81. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (2008)

Read By: Kirby Heyborne
Length: 11h 53m (384 pages)

Genre: Young Adult

Started: 21 June 2009
Finished: 01 July 2009

Where did it come from? The library.
Why do I have it? I can’t pinpoint where I picked up all of the buzz surrounding this book, but it was enough to convince me to pick it up.
Verdict? I’m tempted to buy myself a copy or two, just so I’ll have one on hand to lend out.

With apologies to Ben Franklin:

Give up my freedom
to get some security?
Not bloody likely!

Happy 4th of July weekend, everyone! Or, Happy belated Canada Day! Or, happy very early Bastille Day! Or, Happy Independence Day to any readers from Algeria, Cape Verde, or Venezuela! Or… well, happy Sunday, all!

It’s been a lazy weekend here so far… a lot of rain, some reading, some writing, some DVD watching, a brief detour to the bookstore, some more rain, some working, a bit of grilling, some setting off fireworks in the rain, and today, probably more reading, more writing, more rain, and more movie-watching. Sounds like a plan.

How about you, readers? Anything big, fun, celebratory, and potentially explosive for you this weekend?

80. The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon, Georges Jeanty, Andy Owens, Dave Stewart, Richard Starkings, Jo Chen, Paul Lee (2007)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Eight, Vol. 1 (Issues #1-5 of the comic)

Length: 136 pages

Genre: Graphic Novel, Fantasy

Started: 26 June 2009
Finished: 26 June 2009

Where did it come from? The Library
Why do I have it? I’d finished my rewatch of the Buffy DVDs, and thought it was about time to get to Season 8.

Buffy’s back, hooray!
The action gets bigger when
you just pay for ink.

**This review contains spoilers inasmuch as it assumes that you know how Buffy S7 ends.**

Commenters

I’ve said this pretty much every month, but holy crap, where did June go? I feel like we *just* did this! Nevertheless, here we go again!

Many thanks to this month’s commenters!

- 3m from 1 More Chapter - Alyce from At Home With Books - Amanda from The Zen Leaf - Amber from Amber Stults - Amy from My Friend Amy - Ann-Kat from Today, I Read… - Belle from Ms. Bookish - Care from Care’s Online Book Club - Carolyn from The Thrillionth Page - Carrie K from My Middle Name is Patience - Carrie K. from Books and Movies - Christina from Reading Through the Night - Dani in NC from Average Girl Reads - Darla D from Books and Other Thoughts - Debbie Nance from ReaderBuzz - Debi from Nothing of Importance - Devourer of Books - Elizabeth from As Usual, I Need More Bookshelves - Eva from A Striped Armchair - Gavin from Page247 - GirlwiththeBraids from Reading to Myself - gwendolyn b. from A Sea of Books - Jeanne from Necromancy Never Pays - Jenny from Jenny’s Book - Joanne from Book Zombie - John from Grasping for the Wind - Kailana from The Written World - Kathy from Bermudaonion’s Weblog - Kay from The Infinite Shelf - Kaye from Pudgy Penguin Perusals - Keith from Hear Be Books - Kelly from Yannabe

- Kim from Sophisticated Dorkiness - Kitty from Okie Reads - KT from What KT Reads - Ladytink_534 from The Movieholic & Bibliophile’s Blog - Lana from A Hoyden’s Look at Literature - Lenore from Presenting Lenore - Lezlie from Books ‘n’ Border Collies - Literary Feline from Musings of a Bookish Kitty - Literate Housewife from The Literate Housewife Review - luanne from A Bookworm’s World - Mee from Books of Mee - Meghan from Medieval Bookworm - Memory from Stella Matutina - Nancy from Bookfoolery and Babble - Nat from Book, Line and Sinker - Nicole from Linus’s Blanket - Nymeth from Things Mean a Lot - Peta from The Bookling - PhoenixTerran from Experiments in Reading - Rebecca from Lost in Books - rhapsodyinbooks from RhapsodyinBooks’s Weblog - Ruth from Bookish Ruth - sdechantal from One Person’s Journey Through a World of Books - Serena from Savvy Verse & Wit - Shana from Literarily - Sharry from Always Dream - Sher from A Novel Menagerie - TexasRed from TexasRed Books - thekoolaidmom from In the Shadow of Mt. TBR - Tiina from A Book Blog of One’s Own - Violet from Violet Crush - Vivienne from Serendipity

Plus: burtnay67, David Schaich, Dex, edifanob, John, Liyana, liz (aka Conan), trapunto

Search Terms

breaking dawn haiku
Here’s what I wrote:

Unresolved issues;
Meyer takes easy way out.
I’m glad it’s over.

Anyone else like to contribute one?

all men are vampires
Oh, boy, have I gotten some interesting search terms based on my post about sex and gender issues in vampires and werewolves. I guess I should have expected that any post involving the supernatural and the S-word would lead to some strange search traffic, but I didn’t anticipate the volume. For the record, though, I’d like to make clear that I did not say that all men are vampires. Clearly, some of them are also werewolves. :-D

favorite jamie-isms from all gabaldon books
Among others, I like the last words of The Fiery Cross:

“When the day shall come, that we do part,” he said softly, and turned to look at me, “if my last words are not ‘I love you’ — ye’ll ken it was because I didna have time.”

who first discovered afterlife
Well, if you believe in that sort of thing, I’d have to say that it would be the first person who died. Right? I mean, by definition?

fyrefluy
Geshundheit!

Ye Grande Olde TBR(e) Challenge Update

I started June with 242 unread books sitting around my house. And I ended with … *drumroll* … 244! Holy cow! Only a +2… go me!

Let’s take a look at the breakdown:

Neutral books – Read, but don’t affect the TBR pile

Audiobooks
- Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce
- Trickster’s Queen by Tamora Pierce
- The Book of Unholy Mischief by Elle Newmark

Read but not owned
- Jack of Fables, Vol. 5: Turning Pages by Bill Willingham
- Death: The High Cost of Living by Neil Gaiman
- Fray by Joss Whedon
- Buffy Season 8, Vol. 1: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon (review coming soon!)

Re-reads
- Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
- The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams
- A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’Engle

Changes to the TBR pile

Cleared from my TBR pile (huzzah!)
- Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
- Angels of Destruction by Keith Donohue
- Black Powder War by Naomi Novik
- Demons are Forever by Julie Kenner
- The Wet Nurse’s Tale by Erica Eisdorfer

Added to, then promptly cleared from my TBR pile (um… huzzah?)
- The Rough Guide to Evolution by Mark Pallen
- Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant

Other removals from my TBR pile (meh?)
None this month.

Added to my TBR pile (shame!)
- Patriot’s Dream by Barbara Michaels (Recommended by Heidenkind at the 4 Rs Challenge.)

- Twilight of Avalon: A Novel of Trystan & Isolde by Anna Elliott (This first went on my wishlist thanks to Devourer of Books’s review, but I won this copy at A Reader’s Respite. So, Jen and Michele can split the blame. Half a point each.)

- A Primate’s Memoir: Love, Death and Baboons in East Africa by Robert M. Sapolsky

- A Secret Alchemy by Emma Darwin

- Oathbreaker, Volume One: Assassin’s Apprentice by S. R. Vaught and J. B. Redmond

- The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff (Recommended by Literate Housewife at the 4 Rs Challenge.)

- Monkeyluv: And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals by Robert M. Sapolsky

Other Non-TBR Book Acquisitions
- In the Belly of the Bloodhound: Being an Account of a Particularly Peculiar Adventure in the Life of Jacky Faber by L. A. Meyer

79. The Wet Nurse’s Tale by Erica Eisdorfer (2009)

The Wet Nurse’s Tale will be published on 06 August 2009 by G. P. Putnam’s Sons; you can pre-order a copy from Amazon here.

Length: 272 pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

Started: 24 June 2009
Finished: 25 June 2009

Where did it come from? From the publishers, via Shelf Awareness.
Why do I have it? Another historical fiction novel that drew me in because it dealt with a subject I’d never read about.
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 19 May 2009.
Verdict? Keeper.

She makes a living
with her boobs… as a wet nurse.
What were you thinking?

78. Demons are Forever: Confessions of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom by Julie Kenner (2007)
Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom, Book 3

Read my review of:
- Book 1, Carpe Demon
- Book 2, California Demon

Length: 292 pages
Genre: Fantasy; Chick-lit

Started: 23 June 2009
Finished: 23 June 2009

Where did it come from? Christmas gift from a friend.
Why do I have it? See above.
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 26 December 2007 (Bad Nicki!)
Verdict? Probable keeper.

Fighting demons is
harder when your family won’t
stay out of the way.

Who else feels like they need a vacation? It’s not even July yet (although almost – where the heck did June go?), but I am already lamenting my lack of vacation this summer. It’s busy, and I’m pressing to get bunches of work done this summer so that I can spend the fall semester actually writing my dissertation, plus I’m moving… so it’s hard to justify taking any time off to travel, but man, I want to. I think the best I’m going to be able to manage is home to visit my parents for a weekend this month, and a few days at a conference in August… but neither of those really counts as vacation. I guess I’ll have to content myself with looking at pictures from previous years’ trips.
__________________________

In terms of books, I’m currently reading Emma Darwin’s A Secret Alchemy; I’m only about 40 pages in so far, but it’s fascinating. I’m particularly enjoying thinking about how the British approach to history is very different from the U.S. approach. I once read somewhere something to the effect of “Americans have a deep and abiding sense of their own history extending all the way back to 1967,” and I think in large part that’s true. It’s always felt to me like history is something that happened *somewhere else*, whereas it seems like for Brits (and other Europeans?), history is something that happened *here*. The only place in the U.S. where I’ve gotten the same feeling of “history hanging around” as I do in European cities is Boston – although is that just because I read more European-focused historical fiction than American-focused historical fiction? Or is there just more European-focused historical fiction out there to be had (because that’s where history happened)?

It’s also entirely possible my assumptions and perceptions are just totally off base, here. So tell me, US-ian and non-US-ian readers, in your mind, where did history happen? How do you think that’s caused by/reflected in the way novels are written, and the way novels are read?

Holy crap, you guys, this is my 500th review on LibraryThing! It’s only my 281st(-ish) on this blog, but still… 500 books reviewed since 01 Jan 2006. Not too shabby!

77. Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant (2009)

Length: 408 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction

Sacred Hearts will be published in the U.S. by Random House on 14 July; you can pre-order a copy from Amazon here.

Started: 21 June 2009
Finished: 23 June 2009

Where did it come from? From the publishers, via Shelf Awareness.
Why do I have it? I recognized Sarah Dunant’s name from The Birth of Venus, which I enjoyed. Plus, while I don’t care for religious fiction, I tend to like fiction (particularly historical fiction) about religion. Yeah, I don’t know what that’s about.

How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 10 June 2009 (and not on my summer shortlist. Shame!)
Verdict? Keeper

Well-written, quite good,
and absorbing, so: Get thee
to a nunnery!

I’ve drawn the winner for Brandon Sanderson’s new novel Warbreaker from among 19 entrants, and the winner is #11 – KT from What KT Reads!

Congratulations, KT! I’ve sent you an e-mail, so send me your snail-mail address, and I’ll pass it along to Dot, and she’ll get your book on its way to you! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

To everyone else… thanks for entering! You can check out Warbreaker at Brandon Sanderson’s website, and pick up your own copy from Amazon.