Sherrie's bookshelf: 2008-book-list en-US Sun, 09 Oct 2011 15:06:19 -0700 60 Sherrie's bookshelf: 2008-book-list 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Secret History 29044 559 Donna Tartt 1400031702 Sherrie 5 4.17 1992 The Secret History
author: Donna Tartt
name: Sherrie
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1992
rating: 5
read at: 2008/01/19
date added: 2011/10/09
shelves: favoriteauthors, myfavorites, 2008-book-list
review:
One of my all-time favorite books. I just love the feel and tone of this novel. I can taste the booze, I can smell the cigarettes...it always makes me want to drink, smoke and dress in good clothing. This is about my 80th reading of The Secret History. It gets better each time. The narrator is so great and I secretly love him. What is it about? It's about Greek tragedy, groups of friends that know better, very smart people who know better, autumn, winter, spring thaw, love, hate, booze, cigarettes and murder. My favorite part is the narrator staying behind during winter break and almost freezing to death in his "rental" Goddamn I love that...the act of trying to find someplace warm to stay, right up until the last minute...and shaking so hard with cold that you just fall asleep, exhausted. LOVE it. I bought it when it first came out, and it had that lovely clear plastic cover. I lent it out...never got it back. I finally found a first edition at my used book store, however, it does not have the plastic covering:::snif::::I'd be willing to buy another first edition..WITH the plastic covering. I think I re-read this book every year and every year I find more things to love about it.
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<![CDATA[Glass Houses (The Morganville Vampires, #1)]]> 27266
College freshman Claire Danvers has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation. When Claire heads off-campus, the imposing old house where she finds a room may not be much better. Her new roommates don't show many signs of life, but they'll have Claire's back when the town's deepest secrets come crawling out, hungry for fresh blood. Will she be able to face the town's terror or will she drown like everyone else?]]>
239 Rachel Caine 0451219945 Sherrie 3 2008-book-list 3.92 2006 Glass Houses (The Morganville Vampires, #1)
author: Rachel Caine
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2008/08/23
date added: 2009/01/02
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:
What a fun story! I really enjoyed all the characters and I would love to see a few of those characters get their own series, namely Michael and Eva. The story was great and the vampires very believable. if vampires were real, this is probably how life would be.
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<![CDATA[The Death Dealer (Harrison Investigation, #7)]]> 2344297
A string of homicides is mirroring the author's macabre stories.

And Genevieve O'Brien's mother is next.

Genevieve knows all about nightmares. She herself survived two months as a psychopath's prisoner. And now this new menace stalks the city. Spooked by the bizarre slayings, she turns to P.I. Joe Connolly, her past rescuer, friend and...hopefully something more, if he would just quit avoiding her.

At first Joe isn't even sure there is a case. But the body count rises, and it's clear that a twisted killer is on the loose. Even more unsettling is the guidance he starts receiving from beyond the grave. People he knows to be dead are appearing, offering him clues and leads, and warning of some terrible danger ahead.

But can even the spirits stay the hand of a madman bent on murder?]]>
304 Heather Graham 0778325326 Sherrie 2 2008-book-list 3.85 2008 The Death Dealer (Harrison Investigation, #7)
author: Heather Graham
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at: 2008/10/20
date added: 2009/01/02
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:
A fine mystery/fantasy book about a social worker who finds herself in the middle of a serial killer investigation. A serial killer who bases his kills on Edgar Allen Poe stories. Quite frankly, there were too many characters to keep track of and the Poe aspect was not too noticable. I think that could have been played with just a bit more. I liked the character of Genevieve O'Brien, she was very well written.
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<![CDATA[Monster Island (Monster Island, #1)]]> 44190 282 David Wellington 1560258500 Sherrie 3 2008-book-list, zombielit 3.62 2004 Monster Island (Monster Island, #1)
author: David Wellington
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2008/03/18
date added: 2009/01/02
shelves: 2008-book-list, zombielit
review:
Zombies? Zombies take over New York City? And there is one zombie who has maintained his intelligence by keeping his body cold as he dies. Oh my, I love zombie books like this. It gets a bit silly near the end but it's forgivable. Great zombie book!
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Last Night at the Lobster 673915 The Red Lobster perched in the far corner of a run-down New England mall hasn't been making its numbers and headquarters has pulled the plug. But manager Manny DeLeon still needs to navigate a tricky last shift with a near-mutinous staff. All the while, he's wondering how to handle the waitress he's still in love with, what to do about his pregnant girlfriend, and where to find the present that will make everything better.

Stewart O'Nan has been called "the bard of the working class," and Last Night at the Lobster is one of his most acclaimed works to date.

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160 Stewart O'Nan 0670018279 Sherrie 2 2008-book-list 3.59 2007 Last Night at the Lobster
author: Stewart O'Nan
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2007
rating: 2
read at: 2008/02/29
date added: 2009/01/02
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:
A quick read about the last night of a Red Lobster before it closes it's doors forever. There has just been a huge snow storm and the parking lot still needs plowed. There is a hopeless love story and it's basically the movie Waiting, a less funny and sarcastic Waiting. if you're going on a trip, this is a good-quick read.
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<![CDATA[(Not that You Asked): Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions]]> 208616
Almond on personal “Why, exactly, did I feel it would be ‘sexy� and ‘hot� to have my girlfriend wax my chest? I can offer no good answer to this question today. I could offer no good answer at the time.�
On “To be a fan is to live in a condition of willed helplessness. We are (for the most part) men who sit around and watch other men run and leap and sweat and grapple each other. It is a deeply homoerotic pattern of conduct, often interracial in nature, and essentially humiliating.�
On popular “I have never actually owned a TV, a fact I mention whenever possible, in the hopes that it will make me seem noble and possibly lead to oral sex.�
On his literary hero, Kurt “His books perform the greatest feat of alchemy known to the conversion of grief into laughter by means of courageous imagination.�
On “Every year, when Chanukah season rolled around, my brothers and I would make the suburban pilgrimage to the home of our grandparents, where we would ring in the holiday with a big, juicy Chanukah ham.�

The essays in (Not that You Asked) will make you laugh out loud, or, maybe just as likely, hurl the book across the room. Either way, you’ll find Steve Almond savagely entertaining. Not that you asked.

“A pop-culture-saturated intellectual, a kindly grouch, vitriolic Boston Red Sox hater, neurotic new father and Kurt Vonnegut fanatic� [Almond] scores big in every chapter of this must-have collection. Biting humor, honesty, smarts and Vonnegut himself would have been proud.�
—� Kirkus Reviews (starred review)]]>
304 Steve Almond 1400066190 Sherrie 2 2008-book-list 3.58 2007 (Not that You Asked): Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions
author: Steve Almond
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2007
rating: 2
read at: 2008/12/02
date added: 2009/01/02
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:
Steve Almond is a great essayist and these were very personal as they are all about his life. He is very honest and sometimes that honesty can be a bit embarrassing. The stories go from his youth, his first girlfriend to freaking out about how he'll probably kill his own daughter through no fault of his own.
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Bad Monkeys 71845
She tells police that she is a member of a secret organization devoted to fighting evil; her division is called the Department for the Final Disposition of Irredeemable Persons�"Bad Monkeys" for short.

This confession earns Jane a trip to the jail's psychiatric wing, where a doctor attempts to determine whether she is lying, crazy—or playing a different game altogether. What follows is one of the most clever and gripping novels you'll ever read.]]>
230 Matt Ruff 0061240419 Sherrie 3 2008-book-list 3.62 2007 Bad Monkeys
author: Matt Ruff
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2008/04/23
date added: 2009/01/02
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:
A strange and wonderful book. What the HECK was this book about? It was about good and evil. In this novel, who is good...who is evil? I'm not even sure! It reminded me a big of 12 Monkeys (simian reference just a coininkydink or IS it?) Jane Charlotte is a woman apprehended for murder and is held for psychiatric review...she says she is a member of a secret organization, The Department for the Final Disposition of Irredeemable Persons, whose sole purpose is to kill "Bad Monkey's"...people who are evil, mainly pedophiles. As the doctor reviews her case file, "Jane" takes us back through her indocturnation as an agent and tells of her relationship with her brother Phil, who may or may not have been abducted as a child. The twists and turns are fun and what I wouldn't give for a gun that fires coronary infarctions. I basically read this on a plane ride to and from Dallas.
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<![CDATA[The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao]]> 297673
Diaz immerses us in the tumultuous life of Oscar and the history of the family at large, rendering with genuine warmth and dazzling energy, humor, and insight the Dominican-American experience, and, ultimately, the endless human capacity to persevere in the face of heartbreak and loss. A true literary triumph, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao confirms Junot Diaz as one of the best and most exciting voices of our time.]]>
335 Junot Díaz 1594489580 Sherrie 4 2008-book-list, myfavorites
Each "voice" tells the tale of Oscar, a Dominican nerd who lives in New Jersey. He is fat, ugly and a virgin....yet this doomed nerd loves woman, loves the concept of love and wants it sooo badly, it ends up being the death of him. When Oscar realizes that the fuku (curse) on his family could be VERY real, he utters the word phonetically...you just KNOW it is the end of the story for Oscar.

During the course of the book, you learn the history of Oscar's family and it is very entertaining. Filled with family, betrayal, revenge, dictatorships, violence, sex, love, brutal beatings...it's a tale as old as time. But with footnotes.

I'm telling you, read this book if only for the footnotes.

A great tale. In my top 5 for 2008]]>
3.89 2007 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
author: Junot Díaz
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2008/03/18
date added: 2009/01/02
shelves: 2008-book-list, myfavorites
review:
There are books that always stay with me...."The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" has just joined that rank. How many different ways are there to write a book? You'd think by now, every way/option would have been covered. Well, Junot Diaz has had his way with the written word and it's original. A brilliant tale told through different view points, along with footnotes from the "author" (my favorite). These footnotes are morality tales, history lessons, comedy routines or just plain ol' asides which are, most of the time, hilarious. I want a whole book of footnotes.

Each "voice" tells the tale of Oscar, a Dominican nerd who lives in New Jersey. He is fat, ugly and a virgin....yet this doomed nerd loves woman, loves the concept of love and wants it sooo badly, it ends up being the death of him. When Oscar realizes that the fuku (curse) on his family could be VERY real, he utters the word phonetically...you just KNOW it is the end of the story for Oscar.

During the course of the book, you learn the history of Oscar's family and it is very entertaining. Filled with family, betrayal, revenge, dictatorships, violence, sex, love, brutal beatings...it's a tale as old as time. But with footnotes.

I'm telling you, read this book if only for the footnotes.

A great tale. In my top 5 for 2008
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Mudbound 2138727
The men and women of each family relate their versions of events and we are drawn into their lives as they become players in a tragedy on the grandest scale. As Kingsolver says of Hillary Jordan, "Her characters walked straight out of 1940s Mississippi and into the part of my brain where sympathy and anger and love reside, leaving my heart racing. They are with me still."]]>
328 Hillary Jordan 156512569X Sherrie 4 2008-book-list, myfavorites 4.03 2008 Mudbound
author: Hillary Jordan
name: Sherrie
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2008/12/30
date added: 2009/01/02
shelves: 2008-book-list, myfavorites
review:

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<![CDATA[Feast of Fools (The Morganville Vampires, #4)]]> 2295829 It was hard to imagine how Claire's day could get any worse... And then the vampires holding her hostage wanted breakfast.

In the town of Morganville, vampires and humans have learned to live in relative peace. Still, Claire Danvers knows that after dark, her homework often takes a backseat to staying alive. This fragile harmony is shattered with the arrival of Mr. Bishop.

Bad to the bone, the ancient, old-school vampire cares nothing about maintaining peace—staying at the top of the food chain is enough for him. What he wants from the town’s living and dead is unthinkably sinister. It’s only at a formal ball, attended by vampires and their human dates, that Claire realizes Bishop’s plan—and the elaborately evil trap he’s set for the warm-blooded souls of Morganville...

"Thrilling, sexy, and funny! These books are addictive. One of my very favourite vampire series."—Richelle Mead, author of the international bestselling Vampire Academy series.]]>
242 Rachel Caine 0451224639 Sherrie 3 2008-book-list, vampirelit 4.15 2008 Feast of Fools (The Morganville Vampires, #4)
author: Rachel Caine
name: Sherrie
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2008/12/15
date added: 2008/12/15
shelves: 2008-book-list, vampirelit
review:

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The Liars' Club 14241 The Liars� Club took the world by storm and raised the art of the memoir to an entirely new level, bringing about a dramatic revival of the form. Karr’s comic childhood in an east Texas oil town brings us characters as darkly hilarious as any of J. D. Salinger’s—a hard-drinking daddy, a sister who can talk down the sheriff at age twelve, and an oft-married mother whose accumulated secrets threaten to destroy them all. This unsentimental and profoundly moving account of an apocalyptic childhood is as “funny, lively, and un-put-downable� (USA Today) today as it ever was.]]> 352 Mary Karr 0143035746 Sherrie 3 2008-book-list 3.94 1995 The Liars' Club
author: Mary Karr
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1995
rating: 3
read at: 2008/12/12
date added: 2008/12/14
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:

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<![CDATA[Midnight Alley (The Morganville Vampires, #3)]]> 544257 245 Rachel Caine 0451222385 Sherrie 3 2008-book-list, vampirelit 4.10 2007 Midnight Alley (The Morganville Vampires, #3)
author: Rachel Caine
name: Sherrie
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2008/12/01
date added: 2008/12/04
shelves: 2008-book-list, vampirelit
review:

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<![CDATA[The Dead Girls' Dance (The Morganville Vampires, #2)]]> 261122
Now a fraternity is throwing its annual Dead Girls' Dance and---surprise!---Claire and her equally outcast best friend, Eve, have been invited. When they find out why, all hell is going to break loose. Because this time both the living and the dead are coming out---and everybody's hungry for blood.]]>
248 Rachel Caine 0451220897 Sherrie 2 2008-book-list, vampirelit 4.04 2007 The Dead Girls' Dance (The Morganville Vampires, #2)
author: Rachel Caine
name: Sherrie
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2007
rating: 2
read at: 2008/11/16
date added: 2008/11/17
shelves: 2008-book-list, vampirelit
review:

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Dear American Airlines 2515436
A margarita blend of outrage, humor, vulnerability, intelligence, and regret, "Dear American Airlines" gives new meaning to the term “airport novel� and announces the emergence of major new talent in American fiction.]]>
180 Jonathan Miles 0547054017 Sherrie 2 2008-book-list 3.10 2008 Dear American Airlines
author: Jonathan Miles
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.10
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at: 2008/11/08
date added: 2008/11/08
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:

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Untamed (House of Night, #4) 2866718 338 P.C. Cast 0312379838 Sherrie 3 2008-book-list, vampirelit 3.95 2008 Untamed (House of Night, #4)
author: P.C. Cast
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2008/11/03
date added: 2008/11/05
shelves: 2008-book-list, vampirelit
review:

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<![CDATA[The Dead Room (Harrison Investigation, #6)]]> 575131 She talks to dead people...

A year ago, archaeologist Leslie MacIntyre barely survived an explosion that took the life of her fiancé, Matt Connolly. Since then she's slowly come to terms with both her loss and an unsettling ability to communicate with ghosts, a "gift" received in the wake of her brush with death.

Now she's returned to lower Manhattan, site of the explosion, to investigate a newly discovered burial ground. In this place restless spirits hold the secrets not only of past injustice but of a deadly conspiracy against the city's women—including Leslie herself.

By night Matt visits her in dreams, warning her and offering clues to the truth. By day she finds herself helped by—and attracted to—his flesh-and-blood cousin Joe. Torn by her feelings for both men, caught between the worlds of the living and the dead, Leslie struggles against the encroaching danger. As she is drawn closer to the darkness, she must ultimately face the power of an evil mind, alone in a place where not even the men she loves can save her.]]>
384 Heather Graham 0778324303 Sherrie 2 2008-book-list 3.91 2007 The Dead Room (Harrison Investigation, #6)
author: Heather Graham
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2007
rating: 2
read at: 2008/11/04
date added: 2008/11/05
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:

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People of the Book 1379961 The New Yorker) novel by Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks follows a rare manuscript through centuries of exile and war.
Inspired by a true story, "People of the Book" is a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity by an acclaimed and beloved author.
Called "a tour de force" by the San Francisco Chronicle, this ambitious, electrifying work traces the harrowing journey of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, a beautifully illuminated Hebrew manuscript created in fifteenth-century Spain.

When it falls to Australian rare book expert Hanna Heath to conserve this priceless work, the tiny artifacts she discovers in its ancient binding—a butterfly wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair—only begin to unlock the book’s deep mysteries and unexpectedly plunges Hanna into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics.
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372 Geraldine Brooks 067001821X Sherrie 4 4.02 2008 People of the Book
author: Geraldine Brooks
name: Sherrie
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2008/10/05
date added: 2008/10/17
shelves: favoriteauthors, 2008-book-list, myfavorites
review:
I knew Ms. Brooks wouldn't let me down. I knew when I read this, her latest, I would be entertained by brilliant story telling. Hannah Heath, an Austrailian rare book expert is charged with restoring a valuable Jewish religious book, the Sarajevo Haggadah, in war ravaged Bosnia after the war has ended. She finds debris in the binding, including salt, a white hair, a moth, a wine(blood?) stain and valuable elements of the volumn ars missing, like clips for the binding and parts of the illumination are puzzling like the African woman in one of the paintings. After we are introducted to Hannah, you learn the history of each peice of debris, you learn what happened to the clips and you find out exactly who the African woman is. Wow, wow WOW. Just amazing. What story is my favorite? Who can pick. Geraldine Brooks maintains her status as one of my favorite authors.
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The Book of Lies 3202905
In Chapter Four of the Bible, Cain kills Abel. It is the world's most famous murder. But the Bible is silent about one key detail: the weapon Cain used to kill his brother. That weapon is still lost to history.
In 1932, Mitchell Siegel was killed by three gunshots to his chest. While mourning, his son dreamed of a bulletproof man and created the world's greatest hero: Superman. And like Cain's murder weapon, the gun used in this unsolved murder has never been found.

Today in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Cal Harper comes face-to-face with his own family tragedy: his long-missing father has been shot with a gun that traces back to Mitchell Siegel's 1932 murder. But soon after their surprising reunion, Cal and his father are attacked by a ruthless killer tattooed with the ancient markings of Cain.

So begins the chase for the world's first murder weapon. It is a race that will pull Cal back into his own past even as it propels him forward through the true story of Cain and Abel, an eighty-year-old unsolvable puzzle, and the deadly organization known for the past century as the Leadership.

What does Cain, history's greatest villain, have to do with Superman, the world's greatest hero? And what do two murders, committed thousands of years apart, have in common? This is the mystery at the heart of Brad Meltzer's new thriller.

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334 Brad Meltzer 044657788X Sherrie 3 2008-book-list
While I enjoyed the sentiment of the ending, and I really did understand the message, I was a bit let down. I guess I wanted something a bit more surreal...more of a bang. What I got was just a good solid story about sons and fathers (and sometimes single mothers and their son) and making sure you tell each other stories.

That said, I could not put this book down thanks to the fabulous writing of Mr. Meltzer. Very solid prose. ]]>
3.63 2008 The Book of Lies
author: Brad Meltzer
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2008/10/16
date added: 2008/10/16
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:
I was sucked immediately into this book. What great story telling...it reminded me a bit of my favorite Michael Chabon books. The story of how Cain, God, Hitler and Superman can be intertwined is such a brilliant idea because it sounds so preposterous. Believe me, it's not. The "on-the-run" aspect of the story was so much fun since the character was an ex-Fed ~ he knew all the angles...that's such a nice twist. The characters were fully realized and you really did feel for everyone...including the bad guy(s)? at times.

While I enjoyed the sentiment of the ending, and I really did understand the message, I was a bit let down. I guess I wanted something a bit more surreal...more of a bang. What I got was just a good solid story about sons and fathers (and sometimes single mothers and their son) and making sure you tell each other stories.

That said, I could not put this book down thanks to the fabulous writing of Mr. Meltzer. Very solid prose.
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Chosen (House of Night, #3) 1326258 307 P.C. Cast 0312360304 Sherrie 0 2008-book-list, vampirelit 3.92 2008 Chosen (House of Night, #3)
author: P.C. Cast
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2008/09/27
date added: 2008/09/27
shelves: 2008-book-list, vampirelit
review:

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<![CDATA[The Lunatic Cafe (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #4)]]> 30273 352 Laurell K. Hamilton 0425201376 Sherrie 0 vampirelit, 2008-book-list 4.14 1996 The Lunatic Cafe (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #4)
author: Laurell K. Hamilton
name: Sherrie
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at: 2008/09/23
date added: 2008/09/23
shelves: vampirelit, 2008-book-list
review:

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Betrayed (House of Night, #2) 676924 Also see: Alternate Cover Editions for this ISBN [ACE]
ACE #1

Zoey, High Priestess in training, has managed to settle in at the House of Night and come to terms with the vast powers the Vampyre Goddess Nyx has given her. Just as she finally feels she belongs, the unthinkable happens: human teenagers are being killed, and all evidence points to the House of Night. While danger stalks the humans from Zoey’s old life, she begins to realize that the very powers that make her so unique might also threaten those she loves.]]>
310 P.C. Cast 0312360282 Sherrie 3 2008-book-list 3.93 2007 Betrayed (House of Night, #2)
author: P.C. Cast
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2008/09/15
date added: 2008/09/17
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:

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Marked (House of Night, #1) 30183 Also see: Alternate Cover Editions for this ISBN [ACE]
ACE #1

After a Vampire Tracker Marks her with a crescent moon on her forehead, 16-year-old Zoey Redbird enters the House of Night and learns that she is no average fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess Nyx and has affinities for all five elements: Air, Fire, Water, Earth and Spirit. But she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers. When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school’s most elite club, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny—with a little help from her new vampyre friends (or Nerd Herd, as Aphrodite calls them).]]>
306 P.C. Cast 0312360266 Sherrie 3 2008-book-list, vampirelit 3.82 2007 Marked (House of Night, #1)
author: P.C. Cast
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2008/09/07
date added: 2008/09/07
shelves: 2008-book-list, vampirelit
review:

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<![CDATA[Circus of the Damned (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #3)]]> 30274 336 Laurell K. Hamilton 0425201392 Sherrie 0 2008-book-list, vampirelit 4.18 1995 Circus of the Damned (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #3)
author: Laurell K. Hamilton
name: Sherrie
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at: 2008/09/02
date added: 2008/09/02
shelves: 2008-book-list, vampirelit
review:

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<![CDATA[The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death: Reflections on Revenge, Germophobia, and Laser Hair Removal]]> 2029834 Laurie Notaro has an uncanny ability to attract insanity–and leave readers doubled over with laughter. In The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death, she experiences the popular phenomenon of laser hair removal (because at least one of her chins should be stubble-free); bemoans the scourge of the Open Mouth Coughers on America’s airplanes; welcomes the newest ex-con (yay, a sex offender!) to her neighborhood; and watches, against her own better judgment, every Discovery Health Channel special on parasites and tapeworms that has ever aired–resulting in an overwhelming fear that a worm the size of a python will soon come a-knocking on her back door.

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218 Laurie Notaro 1400065038 Sherrie 0 2008-book-list 3.87 2008 The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death: Reflections on Revenge, Germophobia, and Laser Hair Removal
author: Laurie Notaro
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2008/08/29
date added: 2008/08/30
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:

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<![CDATA[How Dolly Parton Saved My Life]]> 2728475
But flouting the traditions and expectations of Southern society turns out to be more complicated than they ever anticipated. Even as the pressure of running a business bonds them together, the realities of managing real life threaten to tear the whole thing apart. As financial woes, personal hurts, and family troubles test the strength of their business and their friendship, they discover that sisterly support and lots of heartfelt prayer just might be the only way to survive.

Full of sass, grit, and good old-fashioned faith, How Dolly Parton Saved My Life is a hilarious and poignant look at friendship with a distinctly Southern flair.]]>
328 Charlotte Connors 0767926560 Sherrie 1 2008-book-list 2.98 2008 How Dolly Parton Saved My Life
author: Charlotte Connors
name: Sherrie
average rating: 2.98
book published: 2008
rating: 1
read at: 2008/08/18
date added: 2008/08/19
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:

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<![CDATA[The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #2)]]> 15309
In The Laughing Corpse Anita will learn that there are some secrets better left buried-and some people better off dead...]]>
304 Laurell K. Hamilton 0425204669 Sherrie 2 2008-book-list, vampirelit 4.14 1994 The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #2)
author: Laurell K. Hamilton
name: Sherrie
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1994
rating: 2
read at: 2008/08/17
date added: 2008/08/18
shelves: 2008-book-list, vampirelit
review:

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<![CDATA[A Rare Breed of Love: The True Story of Baby and the Mission She Inspired to Help Dogs Everywhere]]> 2754643 A Rare Breed of Love contains more than sixty photographs of Baby with many of her high-profile fans, from Barack Obama to Judge Judy to Patti LaBelle, as well as original essays from luminaries such as Alice Walker and Gloria Steinem about the special love we all have for the pets in our lives. In this heartbreaking, compelling, and ultimately heart-warming book, Jana Kohl and Baby offer practical advice on what each of us can do to raise awareness, make a difference, and stop animal suffering everywhere.]]> 201 Jana Kohl 1416564039 Sherrie 5 2008-book-list 4.19 2008 A Rare Breed of Love: The True Story of Baby and the Mission She Inspired to Help Dogs Everywhere
author: Jana Kohl
name: Sherrie
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2008/08/11
date added: 2008/08/15
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:

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<![CDATA[Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #1)]]> 509286
But now a serial killer is murdering vampires -- and the most powerful bloodsucker in town wants me to find the killer...]]>
Laurell K. Hamilton 0785776184 Sherrie 3 2008-book-list, vampirelit 4.02 1993 Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #1)
author: Laurell K. Hamilton
name: Sherrie
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1993
rating: 3
read at: 2008/08/10
date added: 2008/08/11
shelves: 2008-book-list, vampirelit
review:

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Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp 467690 320 Stephanie Klein 0060843292 Sherrie 3 2008-book-list 3.44 2008 Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp
author: Stephanie Klein
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2008/08/06
date added: 2008/08/06
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:

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<![CDATA[Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, #4)]]> 1162543 "Don't be afraid," I murmured. "We belong together."
I was abruptly overwhelmed by the truth of my own words.
This moment was so perfect, so right, there was no way to doubt it.
His arms wrapped around me,
holding me against him....
It felt like every nerve ending in my body was a live wire.
"Forever," he agreed.

WHEN YOU LOVED THE ONE WHO WAS KILLING YOU, IT LEFT YOU NO OPTIONS. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved?

TO BE IRREVOCABLY IN LOVE WITH A VAMPIRE is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs.

NOW THAT BELLA HAS MADE HER DECISION, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating, and unfathomable, consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella's life - first discovered in Twilight, then scattered and torn in New Moon and Eclipse - seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed... forever?

THE ASTONISHING, BREATHLESSLY anticipated conclusion to the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn illuminates the secrets and mysteries of this spellbinding romantic epic that has entranced millions.]]>
756 Stephenie Meyer 031606792X Sherrie 1 2008-book-list, vampirelit
The Jacob story line of leaving Sam's pack and becoming an alpha...very cool...Seth and Leah, very cool. Imprinting on the abomination? Not so cool. WRONG. Disgusting and wrong. On many levels.

Meeting and learning about the other vampires was very interesting...and let's face it, it would have been more interesting if they played more of a roll in the story...(like I thought it was going to be...I thought Tanya was going to have some sort of hold upon Edward) Oh well.

Other things I hated:

Renesme - WTF?! That right there is what we call in fanfiction world as BAD and just plain BAD.
The cottage (barf)
The whole honeymoon..awful.
Edward gnawing away to get the abomination out of Bella :gah: I think I threw up in my mouth a little.
Not delving into how Rosalie feels about the whole baby thing
The birth itself...horrendous. (Don't write about the actual sex act but have a detailed graphic birthing scene...yeah,that makes sense. This may be a good thing for teens, however...I'd NEVER want to give birth after reading BD.

I'll probably think of more in the days to come.

Do yourself a favor...like other people have advised...stop at Book 3. ]]>
3.74 2008 Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, #4)
author: Stephenie Meyer
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2008
rating: 1
read at: 2008/08/03
date added: 2008/08/04
shelves: 2008-book-list, vampirelit
review:
What? Huh??? I'm just stunned...what was Stephanie Meyer thinking? The Twilight series is a series about young love that is not meant to be...when did it turn into a straight out horror/gore novel? Don't get me wrong, I love horror stories...but not when it's placed in a young adult love story. I know the average reader of Twilight is not a horror/fantasy genre lover. That is not what is expected from Twilight. What IS expected is love, handsome vampires and angst. Not strange alien birth and gross out moments of distended bellies. Sitcoms "Jump the Shark" when they "bring in a kid". Brady Bunch, Growing Pains, on and on. Gross. Well...Twilight has "jumped the shark".

The Jacob story line of leaving Sam's pack and becoming an alpha...very cool...Seth and Leah, very cool. Imprinting on the abomination? Not so cool. WRONG. Disgusting and wrong. On many levels.

Meeting and learning about the other vampires was very interesting...and let's face it, it would have been more interesting if they played more of a roll in the story...(like I thought it was going to be...I thought Tanya was going to have some sort of hold upon Edward) Oh well.

Other things I hated:

Renesme - WTF?! That right there is what we call in fanfiction world as BAD and just plain BAD.
The cottage (barf)
The whole honeymoon..awful.
Edward gnawing away to get the abomination out of Bella :gah: I think I threw up in my mouth a little.
Not delving into how Rosalie feels about the whole baby thing
The birth itself...horrendous. (Don't write about the actual sex act but have a detailed graphic birthing scene...yeah,that makes sense. This may be a good thing for teens, however...I'd NEVER want to give birth after reading BD.

I'll probably think of more in the days to come.

Do yourself a favor...like other people have advised...stop at Book 3.
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<![CDATA[I Was Told There'd Be Cake: Essays]]> 2195289 From the author of the novel, The Clasp, hailed by Michael Chabon, Heidi Julavits, and J. Courtney Sullivan. Wry, hilarious, and profoundly genuine, this debut collection of literary essays from Sloane Crosley is a celebration of fallibility and haplessness in all their glory.

From despoiling an exhibit at the Natural History Museum to provoking the ire of her first boss to siccing the cops on her mysterious neighbor, Crosley can do no right despite the best of intentions -- or perhaps because of them. Together, these essays create a startlingly funny and revealing portrait of a complex and utterly recognizable character who aims for the stars but hits the ceiling, and the inimitable city that has helped shape who she is. I Was Told There'd Be Cake introduces a strikingly original voice, chronicling the struggles and unexpected beauty of modern urban life.

The pony problem --
Christmas in July --
The ursula cookie --
Bring your machete to work day --
The good people of this dimension --
Bastard out of Westchester --
The beauty of strangers --
Fuck you, Columbus --
One-night bounce --
Sign language for infidels --
You on a stick --
Height of luxury --
Smell this --
Lay like broccoli --
Fever faker]]>
230 Sloane Crosley 159448306X Sherrie 2 2008-book-list 3.47 2008 I Was Told There'd Be Cake: Essays
author: Sloane Crosley
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at: 2008/07/16
date added: 2008/07/17
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:
The author comes from a new generation of essayists which is just a bit too young for my taste, I guess. Some of the essays were very insightful, witty and funny, but a few rambled on and needed a bit of editing. The wedding essay was just a bit annoying...just say NO for GOD SAKES! But that NO may come with age.
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<![CDATA[When You Are Engulfed in Flames]]> 1044355 When You Are Engulfed in Flames confirms once again that David Sedaris is a master of mystery and suspense.

Or how about...

when set on fire, most of us either fumble for our wallets or waste valuable time feeling sorry for ourselves. David Sedaris has studied this phenomenon, and his resulting insights may very well save your life. Author of the national bestsellers Should You Be Attacked By Snakes and If You Are Surrounded by Mean Ghosts, David Sedaris, with When You Are Engulfed in Flames, is clearly at the top of his game.

Oh, all right...

David Sedaris has written yet another book of essays (his sixth). Subjects include a parasitic worm that once lived in his mother-in-law's leg, an encounter with a dingo, and the recreational use of an external catheter. Also recounted is the buying of a human skeleton and the author's attempt to quit smoking In Tokyo.

Master of nothing, at the dead center of his game, Sedaris proves that when you play with matches, you sometimes light the whole pack on fire.
(front flap)]]>
323 David Sedaris 0316143472 Sherrie 3 4.08 2005 When You Are Engulfed in Flames
author: David Sedaris
name: Sherrie
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2008/06/29
date added: 2008/06/30
shelves: 2008-book-list, favoriteauthors
review:

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Armageddon in Retrospect 2024223 234 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 0399155082 Sherrie 2 2008-book-list 3.95 2008 Armageddon in Retrospect
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at: 2008/05/21
date added: 2008/05/22
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:
One of my favorite writers (RIP, Kurt!) on one of my LEAST favorite subjects, war. However, that said, if I'm going to read about war, I want to read about it from a humanist point of view...and what better writer than Vonnegut for that! A few of these stories are completely unforgettable, however the ones that stick around are worth the time. The one about a furniture maker and a desk is particulary good.
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<![CDATA[Rock On: An Office Power Ballad]]> 1687351 224 Dan Kennedy 1565125096 Sherrie 2 2008-book-list 3.38 2008 Rock On: An Office Power Ballad
author: Dan Kennedy
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at: 2008/05/08
date added: 2008/05/09
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:

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<![CDATA[Stolen (Women of the Otherworld, #2)]]> 11922 Bitten, Kelley Armstrong's debut novel, that thirty-year-old Elena Michaels came to terms with her feral appetites and claimed the proud identity of a beautiful, successful woman and the only living female werewolf.

In Stolen, on a mission for her own elite pack, she is lured into the net of ruthless Internet billionaire Tyrone Winsloe, who has funded a bogus scientific investigation of the "other races" and their supernatural powers. Kidnapped and studied in his underground lab deep in the Maine woods, these paranormals - witches, vampires, shamans, werewolves - are then released and hunted to the death in a real-world video game. But when Winsloe captures Elena, he finally meets his match.

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468 Kelley Armstrong 0452285933 Sherrie 1 2008-book-list 4.15 2002 Stolen (Women of the Otherworld, #2)
author: Kelley Armstrong
name: Sherrie
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2002
rating: 1
read at: 2008/04/21
date added: 2008/04/23
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:

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<![CDATA[The Darkest Evening of the Year]]> 379316
Amy Redwing has dedicated her life to the southern California organization she founded to rescue abandoned and endangered golden retrievers. Among dog lovers, she's a legend for the risks she'll take to save an animal from abuse. Among her friends, Amy's heedless devotion is often cause for concern. To widower Brian McCarthy, whose commitment she can't allow herself to return, Amy's behavior is far more puzzling and hides a shattering secret.

No one is surprised when Amy risks her life to save Nickie, nor when she takes the female golden into her home. The bond between Amy and Nickie is immediate and uncanny. Even her two other goldens, Fred and Ethel, recognize Nickie as special, a natural alpha. But the instant joy Nickie brings is shadowed by a series of eerie incidents. An ominous stranger. A mysterious home invasion. And the unmistakable sense that someone is watching Amy's every move and that, whoever it is, he's not alone.

Someone has come back to turn Amy into the desperate, hunted creature she's always been there to save. But now there's no one to save Amy and those she loves. From its breathtaking opening scene to its shocking climax, The Darkest Evening of the Year is Dean Koontz at his finest, a transcendent thriller certain to have readers turning pages until dawn.]]>
354 Dean Koontz 0553804820 Sherrie 3 2008-book-list 3.74 2008 The Darkest Evening of the Year
author: Dean Koontz
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2008/04/01
date added: 2008/04/02
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:
Another book in Koontz "Golden Angels" series (my take, not official!) These books touch my heart and at times make me bawl like a baby...not so much from the writing (but that does play a part) but because I am a rescuer of animals and I saw a lot of myself in the character of Amy. Great story of intrigue but so much like "One Door Away from Heaven" I think Koontz should sue himself for plagiarism Sometimes this took me out of the story. Another criticism is that the villian "Billy Pilgrim" (yeah, I know) belongs in another book. This was clearly a tribute to Kurt Vonnegut and all the HiHo and "So it goes" kinda took me out of the moment. I am a huge Vonnegut fan and I didn't really think this tribute to him went with the flow of this particular narrative. THAT SAID, my take on it is that Vonnegut was a Humanist and this book is all about man being kind (or cruel) to man and all creatures and how we have choices to make(again, my take) and I can easily see how Vonnegut's view of things influence Koontz. All in all, a really solid read. Koontz is a beautiful writer who really doesn't get enough credit because of certain genres he is placed in. A very solid story with great characters. (spoiler ahead) I LOVE the nun phone call. Very nice touch.
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Bitten (Otherworld, #1) 11918
So she left the Pack and returned to Toronto where she’s trying to live as a human. When the Pack leader calls asking for her help fighting a sudden uprising, she only agrees because she owes him. Once this is over, she’ll be squared with the Pack and free to live life as a human. Which is what she wants. Really.]]>
436 Kelley Armstrong 0452286034 Sherrie 2 2008-book-list 4.04 2001 Bitten (Otherworld, #1)
author: Kelley Armstrong
name: Sherrie
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2001
rating: 2
read at: 2008/03/30
date added: 2008/03/30
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:
An original take on the werewolf "tail". VERY slow in the beginning but all in all a well-written book.
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99 Coffins (Laura Caxton, #2) 1441722 A dark secret buried beneath our bloodiest battlefield

Laura Caxton vowed never to face them again. The horror of what the vampires did is too close, the wounds too fresh. But when Jameson Arkeley, broken and barely recognizable, comes to her with an unfathomable, unholy discovery, her resolve crumbles.

Arkeley leads Caxton to a tomb in Gettysburg recently excavated by a local archaeology professor. While the town, with its legendary role in the Civil War’s worst battle, is no stranger to cemeteries, this one is remarkably, eerily different. In it lie 100 coffins�99 of them occupied by vampires, who, luckily, are missing their hearts. But one of the coffins is empty and smashed to pieces.

Who is the missing vampire? Does he have access to the 99 hearts that, if placed back in the bodies of their owners, could reanimate an entire bloodthirsty army? How did the vampires end up there, undisturbed and undiscovered for 150 years? The answer lies in Civil War documents that contain sinister secrets about the newly found coffins—secrets that Laura Caxton is about to uncover as she is thrown into a deadly, gruesome mission of saving an entire town from a mass invasion of the undead…]]>
304 David Wellington 0307381714 Sherrie 3 vampirelit, 2008-book-list 3.80 2007 99 Coffins (Laura Caxton, #2)
author: David Wellington
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2008/02/04
date added: 2008/03/05
shelves: vampirelit, 2008-book-list
review:
I really wanted to read Monster Island; however, I couldn't find it at any of my local book stores. I picked up 99 Coffins instead. I enjoyed the back and forth between the past and the present. It was fun because I live in the Central PA area where this book takes place. If fact, I just had lunch at the Spring House Tavern in Gettysburg, the scene of a showdown near the end of 99 Coffins. Very cool. What a great use of history and legend. Horrible things happens in war. Horrible things happened in Gettysburg. Vampires just seem like a logical by-product.
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<![CDATA[Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files, #8)]]> 91474
As Harry adjusts to his new role, another problem arrives in the form of the tattooed and pierced daughter of an old friend, all grown-up and already in trouble. Her boyfriend is the only suspect in what looks like a supernatural assault straight out of a horror film. Malevolent entities that feed on fear are loose in Chicago, but it's all in a day's work for a wizard, his faithful dog, and a talking skull named Bob....]]>
547 Jim Butcher 0451461037 Sherrie 2 2008-book-list 4.39 2006 Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files, #8)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Sherrie
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at: 2008/02/27
date added: 2008/02/27
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:
This Dresden File book was "okay" but I think it needed just a bit more editing. I'll read the rest of the series, but I hope the others are just a bit cleaner.
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<![CDATA[Buddha, Vol. 1: Kapilavastu (Buddha #1)]]> 209577
Tezuka himself was a humanist rather than a Buddhist, and his magnum opus is not an attempt at propaganda. Hermann Hesse's novel or Bertolucci's film is comparable in this regard; in fact, Tezuka's approach is slightly irreverent in that it incorporates something that Western commentators often eschew, namely, humor.]]>
400 Osamu Tezuka 193223456X Sherrie 3 2008-book-list 4.18 1972 Buddha, Vol. 1: Kapilavastu (Buddha #1)
author: Osamu Tezuka
name: Sherrie
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1972
rating: 3
read at: 2008/01/18
date added: 2008/02/15
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:
The story of Siddhartha is one of the "Greatest Stories Ever Told"...and it happened BEFORE that other "Greatest Story Ever Told" The life of Buddha is so wonderful and makes for a great comic! And I mean that in the most respectful way possible.
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<![CDATA[Buddha, Vol. 2: The Four Encounters (Buddha #2)]]> 160063
Tezuka himself was a humanist rather than a Buddhist, and his magnum opus is not an attempt at propaganda. Hermann Hesse’s novel or Bertolucci’s film is comparable in this regard; in fact, Tezuka’s approach is slightly irreverent in that it incorporates something that Western commentators often eschew, namely, humor.]]>
411 Osamu Tezuka 1932234446 Sherrie 3 2008-book-list 4.25 1983 Buddha, Vol. 2: The Four Encounters  (Buddha #2)
author: Osamu Tezuka
name: Sherrie
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1983
rating: 3
read at: 2008/01/02
date added: 2008/02/15
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:
The story of Siddhartha is one of the "Greatest Stories Ever Told"...and it happened BEFORE that other "Greatest Story Ever Told" The life of Buddha is so wonderful and makes for a great comic! And I mean that in the most respectful way possible.
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<![CDATA[An Ice Cold Grave (Harper Connelly, #3)]]> 140097
All calling for Harper.

Harper soon finds them—eight victims, buried in the half-frozen ground, all come to an unspeakable end. Afterward, what she most wants to do is collect her fee and get out of town ahead of the media storm that's soon to descend. But when she's attacked and prevented from leaving, she reluctantly becomes a part of the investigation as she learns more than she cares to about the dark mysteries and long-hidden secrets of Doraville—knowledge that makes her the next person likely to rest in an ice-cold grave.]]>
280 Charlaine Harris 0425217299 Sherrie 2 2008-book-list 3.95 2007 An Ice Cold Grave (Harper Connelly, #3)
author: Charlaine Harris
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2007
rating: 2
read at: 2008/01/08
date added: 2008/02/15
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:
Book 3 of the Harper Connelly Mystery series by Charlaine Harris. An okay read...Harper, to me, is just a rehash of Sookie Stackhouse, Charlaine's Southern Vampire heroine. All of Charlaine's characters are pulled out of the same bag of tricks, so to speak. I'd like to see her write something a bit different...but hey, it seems to be working and she has a strong fan base.
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One Door Away from Heaven 268581
Micky has a history of making wrong choices and living only for her own desires, but her decision to save the child's life - and pit herself against an adversary as fearsome as he is cunning - takes her on a journey of incredible peril and stunning discoveries, a journey filled with tragedy and joy, with humour, terror and hope, a journey that will change her for ever]]>
Dean Koontz 0747270724 Sherrie 4 2008-book-list, myfavorites 3.72 2001 One Door Away from Heaven
author: Dean Koontz
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2008/01/13
date added: 2008/02/15
shelves: 2008-book-list, myfavorites
review:
I had a great time with this wonderful story. A story about love, redemption, terror, dogs and aliens. That is quite the package! A little boy (little alien to be precise) is running from a pack of assassins. His traveling companion is his dog "Old Yeller" who is neither old nor "yeller" Who they meet along the way is just half the adventure. Their tale intersects with that of handicapped wise acre Leilani Klonk who just may be killed by her step-father on her next birthday and Michelina Bellsong, a lost soul just out of prison. How do all these stories interweave? That was the fun part! I love the message at the end...even though some people may find it a bit schmaltzy.
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Many Bloody Returns 140098
"Clever...entertaining... excellent"( Library Journal ) original vampire stories by Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, Kelley Armstrong, and more.

From cakes to stakes, a celebration of everyone's favorite bloodsucking subculture by a baker's dozen of favorite authors. Each of these thirteen original stories offers a fresh and unique take on what birthdays mean to the undead. From Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse attending a birthday party for Dracula to Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden battling bloodsucking party crashers, these suspenseful, surprising, sometimes dark, sometimes humorous stories will ensure paranormal fans will never think of vampires or birthdays quite the same again.]]>
355 Charlaine Harris 0441015220 Sherrie 3 2008-book-list, vampirelit 3.76 2007 Many Bloody Returns
author: Charlaine Harris
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2008/02/04
date added: 2008/02/14
shelves: 2008-book-list, vampirelit
review:
A great anthology of nice little vampire stories with a birthday theme. Some were very good and I want to seek out more stories, others, not so much. Rachel Caine's story was VERY good and I can't wait to read more of her work. I got some very good author leads from this mix of stories. Charlaine Harris' Sookie story kind of fell flat for me...
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<![CDATA[Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1)]]> 47212 HARRY DRESDEN � WIZARD

Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment.

Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he's the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the "everyday" world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a—well, whatever. There's just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks.

So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get interesting.

Magic - it can get a guy killed.]]>
372 Jim Butcher 0451457811 Sherrie 2 2008-book-list 3.99 2000 Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Sherrie
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2000
rating: 2
read at: 2008/02/11
date added: 2008/02/14
shelves: 2008-book-list
review:
My introduction to the Dredsden story was in "Many Bloody Returns" a book of vampire shorts. I thought it was snappy, witty and very well written. So I borrowed this, the first book in the series, from the library. It was "okay"...but I found myself wishing it would move itself along. I think the pacing was a bit off, but I'll give the other books a try.
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