books #60-70 (2007)

60. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling ***1/2. I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but after thinking about and discussing it more, I'm less satisfied. I still like the ending, though.

61. When to Walk by Rebecca Gowers ****. I was a little worried that this was going to be one of those chick-lit-ish books about divorce, but I was quickly reassured by the main character's interpretation of her husband's reasons for leaving her, i.e. that she was an autistic vampire. I heart characters lacking in social skills!

62. Electricity by Ray Robinson ****. I kept alternating between liking and disliking the main character of this book, and the book along with her, but in the end I thought it was a good book. She has epilepsy due to her mother throwing her (either against a wall or down the stairs) as a child. The story is more about her finding her own way in life, making friends and reconnecting with her brothers again, though.

63. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield *****. I loved this book. Thank you, Katie! There were lots of interesting and surprising plot twists, but I also thought the characters were great. An elderly author invites a fairly reclusive bookseller, amateur biographer, to finally write her true story, after she's spent all her life making up stories when interviewed about her life.

64. Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 by David Petersen ***. This only gets so many stars because of the illustrations, which are gorgeous (see below). The chapters seemed way too short and inconsequential and the problems too easily overcome, which is more surprising given that each chapter was originally a free-standing issue in a series.

65. No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July ****1/2. This was just as good as I was hoping after seeing "Me and You and Everyone We Know". Beautifully poignant stories about awkward and eccentric people longing for connection.

66. You Remind Me of Me by Dan Chaon ****. This was a fairly depressing story about a disconnected family, all of whom end up with lives far from what they wanted. It was very good, but the way the story jumped between characters and back and forth in time was a little confusing.

67. Corrections to My Memoirs by Michael Kun ***1/2. Some of these stories were great, but the fake publisher's notes between chapters and the silly, gimmicky subset of stories put me off a bit.

68. Black Hole by Charles Burns ***. This was a highly recommended graphic novel, and it was engaging and interesting for the most part, but then it just kind of petered out, or at least my interest did... It's about a weird sexually-transmitted disease that causes teenagers to develop various monstrous deformities, so it was pretty creepy.

69. The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver ****. When I started reading this book, I thought it was going to be boring, but I got drawn in. It's kind of a Sliding Doors kind of book, with a single introductory chapter leading up to the point where the effectively married main character is tempted to kiss another man, followed by alternating chapters chronicling how her life develops depending on whether or not she gave into temptation.

70. The Secret River by Kate Grenville ****. I haven't finished this one yet, but I'm rating it anyway. I don't like it as much as "The Idea of Perfection", but that's largely because I'm not quite so interested in historical fiction. It's about a man who grows up poor in London and is transported, along with his wife and child, to Australia for stealing a load of wood. He gets the chance to start his own farm, but his success has to come at the expense of the aboriginal people who were there first. I guess I'm also not enjoying it so much because that aspect of Australian history is sickening, which isn't really the book's fault. (I just finished it and upgraded its rating, because it really is a good book, even if the subject matter wasn't fun)