Because I have thousands of books on my TBR list, with more being added every day, I thought J. Kaye's new challenge - 100 Books - would be a good one for me. It's simply to read 100 books this year, which I was planning to do anyway. In case you didn't know, I keep a running list of books read in 2008 at the very bottom of my blog. I'm not doing too shabby so far, so hopefully this challenge really won't be much of a challenge at all. Thanks to J. Kaye for hosting!

I finished two books today, but I'm not going to post reviews on either one of them ... yet. Here's what I read:

• Kiss Me, I'm Single: An Ode to the Solo Life by Amanda Ford. It's an upbeat little book with a lot of wisdom packed inside - watch for my review and more info on March 5, when Amanda stops by for a visit.

• The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket. This is Book the Seventh in the A Series of Unfortunate Events series. The books are all pretty similar and there are 13 of them, so I thought I would wait and review the whole series when I finish it. It's such a fun, quirky series. I agree with the reviewer who called them "formulaic," but I'm still enjoying these quick YA novels.

• I'm now reading People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. I've heard a lot about this one, and I can't wait to dive in. I enjoyed both March and A Year of Wonders, so I expect I'll like this one, too.

That's it for now. Keep the entries coming for The Bookseller of Kabul - I'm loving all of your comments!

Joe Harker - star of Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves - never set out to be a hero. All he wants to do is survive high school. If he somehow manages to earn a glance from pretty Rowena Danvers, well, that will pretty much take care of his life goals. Transforming from an average kid into an intergalactic warrior just plain isn't on his to-do list. But, here he is straddling all the dimensions of time and space to keep balance in the great, wide Alti-verse.


His adventure begins on an ordinary day that turns extraordinary pretty fast. Joe's Social Studies teacher, the eccentric Mr. Dimas, has dropped him and two others (the aforementioned Rowena and a jerk named Ted Russell) in an unknown section of town. Their assignment is to find their way back to the school within a certain time frame and without using a map. Oh yeah, and this is their final project. The test is not a good one for Joe, who gets lost in his own house. The challenge gets even more difficult when he discovers not only that he is lost - nothing new there - but more lost than just lost lost. In fact, he doesn't even seem to be in his own world anymore.

When Joe "cheats" and pays for a bus ride home, he stares out the window at the passing scenery. Everything has changed. Including his home and family. Then, a man in a mirrored mask steps out of the mist, creatures on flying disks appear out of nowhere, and Joe is running for his life from a seductive witch and her tattoo-covered henchman. It is only after Jay (the masked man) rescues Joe that Joe gets the truth: Joe is a Walker, a unique individual who can travel between worlds/dimensions. As such, he is hunted by enemies who want to harness his powers. His particular talents are also desired by the good guys of InterWorld Prime - the organization with which Jay works - who help maintain the balance between magic and science on all worlds.

Soon, Joe joins the good guys, landing in a sort of superhero training camp, where:

It was like being a new kid in a school you hated. Only worse.
It was like being a new kid in a school you hated that was run by the army on
vaguely sadistic principles, where everyone was from a different country and
they had just one thing in common.

They all hated you.

Once again, he's fighting for survival ... in school. And, once again, his "final" is taking him to places unknown. This time, it's a training mission in a (supposedly) controlled environment. When everything goes wrong, however, Joe is left to question his own heart, his own abilities, and his own courage. He must choose between a safe existence on his own Earth or a dangerous life Walking between worlds, a career path that is already paved with failure and death. For a guy who "had difficulty getting to the store on a two-dimensional grid life Earth's surface"(119), it's a decision that will change his life and those of all the various lifeforms on all of the Multiverse's various earths.

Although this book doesn't have the most original plot (an average kid learns he is anything but when his ordinary life goes all weird on him - even a sci-fi novice like me knows this one has been done before), but it has some really fun elements. The main character, for instance, is the kind of helpless underdog you can't help but love. He, and all the variations of himself he finds out in the Multiverse, are interesting although not always likeable. The book makes countless allusions to sci-fi classics like Star Trek (the retiarii's warning will sound familiar to anyone who's watched at least one episode), Lord of the Rings, and The Twilight Zone. Parts of it even reminded me of Stardust, my favorite Gaiman novel. For me, the most fun part was the character of Scarbarus - I love the idea of him being able to bring his tattoos to life.

Interworld offers a fun, if chaotic, mixture of magic, science and space exploration. It didn't wow me, but I enjoyed the story. If you like the Harry Potter books, The Lightning Thief and others, you will probably like this one about another ordinary boy who really ... isn't.

Grade: B

Kristina honored me with this You Make My Day Award, which is my very first blog award. I was touched by all the nice things she said about me. Thanks so much, Kristina!

I have so many book blogs on my feed list that it's just impossible to narrow my favorites down to 10. All of you do a wonderful job on your blogs - I've gotten so many fabulous recommendations from your posts. Here are just a FEW of the blogs that make my day:

A Patchwork of Books - My list has to include Amanda, because she's the whole reason I found this awesome book blogging community. I started my blog as a personal project, not even realizing that there were other book bloggers out there. When I stumbled on her blog and saw all of the sites on her blogroll, it was like Christmas for me. Seriously. Plus, she writes a great blog and always has excellent recommendations.

Inside A Book - I love this blog because its author and I have a lot in common. We live in the same city and seem to like the same kind of books. She doesn't update nearly as often as I would like, but her blog is wonderful.

Chainreader - The first thing you must do on this blog is read its description. It is laugh-out-loud funny. The author obviously has a great sense of humor, and I enjoy her succinct, but thoughtful reviews.

A Striped Armchair - I know Eva has gotten and given this award a million times, but that just goes to show how awesome she is. I love her thorough reviews and the sweet comments she leaves on my blog. She commented that I looked gorgeous in a picture I posted, so she's my BFF now whether she likes it or not!

Big A, Little A - I found Kelly's blog only recently, but I love it for its variety and the thorough reviews.

Miss Erin - Erin is a talented girl in more ways than one. Her blog covers a variety of topics, and her addiction to certain authors (Shannon Hale) just makes me laugh. I always enjoy reading what she writes.

Lightheaded Books - Despite the title of this blog, the reviews are not "lightheaded" at all. I think they are intelligent and well-written.

Thoughts of Joy - I enjoy this blog for numerous reasons, including the succinct reviews and the fun challenges Joy hosts.

Becky's Book Reviews - I know Becky is widely loved, but I just have to give her this award for all the hard work she puts in on her blogs. She's always got something going on, whether it's a review, an author interview or a new challenge. She's amazing!