Sue

By November 30th, 2009 (her would-be 135th birthday) read at least 4 books by Lucy Maud Montgomery that aren’t part of the Anne series.

Jane of Lantern Hill-I adored this book.  In fact, it might be one of my all-time favorite LMM books, after the first couple Anne books.  The main character was wonderful and her development over the time of the book was fun to watch.  The PE Island descriptions in this book were luscious and the way Jane savored everything about the Island, her home, and her garden made me think I need to be more appreciative of what I have.  Totally glad I read this one.

Along the Shore: Tales by the Sea-I like her short stories.  They vary in quality, and don’t all have happy endings, and these stories all related to the ocean.  I enjoyed “The Life-Book of Uncle Jesse” published in 1909 that told of an old sailor whose wonderful stories were published for the world to read.  I also liked “Four Winds” which was the longest and had more character development.  It was about a young minister who falls in love with a reclusive girl with a mystery and then ends with a twist.  I don’t read short stories all that often so this challenge has been fun to find these nuggets.

Among the Shadows: Tales from the Darker Side-I liked this set of her short stories, although they were somewhat uneven.  This should be expected since they were published in magazines between 1897 and 1935, so her style changed somewhat over the years.  There were ghost stories, murderers, thieves, drunks, and redemption stories.  I really enjoyed “The Deacon’s Painkiller” and “Miss Calista’s Peppermint Bottle” because they were amusing and ended happy.  The first story, “The Closed Door”, was weird and “The House Party at Smoky Island” was a good old-fashioned ghost tale.  All in all, lots of fun.

The Doctor’s Sweetheart and Other Stories-These were love stories that ended well, but were very different in their meandering way to true love.  They were written between 1899 and 1935 and only one, “The Parting of the Ways” doesn’t end with the boy getting the girl.  A theme running through several of the stories was that of a woman who thought she wasn’t in love with her man, but came to see in different ways, that she actually did love him.  Some of the stories carried a theme of random chance that happens to turn out well which I thought was interesting for LMM.  I liked “The Finished Story” and “The Garden of Spices” because they were sentimental and heart-warming and “By Grace of Julius Caesar” because it was funny.

Happy Birthday, Lucy!

I just signed up for the Book Blogger Holiday Swap.  It sounds like a fun idea to be a secret Santa for someone I haven’t met yet.  The FAQ’s said our blog doesn’t have to be only about books, so I qualify.  You might want to join the fun but the deadline is November 12, so decide fast!  Merry Christmas!

Read Your Name Challenge runs 1 Jan-31 Dec 2009:  Using your name or any name you like, read books with first title letters that spell out your name; I’m using SCOTT so I can read some fun books that I want to be sure and get to this year.

• Snakewater Affair, Liz Adair
• Captain’s Blood, William Shatner
• Onion John, John Krumgold (Newbery Award)
• The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith
• The Quilter’s Apprentice, Jennifer Chiaverini

Snakewater Affair, by Liz Adair:  This is the third book in this series that involves a small-town deputy sheriff in Nevada.  He’s an affable guy with a perky wife who has a lot of common sense.  They are LDS and the books are filled with references.  Spider gets involved in solving mysteries in each novel and in this one he gets to travel to Washington and make a little extra money.  They have been barely hanging on since the mines closed and he had to take the law enforcement gig.  They are engaging characters, although sometimes he’s a little slow on the uptake when investigating.  Great writing? No.  Fun, quick stories? Yes.

Star Trek: Captain’s Blood, by William Shatner:  This is the second volume in the Totality trilogy.  I enjoy the Trek novels by Shatner because even though he has well-known Trek co-authors, he has an original voice.  His books stray from Trek canon by having Captain Kirk still alive through a strange regeneration process, but the rest of the books follow canon by intersecting with “real” events that have happened on film or in other books.  This story takes place after “Star Trek: Nemesis” and involves the Romulans and Remans.  It is a story in itself, but sets the stage for the final encounter between humanity and the Peace of the Totality that will destroy the galaxy.  Can’t wait to find out if we survive!

Onion John, John Krumgold: This was a coming-of-age story but also a cautionary tale.  Is it right to help someone so he can become less like himself and more like you?  Can a person be truly happy if he loses his identity to the larger society?  I liked the basic premise but found that the writing style irritated me, so it wasn’t one of my favorites.

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith: I finally got around to reading this book and I really liked it.  It was a quiet, gentle book with some excitement and mystery thrown in.  The main character is a wise and thoughtful woman and very engaging.  I will be reading more of this series next year as the first volume was very fun.

The Quilter’s Apprentice, by Jennifer Chiaverini: I have been interested in this series and wanted to try it since I’ve started quilting.  The young couple in the book start work for an elderly woman trying to get her estate ready to sell.  They become friends and the owner, Sylvia, begins to teach Sarah how to quilt.  During the process, she tells stories of life during WWII and how she came to leave the estate.  The characters develop during the book and change in interesting ways, and I liked all the discussion of quilt blocks and their history.  I liked the book and will read some more of this series.

I’ve been thinking about joining this challenge now that my 2009 challenges are winding down, and since two of my book club reading buddies are doing it, I figured why not?  The new books will be the hardest for me because they don’t show up at my used book stores very often, but now that I have a library card, I can find new books.

 

The goal of this challenge is to read the number of books first published in a given year that corresponds to the last digit of each year in the 2000s — 10 books from 2010, 9 books from 2009, 8 books from 2008, etc. The total number of books required, therefore, is 55.

This challenge lasts from 9/9/09 through 10/10/10.

I’ll work on my list through the next few months, but I have some series to catch up on and this will be a great excuse because they are usually published one per year.  Voila!

2010-?

2009:  Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins; The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown

2008:  The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman

2007

2006

2005:  The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, by Kim Edwards

2004:  Snakewater Affair, by Liz Adair

2003

2002

2001

 

What’s in a Name-2? runs 1 Jan-31 Dec 2009: 6 books that require something specific in the title

• profession
• time of day
• relative
• body part
• building
• medical condition

 

 (Profession) Captain’s Glory, by William Shatner: This is the third book in the Totality series by Shatner.  The first two books had some action but were setting the stage for the final confrontation in this book.  It had alot of action and moved right along as it tied together all the various threads leading to the climax.  Shatner’s dialogue is written like a Trek episode, in that the dialogue is true to the film characters.  It’s easy to hear each of them saying the words because they are so natural to the whole feel of the characters.  Lots of fun and it had a moral, too.

(Time of Day) Night of Many Dreams, by Gail Tsukiyama: I really like this author.  When I find an author I enjoy, I’m loyal.  This book follows a family in Hong Kong before and after WWII.  The story centers around the two sisters and their aunt and how they each make their way in life.  They follow their dreams, even though they aren’t traditional, and this causes conflict with the mother/sister.  So interesting to watch the story develop.  That’s one of the things I like about Tsukiyama.  You watch the story open up and grow and really come to know the characters, who aren’t caricatures or stock characters, but real people you recognize in real life.  Great read.

(Body Part) Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston: This book showed the development of the main character from a young, unwilling bride who is unhappy, to a runaway bride who becomes an object of status, to an independent woman free to love someone of her choice.  The development arc was very interesting and Hurston’s descriptions of life in 1930’s Florida was fascinating.  She reveals many interesting aspects of rural black life, such as jook joints, harvesting in the muck of the Everglades, relationships with Indians and whites, and the white justice system.  While socially fascinating, it was also a great read.

(Building) Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, by Anne Tyler: This is the third Tyler book I’ve read and her books are about personal relationships.  The dinner in the title takes place in the last chapter and the rest of the book tells the stories of the participants leading up to the dinner.  Each chapter tells more of the life of each of the main characters and the reader pieces together a more complete view of the family members as their story is told or as they are seen through the eyes of the others.  It was a touching book of survival among damaged people.

(Relative) The Memory-Keeper’s Daughter, by Kim Edwards: This book had a haunting theme of loss and secrets, but the language was beautiful.  She was so descriptive of places, feelings, and people.  I loved her photography metaphors and descriptions of light and shadow.  It took me a while to realize that the Memory Keeper was actually David and not Caroline as he tried to suspend time with his camera.  I really enjoyed this book, even though the actual decision that started the whole chain of events was horrific.

(Medical Condition) Born in Fire, by Nora Roberts: This was my first Nora Roberts.  The book was a fun, light read with nothing very philosophical or thought-provoking; a little racy; the first of a trilogy I will probably finish when I want something escapist to read, but she’s not going to be one of my favorite authors.