Dana Swier Huff's Blog, page 60

Do You NaNo?

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year? My husband says that he is, and I think I will, too, though I admit that the fact that I don't have an idea yet is a little scary. My sister posted a message to me on Facebook a while back asking me if I planned to participate this year, but at the time, I wasn't sure. I told her I was tempted to cheat and try to finish the book I didn't finish last year. That is cheating, right? I think the idea is to start a new book. The part of me that thinks that book was a really good idea and really wants to finish it is tempted to cheat, but the goody-goody in me is fraught with guilt by the prospect.

I like writing during NaNo because the idea that lots of others are also writing feels communal. I feel like I have all this support, even if I don't interact with anyone. Anyway, I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do yet, but I updated my NaNo profile. If you are participating and want to be a writing buddy, my username is danahuff. If you have never written a book before, but you always wanted to, then why not give it a try during the month of November?

I tweeted a question to Scrivener, who makes an excellent writing app that is perfect for NaNoWriMo, and they plan to put Scrivener on sale and offer a special trial version around October 20, which they also did last year. Usually the trial version only works for 30 days, but this special trial version lasts longer. Also, unlike other trial versions of software, 30 days means 30 days of your use. If you don't open it for 10 days, it doesn't count.

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Post © Dana Huff

Do You NaNo?

Top Ten Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is a really fun one: a list of the books I wish I could read again for the first time. For some books, there is nothing quite like the magic of reading them for the first time, no matter how good they are on a reread.

The entire Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. I will never forget discovering those books, and the slow reveal as new books were published. When I began reading them, the movies hadn't been released yet. I read them in 2001, right before the first film came out. At that time, Harry Potter and the Order the Phoenix hadn't been published yet.
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Such a gripping read the first time around. I haven't managed a full reread. I usually get bogged down somewhere in The Two Towers .
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly. I loved this book. It's still my top read for 2011, and it influenced me a great deal. I know I have been more open-minded about music since I read it, and I have been listening to music a lot more, too. I'm not sure I would be if not for this book.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I was so thrilled by this book the entire time I was reading. Jane was actually funny! And I loved the characters and setting.
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. I know I loved it the first time, but I'm not sure how I'd feel on a reread. It's such a revisionist history of the South in so many ways. It would be interesting to come to it the first time again without any of the baggage I've accumulated over the years.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. How would it be to read this again with the hope that Tom might be freed by that white jury?
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. My favorite King Arthur book. I ate it up when I read it for the first time in 1996 or 1997. I would like to read it again, but more than anything, I wish I could read it for the first time again.
The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. This was another fun discovery. I read up through Drums of Autumn , but it took The Fiery Cross quite a while to come out, and I never have read that book or any subsequent ones.
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough. I read it so long ago, and I've never reread it, even though I've meant to. I would like to read it for the first time.
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. So suspenseful! How fun would it be to read again without knowing what happens or how it will end?

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Post © Dana Huff

Top Ten Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time

Sunday Salon—October 9, 2011

Since I write mainly about books over here, I haven't had much occasion to discuss what a huge Apple fan I am. I write this on my MacBook, which I use to write almost all of my posts. Steve Jobs was a creative genius and a brilliant leader. Believe it or not, I'm beginning to see posts to the effect that we shouldn't be sad, or that the outpouring of grief over Jobs's death is inappropriate. To those folks, I say, don't tell others when and how to grieve. That is unseemly. If you are so inclined, you can read my post at my education blog, where I talk about technology much more often. I am not ashamed to admit that I did cry a little. I know I didn't know Steve Jobs, but I think, like a lot of people, that I felt like I knew him at least a little.

In any event, I think Jobs was poised to change the world of reading as much as he did music. I think the Kindle is still quite a strong competitor for the iPad, particularly as the Kindle Fire recently released is much cheaper than the iPad. However, I think mostly readers will purchase the Kindle Fire, whereas the iPad has appealed to people who are looking for a tablet computer. I could be way off in that prediction. Without the iPad, I don't think we'd ever have seen the Kindle Fire. We may also be able to blame the iPad for the boom in popularity of e-books. The Kindle came out earlier, and the Nook may have also (I'd have to check that date), but the iPad ushered in a great deal of interest in e-books.

[image error]A colleague actually asked me last week if I ever read paper books. I don't know when owning a Kindle became this all or nothing proposition, that it means I don't read paper books. Sometimes, I actually prefer them. It depends on the book. Certainly if I have any notion I might have the book signed, I will buy a paper book. And sometimes, the paper version is a better value. On the other hand, I just bought a Kindle version of all of Jane Austen's works, including all six complete novels, The Watsons, Sanditon, and Lady Susan, and selected letters and juvenilia. For 99¢. I'd never be able to buy a paper copy of all of that writing for 99¢.

It has occurred to me before that it would be smart to grab a public domain book, compose notes or an introduction, and format it in Scrivener for the Kindle Store and sell it for 99¢. I have had friends who have done this, and it's such a smart idea. I think you need to add some functionality, such as a working table of contents or annotations, to make it worth the buyer's while because so many of those books are available for free. Of course, the free versions are often not well formatted and have no working table of contents.

Speaking of Jane Austen, I have been spending quite a lot of time this week curled up with Sense And Sensibility this week. Juliet Stevenson is a fabulous reader. Have you heard that quite a few actors are lending their voices to new audio books? Including our favorite Mr. Darcy, Colin Firth. He's not on this list, but I can only find one audio book read by Alan Rickman: The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy. I tried to read that book, and I never got far. If Alan Rickman read it to me, I just might finish it. Heck. I have four Audible credits. I ought to give in and just get it.

I am rereading Sense And Sensibility for the Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge, but I am having a little trouble deciding which other book to read for the challenge. If you have an opinion on either of this books, feel free to vote in the poll.

The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman. Emily and Jessamine Bach are opposites in every way: Twenty-eight-year-old Emily is the CEO of Veritech, twenty-three-year-old Jess is an environmental activist and graduate student in philosophy. Pragmatic Emily is making a fortune in Silicon Valley, romantic Jess works in an antiquarian bookstore. Emily is rational and driven, while Jess is dreamy and whimsical. Emily's boyfriend, Jonathan, is fantastically successful. Jess's boyfriends, not so much—as her employer George points out in what he hopes is a completely disinterested way.

Bicoastal, surprising, rich in ideas and characters, The Cookbook Collector is a novel about getting and spending, and about the substitutions we make when we can't find what we're looking for: reading cookbooks instead of cooking, speculating instead of creating, collecting instead of living. But above all it is about holding on to what is real in a virtual world: love that stays.

Willoughby's Return by Jane Odiwe. A lost love returns, rekindling forgotten passions… In Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, when Marianne Dashwood marries Colonel Brandon, she puts her heartbreak over dashing scoundrel John Willoughby in the past.

Three years later, Willoughby's return throws Marianne into a tizzy of painful memories and exquisite feelings of uncertainty. Willoughby is as charming, as roguish, and as much in love with her as ever. And the timing couldn't be worse—with Colonel Brandon away and Willoughby determined to win her back, will Marianne find the strength to save her marriage, or will the temptation of a previous love be too powerful to resist?

Expectations of Happiness by Rebecca Ann Collins. International bestselling author of the Pemberley Chronicles series explores the beloved characters of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Acclaimed for historical accuracy and emulation of Jane Austen's voice as well as the depth of her depictions of the complex and evolving society of the day—especially what life was like for women—Collins imagines three sisters dealing with what happens when a spirited girl grows into a scandal-prone young lady who defies society's rules and must then pay the consequences.

So which one do you think? I already own the first, but it doesn't have high reviews on Amazon (hence my indecisiveness). Its reviews on Goodreads are about par for the course on that site.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

I hope you are curling up with a good book and a warm beverage on this fine fall Sunday. Happy reading!

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Post © Dana Huff

Sunday Salon—October 9, 2011

WWW Wednesdays—October 5, 2011

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you'll read next?

I haven't done WWW Wednesday in a while; I skipped it for the entire month of September. I guess I'm back today!

I am currently reading several books. Despite what DailyLit says over there in the sidebar, I fell behind with The Man with Two Left Feet by P.G. Wodehouse and still haven't finished it yet, though I have enjoyed it very much. I am also still reading The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee. I haven't picked it up in a while. I think it's perfect for dipping into occasionally.

I am also still listening to/reading along with Sense And Sensibility read by Juliet Stevenson. Oh, how I love crazy, flighty Marianne and admire steady, dependable Elinor. Wish I could be more like her. What a great friend she would be, too.

I am currently engaged in a battle with my daughter over The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. See, I bought it with an Amazon gift card I received for my birthday. Hence, it is a birthday present. She grabbed it while I was reading Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman (review) and started reading it. I say I should get first dibs because it's my birthday present. She argues she started reading it first and has also offered me two of her books to read. I also contend waiting for her will take too long. We nearly arm wrestled for it yesterday. We have an uneasy truce and have agreed to share it. For now.

I'm not sure what I'll read next. Maybe something witchy like The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch or perhaps The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. I have a rather large stack of books in my TBR pile. I also just received When She Woke by Hillary Jordan from a Goodreads giveaway, and the cover is so cool:

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I have to admit it's caught my eye. I also have a weakness for picking up books I just got instead of turning to my TBR pile.

I am in the mood to continue reading something gothic or creepy for RIP, though. Which would you pick?

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Post © Dana Huff

WWW Wednesdays—October 5, 2011

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Friday Finds—September 30, 2011

I haven't done Friday Finds in a while, seems like. I think it's just been busy. I hesitate to discuss all the books I've added to my TBR pile since the last Friday Finds update, so I'll just pick the ones I'm most interested in digging into, starting with the one I'm currently reading, which is a great RIP read.

Haunted by memories of the Great War, failed academic Frank Nichols and his wife, Eudora, have arrived in the sleepy Georgia town of Whitbrow, where Frank hopes to write a history of his family's old estate—the Savoyard Plantation—and the horrors that occurred there. At first, the quaint, rural ways of their new neighbors seem to be everything they wanted. But under the facade of summer socials and small-town charm, there is an unspoken dread that the townsfolk have lived with for generations. A presence that demands sacrifice.

Yep, sounds like Georgia to me. All kidding aside, it's good so far, and I have heard it's pretty creepy. Shelf Awareness devoted a whole newsletter to it, which is what caused me to add it to my list anyway.

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves , and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead. Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

That novel is getting an insane buzz among booksellers and bloggers both, but it looks good. Starbucks just picked it as its first Digital Book Pick of the Week.

In the garden of a country estate, an ancient monument holds a cryptic secret. Chiseled on it is a coded inscription that has baffled the world's cleverest minds for two centuries. When a child playing near the monument stumbles upon the dead body of a man, another mystery is revealed: in his pocket is a scrap of paper bearing a sequence of letters. The police suspect that it may be part of a coded message but their investigation leads nowhere. The case at a standstill, Lawrence Kingston, retired professor of botany, is hired to conduct an independent inquiry. Soon, Kingston finds himself swept along in a dangerous undertow of a centuries-old family feud, a suspicious poisoning and veiled threats, leading him to fear for his own life. To solve the secret of the past and crimes of the present, he must decipher a complex code hidden in the walls of an old manor house. But to do so, he must first delve into the minds of three eminent 18th century Englishmen to fathom what part they played in the age-old mystery. As his search for the truth narrow, his worst fears materialize when he becomes the next target.

English gardens, a Georgian mystery, a family feud, and a secret code! Sounds good, no?

These three nonfiction selections all look great:

Some of these I am kind of on the fence about whether to read:

The cover of that first one looks familiar… maybe because I used it for my own book. At any rate, the Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood is reading it in October, but reviews are mixed. I'm still deciding about whether to read Mortal Love. I think I'm just frightened Fury will be too much like the other paranormal YA that is becoming ubiquitous. The reviews for The Magicians have been all over the place. I read a Lev Grossman novel a few years ago, and I really didn't like it. Anyone able to push me over the fence on any of these three?

I'll save my other finds for next week. L'Shanah Tovah and best wishes for a sweet new year to my friends and colleagues.

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Post © Dana Huff

Friday Finds—September 30, 2011

Booking Through Thursday: Loud

This week's Booking Through Thursday prompt asks

What do you think of reading aloud/being read to? Does it bring back memories of your childhood? Your children's childhood?
Does this affect the way you feel about audio books?
Do you now have times when you read aloud or are read to?

I have always loved being read aloud to. I contest the notion that being read to is something that should be associated with childhood alone. I love reading to others, and I love hearing others read, particularly wonderful readers like Neil Gaiman or Jim Dale. I suppose that is one reason I do like audio books. Sometimes books are even better when they're read aloud by an excellent reader. I read to my children, too, and I sometimes read to my students. My husband and I sometimes read each other excerpts of whatever it is we're reading at the moment. He has a very interesting cadence in his voice when he reads that is simply not there when he is just speaking. I sometimes wish I were a better reader: I have trouble with different voices and the like. Reading the Harry Potter books to my daughters formed some of my happiest memories. If you want to hear a great reader in action, head over to Neil Gaiman's website for his children's books and listen to The Graveyard Book.

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Post © Dana Huff

Booking Through Thursday: Loud

The Ballad of Tom Dooley, Sharyn McCrumb

Sharyn McCrumb's latest ballad novel, The Ballad of Tom Dooley, concerns perhaps the most famous of the Appalachian murder ballads, the story of how Tom Dooley, or Tom Dula as he was really known, came to be hanged for the murder of Laura Foster. Tom Dula was a ne'er-do-well Civil War veteran who was involved with Ann Foster Melton, a married woman and Laura Foster's cousin. According to the legend, Tom led Laura to believe they were eloping, but murdered her and buried her in a shallow grave on a ridge instead. The motives for the murder have varied from Tom's blaming Laura for giving him syphilis to avoiding marrying her because she was pregnant. However, many have doubted whether or not Tom Dula really did kill Laura Foster, particularly because he wrote a confession on the eve of his execution asserting that he alone was responsible for Laura's death, presumably to exonerate Ann Melton, who had been arrested shortly after Tom himself and was charged in Laura's death as well. McCrumb saw parallels between the story of Tom Dula, Ann Melton, and Laura Foster and Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. When I read of this connection on McCrumb's website, I was even more excited to read The Ballad of Tom Dooley—Wuthering Heights is my favorite book. And McCrumb did not disappoint me on this account.

McCrumb chooses as her two narrators Zebulon Baird Vance, who served North Carolina as governor and senator and came from the Appalachian mountains of western North Carolina himself. Following the Civil War, he was unable to hold a public office for a time and practiced law until this restriction was lifted for Confederate veterans. He was appointed to defend Tom Dula and Ann Melton pro bono. He serves as the stand-in for Mr. Lockwood, the outsider who more or less frames the beginning and end of the story, although unlike Brontë's Lockwood, he narrates some sections in the middle of the novel. McCrumb's Nelly Dean is Pauline Foster, a cousin of Ann Melton and Laura Foster's, who comes to Wilkes County to be treated by a doctor for her syphilis and spreads discord. McCrumb paints her as a sociopath (Nelly isn't that bad, though I always wonder how much she is telling the truth about Catherine and Heathcliff). Pauline narrates the bulk of the story. Her motive for causing so much destruction seems to stem from envy of Ann and a sense that she has somehow been mistreated by Ann.

Ann Melton and Tom Dula serve as McCrumb's Catherine and Heathcliff, but no Cathy Linton, Linton Heathcliff, or Hareton Earnshaw redeem the families and set things to rights in the next generation. Ann Melton is just as narcissistic and unlikeable as Catherine Earnshaw, though Tom Dula does not come off nearly as badly as Heathcliff. McCrumb even rewrites some passages from Wuthering Heights into her novel, including the famous "I am Heathcliff" speech:

"We're just the same, Tom and me. we come from the same place, and we're made of the same clay. And maybe the devil spit in it before God made us, but at least we belong together, him and me."

"It seems hard lines on your husband, you feeling like that."

"I love them both, Pauline, but not in the same way. My love for James is like that field out there that he spends half his time plowing and sowing and weeding, and all. It will change. The crops die in the winter, or dry up in a summer drought, or the soil gives out, so that you must let it lie fallow for a time and let the weeds take it. It comes and goes, that field. But Tom … Tom is like that green mountain you can see rising there in the west, holding up the sky. It never changes. It will be the same forever." (55-56)

This story appealed to me in the same way as Wuthering Heights appeals to me: I can't understand it. I usually have to like the characters in a book, or I can't really enjoy the book much. This book, however, offers no one to really root for, not even Laura Foster herself, no one to care for, and no one to sympathize with, just like Wuthering Heights. Even the setting in western North Carolina calls to mind the moors of Yorkshire in the way that both are wild places untamed by men. The cover is just gorgeous. It's a composite of a design commissioned by the publishers and a real photograph of the area where Laura Foster died taken by McCrumb herself. McCrumb's novel is a fine achievement built upon solid research and historical basis that still manages to read like literary fiction. The gothic elements of the murder and connection to Wuthering Heights made it a perfect read for the R.I.P. Challenge.

Sharyn McCrumb with Tom Dula's fiddle

Read more about this novel at McCrumb's website.

If you have Spotify, you can listen to the Kingston Trio's famous rendition of "Tom Dooley."

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Post © Dana Huff

The Ballad of Tom Dooley, Sharyn McCrumb

Top Ten Books I Want to Reread

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is a list of the top ten books I want to reread (in no particular order).

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. I always love visiting Aunt Jane, and this year is the bicentenary of the publication of Sense and Sensibility. I'm participating in Laurel Ann's Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge, but I haven't made any progress at all.
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling always stands up well on a reread, and I have read it many, many times. Maggie and I were reading together, but we have missed our daily readings over the last month or so, and she asked me just last night if we could get started again.
Emma by Jane Austen. I didn't like it as much as Pride and Prejudice , Sense and Sensibility, or Persuasion when I read it some time ago, and I want to see if it improves on a reread.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Winter seems like a good time to curl up with those frosty characters.
Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney. I am thinking about writing an article for an upcoming issue of English Journal about Beowulf as a character, and I think I need to reread the whole thing in order to do it justice.
Possession by A.S. Byatt. I loved it very much about ten years ago when I read it. I think I'd like to reread it.
Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice. I haven't read these books in over 15 years, and I think I would like to reread them and see if they are as good as I remember. I recall them being absolutely wonderful then. I was such a huge fan of Rice until I found her books weren't living up to my memories of the earlier books in the series. Lestat is such a great character.
The Tain translated by Thomas Kinsella and Early Irish Myths and Sagas translated by Jeffrey Gantz. Research.
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. It has been a long time since I read the whole series. I love Frodo and Sam.
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough. Man, I remember that being such an awesome book.

What do you think you want to reread?

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Post © Dana Huff

Top Ten Books I Want to Reread

Crazy Week

I didn't post much this week. I didn't read much, even though I am enjoying the book I am reading—The Ballad of Tom Dooley by Sharon McCrumb. The prompts from some of the weekly memes I usually participate in didn't appeal me much last week, and I didn't write about today's Musing Monday because I recently wrote on the topic already.

Another reason for the silence is that I commute to work on the bus, and Wednesday afternoon, a pedestrian was killed on my bus route. I didn't see it happen, but I did see the police clean up afterward. It was horrible. I had some trouble concentrating on reading for a couple of days afterward, and I still keep thinking about his poor family. The driver who hit the pedestrian was not at fault, but we all make stupid mistakes, and it is a pity when we have to pay with our lives. He was just eighteen years old.

I spent the weekend making playlists in Spotify. If you have Spotify (and it's now open for signups with no invitations necessary), then feel free to subscribe to them. They are all classical music. I decided to disconnect my Spotify account from Facebook because I don't really want everyone knowing everything I'm listening to. Besides, isn't it annoying to receive updates for each song someone listens to in your Facebook feed? Anyway, my Spotify profile is here, so feel free to connect to me (if you can figure out how to do that).

Fall Classical Playlist (I like seasonal music, don't you?)
Baroque Playlist
Classical Playlist
Romantic Playlist
Mozart Playlist
Beethoven Playlist

I am so glad fall is coming at last. The leaves are beginning to turn here in Georgia, so I imagine they are really pretty up north right now.

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Post © Dana Huff

Crazy Week

Top Ten Tuesday: Everyone Has Read but Me…

This week's Top Ten Tuesday focuses on the top ten books I feel as though everyone has read but me. I went to three different high schools. I can't remember reading a single book for school during all of tenth grade. In fact, all I remember about that year was doing grammar exercises out of the Warriner's grammar book and feeling that our teacher hated us. Eleventh and twelfth grade were better, but I still managed to graduate from high school (and college, as an English major no less) without having been required to read a lot of books that seem to be staples in the canon.

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. I actually do want to read this one, and I had every intention of reading it this year, but I think you have to be in a mood for dystopian literature, and frankly, that mood hasn't happened this year.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I've seen the movie many times, and it's not like it's a long book. It's just that, well, the mood thing. At least that's my excuse for not reading it this year. You know, I put together this reading challenge specifically to address some of these deficiencies, and I read all of one book for it.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Ditto.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson. Not sure I want to read it, but man, hasn't everyone else?
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. I somehow never got around to this one. I teach at a Jewish school, but the students tend to read it in middle school now.
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. Would I like this? I was never sure, so I never picked it up. Now it almost feels too late to bother.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Even my husband has read this book. I never really wanted to, but it sure seems like everyone else has read it.
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. I have finally been convinced to put this on my TBR pile, but frankly, I avoid books about the Holocaust mainly because it was such a tragic event—many of my students' grandparents are Holocaust survivors—and sometimes I feel that books and movies try to capitalize on it. It's hard to explain how I feel. It's sort of like writing a college admissions essay that deals with your brother being killed by a drunk driver—the admissions committee looks callous if they pick at your writing ability with a subject so fraught with emotion, but the point behind the essay is to evaluate your writing ability. It's a form of manipulation. That's how I feel about Holocaust books and movies—it's almost impossible to criticize them because you look like a horrible person. Case in point, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas probably couldn't have happened in reality because of the manner in which the Nazis dealt with children during the Holocaust, and yet, how do you point that out without looking like a complete ass? I should just stop because you probably think I'm a horrible person.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I started this one, but didn't get far. My daughter has read it. She said it's excellent.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. This seems to be some kind of staple of teens/twenties. I don't know how I passed the threshold into the my thirties without having my book passport stamped with this one, but I snuck by somehow. And now that I'm officially in my 40′s, I'm just not even sure I'd want to bother.

In addition to these books, I haven't read much Kurt Vonnegut at all (that is, I have read one short story). I've also read precious little Dickens (A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and A Christmas Carol being the only selections I've read).

However! Before the admonitions start in the comments, I would like to add that I have read all of the following books that seem to be cropping up on these lists on other peoples' blogs today:

Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
All of Jane Austen's completed books (the six novels)
Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights by Charlotte and Emily Brontë respectively

So, I am not a complete slouch.

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Post © Dana Huff

Top Ten Tuesday: Everyone Has Read but Me…