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I did not join GoodReads until June, so I made a goal of 50 to complete my goal. Then I updated it, because for the challenges I'll be so close any ways :)

1.Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
2.Swapping Lives
3. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
4. A Clash of Kings
5.Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
6. The Great Gatsby
7. Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen
8.Death Comes to Pemberley
9. The Lightning Thief
10.A Wrinkle in Time
11. The Night Circus
12. Shopaholic Ties the Knot
13. The Friday Night Knitting Club
14. The Tiger's Wife
15. Wuthering Heights
16. The Color Purple
17. A Discovery of Witches
18. Food Rules: An Eater's Manual
19. Little Women
20. The Tea Rose
21. Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia
22. The Yellow House: A Novel
23. The Knife of Never Letting Go
24. The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet
25. A Reliable Wife
26. Cleopatra: A Life
27. Famous Women
28. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
29. Shopaholic and Sister
30. Shopaholic & Baby
31. Fahrenheit 451
32. East of Eden
33. Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria
34.A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
35. A Storm of Swords
36. Frankenstein
37. The Book Thief
38. Bared to You
39. And Then There Were None
40. Anna Karenina
41. Priceless: My Journey Through a Life of Vice
42. The Lies of Locke Lamora
43. The Silver Chair
44.Never Seduce a Scot
45.The Perfect Hope
46. The Last Battle
47. Agricola and Germany
48. The Passage
49. The Merchant of Death
50. Steve Jobs
51.On Dublin Street
52.Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
53. The Formation of American Local Governments: Private Values in Public Institutions
54.Mini Shopaholic
55.A Wind in the Door
56The Roman Triumph
57. The Winter Rose
58. Dead Until Dark
59.The Sea of Monsters
60. The Good Earth
61.A Swiftly Tilting Planet
62. Madame Bovary: 150th Anniversary
63. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
64.A Christmas Carol
65.The Hobbit
66.Reflected in You

Good luck on your new goal! :D

Good luck! Did you like A Discovery of Witches?

Adriana wrote: "Good luck! Did you like A Discovery of Witches?"

Yes, I really did. I want to start the sequel soon. I thought that Harkness took a really interesting approach to the typical Vampire/Witch stories we hear. Also, loved all the references to history/alchemy.

Thanks! Sounds better than I thought.

***
Completed June 1, 2012

Interesting topics, although i often found the relationships to be a far stretch. I enjoyed the first half of the book, but the last half became a challenge.

Completed June 21

Love love love. I really enjoyed the politics in this novel. The amount of research that Larson put into Dodd and his interactions with the Hitler regime is impeccable. I felt as Dodd felt, anxious and horrified at what was occurring around him. Highly recommend this.

**
Completed June 24

I don't know how I feel about this book. It was written in this scattered dialogue that in my opinion, seemed to take away from the story. Parts of the book were beautiful--mainly the grandparent's "love" story, and the writing of some horrifying scenes will stick with me forever. The book is scattered with photo's, but if you are at all sensitive to the 9-11 subject, you may end up in tears. I did. I guess, had I known how this book was written and the plot, I would not have read it.

****
Completed June 25

I found this book hilarious and so realistic. My obsession with Julia Child has Powell's blog to blame. Recommend this highly!

*
Completed July 1

What a boring book. There is one action scene, another scene in which there is supposed to be a plot development, but then we learn nothing of it and then a court case. James stood true to the world of Pemberley, but did not add anything to the story. I skipped so many pages because it was so incredibly boring. It would have been nice to see a story that ignored Wickham's character. I feel like that plot line has been used and abused much too much. This book was a waste of time. I want to go re-read Pride and Prejudice just for the sanctity of the story.

***
Completed July 11

The mood set up by the writer is what made this story for me. It's dreamlike, enchanting, dark, and haunting. The only problem I had was that most of the major characters stories were just left hanging at the end. The reason why I was so absorbed was due to the romance between Celia and Marco and I did not find the ending gave me the resolve I needed.

Completed July 20

This book is stunning. The story is not a story I'm usually drawn into, but Obreht's writing is beautiful. The mixture of folklore, war, medicine and animals made this novel hard to put down and I loved the way Obreht concludes the book. The writing is just so good. Highly recommend this to anyone and this book deserves all the praise it has been getting!

**
Completed August 18

I am sorely disappointed in this book. It's cover claims a passionate love triangle, a epic historical background, and a determined woman. What I got out of it was a poorly explained IRA movement, a b**** of a main character and a predictable romance. Why any man would be attracted to the mean Eileen is beyond me. The writing and narrative was also very poor. Predictable, lots of short, easy sentences, grammar issues. There are also a couple flaws in the plot that I just couldn't put aside. I will say the book did pick up towards the end, but the first three-quarters of the book were very difficult.

**

Completed August 27

I wish that there was more credibility to this book. I did not learn anything new to the art of being vegan and kind of felt cheated as I read this. The recipes in the back are not very practical for mid-westerners. They also aren't very easy to find ingredient wise.

****
Completed September 6

I had to read this for a class and throughout the book was looking for what society thought women should be at the time. This book was written by a man and so it was obviously biased. After just reading Cleopatra: A Lifeby Stacy Schiff, the chapter on Cleopatra was a nice comparison. Her story has been distorted and in Boccacio's world she was a whore, a temptress, and a sly, awful woman. One of the main morals I picked up on was it is better to die than be an impure woman. Oh how the times have changed! Not the easiest book to read, but Boccaccio at least tries to give women some justice, thus making it a thought provoking, sometimes funny read.

***
Completed September 30

I guess I expected more from this. It's really good, don't get me wrong, I just was not a fan of being thrown into the story so fast. It had a quick ending too. I felt rushed

Completed October 2

I loved every single word of this book. Steinbeck crafts a book that through its' characters, tell the story of both Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel. I loved that it spanned three generations, and that each generation distanced themselves from the past, yet at the same time repeated mistakes. It touches on all sorts of themes, but love and the necessity of being with others and having strong relationships holds true throughout. This book is going to be added to my Books That Changed My Life shelf, because it truly did.

***
Completed October 4

Interesting. Freud portrays gender roles in the Victorian Era. Men do good. Women are prone to hysteria and anything bad that comes their way, is due to their own faults. Dora is a sexually confused teenager, who is stalked by an older man, is confused as to her identity, and possibly loves a woman. Freud looks at dreams and uses psychoanalysis to make this case study. Certainly enlightening, although, not relevant today. Easy to read in some parts, incredibly boring in the psychoanalysis parts.

Completed October 14

Highly recommend this book. Written from Death's perspective, this book is unforgettable.

*

Completed October 16

There are so many things wrong with this book. Surprisingly it is not the sex so much as the misogyny that is displayed. Eva, the main character is pathetic, gives in way too easily to Gideon and does nothing to make her life better. I was so disgusted with the lack of self-respect shown by the women in this book.

Completed October 23

This was my first Agatha Christie, and multiple people had told me I needed to read her. And Then There Were None keeps you on edge and wondering throughout the entire novel. I kept notes when I was reading, because I was determined to figure it out. I did not see the end coming. Moral of the story, notes probably don't help for Agatha Christie. I was surprised by the fact that the book was not scary and creepy....at first. When I finished, it was 10 pm and a breeze blew my ponytail over the ledge of the couch (I was laying down reading) and I promptly jumped up and screamed. The ending certainly gets the creepy mystery factor in. All in all, I really enjoyed this book and recommend it

****

Completed October 24

Anna Karenina captures every minute detail of the human existence. This makes for a beautiful read, that is often daunting. Tolstoy undertook an effort to create multifaceted characters, that the reader literally knows everything about for the course of the story. I really appreciated that all the characters had deep flaws and actually seemed human.

This book took me two months to read, which is extremely long in my terms. While the writing was beautiful, it was often a task because it was so dense. This is why I gave it 4 stars and not 5. The book is certainly a masterpiece and Tolstoy did consider this his great novel. I see why and fully believe that it deserves the credit history has given it.

*

Completed October 28

This is an extremely quick read, and the topic is prostitution. It was interesting that this woman felt her ONLY option to solve anything was prostitution. She gave up her daughter, stated she felt remorse, but continued her life of vice. I think if the book had been more about her inner struggles and less about her prostitution struggles, I may have been more interested. The last ten pages of the book are where she gives up her career for her daughter. I found that Daniel's sounded self-righteous and a little full of herself. I don't think I would recommend this.

Kelsi, you are an excellent review writer! I love all your reviews. :) And now I've found more books to put on my to-read shelf, so thanks a lot. ;) lol

Why thank you! FYI I just made a goal to review every book I complete for the rest of the year so there will be 25 more coming!

But seriously...25 more books. I've got work to do.

You can do it!! :)

**
Completed November 11

After finishing this book, I've come to the conclusion that Narnia should have only included: The Magician's Nephew, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia. The Last Battle, starts off dark and dreary, and is extremely cynical. As a little kid, I remember this book freaking me out because I thought it was scary. The Calormene's, Tash, etc. are really freaky! As a child, I completely missed a lot of the religious undertones and I would argue that this, more than any other Narnia book attempts to influence and scold readers from straying from God. (view spoiler)[WHAT THE HECK SUSAN. She's the reason her family died? To teach us a lesson about not believing? SERIOUSLY? This is why it gets 2 stars. Stupid, stupid, stupid. The High Kings and Queens of Narnia should live forever, or at least continue to do good on Earth. (hide spoiler)]. I was mad about the ending, and felt that Lewis copped out. His redeeming factor is that Narnia is back to it's pure, beautiful, unspoiled self as all good series endings should rightfully do to it's setting. I also really enjoyed Narnian stars, it was a somber and beautiful way to show the death and destruction of a world many of us hold dear.

47. Agricola and Germany

****

Completed November 14

I was assigned this book for a history class on Ancient Rome. As a primary source document, I would not recommend this to anyone other than history majors and those deeply interested in Ancient Rome.

The first book, Agricola follows the life of Tacitus' father in law. Dry, but it does give a relatively deep look into First and Second Century Roman military tactics and the surrounding lifestyle. At this point, Rome is conquering Britain, so we learn a lot about tribes and barbarians. Fun fact for the women out there, but women actually led the troops into battle in Britain! I do question his credibility as this was written after his father in law's death and written by a family member.

Germany, the second book, is the first detailed study of its' kind on another culture. The two parts that especially stuck with me was a reference to beer and the inclination of the Germans to get too drunk to function. They were more likely to fall to drinking than to weapons. (hahahah). The other one was about the sea past Germany. Rome seemed to have a pretty sound understanding of geography, and it is a myth that the ancient world thought the world was flat. However, Tacitus writes that past this sea the world ends. This section on Germany is obviously written from the perspective of the culture in power, but I will say Tacitus does a pretty good job accurately representing the country and tribes. He touches on political structure, geography, social structure, marriage, prostitution, agriculture, war and religion. It is a quick, short read, only about 30 pages if using the Oxford edition and not too difficult to get through.

48.

Completed November 15

Wow. Wow. Simply amazing. I'm not going to review the plot, because I think everyone should read this book and experience it for themselves. It is great. Completely not what I expected.
Reasons Why I Loved This Book:
1. The writing. Cronin is a master of his trade, he knows the art of foreshadowing and leaves the reader constantly anticipating the next plot twist.
2. The Characters. There are so many but it is not a problem to keep track of them. A lot of the characters are really creepy with serious issues, but there are a few good gems in there that leave you with hope in a book full of disasters.
3. It's a vampire book! I read this thinking it was a zombie apocalypse book, a form of literature I had never read before. It's not. But the vampires are unique, due to a military experience gone wrong, and a whole new level of creepy/sad/disgusting. They are monsters but at times you feel terrible for them. This is not Twilight in any way shape or form.
4. IOWA! IOWA! (although a minor part of the story) IOWA! Cronin was at the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop, which is a huge deal for any big name write so I knew this was going to be an awesome book.

I did not like the length. I thought it was too long. But then I finished the book, and I do not think Cronin could have taken anything out because it would lose the effect the book had on me. All of the length is used to keep the reader on edge and the writing is so beautiful that he needed 1000+ pages.

***

I made my boyfriend read Harry Potter, so I figured it was only fair that I try to read his favorite books growing up. I love Harry Potter so much, but the Pendragon series is not going to live up to that quality of storytelling. Kind of an unfair comparison, but at least I gave them a shot!

Bobby is just your normal boy, until he finds out he is a Traveler and is whisked off into Hella (the universe) to the territory Denduron. The story is good, creative and not at all difficult to read. The writing seems forced and is relatively simple. At some points, I think the author tried to sound sarcastic, but it just did not work, making the sentence seem pointless. I am undecided as to if I'm going to read the next books, but I like that each book in this series is focused on different worlds, the sequel is all underwater.

Steve Jobs is an a$$. A brilliant one, but still an a$$. Yet, I'm in awe of him and his accomplishments. His brutal honesty mixed with his desire to make Apple a truly innovative company focused on convincing people on what they wanted and the integration of products, makes him a historical stand out. This book was one I was reluctant to read, but am so glad I did. Isaacson did a terrific job of not making this an "in house" novel, capturing Steve Jobs as he truly was, with no fluff or falsities

Kelsi wrote: "

"

HA! I've heard such good things about this book, I should really read it one of these days.. It's just so long!

52.

***

Good book, interesting concept. Interesting look into one of literature's psychologically disturbed criminals.

58.

**

Well, I have been a devout True Blood fan for ages. I also had a guilty conscience for not reading the book first. Verdict? Don't read the book, watch the show. The actors and writers do a much better job, and Sookie is kick a$$. Sookie, in the book is not as strong willed as I had hoped, and the action scenes are awful. The characters in this book are one dimensional, and it really bothered me.

I also feel like there are some things that should not grace the pages of a book. I do not care that a character is shaving her armpits.
Maybe I am just too influenced by having seen the series, but frankly, it is so much better, that I have no problems with curling up and watching HBO for the gloriousness (and attractive men) that is True Blood.

62.

***

Madame Bovary is a novel. Dense at times because it is mired with beautiful, tedious language, but overall an interesting story about one woman's failed morality. I found Emma a million times more annoying than Anna Karenina. A million times more selfish, stupid, and just downright awful. She got what was coming to herself and then her further stupid actions ruined her family. If anything I feel utmost sympathy for Charles and Berthe.

Flaubert spent a ton of time picking out the words and language he was going to use. He had to. Seriously, read this book for the writing even if the plot does not interest you. I rated it three stars because the story combined with the writing just did not work for me, but I understand fully why this is considered the top novel of all times and is on Boxall's list. He plays with words to create serene descriptive backdrops. I have a mild obsession with France and this made me want to go back so bad. Rouen and Paris are idyllic and the French countryside deserves the praises Flaubert gives them.

For a book about sex and adultery, there was really no sex. But because it is constantly implied and Flaubert is a master of language, I did not find that I needed the actual act to occur for the plot to continue on. I liked that Madame Bovary does not fall into the norm and go into lavish sex scenes or any of that. I actually laughed out loud at one of the "scenes" because (view spoiler)[Léon and Emma embark on a long carriage ride in which Flaubert gives us a lengthy description of the town and all that they pass. He then notes the carriage driver's frustration as to just driving aimlessly. One can infer that the dirty deed is being accomplished, but Flaubert was very creative in actually detailing the deed. (hide spoiler)].

At times the story really, really dragged on, and often you do not understand why he is digressing into other character lines. Some of them play through, but others do not. Hence, the 3 star rating.

Well I would have to read 4 books today to meet my goal, something I will not be doing...I hope to finish Interview with the Vampire today, but even that is a far reach.

Here's to 2013!