RaistlinsShadow - 2009

This year, we're going for 25,000 pages—50,000 proved to be a bit steep for me, but 25,000 is slightly more than I read last year but imminently doable. Hopefully this will put a good dent in my To Be Read list...

1. Lost in Translation by Eva Hoffman – 280 pgs.

Total: 280 pgs.

2. The Lover by Marguerite Duras – 117 pgs.

Total: 397 pgs.

Good luck with your reading challenge!
--BJ

What did you think about Lost in Translation? I really loved the first 2/3's of this book, but got bored with hearing about her adult life.

BJ: Thanks!

bonniebooks: I didn't think too terribly much of Lost in Translation at all; the language aspect was interesting and there were a couple things here and there that were intriguing (I was hoping for the childhood romance-thing to pull through), but overall, I wasn't that thrilled. Nothing bad, just... forgettable.

There are times when I just want a good romance, but with good writing, and I'm disappointed when a book goes another direction. I remember that Intuition was billed as romance, and I felt very shortchanged! :-) This year I was going to re-read some favorites, but your comments make me wonder if I'll feel the same way about them. I feel like, sure, there is a consistency to me in terms of my values and beliefs, but I've also changed a lot too--based as much on the direction and content of my reading as my real life experiences. So, will I like these books as much? I'll have to test it out on Lost in Translation then get back to you. :-)

3. The Fur Hat by Vladimir Voinovich – 122 pgs.

Total: 519 pgs.

4. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers – 437 pgs.

Total: 956 pgs.

5. The Box Man by Kobo Abe – 178 pgs.

Total: 1134 pgs.

6. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick – 244 pgs.

Total: 1368 pgs.

Hi, raistlinsshadow!
What did you think of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I was planning to buy this on my last book order, but then I had too many books on my list! :) Both my daughter and I want to read this one.
--BJ

I really enjoyed it—apparently it's really different from the movie Bladerunner, but I'm not able to make a comparison since I've never seen it. I read it for a craft class, and the discussion that it spawned tended to highlight its flaws (clunky writing on a sentence level, fairly poor character building), but they're not so bad as to keep anyone from reading and enjoying the book.

Actually, Bladerunner is a fairly interesting movie. I like to watch it ever so often. Thanks for the info. It is such a great title for a book I think. :)
--BJ

7. The Hanged Man by Francesca Lia Block – 137 pgs.
8. Le Tartuffe: Ou l'Imposteur by Molière – 153 pgs.

Total: 1658 pgs.

9. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk – 218 pgs.
10. The Warded Man by Peter Brett – 431 pgs.

Total: 2307 pgs.

11. Jesus Saves by Darcey Steinke – 212 pgs.

Total: 2519 pgs.

12. Boy With Flowers by Ely Shipley – 71 pgs.

Total: 2590 pgs.

13. The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller — 171 pgs.
14. Actual Minds, Possible Worlds by Jerome Bruner — 201 pgs.

Total: 2961 pgs.

What did you think of Actual Minds, Possible Worlds?
--BJ

I thought it was interesting, but the research might be a bit outdated—the edition I read was from 1986. A lot of it was more the philosophy of language and psychology rather than psycholinguistics, which is what I had been hoping for, but it was good nonetheless.

15. Home Land by Sam Lipsyte – 229 pgs.

Total: 3190 pgs.

16. Diary by Chuck Palahniuk – 261 pgs.

Total: 3451 pgs.

17. Feast of Snakes by Harry Crews – 177 pgs.

Total: 3628 pgs.

18. Introduction to Psychology by Edward E. Smith et al. – 768 pgs.

Total: 4396 pgs.

19. Candide by Voltaire – 118 pgs.

Total: 4514 pgs.

20. Rock Bottom by Michael Shilling – 373 pgs.

Total: 4887 pgs.

21. Watchmen by Alan Moore – 416 pgs.

Total: 5303 pgs.

So, did you like Watchmen?
--BJ

I'm also curious about what you think of Watchmen. :)

I really enjoyed it. The style took a bit for me to get used to, both because it was the first graphic novel I've read and because it seemed to be formatted uniquely—"voiceovers" and a storyline that intersected with a fictitious comic and bits of... stuff at the end of each chapter—but I did really enjoy it.

22. The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart – 281 pgs.

Total: 5584 pgs.

23. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas – 545 pgs.

Total: 6129 pgs.

How was The Three Musketeers? I have been wanting to read that one for a while.
--BJ

I loved it—Dumas has a great sense of humor, and the translation that I have seems to be really excellent. It was even better because I read it while in Paris, so there were points where I could sort of... follow them around. Dumas is brilliant. I'd also recommend The Count of Monte Cristo, but it's also a lot longer (A LOT) and more gloomy.

How wonderful to read it while in Paris! I did not realize that The Count of Monte Cristo was so much longer. I think that there is going to be a reading group for that book this summer. I have also been wanting to read that one. Who was your translator? I have my daughter's copy of the book (3 Musketeers) which is the Modern Library copy translated by Jacques le Clerq. Have a great day!
--BJ

I have the Bantam edition, and I don't have it with me to check the translator. But when I get to it, I will check the name for you.

Monte Cristo is around 1600 pages for the usual editions (or, if they prefer, a couple volumes); the Wordsworth edition that I have is around 850 pages with around 2.5 times the normal text per page and teeny-tiny print.

Yeah, that teeny tiny print is killer at my age! :D My copy of War and Peace has that little bitty print and is still so long. But it's a good one! My copy of Count of Monte Cristo is actually my daughter's book. I am not sure exactly where it is, but I think it is one paperback volume. She insists that abridged it not the way to go! :)
--BJ

I'd agree with her—unabridged is the only way!

24. Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman – 239 pgs.
25. The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas – 495 pgs.

Total: 6863 pgs.

26. Doll’s House by Neil Gaiman – 230 pgs.

Total: 7093 pgs.

27. The Girl With No Shadow by Joanne Harris – 466 pgs.
28. Dream Country by Neil Gaiman – 160 pgs.

Total: 7719 pgs.

29. Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier – 554 pgs.

Total: 8273 pgs.

30. Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier – 590 pgs.

Total: 8863 pgs.

Never thought my reading would slow down so much in the summer...!

31. Child of the Prophecy by Juliet Marillier – 596 pgs.

Total: 9459 pgs.

32. The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker – 558 pgs.

Total: 10,017 pgs.

33. Through Wolf's Eyes by Jane Lindskold – 596 pgs.

Total: 10,613 pgs.

34. Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart by Jane Lindskold – 754 pgs.

Total: 11,367 pgs.

35. Generative Phonology by Sanford A. Schane – 121 pgs.

Total: 11,488 pgs.

Did you read Generative Phonology for a class? Could you tell me a little bit about it? The title sounds interesting.

I read it as my own supplementary material for a class—it's essentially 121 pages worth of phonological theory, primarily for English, with a lot about the technical sound markers and points of articulation and rules of phonological transformation. It's pretty dry stuff, but it was nice to get a technical look at what the textbook went over in brief.

36. The Dragon of Despair by Jane Lindskold – 754 pgs.

Total: 12,242 pgs.

37. Syntactic Structures by Noam Chomsky – 120 pgs.

Total: 12,362 pgs.

38. The Glassblower of Murano by Marina Fiorato – 363 pgs.

Total: 12,725 pgs.

39. Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay – 285 pgs.
40. Mental Imagery and Affect in English/French Bilingual Readers and Karen A. Krasny & Mark Sadoski – 29 pgs.
41. Object Categorization in Bilinguals by Panos Athanasopoulos – 10 pgs.
42. Linguistic, Academic, and Cognitive Benefits of French Immersion by Wally Lazaruk – 23 pgs.
43. Lexical-Grammatical Interdependence in Bilinguals by Gabriela Simon-Cereijido & Vera F. Gutiérrez-Clellen – 12 pgs.
44. Chinese-English Biliteracy Acquisition by Min Wang, Chen Yang, & Chenxi Cheng – 23 pgs.
45. Second Language Phonology as Redeployment of L1 Phonological Knowledge by John Archibald – 29 pgs.

Total: 13,136 pgs.

Would #45 be useful for ESL teachers?

Edited to change book #. Talking about Second Language Phonology... in Message #50.

If they can get through the technical writing, then I think it might be. It takes a look at how individual phonemes (and the lack thereof) in certain languages would hamper gaining a native-like accent in another—so it could be good to gain an understanding of exactly why it's certain and specific sounds that the L2 learner can't produce properly and then look for a good curriculum to aid them.

46. Wolf Captured by Jane Lindskold – 722 pgs.

Total: 13,858 pgs.

47. Wolf Hunting by Jane Lindskold – 613 pgs.

Total: 14,471 pgs.

10,529 pages short. Next year (this year?), though!