I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014 - Finished

I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014 hosted by Gina @ Book Dragon's Lair.

I have really enjoyed this challenge. I started my goal as reading 12 books from the library but had to keep upgrading this goal. I just managed to reach the level of  just insert IV - 50 books.
It was hard in the end but I completed it. I am definitely going to take part again in 2015.

Our love of reading can be expensive! Not only are we purchasing books but some of us also need space to keep them. I had so much fun with this challenge last year. Let's do it again!
There are a number of levels, for those who don't have a library card yet to those that live there. Enjoy!

Requirements:

• choose a level - you may move up as needed, just not down.
• check books out of the library
• books may overlap with other challenges
• any format allowed (print, ebook, audio)
• reviews are not necessary but a list of books read is. (post with review linky is coming)
• a blog is not necessary, just comment that you want to join in.

Levels:

• board book - 3
• picture book - 6
• early reader - 9
• chapter book - 12
• middle grades - 18
• Young adult - 24
• adult - 36
• just insert IV - 50

List of books borrowed from the library:

1. Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews  
2. Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews 
3. Himmelbegravelsen (Sky Burial) by Xinran 
4. Must Love Hellhounds by Charlaine Harris  
5. The Good, the Bad, and the Undead by Kim Harrison
6. Every Which Way But Dead by Kim Harrison
7. A Fistful of Charms by Kim Harrison 
8. An Apple for the Creature edited by Charlaine Harris, Toni L.P. Kelner  
9. Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh  
10. Gunmetal Magic by Ilona Andrews 
11. Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews 
12. Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh
13. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
14. Heartbroken by Lisa Unger  
15. For a Few Demons More by Kim Harrison 
16. The Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison
17. Vinter-Eventyr by Karen Blixen 
18. Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs 
19. Hotter Than Hell edited by Kim Harrison 
20. Holidays Are Hell edited by Kim Harrison  
21. The Demigod Diaries by Rick Riordan
22. White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison
23. Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison
24. Pale Demon by Kim Harrison 
25. A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison 
26. Dragon's Kin by Anne McCaffrey 
27. Into the Woods: Tales from the Hollows and Beyond by Kim Harrison 
28. Ever After by Kim Harrison  
29. Angel by L.A. Weatherly  
30. Blessings by Anna Quindlen 
31. Dragonsblood by Todd J. McCaffrey
32. Forliset Og Andre Skrøner by Jørn Riel  
33. Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot 
34. The Secret History by Donna Tartt  
35. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde     
36. The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams
37. The Necromancer by Michael Scott
38. Victoria Line, Central Line by Maeve Binchy  
39. The Warlock by Michael Scott
40. The Enchantress by Michael Scott
41. On the Edge by Ilona Andrews 
42. The Circus Is Coming by Noel Streatfeild 
43. Introvert by Anna Skyggebjerg
44. Udvalgte historier fra Jul i Hjemmet by Morten Korch
45. Dragon's Fire by Anne McCaffrey and Todd J. McCaffrey
46. Glade Jul, 24 dejlige danske julenoveller edited by Michael Toubro 
47. The Lazarus Machine by Paul Crilley 
48. Den sidste stjerne by Hans Blangstrup Christensen
49. Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan 
50. Vacations from Hell by Libba Bray 

Vacations from Hell by Libba Bray

Life's a beach . . . and then you're undead?
In this must-have collection, five of today's hottest writers—Libba Bray (A Great and Terrible Beauty), Cassandra Clare (City of Bones), Claudia Gray (Evernight), Maureen Johnson (13 Little Blue Envelopes), and Sarah Mlynowski (Bras & Broomsticks)—tell supernatural tales of vacations gone awry. Lost luggage is only mildly unpleasant compared to bunking with a witch who holds a grudge. And a sunburn might be embarrassing and painful, but it doesn't last as long as a curse. Of course, even in the most hellish of situations, love can thrive. . . .
From light and funny to dark and creepy, these stories have something for everyone. You definitely won't want to leave this collection at home!  From Goodreads.





I do quite like collections of short stories, unfortunately this wasn't as good as I hoped. I liked 3 of the 5 stories and that was all. Glad I borrowed it from the library and didn't buy it.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Novel Books & Reading Challenges Tower Teams III
A Million More Pages Hogwarts Challenge
A Million More Pages Hogwarts: Castle Scavenger Hunt

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

“I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”
So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?
Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have written a love story that will have readers perusing bookstore shelves, looking and longing for a love (and a red notebook) of their own. From Goodreads.


This was okay. It was a fun idea about a scavenger hunt between strangers starting in a bookshop.
I liked Lily okay but not Dash so much, it seems he is nice to his friends but he can be rather rude to other people. I liked Boomer and especially Great-aunt Ida who seemed to be quite a character. It was cute and funny in between but just didn't draw me in.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory - R5: Team Challenge SSS
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon
Novel Books & Reading Challenges Tower Teams III
A Million More Pages Hogwarts Challenge
A Million More Pages Hogwarts: December-January Mini Challenge
A Million More Pages Hogwarts: Castle Scavenger Hunt
Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge 2014

Den sidste stjerne by Hans Blangstrup Christensen

Den Sidste Stjerne er bogens titelnovelle. Den handler om den konflikt, der opstår, når en enlig gårdmandsenke med en søn, der hele sit liv har boet hjemme, pludselig ser sin hverdag bryde sammen, fordi sønnenfinder en pige, som han ønsker at dele fremtiden med. From back of book.

Another collection of Christmas short stories. These didn't have a too sickly happily ending, it seemed more like a promise of hope for the future. I liked this.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Novel Books & Reading Challenges Tower Teams III
Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge 2014

The Lazarus Machine by Paul Crilley

An alternate 1895... a world where Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace perfected the Difference engine. Where steam and tesla-powered computers are everywhere. Where automatons powered by human souls venture out into the sprawling London streets. Where the Ministry, a secretive government agency, seeks to control everything in the name of the Queen.
It is in this claustrophobic, paranoid city that seventeen-year-old Sebastian Tweed and his conman father struggle to eke out a living.
But all is not well...
A murderous, masked gang has moved into London, spreading terror through the criminal ranks as they take over the underworld. as the gang carves up more and more of the city, a single name comes to be uttered in fearful whispers.
Professor Moriarty.
When Tweed’s father is kidnapped by Moriarty, he is forced to team up with information broker Octavia Nightingale to track him down. But he soon realizes that his father’s disappearance is just a tiny piece of a political conspiracy that could destroy the British Empire and plunge the world into a horrific war. From Goodreads.

This was fun. Octavia is searching for her mother who disappeared a year ago and Sebastian is searching for his father who was just kidnapped. It is steampunk and set in victorian London. Add the name Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty and there is of course a conspiracy at royal level. This had some fun twists and turns that was not expected. I will continue this series.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Bookshelf Battle Team Challenge #4
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (O-wolf)
Novel Books & Reading Challenges Tower Teams III

Glade Jul, 24 dejlige danske julenoveller edited by Michael Toubro

Julen består af traditioner, og folkelige, hjertevarme julehistorier er en af dem. Her foreligger 24 af de bedste danske julenoveller, som ugeblader Hjemmet har bragt fra 1934 og frem til vore dage.
Indholdet er humor, livsglæde, ærkedansk julehygge og - lad os bare indrømme det - hist og her en anledning til at fælde en tåre, når julevarmen til sidst smelter de vinterfrosne hjerters kvarts.
Ugebladsfiktion er ofte bedre end sit rygte. Hjemmet har bragt julebidrag fra estimerede forfatere som Leck Fischer, Hans Kirk, Eva Hemmer Hansen, Torben Nielsen og Poul Ørum, der alle får et genoptryk i denne samling. Folkelige fortællere som Erling Poulsen og Karen Brasen havde også noget på hjertet ved juletid, og den yngre generation repræsenteres bl.a af gode kvindeforfattere som Elsebeth Egholm og Helle Hauge.
Novellerne kaster strejflys over sociale og menneskelige forhold i gode og mindre gode tider, og de tegner smukke billeder af det familieliv, vi danskere dyrkede - eller gerne ville have dyrket - gennem århundredet, der gik.
Det er ikke så lidt tidshistorie i disse 24 fortællinger, men først og fremmest er de underholdende. Man kan sætte sig med dem, som man sætter sig til rette ved et julebord med sprødstegt and, rødkål og brunede kartofler.
Rigtig god appetit! From Goodreads.

24 cosy Christmas stories set from 1934 till 2002. They are entertaining and as usual with this kind of short story they start with a sad story, usually about family, but it all ends happily.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Novel Books & Reading Challenges Tower Teams III
Christmas Spirit Read-a-Thon 2014
Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge 2014

Dragon's Fire by Anne McCaffrey and Todd J. McCaffrey

When Masterharper Zist takes over as Harper for Natalon's coal-mining camp, he takes with him his apprentice, the orphaned, mute Pellar, and Pellar's fire-lizard Chitter. Pellar has become a gifted tracker and Zist gives him his own mission - to find out if the recent thefts of coal are the work of the Shunned, criminals condemned to a life of wandering and hardship. Halla is one of the children of the Shunned. Though innocent of their parents' crimes, these children have inherited their cruel punishment. With no shelter when the lethal Thread falls again they will have no protection against it. Life is even tougher for Halla, all her family are dead and she must fend for herself. Yet Halla is kind and gentle, devoted to helping those more helpless than she, unlike Tenim, a fellow child of the Shunned. Tenim is in league with Tarik, a crooked miner from Camp Natalon, who helps him steal coal in exchange for a cut of the profit. But Tenim soon realizes there is a lot more to be made from firestone, the volatile mineral that enables the dragons of Pern to burn Thread out of the sky. Tenim doesn't care what he has to do, or whom he has to kill, in order to corner the market. Cristov is Tarik's son. Dishonored by his father's greed and treachery, he decides he must make amends somehow... even if it means risking his life by mining the volatile firestone, which blows up at contact with the slightest drop of moisture. From Goodreads.

I still enjoy the Pern stories. In this one I like Pella, the mute harper. I also like that Kindan from a previous book has a short appearance. What is not as great is that it is like 3 stories in one. There is a plague, there is the shunned and then there is the whole thing about the firestones. I am unsure which is the main story. I will continue the series and I have the next book waiting for me at the library.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection A-Z Locations - 2014
Novel Books & Reading Challenges Tower Teams III
Christmas Spirit Read-a-Thon 2014

Udvalgte historier fra Jul i Hjemmet by Morten Korch

Hvad er en rigtig julehistorie? Spørger forfatteren Vagn Lundbye i Information 15 december 1997 i en anmeldelse af Morten Korch; Rigtige julehistorier: Må jeg bede om MORTEN KORCH. En rigtig julehistorie skal være enkel og ligetil og den fred den beretter om, skal være god og opbyggelig.
Vi drømmer om julen i gamle dage, men hvordan var den egentligt? Det fortæller Morten Korch i udvalgte historier fra JUL I HJEMMET. For ingen har vel som denne forfatter formået at bringe julens budskab til gamle og unge. Her er samlet en række typiske historier, hvor Morten Korch udfolder hele sin livfulde og sprudlende fortællerevne med rig variation i emnevalg og miljø, men stemningen er overalt lys og smuk, vanskeligheder overvindes, hårde hjerter smelter, kærligheden sejrer, mennesker forsones, så julens budskab kan stråle i sin fulde glans. From Goodreads.




This is a book of short stories about Christmas.These are cosy, they always start sad but end well on Christmas Eve. They are of course set in Denmark.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection A-Z Locations - 2014
Novel Books & Reading Challenges Tower Teams III
Christmas Spirit Read-a-Thon 2014
Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge 2014

Introvert by Anna Skyggebjerg

Denne bog er til alle de introverte, der ikke længere gider høre på, at det er bedre at være udadvendt. Bogen er den ultimative guide til, hvordan man trives som introvert i en verden, der forventer, at vi er ’på’ hele tiden. I familien, blandt venner og på arbejdspladsen. Bogen er en hyldest til introverte, fuld af forfatterens bedste råd til, hvordan man som introvert lærer at stå ved sig selv og dermed få et bedre liv. From Goodreads.

I had high hopes for this book as I am quite introvert myself but I was disappointed.
It was very much from her point of view, it was generalized and repetitive.
I don't feel I can use anything from this book unfortunately.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection Scrabble, anyone?
Novel Books & Reading Challenges Tower Teams III

The Circus Is Coming by Noel Streatfeild

Threatened with life in separate orphanages when their aunt dies, two children run away to search for their uncle who works for a circus and find that they can become a part of the hard work and colorful performances of the tenting season. From Goodreads.

Peter and Santa are orphans and have been brought up by their aunt who didn't give them a very good schooling but taught them that they were better than everyone else. When they run away to avoid separate orphanages and come to the circus they find out how little they know. Peter has a very tough time of it and is very annoying till he find his love of horses.
It is a book of growing up, finding out what you want in life and the hard work to get there. This is a children's story and of course has a happy ending.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Oktoberfest
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory - R5: Team Challenge SSS
Crazy Challenge Connection A-Z Locations - 2014
Novel Books & Reading Challenges Tower Teams III

On the Edge by Ilona Andrews

Rose Drayton lives on the Edge, between the world of the Broken (where people drive cars, shop at Wal-Mart, and magic is a fairy tale) and the Weird (where blueblood aristocrats rule, changelings roam, and the strength of your magic can change your destiny). Only Edgers like Rose can easily travel from one world to the next, but they never truly belong in either.
Rose thought if she practiced her magic, she could build a better life for herself. But things didn’t turn out how she planned, and now she works a minimum wage, off the books job in the Broken just to survive. Then Declan Camarine, a blueblood noble straight out of the deepest part of the Weird, comes into her life, determined to have her (and her power).
But when a terrible danger invades the Edge from the Weird, a flood of creatures hungry for magic, Declan and Rose must work together to destroy them—or they’ll devour the Edge and everyone in it.  From Goodreads.



I am up to date in the Kate Daniels series and have to wait for ages for Ilona Andrews to finish the next book. Luckily I can now go on to devour this series while I wait.
I really enjoyed this book and I have already ordered the next book from the library. Rose is a strong character that will fight for the survival of her family as she has done for a while. I also really like Declan and that he just lets Rose make all the wrong conclusions to anything he says. I am looking forward to the next book.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (O-polarbear)
Crazy Challenge Connection Scrabble, anyone?
Novel Books & Reading Challenges Tower Teams III

The Enchantress by Michael Scott

The two that are one must become the one that is all. One to save the world, one to destroy it.
San Francisco:
Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel have one day left to live, and one job left to do. They must defend San Francisco. The monsters gathered on Alcatraz Island have been released and are heading toward the city. If they are not stopped, they will destroy everyone and everything in their path.
But even with the help of two of the greatest warriors from history and myth, will the Sorceress and the legendary Alchemyst be able to defend the city? Or is it the beginning of the end of the human race?
Danu Talis:
Sophie and Josh Newman traveled ten thousand years into the past to Danu Talis when they followed Dr. John Dee and Virginia Dare. And it’s on this legendary island that the battle for the world begins and ends.
Scathach, Prometheus, Palamedes, Shakespeare, Saint-Germain, and Joan of Arc are also on the island. And no one is sure what—or who—the twins will be fighting for.
Today the battle for Danu Talis will be won or lost.
But will the twins of legend stand together?
Or will they stand apart—one to save the world and one to destroy it? From Goodreads.

This book starts exactly where book five stopped and it is full of surprises. This book is a bit confusing at times as some of the characters are both in present time in San Francisco and back in time in Danu Talis 10.000 years earlier.
This book was really good as it was full of twists and turns that I did not expect. Also some of the bad guys might not be as bad as they seem and some redeem themselves.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Oktoberfest
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection A-Z Locations - 2014
Novel Books & Reading Challenges - Baby Got Book
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (O-owl)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon
Novel Books & Reading Challenges Tower Teams III 

The Warlock by Michael Scott

In the fifth installment of this bestselling series, the twins of prophesy have been divided, and the end is finally beginning.
With Scatty, Joan of Arc, Saint Germain, Palamedes, and Shakespeare all in Danu Talis, Sophie is on her own with the ever-weakening Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. She must depend on Niten to help her find an immortal to teach her Earth Magic. The surprise is that she will find her teacher in the most ordinary of places. From Goodreads.

The twins has been split up and are fighting alongside two opposing groups. We keep meeting different mythological beings fighting to help save the human population both in present day and 10.000 years ago in Danu Talis. And there are some surprises in this book.
This book ended on a cliffhanger and I went straight on to the 6th and final book.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Bookshelf Battle Team Challenge #4
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection A-Z Locations - 2014
Novel Books & Reading Challenges Tower Teams III 

Victoria Line, Central Line by Maeve Binchy

Millions of people travel on London's tube every day, yet we usually give our fellow passengers only a cursory glance. But each one of these nameless passengers has their own story to tell.
At Notting Hill, the mysterious secretary, harbouring her secrets, travels to work; at Highburyand Islington, Adam has a sudden change of heart; and at Holborn, a disastrous reunion is about to take place...
With her characteristic mix of compassionate humour and biting realism, this vintage collection of stories is Maeve Binchy at her very best. From Goodreads.

This was very good. I enjoyed most of the short stories in this book. Some of the stories I would have liked to read more about at the same time as it is quite interesting when the end is just suggesting what the future of the characters of the stories might be.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection A-Z Locations - 2014
CCC-Read your age
Crazy Challenge Connection Monopoly

The Necromancer by Michael Scott

San Francisco:
Josh and Sophie Newman are finally home. And they're both more confused than ever about their future. Neither of them has mastered the magics they'll need to protect themselves, they've lost Scatty, and they're still being pursued by Dr. John Dee. Most disturbing of all, however, is that now they must ask themselves, can they trust Nicholas Flamel? Can they trust anyone?
Alcatraz:
Dr. Dee underestimated Perenelle Flamel's power. Alcatraz could not hold her, Nereus was no match for her, and she was able to align herself with the most unlikely of allies. But she wasn't the only one being held on the island. Behind the prison's bars and protective sigils were a menagerie of monsters, and now Machiavelli has come to Alcatraz to loose them on San Francisco.
Perenelle might be powerful, but each day she weakens, and even with Nicholas back at her side, a battle of this size could be too much for her. Nicholas and Perenelle must fight to protect the city, but the effort will probably kill them both.
London:
Having been unable to regain the two final pages of the Codex, Dee has failed his Elder and is now an outlaw.
But the Magician has a plan. With the Codex and the creatures on Alcatraz, he can control the world. All he needs is the help of the Archons. But for his plan to work, he must raise the Mother of the Gods from the dead. For that, he'll have to train a necromancer.  From Goodreads.

I like this series. I know we have to believe that the Flamels are the good guys but they make it quite hard in-between. I find Josh quite whiny but I guess he has to be that to do the things he does. I like his twin sister Sophie much more. I am looking forward to read the continuation.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (N-xoni)

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated community without questioning the fact that her father has three wives and she has twenty brothers and sisters, with two more on the way. That is, without questioning them much---if you don’t count her secret visits to the Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her meetings with Joshua, the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her.
But when the Prophet decrees that she must marry her sixty-year-old uncle---who already has six wives---Kyra must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family forever. From Goodreads.

This book was easy to read but not an easy read. I don't like books about cults as it seems they are always ruled by men and full of abuse. It is not only the women that are ruled and abused in this book, some men might like to make a change but that either cost them their family or their life. It actually seems like the main character, who is 13, has grown up in a loving family albeit it consists of her father, his 3 wives and around 20 siblings.
This book to me doesn't have a happy end though it could be worse.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory - R4: Team Challenge SSS
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Sub-Genre Challenge 2014

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The portrait which Basil Hallward painted of Dorian Gray revealed the face of an Adonis, and when he saw the finished picture of himself, the beautiful young aesthete exclaimed: 'Why should it keep what I must lose? Every moment that passes takes something from me, and gives something to it. Oh, if it were only the other way! If the picture could change, and I could be always what I am now!' His perverse aspiration was strangely fulfilled...
[...]
This celebrated fantasy is developed as vividly as one of Edgar Allan Poe's macabre narratives, and the climax is fulfilled in murder and suicide. But although The Picture of Dorian Gray ranks as a tense and full-blooded story, it is distinguished also by the habitual brilliance of Oscar Wilde's witty and epigrammatic style.
The cover shows an engraving by Cecil Keeling. From Goodreads.



I am not sure how much I liked this but it was very interesting. Dorian Gray starts out as an innocent young man but turns to a quite horrible person in the end. There was unfortunately a part in the middle I found boring but I guess the part was necessary to explain the many years that passed.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Bookshelf Battle Team Challenge #4
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (O-muskox)
Crazy Challenge Connection Scrabble, anyone?
FrightFall Read-a-Thon 2014

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality their lives are changed profoundly and forever, and they discover how hard it can be to truly live and how easy it is to kill. From Goodreads.

I am not sure what to think about this book. It is a murder / mystery but in the way that we are told right away who did it, then the next 620 pages tells why. Richard, the person, who is telling the story is part of a group of 6 college students who study Greek but as a newcomer he is also set apart from the group.
I didn't really like any of the characters in the book but it was still a strangely compelling read.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
What’s In A Name 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: 2014 Chubby Chunkster
Crazy Challenge Connection - Bookshelf Battle Team Challenge #4
The Challenge Factory - R4: Team Challenge SSS
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet
Nothing but Reading Challenges - 50 States Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection Scrabble, anyone?
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot

HEATHER WELLS ROCKS!
Or, at least, she did. That was before she left the pop-idol life behind after she gained a dress size or two -- and lost a boyfriend, a recording contract, and her life savings (when Mom took the money and ran off to Argentina). Now that the glamour and glory days of endless mall appearances are in the past, Heather's perfectly happy with her new size 12 shape (the average for the American woman!) and her new job as an assistant dorm director at one of New York's top colleges. That is, until the dead body of a female student from Heather's residence hall is discovered at the bottom of an elevator shaft.
The cops and the college president are ready to chalk the death off as an accident, the result of reckless youthful mischief. But Heather knows teenage girls . . . and girls do not elevator surf. Yet no one wants to listen -- not the police, her colleagues, or the P.I. who owns the brownstone where she lives -- even when more students start turning up dead in equally ordinary and subtly sinister ways. So Heather makes the decision to take on yet another new career: as spunky girl detective!
But her new job comes with few benefits, no cheering crowds, and lots of liabilities, some of them potentially fatal. And nothing ticks off a killer more than a portly ex-pop star who's sticking her nose where it doesn't belong . . . From Goodreads.

This was okay. It is a very light read. Chick lit with a cosy mystery (if you can call several murders cosy) thrown in. It had its fun moments but it was also very repetitive. I got this from the library and I might continue the series at a later date (if I can get them from the library).

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory - R4: Team Challenge SSS
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Let's Play Jeopardy
Crazy Challenge Connection Scrabble, anyone?
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

Forliset Og Andre Skrøner by Jørn Riel

Jørn Riels tiende og uigenkaldeligt sidste skrønesamling, i hvert fald fra Nordøstgrønland, fortæller de barske, sørgelige og ikke mindst skønt fornøjelige og i høj grad sandfærdige historier om afviklingen af fangststationerne.
Meget skal ikke røbes her, men kaptain Olsen og Bjørkens store styrkeprøve, Valfreds bryllup og den legendariske cykeltur over indlandsisen er blot nogle få af de mange højdepunkter.
Ingen af dem, der gennem nogle af de ni tidligere samlinger har mødt det farvestrålende, featlige og praktisk-filosofiske folkefærd fra Nordøstgrønland, kan undvære disse sidste beretninger, der byder på ekstraordinære overraskelser og næsten overnaturlige hændelser. From Backcover.






I always enjoy the tall tales from Jørn Riel. This is his tenth book of tall tales from Northeast Greenland. I have read some of the previous ones but not all of them, the fun part is that it is the same people you hear new stories about which meant I recognised several of the characters in this book.
I spent seven years on the west coast of Greenland and it is fun to actually know the places that are mentioned in the book.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges Wheel-A-Thon
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (R-umbrillabird)
Crazy Challenge Connection Monopoly
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon