cbfiske takes a trip to the "five and dime"

I joined this challenge toward the end of 2010, starting with a goal of 10 books in 5 categories by the end of 2011. After a period of taking it down to 5 books in 5 categories, I brought it back up to 10 books in 5 categories. My pace has not been as fast as I had hoped, but I am giving myself all the time I need to finish my challenge, which I am enjoying quite a bit. Update 3/16/16 - I've finished my challenge. What a good feeling!

1. Down to the Sea in Ships - books having something to do with ships and the ocean - category finished, 11 books read
2. Long Ago and Far Away - books having to do with history (I'll be putting many of my Reading Through Time Challenge books here) - category finished, 10 books read
3.I've Been to London to See the Queen - this category is for books regarding royalty and other VIPs - category finished, 11 books read
4.Take Me Out To The Ballgame - books mostly about baseball, but also soccer and football - category finished, 10 books read
5. Please, Sir, May I Have Some More - books, chapters of books, articles and films by or about Charles Dickens, his characters or stories - category finished, 10 books read

1. Down to the Sea in Ships - category finished, 11 books read

a. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis - finished
b. Captain Horatio Hornblower: An Omnibus Volume by C. S. Forester -finished Beat to Quarters
c. Salt-Water Poems and Ballads. illustrated by Chas. Pears. by John Masefield - finished
d. H.M.S. Surprise by Patrick O'Brian - finished
e. Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville - finished
f.The Awakening by Kate Chopin - finished
g.The Coast by Joseph J. Thorndike - finished
h.The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War by Bernard Cornwell - finished
I.Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana - finished
J.The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger - finished
k.Moby Dick by Herman Melville - finished

2. Long Ago and Far Away - category finished, 10 books read

a.The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman by Nancy Marie Brown - finished
b.Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney - finished
c.The Uncertain Revolution: Washington and the Continental Army at Morristown by John T. Cunningham - finished
d.The Road to Jerusalem by Jan Guillou - finished
e.The Templar Knight: Book Two of the Crusades Trilogy by Jan Guillou - finished
f.The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows - finished
g.Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford - finished
h.Tevye's Daughters by Sholom Aleichem - finished
i.Up Front by Bill Mauldin - finished
j.Gay Neck: The Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Ghopal Mukerji - finished

3. I've Been to London to See the Queen - category finished, 11 books read

a.Queen Victoria: Born to Succeed by Elizabeth Longford - finished
b.Hamlet by William Shakespeare - finished
c.Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade by James Reston - finished
d.Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare - finished
e.My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams by Abigail and John Adams - finished
f.The Uncommon Reader: A Novella by Alan Bennett - finished
g.Kings of New York: A Year Among the Geeks, Oddballs, and Geniuses Who Make Up America's Top High School Chess Team by Michael Weinreb - finished
h.The Roosevelts and the Royals by Will Swift - finished
i.A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain - finished
j.The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain - finished
K.'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' by James Thurber - finished

4. Take Me Out To The Ballgame - category finished, 10 books read

a.The Athletics of Philadelphia: Connie Mack's White Elephants by David M. Jordan - finished
b.The Joy of Keeping Score by Paul Dickson - finished
c.Murder at Wrigley Field by Troy Soos - finished
d.Ball Four: The Final Pitch by Jim Bouton - finished
e. The Natural by Bernard Malamud - finished
f. Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball by Bob Costas - finished
g.My Losing Season by Pat Conroy - finished
h.A Civil War: Army vs. Navy by John Feinstein - finished
i.Driving Mr. Yogi by Harvey Araton - finished
j.Playing for Pizza by John Grisham - finished

5. Please, Sir, May I Have Some More - 10 finished, category finished

a.A Christmas Carol and Other Stories by Charles Dickens - finished
b. assorted articles:
"Charles Dickens and Daufuskie Island" in My Reading Life pp. 77-83 by Pat Conroy - finished
"May 2004" in The Polysyllabic Spree pp. 73-80 by Nick Hornby - finished
c.The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens - finished
d.Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones - finished
e.The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl - finished
f. assorted dramatizations:
Bleak House - 2005 BBC version - viewed
Little Dorrit - 2007 BBC version - viewed
David Copperfield - 1969 Miracle Pictures(Richard Attenborough, Cyril Cusack) - viewed
David Copperfield - 2000 Masterpiece Theatre (Daniel Radcliffe) - viewed
g. Tale of Two Cities - by Charles Dickens - finished
h. Charles Dickens (Penguin Lives) by Jane Smiley - finished
i.David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - finished
j.Humbug Murders: An Ebenezer Scrooge Mystery by L. J. Oliver

Welcome to the challenge, I too, am planning on winding this one up in time to kick of the 11 in 11 Challenge in January.

Haha, love the categories! Will definitely be checking in to see what you read!

#7 and #8 Thanks for the welcome. Hope your challenges go well, too.

I've finished Queen Victoria: Born to Succeed in my I've Been to London to See the Queen category. This was a nice overview of Queen Victoria's life from birth to death. I enjoyed it, but would have gotten more out of it if I'd been more familiar with the political issues of the day. The author did do a good job of portraying Victoria's relationships with family, servants and government officials as well as her relationship with her people. As this book was copyright 1964, I also find I'd like to read a biography written more recently to see how the historians of today view Victoria.

I've finished two in my Long Ago and Far Away category. I read both The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman and Beowulf for the Reading Through Time December Viking Challenge and got a lot out of both of them. The Far Traveler combined Gudrid's travel story as told in the sagas with the quest for information by means of archaeological digs in Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland. Very interesting combination and one I haven't seen before. I have read Beowulf before, but particularly enjoyed Mr. Heaney's choice of words in this translation. Beowulf gave me a good idea of the mindset of the people living in this time period. Quite an emphasis on loyalty, honor and bravery.

I'm currently reading A Christmas Carol and Other Stories for my Dickens Please Sir, May I Have Some More category. I usually reread A Christmas Carol every December and this year I'm loving it as much as ever. The edition I'm reading also includes The Chimes, a New Year's story which I've finished and The Haunted Man, a new one to me which I'm working my way through. So far, out of the three, A Christmas Carol is still my favorite.

For my I've Been to London... category I'm rereading Hamlet and hope to combine this with a viewing of the David Tennant Hamlet as shown on PBS.

Finished reading Hamlet in my I've Been to London... category and now working on the viewing of the DVD. My next foray into Shakespeare will be with Julius Caesar sometime in 2011.

In January, I'll be reading one for my Long Ago and Far Away category: Road to Jerusalem and yet another for the I've Been to London... category Warriors of God. As you can see from this, the Reading Through Time group is covering the Crusades. The Uncertain Revolution, which I'm reading now is to help satisfy my need for American Revolutionary War reading. This one is particularly good as I've been to some of the places the author mentions.

I'm also planning to start my Down to the Sea in Ships category with Voyage of the Dawn Treader which will be a reread. I'm hoping to see the movie soon as well.

Happy Holidays to everyone and Happy Reading in 2011.

I've finished Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Uncertain Revolution. Enjoyed both of these. Found Voyage of the Dawn Treader to be a good first book for my Down to the Sea... category and found our current snowstorm a perfect time to be reading and appreciating The Uncertain Revolution with its talk of harsh winters in New Jersey.

I've now started The Road to Jerusalem and The Athletics of Philadelphia: Connie Mack's White Elephants to take me into the New Year. Looking forward to my 2011 reading.

Happy 2011. I finished The Road to Jerusalem before January 1st. I thought it would take me longer, but it was a book I got really involved in and which I would recommend.
I'm still working my way through The Athletics of Philadelphia: Connie Mack's White Elephants, a very matter-of-fact history of the A's sojourn in Philadelphia. The A's book starts off my reading in my Take Me Out to the Ballgame category, the last category for me to tackle. I'll check back when I've made more progress.

I've finished The Athletics of Philadelphia: Connie Mack's White Elephants and I now understand a little better why my Great Uncle from Philadelphia started as an A's fan, while my Mom, whose love of baseball came a little later, was so taken by the Phillies. This book was a good, basic introduction to the Athletics written by a fan whose love for the later Philadelphia Athletics teams comes through.

I'm now onto The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby in my Dickens category and working on obtaining a copy of Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade for my I've Been to London... category. This Crusades will also count as my nonfiction read in the Reading Through Time challenge. Onward.

Still going with Nicholas Nickleby. I've got my copy of Warriors of God, so I've now started on that as well and I'm dipping into Julius Caesar. Having nice reading in January.

Finished Warriors of God and the second book in Jan Guillou's CrusadesTrilogy, The Templar Knight. I've enjoyed dipping into the Crusades, much more than I expected to and I'm waiting for the English translaton of the third book in the Guillou Trilogy.

Picked up and finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows for my Long Ago and Far Away category. A pleasant story talking about a very unpleasant time. I enjoyed this read.

I have also finished Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. What a wonderful story! This book jumped back and forth from Henry's life in the 1980s to his life back in the 1940s as a Chinese American growing up during World War II in Seattle, Washington with a Japanese American friend named Keiko. A review will come soon. *** As promised, I've posted a review. Look under Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet to see it.

I've finished Beat to Quarters aka The Happy Return, the first Horatio Hornblower adventure written by C. S. Forester. It did not disappoint.

I've finished My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams for the I've Been to London category and begun Tevye's Daughters in the Long Ago category.

In honor of Valentine's Day on Monday two quotes from John Adams' letters to Abigail as recorded in My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams:

letter from John to Abligail Adams dated Nov. 24, 1792 My Dearest Friend p. 333
"I would not entertain you with this political Title tattle, if I had any thing of more importance to say. One Thing of more importance to me, but no News to you is that I am yours with unabated Esteem and affection forever."

letter from John to Abigail Adams dated Dec. 28, 1792 My Dearest Friend p. 337
"I am as impatient to see you as I used to be twenty year ago."

For my Please, Sir, May I Have Some More category, I've listed "Charles Dickens and Daufuskie Island", a lovely chapter that I came across while reading My Reading Life by Pat Conroy. I enjoyed this chapter and wanted to remember it, so I am using it as part of this category.

I've also included the "May, 2004" chapter from Nick Hornby's The Polysyllabic Spree , more great Dickens stuff.

In honor of Spring Training, I've joined the Spring Training group read started in the 75 Books Challenge in 2011 group. I've finished The Joy of Keeping Score by Paul Dickson and am looking forward to more to put in my Take Me Out to the Ballgame category.

I've finished two books that count for the Spring Training challenge and also my own Take Me Out to the Ballgame category: The Joy of Keeping Score and Murder at Wrigley Field. I enjoyed both of them and will have to look for more Troy Soos mysteries. He does a very good job of combining history with mystery and throwing in baseball is a plus in my opinion.

I've also finished Salt-Water Ballads and Poems for my Down to the Sea in Ships category. Mr. Masefield tells stories with his poetry and I really enjoyed hearing his sea tales. "Dauber" and "The River" were particularly good. This book reminded me that I was familiar with a poem by Masefield. Sea-Fever has this famous passage:

"I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by" ( Salt-Water Poems and Ballads) p. 55)

It shows in his work that John Masefield, when younger, actually went to sea.

I've finished my first category: Long Ago and Far Away. Thanks go, in a large part, to the Reading Through Time Challenge, for which I read 6 out of the 10 titles. I enjoyed all of these books and don't plan to stop historical reading anytime soon. Reading Through Time remains one of my LT groups and I look forward to the time periods and themes to come. Now on to the other categories.

Due to increased responsibilities at home and not as much time to read, I've taken this challenge back to a 5x5. I've now finished three categories: Long Ago and Far Away, I've Been to London to See the Queen and Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Still working on the other two and will also report extras I read for the other categories. I've read 5 extra for Long Ago and Far Away. The Spring Training group read helped me immensely with the Take Me Out to the Ballgame category. On to complete what's still not finished.

I've finished one extra for my Take Me Out to the Ballgame category and I'm now finished with the Spring Training read at 75 Books Challenge. I'm currently reading Charles Dickens' Best Stories for my Please, Sir, May I Have Some More category and I've begun H.M.S. Surprise for my Down to the Sea in Ships category and also for another group read in 75 Books Challenge.

I've finished H.M.S. Surprise and now find myself with a new series I really want to work my way through. I truly enjoyed this tale of the sea.

Just checking in. With two to go to finish this challenge, I've decided to take it back up to 10 books in 5 categories. I am giving myself 'til the end of 2012 to finish.

I've started reading Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville. This will work for my Down to the Sea in Ships category and for the Transportation theme Reading Through Time is doing for August. I'm enjoying it so far. Herman Melville really paints a picture for the reader.

Billy Budd, Sailor is finished. I enjoyed this classic and it has given me courage to pick up Moby Dick someday.

I'm currently reading The Awakening by Kate Chopin. I did not originally think of it as fitting, but I'm putting it in my Down to the Sea in Ships category. The story concerns the vacation community of the islands near New Orleans and the sea definitely plays a role in this story.

I've finished The Awakening and next I'm turning to my Please, Sir category with The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl.

I've decided to add dramatizations I've viewed to my "Please, Sir, May I Have Some More" Dickens category.
There are some dramatizations I've seen recently that I need to remember. In particular, I've enjoyed the fairly recent BBC productions of Bleak House and Little Dorrit and look forward to viewing more.

We're going to be moving later this year and so I'm taking a break from the groups on LibraryThing until we've moved and settled in. Thank you. I've enjoyed my time here.

I'm reading The Alienist by Caleb Carr for my I've Been to London... category. Theodore Roosevelt plays a big role in this story and I'm enjoying my peak into his life and old time New York.

Life intruded and I didn't quite get to finish The Alienist, which I'll save for another time. Instead, I'm working on The Coast by Joseph J. Thorndike, concerning his trips along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean from Maine to Florida. Hope for better progress with this one.

I've finished The Coast. I enjoyed Mr. Thorndike's portrayal of the local areas along the Coast from Maine to Florida and his thoughts regarding the strenghts and challenges of those areas. It helps that I've seen or lived near some of the areas he discussed and so can relate even better. A good read.

I've finished My Losing Season by Pat Conroy for my Take Me Out to the Ballgame category. Really enjoyed this one although I do not follow college basketball as a rule. The twist to this one was that Mr. Conroy played ball at the Citadel and, as you can tell by the title, the team was not a winning one. This made the book not your typical college team story. Well worth reading.

I've finished A Civil War, Army vs. Navy - another one for my Take Me Out to the Ballgame category. A good read! This book gave the reader an indepth look at a year of football at West Point and the Naval Academy culminating in the matchup of the two teams at the Army Navy game.

I'm currently reading Jane Smiley's biography of Charles Dickens for my Charles Dickens category. A good read so far.

I finished Jane Smiley's Charles Dickens biography. It was a nice introduction to Dickens with information on where to go for more. I recommend it.

Next up is Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, which I'm reading for my I've Been to London to See the Queen
category. My son read and actually enjoyed this for College last year, so I've decided to try it. So far, I'm enjoying my conversation with Marcus Aurelius, "philosopher and emperor of Rome, A.D. 161-180."

I find I'm needing to put Marcus Aurelius on hold, to be picked up when I can.

I am also reading Kings of New York by Michael Weinreb for the same I've Been to London to See the Queen category.

I'm also needing to put Kings of New York on hold.

I have finished Driving Mr. Yogi by Harvey Araton. I really enjoyed this book about the friendship between the two retired Yankees Ron Guidry and Yogi Berra. It was a fun, quick read with quite a bit to say about friendship.

Kings of New York is finished. Interesting take on what it is like to be the best in a "sport", chess, that is not a big deal in America. Enjoyed being a fly on the wall.

Happy 2014! I have 7 books to go to finish my challenge. Progress is being made. My latest 2 were for the I've Been to London to See the Queen category. The Roosevelts and the Royals was a history of the friendship of the two couples through the years, with quite an emphasis on World War II. This book gave me an interesting and different perspective on the War and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The second book, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court also was one I enjoyed. I knew the story, but had never read it. This one also gave me a different perspective, this time on life at King Arthur's Court. The description of what the Connecticut Yankee experienced traveling in a full set of armor is priceless. Understatement-Mark Twain had a wonderful sense of imagination.

The next two I'm working on will be Little Dorrit, for my Dickens category, and The Prince and the Pauper to finish off my I've Been to London category.

I'm busy reading The Prince and the Pauper and next, Little Dorrit. I've also planned the reading to finish this challenge and am looking forward to many happy reading moments ahead.

I 've finished my 'I've Been to London' category with The Prince and the Pauper and ' the Secret Life of Walter Mitty'. The Prince and the Pauper was ,as Mark Twain says at the beginning,"a tale for young people of all ages" and a nice companion to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' was irresistible to me for this category. In Mitty's mind, he is very much the VIP, although his real life shows something different. One to think about.

I've finished The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War by Bernard Cornwell, appropriately enough on Bernard Cornwell's birthday. I wasn't originally thinking of it for this category, but it fit very well with my Down to the Sea in Ships books. The novel was a good one describing the Penobscot Expedition, according to Mr. Cornwell "often described as the worst naval disaster in United States history before Pearl Harbor.". I also have the advantage of having visited the area he is describing, now Castine, Maine. This helped to make the book even more real to me.

I've just finished rereading David Copperfield for my Please, Sir... Category. Really enjoyed this. All the characters, including David, Peggotty, Mr. Micawber, Uriah Heep etal are still flying around in my brain.

I'm now listening to the unabridged CD version of Playing for Pizza by John Grisham. So far, it is proving to be a great car read. This will count for my Take Me Out to the Ballgame Category.

Playing for Pizza is finished and now,so is my reading for the Take Me Out to the Ballgame category. Two categories are left to finish up. Playing for Pizza did prove to be a very good read for the car and not only talked about American football as played in Italy, but also opera, art and architecture. Nice little book.

I've finished Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana and found it quite enjoyable. Interesting to read about the time and trouble it took to reach California before the Transcontinental Railroad was built. Also, quite something to learn of the day to day life of a crew member on a ship making that kind of a journey. Quite a read! This is book nine for my Down to the Sea in Ships category. One more to go for that category.

Still attempting to finish this Five and Dime Challenge by the end of the year, but might end up reading into 2016. I'm down to my final two! To finish the Down to the Sea in Ships category, I'm reading Herman Melville's Moby Dick and enjoying it more than I thought I would. I have other books going as well right now, but it is coming along.

Thanks to a bout of strep throat and having to rest and relax, I have finished Moby Dick! Very glad to read this one. I always was scared of it, but have survived to tell you that it is very good reading, particularly for the type of person who likes to see a movie and behind the scenes of the movie. This book gives you a wonderful adventure and at the same time quite the education about whales and whaling. I also managed to read The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger. This gives you the who, what, where, when and why of this particular storm and makes you care about the people caught up in it. This nonfiction reads almost like fiction and explained very technical things in a way that this nontechnical person could understand. I ended up my Down to the Sea in Ships category with two very good ones! Now to turn to one final Dickens and finishing this challenge! I'll be reading Dickens' A Child's History of England.

I'm putting Child's History of England on pause. It is now December, Christmas is coming and I am turning to my yearly reading of Dickens' Christmas Carol. When I have finished, History will resume.

I've decided to pause History for a longer time. To finish this challenge, I am switching to a read of Bleak House. I will keep you informed of my progress. I'm hoping that 2016 will see the completion of this challenge for me.

Well, I did not end by reading Bleak House. A friend let me borrow a copy of Humbug Murders: An Ebenezer Scrooge Mystery by L. J. Oliver. She saw all the references to Dickens' characters and thought I would enjoy it. She was right! Fun to see the influence of Dickens on today's writers. This was a clever mystery and a good way to end my challenge. So goodby to the "five and dime". I've enjoyed my visit and will continue to read books in my "five and dime" categories.