50 Book Challenge for 2011

[unspoiledbird]

RAH, I AM SO BEHIND! Just about to start The Selected Works of T.S Spivet by Reif Larsen, anyone read it? The cover looked so enticing but when I started it I was sort of turned off by the tone...

So for now, my list looks like this:
1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
2. The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick
3. Un tal Lucas - Julio Cortazar
4. The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet - Reif Larsen


Gotta do some major catching up after my internship is done!

 

[tigerrouge]

09: The Touchstone by Edith Wharton

Written some time before than her more famous novels, it's interesting to see her style forming in this work, a fantastic turn of phrase hampered by a less-than-brilliant plot structure.

10: Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

In terms of location and social class, a departure from the themes of her other books, but at heart, it's still about individuals facing decisions about duty and love, trying to decide which is "right", and how to live with the consequences.
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[ChrissyM]

^^good for you, at 10 already!? you're just breezing through!

 

[rox_yr_sox]

I just found this thread & I really want to join! So I'm going to join and count all the books I've read since Jan 1 2011.

1. Collected Poems by Sylvia Plath
After reading this complete collection of her poems, I find her a bit overrated. Sure, there are some excellent poems, like Soliloquy of the Solipsist, but overall, I found many of them a bit forgettable.
2. Cupid and the King: Five Royal Paramours by Princess Michael of Kent
Fun, frothy and readable, a collection of biographies on royal mistresses, includes Madame de Pompadour, Nell Gwyn, Lillie Langtry, Lola Montez and Marie Walewska.
3. Haiku: Poetry Ancient and Modern: An Anthology by Jackie Hardy [Ed]
A bit disappointing because the selection of poems wasn't great.
4. Art of the Soviets: Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture in a One-Party State, 1917-1992 by Bown & Taylor [Eds]
I read it as research for my thesis.
5. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
Loved it but I expected to as an atheist, so it was preaching to the converted, as it were.
6. Architecture in the Age of Stalin: Culture Two by Vladimir Paperny
Another read for my thesis.
7. The Edifice Complex: how the rich and powerful shape the world by Deyan Sudjic
Another read for my thesis.
8. God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens
Another excellent book on the follies of religion.
9. Plans, pragmatism and People: The legacy of Soviet planning for today's cities by R. Antony French
Another read for my thesis.
10. Quicksilver (Vol.1 in the Baroque Cycle) by Neal Stephenson
11. The Confusion (Vol.2 in the Baroque Cycle) by Neal Stephenson
12. The System of the World (Vol.3 in the Baroque Cycle) by Neal Stephenson
The Baroque Cycle is an amazing series of historical fiction, involving real and imaginary characters during the reign of Charles II, Louis XIV, James II, Mary and William, Anne and George I. Involves piracy, alchemy, science, mathematics, adventure, warfare, love, sex, money and philosophy. Thoroughly recommend it to anyone.
13. Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan by Rem Koolhaas
Another read for my thesis.
14. The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
Another read for my thesis.
15. Eleanor of Aquitaine: By the Wrath of God, Queen of England by Alison Weir
A bit dry but a biography of such an interesting woman. Also, men those days were such sh*ts; r*pe, murder, incest, paedophilia etc.
16. Currently reading: Tete-a-Tete: The Lives and Loves of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre by Hazel Rowley

 

[kate_is_goddess]

^holy moly, you are one quick reader

 

[e-v-elina]

i've been sick for the last week and haven't been able to read at all... i probably won't get to 50 by the end of this year, but even 25 books is a good number IMO!

 

[rox_yr_sox]

^^ Right now it's summer holidays, so I have time on my hands to read and chill out. I'm only doing casual work 2 days a week and writing my thesis (garrh, so over it right now...). Once university starts again in a month, I'll have much less time to read recreationally.

 

[tigerrouge]

And shortly I'll have to spend about two hours a day travelling, so reading will stop me going insane from boredom...

11: Kokoro by Natsume Sōseki

I lifted this off the library shelf at the same time I went for the Edith Wharton novels, because it was a complete departure from everything else I've been reading. I definitely appreciated the notes at the start, outlining the historical context in which it was written, because it added more layers to my appreciation for what could appear a deceptively simple novel.

 

[ChrissyM]

1: This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
2: Just Kids by Patti Smith
3: The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
4: Cities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy
5: The Monster of Florence: A True Story by Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi

6: Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Finished The Monster of Florence... I don't think it's even worth posting a full review on it so I won't bother

It was an ok read... I never really got into it and just found the depiction of the incompetency of the Italian police/investigators to be extremely frustrating (and maybe a bit one-sided as well?)...
Because it's an account of a true story that spans 40+ years of the serial killer known as the Monster of Florence (who still hasn't been caught) and the investigation of the crimes the book has a "and then, and then, and then" sort of reporting quality that I didn't find to be particularly engaging.

So now, on to Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut! Started last night and am already 40+ pages in... I don't expect that it will take me too long...


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[ChrissyM]

I actually have a question for everyone... how do you go about choosing what books to read?
I think some people might have mentioned this already, but...

Do you like to follow a certain theme and read a bunch of books on that theme?
Only read a certain genre or certain authors?
Do you mix it up?
Just completely random, whatever catches your fancy?

I personally like to mix it up...
Especially after reading a challenging book I like to sort of reward myself with a more easy read as a bit of a palette cleanser

I was an English major in college so I feel like I have this obligation to myself to continue my education and fill in some of my reading gaps when it comes to the classics I never was assigned to read...
Meaning, I've made it a point to buy a few Faulker books... I've got The Glass Menagerie... stuff like that... just revisiting some classics and authors that I think will make me more well-rounded...

So, I like to read books like that every once in a while and intersperse them with more contemporary novels...

 

[Alvedansen]

^i always have phases. right now i love sci-fi, end-of-the-world or dystopian novels, so i always look in those shelves st the bookstores. but i also mix it up so i don't get tired of a certain theme too soon. i love many genres so i choose whatever i feel like in the moment and i def try to read a few classics or difficult books in between.

i've just picked up my first Murakami book and i gotta say it's completely different than i thought. it's such an easy and quick read, for some reason i thought he was a little more challenging, no idea why though (maybe because of that book "kafka on the shore" i thought he'd be a little kafka-esque and i hated kafka in school)

 

[ChrissyM]

ooh... i've never read any murakami... (at least i don't think so... i read a book by an asian writer a while back but the name is escaping me at the moment)
would you recommend it/him?

 

[Alvedansen]

well i can only talk about "afterdark" and the german translation but i would def recommend it. i like his writing style, it's nice and fluent.

 

[fashionista-ta]

Funny you mention being an English major I was too, and in the Honors program, so I read a ton of challenging stuff in college (and of course, rarely my own choices). Now I read for pleasure and personal growth ... I feel zero need to read from a bucket list. I might add there are almost no unread books at my house ...

Lately I've been clearing out papers I wrote in college ... yes, I still have all that sh!t Just tossed an essay exam on two of Iris Murdoch's novels. Had a great professor, she'd written half a page of comments on my paper, but I couldn't bring myself to read any of it because I think those novels were such a waste of good trees.

 

[ChrissyM]

^^before i got to the end of your post i was going to ask if iris murdoch was someone i should read
i now feel no need to look into it

 

[Belowen]

Finally, after 2 weeks I've finished my fifth book, now onto the sixth...

01: American Subversive by David Goodwillie
02: The Collector by John Fowles
03: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
04: Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
05: The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
06: The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

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[Belowen]

Question for the group: Are you thinking ahead with the books you're reading to ensure you're keeping on track?

It took me 2 weeks to finish The Forgotten Garden, so I've picked a relatively quick book to get through so that I can catch up

 

[Annu]

1. Pieces of Modesty by Peter O'Donnell
2. Treasure Yourself: Power Thoughts for My Generation by Miranda Kerr

3. My story by Marilyn Monroe
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4. Nora Ephron: I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being a Woman

5. Diary of a bad year by J M Coetzee
This was so boring that I had read girly manga since finished this. Actually I like his diary part but same time with esseys about terrorism and such they goes notes about writer and her secratary thoughts, I didn't like idea. It was like reading school books again, tables and pictures which interrup reading.
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I try to find something nice to read because last month was pretty good start.

 

[Annu]

I actually have a question for everyone... how do you go about choosing what books to read?
I think some people might have mentioned this already, but...

Do you like to follow a certain theme and read a bunch of books on that theme?
Only read a certain genre or certain authors?
Do you mix it up?
Just completely random, whatever catches your fancy?

I usually go to library or store and just start to pick books. It doesn't usually take many minutes to have pile of books.. It could be because of name or cover and then I have couple of writers I like to check. Only theme I check is scifi because they have it in one place. Generally speaking I think I would read anything if there is just something interesting. I remember to love my math book in high school because there was joke in every chapter and I have picked one of my favorite book by name and another by cover without knowing anything else about them. This is also very great way to pick very bad books too.

 

[ChrissyM]

Question for the group: Are you thinking ahead with the books you're reading to ensure you're keeping on track?

It took me 2 weeks to finish The Forgotten Garden, so I've picked a relatively quick book to get through so that I can catch up

I've been trying to do that a little bit too
That's probably why I've counted the Beedle the Bard book I read even though it was so quick and easy...
it's one less book from my pile...
and i figure it all sort of even out...

plus, those quick books can be such a relief after something that was more challenging!