Challenge: 50 Books discussion

So far my list has consisted of:

1. Playing for Pizza by John Grisham
2. The Camino: A Journey of the Spirit by Shirley Maclaine
3. The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy by Vicki Iovine
4. Abundance, A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Sena Jeter Naslund
5. Free to Grieve: Healing & Encouragement for Those Who Have Suffered Miscarriage and Stillbirth by Maureen Rank
6. The Eight by Katherine Neville
7. The Last Van Gogh by Alyson Richman
8. Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
9. Atonement by Ian McEwan
10. Into Thin Air:Account of Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer (reread)
11. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (HIGHLY recommend)

12. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (reread)

Fantastic book on following your dreams. Along the way he stumbles upon instances that try and prevent him from his goals. Basic premise is that life is in the journey, not in the destination. Recommended.

13. Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil by Deborah Rodriguez

I read this following the heels of The Thousand Splendid Suns and appreciated learning more about the times and lives of the women of Afghanistan post Taliban.
The book itself was a quick, easy book to read. As many other reviewers wrote - it was kind of like reading a blog. Her style of writing was nothing remarkable, just easy to read and follow along her travels and experience.
I do have to admit that a couple of things bothered me. The number of years the author lived in Afghanistan, but only knew the bare minimum of the language, even while running a school and being married astounds me. Also, the way she acted - sometimes like the "rude American" - yelling in faces, staring people in the eye. I understand why she did the things she did, because I probably would be the same way, but I feel like when you're a "visitor" in a country you should also try and respect the culture and customs, which it seemed like she really didn't do in my point of view.

14. That Extra Half An Inch by Victoria Beckham

Just a fun fashion read from a lady who's major.

15. The Appeal by John Grisham
I liked it - it was reminescent of his old books. Predictable, but enjoyable.

16. 7th Heaven by James Patterson
From the Women's Murder Club series. Fast paced, quick read. I liked it, but not his best. The quality is as the books he has been churning have been.

17. Change of Heart by Jodi Piccoult
She does what she does best - take difficult topics and makes an interesting story out of it.

18. Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella
Typical type of book in which the woman charactor is ditzy and flubbers about all the time, but in the end things work out for her. cute story though. Easy read.

19. Lucia: In the Age of Napoleon by Andrea di Robilant

The author pieced together this biography of this vivacious lady Lucia in the setting of Venice through letters he found in his grandfather's collection. It was interesting to read how society was during that period and he stories of encounters with Napoleon and Lord Byron. Interesting.

20. Gossip Girl by Cecily Von Ziegesar

Love the show, not the book. Needed mind candy, but this one rotted out my mind. Materialistic, narcasisstic smut.

21. Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg

Cute book written in diary form by Daisy Fay starting out in the 1950's in Mississippi, when she was 11 through the next 6 years of her life.

22. Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, or Why You Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office by Jen Lancaster

It was hard reading this book about a spoiled girl. When she reached the breaking point of having no money she starts to realize that she's thrown her money away on frivalous things, but there's still a lot of indulgences that I'd never do and although she admits she's a self-centered egomaniac it's hard reading the spoiledness.

I took both Bright Lights, Big Ass and Bitter is the New Black out of the library because they sounded so funny but couldn't even get through half of BLBA. It was exactly like you said, it was hard to read about her being so spoiled.

So many people said she was funny and it was great book, but I thought she wasn't at all! Glad to read someone else agreed with me about her being so spoiled and that that made the book hard to read.

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin`
The writing wasn't poetic, but the words were. This story of an amazing man on an amazing mission is awe-inspiring. Many people talked of helping these people, but Mortenson actually did, with a lot of obstacles that he never let stop him. Highly recommend to anyone and everyone.
If you decide to read this book, which I highly recommend you do, please purchase it at www.threecupsoftea.com - 7% of the book purchase goes toward a girl's education scholarship fund in Pakistan and Afghanistan

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan

Similar to his "Omnivore's Dilemna", which I enjoyed more than this book, which really is like a summary of his first book.

25. Secret Lives of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

This was a reread for me and I Still love it. Thouroughly enjoyable read that I'd highly recommend to anyone!

I just read that Dakota Fanning is in negotiations for playing in the film version of Sue Monk Kidd's book, The Secret Life of Bees. (December 20, 2007)

I am looking forward to the film version of this book .. the book is so awesome I wonder if the film version can be anywhere half as good. I hope so.

Dakota Fanning is a busy gal! I think she'll be really good for this role. She's also supposed to be in Jodi Piccoult's My Sister's Keeper.


26. World without End by Ken Follet. This sequel to Pillars of the Earth was a very good read. I love how hateful he makes the evil characters!

Have been remiss on updating my list, so here goes:
27. Happy for No Reason by Marci Shimoff
easy and practical....if you do it. My problem - I didn't apply the principles.

28. Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
I didn't like the charactors at all. I didn't feel any sympathy for them and agree that Frank Lloyd Wright was sort of a jerk.

29. The Crusador by Michael Alexander Eisner
There were interesting parts to the book, but I didn't find my mind drifting and skimmed over large chunks that I kind of got bored with.

30. Made in America by Bill Bryson
Very interesting facts. There were times where there was so much information overload that I had troubles keeping focus at times.

31. The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
Thoroughly enjoyed this easy read. Recommended to anyone that enjoys historical fiction

32. A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel
I really enjoyed this book. I didn't really expect much, but I really liked the fact that this was a fun, uplifting memoir writen from a child's point of view. Fun, quick read.

33. The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: and Other Small Acts of Liberation by Elizabeth Berg
Many of the stories dealt with weight and talked of weight watchers. I did enjoy Rain a lot, and there were one or two other short stories that were okay, but other than that, didn't really connect or really enjoy the rest of the stories.

34. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

I really liked these short stories a lot! I had read The Namesake before and liked the first half, but felt that she rushed too much to wrap everything up at the end. I think she is better at the short stories than novels. I enjoyed this so much that I'm going to read her new book that are short stories next. Highly recommend.

35. Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson

I had no expectations since I haven't liked any of the books he coauthored. I really have a feeling he isn't writing any of them and just lending his editing skills and names to them. (I have an obsession reading all the books of authors that I have enjoyed some of their books though). Since I had no expectations and heard that this was a fluff book, I had that thought in my head and actually enjoyed this book. If you read it, just keep in mind that it's mind candy/fluff.

I totally agree with you on Lahiri's work. I also felt like The Namesake was rushed, and almost cliche or something, in the end. However, her short stories (ie- Interpreter of Maladies) are fantastic. Perhaps, she is unable to sustain a story for a novel's length. I am glad that her new book is short stories again. I look forward to reading it.