Nine Stories

Book #185 (Unique books)
Book #42 in 2012

 Nine Stories

by J. D. Salinger

 "The Stories:

'A Perfect Day for Bananafish' (1948)
'Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut' (1948)
'Just Before the War with the Eskimos' (1948)
'The Laughing Man' (1949)
'Down at the Dinghy' (1949)
'For Esmé – with Love and Squalor' (1950)
'Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes' (1951)
'De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period' (1952)
'Teddy' (1953)"

November 20th to 28th -  9 days - 302 pages

Notes:

Favorite stories:

A Perfect Day For Bananafish

Just Before the War with the Eskimos

De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period

Teddy (I like this one most of all.)

Coraline (re-read) (audiobook)

***Just decided that audiobooks should be recorded and actually should count toward my goals because why shouldn't they be? It's still a book I don't know why I thought I shouldn't count them before, and also this way I am less behind on my 50 book goal.***

***Posting this 12/8/12 but moving it to the spot it should actually be in my list of books.***

Book #41 in 2012

Coraline

by Neil Gaiman

"Coraline's often wondered what's behind the locked door in the drawing room. It reveals only a brick wall when she finally opens it, but when she tries again later, a passageway mysteriously appears. Coraline is surprised to find a flat decorated exactly like her own, but strangely different. And when she finds her "other" parents in this alternate world, they are much more interesting despite their creepy black button eyes. When they make it clear, however, that they want to make her theirs forever, Coraline begins a nightmarish game to rescue her real parents and three children imprisoned in a mirror. With only a bored-through stone and an aloof cat to help, Coraline confronts this harrowing task of escaping these monstrous creatures."

 October 27ish? to November 27ish? - about a month. I didn't keep track.

Notes:

Started by listening to the chapters from here, as I was going to sleep:

http://www.mousecircus.com/coraline-videos.aspx

but then got impatient when it was the end of the book and the last two chapters weren't up so I got the audiobook from the library.

Love this book a lot. Especially when it is being read to me by Neil Gaiman.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Book #184 (Unique books)
Book #40 in 2012

 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

by Mark Haddon

 "Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. Routine, order and predictability shelter him from the messy, wider world. Then, at fifteen, Christopher’s carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing.

Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer and turns to his favorite fictional character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. But the investigation leads him down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face to face with the dissolution of his parents’ marriage. As he tries to deal with the crisis within his own family, we are drawn into the workings of Christopher’s mind.

And herein lies the key to the brilliance of Mark Haddon’s choice of narrator: The most wrenching of emotional moments are chronicled by a boy who cannot fathom emotion. The effect is dazzling, making for a novel that is deeply funny, poignant, and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing is a mind that perceives the world literally."

November 18th to 20th - 2 1/2 days - 226 pages

This Book is Full of Spiders (Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It)

Book #183 (Unique books)
Book #39 in 2012

 This Book is Full of Spiders (Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It)

by David Wong

"WARNING: You may have a huge, invisible spider living in your skull. THIS IS NOT A METAPHOR.

You will dismiss this as ridiculous fearmongering. Dismissing things as ridiculous fearmongering is, in fact, the first symptom of parasitic spider infection-the creature secretes a chemical into the brain to stimulate skepticism, in order to prevent you from seeking a cure. That's just as well, since the "cure" involves learning what a chain saw tastes like.

You can't feel the spider, because it controls your nerve endings. You can't see it, because it decides what you see. You won't even feel it when it breeds. And it will breed. So what happens when your family, friends, and neighbors get mind-controlling skull spiders? We're all about to find out.

Just stay calm, and remember that telling you about the spider situation is not the same as having caused it. I'm just the messenger. Even if I did sort of cause it.

Either way, I won't hold it against you if you're upset. I know that's just the spider talking."

October 30th to November 16th - 18 days - 406 pages

Notes:

Liked John Dies at the End better. Didn't love it. :( (Sorry David Wong.)