japaul's 50 book challenge in 2010 as a new mom - am I crazy???

Hi everyone! Thanks to those of you who followed my 2009 thread. I completed 54 books last year, but am not sure of my chances this year! I just had my first baby, William, on Dec. 31, 2009. I think that between him and work, reading may be a bit more on the back burner for a bit. But maybe this will keep me going!

To give you an idea of what I enjoy reading, here are my favorite "new to me" books of 2009:

Gilead by Marianne Robinson
The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Annie’s Ghosts by Steve Luxenberg (an ER, non-fiction book)
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective by Kate Summerscale (non-fiction)
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

2010 Books I've Read
1. The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl
2. The Hobbit by rrtolkienj::J.R.R. Tolkien
3. 9101638::The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
4. 5952346::Girl in the Blue Dress by arnoldgaynor::Gaynor Arnold
5. 8998416::Time Among the Dead by rayfielthomas::Thomas Rayfiel
6. 5656409::American Lion by Jon Meachem
7. 1514290::Baby Om by
8. Wild Romance: A Victorian Story of a Marriage, A Trial, and A Self-Made Woman by Chloe Schama
9. The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe
10. 9209435::Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
11. The Picture of Dorian Gray by bywildeoscar::Oscar Wilde
12. Bright from the Start by Jill Stamm
13. 2770499::Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
14. 3733002::People of the Book by geraldinebrook::Geraldine Brooks
15. 8406848::Nurture Shock by bronsonpo::Po Bronson
16. 17525::North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
17. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
18. Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope
19. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
20. 1769540::The Girl who Played with Fire by Steig Larsson
21. In the Woods by Tana French
22. Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West

BTW: I'm really annoyed that these touchstones aren't working!

Wait, you're working too? Don't they give you time off? I'll keep your thread starred so that when you do manage to post I'll be able to find it. It was fun following your thread last year - we have very similar taste in books - shocking, right? ;-)

Have fun with William! He is absolutely adorable. Plus, you have the best hair in your new-mom pictures of anyone I have ever seen.

#1 The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl
Not off to a good start! I really didn't enjoy this book. In fact, in all honesty, I skimmed the last 75 pages or so. This is a fictional mystery based around the events of Edgar Allan Poe's death and an obsessive Baltimore lawyer's quest to find out what "really happened" to Poe. It was full of implausible plot developments and I really didn't like any of the characters. Disappointing, since I thought the topic seemed like it had a lot of potential.

I haven't read the Poe book, but last year I read The Last Dickens, also by Matthew Pearl, and it was awful. It sounds exactly like the Poe book has the same problems. I think he's off my list of authors-to-read.

Congratulations, and best wishes for much happiness! I actually started really reading a lot more when my second daughter was born. I wouldn't have imagined that when my first was born... but somehow it got easier, and I found lots of time when I didn't expect to.

Congratulations to you and baby William! I saw your post over on someone else's thread so I thought I'd come over and say hi. Looking forward to seeing what you're reading this year, as new-mum life starts to settle down...

Thanks Ellie and AMQS! I starred Ellie's threads - AMQS, do you have a link to yours?

#2 The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
In 2009 I ended the year by re-reading the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and had a great time with it. So I decided to re-read The Hobbit as well, which is the prequel to the trilogy and tells the adventure of Bilbo Baggins and the discovery of the magic ring. This was a lot of fun to read again and also was easy to read on zero sleep! I didn't remember that The Hobbit reads like a children's book as opposed to the more adult style of Lord of the Rings. Definitely brought back good childhood reading memories.

I tried reading The Hobbit as a child and never really got on with it - but when I heard that the first LOTR film was soon to be released, I read The Hobbit straight away and loved it! To my astonishment now, looking back, I read Lord of the Rings straight through as my next read, so that I could see The Fellowship of the Ring without feeling guilty that I'd not read it first... My concentration seems to have slipped a little since then, I can't imagine tackling all that Tolkien together now!

P.S. Thanks for starring me! *blushes bashfully*

It's never too early to start reading to William.....some Dr. Seuss will help your count, should you get bogged down!

I'm here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/80612

I decided to attempt the 75 challenge, though that may be way too ambitious in light of everything I'm juggling this year. We'll see. Hope you come visit!

Congrats on your new baby! I'm in the 75-book group this year, but still like to cruise the old "hunting grounds." (Hunting grounds as in I'm always hunting for good books to read.) I've loved some of the books you've got on your "favorites" list, so I'll have to go check out some of the unfamiliar titles. Happy reading!

ty1997 - Yep, the reading to William has begun! If I get desperate I'll count some of the children's books! I also read a good portion of the Hobbit out loud to him.

Anne - I starred your thread. Looking forward to seeing what you're reading!

Bonniebooks - Thanks for checking in! I'll be sure to check out your thread since we have similar taste in books.

#3 The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Pretty much as I expected - maybe a little worse. I found Dan Brown's latest book to basically be The DaVinci Code set in DC. Fairly predictable plot twists but fast and easy to read. I guess it was kind of fun since I live in DC about 10 blocks from the Capitol. Not much else to say though!

#4 Girl in the Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold
This book is subtitled " A novel inspired by the life and marriage of Charles Dickens". It is told from the point of view of Charles Dickens's wife and I suppose would be considered historical fiction. However, the author takes wide liberties with the "truth". She even changes the names of the characters, making the book about Alfred and Dorothea Gibson rather than Charles and Catherine Dickens. Of course this leaves me wondering through the whole book "did that really happen?".

I hope not, because this is a horrifying picture of Charles Dickens and marriage in the 1800s. "Dorothea Gibson" marries "Alfred" at a young age - totally, blindly in love and unequipped to run a household or deal with her manic husband. She has 8 children in quick succession and loses two of them. Alfred is emotionally abusive and manipulative and ends up banishing Dorothea to a small, cramped apartment and separating her from her children while her sister remains in Alfred's house, running the home and raising the children. He takes up with a young actress while all the time publicly blaming his wife for the failure of their marriage.

Dorothea obviously suffers from depression and exhaustion (probably post-partum depression) and Alfred is unable and unwilling to support her or consider what her body and mind have gone through in bearing him 8 children. There is a feminist aspect to this book, as Dorothea begins to come into her own after Alfred's death, but I didn't find it totally convincing.

This book was long-listed for the Man Booker prize and the Orange prize. I found that a bit surprising since I thought a lot of the dialogue was pretty unsatisfying. In fact, I almost put down the book after the first chapter because I was so annoyed! But in the end, I became pretty absorbed in the story. I don't like what happened and I wish I could sort out fact from fiction more easily, but it was an interesting and engaging book to read. Because it's a quick read, I would say it's worth the time.

OK, I'm reading even less than I thought, but here are my recently completed (finally) books.

#5 Time Among the Dead by Tom Rayfiel
This was an ER book.
There are a few problems with this book.
1) The publishers market it as being "neo-victorian" and reminiscent of Austen. I did not find it to fit that description at all - neither in terms of writing style or plot. The language felt very modern to me.
2) The journal format of the book doesn't really ring true. If the author took out the date headings I would never know the difference.
3) It's a bit too short to really fill out the plot.

That being said, I did enjoy the characters enough to wish the book was longer and more complete. I guess that's a positive!

#6 American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham
Eh - this was ok. I didn't think the book flowed very well and also didn't like how focused the book was on the gossip surrounding his family and cabinet members. I did learn a lot about Jackson who had a very interesting presidency, but I'm hoping there are better Jackson books out there.

#7 Baby Om: Yoga for Mothers and Babies by Laura Staton
I love this book! I hear the most gleeful laughs from William (my 4 month old) while we're doing these routines. I've done yoga for a very long time now and was thrilled to find a way to incorporate William into my yoga time and still get a bit of a challenge myself. Highly recommended, especially for those with some yoga experience.

>16 japaul22:: I'm with you. If Girl in the Blue Dress stays close to the "facts" known about Dickens and his wife, then I'm interested. Otherwise, there are too many good books out there to indulge my voyeuristic tendencies on this novel.

>17 japaul22:: That's so neat that you and your baby can do yoga together--sounds lovely and so good for you both on many levels. :-)

#8 Wild Romance: A Victorian Story of a Marriage, A Trial, and A Self-Made Woman by Chloe Schama

I really enjoyed this early reviewers book and disagree with many of the other reviews. I thought Schama's writing style made for very interesting reading and appreciated that she kept the tone scholarly instead of sensational. And with a topic like this, a sensational book would have been easy to write!

This is the life story of a woman living in the mid-1800s and her life experience. Theresa Longworth meets Capt. Yelverton as a young woman and falls in love. The two write letters and have a romance from afar as they are both traveling during the Crimean War. Theresa pursues Yelverton and despite his reluctance, eventually the two "marry" both in a private oral commitment in Scotland and with a Catholic priest in Ireland. Both marriages are inconclusive legally and several trials and appeals occur to determine their state of marriage after Yelverton marries another woman.

I have a lot of interest in the lives of women through different time periods and this book was very interesting from that perspective. The non-existent rights of women in marriage laws in the UK (and elsewhere) are explored through Theresa's life experience. After the trials, Theresa begins to travel the globe and her experiences in America and Asia are also recounted. The book relies heavily on Theresa's own words through letters, columns, and novels that she writes.

I began the book not really liking Theresa very much. She seems to make some very stereotypical mistakes regarding the man in her life. She falls for the "bad guy" who doesn't treat her very well. But I felt like she really came into her own after everything ended with the trials and she began to travel on her own. It's obvious that she also discovers a lot about herself. She writes several times about how the very independence that brings her into interesting life situations makes people she meets in those situations disapprove of her. It seems like a pretty common occurrence for women in that time period (and sometimes still today).

One thing about this book that I have to say I didn't like, though, is the title and cover art! It made me slightly embarrassed to be carrying this book around. I also think the title might lead some people to believe the book will be more sensational and readable and less scholarly than it is. I would never have picked this book up off the shelf with this title, but with a more scholarly title I would definitely gravitate to the subject.

Great review! The book does sound interesting.

Good luck on being a mom and finding time to read. I tell everyone I know, and some I don't, that when my second son was born, I made a choice between reading and getting enough sleep. Reading won!

I got a kindle for mother's day! I'm pretty excited about it and am hoping it allows me to read more "on the go" now that I'm a mom. I have mixed feelings about it of course. I love my actual books! But I'm curious to see how this goes and experiment with it.

Anyone have any advice or suggestions on using it effectively?

#9 The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe
I've decided to count short stories towards my 50 "books" this year since my reading time is so limited now. Sorry if you think it's cheating!

Anyway, this is my first read on the kindle and I really like it! It's much easier to hold a kindle plus a baby than it is to hold a book. The screen is fantastic to read on and it's been easy to navigate so far.

As far as the actual story - um, ew. This is typical creepy Poe - an alcoholic main character cutting the eye out of some poor cat, hanging it, murdering his wife and then hiding her body in a wall. Gross. But I love the writing and words so much!

I downloaded the complete works of Poe, Chekov, and Arthur Conan Doyle so lots of short stories to come!

#10 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
I can already tell this will be one of my favorite books of the year. This is historical fiction about Thomas Cromwell, who was Henry the VIII's right hand man during the transition between Queen Katherine and Anne Boleyn.

This book is written differently than other historical fiction that I've read and I loved the differences. First, it's written in the present tense which gives the book an immediacy that I loved and that made it feel very fresh - even though I've read lots of fiction and non-fiction covering this period. Second, the writing style is very literary, in that there is interesting character development, foreshadowing, symbolism, etc. It isn't just a straight ahead account of "the life and times of . . ." but it also isn't a cheesy romance like some books covering this time period (ahem, Philippa Gregory!).

Another great book that I learned about through LT! Thanks!

I loved Wolf Hall, too. And there is supposed to be a sequel on the way!

Congrats on the Kindle! So much easier than trying to hold a book open while you're nursing.

<26 Exactly!! I'm getting much more reading done now!

#11 The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Not impressed. I think I wasn't in the mood for all that flowery language. I will admit, though, that the premise of the story has real potential. Actually, I think there is a movie version of this, and I can picture that working really well. I just didn't enjoy the writing - too over the top.

<26 Exactly! I'm getting much more reading done now!

Just stopping by to say hello! Hope you and your baby are well! I'm trying to get caught up on everyone's threads....phew...I've missed so much!

Wolf Hall- I HAVE got to read that book! Soon. Real soon. Thanks for the reminder!

#12 Bright from the Start by Jill Stamm
First of all, please don't think I'm one of those mom's who wants her baby to be the smartest kid in the class, speaking 3 languages by age 4, reading at a year, etc! But watching a baby learn is fascinating and I wanted to do some reading about how a baby learns and how I can help the process and provide developmentally appropriate interactions, toys, etc. The cool part about reading this book is that it reinforced that the natural things you do with a baby are "right" and have a purpose. Talking, singing, playing peekaboo, etc. are all important to brain development and are things you do anyway. This author found very little use for the "edu-tainment" industry and I found that very reassuring. Most of the activities use common household items. So I didn't get too many new ideas from this book for William's current age, but it was neat to see how the brain develops and is wired. I will probably check it out from the library again when William is older since I thought some of the toddler activity ideas were fun and things I might not have thought of. Very interesting book.

#13 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
I haven't read this in about 20 years and I really loved reading it again. A few things surprised me that I didn't remember - mainly all the religious morals that are in the book. That part was a little annoying, but the characters are great and it's just comforting to read. I'm never really satisfied that Laurie and Amy end up together and Jo ends up with her Professor, but I still enjoyed reading this again.

#14 People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
This is a book about a book - the haggadah - a Jewish book historically important because of it's illuminations. I would loosely consider it historical fiction. The haggadah exists and a few of the facts in this novel are accurate, but for the most part everything is made up.

This book got a lot of positive reviews on LT, but it wasn't my favorite. I enjoyed the parts of the book where the author speculates on the book's journeys and role in history, but the main character is very annoying. She is a book conservator studying the haggadah. The parts about the haggadah are interesting because you get the idea that even the expert book conservator comes to a lot of wrong conclusions. The reader ends up knowing much more about the book's actual history than the expert ever will. But the author also tries to develop the main character through a totally implausible relationship with a museum curator and her relationship with her brain surgeon mother. Those parts are really ridiculous.

One kind of funny thing was that I read this on my kindle. I felt like a traitor the whole time because this book is all about the physical life of a book - who possesses it, the markings they leave in it, how it plays a part in their lives and in history - and here I am reading in a format that no one else will ever see or handle. Kind of ironic.

I have People of the Book on my TBR pile, and it has been there for ages, and after your review I think it'll stay there a bit longer.

And Laurie and Amy! I still wish he would have ended up with Jo. The professor was so - old.

#15 Nurture Shock by Po Bronson
This is a series of articles that challenge traditional ideas about raising children or children's needs. They range in topics from the effects of over-praising your children to teenage sleep needs to the proper time to analyze "gifted-ness" in young children. Interesting food for thought, but none of these articles go very in-depth.

#16 North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
I enjoyed this book but wasn't blown away. Some great characters and an interesting look at the differences between the northern manufacturing cities and southern countryside villages in Victorian England. Also explores the managers of manufacturing companies vs. the workers. Of course the main story line is about the heroine, Margaret Hale, and her competing love interests. I've read 3 books now by Gaskell in the last year (Cranford, Wives and Daughters, and North and South) and I've been surprised at how different they all feel. I mean, the writing style is the same, but the topics are fairly varied. I like her writing a lot.

Which one of the Gaskell's do you like the best?

I would say I enjoyed Wives and Daughters most. I think it does the best job of developing the characters and really staying focused on their lives. North and South side tracks into political and societal issues of the day which is interesting, but was a bit less engaging for me. Cranford was just a little more slow-paced than the other two and a bit lighter than I was looking for.

One caveat is that Wives and Daughters is unfortunately unfinished. Gaskell died while writing it. You do get far enough to feel like you know how it would end if she'd written it, but it is pretty disappointing when it just stops.

I'm just pretending that Wives and Daughters ended with the happy ending that I wanted to see. I'm sure Gaskell would have done that for me if she had lived.

#17 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Well, I'm not sure what all the hype was about. This book was a page-turner and good beach-read type of book, but I thought from all the good reviews it got that it might be something more. I don't want to give away the plot for anyone who hasn't read it yet, so I'll just say that it follows the typical mystery/thriller format and I wouldn't call it particularly innovative. I certainly wasn't surprised when the mystery was solved. The characters are fairly interesting, though I found their relationships pretty unbelievable. Anyway, now that I know what to expect I probably will read the other 2 books in this series when I want something easy and fast to read.

Oh no! I literally (really literally) just started reading Dragon Tattoo here at work under my desk (trying to make my boss think that I am in Deep Scientific Thought, so there is a journal article on my desk). So it isn't the most amazing book ever? But quick and easy should be good. Are you reading it on your kindle? B/C I have it in paperback and it is the ugliest book ever - neon yellow and green and orange I want to poke my eyes out.

I'm going back to my "work" now.

Yep, I read it on the kindle. I noticed how ugly that cover was too! It's definitely quick and easy and large parts of it I would definitely consider a "page-turner". It's fun as long as you don't expect too much. I'll be interested to see if Blomkvist's relationships are as annoying to you as they were to me!

#18 Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope
Not much to say except another Trollope book that I loved! One thing in general about Trollope though, is that I think he needs better titles for his books. "Doctor Thorne" does not do this book justice. Guess he wasn't very concerned about marketing!

#19 The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
I really enjoyed this book and it was one of those that really made me think. If you haven't read it, the following will give away some of the story so stop reading! But I figure between the popularity of the book and the movie, most people have a gist of the story. Kind of wish I could have read this before knowing everything that happens.

Two of the biggest things that I pondered during reading were 1) Though the author seems to discount the fact that he was only 15 when his relationship develops, I think his age deeply colored his attachment to Hanna and his reactions to her life. I felt that I couldn't trust his voice on this topic and being in first person, it made it difficult to look from the outside on the experience. 2) Because the book is told exclusively from Michael's point of view, I wondered just how much Hanna was affected by Michael and how large he was in her life vs. her experience as a concentration camp guard.

Basically, I enjoy any book that makes me think as much as this one did. Highly recommended!

#20 The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
Pretty much the same reaction as I had to the first one. Good page-turner, but not much more. I'll read the last one to see how it all turns out, but I definitely don't feel like I would have missed out if I hadn't read these at all.

I'm also working on Mysteries of Udolpho. I've always wanted to read this because it's referenced so much in Austen's Northanger Abbey. But, wow, it's not the fast-paced can't-put-it-down book she makes it out to be. And it's really, really long. I feel like I've been reading it forever and my kindle says I'm only 32% done. So that's been slowing me down with other reading, but I'm keeping at it. Also picking up In the Woods by Tana French from the library Monday. Looking forward to that one after some good reviews on LT!

I love that your kindle tells you exactly how far you are! Too bad about the Mysteries of Udolpho - it sounds like so much fun. And In the Woods is awesome! Let me know what you think of the ending.

Hello! :-)

I went through your readings and reviews from this year, and I see we have some books in common, plus I also plan to reread Little Women, it has been lying on my desk for a couple of weeks, but other books have gotten in it's way week by week.

I'd love to comment on what you wrote about The Reader. I too have been wondering about Hanna's feelings, and that's one reason I love books written in first person so much, because they make me more curious about the other characters. And it's interesting to see how close the story teller can get to the others, can figure out their thoughts. Sorry, I hope this makes sense. :-)

A friend suggested me to read The Picture of Dorian Gray, I see you didn't like the writing that much, I might get back to you on that one after I read it, I only started reading Wilde's works this year.

Some of the books you write about caught my attention: Wild Romance: A Victorian Story of a Marriage, A Trial, and A Self-Made Woman, Wolf Hall and definitely the Elizabeth Gaskell books. I might read these at some point, I added them to my to-read list.

That was all for this time, and I'd love to read through your 2009-thread as well.

Eudoxie - Thanks for checking in! I definitely know what you mean about reading in first person. I always wonder what is the impression of the narrator versus what is "true" or how people and events would be depicted if told by a neutral source. As I was thinking about this I realized I never reviewed a book I read recently, Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West. It's also a short novel written in the first person and I really enjoyed it. I'll have to actually review it soon - can't believe I forgot that, must be mommy-brain!

#21 In the Woods by Tana French
I tore through this book and really enjoyed it - couldn't put it down! It's a mystery/thriller BUT has really beautiful, intelligent writing - something that is sometimes hard to find for this genre. I'm not going to say much about the plot because I feel like anything I say will give away too much of the story. Actually, the plot was not the best part of this book in my opinion. I found it fairly predictable, especially the ending which I didn't really like. But the characterization and writing is fantastic. It's really hard not to compare this to the other mystery series I've been reading, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I've been so annoyed with how poor the writing is in that series so it was really refreshing to read Tana French's book. The book is written is first person and that really sucks you in. I think it really makes you ponder what version of events the other characters would give if their voices were heard. She also weaves great themes through the book, such as the reliability of memory. Mainly, though, I really loved the characters. One of the quotes on the back of the book says something like "the characters are so vivid I found myself wondering what they were doing even when I wasn't reading the book". I thought that was a great way to describe how well French got inside the heads of her characters. I'll definitely be reading her other books.

#22 Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
Another book I really loved. This is a short novel about a soldier who comes back from WWI with amnesia. He can't remember the last 15 years of life which means that he does not remember his current wife and instead believes he is still courting another woman. The novel is told from the point of view of his cousin who lives with him and his wife. West packs a lot into this short novel and every word really counts. I also noticed while reading this that it was published DURING WWI. I felt that it was probably really emotional to read for a lot of people - no space there. It felt very modern to read and has a heart-breaking "happy" ending.

Read it!!!

I took your advice and just started reading The Return of the Soldier :-)

#23 A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
Um this book has a LOT of sex in it, like, a lot. It's about a man who lives in Wisconsin in the early 1900s and puts out an ad for a wife. And then you find out about his sordid past, the wife's sordid past, and his illegitimate son's sordid past. It's a really smutty book and to counteract it, Goolrick tries to use this overly-literary tone. I wasn't really fooled. But I have to admit that it was a fairly gripping story and it is a page turner. I guess it's interesting that the author's inspiration was a non-fiction book called Wisconsin Death Trip that is about rural Wisconsin and all the horrible things (murders, insanity, suicide, etc.) that happen there. I'm actually not sure whether to recommend it or not. It's short, so it doesn't waste a lot of time, but I was pretty annoyed the whole time I was reading. BUT I did read it really fast so I don't think it could have been too bad - unless I just wanted to get it over with . . .

#24 The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson
Same reaction as my other reviews. Entertaining, but not mind-blowing. I thought Larsson kind of left some of the government conspiracy angle unresolved, but it wasn't the most interesting part to me anyway. I'm really looking forward to the movies. I haven't watched any yet. If they are done well, I think they could be better than the books.

#25 A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx by Elaine Showalter

I've been working on this one for a while and it unfortunately wasn't as interesting as I hoped it would be. This is basically what the title describes - an overview of women writers in America. Showalter seems to attempt to give credit to women who've been shut out of the American canon by white, male critics and scholars. I admire this attempt, but I wasn't really convinced. I thought I would come away with dozens of new books I just had to read, but that wasn't the case. There were a couple of authors (Gwendolyn Brooks, Shirley Jackson, Annie Proulx) who I know of but haven't gotten around to reading that moved up the TBR list a bit. But for most of the "unknowns" I just wasn't convinced that they sounded that great. I'm not sure if that is the book's fault or not. If you aren't very familiar with women authors this book might be interesting to skim, but otherwise I wouldn't rush out to read it.

#25 A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx by Elaine Showalter

I've been working on this one for a while and it unfortunately wasn't as interesting as I hoped it would be. This is basically what the title describes - an overview of women writers in America. Showalter seems to attempt to give credit to women who've been shut out of the American canon by white, male critics and scholars. I admire this attempt, but I wasn't really convinced. I thought I would come away with dozens of new books I just had to read, but that wasn't the case. There were a couple of authors (Gwendolyn Brooks, Shirley Jackson, Annie Proulx) who I know of but haven't gotten around to reading that moved up the TBR list a bit. But for most of the "unknowns" I just wasn't convinced that they sounded that great. I'm not sure if that is the book's fault or not. If you aren't very familiar with women authors this book might be interesting to skim, but otherwise I wouldn't rush out to read it.

Hi! Just a quick hello! You're doing so well in your challenge! I'm pretty sure the only thing I read when my daughter was born was Baby Books (like What to Expect the First Year), and kids picture books! Good for you!

#25 sounds like the kind of book in which the index is the most useful part. I'm a little bit curious as to who the "unknowns" are now. BTW, you'll love Shirley Jackson (and I think we read The Lottery, one of her short stories, in an English class in middle school or high school but I could be wrong).

Louanne - thanks for the encouragement! I'm pretty happy with the amount of reading of done considering what life is like now!

Jenny - Hmmm, I don't remember reading The Lottery, but there are a lot of things about high school I don't remember anymore! A few of the "unknowns" (to me anyway) were Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Helen Hunt Jackson, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Amy Lowell, Augusta Jane Evans . . . the list goes on. And I had to look those names up again, because even after reading this they didn't leave much of an impression on me. It was interesting to skim through, but I probably shouldn't have tried to read it cover to cover!

#26 The Age of Comfort: When Paris Discovered Casual - And the Modern Home Began by Joan DeJean

This was an early reviewers book that I was a little ambivalent about reading, but actually, I ended up enjoying it a lot. Here's my review.

This is a very interesting book about the rise of the idea of living comfortably that happened in France in the early 1700s. DeJean breaks the book into chapters about different inventions and developments that all aided this age of comfort and the transition away from the formality of the age of magnificence. Some of the most interesting chapters dealt with the architecture of homes and a move away from public spaces in the home towards private spaces, i.e. the bedroom and boudoir. Also the development of the bathroom complete with flush toilet, the use of cotton as a comfortable fabric, and the design of woman's clothes in a more comfortable manner, and the development of furniture such as the sofa and easy chair. She explains how all of these things truly changed the culture of France.

To me, the most incredible thing about this book was that so many of these things were in use in the early 1700s and were destroyed and fell out of use after the French Revolution. Can you imagine having private bathrooms with flush toilets and bathtubs and then giving that up for almost a hundred years! Crazy.

The topic of this book may seem uninteresting at first glance, but I think it would appeal to many people and would definitely recommend giving it a try. DeJean is an entertaining and informative writer.

#27 Fanny's Last Supper by Chris Kimball
This is a book that I received through the early reviewers program. I have to admit that I am not a cook; in fact, my husband does literally all of our cooking and is very good at it. That being said I'm very familiar with Chris Kimball, America's Test Kitchen, and Cooks Illustrated through my husband who uses their recipes often.

This book is Chris Kimball's attempt to recreate an elaborate, 12 course, Victorian dinner as it would have been conceived in his home town of Boston. He is the perfect person to do this since he already lives in Boston in an enormous Victorian-era home. In this book he uses Fanny Farmer's wildly popular cookbook as a starting point to creating the menu. While researching and testing recipes, he concludes that many of Fanny's recipes really aren't that good and supplements them with other recipes from the era and a few more modern techniques. But most of the cooking is done on a Victorian wood-burning oven and the menu is pretty authentic to the era. He then hosts a dinner party for 12 guests, trying to stay close to the way it would have been back then.

Interspersed with the menu planning and cooking trials, Kimball inserts historical information and anecdotes about Boston during the Victorian-era and his own sense of humor is evident throughout the book. Anyone who has ever seen him on America's Test Kitchen will hear his voice reading this book as they read. This was a bit of a problem for me at first, because this guy is a huge dork - anyone who's seen his show knows what I mean! (I didn't put that last sentence in my ER review!)

As I read this book, I was feeling like they were modifying so many recipes that the final product wouldn't really seem very "Victorian". However, the chapter that describes the dinner brings it all together. Only the Victorian era would have multiple "jellies" for dessert, roast goose, calf brain soup, and punch among others similarly unfamiliar dishes to the modern eater. And they made everything but one cake with the wood stove.

Even though I'm no cook, I enjoyed reading this book and will pass it along.

this guy is a huge dork

I love him! Why do you say this? Is it the bow tie? ;-)

It's the bow tie, the voice, etc. - but I do like the show!

This isn't a book review, but I saw the Swedish movie version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last night. I thought it was really good, maybe better than the book. The only thing they left out of the movie was all of the women throwing themselves at Blomkvist, and I was ok with that! I'm guessing the version with Daniel Craig will have a lot more of that in it! As always when watching a European film, I noticed right away that the actors and actresses are obviously picked for their acting abilities instead of their perfect (thought airbrushed) faces and bodies. Refreshing.

#28 Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope
Yay, another Trollope book! This is book four of the Barsetshire series and a lot of the characters from earlier books start to reappear and interact. I really enjoy these books and am very grateful to LT (jfetting) for bringing them to my attention!

#29 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
I know this has been a popular book on LT, so I won't go into too many details, but I will say that I really enjoyed it and found it quite eye-opening. It definitely made me think about my medical privacy (or lack of it!). I enjoyed the parts about Henrietta's life and the science behind her cells most and was less impressed by the story of the rest of her family, but overall I enjoyed the book. So much so that I'm giving it to a friend for Christmas!

#30 The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope
I enjoyed this, the fifth book in Trollope's Barsetshire series. It wasn't my favorite of the set, but didn't derail me enough to stop me from wanting to read the last, and very long, book in the series. Looking forward to it in 2011.

And I'm pretty sure that wraps up my reading for 2010. I guess 30 books isn't bad for a new mom, but hopefully I can step it up and get to a few more next year.

Favorite books in 2010:
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
In the Woods by Tana French
Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

I will most likely do this 50 books challenge again and am considering doing a modified version of the 11 in 2011 challenge as well. I'll be back with links in the next week or so!

Congratulations! 30 books is a lot for a new mom! :-)

Thanks Eudoxie!

Here are links to my two new challenge threads.

The 50 book challenge is here.

The 11 in 2011 challenge is here.

Thanks Eudoxie!

Here are links to my two new challenge threads.

The 50 book challenge is here.

The 11 in 2011 challenge is here.