lalbro reads 75 in 11

I am going to try to maintain two lists this year, this one
-- and a category stepped challenge (11 in 11: http://www.librarything.com/topic/105699). I'm also going to try to convince my 12-year-old daughter who reads like a maniac to start her own list...she currently seems interested in the idea!

Now to decide what book to start with on 1/1/11...




JANUARY

1. A Free Life by Ha Jin -- FINISHED 1/13/11
2. The Ethical Gourmet by Jay Weinstein -- FINISHED 1/7/11
3. Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie -- FINISHED 1/30/11
4. Making It All Work by David Allen -- FINISHED 1/24/11

FEBRUARY

5. The Sound of A Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey -- FINISHED 2/1/11
6. Store It! -- FINISHED mid February
7. Let's Take The Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell-- FINISHED 2/4/11
8. The Art of Organizing Anything by Rosalie Maggio -- FINISHEbD 2/15/11
9. The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano-- FINISHED 2/17/11
10. Kitchen Literacy by Ann Vileisis-- FINISHED 2/18/11
11. The Circumference of Home by Kurt Hoetling -- FINISHED 3/3/11
12. Buzz: A Year of Paying Attention by Katherine Ellison-- FINISHED 2/25/11

MARCH

13. Objects of Our Affection -- FINISHED 3/5/11
14. How to Read The Air -- FINISHED 5/4/11
15. At Home by Bill Bryson --FINISHED 5/8/11
16. Missing Lucille -- FINISHED 3/19/11
17. Room by Emma Donoghue -- FINISHED 3/25/11
18. Deep Blue Home: An Intimate Ecology of Our Wild Ocean by Julia Whitty -- FINISHED 4/3/11'

APRIL

19. The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok -- FINISHED 4/8/11
20. Multipliers by Liz Wiseman -- FINISHED 4/20/11
21. American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields by Rowan Jacobsen -- FINISHED 4/30/11
22. Hamlet's Blackberry by William Powers --- FINISHED 4/16/11
23. The Infinities by John Banville -- FINISHED 4/30/11

MAY

24. The Cheapskate Next Door -- FINISHED 5/5/11
25. A Tiger In The Kitchen -- FINISHED 5/17/11
26. The Water Is Wide -- FINISHED 5/15/11
27. The Emperor of all Maladies -- FINISHED 6/8/11
28. American Wasteland -FINISHED 7/5/11
29. Swamplandia -- FINISHED 6/19/11
30. Live More, Want Less - FINISHED 6/1/11

JUNE

31. Emily, Alone --FINISHED 6/18/11
32. The Reading Promise ---FINISHED 6/29/11
33. Exceedingly Eighty: And Other Adaptations by Judith Viorst -- FINISHED 6/19/11
34. Wanderlust -- CURRENTLY READING
35. Grow The Good Life --FINISHED 7/23/11
36. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks --FINISHED 7/2/11
37. Life on the Refrigerator Door -- FINISHED 6/30/11

JULY

38. Every Last One --FINISHED 7/22/11
39. The Mind's Eye by Oliver Sacks -- CURRENTLY READING
40. 52 Loaves -- FINISHED 7/13/11
41. The 100 Thing Challenge -- FINISHED 7/26/11
42. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson --FINISHED 8/10/11

AUGUST

43. My New American Life -- FINISHED 8/20/11
44. The Strangest Life -- CURRENTLY READING
45. No Biking In The House Without A Helmet -- FINISHED 8/29/11
46. Farmer Jane -- FINISHED 8/29/11
47. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children -- FINISHED 9/1/11

SEPTEMBER

48. Sister -- FINISHED 9/4/11
49. The Pleasures Of Reading In An Age of Distraction -- FINISHED 9/12/11
50. The 25 Best Time Management Tools -- FINISHED 9/10/11
51. The Nine Rooms of Happiness -- CURRENTLY READING
52. A Widow's Story: A Memoir -- FINISHED 9/26/11
53. Siesta Lane --FINISHED 9/21/11
54. The Language of Flowers -- FINISHED 9/30/11

OCTOBER

55. Moonwalking With Einstein -- FINISHED 10/4/11
56. Caleb's Crossing -- FINISHED 10/8/11
57. State of Wonder --FINISHED 10/14/11
58. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother -- FINISHED 10/20/11
59. How Bad Are Bananas? --FINISHED 10/27/11
60. The Tragedy of Arthur -- FINISHED 11/24/11

NOVEMBER

61. Good Stuff -- FINISHED 12/30/11
62. Spencer Tracy: A Biography -- FINISHED 12/15/11
63. What I Eat -- FINISHED 11/5/11
64. Off Balance -- FINISHED 11/7/11
65. The Summer of the Bear -- FINISHED 12/1/11

DECEMBER

66. Neverwhere -- FINISHED 12/29/11
67. Gold Boy, Emerald Girl --CURRENTLY READING

Welcome to the group!

Welcome!

Hello there....I'm really interested in your reading list, and just put your blog into my feeder. We are big CSA fans here in Maine, and I love reading about food as well as cooking and eating. I do a sporadic (2-3 x month) column on my blog Tutu's Two Cents called weekend cooking where I usually feature either a recipe or a lite review of various cook/foodie books.

Oh, and we used to live in Northern Virginia before we moved to Maine and we had a wonderful CSA delivery program (darned if I can remember the name) that I loved!.
I'm looking forward to seeing what's on your list this year.

Thanks for your post. I just checked out your blog and have added it to my reading list! We do seem to have overlapping reading interests and styles (reading multiple books at once) - although I haven't managed to read quite as many books as you!

BTW I'm writing this on my new Nook...which I love.....

So the first book of 2011 will be 13 Ways of Looking at The Novel. I started this in 2010 (last week), but only just barely. So it's going to go in my 2011 list. It is also going to be my first read on my new Nook....

#7: I have never heard of that book, so I look forward to your thoughts on it! Congratulations on getting your first Nook read under your belt. I got one from my hubby during 2010 and am enjoying it a lot.

Although I continue to read 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel, it is a long book, and I am always reading more than one book at a time, so the first book completed in 2011 is The Ethical Gourmet. Written in 2006, this book is quite interesting to read in 2011. So much more attention is being paid to how we make decisions as to what to eat than then. Given that, much of the information he includes in his book is widely known now, and it read to me more like a review than anything new. However - he has an excellent list of websites to shop for organic, local, and humanely raised food, many of which I was not aware of. And, he has many great recipes that I am looking forward to trying.

Bottom line - a great introduction to the topic if you are not already part of the eat local, eat organic, eat sustainably space - and a great resource if you are looking for support in making wise choices.

#9: The Ethical Gourmet looks good. Thanks for the review and recommendation!

Certainly! Definitely worth a quick read if the topic is of interest to you!

Unfortunately, Liz, none of my local libraries has it. *sigh*

Oh no - I read it as an ebook from our local library. If you have an e-reader, it's available that way...

#13: Except that my local library does not loan out e-books either.

#14 That's no good.

I finished A Free Life last night but I can't decide if I liked it or not. The narrative of immigrant assimilation is compelling, but the voice and language used were more abrupt and abrasive than I expected from Ha Jin. So I'm not in a space where I want to recommend it to others.

#16: Looks like the reviews of A Free Life are pretty divided too. I think I will give it a pass for now.

I hope your next read is better for you, Liz!

So the third book completed is not a novel or a book about food. Instead, it's a book about order, Making It All Work. David Allen has provided a nice review/inspirational/practical walk tnrough his system. As a fan of Getting Things Done, this did not disappoint. I will continue to use my lists, and drill down to next actions, and I will balance Control and Perspective... If you are seeking motivation to organize duties to make room for dreams, give tnis one a read.

Now to return to Luka and the Fire of Life…a very different sort of book.

When my eldest was a little boy, I read Haroun and the Sea of Stories. I read it first when he was too little to have it read to him, and then I read it again out loud to him when he was a preschooler. I have periodically read sections of it over the years when I need a reminder of those days, and a return to the wonders of fantasy. So when my husband told me that Rushdie had published a "sequel" of sorts, Luka and the Fire of Life, I immediately added it to my TBR list. And then, a couple of weeks ago, when browsing through my library's e-listings to put on my new Nook, I found it! And once it was on my Nook, there was nothing to do but read it.

And so I did. And I really liked it. It captures the magic of Haroun, but makes it more contemporary. My kids are sick to death tired of hearing me talk about P2C2Es and the Shah of Blah. But I'm really hoping that they decide to pick it up so that we can talk about magic and myth and fairy tales and gods and goddesses.

It was a perfect read for a cold winter's day.

#19: Although I liked Haroun more, I also enjoyed Luka. I am glad to see the book has another fan, Liz!

#20: I do think Haroun is better, too, but it was a perfect time for me to jump back into the World of Magic!

I finished The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating on the train home tonight. I found it a mesmerizing tale, and not necessarily one I would have immediately identified as one I would have liked. But sometimes a quiet reflective mediation on life is required - and if that is where you currently are, then this book may be what you need. And, you'll learn amazing things about snails too!

Hi There

I'm compiling a list of birthdays of our group members. If you haven't done so already, would you mind stopping by this thread and posting yours.

Thanks.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/105833

Finished Store It! last night. I don't know that it really counts....a tip book filled with pictures of very organized spaces. Now if only I had a mud room to organize.....

Nice start to your reading year there, Liz!

Indeed! The Nook is really great at keeping my bookshelf filled --- not that I really need any help with that.

Just finished #7 - Let's Take The Long Way Home. Willneed to review tomorrow - but it's really beautiful and moving.

I have a copy of Let's Take the Long Way Home. Thanks for your comments, I'll try to find the book somewhere on my many shelves.

So I've been way too busy at work -- but my Nook Color has been enabling train reading. Of the books completed so far this year, ALL have been ebooks -- ALL from the library! Love my library and love my NookColor!!!

Kitchen Literacy and The Circumference of Home are paper books that I am nearly done with, but since they don't come on the train with me in the morning they are taking much longer to finish...

No need to review The Art of Organizing Anything except to include my favorite quote from this quite helpful book of tips and strategies:

"For many people, a book or magazine is equally restful and leaves you a little smarter than you were when you picked it up. But often there’s nothing appealing available…..Keep two piles of books going – the interesting ones and the fun ones." pg. 72.

I loved her distinction between interesting and fun - I think she was trying to separate books you read for "work" versus those you read for "pleasure," but I certainly try to make sure that the vast majority of what I read -- for whatever purpose -- is both interesting and fun!

Hi! Just browsing the threads and noticed that you are currently reading The Solitude of Prime Numbers. I just purchased the book a couple of weeks ago and am interested to see what you think of it so far?

It's pretty intense. I'm nearly done because I'm finding it hard to put it down.

#30: Hooray for the Nook Color working out so well for you, Liz!

#33: It has been great - but I fear my husband is getting jealous of it....

Finished Kitchen Literacy last night. A great way to contextualize the current move to local foods. Like all great stories, this book reminds you that what you think is new has happened before. I found it fascinating to learn about the changes in food production and marketing that has occurred in the US over the past century and a half.

The book is well-written and filled with nuggets of information about the food you buy everyday.

The Solitude of Prime Numbers is a remarkable portrait of the emergence of a young man and young woman. It brings home how parents' responses to young children shapes their development. The translation of this book is beautiful and makes me wish that I could read Italian - the images and interactions are incredibly drawn. Giordano also pinpoints the awkwardness of the adolescent in a way that will bring the reader right back to that time of life.

Intense, image-filled, and engaging.

#35: That book looks like one I would really enjoy. Thanks for the recommendation, Liz.

#36: I already have that one in the BlackHole. I guess I had better bump it up some!

Buzz: A Year of Paying Attention is an ebook I picked up while browsing the ecollection of my public library. I didn’t have any strong expectations for this book, but once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. Part mother-memoir, part inspirational guide, part walk through the psychological literature on treating ADHD, the book made me reflect on the immense amount of sensory stimulation we all receive, and appreciate how incredibly difficult it is to navigate our current world with an attention disorder. Some “best-ofs” are included below:

Best new word:
• Chronophages = “time-eaters” that get in the way of more important things….

Best parenting advice:
• “The author Toni Morrison says that the best gift a mother can give her child is to light up when he enters the room” (p. 94)
• “Eveybody’s real teacher of compassion is one’s own mother.” (p. 192)
• “model the behavior” (p. 192) you want to see in your children

Best principles from the psychological literature to apply to your own life:
• Folks with good-quality attention exhibit self-control (p. 183)
• “Pay attention to the arising of emotions, and know what is the best emotion under the circumstances…To reduce one emotion, one must cultivate a counterforce” (p. 195)
• “what you pay attention to becomes your reality and, whenever possible, keep focus fixed on the best parts of people’s natures.” (p. 196)

Hello! I hope your birthday will be a special day for you!

With lots of cake and books! Happy Day!

Have a Happy Birthday!

Thanks for all the Happy Birthday wishes... used my BN gift cards for new books for my Nook...

For an update - I have decided that work is overrated, and that we should all be allowed to read whatever we want when the mood strikes us - unfortunately, my decisions don't hold that much weight :)!

I finally finished The Circumference of Home - a wonderful reminder of how it is possible not only to live, but to thrive, without using a car to get around. Now, granted, the author lives in an area where there is much to do on foot, on bike, on water - but many of us have that option as well. My community encourages us all to go on A Car-Free Diet (i.e., don't own a car), but until my teens are on their own, I fear that a car is a necessary part of my life. Anyhow, a thoughtful read that made me want to pack up and head to the Pacific Northwest.

I also finished Objects of Our Affection - another reflection on place and possessions and how what we and our families own shapes our identity. As a military brat myself, I found many of her reflections to be right on target - and I really empathize with her challenge to identify which objects "really matter."

Currently reading At Home and Deep Blue Home ... and hoping that How To Read The Air ends up in my queue really soon...

Finished Missing Lucille Saturday night. A fascinating reconstruction of a past from limited records and a small number of family memories. Cinncinati in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I don't think I would have thought it so interesting without the alternative versions of the past...

I'm starting Room. This may not be a good decision given work that needs to be done....

Finished Room in two days. Pretty darn compelling. But I wasn't entirely convinced about the last section. I did think she did a great job at creating the character of the boy.

But then I needed something easy to read --- and pulled out another book on identity questioning - although not anything close in writing. The One-Week Job Project. It does feel gimmcky and surely fits the book from a blog category. But does make you reflect on your own workaday - I do love my work and hope I'm making a difference - but that's not to say that they're aren't days when I'd rather stay at home and read all day....

>46 lalbro: but that's not to say that they're aren't days when I'd rather stay at home and read all day

For me that's only the days ending in "y" ...

Okay - apparently I'm in a space where reading books about psychologically tortured moms is compelling to me. I finished The Memory Palace on Friday - a beautiful memoir that captures the nature of memory - and our need to define ourselves in terms of where we come from - even when those memories are painful and potentially damaging. Reading this narrative so close to Room really made me reflect on both mothering - and the ways in which mother-child bonds transcend the most horrific circumstances -- and on the transformative nature of a child's understanding of his or her mother. Relationships are never static, nor is memory, and both made me stop, reflect, consider, and give my mom and kids long hugs.

I am very behind on threads, Liz. I hope I can keep up with you from here on out though :)

>48 lalbro:, thoughtful reflection.

I was amazed how the author of the Room was able to keep such a light tone given the dark matter. I ended up reading a book of a similar nature a few days later, Living Dead Girl, and although this one was YA it was disturbingly dark. I felt contaminated just reading it.

>50 Tanglewood: Hmm...Living Dead Girl sounds like an emotional challenge. Think I'll give it a pass. I agree that the tone of Room is remarkable given the story. Really powerful.

Hamlet's Blackberry was much better than I expected. I had read several reviews of it, and thought I'd give it a read if it was at the library. Low and behold it was at the library and available as an e-book. Double trouble for me! So I downloaded it, started to read it, and found myself hooked. The meat of the book and the part that I thought was worth reading was Powers' exploration of philosophers who had to confront new technology (like WRITING and THE BOOK!) and then readjust their thinking and living to adjust to the novelty. Plato, Guttenberg, Shakespeare, are all featured among others, and their attempts to find quiet room for reflection amidst the crowd really resonated with me. Definitely worth the read for me. But no real need to read the last section where he talks about how he applied what he learned from reading the philosophers to his life. You can just do it -- if you choose!

I think that I should have taken Deep Blue Home with me to the beach this summer and read it under the umbrella in between swims. I read this book in the midst of winter over much too long of a time and the beauty of the writing got lost. Each of the three sections could really be read as novellas, and would take the reader into an water world - each quite different and equally mesmerizing. Unfortunately that's not the context within which I read it.

So if you like non fiction nature books -- and you're looking for one to read at the beach -- bring this one along!

Hermes is the tongue in cheek narrator of The Infinities - a tale that reminds us that the gods walk among us - and that unexplicable actions are sometimes out of our comprehension. I loved this book and had to go to Barnes and Noble so I could finish it today. I haad read all but the last 25 pages before it had to go back to the library. Fortunately my free hour of reading was sufficient for me to learn how this tale of the gods among us ended.

"We do persist, whether we care to or not, with all our flaws and glory."

Best quote from How To Read The Air - a compelling narrative about the stories we tell to create, and then to maintain, our identities. This is not an easy book to read in many ways, but it drew me into the narrative and I really wanted to know how it was resolved.

I finished The Water Is Wide last week, and am still thinking deeply about the images and characters described by Conroy. This book takes the reader back to the late 70s in SC and it is powerful in its call for change. However as I sit in a world that thinks long and hard about the inequities of education, I am not convinced that the hoped for change that Comroy described has occurred in the lifes of most African American youth. For some, surely, but by no means for all.

A powerful read that transcends the decades.

#55: I have that one from the library now. I am glad to see that you enjoyed it, Liz!

I hope you enjoy it! My eldest is named Jonas so I was immediately drawn into the tale :)!

I am immersed in The Emperor of All Maladies. It truly reads like a detective novel.

#59: I have heard good things about The Emperor of All Maladies. I am glad to see that you are enjoying it too.

It really is quite compelling -- I've nearly missed my subway stop more than once!

I love books that make me lose myself in them like that! It is probably just as well that I do not have a subway anywhere close to me.

The Reading Promise is an wonderful illustration of the power of books to heal, bond people together, and motivate! A lovely read.

Read American Wasteland and learn about what we can do to reduce food waste at home, at the store, on the farm, and maybe even across the world. A serious topic treated with a light touch and a crisp pen. Lots to digest, and lots to act on.

Been reading, and traveling, but not reviewing. With school around the corner, there will be more time, right?

Don't you love it when a book found by browsing turns out to be fun and consumed in a couple of days? So it was with Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. What is real and what is fantasy? The photos are unexpectedly compelling.

#66: I enjoyed that one recently too. Glad to see you had a good time with it, Liz!

Although I didn't "officially" participate in the Labor Day Read a Thon -- I ended up spending most of yesterday afternoon/evening reading. It is one of the best treats of a three day weekend. I was about a third of the way through Sister and the rest of the family was engaged watching the Star Wars-a-Thon, and I thought, well, I'll just read while they watched TV. For those of you who have read Sister, you know what happened next. All of the sudden it was 10:30 pm and I had finished it. If you haven't read it, and have a good chunk of a day available, I highly recommend it. The writing is very evocative and you are pulled into the emotional experience of grief and anger and confusion that the narrator is feeling. I haven't been reading mysteries recently (although I have gone through periods in my life where that's ALL I read), but this one reminded me of why they are so engaging to read. And Sister is not only a good mystery, but well-written. I do look forward to the next book of this new author!

Just have to laugh at myself. School has started, so it feels like the New Year in my house. Thus I must read books intended to organize and improve myself :)! I guess old habits die hard. When the kids leave, will I still find myself with stacks of these books in September? I actually found The Best 25 Time Management Tools a great review of "best practices," and found some new strategies and resources that I haven't seen before...

I soon will finish The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction and will then need to choose between Caleb's Crossing, A Widow's Story, and Moonwalking with Einstein -- all from the library, so I need to read them all in the next couple of weeks ... I guess I could have more burdensome things to do with my leisure time :)!

Siesta Lane is a meditation, a book that takes you to places in nature that you wish you were....instead of smashed on a Metro train inhaling burning brakes, and longing for a brisk wind.

And I really liked the poems and sketches too!

Time to head out to the mountains, methinks...

Hello! :)
Siesta Lane sounds pretty good. Time away from busy lives and into nature is always welcome in my world!

State of Wonder really makes you wonder about decisions and assumptions you make about other people's motivations...

The Summer of the Bear is a perfect beach read...although it worked pretty well at the end of November too?

Hmmm. So I am not sure that I am going to meet my goal of 75....but maybe I can finish one or two more before tomorrow night :)! Then do a reset for 2012.

That's why we have a new group every year! :)

I am already on it! My brother was asking me about my New Year's resolution to read 75 books in 2011. I could easily tell him how close I got thanks to Library Thing...