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Ah, 2010. This will be my first year in the challenge and I'm getting excited. I have a stack of books ready.

Getting closer...

I probably should not be this excited. Gosh, I am such a nerd at times. :)

Julie, we are all nerds then! It is fun to start fresh :)

Count me on the nerd list!

IT IS fun to start over, and with a pile of fresh books to read! It's exciting! Good luck on your challenge, Julie!!! I'm looking forward to seeing what books you will read in 2010!

Count me in on the excitement too. I even made a written list of all the books I wanted to read this year. NERD!! But it's such a good nerdiness, isn't it?

I did that too, Michele! The list thing...lol... NERDS ROCK!!!

i have my list on goodreads- but it is far from complete! need to work on that!

No wonder we all connect so well! Us bookworms need to stick together :)

"Solidarity sister- ya ya!!" LOL

Thanks for your kind comments. I'm working on my first few right now.

1. Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne.

I am a Verne fan, so it was natural for me to pick up this one. I was not disappointed in this one. It had adventure, geology, humor, discovery, despair, joy, and so many other things.

2. Faded Denim: Color Me Trapped by Melody Carlson.

This is another installment in the True Colors series. Basically they each tell the story of a girl who struggles with a certain issue. This one dealed with eating disorders. Overall, this was a good read. It was easy to take in but still gave me some things to think about concerning popular culture, body image, self-esteem, beauty, etc.

3. "O" God: A Dialogue on Truth and Oprah's Spirituality by Josh McDowell and David Sterret.

I don't know a whole lot about Oprah, but she seems to be a big influence in America (and maybe other parts of the world, I don't know). So I decided to borrow this book from my mom's bookshelf and find out something about this woman and what she teaches.

Well, the book was informative. I learned a lot about what she is teaching (maybe endorsing would be a better word) through her show, magazine, and book club selections. It says in the subtitle that this is a dialogue, and it turns out to be literally an ongoing conversation between two friends. One played the role of devoted Christian while the other was curious/doubtful.

In short, the message was good, and the book was very informative. The language was matter-of-fact and luckily not overly emotional or accusing.

However, the format seemed a bit fake. It was nice to see how the conversations played out, but it seemed odd that the two were always having deep, spiritual conversations. That part felt fake, but overall, I liked the book.

"O" God A Dialogue on Truth and Oprah's Spirituality

Very interesting comments, Julie . . . thanks!

4. Fool's Gold: Color Me Consumed
This was another installment in the True Color series by Melody Carlson. This tells the story of Hannah, a teenager of missionary parents. While her parents take a break from mission work to earn money to fund further work, she lives with her cousin Vanessa's family for the summer. Accustomed to simple living, she is surprised by their elegant lifestyle. She gets sucked into their habits of spending and wearing the "best" clothing.

Overall, I thought this was a good read. It explored consumerism, greed, and problems of overusing credit.
However, I'm getting a bit tired of Carlson books since they seem to follow a formula. Girl has issue, she struggles, more struggling, someone helps her, she is reformed. It is nice to see things work out for the main character in the end, but this set up gets old after a while. I think I will take a break from her books so I can come back later with a fresh view.

5. The View from Saturday

This was one that I had on my shelf from when I was younger but did not remember much about it. I remembered liking it, so I thought I would see if it was still good. I did. I think this was the perfect timing for this book since I did not remember much, but rereading it gave me the feeling that it was all comfortably familiar, almost like I had had a half-clear dream of it.

I loved how the author connected each character's story with the other stories. In the author's note at the end, she tells that the stories were originally separate short stories that interlocked perfectly.
Another thing that I feel that I need to gush about is way she polished the different points of view. Sometimes all the characters' voices sound the same, but this author broke out of that. Each point of view was wonderfully distinct to that character.

6. Marked

I was a bit wary about this book since it's about vampyres. I am (gasp!) a teenage girl who despises the Twilight fad, so I was reluctant to read a book about teenage vampyres. But I read this book for a few reasons: 1) It is not as popular as Twilight, so I felt like it was a safer book to experiment with. 2)A friend of mine lent this book, saying that she really liked it. So since she liked it so much, I thought that I would give it a shot.

I had some mixed feelings after finishing. Zoey is a normal teenage girl who gets "Marked," meaning that she will start the process to become a vampyre. It turns out the idea of being bitten and turning into a vampyre is a myth. Becoming a vampyre is just something that some teenagers do when their body chemicals change and manipulate their DNA. That was not the only vampyre myth that the book "debunked," so it was interesting to see a different take on vampyres.

It was an amusing book that had some humor. Overall I liked it, but I had a few complaints. Her grandmother is Cherokee, and somehow the vampyrism and Zoey's Cherokee are linked. The book tried to explain that, but I was not getting the connection. Some of the characters felt a bit flat, but that was not a big deal. The book had so many characters that I couldn't expect them all to be fully developed.

7. This Lullaby

I was not expecting much of this book. I like Sarah Dressen, but none of her books are high impact. I grab her books when I want something light and fun. I got what I wanted and more from this book.

One thing that I like about this book (and Dressen books in general) is the use of details. She has a good way of weaving describing details into the story in a believable and interesting way. The ending, while not the ending that one might expect, was satisfying. I would recommend this as a light YA read.

Julie wrote: "This Lullaby

I was not expecting much of this book. I like Sarah Dressen, but none of her books are high impact. I grab her books when I want something light and fun. I got what I w..."

This one is in my TBR pile for the year...we shall see if I actually get to it!! =) I also like Sarah dessen, like you said hers are nice light fluffy reads. Great job on your challenge so far!! =)

I added the first in the Melody Carson Series TrueColors. I looked it up and they sound like good reads. Thankfully, I will have to order them off of Amazon, so I won't be able to get to many at once, so less of a chance of getting totally burned out on them!!! Thanks for the recommendation!! And I think I am going to look into that book about Oprah. THAT sounded really interesting as well!! Looks like you are on a good roll here!!

Dawn Michelle, the first one is my favorite of the series that I've read so far. I hope you like it.

8. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

This is probably an odd book for a teenage girl to have on her reading list, but I have a good reason. I notice that I reread a lot of books for some nostalgia, so I thought that I should go way back to preschool. This is a book that just feels good to read outloud with its simple pattern and fun pictures. I can see why I loved it as a kid.

9. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

I have some mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, it was an interesting school about an ambitious girl who goes to an exclusive boarding school. The secret society element was interesting.

On the other hand, I did not like the main character much. She was not a bad character, but she was not very easy to relate to. Oh well.

10. The Kayla Chronicles

This is the first book that I've read by this author, but I was pleasantly surprised. The voice was fresh and funny. Kayla was a lovable and realistic character. This was a quick but very enjoyable read.

11. Betrayed

So this is the sequel to Marked. I liked how this continued the previous story and added some shades of gray to it. In this one, the "good" characters don't seem as good, and the the "bad" characters don't seem as bad.

I can't say too much about this or I might spoil things, but something did bother me a bit. In this book, Zoey seems more distracted. Agh, I can't explain what I mean without giving away plot twists, so I'll stop there.

12. The Possibilities of Sainthood

This was an impulse read that I found in the school library. I'm glad that I read it. It was not a great book that changed my life or anything, but it was a fun, unique read. Seriously, can anyone name other books about teenage girls who love Catholic saints and constantly write to the Vatican asking to become the first living saint?

This unique storyline was good, but what I really liked was the narrator's voice. Antonia had a particular way of speaking and thinking that felt fresh and real. It was often funny.

Here's a brief qoute from early in the book:
"Dear St. Sebastian: O Patron Saint of Athletes, please help me not look stupid tomorrow in gym class when we play soccer even though I am not very fast, kick the ball in the wrong direction, and sometimes forget what team I'm on. And I promise I won't sit down out on the field if they make me play defender again and I get bored."

13. Chosen
Third enstallment in the House of the Night series. This one added more drama and layers to the story. Literally everything changed and the reader is not so sure who to trust.

So I'm enjoying this series, but they're more of a guilty pleasure type book for me.

14. Slam Book by Ann M Martin

This is one that I remembered reading as preteen and being freaked out by it. I wanted to revisit it to see if it was still interesting. Well...

It was odd. Especially considering it was written by Ann M Martin who wrote The Babysitters' Club books that I also liked. This book was so different from her Babysitters' Club books.

Just a note... I'm trying to remember this book I read when I was younger. It is about a boy who is new at a "school" for troubled teens. He starts to notice that odd things are happening at the school, especially with his roommate who is there for starting fires. The roommate says he never did anything like that, and the main character starts to suspect that the roommate (I think his nickname was Flame or something like that) has the power to start powers with his mind. The main character starts to notice other odd things about the other boys and realizes that maybe they all have a superpower.

Does anyone know this book that I'm describing?

EDIT: I found the book.

15. Untamed
There seems to be a trend in this series. Action gets more exciting, while the narration can at times get more annoying. I loved the plot and how new twists were added. But some of the narration had me rolling my eyes. One character is described as entering the room like a "little gay tornado." What??? I don't understand how his sexual choices make him run into the room differently.

So basically, the story was great, but the narration was a bit off at times. I recommend this series if you don't mind the odd narration.

16. The Giver

I originally read this is in middle school and liked it. I was confused by the ending, though.

I went back to see if I would still like it. Well, it felt strange. I can't even put my finger on it, but some of the logic and events seem a bit off. Overall, it was a good book, but it does not explain how their society got to be that way-just some vague references to Sameness. That made it hard to believe since I would have liked some kind of explanation.

Maybe I'm just being nitpicky. It was written for children, after all.

Julie, I hd the reverse experience! I read it as a young adult and didn't get it and then read it as an adult and thought it was great.

Andrea, I still liked it. It just felt different to me. I'm happy to hear that you like it, though. Have you read the others in that series?

No I have not Julie, have you? I'll have to give them a try!

I read one of them but wasn't too impressed with it. However, I think I'll give the whole series another read-through. I liked The Giver this time, so maybe I'll like those, too. In any case, they are not very long, so it's not a huge time investment either way.

17. Hunted

I have some mixed feelings on this. I liked it, but some things are getting old. The characters felt stereotyped (we have the gay guys, the black girl with terrible grammar, the country gal-every major stereotype seems to be here). I saw too many typos and editing errors for my comfort.

However... if you ignore that, it was an interesting book that I liked.

18. Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors

I read this in my Novels and Short Stories class. It tells the true story of the survivors of a plane crash in Andes. Their experience is amazing and moving.

19. Inexcusable

I was a bit disappointed in this book. It was interesting in an odd way, but it was not my typical taste. My biggest complaint was the timing issue. The narrator started in the present, flashed back, present, and so on. Because I knew what was going on in the present time, the flashbacks were spoiled. Some books can pull off that setup with flying colors, but it did not seem to work so well for this one.

20. Peeps

I loved his books Uglies, Pretties, Specials, and Extras, so I wanted to try this. It was not as good as that series, but it was still an interesting read.

21. The Wednesday Wars

I really liked this book, so I'm glad that I randomly picked this up at the library.

Ah, I really love it when those random picks work out!

22. Of Mice and Men

I read this for English class. I know it's supposed to be a classic, but I have mixed feelings about it. In a way, it was an interesting story about some men during the Depression and their struggle to make it. But I wish the book had been longer to let the characters be more developed.

23. Airhead
I loved Meg Cabot's Princess Diaries for a funny, fresh main character, so I thought I would try this book for her. I was happy with it. Em is lovable and funny, and I felt for her. Several moments were laugh out loud funny, so I am glad that I picked this up from the school library.

24. Liar

This was another impulse read, and it was really different. The thing on the jacket cover did not really describe it well, but the book was thoroughly interesting. This was not your typical teen book, which made for some interesting reading.

25. One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies

I liked this one. As a book lover, I liked the book references that were slipped in.

26. Speak

I loved the girl's voice in the story. Her point of view felt so fresh, and I really felt for her.

27. Skin Deep

This was a pretty interesting book that told the story of a girl whose boyfriend turns into a neo-Nazi. It was a fictional story, but there were many facts about racism, freedom of speech, and the law. I would recommend this book.

28. The Radioactive Boyscout

This was an expanded article on a teen who did experiments with radioactive materials in his shed. It was so different than what I usually read, so the telling was odd to me. Howevever, it was short enough that it was not a huge risk to experiment with. It usually kept my interest, though I felt that it lacked closure at the end.

29. Hidden Talents

I really liked this book. The first time I read this was in middle school, so this was a reread. Several parts were very funny, and I literally laughed out loud in the dentist's waiting room while reading this. Very interesting story.