VictoriaPL's 12-12 reading (part three)

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

I. The Great Space Race
written by or about astronauts, with particular attention to the "Moon Era"



Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin by Piers Bizony (1.16.2012)
Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race by David Scott & Alexei Leonov (2.12.2012) ✤
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach (4.28.2012)
Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History by Ben Mezrich (5.12.2012)
Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon by Buzz Aldrin with Ken Abraham (6.10.2012)
Live from Cape Canaveral by Jay Barbree (7.14.2012)
Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo by Nicholas de Monchaux (8.19.2012)
Marooned by Martin Caidin (8.25.2012)
Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Craig Nelson (10.16.2012)
Failure is not an Option by Gene Kranz (10.27.2012)
Falling to Earth: An Apollo 15 Astronaut's Journey to the Moon by Al Worden (11.6.2012)
Homesteading Space: the Skylab Story (11.17.2012)

CATEGORY FULL

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

II. Test Flights
(new-to-me authors)



The Sex Club by L.J. Sellers (1.19.2012)
Open Season by C. J. Box (3.9.2012)
A Change of Heart: a memoir by Claire Sylvia (3.10.2012)
Deliver Us from Evil: a Novel by Robin Caroll (5.19.2012)
Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (5.29.2012)
Mary, Queen of France by Jean Plaidy (6.22.2012)
The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson (6.29.2012)
Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion and Betrayal by Mal Peet (7.3.2012)
What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman (9.18.2012)
The Cold Room by J.T. Ellison (11.17.2012)
Slow Dancing on Dinosaur Bones by Lana Witt (11.18.2012)
The Gift of Hope: Helping the Homeless by Danielle Steel (12.11.2012)

CATEGORY FULL

III. Public Appearances
books discovered through films or TV


The Captain (Jim Lovell) congratulates Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) in Apollo 13

You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming You Only Live Twice (2.19.2012) ✤
The Road to Jerusalem by Jan Guillou Arn: The Knight Templar (5.8.2012)
The Man Who Heard Voices: Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale by Michael Bamberger (5.27.2012)
Coffinman: The Journal of a Buddhist Mortician by Shinmon Aoki Departures (5.27.2012)
Big Fish: a Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace (6.9.2012)
Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard (8.27.2012)
Heat Rises by Richard Castle (10.22.2012)
To Have and Have Not by Earnest Hemingway (11.3.2012)
The Colorado Kid by Stephen King (11.10.2012)
SeinLanguage by Jerry Seinfeld (11.10.2012)
Supernatural: Night Terror by John Passarella (11.10.2012)
A Quantum of Solace: the complete James Bond short stories by Ian Fleming ♫ (11.26.2012)

CATEGORY FULL

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

IV. The White Room
last stop before liftoff, these are ARCs, ER & newly released books


(crew of Apollo 8)

The Chalk Girl: A Mallory Novel by Carol O'Connell (1.15.2012)
The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice (2.17.2012)
Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult (3.6.2012)
The Deep Zone by James Tabor (3.18.2012)
The Third Gate by Lincoln Child (6.23.2012) ♫
Criminal by Karin Slaughter (7.12.2012)
Available Dark by Elizabeth Hand (7.16.2012)
Kill You Twice by Chelsea Cain (8.14.2012)
Full Disclosure by Dee Henderson (8.17.2012)
Trickster's Point by William Kent Krueger (11.11.2012) ♫
Unholy Night by Seth Grahame-Smith (12.16.2012) ♫
The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss (12.30.2013)

CATEGORY FULL

V. The Trench a.k.a. Mission Control
recommendations from other LT members



One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus inspired by dudes22 (1.11.2012) ♫ ✪ ✤
The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis inspired by mathgirl40 (2.1.2012) ♫
The Slave by Isaac Bashevis Singer inspired by avatiakh (5.6.2012)
The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan inspired by RidgewayGirl (6/16/2012)
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman inspired by DorsVenabili (7.8.2012)
Midwinter of the Spirit by Phil Rickman inspired by tymfos (7.14.2012)
The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe inspired by majkia (7.15.2012)
The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney inspired by RidgewayGirl (8.5.2012)
Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres inspired by RidgewayGirl (9.7.2012)
The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer inspired by SqueakyChu (11.13.2012)
Tunneling to the Center of the Earth by Kevin Wilson inspired by avaland (11.23.2012)
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks inspired by RidgewayGirl (12.29.2012)

CATEGORY FULL

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

VI. The Apollo-Soyuz docking
tandem & group reads



Iron House by John Hart (1.7.2012) ✤
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (2.26.2012) ✤
The Garden Intrigue by Lauren Willig w/ christina_reads (2.26.2012)
Night Passage (Jesse Stone) by Robert B. Parker w/@jonesli (3.3.2012)
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (3.13.2012) ♫ ✤
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (4.29.2012) ✤
The Holy Road by Michael Blake w/DeltaQueen50 (4.30.2012) ♫
The Burglar in the Library by Lawrence Block w/ @jonesli (5.5.2012)
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (6.22.2012)
Possession by A.S. Byatt w/ AnneDC (9.23.2012)
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf w/ RidgewayGirl (11.4.2012)
Queen of the South by Arturo Perez-Reverte w/ RidgewayGirl (12.6.2012)

CATEGORY FULL

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

VII. John Glenn's fireflies
random & shiny books that come out of nowhere.


(as portrayed by Ed Harris in The Right Stuff)

Sacred and Profane by Faye Kellerman (1.8.2012)
One Tough Cop: The Bo Dietl Story by Bo Dietl (1.22.2012) ✪ ✤
Milk and Honey by Faye Kellerman (3.1.2012) ♫ ✤
Picture Me Dead by Heather Graham (6.30.2012)
Postcards from No Man's Land by Aidan Chambers (7.25.2012)
Sanibel Flats by Randy Wayne White (8.7.2012)
Strange Candy by Laurell K. Hamilton (8.24.2012)
The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn (10.30.2012)
Bad Girls:Femme Fatales, Sirens, and Molls by Tony Turtu (11.29.2012)
Living With Books by Alan Powers (12.4.2012)
Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life by Various (12.6.2012)
Streams of Mercy by Mark Rutland (12.28.2012)

CATEGORY FULL

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

VIII. The Squawk Box
♫ audiobooks


(Marilyn Lovell listens to a radio feed / portrayal by Kathleen Quinlan in Apollo 13)

Chill Factor by Sandra Brown (1.26.2012) ♫
Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo (2.10.2012) ♫
The Affair: a Reacher novel by Lee Child (2.22.2012) ♫
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (6.6.2012) ♫
The Unremarkable Heart and Other Stories by Karin Slaughter (6.30.2012) ♫
Death Without Company by Craig Johnson (7.29.2012) ♫
The People of the Black Circle by Robert E. Howard (8.10.2012) ♫
The Titanic by Wyn Craig Wade (12.4.2012) ♫
A Christmas Blizzard by Garrison Keillor (12.10.2012) ♫
Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child (12.19.2012) ♫
The Bone House by Brian Freeman (12.23.2012) ♫
The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Save America by Timothy Egan ♫

CATEGORY FULL

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

IX. The Liberty Bell 7
Off-the-Shelf


(after splashdown she lay on the ocean floor for 38 years. Hopefully none of my TBR books will wait that long!)

The Lost Van Gogh by A.J. Zerries (1.17.2012)
The Cool Cottontail by John Ball (2.28.2012) ✤
Cut to the Heart by Ava Dianne Day (3.24.2012) ✪
Deep Gold by Jay Amberg (5.28.2012)
Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life by Terry Brooks (6.6.2012)
Blackout by Connie Willis (10.10.2012)
Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D.James (10.20.2012)
Angelology by Danielle Trussoni (11.22.2012)
Blind Fall by Christopher Rice (11.24.2012)
Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain (12.3.2012)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer (12.16.2012)
Captured by the Indians: 15 Firsthand Accounts by Frederick Drimmer (12.18.2012)

CATEGORY FULL

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

X. The Silver Snoopy (service award)
Favorite Authors



Indelible by Karin Slaughter (1.16.2012)
Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson (2.6.2012)
You're Next by Gregg Hurwitz (4.14.2012) ♫
The Devil's Bed by William Kent Krueger (4.22.2012) ♫
Frost (Great Plains Teen Fiction) by Nicole Luiken (5.21.2012)
Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott (6.2.2012)
Topics About Which I Know Nothing by Patrick Ness (6.15.2012)
The End of Everything by Megan Abbott (9.2.2012)
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (9.16.2012)
Peaches for Father Francis by Joanne Harris (10.13.2012)
The Hunter from the Woods by Robert McCammon (10.19.2012)
Faithless by Karin Slaughter (11.25.2012)

CATEGORY FULL

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

XI. Spacecamp
YA books



Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (2.4.2012) ♫
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (2.14.2012) ♫
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (2.18.2012) ✤
Blood Red Road by Moira Young (5.6.2012)
Sixteen in Nome by Max Brand (5.12.2012)
The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean (5.17.2012)
Bruiser by Neal Shusterman (6.20.2012)
Holes by Louis Sachar (7.7.2012)
My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgewick (7.23.2012)
UnWholly by Neal Shusterman (9.28.2012)
Me and You by Niccolo Ammaniti (11.14.2012)
Red Rider's Hood by Neal Shusterman (11.28.2012)

CATEGORY FULL

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

XII. Robonauts
Terminator and other sci-fi



Terminator and Philosophy: I'll Be Back, Therefore I Am by Various (1.28.2012)
T2 Dark Futures:The New John Connor Chronicles by Russell Blackford (2.11.2012) ✤
Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology (5.24.2012)
Terminator Hunt by Aaron Allston (5.31.2012)
Terminator Dreams by Aaron Allston (6.9.2012)
Terminator Salvation: The Official Movie Novelization by Alan Dean Foster (6.18.2012)
Terminator Salvation: Cold War by Greg Cox (7.7.2012)
T2: Infiltrator by S.M. Stirling (7.21.2012)
T2: Rising Storm by S.M. Stirling (7.28.2012)
T2: The Future War by S.M. Stirling (7.29.2012)
Terminator 2 Judgement Day: an Illustrated Screenplay by James Cameron and William Wisher (10.20.2012)
Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology (10.28.2012)

CATEGORY FULL

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

What a great roll call of books!

That disgraced astronaut book that you read recently sounds good. I'm adding it to my wishlist.

Thanks Mamzel!

Linda - I found Falling to Earth to be quick read. Hope you enjoy it.

Just saying, Hi, so I can keep up with the new thread.

The song "Final Countdown" is now in my head. You're in the home stretch!

Slow Dancing on Dinosaur Bones? What a title!!! I'll be looking forward to your reviews.

Leaving a note to make sure I don't miss out on the new thread!

The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer

We are each the love of someone's life.
I wanted to put that down in case I am discovered and unable to complete these pages, in case you become so disturbed by the facts of my confession that you throw it into the fire before I get to tell you of great love and murder...
I have so much to explain, but first you must believe:
Inside this wretched body, I grow old. But outside - in every part of me but my mind and soul - I grow young.

And so begins the tale of Max Tivoli, who began life as a gnarled old infant. His chronological age and mental age always add up to seventy - a daunting balancing act that is his personal hell. Through the years as he grows ever younger, he struggles to hold on to the love of the one woman who captured his heart and maintain his only true friendship.

A long time ago LT member SqueakyChu recommended this book to me. I filed away the title along with the hundreds of other books on my To Be Read roster but I was not in any hurry to find a copy to read. In this, I was a fool.

The Confessions of Max Tivoli is beautifully written - I drank in every word on these pages. And what a story! If you're worried, it's not gimmicky or filled with science-fictiony explanations. It's a human story - of love and life and loss. And as I turned the last page I was utterly bereft because it had ended.

So don't do as I did - read this one immediately! Oh, and thank you Madeline! I owe you a recommendation.

>Hi Andrea & Eva, thanks for stopping by.

>Christina, I know - that song has been playing in my head too! I never said I would read a full 144 but now that I'm getting close, I have the itch to try for that many. I don't know if it's possible but I want to see how many I can.

>Katie - I'll be sure to let you know what I think of it!

> #21 - Oh, oh, oh..... I have that one on my TBR bookcase..... an impulse buy that I have ignored since purchasing it. Looks like I will be trying to get to that one sooner rather than later!

Confusingly answering a question in last thread I have watched Haven but only the 1st season (well and a couple of the 2nd) so I am waaay behind. Stephen King is ok though :)

"His chronological age and mental age always add up to seventy"

Ooooh, cool! Sounds like a story I would dig. :)

@ 22 -- Victoria, I am also feeling that urge, and I have more books ahead of me than you do. It'll be a miracle if I reach 144, but I kind of want to try!

Hooray for getting close to the end!

The Cold Room by J.T. Ellison

It's bad enough that the killer starves his victims to death and then sexually assaults them, but then he leaves them elaborately posed in the style of famous paintings. The Conductor, as he's known, has gone too far and Taylor Jackson wants to take him down. Taylor thinks she's close until she finds similar killings over in Europe. Has her killer crossed the pond, or does he have a protege?

I didn't realize I was stepping into the middle of a series - I should have paid more attention. I was caught off guard without introductions to the best-friend medical examiner, the FBI-profiler fiance and the internal politics of her career problems. But putting all that aside, I thought the format of the story was good - there was the current case to be solved within these pages and then her long-term troubles that bind the series together. It felt a lot like the Patricia Cornwell books I used to read, "used to" being the important phrase. I don't think I'm ready to go back into the serial-killer genre on a regular basis. I think I picked this one up because of the art angle and there wasn't that much art in it to be satisfying. I'll probably give this series a pass. It's not like I need another series to plug into anyway...

Eyuuu!!! The Cold room sounds a bit on the ghastly side.

Ok, now I'm putting The Confessions of Max Tivoli on my tbr. Have you read The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and if so how does it compare?

Kerry, I have not read The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story

"All of us have a new courage now that man can work in space to control his environment, improve his circumstances and exert his will, even as he does down here on Earth."
-Richard Nixon

When Congress cut funding for Apollo 18, 19 and 20, many people at NASA didn't know what the future of the agency would be. A committee was formed to explore what options they had and, since they could not ask for more money, what they could do with the equipment on-hand. From the remains of a Saturn rocket they fashioned Skylab - the first space station. And the three command modules originally slated for those last trips to the moon would ferry the crews there and back again.

Skylab's primary mission was to study the effects of long-term spaceflight on the human body and to see if those effects could be mitigated. If we were to ever go to another planet (like Mars), we needed to know if it was possible to live in space. But the program had a rocky start - the heat shield came off during Skylab's ascent into orbit and damaged the solar array. Not only was it too hot for habitation but it didn't have enough power for the experiments either. Before the mission could begin NASA had to figure out how the first crew could repair a construct that was never meant to have maintenance performed on it. The hardware was not meant to be unfastened or modified and there were not adequate hand- and foot-holds.

Eventually NASA did fix Skylab and three crews lived and worked there for nearly a year, performing bio-medical experiments and studying both the Earth and the Sun. Not only did they learn much about the human body in zero-g but also about crew dynamics, EVAs and spacecraft design. All subsequent spaceflight programs owe a debt to the lessons learned on Skylab.

The plan for Skylab was originally to have one of the first Shuttle missions boost it to a higher orbit so that more time could be spent working there when funding was granted. Even the Russians expressed an interest in a joint Skylab crew with the Americans (which eventually became Apollo-Soyuz). But the Shuttle program was delayed and Skylab fell to Earth, just like MIR would many years later.

Homesteading Space was a good education for me, as I did not know anything about Skylab before reading it. I enjoyed the astronauts' diaries and the transcripts of conversations with the Houston. Many of their experiments were interesting, not just the ones performed on themselves but with spiders and minnows as well. But, honestly, it's not a book I think the casual science reader would enjoy. Even with my great interest in space books, I felt fatigued two-thirds of the way through the 500+ pages. I think only those interested in spaceflight would enjoy it as hobby-reading.

The Cold Room sounds sufficiently creepy! :) Adding the first in the series to the wishlist!

Slow Dancing on Dinosaur Bones by Lana Witt

The titular dinosaur bones in this story is coal. Here in Pick, Kentucky (near Harlan), The Conroy Coal Company wants a new strip mine but first has to convince the landowners to sign a settlement. There's Gemma, a loan officer at the bank who suffers from vitiligo and likes to sit naked in the creekbed. And Gilman, a car mechanic who bootlegs liquor and holds a torch for Gemma. While they don't agree on the management of their adjoining properties, they have other distractions to take care of. Gilman's ex-girlfriend, the singer Rosalee, is back in town and she's brought trouble with her all the way from Florida. And then there's Tom, a philosopher/carpenter from California who takes odd jobs for Gilman to get his car fixed. And last but not least, Ten-Fifteen, Gilman's best friend, who tries to keep the peace between everyone.

Slow Dancing on Dinosaur Bones has the right chemistry that makes good Southern novels work. These characters are quirky but they're not quite caricatures. Tonally, it's not as dark as a Hart or Grisham but it's not as light as a Flagg or Hiaasen can be either. It rides a thin line and I think it succeeds. I was captivated by it and almost read it through in one go. I'll be looking out for more of Witt.

Slow dancing sounds good. WL time!

Sounds like an interesting book and I love the cover.

I hope you both enjoy it!

Hope you have a happy Thanksgiving, Victoria.

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

Sir Thomas Aquinas believed that the dark angels fell within twenty seconds of creation - their evil nature cracked the perfection of the universe almost instantly, leaving a terrible fissure between good and evil. For twenty seconds the universe was pure, perfect, unbroken...
Dr. Raphael continued, "In our time evil has overcome. Yet we continue the fight. There are thousands of us in every part of the world. And hundreds of thousands, perhaps - of them.

The fun thing about reader-friends is that even if your tastes are similar to theirs, they are not an exact match. Which means that even if a friend rates a book negatively, sometimes it will not quench your curiosity to try it for yourself. Such is the case with Angelology. A friend read it and loathed it but I was not deterred. I've read several works of angel fiction - some early Peretti - and particularly enjoyed Angels On Fire by Nancy Collins. But Angelology is very different from that. It is a modern secret-society, them-against-us tale but it also reaches back (far back) into angel lore. In that manner, it feels a little like old-school Anne Rice - say Servant of the Bones or Queen of the Damned - but not nearly as well done. Several passages felt repetitious and I grew frustrated, feeling that Trussoni was intentionally bloating the material - dragging it on and wasting my time. I was particularly upset when I got to the end to find that it wasn't an end at all, for there is a sequel... and I will not be reading that one.

Tunneling to the Center of the Earth: Stories by Kevin Wilson

I'm not a big reader of short stories - but every once in awhile I think they're a nice change of pace. This small collection of 11 stories really took me on some interesting journeys. There's a professional grandmother, a scrabble-tile sorter whose parents self-combusted, a mansion to be inherited by one of five brothers who crafts a winning origami crane and a museum where a rubber band collection leads to love. In fact, many of these stories seem to have love, or a longing for affection, in them. There were a few stories I didn't connect with at all - but I think that's true of most collections. I enjoyed my time spent with these pages and will look for more from Wilson in the future.

I actually have a friend who passes on every book she doesn't like to me (and vice versa) because our tastes are completely opposite - we have an about 80% success-rate so far. :)

In regards to Angelology; you can't say I didn't warn you!

You were right about this one, Kay!

I'll take the warning!!!

Faithless by Karin Slaughter

Since I encountered Slaughter's oeuvre from the most recent end (thank you, LT Early Reviewer program), it has been quite fascinating to me, from time to time, to read one of her earlier novels. Knowing that there is a finite number of puzzle pieces left before I have the whole thing put together, I embrace the experience of each one. This particular episode showcases Sara and Jeffrey - between her peds practice and his cop shop - deducing the identity of the baddie who puts young girls down in the ground alive. I enjoyed it quite a bit except for the last two chapters which didn't honestly hold my attention... but that's usually the case when Lena is front-and-center.

Quantum of Solace: the Complete James Bond Short Stories by Ian Fleming

I wasn't aware that Fleming even wrote short stories until I stumbled upon an article about the recently released Skyfall film, which mentioned that were very few original Fleming 'titles' left. I was curious to see what his shorter fiction was like - and I have to say - I enjoyed these perhaps even a little better than his full-length novels. No time for Fleming to dawdle fifty pages on a Baccarat or Golf game - just the stuff he does best. Here we have Bond in a large variety of situations and locales and moods. I wish Fleming had written more of these. My favorite was The Hildebrand Rarity, closely followed by The Living Daylights then maybe Quantum of Solace. It's certainly necessary reading for any fan.

I've not read any original Fleming at all. I do mean to rectify this, but apparently there'll be a Bond movie-marathon at my house over the Xmas holiday, so I may be "Bonded out" for a while! I'm putting this on the wishlist, but I'll be reading them "in order" since I have a dash of the old OCD when it comes to series. :)

Hi Eva - just be prepared. Fleming can be offensive - racist and sexist - I try to keep him in his era when I read him. I barely got through Casino Royale with all that Baccarat but the next novels were better. And the films are rarely true to the novels but both can be enjoyed on their own. You'll have to let me know which actor you favor as the best 007...

I have heard about the racism and sexism, so I'm somewhat prepared for that. The Baccarat and golf-bits were new, though, and I might not survive those. :)

Watching the films will be very interesting. I saw a bunch when I was a kid, but I don't remember which ones. Moore was the current Bond then, so I did prefer him for the longest time, but I think Daniel Craig has overtaken him. I saw an article about the hideous fashions in the older ones, so now I'm mostly eager to see the clothes. :)

There will never be a Bond for me except for Sean.

I like Pierce Brosnan, but more because he was Remington Steele than because he was James Bond. To me, Sean Connery will always be Indiana Jones' father, and Daniel Craig just isn't that good-looking.

But I've never seen a Bond movie, so what do I know?

*Gasp!* "Daniel Craig just isn't that good-looking" What?! I'm sorry to have to tell you that you're wrong. :)

>51 casvelyn: Casvelyn I Have to agree with you, Daniel Craig is not good looking at all and I've seen almost all of the Bond movies. After watching Casino Royal I haven't wanted to see any more with Daniel Craig.

Yay for Bond! I am a bit of a traditionalist - I like Connery and Moore as Bond - but I did enjoy Skyfall. I have to admit my favorite Bond movie is On Her Majesty's Secret Service starring Lazenby.

Lori! I too was a closet Lazenby fan before Craig. I think Craig is handsome - not pretty - but rugged, like Bond should be with a life like that.

I rate Bond films by how good the villain is rather than who plays Bond, as pretty much Bond is bland and the interest on screen is provided usually by the villain (or very occasionally the women, although generally they're pretty vapid)

I have only seen the Brosnan and Craig flicks, both of which I have enjoyed. I'm sure every Bond brings his own, erm, flair to the role.

I'd like to do some catching up with the movies though and do a two day movie marathon of watching all the Bond movies in order. :)

Red Rider's Hood by Neal Shusterman

I heard her breathe out, and the smell of the spent match was replaced by a perfumy smoke, like burning spice. It was something I'd never smelled before, and I thought I had smelled just about every kind of cigarette.
"What are you smoking Grandma?"...
"Aconitus napellus," she said, flicking ash from the tip of the cigarette. "Of course it's known by a more common name."
"What?" I asked.
Although I couldn't see her smiling in the dark, somehow I knew she was. "Wolfsbane," she said.

Here we have Shusterman's spin on the Red Riding Hood fairy tale, modernized nicely for today's youth. His Granny isn't tender pickings for the wolf - she's a werewolf hunter and she makes her own silver bullets. While he's put in some nice homages to the original, he still weaves in timely subjects like peer pressure, the need to belong and the way love binds families together. It's classic Shusterman - not his absolute best - but still a quick, fun read.

Love this Bond conversation! :) I am not well-versed in Bond lore, but I did read Casino Royale recently. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I found the stuff on baccarat pretty interesting! Now I'll know how to play if I'm ever in Monte Carlo or something.

->56 psutto:
I'd be very interested to hear what you think of the latest baddie (the Skyfall one, played by Javier Bardem)!

->58 VictoriaPL:
Shusterman keeps popping up as a recommended author, but I have no idea which title to try - none of them seem like it's been recommended more than others. Any suggestion?

Eva - Unwind is one of my favorite YA books! I still have to read the sequel UnWholly.

Eva, I loved Javier in Skyfall! I don't want to give anything away, but the way he approached Bond in the interrogation scene gave me chills. It was perfect. I thought he was a great villain.

As far as Shusterman, my favorites are:
(Standalone) Downsiders
(Trilogy) Everlost
The Unwind trilogy seems to be popular too.

Not to mention Bond's comeback to that interrogation - too funny!

Thanks!! I'll put Downsiders on the wishlist - I need to start with a standalone as a flavor-tester! :)

Yes, I heard quite a few guffaws at that.
Enjoy the Shusterman!

->64 VictoriaPL:
(Slight SPOILER-WARNING for Skyfall)
I loved how he did get unnerved at first and then collected himself and came up with that quip. Made him very human. It's actually why I love this incarnation so much too - he's less suave and more "real."

Yes, exactly! I feel the same.

Hi Victoria - just trying to catch up with everyone before the rush of 2013s gets too out of control. :)

Hey Laura! Thanks for stopping by!

I made it! All 144 books complete. I didn't set out to read a full 144 but once I got close it kept nagging at me. It took a serious effort all this month to read, read, read. I didn't have the time to write any reviews and sometimes, when I didn't feel like reading, it felt like a chore. But now I can say that it's done. Tomorrow I will likely not read anything at all!

Here's my 2013 Challenge. I have no idea what my first book will be.
http://www.librarything.com/topic/141312

Congratulations! That's some achievement. Enjoy your day off!

Hooray! Congratulations on finishing!

Congratulations!!! 144 is quite an achievement!

Congratulations!

Congrats!!! See you in 2013.

Congratulations! Looking forward to your 2013 adventures.

Congratulations on completing a full 144! Impressive!

Congratulations Victoria:)

Let me also add my congratulations on reaching 144! Have you picked out your first book for 2013?

Thanks everyone! Looking forward to spending another reading year with you all in 2013!

Lisa,
No, not yet. Swamplandia will be early in the mix though, since it's a group read for January. I'm just not sure it will be first.

Congratulations, Victoria!

Well done! Look forward to reading next year's thread.

Congratulations, Victoria! I didn't get anywhere near 144 this year. See you in the 2013 group!

Belated congrats!