NPR's Top 100 Fantasy/SciFi Books

It's been a while since I've posted a list of any sort but I got a bit excited when I saw the one Ryan from Wordsmithonia posted. It was a list of the top 100 fantasy/scifi books as compiled by NPR.  There are some great books on there and a lot that I haven't heard of either!  Of course there are also a lot that I don't want to read either ...

Check out the list for yourself below. The ones in red are books I've read (27.5 books) and the ones in blue are ones that I've seen the movie/tv version but not actually read (7 books). Does this list make you want to add anything to your TBR list?

1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
3. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles by Frank Herbert
5. A Song of Ice and Fire Series by George R.R. Martin
6. 1984 by George Orwell
7. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov
9. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
10. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
11. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
12. The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan
13. Animal Farm by George Orwell
14. Neuromancer by William Gibson
15. Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
16. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
17. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
22. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
23. The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
25. The Stand by Stephen King
26. Snow Crash Neal Stephenson
27. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
28. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
29. The Sandman Series by Neil Gaiman
30. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
31. Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
32. Watership Down by Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
35. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
36. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
38. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
39. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
40. The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad by David Eddings
42. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
43. Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld by Larry Niven
45. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
46. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once and Future King by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
49. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact by Carl Sagan
51. The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
53. Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
54. World War Z by Max Brooks
55. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
57. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote in Gods Eye by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
66. The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan the Barbarian Series by Robert E. Howard & Mark Schultz
69. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
71. The Way of the Kings by Brandon Sanderson
72. Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
73. The Legend of Drizzt Series by R. A. Salvatore
74. Old Man's War by Jon Scalzi
75. The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
76. Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series by Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
81. The Malazan Book of the Fallen Series by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
83. The Culture Series by Iain Banks
84. The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem by Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series by Jim Butcher
87. The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon
90. The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury (I've read some stories from this collection)
92. Sunshine by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
95. The Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
99. The Xanath Series by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis

My Favorite Books From Age 32

As I mentioned yesterday, I track my reading from birthday to birthday. To figure out the "best" books from this past year I looked over the list of everything I read during my 32nd year and pulled out the titles that still make me "feel something" even months after reading them. Those books that really stay with me, those are the ones I'd say were my best reads/listens of the year.

To make it easier to find something you might like I've grouped them by genre. But I'd recommend ALL of these books so do check them all out! (The links take you to my original reviews.)


- NON-FICTION -

• Alone: Orphaned on the Ocean - this story of a young girl who is the only survivor of a tragedy at sea is not the best-written book ever but the story is very compelling and one I will not forget
• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - this book turned upside-down everything I thought I knew about the native peoples of the American West
• Once A Warrior King - gave me a different look at the Vietnam War and a glimpse of what my Dad's experiences there were like
• The Hot Zone - I will never, EVER think of plague-like diseases (or travel in the rainforests) in the same way EVER again
• Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller - learning the real story of the woman whose life was portrayed in the book/movie Out of Africa make me appreciate that beloved movie even more
• Kon Tiki - journeying across the Pacific in a raft just to prove that it could have been done by ancient people?! very, VERY cool

- FICTION -

• The Old Man and the Sea - this one stuck with me for its beauty and simplicity, and also because I never thought I'd like anything by Hemingway yet I loved this one
• Remarkable Creatures - this story opened up an entirely new area of historical fiction to me and I loved it

- FANTASY -

• The Gathering Storm - this book was the first in the Wheel of Time series to be written since the death of the original author, Robert Jordan - the amazingness of this book gave me hope that Jordan's notes really will be enough to provide Brandon Sanderson what he needs to finish this series as it deserves

- (sort of) SCI-FI -

These two books are technically science fiction but really defy the genre. If you are not a SciFi fan, these books would probably be ones you'd really enjoy.

• The Sparrow - I've read this book twice now and plan to read it again. It's really about what it means to be human and what it means to believe in a higher power.
• Kindred - I added this one because I've found myself recommending it to so many people, and always with good results. It's almost historical fiction.

So tell me ... did I convince any of you to read these books this past year?  Or if you missed my original reviews, did I convince you to read one of them now? 

  


So tell me ... did I convince any of you to read these books this past year?  Or if you missed my original reviews, did I convince you to read one of them now? 

Literary Connections in CHILDREN OF GOD

Literary Connections are those times when something you’ve read in one book comes into play in another book you read shortly after. It's been a while since I did one of these posts but my reading has been so unexpectedly interconnected that I just had to share it with you.

My reading has been very eclectic lately (big surprise, huh?) and not all of the books have been great reads.  But there does seem to be a larger plan at work here and I saw it come together while reading Mary Doria Russell's CHILDREN OF GOD (CoG) for this month's read-a-long ...

• In CoG there is a character named Joseba who is from the Basque region of Spain.  His background is in terrorism and his family had a history of being involved in ETA.  Also, he is fluent in Euskara.  All this would have meant very little to me had I not recently listened to THE BASQUE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.  I didn't particularly enjoy that book but I did learn a great deal from it.  That knowledge definitely came in useful here and it helped me to appreciate this character and his unique perspective.
• Another character in CoG is Danny Iron Horse, descendant of the Lakota Sioux tribe and also of Swedish immigrants.  Having just finished listening to the amazingness that is BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE and also the highly educational INDIAN CHIEFTAINS AND GREAT HEROES, I understood a great deal about Danny's background and the perspective and prejudices that he brought to the book. The decisions he made near the end of CoG made a stronger impact on me than they had during my previous reading of this book because I now understand more of where he's coming from.  
• This last point isn't meaningful as the previous ones, but ... At one point a characters describes someone else's viewpoint as definitely not Panglossian and having recently read Candide I understood that reference.  Pangloss was a character to looked on the world with unfailing optimism, always believing that things will work out "for the best, in this best of all possible worlds."

I love how things like this come together unexpectedly and allow me to take more from a book than I originally expected to.

LOST Books Challenge: Recap and Continuation

Back in 2008 I signed up for a new challenge based on the tv show LOST (here's my original post). The challenge didn't take off much that first year, but Amy decided to host again the next year anyway and I volunteered to help. That's when the LOST Books Challenge Blog was born, and what fun I've had since then! I can't believe that the show has finally come to an end. (If you are interested, click here to see what I thought of the final episode, and for pics of the LOST viewing party I attended.)

If you were a fan of LOST then you know how important books were to the development and progression of the show. Whenever I read books from the show list I tried to figure out what significance they held; part of each review is my thoughts on that topic.

The original goal two years ago was to read five books from the show. That first year I read two but since the challenge just seemed to flow seamlessly into it's second year, I didn't do a recap back then. So here is a list of everything I've read for this challenge since the beginning:

1. Moby Dick, by Herman Melville - Although it was slow, I really did appreciate this book. And I found of a lot of relation to LOST, although the official site disagrees with me.
   
2. Island, by Aldous Huxley - Like the LOST island, this island is closed to outside influences. But the book is possibly the biggest waste of time ever.
   
3. The Odyssey, by Homer - A true classic, and it parallel's Desmond and Penny's relationship - yay!
   
4. The Pearl, by John Steinbeck - I really didn't like this one, but it relates to Hurley so I can't hate it.
   
5. On the Road, by Jack Keruac - This one I DID hate, and it had no real connection to the show in my opinion.
6. The Invention of Morel, by Adolfo Bioy Casares - This was an odd little story but it had a lot of connections to LOST, which I realized only after reading Amy's review.

Here's the extra cool part: because there were so many books that we didn't get to read before the show ended, Amy and I decided to make the LOST Books Challenge into a perpetual project.  That means that if you are interested in participating, you still can!!!

If you are a LOST fan - whether you liked the ending of the show or not - please join us in exploring some of these fantastic books ... and get LOST reading. ;) 

1% Well Read Challenge ... uh oh!

Ok, so ... I really jumped the gun on this one.  When this challenge ended back in December I assumed it would start up again in January.  So when I didn't see a post about it I decided I'd just start reading on my own.  What I failed to realize was that there was an extra credit option to the 2009 challenge, and that part continued through March 2010. 

The new challenge details were posted recently.  This time the challenge will go from April '10 to April '11 ... which means that the seven books I've read/listened to between December and now don't count. AAAAHHHH!!!!  Not that I mind that I read all these books, but THEY DON'T COUNT for my stats. Ugh.

Just so I can feel better about myself, here's a recap of what I read for this challenge that now doesn't count for this challenge:

1. Out of Africa, by Isak Dineson - I loved the book, but more so because I'd learned about the author in another book.
2. The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway - This is a gorgeous little story.
3. The Golden Ass, by Apulieus - I gave up on this due to a bad translation but I'd like to try another version sometime.
   
4. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood - I'm glad I finally listened to it, but it isn't a favorite.
5. Alias Grace, by Margaret Atwood - Her writing is beautiful and the story is thought-provoking.
6. On The Road, by Jack Kerouac - This is definitely not my kind of book.
7. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson - Enjoyed this childhood favorite, but not as much as when I was a kid

The new challenges requires 13 books in 13 months.  Below is a list of books I'll likely choose from:

1. Catch 22 - also for the LOST Books Challenge
2. Candide - I'm listening to this one now
3. Dangerous Liaisons
4. Half of a Yellow Sun
5. Kim (Rudyard Kipling)
6. The Charterhouse of Parma
7. The Color Purple – I’m hosting a summer read-a-long
8. The Last of the Mohicans - I started this last year but put it aside
9. The Lion of Flanders - I couldn't find this one last year but really want to read it
10. To Kill A Mockingbird – for a read-a-long in June
11. Wide Sargasso Sea
12. The Picture of Dorian Gray – maybe for Dueling Monsters in October?
13. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – maybe for Dueling Monsters in October?
14. The Things They Carried - also for the War Through The Generations Challenge

So tell me, have you ever jumped the gun on a challenge and ended up having to read more than you expected?

What I'm Reading Now and What's Next

I'm in the middle of a few books just now so I figured I'd give you an update ...

What I’m Reading Now:

• Venetia Kelly’s Traveling Show – really enjoying this so far
• Teacher Man (audio) – I forgot how hilarious Frank McCourt can be!
• Three Cups of Tea (audio) – for book club
• The Battle of the Labyrinth – reading with Kiddo

Books I (unrealistically) hope to read this month:

• Between Friends – review copy
• Old Man’s War – review copy
• Time Bandit – my book, for TBR Challenge (it’s about one of the boats from the Discovery Channel show “Deadliest Catch” – new season starts in 2 weeks)
• Stranger in a Strange Land – for LOST and Mind Voyage Challenge
• Invention of Morel – for LOST and Mind Voyage Challenge
• Folly – audio book currently checked out from library
• Plus a book from my list for the Vietnam Challenge

Do you have any recommendations on which ones I should pick up next? I’m thinking of going with TIME BANDIT – it’s really short and I’d likely finish it right around the season premeire of the show. Which book would YOU pick up if you were me?

The most I’ve read/listened to in a single month recently is 11 books – let’s see if I can duplicate that this month!

Reading too much?

The following list was posted at Both Eyes Book Blog and I thought it was hilarious! I've put the things that apply to me in bold, just for the fun of it.

Both Eyes Book Blog's clues that you are reading too much:

• Moss is growing on the back of your head.
• Your hands refuse to unbend from book-clamping position.
• You lose circulation from the waist down.
• Neighborhood children run screaming when you get the mail, because they think you’re a witch.
• It’s been so long since you watched TV that you think X Files is still running.
• Librarians visibly react when you walk in – either in pleasure or fear.
• You know instinctively how to find a book because you memorized the Dewey Decimal system so long ago.
• You think in text.
• Audio books take up more space on your iPod than music or photos.
• When someone asks if you’ve seen a movie, everyone recites along with you, “No, but I read the book.”
• You anticipate the Booker and Pulitzer award announcements but can’t tell the Super Bowl from the World Series or the Grammys from the Emmys.
• When you move, it’s a given you’ll have more boxes of books than clothes or cookware.
• Your computer is nearly a decade old but you’re saving for the next-generation e-reader first.
• The bar code sticker is wearing off your library card.
• There is a designated space on your bookshelf for library books.
• You track your reading on a spreadsheet.
• You keep any kind of list of books read or to read.
• You know the meaning of the acronym TBR and sigh when you hear it.
• There are books stacked next to your bed.
• There are books stacked in your bathroom.
  
• You would consider purchasing a device that allowed reading in the shower.
• When reading while eating, you’re more likely to let your food go cold than leave your page unturned.
• When you pick up a book, the dog runs over because he knows it’s couch time.
• You read standing up.
• You read while walking.
• You’ve read during sex. Or wished you could.

What do YOU think of this list? Does it remind you of yourself?

3 Books That Make Me Long For Warmer Weather

Every week Lost In Books chooses a new topic and asks bloggers to chime in with three books that fit. This week's topic really caught my attention since I'm quite sick of all the snow and cold weather we've had in Maryland.

3 Books That Make Me Long For Warmer Weather

1. Dune, by Frank Herbert - This book, set on the desert planet of Arrakis, always makes me appreciate the way that people (even made-up ones) can adapt to any environment they find themselves in. I have fond memories of this book from my growing-up years and I'm hoping to do a re-read this year.
   
   
2. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson - What is not to love about this rollicking pirate adventure? It makes me want to be marooned on a tropical island ... albeit without the pirates. I read and reread this book many times in my middle school days.
   
   
3. O Jerusalem, by Laurie R. King - This book is part of the Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes series that I love so much. It is set in the Middle East and really made me appreciate the climate and the cultures of the area.

That's my list ... which book would YOU choose? Feel free to share in the comments or hop over to Lost In Books and join in there.

Book Blogger Con + A Top 10 List

Guess what? I’M GOING TO THE BOOK BLOGGER CONVENTION IN NEW YORK IN MAY!!! Can you tell I’m excited?! I didn’t think this would work out but it has and I’ve already registered – woohoo!

(The next step is to find a roommate (actually, I need 3 of them) and book my hotel. Is anyone else looking for a roomie? Please comment or email me ASAP!!!)

In honor of the convention being in New York City, Fizzy Thoughts is hosting an NY-themed reading challenge. The challenge is open to everyone whether or not you are attending the convention so do check out the details.

February’s challenge activity is to make a list of things I love about NYC so here goes …


The Top 10 Things I Love About New York

1. My mom’s Brooklyn accent – Even after being away for 30+ years, she still has it. Here are a few examples: Heather = HETH-ah, water = WWA-tah, here = HE-ah, coffee = CWA-fee, sophomore = SOUTH-more, whore = WHO-ah
2. L&B’s Pizzeria and Spumoni Garden – just around the block from where my aunt used to live in Brooklyn, they have THE BEST pizza I’ve ever tasted – we used to buy 2 full-size Sicilian pizzas (you need 4 huge boxes for this) and drive back to Maryland with it to share with all our family here
3. Italian Pastry Shops – they make THE BEST 7-layer cookies – I used to get a box just for myself anytime we visited
4. Fresh Bagels – if you get up early enough (or make someone else do it) you can have a big paper bag of freshly made bagels with an assortment of spreads that you can linger over all morning long
5. Family History – several of my aunts and uncles still live where they did when my mom was growing up – visiting them, I get a look at what it was like for her when she was growing up with several sets of cousins within a 5 block radius
6. Sitting on the Stoop – my aunts would bring lawn chairs outside their apartment entrances and people watch all day long, putting their noses into everyone’s business up and down the block – I thought this was hilarious when I was a kid
7. Around the Block – it seems like everything you need is just “around the block” – there’s no need to drive somewhere, you can just walk
8. Street Music – especially around the tourist areas there are always musicians and performers on the streets, and some of them are REALLY good
9. Ellis Island – this is a must-see for everyone – the history of this place is amazing, and there are so many heartwarming and heartbreaking things to see
10. Lady Liberty – if you haven’t been to the Statue of Liberty then you are really missing out – yes there are lines and yes there are a LOT of steps but it is all worth it

Those are the things I love about New York. What do YOU love? And if you're planning to go to (or considering) the convention please let me know!

Books I Read at Age 32

Age 32 Reading List

This list begins on Nov. 4, 2009 and continues for exactly one year. Every book that I read or listened to within the year is included. This list does not include books that I've simply highlighted on my blog or written about based on previous readings.

For books I've reviewed in previous years, follow these links: age 31, age 30.

Note: If a title/author is not linked it means that book is one I plan to read within the next month; check back soon and it will likely be reviewed by then.


By Title

• A Christmas Carol
  
• Ace of Cakes: Inside the World of Charm City Cakes
  
• A Darker Place
  
• Affinity
• Alex and Me
• Alias Grace
• Alone: Orphaned on the Ocean 
• American Widow
• A Morbid Taste for Bones
• Beatrice and Virgil
• Between Friends
• Beyond Smart
  
• Bill Bryson's African Diary
  
• Black Hills
• Black Wave
• Blizzard: The Storm That Changed America
  
• Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It
• Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee
• Candide
• Catch 22
• Children of God
  
• Cleopatra's Daughter
• Crazy for the Storm
• Crocodile on the Sandbank
• Finny
• Genesis
  
• Half Broke Horses
• Half of a Yellow Sun
• Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains
  
• Isak Dineson: The Life of a Storyteller
• Ivy and Bean: Doomed to Dance
• Kindred
• Kon-Tiki
• Linger
• Little Brother
  
• Medea
• Mennonite in a Little Black Dress
• Misty of Chincoteague
  
• My Life In France
• Naked In Eden
• Old Man's War
• Once A Warrior King
• One Amazing Thing
• On the Road
• Outcasts United
  
• Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass
• Outliers: The Story of Success
• Persuasion
• Remarkable Creatures
  
• Shanghai Girls
• Shiver
• Silver: My Tale As Written By Me ...
• Smile
  
• Steve and Me
• Stranger in a Strange Land
• Star Trek
• Suite Scarlett 
• Teacher Man
• The Basque History of the World 
• The Battle of the Labyrinth
  
• The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
• The Better To Hold You
• The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind
• The Burning Land
• The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 1
• The Color Purple
  
• The Cruelest Miles
  
• The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, book 1)
  
• The Eyes of Willie McGee
• The Fox in the Dark
• The Gathering Storm (The Wheel of Time, book 12)
• The Golden Ass, or Metamorphosis
• The Greatest Generation Speaks
• The Handmaid's Tale
• The Help
  
• The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story
• The Hunger Games
• The Invention of Morel
• The Invisible Man
• The Kings of New York
  
• The Language of Bees
• The Last of the Mohicans
• The Little Stranger
• The Lost City of Z
• The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
• The Old Man and the Sea
  
• The Pearl
  
• The Saint and the Fasting Girl
  
• The Sea of Monsters
• The Sparrow
• The Things They Carried
• The Time In Between
  
• The Titan's Curse
  
• The Wet Nurse's Tale
• The Wind in the Willows
• The Wives of Henry Oades
  
• The Woodstock Storybook
• Three Cups of Tea
  
• Time Bandit: Two Brothers, the Bering Sea, and One of the World's Deadliest Jobs
• To Kill A Mockingbird
• Treasure Island
• Unsigned Hype
  
• Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show
  
• Volsungasaga
  
• Warbreaker
• We Are Soldiers Still
• We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young
  

By Author

• Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi
• Apuleius, Lucius "Africanus"
• Atwood, Margaret, book 2
• Austen, Jane, book 2, book 3
  
• Barrows, Annie
• Beckett, Bernard
• Bergen, David
• Brokaw, Tom
• Brown, Dee
• Butler, Octavia
  
• Bryson, Bill
  
• Casares, Adolfo Bioy
• Chevalier, Tracy
• Child, Julia
• Chupack, Edward
• Collins, Suzanne
  
• Cooper, James Fenimore
• Cornwell, Bernard
• Delany, Frank
  
• Dickens, Charles
• Dinesen, Isak
• Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee
• Doctorow, Cory
• Donovan, David
• Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, book 2,
  
• Eastman, Charles
• Easton, Robin 
• Eisdorfer, Erica
• Euripides
• Foster, Alan Dean
• Gladwell, Malcolm
  
• Goldman, Duff and Willie
• Grahame, Kenneth
• Grann, David 
• Green, Alison
  
• Heard, Alex
• Heinlein, Robert A.
  
• Heller, Joseph
• Hemingway, Ernest
• Henry, Marguerite
• Heyerdahl, Thor
  
• Hillstrand, Andy and Jonathan, with Malcolm MacPherson
  
• Irwin, Terri
• Janzen, Rhoda
• Johnson, Maureen
  
• Jordan, Robert
  
• Jordan, Robert and Brandon Sanderson
• Kamkwamba, William, and Bryan Mealer
• Kerouac, Jack
• Kiernan, Kristy
  
• King, Laurie R., book 2
• Kramon, Justin
• Kurlansky, Mark
• Lee, Harper
• Logan, Richard and Tere Duperrault Fassbender
• Martel, Yann 
• Mattison, Booker T.
• McCourt, Frank
• Melloy, Maile
• Moore, Col. Harold, and Joseph Galloway, book 2
  
• Moran, Johanna
  
• Moran, Michelle
• Morgan, Linda
• Mortensen, Greg
• Murphy, Jim
• O'Brien, Tim
• Ollestad, Norman
  
• Pepperberg, Irene
• Peters, Elizabeth
• Peters, Ellis
  
• Preston, Richard
  
• Richenda, Anna
  
• Riordan, Rick, book 2, book 3, book 4
• Robinson, Barbara
• Russell, Mary Doria, book 2
  
• Sackett, Linanne G. and Barry Z. Levine
• Salisbury, Gay and Laney
  
• Sanderson, Brandon
  
• Scalzi, John
  
• See, Lisa
• Sheckley, Alisa
• Silverwood, John and Jean
  
• Simmons, Dan
• Smith, Alexander McCall
  
• Steinbeck, John
• Stevenson, Robert Louis
• St. John, Warren
  
• Stiefvater, Maggie, book 2
• Stockett, Kathryn
• Telgemeier, Raina
  
• Thurman, Judith
• Torres, Alissa
  
• unknown
• Voltaire
• Walker, Alice
  
• Walls, Jeannette
  
• Waters, Sarah, book 2
• Weinreb, Michael
• Wells, HG
  

Best Book Club Books of 2009

I am seriously behind in sharing this with all of you, but here goes!

Flashlight Worthy Books asked 10 bloggers - including me - to come up with a list of the most discussable yet overlooked books published in 2009. We did a really good job if I do say so myself. You can check out our Best Book Club Books List at this link: http://www.flashlightworthybooks.com/list/545 You'll have to go check out that link to see which book I suggested.

And if you like lists be sure to check out Flashlight Worthy Books' other lists, like ...

• The Best Books of 2009
• The Best Graphic Novels of 2009
• and lots more!
  

My 2009 Challenges Recap, & Questions

If you are not a reading challenge addict, you may wonder what the appeal is. (And you're probably getting sick of all the challenge sign-up posts you've seen lately as well!) I certainly wondered about it when I first started blogging. Why would I want someone/something else to structure my reading life? What I've discovered is that I love this structure ... in moderation. For me, challenges serve several purposes.

• First, they introduce me to new books that I otherwise wouldn't be exposed to. The 1% Well Read Challenge is excellent for this.
• Second, they help me focus on my personal reading goals. The Read Your Own Books Challenge served this purpose (or would have, if I had completed it).
• And third, they give me a sense of accomplishment. I love signing up for challenges that include books I want to read anyway; it is so much fun to mark them off my TBR list!
  

I signed up for 11 reading challenges that either began or ended in 2009. I'm very goal-oriented and I like to complete what I start, so I try not to sign up for too many challenges and I try to complete every one I sign up for. I'm very proud of my challenge record this year: 8 completed, two in progress, and only one not completed.

The links take you to my end-of-challenge recaps where I list the books I read and my thoughts on that particular challenge.

1. Stephenie Meyer Mini Challenge - completed Jan. '09
2. '08-'09 1% Well Read Challenge - completed Feb. '09
3. Baker Street Challenge - completed April '09
4. Science Book Challenge - completed June '09
5. Non-Fiction Five - completed Aug. '09
   
6. World Citizen Challenge - completed Sep. '09
   
7. War Through The Generations: WWII - completed Oct. '09
8. 2009 1% Well Read Challenge - completed Oct. '09
9. Read Your Own Books Challenge - not completed (link takes you to my original post about it) - I'm throwing in the towel on this one
   
10. LOST Books Challenge - I still have 5 books to read but this doesn't end until mid 2010 (link takes you to the challenge blog)
11. Really Old Classics Challenge - I'm co-hosting this challenge and have started my first book - I have until Feb. '10 to read at least 2 more (link takes you to the challenge blog)
    

As I said, I'm very pleased with the challenge reading I've done this year. Not much of it was outside of my comfort zone but some was. And more importantly, I enjoyed each of these challenges for different reasons.


So tell me ...

• Are you a challenge-addict? A challenge-avoider? Or like me, a challenges-in-moderation person?
• Did you participate in any of these same challenges this past year? Which was your favorite?
• What challenge that wasn't on my list would you highly recommend?
  

Christmas Books on My TBR List

Last Christmas I didn't get to read the books I wanted to before Christmas. So this year I'm making a list.

Books I want to read with Kiddo before Christmas ...

• The Cole Family Christmas (Jennifer Liu Bryan) - I read this myself last year but never got around to reading it to Kiddo


• The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Barbara Robinson) - I know the story but I've never read it - I think kiddo would get a good laugh out of it. We're listening to the audio version in the car this week.
  


• Angela and the Baby Jesus - a children's book by Frank McCourt, the author of Angela's Ashes - I've heard it is great. I actually have a copy now so I will be reading this with Kiddo soon.
  
  
• A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens) - We want to see this in the movies, but I think we'd all benefit from reading it first. I started reading it to Kiddo this week.
  

I'd also like to read these two books on my own, but probably won't get to them:

• Christmas In the South (or If You Can't Fry It, Spraypaint it Gold) (David C. Barnette) - a Southern gal in my book club read this last year and it sounded quite funny


• A Christmas Memory - I've been meaning to read Truman Capote's short story for a while now

Do YOU have a Christmas (or holiday) reading list? Are there books you read around this time every year? Does your family have any bookish holiday traditions? I'd love to hear about them.

Read Your Own Books Challenge - Recap

I was so excited to sign up for the Read Your Own Book Challenge back in January 2009. Here' s my original post for this challenge. The goal was to read 20 books that I already own, that were at that moment sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read. The deadline for completion is Dec. 31, 2009 ... but I'm calling it quits now.

I made my list in January with high hopes, but so many other books kept getting in the way. This first list includes the books that I DID actually read (all links go to my reviews):

1. The Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie - it was ok
   
2. Being Written, by William Conescu - I really liked this book
   
3. Island, by Aldous Huxley (also for the "Lost" Challenge) - I absolutely hated this one
   
4. Homefront, by Kristen Tsetsi - not bad
   
5. People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks (audio version) - loved it!
   
6. The Lost Men, by Kelly Tyler-Lewis - fascinating non-fiction
   
7. Golden Boy, by Martin Booth - it was ok
8. A Sense of the Mysterious, by Alan Lightman - very interesting essays
   
9. A Thread of Grace, by Mary Doria Russell - difficult for very good
10. Two Histories of England, by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens - fun and insightful
    
11. The Blessings of a Skinned Knee, by Wendy Mogel - practical
    

And this second list includes the books that I simply never got around to but which I DO (probably) intend to read:

1. Vivaldi's Virgins, by Barbara Quick - I started this but put it aside for now.
   
2. A History of Celibacy, by Elizabeth Abbott
   
3. Mistress of the Vatican, by Eleanor Herman
4. A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson
5. Where She Came From, by Helen Epstein
6. Ireland: A Novel, by Frank Delany
7. The Toss of a Lemon, by Padma Viswanathan
8. The Greatest Generation Speaks, by Tom Brokaw
9. How the Irish Became White, by Noel Ignatiev - might not read this after all

Some of these might make it on to challenge lists for 2010 but others will definitely not.

If you participated in this challenge, how did you do? Are you still trying to complete it? Which book from your challenge list was your favorite? For me, I loved quite a few of them. My favorites would have to be THE LOST MEN and GOLDEN BOY, though I also really enjoyed PEOPLE OF THE BOOK and A THREAD OF GRACE.

War Through The Generations Challenge - Recap

I've completed the War Through The Generations - World War II Challenge! This challenge will continue next year with a focus on a different war - I can't wait to see which it will be.

The goal of this challenge was to read five books that pertained somehow to WWII.

I only read one book from my original list:

1. Red Rain - about the Japanese incendiary bombs that were dropped on the Western US - I couldn't get into this story

These books were added to my list during the course of the year:

1. Number the Stars - a young adult book about children in Denmark during the war - highly recommended for introducing kids to this time period
2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society- this book deserves all the hype I'd heard about it - it's one of my favorites this year
3. Beside a Burning Sea - fictional account of the survivors of a bombed hospital ship who are stranded on an island with a traitor - somewhat predictable but still good
   
4. A Thread of Grace - a novel about how Italians protected Jews during the war - a fabulous book
   

I intended to read the following books as well but didn't get to them:

1. The Greatest Generation Speaks
2. Once Upon A Town
3. The Rising Tide
   
4. The Steel Wave

Books 3 and 4 on that list are part of a trilogy that hasn't been completed yet. That's why I removed them from this year's list; I hate reading part of a series and not being able to finish it! I do hope to get to each of these books in the coming year though.

Anna and Serena did a wonderful job hosting this challenge. In addition to posting our reviews (yes, they did get behind sometimes, but I'll forgive them since they did so many other things too) they also posted author interviews and WWII-related news on the dedicated challenge blog. As I said, I can't wait to see which war they will focus on next year!


NOTE: I'll be posting within the next week about my Gram who lived in England during WWII and her thoughts on several WWII-era books she's read lately - I hope you'll enjoy hearing her opinions!

Literary Connections

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Literary Connections post so I’ve got quite a list for you today.

Literary Connections are those times when something you’ve read in one book comes into play in another book you read shortly after. I love those fortuitous finds – they never fail to make me smile. Here are the links I’ve found lately (the titles take you to my reviews) …

• While reading Till We Have Faces I found a mention of Alcibiades. If I hadn’t read Tides of War, I’d have had no idea who he was.
  
  
• Ines of My Soul begins during the final days of the reign of Juana la Loca, the Mad Queen of Spain. Juana’s presentation here is in contrast to the new look at her life presented in The Last Queen, I book I really loved.
  
  
• While I was reading The Lightning Thief to Kiddo my in-the-car audio book was The Iliad. It gave me the background I needed (and couldn’t quite recall) to explain Greek mythology to Kiddo.
  
  
• We're now in the middle of the 2nd Percy Jackson book, The Sea of Monsters. I recently finished listening to The Odyssey and this was the PERFECT complement to that book – the monsters in both books are the same!
  
  
• In Cranford one character mentions the work of Ms. Edgeworth. I could be wrong but I think she’s referring to writer Maria Edgeworth, who I know of only because I read Castle Rackrent.
  
  
• My current book club read is The Unlikely Disciple. I found out in the first chapter that the author worked as an intern for AJ Jacobs when he was writing The Year of Living Biblically – that book was already on my TBR list.
  
  
• I'm reading Frankenstein (for the Dueling Monsters read-a-long) and there is a quote on the very first page about being fascinated with the polar regions. That same passage was quoted in the beginning of The Voyage of the Narwhal.
  
  
• Near the end of A Thread of Grace one of the characters describes the disparity in the numbers of soldiers on each side of a skirmish as being "of Agincourt proportions" - and I knew what that meant only because I recently listened to a book called Agincourt.
  

Phew, that was a long list! It is fascinating to me – and I hope to some of you as well – the way my reading seems to overlap. I’m sure it has to do with the amount of books I’m reading lately because I don’t remember this happening before I started blogging. Or maybe it is that I am spending more time analyzing what I read and therefore it is sticking with me ... I can't say for sure.

Does this happen to anyone else? Does it fascinate you when it does happen, like it fascinates me?

World Citizen Challenge - Recap

I've finished the World Citizen Challenge! The deadline was Dec. 31, 2009 so I'm way ahead of the game on this one. YAY!

There were different levels of participation for this challenge. I chose "The Minor Level" which meant I had to read three books from at least two different categories (as explained on this page).

Here are the books I read, along with the categories they fit into. As usual, links take you to my reviews.

1. The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom, by Simon Winchester - History - the story of a fascinating man who made recording the history of China his life's work
   
2. The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Colony That Shaped America, by Russell Shorto - History - the story of the Dutch settlement on Manhattan and how its influence is still felt there (and across America) today
   
3. Emmanuel Kolini: The Unlikely Archbishop of Rwanda, by Mary Weeks Millard - Politics - how an Anglican priest worked to restore peace to the shattered Rwandan population after the 1994 genocide

Is it just me or are those titles ridiculously long? I've noticed that non-fiction books tend to cram as much info as possible into their titles ...

I really liked the idea of this challenge but I think the hostess might have had some health issues this year and so the challenge blog wasn't kept up to date. That was a bit disappointing, but I'm still glad I participated.

100 Great Books

Have you seen National Public Radio's Audience Picks for the top 100 beach books? I ignored this list for a while because I thought it was a compilation of chick lit ... and that just isn't my thing. But it is definitely not! It is a list of great books, most of which are real page turners. You can check out the list here.

Of the 100 books on the list, I've ...

• actually read 31 (31%)
  
• seen movies based on another 17 (with the ones I've read, that makes 48%)
  
• already had 13 on my TBR list

If I read those last 13 at some point I'll have completed 61% of the list in some form or another. That's much better than the progress I'm making on the 1,001 Books To Read Before You Die list!

Do go check out NPR's list - there are some excellent books on there that are very much worth reading.

More Literary Connections

A while back I wrote about all the literary and pop culture connections that I found while reading THE THIRTEENTH TALE. I had to do another post like that because I just couldn't believe all the odd connections between what I've been reading lately.

Ok, here goes ...

1. I recently read THE LOST MEN by Kelly Tyler-Lewis which opened with the telegraph station at Awarua, New Zealand receiving a vitally important message from the survivors of Shackleton's Ross Sea Party.
2. Now I'm listening to MISTER PIP by Lloyd Jones and the city of Awarua plays a significant part in the story. The title of the book refers to Pip, the lead character in GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens.
   
3. I just finished reading LITTLE BEE by Chris Cleave, in which the title character is given GREAT EXPECTATIONS to read. The character of Little Bee is from war-ravaged Nigeria.
4. The next book I started reading was THE SECRET KEEPER by Paul Harris. The main character in this book is a journalist who was in war-ravaged Sierra Leone and who has returned there several years later.
5. As I was researching info for my book club's discussion of LITTLE BEE I came across this video posted on Chris Cleave's blog:
   

Now tell me that isn't a crazy set of connections!

Baker Street & Joyful Reading Recap

I joined The Baker Street Challenge specifically so I would have an excuse to read all the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes books. That quickly morphed into My Month of Joyful Reading.

I signed up at the Seven Percent Solution level in The Baker Street Challenge, so I had to read seven books - that's exactly how many Mary Russell books I hadn't yet read.

I highly recommend these books. If you are a fan of Holmes, you will enjoy them. If you like period mysteries, you will enjoy them. If you like historical fiction, you will LOVE them - King is adept at immersing the reader the time period she's chosen.

Here are the links to all my reviews, along with the main theme, topic or setting of each:

1. Monstrous Regiment of Women - women's movement after World War I
   
2. Letter of Mary - archeology and women
   
3. The Moor- fraud and The Hound of the Baskervilles
   
4. Oh, Jerusalem!- colonial control of Palestine
   
5. Justice Hall - World War I battlefront issues and English inheritance law
   
6. The Game - colonialism and espionage in India
   
7. Locked Rooms - the jazz age in San Fransisco
   

One thing I love about these books is that they each follow immediately upon the heels of the previous adventure with little time lost between books. Sometimes the characters overlap from book to book as well. And perhaps most importantly, King creates a Holmes who is eminently believable. Think of the BBC TV version of Sherlock Holmes, think of the great detective on his most daring case, and you will have the Holmes as written by King. Kudos to her for such an achievement.

In April, the latest book in the series, The Language of Bees, will be published. And in May Laurie R. King is coming to a library in Baltimore where I'll get to meet her - yeah! I was honored to host her twice on my blog recently (with a guest post and an interview) so I'm really looking forward to meeting her in person.

A big THANK YOU to Bookish Ruth for putting together The Baker Street Challenge. This challenge goes through the end of the year so if you'd like to join there is still plenty of time!