75 Books...More or Less! discussion

Well, I just joined up so I could do the 75 books challenge. It seems only fair, since I read a lot of... ahem... short... books. I'm excited!

Welcome Gnatalby! I'm glad you found us and hope that you will have fun participating in the challenge! Feel free to yell if you have any questions or comments.

1. It had to be you, Cecily von Ziegesar

2. Drinking at the Movies, Julia Wertz

3. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, David Sederis

Gnatalby, what did you think of Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk? I just read it and thought it was interesting!

Andrea wrote: "Gnatalby, what did you think of Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk? I just read it and thought it was interesting!"

I really enjoyed it! I could totally hear David Sederis's voice reading it in my head. I also found it perfect, um, bathroom reading.

Ha Ha! Yes, I can see what you mean!

4. American Wife, Curtis Sittenfeld.

I really loved this book and would recommend it to anyone. I had read Prep and enjoyed it, but didn't think it was anything special, but this book is clearly the work of a ridiculously smart and talented writer. And I have a lot more sympathy for Laura Bush now!

This is the book that was said to be based on her life in a fictional way right?

Andrea wrote: "This is the book that was said to be based on her life in a fictional way right?"

Yeah, it's a very thin veil. Like, her husband is elected in 2000 as a "tolerant traditionalist" following a president who became mired in sex scandals in his second term. President Blackwell loses the popular vote, and then starts are very unpopular war.

It's definitely a worthwhile read, though.

Ohhh wow, sounds like something I would like!

5. Heart and Soul, Maeve Binchy

This book was just ok. Normally I'm a huge Binchy fan because her books are usually quite long and satisfying and you end up feeling like you've really learned everything about the characters therein, but this books seemed particularly shallow to me. There are lots of cameos by characters from other books, which kind of just made me wish I were rereading one of them.

Oh wow, I love Maeve Binchy too!

6. Drinking: A Love Story, Caroline Knapp

Gnatalby wrote: "6. Drinking: A Love Story, Caroline Knapp"

I really liked this memoir. It was short, self-aware without being either uncomfortably self-deprecating or self-pitying. A lot times with substance-abuse memoirs I have problems continuing to like the narrator because so many of their choices endanger other people. While Knapp certainly made some bad decisions while drinking, her casualties are mostly limited to herself.

7. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen.

I would never have read this book if it weren't our group read for February. Sometimes when things are really popular I get a weird reluctance toward them even though I'm not the sort of person who generally thinks I'm too cool for popular things. I feel like there's been a lot of hype about this book and a spate of circus novels in recent years.

But I really liked it. I liked the way Jacob's two stories worked together and as soon as I finished I had to go back to reread the first few pages because I wasn't entirely sure I'd read what I thought I had. Those who have read it know what I mean.

I would definitely recommend reading it.

8. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

Gosh, it seems like everyone is reading these books- I wonder if I'm missing something good!

Gnatalby wrote: "8. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins"

I loved the hunger games trilogy!

Gnatalby wrote: "7. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen.

I would never have read this book if it weren't our group read for February. Sometimes when things are really popular I get a weird reluctance toward them even ..."

This is one book that I would like to read, as I have seen that is going to be a film based on it soon. The last part of your review is interesting, so if I see it on the library I will pick it up. Regards!

Andrea wrote: "Gosh, it seems like everyone is reading these books- I wonder if I'm missing something good!"

I've only read the first one so far, but I got the second one immediately on finishing. It's really, really great. The main character is really interesting and has a lot of flaws, but remains very sympathetic. I definitely cried on the train while reading.

9. Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan.

This book is amazing! I had put it on my wishlist so long ago that I no longer remembered what it was meant to be about. It's about four friends who meet in college and what happens to them in the rest of their twenties. It's not particularly concerned with their romantic lives, although that comes into it somewhat, and is mostly about the strength they find in their friendships with one another even though they're not particularly alike. It's rare to have one woman who seems so real in a novel, much less four.

Wow, I guess I'll have to check them out!

10. The Magicians of Caprona by Diana Wynne Jones.

This books was somewhat disappointing. I had read two other books in the Chrestomanci series a million years ago and really, really loved them, but I think this one was just pitched a little young for me. Its lesson was really simplistic in a way the others weren't, plus it just felt rushed, and I didn't care very much about any of the characters.

11. Game Control by Lionel Shriver

Unpleasant characters, unsettling premise, undeniably good writing.

I love Shriver's work, generally, and I find that her unsentimental take on people really works for me. The question "Can you plan a genocide and still be a good person" does not work for me. The answer, for the record, is no.

12. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

13. The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, vol. 1: The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones

I think, in retrospect, that I've read this one before, but there were many delightful things I didn't remember.

Gnatalby wrote: "12. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins"

This series has been one of my favorite reads this year! How are you liking it?

Christy wrote: "Gnatalby wrote: "12. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins"

This series has been one of my favorite reads this year! How are you liking it?"

I like it, I did think they could have just split it into two books. Often the second book of a trilogy can't stand on it's own, and that's a pet peeve of mine.

14. Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins.

Really great up until the very end, when it seemed like Collins just got tired of writing and wrapped things up very hastily. Still worthwhile, obviously, it's not like you're going to read the first two and then stop.

15. The False Friend, Myla Goldberg.

It's definitely no Bee Season. I didn't really care for it, although there's nothing really wrong with it. This one was an audiobook due to a library mishap, but I don't think reading reading would have improved the experience.

16. I Don't Care About Your Band: Lessons Learned from Indie Rockers, Trust Funders, Pornographers, Felons, Faux-Sensitive Hipsters, and Other Guys I've Dated by Julie Klausner

Hilarious dating memoir, funny and just mean enough without going overboard.

Gnatalby wrote: "16. I Don't Care About Your Band: Lessons Learned from Indie Rockers, Trust Funders, Pornographers, Felons, Faux-Sensitive Hipsters, and Other Guys I've Dated by Julie Klausner

Hilarious dating me..."

Sounds like my kind of book! Another one for the TBR.

17. So Much for That, by Lionel Shriver.

I loved it. It was very moving. It seemed like it could get bogged down in technical details about health care and insurance, but it was detailed without being dull.

Although I anticipated the ending, there were several interesting surprises along the way.

18. Rent Girl, by Michelle Tea

I got this book on a whim because I had a discount that could only be used on physical books, not nook books, so I wanted something I couldn't get for my nook. I really like it. I had read Michelle Tea's The Chelsea Whistle before and I hadn't loved it, but this book really worked for me.

It's a memoir about a dark subject, but it manages to be funny without being flippant or undercutting how depressing sex work can be, particularly when there's an element of economic coercion in place.

19. Sing Them Home, by Stephanie Kallos

I wrote about this over on the group reads discussion page. Suffice it to say here, I was not impressed.

In other news though, I'm now at 25% of the goal, which is where I should be at the end of March. Pretty exciting stuff, I might not heap shame on the family name.

20. Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby.

I like this one, though not as much as some of his other works. Personally I'd have preferred a different ending, but I can see why the choice was made.

Gnatalby wrote: "17. So Much for That, by Lionel Shriver.

I loved it. It was very moving. It seemed like it could get bogged down in technical details about health care and insurance, but it was detailed without b..."

I read this one last year, and it was one of my favorites. I agree about the technical details, but I thought it was extremely moving.

21. Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later, by Francine Pascal

Definitely not great literature, but very fun for what it was. I loved Sweet Valley when I was a kid, so it's nice to catch up with these amoral, meddling sociopaths in their late twenties.

Gnatalby wrote: "21. Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later, by Francine Pascal

Definitely not great literature, but very fun for what it was. I loved Sweet Valley when I was a kid, so it's nice to catch up wi..."

I loved these books as a kid too!! This looks like it'd be fun...I like your description of the twins!! Too funny!!

22. The Carrie Diaries, by Candace Bushnell

I really enjoyed this book. I was a big Sex and the City fan and I've read Bushnell before and always found her writing style amateurish and a little annoying although I enjoyed the stories and the characters. I really feel like her writing has improved a lot. Maybe she found the correct place for herself writing Young Adult. I would read more about young Carrie.

I have not read the Carrie Diaries yet. I do agree with you about Bushness's writing though, but somehoe I still read it...lol :)

I love Candace Bushnell!! I want to read lipstick jungle one of these days! (I think I got the title right!)

Yup, I'm pretty sure that's right!

23. The Frenzy, by Francesca Lia Block

My first book by this author, although I've been hearing good things about her forever. All well deserved. This book was great, I read it all in an afternoon. It's romantic and poignant and dramatic-- some would say melodramatic, but fantasy as an extreme metaphor for the normal adolescent experience really works for me.

24. L.A. Candy, by Lauren Conrad

This book was really enjoyable! Whoever ghostwrote it is a pretty good writer and it's perfectly enjoyable fluff. I didn't love the ending, since it really doesn't end, it just sort of stops in the middle of things, presumably to be picked up in the sequel. It bothers me when books in series can't stand alone.

I expected this to be a shame read, but it's a lot better than you'd think.

25. Mini Shopaholic, Sophie Kinsella

This book was all right. Didn't love it, didn't hate it.

26. Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate), by Gail Carriger

Very sexy, romantic book. It definitely reminded me of many victorian romance novels read under the covers, but with vampires and werewolves.

27. Darkly Dreaming Dexter, by Jeff Lindsay.

I liked it, but I think I prefer the tv show.