I've got both the E-Book and Audiobook version of this and listened to it while cleaning my apartment. I've been gone frequently over the past two months and my 'clutter control' has been to come in, drop my lesson plans in the corner in one big pile, and fall asleep. It got to be up to my hip, so I decided something had to be done about it.

The voice acting was brilliant - after listening to World War Z's audio collection, where they got a range of voice actors, I've been rather unimpressed with most audio productions. But this was very well done, Parker managed to make each character distinct and I never got tired of hearing his voice. The story follows the plotting of a 12 year old prodigy trying to make his name as the head of a crime syndicate. He branches out from more traditional rackets into the fairy world, becoming the first human to try to pull wool over their eyes. The point of view switches between each of the main characters - Artemis, his butler Butler, and the various LEPrecon members. It's well done all around. The premise is original and clever - I especially appreciate that the title character, Artemis, isn't a goody two shoes. Despite it being a children's series, he's essentially the bad guy throughout the book. While some of the fantasy themes in the book are passe - in particular, fairies having to hide or flee from wrecklessly violent and polluting humans - the world Colfer creates is largely a fresh take on fairies. I particularly like the idea of LEPrecon, the quasi-paramilitary force that is policing the fairy world, and the inclusion of technology and sci-fi elements into the fantasy setting. Four out of Five Hamsters - recommended for adults and kids.

Winter is fast approaching and I've got nothing better to do, so I'm taking the Pajiba Cannonball Read challenge. 100 books in a year. Each book over 200 pages.

Why? Reading was something I really enjoyed back home, but it's something I haven't been able to do lately as much as I'd like. I've found myself being dragged into the media pit that is PC Ukraine - after years of keeping away from it, I'm actually contemplating watching all ten seasons of Friends. Something is CLEARLY amiss.

I've been contemplating joining the Cannonball read since the gauntlet was thrown in September, and heck, between then and now I've read at least five books. But I've refrained, because my situation is slightly complicated by the fact that I'm currently a PCV in Ukraine. I just don't have access to books. Sure, the volunteer lounge has plenty, but it's been heavily picked through and the good stuff is almost always gone. It's not that I don't appreciate a Summer Sizzler on occasion, I just can't read ‘em all the time.

While I'm low on paperbacks, I've got a ton of e-books and audio books - so I'm going to include those. Some may consider audio books cheating but I can only read so many ebooks on my laptop before my eyes start to bleed. I also have a bit of a problem with motion sickness and while I'd certainly read if I could on the marshutka, bus, and train rides I take, I just can't. In the interest of being fair, I'll do one e-book or actual book for every audio book. And I'm going to try to include books in foreign languages - I've got two with me that are in Indonesian (I'm still readable in Indo, but it won't be a breeze 'cause it's been awhile) and I'll try to get some in Ukrainian, which'll be much more difficult. The length of time those books take should make-up for the audio book advantage.

Now, let's get crackin'!

So, it takes two days to get mail from Brooklyn to Ohio, but over a week to get mail from Ohio to Brooklyn.

You can click on the photos below to see the full-sized images.

Here's the whole thing:

And a close up of Raharu:

Next time I might use something a bit more off-white for the white clothing so it's easier to see. In this case,

she's got stockings on and a white shirt.

And now she's ready to bake cookies!

In other news, I've finally retired from the Urban Dead community. I've been getting lots of well wishes, but I think the above picture was definitely the way to go out.

The stuff in purple I read before starting this 100 books quest thingie. I'll try to review these as I go through them, but I can't make any promises. The stuff in orange are my cannonball books.

Books I have read or listened to:

Awesome:

(abridged audio) World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks Review

(unabridged audio) Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel by Susanna Clarke

(audio) Letting Go of God by Julia Sweeney

(book) The Inferno by Dante

(book) Blood: En Epic History of Medicine and Commerce by Douglas Starr

(book) The Stand by Stephen King

David Eddings - All, Belgardiad and Mallorean series (re-read)

Harry Potter - All (re-read)

(audio) Artemis Fowl (book 1) by Eoin Colfer Review

Not Awesome but Not Not Awesome:

(book) Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

(book) Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

(book) Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

(audio) Steve Martin - Born Standing Up

(book) Away: A Novel by Amy Bloom

Not Awesome at all:

(book) The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank

(book) The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan

(book) Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite

(ebooks) Twilight Series

(book) A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami

Currently on the Shelf:

(audio) Agatha Christie - A Murder is Announced

(audio) Agatha Christie - Poirot - Cards on the Table

(audio) Agatha Christie - Poirot - The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding

(audio) Agatha Christie - Poirot - The Dumb Witness

(ebooks) Agatha Christie - Various

Dan Brown - The Divinci Code (Ebook)

Michael Chabon - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Ebook)

Katerine Dunn (Ebooks?)

Jeffrey Eugenides (Ebooks?)

Dashiel Hammett (Ebooks?)

Charlaine Harris (Ebooks?)

Ernest Hemmingway (Ebooks?)

Tony Hillerman (Ebooks?)

Nick Hornby (Ebooks?)

Jasper Fforde - Thursday Next books 1-5 (Ebooks 1-4, 5 audio)

Garth Nix (Ebooks?)

Connie Willis - All my Darling Daughters (Ebook)

Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (Ebook)

Chuck Palahniuk - Fight Club (Ebook)

John Kennedy Toole - A Confederecy of Dunces (Ebook)

Freakonomics (Ebook)

Max Brooks - World War Z (Ebook)

Max Brooks - Zombie Survival Guide (Ebook)

Audrey Niffenegger - Time Traveler's Wife (Audio)

Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials Book 1 The Golden Compass (Audio)

Elizabeth Moon - (Ebooks)

Dan Simmons - (Ebooks)

Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon (Audio)

Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash (audio)

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - Good Omeans: The Nice and Accurate Prohpecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (Audio)

Eoin Colfer - Artemis Fowl, Books 1-5 (audio and ebooks)

Naomi Novik - Temeraire 01 His Majesty's Dragon (audio)

For Dummies - Various (ebooks)

Kurt Vonnegut - Various (ebooks)

L. Frank Baum - Various (ebooks)

Lemony Snicket - Various (ebooks)

Lewis Carrol - Various (ebooks)

Mary Stewart - Arthurian Saga (ebooks)

Michael Crichton - Various (ebooks)

Michael Ende - The Neverending Story (ebook)

Scott Sigler - Infected (ebook)

Connie Willis - Remake (ebook)

Books I have yet to get my hands on:

An Introduction to Planetary Defense: A Study of Modern Warfare Applied to Extra-Terrestrial Invasion by Travis S. Taylor, Ph.D; Bob Boan, Ph.D; R.C. Anding, T. Conley Powell, Ph.D.

Minds on Trial: Great Cases in Law and Psychology by Charles Patrik Ewing and Joseph T. McCann

Fakin Eh! How to Pretend to be a Canadian by Dan de Figueredo

The Brief History of the Dead: A Novel by Kevin Brockmeier

If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell

Bangkok 8 by John Burdett

Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon

Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Baltasar and Blimunda by Jose Saramago

The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Philip Zimbardo

Freedomnomics: Why The Free Market Works and Other Half-Baked Theories Don't by John R. Lott, Jr.

Everything Bad is Good for You by Steven Johnson

Books in a series or by a certain author:

Henning Mankell