Joy Comes in the Morning

Yeah, I'm still catching up on things. And yeah, they both win by default.

November:

There's No Place Like Here by Cecelia Ahern
BOOK OF THE MONTH AWARD
Not my favorite book by Cecelia Ahern, but still enjoyable. Sandy Shortt is a woman who has always been concerned about where things (or people) go when they are missing. Most people don't think twice about losing a sock in the wash, but Sandy would spend days looking for even the smallest thing like that. As an adult, she starts her own missing persons agency. Then one day, she goes missing herself, and she finds out where all the missing things go. And then all she wants is to get back home.

December:

Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
BOOK OF THE MONTH AWARD
Ryan gave this to me to read because it's one of his favorite books. I thought it was okay. It had some good things to say about life, and about the important things in life. But I didn't particularly care for the way it was written. It was like every little chapter or mini chapter had to end with a profound sentence that was supposed to tug on your heartstrings. I get annoyed when I feel that a book or movie or song or email forward is purposely trying to tug on my heartstrings. I guess I'm cold and unfeeling that way.

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
BOOK OF THE MONTH AWARD
Yeah, it wins by default, since it was the only book I managed to finish this month. (I'm still in the middle of three others. Hopefully I can finish those for October.) ( Just in case there are spoilers... )

Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
This is book three of Mma Romotswe, right? I think so. I liked reading more about her secretary in this one. She's a cool lady.

Free Byrd by Paul Byrd
BOOK OF THE MONTH AWARD
Paul Byrd is a pitcher for the Cleveland Indians. He's not a great writer, so some things in his book came out a little awkward. But he is very honest, and I really appreciated that. It's a book about his Christian faith, the struggles he's had, and how that fits into major league baseball. He seems like a really cool guy. He explains how being a Christian doesn't mean that everything will be perfect for you, or that you won't be tempted by sin, and sometimes give in to it. He focuses on the importance of a relationship with God.

Deadline by Chris Crutcher
A high school senior finds out that he only has a year to live. He wants to have as normal a year as possible, so he doesn't tell anyone. He decides to stir things up before he goes though, and interesting things happen. It was a good book.

Blessed are the Cheesemakers by Sarah-Kate Lynch
I listened to it again because it's so good. It's about two old men in Ireland who make cheese. They're getting old and they need to find someone to replace them. There's a bunch of other fun characters too who have conflicts to solve.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
This is an eerie, but good, book. It's the first in a series. The main character, Dexter, is a serial killer who will always have a sort of nagging feeling to kill. He has learned to keep it under control though, by only killing other serial killers. Kind of ridding the world of horrible people. But he's kind of horrible himself. It's somewhat gory, but it also has a strange humor. Dexter feels no real emotions, and his attempts to pretend like he does are funny.

Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn
This is book one in the Tales of the Otori series. It takes place in Japan a long time ago, but it creates a different history of Japan, and there are fantasy elements as well. The country is divided into tribes that are at war with each other. A young man named Takeo escapes from his village when it is attacked, and he is rescued by Lord Otori Shigeru. Shigeru trains Takeo to fight in the hope that one day, he will be able to sneak across the nightingale floor and kill Iida, the bad guy. Another story going on at the same time is that of Kaede, a girl who has spent most of her life as a hostage/servant at a castle. I really enjoyed this book, and now I'm almost done with the second one in the series.

The Careful Use of Compliments by Alexander McCall Smith
BOOK OF THE MONTH AWARD
This is the fourth Isabel Dalhousie book. Isabel is still pondering philosophical issues, and she has yet another small mystery to solve. I can't really tell anything about the story, because I'd be giving away things that happen in previous books. I'll just keep saying that these are really good.

Portuguese Irregular Verbs by Alexander McCall Smith
I listened to this one again because I liked it so much the first time. It's very funny! It tells about the various antics of Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, an expert in the field of Portuguese irregular verbs.

Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen
This was pretty funny. His style is kind of like Dave Barry's. The story is about a woman who is a little nuts and she gets really upset about a telemarketer who was rude to her on the phone one day. She plans a big scheme to get back at him and teach him some manners. She lures him to Florida where she takes him and his mistress on a kayaking tour of some swamp lands. Her ex-husband and her son are following her. A private eye is following the telemarketer. It's all pretty absurd, but in a good way.

Shakespeare by Bill Bryson
This isn't a travel book, like Bill Bryson's other books, but it's still his witty style. He explains how we don't actually know very much about William Shakespeare. Most of what we think about his life is speculation. Bryson gives the biography of Shakespeare telling what we can be sure of, and what probably happened, and what probably did not happen. It's a good little history, as he also talks about the times and places in which Shakespeare lived.

Friends, Lovers, Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith
I finally remembered that I wanted to continue reading The Sunday Philosophy Club series, so I found the second book. I really like it! Isabel Dalhousie is a middle-aged woman who lives in Edinburgh. She thinks about philosophic issues a lot. In this story, she meets a man who has received a heart transplant, and now he has a memory that he believes belonged to the donor. It's sort of like a little mystery that Isabel has to solve. I'm becoming a big fan of this author.

Sex God by Rob Bell
BOOK OF THE MONTH AWARD
Rob Bell's second book. In this one, he talks about sexuality and spirituality, and how they relate to each other. I liked his explanations of all the wedding symbolism in the Bible - things that I didn't even realize had anything to do with weddings. Like when Jesus talked about going to prepare a place for us, in the Jewish tradition, that's what a man would say to a woman when they became engaged. And then the man would go build an addition onto his father's house, so he and his bride would have somewhere to live after they got married. I've heard analogies of the Church being God's bride before, but this book made it more specific, and more personal, as he also talked about how this relates to our lives on a smaller scale. It was really interesting.

Thale's Folly by Dorothy Gilman
This book is simply delightful. Thale's Folly is a big house that was once owned by Harriet Thale. When she died, the house went to her nephew. Andrew is the 26-year-old son of the nephew, and his father sends him to the house to gather information about the house and lands so they can sell it. When Andrew arrives at the house though, he finds four occupants still living there and they don't want to leave. He spends some time with them and finds that he really likes it there and doesn't want to leave either. It's a very pleasant story.

Jennifer Government by Max Barry
This one was interesting, but a little bit hard to follow. It takes place in the future, when everyone takes the company they work for as their last name. Hack Nike accidently gets involved in a new marketing strategy at Nike that involves killing some of the people who buy the new shoes. He doesn't want to do it, of course, so some people are after him, including Jennifer Government. But she's not one of the bad guys. She wants to help. I thought it was okay.

The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson
This is a cute, fantasy book. There is a magical island that has all sorts of fantasy creatures. To get to the island, there is a gateway at Platform 13 that opens for nine days every nine years. The king and queen of the island have a newborn son, who is accidently taken to the non-magical world during one of the gateway openings, and is stolen. Nine years later, some beings from the island go through in order to rescue the prince. They run into some complications, of course, and it turns into quite an adventure! (Thanks, modmerseygirl!)

Catering to Nobody by Diane Mott Davidson
A single mom has started her own catering business, but things go wrong when someone ends up poisoned at a post-funeral gathering that she's catered. The police have to shut down her business until the mystery is solved, so she sets out to solve it. It was okay.

Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
This is a non-fiction book, looking at what really makes people happy. It was interesting, especially learning about different studies that have been done. But I don't think that all of his theories are correct. I did like the part about the importance of the frontal lobe in the brain.

If You Could See Me Now by Cecelia Ahern
I loved this one the first time, so I listened to it again. It's about a woman named Elizabeth who never has fun. She's very strict with her nephew Luke, who she has to raise, and with her own life. She's pretty miserable. Then she starts to see Luke's imaginary friend, Ivan, who looks about her age, but has a lot more fun than she does. She doesn't know that Ivan is imaginary though. She thinks everyone else can see him too. He teaches her how to have fun and it's a lovely story.

Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris
BOOK OF THE MONTH AWARD
I really liked this one. I read his first book, I Kissed Dating Goodbye, a few years ago, and I remember the basic ideas in it, but I don't remember much of the content. Basically, he was saying that, as a Christian, dating just to date was a bad idea. Purposeful dating, which he calls courtship, is a better idea. In this second book, he explains how dating with a purpose works. Courtship is dating to determine if God would have these two people marry. He explains how a courtship doesn't have a recipe with specific rules to follow. It has to start with a desire to glorify God. If it ends in marriage, that's great, and if it doesn't end in marriage, it is still a success. In his case, it did end in marriage and he couldn't be happier.

Love Among the Chickens by P.G. Wodehouse
This is a goofy, little comedy with some dry, British humor. It's about a man named Jeremy Garnet whose loud, obnoxious friend, Mr. Ukridge, wants him to start a chicken farm with him. Mr. Garnet takes on the challenge, and falls in love with a woman in the process. Ukridge is a little bit annoying, but other than that, it was cute.

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
This is about an American girl who goes to live with her cousins in England. Right after she gets there, a war starts and things just kind of shut down. Like, there's no gas, little food, and medicine is scarce. They have to figure out how to survive on their own, and it's even tougher after they get separated. I thought it was an interesting story, but I didn't really like the way the main character talked as she narrated the whole thing. (Thank you, Kimma, for getting this for me for my birthday!)

Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway by Dave Barry
He talks about the history of our government for a while, gives a little tour of Washington, D.C., and then goes off on a tangent about the 2000 presidential election. Kind of funny, but overall, just so-so.

Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
I couldn't remember if I'd read this one yet, and now after reading it, I still can't remember. It's good though. It's about a high school senior named Louie who is on the football team. He makes a stand after the coach orders the team to cheat and hurt a certain player on their rival team. It's a typical Chris Crutcher book, which means it's a really good young adult novel.

Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman
Thanks to Brenda for the recommendation. I really liked this book. It's a young adult book about two friends. The main character, Julie, really likes to read and her favorite book is Pride and Prejudice. Her friend, Ashleigh, is an enthusiast. She goes through phases where she'll be really into something for a while, and then she moves on to a new interest and throws herself into that one. Her latest craze happens to be Pride and Prejudice. They go to a dance at an all-boys school, hoping to find their Mr. Darcys. Well, they do, but unfortunately, they've picked out the same boy. I thought this was really funny and cute.

Syrup by Maxx Barry
BOOK OF THE MONTH AWARD
Listening to this book was like watching a really good movie, if that makes any sense. It's about a recent college graduate who calls himself Scat, and he wants to be rich and famous by going into marketing and coming up with fabulous ideas. He comes up with an idea for a new cola, and pitches it to an executive at Coca-cola. The executive is a young, gorgeous girl named 6, and she actually likes the idea. It starts a plot where I kept thinking things would work out, and then something would come out of nowhere and mess it up. It was awesome. And I really like the writing style. This author is hilarious.

I seemed to start several books this month and then not be interested enough to finish them. So there's only two.

Him Her Him Again The End of Him by Patricia Marx
This is about an American grad student at Cambridge who is having a hard time sticking to a thesis topic. She meets a philosophy professor for whom she develops an unhealthy obsession. They start going out, but he's such a jerk and I really don't know what she saw in him. She was attracted to his intelligence, but he was so snobby about it. He was kind of annoying actually. Eventually, she got wise to his wandering ways and tried to move on with her life. It worked for a while, but he came back and other things happened. Anyway, this was a surprisingly funny book. It kept making me laugh.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
BOOK OF THE MONTH AWARD
I decided to read this book after tingilya spoke so highly of it. It was really good. Just a captivating story. It's about an old author, Vida Winter, who wants her true biography written. She chooses a young woman named Margaret to write it. Margaret spends a few months living with Vida Winter and listening to her story. And it's a great story, with fascinating characters. One of the characters is named Hester, so that gave me another reason to like it.

Blessed are the Cheesemakers by Sarah-Kate Lynch
Once again, it's an Irish book with a nice story and lovable characters - the kind that just gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling. This one is about two old men who make cheese for a living. It's an old family business, and they'd like to keep it in the family. However, they feel it's time to pass it on to someone else, and unfortunately, they don't really have any family. The one guy does have a 29-year-old granddaughter that he hasn't seen since she was five. And coincidently, circumstances in her life bring her back home right when he needs her. At the same time, an American guy has been going through some rough times, and he goes to Ireland to take a little break. And he kind of gets roped into the cheesemaking business too. Add to all that the pregnant, vegetarian milkmaids who sing "The Sound of Music" every day to the cows, and it's just very entertaining.

The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love by Jill Conner Browne
This is pretty funny. The Sweet Potato Queens are an actual group of women in Jackson, Mississippi, who dress up every year for the St. Patrick's Day parade. But even more than that, they have style and attitude and their own queenly way of life. She talks about men, hair, food, and friends, and there was always something making me laugh. I totally want to try her recipe for "Chocolate Stuff."

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
Sometimes I'm not sure if it was the book itself that annoyed me, or if it was the reader. Either way, it started off fine, but got more annoying as it went. It's about John, an army guy who is on leave when he meets Savannah, and they fall in love. But it's tough to keep their relationship going when he's in Iraq and other countries, and she is going to school.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
It had been a while since I read the sixth book, and I wanted to finish it before the seventh one came out. I did, with about seven hours to spare.

Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris
This was a little boring. It's about a young woman named Harper who can sense dead bodies and then "see" how they died. People hire her to find missing loved ones, and solve their mysterious deaths. She takes on a job in a small town, and then more mysterious things happen and she has to stay and figure them out. Her step-brother goes around with her on all her jobs, and it was annoying how dependent she was on him. One little thing would happen, and she'd freak out until he was with her.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
BOOK OF THE MONTH AWARD
I loved this book a whole bunch. Rowling is very smart and she's a great story-teller. I wonder what she'll write next.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
This is the start of a series about a teenager named Bella who falls in love with a vampire named Edward. He pretty much loves her too, but he also has a constant desire to drink her blood, which is inconvenient. It's intriguing and well-written.

Haunted and Twilight by Meg Cabot
BOOK OF THE MONTH AWARD (Twilight)
The last books, numbers five and six, of the Mediator series. I really liked this series. It was funny and interesting. It's about Suze, a mediator, who can see and talk to ghosts. It's her job to help ghosts finish their unfinished business so they can move on to the afterlife. Her main problem is that she's in love with a ghost named Jesse who haunts her room.

(Also, isn't it funny that there are two books called Twilight this month?)

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomerey
This was my second time through this book. I still love it. 29-year-old Valancy finds out that she only has a year to live, so she stops acting like the perfect daughter she's always been, and sets out to actually enjoy her life.

Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Sophie Kinsella
These books always crack me up. In this one, you can probably guess, Becky the shopaholic marries her boyfriend Luke. The problem is that Luke's mother is planning a big wedding in New York City, and Becky's mother is planning a wedding at home in England - and they're both on the same day.

Pulling Princes by Tyne O'Connell
The title makes more sense after the main character, British teenager Calypso, explains that "pulling" is slang for "kissing." So she and her friends are always talking about how they want to "pull fit boys," which means "kiss attractive boys." Calypso goes to an all-girl boarding school and she's doing her best to fit in with the cool girls. She also gets the attention of Prince Freddie, who attends the nearby boys' boarding school. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares
I finally got around to reading this one, and it didn't disappoint. I love this series. I think girls of any age could relate to the things these characters go through, even if they're only remembering their own adolescence.

On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God by Louise Rennison
Book number 2 about Georgia, who is now going out with Robbie, and is very excited about it, despite having to put up with all the normal woes of a fourteen-year-old.