I finished those

So, I've finished almost all of the books I listed in the previous post - the only one I'm still working on is the Guissani one for CL - I'll read that slowly as the rest of the group does - discussion will go a bit better for that.

The two Junie B. Jones books I listed were rather what I expected - they were similar to the rest of the series.

Give Up the Ghost was pretty interesting, and didn't go much the way I expected. I could, however, easily understand why Cass had done much of what she did. I was a bit reminded of both Ghost Whisperer and Ghost Huntress: The Awakening, but not quite either. I enjoyed the book a lot - and almost wish there was a sequel so I could see what happens next, but at least at the moment, and probably for good, I'm out of luck.

After I finished those books, I started reading the next Vampire Academy novel: Shadow Kiss. I'm excited for Rose's internship and I agree with why she's guarding Christian instead of Lissa, but I also understand her frustration with that. I also think she's making a big mistake not telling anyone about seeing Mason every once in a while. I do rather understand her reasons for it, but I still think it's a mistake. I suppose I'll have to read and find out, but that won't happen much today - I'm going to try to watch the last few episodes of Quantum Leap: The Complete Third Season first.

Sneaking in

The next (final?) two Junie B. Jones books were returned at the library today, so I'm slipping these in between the other books I've already listed that I'm in the middle of. Junie B., First Grader, Aloha Ha-ha and Junie B., First Grader, Dumb Bunny should be as cute/amusing and quick-to-read as the rest of the series has been - hence the slipping them in part.

I have read more of Giving Up the Ghost and am finding it a bit strange, but interesting. I do want to know what's going on and/or what's going to happen, but I'm not far enough in to know for sure yet.

More Ghosts

Walking downtown this morning I was fairly easily able to finish Look Through My Window - I did enjoy it; and like that I can identify the title's reference now. It is similar to saying "walk a mile in my shoes' or other related phrases. The biggest distraction for me during much of the story involved trying to find the connection between this book at what happens (happened) in the following book, Kate. It took me an inordinate amount of time to figure out/remember that the main character of each book was a different one of the friends and not the same one. Although I don't think it exists, I'd be interested in reading more of what happens to this group of friends. I also enjoyed much of the poetry in the book. To an extent I was reminded of a few other books I'd read (I don't recall off hand who wrote them): Katie John and Honestly, Katie John - I suspect they were written at about the same time.

I have now barely started the next book in my stack - one I brought home from work yesterday: Give Up the Ghost by Megan Crewe - the author keeps reminding me of Sarah Crewe, an early/original? version of A Little Princess (but only because of the last name). The book is about a girl who prefers spending time with ghosts as opposed to "breathers" as she calls them. She uses her ghostly friend(s?) to learn all her classmates' secrets, but then someone learns her own secret. Mostly I know this summary from the front cover of the book, because I'm not far enough into the book at the moment, but I hope to hit that point semi-soon. I might not read it too much for a while as I plan to watch much of Quantum Leap: The Complete Third Season so that I can return it when it is due next week.

I've also barely started Is It Possible to Live This Way: Volume 3: Charity by Luigi Giussani (sp?) for a new church group I've joined - I'm a bit behind the rest of the group, but only about 35 pages so far, so hopefully I can finish that before we meet on Friday evening (I'd expect I'd do fine, except apparently it's pretty deep and may take longer than the type of books I've been reading currently). I expect to enjoy this one too, though.

I need patience/Getting the back story

So I finished reading Ghost Huntress: The Awakening. I quite enjoyed this story and can't wait to read the next installment - hopefully the library will order it, otherwise I'll have to ILL it. I loved the writing - even though it covered a rather serious topic, there was also a good bit of humor included. I loved the description of Jason's eyes (from before we knew his name - although it somewhat remained throughout the book): they were "Dasani bottle blue" - oh and I also accurately guessed that Jason was Taylor's brother, not her boyfriend. I find this story/type of story fascinating - to an extent I was reminded of a show I have started to really enjoy - unfortunately we don't get the proper channel to watch it on TV - I watch it a bit on the website, but mostly I watch the full season once it's on DVD - the show is Paranormal State - I was also quite happy to see it mentioned a few times in the book. I want to read the next book now.

Instead, I have started Jean Little's Look Through My Window; I haven't read this story yet, but I know quite a bit of what's going to happen in it somewhat, as I've read the book that came after it. I'd read the back of the other book to see what it was about, and was intrigued enough by the description to check the book out and read it, but shortly into it, I realized that it didn't seem to be what I was expecting. On reinspecting it, I saw that the back description was for this, earlier, book. So far I'm enjoying it, but I'm only five or ten pages in, so it's perhaps too early to tell for sure. I'm expecting to enjoy it though, based on the summary I've seen, as well as based on what else I've read by this author.

Ghost Hunting

Yesterday morning/early afternoon I finished Frostbite. I enjoyed learning more about the characters and getting to see more clearly the relationship Rose has with her Mother - and how it develops and changes throughout the story. She learns as much about her Mom as about herself in this book. I was not pleased with what happened to Mason, although it does, to an extent, solve a few problems for Rose - one less thing to worry about.

I also enjoyed learning more about the powers that spirit wielders have - or at least could have. A few of Adrian's comments make me wonder a bit more about the connection between Rose and Lissa, the bond, and if Rose really was taking on (and eventually diffusing) Lissa's slight depression from the magic. Richelle Mead hinted a bit at that - Rose wondered about it briefly - but I'm not sure if that's where the story is going to go or not as Rose decided it was all from her own stress and confusion.

I've started, and read a bit of, a new-ish book by Marley Gibson (I've never heard of her before but the book caught my eye when I was shelving at work): Ghost Huntress: The Awakening. Purely based on the title of the series, I've been guessing at a bit of what has been happening to Kendall so far, but she hasn't figured it out at all yet. I'm intrigued to see where the story goes, so I shall head off to read more until I need to go to work.

One more quick comment

In finishing Irish Tweed I have figured out that this book does come after Irish Tiger. Near the end, Dermot comments that they took their usually Christmas trip to Carraroe (where Nuala's parents still live) and that somehow he managed to avoid his usual cold/flu - it usually starts on/during the flight to Ireland and stays for at least most of the trip - Hooray for health!

I re-read Fr. Greeley's note at the beginning of the book, and see that Dr. Angela Agnes Tierney is, unfortunately, not a real person. I suppose I should have expected that, but it's still disappointing.

Now, if I were smart, I'd head off to bed.

Slightly Early Posting

So, I've almost finished Irish Tweed and I plan to stay up long enough to actually finish it tonight. I was happy to see that this one has both the modern and the historical mystery - and I'm enjoying both. I am not pleased with what the school is doing - especially with allowing bullies to essentially run the school and randomly (so to speak) assigning the students' grades. Students apparently shouldn't be rewarded because their parents are smart, so even if the teacher thinks your work deserves an "A" (as is the case for the Coyne children), you might (for the Coyne's, will) receive an "F" to make it "more fair" supposedly. The new principle (who is easy to dislike - I enjoy the kids' nickname for her - Dr. Lecher - they've slightly misremembered Dr. Hannibal Lector's name) says the school is following the Catholic ideal of preference for the poor. I have no problem with allowing for/caring for the poor, but this seems to be rather missing the point. At the very least I can understand their frustation in this situation.

I'm intrigued a bit as to why Finnbar was thrown in the river - although it did remind me a bit of an earlier book in the series - however the men trying to throw Dermot into the river that time weren't very successful - they ended up in the river instead of Dermot. I'm interested in learning/reading(and may have to research) more about Dr. Angela Agnes Tierney (I presume she is real - if not I suppose I'll have a bit of difficulty in this). She seems to be an amazing woman - also a bit like Nuala - possibly intentionally.

At the moment, I'm starting to wonder if Irish Tiger came after this book and not before it as I'd first assumed. Nuala just mentioned that she has another Christmas special coming up (that she should be preparing for) and much of Irish Tiger was about a Christmas Special of hers - and she said she thought it would be the final one she'd do. I'm not sure I'll be able to figure out for sure one way or another through this book, and, for that matter, I'm not sure it entirely matters.

After I finish this book, I plan on starting the next book in the Richell Mead series I'm reading (Vampire Academy), Frostbite. I enjoyed the first one enough that I need to see what comes next in the story. This will probably be another quick read, although I won't have all day tomorrow for reading - Hooray for a Lemmings meeting.

I can't believe I did that

So, with a dedicated session of reading this morning, I was able to finish Secret of the Seventh Son before I went to work today. The story pulled all sorts of various story ideas together into one well-fitting set of events. I was intrigued by the "true" reason for Area 51 according to this book. Sometimes I wonder how in the world writers can come up with the stories they've written and this is one of those times. I enjoyed the book and almost want to suggest it to the Lemmings for the next book, but I'm not sure if everyone would enjoy it.

While walking to work I started the next book in my stack - a book I interlibrary loaned from the Red Wing Public Library (I think that's the correct library); Ghosts Among Us by Leslie Rule. A few lines in the forward and the introduction sounded familiar, but I thought I must have just glanced through the book a bit after I first brought it home. However, as I continued reading, I noticed that more and more of the book was looking familiar - it had the Seattle Fish Shop (where they toss fish around all day) story, and through paging forward it had the story of Roselyn (the filming site for the show Northern Exposure - I had already read this book about a year ago. So I ended up not having a book to read on my break at work, or for the rest of the walk to work. To fix that, while on my break, I checked out Andrew Greeley's Irish Tweed, which unfortunately appears to currently be the final (or at least most recent) Nuala Anne McGrail mystery. So far it's pretty good - Dermot's got a few good lines so far, although I don't entirely know what the mystery is going to be at the moment - I'm still that near the beginning of the book. I suspect I may come pretty close to finishing it tomorrow - unless I watch some of The Twilight Zone: The Complete First Season as I probably should - it's due back soon enough that I should try to finish at least some or even most of it.

Secrets

I've been reading Secret of the Seventh Son during much of my free time last night and today. I'm now almost halfway through it (I think there are only about ten more pages for that).

I have finally reached the historical mystery portion of the story as well - I thought I'd hit it early this afternoon - walking home from work - with a passage from the late 1940s, but now have come to a few chapters (three so far, I think) from the early 780s (well, the first one (or maybe two) was (or were) from the late 770s). I should have continued to expect these passages as the back of the book talks about a character born in the year 777.

I think I've figured out the method behind the "Doomsday Killer" in the book, and the more I read, the more certain I become. Initially, I guessed it while Will and Nancy were "babysitting" Lucius. I think that the killer isn't the real killer, but instead has somehow learned when these people will die and just sends them a postcard telling them that. This would easily explain how Will (and the rest of the FBI) is having such a hard time finding connections between victims other than the obvious one of dying after receiving the coffin postcard.

I'd almost like to predict that I'll have finished this book by the weekend, but I'm not sure how certain of that I can actually be - it would be nice, though - so many good books to move on to (at least I presume they'll be good books; not having read them yet, I can't say for sure, but I hope and suspect - which is why I've checked them out from the library to read).

However, now it's bedtime - although I might first read just enough to reach the halfway point - but I have to be careful with that or I'll be up another two hours or more happily reading; sleep is good though.

Wow

Well, I did finish Her Fearful Symmetry today. I still haven't quite figured out the connection to The Time Traveler's Wife, but I wasn't expecting the first big twist in the story. Every so often, as I continued the story, I would think about that twist, and had a bit of trouble understanding exactly how it worked/what happened. It's still a bit confusing - although possibly more so for some of the characters involved. Although it wasn't much before it happened, I did guess/suspect the second big twist in the story. I'm not sure I'm happy it happened that way, but the given explanation makes sense and it does seem to turn out okay in the end, but still...

I have since started Secret of the Seventh Son and am somewhat enjoying it, but it's a little slow starting, and I haven't found any of the "historical mystery" that the cover suggests is blended into the story. So far, the modern day thriller part isn't too bad though. I'm hoping the pace will pick up a bit - I suspect it will as the one character has been assigned to the case. I keep almost picturing him as Special Agent Seeley Booth from the tv show Bones, but I think only because they're both FBI Agents - the rest of what I've read so far leaves no real connection between the two of them.

Although I can't remember who or why, in one of the last few books I've read, one of the characters kept reminding me of a tv show character with the same name - I wish I could remember the name of the character, the book, and the tv show, but I just can't right now.

More Symmetry

I'm a bit over halfway through Her Fearful Symmetry - actually just a bit closer to three-fourths of the way through it - and am continuing to enjoy it. I believe I've figured out what the title is referring to, at least partially - there are two sets of mirror-image twins in the book.

In adding this book to my reading list on Facebook, I saw the first line or two of someone's review of the book, which mentioned some sort of connection to The Time Traveler's Wife. I keep waiting and watching for this connection, as well as guessing various possibilities, but I haven't yet seen it, at least that I'm aware of.

I'd rather like to be able to meet and talk with the characters from the book, as real people, but as usual, I'm out of luck on that one.

Once I finish this book - which is one of my plans for today - I plan to start Secret of the Seventh Son by Glenn Cooper.

Not as much reading as I'd hoped

Well, I haven't done as much reading (and therefore, somewhat, as much posting) as I would have liked and had hoped to do in the past almost week.

I did finish (and start) Vampire Academy which, although quite interesting and enjoyable was not quite what I expected. It wasn't really much like either Harry Potter or Twilight - with the only similarities coming from a more college/university-like school and actual vampires. I almost found parts of the book to be a bit more like the show Angel, except for the whole dead vampire thing. In this book, only the evil vampires are dead - many are alive (although that number is becoming smaller and smaller). I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Frostbite, when I can get to it.

I also finished (and started) reading The Unwritten Volume One: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity for the Lemmings book club - we meet on Sunday. I did enjoy this too, but I'm ready for the next volume, which doesn't appear to have been written yet, perhaps. I'm intrigued by the history of literature (and the cause of/inspiration for specific stories). The implications of this book's premise is quite entertaining and deserves more exploration. It could be an interesting idea for those who form crushes for various literary characters, as well. I liked the literary "map" that Tom Taylor's father left for him/taught him.

I have now moved on to a book I just got from the library - it's on hold enough that I get it for a shortened length of time, so it got pushed to the top of the list. I am reading Audrey Niffenegger's book Her Fearful Symmetry. I quite enjoyed her book The Time Traveler's Wife, so I was interested to see what this book was like. So far I'm enjoying it, although at one point yesterday I had to stop reading so that I could mark/comment on one sentence in it: on page 41, Jack, one of the characters, is thinking about his twin daughters and it says "He imagined Julia and Valentina safely ensconced at Harvard or Yale, or even at Sarah Lawrence; heck, Bennington would be okay." I found this passage amusing because my sister went to Bennington and I suspect she'd be a bit annoyed (although possibly amused as well) at it - even if it did mean her school was mentioned in a major (possibly best-seller book (I haven't checked any lists). So now I hope to finish this soon as I have too many good books waiting in line.

Oh, and if our Lemmings meeting is on Sunday, I really ought come up with some suggestions for the next book.

Presumptive Posting

So, I'm still reading Irish Tiger, but I expect to finish that later this morning. I continue to enjoy the book/series, although I'm still waiting for the historical mystery portion of the book (I'm far enough in that I suspect there isn't one this time - a tad disappointing). I'm getting annoyed at some of the characters - although they are the ones I'm supposed to be annoyed with so I suppose I shouldn't complain about it. The kids are growing up, and it's fun to see, but also a bit sad because they were such cute little kids.

After I finish this book I'm planning to start two books at the same time. I will start to read Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. I kept seeing this book and its sequels being returned at the library and finally decided I needed to read them too. My opening suspicion is that they will be a cross between the Twilight series and the Harry Potter series, but I won't know for sure until I try them, so that's the plan for now.

I'm also going to start the next book for the Lemming's Book Club: Unwritten Volume One : Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity by Mike Carey. It's a graphic novel so it will be a bit different from normal, but it sounds pretty interesting and amusing. Besides that, the meeting is coming up soon and I should have the book finished before that.

Another Posting Delay

I've not been very good lately about keeping this updated. I have a few things to add here, but not quite as much as I'd like. I spent a bit too much time watching a bunch of movies I'd gotten from the library (many of which weren't that great, but were about what I expected).

I did finish Lord Peter fairly quickly. I particularly enjoyed the last two - Lord Peter as a father is just rather amusing. My biggest complaint with them was that Harriet Vane didn't seem like the same character she'd been earlier. I especially enjoyed Lord Peter's comment that in unsettling times/moods (I can't recall the exact phrase and I've already returned the book) he naturally turns to the common man. So he went to the butler room and they humanely let him polish the silver (admittedly, Harriet was in labor for 24 hours (or so) and he was doing the nervous father waiting thing).

Having finished that I quickly read a Young Adult book I found while shelving. It was called Lessons from a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles. This was a rather touching, but sad book. In some ways I found myself relating to the main character, Laine, more because of some of her emotions/reactions as opposed to what happened to her. I don't know if I'd recommend this to others or not, but it was rather interesting, in a way.

I'm now in the middle of Irish Tiger by Andrew Greeley - it's the next Nuala Anne mystery in the list for me. I'm currently enjoying it, but I'd like a bit more of Nuala and Dermot - even if it is nice to hear about the current mystery's background directly from those involved, as opposed to reading about it, or hearing about it from some other character related to the one(s) involved. I'm not sure what I think about the goons coming over (following two of the characters?) to the Coyne/McGrail household with salami (or was it summer sausage) as weapons - it does make for an interesting image, but I'm just not sure how effective they would be.

I plan to finish this book soon, but I don't know quite how soon I'll be able to finish it - I have a few tv show seasons from the library that I need to try and finish.

After reading part of that I quickly read another book I'd gotten from the library, Almost Perfect by Judy Duarte. As has happened with the other similar books I've read, this was about what I expected. I wanted to complain to Jake (I think that was his name, I can't recall for sure now - and again I've already returned it) in regards to not realizing that if he changed the ranch the way he was thinking, for kids like his niece, he was going to need a doctor on-site and that it would be a good way to keep (nuts, I can't even come up with a guess for her name, I think it maybe started with an M, but I could be wrong). You can tell how life-changing I found this book (or more accurately, didn't), I suppose.


In the middle of Irish Tiger I also read Joyce Sweeney's Waiting for June. This was, at times, a very strange book, but it was quite enjoyable and intriguing. There were lots of mysteries to be solved, and mostly were, but a little bit of the mysterious remains. In a way, this book was rather similar to the semi-recent movie Juno, but not quite exactly (which I suppose is good, especially in terms of copyright issues). I particularly enjoyed most of the whale parts, even if they were odd.

However, it's now well past bed-time, so I'd better call this good, especially as I don't have more to say about what I've read so far.

Catching up from a bit of a break

So, I really haven't posted in awhile, again. I have done some reading, though.

First, the last time I completed a big catch up list, like this one, I missed a little book - Junie B., First Grader, One-Man Band. It was a pretty good book; much like the others in the series. Junie B. is ready for the first grade kickball tournament, until an unfortunate practicing accident involving a watering can.

Okay, so I did read The Valentine Box before finishing Muse and Reverie. It was a pretty good story, but even shorter than I expected. Grabbing it out of the "checked in -ok" bin, I thought it was a children's chapter book, but it was a bit more of a long-ish basic kid's book. I still enjoyed it, though.

Then, I decided to read Not Quite What I Was Planning, Revised and Expanded Deluxe Edition: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. I had mostly just been filling a bit of time while Mom was checking email - I couldn't go to bed till she was done, and this was going to be a bit easier to leave off in the middle. However, it was also a quick read, so I finished it that night as well.

Then, at work the following day, I found Junie B., First Grader Boo...and I Mean It. Hoping I could finish it before we left for St. Cloud, I tried started it, but it wasn't quite that fast of a read - although we were leaving pretty quickly, and I also needed to finish packing a few things.

So, on Saturday afternoon, while helping my Aunt Jan with a session of "Peaceable Kingdom," I finished both the Junie B. book and Muse and Reverie. I enjoyed both books, but I have to say I preferred the CdL book. The characters and the whole setting in general is great, and then when such a good author writes about them it just gets better.

Having finished all of those, I started the book for the St. Francis Book Club, as it looked like a book that, though short, would take some time to read because of the amount of reflection it was going to require. However, it was actually a pretty quick read - but a very good one. I suspect that it will be easier said than done to act on the suggestions/advice in the book. The book is Henry J. M. Nouwen's Can You Drink the Cup?.

After finishing that I started one of two little books I'd grabbed from the library, Expecting the Doctor's Baby by Theresa Southwick. It was a pretty good story, about what I expected, but I suppose it can't quite count as great literature perhaps. It was entertaining and a quick and easy read, and as happens with enough books, got me to cry a bit at the sad parts. (the funny thing with it is when I went and looked and another stack of similar books I'd gotten earlier, but hadn't read yet, I found another copy of this book - apparently it was a book I was supposed to read)

Having finished that book, I read the other one of those books I'd recently gotten, I Still Do by Christie Ridgway. Again, it was pretty good, but about what I expected, and also made me cry a bit at times. There were some quite humorous scenes in this one too.

After finishing that book, I switched to a new Dorothy Sayers book the library got Lord Peter: The Complete Lord Peter Wimsey Stories. I'm currently still in the middle of this book - I've spent lots of time watching movies and tv shows that I checked out from the library.

I've also sort of read Dorothy Sayers' book Lord Peter Views the Body - I'd thought it was listed as being the book in which Lord Peter and Miss Vane first meet, but in looking back at the description, I see I missed a title (I was really looking for Strong Poison), but later saw that it was 1/2 to 2/3 of the book I'm already in the middle of. I just returned it without actually reading it - the stories are pretty good so far, but a mystery just wouldn't be as interesting when reread this close to the original reading time - I'd remember too well what happened exactly and wouldn't be even a bit surprised at the ending.

In the midst of reading this, I've also read one other book by Barbara Park, Junie B., First Grader, Jingle Bells, Batman Smells (P.S. So Does May). It went pretty much the way I expected it would. I'm intrigued now, though, to see if Junie B. and May will get along better. I suppose I have to wait until the next book (whatever one it is).