The Next Best Book Club discussion
Personal Reading Goals
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Dan's 120 in 2009 - All Done
Suzanne and Jessica,Just takes an inquisitive mind and more spare time than is probably good for me. At least I've got the reading to keep me out of trouble...most of the time.
62. The Ornament of the World - Maria Rosa Menocal
69. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Lief LarssonA little behind my 120 pace. Gotta do more reading.
71. Where the Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls
72. The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
It was good. Lots of philosophical meandering by Kundera and the story wasn't linear but both those things added to the appeal of the book. Had me in a contemplative frame of mind similar to what Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance did.
76. The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho77. 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die - Peter Boxall
80. Justine - Donatien Alphonse Francois de Sade
81. God Laughs and Plays - David James Duncan
83. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins84. The Unknown American Revolution - Gary B. Nash
How was The Woman in White? I got that for the group read, but I haven't gotten to it yet...
I liked The Woman in White a lot. The multiple-narrator format was interesting and Collins is very good at character development. He uses foreshadowing very well - leading your mind one way but having you end up somewhere else. It's a fairly long read but not as difficult as other Victorians and well worth the time spent in it.
I agree - this is impressive! I'm always curious about two things (feel free to answer or ignore);1. How much time do you spend reading each day?
2. Where do you get your books?
Thanks!
Paula,I generally get three to six hours of reading in each day. Most of it (three or four hours) is in the evening because I watch very little TV and I try to get an hour or two in during the day but don't always succeed at that. Having all my kids grown - or nearly so - helps a lot with having the time to read.
I get a lot of the books I read from the Albuquerque library system, some I borrow from my sister, and the rest I get from Borders or Barnes & Noble...usually when I have a coupon to take with me. If you mean where do I get the impulse for which books I read; that comes from lots of places - book lists, friends, family, favorite authors, bibliographies in the books I read, all the great recommendations here on TNBBC and in a couple of other groups, and a lot of the time the books just lead me themselves from one to the next.
Thank you for your openness! I don't watch much TV either, and intentionally wake up early so that I can start each day with a book, but am impressed when people get so much reading time in each day - that truly shows dedication. I was actually wondering where you get the physical books, but appreciate both answers. I am trying to get more from my local library, but can't resist book stores (I live near Chicago so there are a ton of great used bookstores close by).
Good luck with your list! You have some great titles here!
86. My Story as Told by Water - David James Duncan
91. V. - Thomas PynchonI almost never re-read but a first reading of Pynchon gives you just enough understanding to realize that you have to visit again - probably more than once - to find all the treasure he's hidden.
92. The Three Incestuous Sisters - Audrey Niffenegger
How did you like this?? I'm sure you know that he is Stephen King's son and is getting great acclaim on his own. I would really like to invest in his books, but I'm sort of waiting for TNBBC comments!!!
Suzanne,It was good but I didn't think it was all that scary. There were a couple of scenes that made my scalp tingle but that was it. Maybe - having raised three teenagers - it just takes more to scare me anymore. I've read a couple of reviews that also said they didn't find it very scary. The writing and the story were both good. The only King I've read is The Dead Zone and that was a long time ago, so I can't really make a good comparison there. I can say that it wasn't quite as good as Koontz' The Taking. It was a quick read and, overall, I think you'd enjoy it.
94. The Black Hole War - Leonard Susskind
Okay,I thought we had handled the first problem ... read more STEPHEN KING!!!
'THE STAND' ''SALEMS LOT' 'IT'
The way you read, we'll be discussing these on Friday
(although 'The Stand' is meant to be savoured ...)
Secondly, I,too, have experienced 3 teenagers, and I
... cannot think of one thing that could scare me more...
You're right ...
s***!!!
96. Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell
1. QBQ: The Question Behind the Question - John G. Miller
2. The Great Fire - Shirley Hazzard
3. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
4. The Fabric of the Cosmos - Brian Greene
5. Master/Slave - N. T. Morley
6. Mythology - Edith Hamilton
7. This is Your Brain on Music - Daniel J. Levitin
8. At the Mountains of Madness - H. P. Lovecraft
9. Supernatural Horror in Literature - H. P. Lovecraft
10. Safe Word - Molly Weatherfield
11. Candide - Voltaire
12. Wild Decembers - Edna O'Brien
13. The Aeneid - Virgil
14. The Writing Life - Annie Dillard
15. The Return of the Soldier - Rebecca West
16. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson
17. Delta of Venus - Anais Nin
18. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
19. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek - Annie Dillard
20. In the Forest - Edna O'Brien
21. Hideous Kinky - Esther Freud
22. The Death of Ivan Ilyich - Leo Tolstoy
23. The Country Girls - Edna O'Brien
24. Death in Venice - Thomas Mann
25. The Devil - Leo Tolstoy
26. Animal Farm - George Orwell
27. Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote
28. Living by Fiction - Annie Dillard
29. The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien
30. Strait is the Gate - Andre Gide
31. For the Time Being - Annie Dillard
32. Little Birds - Anais Nin
33. The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch
34. The Hidden Connections - Fritjof Capra
35. Girl With Green Eyes - Edna O'Brien
36. Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
37. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller - Italo Calvino
38. Demian - Hermann Hesse
39. Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon
40. The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka
41. Girls in Their Married Bliss - Edna O'Brien
42. To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
43. A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
44. Obedience - Will Lavender
45. In Search of Schrodinger's Cat - John R. Gribbin
46. The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
47. Jacob's Room - Virginia Woolf
48. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
49. East of Eden - John Steinbeck
50. How to Build a Time Machine - Paul Davies
51. The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford
52. The Mind of God - Paul Davies
53. The Metaphysical Club - Louis Menand
54. Cannery Row - John Steinbeck
55. Love in a Cold Climate - Nancy Mitford
56. The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick
57. The Taking - Dean Koontz
58. Sweet Thursday - John Steinbeck
59. Orlando - Virginia Woolf