31:120 Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

Book club read.  Bernadette was considered an incredibly gifted and talented artist and architect 20yrs but something happened and now she lives in a house that is falling apart in Seattle with her husband (a MS exec) and her 8th grade daughter.  She hides from people and the world as much as she can, hates everything about Seattle and most especially the other mothers at Bee's private school whom she refers to as gnats.  Her husband works long hours and seems to rarely be home but Bee is her joy in a dreary existence. At the beginning of the book, Bee announces that she will be pulling off straight A's again and for her promised reward of whatever she wants, she wants a family vacation to Antarctica.  Bernadette flips but contacts her trusty online assistant to get things moving.  In the meantime, a feud is building up between her and her neighbor (and gnat parent) about the blackberry bushes in her yard and the lack of participation at the school.  To top everything off, one of the other gnats (and her neighbor's best friend) is now her husband's assistant and is whispering things into his ears.  Can life get any worse?

A book about Bernadette finding herself as much as anything else even tho she does go physically missing at one point.  A quick read but not one I found extremely interesting or compelling.  The characters were shallow and fairly uninteresting.  I felt a little pit of pity for Bee and Bernadette but that was about it.  Also the presentation was hard to get into at first as it starts with a ton of letters and emails back and forth between several of these people so it's hard to sort out who is who when you are first starting out.  This happens again at several points in the book but at least by those times, you have a better feel for who everyone is.  In all, not a book I would have chosen and not one I would read again nor am I compelled to go reading anything else by this author.  Not horrid but simply not my taste.

Page count: 320p/8,024p ytd/152,444p lifetime

30:120 The Silver Chair by CS Lewis

The 6th book in the Chronicles of Narnia.  Eustace and his schoolmate, Jill, have been pulled into Narnia by Aslan to find the lost Prince Rillian.  Unfortunately, due to Jill's showing off, Eustace is blown into Narnia proper before seeing Aslan and hearing the signs that they must look for if they are to be successful in their quest.  The owls learn of their quest however and pair them up with Puddleglum, the Marsh Wiggle.  A gloomy fellow but one who manages to keep them on the straight and narrow for the most part even with giants, sorceresses, and earthmen about.  Their travels take them to many places both above and below the earth but they persevere knowing that they are the Prince's only hope.

Just a nice adventure book.  It's more about the journey than rescuing the prince as that takes hardly any time at all but you can definitely see things being set-up for the Last Battle.

Page count: 243p/7,704p ytd/152,124p lifetime

29:120 Short Stories for American Students by Misc.

List of stories included:
The Monkey's Paw - by W.W. Jacobs
Young Goodman Brown - by Nathaniel Hawthorne
To Build a Fire - by Jack London
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - by Washington Irving
The Cask of Amontillado - by Edgar Allan Poe
The Private History of a Campaign That Failed - by Mark Twain
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge - by Ambrose Bierce
The Tell-Tale Heart - by Edgar Allan Poe
Bartleby the Scrivener - by Herman Melville
The Gift of the Magi - O Henry
The Necklace - by Guy de Maupassant


An enjoyable collection of short stories. It's really hard to look at this list and pick a favorite or one that I didn't enjoy to some degree. If you haven't read them, it's hard to beat this collection on the Kindle.


Page count: 179p/7,461p ytd/151,881p lifetime

28:120 The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow

Set in the late 1930s as Hitler and the Nazis were rising to power and the persecution of the Jews was starting.  We follow Karl, age 11, and his family.  He has just been picked on for the first time at school and been in his first fight.  That evening, he has to help at an art reception at his family's gallery where he meets Max Schmeling, a champion boxer and German hero.  Max ends up making a deal with Karl's father to give Karl boxing lessons.  Now Karl is part of something else, the boxing world, and with that comes the confidence to protect himself and his family.  But times are just beginning to get hard and will get much harder in the years to come.  Now that Max's fame has him hobknobbing with the Nazi's, what will that mean for Karl and his family?

An interesting look at how things began for the Jews in Germany and a story of bravery on the part of many different people.  A quick but powerful read.

Page count: 400p/7,282p ytd/151,702p lifetime

27:120 I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Clause by S.G. Browne

A follow-up to Breathers and billed as a Breathers Christmas Carol.  Andy has been at a zombie research facility since he was captured a year ago at the frat house with his other zombie buddies.  He has been experimented on and treated worse than an animal for that entire time.  Now someone from PETZ (people for the ethical treatment of zombies) has freed him and the other zombies from the facility.  Now on the outside, he wants to find a way to free his friends that were recaptured but how is one lone zombie going to accomplish that?

Another irreverent zombie tale in a fabulous universe.  It didn't have quite the same dark humor as the first but it was still a fantastic read with some sweet bits put in (and not just the breather recipes).  A must read for all fans of Breathers!

Page count: 208p/6,882p ytd/151,302p lifetime

26:120 A History of US: Liberty for All? by Joy Hakim

The 5th book in her US history series for middle school.  Better than some of the others.  There was some interesting information in there setting things up for the Civil War and while I appreciated learning more about the authors and artists of that time, I'm not sure how much Jon got out of that.  There were definitely parts that I felt could have moved more quickly but at the same time, I think it was good to show where the country was and all the things that went into creating the factions of North vs. South.  It wasn't just slavery although that was the main thing but industry, life styles, and exploration as well.

Page count: 219p/6,674p ytd/151,094p lifetime

25:120 Cold Days by Jim Butcher

The 14th book of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.  In the last book, Harry was a ghost trying to help his friends deal with another problem in the real world but without being able to actually talk to them or affect things or use magic since he was incorporeal.  At the end of that book, we find that he had been only mostly dead but Mab and Demonreach have managed to bring his soul and body back together again and now he belongs to Mab as the price for being able to save his daughter.  He is now her Winter Knight and her first order, kill her daughter Maeve.  Now Harry has to try and figure out how to kill an immortal.  He tries to pull the lone wolf thing and not involve his friends but they find out of course and most get in on the action.  Through them, he also finds out that his island, Demonreach, is under attack and bad things are happening there which if he doesn't figure out how to stop it will blow half the midwest to pieces.  Never a dull moment in his life.

I am starting to have problems with this series.  I like Dresden.  I like the other characters but it just seems like it's become extremely formulaic.  Butcher won't kill off his characters so you know no matter how bad it gets, he will find someway for them to get out of it.  He'll change them a lot like when he let Michael be severely injured and no longer able to be a Knight of the Sword, but there is never a fear of them dying.  There is always something that should be totally undeatable but somehow, Harry ends up with enough power and dumb luck on how to use it that he can defeat them at the last minute.  Yes, he gets his a$$ whooped but he survives and they don't.  I really enjoyed the last book in that it was different because Harry couldn't swoop in and save the day because he was a ghost but now he's back with more power than ever as the Winter Knight.  I wish I didn't like the characters so much as I could just turn away from the books but the characters are likable so I'll probably continue until the "give me a break" factor becomes too high but that looks like to could get here sooner rather than later if things don't change.

Page count: 515p/6,455p ytd/150,875p lifetime