Tracy Marie's 2007 Reading List

[everydayxangels]

September
38. Before I Die by Jenny Downham
37. Crashing Through by Robert Kurson
36. The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James (Dec 11th)

August (3)
35. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
34. The Scandal of the Season by Sophie Gee
33. Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

July (5)
32. Mister Pip by Lloyd James
31. Run by Ann Patchett (Oct 1st)
30. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
29. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
28. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K Rowling

June (6)
27. The Penny by Joyce Meyer
26. The Last Summer by Ann Brasheres
25. Peony in Love by Lisa See
24. gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
23. Teach With Your Heart by Erin Gruwell
22. Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

May (3)
21. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
20. Whistling in the Dark by Lesley Kagen
19. Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson

April (4)
18. Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky
17. The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard
16. A Brother's Journey by Barbara Delinsky
15. Crow Lake by Mary Lawson

March (5)
14. Black and White by Dani Shapiro
13. Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson
12. The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell
11. Plainsong by Kent Haruf
10. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

February (5)
9. Life's Golden Ticket by Brandon Burchard
8. The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
7. Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult
6. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
5. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

January (4)
4. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
3. Cage of Stars by Jacquelyn Mitchard
2. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
1. Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olsson

ON MY SHELF


Advanced Readers Copies (1)
Mozart's Sister

*Release dates in AMERICAN dating system

[Michelle]

How do you get your ARCs? Is it part of a job, or have you simply built up contacts?

[madcow]

How do you get your ARCs? Is it part of a job, or have you simply built up contacts?
I would be interested to know too :smile2:

[everydayxangels]

Lol, I'm only fifteen, so my contacts aren't anywhere near the book business.

It's apart of my job, and I work at a local independent bookstore. We have three shelves in the back filled with ARC's and organized by released date. For adult Fiction books, I'd say there's easily 120. Mystery about 60. For Non-Fiction probably 50. And for Kid/YA there's about 100. it's the biggest perk of the job. :D Even got an ARC to Mitch Alboms new book ;) even though it has obviously been released by now.

[Purple Poppy]

WOW! How did you land such a fab job? There'll be loads of envious people on here, all turning green at the same time!

PP:mrgreen:

[madcow]

I need a career change ASAP :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

[everydayxangels]

WOW! How did you land such a fab job? There'll be loads of envious people on here, all turning green at the same time!

PP:mrgreen:

lol, the store I work had have been hiring highschool girls for quite a while. Like 15 years. Infact one of the highschool girls from '94 is infact the store manager now, and she's wonderful. It's pretty weak pay though. $6/hr. minimum wage for people under 18. But i dont have to support myself so I dont really mind. :smile2:

[Purple Poppy]

Well done! The experience will stand you in good stead...who knows where it will lead! You might take over as the manager one day and then build your own book empire! (Well you can dream can't you?):lol:

[Liz]

Wow! That sounds like a fab job! It must be fun.

I did think about going to a bookshop for my Work Experience week last year. Couldn't find anywhere that did it so I went and worked in a Library instead. That was quite good.

[Purple Poppy]

Thats a shame Liz, but lucky about the library. What would you like to do in the future...I'm assuming you are going to uni and then...?

PP

[everydayxangels]

I guess a goal that I have for myself, as far as reading goes, I want to read more books than I have last year. Last year I really only started to read consistantly in August, and read only 12 books I think. I want to read atleast 4 books a month. that's 48 books in one year. That's pretty good :)

I feel like I read pretty slow though compared to someone like Kell :tong: who reads at the speed of light. It takes me like a week to get through a 250 page book.

Anywho, I finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, and I thought it was incredibly wonderful. I dont do reviews because everything comes out as a jumbled mess, and less helpful than just not even writing a review. The book has to do with foot-binding in the first part, which was the hardest to get through, and the troubles of being a woman in communist 1800 China is shown throughout. It was heartbreaking the way that even the women themselves referred to themselves as worthless.

[Icecream]

I feel like that too. I didn't read many books last year and would like to. Partly because i was doing my finals at university and partly because I am also a slow reader (until I get into it then i'm fine. I think it is more a concentration thing).

Not sure how well reading nore will work with a baby due any time though.

[everydayxangels]

I am so thrilled with Cage of Stars! This book is absolutely delicious. And such a nice relief from the gravity of Snow Flower. Not to say that Cage of Stars is light and fluffy, it just doesnt have that constant pain that Snow Flower did. Already 2 fabulous books in 2007!

I was thinking of adding Jacquelyn Mitchard's book Breakdown Lane to my list of books to read. might take a while to get around to reading, but I think I will add it. It was on my list when that list was up in the hundreds, but then got cut for some reason. Lack of interest. And it will be one of the higher up books to read, also! It'll come right after the 11 Library books, and then after the 20 something ARC's. Yup. it's a priority. :P

[Purple Poppy]

:lol:

[everydayxangels]

I finished Cage of Stars!!!! This book was so good, I cannot even believe it! I dont care if it's speaking too early, but this one will definitely be one of my favorite books of 2007.

I absolutely loved the comfortable lifestyle Mitchard painted in the-middle-of-no-where town in Utah, and the loving parents that Veronica had. I wanted to jump right in and grow up in that kind of house.

It also taught me a lot about mormons. Even though these were fictional characters, it broke a lot of stereo-types i guess. I enjoyed this book SOOOO much

[Gyre]

Cool job! :mrgreen:

[everydayxangels]

I checked out another 6 books from the library. Oh Lord have mercy:blush:

[Purple Poppy]

:lol:

[Renniemist]

I checked out another 6 books from the library. Oh Lord have mercy:blush:



Doesn’t it make you feel good!:angel_not: Enjoy!

[everydayxangels]

I finished The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and it was a rather quick read. almost too quick for me. But I figure all of Alboms books are like that. I enjoyed it, and I thought it was a wonderful book that made you think, But I enjoy the books that throw you into a world all it's own and it's 500 pages, and you devour every single page. :smile2:

I'm going to start an ARC now. finally. :roll: Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. and I guess it is a Columbine-esque type of book.

[everydayxangels]

I put Nineteen Minutes on hold. Not sure why. but I did. I'll definitely be picking it up again. Everything was just so extreme. Obviously the main subject matter is something extreme. The cliques were extreme, and the way they were described... The way Josie was suicidal without much explination was extreme. And other things. But the writing was really good, just from the beginning

I'm now reading a library book. Never Let Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Has anyone read it? I think I'll search for it, but it's so confusing. I can't tell what's going on. With the carers and donors at the beginning, and then the past-tense stuff of her School years. I dont get it... My guess is that it's something like the movie The Island, where they're kept alive only to give organs and stuff to other people. They talk about the outside, and things.... and it's just kinda weird.

[Kell]

I'm now reading a library book. Never Let Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Has anyone read it? Yes, I read it just at the end of last year. I think it's one of those books that you either really, really like or hate. When I was reading it, a colleague came up to me & said she'd really disliked it & got really angry at the characters, but I rather enjoyed it myself. It's an unusual subject matter & it's approached very tactfully. It's certainly one that gets you thinking. I hope you'll enjoy it. :readingtwo:

[everydayxangels]

I dropped Never Let Me Go after the 50th page. I knew I wouldn't be finishing it, but I still wanted to know what the deal was with the book. The whole idea of the book is a WONDERFUL idea, but there is no plot. it was INCREDIBLY painfully slow.

So I resumed Nineteen Minutes and it is WONDERFUL :smile2:

[Michelle]

I'm glad you enjoyed Nineteen Minutes, I thought it was very well written.

[madcow]

Can't wait to get hold of 19 minutes.

[Lilywhite]

I'm looking forward to this one as well

[Gyre]

I dropped Never Let Me Go after the 50th page. I knew I wouldn't be finishing it, but I still wanted to know what the deal was with the book. The whole idea of the book is a WONDERFUL idea, but there is no plot. it was INCREDIBLY painfully slow.

So I resumed Nineteen Minutes and it is WONDERFUL :smile2:

My friend also dropped this book too everydayangel, for the same reason, the plot...:mrgreen:

[Purple Poppy]

Everydayxangels said
I dropped Never Let Me Go after the 50th page. I knew I wouldn't be finishing it, but I still wanted to know what the deal was with the book. The whole idea of the book is a WONDERFUL idea, but there is no plot. it was INCREDIBLY painfully slow.


I have just bought this one from Kell, and its on my ever-expanding TBR list. Seems very controversial, in that you either like it, or you don't!

[Kell]

My friend also dropped this book too everydayangel, for the same reason, the plot...:mrgreen:
True - one of my colleagues came up to me while I was reading it and stated that it was "an absolutely dire book - hated it!", but I rather enjoyed it myself...

[Purple Poppy]

I will probably be so curious, that I will push it up to the top of the queue!

[Polka Dot Rock]

I really enjoyed Never Let Me Go - I've lent it to my best mate.

[Renniemist]

I also really enjoyed Never Let Me Go. So much so that I have gone on to read many others by Ishiguro. None of of them have been as good as Never Let Me go however.:)

[everydayxangels]

Well I hope all of you let us know if you enjoyed it! it should be pretty interesting to see who liked it and who did not.

[everydayxangels]

I finished it! I finished it! I finised Nineteen Minutes and it was WONDERFUL!!!!!! definitely had the same shocker at the end in the same way that My Sister's Keeper did! I enjoyed this book like no other.

[everydayxangels]

Oh Heavens. went to the library and came home with 7 more titles:

Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen
The Breakdown Lane by Jacquelyn Mitchard
Undressing the Moon by T. Greenwood
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
You Remind Me of Me by Dan Chaon
Sleep Toward Heaven by Amanda Eyre Ward
The Covenent by Naomi Ragen

anyone read any of them? if you have, could you please let me know if you liked it or not.

[Louiseog]

I have read something by Amanda Eyre Ward which I loved am off to find the title.

[Gyre]

I just bought 'The Secret Life of Bees' myself, I am looking forward to reading it...

:D

[everydayxangels]

I just bought 'The Secret Life of Bees' myself, I am looking forward to reading it...

:D

I'm half way through it, and it is AMAZING so far. :smile2: I'm really looking forward to finish it, but I doubt I'll have time since my Bears are going to the Super Bowl tonight :mrgreen:

[JudyB]

I finished The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and it was a rather quick read. almost too quick for me. But I figure all of Alboms books are like that. I enjoyed it, and I thought it was a wonderful book that made you think.

This is on my wishlist so it's good to see a good review.

[everydayxangels]

I have just started Keeping Faith after switching around 3 books, and I got comfy with this one :smile2: I'm not very far in, like 50 pages, and it is already so good. Jodi definitely knows how to pick controversial and hot-issue topics for her books. has anyone else read this one?

[everydayxangels]

I finished Keeping Faith and it was absolutely wonderful!! i felt a bit disappointed with the ending. I kept anticipating her healing more and more and people finally believing it. thought the last page was mysterious as to who she was talking to - her mother, or God. Overall, 4/5

Up next: The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. I asked another forum, between the choices of The Glass Castle, The Memory Keepers Daughter or Eat, Pray, Love it was unanimous that The Glass Castle was the way to go. I hope not to be disappointed.

[everydayxangels]

I'm halfway through The Glass Castle and I find it to be heartbreaking. through all of this, Jeanette, her siblings, and her mother still are thoroughly loyal to the mastermind behind this irresponsibility of parenthood - the father. He drags them all the way around the country, tells a various assortment of lies, is a raging alcoholic, and with this addiction, has at times run his family into debt. Which he runs from. Can't hold a job for more than three months, sucks the family of money then sucks down bottles of beer. He is just so irresponsible, and it makes me so sick, they are so loyal.

Has anyone read this one?

[everydayxangels]

So I finished The Glass Castle and I really enjoyed myself :) it was incredibly sad and depressing. and just as incredibly wonderful.

Though there were some things that I didn't understand. Like the first memory she shared, with the hot dogs and her skin burning, how did she remember that at the age of 3? Usually when something traumatic happens like that, and especially at that age, you usually do not remember it.

[everydayxangels]

I finished Life's Golden Ticket by Brandon Burchard. I read it surprisingly fast. It's an ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) that is due out in May, and is inspirational ARC at that.

I'm still undecided of how I feel about it. It kind of droned on. VERY comparable to Mitch Albom's book, The Five People you Meet in Heaven. The only difference that I see is that there is a plot in this one, or more of a plot than in TFPYMIH. I feel kind of iffy about this one.

Anywho, I am starting another ARC, seeing as to how the pile only gets bigger, and I never really get around to any. This one is called The Kommandants Girl by Pam Jenoff. I hope this one is good. Seeing as to how it is infact on of the BOOKSENSE PICKS.

[everydayxangels]

I finished Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, and loved it:

Opens up with a thirty-something woman who has been married for a short period of time and is very unhappy. Feeling very pressured to be a housewife, and become a mother, she finds herself alone, in a heap crying on her bathroom floor. With tears streaming down her face, and her head against the cold floor, she has a conversation with god. God tells her to calm down, go back to bed, and deal with it in the morning, which she does. But Gods voice is her own.

She wakes up and is being set off to Indonesia for her job, which there she meets with an old fortune teller who, of course, tells her her future. She will loose a lot of money, but gain it back very quickly, among other things. He then invites her to stay with him in a few years, once she is happy.

She goes back home, still feeling like a mess and once again talks to God, and once again, God is her own voice. She divorces her husband, and he slams her with out of the question demands. She deals with that, and then jets of to Italy. She repairs herself during these 4 months, eating pasta, learning Italian with two divinely gorgeous Italian twins, and writing this book. After the four months of repair, she sets off to a remote Ashram in India.

She stays at a monastery-typed sanctuary where she prays, practices yoga and meditates and disciplines herself to be more connected with God. at the beginning she rises at 4 in the morning, prays, meditates, and then washes the floor of the prayer room. She rises to become the hostess and counselor for a group of people who will come in for a little while to prayer. She becomes their only alliance in such a confusing place. She then leaves after her four months are up, and ventures to Indonesia.

She stays at a hotel and is competely lost, and feels cheated because she is staying in the touristy district. She asks a young man at the concierge about the fortune teller from once upon a time. And of course, right away, the young man knows of him, and takes her to him. She meets with the fortune teller again, and he doesn't remember her. After a few minites of trying to refresh his memory, he goes temporarily crazy with joy, "oh you! oh you! I remember you!" And then he tells her that she looks so different. So sad before, and now she looks so happy.

Bottom line, Eat, Pray, Loveis such a wonderful and insightful memoir. I thoroughly enjoyed myself with this one.

[everydayxangels]

I finished The Freedom Writer's Diary and oh my goodness was this book startling. The movie was fairly large in the states, and I have no idea if it made it to theaters in other countries, but it was amazing. and i generally cannot read a book after seeing the movie, however I made an exception for this one. The movie only told the first two years of the these kids highschool career.

The stories that are in that book are heartbreaking, inspiring, humbling and eye-opening. We all know that there are gangs and useless violence in the more less fortunate areas of urban areas, but this really showed how these 150 students changed themselves, as they were once of the gang members, the drug-dealers and users, etc into something so positive.

I felt at ease when I read that book. I don't just mean thankful that I don't have to deal with worrying about getting jumped, getting caught in gang crossfire, or worry about race, which I am thankful that I don't. But it was just so heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time. These kids were the "troubled" kids, and they rose to be such great people and do such great things.

[lovesreading06]

What does arc mean?

[everydayxangels]

What does arc mean?

arc means Advanced Readers Copy. Publishers will give them to book stores to read, approximately 4 months before the book is released for sale.

[everydayxangels]

I am usually not one for YA lit, but the owner at the bookstore that I work at said that, Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson was absolutely wonderful. I had read Speak by her 2 years ago and was IN LOVE. And the owner was right, it was wonderful. I read it 2 sittings in one day, and it was just so great. I loved it.

I was fumbling around, after that, with The Memory Keepers' Daughter and, I opened it up, and the first few pages turned me off immediately. Just the boringness too it was more than enough to want me to put it down. Not to mention the unoriginal opener. Now, I know that some people said that they really liked this book, and it sounded like something I would like too, however I won't be reading it.

So, then I picked up an ARC, Black and White, which was infact, just released today. And I am telling you, do not waste your money. I LOVED the plot. It was good, fresh and original. And had family dysfunction - which I'm in love with.

It is about a 30-something, Clara, with a husband and a 9 year old daughter in a remote town in Maine. She recieves a phone call from her sister, Robin, which she speaks to all to infrequently, about her mother who is dying of cancer, which is in it's final stages. She has not spoken or seen her mother in over 16 years, but decides to head to New York to make her last days, peaceful ones. Her mother, Ruth, was a famous photographer, and still is - but she reached such fame is known most for her pictures of Clara - nude ones - at such young ages. And it has scarred Clara beyond belief, and stolen her innocence of childhood. She of course resents her mother for mentally damaging her so, and Robin uncovers the resentment for Clara, because Clara was the center of attention to their mother Ruth - who was not the maternal type.

That sounds like a wonderful book to me! However, the dialog complete trashes the book. the most dominant thoughts that I had while reading the book was, "Nobody talks like that!" It is just so horrible, that it made me not even like the book. I thought the plot was original, and if crafted by a better author, would have been a wonderful book. Though, I am left disappointed.


Anyway, I then tried to read another favorite book by the owner of the store, Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner... and I am just not liking it. The characters are spoken of so briefly, though so many names, that I don't even know who is who. I am only on the 12th page, so hopefully the mess of names unravels itself and will make sense, but has anyone read it that is willing to reassure me to keep on moving?

[everydayxangels]

I just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (it was an ARC). Same author as The Kite Runner. And seriously. Splendid Suns is better than Kite Runner. Honestly, this book is seriously amazing. It's coming out this Tuesday (5.22), don't forget!

[JudyB]

And seriously. Splendid Suns is better than Kite Runner.


Is that possible?:D

I've got my copy on order at the library - I'm first on the list:D

[everydayxangels]

I just finished Peony in Love (ARC: being released June 26th in the US) by Lisa See, and honestly, I think this one is better than Snow Flower. There is more reason to love it than Snow Flower. There's little mention of foot binding, a pleasant relationship between Peony (the daughter) and the father, and still just as much (if not more) heartache and beauty than Snow Flower. Five Stars.