We own about 99% of the books on the list but I have not read them before 2009. I am planning on reading a book from each category before I go back to a category. I think that 2010, 2011 & 2012 will be much easier for me to make a list. It took quite a bit of editing before I managed to get it down to these books! I am also planning on rating & reviewing the books after I get done with them. strike)word to cross off(/strike).

Category

1- not enough categories

a. Freakonomics - finished 01/23/09 - very good
b. Death by "Gun Control": The Human Cost of Victim Disarmament
c. Guns and Violence: The English Experience
d. The Fifth Book of Peace, by Maxine Hong Kingston couldn't finish calling it done
e. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
f. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
g. the Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse by Robert Rankin -finished 01/12/09 loved it
h. The Antipope by Robert Rankin
i. Spellbinder by Melanie Rawn

2- stolen from other 999 lists

a. How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C Foster finished 01/21/09 loved it
b. Whiteout by Ken Follet
c.

Message edited by its author, Oct 25, 2009, 6:26pm.

Finished the Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse by Robert Rankin 01/12/09. It's sick and twisted, I
loved it.

6 more books and then I can read On the Edge: My story. The rule about having to read a book from each category before I can go back to a category is really motivating me.

I am starting A Day at elBulli now, hopefully i won't drool over it too much! I got a caviar maker for x-mass last year so maybe this will help me perfect some recipes for it.

DS

Anxious to hear about A Day at elBulli. I've looked at it on Amazon many times. I'm just curious about the techniques and details.

I realized not many will be useful at home but I've had a lot of success cooking various types of fresh peas and beans in vacuum seal-a-meal bags in a crockpot on low. For my tough yellow wax beans which I initially wondered why I even bothered to plant, this method really made them shine--much better than cooking them to death or chopping them into tiny pieces. My little tribute to Thomas Keller although I'm sure he would have a good laugh at it!

I didn't know such a thing as a caviar maker even existed. Now I have a gift idea for my birthday.

I also enjoyed Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocolypse. In fact, I just recommended it to someone else yesterday. I struggled a little with the Britishisms. Are you planning on reading the next in the Eddie Bear Series? I think it's called The Toyminator. If so, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on it. I haven't read it yet.

I didn't get The Toyminator instead I got the books from the Brentford trilogy. After reading Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocolype I would like to read more Eddie Bear but we have an enormous wish list so I don't know when we will get it. We watch a lot of British TV so I don't think I noticed the Britishisms, I noticed that tire was spelled tyre and said to myself - oh yes that's right I bought this from Amazon UK so it's in English English - then didn't give it another thought.

I think that I will now start on How to Read Literature Like a Professor, maybe it will enahnce my enjoyment of the books i will read after!

I like the idea of cooking the vacuum seal-a-meal bags in the crockpot. I think that that is similar to something that they mentioned in a Day at elBulli.

Message edited by its author, Jan 14, 2009, 8:18pm.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor has gotten me started on my list for next year (101010group I am guessing?). I have even created a seperate wish list on Amazon for it - like we need more excuses to buy books!

A stint at the hospital as a desinated driver today go me through How to Read Literature Like a Professor, the Troller Yacht Book and Patterns From Finished Clothes and I am now starting Will Write for Food.

My list for nexts years group is coming along with a focus on Shakespeare, his works & life, the history of the time, some of his contempoies etc. Too bad I am already reading books on the fashions this year, hmm there must be more out there . . . a good excuse to get that expensive book by Janet Arnold -Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd I have to feed my Amazon.co.uk addiction. I haven't spent that much money on a book since I bought my Urdu-Elglish dictionary.
DS

Thanks for the tip on the rubberchef site. Lots of interesting stuff there ... it was a fun way to while away an hour or so.

I have been a bit caught up with some new software that I got to transfer DVD's to my iPod, my region 2 DVDs seem to be working quite well. But my region 1 Doctor Who seems to be having issues, bugger that. Anyway it takes a bit of time and the computer is basically useless when it is doing it so I am so terribly behind in writing reviews! Hopefully I will catch up this weekend.

Planning on doing some used bookstore shopping after my birthday brunch at the Nicollet Island in on Sunday. I will have to make a budget and stick to it! I have already looked at the website of one of the bookstores and know that there are quite a few books that I want! Can't spend as much as I want with a kid in college. hopefully she will have a better paying job in grad school.

DS

I tried to update the tags on my 999group reads and had trouble with a few, for some reason it wouldn't let me change them. There are also some that I don't have listing in LT yet, I will have to work on that.

Had a lovely brunch at Nicollet Island Inn and got a very pretty sparkly for my b-day. Bruce can be trained :-). We had a very productive time at Kramarczuk’s, we got some Serrano ham, and lots of sausages. Then it was over to the Book House in Dinkytown. I even found one of the books on my 101010 list – Shakespeare's Wife (P.S.) by Germaine Greer. One of the other books that I got is The Shakespearean Ciphers Examined written by a pair of cryptologists. I might have to be more proactive in finding those Shakespeare audio books on my wish list, I can always listen to them again next year.

Only one book finished this weekend, Dressing a Galaxy: The Costumes of Star Wars, I wish that they also had side and back views of the costumes, oh well. Of course the outfit that I really wanted info on isn't even pictured in the book. Still that makes me past the 1/4 mark.

Instead of reading I have been busy trying to figure out wedding invitations, decorations and a wedding budget, etc. While I was checking out paper product prices I saw something at an office store that might work for the ‘treadmill computer station’ project, it’s an adjustable monitor stand that’s kind of like a metal arm (deals with the height difference., I'm short, Bruce is not.) Mayo clinic did a study with a local company and they had treadmill desks with computers and everything. You only go about a max of 2 miles/hour, but its better then sitting in a chair, its supposed to be the distance not the speed that matters. Since we have 2 extra desktop computers and at least 1 extra flat screen monitor I thought that we should try to come up with something. I think that a wireless mouse will help deal with the Bruce is left-handed and I am not issue.

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))
urgh - touchstone trouble

Message edited by its author, Feb 16, 2009, 10:23pm.

I finished World Building (Science Fiction Writing) by Stephen L. Gillett. I loved it. It is something every school kid should read. It basically tells you that this is what happens in the world with a very brief basic of reasons why. If there are formulas, he gives the formulas and explains them, very briefly. It talks about how planets are formed, how the differant 'systems' work. I'm not really doing it justice in trying to explain it. Sure it is for the Sci Fi writer who wants to create a world for their story, but it makes you think about why things work the way they do, and isn't that the best way to understand things?

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

I started Mohammed and Charlemagne by Henri Pirenne today. It should be an interesting read. According to the introduction it was basically from a 1st draft of a manuscript the author had finished just before he became ill and later died.

I have also started Reading Critically, Writing Well: A Reader and Guide which is a little slow going becuase you read sections 2 or 3 times and then write about what you have read and what you think about it etc. I do think that it is a good book for me at the moment becuase it has been a long time since I did any critcal reading, and the only writing that I have done in quite a while is e-mails.

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

I have been working on my meme's. You know where you can see how many male vs female, dead or alive authors that you have etc. Updated the one's that I know, did a bit of research and updated a few that I didn't. updated the books in my library with corrected authors names, etc.

I should really do this for the books that I have in my libraray too. I normally do it for the books that I am the first one to add to LT. I find it frustrating when I go look at a book that someone has entered and there is little or no information about it except the title and author.

I should really get back to reading. :-)

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

I've been off reading non 999 challenge books. We stopped at B&N the other day, it was right there next to Michaels where I stopped to buy some stuff for the wedding - only 8 months to go and lots to do.

We found lots of books on our wish list, and some that aren't. I bought two books by Gaelen Foley, Lord of Fire and Lord of Ice. They were very entertaining, if predictable, but then I would guess that it is hard not to be predictable with a romance. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl again, usually saving her from being ravished by his arch nemesis and then they live happily ever after.

They are a set a of romance novels about twin brothers that takes place in the early 1800's. I liked Lord of Fire the best out of the two, it is of course about the 'evil' twin. The ‘evil’ twins always seem to have better dialog and this one made me laugh out loud. They are nice thick books, both are just over 400 pages which gives them more depth then the shorter type of romance books. They were a good 4-5 hours of mindless entertainment each, which was just what I needed.

I think that I might start Broken Music by Sting next. I read a bit of it, just opened it to a random page and read what was there. I love how he writes, so descriptive.

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

Yipee! I snagged an Early Reviewers copy of The Scandinavian Cookbook. Now the question is do I replace a book on my 999 group read? Probably not.

I am enjoying Broken Music by Sting. Normally it would be a quick read and I would have finished it in a day, but too much to do before we leave for Hopetown on Friday. Then it's a week of reading on the beach, or in the airport! But i might just get caught up with my vidoes on the plane. I L-O-V-E my iPod!

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

Yipee! I snagged an Early Reviewers copy of The Scandinavian Cookbook. Now the question is do I replace a book on my 999 group read? Probably not.

I am enjoying Broken Music by Sting. Normally it would be a quick read and I would have finished it in a day, but too much to do before we leave for Hopetown on Friday. Then it's a week of reading on the beach, or in the airport! But i might just get caught up with my vidoes on the plane. I L-O-V-E my iPod!

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

Congratulations! The Scandinavian chefs who show up on those PBS cooking shows are among my favorites, although some foods are definitely outside of my cultural comfort zone.

I am a major fan of aebleskivers and krumkake, though, both of which we make using woodstoves at the museum. I actually own a krumkake iron and an aebleskiver pan, despite not being Scandinavian.

Horrible memory: thanks to a breakdown in communication one year while we were preparing for Midsomer, I didn't know that the bulk of the whipped cream for the huge meal we were serving to interpreters and performers at the end of the day was supposed to be created using modern methods behind the scenes. The interpreter who was to whip the cream in a building was merely demonstrating how to create it in a bowl using two forks.

When the last visitor went home on that mid-June day, we still didn't have whipped cream. We were in serious danger of ending up with butter if we ended up with anything at all. As we walked the bowl from the house where it was being made to the 1915 Finnish farmhouse where the meal was to be served, one of us was holding the bowl and the other was still desperately twirling forks. A small group of us sat on the floor of the farmhouse kitchen in a circle working on it, to no avail. The krumkake were eaten sans cream that year. (Although a krumkake without cream is no bad thing, I must admit.) I felt terrible. Conspicuous, as though there was a large K (or F for failure) somewhere on my dress.

Message edited by its author, Mar 3, 2009, 9:26pm.

18>I have a krumkaka iron too. I don't think that I have used it in FOREVER! I am mostly Swedish so I have an excuse to own one, though I beleive it orgianlly belonged to my Swiss grandmother. I do have my Swedish Great-Grandmothers rice pudding recipe which is very popular with everyone here in the MN winters! Rice pudding with lingonberries is so good.

Hopefully the new cookbook will be waiting for us when we get home from the Bahamas (I figure that it won't come before we leave on Friday.) Then we can read it and test some recipes. Testing is always fun, I can always bring things into work and have my co-workers as guinea pigs. Payback, I have tasted some pretty awful stuff at work, though recently it was - does it have too much cheese? And we all went - there's cheese in these?

Sorry to hear about your whipped cream fiasco. We use whipits. They are wonderful gadgets. I can make the most interesting concocations with them! It's that Elbuli influence.

It's day's like this that I wish that I had an e-book reader. I want to make headway on my reading because I have been busy working on the house I haven't been reading much. But, so many books, so little suitcase space! I really want to finish T is for Television becuase I love RTD and also becuase I just ordered Calling the Shots: Directing the New Series of Doctor Who by Graeme Harper.

Anyway I have reduced my list of books to take with to-
The Nasty Bits
A Year in Paradise: How We Lived Our Dream - I have to have one book on sailing
The Lexus and the Olive Tree
Georgiana
Mohammed and Charlemangne - started
the Power of Babel - looks really interesting
Daily life in the World of Charlemagne
the Carolingians
City of Bones
American Shaolin
Nine Parts of Desire
The Fifth Book of Peace
The Antipope
The Brentford Triangle
Broken Music - about 1/2 way done with this

I am sure that this will change in the morning when we finish packing and weigh the suitcases.

DS

OK, someone packed too much stuff in what was going to be a shared checked bag so I had to bring my own checked bag, so I brought all of the books listed above. I have finished Broken Music by Sting and am working on the review. I have started The lexus and the Olive Tree which I amm liking very much even though it is about 10 years old. I am not being able to read very much since I am spending more time then I anticipated entertaining my non-reader daughter. Thankfully last night she couldn't sleep, went to the bar feeling sorry for herself since it was her 21st b-day and didn't have anyone to go out with. She soon made lots of friends and was out until 4, so now she is sleeping away.

I think for the next book I will see which one is the shortest!

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

I am back in non-snowing MN. I replaced two books on my list while I was away, becuase I found 2 books that I wanted to read, that I couldn't take with me - Plate du Jour or Foreign Food by Patience Gray and Primrose Boyd and Sounds from Another Room by Peter Horsley. I also read a short book of poems, Reprise by Adelaide Cummings who is always entertaining. One of the poems is about her kids giving her a dishwasher.

We are also looking into getting a better digital camera and maybe some books on taking landscape pictures. We got some nice pictures, but would like to be able to take better pictures and have a bigger zoom.

We both finished Broken Music by Sting and loved it. What an interesting life he has led.

I had my first book on my list that I just couldn't read lFifth Book of Peace. I gave it until 100 pages to change my mind but I was so happy to make it there. I am keeping it though, maybe if I am in a different mood I will like it. I had just finished American Shaollin which takes place in China, so maybe I just needed some different kinds of books inbetween. The writing is good, I think that maybe the Asian mentality is a bit much at the moment.

I have not finished the Lexus and the Olive Tree, it is a good book and I am really enjoying it, it is just not a book to read at the beach.

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

I found my Early Reviewers book waiting at work today when I got in. It is STUNNING, you could take out the recipes and it would still be a great book, the pictures are so nice. We are planning on trying the lamb stuffed with apricots and celery for our first recipes from it.

I plan on relaxing a reading tonight.

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

City of Bones
Finally I was able to squeeze in some reading time (and only feel slightly quilty for not working on the house or yard etc.) I enjoyed the story and the characters, and stayed up late to finish it. With a high’s in the 90’s here yesterday (and no air conditioning at home) it wasn’t hard to imagine the heat.

I also found quite a few more boxes of books to add the LT this weekend too! Slowly but surely we are getting through our combined household stuff and donating things we don't need or have too many of!

DS
(Bruce's evil twill:-))

Death of the Necromanger by Martha Wells

I enjoyed this book. I spent a late Saturday night reading it and got up early to finish it on Sunday. This helped distract me from my finger mis-hap that happened on Friday. No yard work for me this weekend as I took off a big piece of skin from my index finger with a cement paver.

I like the characters. Nicholas seeks to get back at the evil count who orchestrated the execution of his foster father. He brings a small group of people together in a common cause - the destruction of Count Montesq. They are turned away from this goal when events interrupt their mission, ghouls in basements, violent deaths and mysterious illness.

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

I added Spires of Spirit to my TBR list. I'd never heard of this author before!

Mystic & Rider was very enjoyable, the characters are likeable, I had to go out and get the next book (finished that one too!

I also finished Sean Connery thanks to a spill that i took, so I spent a good day in bed reading and felling sorry for myself. Still typing with 9 fingers instead of 10 though. It is amazing that someone who is one of the best known actors in the world got into acting so he could travel instead of a burning desire to act.

I got a few more books this week (not on this list though) which i am reading a bit here and there. So I have been reading a bit off list. I did finish Doctor Who the Technical manual, which admittedly isn't a very big book. But I am planning on building a Tardis next year as a garden shed so I have to research it to make sure it is exactly what I want. I also got Doctor Who the Inside Story, The Big Show: high Times and Dirty Dealings at the Academy Awards very amusing so far. Kenneth Branagh by Mark White,which isn't an authorized bio but KB did give the author a letter that he could show people letting them know that he was ok with it if they wanted to talk to the author. Inside Oscar, Information Rules, and At the Grammy's!.

I also received another early reviews book The Complete Healthy Dog Handbook, I like the way this book is organized. It is easy to find stuff and clearly written.

Oh, I also actually got a book on my list too! My Only Story by Monica Wood, of course someone at work needed something to tide her over since she needed to stay late for a plant trial so I am letting her read it first. Am I nice or what? It will be nice to have someone that I can compare notes with in person.

Now if we could only win the lottery so I could lounge around all day reading. Oh, well once the weather turns could again I can catch up.

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

Message edited by its author, Jun 16, 2009, 10:18pm.

touchstones don't seem to be working on the above. . .
DS

Finished reading My Only Story by Monica Wood. It was a quick read.

I was expecting more from this book, since it was one that I saw on another 999 group read and it got good reviews. My co-worker also found the book a bit bland. I thought that the characters were a bit bland, and the plot pretty transparent. It wasn't a terrible book, but nothing fabulous. really the main character owned a hair salon, that alone could have made it an interesting read. But the author didn't take advantage of it, it could have been a hardware store,for all that the author used this part of the story.

It maybe worth buying the book used, I got it used for $1, but I would not pay full price for it,

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

I had to giggle when I read "I am planning to build a Tardis next year...", then I read the "garden shed" part. :0)

I updated my list a bit to better focus my reading. I will probably do so again. As they say jack of all trades master of none so I am trying to focus my reading. I am trying to limit my non-fictions subjects to: renaissance history, espionage, memoirs/biographies, science, language, cooking, home improvement, photography and sewing. I know that I will be adding more, and it might not look like I am limiting myself, but really I am.

What ties them all together? If you have checked out our library you will know that we are heavy into Science Fiction & Fantasy. I lean more towards the fantasy & Bruce is more Sci Fi. These are different from most mysteries, romance novels etc in that they take place in worlds created by their authors, but they have elements that are taken from science & history (Sometimes whole cloth as David Webber told us that one of his books (sorry don’t remember which one) was based on the French revolution. I had no idea since I know nothing about the French revolution but another fan agreed that she was able to get through her class on it because she read his book.) I find that I enjoy the books more when I can ‘see’ what elements are taken from our ‘real’ world. So a good portion of the subjects is to exercise my mind, to make me think, see more of these connections.

If I was independently wealthy I would probably go back to college, but I’m not I have a job and a house and a spouse (yay!) and pets and I want a life and I don’t want to deal with catching a bus or finding campus parking. But I can find an interesting subject, ask some questions and read books to answer them. I can even write book reports and research papers for myself, to reinforce what I learned and to make me think about how it all fits together, or if it fits together.

The other subjects are for lifestyle. We have a house (ok we have a house & a townhouse) so home improvement, I like to sew, especially my outfits for the Ren Fest, they are way to expensive to buy, and don’t usually fit me well anyway. And Bruce is 6 foot 5, try buying Ren clothes for him off the rack! I did make him a lovely shirt this year out of fabric made with hemp and recycled pop bottles, very nice fabric amazingly enough. If you are in an outfit 12-14 hours a day you want it to be comfortable. If you maybe wearing it in dusty or muddy conditions you don’t want to worry about getting it dirty because it cost $1,000.00 Photography, name me another type of souvenir that takes up so little space, is easily shared and makes you really focus on where you are, what is around you. It can get you out of bed & out of the house before the sun comes up! Or in the case of some of our moon shots out past your usually bed time.

I estimated this morning that I need to read 3-4 books a week to finish the challenge. I guess I better start reading!

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

Going to the Sources by Anthony Brundage
I finished this book, and given the topic it was surprisingly entertaining and an easy read. It was a good refresher for me on the different sources that you can use to research history papers etc, It has a nice group of appendixes such as published bibliographies, formatting footnotes/endnotes etc, which will make it handy for a quick referance. The author not only explains where to find things but also explains how & why to think about expanding or narrowing your search parameters, why you cannot just rely on published bibliographies when looking for sources and other things to keep in mind when looking for sources.

He also makes a very good argument for using index cards when making notes instead of notebooks or computers. I will defiantly be referring back to this book in the future.

DS
((Bruce's evil twin :-))

Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb
Having read several other books from this author I was disappointed in this book. It was not what I was expecting. I found the title, and back of the book summary was totally misleading.

It is really about a boy/young man, Nevare, from about the age of twelve and going through the beginning of his first year at the King’s Cavella Academy. The back of the book summary makes you think that it covers a lot more of his life. Nevare has always known that he would be a soldier, just as his father had been before him and he has prepared his whole life for this. But he is also a very naïve frontier boy when he arrives at the academy and he and his new friends have a very rude awakening.

I found the book enjoyable, but I think that I would have enjoyed it more if the title & back cover hadn’t mislead me in to believing that it was something different. From the back cover description you expect that it will go beyond the scope of the actual book, to when after Nevare & his classmates graduate and go out into the world, out to the frontier war and start to see how much they were not prepared for their futures.

Nevare is really just an ordinary young man, totally clueless about the larger world around him. He doesn’t really try to take control of his life, and doesn’t even start to get a clue that he should until maybe the end. He doesn’t really do anything in the book that makes a reader like him, buy into him, care about him. Isn’t that the whole point of a story? To make us feel something about the main character? To make us want him to succeed (or in some cases fail and get his comeuppance?)

You spend the book waiting for the ‘real’ story to start, and trying to figure out where the title came from. The story seemed to lack depth, we didn’t get into their heads, we didn’t really see any of their friendships grow, at the end of the book you could barely remember anyone’s names, because no one was really made important.

DS

It's All About Him by Denise Jackson
Finally finished one category!

If you do not feel comfortable about people talking about their spirituality and accepting Jesus into your life, this book will make you very uncomfortable. This book is about one woman’s life, they had everything and they were still not happy until she looked inside herself and beyond herself and invited Jesus into her life.

If you are looking for details of the Jackson’s life, this isn’t the book for you. It, isn’t all about her husband, Alan, it is about accepting God & Jesus into her life and how changing the focus of her life made her realize what she was missing and found a way to make them forgive each other and create a better life, a better marriage for themselves.

DS

OOPS! I deleted most of my list. Another reason to break your list down into different posts. Now I have to start it over. Writing down the list, not reading it.

DS

2- stolen from other 999 lists

1. How to Read Literature Like a Professor byThomas C Foster finished 01/21/09 loved it
2. Whiteout by Ken Follet
3. The Know-It-All by AJ Jacobs
4. Broken Music by Sting
5. My Only Story by Monica Wood
6. Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen
8. Reprise by Adelaide Cummings
9. Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur

Message edited by its author, Nov 11, 2009, 9:59pm.

3-Needlework/costuming

1. Mary Gostelow's Embroidery Book by Mary Gostelow
2. Patterns From Finished Clothes by Tracy Doyle
3. Patterns of Fashion 4 by Janet Arnold
4. Tudor Tailor by Ninya Mikhaila
5. Bridal Couture
6. The Art of Manipulating Fabric
7. Couture Sewing Techniques
8. Fine Embellishment Techniques by Jane Conlon
9. Dressing a Galaxy: The Costumes of Star Wars

Message edited by its author, Nov 19, 2009, 8:21pm.

4-History

1. The Assassins by Bernard Lewis
2. The Carolingians by Pierre Riche
3. Queen Without a Country by Rachel Bard
4. Daily Life in the World of Charlemagne by Pierre Riche
5. The Power of Babel by John McWhorter
6. How the Scots Invented The Modern World by Arthur Herman
7. Mohammed and Charlemagne by Henri Pirenne
8. Georginana by Amanda Foreman
9. Carolingian Chronicles by Berhard Water Scholz

Message edited by its author, Nov 26, 2009, 7:52pm.

5-Cruising/Rv-ing

1. Seasoned by Salt by Jerry Mashaw/Anne MacClintock
2. Voyaging on a Small Income by Annie Hill
3. Power Cruising by Claiborne S Young
4. Support your RV Lifestyle by Jamie Hall
5. The Troller Yacht Book by George Buehler
6. A Year in Paradise: How We Lived Our Dream by Stephen Wright Watterson
7. First We Quit Our Jobs by Marilyn J Abraham
8. The Capable Cruiser by Lin & Larry Pardey
9. Cost Conscious Cruiser by Lin & Larry Pardey

Message edited by its author, Nov 21, 2009, 6:35pm.

6-Writing

1. Writing Research Papers by James D Lester & James D Lester jr
2. Reading Critically Writing Well by Rise B Axelrod/Charles R Cooper
3. World-Building by Stephen L Gillett
4. Will Write for Food by Dianne Jacob
5. Write the story of Your Life by Ruth Kanin
6. 1,818 Ways to Write Better & Get Published
7. Computational Linguistics by Ralph Grishman
8. Description & Setting Ron Rozelle
9.

Message edited by its author, Yesterday, 5:23pm.

7-Cooking/food

1. It Must Be Something I Ate by Jeffery Steingarten
2. The Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain
3. Food and Feast in Medival England by Peter Hammond
4. The Complete Chile pepper Book
5. A Day at elBulli by Ferrann Adria
6. Digital Food Photography by Lou Manna
7. Slow Cooker: The Best Cookbook Ever by Diane Phillips
8. Plat du jour by
9. Don't Try This at Home

Message edited by its author, Nov 21, 2009, 8:26pm.

8-SciFi/Fantasy

1. Spires of Spirit by Gael Baudino
2. The Wizard Hunters by Martha Wells
3. City of Bones by Martha Wells
4. The Ships of Air by Martha Wells
5. The Gate of Gods by Martha Wells
6. The Death of The Necromancer by Martha Wells
7. Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb
8. Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn
9. By Heresies Distressed by David weber

Message edited by its author, Nov 3, 2009, 9:17pm.

9-Memoirs/biography

1. Grandmothers Secrets by Rosina-Fawzia Al-Rawi
2. Sean Connery by John Parker
3. Sounds from Another Room by Peter Horsley
4. Blowing My Cover by Linsay Moran
5. Nine Parts of desire by Geraldine Brooks
6. American Shaollin by Matthew Polly
7. Its All About Him by Denise Jackson
8. The Writers Tale by Russell T Davies

Was doing so well getting caught up on my reading, then I got distracted looking up people from High School.

Found 1.5 of the two I was looking for, 1.5 because I was able to find one (knew his middle initial) and actually talked to him and I sort of found another. I know where he works, and that he lives in CA, but no phone number or address, since he has a common name and I don’t know his middle initial. But he worked on the movie Astro Boy which came out yesterday! So now we need to go see it this afternoon. How exciting! I know it is him because I know where & when he went to school and that he had worked at Disney. I am not sure how you go from aeronautical aerospace engineering to animated films though. Strangely enough, he is the second friend from high school that I have found this month that works on movies! Another friend from high school works at Pixar. I told Bruce that we needed to get a bigger TV so I can read the credits since I wasn't able to see any of the 3 movies he worked on in the theater (and yes we are that kind of geek who sits and reads them all.)

Well, I did figure that I needed to read 3-4 books a week to finish the challenge. I have read 2 this week so far, so I am not that far off, and the weekend is still young!

Catching up again. I know that I will go a lot slower once i get back into the history books, but want to get some cleared off my list.

Spellbinder was certainly not what I was expecting from Melanie Rawn, but once I got over that it was a nice read. We can't be expecting Dragon Prince/Dragon Star quality from every book she writes. Some stories are just stronger, more powerful (and longer) then others.

Full Moon Rising was very enjoyable. I can't wait to get more Keri Arthur books. Very entertaining.

Couture Sewing Techniques Wow, really makes you think about foundations.

Fine Embellishment Techniques Makes me wish I had time to try out some new patterns that I have and do some embellishing. It will be a great reference book.

The Art of Manipulating Fabric One thing that I really like about this is that all of the examples are done in white fabric so you can really make out the details. I am not sure if or when I will ever use most of the techniques in this book but it will also be a great referance book to have on hand when I am sewing something.

I seem to have mis-placed a few books on my list. Someone doesn't but books back after they read them - those darn cats! :-) I find books in the strangest places.

Oh we went and saw the movie Astro Boy. It was very thrilling to see my friend Tony's name up on the screen, not just once but twice!

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

Message edited by its author, Oct 25, 2009, 9:07pm.

We got a beautifull homemade cookbook for a wedding present. I have decided that it is too short to include in the challenge though :-(

Makes me want to make a cookbook to give out as presents, but I have decided that it is too late in the year. the Springerle cookies that we had for the wedding were a big hit though. I was really surprised about this because they are flavored with anise and are white & hard like biscotti. I didn't think that they would be popular with people who didn't grow up with them. I know I just stumbled on the website that sells the molds on accident! So now I am trying to figure out what cookie mold to get to make cookies for everyone. I am thinking making matching x-mass ornaments to go with.

Anyway since they are such old cookies I am trying to find at least one book on them no real luck yet.

Message edited by its author, Nov 3, 2009, 9:41pm.

Finished category 8 - SciFi/Fantasy.

Bruce (the naughty boy) bought By Heresies Distressed in hardcover. It is totally AGAINST the rules! One they cost too much, but more importantly they take up too much room! He tried to rationalize it by saying that it's not coming out in paperback until March 2010, but really its not like we can't fine other stuff to read. The 4th book in the series comes out in hardcover in April 2010. No more hardcovers!

Ok, I loved the book. What can I say I/we are huge David Weber fans. And really he is the only person that I have met that is able to talk Bruce 'under the table' and about guns! Weber admits that he likes to tell long stories as anyone who has read his stuff can attest! There are battles, there is intrigue. It’s good verses evil. How can you tell the devil from the good guys kind of stuff.

Working on reading Write the Story of Your Life. It is very interesting. There are interesting exercises at the ends of the chapters along with a list of readings.

Ds
(Bruce’s evil twin :-))

Finished The Tudur Tailor a bit ago and forgot to write it down. It is a great book. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to make Tudor outfits. It has beautiful pictures I have not tried any of the patterns in it yet so I don’t know how well they are done though. It has wonderful pictures of the clothing too. It covers pretty much everything from the types of sources that there are for the period to making the finished product.

This is not the book for a casual Renn Faire person, someone who wants something along the lines of a quick, easy modern outfit to wear to the Renn Faire. This is for someone who is looking to reconstruct clothes from the period whether it is for reenactments groups or for Renn Faires. And the best part is you don’t need to have any prior knowledge, or experience with making or even how to wear Tudor clothing, The books walks you through it all.

DS

(Bruce's evil twin :-))

Write the Story of your Life

This is great little book, even if you are not interested in writing the story of your life, I would read it. Truth be told, I wasn’t thinking about writing the story of my life, I am more interested in stories. But I do read a lot of autobiographies and I always wonder how did they write this story? Some people have kept journals and are able to go back to them and use them, but not everyone. How do you go back to your childhood and write about it? How does one go about writing something so personal and that covers such a long period of time?

I used to keep journals, but I stopped for some reason and haven’t started again. I have a trunk with journals that my grandmother kept; maybe I will just put my journals in with them and leave them to my grandchildren or my daughter. I don’t re-read them, I don’t want anyone to read them while I am living, and I am not sure that I want anyone who knows or knew me to read them. But they are historical documents, what life was like for a single person, of no importance from my time period. Maybe my great grandchildren will find them interesting. I know that I would find my great-grandmothers journals interesting to read if their were any.

Anyway this is about writing the story of your life, for what ever reason, perhaps to share with your family, to include in with the family history. Maybe you are writing it for yourself as a reflection on what you have done in your life or to publish as a book.

Each chapter has exercises at the end to help you think about, work through what the chapter was about. My favorite chapter is ‘Words & Psyche’, this covers your personal use of language. It gives a system on how to improve your own personal vocabulary. I think that this is a very good insight. Too many times people say that they want to improve their vocabulary, but what they really are thinking is adding words that are important to other people.

Ruth Kanin breaks personal vocabulary into three parts. The first is your usable vocabulary. These are the words that you know and use. The second one is your unused vocabulary. These are the words that you recognize and understand but you don’t use them. The last and third is your mystery vocabulary. Words that you do not recognize or understand but you have read or heard them and have not bothered to look them up. To improve your vocabulary she tells us you should look up the word, see how it is used and decide whether it fits your style and taste. Is the word something that you would use? I think in terms of food. If your vocabulary was a recipe would the new word compliment it or would it ruin it? If it doesn’t fit in with the rest of your ingredients, then throw it out.

So for whatever reason prompted me to buy this book, I am glad that I did.

DS
(Bruce’s evil twin :-))

The Power of Babel by John McWhorter

I am sure that most of us have at one time or another heard the story of the tower of Babel. It is where man decided to build a tower reaching to the heavens not for the glory of God but for the glory of man. God decided to ‘confound their language’ so they could no longer understand one another and scatter them upon the earth.

This is a book, for non-linguists, on how language evolved from one language to the 6 thousand or so that we have today.

Message edited by its author, Nov 9, 2009, 8:17pm.

Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen
I loved this book. It was a great laugh outloud read. Georgie pretty much runs away from her brothers house in Scotland to move into the families London house, without servants, in an effort not to spend time with a prince that the Queen wants her to meet & marry. There is a host of colorful characters including Georgies brother, the Duke, who is nicknamed Binky, and his wife Fig.

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

1,818 Ways to Write Better & Get Published
This book should be called - Lists for Writers to write Better & Get Published.

The format of the book aside, it does contain lots of information, in the form of lists, for writters who want to write better & get published. The format allows you to find the info that you are looking for quite easily.

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

Categoies 2, 3, 7, 8 & 9 are complete

Message edited by its author, Nov 21, 2009, 8:27pm.

Slow Cooker:The Best Cookbook Ever by Diane Phillips

What I liked about this book is that it isn’t your usually run of the mill cookbook. Yes there is the usual beef stew you find in crock pot books, but there is also North African Beef Stew with apricots, raisins and garbanzo beans, Veggie Cassoulet, and Double Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding. It has lots of lamb recipes, which your average American cookbook neglects but we eat a lot of. If I could have only one crock pot cookbook this would be it.

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))