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Book a Week in 2011 - week one


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I am reading Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. It is a very strange book, but a fairly quick read.

My 7 yr old daughter is doing the challenge as well. She is so excited about it! This week she is reading The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine (author of Ella Enchanted). She loves the book so far.

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I am reading Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. It is a very strange book, but a fairly quick read.

My 7 yr old daughter is doing the challenge as well. She is so excited about it! This week she is reading The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine (author of Ella Enchanted). She loves the book so far.

 

Vonnegut was one of my fav authors in highschool. He has an acerbic wit.

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I am just finishing up The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent. EXCELLENT!! This week I am planning to read the first two Harry Potter books. I have read them before, so I think I will be able to read both this week.

 

I don't remember why I stopped reading The Heretic's Daughter (nothing to do with the quality of the book, rather something interrupted my reading mojo) but your post reminded me that I should put it on my list and finish it this year.

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I'm reading Glamorous Powers by Susan Howatch (#2 in the Starbridge series) and City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era. I'm nearly finished with both of them and am enjoying them, so maybe I'll start off this year ahead.

 

My main goal for this week is to learn how to do links in posts so I can link to the books. :) Off to figure that out now. I know it's around here somewhere.

 

ETA: Trying a link.

 

City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era

Edited by Luann in ID
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I've decided to take the plunge this year, especially since my list of books last year was, ahem, shall we say pathetic! :tongue_smilie:

 

I am reading "Warlord" by Ted Bell, it was my first book for my Nook I got for Christmas. Loving the Nook! :001_wub: I noticed Chucki was reading this one, too.

 

I received "The History of the Medieval World" by SWB for Christmas from dmil, so I'm getting ready to start that one up this week also - I'm sure it will take me all year to get through it, so it may have to be #52 on the list!

 

I'm excited to do the challenge this year, and already have a wish list going from all the wonderful sounding books everyone is reading.

 

Oh, and Luann in ID, your link worked beautifully!

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I received "The History of the Medieval World" by SWB for Christmas from dmil, so I'm getting ready to start that one up this week also - I'm sure it will take me all year to get through it, so it may have to be #52 on the list!

 

This one is a faster read than the Ancient times one was and it probably won't really take all year, but it's definately not a read all at once book.:001_smile:

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I started and finished my first book for this challenge!! Yay! I chose Fireflies in December by Jennifer Valent. http://www.amazon.com/Fireflies-December-Jennifer-Erin-Valent/dp/1414324324/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294080095&sr=8-1

It was recommended to me by a friend, so I got it on my nook (first book that I read on there) and I really enjoyed it.

 

Last night I started "Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God" by Francis Chan. http://www.amazon.com/Crazy-Love-Overwhelmed-Relentless-God/dp/1434768511/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294080231&sr=1-1

 

I'm also starting "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. http://www.amazon.com/Help-Kathryn-Stockett/dp/0399155341/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294080272&sr=1-1

Edited by MamaAkins
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I *loved* The President's Daughter when I was in High School (still have it around here somewhere. I read the second a few years ago, but have never found the third and didn't know of the fourth. Thanks!

All four were re-released (in updated version - they mention the internet and cell phones and so forth, but I'm not sure what other changes have been made, if any) in 2007ish, so they may be easier to find now.

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I'm reading The Sunne in Splendor about King Richard, III. Excellent.

 

I love medieval England historical fiction, but I think it's time I move on to other genres, so this challenge is very timely:)

 

Lisa

 

I am really struggling with the fact that everyone seems to have three names, two of which keep changing. :001_huh: I am about 300 pages in, and occasionally I still go "wait, who???" I think I like the book, but it is making me feel like a real idiot.

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I am excited about this challenge. I went through my shelves last night and found 46 books that I bought months (maybe years?) ago and have never read so I decided my challenge to myself will be to actually read these books, plus a few more I can come up with.

 

Right now I'm reading the Bible through in a year in chronological order. Not sure if that counts as one book or more than one but it will take all year to finish it anyway.

 

I'm also reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy for my first 3 books. I started Sunday and am about 1/4 of the way through The Fellowship of the Ring.

 

Looking forward to this!

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I am really struggling with the fact that everyone seems to have three names, two of which keep changing. :001_huh: I am about 300 pages in, and occasionally I still go "wait, who???" I think I like the book, but it is making me feel like a real idiot.

 

Yes, I know! I've read two other trilogies of hers from Henry II to Edward I, so I'm kinda used to it, but I do find myself flipping back a lot. I think what's so confusing is that they refer to the Lord by the land they rule most of the time, but sometimes by their last name (i.e., Lord Richard Neville is called Lord Warwick, because he rules Warwick).

 

I like to read historical non-fiction along with it to get a better understanding, so I'm reading a book about the War of the Roses, which is very enlightening.

 

Happy Reading!

Lisa

Edited by Momto5girls
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Yes, I know! I've read two other trilogies of hers from Henry II to Edward I, so I'm kinda used to it, but I do find myself flipping back a lot. I think what's so confusing is that they refer to the Lord by the land they rule most of the time, but sometimes by their last name (i.e., Lord Richard Neville is called Lord Warwick, because he rules Warwick).

 

I like to read historical non-fiction along with it to get a better understanding, so I'm reading a book about the War of the Roses, which is very enlightening.

 

Happy Reading!

Lisa

 

title please.:D

 

Not in the same time period, but Alison Weir's the Six Wives of Henry VIII was very good non-fiction to go along with Philippa Gregory's books of this time. It's a big book, but I found it went fast.

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title please.:D

 

Not in the same time period, but Alison Weir's the Six Wives of Henry VIII was very good non-fiction to go along with Philippa Gregory's books of this time. It's a big book, but I found it went fast.

 

 

Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman. I love her. I've been basking in medieval England for months and months now. I. can't. get. out.

 

I love Alison Weir! I have the book you mentioned, plus a couple of others by her I haven't read yet. I wanted to read The Princes in the Tower after this book, but might shelve it for now.

 

Happy Reading!!

lisa

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Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman. I love her. I've been basking in medieval England for months and months now. I. can't. get. out.

 

I love Alison Weir! I have the book you mentioned, plus a couple of others by her I haven't read yet. I wanted to read The Princes in the Tower after this book, but might shelve it for now.

 

Happy Reading!!

lisa

 

 

What book are you reading along with Sunne in Splendour? :bigear:

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Right now I'm reading the Bible through in a year in chronological order. Not sure if that counts as one book or more than one but it will take all year to finish it anyway.

 

QUOTE]

 

Trying to figure this out myself. lmk what you decide.

Robyn- what are your thougths?

 

I'm going to be calling it one book.

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What book are you reading along with Sunne in Splendour? :bigear:

 

 

I bought this for less than a dollar http://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Wars-Roses-Elizabeth-Hallam/dp/1858335884/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294104839&sr=1-1

 

It has lots of pictures and a great two page geneology diagram that really helps keep the players straight.

 

Lisa

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I bought this for less than a dollar http://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Wars-Roses-Elizabeth-Hallam/dp/1858335884/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294104839&sr=1-1

 

It has lots of pictures and a great two page geneology diagram that really helps keep the players straight.

 

Lisa

 

Thanks! that's what I was looking for. I have the Penman books on my list to read this year and can't wait. For more on Richard III, the Red Queen and White Queen were good reads. Essentially the same story, but each told by a different side--those are by Gregory.

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Geez, Robyn, when I saw your post I thought you were asking people what they HAD read already this week and thought, "I'm behind all ready!"

 

LOL!

 

If any of our children are going the challenge, are we going to be keeping track of their progress here? If we are . .

 

Yep, you can keep track here. I think it's awesome the number of kids joining in.

 

 

Right now I'm reading the Bible through in a year in chronological order. Not sure if that counts as one book or more than one but it will take all year to finish it anyway.QUOTE]Trying to figure this out myself. lmk what you decide.

 

Robyn- what are your thoughts?

 

Personally' date=' I would consider it one book with a lot of chapters. :) However, I'm leaving it up to each individual to decide for themselves. I'm at that optimistic beginning of the year where yes I've decided I'll read it all the way through again. Going to try the One Year Bible Blog Bible Journey.

 

***

 

You guys rock and are reading some interesting books. You are inspiring to tackle my non fiction George Washington book again.

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Vonnegut was one of my fav authors in highschool. He has an acerbic wit.

 

He was one of my favorite authors when I was in high school as well.

 

Recently I borrowed Welcome to the Monkey House on CD. I was amazed at how relevant some of Vonnegut's observations made back in the '60's were to modern life. Although I have not listened to all of the stories, the first few seem quite fresh.

 

First book of the year: Twelve by Twelve which I saw someone else is also reading. Nice to start out a new year thinking about simplicity.

Edited by Jane in NC
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Thanks! that's what I was looking for. I have the Penman books on my list to read this year and can't wait. For more on Richard III, the Red Queen and White Queen were good reads. Essentially the same story, but each told by a different side--those are by Gregory.

 

 

I have these on my list!

 

This is why I can't get out of this historical period. It's so fascinating and every book leads me to another I just have to read:D

 

Lisa

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I originally planned on reading "The Boleyn Inheritance," by Philippa Gregory, and I still am, but I added in another book.

 

I picked up my sister's old copy of "Hinds' Feet on High Places," by Hannah Hurnard. I thumbed through it this morning and thought it would be silly because the names represent the people. To be so simply laid out with "Much-Afraid," "Craven Fear," "Sorrow," "Mrs. Valiant," etc. I thought it would be childish, but really, I can barely put it down.

:D

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I finished The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley. I totally enjoyed it, just as I enjoyed Bradley's first book in this series. Love Flavia as a character -- she's so smart & spunky. According to amazon, the next book in the series will be released Feb. 8. Hooray!

 

I've picked up a YA book that I started last month & put down when things got busy: The Looking Glass Wars. It's an altered version of the Alice in Wonderland story.

 

 

From School Library Journal

 

"Grade 9 Up—Frank Beddor's clever novel (Dial, 2006) puts Lewis Carroll's heroine—along with her loony, puzzle-riddled world—into a new and wholly satisfying frame. In this version, most of Alyss Heart's family and friends are ruthlessly killed by her evil Aunt Redd. Alyss escapes through the Pool of Tears, which is actually a portal between worlds, and winds up in Victorian England and is renamed Alice. At first, the child tries to tell ordinary humans about her world and the power imagination actually effects in Wonderlandia, but they gently chide her for telling stories. She believes that she's found a sympathetic ear in a young Oxford don who is a friend of her adopted family, but he turns her story into the travesty we all know as "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." Meanwhile, Hatter Madigan, a member of Wonderlandia's Millinery, who also escaped through the Pool, searches for Alyss across continents and time, until he finds her more than a dozen years later. Back home in Wonderlandia, the few who have escaped evil Redd's soldiers plot to retake the land...."

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSwF4yZvAoSWLnCapfZv4lTqZd2OVJeirZWNdnEqF7wm9FEFjHx

I also have just barely started Cutting for Stone. I picked it up today after waiting a long time on the library wait list.

 

 

From Publishers Weekly

 

"Starred Review. Lauded for his sensitive memoir (
My Own Country
) about his time as a doctor in eastern Tennessee at the onset of the AIDS epidemic in the 80s, Verghese turns his formidable talents to fiction, mining his own life and experiences in a magnificent, sweeping novel that moves from India to Ethiopia to an inner-city hospital in New York City over decades and generations. Sister Mary Joseph Praise, a devout young nun, leaves the south Indian state of Kerala in 1947 for a missionary post in Yemen. During the arduous sea voyage, she saves the life of an English doctor bound for Ethiopia, Thomas Stone, who becomes a key player in her destiny when they meet up again at Missing Hospital in Addis Ababa. Seven years later, Sister Praise dies birthing twin boys: Shiva and Marion, the latter narrating his own and his brothers long, dramatic, biblical story set against the backdrop of political turmoil in Ethiopia, the life of the hospital compound in which they grow up and the love story of their adopted parents, both doctors at Missing. The boys become doctors as well and Vergheses weaving of the practice of medicine into the narrative is fascinating even as the story bobs and weaves with the power and coincidences of the best 19th-century novel."

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSVbTQzOX76iPHB8GhsIlLr3Np4xiXhkdcNsa4Z-bIdhofRffwuJQ

Edited by Stacia
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I got halfway through The Almost Moon when I stumbled upon Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs. Now I can't put it down. I've never read such an intimate account of slavery. So, I guess I'll finish The Almost Moon next week:)

 

That does look interesting, I've added it to my list, can't beat the price either.;) (It's free on Kindle)

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I got halfway through The Almost Moon when I stumbled upon Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs. Now I can't put it down. I've never read such an intimate account of slavery. So, I guess I'll finish The Almost Moon next week:)
That does look interesting, I've added it to my list, can't beat the price either.;) (It's free on Kindle)

That's one of the autobiographies recommended in The Well Educated Mind, in case you're thinking of doing the WEM Mini-Challenge. ;)

 

Jackie

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