jhedlund's 999 challenge

Here are my categories, which I am going to hold firm. I may end up allowing overlap between categories if it gets down to the wire, but I'm going to shoot for 81!

1. 1001 Books Before You Die
2. Nonfiction/Memoir
3. Children/YA
4. Favorite Authors
5. Historical Fiction
6. Spirituality
7. ARCs to read while they're still popular enough to be mooched on Bookmooch
8. Chick lit/Comfort Reads
9. Don't Fence Me In - a catch-all for me to choose any random book, because if I don't have enough flexibility, I might abandon the challenge.

Edited to include my ticker

Category 1: 1001 Books COMPLETED

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy *March 4
2. Middlesex by Jeffrey Euginides *June 24
3. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger *November 22
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte *October 12
5. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse *May 26
6. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood *March 26
7. The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood *July 14
8. The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan *October 21
9. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll *October 24

Category 2: Nonfiction/Memoir COMPLETED

1. The Science of Self-Healing by Dr. Vasant Lad *June 28
2. Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way we Feed our Children by Ann Cooper *April 2
3. The Necklace by Cheryl Jarvis *November 7
4. The Colorado Gardener's Companion by Jodi Torpey *January 18*
5. My Life in France by Julia Child *August 25
6. The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease *February 5*
7. Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: the Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences by Kitty Burns Florey *July 24
8. Grayson by Lynne Cox *August 24
9. Parenting with Love and Logic by Foster Cline and Jim Fay *October 23

Category 3: Children/YA COMPLETED

1. Freddy Goes Camping by Walter Brooks *September 14
2. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl *July 22
3. Freddy the Pilot by Walter Brooks *May 29
4. Ramona the Brave *January 18*
5. Beezus and Ramona *February 2*
6. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl *October 7
7. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak *January 3
8. The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum *April 18
9. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling *February 18

This category is a combination of books I will read for myself and those I will read aloud to my daughter. As such, it is probably the most likely candidate for changing the titles as things come up throughout the year.

Category 4: Favorite Authors COMPLETED

1. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (re-read) *April 14
2. Leaping Beauty by Gregory Maguire *March 5
3. Barrel Fever by David Sedaris *September 14
4. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult *April 1
5. High Tide in Tucson by Barbara Kingsolver *September 17
6. Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult *August 16
7. The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon *May 23
8. So Brave, Young and Handsome by Leif Enger *November 13
9. Fortune's Daughter by Alice Hoffman *May 2

Category 5: Historical Fiction COMPLETED

1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer *July 19
2. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See *January 29*
3. Guernica by Dave Boling *September 4
4. The Coffee Trader by David Liss
5. Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas August 8
6. Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin *June 12
7. Innocent Traitor: a novel of Lady Jane Grey by Alison Weir *June 4
8. Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier *February 7*
9. The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier *July 24

Category 6: Spirituality COMPLETED

1. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch *October 17
2. Mommy Grace by Sheila Schuller Coleman *June 13
3. Spontaneous Recognition Discussions with Swami Shambhavananda *September 29
4. A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle (re-read) *August 24
5. The Power of Giving: How Giving Back Enriches us All by Azim Jamal and Harvey McKinnon *October 18
6. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz *April 25
7. Illuminata by Marianne Williamson *February 12
8. Traveling Mercies: Some thoughts on faith by Anne Lamott *November 30
9. Life After Death by Deepak Chopra *November 5

Category 7: ARCS to read while they are still popular enough to be mooched on bookmooch COMPLETED

1. The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent *January 7*
2. Canvey Island by James Runcie *February 9
3. The Fiction Class by Susan Breen *September 28
4. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout *October 7
5. Watch Over Me by Christa Parrish *September 7
6. In Hovering Flight by Joyce Hinnefeld *October 27
7. Perfect Life by Jessica Shattuck *June 30
8. The Last Bridge by Teri Coyne *April 27
9. Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips *May 3

Category 8: Chick lit/Comfort Reads COMPLETED

1. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer *January 25
2. Love and other Natural Disasters by Holly Shumas *March 6
3. The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister *April 18
4. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer *February 2
5. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen *June 29
6. Six Months (Jan-June) of "O" Magazine *June 7
7. Six Months (July-Dec) of "O" Magazine *December 7
8. The Stepmother by Carrie Adams *September 21
9. The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson *May 9

Category 9: Don't Fence Me In (catch-all)

1. The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry *February 15
2. The Life Room by Jill Bialosky *April 23
3. Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles *December 27
4. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks *November 6
5. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
6. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray *December 4
7. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory *December 16
8.
9.

I love the name for your ninth category & I may steal it, since I suffer from feeling boxed in by lists.

Steal away! That's more than half the fun of this challenge is getting ideas from everyone else.

By the way, the books listed in my categories are not necessarily in the order I plan to read them. If there is anyone planning to read some of the same books, I think it would be fun to try to coordinate timing.

ARC I see it all the time in the book blog/online book readeres world, but I have no Idea what it stands for? Author Request something maybe?

It stands for "Advance Readers Copy." They are sometimes referred to as "early reviewer/ER." It's typically an uncorrected copy of a book that is given to potential reviewers in advance of the release date in order to build buzz for the book. Check out the Early Reviewers group here on LT to learn more. Also, lots of people who write book review blogs get ARCs directly from publishers.

Happy New Year! You have a fun selection of books and I look forward to reading what you think of them.

Thanks RidgewayGirl. I consider that a compliment considering the impressive list of books you've put together for the challenge. Good luck to you!

I just finished my first book of the challenge - The Book Thief!! I easily gave it five stars. Quite an auspicious beginning to the reading year.

Congrats jhedlund!

I'm glad that you enjoyed The Book Thief. It is one of those books that I will never forget.

judylou -I feel exactly the same way. I just gave it to my mother, and when she's done, I'm going to read it again and count it in my historical fiction category. I feel like I read it in one gulp, and I know there's a lot that I missed.

Wow! I just came to edit my ticker here and found that it was already done. When you edit your ticker on tickerfactory.com, does it automatically update all of the places where you keep your ticker?

Yes, isn't that nifty?

Indeed it is! Technology never ceases to amaze and confound me.

I'm glad to see one more person who enjoyed The Book Thief! I have been wanting to read this book for so long, but despite living in a big city, I had a hard time finding it! I finally did over Christmas, though.
And you got me interested into The Lace Reader

kittykay, The Lace Reader is up next for me. So I will let you know how I like it.

The Lace Reader is on my list too but I'm not sure when I'll get to it. I'm looking forward to your reviews!

Speaking of The Book Thief, here is my review. I can't promise to review every book I read for the challenge, but when I do review them, I will post them here. I just finished The Coffee Trader tonight, which I enjoyed but didn't LOVE the way I did The Book Thief. All of my comments on that book are in the threads on the LT group read of that book. Now, after reading The Book Thief, The Heretic's Daughter, The Coffee Trader and listening to Burning Bright, I'm ready to move on to a book that takes place in the here and now!

Here is my review of The Coffee Trader. Very interesting read, but not a book that made my toes curl back from loving it so much.

Just finished book #6! Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. I have to say I liked it LOTS better than New Moon, which was such a disappointing follow-up to Twilight. I think any adult reading this series knows that the writing is average at best, and yet Meyer knows how to write suspenseful stories that keep you turning the pages! The old "Bella as damsel in distress being pursued by vampires out for blood (pun intended) while the two hottest non-humans on the planet vie for her love" routine is getting a bit old, however. I hope Breaking Dawn focuses more on Edward and Bella's relationship. It would be interesting to see how they relate to each other in the absence of constant death threats.

>29 jhedlund:, If you've managed to avoid spoilers for Breaking Dawn, I think you're going to be very surprised by the book. I will be interested to hear what you think!

fannyprice, so far I've avoided spoilers, but I am very eager to read it before it does get spoiled. It seems as though EVERYONE I know has read them and wants to talk about them.

Thanks for your review of The Book Thief. That has been languishing in my TBR pile but I will move it to my 999 "other" category and try to get to it. It sounds like quite a book!!

Just finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan from my historical fiction category. An epic, fascinating and gorgeous story about a time and place that I was almost entirely unfamiliar with. I love books that are both a pleasure to read and a learning experience.

Now I'm on to Breaking Dawn so I can finally see how the Twilight series ends!

#33 That looks like a wonderful book - I'm going to add it to my wish list. (So called because I wish I had time to read everything on it!)

Well, I finished Breaking Dawn last night. As I said to fannyprice, I had avoided spoilers and so, yes, I was surprised by the book. Pleasantly surprised for the most part. All I knew was that people seemed to either love or hate the ending. I don't honestly have a strong opinion about that. The ending was less important to me than the story that led there. What I liked was that we got to see very different aspects of some of the key characters' personalities in this book. That's all I'll say because I am adamantly anti-spoiler! Once again, let me say that Meyer's writing is just okay, but her ability to put together a story is without dispute in my book.

When I marked this one as read, I realized I've blazed through 5 of my YA/Children's category already between those I've read for myself and to my daughter. I'm going to have to start moving through some of my other categories. Next up is Canvey Island I think, since it is an early reviewer book. It will fit into my "ARCS to read while they are still popular enough to be mooched on bookmooch" category.

As of today, I've hit double digits!! Yay! I just finished The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease from Category 3 - Nonfiction/Memoir. It was a surprisingly fast, fun and informative read. I say surprisingly because pure nonfiction (meaning non-memoir) is usually a slog for me. I included it as a category to stretch myself, but I'd be lying if I said I look forward to reading nine nonfiction books this year (which is why I included memoir in it).

I read it because I needed to calm myself down about my daughter learning to read. She's in kindergarten, and I had my eye so fixed on the prize - her reading independently - that I started pushing too much and reading time became less enjoyable for both of us. I'm completely relaxed after reading this book, and reading is once again about fun and not work. I'd recommend it for anyone with elementary age children. Even as passionate as I am about reading aloud to my kids, I got plenty of ideas from the book and a lot of encouragement from the research that suggests that what I'm doing now will pay off big dividends in the future.

I just finished another disappointing Tracy Chevalier book -- Burning Bright. It's not that it wasn't good. It was "fine." However, nothing she's written since Girl with a Pearl Earring has reached greatness, imo. I loved "Girl" so much, and everything I've read of hers since that has fallen short for me.

This book was packed with history, but the story seemed more of a vehicle for her to describe 18th century London rather than being compelling in its own right. With one or two exceptions, the characters were not developed enough for me to care that much about what happened to them. In the end, I gave it three stars. I'm glad I "read" it as an audio book though. I don't usually do audio books, but this one was fine as a way to pass driving time. Otherwise, I probably would have put it down halfway to conserve my precious reading time.

I had the same reaction to Burning Bright, although I am fascinated with William Blake, it never held my interest.

I can relate to the reading thing -- I have two children, eight and five. I was having trouble finding German books for children and so bought a book on the topic only to find that over 90% of the books suggested were translated from English!

I read somewhere that the strongest indication of whether a child would become an avid reader was whether their parents read for pleasure and less how much they were read to. I still read to my children (it's one of the best parts of the day and I still think it's important for many reasons) but have somewhat managed to relax about what we're reading (my son picks the most wretched books out of the library - stories about lost teddy bears and naughty bunnies that drive me nuts, but he enjoys them -- I usually add a few of my choices to the stack).

Re Tracy Chevalier: After I read -- and loved -- Girl with a Pearl Earring, I immediately read her other books then published. I thought Virgin Blue was ok but certainly not great, and found Falling Angels peculiar & dark. I was excited when The Lady and the Unicorn came out -- I've always loved that tapestry -- and I hated it! I've been holding off on Burning Bright, hoping to see some positive comments... maybe her next book...

As for making readers of your children, I'm tending to the conclusion that people, by temperament, are just readers or not. I did everything "right" according to the experts, yet neither of my 2 adult daughters is an avid reader. Yes, they read, certainly more than the average person, but they don't share my obsession with books. On the other hand, they fondly remember our reading together and the books we read, and -- who knows? -- maybe otherwise they wouldn't read at all!

39> I was excited when The Lady and the Unicorn came out -- I've always loved that tapestry -- and I hated it!

Oh, heck. Guess what book my historical fiction book group is reading for April? We've already read GWAPE (the rest of the group liked it more than I did) and FA (also so-so for me, but for the rest of the group, too).

Thankfully, I'm really enjoying the March book so far: The Widow's War by Sally Gunning. Really great details of daily life in 18th c. American colonies. And the voice, or ambiance, or whatever, just seems right for the period, too.

>40 ReneeMarie: Sorry, ReneeMarie, but maybe you'll like it better than I did, and at least it doesn't take very long to read. I did think that finding out how tapestries were made was interesting, and I understand that she did detailed reseach on that process. But as for the rest of it... well, I'll be interested in your reaction!

I also read The Lady and the Unicorn and Falling Angels and had the same reaction I did to Burning Bright - fine, but nowhere near great. In my mind, the primary difference is GWAPE was driven by the characters (Griet and Vermeer), with the history and painting as a fascinating backdrop. The sexual tension between Griet and Vermeer was what made that story.

In her subsequent books, it seems the other way around, like she said, "hmm... I'd like to write a story about that tapestry, or about London in the time of William Blake," and then made the characters fit around the history. I felt like Burning Bright was more a character study of London than anything else. If she comes out with another book, I won't read it unless it gets rave reviews.

As for the reading to the kids issue, like you all have said, I've decided to calm down, do what I'm already doing, and most of all ENJOY it. I've stopped asking my daughter to read her early reading books to me unless she asks to, and sure enough, we've done a lot more reading and had more fun doing it.

#38, et al, Chiming in on the reading aloud to children. My youngest son loved being read aloud to. When he was approaching middle school, he still wanted me to read to him, but he also had a habit of choosing wretched books. I told him that, since he could read by himself, he could read those books on his own. I woud only read the books that I wanted to read, too. We got another couple of years of reading together in before he took off on his own. He still likes being read to, so he gets audio books from the library. I think we read 5 or 6 of the Harry Potter books out loud.

>42 jhedlund:
In her subsequent books, it seems the other way around, like she said, "hmm... I'd like to write a story about that tapestry, or about London in the time of William Blake," and then made the characters fit around the history.

I can't speak to Burning Bright, but that was exactly my impression of The Lady and the Unicorn. I really disliked the skipping between characters, all with the same voice -- and the same voice as in Girl with a Pearl Earring, which worked so beautifully for that book, but didn't seem to fit the characters in The Lady & the Unicorn. And to top it all off, I just didn't care for the story that she invented around the tapestry.

There, I've vented. I think I'm more vehement when I'm disappointed.

ivyd said: - I think I'm more vehement when I'm disappointed.
That's definitely true for me too. It's one thing when a book is just mediocre when you're not invested in the author, but quite another when you've loved one of their books and then others fall flat. It seems to me that when authors, no matter how talented, have a huge commercial success and become popular, they end up writing their books too fast and compromise the quality.

Here is my review of Canvey Island, which was my November early reviewer book. I finished it yesterday. I've just started The Lace Reader. Per the discussions above, I'll definitely let you know how I like it!

>45 jhedlund:
It seems to me that when authors, no matter how talented, have a huge commercial success and become popular, they end up writing their books too fast and compromise the quality.

So true.

I have The Lace Reader sitting here waiting for me. I'm in the middle of a fairly slow non-fiction right now (2 or 3 more days), but maybe I'll read it next.

jhedlund, I finished The Lace Reader last night. I really liked it. What did you think of it?

ivyd - I finished The Lace Reader last night. I thought it was excellent. I read on some other thread someone who thought the ending was predictable, but I sure didn't think so. In fact, I'm going to spend some time today going back through it to piece things together a bit more in my mind. I'd like to read the whole book again, to be honest, but the 999 challenge calls - can't afford to read the same book twice. :-)

In fact, I'm moving on to Anna Karenina now. I'm going to visit my stepmother in Michigan this weekend, sans husband or kids, so I figure there's no better time to tackle a book like that. Wish me luck!

>48 jhedlund:

I didn't find the ending of The Lace Reader at all "predictable," but there definitely were clues along the way. I wondered about the big one (for lack of better description without giving it away to someone who hasn't read it), but wasn't at all sure of it, didn't anticipate some of the twists, and didn't see how it would all fit together. My first reaction was the same as yours: I immediately wanted to re-read it in light of the new knowledge.

I hope you like Anna Karenina -- depite its size, I think it's a book worth reading -- once, anyway (I feel no inclination to re-read this one). Good luck!

I gave in to the urge and re-read The Lace Reader. Not word for word, but skimmed through it and read the most relevant parts. I felt like I needed to do it while the book was still fresh in my mind. I'm glad I did. I definitely "saw" more the second time around, although there is still plenty to wonder about. One of the things I loved about the book was its dreamlike quality - like the dream within a dream when you wake up wondering what, if anything, was real. A very impressive book.

I'm only 10 pages into Anna Karenina as my son got sick last night. I'm going away for a long weekend sans kids though, so I'm hoping to make a good dent in it then.

Folks, I finished Anna Karenina!! I very much enjoyed it, but at the same time, I'm so glad to be finished. I rarely spend more than one week on a single book, and engrossing as it was, I feel as if I have awakened from a deep sleep. I can't even comprehend, as of yet, the freedom ahead of me to choose whatever lighthearted book I choose! The first from my Category 1: 1001 Books to Read Before you Die, and definitely one of the "biggies" of my challenge. Phew! Godspeed all.

Congrats! It's a great feeling, isn't it?

Wowza! And for the rest of your life you'll be someone who's read Anna Karenina. Good luck coming out of the fog...

Hey guys - YES, it is a great feeling, as you could probably tell from my giddy post last night. And you are so right about the added, "Yes, I've read Anna Karenina," bonus!

Now I'm going to read Love and Other Natural Disasters for my chick lit category since Holly Shumas is doing an author chat right now.

Thanks for your encouragement! Now I'm going to go and catch up with your threads!

Thanks for stopping by.
I just came back over to say that I recently stumbled upon Sarah Addison Allen and just loved her books Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen. I definitely recommend them for light reading/chick-lit.

I already put The Sugar Queen on my wishlist, I think after seeing your review of it! :-) Thanks for the suggestion. I'm enjoying Love and Other Natural Disasters. Just perfect for right now. What I joy it is to sit down and read 100+ pages in a single sitting - something I definitely could not do with Anna.

Whew! It seems like ages since I've been here. I feel like Dorothy in the poppy fields (I'm reading The Wizard of Oz to my daughter right now). Alas, this time the "poppy field" was The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. It took me quite a while to finish the book, and much like Anna Karenina, I felt totally submerged and unable to come up for air until it was finished.

What a thrilling book! Yet, it took me a while to get into it. I'm not a science fiction person, so those sections bogged me down in the beginning, until I started to see its connection to the larger story.

At the moment, I'm feeling quite smug for knocking out TWO of the "1001 Books" category in the month of March alone. However, I'm going to have to start reading faster if I hope to make it to 81 by the end of the year... Alas, it's the journey that matters.

I don't blame you for feeling smug. That is quite an accomplishment. I'm not sure I've ever read 2 of those books in a single year!

sjmccreary - same with me. In fact, I'd be surprised if I read two over the past SEVERAL years (with the exception of the ones written in the 21st century). This is why the challenge has been so great for me - it's focused my reading a bit beyond from what I would normally pick up. It's so much easier to read a classic if it's tied to another goal. I get an immense amount of satisfaction when I do the strike-throughs after I finish a book!

Well, I just hit two milestones - I finished my 20th book, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, and I have now read at least one book in each of my categories. Picoult is one of my favorite authors (hence, goes in the favorite authors category), but although this book was thought-provoking and heartbreaking, it was not my favorite of hers. Usually I am more involved emotionally with the characters in her books. In this book, I was involved emotionally in the situation, but there were too many characters and too many side plots to make possible to fully engage. I felt the reverse in My Sister's Keeper, The Tenth Circle, or The Pact, which are my three favorites. Oh, and Plain Truth also.

Nonetheless, any book that keeps you awake at night and jittery when you're not reading it from anticipation of finding out what happens is a good read in my book (pun intended). I gave it 3.5 stars.

I felt the same with Nineteen Minutes. I just finished Handle With Care and although it was similar to My Sister's Keeper it disappointed me. Have you read it?

No, I haven't read it yet. I still have Change of Heart, Harvesting the Heart, Mercy, and Salem Falls in my tbr pile, so I couldn't justify getting a hardcover of Handle with Care. I do have it on my bookmooch wishlist though in case I get miraculously lucky!

Have you read any of the others I have? Any recommendation on which one to pick up next?

Personally, although I've liked many of her books, I don't think she can reach the level of My Sister's Keeper again. That was just a very special book. It was also the first I'd read of hers, so I wasn't at all expecting the twist ending.

I like both Mercy and Salem Falls very much.

Just finished Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed our Children in my nonfiction category. The author, Ann Cooper, is working in our school district to revamp the school lunch program. The book was interesting, but not much in it was new to me since I read a great deal about nutrition, childhood obesity, etc. Still, I have a lot of admiration for her and the work she is doing. Plus, the book includes a lot of recipes at the end which is good. I've grown tired of making peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and look forward to mixing things up a bit.

Now I'm back to A Prayer for Owen Meany, which I put down to join the group read for The Blind Assassin. It is one of my favorite books, and it is not disappointing on the re-read.

Blind Assassin has been on my TBR list for a while, it's one of the books for some of my other challenges I believe. I read my sisters keeper last year, its such a great book, sad and I agree with you, the ending is an unexpected twist, but I liked it.

Hi bookwormjules - thanks for stopping by. Other Jodi Picoult's that I liked, besides the ones listed in #60 are Vanishing Acts and Picture Perfect. Still, My Sister's Keeper was the best, imo.

I just finished A Prayer for Owen Meany, which falls into my favorite author category. It's also one of my all-time favorite books, and it's been about 15 years since I first read it. I will not wait so long again. It was every bit as hilarious, heartbreaking, and soul-stirring as it was the first time I read it. It will be hard to pick up another book. I may go for a David Sedaris or something like it just to lighten things up a bit. With just one book between The Blind Assassin and Meany, I feel like my head is about to explode!

I ended up with The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister because it was a recent gift and felt it will fill the need for something light, which it did. Here is my review. I'm also reading The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz for my Spirituality category, so I'll probably finish that up before starting something else.

I stayed up until midnight last night to finish The Life Room by Jill Bialosky. This is her second book, the first being House Under Snow, and I've enjoyed them both. Her writing is gorgeous, which is not surprising since she is also a poet. The Life Room is told almost entirely from the inner voice of the heroine, Eleanor, who is in the throes of what could only be described as a mid-life crisis. Eleanor is my age, so I could certainly relate. We women weren't very prepared for what comes after marriage, kids, etc. Here we are with all of this education, a long life ahead of us and a lot of uncertainty about what comes "next." For Eleanor, this angst gets wrapped up in her desire for another man as she looks back on her past in order to make sense of her present life.

One word of warning: don't read Bialosky's books if you like everything to be wrapped up nice and tidy at the end of a book. Her books reflect more on the reality and messiness of life rather than the more typical problem/struggle/resolution type of plot.

Now I'm perusing my categories to see what I'm going to pick up next.

Just finished The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz for my Spirituality category. Given that he's introducing a whole new framework for spiritual growth and freedom (albeit totally consistent with those presented in Buddhism, Christianity, etc.), this was a surprisingly superficial level book with little in the way of instruction on how to actually implement the teachings into your life. It just didn't resonate with me. It didn't go deep enough, and yet, I don't find myself wanting to explore the Toltec wisdom any more. I gave it 2 stars.

I just finished The Last Bridge. What'd you think of it? I'm dying to discuss with someone.

I just finished it last night! Here is my review. I couldn't put it down! I was actually relieved that it wasn't so much like Jodi Picoult's books, because I have been disappointed in her last couple of offerings (per discussion above). Have you written your review yet?

Excellent review of The Last Bridge. When do you plan to read Sarah's Key? I enjoyed that one too.

I just went to Hawaii for a few days to accompany a friend on a business trip (lucky me!), so I got lots of time to read for once. I read Fortune's Daughter by Alice Hoffman, which I loved and Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips which I loved even more. Gods was the perfect beach read. Witty, yet clever and intelligent. Highly entertaining and satirical, all while being a quick, unputdownable read. Highly recommended.

Now I'm about 1/3 into The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson. Since it takes place in Jamaica, I figured it would be a good candidate for a beach read. So far, it's not what I expected. I'm going to stick with it at this point and hope it picks up some.

I hope you had a fabulous, relaxing time in Hawaii.

I had such a relaxing time. I spent four hours on the beach one day under an umbrella reading. That NEVER happens to me. On a regular night, I'm lucky if I get a full hour after the kids are in bed and all is said and done!

I ended up enjoying The Pirate's Daughter. I like books that span a couple of generations, making it feel epic when it's over. I gave it 3.5 stars. I think what disappointed me at first was that it was a little less sexy and a little more sad than I wanted it to be.

Now I am brimming with anticipation as I begin my April ER book - The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. The Shadow of the Wind was one of my all-time favorite books, so I have high in the sky apple pie hopes.

Please report on the Zafon book as soon as you can!

I most definitely will. While we're on the subject, I'm going to share the opening paragraph. It's that good.

"A writer never forgets the first time he accepted a few coins or a word of praise in exchange for a story. He will never forget the sweet poison of vanity in his blood, and the belief that, if he succeeds in not letting anyone discover his lack of talent, the dream of literature will provide him with a roof over his head, a hot meal at the end of the day, and what he covers most: his name printed on a miserable piece of paper that surely will outlive him. A writer is condemned to remember that moment, because from then on he is doomed and his soul has a price."

Our friend Stephen King, the adverb hater, would also love this sentence:

"Don Basilio was a forbidding-looking man with a bushy mustache who did not suffer fools and who subscribed to the theory that the liberal use of adverbs and adjectives was the mark of a pervert or someone with a vitamin deficiency."

And I'm only one chapter in! This is a book to be savored like a fine wine or a gourmet meal, I can just tell.

I just finished The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and posted my review here. Don't worry -- I don't reveal much about the plot at all and I loved the book. I think most people who loved The Shadow of the Wind will enjoy The Angel's Game too. His writing is nothing short of masterful.

I am eagerly awaiting The Angel's Game and will admit that all the reviews could be uniformly unhappy with the book and I would still want to read it! I am glad you liked it, though.

Just finished Siddhartha from the 1001 books category. It is a book that cannot be appreciated until you are finished, which oddly parallels the fable which it tells. I enjoyed it well enough, but it was not a life-changing book for me. I don't feel compelled to read anything else by Hermann Hesse (unless there are any LT-ers out there that could convince me otherwise). :-)

Thanks for sharing the first lines of The Angel's Game. I loved Shadow of the Wind and am glad the follow-on did not disappoint.

Last week I finished Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir. Weir seems much more solid in the historical details, but less "sexy" than Phillipa Gregory. I look forward to reading more of her work.

I also counted the first six months of "O" magazine (Jan-June) as 1 book in my chick-lit/comfort reads category and will do the same with the remaining six months. If I didn't get to count them, I'd never read them which would be a waste of money.

I'm currently re-reading A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle for my Spirituality category, and also starting High Tide in Tucson by Barbara Kingsolver for the Favorite Authors category.

Oops! Make that starting Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin, since I want to join the LT group read and I'm already a week behind. Then it'll be on to the 999 challenge group read of Middlesex, which I am very much looking forward to.

Just finished Mistress of the Art of Death a bit ahead of the LT group read which was quite a romp of a book. Here is my review. Now I'm going to get a head start on Middlesex, since so many of you 999 challengers are such speed readers. I figure that way I can actually participate in the group read discussion in real time.

Last week I finished Middlesex, which I loved. I've been delinquent in posting my thoughts on the group read threads though, so I won't say much here. I'm just so glad to have had the gentle shove from fellow 999-ers to move this up to the top of my tbr pile! I'm not sure what I'm going for next...

Just finished Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen from my "chick lit/comfort reads" category, and it was exactly that: a wonderful comfort read. I highly recommend it for hot, lazy, summer reading days! 4 stars due to an overuse of annoying adverbs like "tearily," but very, very fun.

Hmmm, I just got that one from BookMooch. Maybe when I emerge from The Angel's Game and cleanse my palate with a few magazines.

I adored Garden Spells. Are you planning on reading The Sugar Queen too?

Definitely! I have it on my bookmooch wishlist, but I may have to purchase it so I can read it, too, this summer.

RidgewayGirl, I hope you are enjoying The Angel's Game! Honestly, Garden Spells is a good palate cleanser. Just easy, fun, mystical, yummy.

Well, I just finished my May ER book, Perfect Life by Jessica Shattuck which I'm putting into my ARC category. Unfortunately, it was not a perfect book. Here is my review.

Great review! I especially liked the second paragraph. Why are there so many books written now about comfortably off, well-educated white people with healthy children. It's not even that fascinating to live that life, let alone read about it! And why the ennui? And when will I become a sympathetic enough character so as not to want to yell "get over it!" at them?

I finally finished The Robber Bride last night. What a book! After finally discovering her this year (as a result of two LT group reads), she is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. Now I'm on to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, which I finally had to buy after all of the rave reviews here and everywhere!

Just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I'm not sure there's much I could add to the heaps of praise this book has already received except to say that it is well deserved. The book is a treat from start to finish. It's a crying shame that the world is deprived of more books from Mary Ann Shaffer. I'll be amazed if someone doesn't turn this book into a movie.

Next up: When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris.

I'm behind with posting on this thread due to summer travels, but here's the lowdown on what I've read the past few weeks:

Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog - a charming, quick read about sentence diagramming for grammar geeks and language lovers. My review is on my profile page here.

The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier - after swearing off Chevalier earlier this year after reading the third mediocre book of hers in a row, I had to read this for a RL book club. I'm so glad I did. It was not as good as Girl With a Pearl Earring, but by far the best of her other books. In fact, it was thrilling and haunting, and there are images in the book that will surely stay with me my whole life. I found it interesting that it was her first book (followed by GWAPE). She has talent. Perhaps if she'd just stop churning out books so fast to cash in her bestseller status, we'd get more books of quality from her.

Prayers for Sale - I wanted to read it because it was a fictional town that was meant to be Breckenridge in the 1930s. As a fairly new Coloradan, I was hoping to learn more about it's history. In short, it was a big dud. Booooring.

I agree with you about Virgin Blue. I loved Girl with a Pearl Earring, found Falling Angels peculiar and dark, and hated The Lady and the Unicorn so much that I refuse to read Burning Bright -- or any new books -- unless she can stop unsuccessfully rewriting Pearl Earring and regain her originality.

I've been delinquent posting here because I got distracted by the big shiny ball that is the 1010 challenge! Now back to the present. There are people completing the challenge already when I have yet to complete a single category! But, I'm getting there. It will definitely be an end of the year finish for me.

Let's see, I finished Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult over the weekend. It's interesting because based upon the reviews, I'd expected it to be just like My Sister's Keeper, when in fact I found the premise quite different. Here, one of the daughters has osteogenesis imperfecta, which is a brittle bone disease. By the time she was six, she'd broken 53 bones. The mother ends up filing a "wrongful birth" suit against her OB (who just happens to be her best friend), claiming if she'd known at the first sonogram she would have aborted.

The book brings up the usual melee of moral quandries and unintended consequences. My problem with the book was that I simply could not relate to the mother. Not even so much with regard to the lawsuit, but because I could never imagine betraying my best friend or my daughter in such a fashion. She said she was doing it to give her daughter a better life, but she had TWO daughters. Her older daughter was best friends with her OB's daughter. Therefore, in order to "improve" her younger daughter's life, she threw her older daughter under the bus along with her friend. In my view, a best friend is every bit as precious and rare as a loving spouse. You go to the ends of the earth to protect that person. I couldn't relate to her as a friend, a mother or a wife.

With Picoult lately, it's not the formula that bothers me so much as the character development she did in her earlier books was just so much better. Lately, it seems she's fitting the characters to the story she wants to tell rather than vice versa, which doesn't ring as true. Nonetheless, it was a page turner, as always. She doesn't disappoint in terms of getting you to think about controversial issues.

Now I'm finishing up listening to Grayson on audio and reading the final two chapters of A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle which is a re-read for me. For pleasure, however, I picked up My Life in France after seeing the movie Julie and Julia and I'm absolutely loving it!

I've now decided to create a list of the books I've read in the order I've read them. I should have started this right from the beginning, but live and learn.

1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
2. The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent
3. The Coffee Trader by David Liss
4. Colorado Gardener's Companion by Jodi Torpey
5. Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary
6. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
7. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
8. Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary
9. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
10. The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease
11. Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier
12. Canvey Island by James Runcie
13. Illuminata by Marianne Williamson
14. The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
15. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
16. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
17. Leaping Beauty by Gregory Maguire
18. Love and Other Natural Disasters by Holly Shumas
19. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
20. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
21. Lunch Lessons by Ann Cooper
22. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
23. The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
24. The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
25. The Life Room by Jill Bialosky
26. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
27. The Last Bridge by Teri Coyne
28. Fortune's Daughter by Alice Hoffman
29. Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
30. The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson
31. The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz-Zafon
32. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
33. Freddy the Pilot by Walter R. Brooks
34. Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir
35. Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
36. Six Months (Jan-June) of "O" Magazine
37. Mommy Grace by Sheila Schuller Coleman
38. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
39. The Science of Self-Healing by Dr. Vasant Lad
40. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
41. Perfect Life by Jessica Shattuck
42. The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
43. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
44. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
45. Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog by Kitty Burns Florey
46. The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier
47. Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas
48. Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult
49. Grayson by Lynne Cox
50. A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
51. My Life in France by Julia Child
52. Guernica by Dave Boling
53. Watch Over Me by Christa Parrish
54. Barrel Fever by David Sedaris
55. Freddy Goes Camping by Walter Brooks
56. High Tide in Tucson by Barbara Kingsolver
57. The Stepmother by Carrie Adams
58. The Fiction Class by Susan Breen
59. Spontaneous Recognition - Discussions with Swami Shambhavananda
60. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
61. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
62. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
63. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
64. The Power of Giving: How Giving Back Enriches us All by Azim Jamal and Harvey McKinnon
65. The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan
66. Parenting with Love and Logic by Foster Cline and Jim Fay
67. In Hovering Flight by Joyce Hinnefeld
68. Life After Death by Deepak Chopra
69. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
70. The Necklace by Cheryl Jarvis
71. So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger
72. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
73. Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
74. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
75. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
76. Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles

Just finished listening to Grayson by Lynne Cox, a true story about a 17-year old swimmer that helped reunite a baby gray whale with it's mother while doing a training swim off the California coast. I struggled with my rating on this, because while the story was without a doubt amazing, the writing and the telling of the story (read by the author) was pretty mediocre. She did a lot of telling instead of showing, and, I believe, in the interest of lengthening the story, engaged in a great deal of repetition. Still, there were moments when my whole body was covered with goose bumps and my eyes watered at the dramatic climax, even though I knew it was coming. I compromised with 3 stars. Personally, I would love to hear Grayson's side of the story. I absolutely fell in love with him and hope he's still alive and swimming the great Pacific waters.

Finished My Life in France last night. I loved it! I'll write a review soon. I hope to get on with Guernica soon, which will complete my historical fiction category (first category completion!). My pickling and canning has gotten in the way of reading. It's the first year I've tried it (canning, that is). It's fun, but very time consuming!

Canning is time-consuming, but it does feel good to pull out a jar mid-winter and know that you made it. What are you canning?

So far, I've done dill pickle slices and three different variations of peach jam (Colorado peaches are SO good!). I really got the canner for tomatoes though. I have two rows of tomatoes that I know are all going to ripen at the same time, so I decided to bite the bullet this year and not let them go to waste!

I finished Guernica yesterday. While the book had some flaws in the form of some simplistic characters and absences of explanation of the politics behind the German invasion, I very much enjoyed the book and learned a great deal. My review is on my profile page here. The big news is, by finishing that book I've now completed my first category! Historical Fiction is now done. Woo hoo!

I also started Watch Over Me by Christa Parrish, which is my July ER book. It's easy to read but underwhelming so far.

Very relieved to have finished Watch Over Me. Not my favorite. Here is my review. Blech. Onwards!

Just finished listening to and reading Barrel Fever by David Sedaris. It's the first time I've listened to his work on audio. What a treat! I realized there were some stories/essays in the paper book that weren't in the audio book, so I read those too. Definitely some laugh-out-loud moments, but I didn't like it as much as Naked or Me Talk Pretty One Day. Still, my love affair with Sedaris continues.

Just finished The Stepmother by Carrie Adams. Chick-lit at its finest - suspenseful, funny, pretty realistic and NOT 100% predictable. Solid four stars.

Now I'm drumming my fingers over what to pick up next...

Just finished The Fiction Class which was okay. Finishable but not great otherwise. Next up is Olive Kitteridge. I've heard so much positive feedback on this book, and right now I feel like a really need a knockout. Fingers crossed!

I've now completed Category #3 - Children's/YA after finishing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tonight. I will also finish Olive Kitteridge as I only have one chapter to go. I enjoyed Olive, but wasn't over the moon about it the way so many other people here on LT were. Sigh. Still waiting for a knockout. Any suggestions?

Here is my review of Olive Kitteridge. I just started Jane Eyre and I'm hooked. I'm reading it for the 1001 Books category. Can't believe I've never read it before.

I can't believe that either. Still, you were in desperate need of a great book, so good job saving one of the best books ever written, ever, for your moment of need.

Kay, how right you are! One of the best books ever written may even be an understatement. I could scarcely put it down and felt the pangs of separation whenever I did. Jane Eyre was the absolute perfect antidote to my reading rut.

Just finished The Last Lecture, and it gave me a lot to think about. Now I'm moving on to The Power of Giving: How Giving Back Enriches us All by Azim Jamal. I'm trying to make a good dent in my Spirituality category. I'm at 63 books read, and I have to admit I'm beginning to wonder if I'll be able to complete the challenge. If I do, it will be by the skin of my teeth!

Finished The Comfort of Strangers for a Halloween read and another tick in the 1001 Books category. I'm glad that's over. I'll pick up something cheerful next.

Here is my review.

It's been a while, so let me catch up. I finished Life After Death by Deepak Chopra, and while I truly admire the man for all that he contributes to the world, this will be my last attempt to read any of his books. I like the fact that he juxtaposes science and spirituality, but somehow he never connects the dots in a way that I can keep my grasp. Just when I'm thinking, "okay, I'm getting this..." he launches into some entirely new tangent and then fails to loop back around to how it relates. I have the opposite experience with Eckhart Tolle, so I'll stick with him.

I also read People of the Book, which I LOVED. My first Geraldine Brooks and now I can't wait to read Year of Wonders.

I also read The Necklace, which is an interesting true story about 13 women who come together to purchase a diamond necklace together. The book is not so much about the necklace as the transformation it has on these women's lives and the lives of many others. Although it was an easy read and I enjoyed it, I somehow felt it was wanting at the end. The author took a more journalistic approach, so I think some of the warmth and depth that I wanted didn't come out as much as it could have. This book marked my completion of my "nonfiction/memoir" category.

Now I'm reading So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger, which will complete my "favorite authors" category.

Finished So Brave, Young, and Handsome. Leif Enger's writing makes my toes tingle. Peace Like a River was a seminal book for me - one of those handful that grace you in a lifetime, so I knew better than expect that to happen twice. Luckily, with my expectations set appropriately, I was able to fully immerse myself in this sweeping story and enjoy the ride. For one of the first times in my reading career, I was able to avoid making comparisons. No, this book was not Peace Like a River, but it was a worthy follow-up, and I commend Enger for taking his sweet time to write stories worth writing rather than capitalizing on his "bestseller" status from PLAR.

Just finished Franny and Zooey and thus COMPLETED my "1001" books category, which seems like just as much of an achievement as completing the challenge itself.

It's been a while. I've recently finished Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott, which I loved, A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, which I did NOT (Here is my review) Those completed my Spirituality and Chick-lit categories. I have 5 more books to go and they're all in my "Don't Fence Me In" category, so I can choose whatever I want. Yay!

#117 I've seen that 1001 Books book - finishing 9 of those in one year would be a big accomplishment for me. I'm impressed! It looks like you're set to finish the challenge before year end.

Only five to go! You'll finish in no time, ready to start the 1010.

Loved your review of A Great and Terrible Beauty. It's still on my TBR, though a little farther down. I've noticed we read many of the same books but sometimes have very different reactions.

You're nearing the finish line now. Almost there!!

Hey thanks for all your encouragement everyone! It's hard to be one of the stragglers, so it's nice that a few of you speed readers stick around to cheer us slowpokes on.

#120- I'd noticed that too. If you read A Great and Terrible Beauty you have to let me know what you think. Honestly the only reason I finished it is because I'm a stickler about "rules." If I say I'm going to read 81 books, I really need to read them. This late in the game, I don't have the luxury of setting a book down that's half read and starting from scratch with a new one - lol!

I finished The White Queen by Philippa Gregory. The end dragged on a bit, but it was really enjoyable. Gregory seems to be back on form after a couple of duds. It makes me want to read more real history about the War of the Roses. Anyone who reads The White Queen should be forewarned that Gregory stretches the distance between fact and fiction to its max. Taken as what it is though - fiction - it's a good book and a fun read.