Book 111-A stolen life by Jaycee Dugard

A Stolen Life: A Memoir 989 books to go! This book was surprisingly better than I thought it would be after reading the introduction. Jaycee Dugard an abduction victim for 18 years wrote this autobiography shortly after she was discovered and reunited with her family. She writes about her life before she was kidnapped, her life with Philip and Nancy Garrido in captivity, and ends with her life after being reunited with her family and receiving some therapy. While speaking of her recovery she writes about lessons she has learned, some personal thoughts and reflections as well as her adjustments to the world after spending 18 years in a confined backyard. The writing is simplified but personally I feel that captures the true Jaycee, the recovering Jaycee who's just beginning to heal and learn many lessons. She missed many opportunities to develop intellectually, so simplified writing is to be expected. In the introduction she states that the book may not make any sense, but to me there was nothing wrong with the continuity. For a true crime buff this book is pretty good because it comes from a survivor's point of view, sadly in many true crime cases that were high profile enough to gain the attention of an author there are barely any survivors, most of the victims have been murdered. One plus to purchasing this book is that the proceeds will go to a fund Jaycee has created, the name of the fund is the JAYC (Just Ask Yourself to Care) fund. The purpose of the fund is to provide help and treatment for families dealing with abduction. I was surprisingly impressed and am happy I read this book, if anyone I know wishes to read I might even consider making a purchase because of where the proceeds will go.

Book 110 - My first love and other disasters by Francine Pascal

My First Love and Other Disasters 890 books to go! Seems like it took me awhile to get through this very small and short book. Sometimes happens to me when I'm reading through a few books at once, which is what I often tend to do. This is the second book in the Victoria Martin trilogy, I find these books quite entertaining. In this story Victoria loses herself slightly. She falls for Jim Freeman and in order to try to get closer to him she takes a job in Fire Island over the summer as a mother's helper. She gets caught up in Jim and at first does what he would like her to do, and she's also trapped into doing much more as a mother's helper than she bargained for. At the end of the novel there's a slight emergency, a bit of excitement and after that Victoria gains herself again and learns some lessons. Definitely a great YA novel, I find myself relating to Victoria because I see myself as a teenager when I am reading through her adventures. Even though these books were written in the 70s and have been republished to me they're timeless.

Book 109 - Every last one by Anna Quindlen

Anna Quindlen's Every Last One: A Novel (Hardcover)(2010) 891 books to go! This is the first book by Anna Quindlen that I've read, I have it on my kindle (one of the many books Shawn has magically obtained for my kindle reading pleasure). This author has truly impressed me with this work, the book was a true page turner as well as a thought provoking shocker. This story engrossed and sucker punched me and I loved it. It's one of the recent best sellers I'm truly impressed with. The story's main character Mary Beth Latham suffers the most terrible horrible family tragedy imaginable. The story seems to split into two different parts, Mary Beth pre tragedy and Mary Beth after the tragedy. Anna Quindlen did well with her character, reading it I thought this is what a grieving woman must really feel. I also found myself pondering and thinking about the story on occasions when I had to put it down. I had just read the tragedy and than had to cook dinner, until I read more I contemplated the tragedy, who was responsible, how it happened. There were also times where I almost cried while reading some of the scenes. This work is pure genius, there seems to be some rumors of a movie stemming from this work-I hope the movie might be every bit as good that the book was.

Book 108 - The invisible bridge by Julie Orringer

The Invisible Bridge (Vintage Contemporaries) 892 books to go! It's taken me a long time to finally complete this intense story. I started reading it on my kindle in the beginning of this month and just finished it. It is an epic story filled with sadness and bittersweet happiness, filled with incredible imagery, a tour of two different countries, tales of love and tales of war. The main character of the story, Andras Levi begins the story leaving to start school in Paris where he's been granted a scholarship to study architecture. However he starts school while the beginnings of World War II are happening and the trouble for many Jews like himself begin to happen. Each time I thought Andras' luck was down and it might be the end for him, some person, some favor, some stroke of luck got him through. During the novel Andras falls in love, is forced to leave Paris, is thrown into labor service, later becoming a labor camp, and is finally alive and free. This story was a definite page turner, very enjoyable, extremely descriptive. At times I put my kindle down because I had to move on with my life by going to work, going to sleep, going back to work after a lunch break, getting off the buses or the trains and I was left wondering what would happen to Andras and how he was going to get through his next hardship. If you wish to read something semi-long, and you are comfortable with World War II and holocaust literature than this is the book for you to pick up and read, I enjoyed it extremely.

Book 107 - My mother was never a kid by Francine Pascal

893 books to go! I didn't realize this was the first in an easy trilogy to read through until I finally picked this book up and read it after checking it out from work. In this first book of the trilogy Victoria Martin really can't stand her mother. While she's heading back home after getting into some trouble on the train she somehow manages to time travel and she meets Cici. It turns out that Cici is her mother when she was a teenager. This book was originally published under the title hanging out with Cici. I really enjoyed this read. Francine Pascal seemed to capture how it feels to be a teenager which made the character of Victoria Martin pretty successful. I felt the same way about my mother when I was a teenager (sometimes I still feel that way), if I picked this up as a teenager I definitely would have identified with Victoria Martin.

Book 106 - SVH # 6 Dangerous Love by Francine Pascal

Sweet Valley High #6: Dangerous Love
894 books to go!

I am an animal today. This is the third book I've finished, maybe I should just read YA novels all the time. Just finished another dosage of cheesy SVH drama, only this series wasn't so cheesy and it actually ends with a cliff hanger instead of all dramatic loose ends wrapped up nicely in a little bow.

Todd buys a new motorcycle and Elizabeth becomes very jealous when she sees him giving other girls rides with it, Elizabeth isn't allowed to ride it because her cousin died in a motorcycle accident. When the book is almost at a conclusion Elizabeth decides to go for a ride despite the rules laid out for her by her parents and her and Todd are involved in an accident with a drunk driver. This book ends with Elizabeth still in a coma - I'm thinking she'll come out of it though since the series continues. For now I'm done with the SVH soap opera until I get my hands on some more, I don't know when that will be though because I have many books from my personal book collection to get through including more wedding planning books and I'm trying to keep the books I have checked out on my library card to a minimum (recently I've had way too many books checked out on my card).

Book 105 - The hand-me-down kid by Francine Pascal

The Hand-Me-Down-Kid
895 books to go!

I'm plowing through books lately, it doesn't help that they are all YA novels under 200 pages each and are very fast reads. This book is one of the works by Francine Pascal that isn't in her SVH, SV Kids, SV Twins, SVU or fearless series.

This book is about young Ari Jacobs who lives in Greenwich Village with her family. Ari is the youngest child and gets all of her sibling's hand me downs. She feels really bad about it. Ari is bullied by Rhona into borrowing her older sister's bike. When Ari brings the bike to Rhona it's stolen before Rhona gets to borrow it. Now Ari feels she has to hide the truth about how the bicycle was stolen. The police get involved and Ari's new friend Jane tries to help out a little bit.

I enjoyed this book, it was written quite a few years ago and Francine Pascal transported me to at least 25 years ago in Manhattan's Greenwich village. She also hit the characterization of Ari right on the nose. It was a change from the cheesy SVH drama I've been enjoying lately.

Book 104 - Sweet Valley High # 5 All Night Long by Francine Pascal

Sweet Valley High #5: All Night Long
896 books to go!

Have been plowing through some of these SVH books. I have one more currently checked out from work and a bunch more on my list to read. I'm debating the possibility of purchasing in the hopes that my future children might wish to read them, but you can't house everything that's what libraries are for. Considering I'm such a book lover my book collection really isn't that large.

In this latest drama Jessica is stuck staying out the whole night and missing part of school. Elizabeth dresses up in her clothes and pretends to be her so that no one will be suspicious. In the process she has a fight with Todd and ends up doing miserably on a tour guide test that Jessica was supposed to take after her. The quick read answered my own silly questions as to what would happen in this soap opera of SVH. As usual by the end of each story everything is tied together and wrapped up nicely. Now my readers I leave you to plow through more of Mrs Pascal's works.

Book 103 - SVH # 4 Power Play by Francine Pascal

Sweet Valley High #4: Power Play
897 books to go!

Finished up two books in one night, this one in one sitting. These SVH books are pretty fast to get through once I actually pick one up. I have two more in the series checked out from work to read.

In this dose of the only drama I truly welcome into my life because it's fictional, Jessica victimizes Robin Wilson when she tries to become a member of the sweet valley high beautification club that Jessica created in order to meet requirements to run for the Miss SVH competition. Elizabeth also sets out on a mystery to find out where Jessica is getting incredibly expensive pieces of jewelry from. The mystery gets solved, and Robin gets incredible sweet revenge. I really enjoyed this fourth book in the series, these books are great if you want some light reading on a young adult level. They aren't finely written by any means but sometimes your brain needs a break and I'm sick these books are my alternative to the mindless magazines following the lives of celebrities.

Book 102-My horizontal life my Chelsea Handler

My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands
898 books to go!

I have now finished all of Chelsea Handler's books until she writes a new one. This book also made me almost crack up laughing when I was reading it at home and outside of the library after it closed. In this book Chelsea describes a few of her one night stands, as well as a hilarious situation that happened when she bought her gay friend Nate home to her family, when she went with Nate to a high school reunion, and a horrible cruise she went on with a roommate she abhorred. I just love when she describes her father, he seems to be a crazy but amusing man and if for some reason I ever get lucky enough to become friends with Chelsea Handler somehow I'd love to have the privilege to meet this crazy ass gentlemen. To me these books are tremendously enjoyable and very very funny!

Book 101 - The New book of Wedding Etiquette by Kim Shaw

The New Book of Wedding Etiquette: How to Combine the Best Traditions with Today's Flair
899 books to go!

I absolutely detested this book, in fact I found myself skipping over portions of text just to get it over with. I didn't find it very helpful at all in regards to wedding planning - the copyright of the book is 2001 yet I find the wedding etiquette and rules more outdated and archaic, this is what I expected from the Emily Post books I've glanced through (even though surprisingly they seem okay). It was boring and this author was overly critical of crazy bachelorette parties.

If you would like a similar book to this one but one that is not so proper but still provides you with advice on how to handle situations gracefully I'd recommend a book I read prior to this one that I absolutely loved, the book is titled Something New by Elise Mac Adams. It's also cheaper than this god forsaken book I just read through Amazon.

Something New: Wedding Etiquette for Rule Breakers, Traditionalists, and Everyone in Between

I do not recommend this book, my suggestion steer clear and don't waste your time like I did.

Book 100 - Claudia and the Phantom Phone calls (Baby Sitter's Club # 2) by Ann M. Martin

The Baby-Sitters Club #2: Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls
900 books to go!

I did it! I reached 100 books, this took 8 months to do, I don't feel like doing the math right now to figure out when this challenge will be done if I can manage 100 books in 8 months.

My 100th book is the second book in the Baby Sitter's Club series, I'm nostalgic so I'm re reading some books I read in my child and teen years. In this book the BSC is worried about the phantom caller, who calls people to see if they are home and than robs their jewelry. The girls start to worry when the homes they are sitting for get hang up phone calls.

I liked this story too because it had a little bit of a personal meaning to me. In one part of the book Kristy is constantly bothered by Alan Gray, she complains about him, he annoys her and teases her, she says she can't stand him but ends up going to the dance with him. It reminds me of Shawn and I, we both argued with each other online before falling in love.

I loved the Babysitter's club when I was the appropriate age to read them, and I still love them now, and one day in the future when I have a daughter...if I have a daughter...I hope she'll read them too.

Book 99 The ruling class by Francine Pascal

The Ruling Class
901 books to go!

It's taken quite some time, but I'm one more book away from my first 100 books read and reviewed for this blog! Pretty exciting, I'm wondering which book I will finish first to get this special title of the 100th book I've read for this challenge.

This book was alright. I learned about Francine Pascal's other works besides the Sweet Valley books and her fearless series, so I wanted to give them a try. I managed to snag many of them through work for reading. This book is about high school bullying with a satisfying end result for the underdogs, I'd recommend it for any girl who's been bullied in the past, however because of my own experience with bullying and being terribly afraid of those who did bully me I wouldn't really recommend going in for any kind of revenge as the victims of this novel did.

The book is told from three different character viewpoints, mostly by Twyla Gay (a new student to a high school in Highland Park, Dallas) and Myrna Sue (a suck up who is unaware that she is being made fun of and blown off). Jeanette Sue (the Queen of the school) has brief moments of telling the story from her view point. Twyla Gay ends up being bullied and picked on by the ruling class which is Jeanette Sue and her gang of cookie cutter nasty chic cronies. Eventually Twyla has enough and becomes friends with Deena (another victim of the ruling class), she enlists Deena to help her and they start to fight back against the ruling class.

If you like a good young adult novel this could be a read for you, it's definitely not a literary masterpiece but it's still a good nice read and something to help bully victims to know they aren't alone.

Book 98 - Murder by Mocha by Cleo Coyle

Murder by Mocha (Coffee House Mystery)
102 books to go!

Semi-plowed through the latest installment of the coffee house mystery series, this one was quite intriguing. Clare's village blend beans, and catering skills are being used to help Alicia Bower and a company called Aphrodite. Clare starts to investigate along with the police when the employees known as sisters of Aphrodite start to die. Some of the more mysterious, thought provoking incidents involve disappearing bodies and fake deaths, the usual coffee trivia is involved with a little bit of humor and some zany incidents. Great series for light reading, good mysteries and nice coffee trivia, plus a little romance too!

Book 97 Bartlett's Words for the wedding

Bartlett's Words for the Wedding
103 books to go!

This book is pretty terrific, it's actually a nice calming book to read during the wedding planning process. Basically it's just a bunch of different poems and excerpts from books having to do with love. Some are well known, others are less known. It's a great book to look through for wedding vows or to select possible readings for your wedding. I found two potential readings for Shawn to peruse and we might possibly use them. If you are into poetry I would suggest buying this book, but if you are looking for possible readings for your wedding, checking it out of the library and photo copying what you are interested in would suffice.