Challenge: 50 Books discussion

As is typical for me, I'm setting up my thread a couple of days early in the excitement to get started on a new year's worth of reading. Hopefully this year I'll manage 50 *new* books so that my widget & stats actually recognize that I've completed my challenge. (They don't acknowledge re-reads.) That'll be interesting, especially since I plan to re-read Ulysses this year.
Happy New Year!

Happy (early) New Year, Stefanie! Good luck with your reading!

Thank you! To you, as well. :)

I discovered the widget will recognize re-reads if you change the start and finish dates to reflect the current year.

If you're like me and want to keep track of all the times you read a book, you can put past dates in the notes field of your review.

Librarianforhim wrote: "I discovered the widget will recognize re-reads if you change the start and finish dates to reflect the current year.

If you're like me and want to keep track of all the times you read a book, yo..."

Thank you!!! I will do that. :)

Thanks to one last, vast, open day on my vacation, I've already finished book #1 for the year.

1. Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison

Where is that widget? How can I get it?

Alison wrote: "Where is that widget? How can I get it?"

It's the "2013 reading challenge"... if there isn't a link on your home screen (which there should be), go to my profile page... it's down the right side a bit, and you can click to make your own. :)

ok I know how to get that, but how do you get it to change it to recognize rereads?

Alison wrote: "ok I know how to get that, but how do you get it to change it to recognize rereads?"

What Librarianforhim posted was to change (in the "more options" section of your review) the "date read" on your review of the book to the current date. I haven't tried it yet, but it makes sense that it'd work.

ok

2. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - E.L. Konigsburg
3. The Last Holiday Concert - Andrew Clements

The former's a re-read after many years... I'm reading it with my 7th grade, and I had to read ahead to plan. The latter is a new read; I started it last year but never finished.

I have failed in my goal of reading 60 books this yr. So many serious problems this yr. I just couldn't keep up w/my perdiction. Time to set my challenge for 2013. I am going w/50 books this year. Wish me luck, susie

Susie wrote: "I have failed in my goal of reading 60 books this yr. So many serious problems this yr. I just couldn't keep up w/my perdiction. Time to set my challenge for 2013. I am going w/50 books this year...."

60 books is a steep challenge - there's no shame in not making it! Good luck with your 50 this year. Looking forward to seeing your success. :)

4. I'm A Believer: My Life of Music, Monkees, and Madness - Micky Dolenz

So glad to have FINALLY read this. I waited so long for it to come back into print, and then I let it sit on my shelf for far too long.

5. Witch Baby - Francesca Lia Block

6. Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys - Francesca Lia Block

So, I read Weetzie Bat as a teenager (and liked it), and I read Necklace of Kisses (which is the 6th book in the series) years later... I've finally been filling in these middle ones. They go so quickly, but they're as entertaining as I remember.

Stefanie wrote: "4. I'm A Believer: My Life of Music, Monkees, and Madness - Micky Dolenz

So glad to have FINALLY read this. I waited so long for it to come back into print, and then I let it sit on my shelf for f..."

How on EARTH did I miss this book?? (I'm a confessed MonkeeManiac!) How was it?? I'll have to check it out!

Amy wrote: "Stefanie wrote: "4. I'm A Believer: My Life of Music, Monkees, and Madness - Micky Dolenz

So glad to have FINALLY read this. I waited so long for it to come back into print, and then I let it sit ..."

It was fantastic! Micky's my favorite, so it helped that he's the one who wrote it... the attitude and tone throughout the whole thing is very much *him*. It was interesting to get a new perspective on stories I already know, like the Don Kirschner fiasco, as well as to get new behind-the-scenes perspectives. I'd found out about it around 2000 or so, but it was out of print for a while. (It was written in 1993.) I definitely recommend checking it out if you are a MonkeeManiac. :)

7. Missing Angel Juan - Francesca Lia Block

One more Weetzie Bat book after this... haha. :) It's been a fun, light way to start the year.

Stefanie wrote: "Amy wrote: "Stefanie wrote: "4. I'm A Believer: My Life of Music, Monkees, and Madness - Micky Dolenz

So glad to have FINALLY read this. I waited so long for it to come back into print, and then I..."

Thanks so much...I'll definitely do that!! I haven't read a book about the Monkees since Davy's autobiography - God only knows how many years ago that was now! :)

Amy wrote: "Stefanie wrote: "Amy wrote: "Stefanie wrote: "4. I'm A Believer: My Life of Music, Monkees, and Madness - Micky Dolenz

So glad to have FINALLY read this. I waited so long for it to come back into ..."

Now it's my turn... Davy has an autobiography? How did I miss this? Haha... now I'll have to seek it out. :)

Yup! They Made a Monkey Out of Me It was many, many years ago, though, so I'm not even sure if it's still out there! I hope you can find it. I'll have to search and see if I still have my copy (though I'm thinking it disappeared after I got married). If I do find it, though, I'd be happy to let you read it! :)

Amy wrote: "Yup! They Made a Monkey Out of Me It was many, many years ago, though, so I'm not even sure if it's still out there! I hope you can find it. I'll have to search and see if I still have my copy ..."

Wow, thank you so much... both for the info and for the offer of a read if you can find it. :) I'm going to poke around on the internet a little later and see if I can scare up a copy.

8. Among the Impostors - Margaret Peterson Haddix

The second book in the "Shadow Children" series. I'd read the first book before, and I knew the kids at school get obsessed with the series... it's actually as good as its reputation suggests. I'm glad I decided to read this with my 5th graders.

Amy wrote: "Yup! They Made a Monkey Out of Me It was many, many years ago, though, so I'm not even sure if it's still out there! I hope you can find it. I'll have to search and see if I still have my copy ..."

Ooh, that's now been added to *my* to-read list, too! Thanks for that! :)

9. The Children of Hurin - J.R.R. Tolkien
10. Tudor England - S.T. Bindoff

11. For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child Rearing and the Roots of Violence - Alice Miller

12. NERDS: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society - Michael Buckley

13. Ecstatic Poems - Kabir (Trans. Robert Bly)

14. The Girl Who Owned a City - O. T. Nelson

15. The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkien

16. The Magician's Nephew - C.S. Lewis
17. Women Called to the Path of Rumi: The Way of the Whirling Dervish - Shakina Rheinhertz

After falling off the face of the earth (or, ok, the internet) for the end of the school year, it's time to get this back up to date!

18. King, Warrior, Magician, Lover - Robert L. Moore & Douglas Gillette
19. Merlin: The Lost Years - T. A. Barron
20. Kensuke's Kingdom - Michael Morpurgo
21. The Ballad of Lucy Whipple - Karen Cushman
22. Merlin: The Seven Songs - T. A. Barron

Whew! For such a strong start to the year, I got behind in the past couple of months. Time to get back on track.

Stefanie wrote: "Whew! For such a strong start to the year, I got behind in the past couple of months. Time to get back on track."

Summer's a great time for reading. Long days, sunny weather, cool drinks... Sounds so good!

23. Shadow of Night - Deborah Harkness
24. Bunnicula - James Howe

... And now I resolve to read a non-vampire book, ha. (Vampires are not usually my thing... Just coincidence to have these two in a row.)

25. Quiet, Please: Dispatches From a Public Librarian - Scott Douglas

26. Not Always So - Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

27. Talking to Girls About Duran Duran - Rob Sheffield

28. One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd - Jim Fergus
29. The Last Queen - C.W. Gortner
30. Franny and Zooey - J.D. Salinger (Reread - one of my favorite books. :))

31. Shampoo Planet - Douglas Coupland
32. 4,000 Years of Uppity Women - Vicki Leon

33. The Professor and the Madman - Simon Winchester
34. Land of the Free - Bart Brooks

35. Cut - Patricia McCormick
36. Banished Knowledge - Alice Miller

... I also find myself currently re-reading Ulysses and reading an Edward Rutherford book (The Forest) at the same time... No one can reasonably call my 50 books unambitious this year, haha!

37. The Forest - Edward Rutherford
38. The Lightkeeper's Daughter - Colleen Coble

39. The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots - Carolly Erickson

40. Mary, Bloody Mary - Carolyn Meyer

(gee, is my love of all things Tudor showing? haha)

41. Queen Elizabeth First: a Biography - J. E. Neale

42. The Boleyn Inheritance - Philippa Gregory

43. Merlin: The Raging Fires - T.A. Barron

44. The House at Riverton - Kate Morton