Books I've Read
Books Listed by Author
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Laika
A graphic novel about the first dog in space. One weep.
Read:
10/2011
Catch me if you can
A fairly fascinating tale of a teen who impersonates air line pilots, a doctor, and a lawyer. Leads quite a life. I think they made a movie about him.
Read:
11/2006
The Monkey Wrench Gang
A book from the seventies about a group of eco-terrorists. Pretty good.
Read:
6/2000
The Postcard
Jason goes to awful Florida to help his dad after his grandmother passes away. A mystery unfolds with a postcard he finds, and a mysterious telephone call. An odd but mostly interesting tale, although I tended to forget who was who.
Read:
12/2009
Go And Come Back Again
Told from the point of view of a teenage girl of the Isabo people in Peru, two female anthropologists come to study a village in the 1970s. Very good story, the more I think about it.
Read:
2/2015
Saying It Out Loud
A high school girl deals with her mother's death. A really good story.
Read:
3/2015
Down The Rabbit Hole
I thought this was going to be a scary horror book, but it turned out to be a mystery story. It took a while to get going, I felt it come alive around page 214. The author has laid a lot of groundwork for future books.
Words This Guy Had To Look Up:
Manolo Blahniks (pg. 306) -- A VERY expensive brand of shoes.
Quote:
Waffles, such a great invention, and all because of those little squares, like rice paddies, perfect for filling up with a melted butter and maple syrup combo. Another example of what made America great--the nation that turned plain old rice paddies into syrupy butter paddies. -- (pg. 315)
Quote:
Her bike, a Univega mountain bike, red of course, with fat knobby tires and twenty-three gears, of which she used one, stood against the back wall. -- (pg. 222) She has three chainrings and 7.666 cogs??
Read:
1/2009
The Hitchhiker's Guide ToThe Galaxy
Read the series many years ago, but the principal told me to read this again, so I did.
Read:
9/2011
Black Hearts In Battersea
Simon adventures in London while attending art school. Those Hanorverian rascals!
Read:
3/2015
Cold Shoulder Road
Is is in the south of England with Arun looking for his mother when they run afoul of smugglers whose use the Channel tunnel for their nefarious deads.
Read:
5/2015
Dido And Pa
Dido is back in London and "reunited" with her dad, who is again involved in a plot against the king, although it's a different king now. Very exciting, and the wolves make an appearance.
Read:
5/2015
Go Saddle The Sea
Felix Brooke series, #1. Felix runs away from his home in Spain to England where his deceased father is from. Pretty good story, once it gets started.
Read:
2/2019
Nightbirds On Nantucket
Dido ends up in the U.S., if you can imagine, and what does she run into? Pretty much what she ran into back home.
Read:
4/2015
The Stolen Lake
Dido hitched a ride back to the U.K., Great Britain, or whatever it is called in this alternate history book, but ends up in South America, as near as I can figure, where she may be tossed into a lake (the stolen one, after it is returned) to extend the life of someone with a oddly familiar name. There, I don't think that's a spoiler.
Read:
4/2015
The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase
"Wicked wolves without and a grim governess within threaten Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia..." Read pre-1998, read again, 'cause it's good. Many words to look up!
Read:
3/2015
In The Land Of White Death
A voyage in the Arctic in the early 1900s goes awry. This book was written by one of the survivors from his diary. Not all that long, but quite readable, and has several maps, thank goodness!
Read:
10/2016
The Tale Of Castle Cottage
A mystery in the village where Beatrix Potter lives. Very interesting, spent a lot of time looking up stuff on the internet. Nicely written, but I don't feel a longing to read any more of the series.
Quote:
There is something to be said, after all, for pent-up longing. -- Pg. 141
Read:
10/2016
An Old-Fashioned Girl
Country-girl Polly comes to Boston to visit her rich friend Fanny. Several weeps near the end. Needs a lexicon, though!
Words I Had To Look Up:
Opydilldock is first-rate for sprains. (pg. 76) -- Opodeldoc is a liniment attributed to the physician Paracelsus, which camphor and herbs in it.
"Now, Maud, bring on the citron;" (pg. 289) -- A fragrant citrus fruit, used mostly for its rind, rather than being eaten like an orange.
Quote:
"Bright boy! here's a plum for you," and Polly threw a plump raisin into his mouth.
"Put in lots, won't you? I'm rather fond of plumcake," observed Tom... (pg. 288) -- Plums are raisons? Aha! One of the definitions for plum is a raisin when added to a cake or pudding!Read:
11/2011
Eight Cousins
An orphan, Rose, goes to live with her new guardian, Uncle Alec, a bunch of aunts, and those seven cousins.
Words I Had To Look Up:
you know hasheesh is the extract of hemp? (pg. 46) -- The things you learn in a children's book!
pigeon English (pg. 76) -- Pidgin English is a simplified form of English used by certain peoples of E Asia and the South Pacific in dealing with foreigners.
could you lend me a ninepence? (pg. 83) -- A New England name for the Spanish real, a coin formerly current in the United States, as valued at twelve and a half cents. Which doesn't really clear things up. This takes place around 1875, I think.
I am a quiddle (pg. 132) -- One who wastes his energy about trifles.
Babes in the woods (gp. 155) -- Another of those awful folk tales where children die. In the woods.
in a promiscuous heap (pg. 224) -- Casual; irregular; haphazard. Used twice by the author!
making a little Casabianca of herself (pg. 243) -- From the poem of the same name, about a young boy who would not desert his post on a warship. And perished.
Quote:
for, though we do not want trumpets to be blown, we do like to have our little virtues appreciated, and cannot help feeling disappointed if they are not. (pg. 117)
Quote:
Dr. Alec ordered her to lie on the sofa for a fortnight at least, whereat she groaned dismally, but dared not openly complain, lest the boys turn upon her with some of the wise little sermons on patience which she had delivered for their benefit. (pg. 165)
Read:
11/2011
Good Wives
I found this one in a discard bin, or rather a discard table, at work. "Oh, goody, a Little Women book I haven't read!" As I discovered, and you all knew, this book is the second volume that is usually bound with Little Women. And that is why it seemed familiar. But not totally, as I last read Little Women when I was eighteen or so, and that was over four decades ago. Tempus fugit!
Read:
10/2013
20 books displayed
[Abadzis - Alcott] [Alexander - Andreae] [Angelou - Atkinson] [Atkinson - Balliett] [Balliett - Barnard] [Barnard - Barr] [Barr - Barrows] [Barry - Bear] [Bear - Beaton] [Beaton - Beattie, editor] [Beck - Black] [Black - Block] [Block - Bosch] [Bosch - Brillant] [Brin - Bryson] [Bryson - Bujold] [Bujold - Card] [Card - Card] [Card - Chabon] [Chabon - Clancy] [Clancy - Coakley] [Coben - Cohen] [Cole - Collins] [Collins - Connelly] [Connelly - Constantine] [Constantine - Cornwell] [Cornwell - Crais] [Crais - Crime] [Crombie - Cussler] [Cussler - Dashner] [Dashner - DiCamillo] [DiCamillo - Doig] [Doohan - Drake] [Drake - Elkins] [Elkins - Emerson] [Ephron - Fairstein] [Fairstein - Ferber] [Ferris - Flanagan] [Flanagan - Flint] [Flynn - Fournier] [Fowler - Francis] [Francis - Francis] [Francis - Funke] [Funke - Gardner] [Gardner - Gladwell] [Gladwell - Gould] [Grady - Grant] [Grant - Greenleaf] [Greenleaf - Grisham] [Grisham - Haddix] [Haddix - Hall] [Hall - Harper] [Harris - Heinlein] [Heinlein - Heinlein] [Heinlein - Henry] [Henry - Herzog] [Hess - Hiaasen] [Hiaasen - Hillerman] [Hilton - Holman] [Holmes - Huff] [Hughes - Jemisin] [Jemisin - Joyce] [Kabak - Kaminsky] [Kaminsky - Kienzle] [Kienzle - Kingsolver] [Kingsolver - Korman] [Korman - Landry] [Lange - Lawrence] [Lawson - Leonard] [Leonard - Lewis] [Lewis - Lovelace] [Low - Lynch] [Lynch - Maguire] [Malzberg - Martin] [Martin - Massey] [Matas - McCall Smith] [McCall Smith - McCrumb] [McCrumb - Meluch] [Meluch - Monninger] [Montgomery - Moore] [Moriarty - Murphy] [Myers - Nimmo] [Niven - O'Brian] [O'Brian - O'Brien] [O'Brien - Paolini] [Paolini - Parker] [Parker - Parker] [Parker - Parker] [Parker - Paulsen] [Paulsen - Peck] [Peck - Pfeffer] [Phelan - Powell] [Poyer - Pratchett] [Pratchett - Pratchett] [Pratchett - Pronzini] [Pronzini - Queenan] [Rankin - Rehder] [Resnick - Riordan] [Roach - Rose] [Rose - Russell] [Russell - Savage] [Savin - Schatzing] [Schmatz - Scott] [Scottoline - Selznick] [Sepetys - Shusterman] [Shusterman - Smith] [Smith - Specht] [Spector - Stark] [Stasheff - Stern] [Stewart - Stroud] [Stroud - Tappyly] [Taylor - Tracy] [Trevino - Urban] [Urrea - Vance] [Vande Velde - Wambaugh] [Wambaugh - Westerfeld] [Westerfeld - Westlake] [Westlake - Wise] [Wister - Wroblewski] [Yancy - Zusak]