Let's Have Pie (2018)

[Allison, Quest Hound]

Let's Have Pie - Books to Read Before You Die
(Boxall's / Guardian / Awards)



Interested in chipping away at the Boxall's or Guardian's lists of books to read before you die? How about exploring award winners?

This challenge combines the themes from the Guardian list with your own particular focus. Choose a list or an award (you can choose more than one award to help fit the categories), and eat some pie to complete the challenge. Complete as many pies as you like.

Themes

1. Comedy
2. Crime
3. Family & Self
4. Love
5. Science Fiction & Fantasy
6. State of the Nation
7. War & Travel

Levels

Level 1: Just a Taste
1.
2.
Level 2: Getting Greedy
3.
4.
Level 3: I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing
5.
6.
7.

[Allison, Quest Hound]

Some resources to help you choose...

Guardian List:

Complete Guardian List
Comedy
Crime
Family & Self
Love
Science Fiction & Fantasy
State of the Nation
War & Travel

Boxall's List:

Listopia: Favorites from 1001 Books You Should Read Before You Die
Books shelved as Boxall on Goodreads

Awards:

(Only winners, not nominees.)

Some popular awards: Pulitzer Prize,
ALA Alex Award, National Book Award,
Man Booker Prize, Orange Prize, Newbery Medal,
Walter Scott Prize, Macavity Award, Hugo Award.

You can also search for awards on Goodreads to find one that interests you.

[LindaH]

I am so ready for Pie! Thanks for the lists of sources, Allison.

[Rosemarie, Obsessive Reader]

I like Pie too. I'm in.

Level 1: Just a taste

1. Crime - The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
2. Love - Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

Level 2: Getting greedy

3. Comedy - The Unbearable Bassington by Saki
4. War and Travel - Die Blendung by Elias Canetti

Level 3: I can't believe I ate the whole thing

5. State of the Nation - El Reino de Este Mundo by Alejo Carpentier
6. Science Fiction - Dune by Frank Herbert
7. Family and Self - As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

[Jenny, Certified Bookworm]

I'm in. Been chipping away at Guardian list. A lot of them are free on the Kindle too!

[Tammie]

me to

[LindaH]

I read The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark, a book I found under Humor on the Guardian list posted here. Does this qualify? And should my second book be ANOTHER theme?

[Rosemarie, Obsessive Reader]

The way the pie works is there is one piece for each theme, so you now have your first piece of pie for the Humor category.
The next piece should be from one of the remaining categories, etc.

[LindaH]

Thanks, Rosemarie!

[Sonia]

I'm going to do this again. And try and get all themes this time, rather than avoiding the science fiction and fantasy completely.

1. Comedy
2. Crime - The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
3. Family & Self - The Old Wives' Tale
4. Love - An Infamous Army, A Farewell to Arms
5. Science Fiction & Fantasy
6. State of the Nation
7. War & Travel

[Jenny, Certified Bookworm]

Sonia, there are some in the Science Fiction that are less hard sci fi and more just ghost stories, dystopian. 1984, We and The Turn of The Screw are some off the top of my head.

[LindaH]

YUM.

I completed , with books from the Guardian...

Level 1. Just a Taste
1. Comedy - The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark
2. Science Fiction- The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse

Level 2 . Getting Greedy
3. War - All Quiet on the Western Front
4.

Level 3. I Can’t Believe I Ate The Whole Thing
5.
6.
7.

[Rosemarie, Obsessive Reader]

What did you think of Hesse book, Linda?

[Jenny, Certified Bookworm]

Good choice on The Glass Bead Game Linda! I hooe you liked it as much as I did!

[LindaH]

Hi Rosemarie

I didn’t bring enough background to The Glass Bead Game to fully appreciate its more mystical meanings but I still enjoyed following the interactions of the characters. It was only after I was well in that I found out that the setting is a place set aside for the intellectual elite in a future world, and therefore the book is considered science fiction.

[Rosemarie, Obsessive Reader]

I didn't know it was science fiction either. I like Hesse's other books better than that one. I majored in German so I read it in that language, but it never did grab me, probably because I really like his fairy tales and shorter novels better.

[Sonia]

I got my first slice of pie. I finished The Old Wives' Tale yesterday. It's a good book and also a doorstopper.

[Rosemarie, Obsessive Reader]

I enjoyed The Old Wives' Tale as well. The sisters certainly had different lives.

[Sonia]

I got the crime slice of pie today with The Spy Who Came In from the Cold.

[Laura]

Done level 1 now

Just a Taste
1. Fantasy- The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett - 9/1/18
2. Love- A Room with a View, E.M. Forster- 3/3/18

[Sonia]

I have just finished A Farewell to Arms for the Love slice (very sad ending), so that's three slices so far. It's in post 10.

[Martha]

I'm in this year. I've already read two categories.

Level 1: Just a Taste
1. War and Travel: Regeneration
2. Crime and Punishment: No Country for Old Men

Level 2: Getting Greedy
3. Comedy: Under the Net
4. State of the Nation: Go Tell It on the Mountain

Level 3: I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing
5.
6.
7.

[Rosemarie, Obsessive Reader]

I finally finished my first pie!

[Allison, Quest Hound]

Congrats, Rosemarie!

[Rosemarie, Obsessive Reader]

Thank you. It took me forever to find a book for Family and Self.

[Rosemarie, Obsessive Reader]

Guardian Pie #2

Level 1:
1. Science Fiction/Fantasy- Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
2. State of the Nation - Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth

Level 2:
3. Family and Self- Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell
4. Crime - The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett

Level 3:
5.War and Travel - One of Ours by Willa Cather
6. Love - The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
7. Comedy - The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain

[Rosemarie, Obsessive Reader]

I finished my second pie.

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

Which were your favorites?

[Rosemarie, Obsessive Reader]

I enjoyed Mary Barton and The Glass Key, both of which were new to me.

The biggest disappointment was One of Ours.

And Stranger in a Strange Land was a lot sillier than I remembered.

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

Mary Barton was one of my favorites from this year as well.


And, yeah, Stranger now seems filled with silliness that was probably cutting edge speculation in its day. ;-)

[Rosemarie, Obsessive Reader]

Guardian Pie #3

1. War and Travel- Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
2. Science Fiction and Fantasy - The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

3. Family and Self - The History of Mr. Polly by H.G. Wells
4. State of the Nation - The Red Room by August Strindberg

5. Crime - The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
6. Love - A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr
7. Comedy - The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

[Rosemarie, Obsessive Reader]

I have just finished my third pie!

[Allison, Quest Hound]

That's great - just in time!

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

👍🏼👍🏼

[Rosemarie, Obsessive Reader]

Thank you, Allison and Renee.

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

Let’s Have Pie 2018

One of the few challenges I was successful with in 2018.
I ate a whole lotta pie! 🥧

1. Comedy:
- Tono Bungay**
- Piccadilly Jim**
- Cakes and Ale**
- Diary of a Nobody**
- Unbearable Bassington**

2. Crime:
- Riddle of the Sands**
- Pudd’nhead Wilson**
- Strangers on a Train**

3. Family & Self:
- The Gathering**
- Cider with Rosie**
- Elegance of the Hedgehog (Boxall)**

4. Love:
- Wuthering Heights**
- Lolita**
- East Lynne**
- Lorna Doone**
- Lady Chatterly’s Lover**

5. Science Fiction & Fantasy:
- Uncle Silas**
- Master/Margarita**
- American Gods**
- Lord of the Flies**

6. State of the Nation:
- Vanity Fair**
- New Grub Street**
- Moll Flanders**

7. War & Travel:
- King Solomon’s Mines**
- She**