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Book a Week in 2010 - Week 20 T is for Tolstoy

Robin M
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Robin M

Robin M

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Today is the start of book week 20 and the quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks. Have you started Book # 20 yet? Mr. Linky is all set up on the 52 books blog and ready for you to link to your reviews.

 

This week's theme on the 52 books blog: T is for Tolstoy. Have you read anything by Leo Toystoy yet? I was surprisingly captured by his writing when I read War and Peace. I'll be reading Anna Karenina at some point this year. But I think I'll wait til I'm done with my Nobel Literature class.

 

What are you all reading this week? I just started "Black Water Rising" by Attica Locke.

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Skadi

Skadi

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I've been sticking to my goal of reading one hour per day, so last week I read:

 

Silas Marner by George Eliot

Lieutenant Hornblower by C.S. Forester

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodges Burnett

 

See my signature for the books I am starting this week. :)

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JennW in SoCal

JennW in SoCal

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Am finishing His Magesty's Dragon, the first in the series of Temeraire books. Very fun mix of historical fiction and fantasy -- pure fluff but fun.

 

Am going dystopian this week, having just started Marcel Thoreaux's Far North. It was short-listed for the 2010 Arthur C Clarke award, and just 2 chapters in I'm enjoying the writing, but don't know if I'm feeling tough enough to hang out in this harsh world for long.

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Stacia

Stacia

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I'm currently reading The Food of a Younger Land: A Portrait of American Food -- Before the National Highway System, Before Chain Restaurants, and Before Frozen Food, When the Nation's Food was Seasonal by Mark Kurlansky.

 

I may also start something else this week (hopefully Ella Minnow Pea will come in at the library so I can start reading it for my book club).

 

Since I haven't posted my year-to-date list lately, I'll put it in....

-------------------------

Books I've read in 2010:

-------------------------

1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

2. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

3. The Palace of Dreams by Ismail Kadare

4. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford

5. Lying Awake by Mark Salzman

6. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

7. Iron and Silk by Mark Salzman

8. Lottery by Patricia Wood

9. The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers

10. Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

11. Clutter Busting: Letting Go of What's Holding You Back by Brooks Palmer

12. The Power of Less by Leo Babauta

13. Stop Clutter from Stealing Your Life by Mike Nelson

14. The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan

15. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

16. Orphans Preferred: The Twisted Truth and Lasting Legend of the Pony Express by Christopher Corbett

17. Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide by Peter Allison

 

------------------------------------------------------------

Young-adult books I've read (mostly as read-alouds) in 2010:

------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Anybodies by N. E. Bode

2. The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

3. The Nobodies by N. E. Bode

4. Something Wickedly Weird: The Wooden Mile by Chris Mould

5. Zorgamzaoo by Robert Paul Weston

6. A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett

7. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

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Stacia

Stacia

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I have also started 2 other books:

myspirit_book_waitingsnow_150.gif

Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy

"At the start of the nineteen-sixties, an operation called Pedro Pan flew more than fourteen thousand Cuban children out of the country, without their parents, and deposited them in Miami. Eire, now a professor of history and religion at Yale, was one of them. His deeply moving memoir describes his life before Castro, among the aristocracy of old Cuba—his father, a judge, believed himself to be the reincarnation of Louis XVI—and, later, in America, where he turned from a child of privilege into a Lost Boy. Eire's tone is so urgent and so vividly personal (he is even nostalgic about Havana's beautiful blue clouds of DDT) that his unsparing indictments of practically everyone concerned, including himself, seem all the more remarkable."

 

6a00e553e8d96888330120a848005e970b-300wi

The Happiness Project

"Starred Review. Rubin is not an unhappy woman: she has a loving husband, two great kids and a writing career in New York City. Still, she could-and, arguably, should-be happier. Thus, her methodical (and bizarre) happiness project: spend one year achieving careful, measurable goals in different areas of life (marriage, work, parenting, self-fulfillment) and build on them cumulatively, using concrete steps (such as, in January, going to bed earlier, exercising better, getting organized, and "acting more energetic"). By December, she's striving bemusedly to keep increasing happiness in every aspect of her life. The outcome is good, not perfect (in accordance with one of her "Secrets of Adulthood": "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good"), but Rubin's funny, perceptive account is both inspirational and forgiving, and sprinkled with just enough wise tips, concrete advice and timely research (including all those other recent books on happiness) to qualify as self-help. Defying self-help expectations, however, Rubin writes with keen senses of self and narrative, balancing the personal and the universal with a light touch. Rubin's project makes curiously compulsive reading, which is enough to make any reader happy."

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ladydusk

ladydusk

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List (Links are to my review):

Week 1: Touch Not the Cat

Week 2: An Introduction to Classical Education: A Guide for Parents

Week 3: Parenting from the Heart

Week 4: Meet the Austins

Week 6: The Moon by Night

Week 6: The Little Book of Christian Character and Morals

Week 7: How Lincoln Learned to Read

Week 8: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Week 10: The Young Unicorns

Week 12: Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics

Week 12: The Arm of the Starfish

Week 15: Building Her House

Week 16: Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit

Week 17: A Ring of Endless Light

Week 20: Just So Stories

Week 20: Wise Words

Edited by ladydusk
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laughing lioness

laughing lioness

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Last week I read "Little Bee" a tragedy about detainees/refugees/multinationals, with a graphic torture scene. Disturbing.

This week I have "Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America and American in Iran" and "The Hardest Questions aren't on the Test: Lessons from an Innovative Urban School."

 

Off-topic and just for grins I've started a list of "Living a Year of" titles. So far I have:

Living Oprah

100 Mile Diet

The No Impact Man

Julie & Julia

The Year of Living Biblically

The Year of Living Like Jesus

In the Land of Believers

Living a Year of Kiddish...

and added: The Happiness Project.

Any others?

 

Do you think there is a market for Living a Homeschool Year? :001_smile:

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Mommyfaithe

Mommyfaithe

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Today is the start of book week 20 and the quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks. Have you started Book # 20 yet? Mr. Linky is all set up on the 52 books blog and ready for you to link to your reviews.

 

This week's theme on the 52 books blog: T is for Tolstoy. Have you read anything by Leo Toystoy yet? I was surprisingly captured by his writing when I read War and Peace. I'll be reading Anna Karenina at some point this year. But I think I'll wait til I'm done with my Nobel Literature class.

 

What are you all reading this week? I just started "Black Water Rising" by Attica Locke.

 

I keep Tolstoy on the simple. We love his short tales and such. My son just did his Literature term paper on Tolstoy, his works, politics and friendship with Ghandi.

 

This week I finished the 2nd Harry Potter book and I am reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell anfter loving Outliers so much. he is fascinating. I am also reading Everyday Sacred by Sue Bender...looking to simplify my life a bit.

 

Faithe

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Stacia

Stacia

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Off-topic and just for grins I've started a list of "Living a Year of" titles. So far I have:

Living Oprah

100 Mile Diet

The No Impact Man

Julie & Julia

The Year of Living Biblically

The Year of Living Like Jesus

In the Land of Believers

Living a Year of Kiddish...

and added: The Happiness Project.

Any others?

 

I think A. J. Jacobs' (author of The Year of Living Biblically) other books are also 'one year' type books: The Know-It-All (read the entire encyclopedia in a year) and The Guinea Pig Diaries (where he lives his life as an experiment -- not sure if it has a one-year timeline or not).

 

ETA: I thought of another one: Eat, Pray, Love.

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dangermom

dangermom

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This week I put The Bottom Billion up on my blog.

 

I'm trying to finish Hayek's "Road to Serfdom" but it's the sort of book you need to read in a quiet library, and since I'm usually trying to read while my kids are doing kung-fu class or something, it's been difficult.

 

I'm almost done with the Aeneid though!

 

My mom found me an old book called "In Search of London," from the 50's. I've barely started it but it's great! It's still in print and even available on Kindle, so if you're any sort of an Anglophile I'd call it a must-read.

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Robin M

Robin M

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i just posted my review of The Killing of Mindi Quintana, a new book and first book written by Jeffrey Cohen. I tell you here what I didn't have the nerve to come right out and say on my blog. I kind of did it in a round about way and those who know me will get the fact I didn't like it.

 

His writing leaves a bit to be desired, but who am I to criticize since I haven't gotten anything published yet. Right? However, I know what I like and this isn't it. Plus I like books with a moral lesson and characters that are good. Not one of the characters in the story seemed to have any redeeming moral values. I don't like ambiguous ending or endings in which the character gets away with something. The story just rubbed me the wrong way.

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*~Tina~*

*~Tina~*

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What a neat thread! 52 books in 52 weeks - wow, what a challenge!

 

I'm a little less ambitious, lol! but I'm currently reading:

 

Redeeming Love - Francine Rivers

When Children Love to Learn - Elaine Cooper

Idols of the Heart - Elyse Fitzpatrick

 

I've got my "2010 Reading List" posted to my blog and I add the date next to the title as I complete them. I can also add new ones as something crosses my path that looks interesting, plus I generally have some sort of homeschooling book going.

 

I figured having something in writing would help me out! :)

 

http://seasonsoflearning.blogspot.com/p/my-2010-reading-list.html'>http://seasonsoflearning.blogspot.com/p/my-2010-reading-list.html'>http://seasonsoflearning.blogspot.com/p/my-2010-reading-list.html'>http://seasonsoflearning.blogspot.com/p/my-2010-reading-list.html

 

Blessings,

¸.·´ .·´¨¨))

((¸¸.·´ .·´ -:¦:-Tina ~

-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´*

My Blog - http://seasonsoflearning.blogspot.com/

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Jane in NC

Jane in NC

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Off-topic and just for grins I've started a list of "Living a Year of" titles. So far I have:

Living Oprah

100 Mile Diet

The No Impact Man

Julie & Julia

The Year of Living Biblically

The Year of Living Like Jesus

In the Land of Believers

Living a Year of Kiddish...

and added: The Happiness Project.

Any others?

 

Do you think there is a market for Living a Homeschool Year? :001_smile:

 

Yes!

 

For your list although it is not a year, just a semester: The Unlikely Disciple.

 

My son just finished that one, the third in our series of Living a Year (or part of a year). Previously we read Biblically and No Impact Man.

 

There could be a homeschool series! A year of classical ed, unschooling, a year of lapbooking, etc.

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LaissezFaire

LaissezFaire

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This week I have read:

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Some Girls by Jillian Lauren

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

 

and I am halfway through The Kite Runner. I was on vacation so I had a great reading week. So peeved that the second Hunger Games book is not available as an ebook. Grr...

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laughing lioness

laughing lioness

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This week I have read:

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Some Girls by Jillian Lauren

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

 

and I am halfway through The Kite Runner. I was on vacation so I had a great reading week. So peeved that the second Hunger Games book is not available as an ebook. Grr...

 

Catching Fire is the second "Hunger Games" and it's out! (and good!). It's the third that isn't out till fall.

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Storm Bay

Storm Bay

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I've been missing these--have there not been links coming up in the old ones? This week I read 2 books my dd is reading, The Voyage of Patience Goodspeed & The Education of Patience Goodspeed. My dd loves them, and they are okay. A bit modern in outlook, but lots of great historical stuff worked in there that is accurate or based on real events (and she tells you when she changes a year or makes up all fictional people in a real lace in the story.) However, the author has never bothered to write the third book, but moved onto the other series she did (which is better, IMO).

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Storm Bay

Storm Bay

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Catching Fire is the second "Hunger Games" and it's out! (and good!). It's the third that isn't out till fall.

 

 

Really? I have Mockingjay on hold from the library and I'm 30 something out of over 41 holds. For some reason, it looked like the libraries already had a copy, but this release date could explain the wait. Last year I put a hold on Catching Fire at about the same time and was one of the first to get the book. This could be along wait!

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PollyOR

PollyOR

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I'm ready to start the next book in The Last Apprentice series, Curse of the Bane.

 

Okay, now I know why these are in the young adult(YA) section and not in juvenile. This one got a little more gruesome. Still enjoyed reading it but thinking that maybe I shouldn't read these before bedtime. ;)

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Stacia

Stacia

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Today, I finished Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy (2003 National Book Award winner).

 

What an amazing autobiography: part tragedy, part comedy, touching, brutally blunt, stream-of consciousness, magical realism, vivid descriptions... I was laughing & crying at different points in his book. And Eire gifts you, the reader, with such lovely prose as he writes in his non-native language.

 

I knew as soon as I read the 'preambulo' that I would like this book. And I did.

 

"Preambulo

 

This is not a work of fiction.

But the author would like it to be.

We improve when we become fiction,

each and every one of us,

and when the past becomes a novel our memories are sharpened.

 

Memory is the most potent truth.

Show me history untouched by memories

and you show me lies.

Show me lies not based on memories

and you show me the worst lies of all.

 

If all the characters in this book are fictional, none of them knows it yet.

 

All resemblances to actual persons

were preordained before the creation of the world.

It matters little that the names don't always match.

 

All the incidents and dialogue come straight from God's imagination.

As does the author himself.

And the reader.

 

Still, all of us are responsible for our own actions.

Not even Fidel is exempt from all this.

Nor Che, nor his chauffeurs, nor his mansion.

Nor the many Cubans who soiled their pants

before they were shot to death.

Nor the fourteen thousand children who flew away from their parents.

Nor the love and desperation that caused them to fly."

 

ceire_pic.jpgceire_snowinhavana.gif

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