A translated copy of Henry Dore's Chinese Customs. It has a fair amount of colonial condescension in it since it was originally published in 1911, but it's interesting to see the aspects of Chinese folk religion that are rarely practiced in the modern age such as wearing anklets with bells on them.

The practice of offering paper items, prayers, and conducting spirit vessels to the underworld still lives on, updated with paper electronics and all.

Uuh...a Dutch translation of The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. Thought I'd try reading it again, see if I like it more than when I read it the first time. So far I still prefer books 2 and 3 over it.
In French class I'm reading Un Secret by Philippe Grimbert. I hate it. HATE IT. I know what I'll NOT be writing about during the exam!

Entertaining Satan turned out to be disappointing. There were interesting stories about people who were accused of being witches, but then he started analyzing everything in Freudian terms which seemed very old fashioned.
Now I'm reading Townie by Andre Debus III - a memoir I got at a book sale.

Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys by Viv Albertine. It's good -
"Halfway through the show, Bowie climbed into the audience. I don't know where he picked that up from, no one else I'd seen did that. None of us got it though, we didn't realise you were supposed to lift him up and carry him along, everyone parted politely, thought he was off to the bog or something, and he fell on the floor, it was embarrassing. The gig wasn't very crowded, so there weren't enough people to do it anyway. He got up and walked around a bit. I leaned against the stage, trying to see where he'd gone, but the lights were in my eyes. Then I felt a hand grip my shoulder and Bowie heaved himself up on me. I nearly buckled - I wasn't expecting it, I didn't know what was happening. He climbed over me to get back on stage, kneeing me in the chest and treading on my head with his silk boxing boot - he didn't care - he just had to get back up. He's not as dainty as he looks."

12/18 - Now reading The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton.

I'm starting Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. I've heard so many amazing things about it so I'm really excited. I also just got Foreplay (yep that's the title) by Sophie Jordan and Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning, so I could decide to read either of those first. And I'm working my way through My Mad Fat Diary by Rae Earl, which is good but it's not a novel so it's not plot driven or as fast paced and all that. I also still have Atlantia by Ally Condie from the library, but it's gotten such bad reviews I don't know that I'll bother...too bad I can't return it for a few weeks.

I just finished The Line Of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst. I only chose it because it was on sale and I knew it was about the LGBT community in the '80s in England, but honestly I would give it a 5/10. It is beautifully written, no doubt on that, but it's also very depressing. I'm tired of reading of gays that are never meant to experience a regular relationship and die of AIDS. Plus, I'm sorry if you're from Britain (I don't really want to feed stereotypes), but the British obsession for politeness this book perspires is just overwhelming. There are literally two lines of dialogue followed by two pages about the protagonist's paranoid thoughts on what he and his interlocutor said. Like literally:
"Good morning."
"Oh, isn't it a nice day."
And then two pages about him wondering why he didn't say "good morning" as well, "maybe I sounded rude", "I don't want to give them the wrong impression" "but is it actually a good day" "what did they truly mean when they wished me a good morning" "maybe they found out I'm hiding coke in the wardrobe" all this sort of extremely annoying paranoid stuff. At least, I found it annoying, maybe someone will think it's the best part.

Right now I'm reading Amityville Horror by Jay Anson and let's just say... It's probably the worst book I've ever read. Looks like a 11-year old wrote it. Full of unnecessary exclamation marks trying to create suspense. I'd choose the movie over the book a million times.

Still re-reading the 'Dresden files' by Jim Butcher. On 'Dead Beat' now.

Just finished reading "The Monuments Men," about the Allied units in WWII that were tasked with trying to locate, protect, and repatriate art and other "monuments" stolen by the Nazis during their conquest of Europe. SOOOOO much better than the movie was, and it does a better job than any other book I can recall reading of making it clear that the losses in war aren't necessarily all human lives or a strict monetary value of destruction- oftentimes the culture and history of an area too is destroyed. It's pretty remarkable that this is a concept that's so often swept under the rug when dealing with the consequences of war (especially modern warfare that can be so destructive), and it's equally remarkable that, at least once, this was recognized, and there were officers whose duty was to do everything possible to avert it. Definitely worth the read! 9/10

I want to be reading Sticks & Stones but I have to read poetry for class. And next semester (which starts in less than a week) I'm taking studies in the novel and we have TWELVE (!!!) novels to read. I know I'm an English major but jeez. I won't be getting to my tbr list for a while I'm also working my way through the Bible right now. It's kind of an odd plan that has me jumping between Genesis, Psalms, the Gospels, and Paul's letters, but at least I'm not bored because I'm sampling everything.

I'm reading 2 books - The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton, and A Dreadful Deceit: The Myth of Race from the Colonial Era to Obama's America by Jacqueline Jones.

Just finished Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma. Got me out of my reading slump and it was really a hell of a book...it was about a brother/sister "romance" and it was (as you could expect) very emotional and intense. I think I'll read something a bit less jarring next though

I am reading and nearly finished Graces guide the art of pretending to be a grown up,its really funny

Finished staying fat for Sarah Byrnes (long title :\) By Chris Cruchter (not sure I'm spelling that right)

Really awesome book, but it talks about abortion, abuse, and other things of that nature, so not for the easily offended

Still reading Dresden files, on "Small Favour" now.
I'd almost forgotten how awesome the earlier books are!

Also finished the TimeRiders series by Alex Scarrow. Not quite the ending I'd hoped for, but the series is fun to read.

Reading The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer.

Just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy... gotta say, this might be the bleakest story I've ever seen- someone living in this story's universe would think of living in the post-apocalyptic universe of The Walking Dead the same way a 6-year-old thinks of a trip to Disneyworld. Definitely an interesting read though, both for the story and the style of writing- short, clipped sentences, no names for any characters (Ely's name wasn't really Ely, remember?), and even the lack of quotation marks was an interesting effect- it kind of made it harder to tell whether certain things were actually said out loud, or just thought by the father- which I'm guessing was the point.

Gotta learn to use apostrophes properly with contractions though- that's not a creative liberty, that's a typo.

Since the semester has started I've read

Wonder by R.J. Palacio - 5/5
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe - 1/5
Candide by Voltaire - 4/5
Where You Are by J.H. Trumble - 5/5
The Ruby Circle by Richelle Mead - 5/5
Zofloya, or the Moor by Charlotte Dacre - 1/5

Now I'm reading Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario and Silas Marner by George Eliot.

I have to read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card for my English class. I saw the movie, and it's really good.

Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer! Why I didn't read the series sooner? It's SO MUCH FUN! See? I got carried away with all that excitement! I'm also reading Agent 6 by Tom Rob Smith. Pretty good, just not as child friendly as Artemis Fowl, for obvious reasons.

I just finished re-reading A Clockwork Orange. I love trying to figure out all of the off the wall slang he uses. Makes for an interesting read.

I'm still reading Dresden files (nope, still not finished), now on "Side jobs". I cheated, and first jumped right to the end, because it's got a short story with Murphy after certain things happens in "Changes". Still debating with myself whether to read the rest of the book, or hopping straight to the next. I'll probably finish it, if I know myself right...

The Killer Inside Me for my lit class on serial killers in Lit

Though I'm about to start the Andy Cohen Diaries for fun

I read Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel - another interesting apocalypse story. Then I read Charlie Chaplin - A Brief Life. I think I'm going to stay away from biographies for the moment - too depressing.
Now I'm reading Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman - in 1986 after graduating from college, she and her friend went on a world tour with their first stop Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China (PRC had recently opened to western tourists). So it's interesting to read about 2 people trying to navigate in a culture where they can't communicate, are used to eating western junk food, etc. etc. I like her honest depiction of how entitled they were and that they sometimes behaved badly.

2/25 - I started This House Is Haunted by John Boyne - a Victorian ghost story.

I just finished reading Dean Koontz's Strangers. It was very good!

I give Enrique's Journey a 4/5. Still reading Silas Marner. I also read Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata which I'm giving a 5/5.