celiafrances and the 999 challenge

Not having had a reading plan since a college syllabus, this has been great fun to pick and choose. I'm aiming for the 81 but did end up adding some books that can span some categories if necessary.

My categories:

1. Novels by Male Authors
2. GLBT Novels
3. Dewey Decimal Classification
4. 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
5. Books About Books/Writing/Reading/Words
6. Memoir & Biography
7. Virago Modern Classics
8. Orange Prize
9. Grab Bag

This really is a challenge as I'm not sure that I'll be able to read one book every 4.5 days (on average), but it will be interesting to see.

I have a ticker now:

Novels by Male Authors

1. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (READ: 22 Mar 2009)
2. The Hours by Cunningham
3. Miss Lizzie by Walter Satterthwait (READ: 15 Mar 2009)
4. The Line of Beauty by Hollinghurst
5. Lonely Werewolf Girl by Millar
6. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
7. The Abstinence Teacher by Perrotta
8. The End of the Affair by Greene
9. Ella Minnow Pea by Dunn (READ: 5 July 09)
10. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (READ: 19 July 09)
11. The Art Thief by Noah Charney (READ: 25 July 09)

GLBT Novels (I seem to have mostly G&L rather than the B&T)

1. Patience and Sarah by Isabel Miller
2. The Friendly Young Ladies by Mary Renault
3. At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill
4. Maurice by E.M. Forster
5. The Charioteer by Mary Renault
6. Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Winterson
7. Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden (READ: 28 Mar 2009)
8. Empress of the World by Sara Ryan (READ: 20 Jan 2009)
9. Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan (READ: 18 Feb 2009)

Dewey Decimal Classification (000-900, except 800s)

1. 000: Quiet, Please by Scott Douglas (READ: 10 Jan 09)
2. 100: Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food by Gene Baur
3. 200: Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
4. 300: Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
5. 400: Inventing English by Seth Lerer
6. 500: Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay
7. 600: The $64 Tomato by William Alexander
8. 700: What Good Are the Arts? by John Carey
9. 900: Southern Ladies and Gentlemen by Florence King (READ: 22 Mar 2009)
10. 500: Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart

1001 Books

1. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
2. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (READ: 8 Feb 09)
3. To the North by Elizabeth Bowen
4. Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter
5. Hideous Kinky by Esther Freud
6. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
7. Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford (these are two separate books, but in my copy they're mushed and are being counted as one)
8. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson (READ: 8 Feb 09)
9. Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan

Books about Books/Writing/Reading/Words

1. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
2. House of Paper by Carlos Maria Dominguez
3. Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose
4. Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog by Kitty Burns Florey
5. Bookmark Now by Kevin Smokler
6. Nothing Remains the Same: Rereading and Remembering by Wendy Lesser
7. Library at Night by Alberto Manguel
8. A Gentle Madness by Nicholas Basbanes
9. Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

This category has been dumped at this point (see Message #30 below), but I'm leaving it up here for posterity--maybe I'll use it in 2010.

Memoir & Biography

1. Name All the Animals by Alison Smith
2. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
3. Bringing Home the Birkin by Michael Tonello (READ: 3 Jan 09)
4. A Very Private Eye by Barbara Pym
5. Early Bird by Rodney Rothman
6. Late Bloomer's Revolution by Amy Cohen (READ: 15 Feb 09)
7. A Degree of Mastery by Annie Tremmel Wilcox
8. The Bronte Myth by Lucasta Miller
9. Enduring Grace by Carol Flinders (decided to replace Abby Aldrich Rockefeller)
10. Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor by Brad Gooch (READ: 8 Mar 09)
11. Queen of the Oddballs by Hillary Carlip (READ: 15 July 09)

Virago Modern Classics (most of these aren't the pretty green versions but others)

1. Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
2. Frost in May by Antonia White
3. Mary Lavelle by Kate O'Brien
4. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim (READ: 4 July 09)
5. Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
6. Time After Time by Molly Keane
7. Novel on Yellow Paper by Stevie Smith
8. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (READ: 27 Mar 2009)
9. Dark Tide by Vera Brittain

Orange Prize (Winners, Longlist, Shortlist, New Writers)

1. A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore
2. What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn (READ: 4 Jan 09)
3. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
4. The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
5. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
6. Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff (READ: 13 Jan 09)
7. Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka (READ: 31 Jan 09)
8. Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel
9. On Beauty by Zadie Smith

Grab Bag (a hodge podge of books that I really want to read but don't fit anywhere else and also others that I probably haven't heard of yet as it's only January 3)

1. When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson
2. Bellwether by Connie Willis (READ: 14 June 09)
3. Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows (READ: 27 Mar 09)
4. The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell (READ: 11 Jan 09)
5. Dating Jesus: A Story of Fundamentalism, Feminism, and the American Girl by Susan Campbell (READ: 18 Jan 09)
6. The Nutmeg Tree by Margery Sharp (READ: 1 Feb 09)
7. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa (READ: 11 July 09)
8. The Late, Lamented Molly Marx by Sally Koslow (READ: 1 Aug 09)
9.

Well that was a lot of typing. I have no planned order of reading except what I'm in the mood for and what can be checked out of the library at any given time.

I'm pleased to note that out of all of these, I'll only actually be newly purchasing one while checking about twenty out of the library (of course this also shows what a huge TBR pile I have sitting around my house).

Any thoughts or comments are welcome! Happy reading to us all!

You have a really impressive line up of books to read, several I read in 2008 and really enjoyed. I recently read Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - highly enjoyable romp and also Bonjour Tristesse - it was one of my booknudges from the booknudge group.
I'm also have The Line of Beauty and Oranges are not the only fruit on my challenge list - like you I'm trying to attack my tbr pile.
Which book have you decided to read first?

celiafrances, I love the Dewey category. It's a great way to work in some books that don't fit other categories.

>avatiakh: I just finished Bringing Home the Birkin which was a nice fluffy memoir to start the year. I really don't have any order, but I went to the library today and checked out What Was Lost and Quiet, Please, so it will probably be those next.

I'm happy to hear that I chose some good ones if you enjoyed them last year. We'll have to compare when we get to Hollinghurst and Winterson!

>ktruh: The Dewey category is fun, especially when I can take books already on my TBR list and fit them in appropriately. :)

Four down in four categories! My challenge within the challenge is to write a short review on each book--so far so good, although I don't seem to write the detailed reviews that many do around here. So far:

1. Bringing Home the Birkin -- Memoir/Bio
2. What Was Lost -- Orange Prize
3. Quiet, Please -- Dewey
4. The Wordy Shipmates -- Grab Bag

I've added Lonely Werewolf Girl to my list after spotting it in Borders the other day and just noticed that you have it on your challenge as well - it looks interesting. I should be tackling my mountain of books here at home but I love adding to the pile!

>16 avatiakh:: I thought it looked interesting as well, even though it's not my typical read. I've never read the author, but I saw this in a little bookstore in Minnesota this summer and had to buy it.

I've given up on trying to whittle down my TBR pile at this point--the majority of these challenge books came from it, but then I go to the booksale room at the library and find books all the time for $.25-.50 and keep on adding to it!

I haven't read him before, but was looking for a werewolf book that wasn't so romance-oriented as a lot of those vampire/werewolf books seem to be. I've also noticed quite a few people have his The good fairies of New York on their challenge lists.

We seem to have very similar reading tastes! I read Lonely Werewolf Girl in 2008 and really liked it. I also read and enjoyed Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog last year.

From your GLBT category, Annie On My Mind is an old favorite, although I prefer Garden's Good Moon Rising. Boy Meets Boy was good too, I read that when it first came out. I liked The Charioteer, but thought maybe it was a little overrated. I think I might actually steal some titles from your GLBT pile. I've been meaning to read Patience and Sarah (even since it was mentioned in Finding H.F.) and Empress of the World and forgot about until you mentioned them.

>19 allthesedarnbooks: Annie on My Mind is an old favorite for me too, but I want to reread it. I hadn't even known about Good Moon Rising, but it sounds great so I think I'll read that too. Thanks!

Just finished my fifth book of the challenge from the Orange Prize category (it's Orange January over in the Girlybooks group):

The Monsters of Templeton: this was a strange but fun blend of modern and historical fiction with some fantasy thrown in in the form of a lake monster. There are a lot of people involved as the main character goes on a genealogical quest in her hometown to find out who her father is. I really enjoyed the story although I didn't like the main character Willie Upton, but the other characters I think make up for her deficit. I'm not doing any type of good job explaining the story, but I would recommend this.

Good Moon Rising is great! For a long time when I was in high school my library didn't have a copy of Annie on My Mind and Good Moon Rising was the only YA book with lesbian characters that I could get my hands on. I must have borrowed it a million times!

It seems I've been reading a lot but not posting, so here's what I've read since my last post with my reviews pasted in. Note that my reviews probably won't actually tell you much about the book. :)

6. Dating Jesus by Susan Campbell
This book sucked me in with the funny and kept me there through the tears.

Campbell begins the first third of the book telling humorous anecdotes to explain her growing up in the church of Christ. Following are some women's studies history lessons and Bible explanations to help those of us who didn't grow up being able to quote Bible verses on demand. Delving into a history lesson was a bit off-putting as it seem as though Campbell has enough material to tell more stories of her growing up in the church. I almost would have liked a timeline of when she actually left the church and what straw broke the camel's back.

Her tale is very moving, especially when she's feeling nostalgic for the God she grew up with as she's amidst a group of the "religious lite." I wonder why even though she went to seminary she became a journalist rather than a pastor. Many passages moved me to tears (especially her trip to Haiti), and I would have liked to hear more. I wonder if as a journalist she felt the need to thrown in the history lesson, but I have to say that there's nothing wrong with talking about yourself, especially if your life's as fascinating as Campbell's seems to be.

7. Empress of the World by Sara Ryan
I enjoyed this book, although not as much as I thought I was going to. Even though the point of the book was Nic and Battle's relationship, I had a hard time seeing it come about because as the story is told from Nic's POV, she seemed to be pretty circumspect about falling for Battle until she hits us over the head with it. It was nice to see the easiness of the relationship and the fact that Nic didn't really care about labeling it--very refreshing.

8. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
I had quite the love/hate relationship with this novel. Each time I picked it up I could not stop reading, but I had a difficult time actually picking it up again. I found almost all the characters except the dead mother repellent, but I was compelled to keep reading to find out what happened. Finally at the end I have to say that this was a fascinating family dramedy with characters that were annoying but unforgettable.

9. The Nutmeg Tree by Margery Sharp
Julia is a woman who loves life but has to work hard to be good when she ends up in France at the request of her estranged daughter. This novel is funny and lighthearted while also moving (the ending is fantastic!), and I'm shocked that it's not in print. It seems like the perfect candidate for a Virago Modern Classic or a Persephone.

10. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
I thought this was an absolutely beautiful novella about grief and how people deal with it and each other in the aftermath of death. There is so much packed into this little book, and I highly recommend it. There is an additional story called "Moonlight Shadow" that is just as beautiful and touching as "Kitchen."

11. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
What a happy, charming, and delightful book! Miss Pettigrew really does "live" as she runs into odd situations and interesting characters in one very extended day of her life that will change her forever. I think this novel will be a comfort reread in the future!

12. Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
I loved this book! Paul lives in a town that is practically a gay-friendly utopia, and this is one month of his life as he falls in love with Noah and deals with the ups and downs of his friends. Paul is charming and his friends are eclectic but real, and the language is simple and beautiful and quirky. Levithan has created a town and school and characters that seem part of a wonderful dream, and it's almost heartbreaking to wake up to the real world.

13. The Late Bloomer's Revolution by Amy Cohen
I don't know where the "revolution" part comes into play in Cohen's memoir. I enjoyed her stories of her parents (especially her mom), but I wanted to know more about what she was going to do with her life after the loss of her mother. Instead this book was more about her dating woes and wanting to find somebody than what I thought it would be.

Enjoyed all your reviews. I discovered Kitchen this year as well and can't say enough good things about it.

Wow....great choices, great reviews. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of a big box from Alibris--several of your latest in msg22 are in the box. I am haunting the postman. Anxious to see what you come up with next.

A great selection of books and we are in agreement on the ones I have read..

Faber Finds had The Nutmeg Tree on a list of books that had been suggested for reissue, so keep your fingers crossed!

>25 BeyondEdenRock:: That would be great if it got reissued; thanks for the info!

Well I knew this would happen: I've been finding some books that I think are going to push some of the ones I'd chosen out of my categories. Starting with my Memoir/Bio category:

14. Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor (touchstones do not want to cooperate with this book) by Brad Gooch
Not knowing anything about Flannery O'Connor's life but having read some of her stories, I expected her to have a dark and twisted childhood; I'm happy to be wrong.

Gooch uses mountains of letters and interviews to get into O'Connor's short life from her birth and death in Georgia and all the other places in between. His approach is very "here are the facts--do with them as you will," and I liked how he didn't try to interpret the meaning behind her works as there seem to be enough other tomes that do that.

I now want to read the O'Connor novels I've missed and reread her stories and also delve into her prose and all the letters she wrote. Flannery O'Connor's story doesn't just end with this biography--it keeps on, and I think Gooch did an excellent job of telling it all while making the reader thirst for more.

I've put Flannery on my wishlist--it looks fascinating.

15. Miss Lizzie by Walter Satterthwait

This is a fantastic murder mystery based on the idea of what Lizzie Borden's doing thirty years after supposedly killing her parents. 13-year-old Amanda's stepmother has been murdered with a hatchet, and now Amanda's neighbor and friend Miss Lizzie is the prime suspect. This is a great fast-paced mystery with intriguing characters; it made me want to explore Lizzie Borden's history.

Finished some more this past weekend:

16. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (Male Author category)

I was looking forward to reading this as I think Never Let Me Go is one of the best books I've ever read. So I was disappointed when it didn't live up to my (lofty) expectations. Granted the writing is beautiful, and I did enjoy the quietness of the tone, but I didn't feel any sympathy toward Stevens the butler. And since the whole story is told by Stevens, I was rather annoyed through the majority of the book.

17. Southern Ladies and Gentlemen by Florence King (Dewey Decimal category--900s)

These essays by King form a hilarious anthropological study of the South. Some are dated since it was first published in 1975, but they still hold a resonance that will explain some things to any confused Northerner (Good Old Boys, "coming out", flirting and more). I don't think anything holds a candle to King's memoir Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady, but this is still a great read by a fantastic writer.

Also I think I've decided to start a new category of Newbery Medal winners to replace my Books about Books/Writing/Reading category because
1) I haven't actually read anything from the Book category yet, although I still might of course
2) I really want to read The Graveyard Book and also some other children's lit

I'm adding a new category to probably replace my Books about Books, etc. category. Haven't totally decided to pitch the other one yet, so I'm going to leave it up just in case as I know that I'll be reading some from it (just not all nine).

Newbery Medal winners:

1. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (2009 winner)
2. Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins (2006 winner)
3. The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron (2007 winner)
4. From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (1968 winner) (READ: 24 May 09)
5. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien (1972 winner)
6.
7.
8.
9.

I have others I'm deciding on, but the first five are definite ones to read. I'm finding that choosing all the books for each category ahead of time is hindering me and my weekly jaunts to the library because I'm always finding new choices that I'd prefer to read. Now I know better for next year!

>30 spinsterrevival: ooh, if you like Medieval history, include last year's winner, -- Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz -- in the ones you're considering. Loved it!