A Year of Reading Not Too Dangerously

Reading The Emperor's Children, by Claire Messud. It's very readable and yet, yet, I'm not sure I like it. It's so ... precious somehow. And I'm troubled because Jeff said the characters reminded him of me and my friends. We did all live in New York and sort of stumble around until we were well into our 30s (some would say we still are still stumbling around in many ways, of course). But these characters irritate me. Except for Bootie. I'm really liking him and rooting for him. Murray and Ludo are repulsive. It reminds me of Wonder Boys. Not a bad thing, obviously. But I personally didn't like that one either. These brainiac, calculating, mannered characters don't touch my heart. But I'm reading and enjoying reading it, so what do I know. I have hopes for Bootie.

So here's an update of the 2007 list of read-for-the-first time books (looks like I'll finish the year with 51 or so read or re-read):

29. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Gregory Maguire
28. Mirror, Mirror, Gregory Maguire
27. American Gods, Neil Gaiman
26. The Dark River, John Twelve Hawks
25. Lottery, Patricia Wood
20-24. Wit'ch Fire, Wit'ch Storm, Wit'ch War, Wit'ch Gate, James Clemens
19. Golden, Jennifer Lynn Barnes
18. Wicked Lovely, Melissa Marr
17. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
16. The Echo Maker, Richard Powers
15. A Book of Common Prayer, Joan Didion
14. Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Marisha Pessl
13. Prep: A Novel, Curtis Sittenfeld
12. The Eiger Obsession: Facing the Mountain that Killed My Father, John Harlin III
11. Songs of the Humpbacked Whale, Jodi Picoult
10. So Not the Drama, Paula Chase
9. The Fugitive Wife, Peter C. Brown
8. The Sea, John Banville
7. Looking for Alaska, John Green
6. I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith
5. The Night Journal, Elizabeth Crook
4. The Ice Queen, Alice Hoffman
3. Blood and Chocolate, Annette Curtis Klause
2. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman
1. The End, Lemony Snickett

Re-Read 2007:
21-32: The Royal Book of OZ, Kabumpo in OZ, The Cowardly Lion of OZ, Grampa in OZ, The Lost King in OZ, The Hungry Tiger of OZ, The Gnome King of OZ, The Giant Horse of OZ, Jack Pumpkinhead of OZ, The Yellow Knight of OZ, Pirates in Oz (Ruth Plumly Thompson).
7-20: Wizard of OZ, The Marvelous Land of OZ, Ozma of OZ, Dorothy and the Wizard of OZ, The Road to OZ, The Emerald City of OZ, The Patchwork Girl of OZ, Tik-Tok of OZ, The Scarecrow of OZ, Rinkitink in OZ, The Lost Princess of OZ, The Tin Woodman of OZ, The Magic of OZ, Glinda of OZ (L. Frank Baum)
1-6. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince.

Daemon