Owan
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Far From the Maddening Crowd by Thomas Hardy, I didn’t like The Mayor of Casterbridge but I’m giving Hardy another chance. Also that’s just such an awesome title that I have to read it.
Previous Total: 4,910
Mrs. Chippy’s Last Expedition: The Remarkable Journal of Shackleton’s Polar-Bound Cat by Caroline Alexander — 146
Amusing, in a way. It’s a very light read and hardly informative. It could have been a really good and fun book but it flunked.
Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie — 164
The poor woman was shot through the head but never fear for Poirot is here! Poirot is a interesting character, I like reading about him and I like the way he works and solves things, but he can be annoying sometimes, he doesn’t really care for justice he’s just here to solve the crime. But still, Agatha Christie writes very well and her plots (after reading five Poirot stories) are still new and interesting.
The Mirror Crack’d by Agtha Christie — 141
And now for some Miss Marple. This mystery is set in the same house where The Body in the Library starts, which I’ve never read but saw on TV once. They played What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw the next week and I was really freaked out.
Anyway. I don’t like Marple quite as well as Poirot. Marple has a different way of doing things. Poirot says, “There is a reason for such-n-such and when we find that reason everything will fall into place” whereas Marple is far more interested in, not what people do, but what they say. So, yes, I like Poirot better but Marple is interesting. I know that she isn’t about to be killed off but I can’t help but think that she could, so very easily, be bumped off.A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie — 109
Not Christie’s best work, duller and not as well thought out as the others.
Running Total: 5,470
Previous Total: 4,706
Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Puncuation by Lynne Truss — 204
Yes, I am rather a fan of the Oxford comma, you all should be too.
The book was interesting, hardly amusing though. Harrumph. And the part about “Hear’Say” and when she didn’t capitalize E.E. Cummings I was just about driven mad. Puncuation entering extinction…? Seriously? I don’t really think the exclamation mark is heading anywhere, though. 
Running Total: 4,910
Previous Total: 4,445
Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse — 261
I never read Wodehouse before and expected it to be funnier. I don’t think I really laughed once but there were a few witty lines. So, Wodehouse mostly failed in the humor but it was interesting and fun to read.
“The Bassett announced our engagement, and Angela kissed her and said she hoped she would be very, very happy, and the Bassett kissed her and said she hoped she would be very, very happy with Gussie, and Angela said she she was sure he would, because Augustus was such a dear, and the Bassett kissed her again, and Angela kissed her again, and, in a word, the whole thing got so bally feminine that I was glad to edge away.”
Running Total: 4,706
I read that first one, C Triebold, and I hated it. Hopefully you’ll like it more than I.
What shall I read now? Death on the Nile, perhaps? Or…
Previous Total: 3,775
Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini — 354
If Peter Blood ever really lived –I confess I know not
— then he lived the cliche life. The one pleasing aspect: his name.The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character by Thomas Hardy — 316
Oh. My. Gracious. Goodness.
This book was…wow. Before I read it when people told me it was about a guy who sold his wife and kid to a sailor in a drunken fit I thought that was the main plot, not the little event that happens in the first two chapters and is the event that sets off a book’s worth of other crazy events. One thing sure does leads to another. Yes, I didn’t like it. The story bothered me, or rather, the actions of the characters that made the story bothered me. They were all conceited liars. Except Elizabeth-Jane (pretty name) and Frafrae but they weren’t developed or anything and I wasn’t made to like them all that much. I probably could have liked Newson, too, if I’d been given a little help. The main character what’s-his-name bothered me, he was too agressive and unnerving.
The truth sets you free, you stupid characters, just tell her that she’s not your daughter and it’ll save you a whole ton of heartache! I guess they were all just too keen on Thomas Hardy keeping his job.
Running Total: 4,445
Previous Total: 3,473
High-Tech Worship? by Quentin J. Schultze — 89
Given to me by my worship leader’s wife (she is kind of the co-leader
) because I do the PowerPoint presentation for our team. It was an interesting book and I agreed with it for the most part. My one complant is that it can be annoying and repetitive.Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett — 213
Amusing as always. I liked it but I don’t think it will become a favorite. The characters annoyed me and the ending wasn’t satisfying.
Running Total: 3,775
Previous Total: 2,681
St. Francis of Assisi by G. K. Chesterton — 149
Most decidedly Catholic-like (and I'm not Catholic) and not typical Chesterton-witty. Something of a disapointment, really.
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn — 205
This book reminded me ofThe City of Ember, I guess the way the Nollopians are seperate from the rest of the world just like the Emberians were. This book is rather frightening, I found, the Nollopian government is very similar to the American government.
The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett — 197
This, my second Pratchett book, was a disapointment. There wasn't enough plot.
The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett — 241
Now, this one I liked. The plot got a little confusing at times but there was a lot more of it than the last one, and, a plus, it was a good and interesting plot. The characters aren't the best developed things ever, sadly. I found I liked Luggage quite a bit, though. A very pleasing Pratchett.
"'He'sh mad?'
'Sort of mad. But mad with lots of money.'
'Ah, then he can't be mad. I've been around; if a man hash lotsh of money he'sh just ecshentric.'" — Cohen and Rincewind about Twoflower
Running Total: 3,473
Previous Total: 2,305
The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie — 123
I liked this one. I actually kind of hoped they might go all the way to twenty-six. It would be interesting to see how he dealed with X, Y, and Z. 'Twas very interesting, despite the fact I flunked my private detecting. Oi.
Late-Talking Children by Thomas Sowell — 138
My Mom picked this up for me. It was very interesting. Parts of it were ho-hum but it was, yes, interesting for the most part. Parts of it went so far as being fascinating. I, however, don't think I talked late because I am left-brained (hardly) but because I'm a stubborn person.
Same goes for my brother. I do wish he'd hurry up and talk.Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie — 115
First it was Meredith, then Lorrimer, then Meredith, then Lorrimer, then…well, I shouldn't tell you which one of the four it was.
It was interesting, very. But a little annoying at the same time. Poirot's amusing, but so… Running Total: 2,681
Previous Total: 1,745
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie — 122
It was interesting. My sister is very good at figuring mysteries out but I am totally clueless the whole time. So what were my thoughts? “This is so inrealistic! Yeah, like that would ever just happen!”
Clueless ol’ me. Anyways, gotta love Poirot!I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris — 220
One of my good friends got herself a boyfriend last week (he’s a college graduate with a job, she’s in college; she was homeschooled, from a Christian family, and has been coming to my church for atleast nine years; he was partly homeschooled, I’ve only ever met his brother, and he’s been coming to my church for the last twelve years–you may abandon your visions of a highschool not-sure-what-you-would-call-it situation) and so I read this because of her. Them. Well, that’s where the interest came from. The interest came from them but I read it for myself. I definitely didn’t read it so I can more easily determine whether or not they’re being holy, though I’m sure if I wanted to do so I would find the Relation Ship Wonder, Joshua Harris, to be very useful.
It was an interesting book, not amazing as everyone seems to claim. Just interesting, it didn’t really seem to be useful until the last chapter. Oh, well, whatever.Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris — 218
Book two. I liked it a little moer than the first, but not particularly. Same as Kissed Dating but a little more interesting and a little more useful a little sooner.
Or so I thought.Running Total: 2,305
Previous Total: 427
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy — 935
It was interesting, I’ll say that. I don’t really want to say anything about the story for fear of spoiling it, some say it’s depressing and others that it’s boring, I chiefly found it…frightening. It’s very good, I recommend it.
I’m continually impressed by some novel writers. They don’t, like so many who are published today, simplely write and tell a story. They create one, and they create it so intricately with so many connections between page 234 and 768, it’s all tied together so well that I am continually impressed.
The Teenage Book of Manners…Please! by Fred Hartley — 215
I wasn’t exactly impressed with this. It was interesting but nothing special and often cheesy.
Running Total: 1,577
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