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Personal Challenges - 2014
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Chase's 2014 52 books in 52 weeks challenge
message 51:
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Tracey
(new)
Feb 28, 2014 05:40PM
Kind of an unplanned read, but I finished Frankenstein today. I finished Neverwhere on the metro two days ago and had nothing else to do with me on the ride home for the half hour, so I just went one of the classics I had sitting on my Kindle. That's one way of getting them read.
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I did. I was honestly surprised how different it is compared to what the Frankenstein monster has evolved into.
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Are you thinking of updating your challenge? You are doing very well!
Yes, I actually went in earlier this week and upped it to 100. I have plenty of books on my shelf to keep me motivated.
I finished two young adult books for our Young Adult challenge. First was the sequel to the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, Days of Blood & Starlight. I would recommend that series to anyone who loves young adult books. They're very colorful and it's obvious that the writer is also an artist based on her descriptions. You do have to get over a paranormal romance, but I think it's more tolerable than the average paranormal romance.The second book, Untamed City: Carnival of Secrets (also known as Carnival of Souls) was awful. I wouldn't recommend that one to anyone because the plot was just a bunch of ideas thrown together into one novel.
Finished Sex in the Title: A Comedy about Dating, Sex, and Romance in NYC. It's like a Sex in the City but about men. Not my normal type of book, but cute and amusing.
Finished Graceling finally after having it sit on my shelf for months. Sadly, I found it underwhelming.
I wouldn't because I couldn't get into it either, even by the end. I don't think the world development was that good.
Finished Ender's Game today. Loved it, though I had seen the movie so I knew what to expect.
I finished Deception Point by Dan Brown today. It's definitely a stereotypical Dan Brown book, but I could swallow some of his more popular books a lot better than this. The plot was too flimsy for me to enjoy.
I grabbed "The Lightning Thief" book which was a quick read. I hadn't intended to read it as fast as I did.
the lightning thief was a quick read. I read it in the fall when my son read it for school. Do you plan on reading the whole series?
Yes, I actually have them waiting on my shelf because the whole box set was only $13. It was worth it.
I finished my 2nd Percy Jackson book and also And The Mountains Echoed. The 2nd Percy Jackson book I thought was as decent as the first. And the Mountains Echoed was a beautiful story, but I thought that some of the characters were a bit irrelevant to the plot and that detracted from the entire novel.
Woo! Finished more books than last year already! (I started really really late last year).
Started Finished Pinnochio at the end of March and Bossypants for the April challenge. Then read the 3rd Percy Jackson book. I think I ended up giving them all 3s actually.
Whew. It's been awhile since I finished a book. Hard to finish a book when you have family visiting and touring all weekend with you.
39. The Selection - 4/1640. We Have Always Lived in the Castle - 4/18
41. Lolita - 4/22
42. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - 4/26
43. The Elite - 4/28
Liked The Selection and didn't like so much it's sequel, The Elite. It's a cute series that is described as a bit of a mixture of the bachelor and the hunger games (though the former much more than the latter).
Liked Lolita for the psychology in it. It's easy to see why it's a classic I think.
Didn't care for Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Just not my style of novel.
LOVED We have Always Lived in the Castle. One of my favorites this year, I think.
44. The Graveyard Book - 4/3045. The Battle of the Labyrinth - 5/2
Gave both books three stars. Liked the idea behind the Graveyard Book, but it seemed too disjointed after awhile, like he had too many stories he wanted to tell and shoved them all in the novel.
46. The Last Olympian47. The Shadow of the Wind
Finally finished the Percy Jackson series and while it is definitely geared for a younger audience, I think it stayed consistently interesting throughout the series.
Also finished the Shadow of the Wind which was amazing. A very slow start for the first 150 pages, but once it picks up you can't be torn away from it.
48. Zoo - Don't read this one if you are a person who likes realistic science and logic in your books.49. The White Princess - Not a big fan of this one. It was 200 pages too long where not much happened.
50. Dreams of Gods & Monsters - If you liked the 1st two books of this series, you'll like this one.
51. Dandelion Wine - A cute book of short stories.
52. Inferno - As far as Dan Brown books go, not the best, but not the worst.53. Something Wicked This Way Comes - Very poetic
54. The Book of Lost Things - I was disappointed in this one. Sounded cute but ended up very dull.55. The Golem and the Jinni - This one was alright but I thought it was needing something a bit more.
Too bad about the "The Book of Lost Thing", it seemed quite interesting. Agreed about the Golem and the Jinni, I listened to the audio version and enjoyed it but thought it could have been better. Good job Chase, you are flying through your books!
wow you already made your goal. great job. I read the Golem and the Jinni last year and even though I really enjoyed it I thought the golem's story was a lot better than the jinni's story.
56. Phantom of the Opera 57. The Fault in Our Stars
58. Paper Towns
The Phantom of the Opera makes for a much more interesting musical in my opinion. It was a bit slow in some parts as a book.
And I FINALLY jumped on the John Green train after avoiding The Fault in our Stars forever because I didn't want to read a sad book. I'm glad I finally read it because I liked it a lot. And I made it to page 205 before I started with the tears in my eyes. I had to try very hard not to be that awkward crying person on the metro that day. Paper Towns I liked too, but not as much.
Welcome to the John Green club! His other two works ( an abundance of Katherine's and looking for Alaska) were really enjoyable as we'll. are you planning to check them out?
I still haven't read any John Green. So it's all worth it?
He's had a lot of hype and I would say he's worth it. TFIOS was a good book, but I wouldn't say it was my favourite of his. Give him a try - hopefully you will like him as well!
I was skeptical and didn't think I would like it because they weren't my types of books, but at least The Fault in our Stars is a worthy read. It won't be a favorite, but it was very good. I'll read the other John Green books someday too.
59. The Handmaid's Tale - 6/2260. Queen of Hearts - 6/24
61. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - 7/1
Loved The Handmaid's Tale.
Queen of Hearts was a terrible spinoff of Alice in Wonderland. No plot.
Soooo glad to have finally finished The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It had been on our bookshelf for months, if not years.
62. Mr. Mercedes - This isn't Stephen King's best work by any means, but it's still a solid book.63. Gone Girl - I honestly didn't think this one would live up to its hype, but it certainly did. It's the right amount of twisted. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie when it comes out later this year.
64. The Light Between Oceans - I was a bit bored by this one. It picked up as it went on. It liked that the author made me feel for all of the characters. Overall it just wasn't my type of book.
65. Brave New World - I was surprised at how much underwhelming this one is. I would have though it was practically a classic but I really don't think I'll find much of this book memorable. The beginning chapter and the end chapters were the only outliers. 66. The Mark of Athena - Eh, Percy Jackson books... they are all decent enough.
67. The Language of Flowers - This one was cute. And it has a cute flower dictionary in the back (and also here: http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/featu...) so now I can buy my flowers with meaning.
68. X-It - I read this for the ABC challenge and couldn't care for it. It kind of felt like she started in the middle of the story and you had to assume some of the back story.
69. Outlander - This one was not what I was expecting. I guess for a series of 8 books/800 pages per book, I was expecting more plot than there was in book one. Wasn't a big fan of the amount of nothingness going on.70. Looking for Alaska - It was okay. Not John Green's strongest. Too much like Paper Towns, though I know it came before.
71. The Yellow Wallpaper - I added this because there was a lull between books and I wanted a quick break. It was a good short story to read.72. Shadow of Night - A not so great sequel to The Discovery of Witches. I was very bored and it was 600 pages long.
73. The One - Another young adult book sequel. It was alright, which is about what I would rate the whole series.
74. War of the Worlds - I had a plane flight so I finished this in a day. It's a well written book especially when you consider the time period.
75. Sharp Objects - Loved it because it appeals to my very twisted mind. 76. Captive in the Dark - Hated it. Very mature topic, very poor execution.
77. Through the Looking Glass - A well loved classic.
78. Chasing Fire - Was bored by it.
79. Vaclav and Lena - This is a very cute novel but there are flaws to it. I would recommend if you like Eleanor and Park. Overall, 3.5 stars.
80. Dark Places - Another great book by Gillian Flynn.81. Never Let Me Go - Liked it, but didn't love it. Thought it could have addressed more.
82. Anna Karenina - I'm so glad to have this one off my reading list. It took me forever, but it was actually easy to read so it didn't drag.
Chase, I felt the same about Never let me go and loved dark places. I feel a bit intimidated by Anna Karenina, good to know that's at least an easy read!
Anna Karenina is surprisingly easy to read, give it a try ☺
83. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - I liked it. 84. Wuthering Heights - I was pleasantly surprised to find how much I loved this book.
85. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Started too slow for me, picked up later.
86. The Island of Doctor Moreau - Alright but I basically knew what to expect. This book isn't that large.
great job chase. I'm almost done with book 78 on my reading for pleasure challenge. :)
87. Lord of the Flies - I finally get it now...88. Watership Down - You ever watch that 70s/80s version of this movie? I did, a lot, when I was a very young child. It was terrifying and it sticks with you. And yet, I enjoyed watching it as a child. The book is not as terrifying as the movie, but still a decent book.
89. The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights - Crossed one of my oldest 'to reads' off of my to be read list.
90. We Were Liars - Well I picked this one because it kept coming up as a must read. I actually liked it much more than I thought I would.91. The Supernatural Enhancements - This one is cute and quirky. I wish it would have expanded more on the 'game' though.
92. Between the Spark and the Burn - Wasn't expecting much going into it as I didnt love the 1st book, and I got about as much as I expected. It wasn't that great. Everything the 1st book had going for it was missing in this.
93. Throne of Glass - It was okay but the author spends too much time talking about how amazing and beautiful and smart and talented the main character is.
94. Networking for People Who Hate Networking: A Field Guide for Introverts, the Overwhelmed, and the Underconnected - I received this book through work as the author was a guest speaker. I thought she did a wonderful job speaking. The book contains useful tips but a lot of fluff.95. The Invention of Wings - I didn't go in expecting to like this book, but I really liked this one, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was based the lives of two real people.
96. Carrie - A Stephen King must-read.
97. The Magicians - I saw this compared to Harry Potter and going in, I knew it wouldnt be, but the book definitely reaffirmed my beliefs. Everything you love about the wonderful world of Harry Potter is missing from this book. Grossman somehow manages to make magic depressing...
98. The Black Dahlia - started out slow, but picked up. 99. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - A good coming-of-age story.
100. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - just okay
101. Little Women - this was too slow for me. Took me forever. Everyone is too precocious.
*Whew* One year ago, I would never had thought I could read 100 books in a year.
Congrats Chase! Reaching 100 books is a huge accomplishment.
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