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I finished my goal of 60 books including 10 classics last year. For this year I'm going to up it by 5 and go with 65. Graphic novels don't count and I will be reading 10 classics again. http://wwww.goodreads.com/Namirsolo
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Jan 2, 2014 20:17
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 08:23 |
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Here's my January review. I started with reading the complete Sherlock Holmes. 1. His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle 2. The Return of Sherlock Holmes 3. The Hound of the Baskervilles 4. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes 5. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – I don't know what to say about these that hasn't already been said. I now understand why they are so popular and are still being remade. 6. The Metamorphoses and other stories by Franz Kafka- Haunting. I'm kind of sad that I didn't discover Kafka before now. 7. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah- A friend at work pressured me to read this. I wasn't impressed by it and felt really manipulated by the ending. I hate tear jerkers. 8. Fatal Alliance by Sean Williams- Run of the mill Star Wars book. It wasn't great and it wasn't terrible.
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Feb 5, 2014 23:57
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Here's my February update: 9. Havisham by Robert Frame- This is a backstory of Miss Havisham from Great Expectations. Although I hate Great Expectations, I have always been fascinated by the character, so I wanted to give this a shot. The author's style is very annoying to me. He uses a vignette style and it's often hard to decipher what is going on. 10. His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle- love Sherlock Holmes stories, now I've read them all. 11. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde- I love the language in this book. Wilde is one of those authors that I was forced to read in high school and never appreciated, but now that I'm older I appreciate it much more. I think I should re-read the Importance of Being Earnest. 12. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez- Some of the descriptions in this book are wonderful. I can't say I'm really a fan of magical realism, though. 13. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende- Reading this back to back with One Hundred Years was kind of interesting because they share many similarities. I connected much more this story than I did the other one because although the main character is a horrible man, there are two well-written and strong female characters. 14. Unbroken:A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Lauren Hillenbrand- A historical account of a former Olympic athlete, world war ii veteran, and POW. I love this author (she also wrote Seabiscuit), This man is amazing. And, it's being made into a movie adapted by the Coen brothers and directed by Angelina Jolie. I hope it's good. I have finished my goal of reading 10 classics if I count all the Doyle books separately. I think I won't since most of them are novellas. If I don't count them, I'm already at 5.
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Mar 1, 2014 16:57
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screenwritersblues posted:
I keep a "To Read" list on my Good reads account as a general guideline, but if something pops up that I feel like reading more than what's next, I go with that instead.
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Mar 29, 2014 18:11
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Here's my March list. I'm actually surprised I fit so many in here, but a couple of them are novellas. I will probably adjust my goal higher since I've read at least 5 novellas. I'm currently reading A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving and I love it. I don't want to put it down. 15. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Housseni- This author is masterful at creating believable characters that you really care about. There really isn't much of a plot, but I found it gripping anyway.This is the second of his books that I have read (The Kite Runner was the first), and I really want to read the third now. 16. Fall of the Governor Part I by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bosingna- this book very closely follows this comics, and since I have already read the comics, I found it tedious. This is also due to the fact that the writing is just awful. 17. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller-- I can't really find anything to say about this one that hasn't been said before. 18. Divergent by Veronica Roth- Although there are some obvious glaring problems with the society in this book (like it just wouldn't logically work out), I really loved this story and found it a very quick read. It seems to be written for very young teenagers, but I can't wait to see what happens in the next book. 19. Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars and Enslaved Your Children by David Sheff- Very interesting video game history. This book was published in 1993, so it doesn't cover any very recent history and its chapters on the future of gaming are hilarious. 20. Death in Venice and Other Stories by Thomas Mann- I enjoyed the descriptions. This is another author that I wish I had discovered years ago. 21. Insurgent by Veronica Roth. Disappointing after how much fun I found the first book. The second one is full of the characters making dumb decisions just because the plot demands it. It ends on a big cliffhanger, though, so I'll have to check out the third one. 22. Breakfast at Tiffany's and other stories by Truman Capote 23. Cooked by Michael Pollan: A history of the art of cooking and a lot of philosophical thought about it, too. I found the parts about history very interesting, but could have done without the philosphy. 24. Illusions: the Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach- I found this story really charming. I'm not sure why so many reviews say that it changed people's lives, though. I'd love to hear that explained.
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Apr 4, 2014 00:03
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April recap: 25. Allegiant by Veronica Roth- Third book in the Divergent series. I found this one much better than the second, but by the end I realized not much happened. This series could have been contained to two books. I'm not sure why everyone is set on trilogies these days. 26. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving- This book is magnificent and hilarious. I'm a huge John Irving fan, so I'm not sure why it took me so long to read it, but I loved it. I definitely recommend it. 27. The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen Carter- Based on the “What if? Question of if Lincoln had survived the assassination attempt, would he have been impeached? The question is fascinating, but unfortunately this author's characters aren't compelling and I find his language stilted. 28. Stiff: the Curious Lives of Cadavers by Mary Roach- If anyone isn't familiar with her writing, she tends to take one subject (in this case what happens to people after death) and write about it from different scientific points of view. I found this book fascinating, especially the discussion of bodies donated to science. The whole book is also pretty funny. 29. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet- I find the subject of this book fascinating, but the descriptions of architecture get really boring. Additionally, there is a very graphic (two pages!) rape which is brought up over and over again along with many other rapes that don't get quite as much attention. That said, three of the main characters are very well-written, but I was so sick of hearing about rape by the end of this book that I was very annoyed.
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Apr 30, 2014 23:54
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30. Meerkat Manor: Flower of the Kalahari by Tim Clutton-Brock- Fascinating. I love meerkats and this book is full of information about their lives along with many adorable pictures. 31. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe- I honestly found this extremely boring. It wasn't the language, just that I felt that absolutely nothing interesting happened except for the very beginning and the end. 32. The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths- my first murder mystery other than Sherlock Holmes. Pretty enjoyable, but had some annoying cliches. 33. The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner City Neighborhood: by David Simon and Ed Burns- The book that The Wire was based on. Everyone should have to read this book, especially anyone who has ever felt judgmental of drug addicts. It's incredible. 34. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green: The characters in this book are so quirky that they are obnoxious. The ending was obvious and I always feel manipulated by stories like this. 35. Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald- About healthy ways to lose weight for endurance sports. Very helpful. 36. Fic by Anne Jamison- About fan fiction. I wanted a book about the social implications or history, but what I got was a bunch of essays that are barely connected by different authors. Most of the authors try really hard to establish their “fan cred” and that's really not what I'm interested in reading at all. 37. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris- This is the first Sookie Stackhouse book (the series that True Blood is based on). It was actually way better than I expected.
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May 31, 2014 13:47
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38. Elizabeth of York: A Tudor Queen and Her World by Alison Weir- Parts of this biography were really fascinating. However, the author had a tendency of just listing details such as how much money was spent on what really often. My guess this is because many of the historical records about her are financial records. 39. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris- These books are fun and quick pulpy reads. 40. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris 41. Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris 42. Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris 43. Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris- Yes, I'm kind of on a tear here. 44. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole- This was recommended to me as one of the funniest books ever. I just found the main character so repulsive and horrible that I could not laugh at him. 45. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides: I love his prose. I was already familiar with the story from the movie which was apparently a faithful adaptation. This book is pretty depressing.
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Jun 30, 2014 01:01
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49. The White Princess by Philippa Gregory- I recently read Alison Weir's biography of Elizabeth of York and I have to say that a lot of this book just doesn't jive with the facts. I know that it's historical fiction, but when Gregory takes a queen who was, by all accounts, in love with her husband and very devout and turns her into someone who basically hates her husband, it kind of rubs me the wrong way. I'm honestly upset for Henry VII because I think this book is character assassination for him regarding his relationship with his wife. I also find it rather gross that Gregory decides that Elizabeth was in love with Richard III who fairly certainly killed her brothers. He's also her uncle! On top of that, the book is just boring. Elizabeth doesn't know any of the plotting that is going on around her. She doesn't bother to try to find out about it. She doesn't try to prove her loyalty to her husband and her mother-in-law. She basically just sits around for the entire book and does nothing. I realize that many noble women didn't have much agency, but Gregory has done a much better job with this situation in her other books. 50. Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris 51. The Walking Dead: Fall of the Governor Part 2 by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bosinga- Okay, this really did not need to be two parts. Most of the book is disgusting detail about zombie brains and other gore. I'm not a fan of this writing, but I think the book is more for teenage boys than it is for me, so I forgive it. 52. Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris 53. No God but God by Reza Aslan- This is a pretty interesting history of Islam. Although I took a world religion class, I realied that I don't know much about Islam at all. I found it very enlightening, especially to read about Muhammed and see that he seemed to respect women a lot and urged people to take care of the poor. 54. Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris- Man, this series is getting sillier and sillier with each book. 55. An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina- I'm honestly not sure what to make of this book. I've seen Hotel Rwanda and done a bit of other reading about the genocide. I had no idea how controversial this guy is until I started reading about this book online, though. Apparently some people believe that he was actually extorting the people staying in the hotel? I'm not sure what to believe. Anyway, the book itself is great, but he philosophizes a lot and I found that kind of boring. 56. The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths- Easy mystery read. I'm enjoying this series. I'm now at 56/65. I think I need to up my goal. But, War and Peace is coming up on my list, so maybe not.
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Jul 31, 2014 22:57
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I've had a rough past two months because of tackling War and Peace. One more and I've met my goal for the year, though. 57. Carthage by Joyce Carol Oates- This book was pretty boring. It probably could have been only 200 pages. 58. Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris- Probably the worst in the series. Harris had an end in mind that she wanted to get to and just kind of rushed this, I think. 59. Shake Hands with the Devil by Romeo Dallaire- I'm fascinated by the Rwandan Genocide and this book was very interesting because it gives a lot of background of what was happening in the UN. 60. Look Again by Lisa Scottoline- Run of the mill “thriller. A lot of stuff that doesn't even make sense happens. It was fine to read while traveling. 61. Homicide: A Year of Killing on the Streets by David Simon- Amazing. I can't recommend Simon enough. 62. Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King- Really did not enjoy this and I am a big King fan. I just thought all of the characters (save the psycho) were boring as hell. Parts of the plot make no sense (and it's not even supernatural). 63. Coraline by Neil Gaiman- really liked this. It was haunting and cute at the same time. I really can't imagine reading it as a kid, though. I think it would have scared the crap out of me then. 64. Bad Blood: Crisis in the American Red Cross by Judith Reitman- Very interesting, but pretty outdated now. 65. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy- This was honestly not half as hard to read as what people had led me to believe. Pierre is probably one of my favorite characters in a book ever. I just love how bumbling and naive he manages to be.
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Oct 2, 2014 22:03
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 08:23 |
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Here's my end of the year report. My goal was 66 and I ended up reading 73, which will probably be 74 by January 1st. I think next year I will have to cut back slightly. 66. The Stolen Throne by David Gaider- 67. Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer- Would have enjoyed this more if it had more practical advice about how to improve your memory instead of focusing on the author entering a memory contest. 68. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman- Haunting, I loved it. 69. The Calling by David Gaider- This was surprisingly good for a video game book, but I love the world of Dragon Age, so that really helps. The author is really overly wordy. The book could probably be 150 pages less. 70. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon- This book has a lot of issues with consent. Yes, I realize it is medieval fantasy, but when the main character's love interest is the one raping her, it's problematic. 71. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell- Pretty interesting. I had already heard the first chapter on the Freakonomics podcast 72. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 73. The Magicians by Lev Grossman- I enjoyed this, but I think that the author could really use some pacing help. There is pretty much no plot until the book is 3/4 over.
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Dec 26, 2014 16:00
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