bonniebook's 999 challenge - 2009

My 999 categories for now; they may (probably will) change.* And is it cheating to move a book from one category to another during the year? 'Cas I'll probably be a cheater! Will change titles to black type, and date, when finished.

1. Books Discovered on 'bonnie-runs' to my Favorite Independent Bookstores (Used to be Childhood Classics...)
2. Socio-Political Books That I Buy and Never Finish, (or even start), including books about war, the economy, healthcare, or the environment, including global warming, because when aren't these issues political as well? Sigh!
3. Books About Writing or Writers (or memoirs by famous writers) because I hate to write, but want to get better.
4. Books I'd Never Heard of Until I Joined LT
5. Books From My 50-Book Challenge (used to be "rereads")
6. Recent Prizewinners and "Short Listers" now in paperback. Yeah!
7. Coming-of-Age Novels or Autobiographies--double points for me if by authors from other countries and cultures
8. I Need a Vacation! (books to read on vacation, on holidays, or when I need a break)
9. Short Story Collections or Children's/YA Literature recommended to me by my students, parents, or other LT-ers.

*My prediction has come to pass, many times over! No more room for a "Rereads" category and "Childhood Classics..." may have to go next--I have too many new books to read thanks to all of you!

Yep! "Childhood Classics That Everyone Else has Read But Me" has been changed to: Books discovered on 'bonnie-runs'... (See detailmuse, #156 for the source of my inspiration.)

I'm liking your categories! esp the 1st -- good thinking and welcome.

Cool! Do you have any favorite childhood favorites to recommend? I did read some of the classics to my sons as they were growing up (e.g., The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, ...Huckleberry Finn, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Wind in the Willows, The Secret Garden, The Hobbit).

Note: Comments about popular children's books were based on a different category originally selected for my 999 challenge. I just had too many new books to read. Maybe when I get grandchildren, this category will come into play again. 4/4/09

1. Books Discovered on 'bonnie-runs' to my Favorite Independent Bookstores
1. Dreamer's of the Day - Mary Doria Russell (4/08/09)
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2. Socio-political Books that I buy and never finish, (or even start), including books about the economy, healthcare, the environment, global warming, or education because when aren't these issues political as well? Sigh!
1. The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for our Time - Jeffery Sachs
2. Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present - Harriet Washington
3. Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change - Stephen Kinzer
4. Locked in the Cabinet - Robert B. Reich or George Stephanopolous's book
5. Dreams From My Father - Barack Obama (1/20/09)
6. The Audacity of Hope - Barack Obama
7. Blessed Unrest - Paul Hawken
8. Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell (1/11/09)
9. Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin (1/05/09)

Some childhood classics I loved were The Yearling, Winnie the Pooh, The Little Prince, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Lorax, and a book of fairy tales by Hans Christian Anderson.

3. Books About Writing or Writers (or memoirs by writers) because I hate to write, but want to get better.
1. The Writer's Desk by Jill Krementz
2. 6+1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide (Grades 3 and Up) by Ruth Culham
3. Talking, Drawing, Writing: Lessons for Our Youngest Writers by Martha Horn and Mary Ellen Giacobbe
4. The Art of Teaching Writing by Lucy Calkins
5. Writing Better: Effective Strategies for Teaching Students With Learning Difficulties by Steven Graham and Karen R. Harris
6. Inside the Writing Traits classroom: K-2 Lessons by Ruth Culham
7. Shakespeare Wrote For Money - Nick Hornby
8. Is That a Fact? Teaching Nonfiction Writing K-2 by Tony Stead and Tomie dePaola
9. Housekeeping vs. The Dirt - Nick Hornby (3/15/09)

4. Books I'd never heard of until I joined LT
1. Someone Knows My Name - Lawrence Hill (4/?/09)
2. American Rust - Phillip Meyer An ER book! (3/04/09)
3. The Scarlet Feather - Maeve Binchy (1/14/09)
4. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
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6. Property - Valerie Martin (4/10/09)
7. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer (1/04/09)
8. The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery (1/17/09)
9. The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop - Lewis Buzbee (1/23/09)

5. Books From my 50-Book Challenge List
1. The Optimist's Daughter - Eudora Welty (1/18/09)
2. A Case of Exploding Mangoes - Mohammed Hanif (2/12/09)
3. Gardens of Water - Alan Drew (2/09/09)
4. Women Who Love Books Too Much - Brenda Knight (2/02/09)
5. A Black Woman's Civil War Memoirs - Susan King Taylor
6. Away- Amy Bloom (3/26/09)
7. The Cellist of SaraJevo - Steven Galloway
8. Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Dafur - Daoud Hari (4/18/09)
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6. Recent Prizewinners or "short listers" now in paperback. Yeah!
1. Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen - National Book Award for Fiction, 2008
2. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Juot Diaz - National Book Critics Circle for Fiction, Pulitzer Prize in 2008
3. Medical Apartheid: the dark history of medical experimentation... by Harriet A. Washington - National Book Critics Circle for NF, 2007
4. Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson - National Book Award, 2007 (1/01/2009)
5. The Road by Cormac McCarthy - Pulitzer Prize, 2007
6. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie - Best of Booker, 2008
7. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell - shortlisted for Costa Novel Award and LA Times Book Prize for Fiction, 2006 (3/22/09)
8. Lush Life - Richard Price
9. Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction, 2007

7. Coming-of-Age novels or non-fiction--double points if by authors from other countries and cultures
1. Ten Thousand Sorrows - Elizabeth Kim
2. The Butcher Boy - Patrick McCabe (4/19/09)
3. My Son's Story - Nadine Gordimer
4. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford (1/04/09)
5. Special Topics in Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl (reread, 1/12/09)
6. Mister Pip - Lloyd Jones (2/18/09)
7. A Northern Light - Jennifer Donnely (2/28/09)
8. Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese
9. A Complicated Kindness - Miriam Toews (4/05/09)

8. I Need a Vacation!
1. Proust and the Squid - Maryanne Wolf (2/?/09)
2. Happiness Sold Separately - Lolly Winston (2/06/09)
3. Ex-Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader - Anne Fadiman
4. When You are Engulfed in Flames - David Sedaris
5. Gods Behaving Badly - Marie Phillips (4/04/09)
6. Secret River - Kate Grenville (1/10/09)
7. Digging to America - Anne Tyler (2/20/09)
8. The Pursuit of Alice - Elinor Lipman (1/09/09)
9. A Version of the Truth - Jennifer Kaufman - (3/07/09)

9. Short Story Collections or Children's/YA Literature recommended to me by my students, their moms, or other LT-ers
1. The Best American Non-Required Reading 2008 edit. by David Eggers
2. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak (3/14/09)
3. Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black and Other Stories by Nadine Gordimer (2/07/09)
4. The Art of the Story: An International Anthology of Contemporary Short Stories - edit. David Halperin
5. A Northern Light - Jennifer Donnelly (3/03/09)
6. The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories - Edit. by Ben Marcus
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#8 Hi SqueakyChu, Good suggestions! Let's see, I read The Yearling, The Little Prince, and The Lorax to my sons, and part of Winnie the Pooh, but I think I should read ALL of the Winnie the Pooh--TO ME! Makes me tiggerish just thinking about it! (smile)

I probably shouldn't have attempted 2 challenges after only a few months on LT, but I was just so inspired by all your lists and wanted to make some too. I had thought that I could incorporate more of my 50-Book Challenge list into my 999 Challenge, but I'm having trouble switching back and forth, so going to put what's left of my 50-Books list temporarily below until I can figure out where to put them up above. I already erased my "Rereads" category (and Childhood Classics may have to go next) to add more from the list below.

Sure enough, on 4/04/09, I said "Goodbye!" to Childhood Classics That Everyone Else Has Read, and "Hello" to 'bonnie-run' books (See discussion below, especially detailmuse, #156).

The Alphabet - David Sacks
The Bingo Palace - Louise Erdrich
The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen
Deep Water Passage by Ann Linnea
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly... - Jean-Dominique Bauby
Fortune's Bastard - Robert Chalmers
The Gathering - Anne Enright
The Hearts of Horses - Molly Gloss
Home - Marilynne Robinson
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA - Tim Weiner
The March - E.L. Doctorow
A Mercy - Toni Morrison
Ms. Hempel Chronicles - Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum
Miss Julia Speaks her Mind - Ann B. Ross
Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri
The Painted Drum - Louise Erdrich
Right Here, Right Now - Trey Ellis
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - David Wroblewski
The Thing about Life is That One Day You'll be Dead - David Shields
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur - Daoud Hari
What is the What - David Eggers
White Teeth - Zadie Smith
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami
The Wordy Shipmates - Sarah Vowel

Note: Titles that are struck through are books that I own, but probably won't read this year.

#10. Hi Bonnie, just wanted to say thatCircle of Friends is by Maeve (not Margaret) Binchy. I have The Yearling on my list to read next year too.

#17 Thanks englishrose60. I'll fix it. That recommendation came from you btw! :)

I know! :-) Hope you enjoy it.

hi bonniebooks, I like your categories. If you'd like to try a couple of Australian children's classics why not try - The Magic Pudding, The Muddle Headed Wombat or Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. These are all great books!

The Magic Pudding - an old and loved favourite!!

#20 and 21: But then my category would have to be renamed to "Children's Books that I've read but nobody else has--unless you're Australian!" (chuckling) OK, I'm going down to Powell's Book store for Christmas (Oops! I mean to see my family and...) so I'll look for them there. Thanks for the ideas; it will be much more fun to meet this 999 challenge with the help of new friends!

1. Tree of Smoke. OK, I'm cheating by starting early, but I have to cheat because I bought this book for my son's Christmas stocking so have to read it before he takes it away. The quote I wish my son who would listen to: "War is ninety percent myth anyway, isn't it? In order to prosecute our own wars we raise them to the level of human sacrifice, don't we, and we constantly invoke our God. It's got to be about something bigger than dying, or we'd all turn deserter" (p.61).

My middle of the book ranting on my 50 Books Challenge: Yes, this is a good, complicated story and I haven't finished it yet, but have to say: There are too many wanna-be-heroes and messed-up men (boys, really) who get even more messed-up by war and mess-up too many lives in the process of trying to win unwinnable wars (and there are no other kind, folks!) And I get really tired of (frustrated? discouraged? sad? All that and more!) reading about war through men's adolescent eyes and their cynical sense of humor.

"Well, you were sad about the kids for awhile, for a month, two months, three months. You're sad about the kids, sad about the animals, you don't do women, you don't kill the animals, but after that you realize this is a war zone and everybody here lives in it. You don't care whether these people live or die tomorrow, you don't care whether you yourself live or die tomorrow, you kick the children aside, you do the women, you shoot the animals" (p.577).

Edited for consistency in labeling of titles

I really like your Childhood Classics list. I haven't read many of them myself - Alice is on my 999 list too. A big cheer for Anne of Green Gables. One of my favourite childhood series possibly THE favourite which I still have and read now! Thee are about 7 or 8 in the series by the way...

I have a quotation you may like (which I ended up putting in a .txt file on my desktop when I couldn't find my commonplace book, so it was handy):

"That's the terrible hypnotism of war, the brute mass-impulse, the pride and national spirit, the instinctive simplicity of men that makes them worship what is their own above everything else. I've thrilled and shouted with patriotic pride, like everyone. Music and flags and men marching in step have bewitched me, as they do all of us. And then I've gone home and sworn to root this evil instinct out of my soul. God help us -- let's love the world, love humanity -- not just our own country!"

It's from The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley, written around the time of WWI and its aftermath.

Dorothy Dunnett has her main character say something similar in Game of Kings....Now if I could only find my copy of book two of that series. Oh, for bookshelves.

#24, Yeah, I know there's a whole "Anne of..." series, but have heard people say that "...Green Gables" was their favorite. Which title in the series was your favorite? And, oh yeah, did you notice that MY "vacation reads" category is still empty? :) Maybe you'll have a recommendation for me after you get back from yours! :)

#25, My son is contemplating going into the military, and I have to admit that nothing could make me sadder, other than him being sick, hurt, killed, or committing some criminal act. He wanted Tree of Smoke for Christmas, but I don't think he'll read the very same words the way I do--but that's true of everyone, I guess. We each bring our own experiences and beliefs to the words on the page. Sigh!

2. Anne of Green Gables. I'll probably replace this title as I get close to finishing my 999-Challenge. Gosh aren't I optimistic?! It must be because of my morning spent in Anne's company--such a lovely respite from the real world.

Well, I finished the last one hundred pages of Tree of Smoke after midnight so this is my first official 999 challenge book! A quote from the main character: "In South Vietnam I thought I'd been sidelined. Removed to a place where I could think about the war. But you can't be sidelined in a war, and in a war you mustn't ever think. War is action or death. War is action or cowardice. War is action or treachery. War is action or desertion. Do you get the idea here? War is action. Thought leads to treason" (p. 695).

Congratulations, bonniebooks, on starting your 999 Challenge books! I'm kind of balancing on the bare edge of 2008 and 2009 (not quite finished 2008, but wanted to start 2009 already).

Tree of Smoke was a book I began on CD, but had to quit because I couldn't understand the narrator well (I'm hard of hearing). It sounded great so I'll be looking for the hard copy of it.

By the way, if you like to read about the Viet Nam War, have you read The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien? It's excellent! Here's what readers of my copy (that's travelling the world via Bookcrossing) said about it. I highly recommend it.

Thanks, SqueakyChu! I've got tons of books on my 999 list, so I'm ready to roll. Actually only read Tree of Smoke because my son wanted it for Christmas, so I read it too. He's considering going into the military and I'm hoping this book will help dissuade him; it certainly would me! I think this book would have been very difficult for anyone to listen to on audiotape as the narrator changes so frequently. Was it read by the author?

The talk of childhood classics made me think of two that I loved that I have not seen mentioned - James and the Giant Peach and The Phantom Tollbooth. Maybe I can find a way to squeeze those into one of my categories. Jame and the Giant Peach could work for books made into movies!

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I can't remember who read it. I just listen to the opening lines of a book and decide if I the narrator speaks as slowly and clearly as I need in order to enjoy a CD. In this case, I thought I'd be missing too much by continung with the book although the content was already very interesting. At least I don't have to hear well in order to enjoy a book. :)

Hi Bonnie - as promised here is the heads up on my Newbery group reads. I have just heard that the following books are arriving shortly at the library ready for me to collect. That was quick!

Miss Hickory by C S Bailey
Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P Kelly
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

Any more news about your son and his desire to join the military?

Hi Juliette, Oh good! You caught me just as I was going out the door to the books store. I have Island of the Blue Dolphins, so I'll look for used copies of Miss Hickory and Trumpeter of Krakow, or see if I can borrow from my some of my ex-students/neighbors! :-) Which one do you think you'll read first?

Re: my son, thanks for asking. We've sort of been avoiding any detailed discussions over the Holidays. Will probably know for sure by the end of the month. :(

Thanks Bonnie. It is Sunday today so won't hear from library. Will probably collect the books this week. As I work I have to slot in a trip! As you have Island of the Blue Dolphins why don't we start there? I will drop you a line when I have it.

Juliette, will pull out Island of the Blue Dolphins as soon as I come down from Book Heaven! Found 11 of my 999-challenge books, including 3 of them in hardbound, at my neighborhood independent bookstore, all for $102. Yeah! Actually, it was all Christmas gift money, so they were really all free! :-) Maybe could have gotten some for cheaper via Amazon (which started in my hometown) but want my favorite bookstore to survive. Read parts of Wordy Shipmates, and Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black and Other Stories by Nadine Gordimer, but now going to bed with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.

3. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Forgot to note that I read this and that I did it online through BookLit. (Sorry, I don't know how to link.) Whoever mentioned this website, I thank them! This story reminded me of old movies--how story telling has changed! Just an entertaining diversion to me, famous name/story aside.

Bonnie, so glad you enjoyed Great Expectations. I received Penguin audiobook for Christmas and I listened to it this week - great story, especially when read by Hugh Laurie! *sigh*

That would have been great to listen to Hugh Laurie! He's so droll. It's funny, I just noticed him in an old Jane Austen movie; it took me awhile to recognize that I was looking at a younger version of House. :-) Anyway, I'm going to have to try some of my books on audiotape. New Year's resolution: Start using the library!

Well, englishrose60, I first talked to you in the 50-Book Group postings. I just now decided to drop my thread on that group while still reading, starring, and posting when I feel the urge. A lot of people I have starred are in both groups anyway, or have moved to the 75-Book group. I had great fun creating my list, but it just seemed redundant, not to mention silly, to say the same thing twice, plus having to edit both lists--just didn't want to keep doing it. I don't know how you all maintain your multiple threads. I'm just not organized by nature, and I'm so excited about all the books I have stacked up on my table next to my reading chair, I just want to read, read, read!

Bonnie - I feel the same, there is never enough time.

That was a wonderful pile of books Bonnie - especially the Nadime Gordimer. I will look forward to hearing your thoughts upon the GLPPS! And Great Expectations - you have made an excellent start. My favourite Charles Dickens as well. I did enjoy reading your thoughts today - your excitement was almost palpable!!

Thank you for quoting Tree of Smoke. It's kind of having the book write its own review. Looking forward to your thoughts on the others you read.

Great Expectations was the book that brought me back to Charles Dickens. I'm going to read another of his this year, maybe Hard Times.

4. Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Some people have said this book was too sweet for them and I can understand that-- so much depends on what the reader is in the mood for and I was looking for a little romance today--but this book went well beyond satisfying my sweet tooth. First, there was the important story of the occupation of the Channel Islands during WW II by the Germans and, second, that it was told through letters. I really enjoy that story-telling technique--like the writer is MY friend and sharing her confidences with me. Time will tell if this book becomes one of my 'Comfort Food' selections.

5. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Well, I'm still trying to write my official early review on this, so am not going to say much here, but was very disappointed in this book. Maybe I was just too excited--I had waited for weeks, I was getting to be one of a select few getting to read the book early, the cover looked great, I was interested and familiar with the topic, and it was free! I couldn't wait to get started!

I think so much depends on how much a person has read about this shocking part of American history. I'm no expert, but I'm from Seattle AND I took a course in Asian-American studies which included much better books on this topic. For example, Nisei Daughter by Monica Itoi Sone was so charming and funny while telling much the same story in a much more credible manner. This book read like bad Juvenile Fiction in that the main character, both as a youth and an adult, was in the middle of every important event! Children will accept that, but I just kept on saying, "Come on, you must be kidding me!" Again, maybe if this was the first time I had heard the story of America's wholesale internment of over 110,000 Japanese Americans with no legal justification, I wouldn't have been so impatient because the author did do an adequate job of getting in all the facts... But now I'm starting to write my review so I will quit. I want to read this book again to see if I can find more positives before I write my my final review.

#44 Great to hear your comments Bonnie. I agree regarding the balance of which you spoke and the way in which you feel as if you are being taken into the confidence of the author. I have been to Guernsey and I knew a little of the history but still found this book really 'bringing that history to life'.

Sorry to hear about the early review book. Unfortunately my excitement regarding these books is a little jaded due ot the fact that I am still waiting to receive two from last year! One I have completely given up with and the other I have almost given up hope of receiving.

Anyway, a great start to 2009 for you Bonnie, you are really motoring with your books .... I am off to work now -through the snow.

Your comments on the Guernsey Literary . . . . were very interesting. I agree with you on the important message the book carried within its guise as a romantic comedy. I did find it a sweet story, but in a good way, not sweet as in syrupy!

Have you read When the Emperor was Divine? If not, try and find a copy. I think you will like it.

Yes, I have read When the Emperor Was Divine. I would have to look at again to say much. As I recall, I remember putting it in the Juvenile Fiction category, but I had a much more positive reaction to it than I had toward Hotel on the Corner...I still like Nisei Daughter much more.

Found you! This thread is going to be bad for me. Very bad.

Wow, you're really hooning through the books aren't you? I **loved** Anne of Green Gables when I was little. I can't remember how many of the rest I read though.

I'm hopeless on Dickens and don't think I've read any - maybe Oliver Twist when I was a kid... I suspect I'd enjoy all of them more now.

I was snowed in over the Christmas Holidays! And wouldn't you know, it was the very first time that I had told my boys (grown-up) to go to Portland instead of coming home to Seattle and I'd meet them down there so that we could celebrate with their grandma. They had a nice Christmas Day together, but all I got was ichat--which actually I was thrilled with, compared to just talking on the phone. Anyway, pawing through all my books, along with those I bought for them, was the only thing that kept me happy! I actually read parts of quite a few other books that I haven't talked about yet, but I usually prefer to read one book straight through, so am trying to settle down. :)

6. Talent is Overrated. Sat in the neighborhood 'big bookstore' and read the good parts, skimming the rest. (Bought a book and some gift certificates so don't feel too guilty!) I thought more of this book would be useable (in terms of examples) when talking to my students and/or their parents. This book felt a little more like 'business management' techniques/advice than I expected or wanted, but the central theme that it's the number of hours of targeted practice with good instruction and feedback, rather than talent, that explains/correlates with success/expertise is an especially important message for my students--most of whom do have inherent difficulties in reading, writing, and spelling. I'm looking forward to reading Outliers next which is supposed to be about the same topic.

Note to self: Title is NOT going to turn blue, no matter how many times you forget and try again!

I know..."Consistency is the hobgoblin of ...(Oops! I guess I don't know!)... foolish minds!" but I want this title to be BLUE, Touchstone!

>49 cushlareads:, I just responded to your posting on my 50-Book Challenge, cmt! I'm starting on Outliers right now! (grin!)

Help! Just in case someone doesn't see my plea above, I would love help/advice in filling my 999 categories using my 50-Books list (see above).

So much to comment on, I love your thread.

I haven’t read the books in your Children’s Classics category either :) ... except Harriet the Spy (an all-time favorite) and Alice in Wonderland, which I only read last year!

Ex Libris, The Book Thief and The Writer's Desk are all excellent, enjoy!

Our 999 Challenges overlap on Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Half of a Yellow Sun and Outliers; and I’m thinking about The Elegance of the Hedgehog.

Regarding drawing from your 50-book list -- I liked Gardens of Water but was disappointed in A Thousand Splendid Suns (not original or engaging); and it took me three years to slog through The Corrections.

(P.S. I just saw that you finished Hotel on the Corner… and were disappointed; I’ll have to come back to read your comments after I finish it. btw, I browsed our shared books in your library and we are opposites on our star ratings for many books, so figure that into my yays/nays above. That’s fascinating about LT -- to see people drawn to the same books but then having such different reading experiences!)

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I agree with you about A Thousand Splendid Suns, detailmuse. It was a good story but not one I enjoyed all that much because so much of its material was familiar to me both from having lived in the Middle East and from reading much middle eastern literature. On the other hand, The Kite Runner, the author's debut novel, grabbed me right away even though I discovered it when it had been a new book on my library shelf and at a time in which not too many people had even heard of Khaled Hosseini!

>55 SqueakyChu: we're so in the minority on that one :) It seemed a mere venue for Afghanistan history, aimed toward Western sympathies. But I too loved The Kite Runner -- in Gardens of Water, Alan Drew's writing style reminded me of Hosseini's.

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Didn't you think that Hosseini was writing for his public rather than writing for himself with his second book? That was the feeling I had. With the overwhelming success of his debut novel, it was if he had been forced to write something that would be loved again by the public.

I'd exchange emails with Khaled Hosseini (before he was famous) as well as seen him in person at The National Book Festival. I think he's a genuinely nice person and sincerely wish him continued success.

>57 SqueakyChu: Squeaky, Yes!! Exactly. I think he has a smart mind and a tender heart and he'll come through again.

...and I'll be rooting for him and reading all of his books!

7. The Pursuit of Alice Thrift Well! Big Smile! I already was thinking I had a totally fun afternoon with Elinor Lipman (more on that later), then I come on line to talk about it while I'm still high to find a whole conversation here on my post! LOL I'm lovin' it! :)

First, re: A Thousand Splendid Suns, I feel certain that I'm going to feel much the same way as you, detailmuse and SqueakyChu. Maybe it's not fair, but I'm almost always less excited about the second title by any author whose first book I loved! I think that's sometimes why one person loves one title in a series while someone else raves about another. For me, nothing can match falling in love for the first time with an author, so oftentimes that first book remains my favorite. Also, I think an author puts so much into a first book--a whole lifetime of ideas, feelings, and experiences--their own and others--that it's hard to top that.

>54 detailmuse:, detailmuse, I think we have more similar tastes than it first appears. I looked at how you rated the books we have in common in our libraries and I don't think we would be more than a star off IF I was rating my books. (On the other hand, we don't have all that many titles in common, so you may be right.) Anyway, I explain on my profile that I would probably give almost all my books 4-5 stars, so instead I decided to just star my "comfort foods." :) I'm eventually going to go through my library and rate my books the more standard way, but it's so hard to compare how I feel about a book read today versus one I read 25 years ago and loved then. I feel like I need to go back and read those books again, and want to all the more, having joined LT; but then I have all these new books I want to read to because of having joined LT! :-)

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For me, nothing can match falling in love for the first time with an author, so oftentimes that first book remains my favorite. Also, I think an author puts so much into a first book--a whole lifetime of ideas, feelings, and experiences--their own and others--that it's hard to top that.

I so totally agree with you. That's why I have one category of my 999 Challenge solely devoted to Debut Works.

Hello Bonnie - I have enjoyed reading the 'falling in love with a new author' discussion an dknow exactly what you mean.

Just to let you know that I am going to begin Miss Hickory by C S Bailey today and I also have the other two I mentioned. I have at last completed my first book - thoughts on my thread!

>61 bonniebooks: On the other hand, we don't have all that many titles in common

My view says we share 98 (I think that's a lot!), I'm curious if yours shows a different number?

Yes, that's what I show too. I don't know why I didn't think that was a lot. I guess I was thinking in terms of my own library, that 98 out of 900+ didn't seem like that much overlap; but that's a 100 books we could talk about--so that is a lot! :)

I'm almost finished with The Secret River, but Juliette07 is calling me! :-) By the way, I used this symbol: :0 in a posting recently to show I was laughing, but now I'm thinking someone might think it means I was *yawning!* Oh no! My apologies if that's what it means! How do you all show chagrin?! L0L

8. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.

9. Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl.

Hi Bonnie - you are eating your way through those books! Have you managed to find Miss Hickory - it was an excellent choice and most worthy of the Newbery Award medal. I have reviewed it with four stars!

Nooo (embarrassed sigh) I haven't found Miss Hickory. Don't be too impressed by my reading habits; I've been home in a semi-sick state, doing pretty much nothing else but reading when I felt like doing anything at all. Thank goodness for my box of 'challenge' books!

10. The Scarlet Feather. Oh, englishrose60! I so wanted to like Maeve Binchy! :-( To be fair, you did recommend Circle of Friends, not the one I read. And it did serve its purpose, to distract me, but...

Circle of Friends was a very satisfying read Bonnie but I am not a special MAeve Binchy fan. Do hope that your reading is just the tonic to help you! No worry about Miss Hickory - I am into Island of The Blue Dolphins and thinking about how literature has changed over the years.

Bonnie, Sorry you did not like the Binchy book - I haven't read Scarlett Feather yet but I did enjoy Circle of Friends - I guess she's not for everyone.

Well, I'm glad I tried it, truly! It's been really satisfying to get on line and read what everyone is saying about the books they're reading--and their choices are diverse enough that I always find another book/author I want to try. I'm almost more disappointed for you, because I can tell you are such a nice, kind person! :-) But that's crazy, 'cas we can both be very nice people and still have different likes/dislikes as readers. And I know I have very definite tastes--and strong opinions!

Bonnie, thank you for your kind comments. I can see that you are a very astute person:-)) We are all different and sometimes it's right to agree to disagree.

Hi there - I noticed you near the top of my list of people who have the same books I do, so I was curious about your 999 lists. Your "Socio-Political Books That I Buy and Never Finish" made me laugh. I do that with books on linguistics, so I made a category for those. :)

You have some great choices for your children's lit books. Alice is my all-time favorite, and I adore The Hundred Dresses.
If at all possible, I'd recommend trying to find the original translation of The Little Prince. The newer translation is all most stores seem to sell now. Maybe it's just because I'd loved the book for so long, but I thought the new version was pointless and far inferior.

Good luck!

I read The Wind in the Willows last year and loved it, can't believe I never read it as a child - it is a timeless classic and deserves its place on your list. I've just finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog for my 75 & 100 book challenges and enjoyed it a lot though I had to stick at it to begin with.

Many years ago I read a few Maeve Binchy books and quite enjoyed them for light reading though I would not bother with another one now as they get too formulaic - one of my favourite ones was Evening Class.

Regarding your 50 books list - I haven't read any of these books so can't recommend any. A Case of Exploding Mangoes was on the Booker Prize shortlist a couple of year's ago I think and it's a book I do want to read eventually.

> We would have even more books in common if I combined my other library (bonniebooks2) with my adult library. (Oooh! That sounds racy!) I'm am just beginning to catalogue my children's books and teacher-related textbooks. When I do that, you'll see I like linguistics too! I don't know that much, but, for example, as a teacher of students who have added difficulties learning to read, write, and spell; it's been important that I understand, and teach, how/where different sounds are made in the mouth, as they need that visual and physical support to successfully segment the individual sounds in words. Whoo! That's a long sentence! :-)

Thanks for the 'heads up' on which translation of The Little Prince to look for; I think I'm going to get it from the library, so should have better luck getting an older translation there. How old is old, by the way?

>76 avatiakh:, Good to know. I'll be able to tell you what I think about The Elegance of the Hedgehog tomorrow; I watched an old movie (The Professional) tonight instead. I really don't like violence, but for some reason I liked that movie--and the first time I noticed Natalie Portman as well.

11. The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I didn't like Renee at first. She is the deep thinking, but poor concierge of an elegant 'hotel' in Paris who hides her intelligence from the very rich inhabitants who are her employers. She is also the main narrator of this story--the other being a young girl, also extremely intelligent, who also hides her abilities, doesn't feel understood, and is afraid that she doesn't/won't have enough of those moments that will give meaning to her life, so she is going to kill herself at the end of the year when she is 13!

Renee is the hedgehog, both in looks and demeanor, and works hard to maintain her prickly hard shell by keeping her TV going all day, dressing and talking a certain way, shuffling her feet, and buying food she won't eat because that's what she thinks people expect her to do based on her role in their lives. Renee is a snob while she automatically assumes and resents the snobbery of others. She is intelligent, extremely well-read, loves fine art and popular movies, so can't always resist making a comment that reveals her inner, more tender self; but is saved, she thinks, by "the inability of living creatures to believe anything that might cause the walls of their little mental assumptions to crumble." But, of course, this is as true for her!

The author waxes philosophical about the meaning of life through these two characters way more than I was interested in thinking about, and by the end of the story, I felt like I had been reading an upgraded version of a Cinderella Story, albeit with an ugly, much older Cinderella and a tragic, though still 'romantic,' ending. So, in spite of the excellent writing, and the fact that I did come to like and care about Renee, it wouldn't the first book I'd recommend to most of my friends.

12. The Optimist's Daughter. I knew I had read this book within the first couple of pages, but kept on reading--why, I don't know. It was not a good follow-up to The Elegance of the Hedgehog as it also is about life and death. Eudora Welty has an antiquated style to her writing, both in her descriptions of her characters' behavior as well as in their dialogue. I was startled by the few references to flying; I kept thinking I was reading about a much earlier era, no later than the 50's for sure. Maybe because this is in the South, where (it seems to me) people hold on to traditions in a way that we don't in the Northwest. Enjoyed listening to "the bridesmaids," to the neighbors, and Fay's relatives. Impatient with the whole trapped bird scene--and why did she burn her mother's letters, or let go of that breadboard??! Oh, I know why the author had her do it; it was the crux of the whole book, with Laurel learning: "Memory lived not in initial possession but in the freed hands, pardoned and freed, and in the heart that can empty but fill again, in the patterns restored by dreams," but I'm a very emotional reader; I don't have those pictures, those letters, or even the kind of history that those mementos meant, so I just couldn't let those things go. I guess I haven't learned her lesson yet.

I heart/love the mysterious benedict society!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, I finished Outliers last week, but couldn't figure out how to say what I wanted to say in just a few sentences. I've folded the corners on dozens of pages and scribbled on many more! I think this book should/could occupy a whole thread--anybody else interested????

13. Dreams From My Father. Read the first part of this book a couple of years ago--when Obama got into the campaign, then was already spending so much time (hours every day) on the internet keeping up with all things political that I never picked it up again. In honor of the day, I'm going to finish it. Yeah for the day! Yeah for us!

Oh Bonnie - good on you. Joined you all across the pond thanks to the BBC. What a historic moment and what a wonderful sight!

Edited to correct appalling spelling mistake that you were too kind to mention =)

Hi, Juliette! It's nice to have some friends across the drink! Decided to start Dreams From my Father from the beginning since I had read the first half so long ago. Since I've just read Outliers I keep seeing every person or event in his life from Malcolm Gladwell's perspective. I sure wish his mom was still alive to see what her son's accomplished, and, selfishly, I sure would like to know how she was able to get him up regularly at 4:00 in the morning to study English before going to school.

Forgot to note that I finished Dreams of My Father.

A really intersting time to read Outliers - his Mum was obviously some lady!

> 86, Juliette, Yes! I sure would like to know more about her. Obviously, Obama is going to be busy for the next eight years, but maybe his sister will write a book.

14. The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop. Hmmm, what can I say about this book? It's a fairly straightforward overview of the history of the bookseller's trade, from the very beginning of book making, publishing and selling to current times; alternating with the author's own experiences on both sides of the counter in some great independent book stores as a reader, seller, buyer, book rep., then back to being a reader again. I liked hearing about specific bookstores the best, what made them special, why they failed or succeeded, their histories and their owners (e.g., Shakespeare & Co. and Sylvia Beach's efforts to publish J. Joyce Ulysses in France). And how they are continuing to evolve to compete with Amazon, Costco, Barnes & Noble, and the like. Buzbee is pretty much preaching to the choir when it comes to me; I won't buy a Kindle, or even buy books online, because I don't want to lose my favorite independent book stores.

Reminder to me: Touchstone won't go blue on this title either.

Bonnie - I am enjoying reading your thoughts! As you are such an enthusiast I think you may have seen this link http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/books/19read.html?pagewanted=2&8bu&emc... about how the President found a voice from books!! I found it fascinating and uplifting.

Juliette, The NYTimes is my "home page" even though I'm from Seattle, so I did read that article, but I would not have thought of sharing it, so thanks for posting that link! :-) Like Lincoln, Obama really is a writer; I think he could write for a living. Somebody else just posted a few lines about Obama that described him so perfectly, I want to go find her (was it you?) and link to it. I'll be back...

Darn! I went searching for that posting. I thought it would be a lot easier to find. It's somebody on the 50-Book or 999 challenge (or maybe ClubRead) who had just finished Dreams from My Father. OK, you know who you are--give yourself up! :-) Or if there's anybody else who wants to snitch on her...?

As a friend of mine echoed it was lovely the way Obama describes himself as a book Magpie!! I also came a cross this which you may find interesting. It is a number of word clouds from inauguaration speeches over the years. It may reveal a few more swings of the pendulum as well as more subtle emphases from different Presidents. Food for thought - what do you think?

Very interesting! Although the Presidents' clouds are very much impacted by the political events of their time, I think they must also reflect the themes/issues that are important to each person. I'd would also like to see the whole cloud as I think that would better reflect Obama's complexity of thought, for example, versus his predecessor's simplicity of both words and thinking.

>1 bonniebooks:, bonniebooks, your category #1 is great. If I didn't already have more than enough categories, I'd steal it. I have never read Black Beauty, any of the Anne of Green Gables series, The Secret Garden, The Hobbit, etc - so many of those books that seem to define some people's childhoods.

>7 bonniebooks:, I like your category #2. I read Medical Apartheid last year - everyone should read it. The author also has a LT account!

I'll be interested to hear what you think of Overthrow - Stephen Kinzer is one of my favorite authors - I've read his books on Iran and Turkey but not this newest one.

For your coming-of-age category, I would recommend P.L. Whitney's novel, This is Graceanne's Book. This is set in 1960s Missouri.

The author is an old friend of mine but I wouldn't be recommending it if I hadn't absolutely loved it. I almost never re-read but this is one book I am tempted to re-read periodically.

> 92 Yes, I do envy that kind of childhood experience. In a way, I got to experience it vicariously through my children as I read to them, and it feels really good to know that they'll have that added pleasure of rekindling their own childhood memories as they read to their kids. Also, as a reading specialist I get to share books that I love with children all the time, so I feel really lucky that way.

>93 fannyprice: Medical Apartheid is at the top of my non-fiction list to buy, even though I have all those other books, like Overthrow, I haven't read yet. I know I'm going to enjoy (well, "enjoy" probably isn't the right word considering the subject matter) Overthrow; I don't know why I haven't opened it up yet. Maybe it's because I think I've read a lot of what I think is going to be in the book, but also it's because I think I'm going to need someone I can talk to about what I'm reading, and the person I would normally discuss this kind of book with is really busy this year.

edited to add a missing word

> Thanks for the suggestion, Linda. :-) I'll go take a look at it.

15. Women Who Love Books Too Much by Brenda Knight. 'I'm baaack!' I've been busy this last week. (Among other things, trying to do my taxes ten months earlier than I usually do. Yes, 10 months! I'm one of those people who usually mails in her tax return on the last possible day, October 15th!) Even when I've been incognito, I'm still reading--even everyone else's postings--I just HATE to write, even if it's little itty bitty postings. But I do like our conversations, so I'm going to do my part. OK, I can't remember what I read last week, including the title of the book I sat and read at B&N last Friday, so will start with what I know. Monday: Women Who Love Books Too Much by Brenda Knight. Loved it as a reminder of all the great books by women writers that I've read, or still want to read. Knight takes you through history, starting with Enheduanna, the "first recorded writer of either gender" and ends with Rebecca Wells. It's sort of like reading an LT's 100-Book Challenge with mini biographies added for each author listed. I got it from the library (Yes, you all have inspired me, I'm starting to use the library now), but I'm going to search for a used copy to keep on my shelf as a resource. Maybe it will be my next challenge: To read all the authors mentioned in Women Who Love Books Too Much.

Edit. to add # and title.

16. Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black and other stories by Nadine Gordimer. This wasn't the best week to read Gordimer. She has a quiet, dream-like poetic style that sometimes keeps me at a distance from her main characters. It was probably the wrong book to read this week as I needed escape, to feel immersed in someone else's life, and short stories don't do usually that for me. I like short stories when I have the mental energy to really think about what I've read, and how the characters' stories are connected to my life, my values and thoughts, etc. These were some really good stories that include issues of politics, history, identity, race, family, love, memories...all issues I really care about. I've just got to read them again.

Note to self: Another title that won't turn blue, so don't keep editing to try to change it!

Thanks for the Nadine Gordimer comments - I really enjoyed her Lying Days - have you read any others by her?

17. Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston. She also wrote Good Grief which I liked better. Winston has the ability to write about sad subjects (in this case infertility, miscarriage, and potential divorce) with humor. Her style feels a little bit like Elinor Lipman combined with Anne Tyler, two authors that are both favorites of mine (though I did eventually OD on Tyler). For me, this was just good escapist fiction (which I seem to be attracted to more and more as I'm getting older) but for younger readers who have struggled with the issues mentioned above, I think it will be a more meaningful, poignant story--just told with a lot of great one-liners and biting humor which is sometimes just what you need.

>99 juliette07: Hi, Juliette! I keep coming and going today, so didn't read your posting till after I posted mine. Yes, I've read Burgher's Daughter which was a great book! I was going to read it again this year, but decided to read other titles by her instead. As I said, I prefer reading novels as I'm into escape as a reason for reading, but I liked the cover of Beethoven Was... and I like her, so bought it.

I found both Gardens of Water and A Case of Exploding Mangoes in the "new books" section as I was walking out of the library discouraged that I hadn't found any of the books I was looking for. Even though I was happy to find them, vainly searching for others on my list reminds me of why I like bookstores! My library branch is the most used in the city--in a city of readers--so will have to start ordering more books online.

18. Gardens of Water. Two teenagers falling in love, each questioning their parents' love, testing/clashing with their parents expectations and values. Two cultures/religions: American/Christian vs. Kurdish/Muslim. An earthquake which turns the lives of all the members of both families upside down and inside out. This is a sad story, a serious story, but also just the kind of book I like. First, I'm learning more about another culture/country. Second, I was totally immersed in the story and didn't want to stop reading--so didn't! Third, I wavered back and forth in my sympathies and support for the beliefs and resulting actions of the various characters in this book. And I like that best of all because it really makes me question the source/basis for my own beliefs or values and think about how this story changes my life.

I just want to add that this story also gave a more personal picture of the Kurds plight as a minority within Turkey and Iraq.

Thanks Bonnie for that review - you have inspired me to add this one to my wishlist.

I hope you like it, Juliette! I think I do such a lousy job of describing the books I read. Partly because I don't like to know very much about a book before I start reading it, so I don't want to say too much, but also I'm just not very good at it. I mostly stick to how I felt about a book and expect that lots of people will feel very differently. I can't remember who is using just three words/phrases to summarize the book she's reading, but they're truly amazing!

It's nancywhite on ClubRead 2009! Go check them out!

19. A Case of Exploding Mangoes. What a weird coincidence! The next movie in my Netflix queue turned out to be Charlie Wilson's War. So, here I was hearing about General Zia, Pakistan, the CIA, the millions to billions of dollars provided by congress and the American military, the corruption at every level and every place--even Joanne Herring from Lufnik, Texas--all of it "helping" Afghanistan to defeat the Soviet Union; just as I was reading about the same events from inside Pakistan in a Case of Exploding Mangoes. In both cases, the stories were sad, maddening, frightening, outrageous and hilarious! Not in real life though. In real life leave out the "hilarious!"

P.S. This book is part murder mystery, part action/political thriller; I can see it as a movie. And Ali Shigri, the Pakistan Airforce pilot who's at the center of this story, as well as the dark comedic tone of the book, reminds me somewhat of White Tiger.

Have I really not finished a book in four days?! I'd be reading a lot more if I wasn't spending hours reading everyone else's threads (for example, the last hour and a half)! :-)

Going to stop reading parts of different books and concentrate on one...now which one? No, I can't do it! I'm heading south to see my mom and son, and can't leave my house with just one book!

It will all work out in the end. I have several on the go as well and so am almost finished a few. There's nothing worse than not having any books unfinished and having to cast about for one to start.

>108 RidgewayGirl:, Thanks for the encouraging words, RidgewayGirl. My problem is that I just have too many books to choose from--doesn't work with my indecisiveness. Once I read all the books I've bought for my 999, I'm going to go back to my old routine of just stopping by a bookstore and picking out something that looks good for that day!

20. Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones. Because I had read Great Expectations only recently, I was intrigued with the title and the little bit I had read about this book. At first, the story went along pretty much as I had expected it to. As the children were using their imaginations to try to understand Dicken's main character, Pip, and the England he lived in; I, the reader, was learning about them and their families, and their growing up on an island in Papua New Guinea. Even though there was a conflict between Rebels and the government troops (the "Redbacks") regarding a mine on their island (a true event, by the way), it seemed more a historical background for a coming-of-age story that was sweet/charming, as well as the reason for why this white man came into their lives. Instead, the book turns much darker as Mr. Dicken's "Pip" becomes a very real character in ways neither they (nor I) could imagine as war comes to their village.

21. Digging to America by Anne Tyler. I actually forgot I was reading one of Tyler's books, as the characters weren't as quirky as they usually are. Instead, Tyler goes global/multi-cultural in this story about two families (one with Iranian heritage) who welcome their adopted daughters from Korea on the same day. You don't have to have adopted children to recognize the tensions that can happen when these two families have very different ideas about how children should be raised and can't help but compare and compete at least a little bit. In addition, Tyler doesn't resort to stereotypes in making one of the families Iranian-American. Sometimes it's important and sometimes it's not. In fact, that's something that some of the members of both families have to figure out.

22. Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf. Forgot to note when I finished this book earlier in the month. If you're interested in how someone learns to read and write--or doesn't--as well as some of the history of the English language, you'll like this bool. A comment I posted in response to one of RidgewayGirl's reviews is one of the reasons why I read books like Proust and the Squid, so I'll just copy it as part of my commentary.

(Your review) reminds me that it's partly why I buy any book, including nonfiction--even textbooks that are full of information that I mostly already know--because I love hearing someone else articulate so cogently, so vividly, just so much better than I could what I, myself, am thinking and feeling. It gives me both a feeling of satisfaction ("Oh, that person who is obviously so smart, so caring, so...thinks/feels that way too?) as well as a rush of admiration for what they've accomplished.

23. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnely. A good coming-of-age/YA book. Great escape on a rainy Saturday morning. I'll write more later.

Started Edgar Sawtelle again after talking to a friend who had just finished it for her book group. Still not liking it! I have way too many good books literally right in front of me to continue on for now (I'll eventually read it and probably enjoy it), plus I'm annoyed at myself for buying this book in hardcover based on the hype instead of reading the first couple of chapters and deciding for myself.

P.S. This has been my month for starting and quitting books (e.g., my second reading of Brothers Karamozov, Fortune's Bastard, The Blessed Unrest, American Rust...) which isn't a commentary on these authors/titles at all, but more my restlessness/anxiety about the economy and its impact on family and friends.

114> One fellow bookseller enjoyed the book and recommended it to another bookseller who kept reading it, waiting for it to get good. Second bookseller finished it, but gave up waiting. :-)

A former bookseller co-worker who is in my classics book group said The Art of Racing in the Rain, though resembling The Story of Edgar Sawtelle in some ways, is better.

Thanks, that's good to know! I'll add a note with my ES book to read them together if/when I ever get back to it. :-)

#114 Interesting Bonnie. I have two books 'rumbling' along at the moment as well. I read a quick and easy book that held me but I too seem to be, as you say 'restless'.

Yeah...sigh! Thanks for your sympathy (wry smile). I just want to find a book that really sends me! But know that the heaviness and worry I'm feeling--for others, not myself--is affecting my ability to be "sent." On the other hand, don't want to just read fluff, either.

24. American Rust by Philip Meyer. This is good writing, but an oh-so-depressing story set in small-town, Pennsylvania already suffering from the closing of the steel mills and then the collapse of all the smaller industries that went with that lost economy. (Sound familiar?) Two young men, a couple years out of high school, who both had the ability to 'get out of town' (one, supposedly brilliant, though he sure doesn't act that way; while the other was a football star who could have gotten a scholarship) make a major mistake just as one of them decides to leave. Let's see, if you don't mind a steady diet of reading about failed relationships, desperate men and women committing desperate, but stupid acts which lead to more men and women acting out of desperation (and love and guilt), as well as a detailed reminder of just how scary/awful prison life can be, then this book is for you! I don't mean to be so flippant. This book is very relevant; though, like our current news, also a very discouraging portrait of real lives.

Forgot to say that this was an ER selection--that may be why the Touchstone doesn't work.

I think I'm going to take myself away with the book Away by Amy Bloom.

25. A Version of the Truth by Jennifer Kaufman. I think it was RidgewayGirl who was complaining about books in which the men are all rich--or jerks--and the women belatedly discover that they are beautiful. This chick lit/romance novel written by two authors definitely fits in that category, but is was a totally enjoyable escape on a cold, and unexpectedly snowy, slushy afternoon. The fact that the main character has dyslexia made it more interesting, both because of my profession (private teacher/tutor working with students who have similar problems) and because I have a son with dyslexia. She also has a a biting sense of humor, though it's usually only part of her internal dialogue.

P.S. I read the first couple chapters of Cutting for Stone and know I'm really going to enjoy that as well--and will be thinking and talking about that book for much longer--but will wait until it comes out in paperback.

Bonnie, my RL book club almost picked Cutting for Stone for our next selection, but we try to pick books already in paperback, affordability and all.

Yes, plus it's much harder to hold on to a a big hardback while you're eating a snack (half the fun of reading) or lounging in the tub. Being on LT has made it much harder to wait, though, as it seems like everyone else is reading them as soon as they come out.

26. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Will write more later, but just want to say now that I loved the voice and the identity of the narrator (don't want to be a spoiler here); it gave the story much more poignancy. Plus, it allowed the author to use a very poetic style that brought such weight/meaning to his words/story even as he was allowing the reader to float above it all with the narrator. Another good rainy Saturday read, though much sadder than last week's.

I loved The Book Thief. Because it was classified as a Young Adult book, I had previously been hesitant to read it. After finishing it, I went on a spree of reading other YA books only to find them exceedingly readable and well written. Two of those I enjoyed the most were Feed by M.T. Anderson and The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton.

Two things I especially liked about The Book Thief were that it got the message of the Holocaust across in all its sadness without being off-putting and that it depicted good Germans as part of the story.

That's interesting that The Book Thief lead you to more YA books, 'cas I don't think this book is so typical of the YA category. There are a lot of good YA books, though, and more being written all the time. A Northern Light is (or should be) in the YA category. You might enjoy that as well?

I agree, we need to read stories from both sides of a war. That's partly why wars continue--because we train our military to believe that the people they're fighting are evil stereotypes when most of them are just average people who are either fighting for their country or are forced into participating for economical or political reasons.

Have you ever read the classic All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque? That's an amazing book because it's a war story, but it doesn't give a political point of view. The author was German. Another book I read that did the same thing was Adjusting Sights by Hayim Sabato. The author is an Israeli, and yet his war story of a tanker batallion gave no indication of the politics of the war. Both are excellent books and well worth reading.

I've read All Quiet... but it was sooo long ago, I feel like I need to read it again. I haven't read Adjusting Sights so I'll put it on my list--thanks! :-)

27. Housekeeping vs. The Dirt by Nick Hornby. OK, I've been caught in a flagrant lie. I just told another LT-er a few hours ago that I was going to wait to read this book as a reward for tackling one of the 30+ books in my TBR pile, but then because I was talking about it, I thought I'd read just one chapter... There's no one book that I just have to read, but there sure are a lot more books that I want to read--many of which I wouldn't have looked twice at. Love this comment about Miriam Toews's writing in A Complicated Kindness: "You may think you don't want to read about the problems of growing up Mennonite, but the great thing about books is that you'll read anything a good writer wants you to read." Isn't that a great comment?! Loved it! Gotta go now to buy The Polysyllabic Spree and lie about how I'm going to ration those chapters out.

Hi Bonnie - I completely agree with your thoughts about The Book Thief - it was one of those rare books that makes a life time mark. I read it when it was first published here in the UK and I did not realise it was a YA book.

Bonnie, I also agree with you and (almost) everyone else about The Book Thief - a trully memorable book.

Uh-oh Bonnie, you're in trouble now! I've bought soooo many books that I never would have if I hadn't read Nick Hornby's Believer collections. (Although if he's writing about anything you currently have languishing on a shelf, he may very well motivate you finally get it off your TBR list.)

If you haven't already, you should just give in and buy Shakespeare Wrote for Money right now. :)

>130 juliette07:, 131: juliette07 and judylou, I always think that if a book that implies an afterlife can appeal to me--an atheist--that much, then it's a good book. And it was definitely a memorable book, judylou. But, and I think that's what's difficult about writing, instead of talking in person, about a book. I absolutely liked the book, but I wouldn't put it on my "first 100" books list. Does that make sense? Would you-all put it in your "top 100"?

>132 madhatter22:: I know you're right madhatter2! I'm just waiting 'til I can go up to my favorite bookstore on Friday to get used copies of Shakespeare Wrote for Money and The Polysyllabic Spree. That means both books will probably be read by Sunday--which is a shame, because they would be good books to have in the car, or when I'm standing in line, or eating by myself in a restaurant. I think they're good rereads, though, so may still be able to use them for that anyway. I don't know, though, whether my "books to look at" list will get much that much longer though. You LT-ers are the main culprits for turning that list into a book!

#30,31, etc

I think I must be the only one. I'm fascinated by anything to do with that part of history, and I generally like YA lit, but for some reason The Book Thief just didn't do it for me. I don't generally have controversial views of books, but there was something about it that grated on my nerves. I think to do with the writing style. Does anyone else agree at all??

The first couple of pages, I kept reading it as a YA novel and I thought no way; the "voice" of the narrator was too weird and mystical, but then it settled in and so did I. I know about books grating though. It doesn't bother me that someone really loves a book I hate or vice versa. For example, I got Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet as an ER and that book drove me absolutely crazy! I kept saying, "You've GOT to be kidding me!" I don't even want to waste my time now explaining why I didn't like the book. Yet, plenty of people loved/will love the book judging from the reviews from other LT-ers. I know I bring so much of myself to the reading of a book that a lot of the reason why I love or hate a book comes from me. (Yes! Even the really good or bad ones!) So, no you aren't/won't be the "only one"--about any book you read! Thanks for sharing your point of view. I'm happy you felt free to share your thoughts. That's what makes LT interesting! :-)

28. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. Oh, the troubles of a very creative, but highly anxious 13-year-old boy who also stammers. By itself, a hilarious and disturbing tale--are boys really this bad?! This poor guy reminds me of Adrian Mole, but funnier and even more intense. The Falklands War, a threatened Romani camp, and an exotic Belgian emigre also play their parts in one year of this poor guy's life.

Edit. to add # of book.

29. Away by Amy Bloom. OK, this is from the back cover: "...moves from the gaudy, harsh world of New York's Lower East Side in 1925 to the adventures and pleasures of the jazz underworld and the Alaskan frontier--as the unexpected heroine, Lillian Leyb, pursues her daughter..." SPOILER ALERTI was totally with Lillian for the first part of her "trip" but couldn't quite buy her decisions once she decided to take off across the country with the intention of getting to Siberia via Alaska. I could understand her desperation, but was yelling at her, "Write a letter first! Find out exactly where your daughter is before you start this doomed journey!" My hope for Lillian was gone long before Lillian's so I was barely trudging along with her through the Alaskan wilderness. Yes, the writing was good, and I enjoyed the book, but I was also just waiting to see how the author ended this sometimes unbelievable and melodramatic tale. It seemed like the author got a little tired, too, as Lillian falls in love, gives up her quest, and we find out how the rest of both her and her daughter's life each unfold, separately--all in the last chapter. And, still, no one writes a letter?!

Hmm I keep eyeing that book up in bookstores (I think I just like the fact that it is written by an Amy, lol), but from your review I think I am glad that I have stayed away, but am at the same time kind of intrigued... maybe I'll add it to my wishlist on BookMooch instead as it sounds like one that I might not want to keep, but still might want to read. If that makes sense!

I actually enjoyed it, Amy, as a quick morning read. I just get very personal reactions to the characters in books. I react to them as real people. And my flaw when discussing books is that I tend to say what I don't like about a book instead of all that I like. I'm too critical in my real life as well--though honest and forthright is more how I like to describe myself. :-) Rather than change myself at this late age, I've learned to find friends who appreciate my honesty. They know that they can trust me and when I'm saying something positive, they give it more weight, as I don't say things that I don't mean.

Black Swan Green is one of my favorite books, so much so that I am reluctant to read anything else by David Mitchell because how could it possibly compare? I recently heard an interview with him and he was so charming and shy and intelligent that I plan to read something else by him soon.

>141 RidgewayGirl:: Oooh! That really is taking a chance! :-) I don't think I've ever liked a second book by an author if I really liked the first one--but then most people aren't as critical as I am either. It doesn't mean I don't want to read them, or don't enjoy them, but (I think I've talked about this before) I don't think you can match that "first love" feeling/attachment to an author. What's funny (to me anyway) is that I actually had Cloud Atlas on my list as the David Mitchell book to read, but couldn't find a used copy of it, so ended up getting Black Swan Green instead.

Just noticed that the sentence above should have said that "I don't think I've ever liked a second book by an author as much..."

>140 bonniebooks:
Good to know, I hope it comes available soon then on BookMooch so that I can check it out :)

>143 amckie:: Please tell me what you think when you're done. You might also like her short stories.

>141 RidgewayGirl::

I have been so in awe of David Mitchell since I read Cloud Atlas last year that I have been reluctant to try Black Swan Green for fear of disappointment!

Now you make me want to read Cloud Atlas that much sooner! :-)

I read Cloud Atlas a few years ago. I can't remember what made pick it up, but I had no idea about the format of the novel and it threw me for a loop. Afterward I wanted to read, Number9dream. I haven't read it yet, it's in a long line of wishlist reading.

re #146:

And you make me think I'd better try Black Swan Green!

You won't be disappointed Ivy!

Bonnie - where's your ticker?? =)

>149 madhatter22:, I'm too lazy to go choose one and then figure out how to install it. Does it make it harder to follow my thread?

I've been on my computer nonstop making word-study games for my students for three days now. Right now, I'm only taking time to read my ER book Normal at any Cost, Proust and the Squid (my second reading), and assorted books about writing. This weekend I want to read something really fun! I mean really f-u-n! Anybody have any suggestions?

Yowser, I had 27 posts to read on your thread - you've been having a party in here! I have The book Thief and after your comments and all the others here I will have to read it soon. I really enjoyed Cloud Atlas, even though it didn't look like the kind of book I'd usually pick up. The bright pink cover with the cloud didn't help!

Squeaky, I read All Quiet earlier this year and loved it.

Hmmm a recent book that I read that was f-u-n! (Which I would describe as fun, fluffy, funny, not at all serious!) was Gods Behaving Badly. It was pretty funny.

How are you enjoying Proust and the Squid? I own it and keep picking it up but then choosing something else instead. I think I just need a little kick to get started on it :)

#141 I don't think you can match that "first love" feeling/attachment to an author.

I SO agree. Last year I fell head over heels with Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, and even though I have a signed hardcover copy of So Brave, Young and Handsome, I'm afraid to read it.

amkie, I have Gods Behaving Badly on my challenge this year too, so I'm glad to hear you liked it.

Peace Like a River! One of my all-time favorites! And whenever I think of Peace Like a River, I also remember how much I enjoyed Plain Song by Kent Haruf, a book I read right around the same time. (I can't believe Touchstone isn't working for such a beautifully written book that is so well regarded!) In both cases, I have resisted reading other books by these authors. I so long for a book like those two.

In the meantime, I've got a list of books recommended by LT-ers that's probably going to be 5 pages long when I finally print it out! :-) Cloud Atlas is already on it, and I just added Gods Behaving Badly on your recommendation, amkie.

I have to admit, though, that I'll probably ignore my list for the most part, because I just love to peruse the front tables at my favorite book stores, as I tend to pick most books based on the appeal of their covers. Well, that's not entirely true. Here's my method: I gather up a huge stack of books and go sit in a comfortable chair. I don't read the back covers, so I'll read as many pages as I need to until I've decided I want to keep the book--or not! After I've created my Keep-Don't Keep piles, I sit there and read one of the "Don't Keep" books all the way through. Yes, I'm one of those people, but I don't feel guilty (well, I do, but it doesn't stop me) as I always leave with books from the "Keep" pile--paid for, of course!

amkie, I've been doing the same thing with Proust and the Squid. It's a re-read for me and I pick it up, read a few pages, then put it down. I'm not sure why this book just doesn't grab me as it's all about the history of reading, dyslexia, and brain research; and is very well-written. Maybe because it's information I already know? I didn't do it justice, either as a reader or a reviewer, though, so I'm reading it again and I'll tell you what I REALLY think when I've finished it. :-)

>154 bonniebooks:
I just love to peruse the front tables at my favorite book stores

well that reminds me of something you wrote way earlier on this thread that I loved:

I'm going to go back to my old routine of just stopping by a bookstore and picking out something that looks good for that day!

omg, what pure pleasure! I've thought of that comment so many times, more often now as spring comes and I remember splurging every April when I'd see the new Mary Higgins Clark mystery (I used to love her novels, now can't read her at all). I think I'll do a bonnie-run sometime this spring :)

I love finding things on a whim at a bookstore, too. You never know what you'll end up with. More often than not, though, I'll jot down the name and either get it at the library or through my Kindle now.

I always grab armloads of books and then put into buy/don't buy piles. I could spend the day doing this.

The Chicago Tribune had a long article today about browsing at bookstores and the serendipity of finding something there. I thought everyone already knew this feeling but apparently not.

>156 detailmuse:, LOL! I couldn't be more thrilled than to think my words might be encouraging someone else to go hang out in their favorite bookstore. I'm actually heading out to do a "bonnie-run" right now. It's pouring down rain, I mean pouring! Growing up in the Northwest means lying on my bed, listening to the rain on the roof, and chomping on a crunchy apple while reading a good book. So I gotta have a good one!

>157 lindapanzo:, I have no delay of gratification. Even though I obviously can't read all of the books I've bought at once, I just can't resist getting them right then and there. I am tempted by a Kindle (and will probably buy one eventually) but don't like that I'd have to buy all my books from Amazon. Even though it's a NW company, I've resisted buying from them as I don't want to lose my ability to do my 'bonnie-runs' (as detailmuse has so delightfully named them) at my favorite bookstores. Plus, my favorite stores come with restaurants that serve chocolate cake--not something that you can get through your Kindle yet! :-)

Not to mention the visceral pleasure of walking amidst all those books - all that possibility - all in one place. And chocolate cake besides! Although for me, it's usually tea and a scone.

>155 bonniebooks:
I am in the middle of a really good memoir now (War Child), but I should finish it later this evening and I think that I will start Proust and the Squid after. Like you said, it is topics that should interest me, so I feel like I just need to make myself get started and see what I think. I will be interested to hear what you *really* think, and hopefully I will get through and be able to let you know what I think as well :)

Despite my Kindle ownership, I still go to bookstores. I just might not buy as much as I used to.

Also, not sure what the etiquette is about bringing a Kindle into a bookstore. I'd like to know whether I could buy something via the Kindle but probably wouldn't take my Kindle into a bookstore with me. (When it's in its "carrier" it looks like it's in a purse.)

In some situations, I think it's acceptable--such as someone who works in a city and takes public transportation.

161>Also, not sure what the etiquette is about bringing a Kindle into a bookstore. ???

I'm a bookseller, and I have to say that the ONLY way we would care is if a) it was something we sold and we'd be concerned about loss prevention {which is our issue, not yours, but would get you lots of attention from us} or b) if it had features that would disrupt and annoy other customers {attention plus discussion}.

I don't know about Kindle use. From where does one download the books? Could bookstores somehow get into the profit from this, or is it only limited to sales by Amazon?

I was actually thinking that the Kindle would be of use for my husband who does better with large type books since the font on Kindle can be enlarged for any book that's downloaded. I'd hate to not do those library book selection trips, though. There's so much fun in browsing through real books as opposed to just reviews on the web.

Yeah, that's my one hesitation about the Kindle; for me part of the joy of reading is holding the physical book. It's why I have so many books crowded onto too few shelves.

Incidentally, I still use paper and pen to organize myself.

I love the idea of a physical book, too, but have been surprised how well I've "taken" to the Kindle. I like the fact, too, that I can increase the font size by one (there are 5 different sizes, I think). Makes it much easier for me to read, without the annoying overly large "large type" book.

I can understand the loss issue. If I brought my Kindle in at all, I'd probably jot down titles and then quietly look. I'm definitely getting a feel for what they do and don't have, though I'm occasionally surprised, such as by getting 12 S.S. Van Dine mystery titles for $6. I did not expect that one.

Hi, everybody! Love the conversation! Sorry to be so silent, but promised myself that I wouldn't post again until I finished a book that I really loved. Hasn't happened yet, but don't want to get too far behind in my postings.

Got some new books on a book-run (now officially called 'bonnie-run' thanks to detailmuse) to one of my favorite book stores, but most of them were on my list of LT recommendations that I brought with me. I found it interesting that most of the LTR's I bought would have been passed over if I had been using my usual methods of looking at first the cover, then the title, and finally the first few pages (in that order). Here are the books I bought based on LTR's: Gods Behaving Badly, Lush Life, Cellist of Sarajevo, and A Complicated Kindness. I bought Dreamers of the Day because I love The Sparrow and A Thread of Grace by the same author. Only the last book, The Anchor of New American Short Stories was bought for its cover. I actually ignored the books that I would normally choose, so will see how successful this new method works.

Edit. to add that the books above might not have passed my cover test, but they definitely passed the first-chapter test with flying colors! Since I mostly read one book at a time, it's going to be hard to choose which one to read first! Yeah for hard choices!

30. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. I didn't think there was an Austen book that I wouldn't like, but I was wrong! Austen was way too mocking of her characters in this first novel. She made way too many of them appear dense, boring, or plain stupid. I also didn't like that Austen talked to the reader as an author. I like to escape into a book and that just took me out of the story. The plot didn't seem nearly as well developed as her later books either; I can understand why this book didn't get published until after her death.

Edit. to add: I shudder to think that this might be the first Austen book that someone might read. It was like having to listen to Mary or Kitty after you've experienced the perfection of Jane. Please! If you're hankering for more Jane Austen, just read Pride and Prejudice again!

31. Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips. I shouldn't have bought this book. I didn't like the cover or the title (I'm an atheist. What do I care about Gods? Plus, I knew I really didn't like reading stories about the Greek Gods even in school. I thought they were totally silly and annoying even then.) And if I had followed my usual procedure of reading the first chapter, that would have been the final selling point for putting it in the "Don't Keep" pile.

After telling a friend about this book, though, I decided it wasn't about the book, it was about me. As soon as I began describing the book, my friend started laughing. She got it! I thought the characters were about 2 centimeters deep, but my friend saw it for the 'soap opera' that it was. I did start to enjoy the book a bit more about half way through, and even chuckled a bit towards the end. Well, maybe not chuckled--smiled. I think someone who loves Greek mythology will really get a kick out of this book. Also, someone who likes farce and/or adventures into nether worlds. Oh yeah, and soap operas.

P.S. The funniest part of the book for me was the author's answer to how she approached writing fiction. In this section, she was really funny! And, guess what? She watches soap operas as part of her daily writing discipline. Can't say I'm surprised.

Too bad about God Behaving Badly. It sounds terrible and not at all a book that I'd like. I have another recommendation for you - as if you need more!

A note for an atheist:

There was an LT author who did Author Chat a while back and got me interested in his book. It was a guy of the Jewish faith who really was more of an atheist or agnostic, but his book was about the search for spiritual meaning with est, gurus, etc. It sounded kind of hokey, but I entered the chat and later decided that I wanted to read his book after all. So I bought it - full price, which is amazing for me...and I ended up liking it! It was very funny and pretty truthful from a spiritualist's point of view. If you ever get a chance to pick it up, do so. It's The 99th Monkey: A Spiritual Journalist's Misadventures with Gurus, Messiahs, Sex, Psychedelics, and Other Consciousness by Eliezer Sobel.

Hi, SqueakyChu! I don't mean to say that Gods Behaving Badly was a bad book--just bad for me. I, for example, LOVE the TV show The Office, but for some people those guys are too outrageous to laugh at. My sense of humor just could not kick in for Gods Behaving Badly, but I can imagine some people having a blast with it. Case in point, amkie liked it and she's not all bad--I wouldn't thow her off my thread for it! ;-)

Well, it's almost 11:00 in the morning; I'm still in my pajamas on a bea-u-tiful day and--thanks to all of the starred LT threads I had to catch up on--I still haven't gotten out to my garden to do the very necessary 'spring cleaning' that I planned for today. :-) But I'm done and I'm going to go out and work, then I'm going to curl up with one of my new books (tired and sore, but warmed and clean from a long soak) and read 'til midnight! See you all tomorrow!

OUCH! My aching back! I'm already back inside, but am trying to justify being a wimp by doing some computer work instead of instantly grabbing for that new stack of books. Forgot to say that I'm reading (in dribs and drabs) an ARC titled Normal at any Cost, subtitled: Tall Girls, Short Boys, and the Medical Industry's Quest to Manipulate Height. It's interesting, just not as enticing as other science news more relevant to my work or that afore-mentioned pile of books.

Gees! Why don't I at least re-read my comments before posting?!

32. A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews. Remember when I quoted Nick Hornby talking about Miriam Toews in his book Housekeeping and Dirt?

You may think you don't want to read about the problems of growing up Mennonite, but the great thing about books is that you'll read anything a good writer wants you to read.

I unreservedly loved this book, but I know that many people are going to think this book is too sad, even depressing, and I get that. This is not a "happy-ever-after kind of story. But there's also lots of that real-life, droll/wry kind of funniness that comes with dealing with circumstances that feel so bad that you gotta see the humor or you'll just be crying all the time. This book is going onto my "Top 100" list!

I just read the reviews of A Complicated Kindness and on my wishlist it goes! It sounds very interesting. It would do me good to get more Canadian authors in my reading list.

It's interesting that I find more foreign authors from other countries in my used book store than Canadian authors. I wonder why they're not very popular in the United States? It can't be that it's hard to get those books here. I hear it's cheaper for Canadians to mail books to the U.S. than it is to mail books to other Canadians!

Hope you like it, SqueakyChu! That's smart to look at more reviews before adding it to your list. I've got a "rule of three" I'm trying to follow--I need to notice at least 3 LT-ers recommending a book that looks interesting to me before I add it to my list. I don't always keep to it, but I'm trying! :-)

>168 bonniebooks:, 170
Glad I won't be kicked off your thread! It was definitely fluff, but I always loved Greek mythology, so I enjoyed it! Good point that if you don't like Greek mythology there isn't much else to the book.

I am glad to hear that you enjoyed A Complicated Kindness, it would have sucked if all the recommendations turned out not to your liking :)

amckie, I was hoping you'd laugh when you saw that! :-) There's a particular type of book that I'm often drawn too and A Complicated Kindness fits right in there. I know that some people are just going to hate it though, because even my friends will say, "Bonnie, why do you read such depressing books!" when I don't think they're depressing at all!

>177 bonniebooks:
I agree, I think I interpret a lot of "depressing" material as "insightful" and it really appeals. When it comes to funny material, I have a low tolerance for "silly" but love "clever."

p.s. bonnie-runs :))))

detailmuse, you're going to love A Complicated Kindness if you haven't read it yet, 'cas every line this author writes is "clever." It was the first word that came to mind as I was still reading it, in fact.

P.S. Did you see how I changed my 999 categories? All because of you! :-)

(gulp) *goes to check it out*

oh, fun! and aha! -- the key is the "independent bookstore" part. Chain stores seem front-loaded by marketers, with big displays of blockbusters. But independent stores seem stocked by book-lovers, and I usually want everything I see. Now I understand how you find armloads of books that you have to prioritize!

I think I may be the lone voice of dissent about A Complicated Kindness. I love dark, troubled novels, but this one felt to me (and probably only to me) like it was written by a clever Torontonian imagining the life of a rural Mennonite teen-ager; I had the same problem with it that I had with Vernon God Little--it felt inauthentic. I think that she could have set the same novel in a more comfortable setting for her and it would have been fantastic. But I do see its tremendous allure and agree that there are some beautifully written passages.

edited to correct its for it's -- an egregious error!

Ridgeway, you're not alone. I was hesitant to speak up due to all the love given here to this book. Also given the fact I am Canadian and feel bad dissing our under appreciated authors. I also did not enjoy this book. Maybe I was expecting a lot more, due to the hype it was given here in Toronto. I cannot comment on the storyline, as I read the book many years ago and forget many of the details. The feeling of not enjoying it though have remained. I have been staying away from The Flying Troutman even though it has gotten good reviews, for this reason.

No, I'm really glad you both spoke up! I rather love debate. Threads would be boring if everyone agreed all the time. And remember, I even said I thought some people will really hate it. There are lots of books/authors/genres that I don't like, and if you read my comments, both on my thread and others, you know I don't usually hold back. So please don't be afraid to say what you think--not on my thread anyway!

>182 sydamy:
I also wasn't a huge fan of A Complicated Kindness, but really enjoyed The Flying Troutmans :)

Though, now I am tempted to re-read A Complicated Kindness because I liked Troutmans so much. Maybe I missed something, or just wasn't in the right mood for it...

Naaaah! I think you should just trust your first reaction. There are way too many good books out there waiting to be read. As I said earlier, there are certain kinds of books that really hook me. For example, Ellen Foster is a book that I absolutely adore. I used to be a little sheepish about admitting this because it is just a little book and wouldn't be considered "great literature," but I just love listening to how that little girl thinks.

But I wouldn't suggest that everyone go out and read Ellen Foster. My affection for this book is a deeply personal one that says as much about me as it does the writing (though I do think every sentence in this book is perfect) and it's just not going to resonate with every reader. That's what I love about being a grown-up. You can read what you want and your experience with a book isn't destroyed by having to analyze it to death, write a book report on it, or defend it.

33. Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell. I was really surprised how flat this book was. I've got to think about what I want to say... In the meantime, picked up two books that I heard about on LT and am excited to read: Property and Someone Knows My Name. Thanks you-all!

Bonnie, I liked a thread of graceso much more than Dreamers of the Day. I haven't read The Sparrow yet.

Property was excellent but disturbing. My online Aussie book group's reading Someone knows my name next month and I must remember to reserve it from the library - will be good to read your comments.

Am enjoying reading all the chat on here, especially about the kindle. I don't know anyone with one over here and have mixed feelings, but it'd make a lovely Christmas present from my husband... hmmm December is quite soon!

edited to fix incoherence and typos

OK, I took the time to bold every book I've read, then lost it! GX@D*! So now I'm going to bold what I HAVEN'T read.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible unfinished--no surprise here!
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman - I have read The Golden Compass, though.
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare I've read the most popular, but kicking and screaming all the way!
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - I am reading this with the group read for this year
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - Started, but so not the kind of book I like to read.
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - In with #33
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth - On my list!
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt - Never heard of it!
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold - Started, but couldn't finish it.
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson - Read other books by him.
75 Ulysses - James Joyce - Read in school, but asleep half the time, so won't count it!
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome - Never heard of it.
78 Germinal - Emile Zola - Heard of the author, but not this book.
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell - On my list.
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton - Never heard of it.
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks - I think I've read this one, but...
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole - Couldn't finish this! :-(
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare - Yeah! I read this one, but 'Old Bill' is not a favorite of mine!
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

If I'm counting right, I've read 76 out of 100 and started a few more. Hmmm. I think a 76 was a "C" when I was going to school, but I'm proud of myself.

Tess of the d'Ubervilles is a great, rollicking read. Where did you get that list?

#189. Oh! I left that out. I don't remember who first shared the list, but redbowlingballruth and then alcottacre listed the books they had read, so I thought I'd do it too. I forget the source cited (the BBC?), but supposedly most people surveyed had only read, on average, six of these one-hundred books--obviously no LT-ers! It's an interesting mix of classics and popular books, don't you think?

Chuckle! I copied alcottacre's list and I just noticed that I left one of her comments in. I'm so not going to read War and Peace again!

34. Property by Valerie Martin. I really enjoyed this book, although that feels like the wrong word given the subject matter. There are two points that I want to try to get out (Oh! The sad difference between thoughts/feelings in my head versus the ability to get them down on paper.)

Spoiler Alert! First, I was reminded of how powerful writing in the first person is as a tool to pull me, the reader, towards only thinking of/accepting the narrator's point of view, especially when it touches on strong personal feelings or values aligned with mine. As a woman, I couldn't stand that Manon didn't have control over her finances, that she didn't have the freedom to leave a life where women are basically sold to their husbands, where it was OK for a husband to rape his wife on their wedding night, or to have his mistress and their children in the same house, not to mention all the disgusting things he did as a slave owner (e.g., first scene) or most importantly, that he was the kind of person who thought it was OK to enslave other people, to treat them as animals, to kill them when they tried to escape, sell of their children, etc. So I was more than willing to have her husband die. I cheered for Manon's freedom! But Manon can't make the connection between her strong desire for freedom, even to the point of wishing her husband dead, and that of the people who are enslaved by her husband and then her. This is what makes this such an interesting and powerful story. I've always wondered how people can disconnect their needs/wants/desires from those of others? And Property tells this kind of story really well. People do evil things, not because they are evil, but because they are self-centered, selfish and lazy like Manon, and because they grew up acquiring beliefs and their values from those around them whom they loved and trusted. Too often, people only question these values or rules when they don't work for themselves, and, unfortunately, Manon didn't get pushed far enough to be able to get beyond her own needs to question the slavery of others.

Which brings me to my second point. Most of the time, we learn about the history of evil acts such as slavery from an empathetic/sympathetic point of view--from those who were slaves, or those who decry/opposed slavery. Which is as it should be, but this can also make it too easy on the reader. Who doesn't oppose slavery now? But what about then? What kind of person would you have been then? What would you have done then to oppose slavery? By giving me a main character that I can both relate to and be repelled by, Valerie Martin forces me to examine myself not only who I am now, but also what kind of person I might have been then. Would I oppose the beliefs/values of that time? And to me this brings out an excruciatingly important question that a book such as Property can lead to. When I question as a reader whether I could be the kind of person to risk my life, or even my comfort--or to make it even more complicated--the lives of my children to help someone during these crucial times in history; then it makes me think about what actions I'm willing/not willing to take in the present to help others who still don't have equal rights and who are still being enslaved, even now in the United States.

#187. Cushla, I, too, can now say I liked A Thread of Grace more than I liked Dreamers of the Day. I was going to describe why, but I've spent way too much time trying to write out just a few of my thoughts regarding Property, and am now exhausted. :-) You might want to read some reviews of Sparrow. There were some very disturbing parts--I loved it, but others couldn't get through it. My old book group all loved the book, and we were quite diverse in our beliefs about God and religions.

I wish I were rich enough to buy a Kindle AND have money enough to still keep buying books from my favorite independent book stores. I'd have one tomorrow! I tried to assuage my lust/guilt over wanting one by trying to convince my mom to buy one, but no such luck so far!

Amazing review of Property. I so agree with you that there were things in the past that we clearly see as wrong now, but that wasn't so clear in the past. I wonder what things future generations will look back and think "how could they have done/believed that"?

Oops! Let me say that another way. I'm not saying that there was ever a time when slavery wasn't horrifically wrong. I didn't say that clearly enough. What I was trying to say was that it's easier to say something in the past is wrong when we aren't personally responsible for it. We can't change history, but we can remember history and use our knowledge to make things right in the present, to do our best not to repeat history, and to fight the wrongs we see now.

Great review Bonnie and I loved the what if questions!
The Thread of Grace was one of my favourites last year.

Your list is interesting and just a quick coment on two of them. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome was a childhood read for me and would be of interest to you as a YA enthusiast. It is a book of its time and very 'English'. It is set in the Lake District of England and is full of the outdoor adventures of a group of children and their dog.

A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute is another one from my youth as it was a paperback in my parents bookcase. It is a mixture of war story, feminine determination, courage and a bit of romance. A delightful read and one I would still recommend. In fact I may even re read it myself!!

Did you read The Cellist I wonder? I finished it yesterday.

Thanks for your recommendations, Juliette! I've been reading good comments about those two books - maybe from you? I have a friend who is really a YA fan, so I'll send them along to her as well. I haven't read the Cellist of Sarajevo yet. I want to hear what you think of it, but maybe I'll skip over your comments until I've read the book too (you know how I don't like to know very much about a book I'm going to read.) Anyway, I'm looking forward to it, but after reading a couple of books centered around slavery, I thought I'd come back to the future. Just started Lush Life but also have a bunch of work to do in anticipation of my son coming home for the weekend to help me with a gardening project. Yeah!

I have Lush Life sitting on my shelf. I really want to read it but between book club books, ER books, and library books that were on hold coming available I haven't had time read anything on my own but unread pile. Cellist of Sarajevo is excellent. I read it last year. All of you that received it this month are in for a treat.

35. Lush Life by Richard Price. I don't usually read books like this, as good as it was supposed to be, and was, but I heard Terry Gross talk with the author about it and thought this will be a good book for me and my son (who lives in NYC and has been mugged) to read. I don't like to say much about a book. It reads like a really good cop show series--as much about the cops and their relationships with the perps, vics, and each other (including how the whole legal system works) as it is about solving the one crime that brings all these characters together. I loved the dialogue; it all sounded very real to me, but I think my son will have lots more to say about it. I found myself thinking again about the power of the author to pull my sympathies in one direction or another.

Oops! Edit. to change book #.

Hmmm, I keep looking at this one on the local library's shelves. Guess I'll have to check it out.

Ding! Ding! Ding! RidgewayGirl, you put me over the top! I may have to copy others who create a new thread after they hit 200, but I'm sad about that as sometimes I go back to read what we all talked about previously. Is my thread difficult for anybody to 'download' or whatever you call what happens on LT?

36. The Translator by Daoud Hari. A devasting story about genocide made more powerful through this very personal, even gentle, telling of both how and why hundreds of thousands indigenous people in Dafur have been brutally killed (over 450,00 to date); how and why their villages are being systematically destroyed and millions have been driven from Sudan by primarily Janjaweed (Arab nomads) in cooperation with Sudanese Militia, but also by other Sudanese rebel groups; and how women and children are still being repeatedly raped, even after they've moved into the supposed safety of the refugee camps in neighboring Chad. What amazing bravery both he, and the newspeople he worked for, displayed in their efforts to get out their stories. And I have been reading those stories, so in a way this was more an overview for me and not as shocking as the original stories I read. Still, so incredibly awful to read the details once again. What's also amazing is how long it has taken the U.S. Government, or the U.N., to do anything significant to help stop the genocide that is till happening in Sudan. (I could go into a real political rant about the effect of being at war with Iraq and Afghanistan here, but won't.) This was an easy story to read, but a hard one to listen to.

Edit. to add: April is Genocide Prevention Month. Can you believe that we actually need a special time to focus on this? Sigh!

>202 bonniebooks: Have you read Halima Bashir's memoir, called Tears of the Desert? It is one woman's story of Darfur, and I found it a much better telling of what was/is happening. Very difficult read though.

No, I haven't. Thanks, I'll look for it, though it has been the stories about women and children that have pained me the most.

37. Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill. I don't see where I listed this book earlier, so will add it here. Will add comments later.

38. The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCade. Really good writing, but so sad, so disturbing. I really don't like to be in the head of someone *SPOILER ALERT* with a mental illness who is going through a mental breakdown--it makes me feel so helpless and discouraged about all sorts of issues, not to mention uncomfortable because who am I most like? Mrs. Nugent! Plus, the sad events within his own family, the child abuse by the priest, and the kind of job he had to work at even if he hadn't had a breakdown--it was all too depressing for me. I've read way too many books like this. Which is not to say you shouldn't read it--you may not have your fill yet, but I have to admit that I have. After reading this, I thought if I'm going to read stories like this--that totally jerk me around in terms of my emotions--they are going to have to be nonfiction. I don't want to stop listening, and I probably won't stop reading books like this in spite of my comments, but I can tell that I'm getting burnt out--which again says something more about me than the books I'm reading.

Edited to add review/comments.

Hey you-all, this thread was taking a long time for me to download, so I started a new one called "bonniebook's 999 challenge, Turn to Chapter 2." If you want to keep talking, please click here