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and the marathon continues...

Shopaholic and Sister - Sophie Kinsella
This one was probably my least favorite of the Shopaholic series mostly because of how quickly Luke changes from a sweet romantic person to a jackass. Becky and Luke have finished their 10 month honeymoon and return to England where Becky finds out that she has a long-lost sister. And even worse, her sister hates to shop! It involves Becky spending lots of money, trying to cover it up, Luke getting mad at her/caught up in his work, and so on. My favorite parts of this one was some of the weird ideas the sister has to save money, like when she goes into a stationary store and collects bags full of used envelopes to reuse.

They Cage the Animals at Night - Jennings Michael Burch
This is a memoir based on Jennings' time in foster homes and orphanages. While he was growing up his mother was unable to care for him and his siblings at several times so she was forced to put him in homes. In this book he tells the stories of the neglect and abuse he received in these homes and the lessons he learned there. This memoir was horrifying at times, I couldn't believe that kids were treated this way in orphanages. It's just awful. But it made me happy that Jennings found an unlikely friend who ended up being his savior. And it made me happier that Jennings adopted a child from the foster care system.

Snail Mail No More - Paula Danziger & Ann M. Martin
The sequel to P.S. Longer Letter Later, and like the first written in a series of letters, and then emails. This continues right where the previous book left off. It follows Tara and Elizabeth's relationship through the summer and then some, with arguments, visits, tragedy, happiness and a baby. It kinda drives me crazy how quickly their relationship goes "south." One person writes some remark and the other takes it the wrong way and the next thing ya know they're having a huge argument. But I guess it just reinforces that it's difficult to tell what someone really means in writing. But still an interesting book.

Gathering Blue - Lois Lowry
The first companion book to The Giver. Like The Giver, it is set sometime in the future except that instead of progressing, the town has regressed to worse times. The people live in mud huts, bathe in the river, and don't have indoor plumbing. They fear a disease, and when people get too old or maimed they take them out to a field and leave them for dead. They fear the monsters in the forest (and yes, I was reminded of The Village when reading it). This is Kira's story, she has a gimp leg but redeems herself with her sewing ability. When her mother dies the villagers try to kill her but she is saved by a councilman. But now she must repair the Singer's robe and of course, in doing so, she uncovers secrets of the village. This book doesn't really have anything to do with The Giver, unless you want it to. They speak of other villages nearby and one of them could be the village Jonas lived in. But I liked how the two books together show contrasting future villages, how easy it is for one village to go forward while another goes back and neither village knowing what they could be.

Messenger - Lois Lowry
The final companion book, this one is really a sequel to Gathering Blue, except it follows Matty, who is Kira's friend. Matty is acting as messenger between the outcasts' Village and Kira's village (and other villages actually). But when the Village decides to stop accepting outcasts Matty must run to warn everyone and to get Kira to bring her to stay before the people build the wall and the forest attacks them. Yeah. This one was a little too out there for me. I understood part of it --with the people closing off their town. But really, the forest attacking them? This was my least favorite of the three. What I disliked the most was that it ruins the ending of The Giver. If you haven't read The Giver, the ending is kinda open, it's left to the reader to decide what exactly happens to Jonas. But in this book it tells you. Although Lowry denies it and says that it could be whoever you want it to be, but I don't see how that works.

Big Fish - Daniel Wallace
I've always enjoyed the movie, so when I saw this at the library I decided to read it. It ended up being pretty interesting. The stories are really good, and I remembered a lot of them from the movie. I liked how the book is actually made up of many stories, each chapter being a story; it reminds me of a father telling his kids a different story every night.

Finding Manana - Mirta Ojito
This is a memoir of a Cuban family waiting to flee Cuba and Castro to the United States. It has a first-hand account of the Mariel boatlift in 1980. I guess I thought this book would be more than what it was. I was hoping for a book about a family fleeing Cuba and then adapting to life in the United States, something to give me a better perspective of how it is to be an immigrant. But almost the entire book took place in Cuba, about the family's life there and how controlled it was and how everyone viewed them as outcasts. It was an okay book, the information was interesting it just wasn't what I expected it to be.

Shopaholic and Baby - Sophie Kinsella
The last of the Shopaholic series and my 2nd favorite, after the first one, of course. Obviously, by the title Becky is now pregnant and can't stop buying things for her baby. Becky and Luke are looking to buy a house and need to buy one quickly cause they've already sold their flat. And it turns out that Becky's posh new doctor is Luke's ex-girlfriend. Funny like always. Jess is back and has plenty of cost-saving ideas for the baby, like making reusable baby wipes out of old rags. Honestly, even though Luis and I aren't planning on having kids for a while I love reading books with babies in them cause part of me is soooooo ready for little kiddies. I don't know if Kinsella has any plans to write any more Shopaholic books, I hope so for I enjoy them.

Captain's Fury - Jim Butcher
The fourth book in the Codex Alera series. Tavi, or Rufus Scipio is now Captain of his legion. Tavi has ideas of how to stop this war with the Canim, but getting his superior to listen is another story. Meanwhile Gaius Sextus is performing a final act on Kalare, in order to try and save people. Tavi also learns a secret about his past and must deal with all this new information. An excellent continuation of the previous book, although it's been a while since I read the last one so it took me a while to remember what was going on. Good book, but I hate it when the book ends with an obvious lead to another. Psh.

Veil of Roses - Laura Fitzgerald
Tamila was born in the USA but when she was young her family returned to Iran. On her 27th birthday Tamila's parents secure a visa and passport for her, she is to go to America to stay with her older sister and find a husband so she won't have to return. Tamila only has 3 months to find and marry a husband which seems to be going smoothly until she meets Ike. At the beginning of this book there was a lot of information about women living in Iran, and it was very interesting. I have no way of knowing if it is true or not, but I was still amazed at how life is for women over there. Overall the book was interesting, I've heard of many immigrants doing something similar to that, but usually there's money involved. I just liked the story and how I've heard real stories of people who have come to the US escaping their home country, and marrying to stay here.

The Sweet Far Thing - Libba Bray
The final book of the Gemma Doyle trilogy. Gemma has now bound the magic from the realms to herself and has promised all the creatures there she will form an alliance. But now she must keep her promise or start a war with the creatures. Meanwhile, in the real world Gemma and her friends are preparing to make their debuts into society. I can't explain this book without confusing you. So don't bother with my review, just go pick up the first book, A Great and Terrible Beauty and read it. It's amazing. This one was a good conclusion, some surprises but overall it was a great book.

When I Crossed No-Bob - Margaret McMullen
No-Bob is a place, not a person. This one's from my mom's library. Addy is an O'Donnell and no one likes the O'Donnell clan. But when her mother leaves her at a wedding and Mr. Frank takes her in Addy does everything to try and prove that she's a good person. But one day she's forced to make a decision whether to remain loyal to her family or do what she thinks is right. A good little story, my favorite parts were when Addy would do something naughty and it was just thrown in like it was perfectly normal. I like this one; "Before we set out, we stop by Mr. Frank's house where Mr. Tempy is still talking a mean streak. I hide red pepper in Mr. Tempy's chewing tobacco. "

That's 100 books this year.
Newberys read/ out of: 50/86