jlshall's 2008 Challenge

Well, the year is more than half over, isn’t it? But since I had a pretty dismal reading record last year (and even worse the year before), I decided to challenge myself to read at least 50 books this year. That would be more than twice as many as I read in 2007. I’ve started doing a little book blogging to help spur me on. And finding LT has helped a lot, too.

So far this year I've read 34 books (this includes a number of children's and young adult books – but I’m including everything). That means I need to finish 16 more to make my 50. I'm not sure that's an attainable goal for someone who reads as slowly as I do, but we'll see. This is my list up to now.

Reviews of some of these books are posted on my blog (Joy's Blog):

http://jlshall.blogspot.com/

1. 2010: Odyssey Two, by Arthur C. Clarke
2. Betsy-Tacy, by Maud Hart Lovelace
3. Chatterton, by Peter Ackroyd
4. Civil to Strangers, by Barbara Pym
5. Crewel World, by Monica Ferris
6. Deadly Nightshade, by Cynthia Riggs
7. Emma, by Jane Austen
8. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg
9. Greenwitch, by Susan Cooper
10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling
11. Love and the Incredibly Old Man, by Lee Siegel
12. Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
13. Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney
14. Mrs. Malory and Death By Water, by Hazel Holt
15. Mrs. Malory and Delay of Execution, by Hazel Holt
16. Mrs. Malory and the Silent Killer, by Hazel Holt
17. My Fantoms, by Theophile Gautier
18. Over Sea, Under Stone, by Susan Cooper
19. Practical Magic, by Alice Hoffman
20. So Long at the Fair, by Christina Schwarz
21. Summer Reading, by Hilma Wolitzer
22. The Aviary Gate, by Katie Hickman
23. The Bookman’s Wake, by John Dunning
24. The Concord Quartet, by Samuel A. Schreiner, Jr.
25. The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper
26. The Fires, by Alan Cheuse
27. The Flanders Panel, by Arturo Perez-Reverte
28. The Grand Complication, by Allen Kurzweil
29. The Grey King, by Susan Cooper
30. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
31. The House Behind the Cedars, by Charles W. Chestnutt
32. The Lace Reader, by Brunonia Barry
33. Twig, by Elizabeth Orton-Jones
34. Wish You Were Here, by Rita Mae Brown

I count children's and young adult books, too. I love the book Miss Rumphius! Some books are short and others long, so I count them all. Good luck with your challenge!
--BJ

#35 The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

A beautiful and mysterious sculptress of gargoyles appears suddenly at a burn victim’s bedside and goes on to nurse him back to health, and tell him tales of their lives as lovers in an earlier incarnation. This was one of my favorites from my summer reads - I'll try to get a review up in a few days.

#36 American Wife: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld

Mild-mannered librarian (who is not Laura Welch Bush) marries future President of the United States (who is not George Walker Bush), in spite of major social, philosophical and political differences, while at the same time wrestling with the emotional toll of past indiscretions. A little like a train wreck – it’s not pretty, but you can’t look away. Much too long and rambling, but overall I think it’s an interesting book. Review to come.

#37 Mr. White's Confession by Robert Clark

Atmospheric thriller centered around the murders of two dime-a-dance girls in St. Paul, Minnesota during 1939. Homicide cop Lieutenant Wesley Horner becomes obsessed with the crimes and with the possible involvement of Herbert White, a local eccentric with memory problems and a taste for “glamour” photography. The book shifts back and forth between Horner’s investigation of the case and White’s diaries from the period. Fascinating and mostly well-written, but depressing. Won the Edgar Award for best novel in 1999.

Well, with September nearly over, I guess I should pull myself together and see where I am in this endeavor. I need to read 13 books in the next few months in order to reach my 50-book goal. I still think that’s possible if I really stick to my reading.

And since several of the reading challenges I’m participating in are ending this fall, I’ll have to choose my reading matter from those lists. So these are my possible books:

The Complete Ghost Stories of M.R. James (RIP III Challenge; Short Story Challenge)
We Have Always Lived in the Castle, by Shirley Jackson (RIP III Challenge)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon (342,745 Ways to Herd Cats Challenge; Man-Booker Challenge)
The House with a Clock in Its Walls, by John Bellairs (RIP III Challenge)
Hotel DuLac, by Anita Brookner (Man-Booker Challenge)
The Road to Lichfield, by Penelope Lively (Man-Booker Challenge)
The Public Image, by Muriel Spark (Man-Booker Challenge)
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, by Elizabeth Taylor (Man-Booker Challenge)
One More Year, by Sana Krasikov (Short Story Challenge)
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle (Young Readers Challenge)
Gone-Away Lake, by Elizabeth Enright (Young Readers Challenge)
Hitty, Her First Hundred Years, by Rachel Field (Young Readers Challenge)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C. O’Brien (Young Readers Challenge)
Knight’s Castle, by Edward Eager (Young Readers Challenge)
The Time Garden, by Edward Eager (Young Readers Challenge)
Many Moons, by James Thurber (Young Readers Challenge)

#38 The House with a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs

Illustrated by Edward Gorey. First of the Lewis Barnavelt series of gothic horror novels for young readers. Orphaned when his parents are killed in an auto accident, Lewis comes to live with his Uncle Jonathan, who turns out to be a wizard. Together with neighbor Florence Zimmermann, a witch, the two must locate the magic clock hidden somewhere in Jonathan's house before a pair of evil wizards can use it to destroy the world. This was a fun read - creepy and funny at the same time. I'll definitely be reading other books in the series.

#39 Superfudge by Judy Blume

I read this for the Young Readers Challenge, which ends in December. Second book in a series of books about the bratty "Fudge" of the title and his family. Apparently these books were wildly popular with kids back in the '80s and '90s. If I had kids, I'm not sure I'd want them reading about a boy who behaves so badly and gets away with it. And if I had a child like Fudge, I think I'd be tempted to put him up for adoption or something. I guess you could say I didn't exactly find Fudge charming. But I did admire Blume's writing - I can see why she became such a publishing sensation.

#40 Eva Moves the Furniture by Margo Livesey

The story of Eva McEwen, a young Scottish woman, and her "companions" - ghostly figures of a woman and a young girl, invisible to everyone else. Mysteriously appearing at frequent but random intervals, they seem to have a hand in just about everything that happens to Eva over the years. The ending to this was very disturbing - although not because of the supernatural element. Review to come.

Only ten more to go! I might actually make it.

#41 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
and
#42 The Complete Ghost Stories of M.R. James

Will be posting reviews on my blog and here on LT. Eight more to go.

Hi, jlshall!
I have both of those books on my TBR! Happy Reading!:)
--BJ

So we're coming down to the wire, aren't we? Nearly December and I've still got eight books to go. Well, I should be finishing up Anita Brookner's Hotel Du Lac tonight, if all goes well. And that'll leave just seven more to reach my fifty. Not going to be easy to read that many books during the run up to Christmas, but I'm still going to give it a try. We'll see what happens.