50 Book Challenge for 2011

[miss_catherine]

If you notice some young adult fiction creeping into my list it's because I'm currently reading stuff for a couple of assignments. I have to choose some books that I would set for classes of different age groups (I think I mentioned that I'm studying to be a high school English teacher...). Anyway, if anyone has suggestions of things you've read or are reading for classes or even that you just liked during your teen years I'd appreciate you mentioning them!

So, I finished Anne of Green Gables and another young adult-ish book called I am a Taxi since last posting:

01 l JD Salinger - Franny & Zooey
02 l Dave Eggers - Zeitoun
03 l Lawrence Lipton - The Holy Barbarians
04 l LM Montgomery - Anne of Green Gables (reading)
05 l F Scott Fitzgerald - The Beautiful and the Damned (reading)
06 l Deborah Ellis - I Am A Taxi
07 l John Green & David Levithan - Will Grayson, Will Grayson (reading)
​

​

 

[Alvedansen]

^the only schoolbook i really liked was "The Wave" by Morton Rhue (there's also one by Todd Strasser with the same name and story, don't know how different they are)
real story about a high school teacher who taught his kids about Nazi-Germany and fascism and makes this sort of experiment with them to see how it works and gets completely out of control. i think there's also an older movie version, here's a trailer for the German version from '09

there's a similar book called "the war between the classes"

other than that i only remember "Man of the moment", ""The great Gatsby" and "Lord of the flies" and some Shakespeare but obviously my English classes were more about learning the language and grammar and we didn't read that many books.

 

[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
7: Little Bee by Chris Cleave
8: The Orchard Keeper by Cormac McCarthy
9: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
10: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
11: The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
12: The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
13: The Last Titan by Rick Riordan
14: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

just started this morning but i'm excited about it based on all the good things i've been hearing from your guys

 

[saann]

^I hope you'll love it as much as I do!

I finished 'Prayers for rain'. It was a decent book filled with tension but nothing memorable. I'm still reading 'Grapes of Wrath' but I'm giving serious thought to putting it down and have now also started reading an Oscar Wilde book.

1. The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson
2. Never let me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
3. The Road - Cormac McCarthy
4. the Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. Pop Co - Scarlett Thomas
6. jPod - Douglas Coupland
7. Freakonomics - Stephen D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner
8. The bell jar - Sylvia Plath
9. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
10. for one more day - Mitch Albom
11. Prayers for Rain - Dennis Lehane
12. The Sunset Limited - Cormac McCarthy
13. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
14. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

 

[cloudyshambles]

If you notice some young adult fiction creeping into my list it's because I'm currently reading stuff for a couple of assignments. I have to choose some books that I would set for classes of different age groups (I think I mentioned that I'm studying to be a high school English teacher...). Anyway, if anyone has suggestions of things you've read or are reading for classes or even that you just liked during your teen years I'd appreciate you mentioning them!

the books I liked most in high school were
The Catcher in the Rye
Fahrenheit 451
1984
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Of Mice and Men

(another class in my year read Brave New World and To Kill a Mockingbird, which I've read as well after I graduated and really enjoyed)

another book I read during my teen years and really enjoyed (my brother had to read it in school though) was Angela's Ashes

 

[ChrissyM]

^I hope you'll love it as much as I do!

I finished 'Prayers for rain'. It was a decent book filled with tension but nothing memorable. I'm still reading 'Grapes of Wrath' but I'm giving serious thought to putting it down and have now also started reading an Oscar Wilde book.

1. The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson
2. Never let me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
3. The Road - Cormac McCarthy
4. the Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. Pop Co - Scarlett Thomas
6. jPod - Douglas Coupland
7. Freakonomics - Stephen D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner
8. The bell jar - Sylvia Plath
9. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
10. for one more day - Mitch Albom
11. Prayers for Rain - Dennis Lehane
12. The Sunset Limited - Cormac McCarthy
13. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
14. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

what is it about the grapes of wrath that's making you want to put it down?
i'm only asking because that's one of the books i've got in my giant "to read" stack

 

[Alvedansen]

^i've read it and sometimes i had to force myself to pick it up again as well. for me it was because it was veeeeery slow-moving and everything was described in detail, but in the end it was totally worth it, you just need to pull through. the end is very touching and overall the family that's the center of the story has to struggle so much but never loses hope or their kindness. i'm glad i didn't give up

 

[ChrissyM]

^oh, thank you!
that definitely helps...
didn't want it to be one of those books that i'm dreading to start
glad it will be worth it in the end

 

[luckyduck]

Is it too late to start the challenge?!

 

[Dora]

Finished: "The Accident" by Ismail Kadare

A very surreal novel...

 

[Alvedansen]

^^you can join whenever you want, so welcome

the third Percy Jackson book is the best so far, hope it stays this way

 

[saann]

^i've read it and sometimes i had to force myself to pick it up again as well. for me it was because it was veeeeery slow-moving and everything was described in detail, but in the end it was totally worth it, you just need to pull through. the end is very touching and overall the family that's the center of the story has to struggle so much but never loses hope or their kindness. i'm glad i didn't give up

That's good to hear! I'll probably continue reading it now.

You're right in that it's very slow moving and descriptive but when it's good it's veeeery good and frustrating might I say.

 

[Belowen]

Anyway, if anyone has suggestions of things you've read or are reading for classes or even that you just liked during your teen years I'd appreciate you mentioning them!

I really enjoyed Tomorrow When The War Began by John Marsden, and the series that followed. It's the story of a group of Australian teenagers who "go bush" for the weekend and return to find that the country has been invaded. It's very interesting and covers a lot of teenage issues that was pretty handy during high school It's also very well written for a YA book. I love John Marsden.

 

[Toccata]

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ COMPLETE ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
01 ❖ AENEID by VIRGIL | ROMAN EPIC
02 ❖ NAUSEA by SARTRE | EXISTENTIAL FICTION
03 ❖ POETICS by ARISTOTLE | CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHY
04 ❖ COMPLETE AESCYHLUS II by AESCYHLUS | CLASSICAL TRAGEDY
05 ❖ THE HOUSE OF ATREUS by AESCYHLUS | CLASSICAL TRAGEDY
06 ❖ LA VITA NOUVA by DANTE | MEDIEVAL POETRY
07 ❖ DISCOURSE ON METHOD by DESCARTES | EARLY-MODERN PHILOSOPHY
08 ❖ HOMERIC HYMNS by ANONYMOUS | CLASSICAL POETRY
09 ❖ THE THEBAN PLAYS by SOPHOCLES | CLASSICAL TRAGEDY
10 ❖ ELECTRA & OTHER PLAYS by SOPHOCLES | CLASSICAL TRAGEDY

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ READING ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
━ ❖ THE BACCHAE & OTHER PLAYS by EURIPEDES | CLASSICAL TRAGEDY
━ ❖ MEDEA & OTHER PLAYS by EURIPEDES | CLASSICAL TRAGEDY
━ ❖ ELECTRA & OTHER PLAYS by EURIPEDES | CLASSICAL TRAGEDY
━ ❖ THE COMEDIES OF ARISTOPHANES by ARISTOPHANES | CLASSICAL COMEDY

 

[luckyduck]

^^you can join whenever you want, so welcome

the third Percy Jackson book is the best so far, hope it stays this way

Thank you much!! I'm reading the Crimson Petal and the White. It's a long book and very different...

 

[lucy92]

i just finished luella's guide to english style by luella bartley. it was a disappointment. she kept mentioning how important her husband was (photographer david sims).

 

[Toccata]

Will any of you continue with the 50 Book Challenge next year?
I ask because I hope you will.

While I'm waiting for the next group of books to arrive
I'm looking over my shelves, and I have really, really,
BIG° books I'd like to read (Super addicted to buying
not only books, but books about books, and even a few books
about books about books). So I need more time to
track my progress and reach 50.

° I'd like to read the Oxford Complete Shakespeare next.

 

[tigerrouge]

^I started reading Samuel Pepys' Diary about two years ago, and because I dip into it only now and again, I'll probably reach the end some time around 2021.

 

[Toccata]

hehe, ⤴

I asked/got Edmund Spenser's Faerie Qveene for Christmas;
my Aunt said, "You're not actually planning on reading that, are you?"
It's 1246 pages in Archaic English (Poetry) i.e. [flips to random page]

The substill traines of Archimago old;
The wanton loues of false Fidessa faire,
Bought with the bloud of vanquisht Paynim bold
The wretched payre transform'd to treen mould;

old rhyming with bold is about all I understood from that.
If I'm lucky I'll have unravelled the dedicatory sonnets by 2021.

 

[from: sophia]

Finished Lolita. Starting Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. Ill do a write up of Lolita later.