2006

*Angles and Demons - Dan Brown 569 pgs * * * * * A Harvard symbologist is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist. What he discovers is a deadly vendetta against the catholic church by a centuries-old underground organization. He embarks on a frantic hunt through crypts, catacombs and cathedrals to save the Vatican from a powerful time bomb.
*The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown 454 pgs * * * * * Robert Langdon follows a trail of clues to discover the true nature of the holy grail
*Quiver - Stephanie Spinner 171 pgs * * * when her father commands that she produce an heir, the huntress atalanta gives her suitors a seemingly impossible task in order to uphold her pledge of chastity, as the gods of ancient Greece look on.
*Aimee - Mary Beth Miller 276 pgs * * * a girl is trying to cope with life after supposedly helping her best friend commit suicide.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjFE8d1Q1F4
*the Mysteries - Lisa Tuttle 347 pgs * * * * a PI is hired to find a girl who has been missing for 2 years and discovers that her disappearance parallels an old Celtic myth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJlqm8CBDvQ
*Midnight Pearls - Debbie Viguie 197 pgs * * a retelling of the little mermaid
*the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime - Mark Haddon 221 pgs * * * * despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically gifted, autistic, 15 year old boy, decides to investigate the murder of neighbor’s dog and uncovers secret information about his family.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uEvc4YgbxQ
*alligators in the sewer - Thomas J. Craughwell 280 pgs * * * 223 urban legends
*The Foretelling - Alice Hoffman 167 pgs * * * * * growing up the daughter of an amazon queen who shuns her, Rain rebels against the ways of her tribe through her sister-like relationship with Io and her feelings for a boy from a tribe of wanderers.
*Phantom - Susan Kay 455 pgs * * * * * the story of the Phantom of the opera before his encounter with Christine Daae, told from the points of view of his mother, Raoul and others. Absolutely Phenomenal!
*Eragon - Christopher Paolini 497 pgs * * * * A 15 year old boy of unknown lineage, called Eragon, finds a mysterious stone that weaves his life into an intricate tapestry of destiny, magic and power, peopled with dragons, elves and monsters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypmStcDo858
*the claiming of sleeping beauty - A. N. Roquelaure 253 pgs * * * erotic version of sleeping beauty, after beauty is awoken by the prince he takes her back to his kingdom where she serves as his love slave.
*Lyra’s Oxford - Philip Pullman 48 pgs * * * * a short story that takes place a few years after the his dark materials trilogy left off.
*Ruby - Francesca lia block and Carmen staton 209 pgs * * * * what a magical, mystical read! Like all of block’s other books, this modern fairy tale combines harsh reality with transcendent beauty to create an uplifting and inspiring read.
*Spinners - donna Jo napoli 197 pgs * * * elaborates on the events recounted in the fairy tale, "Rumpelstiltskin," in which a strange little man helps a millers daughter spin straw into gold on the condition that she will give him her first born child.
*Green Angel - Alice Hoffman 116 pgs * * * * green thinks she has her future figured out until a great tragedy occurs and she has to rebuild her life.
*the Great god Pan - Donna Jo Napoli 146 pgs * * * a retelling of Greek myths about Pan, the half god-half goat, and Iphigenia, daughter of king Agamemnon.
*The probable future - Alice Hoffman 322 pgs * * * three generations of extraordinary women are driven to unite in crisis and discover the rewards and reconciliation of love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqLhdmSWptg
*Psyche in a Dress - Francesca Lia block 116 pgs * * * * * I don’t know how to begin describing this book other than simply and undeniably beautiful. Greek mythology FLB style. She uses the myths of Psyche, Echo, Eurydice and Persephone and intertwines them to create one story about love and the human soul. I flew through it in a couple of hours and cried when I finished it because I didn’t want it to be over.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP4aJkNIscM
*Twilight - Stephenie Meyer 498 pgs * * * * * when 17 year old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, Washington, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human.
*New Moon - Stephenie Meyer 563 pgs * * * * When the Cullen family, including her beloved Edward, leave town rather than risk revealing that they are vampires, it is almost to much for 18 year old Bella to bear, but she finds solace in her friend Jacob until he is drawn into a "cult" and changes in terrible ways.
*Breath - Donna Jo Napoli 260 pgs * * * * elaborates on the tale of the pied piper told from the point of view of a boy who is too ill to keep up when a piper spirits away the healthy children of a plague-ridden town after being cheated out of full payment for ridding Hameln of rats.
*Pay the Piper - Jane Yolen 168 pgs * * * when Callie interviews the band Brass Rat for her school newspaper, her feelings are ambivalent, but when all the children of Northampton begin to disappear on Halloween, she knows where the dangerous search must begin.
*Goddess of spring - p. c. cast 360 pgs * * * * * a wonderful retelling of the Persephone myth. Lina, a baker from Tulsa is forced to switch places with the goddess Persephone and ends up falling in love with hades, the god of the underworld.
*Politically correct bedtime stories - James Finn garner 79 pgs * * * the title says it all: fairy tales retold to be PC.
*Daughters of Darkness - L. J. Smith 228 pgs * * * mystery/romance about three vampire sisters trying to escape the "night world"
*Song of the Magdalene - DJN 240 pgs * * * * the life of Mary magdalene before she met Jesus - very very sad.