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Jun. 7th, 2007 @ 08:21 pm (no subject)
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Books read so far:
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling

Finally, a more in-depth (although not by much) look at what happened to make Harry the Boy Who Lived. We get to see a little bit of James's character at Harry's age, and Lily's ultimate sacrifice with her death. Plus there's lots of stuff about Voldemort's spy, was it Lupin, Black, or Pettigrew? Although Sirius makes a serious personality change in the span of maybe two chapters.

Count: 38
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May. 25th, 2007 @ 05:41 pm (no subject)
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Books read so far:
Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid, Lemony Snicket

A collection of short phrases, many, if not most, if not all, of which taken from the various Series of Unfortunate Events books and arranged under appropriate headings. Hilarious and true.

Count: 37
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May. 22nd, 2007 @ 07:57 pm (no subject)
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Books read so far:
The Chosen, Sonny Whitelaw & Elizabeth Christensen

The Atlantis team find themselves embroiled in a political conflict when they come to a planet divided into those with the ATA gene and those without. Their well-meaning attempts to regulate this matter go south when the Wraith arrive to cull the planet and there's a war. Despite all this excitement and excellent characterization, it's fairly slow and plodding, hard to get through.

Count: 36
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May. 22nd, 2007 @ 05:34 pm (no subject)
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Books read so far:
Wasteland, Francesca Lia Block

A story about a brother and sister perhaps a little closer than people might like, the mother's attempts to keep them apart, the brother's death, and the sister's attempts with a friend to find the connection. The vague, indirect storytelling was hard to get into at first, but it flowed quickly and was delightfully dark.

Count: 35
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May. 19th, 2007 @ 10:39 am (no subject)
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Books read so far:
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling

Hogwarts students are being attacked by a mysterious beast, commanded by the Heir of Slytherin. My favorite moment is still the part where Harry suddenly pieces together all the clues, only to come out of the hospital wing and find out that Ginny has been taken into the Chamber. A big ol' emotional punch, and the reason why this has been the most-read of any of the Potter books for me.

Count: 34
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May. 16th, 2007 @ 03:01 pm (no subject)
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Books read so far:
Holidays on Ice, David Sedaris

A series of short essays of varying weirdness on holiday cheer. The best ones are the "personal"/"true" ones, SantaLand diaries and Dinah, the Christmas whore. The others are mostly experimental sort of vignettes, which are funny enough, but don't hit the right note.

Count: 33
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May. 14th, 2007 @ 05:14 pm (no subject)
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Books read so far:
This Book Will Save Your Life, A.M. Homes

The story of a man who one day finds himself with horrific pain and no discernable cause. What follows is the mess of his life as a sinkhole erupts under his house, he meets a crying woman in the supermarket, befriends a reclusive writer, and tries to reconnect with the son he walked out on years ago. The characters get increasingly weird as the book goes on, but there is a distinct hopeful note throughout. Very satisfying.

Count: 32
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May. 10th, 2007 @ 05:58 pm (no subject)
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Books read so far:
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle

Meg, her brother Charles Wallace, and some stranger kid named Calvin get swept up by three not-women to go across the galaxy and rescue their father from I think blackness. The plot is a little convoluted and the ending a little too swift, but the characters are engaging and the descriptions excellent.

Count: 31
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May. 1st, 2007 @ 03:16 pm (no subject)
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Books read so far:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.K. Rowling

Lots of unanswered questions for our poor young hero, lots of reliance on the slightly abstract concepts of love saving all. But as entertaining as ever, not to mention emotionally resonating. Even though it doesn't feel like all of the characters get properly developed, but maybe that's just hindsight speaking.

Count: 30
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Apr. 16th, 2007 @ 03:52 pm (no subject)
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Books read so far:
The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger

A hefty romance of a "chrono-displaced" man, who time travels without any control, often going back into his own past, or to the past of his wife Clare, who's known him for years before he ever meets her. This makes the timeline non-linear and occasionally confusing, and there always tidbits and promises of puzzle pieces coming together, though they don't always. It's an enormous book, but I got great personal satisfaction upon completion, even though the ending is sad. The cast is wide, but none of them are quite painted with the same brush as our heroes.

Count: 29
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Apr. 13th, 2007 @ 01:02 pm (no subject)
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Books read so far:
The Four Dorothys, Paul Ruditis

An high school for Hollywood's elite leads to a massive drama crowd, and a production of The Wizard of Oz with multiple lead roles. Our narrator/hero is Bryan Stark, a gay drama geek who neither plays up his gayness or his drama geekness. As things go wrong in the show and the Dorothys are systematically eliminated, suitable seeds of doubt are planted so that none of the mains seem free of suspicion. A fun story.

Count: 28
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Apr. 2nd, 2007 @ 12:35 pm (no subject)
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Books read so far:
The Thing About Georgie, Lisa Graff

It's the story of Georgie, a dwarf fourth-grader, who is suffering through a rift with his best friend, and worries about his upcoming new sibling, whom he is afraid will be normal and replace him. Georgie's dwarfism, while obviously an important point, is never really the focus of the story, since Georgie is pretty much okay with it. It's certainly neither a history of or a lecture on dwarfism, although my favorite part was the "journals" asking the reader to demonstrate things, and then saying why Georgie can't.

Count: 27
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Mar. 27th, 2007 @ 11:29 pm (no subject)
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Books read so far:
Shopgirl, Steve Martin

Told mostly in narrative, with very little dialogue, it's the story of a sad girl who works in the glove department at Neiman's and finds a relationship with an older man who is looking for sex, mostly. There's no clear-cut plot, but the evolution of the characters is good and paced, and the language is excellent in some parts.

Count: 26
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Mar. 26th, 2007 @ 09:54 am (no subject)
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Books read so far:
Summer of Love, Emily Franklin

What I didn't realize is this is actually a book taking place in the middle of a series. It fills you in relatively quickly, introducing Love as a not-quite-so-wealthy girl attending a wealthy private school (although she's in the midst of summer break), and working at her (recently deceased) aunt's coffee shop in Martha's Vineyard. There are complex love triangles, and a cross-country scavenger hunt. Ends rather disappointingly, with a cliffhanger, but overall, not too bad.

Count: 25
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Mar. 24th, 2007 @ 10:18 pm (no subject)
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Books read so far:
A Great and Terrible Beauty, Libba Bray

A story about murder and magic, mystery and misery. Following the death of her mother in India, Gemma Doyle travels to London's Spence Academy to be bred for marriage, where she meets a circle of friends, and starts to uncover the truth about her unusual visions. I feel as though Ann gets a little shortchanged in here, particularly at the end, but I really enjoyed the evolution of Pippa's character.

Count: 24
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Mar. 22nd, 2007 @ 08:17 am (no subject)
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Books read so far:
House of Cards, Keith R. A. DeCandido

A pretty decent spread of the Farscape cast as they get embroiled in political scandal and scheming by a gambler, although Crichton and Chiana get a little shortchanged. However, Rygel and D'Argo are portrayed quite awesomely, and in a rare case, everyone gets to use their skills to save the day.

Count: 23
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Mar. 16th, 2007 @ 08:47 pm (no subject)
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Books read so far:
The Fortune Quilt, Lani Diane Rich

It starts with the premise of being chick lit, but is actually an engaging story with a wide cast of quirky characters, namely: a psychic quiltmaker, a post-sex change art supplier, a barista with a fetish for businessmen, and a painter/photographer, in an odd little artist community in Arizona. The plot is a little lackluster, as an unemployed television producer tries to find herself, but the cast makes up for it.

Count: 22
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Mar. 14th, 2007 @ 04:12 pm (no subject)
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Books read so far:
The Ruby in the Smoke, Philip Pullman

A touching story of mistaken identity, love triangles, opium, and irritating lower class British dialect. And something about a ruby. Fast-paced, but occasionally confusing, with a large cast of characters to attempt to keep straight. Still, it's entertaining and engaging, and Sally Lockhart is a suitable heroine.

Count: 21
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Mar. 14th, 2007 @ 09:30 am (no subject)
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Books read so far:
Death by Black Hole, Neil deGrasse Tyson

At times, very dense and difficult to get through, if only owing to subject matter. Tyson made sure that he broke things down, and his language was easy. The chapter on all the ways the universe was going to kill us was a bit of a downer, but the sections on all the things wrong with science in movies and Hollywood was hilarious.

Count: 20
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Mar. 13th, 2007 @ 05:17 pm (no subject)
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Books read so far:
The Boxcar Children, Gertrude Chandler Warner

It's a book that shows its age, but is relentlessly charming anyway. The writing is very specific for the period, using phrases such as 'dear old blank', and the continued refusal to use contractions in dialogue. But as a kid, this book always made me want to run off and live in the woods and make do with little money and only my own ingenuity. It still does.

Count: 19
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