These are the categories I am thinking of doing.
"Things Could Be Worse" - Dystopias, Alternate Histories, Post-Apocalyptic, Etc.
"Imagined Worlds" - Fairy Tales, Mythology, Fantasy, Supernatural
"FP's Language Wall of Shame" - Fiction Originally Written in a Language I've Studied (French, German, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic)
"Authors I Hope I'll Love" - New (To Me) Fiction
"So Much To Discover" - Non-Fiction on Any Topic
"Conquering Continent TBR" - Anything, As Long as I Already Own It as of 12/31/2009
"A Literature of Their Own" - British Women's Literature and Associated Lit Crit
"Shorter is Better" - Short Stories, Essays
Shakespeare Project - Shakespeare's Plays, Criticism, Maybe Some History or Biography
"Freebies" - Open for ER books, Belletrista reads, group reads, etc.
Any books listed in posts #2-11 below without a completion date are merely ideas for what I
might read. I hate homework - although I love lists - and eschew firm commitments to read anything. I make no promises to actually read what I say I might, especially this far out from the start date. I will probably allow myself 10 overlaps - most likely in the "Conquering Continent TBR category", otherwise I doubt I will complete the challenge. I can probably read 100 books in a year, but I've got some chunksters in mind for 2010; also, I doubt everything I will read will fit into even these fairly broad categories.
Message edited by its author, Oct 9, 2009, 10:24am.
"Imagined Worlds" - Fairy Tales, Mythology, Fantasy, Supernatural
(1) Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 10 (does this have a title yet?) - Charlaine Harris
(2)
Prophecy of the Sisters -
Michelle Zink(3)
Un Dun Lun - China Mieville
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
Message edited by its author, Oct 9, 2009, 10:42am.
"FP's Language Wall of Shame" - Fiction Originally Written in a Language I've Studied (French, German, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic)
ETA: Note that because this is my wall of shame, I am NOT reading these works in the original.
(1)
Swann's Way (In Search of Lost Time, Vol. 1) - Marcel Proust (French)
(2)
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (French)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
Message edited by its author, Oct 26, 2009, 9:59pm.
"Authors I Hope I'll Love" - New (To Me) Fiction
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
PossibilitiesJane GardamMessage edited by its author, Oct 24, 2009, 10:36am.
"Conquering Continent TBR" - Anything, As Long as I Already Own It as of 12/31/2009 (I sense an end-of-year buying binge coming on....)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
Message edited by its author, Oct 9, 2009, 10:19am.
"A Literature of Their Own" - British Women's Literature and Associated Lit Crit
(1)
The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination - Sandra M. Gilbert
(2)
A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Bronte to Lessing - Elaine Showalter
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
Message edited by its author, Oct 11, 2009, 10:55am.
"Shorter is Better" - Short Stories, Essays
(1) For the Relief of Unbearable Urges: Stories - Nathan Englander
(2) Blow-Up and Other Stories – Julio Cortazar
(3) Awake in the Dark - Shira Nayman
(4) Katherine Mansfield's Short Stories (Norton Critical Edition)
(5) Rashomon and Other Stories - Ryunosuke Akutagawa
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
Message edited by its author, Oct 9, 2009, 10:49am.
Shakespeare Project - Shakespeare's Plays, Criticism, Maybe Some History or Biography
This category is part of my attempt to appreciate Shakespeare. I find I only "get" Shakespeare when I see his work performed, so for every play I read, I am also going to see either a live theatrical production or a film version.
I especially welcome recommendations on the films! I'll also kick off my reading of each play by reading the prose version from
Charles Lamb's
Tales from Shakespeare.
(1)
Much Ado About Nothing - Folger Shakespeare Theatre (10/21/2009-11/29/2009)
(2)
Hamlet - Folger Shakespeare Theatre (04/21/2010-06/06/2010)
(3)
Henry V - The Shakespeare Theatre Company (02/4/2010 - 04/10/2010); probably also watching the Branagh film (Andrew's favorite Shakespeare)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
Message edited by its author, Oct 11, 2009, 11:03am.
"Freebies" - Open for ER books, Belletrista reads, group reads, etc.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
Message edited by its author, Oct 9, 2009, 10:20am.
Book Recommendations"Things Could Be Worse" - Dystopias, Alternate Histories, Post-Apocalyptic, etc.
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller (auntmarge64)
On the Beach by Nevil Shute (auntmarge64)
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham (auntmarge64)
Swan Song by Robert McCammon (EnriqueFreeque)
Film Recommendations for Shakespeare ProjectMuch Ado About Nothing (Branagh, Thompson)
Twelfth Night (Helena Bonham-Carter, Ben Kingsley, Imogen Stubbs)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (Kevin Kline, Stanley Tucci)
Love's Labour's Lost" (Kenneth Branagh, Alessandro Nivola, Alicia Silverstone)
Hamlet (BBC - Patrick Stewart; Mel Gibson; Branagh)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (for Hamlet)
Macbeth (Polanski)
Taming of the Shrew & Romeo and Juliet (Zeffirelli)
Message edited by its author, Oct 26, 2009, 9:57pm.
Great categories! I'll be checking in to your list next year.
>13, As usual, Madeline, I'll be stalking you as well! :)
LOL! I'll keep an eye out for you...
A couple of apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic suggestions for your list:
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller (one of the all-time best stories written, IMHO. A story told in 3-parts. The first is set a thousand years after nuclear near-annihilation of the human race. Part 1: Survivors live in a medieval-style culture in what used to be the US Midwest. Successive parts take place in intervals of several centuries, the last during a time similar to our own.) *****
On the Beach by Nevil Shute (The last survivors of atomic warfare await the arrival of radiation in southern Australia. It was a wonderful movie with Gregory Peck too.) ****
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham (An invasion of alien plant spores causes blindness among most of the population. Most die, a few must band together for humanity to survive. Wyndham's most popular story.) ****
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. (Pulitzer Prize winner, extremely bleak but worth reading.) ****
The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier (an Antarctic scientist discoveries she may be the last human alive. Meanwhile, the dead discover they have their own existence, limited by who remembers them in the living world. Very creative.) ****½
I *love* your categories, especially "Things Could Be Worse". I'm tempted to rob that category for my own use, though I thought I was pretty much decided.
Ooh, I like your Shakespeare category! I see you already have a theatrical version of
Much Ado About Nothing, but I would highly recommend the film version starring Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson. It's one of my favorite movies! And there is some very interesting casting too. :)
Other Shakespeare films I really like are: "Twelfth Night" (Helena Bonham-Carter, Ben Kingsley, Imogen Stubbs), "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (Kevin Kline, Stanley Tucci), and "Love's Labour's Lost" (Kenneth Branagh, Alessandro Nivola, Alicia Silverstone), which is a musical!
I like your Language Wall of Shame category - when I first saw it I was thinking that you would be reading in the original language. I've just signed up for the challenge and have an Israeli fiction category.
>21, no, unfortunately, Arabic is the only language I could even come close to reading a whole book in and that would probably take me a year. Hence the "shame" involved.
Yay, you're here! I'm looking forward to following your posts. I did a huge amount of substitution with the 999 and expect to continue. Also, I'm refusing to put down any actual titles until December, since the moment I say that I won't read a book until January, it instantly becomes the most alluring book in the world.
I'm planning to read
Oryx and Crake for the Atwood in April group read and so look forward to hearing what you think of
The Year of the Flood.
Fanny -- Fabulous categories!
See if you can find any of the BBC productions of the Shakespeare plays (we have them at the university library). I really liked their Hamlet, especially Patrick Stewart as Claudius. Then, just for fun, watch the Mel Gibson Hamlet. It's not entirely awful, and I think Helena Bonham-Carter makes a splendid Ophelia.
Great categories! RE: "Wall of Shame" Funny!
For Shakespeare's
Hamlet, my vote goes to Branagh's version - it's absolutely beautiful! Although, it's hard to beat a live performance. Branagh's version of
Much Ado About Nothing is also worth a watch - mainly because Emma Thompson is the best Beatrice I've ever seen.
If you're reading
Macbeth, I'd recommend Polanski's film-version - it has a wonderful mood!
And, if you're reading
Taming of the Shrew or
Romeo and Juliet, then Zeffirelli's film-versions are really great. Or if you wants something more contemporary, you can always watch Luhrmann's
Romeo + Juliet.
Great categories! RE: "Wall of Shame" Funny!
For Shakespeare's
Hamlet, my vote goes to Branagh's version - it's absolutely beautiful! Although it's hard to beat a live performance. Branagh's version of
Much Ado About Nothing is also worth a watch - mainly because Emma Thompson is the best Beatrice I've ever seen.
If you're reading
Macbeth, I'd recommend Polanski's film-version - it has a wonderful mood!
And, if you're reading
Taming of the Shrew or
Romeo and Juliet, then Zeffirelli's film-versions are really great. Or if you wants something more contemporary, you can always watch Luhrmann's
Romeo + Juliet.
Fanny,
Can I go to the theater with you? My husband hates Shakespeare and I love him so I very rarely get to go. Every year I ask him to take me to the Folger and I have yet to get there. You are so lucky!
For your imagined worlds, have you seen the series of books by Naomi Novik set around the Napoleonic war period with the air corps of Dragons? An interesting concept.
And the Britsh Women's Literature, is that about British women or by British women?
>25, Eva - Thanks for the film recs. I will definitely check them out, although I think I have already seen Branagh's "Much Ado About Nothing", its been a long time.
Re Polanski - I have never seriously considered boycotting an artist's films or other works because of their political views or other unsavory actions, but I come close with Polanski. I have heard that his version of Macbeth was made shortly after Sharon Tate was murdered and is extremely violent.
>27, The British Women's Lit is going to be fiction by them and any lit crit about them that I find interesting. For instance, I have always wanted to read
The Madwoman in the Attic and Showalter's
A Literature of Their Own because I {heart} her. She's a genuis. So I think I will include both of those in the next year's reading somehow, whether they get counted in this category or in the non-fiction one.
Why does your husband hate Shakespeare? Seeing it performed might help him appreciate it more - I find that I hate
reading Shakespeare but love watching it.
#28
Macbeth was made in 1971, so he started working on it right after she died. It's not extremely violent (any more than the play itself), but immensely bleak, to match Macbeth's (and probably Polanski's)mood. I totally understand if you wouldn't want to see his work because of him - I don't watch any film connected with Mel Gibson...
>30, lol, good call on that. Poor Mel, he's afflicted with total idiocy.
#31
There are so many adjectives I could come up with to describe him, but none of them are acceptable in civilized company. :)
30, 31, Did you know that Mel Gibson is #64 on the list of
100 Ways America is Screwing Up the World? I agree that he's a total weenie, but that doesn't stop me if I want to watch one of his movies. I'll also watch movies by other Hollywood weenies such as Tom Cruise. And read and love books by authors who were nasty individuals (
Roald Dahl, anyone?), and listen to music by despicable musicians. I have to separate the art from the artist, or there won't be all that much out there to enjoy. Which, getting back around to Mel Gibson, I do enjoy watching Braveheart and pointing out all the historical inaccuracies and anachronisms. It's a fun way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon.
>32, Haha, I am flattered you think I'm civilized.
>33, Nickelini - Good points. I just find that generally Mel and Tom don't make movies that I'm interested in watching anymore. I find that I give more leeway to people in the past who held views that were common at the time but that we now find despicable than to people who currently hold views that most people would find offensive. For instance, I'm more willing to forgive sexism in someone from the 18th century than someone from the 21st. However, you've piqued my interest with Roald Dahl. I'm gonna have to find out more about his politics.
I don't know what Roald Dahl's politics were, I've just heard from numerous sources (including one person who had actually met him) that he was a rude and mean person.
#34
Well, civilized-ish.... :)
#33
I have my personal issues with Mr. Gibson since his drunk-driving "event" here in LA - basically, I couldn't watch a film of his without getting nauseous, so that cancels my interest in him. :) Tom Cruise is just a loony. LOL!!
Very cool - and ambitious! - thread. For apocalyptic, I recommend
Swan Song by Robert McCammon, whenever I get the chance. Nearly 1,000 pages, but leaves you wanting even more. Yeah, it's not literary apocalyptic fiction like The Road or what Atwood writes, but I love it nonetheless.
I love your "Things Could Be Worse" category. I may even need to steal it for my own (if I may). I'm running through the threads gathering ideas for my categories as we speak.
Hamlet, surely one of the greatest plays of all time. And how about that
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard? That might make a nice companion read, and it was one of the funniest films I've seen (although it helps to know the Shakespearean version first).
Not sure if someone mentioned it but the 10th Southern Vampire book by Charlaine Harris is
Dead in the Family. I'm very excited to read this too.
(back to top)
