Author Topic: 50 Books in 2009  (Read 19228 times)

worm@work

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50 Books in 2009
« on: March 22, 2009, 09:53:04 PM »
I'm planning to read at least 50 books this year...

I recently realized I need goals. This seems do-able? 50 books in a year - so about a book a week. I'll keep the list updated with the titles of the books at least if not brief write-ups. Who knows, maybe some of you will join and keep me company?

Incidentally, am not counting books I'm re-reading. But as the year progresses, I might cheat and include those too! Year has progressed. Am not doing well. So yeah, re-reads count.

1. By Night in Chile - Roberto Bolaño 3/5
2. Everything is illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer 2.5/5
3. White Noise - Don DeLillo 3/5
4. Martian chronicles - Ray Bradbury 2.5/5
5. Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson 3.5/5
6. The Pornographer - John McGahern  4/5
7. Ask the Dust - John Fante 3.5/5
8. Dracula - Bram Stoker 3/5
9. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men - David Foster Wallace 4/5
10. The Moviegoer - Walker Percy 3/5
11. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha - Roddy Doyle 3.5/5
12. Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman* 4/5
13. A House for Mr. Biswas - V.S. Naipaul 4/5
14. At Swim, Two Boys - Jamie O'Neill 4/5
15. The Music of Chance - Paul Auster 3.5/5
16. The Sea - John Banville 4.5/5

Currently Reading
The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint - Brady Udall
East of Eden - John Steinbeck
« Last Edit: July 16, 2009, 09:57:54 AM by worm@work »

roujin

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Re: 50 Books in 2009
« Reply #1 on: March 22, 2009, 09:58:33 PM »
I'm a dreamer.

1. The Blithedale Romance Nathaniel Hawthorne 3/5
2. Song of Solomon Toni Morrison 4/5
3. Daisy Miller Henry James 3/5
4. The Confusions of Young Torless Robert Musil 4/5
5. Native Son Richard Wright 3/5
6. halflife Meghan O'Rourke 3/5
7. The Elephant Vanishes Haruki Murakami 4/5
8. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater Kurt Vonnegut 4/5
9. The Road Cormac McCarthy 4/5
10. Austerlitz W.G. Sebald 4/5
11. Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro 5/5
12. A Midsummer Night's Dream William Shakespeare 3/5
13. The Color Purple Alice Walker 3/5
14. All The Pretty Horses Cormac McCarthy 4/5
15. The Merchant of Venice William Shakespeare 2/5
16. Beloved Toni Morrison 3/5
17. The Woman Warrior Maxine Hong Kingston 2/5
18. Henry IV Part I William Shakespeare 3/5
19. Bright Lights, Big City Jay McIerney 3/5
20. The Crying of Lot 49 Thomas Pynchon 3/5
21. Henry V William Shakespeare 3/5
22. The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien 4/5
23. Oleanna David Mamet 2/5
24. Dubliners James Joyce 4/5
25. Libra* Don DeLillo 4/5
26. The Gold-Bug and Other Tales Edgar Allan Poe 3/5
27. Othello William Shakespeare 3/5
28. Hamlet William Shakespeare 3/5
29. The Cider House Rules John Irving 3/5
30. King Lear William Shakespeare 3/5
31. Oblivion David Foster Wallace 4/5
32. Interview with the Vampire Anne Rice 2/5
33. The Antelope Wife Louise Erdrich 3/5

Currently reading:

Films and Feelings Raymond Durgnat
The House of Mirth Edith Wharton
Howards End E.M. Forster
« Last Edit: December 05, 2009, 04:09:59 PM by roujin »

Junior

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Re: 50 Books in 2009
« Reply #2 on: March 22, 2009, 10:16:28 PM »
January-July.

1. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - Haruki Murakami. A
2. The Life of Pi - Yann Martel. B-
3. The Awakening - Kate Chopin. B
4. Huck Finn - Mark Twain. B
5. Beowulf. B
6. The Faerie Queene Book 1 - Edmund Spenser. B+
7. Doctor Faustus - Christopher Marlowe. A-
8. Lysistrata - Aristophanes. B-
9. Watchmen - Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons. A-
10. Twelfth Night - William Shakespeare. B-
11. As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner. A+
12. Long Day's Journey into Night - Eugene O'Neill. B
13. Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller. B+/A-.
14. Maus Vol 1: My Father Bleeds History. B+/A-.
15. Maus Vol 2: And Here My Troubles Began. A.
16. Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami. A+.
17. Understanding Comics - Scott McCloud. A-.
18. Zot! The Complete Black and White Collection - Scott McCloud. B/B+.
19. Bone: One Volume Edition - Jeff Smith. B+.
20. Special Topics in Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl. B.
21. World War Z - Max Brooks. A-.
22. Shakespeare's Sonnets. A+.
23. Richard III - William Shakespeare. A.
24. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll. Asuperplus.
25. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett. B.
26. Winnie-the-Pooh - A. A. Milne. Asuperplus
27. The Dream Keeper and other poems - Langston Hughes. A-.
28. Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare. A.
29. 300 - Frank Miller. C-.
30. Meadowlands - Louise Glück. B+.
31. Carver, A Life In Poems - Marilyn Nelson. B.
32. The Golden Compass - Phillip Pullman. Asuperplus.
33. The House on Mango Street - Sandra Cisneros. C+.
34. The Other Side of the Island - Allegra Goodman. B.
35. Monster - Walter Dean Meyers. B.
36. Macbeth - William Shakespeare. Asuperplus.
37. Hamlet - William Shakespeare. Asuperplus.
38. Walk Two Moons - Susan Creech. B.
39. The Birchbark House - Louise Erdrich. D.
40. Dubliners - James Joyce. MILKSHAKE!
41. The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan. B.
42. The Walking Dead Vol 1: Days Gone Bye - Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore. B+.
43. The Walking Dead Vol 2: Miles Behind Us - Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard. A-.

I think that's all. Unless short stories and the like count. Which I'm pretty sure they don't.
« Last Edit: December 29, 2009, 01:39:51 PM by Junior »
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pixote

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Re: 50 Books in 2009
« Reply #3 on: March 22, 2009, 10:18:41 PM »
Yay for Marlowe!

Had you already read Life of Pi?  I can't remember.

pixote
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Junior

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Re: 50 Books in 2009
« Reply #4 on: March 22, 2009, 10:20:11 PM »
No. It might have been technically before the new year, but I count the end of school as the end of the year.
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pixote

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Re: 50 Books in 2009
« Reply #5 on: March 22, 2009, 10:21:24 PM »
No. It might have been technically before the new year, but I count the end of school as the end of the year.

So is Basil right about it?

(Not that I doubt him.  I mean, I do.  But he's not here right now, so he doesn't need to know about this, okay?)

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Junior

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Re: 50 Books in 2009
« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2009, 10:22:04 PM »
No. It might have been technically before the new year, but I count the end of school as the end of the year.

So is Basil right about it?

(Not that I doubt him.  I mean, I do.  But he's not here right now, so he doesn't need to know about this, okay?)

pixote

It is pretty great, but it's no Murakami.

Also Dr. Faustus is awesome.
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worm@work

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Re: 50 Books in 2009
« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2009, 10:23:03 PM »
No. It might have been technically before the new year, but I count the end of school as the end of the year.

So is Basil right about it?

(Not that I doubt him.  I mean, I do.  But he's not here right now, so he doesn't need to know about this, okay?)

pixote

It is pretty great, but it's no Murakami.


I'd listen to Junior :).

Ronan

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Re: 50 Books in 2009
« Reply #8 on: March 23, 2009, 08:10:08 AM »

5. Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson
6. The Pornographer - John McGahern (book of the year so far!)

Housekeeping is a fantastic book. You should read more of McGahern. That They May Face The Rising Sun is a great one

'Noke

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Re: 50 Books in 2009
« Reply #9 on: March 23, 2009, 09:53:55 AM »
I'm a slow reader, but this is a good idea. I'll go for 12 books a year instead, one a month.

Right now:
The Time Traveller's Wife-Audrey Niffenegger.
V for Vendetta-Alan Moore and David Lloyd.
The Hunger Game-Suzanne Collins.
« Last Edit: April 19, 2009, 10:49:23 AM by gman1050 »
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