heathn's 2012 Reading Journal

For 2012, I have made a goal to complete an Alphabet Challenge using the last name of authors. One way that I think will help me in this endeavor, is to have a way of keeping track of my reading outside of an excel sheet.

To do so, I will be making my first attempt at a reading journal. I will be putting in small reviews of each book that I read.

This will also help me to not be a lurker on the LT site. I read a lot of the threads here on GD, but have very seldom posted on any. I have starred many of the other reading journals here, as a way to help me in my own, and to hopefully get to 'know' some of you.

I have a feeling that my reading will be all over the place this year, as I move away from my favorite authors and find new ones for my challenge. (Although I am looking forward to my reread of The Hobbit in the fall before the movie is released.)

Sounds like a great plan! We'll be watching. (And probably, hijacking your thread on a periodic basis, if past experience is an indication)

My first read of 2012 was H.P. Lovecraft The Complete Fiction. I had been interested in reading some of his stories for a long time from being a big horror movie fan. I have seen a lot of movies based on one of Lovecraft's stories, or said to be Lovecraftian, and wanted to see what all the hype was about.

I purchased the Leatherbound Classic version from Barnes and Noble on black Friday of last year, and stored it away while in the middle of reading A Dance with Dragons. (I find these versions of the books, many of which I have never read before, to be amazing. I have since bought five more of them. They make me happy when I see them sitting together on my bookshelf.)

When I started to read the collection, I was surprised and amazed that his writings were all short stories. Many of them being less than 10 pages.

I decided that I would begin by reading stories that I was familiar with from the movies. I started with The Call of Cthulhu, The Haunter of the Dark, and At the Mountains of Madness. I then ended with a few short stories from early in his life. This leaves me the ability to read a short story or two quickly between other books as a pace changer.

One constant theme I found between them all was the personalized telling of the story from the character's past, or from some found writings. I liked how this gave a ghost story around the campfire feeling, making me enjoy the stories more.

Of the stories I read, I enjoyed At the Mountains of Madness the most. Set in the early 1900's, an expedition sets out to Antartica to explore the unexplored. They find more than they bargained for, when one part of the team begins taking some drilling samples next to a large mountain range.

The visuals that Lovecraft creates were amazing. The feelings that the main character has of at times amazement, bewilderment, and ultimately terror, felt sincere. It reminded me of the movie The Thing at times, and I would love to see what Guillermo del Toro could put on a screen with this story.

Hijackings welcome.

Ok, I'm starring your journal and trying to not go out and buy a bunch of new books at the same time. Might be impossible.

Book 2:

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

After the horror readings of Lovecraft, I wanted to read something more upbeat for my next book.

I was unaware that there was even a book until a few months ago when I found the 1001 Fantasy Challenge here. I knew I would have to read it then.

After trying to find out who this Morgenstern guy was for awhile, I decided to start. Goldman writes this as an abridged version of a classic from Florin that his father read to him as a child. This allows for him to stop the story altogether at times and mention how he cut this or that out for being to boring. I liked how this worked, and allowed for more humor to be interspersed into the story. One whole chapter is 'abridged' to a couple pages this way.

(I must admit that I had some nostalgia going on, remembering crawling up with my grandpa and him reading to me as a small kid. )

I love the movie version with Cary Elwes and Robin Wright, thus I was unable to read through the story without reseeing the scenes from the movie in the book. I was surprised to see how similar the movie stayed to the original novel, which I am sure this is mainly due to Goldman writing the screenplay. Most of the scenes and dialogue I love from the movie, were taken directly from the novel.

When you take the story, combine the nostalgia, and the ability to replay my favorite scenes from the movie, this is one of my favorite books I've read in awhile. Easily 10/10 from me.

I had avoided the book of The Princess Bride for years, because I love the movie and thought the book would be too different or not as good. I finally read it this past year, and totally agree with you - loved it.

I usually try to read the book first before the movie. That way I don't have anyone else's vision of the story playing through my mind, no bias towards the story either good or bad.

Wow, didn't realize that I hadn't posted in over a month. Going to have to speed up my reading or post more during the middle of my reads. Anyway, book 3 finished.

Book 3:

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

I just could not get into this book, which is weird to me because, I have always been intrigued by medieval times, and thus interested in the Arthurian Legend.

I had had this on my wishlist for awhile, and was happily surprised when I found this copy at Borders during their close out sales, at a great discount price.

I think part of my not liking it as much as I thought I would is to do with having so recently read George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice Fire books last year. Martin gives me a more mature, detailed, and darker view of medieval times, where I felt White was going for a lighter and happier vibe in The Once and Future King.

I also believe that I would be more inclined to liking it if I had read it a younger age, as I found all the parts about being turned into animals somewhat tedious. I did enjoy it more and more as it progressed. Once we start to learn about Lancelot and all of different knights' exploits, and the search for the grail. I feel that the finale of the book, The Candle in the Wind, was the best part. The story progressed much faster, and seemed to lose some of the filler from earlier in the book.

Overall, I would recommend this to anyone interested in the Arthurian Legends, as I did end up enjoying it as it went on.

I do plan at some point to get a copy of Le Morte d'Arthur to read, and see where the legend began.

Next to be taken of the TBR stack is The Night Eternal by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, as well as EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey for work.

Book 4:

The Night Eternal by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

This is the conclusion to The Strain vampire trilogy created by these two men. It picks up two years into the future after The Fall and continues the fight against the Master.

I have really enjoyed this trilogy. I like how not everyone is making vampires fit into sappy love triangles. The vampires here are the evil kind, with little resemblence to their human selfs. I read somewhere that these were the vampires that Guillermo had in mind for with Blade 2, yet these feel like the next evolution of those vampires.

With del Toro being one of the partners in this team, these books have a made for movie feel. The action happens quickly, and the pacing is fairly quick throughout all three books. That being said, I would enjoy seeing these books as movies, given that not much was changed in the transfer.

In conclusion, I would recommend this series to anyone who wants to read about vampires that would actually scare you if they were real. Not the kind you would want to jump into bed with.

Still reading through Entreleadership by Dave Ramsey, and plan on starting The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde next.

Book 5:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

With the movie opening this weekend, I was pressured by many teenagers in the youth group at church to read this book. In hopes that I would take them to see the movie. Since I hate not reading the book first, I tackled it over the weekend.

I was able to start and complete the the book in one day, due to being on the road returning from a youth rally for roughly 8 hours on Sunday. It is very rare for me, as I don't usually read for such long stretches.

Starting out I was fairly familiar to the story. I knew it mainly revolved around a battle royale fight with teenagers. What surprised me most, even being formalaic, was that I enjoyed the story a lot. So much that I bought the sequels during the drive home at one of our stops.

I feel that Collins did a really good job at building a future world that I do not want to be a part of, and at creating an excellent role model for girls to look up to. Katniss is a great character who can take care of things on her own, and is very resourceful in a tough world.

My favorite part is Katniss' interview session with the gamemakers. I thought that scene did an awesome job of me getting me to relate to the character. I also really enjoyed the mockingjays, and how they can mimic songs that you sing. These would be awesome to have in real life.

I will finish out the trilogy, but will wait for a bit. I feel like the love triangle will be much more front and center in the second one. Besides, Sherlock has been taunting me ever since he joined the TBR pile.

Re: #9 above -- One of my favorite bits of Once and Future King is when Merlin and Arthur (Wart) are having tea together, and Merlin notes that "it's a good mustard pot, but inclined to give itself airs." I don't remember much else of it but that line about mustard pots has stuck with me.

Still working my way through my collection of Sherlock Holmes. I'm really enjoying the way that Sir Doyle writes. I'll expand more in my review once I finish The Hound of the Baskervilles. Which will leave me some future reading.

I started C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters last night. Only a few pages in, and it looks like it is going to be very interesting. Having to read it fairly quick, as my class at church is starting a series on it this Wednesday.

Book 6:

The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I'd been wanting to read the Sherlock novels for awhile now, and my interest was sparked again after the new film and tv series that came out last year. When I saw the whole collection was part of Barnes and Noble's leatherbound series, I knew it was time to finally scratch that itch.

(I really like all these leatherbound classics that B&N have. The covers, I believe, are awesome. Just wish I could afford them all.)

Back on track - I decided before reading that I didn't want to read the whole collection at once. Wanted to leave some for future fun quick reading. I started with the first short A Study in Scarlett, skipped around a bit, and finished with The Hound of the Baskervilles. I'm glad to be leaving some for future reading. Each story always left me with a smile and some laughs along the way.

Of the stories that I read, The Hound of the Baskervilles, was by far my favorite. I loved the horror vibe that came with the story. The old family mansion, an ancient curse, last heir to the family fortune, etc., and the ending was not what I was expecting. Getting to see Watson take a more central role in the story, while Holmes disappears for the majority, was a welcome change to this reader. Taking the inititive and not blindly following Holmes directions, was cool. (This may have happened elsewhere, but was the only story that I recall reading it in.)

One attribute that I love about Holmes, is that he enjoys when the criminal/adversary is as clever as himself. I sense of respect and admiration that is not often given up by the hero in a story. He knows that he will get his man, but the more difficult the journey, the happier he seems.

Next up are a few books that need finishing, The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, and Entreleadership by Dave Ramsey. Both are pretty much done. Then off to tackle a piece off of my TBR pile. I'm considering either The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle, or The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. Leaning toward the Last Unicorn as I loved the movie growin up, but so many people on here are talking how good Bujold is that I want to check her out. Too many books to read, and not near enough time.

I am particularly fond of both The Hound of the Baskervilles and of The Screwtape Letters. I think I like Hound primarily because its length lends itself to more playing out of the plot than most of the short stories. I think I also like it because Watson isn't constantly being put down by Holmes and finally, because the idea of a phosphorescent hound appeals to my sense of the Gothic. I enjoyed Screwtape Letters just because of the humor although I haven't read it in years. Hound is something I revisit regularly.

15: I agree with all your points on The Hound. Watson really gets to come into his own throughout the story, something that he is not really give the chance to in the shorter stories. As for Screwtape, I've now finished it, and don't really plan to go back to it anytime in the future unless it is for a class at church.

Haven't had a chance to update my reading here. I was able to finish a couple of books last week.

Book 7:

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

My reason for starting this book was that the youth minister at my church started a series on C.S. Lewis' writings in our middle/high school class. Since I help him to teach the class, I figured I should know a little bit about the topic of discussion. My previous readings by Lewis were limited to The Chronicles of Narnia and Till We Have Faces.

I found this to be a very interesting and thought provoking read. It is written as 31 letters from a higher level demon, Screwtape, to his nephew, Wormwood. Wormwood, has been assigned to a tempt a young man into sin. Each letter from Screwtape gives advice to Wormwood on how he can better tempt this young man.

Once I was used to the backwardsness of the writing, I really enjoyed it. Being written from the demon's point of view, the word 'Enemy' is used to describe God. A neat concept that I haven't been exposed to very much. With the 31 letters, I think that this would make a great monthly devotion book to ponder on daily.

I also found the ending to pretty funny.

Book 8:

Entreleadership by Dave Ramsey

My dad suggested that I read this one. We both took the financial peace class at our church a couple of years ago, and I have enjoyed his insights since.

Entreleadership is basically how the Dave Ramsey business is run now. It goes through how he started out as a one person business, and many of the steps to where they are now. Most of the advice is common sense on how to treat people, and react to different situations. It reads a lot like a handguide for someone starting a new business.

Next up is The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle. I'm currently a little over half way through, and am enjoying the memories that I have from the movie growing up. I will have to have a rewatch of the movie after I finish with the book.

I agree! The Screwtape Letters was very funny. I enjoyed it as well.

Book 9:

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

It's really nice when a book lives up to the expectations that you have put on it. Having grown up watching the movie version of The Last Unicorn, I had many memories of the story. I'm happy to say that the book was every bit as good as I remember the movie being. I could easily see scenes of the movie as I read through the book, even though I haven't seen it in over 20 years.

The Last Unicorn starts as a unicorn overhears a conversation between hunters, and turns into an epic journey as she tries to find her fellow unicorns. Along the way she meets the wizard Schmendrick, and a camp cook name Molly Grue who follow her along her journey.

My favorite part in the book, is when Prince Lir gives a speech about what it means to be a hero. It is moving, uplifting, and sad all at the same time. After reading it, I thought 'that's it, that's why I love the fantasy genre so much'.

The fantasy elements were very secondary to the story. There wasn't a bevy of different races, or excess uses of magic. The simplicity of it all worked to its favor in my opinion. Then when there is some magic used, it meant more.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes the fantasy genre. Now it's time to move the movie up to the top of my netflix queue.

Book 10:

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller

I got this book as a precursor to a camp that I am a counselor at this summer. It is written by the same author as Blue Like Jazz and is about how his life changed as he wrote the screenplay for the movie version of that book.

When he started the screenplay with two other men, he was told that even though it was a good book, it would not a make a good movie. It wasn't a good enough story. What proceeds is Miller learning to write a better story by going to seminars and working on the screenplay. He decides that the life he is living is not a good story either, and that no one would want to watch a movie about his life.

This leads him to start taking risks, and do things with his life that would have meaning. He meets his father who he hadn't seen in over 30 years, climbs a mountain in Peru, and bikes across the country. All the while he is writing the screenplay for Blue Like Jazz.

What it all boils down to is, would someone want to watch a movie about your life. After reading it the book, it makes me want to do more with my life.

Next up is Stephen King's The Wind Through the Keyhole. Looking forward to being reacquianted with Roland and his ka-tet.

A very interesting question for a morning: "would someone want to watch a movie about your life"? And, it brings to mind another: do I really think my life needs to be "movie worthy"?

Those are both great ideas to think about. At my camp last week, we turned it to asking the question 'Is our life's story in line with what God wants for our story?'. (I was a counselor for the college week at a Bible camp) It made for some really interesting discussions amongst the adults and the college and high school kids.

I'll bet. I always wonder how the heck someone is supposed to know what god wants for them?

Oh, not intended to start a conversation about religion, as Green Dragon does avoid such conversations so we can stay safely in discussion of books, and fun stuff.

My apologies, it wasn't my intent to do so. Just that we used the book for a lot of our discussions.

Back to books - Reading through The Wind Through the Keyhole and enjoying getting to read about Roland's beginnings as a gunslinger. Also, I got the movie version of The Last Unicorn sent to me today from Netflix.

Looking forward to watching the movie after having now read the book.

heathn, I did not mean to suggest you were starting that conversation, I meant that I did not want to start that conversation.

No worries. No foul, no harm.

Book 11:

The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King

The Wind Through the Keyhole is the new Dark Tower book that takes place, timelined, between Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla. Thus making it Dark Tower 4.5.

I had originally read the Dark Tower series a couple of years ago, and really enjoyed the wester/fantasy/sci-fi mashup that King created.

This story takes place as Roland and his ka-tet are holed up in a building waiting out a storm. Roland proceeds to tell the story of his first 'mission' after becoming a gunslinger. While in the middle of this story, it breaks off into a bedtime story that Roland tells from his youth to a young child. This bedtime story makes up the bulk of the book, and leans more to the fantasy side of things.

In all I really enjoyed reading this. Learning more about Roland's history, and how he became the gunslinger that we know about, was always my favorite part of the series. In 'Wind' we get to learn more about how how he became this gunslinger. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who liked the Dark Tower books, especially the earlier ones.

Next up I am reading Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney.

The main reason that I started a book journal here this year was to help keep track and motivate myself to complete an alphabet challenge. Since June is pretty much over, and I doubt that I will be finishing any more books by the end of the month. I thought I would take a look at where I am now since the year is half over. Be warned - a lot of numbers incoming.

In total I have read 11 books, and finished 10 letters. Thus completing 38.5% of the alphabet goal. Obviously I am going to have to speed things up. I will need to read 16 different authors between now and the end of the year to complete my challenge in one year. Or an increase of 160% over what I've already read this year.

I am on pace to read more books than I read last year. In 2011 I finished 19 books, and am on pace this year for 22. Since I wanted to diversify my reading habits this year, it is looking good. Of the 19 books I finished last year, they were only by 12 different authors (only 2 more than I've already read this year). This mainly being a result of reading all of the Song of Ice and Fire books, and the Millenium Trilogy last year. Also, for those books last year, I read a total of 9924 pages, or an average of 552 pages per book. This year, I have read 3912 pages, or 39.5% of last years total, with an average of 335 pages per book.

I have also been trying to increase my personal library, and each book I have read has been one I have bought. In 2010 I added 19 books to my library, and so far this year I have added 16 books. Which puts me on pace for 32 new books in my library, or 68% more than last year. Yes, I am out of shelf space already.

To summarize, I have diversified my reading amongst different authors more this year than last, I am finishing more books than last year, the books I read last year were longer than the books I am reading this year, and I am buying a lot more books this year than last year.

Sounds like a good thing to me! Do you think keeping the thread helps any with the motivation, or is it simply that your life is at the point where it is possible?

I'm not sure if it has helped with my motivation to read. I've always loved to read, but looking at the stats will make me more motivated now. I am a very numbers oriented person.

It has made me change up my reading habits a lot though. I've always tried in the past to read series in order, and back-to-back. With trying to get my alphabet challenge done, I've had to be very deliberate in who I am reading. It's tough having both Catching Fire and Mockingjay sitting on my dresser, and not reading them. Thus I'm trying to read more solo books, and not anymore serie starters.

Wow, it has been a busy few weeks, and just haven't had the time to post. Since my last post, I've read Beowulf, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Hobbit. Plan to take some time this weekend to post my thoughts on each.

Currently reading Catching Fire. I had to take a small break from my alphabet challenge due to the fact that I've ran out of unread letters sitting on the TBR stack. I do have a collection of Poe unread that I will be diving into after finishing up The Hunger Games trilogy.

Poe should appeal to your enjoyment of the Gothic. For example, the Masque of the Red Death is fairly vivid and cinematic in its descriptions. Does your collection have his poetry in it as well?

32: My collection is the Barnes and Noble Leatherbound Classic, and is titled the complete works and poems. From looking at the table of contents it looks complete to me, but I'm a Poe newbie. I am really looking forward to the gothic stories he that are in there. I've been holding off on a lot of movies on Netflix until I've read the story first.

Was out of town last weekend and unable to update my journal yet, but had a great family vacation at Holiday World with my family and cousins. With the holiday weekend upcoming, should have plenty of reading time and be able to update this journal.

Finally getting a chance to update what I've read over the past couple of months.

Book 12:

Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Anonymous - Translated by Seamus Heaney.

I've been interested in rereading Beowulf for a long time now. I previously read it as a senior in high school, and have seen a couple different movie versions over the past couple of years. The version that I got, was from reviews I'd read, one of the better translations of the story. It was also the first book I have ever had that was bilingual, which was just neat to look at.

The story was pretty much exactly how I had remembered it. I enjoyed all three of the major fights that Beowulf took part in. What I hadn't taken away beforehand though, was the change in tone between each fight. From a young warrior looking for more fame, to that of a king feeling predestined to end his life/legacy against an overwhelming foe. Going so far as to say only one will come out alive, and being ok with either result.

I'm really glad that I took the time to reread it. I enjoyed it much more reading it on my own just for the enjoyment of reading a good story, rather than being required to read it so a teacher can check it off.

Book 13:

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

I picked up The Grapes of Wrath at the same Borders closeout sale that I got Frankenstein and The Once and Future King. I picked it up pretty much on a whim. It was the penguin classic, and by an author that I'd never read but always heard others talk about. I think my high school must have been the only one that didn't have to read Of Mice and Men in school.

I waited awhile to start this one, as I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from it. Without trying to complete the alphabet challenge, I doubt that I would have even considered picking it up.

I have to say this is probably my least favorite book that I have read in awhile. I can appreciate it for what it was, which I feel is a news story to the rest of the country not involved in the dust bowl. There were sections that I felt were very melodic and poetic at times, just flowed beautifully to me, but I just didn't like the story very much. The way the family reacts to each other, especially after SPOILER ALERT - the one brother just walks off down the river. The famiy was basically ho hum about it. Just really rubbed me the wrong way. I also didn't need to read about a turtle crossing the road for four pages - really? It's a turtle that had no bearing on the story at all. END SPOILER ALERT/RANT.

Maybe I just didn't 'get it', and that's fine. The writing was well done, and enjoyable in parts, just not my cup of tea.

Book 14:

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Ever since Peter Jackson announced that The Hobbit was going to get made into a film the same way that The Lord of the Rings was done, I had been itching to reread the story. The Hobbit is by far one of my favorite books of all time, and I've had the pictured collection above since I was in middle school. It has gotten much use over the past 16/17 years.

I believe that this was my fourth time reading it, and the first since the the movies first came out. I had planned on waiting closer to the release date of the movie, but after The Grapes of Wrath, I really wanted a fun read.

I think that the story only gets better each time I read it. I had remembered pretty much every big plot point, but some of the smaller ones were only remembered after the fact. I took much more enjoyment in Bilbo's character arc this time around. When he returns to Bag End after the Battle of Five Armies and the end, he is a much different hobbit than the one that left late and without a cap after oversleeping.

Reading this again, only made me want December to get here quicker. I am so hyped for the first movie, and will be seeing it in IMAX on its midnight release . Then the long wait for the extended editions will begin...

Books 15 & 16:

Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.

I thought that these deserved a single post, as they are just a straight continuation from the first to the third.

I had wanted to wait and read these after I had completed my alphabet challenge, but after I started to hear and read about people being cast for Catching Fire, I kept wanting to finish the story.

I liken these books a lot to Dan Brown's Robert Langdon trilogy. Quick plot points, short chapters, twists, and a fun read. I don't want to put much in here and spoil the books, but I did like them alot. I like how we are always getting the story from Katniss' point of view. It puts us in her shoes, and helps us to relate to the girl on fire. My major complaint was how they made her seem, to me, to be more naive to everything. I liked the more independent girl from Hunger Games.

i am looking forward to see how they do some of the special effects in the movies.

Now that I've got everything updated, I am currently reading through The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. This is the Barnes and Noble Leatherbound collection. I finished reading the poetry section today, which include the short play "Politician" as well. I am excited to get into some of his short stories now. I think that I have only read The Tell-Tale Heart and The Pit and the Pendulum before. I have a few movies waiting in Netflix to watch once finished.

I am not much of a poetry reader. I've only read Shel Silverstein on my own outside of required school reading. I had read The Raven in school, and I did enjoy reading it again. Although this time, I think it was all a dream.

Of the other poems, I really enjoyed Annabel Lee, For Annie, and this stanza from A Dream is my favorite:

Ah! what is not a dream by day
To him whose eyes are cast
On things around him with a ray
Turned back upon the past?

I read that, and I thought how eloquently he said to not dwell on the past. I find it just amazing and am in awe of how authors can paint a picture or a feeling by their combination of words. Which Poe did many times when reading through this collection of poems.

Sounds like a fun project, is it specifically fiction you're reading? Your name suggested that The Dionysian Spirit by Seán Fitton might be up your alley but although it deals with mythology, it's non-fiction.

Looks like it's too new for the touchstones.

It's just a coincedence that all my reading has been fiction this year. I believe it has more to do with my wanting to build my personal library up, which has mostly been buying nice collections of the 'classics', along with some more modern additions as well.

I enjoy nonfiction, but mostly more historical themes. With pre-gunpowder eras more to my liking.

I found your thoughts on The Grapes of Wrath interesting to read. Steinbeck is one of those authors who is like sin for me. I don't want to read him, I know I'll feel bad after, but sometimes I can't help myself because the reading is so darn good. ;)

I think I prefer Poe's poetry to his tales, although his tales are the kind that stick with you long after reading, because of their atmosphere, mostly.

The whole time reading Grapes, I'm not sure if I ever felt any sunlight in the story. Like a stormcloud was following the Joad family just waiting to unless the next bout of sadness. A very depressing book in my opinion.

Agreed. I was younger when I first read it, at an age where I could get into the moroseness of it all. I don't think I could do it now. I still love his way with words though.

It can be a depressing book but I like it because I remember the author was writing it to challenge the prejudices of the day. The "Okies" (from Oklahoma) and "Arkies" (from Arkansas) were thought to quote - not know any better - unquote; and, commonly it was thought that poor people deserved what they got because they obviously were allergic to hard work. Steinbeck knew those prejudices were not true and he wanted to change the accepted thinking.

It would be even more depressing if you knew the stories and knew people still blame the victims.

Really excited that my order came in from Barnes & Noble today!

They had an online sale going last week with hardcovers at $2.99. Here's what I ordered:

The Sherlockian by Graham Moore
Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown - I have this in paperback, but the other Robert Langdon in hardcover. This way they'll look nicer together on the shelf.
Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver - I had just seen the new Bond trailer before I noticed the sale.
An American Life by Robert Reagan - Got this one for my dad.
We Who Are Alive and Remain by Marcus Brotherton - Got this one for my brother-in-law who reads a lot about WWII.
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell - Got this one to have enough for free shipping. It's is the Leatherbound Classic version.

Now to find time to read them and to find a place to put them.

Thought I'd post a little update here since we've moved into October.

I'm still reading through my Poe collection, been in the short stories for a couple of weeks now. Haven't had a lot of ones that I'd want to go back and reread, but I am really liking the mix between genres that he has between them. I believe that my collection is in publication order, at least I think it is, and it seems as though he was trying to figure out what type of writer he was, switching between writing styles and ways of telling the stories. Next up in the collection is The Murders in the Rue Morge, which I'm excited to read since it was mentioned in the introduction of my Sherlock collection. Afterwards, I plan to read a few of the more horror-esque stories and then put it back on the shelf. Leaving some to read in the future.

I have also begun to read Progeny by R.T. Kaelin. I picked it up as the free Kindle version, and have been reading through it slowly when I have a few spare minutes with my phone's kindle app. Makes feel somewhat wrong to be reading it not in it's 'real' form. I am really enjoying the story so far, only through the first 12 chapters, but hope that the relationship between the brother and sister continue. I will be picking up the 'real' version once my book budget envelope gets some more money in it.

heathn -

Glad you're enjoying it. So you know, Prophecy, the second volume of the series came out last week. So you have a lot of Nikalys and Kenders ahead of you.

47: Well I still have plenty left to go in Progeny, but I'm glad to hear there's even more.

Catching up.

Book 17:

The Complete Tales and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe

This was one of the first of B&N's Leatherbound collection that I picked up last November (along with the H.P. Lovecraft one). I can remember reading different selections from Poe in high school, and of all the different Leatherbounds that that particular B&N store had this one just stood out.

I've already talked about the poems in post 38, and will leave this more for the stories.

I read about a third of the collected short stories. I was suprised at the amount of different genres that Poe used. I had always thought of him as a strictly horror/noir author, and to read sci-fi, mystery, detective, and others along with the more horror-centric stories was unexpected. I was impressed with the story The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall. That he could write a believable story about personally travelling to the moon by oneself was very interesting. It got somewhat overdone with the scientific jargon, but was interesting.

Of the stories that I read, I enjoyed The Masque of the Red Death the most. I could easily see the story based upon the descriptions of the different color rooms. Afterwards, I watched the movie version with Vincent Price, which was fantastic.

Book 18:

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

I picked this up as part of an online B&N sale a couple months ago. I thought that an unread Stephen King would make for a good Halloween read during October. This was not what I expected going in, and I believe that was what lead to my not being able to get into it for long lengths of time. I was expecting a collection of horror short stories, what I got was a collection of what I considered more thrilleresque stories. With that being said, I did enjoy it.

Each of the stories, looks at what a normal person would do when after experiencing a truely horrific event in their lives. The first story delves more into what happens to the mind after the event, while the last three stories look more at actions one takes after the experience. I enjoyed the last two stories more than I did the first two, with the last story - A Good Marriage - being my favorite.

In the afterward, King says that he wanted to write stories that look at ordinary people in extraordinary situations instead of extraordinary people in ordinary situations. I think that he succeeded in his task.

Currently, I am in the process of finishing the H.P. Lovecraft story - The Case of Charles Dexter Ward - for the last of my Halloween reading. I'm about halfway through, and so far it is fitting in nicely with a Halloween vibe. Not sure what will come next after I finish it.

>49 by @heathn, Agh why must you torment me with that book?? I want it soooo bad but already have a (paperback) Complete Poe, so really can't justify it! But I've got 7 of the BN leatherbounds (and one other from before they jazzed them up so nice, just plain, brown, gold text, looks so out of sorts next to the rest! And I'm inches away from ordering the Lovecraft) and I want them alllllll! hahaha okay I'll stop whining in your thread now ;P

51: I'm the same way with the Divine Comedy. I already have a copy, but it doesn't have any pictures so I can justify the doubleing up on it.

I've so far gotten 10 of them, and so want the rest. I love being able to get nice looking books that fit in my budget. The only problem is they keep making more, which makes my wishlist longer.

They are really truly evil like that. I am dying to get so many, and thinking of being bad and taking the plunge to buy a bunch! Shhh don't tell my husband! ;P Which ones do you have so far?

I have them all tagged in my books, but I have:
The Lovecraft Collection
Poe Collection
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Pink Cover)
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Sherlock Collection
The Illiad & Odyssey
The Ray Bradbury Collection
The Jules Verne Collection
Black Beauty

Nice. I just ordered on the 5th the Lovecraft one, Frankenstein, and Dorian Gray and Other Works. I have already Jane Austen, Sherlock Holmes, HG Wells, Jules Verne, Alice, Narnia, and Hans Christian Anderson. :) I'm still dying for Monte Cristo, Crime & Punishment, Poe, and Wind in the Willows. Plus of course I'd love almost all of them but those are at the top of my list! :P

I finished the short story, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by H.P. Lovecraft last night. I read this story for a couple of different reasons. First, I chose Lovecraft for part of my Halloween reading, and secondly, there is a movie on Netflix that interested me that is taken from this story.

Being that I have not read a lot of Lovecraft's work, I can't say where this should fit overall. I did really enjoy the story, and would put it just behind At the Moutains of Madness as my favorites. The story takes place over a period of roughly 10 years in the 1920's, and involves a young man's experiments with the occult. At one point, the story flashbacks to the late 1600's, to a point that very closely mirrors the events of the present day.

Like in other stories I've read by Lovecraft, there is a sense of foreboding throughout the story. The familiar vibe of not messing with things you don't understand, is also found here. I would highly recommend this to people who enjoy their horror with more of a slow build and not full of jump scares. Much of the story builds on what is not told or explained, which I enjoyed.

Not sure what will be next. Considering Carte Blanche to go along with Skyfall opening at midnight tonight, or Ready Player One to go along with the nostalgia from the Wreck It Ralph movie last weekend.

Went and saw the midnight showing of Skyfall last night with my dad. Was really awesome to get to do that with him. Must say that I really enjoyed it. I would give it a solid 8/10. Loved the banter between Bond and the new Q, Javier Bardem's villian Silva, and the little nods to previous movies. I liked Casino Royale more, and Goldeneye is my all time favorite, but this one ranks really high up.

Being that I was in the Bond mood, I started Carte Blanche this morning. This is the first Bond book that I will have read, and looking forward to how it differs from my interpretation of Bond from the movies.

It has been a very busy couple of months, and I apologize for not keeping this thread up to date with my reading. I still have been lurking on many other threads, and have greatly enjoyed the discussion on The Hobbit movie.

I will now update my reading upto the end of 2012.

Book 19:

Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver

(Read from 11/9/2012 - 11/20/2012)

I have never really been into the spy genre when reading books, even though it is one of my favorite type of movie to watch. Carte Blanche was my first time reading a Bond novel, and my first spy book since I read The Spy Who Came In From the Cold back in college.

I decided to read this one next after my dad and I went to see Skyfall during it's midnight opening. My dad has always been a huge James Bond fan, and I grew up watching all of the old ones. So when he suggested we go see it at midnight, I figured he was joking, but took him up on it immediately. After seeing the movie, and loving it, I decided to stay in Bond's world.

Having never read any of Fleming's Bond novels, I can not compare how Deaver's Bond stacks up to Fleming's Bond. What I can say is that the Bond that I liked from the movies, is easily seen in Deaver's Bond. There were many instances where a saying that I remembered from one of the movies showed up and put a grin on my face.

As for the story, it was typical of what I expect from Bond having seen all of the movies. Whether or not this is typical from the other novels, I don't know. The story sees Bond starting off on a small mission, to stop a train derailment, which ends up being the first breadcrumb in a larger terriost plot that says the deathtoll will be in the thousands.

I will say that the villian was very interesting. The villians have always been a major point in the movies, with the better ones always having the better villians. Severan Hydt is a man fascinated with death and decay. Giving the reasoning for his actions a different spin.

I'm glad that I read this, and was able to stay in Bond's world awhile longer after the movie. Now, I will have to get some of Fleming's novels, and read where it all started.

Book 20:

Jules Verne: Seven Novels by Jules Verne

(Read from 11/21/2012-12/25/2012)

After reading a few newer novels in Full Dark and Carte Blanche, I decided to go back and tackle another classic author that I had never read before. Looking over my shelves, I decided on the Barnes and Noble Leatherbound Collection on Jules Verne. It has seven of his novels combined into one large book. The seven novels are: Five Weeks in a Balloon, Around the World in Eighty Days, A Journey to the Center of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon, Round the Moon, Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and The Mysterious Island. Of the seven works, I read Five Weeks and Journey.

I had planned on reading more, specifically Twenty-Thousand Leagues, but with the small print with this version, I needed to take a break

With Five Weeks, I enjoyed the detail that was placed in the beginning with all the scientific data and ideas. Yet, this did seem to slow down the pacing quite a bit. The story, to travel across Africa from the East to the West in a large balloon was interesting. I liked the idea of having two seperate balloons around each other as a safety precaution. Very cool idea. Also, when they encountered the tribal people in the remote areas of Africa, the travellers were commonly treated as gods. My largest complaint was that it seemed very episodic in nature at the beginning, and did not pick up until the travellers got to be themselves more. At which time the banter between the three people was nice. Also, it would be very interesting to have found some of the scientific devices that had to be thrown out in the jungle to decrease the weight. Just imagine some tribe in Africa finding these advanced technology, yet not having a clue what it is.

After Five Weeks, I read Journey to the Center of the Earth. I enjoyed it much more than Five Weeks, yet there were some distinct similarities between the two stories. The main thing I found interesting, were that in each story, the genious scientist is out to complete some fantastic adventure, and yet there is the voice of reason from a trusted friend/relative that is all like 'slow down a little'. Each character somewhat mirrored each other in the two stories. Which was interesting to look back between the different stories.

With Journey, a scientist finds an old parchment that has a clue to finding the center of the earth. Once the scientist's nephew figures out the clue, they depart to mountain in the clue to begin their journey. Again the story is somewhat episodic in the beginning of the journey. Once they get to the underground world, the characters get to come more alive, and achieve some depth.

I've always known of Jules Verne, mainly due to his stories being made into movies. Now that I have read a couple of them, I can see why. They are made for action films. I'm glad that I have read some his works now, and do look forward to reading the other stories in the future.

Book 21:

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

(Read from 12/25/2012 -12/31/2012)

With having finished my reading of the Jules Verne collection on Christmas, I wanted to end the year with reading something smaller. Being that I had a week left in the year, I decided upon The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

I believe that this again is my first time having read an Oscar Wilde book. I knew the general outline of the story, that a handsome young aristocrat has a painting created of himself. The painting then takes on all signs of ageing instead of the man himself.

When actually reading the story, I was surprised at how it was largely a book on philosophy and how one thinks, than the actual story of Dorian. I was unprepared for this, and took me a little bit to get my mind in the right frame when reading. It's a very interesting thing to think about what a person is capable of becoming or doing, when they show ill effects of their decisions. How the only way he sees his depravity is when he looks upon the painting. It's a fascinating thought, and one that would take a long time to completely disect.

I like it when after I have read something, that it keeps you thinking about the ideas presented inside the story. I just was not expecting that going into this one.

Even though I did enjoy the story parts of Dorian Gray, I don't believe that I will be in any hurry to read another by Wilde. When reading for enjoyments sake, I like to turn my brain off and not have deep discussions about what is being presented.

I wasn't a big fan of The Picture of Dorian Gray either, but I don't think that articular title is truly indicative of Wilde's writing style. I would recommend reading his plays which do in fact tend to be a little livelier.

#60 - "Once they get to the underground world, the characters get to come more alive, and achieve some DEPTH."

LOL, good one.

63: I didn't know that I did that. Glad that I could put a smile on your face MrsLee.

Wow, I hadn't realized that my last post was over two months ago. I figured it was awhile ago, but didn't realize that it had been that long. Now that things have calmed down a little bit for me, I have started to try and catch up on some of the reading journals here. The only problem with that is that everyone reads too much, and I have a massive backlog of posts to get read. I have been reading even though I haven't been posting on here.

Now I'd like to put some statistics here on how my 2012 year of reading was. In total I read 21 different books (with 1 still in the process of being read), from a total of 20 different authors. I also added 34 new books to my personal library over the course of the year. Of the 21 completed books, they had a total of 7519 pages for an average of 358 pages per book. These are somewhat skewed numbers as they don't tell the whole story, many of the B&N Leatherbound books have extremely small print.

Of the books that I read, my favorite one was The Princess Bride followed closely by The Last Unicorn. I'd say that the nostalgia from the films probably had a little something to do with it. I also really enjoyed reading through a good portion of the Sherlocke stories, and the collections of Poe and Lovecraft. My least favorite books were The Grapes of Wrath and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Neither of these were anything like what I was expecting.

Overall, I'm very happy with my reading from 2012. It was the first time that I had attempted a reading journal of any kind, and I enjoyed getting feedback on my thoughts about a book from different people. I plan to continue it for 2013, and to post more regularly. I would have like to have had a larger tally of books read, but in hindsight, when reading a collection the numbers are a little skewed. The alphabet challenge that prompted this journal, kinda crashed and burned. It felt like I was no longer reading because I wanted to, but rather to fulfill the quota of different authors. I ended up not worrying about towards the end of the year, and began to enjoy reading much more.

For 2013, I would like to have some crazy number goal for books read, like the 75 book challenge forum here, but that is not a reasonable goal for many reasons. Instead, I don't plan on putting a goal or challenge on my reading for this year. I am just going to read, and share that on here. I imagine that will allow me to enjoy what I do read more. I will have a book purchase line in my budget, and plan on adding many more books to my collection.

Just out of curiousity, what do most people do with their journals from year to year? Continue the same one, or create a new one specifically for the year?

Thanks.

It's really up to you, but I like to start a fresh one just to keep mine tidy. :)