Carla E's 2009 book challenge

[Carla]

I am challenging myself to read 36 books in 2009. I want to read 12 classics this year and try to work through the books I have that I haven't read yet. And of course anything else that catches my eye.

1. The Secret Garden
2. Little Women
3. The Wind in the Willows
4. Jane Enre
5. Stolen Innocence: Triumphing Over A Childhood Broken by Abuse by Erin Merryn.
6. On the Way Home:The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri in 1894 by Laura Ingalls Wilder
7. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
8. The Tale of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling
9. The Most Wanted
10. The Ingall's Family by William Anderson
11. Snow Country
12. The House on Mango Street
13. Three Coups of Tea
14. The Rain God
15. This House of Sky
16. Let the Hurricane Roar by Rose Wilder Lane
17. Mother Tongue
18. Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich
19. Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
20. At the Scene of the Crime: Forensic Mysteries from Today's Best Writers.
21. Driving with Dead People
22. Dead Man's Bones by Susan Wettig Albert
23. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
24. Envy by Sandra Brown
25. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
26. The Hound of Rowan by Henry H Neff
27. My Father's Hands by Myron Uhlberg
28. The Second Siege by Henry H Neff
29. The Blessing Way: A Joe Leaphorn Mystery by Tony Hillerman
30. Highland Barbarian by Hannah Lowell
31. Dinner With A Perfect Stranger An Unvitation Worth Considering by David Gregory
32. Jim the Boy by Tony Earley
33. Griffen & Sabine by Nick Bantock
34. Annie's Ghosts by Steve Luxenberg
35. Laura Ingalls Wilder A Biography by Williams Anderson
36. Sabine's Notebook:In wWhich the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Continues by Nick Bantock
37. The Golden Mean:In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Concludes by Nick Bantock
38. The Blue Star by Tony Earley

[Beth]

I'm glad you joined. I debated between 24 & 36 books. Not wanting to disappoint myself I opted to go with 24. Happy reading.

[Carla]

I will see what I can do. I will need to stay focused.

[Carla]

Finished The Tale of Beedle the Bard, one down many to go.

[Carla]

I am moving along. I have to read about 3 books a month to meet my goal so I need to get Snow Country finished. The 500 pages of the Sawtelle novel that I read at the beginning of the month that I started before my challenge consumed a bit of my time, but I will catch up. I have ordered more books from Amazon that I expect this week. I just can't resist! So I have a lot to look forward to.

[Carla]

I just finished number four for the month. I really enjoyed the crime stories. I will have to add some more to my challenge list.

[Carla]

Finished my first classic of the year and began Envy by Sandra Brown, which looks very intersting. I am reading this book based on the recommendation of another Goodreads member. I love this website!

[Beth]

I'm impressed! You are reading classics. I think that is something I need to do sometime in my life!

[Carla]

do one a year, i am wondering if i will be able to do 12 this year. a lot of them are long. we will see how it pans out.

[Carla]

I finished Envy by Sandra Brown, good book. I decided to read it based on comments written by another Goodreads member. I love seeing what other people have to say about what they are reading. I need to keep moving to reach my goal so I started the The Graveyard Book last night. Looks like I will really enjoy this one as well.

[Carla]

I am moving on to the Hounds of Rowan. I finished The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman last night. I really enjoyed reading it. That makes 8 books towards my goal of 36 for the year.

[Tamara]

I still need to read some classics too, but somehow I always forget about them. Will try to read at least one this year.

Anyway, good luck with your challenge! :)

[Carla]

Thanks. I have several that I bought, but so far I am letting other books pull me away from the classic pile. I am not giving up on them though.

[[deleted user]]

~Here is a list of books I want to read this year:
1. King Authur and The Quest for Camalot series
2. Romeo and Juliet, Midsummers Night Dream, and Hamlet
3. Alice in Wonderland and other books that follow
4. Brisingr
5. Lord of the Rings series including The Hobbit
6. The Dragonkeepers Chronicles
7. Gone with the Wind
8. Pride and Prejudice
9. Bridge to Terebinthia
10. The Never-Ending Story
11. Caroline
12. Artemis Fowl and mabe series
13. Dragon Rider mabe?
14. Ella Enchanted
15. Princess Diaries?
16. Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
17. Arabian Nights
And so many more.~

[Carla]

Rachel wrote: "~Here is a list of books I want to read this year:
1. King Authur and The Quest for Camalot series
2. Romeo and Juliet, Midsummers Night Dream, and Hamlet
3. Alice in Wonderland and other books ..."

These look good, too! So many books so little time.

[Carla]

I just completed my 9th book towards my goal for 2009. I am doing okay so far and have started number's 10 and 11.

Many people have commented that The Hound of Rowan is a Harry Potter knock off and I certainly can't deny that there are many parallels. Most of the book takes place at a private school for "gifted" kids and has the good versus evil theme, magical creatures, etc. There are differences in Neff's story and HP and I feel as the story continues and the characters continue to grow and evolve I will enjoy it even more. The story did bounce around a bit and at times I found myself wondering why Neff went from point A to C without stopping at point B along the way. I read it because I enjoy this type of book and if at times it triggers memories of HP then that is okay, I miss him and his adventures and I didn't have any problems keeping the stories straight. I will read the next book in Neff's Tapestry series since I found this one enjoyable.

[Carla]

My tenth book..

I just finished Hands of My Father by Myron Uhlberg. I loved this book. It was the one of the most beautifully descriptive and expressive books that I have ever read. Even though these people endured humiliation due to their inability to communicate with the general populace and the preconceived prejudices against them, their love for one another was always evident. This book chronicles the lives of a Lou and Sarah Uhlberg, deaf since a toddler and infant respectively and their hearing sons, Myron and Irwin. It covers most of the last century and the first couple of years of this century. Myron was forced from a very young age to interpret for his parents and to shoulder many of the responsibilities that would normally belong to the parents, including the nighttime vigil he performed in anticipation of his younger brother’s epileptic seizures. The book made me laugh and made me cry, but most of all it made me think. Made me think about how unlucky they were, but mostly about how lucky they were.

[Beth]

Carla wrote: "My tenth book..

I just finished Hands of My Father by Myron Uhlberg. I loved this book. It was the one of the most beautifully descriptive and expressive books that I have ever read. Even tho..."

Wow! What a descriptive comment. You used some pretty fancy words there!! Well we all know you are smart!

[Carla]

I guess the book moved me!

[Carla]

I completed book 11 for this year. I really enjoyed this second installment of the Tapestry series. Neff did a much better job keeping the story flowing this time, less jumping around. This book is longer, has more action and is pretty dark. This may be a little much for the younger crowd. The continuous struggle with good versus evil involves characters at all levels not just the main characters, which I found refreshing. There were two parts of the story that were reminiscent of Rowlings Harry Potter series. I feel Neff could have left them out or replaced them with something else. The main characters, Max and David, continue to build a strong bond and I am excited to see how that develops. I will be adding the # 3 book, The Fiend And The Forge, to my to read list.

[Carla]

A third of my challenge completed, I better pick up the pace.

[Carla]

Finished books 13 and 14 of my challenge. I started Jim the Boy. I am back on track after a dry spell.

[Carla]

I finished 2 more books. I am doing a poor job of reading the classics on my list. I need to get going on those.

[Carla]

24 down and 12 to go. Having a great time trying some new authors and doing some historical reading on Laura Ingalls Wilder, my favorite since I was a child.

[Carla]

Finish number 25 yesterday. Had many a good laugh reading Finger Lickin' Fifteen. Eleven books to go.

[Carla]

I finally finished The Shadow of the Wind. That takes me to 26 books for the year so far. With only two months left to read 10 books I need to pick up the pace and the classics are pushed to the back of the shelf once again.