RV There Yet? by Julia Roberts
This was a quick read that I’d had on the shelf and I decided to pull it down to get in one more book for 2010, get me that much closer to my goal. It’s the story of a family who heads off in a used RV to drive across the country and back! Much mid-adventure ensures but all parties are better for the experience in the end! Inspired me to think about making my own cross country trip!
A Journey North: One Woman’s Story of Hiking the Appalachian Trail by Adrienne Hall
This is a first. It’s an AT book that I didn’t fully love. I usually really enjoy hiking vicariously through others, however this book was less about the hike and more about politics and environmental issues. It made sense when I read that the author is en environmental scientist so I could see why these things were so important to her! Really it should be more important to all of us, but in this book it seemed to bog down something that was entertaining in its own right!
Wishin’ and Hopin’ by Wally Lamb
Mom loaned me this book last year and I’d been holding on to it waiting for Christmas to read it! It was kind of a cross between Steve Kluger’s Last Days of Summer and the movie “A Christmas Story”. It was a very light and entertaining read!
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 – 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!
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!
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!
