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!

Current Progress

I was planning on this post mostly just to make myself feel better. Then Megan posted hers and I feel like I'm way behind. haha. Here we are anyway.

I'm 3/4 of the way through Through the Wardrobe (which is a collection of essays about The Chronicles of Narnia). Unfortunately, it's mostly making me want to just re-read Chronicles. We'll see about that.

I started reading Alice in Wonderland out loud to my nephew and figure I'll just go through that one over the course of the year with him for the most part. It will be slow going, but why not introduce him to reading bigger books out loud? It should certainly help his vocabulary and he seems to be enjoying it so far.

Forest Born. I read one page. It's the next one I'll get to when I'm finished with Through the Wardrobe.

I'm about 1/4 of the way through The Actor and The Housewife. Hopefully I will finish it up after Forest Born.

I'm jumping on the comic bandwagon and will be reading the Buffy season 8 comic as well as the Dr. Horrible comic. Not sure what category they will fit into.

I'm heading down to visit my parents this weekend and plan on renewing my library card and trying to get a bunch of books to last me through till Valentines day (the next time I'll get down to MD to return them). Or, you know, one or two books since I'm already so far behind.

Reading List: Updated

Okay. First of all, technically one of the rules of this challenge is that you are allowed to overlap between categories (I think the rule was up to 9 books may overlap, which for our purposes would be adapted to 10). I mention this because some of the books I own but haven't read also fit into the books I can't believe I've never read category; in the interest of making this challenge actually a challenge, I'm not going to let myself do any overlaps (if you'll remember, one of my original concerns about this was that the total number of books comes to 100, which is fewer than I read this year). All right. End of disclaimer, on to lists.

Books I own but haven't read:

1. Villette, Charlotte Bronte
2. Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut
3. All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
4. The Voyage Out, Virginia Woolf
5. The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri
6. Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy
7. The Winds of War, Herman Wouk
8. Main Street, Sinclair Lewis
9. Howard's End, E.M. Forster

Adult fiction:

1. *The Gathering Storm, Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson
2. possibly one of the Dresden files, by Jim Butcher
3. The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver
4. Dandelion Wine, Ray Bradbury
5. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
6. The Alchemist, Paolo Coelho
7. Serena, Ron Rash
8. The Postmistress, Sarah Blake

Recommended

1. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer (Megan)
2. Mistborn, Brandon Sanderson (Mike)
3. *Abarat, Clive Barker (Joseph)
4. *The Alchemyst, Michael Scott (Nathalie)
5. The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown (Dan)

I can't believe I've never read this...

1. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
2. A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
3. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred C. Taylor
4. The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton
5. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
6. The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis
7. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
8. A Separate Peace, John Knowles

Unfinished Business

1. The Glass Castle, Jeanette Wells
2. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky
3. The Rise of Silas Lapham, William Dean Howells

Authors I've never read

1. Neil Gaiman
2. Norman Mailer
3. Cormac McCarthy
4. Ken Follett
5. John Milton

Award Winners

1. The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck
2. March, Geraldine Brooks
3. The Road, Cormac McCarthy
4. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri
5. Ironweed, William Kennedy
6. A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole

Foreign

1. The Bonesetter's Daughter, Amy Tan
2. Pandora in the Congo, Albert Sanchez Pinol
   
3. Arrow of God, Chinua Achebe
4. The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
   

Self-Improvement

1. *Forced to be Family, Cheryl Dellasega
2. Feelings Buried Alive Never Die, Karol Truman
3. The Four Agreements Companion, Miquel Ruiz

Lin: Reading List

Here's what I have as possibilities so far:

Books I own but haven't read
Through the Wardrobe (A collection of writings from different authors about the Chronicles of Narnia)
The Wednesday Letters
The Glass Castle
Mansfield Park
Sense and Sensibility
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies
Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters
Madame Bovary
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Cranford

The above list is mostly coming from the set of beautiful Penguin classics I got last year for my birthday. I hadn't read most of them (hence the reason for buying them) so now I'm going to do it. This list may change, although it's the most set in stone due to the nature of the category.

Books with movie adaptations
The Road
Stardust
The Black Cauldron
The Outsiders Jane Eyre The Lovely Bones
Derby Girl
The Princess Bride
The Thin Man
The Iron Giant

That's what I've tentatively settled on for the movie/book category. I took most of these from lists found over at the A.V. Club, although the three in bold are on there because I also already own them. The Black Cauldron is the one I'm most excited about because I always thought that movie was so strange and the A.V. Club tells me the source material is much better than the movie. The Princess Bride is on there because I have never read it and I somehow feel like less of a girl for not having done so before this point.

10-10-10

Okay, I guess it's my turn to post my category list. I think I'm also going to include a few books that I've already listed in those categories so that I can remember them, and then I'll refer back or add things.

My tentative categories are as follows:

-Books I own but haven't read.
-Books I'm embarrassed that I haven't read or that I started and haven't finished.
This includes a couple of Jane Austens, Crime and Punishment, Les Miserables, Heart of Darkness, Invisible Man, Brave New World and a few others.
-Books written by authors who aren't British or American.
Yes, I'll be counting Anna Karenina.
-Nonfiction (including biographies and memoirs)
Includes the Wilberforce biography I just got, Endurance, possibly a biography of Victoria and Albert, something by David McCullough, and The Year of Magical Thinking.
-genres I don't usually read
This will give me an excuse to read Interview with a Vampire. 
-Megan/Lindsey/Miri category
-Recommended books
This will include These is My Words, which at least 3 different people have drooled about to me.
-Books adapted to movies
I want to read The Painted Veil and could always through those Jane Austens in there. Plus I always have the option of throwing in some Agatha Christies if I run out of time at the end.
-Authors I've never read
-Either award winners or something in a category like postmodern or modernist books.


 I reserve the right to change these or juggle things into other categories at any time to serve my own nefarious purposes. I also reserve the right to pad things with short stories if I come up short at the end, but I'm hoping Tolstoy won't put me behind enough for that to be an issue.

10/10/10 Challenge

For my New Year's "resolution" I decided to complete the 10/10/10 challenge--ten books in ten different genres in 2010--and I am really excited to do it. Megan and Lindsey read my post and have expressed an interest in it as well, and we've been discussing possible categories with each other. For right now, here is my tentative list.

--books I own but haven't read yet
--recommended by others
--adult fiction
--nonfiction
--self-improvement
--foreign
--authors I've never read (this is one that I just remembered was on that list online)
--genres I don't usually read
--Megan/Lindsey/Miri category (a predetermined list of ten books that all three of us will read)
--award-winners (?)
or, books adapted to movies?

I am deciding between the last two categories, since one of them will take me over ten. I like the idea of books that have been adapted to movies (which came from Lindsey) because it adds the extra element of watching those movies and comparing them with the books, and I'm sure that would be interesting; however, that also means I have to find the movies, and that isn't always easy.

Lindsey's Challenge Categories

When Miri mentioned doing this on her own blog and then later asked Megan for category suggestions, it got me interested. Granted, it doesn't take much to get me interested in anything these days. Also, I hardly read any books in 2009 - in fact, I think the grand total is like 15 or something. I haven't read that little since I was in college. Mostly I was all depressed and retreated into a world of TV and movies, which wasn't bad, but I'm ready for my brain to get some more exercise.

So here we go. 100 books. 10 categories. The categories I have chosen are as follows:

• Books I own but haven't read
• Recommended by others
• Young Adult/Children's Lit
  
• Adult Fiction
• Biographies
• Authors I have never read
• Megan/Lindsey/Miri (a predetermined list of 10 book we will all read)
• Books with movie adaptations
• Books for the blogject (self-improvement)
• 10 things written by J.D. Salinger
  

That last one is a little bit of a cheat because I will probably count his Nine Stories as 9 actual books...mostly, it's been on my list of things I would like to read and I think this is a good way to finally cross that one off. Also, I'd like to re-read Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey. But it's all in the spirit of accomplishment and I'm sure there will be other things that will balance it all out.

The first book that I will finish will fall under the Megan/Lindsey/Miri category as we have all been reading The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie since this summer. I've got 30 pages left and will be moving on to read Forest Born by Shannon Hale which will either count as a YA book or a book I own but haven't read.

I really hope I can stick to this and get it done. I'm excited about branching out and also getting through the books I already own but haven't had the time or patience to read.

New post - now with more polling!!

For those who may use Google Reader only - check out the new poll!

Here is the list of books I came up with for October. The poll gives you a chance the first time around to help choose the book. I tried to stay with an October-y type of book and I linked to all of the books as listed at B&N or Borders. You can check each of them out to get a better idea of what you might want to read.

I found most of these through reviews (and with a little help from Megan). I wanted something thrilling/interesting/different/maybe a little creepy for this time of year. I rarely read such things, but it's fun every once in a while. I tried to get a nice array of books. Please comment and please vote!

The one with the most votes will be what we read so vote well and vote often!!

Newes from the Dead
**review from Young Adult blog** (the review makes it sound interesting - plus it's YA so I was hoping it would be a little lighter fare)

Sherlock Holmes (well, just because)

To Kill a Mockingbird (mostly I have been wanting to re-read this)

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America (I think some of this is based on truth which makes it interesting to me)


The Brief History of the Dead (also, just because)

Facelift

I agree with Miri. We got distracted this summer from sharing our happy reading times. In an effort to revitalize our efforts I have finally picked a layout for the blog. I really think this one is it. I may mess with the colors, but the widgets and the ability to quickly post something new are back again and I am a happy camper - give me your input via poll answer.

I will also be adding stuff on the side bar again - book lists, more author blogs (pass them along in the comments if you have the links!), photos, etc. I thought it might be fun to add photos of ourselves doing something bookish (ie: reading) to put with our names and individual blogs. So, I will be bugging you about this...send me a photo! I'll take one soon to get things started.

In the meantime, if you take one, email it to me at lilifin.dilifsi (at) gmail (dot) com and I will add it quick like a bunny.

I think we need to pick a book and a date to discuss. We can make it in a month (end of September) or in two months - depending on everyone's schedule with school and work. I'm totally flexible. OR we can finish reading whatever we are working on at the moment and each discuss them individually but at the same time (if that makes sense). Maybe Sunday afternoon/evenings? Maybe Tuesday nights? Obviously we will have to work around schedules again, but we can all blog or even instant message our discussions.

If we want to get really into things (now that Megan has a Mac) those of us with cameras can video chat (I think skype and msn have free services) a discussion. Miri, do you have a camera/mic on your computer? If not, then we'll obviously think of something else.

Anyway, these are my ideas. I'm currently reading The Book Thief, which I know Megan and Miri have both read.

Oh, my other idea is to get someone new invited - but we can try for that after our first trial run.

Alright, give me some input.

Stuff

I am very excited for/jealous of everyone's new books, and Lindsey, you got an amazing haul this Christmas! That is so fantastic. My unplanned-for splurging is usually books, but just before Christmas I had a rare clothes splurge, so now I can't buy any books for a while. But there are definitely several that are on my list.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
The Kite Runner
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Water for Elephants

There's also one that I saw at Borders a while ago and I can't remember the name of it but I know I really wanted to read it. It was by an Indian writer and I've read enough to know that I want to read the rest of it now. I'll let you know if I figure it out, and also if you have any thoughts on what it might be, please let me know!

There are also a few books on my bookshelf that I've been meaning to read for quite a while. These are the top of that list.

March
The Accidental Tourist

Right now, however, I am reading a book that I borrowed from Curt called You Don't Know Me. It took me a long time to start it but the style of writing is really interesting and I got into it pretty fast once I started. I'm also getting out Through the Looking-Glass again, because I didn't finish it when I read Alice in Wonderland, and I'm reading a book my parents gave me for Christmas called You Can Heal Your Life. Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like, and it is a fabulous book. I don't even have to finish it to tell you that you could all benefit from reading it yourselves.

Along some previous lines, The Great Hunt is being put on hold... indefinitely. I'll get around to it, but not now. Something else I would like to get is The Sweet Far Thing, which I've been waiting for for a long time. I'll have to check it out from the library, cause I can't buy it until it's out in paperback.

Books, books and more books!

That's what I got this Christmas, thanks to my lovely friends and sister. Well, to be specific, I got gift cards to Barnes and Noble which I went out and spent (along with a little of my own money) on tons o' wonderful books.

I got lots of teen fiction (also thanks to Krissie who bought me four awesome books) and The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll. I am especially excited about that one because I have been wanting to read Through the Looking Glass again.

So...here's the list.

From Krissie:
Specials by Scott Westerfeld
Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Loser by Jerry Spinelli

From my gift cards:
The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede (the complete box set, she co-wrote Sorcery and Cecilia and I really liked the cover art so I thought I'd give it a try)
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Just because they were on sale for less than $5:
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems
The Dictionary of Disagreeable English: A Curmudgeon's Compendium of Excruciatingly Correct Grammar by Robert Hartwell Fiske (it was $1.99 and I like reading about grammar misusage)
The Musee D'Orsay (which was 50% off and has beautiful pictures of the works of art from this museum in Paris, which was one of my favorites when we visited in the spring)

Okay, so I think that covers it. Actually I know I bought a couple more I just can't remember them at the moment. All in all, though, I am very pleased with my Christmas presents and tried to buy books that would last a long time and remind me of the people who made the buying of them possible. Hence the box set and the Works of Lewis Carroll. I am excited to start reading!!

Holiday Reading

Although I am sad that my friend, Sheryl, will not be here during the month of December, I am looking forward to catching up on my reading.

Right now I am finishing up the Goose Girl "series" by Shannon Hale. The book is called River Secrets and so far it is great. It's interesting to see how she writes a main MALE character and to see how much more I like him (Razo) now that he is the main character and is gaining some dimension.

By the way, Enna Burning (the second book in the lineup) was fantastic. Enna is so different from Isi. It's a great read.

Megan's unfailing faith in Ian McEwan's Atonement has renewed my desire to finish it and I'm hoping I will have the time to discover just what Megan loves about it. Don't get me wrong, the writing is fantastic, it's just a little slow moving at times and my patience level is never really all that high.

I still also have The Lovely Bones, I Capture the Castle, and tons of other books I haven't even purchased yet to get through. I am hoping and wishing for a Barnes and Noble gift card for Christmas so I can add to my lovely bookshelf.

books I want to read after my trip to the bookstore today . . .

If you read my post on my blog today, you'll know there were several books I wanted to buy at the BYU bookstore today. I thought I would post them here so we can all think about how awesome they are.
First, the one I bought:

I'm super excited about this book. Annie Dillard has the most amazing prose - it makes me want to be more awesome.
Next, the books I didn't buy, but wanted to:





Since I'm still in the middle of Atonement and I'm trying to read Dracula for the Papercuts, I couldn't quite bring myself to buy anything new besides the essay book (and I was being good) but these all look so exciting to me!

To get us started....

This list is the one I started on my blog. I am in the middle of Atonement right now, and since I know that Megan has read this and Miri will probably read it soon, any posts regarding it are welcome.

As a side note, I think it's interesting that even though Miri and Megan live thousands of miles away from me - we still end up reading the same books around the same time without coordination. Pretty much, we rock.

a sampling of books i want to read:

• A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
• Look Me in the Eye
• Love in the Time of Cholera
• The Dangerous Book for Boys
  
• Apathy and Other Small Victories
• Pretties
• Uglies
• Specials
• Nine Stories
• Wuthering Heights (reread)

a view of some of the books i love:

• The Chronicles of Narnia
• The Shipping News
• The Bell Jar
• Pride and Prejudice
• The Catcher in the Rye
• Franny and Zooey
• A Wrinkle in Time
• The Great Gatsby
• Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
• The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother