1001 Books Challenge

Another challenge I've decided to take up is the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Challenge (1K). This incorporates books that are listed in the abovementioned book by Peter Boxall. After reading 22 books last year, my goal this year will be to read 20 books. A lot of these will probably overlap with the Classics Challenge and also the Reading through the Decades Challenge.

1K reading in 2008: (currently reading)
Jane Austen: Mansfield Park
Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility
John Banville: The Book of Evidence
Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre
Truman Capote: Breakfast at Tiffany's
Truman Capote: In Cold Blood
Graham Greene: The Third Man & The Fallen Idol
Yann Martel: Life of Pi
George Orwell: Animal Farm
Jean Rhys: Wide Sargasso Sea
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein
Charles Webb: The Graduate
Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray

TBR books that qualify for the 1K challenge (max 25 listed):
Note: Books in italics have been read.
Jane Austen: Mansfield Park
Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey
Jane Austen: Persuasion
Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility
Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre
Truman Capote: In Cold Blood
Wilkie Collins: The Woman in White
Charles Dickens: Bleak House
Daphne du Maurier: Rebecca
George Eliot: Middlemarch
Ralph Ellison: Invisible Man
Ian Fleming: Casino Royale
Thomas Hardy: Far from the Madding Crowd
Nathaniel Hawthorne: The House of the Seven Gables
Herman Hesse: The Glass Bead Game
James Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Yann Martel: Life of Pi
Ian McEwan: Enduring Love
Vladimir Nabokov: Pnin
Edgar Allen Poe: The Pit and the Pendulum
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein
John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath
William Makepeace Thackeray: Vanity Fair
John Kennedy Toole: A Confederacy of Dunces
Charles Webb: The Graduate

Other 1K books I'd like to own and read (max 10 listed):
Note: Books in italics have been bought.
Truman Capote: Breakfast at Tiffany's
Miguel de Cervantes: Don Quixote
Jeffrey Eugenides: The Virgin Suicides
Gustave Flaubert: Madame Bovary
Graham Greene: The Third Man
Mark Haddon: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Herman Melville: Moby Dick
Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina
Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray
John Wyndham: Chocky

Classics Challenge

Although I'm hoping to focus a bit more on modern literature this year, I can't pass up doing the Classics Challenge (CL) again, especially after successfully reading 25 classics in 2007. In 2008 I'll be aiming to read 25 books again.

CL reading in 2008: (currently reading)
Jane Austen: Mansfield Park
Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility
Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre
Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Secret Garden
Truman Capote: Breakfast at Tiffany's
Truman Capote: In Cold Blood
May Gibbs: Snugglepot and Cuddlepie
Graham Greene: The Third Man & The Fallen Idol
Rudyard Kipling: The Jungle Book
Madeleine L'Engle: A Wrinkle in Time
CS Lewis: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Richard Matheson: I am Legend
George Orwell: Animal Farm
Jean Rhys: Wide Sargasso Sea
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein
Charles Webb: The Graduate
Nathanael West: The Day of the Locust
Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Thornton Wilder: The Bridge of San Luis Rey

TBR books that qualify for the CL challenge (max 25 listed):
Note: Books in italics have been read.
Richard Adams: Watership Down
Jane Austen: Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility
Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre
Wilkie Collins: The Woman in White
Charles Dickens: The Old Curiosity Shop
Ralph Ellison: Invisible Man
AB Facey: A Fortunate Life
Ian Fleming: Casino Royale
May Gibbs: Snugglepot and Cuddlepie
Frank Herbert: Dune
James Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
CS Lewis: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Vladimir Nabokov: Pnin
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein
John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath
Robert Louis Stevenson: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
William Makepeace Thackeray: Vanity Fair
Charles Webb: The Graduate
Nathaniel West: The Day of the Locust
John Wyndham: The Chrysalids

Other CL books I'd like to own and read (max 10 listed):
Note: Books in italics have been bought.
Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita
William S Burroughs: Junky
Cervantes: Don Quixote
Graham Greene: The Third Man
James Joyce: Ulysses
John Milton: Paradise Lost
Baroness Emmuska Orczy: The Scarlet Pimpernel
Ayn Rand: The Fountainhead

2008 Reading Challenges

Welcome to my reading list for 2008! Last year I read 53 books (25 of which were counted towards my Classics Challenge), and this year I've decided to up the ante just a little to 55 books.

I've also decided to undertake some extra reading challenges this year. All the books I read for the challenges will be from my TBR pile, which is nearing the 300 mark, so I'll have a wide selection to choose from and won't need to buy more books in order to complete the challenges.

I'm trying not to stretch myself too much (even though it's a challenge, I'd like to keep my goals within the realms of possibility!) and quite a few of my books will suit several different challenges at once. For example, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie by May Gibbs will tick a box in the Classics Challenge, Young Adults Challenge, Reading through the Decades Challenge and Australian Literature Challenge (see below for more details of challenges).

What's with all the challenges, I hear you ask? Well, I've been reading a fair few book blogs recently, and it seems like signing yourself up for a stack of reading challenges is quite a popular thing to do. It becomes addictive and it's very difficult to stop joining more challenges. I think it appeals to the list-maker in me: I love making lists and I love ticking things off. It gives me a great sense of achievement.

The challenges are as follows:

Classics Challenge (CL) - My definition of 'Classic' literature is books that were written prior to 1900; I define books written from 1900 to around the mid 1960s as 'Modern Classic'. Both types of books qualify for this challenge. As already mentioned, I read 25 books for the CL last year. This year my goal is the same: 25 books.

1001 Books Challenge (1K) - Books listed in '1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die' by Peter Boxall. I currently have around 60 of these books on my TBR pile, and a few dozen more as ebooks. Last year I read 22 books and this year my goal is 20 books.

Reading through the Decades Challenge (RD) - Entails reading a book from every decade for the past 100 years. My goal is to read 11 books which cover the 1900s to the 2000s inclusive. If I have time I'll start working backwards from the 1890s. I have so many books on my TBR pile that I'll have at least several choices from each of these decades!

Book Club Forum Reading Circle Challenge (BF) - Last year I read 8 books for various BCF reading circles. With the Jane Austen Reading Circle starting up this month, at least 4 of her books should count towards the challenge (if I don't elect to re-read the other 2). I will also count any books that were chosen for past reading circles (such as Life of Pi by Yann Martel). This year I'm going to aim for 10 books.

Young Adults Challenge (YA) - Books aimed at younger readers. My goal is to read 10 books, which shouldn't be a problem because they're generally easy reads and I have plenty of them on my TBR pile!

Sci Fi/Fantasy Challenge (SF) - The Sci Fi/Fantasy section of my TBR pile has been growing quite quickly in the last year, but my reading is lagging far behind. I'm going to try to remedy that this year by knocking 8 books off the list.

Australian Literature Challenge (AU) - I have been sadly neglecting Australian literature lately but I'm hoping to turn that around this year because I have plenty of great Australian classics on my shelves. My goal is to read 6 books.

Dystopian Challenge (DY) - Books set in dystopian societies (from Wikipedia: 'usually characterised by an oppressive social control, such as an authoritarian or totalitarian government'). This is my favourite genre (sub-genre?) to read so I'm really looking forward to this one. I read 5 books last year and this year my goal is the same: 5 books.

2008 Reading List

Books that have been read have a rating out of 10 next to them. Then there are the books that I'm currently reading, books that have been borrowed and, unless otherwise stated, I'll be reading hard copies of all books.

The below list will be updated as the year progresses. I'll add books as I'm reading them. The ones that aren't bold or blue are upcoming reads.

Margaret Atwood: Oryx and Crake 9/10
Jane Austen: Mansfield Park 8/10
Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility 9/10
John Banville: The Book of Evidence 10/10
Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre 10/10
Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Secret Garden 9/10
Truman Capote: Breakfast at Tiffany's 10/10
Truman Capote: In Cold Blood 10/10
Arthur C Clarke & Gentry Lee: The Garden of Rama 8/10
Roald Dahl: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator 7/10
AB Facey: A Fortunate Life 9/10
Jasper Fforde: The Eyre Affair 8/10
Neil Gaiman: Neverwhere 8/10
May Gibbs: Snugglepot and Cuddlepie 7/10
Graham Greene: The Third Man & The Fallen Idol 9/10
Rudyard Kipling: The Jungle Book 5/10
Madeleine L'Engle: A Wrinkle in Time 8/10
CS Lewis: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 8/10
CS Lewis: Prince Caspian 8/10
Yann Martel: Life of Pi 7/10
Richard Matheson: I am Legend (ebook) 9/10
Robert O'Brien: Z for Zachariah 7/10
George Orwell: Animal Farm 10/10
Ruth Park: Playing Beatie Bow 8/10
Terry Pratchett: The Colour of Magic 7/10
Jean Rhys: Wide Sargasso Sea 6/10
Diane Setterfield: The Thirteenth Tale 9/10
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus 10/10
Geoff Tibballs: No-Balls and Googlies: A Cricket Companion 8/10
Kurt Vonnegut: Timequake
Charles Webb: The Graduate 7/10
Nathanel West: The Day of the Locust 7/10
Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray 9/10
Thornton Wilder: The Bridge of San Luis Rey 6/10
Tim Winton: Breath 8/10
Markus Zusak: The Book Thief 10/10

Review of 2007 Reading

I've had a most wonderful year in 2007 in terms of reading. I've read many truly wonderful books and just a couple of stinkers.

Here's a wrap-up of my reading:

10/10
Anthony Burgess: A Clockwork Orange
Ken Kesey: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird (re-read)
K Rowling: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Bram Stoker: Dracula

9/10
Jane Austen: Emma
Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol (re-read over 2006/7)
Charles Dickens: Great Expectations
George Grossmith: Diary of a Nobody
Jack Kerouac: The Town and the City
Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita
JK Rowling: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (re-read)
John Steinbeck: Of Mice and Men
Hunter S Thompson: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse 5

5/10 or less
Paulo Coelho: The Alchemist
DH Lawrence: Lady Chatterley's Lover
Anna Sewell: Black Beauty

In 2007, I read 52 books, which works out at 1 per week. I don't know how I managed that when Lolita and The Town and the City took up 2 months between them! I suspect it's also because I read quite a few short books. I'll aim to read 52 again in 2008.

I bought 170 books in 2007, 46 of which were brand-new (but often at discount book shops) and the rest were second-hand (bought from book shops, book fairs and off ebay). In 2008 I'm going to try to restrict my buying to less than 100 books. Surely this will be pretty easy; my wish list is getting pretty low now.

Recently Acquired Books

I'd forgotten to post about the books I have gotten since Christmas. The list is mostly books I got for Christmas and ones I bought with a voucher, but there are also a few second-hand books I bought on New Year's Eve.

Enid Blyton: The Magic Faraway Tree
Bill Bryson: Neither Here Nor There
Simon Callow: The Road to Xanadu (Orson Wells biography, volume 1)
Simon Callow: Hello Americans (Orson Welles biography, volume 2)
Raymond Chandler: The Big Sleep/Farewell, My Lovely/The Long Goodbye
Charles Dickens: The Old Curiosity Shop
Louise Fitzhugh: Harriet the Spy
Elizabeth Gaskell: North and South
Stella Gibbons: Cold Comfort Farm
Jack Kerouac: The Dharma Bums
Stephen King: IT
Madeleine L'Engle: A Wrinkle in Time
Hunter S Thompson: Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72
Sue Townsend: The Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4

And two books called:
The Little Black Book of Music
The Little Black Book of Books
They're full of small articles regarding important events, characters etc in the music and literary worlds for the past 100 years. Very interesting stuff.

Also, five cookbooks called:
4 Ingredients
The Commonsense Cookery Book Volume 2
Fast Chicken
Fast Deserts
Fast Pasta

A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson

Rating: 8/10

Published: 1997
Number of pages: 350
ISBN: 0552997021

Started: 30 November 2007
Finished: 6 December 2007


Summary (taken from blurb):
The longest continuous footpath in the world, the Appalachian Trail stretches along the East Coast of the United States, from Georgia to Maine, through some of the most arresting and celebrated landscapes in America.

At the age of forty-four, in the company of his friend Stephen Katz (last seen in the bestselling Neither Here Nor There, Bill Bryson sets off to hike through the vast tangled woods which have been frightening sensible people for three hundred years. Ahead lay almost 2,200 miles of remote mountain wilderness filled with bears, moose, bobcats, rattlesnakes, poisonous plants, disease-bearing ticks, the occasional chuckling murderer and - perhaps most alarming of all - people whose favourite pastime is discussing the relative merits of the external-frame backpack.

Facing savage weather, merciless insects, unreliable maps and a fickle companion whose profoundest wish was to go to a motel and watch The X-Files, Bryson gamely struggled through the wilderness to achieve a lifetime's ambition - not to die outdoors.

Comments:
I started this book a couple of weeks after finishing Jack Kerouac's The Town and the City. That book fired up in me a big desire to visit the US, and this book has made it even worse! Despite the dangers that Bryson gleefully points out, he paints an irresistible picture of the Appalachian Trail and surrounding countryside.

As someone who has done a bit of bushwalking, I could empathise with the difficulties faced by Bryson and Katz, particularly at the beginning of their trip. I couldn't resist reading a couple of passages out to my Dad to show him that we haven't been alone in our difficulties. The comparisons ended there though; whereas my bushwalking experiences have been limited to a couple of days, Bryson and Katz went on for weeks. How they did it I'll never know, but I know that I would love to give just a small section of this track a go. It sounds incredible.

Once again, Bill Bryson has written a hugely entertaining travel book and A Walk in the Woods is now one of my favourites of his. My only gripe is that I always seemed to reach the funniest sections of this book while reading on the train during my daily commute. When will I learn not to read Bryson in public? It's just too hard and embarrassing trying to contain the laughter.

The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan

Rating: 6/10

Published: 1915
Number of pages: 254
ISBN: 1600961940

Started: 27 November 2007
Finished: 30 November 2007


Summary (taken from blurb):
The late Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor General of Canada, better known as John Buchan, needs no introduction. As a teller of adventure stories he has few rivals, in fact he may be regarded as the inventor of the modern thriller, a breathless story of exciting and mysterious happenings following close upon one another. One of the most famous of these stories is The Thirty-Nine Steps, which, written during the last World War, is a vivid tale of the tracking down of an ingenious band of German spies. The tale has been made even better known through the screen version of Alfred Hitchcock.

Comments:
This is an enjoyable read that requires the reader to somewhat suspend their disbelief because there are so many amazing coincidences and escapes that are so conveniently timed that it becomes a little distracting. However, because this is one of the original thrillers, I can forgive all that and enjoy it for the fun read that it was - not too heavy or taxing. Recommended.

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Rating: 8/10

Published: 2001
Number of pages: 372
ISBN: 0099429799

Started: 16 November 2007
Finished: 27 November 2007



Summary (taken from blurb):
On the hottest day of the summer of 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis sees her sister Cecelia strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country house. Watching her is Robbie Turner, her childhood friend who, like Cecelia, has recently come down from Cambridge.

By the end of that day the lives of all three will have been changed for ever. Robbie and Cecelia will have crossed a boundary they had not even imagined at its start, and will have become victims of the younger girl's imagination. Briony will have witnessed mysteries, and committed a crime for which she will spend the rest of her life trying to atone.

Comments:
This is the first novel of Ian McEwan's that I have read and it likely won't be the last. I found his writing style to be absolutely beautiful. And I've found that where wonderful writing is concerned, I'm much more amenable to forgiving plot holes and other irritating aspects of a novel, and this one certainly had a few of those.

I found the first part of the story very slow going. There was a lot of nice writing but not much actually happened until the very end. I thought that this section could have been made a lot shorter without actually taking anything away from the book. I enjoyed the second section a lot more. In the context of the rest of the story, it probably could also have been made shorter, but historically it was very interesting to me (not previously knowing much about this particular event).

Like others, I was a bit disappointed with the ending. I thought it was a bit of a cop-out. Highlight to view spoiler: I didn't like being tricked into thinking the story ended one way, only to find that it ended differently. I also think that if Briony was really trying to atone for her crime, then she should have told the story the way it really happened. I recall there being an explanation of this at the end, but it wasn't to my satisfaction.

The Town and the City by Jack Kerouac

Rating: 9/10

Published: 1950
Number of pages: 499
ISBN: 0141182237

Started: 19 October 2007
Finished: 14 November 2007


Summary (taken from blurb):
The town is Galloway in Massachusetts, birthplace of the five sons and three daughters of the Martin family in the early 1900s. The city is New York, the vast and heaving melting pot which lures them all in search of futures and identity.

Nearly a decade before the publication of On The Road, the story of the Martins' epic transformation in The Town and the City marked the first true literary impact of the founding father of the Beat Generation. Inspired by grief over his father's death, and his own determination to write the Great American Novel, The Town and the City is an essential prelude to Jack Kerouac's later classics.

Comments:
I thoroughly enjoyed this epic story of the Martin's lives over the decades. I don't think I've ever read a book that has so inspired in me the will to jump on the next plane to America so I can have these experiences myself. It truly is the Great American Novel. The descriptions of characters and places are vividly portrayed and the story has all you could hope for in a great novel: it's moving, irritating, amusing, heart-breaking.

I had a little trouble identifying with any of the characters. Kerouac spends a large part of the beginning of the novel describing all of the characters in detail - so much detail that the personality traits he describes in his characters start becoming contradictory. And despite there being three daughters and a mother in the story, comparatively little time was spent discussing them and their lives compared to the father and sons. This irked me a little ('typical 1950s sexism', I thought), until I realised that this is largely an autobiographical account of Kerouac's early life. Kerouac has, in effect, split his own self into three of the sons: Peter, Jim and Francis. Maybe this is why I had trouble identifying with them.

This was Kerouac's first novel, and as such is written in a much more conventional manner than his later works. However, you can start to see his own unique style coming out in this book. It's very interesting to see. Very highly recommended.