I've kept track of all the books I've read since 2005. The most books I've ever read in one year is 38, so I'm hoping I can read an extra 12 or so this summer! I've read 11 books so far this year:

1.) Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison
2.) One Writer's Beginnings by Eudora Welty
3.) Lucky by Alice Sebold
4.) Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
5.) Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
6.) Night by Elie Wiesel
7.) I Am America (and so can you!) by Stephen Colbert
8.) The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold
9.) The Color Purple by Alice Walker
10.) Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
11.) Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss

If anyone is interested, I highly recommend numbers 1, 5, 6, 9, and 10. Don't read number 7 unless you really like Stephen Colbert; this book is his commentary on society and I didn't really get much out of it. Also, number 8 didn't come close to the greatness of The Lovely Bones- don't bother with it.

Message edited by its author, Jul 16, 2009, 10:19pm.

That's a really great list so far. You're reading quality books! Good luck on your challenge.

Thanks! I'm trying to read all the books I've been meaning to, but haven't gotten around to yet. (I'm fairly new to this site so don't mind the random deleted message, that was a mistake by me.)

Message edited by its author, Apr 1, 2008, 9:40pm.

Thanks for affirming my decision to skip reading The Almost Moon. I was "on the fence" for awhile, but didn't want to waste my time with so many really good books out there. I'm also new to this group.

You're welcome, Donna828. I'm happy to have read something so you won't have to drag through it. You're right- there are way too many good books out there!

Book #12: Finally I finished something! An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina. This was the story about the man who sheltered the Tutsis during th 1994 genocide in Rwanda. His story was the basis for the movie Hotel Rwanda. This was very easy to read and explained Rwanda's hateful history quite well, so if you aren't familiar with it (as I wasn't) you'll understand it anyway. Highly recommend.

Message edited by its author, Jul 30, 2008, 5:33pm.

Just so you know, the link for your previous book An Ordinary Man is linked to a differnt book when you click on it. Have you seen the movie Hotel Rwanda? How does this book compare to that story? Was it an easy read?

I really enjoyed Lucky by Alice Sebold, I picked this book up on a whim....(the cover looked interesting, little did I know how great the book would end up being. How brave of Mrs. Sebold to tell her very private story. I ended up reading The Lovely Bones later....that too was a very good book. Happy Reading;)

Thanks to both afyfe and lorabear. Both your comments were posted the day I went on vacation. I've been away for awhile and just got everything updated. Hotel Rwanda was a great movie, though I saw it about three years ago. About Lucky, I know, I couldn't believe that Mrs. Sebold put an extremely personal in a book for the entire world to see!

Book #13: Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson. A short history about what is known and what is legend regarding Shakespeare. Very entertaining, but not as personal as Bryson's A Walk in the Woods because of subject matter. Recommend.

Book #14: Savage Inequalites: Children in America's Schools by Jonathan Kozol. This was required reading for school. It's very dense account of how American schools are funded unfairly. Believe it or not, he can write about this for over 200 pages. It's shocking and disturbing, but not my favorite book thus far.

I know I'm only on book #14 in May for my 50 book challenge, but school will be out soon and I'll have all the time in the world to read!

Book #15: This I Believe, a collection of essays edited by Jay Allison. It was very interesting to see the beliefs of random people who submitted essays and the famous people. Most were very entertaining, like Penn Jillete's essay, "There Is No God." He read like Stephen King: funny, sarcastic, and good. This was a great collection and I highly recommend it.

Book #16: Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I was expecting some epic fantasy novel, but was disappointed in that area. This is a fast read and easy to understand because there were only three plot lines going on at once but they all were related to one another. Easy to follow. The label on the book said "Fiction" but it's definitely more young adult fiction. It was good, though. Recommend to teens looking for a quick read.

Book #17: Forever by Judy Blume. It was one of those young adult books that I hadn't gotten to until now. I needed a short, easy read for the summer, and although the content is very mature, the book goes by fast.

Book #18: The Alchemyst by Michael Scott. This is the first in a series called The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. Well, only the first two books have been written but I'm sure Mr. Scott intends to complete the series. this was interesting and fast-paced and I've started the sequel, The Magician .

Book #19: Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult. This book, like the two others that I've read by Jodi Picoult, involves a court case and many twists and turns in the plot. As much as I don't enjoy reading about the law, there is so much drama packed into the court case that it's interesting! I loved it, and I very highly recommend it.

Book #20: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Loved it! Worth all the hype it's gotten.

Book #21: Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm. This was over 600 pages long. Some of the fairy tales are great but some are a half page long and don't make sense. I liked it, but it took me so long to read.

Book #22: Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy. This was my required college reading, and I really liked it, although it was very sad.

Book #23: New Moon by Stephenie Meyer.
Book #24: Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer.

I'm disgusted at myself! I'm so busy at college I barely have anytime for reading. I made time for these because they're so addicting, but having a laptop right next to you all the time is very bothersome/distracting.

My final books in 2008 were
25: Breaking Dawn, I had to finish the quartet/saga
26: Alex and Me by Irene Pepperberg. She was the woman who trained a parrot for 31 years. Quick read and good read.

I obviously failed in my attempt to read 50 books in 2008, but I shall continue with this post until I have completed 50 books.

BEGIN 2009!

#27: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer. It's a sweet book, written in letters from one character to the other.This is a great light read, and does not have a ton of substance to it, but it still has a good message.

#28: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I had no idea what this book was about when I began it. It's definitely disturbing, and very much the female version of The Catcher in the Rye, which I detested. What made me finish this book though was the fact that it actually had something resembling a plotline and the main character wasn't complaining about "phonies" all the time. I don't especially recommend this one.

Hi, readergirliz!
Not to worry if you haven't hit 50 yet. I think that the main thing is enjoying reading. :) I have heard so many wonderful things about that book The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. I can't believe that I haven't bought it yet. That book falls under the category of title too good to pass up in my book. It sounds uplifting, too. Have a great day!
--BJ

That was the first book that my college bookclub read this year. I think by just putting "college" in that sentence explains my lack of books read so far. I'm a music major and I have very little time to myself. Thank you for your encouragement, billiejean! I'm going to get my reading into high gear this summer.

Message edited by its author, May 27, 2009, 11:57pm.

#29: American Gods by Neil Gaiman. This took me a long time to finish just because I had no time to spare. It had religion, myth, and was pretty accurate in describing American society, even though the book was written a few years ago. It's got a main plot and an extensive subplot, plenty of twists, and makes you think. I definitely recommend this one.

#30: Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley. This was an okay debut novel. The descriptions in the book were lovely, but the storyline left something to be desired. It was a different story than say, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, but it lacked a lot of the magic that the Disney movie had. There were no humans turned to objects in the castle, Beauty wasn't forced to live with the Beast, and the Beast didn't have that drastic change from monster to almost a human. Maybe I would have liked it more if I had read it a few years ago, but I'll give Robin McKinley another chance, as I hear her other books are good.

#31: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. My mom recently gave me here book club book list and, alphabetically by title, this was the first one on it. It was definitely an interesting book. I could tell it was translated from Spanish to English because of the syntax and word choice. When the Alchemist and Santiago part, it is written as "'Goodbye,' said the alchemist. 'Goodbye,' said the boy." I took a Spanish literature class and and learned that there's really no good way to say "adieu" in English. It's a good story about fulfilling one's destiny with a happy and slightly unexpected ending.

#32: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I had attempted this book once before, and didn't have the patience to read Jane Austen's style. My friend had me sit through both movies, but I still wanted to read this book and I'm excited I finally made it through! Absolutely lovely to read. I loved the characters, the plotline, Elizabeth Bennet's quick tongue, Mr. Darcy's transformation from a proud, stiff man to a gentle and affectionate one. The ending was a little sappy-Jane Austen should have cut out the last chapter-but every other part of the book was wonderful.

#33: Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman. I previously read a couple of novels by Neil Gaiman and came across this collection of shorts stories by chance at my library. I absolutely adored it. Gaiman writes some spooky stories, but not so spooky that I couldn't read this collection before bed. My favorite story, without a doubt, was "Other People." The American God's novella at the end, "The Monarch of the Glen," was also really good. There were some stories which I couldn't really draw conclusions from, but many of them made me think and were just really good! 4.5 stars out of 5.

#34: Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross. This is about a woman named Joan who, during the ninth century, eventually rises to the position of Pope. With the way men felt towards women in the Dark Ages, this was no small feat; Joan disguises herself as a man and is nearly exposed several times over the course of the novel. This book is based on strong evidence that there was, in fact, a woman Pope, but parts of the story are fictionalized because of the lack of record keeping during that time period. I loved seeing Joan continuously outwit her colleagues but was appalled at what I discovered about the treatment of women. Overall, a very good read. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

#35: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson. This was for my college book club summer reading. It was a good summer read, but it was written for someone probably about 5 years younger than me. Teens who don't really like reading would probably pick this up and love it, but it was a bit below my reading level. The plot was unique, that's for sure, and the narrator, Max, is very matter-of-fact and says exactly what she feels. I might go on to read the next Maximum Ride books, but they're not too high on my TBR list.

#36: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. This was for my college book club summer reading also, but I didn't get around to writing it down until now. I've been meaning to read it for awhile and I'm glad I finally did. Although it's somewhat plotless, it's a fast read, and very enjoyable. 3.5 stars out of 5.