2013 BOOK CHALLENGE! Are you in?

[kimblebee]

I think I was missed too. No big deal. Thanks for keeping track of this thread : )

I know I said I was going to read Defending Jacob but instead I went with

#2 Bloom

4.5/5. Wow. What an honest woman the author is. It was a very emotional look at what she has gone through. I may be the only one thinking this but I feel bad for Nella (the daughter with DS). I just keep thinking how is she going to feel if she reads this book one day? I know she probably won't, or won't really get the point of what's being said, but still. I'd be sad if my mom wrote a book and said she wanted to run away from me after I was born. Yes, her attitude has changed 100% but it still made me sad to read the first few chapters. That's why I couldn't give it a 5.

Next up is imperfect justice: prosecuting Casey Anthony.

 

[clutter]

Count me in!

I'm only going to commit to 15 books, but I may be able to up that later on. Working on the first one "The Autobiography of Santa Claus" Hopefully you all will make me complete books. I tend to read the first half, get bored, then read the ending!

 

[hulagirl87]

I just finished Waiting for Birdy by Catherine Newman. so cute!

 

[Glynis]

Goal - 50 books

Book #6 - "Lost and Found" by Carolyn Parkhurst

The premise for this book is a game show called Lost and Found. Contestants decipher clues that send them around the world to find items. Of course, the real story is what is happening in the personal life of the contestants. This was an ok book, but not wonderful. It took me longer than normal to finish, because I just didn't care about any of the characters. I finally forced myself to sit down and finish the book, just so I could start another one.

Next up: "Ruby Red" by Kerstin Gier

 

[threeboysmom]

I think I was missed too. No big deal. Thanks for keeping track of this thread : )

I know I said I was going to read Defending Jacob but instead I went with

Ah, I'm so sorry! I sent you a pm but disregard it. I found your original book goal for 2013.

Count me in!

I'm only going to commit to 15 books, but I may be able to up that later on. Working on the first one "The Autobiography of Santa Claus" Hopefully you all will make me complete books. I tend to read the first half, get bored, then read the ending!

Updated up through here (I hope!! lol)

 

[WowLookAtThat]

Book #5 Queen of the Big Time by Adriana Trigiani

Review: Nella Castelluca has big dreams and ambition. She is very smart and wants to become a schoolteacher but must quit school after her father is injured and must help the family by getting a job. With her dream gone but her ambition still there, she rises in position in the mill at a young age. She falls in love with the town playboy, Renato Lanzara but he leaves town and she learns to love the faithful Franco Zellerano. However, the night before her wedding Renato comes back and shocks Nella. She has to learn to deal with heartbreak and life.

Well, I liked it. It's a fast read but honestly...I feel like it lacked the magic of Lucia Lucia and the romance of Trigiani's latest book The Shoemakers Wife (read it in Dec 2012, I recommend it totally). The character is admirable in her ambition and her responsibility. However, while Nella is loyal to her family and does her duty towards them...I felt like she did it with a lot of resentment. Don't get me wrong, she had a right to complain but I didn't feel any love between Nella and her family, it was just like a "I got to do what is right". I kind of felt like she was a martyr. I was more interested in the other characters than Nella.
The writing was simple but lacked the magic of Trigiani's other books. It isn't a bad book, but not one of my favorites. There was a lack of fluidity and personality.

 

[Kathi OD]

Finished #2...Big Fish by Daniel Wallace. It was a very quick read.

It got 3/5 stars from me. Big Fish is the story of a man's life, told through his son's eyes as the man lays dying. It is made up of short, legend or mythlike tales, for his father could do anything. At the end, it seems that father really wasn't so perfect and son is having a hard time coming to terms with his failings, but still loving him for the man he was.

New book will be "The Sense of an Ending" by Julian Barnes.

 

[momto3gr8boys]

I think you missed me a few pages back. I signed up for 24 books.

I think you may have missed me too back a few pages! I signed up for 30.

 

[momto3gr8boys]

I finished book #2 last night.

The Spanish Pearl by Catherine Friend:

When Kate Vincent and her partner travel to Spain, Kate is accidentally transported back in time...way back in time...to 1085. What does a woman like Kate do in a world of no antibiotics, no feminism, no Diet Coke? She denies it as long as possible, then sets her mind to getting home. Tricky with her now useless twenty-first century skills.

Things don't go well. Kate is captured by a band of mercenary soldiers and becomes an unwitting pawn in the violent conflict between the Catholic kings and the Islamic Moors. In her struggle to stay alive and return to the future, Kate must flee exotic harems, filthy dungeons, and treacherous Moorish courts. But when a sword-brandishing woman with an astonishing secret sweeps into Kate's life, Kate is suddenly torn between two women, and between two centuries.

The Spanish Pearl is an epic adventure spiced with humor, lust, and danger—a story with surprising twists that will capture your imagination just as Kate's dilemma captures your heart.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would...although it is historical fiction, it is also mainly a romance, and I often find them a bit "fluffy", but I was also at that point where I wanted a quick read that didn't tax my post holiday brain too much! And I wound up really liking it enough to read the sequel for book #3

 

[CourtasanSatine]

Goal: 50

Book #4

Stefan's Diaries Volume. 1: Origins (part of The Vampire Diaries)

I wanted some brain candy and this fit the bill. This ispart of a 3 part series set pre series for TVD and acts as a peek into Stefan and Damon before Elena came into the picture. This fills in some blanks about the love triangle with Katherine and I'm already excited about the second volume.

3/5

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

I think you missed me too!

my goal is 52! Thank you!

 

[Friend of a Mouse]

Goal 70

#3 City of Bones by Michael Connelly

From the back cover:
On New Year's Day, a dog finds a bone in the Hollywood Hills and unearths a murder committed more than twenty years earlier. It's a cold case, but for Detective Harry Bosch, it stirs up memories of his childhood as an orphan. He can't let it go. As the investigation takes Bosch deeper into the past, a beautiful rookie cop brings him alive in the present. No official warning can break them apart or prepare Bosch for the explosions when the case takes a few hard turns. Suddenly all of L.A. is in an uproar, and Bosch, fighting to keep control, is driven to the brink of an unimaginable decision.

I have never read anything by this author before so I had no expectations going in. I was really surprised with some of the twists and turns of this book. I would give it 5 stars.

I think it's funn ythat we both read "City of Bones" but we both read a different one. I will have to check out this City of Bones.

I think I was missed too. No big deal. Thanks for keeping track of this thread : )

I know I said I was going to read Defending Jacob but instead I went with

#2 Bloom

4.5/5. Wow. What an honest woman the author is. It was a very emotional look at what she has gone through. I may be the only one thinking this but I feel bad for Nella (the daughter with DS). I just keep thinking how is she going to feel if she reads this book one day? I know she probably won't, or won't really get the point of what's being said, but still. I'd be sad if my mom wrote a book and said she wanted to run away from me after I was born. Yes, her attitude has changed 100% but it still made me sad to read the first few chapters. That's why I couldn't give it a 5.

Next up is imperfect justice: prosecuting Casey Anthony.

I have not heard of this book before. Can you give a little more details as to what it was about? I'm assuming DS is standing for Down Syndrome? This has piqued my interest because I have taught several students with Down Syndrome.

I asked a couple of pages back if anybody can recommend some good fictional books featuring cryptozoology (the study of unknown animals.) I really enjoyed The Loch by Steve Alten and Roland Smith's Cryptids series and am looking for more that are similar. I also just enjoy those "unsolved mystery" type things anyway. I am a sucker for the Bermuda Triangle, Nazca Lines, anything you can find in those bargain Barnes and Noble books about the unexplained world.

 

[Swimnoid]

Goal 70

#3 City of Bones by Michael Connelly

From the back cover:
On New Year's Day, a dog finds a bone in the Hollywood Hills and unearths a murder committed more than twenty years earlier. It's a cold case, but for Detective Harry Bosch, it stirs up memories of his childhood as an orphan. He can't let it go. As the investigation takes Bosch deeper into the past, a beautiful rookie cop brings him alive in the present. No official warning can break them apart or prepare Bosch for the explosions when the case takes a few hard turns. Suddenly all of L.A. is in an uproar, and Bosch, fighting to keep control, is driven to the brink of an unimaginable decision.

I have never read anything by this author before so I had no expectations going in. I was really surprised with some of the twists and turns of this book. I would give it 5 stars.

I love Michael Connelly and Harry Bosch. There are around 19 books in the Bosch series. I havent read City of Bones yet. I have read a few of the latest ones and then went back to the beginning to see how the character develops.

He also has a series with Mickey Haller who is a lawyer (The Lincoln Lawyer movie). Sometimes Mickey and Harry show up in the same book. And several other characters who show up frequently.


Just finished #5 of 75 Goal

Postmortem Patrica Cornwell

The first Kay Scarpetta book. I wanted to go back and reread some of different series first books to remember how they all started. It was funny reading this one since it was written on 1990. The technology is very elementary...just starting to use DNA evidence, computers with DOS, no cell phones.

 

[kimblebee]

Yes, DS stands for Down Syndrome. The book is a memoir from a mom who has a daughter born with it. She didn't find out until the moment of her birth. Then there are about 50 pages on how utterly sad and disappointed she is and how supportive her friends and family are. She does eventually realize that her life is not over and comes to love her daughter very much. She says that she was so sad because she wasn't going to have the daughter she had pictured in her head. She wouldn't be able to play dress up with her and do baking with her and so on. I was thinking but you CAN still do those things, just in a different way. I admit that maybe you have to go through it to really understand it but I really didn't get why the mom wanted to go back in time to before her daughter was born to imagine her being perfect. It was a good read though as it kept me turning the pages.

 

[momto3gr8boys]

Yes, DS stands for Down Syndrome. The book is a memoir from a mom who has a daughter born with it. She didn't find out until the moment of her birth. Then there are about 50 pages on how utterly sad and disappointed she is and how supportive her friends and family are. She does eventually realize that her life is not over and comes to love her daughter very much. She says that she was so sad because she wasn't going to have the daughter she had pictured in her head. She wouldn't be able to play dress up with her and do baking with her and so on. I was thinking but you CAN still do those things, just in a different way. I admit that maybe you have to go through it to really understand it but I really didn't get why the mom wanted to go back in time to before her daughter was born to imagine her being perfect. It was a good read though as it kept me turning the pages.

Who is the author? I looked it up on Goodreads, but got a lot of hits for bloom and none seemed to be the right book.

 

[momto3gr8boys]

I asked a couple of pages back if anybody can recommend some good fictional books featuring cryptozoology (the study of unknown animals.) I really enjoyed The Loch by Steve Alten and Roland Smith's Cryptids series and am looking for more that are similar. I also just enjoy those "unsolved mystery" type things anyway. I am a sucker for the Bermuda Triangle, Nazca Lines, anything you can find in those bargain Barnes and Noble books about the unexplained world.

How complex of a read is that Cryptids series? My DS12 is a reluctant reader, and I am constantly trying to find books he will enjoy. He LOVES all those finding bigfoot, loch ness monster, etc. shows. I'm thinking this may be a good thing to try. Thanks.

 

[threeboysmom]

I think you may have missed me too back a few pages! I signed up for 30.

I think you missed me too!

my goal is 52! Thank you!

Thank you for letting me know!

I am sorry to all those that I've missed. I'm trying, lol!

Any others I've missed?

 

[Simba's Mom]

Right now I'm reading "Shopaholic and Sister". I love, love, love Sophie Kinsella books. Does anyone know the other name she's written under (I think the first name begins with M)? Also, anyone know of other authors like her (think "I Love Lucy" style)?

 

[jenny105]

Right now I'm reading "Shopaholic and Sister". I love, love, love Sophie Kinsella books. Does anyone know the other name she's written under (I think the first name begins with M)? Also, anyone know of other authors like her (think "I Love Lucy" style)?

I love Sophie Kinsella! I think I've read all her books. She writes under Madeline Wickam (the spelling may be incorrect). I read one of those books but didn't like it half as much as I like her other stuff.

 

[threeboysmom]

Right now I'm reading "Shopaholic and Sister". I love, love, love Sophie Kinsella books. Does anyone know the other name she's written under (I think the first name begins with M)? Also, anyone know of other authors like her (think "I Love Lucy" style)?

I'm with you! I absolutely LOVE Sophie Kinsella and am so sad that I've read every one of her books already.

A book that I've marked for future reading is I Heart New York by Lindsey Kelk. Can't vouch for it since I haven't actually read it yet, but its "supposedly" written in the same style as Kinsella.