missporkchop's 999 challenge

I've already changed my mind on my categories a couple of times, but I think I'm comfortable with them now. I'm going to try not to overlap between categories, although I'm aggressively overlapping with other challenges -- I'll put links to other challenges in the separate posts I'm going to include for each category. My categories are:

1. 1001 Books
2. Man Booker and National Book Award finalists and winners
3. Through the Decades
4. Dewey's Books
5. C.S. Lewis (nonfiction)
6. Biographies
7. Travel
8. Catholicism
9. Dewey Decimal

I have all 9 books for some categories but not for all of them. I'm going to leave some slots open so that I can fill them as certain books strike my fancy throughout the year.

1001 Books

1. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
2. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
3. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
4. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
5. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
6. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
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National Book Award

1. A Fable by William Faulkner
2. The World According to Garp by John Irving
3. Waiting by Ha Jin
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Man Booker Award

1. Atonement by Ian McEwan
2. Elizabeth Costello by J. M. Coetzee
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Through the Decades -- this category is based on the Decades '09 Challenge. The goal is to read 1 book from each of 9 consecutive decades (none in the 21st century).

1. The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe (1839) -- FINISHED
2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (1847)
3. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (1851)
4. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (1860)
5. Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne (1873)
6. Nana by Emile Zola (1880)
7. The Invisible Man and The Time Machine by H. G. Wells (1895 and 1897)
8. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (1902)
9. Howards End by E. M. Forster (1910) -- FINISHED

Dewey's Books -- this category is based on the Dewey's Books Challenge being held in honor of Dewey from The Hidden Side of a Leaf. The goal is to read 5 or 6 books that Dewey reviewed on her blog. I've got 27 books on my list of possibles, so I decided to fit it in here. I'm not going to pick my final 9 yet -- if you'd like to see my list of 27, check out my blog post here.

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C.S. Lewis (nonfiction)

1. Mere Christianity
2. The Screwtape Letters
3. The Great Divorce
4. The Problem of Pain
5. Miracles
6. A Grief Observed
7. The Abolition of Man
8. Surprised by Joy
9. The Weight of Glory

Biographies -- this is one of those categories that I'm going to leave open and see what catches my eye.

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Travel -- another open category. I've got lots of travel books and lots more on my library list to choose from.

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Catholicism

1.Catholicism Today: A Survey of Catholic Belief and Practice by Matthew Kohmescher
2. The Rosary: A Journey to the Beloved by Gary Jansen
3. The Truth of Catholicism: Inside the Essential Teachings and Controversies of the Church Today by George Weigel
4. What Makes Us Catholic: Eight Gifts for Life by Thomas Groome
5. Catholicism for Dummies by Rev. John Trigilio
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9.

I'll be watching your travel category. I still need books to complete my own!

Well, I thought I had my categories all set, but I guess not. I've decided to combine Booker and National Book Award into one category and add a new Dewey Decimal category (to go along with the Dewey Decimal Challenge I signed up for -- you can check it out here.

Dewey Decimal -- to go along with the Dewey Decimal Challenge I joined. I have one too many categories, but I don't know yet what I'll cut.

1. 000 Generalities: The Book That Changed My Life by Roxanne Coady
2. 100 Philosophy and Psychology: Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar by Thomas Cathcart
3. 200 Religion: Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer -- FINISHED
4. 300 Social Sciences: Iran Awakening by Shirin Ebadi
5. 400 Language: The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
6. 500 Natural Sciences & Math: The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie Angier
7. 600 Technology: Julie and Julia by Julie Powell or The $64 Tomato by William Alexander
8. 700 The Arts: A Key to English Architecture by T.D. Atkinson or An Outline of European Architecture by Nikolaus Pevsner
9. 800 Literature and Rhetoric: A Common Life: Four Generations of American Literary Friendships and Influence by David Laskin or Boswell's Presumptuous Task: The Making of the Life of Dr. Johnson by Adam Sisman
10. 900 Geography and History: Queenan Country: A Reluctant Anglophile's Pilgrimage to the Mother Country by Joe Queenan -- FINISHED

I just read Sense & Sensibility in December! Loved it! I've read all of Austen's novels now - all in 2008 actually.

I thought about doing a biography category!

< 15: I've seen the movie but somehow never read the book. Masterpiece Theater had a series of Austen movies this past summer (?) that was great, made me want to reread everything I've already read.

Hi, missporkchop!
I like how you made your Dewey Decimal Challenge category span all the DD hundreds. I don't know if I could be that organized, but I might try to do that. Unfortunately, I have three animal books that might all come from the same category. But I thought it was a terrific idea to get an overview of the whole system.
--BJ

Hey your categories look very interesting, I especially love the decades idea....not to be a nit-picker, but The Fall of the House of Usher is by Edgar Allan Poe, not Hawthorne - and it is a phenomenal story!

>18 billiejean: I was glad when the Dewey Decimal Challenge came along, I tend to read mostly from the same groups, so this will help to expand my horizons. The science group worries me a little because I am not a science person, but hopefully the book will be beginner level.

>19 Cait86: Whoops, brain freeze. I think I was thinking of The House of the Seven Gables and got my wires crossed. Thanks for the note.

I finished my first pick -- The Fall of the House of Usher. It was much shorter than I expected, so I've decided to go ahead and read the other stories in my copy. I'll post my review on my blog when I'm done.

I'm also about halfway through with Howards End and am really enjoying it so far.

I've been really bad about posting here, have to try to get better about that.

Finished the following:

Book #2 -- Howards End -- you can read my review here.

Book #3 -- Queenan Country -- review is here.

Book #4 -- Under the Banner of Heaven -- review is here.

I'm currently working on Catch-22 and Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure.

Interesting categories Missporkchop, particularly Through the Decades and the Dewey Decimal Challenge. Great range of books you've chosen.

Suggesting a book for your travel category - From the Holy Mountain