Sara (topperarnold)'s Lame List for the 2014 Chunkster Challenge

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Slick Slugs (Books 1-6)
1. The Source by James Michener ✓
2. The Book of Shadows by James Reese ✓
3.Katharine of Aragon: The Wives of Henry VIII by Jean Plaidy ✓
4. Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder
5. Shōgun by James Clavell
First name starts with J
6. I Am a Cat by Natsume Sōseki
Japan

4/12/14: ETA that I am not sure what to do about the #2 slot...

4/23/14: ETA I'm sticking with my original choice of The Book of Shadows. It's terrible, but it goes pretty quickly.

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Mickey Mouse's Marchers (Books 7-12)
It's cute how I think I'll even get past the slugs

Maybe I should try...

1. Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa
Connection to previous: Japan
2. The Makioka Sisters by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
Connection: Japan and the letter "M".
3.An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
Damn you Sister Carrie for being a few pages shy of 500. "Sister" would have been a better connection. Now I have to settle for the tenuous connection of authors connected by the letter "T".
4. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
Connection: the letter "T" again
5. The Once and Future King by T.H. White
Connection: "T" (Tom and T.H. White.)
6. The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
Connection: "white"
ETA: book number 6

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Road Runner's Racers (Books 13-18)
Who am I kidding?

I'm insane

1. Five Smooth Stones by Ann Fairbairn
Connection: Authors "Fa"

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Tasmanian Devil's Trouncers (books 19 - 24)
*snort* As if...

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Buzz Lightyear's Bombers (books 25 - "To infinity and beyond")
Delusions of grandeur.

[Ava Catherine]

Sara, I have faith in you! You will be zooming into the great beyond before you can blink twice.
: )

Love your "James" books. Do you like Henry James, or does he bore you?

I have read The Source, Shōgun and The Deerslayer. It has been years since I read them, but I loved all three. Looks like you have some winners here. Happy reading, dear friend. : )

[Snoozie Suzie]

I see you and I have the same thoughts that we will meet slick and stop. :-)

[Janice, Moderator]

I will likely slip in Slick's slime and have to settle for six myself!

I have The Source but I may not read it unless I get to Mickey's section.

[Cherie]

JFC is my all time favorite and Clavel is right up there too! I re-read all of the Natty Bumpo stories two years ago. I read Shogun years ago as well as many of his others. I will check out your others.

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Cherie wrote: "JFC is my all time favorite..."

I admit I'm a little afraid of him. I've never read him, but I heard somewhere he's pretty verbose and slow.

[Cherie]

Hmm. He is not Gillian Flynn! The "old English" phrases take a little getting used to, that is all. Once the cadence is clear, it moves along.

You have to savor him and be carried along. He is sutble and so are his characters. There is humor but not "in your face".

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Cherie wrote: "Hmm. He is not Gillian Flynn! The "old English" phrases take a little getting used to, that is all. Once the cadence is clear, it moves along.

You have to savor him and be carried along. He..."

Okayyy. I'm still nervous and trying to figure out how to change to another book and still keep things linked! Without having to buy anything! LOL

[Cherie]

I was not trying to scare you off. You should really give it a try. You may like it. Have you read The Last of the Mohicans?

If you do not like The Deerslayer after you give it a try, I am sure you can find another author whose first name starts with James.
James Patterson (Witch and Wizzard) or James Blish if you are into Star Trek. :)

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I have not read The Last of the Mohicans and I may have to see if I have a copy (I swear it's around here somewhere...)

I've got JFC linked to the the next book by the three names, so it's not the James thing. Drat.

[Cherie]

Sara wrote: "I have not read The Last of the Mohicans and I may have to see if I have a copy (I swear it's around here somewhere...)

I've got JFC linked to the the next book by the three names, so..."

Oh - I see it now. I was looking above. I am sure there are lots more authors with three names too.

Yeah, those links are a killer. I just finished mine today.

[Cherie]

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings wrote The Yearling it is just over 500 pages in paperback.

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Cherie wrote: "Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings wrote The Yearling it is just over 500 pages in paperback."

I've read that one (and bawled my eyes out.) I'm not emotionally up for that one! :-)

[Cherie]

I understand.

Yesterday, I was reading someone's comment about a dog book that they had just posted a review for. The dog died at the end and another person wrote back that she could not read it because she was still having PTSD from reading "Where the Red Fern Grows" when she was seven.

The only other authors with three names that comes to mind is Louisa May Alcott and Edgar Rice Burroughs

[Cherie]

ROFL! I just read your comments in messages 2-5.

[Travis]

Love Edgar Rice Burroughs
James Lee Burke
Doris Kearns Goodwin

[Travis]

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

[Laura]

Ooh, ^^thats a really good choice.

You can do it, Sara! I shall cheerlead you on. *waves pompoms*

I love your cat face by the way. I keep trying to get mine to pose for a perfect face shot like that, but alas, it only happens when she sleeps. :)

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Thanks Laura! That picture is so old! I have no idea how I managed to capture it without him running away!

Travis- I just found my copy of La Sombra del Viento (the Spanish edition of the book you recommended.) I might give it a try. It takes me a little longer to read Spanish and being a chunkster it could take forever!

[Esther]

Sara wrote: "Thanks Laura! That picture is so old! I have no idea how I managed to capture it without him running away!

Travis- I just found my copy of La Sombra del Viento (the Spanish edition of the book yo..."

I loved that book! Give it a try. I am currently reading the 2nd book of the series El juego del ángel. It rakes me forever to read in Spanish so I totally understand. I always delay books in Spanish because I read so much faster in French or English. But it is a vicious circle. The more I will read, the faster I am going to be. One of my goal will be to add the few chunkster in Spanish I have sitting on my TBR for years.

[Marnie]

Sara- I love your messages 2-5- especially #4!! I haven't read any of your Slick's Slug books but I have my eye on James Fenimore Cooper.
I agree- the cat picture is adorable.

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I've got the second one in Spanish too, Esther :) I think I am going to give the first one a try, but I might not make it part of the challenge.

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Thanks, Marnie! I like the rhino :). I think I'm going to stick to my original list and not let JFC scare me. If it starts to feel like a slog I'll change it :)

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Aaaand I've already changed my list...

[Laura]

What are you considering for 6th?

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Yes, that means I let JFC scare me.

[[deleted user]]

Laura wrote: "What are you considering for 6th?"

I just added Sophie's World so I can now bump the two Japan connected books down. :-)

ETA: I don't normally read chunksters (It's been years since I read them regularly) so I want to make sure the ones on this list really really interest me.

[Laura]

I love your last title! I've been wanting to read Sophie's for awhile.

I understand totally. I get commitment phobia at the sight of all these long books! I want to be sure I'll love them too.

Have you read any others by Jostein Gaarder?

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No. I started reading Sophie's World earlier this year, but I sort of fizzled. I hope I'll stick to it this time.

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Oh mylanta... I finished my first book.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Woooo hooo Sara!

[Janice, Moderator]

Applause! One down. :)

What did you think of The Source? I love Michener's rich sagas.

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"What did you think of The Source? I love Michener's rich sagas."

I have always loved this book, but I never actually finished it lol. Bits and pieces of it were assigned as part of a college World History class that I took almost 20 years ago. Since then I always told myself I would read the WHOLE thing.

I loved this book, but that is a very biased opinion because I am a huge Michener fan.

[Janice, Moderator]

I am as well. My love affair with him started with Hawaii. I went to Wal-Mart in Mililani on my first trip to Oahu, and saw the book there. I thought it would be the perfect book to read while I was there. Of course, I didn't finish it there. After that, it was Mexico, Iberia, Caravans and Alaska. I was fascinated with these one word titles that were so rich in detail and history. I have a few of his books on my shelves waiting patiently to be read.

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I've also read Hawaii (loved it) and Mexico (can't remember much of it...I should reread that.)

I've also read Chesapeake, Centennial, and Poland (another I should reread)

Iberia has been on my "to read" list for years....

[Janice, Moderator]

I've got The Covenant, Space and Caribbean on my bookshelf gathering dust. I've read The Novel as well which was quite good from what I remember.

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I just found The Covenant on my bookshelf (along with TWO copies of Texas and Alaska *sigh*.) I can't remember if I read Caribbean.

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Ok. I'm about to give The Book of Shadows another hour to impress me, but in case it doesn't I've edited my list.

[Janice, Moderator]

I hope it starts getting better for you. It sounds interesting!

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I think the pragmatic side of me is winning. It's still "meh" but it's a quick read with slightly larger print than Texas....not to mention 600+ compared to Texas' 1200+ pages.

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I think I might try for stage two. I edited that post.

[Cherie]

What we endure for a challenge, huh? Too bad they all can't be five stars!

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Another challenge is trying to find books that I already have!

[Cherie]

Sara wrote: "Another challenge is trying to find books that I already have!"

I feel your pain, Sara!
When the 2014 Chunkster Challenge was going to start, I forced myself to write down all of the books, in print, on my Nook, on audio (from Audible, iTunes and on cassette tape) that I had not read. I have tried to keep the list updated - adding new ones and marking off the ones I finished. My initial goal was to read the ones I had and not to buy new ones, but THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE. My TBR list in GR gets bigger and bigger and my book stash has grown along with it. We won't even talk about the library books that I cannot seem to ignore. Oh - that reminds me, I just bought two more audio books from Audible I need to add to my list. sigh....

[[deleted user]]

I feel your pain, Sara!
When the 2014 Chunkster Challenge was going to start, I forced myself to write down all of the ..."

My TBR list is ridiculous. I'm never going to finish it. Worse, I never seem to choose books from it to read. I end up choosing something completely random. In actuality, my TBR list is more like a wish list.

[Cherie]

Oh, I do try to read books from my list, but for every one that comes off, three or four goes on. :0)