miss_chievous: 1010 Category challenge

1. Favorite Authors
2. From my TBR list
3. Book(s) my Dad recommends :)
4. Highly Recommended (by everyone)*
5. Nobel Prize Author
6. French Literature
7. Russian Literature
8. British Literature
9. Non-Fiction
10. World War I/II(Subject)

I'm not sure how many books I'll read from each category, but I'm going for at least one each.
*I changed this category from "Published in 2010" to "Highly Recommended" because I'm finally getting around to all these books my friends and teacher's have recommended.
**The bold titles are books that I have finished and the date next to them is when I finished**

Here are a few books that I plan on reading that are by my favorite authors. I most likely will not read them all, but these are my possibilities.

1. Favorite Authors: possibilities

Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende
From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury
Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier
Green Darkness by Anya Seton
Savage Beauty by Nancy Milford

2. From my TBR pile: possibilities

(1) Peach Blossom Pavilion by Mingmei Yip 01/09/2010 - Msg. 16
(2) The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly 01/11/2010 - Msg. 17
(3) I, Mona Lisa by Jeanne Kalogridis 01/28/2010 - Msg. 21
Mistress of the Sun: A Novel by Sandra Gulland
The Black Tower by Louis Bayard
Afterimage: A Novel by Helen Humphreys
Letters From the Earth by Mark Twain

3. Books my Dad recommends: possibilities

In explanation of this category: my dad has been trying to get me read a growing list of books for some time and I haven't got around to ANY of them. So, I feel it is time I did.

Our Precarious Habitat by Melvin A. Bernard
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Collapse by Jared Diamond
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

4. Highly Recommended (by everyone): possibilities

(4) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 02/05/2010 - Msg. 22
(9) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 04/30/2010
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

5. Nobel Prize Author: possibilities

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Kristin Lavransdatter: the Cross by Sigrid Undset

6. French Literature

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Queen Margot by Alexandre Dumas

7. Russian Literature: possibilities

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

8. British Literature: possibilities

(6) Othello by William Shakespeare 02/28/2010 - Msg. 28
(8) Macbeth by William Shakespeare 04/03/2010
The Mill on The Floss by George Eliot *Currently Reading*
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

9. Non-Fiction: possibilities

(5) Zelda: A Biography by Nancy Milford 02/18/2010 - Msg. 27
Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920's by Frederick Lewis Allen
Catherine de Medici by Leonie Frieda
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire by Amy Butler Greenfield
Night by Elie Wiesel
Gilded Youth: Three Lives in France's Belle Epoque by Kate Cambor
The Lady Queen by Nancy Goldstone
A Scream Goes Through the House by Arnold Weinstein
Lizzie Siddal: Face of the Pre-Raphaelites by Lucinda Hawksley
Society without God by Phil Zuckerman
Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer

10. World War I/II (Subject): possibilities

(7) The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys 03/13/2010 - Msg. 29
The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Like your categories and what great pictures!

I love Jared Diamond and his books. Very accessible and tought-provoking! I hope you enjoy them too. Good luck with your challenge :)

I'll probably read one of the two Jared Diamonds (I have both) as part of my challenge too.

LOVE that TBR pile pic!

I hope that pile of books pictured is not your actual TBR!

(1) Peach Blossom Pavilion by Mingmei Yip 01/09/2010 (TBR)
I found this book altogether enjoyable. It did not have amazing writing nor a breathtaking story. However, it was at points unpredictable and entertaining. Therefore, it deserves four stars. :)

(2) The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly 01/11/2010 (TBR)
I couldn't put this book down! I loved Fiona: her proud chin, stubbornness, and her strength to pull through all of life's tragedies. At the base this novel is a love story between Fiona and her childhood friend Joe. However, so many things get in the way of their relationship; including Jack the Ripper. Donnelly really created a wonderful story by mixing in the dark with the light. Without the murders, threats, and plots of London's underground, this would just be like any other light love story. Five stars for the story, four stars for the writing
And early twentieth-century New York was interesting....

I've had The Tea Rose sitting on my TBR shelf for a couple of years, you have inspired me to bring it down, dust if off, and get down to reading it! Now I just have to fit it into one of my categories, perhaps Historical? or maybe Chick-Lit?

I'm so glad! I think it would most likely fit in historical fiction. The story is really steeped into the time period and the promise of America during that time. And of course, Jack the Ripper's tale is definitely considered historical.

Yes, I think I will add The Tea Rose to my Historical Category. Thanks for the input.

DeltaQueen: You are most welcome. :)

(3) I, Mona Lisa by Jeanne Kalogridis 01/28/2010 (TBR)
Although not the highest caliber of writing, it had a good story. It was much like Tracy Chevalier's Girl With a Pearl Earring in the aspect that both authors created stories from paintings that portray women with (until now ^_^) unknown backgrounds. Four stars.

(4) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 02/05/2010 (Highly Recommended)
I loved this book. The first person narrative was so well written, Hosseini was so in-tune (for lack of a better word) with Amir: his perspective, emotions, and thoughts.
Hosseini analyzes love, hate, friendship, and family through Amir's tragic story.
Great Read
4.5 Stars

Have you read his second book A Thousand Splendid Suns? I think it is every bit as good as The Kite Runner, more from a woman's point of view though.

I'm going to be starting the Zelda book shortly (my "Z" title book in the alphabet challenge). I'll be interested to hear what you think of it.

Msg. 23: I haven't gotten around to it yet. Unfortunately (with the exception of you ^_^) I have heard that it is not nearly as good as The Kite Runner; however I will give it a try if it comes my way.

Msg. 24: I'm still working through it! It is very interesting, but it is definitely not a book read in one sitting.

re 23 & 25: I liked A Thousand Splendid Suns better than The Kite Runner, though I thought that The Kite Runner was a more accomplished novel.

(5) Zelda: A Biography by Nancy Milford 02/18/2010 (Non-Fiction)
Amazing. Milford did an excellent job of portraying the Fitzgerald couple. However, her writing was not the main attraction of this book, it was Zelda's. Her letter's to Scott were steeped in metaphors and beautiful in their conveyance of so many emotions.
Here is one that she wrote to describe the rainy sky:
"filled with copper clouds like the after-math of cannon-fire, pre-war, civil-war clouds and I feel all empty and bored and very much in love with you, my dear one, my own. I wish you were here so we could stretch our legs down beside one another and feel all warm and hidden in the bed, like seeds beaten into the earth. Why is there happiness and comfort and excitement where you are and no where else in the world, and why is there a sleepy tremulo in the air when you are near that's promising and living like a vibrating fecundity?"

5 stars for a biography on the tragic lives of two who personified the Jazz Age

(6) Othello by William Shakespeare 02/28/2010 (British Literature)
Last night I took Shakespeare Volume II off the "Great Books" shelf in the hall and tried out some Shakespeare. Othello was definitely much more accessible/readable for the contemporary person. It was much easier for me to read compared to the other Shakespeare's I had (unsuccessfully) tried. It is a beautiful tragedy, so, four stars.
I only give it that because the old English writing made it harder for me to read and therefore the story was less enjoyable while I looked up words no longer used.
Altogether a new and enjoyable experience!

I would put it under British Lit., right?

(7) The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys 03/12/2010 (WWI/II)
I had to put The Mill on the Floss aside for this one because it came in to the library from off-island and so I can't renew it. Since Humphreys' other book, The Frozen Thames does not exist in our library system (really quite sad) I chose her most popular book on library thing: The Lost Garden.
It was good, and I really liked the descriptions of the plants, but it only gets 3 1/2 stars for the story and 4 1/2 for the flowers :). Altogether: 4 stars.