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Definitely not for meArchive for March, 2008
« Previous Entries Monday, March 31st, 2008Initials Reading Challenge
April 1 through November 30.
Click on the button for more info.
Since I’m reading the Harry Potter series right now, this will be easy to complete. Here’s my list:
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
by J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
- Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
- Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
Popularity: 13% [?]
Sunday, March 30th, 2008Sunday Salon 03.30.08
I really can’t believe the first quarter of 2008 is over. It doesn’t seem possible. I updated my challenge log to take stock of how I’m doing, and I know I won’t finish some challenges that I wanted to participate in, but of course I’ll keep plugging along. I finished a big one, The Book Awards Challenge, with 24 books completed. See my wrap-up post below.
How do book awards and prizes affect your reading? Do you make a conscious effort to read from certain lists? Do you have a certain prize that you enjoy reading from more than others? So far I would have to say that I have enjoyed the Pulitzer winners the most so far, and I’ve probably had the least luck with the Booker Prize list. I also really enjoy reading the Newbery winners. Although those are children’s books, they help ‘lighten me up’ after reading heavier subject matter in adult books.
Enjoy your day, everyone!
Popularity: 16% [?]
Saturday, March 29th, 2008Book Awards Challenge Complete!!
I’ve finished this challenge as my goal was 24 books, but I’ll still keep adding any award winners that I read until June 30. I finished 19 books in 2007, and so far, 5 11 in 2008. Here’s the breakdown on how many of each type of award winner I read:
Pulitzer: 6 8
Booker: 4 6
Nobel laureates: 5 6
Newbery: 6
Orange: 1
Costa/Whitbread: 1
Bram Stoker: 1
Prix Renaudot: 1
NBCC: 1
IMPAC: 1
Hugo: 1
Caldecott: 1
Alex: 1
Governor General: 1
There are more than 24 listed above because some books won multiple awards.
My favorites were Half of a Yellow Sun, The Tale of Despereaux, Kristin Lavransdatter I, Suite Francaise, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. My least favorite by far was The Sea by John Banville.
As for Book Awards II, I have decided that right now there are so many challenges out there that it would be best to wait for 2009 for the next challenge. Tentatively, the challenge will go from February 1 through November 1 with a requirement of 9 books in at least 5 different categories. I’ll post more details in the last quarter of 2008.
Here’s my list of books read:
1. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (Booker 2000)
2. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (Booker 1997)
3. The Sea by John Banville (Booker 2005)
4. A Death in the Family by James Agee (Pulitzer 1958)
5. The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron (Newbery 2007)
6. The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli (Newbery 1950)
7. The Known World by Edward P. Jones (Pulitzer, IMPAC, NBCC)
8. The Hours by Michael Cunningham (Pulitzer)
9. The White Stag by Kate Seredy (Newbery 1938)
10. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Pulitzer)
11. Lisey’s Story by Stephen King (Bram Stoker 2007)
12. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Orange 2007)
13. Bud, not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (Newbery)
14. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (Newbery)
15. Buying a Fishing Rod for my Grandfather by Gao Xingjian (Nobel Laureate)
16. The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx (Pulitzer)
17. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder (Pulitzer)
18. Kristin Lavransdatter I: The Wreath by Sigrid Undset (Nobel laureate)
19. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky (Prix Renaudot)
20. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon (Costa/Whitbread)
21. Independent People by Halldor Laxness (Nobel)
22 The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (Nobel)
23. Life & Times of Michael K by J. M. Coetzee (Booker Prize, Nobel laureate)
24. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz (Newbery)
25. Kaddish for a Child not Born by Imre Kertesz (Nobel)
26. Detective Story by Imre Kertesz (Nobel)
27. Beloved by Toni Morrison (Pulitzer/Nobel)
28. Maus I and Maus II by Art Spiegelman (Pulitzer Special Award)
29. The Gathering by Anne Enright (Booker Prize)
30. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (Hugo)
31. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (Caldecott)
32. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Booker)
33. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Alex)
34. Bear by Marian Engel (Governal General’s)
Popularity: 18% [?]
Thursday, March 27th, 2008The Nobel 5 Challenge
Some of us have been reading and reviewing books by Nobel winners at Read the Nobels, and Aloi has just challenged us to read and review 5 books before the end of the year. I’ve already read three so far in 2008: Independent People, The Bluest Eye, and Life & Times of Michael K.
Here’s my list for the rest of 2008 (I might substitute if necessary):
- Kaddish for a Child Not Born by Kertesz (2002 laureate)
- Detective Story by Imre Kertesz (2002 laureate)
- Beloved by Toni Morrison (1993 laureate)
- Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak (1958 laureate)
- The Wife by Sigrid Undset (1928 laureate)
- ? by Steinbeck (1962 laureate)
- The Fifth Child by Lessing (2007 laureate)
Popularity: 13% [?]
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008Once Upon a Time II
March 21 - June 20, 2008
Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings is again hosting the Once Upon A Time Challenge. There are three quests to choose from.
- Quest 1 — Read five books from any category or combination of category from the fantasy, mythology, fairytale, or folklore genres.
- Quest 2 — Read one book from each of the four categories.
- Quest 3 — Choose EITHER Quest 1 OR 2 AND also read Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
I’ll be choosing Quest 1. Here are my choices (yes, this is my first time for the HP’s!):
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Thanks, Carl, for hosting again!
Popularity: 13% [?]
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008Spring Reading Thing ‘08
Lasts March 20 through June 19
For more info, click on the button. All of these are ARCs and/or free new books that I’ve received from various sources. I plan on having 12 titles in total, and I’ll choose them from the following list:
- Winter Haven by Athol Dickson (4/1/08)
- Belong to Me by Marisa De Los Santos (4/1/08)
- The Sister by Poppy Adams (6/17/08)
- The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway (5/15/08)
- The Mayor’s Tongue by Nathaniel Rick (4/17/08)
- Keeper and Kid by Edward Hardy (1/08/08)
- The Forgery of Venus by Michael Gruber (4/01/08)
- Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski (LT ER)
- Imagine Me and You by Billy Mernit (4/8/08 — LT ER)
- The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie (5/27/08 — LT ER)
- The Bible Salesman by Clyde Edgerton (8/11/08)
- Songs for the Missing by Stewart O’Nan (10/30/08)
- The Secret Between Us by Barbara Delinsky (1/22/08)
- Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen by Susan Gregg Gilmore (2/12/08)
- The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merrill Block (4/1/08)
- Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (3/25/08)
- The Journal of Curious Letters by James Dashner (3/3/08 — LT ER)
- Tigerheart by Peter David (6/17/08)
- The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton (6/17/08)
- The Island of Eternal Love by Daina Chaviano (6/12/08)
- The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson (8/5/08)
- Dervishes by Beth Helms (LT ER)
- Nick of Time by Ted Bell (5/13/08)
Popularity: 13% [?]
Saturday, March 22nd, 2008Winter Reading Challenge Completed!
Thanks, Inksplasher for hosting this challenge. My favorites were Silence, Cat’s Eye, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Anne of Green Gables, and The Only Road North. All of them were new authors except for Mary Doria Russell and Margaret Atwood. Although I liked all the books, my least favorites (all were rated 3.5/5) were Dreamers of the Day, Sitting Practice, and Embers. Here are the twelve books I read:
- The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
- Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell
- Sitting Practice by Caroline Adderson
- Independent People by Halldor Laxness
- The Only Road North by Mirandette
- Silence by Endo
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood
- Life & Times of Michael K by Coetzee
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Haddon
- Anne of Green Gables by Montgomery
- Embers by Sandor Marai
Popularity: 11% [?]
Thursday, March 20th, 2008Embers by Sandor Marai
Embers by Sandor Marai is a novel about Henrik and Konrad, two men who share a deep friendship from childhood. The novel opens with Konrad visiting Henrik for the first time in 41 years. The reasons why the pair were separated for so long are unraveled throughout the book.
Henrik comes from a privileged, wealthy background while Konrad is from poorer stock. They both attend a military training academy as youngsters, but Henrik is much more suited to the military life, while Konrad wishes to pursue the finer arts such as music. When Henrik’s father (a military man himself) meets Konrad for the first time, he states to his son that his friend will never be suited to the military because he is a ‘different sort of man.’
As they meet at Henrik’s castle for the first time in four decades, they discuss at first what they have been doing during that time, and then come to the reasons why these two friends have not seen each other for so long. The background to the story involves the first 80 or so pages, and then a dinner party discussion between the two goes on for the remaining part of the novel. Most of this discussion is a one-sided monologue by Henrik. In fact, Henrik goes on speaking about the pair’s past for almost the entire last 70 pages. While Henrik’s monologue goes on much too long, some of the passages were beautifully written:
The feeling that bound me to my mother and to you and to Krisztina was always the same, a longing, a hope in search of something, a helpless, sad yearning. For we always love the ‘other,’ we always seek it out, no matter what the circumstances and sudden changes in our lives….The greatest secret and the greatest gift any of us can be offered is the chance for two ’similar’ people to meet. It happens so rarely — it must be because nature uses all its force and cunning to prevent such harmony — perhaps it’s that creation and the renewal of life need the tension that is generated between two people of opposite temperaments who seek each other out. Like an alternating current. . . an exchange of energy between positive and negative poles, think of all the despair and the blind hope that lie behind this duality.
The book has quite a bit of suspense to it. I was definitely interested and engaged and wanted to know the pair’s secret, but at the end, it just didn’t quite satisfy. I would like to re-read this someday as a translation from the Hungarian to English. This translation was in English from the German translation of the original Hungarian, which doesn’t seem like it would quite work. In fact, I noticed in a few spots that the same words or phrases were repeated too close together. In one instance, ‘prettified’ was a word used twice in close proximity, and it just didn’t fit. I would read more by this author, though, if there were direct translations available.
1942, 213 pp.
Rating: 3.5
Also reviewed by:
Popularity: 49% [?]
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008TV on Tuesday
I’m looking forward to American Idol tonight. My favorites last week were:
- Chikezie
- David Cook
- Brooke White
- Jason Castro
Popularity: 16% [?]
Sunday, March 16th, 2008Sunday Salon 03.16.08
I’ve been lax in posting lately, to be sure, but I have been reading. I’ve finished up Cat’s Eye and Anne of Green Gables, and I should be finished with Embers by Sandor Marai and Transformations by Anne Sexton by Tuesday or so. I’d been halfway through Cat’s Eye since January and just had to put other books ahead of it, but I loved it — maybe even more than The Handmaid’s Tale. It’s at least a tie between those two books. I also really loved Anne of Green Gables, and I’m planning on reading the entire series at some point.
Right now I’m trying to finish up the Winter Reading Challenge — I only have one more book for that, The Only Road North. Then, I have quite a few ARCs that I need to read for publishers or LibraryThing. It’s been totally unexpected obtaining these, but I have been enjoying it. I just need to adjust my challenges a bit and may possibly have to drop some, but we’ll see.
It rained today, rather than snowed, and although I enjoy winter more than most, I am extremely ready for spring!
Popularity: 9% [?]
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