The Next Best Book Club discussion

I have a few goals, I guess. First, the 50 book challenge. I just missed it last year, so this year I'd really like to make sure I hit at least 50 books (not including manga).

My other goals aren't as concrete, but I would like to read more books by authors of color (again, this doesn't include manga). I'd like to read a little bit of nonfiction every once in a while. And I'm working on the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list whenever I'm feeling motivated.

Oh, and right now I'm obsessing over the Summer Reading Challenge. *dies*

My list for the year so far:
1) Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier
2) Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs
3) The Canon A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie Angier
4) Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
5) First Test by Tamora Pierce
6) City of Darkness, City of Light by Marge Piercy
7) A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
8) Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
9) We Need to Talk About Kevin A Novel by Lionel Shriver
10) Merlin's Booke by Jane Yolen
11) The Color Purple by Alice Walker
12) The Hob's Bargain by Patricia Briggs
13) Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
14) Lies My Teacher Told Me Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen
15) The Sea by John Banville
16) Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs
17) Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
18) Never Suck A Dead Man's Hand Curious Adventures of a CSI by Dana Kollmann
19) Death in Venice and Seven Other Stories by Thomas Mann
20) Howards End by E.M. Forster
21) The Inheritance of Loss A Novel by Kiran Desai
22) Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
23) City of God by E.L. Doctorow
24) Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
25) If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
26) Graceling by Kristin Cashore
27) Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison

28) Princess Academy by Shannon Hale - solid YA fantasy, but not as good as I'd hoped it would be.
29) The Best American Short Stories 2008 - Three stories that I really liked, 1 that I really disliked, and a bunch that fell somewhere in the middle.

As usual, I'm reading so many books at once that I've been having trouble finishing anything, but today I finally sat down and polished a couple off.

30) Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich - Fun continuation to the Stephanie Plum series. I'm really looking forward to reading the next one.
31) Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch - Really enjoyable sequel to The Lies of Locke Lamora, although not quite as good. Still, an above average read and another series that I'm eagerly looking forward to reading the continuation of.

32) Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem - I loved the character of Lionel Essrog and greatly enjoyed reading this.

Tani wrote: "32) Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem - I loved the character of Lionel Essrog and greatly enjoyed reading this. "

Yay for Essrog! :)

Indeed! :D

I'm so grateful for the Summer Challenge. It's really keeping me on track with my reading. :)

33) A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon - Liked it but didn't love it. A solid three stars.

34) A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce - Interesting idea and likable characters, but slow moving to start and a little hard to get through. Last hundred or so pages were the best. 3.5 stars.

35) To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis - Funny and completely enjoyable. I'm sorry that I took so long to finally read it. Five stars.
36) Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson - I loved Speak so much that I couldn't resist picking up another book by Laurie Halse Anderson. I didn't like Catalyst as much as Speak, but it still broke my heart a little, and I don't think I'll be forgetting it anytime soon. 4 stars.

37) Fathers and Sons by Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev - Surprised myself by really enjoying the book, despite disliking one of the main characters pretty consistently. I thought it was an interesting look at the differences between generations and the way that they play out. Five stars.

38) John Adams by David McCullough - I'm not a biography person by any stretch of the imagination, but this was very well-done, and I have no regrets about reading it. Four stars.
39) The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch - I started out disliking this book, but once it got past the life story part, I really did enjoy it. A nice quick four star read.

40) The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz - Really enjoyed this a lot. I loved the Spellman family, Izzy and Rae in particular, and I'm totally excited to read more about them.
41) The Beauty Myth How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women by Naomi Wolf - I've been working on this forever, so I'm really glad it's done. It was an interesting look at something I haven't really thought about, and though I'm not sure how accurate the figures presented in the book are for the present day, they were frightening. Either way, an issue that deserves awareness, and a book I'm glad I read. 4 stars.

42) The Rustlers of West Fork by Louis L'Amour - Read this for the same birthday task of the summer challenge (yay for March 22nd!) and liked it a lot more than I expected to. 3 stars.

43) The Clouds Float North The Complete Poems of Yu Xuanji by Yu Xuanji - I don't consider myself a fan of poetry by any stretch of the imagination, but I really liked this. The imagery was beautiful, and I loved the emotions these poems evoked. It's a such a shame that this talented poet couldn't have written more. 4 stars.
44) Bear Daughter by Judith Berman - Surprisingly awesome for a book and author I had never heard of before. Loved the characters and the interweaving of an unfamiliar mythology. 5 stars.

45) Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz - Just as fun as the first book. A nice escape. 4 stars.
46) The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende - Sweeping and full of interesting characters (esp. interesting female characters!) but somehow lost me a little at the end. 3 stars.
47) Unwind by Neal Shusterman - Totally awesome concept with great execution. Horrified me and inspired me by turns, not to mention made me cry. Will definitely be looking into more books by Neal Shusterman. 5 stars.

48) Terrier by Tamora Pierce - Exactly what I was in the mood for: a strong female lead with good friends, neat adventures, and an interesting possible love interest that doesn't get in the way of the story. 4 stars.
49) Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson - Slightly slow start, but an enlightening and horrifying look at slavery during the American Revolution. It seems I won't be giving up on my Laurie Halse Anderson reading anytime soon. 4 stars.
50) Fatherland by Robert Harris - Alternate history where Germany won World War 2. Loved the atmosphere and the way things developed. Even though the mystery ended up being not so mysterious, I liked the way that it was presented and the main character's reaction to it. 4 stars.
51) Desecration by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins - I started reading this series in high school, so it's been a while since I read one of them. Not as good as I remembered, but I can't tell if it's a change in reading tastes in me, or a change in quality from the authors. Still, fast-paced and action-oriented enough that I'd like to eventually finish the series. 3 stars.

Yay, I've surpassed my 50 book goal! :D

Tani wrote: "48) Terrier by Tamora Pierce - Exactly what I was in the mood for: a strong female lead with good friends, neat adventures, and an interesting possible love interest that..."

\reply from marie-vicky what a great achievement in a short period of time.zInteresting listing I will grab for sure some ideas.

Thanks! I'm really happy to have reached my 50 book goal with three months to spare. The seasonal challenges really helped me motivate myself.

I hope you enjoy any ideas you get from me! :)

52) Crazy for You by Jennifer Crusie - I'd been hearing Jennifer Crusie name all over, so when I stumbled across her books at my local library, I couldn't resist grabbing one. I'm not a regular reader of chick lit, but this was a lot of fun with quirky characters and amusing situations. I'll definitely be reading more Jennifer Crusie in the future. 4 stars.
53) Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs - Finally found this one after a few weeks of stalking Borders, and was just as happy as expected. Somehow, these books just occupy my entire mind until I finish them. 5 stars.
54) The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan - I was shocked to find this at the library; I could have swore that it was scheduled to be out for the next year. So of course I had to snap it up. It wasn't as good as I expected, but I still enjoyed it. I was also greatly heartened by the note at the end that named this series as the first Camp Halfblood series. :D 3.5 stars.
55) The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan - Slow starter, but the ending more than made up for it. I loved the fascinating relationship between Alan and Nick and the ending really made me eager to read more in this series. 4.5 stars.

I tend to gravitate toward fantasy/scifi books, but I've been trying to branch out in the past year or two. I'm glad that I appear to be succeeding. :) I hope that you enjoy any ideas you got from me, and that the joy of words carries you as well!

56) Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery - Technically a re-read, which I usually don't count toward my reading goals, but I read it so long ago that I didn't remember the vast majority of it, other than some interesting snippets that had made their way into my general thought processes. 5 stars.
57) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - I kept hearing people say how much they enjoyed this one, so I decided to take out my copy and finally read it myself. Definitely didn't regret it. It was a lot different than I was expecting, and I enjoyed it a lot. 4 stars.
58) Tangled Webs by Anne Bishop - I wasn't initially thrilled by the idea of this one. Surreal wasn't one of the characters who particularly interested me in the Black Jewels Trilogy. However, this turned out to be a fun visit with a lot of characters that I'd come to care about, and I ended up enjoying it greatly. 4 stars.
59) Painfully Shy How to Overcome Social Anxiety and Reclaim Your Life by Barbara Markway - My self-help book for the Fall Challenge. 'Nuff said. 4 stars.

60) Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris - A little disappointing, considering all the hype, but not unexpectedly. Somehow, it seems like series like this always get better as they go along. Anyway, I liked Sookie a lot, so I will be continuing to read the series. I'm just not exactly sure when. 3 stars.
61) The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde - I didn't find this as funny as I expected to, but I did find it intriguing, and when I was into it, I didn't want to stop. I'm looking forward to the next book, although I'm wondering if I should figure out which books feature in it and read them first, as I know I wouldn't have appreciated this one as much if I had never read Jane Eyre earlier this year. 4 stars.

62) The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman - 60 year old woman decides that she wants to work for the CIA (and succeeds)? Yes, please. I enjoyed the character of Mrs. Pollifax more than I can tell you, and even though there were many points where things got a little unrealistic, I was happy enough with the characters to ignore any conflict with reality. Will definitely be continuing on with this series. 3.5 stars.
63) A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin - I've been meaning to read this book for a long time, but the library didn't have it and I didn't quite want to read it enough to spend the money to get it. Finally, the library came through for me, and boy, am I glad it did. Really, classic fantasy with a lyrical writing style and the feeling of mythology about it. 4 stars.

Last post of the year! (And time to figure out my goals for the new year!) I'm exhausted, so I'm just going to be lazy and list things without commenting on them. ^^

64) East by Edith Pattou
65) The Game by Ken Dryden
66) You've Got Murder by Donna Andrews
67) Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
68) The Queen's Man by Sharon Kay Penman

Here's to more great reading in the New Year!