The First Twenty-Two

Below are the books I've read since November of last year.  I need to shorten the list on the sidebar, so I'm archiving these ones.  While I'm at it, I may as well put a tidbit in there about them.  And because it makes me feel powerful, I am giong to rate the books with stars.  The ratings are purely based on how much I enjoyed them.  Not on literary excellence.  One indicates that I did not enjoy the book at all; five means I did a wild happy dance every time I cracked it open.  Or something similar to a happy dance.

Before I do that though, I wanted to state that the 23rd book on my list is going to be The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.  I wanted to say that I know it is only a childrens short story and that it's not even Christmastime, but I am including it on the list anyway because I think that literature for children is so important.  If ever I were to attempt to write a book, it might just be a children's book and I therefore need to be familiar with a whole spectrum of them.  This book is exceptionally well written from a child's perspective, and I love it!  I wanted to read it in December but couldn't find it anywhere.  Such a shame!

Okay, here we go.

#1 - The Ultimate Gift by Jim Stovall.  I had seen the movie before I read this book, and they are quite different.  When I began reading this, I had no idea that it was a self-help, motivational speaker type of book, but I have to say that we can all use reminders from time to time of the things that are truly important, and it may as well be done in an entertaining way that makes you think at the same time.  Good, quick read.  3 stars.

#2 - Love Is Eternal by Irving Stone.  I think this book was written in the fifties, if my memory is correct.  I had such a time getting through this book!  I found it simultaneously very slow and riveting.  I think it's a great book though.  Mary Todd Lincoln was quite a woman! 3 and 1/2 stars.

#3 - Can You Keep A Secret? by Sophie Kinsella.  I needed something easy after that last one, and Kinsella came through.  Her shopaholic books give me anxiety attacks, but this one was fun.  4 stars.

#4 - Cheaper By the Dozen - by two Gilbreths.  Excellent book.  Fun to read, good anecdotes and family values.  5 stars.

#5 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling.  Rowling is an artist.  She is a gifted writer who might become one of few who will have succeeded in keeping my boys' interest down the road.  We'll see.  I hope she comes out with something new sometime soon.  Children's authors are so very, very important.  5 stars.

#6 - The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella.  Another fun read just to treat myself to relaxation after the kids had gone to bed.  I think this is the one I borrowed from my sister and she had used a white out pen to eliminate all the swear words.  It made me laugh, because the result of her efforts was that I sat and wondered which vulgarity was hiding underneath the pure white concealment.  That's just me though.  3 and 1/2 stars.

#7 - Fat Girl - A True Story by Judith Miller.  This one was just kind of depressing.  People need to learn to love themselves no matter what.  1 star.

#8 - The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck.  Admittedly, I had no idea what this book was about before I started reading it.  Excellent imagery.  I need to pick another Steinbeck soon, I enjoyed this one so much.  5 stars.

#9 - Twilight by Stephanie Meyer.  I think this book is a fun read.  It hovers in the young adult genre, yet still deals with issues of sensuality, so I'm not sure how I feel about young people, (like the fourth grader I saw with her nose stuck in it while she walked home from school one day) reading it before they should be exposed to that kind of thing.  Good, fast read - terrible movies.  I'm undecided on my feelings on Stephanie Meyer's merits as an author.  4 stars.

#10 - The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand.  This one was a book that was just so-so.  It's about a group of friends dealing with the aftermath of the death of one of the couples in their circle.  I found myself wishing it would hurry up and end.  2 stars.

#11 - The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright.   Another children's book.  This one was written in the forties, I believe.  It's part of a series, and I think this is the first.  I'll have to read the others.  This one was about four siblings who decide to form a club between themselves wherein they give all their allowance to one of their group on a Saturday, and who's ever turn it is will use that money to go do something memorable that they have always wanted to do.  It's a great concept and written well.  4 stars.

#12 - Belles On Their Toes - by those Gilbreths again.  This book dealt with life after the death of their father.  I liked the first book better, but this was good, too.  3 and 1/2 stars.

#13 - The Victory Club by Robin Lee Hatcher.   This book was written by a Christian author, and those tend to have a different flavor sometimes.  This one wasn't too bad in that regard.  It's about a group of women who deal with the emotional and social trials of life on the home front during WWII.  It was okay, not my fave.  2 stars.

#14 - Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella.  Probably my least favorite of the three Kinsella books I read this year.  2 and 1/2 stars.

#15 - Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt.  I really enjoyed this one more than I thought I would.  It's about a governess who takes a job at an ominous mansion in England and finds herself in the middle of a romantically tangled mystery.  Compares with Jane Eyre, I suppose, but this reads easier.  The plots of these kinds of books tend to fall flat in their resolution, for me anyway, but this one was good.  I got quite caught up in it.  4 stars.

#16 - Dear John by Nicholas Sparks.  I have decided that I just don't like Nicholas Sparks books.  Such a downer all the time.  This book, in particular I had trouble with.  So little dialogue, too much internal monologue of a character I found a bit shallow.  I liked this the first time I read it, though, so I'm not sure what changed.  Maybe I was just bored knowing what was going to happen.  1 star.

#17 - The Best Little Girl in the World by Steven Levenkron.  This was an interesting look at anorexia.  Interesting, but not compelling.  2 and 1/2 stars.

#18 - Life Laughs by Jenny McCarthy.  I've already expressed my strong dislike of this book.  Not at all what it appeared to be when I read the back cover.  I've heard that Belly Laughs by the same author is good though.  Big fat ZERO stars.

#19 - Anne Frank - Diary of a Young Girl.  By Anne Frank, obviously.  If you don't know what this one is about, you need to crawl out from under your rock.  This book is very poignant, and I will always love it for it's honesty and truth.  I saw in it just how normal Anne was, even in such an extreme setting.  It does get tiresome at times, but everyone should read this once.  4 stars.

#20 - J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter by Marc Shapiro.  I didn't notice that this was an unauthorized biography until I was into it, and it was rather poor.  1 star.

#21 - Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis.  I am not much of a fan of sci-fi or fantasy, so this one was just ok.  Lewis is a good author, but this isn't my favorite genre.  So there.  3 1/2 stars.

#22 - The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner.  I really, really loved this movie, so I was anxious to read the book.  You know how much of the book deals with what was in the movie?  About a fifth of it.  The beginning was good, his childhood was wow, but his young adulthood was smut and pathetic.  And the worst part is that even after he is successful, he doesn't stop being a man-whore and he doesn't ever learn to be otherwise.  I wish I'd not read it so I could still be amazed by his life that I saw in the movie.  Now I just get to remember how sleazy his life is when it comes to women.  Yey.  2 and 1/2 stars.

Now on to the next book!