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Book a week in 2009 Week 5 update


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Howdy readers! January is over and passed really quickly don't you think. It's already time to start book # 6.

 

You can post here, and post a review if you want at the 52 books blog. http://read52booksin52weeks.blogspot.com/

 

If you want to become a contributor and post reviews, let me know and I will email you an invite. Check out the reviews that have been posted so far. And your comments are welcome and appreciated. I have been writing a post every thursday with a link to each weeks post so you can check out each week.

___________________

 

Feel free to join in at any time--Recapping the rules:

 

  1. Read an average of a book a week - 52 books in 52 weeks
  2. Re-reading a book counts--as long as you first read it before 2009
  3. School related books don't count (unless you want them to)

 

__________________

I'm in the middle of Dance with the Dragons by David Hagberg. Not quite sure what my # 6 book will be yet, so will update when decide.

 

How about a recap of what you read in January, if you haven't already in the week 4 update post.

 

 

Happy Reading!

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I stated in the week 4 thread that I finished book 5 early. So now I am reading book six. Climbing Parnassus. This book is very meaty and thus, slow going. I am enjoying it and am catching quite a few references to things classical which makes me feel good. I hope to finish it by next Wednesday, but am dubious. I will definately have to choose something much lighter for week 7. I cannot believe that I am keeping up so far. Plus I am reading through the Bible in a year and trying oh so desperately to read Don Quixote. The funny thing is, I really do like the book. I find rather amusing and I am not even all that familiar with the pamphlets on gallantry and such. It almost reminds me of a modern day soap opera where real life people are unable to distinguish the actors from their roles. So thank you ladies for encouraging me to train up my mind in the way it should go. :001_smile:

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I've been doing this challenge on my own but didn't realize there was an ongoing website and updates! So here's my first post and a list of my books thus far:

 

 

 

 

  • Week 5: Sacred Marriage (Chapman)
  • Week 4: A Dream to Follow (Snelling)
  • Week 3: Plain Secrets: An Outsider Among the Amish (Mackall)
  • Week 2: Mortgage Free! (Roy)
  • Week 1: The Contrary Farmer (Logsdon)

 

And for my book this week I am reading Monk Habits for Everyday People: Benedictine Spirituality for Protestants by Dennis Okholm

 

Thanks for the incentive!

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Up until now, I haven't posted because I was fairly certain I wouldn't be able to do it, but so far so good! I think the key has been focusing on one book at a time. It keeps me from getting distracted.

 

Here's what I read in January:

 

 

  • A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Phillip Keller - I have such fond memories of my father reading bits of this to me as a child. It's a very comforting, encouraging book, although it did make me feel guilty about the way we run our sheep farm (not quite up to the author's standards.) It gave me renewed appreciation for the Good Shepherd's care.
  • Too Late the Phalarope by Alan Paton - It took me awhile to decide if this was better than Cry, the Beloved Country. I finally decided close, but not quite.
  • Everyday Talk: Talking Freely and Naturally about God with Your Children by John A. Younts - Finally a parenting book I can recommend.
  • Kristin Lavransdatter: II The Mistress of Husaby by Sigrid Undset - Amazing! Definitely on my top 10 list. Maybe even the top 5 list.
  • The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith - This book nursed me through a bout of pneumonia. The series makes me feel all warm and happy about life.

Now I'm reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver, which my neighbor handed me with a 20lb bag of locally grown carrots. :) So far it's interesting, although I'll admit right up front -- the author annoys me sometimes.

 

I spent half the morning looking for this thread, thinking I had missed something because I couldn't find it. I have so enjoyed reading everyone's lists.

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I can't remember what I've posted and what I've not, so here's my list:

 

1/1/2009Churchill and His Generals

1/3/2009Troublesome Young Men

1/4/2009Broken Honor

1/7/2009Knight's Fee

1/7/2009Dark Summit

1/8/2009Black Wave

1/9/2009Guilty

1/10/2009Four Against the Arctic

1/12/2009Homeschooling Your Struggling Learner

1/13/2009Darkside

1/13/2009Their Finest Hour: the Battle of Britain

1/16/2009Cherry

1/19/20091066

1/22/2009One Bullet Away

1/23/2009Choosing Naia

1/27/2009Outliers

1/30/2009Time of My Life

1/30/2009Daddy's Girl

1/30/2009From Baghdad to America

1/31/2009God and My Country

2/1/2009Shield Ring, The

2/3/2009Family Nobody Wanted, The

2/1/2009Scoutmaster's Other Handbook, The

 

Holy cannoli, Margaret! What's your secret?

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Book #5 was Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. Loved it. It reminded me of another recent read, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.

Not sure what my next read will be. I've got two half started fluff reads that I've been ignoring for weeks I'd like to finally finish, and hoping a copy of the latest Hamish Macbeth book (release date Feb.9) will be waiting on hold for me at the library first thing next week. MC Beaton's books are always easy fun reads.

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Up until now, I haven't posted because I was fairly certain I wouldn't be able to do it, but so far so good! I think the key has been focusing on one book at a time. It keeps me from getting distracted.

 

Here's what I read in January:

 

 

  • A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Phillip Keller - I have such fond memories of my father reading bits of this to me as a child. It's a very comforting, encouraging book, although it did make me feel guilty about the way we run our sheep farm (not quite up to the author's standards.) It gave me renewed appreciation for the Good Shepherd's care.

  • Too Late the Phalarope by Alan Paton - It took me awhile to decide if this was better than Cry, the Beloved Country. I finally decided close, but not quite.

  • Everyday Talk: Talking Freely and Naturally about God with Your Children by John A. Younts - Finally a parenting book I can recommend.

  • Kristin Lavransdatter: II The Mistress of Husaby by Sigrid Undset - Amazing! Definitely on my top 10 list. Maybe even the top 5 list.

  • The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith - This book nursed me through a bout of pneumonia. The series makes me feel all warm and happy about life.

 

Now I'm reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver, which my neighbor handed me with a 20lb bag of locally grown carrots. :) So far it's interesting, although I'll admit right up front -- the author annoys me sometimes.

 

I spent half the morning looking for this thread, thinking I had missed something because I couldn't find it. I have so enjoyed reading everyone's lists.

 

Hi Luann - Welcome to the challenge. You are doing great. Sorry, we were a little late in getting the post up today.

 

Happy Reading.

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I finally finished "The Case of the Exploding Mangos" last night. It's probably the most tedious book I've read in ages. I kept going thinking there would be some fabulous plot twist, but there wasn't. It was as though a two sentence anecdote had been stretched out to novel length. So don't bother with that one! I also read two more of Judith Tarr's books. They were good, but nothing to get really excited over.

After bombing out completely last week, dh is back on board. He discovered a few "blast from the past's" in the form of Adrian Plast books in the shed and chuckled his way through them.

 

:)

Rosie

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Week 1: The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch

Week 2: The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Week 3: The Book and the Brotherhood by Iris Murdoch

Week 4: The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie

Week 5: The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie

 

Blessings

 

Zoraida

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I finished Renovation of the Heart by Willard. My next book is Self Talk Soul Talk by Jennifer Rothschild. This one is a quick read, so I might be able to finish two books this week. I need to get ahead when I can because I'm sure that I'll fall behind one of these weeks...

 

If I finish early, my next book will be A Hunger for God by John Piper.

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Here's my books completed list so far:

 

1066-The Year of the Conquest by David Howarth

A Little Princess (audiobook in the car)

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire (didn't care for this one)

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie

Pinocchio (audiobook in the car)

 

Now I'm reading Wanting Another Child--Coping with Secondary Infertility (because I'm not coping well this month) and I'm in the middle of Jesus the Christ and Our Sacred Honor (book 1 in a Revolutionary War series) and we're listening to The Wind in the Willows now.

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I am just finishing up The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton. Next week will be Testimony by Anita Shreve.

 

My list to date:

 

1. The Girl Who Stopped Swimming – Joshilyn Jackson

2. The Genius – Jesse Kellerman

3. The End – Salvatore Scibona

4. The Diving Pool – Yoko Ogawa

5. The Man Who Was Thursday – G.K. Chesterton

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My list so far:

 

Book #1 -- Atonement by Ian MacEwan

 

Book #2 -- Persuasion by Jane Austen

 

Book #3 -- Trusting God by Jerry Bridges

 

Book #4 -- The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

 

Book #5 -- Wicked by Gregory Maguire

 

Book #6 -- Broken Open by Elizabeth Lesser (this was a life changing book for me. I absolutely needed this book this week.)

 

I'm a bit ahead in the number of books but once spring comes I know that I will fall behind so I am reading as many as I can right now. This week I will be reading Joan of Arc by Mark Twain.

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1. Bel Canto

2. In Cold Blood

3. Joy in the Morning, Sister Carrie

4. Sense and Sensibility

For week 5, I floundered a bit, starting and putting down a couple of books before settling in with Queen Bee Moms and Kingpin Dads. Eh, I don't know. So much of the book didn't really speak to me, because it seemed very focused on coping with school-based situations. I spent the first half of the book just trying to figure out which "type" I am.

 

I can't seem to settle down a book this week, either. Last night, I went through the first 50 pages or so of In the Fall (Jeffrey Lent), but I'm not really digging the writing style. So, I may trade it in for something else if anything jumps off the shelf at me tonight.

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Completed so far:

 

The Secret Scripture. Sebastian Barry

East of Eden. John Steinbeck

Dry Storeroom No. 1. Richard Fortey

The Whiskey Rebels. David Liss

The Flying Troutmans. Miriam Toews

The Siege of Krishnapur. J. G. Farrell

The Three Roosevelts. James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn

Sexing the Cherry. Jeanette Winterson

The Magician's Book: A Skeptics Adventures in Narnia. Laura Miller

Hyperion. Dan Simmons

A Life's Morning. George Gissing

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by Neil Gaiman. It just won the 2009 Newbery award, and someone else on the board recommended Gaiman. I strongly recommend. Kind of a creepy start (I won't let DS8 have it yet) but then a very good book with an intriguing premise - a boy raised by the ghosts in the graveyard. I may just do this as a readaloud, with my own brief summary of the first few (creepy) pages.

 

Also did a quick read of The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. Not quite as memorable as I remember from childhood, but still good.

 

Started Here There be Dragons, the first of the Imaginarium Geographica series, another rec from someone here. Having a hard time putting it down.

 

So now I feel guilty. I keep reading children's lit, while Emma, John Adams, Kabul, and others sit on my nightstand. But with dh gone, stuff on the lighter side just seems to work right now.

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Completed so far:

 

 

East of Eden. John Steinbeck

 

 

Do you have time to tell us what you thought of East of Eden? It is on our shelf and therefore on my to-read list. :tongue_smilie:

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Do you have time to tell us what you thought of East of Eden? It is on our shelf and therefore on my to-read list. :tongue_smilie:

 

 

Lorna, even though I'd loved Steinbeck since my teens, I'd avoided this one because my sister (15 years older than me) loved it--and my main guiding principle in life has been not to be like either my mother or my sister (98 percent of the time this principle's served me well). She'd evidently gotten in trouble with her English teacher in high school after she chose to write a paper on it because the teacher though East of Eden was "a dirty book"--and since my sister usually only read trash, I kept my distance.

 

Of course it's an absolutely wonderful book and I could smack myself upside the head for refusing to read it years ago. I'd also like to smack a few characters in the book as well, and I bet you will, too. Read it post haste; you won't regret it.

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Thank you so much SFP.

I have the same guiding principle as regards Mother and sisters, based on experience. Your recommendation has East of Eden back on my list.

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So far this year I have read:

 

1. Endless Night by Agatha Christie

2. The Settlers by Vilhelm Moberg

3. The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

4. Princess in the Spotlight by Meg Cabot

5. Love Story by Erich Segal

6. Last Letter Home by Vilhelm Moberg

7. Oliver's Story by Erich Segal

8. 1066: The Year of the Conquest by David Howarth (thanks to reviews on here!)

9. Know Your Power by Nancy Pelosi (for the sake of the mods' blood pressure I won't post a review on here LOL)

10. Sleeping With Your Baby: A Parent's Guide to Cosleeping by James J. McKenna

11. I Learn Better By Teaching Myself by Agnes Leistico

 

Oliver's Story was the last I posted a review of, so here's my review of 1066.

 

1066 was fascinating! I really didn't know anything about it beyond the fact that in 1066, Richard the Conqueror invaded England and took it over, and then the Normans suppressed the British, teaching them well so they in turn could suppress the Irish and the Scottish. The book goes chronologically through the year, starting with the death of Edward the Confessor and ending with the coronation of William the Conqueror. I hadn't realized that this was the story that the Bayeux Tapestry tells either; Howarth uses it as source material.

So, it seems that Edward may have promised to choose William as his heir, but then on his deathbed, seemed to indicate that Harold should succeed him. Harold was confirmed as king by the council of wise men. But when William heard, he got upset. Apparently Harold may have also at one point promised to support William as king. William spends the year planning to invade, actually does in September, and is successful.

 

One of the really enjoyable things about the book is that Howarth has analyzed all the facts and tries to give a psychological understanding of each of the major figures. Why did they act the way they did? He makes it clear that these are his suggestions, but it seems like they fit the facts very well.

 

Another enjoyable aspect is playing the game What If? Howarth does a good job showing that, if even one little thing had happened differently, the outcome would have been completely changed. William was by no means assured of a victory. And it had never really occurred to me that no one else since has managed to invade Britain, let alone win.

 

I felt sorry for King Harold - he seemed like a good king. The coincidences necessary for William to defeat him seem incredible - it makes you wonder if it was God's will. But how could it have been?

One part I found lacking in the book was at the very end, when Howarth says, "There is no end to the arguments about the ultimate merits of the Norman conquest...The consensus is that it was beneficial in the long run. But its benefits were no comfort to the people of 1066...All they saw was a cruel foreign invader...at least three hundred thousand English people, one in five of the native population, were killed in William's ravages or starved by the seizure of their farm stock and their land." He goes to say that William wasn't too fond of England either. I would have liked him to explain more what he means by the consensus believing that it was beneficial - what are the reasons? What were the effects of the Norman conquest long-term? Obviously, that is outside the scope of the book, because it only covers the year 1066, but I would have liked at least a paragraph or so. Now I am going to have to find the information myself!

 

I also thought it was very interesting that he points out that the Battle of Hastings took place before gunpowder was invented, so people even a mile away from the battle would have heard nothing. That is hard to imagine!

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Another enjoyable aspect is playing the game What If? Howarth does a good job showing that, if even one little thing had happened differently, the outcome would have been completely changed. William was by no means assured of a victory.

 

I'm glad you liked this book! I found the "What If?" fascinating also. There were so many tiny details that could have easily gone the other way and yet they didn't and William prevailed. I felt sorry for Harold as well and found Howarth's psychological reasoning very interesting.

 

And I agree with your last statement, I cannot fathom a battle that couldn't be heard a mile away!

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This week I am back to light reading with Whirlwind by Cathy Marie Hake

 

Week5: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak--interested to the last word, really enjoyed the POV and style of writing, warning: it is not a cheerful book but not depressing either, and I was worried what the ending would bring but it was okay

 

Week 4: Mosaic by Amy Grant

Week 3: The Faith Club by Idilby, Oliver and Warner

Week 2:The Body in the Kelp by Katherine Hall Page

Week 1: Nightingales: The Extraordinary Upbringing and Curious Life of Miss Florence Nightingale by Gillian Gill

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I decided book # 6 will be Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

 

I've actually read more than 6 books since the beginning of the year. The books numbered for the 52 books challenge are the one's I started on Thursday of each reading week.

 

My list so far is

 

 

 

  1. Salvation in Death by J.D. Robb
  2. Wicked by Gregory Maguire (#1 52 books)

  3. If There Be Dragons by Kay Hooper (#2 52 books)

  4. Love by Design (2 classic novels) by Nora Roberts
  5. Fire Dancer by Colleen Coble

  6. Five in a Row by Jane Coffey
  7. Bad Faith by Aimee Thurlo
  8. Unspeakable by Sandra Brown (# 3 52 books)

  9. Distant Echoes by Colleen Coble
  10. To Catch a Thief by Christina Sky
  11. Black Sands by Colleen Coble
  12. Hot Mahogany by Stuart Woods
  13. Split Second by David Baldacci (#4 52 books)

  14. Kiss - Ted Dekker
  15. Spider's Web by Agatha Christie

  16. Destiny Kills by Keri Arthur
  17. Prey for a Miracle by Aimee Thurlo (#5 52 books)

  18. The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen
  19. The Wild Sight by Loucinda McGary

  20. Dance with the Dragon by David Hagberg
  21. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

 

The links are to the reviews on my blog.

 

Happy reading!

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I read 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' by Baroness Orczy this week. I have posted my review on our blog (link below) and on the Read a Book a Week challenge. Feedback is very welcome. :001_smile:

 

 

:iagree:Yes, Lorna is so right - Feedback is very welcome. Hint - please come out of lurker mode and comment on the book reviews. :bigear: Let us know what you all think of the books:

 

Whether the book sounds interesting and just got to have it, interesting but not for you, sounds scary, sad, sexy, or whatever.

 

We are getting an average of 40 - 50 hits a day, but nobodies talking, except for a select few. We would love to hear what you all have to say. Pretty please with sugar on top.

 

Thank you for your readership and throwing some bloggy love your way.

 

Happy Reading.

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Finished Go Ask Alice , from the "banned books list" at the library. Wow :ohmy:

 

I never read the book, but I did watch the movie years ago. The adults made me mad in the movie because they seemed to contribute to the problem - maybe I'm remembering wrong. Can you expand upon the 'oh my'?

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