a minor change

I started to feel less and less pleased with how I organized my blog entries about my reads lately - which ended in my not writing an entry on my books in the last couple weeks trying to figure out how I'd like to do it.

I thinkI have now found a way I like, so I will try it. This new format, of course, might change as the time goes by and as I discover how to make it better. I no longer will post 2 separate entries for one book, but instead will post it all in one entry once I've finished the book.

You will see the new format as soon as I manage to finish up the blog entry for Meg Cabot's Avalon High :-)

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

1. Do you cheat and peek ahead at the end of your books? Or do you resolutely read in sequence, as the author intended?
2. And, if you don’t peek, do you ever feel tempted?

I'd like to say I don't cheat, but occasionally, it happens. Especially when the book isn't that good and I'd like to know how it ends anyway. This has at times made me actually finish a book I had wanted to dump.

Though, cheating is not really something I do often. This year it hasn't happened up to now, and I don't even remember when I last cheated. Must have been way early last year, or the year before maybe?

But I have to admit that at times, when I'm reading a very exciting mystery or something other that is not that predictable (as opposed to romance, for example), I'm very tempted.

It's like that: You're sitting there with your book, reading it, and it is really very suspenseful. And then you have to stop reading yet again because of something. This is frustrating, because you want to know how it will end, but you're still so far from the end.

And btw, I keep scolding my Mom for reading the end after lousy 5 chapters LOL She does it way too often!

Btw, I'm handling this different for dinner - I don't mind having dessert before everything else *bg* After all, it means I have more room left for dessert ;-)

A few things of my favorite things

After reading Stephanie and Nyssaneala's responses to this really good meme at Book-A-Rama I haven't been tagged (for some - lucky - reason, I hardly ever get tagged), so I can choose which memes to take on.

A book that made you cry: Pretty much everything about the Shoa (the Holocaust) - I think it started with Judith Kerr's books and then went on with lots of other books written for YA. And sometimes tragic love stories... I admit, those are two very different genres!

A book that scared you: As above, books about the Shoa - I mean, it could happen again, theoretically! And this is really, really scary to me!

A book that made you laugh: Most of Sophie Kinsella's books and the Bidget Jones's Diary books by Helen Fielding. Those are simply hilarious (along with Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books) and I can hardly get enough of them!

A book that disgusted you: The Treatment by Mo Hayder - bad writing always disgusts me...

A book you loved in elementary school: Technically, it is more of a series: Enid Blyton's Malory Towers books. I read them over and over again! (And still do!)

A book you loved in middle school: Henry Winterfeld's Roman mysteries - they were awesome, and was I glad we read them at school not long after I had read them for sheer pleasure!

A book you loved in high school: Oh, that's a hard one! Probably Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. I loved this book and was shocked it took me so long to get to it!

A book you hated in high school: The Terrors of Ice and Darkness by Christoph Ransmayr - simply horrible, and I think I only read about 5 pages. And it took me 8 weeks to get this far!

A book you loved in college: Among others, but the probably least well known would be Lope de Vega's Fuente Ovejuna (Thanks a lot, Ms Preuss!)

A book that challenged your identity: No book in particular, I'd say. More the sum of books I have read it the past 3-4 years or so. If I had read them earlier in life, I might be at a different point in life now.

A series that you love: Well, I definitely can't go with only one, but I'll try to limit myself. I'm a series reader ;-) First off, I have to mention the Harry Potter books, and The Princess Diaries books by Meg Cabot.

Your favorite horror book: Carrie by Stephen King - this book is great :)

Your favorite science fiction book: Actually, I have never really read real sci-fi, I think...

Your favorite fantasy: All the Harry Potter books! You just have to love them!

Your favorite mystery: Umm - I'm a mystery addict. Do you really think I could limit this to one?!?

Your favorite biography: Judith Kerr's trilogy on WW2 was awesome!

Your favorite "coming of age" book: If it counts I'd say To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and definitely The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. And then there are a few German books no one else knows that weren't bad either.

Your favorite classic: Pretty much everything by William Shakespeare and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

Your favorite romance book: As long as the story isn't too cheesy and the characters may exist in real life I might read it. I can't stand the cheesy and "dripping with slime and oil" books!

Your favorite book not on this list: The Modesty Blaise graphic novels by Jim Holdaway & Peter O'Donnell. I borrowed them from a friend and I have to say they are awesome! As was Maus by Art Spiegelman, btw :)

classics challenge - the lists

Okay, since some already posted their lists of books they want to read for the classics challenge later this year, I decided to post links to those lists.

If you already posted a list, please let me know and I'll add it the next time I'm online!

The lists:
1. Chris (Stuff As Dreams Are Made On)
2. booklogged (A Reader's Journal)
3. Literary Feline (Musings Of A Bookish Kitty)
4. Think Pink Dana (so many time, so little time)
5. Laura (Musings)
6. Henk (Masterpieces)
7. Puss Reboots
8. Fond of Books
9. Mominin (The Peer Review)
10. Sally906
11. Kelly
12. Bibliophiles Anonymous
13. Trish (Trish's Reading Nook)
14. Raidergirl3
15. 3M
16. Kathrin (me)

Booking through Thursday

Okay, this is my first Booking through Thursday ever, but I've enjoyed reading other bloggers' answers. I will try to get to it each week now. Wish me luck!

Booking Through Thursday

Almost everyone can name at least one author that you would love just ONE more book from. Either because they’re dead, not being published any more, not writing more, not producing new work for whatever reason . . . or they’ve aged and aren’t writing to their old standards any more . . . For whatever reason, there just hasn’t been anything new (or worth reading) of theirs and isn’t likely to be.

If you could have just ONE more book from an author you love . . . a book that would be as good any of their best (while we’re dreaming) . . . something that would round out a series, or finish their last work, or just be something NEW . . . Who would the author be, and why? Jane Austen? Shakespeare? Laurie Colwin? Kurt Vonnegut?

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!

Well, if I could really pick an author, I think I would pick J.K. Rowling. I can't imagine there won't be another Harry Potter book after the 7th (HP And The Deadly Hollows) is out in July :'-( Just one more Harry Potter to give me a bit more time to say good bye, more time to realize that it will be over... I'm really sad it will be over so soon and I find this hard to deal with ;-) At least I'll have the chance to read it twice - first in English, then in German!

checking up on friends - or series reading...

Who knows me, knows I'm reading series in order whenever I can. (Meaning, whenever I can get hold of the books in order.) I love series, trilogies, whatever. I enjoy checking up on my dear old friends and meeting them again, seeing how their life pregresses...

As you might already have read in my post introducing my challenge idea, I have quite some series going, so when I saw that Literary Feline , Kailana and Marg had listed their series, and I found it really interesting.

Anyway, since I intend to go through with the challenge I mentioned, I thought it might be a good thing to list my series.

series I'm currently reading (the bold ones are those I'm up-to-date with):
(numbers in brackets: # of books I read vs. # of series so far)

• Nancy Atherton: Aunt Dimity (3/11)


• Nevada Barr: Anna Pigeon (2/13)


• Stephanie Barron: Jane Austen (1/8)


• Kate Borden: Peggy Jean Turner (1/3)


• Rhys Bowen: Constable Evan Evans (1/10)


• Rhys Bowen: Molly Murphy (1/5)


• Lilian Jackson Braun: Jim Qwilleran, Koko & Yum Yum (1/31)


• Meg Cabot: 1-800-WHERE-R-YOU


• Marion Chesney: Lady Rose Summer & Captain Harry Cathcart (1/4)


• Laura Childs: Tea Shop mysteries (2/7)


• Jill Churchill: Grace And Favor (1/6)


• Harlan Coben: Myron Bolitar (4/8)


• Mary Daheim: Judith McMonigle (1/22)


• Shirley Damsgaard: Abby & Ophelia Jensen (1/3)


• MaryJanice Davidson: Betsy Taylor (1/5)


• Janet Evanovich: Stephanie Plum (6/14)


• Nancy Fairbanks: Carolyn & Jason Blue (2/9)


• Jasper Fforde: Thursday Next (1/4)


• Earlene Fowler: Benni Harper (1/12)


• Tess Gerritsen: Maura Iles & Jane Rizzoli (2/6)


• Sue Grafton: Kinsey Milhone (2/19)


• Carolyn Haines: Sarah Booth Delaney 82/6)


• Laurell K. Hamilton: Anita Blake (1/15)


• Lyn Hamilton: Lara McClintock (1/9)


• Lee Harris: Christine Bennett (7/17)


• India Ink: Bath And Body (1/3)


• Harry Kemelman: Rabbi David Small (1/11)


• Alice Kimberly: Ghost in the Bookshop


• Victoria Laurie: Abby Cooper


• Donna Leon: Commisario Brunetti (9/15)


• Charlotte MacLeod: Professor Peter Shandy (1/19)


• Tamar Myers: Den Of Antiquity (1/13)


• Emilie Richards: Aggie Sloan-Wilcox (1/2)


• J.D. Robb: Eve Dallas (2/25)


• J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter


• Barbara Seranella: Munch Mancini (1/8)


• Dana Stabenow: Kate Shugak (1/14)


• Susan Sussman: Morgan Taylor (1/2)


• P.J. Tracy: Monkeewrench (2/4)

series I have not yet started (but have some books on my shelves):

• Mark Billingham: Tom Thorne


• Rita Mae Brown: Mrs. Murphy


• Gwendoline Butler: John Coffin


• Jessica Fletcher & Donald Bain: Murder She Wrote


• Joanne Fluke: Hannah Swensen


• Yasmine Galenorn: the D'Artigo Sisters


• Faye Kellerman: Peter Decker & Rina Lazarus


• David Skibbins: Tarot Card mysteries


• Julia Spencer-Fleming: Claire Fergusson & Russ van Alstyne


• Victoria Laurie: M.J.


• Paul Levine: Solomon vs. Lord


• Anna Maclean: Louisa Mae Alcott


• Charlotte MacLeod: Sarah Kelling & Max Bittersohn


• Leslie Meier: Lucy Stone


• Elizabeth Peters: Amelia Peabody


• Kathy Reichs: Temperance Brennan


• Madeleine E. Robins: Sarah Tolerance


• Michele Scott: Nikki Sands


• Victoria Thompson: Sarah Brandt


• Peter Tremayne: Sister Fidelma

Have you Read Any of These Books?

I just found this at Literary Feline's - and since it says "if you read it, you have to do it!", here I am!

Look at the list of books below:
* Bold the ones you’ve read
* Italicize the ones you want to read
* Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in. (I interpreted this in my own way--books that haven't yet said to me, "Read me! Read me!" It's possible that one day I will develop an interest in some of them. Others, maybe never.)
* If you are reading this (and haven't participated yet), tag, you’re it!
**If there are any books on this list that I didn't italicize and you think I should read, let me know in comments!

Like Bookfool, I've gone ahead and highlighted the books I have never heard of. Or if I have, I've forgotten (which is probably very likely). The amount of books highlighted is kind of embarrassing, but then, I suppose, with all the books out there is it really possible for me to have heard of or remember every book?

1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugges (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much Is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She's Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)