Rainbow's Reading

I'm late in starting this topic, mostly because I got distracted around the start of the year and my list was pathetic for the first two and a half months. I've picked up again and remembered that, hey, I never posted it! So, here I am. :)

It's my first time challenging myself to read a certain amount through the year. My goal is 50 books, and I aim for the books that are new reads to outnumber the ones that are rereads. So far, so good. :) I think I'm on track so far to make my 50 by the end of the year, and maybe even exceed it.

Here's my list:

* denotes a reread

01. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
02. Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger
03. Jane of Lantern Hill by LM Montgomery
04. Judy Garland: The Secret Life of an American Legend by David Shipman
05. The Moon in the Mango Tree by Pamela Binnings Ewen
06. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
07. Kilmeny of the Orchard by LM Montgomery
08. Mistress Pat by LM Montgomery
09. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
10. A Tangled Web by LM Montgomery
11. Among the Shadows by LM Montgomery
12. Along the Shore by LM Montgomery
13. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery *
14. Magic for Marigold by LM Montgomery
15. Anne of Avonlea by LM Montgomery *
16. At the Altar by LM Montgomery
17. Against the Odds by LM Montgomery *
18. The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery
19. The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career by LM Montgomery
20. Anne of the Island by LM Montgomery *
21. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
22. Anne of Windy Poplars by LM Montgomery *
23. Anne's House of Dreams by LM Montgomery *
24. Victor Kugler: The Man Who Hid Anne Frank by Rick Kardonne
25. Making Avonlea by Irene Gammel
26. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
27. Anne of Ingleside by LM Montgomery *
28. Rainbow Valley by LM Montgomery *
29. Rilla of Ingleside by LM Montgomery *
30. Mary Poppins Comes Back by PL Travers
31. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis *
32. Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis *
33. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
34. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling *
35. Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis *
36. The Flirt by Kathleen Tessaro
37. The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis *
38. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
39. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling *
40. Specials by Scott Westerfeld
41. The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis *
42. The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis *
43. Rococo by Adriana Trigiani
44. Summer Blowout by Claire Cook
45. Fragile Heritage by Sara Hylton
46. The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis *
47. Life with Mother by Clarence Day
48. Life with Father by Clarence Day
49. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling *
50. Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery
51. Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner
52. Emily Climbs by L.M. Montgomery
53. Emily's Quest by L.M. Montgomery
54. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
55. I Am Morgan LeFay by Nancy Springer
56. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
57. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
58. Life, The Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams
59. Wedding Season by Darcy Cosper
60. So Long, And Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams
61. Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams
62. Candide by Voltaire
63. Sanditon by Jane Austen
64. The Watsons by Jane Austen
65. Lady Susan by Jane Austen
66. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
67. Rain Song by Alice J. Wisler
68. Christmas with Anne by LM Montgomery
69. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
70. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding
71. Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares
72. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
73. Danny, Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
74. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
75. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

For some reason, no matter how many times I correct them, my touchstones will not remain correct, so I'm not going to bother anymore. Sorry!

Since my last post, I've finished The Blue Castle, Against the Odds and The Alpine Path. I'm now reading Anne of the Island with Making Avonlea and The Complete Idiot's Guide to a Perfect Marriage on the side.

It really feels like I've been reading LMM books for ages, and then I realized that since the last week of March, every week has included one of her novels. What a way to celebrate a centennial!

Thanks to a really, really long period of downtime in my training class today, I was able to read Anne of the Island from cover to cover. I love that book so much that I actually felt sad when I finished it! Of course, I do have to move along to the next book in the series since I set myself up to read one book a week in celebration for the centennial of Anne of Green Gables. No complaints here!

Now I get to focus my attention on Making Avonlea, which is more difficult than I thought it would be to get through. It's a bit academic, which in itself is not a bad thing, but I usually have a difficult time plodding through academic-type books. I'll do it, though! I'm determined.

I finally finished Wuthering Heights. It took me about a week to accomplish it. I didn't like it at all, which is sad since so many people recommended it to me so highly.

I'll probably finish Anne of Windy Poplars before the day is over. Had Wuthering Heights not taken me so long, I'd be done with it already!

Anne of Windy Poplars and Anne's House of Dreams are both finished and back on the shelf.

I got Victor Kugler: The Man Who Hid Anne Frank so I've started on that one next. :)

I'm done with Victor Kugler, Mansfield Park, Anne of Ingleside and I should finish up with Rainbow Valley today. I'm well on my way to finishing more than 50 books this year. This is very exciting!

Something that'll help me get there is that I'm doing a read-together with friends on livejournal with the Harry Potter books, the Narnia books, the Emily books and the Little House books over the summer. It'll be a lot of fun! I'm really looking forward to it. :)

So, since last posting, I've finished: Rainbow Valley, Rilla of Ingleside, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and Mary Poppins Comes Back. I started and subsequently gave up on Diana of the Crossways (it's about the fifth time I've tried to read it and failed to muster up enough interest so I think it's time to pass it along) and am now working my way through The Time Traveler's Wife as part of an online book club type deal. I'm also reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (fairly slowly) with people on livejournal.

31 books out of the 50 book goal, though! I'm making excellent progress toward an early completion. :)

I'm up to 37 books now! I'm doing read-togethers of the Harry Potter and Narnia books right now so I think that's helping a lot because it's at least one book a week, which I can finish in no time at all.

I'm thinking I might up my goal unofficially to 75 for this year, mostly because of the read-togethers that I'm doing that'll have me hitting 50 before the end of August.

So, what I finished since the last time I posted (it's been a while - whoops!):

32. Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis *
33. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
34. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling *
35. Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis *
36. The Flirt by Kathleen Tessaro
37. The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis *

I'm getting excited; this challenge is going much better than I expected!

Congrats on doing so well on your challenge!

Rainbowdarling,
Great job! I had not realized that this is the centennial of Anne of Green Gables. I read them to my kids years ago and we all loved them. We still talk about them from time to time. We read all 6 or 8, I can't remember how many there are. We ended with Rilla of Ingleside. I might have to reread them this year, too. I also loved all the Little House Books. I could be the only person on the planet who has not read Harry Potter. I might have to give that a try. Also, I never read any of the Emily books. Are they as good as the Anne books?
Keep up the good work!
--BJ

Anne will always be my first favorite because I read the Anne books first, but I also like the Emily books. She's a different heroine, so it's hard to compare them, really. The only common threads between them are the fact that they're both orphans and both want to write.The rest of the stories are very different. I would definitely recommend them, though.

I haven't read the Little House books since I was about ten years old, so I thought it was about time to read them again. I'm reading those (and the Harry Potter books, Narnia books and Emily books) with friends from livejournal over the summer. We did the Anne books in April and May. It's been a lot of fun so far. :)

I also recommend the Harry Potter books, but that's, of course, because I really enjoy them.

Thanks!

Thanks for the info. I will definitely read some of these books!
--BJ

rainbowdarling,
I found our copy of Emily of New Moon and read it during our vacation. I just loved this book! I am going to try to find the others. Are there only 2 more of them? Thanks so much for the recommendation.
--BJ

There are only the three Emily books, but there are others that LMM wrote worth checking out. I enjoyed Jane of Lantern Hill, as well as The Story Girl and The Golden Road. Some people enjoyed Pat of Silver Bush and Mistress Pat, but I didn't quite as much. There's also Magic for Marigold. Again, not one of my favorites but none of her books make me want to throw them at the wall, so they're not all bad. LMM wrote something like 30 novels including her short story compilations, so there's a wealth of things to read. :)

Thanks, rainbowdarling!
--BJ

All finished with the challenge, hoorah! I have been lax about posting progress, but as of today, I've completed my 50 book challenge. I'm going to keep reading just to see how far I can go by the end of the year, but it feels pretty good to have it done in just over eight months.

Here are the last twelve or so:

38. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
39. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling *
40. Specials by Scott Westerfeld
41. The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis *
42. The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis *
43. Rococo by Adriana Trigiani
44. Summer Blowout by Claire Cook
45. Fragile Heritage by Sara Hylton *
46. The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis *
47. Life with Father by Clarence Day
48. Life with Mother by Clarence Day
49. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling *
50. Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery *

Whoo!

I'm up to 60 books now!

51. Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner
52. Emily Climbs by L.M. Montgomery *
53. Emily's Quest by L.M. Montgomery *
54. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
55. I Am Morgan LeFay by Nancy Springer
56. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
57. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
58. Life, The Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams
59. Wedding Season by Darcy Cosper
60. So Long, And Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams

I'm seeing if I can hit 80 books this year. I'm not pushing it, so if I don't make it - it's no big deal. I'm nearly through my "to be read" pile! That feels pretty amazing, too. It's been a very productive year!

After a whole year of reading, I made it to 75 books! I'm feeling pretty good about that number. It was higher than I had set my sights on, so I'm absolutely pleased. With myself? I suppose. :)

Here are the rest for the year:

60. So Long, And Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams
61. Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams
62. Candide by Voltaire
63. Sanditon by Jane Austen
64. The Watsons by Jane Austen
65. Lady Susan by Jane Austen
66. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
67. Rain Song by Alice J. Wisler
68. Christmas with Anne by LM Montgomery
69. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
70. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding
71. Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares
72. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
73. Danny, Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
74. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
75. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

I've started my thread for next year already here!

Happy New Year everyone!