Eat, Pray, Love

Book #119 (Unique books)
Book #20 in 2010

Eat, Pray, Love: one woman's search for
everything across Italy, India, and Indonesia
by Elizabeth Gilbert

"This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali. By turns rapturous and rueful, this wise and funny author (whom Booklist calls "Anne Lamott’s hip, yoga- practicing, footloose younger sister") is poised to garner yet more adoring fans."

August 11th to September 14th - 35 days - 334 pages

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Book #118 (Unique books)
Book #19 in 2010

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
by Douglas Adams

"There is a long tradition of Great Detectives, and Dirk Gently does not belong to it. But his search for a missing cat uncovers a ghost, a time traveler, AND the devastating secret of humankind! Detective Gently's bill for saving the human race from extinction: NO CHARGE."

August 6th to August 9th - 4 days - 306 pages

A Wrinkle in Time

Book #117 (Unique books)
Book #18 in 2010

A Wrinkle in Time
by Madeleine L'Engle

"Everyone in town thinks Meg Murry is volatile and dull-witted, and that her younger brother, Charles Wallace, is dumb. People are also saying that their physicist father has run off and left their brilliant scientist mother. Spurred on by these rumors and an unearthly stranger, the tesseract-touting Mrs Whatsit, Meg and Charles Wallace and their new friend Calvin O'Keefe embark on a perilous quest through space to find their father. In doing so, they must travel behind the shadow of an evil power that is darkening the cosmos, one planet at a time. This is no superhero tale, nor is it science fiction, although it shares elements of both. The travelers must rely on their individual and collective strengths, delving deep within themselves to find answers."

August 3rd to August 5th - 2 1/2 days - 211 pages

B is for Beer

Book #116 (Unique books)
Book #17 in 2010

B is for Beer
by Tom Robbins

"In this story for both children and adults, kindergartner Gracie decides to find out just what beer is and why her father likes it so much. Along the way she discovers more than she probably expected."

August 2nd to August 3rd - 1 1/2 days - 125 pages

Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief

Book #115 (Unique books)
Book #16 in 2010

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
by Rick Riordan

"Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson learns he is a demigod, the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea. His mother sends him to a summer camp for demigods where he and his new friends set out on a quest to prevent a war between the gods."

July 28th to August 1st - 5 days - 375 pages

Notes:
Ha. Definitely called the betrayer from the beginning.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Book #114 (Unique books)
Book #15 in 2010

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
by Jonathan Safran Foer

"Meet Oskar Schell, an inventor, Francophile, tambourine player, Shakespearean actor, jeweler, pacifist. He is nine years old. And he is on an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. His mission is to find the lock that fits a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the attack on the World Trade Center. An inspired creation, Oskar is alternately endearing, exasperating, and hilarious as he careens from Central Park to Coney Island to Harlem on his search. Along the way he is always dreaming up inventions to keep those he loves safe from harm. What about a birdseed shirt to let you fly away? What if you could actually hear everyone's heartbeat? His goal is hopeful, but the past speaks a loud warning in stories of those who've lost loved ones before. As Oskar roams New York, he encounters a motley assortment of characters who are all survivors in their own way."

July 24th to July 27th - 4 days - 326 pages

Notes:
♥ Oskar ♥

The Cosmic Puppets

Book #113 (Unique books)
Book #14 in 2010

The Cosmic Puppets
by Philip K. Dick

"Yielding to a compulsion he can’t explain, Ted Barton interrupts his vacation in order to visit the town of his birth, Millgate, Virginia. But upon entering the sleepy, isolated little hamlet, Ted is distraught to find that the place bears no resemblance to the one he left behind—and never did. He also discovers that in this Millgate Ted Barton died of scarlet fever when he was nine years old. Perhaps even more troubling is the fact that it is literally impossible to escape. Unable to leave, Ted struggles to find the reason for such disturbing incongruities, but before long, he finds himself in the midst of a struggle between good and evil that stretches far beyond the confines of the valley. "

July 19th to July 23rd - 5 days - 143 pages

The Wizard of Oz

Book #112 (Unique books)
Book #13 in 2010

The Wizard of Oz
by L. Frank Baum

"After being transported by a cyclone to the land of Oz, Dorothy and her dog are befriended by a scarecrow, a tin man, and a cowardly lion, who accompany her to the Emerald City to look for a wizard who can help Dorothy return home to Kansas."

July 11th to July 14th - 4 days - 199 pages

Jitterbug Perfume

Book #111 (Unique books)
Book #12 in 2010

Jitterbug Perfume
by Tom Robbins

"Jitterbug Perfume is an epic. which is to say, it begins in the forests of ancient Bohemia and doesn't conclude until nine o'clock tonight [Paris time]. It is a saga, as well. A saga must have a hero, and the hero of this one is a janitor with a missing bottle. The bottle is blue, very, very old, and embossed with the image of a goat-horned god. If the liquid in the bottle is actually is the secret essence of the universe, as some folks seem to think, it had better be discovered soon because it is leaking and there is only a drop of two left."

May 10th to June 19th - 41 days - 342 pages

Notes:
♥ ♥ ♥
I would've been finished much sooner, but the conference happened.

The Outsiders

Book #110 (Unique books)
Book #11 in 2010

The Outsiders
by S. E. Hinton

"The struggle of three brothers to stay together after their parent's death and their quest for identity among the conflicting values of their adolescent society."

May 1st to May 10th - 10 days - 156 pages