Robin M Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 I may be misunderstanding this; however, just wanted to say that I really hope that whatever is done to facilitate the wish lists, that this particular thread remains as-is!:001_smile: No worries. The weekly threads will continue. The other stuff is supplemental. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglei Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 I don't usually post twice in the same week, but since the year is about to end, I want to get this in! I finished: #79 - Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year, by Anne Lamott. As someone previously posted, she is definitely "edgy" and "crude", but she's a good writer and very honest. While I edited some language as I read :001_smile:, I still couldn't put the book down. I will be starting: #80 - Could You Not Tarry One Hour: Learning the Joy of Prayer, by Larry Lea. An old book I found at a yard sale, the theme caught my eye, so I am hoping to end out the year with an even eighty books read, and a positive note to hopefully help with life in the new year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-M- Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 As eaglei pointed out, this is winding down, so I returned to add some late entries: #121 Drawing from Memory (Allen Say) Graphic autobiography. I agree with the Chicago Tribune: "This visual memoir is captivating and always unexpected." #122 Pilgrimage (Annie Leibovitz) Photography. Elsewhere, folks are rather awed by this volume, but I was left somewhat cold by the effort. The photographs are stunning, but that admission addresses not Leibovitz's eye or art but rather the compelling subjects themselves: Emily Dickinson's dress. Virginia Woolf's sitting room. Charles Darwin's specimens. John Muir's field notes. Annie Oakley's boots. Unfortunately, these fascinating subjects suffer from a poor, disjointed layout and a, for lack of a better word, distant text. Call me soulless, but when Leibovitz notes that her journey began with the headline-grabbing financial crisis that sent her into personal and professional turmoil, I didn't think she was experiencing some sort of life-altering epiphany. I thought, Yes, so you decided to get to work, put out another book, and make some money. Smart woman. All of that said, I urge you to seek out the volume for the valuable history-museum-in-a-book that it is. How many of these amazing places and objects might we miss if not for such books? #123 The Heights (Peter Hedges) Fiction. Told in alternating voices, The Heights chronicles, as one reviewer put it, "marital claustrophobia." The dark humor, crisp narrative, and wickedly wise social observations put me in mind of Tom Perrotta and Meg Wolitzer. #124 The Creative Habit (Twyla Tharp) Non-fiction. Chapbook entry here. I may have one to three more late entries. Then again, I may just begin 2012 with a flurry. We'll see. Thanks again, Robin, for hosting this weekly feature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangermom Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 No worries. The weekly threads will continue. The other stuff is supplemental. It would probably help the social group if you posted a link to it in the weekly thread? I vote for a Reading Challenges thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglei Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Mental multivitamin - I am impressed with the amount of reading you accomplish in a year! And each week! I don't know how you do it. I love-love-love to read - but I can't do several books a week as you do - Kudos to you - You deserve them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 I'm not ready for my wrap-up yet! I had planned to read all week but a funeral out of state put a wrench in that. I'm back and hoping to at least finish book 51 this week. I did finish Book #50 before heading out of state, "All-of-a-Kind Family" by Sydney Taylor. I had seen it mentioned in many read aloud lists and picked it up when I found it at the thrift store. It was cute and I plan to read it out loud to my dd next year. Now that I've made it through the pages of wrap-ups (so far) maybe I should actually get to reading. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Robin, I like your idea of linking our Amazon wish lists. It would be fun to surprise people with books. :001_smile: To do this we make the list public? Then if someone buys something it goes to person whose wish list it is? Are addresses only displayed if someone buys something? I like this idea, but only if it shows my Amazon moniker for discusssions which is Smiling Gonzales. That was a nickname a friend of mine gave me when I was 14 or 15 (a newer friend) because I smiled a lot & there was a cartoon character named Speedy Gonzales. What's funny is that we got in touch about a year or so ago via Facebook & she doesn't remember the nickname, although we call each other about once a month. Anyone can set a moniker, I think, but I'm not sure how much it shows. Jane in NC has met me IRL, so she knows my real name, but I don't like my name being that public as anyone can read this, not just those of us who participate, etc. As far as I know, there are only 2 people with my first & last name combo (we married cousins, far apart, and have met once) and that makes me a bit nervous. If I had a common name it would be different. Your idea is a good one. Better than my thought which was to just put a link in our signatures. Not sure that will fly with some people since names may be different on amazon. Yes, let's do that. I'll mention it in the first 2012 thread. Good idea as well and hadn't thought of that. Completely forgot about the social group. The old one is 2010 reading challenges so need to start a new one. Another task for my task list - Do we want the 2012 52 Books group or more general for everybody like the 2012 Reading Challenges social group? I don't remember my password, etc for that social group, but I could probably find it. I don't go there, but do get notifications from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiegirl Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I am away on holidays but am popping in to participate in this thread. I don't have my years' book list with me but I think I have read 56 books this year. I can't remember if this is a personal best or not. I am finishing up the year with "The Murder Room" by P.D.James. I have to admit that I wasn't very happy with my reading this year. I read lots but it was alot of contemporary fiction. I have goals of reading more non-fiction and classics for 2012. I will try to remember my top 10 for the year. The Room by Emma Donoghue The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot Anna Quindlen's newest book (can't remember the title) Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout Decision Points by George Bush All That is Bitter and Sweet by Ashley Judd Major Pettigrew's Last Stand The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy The Paris Wife by Paula McClain Young Romantics by Daisy Hay The Duds for the year: False Friend by Myla Goldberg Steven Tyler's memoir Still Missing by Chevy Stevens as well as her newest book but can't remember the title (don't know why I read her second book when I didn't really like the first one. :confused:) The Wild Zone by Joy Fielding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nd293 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I've just worked my way through everyone's Top 10 and now have "Saved List" of 15 books at the local library. Thanks to everyone who shared their favourites! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 (edited) I have two more to add to my list that I read this week - both were SO good! Friendship Bread by Darien Gee - I normally don't like books where women get together over their problems, but I loved this book! A surprise loaf/starter of Friendship Bread left on a doorstep intertwines an entire town and you get to know the family that lost their son, the woman who's husband has left her, and the owner of the local tea house, among others. There were parts of this that reminded me of Chocolat, very intricate descriptions of food mingled with the real feelings that these people were going through. Really good book, found it on a whim while trying to find an available Kindle book at the library. Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History by Ben Mezrich - as soon as someone mentioned this book here I knew that this was my kind of book, and I wasn't disappointed. The book follows the true story of Thad Roberts, the NASA co-op that stole moon rocks and other space specimens from the LBJ Space Center in 2002. I was sitting on the edge of my seat the whole book. Edited December 30, 2011 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-M- Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I've got a rapidly advancing bookmark in Lily King's The English Teacher, and both The Autobiography of an Execution (David R. Dow) and Like Shaking Hands with God (Kurt Vonnegut and Lee Stringer) are poised on my nightstand for all-in-one-gulp consumption. But this seemed as good a place as any to call it a month... and a year. #125 The Kitchen Madonna (Rumer Godden) Juvenile fiction. In search of something different but also sweetly simple, even childlike, for our Christmas week read-aloud (because (a) they are never too old for read-alouds -- just ask them; and (b) "sweetly simple" just feels right by the glow of the Christmas tree, whether you are four, fourteen, or forty-seven), I pulled out The Kitchen Madonna, which I first heard about over at Here in the Bonny Glen. The Misses and I loved this beautifully moving story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I finished Darkmans by Nicola Barker. I loved it. It's wonderfully written (even the foul-mouthed character), extremely modern, yet steeped in medieval ties & references. The story wanders amongst a diverse & unique group of characters, who surprise in quite a few ways. This is a book I could read more than once & get more out of it w/ each reading. There are many layers & I'm quite sure I missed many things. I'm still pondering the final pages.... I think it deserves more attention (I had never heard of it, just stumbled across it on a library shelf, even though it was nominated for the Man Booker prize), but I do know it's not a novel to everyone's taste. Definitely recommended for those who enjoy modern fiction, experimental literature, & literary wordplay. From the Being Obscure Clearly blog: "When I finished reading Darkmans by Nicola Barker, I couldn’t sleep. Not because it was unsettling and sinister – although it was, almost oppressively so in places, to the point where I physically shuddered – but because my mind was racing, desperately trying to piece together and make connections between its myriad of elements. Tiny details, names, words, incidents, even jokes. A full day later, I’m still obsessed with making sense of it." Read the rest of the review (which I think is spot-on) here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladydusk Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I finished North and South! Hooray! I started it in early November and it was so dark and dreary and heavy that I laid it aside during Advent, but it was good to press on and in the end I really enjoyed it a lot. I'm so pleased to have read more books this year than last! :party: Hmmm ... can I finish another book before tomorrow evening? I have several I'm in the midst of ... Lit! might be do-able ... My 2011 Reviews: 1. Her Daughter's Dream - Francine Rivers 2. Island of the World - Michael O'Brien (AMAZING!) 3. Mennonite in a Little Black Dress - Rhoda Janzen 4. Cinderella Ate My Daughter - Peggy Orenstein 5. Devil's Cub - Georgette Heyer 6. Keeping a Nature Journal - Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E Roth. 7. Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization (Audio Book) - Anthony Esolen 8. Excellent Women - Barbara Pym 9. The Abyssinian - Jean-Christophe Rufin 10. In the Company of Others - Jan Karon 11. One Thousand Gifts - Ann Voskamp 12. Regency Buck - Georgette Heyer 13. Bath Tangle - Georgette Heyer 14. The Convenient Marriage - Georgette Heyer 15. The Organized Heart - Staci Eastin 16. Your Home: A Place of Grace - Susan Hunt 17. Christian Encounters: Jane Austen - Peter Leithart 18. Bambi: A Life in the Woods - Victor Salten 19. Aunt Jane's Hero - Elizabeth Prentiss 20. The Magician's Nephew (Audio Book) - C.S. Lewis 21. The Horse and His Boy (Audio Book) - C.S. Lewis 22. Beauty for Truth's Sake - Stratford Caldecott 23. A Mother's Rule of Life - Holly Pierlot 24. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen 25. Persuasion - Jane Austen 26. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen 27. Real Love for Real Life - Andi Ashworth 28. Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies - Marilyn Chandler McEntyre 29. The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction - Alan Jacobs 30. The Help - Kathryn Stockett 31. The Waiting Sands - Susan Howatch 32. Prince Caspian (Audio Book) - C.S. Lewis 33. Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien (review forthcoming) 34. Garden Spells - Sarah Addison Allen 35. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame 36. The Two Towers - J.R.R. Tolkien 37. The Return of the King - J.R.R. Tolkien 38. Lady of Quality - Georgette Heyer 39. Come Thou Long Expected Jesus - edited by Nancy Guthrie 40. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens 41. North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangermom Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Hmmm ... can I finish another book before tomorrow evening? I have several I'm in the midst of ... Lit! might be do-able ... I'm desperately trying to finish this giant book of Roman history before tomorrow. I've assigned myself 75 pages a day.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I've now started Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures by Walter Moers. It's a long book so this will end up being my first book in 2012. (I got this book as a Christmas present & I'm a huge fan of Moers' works. His book The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear is one of my all-time favorites.) I'm hoping that Rumo is a fun, unique way to kick off my 2012 reading year.... :D From goodreads.com: "Set in the land of Zamonia, this exuberant, highly original fantasy from Walter Moers features an unlikely hero. Rumo is a little Wolperting - a domesticated creature somewhere between a deer and a dog - who will one day become the greatest hero in the history of Zamonia. Armed with Dandelion, his talking sword, he fights his way through the Overworld and the Netherworld. He meets Rala, a beautiful Wolperting female; Urs of the Snows, who thinks more of cooking than of fighting; Gornab the Ninety-Ninth, the demented king of Netherworld; Professor Ostafan Kolibri, who goes in search of the Non-Existent Teenies; Professor Abdullah Nightingale, inventor of the Chest-of-Drawers Oracle; and, worst luck, the deadly Metal Maiden. Astonishingly inventive, amusing, and engrossing, Rumo is a captivating story from the unique imagination of Walter Moers. Illustrated with the author's own line drawings and filled with humor, this rambunctious novel will delight fans tired of the usual epic fantasy. The comparisons are many - Douglas Adams, Lewis Carrol, J.K. Rowling, Dr. Seuss, R. Crumb - but Moers is clearly an original. Long live Zamonia!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostSurprise Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 DECEMBER 52. Around My French Table 51. Colorado Kid 50. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake 49. The Incorrigible children of Ashton Place: book 1 48. Tropic of Cancer 47. The Sisters: Saga of the Mitford Family Did you reach the goal of 52 books or did you manage to beat your own personal best? Surprisingly, I reached it. I gave up over the summer. No, its not a personal best. What book are you ending the year with? I'm reading The Children's Book by AS Byatt and The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. How many classics did you read? What did you think of the writing style or author? I was blown away by Junichiro Tanizaki's The Makioka Sisters. Name one book that you thought you'd never read and was pleasantly surprised you like it. The biggest surprise was that I didn't hate Tropic of Cancer. What are your favorite books? The Makioka Sisters The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat To Say Nothing of the Dog The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing Mountains Beyond Mountains The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place What are your ten least favorite books? Heaven is for Real The World of Bite Size Under the Banner of Heaven Her Fearful Symmetry The Tipping Point Don't Bother Me Mom--I'm Learning! The Reluctant Entertainer Did you start any books that you just simply couldn't finish? Always Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin M Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 Almost forgot: Barnes and Noble's Free Friday Ebook is Mike Lawson's The Inside Ring "The Inside Ring is the first novel in Mike Lawson’s critically acclaimed series of political thriller starring Joe DeMarco, fixer for the Speaker of the House. It opens with an assassination attempt on the president. He is only wounded, but his best friend and a Secret Service Agent are killed. It turns out that the attack wasn't without warning. General Andrew Banks, the Secretary of Homeland Security, received a note that the president was in danger, and even more alarming, that Secret Service agents guarding the president had been compromised. General Banks is reluctant to tell the FBI about the note, partly for self-serving political reasons, and partly because he doesn’t want to damage the Secret Service’s reputation based on something that might very well be a hoax. So he requests help from his friend, Speaker Mahoney, and Mahoney assigns his man DeMarco to determine if the Secret Service was really involved. Moving at a breakneck pace, and packed with plenty of humor and suspense, The Inside Ring is a must-read for fans of political thrillers." Works on nook for pc's, ipad's and tablets too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvnlattes Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 I finished book #52 last night! I started off Monday trying to get into Disrupting the Class but I knew it would take me too long to read. Thankfully I had The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen on hand. I liked it and feel like I ended the year on the happy, contented note, kind of like the ending in that book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K in MI Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 I just finished #51 yesterday: War Horse (Morpurgo). I busily trying to finish #52 (I still have 9 hours!!!) I'll post responses to your questions when I get back home. (I'm on a cruise ship right now --- don't be jealous! :) ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 I am now having to admit to myself that I am not going to finish 52 books this year. Boo! Oh, well, I was close and it has been a crazy year. Before I take my annual New Year's Eve nap, I thought I would do my wrap-up! Did you reach the goal of 52 books or did you manage to beat your own personal best? No. I'm in the middle of Book #51. What book are you ending the year with? I am in the middle of "The Eyre Affair." I was really looking forward to this book and am a bit disappointed so far. Did you discover a new author or genre? Did you love them or hate them? I read a lot of new authors (because of this thread). The two authors that I discovered this year that I read more than one of their books were Sarah Addison Allen and Alan Bradley. I loved one of Allen's but not the other (well, I loved the story but not that it was rated "R"). I am really enjoying Alan Bradley. I haven't read mysteries in years. Did you challenge yourself to read more non fiction if prefer fiction or more fiction if you prefer non fiction? No. I'm not a huge fan of non-fiction. I read three non-fiction books. Did you read from a list or wing it? Definitely "wing it." You lose all spontaneity with a list! How many classics did you read? What did you think of the writing style or author? Mansfield Park by Jane Austen Persuasion by Jane Austen Emma by Jane Austen Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare Macbeth by Shakespeare The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare Love both Austen and Shakespeare! Name one book that you thought you'd never read and was pleasantly surprised you like it. I was sure I would hate Tuck Everlasting because the movie made me bawl! It turns out that the book wasn't as sad and was quite a good story. What are your top ten favorite books? My top books that I've never read before would be (in no order)... Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm (LOVED it) Adam and His Kin by Ruth Beechick Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley It's a Jungle Out There! by Ron Snell The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley Macbeth by William Shakespeare I tend to re-read my favorite books yearly or every other year :blush: They are old friends. ;) so those top ten would be (in no order)... Emma by Jane Austen Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen The Diamond Throne by David Eddings The Ruby Knight by David Eddings Harry Potter 1-4 and 6 by J.K. Rowling (I don't like 5 and didn't make it to 7) The Twilight Saga (all four books) by Stephanie Meyer I guess that might be cheating a bit :D What are your ten least favorite books? This is a hard category for me. The book I really didn't like was... Lessons at Blackberry Inn by Karen Andreola A book I won't ever read again because it was gross... Pride & Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith Books that aren't my favorite in a series or author but I will read again... Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling Mansfield Park by Jane Austen A book that I liked the story but was too "R" rated for my tastes Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen Did you start any books that you just simply couldn't finish? Yep, but I can't remember them. What did you think of the mini challenges and did you join in or complete any? I only participated in one...Choose a book by it's cover. It's how I discovered Sarah Addison Allen's The Girl Who Chased the Moon. Did your family join in on the fun? No, though dd17 kept track of the books she read this year. How many books have you added to your wishlist since the beginning of the year? No lists!! :lol: If I remember that I would like to try a book I saw here then I go looking for it in a past thread. What was your favorite thing about the challenge? It was fun to come and see what others had read. It also kept me reading...though I don't usually have a problem with that ;) Also, for the first time, I felt part of something online and that was kind of fun! I think maybe dd's will do this with me next year! Thanks for keeping this up, Robin, it's great fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin M Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 Okay you guys have sold me. As of tomorrow I'm going on a buying ban until I lighten my tbr pile. It's huge. My last book buying act of the year - downloaded Sarah Addison Allen's Garden Spell's. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Robyn Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 (edited) I just finished The Trial by Kafka, and I also read a couple of Ruth Beechick pamphlets. Final list for 2011: Kevin David Anderson - Night of the Living Trekkies Richard Atwater - Mr. Popper's Penguins Betty Baker - Walk the World's Rim Ruth Beechick - Strong Start in Language xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxHome Start in Reading xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxEasy Start in Arithmetic Julie Bogart - The Writer's Jungle Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451 Max Brooks - World War Z Thornton Burgess - The Adventures of Prickly Porky Daniel Clowes - Ghost World Justin Cronin - The Passage Roald Dahl - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Jacqueline Davies - The Lemonade War Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion Keith Devlin - The Math Instinct Annie Dillard - The Writing Life Arthur Conan Doyle - A Study in Scarlet xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxThe Sign of Four xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxVampire Stories John Flanagan - The Ruins of Gorlan xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxThe Burning Bridge xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxThe Icebound Land Jean Fritz - The Cabin Faced West Ursula K. Le Guin - A Wizard of Earthsea xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxThe Tombs of Atuan xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxThe Farthest Shore xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTehanu xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxThe Other Wind xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTales from Earthsea Barry Hughart - Bridge of Birds Tove Jansson - Comet in Moominland Diana Wynne Jones - Howl's Moving Castle Norton Juster - Alberic the Wise and Other Journeys Franz Kafka - The Metamorphosis xxxxxxxxxxxxxThe Trial Miriam Katin - We Are On Our Own Dean Koontz - Phantoms Astrid Lindgren - Ronia, the Robber's Daughter Geraldine McCaughrean - The Odyssey Melisa Nielsen - Before the Journey Flannery O'Connor - A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories Mary Rose O'Reilley - The Barn at the End of the World Ransom Riggs - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Laurie Sandell - The Impostor's Daughter Marjane Satrapi - Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxPersepolis 2: The Story of a Return xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxChicken with Plums xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxEmbroideries Contee Seely - Fluency Through TPR Storytelling Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret Rudolf Steiner - The Four Temperaments Robert Louis Stevenson - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Rosemary Sutcliff - Black Ships Before Troy Hunter S. Thompson - The Rum Diary Kurt Vonnegut - Player Piano xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxCat's Cradle Jeannette Walls - The Glass Castle Colson Whitehead - Zone One Lawrence Williams - Living and Learning Phew! Not as impressive as some lists, but I'm happy with it.:) Edited December 31, 2011 by crstarlette Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer3141 Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 The idea that there's someone else who is a big enough geek to have read Kevin David Anderson right here on this board makes me GRIN. Your list impresses the wits out of me, Starlette!!! I cannot wait until the first thread of 2012 starts!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAMom Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 What book are you ending the year with? I'm almost finished with The Poisonwood Bible. I may have time to finish up one or two other non-fiction that I have going. We'll see. Well, I finished The Poisonwood Bible. I really loved it!:) And, by the end of today, I should be able to finish Confessions of a Prairie B!tch. Fun book when you grew up on Little House.;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 (edited) I am so, so late on this; the girls and I just got back from a lovely trip to the Texas coast (70 degrees and warm water; I wonder what the summer will be like?) and I'd seen this thread start while I was packing and unable to do anything about it. Alas since dh was at a conference, there was not a spare moment for me to read to myself. So my list of 29 books has to stand as is. Did you reach the goal of 52 books or did you manage to beat your own personal best? I realized early on that my personal challenge would be a book every other week. But I beat my personal goal of 26 books! Did you discover a new author or genre? Did you love them or hate them? I discovered that I really love Henry James, whose Turn of the Screw I'd read in high school and failed to understand, convincing me that James was hard and dull. Now I've learned that he's fantastic and a page-turner, once you have enough life experience under your belt to grasp what people's motivations and internal reactions to others' behavior will be in given social situations. I want to read a lot more James in 2012. How many classics did you read? Three: Thucydides, Aeschylus, and Terence. Four if you count Augustine. Name one book that you thought you'd never read and was pleasantly surprised you like it. Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. I've never been a fan of political philosophy, and suffered through Hobbes and Locke in college, but I think I might be a Burkean. Any Burkean candidates this year? :D And special mention for E. E. Cummings' The Enormous Room; a great read from a poet I already liked. I'd had no idea that he'd written prose, nor that he'd gone through such insanity in the First World War. What are your top ten favorite books? What are your ten least favorite books? I can't list a top ten; nearly all of the books I read this year were well worth reading, and I would recommend them to anyone. It's also hard to compare against genres, and I'd tried to read widely. The bottom of the pile is easy, though. Don't read any Graham Greene after Our Man in Havana: the two (two!) I tried - The Honorary Consul and A Burnt-Out Case - were both disappointments. I'd read The Lawless Roads the previous year and it had put me in the mood for more unread Greene, but that's all done now. And Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here was, pardon my saying so, a dog. It had actually been on my To Read pile since I'd picked it up at a rummage sale many years ago, but it wasn't worth the wait. Especially in the post-Solzhenitsyn world, Lewis' made-up totalitarian atrocities fail to stir the soul. The only thing of interest I got out of it was that Lewis really, really despised Upton Sinclair. As a happy ending, though, it turns out that rummage sale copy was a first edition, and Half Price gave me a tidy sum for it. With which I bought more and better books. They scolded me for not having the dust cover though. Did you start any books that you just simply couldn't finish? Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind. I found I just didn't care about the things Bloom cared about, which surprised me. The intensity of my Not Caring just kept building up, until I abandoned ship. (I counted it because I'd already read more than half, and felt I deserved to say I'd read it.) Did your family join in on the fun? Not this year, but I'm going to add in Middle Girl for 2012. Wee Girl isn't old enough, and Great Girl resents my noticing what she's reading. How many books have you added to your wishlist since the beginning of the year? Wishlist or Wish Stack? If the latter, several dozen. Darn you, nearby Half Price Books, with your 25-cent shelf. What was your favorite thing about the challenge? Doing away with my excuses for not reading. Thank you!!!!! ----------------------------------------------------------- My book breakdown (not expecting anyone else to care; this breakdown is for me): Biography/Memoir 29. E. E. Cummings, The Enormous Room History/Politics/Culture 28. Amerio Romano, Iota Unum; John P. Parsons, Tr. 23. Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War; Rex Warner, tr. 7. Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind* 6. Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France Education 12. Chris Wright, Dr. Wright's Kitchen Table Math: Book 1 Essays/Lectures/Sermons 2. St. Augustine, Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany Poetry 9. Charles Baudelaire, The Flowers of Evil; various tr. Drama 27. Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1 26. Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors 16. Terence, Phormio & Other Plays. Betty Radice, Tr. 14. Goethe, Faust: Part One. Philip Wayne, Tr. 8. Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House and Other Plays (The League of Youth, A Doll's House, The Lady From the Sea); Peter Watts, Tr. 4. Aeschylus, The Oresteia (Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides); Robert Fagles, Tr. Short Stories 25. Tolstoy, Master and Man and Other Stories (Father Sergius, Master and Man, Hadji Murat); S. Rapaport and John Kenworthy, trs. 1. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Fiction (novels) 24. Graham Greene, The Honorary Consul. 22. Gerald Hanley, Drinkers of Darkness 21. Henry James, What Maisie Knew. 20. Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native. 19. Henry James, The Spoils of Poynton. 18. Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. 17. Olive Schreiner, The Story of an African Farm. 15. Sinclair Lewis, It Can't Happen Here. 13. Robert Musil, Young Torless. Eithne Wilkins & Ernst Kaiser, Tr. 11. John Barth, The Sot-Weed Factor 10. Fernando de Rojas, The Spanish Bawd (La Celestina); J. M. Cohen, Tr. 5. Graham Greene, A Burnt-Out Case 3. Camara Laye, The Radiance of the King Authors, By nationality: American 6 English 6 Greek 2 Roman 2 Italian 1 French 1 Norwegian 1 Russian 1 Japanese 1 Austrian 1 German 1 Spanish 1 South African 1 Senegalese 1 Edited January 1, 2012 by Sharon in Austin forgot Goethe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paisley Hedgehog Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K in MI Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 I just finished #51 yesterday: War Horse (Morpurgo). I busily trying to finish #52 (I still have 9 hours!!!) I'll post responses to your questions when I get back home. (I'm on a cruise ship right now --- don't be jealous! :) ) VERY later response. I did finish #52 (early on 1/1/12 --- does that still count?): Old Before My Time (Okines). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin M Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 VERY later response. I did finish #52 (early on 1/1/12 --- does that still count?): Old Before My Time (Okines). Sure - why not! Congratulations! Now come on over to the current thread and let every one know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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