Planning Ahead to 2010

Even though I'm still in a reading slump, I'm making plans for reading in 2010. Just a couple of challenges this year, and nothing so grandiose as 125 books. Plus: most of what I've got on my lists are books that are already on my shelves!

First off, I joined the 1010 Category Challenge over at Library Thing. The idea is to come up with ten different categories in 2010 and read any # of books in each category - you decide the # for yourself. Though many people are reading 10 in each, I decided to go easy on myself and choose five for each one.


I've picked my categories and have most of the books chosen in each one, though that's flexible.

Here are my categories:

1. A day without Orange is like a day without sunshine - Orange prize winners and nominees
2. We Like Short Shorts! - short story collections
3. She’s a Classic - classics written by women
4. Booker, Dano! - Booker prize winners and nominees
5. Dust Collectors - books that have been on my shelves more than two years
6. Border crossings - books from countries other than the US or UK
7. The Bigger they are, the harder they fall - chunksters, 500 pages and over
8. News to me - authors new to me
9. Pulitzer Prize winners
10. The whole truth and nothing but the truth - nonfiction

Bonus category:
11. Play it again, Sam - re-reads, or books I started and didn't finish and want to try again.

Yesterday I stumbled across the 2010 version of my favorite 2009 reading challenge: What's In a Name. I jumped right into this one in '09 and met my challenge by the end of February.

Six new categories this year and some possible books to meet the challenge:

1. A book with a food in the title: The Mammoth Cheese; Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit; Sexing the Cherry; Fruit of the Lemon; The Fortune Cookie Chronicles; Winter Wheat
2. A book with a body of water in the title: Peace Like a River; Pilgrim at Tinker Creek; The Sea, The Sea; The Sea
3. A book with a title (queen, president) in the title: Madame Bovary; The Master; The Princess Bride; The Queen of the Tambourine; The Emperor of Scent; The Senator’s Wife
4. A book with a plant in the title: The Poisonwood Bible; Like Trees Walking; The Lotus Eaters
5. A book with a place name in the title: A Sand County Almanac; The View from Castle Rock; The Septembers of Shiraz; The Little Giant of Aberdeen County; Moonlight in Odessa
6. A book with a music term in the title: Song of Solomon; A Continuous Harmony; The Fish Can Sing; An Equal Music; Dirt Music

A few of these are crossovers with the 10/10 challenge. That's all perfectly legal!

I'm looking forward to a lot of these books. Mostly right now I'm looking forward to finishing a book this month.


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The Sunday Salon: Quarterly Report

Here it is, the end of another month already. Not to mention, the end of the first quarter. So, time for another wrap-up. But first, a bit of a rant.

I had a gift card from Barnes and Noble and bought 3 books online with it (I normally don't shop at big box bookstores). One of my purchases was People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, a book I've been looking forward to for months. A few weeks after it arrived, I had my must-reads read and was able to dive into it. It was going along swimmingly, I was so into the story and the intrigue. One night I was a hundred pages or so from the end, thinking I might stay up late and finish it. And then -- I noticed that after page 258 - there was page 195 again. Hmmm. I looked ahead and realized that the previous 60 pages were repeated and the 60 pages that should have been there were missing! WTF???

Obviously I wasn't going to finish it that night. I dashed off an email to B and N with my order number, thinking they'd apologize profusely and overnight me a new copy. Instead their reply was something along the lines of 'we're sorry, it's been more than 14 days since you received this order, therefore we cannot accept returns.' OK, number one? How many people examine a new book to make sure all the pages are there when they buy it? And two? this is a defective book and someone needs to take responsibility for supplying me with a good copy of it. B and N suggested I contact the publisher.

Penguin's website states that in order for them to accept a return, the book must have been purchased from them directly. I sent them an email about it. They have not responded.

I sent B and N another email explaining Penguin's policy. They have not responded.


I went into Powell's to buy a new copy (and checked to make sure all the pages were in order); when I told the cashier my tale of woe, she was very sympathetic -- and even gave me a 10% discount on the book!

Which brings me to the point of this rant: buy local. I still hope to resolve this with either B and N or Penguin. I'll keep you posted! Have you ever had a defective book, and if so, what was the outcome?



Favorite reads so far in 2009:

The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent
A Mercy by Toni Morrison
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
The Road Home by Rose Tremain
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Update on my reading challenges:

125 books in 2009: 26/125 - not quite at a quarter. I need to make up a few books in the second quarter!
What's in a Name: completed 6/6 DONE!
Decades Challenge: completed 6/10.
The Orange Prize and Booker Prize challenges are perpetual, but I've set a personal goal to read 12 of each this year (some are crossovers). Orange Prize: 5/12; Booker Prize: 3/12.
Dewey's Books: 3/5
Pub Challenge: 4/9
Short Stories: 11/25
Essays: 0/20
Jane Austen: 0/1
Classics (other than Austen): 2/4
These last two are personal challenges. By my definition, Classic is any book older than me that has a high level of notoriety. There are a few exceptions (e.g. To Kill A Mockingbird).

I've made good progress since my last update!

I hope you're enjoying your Sunday.

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The Sunday Salon - Catch-up Round-up Wrap-up

Hello Saloners and other visitors! Since I missed last week, I'm doing my January wrap-up this week and just a little check-in on my challenges.


January reads: (Orange indicates books read for Orange (Prize) January):

Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
The Road Home by Rose Tremain**
Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout
A Year of Mornings: 3191 Miles Apart by Maria A Vettese and Stephanie Congdon Barnes
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews
Open House by Elizabeth Berg
Tree Crazy by Tracy Gallup
Everybody Needs a Rock by Byrd Baylor
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
I Was Amelia Earhart by Jane Mendelsohn

• Loved the most: The Night Watch and The Road Home
• Biggest surprise: The Flying Troutmans (if you loved Little Miss Sunshine, read this book!)
• Biggest disappointment: Amy and Isabelle - after loving Strout's Olive Kitteridge last year, I had high expectations.

The Bonesetter's Daughter was a re-read and for my book group. I loved the middle - the meat - of this book, the historical fiction, but the contemporary story that sandwiched it didn't do much for me.


My challenges: Including a couple of books I've read so far in February, I'm doing well.

What's in a Name: completed 4/6
Decades Challenge: completed 2/10, reading the third now.
The Orange Prize and Booker Prize challenges are perpetual, but I've set a personal goal to read 12 of each this year (some are crossovers). Orange Prize: 5/12; Booker Prize: 2/12.
Dewey's Books: 0/5
Pub Challenge: 0/9
Short Stories: 9/25
Essays: 0/20
Jane Austen: 0/1
Classics (other than Austen): 0/4
These last two are personal challenges. By my definition, Classic is any book older than me that has a high level of notoriety. There are a few exceptions (e.g. To Kill A Mockingbird)


This week I'm reading Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons. What a hoot! She's a master at describing the bleakness of the Sussex farm. Made me want to go shower! Books I'm looking forward to this month: The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which I've heard nothing but raves about.



And join me here on Thursday, February 12th for a TLC book tour with Ingrid Cummings, author of The Vigorous Mind: Cross-Train Your Brain to Break Through Mental, Emotional and Professional Boundaries.





Hope you're having a great weekend. And prayers and good wishes to our friends in Australia who are experiencing such unprecedented heat and horrific fires. Be safe.


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BTT + 2009: A Challenging Year...

...reading challenges, that is. As for the rest of it, 2009 will be the best year any of us have known for a long time - at least the last 8 years. The economy may be in shambles (heckuva job, George) but we finally have some leadership in this country, not a bunch of incompetent cronies helping each other stuff their bank accounts.

But I digress. I am gathering all my reading challenges together in this post, so between this and my handy dandy spreadsheet, I can keep track of my plans and progress.

I swore I wasn't going to get involved with a bunch of challenges! But these are so much fun and most of the books I want to read will fit into at least one of these. And, with my overall reading goal at 125 for the year, I still have ~60 books left over to read just for fun!

My challenges:

What's in a Name:

This is a challenge that anyone can join, no matter what types of books they like to read. You should be able to find books from any genre that will work. Dates: January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009

*The Challenge: Choose one book from each of the following categories.

1. A book with a profession in its title.
2. A book with a time of day in its title.
3. A book with a relative in its title.
4. A book with a body part in its title.
5. A book with a building in its title.
6. A book with a medical condition in its title.

*You may overlap books with other challenges, but please don't use the same book for more than one category.

Website

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Decades '09

1. Read a minimum of 9 books in 9 consecutive decades in ‘09.
2. Books published in the 2000s do not count.
3. Titles may be cross-posted with any other challenge.
4. You may change your list at any time.

Website

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Dewey's Books

"Read 5 books that Dewey reviewed. These can be from any year and I’m guessing that each of us has at least 5 books on our TBR list because of Dewey!"

Website

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The Pub Challenge

Read a minimum of 9 books first published in 2009. You don’t have to buy these. Library books, unabridged audios, or ARCs are all acceptable. To qualify as being first published in 2009, it must be the first time that the book is published in your own country. For example, if a book was published in Australia, England, or Canada in 2008, and then published in the USA in 2009, it counts (if you live in the USA). Newly published trade paperbacks and mass market paperbacks do not count if there has been a hardcover/trade published before 2009. Any questions on what qualifies? Just leave a comment here, and I’ll respond with the answer.
*No children’s/YA titles allowed, since we’re at the ‘pub.’
*At least 5 titles must be fiction.
* Crossovers with other challenges are allowed.
*You can add your titles as you go, and they may be changed at any time.

Website

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Essay Reading Challenge

Here are the details:

~ Join anytime, but don’t start reading until January 1, 2009. The challenge ends December 31, 2009.
~ If you read a book of essays, that book can also apply to any other challenges you are working on.
~ Choose a goal of reading 10, 20, or 30 essays during 2009, and then write a challenge post, linking back to this post.

I'm choosing to read 20 essays.

Website

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I'm also setting a goal of reading 25 short stories. I have several compilations that I've been wanting to read and should easily reach that. And my intention is to read at least 6 classics.

I'm continuing my participation in the perpetual Orange Prize Project and The Complete Booker Challenge and I'm considering starting to track my Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize reads, but I won't do that officially this year. Orange January and Orange July will get me much farther along on the Orange trail!

I have a general idea which books I'm going to read for the challenges, but for some I have a lot to choose from, so they may be quite spontaneous. I don't want to lock myself in to too rigid a plan, then it isn't fun anymore!

Edit: after I posted this, Deb posted the Booking Through Thursday meme:

So … any Reading Resolutions? Say, specific books you plan to read? A plan to read more ____? Anything at all?

I figure I've got it covered with this post.

Happy New Year, one and all!!! And Happy Reading.

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The Sunday Salon - Into the New Year!

The last Salon of the year. Hmmm...shall I do a 2008 wrap-up or a 2009 resolutions post? (Actually, I prefer the word 'intentions' - much less loaded!) Well, I think I'd rather look forward this morning and write a bit about my reading plans for the new year.

Overall, I've set an intention to read 125 books. I easily reached 100 this year, and that was with only two months of retirement (and reading some real chunksters!) I've signed up - or will sign up - for several challenges that will easily fit my reading style as well as introducing me to a couple of new genres and/or authors.

Right out of the chute will be Orange January! This involves reading Orange Prize winners or nominees - which means I'll be reading at least a half dozen contemporary women authors. Thanks to my friend Jill for organizing this wonderful event! We did this in July and everyone loved it so much we decided to do it twice a year. My list includes:

• The Road Home by Rose Tremain (one of my "new author discoveries" in '08)
• The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
• Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout
• Property by Valerie Martin
• Ursula Under by Ingrid Hill by Anita Amirrezvani
• What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt

I'll probably still be reading Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey when the ball drops in Times Square, so that will officially be my first book of 2009. It was one of the suggestions I brought to my face to face book group - I hope everyone likes it as much as I anticipate I will.

And I have officially gone on to Advanced Geekiness, thanks to my friend Laura, who helped me put together a spreadsheet to keep track of all my challenges. Oh my, what's next, a pocket pen protector??



Just a little aside to bring a bit of joy to your Sunday (at least to mine!): 22 days left of the Bush admin!

Wishing you all a joyous, peaceful, happy new year and many wonderful reading adventures.

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The Sunday Salon - Potpourri

Not much reading news to report this week. Since my centennial read last week, my reading has slowed to a crawl, but that's just temporary. It's partly due to a cold that took up residence in my head this week; I doze off every twenty minutes or so, usually while I'm reading (fortunately, not while I'm driving). From the sounds of it, we'll be hunkered down here all week with frigid temps and possibly snow or, more likely, one of our lovely Portland ice storms. So lots of reading time ahead next week.


My book blogger Secret Santa, Lynne, sent me a wonderful book, one that was high on my wish list: The Wise Heart by Jack Kornfield. I love his writing, his speaking, his Buddhist teaching, and I've looked forward to this book since it came out last summer. Thank you Lynne! I hope my gift recipient is as thrilled with what s/he was sent! This was another of Dewey's projects as a way of building community - she and Ana organized the annual swap. Thank you Ana! And I'm sure this won't be the last time we send a little thank you blessing out to Dewey's spirit.



Speaking of Dewey, there's one more reading challenge out there that I'm going to sign on to for 2009: Dewey's Books. Robin and Chris are hosting this challenge; in Chris's words:

Dewey was such a prolific reader and her reviews were honest, intriguing, and beautifully written. What better way to celebrate her wonderful life than by having a year long challenge in her name!

Dewey and I had similar tastes in books, and there are several I picked that were already on my TBR shelves; but I also found a few that I hadn't heard of before, so it will be a good mix.

Check back here on Monday for details about a book giveaway. Joshua Henkin sent me a signed copy of his book, Matrimony, and will do the same for the lucky winner of the giveaway. Stay tuned!


And now, since we're well into double-digit December days (that's my cue), I have to admit that the holidays are upon us. I wish you all a joyous, peaceful, sane holiday season. Stay warm if you're in the northern hemisphere, stay cool if you're in the southern. And don't forget the mistletoe!

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The Sunday Salon - Reading Challenges 2009

I stuck my toe in the reading challenge waters this year with the Orange Prize and Booker Prize challenges. These are open-ended challenges (no end date) which appealed to me for several reasons. But now that I'm retired (I say that so much now, I probably won't have time to do anything extra!) I've decided to take on two more challenges for 2009. One of the main reasons is that I already have many of the qualifying books on my TBR shelves, which is not a minor consideration! A couple of them are reads for my book group, too, so I'm already there.

The Challenges:

What's In a Name? caught my fancy last year. This one comes with a list of categories that you match with a title and read one book from each. For this year the six categories are:

1. A book with a profession in its title.
I'm considering: The Translator; Dr. Zhivago; The Bonesetter's Daughter; The Beekeeper's Apprentice; The Bookseller of Kabul

2. A book with a time of day in its title.
I'll choose from: The Dazzle of Day; Midnight’s Children; Night; On a Day Like This; The Night Watch

3. A book with a relative in its title.
My choices might be: The Bonesetter’s Daughter; Wives and Daughters; The Aguero Sisters; The Rice Mother; Midnight’s Children (we're not permitted to double up in categories though)

4. A book with a body part in its title
I can choose from: The Bone People; Heart Songs and Other Stories; The Bonesetter's Daughter (I'll be reading this one for sure!); Autobiography of a Face; The Good Body; Fall on Your Knees

5. A book with a building in its title.
Several choices here: Palace Walk; The Palace of Desire; Open House; The Glass Castle; Bleak House; Sandcastle

6. A book with a medical condition in its title.
None of these are on my shelf but all are on my wishlist: Consumption; Ship Fever; The Great Influenza

Sounds like fun, eh? Which ones would you choose? Do you have more suggestions?

I also ran across The Decades challenge. The idea here is to read one title from each of the decades in the 20th century. I also have a lot of these on my shelves, and this is a good incentive to read some more classics. I can cross-post some of these with other challenges, so some of these titles repeat from above:

• 1900s – A Room With a View
• 1910s – O Pioneers; Winesburg Ohio; Of Human Bondage
• 1920s-- Kristin Lavransdatter
• 1930s—The Good Earth; Tortilla Flat; How Green was My Valley; The Big Sleep
• 1940s—Cry the Beloved Country; The Screwtape Letters; The Razor’s Edge; A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; 1984
• 1950s - The Martian Chronicles; The Catcher in the Rye; East of Eden; Fahrenheit 451; The Cairo Trilogy; Doctor Zhivago; Night
• 1960s - Franny and Zooey; Cat’s Cradle; Slaughterhouse-Five
• 1970s - Princess Bride
• 1980s -- Midnight’s Children; Life & Times of Michael K; The Bone People; Oscar and Lucinda
• 1990s – The English Patient; Fall on Your Knees; Queen of the Tambourine; Regeneration; Ship Fever; The Translator

What would you pick from these? Do you have suggestions for the 1970s?

Of course, I'm continuing with the Orange and Booker prize challenges (some of which are on these lists too) and my 100 books/year - which I may bump up to 125, now that I'm retired!

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Be sure to check out the book giveaway in honor of my 200th blog post! Deadline to enter is Friday.

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Reading Challenges - Weekly Geek #9

And this week’s theme is: Reading Challenges. Dewey says:

If you participate in any challenges, get organized! Update your lists, post about any you haven’t mentioned, add links of reviews to your lists if you do that, go to the challenge blog if there is one and post there, etc.

I participate in two reading challenges (and I use the term 'participate' very loosely!) - the Man Booker Prize Challenge and the Orange Prize Project. (Some of my blogging buddies are signed up for multiple challenges - ten or more! Even though there is some crossover, I don't think I could wrap my brain around keeping track of all that. More power to 'em!)

What's the purpose of a book challenge and why sign on to them? Well, given that I love a good challenge and I love lists AND I love to read, it feels like a good fit. The two I signed up for (besides my Library Thing 100 books in 2008 challenge) have long lists of books that I'm already interested in and some of my favorite authors (Margaret Atwood, Jhumpa Lahiri, Carol Shields, Kazuo Ishiguro). What do I get out of it? Satisfaction. And sharing with a community of people who are interested in the same kind of literature I am.

Most challenge participants write reviews of the books they've read. I haven't been reviewing many books lately, so for this WG installment, I posted updates to my book lists -- books I've read since I joined the challenges in March and books I plan to read in the next six months. Here's my Orange update and here's my Booker update.

I'm excited to be participating in "Orange July" -- fellow book blogger Jill came up with this bright idea: devote the month of July to reading Orange Prize books (winners, short- or long-listed or new authors). This annual literary prize is awarded to women who've written full-length novels in English that were published in the United Kingdom (but not exclusively). I love contemporary women's writing, and these are some of the best novels written today, so devoting a month to reading them is like a slice of heaven. Plus this will move me along in my Orange challenge. Here are the books I've chosen:

• The Girls by Lori Lansens
  
• We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (4/5)
  
• The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville (4/5)
  
• The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney (4/5)
• The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (3.5/5)
  
• What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt
  
• Property by Valerie Martin
  
• The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (4/5)
  
• Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout
  
• When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka (4.5/5)
  
• A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian by Marina Lewycka (3.5/5)
• Sorry by Gail Jones (4.5/5)
  

Check back at the end of July to see how I fared.

For other Weekly Geeksters' thoughts about challenges, check out these websites:

• The Welsh Witch's Cottage (Cymraeg)
• Literary Escapism (Jackie)
• Rebecca Reads
• Caribou's Mom (Wendy, the Queen of Challenges)
  

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