33. House-Keeping (219 pp.) by Marilynne Robinson (Oct. 26). Wow. I think Mom brought me this on her last visit. I've heard it was good and I could hardly put it down. I think I'm going to have to read it again.

The absolute black of the sky dulled and dimmed and blanced slowly away, and finally half a dozen daubs of cloud, dull powder pink, sailed high in a pale-green sky, rust-red at the horizon.

It's about a girl and her sister who are raised by a series of relatives after they lose their Mom. It doesn't all go well. Highly recommended.

32. The Lightning Thief (375 pp.) by Rick Riordan (Oct 20). I've heard good things about this book and had it on my list for a long time. I bought a copy during one of my big book buying binges at the UW bookstore during Clarion West. I know I'm not the target audience for this but there are many books for which I am not the target audience that I love. I did not like this book.

It's about a kid who discovers that one of his parents was a Mount Olympus god and he goes to a summer camp for other halflings or godlets or whatever their called. Then he discovers he has a power. Then he has to go on a quest. There were a few fun moments. But mostly it felt like a book where instead of a story someone was trying to think of a bunch of things that could happen. At times it felt like a huge smug inside joke for someone who sleeps with Bullfinch's on the nightstand.

I wanted to like it and it sells well. It's probably perfect for a 12 year old boy who loves to read.

31. Pyongyang (176 pp) by Guy Delisle (Oct. 13). I heard about this graphic novel on a website and bought it for Bob last Christmas. After we saw Spiegelman last week, I moved a stack of graphic novels onto my nightstand. I picked this one up just for a second to look at a few pages and see what it was like and didn't put it back down until I was halfway through. I finished it this morning. It's about an animator/cartoonist who goes to North Korea to work for several months and what life is like there. Really good and really depressing. Highly recommended.

30. Snuff (197 pp) by Chuck Palahniuk (Oct 4). This isn't a book I would have bought if Chuckles wasn't on of my instructors this summer. I liked Rant which I read earlier this year (#22). I didn't like this one at all. It's about a porn actress doing a big final gang bang film. The book is told in first person from four different points of view. And within each POV the character tells some backstory intercut with the present story that includes the other POV characters. Do you follow? I had a hard time. And I didn't like any of them.