Alicia's 2013 challenge attempt - second thread

I'm looking forward to my first challenge! Not only do I love lists and checking off my progress, but I'm also looking forward to putting a bit more emphasis on categories that I never seem to read much of. That being said, I'll be trying to knock off books that are also from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die and already on my bookshelf.

I plan on reading 91 books, one from the 1st category, two from the 2nd category, etc. Since I'm making really good progress, I've decided to set these as minimum numbers to read for each category. And here are my categories...

Re-read (3/1)
Tomes (2/2)
Fantasy/Sci-Fi (5/3)
Award Winners (8/4)
Mysteries (10/5)
New(ish) Releases (10/6)
Non-Fiction (9/7)
Recommendations (9/8)
Miscellaneous (12/9)
Women Writers (13/10)
Non-American (13/11)
Get Off My Bookshelf! (12/12)
Audio Books (14/13)

Finished as of October 12th, now I'm just going above the minimum numbers.

   

Re-Read

1) George’s Marvelous Medicine – finished January 19th
2) To Kill a Mockingbird – finished June 9th
3) The Great Gatsby - finished November 13th

Reading:

Possibilities:
The Handmaid's Tale
The Life of Pi

 

Tomes

1) Camilla – finished June 22nd
2) Les Miserables - finished October 2nd

Reading:
Infinite Jest

Possibilities:
A Dance to the Music of Time

       

Fantasy/Sci-Fi

1) The House on the Borderland – finished February 1st
2) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – finished May 10th
3) Stranger in a Strange Land – finished June 2nd
4) Neuromancer - finished November 17th
5) Ender's Game - finished November 24th

Possibilities:
I, Robot

             

Award Winners

1) The White Tiger - finished January 4th
2) The House on Mango Street - finished February 4th
3) The Sense of an Ending - finished February 5th
4) The English Patient - finished March 8th
5) A Farewell to Arms - finished October 13th
6) Dear Life - finished October 23rd
7) Malone Dies - finished October 27th
8) The Color Purple - finished November 11th

Reading:

Possibilities:
Small Island

                 

Mysteries

1) The Murder at the Vicarage - finished January 6th
2) Peril at End House - finished January 16th
3) The Clocks - finished March 16th
4) Fantomas - finished June 5th
5) The Spy Who Came in From the Cold - finished July 5th
6) Four to Score - finished October 29th
7) Murder in the Marais - finished November 9th
8) The Bat - finished November 27th
9) Broken Harbor - finished December 10th
10) High Five - finished December 14th

Reading:

Possibilities:
Murder in Belleville
The Black Dahlia
The Bancroft Strategy
Basket Case
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
The Coroner's Lunch

                 

New(ish) Releases, published since 2010

1) The Round House - finished March 4th
2) Arcadia - finished March 11th
3) The Fault in Our Stars - finished March 13th
4) 11/22/63 - finished April 5th
5) Salvage the Bones - finished April 29th
6) The Orphan Master's Son - finished May 4th
7) TransAtlantic - finished July 10th
8) A Hologram for the King - finished November 6th
9) The Appeal - finished December 26th
10) Inferno - finished December 29th

Reading:

Possibilities:
The Leftovers
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Tenth of December

               

Non-Fiction

1) Islam: A Short History - finished February 9th
2) The Organic Home Garden - finished March 25th
3) The Worst Hard Time - finished April 9th
4) Arctic Dreams - finished April 30th
5) Where the Pavement Ends - finished June 14th
6) Drop Dead Healthy - finished August 25th
7) The Tipping Point - finished September 10th
8) The Path Between the Seas - finished October 27th
9) The Kayak Lady - finished November 23rd

Possibilities:
Garbage Land
Travels with Charley
The Devil's Highway
Hitler's Arctic War

               

Recommendations (from friends, family, reviewers, LT, etc.)

1) Six Characters in Search of an Author - finished January 18th
2) The Gone-Away World - finished/abandoned February 18th
3) Killer Show - finished March 11th
4) At Play in the Fields of the Lord - finished April 27th
5) The Ninth Wife - finished June 23rd
6) Those Who Save Us - finished August 12th
7) The Perks of Being A Wallflower - finished September 12th
8) Norwood - finished September 14th
9) Riders of the Purple Sage - finished November 22nd

Reading:

Possibilities:
Code to Zero
Same Kind of Different as Me
There Is No Me Without You

                     

Miscellaneous (the "catch my distractions"/overflow category)

1) The Reader - finished April 13th
2) Fight Club - finished April 27th
3) The Master of Ballantrae - finished June 14th
4) Moon Palace - finished June 22nd
5) Out Stealing Horses - finished July 12th
6) The Power and the Glory - finished July 27th
7) The Marble Faun - finished August 23rd
8) The Wasp Factory - finished September 21st
9) Lullaby - finished October 8th
10) God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater - finished November 9th
11) Foe - finished November 23rd
12) The Crying of Lot 49 - finished November 27th

Reading:

Possibilities:
The Comfort of Strangers

                       

Women Writers

1) Sula - finished January 15th
2) Quicksand - finished February 3rd
3) The Robber Bride - finished March 2nd
4) O Pioneers! - finished March 4th
5) The Tiger's Wife - finished March 27th
6) I Dream of Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth - finished May 4th
7) The Glimpses of the Moon - finished May 24th
8) Life and Death of Harriet Frean - finished June 18th
9) Daniel Deronda - finished July 21st
10) Faithful Place - finished October 12th
11) them - finished November 6th
12) On Beauty - finished December 8th
13) How They Spend Their Sundays - finished December 26th

Reading:

Possibilities:
To the Lighthouse
The Story of O

                       

Non-American (either setting or author)

1) One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - finished January 12th
2) A Pale View of Hills - finished January 20th
3) The Newton Letter - finished February 2nd
4) Under Fire - finished February 21st
5) The Monk - finished March 1st
6) The Elegance of the Hedgehog - finished April 13th
7) The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau - abandoned May 21st
8) The Buddha of Suburbia - finished June 30th
9) Mother - finished July 15th
10) And the Mountains Echoed - finished July 30th
11) Ivanhoe - finished September 6th
12) Growth of the Soil - finished November 4th
13) After the Quake - finished December 15th

Reading:

Possibilities:
Arrow of God
Father Goirot
Nana
Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord

                     

Get Off My Bookshelf!

1) The Book Thief - finished January 12th
2) East of Eden - finished February 19th
3) Smilla's Sense of Snow - finished February 27th
4) Antic Hay - finished April 19th
5) Empire Falls - finished May 12th
6) Memoirs of a Geisha - finished June 1st
7) The Pilot's Wife - finished June 16th
8) Freedom - finished June 28th
9) Not So Funny when it Happened - finished July 4th
10) The Hour I First Believed - finished August 6th
11) Rosshalde - finished August 19th
12) The Lacuna - finished October 6th

Reading:

Possibilities:
Angle of Repose
Dead Babies
The Far Euphrates
The Joke
Lake Wobegon Days
The Tin Drum
On the Black Hill

                         

Audio Books

1) Quo Vadis - finished January 2nd
2) The Secret Agent - finished January 22nd
3) A Tale of Two Cities - finished January 27th
4) Babbitt - finished January 31st
5) Half of a Yellow Sun - finished March 22nd
6) The Rainbow - finished April 17th
7) The Riddle of the Sands - finished May 14th
8) Tess of D'Urbervilles - finished May 20th
9) The Golden Bowl - finished July 6th
10) Fathers and Sons - finished July 24th
11) Citizen Vince - finished August 14th
12) Uncle Silas - finished August 15th
13) The Red House - finished August 17th
14) Martin Eden - finished December 1st

Checking out your shiny new thread, Alicia. Looks like you have made great progress with your challenge!

Thanks Lori! I'm expecting a busy fall with less reading, so I'm trying to get ahead while I can : )

Happy new thread! :)

Nice new thread! Sorry to see The Buddha of Suburbia was only so-so - when he does it right, Kureishi can be great.

Welcome! Glad to hear that about Kureishi since there are two more of his books on the 1001 list.

I was off the grid for the long weekend. I must say in this day and age it is really odd to have no smart phone service or computer access for that long. So I am trying my best to get caught up on all that happened on LT while I was away. Happily I will have a new computer at home soon which will really help with postings and updates – love my Nook, but it is a little tedious to do these things on it. Sadly, I only finished three books while I was away...

#67
Not So Funny When it Happened: The Best of Travel Humor and Misadventure edited by Tim Cahill
Category: Get Off My Bookshelf!
AlphaCAT: T
Random CAT: Travel
My Rating:

Some stories were good, some bad and some mediocre. With a title like this I set myself up for disappointment when not all the stories got at least a chuckle.

#68
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John Le Carre
Category: Mysteries
Award CAT: Edgar Award – 1965 Winner
My Rating:

An intellectual thriller with more emphasis on the mind games of spying and less on the chases and gadgetry. The book really plays in the grey area of who are the bad guys and who are the good guys. And the ending was a big slap in the face, in a good way : )

#69
The Golden Bowl by Henry James
Category: Audio Books
Alpha CAT: G
My Rating:

I’m getting a little fed up with the classics where the entire plot is derived because people are too ‘well bred’ or reserved to say what they really mean. Did it really take 600 pages for Maggie to find out, and then come to terms with the fact, that her husband was messing around with her best friend/father’s wife?!?

I find 'going off the grid' to be an interesting experience. I test it every time I head home to visit my folks. I don't have a smart phone and I force myself to not use my parents computer, although last trip home I discovered they had gone wi-fi with their router, making it really tempting to want to surf the web at night in bed instead of just curling up with a good book! ;-)

>21 lkernagh: My folks have been behind the technology curve too, although last time I was home they had cable TV and internet! So I had to exercise some self control to get a little reading in during the quiet times.

Feeling lazier than normal review wise...

#70
TransAtlantic by Colum McCann
Category: Miscellaneous
Alpha CAT: T
My Rating:

#71
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
Category: Miscellaneous
Award CAT: Independent Foreign Fiction Prize (winner 2006)
My Rating:

#72
Mother by Maxim Gorky
Category: Non-American
Alpha CAT: G
My Rating:

I was planning on reading Out Stealing Horses for this month's AwardCAT too, but I have been warned it's very slow-moving and I just finished one of that ilk, so it may have to stay on Mt. TBR a while longer. :)

Eva - I can't give you any reason to pick it up quickly! It is slow moving and had a lot of potential...I just thought it petered out and could have used a few more chapters. But still worth reading when you are up for it!

I read Out Stealing Horses for the AwardCAT. You liked it more than I did. I gave it 2.5 stars. I almost Pearl Ruled it.

>26 VioletBramble: I could see Pearl ruling it...but you kept going because something astounding, or award worthy, was supposed to happen, right? That was what kept me going anyway. I also liked the atmosphere that was drawn and I'm still thinking about the book - wondering what I missed or what might have actually happened.

#73
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
Category: Women Writers
Alpha CAT: G
My Rating:

I might have liked this more if I didn’t have high standards for George Eliot. But it was too philosophical, too much of a search for identity, some major characters weren’t developed fully, and there was the worst proposal EVER.

I don't know what I was thinking...yesterday I started jotting some stuff down for the 2014 challenge and before I knew it I had 16 categories and 12 of them filled with books to read. Not good! So I'll be trying to figure out what categories to cut and how to leave some space for books that crop up in 2014. I wish in this one area of my life I could be a better procrastinator : )

Hee hee! I've started planning my 2014 challenge as well :) Looking forward to seeing what you've come up with!

You're not alone. I have my basic categories planned out with some room for tweaking. Found myself wondering today what the group reads might be for next year.

#27 LOL, thats EXACTLY what I was thinking. Plus, my sister passed the book on to me and she had loved it. I also liked the atmosphere, but once I got to the logging section I was so bored. I think if Trond had actually asked Lars the question he didn't want to ask and we found out what happened after his father left I would have liked the book better. I felt like I reached the end of the book and had no idea what happened. I don't like open endings.
Oh, I already have my 2014 and 2015 challenge categories planned. I like trying to make up categories to fit the books on my shelves. Sometimes, like this year, I change everything at the last minute for something totally new.

Good points Violet. And I do like a more tidy ending too.

Glad to know I'm not alone about pre-planning my categories. I hadn't even thought about group reads for next year...now where am I going to fit those? : /

Wow, Violet, 2015 already?! I have 2014 pretty much mapped out though. :)

Violet's not the only one. I've got my 2015 theme planned as well.

@ 35 -- And this is why I love LT!

Now you've all got me thinking. If I start now maybe I can actually come up with a creative theme for 2015 : )

Finished a few more in the last few days...

#74
Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
Category: Audio Book
Alpha CAT: T
My Rating:

Another Russian classic. This one focuses on the timeless conflict faced when a son grows up and ends up at odds with the beliefs and ideas of his father. Especially true in this case where the father is a Russian aristocrat and the son is a radical who comes back home with his nihilist friend in tow. Good, not great, but it was narrated by one of my favorite readers – George Guidall.

#75
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
Category: Miscellaneous
Alpha CAT: G
My Rating:

The unnamed ‘whisky’ priest is on the run in rural Mexico after the state has outlawed Catholicism. If he is caught he will likely be found guilty of treason and executed. He has opportunities to flee, like the other local priests, but a combination of pride and sense of duty keep him bouncing from village to village performing his services by rote. Gloomy and stark, this 220 page book took me a long time to read just because of the sense of foreboding that permeated throughout. The priest was a major screw up and yet his self-deprecating manner and struggle with his own sins made me want him to survive and keep going.

#76
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Category: Non-American
My Rating:

I am a fan of Hosseini and was not let down by this one – ok, maybe a little let down since I was hoping for a 5 star read. The book contained well written, gripping, emotional stories of Afghani life through the 20th century. My one hang-up was the structure seemed a little gimmicky. Each chapter was nearly a short story on its own, but would have some tenuous link to characters that had been introduced. Maybe other readers won’t have a problem with this, but I spent way too much time trying to figure out the fleeting connections that didn’t seem to add much to the book.

July Summary:

I finished July with 10 books read, and really only one in progress (must get back to those tomes that I started months ago!). My favorite read was either The Spy Who Came in From the Cold or And the Mountains Echoed. And my least favorite was The Golden Bowl.

Here’s my tally of CATs for July: 2 Award CATs, 7 Alpha CATs, and 1 Random CAT

Here’s a few of the books that are on the top of the pile for August reads:
Citizen Vince – Award CAT
The Red House – Random & Alpha CAT
On the Black Hill – Random & Alpha CAT
Uncle Silas – Random & Alpha CAT
them – monthly author read & Random CAT
How They Spend Their Sundays – Alpha CAT, Early Reviewer
Those Who Save Us – Alpha CAT
The Hour I First Believed – Alpha CAT (currently reading)
Rosshalde by Herman Hesse – Alpha CAT
The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea – Alpha CAT

An overly ambitious reading list for how my month is looking, but it’s good to have goals and variety on what to choose from.

7 categories complete, 6 to go!

Well I'm back from vacation and a string of okay reads. I drove to Montana to meet up with the family for an outdoorsy week. Thank goodness for audio books for the drive to and fro. I think I packed 5 paperback books and my Nook (just in case) - but we were so busy I only finished one and am about halfway through Rosshalde.

#77
The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
Category: Get Off My Bookshelf!
Alpha CAT: H
Random CAT: Family Matters
My Rating:

#78
Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum
Category: Recommendations
Alpha CAT: U
Random CAT: Family Matters
My Rating:

#79
Citizen Vince by Jess Walter
Category: Audio Book
Award CAT: Thriller Award, 2006 nominee
My Rating:

#80
Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Category: Audio Book
Alpha CAT: U
Random CAT: Family Matters
My Rating:

Not sure if I'll ever get around to writing reviews on these...I'd rather catch up on other threads!

#81
The Red House by Mark Haddon
Category: Audio Book
Alpha CAT: H
Random CAT: Family Matters
My Rating:

I was looking forward to reading this novel by the author that wrote The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and hoped it would break my streak of hum-drum reads, but it did not. I finished this yesterday and already today I was having trouble remembering what book I had read. A grown brother and sister (who are not close at all) spend a week long holiday with their families in the English countryside. The book is told in the alternating viewpoints of the eight family members on this vacation and we slowly learn their grudges, dreams, secrets and struggles.

I just finished his Spot of Bother and while I enjoyed it, it wasn't as good as Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime either. Maybe he had just one good story in him?

That's too bad. I have Spot of Bother on my to-read list, but now I'm really less interested in ever reading it.

If you like reading about highly dysfunctional families, it might be up your alley!

>44 Yells: Sometimes there is nothing like a story of highly dysfunctional families to make you feel normal and appreciate your own!

And speaking of dysfunctional families...

#82
Rosshalde by Herman Hesse
Category: Get off my Bookshelf!
Alpha CAT: H
Random CAT: Family Matters
My Rating:

A wealthy and successful artist wants to flee his loveless marriage and stifling life in England but cannot face leaving his young son. This was rather an unhappy tale of a man trying to do the honorable thing, but making himself and others miserable in the process. Since this was also semi-autobiographical it seemed even sadder. Although in the back of my mind I was thinking, “Oh this poor man, trapped on his opulent English estate, spending his days swimming, painting and being waited on by servants… he certainly does need a trip to India to find happiness and fulfillment.”

#83
The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Category: Miscellaneous
Alpha CAT: H
My Rating:

The book description makes it sound better than it was, “The fragility-and the durability-of human life and art dominate this story of American expatriates in Italy in the mid-nineteenth century. Befriended by Donatello, a young Italian with the classical grace of the "Marble Faun," Miriam, Hilda, and Kenyon find their pursuit of art taking a sinister turn as Miriam's unhappy past precipitates the present into tragedy.”

#84
Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection by A. J. Jacobs
Category: Non-Fiction
Alpha CAT: H
My Rating:

A.J. Jacobs is 41 and is a newb when it comes to being healthy. He’s not solely looking to lose weight but takes a holistic approach at building a healthy body and has chapters devoted to ear, skin, brain, and foot health, pain management, skin care and the list goes on. He talks to a lot of experts in various fields and peppers some history and personal stories into the chapters as well. Some of his trials are quite amusing and I was chuckling throughout. And not to spoil it, but he does actually become healthier at the end through the radical approach of eating better and smaller meals, moderate exercise and making regular family and community connections. I consider myself a pretty healthy person, but I still learned new things (drinking ice water is negatively caloric because your body needs to use energy to warm the water), received affirmation on other habits of mine, and was entertained to boot. – Recommended –

And now only eight books to go! I really want to wrap up this challenge in September and then I can have the rest of the year as a free for all...But one of the eight remaining is Infinite Jest and I have about 800 pages remaining, hopefully it becomes a page turner for me soon : )

I am always intrigued by books that take a slower, more holistic approach to a healthy lifestyle and portion control. My favorite read in this type of self-help book is Mireille Guiliamo's French Women Don't get Fat. Her website is also good for some interesting tidbits of life from Guiliamo's point of view. Drop Dead Healthy gets added to the future reading list.

Eight books to go.... That is fantastic, even if one of them is an 800 page chunkster!

Thanks Lori! And I'll have to add French Women Don't get Fat to my TBR, it's been on my periphery for a while, but now you've nudged it to list status.

French Women Don't get Fat Ah if only it was true !? Adding And the Mountains Echoed to the BB ;) And off to read the first part of your thread: I've seen a lot of books that I've put on the contenders list for 2014.

> 48 and 49 - French Women Don't get Fat Ah if only it was true !?

Good one! What I liked about the Guiliamo book - she does have more than one - is it starts out explaining the weight gain she experienced as a teenager when she was a foreign exchange student for one year in the US and takes the reader through the very slow, laborious and at times very frustrating process she went through to lose the weight she had put on (if I remember correctly it took her two years to lose the weight it had taken her one year to put on) and to learn how to incorporate portion control management without denying herself the ability to enjoy treats. She raises some good points such as it is easier to eat smaller portions when you: 1) eat slower (no surprise there, gives the stomach time to communicate with your brain that you have had enough and can quit eating) and more importantly, 2) eat foods rich in flavour (enjoy a fine quality chocolate truffle as opposed to a 'run of the mill' chocolate bar at three times the calorie count) and savour it.

>49 electrice: Sorry electrice - hopefully you like the BBs I've hit you with!

>50 lkernagh: That makes a lot of sense that eating fast, eating bland food, and eating large portions were problems that she specifically encountered in America. Sad that instead of taking lessons from, say the French, that our bad habits are spreading as McDonalds tries to take over the world.

August Summary:

I finished August with 8 more books read, which means I have only 8 more to go for my challenge! Well, my challenge minimum anyway. I’m going to try to finish it up in September and then it will be a reading free for all and many will probably fit in my categories. My only 4 star read of the month was Drop Dead Healthy and the rest were either 3 or 3.5 star reads, so I can’t pick a worst.

Here’s my tally of CATs for August: 1 Award CAT, 7 Alpha CATs, and 5 Random CATs

So to finish off the challenge I need to read these in September (the titles aren't set in stone, they’re just what I’m thinking for right now that work in the remaining categories):

Infinite Jest – Alpha CAT
The Tipping Point
There is No Me Without You
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
The Wasp Factory – Alpha CAT, monthly author read
them
Ivanhoe – Alpha CAT, group read
Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord – Alpha CAT

On second thought, it will probably be challenge enough for me to finish all these in October.

Argh, what a month! My classes have officially sucked up all my free time and work has been annoyingly busy too. My house is a mess; my dogs are neglected, as is my garden (luckily my husband is out of town so I can’t add him to the neglected list). I haven’t really been able to post on LT let alone lurk, and the worst is my reading of physical books is nearly non-existent (still haven’t finished the 180 pages of The Wasp Factory and I’ve been reading it for 3 weeks!). Thank goodness for audio books so I can still get some ‘reading’ done. I’ve had to reconsider the books needed to complete my challenge, but that’s okay since the main thing is that I am still enjoying the challenge and this way I might still have a chance at finishing soon.

#85
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
Category: Non-American (CATEGORY COMPLETE!)
Alpha CAT: I
My Rating:

#86
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Category: Non-Fiction (CATEGORY COMPLETE!)
My Rating:

#87
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Category: Recommended
My Rating:

#88
Norwood by Charles Portis
Category: Recommended (CATEGORY COMPLETE!)
My Rating:

Just give a shout out if you’re interested on my rambling thoughts about any of these books I’ve finished.

What did you think of Norwood? Knowing Charles Portis only for True Grit, I'd be interested in knowing what his other books are like.

I liked it quite a bit, but it just didn't have enough substance to put it in the 4 star tier. It was a quick and amusing read with the memorable characters that Portis is famous for - and the minor characters were remarkable too. I don't know how he does it but it only takes a sentence or two to draw a complete picture of characters that are only with you for a page or two. This was his first book and it certainly made me want to read more.

Oops, missed this one that I finished a week or so ago…

#89
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Alpha CAT: I
Category: Miscellaneous (CATEGORY COMPLETE!)
My Rating:

Once you get past the disturbing elements, this book was an interesting read, but the surprise ending fell a little flat to me. I did listen to the BBC Radio 4 book club episode where The Wasp Factory was discussed and was really glad I did. Iain Banks was so charming and engaging, a complete surprise to me considering what I had just read.


September Summary:

5 books down, 3 to go to complete my challenge! I hope others had a more successful reading month. My favorite this month was The Perks of Being a Wallflower and the worst was The Tipping Point. Only 2 Alpha CATs read. For October, I should be finishing Les Miserables in a few days, I’m making some progress on them, and then I just need to get cracking on a ‘Get Off My Bookshelf’ read – probably either On the Black Hill (which would fit for the Random CAT) or The Lacuna.

Happy reading all!

I have The Wasp Factory on Mt. TBR so I'll go bookmark the Banks BBC Radio 4 page as well. Hope I remember to actually listen to it... :)

I love the BBC book club, and I have the podcasts ready for books on my TBR. When I was in a real life book club, we were always trying to figure out what the author was trying to say, or if they really meant something, or what their motivations were. So listening to the author answer the audience questions is really enlightening!

There are quite a lot of great ones there - hope they stay up a long time!

3 down, 1 more to go! It will be a race between them and Faithful Place. My money is on Faithful Place : )

#90
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Category: Tomes (CATEGORY COMPLETE!)
My Rating:

I knew very little of this story, since I had watched the Liam Neeson version of the movie more than a decade ago. It was wonderful. My qualm about the book was that Victor Hugo cannot resist lengthy tangents on topics marginally related to the plot. In some other posts readers have pointed out that these serve as times to catch your breath because of the fast pace of the book overall, but I still thought these detracted, rather than added to it. One major plus was I was listening to the version narrated by George Guidall. He did a fabulous job and, to my nominally trained ear, his French was amazing.

#91
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
Category: Get Off My Bookshelf (CATEGORY COMPLETE!)
My Rating:

So I feel guilty rating this as high as Les Mis, and I know it isn’t as good, and most of the book was a thinly veiled lecture on America’s press and political kerfuffles, but I really liked it. This is the story of Harrison William Shepherd, son of an American father and Mexican mother. The story spans the 1920s-1950s, Mexico and the U.S. and Harrison’s encounters with the likes of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Lev Trotsky. Kingsolver further weaves historical events in the story - the Bonus Army Riots in D.C., the assassination of Lev Trotsky, and the communist investigations and subsequent Red Trials - shaping Harrison’s world view and having lasting impacts on him. I was fascinated by the characters, especially Frida Kahlo, and thought the writing was phenomenal.

#92
Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
Category: Miscellaneous
Award CAT: Bram Stoker Award, 2002 nominee
My Rating:

This one was weird even for Chuck P. It started out with a journalist doing a story on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, then discovering a ‘culling song’ was actually killing the babies, finding that he could kill anyone just by saying the culling song in his head, then racing around the country with three other companions (stories to be told in their own right) to destroy every copy of the book the culling song was in, and then getting weirder. Not his best work, in my opinion, but entertaining none the less.

Faithful Place is my favorite of French's - hope you like it!

-Eva- I am liking it so far! I was a bit let down by The Likeness, but after hearing around here how much better Faithful Place was I decided to seek it out.

Yay, two categories completed! Nice work :)

Thanks RP! I was despairing over my tome category because I don't have much time these days to read actual books (other than textbooks), but then I found the audio version of Les Mis and problem solved!

#93
Faithful Place by Tana French
Category: Women Writers (CATEGORY COMPLETE!)
My Rating:

The third book in the Dublin Murder Squad focuses on the story of undercover detective Frank Mackey and his dysfunctional family. He left home 22 years ago, and wouldn’t have come back if the suitcase of his disappeared sweetheart had not been found in the abandoned house in their neighborhood. Mackey takes on the investigation informally, much to the chagrin of Detective Kennedy, and makes some life altering discoveries about the past and present. I found this novel to be a real page-turner and rather an emotional roller coaster. At least twice I found myself egging on Mackey to take revenge and then once he started doing exactly that, French would make some subtle change and with the flip of a switch I now found the other character involved in the scene to be sympathetic and too pathetic for Mackey to treat them as badly as I had wanted him to a moment before. I don’t know how she did this. Very clever writing and I’m already on the wait list for the next installment. Also, I found that #5 in the series will be released in 2014 featuring Stephen Moran, the young detective from this book and Mackey’s daughter Holly. Looking forward to that!

A very good way to COMPLETE the CHALLENGE! I still like my categories and they are flexible enough that I’ll keep on filling them. But with whatever I want : ) Although, I might still try to work on some of the possibilities that I’ve listed, but that got pushed to the sidelines during the year. Or maybe those will just have to wait for the 2014 challenge.

Congratulations on completing your challenge, and it looks like you picked a winner of a book to end it with!

Cngratulations on competing your challenge, a great book to finish on!

Congrats on completing!! Yey on liking Faithful Place - it's a great one. And, good to hear your staying around until the 2014 starts.

Congrats on completing your challenge!

Congrats on completing!

Congrats on completing! I've enjoyed your reading this year and also loved Faithful Place. The next one us good too, though I found it the most disturbing of hers thus far.

And hurray for completed challenge!

Thanks for visiting and thanks for all the congratulations! I'll be sticking around this thread and one of these days actually set up for 2014.

>71 japaul22: And Broken Harbor is the most disturbing - I'm intrigued!

glitter-graphics.com

Well done!

Thanks mamzel. That graphic makes me smile : )

#94
A Farwell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Category: Award Winners
Award CAT: Nobel Prize, 1954
My Rating:

Here’s the book blurb, “In 1918 Ernest Hemingway went to war, to the 'war to end all wars'. He volunteered for ambulance service in Italy, was wounded and twice decorated. Out of his experience came A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway's description of war is unforgettable. He recreates the fear, the comradeship, the courage of his young American volunteer, and the men and women he meets in Italy, with total conviction. But A Farewell to Arms is not only a novel of war. In it Hemingway has also created a love story of immense drama and uncompromising passion.” Touching in some parts, laugh out loud funny in others. So it was a good read - just not exceptional to me.

#95
Dear Life by Alice Munro
Category: Award Winners
Award CAT: Nobel Prize, 2013
My Rating:

I'm surprised that I hadn't read any Alice Munro before. She is the queen of short stories! She can pack more into a few pages than some authors struggle to get into a whole novel. My only quibble with this collection is that towards the end, the stories were a little too similar and blended together. I am looking forward to more and am adding Lives of Girls and Women to my list for next year.

#96
The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough
Category: Non-fiction
My Rating:

I am so glad that this was a group read, otherwise I probably would not have picked it up. The true story of the building of the Panama Canal was fascinating and suspenseful. I am amazed that it was ever built and that the end result was done so well that it is still fully functional today.

I have to hang my head in shame in that I haven't read any Alice Munro yet. glad to see her short stories are well worth the read!

>78 lkernagh: And you're Canadian too! Make space for her in your 2014 challenge : )

#97
Malone Dies by Samuel Beckett
Category: Award Winners
Award CAT: Nobel Prize, 1969
My Rating:

Reading Beckett is a chore for me. There must be something to him (Nobel Prize and all that), but every time I read him I think either I’m really stupid or he’s an evil genius and has tricked the world into thinking he’s a literary genius. I will admit that this book started out more promising than others – or my expectations were low enough. Malone Dies is the story of Malone alone in a room, making up stories to occupy the time until he dies. I even found it amusing how he would interrupt his own stories with criticisms. But then he would get distracted by the fact that he only has one boot (not that he needs even one since he’s bed ridden) and go on for pages about what might have happened to the other one. Went downhill from there.

So now I’m reading Four to Score : )

I want to be sure to read the Nobel-winning book by Alice Munro next year (if I don't make it to it this year). I've been meaning to try something written by her, and I feel that I have just been given the nudge to do so.

Oh dear, another Canadian here who hasn't read Alice Monro yet. Hope to add her to my next years' reading list.

>81 thornton37814: & 82 Her winning the Nobel prize was what nudge me to reading Dear Life. I hope to get more read next year too.

#98
Four to Score by Janet Evanovich
Category: Mystery
Alpha CAT: J
My Rating:

I’m glad I was reminded about this series because it was good fun to pick it up again. Stephanie is up to the same tricks again…stumbling upon huge cases, having her life threatened, getting in the way of the police, and having some laughs along the way. She’s great, but I think it is the larger than life sidekicks and periphery characters that really make the stories entertaining.

October Summary:

Since there’s no chance that I will finish a book tonight (although I do plan to spend my evening hunkered down reading and avoiding trick-or-treaters) I may as well get my October summary done now. I read 9 books in October and finished my challenge. My favorite read was Faithful Place and my least favorite was Malone Dies.

AwardCATs: 4
AlphaCAT: 1

For November I am determined to finish them, but other than that I don’t really have a game plan. I might work on some books that I have listed as ‘Possibilities’ up above, I might focus on 1001 books, I might just do fun reads or maybe a little bit of everything. Oh, and I have a few contenders for the various CATs.

Happy reading all and Happy Halloween!

Hope you have a "might"-y Halloween! Haha - get it?? :)

Ha - thanks -Eva-! Wasn't the mightiest of Halloweens, but I did make a little dent in a book : )

#99
Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun
Category: Non-American
Alpha CAT: K
My Rating:

For some reason, this novel reminded me of a Norwegian Middlemarch…but better. It had the structure of life in a rural village, where occasionally something big and dramatic happens, but more often than not it is just same old busy work - sowing, reaping, making cheese. I don’t know how to explain the lives of Isak and Inger without it sounding terribly dull but I found this to be a real treat from the 1001 list. I will admit that this novel was probably more enjoyable for me since it seemed I could be reading about my great-grandparents and I saw a lot of the same mannerisms shared between Isak and my dad. Go read it if you are in the mood for a quaint and mostly feel good story, but with some juicy and exciting bits. And the Librivox narrator was pretty good too.

I've had Growth of the Soil downloaded on my Kindle since I read about it in something (maybe Nancy Pearl's Book Lust?). Perhaps your review will push it up on my reading priority list! It's one of the oldest books remaining on my Kindle. (I usually archive them when I finish reading them.)

Hum, I haven't gotten around to reading Middlemarch yet, but you are intriguing me with your review of Growth of the Soil.... maybe I will just bypass Middlemarch or better still, maybe I will try to remember to read Growth of the Soil after the group read for Middlemarch is finished. At least I think there is a planned group read of Middlemarch in the works over on the 2014 category challenge group.

>88 thornton37814: I wouldn't be surprised if it was a Nancy Pearl recommendation. She seems to go for the lesser known gems. Although I haven't read Book Lust...seems too dangerous.

>89 lkernagh: I would opt for Growth of the Soil over Middlemarch, but you might get more of it than I did by participating in the group read (2014 1st quarter). Either way, I'm glad I got you with this book bullet and I hope you like it when you read it : )

#100
them by Joyce Carol Oates
Category: Women Writers
Award CAT: National Book Award, best novel 1970
My Rating:

This was 500+ pages following an unlikable family in Detroit from about 1940-1970. Parts were very good and it certainly started off strong, but it became a chore to read. The character of Loretta especially got tiresome. She had the ‘woe is me attitude’ and couldn’t figure out why her kids didn’t turn out better. Um, maybe because the extent of your parenting was giving your toddler beer because he had too much energy. I’m glad that subsequent works by JCO are shorter because this was too repetitive and she had problems filling out the pages in a meaningful way.

#101
A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers
Category: New(ish) Releases
Award CAT: National Book Award, best novel nominee 2012
Alpha CAT: K
My Rating:

Well this was strange. I was really looking forward to reading it because of how much I liked Zeitoun, but I wasn’t really sure of what the point of this whole book was. A 50 something year old man’s life and finances are a mess and he’s sent to Saudi Arabia to try to win the IT contract for a city the King is building. And then there are these really strange and unfathomable side stories. Like how he becomes BFFs with his driver and goes to his village and hunts wolves. Or how the beautiful and young Danish consultant falls for him and takes him to a party at the embassy where old people are playing a game of fetching pills in the pool. Or how he has a cyst on his neck that must be connected to his spinal cord therefore causing all of his strange behavior and life problems. But it was short and an interesting perspective of life in Saudi Arabia.

Whoops, got behind on reviews again…

#102
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut
Category: Miscellaneous
Alpha CAT: K
My Rating:

A delightfully quirky read featuring the philanthropist Mr. Rosewater who decides to forgo conventional life and move back to his 'hometown' in rural Indiana.

#103
Murder in the Marais by Cara Black
Category: Mysteries
My Rating:

This is the first installment of the ‘Aimee Leduc Investigates’ series. Aimee kind of reminded me of a Parisian Stephanie Plum – she stumbles into cases that are bigger than she can handle, gets hurt a lot, people are trying to kill her, and she has a spunky partner. I’ll be reading more of this series.

#104
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Category: Award Winners
Award CAT: National Book Award, Fiction winner 1983
My Rating:

In spite of all the suffering endured and hardships faced, Celie keeps fighting and ultimately we get the happy ending she deserves.

#105
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Category: Re-reads
My Rating:

Better and more complex than I remember from when I read it in high school. And the prose is great. But I still don’t know why this is considered the great American novel.

#106
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Category: Sci-fi/Fantasy
Award CAT: Hugo Award, Best Novel 1985
Random CAT: Tribute to the Pilgrims
My Rating:

I can see that this is a really great sci-fi book - innovative and what not, but I didn’t get it. Reading the wiki plot summary helped me figure out what Case was trying to steal, why and what ultimately happened, but I’m still rather confused. Regardless, it was an entertaining read and sci-fi fans will probably get more out of it than I did.

#107
Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey
Category: Recommendations
My Rating:

My first and maybe my last Zane Grey. I guess I was expecting more of a Western and less of a romance. Jane was ridiculous, every Mormon but her was evil or spineless, and it was overall unsatisfying. Vetters, Lassiter and Bess were okay and the scenery depictions were great and vivid - who knew Utah could sound so beautiful? So it was a three star read until the end and then Jane became even more insufferable. Jane to Lassiter…I know you’ve been shot 5 times and traveled twice the distance I have, but I’m really tired from carrying this saddle bag all the way up this hill. You expect me to push this huge boulder down the valley? Why can’t you do it and crush the Mormons that I have been telling you not to kill this whole time? *while batting eyelashes*

I agree totally on your distaste of Riders of the Purple Sage, I was very disappointed with this book as well.

>94 DeltaQueen50: Sorry to hear you didn't like it, but glad I wasn't the only one

Well, that was a good weekend for reading. I'm already looking forward to Thanksgiving break for more reading time : )

#108
Foe by J.M. Coetzee
Category: Miscellaneous
Random CAT: Tribute to the Pilgrims (John)
My Rating:

An interesting premise to this short novel. Foe is the story of Robinson Crusoe told from the perspective of the women, Susan Barton, who ended up stranded on the island with Crusoe and Friday. The trio is saved by a passing ship and when Susan gets back to England she tries to sell her story. Foe is the only author interested. Not surprisingly Susan is an unreliable narrator; slipping further into insanity as she her situation becomes more precarious.

#109
The Kayak Lady: One Woman, One Kayak and 1007 Lakes by Mary Shideler
Category: Non-fiction
Alpha CAT: K
Random CAT: Tribute to the Pilgrims (Mary)
My Rating:

This is a short memoir of a woman who kayaked all 1007 lakes in the county I grew up in in Northern Minnesota. You can tell she’s not a writer, but she is passionate about the area and it comes through in the stories about her accomplishment. She reveals her whimsical side (afraid of sea monsters) while also dabbling in science (water measurements and dragonfly hatchings) and she gets personal too (sharing her emotional struggles following a divorce). My favorite parts about the memoir were the photos - gorgeous scenery and wildlife- and the vignettes between each chapter.

#110
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Category: Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Award CAT: Hugo Award, Best Novel 1986
My Rating:

Apparently I need to take my husband’s book recommendations more seriously. He’s been telling me for years that I needed to read Ender’s Game and I really enjoyed this. In order to save Earth from future alien attacks, the world government is breeding military geniuses and training them in the art of war. Ender is the best of the bunch and is put through grueling training, in the form of ‘games’, in order to prepare him for taking command of an army. It’s better than I just made it sound. I haven’t seen the movie, but after reading this I think Harrison Ford was a spot-on pick for Colonel Graff. My rating is lower than it might have been, but I listened to the dramatic, full cast audio version and was less than impressed with it.

#111
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
Category: Miscellaneous
Random CAT: Tribute to the Pilgrims (Thomas)
My Rating:

After this I think I am due for a straightforward classic or a regular mystery. The story started out strong as Oedipa tries to figure out why she was made the executor for her millionaire ex-boyfriend’s estate. But then it dives into a convoluted mystery with a conflict between two mail companies. Or are all the oddities just random coincidences that Oedipa imagines to be more nefarious? Lauded as a notable example of postmodern fiction, it was too disjointed to be enjoyable for me.

#112
The Bat by Jo Nesbo
Category: Mysteries
My Rating:

I liked the start of the Harry Hole series and it kept me guessing. Looking forward to more!

November Summary:

It seems the free for all November was just what I needed. I finished 14 books; these were mainly audio books since my actual reading time is consumed with text books and I am back to reading Infinite Jest. Two reads were 4½ star reads, Growth of the Soil and The Color Purple, and the dud of the month was Riders of the Purple Sage.

AwardCATs: 5
AlphaCATs: 4
RandomCATs: 4

I think I will just keep on with the randomness for December. I’m toying with the idea of starting the 2014 challenge early, but not until I finish Infinite Jest, or maybe not early at all because I like the idea of another free for all month. I have a really long road trip for the holidays that one way I’ll be doing with my dad and the other way I’ll be doing with my husband, so I’m having fun coming up with audio book ideas for that. Doctor Zhivago will be getting bumped for Mornings on Horseback, I’m hoping I can track down a copy of Travels with Charley (because my dogs will be taking the drive with us too), and probably a John Grisham, Agatha Christie, David Baldacci or two as a way to make driving North Dakota bearable (sorry to any N. Dakotans).

#113
Martin Eden by Jack London
Category: Audio Book
Alpha CAT: L
Random CAT: Auld Acquaintance
My Rating:

I don’t know why I liked this as much as I did. This is the semi-autobiographical novel about a sailor with little education aspiring to be a writer. He’s decided on this career change after falling in love with an upper class girl. We follow Martin Eden’s self-education process, the challenges of getting his writing published (and being paid for it), his difficulties blending into to bourgeois society while his good suit is in pawn, and then his mixed feelings once he is successful. It was a cynical and depressing look at Eden’s (and London’s?) whole journey – granted it only became depressing in the last third – but London raises good points about the process and Martin Eden was a compelling character.

ETA: Random CAT too!

It's been a crazy busy month so far. I've managed to keep reading, but time on LT has been sparse. Very ready for a vacation!

#114
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Category: Women Writers
Alpha CAT: Z
Random CAT: Auld Acquaintance
My Rating:

#115
Broken Harbor by Tana French
Category: Mysteries
Random CAT: Auld Acquaintance
My Rating:

The weakest of the Dublin Murder Squad, IMO. Lots of eye rolling going on when the plot was revealed.

#116
High Five by Janet Evanovich
Category: Mysteries
Random CAT: Auld Acquaintance
My Rating:

#117
After the Quake by Haruki Murakami
Category: Non-American
Random CAT: Auld Acquaintance
My Rating:

#118
How They Spend Their Sundays by Courtney McDermott
Category: Women Writers
My Rating:

I received this book from LT Early Reviewers. A book of short stories was the perfect format for the stark and depressing stories about life in South African and Lesotho. McDermott is a very talented writer, but I found the second section of the book distracting. These were the 1-2 page stories that ended just as I was getting into them. My favorite story, and the most hopeful, was the last of the book, 'The Ashen Shoes' - the clever, modern interpretation of Cinderella with an African twist.

#119
The Appeal by John Grisham
Category: New(ish) Releases
Random CAT: Auld Acquaintance
My Rating:

A rather disappointing read for John Grisham. I was looking for a quick and exciting legal thriller and instead got a long winded plot about the perils that can result from electing judges. An interesting and scary look at this problem, just not what I was in the mood for.

#120
Inferno by Dan Brown
Category: New(ish) Releases
Random CAT: Auld Acquaintance
My Rating:

I found this to be an entertaining story, but rather formulaic. Some twists and turns to the plot, but also a diatribe on over population. Yes, it is an important topic that needs to be discussed. No, a Dan Brown book is not the forum for this discussion.

December turned out to be a crazy busy month on all fronts, so I didn't get as much read as I would have liked (8 books completed). Overall I am pleased with my 2013 challenge. I crushed my goal of 91 books read and ended the year with 120 books done. Even with that many extra books read I am left with 25 that I was planning to read at the beginning of 2013 that I didn't get to. Oh well, there's always 2014 : ) Here are my notable books from the year:

5 star read
A Tale of Two Cities

4.5 star reads (in no particular order)
The Color Purple
Growth of the Soil
Faithful Place
To Kill a Mockingbird
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Empire Falls
The Orphan Master's Son
Killer Show
The Book Thief

1 star read
The Confessions of J. J. Rousseau

Now that I'm caught up on my 2013 thread, time to read everyone's 2013 and then get going in 2014!

Belated Happy New Year!

Growth of the Soil and The Book Thief are on my TBR pile for 2014. Thanks for the reviews and congrats on a great year of reading!

Hurray for crushing your goal and see you in your 2014 thread!

japaul - Thanks and I hope you like those two as much as I did!

paruline - Thanks and see you in the 2014 Challenge!