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Personal Reading Goals
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Dan's 120 in 2009 - All Done
message 51:
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Dan
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Oct 26, 2009 04:18PM
97. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
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Dan, what did you think of Orlando and American Buffalo?Btw, you seem to have good taste in books and I think you'll make it as well!
Thanks, Becky and Liz. I just need to keep from getting sidetracked by something like War and Peace or Middlemarch in the next two months. Any recommendations for good, short books.:-)Liz,
Orlando is my second-favorite of the Woolf that I've read so far...behind To the Lighthouse. Her flowing, lyric style and long sentences are still there but almost none of the stream of consciousness. It's also more of a story - actually "biograpy" - than her others, which seem more like character studies than stories to me. Her subtle humor is also very much in eveidence.
Buffalo have been my favorite animal since I was 9 or 10, so I was hoping to learn a few new things about them from reading American Buffalo. I did in fact learn some things about the animal and about its realationship to Indian cultures and the development of the United States but they were sprinkled in amidst an account of the author's hunt for a buffalo in the Alaska wilderness and of his feelings and views on buffalo and hunting. He spends a lot of time describing the Alaskan landscape, the tracking of buffalo in that environment, and the process of killing and field dressing the animal. The latter descriptions are too graphic for many who might be drawn to the book by the subtitle; In Search of a Lost Icon.
To the Lighthouse is one of my all time favorites, and I always love reading about bison.
98. The Crying of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon
101. Angels of Destruction - Keith Donohue
I've already started thinking about my reading goals for next year. I may go with a number-of-pages goal instead of number-of-books. Perhaps goals related to specific genres or a number-of-new-authors (new to me) goal as well.
103. To the Gates of Richmond - Stephen W. Sears
104. The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larsson
108. The Boat of Dreams - Richard Preston
110. The Stupidest Angel - Christopher Moore. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a fruit bat.
111. Philosophy in the Boudoir - Donatien Alphonse Francois de Sade
112. The Iowa Baseball Confederacy - W. P. Kinsella
Dan wrote: "111. Philosophy in the Boudoir - Donatien Alphonse Francois de Sade "Ooh, what did you think of this? Was it awful?
Becky wrote: "Dan wrote: "111. Philosophy in the Boudoir - Donatien Alphonse Francois de Sade "Ooh, what did you think of this? Was it awful?"
The descriptions of sexual activities were somewhat excessive and sometimes ludicrous - even by today's standards. What draws me to de Sade is trying to figure out if he's actually stating his own philosophy of life or if he's exaggerating the philosophy of libertinage to expose its inconsistency. His summation at the end of Justine makes it very difficult to get a handle on this.
113. Practical Demonkeeping - Christopher Moore
115. Bloodsucking Fiends - Christopher Moore
Yeah. Gonna have to find some short books in order to make it. Maybe I'll just finish off the Christopher Moore I haven't read. They've all been pretty quick reads so far.
You still have 15 days to read 5 books, so a book every three days. That seems to be about the pace you're going now anyways :)
116. Betrayal - Donatien Alphonse Francois de SadeThanks for the encouragement ladies.
You're doing great, Dan!! You'll totally make it!
Dan, Dan, he's our man! If he can't do it, noone can!
*waves pom poms* :P
4 more! Wooooo!
Haha!Gimme a 'D'!!!
Gimme an 'A'!!!
Gimme an 'N'!!!!
What's that spell? DAN!!!! YAY!!! :P
Wow... Your own cheering section. Nice. :)
Becky wrote: "Wow... Your own cheering section. Nice. :)"Yeah. That's pretty neat...and I couldn't have better cheerleaders anywhere.
You're amazing, Dan. My goal was to read 100 books this year and so far I've only read 88. Somehow I don't think I'm going to make it :(
I'm going to make my 100, MAYBE 101. If I ever get off of GR and read. =\
117. Island of the Sequined Love Nun - Christopher Moore
A large part of my not meeting my goal is that I'm on GR and Facebook way too much!
Beth wrote: "You're amazing, Dan. My goal was to read 100 books this year and so far I've only read 88. Somehow I don't think I'm going to make it :("88 books in a year is a good year of reading, Beth. That's more than many people read in a lifetime.
Dan wrote: "Beth wrote: "You're amazing, Dan. My goal was to read 100 books this year and so far I've only read 88. Somehow I don't think I'm going to make it :("88 books in a year is a good year of reading, Beth. That's more than many people read in a lifetime. "
Very true!
Beth wrote: "You're amazing, Dan. My goal was to read 100 books this year and so far I've only read 88. Somehow I don't think I'm going to make it :("Beth, I think 88 is still awesome. My goal for the year is 50 and I'm barely going to make it.
Also, go Dan! Only 4 books left!
Thanks you guys. I just checked and I only read 64 last year so this is a big improvement. There's always next year.
118. The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove - Christopher Moore
119. The Tooth Fairy - Graham Joyce. One of my few five-star books.
Last one! I think you're going to exceed your goal Dan. :)
