Look Back at 2010

It's the final day of 2010! Can you believe it?

We've already talked about best and worst of 2010, but what about the rest of these categories? See other answers here.

Most disappointing book



Most surprising book



Book you recommended to people most



Best series you discovered



Favorite new authors (Suzanne Collins & Kate Atkinson)




Most hilarious read (didn't really read any other funny books)



Most thrilling, unputdownable book



Favorite cover



Most memorable character (Aibileen)



Most beautifully written book (I don't know if it's actually beautiful but I love her writing style.)



Book that had the greatest impact on you



Book you can't believe you waited until 2010 to finally read (Well, re-read. It had been 15 years.)

52 Challenge Wrap-Up

So, how did the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge go for you?

I didn't make it. I was going strong for awhile, but didn't get there. Not even that close, really. 30 books. I'm going to keep the challenge going again next year and see how many more I can read. I'm considering it a success as long as I read more than this year.

Are you going to join in again?

Thoughts for Thursday

Now that 2010 is just about over...what's the best and the worst book you read this year?

There are a few candidates for the best. I loved (5 hearts) Columbine, To Kill A Mockingbird, Shanghai Girls, The Help and The Hunger Games. Overall, though I have to go with Columbine. It's a must-read book!









My worst would probably be My Stroke of Insight. It wasn't that it was that bad, it's just that I was expecting it to be so much better. Her unique perspective was very interesting, though.

Wednesday Wish List

The Crying Tree by Naseem Rakha


Irene Stanley thought her world had come to an end when her husband finds their 15-year-old son, Shep, murdered in their Oregon home. Daniel Robbin, who had spent his teenage years in and out of trouble, gave himself up to the police and was given the state’s harshest sentence: death by lethal injection..

Now, nineteen years later, as the superintendent of the state penitentiary prepares to execute Robbin, Irene Stanley must reveal what she has been hiding from her family. That in order to survive the anger and grief she had at losing her son, she not only had forgiven the man who killed him, but had come to be his friend.

Her revelation stuns her family, church and community and cracks open the secrets that had been surrounding her son’s death. Secrets that reveal how little she understood Shep, her husband, or herself.

Dramatic, emotional, and ultimately uplifting, The Crying Tree is an unforgettable story of love and redemption, the unbreakable bonds of family, and the transformative power of forgiveness.

If we didn't already have so many great choices for book club this year, I would love to discuss this one.

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays (started on Should Be Reading) asks you to:

Grab your current read (or a book on your shelf that you've read or been wanting to read). Let the book fall open to a random page. Share two (or a few) teaser sentences from that page. Don't forget to share the title and author of the book in case someone is teased into reading. Please avoid spoilers!

I've posted my teaser below. Post yours in the comment section if you'd like to share as well!

We sure did, all of us looking like a funny family sharing the Caprice Classic’s front bench, us fiddling with the radio station while she sobbed, nails black as a boar and clutching a bag of her own hair on her lap as evidence for the ladies in the clinic. We still had to wait an hour and a half.

from The Death of Mother (52 stories) by Amelia Gray

Movie Mondays

3:10 to Yuma

Book (short story), 1953 by Elmore Leonard

Trust was rare and precious in the wide-open towns that sprung up like weeds on America's frontier—with hustlers and hucksters arriving in droves by horse, coach, wagon, and rail, and gunmen working both sides of the law, all too eager to end a man's life with a well-placed bullet. The New York Times-bestselling Grand Master of suspense deftly displays the other side of his genius, with classic western tales of destiny and fatal decision . . . and trust as essential to survival as it is hard-earned.



Movie, 2007 directed by James Mangold

Features: Russell Crowe, Christian Bale

Tagline: Time waits for one man.

Awards: It was nominated for 2 Oscars, Best Achievement in Sound and Best Original Score.

Have you read the story or seen the movie? Do you like westerns?

Sunday Survey

Has anyone started reading Half Broke Horses?

5=I love it!
4=I really like it.
3=I like it.
2=It's just okay.
1=I don't like it.

2010 Book Club Year in Review

We read so many great books this year!


















January | In the Woods


February | The 19th Wife


March | Columbine


We voted this our BEST DISCUSSION and FAVORITE OVERALL BOOK. We also chose Eric Harris as WORST MALE VILLAIN. Our SADDEST MOMENT was also from Columbine--various parts were mentioned, including the death of teacher Dave Sanders.


April | The Condition


May | Have a Little Faith


June | Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim


July | Olive Kitteridge


August | Blame


September | To Kill a Mockingbird


Our FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER was Scout and our FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER was Atticus.


October | Little Bird of Heaven


We voted this as MOST DISAPPOINTING OVERALL BOOK.


November | Shanghai Girls


We chose Shanghai Girls for BEST TOPIC/THEME (and runner-up for SADDEST MOMENT).


December | The Help


Our FUNNIEST MOMENT was from The Help: The Terrible Awful. We also voted it BEST ENDING. We chose Hilly as WORST FEMALE VILLAIN (unanimous).


We didn't come to a consensus on MOST WELL-WRITTEN BOOK. There were votes for The 19th Wife, Columbine, Olive Kitteridge, To Kill a Mockingbird, Shanghai Girls and The Help.