When we last visited the Reading Challenge (ahem um...in FEBRUARY...) I said I had read 7 books so far of the 50 (but had only posted about the first 6...)
1. The People of Sparks, by Jeanne DuPrau #35/50: A book set in the future
2. Lone Wolf, by Jodi Picoult #16/50: A book from an author you love but haven't read yet
3. Leaving Time, by Jodi Picoult #38/50: A book that made you cry
4. Big Girl Small, by Rachel DeWoskin #41/50: A book by an author you've never read
5. Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier #10/50: A mystery or thriller
6. Still Alice, by Lisa Genova #3/50: A book that became a movie
7. Same Kind of Different As Me, by Ron Hall #14/50: A nonfiction book
The updated list is now:
19 books read out of 50 - that's 38% done so far!
Which, considering we're officially 41% of the way through the year, is almost right on track!
Of course - my most recent book (over 1000 pages!!!) took me quite a bit more time than my usual novel... whew!
And there's no way I can keep up with reviewing every single book I'm reading (especially because some of them are, while pretty good, not quite worthy of a big review on here!)
(And sometimes the book is a weird fit for the category, but a few I just made fit because I totally wanted to read the book, and just found a category that would work!) ((Also - there's some books that wouldn't fit in any category, but they're still counted below because - hey, I want credit for them!!)
So here's the additional books read so far:
8. The Glass Castle: A Memoir, by Jeanette Walls #26/50: A memoir (finished 3/10/15)
9. Lone Survivor, by Marcus Luttrell #13/50: A book set in a different country (finished 3/16/15)
*This book - if you've seen the movie you know - was set over in the middle East (specifically Afghanistan). After having seen the movie, it was pretty neat to read the book because I easily attached faces (although famous actor faces) to names. Such an incredible story!
10. The Replacement, by Brenna Yovanoff #22/50: A book that scares you* (finished 3/18/15)
*An interesting book... something about babies being stolen around birth to feed some weird creature/monster and Others replacing them, and even though the town members deep down know something's off, they don't say a word because it would disturb their perfect peaceful haven...
*I duplicated readings for this type of book, because - hellooooo see next book!
*(11.) Rosemary's Baby, by Ira Levin #22/50: A book that scares you (finished 4/7/15)
*A little bit disappointing, as it didn't really scare me much... the movie's probably a bit scarier!
12. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, by Holly Black #34/50: A book with a love triangle (finished 3/24/15)
*So this love triangle is actually between a vampire, a human, and a human who turns into a vampire (pretty kinky right?) and was so totally nothing to do with the main story line.
13. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin #24/50: A book based entirely on its cover (finished 3/27/15)
*I guess you'd need to see the title to accompany this category:
14. The Story Teller, by Jodi Picoult #9/50: A book by a female author (finished 4/1/2015)
*This would be one of those categories that I read the book first and then fit it into this category in order to cross it off the list...
15. What Alice Forgot, by Liane Moriarty #8/50: A funny book (finished 4/2/2015)
*This wasn't quite purely comedy - about a women who has amnesia and doesn't remember a dead best friend, nor why her husband was leaving her - but it had funny parts, and was overall pretty good!
16. The Black Box, by Michael Crichton #37/50: A book with a color in the title (finished 4/4/2015)
17. The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón #44/50: A book that was originally written in a different lanauge
*If you couldn't tell by the author's name, this novel was originally written in Spanish (and is set in Spain.) It was a very good read, and ran alot of parallels between the current character, who was telling/learning/discovering a story of an author who lived in the same neighborhood years before...
18. Memory of Water, by Emmi Itäranta #35/50: A book set in the future* (finished 4/24/15)
*This was another duplicate for a category I'd already ticked off the list, but the only category this book (which was pretty neat: an unspecified time in the future, where water is so precious a commodity, and the main character learns her father is a tea-master, complete with secret hidden spring) would fit in...
19. Ten Beach Road, by Wendy Wax #5/50: A book with a number in the title (finished 5/2/15)
*This book underpromised and overdelivered - three women brought together by a Bernie-Madoff-type scam, who pull together and rehab a once-gorgeous Spanish-style home in Florida... a fun read!
20. Tin God, by Stacy Green n/a - this book could NOT be fit into any category - but I still wanted to credit myself for a book read! (finished 5/4/15)
21. One to Hold, by Tia Louise #27/50: A book you can finish in a day (finished 5/8/15)
*So I don't remember what was going on that I was able to read this so quickly (it wasn't too short) but I flew through the pages (being honest here) because it was a HOT read... the first scene is a random (or so it seems!) hawt hook-up outside of a bar, in the deserts of Arizona at some retreat... a great summer read if you're needing some -ahem - warmups!
22. She Belongs To Me, by Carmen DeSousa n/a again - could NOT make this sucker fit into any category, but still want credit! (finished 5/10/15)
23. Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell #1/50: A book with more than 500 pages (finished 5/31/15)
*and this would be the epic huge THOUSAND-PAGE undertaking of a novel that took me since the first day in Cancun (so two weeks!!) to read... of course, while on vacation I devoured the first 500 pages (it helped that we hung out in the room while Button napped each day... I got at least 2 hours reading done daily!) and then we got home and reading ground to a halt...
I finally finished last night.
And my first reaction was, SERIOUSLY?! with that ending?!
While the novel was phenomenal, and so well written, I was so dissatisfied with the abrupt ending that I even started looking up fan fiction today to see if anyone had written a more satisfying one! (not really - also, fan fiction can be VERY POORLY WRITTEN and after Mitchell's work, seem totally uncouth.) Of course, the ending as Mitchell wrote is ironic and literary genius, but so - so, UNSATISFYING for the at-heart romantics!!
But while I couldn't find any good fan fiction, you know what I did discover?
There's a sequel?!
As the classic story, first told over half a century ago, moves forward,
the greatest love affair in all fiction is reignited; amidst heartbreak
and joy, the endless, consuming passion between Scarlett O'Hara and
Rhett Butler reaches its startling culmination.
So that's 19 out of 50 off The Reading Challenge List, and a total of 23 books read so far this year!
And I guess I know what I'm reading next! Now, just to find the category to cram it into!!
(also - yes, time is flying with a toddler - I'm 10 weeks now?! Thank baby jesus the doppler gives me that quick clip-clop of a heartbeat nearly immediately each time...)
(also - yes, time is flying with a toddler - I'm 10 weeks now?! Thank baby jesus the doppler gives me that quick clip-clop of a heartbeat nearly immediately each time...)
The Glass Castle is one of my favorites - read it in a day or two, could not put it down. How do you find time to read? I can't find time to pee. You'll have to let me in on your secret!
ReplyDeleteSome days I'm not sure, to be honest... lol There's been weeks where I only get about 30 minutes of reading in before I pass out in bed... And then there's times where, if it's a pdf I've loaded on my nook, I'll also read at lunch on my phone for an hour... =)
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