Book Nook Cafe discussion

Here is the thread to post about your favorite reads and the ones you detested in 2011.

The book does not have to be published in 2011, only read by you in 2011.

If you could provide a link and a few words on each book that would be great.

My Best & Worst of 2011.

No book really rocked my world this year. But I did read a lot of good books.

My best of 2011

Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero~Chris Matthews
Non fiction
This was tied for my best read of the year.

Here Comes Trouble~Michael Moore
Non fiction
This book also tied for my best read of the year.

11/22/63~~Stephen King
fiction
Big ambitious book by King. Not perfect, but definitely keep me interested.

The Solitude of Prime Numbers~Paolo Giordano
fiction
Interesting read that was different from most novels.

The Great Depression: America 1929-1941~Robert S. McElvaine
non fiction
comprehensive study on the Great Depression.

An American Hero: The True Story of Charles A. Lindberg~Barry Denenberg
non fiction - young adult
Well done and straight forward bio of Lindbergh.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption~Laura Hillenbrand
non fiction
Simple an amazing and inspiring story.

Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy~Donald B. Kraybill
nonfiction
Fascinating discussion on the act of forgiveness.

At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream: Misadventures in Search of the Simple Life~Wade Rouse
non fiction
Funny as heck.

Homer & Langley~E.L. Doctorow
fiction
Very well written and fascinating story.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand~Helen Simonson
Fiction
A pleasant read that makes you want to sit down with a nice cup of tea and become totally absorbed in the story.

The Worst

I Remember Nothing: and Other Reflections~Nora Ephron
non fiction
I wish I could forget this book. Not funny at all.

The Turn of the Screw~~Henry James
fiction
I know this is a classic but I could barely get through it. I think each convoluted sentence had at least 15 commas. When I finally reached, what seemed like an endless sentence, I was confused or mercifully asleep.

Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery~Eric Metaxas
non fiction
I was so disappointed in this one. The movie was great. The book was unreadable.

Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials~Marc Aronson
non fiction
fascinating topic that this author made of mess of.
This is the the third book I've read by this author and all three were a big disappointment. Basta!

Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back~Todd Burpo
nonfiction ??
Poorly written & Simplistic.

The Shack~William P. Young
fiction
simplistic and poorly written.

Most disappointing read of 2011

My Father at 100~Ron Reagan
non fiction
I was so looking forward to this book. I enjoy Ron on TV and thought this would be a fascinating look at his dad. I was totally disappointed. I learned almost nothing about President Reagan.

The Great Depression: America 1929-1941~Robert S. McElvaine
non fiction
comprehensive study on the Great Depression.

How was this one as far as dryness/readability Alias?

Another recommendation for Homer & Langley....I need to get to that one. I own it too, which is rare for me(Borders 80% off sale)

Julie wrote: "The Great Depression: America 1929-1941~Robert S. McElvaine
non fiction
comprehensive study on the Great Depression.
-----------------------------
How was this one as far as dryness/readability Alias?"
-----------------------------

I found it very readable. It is a serious look at the GD, so it can be a bit textbook like at times. Still, I found it very interesting and I learned a lot.

I want to read two another book on economics in the coming year, if you are interested in a buddy read.

A Grand Pursuit: A History of Economic Genius~Sylvia Nasar

Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945~David M. Kennedy
This is a big book. However, since it won the Pulitzer Prize, I want to read it.

I almost put these books on my 2012 challenge list, but I wanted to limit myself to 12 books for the karmic connection to the year. 2012. :)

EDIT: Julie, I see you have the David Kennedy book on your TBR list. Maybe we could organize a 2 chapter a month for a year long read, or 4 a month for a half a year read if anyone is interested. We did something similar with the Howard Zinn book.

Top books published in 2011:
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Didn't want to read it- it's about an online role-playing game. Yuck, I thought, I'm not a teenaged boy or a 30 year old guy living in mommy and daddy's basement. But, I kept hearing about it and the book finally ran out of people requesting it and it appeared on the library's shelves one day. So, I picked it up. I usually have 8-20 books going at once. I might read a book and put it down and not touch it for a few days or a week; I might bounce from book to book to book and read portions of 10 or more books in a day. But, once I started this book, I didn't want to read any other book but this one.

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. Another book that I didn't want to read because I didn't think I'd like the subject- baseball. I loathe baseball. But, like "Ready Player One", I couldn't put this book down. Any book I tried to read paled in comparison.

11/22/63 by Stephen King- up there with his best.

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan. I was expecting rather one-dimensional, cartoonish depictions of religious people. So, I was surprised by this book and its complexities and character development. A little spoiled by some needlessly melodramatic scenes, but a really great book.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Best descriptions of any book published this year. Weak in character development and pacing, but the creation and description of the circus saved the book.

Shay, The Art of Fielding seems to be making a lot of "best of" lists. I do like baseball, but I don't know if I would like to read about it. Though I just heard the editor for the NY Times Book Review on TV say today that if you like John Irving and his A Prayer for Owen Meany the writing style of The Art of Fielding will be for you. Since I loved Owen Meany I am putting it on my TBR list.

Thanks for sharing your Best of 2011 with us. Any real duds for you?

Alias Reader wrote: "EDIT: Julie, I see you have the David Kennedy book on your TBR list. Maybe we could organize a 2 chapter a month for a year long read, or 4 a month for a half a year read if anyone is interested. We did something similar with the Howard Zinn book. ..."

That sounds like it might be a good idea. That book scares me because I have never attempted a non-fiction anywhere that long. Spreading it out over a long period and reading it with someone might help.

Hahahahaha...I just saw what I put in my review! I don't remember doing that. But I am thinking maybe half a year would be better. If I read too slow I tend to forget what I was reading.

Alias Reader wrote: "Shay, The Art of Fielding seems to be making a lot of "best of" lists. I do like baseball, but I don't know if I would like to read about it. Though I just heard the editor for th..."

I loved Prayer for Owen Meany. Love pretty much all of Irving's early books. I don't think "Owen" has much in common with Art of Fielding except being coming of age books. Although A Visit from the Goon Squad (which I loathed) made me think of Owen Meany. I saw a lot of comments about Goon Squad mentioning the book's "playing with time". But I thought Owen Meany did all of that better. Not only in the way it slipped back and forth in perspective, but also that Owen functioned as kind of an Oracle/Cassandra type figure. I thought that the whole playing with time thing was more fully (and better) integrated in Owen than Goon Squad.

Worst of 2011:
The worst is a book I haven't, and probably won't, finish. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. I kept seeing the GR ads for this book so I decided to read it. I'm stealing someone else's quotes from their review, but these quotes from the book pretty much explain why I hate the book. I honestly can't believe anything this awful made it past an editor:

“Summer is like a slow-cooker bringing everything in the world to a boil one degree at a time. It promises a million happy adjectives only to pour stench and sewage into your nose for dinner.”

“Hate looks just like everybody else until it smiles. Until it spins around and lies with lips and teeth carved into the semblance of something too passive to punch.”

“His eyes are tight, his forehead pinched, his lips his lips his lips are two pieces of frustration forged together.”

“My heart is a water balloon exploding in my chest. My lungs are swinging from my ribcage.”

“I hate the lackadaisical ennui of a sun too preoccupied with itself to notice the infinite hours we spend in its presence.”

Other bad or disappointing books:
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough. Not anywhere in the league of Truman. This book has no focus and rambles back and forth from person to person and topic to topic. Not a bad, 1 star book, just disappointing. Probably the worst book he's ever written.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. Just didn't like it- found it really boring and overly long.

The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel. So bad I wish GR would let us give 0 stars. Everything bad, horrible, amateurish about Auel's writing shows up in this book. Then shows up again and again and again until it's over.

Julie wrote: But I am thinking maybe half a year would be better. If I read too slow I tend to forget what I was reading. "
---------------

Sounds good. I'll post again about this in the Buddy Read section and see if we can round up a few more people to join us.

Don't worry if you can't manage it. We will just give it a try. As I noted, spreading it out over time did work well for the Howard Zinn book.

I also think a Buddy Read is the only way I'll tackle this bfb. Not because I won't enjoy it, I am sure I will, but for some reason the size is daunting.


Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945~~David M. Kennedy

Shay wrote: I loved Prayer for Owen Meany. Love pretty much all of Irving's early books. I don't think "Owen" has much in common with Art of Fielding except being coming of age books.
----------------------------------

I can't recall now if the editor was saying the writing style was similar or the theme. Maybe he thought of Owen as the book opens with the baseball scene where the mom is killed with a baseball.

Either way, thanks for your comments on the book.

Shay wrote: “I hate the lackadaisical ennui of a sun too preoccupied with itself to notice the infinite hours we spend in its presence.” "
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Oh, my. :(

Shay wrote: "Other bad or disappointing books:
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough. Not anywhere in the league of Truman. This book has no focus and rambles ..."
------------------------

The subject holds little interest for me. Your review confirms my opinion.

Shay wrote: "Worst of 2011:
The worst is a book I haven't, and probably won't, finish. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. I kept seeing the GR ads for this book so I decided to read it..."

Wow, those are some...um.....interesting quotes. I don't think I could deal with reading that book if the whole thing was that way either.

Alias Reader wrote: "Shay wrote: I loved Prayer for Owen Meany. Love pretty much all of Irving's early books. I don't think "Owen" has much in common with Art of Fielding except being coming of age books.
------------..."

That's right. Hitting someone with a baseball is also common. But, I think the authors handled it differently. I've always thought of Irving as the modern Dickens. I guess in some ways, Art of Fielding is a little Dickensesque as well. Overall, though, the reviewer is probably right- if you like Irving, you probably would like this book.

For those that are interested in
Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945~David M. Kennedy
I've moved the posts to a new thread in the Buddy Read Folder.

We will be reading 1 chapter per week, starting the week of January 1, 2012.

I hope you will join us for this Buddy read !

My favorites for this year:
Among Others by Jo Walton. I really related to this one and I loved the references.
The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael Lukas. So beautifully written, and so interesting.
The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kristein. I've kind of lost my feel for the series now, but the starting idea was still amazing.

Least favorites:
Ingenue by Jillian Larkin. I know it's YA, but that's really no excuse. Bad, just bad.
Room by Emma Donoghue. Great concept, bad carry through.

I have to admitt some of my favorites of the year were because of GR so I thank you all.

My Fav's::
ZeitounDave Eggers This book left a big impression on me, and I never really thought to pick it up before.

The Souls of Black FolkW.E.B. DuBois

Another favorite was Major Pettigrew's Last StandHelen Simonson I thought this was a great fiction book, and I am not always big on fiction

Worst Books:
The AlchemistPaulo Coelho I was sooo dissapointed by this. I thought this book was just terrible.

Water for ElephantsSara Gruen another one that i really did not like

Glad to see the BNC influence on your favorite list, Elaine. :)

Elaine wrote: "I have to admitt some of my favorites of the year were because of GR so I thank you all.

My Fav's::
ZeitounDave Eggers This book left a big impression on me, and I ..."

Wow, another person who didn't love Water for Elephants. The more I think about that book, the more I dislike it.

It's nice to read everyone's favorites of the year. I still hope to read one or two more and think at least one of those will "make the cut", so to speak, so am holding off.

And i'll just add that i didn't like the Gruen book, either. For me, though, i think it was oversold on the boards. I think it was the contemporary fiction which broke this camel's back. It was the tail end of a number of underwhelming novels which were highly recommended on book boards.

Now i've narrowed down the number of boards i frequent, which helped enormously. It's not that i blame anyone, we want folks to share their enthusiasm for new books! It was me & my own desires which needed adjusting.

deborah

Madrano wrote: "It's nice to read everyone's favorites of the year. I still hope to read one or two more and think at least one of those will "make the cut", so to speak, so am holding off.

And i'll just add th..."

I find that I don't like a lot of books that are popular- I didn't love The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, either. I didn't hate it, I thought it was okay. Nothing really special. But I always hate saying I didn't love these books- it's like the grown up equivalent of Twilight in that if you don't like it, someone will always act like you just kicked a puppy.

Its really hard to select just one book that I loved this year but if pressed I guess I'd have to pick Life and Times of Michael K by Coetzee as one of them.

There are two books which would fall into my least favourite books American Psycho which I really hated and (I'm ready for the stoning) Room that I found unbelievable and insipid.

Oh, I really disliked Room as well. I thought the concept was interesting, but there was just no where for it to grow. If the second point had seen more through the mother's eyes, then maybe.

I'm so glad to find someone else that found Room to be lacking. It's listed by so many people as one of their favourites that I thought it was just me. While I didn't love The Guensey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society I admit that I did find it better than most of the Best Sellers out there and enjoyed reading it.

I have to add another one to my favorites reads of 2011. And what may a big surprise to those that know I prefer nonfiction, this book was fiction. I gave it a top rating.

A Reckoning: A Novel~May Sarton

* this is a current Buddy Read at BNC.

Mikela wrote: "I'm so glad to find someone else that found Room to be lacking. It's listed by so many people as one of their favourites that I thought it was just me. While I didn't love The Guensey Literary and ..."

I disliked Room greatly. I really think it takes a major talent to write as if a child and right now that author did not have that skill. It sounded false and contrived to me.

I read Roomby Emma Donoghue for my book club, mostly because it had been on so many recommended lists. I wanted to like it but after awhile it just was too much. It seemed to me like a writing assignment - your setting is a small room and your narrator is a five year old - GO!

Toni, i haven't tried to read this Donoghue but your idea of a writing assignment amuses me. How many contemporary novels have i read in the last decade where that description fit? Over a dozen. Thanks, i intend to use that sentence to describe the ones i read in the future, including the "GO!" Thanks for the morning smile.

deb

Deb - Glad I could make you smile this morning. Have a happy holiday season!

My f2f book group read The Room. The thing that bugged me was the way the little boy talked. It didn't seem realistic to me and it was annoying to read. His mother spoke correctly and he also had the TV to imitate. Where did he pick up such odd speech patterns? And why wouldn't the mother correct him?

My best books and thankfully there are quite a few were:

The Bells Loved it for its tragic hero who loved so much. Made me cry which I so seldom do reading a book.

The Language of Flowers just such a surprising little gem. I love when a book comes out of no where and enthralls you.

Love and Summer William Trevor at his understated best.

Kafka on the Shore Hard to understand at times but you knew you were reading something special.

The Paris Wife Another book that caught me off guard with a wonderful story line.

In non-fiction:

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption No words adequately describe one's feelings reading this.

Truman Loved the man, the author, the time in which he lived...a real lesson for the politicians of today.

John Adams Who knew such wonderful things about our second president?

and in the forever wonderful re read category:
To Kill a Mockingbird In my humble opinion, the best American lit book. A masterpiece

Most Hated:
The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin a book that never should have been written

A Discovery of Witches A book pandering to be a trilogy.

The Athena Project why Brad Thor?

Roomwould go here but i read it in 2009. An insult to a five year old!

Marialyce wrote: "Roomwould go here but i read it in 2009. An insult to a five year old! ..."

Quips about our Least Liked books are starting my days off nicely. Just my sense of humor. Thanks, folks!

deb

Marialyce, I plan on reading the Truman and Adams book next year. It is always helpful when planing on reading huge books to read such positive reviews of them.

Just yesterday while looking over my book shelves for something, I noticed I bought two copies of John Adams. I will try and be positive and take this as a sign that I really should read this book and not that my memory is so awful that I bought this big honking book twice !

Best first reads of 2011:

The Death of Ivan Illych by Leo Tolstoy - A short but powerful meditation on life, death, and dying. Sounds bleak but I found it an inspirational read. Destined to be in my top re-reads of any year I read it.

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen - This book sneaked up on me. I started out thinking it was a disorienting post-modernist mess and then suddenly it swept me up and I was crying by the end. My own father is struggling with his aging mind right now and I may be reading it again in 2012.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell - My introduction to this author. The ending was a little rushed but the ride was so enjoyable it still gets five stars from me.

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway - I love Hemingway's spare prose and found this a moving read.

A Town Like Alice by Neville Shute - I bought the whole story hook, line, and sinker and would vote for the heroine as President of the USA. I can't think of a thing I would change about this book. Your mileage may vary.

Inside the Victorian Home by Judith Flanders Extremely readable non-fiction book that takes on the Victorian home room by room to reveal the realities of middle-class Victorian life. Made me feel very lucky to live when I do. A wonderful book for anyone interested in why people do some of the things they do in those long Victorian novels.

Thank You Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse - Any time I need cheering up I turn to Wodehouse, who always makes me laugh. This was one of the better ones I have read by him. There's some black-face but I did not find any racism at play, just another way of putting Bertie in a ridiculous spot.

Will come back later with my re-reads and least favorites.

I just finished your first best read and as you said the topic while depressing was quite mesmerizing. I only got halfway throughout The Corrections, but now will have to re look at finishing it. I loved North and South but was unfortunately was not so crazy about A Town Like Alice. I just bought one of the Jeeves books and plan on reading it in 2012.

Bea wrote: "Best first reads of 2011:

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway - I love Hemingway's spare prose and found this a moving read.
---------------

I thought this novel was terrific, too. I don't come across too many who like Hemingway's novels as much as I do. Though I am not a big fan of his short stories.

Thanks for sharing, Bea !

Alias Reader wrote: "Bea wrote: "Best first reads of 2011:

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway - I love Hemingway's spare prose and found this a moving read.
---------------

I thought this novel was terrific, too...."

I wonder when Hemingway went out of fashion and why. It's hard to be so straight-forward and so poetic at the same time.

My favorite re-reads of 2011 were:

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert - Exquisite writing. Sad story. (Flaubert's Parrot came near to making my best first read list. Highly recommended for Flaubert fans.)

Bleak House and Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. I've spent 6 weeks immersed in these books which I have read at least twice before. Each time I look for a quote, I am sucked into re-re-reading several chapters.

Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi -
Truth is stranger than fiction and this reads like great fiction.

Least favorites:

Bossy Pants by Tina Fey - either I'm in the wrong demographic or this book just wasn't all that funny. Or both.

Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer - How could you go wrong with a true crime story featuring murder, polygamy, and rogue Mormons? By reading this book. Pity, I thought I was in safe hands with Krakauer.

Finding Chandra by Scott Higham - I worked in Washington when the Chandra Levy murder/Gary Condit scandal was at its height. I found out nothing that wasn't in the newspapers, probably because the author really didn't have access to any of the principals in the case.

Bea, I thought Under the banner was great. Oh, well. We can't agree on everything or things would be boring indeed.

I do agree with you on Dickens. Love his way with words and the sentiment of the stories. He always sticks up for the little guy or as we say today the 99%. :)

I haven't read Bovary, I should give it a try. I think I have a copy of it on my book shelf.

I enjoyed reading your best and worst of 2011. Thanks for sharing. :)

My goal in 2012 is to finally read a book by Dickens! Or two! I should probably try Hemmingway too. I haven't read him either.

Bea wrote: "Alias Reader wrote: "Bea wrote: "Best first reads of 2011:

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway - I love Hemingway's spare prose and found this a moving read.
---------------

I thought this nov..."

I thought Bossy Pants was one of those books that capitalize on the fame of the author. It was not well written nor was if funny in a way that makes a reader lol.

I won't be looking at my favorites until later in the week, once family has flown home. However, i've drawn pleasure from reading everyone's contributions. As one who treasures classics, i'm particularly pleased when those are noted, pro or con.

I really liked Bea's, "Your mileage may vary." about the Shute novel. How often can we use that here? I'll add it to the discussion of Hemingway, for sure, as he makes my blood boil. Since i recently expounded on that (yet again!), i'll refrain this go 'round. Unlike Alias, however, if i must read him again i prefer his short stories.

Reading the comments about the Tina Fey book is good because it was marginally on my list. I don't watch her sit-com but like how good she was on SNL. So, it's off TBR but it also wouldn't surprise me that if i saw it at the library, i'd pick it up anyway.

deb

I didn't do a very good job of keeping up with my book journal this year so I'm relying on my memory more than anything for these lists....

My Favorite Fiction of 2011.

The Paris Wife A good read with a St. Louis connection that helped me appreciate Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" more than I might have otherwise.

Faith: A Novel - This book just resonated with me. Great writing, excellent story. Probably my favorite book of the year.

Emily, Alone Stewart O'Nan captures perfectly every detail in the life of 80-year old Emily. This book was heartfelt and heart-breaking.

A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion: A Novel A big juicy read based on a famous "Crime of the Century" from the 1920s.

State of Wonder After not enjoying her last two novels, Ann Patchett redeemed herself with this story of an American doctor seeking answers in the Amazon jungle.

11/22/63 If you'd told me that an 850 page book could hold my attention, I wouldn't have believed you. But this one was "unputdownable" for me.

My Favorite Nonfiction of 2011

Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century The love affair of the century which became the marriage of the century. I totally enjoyed this behind the scenes story of two people who belonged together but couldn't make it happen.

Losing Mum and Pup I never would have believed that a book about the deaths of one's parents could be as funny as this one was. But combined with the humor were true emotions that touched my heart.

Bossypants Not everybody's "cuppa" but Tina Fey made me laugh out loud here. I even liked the font the book was written in!

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption Probably my favorite nonfiction read of this year. An amazing story about an amazing man.

My Least Favorite Books of 2011.

The Inverted Forest: A Novel I still don't get why so many people liked this stupid book. (Fiction)

Malled: My Unintentional Career in Retail Truly my least favorite book of the year. The author is whiny and obnoxious and considers working 1 day a week at North Face to be a "career in retail."

Biggest Disappointments of 2011. These books weren't terrible, they just didn't live up to my expectations for them.

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading I can't believe I didn't enjoy a book about sisterly love and love of books and literature. But I didn't. And I don't like purple chairs either.

When She Woke I really enjoyed Hillary Jordan's Mudbound and I expected to enjoy her new book too. But I hated it. A sort of futuristic Scarlet Letter but so heavy-handed that it was an actual chore to read. The story started out interesting then completely lost me when even the characters here had the same initials as their Scarlet Letter counterparts. I get it! I get it! I just didn't like it.

Thanks for posting your list, Connie. I enjoyed reading it a great deal. I'll have to check out Faith since it was your fav fiction of 2011.

In 2012 I plan on reading a lot more, but 2011 was a busy year. Here are mine:

WORST:
Blue Nights by Joan Didion
The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian

BEST:
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Wrecker: A Novel by Summer Wood
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman
The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

It is surprising to me to see A Discovery of Witches on several 'worst' lists, but then again, my choices have always been a little different than most readers. Joan Didion is beloved by many as well, but I personally cannot tolerate her.

RNOCEAN wrote: "In 2012 I plan on reading a lot more, but 2011 was a busy year. Here are mine:

WORST:
Blue Nights by Joan Didion
The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian

BEST:
The Night Circus by Erin Morg..."

I agree that The Hunger Games trilogy were some of the best books I read all year. I think I read all three in the space of a week. :) I've heard really good things about "The Night Circus" - I'll have to add that to my ever increasing list.

Connie wrote: "Malled: My Unintentional Career in Retail Truly my least favorite book of the year. The author is whiny and obnoxious and considers working 1 day a week at North Face to be a "career in retail." ..."

LOL--too funny. One day a week?!? I hope it was published with tongues in cheek.

I continue to relish seeing these lists and will start on mine today.

deb