amazing. The graphics are all on blue lined spiral notebook paper to simulate Karen's school notebook. Every section starts with a recreation of a cover of a 1970s monster comic/magazine. Highly recommended for the art and the story.

48) The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray: A Critical Appreciation of the World's Finest Actor- Robert Schnakenberg
Pop Culture,, Film, Biography
Pages: 270
Rating:

I mistakenly received this book from Quirk Books. I had won another book from Quirk through the Early Reviewers program. They sent me this book. I've never received the book I wanted and won.
This book is basically an A-Z encyclopedia of the life and career of Bill Murray. Schnakenberg collected this information from already published or taped interviews with all those quoted in the book. Schnakenerg never met or interviewed Murray or the other celebrities in this book.
The sections about Murray's career were interesting.

49) The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven- Sherman Alexi
Fiction, Short stories, Native American Indians
Pages: 242
Rating:

A collection of semi-autobiographical interconnected short stories about life on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington state. These stories give glimpses of life on and around the reservation: alcoholism, racism, corrupt government agencies, basketball, poverty, dysfunctional families and a desire to maintain traditions and culture.
Alexi is one of my favorite authors. His writing is really accessible with a nice mix of sadness and humor.

50) Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood- Trevor Noah
Memoir, South Africa, Family, Audiobook
Pages: 304 (7 Discs, 8 hours 48 minutes)
Rating:

I rarely listen to audiobooks. I find that I'm easily distracted and stop listening. But everyone said that the audiobook, read by Noah himself, was the way to go with this book. I enjoy Noah on The Daily Show so thought I'd give it a try. Everyone was right.
Trevor Noah tells the story of his childhood as a mixed race child in Soweto and Johannesburg, South Africa during Apartheid. Most of the stories are humorous: dates gone wrong, pranks gone wrong, family stories mainly involving his very religious mother. There are also stories of racism and domestic violence. Lucky circumstances led to Noah becoming a popular DJ in South Africa. After that he became a comedian. He credits his success to his mother; her strength, her love for him, and her willingness to break all the rules to provide him with a better life.

51) The Square Root of Summer- Harriet Reuter Hapgood
Fiction, Young adult, Time travel, Grief
Pages: 290
Rating:

August Recap

Books read in 2017: 51
Books read in August: 5
Books off the shelf 2017: 44
Fiction: 25
NonFiction: 15
Poetry: 5
Graphic novels: 9
Male authors: 27
Female authors: 25
Pages rae: 13,968 (1492 in Aug)
Books bought in 2017: 66

Planned reading for SEPTEMBER:

CATWoman - YA, children's Lit, Graphic novels
Goldie Vance
Buffy: The High School Years: Freaks & Geeks
The Secret Loves of Geek Girls
Out of the Dust

SF/SFFKit - Steampunk
The Affinity Bridge

Other reading:
Caraval
The Last Leaves Falling
Matilda

>153 VioletBramble: - "The graphics are all on blue lined spiral notebook paper to simulate Karen's school notebook."

What a great idea!

>154 VioletBramble: - I love Bill Murray's movies. Such great summer viewing!

Lots of great reading! I'll take a book bullet for Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter.

>159 lkernagh: Hi Lori. Thanks for stopping by.

>160 LisaMorr: Hi Lisa. I hope you enjoy the book.

I'm just going to quickly list, in no particular order the books I read in September:



52) Goldie Vance - Hope Larsen
Graphic novel, Comics, Series
Pages:112
Rating:

53) Buffy: The High School Years: Freaks & Geeks - Faith Erin Hicks
Graphic novel, series
Pages: 78
Rating:

54) Matilda - Roald Dahl
Children's literature, Books about books
Pages: 240
Rating:

55) Out of the Dust- Karen Hesse
Prose poems, Dust Bowl
Pages: 227
Rating:

56) How the Light Gets In- Louise Penny
Mystery, Series
Pages: 405
Rating:

57) The Long Way Home- Louise Penny
Mystery, Series
Pages: 368
Rating:

58) Caraval- Stephanie Garber
Fantasy, YA, Magic
Pages: 403
Rating:

September Recap:

Books read in 2017: 58
Books read in Sept: 7
Books off the Shelf 2017: 50
Fiction: 29
NonFiction: 15
Poetry: 6
Graphic novels: 11
Male author: 28
Female author: 31
Pages read in 2017: 15,801 (1833 in Sept)
Books bought in 2017: 73

Planned reading for October:

RandomCAT:
Lair of Dreams

SF/SFFKIt:
The Water Knife

Other reading:
The Last Leaves Falling
Ban this Book

continue reading:
The Secret Loves of Geek Girls
Our Revolution

I just finished The Water Knife and thought it was excellent, Paolo Bacigalupi seems to be an author that I totally click with!

I am going to look at My Favorite Thing is Monsters for a book club. It sounds like it might be quite fun!

>165 DeltaQueen50: Hi Judy. I'm looking forward to reading The Water Knife despite being slightly underwhelmed by The WindUp Girl earlier this year. February and March were horrible for me and I've been in a bad mood most of the year and it's effected my reading. I'm hoping The WindUp Girl was just a victim of this moodiness and that I'll like The Water Knife.

>166 pammab: Yes, it is a fun book. But it's also sad and discusses serious issues- murder, cancer, violence, homosexuality, child prostitution. It's one of my favorite books this year. I don't know anyone who read it that didn't love it.

>167 VioletBramble: I hope The Water Knife works for you, I have a feeling that he is one of those authors people either really like or they just don't understand what all the fuss is about.

>167 VioletBramble: I hope the rest of the year gets its act together to dispel the bad mood, and that 2018 is much better.

>169 rabbitprincess: Thanks rp

59) Ban This Book- Alan Gratz
Early Reviewers, Children's literature, censorship
Pages: 255
Rating:

Ban This Book is a middle grade novel about censorship, friendship and family dynamics. Amy Anne is a shy 4th grader who loves to read. Her favorite book is From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler. One day Amy Anne heads to the school library to check out the book and discovers it missing. The school librarian tells her it has been pulled from the shelf as being inappropriate for children. A parent at the school has gotten the school board to ban the book without going through the proper channels. Soon this parent has many more books banned from the school library. Amy Anne goes to the next school board meeting to protest but her incredible shyness makes it impossible for her to speak in public. Instead Amy Anne starts collecting the banned books. She brings her own copies to school. She has her classmates bring in their copies of the banned books. Amy Anne gathers the books in her school locker and starts a secret banned books lending library. What will happen when school authorities find out about the secret library?
I enjoyed this book. Everyone who loved books as a child will probably love this book. All the books discussed in the story have actually been banned somewhere in the United States. My only issue with the book was that often the characters seems more like 6th graders than 4th graders.

60) The Last Leaves Falling-Sarah Benwell
Fiction, Young Adult, Illness, Euthanasia, Japan
Pages: 359
Rating:

Seventeen year old Abe Sora has been diagnosed with ALS. Because he needs a wheelchair to get around he is no longer able to attend school. His world is reduced to his home life with his mother and communicating with his grandparents via emails.As his loneliness increases he takes a chance on meeting other teens in chat forums. He soon starts conversations with Mai and Kaito. The three meet in person for dinner at Sora's house and become friends. They go on outings together and tell each other their dreams. As Sora's ALS worsens he makes a decision about the end of his life. Mai and Kaito agree to help him.
This is a beautiful and hopeful book about terminal illness and making your own choices.

61) Lair of Dreams- Libba Bray
Fiction, Supernatural, Series
Pages: 624
Rating:

This is the second book in the Diviners series. This series is set in 1920s New York City.
Evie, teen diviner, now has a radio show where she reads objects in front of a studio audience. She also seems to have developed an alcohol problem. Evie's storyline is mainly taken up with a love triangle that includes Sam and Jericho.
The main storyline involves Henry and Ling, two dream walkers. A sleeping sickness is killing people in Manhattan and a horde of hungry ghosts is killing people in the subway tunnels. Henry and Ling look inside dreams to find answers.
There is a third plot that involves a government agency that recruits diviners and may be responsible for the disappearance of Sam's mother.
I enjoyed this book more than the first. The story was better and less creepy.

62) The Secret Loves of Geek Girls- edited by Hope Nicholson
Comics, Gaming, Essays
Pages: 278
Pages:

A collection of essays and comics by women known for their involvement in "geek" pursuits -- comics, gaming, blogging, etc. I wanted to like this collection more than I did. I thought it was a little boring and it took me more than three months to finish.

Recap for October:
Books Read in 2017: 62
Books read in October: 4
Books off the Shelves 2017: 52
Fiction: 32
NonFiction: 16
Poetry: 6
Graphic novels: 12
Male author: 29
Female author: 34
Pages read in 2017: 17,317 (1,516 in Oct)
Books bought in 2017: 80

Planned Reading for November:

SFFKit:
Speak - Louisa Hall

AwardsCAT:
The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay- Michael Chabon

RandomCat:
Shambala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior

other reading:
Taking the Leap
and a few graphic novels loaned to me by a co-worker

>175 VioletBramble: I think of that Gilmore quote SO often!

>172 VioletBramble: The Last Leaves Falling sounds like a lovely book, and the cover is really beautiful.

>125 VioletBramble: I've been wanting to read this or anything by Stegner since he is from my adopted state of California. I'm glad to hear your high praise. One of these days....

>155 VioletBramble: This book by Alexie is another that I've been meaning to get around to.

I trying to catch up with everyone before the year ends and everyone moves to 2018.

Sorry for the late replies. I have been sick most of November with a nasty virus that included conjunctivitis. I was ordered by my eye doctor not to read, to just rest my eyes. Honestly, I felt so bad it was all I could manage to stay awake for a few hours at a time. I'm still waiting for the cough and runny nose to go away but I feel much better. And I managed to quickly finish all my November reads. It was only possible because I'm on vacation this past week.

>177 christina_reads: I love that quote. Junk food is the only reason to go to sporting events, IMO.

>178 mathgirl40: The cover is lovely. I like cranes.

>179 mamzel: Hi mamzel! Nice to see you here. I'm reading another Stegner in 2018. Hopefully I can slowly make my way through all his novels.

63) Speak- Louisa Hall
Fiction, SFF/SFFF KIT, Artificial Intelligence, Historical fiction
Pages: 316
Rating:

Told in five different voices, ranging from 1663 to 2040, considering issues of communication between humans and Artificial Intelligence of varying types and abilities. The story of Mary Bradford, traveling from England to 'the New World' by boat, who is only able to communicate with her diary and her dog, Ralph (who dies on the journey), doesn't really fit with the rest of the stories. The AI chapters range from Alan Turing's first attempts at a computer to a future where people have had their own life like baby bots to keep them company.
The book is well written and I always wanted to keep reading. Parts of the story seemed a bit of a stretch.

64) The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay- Michael Chabon
Fiction, Comics, WW II, AwardsCAT
Pages: 704
Rating:

65) Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior- Chögyam Trungpa
NonFiction, Buddhism, Meditation, RandomCAT
Pages: 237
Rating:

November Recap

Books read in 2017: 65
Books read in November: 3
Books off the shelves 2017: 55
Fiction: 34
NonFiction: 17
Poetry: 6
Graphic novel: 12
Male author: 31
Female author: 35
Pages read in 2017: 18,574 (1257 in Nov)
Books bought in 2017: 96

Planned Reading for December:

SFF Kit:
The Broken Eye- Brent Weeks

Random Cat:
Madame Pamplemousse and her Incredible Edibles
Madame Pamplemousse and the Time-Travelling Cafe
Sleeper: Season 1
Sleeper: Season Two
Proposition Player

Glad to hear you're feeling better. Eye things are awful.

>180 VioletBramble: - Wow, poor you! Glad you are feeling better.

That's quite a sickness! I am glad you're feeling better now and I hope it keeps getting better.

Happy to hear that you are feeling better. That sounds like a miserable experience.

Hi Kelly, stopping by to wish you and your loved ones peace, joy and happiness this holiday season and for 2018!

66) The Broken Eye- Brent Weeks
Fantasy, Magic, Series, SF/SFFF KIT
Pages: 846
Rating:

The third book in the Lightbringer series. I thought it would take me most of December to read this one. I finished it on the 10th. I forgot how easy this series is to read. The magic system in this series - chromaturgy - is my favorite system out of all the fantasy with magic that I've read. Originally planned as a trilogy and now expanded to five books there is some noticeable stretching of the plot and time line.

67) Madame Pamplemousse and Her Incredible Edibles- Rupert Kingfisher
Pages:144
68) Madame Pamplemousse and the Time-Travelling Cafe- Rupert Kingfisher
Pages:152
Rating:
Children's literature, Series, Time travel, RandomCAT

Cute children's series about a woman who runs a shop that sells extraordinary food. Dishes you can buy at Madame Pamplemousse's shop include: Peppered Dragon Spit with Fairy-Ring Mushroom, Kraken tentacle with Rose-Petal Jam, and Smoked Pterodactyl Wing. How does Madame Pamplemousse find her exotic ingredients? Time travel. She travels through time by drinking magic espresso.

69) Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves From Old Habits and Fears- Pema Chödrön
Self help, Buddhism, Random CAT
Pages: 111
Rating:

I borrowed these three graphic novels from a co-worker:


70) Proposition Player- Bill Willingham
Pages: 132
Rating:


71) Sleeper: Season One- Ed Brubaker
Pages: 285
Rating:



72) Sleeper: Season Two - Ed Brusker
Pages: 288
Rating:

73) Goldie Vance: Vol.2- Hope Larson
Graphic novel, Comics, Mystery, Series
Pages: 112
Rating:

The mystery in this second volume was sorta boring. The most interesting part of this one was the anticipation of watching Goldie do an underwater mermaid show with her mother. But that scene didn't make it into the book.
The best thing about this series remain the graphics and the diversity of the characters.

74) Ramayana: Divine Loophole- Sanjay Patel
Graphic novel, Hindu, Religion
Pages: 186
Rating:

Beautifully illustrated version of the Ramayana, one of the main stories in Hindu mythology. Patel, an animator at Pixar, tends to use a pastel color palette in all his work. I have previously read Patel's Little Book of Hindu Deities. There he also used a pastel palette and all his characters had large round heads which made them look like Funko Pop dolls. In this book the large heads have given way to something more normal.
Patel's books are a great introduction to Hindu mythology for children, even though they can be a little violent.

75) The Music Shop -Rachel Joyce
Fiction, Music, Early Reviewers
Pages: 320
Rating:

The Music Shop is set on an out of the way street in a city in Thatcher era England. Frank is the owner of this crumbling shop that sells only vinyl. Frank was raised by his unconventional mother, Peg. Peg loved music and sex. She does not love being called "Mother" or being maternal in any way. Peg taught Frank everything she knows about music; the history, the imagery, and the silences. When customers come to the shop needing the right song for their mood or situation, Frank finds them the perfect song. When salesmen come to the shop to get him to order CDs, Frank refuses; he only sells vinyl. When they say the sound is clean, Frank replies: "Clean? What's music got to do with clean? Life has surface noise! Do you want to listen to furniture polish?"
One day a woman, Ilse Brauchmann, faints right outside the shop. Frank and the other shop owners on Unity Street help her. They are all immediately intrigued by this mysterious woman. Frank and Ilse are immediately drawn to each other. Ilse starts coming by the shop to help fix things. Frank has a difficult time making conversation with Ilse. Ilse asks Frank to give her private music lessons in the hope of getting Frank to open up. But when the topic is anything but music Frank becomes lost in the silences.
I enjoyed reading about - and worrying about - all the eccentric Unity Street characters and their shops. I loved reading all the sections about music. One day I'll join Spotify and listen to the playlist.

Favorite quotes:
You see? You see what Beethoven's doing? There is silence inside music too. It's like reaching a hole. You don't know what will happen next.

Years later he would hear that final pause in "A Day in the Life" by The Beatles- the one that gave just enough time to breathe before the last cord fell like a piece of furniture from the sky - and he would dance with joy at the sheer audacity of it.

Recap for 2017:

Books read in 2017: 75
Books off the Shelf 2017: 59
Fiction: 39
NonFiction: 18
Poetry: 6
Graphic novel: 17
Male author: 38
Female author: 38
Pages read in 2017: 21,150
Books bought in 2017: 103

Will not have time to set up my 2018 Category Challenge thread until the 3rd.

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year! Looking forward to your new thread!

Copper boom and happy new year!

>201 christina_reads: LOL. Copper Boom and Happy New Year to you Christina!

Welcome into 2018! I also have not yet set up a 2018 thread, though I'll start to poke around soon -- you may well beat me. :)