Tag: books

Thanks for November List

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Here it is. The last six books to read for Year Seven! I have every confidence that I will be adding to this list just a little. As a matter of fact, at the time that I started this blog I only had four books on my November list. I don’t remember the last time I read only four books in a month. So, true to form I added two more.

  1. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise
  2. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice
  3. Now Read This by Nancy Pearl
  4. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner
  5. ADDED: Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris (to continue the Southpaw series)
  6. ADDED: Ariadne Objective by Wes Davis (Early Review book for LibraryThing)

FINISHED:

  1. Abide By Me by Elizabeth Strout
  2. Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol
  3. Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak
  4. Apollo: the epic journey to the moon by David West Reynolds
  5. Apples Are From Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins
  6. Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton (I started this last year. No, sorry – two years ago)
  7. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
  8. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien
  9. Author, Author by David Lodge (audio)
  10. Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner
  11. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  12. Bellwether by Connie Willis
  13. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengist (audio)
  14. Beyond the Bogota by Gary Leech
  15. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
  16. Billy by Albert French
  17. Bit of Wit, A World of Wisdom by Yehoshua Kurland (Early Review book from LibraryThing)
  18. Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
  19. Brass Go-Between by Oliver Bleeck
  20. Breakfast with Scot by Michael Drowning
  21. Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan
  22. Brushed by Feathers by Frances Wood
  23. Burning the Days by James Salter
  24. Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes
  25. Cardboard Crown by Martin Boyd
  26. Cat Daddy: What the World’s Most Incorrigible Cat Taught Me About Life, Love, and Coming Clean by Jackson Galaxy
  27. Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun
  28. Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford
  29. Churchill, a life by Martin Gilbert
  30. City in the Sky by James Glanz
  31. City of Thieves by David Benioff
  32. Conspiracy and Other Stories by Jaan Kross
  33. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  34. Death in Verona by Roy Harley Lewis
  35. Descending the Dragon by Jon Bowermaster
  36. Diamond Classics by Mike Shannon
  37. Diary of a Mad Housewife by Sue Kaufman
  38. Difficult Young Man by Martin Boyd
  39. Dining with Al-Qaeda by Hugh Pope
  40. Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
  41. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
  42. The Evolution of Jane by Catherine Schine
  43. Edward Lear in Albania by Edward Lear
  44. Fanny by Edmund White
  45. Fear of Flying by Erica Jong
  46. Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  47. Fixer by Joe Sacco
  48. Flamboya Tree by Clara Olink Kelly
  49. Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
  50. Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Zabat Katz
  51. Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
  52. Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin
  53. Galton Case by Ross MacDonald
  54. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  55. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
  56. God: a biography by Jack Miles
  57. Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws
  58. Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
  59. Good City edited by Emily Hiestand
  60. Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
  61. Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
  62. Good-bye Chunk Rice by Craig Thompson
  63. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels
  64. Her by Christa Parravani
  65. Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch
  66. Hole in the World by Richard Rhodes
  67. Home Before Dark by Susan Cheever
  68. House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
  69. Iliad by Homer
  70. Idle Days in Patagonia by William Hudson
  71. Imperfect Harmony by Stacy Horn (for LibraryThing’s Early Review program
  72. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
  73. Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
  74. ADDED: Keeping it Civil by Margaret Klaw (Early review book)
  75. Liar’s Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street by Michael Lewis
  76. Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso
  77. Lives of the Painters, vol 2, 3 & 4 by Giorgio Vasari
  78. The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz
  79. Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou for the Early Review Program
  80. Mortality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
  81. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  82. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin
  83. Of Human Bondage by William Maugham
  84. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder
  85. Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
  86. Outbreak of Love by Martin Boyd
  87. Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
  88. Panther Soup by John Grimlette
  89. Path Between the Seas by David McCullough
  90. Patrimony: a true story by Philip Roth
  91. Pick-Up by Charles Willeford (part of Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s)
  92. Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam
  93. Points Unknown edited by David Roberts
  94. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
  95. Ready for a Brand New Beat by Mark Kurlansky
  96. Real Cool Killers by Chester Himes (part of Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s)
  97. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
  98. Rosalind Franklin: Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
  99. Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff
  100. Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
  101. Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham – did not finish
  102. Star Beast by Robert Heinlein
  103. Star Trap by Simon Brett
  104. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
  105. Suzy’s Case by Andy Siegel (as recommended)
  106. Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (Part of Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s)
  107. Tatiana by Dorothy Jones
  108. Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova
  109. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
  110. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
  111. This is Paradise by Kristiana Kahakawila for LibraryThing
  112. Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  113. True Crime: Real-Life Stories of Abduction, Addiction, Obsession, Murder, Grave-Robbing and More edited by Lee Gutkind (Early Review)
  114. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
  115. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
  116. Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
  117. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell
  118. When Blackbirds Sing by Martin Boyd
  119. White Devil by John Webster
  120. Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer
  121. Widow for One Year by John Irving
  122. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
  123. Women of the Raj by Margaret MacMillan
  124. Working Poor by David Shipler
  125. Year in Provence, a by Peter Mayle

POETRY COMPLETED:

  1. “Golden Angel Pancake House” by Campbell McGrath
  2. “Lepanto” by Gilbert Keith Chesterton
  3. “Listeners” by Walter De La Mare
  4. “Mandalay” by Rudard Kipling
  5. “Road and the End” by Carl Sandburg
  6. “Sea-Fever” by John Masefield
  7. “Winter” by Marie Ponsot
  8. “In My Craft or Sullen Art” by Dylan Thomas
  9. The Long Hill” by Sarah Teasdale
  10. “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

SHORT STORIES COMPLETED:

  1. “Here’s a Little Something” by Dan Chaon (from Among the Missing)
  2. “Big Me” by Dan Chaon (from Among the Missing)
  3. “Servants of the Map” by Elizabeth Barrett (from Servant of the Map)
  4. “The Cure” by Elizabeth Barrett (from Servants of the Map)
  5. “In the Land of Men” by Antonya Nelson (from In the Land of Men)
  6. “Goodbye Midwest” by Antonya Nelson (from In the Land of Men)
  7. “Ado” by Connie Willis (from Impossible Things)
  8. “At the Rialto” by Connie Willis (from Impossible Things)
  9. “A Tiger-Killer is Hard To find” by Ha Jin (from Bridegroom: stories)
  10. “After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town” by Ha Jin (from Bridegroom: stories)
  11. “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri (from Interpreter of Maladies)
  12. “A Temporary Matter” by Jhumpa Lahiri (from Interpreter of Maladies)
  13. “A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies” by John Murray (from A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies)
  14. “Watson and the Shark” by John Murray (from A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies)

NEXT YEAR:

  1. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow
  2. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  3. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin (as previously mentioned)

Spooky October List

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The list is now down to one month! The reading year is nearly over. Here are the remaining books for November, the last month:

  1. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise
  2. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice
  3. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner

ON DECK FOR OCTOBER:

  1. Southpaw by Mark Harris
  2. Deafening by Frances Itani
  3. Going Wild by Robert Winkler
  4. One By One in the Darkness by Frances Itani
  5. Panther Soup by John Grimlette
  6. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell (in audio)

FINISHED:

  1. Abide By Me by Elizabeth Strout
  2. Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol
  3. Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak
  4. Apollo: the epic journey to the moon by David West Reynolds
  5. Apples Are From Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins
  6. Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton (I started this last year. No, sorry – two years ago)
  7. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
  8. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien
  9. Author, Author by David Lodge (audio)
  10. Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner
  11. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  12. Bellwether by Connie Willis
  13. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengist (audio)
  14. Beyond the Bogota by Gary Leech
  15. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
  16. Billy by Albert French
  17. ADDED: Bit of Wit, A World of Wisdom by Yehoshua Kurland (Early Review book from LibraryThing)
  18. Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
  19. Brass Go-Between by Oliver Bleeck
  20. Breakfast with Scot by Michael Drowning
  21. Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan
  22. Brushed by Feathers by Frances Wood
  23. Burning the Days by James Salter
  24. Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes
  25. Cardboard Crown by Martin Boyd
  26. Cat Daddy: What the World’s Most Incorrigible Cat Taught Me About Life, Love, and Coming Clean by Jackson Galaxy
  27. Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun
  28. Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford
  29. Churchill, a life by Martin Gilbert
  30. ADDED: City in the Sky by James Glanz
  31. City of Thieves by David Benioff
  32. Conspiracy and Other Stories by Jaan Kross
  33. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  34. Death in Verona by Roy Harley Lewis
  35. Descending the Dragon by Jon Bowermaster
  36. Diamond Classics by Mike Shannon
  37. Difficult Young Man by Martin Boyd
  38. Dining with Al-Qaeda by Hugh Pope
  39. Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
  40. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
  41. The Evolution of Jane by Catherine Schine
  42. Edward Lear in Albania by Edward Lear
  43. Fanny by Edmund White
  44. Fear of Flying by Erica Jong
  45. Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  46. Fixer by Joe Sacco
  47. Flamboya Tree by Clara Olink Kelly
  48. Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
  49. Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Zabat Katz
  50. Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
  51. Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin
  52. Galton Case by Ross MacDonald
  53. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  54. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
  55. God: a biography by Jack Miles
  56. Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws
  57. Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
  58. Good City edited by Emily Hiestand
  59. Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
  60. Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
  61. Good-bye Chunk Rice by Craig Thompson
  62. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels
  63. Her by Christa Parravani
  64. Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch
  65. Hole in the World by Richard Rhodes
  66. Home Before Dark by Susan Cheever
  67. House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
  68. Iliad by Homer
  69. Idle Days in Patagonia by William Hudson
  70. Imperfect Harmony by Stacy Horn (for LibraryThing’s Early Review program
  71. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
  72. Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
  73. Liar’s Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street by Michael Lewis
  74. Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso
  75. Lives of the Painters, vol 2, 3 & 4 by Giorgio Vasari
  76. The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz
  77. Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou for the Early Review Program
  78. Mortality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
  79. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  80. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin
  81. Of Human Bondage by William Maugham
  82. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder
  83. Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
  84. Outbreak of Love by Martin Boyd
  85. Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
  86. Path Between the Seas by David McCullough
  87. Patrimony: a true story by Philip Roth
  88. Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam
  89. Points Unknown edited by David Roberts
  90. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
  91. Ready for a Brand New Beat by Mark Kurlansky
  92. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
  93. Rosalind Franklin: Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
  94. Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff
  95. Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
  96. Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham – did not finish
  97. Star Beast by Robert Heinlein
  98. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
  99. Suzy’s Case by Andy Siegel (as recommended)
  100. Tatiana by Dorothy Jones
  101. Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova
  102. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
  103. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
  104. This is Paradise by Kristiana Kahakawila for LibraryThing
  105. Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  106. True Crime: Real-Life Stories of Abduction, Addiction, Obsession, Murder, Grave-Robbing and More edited by Lee Gutkind (Early Review)
  107. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
  108. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
  109. Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
  110. When Blackbirds Sing by Martin Boyd
  111. Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer
  112. Widow for One Year by John Irving
  113. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
  114. Women of the Raj by Margaret MacMillan
  115. Working Poor by David Shipler
  116. Year in Provence, a by Peter Mayle

POETRY COMPLETED:

  1. “Golden Angel Pancake House” by Campbell McGrath
  2. “Lepanto” by Gilbert Keith Chesterton
  3. “Listeners” by Walter De La Mare
  4. “Mandalay” by Rudard Kipling
  5. “Road and the End” by Carl Sandburg
  6. “Sea-Fever” by John Masefield
  7. “Winter” by Marie Ponsot
  8. “In My Craft or Sullen Art” by Dylan Thomas
  9. The Long Hill” by Sarah Teasdale
  10. “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

SHORT STORIES COMPLETED:

  1. “Here’s a Little Something” by Dan Chaon (from Among the Missing)
  2. “Big Me” by Dan Chaon (from Among the Missing)
  3. “Servants of the Map” by Elizabeth Barrett (from Servant of the Map)
  4. “The Cure” by Elizabeth Barrett (from Servants of the Map)
  5. “In the Land of Men” by Antonya Nelson (from In the Land of Men)
  6. “Goodbye Midwest” by Antonya Nelson (from In the Land of Men)
  7. “Ado” by Connie Willis (from Impossible Things)
  8. “At the Rialto” by Connie Willis (from Impossible Things)
  9. “A Tiger-Killer is Hard To find” by Ha Jin (from Bridegroom: stories)
  10. “After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town” by Ha Jin (from Bridegroom: stories)
  11. “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri (from Interpreter of Maladies)
  12. “A Temporary Matter” by Jhumpa Lahiri (from Interpreter of Maladies)
  13. “A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies” by John Murray (from A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies)
  14. “Watson and the Shark” by John Murray (from A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies)

NEXT YEAR:

  1. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow (as previously mentioned)
  2. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell (as previously mentioned)
  3. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin – I just realized this was supposed to be read way back in February in honor of Ha Jin’s birth month. How I missed it is beyond me. Ugh

Child That Books Built

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Spufford, Francis. The Child That Books Built: a Life in Reading. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2002.

The Child That Books Built is an explanation for an addiction. Francis Spufford’s addiction. Right up front Spufford admits to his insatiable need to read, starting when he was a young child. He would explain his relationships with books as such, “Reading catatonically wasn’t something I chose to do…the stopping my ears with fiction was non-negotiable” (p 2). Once he gets his explanations out of the way he goes on to explain how all the reading he had done as a child shaped his world as an adult. Drawing on psychology and philosophy to make his points Spufford connects the world of Narnia to that of religious adoration; the Little House on the Prairie to that of family and community.

Quote that caught me off guard for its timing: “No addiction is ever explained by examining the drug. the drug didn’t cause the need. A tour of a brewery won’t explain why somebody became an alcoholic” (p 11). Wow. Wow. Wow.

Reason read: The Library of Congress National Book Festival is in September. This year it is the weekend of the 21st.

Author fact: Spufford also wrote I May Be Some Time for which he won the Sunday times Young Writer award in 1997.

Book trivia: Despite being short (only 210 pages) this book packs a punch. Be prepared.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Books About Books” (p ) and from More Book Lust in the introduction (p ix).

September Back To School List

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I’m a day late with this…

The list is now really getting shorter! Summer is over just like that. And so is Year Seven. Here are the remaining books for October and November. Just two short months to go.

  1. Deafening by Frances Itani – October
  2. Going Wild by Robert Winkler – October
  3. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice – November
  4. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin – October
  5. Panther Soup by John Grimlette – November
  6. Southpaw by Mark Harris – October
  7. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner – November
  8. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell – November

ON DECK FOR SEPTEMBER:

  1. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien
  2. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise
  3. Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford
  4. ADDED: City in the Sky by James Glanz
  5. Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso
  6. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder
  7. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken

FINISHED:

  1. Abide By Me by Elizabeth Strout
  2. Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol
  3. Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak
  4. Apollo: the epic journey to the moon by David West Reynolds
  5. Apples Are From Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins
  6. Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton (I started this last year. No, sorry – two years ago)
  7. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
  8. Author, Author by David Lodge (audio)
  9. Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner
  10. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  11. Bellwether by Connie Willis
  12. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengist (audio)
  13. Beyond the Bogota by Gary Leech
  14. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
  15. Billy by Albert French
  16. ADDED: Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
  17. Brass Go-Between by Oliver Bleeck
  18. Breakfast with Scot by Michael Drowning
  19. Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan
  20. Brushed by Feathers by Frances Wood
  21. Burning the Days by James Salter
  22. Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes
  23. Cardboard Crown by Martin Boyd
  24. Cat Daddy: What the World’s Most Incorrigible Cat Taught Me About Life, Love, and Coming Clean by Jackson Galaxy
  25. Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun
  26. Churchill, a life by Martin Gilbert
  27. City of Thieves by David Benioff
  28. Conspiracy and Other Stories by Jaan Kross
  29. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  30. Death in Verona by Roy Harley Lewis
  31. Descending the Dragon by Jon Bowermaster
  32. Diamond Classics by Mike Shannon
  33. Difficult Young Man by Martin Boyd
  34. Dining with Al-Qaeda by Hugh Pope
  35. Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
  36. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
  37. The Evolution of Jane by Catherine Schine
  38. Edward Lear in Albania by Edward Lear
  39. Fanny by Edmund White
  40. Fear of Flying by Erica Jong
  41. Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  42. Fixer by Joe Sacco
  43. Flamboya Tree by Clara Olink Kelly
  44. Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
  45. Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Zabat Katz
  46. Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
  47. Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin
  48. Galton Case by Ross MacDonald
  49. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  50. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
  51. God: a biography by Jack Miles
  52. Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws
  53. Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
  54. Good City edited by Emily Hiestand
  55. Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
  56. Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
  57. Good-bye Chunk Rice by Craig Thompson
  58. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels
  59. Her by Christa Parravani
  60. Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch
  61. Hole in the World by Richard Rhodes
  62. Home Before Dark by Susan Cheever
  63. House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
  64. Iliad by Homer
  65. Idle Days in Patagonia by William Hudson
  66. Imperfect Harmony by Stacy Horn (for LibraryThing’s Early Review program
  67. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
  68. Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
  69. Liar’s Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street by Michael Lewis
  70. Lives of the Painters, vol 2, 3 & 4 by Giorgio Vasari
  71. The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz
  72. Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou for the Early Review Program
  73. Mortality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
  74. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  75. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin
  76. Of Human Bondage by William Maugham
  77. Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
  78. Outbreak of Love by Martin Boyd
  79. Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
  80. Path Between the Seas by David McCullough
  81. Patrimony: a true story by Philip Roth
  82. Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam
  83. Points Unknown edited by David Roberts
  84. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
  85. Ready for a Brand New Beat by Mark Kurlansky
  86. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
  87. Rosalind Franklin: Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
  88. Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff
  89. Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
  90. Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham – did not finish
  91. Star Beast by Robert Heinlein
  92. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
  93. Suzy’s Case by Andy Siegel (as recommended)
  94. Tatiana by Dorothy Jones
  95. Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova
  96. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
  97. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
  98. This is Paradise by Kristiana Kahakawila for LibraryThing
  99. Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  100. True Crime: Real-Life Stories of Abduction, Addiction, Obsession, Murder, Grave-Robbing and More edited by Lee Gutkind (Early Review)
  101. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
  102. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
  103. Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
  104. When Blackbirds Sing by Martin Boyd
  105. Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer
  106. Widow for One Year by John Irving
  107. Women of the Raj by Margaret MacMillan
  108. Working Poor by David Shipler
  109. Year in Provence, a by Peter Mayle

POETRY COMPLETED:

  1. “Golden Angel Pancake House” by Campbell McGrath
  2. “Lepanto” by Gilbert Keith Chesterton
  3. “Listeners” by Walter De La Mare
  4. “Mandalay” by Rudard Kipling
  5. “Road and the End” by Carl Sandburg
  6. “Sea-Fever” by John Masefield
  7. “Winter” by Marie Ponsot
  8. “In My Craft or Sullen Art” by Dylan Thomas
  9. The Long Hill” by Sarah Teasdale
  10. “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

SHORT STORIES COMPLETED:

  1. “Here’s a Little Something” by Dan Chaon (from Among the Missing)
  2. “Big Me” by Dan Chaon (from Among the Missing)
  3. “Servants of the Map” by Elizabeth Barrett (from Servant of the Map)
  4. “The Cure” by Elizabeth Barrett (from Servants of the Map)
  5. “In the Land of Men” by Antonya Nelson (from In the Land of Men)
  6. “Goodbye Midwest” by Antonya Nelson (from In the Land of Men)
  7. “Ado” by Connie Willis (from Impossible Things)
  8. “At the Rialto” by Connie Willis (from Impossible Things)
  9. “A Tiger-Killer is Hard To find” by Ha Jin (from Bridegroom: stories)
  10. “After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town” by Ha Jin (from Bridegroom: stories)
  11. “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri (from Interpreter of Maladies)
  12. “A Temporary Matter” by Jhumpa Lahiri (from Interpreter of Maladies)
  13. “A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies” by John Murray (from A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies)
  14. “Watson and the Shark” by John Murray (from A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies)

NEXT YEAR:

  1. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow (as previously mentioned)
  2. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell

The August August List

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The list is getting shorter and shorter. Hard to believe the year is almost over. Year seven is now three quarters over. Here are the remaining books for September, October and November. Just three short months. I’m sure I will add to this list because it seems entirely too short.

  1. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien – September
  2. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise – September
  3. Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford – September
  4. Deafening by Frances Itani – October
  5. Going Wild by Robert Winkler – October
  6. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice – November
  7. Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso – September
  8. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin – October
  9. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder – September
  10. Panther Soup by John Grimlette – November
  11. Southpaw by Mark Harris – October
  12. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner – November
  13. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell – November
  14. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken – September

ON DECK FOR AUGUST:

  1. Abide By Me by Elizabeth Strout
  2. Beyond the Bogota by Gary Leech
  3. Burning the Days by James Salter
  4. Conspiracy and Other Stories by Jaan Kross
  5. Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
  6. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin

FINISHED:

  1. Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol
  2. Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak
  3. Apollo: the epic journey to the moon by David West Reynolds
  4. Apples Are From Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins
  5. Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton
  6. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
  7. Author, Author by David Lodge
  8. Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner
  9. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  10. Bellwether by Connie Willis
  11. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengist
  12. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
  13. Billy by Albert French
  14. Brass Go-Between by Oliver Bleeck
  15. Breakfast with Scot by Michael Drowning
  16. Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan
  17. Brushed by Feathers by Frances Wood
  18. Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes
  19. Cardboard Crown by Martin Boyd
  20. Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun
  21. Churchill, a life by Martin Gilbert
  22. City of Thieves by David Benioff
  23. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  24. Death in Verona by Roy Harley Lewis
  25. Descending the Dragon by Jon Bowermaster
  26. Diamond Classics by Mike Shannon
  27. Difficult Young Man by Martin Boyd
  28. Dining with Al-Qaeda by Hugh Pope
  29. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
  30. The Evolution of Jane by Catherine Schine
  31. Edward Lear in Albania by Edward Lear
  32. Fanny by Edmund White
  33. Fear of Flying by Erica Jong
  34. Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  35. Fixer by Joe Sacco
  36. Flamboya Tree by Clara Olink Kelly
  37. Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
  38. Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Zabat Katz
  39. Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
  40. Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin
  41. Galton Case by Ross MacDonald
  42. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  43. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
  44. God: a biography by Jack Miles
  45. Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws
  46. Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
  47. Good City edited by Emily Hiestand
  48. Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
  49. Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
  50. Good-bye Chunk Rice by Craig Thompson
  51. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels
  52. Her by Christa Parravani
  53. Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch
  54. Hole in the World by Richard Rhodes
  55. ADDED: Home Before Dark by Susan Cheever
  56. House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
  57. Iliad by Homer
  58. Idle Days in Patagonia by William Hudson
  59. Imperfect Harmony by Stacy Horn (for LibraryThing’s Early Review program
  60. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
  61. Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
  62. Liar’s Poker:  Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street by Michael Lewis
  63. Lives of the Painters, vol 2, 3 & 4 by Giorgio Vasari
  64. The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz
  65. Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou for the Early Review Program
  66. Mortality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
  67. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  68. Of Human Bondage by William Maugham
  69. Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
  70. Outbreak of Love by Martin Boyd
  71. ADDED: Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
  72. Path Between the Seas by David McCullough
  73. Patrimony: a true story by Philip Roth
  74. Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam
  75. Points Unknown edited by David Roberts
  76. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
  77. Ready for a Brand New Beat by Mark Kurlansky
  78. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
  79. Rosalind Franklin: Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
  80. Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff
  81. Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
  82. Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham – did not finish
  83. ADDED: Star Beast by Robert Heinlein
  84. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
  85. Suzy’s Case by Andy Siegel (as recommended)
  86. Tatiana by Dorothy Jones
  87. Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova
  88. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
  89. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
  90. This is Paradise by Kristiana Kahakawila for LibraryThing
  91. Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  92. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
  93. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
  94. Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
  95. When Blackbirds Sing by Martin Boyd
  96. Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer
  97. Widow for One Year by John Irving
  98. Women of the Raj by Margaret MacMillan
  99. Working Poor by David Shipler
  100. Year in Provence, a by Peter Mayle

POETRY COMPLETED:

  1. “Golden Angel Pancake House” by Campbell McGrath
  2. “Lepanto” by Gilbert Keith Chesterton
  3. “Listeners” by Walter De La Mare
  4. “Mandalay” by Rudard Kipling
  5. “Road and the End” by Carl Sandburg
  6. “Sea-Fever” by John Masefield
  7. “Winter” by Marie Ponsot
  8. “In My Craft or Sullen Art” by Dylan Thomas
  9. The Long Hill” by Sarah Teasdale
  10. “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

SHORT STORIES COMPLETED:

  1. “Here’s a Little Something” by Dan Chaon (from Among the Missing)
  2. “Big Me” by Dan Chaon (from Among the Missing)
  3. “Servants of the Map” by Elizabeth Barrett (from Servant of the Map)
  4. “The Cure” by Elizabeth Barrett (from Servants of the Map)
  5. “In the Land of Men” by Antonya Nelson (from In the Land of Men)
  6. “Goodbye Midwest” by Antonya Nelson (from In the Land of Men)
  7. “Ado” by Connie Willis (from Impossible Things)
  8. “At the Rialto” by Connie Willis (from Impossible Things)
  9. “A Tiger-Killer is Hard To find” by Ha Jin (from Bridegroom: stories)
  10. “After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town” by Ha Jin (from Bridegroom: stories)
  11. “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri (from Interpreter of Maladies)
  12. “A Temporary Matter” by Jhumpa Lahiri (from Interpreter of Maladies)
  13. “A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies” by John Murray (from A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies)
  14. “Watson and the Shark” by John Murray (from A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies)

NEXT YEAR:

  1. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow (as previously mentioned)
  2. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell

O Say Can You Read July List

gr4c52 Comments
  1. Abide By Me by Elizabeth Strout – August
  2. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien – September
  3. Beyond the Bogota by Gary Leech – August
  4. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise – September
  5. Burning the Days by James Salter – August
  6. Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford – September
  7. Conspiracy and Other Stories by Jaan Kross – August
  8. Deafening by Frances Itani – October
  9. Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby – August
  10. Going Wild by Robert Winkler – October
  11. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice – November
  12. Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso – September
  13. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin – August
  14. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin – October
  15. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder – September
  16. Panther Soup by John Grimlette – November
  17. Southpaw by Mark Harris – October
  18. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner – November
  19. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell – November
  20. Wolves of Willough by Chase by Joan Aiken – September

ON DECK FOR JULY:

  1. Apollo: the epic journey to the moon by David West Reynolds
  2. Fixer by Joe Sacco
  3. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
  4. Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  5. Working Poor by David Shipler
  6. ADDED: Ready for a Brand New Beat by Mark Kurlansky

FINISHED:

  1. Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol
  2. Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak
  3. Apples Are From Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins
  4. Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton (I started this last year. No, sorry – two years ago)
  5. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
  6. Author, Author by David Lodge (audio)
  7. Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner
  8. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  9. Bellwether by Connie Willis
  10. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengist (audio)
  11. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
  12. Billy by Albert French
  13. Brass Go-Between by Oliver Bleeck
  14. Breakfast with Scot by Michael Drowning
  15. Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan
  16. Brushed by Feathers by Frances Wood
  17. Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes
  18. Cardboard Crown by Martin Boyd
  19. Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun
  20. Churchill, a life by Martin Gilbert
  21. City of Thieves by David Benioff
  22. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  23. Death in Verona by Roy Harley Lewis
  24. Descending the Dragon by Jon Bowermaster
  25. Diamond Classics by Mike Shannon
  26. Difficult Young Man by Martin Boyd
  27. Dining with Al-Qaeda by Hugh Pope
  28. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
  29. The Evolution of Jane by Catherine Schine
  30. Edward Lear in Albania by Edward Lear
  31. Fanny by Edmund White
  32. Fear of Flying by Erica Jong
  33. Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  34. Flamboya Tree by Clara Olink Kelly
  35. Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
  36. Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Zabat Katz (audio)
  37. Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
  38. Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin
  39. Galton Case by Ross MacDonald
  40. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  41. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
  42. God: a biography by Jack Miles
  43. Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws
  44. Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
  45. Good City edited by Emily Hiestand
  46. Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
  47. Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
  48. Good-bye Chunk Rice by Craig Thompson
  49. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels
  50. Her by Christa Parravani
  51. Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch
  52. Hole in the World by Richard Rhodes
  53. House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
  54. Iliad by Homer
  55. Idle Days in Patagonia by William Hudson
  56. Imperfect Harmony by Stacy Horn (for LibraryThing’s Early Review program
  57. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
  58. Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
  59. Lives of the Painters, vol 2, 3 & 4 by Giorgio Vasari
  60. The long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz
  61. Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou for the Early Review Program
  62. Mortality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
  63. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  64. Of Human Bondage by William Maugham
  65. ADDED: The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
  66. Outbreak of Love by Martin Boyd
  67. Path Between the Seas by David McCullough
  68. ADDED: Patrimony: a True Story by Philip Roth
  69. Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam
  70. Points Unknown edited by David Roberts
  71. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
  72. Rosalind Franklin: Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
  73. Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff
  74. Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
  75. Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham
  76. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
  77. Suzy’s Case by Andy Siegel (as recommended)
  78. Tatiana by Dorothy Jones
  79. Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova
  80. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
  81. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
  82. This is Paradise by Kristiana Kahakawila for LibraryThing
  83. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
  84. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
  85. Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
  86. When Blackbirds Sing by Martin Boyd
  87. Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer
  88. Widow for One Year by John Irving
  89. Women of the Raj by Margaret MacMillan
  90. ADDED: Year in Provence, a by Peter Mayle

POETRY COMPLETED:

  1. “Golden Angel Pancake House” by Campbell McGrath
  2. “Lepanto” by Gilbert Keith Chesterton
  3. “Listeners” by Walter De La Mare
  4. “Mandalay” by Rudard Kipling
  5. “Road and the End” by Carl Sandburg
  6. “Sea-Fever” by John Masefield
  7. “Winter” by Marie Ponsot
  8. “In My Craft or Sullen Art” by Dylan Thomas
  9. The Long Hill” by Sarah Teasdale
  10. “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

SHORT STORIES COMPLETED:

  1. “Here’s a Little Something”  by Dan Chaon (from Among the Missing)
  2. “Big Me” by Dan Chaon (from Among the Missing)
  3. “Servants of the Map” by Elizabeth Barrett (from Servant of the Map)
  4. “The Cure” by Elizabeth Barrett (from Servants of the Map)
  5. “In the Land of Men” by Antonya Nelson (from In the Land of Men)
  6. “Goodbye Midwest” by Antonya Nelson (from In the Land of Men)
  7. “Ado” by Connie Willis (from Impossible Things)
  8. “At the Rialto” by Connie Willis (from Impossible Things)
  9. “A Tiger-Killer is Hard to Find” by Ha Jin (from Bridegroom: stories)
  10. “After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town” by Ha Jin (from Bridegroom: stories)
  11. “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri (from Interpreter of Maladies)
  12. “A Temporary Matter” by Jhumpa Lahiri (from Interpreter of Maladies)
  13. “A few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies” by John Murray (from A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies)
  14. “Watson and the Shark” by John Murray (from A few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies)

NEXT YEAR:

  1. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow (as previously mentioned)
  2. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell

May Day or I Need Help

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This list started as the Mini List of books I wanted to read between November 1st, 2012 and October 31st, 2013. I compiled this list of the 95-100 books I expected to read within a twelve month span of time. I should have known such a prediction would be setting myself up for failure. Lots of things got in the way of me strictly sticking to the list. For starters, there was (and still is) the inability to predict which (if any) Early Review books I would win from LibraryThing. Then, there is my never-ending habit of “filling in” with a shorter book at the end of the month. This is the scenario: Let’s say there are eight days left in the month of January and I have nothing left to read from the mini list for the month of January… so I scan the Big January list, looking for something 175 pages or less. I read that short(er) book and voila! I have read a filler that wasn’t on the Mini List.
Now, there are two new “things.” First, the decision to bypass a book simply because I’m not in the mood for it. Ugh! For the first time ever I skipped over a book simply because I wasn’t ready to read it. The House of Morgan by Ron Chernow fell victim to my whim. I won’t get to read the book about banking until NEXT April. Second, a big mistake – I forgot to include other books in the Martin Boyd series. There are three others that didn’t make the original list. Duh!

So, having said all that, here is the list of books STILL TO GO from the mini list:

  1. Abide By Me by Elizabeth Strout
  2. Among the Missing by Dan Chaon
  3. Apollo: the epic journey to the moon by David West Reynolds
  4. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien
  5. Beyond the Bogota by Gary Leech
  6. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise
  7. Burning the Days by James Salter
  8. Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun
  9. Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford
  10. Conspiracy and Other Stories by Jaan Kross
  11. Deafening by Frances Itani
  12. Death in Verona by Roy Harley Lewis
  13. Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
  14. Fixer by Joe Sacco
  15. Going Wild by Robert Winkler
  16. Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
  17. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels
  18. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice
  19. House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
  20. Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso
  21. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin
  22. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  23. ADDED: Outbreak of Love by Martin Boyd
  24. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder
  25. Panther Soup by John Grimlette
  26. Points Unknown edited by David Roberts
  27. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
  28. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  29. Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham
  30. Southpaw by Mark Harris
  31. Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  32. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner
  33. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell
  34. ADDED: When Blackbirds Sing by Martin Boyd
  35. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
  36. Working Poor by David Shipler

ON DECK FOR MAY:

  1. Dining with Al-Qaeda by Hugh Pope (audio)
  2. Fear of Flying by Erica Jong
  3. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengist (audio)
  4. Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
  5. ADDED: Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou for the Early Review Program
  6. ADDED (because I am an idiot – I forgot to add the next books in the Martin Boyd series): A Difficult Young Man by Martin Boyd
  7. ADDED: The long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz

FINISHED:

  1. Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol
  2. Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak
  3. Apples Are From Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins
  4. Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton (I started this last year. No, sorry – two years ago)
  5. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
  6. Author, Author by David Lodge (audio)
  7. Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner
  8. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  9. Bellwether by Connie Willis
  10. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
  11. Billy by Albert French
  12. Brass Go-Between by Oliver Bleeck
  13. Breakfast with Scot by Michael Drowning
  14. Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan
  15. Brushed by Feathers by Frances Wood
  16. Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes
  17. Cardboard Crown by Martin Boyd
  18. Churchill, a life by Martin Gilbert
  19. City of Thieves by David Benioff
  20. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  21. Descending the Dragon by Jon Bowermaster
  22. Diamond Classics by Mike Shannon
  23. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
  24. The Evolution of Jane by Catherine Schine
  25. Edward Lear in Albania by Edward Lear
  26. Fanny by Edmund White
  27. Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  28. Flamboya Tree by Clara Olink Kelly
  29. Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
  30. Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin
  31. Galton Case by Ross MacDonald
  32. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  33. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
  34. ADDED (in lieu of House of Morgan): God: a biography by Jack Miles
  35. Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws
  36. ADDED: Good City edited by Emily Hiestand
  37. Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
  38. Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
  39. Good-bye Chunk Rice by Craig Thompson
  40. Her by Christa Parravani
  41. Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch
  42. Hole in the World by Richard Rhodes
  43. ADDED: Iliad by Homer
  44. Idle Days in Patagonia by William Hudson
  45. ADDED: Imperfect Harmony by Stacy Horn (for LibraryThing’s Early Review program
  46. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
  47. Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
  48. Lives of the Painters, vol 2, 3 & 4 by Giorgio Vasari
  49. Mortality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
  50. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  51. Of Human Bondage by William Maugham
  52. Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam
  53. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
  54. Rosalind Franklin: Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
  55. Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff
  56. Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
  57. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
  58. Tatiana by Dorothy Jones
  59. Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova
  60. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
  61. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
  62. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
  63. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
  64. Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
  65. Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer
  66. Widow for One Year by John Irving
  67. Women of the Raj by Margaret MacMillan

POETRY COMPLETED:

  1. “Golden Angel Pancake House” by Campbell McGrath
  2. “Lepanto” by Gilbert Keith Chesterton
  3. “Listeners” by Walter De La Mare
  4. “Mandalay” by Rudard Kipling
  5. “Road and the End” by Carl Sandburg
  6. “Sea-Fever” by John Masefield
  7. “Winter” by Marie Ponsot
  8. “In My Craft or Sullen Art” by Dylan Thomas
  9. The Long Hill” by Sarah Teasdale
  10. “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

NEXT YEAR:

  1. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow (as previously mentioned)

April Foolish List

gr4c5Leave a comment

I kinda like the pulse check I took last month. I have decided I like watching one list shrink while another grows.
As a result I decided to keep the lists separated for this month as well. Starting with the books that haven’t been read.

STILL TO GO:

  1. Abide By Me by Elizabeth Strout
  2. Among the Missing by Dan Chaon
  3. Apollo: the epic journey to the moon by David West Reynolds
  4. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
  5. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien
  6. Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner
  7. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengist
  8. Beyond the Bogota by Gary Leech
  9. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise
  10. Burning the Days by James Salter
  11. Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun
  12. Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford
  13. Conspiracy and Other Stories by Jaan Kross
  14. Deafening by Frances Itani
  15. Death in Verona by Roy Harley Lewis
  16. Dining with Al-Qaeda by Hugh Pope
  17. Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
  18. Fixer by Joe Sacco
  19. Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
  20. Going Wild by Robert Winkler
  21. Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
  22. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels
  23. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice
  24. House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
  25. Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso
  26. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin
  27. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  28. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder
  29. Panther Soup by John Grimlette
  30. Points Unknown edited by David Roberts
  31. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
  32. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  33. Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham
  34. Southpaw by Mark Harris
  35. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
  36. Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  37. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner
  38. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell
  39. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
  40. Working Poor by David Shipler

ON DECK FOR APRIL:

  1. Cardboard Crown by Martin Boyd
  2. Diamond Classics by Mike Shannon
  3. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  4. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow
  5. Added: Hole in the World by Richard Rhodes
  6. Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
  7. Added: Author, Author by David Lodge (audio)
  8. Imperfect Harmony by Stacy Horn (for LibraryThing’s Early Review program
  9. Lots of poetry

FINISHED:

  1. Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol
  2. Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak
  3. Apples Are From Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins
  4. Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton (I started this last year. No, sorry – two years ago)
  5. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  6. Bellwether by Connie Willis
  7. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
  8. Billy by Albert French
  9. Brass Go-Between by Oliver Bleeck
  10. Breakfast with Scot by Michael Drowning
  11. Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan
  12. Brushed by Feathers by Frances Wood
  13. Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes
  14. Churchill, a life by Martin Gilbert
  15. City of Thieves by David Benioff
  16. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  17. Descending the Dragon by Jon Bowermaster
  18. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
  19. The Evolution of Jane by Catherine Schine
  20. Edward Lear in Albania by Edward Lear
  21. Fanny by Edmund White
  22. Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  23. ADDED: Flamboya Tree  by Clara Olink Kelly
  24. Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin
  25. Galton Case by Ross MacDonald
  26. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
  27. Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws
  28. Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
  29. Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
  30. Good-bye Chunk Rice by Craig Thompson
  31. Her by Christa Parravani
  32. Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch
  33. Idle Days in Patagonia by William Hudson
  34. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
  35. Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
  36. Lives of the Painters, vol 2, 3 & 4 by Giorgio Vasari
  37. Mortality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
  38. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  39. Of Human Bondage by William Maugham
  40. Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam
  41. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
  42. Rosalind Franklin: Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
  43. Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff
  44. Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
  45. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
  46. Tatiana by Dorothy Jones
  47. Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova
  48. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
  49. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
  50. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
  51. Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
  52. Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer
  53. Widow for One Year by John Irving
  54. Women of the Raj by Margaret MacMillan

Luck of the Irish List

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A pulse check of a different kind. A first of the month kind of thing.

I decided to break up the list for this month, just for something different to look at. Starting with the books that haven’t been read:

STILL TO GO:

  1. Abide By Me by Elizabeth Strout
  2. Among the Missing by Dan Chaon
  3. Apollo: the epic journey to the moon by David West Reynolds
  4. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
  5. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien
  6. Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner
  7. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengist
  8. Beyond the Bogota by Gary Leech
  9. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise
  10. Burning the Days by James Salter
  11. Cardboard Crown by Martin Boyd
  12. Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun
  13. Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford
  14. Conspiracy and Other Stories by Jaan Kross
  15. Deafening by Frances Itani
  16. Death in Verona by Roy Harley Lewis
  17. Diamond Classics by Mike Shannon
  18. Dining with Al-Qaeda by Hugh Pope
  19. Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
  20. Fixer by Joe Sacco
  21. Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
  22. Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
  23. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  24. Going Wild by Robert Winkler
  25. Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
  26. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels
  27. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice
  28. Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch
  29. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow
  30. House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
  31. Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso
  32. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin
  33. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  34. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder
  35. Panther Soup by John Grimlette
  36. Points Unknown edited by David Roberts
  37. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
  38. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  39. Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham
  40. Southpaw by Mark Harris
  41. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
  42. Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  43. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner
  44. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell
  45. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
  46. Working Poor by David Shipler

THIS MONTH’S LIST (MARCH):

  1. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
  2. Fanny by Edmund White
  3. Flamboya Tree by Clara Olink Kelly
  4. Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
  5. Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin
  6. Widow for One Year by John Irving

FINISHED:

  1. Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol
  2. ADDED: After Visiting Friends by Michael Hainey
  3. Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak
  4. Apples Are From Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins
  5. Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton (I started this last year. no, sorry – two years ago)
  6. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  7. Bellwether by Connie Willis
  8. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
  9. Billy by Albert French
  10. Brass Go-Between by Oliver Bleeck
  11. Breakfast with Scot by Michael Drowning
  12. Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan
  13. Brushed by Feathers by Frances Wood
  14. Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes
  15. Churchill, a life by Martin Gilbert
  16. City of Thieves by David Benioff
  17. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  18. Descending the Dragon by Jon Bowermaster
  19. The Evolution of Jane by Catherine Schine
  20. Edward Lear in Albania by Edward Lear
  21. Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  22. Galton Case by Ross MacDonald
  23. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
  24. Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws
  25. Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
  26. Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
  27. Good-bye Chunk Rice by Craig Thompson
  28. Her by Christa Parravani
  29. Idle Days in Patagonia by William Hudson
  30. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
  31. Lives of the Painters, vol 2, 3 & 4 by Giorgio Vasari
  32. Mortality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
  33. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  34. Of Human Bondage by William Maugham
  35. Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam
  36. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
  37. Rosalind Franklin: Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
  38. Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff
  39. Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
  40. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
  41. Tatiana by Dorothy Jones
  42. Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova
  43. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
  44. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
  45. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
  46. Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
  47. Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer
  48. Women of the Raj by Margaret MacMillan

Hearts and Pulse Checks

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I titled this blog in honor of Valentine’s Day.  Here are the books read so far and still go to. With love.

  1. Abide By Me by Elizabeth Strout
  2. ADDED: Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
  3. Among the Missing by Dan Chaon
  4. ADDED: Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak
  5. Apollo: the epic journey to the moon by David West Reynolds
  6. ADDED: Apples Are From Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins
  7. Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton (I started this last year)
  8. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
  9. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien
  10. Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner
  11. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  12. ADDED: Bellwether by Connie Willis
  13. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengist
  14. Beyond the Bogota by Gary Leech
  15. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
  16. ADDED: Billy by Albert French
  17. Brass Go-Between by Oliver Bleeck
  18. Breakfast with Scot by Michael Drowning
  19. Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan
  20. ADDED: Brushed by Feathers by Frances Wood
  21. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise
  22. Burning the Days by James Salter
  23. Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes
  24. Cardboard Crown by Martin Boyd
  25. Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun
  26. Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford
  27. Churchill, a life by Martin Gilbert
  28. ADDED: City of Thieves by David Benioff
  29. Conspiracy and Other Stories by Jaan Kross
  30. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  31. Deafening by Frances Itani
  32. Death in Verona by Roy Harley Lewis
  33. ADDED: Descending the Dragon by Jon Bowermaster
  34. Diamond Classics by Mike Shannon
  35. Dining with Al-Qaeda by Hugh Pope
  36. Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
  37. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
  38. ADDED: The Evolution of Jane by Catherine Schine
  39. Edward Lear in Albania by Edward Lear
  40. Fanny by Edmund White
  41. Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  42. Fixer by Joe Sacco
  43. Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
  44. Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
  45. Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin
  46. Galton Case by Ross MacDonald
  47. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  48. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
  49. Going Wild by Robert Winkler
  50. Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
  51. ADDED via LibraryThing’s Early Review: Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws
  52. Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
  53. Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
  54. Good-bye Chunk Rice by Craig Thompson
  55. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels
  56. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice
  57. ADDED via LibraryThing Early Review: Her by Christa P
  58. Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch
  59. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow
  60. House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
  61. ADDED: Idle Days in Patagonia by William Hudson
  62. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
  63. Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
  64. Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso
  65. Lives of the Painters, vol 2, 3 & 4 by Giorgio Vasari
  66. Mortality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
  67. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  68. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin
  69. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  70. ADDED: Of Human Bondage by William Maugham
  71. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder
  72. Panther Soup by John Grimlette
  73. ADDED: Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam (only because someone gave it to me as a gift and it’s on my list)
  74. Points Unknown edited by David Roberts
  75. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
  76. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
  77. Rosalind Franklin: Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
  78. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  79. Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff
  80. ADDED: Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy ~ only because it was on my list last February and I didn’t get to it!
  81. Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham
  82. Southpaw by Mark Harris
  83. ADDED: Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
  84. ADDED: Tatiana by Dorothy Jones
  85. Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova
  86. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
  87. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
  88. Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  89. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner
  90. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
  91. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
  92. Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
  93. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell
  94. Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer
  95. Widow for One Year by John Irving
  96. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
  97. ADDED: Women of the Raj by Margaret MacMillan
  98. Working Poor by David Shipler

Every time I post one of these lists I seem to add more titles. The sad truth is some books seem to pop up easier than others. If I were to not add another book I think 98 would be a good number for an annual total. Don’t you think?

Resolutions and Pulse Checks

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So. January is over. Another month gone by. Another dozen or so books read. I’m frustrating myself because I keep adding books to the list. Like I mentioned earlier these additions come from another list created before this one. *Sigh* I am up to 95 titles (from the 81 I originally started with) and “down” (meaning read) 35. Such an odd exchange, but there it is. Tomorrow I will post the month of January in detail.

  1. Abide By Me by Elizabeth Strout
  2. ADDED: Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
  3. Among the Missing by Dan Chaon
  4. ADDED: Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak
  5. Apollo: the epic journey to the moon by David West Reynolds
  6. ADDED: Apples Are From Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins
  7. Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton (I started this last year)
  8. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
  9. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien
  10. Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner
  11. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  12. ADDED: Bellwether by Connie Willis
  13. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengist
  14. Beyond the Bogota by Gary Leech
  15. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
  16. ADDED: Billy by Albert French
  17. Brass Go-Between by Oliver Bleeck
  18. Breakfast with Scot by Michael Drowning
  19. Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan
  20. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise
  21. Burning the Days by James Salter
  22. Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes
  23. Cardboard Crown by Martin Boyd
  24. Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun
  25. Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford
  26. Churchill, a life by Martin Gilbert
  27. ADDED: City of Thieves by David Benioff
  28. Conspiracy and Other Stories by Jaan Kross
  29. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  30. Deafening by Frances Itani
  31. Death in Verona by Roy Harley Lewis
  32. ADDED: Descending the Dragon by Jon Bowermaster
  33. Diamond Classics by Mike Shannon
  34. Dining with Al-Qaeda by Hugh Pope
  35. Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
  36. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
  37. Edward Lear in Albania by Edward Lear
  38. Fanny by Edmund White
  39. Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  40. Fixer by Joe Sacco
  41. Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
  42. Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
  43. Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin
  44. Galton Case by Ross MacDonald
  45. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  46. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
  47. Going Wild by Robert Winkler
  48. Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
  49. ADDED via LibraryThing’s Early Review: Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws
  50. Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
  51. Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
  52. Good-bye Chunk Rice by Craig Thompson
  53. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels
  54. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice
  55. ADDED via LibraryThing Early Review: Her by Christa P
  56. Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch
  57. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow
  58. House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
  59. ADDED: Idle Days in Patagonia by William Hudson
  60. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
  61. Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
  62. Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso
  63. Lives of the Painters, vol 2, 3 & 4 by Giorgio Vasari
  64. Mortality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
  65. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  66. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin
  67. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  68. ADDED: Of Human Bondage by William Maugham
  69. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder
  70. Panther Soup by John Grimlette
  71. ADDED: Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam (only because someone gave it to me as a gift and it’s on my list)
  72. Points Unknown edited by David Roberts
  73. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
  74. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
  75. Rosalind Franklin: Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
  76. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  77. Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff
  78. Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham
  79. Southpaw by Mark Harris
  80. ADDED: Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
  81. ADDED: Tatiana by Dorothy Jones
  82. Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova
  83. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
  84. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
  85. Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  86. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner
  87. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
  88. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
  89. Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
  90. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell
  91. Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer
  92. Widow for One Year by John Irving
  93. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
  94. ADDED: Women of the Raj by Margaret MacMillan
  95. Working Poor by David Shipler

Pulse Still There

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This list thing is keeping me honest. I strayed from it only because of another list; a list that actually came first. Come to think of it I probably should have posted that list. It has the whole landscape mapped out. But, maybe that’s too boring. I’ll have to modify my lists for next month. Anyway, here’s the pulse check for the end of December…with the other books added in (if it wasn’t confusing enough).

  1. Abide By Me by Elizabeth Strout (Aug)
  2. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
  3. Among the Missing by Dan Chaon (Jun)
  4. Apollo: the epic journey to the moon by David West Reynolds (Jul)
  5. Added: Apples Are From Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins
  6. Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton (Feb, although I started this last year)
  7. Ariel by Sylvia Plath (Sep)
  8. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien (Sep)
  9. Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner (May)
  10. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  11. ADDED: Bellwether by Connie Willis
  12. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengist (May)
  13. Beyond the Bogota by Gary Leech (May)
  14. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
  15. ADDED: Billy by Albert French
  16. Brass Go-Between by Oliver Bleeck (Feb)
  17. Breakfast with Scot by Michael Drowning
  18. Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan
  19. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise (Nov)
  20. Burning the Days by James Salter (Aug)
  21. Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes
  22. Cardboard Crown by Martin Boyd (Apr)
  23. Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun (Jun)
  24. Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford (Sep)
  25. Churchill, a life by Martin Gilbert
  26. Conspiracy and Other Stories by Jaan Kross (Aug)
  27. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  28. Deafening by Frances Itani (Oct)
  29. Death in Verona by Roy Harley Lewis (Jun)
  30. Diamond Classics by Mike Shannon (Apr)
  31. Dining with Al-Qaeda by Hugh Pope (May)
  32. Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby (Aug)
  33. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope  (Mar)
  34. Edward Lear in Albania by Edward Lear
  35. Fanny by Edmund White (Mar)
  36. Final Solution by Michael Chabon (Jan)
  37. Fixer by Joe Sacco (Jul)
  38. Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco (May)
  39. Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith (May)
  40. Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin (Mar)
  41. Galton Case by Ross MacDonald
  42. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos (Apr)
  43. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem (Feb)
  44. Going Wild by Robert Winkler (Oct)
  45. Golden Spruce by John Vaillant (Jun)
  46. Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
  47. Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
  48. Good-bye Chunk Rice by Craig Thompson (Feb)
  49. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels (Jun)
  50. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice (Nov)
  51. Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch (Mar)
  52. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow (Apr)
  53. House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre (May)
  54. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer (Feb)
  55. Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith (Apr)
  56. Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso (Sep)
  57. Lives of the Painters, vol 2, 3 & 4) by Giorgio Vasari
  58. Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith (Mar)
  59. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (Jan)
  60. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin (Aug)
  61. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin (Oct)
  62. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder (Sep)
  63. Panther Soup by John Grimlette (Nov)
  64. Points Unknown edited by David Roberts (Jun)
  65. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson (Jan)
  66. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell (Aug)
  67. Rosalind Franklin: Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
  68. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell (Apr)
  69. Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff
  70. Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham (Jul)
  71. Southpaw by Mark Harris (Oct)
  72. ADDED: Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
  73. Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova
  74. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith (Jun)
  75. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith (Feb)
  76. Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Jul)
  77. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner (Nov)
  78. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
  79. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery (Jan)
  80. Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
  81. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell (Nov)
  82. Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer
  83. Widow for One Year by John Irving (Mar)
  84. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken (Sep)
  85. ADDED: Women of the Raj by Margaret MacMillan
  86. Working Poor by David Shipler (Jul)

Strangled Charity

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I have a decidedly dumb dilemma. Books. Too many of them. Well, more accurately I have too many uncorrected proofs. Nearly 70 different titles. In the beginning…we’re talking 2006..I was asked to join LibraryThing’s Early Review program. Here’s how it works: ever month LT posts a list of new books to be published and you request one to be reviewed before publication. I have been honored to “win” nearly 70 early publications and I have reviewed them all. Well, let me clarify. I have faithfully reviewed every title I have received. I’m still waiting for two…

In the beginning it was a pride thing. I was so thrilled to be asked to join this program that I saved every single book I was asked to review. I wanted to keep an entire collection of “librarythings” to mark the accomplishment. But now they are taking over! Ironically, the two favorites I wanted to keep I loaned away and never saw again (The Translator and Losing Clementine). But, back to the books I can’t keep. I argue with myself and moi about what to do all the time.

Here’s how it goes:
Me: We donate them to a charity?
Myself: It’s uncorrected proof. No one wants to read an unfinished product.
Me: We could donate them to a library?
Moi: You wrote tags, notes and stuff all through them. You underlined and dog eared pages. (Shame on you, librarian!)
Me: We could give them to friends?
Myself: And how would you decide who gets what? Think of that Orgasmic Pregnancy one! Who would get that?
Me: We could offer them up free to anyone interested near and far? FaceBook? They would just pay my shipping costs?
Myself: And what if people don’t send you $$ to mail them? You are trying to renovate your kitchen, remember?
Me: We could throw them out?
Moi: You would hate yourself and chase after the recycling truck to bring them back.
Me: We could just keep them?
Myself: Out of the question. You don’t hold onto books unless you love them. You are running out of room with things you don’t love.
Me: I do hate clutter.
Moi: See?

So. What to do? Maybe when the weather gets warmer I’ll set up an alfresco book store with a big ole “Free” sign and see what happens. It could be a study in sociology. Do people like uncorrected proofs? Would they mind my in-page musings? Do people like free no matter what? And who will take that Orgasmic Pregnancy book?

Pulse Check

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This is the list for Year Seven of the Book Lust Challenge. I’ll update it at the end of each month, just to keep myself honest.

  1. Abide By Me by Elizabeth Strout
  2. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
  3. Among the Missing by Dan Chaon
  4. Apollo: the epic journey to the moon by David West Reynolds
  5. Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton (I started this last year)
  6. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
  7. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien
  8. Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner
  9. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  10. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengist
  11. Beyond the Bogota by Gary Leech
  12. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
  13. Brass Go-Between by Oliver Bleeck
  14. Breakfast with Scot by Michael Drowning
  15. Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan
  16. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise
  17. Burning the Days by James Salter
  18. Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes
  19. Cardboard Crown by Martin Boyd
  20. Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun
  21. Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford
  22. Churchill, a life by Martin Gilbert
  23. Conspiracy and Other Stories by Jaan Kross
  24. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  25. Deafening by Frances Itani
  26. Death in Verona by Roy Harley Lewis
  27. Diamond Classics by Mike Shannon
  28. Dining with Al-Qaeda by Hugh Pope
  29. Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
  30. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
  31. Edward Lear in Albania by Edward Lear
  32. Fanny by Edmund White
  33. Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  34. Fixer by Joe Sacco
  35. Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
  36. Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
  37. Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin
  38. Galton Case by Ross MacDonald ~ reading right now
  39. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  40. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
  41. Going Wild by Robert Winkler
  42. Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
  43. Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
  44. Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
  45. Good-bye Chunk Rice by Craig Thompson
  46. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels
  47. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice
  48. Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch
  49. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow
  50. House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
  51. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
  52. Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
  53. Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso
  54. Lives of the Painters (vol 2, 3 & 4) by Giorgio Vasari
  55. Mortality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
  56. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  57. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin
  58. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  59. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder
  60. Panther Soup by John Grimlette
  61. Points Unknown edited by David Roberts
  62. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
  63. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
  64. Rosalind Franklin by Brenda Maddox
  65. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  66. Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff
  67. Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham
  68. Southpaw by Mark Harris
  69. Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova ~ reading right now
  70. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
  71. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
  72. Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  73. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner
  74. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
  75. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
  76. Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
  77. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell
  78. Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer
  79. Widow for One Year by John Irving
  80. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
  81. Working Poor by David Shipler

December 12 is…

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December is a mixed bag. Kisa and I aren’t traveling anywhere (I think we did enough of that over the summer). We’ll get the tree today. I’ll spend the weekend humming Christmas tunes and decorating the crap out of the house. Not much else is planned except a lot of books, books, books. For starters I am reading a lot of continuations:

  • Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan ~ a final book in the continuation of the series I started last month.
  • The Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan ~ this finishing the Good Thief series I started in October.
  • Lives of the Painters… by Giorgio Vasari ~ this is the third (and penultimate) book in the series started in October
  • Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers ~ this continues the series started with The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club…

Confession: a bunch of these books aren’t “series” per se. But, because they continue a story (same characters, continuation of plot) I wanted to read them in order, especially Chris Ewan.

For the honor of all things December:

  • The Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer ~ in honor of Hanukkah
  • Women of the Raj by Margaret Macmillan ~ in honor of December being a really good time to visit India
  • The Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova ~ in honor of the coldest day in Russia (12/31/76)
  • Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegman ~ in honor of Iowa becoming a state in December

For the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I’m back to nonfiction: Drinking with Men by Rosie Schaap (I remembered her last name by thinking Schnapps). This looks really interesting because it isn’t someone’s sob story memoir about being an trapped and pathetic alcoholic.

And, lastly audio – I am planning to drive to work to the tune of Ross Macdonald’s The Galton Case.

So, there is it. Ten books. Ambitious of me, I know. The way I look at it I have ten days of vacation coming up with barely anything to do. I want to spend a great deal of time reading if nothing else.