2008 Book Reviews

February 24th, 2009

This makes me a bit sad, but I only read 15 books in 2008, seven of which were Harry Potter books. I wonder how many I could read this year if I stopped wasting my time watching television - something I don’t particularly enjoy, but end up spending many an hour doing because those damn shows just suck me in. Anyway, I’ve been meaning to do a ‘year in review’ post about the books I read last year, but somehow it got to be the end of February and I still haven’t!

I’m going to divide last year’s books into three categories: Really Liked, Worth My Time, and Not Worth It. You can read more in-depth reviews of any of them at http://www.librarything.com/profile_reviews.php?view=fillechaude.

Books I Really Liked:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky: 4.5 stars
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen: 4.5 stars
All 7 Harry Potter novels by J.K. Rowling: 4 to 4.5 stars, depending on the book
Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs: 4 stars

Books That Were Worth My Time:

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri: 3.5 stars
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving: 3.5 stars
Sleeping With Random Beasts by Karin Goodwin: 3 stars

Books That Were NOT Worth My Time:

A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne: 2.5 stars*
The Road by Cormac McCarthy: 1.5 stars

*”A Journey to the Center of the Earth” was somewhat redeemed in the second half of the novel, but the entire first 100 or 200 pages were a complete waste.

Hopefully that will give my book-minded friends some ideas on what to read (and what not to read). I have a huge stack of books that I’ll be reading through this year, but if anyone has suggestions on a book they absolutely loved, I’m always open!

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Fille Does a Meme

February 24th, 2009

It’s pretty sad, but the only thing that has changed on this blog lately is the “My Library” section. It seems all my time is spent either at work or with Colin - which is fine with me, honestly, but it doesn’t leave much time for chatting with friends or posting on my sad, neglected blog. The main reason I’m writing today is that I’ve been home sick for the last two days and I just don’t think I can stand watching any more TV.

Usually I think memes are lame and tend to opt out of participating, but this one I found circulating around facebook sounded like fun - and it was fun, but I also did it at one in the morning so don’t hold me to that.

Here are the rules:
1 - Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random. The title of the random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3.
The last few words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days. The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Use your favorite editing software to put it all together.

And here is the cover for my band’s debut album, “Prove That You Don’t Need It” by Lucy Punch.