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250 Book Challenge 2017-2018

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Book Number: 17
Number Of Pages: 531
Book Title: All the Light We Cannot See
Author: Anthony Doerr
Summary: (Soured from Goodreads)
Marie Laure lives with her father in Paris within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of the locks (there are thousands of locks in the museum). When she is six, she goes blind, and her father builds her a model of their neighborhood, every house, every manhole, so she can memorize it with her fingers and navigate the real streets with her feet and cane. When the Germans occupy Paris, father and daughter flee to Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast, where Marie-Laure's agoraphobic great uncle lives in a tall, narrow house by the sea wall. 
In another world in Germany, an orphan boy, Werner, grows up with his younger sister, Jutta, both enchanted by a crude radio Werner finds. He becomes a master at building and fixing radios, a talent that wins him a place at an elite and brutal military academy and, ultimately, makes him a highly specialized tracker of the Resistance. Werner travels through the heart of Hitler Youth to the far-flung outskirts of Russia, and finally into Saint-Malo, where his path converges with Marie-Laure.
Rating: 3.5/5

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Book Number: 2

Number Of Pages: 607

Book Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Author: J.K. Rowlings

Summary: Harry and his friends are trying to find and destroy all the hocruxes to be able to defeat Voldemort

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Book Number: 18
Number Of Pages: 144
Book Title: The Old Country
Author: Mordecai Gerstein
Summary: (Soured from Goodreads)
From the winner of the 2004 Caldecott Medal comes a memorable new work, a novel of singular insight and imagination that transports readers to the Old Country, where "all the fairy tales come from, where there was magic -- and there was war." There, Gisella stares a moment too long into the eyes of a fox, and she and the fox exchange shapes. Gisella's quest to get her girl-body back takes her on a journey across a war-ravaged country that has lost its shape. She encounters magic, bloodshed, and questions of power and justice -- until finally, looking into the eyes of the fox once more, she faces a strange and startling choice about her own nature. Part adventure story and part fable; exciting, beautifully told, rich in humor and wisdom, The Old Country is the work of an artist and storyteller at the height of his powers.
Rating: 4/5

 

Book Number: 19
Number Of Pages: 368
Book Title: Warcross (Warcross #1)
Author: Marie Lu
Summary: (Soured from Goodreads)

For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn’t just a game—it’s a way of life. The obsession started ten years ago and its fan base now spans the globe, some eager to escape from reality and others hoping to make a profit. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players who bet on the game illegally. But the bounty hunting world is a competitive one, and survival has not been easy. Needing to make some quick cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships—only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation.

Convinced she’s going to be arrested, Emika is shocked when instead she gets a call from the game’s creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year’s tournament in order to uncover a security problem . . . and he wants Emika for the job. With no time to lose, Emika’s whisked off to Tokyo and thrust into a world of fame and fortune that she’s only dreamed of. But soon her investigation uncovers a sinister plot, with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire
Rating: 3.75/5

 

Book Number: 20
Number Of Pages: 512
Book Title: My Lady Jane (The Lady Janies #1)

Author: Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows.
Summary: (Soured from Goodreads)

Edward (long live the king) is the King of England. He’s also dying, which is inconvenient, as he’s only sixteen and he’d much rather be planning for his first kiss than considering who will inherit his crown…

Jane (reads too many books) is Edward’s cousin, and far more interested in books than romance. Unfortunately for Jane, Edward has arranged to marry her off to secure the line of succession. And there’s something a little odd about her intended…

Gifford (call him G) is a horse. That is, he’s an Eðian (eth-y-un, for the uninitiated). Every day at dawn he becomes a noble chestnut steed—but then he wakes at dusk with a mouthful of hay. It’s all very undignified.

The plot thickens as Edward, Jane, and G are drawn into a dangerous conspiracy. With the fate of the kingdom at stake, our heroes will have to engage in some conspiring of their own. But can they pull off their plan before it’s off with their heads?

Rating: 5/5

 

Book Number: 21
Number Of Pages: 109
Book Title: The Old Man and the Sea
Author: Earnest Hemmingway
Summary: (Soured from Goodreads)
It is the story of an old Cuban fisherman and his supreme ordeal: a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. Using the simple, powerful language of a fable, Hemingway takes the timeless themes of courage in the face of defeat and personal triumph won from loss and transforms them into a magnificent twentieth-century classic.
Rating: 3.5/5

 

Book Number: 22
Number Of Pages: 240
Book Title: I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World
Author: Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick
Summary: (Soured from Goodreads)

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.

On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive. 

Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Rating: 5/5

 

Book Number: 23
Number Of Pages: 835
Book Title: A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1)
Author: George R. R. Martin
Summary: (Soured from Goodreads)

In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes of the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and *******s, who come together in a time of grim omens. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones. 
Rating: 2.5/5

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Book Number: 5

Number Of Pages: 231 without the appendix, 269 with the appendix.

Book Title: Mycelial Mayhem

Author: David and Kristin Sewak

Summary: Mycelial Mayhem is a guide for growing culinary mushrooms as a business, hobby, and for those wishing to live a healthier or more sustainable lifestyle. There is some information included on how to start a mushroom growing business, as well as some resource/example material for farms/businesses located in the appendix. There is also information on inoculation techniques used to grow mushrooms and species that can be easily grown.

 

The book totals have been updated to this post.

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Book Number: 6

Number Of Pages: 402

Book Title: Conversion

Author: Katherine Howe

Summary: Conversion switches narrative from a high school in Danvers, where there is a group of girls who acquire mysterious symptoms; and the witch trials in Salem.

Edited by w5aw5

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Book Number: 3

Number Of Pages: 622

Book Title: Qui est Terra Wilder (could be translated as: Who is Terra Wilder ?  as there is no english version)

Author: Anne Robillard

Summary: After losing his legs and his wife in a car accident, a man was send to teach philosophy in a small school of Canada. He would discover some strange magic abilities that will change his life.

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Book Number: 10

Number Of Pages: 302

Book Title: The Oathbound

Author: Mercedes Lackey

Summary: Shin’a’in warrior Tarma shena Tale’sedrin and the sorceress Kethry of the White Winds school, owner of the geas-blade Need which forces her bearer to aid women in trouble, bound themselves as sisters with the intention of rebuilding Tarma’s decimated Clan and worked together as a mercenary team in order to earn both funds and a reputation.

 

Book Number: 11

Number Of Pages: 279

Book Title: Oathbreakers

Author: Mercedes Lackey

Summary: After going as far as they could as freelance mercs, Tarma and Kethry joined the Guild company Idra’s Sunhawks. But following a successful campaign, Idra received a summons from her homeland: she had been born a princess of Rethwellan, and with both of her brothers trying to claim their dead father’s throne, she was being called upon to choose the next king. When she still hadn’t returned several months later, Tarma and Kethry journeyed to Rethwellan to find out what happened to their Captain, only to discover that one of her brothers had broken every oath of family and common decency.

 

Book Number: 12

Number Of Pages: 431

Book Title: Exile’s Honor

Author: Mercedes Lackey

Summary: Alberich is the youngest captain in the Karsite army. But he hides a secret that… in Karse… could get him put to death: he has visions, visions which have aided him in battle. But when the priests learn his secret and attempt to burn him alive, his mount comes to his rescue. The creature he’d thought simply a well-trained horse proves to be a Companion, who carries Alberich off to Karse’s ancient enemy, the land of Valdemar, to train as a Herald. Uneasy at being taken from his homeland and angry at being given no choice in the matter, Alberich nevertheless agrees to give the whole Herald business a chance. Due to his age and experience, he is immediately offered the position of assistant weaponsmaster at the Collegium. When Karse begins an all-out war on Valdemar, Alberich struggles to find a way to aid his adopted country without harming the land of his birth.

 

Book Number: 13

Number Of Pages: 438

Book Title: Exile’s Valor

Author: Mercedes Lackey

Summary: Now the Weaponsmaster of the Heraldic Collegium, Alberich also haunts the slums of Haven in various guises in order to keep abreast of any potential plots against the young Queen Selenay. When two of the Trainees break one of the big mirrors in the salle while attempting to re-create an acrobatic combat they witnessed at a play, he decides to see for himself exactly where they got the idea, and stumbled into a plot he’d not have discovered otherwise, when he caught the lead actor passing something to a young nobleman in the audience during a “fall” that landed him in the audience. With the help of Herald-Chronicler Myste, a plot is eventually uncovered, but not soon enough to prevent the trouble: At the behest of an unknown person, the actor has been coaching a foreign prince to get Queen Selenay to fall in love and marry him. When the imminent arrival of an heir is announced, the Heralds realize that while a monarch of Valdemar must by law also be a Herald, there is no law stating that the regent for a minor child must be a Herald, and so once the heir was born, Selenay would be gotten rid of.

 

Book Number: 14

Number Of Pages: 435

Book Title: Take a Thief

Author: Mercedes Lackey

Summary: Born in poverty in the slums of Haven, orphan Skif spent most of his time hungry and dodging blows from his cousin and his uncle, who was his guardian. Having learned to sneak into wealthy households disguised as a page boy in order to filch tidbits from the trays he carried, he was startled to catch another boy sneaking in to the laundry as he was hiding there to eat. Realizing the other boy must be there to steal, Skif requested teaching. The boy brought Skif to Bazie, a crippled man who’d been a pickpocket before being lamed, and who had gathered several boys and taught them the art of thievery while providing them a better home than they would have had elsewhere. Skif ran away from his uncle to remain with Bazie and the other boys, and was happy for several years. But then an arsonist burned the building they lived in, with the crippled Bazie still inside. Enraged at the loss of the man who’d been a father to him, Skif vowed to discover the person who’d ordered the fire, to dole out justice for Bazie’s life. But his plans were thrown awry when he tried to steal a loose horse in a park, only to discover that she was in actuality a Companion Choosing him as a Herald Trainee.

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Book Number: 24
Number Of Pages: 656
Book Title: The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair 
Author: Joel Dicker
Summary: (Soured from Goodreads)

That summer Harry Quebert fell in love with fifteen-year-old Nola Kellergan. Thirty-three years later, her body is dug up from his yard along with a manuscript copy of his career-defining novel. Quebert is the only suspect. Marcus Goldman—Quebert's most gifted protege—throws off his writer's block to clear his mentor's name.

Solving the case and penning a new bestseller soon blur together. As his book begins to take on a life of its own, the nation is gripped by the mystery of “The Girl Who Touched the Heart of America”.

But with Nola, in death as in life, nothing is ever as it seems. Joel Dicker's phenomenal European bestseller is a brilliantly intricate murder mystery, a hymn to the boundless reaches of the imagination, and a love story like no other.

Rating: 4/5

 

Book Number: 25
Number Of Pages: 418
Book Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1)
Author: Laini Taylor
Summary: Pretty much Romeo and Juliet pretending to be a Cassandra Clare novel. 

From the back of the book:

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

Rating: 2/5

 

 

Book Number: 26
Number Of Pages: 400
Book Title: The Death Code (The Murder Complex #2)
Author: Lindsay Cummings
Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

Action-packed, blood-soaked, and thrilling, this is the dark and compelling sequel to bestselling The Murder Complex, which Booklist praised as “carefully crafted . . . chilling.”

With short, fast-paced, alternating point-of-view chapters, The Death Code starts several weeks after The Murder Complex ended. Zephyr keeps the secret about Meadow close—that if she dies, The Murder Complex will be destroyed, too. Meadow, desperate to find her brother, father, and little sister, is determined to fearlessly fight to the end, even if it means sacrificing herself and her friends, new and old. The Death Code introduces a memorable cast of secondary characters and delivers a vivid and scary thrill ride read.

Rating: 3/5

 

 

Book Number: 27
Number Of Pages: 462
Book Title: Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1)
Author:Leigh Bardugo
Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker has been offered wealth beyond his wildest dreams. But to claim it, he'll have to pull off a seemingly impossible heist:

Break into the notorious Ice Court
(a military stronghold that has never been breached)

Retrieve a hostage
(who could unleash magical havoc on the world)

Survive long enough to collect his reward
(and spend it)

Kaz needs a crew desperate enough to take on this suicide mission and dangerous enough to get the job done - and he knows exactly who: six of the deadliest outcasts the city has to offer. Together, they just might be unstoppable - if they don't kill each other first.

Rating: 5/5

 

 

Book Number: 28
Number Of Pages: 462
Book Title: 
A Fox Called Sorrow (The Legend of Little Fur #2)
Author: Isobelle Carmody
Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

The fate of the elf troll, Little Fur, becomes entangled with the mysterious fox, Sorrow, who longs only for death. Together they must travel to Underth, the troll king's underground city, on a dangerous quest to uncover his evil plans. The wise Sett Owl has foreseen that the future of the earth spirit, and perhaps all living things, depends on the success of this quest. Led by a greedy, devious rat, how can they succeed? But how can they fail, when so much is at stake?

Rating: 4/5

 

 

Book Number: 29
Number Of Pages: 
359
Book Title: A Book of Sprits and Thieves (Spirits and Thieves #1)
Author: Morgan Rhodes
Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

Crystal Hatcher, Modern-day Toronto: It’s a normal afternoon in her mother’s antique bookshop when Crys witnesses the unthinkable: her little sister Becca collapses into a coma after becoming mesmerized by a mysterious book written in an unrecognizable language.

Maddox Corso, Ancient Mytica: Maddox Corso doesn’t think much of it when he spots an unfamiliar girl in his small village. Until, that is, he realizes that she is a spirit, and he is the only one who can see or hear her. Her name is Becca Hatcher, and she needs Maddox to help get her home.

Farrell Grayson, Modern-day Toronto: Rich and aimless Farrell Grayson is thrilled when the mysterious leader of the ultra-secret Hawkspear Society invites him into the fold. But when he learns exactly what he has to do to prove himself, Farrell starts to question everything he thought he knew about family, loyalty, and himself….

Fate has brought these young people together, but ancient magic threatens to rip them apart.

Rating: 3/5

 

Book Number: 30
Number Of Pages: 
368
Book Title: The Female of the Species
Author: Mindy McGinnis
Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it.
Three years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best—the language of violence. While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people. Not with Jack, the star athlete who wants to really know her but still feels guilty over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered. And not with Peekay, the preacher’s kid with a defiant streak who befriends Alex while they volunteer at an animal shelter. Not anyone.
As their senior year unfolds, Alex’s darker nature breaks out, setting these three teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever.

Rating: 5/5

 

 

Book Number: 31
Number Of Pages: 
352
Book Title: This Darkness Mine
Author: Mindy McGinnis
Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

Sasha Stone knows her place—first-chair clarinet, top of her class, and at the side of her oxford-wearing boyfriend. She’s worked her entire life to ensure that her path to Oberlin Conservatory as a star musician is perfectly paved.

But suddenly there’s a fork in the road, in the shape of Isaac Harver. Her body shifts toward him when he walks by, her skin misses his touch even though she’s never known it, and she relishes the smell of him—smoke, beer, and trouble—all the things she’s avoided to get where she is. Even worse, every time he’s near Sasha, her heart stops, literally. Why does he know her so well—too well—and she doesn’t know him at all?

Sasha discovers that her by-the-book life began by ending another’s: the twin sister she absorbed in the womb. But that doesn’t explain the gaps of missing time in her practice schedule or the memories she has of things she certainly never did with Isaac. As Sasha loses her much-cherished control, her life—and heart—become more entangled with Isaac. Armed with the knowledge that her heart might not be hers alone, Sasha must decide what she’s willing to do—and who she’s willing to hurt—to take it back.

Rating: 4/5

 

 

Book Number: 32
Number Of Pages: 
192
Book Title: Rise and Fall (Spirit Animals #6)
Author: Eliot Schrefer
Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

Deep in the desert there sits a beautiful oasis, ruled by a monarch unlike any other in Erdas. His name is Cabaro, the Great Lion, and he reigns over a kingdom of animals, jealously guarding his golden talisman. No human has ever set foot in the Great Beast’s territory. The journey to his oasis is impossible.
As a team, Conor, Abeke, Meilin, and Rollan have achieved the impossible before. But now that team is broken—the friends scattered by a devastating betrayal. 
The young heroes and their spirit animals have already sacrificed much in their quest for the talismans. But with the world crumbling all around them—and a ruthless enemy opposing their every move—their greatest sacrifices are yet to come

Rating: 3/5

 

Book Number: 33
Number Of Pages: 
192
Book Title: The Case of the Missing Moonstone (The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency #1)
Author: Jordan Stratford and Kelly Murphy
Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

Jordan Stratford imagines an alternate 1826, where Ada Lovelace (the world’s first computer programmer) and Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein) meet as girls and form a secret detective agency!
Lady Ada Byron, age eleven, is a genius. Isolated, awkward and a bit rude—but a genius. Mary Godwin, age fourteen, is a romantic. Adventurous, astute, and kind, Mary is to become Ada’s first true friend. And together, the girls conspire to form the Wollstonecraft Detective Agency—a secret constabulary for the apprehension of clever criminals. Their first case involves a stolen heirloom, a false confession, and an array of fishy suspects. But it’s no match for the deductive powers and bold hearts of Ada and Mary.

Rating: 3/5

 

 

Book Number: 34
Number Of Pages: 
192
Book Title: The Case of the Missing Moonstone (The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency #1)
Author: Jordan Stratford and Kelly Murphy
Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

Jordan Stratford imagines an alternate 1826, where Ada Lovelace (the world’s first computer programmer) and Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein) meet as girls and form a secret detective agency!
Lady Ada Byron, age eleven, is a genius. Isolated, awkward and a bit rude—but a genius. Mary Godwin, age fourteen, is a romantic. Adventurous, astute, and kind, Mary is to become Ada’s first true friend. And together, the girls conspire to form the Wollstonecraft Detective Agency—a secret constabulary for the apprehension of clever criminals. Their first case involves a stolen heirloom, a false confession, and an array of fishy suspects. But it’s no match for the deductive powers and bold hearts of Ada and Mary.

Rating: 3/5

 

 

Book Number: 35
Number Of Pages: 
525
Book Title: The Invention of Hugo Carbet
Author: Brian Selznick
Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, Hugo's undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo's dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.

Rating: 4/5

 

I seriously need to update this more often than every month and a half....

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Book Number: 15

Number Of Pages: 460

Book Title: The Black Gryphon

Author: Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon

Summary: In the midst of war, odd friendships form. One of the oddest, the friendship between Skandranon, the Black Gryphon, easily the best and stealthiest gryphon warrior in all of Urtho’s army, and the kestra’chern Amberdrake, a human of the Kaled’a’in and a healer of mind and spirit as well as of body. The two offer each other support through the ravages of war as well as in their personal lives. But when the enemy leader Ma’ar finds a way to assassinate Urtho, Skan stands ready to sacrifice himself to save everyone else… and Amberdrake stands ready to do whatever it takes to bring his winged brother-in-spirit home safely.

 

Book Number: 16

Number Of Pages: 399

Book Title: The White Gryphon

Author: Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon

Summary: Bleached white by the magical energies released with the near-simultaneous deaths of Ma’ar and Urtho that ended the war ten years ago, Skandranon has become the putative leader of a group of refugees from Urtho’s army… the Kaled’a’in clan k’Leshya, most of the gryphons, hertasi, kyree, and tervardi, as well as an assortment of non-Kaled’a’in humans who made it through the mage-made Gate before it collapsed with Urtho’s passing. The group had journeyed west until reaching the coast, and carved out a new home for themselves, calling their cliffside city White Gryphon in Skan’s honor. But then a ship arrives, bearing a delegation from the Haighlei, the mysterious Black Kings of legend. Skandranon and Amberdrake and their families are invited to the court of King Shalaman with the chance to become allies. But certain factions of the Haighlei court do not want anything to do with the newcomers, and would do anything to be rid of them… including framing them for murder.

 

Book Number: 17

Number Of Pages: 400

Book Title: The Silver Gryphon

Author: Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon

Summary: Skandranon’s son Tadrith and Amberdrake’s daughter Silverblade are working partners, junior members of the Silver Gryphons. The Silvers are the guards, explorers, and police force of White Gryphon, and both Tad and Blade are looking forward to their first assignment to outpost duty where they will have a chance to explore the borders as well as have some time away from well-meaning but overprotective parents. But when an unknown phenomenon causes them to crash in the rainforest… and drains every bit of magical equipment they had… they find themselves injured and alone, stalked by an unknown enemy, and unable to call for help. Tad and Blade have to use all their wits and creativity to survive long enough for the people of White Gryphon to learn they’re missing and mount a rescue.

 

Book Number: 18

Number Of Pages: 453

Book Title: The Stork Club

Author: Iris Rainer Dart

Summary: Judith never had a steady boyfriend, so she had two children by donor insemination. 50-year-old commitment-phobe Rick gained his son through open adoption. Lanie and Mitch had their baby via surrogate after Lanie had an emergency hysterectomy. And Ruthie and Sheldon, best friends and writing partners, also had their baby via artificial insemination, only to discover not long afterwards that the gay Sheldon was HIV-positive. They all bond with each other over their children in a parental support group especially put together for unconventional families.

 

Book Number: 19

Number Of Pages: 244

Book Title: The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland

Author: Jim Defede

Summary: Nonfiction. September 11, 2001. When the planes crashed into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field, US airspace was shut down. No planes could enter. But what about the trans-Atlantic flights that were too far into their journeys to return to Europe? Thirty-eight jumbo jets were forced to land in the little town of Gander, Newfoundland. Once an important refueling stop for military planes crossing the ocean in WWII, the population of this small community and nearby villages all pulled together to respond to the challenge of finding food, accommodations, and reassurance for their unexpected guests.

 

Book Number: 20

Number Of Pages: 388

Book Title: Spock’s World

Author: Diane Duane

Summary: Vulcan is considering secession from the Federation. The Enterprise is ordered to the planet, bringing interested parties to speak for or against the proposal, and several members of the crew including Kirk, McCoy, and Spock himself are also summoned to speak. Interspersed with their arguments, the planet’s history is told in amazing detail.

 

Book Number: 21

Number Of Pages: 374

Book Title: The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

Summary: To save her younger sister, Katniss Everdeen volunteers as a tribute for the annual Hunger Games, a live-televised battle in which two teens from the twelve districts must battle one another until only one is left victorious. But Katniss is a survivor, and becomes a contender, eventually making a choice that will put her in danger from those in power in the Capitol.

 

Book Number: 22

Number Of Pages: 391

Book Title: Catching Fire

Author: Suzanne Collins

Summary: Katniss and fellow tribute Peeta Mellark have both survived the Hunger Games, much to the consternation of those in power. While on the state-mandated Victory Tour, she becomes aware that her actions may well have set off a wave of unrest throughout the districts, one she doesn’t know if she can stop… or if she should even try. It will take all her skill and luck to save herself and her family from the government’s retaliation.

 

Book Number: 23

Number Of Pages: 390

Book Title: Mockingjay

Author: Suzanne Collins

Summary: Katniss discovers that she’s been used by both sides in the current uprising against the Capitol, a pawn in a game she’s only just learning is in play. Now she must decide whether to just hide away, or to become the symbol of hope the rebels believe she is and can be.

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Book Number: 36
Number Of Pages: 423
Book Title: The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #3)
Author: Rick Riordan
Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

Magnus Chase, a once-homeless teen, is a resident of the Hotel Valhalla and one of Odin's chosen warriors. As the son of Frey, the god of summer, fertility, and health, Magnus isn't naturally inclined to fighting. But he has strong and steadfast friends, including Hearthstone the elf, Blitzen the dwarf, and Samirah the Valkyrie, and together they have achieved brave deeds, such as defeating Fenris Wolf and battling giants for Thor's hammer, Mjolnir. Now Magnus and his crew must sail to the farthest borders of Jotunheim and Niflheim in pursuit of Asgard's greatest threat. Will they succeed in their perilous journey, or is Ragnarok lurking on the horizon?

Rating: 4/5

 

Book Number: 37
Number Of Pages: 722
Book Title: The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicles #1)
Author: Patrick Rothfuss
Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

MY NAME IS KVOTHE

I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep. 

You may have heard of me. 

So begins a tale unequalled in fantasy literature--the story of a hero told in his own voice. It is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man's search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend.

Rating: 5/5

 

Book Number: 38
Number Of Pages: 225
Book Title: Bored of the Rings
Author: The Harvard Lampoon
Summary: A not-so-hysterical, outdated spoof of the Lord of the Rings with a few clever names.

Rating: 1/5

 

Book Number: 39
Number Of Pages: 245
Book Title: Obernewtyn (The Obernewtyn Chronicles #1)
Author: Isobelle Carmody
Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

In a world struggling back from the brink of apocalypse, life is harsh. But for Elspeth Gordie, born with enhanced mental abilities that would see her sterilised or burned if discovered, it is also dangerous. There is only survival by secrecy, and so she determines never to use her forbidden powers. But it is as if they have their own imperative, and their use inevitably brings her to the attention of the totalitarian Council that rules the Land.
Sent to the remote mountain institution of Obernewtyn where escape is impossible, she must throw off her safe cloak of concealment and pit herself against those who would resurrect the terrible forces of the apocalypse
Only then will she learn most truly who and what she is...

Rating: 4.5/5

 

Book Number: 40
Number Of Pages: 311
Book Title: The Farseekers (The Obernewtyn Chronicles #2)
Author: Isobelle Carmody
Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

Since their takeover of Obernewtyn, the secret community of Misfits has flourished. But in the midst of plans to rescue a Misfit in a distant part of the land, it appears the fate of Obernewtyn is inextricably bound up in their quest.

Rating: 5/5

 

Book Number: 41
Number Of Pages: 127
Book Title: What is the Gospel
Author: Greg Gilbert
Summary: An explanatory look at the Gospel and their significance. 

Rating: 3/5

 

Book Number: 42
Number Of Pages: 512
Book Title: Ashling (The Obernewtyn Chronicles #3)
Author: Isobelle Carmody
Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

As head of Obernewtyn’s Farseeker guild, Elspeth Gordie must travel to the lowlands to seal an alliance between Obernewtyn and the rebel forces that oppose the totalitarian Council. Yet her dreams call to her with an altogether different purpose: Elspeth must destroy what remains of the weapons that brought unimaginable chaos, death, and mutation to her world. Leaving the relative safety of the mountains, Elspeth embarks on a journey that takes her across the sea and into the heart of the mysterious desert region of Sador.

Rating: 4.5/5

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Ooo, the challenge is back! I'mma try and read a few things~

 

...So does that manga/comic book rule mean a single volume of 500 pages? I've honestly never seen a manga volume that long, and I read a lot - the longest manga omnibus I've seen is a little over 300 pages, and 500-page ones are unheard of. Like, I'd love to use some manga volumes as material for this challenge, but it's impossible when most volumes out there are around 200 pages (they wouldn't even make 500 if you used two of them). Or does that mean all the manga volumes are counted together as a single entity? Since there's this manga series that has 21,000 pages across 105 volumes (and counting since it's not finished yet), and I intend to re-read it.

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On 2/14/2018 at 4:17 PM, Beldarius said:

Ooo, the challenge is back! I'mma try and read a few things~

 

...So does that manga/comic book rule mean a single volume of 500 pages? I've honestly never seen a manga volume that long, and I read a lot - the longest manga omnibus I've seen is a little over 300 pages, and 500-page ones are unheard of. Like, I'd love to use some manga volumes as material for this challenge, but it's impossible when most volumes out there are around 200 pages (they wouldn't even make 500 if you used two of them). Or does that mean all the manga volumes are counted together as a single entity? Since there's this manga series that has 21,000 pages across 105 volumes (and counting since it's not finished yet), and I intend to re-read it.

Thank you for bringing this up Beldarius, I was unaware of this and have changed the rules accordingly. Manga and comic books now count towards the challenge as long as they are at least 200 pages in length. I have also updated the book totals.

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Book Number: 24

Number Of Pages: 221

Book Title: The Magician’s Nephew

Author: C.S. Lewis

Summary: Digory Kirke’s Uncle Andrew is a magician, who sends Digory and his friend Polly to… somewhere else. The children first find themselves in a dying world, confronted by the evil sorceress Jadis. When Jadis manages to accompany them back to London, the two hatch a plan to get her back to her own world, but instead find themselves witnessing the birth of a new world… one brought forth by the song of the Lion.

 

Book Number: 25

Number Of Pages: 206

Book Title: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Author: C.S. Lewis

Summary: When the four Pevensies are sent from London to stay in the country home of Professor Kirke, they don’t expect much. But when Lucy hides in a wardrobe and finds herself in a strange winter wood, taking tea with a faun, their adventures are just beginning. With the help of Aslan, the Great Lion, the foursome defeat the forces of the evil White Witch and free the land of Narnia once again.

 

Book Number: 26

Number Of Pages: 241

Book Title: The Horse and His Boy

Author: C.S. Lewis

Summary: Set during Narnia’s Golden Age,Shasta, a young Calormene boy, learns that he is not a Calormene by birth. He runs away, heading north to seek Narnia, and meets a Narnian Talking Horse who had been captured years before. The two decide to work together on their journey. But in making his way through the city, Shasta is mistaken for another runaway, leading him to learn the truth of his birth.

 

Book Number: 27

Number Of Pages: 238

Book Title: Prince Caspian

Author: C.S. Lewis

Summary: As the four Pevensies are returning to school, a magical summons pulls them from the train station into Narnia, where they had once ruled. They find a land in turmoil and a usurper on the throne. With Aslan’s aid, they lead the Narnians against the tyrant and give it into the care of Prince Caspian.

 

Book Number: 28

Number Of Pages: 271

Book Title: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Author: C.S. Lewis

Summary: Lucy and Edmund Pevensie, along with their cousin Eustace, find themselves pulled to Narnia once again. Now well-established, King Caspian is determined to bring back the art of shipbuilding and sailing to Narnia, as well as to find the seven Lords banished by his usurping uncle. Aboard the newly-built vessel the Dawn Treader, they sail east through many adventures towards Aslan’s country at the End of the World.

 

Book Number: 29

Number Of Pages: 257

Book Title: The Silver Chair

Author: C.S. Lewis

Summary: In running from the school bullies, Eustace and his friend Jill escape through a door in the wall, only to find themselves in Narnia. Aslan himself sets them a task, to find and save Prince Rilian from the clutches of an evil witch.

 

Book Number: 30

Number Of Pages: 228

Book Title: The Last Battle

Author: C.S. Lewis

Summary: Aslan supposedly has returned to Narnia, yet the learned centaurs say that he has not, that men may lie but the stars do not, and the stars are predicting disaster. King Tirian’s only hope is that the children from another world might once again appear, as they had done from time to time in Narnian history. Only moments later, Eustace and Jill appear before him. Can they save the land they love from the false Aslan, or are they doomed to fail?

 

Book Number: 31

Number Of Pages: 164

Book Title: A House for Jonnie O.

Author: Blossom Elfman

Summary: Sixteen year old Jonnie and her friends at the “pregnant school” dream of being left alone by well-meaning friends, family, and teachers. They want a place where they can have happily-ever-after with their boyfriends and babies. But when Jonnie and her friends try to turn their dreams into reality, she discovers that being grown up means making hard choices.

 

Book Number: 32

Number Of Pages: 216

Book Title: The Dalai Lama’s Cat

Author: David Michie

Summary: A tiny starving kitten, rescued from the slums, grows to health and maturity in the Dalai Lama’s household in Dharamshala. A cat of many names, His Holiness’ Cat observes life in the monastery, meetings with celebrities, and explores the town, while offering her own insights about Tibetan Bhuddism.

 

Book Number: 33

Number Of Pages: 208

Book Title: The Dalai Lama’s Cat and the Art of Purring

Author: David Michie

Summary: His Holiness’ Cat, now full grown, continues to observe people both within the monastery and in the city of Dharamshala. Her mission as posed by the Dalai Lama just before he leaves on an extended trip: discover the true cause of happiness.

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Book Number: 34
Number Of Pages: 372
Book Title: The Atonement Child
Author: Francine Rivers
Summary: Christian fiction. When Dynah, a student at a Christian college, finds herself pregnant following a brutal rape, her world is turned upside down. Taught all her life that abortion is never the answer, she is stunned to find everyone from her fiancé and friends… save one… to the dean of the college pressuring her to have an abortion. When she refuses, she is asked to withdraw from school and returns to her parents’ home, where they also push her to abort. Dynah flees once more as she tries to make the hardest decision she’s ever had to face.
Review: While obviously written from a pro-life viewpoint, including several medically-fallacious arguments against abortion, I do feel that the story in many ways almost fits the pro-choice view in that the pregnant woman should ultimately be the one to decide whether or not to terminate a pregnancy.

 

Book Number: 35
Number Of Pages: 349
Book Title: Magic’s Pawn
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Summary: 16 year old Vanyel doesn’t fit in with his father’s ideas of how his heir Should Be, so he is sent to his aunt, Herald-Mage Savil, in Haven, the capital of Valdemar. While there, Vanyel falls in love with one of Savil’s trainees, Tylendel. But when Tylendel’s twin brother is murdered, Vanyel agrees to help his beloved get revenge on the perpetrators, starting a chain of events that leave him bereft of his love, but awaken his own latent powers of magic. 

 

Book Number: 36
Number Of Pages: 320
Book Title: Magic’s Promise
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Summary: Herald-Mage Vanyel, the most powerful Herald in all Valdemar, had just come off a yearlong stint on the embattled Karsite border. Exhausted both mentally and physically, he’s in desperate need of a rest… one he’s not entirely sure he’ll get in his family’s home. When his mother isn’t flinging girls at him in an effort to “cure” his preferences, his father is dragging him into the middle of his conflicts with his brother. As if that weren’t enough, there is trouble brewing just over the western border near the family’s keep. To ice the cake, Vanyel is worried about his King and friend, who appears to be seriously ill… to the point that the King and his beloved asked Vanyel to give the lady a child when he proved sterile, as at the time there was the potential for him to make an alliance-marriage. And when the situation on the western border heats up, danger reaches deep into Valdemar. 

 

Book Number: 37
Number Of Pages: 336
Book Title: Magic’s Price
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Summary: Vanyel is at his wits’ end. The King is dying by inches, and with the wars that have been raging for years, there are too few mages left among the Heralds… yet most of Valdemar has a perception that a Herald without the mage-gift is somehow less than a Herald-Mage. Then he meets a young bard named Stefen, whose wild talent for singing pain away enables the King to function when he needs to without leaving him muddled from medication. But even as Vanyel and Stefen fall in love, they discover that the Herald-Mages are being assassinated, until Vanyel is the only one left. The couple leave Haven to track down the source, only to discover a mage-controlled army marching on Valdemar from the north, the one direction that no one expected a threat to come from… and they have to buy time for the Army of Valdemar to rally to the defense. 

 

Book Number: 38
Number Of Pages: 286
Book Title: Karen
Author: Marie Killilea
Summary: Nonfiction. This book follows the life of Karen Killilea, along with her family, starting with her birth. Born three months premature and weighing less than two pounds in 1940, Karen suffered from cerebral palsy. In an age where the accepted wisdom for dealing with such afflictions was that the afflicted had no mentality so the best thing was to leave her in an institution and forget she’d been born, her parents refused to believe it. They found a doctor willing to work with them and learned to work as their daughter’s physical therapists to teach her to walk, feed herself, and write. This book shows how the cerebral palsy affected not just Karen, but her entire family as well. 

 

Book Number: 39
Number Of Pages: 302
Book Title: With Love From Karen
Author: Marie Killilea
Summary: Nonfiction. Sequel to Karen, this picks up the story of the Killilea family when Karen is twelve and continues their journey through her high school years. Highlights include Karen’s correspondence with a group of soldiers in Korea, the marriages of sisters Gloria and Marie, and the family’s decision to raise show dogs to give Karen a chance to compete with the non-handicapped… while she couldn’t personally take the dogs into the show ring, she could and did assume the duties of care and feeding and grooming for the shows.

 

Book Number: 40
Number Of Pages: 196
Book Title: The Good Master
Author: Kate Seredy
Summary: In pre-war Hungary, city girl Kate is sent from Budapest to the country, to live with her uncle and aunt and her cousin Jancsi after a bout of the measles. Jancsi expects a delicate and shy little girl, but Kate proves to be a mischievous little wildcat instead. The cousins share many adventures together as Kate learns about country life and Jancsi learns that girls aren’t nearly so boring as he’d thought. 

 

Book Number: 41
Number Of Pages: 194
Book Title: Black Beauty
Author: Anna Sewell
Summary: The “autobiography” of a horse named Black Beauty and his life in 19th century England, starting from his early years as a colt. It follows to his first working homes as a riding and carriage horse for Squire Gordon and then his friend the Earl. Sold after being injured by a drunkard riding him as the scars made him “unfit” for service in an aristocratic household, he passed through several other situations including working as a rental horse at a livery, a brief stint as a mount for a man who knew nothing of horses, and finally as a cab-horse in London. His first owner there was a kind and careful man, but the second overworked him until he collapsed in his harness. Bought for a pittance by a kindly farmer who saw that with a little time and care, he would still be a good and steady horse able to handle reasonable workloads, he found himself reunited with a former stablehand of Squire Gordon’s, who recognized and remembered him from those days, and who promised him a good home for the remainder of his life. 

 

 

Edited by catstaff

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Book Number: 43
Number Of Pages: 551
Book Title: The Keeping Place (The Obernewtyn Chronicles #4)
Author: Isobelle Carmody
Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

When a Misfit is kidnapped, Elspeth finds she has little choice but to join the growing rebellion against the Council. Her extraordinary mental powers could tip the scales of the struggle, but Elspeth feels torn between toppling the corrupt authoritarian regime and seeking clues vital to a more personal quest—her ambition to destroy what remains of the Beforetime weaponmachines.

Rating: 5/5

 

Book Number: 44
Number Of Pages: 288
Book Title: Macbeth
Author: William Shakespeare

Summary: A gruesome yet simple tale about a noble trying to gain power, influenced by the prophecy of three witches.

Rating: 5/5

 

Book Number: 45
Number Of Pages: 541
Book Title: American Gods
Author: Neil Gaimon

Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

Days before his release from prison, Shadow's wife, Laura, dies in a mysterious car crash. Numbly, he makes his way back home. On the plane, he encounters the enigmatic Mr Wednesday, who claims to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America.

Together they embark on a profoundly strange journey across the heart of the USA, whilst all around them a storm of preternatural and epic proportions threatens to break.

Scary, gripping and deeply unsettling, American Gods takes a long, hard look into the soul of America. You'll be surprised by what - and who - it finds there...

Rating: 1/5

 

Book Number: 46
Number Of Pages: 364
Book Title: Wonder Woman: Warbringer (this is an actual novel, not a comic)
Author: Leigh Bardugo

Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

Daughter of immortals.
Princess Diana longs to prove herself to her legendary warrior sisters. But when the opportunity finally comes, she throws away her chance at glory and breaks Amazon law—risking exile—to save a mortal. Diana will soon learn that she has rescued no ordinary girl, and that with this single brave act, she may have doomed the world.
Daughter of death.
Alia Keralis just wanted to escape her overprotective brother with a semester at sea. She doesn’t know she is being hunted by people who think her very existence could spark a world war. When a bomb detonates aboard her ship, Alia is rescued by a mysterious girl of extraordinary strength and forced to confront a horrible truth: Alia is a Warbringer—a direct descendant of the infamous Helen of Troy, fated to bring about an age of bloodshed and misery.
Together.
Two girls will face an army of enemies—mortal and divine—determined to either destroy or possess the Warbringer. Tested beyond the bounds of their abilities, Diana and Alia must find a way to unleash hidden strengths and forge an unlikely alliance. Because if they have any hope of saving both their worlds, they will have to stand side by side against the tide of war.

Rating: 5/5

 

Book Number: 47
Number Of Pages: 480
Book Title: Wavesong (The Obernewtyn Chronicles #5 international series)
Author: Isobelle Carmody

Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

With the end of the wintertime that isolates Obernewtyn from the rest of the world, Farseeker guildmistress Elspeth Gordie again sets out for the lowlands. But she soon finds that not everyone welcomes the changes brought about by the rebellion. There is a traitor among the rebels—a traitor whose hatred of Misfits puts Elspeth in danger as she attempts to thwart an invasion of fanatical Herders.

Rating: 3.5/5

 

Book Number: 48
Number Of Pages: 305
Book Title: Artemis
Author: Andy Weir

Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

Jazz Bashara is a criminal.

Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.

Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she's stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself—and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.

Rating: 3/5

 

Book Number: 49
Number Of Pages: 534
Book Title: Zenith (The Androma Saga #1)
Author: Sasha Alsburg and Lindsay Cummings

Summary: Androma Racella used to be a specre until she crashed a ship and killed her charge, forever branded as a traitor. Luckily, she managed to escape execution and now travels the Mirabel galaxy with her all-female crew of the Maurader as the bounty hunter known as The Bloody Baroness. But when the father of her old charge offers her clemency in exchange for getting his son out of the prisons of Xen Petra. Not all goes according to plan as the Queen Nor plans to wage war on the galaxy, starting with Androma and her crew.

Rating: 4.5/5

 

Book Number: 50
Number Of Pages: 496
Book Title: The Stone Key (The Obernewtyn Chronicles #6 international series)
Author: Isobelle Carmody

Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

Friend becomes foe and trust is a thing of the past when the Misfits’ most relentless enemy turns Elspeth’s world upside down. Through coercion and mind control, Ariel stands on the cusp of his ultimate revenge—and it falls to Elspeth to rescue a former ally whose mind and body have been manipulated to unleash a plague that will destroy all it touches.Jazz Bashara is a criminal.

Rating: 4/5

 

Book Number: 51
Number Of Pages: 755
Book Title: The Sending (The Obernewtyn Chronicles #6 Austrailian series)
Author: Isobelle Carmody

Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

It came to me then, like a chilly draught from an unseen gap, that I had always known in my deepest heart that it would be like this, a slipping away from a life full of people I had come to love, in a place I had helped to shape, in a land I had helped to free.
The time has come at last for Elspeth Gordie to leave the Land on her quest to find and stop the computermachine Sentinel from unleashing the deadly Balance of Terror arsenal. But before she can embark on her journey, she must find a lost key. And although she has long prepared for this day, nothing is as she anticipated.
Elspeth's search will take her where she never thought to go, and bestow upon her stranger companions than any she ever imagined. It will lead her far from her destination to those she believed lost forever.
And it will test her, as she has never been tested before . . . 

Rating: 5/5

 

Book Number: 52
Number Of Pages: 462
Book Title: The Darkest Magic (Spirits and Thieves #2)
Author: Morgan Rhodes

Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

Modern-day Toronto: Sisters Crystal and Becca Hatcher are reunited after reclaiming the Bronze Codex and narrowly escaping death. They have no one to trust but each other, and the only thing keeping them safe is the book that sent Becca's spirit to Ancient Mytica--the same book that their enemies would kill them for. 

Ancient Mytica: Maddox grapples to keep his newly discovered powers under control, while the ruthless goddess Valoria hunts him down. 

Modern-day Toronto: Farrell embraces his dark side as he unwittingly falls further under the spell of Markus, the mastermind leader of the nefarious Hawkspear Society, who will stop at nothing to find Crys and Becca--and the remarkable book in their possession. 

Rating: 3.5/5

 

Book Number: 53
Number Of Pages: 640
Book Title: Wonderstruck
Author: Brian Selznick

Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

Ben and Rose secretly wish for better lives. Ben longs for the father he has never known. Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother's room and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing.

Set fifty years apart, these two independent stories - Ben's told in words, Rose's in pictures - weave back and worth in symmetry.

Rating: 3/5

 

Book Number: 54
Number Of Pages: 448
Book Title: The Queen of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling #1)
Author: Erika Johansen

Summary: (Sourced from Goodreads)

On her nineteenth birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa. But though she may be inexperienced and sheltered, Kelsea is not defenseless: Around her neck hangs the Tearling sapphire, a jewel of immense magical power; and accompanying her is the Queen’s Guard, a cadre of brave knights led by the enigmatic and dedicated Lazarus. Kelsea will need them all to survive a cabal of enemies who will use every weapon—from crimson-caped assassins to the darkest blood magic—to prevent her from wearing the crown.

Despite her royal blood, Kelsea feels like nothing so much as an insecure girl, a child called upon to lead a people and a kingdom about which she knows almost nothing. But what she discovers in the capital will change everything, confronting her with horrors she never imagined. An act of singular daring will throw Kelsea’s kingdom into tumult, unleashing the vengeance of the tyrannical ruler of neighboring Mortmesne: the Red Queen, a sorceress possessed of the darkest magic. Now Kelsea will begin to discover whom among the servants, aristocracy, and her own guard she can trust.

But the quest to save her kingdom and meet her destiny has only just begun—a wondrous journey of self-discovery and a trial by fire that will make her a legend . . . if she can survive.

Rating: 4.5/5

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Ooh! I'm joining this for sure! Gotta get reading :) If you read a book before the challenge, and then re-read it FOR the challenge, that's not a re-read, right?

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You’re correct. A book only counts as a re-read if you read it twice while you’re participating in the challenge. The book totals have also been updated.

Edited by w5aw5

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I've been feeling nostalgic lately, and hunted out some of my favorite silly teen romances that were so popular back in the early 1980s. Have I proved yet that I really am older than dirt? :P

 

Book Number: 42
Number Of Pages: 204
Book Title: Fantasy Summer
Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer
Summary: Girls from around the country dream of winning one of four summer internships at Image magazine in New York City; to work with and learn from the professionals, and to receive makeovers for the annual interns’ issue which will feature one lucky girl on the cover.  Robin, Annie, Ashley, and Torey are chosen; four girls with different hopes and dreams, but all hoping to make those dreams a reality.

 

Book Number: 43
Number Of Pages: 154
Book Title: Secret Love
Author: Barbara Steiner
Summary: Sophomore year is confusing Mandy. Her longtime best friend Pris is going steady with a football player and can’t understand why Mandy prefers improving her tennis skills to dating one of her boyfriend’s friends. Mandy’s other friend and sometime tennis mentor, Ted, seems distant all of a sudden. And then anonymous red roses arrive… one when she sprains her ankle and another for her birthday. They remain a mystery until the night of the big dance, when Mandy discovers what love should be.

 

Book Number: 44
Number Of Pages: 165
Book Title: Rhythm of Love
Author: Stephanie Foster
Summary: Rock keyboardist Darcy had long hoped her talent would win her notice from Scott, front man of the band Jupiter, so she’s devastated when he tells her he wants the band to go in a new direction and no longer needs a keyboardist. In a new bid to gain Scott’s attention, Darcy starts her own band. Suddenly, Scott becomes interested in dating her… and so does Carl, her new band’s drummer. Now Darcy has a choice to make, one she finds much harder than she’d anticipated, especially with the two groups preparing to face off in the school’s annual Battle of the Bands.

 

Book Number: 45
Number Of Pages: 163
Book Title: The Thoroughbred
Author: Joanna Campbell
Summary: Maura is smart, pretty, and a very talented rider. Invited to spend the summer with a friend on a horse farm, the owner offers her the chance to ride one of his prized thoroughbreds in the upcoming annual horse show, believing she has the skill to win the most difficult class of Open Jumping. During training, she meets Kevin, who rides as well as she does and whose parents own the neighboring farm. The two quickly fall for one another, but when Kevin pushes for too much, too soon, the inexperienced Maura panics. Feeling rejected, Kevin vows to beat her in the horse show. But Maura’s competitive spirit won’t let her back down, even if it means losing the first boy she’s ever loved.

 

Book Number: 46
Number Of Pages: 128
Book Title: While Mrs. Coverlet Was Away
Author: Mary Nash
Summary: The three Persever children, whose father is abroad on business, don’t tell anyone when Mrs. Coverlet the housekeeper must leave to deal with a family emergency, to avoid being put into the care of the annoying old-maid neighbor Miss Eva while she’s gone. Concerns over money, followed by the discovery that their rescue cat is actually rare and extremely valuable, lead to further adventures for the trio. 

 

Book Number: 47
Number Of Pages: 190
Book Title: Mrs. Coverlet’s Magicians
Author: Mary Nash
Summary: After the previous summer’s escapades, Mrs. Coverlet vows she’ll never leave the three Perserver children again. But when she wins a baking contest and has to go on a publicity tour, she makes sure that this time, Miss Eva will come and look after the children. While the older two try to accept the situation, the youngest is determined to find some way around it… even if he has to turn to the magic kit he bought from the ad on the back of a horror comic.  

 

Book Number: 48
Number Of Pages: 156
Book Title: Snow Treasure
Author: Marie McSwigan
Summary: When the Nazis invaded Norway in 1940, most of the people in Peter’s little village didn’t think anyone could do much about it. But then Peter’s uncle approached him with a plan to let Norway sneak several million dollars’ worth of gold bullion past the Nazis and send it to the United States to keep it safe. The plan in question? Peter and the other schoolchildren of the village would ride their sleds from the village to the fjiord each day, right past the Nazis occupying the village, while sitting on top of the gold bricks.

 

Book Number: 49
Number Of Pages: 164
Book Title: Samantha on Stage
Author: Susan Clement Farrar
Summary: Eleven-year-old Samantha is a natural at ballet, used to being the best in her class, and eagerly awaiting her first toe shoes. But her confidence is shaken when Lizinka joins her class. Daughter of a Soviet diplomat, she has been schooled at the Bolshoi from a very young age, and the daily lessons show in her skill level. But as the girls become friends, they each share something important with the other. Lizinka teaches Samantha the importance of hard work and dedication, while Samantha teaches Lizinka that dance should be fun even while striving for perfection.

 

Book Number: 50
Number Of Pages: 189
Book Title: All-of-a-kind Family
Author: Sydney Taylor
Summary: A sweet story about a family of five Jewish sisters growing up with their parents in New York City in the early 1900s. The family might be poor in money but is rich in love and affection.

 

Book Number: 51
Number Of Pages: 187
Book Title: All-of-a-kind Family Downtown
Author: Sydney Taylor
Summary: The sisters, plus new baby brother Charlie, continue to have adventures. The girls take a special interest in Guido, a newly-orphaned neighborhood boy, as well as making friends with one of the nurses at the local Settlement House.

 

Book Number: 52
Number Of Pages: 160
Book Title: More All-of-a-kind Family
Author: Sydney Taylor
Summary: The sisters of the all-of-a-kind family are starting to grow up. Oldest girl Ella has her first boyfriend, while little Charlie is old enough to start joining in the family activities. A summer at Rockaway Beach, and their favorite uncle’s wedding cap off their last year in the old neighborhood of the Lower East Side. 

 

Book Number: 53
Number Of Pages: 160
Book Title: All-of-a-kind Family Uptown
Author: Sydney Taylor
Summary: Now living in the Bronx, with gentile neighbors, the girls have all sorts of new adventures: second sister Henny goes to her first boy-girl party, while middle sister Sarah graduates elementary school. But growing up isn’t easy, either. All the sisters must pitch in when their mother needs surgery, and Ella’s budding romance is interrupted when her boyfriend Jules answers the nation’s call and is sent overseas to fight in WWI.

 

Book Number: 54
Number Of Pages: 133
Book Title: Ella of All-of-a-kind Family
Author: Sydney Taylor
Summary: WWI is over, and Ella welcomes Jules back into her life, fully expecting their courtship to lead to marriage. But she also dreams of becoming a professional singer… and a Broadway talent scout offers her a chance to sing onstage. Sure, it’s just vaudeville and not opera, but it could open some doors. But it soon becomes clear that a theater career, at least in vaudeville, isn’t what she’d imagined… and that she can’t settle down if she’s going out on tour.

Edited by catstaff

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Book Number: 55
Number Of Pages: 260
Book Title: Murder at the War
Author: Mary Monica Pulver

Summary: Every year, members of the Society for Creative Anachronism flock to a campground in western Pennsylvania for their biggest annual event, the Pennsic War. As the battle weapons are made of rattan, many liken the War to Valhalla... fight all day, die several times, and still be in great shape for the feast that evening. Police detective Peter Brichter and his wife Kori, known in the SCA as Lord Stefan and Lady Katherine, are attending for the first time. While making new friends and greeting old ones, they have a clash with Thorstane Shieldbreaker, a known troublemaker. When Katherine, acting as a water-bearer during the Woods Battle, finds a fatally stabbed Thorstane, reality quickly pierces the dream when the local police learn of her run-in with the victim and latch onto her as chief suspect. Their investigation is hampered by their lack of knowledge of the Society and how it operates. Stefan launches his own quiet investigation, hoping to clear his wife and find the real murderer. 

 

Book Number: 56
Number Of Pages: 245
Book Title: Carrie
Author: Stephen King

Summary: Carrie White has always been a social outcast mostly thanks to her abusive mother's extreme religious indoctrination. She also has the power of telekinesis. After a particularly mean and ugly confrontation between Carrie and the popular girls after gym class, one of the girls feels remorseful enough to ask her own boyfriend to escort Carrie to the prom, hoping it will give the unfortunate girl one good time to recall of her high school years. But the ringleader of the group, angry over having been caught and punished for the confrontation, engineers what she considers the ultimate prank on Carrie... who snaps and uses her power to take the whole town down with her.

 

Book Number: 57
Number Of Pages: 351
Book Title: Gossamer Axe
Author: Gael Baudino

Summary: At seventeen, Chairiste ni Cummen and her lover, students at the mystical Harpers' School, sought to listen to and learn from a bard of the Sidhe, but were captured instead. Centuries later, Chairiste escaped, but the door between worlds closed too quickly for her lover to follow. Now in modern Denver and living as harp teacher Christa Cruitaire, she is introduced to rock music and realizes that it has a power the Sidhe bard cannot possibly know... power that could free her lover at long last. Now all she needs to do is learn guitar and put together a band that won't mind playing in stranger worlds than New York or Los Angeles.

 

Book Number: 58
Number Of Pages: 259
Book Title: Private Pleasures
Author: Bertrice Small

Summary: Contains adult material. After 26 years of being a dutiful housewife, Nora learns that her husband is leaving her for a younger woman. Worse, he's trying to take everything, even defrauding his children of their college funds in his greed. Nora finds her strength in her friends, and in the Channel: a new cable offering for women only, which permits them to live out their wildest fantasies in safety. As her confidence grows, Nora decides to find a way to keep her estranged husband from yanking the financial rug out from under her feet... no matter the cost in the end. 

 

Book Number: 59
Number Of Pages: 258
Book Title: Forbidden Pleasures
Author: Bertrice Small

Summary: Contains adult material. Romance author Emily is given an ultimatum from her publisher: make the switch from sweet to explicitly steamy, or they'll drop her when her current contract is up. The difficulty she won't admit? She's still a virgin, with no experience to draw upon to produce well-written erotica. Worse yet, her longtime editor retired, and is replaced by a most attractive man. Could the Channel give her the courage to seduce her new editor, so she can finally update her writing style? 

 

Book Number: 60
Number Of Pages: 280
Book Title: Sudden Pleasures
Author: Bertrice Small

Summary: Contains adult material. Ashley is satisfied with her life: a successful business, good friends, and the Channel. But she could lose everything under the terms of her grandfather's will if she isn't married before she's 35. Ryan has a similar problem due to similar terms in his father's will. Introduced by their lawyers, they agree on a marriage of convenience to save their respective businesses. It's supposed to be strictly business, but before long, Ashley wonders if she really needs that subscription to the Channel anymore. 

 

Book Number: 61
Number Of Pages: 274
Book Title: Dangerous Pleasures
Author: Bertrice Small

Summary: Contains adult material. Annie, widowed mother of five, has been barely scraping by. Her sister enters her in a contest sponsored by the Channel, and Annie wins the grand prize of a week at a newly-opened luxury spa in her hometown which is owned by the Channel Corporation. At the end of her stay, she makes a few well-received suggestions, and is asked to open and manage a gift shop within the spa. She accepts, enjoying the opportunity to do something for her family while getting to enjoy her fantasy world in the Channel. But she also learns just how dangerous such pleasures can be, when she discovers just who the CEO really is. 

 

Book Number: 62
Number Of Pages: 290
Book Title: Passionate Pleasures
Author: Bertrice Small

Summary: Contains adult material. Miss Kathy, while not entirely prim and proper, has always behaved as expected for a small-town old-maid librarian, mainly because she has been living out her literary fantasies in the Channel for years. The new principal of the local middle school would like to change that, but she is reluctant to take a chance on a real-life romance... until the CEO of the Channel Corporation steps in. An old associate of her family, he's always had a soft spot for Kathy, and revokes her access to the Channel to force her to see that true happiness in real life can be hers for the taking. 

 

Book Number: 63
Number Of Pages: 290
Book Title: Guilty Pleasures
Author: Bertrice Small

Summary: Contains adult material. Five short stories of erotic fantasy, set within the Pleasures series universe. 

Edited by catstaff

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Book Number: 55
Number Of Pages: 295
Book Title: The Iron Trial (Magisterium #1)
Author: Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
Summary: Callum Hunt has been preparing all his life to fail the initiation into the Magisterium, the school of magic, and fails at failing. He soon finds himself caught up in a world of magic, lies, and history that he wants nothing about.
Rating: 3.5/5

 

Book Number: 56
Number Of Pages: 264
Book Title: The Copper Gauntlet (Magisterium #2)

Author: Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
Summary: From Goodreads:

Callum Hunt's life has been difficult ever since he was admitted to the Magisterium, since his father suspects him of being evil, and his closest companion is a Chaos-ridden wolf--but when he discovers that his father may be trying to destroy both him and Havoc, he escapes back to the magical world and he and his friends Aaron and Tamara, become involved in the search for the stolen Alkahest, a copper gauntlet with dangerous powers.
Rating: 2.5/5

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Book Number: 4

Number Of Pages: 541

Book Title: Capitaine Wilder (can be translated as Captain Wilder)

Author: Anne Robillard

Summary: 15 years later, after living in peace during all those years, the evil wizard comes back to destroy what he couldn't during the last figth against the good.

 

(I know its a bad summary, it's the second part of "Qui est Terra Wilder" (book number 3)) 

 

Edited by Little-Star

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Book Number: 64
Number Of Pages: 255

Book Title: Raising My Rainbow

Author: Lori Duron

Summary: Nonfiction. Written by the author of the blog with the same title, this is the story of the Duron family, whose second son CJ is, in his own words, “a boy who only likes girl things, and likes to be treated like a girl.” It traces the adjustments the entire family made, from the moment a 2-1/2 year old CJ found an old Barbie doll and went into raptures that no Legos, toy cars, or other stereotypical “boy toys” ever caused, through the difficulties of the older son being targeted by bullies due to his (then 4 year old) brother’s perceived “gayness” and the steps they’re taking to try to prepare for the future. Lori admits that she and her husband were uncomfortable at first with CJ’s “gender creativity” but decided that as parents, their job was to love their children and not try to change them, and so they’ve done their best to prove to both their sons that Mom and Dad have their backs no matter what.

 

Book Number: 65
Number Of Pages: 174

Book Title: The American Girl Book of Horse Stories

Author: Compilation selected by the editors of The American Girl magazine

Summary: Ten stories of horses and the people who love them, from the Revolutionary War-era tomboy determined to save her brother's cavalry mount from confiscation by the British regulars to the teen whose honest admiration for a neighbor's horse gains her the friendship of the cutest (and most elusive) boy in the area.

 

Book Number: 66
Number Of Pages: 210

Book Title: Gypsy from Nowhere

Author: Sharon Wagner

Summary: Wendy, whose single father's job had him traveling frequently, had long dreamed of living on her uncle's dude ranch, but the guilt following an accident which resulted in the death of her mount had her dream turn into a nightmare. Terrified of riding again, and certain that she was a danger to any horse she might ride, Wendy arrived at the ranch feeling certain none of the locals would want her as a friend once they knew what happened. But on her first day there, she found a stray yearling filly that no one recognized caught in some loose barbed wire. Rescuing the young horse and quickly growing attached despite the filly's penchant for returning to the rough terrain she'd appeared from, she also faced heartbreak upon learning that "Gypsy" had most likely been stolen along with a valuable broodmare and her probable owner was coming to reclaim her. But when Gypsy vanished again just as a late-season blizzard loomed, Wendy put the clues together and found the courage to ride her uncle's stallion to rescue both the little filly who'd captured her heart and the valuable broodmare as well.

 

Book Number: 67
Number Of Pages: 212

Book Title: Gypsy and Nimblefoot

Author: Sharon Wagner

Summary: No longer scared to ride, Wendy looked forward to helping with the guests at her uncle's dude ranch as well as learning to train her yearling filly Gypsy. Needing to pick a personal mount since Gypsy was too young to ride, she selected Nimblefoot, a young pinto who had been injured the previous summer while being ridden by a young guest of the ranch. Physically, Nimblefoot had recovered, but he acted terrified any time he had to cross bare rock. Wendy feared her uncle would decide Nimblefoot was a danger needing to be put down, especially when the same young guest returned to the ranch and kept saying that Nimblefoot was mean and a killer. At the same time, she and two local friends discovered a couple of boys hiding in a derelict cabin in one of the rougher sections of the ranch, trying to stay together while their mother was hospitalized. Wendy and her friends agree to supply the boys with food and clothing, but when a flash flood causes the cabin to collapse and injure the older boy, it's up to Wendy and Gypsy to coax Nimblefoot over a rocky ridge in order to get him to medical help.

 

Book Number: 68
Number Of Pages: 211

Book Title: Gypsy and the Moonstone Stallion

Author: Sharon Wagner

Summary: Wendy and her friends hear the legend of Wild Horse Island when word gets around that the island has been sold to a big hotel chain. They learn that some renegades from the local Blackfoot tribe had made their final stand against the US Army there back in the day, and also that it may or may not have been an actual Blackfoot burial ground. The tribe, in town for the big summer rodeo, goes out to the island to offer prayers for their fallen as they do every year, but are chased off by the hotel's construction boss. Wendy and her friends, together with Gypsy and a friend from the the tribe, decide to explore the island while they still can, and find evidence of a horse out there. Despite trouble from the construction boss and the sheriff, they go back to try to find the ghostly horse they've only seen from a distance. Then Wendy overhears a conversation between a new guest at the ranch and the construction boss which reveals that a valuable tribal artifact was found, and the teens find themselves in danger from the construction boss as they make one last effort to find the artifact before he illegally sells it. But with Gypsy's help, they locate the pipe once owned by the Blackfoot known as the Moonstone Chief, as well as a half-wild stallion whose coat was also the pearly color of moonstones.

 

Book Number: 69
Number Of Pages: 217

Book Title: Light a Single Candle

Author: Beverly Butler

Summary: At 14, Cathy lost her sight, and discovered that adjusting to blindness was often easier than handling the reactions of friends. One avoided her, while another tried to do everything for her. The state school for the blind geared its curriculum towards vocational learning rather than college preparation, and the head teacher there considered Cathy a malcontent for her insistence that she still intended to go on to college and discouraged such thinking at every turn. But determined to prove the naysayers wrong, Cathy went through a training course to gain a guide dog and more independence so she could take on the challenge of returning to public high school.

 

Book Number: 70
Number Of Pages: 442
Book Title: Joust
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Summary: Vetch was an Altan serf, forced to labor for the man of Tia who now owned what had been his family’s farm after the tides of war turned against Alta. Starved and abused, his hate sustained him until the day a Jouster of Tia… a dragon rider… paused at his master’s holding for a drink and witnessed the man beating him. Jouster Ari carried Vetch off to train him as a dragon-boy, charged with the care of his dragon Kashet. Vetch soon learned that Kashet was different from the other dragons, the only one who didn’t need to be drugged into tameness. As he discovered why, he became determined to tame a dragon of his own… and with luck, escape back to his own people with his tamed dragon. 

 

Book Number: 71
Number Of Pages: 402
Book Title: Alta
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Summary: Vetch, now using his true name Kiron, had not only tamed a dragon, he did escape back to Alta with her. But while the leader of Alta’s few Jousters welcomed him and his dragon and showed a willingness to listen to his untraditional ideas for improving the Jousters as a whole, not everyone was as welcoming. Kiron and the young men he was teaching to be tamers of dragons discovered some of the secrets of the Magi… a group of magic-users who supposedly wielded their powers for the good of Alta, but who were instead maneuvering themselves into being the true rulers from the shadows while using the monarchs as puppets… and quickly found themselves in danger of losing their lives to something more sinister than an enemy’s lance. 

 

Book Number: 72
Number Of Pages: 448
Book Title: Sanctuary
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Summary: Having fled Alta and the Magi with several nobles and a handful of Jousters with tamed dragons, Kiron now faces the problems that come with establishing a new settlement. Once known as the Lost City of the Desert, Sanctuary is swiftly becoming the destination of people from both Alta and Tia, fleeing the horrors perpetrated by the Magi, who have moved into Tia as well. 

 

Book Number: 73
Number Of Pages: 291
Book Title: Aerie
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Summary: With the expansion of Sanctuary, daily life is becoming difficult in the overcrowded city. Then Kiron finds another city, this one thought to be a mere legend, the city of the ancient cliff-dwellers. As they ease the problem of overpopulation, though, they all must still deal with the difficulties of combining two peoples into one, especially when those two peoples had been at war for most of the last three hundred years.

 

Book Number: 74
Number Of Pages: 281
Book Title: To Kill a Mockingbird
Author: Harper Lee
Summary: Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, with brother Jem and friend Dill, grow up in Depression-era Alabama, where she learns about human nature, bigotry, compassion, and honor from her lawyer father. 

 

Book Number: 75
Number Of Pages: 250
Book Title: Candy Stripers
Author: Lee Wyndham
Summary: Fourteen-year-old Bonnie joined the Candy Stripers on a whim, and while she didn’t dislike the work, she sometimes wondered why she’d bothered, as she had no real interest in nursing. But when a tragedy struck the town, she discovered just how much the hospital and her work there meant to her. 

 

Book Number: 76
Number Of Pages: 446
Book Title: The Godfather
Author: Mario Puzo
Summary: The classic Mafia novel, detailing the lives of the fictional Corleone crime family and their various activities as a war with another family starts over the Corleones’ refusal to become involved in the drug trade.

Edited by catstaff

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