Books on the Nightstand discussion

LOL, I got a message that said, "Uh-oh, you're falling behind." I seem to be moving slowly. I did read Lonesome Dove in March, which was over 800 pages, so that was like reading two books. In any case, I've read 15/81, which is 18% of my goal.

I'm not doing too well on the quantity of books I've finished this year--only 8% of my goal of 75 but I think I'll have plenty of time to catch up this summer. I'm right on track with the other two parts of my goal - to read only books from my BOTNS recommendation list which I have and 11 of those are to be new books published this year and I've read 2 of those so far. I do have to say that so far it's been a great year for reading!

I finished #5 of my 11 oldest books on my to-be-read list: Cockeyed by Ryan Knighton. Ryan recounts events leading up to his diagnosis of retinitis pigmentosa on his 18th birthday then his growth into young adulthood. He does it with a charming blend of anger, confusion, insight and humour. Highly recommended.

I have ditched my plan to read something by James Joyce and will next tackle something that I found at the Northshire.

Okay -- I read these posts in the challenge folder early on but then got waylaid. I thought it a good idea to tackle books I already have around here unread. Good plan. BUT when I started in to remedy the slight slump in which I was wallowing, I picked up a stack of new volumes of light reading and zipped along. Eventually I tackled second stack of books which I DID have here. I'm doing a lot of re-reading as well. I didn't sign up as having a plan. I didn't check in (till now). I didn't use that nice widget on our home page right-hand column.

the other day I came and read through every post here thus far. I thought about it. And just now I hit that widget and it tells me that I'm 10% ahead of my goal to read 67 books this year. I may aim to read more than 67 so as not to count the re-reads or I may just let those ride. I may try to add more non-fiction since I have managed to read a couple already. Anyway -- I just wanted to say thanks for the nudge here.

Dottie wrote: "I may aim to read more than 67 so as not to count the re-reads or I may just let those ride."

You should definitely "let 'em ride!" So many undervalue the re-read :-)

I'm currently at 32/85 and a bit ahead of schedule (love the Goodreads' widget)! My favorites so far include Room, The Tiger's Wife, Next, The Invisible Bridge and Moon Over Manifest.

My reads numbering 16 seem so paltry compared to you, Kbrown and Dottie! I need to stay off the Internet and just read! Now I need to read something cheerful after 'Incendiary' - any ideas??

Julie,
Here's a few recommendations for you. , charming late-in-life love story and a quick read as well. ;part memoir, part travelogue, part cookbook. ; boyhood dream realized. Also, if these don't appeal to you I'm sure you'll find something from the next BOTNS podcast!

Diana wrote: "Robin wrote: "I am 26 of 100 (26%). Sunny day here. Taking a break from the books and taking dogs for a long walk. Well, maybe I will listen to audio on the way. Listening to [bookcover:Room|793784..."

Sorry to take so long to reply to your post. Just saw it. The audio was good, told by the boy's perspective. Was not sure I would like the audio version, but it surprised me by being very good.

I am 34 of 100 books. Starting to feel the pressure.

Hi Kbrown,
where's the goodreads widget?..
I'm not sure about how and where to track my challenge books.
thanks, Nancy

Nancy,
Since you're a member of Goodreads, log into your account and then click on the "widgit" tab. Scroll down until you come to the "2011 Reading Challenge" and then add it to your home page. I hope this works! It's been a while since I added the widgit to my page.

Karen

thanks so much

I had no idea how many books I had read last year so I picked the number 25. Now I realize that is too low, since I am almost at that number so I've just upped it to 50--a book a week with 2 weeks off for unforeseen circumstances. I want to make it a realistic number since too often I pick goals I never reach! In anticipation of the BOTNS discussion, I'm reading the fun and quirky Something Missing.

#6 of the 11 oldest books on my reading list was Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays by Joan Didion, which I found at Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, VT while at the retreat. Our book club read The Year of Magical Thinking a few years ago, and I really enjoyed Didion's writing style and thinking process. Several of the club members recalled reading her magazine pieces, so I thought I'd try this first collection of her writing, from the 60s.

I wanted to give it 2.5 stars, just between "ok" and "liked". The variety of topics was impressive: Hawaii, Joan Baez, living in New York City, a domestic murder, morality, keeping a notebook. I found her writing choppy, and felt that she had so much to say that she could only include bits and pieces. This style perfectly suited the longest piece of the book--the title piece--which captures the intermittent visits to reality by drug users in San Francisco (or so I imagine!)

I'm not in a rush to read more of her short pieces, but I am looking forward to her forthcoming book, Blue Nights, due out Nov. 1, which Ann alerted me to.

When I signed on for the +11 in '11 Reading Challenge, I only had a numerical target (103) in mind. Recently though (as in last Saturday) I realized I had enough graphic novels on my list to create an "Eleven!"

01.
Mouse Guard Volume 1: Fall 1152 by David Petersen
Children's graphic novel about anthropomorphised Medieval mice who confront natural enemies and growing unrest in their realms. Their world is highly detailed and lushly drawn.

02.
Mouse Guard Volume 2: Winter 1152 by David Petersen
This volume continues the saga of Mouse Guard: Fall 1152. The level of intrigue increases and the mouse legend is explored :-)

03.
Wonderland by Tommy Kovac
Children's graphic novel about Mary Ann (of Alice in Wonderland fame - Remember the White Rabbit at first mistakes Alice for Mary Ann?) Though carrying a Disney label, this is not drawn in the style of Disney's animation crew and some panels have a somewhat abstract feel to them (Where is Mary Ann's face?!) The characters are a little too acerbic for my taste but the Alice in Wonderland collector might be intrigued.

04.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedonand Georges Jeanty
I loved the TV series. I used to have BTVS dreams. I can't tell you how disappointed I was with this volume. The storyline is absurd, even for Buffy fans and the characters are all oddly and disproportionately drawn. Some panels I had no idea who was talking and really, no idea what some of them were doing.

05.
Fables: Storybook Love by Bill Willingham, Buckingham and, Steve Leialoha
The premise of Fables is that fairy tale characters actually are manifest and currently living in New York City and upstate New York. Once upon a time the Fables were living happily ever after in their homelands; But then the Adversary, a malevolent force, starting a merciless and imperialistic takeover. Refugees from the war escaped though a portal to our world and have adapted by blending in. This is the third volume in the Fables series and a little different from the first two. Whereas the first two (Fables in Exile and Animal Farm) each have their respective story arcs, this volume contains a couple stories outside of the arc. Some of the stories are crudely drawn, reminding me of the album covers of Black Flag, while others show more refinement. Nonetheless, the core of the volume advances the Fables saga by shaping the core cast of characters...

06.
Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers by Bill Willingham, Buckingham, Steve Leialoha and, Russell
This is the fourth in the Fables series. Red Riding Hood has shown up. Is she what she seems? The Adversary has managed to infiltrate the human world and threatens the Fables in exile.


07.
Peter & Max: A Fables Novel by Bill Willingham
Technically, not a graphic novel, but a novel with some illustrations; but nonetheless, a part of the Fables oeuvre. This is the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlet and his brother... PETER & MAX is billed as a stand-alone from the graphic novel series; but I think I would have liked to have read Fables #5 first. The opening passages to PETER & MAX contain a few spoilers. The illustrations are very Nancy Drew like and a bit disappointing.


08.
Hellboy: Wake the Devil by Mike Mignola
Hellboy is the red action hero with a stone fist and massive physique born from a Nazi occult ritual during WWII. Despite his origins and the purpose to which he was brought into this world, he was raised by good guys and fights the bad guys. His story starts with SEED OF DESTRUCTION (which I have as a glorious iPhone app) and WAKE THE DEVIL is the second in the series. This volume and THE CHAINED COFFIN (see below) can actually be interchanged as each references action in the other volume. In WAKE THE DEVIL, I don't think I'm really sold on the explanation as what "those things on Hellboy's head are" if only because it doesn't work out chronologically or I need a little more in terms background... I love the Hellboy artwork - heavy on black ink and high contrast images; but not lacking in detail or sense of motion

09.
Hellboy: The Chained Coffin and Others by Mike Mignola
This is the third in the Hellboy series and is more of a collection of adapted folktales that feature Hellboy.

10.
A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman
I re-read the first half (MAUS I: My Father Bleeds History) of this set before reading this. MAUS is the Pulitzer Prize winning work of Art Spiegelman featuring the story of his father, a Polish Jew who survived WWII. The characters are all reverse-anthropomorphised - Nazis are cats, Jews are mice, Poles are pigs... It's pretty staggering and impactful. I liked this volume a little less than the first because A.S. deliberately started to strip away the affectation of the reverse-anthropomorphization. The story also featured more of his father's current life in the U.S. and; there was a story jump so sudden I thought I had missed a page (I hadn't.)

11.
Richard Matheson's Hell House by Richard Mathieson; illustrated by Ian Edginton
This is Mathieson's horror classic fairly well and truly adapted into GN form. I still hate the ending though. And I'm still bitter that the illustrations are all B&W despite the lure of a lushly colorful cover.

Tanya, as I started reading your post, I was thinking that I need to dip my toe into the graphic novel/comic genre...thanks so much for the Hellboy iphone app tip. I just downloaded the first one (free!).

Reading people's posts and I am so impressed with our motivation, even in May.
I have a general question, though... I find that when I re-read a book, and update the "read" date, it eliminates the previous "read" date. This totally bums me out - does anyone know if I am missing something in the notations? Can I list more than one "read" date?

Great question Leah, I wondered about that too.

I'm running 6 books behind on the challenge so far, but I'm confident I can catch up over the summer (even though I plan to read two massive books A Game of Thrones and The Name of the Wind).

Leah wrote: "does anyone know if I am missing something in the notations? Can I list more than one "read" date? "

I was playing around with that last night and it does not appear that you can have more than one "read" date.The only way around it is if you read a different edition of the same book. I was able to catalog both the print and the audiobook editions of a title I had read last year.

Of course, you could also post notes in the comments/review section of the title: i.e. "First read 01/01/2010 - Three Stars..." or whatever :-/

I am at 37% 26/70 books. I hate when the Goodreads icon tells me I'm behind!! I'm going to have to get WAY ahead during the summer. I am a teacher and I also direct the musical in the fall, so I read about one book in those 2 months I'm directing!

Heather KS

I've read 7 of my 50 but school was hectic so now that it's summer I can read to my heart's content. :)

Shinke wrote: "I've read 7 of my 50 but school was hectic so now that it's summer I can read to my heart's content. :)"

It's summer? Where? All we've got is rain, rain, rain. I think either I've moved to Seattle or Seattle has moved to Ohio.

Linda wrote: It's summer? Where? All we've got is rain, rain, rain. I think either I've m..."

It has actually been nice and sunny in Seattle for the past couple of days, and it's supposed to last through the weekend! Woohoo!

I'm 3 books ahead on my challenge (21 of 50). I have no idea how many books I normally read in a year so I started out with 24 as my goal (2 per month), but quickly decided I needed to increase that. One per week with a couple of weeks off sounds about right and is what I'm shooting for now.

Lol! Summer break I should say, five months of beautiful freedom. I live in Jamaica though so I guess you'd say it's always summer here.

I was a little bit ahead but then realized that Goodreads was counting books that I started and decided not to finish. Once I subtracted those, I have the "you are right on track" message.

I'm shooting for 55 books this year.

I'm still 4 books behind, according to the Goodreads widget, so I'm going to cheat a little by reading, over the next week, a few graphic novels I've been meaning to get to.

(Everyone should feel free to tell me that reading graphic novels is not cheating!)

I'm now 2 books behind (was 6 behind about 2 weeks ago) and I'm reading quicker books in order to catch up. At first I felt like was cheating but the books are on my TBR list, so it's not really cheating. The same goes for graphic novels. Reading is reading, esepecially if you meant to read them anyway! I know a couple of people who lowered their goals in order to catch up. I refuse to do that, lol!

Michael, graphic novels definitely count. Especially because I already counted mine! :)

(Everyone should feel free to tell me that reading graphic novels is not cheating!)

Michael, I'm on Volume 9 of Fables and plan to read AND count all 15 of them! (I first heard about them from one of your podcasts...thank you, love them.) I also ordered iZombie and two volumes of Unwritten.

It's War & Peace and graphic/comic books for me right now.

I'm at 41/100, 2 books ahead. I'm a fast reader and I travel a lot which helps. Last year I read 110 books so I'm backing downl a little this year. Funny, I feel like I'm reading slower.

Jana wrote: "Michael, I'm on Volume 9 of Fables and plan to read AND count all 15 of them! (I first heard about them from one of your podcasts...thank you, love them.) I also ordered iZombie and two volumes of Unwritten. "

Yay for Fables!! And I feel confident that you will love The Unwritten and iZombie as well; they're very different, but both great!

43 of 100 (43%)
Starting to feel the pressure.

I'm 8% behind. I may have bitten off more than I could read.

Hey, thanks a lot for the recs. I bought 'Major Pettigrew' for a friend who wanted it last Christmas - now I might actually read it myself.

Kbrown wrote: "Julie,
Here's a few recommendations for you. , charming late-in-life love story and a quick read as well. [bookcover:An Embarrassment of Mangoes: A C..."

the widget says I'm behind on reading ... and I am ... there are some books that I haven't been able to get into so they have ultimately gone away ... I also have a few other things going on ... we got married 2 weekends ago and are moving this summer ... I'm hoping that by the time we get resettled the widget will no longer be telling me I'm behind ...

Best wishes Eve!

Eve wrote: "the widget says I'm behind on reading ... and I am ... there are some books that I haven't been able to get into so they have ultimately gone away ... I also have a few other things going on ... we..."

Congratulations, Eve!

Many years of happiness, Eve!

The widget says I am 5 books (6%) ahead. This would be due to the nice relaxing, "chick lit" books I read the last couple of weeks while I was on vacation :)

I've completed another "Set of Eleven!" This set consists of audiobooks I’ve listened to:



01.
The Most They Ever Had
written and narrated by Rick Bragg
Non-Fiction. The Most They Ever Had is the story of a community in Jacksonville, Alabama whose economy, whose lives, were predicated on cotton. Far from being an affectedly sentimental memoir about his hometown, Rick Bragg narrates his book with affection and candor (and a nice soft Alabamian drawl.)

02.
The Haunting of Hill House
by Shirley Jackson; narrated by Bernadette Dunne
Horror. This is the quintessential haunted house story that I suspect is the actual mother of all haunted house stories that we are now familiar with. Bernadette Dunne is pitch perfect as the narrator, hitting all the right tones of tentativeness, fear, resolve and confusion of Eleanor (the protagonist.)

03.
Call for the Dead (UNABRIDGED) AUDIO CD
by John Le Carré; narrated by Ralph Cosham
Spy Thriller. This elegant first title in the George Smiley series introduces the listener to the toad-like agent of England’s Secret Service - agent and service alike in the throes of the moral vicissitudes of the Cold War. Ralph Cosham perfectly reflects the book’s temperment as well as the regional dialects of the various characters.

04.
Caribou Island
by David Vann; narrated by Bronson Pinchot
Fiction. Caribou Island is, is a novel about a family on the Kenai Peninsula whose quotidian routines (begotten of never-ending regret and frustration) are disturbed as Gary, the patriarch of the family, decides to build a cabin in an even more remote area off of the peninsula. Bronson Pinchot's narration hits all the right notes, imbuing each character with distinction and pathos.

05.
Poirot Investigates: Eleven Complete Mysteries
by Agatha Christie; narrated by David Suchet
Mystery. Eleven short stories that, individually aren’t that clever; but altogether provide a nice composite picture of Poirot and Hastings. David Suchet voices the characters of Poirot, Hastings and, most men extremely well, as to be expected form the star of the televsion series; but his women and Americans are atrocious by any measure.

06.
Columbine
by Dave Cullen; narrated by Don Leslie
Non-Fiction. Columbine is a staggering work of non-fiction and journalism. More than an account of what happened "that day," it is a redress of the misinformation that was disseminated at the time of the shooting (and that continues to this day.) The narrator, Don Leslie, is definitely a voice-over guy and appropriate for the material he reads.

07.
True Grit
by Charles Portis; narrated by Donna Tarrt
Western. The story is about a fourteen-year old girl who hires a federal marshal to pursue the murderer of her father into the Indian Country of Oklahoma. The narrator, Donna Tartt, is an author in her own right who *loves* this book, as averred in her short essay at the end of the audio. I'll not fault her strong Mississippi accent; but she is not a narrator and brings no added value to the production.

08.
Unfamiliar Fishes
written and narrated by Sarah Vowell
Non-Ficiton. Unfamiliar Fishes is the fun, smart and entertaining history of Hawaii, the focus being on the nineteenth century when New England missionaries came to the islands and introduced Christianity, literacy, infectious diseases and, Western ideas like democracy, entrepreneurship and, marginalization. Ms Vowell herself is funny and smart; but the novelty of having her narrate her own book wears thin after a little while.

09.
Nature Girl
by Carl Hiaasen; narrated by Lee Adams
Fiction. In Nature Girl, Hiaasen delivers, as expected, an offbeat cast of characters, including Honey Santana, a single mom who designs an elaborate payback for a telemarketer who not only calls her during her dinner hour, but who also calls her an offensive name. Lee Adams delivered the material in a clean, clear, even pace.

10.
A Quiet Belief in Angels: Library Edition
by R.J. Ellory; narrated by Mark Bramhall
Mystery & Suspense. A Quiet Belief in Angels starts in the late 1930's in a small town in Georgia. Little girls are disappearing and their raped, mutilated and murdered bodies reappear, evoking profound angst in the mind of the book's protagonist, a young boy named Joseph Vaughn. Mark Bramhall delivers the text in a slow, entrancing Southern cadence that make the material easier going down; though his voice too is unable to sustain the tension and the affection throughout the entirety of the novel.

11.
Casino Royale
by Ian Fleming; narrated by Simon Vance
Spy Thriller. Casino Royale is a short novel pitting Bond against LeChiffre (a SMERSH agent) at the baccarat tables in Royale, France. Simon Vance is delivers the drama with suaveness, dropping foreign phrases casually and overall with the sophistication expected of a cosmopolitan agent.

I've currently read 61/103 titles which puts me at 59%.
I'm 16 books or 15% ahead of schedule.

Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David von Drehle was #7 of my 11 oldest books on my reading list. The book is an engaging account of the events before, during and after the tragic March 25, 2911 fire in the Triangle Waist Factory in New York City. (A "waist" was a lady's blouse.) Von Drehle provides a thorough context to the fire; the political, legal, social and labour background is described in detail.

My interest flagged once or twice during the descriptions of the union activities--maybe because Canada has recently experienced an Air Canada and a postal strike--but I didn't put the book down, just flipped ahead a page or two and kept going. I particularly enjoyed the stories of two women who worked at the factory, starting from the European towns they emigrated from.

Four books left--three non-fiction and one novel!

Remember at the beginning of the challenge when we were talking about how +11 in '11 might encourage us to read more and watch TV less? Well, I just realized that that has pretty much worked! I have watched less than ten hours of television in the last six months! I watched the Superbowl and an episode of Planet Sheen (a cartoon I watched with my 8yo.) That's all! I'm totally crushing on this challenge (currently at 70% and 22 books/21% ahead of schedule! And with the looming NFL lock-out... :-)

I'm currently working on a Set of 11: #BOTNSRetreat authors...

Well I'm 4 books behind my goal (and that is after I lowered it from 75 to 52). Just haven't gotten a lot of reading time this year. But what I have lacked in quantity I have definitely made up in quality. I'm only reading from my BOTNs recommendation shelf and so the books have been outstanding. One little snag however...I had a book I had marked as a BOTNs recommendation, just started reading it yesterday and it is really really good....but I went back and it's not on the book index on the website, so I went back and reviewed all the podcasts and it's not there. So I may have made a mistake when I added it to Goodreads two years ago. But it's SO GOOD I don't want to stop :). It's Awakening and is turning in to a perfect summer read.

Tanya wrote: "Remember at the beginning of the challenge when we were talking about how +11 in '11 might encourage us to read more and watch TV less? ...currently at 70% and 22 books/21% ahead of schedule! And with the looming NFL lock-out... :-)"i>

Not quite that far ahead (7% or 6 books), but I took have watched little TV this summer. However I think that has more to do with the fact that we turned cable off for the summer, so no Real Housewives marathons for me! In the fall I usually end up doing homework on Sundays rather than reading, but if there is no NFL season, maybe I will get my HW done faster so I can get some reading in!

I've already read 2 books more than all of 2010 - 30 books, and within easy reach of 36, my goal for 2011. Hmmm, (Should have doubled that goal of 11+ considering we are a little over 1/2 way through the year!) Feels good to overachieve, even if my goal isn't very lofty.

I didn't really keep track too well last year so I picked 30 as my goal for this year. It seemed so doable and I felt I had fallen off on reading and was watching too much TV. But this challenge changed that. I am at 29 now so I upped my number to 50. I'm hoping to get ahead over vacation. Long plane ride.

#8 of the 11 oldest books on my reading list was Bruno Bobak: The Full Palette, edited by Bernard Riordon. Several authors contributed thoughtful essays on this Canadian artist, a contemporary of the Group of Seven who was an official war artist in WWII and a long-time art professor at the University of New Brunswick. I have also read about his wife and fellow war artist, Molly Lamb Bobak,. This book was interesting, as much for the times that he has lived in as for his art.

I'm caught up! It took a couple of graphic novels that I could read in one or two sittings, but I'm caught up! Which is good, because I really want to start all 1000 pages of A Clash of Kings soon!

I'm 3 books ahead and loving all of it. BOTNS and Goodreads have really motivated more reading hours for me.