Running501's 50

I'm new to this challenge (and a little behind) and new to the site.

I'm currently reading This Book Will Save Your Life and also finished 4 Months to a 4 Hour Marathon in January.

1.75 down/48.25 to go.

Listened to Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar on CD (I'm counting it); wow - very neurotic. Finished The Lucky One - needed an easy read while I was sick. Currently reading Lullaby - LOVE IT!

4.5 down/45.5

Just bought a Kindle. Yet to read anything on it, but excited to finish Lullaby and try out a free eBook.

Finished my first Kindle book - The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. The book was an interesting read, and I love the Kindle (it will never completely replace books for me, but I do love it).

Currently reading another Kindle freebie - Daring Chloe.

6.75 down/43.25 to go.

Finished The Reader by Schlink. Even though I haven't seen the movie, I kept imagining Kate Winslet as Hanna. Would like to watch it and compare - I liked the book.

8/42

I hate that sometimes these "Touchstones" work and sometimes they don't....

Currently reading a couple of books, but just finished Blue Christmas, audio book version. The best thing about this book was the narrator - made a typical storyline somewhat entertaining.

The best thing about audio books is that I branch out and listen to things I'd never read. The worst things about audio books is that a lot of it turns out to be crap.

9 down/41 left

Spent Saturday morning finishing the last half of The Apothecary's Daughter. Loved this book - read almost like a Jane-Austen-For-Dummies - similar story, only more focused on the work of apothecary's and easier to follow.

10/40

Loved Saving CeeCee Honeycutt.

11 down/39 to go.

Not quite where I wanted to be at the end of March, but now that the weather's getting nice, can't wait to spend afternoons on my patio with my dog and a book.

Just finished the audio book, written and narrated by Gene Simmons, Sex Money Kiss. In short, this book is about Simmons's philosophy on money and women - it's hilarious, yet the fact that this is actually the way he thinks is sad. It is not "PC" at all, and many things in the book could be taken very offensively. I however, viewed this as comic relief, not as an advise book.

12 down/38 left

(would like to be at 35 by the end of the month - 3 books in 6 days - here goes...)

Just finished Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk. Must be a crazy place in his mind. His books always keep me entertained, but I was a little disappointed in this one; the narrator keeps repeating that he is telling his life story in reverse, and the book's chapters are even ascending, yet the story is still told in chronological order. Though it would have been confusing, I would have loved for it to have actually been told backwards.

13/37

Finished The Extra Mile about ultra-runner Pam Reed earlier this month. The cover and all the reviews talk about how inspiring her story is, and while I think she's amazing, the book was NOT a dose of motivation.

14 down/36 to go

Currently reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Just finished listening to White Lies - trashy romance novel. I didn't know what I was getting into when I checked it out - ugh.

15/35

Still reading The Adventures of Sherlock Homes...

If You liked the Gene Simmons book, you might like I Am Ozzy. I'm at about page 125 and liking it. It won't ever be classic literature, but it's funny and kind of interesting. He tells it like it is.

Loved Making Rounds with Oscar. This book is a look at what happens to families who have a loved one that has dementia, disguised by the comforting stories of Oscar the Cat who lives at a nursing home. It was a hard read for me, as my grandfather had dementia and spent his last years in a nursing home, and I think I read most of the book with watery eyes - but it is a beautiful story.

16/34

After hearing about this book, I wanted to like The Elegance of the Hedgehog, but sadly, I did not. I suffered through the lengthy ramblings and meandering trains-of-thought, and though the second half was better than the first, I am not sure it was worth the trouble. I did enjoy the final chapter - for more reasons that the fact that the book was finally coming to an end.

17 down/33 to go

...and STILL working on Sherlock Holmes...

Was so sad to finish The Help - I wanted more. I quickly became engrossed in the characters and did not want to leave them.

This book as received tons of rave reviews, and I found it every bit deserving of them.

18 down/32 more...

Was not so sad to finish Born in Fire.

This is the first Nora Robert's book I've read (I received three of her books as a birthday gift a few years ago and with the New Year's Resolution, decided it's time to read them), and I have to say, I was unimpressed. Maybe one of the other ones will be better.

19/31

Want to finish 6 books in June - one of them being Sherlock Holmes that I'm taking my dear, sweet time finishing....

Finished Brava, Valentine.

It was okay - made me want to shoe shop - but now I'm feeling like I need a break from chick-lit.

20 down/30 to go.

Hi Running501, I was disappointed to read your review of the Elegance of the Hedgehog, I got it as a present recently and was really looking forward to it but am less eager to grab it off my shelf now :(
On the other hand, I just ordered The Help online a couple of days ago and now I'm very anxious to start reading it!!

Read gods in Alabama this weekend.

A lot of people gave this book a negative review because they think the characters show too many negative Southern stereotypes and that Southern writers should start showing the South in a more positive light - but I liked it. While I like to think that these stereotypes are the exception and not the rule, I know people like this family. Check out the review page for more details.

The best part of this book, to me, was that the plot kept me guessing the whole time, and I wasn't able to resolve it before I read it - which isn't the case with a lot of chick-lit.

21 down/29 to go.

Just finished listening to Palin's Going Rogue: An American Life. And note - if you're going to listen to the audiobook, she is the narrator.

I'm not quite sure what to say about it. I agreed with some of what she had to say; I rolled my eyes at others. Sometimes I felt like I was listening to a commercial for Alaska - and Ronald Reagan, but most of the time I felt like she just wanted to tell people her points-of-view because she felt like the campaign hindered and edited her too much. Her side of the story made me spend a lot of time seeing what the people she mentions in her book had to say in response.

I'm not big into politics - I was really just interested in hearing her take on some of those infamous moments during the campaign. It was an interesting "read".

22 down/28 to go.

Spent a few hours in Barnes and Noble this weekend, reading Palahniuk's latest, Tell-All.

It was pretty tame compared to his other books, but I liked it. Coincidentally, I've also been reading a biography about Cary Grant, and both books name-drop a lot of the same people.

23 down/27 to go

Finished Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz.

This is my first Koontz novel - I listened to the audio book. It was a little slow, but enough to keep me interested and guessing. I have one of his books at home - will have to read it soon (especially since my goal this year was to read a lot of what's sitting on my shelves rather than buying more books - but somehow I keep finding freebies to read instead...)

24 down/26 to go.

FINALLY finished The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Took me long enough...

25 down - 25 to go. Made the halfway point before the end of June!

Listened to the audio book of Nicolas Sparks's The Last Song. Typical Sparks novel - a heart-warming, somewhat tear-jerking story about love and family. The story was good, it is not his best - and the audio version was terrible. Will have to watch the movie now and compare.

I'm also about 50 pages from completing Marc Elliot's biography of Cary Grant (will finish this afternoon). Most of the book is Elliot comparing the movies that Grant makes with what was simultaneously going on in his life - issues with lovers and wives, friends, family, alcohol, LSD therapy, directors that helped to shape him. It's an interesting look at the timeless film legend.

26.85 down, 23.15 to go.

I returned Cary Grant to the library last Friday and picked up David Sedaris's Me Talk Pretty One Day. I have to be honest - I found this book through Librarything - which told me I probably would not like it - and decided I'd test the website's take on my taste. It was wrong - I liked the book. Sedaris tells seemingly ordinary stories in a very comical way - very entertaining.

28 down/22 to go

I'm currently reading Anna Karenina on the Kindle. I started last Thursday and let in consume me all weekend - I'm half-way through it. I went to the library just to get out of the house for a little while Saturday and sat there, reading the three inch printed version and suddenly, I became a little intimidated. Haven't read any on it since Sunday...getting back to it tonight.

28.5 down/21.5 to go....although .5 of Tolstoy is about the size of my normal reads...should count for two :-)

Finished another book by David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. Again, Sedaris has a way of telling the ordinary in a very comical and entertaining way.

I also joined a book club which is meeting next week - so this weekend I'll be trying to devourer the book...

And I'm about 60% through Anna Karenina. My goal is to finish by the end of July.

29.6 down/20.4 to go

Sat at the bookstore for a couple of hours Friday and read Animal Farm.

30.6 down/19.4 to go.

Haven't finished my book club read yet...must do tonight!

Just finished the audiobook of The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell.

I'm a fan of Sex and the City (more the show than the book - which read exactly like the first season) - and an even bigger fan of the short lived Lipstick Jungle - but I wasn't a fan of this. It's labeled as a young adult book - and while I did find it a bit juvenile, I think it's for mature young adults...

31.6 down/18.4 to go

Finished my book club read last night - Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B. Ross.

It was a cute story - but very frustrating for me - I guess because I'm an independent female, and I can't imagine not being one - as Miss Julia always seems to be tangled in some mess, relying on other people.

Now...back to Anna Karenina...

32.6 down/17.4 to go!

Received a book of poetry from the Member's Giveaway - Unsaid Words of My Life by Isaias Doleo Ochoa.

Both the book and the poems were short, but encouraging and uplifting. The poems are mixed with "words for reflection" - notable quotes from various famous people.

33.6 down/16.4 to go

Read Like Water for Chocolate.

I'm not quite sure how I came across this book, but I checked it out from the library. Though it was a fast read, I didn't really care for the book - especially the ending. It was a bit of a dark, sad fairy-tale in which I didn't really connect with any of the characters.

As when I was reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog, I wonder if something was lost in translation.

34.6 down - 15.4 to go.

I have too many books going right now...I've still got about 40% of Anna Karenina to finish; I started reading Deja Dead as I've recently become infatuated with watching the TV show "Bones" via Netflix; this month's tentative book club read is The Book Thief; I really want to read Eat Pray Love before the movie comes out next week, plus another library book due back before the end of the month...not to mention the audiobook I find myself having a hard time getting into...

Finished The Book Thief and Deja Dead this weekend - two rather morbid books for entirely different reasons.

Though it was written quite simply, the subject matter of The Book Thief made it a hard read (Germany during World War II). Not a book I would have read as a young adult. And while I wanted to find out how the book ended, it was a slow read.

Deja Dead, on the other hand, was very consuming - a little cliff-hanger at the end of each chapter made the book hard to put down. There are obvious differences between the books and the show (Bones), but well worth the read. I cringed a little at some of the descriptions of the murder victims that were found...

36 down/14 to go

Currently reading Eat Pray Love; watching the movie on Wednesday - so 200 pages to finish before then...

Finished Eat Pray Love today - just in time to watch the movie tonight.

I have a feeling that even though I love Julia Roberts, the movie won't be as good as the book. I really identified with Liz Gilbert's search to find herself again after losing herself in relationships that ended badly. And on a lighter note, her descriptions of walking around Rome made me miss the semester I spent abroad there - had to dig up my pictures.

37 down/13 to go!

85% through Anna Karenina!

I've also been trying to read The Gathering, but it's boring me back into reading Tolstoy.

Hope to finish them both before leaving for vacation Thursday so I can start a new one...and won't be bored to tears on the flight.

Well...a month and half later (and 9 1/2 books between) - I finally completed Anna Karenina!

It may be a sacrilege to say this, but I both loved and hated this classic. I loved the overall plot, but the lengthy ramblings about peasants, agriculture, politics, and religion were too much.

38 read/12 to go

Well done on completing Anna Karenina - it was on my list of absolutely must reads this year, but it is still staring at me from the shelf unopened. :(

I randomly woke up thinking about the poem "The Walrus and The Carpenter", so I decided to read Through the Looking Glass today.

LOVED the poetry - and the imagery.

39 complete/11 left.

Read Water for Elephants on vacation.

In short, the story follows a man (Jacob) traveling with a circus for a few months. I found it very engaging and easy to read.

40 down/10 left - 3 1/2 months to go.

Yesterday, I listened to the audiobook American Music.

Librarything said I would love the book, but I just found it okay. It was a bit confusing, with various intersecting stories, and the climax was, well, anticlimactic. Maybe I would have enjoyed more if I had read it...or maybe Librarything was wrong, again...

I also (finally) finished The Gathering by Anne Enright last night.

It is on the 1001 books you must read list; I do not agree. I found it absolutely boring and miserable. While I did not like the way the book was written - the plot flip-flops between (too many) different times - I imagine this is what you feel like when someone very close dies and you are having a mid-life crisis like the narrator, Veronica Hegarty. There are far better books on similar subjects.

42 read/8 to go!

Listened to the audiobook Are You There Vodka? It's me, Chelsea.

Not a fan. I've never watched her on tv, and while the book was mildly entertaining, her sense of humor is just lewd. Her stories were dry without her crude comments about everything, and while I found the comments funny at first, I soon realized there wasn't much more to her comedy.

I'm also 258/366 pages completed with this month's book club read; we are each reading a book from the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters.

43.7 down/6.3 to go.

Finished The Falcon in the Portal last night (a little late for the Book Club meeting - whoops!)

This is book #11 in the Amelia Peabody Mystery series, and the first one I've read. I really enjoyed it - part mystery, part love story, part history. There were references to events that happened the previous books, but not so much that they need to necessarily be read in order.

44 down/ 6 to go!!!

My "To-be-read-soon list" (aka the too many books I've borrowed from other people) includes:

Blaming by Elizabth Taylor (from the 1001 list)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Promise Me (about Susan G. Komen - October is national Breast Cancer Awareness Month!)
Me: Stories of My Life by Katherine Hepburn
Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert

Looks like I'll just need one more to make my 50! I'd like to get at least 4 of those read by the end of October.

Finished Blaming. It was a little slow for my taste.

Currently listening to the audio version of Committed, narrated by Gilbert herself. I'm about halfway finished, and so far, I've loved it.

45.5 completed/ 4.5 left!

Finished the audio book Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat Pray Love).

I LOVED this. Sometimes, I don't like audio versions of books, even by my favorite authors, but this one was good. I think one of the reason that I liked it so much is because I, too, am a little skeptical, though not to Gilbert's level, and I really related to it. The book is about half history of marriage, divorce,and statics relating to the two, and half her personal love story. Very informing view of marriage.

46 down/4 to go in 2.5 months (I think I've got this...)

Power-read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - three days and 580 pages is at least fast for me.

I thought this didn't quite live up to all the hype. I had been warned about the grotesqueness of the story, but compared to some of the other things I've read (I'm thinking Palahniuk here - and even Deja Dead), it wasn't quite as bad as I had imagined. The mystery part was very good, but I didn't love the characters and I felt like there was far too much corporate drama; I think the business part of the book was really why I didn't like it more.

47 down/3 to go

Doubt I'll get the 4th book in for October, but it's still a possibility.

Well - I wasted away November in terms of reading; too much going on around the holidays. Doesn't help that I misplaced the book I had started - Promise Me, about Susan G. Komen for the Cure founder, Nancy G. Brinker - and I have not wanted to start a new book until I find and finish that one.

But 3 more to go - so I'm listening to the audiobook of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith. I was hesitant because I'm not into the whole vampire fad that's developed (I refuse to watch or read Twlight) but it's pretty entertaining.

The only thing I've been reading lately are study guides for some upcoming exams. I'm counting the one I have finished. Take that, ARE.

48 down/2 to go

Still listening to Abraham Lincoln fighting vampires...

Read Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know on the Kindle. It only took the second fairy tale (The Magic Mirror - or Snow White) for me to realize that my family owned this book when I was a child. I remember looking at beautiful illustrations, but never reading all the stories. There are many popular fairy tales (Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, etc), though the written versions are much darker than the Disney Classics.

49 completed - ONLY ONE REMAINING!!!

And....I found my missing book!! Not sure which one I'll finish first, but can't wait to relax and read during holiday travels and downtime.