One imperfect letter, one missing page

107. The Ask and the Answer: Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness
Almost better than The Knife of Letting Go, Ness' second book is an engaging read. Picking up right where the first left off, The Ask and the Answer is a much darker novel. Ness develops his characters further and does a good job of showing, rather than telling, us what Todd and Viola's world is like (or about to become). I can't wait to see where Ness decides to go next.

108. The Morgue and Me by John C. Ford
Not your typical boy book. It was the title that caught my attention and then it was the location, the writing, the characters, the plot ... that kept me reading. Ford's novel is fun, painful and above all, extremely interesting. Might be good for reluctant teens readers or those who like a good mystery.

109. Prism by Faye Kellerman
A short, interesting alternate universe fantasy novel. The Kellermans deliver a decent, if not great, story with moderately sympathetic characters. It was engaging enough that I had to finish because I needed to know what happened, but not deep enough that I thought long and hard about it. The premise is quite good and I'll be interested to see of the mother-daughter team writes more YA novels.

110. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Though I tagged this as horror, it's not exactly the right genre. Waters' book is a ghost story at heart, but even more it's a tale about love and loss. What makes it so good is Waters' writing and her characters. Even when you know characters are making iffy and possibly bad decisions, you want things to work out. And by the end of the book, you realize that there's no other way for it to end -- no matter what you think of her characters. I will definitely have to read some of her other books.

110 / 100 words. 110% done!

98. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Yet another classic book (both YA and SF) I've avoided reading. I don't know why, since I've read much of Card's other works. But I finally picked up and finished it in a relatively short period of time. Ender's Game is well written and engaging, but after finishing it, I never want to read another book in the series. I have it four and a half stars because it's very, very good. But, to be honest, I don't think I liked it. I don't regret for a second reading it, but I'm glad it's over.

99. Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
I picked this book up because of the cover. What I found was a well writing, moving historical fiction novel. Flygirl is a fast paced novel that takes place before and during World War II in the Southern US. It's about a girl whose only dream is to fly, except that the world's against her, not only because she's a woman, but because she's black. What makes Smith's novel so good is that she embraces all the controversy, struggles and inner turmoil that Ida Mae goes through to be able to fly. The story was strong, the characters were lovable and I was attached to them in no time. Highly, highly recommended.

100. Truancy by Isamu Fukui
Judging this book solely based on the fact that it was written by a 15 year old boy, it's quite good. Comparing it to other YA literature, it's mediocre at best. The plot is mediocre, the characters waiver between being flat and three dimensional, and Fukui relies far too heavily on violence. That being said, he's an engaging enough writing that I wanted to know what happened, even though I found the end disappointing. I can definitely see Fukui's potential and hope that he continues to write. Because if he allows his writing to grow up as well, I think we'd be in for a treat.

101. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
A coworker suggested I read this, and then when I saw it might get made into a movie, I decided I probably should read it and so I did. Much to my surprise, I really liked this book. The writing was average, the plot was decent, but the characters were fun and engaging. From what I've heard about the new two books, Clare's writing improves greatly -- and that the third book is the best of the three. I'm shocked to say this, but I'm actually quite excited about reading the rest of this series. City of Bones wasn't great, but it was fun and sometimes that's all you want from a book.

102. Silverfin by Charlie Higson
I picked this up on a whim and in many ways, James is a similar type of character to Alex Rider. He's brave, but cautious and sometimes does things without thinking about the consequences. One of the things that made Silverfin interesting was that we're reading about what James Bond, the man we're all familiar with as an adult, might have been like as a child. I thought it was fascinating, especially his experiences at Eton. But the more interesting parts of the book were when he was trying to suss out what Silverfin really was. The book was a quick read, a bit gross in places, but that's part of it's charm (both for me and reluctant male readers). If you like the Alex Rider series, give Silverfin a go. I'll definitely pick up the second book in the series.

102 / 100 words. 102% done!