Beloved--Toni Morrison

Year Published: 1987
Pages: 288
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4/5

"124 was spiteful. Full of a baby's venom. The women in the house knew it and so did the children."

Thus begins Beloved, an amazing story of strength, courage, perserverence, and desperation. Set in Ohio in the late 1800s and revolving around the family of an escaped slave, Sethe, it is a haunting tale of the effects of slavery. "Beloved" refers to the headstone of the grave of one of the children she lost after Sethe's escape, and the ghost of said child haunts the house Sethe occupies with her other daughter, Denver. When a fellow slave of the plantation from which Sethe fled appears on her doorstep, he and the ghost face-off, which sets off a series of events and forces Sethe to confront the horrors and secrets of her past.

This is a beautifully written tale of beauty and horror. The characters are haunted by their past, by the grievances they have suffered and by their responses to their treatment, as much as 124 is haunted by Beloved. Whether or not the ghost is "real" becomes secondary; the character's pasts are true and haunting enough.

Book-a-Week # 2
Challenge/s: Decades, A-Z, New Classics

Into Thin Air--Jon Krakauer

Year Published: 1997
Genre: Non-fiction
Pages: 368
Rating: 4/5

"The actual particulars of the event are unclear, obscured by the accretion of myth."

"The event" refers to the ascension to the summit of Mount Everest, on which the author participated as a climber and a journalist. But due to a series of unforseen events, as many as twelve people from the excursions on the mountaintop didn't return alive. Krakauer relates the story as well as he can remember, adding in details that bring home what a grueling experience it is to climb Mount Everest. Altitude sickness, frostbite, intestinal ailments picked up from villages all contribute to the difficulty of an achievement that is difficult enough!

Krakauer's writing is captivating, just as in his previous novel, Into the Wild. What really brings the book home is the characters, whom he develops enough throughout the book that by the end we read with dread to see how they fared. The author's obvious investment with the characters and the journey, and his pain after the excursion was over, makes this a moving read.

Book-a-Week #1
Challenge/s: New Classics, Decades, TBR, A-Z

100 +/Book A Week Challenges

The 100 + Reading Challenge is hosted by J. Kaye, and Book a Week is a yahoogroup challenge. Since both require a log of books read, I will log for both challenges here!

1. Into the Wild--Jon Krakauer (1/2/09)
2. Beloved--Toni Morrison (1/3/09)
3. Animal Farm--George Orwell (1/10/09)
4. The Mists of Avalon--Marion Zimmer Bradley (1/11/09)
5. The Virgin Suicides--Jeffrey Eugenides (1/13/09)
6. The Sword of the Rightful King--Jane Yolen (1/17/09)
7. The Bluest Eye--Toni Morrison (1/19/09)
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?--Phillip K. Dick (1/22/09)
9. Can't Get There From Here--Todd Strasser (1/23/09)
10. The Forever King--Molly Cochran and Walter Murray (1/30/09)
11. Stargirl--Jerry Spinelli (2/8/09)
12. The Fellowship of the Ring--J.R.R. Tolkein (2/15/09)
13. Cat's Eye--Margaret Atwood (2/28/09)
14. The Two Towers--J.R.R. Tolkein (3/1/09)
15. Glass--Ellen Hopkins (3/1/09)
16. Skinny Bitch--Rory Freedman (3/3/09)
17. Fablehaven--Brandon Mull (3/14/09)
18. The Once and Future King--T.H. White (3/27/09)
19. King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table--Roger Lancelyn Green (3/28/09)
20. Dragons of Winter Night--Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (4/1/09)
21. Paradise--Toni Morrison (4/3/09)

22. Dragons of Spring Dawning--Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (4/10/09)

23. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy--Douglas Adams (4/11/09)

24. The Lightning Thief--Rick Riordan (4/13/09)

25. Snuff--Chris Palahniuk (4/14/09)

26. Destined For Destiny: The Unauthorized Biography of George W. Bush--Scott Dikkers and Peter Hilleran (4/15/09)

27. Out For More Blood--Various (4/17/09)

28. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe--Douglas Adams (4/27/09)

29. Life, the Universe, and Everything--Douglas Adams (5/2/09)

30. House of the Scorpion--Nancy Farmer (5/9/09)

31. Sea of Monsters--Rick Riordan (5/16/09)

32. Ophelia Speaks--Sara Shandler (5/23/09)

33. The Titan's Curse--Rick Riordan (6/17/09)

34. Duma Key--Stephen King (6/27/09)

35. The Battle of the Labyrinth--Rick Riordan (7/5/09)

36. So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish--Douglas Adams (7/16/09)

37. The Last Olympian--Rick Riordan (7/18/09)

38. Mostly Harmless--Douglas Adams (7/25/09)

39. Speak--Laurie Halse Anderson (8/25/09)

40. 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time--Toby Creswell (9/19/09)

41. The Year of Living Biblically--A.J. Jacobs (9/20/09)

42. The Book Thief--Markus Zusak (9/28/09)

43. Heart-Shaped Box--Joe Hill (9/30/09)

44. The Graveyard Book--Neil Gaiman (10/13/09)

45. Jasmine--Bharati Mukherjee (10/17/09)

46. Time of the Twins--Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (10/23/09)

47. On the Road--Jack Kerouac (10/26/09)

48. Twilight--Stephanie Meyer (10/27/09)

49. Lord of the Rings--J.R.R. Tolkein (11/4/09)

50. The Memory Keeper's Daughter--Kim Edwards (11/6/09)

51. House of Sand and Fog--Andre Dubus III (11/9/09)

52. New Moon--Stephanie Meyer (11/11/09)

FINISHED THE BOOK A WEEK CHALLENGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

53. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter--Carson McCullers (11/20/09)

54. Uncharted Stars--Andre Norton (11/26/09)

55. As I Lay Dying--William Faulkner (11/28/09)

56. X-Files: E.B.E.--Les Martin (11/29/09)

57. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time--Mark Haddon (12/1/09)

58. The Zero Game--Brad Melzer (12/4/09)

59. Riders of the Purple Sage--Zane Grey (12/8/09)

60. The Sun Also Rises--Ernest Hemingway (12/14/09)

61. The Great Fire--Jim Murphy (12/16/09)

62. Eclipse--Stephanie Meyer (12/21/09)

63. The Wastelands, Prufrock, and Other Observations--T.S. Eliot (12/26/09)

A to Z Challenge

FINISHED AS OF 12/31/09!!!!!!!!

Here is where I can track my books for the A-Z challenge.

Animal Farm--George Orwell (1/10/09)

Beloved--Toni Morrison (1/3/09)

Can't Get There From Here--Todd Strasser (1/23/09)

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?--Phillip K. Dick (1/22/09)

Eclipse--Stephanie Meyer (12/21/09)

Forever King (The)--Molly Cochran and Walter Murray (1/30/09)

Glass--Ellen Hopkins (3/1/09)

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (The)--Douglas Adams (4/11/09)

Into Thin Air--Jon Krakauer (1/2/09)

Jasmine--Bharati Mukherjee (10/17/09)

King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table--Roger Lancelyn Green (3/28/09)

Lightning Thief (The)--Rick Riordan (4/13/09)

Mists of Avalon (The)--Marion Zimmer Bradley (1/11/09)

New Moon--Stephanie Meyer (11/11/09)

Once and Future King (The)--T.H. White (3/27/09)

Paradise--Toni Morrison (4/3/09)
Queen Bees and Wannabes--Susan Wiseman (12/31/09)
Restaurant at the End of the Universe (The)--Douglas Adams (4/27/09)
Sword of the Rightful King (The)--Jane Yolen (1/17/09)
Two Towers (The)--J.R.R. Tolkein (3/1/09)
Uncharted Stars--Andre Norton (11/26/09)
Virgin Suicides (The)--Jeffrey Eugenides (1/13/09)

Wastelands, Prufrock, and Other Observations (The)--T.S. Eliot (12/26/09)

X-Files: E.B.E.--Les Martin (11/29/09)

Year of Living Biblically (The)--A.J. Jacobs (9/20/09)

Zero Game (The)--Brad Melzer (12/1/09)

Best new reads of 2008

I won't be finishing a book today (I'm barely into The Mists of Avalon), so I guess it's time to blog my best reads of last year. I chose my ten top reads from the books I gave five stars, and I'm not counting rereads. Here we go, in no particular order!


I Am Legend by Richard Matteson.

A well written, scientific look at what makes a vampire.

Slam by Nick Hornby

Hilarous and thought-provoking young adult book about teen pregnancy.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

A beautiful love story about an old man remembering his travels with a circus during the depression.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

A story so real it's hard to believe it's fiction.










Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

One of the best non-fiction books ever, a heart-breaking tale about a young man who tries to survive alone in nature.

America: The Book by Jon Stewart

This textbook parody was so funny!







The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

A masterpiece in style with a beautiful story, about a family of missionaries in Africa.









The Road by Cormac McCarthy

A stark and beautiful post-apocalyptic story of love and survival.








The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

A gothic tale of orphans, insanity, and ghosts haunting an estate.








The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

A brilliant and captivating story about a wealthy family's downfall during the depression, and the impact upon two sisters.







Honorable Mentions:

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
The Book of Lost Things by John Connelly
Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck
Abarat by Clive Barker
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson


Great Rereads:

Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander

Everybody needs goals...

So here are my goals for 2009.

1. Exercise every day!
2. Eat better!
3. Keep up with my reading lists.
4. Organize my house (and keep it clean)
5. Organize my classroom.
6. Budget my finances and pay off my debt.

For 2009, I'm going to try not to overschedule myself, but still manage to do the things I enjoy.

For 2009, I'm going to spend more time with Trevor, even when we aren't on vacation.

For 2009, I'm going to think about what goes into my body.

For 2009, I'm going to pay more attention to my spiritual side.

For 2009, I'm going to savor every moment, instead of flying through them!

2009 Blog Improvement Project

Now here's a project that I really need! Found here, and hosted by Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness, this will consist of bi-monthly activities designed to improve your blog. Participation is not mandatory, so you can pick and choose which activities you want to partake in.

2009 Mini-Challenge

Hosted by Caribou's Mom here; this is what it consists of:

1. Read a collection of short stories and either blog about it, OR tell the group about what you read. (Out For More Blood)
2. Read a play. Blog about it, OR tell the group about your experience.
3. Read a nonfiction book; write a review on your blog or post it to the group.
4. Read an 2 essays from the same collection; write a review on your blog or tell the group about what you read.
5. Go to a book event; blog about it or tell the group about it.
6.Borrow a library book, read it and review it on your blog (or tell the group about it).
7. Read a book by a new to you author. Do a little research on the author…do they have a blog? How many books have they written? Have they won any prizes? Where do they live? etc… Blog about the book you read and the author OR tell the group about them.
8. Make a donation. You can either donate to an organization that supports reading OR make a physical donation of a book (or books) to ANYONE. Blog about it or tell the group what you did.
9. Promote literacy. This is wide open - use your imagination. You could give a child a book, or read a book to someone who cannot read, or volunteer at an event which promotes literacy, or donate to your local library, or write something on your blog with a link to a group which promotes literacy, or anything in between. The only rule with this one is that you must PROMOTE literacy in some way…
10. Participate in a buddy read or Group discussion. This can be a face to face group, an on-line group or a one on one discussion with a friend who read the same book. Either way, blog about your experience or share with the group. Did the discussion give you greater appreciation or insight into what you read?
11. Read a book outside your comfort level or from a genre you don’t normally read. Blog about it, or tell the group about it.
12. Read a classic (defined as anything published before 1970). Tell us why it fits the category of being a classic. Write a review or tell the group about the book.

The Modern Library's 100 Best Challenge...

A perpetual challenge hosted by Sharon at Ex Libris which can be found here, where the goal is to read the novels from the Modern Library's 100 best novels--either the board's list, the reader's list (both of which can be found here), and/or the Radcliffe Publishing Course's list, which can be found here. I have read 12 from the board's list, 19 from the reader's list, and 26 from the Radcliffe's Rival list, but only a combined total of 34 since many of the books I read were on more than one list. The following books are books I am planning on reading in 2009 that are on one or more of those lists...

Animal Farm (1/10/09)
As I Lay Dying (11/28/09)
Beloved (1/3/09)
Blood Meridian
Fahrenheit 451
Gone With the Wind
Lord of the Rings (11/4/09)
On the Beach
On the Road (10/26/09)
The Sun Also Rises (12/14/09)
Their Eyes Were Watching God

Series Challenge?

Due to the large amount of series that I would like to finish reading (or reread), I am considering joining one or more of these challenges: Serial Readers Challenge 2009, To Be Continued (Perpetual), or Series Challenge Season 3. The latter allows me to finish a series I've already begun (which is pretty much where I need to be), the middle one allows re-reads (which is another important place) and the first one is for a new series of which I've read none (and I do have two of those). I may sign up for all three. These are the series I would like to read (or reread) this year:

The Death Gate Cycle--Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I've only read the first book, Dragonwing.

The Dark Tower Series--Stephen King. This would be a complete reread for me, but I'd love to read them all one after the other.

The Harry Potter Series--J.K. Rowling. Read the first three years ago, then stopped. I'd like to read them all again except the first, The Chamber of Secrets, which I read last year.

The Chronicles of Narnia--C.S. Lewis. Definately a reread, but always worth reading again.

Dragonlance--Various Authors. No way could I read them all, but I'm considering rereading the Weis/Hickman Chronicles (FINISHED!!) and Legends series. I read the first one of Chronicles, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, this year. And then maybe add some new ones that I haven't read.
* Dragons of Winter Night--4/1/09
*Dragons of Spring Dawning--4/10/09

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy--Douglas Adams.--FINISHED!!!!!
There are five books in this "trilogy"; I'd like to read them all.
*The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy--4/11/09
*The Restaurant at the End of the Universe--4/27/09
*Life, the Universe, and Everything--5/2/09
*So Long and Thanks For All the Fish--7/16/09
*Mostly Harmless--7/25/09

Lord of the Rings Trilogy--J.R.R. Tolkein. Since it is three volumes, I consider this an actual triology. I haven't read any of these books yet.
* The Fellowship of the Ring--2/15/09
* The Two Towers--3/1/09

The Shannara Trilogy--Terry Brooks. Another standard, three book trilogy, of which I have read none. I started the Sword of Shannara this year but never made it past the first chapter or so.

The Chronicles of Prydain--Lloyd Alexander. Just bought this entire series for my son Trevor, and would really love to read it again. I haven't read them since childhood, save for The Book of Three, which I read this year.

The Geodyssey Series--Piers Anthony. This series is a mix of historical and science fiction, as Anthony takes characters and evolves them through time and places to grow as he envisions the human race did. Characters start at the dawn of human history and are carried into the future. This would be a reread for me.

The Foundation Series--Issac Asimov. I read the first Foundation this year and would like to read at least the next two in the original trilogy.

The Percy Jackson Series--Rick Riordan--FINISHED!!!!!
*The Lightning Thief (4/13/09)
*Sea of Monsters (5/16/09)
*The Titan's Curse (6/17/09)
*The Battle of the Labyrinth (7/5/09)
*The Last Olympian (7/18/09)

Crank--Ellen Hopkins

Genre: Young Adult
Year Published: 2004
Pages: 544
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

What an intriguing title! Whatever could this book be about?

I had a lot of books donated to my classroom library this year, including the sequel to this book, Glass. I try to read as many of them as I can, so I can recommend them to and discuss them with my students, so I had to get Crank so I could read Glass. An interesting book, Crank. It is written as a series of poems which tell the story of a teenage girl who gets hooked on--you guessed it!--crank. (For those of you who aren't up on your street drug lingo, crank is a more concentrated form of crystal meth--aka speed). I figured it would be insufferable, but actually, it really isn't. The story flows remarkably fast, and most of the time you forget you're reading poetry (until something glaring hits you). The style is conversational, and sometimes annoyingly teenage, although that is the intended audience, and it only enters the world of pretentia part of the time.

My biggest issue with the book is the author's insistence upon calling the drug "the monster", which gets a little old by the end of the book. But most of the writing is just fine, and some of it is really nice, such as, "Hers is the face I wear/treading the riptide/fathomless oceans where/good girls drown." Or this, which really sums up the tentative teenage years to me: "I kept to the shadows,/observing the game/I hadn't dared play/absorbing the rules/with adhesive eyes." My second biggest issue is that it seems odd to me that the author is writing a story based on her daughter's struggles with drugs through her daughter's eyes. It weirds me out a little bit--I mean, isn't that sort of invasive? But the story is captivating, the writing is pretty good and sometimes really good, and it's a quick and easy read. I believe the author means it to be a cautionary tale, to stop kids from trying "the monster" aka drugs, but I'm not sure if it works as one. There is something decidedly alluring about Kristina's descent into debauchery; probably the same thing that draws kids to drug use in the first place. But the story rings mostly true and is thus better used as a warning than an embellished, outdated story like Go Ask Alice.

Challenges: None!
Book-a-Week #: 66
Date Read: 12/28/08

Wuthering Heights--Emily Bronte

Genre: Gothic Fiction
Year Published: 1847
Pages: 432
Rating: 3.5 out of 4

I vaguely remember reading this as a child, but I think it went mostly over my head. The most notable thing about this book is the complete lack of a sympathetic character. The most likable characters are self-centered, narcissistic liars; the worst are downright evil. In between are the sniveling wimps. Even the tenant-narrator strikes me as a smug little jerk.

That said, nothing makes for over-the-top drama like a bunch of narcissists. I enjoyed the passion and drama, the temptestous fits and tantrums, the plotting and brooding, and even the heavily-accented, self-righteous ranting sermons delivered by Joseph the handyman. And what do you expect from a bunch of people who think it's ok to marry their cousins?

Challenges: TBR
Book-a-Week # 65
Date Read: 12/26/2008

Abarat--Clive Barker

Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy
Year Published: 2002
Pages: 432
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Out of all the young adult books I read this year, this one was by far my favorite. Barker has created an amazing world, with unimaginable creatures both good and evil, with roots in both mythology and modern fantasy. I was surprised both by the depth and clarity of the characters and the quality of the writing. The protagonist, Candy, is unsatisfied with her lonely, nondescript life in Chickentown Minnesota, when a sea rolls into the outskirts of her town and she finds herself sailing away to the islands of Abarat, which are arranged to reflect the hours of the day and include a 25th island of timelessness. Candy finds herself launched into a harrowing adventure, and begins to realize that she is somehow more than what she believed before arriving there. The world is described in detail in the appendix via an almanac created by one of the characters, which in itself is worth reading.

The only problem with this book is that it ends abruptly. I am looking forward to reading the sequel: Abarat--Days of Magic, Nights of War.

I just have to mention one of the coolest things about this book--on the cover, the title reads exactly the same upside-down as right-side up! How cool is that?

Challenges: Young Adult, Naming Conventions, States (MN)
Book-a-Week # 64
Date Read: 12/21/2008

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

Genre: Fiction
Pages: 641
Year Published: 2000
Rating: 5 of 5 stars


This was a fabulous book. Atwood tells the tale of a wealthy family's plunge to disaster via three running stories: The daily life of the narrator, an octagenarian named Iris struggling to contend with the difficulties of aging and summoning her past for preserving; the narrator's memoir of her childhood and young adulthood; and a novel written by her younger sister Laura and published posthumously, after her sister's suicide.
The girls grow up wealthy in Toronto after the first world war, when their father inherits his father's button factory. But as the depression approaches and a series of tragedies strike the family, they are forced into roles they did not envision. Iris marries an older wealthy competitor of her father's. Laura remains fiery, creative, temptestous and more than a little odd. Their friendship with a Communist sympathizer sets off a series of events steeped in passion, intrigue, secrecy, and cruelty, which ultimately lead to Laura's untimely and tragic demise.

I will say no more so I don't ruin any of this book, except for this: Atwood's telling of the tale is nothing short of brilliant. She reveals just enough in each section of the three storylines to keep the reader's interest piqued, and to keep the flow of the saga even and smooth.

Challenges: 1% Well Read; Naming Conventions
Book-a-Week # 63
Date Read: 12/14/2008

The Zero Stone by Andre Norton

Genre: Science Fiction
Year Published: 1968
Pages: 238
Rating: 3 of 5 stars

When I was in third grade my teacher told us to read a science fiction book and write a book report on it. I came home and asked my father what he thought I should read, and he gave me Andre Norton's The Zero Stone. So the last time I read this book was in 1981, when I was eight. (I don't know if I faked it or not, but I did get an A on the book report). All I could recall of this book from that time was a vision of someone floating in space in a space suit with a monkey-like creature as an accomplice, and Billy Squier's "In the Dark" playing in the background.

Turns out, the person WAS floating in a space suit in space, the creature was more cat-like than monkey-like, and Billy Squier wasn't even invented when this book was written, although that single probably came out right about the time I first read it, leading me to believe that I listened to the radio as I read when I was a kid.

The story is about Murdoc Jern, the son of a jeweler, who ends up space traveling with an associate of his father's. He carries with him a ring with a mysterious stone, which was obtained under mysterious circumstances and which his father always wanted to understand. After his partner is killed, Jern escapes by making a deal with a spaceship captain. But on the way he is forced to eject from the ship (in a space suit--Aha!) with an odd companion--the offspring of the ship's cat after it ate some weird stones on a planet they visited. No ordinary kitten, Eet is intelligent and psychic and helps Jern manuever to an abandoned ship--although the mysterious ring helps too.

The novel ended abruptly, leaving far more questions than answers, so I queried my father and discovered there is a sequel--Uncharted Stars, which I plan on reading this year. I was also stunned to find out that Andre Norton was a woman, publishing sci-fi novels from the 1930's until just before her death in 2005.

Challenges: Naming Conventions, Read it Again, Well Rounded
Book-a-Week # 62
Date Read: (1981 first reading) 12/6/2008