Books I've Read
Books Listed by Author
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z All
Fuzzy Mud
A cautionary tale of over-population and genetic engineering-gone-bad, aimed at younger children. Pretty good, I read it in only two hours!
Read:
12/2015
The Cardturner
I did not have high hopes for a teen book about bridge, but I trusted the author, read it, and liked it VERY much! The possibly overwhelming stuff about bridge is marked with a whale symbol so you can skip over it. An excellent idea! I almost want to try playing bridge, now. Almost!
Read:
12/2010
There's A Boy In The Girl's Bathroom!
I read this because a student said it was not like she expected, and it was really good. It IS really good. I weeped at the end.
Read:
1/2011
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat And Other Clinical Tales
Very interesting tales of the patients of a neuro-something-or-other. Can't say I read EVERY word, but enjoyed it. Amazing stories.
Read:
1/2004
Contact
Good story. Good movie.
Read:
1/2002
True notebooks
Author goes to juvenile detention facility for mostly murderers, teaches a writing class. Non-fiction. I liked the talking-parts, but not the student writing parts. It's just me, I guess.
Read:
11/2005
Nosy Neighbors
Shelly House is over a hundred years old. Once a mansion, now divided into apartments, or "flats", as the Brits will call them. A motley assortment of people live there, mostly not getting along very well. An assault occurs, suspects are listed, but everything is cleared up by the end. Except the death of Marge!
Quote:
The siren had stopped but the blue light was still revolving, its fluorescent rays so dazzling that she was forced to close her eyes. -- "Fluorescent"??Quote:
Tomasz had found her [Princess] in the end -- But what about Marge??Quote:
"But you no longer have a car." -- Finally!! But is Marge dead??Quote:
"Hello, Dotty." -- Well, that brings back some memories for me. Quote:
"Are you doing dauphinoise potatoes with the stew?" -- Didn't someone just mention those potatoes to me? Ha ha!Read:
12/2024
The Last Chance Library
The village council wants to shut down the library, and the patron are revolting! Great story!
Quote:
Bog off, AlanQuote:
Alan licked his bottom in response.Quote:
"The lying shit," Mrs. B said. "I'll kill him."Quote:
"For fuck's sake, would you two get a room?"Read:
12/2024
The Lost Ticket
Frank spends several decades riding the number 88 bus to find a girl he talked to. Several people help him. I really liked this story.
Quote:
But instead, all she felt was a sudden, desperate urge to go for a wee.Quote:
"Oi, are you blind?"Read:
1/2025
The Case Of The Missing Books
A Mobile Library Mystery. I wasn't much interested in this book, except for the library stuff, but as things proceeded to an end I found myself pleased with the ending. Rather witty in parts. I shall have to find the next book.
Quote:
Sometimes it felt good to be a librarian.Read:
9/2007
Miles From Nowhere
One of my favorite books, I actually PURCHASED after reading twice from the library so I could share it with others. Barbara and her husband bicycle around the world. Read--several times and more to come.
Read:
No dateRead:
5/2006Read:
10/2016
The Moon Bridge
Ruthie makes a new friend at school. They become best friends, then Mitzi and her family are sent away because it's World War II and they are Japanese-American. A really good story, I liked it very much.
Read:
10/2014
Roller Skates
Lucinda is a ten-year-old living in "orphanage" with her aunts while her parents are in Italy for a year because of her mother's health issues. Lucinda is quite outgoing, and reminded me much of Anne Shirley. She loves to meet people, and is totally unconscious of "class". I thought this would be a "nice" story, but there were two deaths that came as quite a shock. Awarded the Newbery in 1937.
Words I Had To Look Up:
story of Diamond (pg. 21) -- the quote in the book is from At The Back Of The North Wind, by George MacDonald, a children's book published in 1871.
Anton Seidl (pg. 92) -- Hugarian-born conductor who became conductor of the New York Philharmonic in 1891. He died in 1898.
Robert Ingersoll (pg. 92) -- Lucinda notes that Aunt Emily said he didn't believe in God. Lucinda wonders "a great deal" why, but never finds out. A very interesting Wikipedia article I perused said he was a great orator and spoke on many topics, including agnosticism.
guimp (pg. 142) -- A narrow flat braid used for trimming. Also spelled gimp.
Cornelius Nepos (pg. 131) -- A Roman biographer.
gertrude (pg. 178) -- A type of clothing for infants. More information is online in The Care Of The Baby, by J. P. Crozer Griffith, published 1900.
Smoke Quote:
The princess brought out a lacquered box, and out of this some cigarettes. She lighted one, lay back on the cushions, and smoked. Lucinda had never seen, had never dreamed it even possible that a woman could smoke. It only made the whole ending of that day appear more unbelievable. (pg. 100)
Read:
3/2009
Agent to the stars
An alien race of Jello-like creatures decide they need an agent to fix up their image before revealing themselves to humans. Very good.
Read:
3/2006Factoid:
This book is available on the author's website as a free download.
Fuzzy Nation
I'm sure I read H. Beam Piper's book back in the 60s, but I don't remember it. I'll have to find it! This one was pretty good, I liked it much more than Redshirts, even though I didn't weep at this one.
Read:
7/2014Read Again:
9/2017Read:
5/2021
Head On
Very readable, I couldn't put it down. A sequel to Lock In. Lots of snappy repartee.
Quote:
"But then again I self-medicate." -- pg. 57Read:
5/2018
Lock In
A new FBI agent's first day on the job. I really enjoyed this one!
Read:
11/2014
Old man's war
A 75 year old man joins the Colonial Defense Force, gets a new body. I was in tears by the top of the third page. I really enjoyed this book, very Heinelinesque, couldn't put it down. EDIT 20016: This time around I cried a lot more.
Read:
3/2006Read Again:
3/2016
Redshirts
I was pretty ho-hum til the codas started, then it was all laughter and tears.
Read:
7/2014
Starter Villain
Super villain story with cats and dolphins. Snappy patter. I liked it!
Quote:
"We're on Google Maps, Charlie. There is only so clandestine we can be..." Quote:
"We're going to have a talk, you and I," I said to my cat.Read:
3/2024
20 books displayed
[Abadzis - Addison] [Aiken - Alexander] [Alexie - Anderson] [Anderson - Asimov] [Asimov - Backman] [Backman - Baldree] [Balf - Barnard] [Barnard - Barnes] [Barnes - Barr] [Barr - Beanton] [Beanton - Beaton] [Beaton - Beaton] [Beaton - Bender] [Benedict - Block] [Block - Block] [Block - Bohjalian] [Bond - Bova] [Bowen - Briody] [Brodie - Buchanan] [Buck - Bujold] [Bujold - Cain] [Cain - Card] [Card - Carlson editor] [Carr - Chambers] [Chambers - Choldenko] [Clagett - Clearly] [Clements - Coel] [Cohen - Colfer] [Colfer - Collins] [Collins - Connelly] [Connelly - Constantine] [Constantine - Corder] [Corder - Cornwell] [Cornwell - Crais] [Crais - Crichton] [Crichton - Curtis] [Curtis - Dahl] [Dahl - Deaver] [Del Rey - Dixon] [Dixon - Dorsey] [Dorsey - Dozois] [Dozois - Dunning] [DuPrau - Elkins] [Ellms - Evanovich] [Evanovich - Fairstein] [Fairstein - Ferris] [Fforde - Flanagan] [Flanagan - Foer] [Follett - Fournier] [Fowler - Francis] [Francis - Francis] [Francis - Freedman] [Freedman - Gaiman] [Gaiman - Geist] [Geist - Goldberg] [Goldberg - Grafton] [Grafton - Grant] [Grant - Greer] [Greer - Grimes] [Grimes - Haddix] [Haddix - Hale] [Hale - Hallinan] [Hallinan - Harper] [Harris - Hebden] [Heinlein - Heinlein] [Heinlein - Henry] [Henry - Herriot] [Herriot - Hiaasen] [Hiaasen - Hillerman] [Hillerman - Hobb] [Hobbs - Horowitz] [Horowitz - Hulme] [Hunter - Jemisin] [Jemisin - Jones] [Jones - Kaminsky] [Kaminsky - Kelly] [Kelman - King] [King - Knight] [Knight - Kratman] [Kratman - Lansing] [Larson - Lebbon] [Leblanc - Lefcourt] [Lefcourt - Lescroart] [Lescroart - Link, editor] [Link, editor - Lovegrove] [Lovegrove - Luna] [Luna - Macleish] [Macleod - Mankell] [Manley - Martine] [Martine - Massey] [Matas - McCaffrey] [McCall Smith - McCrumb] [McCrumb - Meier] [Meloy - Miller] [Miller - Moon] [Moon - Mortimer] [Mortimer - Nance] [Nance - Niven] [Niven - Novik] [Novik - O'Brian] [O'Brian - Older] [Older - Paolini] [Paolini - Pargin] [Pargin - Parker] [Parker - Parker] [Parker - Pattou] [Paulsen - Pearson] [Pearson - Perry] [Peters - Pohl] [Pohl - Poyer] [Poyer - Pratchett] [Pratchett - Pratchett] [Pratchett - Pronzini] [Pronzini - Pynchon] [Pynchon - Raskin] [Raskin - Resnick] [Resnick - Riordan] [Riordan - Rollins] [Roosevelt - Rushdie] [Russell - Saberhagen] [Sachar - Scalzi] [Scalzi - Schmitz] [Schonborg - Scottoline] [Scottoline - Shames] [Shames - Shute] [Sijie - Smith] [Smith - Spector] [Spencer - Stark] [Stark - Stephenson] [Stephenson - Stroke] [Stroke - Strunk] [Sturgeon - Taylor] [Taylor - Townsend] [Tracy - Updale] [Urban - Van Name] [van Vogt - Walsh] [Walsh - Weber] [Weber - Wells] [Wells - Westerman] [Westerman - Westlake] [Westlake - Willis] [Willis - Wodehouse] [Wodehouse - Yates] [Yates - Zusak]