50 Book Challenge for 2011

[lucy92]

i am reading the diana chronicles by tina brown. it is about princess diana.

the writing is pretty punchy. i like it.

 

[kate_is_goddess]

Finally finished "Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow" last night, after what feels like forever and two weeks... I found it very confusing and even boring from time to time which is probably partly due to the translation from Danish to English but still... It takes about 200 pages to get a little bit exciting but all in all it is a rather tiring read...
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[rox_yr_sox]

1. Collected Poems by Sylvia Plath
2. Cupid and the King: Five Royal Paramours by Princess Michael of Kent
3. Haiku: Poetry Ancient and Modern: An Anthology by Jackie Hardy [Ed]
4. Art of the Soviets: Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture in a One-Party State, 1917-1992 by Bown & Taylor [Eds]
5. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
6. Architecture in the Age of Stalin: Culture Two by Vladimir Paperny
7. The Edifice Complex: how the rich and powerful shape the world by Deyan Sudjic
8. God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens
9. Plans, pragmatism and People: The legacy of Soviet planning for today's cities by R. Antony French
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
13. Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan by Rem Koolhaas
14. The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
15. Eleanor of Aquitaine: By the Wrath of God, Queen of England by Alison Weir
16. Tete-a-Tete: The Lives and Loves of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre by Hazel Rowley
17. Pandora by Anne Rice
18. The Executioner by Joseph de Maistre
19. Selected Poems by Anna Akhmatova
20. Conversations With Students by Rem Koolhaas
21. Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson
22. Electra and Other Plays by Euripides
23. Hitch 22 by Christopher Hitchens
24. Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays by Zadie Smith
25. Utopics: Spatial Play by Louis Marin
26. The Politics of Utopia: A Study in Theory and Practice by Barbara Goodwin & Keith Taylor
27. The Road to Delphi: The Life and Afterlife of Oracles by Michael Wood (currently reading)
28. Collected Poems by W.H. Auden (currently reading)
29. The Great Art of Persuasion: How to Argue Effectively by Chester Porter QC (currently reading)

I haven't added to the thread in almost 3 months because I've been so busy with uni and finishing my thesis. But now, that's over and I'm back on the horse.

 

[Susann]

finished number 10: Pars vite et reviens tard by Fred Vargas....

I know I'm very slow...but I've already read a lot more than last year...even if I'm not gonna make it to 50 books, this is still a great encouragement!

 

[mint condish]

Compared to others in this thread I am very slow too but I am very happy with how well I'm doing. I've never kept track of my reading before and I'm really enjoying this and being encouraged by the thread.

1. Marian Keyes, This Charming Man
2. Lucy Kellaway, In Office Hours
3. Lisa Lutz, The Spellmans Strike Again
4. Lisa Lutz, Revenge of the Spellmans
5. Lisa Lutz and David Hayward, Heads You Lose
6. Tina Fey, Bossypants
7. Emily Giffin, Heart of the Matter

8. Summer and the City, Candace Bushnell

I really enjoyed #8! It was so fun and readable.
​

 

[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
15: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
16: The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
17: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
18: The Secret History by Donna Tartt
19: Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
20: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

on to the next one... also going to try to read Brief Interviews with Hideous Men one story at a time...
will add it to the list once I've managed to complete it

 

[kate_is_goddess]

1 // Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis
2 // Limit by Frank Schätzing
3 // Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
4 // The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5 // Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
6 // Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
7 // The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
8 // The Collector by John Fowles
9 // The Chemistry of Death by Simon Beckett
10 // Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
11 // Slapstick! or Lonesome No More by Kurt Vonnegut
12 // Bei Einbruch der Nacht (L'Homme à l'envers) by Fred Vargas
13 // A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
14 // To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
15 // The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
16 // Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
17 // Written in Bone by Simon Beckett
18 // Whispers of the Dead by Simon Beckett

 

[GinAndTonic]

For the moment :

- Pop heart (Barbara Israel)
- Notes Of A Dirty Old Man (Charles Bukowski)
- South Of No North (Charles Bukowski)
- Ask The Dust (John Fante)
- Women (Charles Bukowski)
- Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro)

But the holidays are coming and I'll definitely have more time to do some serious reading.

 

[takeurmeds]

1) Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami
2) Reparar l'escriptura - Daniel Cassany
3) El sentit de la vida - Francesc Torralba
4) Sex and the City - Candace Bushnell
5) Dead until dark - Charlaine Harris
6) Summer in the city - Candace Bushnell
7) Room - Emma Donoghue (currently reading)

I've read 3 books in the past 2 weeks, my first 2 weeks on holidays. I guess I'll read a lot this summer since my holidays are until September and I'm so happy ! Today I got some new books which are: The Bell Jar and The chosen one. I think they'll be quite interesting. I'm actually reading 2 books at a time. They're two books that are completely different one from another. The first one is listed above, Room, and the second is Living Dead in Dallas or Sookie Stackhouse 2 by Charlaine Harris. Sookie Stackhouse 1 is just awesome to me and I am looking forward to read the complete series this summer if possible.

Reading makes me free and happy

 

[adastra]

Ooh this sounds like a good idea. I'm currently trying to read through 1001 books to read before you die list so I'm sure this will help to motivate me. So far this summer:

1. The Plot Against America – Philip Roth
2. Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
3. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
4. The Devil and Miss Prym – Paulo Coelho
5. The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
6. The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
7. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
8. Persuasion – Jane Austen
9. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers

I think I will read On Beauty by Zadie Smith next then maybe more Steinbeck.

 

[saann]

I just started on George Orwell - 1984. I hope it's any good!

 

[Belowen]

I just started on George Orwell - 1984. I hope it's any good!

One of my all time favourites

 

[kate_is_goddess]

I'm done with Whispers of the Dead, the third of Beckett's crime series focusing on a somewhat acclaimed British forensic anthropologist, David Hunter. Whereas the first book (Chemistry of Death) was extremely thrilling, the second and third were not as much so, but still quite exciting and hard to put down. They are all very easy and quick reads, the language and writing style easy and uncomplicated. I can definitely recommend them to anyone who is interested in forensic and criminal stories!

1 // Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis
2 // Limit by Frank Schätzing
3 // Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
4 // The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5 // Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
6 // Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
7 // The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
8 // The Collector by John Fowles
9 // The Chemistry of Death by Simon Beckett
10 // Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
11 // Slapstick! or Lonesome No More by Kurt Vonnegut
12 // Bei Einbruch der Nacht (L'Homme à l'envers) by Fred Vargas
13 // A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
14 // To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
15 // The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
16 // Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
17 // Written in Bone by Simon Beckett
18 // Whispers of the Dead by Simon Beckett

 

[GinAndTonic]

01 - Pop heart (Barbara Israel)
02 - Notes Of A Dirty Old Man (Charles Bukowski)
03 - South Of No North (Charles Bukowski)
04 - Ask The Dust (John Fante)
05 - Women (Charles Bukowski)
06 - Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro)
07 - High Fidelity (Nick Hornby)

 

[takeurmeds]

1) Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami
2) Reparar l'escriptura - Daniel Cassany
3) El sentit de la vida - Francesc Torralba
4) Sex and the City - Candace Bushnell
5) Dead until dark - Charlaine Harris
6) Summer in the city - Candace Bushnell
7) Room - Emma Donoghue
8) The chosen one - Carol Lynch Williams (currently reading)

 

[Pipis]

eventhough my list is very short, i'm going to try this.

1. De Profundis & Other Writings - Oscar Wilde
2. The Plays of Oscar Wilde - Oscar Wilde
3. Less Than Zero - Brett Easton Ellis
4. Invisible Monster - Chuck Palahniuk
5. Sputnik Sweetheart - Haruki Murakami
6. The Captain is out to lunch and the sailor have taken over the ship - C. Bukowski
7. From Socrates to Sartre: The Philosophic Quest - TZ Lavine
8. The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
9. Women - Charles Bukowski
10. Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk

 

[Annu]

Finally finished "Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow" last night, after what feels like forever and two weeks... I found it very confusing and even boring from time to time which is probably partly due to the translation from Danish to English but still...

You know, sometimes I envy everybody who has native English spearkers.. because coming from very small language, it means that almost everything I read is traslated literature. And I bet, sometimes it lost in translation. I mean, some books are awarded and bestsellers, but reading it in my own language (usually years later) I don't find anything special in them. Well, translation is not always bad, I think I even enjoy Harry Potters better in Finnish, traslator wrote pure magic.. reading them in English, maybe because of my language, I don't find that same spark. I wish I would born in England.. because of language. Language is so much more just words, and it so hard to translate.

 

[GinAndTonic]

01 - Pop heart (Barbara Israel)
02 - Notes Of A Dirty Old Man (Charles Bukowski)
03 - South Of No North (Charles Bukowski)
04 - Ask The Dust (John Fante)
05 - Women (Charles Bukowski)
06 - Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro)
07 - High Fidelity (Nick Hornby)
08 - Miss Saturne (Barbara Israel)

 

[Belowen]

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
07: Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien
08: The Forest Of Hands & Teeth by Carrie Ryan
09: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
10: The Odyssey by Homer
11: The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
12: The Woman In Black by Susan Hill
13: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
14: Sweet Valley Confidential by Francine Pascal

15: Cloudstreet by Tim Winton​

16: The Day Of The Triffids by John Wyndham

17: Bossypants by Tina Fey​

18: Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace

19: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins​

20: Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson

21: Cell by Stephen King
​

 

[kate_is_goddess]

You know, sometimes I envy everybody who has native English spearkers.. because coming from very small language, it means that almost everything I read is traslated literature. And I bet, sometimes it lost in translation. I mean, some books are awarded and bestsellers, but reading it in my own language (usually years later) I don't find anything special in them. Well, translation is not always bad, I think I even enjoy Harry Potters better in Finnish, traslator wrote pure magic.. reading them in English, maybe because of my language, I don't find that same spark. I wish I would born in England.. because of language. Language is so much more just words, and it so hard to translate.

I know what you mean! But the more English books you read, the better you get. My mother tongue is German, but I try to read only books that are in their original versions (German or English). And my English has really improved, I can't stand reading German translations of English literature anymore...
But with books that are in Danish or Swedish, etc..., I'll have to make due with the translations which is a shame really. But what can I do? Not read them at all?