The Absintence Teacher

Urgh -- I had high hopes for this book. I started to get a little bored halfway though but presisted because I felt like I needed to know what was going to happen. And the answer was nothing!! Urgh.. what a terrible ending. It made me mad that I even bothered finishing it. What a waste of time in my opinion

Zeitoun -- Dave Eggers

I love, love, love Dave Eggers and again he did not disappoint. Granted I have a certain fascination with American disasters, so the topic was already of interest to me. I adore how Eggers takes a true noteworthy back story and can make it into such an engrossing almost fiction-like novel. (Take What is the What as the other example).
It's hard to believe that something like what the Zeitoun's experienced happened right in here in our own country. We all heard stories coming out of New Orleans and all the shady things that was reported, but this really brought it all home. It's hard to believe that it's not fiction. It made me very sad and even more so, angry. How is this thing possible? It's not something we think of happening here, in this country. Maybe in some other third-world country, but not here. But are we really all that shocked? I tend to think not. Anyhow, Eggers does a fantastic job of bringing this to the surface. I am intrigued enough to some research further.....

Life of Pi

I have mixed feelings about this book. I admit it was a great story, but I have to admit there were stretches of the book were I was bored. I loved the whole first section before the sinking of the ship. I thought everything about the zoos and animals was fascinating. I also liked the story of his family. After he was on the lifeboat, the story seemed to drag for long periods of time. Some of it was interesting and some just went on too long I thought. I felt like it took me forever to finish the book. The ending was just okay for me – I thought it was going to be something different. Not sure what, but not what it was. Somehow though, I have a feeling this book is going to stick with me for a while – I may write more about this book as it sinks in a little more………

Skinny Bitch

This book was a bunch of crap bias. it started off all cute and good and then all of a sudden tells you that you must become a vegan and eat only organic. It also throws in some chapters about how the government is horrible and awful and we can't trust the USDA or EPA. (the chapter is literally called, "Trust No One") Oh and a whole chapter on how they slaughter cows, pigs and chickens in very graphic detail. Common. This is so not realistic for most people. I get the whole vegetarianism thing. I really do. That is one thing... vegan is whole other thing. This book was not at all what I expected. I felt like the authors were just out to push their own personal agenda against the government.

Goat -- Brad Land

This book was interesting, but in all reality I wasn't actually all that surprised by the violence of the fraternity hazing. I had read about it before and heard about it before so I wasn't completely shocked. It's amazing how cruel some people can be to each other. There were some cringes inducing moments -- mostly for me during the first part of the book, not the fraternity part. I think what was the saddest part of this book was the internal struggle Land went through and also the relationship with his brother. That part was harder to take than the actual descriptions of the beatings and hazing. Overall a pretty good memoir. Quick read and kept my attention.

The Joy Luck Club

I had been meaning to read this book (along with other Amy Tan) for a long time. We are going to be reading parts of this book in our Advanced ESL class this summer, so I thought it would be a perfect time to ready it. I loved this book. It was so beautifully written. All of the stories tied together wonderfully. I liked how each story could also be read seperately also and no other context was needed. Usually I am not a huge short story fan, but this was just fantastic. In my copy of the book it has a chart listing the mothers and the daughters and that helped tie everything together for me. I also loved how the first story and the last story just tied the whole book together in such a wonderful way.

Mission 101: Read 101 books in 1001 days.

Here's the deal. I have already started my Mission 101 through livejournal. I decided to make a new blog dediciated just to this project.

I plan to use this medium for keeping track of my progress and sharing my feelings on books in general.


(NOTE: I have dated this post for the end date of my mission, because I always want it to appear as the top entry, just scroll one down to see the newest post..)

Start Date: August 8, 2006

End Date: May 11, 2009


Here is my progress so far:


1. The Burn Journals -- Brent Runyon Finished 1/12/08!
2. A Piece of Cake -- Cupcake Brown Finished 8/20/07!
3. Gifted -- Nikita Lalwani Finished 03/05/09!
4. Eat, Pray, Love -- Elizabeth Gilbert Finished 1/22/08!
5. Eyes, Breath, Memory -- Edwidge Danticat Finished 3/10/09!
6. So Many Books, So Little Time -- Sara Nelson Finished 3/8/08!
7. House of Paper -- Carlos Maria Dominguez Finished 3/9/08!
8. Summers with the Bears -- Jack Becklund Finished 1/26/08!
9. Julie and Julia -- Julie Powell Finished 8/31/07!
10. Marley and Me -- John Grogan Finished 12/29/2008!
11. Bunny Tales -- Izabella St. James Finished 11/25/07!
12. The Talking Horse and The Sad Girl and The Village Under the Sea -- Mark Haddon Finised 3/20/2009!
13. Burned Alive -- Souad Finished 7/15/07!
14. Wonderful Tonight -- Pattie Boyed Finished 5/14/08!
15. The Keeper of the Lime Rock -- Lenore Skomal Finished 5/10/07
16. Forever Lily -- Beth Nonte Russell Finished 2/1/08!
17. Girlbomb -- Janice Erlbaum Finished 4/20/09!
18. Hey Ranger! -- Jim Burnett Finished 1/28/09!
19. The Dogs Who Found Me -- Ken Foster Finished 9/9/07!
20. Have You Found Her -- Janice Erlbaum Finished 12/1/08!
21. The Bookseller of Kabul -- Asne Seierstad Finished 6/2/07!
22. The End of the Alphabet -- CS Richardson Finished 1/11/2009!
23. Marked for Life -- Joie Davidow Finished 4/1/2009! (sort of)
24. Why New Orleans Matters -- Tom Piazza Finished 4/30/07!
25. Take the Cannoli -- Sarah Vowell Finished 5/22/08!
26. How I Learned English -- Tom Miller Finished 11/11/08!
27. The First Verse -- Berry McCrea Finished 7/27/07!
28. Superfoods RX -- Steven Pratt Finished 1/26/09!
29. Free Food for Millionaires -- Min Jin Lee Finished 9/22/08!
30. Special Topics in Calamity Physics -- Marisha Pessl Finished 4/13/08!
31. Falling Man -- Don DeLillo Finished (sort of) 10/15/07!
32. The Uncommon Reader -- Alan Bennett Finished 3/20/2009!
33. Here's the Story -- Maureen McCormick Finished 3/22/2009!
34. What is the What -- Dave Eggers Finished 7/1/07!
35. Restless Virgins -- Abigail Jones Finished 2/21/08!
36. The Headmaster Ritual -- Taylor AntrimFinished (sort of)9/29/08!
37. Upstate -- Kalisha Buckhanon Finished 8/15/08!
38. My Sisters Keeper -- Jodi Picoult Finished 10/27/2008!
39. The Mole People -- Jennifer Toth Finished 2/4/2009!
40. Hope and Other Damgerous Pursuits Finished 2/18/2009!
41. A Breath of Fresh Air -- Amulya Malladi Finished 9/4/07!
42. The Polysyllabic Spree -- Nick Hornby Finished 12/6/07!
43. Gossip of the Starlings -- Nina de Gramont Finished 5/2/2009!
44. The Year of Magical Thinking -- Joan Didion Finished 11/8/2008!
45. Autobiogrpahy of a Face -- Lucy Grealy Finished 7/9/08!
46. Sickened -- Julie Gregory Finished 7/29/07!
47. The House on Mango Street -- Sandra Cisneros Finished 4/22/2009!
48. Kabul Beauty School -- Deborah Rodriguez Finished 8/9/08!
49. A Confederacy of Dunces -- John Kennedy Toole Finished 1/23/2009
50. The Worst Noel --- Various Finished 12/16/07!
51. Assassination Vacation -- Sarah Vowell Done (sort of) 7/11/07
52. Truth and Beauty -- Ann Patchett Finished 7/21/08!
53. Half in Love -- Malie Meloy Finished 2/6/08!
54. The Noodle Maker -- Ma Jian Finished 8/3/07!
55. The Kiss -- Kathryn Harrison Finished 4/5/2009!
56. Snow Flower and The Secret Fan -- Lisa See Finished 9/14/07!
57. A Thousand Splendid Suns -- Khaled Hosseini Finished 11/10/07!
58. Playgound -- Jennifer Saginor Finished 11/16/07!
59. The Reader -- Bernard Schlink Finished 5/18/07!
60. American Dreams -- Sapphire Finished 12/16/07!
61. The Myth of You and Me -- Leah Stewart Finished 1/25/08!
62. Ex Libris -- Anne Fadiman May 10, 2009!!
63. The Zookeeper's Wife -- Diane AckermanFinished!(sort of) 10/12/2008
64. The Almond -- Nedjma Finished 1/7/08!
65. A Long Way Gone - Ishmael Beah Finished! 3/28/2009
66. Sweetness in the Belly -- Camilla Gibb Finished 6/4/08!
67. Darfur Diaries -- Jen Marlowe Finished (sort of) 4/20/08@
68. Delicate -- Mary Sojourner Finished (sort of) 9/26/08!
69. Desert Dawn -- Waris Dirie Finished 10/6/07!
70. Love, Stargirl -- Jerry Spinelli Finished 3/5/08!
71. Anthropology -- Dan Rhodes Finished 12/10/07!
72. The Love Hexagon -- William Suttcliffe Finished 12/22/07!
73. Windows on the World -- Frederic Beigbeder Finished 5/5/07!
74. Dying to Cross -- Jorge Ramos Finished 1/10/2009!
75. Grayson -- Lynne Cox Finished 10/21/07!
76. The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu Finished 12/2/07!
77. Dark -- Kenji Jasper Finished 4/7/07!
78. Digging to America -- Anne Tyler Finished 12/15/06!
79. The Namesake -- Jhumpa Lahiri Finished! 8/12/06
80. The Man of My Dreams -- Curtis Sittenfield Finished 12/26/06!
81. How Are We Hungry -- Dave Eggers Fished 2/25/07!
82. Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather -- Gao Xing Jian Finished ??
83. Caramba! -- Nina Marie Martinez Finished! 9/27/06
84. Peel My Love Like An Onion -- Ana Castillo Finished 1/10/07!
85. The Bridegroom -- Ha Jin Finished! 9/16/06
86. Are You Experienced? -- William Sutcliffe Finished 3/4/07!
87. Ties that Bind, Ties that Break -- Lensey Namioka Finished 10/1/06!
88. Lucky -- Alice SeaboldFinished 1/3/07
89. John -- Cynthia Lennon Finished 3/25/07!
90. The Monkey Wrench Gang -- Edward Abbey Finished! 8/24/06
91. For One More Day -- Mitch Albom Finished 11/6/06!
92. My Moral Enemy -- Willa Cather Finished! 2/14/07
93. A Spot of Bother -- Mark Haddon Finished 3/21/07!
94. The Kite Runner -- Khalde Hossein Finished 1/9/07!
95. Funny in Farsi -- Firoozeh Dumas Finished! 10/21/06
96. Dear Exile -- Hillary Liftin Finished 10/22/06!
97. Mr. Muo's Traveling Couch -- Dai Sijie Finished 1/28/07
98. The Facts Behind Helinski Roccamotios -- Yann Martel Finished 9/5/06!
99. The Secret History -- Donna Tartt Finshed 12/6/06!
100. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close -- Johnathan Safron Foer Finished 10/10/06!
101. Hotel of the Saints -- Ursula Hegi Finished! 2/9/07