Kathleen's 50 Book Challenge

Kind of late in the year to start, but I'm going to see how many I can get through before 2010. Right now, I'm going through a Dickens phase, and am just starting "Bleak House."

Some of the other books I've read this year are:

Oliver Twist
Great Expectations
In Harm's Way
The Time Traveler's Wife
Atlas Shrugged
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Tin Roof Blowdown
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
The Audacity of Hope
The Forgotten Garden
Pegasus Descending
Jolie Blon's Bounce
The House at Riverton
If This Is a Man
Julie and Julia
Katherine
Same Kind of Different As Me
Mistaken Identity
To the Last Breath
Thunderstruck
The Water's Lovely

Read after starting the challenge:
Dark Matter
The Fountainhead
The Strain
The Gallows Girl
Swan Peak
The Glass Castle
The Last Kingdom
The Voyage Out
Sarah's Key
Defying Hitler
Atonement
The Pale Horseman
Lords of the North
Malone Dies
Sword Song
Secrets of the Hidden Job Market
The Thirty-Nine Steps
The Woman in White
The Maltese Falcon
The Big Sleep
Everything That Rises Much Converge
The Portrait of a Lady

Phases are great! They add little niches to your library that might one day grow and take over entire shelves.

Is this a reread phase? I was told Hard Times is Dickens's best, but I haven't ever read anything by him. Any recommendations?

Yes, a this is a reread phase, but several decades have passed since I first read Dickens. I won't say how many! I read most of Dickens' books when I was 11 or 12 years old, and I'm getting a lot more out of them this time around. I've never read "Hard Times," but "Great Expectations" and "Oliver Twist" are good ones to start with. I reread them both recently, and realized what a genius Dickens was. Thanks for your message -- I just joined the site a few hours ago, and it's nice to hear from someone so quickly.

Hola Kathleen. I'm a Dicken's fan. I've never read Bleak House though. I saw you'd just join so I thought I'd post and say hi.

Hi Kathleen, welcome to LibraryThing! I personally loved Great Expectations when I read it in high school (apparently, I was one of the few), though I'll admit to not having read much else by Dickens so it's hard to rate them.

Happy reading :)

Hi, Chrine. Thanks so much for the welcome. This is my first time for "Bleak House," but it's good so far. I want to reread "Tale of Two Cities" soon. I saw that it's on your to-read list, along with a couple of books by Edith Wharton, who is also one of my favorite authors. She and Dickens remind me of each other, since they both are so good at creating complex characters, and are keen social observers. I'll be interested to see what you think of her books.

Hi, Spacepotatoes! Thanks for the note. You have one of my favorite books on your to-read list -- The Alchemist. I'll be interested to hear what you think of it. I've read most of Coelho's books, and have enjoyed them very much. This seems to be a very welcoming and interesting community, and I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone better. Take care.

I am planning on rereading A Tale of Two Cities for next years challenge. I started late in the year as well. I have had a great time keeping track of them here!

I love this site! Just found it yesterday, and am really enjoying it. Happy reading!

Hola Kathleen. A Tale of Two Cities will be a reread for me as will be Great Expectations. My book club read this both this year. I have never read Edith Wharton before.

Just finished my first book -- Dark Matter: The Private Life of Sir Issac Newton by Philip Kerr. If you love late 17th Century London, this is a great mystery based upon Sir Isaac Newton's time as warden of the Royal Mint. It's completely fictional, so not a biography by any means. But wonderful atmosphere and an interesting story. Lots of great scenes in the Tower of London, St. Paul's, London Bridge -- a great mental tour of the streets of London in the late 1600s. The book is out of print, so I can't seem to get the touchstone for it working properly.

Taking a break from Bleak House -- don't know why, but I'm having a hard time getting through it. I usually love Dickens, and I'm sure this one will be worth it. But I just finished The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, and it was great. Not perfect. A little strident and the characters are merely vessels to advance Rand's philosophy. Very thought-provoking, nonetheless.

Just finished a book I had to read for my book club -- The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. I really don't know where to begin about how disappointed I was with this book. It's not a novel -- it's a screenplay, essentially. No character development, just scenes strung together. No doubt, this will be a movie very soon. Del Toro is the director of "Pan's Labyrinth," and this book is the first in a trilogy of books. The ending was very unsatisfying, and I don't care enough about the characters to want to buy the second book when it's released.

If you haven't heard of it, it's a vampire book, which opens with a plane full of people, drained of blood and with incisions in their throats, landing at JFK. Of course, the corpses come to life, escape from the morgue, and begin attacking people. Still nobody thinks "vampire" until the obligatory Eastern European professor finally (and laboriously) convinces a doctor from the CDC that's what's going on. Ya think?!

It's just so silly and predictable. I resented every moment I had to spend reading this garbage. I may get kicked out of the book club when I express my opinions about this one, but I can't suffer my way through another experience like this.

Took a little break to travel back to Olde England -- The Gallows Girl. Not so great. Also finished Swan Peak, by James Lee Burke. I always enjoy the time I spend with Dave Robicheaux. Although this one was set in Montana, it had the action and character development common to all of Burke's novels. Nice little break, but I need to get back to Bleak House. The problem is that the version I have has very small print, and is not enjoyable to read, since I can barely see it. A new pair of glasses would probably fix that problem, so I'm going to take care of that soon.

Just finished The Glass Castle. It started out slowly, and I found the rather whiney tone of it a little off-putting. But as it went along, I found myself becoming more interested. For those who don't believe the book is true, I can tell you that it rings true to me. My father was much like Rex, and many of Jeannette's experiences were mirror images of events in my childhood. I admire her ability to forgive her parents and love them, despite the fact that they were such failures as parents. I have not been able to be so generous with regard to my parents.

Hi, Kathleen! Just found your thread. Read a few of the same books as you have. Not much Dickens, though I did read Great Expectations at the beginning of the year. Wasn't that fond of it. Arubabookwoman (in the 75-book group) loves Dickens if you want someone else to talk Dickens with you. I'm sorry to hear that you had some of the same experiences as Jeannette Walls. That's pretty extreme, and I agree that lots of people would be a whole lot more critical of parents who are not nearly as bad as they were--and rightly so! It's funny you call her whiny though. My friends and I were thinking the opposite, that she was almost too flippant, maybe trying to go for funny a little too much. Isn't it weird how differently people experience a book?

Hi, Bonnie. Thanks for your note. I'll have to look Arubabookwoman up and see what she thinks of Dickens. I'm still torn about The Glass Castle. I think it brought up too much for me to think about all at once, and maybe I resented her a bit, because despite their faults, her parents seemed to love her in their own bizarre way. Her mother was obviously mentally ill -- how could she have let her children live like that when she had that property in Texas that was worth $1 million? No sane person would do that. But as I said, I'm still digesting it all. I do want to read her new book, about her grandmother. Thanks again -- I've really enjoyed this site and have "met" so many nice people.

Just finished The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell. I really enjoyed it, and can't wait to read the rest of the books in the series. It's set during the time of Alfred the Great, when the Danes almost took over Britain. Cornwell is great with battle scenes, and brings 9th Century Britain to life.

The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf was challenging for me. Woolf's use of language, sense of observation, and incisive character observation in this, her first novel, is amazing. However, the people in the story were so tedious -- selfish, shallow, bored, and boring. I just didn't care about any of them, and in fact, disliked most of them. This is the first Woolf novel I have read, and I plan to read more, but I hope for somewhat more engaging characters in the next one I read.

18 books to go -- will I make it? I find myself reading shorter books, just to make the count. I started late, and I know I've read more books in 2009 than I recall, but I'll be relieved when the year is over, and I can read some longer and more involved books, without feeing rushed. This is my own fault -- I cannot resist a challenge. But I hope that in 2010, I'll be able to strike a balance and just let it flow.

Defying Hitler by Sebastian Haffner is one of the most compelling books I have read in a long time. A first-hand account by an intelligent, articulate German of the years before and during which the Nazis rose to power, it answers the questions so many have asked -- How did it happen? Why did the German people allow it to happen? Haffner's insightful account of his own personal experiences and the conclusions he drew from them is much more affecting and interesting than the traditional historical accounts we have all read. This book was published posthumously by the author's son and widow, and became an instant best-seller in Germany. The German people themselves have struggled to understand their role and responsibility for the atrocities of the 1930s and 1940s, and this non-judgmental, well-reasoned book has helped heal wounds on both sides. I highly recommend this book, and will probably read it again soon, something I seldom do.

Sorry I missed your Dickens phase...I just read Hard Times. Not one of his best buy a long shot--if anything, a bit angry at times. I haven't read The Voyage Out, but I've felt the same way about some other Woolf novels where the language seems so much more important than character. I rather liked Orlando as a change of pace from her more challenging works.

My Dickens phase is still on-going. Unfortunately, the edition of Bleak House I bought has tiny type -- it was just too painful to read. So I have an eye appointment on Saturday, and I hope my new glasses will allow me to get back to it. I haven't read Hard Times, but I understand it is one of Dickens' darker works. Much of the appeal of Dickens to me is the fact that I love London, and his characters roam around all over 19th Century London, in areas that I am familiar with yet which are so different now. I'll check out Orlando. I had never read Woolf before, and didn't enjoy my first taste, but I'm determined to keep going. Mrs. Dalloway may be next. She made a short appearance in The Voyage Out, and was one of the more interesting characters. Thanks for stopping by -- happy reading!

Defying Hitler sounds good. This is the first time I've heard of it, and I put it on my wish list, so I wouldn't forget it when I create my list for next year. Thanks!

Thanks for stopping by! I really enjoyed Defying Hitler, and found a greater understanding of what the German people themselves went through. I look forward to finding out what you think about it.

Atonement redux. I read this book shortly after it was published, and just didn't understand all the gushing praise for it. So, thinking I should give it another try, I did. I still didn't really enjoy it. It reminded me of my feelings about The Voyage Out. The writing is masterful, but I just didn't care at all about any of the characters.

The Pale Horseman is one more in the Saxon Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell. Pure escapism, although well researched, so I'm learning a bit about 9th Century England, which I'm enjoying. I'm reading the next book in the series now, and will keep going. I'm also still listening to Malone Dies on audiobook, and beginning to enjoy it more. I've finally given up on trying to find a story line in it, and just enjoy the prose. And now I have new glasses, so I'm going to get back to Bleak House. The tiny type in my edition had defeated me, but I think I can handle it now.

13 to go! It was such a relief to finish Malone Dies. It just wasn't my thing, but I had never read Beckett before, and was glad I did. Although I probably won't read the other two books in the trilogy. I'm continuing to read the Saxon Chronicles, and just finished Lords of the North and have begun Sword Song. I love British history, and the 9th Century is a period I hadn't known much about. I'm starting Woman in White on audiobook, and will get back to Bleak House after I finished Sword Song. I persuaded my book club to read Bleak House, so now I have the incentive to finish it. I plan to read To the Lighthouse and Mrs. Dalloway next. I'm going to make it to 50 no matter what!

12 to go! Enjoyed Sword Song and look forward to the next book in the series, whenever that may be. But back to the 1001 Books list for a few short entries -- The Thirty-Nine Steps (only 120 pages long), To the Lighthouse and Mrs. Dalloway, which are both quite short. I know it's kind of cheating, but I want to get to 50, and I figure if the books are on the 1001 list, they must be worthwhile.

I had started Secrets of the Hidden Job Market a few weeks ago, and decided to finish it up tonight. For some reason, the touchstone is bringing up a different author than the book I read, which was by Janet White. I met Ms. White at a luncheon where she was a speaker, and had a nice chat with her afterward. The book is based on the Law of Attraction, and although I'm not usually a fan of self-help books, I found this one quite helpful. I want to change my life and work drastically, and needed to be reminded that visualizing where I want to be is the first step to getting there. As 2009 comes to an end, I found this book helpful in planning my strategy for 2010.

Two more down! I loved these vintage espionage/mystery books -- The Thirty-Nine Steps and The Woman in White. Only eight to go -- I'm going to make it!

Actually I now have eight to go, after finishing The Maltese Falcon. Loved this book! Now I'm reading The Big Sleep and listening to The Portrait of a Lady on audio. I started To the Lighthouse but am not finding it very compelling. I may just have to give up on Virginia Woolf, although I hate to admit defeat. So far, I'm not finding her books particularly engaging, although I plan to finish this one and read Mrs. Dalloway.

Okay -- another "noir" detective story down. The Big Sleep was good, but not as enjoyable to me as The Maltese Falcon. More fluff, and the women were such cardboard characters. It made me realize how well-constructed and tight The Maltese Falcon was. Now I'm on to another of the 1001 Books -- Everything That Rises Must Converge. It was totally off my radar, which is what I've enjoyed about the 1001 Books. I've never heard of most of them, and have felt quite ignorant to realize how much of my time I've spent reading fluff. Seven books in the next 11 days? I don't know how I'll manage it, but I'm determined to try!

Everything That Rises Must Converge was a revelation to me. I had never heard of Flannery O'Connor, and I'm so glad I found her. A volume of short stories, which I normally never read, her work is disturbing, powerful, and insightful. Really dark stories, but I have a feeling they'll stay with me always. So, six books in five days? Unlikely, but it's been fun trying. Plus, I know I read some books this year that I forgot before I started this in August, so I'm not going to beat myself up too much.