RachelLeah's Book Lust Challenge

Last year was my first year doing a category challenge, and I ran into a couple of issues. First off, I ended up finding my original idea to be too restrictive, so I changed up my challenge a couple of months into the year. Then I had a hard time keeping up with personal reading once grad school started and for the past 4 months or so I haven't really done any pleasure reading.

BUT...I want to change that, so this year I am going to create a challenge that is a little bit random and a little bit organized and flexible enough to accommodate my increasingly busy schedule. As you may be able to tell from my title, I'm going to use Nancy Pearl's awesome book Book Lust for recommendations, but I'm going to work mainly from books that I already own as well--this year was a big one for buying books, not so much reading them :(

I'll also probably still work on the 1001 Books list, and I am really looking forward to working on DeweyCAT, GeoCAT, AlphaKIT and the WomanBingoPUP (lots of great themes).

Finally, I'm going to set a lower goal for 2016, due to the busy-ness and all that...I'm aiming for at least one book per week, so ideally 52 books by the end of the year. We'll see what happens!

I've mentioned this before, but I'll say it again: I love following everyone's challenges and seeing what others are reading. I tend to be more of a lurker than a talker, so apologies if I never comment or forget to reply to a comment--I'm not ignoring you or trying to be rude, I'm just so bad at checking forums.

Anyways, looking forward to a great reading year and seeing what everyone else reads!

ETA: I've also decided to pick one topic at random from Book Lust each every other week and read at least one book from her suggestions. I'll add those to their appropriate topic below with what category they came from in the book.

I'm going to work on the CATS and KITS plus BINGO, and the remaining books will likely be in following categories:

Nonfiction
Genre fiction (mysteries, science fiction, etc.)
Lifestyle (food writing, nature, travel, etc.)
Classic literature
Not novels (poetry, short stories, essays)
International works (non-American authors)
1001 books list

GeoCAT

January: South America
- Love in the time of cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (Columbia)
February: Central Asia
- The kite runner, Khaled Hosseini (Afghanistan)
- An unexpected light: Travels in Afghanistan, Jason Elliot
March: Eastern Europe and Russia
- Laughable loves, Milan Kundera (Czechoslovakia)
April: Polar regions, Islands, Bodies of Water
- In siberia, Colin Thubron
May: North America
- The optimist's daughter, Eudora Welty (Mississippi, US)
June: Australia & New Zealand
- Requiem for a wren, Nevil Shute (Australia)
- A town like Alice, Nevil Shute (Australia)
July: Central America and Caribbean
- Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys (Jamaica)
August: Southern Africa
- West with the night, Beryl Markham (Kenya)
- The no. 1 ladies detective agency, Alexander McCall Smith (Botswana)
September: Southern Asia
- Midnight's children, Salman Rushdie (India)
- Kim, Rudyard Kipling (India)
October: Eastern Asia
- Bangkok haunts, John Burdett (Thailand)
November: Northern Africa and the Middle East
- The plague, Albert Camus (Algeria)
- Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi (Iran)
December: Western Europe
- The belly of Paris, Émile Zola (France)

DeweyCAT

January: 000: Computer science, information & general works: computers, libraries, encyclopedias, journalism, museums and rare books
- The lifetime reading plan, Clifton Fadiman
- Ex libris: Confessions of a common reader, Anne Fadiman
- How to read a book, Mortimer J. Adler
February: 100: Philosophy and psychology: the occult, dreams, logic, ethics
- On solitude, Michel de Montaigne
March: 200: Religion: Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, etc...
- The miracle of mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hanh
April: 300 - 354: sociology, anthropology, statistics, political science, economics, law, and public administration
- Cod: A biography of the fish that changed the world, Mark Kurlansky
- The feminine mystique, Betty Friedan
May: 355 - 399: military science, social services, criminology, education, commerce, transportation, customs, etiquette, and folklore
- The food of a younger land, Mark Kurlansky
June: 400: Language: linguistics, sign language, languages
- The professor and the madman: A tale of murder, insanity, and the making of the Oxford English Dictionary, Simon Winchester
July: 500: Science: math, astronomy, physics, chemistry, geology, fossils, prehistoric life, biology
- The selfish gene, Richard Dawkins
August: 600: Technology: medicine, health, engineering, agriculture, home, public relations, manufacturing, and construction
- West with the night, Beryl Markham (GeoCAT)
September: 700: Arts & recreation: Arts, landscape, architecture, sculpture, decorative arts, painting, photography, cinema, music, sports, and entertainment
- Paddle-to-the-sea, Holling C. Holling
October: 800: Literature: poetry, essays, speeches, drama, humor, satire
- Bangkok haunts, John Burdett (GeoCAT)
November: 900 - 939: world history, geography, travel, biography, genealogy, and ancient history
- Down and out in Paris and London, George Orwell
December: 940 - 999: history of Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, Oceania and extraterrestrial worlds
- A people's history of the United States, Howard Zinn

AlphaKIT

January: D and U
- Devices and Desires, P.D. James
- Underworld, Don DeLillo
- The Underpainter, Jane Urquhart
February: J and B
- The poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
- Dubliners, James Joyce
March: L and Q
- Laughable Loves, Milan Kundera (GeoCAT)
- Ishmael, Daniel Quinn
April: V and H
- The Voice of the Violin, Andrea Camilleri
- How to cook a wolf, M.F.K. Fisher
May: O and P
- The Optimist's daughter, Eudora Welty (GeoCAT)
- The Physiology of taste, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
June: F and R
- F is for Fugitive, Sue Grafton
- Requiem for a wRen, Nevil Shute (GeoCAT)
July: K and A
- The Accidental tourist, Anne Tyler
- The ABC murders, Agatha Christie
- Kim, Rudyard Kipling
August: G and S
- The quiet american, Graham Greene
- A spot of bother, Mark Haddon
September: C and M
- The road from Coorain, Jill Ker Conway
- The magic mountain, Thomas Mann
October: I and W
- Invisible, Paul Auster
- Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson
November: N and Y
- Nicholas Nickleby, Charles Dickens
- Kitchen, Banana Yoshimoto
December: T and E
- Timbuktu, Paul Auster
- The belly of paris, Émile Zola (GeoCAT)
Yearlong: X and Z
-
- White teeth, Zadie Smith

WomanBingoPUP



1. Remember me, Laura Hendrie
2. The optimist's daughter, Eudora Welty
6. The house of the spirits, Isabel Allende
9. The birthday boys, Beryl Bainbridge
11. Things invisible to see, Nancy Willard
13. The underpainter, Jane Urquhart
14. The ABC murders, Agatha Christie
18: The poisonwood bible, Barbara Kingsolver
19. Ex libris: Confessions of a common reader, Anne Fadiman
20. Weep no more, Janet Stevenson

Potential Reads:
A New-to-You Author
- The accidental tourist, Anne Tyler (July)
- Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, Elizabeth Taylor
Author over 60 Years Old when Book Published
- The optimist's daughter, Eudora Welty (May)
African Author
- Half of a yellow sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (August)
Female Author Writing under Male Pseudonym
- Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
- Agnes Grey, Anne Brontë
- Daniel Deronda, George Eliot
Author from Middle East
- Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi (November)
Set in Latin America or Asia
- The house of the spirits, Isabel Allende (January)
Made into a Movie
- The haunting of hill house, Shirley Jackson
About a Female Critter (Alien, animal, fantasy creature, mineral)
- Wish you were here, Rita Mae Brown
Published before 2000
- The robber bride, Margaret Atwood
Book set in Europe, Australia, or New Zealand
- The road from Coorain, Jill Ker Conway (September)
Different Genre by Author Writing in More than One Genre
- Blonde, Joyce Carol Oates
- The fifth child, Doris Lessing
Award Winner
- Possession, A.S. Byatt (Booker)
- To kill a mockingbird, Harper Lee (Pulitzer)
Anything by or about a Woman/Women
1920-1930s Detective Fiction
- The ABC murders, Agatha Christie (July)
Poetry or Plays
- The dust of everyday life, Jana Harris
- Selected poems, Edna St. Vincent Millay
Women in Non-traditional Roles
- West with the night, Beryl Markham (August)
Book published less than 10 years ago
- Go set a watchman, Harper Lee
- Gold fame citrus, Claire Vaye Watkins
- Speak, Louisa Hall
From your "To Be Read" Pile
Autobiography, Memoir, or Correspondence
- A woman of independent means, Elizabeth Forsyth Hailey
- Ex libris: Confessions of a common reader, Anne Fadiman (January)
About a Female Spy
- Weep no more, Janet Stevenson
Short Story Collection
- The girls' guide to hunting and fishing, Melissa Bank
- A blind man can see how much I love you, Amy Bloom
About Woman/Women in Science
- Prodigal summer, Barbara Kingsolver
- The eleven million mile high dancer, Carol Hill
About Women in Combat
- Sassinak, Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Moon
- A town like Alice, Nevil Shute (June)
- Monstrous regiment, Terry Pratchett
About a Female Ruler
- The winter palace, Eva Stachniak
- Pope Joan, Donna Woolfolk
By an African American Author
- Beloved, Toni Morrison
- Jazz, Toni Morrison

BingoDOG



1. On solitude, Michel de Montaigne
5. The kite runner, Khaled Hosseini
6. Ishmael, Daniel Quinn
8. Ex libris: Confessions of a common reader, Anne Fadiman
9. The birthday boys, Beryl Bainbridge
10. Invisible, Paul Auster
11. Ragtime, E.L. Doctorow
16. How to cook a wolf, M.F.K. Fisher
17. Dubliners, James Joyce
18. Biggest Elvis, P.F. Kluge
19. The house of the spirits, Isabel Allende
20. The miracle of mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hanh
21. The underpainter, Jane Urquhart
22. Things invisible to see, Nancy Willard
24. The dead king's curse, Eric R. Eidson
25. The accidental tourist, Anne Tyler

Potential Reads:
Author born in 1916
- The haunting of hill house, Shirley Jackson
One-word title
- Timbuktu, Paul Auster (December)
Comic book, graphic novel, manga, BD
Coming-of-age story
- The road from Coorain, Jill Ker Conway (September)
Survival story
Title contains a musical reference
- Ragtime, E.L. Doctorow
Self-published
Senior citizen protagonist
- Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, Elizabeth Taylor
Autobiography or memoir
- Ex libris: Confessions of a common reader, Anne Fadiman (January)
About a writer (fiction or nonfiction)
About/by an indigenous person
- Half of a yellow sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
In translation
Title uses wordplay
Published before you were born
About the environment/nature
Focus on art
Debut book
Adventure
About an airplane flight
Food is important
Main character's job/hobby you want
Body of water in the title
- Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys (July)
Less than 200 pages
Features a theater

NONFICTION
- The Lifetime Reading Plan, Clifton Fadiman

GENRE FICTION (mystery, science fiction, chick lit, etc.)
- Devices and Desires, P.D. James
- The Birthday Boys, Beryl Bainbridge
- The Voice of the Violin, Andrea Camilleri
- The ABC Murders, Agatha Christie

LIFESTYLE (food, nature, outdoor, travel)
- How to Cook a Wolf, M.F.K. Fisher

CLASSIC/CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE
- The Underpainter, Jane Urquhart
- Dubliners, James Joyce

NOT NOVELS (poetry, short stories, essays, plays)
- Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader, Anne Fadiman
- On Solitude, Michel de Montaigne
- The Miracle of Mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hanh

INTERNATIONAL (non-U.S. authors, translated, non-English language)
- Laughable Loves, Milan Kundera

1001 BOOKS
- Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
- Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
- The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende
- The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
- The Optimist's Daughter, Eudora Welty

BOOK LUST

Week 1-2: 4 Jan - 17 Jan: Techno Thrillers
- The book on the bookshelf, Henry Petroski

Week 3-4: 18 Jan - 31 Jan: American History: Fiction
- Ragtime, E.L. Doctorow

Week 5-6: 1 Feb - 14 Feb: Civil War: Fiction
- Weep no more, Janet Stevenson

Week 7-8: 15 Feb - 28 Feb: New Mexico
- Remember me, Laura Hendrie

Week 9-10: 29 Feb - 13 Mar: Rivers of Words
- Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain

Week 11-12: 14 Mar - 27 Mar: Mechanical Men, Robots, Automatons and Deep Blue
- A case of curiosities, Allen Kurzweil
- The turk: The life and times of the famous eighteenth-century chess-playing machine, Tom Standage

Week 13-14: 28 Mar - 10 Apr: Take Me Out to the Ballgame
- The natural, Bernard Malamud
- The brothers k, David James Duncan
- Things invisible to see, Nancy Willard

Week 15-16: 11 Apr - 24 Apr: Armchair Travel
- In Siberia, Colin Thubron
- Passage to Juneau, Jonathan Raban
- A short walk in the Hindu Kush, Eric Newby

Week 17-18: 25 Apr - 8 May: Real Characters
- The accidental tourist, Anne Tyler
- Cloudstreet, Tim Winton

Week 19-20: 9 May - 22 May: Southern Fiction
- The optimist's daughter, Eudora Welty

Week 21-22: 23 May - 5 Jun: Mark Kurlansky
- The food of a younger land

Week 23-24: 6 Jun - 19 Jun: P.F. Kluge
- Biggest Elvis

Week 25-26: 20 Jun - 3 Jul: Ecofiction
- The monkey wrench gang, Edward Abbey
- Animal dreams, Barbara Kingsolver

Week 27-28: 4 Jul - 17 Jul: I Love a Mystery
- The killing kind, John Connolly
- The no. 1 ladies' detective agency, Alexander McCall Smith

Week 29-30: 18 Jul - 31 Jul: Art Appreciation
Ways of seeing, John Berger

January
Heart of darkness, Joseph Conrad completed 18 Dec (★★★½☆)
Ex libris: Confessions of a common reader, Anne Fadiman completed 04 Jan (★★★★½)
Devices and desires, P.D. James completed 20 Dec (★★★★★)
The underpainter, Jane Urquhart completed 19 Jan (★★★½☆)
Love in the time of cholera, Gabriel García Márquez completed 24 Dec (★★★★½)
The lifetime reading plan, Clifton Fadiman completed 26 Dec (★★★★☆)
* The house of the spirits, Isabel Allende completed 01 Jan (★★★★★)
How to read a book, Mortimer J. Adler incomplete
The book on the bookshelf, Henry Petroski completed 13 Jan (★★★☆☆)
Underworld, Don DeLillo incomplete
Ragtime, E. L. Doctorow completed 04 Feb (★★★★★)

February
The kite runner, Khaled Hosseini completed 15 Feb (★★★½☆)
The poisonwood bible, Barbara Kingsolver completed 29 Apr (★★★★½)
Dubliners, James Joyce completed 17 Apr (★★★★☆)
On solitude, Michel de Montaigne completed 17 Apr (★★★★☆)
The birthday boys, Beryl Bainbridge completed 30 Mar (★★★½☆)
Weep no more, Janet Stevenson completed 22 May (★★★½☆)
Remember me, Laura Hendrie completed 01 Mar (★★★★☆)

*potential reads

March
Laughable loves, Milan Kundera completed 15 May (★★★★☆)
Ishmael, Daniel Quinn completed 29 Jul (★★½☆☆)
The miracle of mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hanh completed 23 Jun (★★★★★)
Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain completed 09 Jun (★★★★☆)
A case of curiosities, Allen Kurzweil completed 17 Sept (★★★★½)

April
The voice of the violin, Andrea Camilleri completed 29 Jul (★★★½☆)
How to cook a wolf, M.F.K. Fisher completed 06 May (★★★☆☆)
The feminine mystique, Betty Friedan completed 17 Sept (★★★★☆)
Things invisible to see, Nancy Willard completed 06 Aug (★★★★★)
In Siberia, Colin Thubron incomplete

May
The optimist's daughter, Eudora Welty completed 27 Jul (★★★★☆)
The accidental tourist, Anne Tyler completed 27 Jun (★★★★☆)
The food of a younger land, Mark Kurlansky
The physiology of taste, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
The robber bride, Margaret Atwood

June
F is for fugitive, Sue Grafton completed 8 Sept (★★★★☆)
The professor and the madman, Simon Winchester completed 25 Nov (★★★★½)
Biggest Elvis, P.F. Kluge completed 29 Aug (★★★★☆)
The monkey wrench gang, Edward Abbey
Animal dreams, Barbara Kingsolver

July
Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys
The selfish gene, Richard Dawkins
The ABC murders, Agatha Christie completed 14 Aug (★★★★☆)
The killing kind, John Connolly
Ways of seeing, John Berger

August
West with the night, Beryl Markham
The no. 1 ladies' detective agency, Alexander McCall Smith
The quiet american, Graham Greene
A spot of bother, Mark Haddon

September
Midnight's children, Salman Rushdie
Paddle-to-the-sea, Holling C. Holling
The road from Coorain, Jill Ker Conway
At the mountains of madness, H.P. Lovecraft

October

Where I'm reading in the world

read 12 countries (5.33%)

Democratic Republic of Congo: Heart of darkness, Joseph Conrad
United Kingdom: Devices and desires, P.D. James
Canada: The underpainter, Jane Urquhart
United States of America: Ragtime, E.L. Doctorow
Afghanistan: The kite runner, Khaled Hosseini
Antarctica: The birthday boys, Beryl Bainbridge
Ireland: Dubliners, James Joyce
Czech Republic: Laughable loves, Milan Kundera
Italy: The voice of the violin, Andrea Camilleri
Guam/Philippines: Biggest Elvis, P.F. Kluge
France: A case of curiosities, Allen Kurzweil

Where I'm reading in the U.S.

read 4 states (8%)

New York: The underpainter, Jane Urquhart
New Mexico: Remember me, Laura Hendrie
Virginia: Weep no more, Janet Stevenson
Mississippi: The optimist's daughter, Eudora Welty

You keep working on your degree, girl! That's number one. We'll be here when you get around to us cheering you on. Hope you enjoy a little time off for pleasure reading next year.

Welcome back! Best of luck whittling down the to-be-read piles and with grad school! I am looking forward to seeing how you fill up your categories.

I also tend to lurk and not comment so I'm commenting now to say I too like to see what everyone is reading. It's a good idea to set a reasonable goal. Looking forward to following your reading next year.

Welcome back and please don't worry about totals etc. the main idea is to have fun with your reading. I hope your upcoming year gives you plenty of free time for reading, but as Mamzel says your degree comes first!

Thanks everyone! I just have to say again how glad I am that I discovered this group - I love it :)

Side note: it is so frustrating that you can't fully delete replies!

Edit: fixed that problem! I decided to track my monthly reads to see how well I stick with my original plan :)

Welcome back to a fellow lurker! I have the best of intentions about responding but real life gets in the way. Best of luck with your challenge and degree!

Haha, >30 LittleTaiko: I know that feeling exactly :)

Welcome back and good luck for both your challenge and your degree! :)

Well, I'm starting on my challenge a bit early with Heart of darkness; I'm planning to read it with the companion read suggestions from Book lust: Heart of Darkness, Things fall apart, The poisonwood bible, and King Leopold's ghost (in that order). Since I have Poisonwood on my radar for February, I thought I'd try to get Heart of Darkness in now and maybe re-read Achebe before February.

Hi from another person who tends to lurk. I'm trying to do more posting this year. I've also been working on the 1001 books list and was planning on matching up books from there with the GeoCAT this year, so like you was planning on Love in the Time of Cholera for January. I was going to wait until later in the year when we got to Africa to read Heart of Darkness, so I'll look forward to seeing what you think of it.

>34 staci426: Thanks for saying hi :) It seems like a few people will be reading Love in the Time of Cholera, so I'm excited to see what people think about it!

I finished Heart of Darkness and was pleased that it was a bit more captivating this time around (I think I originally read it over 10 years ago). It's actually a fairly short book, compared to a lot of what I've been picking up in the recent past, so I was happy to get through it in just a couple of days. Conrad has a very readable style in that his descriptions are vivid but not flowery or grotesque. I'm not sure how I feel about Marlowe's final interaction with Kurtz's "intended" so I'd be interested to hear what others thought of that. I might scope out the GeoCAT wiki to see if anyone else has this coming up.

I'm planning to start on Devices and desires by P.D. James tomorrow--I kind of lined up a lot of potentials for January since I knew I'd be working on it during this last week of December!

Finished Devices and desires today! This was my first P.D. James mystery but I am hooked now; she has a very lovely way of creating characters and giving subtle hints that steer you in the wrong direction. There were a few times that I thought I had it figured out, but in the end I was still surprised--a truly great mystery :)

Restrictive categories can make the challenge a little to... well... challenging. Welcome back and your setup looks great.

Looks like a great setup - looking forward to following along!

>37 lkernagh: & >38 -Eva-: Thanks for the welcome!

I had a great leisurely holiday weekend, with lots of time for reading! I finished the Lifetime Reading Plan yesterday! I skimmed through some areas but I plan on referencing back to Fadiman's essays as I work on books from the plan (of which I have at least a couple planned for 2016)--I've been working on this list for a couple of years but not very fervently. It was nice to hear Fadiman reiterate that it's a lifetime plan; it makes me not feel so bad for how long it's taking me :) I really enjoyed the essays in this book; they give a lot of biographical info about the authors which I appreciate since I like to know a bit about an author before I delve into their work. I will definitely utilize the bibliography in which Fadiman recommends specific translations and versions of works (as well as warns against some particularly poor ones!)--I'm always wondering which translation to use for ancient and foreign texts.

I have a couple of other good literary reference books that I'm going to be sure to consult this next year as I read new authors and styles: Books of the Century: A Hundred Years of Authors, Ideas, and Literature (put out by the New York Times Book Review), The New York Public Library Literature Companion, and the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (I just got a copy of the actual book to reference!)...oh and of course Book Lust! If anyone knows any other good literature reference books, I would love suggestions.

Hope everyone else had a great holiday and is able to get some reading in this week before the year ends!! I'm looking forward to a great 2016 :)

Happy new year!

I like that list of reference books a couple of posts up. Perhaps someday I will eventually read Book Lust.

>41 rabbitprincess: I really like Book Lust since it has such a wide range of recommendations - including fiction and nonfiction. A lot of reference books I use are just for literature, so it's nice to get some nonfiction recs as well!

I finished Ex Libris the other day; I enjoyed many of the essays and memoirs, both stylisticall and content-wise. It is pretty obvious that Anne Fadiman is her father's daughter: she has a beautiful, if somewhat daunting, vocabulary (there's even one entry specifically about that) and her knowledge of literature and literary figures is immense (again, there's an essay about that). For some readers, this book might seem pretentious or a bit overwhelming but I liked it and it gave me so many more ideas for books to read (as if I needed them!). I also loved how she described some characteristics of herself that reminded me of myself (such as using your bed as a bookshelf and the constant, unconscious proofreading).

I've started The Book on the Bookshelf and hope to finish that by Sunday--interesting to note that he actually mentions Ex Libris and quotes Fadiman in several places!

I enjoyed Ex Libris but I liked another essay collection of hers, At Large and At Small, much more. Those essays have stayed with me and given me much to think about. I'm in the minority though, as most people prefer Ex Libris.

I like how you'll be using Book Lust this year - I may consider doing that in the future; I very much enjoyed reading it and filled it full of post-it flags, but then I just put it back on the shelf. Another one I enjoyed that has lots of good ideas is A Year of Reading. You have lots of good potentials on your list - some that I've read recently (The Plague) and others that need to move up the list a bit (The #1 Ladies' Detective Agency).

>44 VioletBramble: Ooh I'll have to check that out! Thanks for the recommendation :)

>45 LisaMorr: I have A Year of Reading on my radar, I think I'll grab it next time I see it at the book store. I'm always looking to add to my "books about books" pile!

WHOA! I am having a hard time getting into the two books I'm reading right now: Underworld and How to Read a Book. I actually think I would really enjoy Underworld, but maybe when I have a bit more time to devote to it. Right now I'm so busy with work, school and life that it freaks me out a bit to start in on such a massive tome. The thought of not finishing it for at least a week is driving me crazy, so I'm going to put that one back on the shelf and consider it this summer when I'm a bit freer. I'm going to plow through the second one though, since I think it might benefit me in school as well as in my personal reading. It's a tad dry but I'm going to re-read Things Fall Apart while I'm at it to continue the companion read series I started with Heart of Darkness.

Good idea to put aside Underworld for a better time. I hear you on not wanting to be stuck in one book for a long time -- I had a big history book that bogged me down for the first week or so of December. It was great, but I was getting the reading equivalent of cabin fever after a few days ;)

Woohoo! I officially finished one book from each of my "categories" (a.k. a. CATs/KITs/Book Lust) for January! That might be a one-time event for this year, so don't be surprised if my updates peter out occasionally. Grad school is so demanding, jeez, what do they think I want to learn a bunch of stuff or something?? But I did finish Ragtime which I absolutely loved! It was the first book I've read by E. L. Doctorow and I really enjoy his style. He really does find a way to get the reader to feel how it felt to live during that era. I love that it incorporates real public figures (Houdini, Henry Ford, J.P. Morgan and others) in with the fictional characters. I also haven't read a ton of historical fiction, and I'll admit that I was never good at history so I know only basic bits and pieces about the era right before WW1, but I did love this book and will definitely read more by him in the future. Oh, and bonus - it counted towards a space on my Bingo card! I didn't even think about it until I was finished, but yay!

I have a huge pile of books for February, which I will sincerely attempt to read but I won't make any promises!

>49 SleepySheep: Good luck with your reading plans! I too found it difficult to read much when I was in grad school. On the other hand, I found reading a great way to take a break from thinking about the same topic months on end!

"do they think I want to learn a bunch of stuff or something?"
Crazy people! Well done on doing anything other than study - I know people who have pretty much checked out of any social life while in grad school!

I officially finished one book from each of my "categories"

Well done!

Thanks everyone :)

This month isn't going nearly as well, I am way too busy and the month is so short!! I feel like this happens to me every year: I get a lot of reading done in December/January and then February rolls along and it's gone before I even know it :( Oh well, I'm just going to keep carrying everything over so I'll probably end up way behind on CATs and things, but I'm excited about the books I have on my lists so at least there's that.

>53 SleepySheep:
We do get an extra February-day this year... If that helps? :)

I FINISHED A BOOK!!! Haha, I'm excited :)

I've decided I'm just going to keep working my way through the February books I had listed, and add on March and whatever else as I go. The idea being that by summertime I'll be able to catch up on what's left over...I hope!

Oh and >54 -Eva-: I did take advantage of that extra day ;)

One more book crossed off the February list! Today I finished The birthday boys and was overall very impressed with it. I always find it interesting when an author is writing from the perspective of the opposite sex; in this book it was particularly interesting since she is writing in five different voices, all of them male. The book is based on Scott's polar expedition and written diary-style from the five members of the team who made it to the South Pole only to die on the return trip. I think it takes skill to write in a male voice, and there were times that I think Bainbridge's femininity shows through in the sensitivity of the men. At the same time, the harsh conditions of the adventure create such a weakened state for many of the men that sentimentality seems only natural when you think about being faced with inevitable death.

It's late and I really pushed myself to finish this book before drifting off to sleep, so I might not be explaining how I feel about it very well. Suffice to say that I enjoyed it and would likely recommend it if someone wanted to read an exploration/adventure novel.

I am (very) slowly plowing through my long list of books for this challenge. I've been getting through a couple each month, but my last paper of the term is due on Wednesday (just a 1500 word review of the GEMET thesaurus, NBD...haha) so I think that will free up some reading time!! Right now I'm reading Ishmael to my fiance -- he has read it before but when I told him I was reading it for the challenge he wanted to be part of it; since I read quite a bit faster than him, he asked me to read it aloud to him rather than read it solo at the same time and chat about it. So that one is coming along but kind of slowly since we have to make time when we are both unoccupied and can snuggle up for storytime :)

I realized that I have a few heavier reads coming up, quite a few nonfiction, so I'm also working through Sue Grafton's Alphabet Series concurrent with my challenge reads (plus I have F is for fugitive on my June list so that helps). They are pretty quick, light reads so I think they'll help offset some of the bigger ones (I'm mainly thinking of The feminine mystique, The food of a younger land, and The physiology of taste). I just finished B is for burglar while we were out at the coast this weekend, and I'll probably start C is for corpse this week along with The miracle of mindfulness. I'm a big fan of Thich Nhat Hanh but I don't think I've read this one and it might have some interesting concepts.

Aw, I love that you read aloud to your fiancé! I read faster than my BF as well, but he just doesn't read :-/

Good idea to have some lighter reads to balance out the heavy ones!

Ah!! My list is piling up (literally, I keep them on the bedside table) - I'm going to buckle down and get some reading done over the next few weeks. I've got some travelling coming up, so hopefully I can use that time to get some more books checked off the list.

I'm definitely having trouble with some of the nonfiction that I've got lined up: summertime seems to make me want whimsy and fun. So I might shift some things around and get in a few more YA books that I've been recommended recently.

Hope everyone else is having a great summer! I just had my birthday this month, so I'm still riding high until the end of July :)

Happy birthday!! Hope your travelling gives you high-quality reading time.

Ughhhhhhh, I am so behind. This term has been time-consuming...too much academic reading to do, no time for pleasure reading :( I'm hopeful that I will get some reading over the upcoming holidays and just keep plugging along after the new year.

Starting to think about next year's challenge and how to make it work with my schedule. I will probably just choose a very few books each month and work through my TBR list. Maybe keep doing 1 Book Lust book per month or something of the sort.