The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels

Okay, so, Ree Drummond. I stumbled on her blog long after thousands of people started flocking there daily. I actually think I found her blog when I was attempting the GAPS diet because someone linked to one her recipes saying this was what they wished they were having for dinner (I think I was lasagne - full of cheese and wheat that wasn't allowed on GAPS)

After I found her blog, I started poking around and I read most of the first part of the book there but I still wanted to read the extras in the book. I really enjoyed reading it - even a second time. The thing is, I know there are at least two sites dedicated to hating this author and I don't really understand the hate...they don't like her love story, because how could it be real? Especially since she came from a privileged family and married someone from one of the wealthiest ranch families in Oklahoma. But I still like it. It's totally a love story and it's a memoir, so there are omissions and there are probably some instances of hyperbole and all the other things that happen when you tell a story...whatever.

I don't understand the hate towards The Pioneer Woman. Here is someone who has built a brand around what apparently was a hobby. So what if the reason she is able to do this is because she's a housewife? The hate seems to stem from her brand and its success...I have made a few of her recipes and they worked out just fine...two of them are favourites in our house. There seems to be anger towards her because instead of talking about how she homeschools her children, she has two or three bloggers who do that. She has built the successful Tasty Kitchen Community...she's obviously smart. I didn't see it in the book, but I seem to remember her plan before she met Marlboro Man was to move to Chicago to go to law school...I guess I don't understand why the hate...I get not necessarily liking her, but the stalker-like behaviour on the hate sites is scary. Why is it a problem that when your blogging business grows and you can't do it yourself any longer, you hire people to help? Who, besides Ree, her husband and kids, really care if she's the one homeschooling them or if they employ a tutor?

Sorry...this has become a rant and it was supposed to be about the book. It's a good, fast, summer book. It's kind of syrupy and a bit (over)dramatic in places, but if you're going to the beach, the cabin, the cottage, the lake house, camping or flying over continents or oceans, it's definitely a book to consider.

My Life as a Furry Red Monster: What Being Elmo Has Taught Me About Life, Love and Laughing Out Loud

I finally made it into the realm of non-fiction! Kevin (and Elmo) were pretty funny...there were a few editorial things that drove me nuts (incorrect use of whom...), but the stories were cute and there were some good lessons. I thought there might be a little bit more about Elmo though...

The Sisters Brothers

The Sisters Brothers is the 2011 winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction. I really liked this book...the tone was great and it was pretty funny in some parts! Eli Sisters narrates the book and he is a very compassionate hired assassin. Charlie Sisters, Eli's older brother, is more ruthless and has no (very little?) conscience. The ongoing ordeal of Tub the horse is both humorous and heart breaking. The imagery of the Wild West and the lawlessness and debauchery that went hand in hand with the gold rush is excellent. Their journey down the West Coast and back again really does bring them full circle from young boys living in an abusive home, to hired guns, to grown men, safe in their home...

Oh, and can I just say, I love the cover!

Halfway to fifty-two

A Secret Kept marked halfway to completing the challenge. I can't believe I'm here already! If I can keep reading at this speed, I'm on pace to read 75 books this year. SEVENTY-FIVE. That's a lot. And I'm pretty sure I won't read that many...I have some busy times ahead of me this year.

But, I'm pretty sure I can make it to 52!

A quick round-up of the first 26 books:

All 26 came from the library
Only one book was classified as a book for adults
The 26 books belonged to 12 authors and 19 of the books where shared between four authors (apparently I've been drawn to series this go around)
There were 8 mysteries and 12 fantasy novels
Every single one of these books was new to me!

For the second half of the challenge, I'd like to think I might read a few more "grown-up" books and maybe some non-fiction. Anyone have any suggestions for either of those?

A Secret Kept

Hey guys, look, I've returned to the grown-up books! This is also the halfway point for my challenge, but more on that in a later post.

I really liked Sarah's Key, another book by Tatiana de Rosnay that I read last summer, when I say this one at the library, I was happy to give it a try. It was a quick read. I finished it the same day I started it and it was a day when I had J with me most of the day and no one to help with her. Which means it was a super quick read. I was a bit disappointed because I felt like this book was quite formulaic, which isn't a bad thing except that it felt like it was written to fit into a model.

While I enjoyed the book enough, there wasn't a character I really liked. Antoine's life just felt lost although, maybe he was finding his way when the book ended. I felt like Mélanie's character started to develop in the opening chapters, but then she just dissolved into a supporting character later in the book even though she played an important role in what was to come. Her change of heart about finding out the truth about the secret just happened with no explanation and didn't fit with the other decisions characters made. It was too abrupt.

I would recommend this book as a light read for a holiday or other escape from reality! I have a hold on The House I Loved, so I'll see if it was just something about this book that rubbed me the wrong way...

The Warlock: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT (unless you've read the first four books, then you're probably okay)

The Warlock. The Deceiver. The Traitor. There were a few warlocks in this book. As I've made my way through The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, I have discovered that I really need to read it with a dictionary, an open web browser and maybe a professor of mythology by my side. I think this is a series that I will one day want to share with J, but I need to better educate myself on mythology. My biggest problem is that most of the myths I know about, apart from the Bible, are Roman and some Greek. Michael Scott doesn't just include those two, he also refers to Mayan, Egyptian, Norse, Irish, and Japanese myths among others. The books are also full of other historical figures, some of whom were instantly recognizable (Mr. William Shakespeare or Joan of Arc anyone?), some of whom I recognized but had very little context for (Machiavelli, Billy the Kid), and some who are most certainly interesting but I had no idea who they were in any context (Virginia Dare).

I read The Necromancer and The Warlock back-to-back over a few quick days. I was away from home with J and had lots of downtime and when I finished The Necromancer, I literally put it down and picked up The Warlock and kept reading. That's mostly why my post on The Necromancer is so short and refers to this one. I can't remember where one book ends and the other begins.

The Enchantress, the last book in the series, is due out very soon and I get to have one of the first copies from the library, fresh off the shelves, before anyone else reads it and I'm hoping that soon there might be a box set, maybe of trade paperbacks, so that I can read them slowly and refer to earlier books as I plug along. Oh, and so I can pay closer attention to the covers.

I wish I had made a map of the main characters and their relationships and drawn myself a family tree of sorts, because I can't remember who goes with whom now...

So far I've enjoyed this series. I am looking forward to the last book and to rereading all of them too...

The Necromancer: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

Book four in Michael Scott's series about Sophie, Josh, the Flamels and a very interesting cast of supporting characters was good. I am feeling like I'd like to have all of them around me when I read them though...more about this with The Warlock, coming soon to a blog near you...

The Tin Princess

This is and isn't part of the Sally Lockhart series, The Ruby in the Smoke, The Shadow in the North and The Tiger in the Well being the others. It features some of the same characters, including Sally, but it focuses on her friend Jim and Adelaide, a young girl who vanished in The Ruby in the Smoke. As with The Tiger in the Well, I started reading this book to get through the series, but then it actually became kind of interesting. I felt it was a bit farfetched, but it was interesting.

And now I'm quite happy to moving forward to something else...

Would I recommend The Tin Princess? Maybe. I feel like I probably would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't thinking of it as part of the Sally Lockhart series.

The Tiger in the Well

Does anyone else remember when I started this challenge I made some rules? Mostly rules for me, but rules nonetheless? (Although really, I'd call them guidelines more than rules...) Specifically, rule #1? About not finishing a book if I wasn't enjoying it?

Yeah. Me too. I remember that.

But I didn't follow that rule with this book. I struggled with this one. It was long. It involved plot elements from the first book, which I read back in February and that book is back at the library, so I couldn't flip back and check things out. I had trouble concentrating, mostly because I was reading to distract myself and it was only working some of the time...

Once I got to the last five or six chapters, I did start enjoying what I was reading, but before that, not so much. I felt like there was too much going on and too many little threads of story happening, some of which were relevant and some of which were not. And I was frustrated. And I'm sure that was the intention of Philip Pullman. Lots of the stuff going on in the book wouldn't be tolerated in our society and yet it was commonplace in late 19th century London. I also really wanted them to Google a bunch of things and maybe use GPS cell phone pinging to locate people and things. And that is a sign that I watch too many procedural dramas. Yes, that I do.

Do I recommend it? Well, I didn't think it was a good as The Ruby in the Smoke or The Shadow in the North (what's with Pullman and this series and it's "The Blank in the Other Blank" titles?), but it was interesting. It was maybe too long. And I maybe need to let go of my sentimentality...I'd read the first two, so I had to finish (sort of) the series.

So do I recommend it (yes, I asked that already and got all parenthetical on myself)? Well, maybe. I'd recommend the first two and then suggest you try number three...you might like it better than me...you also might be more focused than I was...

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows

Flavia de Luce is back and it's Christmas at Buckshaw and there is a film crew on site and a baby is born (it is CHRISTMAS after all) and of course, someone is murdered...

This might have been my favourite of the four so far - the relationship between Flavia and her sisters is expanded just enough to make me feel better about it. Flavia is still quite isolated and I'd love to see her make some friends. We learn a little bit more about Dogger - was he a medic during the war? Flavia sets off the most spectacular fireworks display. Buckshaw might be saved from creditors by Shakespeare, but will it? And maybe Santa Claus delivered some amazing chemistry supplies to Flavia.

I can't wait for book five...

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares

This was also a one day read - I really liked the idea of the book...a teenaged girl leaves a diary in a used bookstore and dares a male reader to go on a little scavenger hunt. They go back and forth with the diary until they finally meet...I'm a nerd and that would totally have appealed to me as teenager. Heck, even as an adult it would appeal...I love the choas and disaster that happens. And when the book ended, I kind of wanted to know what happened next...

Princess of the Midnight Ball

Princess of the Midnight Ball is The Twelve Dancing Princesses. I wasn't sure how the fairy tale would be extended to novel length, but I really like how Jessica Day George did it. I don't have a whole lot to say about this book, but I am planning to read the others - I'm looking forward to the Cinderella adaptation - Princess of Glass.

Goodnight Mister Tom

I read Goodnight Mister Tom in just a few hours. (WWII obsession...check) I loved this book even though there are some painfully sad parts. I love that grumpy Mister Tom softens and that scared Will becomes comfortable and happy and I love that something so wonderful could happen in the middle of such a horrible place in history. I haven't read a book recently where I wanted the book to keep going and not stop - I have been reading a bunch of series and I know there is more to come, so even though I feel like those stories are not complete, I know there is more coming...it's different - I really wanted to read page more about Will and Mister Tom.

The Sorceress: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

First of all, I need to remember to take these pictures with my camera, not my pathetic phone. What a hideous picture!

Secondly, I need to post these soon after I read the book...especially when I am reading a ton of books, close together.

Third, I'm kind of looking forward to this series being done. But that might be because I have read four whole books and two partial books since I read The Sorceress, so my memory might be fuzzy. I am still convinced I need a good, basic course in world mythology, so I'll work on that. In any case, I liked this book well enough - it takes place simultaneously in San Francisco and London...there's time travelling...there's magic and twins and twin magic. I have The Necromancer sitting on the table waiting for me to finish another book and then I'll be back in the thick of the Nicholas Flamel world...

The Magician: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

Whew. I finished this at the physio yesterday. I've figured it out, the physio is part of the reason I've been devouring book...I spend an hour 2-3 times a week lying on her table with the acupuncture needles or vibrating cup things or heat on my leg and that gives me a nice quite hour to read. No kid. No phone. No husband. No chores. No distractions. I also spend about 30 minutes each session on the bike and elliptical, so there's that too...

Anyway.

The Magician mostly takes place in Paris and introduces some new characters like Machiavelli and Joan of Arc. Seriously. It also provides more information on Nicholas Flamel's background and I'm beginning to wonder about him...

I've mentioned my obsession with London and how I always feel homesick when I read a book about it over there, but I also have this thing for Paris. I always wanted to go to Paris and for a while I thought I wanted to live there. And then I visited Paris and I didn't like it. And then I visited it again and I figured it would be fabulous the second time, but I didn't like it. But you know what, I visited it again and I still didn't like it.

But I still want to go back...especially after reading books about Paris (like this one) so I'm now in "Let's visit Paris" mode.

I'm still enjoying this series - I love all of the characters - the traditional mythology ones and the quirky others (Hi there Joan)...I am planning to do some background reading once my library book pile is substantially reduced.

Clockwork Prince

Ahhh...I've been waiting for this book for ages...and it came out last fall, but the waiting list was huge! I had to get it back right away too as there are something like 200+ people waiting for it after me!

Where do I start?

I really should have reread, or at least skimmed, Clockwork Angel before I started Clockwork Prince. I read it so long ago that I had trouble recalling some of the basics of the plot...I feel like this is a series (along with the Mortal Instruments) that will one day find it has a home on my bookshelves...

Will and Jem. Tessa. Jessamine and Sophie. The Fairchilds. The Herondales. Mortmain. Vampires. Shadowhunters. Downworlders. The Clave. The Institute. The Silent Brothers. I don't even know where to start.

I think I might actually like the Infernal Devices more than the Mortal Instruments, but that may just be my London obsession showing...

I like Tessa and she reminds me of Clarry - both in her innocence of a world she is part of but didn't grow up in and her overall being. I still haven't figured out WHAT she is (but that's probably the point!) or why she was in the City of Glass...

This booked was fast paced and not without some interesting twists and turns. I finished it much faster than I thought I would, which might be why I feel like I need to reread parts of it.

I'm torn between Will and Jem and I'm not sure if Tessa made the right decision...And I'm still mad about the last few pages of City of Fallen Angels. I'm itching for the next Cassandra Clare book - City Of Lost Souls is out in May.

Has anyone read any Cassandra Clare? What do you think about Will and Jem? And (totally about a different book) what do you think of the last scene in City of Fallen Angels?

The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

I have had this book waiting in the wings for so long...and I had to finish it last night because the library wants it back today. I can't wait to start the second book, but before I do that I have another book that the library wants back on Tuesday that I have to finish first. Because I know I won't be able to renew it because there were something like 200 people on the waitlist after me. But more about that book in a few days.

The Alchemyst was book number nine in February. I got off to a slow start to the month - only two books in the first seventeen days, but I made up for it with seven books in the last twelve days. I don't think that's a sustainable number for me, but whatever, this month it happened. I happened to have a four day holiday that involved a plane ride and two sick days in the last part of the month, so that likely helped me out.

I had seen the various books in this series floating around the library for a few months and finally was able to grab the first three a few weeks ago. And then, after I had them, the series was highly recommended by a couple of friends, so I figured I had chosen some winners.

This book was great - I love how modern times and mythologies of multiple cultures are interwoven. I love the characters. I do not love how these books have made me acutely aware that I have little knowledge of most mythology...but I can easily remedy that! I keep looking characters up on the internet, just like Josh.

Once I'm done this series I think I need a break from the YA Fantasy genre...Ancient mythologies might be a good choice...we'll see...

Little Blog on the Prairie

Okay, let's be honest. I picked this book up from the children's section of our library while I waited for J to choose her books a few weeks ago. I didn't expect much of it and I only picked it because, well, I'm most certainly, without a doubt, a Laura Ingalls Wilder fan. No question about that one! When I was in grade three, I went through a phase where I would only wear a dress because Laura and Mary wore dresses and did farm work, so I could wear dresses and be in grade three. Oh and did I mention that I was a tom boy? My mom tells me I'm the only person she knows who could grass stain the knees of a dress.

So this book, Little Blog on the Prairie, well, Gen's mom decides that a great, bonding family vacation would be to head to the farm for six (or so?) weeks as a family and live in 1890 in a one room cabin. Except that they don't usually spend time together. And her dad is connected to a Blackberry all the time. And none of them have ever done anything remarkably farm related.

So they go, they give up their modern conveniences and everyone is miserable. At first. But then Gen develops a crush and starts sending text messages (on a cell phone she's smuggled in) to her best friends who turn them into a blog.

And then everything goes nuts. There's a television crew and a disaster and a few heated arguments.

It was cute. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would and would certainly recommend it to the 11-14 year old crowd. I'm not sure that J will appreciate it when she's that age though...the technology will have all changed by then!

Oh, and if you'd like to read Gen's blog, it's here and it looks just like she described it in the book!

Under A War-Torn Sky

As I've mentioned before, I inherited a bizarre love of World War II from my mom - not just novels, but history too - so this story about Will, an American pilot, and his journey through occupied France after being shot down by a German plane grabbed my attention and held on. And I've just discovered there is a second book - A Troubled Peace - that I'm trying to track down in the library system.

The story of Will's journey through France and all of the people who helped (and some who hindered) his quest for freedom reminded me of how lucky we are to live in a time of relative peace. At least in North America.

The book also reminded me of a book I read when I was a kid - it was a banned book I think because it told a sympathetic story of a family on the wrong side of the war. I'm trying to track it down, but I can't remember many of the details...

Anyway, Will relies on the generosity and discretion of the people he encounters in the French countryside to find his way back to Allied troops so that he can go home - he meets a variety of resistance workers - the farming family who's young boy is Will's caretaker, Claudette, a feisty young girl who wants to be more involved than her boyfriend will allow and various groups of maquis of assorted political persuasions, but all with the common goal of liberating France from the Germans and the puppet Vichy government.

I'm on a hunt for good non-fiction about the French resistance now, so if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

A Red Herring Without Mustard

I LOVE Flavia de Luce. I love these books and I can't wait to read the fourth one (my pile of library books in getting smaller and I'm now tackling them by due date...which means I have to wait a bit to read it). This time Flavia gets herself mixed up in a bloody murder, a brutal beating and a counterfeit antique business...and of course she solves most of the crimes. In this book more than in the first two, I really felt bad for Flavia - she is very isolated at Buckshaw and her only friends seem to be Dogger and Mrs. Mullet. Her sisters torment her, as older sisters do, and because she doesn't go to school, she doesn't seem to interact with the other children in the Bishop's Lacey.

I love Flavia's obsession with chemistry and I love even more that she has her own lab. I would have loved to have a my very own lab when I was 11...

I've wondered from the very beginning about the fate of Flavia's mother, Harriet and it looked like maybe this book had some clues that confirmed some of my suspicions, but no, it was just a trick Ophelia and Daphne played on Flavia that Bradley played on his readers. Hello actual red herring.

I'm so glad I discovered Flavia de Luce!