thirty-eight

I slacked off during the month of July because I spent two weeks watching Doctor Who. I don't feel bad about that, but that's the reason all the same.

So, since my last update, I've read the following:

Stardust (Neil Gaiman - great, but loved the movie more)
A Little Bit Wicked (Kristin Chenoweth - LOVED it, especially since it was audio and she was reading it.)
Georgia Nicolson #10 (Funny, as always, loved the ending)
Little Children (meh. not worth it)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (recommendation actually, funny and quick)
Me Talk Pretty One Day (Good one, again, probably liked it more since it was audio and read by David Sedaris)
Peter and the Shadow Thieves (liked the first one better, but this one is still good.)

That covers June and July. Considering I read 20 books in April and May (man, I was on a roll!) I really did slack off. But whatever. I have a pile of books to finish for August and I'm sure I'll add to it - including Franny and Zooey, which is one of the books I picked for our joint category. Also, maybe The Simeon Solution which might be another choice from me for that category.

Aw, Crap.

I just discovered that what I thought was the last book in a series I'm reading is, in fact, not. There are two more coming out in the next two years, which means that I won't be able to finish the series for my 10/10/10 challenge. Boo. 

Progress! ...Sort Of.

books I own but haven't read
1984--George Orwell


[Main Street--Sinclair Lewis]
[The Three Musketeers--Alexander Dumas]
[Villette--Charlotte Bronte]
[Jude the Obscure or The Return of the Native--Thomas Hardy]
[Billy Budd, Sailor--Herman Melville]
[The Bonesetter's Daughter--Amy Tan]
[Jane Eyre--Charlotte Bronte]


recommended by others
Abarat--Clive Barker (Joseph)
Running with the Demon--Terry Brooks (Mike)
The Alchemyst--Michael Scott (Nathalie)
Wicked--Gregory Maguire (Talia)

[Same Kind of Different as Me--Ron Hall and Denver Moore] (Lori)
[Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close--Jonathan Safran Foer] (Megan)
[A Thousand Splendid Suns--Khaled Hosseini] (Meredith)
[Mistborn--Brandon Sanderson] (Mike)
[The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake--Aimee Bender] (Lori)


adult fiction
The Gathering Storm--Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson
The Lacuna--Barbara Kingsolver
Prodigal Summer--Barbara Kingsolver
City of Dragons--Kelli Stanley
Shanghai Girls--Lisa See


[Bel Canto--Ann Patchett]
[The Elegance of the Hedgehog--Muriel Barbery]

books adapted to movies 
(this category is allowed to overlap other categories)
[V for Vendetta--Alan Moore]
[Jane Eyre--Charlotte Bronte]

foreign
Say You're One of Them--Uwem Akpan
Pandora in the Congo--Albert Sanchez Pinol


[Rooftops of Tehran--Mahbod Seraji]
[Absurdistan--Gary Shteyngart]
[Mendelssohn is on the Roof--Jiri Weil]



authors I've never read
The Road--Cormac McCarthy
The Handmaid's Tale--Margaret Atwood
Mrs. Dalloway--Virginia Woolf


[The Naked and the Dead--Norman Mailer]
[The Catcher in the Rye--J.D. Salinger]
[After Dark--Haruki Murakami

award-winners
March--Geraldine Brooks
The Good Earth--Pearl S. Buck
The Bridge of San Luis Rey--Thornton Wilder


[Interpreter of Maladies--Jhumpa Lahiri]
[The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay--Michael Chabon]

Megan/Lindsey/Miri
The Enchantress of Florence--Salman Rushdie
The Book Borrower--Alice Mattison (Miri)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower--Stephen Chbosky (Miri)


[Franny and Zooey--J.D. Salinger] (Lindsey)

nonfiction
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle--Barbara Kingsolver
NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children--Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman
Dreams from My Father--Barack Obama
Going Rogue--Sarah Palin
Fast Food Nation--Eric Schlosser 
Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Ranch Culture--Ariel Levy
The Omnivore's Dilemma--Michael Pollan


[Lies My Teacher Told Me--James W. Loewen]
[Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions--Gloria Steinem]

miscellaneous
Mockingjay--Suzanne Collins
Inferior--Peadar O Guilin




As you can see, I still have quite a ways to go. I've been getting a teensy bit carried away with "extras"... as in, I've read 70 books so far this year and only 22 of them were for the challenge. Yeah... It's time to buckle down. 


I'm in the middle of three books right now, one that will finish up the Michael Scott series, one Nonfiction, and one for the Recommended section. Once I finish one of these three I'll be picking up The Road, and then I think I'll get started on the Books as Movies category with The Mists of Avalon... which is, of course, really long. Hoo boy.


Okay, also, one more thing. Any more thoughts about the MML category? So far I've picked one... That leaves three for Lindsey and Megan to choose, and two for me. Plus we have to actually read them. :) Let's find some good ones to pick!