Saturday, January 1, 2011

Books: 100+ Reading Challenge, 2011

 

J. Kaye's Book Blog runs a "100+ Reading Challenge", a challenge to read one hundred (or more) books during the year. Reviews are optional.

I failed this last year. (Sniff.) But I'm signing right up again, and I won't fail this year! Really. I think. Maybe. It could happen.

Well, anyway, I enjoyed listing all my books, so I'll do it again this year. Books that I started last year and finished this year (about six are in mid-read) will be listed, but they won't get numbers. (They'll get NAs.)

Onward!

In Progress:
  • American Stories, by Calvin Trillin. Started 2010.
  • Missing Melinda, by Jacqueline Jackson. Started 2010.
  • Writing Fiction for Dummies. Started 2010. (Hey, Amazon was offering it for free!)
  • The Gift of Thanks, by Margaret Visser. Started 1/29.
  • Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades, by Steve Solomon.
  • The Resilient Gardener, by Carol Deppe.
  • An American Cutting Garden, by Suzanne McIntyre.
  • The Flower Farmer, by Lynn Byczynski.
  • How To Live Safely In A Science Fictional Universe, by Charles Yu.
  • C# In Depth, by John Skeet.
  • The Art of Unit Testing, by Roy Osherove.
  • The Murders of Richard III, by Elizabeth Peters. Started around 9/27.
  • Implementation Patterns, by Kent Beck.
  • Flower Confidential, by Amy Stewart. Started 11/4.
  • Le Divorce, by Diane Johnson. Started around 11/20.
  • Fadeaway Girl, by Martha Grimes. Started around 11/25.
You see why I don't get anything finished? I've decided that if I read enough in 2011 to make up for what's missing in 2010, I'm retroactively declaring both years successful.

Done:
  • NA: Writers On Writing, compiled by The New York Times. Started 2010, finished 1/1/11.
  • 1: Dirty Secret, by Jessie Sholl. Started 1/1/11, finished 1/3/11.
  • NA: Why Shoot a Butler? by Georgette Heyer. Started 2010, finished 1/6/11.
  • 2: The Midnight Folk, by John Masefield. Finished 1/10/11.
  • 3: The Black Cat, by Martha Grimes. Started around 1/11. Finished 1/15.
  • 4: Tell Me, Pretty Maiden, by Rhys Bowen. Started, er, around 1/7, finished 1/20.
  • 5: Final Curtain, by Ngaio Marsh. Finished 1/22.
  • 6. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson. Started 1/23, finished 1/25.
  • 7. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley. Started ?, finished 1/29.
  • 8. Unnamed Self-Help Book. Started in 2010, forgotten, restarted in January, finished 1/29.
  • 9. Home Rules, by Jodi Picoult. Started 2/2, finished 2/5.
  • 10. Devil Bones, by Kathy Reichs. Started 2/5, finished 2/7.
  • 11. The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag, by Alan Bradley. Started 1/29, finished 2/9.
  • 12. A Pint of Murder, by Alisa Craig. Started ?, finished 2/13.
  • 13. The Grub-and-Stakers Quilt a Bee, by Alisa Craig. Started ?, finished 2/19.
  • 14. A Wrinkle In Time, by Madeline l'Engle. Started 2/19, finished 2/20.
  • 15. Under the Lake, by Stuart Woods. Finished 2/27.
  • 16. Food and Loathing, by Betsy Lerner. Started 3/2, finished 3/2.
  • 17. Murder is Easy (aka Easy to Kill), by Agatha Christie. Started ?, finished 3/4.
  • 18. Slow Love, by Dominique Browning. Finished 3/6.
  • 19. Something From the Oven, by Laura Shapiro. Finished around 3/18.
  • 20. Dolores Claiborne, by Stephen King. Finished 3/19.
  • 21. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, by Stephen King. Finished 3/21.
  • 22. At Bertram's Hotel, by Agatha Christie. Finished 3/23.
  • 23. The Body in the Library, by Agatha Christie. Finished 3/26.
  • 24. A Darker Place, by Laurie R King. Finished 3/29.
  • 25. Fresh Disasters, by Stuart Woods. Finished 3/31.
  • 26. The Secret Adversary, by Agatha Christie. Finished 4/6.
  • 27. A Game Of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin. Finished 4/6.
  • 28. A Clash Of Kings, by George R. R. Martin. Finished 4/17.
  • 29. Biting the Moon, by Martha Grimes. Finished 4/23.
  • 30. Dakota, by Martha Grimes. Finished 4/25.
  • 31. A Pig in Provence, by Georgeann Brennan.
  • 32. A River in the Sky, by Elizabeth Peters.
  • 33. Paths of Desire, by Dominique Browning. Finished 5/24.
  • 34. Four Tenths Of An Acre, by Laurie Lisle. Finished around 6/2.
  • 35. The Persian Pickle Club, by Sandra Dallas. Finished 6/6.
  • 36. Don't Make Me Think, by Steven Krug. Finished 6/7.
  • 37. Devices and Desires, by P.D. James. 
  • 38. A Certain Justice, by P.D. James.
  • 39. Shattered Silk, by Barbara Michaels.
  • 40. Up Jumps the Devil, by Margaret Maron.
  • 41. Shooting at Loons, by Margaret Maron.
  • 42. Killer Market, by Margaret Maron.
  • 43. Home Fires, by Margaret Maron.
  • 44. Rituals of the Season, by Margaret Maron.
  • 45. The Secret Lives of Hoarders, by Matt Paxton and Phaedra Hise.
  • 46. Slow Dollar, by Margaret Maron.
  • 47. Sand Sharks, by Margaret Maron.
  • 48. Singled Out, by Sim Brett.
  • 49. Life Would be Perfect If I Lived In That House, by Meghan Daum.
  • 50. Service Included, by Phoebe Damrosch
  • 51. Death's Half Acre, by Margaret Maron.
  • 52. Winter's Child, by Margaret Maron.
  • 53. A Murder Is Announced, by Agatha Christie.
  • 55. Storm Track, by Margaret Maron.
  • 56. Last Lessons of Summer, by Margaret Maron.
  • 57. A Pocket Full of Rye, by Agatha Christie.
  • 58. False Scent, by Ngaio Marsh.
  • 59. Last Bite, by Nancy Verde Barr.
  • 60. Flood, by Stephen Baxter.
  • 61. Dead Beat, by Jim Butcher.
  • 62. High Country Fall, by Margaret Maron.
  • 63. Uncommon Clay, by Margaret Maron.
  • 64. Ammie, Come Home, by Barbara Michaels.
  • 65. Scales of Justice, by Ngaio Marsh.
  • 66. Grave Mistake, by Ngaio Marsh
  • 67. Water Like a Stone, by Deborah Crombie. Completed 10/2.
  • 68. The Balloon Man, by Charlotte MacLeod. Completed 10/9.
  • 69. Farm City, by Novella Carpenter. Completed 10/15.
  • 70. Gardening Without Irrigation, by Steve Solomon. 
  • 71. The Midwife's Apprentice, by Karen Cushman. Finished 10/26. (Yes, it's a short children's book. I'm counting it anyway. It's good, too; give it a try.)
  • 72. A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Started around 10/24.
  • 73. An Episode of Sparrows, by Rumer Godden. Started 10/28, finished 11/1.
  • 74. The First Five Pages, by Noah Lukeman. Started 11/2, finished 11/3.
  • 75. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, by Renni Browne and Dave King. Started 11/5, finished 11/6.
  • 76. Shared Death, by Deborah Crombie. Started 11/5, finished 11/7.
  • 77. Wanting Sheila Dead, by Jane Haddam. Started 11/7.
  • 78. Families and Other Nonreturnable Gifts, by Claire Lazebnik. Started 11/19 or so, finished 11/23.
  • 79. Call of the Mall, by Paco Underhill. Finished 12/1.
  • 80. The Clothes on Their Backs, by Linda Grant. Started 12/1, finished 12/5.
  • 81. The Plain Old Man, by Charlotte MacLeod. 
Image: Wikimedia Commons.

6 comments:

  1. I loved Why Shoot a Butler?! I read all of GH when i was a wee lass. I'm keeping with the 100 book challenge too, partly because I'm reading a 50/50 mix of YA ha!

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  2. Yo, Cynthia! Yep; I think I read all of her long long ago, but I seem to have forgotten them almost entirely, making re-reading as fun as reading a new book. :)

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  3. Hiya ChickenFreak! I was wondering if you are a member at LibraryThing? I moved my list making of books read over there and it works like a charm and they have readathons et al, so you can get a lot of reading done in virtual group. You are kicking my butt this year on the number read so far. I made it to 77 last year and I'm going to have to lock myself in a library if I want to get there this year.

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  4. Yo, Jess! I'm not a member at LibraryThing; I'll go have a look. I've been rather pleased with my count this year, but I have to stop with the George R. R. Martin or I'm going to slow to a crawl.

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  5. yeah, no kidding. Limit yourself to one or two of his a year. Definitely check in to librarything, it makes keeping track a piece of cake! I'm on there as jessieb I think. (totally creative right?)

    I'm still looking rather pitiful on the reading side this year, I'm needing inspiration, or the weather to turn yucky so I stay inside and out of the garden. I read the entirety of Agatha Christie between 2009 and 2010 so now I can't fall back on her to add in some good light reading. rats.

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  6. I had a quick look at librarything, and plan to have a longer look. And they have almost no reviews of a few of my favorite books, so I'll have to review some.

    Yes, I seem to have read all of my old favorites too many times, leaving me searching for new prolific and dependable authors - so far unsuccessfully.

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