I completely dropped the 888 Challenge due to work obligations and am only just getting back online with LibraryThing. I have promised to reform my negligent ways in 2009 and get back to my reading! I will also be making a career change to the veterinary field in 2009. Yay! So here are my categories:

1. Non-Fiction (General)
2. Fiction (General)
3. NY Times 100 Best Books of 2008
4. Books on Writing
5. Travel and Adventure
6. Bios/Autobios/Memoirs
7. Classics
8. Books in French
9. Surprise (this will probably include some technical books due to the career change)

Perhaps for your memoirs category you should take a look at Tell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon?

Brilliant! Thanks Shannon! It is now in my cart at Amazon.

Yay! Another Travel category. I'll be watching your list for suggestions.

I have quite a few in my TBR pile that I'm going to pull out over the weekend Victoria.

1. Non-Fiction (General)
1. Sacred Geometry: Deciphering the Code
2. The $64 Tomato
3. Piano: The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand
4. The Immortal Game
5. The End of Fashion
6. When Genius Failed
7. Chasing the Flame - another biography but that list was already full
8. The Philosopher's Dog
9. Coffee: A Dark History

Message edited by its author, Dec 9, 2008, 8:39am.

2. Fiction (General)
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
2. Lisey's Story
3. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel
4. Seize the Night
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Message edited by its author, Dec 21, 2008, 10:18am.

10. NY Times 100 Best Books of 2008 - moved to 999 Wishlist and depends on $$ available!
1. Netherland
2. Nothing to be Frightened of
3. A Mercy
4. The Widows of Eastwick - (should also re-read The Witches of Eastwick)
5. Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba
6. Hot, Flat and Crowded
7. The Post America World by Fareed Zakaria - I have no idea why this is linking to Moby Dick!
8. The Trillion Dollar Meltdown
9. The World is What It Is by Patrick French

Message edited by its author, Dec 21, 2008, 10:09am.

4. Books on Writing
1. Zen in the Art of Writing
2. How to Write Best Selling Fiction
3. Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog
4. Between You and I
5. Writers on Writing
6. Writing to Learn
7. On Writing
8. Bookmark Now
9. Reading Like a Writer

Message edited by its author, Dec 8, 2008, 9:08am.

5. Around the World in Nine
1. The Stars, the Snow, The Fire: Twenty-Five years in the Alaska Wilderness by John A. Haines
2. Chasing Matisse
3. Year of the Chicken
4. Imagined London
5. The Snow Leopard
6. A Walk Across America
7. My Kind of Place
8. The Bird Man and the Lap Dancer
9. Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going where Captain Cook has Gone Before

Message edited by its author, Dec 21, 2008, 10:08am.

6. Bios/AutoBios/Memoirs
1. Nureyev: The Life
2. Karen Kain: Movement Never Lies
3. Threads: My Life Behind the Seams
4. Margot Fonteyn
5. A Reporter's Life
6. The Man Who Became Sherlock Holmes: The Tortured Mind of Jeremy Brett
7. Tough Choices
8. Benazir Bhutto
9. The Worlds of Lincoln Kirstein

Message edited by its author, Dec 9, 2008, 8:18am.

7. Classics
1. Little Women
2. Animal Farm
3. Great Expectations
4. Doctor Zhivago
5. Dracula
6. A Midsummer Night's Dream
7. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
8. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
9. To Kill A Mockingbird

Message edited by its author, Dec 9, 2008, 7:08am.

8. Vive La France! (Thank you Defi 999 for the recommendations!)
1. Les Trois Mousquetaires
2. Le Noeud de Viperes
3. L'Etranger
4. Le Serrurier Volant
5. L'Etudiant Etranger
6. La cimetiere des poupees
7. Paradis sur mesur
8. Bonjour Tristesse
9.

Message edited by its author, Dec 21, 2008, 10:08am.

9. Surprise!
1. Tell Me Where it Hurts
2. Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Message edited by its author, Dec 21, 2008, 10:19am.

I loved Lisey's story - I look forward to seeing what you think about it. I've got Harry Potter on my list as well (all of them!).

Thanks LisaMorr - I'm sure I will love it - he's one of my favourite authors. I also want to do the entire HP series all together at some point but that is in the future. I kind of lost interest what with all the hype last year so I never read the final one.

About my lists - I decided to name as many as possible in each of the nine categories because I think I will focus better if the lists are defined (ADD I am I am!). However, I reserve the right to change my mind.

Message edited by its author, Dec 8, 2008, 1:57pm.

XenaBallerina....great lists --there are several I've added to my TBRs. In fact, that Sacred Geometry: deciphering the code really looks fascinating. It will fit well on my Dewey Decimal Challenge list.

Thanks tututhefirst (great name!). I'm off to check the Dewey Decimal Challenge List!

I am just putting our house back together after renovations. Last night stocking the bookshelves (of which I definitely do NOT have enough!) I discovered more books that are screaming READ ME! I need tranquilizers!

While there are times when tranqilizers may be called for, I can highly recommend choosing a teeny book, grabbing a hot chocolate (or in your case XenaB a tall iced tea?) and kicking back for a couple hours. The bookshelves aren't going to run away, and as I always tell my family, the Housekeeping police have not yet shown up at the door, so go for it and ENJOY.

Thanks tutu! I'm opting for a Pumpkin Spice Latte and Espresso Brownie - you will note that I do not have any 'diet" books as scheduled reading for next year! And I have long reconciled myself to the fact that I will never win the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. ;-)

On another note, thanks to Cathcartes, Katya0133 and Cecilturtle over at Defi 999 (999 Challenge en francais) who have been kind enough to offer some suggestions for my category 'Books in French' - my French is rusty and I was just overwhelmed trying to decide from the books at Amazon France!

Xena....I think that's why I so loved Precious Ramatswe in Alexander McCall Smith 1st Ladies Detective Agency series with her emphasis on the beauty of 'traditionally sized women.' My kinda gal!

Message edited by its author, Dec 11, 2008, 5:18pm.

Dear Santa,

As you can see, I have 71 books in my list so far for the 999 Challenge. A lot of them I own, a lot of them I need to purchase. And friends like tututhefirst are showing me even more works I want to read! So, if you happen to stop by my house this Christmas, I have only one request: GIFT CERTIFICATES!!!! to book dealers (Amazon, Barnes and Noble - I'm not picky!).

I have been really good this year - honest!

Yours in anticipation,
XenaBallerina

Well after a weekend discussion re budgetary restraints next year, I will probably be re-working a couple of my categories so that I curtail my purchases and concentrate on the huge TBR pile I already have!

Category No. 3 'NY Times 100 Best Books of 2008' will be moved to a 999 Challenge Wishlist and will be replaced with I know not what at the moment.

Category No. 8 Books in French will be re-worked to 'Books in and re French'.

3. Ad Astra
1. Childhood's End
2. A Fisherman of The Inland Sea
3. Chocky
4. A Canticle for Leibowitz
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

This will be sci fi (or related), replacing my original Category 3. NY Times Best Books of 2008. I still hope to read those but it will depend on $$ available (the library system here sucks).

Message edited by its author, Dec 22, 2008, 7:16pm.

Yes, I am very grateful for the surprisingly good library system here. Have you tried a book swap site like BookMooch? It has been a great source of books for me and I often send books to exotic places that feature more beaches than bookstores!

Thanks RidgewayGirl, I'll check it out!