The Telegraph has published an article called 100 Books Every Child Should Read. In true blogger fashion, I thought it'd be fun to see how many of them I have read. Sadly, I didn't do very well, only having read 19 of the 100 listed. It did inspire me to put several of them on The Big List (an ongoing list of books I want to read "someday".)
The list is divided into three sections- the Early Years, the Middle Years, and Early Teens. Their list has very brief description of each book, I'm just reposting the titles.
Italicized titles are the ones I've read.
The Early Years.
The Twits, by Roald Dahl
Burglar Bill, by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
The Tiger Who Came To Tea, by Judith Kerr
Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak
The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter
Yertle the Turtle, by Dr Seuss
Fungus the Bogeyman, by Raymond Briggs
The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew It Was None Of His Business, by Werner Holzwarth and Wolf Erlbruch
Room on the Broom, by Julia Donaldson
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle
The Cat in the Hat, by Dr Seuss
Charlotte's Web, by EB White
The Story of Babar, by Jean de Brunhoff
Winnie-the-Pooh, by AA Milne, illustrated by EH Shepard
The Middle Years
Stig of the Dump, by Clive King
Ballet Shoes, by Noel Streatfeild
Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones
Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling
The Borrowers, by Mary Norton
Struwwelpeter, by Heinrich Hoffman
The Magic Faraway Tree, by Enid Blyton
Danny, the Champion of the World, by Roald Dahl
George's Marvellous Medicine, by Roald Dahl
Underwater Adventure, by Willard Price
Tintin in Tibet, by Hergé
The Complete Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales
Erik the Viking, by Terry Jones, illustrated by Michael Foreman
When the Wind Blows, by Raymond Briggs
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, by TS Eliot
The Iron Man, by Ted Hughes
The Owl and the Pussycat, by Edward Lear
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame
The Worst Witch Collection, by Jill Murphy
Peter Pan, by JM Barrie
Mr Majeika, by Humphrey Carpenter
The Water Babies, by Charles Kinglsey
A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
I'm The King of the Castle, by Susan Hill
The Wave, by Morton Rhue
Pippi Longstocking, by Astrid Lindgren
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl
Bambert's Book of Missing Stories, by Reinhardt Jung
The Firework-maker's Daughter, by Philip Pullman
Tom's Midnight Garden, by Philippa Pearce
The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster
The Silver Sword, by Ian Serrallier
Cue for Treason, by Geoffrey Trease
The Sword in the Stone, by TH White
A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K LeGuin
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by JK Rowling
The Chronicles of Narnia Box Set, by CS Lewis
His Dark Materials Box Set, by Philip Pullman
The BFG, by Roald Dahl
Swallows and Amazons, by Arthur Ransome
Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now, by Lauren Child
The Railway Children, by E Nesbit
The Selfish Giant, by Oscar Wilde
Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell
Just William, by Richmal Crompton
Jennings Goes to School, by Anthony Buckeridge
Comet in Moominland, by Tove Jansson
The Bad Beginning, by Lemony Snicket
The Early Teens
Call of the Wild, by Jack London
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll
The Outsiders, by SE Hinton
I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, by Joan Aiken
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
The Owl Service, by Alan Garner
The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Arthur Conan Doyle
Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank
Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, by Mildred D Taylor
A Kestrel for a Knave, by Barry Hines
The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien
War Horse, by Michael Morpurgo
Beowulf, by Michael Morpurgo
King Solomon's Mines, by H Rider Haggard
Kim, by Rudyard Kipling
The Road of Bones, by Anne Fine
Frenchman's Creek, by Daphne Du Maurier
Treasure Island, by RL Stevenson
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
Anne of Green Gables, by L M Montgomery
Junk, by Melvin Burgess
Cider With Rosie, by Laurie Lee
The Go-Between by LP Hartley
The Rattle Bag, ed by Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes
The Song of Hiawatha, by H W Longfellow
Watership Down, by Richard Adams
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain
True Grit, by Charles Portis
Holes, by Louis Sachar
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
My Family and Other Animals, by Gerald Durrell
Coraline, by Neil Gaiman
Carrie's War, by Nina Bawden
The Story of Tracy Beaker, by Jacqueline Wilson
The Lantern Bearers, by Rosemary Sutcliffe
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Eva's Reading Meme
I saw this over at A Striped Armchair and thought it would be a fun meme to think about.
Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews? Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Everyone loved it except one reviewer who was scandalized by something "immoral" on the first page (perhaps the first chapter? I don't remember.) My best friend and her husband loved it. I have it in my 2008 TBR list, hopefully I'll get to it this year.
If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be? Ranger from Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels. Babe. Eric from Charlaine Harris's Dead to the World. And Roarke from J.D. Robb's In Death series. Oh come on, tell me you wouldn't want to be in the room with any ONE of them!
(Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): you are told you can’t die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realise it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave? The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I think this is the only book I've ever gone to the teacher/ professor and said I just couldn't read, could I please be assigned something else.
Come on, we’ve all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you’ve read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it? I don't know that I've ever outright lied about having read something. I may have said I'd read Faulkner based on reading part of Go Down, Moses in 11th grade English. We weren't required to read the whole thing, so I didn't.
As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realise when you read a review about it/go to ‘reread’ it that you haven’t? Which book? I really can't think of anything that fits this one.
You’re interviewing for the post of Official Book Advisor to some VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why? (if you feel like you’d have to know the person, go ahead of personalise the VIP) This is hard because recent books spring to mind so much more readily. If I didn't know the VIP, I'd probably recommend Harry Potter since it's one of the few books that seems to span all reading interests. Maybe Me & Emma by Elizabeth Flock since I love seeing the reaction to that one. And I did just love The Time Traveler's Wife, but I can't see it appealing to many men.
A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with? Is it cheating to say Italian because I am dying to be able to speak Italian? I don't actually know of any Italian literature.
A mischievious fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick? The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. For a while there I was reading it every year anyway. I think it will be the first real book I try to read along to the Monkey, even though I know he won't get it.
I know that the book blogging community, and its various challenges, have pushed my reading borders. What’s one bookish thing you ‘discovered’ from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art-anything)? I've discovered that I don't ever complete a challenge. I've also (like Eva) discovered YA fiction. So much of it is very similar to adult fiction, except for the age of the characters.
That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leatherbound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead-let your imagination run free. It would have to be huge with lots of shelves, but not necessarily the old wooden shelves with the ladder. I'd want a squishy couch and couple different style chairs, and little tables on each side of each of them. Plus a coffee table. And a coffee maker and a mini-fridge. A couple of cats. The books would be a little bit of everything, but would be organized by subject and author. There would be a magic spell on it that made everyone who entered instantly talk in a quiet tone, and NO ONE would be forced to be a pirate. In fact, even the smallest of children would discover a need to sit down and read and there would be a corner of the room filled with the best picture books (the ones that mom is just too cheap to buy) and bean bag chairs of lounging.
And now, let’s say everyone has to tag four people (more than that becomes a hassle, imho)
I'm going to tag the other bloggers at my other blog- We'd Rather Read, plus Trish, NOLADawn and Jill.
And just to prove it, I’m (Eva's) going to bribe you…if you leave a comment letting me know you’ve done the meme with a link to the post, I’ll give you some link love via a big list on this post of who’s participated. If in that post, you link back to this one, I’ll also enter you in a drawing to win my ARC of The House at Riverton (see my review below). If you’re an American, this is especially exciting since it isn’t going to published until April. To be in the drawing, you must have posted the meme (and commented here) by February 5th, which is when I’m holding the drawing (it’s also my niece’s second birthday!).
Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews? Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Everyone loved it except one reviewer who was scandalized by something "immoral" on the first page (perhaps the first chapter? I don't remember.) My best friend and her husband loved it. I have it in my 2008 TBR list, hopefully I'll get to it this year.
If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be? Ranger from Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels. Babe. Eric from Charlaine Harris's Dead to the World. And Roarke from J.D. Robb's In Death series. Oh come on, tell me you wouldn't want to be in the room with any ONE of them!
(Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): you are told you can’t die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realise it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave? The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I think this is the only book I've ever gone to the teacher/ professor and said I just couldn't read, could I please be assigned something else.
Come on, we’ve all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you’ve read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it? I don't know that I've ever outright lied about having read something. I may have said I'd read Faulkner based on reading part of Go Down, Moses in 11th grade English. We weren't required to read the whole thing, so I didn't.
As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realise when you read a review about it/go to ‘reread’ it that you haven’t? Which book? I really can't think of anything that fits this one.
You’re interviewing for the post of Official Book Advisor to some VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why? (if you feel like you’d have to know the person, go ahead of personalise the VIP) This is hard because recent books spring to mind so much more readily. If I didn't know the VIP, I'd probably recommend Harry Potter since it's one of the few books that seems to span all reading interests. Maybe Me & Emma by Elizabeth Flock since I love seeing the reaction to that one. And I did just love The Time Traveler's Wife, but I can't see it appealing to many men.
A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with? Is it cheating to say Italian because I am dying to be able to speak Italian? I don't actually know of any Italian literature.
A mischievious fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick? The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. For a while there I was reading it every year anyway. I think it will be the first real book I try to read along to the Monkey, even though I know he won't get it.
I know that the book blogging community, and its various challenges, have pushed my reading borders. What’s one bookish thing you ‘discovered’ from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art-anything)? I've discovered that I don't ever complete a challenge. I've also (like Eva) discovered YA fiction. So much of it is very similar to adult fiction, except for the age of the characters.
That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leatherbound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead-let your imagination run free. It would have to be huge with lots of shelves, but not necessarily the old wooden shelves with the ladder. I'd want a squishy couch and couple different style chairs, and little tables on each side of each of them. Plus a coffee table. And a coffee maker and a mini-fridge. A couple of cats. The books would be a little bit of everything, but would be organized by subject and author. There would be a magic spell on it that made everyone who entered instantly talk in a quiet tone, and NO ONE would be forced to be a pirate. In fact, even the smallest of children would discover a need to sit down and read and there would be a corner of the room filled with the best picture books (the ones that mom is just too cheap to buy) and bean bag chairs of lounging.
And now, let’s say everyone has to tag four people (more than that becomes a hassle, imho)
I'm going to tag the other bloggers at my other blog- We'd Rather Read, plus Trish, NOLADawn and Jill.
And just to prove it, I’m (Eva's) going to bribe you…if you leave a comment letting me know you’ve done the meme with a link to the post, I’ll give you some link love via a big list on this post of who’s participated. If in that post, you link back to this one, I’ll also enter you in a drawing to win my ARC of The House at Riverton (see my review below). If you’re an American, this is especially exciting since it isn’t going to published until April. To be in the drawing, you must have posted the meme (and commented here) by February 5th, which is when I’m holding the drawing (it’s also my niece’s second birthday!).
Monday, January 21, 2008
Austenland by Shannon Hale
I admit it, I've become something of a Jane Austen fan in the last year. Along with half the reading world it seems. Books about Austen abound. There are books about her books, books about her, books that retell her books from the standpoint of another character. It started when I signed up for DailyLit and choose Pride and Prejudice (my review here) as my first choice. I'd read P&P before but it was in high school and I didn't remember it so well. This time around I discovered just how witty and sharp Austen is and immediately requested Sense and Sensibility (my review here). I read that one last fall and made the decision to try and read the remaining novels in 2008.
One of the many books that play off Austen is Austenland by Shannon Hale. Jane Hayes is 32 and single. She's obsessed with finding her own Darcy and is unable to find the perfect man because of this. Her great aunt dies and leaves her a non-refundable trip to Pembrook Place. Pembrook Place is a resort where guests give up all trappings of modern life and live by the Rules of Austen's time. It comes complete with costumed actors, clothing, dance lessons, and fake eligible bachelors. Jane (who becomes Miss Erstwhile at Pembrook Place) is to stay for 3 weeks and is determined to get over her Darcy fixation for good.
It was very hard for me to buy into the whole concept of living in that time and pretending to fall in love with the actors. I don't have a problem with living history (I worked at a museum with costumed actors for years) but the idea that at the end of the 3 weeks she should fall in love with one of the actors was hard for me. Fortunately for me, the idea was often hard for her to fall for as well. Jane alternates between having a blast pretending to live in that time and feeling like a fool for pretending. If it hadn't been for this awareness on her part, if she'd gone for it full speed, I would not have enjoyed it nearly as much. The actors are well done, rarely breaking character and when they did it was subtle. There was one who surprised me at the end- I really truly didn't see it coming. I felt a bit of the P&P references were a bit heavy handed. Mr. Nobley was clearly Darcy, it couldn't be more obviously done. Overall it was a good read and I'm a bit tempted to keep it until after I've finished up the rest of Austen's novels but I think I'll pass it on for now.
There are tons of references to Austen's books, of course, and it just inspired me to read them even more. I have Emma and Northanger Abbey on my shelves and Persuasion waiting in email. I'm not sure which I'll tackle next. PBS is showing the movies this winter and while I'd like to see them, I think I'll wait and only watch the ones I've already read.
Review cross posted at We'd Rather Read.
One of the many books that play off Austen is Austenland by Shannon Hale. Jane Hayes is 32 and single. She's obsessed with finding her own Darcy and is unable to find the perfect man because of this. Her great aunt dies and leaves her a non-refundable trip to Pembrook Place. Pembrook Place is a resort where guests give up all trappings of modern life and live by the Rules of Austen's time. It comes complete with costumed actors, clothing, dance lessons, and fake eligible bachelors. Jane (who becomes Miss Erstwhile at Pembrook Place) is to stay for 3 weeks and is determined to get over her Darcy fixation for good.
It was very hard for me to buy into the whole concept of living in that time and pretending to fall in love with the actors. I don't have a problem with living history (I worked at a museum with costumed actors for years) but the idea that at the end of the 3 weeks she should fall in love with one of the actors was hard for me. Fortunately for me, the idea was often hard for her to fall for as well. Jane alternates between having a blast pretending to live in that time and feeling like a fool for pretending. If it hadn't been for this awareness on her part, if she'd gone for it full speed, I would not have enjoyed it nearly as much. The actors are well done, rarely breaking character and when they did it was subtle. There was one who surprised me at the end- I really truly didn't see it coming. I felt a bit of the P&P references were a bit heavy handed. Mr. Nobley was clearly Darcy, it couldn't be more obviously done. Overall it was a good read and I'm a bit tempted to keep it until after I've finished up the rest of Austen's novels but I think I'll pass it on for now.
There are tons of references to Austen's books, of course, and it just inspired me to read them even more. I have Emma and Northanger Abbey on my shelves and Persuasion waiting in email. I'm not sure which I'll tackle next. PBS is showing the movies this winter and while I'd like to see them, I think I'll wait and only watch the ones I've already read.
Review cross posted at We'd Rather Read.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Ahoy, Matey!
With the (too) fast approaching arrival of his little brother, it was time to move my Monkey out of his crib and into a Big Boy bed. The monkey is closer to his 3rd birthday than to his 2nd, but until this week he's never questioned being in a crib. The last few weeks have focused heavily on potty training and being a Big Boy. One night he asked if he could have a Big Boy bed and give the crib to his brother, and we decided to get on with it.
We scoured the internets looking for a fun bed idea. We had previously talked of a fire truck bed or a firehouse loft, but his obsession with all things pirate gets stronger ever day and when we saw the first boat bed we knew we had a winner. My husband spend hours in the shop this week and the end result is a bed that rocks. The Monkey is in heaven. It's a very good thing it's build to be solid, as it often has to hold the weight of the Pirate Mommy and Pirate Daddy as well. The paint suffered a little on the snowy ride home in the back of a truck, and will be touched up when weather allows. The mast was added after these pictures were taken and the sail will (hopefully) go up tomorrow. I made him a blanket that looks like a pirate map and tomorrow he will get a matching pillowcase.
The Monkey has already taken his first nap in his Big Boy bed. I am afraid bedtime will be delayed by repeated attempts to get the Pirate parents to play. It's a big day and I'm a little sad to see my little baby ("I not a baby. I a Big Boy!") grow up. I try to tell him he will always be my baby and he argues with me that he won't- he'll be my pirate.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Big Announcement!
Announcing.... We'd Rather Read !
We'd Rather Read is a joint effort blog between myself and several of my friends. We're just barely getting started, but I've already had a few comments over there so I thought I better out us over here too. For myself, book reviews will be cross posted both places, but there will (eventually! SOON even!) be reviews from other people as well. Occasionally, we might read the same book and then talk about it. We might post about things that aren't books, but that are reading! It'll be a lot of fun, I can't wait.
Why the new blog, you might ask- well with everything I'm doing personally I feel like I don't post often enough over here to keep it flowing. I'm pregnant, I'm still working on my Etsy store (new Valentines bags posted today!), I'm still working. I love blogging and the community around it, and wanted a way to continue to do it AND keep up some traffic without pressure. I'll still be blogging here- my book stuff will be cross posted (the other's reviews will not be) and I'll be posting about my sewing and the shop and, of course, the Monkey and his brother when he arrives.
So stop on by at We'd Rather Read. Say hello, add us to your reader. Expect a lot more content in the following days! But don't take Books. Lists. Life off your blogroll either, I'll be both places.
Why the new blog, you might ask- well with everything I'm doing personally I feel like I don't post often enough over here to keep it flowing. I'm pregnant, I'm still working on my Etsy store (new Valentines bags posted today!), I'm still working. I love blogging and the community around it, and wanted a way to continue to do it AND keep up some traffic without pressure. I'll still be blogging here- my book stuff will be cross posted (the other's reviews will not be) and I'll be posting about my sewing and the shop and, of course, the Monkey and his brother when he arrives.
So stop on by at We'd Rather Read. Say hello, add us to your reader. Expect a lot more content in the following days! But don't take Books. Lists. Life off your blogroll either, I'll be both places.
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Wow. Just Wow. How does someone possibly come up with this stuff? People have been telling me to read The Time Traveler’s Wife for months, and I was a bit intimidated by the popularity of it. Just look at my review of Twilight to see how that turned out last time for me! (Please note the lovely comment that review got!)
Here’s the summary of the book:
Everyone was right- this book is so good! If it’s on your list and you keep putting it off, move it up to the front. It’s not science fiction-y at all. There was only one incident that made me question how the time travel followed the rules she had set and I was able to figure out the answer. Henry is the perfect hero and clearly madly in love with Claire. I had a few minor quibbles with just how many people knew about his condition, but other than that, no problems with the book at all. I finished it last weekend, and I’m still thinking about it all the time, which hasn’t happened to me for a while now (A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Book Thief being the most notable from 2007.) It seems odd that the second book I read this year will be one of the best, but it seems likely that it’s going to happen that way. If you haven’t read it yet, or find yourself intimidated, please, go get it now. It’s really worth it. If you started it already, and got a bit confused by the beginning, stick with it- you eventually get into the flow of it.
Here’s the summary of the book:
A dazzling novel in the most untraditional fashion, this is the remarkable story
of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who travels involuntarily
through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential
course. Henry and Clare’s passionate love affair endures across a sea of time
and captures the two lovers in an impossibly romantic trap, and it is Audrey
Niffenegger’s cinematic storytelling that makes the novel’s unconventional
chronology so vibrantly triumphant.
Everyone was right- this book is so good! If it’s on your list and you keep putting it off, move it up to the front. It’s not science fiction-y at all. There was only one incident that made me question how the time travel followed the rules she had set and I was able to figure out the answer. Henry is the perfect hero and clearly madly in love with Claire. I had a few minor quibbles with just how many people knew about his condition, but other than that, no problems with the book at all. I finished it last weekend, and I’m still thinking about it all the time, which hasn’t happened to me for a while now (A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Book Thief being the most notable from 2007.) It seems odd that the second book I read this year will be one of the best, but it seems likely that it’s going to happen that way. If you haven’t read it yet, or find yourself intimidated, please, go get it now. It’s really worth it. If you started it already, and got a bit confused by the beginning, stick with it- you eventually get into the flow of it.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Giveaway!
I want one of these so bad. You have no idea.
A Cowboy’s Wife is having a contest on her food blog! You can win a Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer and she’ll ship anywhere so everyone is eligible!
The Prize:
The winner will receive a brand new
Hamilton Beach 4.5-qt. Eclectrics Stand Mixer, Pineapple Yellow!!
About the mixer:
From Hamilton Beach’s “Eclectrics” line, this all-metal stand mixer comes with a host of accessories - a Flat Beater for cakes and cookies, a Dough Hook for bread and a Wire Whisk for whipped cream or pudding. The 4.5-qt. stainless steel bowl comes with a Pouring Shield that helps prevent splattering while in operation. The pouring shield has a built-in chute for adding ingredients. Powered by 400 watts, the stand mixer has a two-way mixing action to ensure all ingredients are incorporated into the mix. The quick-release, tilt-up head assists when removing the bowl. 9 x 14 x 14-in. When you’re ready for a kitchen re-do, don’t call in the carpenters! Instead, “counterscape” your kitchen with Hamilton Beach’s retro-designed, affordably priced electrics in happy, sun-saturated colors. Their “Eclectrics” line includes updates to those classic appliances from the 1950s. All of their “Eclectrics” are available in six colors: Apple Green, Moroccan Red, Pineapple Yellow, Intrigue Blue, Sugar White and Licorice Black.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
The Chunkster Challenge
I know. I said no more challenges for me since I failed at all of them last year.
I changed my mind.
I'm going to do the Chunkster Challenge. I know, you're thinking that I couldn't even finish the Newbery Challenge, how am I gonna do THIS? But the thing is, that list I posted yesterday has a few Chunksters on it. And I just got the latest Kim Harrison from Paperbackswap, and while I haven't actually LOOKED, it's GOT to be more than 450 pages. So this should be easy. Right? I will NOT sign up for anything else til I've completed this one, Scout's honor.
Here's the rules:
- To qualify the book must be 450 pps regular type OR 750 pps large text.
- You must read FOUR chunksters (one each quarter), you OBVIOUSLY may read more
- The Challenge will run Jan 7th, 2008 - Dec 20th, 2008. BUT any chunkster started after Jan 1 qualifies.
- OH THERE WILL BE PRIZES - one a quarter. Prizes to be determined later. Think small and fun, not big and chunky.
- Sharing reviews mandatory, format still to be determined.
- There is a sign-up deadline of March 1st, so tell your friends and neighbors but only until then.
- You don't have to make a set list--or you can and you can change it later--no big deal
- A large volume of compiled work (such as LOTR in one volume) TOTALLY COUNTS
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
My first review of 2008!
You can't be a reader of these literary blogs without hearing about Twilight. It seems that everyone read it last year, and everyone loved it. The same is true about it's sequel (New Moon), but when it came to the third book (Eclipse) reviews were mixed. Twilight is the young adult version of Anita Blake or Sookie Stackhouse. Bella moves to gloomy Forks and discovers that vampires DO exist. She falls for one of them and (not surprisingly) dangerous things happen.
Unlike every other reader, I didn't LOVE the book. It was good. I read it quickly, and my quibbles with it are minor. However, I don't feel a burning need to read the follow up. The vampire world is believable, I like her twist on it a lot. I loved Edward and all of his family. I love the humanitarian aspect of Carlisle. I liked most of the other teenagers.
What didn't I love? Bella was just ok. The clumsiness was unbelievable which meant that by the end, when her clumsiness is the Big Explanation, it was an obvious plot point. I was also annoyed by how conveniently her father (the sheriff) was always absent until the night he was suddenly home and didn't trust her AT ALL. She had an awful lot of freedom for a 17 year old girl in a new town, living with a parent she's never lived with before. The Epilogue comes out of nowhere with Jacob, clearly just there to set up the sequel. Overall, I thought I could see the plot mechanisms way to easily.
I read a good number of young adult fiction last year, and while this one was good, so much of what I read was better. I'm having a hard time deciding on a rating. It seems like I must be missing something to not want to give it a high score, but I keep coming back to a 3/5.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
My TBR List
As I noted in my previous post, one reading resolution for 2008 is to read all the books on a list I made of books I already have but didn't get to in 2007. These are all books that got a lot of blog time last year, but what whatever reason I never read. I hope to keep up better this year.
Here they are in random order:
Here they are in random order:
- The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
- Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
- The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (already started this, and am loving it!)
- My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
- The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
- The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
- Wicked by Gregory Maguire
- gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
- Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
- Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brook
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Happy New Year!
Happy 2008!
This is gonna be a great year for our house, I can just tell. The monkey turns three in April, to be followed shortly by the birth of his little BROTHER in late April/early May. Yes, that's right, BROTHER. Two boys! Yikes! 6 weeks of maternity leave when I don't have to think about a single other person's money problems... I can't wait!
Do you make resolutions? Mine are gonna go something like:
In book news, I just finished up last years wrap up at 65 books for 2007. It easily could have been 66, but I didn't want to redo the post, so I held off. For next year, my goals are:
What are your goals for 2008?
This is gonna be a great year for our house, I can just tell. The monkey turns three in April, to be followed shortly by the birth of his little BROTHER in late April/early May. Yes, that's right, BROTHER. Two boys! Yikes! 6 weeks of maternity leave when I don't have to think about a single other person's money problems... I can't wait!
Do you make resolutions? Mine are gonna go something like:
- Continue sewing.
- Keep working on the Etsy Shop.
- Try to keep the house clean on an ongoing basis as opposed to cleaning it on Sundays.
- Continue reading and doing things for me, don't become only a mommy.
- Less sugar.
In book news, I just finished up last years wrap up at 65 books for 2007. It easily could have been 66, but I didn't want to redo the post, so I held off. For next year, my goals are:
- 60 books (5 a month)
- 5 books off The Big List. The Big List is an ongoing list of books I "should" have read. These are mostly classics, and since I read 4 of them last year, I figure 5 is doable this year.
- 1 book of short stories.
- 1 Russian novel.
- More by men. (only 14% in 2007)
- More non-fiction of any type.
- Try to read anything published in 2008 IN 2008.
- Complete my personal TBR Challenge list. This list is made of books that were hugely popular last year and that I own, but never got around to reading. I'll post this list soon.
- Continue blogging about what I'm reading.
What are your goals for 2008?
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