Reading for the rest of the year

You may recall that at the beginning of the year I set a handful of reading challenges for myself. I had two friends pick a list of books for me to read, and then I committed to reading all of Janssen's favorites from last year. Well it suddenly occurred to me that we're looking at about 10 weeks til the end of the year and I have quite a few books left on those lists!

Here's where I am on the personal challenge-
From Shawna's list:

• A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson- I own a copy, but have not read it.
• Ishmael by Daniel Quinn- gonna have to ILL this one
• The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum- I have read this
• 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult- I've checked this out several times, but haven't opened it.
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood- I currently have the book and the ebook but am only a couple chapters in.

From Lisa's list:

• The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
• Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
• Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer- I have read part of this, and it is really really not my style. I'll try again.
• Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham
• Whiskey Sour by J.A. Konrath- I've read this one.

And from Janssen's Top 12 (I'm doing much better on this list!)-

• Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
• Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt - Read and reviewed, bits of this one keep coming back to me
• What Alice Forgot by Liana Moriarty- Read for BlogHer
• Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor- Read and reviewed
• Falling For Hamlet by Michelle Ray- read and reviewed
• Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese- read and reviewed (kinda)
• The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson - downloaded to my Nook
• Room by Emma Donoghue- this one still scares me
• Split by Swati Avasthi- read and reviewed, can't stop thinking about this one
• After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick
• Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vandenpool
• The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

Ok, so that's only 14 books to finish up, I can do that if I try, right?

Oh, but wait. There's a few books on my Nook from Net Galley. I should read those before they expire too.

• Just a Wish Away by Barbara Freethy
• Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
• Erebos by Ursula Poznanski 

And I promised to write a review for The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harman. (I started it, I swear, but the very first page is a stillbirth and I didn't get past that.)

And I hate to leave a book unfinished over the new year, so I should finish the ones I have half read too.

• Death Masks by Jim Butcher
• Sullivan's Woman by Nora Roberts
• Married by Mistake by Abby Gaines 
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Finished this up last night

That's only 22  21 books. I have 10 weeks. That's two books a week. If I up my pace just a tiny bit I should make it, right? Plus, those last four are almost done (if you define almost as "has already started") and half of Janssen's list are young adult (of course, those are the ones I've already read, but who's counting?) (oh, wait, I'm counting.) Still. I can do this. (If I don't do anything else, maybe. Anything else like sew. Or cook. Or clean or eat or breathe.)

What's that? I can't hear you. You'll have to speak up. Oh. That. Yeah. That one might push me over the edge. And speaking of chunksters, there's this one too. So 23 books total. Once I read them all I"ll have read about twice the number of books I read last year.  I don't see any reason why this won't happen.

Nah, I got all the time in the world to sit around and read.


PS. At the time of writing this post I had 21 library books checked out. Books that do not appear anywhere on this list.  I carefully wrote them all down and returned them. Oh, well, except for one or two. And I can't very well not read the two ILL books I just requested last week, I can't renew those.

If you need me, I'll be over there with my nose in a book.

The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

I'm off to a really slow start on my personal reading challenge, but our trip to Aberdeen to see the Wizard of Oz park prompted me to check The Wizard of Oz out of the library and get to reading. My good friend Shawna had added this one to my list, so I had high expectations. I've always had it in my head that the Wizard was a weird little book and never really had much interest in reading it. I also assumed that the book would be better than the movie, because DUH. Well. I think this is one case where the movie inproved on the book, sorry Shawna. It was just weird.

Warning, this post contains spoilers for a 112 year old book and a 73 year old movie.

You all know the story, right? Dorothy gets swept up in a hurricane, plopped down in the land of Oz, on top of a witch with pretty shoes, and has to follow the yellow brick road to find her way home. On the way she finds a couple more witches, some really short strange people, flying monkeys, and talking animals. She then clicks the heels on her ruby slippers (silver in the book) to get back to Kansas and, in the book, wakes up to find it was all a dream. Nothing weird about that at all. (Apparently, because after brief moments of astonishment, Dorothy accepts everything as completely normal, every time.)

The book is full of very obvious moral lessons- the tin man who wants a heart is so unbearably cautious not to unthinkingly hurt someone or something because he doesn't have a heart and can't feel it if he does. The lion who wants courage is very careful to always roar and act brave because he knows he's really a scaredy cat and not very brave at all. They talk about these things endlessly. Fake it til you make it, guys!  It is very heavy handed, is what I'm saying, and for me, it was incredibly boring. There are roughly 783 more Wizard of Oz books, but until I find the time to do some wikipedia stalking of Mr. Baum, I don't think I'll be picking up another.

This may get me kicked out the book blogging community, but I find that I'm not particularly fond of  "classic" children's books. I didn't love Little Women when I reread it as an adult, and I couldn't stand Anne of Green Gables when I read her for the first time as an adult. I'm a huge fan of contemporary young adult, and I have a fondness for some of the books that were contemporary when I was a child, but the heavy handed moral stories that are now classics makes me crazy. What about you? Do the incredibly obvious lessons from classic books annoy you? Do you absolutely love The Wizard of Oz? Am I the only person on earth annoyed by Anne Shirley? Should I be terrified to pick up a Little House on the Prairie book?

Bookish committments

The last couple of months have  been full of tempting book commitments. I'm not usually one to follow challenges, and I don't commit to reading a lot of books that friends recommend. I'm much more likely to add a book to my endless list and eventually pick it up. I did promise (myself) that I would read all the books on Janssen's best of 2011 list, and I'm doing the personal challenge, but I'm not usually much of a read-a-long joiner. However, I find myself suddenly committed (or really interested in committing to) reading several books with or for my friends. It's been a while since I have you a bookish list, so how about one now?

• First, the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. A local friend lent me the entire series, and I really enjoyed the first three. I should review them, hm?
• Andi Can. Not. Stop. Talking. About Outlander . I read the first 200 pages, apparently I'm just at the point where it takes off. I promised her I'd pick it back up.
• My next commitment for the BlogHer Book Club launches on May 31st. I haven't started the book yet, but thankfully it's not a chunkster.
• Last, everyone's favorite rock star, Trish is hosting The Standalong, a group reading of Stephen King's The Stand to take place over two months in June and July.

If I just read those books and nothing else, that'll take me right through the end of the summer! Have you see how thick some of those are?? Tell me, did Andi or Trish convince YOU to read one of their pet projects? Have you read The Black Dagger Brotherhood? What do you have on tap for the next couple of months?

January Mini Reviews

There are always a handful of books that I don't really want to write a full review of, but that I'd like some record or having read.  


Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.  I'd really have liked to review this one fully, but was completely stumped at trying to summarize the plot. I really enjoyed it a lot, loved the world Taylor created and the characters of Karou and Akiva and Brimstone. I loved the set up for the series, the reason for the book, if you will. I did think the last third of the book really bogged down, and if you've read it you know what part I mean. The more time that passes since I finished, the more I like it though, and at this point I'm very excited to see what happens next. Highly recommended.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. A 13 year old boy, an ill mother, a nightmare come to life. This one is loved all over the blogosphere and when I saw it on the library shelf I grabbed it. I really had no intention of reading it before seeing it there.  This is a short book, with lots of really striking drawings and terrific writing and is easily read in one sitting. I will admit that it made me sob, like it seems to do for most people. However. Almost the instant I closed the cover I felt manipulated. I didn't see any reason at all for the book, other than to make me cry. I went to read other reviews of people who saw Conor grow and confront his own guilt and grief but I was just a little bit annoyed by it.


Whiskey Sour (Jack Daniels Mysteries) by J.A. Jonrath.  This was my first entry into my personal challenge.  It was perfect for the time, I had a couple other books going that required more brain power. In the end though, I didn't love the book.  While the humor made me laugh in spots, the writing was a bit simplistic and I thought some of the jokes were a bit insulting. For funny mysteries I'd stick with Janet Evanovich, for interesting mysteries I'm still loving the Inked series by Karen Olsen, and for murder I'd choose J.D. Robb's In Death series every time.

Library Loot and Reading Plan

I recently moved the furniture around in our living room so that I could make a little play area for the kids to use during the day. I thought it would make the toys in the living room look intentional, as opposed to messy (and it does!) but one of the by products of this was that I relocated the shelves where we keep our library books. Instead of being along the same wall as my "desk" (the spot at the table where I always sit, next to my sewing machine), they are now directly across the room from me, in my line of sight. Suddenly, I can't stop seeing all the books that I have checked out and need to read before I can't renew them any more.  At my current rate of less than a book a week, there's no way I'll be able to read them all. In order to make it seem a bit more managable, I returned every book that wasn't on the shelf for a reason. That is, I returned all the impulse grabs. This leaves me with the following list, in no particular order, which is still completely impossible!

• Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor, half done with this one, as mentioned previously.
• Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer. For my personal reading challenge
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Because everyone and their dog loved it and put it on their list.
• Falling for Hamletby Michelle Ray. For the Janssen Reading Challenge. This one is ILL, I can't renew it. Need to brush up on my Hamlet first though.
• Splitby Swati Avasthi. Also for the Janssen Reading Challenge. Also via ILL.
• In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan. Again with the everyone and their dog, plus it seems like a good followup to The Kitchen Counter Cooking School.
• This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper. Recommended by several blogs, and my good friend Shawna.
• The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: A Pedestrian in Paris by John Baxter. Recommended by Amanda. Sadly this one will have to go back because I'm not going to get to it before it's due tomorrow, and no more renewals. I'll bring it home again one day.
• Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski. I have no idea who recommended this one, but someone did!
• A Profound Mind: Cultivating Wisdom in Everyday Life by the Dalai Lama. Ok, no one recommended this one, it was on the new release shelf. I remain fascinated by religion, khama, happiness, and the intersection of such. At 148 pages and two renewals remaining, I think I'll get to it.
• Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading by Nina Sankovitch. This is another that made the rounds. I saw it in the Large Print section and snapped it up.
• Shine by Lauren Myracle. Because unless you spent last fall under a rock, you heard about this one and the controversy.
• Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride. Bookshelves of Doom gets the credit for it. ("Speaking of, the love story is adorable.")
• The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers: An Unconventional Memoir (P.S.) by Josh Kilmer-Purcell. Ok, no rec for this either, I guess.
• The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown. This one isn't a library book, it's my next book for the BlogHer Book Club. I was thrilled to get in on this one since I've heard so many great things.

And to round it all out, yesterday I got a call that I have two more books waiting at the library- Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn't Cook from Scratch -- Over 120 Recipes for the Best Homemade Foods and The Magic Room: A Story About the Love We Wish for Our Daughters (that second one is an ILL, so again, no renewing on it!)

If I'm realistic at all, I'll start with the ILLs, then the BlogHer book (due Feb 8, I think.) Where would you start?

(The top shelf of books are the ones on this list, the second shelf are all for Mike. The third shelf are kid's library books, and the bottom shelf are random books we own that needed a place to go when I was cleaning the living room. The canvas bag is full of library returns.)

The Books Lists Life Personal Reading Challege

I don't usually do very well at reading challenges. I'm not sure I've actually ever completed one successfully. I get a little jealous of all the fun lists everyone else is making, but I'm realistic and I know I won't complete a challenge anyway. Despite this, I decided that I wanted to do a little personal challenge with a couple of friends. I thought that maybe I would slowly work my way through my reading friends, and maybe stir up a little conversation with them.

The idea is that we'd each make a list of 5 or 6 books and then the other person would read 4 or 5 of them. We are allowed an out, in case the other person picked something horrible, like poetry or a play. There is no time limit on the challenge and no pressure.

The first person I asked my my good friend Shawna. Shawna lives in Rapid City so we don't see each other often, and we don't read all the same books, but we both share a love of books and libraries (like many of you.) Shawna's favorite books are ones that make you cry. They rip your heart out and stomp on them, and make you ache for the characters. She likes serious books and women's fiction, with a big dose of non-fiction and memoirs to round it out. The more drama the better.  We both read and loved The Time Traveler's Wife, Me & Emma, and A Thousand Splendid Suns.

For Shawna, I chose:

• Heartbreak Hotel by Anne Rivers Siddons. This one is set in a fictional Auburn during integration. I've read it at least 6 times and love it.
• Divergent by Veronica Roth. I loved this one last year and want to make everyone else read it.
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. It's possible I don't love it as much as I once did, but it made a big impact on me in college, so here it is.
• Girl Meets God: On the Path to a Spiritual Life by Lauren Winner. For an unreligious person (I prefer to think of myself as spiritual. Hork.), I seem to read a lot of religious memoirs.
• Moon Called (Mercy Thompson) by Patricia Briggs. This is the first book in what is, hands down, my favorite series.

I did NOT give her any traditional romances. I was tempted, but I did not.

For me, Shawna picked:

• A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles" by Marianne Williamson.
• Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn.
• Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
• The Wizard of Oz (Puffin Classics) by L Frank Baum
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (I've actually read this, but it was in high school and I don't remember much of it at all.)

The second person I asked was another Lisa, who (used to, ahem) blog at Git Down Kitty. Lisa is a quilt and craft blogger, not a books blogger, but as we've chatted extensively online it's come to light that we both do a good bit of reading. She reads more in the chick lit and mystery genres, with the occasional young adult thrown in for good measure. She's one of the many people encouraging me to read Outlander .

For Lisa, I chose:

• Heartbreak Hotel by Anne Rivers Siddons.
• Divergent by Veronica Roth.
• Moon Called by Patricia Briggs.
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Me & Emma by Elizabeth Flock. If you haven't read this, please do, so I can ask you a Question!

For me, Lisa chose:

• The Prince of Tides: A Novel by Pat Conroy (unrelated note, my ex-sister-in-law's two cats were Conroy and Austen.)
• Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
• Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer
• Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham
• Whiskey Sour (Jack Daniels Mysteries) by J. A. Konrath

My original list for Lisa was much longer, but I managed to narrow it down. For now.

If you were to pick a list of books for another blogger, would it be the same list for everyone, or would you prefer to match it to the other blogger? I had a hard time with this decision, I think my ultimate list would have ended up differently if I wasn't able to swap up a couple books. I wanted to formalize this as a challenge for myself, because someone when people say "Oh you HAVE to read this!" I don't ever DO it. This is a way to push myself to read books that other people truly loved.

How about you? Do you tend to push those recommendations to the side? Do you read them immediately? Especially for books that aren't new releases? Would you do a challenge of this type with a friend?