Janaury 2009 Book Challenge

[NewCrunchyDaddy]

So, here we are with a clean slate. It's a New Year and so, in that spirit, let's set a resolution for the book challenge threads this year: THAT WE WILL ALL HAVE THE MOST FUN WITH BOOKS POSSIBLE!

Now, repeat after me...

So, just by way of clarification (for comers both new and old), new and improved guidelines for the Book Challenge Thread are as follows:

1) Post the books you read ... or not
2) Post a recommendation ... or not
3) Number your book ... or not
4) Make a goal ... or not
5) Have fun with books (This one, unfortunately, is MANDATORY)


So, with that, avante and a happy reading January to everyone!


As for myself, I hit my goal of 100 in 2008, so I think I'm going to up it just a little to 105 (never good to overreach oneself) for 2009.


2008's Threads can be found HERE

[KaraBoo]

My goal is to read the library books I have and then not check out any more until I finish the unread books on my own bookshelves.

Last night, I finished The Careful Use of Compliments by Alexander McCall Smith. I am not enjoying the Isabel Dalhousie series as much as the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. But I like his style of writing. It's simple and easy to read and a nice break from longer, more involved books.

This morning, I started Eat to Live by Dr. Fuhrman.

Do non-fiction books count? I read a lot of non-fiction.

However, most of the books on my bookshelf are fiction cuz DH likes that best and he's the one who tends to purchase books rather than borrow from the library.

[NewCrunchyDaddy]

Originally Posted by KaraBoo

Do non-fiction books count? I read a lot of non-fiction.

Nonfiction, fiction, audiobooks, children's books, young adult books, it all counts.

[cathe]

Finished this book this morning . . . .

Heartsick by Chelsea Cain

This was about a detective who chased a serial killer for 10 years, only to become one of his victims. She ended up letting him live, but continues to torture him in other ways. He is called back to work when another serial killer begins snatching teenage girls.

Man, Cain has a seriously twisted imagination. I had to put this book down several times it got so gruesome. But still, I had to finish it because it was so good. For those of you who read Confessions of a Teenage Sleuth, this is much different. Very, very scary--especially to think someone like that might be out there.

[mrsbernstein]

I will join! I LOVE LOVE LOVE to read! I have been known to remove furniture in my room/house for MORE bookshelf space! :

Right now, I am reading Desperate Housewives, Passionate for God. Only a few chapters into it. SO far, so good.

Also, I am half-way through Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. No mind to the fact I STARTED it last March!

My Goal: 72 Books

Mrs B

[Leilamus]

I'm so happy to see this thread!!! I started last year in February I think but I just didn't keep up and then the last few months I've been reading a ton so I think it's time to jump back on the wagon so to speak. I'm going to set a goal of reading 40 books this year. I'd like to read more non-fiction but really any reading is good for you in my book.

I'm making up a list for the library right now actually, can't wait to go tomorrow. I'm finishing the Earthsea series by Ursula Le Guin and looking for some other stuff too. have to have something to help make these cold days go by :

[KaraBoo]

Started Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather. Still reading Eat to Live.

[PassionateWriter]

ill jump in with a very small goal...36 books..thats 3 books a month. im a slow reader and with 2 nurslings and small ones i hardly get time to read. when i lay down at night to read i usually pass out w/in 5 minutes.
right now im on book #5 of teh Southern Vampire Series

[SquishyBuggles]

I'm joining this year! My goal for 2009 is 100. I go through reading spurts, sometimes I will devour many books in a week, other times I will go a month between books! I'm going to try to keep a steady flow going this year.

I finished 2 books yesterday, I don't think they need a synopsis as they're both pretty known books!

#1: Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
#2: Marley and Me by John Grogan

[FarmerCathy]

My goal this year will be 25 books. I think I will be a little busier this year with a half acre garden.

#1 Sweethearts by Sara Zarr

[cathe]

Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris (author of Chocolat)

This book was quite a change from the last three suspenseful books--and I needed the break I guess. It's about an unhappy writer who can't seem to write another serious work since a book he wrote 10 years ago. He returns to a place in France near where he spent summers as a child and is able to write again. Like Chocolat, there's a touch of mystical.

[fremontmama]

Happy New Year everyone! :

I'm going to set my goal, and since my goal last year was 75 books, but I only got to 49 books, I think I will set my goal at 52 books this year, one book a week. I was so close last year! Having a baby in February may have put a tiny damper on my reading efficiency, plus a few book club books that I just could not get into slowed me down.

I like the idea of finishing all my library books and then trying to tackle the pile of books I own or have borrowed from friends. I've got a tall pile next to the bed that needs to get some work done to it!

Off to finish my 4 current books:

The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery
Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
How To Be a Famous Writer by Ariel Gore

[kaliki_kila]

Originally Posted by cathe

Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris (author of Chocolat)

Added this to my reading list!

[fremontmama]

Originally Posted by cathe

Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris (author of Chocolat)

This book was quite a change from the last three suspenseful books--and I needed the break I guess. It's about an unhappy writer who can't seem to write another serious work since a book he wrote 10 years ago. He returns to a place in France near where he spent summers as a child and is able to write again. Like Chocolat, there's a touch of mystical.

I love Joanne Harris. This was my 2nd to last read of 2008. So good. I can't wait to read another one of her books.

[mammastar2]

My goal for this year is just to keep reading, and not get totally drowned between the office and home - making time for myself isn't my strong suit!

#1 - The Film Club by David Gilmour

When his son is a teenager, David Gilmour notices how much he dislikes school, and how it's driving a wedge between them. On the spur of the moment, he offers to Jesse that he can 'drop out' on condition that he watch three movies a week with his dad, to be chosen by his dad. Gilmour's book intersperses musings about the films he chose for their 'film club' with the story of those three years with his son, through Jesse's teenage breakups, Gilmour worrying about his son's future without a high school education (will he drive a cab? be a pothead?), and his son's run-ins with drugs.

This was a good, thought-provoking read, very bittersweet. The film stuff was interesting, but what really kept me reading was the father-son relationship. As the mom of a 7 year old girl, I couldn't imagine how I'd deal with a teenage son telling me he did a lot of cocaine at a party the night before (and I sure wouldn't have the know-how Gilmour seems to about the effect it would have!)...eek.

I also enjoyed reading about Gilmour's unconventional family structure - for a while he and his ex-wife switched houses so he could live with his son in her bigger house, and at one point he and the ex-wife and his son go on a holiday to Cuba while his present wife, who has a regular job, stays in the ex-wife's house.

[Labbemama]

My goals is to read 20 books. I'm pretty busy with a ft job, ft school, and family. I'll be happy if I can read one book per month that's not required. Although I've got into the habit of reading instead of watching TV. So I've been burning thru the books at rapid speed. Once it's nice outside though I'll be outside.

So I finished #1-The Evil Men Do. Would tell you who it was by but I already took it to the halfpriced book store. Roy Hazelwood was the secondary author. This one is non-fiction. A compilation of cases investigated by Real-life FBI behavioral analysts. Not a book for the faint of heart but interesting.

My sister recommended "Dead by Sunset" by Ann Rule, so that will be #2.

#3 is supposed to be Twilight and dh had BETTER come home from work Monday with dd's copy that he loaned out to a coworker. :

[gromero]

I found my copy of The Kite Runner a few days ago and finished it yesterday . I can honestly say that this book was hands down one of the best books I have read in I don't know how long. It made me take a deep look at myself about prejudices that I didn't even realize that I had, reevaulate my stance on a lot of subjects, and the biggest is that I finally reached out to my Afghan neighbors that I knew nothing about until this afternoon. I stopped by with some fresh bananna bread, and was warmly invited in by my neighbors. So, yeah, I loved it.

I just picked up A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini today.

My goal for this year is 24 books.



#1 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

[katmann]

I just started The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, so that will be my first book of the new year. My reading will probably slack off since I'm going to have a baby any day now, but we'll see. Next on my list is Cost by Roxana Robinson, if I can get my library to buy it. And I still have to finish the Earth's Children series by Jean Auel, even though I wasn't thrilled by the second installment (Valley of Horses - might as well read a Harlequin romance). But I'll give the next one a shot.

[Aleo]

I'm beginning with 50 books, but that may increase. Since October I've been getting true crime books.
I just finished:
The Cases That Haunt Us by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker
and I'm currently reading:
Zodiac by Robert Graysmith

the next books in my list are:
Death of Innocence by John and Patsy Ramsey
Black Dahlia Files by Don Wolfe
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

[kaliki_kila]

1. The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit

One summer day in a lovely country garden, Gerald, Jimmy and Kathleen come face to face with the wonderful world of magic that at some time or another exists as reality in every child's mind. An enchanted castle... an old silver ring with a power to grant all wishes... a sleeping princess awakened after a hundred years... time-mellowed statues that dance off their pedestals to swim in a garden lake when the moon is full... scarecrow figures that suddenly become alive... these and many more thrilling adventures descend on the three children like a wondrous shower of stars from a strange sorcerer's wand.