Challenge: 50 Books discussion
Finish Line 2009!
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Chris' 2009 List
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2. What Dreams May Come - Richard MathesonNot a very promising start to 2009 - I thought this book was terrible.
3. Dispatch - Bentley LittleI started my 50 of 2008 with a collection of his short stories, and decided that a year was enough time to pass to forgive his transgressions. This was no better; as a matter of fact I'd suggest to him that short stories may very well be his forte. This book was not awesome.
Vonnegut is like pizza, my friend. Granted, Breakfast of Champs is like microwave pizza, but it's still pizza!
Bishop wrote: "Vonnegut is like pizza, my friend. Granted, Breakfast of Champs is like microwave pizza, but it's still pizza!"Two comments: One to Chris: why do you keep reading books that turn you off? See the Abandoned Books thread in this group for help at http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/9....
(Smile)
Bishop: I didn't get your pizza analogy. I love pizza and Vonnegut so am I missing something?
Ed
Pizza is always good, but to varying degrees. Vonnegut is the same. Microwave pizza is usually pretty weak in terms of pizza, but you'll still enjoy it on some level or you wouldn't eat it. Vonnegut, even when not bringing his A game, is till pretty good.
Bishop wrote: "Pizza is always good, but to varying degrees. Vonnegut is the same. Microwave pizza is usually pretty weak in terms of pizza, but you'll still enjoy it on some level or you wouldn't eat it. Von..."Got it. Like it!
4. The Terminal Man - Michael CrichtonThis was a pretty quick read, which I was grateful for, as the story wasn't anything incredible. I have to imagine James Cameron borrowed heavily from Benson's 'rise of the machines' paranoia when writing The Terminator.
Book 5 - A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy TooleAwesome. Awesome squared. And hilariously awesome at that. If it weren't for the last 50 pages, this would be five-star material.
6. Earth Abides - George R. StewartVery disappointing, especially after reading a number of good reviews calling it the grand-daddy of post-apocalyptic fiction.
The Big Book of Weirdos - Gahan Wilson
I'm not counting this as one of my 50 (no matter how desperate I will be in 2009 to hit that goal) simply because it's 95% illustrated. And total crap. Can anyone spare a match?
7. Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
I seem to prefer Bradbury's short stories over his novels, and this one wasn't very good.
8. Emma - Jane Austen
I'm waiting until I officially 'come out of the closet' before admitting that I liked this.
9. The Immoralist - Andre GideI certainly wasn't expecting this. I was expecting something.....good. Or at least decadent.
10. Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney
Got 20 minutes to kill? Chill with Greg Heffley for a while. What's better than this book? Schleppers! Zoo-wee Mama!
Don't rub it in...... last year I managed 50 books by July. This year I don't have the extra two hours a day to read on the train. It's resulted in a LOT less reading and a lot less activity on goodreads.
11. Candy - Maxwell KentonNow THIS is a great book. I'd give it a sixth star if I could.
two hours on a train a day to read?!---sounds like HEAVEN!
12. The Unholy - Michael Falconer AndersonTotal garbage.
and what a difference those two hours a day make.......I'm currently at book 35, in Oct 2009. I was at 35 in May 2008.13. White Ghosts - Will Rhode
14. The Giver - Lois Lowry
15. Switch Bitch - Roald Dahl
16. Pygmy - Chuck Palahniuk
17. Hot Water Music - Charles Bukowski
18. Time Patrolman - Poul Andersen
19. A Hero Of Our Time - Mikhail Lermontov
20. Atlas Shrugges - Ayn Rand
21. Pride and Predjudice and Zombies - Grahame-Smith, Austen
22. Wilt - Tom Sharpe
23. The Raw Shark Texts - Steven Hall
24. The Selected Works of TS Spivet - Reif Larsen
25. Re-Birth - John Wyndham
26. When Time Stood Still - Ben Orkow
27. Kink - Kathe Koja
28. The Magus - John Fowles
29. Hold Tight - Harlan Corben
30. Shock Rock - anthology
31. The Daughters of Astaroth - Sandra Shulman
32. Give a Boy a Gun - Todd Strasser
33. A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters - Julian Barnes
34. Hunger - Knut Hamsun
35. Politics - Adam Thirlwell
I’m hoping 2009 was just a sophomore slump for my goodreads participation; a lot of unexpected things kept me from reading often, and probably reviewed about 10 of these books. Driving to work vs. taking the train cut major reading time from my schedule, and long days at work didn’t help much either. I also haven’t had a working computer at home for almost two months now, which further complicated issues, as I did have some time during the holidays (although having zero visibility to my banking accounts online during the time was rather difficult).On a positive note, I did manage to keep ‘re-reads’ to a minimum, and finally got around to a few books I’d been putting off for years. I also made use of this site by finally taking some recommendations from some of my favorite reviews which, in all honesty, led to the discovery of a few books I truly enjoyed, and thank god for that, since almost everything which I selected at random was pretty crappy.
Happy 2010 to y’all, and hopefully some of my scratch-lotto tickets will make me enough cash to buy a working machine so I can get back on goodreads (I’m watching my folk’s dog at their place right now, a truly thrilling experience.)
1. Breakfast of Champion – Kurt Vonnegut
2. What Dreams May Come – Richard Matheson
3. Dispatch – Bentley Little
4. The Terminal Man – Michael Crichton
5. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
6. Earth Abides – George R Stewart
7. Something Wicked This Way Comes – Ray Bradbury
8. Emma – Jane Austen
9. The Immoralist – Andre Gide
10. Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Jeff Kinney
11. Candy – Maxwell Kenton
12. The Unholy – Michael Falconer Anderson
13. White Ghosts - Will Rhode
14. The Giver - Lois Lowry
15. Switch Bitch - Roald Dahl
16. Pygmy - Chuck Palahniuk
17. Hot Water Music - Charles Bukowski
18. Time Patrolman - Poul Andersen
19. A Hero Of Our Time - Mikhail Lermontov
20. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
21. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Grahame-Smith, Austen
22. Wilt - Tom Sharpe
23. The Raw Shark Texts - Steven Hall
24. The Selected Works of TS Spivet - Reif Larsen
25. Re-Birth - John Wyndham
26. When Time Stood Still - Ben Orkow
27. Kink - Kathe Koja
28. The Magus - John Fowles
29. Hold Tight - Harlan Corben
30. Shock Rock - anthology
31. The Daughters of Astaroth - Sandra Shulman
32. Give a Boy a Gun - Todd Strasser
33. A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters - Julian Barnes
34. Hunger - Knut Hamsun
35. Politics - Adam Thirlwell
36. Beyond the Sealed World – Rena Vale
37. A Canticle for Leibowitz – Walter M Miller
38. Blindness – Jose Saramago
39. The Eleven Thousand Rods – Guillaume Apollinaire
40. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea – Jules Verne
41. Slan – A.E. Van Vogt
42. World War Z – Max Brooks
1. Breakfast of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut
Something this weak doesn't really inspire me to devote more time to leisurely reading instead of taking care of the time-consuming issues I should really be dealing with.