Something About Me Challenge - my reads

After a looong time to decide I finally made up my mind which books I'd like to read for the Something About Me Challenge. I made a list of all the books that would probably fall into what I can actually finish and so I came up with a looong list. Then I separated this list into books I already read and books I intend to read. But enough with the talking, here's my list - or my lists:

Those are the books I intend to read for the challenge - along with some alternates:
Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights (Trish, Suey)
Sophie Kinsella: The Undomestic Goddess (Margo)
Audrey Niffenegger: The Time Traveler’s Wife (Dewey)
Stephenie Meyer: Twilight (Suey)
John Grogan: Marley And Me (Lynne)

alternates:
Bill Bryson: A Short History Of Nearly Everything (Raidergirl3)
Jonathan Stroud: The Amulet Of Samarkand (Suey)
Anne Frank: Diary Of A Young Girl (Pattie)

Those are the books I intend to read one day:
Orson Scott Card: Ender’s Game (Karlene, Becky)
Madeline L’Engle: A Wrinkle In Time (Juli)
Virginia Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway (Trish)
Louisa Mae Alcott: Little Women (Alyson, Lucca)
Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales (Faith)
Truman Capote: Breakfast At Tiffany’s (Lucca)
Cornelia Funke: Ink Heart (SheReads)
Anita Diamant: The Red Tent (Sarah Miller)
Eve Ensler: The Vagina Monologues (Soleil)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky: Crime And Punishment (JMC)
V.C. Andrews: Flowers In The Attic (Margo)
Jane Austen: Pride And Prejudice (Bookworm, Pattie)
William Shakespeare: Twelfth Night (Ellen)
Chaim Potok: My Name Is Asher Lev (Heather)
John Dunning: Booked To Die (Bonnie)

And those are the books I already read:
John Grisham: Runaway Jury (Historia)
Jodi Picoult: My Sister’s Keeper (Trish)
Helen Fielding: Bridget Jones’ Diary (Trish, Tiny Librarian)
Jasper Fforde: The Eyre Affair (Valentina, Heidijane)
Harper Lee: To Kill A Mockingbird (Janet, Stephanie)
Lois Lowry: The Giver (Sarah Miller)
Alice Sebold: The Lovely Bones (Chasida)
J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Bookworm)
Lorna Landvik: Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons (Tiny Librarian)
Earlene Fowler: Fool’s Puzzle (Nattie)
Kim Edwards: The Memory Keeper’s Daughter (3M)
Enid Blyton: The Naughtiest Girl In School (Sally)

What's A Ghoul To Do?

Number: 85
Title: What's A Ghoul To Do?
Author: Victoria Laurie
Started: July 19, 2007
Finished: July 26, 2007
Pages: 281
Genre: paranormal mystery
ISBN: 0-451-22090-5

Language: English

Where The Book Came From: Sat on my bookshelf since it was released.

First Sentence:"Good morning, Miss Holliday," the real estate agent cheerfully greeted me outside 84 Dartmouth Street.

Cover Blurb: M.J. Holliday's a medim with a message - her business is helping lost souls cross over to the other side. But what if the ghosts want to stay put?

M.J. Holliday has two rules. One, she and her partner, Gilley Gillespie, work alone; and two, she doesn't date clients. But when handsome Dr. Steven Sable needs her help, the specter-spotting sleuth is ready to break both of her rules.

Is seems the hot doc's grandfather jumped from the roof of the family lodge in an apparent suicide. But Dr. Sable knows in his bones it was foul play, and strange things keep happening at the lodge. He'll hire M.J. and Gilley- but only if he can come along. Hey, the duo needs the money - and looking at eye candy all weekend doesn't sound too bad either...

But once they reach the lodge, the three realize they're dealing with more ghosts than just Granpa Sable's. And the spooks keep playing nasty tricks on their human visitors. To the untrained eye, it would appear that ghouls just want to have fun. But M.J. knows they're communicating their distress - and it's up to her to figure out why...

Reason For Reading: I read her other series and enjoy it a lot!

Favorite Part: When Gilley broke a bone and Dr. Sable and M.J. kept making fun about it - it was hilarious, after all!

Rating: A-

classics challenge - the reviews

So, the classics challenge has been going since about 3 weeks already and a few books have been read, so I think now is a good time to post a list with the links to the reviews!

Jane Austen: Sense And Sensibility (Alyson - Bibliophiles Anonymous)
Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey (Laura - Musings)
Arthur Conan Doyle: The Hound Of The Baskervilles (Literary Feline)
Louisa Mae Alcott: Little Women (Trish - Trish's Reading Nook)
Baroness Emmuska Orczy: The Scarlet Pimpernel (Trish - Trish's Reading Nook)
Jane Austen: Persuasion (Literary Feline)
Zora Neale Houston: Their Eyes Were Watching God (Laura - Musings)
Oscar Wilde: The Picture Of Dorian Grey (Literary Feline)
John Steinbeck: East Of Eden (Laura - Musings)
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein (Trish - Trish's Reading Nook)
Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre (raidergirl3)
Oscar Wilde: The Picture Of Dorian Grey (raidergirl3)
Willa Cather: O Pioneers! (raidergirl3)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Hound Of The Baskervilles (raidergirl3)
Elizabeth Gaskell: North and South (Laura - Musings)
Daphne du Maurier: Don't Look Now pussreboots
Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre pussreboots
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra: Don Qixote (Rhinoa - Rhinoa's Ramblings)
Gilgamesh (Rhinoa - Rhinoa's Ramblings)
Homer: The Iliad (Rhinoa - Rhinoa's Ramblings)
Homer: Odyssey (Rhinoa - Rhinoa's Ramblings)
Edgar Allen Poe: The Complete Tales And Poems (Rhinoa - Rhinoa's Ramblings)
Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol pussreboots
Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse Five pussreboots
Robert Louis Stevenson: The Ebb-Tide pussreboots



Literary Feline's wrap up
raidergirl3's wrap up

The English Breakfast Murder

Number: 80
Title: The English Breakfast Murder
Author: Laura Childs
Started: July 15, 2007
Finished: July 19, 2007
Pages: 265
Genre: mystery
ISBN: 0-425-19129-X

Language: English

Where The Book Came From: From my bookshelf.

First Sentence: Stars twinkled in the indigosky as dusk settledover South Carolina's Halliehurst Beach like a blanket of spun silk.

Cover Blurb: Indigo Tea Shop owner Theodosia Browning is about to embark on her first turtle crawl - and her latest murder investigation...

It is a truly exhilarating experience for Theo - helping Charleston's Sea Turtle Protection League shepherd hundreds of tiny green loggerheads safely into the sea. But just as she's about to celebrate all her hard work with some hearty Lung CHing tea and spicy gumbo, she spots a dead body bobbing in the waves. It turns out to be local art dealer Harper Fisk - a man with an eye for fine antiques. Could his death have anything to do with the sunken treasure and gold bullion rumored to be somewhere near Halliehurst Beach? Deep in her heart, Theo knows that murder is indeed brewing in Charleston - and it's up to her to get to the bottom of it before the culprit's greed stirs him to kill again...

Reason For Reading: It was a buddy read for ARM and I just love this series!

Favorite Part: "[...] It's fun coming to someone's rescue. Especially at my age."
"Why, Miss Dimple," said Theodosia, quickly appropriating the teapot. "You're barely middle aged."
"Only if I plan to live to be a hundred and fourty," she quipped back.

Miscellaneous: While reading the first two pages, I felt again the urge to finally get a pet - and a turtle at that! We never had real animals, "only" ducks, hens and some rabbits. Now I've been thinking about getting a turtle or two (are they better in pairs or alone?) again, after about five years...

Rating: B+

Book meme

Found this one over at Rebecca's.

1. Total Number of Books I Own: Uh, way in the higher hundreds...

2. Last Book I Bought: Claudia Bishop - The Case Of The Roasted Onion; Jessica Conant-Park & Susan Conant - Steamed; Livia J. Washburn - A Peach Of A Murder (one order)

3. Last Book I Read: Susan Kearney - Enslaved

4. Five Books that Mean a Lot to Me: more than 5, I could never limit it!

5. Tag five people: If you're reading this, you are tagged! :)

6. Now reading: more than one book ;)

One Word Meme

Borrowed from Bookfool at Bookfoolery & Babble.

1. Where is your mobile phone? bed

2. Relationship? want

3. Your hair? good

4. Work? Sorry?

5. Your sister(s)? non-existent

6. Your favorite thing? books

7. Your dream last night? Huh?

8. Your favorite drink? tea

9. Your dream car? Audi

10. The room you're in? bed

11. Your shoes? black

12. Your fears? plenty

13. What do you want to be in 10 years? mother

14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? family

15. What are you not good at? pleny

16. Muffin? yummy

17. Wish list item? books

18. Where you grew up? Seckmauern

19. The last thing you did? read

20. What are you wearing? blogs

21. What are you not wearing? shoes

22. Your pet? rabbits

23. Your computer? functional

24. Your life? messy

25. Your mood? grumpy

26. Missing? excitement

27. What are you thinking about? relationships

28. Your car? non-existent

29. Your kitchen? bah

30. Your summer? mixed

31. Your favorite color? blue

32. Last time you laughed? today

33. Last time you cried? dunno

34. School? boooring

35. Love? Sorry?

My HP personality

Thanks to Rebecca from Fond of Books who had this on her blog:


Find out your Harry Potter personality at LiquidGeneration!

Be prepared to have a HP crazy blogger here for the next days. I can't wait for Saturday and I'm already driving everyone around me crazy with it ;)

The Girl With The Golden Eyes

Number: 71
Title: The Girl With The Golden Eyes
Author: Honoré de Balzac
Started: July 12, 2007
Finished: July 12, 2007
Pages: 95
Genre: classic short story

Language: German

Where The Book Came From: From my bookshelf.

First Sentence:

Cover Blurb: [from wikipedia.org - my copy didn't have cover blurb] The story follows the decadent heir Henri de Marsay, who becomes enamored of the titular beauty, Paquita Valdes, and plots to seduce her. Though he succeeds, he becomes disillusioned when he discovers she is also involved with another lover, and plots to murder her. When he arrives to kill her, he discovers she's already dead by the hand of her lover - his half-sister. She declares that Paquita came from a land where women are no more than chattels, able to be bought and used in any way. In the last lines of the story, de Marsay idly tells a friend that the girl has died of consumption.

Reason For Reading: It was originally for a class which I dropped, and for the classics challenge

Comments: Ugh! I read this one today within about 2-3 hours and it was sooo boring! I'm not sure whether it was Balzac's writing or Henry de Marsay whose evil plot against Paquita was just too much. She's a beautiful girl, she is intelligent as far as women had a chance to be intelligent back in the 1800s. So why should I feel with him for being a fool who wants her as his lover but nothing more? It would ruin the bit of reputation she has left aside from being from a country where women don't count much.

Miscellaneous: I would have dropped the book at page 2 if it hadn't been a challenge read!

Rating: D

A Good Man Walks In

Number: 70
Title: A Good Man Walks In
Author: Ginna Gray
Started: July 12, 2007
Finished: July 12, 2007
Pages: 192
Genre: romantic mystery

Language: German

Where The Book Came From: From my bookshelf.

First Sentence: [translated by: me] Tom abruptly woke up.

Cover Blurb: [translated by: me] Alone in a romantic beach house in the Carrbieans with Tom McCall, whom she was raving about in her youth! But there's little time for passionate nights for Rebecca with the attractive FBI agent. She is on the run from her unpredictable dangerous ex-husband. And when she tracks her down, she also doesn't seem to be safe in Tom's arms...

Reason For Reading: I needed some fluff for bed-time and to disctract me from the upcoming examsn.

Comments: Well, the cover blurb is rather - umm - inaccurate? I mean, they are alone on small Carribean island - but passionate nights? Not so much, at least at first, and later to a certain degree only. And she's not safe in Tom's arms? You don't send a guy away who could take care of your aggressive ex just because the ex wants you to do this. If you do, you have to know that it's sort of a risk! Even if you want to show him you can stick up for yourself and don't need anyone, Tom could at least have stuck around!
I mean, it was such a typical TDTL situation.

Otherwise I really enjoyed Gray's characters and the setting, so the TDTL didn't rate it down any further.

Miscellaneous: The description of Tom (pirate-like - short hair on the sides and upfront, longer hair in the back, long dagger as an earring, unshaven etc.) made me laugh out loud as it is so not the typical appearance in a romance-like book!

Rating: B+

The Bare Facts

Number: 69
Title: The Bare Facts
Author: Karen Anders
Started: July 11, 2007
Finished: July 12, 2007
Pages: 255
Genre: romance

Language: German

Where The Book Came From: From my bookshelf.

First Sentence: [translated by: me] Listen, Haley.

Cover Blurb: [translated by: me] Hot erotic fantasies are topic of Haley's first column. Fantasies she has, but due to a lack of a partner, she can't live and therefore can't describe in an exciting way. Then she remembers Dylan Malone, her only One-Night-Stand - with enough champagne to be uninhibited. But since the champagne not only quickened her libido, but also befuddled her memory, Dylan has to help out again. And his shock about Haley's brazen request gives way to prickling anticipation...

Reason For Reading: It was lying around and looked old and lonely. I felt sorry for the book.

Comments: I have this feeling I'm only reading this type of books right now - which actually isn't true, because during the day I'm reading some of the heavier stuff. And exams and a paper are coming up. I wished I would see progress with my other books, but other than the audio, there's no real progress to be seen :( I am really looking forward to the last Harry Potter now, as it'll be a last short "vacation" before I have to sit down and concentrate on my paper!

But enough with the whining already. I enjoyed the characters and it was fun to see them deal with their differences, especially when it came to social standing. Back at school we were a mixed class, we had quite a few upper class kids as well as a few lower middle class kids (I'm not sure about the lower class, but I'd assume there were a few as well), so it was interesting to compare.

Rating: B+

A Taste Of Fantasy

Number: 68
Title: A Taste Of Fantasy
Author: Isabel Sharpe
Started: July 9, 2007
Finished: July 10, 2007
Pages: 250
Genre: romance

Language: English

Where The Book Came From: From my bookshelf.

First Sentence: What I can't seem to get my brain to stop obsessing over is: How do you know when love is real?

Cover Blurb: If you've had the ring... And walked down the aisle... But the "I do" turned into "I don't..." Get a Man To Do!

Samantha Tyler is still smarting from her divorce, so happily-ever-after is the last thing on her busy legal mind. But with her libido far from dead, finding a Man To Do - purely to take the edge off - seems like the perfect plan. And sexy Jack Hunter seems like the perfect wrong guy - anyone who photography women as objects for a living must be practically a Neanderthal, right? Exactly the kind of man to give Samantha exciting, mind-blowing sex with none of the risks of a real romance of the heart.

But when she agrees to work with Jack as one of his models, Samantha begins to realize his commitment to his career only hints at the tenderness and passion below the surface. Has she picked herself a Man To Do she'd like to do forever?

Reason For Reading: I needed some fluff to fall asleep.

Comments: Hm, back to "my" language! ;) What wasn't mentioned in the cover blurb was the thriller-aspect of this book. I was taken quite by surprise when I read it, but I won't complain here! It added to the plot in a nice way though it could have been woven in a bit better. But I won't complain about that, cause I enjoyed the characters a lot, it was what I expected and the writing was good!

Rating: B+

Undercover Wife

Number: 67
Title: Undercover Wife
Author: Debra Webb
Started: July 8, 2007
Finished: July 9, 2007
Pages: 199
Genre: thriller / romance

Language: German

Where The Book Came From: From my bookshelf.

First Sentence: [translated by: me] What's so important it couldn't wait till the day after tomorrow?

Cover Blurb: [translated by: me] Dangerous, maybe deadly - but Erin's only chance. Only if she helps the FBI to crack the computer data of drug boss Esteban, the arraignment against her will be dropped. And so she and Agent John Logan infiltra the organization. They play their roll as lovers absolutely perfect. Esteban trusts them - at first...

Reason For Reading: I needed some fluff to fall asleep.

Comments: Ah! I like thrillers - and this one had romance mixed in. So it was perfect for bedtime reading, as it was not only the suspense that usually keeps me up until I'm either done with the book or I've fallen asleep during reading. (Meaning the book stays in bed with me until the next morning.) If you need some reading for that time, or just some light reading for in between, it's certainly a great choice.

Rating: B+

The Frenchman's Bride

Number: 66
Title: The Frenchman's Bride
Author: Rebecca Winters
Started: July 6, 2007
Finished: July 7, 2007
Pages: 156
Genre: romance

Language: German

Where The Book Came From: From my bookshelf.

First Sentence: [translated by: me] Vincent Rolland got out of the shower in his London hotel suite and reached for a towel.

Cover Blurb: [translated by: me] Hallie Linn isn't can't fall in love! Even though fantastic looking millionaire Vincent Rolland fascinates her so much. That she and Vincent are coming dangerously close in his fantastic French Château, which puts her in the biggest moral conflict in her life. After a grave blow of fate she had vowed to go to a cloister forever. But the passionate feelings for Vincent puts her to make a decision that almost breakes her heart...

Reason For Reading: I needed some fluff to fall asleep.

Comments: Ah, I didn't enjoy part of the plot as it was a bit too made up for me, but I just loved the setting, how the chateau and the villages close by were described. Made me want to take a trip to France right away.

Rating: B

The Desert Virgin

Number: 65
Title: The Desert Virgin
Author: Sandra Marton
Started: July 5, 2007
Finished: July 6, 2007
Pages: 156
Genre: romance

Language: German

Where The Book Came From: From my bookshelf.

First Sentence: [translated by: me] Cameron Knight was thirty-two years old, slender, musculous, over 6'3" tall and had green eyes.

Cover Blurb: [translated by: me] Abducted and sold to a harem - the destiny of ballet dancer Leanna seems to be sealed. Until attractive Cameron enters her life. Putting his own life at stake he frees her from the grip of the sultan of Baslaam. During a dramatic flight through the desert, Leanne can withdraw herself from day to day less from the fascinating masculine charisma of her savior, in a magical oasis she finally surrenders to his persuasiveness. But when she admits her love, overjoyed by luck after an intoxicating night, he rejects her ice cold...

Reason For Reading: I needed some fluff to fall asleep

Comments: I just like foreign countries a lot, and as long as money's tight I enjoy travels in my mind even more! With those fluffy novels I get fluff, perfect bedtime literature and travels of the mind!

Favorite Part: The part where Cameron sees Leanna again for the first time after they both have returned home.

Rating: B

Emilia Galotti

Number: 64
Title: Emilia Galotti
Author: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Started: July 2, 2007
Finished: July 2, 2007
Pages: approx. 71
Genre: classic, play
ISBN: 9-783872-911483

Language: German

Where The Book Came From: from my shelf (re-read)

First Sentence: [translated by: me] The Prince (at his work desk which is full of letters and papers, he's reading some of them) Lamentations, nothing but lamentations!

Cover Blurb:

SPOILER ALERT!
SPOILER ALERT!
SPOILER ALERT!

[from wikipedia.org] Set in Italy, Emilia Galotti tells the story of a virtuous young woman of the upper middle class. The absolutist prince of Guastalla, Hettore Gonzaga, becomes obsessed with the idea of making Emilia his lover after their first meeting. He thus gives his conniving chamberlain, Marinelli, the right to do anything in his power to delay the previously arranged marriage between Emilia and Count Appiani. Marinelli then hires criminals who shortly thereafter murder the count on his way to the wedding. Emilia is quickly brought to safety in the count's nearby summer residence. Unlike her mother Claudia, Emilia does not yet recognise the true implications of the scheme. A few moments later, Countess Orsina, the prince's former mistress, comes to the residence as well. Out of frustration over her harsh rejection by the prince, she attempts to convince Odoardo, Emilia's father, to avenge Count Appiani by the means of stabbing the prince to death. Odoardo, however, hesitates in agreeing with this proposal and decides to leave the revenge in the hands of God. Emilia, who must remain under the protection of the prince due to another intrigue on Marinelli's behalf, attempts to convince her father to kill her in order to maintain her dignity in light of the prince's exertions to seduce her. The father agrees and stabs her, but immediately feels appalled by his deed. In the end Odoardo leaves the matter to the prince. He subsequently decides that Marinelli is responsible for the catastrophe and has him banned from his court. Ultimately Emilia's father recognises God as the absolute authority.

SPOILER END!
SPOILER END!
SPOILER END!

Reason For Reading: I had to read it for class (on honor in literature).

Comments: Ah well, what can I say. It is a classic and to me those are either hit or miss - there's no in between. And this one is a hit. Emilia is a young woman engaged to Count Appiani. On the day she is to leave for her wedding, the Prince hears about the upcoming wedding and is in a way devastated because he wanted to have her from the day he saw her. So he plots to have her despite the scheduled wedding.

I liked the character studies and was rather fond of this bourgeois tragedy because it doesn't follow the standards set by the French model of this era (it premiered in 1772).

Miscellaneous: It was a re-read and my old copy back from school didn't have a summary. The one on wikipedia.org is pretty good, IMO.

Rating: B

Web Of Evil

Number: 62
Title: Web Of Evil
Author: J.A. Jance
Started: June 17, 2007
Finished: July 1, 2007
Time: 10h 12min
Genre: mystery

Language: English

Where The Book Came From: Audible.de

First Sentence:

Cover Blurb: [from audible.de] The highway from Los Angeles to the Palm Springs desert is parched, unforgiving, and deadly. In the suffocating stillness of a car trunk, a man, his mouth and hands bound with duct tape, awaits his fate. What possible enemy could be bitter enough to commit such a heinous crime? And when will the monster make another move?
Ali Reynolds is traveling that same blistering, lonesome highway, looking forward to putting her past behind her. But her cheating husband is in a hurry for a divorce, and the television network that wrongfully dismissed her for the sole sin of being over 40 will face her in court as well.

As she passes the site of a horrifying accident, Ali is grateful that it's no longer her job to report the news, until she finds out that the news is her own: the victim is Ali's cheating husband. And soon she'll find herself the prime suspect at the center of a terrifying web of evil.

A twisted and lethal drama of heart-pounding suspense, Web of Evil asks the question: If hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, just what punishment could that fury unleash?

Reason For Reading: I read it for the RBL SUmmer Mystery Challenge and because I had heard a lot about the author.

Comments: It's been a while since I listened to the book, and I don't remember any problems I had, I only remember the amazing plot. I loved listening to it and wished there was more available.

I was sucked in and had troubles pressing pause because I had to go to class and I was sorry when I came close to the end because I didn't want the plot to stop. In a way, Ali, her family and friends became good friends while reading it. I didn't want to be afraid for them when they were in danger.

The twists in this "novel of suspense" (that's the subtitle, which I didn't add above) were awesome and I believe Miss Jance is an awesome writer whom I'm lucky to have discovered.

I already have another of her books on my list for future acquirements, and it won't take me long, I's say!

Favorite Part: When all of a sudden Ali's entire family appears in L.A. to help Ali. I love families that stick together no matter what!

Rating: A-

Great Novel - BTT

Blogging Through Thurdays

What with yesterday being the Fourth of July and all, I’m feeling a little patriotic, and so have a simple question:

What, in your opinion, is the (mythical) Great American Novel? At least to date. A “classic,” or a current one–either would be fine. Mark Twain? J.D. Salinger? F. Scott Fitzgerald? Stephen King? Laura Ingalls Wilder?

It doesn’t have to be your favorite book, mind you. “Citizen Kane” may be the “best” film, and I concede its merits, but it’s not my favorite. You don’t have to love something to know that it’s good.

Now, I know that not all of you are American–but you can play, too! What I want from you is to know what you consider to the best novel of YOUR country. It might be someone the rest of us haven’t heard of and, frankly, I think we’d all like to get some new authors to read.

In fact, while we’re at it–I’m curious about the geographical make-up of this meme. So, while you’re leaving your link to your post, tell us where in the world you are! (For the record, I’m in New Jersey, USA.)

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

Now that I'm back - for some reason I forgot about last Thursday until Monday and decided it was too embarrasing - forgetting a whole day, I mean!

I'd consider To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee a classic. And also John Steinbeck's works.

Otherwise, I'm in Frankfurt, Germany ;)

Discworld quiz

I just found this quiz over at Nymeth's and since I'm reading my very first Discworld novel right now (The Colors Of Magic, AFAIR), when I'm at my parents. I've never been big on fantasy, but this book is really interesting!



Which Discworld Character are you like (with pics)
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Rincewind,You are Rincewind! Greatest survivor of all times! But a rather inept wizzard. You seem to be going from bad to worse, without slowing down. Rather miserable with your luck, the luggage that follows you around offers little comfort.

Which Discworld Character are you like (with pics)
created with QuizFarm.com

Rincewind		63%
The Librarian		56%
Carrot Ironfounderson		50%
Commander Samuel Vimes		50%
Esmerelda (Granny) Weatherwax		50%
Gytha (Nanny) Ogg		50%
Lord Havelock Vetinari		44%
Death		38%
Cohen The Barbarian		25%
Greebo		19%

Which Discworld Character are you like (with pics)
created with QuizFarm.com

In Her Shoes

Number: 63
Title: In Her Shoes
Author: Jennifer Weiner
Started: June 13, 2007
Finished: July 2,2007
Pages: 421
Genre: chick lit

Where The Book Came From: Tauschticket.de (a German exchange platform)

First Sentence: "Baby," groaned the guy - Ted? Tad? - something like that - and crushed his lips against the side of her neck, shoving her face against the wall of a toilet stall.

Cover Blurb: Rose Feller is thirty; a successful lawyer with high hopes of a relationship with Jim, Mr Not-Quite-Right, a senior partner at her firm. The last thing she needs is her messed-up, only occassionally employed sister Maggie moving in: drinking, smoking, stealing her money - and her shoes - and spoiling her chance of romance. If only Maggie would grow up and settle down with a nice guy and a steady job.

Maggie is drop dead gorgeous and irresistible to men. She's going to make it big as a TV presenter, or a singer, or an actress. All she needs is a lucky break. What she doesn't need is her uptight sister Rose interfering in her life. If only Rose would lighten-up, have some fun - and learn how to use a pair of tweezers.

Rose and Maggie think they have nothing in common but a childhood tragedy, shared DNA and the same size feet, but they are about to find out that they're more alike than they'd ever believe.

Reason For Reading: It's a group read at one of my online book discussion groups and it sounded like a fun read!

Comments: Considering that this is my first by this author, I have to drag out an often used sentence: Why the heck did it take me so long to discover this author? And it is true here. What could have been your average chick lit ended up being a wonderful story about life, what being sisters means (or brothers, or brother and sister), and that sometimes you just need to take a break from what you've been doing to get a whole new look at life and maybe seize opportunities you wouldn't have come across otherwise.

At first, I held back quite a bit while reading this book. I had long before set it down under "chick lit" in my mind, and I was not up for that then. And then I watched the movie, enjoyed it - but it was a chick flick. So when the book started out the way the movie started out, I didn't really get into it.

In the end, the book was definitely different from the movie, much better to be honest (I kept seeing the Maggie in the book as a Cameron Diaz look-a-like, depite the fact that she has brown hair in the book)! The characters were far more developed. You could see how Maggie developed from a woman who relied on her looks to a person who discovered that she could use her brains, that her teacher might have been right about her being intelligent, just not in the regular way. Rose, on the other hand starts out as a woman totally fixed on her career to someone who realizes that there is more to life. Once the sisters have accomplished this, they appear to find good men - in one case in a place she certainly wouldn't have expected it!

This means two things for me:
1) I won't watch the movie again before reading the book.
2) I will try my best not to put books into a certain category before reading it.

Favorite Part:

Miscellaneous: In a way, it reminds me a bit in my room mate and me - and my brother and me... Does that make sense?!?

Rating: A-

on a much lighter note...

I found out a bit ago that I - that is me, Kathrin, also known as oisec, the book addict, the nerd, the person who never, ever wins anything - will get a book because I actually *gasp* WON a book at Katrina's Books Galore #10. I've been thinking about how to express my joy and the excitement best, for all those days since I found out, but I can't. I don't have the right words to express this all. I think the last time I won something I was maybe 8 - I got a watch where you didn't see the hours, but it had an index for the seconds that had an elephant - and it's a similar feeling, IIRC.

The book is: Donita Paul: DragonKnight

Katrina's summary:

Trapped in an evil spell--can the knights of Paladin be rescued?

Before vowing his allegiance to Wulder as a knight, Bardon heads to the mountains for solitude. His life is suddenly complicated by a woman and her granddaughter, N'Rae, on a mission to rescue the woman's son trapped in a chamber of sleep. Bardon learns that more of Paladin's knights are imprisoned--and suspects one of them is Dragon Keeper Kale's missing father.

The secret is in their hands--and hearts.

The band travels north, uncertain of their destination and encountering numerous perils. When they unlock the chamber, they discover a dozen knights--who cannot be awakened. The journal holding the secret to rousing them is in an unknown language. How can they find the help they need, and overcome even graver obstacles, to rescue the knights?

Return to the land of dragons and magic you discovered in DragonSpell and DragonQuest, in this finely crafted and memorable work of fantasy fiction with a core of eternal truth.

Thank you so much, Katrina and Ms. Paul, for making this possible! I'm really excited and can't wait to read the book :)

this is me trying to understand

Okay, I keep twisting the fact that the people responsible for last week's attacks in London and Glasgow are doctors. I can't figure it out. They are doctors, their job is to save people and then they plan those attacks in which they could have killed hundreds?!? How does that go along with the Hippocratic Oath?!? I don't get it! I just don't get it. This is paradox at best.

If someone out there can explain this to me so that it makes sense, go ahead, I'm willing to listen... (unless it is propaganda, that is ;) )

upcoming reading

I have one book coming up to be read that I'm really excited about... It is John Twelve Hawks' The Dark River, Book Two in the Fourth Realm Trilogy and sounds awesome and intriguing. I have this book high up on my TBR stack and I intend to start it this weekend, if I can finish two of my currents till then (for some reason my current reads got out of hand and I'm trying to sort out 5 books at the moment). If I don't get to this book at the weekend I know I'll get to it within the next week.





I borrowed a short summary from the publisher's site:

A frantic race to save a long-lost Traveler.
An epic battle for freedom.
Two brothers whose power puts them on a collision course . . .with each other.

In The Traveler, John Twelve Hawks introduced readers to a dangerous world inspired by the modern technology that monitors our lives. Under constant surveillance of the ‘Vast Machine,’ a sophisticated computer network run by a ruthless group, society is mostly unaware of its own imprisonment. Gabriel and Michael Corrigan, brothers who were raised “off the grid,” have recently learned they are Travelers like their long-lost father— part of a centuries-old line of prophets able to journey to different realms of consciousness and enlighten the world to resist being controlled. But power affects the brothers differently. As The Traveler ends, Gabriel hesitates under the weight of responsibility. Michael seizes the opportunity—and joins the enemy.

THE DARK RIVER opens in New York City with a stunning piece of news. Gabriel’s father, who has been missing for nearly twenty years, may still be alive and trapped somewhere in Europe. Gabriel and his Harlequin protector, Maya, immediately mobilize to escape New York and find the long-lost Traveler. Simultaneously, Michael orders the Brethren—the ruthless group that has been hunting Gabriel—into a full-scale search. Gabriel yearns to find his father to protect him; Michael aims to destroy the man whose existence threatens his newfound power. The race moves from the underground tunnels of New York and London to ruins hidden beneath Rome and Berlin, to a remote region of Africa that is rumored to harbor one of history’s greatest treasures. And as the story moves toward its chilling conclusion, Maya must decide if she will trade everything to rescue Gabriel.

A mesmerizing return to the places and people so richly portrayed in The Traveler, THE DARK RIVER is propelled by edge-of-the-seat suspense and haunted by a vision of a world where both hope and freedom are about to disappear.

You can also check out the site for the series here: http://www.randomhouse.com/features/johntwelvehawks/

Oh I'm so excited about this! I can't wait to start it, so I should probably get back to finishing up my currents ;)