August 2009 Wrap-Up

Books read and reviewed this month:
You Can’t Hide by Karen Rose -- 5 roses -- Loved it!
Kill Me Twice by Roxanne St. Claire -- 4 roses -- Excellent
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov -- 1 rose -- not my thing
Count to Ten by Karen Rose -- 5 roses -- Loved it!
Dirty Little Secrets by Julie Leto -- 4 roses -- Excellent


Other books read:
Hot Damn!: Alligators in the Casino, Nude Women in the Grass, How Seashells Changed the Course of History, and Other Dispatches from Paradise by James W. Hall -- essays about Florida

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson -- 4.5 roses -- Highly recommended

Books abandoned: The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer - interesting book about a baby, born looking like an old man, who gets younger looking (although he ages normally inside) as he gets older. I abandoned the book around page 100 when they started shooting helpless circus animals.

Favorite book read this month: I read some great books in August and, with the exception of Lolita, I’d recommend all of them. But if I had to pick an absolute favorite, it would be You Can’t Hide by Karen Rose. There’s something about the relationship between Aiden, Tess, and the rest of the Reagan family that just tugs at me. I’m looking forward to finding out more about Tess’s family in Die For Me (the next book).

Books I could have done without: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Challenges completed:
Chunkster Challenge -- 6 books over 450 pages read

Challenges joined:
Well-Rounded Challenge
R.I.P. IV

Challenge progress: (those without an end date end on 12/31)
Countdown Challenge (ends 9/9/09) - 44/45
R.I.P. IV (ends 10/31/09) - 0/4
Book Awards III Challenge (ends 12/1/09) - 1/5
999 Challenge - 43/81
TBR Challenge - 3/12
Support Your Local Library Challenge - 24/25
Read Your Own Books (RYOB) Challenge - 30/50
100+ Challenge - 58/100
Pages Read Challenge - 17,650/30,000
A Well-Rouned Challenge - 0/5
What an Animal II (ends 2/28/10) - 1/6
Sookie Stackhouse Challenge (ends 6/30/10) - 2/9
Perpetual Challenges:
New Classics Challenge - 22/100 (0 this month)
Around the World in 80 Books - 11/80 (1 this month)
Science in Fiction - 7 read (0 this month)
Book Around the States Challenge - 24/51 (0 this month)
Raved-About Reads - 19 read (1 this month)

Currently Reading:
Islands by Anne River Siddons (to finish Countdown Challenge)
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (award winner)

Plans for September:
Left to Die by Lisa Jackson (to finish Support Your Local Library Challenge)
Prime Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan (award winner)
The Gravedigger's Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates (book club pick)
Chosen to Die by Lisa Jackson
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (for R.I.P. IV)
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
From the Heart by Nora Roberts

Anyone read any of these? Have a recommendation on where to start?