Book a Week in 2013 - week ten

[Robin M]

Good morning, dear hearts! Today is the start of week 10 in our quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks. Welcome back to all our readers, to all those who are just joining in and to all who are following our progress. Mr. Linky is all set up on the 52 Books blog to link to your reviews. The link is below in my signature.

 

52 Books - Gadding about South America: If you've been doing the Continental Challenge and following along with me, the first couple months of armchair traveling has taken us down through Canada and across the Unites States. Now we are heading down through South America and see what there is to discover. If you don't know where to begin, check out the books I found based on setting at Traipse through South America (also listed on the blog). Wide Open Education lists the 20 Essential Works of Latin America Literature which includes Pablo Neruda, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende and Julio Cortazar. And to torture you some more, Becca of Lost in Books has been doing a fabulous Take me Away series highlighting books from different countries and has so far done Argentina, Brazil, Chili, and Peru, that will have you adding more books to your wishlist.

 

 

Speaking of Julio Cortazar - are you ready for a challenging readalong? Stacia talked me into it so we going to tackle reading Hopscotch by Argentinian novelist Julio Cortazar and will begin March 10th.

 

Synopsis: Horacio Oliveira is an Argentinian writer who lives in Paris with his mistress, La Maga, surrounded by a loose-knit circle of bohemian friends who call themselves "the Club." A child's death and La Maga's disappearance put an end to his life of empty pleasures and intellectual acrobatics, and prompt Oliveira to return to Buenos Aires, where he works by turns as a salesman, a keeper of a circus cat which can truly count, and an attendant in an insane asylum.

Hopscotch

is the dazzling, free-wheeling account of Oliveira's astonishing adventures.

 

And by free-wheeling, they mean a stream of consciousness book in which you can read in chapter order or follow the random pattern set out by the author. Same as the title, you will be Hopscotching around. According to the Quarterly Conversation:

 

 

 

The most remarked-on aspect of Hopscotch is its format: the book is split into 56 regular chapters and 99 “expendable†ones. Readers may read straight through the regular chapters (ignoring the expendable ones) or follow numbers left at the end of each chapter telling the reader which one to read next (eventually taking her through all but one of the chapters). A reading of the book in that way would lead the reader thus: Chapter 73 – 1 – 2 – 116 – 3 – 84 – 4 – 71 – 5 – 81 – 74 – 6 – 7- 8, and so on. -

 

So be prepared to set aside all expectations, take your time, have a glass of wine or two (or your favorite beverage) and enjoy. I intend to.

 

For those who aren't interested in Hopscotch, in April (dated to be determined) we will be doing a readalong of the chunkster IQ84 by Haruki Murakami.

 

 

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

 

 

link to week 9

[Robin M]

I'm currently reading and almost done with Never Let You Go by Erin Healy. It is a christian supernatural chiller thriller which I'm going to get back to right now because it's at the exciting part. :ohmy:

[melmichigan]

Well I'm trying to get things done this weekend, so I intentionally didn't go pick up the Immortals After Dark books that I have on hold at the library. I'm sure some of you know how that is. If I had them wouldn't want to be cleaning house and planning the rest of the school year. :lol:

 

Kareni and Robin's recommendation of the Black Knights Inc. series got me distracted for a little while last week because No Rest for the Wicked (Immortals After Dark Book 2) started a little slow for me. It quickly picked up and I will be back into the series again this week. Yesterday I did pick up one free download on Kindle, Close to You (A Laurel Heights Novel) by Kate Perry. I will say I like this book the least out of the books I have read in this series, which I usually grab if I see them on the Top 100 Free list. If I wasn't trying to avoid getting into anything new I'm not sure I would have finished it.

 

I almost forgot Edge of Dawn: A Midnight Breed Novel. Lara Adrian made a good transition with this book in my opinion. The story brings us back 20 years after the end of the last book and introduced us to the children of the Breed. It is a great way to continue the world she already built.

 

Week 9

48. Hell on Wheels: Black Knights Inc. by Julie Ann Walker.

49. In Rides Trouble: Black Knights Inc. by Julie Ann Walker.

50. Rev It Up: Black Knights Inc. by Julie Ann Walker.

51. No Rest for the Wicked (Immortals After Dark Book 2) by Kresely Cole.

52. Edge of Dawn: A Midnight Breed Novel by Lara Adrian.

53. Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night (Immortals After Dark Book 3) by Kresely Cole.

54. Close to You (A Laurel Heights Novel) by Kate Perry.

[Mothersweets]

I'm not quite done with this one but just had to share - B**ch in a Bonnet - “Hilarious…Rodi’s title is a tribute. He’s angry that the Austen craze has defanged a novelist who’s ‘wicked, arch, and utterly merciless. She skewers the pompous, the pious, and the libidinous with the animal glee of a natural-born sadist’…Like Rodi, I believe Austen deserves to join the grand pantheon of gadflies: Voltaire and Swift, Twain and Mencken.†Lev Raphael, The Huffington Post

 

I have been giggling and guffawing my way through it - my dh keeps asking me, what are you reading?!

[Kareni]

Yesterday I read When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler's Journal of Staying Put by Vivian Swift. (I see it's bargain priced at Amazon currently.)

 

"A charming, illustrated celebration of puttering, doodling, daydreaming, and settling down after years on the road.

 

Following a lifetime of trekking across the globe, Vivian Swift racked up twenty-three temporary addresses in twenty years, finally dropped her well-worn futon mattress and rucksack in a small town on the edge of the Long Island Sound. She spent the next decade quietly taking stock of her life, her immediate surroundings, and, finally, what it means to call a place a home.

 

The result is When Wanderers Cease to Roam. Filled with watercolors of beautiful local landscapes, seasonal activities, and small, overlooked pleasures of easy living, each chapter chronicles, month by month, the beautifully mundane perks of remaining at home—from curious notices in the local paper to the variations of autumnal clouds. At once gorgeously rendered and wholly original, this delightful and masterfully observed year of staying put shows us how the details of travel and the details of our lives remain with us—how they can nurture and sustain us, and how the past and the present become, in the end, intertwined."

 

This really was a lovely read and ... view? (What does one say of a book that is lovely to look at?) This book might be appealing to you if you are interested in journaling, art, and life. It's not the journal of one year per se rather it contains elements of the author's life (travels, relationships, philosophical ramblings) organized by month. I enjoyed it.

 

I see that the author has another book Le Road Trip: A Traveler's Journal of Love and France which I'll be on the lookout for.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Hoot]

Today I finished Tales of an African Vet by Dr. Roy Aronson. Excellent book with lots of interesting stories. Next up, Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.

 

Completed So Far

 

1. Best Friends by Samantha Glen

2. Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien

3. The Gift of Pets: Stories Only a Vet Could Tell by Bruce Coston

4. Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human by Elizabeth Hess

5. Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams & Mark Carwardine

6. Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim

7. Beowulf by Seamus Heaney

8. The Odyssey by Homer (Fagles translation)

9. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

10. The Year of Learning Dangerously: Adventures in Homeschooling by Quinn Cummings

11. Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson

12. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

13. Tales of an African Vet by Dr. Roy Aronson

[Diann]

I read Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton and really enjoyed it. Now, I'm reading the latest Inspector Lynley novel by Elizabeth George. I love this series.

 

Diann

[Negin]

Although I've seen the movie and was not at all interested in reading The Hunger Games, I did so because my daughter asked me to. I gave it 4 Stars.

 

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

[Jane in NC]

Richard Hughes is a writer who was not on my radar until Violet Crown put him there. She is woman of discerning tastes, finding fault with most modern novelists so I admit I was curious to read a modern whom she likes.

 

To be blunt, A High Wind in Jamaica is rather creepy. The children in this tale of children and pirates are not innocents. They are the selfish beasts that children (people) often are, waltzing from fantasy to realization of life and identity.

 

Once more a phase of their lives was receding into the past, and crystallizing into myth.

 

The myths we weave to cope!

 

Hughes is a wonderful writer. I would give the novel more stars on writing alone but the darkness of this tale was disturbing to me.

 

I also listened to the mystery Too Many Cooks featuring detective Nero Wolf. As noted previously, a number of decades have passed since I read this book and I had forgotten much of it. In the story, Wolf leaves his New York brownstone (something that does not happen often--he lets sidekick Archie Goodwin do the physical part of the job) to attend a meeting of master chefs at a resort in West Virginia (think Greenbriar). Listening to it, I was taken aback (and uncomfortable) with a certain racial epithet that many of the white characters used to describe the black help. The book was published in 1938--the language was certainly in popular use then in certain places. But I should have known that author Rex Stout was above this. Indeed, the reader only hears certain characters in the story using this derogatory language but it is Nero Wolfe who gives a lesson in decency and human dignity.

 

So while that scene is remarkable, Too Many Cooks is probably best remembered for the food.

 

Still reading the non-fiction book Swerve and have started a (dear) Old Friend, Barbara Pym's Excellent Women.

 

For those unfamiliar with Ms. Pym, let me introduce you to her. Pym was a successful author in the '50's but her books went out of fashion in the early '60's. Several years before her death in 1980, there was an influential article in the Times Literary Supplement by the poet Philip Larkin and biographer David Cecil in which they declared Pym to be the most underrated writer of the 20th century. This led to republication of her work which I then discovered.

 

My 1980 paperback of Excellent Women claims that Pym is "A twentieth century Jane Austen". On the reverse we read

 

A witty comedy about the complications of being a spinster (and a religious one, at that) in the England of the 1950's. Mildred Lathbury is a clergyman's daughter, one of those 'excellent women' who tend to get involved in other people's lives.

 

 

Pym's works involves academics, clergymen, and the excellent women of the world who tirelessly tie loose ends. You can read them as comedies of manners or as tragedies of modern life.

 

Adopting Stacia's system with a slight variation:

 

5 = Love; 4 = Pretty awesome; 3 = Decently good; 2 = Ok; Not bothering with 1's...

 

Personal challenges: Old Friends, Dusty Books, Sustainability, Dorothy Dunnet

 

The year so far:

 

1) Gillespie and I (Jane Harris) 3.5 stars

2) The Feast Nearby (Robin Mather) 3 stars--Sustainability

3) The View from Castle Rock (Alice Munro) 4 stars--Dusty Book, Canadian author

4) The Good Food Revolution (Will Allen with Charles Wilson) 2.5 stars--Sustainability

5) Red Brick, Black Mountain, White Clay (Chris Benfey) 4 stars

6) Tom Jones (Henry Fielding) 5 stars--Old Friend, Dusty Book **This remains one of my favorite novels of all time!**

7) Uneasy Money (P.G. Wodehouse, audio book) 3 stars

8) Wolf Hall (Hilary Mantel)--4 stars

9) A High Wind in Jamaica (Richard Hughes)--3.5 stars

10) Too Many Cooks (Rex Stout, audio book) 3.5 stars

[melmichigan]

52 Books - Gadding about South America: If you've been doing the Continental Challenge and following along with me, the first couple months of armchair traveling has taken us down through Canada and across the Unites States. Now we are heading down through South America and see what there is to discover. If you don't know where to begin, check out the books I found based on setting at Traipse through South America (also listed on the blog). Wide Open Education lists the 20 Essential Works of Latin America Literature which includes Pablo Neruda, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende and Julio Cortazar. And to torture you some more, Becca of Lost in Books has been doing a fabulous Take me Away series highlighting books from different countries and has so far done Argentina, Brazil, Chili, and Peru, that will have you adding more books to your wishlist.

 

OK, now I'm confused about the Continental Challenge. Are we supposed to be reading authors from the different countries, books set in the different countries, or both?

[mlbuchina]

It has been the week of audio books for me this past week. Due to some travel and the beginning of spring cleaning, I was able to listen to quite a few books. :)

 

This week I am listening to Anne of Anvonlea and reading Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen and Dragonfly in Amber.

 

So far:

 

16. Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen ~ current read

15. Anne of Avonlea ~ current audio book

14. Dragonfly in Amber ~ current read

13. Anne of Green Gables

12. The Invention of Hugo Cabret

11. The Swiss Family Robinson

10. Little Women

9. How We Get Fat

8. The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye

7. Outlander

6. The New Atkins for a New You

5. A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows

4. Liberty and Tyranny

3. Corelli's Mandolin

2. The Neverending Story

1. The Hobbit

[LMD]

I just finished reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes last night. It was really good actually, enjoyed it!

 

I'm going to read a book I picked up for DD this week, it's called A Certain Music by Celeste Waters. A historical fiction based around Beethoven. Looks good!

[Robin M]

OK, now I'm confused about the Continental Challenge. Are we supposed to be reading authors from the different countries, books set in the different countries, or both?

both, either, or. Clear as mud? :tongue_smilie:

[Heather in Neverland]

I am nearly finished with Nothing to Envy. I find my self having to take breaks from this book and walk away because it is so heart-wrenching.

 

This week I am starting two new books:

A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World

The Spirit Catches and You Fall Down

 

[Lady Florida.]

I finished A Bucket of Ashes, which also finishes up the series. It was quite short, almost a novella, but wrapped things up nicely. A little too quickly, but nicely. I started reading Autobiography of Ben Franklin last year, and just couldn't get into it, but when I picked it up a few days ago it somehow became more interesting to me.

 

I'm doing something I haven't done in more than 2 years: Reading the print version of a fiction book! Since I got my Kindle in Oct. 2010, all of my fiction reading has been ebooks. MIL & FIL, who have almost a mini used book store in their home, loaned The Mummy by Anne Rice to dh a while back. He recently finished it and told me he thought I'd like it. Since it's been here a while I'm counting it as my dusty book for March. It took more than 50 pages for it to grab me but now that it did I'm having a hard time putting it down.

 

 

It has been the week of audio books for me this past week. Due to some travel and the beginning of spring cleaning, I was able to listen to quite a few books. :)

 

 

 

I need to find an audio book that will hold my interest. I don't remember if I posted it last week but I had a kidney infection (I now know what #10 means on those silly pain charts with the faces) and am finally feeling human again. My guys waited on me and took care of me, but they were blind to the things that needed to be done. Now that I'm fully recovered I've been busy catching up. An audio book while I clean and do laundry would be perfect.

[Mom-ninja.]

I finished The Forest House. I read The Mists of Avalon a few years ago and I remember loving it. I guess I'm not in the same frame of mind at this time because the second book in the series did nothing for me. I found myself anxious for the book to end. It felt as if it dragged on too long. Also it was depressing. Not a single person had a happy ending.

 

Can't wait to begin a non-fiction book now.

[Just Robyn]

:lol: I feel stressed reading your list too. Why the need to go ahead & finish your North American reading now??? I'd save it/them for later (esp. if you're finishing your Coursera class, along w/ planning to read Hopscotch & 1Q84 -- both hefty books, imo -- and, along with, you know, LIFE & all those type of things that interrupt reading time. ;) ). I'm not reading my continental challenge books in any particular continental order... just whatever, whenever.

 

Well, okay then, that's probably better, but I still went ahead and squeezed in Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. Loved it. I watched the movie in Spanish class in college, but it's been so long, and I suppose there are some differences anyway. This is a book I would probably read again.

 

I also finished Young Goodman Brown and Other Short Stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells.

 

I'm excited about Hopscotch because it gives me an excuse to finally check out, and check out from, a local university library that is open to the public; they don't have the book at our city library. Can't wait to go peruse a new set of shelves.

[prairiegirl]

I finished 'Love Anthony' by Lisa Genova (it was an okay book but I still prefer 'Still Alice' of Genova's books) and had a few false starts in trying to find a book to read next. I am now reading 'Astray' by Emma Donoghue. I am so enjoying this collection of short stories. Each story is based on a real event found by the author in a book, newspaper clipping or a museum piece. They are really good stories.

[BigMamaBird]

I'm still parked on Mere Christianity. It's been a VERY hectic week and I just didn't get much reading in. I'm LOVING it though!

 

 

1 - All the King's Men – Robert Penn Warren

2 - A Stranger in a Strange Land – Robert Heinlein

3 - A Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

4 - Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger

5 - Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

6 - The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

7 – Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie

8 – The Illustrated Man – Ray Bradbury

9 – The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

[melmichigan]

 

both, either, or. Clear as mud? :tongue_smilie:

 

Good, I like mud. :)

[Narrow Gate Academy]

I finished my 10th book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer last week and reviewed it. I still have a huge stack of TBR to work on, but have a couple of projects that will make it hard to read this week.

 

Upcoming Reads

The Tale of Two Cities by Dickens (for DD13)

Big Red by Kjelgaard (for DD11)

I, Houdini by Banks (for DS 8)

 

Ongoing Reads

The One Year Bible

The Neverending Story by Ende (for fun)

The Coral Island by Ballantyne (for DD13)

The Children of Green Knowe by Boston (read aloud with DS 8)

 

Finished

10. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Twain

9. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

8. Oliver Twist by Dickens

7. The Lightning Thief by Riordan

6. Children of the New Forest by Marryat

5. The Black Cauldron by Alexander

4. Anne of Avonlea by Montgomery

3. Anne of Green Gables by Montgomery

2. Talking Money by Chatzky

1. Pride and Prejudice by Austen

[Susan in TN]

I've finished "Hard Times in Paradise" by David and Micki Colfax and half of "The Known World" by Edward P. Jones.

 

This week I'd like to finish that one and also a new Kindle book written by a friend called "Dawn Hyperdrive and the Galactic Purse of Death".

[LostSurprise]

I'm working on Ted Chiang's book of short stories, The Story of Your Life and Others. Its intellectual science fiction with real physics, linguistics, and some Biblical themes. The title story of the book is one of the best piece's of fiction I've read in a long time. A female linguist is called upon to help translate and learn an alien language, and in doing so it changes the way she thinks and sees the world. Language reflects how the mind sees time, science, free will, the world. The story is told non-linearly as she remembers her daughter's life.

Also up, d'Aulaire's Norse Myths. Swallows and Amazons.

 

Top Ten *

Best of the Year **

17. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout~fiction, short stories, aging. I liked this much better than the last Strout book I read, Amy and Isabelle. Its a series of short stories following the lives of people living in the town of Crosby, Maine. Olive Kitteridge, a rather opinionated, forthright kind of woman comes into most of them at one time or another, sometimes as a background character other times as the catalyst or main character. There's a lot of good in this book. It examines aging in a realistic manner and it takes on some of the loneliness of being human. People who don't like short stories might be annoyed that the stories don't build or inter-weave more.

16. Philosophy: a Discovery in Comics by Margreet de Heer~nonfiction, philosophy, comics (Dewey Decimal challenge, 100s)

15. Concrete Island by JG Ballard~fiction, isolation, survival

14. The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis~fiction, coming of age, chess **

13. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine l'Engle~children's fiction, fantasy, coming of age

12. Way Station by Clifford Simak~science fiction, aliens, atomic age (Fiction genre challenge: Science Fiction)

11. Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish~autobiography, Depression, family (Dewey Decimal Challenge, 900s) *

10. Changeless by Gail Carriger~fiction, steampunk, series, werewolves/vampire, Victoriana.

9. The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman~fiction, family drama, Australia, miscarriage. (Continental Challenge: Australia) *

8. Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card~fantasy, alternative early America, witchcraft/magic.

7. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson~satire, American dream, drug trip. (Dewey Decimal Challenge, 000s)

6. Soulless by Gail Carriger~steampunk, vampires, werewolves, Victoriana. (Fiction genre challenge: Fantasy)

5. Away by Jane Urquhart~Ireland, Canada, emigration, magical realism, family saga. (Continental Challenge: North America/Canada) *

4. Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim~autobiography, Germany pre-WWI, gardening, women's roles

3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer~fiction, WWII, letters, humor

2. The Little Book by Seldon Edwards~fiction, Vienna, time travel (Fiction genre challenge: General Fiction)

1. Mad Mary Lamb by Susan Tyler Hitchcock~biography, 19th century, women's roles, mental illness (Finally Finished challenge)

 

 

Working:

The Great Human Diasporas (DDC challenge, 500s)

The House by the Sea (Sarton)

D'Aulaire's Book of Norse Myths

Down the Garden Path (Nichols)

[PollyOR]

Reading 1Q84. All the talk on here about it made me curious. I'll admit that one of the scenes in the beginning made me a wee bit uncomfortable so I hope I can stick with it. So far I'm enjoying it much better than I thought I would.

 

 

Books finished in February:

 

• Great Expectations (1861, Charles Dickens)
  
• Lost in a Good Book (2002, Jasper Fforde)
  
• Heart of Darkness (1902, Joseph Conrad)
  
• The Well of Lost Plots (2003, Jasper Fforde)
  
• Hexed (2011, Kevin Hearne)
  
• Of Mice and Men (1937, John Steinbeck)
  
• Something Rotten (2004, Jasper Fforde)
  
• Brave New World (1932, Aldous Huxley)
  
• The Annotated Persuasion (1817, Jane Austen) (2010, David M. Shapard)
  

 

[Shawneinfl]

I'm in the midst of several books, both print and audio. I went a little wild this week with Audible.com's BOGO sale. I had three credits to use and was able to pick up 6 new titles. I finished Argo while folding endless piles of laundry and am halfway through How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough which I think I found out from someone here. My total fluff pick for the week is Driving the Saudis by Jayne Amelia Larson. Killing Lincoln finally came in at the library so that will be up next. I hope it's as good as Killing Kennedy.

[Tullia]

This week I plan to continue reading short stories from my Sherlock Holmes collection and The One World Schoolhouse (Salman Khan).

Completed:

• A Study in Scarlet
  
• Anne of Avonlea
  
• Anne of the Island
  
• Clouds of Witness
  
• Evening in the Place of Reason
  
• Night and Day
  
• The Diamond Age
  
• The Hound of the Baskervilles
  
• The Magician's Twin: C.S. Lewis on Science, Scientism, and Society
  
• The Nexus
  
• The Sign of the Four
  
• The Valley of Fear
  
• Whose Body?
  

[Stacia]

Still working on A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif. I thought I'd be able to finish it this week, but my time got away from me & I just didn't eke out much reading time. Really, really impressed w/ Hanif as an author (loved his other book, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti too); I'm enjoying this dark satire of political & military institutions in Pakistan. Great book so far.

 

The most recent Flavia de Luce novel came in for me at the library, so I'm hoping to get through that one next. Planning to start Hopscotch after that. I also need to squeeze in Breakfast at Tiffany's at some point (for my book club).

 

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

My Goodreads Page

My PaperbackSwap Page

Working on Robin's Dusty &/or Chunky Book Challenge.

Working on Robin's Continental Challenge.

Working on LostSurprise's Dewey Decimal Challenge. Complete Dewey Decimal Classification List here.

 

My rating system:

5 = Love; 4 = Pretty awesome; 3 = Decently good; 2 = Ok; 1 = Don't bother (I shouldn't have any 1s on my list as I would ditch them before finishing)...

 

2013 Books Read:

01. Women of the Klondike by Frances Backhouse (3 stars). Challenges: Dusty; Continental – North America (Canada); Dewey Decimal – 900s.

02. Equator by Miguel Sousa Tavares (3 stars). Challenges: Dusty; Continental – Europe (Portugal) & Africa (São Tomé and Príncipe).

03. UFOs, JFK, & Elvis by Richard Belzer (2 stars). Challenge: Dewey Decimal – 000s.

04. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (4 stars). Challenge: Continental – North America (USA).

05. The Twelve Rooms of the Nile by Enid Shomer (3.5 stars). Challenge: Continental – Africa (Egypt).

06. The Hard Way by Lee Child (2 stars).

07. The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy (3 stars).

08. Daughters of Copper Woman by Anne Cameron (3.5 stars). Challenge: Continental – North America (Canada).

09. A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes (3.5 stars).

10. The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye by A.S. Byatt (4 stars).

 

11. Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif (4 stars). Challenge: Continental – Asia (Pakistan).

12. Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr (4 stars). Challenge: Dewey Decimal – 600s.

13. The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann (4 stars). Challenge: Continental – Europe (Sweden).

[Stacia]

52 Books - Gadding about South America: If you've been doing the Continental Challenge and following along with me, the first couple months of armchair traveling has taken us down through Canada and across the Unites States. Now we are heading down through South America and see what there is to discover. If you don't know where to begin, check out the books I found based on setting at Traipse through South America (also listed on the blog). Wide Open Education lists the 20 Essential Works of Latin America Literature which includes Pablo Neruda, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende and Julio Cortazar. And to torture you some more, Becca of Lost in Books has been doing a fabulous Take me Away series highlighting books from different countries and has so far done Argentina, Brazil, Chili, and Peru, that will have you adding more books to your wishlist.

 

Speaking of Julio Cortazar - are you ready for a challenging readalong? Stacia talked me into it so we going to tackle reading Hopscotch by Argentinian novelist Julio Cortazar and will begin March 10th.

 

...

 

For those who aren't interested in Hopscotch, in April (dated to be determined) we will be doing a readalong of the chunkster IQ84 by Haruki Murakami.

 

Thanks for all those links, Robin. I will have fun perusing them.

 

:thumbup1: for Hopscotch & 1Q84 coming up. I think I will read Hopscotch in its 'hopscotch' (not regular) order.

 

Yesterday I read When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler's Journal of Staying Put by Vivian Swift. (I see it's bargain priced at Amazon currently.)

 

...

 

This really was a lovely read and ... view? (What does one say of a book that is lovely to look at?) This book might be appealing to you if you are interested in journaling, art, and life. It's not the journal of one year per se rather it contains elements of the author's life (travels, relationships, philosophical ramblings) organized by month. I enjoyed it.

 

Sounds like a neat & lovely book!

 

To be blunt, A High Wind in Jamaica is rather creepy. The children in this tale of children and pirates are not innocents. They are the selfish beasts that children (people) often are, waltzing from fantasy to realization of life and identity.

 

...

 

Hughes is a wonderful writer. I would give the novel more stars on writing alone but the darkness of this tale was disturbing to me.

 

Looks like we rated the book the same -- 3.5 stars. I agree w/ all you wrote.

 

Well, okay then, that's probably better, but I still went ahead and squeezed in Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. Loved it. I watched the movie in Spanish class in college, but it's been so long, and I suppose there are some differences anyway. This is a book I would probably read again.

 

...

 

I'm excited about Hopscotch because it gives me an excuse to finally check out, and check out from, a local university library that is open to the public; they don't have the book at our city library. Can't wait to go peruse a new set of shelves.

 

I've always wanted to read Like Water for Chocolate, just haven't managed to get around to it yet....

 

Ohhh, fun! A previously-unexplored library to explore. Let us know what goodies you find there!

 

I'm working on Ted Chiang's book of short stories, The Story of Your Life and Others. Its intellectual science fiction with real physics, linguistics, and some Biblical themes. The title story of the book is one of the best piece's of fiction I've read in a long time. A female linguist is called upon to help translate and learn an alien language, and in doing so it changes the way she thinks and sees the world. Language reflects how the mind sees time, science, free will, the world. The story is told non-linearly as she remembers her daughter's life.

 

That sounds great too. (I get too many great book ideas from all of you!!!)

 

Reading 1Q84. All the talk on here about it made me curious. I'll admit that one of the scenes in the beginning made me a wee bit uncomfortable so I hope I can stick with it. So far I'm enjoying it much better than I thought I would.

 

Glad you're in on the 1Q84 read too.

[Chocolate Rose]

Reading 1Q84. All the talk on here about it made me curious. I'll admit that one of the scenes in the beginning made me a wee bit uncomfortable so I hope I can stick with it. So far I'm enjoying it much better than I thought I would.

 

 

I just got this from Amazon a couple of weeks ago and then saw it at Costco last Saturday. So, if anyone is looking to buy it, check your Costco...

[mumto2]

I haven't posted my completed books for a couple of weeks so I will get that done.

 

33)Kitty Goes to Washington by Carrie Vaughn

 

34)The Stanger Beside You by William Casey -- kindle freebie

 

35) The Mist on Bronte Moor by Aviva Orr -- Kindle Prime that I enjoyed. A teenager travels back in time to live with the Bronte family. I am planning to visit the Bronte House this summer with another WTM board friend. I am really looking forward to it now.

 

36) House of Secrets by Romona Richards

 

37)Three Brides No Groom by Debbie Macomber An old one from my mom's bookshelf. Really enjoyed it. About 3 college classmates who meet at a reunion years later. They all had very different lives then what was expected.

 

38) Protective Custody by Lynette Eason

 

39) The Diaper Diaries by Abby Gaines

 

40) Snowbound by Janice Kay Johnson Her romances are always good reads.

 

41) Private Berlin by James Patterson and Mark Sullivan The "Private" series has been good. I enjoyed the Berlin setting. We have been a few times, first time a month after the wall fell.

 

42) Tricked by Kevin Hearne

 

43) Mystra Murder(Julie O'Hara Mystery) by Lee Hansen Kindle freebie

 

44) Wereworld, the Rise of the Lord by Curtis Jobling This was a pre read for ds. Really enjoyed it. It took place in an alternate world ruled by were animals. It started with a young shepherd boy whose sheep were becoming increasingly uneasy around him...sort of Percy Jackson meets Redwall. Not at all the typical werewolf book. But great for ds.

 

 

Currently reading the last Iron Druid book. Also reading a Parnell Hall puzzle lady mystery. Spotted on the library shelf and grabbed it. I used to love these and several new to me ones. I hope I have time to read a few more before we leave the states.

[Rose in BC]

Week one: The Father's Tale, Michael O'Brien

Week two: 30 Days to Social Media by Gail Z Martin (professional development)

Week three: Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese

Week four: The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

Week five: Collaboration Handbook, by Winer & Ray (reading it for professional develpment ).

Week six: Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts

Week seven: the Forgotten Garden, Kate Morton

Week eight: Is there Anybody out there? By Mez McConnell

Week nine: Abraham Lincoln, James M. McPherson

Week ten: Just Listen: discover the Secret to Getting through to Absolutely Anyone, Mark Goulston

[CupOCoffee]

Yikes, my brain hurts just looking at all of the reading you ladies are doing :(

 

I have not been reporting, but I have been reading. There's no way I can keep up with you all, but I don't want to abandon this challenge. I may not read a book a week, but I really, really, really want to read 52 books this year!

 

Since I last reported, I've read:

 

The Hunger Games -- the series, LOVED IT!!! a bit creepy when you think about it, but still loved it

Simple Faith: How Every Person Can Experience Intimacy with God by Eddie Snipes

Have a New Husband by Friday by Kevin Lehman

 

So I think that puts me at 7; behind you all since you all read like 10 books a week....but still hanging in there :)

 

Slated for Week 10: Divergent by Veronica Roth

 

~coffee~

[mumto2]

 

Have a New Husband by Friday by Kevin Lehman

 

~coffee~

 

 

That one would make Dh really worry! My son is convinced that I get all my tortuous new school ideas from this board as it is -- fixing dh's habits would worry the whole family!

 

Lately I have been riding in the car quite a bit. Most of my books have been chosen because they are easy to take with me--so free kindle books and romance novels!

[melmichigan]

Yikes, my brain hurts just looking at all of the reading you ladies are doing :(

 

I have not been reporting, but I have been reading. There's no way I can keep up with you all, but I don't want to abandon this challenge. I may not read a book a week, but I really, really, really want to read 52 books this year!

 

Since I last reported, I've read:

 

The Hunger Games -- the series, LOVED IT!!! a bit creepy when you think about it, but still loved it

Simple Faith: How Every Person Can Experience Intimacy with God by Eddie Snipes

Have a New Husband by Friday by Kevin Lehman

 

So I think that puts me at 7; behind you all since you all read like 10 books a week....but still hanging in there :)

 

Slated for Week 10: Divergent by Veronica Roth

 

~coffee~

 

 

It's not the number of books, it's the enjoyment you get out of reading. :)

 

 

[melmichigan]

It' s technically 1am on March 5th and no new Mercy Thompson. :(

[joannqn]

Yay! I finally have something to post again. I just finished book 6. DS11 had The Kill Order by James Dashner on hold and just got it. Knowing that there's a bunch of holds on it, I had to drop all of my other reading to make sure DS, DD, and I all got it read in the three weeks before it is due back to the library. Anyway, it is the prequel to The Maze Runner trilogy.

[JennW in SoCal]

Downton Abbey is done, so I had no "must see tv" tonight and instead cozied up on the couch to finish my latest Inspector Banks mystery, Cold is the Grave. I had seen the tv version of it earlier, but the tv shows are different enough with more streamlined plots so that the book is a much more satisfying read.

 

I also have been reading a couple of non-fiction titles during the week. Thanks to y'all I am reading Evening in the Palace of Reason and, thanks to the new books shelf at the library I'm also reading The Violinist's Thumb.

 

I've been listening to the stories from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes while driving, but may put off listening to more of those til later. Use them as filler as they are all beginning to blur together!

 

Should I rub it in that I was actually reading outside over the weekend? It was in the 80s, and when I wasn't gardening it was lovely to once again sit in a favorite patio chair and read. I know it is still snowing in many parts of the country...

[mlbuchina]

 

I need to find an audio book that will hold my interest. I don't remember if I posted it last week but I had a kidney infection (I now know what #10 means on those silly pain charts with the faces) and am finally feeling human again. My guys waited on me and took care of me, but they were blind to the things that needed to be done. Now that I'm fully recovered I've been busy catching up. An audio book while I clean and do laundry would be perfect.

 

Yes, I am amazed at how much house work I have gotten done. LOL I find myself looking for things to clean so I can keep listening!

[ElaineJ]

I'm working on Ted Chiang's book of short stories, The Story of Your Life and Others. Its intellectual science fiction with real physics, linguistics, and some Biblical themes. The title story of the book is one of the best piece's of fiction I've read in a long time. A female linguist is called upon to help translate and learn an alien language, and in doing so it changes the way she thinks and sees the world. Language reflects how the mind sees time, science, free will, the world. The story is told non-linearly as she remembers her daughter's life.

 

 

This looks very interesting! I'll be looking at this one for my kindle. Thanks!

Elaine

[Onceuponatime]

I laid down the Black Count and Ichabod Toward Home to go on a fiction binge. This week I read:

 

House Like a Lotus- L'Engle ( I think I'm finally done with L'Engle )

Elephants Can Remember- Christie (a reread)

Austenland- Hale (a nice light romance with a touch of comedy, just what the doctor ordered)

 

I'm currently reading The Mists of Avalon which I found in the thrift store for 75 cents. It calls itself "The Arthurian Legend from the female point of view." It is different enough from the traditional legends to be interesting.

 

So far this year:

 

All The Wrong Questions

The Rising Moon

Twelve Horses and the Hangman's Noose

Faintley Speaking

Many Waters

Night Circus

Ring of Endless Light

Excavating Jesus

Death Cap Dancers

Paul and Jesus

The Jewish Gospels

Elephants Can Remember

House Like A Lotus

Austenland- Hale

[Paisley Hedgehog]

. 

 

[Kim in Appalachia]

Reading 1Q84. All the talk on here about it made me curious. I'll admit that one of the scenes in the beginning made me a wee bit uncomfortable so I hope I can stick with it. So far I'm enjoying it much better than I thought I would.

 

 

It's a book you have to stick with. You also have to get past his obsession with women's bOOks. :) But I found the book worth it. I read it almost a year ago and I'm still thinking over it. Really, it's brillant, but it's a slow burn.

[Kim in Appalachia]

I finished The Left Hand of Darkness last night. Wow. Just loved it. I knew I would. Ursala Le Guin is turing into one of my favorite writers. This book hits so many interesting points. It was a fasinating world. I haven't processed it all yet. I've already read the Dispossed. I would like more in this cycle. I'm heading to the used book store on Wednesday and I'm hoping I find some more of her treasures.

 

I have no idea what I'm reading next. I have Anthem on my Kindle. I may start that. But I may need a day or two before starting something new.

 

I've also been slowly reading Running with the Mind of Meditation. That may be a good book to pick up again today.

[trinchick]

I had to sit out last week because we got season 2 of Game of Thrones on DVD and DH and I devoured the whole season over the course of the week. Not a page was read, I'm embarrassed to say.

 

Anyhow, with my GoT addiction out of my system, I got back on the reading wagon and finished a couple.

 

Finished This Week

UnWholly by Neal Shusterman - This sequel to Unwind follows the survivors of Happy Jack camp as they recover from their ordeal and ultimately try to set up a resistance. This installment of the story also introduces a new character, who is a Frankenstein monster of sorts, accumulated from the best "parts" of unwinds, which gives rise to lots of ethical questions. I enjoyed this; looking forward to the final installment of the trilogy, which I believe is due out this fall.

 

Then There Were Five by Elizabeth Enright (Read Aloud) - The third of the Melendy Quartet. These books get longer as the series continues, but still hold DD's attention, even if mine is starting to wane. I think Enright has done an amazing job of having the main characters evolve and grow from one book to the next; they aren't just "the dramatic one," "the clumsy one," "the musical one," "the youngest one." She's given them real depth. DD has greatly enjoyed this series, so we'll be tackling the final book soon.

 

In Progress

As Husbands Go by Susan Isaacs (audio)

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

 

Finished this Year:

22. UnWholly by Neal Shusterman

21. Then There Were Five by Elizabeth Enright (Read Aloud)

20. Heartburn by Nora Ephron (Food book challenge)

19. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

18. A Tale of Two Cities (Audio; Dickens challenge)

17. Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick

16. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

15. Money Secrets of the Amish by Lorilee Craker

14. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

13. Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim

12. The Old Man and the Sea (Audio)

11. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Audio)

10. Forgotten Bookmarks by Michael Popek

9. An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff

8. Breaking Night by Liz Murray

7. The Four Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright (Read aloud)

6. The Autobiography of an Execution by David Dow

5. A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews (Canada)

4. The Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren (Read aloud)

3. The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright (Read aloud)

2. Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill (Canada)

1. A Walk Across the Sun by Corban Addison

[Mom-ninja.]

Thanks for posting this. I read Mists of Avalon last year and really liked it, so I recently put The Forest House on hold at the library. It is currently sitting on my bedside table but I really have no urge to pick it up. I read the blurb on the back cover and it didn't do much for me. Actually, this seems like a whole new thing (the plot) and not part of the Arthur legend at all. It may go back unread.

 

 

It doesn't have anything to do with the Arthur legend unless you count it as tracing back the blood line. That's what it is. It tells the story of the beginning of the blood line that leads to Arthur, and how Avalon was established. The next book (#3 The Lady of Avalon) is the continuing story of Caillean (priestess in the book The Forest House) and her successors in Avalon. The story continues in each book until we get to Vivien in The Mists of Avalon.

[Trillian]

I've been kind of listening to Wild: Lost and Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. I started listening to audiobooks while I'm cleaning. Here's my first glitch - it I don't like a book, I avoid cleaning more than usual. It's for my book club so I'm trying to suck it up.

 

I also stated Zinn's History of the United States. So far so good, but it's going to be a bit of a slog - read a chapter at bedtime kind of book.

 

I have Swamplandia from my library, once I get started on that, I'll order Hopscotch. I may get it from amazon, I tend to do that with longer books - I had the pressure of renewals.

 

Today should be a good day for reading, listening, and cleaning - DS is sick.

[Remudamom]

Eyes of the Dragon- Stephen King.

[Murmer]

Finished: The Explosive Child and A Phule's Errand by Robert Aspirin

 

Currently Working On:

Downstairs: The Faith Club by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner

Upstairs: Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs

Kindle: Curious Folks Ask: 162 Real Answers on Amazing Inventions, Fascinating Products, and Medical Mysteries bySeethaler, Sherry

IPhone: Lucy Doesn't Wear Pink by Nancy Rue

Sweet Boy Read Aloud: The Yellow Fairy Book

Angel Girl Read Aloud: The Wind In The Willows

WTM: Don Quixote

IPad: Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock (for Canada)

 

Total Finished in 2013: 18

[-M-]

Completed:

 

â–  After Visiting Friends (Michael Hainey; 2013. 320 pages. Non-fiction.)

â–  Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Philip K. Dick; 1968. 256 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Accelerated (Bronwen Hruska; 2012. 288 pages. Fiction.)

â–  The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger; 1951. 288 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes; 1966. 324 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (Jamie Ford; 2009. 301 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (Dai Sijie; 2002. 104 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Revival, Vol. 1 (Tim Seeley; 2012. 128 pages. Graphic fiction.)

â–  Saga, Vol. 1 (Brian K. Vaughan; 2012. 160 pages. Graphic fiction.)

■ La Bohème: Black Dog Opera Library (2005. 144 pages. Libretto, history, and commentary.)

â–  The 13 Clocks (James Thurber (1950); 2008. 136 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness (Susannah Cahalan; 2012. 288 pages. Non-fiction.)

â–  Julius Caesar (William Shakespeare (1599); Folger ed. 2003. 288 pages. Drama.)

â–  Don't Turn Around (Michelle Gagnon; 2012. 320 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Fatal Friends, Deadly Neighbors (Ann Rule; 2012. 544 pages. Non-fiction.)

â–  Daddy Love (Joyce Carol Oates; 2013. 240 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Life after Death (Damien Echols; 2012. 416 pages. Non-fiction.)

[PollyOR]

I don't remember if I posted it last week but I had a kidney infection (I now know what #10 means on those silly pain charts with the faces) and am finally feeling human again. My guys waited on me and took care of me, but they were blind to the things that needed to be done. Now that I'm fully recovered I've been busy catching up. An audio book while I clean and do laundry would be perfect.

 

Your kidney infection sounds like it was rough. Glad you are feeling better. :thumbup1: