trinityofone

Done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done done DONE!

( 201. Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? — Neil Gaiman ) I’m not sorry I read it, but I probably didn’t need to buy it.

---

( 202. Ms. Hempel Chronicles — Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum ) while this is a quick, and at times compelling, read, I found it far from a fully gratifying one.

---

( 203. Jane Bites Back — Michael Thomas Ford ) do not make the same foolish choices—they’ll come back and bite you in the ass.

---

( 204. Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand — Helen Simonson ) this book is as warm, cozy, and comforting as the numerous cups of tea the not-so-young lovers enjoy together.

---

( 205. Under the Covers and Between the Sheets — C. Alan Joyce & Sarah Janssen ) I enjoyed this immensely.

---

( 206. Metal Angel — Nancy Springer ) I’d really rather read the Castiel AU fic instead. Especially if it features Dean’s magical penis.

---

( 207. Physics of the Impossible — Michio Kaku ) science fiction is much more thrilling to me than science reality.

---

( 208. English Lord, Ordinary Lady — Fiona Harper )Good culture clash rom-coms: please rec them to me?

---

( 209. Eyes Like Stars — Lisa Mantchev ) What the hell’s happening?

---

( 210. The Magicians — Lev Grossman )And that, I think, is my big lesson for 2009.

Total Reviews: 210/210 \o/

Year-in-review post forthcoming. (Probably.)

( 181. The Grift — Debra Ginsberg ) I think this book would have been better if it had taken itself much less seriously.

---

( 182. Generation A — Douglas Coupland ) Generation A was a relatively empty experience for me. And that does sting.

---

( 183. Beautiful Creatures — Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl )> while I was never as in love with Ethan and Lena as they were with each other, I was rooting for them.

---

( 184. When You Reach Me — Rebecca Stead ) It’s brilliant.

---

( 185. Looking For Calvin and Hobbes — Nevin Martell )It’s just not this book, alas.

---

( 186. Cat Burglar Black — Richard Sala ) octopedingenue said it best: “Holy expired plot coupons, Batman!”

---

( 187. Ox-Tales: Earth — Ed. by Mark Ellingham and Peter Florence ) THEY ARE JUST SO PRETTY.

---

( 188. Freakonomics — Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner ) HILARITY.

---

( 189. The Overnight Socialite — Bridie Clark ) This wasn’t great, but it was different, which in this genre especially I find admirable.

---

( 190. Helter Skelter — Vincent Bugliosi & Curt Gentry ) I think I’ll be cured of that for a good long while now.

Total Reviews: 190/210

Buckle your seatbelts: this one gets ranty.

( 161. The Hunger Games — Suzanne Collins ) I can't wait to read the next one.

---

( 162. The Five Fists of Science — Matt Fraction ) can't we get Tesla in on more of that action?

---

( 163. Hush, Hush — Becca Fitzpatrick ) My store's shelves will still sag with titles that make me sigh internally as I force a smile and try to subtly direct customers to the works of E. Lockhart, John Green, Suzanne Collins, M.T. Anderson, and Cory Doctorow instead. Hint, hint.

---

( 164. One Night at the Call Center — Chetah Bhagat ) rather than just swallow my discomfort (liberal guilt is actually pretty useless), I thought I’d try to talk about it. We’ll see how that goes.

---

( 165. Asylum — Christopher Payne ) There was something here—something that mattered once—and now it’s gone forever.

---

( 166. Cat’s Cradle — Kurt Vonnegut ) I am going to be afraid of Ice-9 forever now. Gah.

---

( 167. Green River, Running Red — Ann Rule ) it's four minutes long and I think it achieves something more vivid and poignant and terrible than this book does in over 500 pages.

---

( 168. Zombies — Don Roff & Chris Lane ) How awesome is that?

---

( 169. Numbers — Rachel Ward ) that’s not enough to make it really good.

---

( 170. Stop Me If You’ve Heard This — Jim Holt )Yup, definitely something wrong with me.)

Total Reviews: 170/210

Wow, was this ever not a highly intellectual stretch of reading. I think this particular log covers the last week of August into the beginning of September; I wonder what other thing I could possibly have been so focused on? ;-)

( 141. Dangerous Laughter — Steven Millhauser ) This book needed a strong editor’s hand and clearly did not get it.

---

( 142. Priest: Vol. 1 — Min-Woo Hyung ) With pacing like this to look forward to, I suspect I’ll be just as pokey when it comes to picking up the next volume.

---

( 143. Bitten — Ed. by Susie Bright ) That's how it should be done, guys.

---

( 144. F U, Penguin — Matthew Gasteier ) Is there something Mishaish about it? POSSIBLY.

---

( 145. Amulet: The Stonekeeper’s Curse — Kazu Kibuishi ) This is a great example of an author taking familiar fantasy tropes and making them his own—and a joy to read besides.

---

( 146. Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life — Bryan Lee O’Malley ) Please justify my spending habits for me, kthx.

---

( 147. Juliet, Naked — Nick Hornby ) I really, really liked it—not enough to write thousands of words dissecting its every nuance on the internet, but I think we can all agree that that is ultimately a good thing.

---

( 148. The Bible Salesman — Clyde Edgerton ) I don't think I feel any different having read this book than I would have if I'd left it on the shelf.

---

( 149. The Guinea Pig Diaries — A.J. Jacobs ) I recommend trying The Know-It-All, as it’s still my favorite.

---

( 150. Shoplifting From American Apparel — Tao Lin ) perhaps I should read some of Lin’s short stories.

Total Reviews: 150/210

So I didn't come remotely close to finishing this before the end of the year. Let's see if I can wrap it up before the end of January, shall we?

( 122. Mother Night — Kurt Vonnegut ) Worth adding to my "Reread—slowly, dammit!" pile.

---

( 123. White Apples — Jonathan Carroll ) What gives, Neil?

---

( 124. Breakfast of Champions — Kurt Vonnegut ) anyone who is attempting to write any sort of metafiction at all should have to read this book.

---

( 125. The Magician’s Book — Laura Miller ) it’s also just nice to see other books by and about other people who have never gotten over peering into wardrobes.

---

( 126. The Mysterious Benedict Society — Trenton Lee Stewart ) I found the series lacks crossover appeal.

---

( 127. Ghosts — César Aira ) It's easy to fall under this book's ghostly spell.

---

( 128. Beyond Heaving Bosoms — Sarah Wendell & Candy Tan ) I’d like to read a book about that.

---

( 129. The Man Who Was Thursday — G.K. Chesterton ) If you're looking for a unique read, look no further.

(If Misha Collins came into my store, this is the book I would give him. For reasons beyond the obvious. His sense of humor and Chesterton's are sort of similar in a weird way.)

---

( 130. R.U.R. — Karel Capek ) I’m glad I read it, though.

Total Reviews: 130/210

My dad bought the whole family tickets to Avatar without asking if we wanted to see Avatar, so I ended up seeing Avatar. My review, in brief: EW. All of these books were better than Avatar, even the ones I hated. The end.

( 101. The Sheriff of Yrnameer — Michael Rubens ) This book won't change your life, but it might brighten it for a few hours.

---

( 102. A Madness of Angels — Kate Griffin ) The novel's opening left me intellectually tantalized but I was never emotionally engaged.

---

( 103. God Save the Queen — Mike Carey ) Next!

---

( 104. The Big Book of Urban Legends — Jan Harold Brunvand, et. al. ) I'd recommend the more in-depth writings instead.

---

( 105. The Ninth Circle — Alex Bell ) people need to write more “Castiel with amnesia” fic, and I need to read less crap.

---

( 106. Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft — Joe Hill ) I'm looking forward to the release of the next volume in September. It was good! Review forthcoming! (I am so on top of this. Really.)

---

( 107. Sandman Slim — Richard Kadrey ) I was nearly on the floor.

---

( 108. Savvy — Ingrid Law ) I was frankly underwhelmed.

---

( 109. Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi — Geoff Dyer )Possibly I am missing something awesome. But I am still missing it, and I am not sure if that’s my fault or Dyer’s.

---

( 110. No Girls Allowed — Susan Hughes ) I really want to read a whole book just about Barry now.

Total Reviews: 110/196

( 81. Drood — Dan Simmons ) Run! Save yourselves!

---

( 82. The Girl Who Played With Fire — Stieg Larsson ) I don’t want this story to end.

---

( 83. The Walls of the Universe — Paul Melko ) one neat paragraph hardly makes the whole boring book worth reading.

---

( 84., 85., 87. & 90. The Saga of the Bloody Benders, The Beast of Chicago, A Treasury of Victorian Murder & The Case of Madeleine Smith — Rick Geary ) Wait till you get to the part about the greasy, stained curtain.

---

( 86. The Actor and the Housewife — Shannon Hale ) I would really like to read more of Hale’s work. But based on other factors—yes, My Thoughts On Mormonism, Let Me Show You Them—I’m not sure I will, or should. And that makes me sad.

---

( 88. Therefore, Repent! — Jim Munroe ) I enjoyed this.

---

( 89. Maps and Legends — Michael Chabon ) this book encouraged me to track down the D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths, for which I am grateful. So that’s nice.

Total Reviews: 90/196

Okay, start placing your bets now on whether or not I will be able to finish this by the end of the year. I am so far behind it's hysterical—as in, I may become hysterical if I think too much about how behind I am.

( 61. I’d Rather We Got Casinos — Larry Wilmore ) it made me uncomfortable, but that’s kind of the point.

---

( 62. Seeking Whom He May Devour — Fred Vargas )Equally puzzling: why I persisted in reading this book to the end. Maybe it was so I could discover that the killer was exactly who I expected, based on the character serving no other purpose in the narrative.

---

( 63. Christine Falls — Benjamin Black ) We sell a lot of copies of this novel (and its sequel, which I now have no intention of reading) at my store, but when there are exciting and complex literary mysteries out there like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo to read, I really do not understand why.

---

( 64. The Best of Everything — Rona Jaffe ) this is a wonderful read that—unfortunately?—will continue to resonate with the working women of today.

---

( 65. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater — Kurt Vonnegut )Hurrah, another review that’s more about me than about the book! \o/

---

( 66. Dance Dance Dance — Haruki Murakami ) I’d mark this as one for the completists only.

---

( 67. Jingo — Terry Pratchett ) even a Terry Pratchett novel that you don’t love tends to be pretty darn enjoyable, and this was.

---

( 68. Geek Charming — Robin Palmer ) Gosh, thank goodness Dylan didn’t have to suffer through being INDEPENDENT.

---

( 69. The Fairy Rebel — Lynne Reid Banks ) There are delightful pink-haired fairies to enjoy!

---

( 70. I’m the One That I Want — Margaret Cho ) Which doesn't in the least make this a book that shouldn't have been written, but does make it one that I don't really want to read.

Total Reviews: 70/191

Alternately: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Booklog, The Girl With the Booklog Tattoo, St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised by Booklogs... There were so many options this time!

( 41. Laura Rider’s Masterpiece — Jane Hamilton ) I'll go with the obvious joke: this certainly isn't Jane Hamilton's masterpiece.

---

( 42. The Knife of Never Letting Go — Patrick Ness ) I love a lot of the elements at play—space westerns! Man—but not how they hang together in this narrative.

---

( 43. The Myriad — R.M. Meluch ) New space opera series to devour FTW!

---

( 44. Wastelands — Ed. by John Joseph Adams ) this is one of the rare anthologies I’d eagerly recommend.

---

( 45. Little Bee — Chris Cleave ) Draw your own conclusions.

---

( 46. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie — Alan Bradley ) I never felt involved or like any part of the story was real or mattered.

---

( 47. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo — Stieg Larsson ) a novel—and a thriller, no less!—in which the women not only rescue themselves, they rescue the men.

---

( 48. Wolf Star — R.M. Meluch ) These are like the Chewy Chips Ahoy! of reading material—obviously really not very good on a fundamental level, and yet once you start eating, you just cannot stop stuffing your cake hole with the little bastards.

---

( 49. St. Lucy’s Home For Girls Raised By Wolves — Karen Russell ) I’d recommend reading one of Richter’s collections—or even one of Link’s or Bender’s—instead.

---

( 50. Little Brother — Cory Doctorow ) If 1984 bugged you because it felt too hopeless, here’s a alternative that’s no less frightening, but which is all about not giving up and fighting back.

Total Reviews: 50/92

( The Latest Edition of Trin's New Job Celebrity Watch Tally! )

*cough* And now, some much more dignified discussion of literature!

( 21. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love — Raymond Carver ) I think in future I will just limit my intake. An occasional nibble—great. A heavy meal, though—uh-oh, now you’re gonna need to lie down.

---

( 22. after the quake — Haruki Murakami ) This was like a lovely little Murakami snack before I move onto the feast of his next novel.

(I will stop with the food metaphors now.)

---

( 23. & 24. Runaways: True Believers & Runaways: Escape to New York — Brian K. Vaughan ) there are shapeshifting aliens and wacky time travel shenanigans and funny Wolverine and Spider-Man cameos. Who am I to complain?

---

( 25. The Pluto Files — Neil deGrasse Tyson ) This is all totally true. NO ONE CAN CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE.

---

( 26. World of M — Daniel Way, et. al. ) wacky alternate universe shenanigans should by all rights be way more fun than this.

---

( 27. The Boy Detective Fails — Joe Meno ) Weirdest Dr. Horrible AU ever, y/y?

---

( 28. Paper Towns — John Green ) I’m pleased anytime I come across one of these stories in which the female character is as vivid as the male, instead of just one of a long row of interchangeable Galateas.

---

( 29. Howling Mad — Peter David ) DON’T BE FOOLED, FUTURE SELF! Maybe you could try learning from your mistakes for once?

---

( 30. Dramarama — E. Lockhart ) I’ll bet you’ll find yourself anxious to devour everything she’s ever written. I certainly have.

Total Reviews: 30/44