Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Another book meme

Slightly better than the last book meme, but still several duplications and way too much Jane Austen.

An X indicates a book that you've read. Italics indicate one that you've started but haven't finished.

[x] 1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
[x] 2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
[x] 3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
[x] 4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
[x] 5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
[x] 6 The Bible
[x] 7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
[x] 8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
[x] 9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman X
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
[x] 11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
[x] 13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (I'm sure I've missed a few sonnets)
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
[x] 16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
[x] 18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
[x] 19 The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger 
[x] 20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
[x] 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams X
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
[x] 28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
[x] 29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
[x] 30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
[x] 33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
[x] 34 Emma – Jane Austen
[x] 35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
[x] 36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis X - (DUPLICATE of number 33)
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
[x] 39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
[x] 40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
[x] 41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
[x] 42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
[x] 46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
[x] 48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
[x] 49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
[x] 50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
[x] 51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
[x] 52 Dune – Frank Herbert
[x] 53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
[x] 54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
[x] 58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
[x] 59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
[x] 61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
[x] 64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
[x] 66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
[x] 68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
[x] 72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
[x] 73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
[x] 79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
[x] 81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
[x] 87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
[x] 88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Alborn
[x] 89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
[x] 92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
[x] 97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
[x] 98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare DUPLICATE
[x] 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

As there are two obvious duplicates and at least three too many Jane Austen books listed (and probably too many Dickens novels too), I'd offer the following substitutions:
-Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
-Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
-Watchmen - Alan Moore
-The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
-Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
-Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
-A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

As the list stands now, I've read 52. You?

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Books, revisited

The previous list I was referencing is just too bulky. I've pared it down to just the books that I haven't read.

I've also decided on a couple of new rules for myself:
1. A book must get read within two weeks unless it is ungodly long.
2. A book can be checked out from the library a maximum of three tries.
3. If the book is unread after the third attempt, it will be replaced on the list with a book that I like.



9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman - N
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - N
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier - N
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk - N
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell - N
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald - N
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens - N
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - N
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh - N
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - O
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy - N
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens - N
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - N
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres - N
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - O
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving - N
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins - N
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy - N
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons - N
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth - N
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon - N
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - N
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov - N
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt - N
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy - N
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding - N
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie - N
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville - N
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens - N
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker - N
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson - N
75 Ulysses - James Joyce - O
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome - N
78 Germinal - Emile Zola - N
80 Possession - AS Byatt - N
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell - N
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker - N
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro - N
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert - N
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry - N
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton - N
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery [in french counts double] - N
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks - N
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams - N
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole - N
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute - N
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo - N

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Dune




This is book #52 referenced in this post

The Plot: A child messiah leads a guerrilla war against the enemy clan who killed his father. Also, something about spice.

The Good: The descriptions of the Freman culture, and the concept of 'the spice'. The addition of lolcat memes are a plus.

The Bad: WTF actually are Paul's abilities?

The Verdict: 4/5 stars. One of the better space science fictions I've read, but it gets docked because I prefer my sci fi to focus more on characters and less on scenery.

Next Up: #19 The Time Traveller's Wife

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

100 Books

Put an (X) next to the ones you've read and (N) next to the ones you haven't. (O) means you have the book but have not read it yet.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - X
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien - X
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte - X
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling - X
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - X
6 The Bible - X
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte -X
8 1984 - George Orwell -X
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman - N
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - N
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott - X
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy - X
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller - X
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare - X
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier - N
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien - X
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk - N
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger - X
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger - N
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot - X
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell - N
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald - N
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens - N
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - N
25 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - X
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh - N
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - O
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck - X
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - X
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy - N
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens - N
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - X
34 Emma - Jane Austen - X
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen - X
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis - X
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - N
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres - N
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden - X
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne - X
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell - X
42 Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown - X
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - O
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving - N
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins - N
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - X
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy - N
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood - X
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding - X
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan - N
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel - X
52 Dune - Frank Herbert - N
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons - N
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen - X
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth - N
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon - N
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - X
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - X
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon - X
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - N
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck - X
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov - N
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt - N
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold - X
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas - X
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac - X
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy - N
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding - N
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie - N
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville - N
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens - N
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker - N
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett - X
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson - N
75 Ulysses - James Joyce - O
76 The Inferno - Dante - X
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome - N
78 Germinal - Emile Zola - N
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray -X
80 Possession - AS Byatt - N
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - X
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell - N
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker - N
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro - N
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert - N
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry - N
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White - X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom - X
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - X
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton - N
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad - X
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery [in french counts double] - N
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks - N
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams - N
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole - N
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute - N
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas - X
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare - X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl - X
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo - N


A few observations:
- You don't need to list the Complete Works of Shakespeare and Hamlet on the same list.
- Somebody loves Thomas Hardy to excess.
- If one must include Austen, one is sufficient.
- It follows from the previous that this list was compiled by a woman, and probably a single one.
- I am astoundingly remiss at reading the Russians.
- And apparently modern literature as well. My total score was 50/100.

Monday, September 29, 2008

New Book

Last night I arrived at my hotel to find out that the room had not been cleaned. (It's a big deal because they only clean once every two weeks.) I was irritated, but decided to be calm and go run errands. Fortunately for my blood pressure, Barnes and Noble is on the way* to the grocery store.

I picked up a couple of bridal magazines (looking for hair ideas and the elusive answer to 'What am I forgetting?') and proceeded to wander around the store. I stopped at the science and psychology sections (some of my favorites!) and picked up a book that I'd been looking for in the store for a few weeks.

I realized as I was paying how odd my purchases must look. I bought two Bride magazines and a copy of The Sociopath Next Door.


*A short five mile detour.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Book Meme - How ironically appropriate.

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.

"It is sufficient to estimate the enemy situation correctly and to concentrate your strength to capture him. There is no more to it than this. He who lacks foresight and underestimates his enemy will surely be captured by him."

Ten points to the first person who gets the book title and author.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

The Art of Power

The Art of Power by Greene:

Granted, I am about halfway through the table of contents, but I'm intrigued. Greene breaks down the 48 'laws' of getting people to do what you want. Given that I am a rather pessimistic cynic, the appeal of the book should be obvious. (And yes Mom, it is Machiavellian, but sometimes people need a little bit of ruthlessness for the greater good.)

Greene has also written The Art of Seduction and The Art of War. If Power is as promising as it seems, I could be convinced to pick up the rest of the set.