Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Challenge Completed: Support Your Local Library

I have finally finished this one!!!!!!  50 library books was harder than I thought it would be!  I felt like I would never get there, but I did! :-)  This is likely the last challenge I will complete this year – although I will make it over 80% of the way to 100!!!! 

One of the things I didn’t like was constantly feeling like I had to get the books I was reading from the library.  I usually get my books from the library but while I was working on this challenge I felt like I had to read library books and my “to read” pile on the dresser just sat untouched! Now to tackle some of those books!

Here are the books I read from the library this year:
1. Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen - Susan Gregg Gilmore
2. Angels – Marian Keyes
3. The Double Bind – Chris Bohjalian
4. Last Chance Saloon – Marian Keyes
5. Time Bandit: Two Brothers, The Bering Sea, & The World’s Deadliest Job – Andy & Jonathan Hillstrand
6. Viola in Reel Life – Adriana Trigiani
7.  The Girl Who Played With Fire – Stieg Larsson
8.  The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder – Rebecca Wells
9. Encore, Valentine – Adriani Trigiani
10.  Secrets of Eden – Chris Bohjalian
11. Murder on the Iditarod Trail – Sue Henry
12.  The Moving Finger – Agatha Christie
13.  Stealing Buddha’s Dinner – Bich Minh Nguyen
14. Green Witch – Alice Hoffman
15. Flush – Carl Hiaasen
16. How Reading Changed My Life – Anna Quindlen
17.  Death on the Nile – Agatha Christie
18.  The Queen’s Fool – Philippa Gregory
19. Sushi for Beginners – Marian Keyes
20.  Shanghai Girls – Lisa See
21. North by Northwestern – Captain Sig Hansen
22.  Sleeping Lady – Sue Henry
23.  Miss Julia Renews Her Vows – Ann B. Ross
24.  Knit Two – Kate Jacobs
25.  The Girl Who Stopped Swimming – Joshilyn Jackson
26.  Termination Dust – Sue Henry
27.  Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
28.  Hooked on Murder – Betty Hechtman
29.  Death Takes Passage – Sue Henry
30.  Sizzling Sixteen – Janet Evanovich
31. The Painter from Shangai – Jennifer Cody Epstein
32.  Dead Men Don’t Crochet – Betty Hechtman
33. Tall Pine Polka – Lorna Landvik
34. A Stitch in Crime – Betty Hechtman
35.  Patty Jane’s House of Curl – Lorna Landvik
36.  Moloka’i – Alan Brennert 
37. The Sugar Queen – Sarah Addison Allen
38. The Knitting Circle – Ann Hood
39.  Fire & Ice – Dana Stabenow
40. My Most Excellent Year – Steve Kluger 
41.  Burn – Nevada Barr
42.  Garden Spells – Sarah Addison Allen
43.  The Ornithologist's Guide to Life – Ann Hood
44.  Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making it Work – Tim Gunn
45. Black and Blue – Anna Quindlen
46.  Comfort Food – Kate Jacobs
47.  Knit the Season – Kate Jacobs
48. Deadfall – Sue Henry
49.  By Hook or By Crook – Betty Hechtman
50.  The Flying Carpet of Small Miracles: A Woman’s Fight to Save Two Orphans – Hala Jaber

Extra:

51. You Better Knot Die – Betty Hechtman

You Better Not Cry

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You Better Not Cry – Augusten Burroughs

I LOVED Running with Scissors, but the other 2 Augusten Burroughs books I have picked up – Dry and one other I can’t even remember the name of didn’t live up to my expectations.  As a result I had low expectations  for this one.  I was pleasantly surprised! :-)

A few of the stories were laugh out loud funny – confusing Santa and Jesus, and then french kissing the plastic Santa!  A few of the stories weren’t all that funny, or interesting.  And the “I got so drunk I didn’t remember anything” stories were funny at 1st, but then got old.  Overall it was a good holiday read!

100_Reading_Challenge

A Visit to San Juan Island

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Christmas Eve in Friday Harbor – Lisa Kleypas

Reading a romance novel novel for the setting is kinda like reading Playboy for the articles.  

Lucky for me this was a “PG” rated romance novel, but even still the main focus of the story was 2 people falling in love and living happily ever after.  puke.  

It was a quick and entertaining read although I probably won’t read the rest of the series, even if they are set in the San Juan Islands!

100_Reading_Challenge

You Better Knot Die

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You Better Knot Die – Betty Hechtman

The 5th and final (for now hopefully….) installment of the Crochet Mysteries! This one was more “novel” than a formulaic  mystery which made me happy, it was a good read and less Molly Pink getting into trouble yet ultimately solving the mystery than the other other 4.  I’m looking forward to the next novel in this series!

100_Reading_Challenge     library-rc

Small Miracles

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The Flying Carpet of Small Miracles: A Woman’s Fight to Save Two Orphans – Hala Jaber

I was expecting a happy book about two orphans who found their forever home, orphans who knew  the horrors of wars, but were rescued.  What I got was a sad, yet inspiring book more about the war in Iraq than about orphans or adoption.  The most interesting part of this book was that I got to see another side of the war and see it’s true victims.

100_Reading_Challenge  library-rc

By Hook or by Crook

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By Hook or By Crook – Betty Hechtman

This is the 3rd of 5 Crochet Mysteries staring the Tarzana Hookers and the Crime Scene Groupie Molly Pink.  At first I wasn’t too sure about this series, but as I read more of them the more “hooked” I get!  I love it when I can watch an author grow as a writer as I’m doing with Betty Hechtman.

Even though I read these books out of order it was ok as the books don’t really build upon each other too much!  

100_Reading_Challenge     library-rc

Deadfall

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Deadfall – Sue Henry

I started this book a few months ago and just wasn’t into it so I returned it to the library un-read.  Then as I was trying to find quick reads to finish off the “Support Your Local Library” Challenge I decided to pick it up.  This time I plowed through it in just a day!

I think this was the best Sue Henry I have read! It had the right amount of action and suspense, but wasn’t too scary and it was easier to figure out!

100_Reading_Challenge     library-rc

Knit the Season

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Knit the Season – Kate Jacobs

This one is a Friday Night Knitting Club book! :-)   I enjoyed this one just as much as I have enjoyed the other 2 FNKC stories!  The whole series reminds me a lot of Adrianna Trigiani’s books and I LOVE her! 

This book was a bit odd because I felt like the story had been told out at the end of Knit Two, but I did enjoy another visit to Walker and Daughter and enjoyed seeing the characters stories continue to be told!

100_Reading_Challenge    library-rc

Comfort Food

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Comfort Food – Kate Jacobs

As you likely by now have realized as soon as I find an author I like I proceed to read everything that they have written.  I have really enjoyed Kate Jacob’s “Friday Night Knitting Club” books and silly me assumed that this was another in the series.  I read and re-read the first 3 pages several times attempting to plug in the characters from The Friday Night Knitting Club before realizing that this was a stand alone novel!

This book was not nearly as good as the Friday Night Knitting Club books.  No where near.  It was decent story, but it was lacking in something I can’t put my finger on, it just fell short of what I was expecting!

100_Reading_Challenge   library-rc

The Opposite of Me

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The Opposite of Me – Sarah Pekkanen

This was a book club book and unfortunately I missed the meeting where we discussed it, I really enjoyed it and was sad to miss the meeting. 

This book was very “chick lit” and that aspect I didn’t like.  The characters were very different from me, but yet I felt like we had so much in common!  I really connected with the characters and their angst to make changes in their lives in the right direction and being totally unsure of what they want or need!

100_Reading_Challenge

Black & Blue

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Black & Blue – Anna Quindlen

This book was a fairly standard abusive marriage type book.  In fact, I read it about a month ago and already I’ve pretty much forgotten what it was about.  It wasn’t a bad read, just not especially memorable, and rather predictable.  The Oprah’s Book Club sticker at the top should be indicative of what the book is like, I’d bet money it was turned into a “made for TV movie” on Lifetime.

100_Reading_Challenge   library-rc