Showing posts with label Notes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Notes. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Hello
So I have been neglecting this journal. For a while I neglected the journaling and kept reading. Then I started to neglect both because I felt guilty. So here I am back again. But I am giving myself permission not to worry about making it perfect and that I don't have to go back and make it all up. I listed the books that I read so that I can remember. But I don't want to keep waiting until I have time to write about them all. So I am done waiting. Just know that I loved them all. Every single book that I have read this summer (this was done intentionally) has been excellent. They have been just the escape that I needed and have had that ability to suck me in to a new world and make me forget about the one that I am in. Keep throwing book suggestions my way, I need to keep reading!
Monday, August 4, 2008
100 books
I read about this on someone else's blog and I have no idea if it is true or not. Somebody should snopes it (new verb, kind of like google). Supposedly the average adult has only read 6 of these 100 books. I thought that was interesting since most of them are well known titles. I bolded the ones that I have read.
1. Pride and Prejudice-Jane Austen-I love all of Jane Austen's books, they make me wish I lived in a different time.
2. The Lord of the Rings-JRR Tolkien-These have to be reread every couple of years.*
3. Jane Eyre-Charlotte Bronte-This goes right along with Pride and Prejudice to me.
4. Harry Potter series-JK Rowling-I love them, what else can I say?*
5. To Kill a Mockingbird-Harper Lee- This is a book that anyone could like, everyone should try it.*
6. The Bible-Do you have to read it cover to cover? I tried that and got bogged down with all of the genealogy stuff.
7. Wuthering Heights-Emily Bronte- I liked it, I read it in a big chunk with Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice. They are all very different but I read them at the same time so they go together to me.
8. Nineteen Eighty Four-George Orwell-Kind of creeps me out but I like it.*
9. His Dark Materials-Philip Pullman-I have read it and I am currently rereading it right now. I love these books.*
10. Great Expectations-Charles Dickens-I made the mistake of starting this in the middle of the school year and got about halfway through. I should try again.
11. Little Women-Louisa May Alcott-I love this book. And Little Men, and Eight Cousins, and Rose in Bloom.
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles-Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22-Joseph Heller
14. Complete works of Shakespere
15. Rebecca-Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit-JRR Tolkien-How could you read Lord of the Rings without reading this?*
17. Birdsong-Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye-JD Salinger-I don't remember a lot about it. Thats bad I know, I should reread it.*
19. The Time Traveler's Wife-Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch-George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind-Margaret Mitchell-The book was so much better than the movie, but still slightly ridiculous.
22. The Great Gatsby-F. Scott Fitzgerald I don't remember a lot about this one either, should go on the reread list.
23. Bleak House-Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace-Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy-Douglas Adams Great book! I haven't read this in a long time either!*
26. Brideshead Revisited-Evelyn Waugh (I hadn't heard of this until I saw the movie preview, I want to read it though).
27. Crime and Punishment-Fyodor Dostoyevsky (I think I started it once and didn't finish it. It was in high school though, maybe I should try again).
28. Grapes of Wrath-John Steinbeck-This one was kind of slow, I really love East of Eden by John Steinbeck though.*
29. Alice in Wonderland-Lewis Carroll-Good, good, kind of crazy.*
30. The Wind in the Willows-Kenneth Grahame-I don't remember much except that I liked it.
31. Anna Karenina-Leo Tolstoy (I keep meaning to...)
32. David Copperfield-Charles Dickens (this one too...)
33. Chronicles of Narnia-CS Lewis-I love these too, they have to be reread every few years.*
34. Emma-Jane Austen-why didn't they put this one up with the others?
35. Persuasion-Jane Austen
36. The Kite Runner-Khaled Hosseini-I loved this, very different type of book. I really want to read 1000 Splendid Suns
37. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin-Louis De Bernieres
38. Memoirs of a Geisha-Arthur Golden-Good, I highly recommend it.*
39. Winnie the Pooh-AA Milne-Fun, everyone should read it.*
40. Animal Farm-George Orwell-I read this in high school and I don't remember much, I should read it again though.*
41. The Da Vinci Code-Dan Brown-Great, you should definitely read Angels and Demons too.*
42. One Hundred Years of Solitude-Gabriel Garcia Marquez
43. A Prayer for Owen Meaney-John Irving
44. The Woman in White-Wilkie Collins
45. Anne of Green Gables-LM Montgomery-What about the rest of the series?
46. Far From The Madding Crowd-Thomas Hardy
47. The Handmaid’s Tale-Margaret Atwood (On my list to read)
48. Lord of the Flies-William Golding-another high school read, I found it slightly disturbing*
49. Atonement-Ian McEwan-I saw the movie preview and now I want to read it (notice I have only seen all the previews and not the actual movie?
50. Life of Pi-Yann Martel-I liked it, it is an easy read too.
51. Dune-Frank Herbert-Is this actually any good?
52. Cold Comfort Farm-Stella Gibbons
53. Sense and Sensibility-Jane Austen-They could have just done these in a list
54. A Suitable Boy-Vikram Seth
55. The Shadow of the Wind-Carlos Ruiz Zafon
56. A Tale Of Two Cities-Charles Dickens-Good, I like this one.*
57. Brave New World-Aldous Huxley-I read this one in high school, but I do remember liking it.*
58. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Mark Haddon-I love this book. About it a boy with Autism, great.*
59. Love In The Time Of Cholera-Gabriel Garcia Marquez-I heard this was good, has anyone read it?
60. Of Mice and Men-John Steinbeck-Really short and easy and wonderful. You could sit down and read it in a day.*
61. Lolita-Vladimir Nabokov
62. The Secret History-Donna Tartt
63. The Lovely Bones-Alice Sebold-On my to read list.
64. Count of Monte Cristo-Alexandre Dumas-This is a great book, you have to read it with The three musketeers and the Man in the Iron Mask though.
65. On The Road-Jack Kerouac
66. Jude the Obscure-Thomas Hardy
67. Bridget Jones's Diary-Helen Fiedling
68. Midnight’s Children-Salman Rushdi
69. Moby Dick-Herman Melville-I think I tried in high school but didn't make it. Maybe I should try again.
70. Oliver Twist-Charles Dickens-Don't remember much...must reread.
71. Dracula - Bram Stoker-Don't remember much...must reread.
72. The Secret Garden-Frances Hodgson Burnett-I love this book. I just found a great copy at the thrift store.*
73. Notes From A Small Island-Bill Bryson
74. Ulysses-James Joyce
75. The Bell Jar-Sylvia Plath
76. Swallows and Amazons-Arthur Ransome
77. Germinal-Emile Zola
78. Vanity Fair-William Makepeace Thackeray-the movie was crazy, the book wasn't great but it was better than the movie.
79. Possession-AS Byatt
80. A Christmas Carol-Charles Dickens-Good, one of the first of his that you should read.
81. Cloud Atlas-David Mitchell
82. The Color Purple-Alice Walker-I should reread this, I haven't read it in a long time and I think I liked it.
83. The Remains of the Day-Kazuo Ishiguro
84. Madame Bovary-Gustave Flaubert
85. A Fine Balance-Rohinton Mistry
86. Charlotte’s Web-EB White-Everyone should have read this.*
87. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom*
88. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle-It was good, I think I want to buy it.
89. The Faraway Tree Collection-Enid Blyton
90. Heart of Darkness-Joseph Conrad
91. The Little Prince-Antoine De Saint-Exupery
92. The Wasp Factory-Iain Banks
93. Watership Down-Richard Adams-I just bought a copy and mean to read it.
94. A Confederacy of Dunces-John Kennedy Toole
95. A Town Like Alice-Nevil Shute
96. The Three Musketeers-Alexandre Dumas-Why didn't they put this with the Counte of Monte Cristo? They go together.
97. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-Roald Dahl-Good, fun read.*
98. Les Miserables-Victor Hugo-Good, longer than it needed to be but I liked it.
99. One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest-Ken Kesey-I love this one, I tried one of his other books and it was no where near as good.*
100. The Scarlet Letter-Nathaniel Hawthorne-Good, I forgot about this book. I should start looking for it.*
I read 47 of them, how many have you read? Do you have any thoughts on the ones that I haven't read? That was kind of a fun way to remember which books you need to read.
1. Pride and Prejudice-Jane Austen-I love all of Jane Austen's books, they make me wish I lived in a different time.
2. The Lord of the Rings-JRR Tolkien-These have to be reread every couple of years.*
3. Jane Eyre-Charlotte Bronte-This goes right along with Pride and Prejudice to me.
4. Harry Potter series-JK Rowling-I love them, what else can I say?*
5. To Kill a Mockingbird-Harper Lee- This is a book that anyone could like, everyone should try it.*
6. The Bible-Do you have to read it cover to cover? I tried that and got bogged down with all of the genealogy stuff.
7. Wuthering Heights-Emily Bronte- I liked it, I read it in a big chunk with Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice. They are all very different but I read them at the same time so they go together to me.
8. Nineteen Eighty Four-George Orwell-Kind of creeps me out but I like it.*
9. His Dark Materials-Philip Pullman-I have read it and I am currently rereading it right now. I love these books.*
10. Great Expectations-Charles Dickens-I made the mistake of starting this in the middle of the school year and got about halfway through. I should try again.
11. Little Women-Louisa May Alcott-I love this book. And Little Men, and Eight Cousins, and Rose in Bloom.
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles-Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22-Joseph Heller
14. Complete works of Shakespere
15. Rebecca-Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit-JRR Tolkien-How could you read Lord of the Rings without reading this?*
17. Birdsong-Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye-JD Salinger-I don't remember a lot about it. Thats bad I know, I should reread it.*
19. The Time Traveler's Wife-Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch-George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind-Margaret Mitchell-The book was so much better than the movie, but still slightly ridiculous.
22. The Great Gatsby-F. Scott Fitzgerald I don't remember a lot about this one either, should go on the reread list.
23. Bleak House-Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace-Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy-Douglas Adams Great book! I haven't read this in a long time either!*
26. Brideshead Revisited-Evelyn Waugh (I hadn't heard of this until I saw the movie preview, I want to read it though).
27. Crime and Punishment-Fyodor Dostoyevsky (I think I started it once and didn't finish it. It was in high school though, maybe I should try again).
28. Grapes of Wrath-John Steinbeck-This one was kind of slow, I really love East of Eden by John Steinbeck though.*
29. Alice in Wonderland-Lewis Carroll-Good, good, kind of crazy.*
30. The Wind in the Willows-Kenneth Grahame-I don't remember much except that I liked it.
31. Anna Karenina-Leo Tolstoy (I keep meaning to...)
32. David Copperfield-Charles Dickens (this one too...)
33. Chronicles of Narnia-CS Lewis-I love these too, they have to be reread every few years.*
34. Emma-Jane Austen-why didn't they put this one up with the others?
35. Persuasion-Jane Austen
36. The Kite Runner-Khaled Hosseini-I loved this, very different type of book. I really want to read 1000 Splendid Suns
37. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin-Louis De Bernieres
38. Memoirs of a Geisha-Arthur Golden-Good, I highly recommend it.*
39. Winnie the Pooh-AA Milne-Fun, everyone should read it.*
40. Animal Farm-George Orwell-I read this in high school and I don't remember much, I should read it again though.*
41. The Da Vinci Code-Dan Brown-Great, you should definitely read Angels and Demons too.*
42. One Hundred Years of Solitude-Gabriel Garcia Marquez
43. A Prayer for Owen Meaney-John Irving
44. The Woman in White-Wilkie Collins
45. Anne of Green Gables-LM Montgomery-What about the rest of the series?
46. Far From The Madding Crowd-Thomas Hardy
47. The Handmaid’s Tale-Margaret Atwood (On my list to read)
48. Lord of the Flies-William Golding-another high school read, I found it slightly disturbing*
49. Atonement-Ian McEwan-I saw the movie preview and now I want to read it (notice I have only seen all the previews and not the actual movie?
50. Life of Pi-Yann Martel-I liked it, it is an easy read too.
51. Dune-Frank Herbert-Is this actually any good?
52. Cold Comfort Farm-Stella Gibbons
53. Sense and Sensibility-Jane Austen-They could have just done these in a list
54. A Suitable Boy-Vikram Seth
55. The Shadow of the Wind-Carlos Ruiz Zafon
56. A Tale Of Two Cities-Charles Dickens-Good, I like this one.*
57. Brave New World-Aldous Huxley-I read this one in high school, but I do remember liking it.*
58. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Mark Haddon-I love this book. About it a boy with Autism, great.*
59. Love In The Time Of Cholera-Gabriel Garcia Marquez-I heard this was good, has anyone read it?
60. Of Mice and Men-John Steinbeck-Really short and easy and wonderful. You could sit down and read it in a day.*
61. Lolita-Vladimir Nabokov
62. The Secret History-Donna Tartt
63. The Lovely Bones-Alice Sebold-On my to read list.
64. Count of Monte Cristo-Alexandre Dumas-This is a great book, you have to read it with The three musketeers and the Man in the Iron Mask though.
65. On The Road-Jack Kerouac
66. Jude the Obscure-Thomas Hardy
67. Bridget Jones's Diary-Helen Fiedling
68. Midnight’s Children-Salman Rushdi
69. Moby Dick-Herman Melville-I think I tried in high school but didn't make it. Maybe I should try again.
70. Oliver Twist-Charles Dickens-Don't remember much...must reread.
71. Dracula - Bram Stoker-Don't remember much...must reread.
72. The Secret Garden-Frances Hodgson Burnett-I love this book. I just found a great copy at the thrift store.*
73. Notes From A Small Island-Bill Bryson
74. Ulysses-James Joyce
75. The Bell Jar-Sylvia Plath
76. Swallows and Amazons-Arthur Ransome
77. Germinal-Emile Zola
78. Vanity Fair-William Makepeace Thackeray-the movie was crazy, the book wasn't great but it was better than the movie.
79. Possession-AS Byatt
80. A Christmas Carol-Charles Dickens-Good, one of the first of his that you should read.
81. Cloud Atlas-David Mitchell
82. The Color Purple-Alice Walker-I should reread this, I haven't read it in a long time and I think I liked it.
83. The Remains of the Day-Kazuo Ishiguro
84. Madame Bovary-Gustave Flaubert
85. A Fine Balance-Rohinton Mistry
86. Charlotte’s Web-EB White-Everyone should have read this.*
87. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom*
88. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle-It was good, I think I want to buy it.
89. The Faraway Tree Collection-Enid Blyton
90. Heart of Darkness-Joseph Conrad
91. The Little Prince-Antoine De Saint-Exupery
92. The Wasp Factory-Iain Banks
93. Watership Down-Richard Adams-I just bought a copy and mean to read it.
94. A Confederacy of Dunces-John Kennedy Toole
95. A Town Like Alice-Nevil Shute
96. The Three Musketeers-Alexandre Dumas-Why didn't they put this with the Counte of Monte Cristo? They go together.
97. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-Roald Dahl-Good, fun read.*
98. Les Miserables-Victor Hugo-Good, longer than it needed to be but I liked it.
99. One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest-Ken Kesey-I love this one, I tried one of his other books and it was no where near as good.*
100. The Scarlet Letter-Nathaniel Hawthorne-Good, I forgot about this book. I should start looking for it.*
I read 47 of them, how many have you read? Do you have any thoughts on the ones that I haven't read? That was kind of a fun way to remember which books you need to read.
The * are Andrew's reads, he has read 26.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Book Club Meeting #1
We had our book club meeting! Things went well, it was nothing very formal. We had tons of food, way too much. We talked about the book some and about other things quite a bit. It was good to have a reason to get a group of people together, and have something that we could all talk about if we wanted to.
In case you forgot, we read Water for Elephants. Here are a few general conclusions that we came too.
The end of the book was awesome. Only one person thought it was a little cheesy. They couldn't come up with a better ending either, the rest of us thought it was perfect.
We all loved the animals in the book, the author really made them into integral characters in the plot.
We all agreed there was a good mix of character development, action plot, and humor. Anything else we talked about would ruin reading the book for you!
I have had a couple of people ask about swearing and sex in the book.
On sex: There are two scenes. They are not overly long, but they are there. They would be easy to skip as you know when they are coming. And you won't miss anything but skipping that section. Other than the two scenes, the book does not have lots of sex talk.
On swearing: There is some, but it isn't the most vulgar swearing and it is not very frequent. The book is following circus life in the depression era, if anything I think the swearing is probably less than what you would really hear. Not that it makes the swearing any better, just know that the author didn't add more just for sensationalism.
Also we picked our next book....we are reading The Other Side of the Sky by Farah Ahmedi.
In case you forgot, we read Water for Elephants. Here are a few general conclusions that we came too.
The end of the book was awesome. Only one person thought it was a little cheesy. They couldn't come up with a better ending either, the rest of us thought it was perfect.
We all loved the animals in the book, the author really made them into integral characters in the plot.
We all agreed there was a good mix of character development, action plot, and humor. Anything else we talked about would ruin reading the book for you!
I have had a couple of people ask about swearing and sex in the book.
On sex: There are two scenes. They are not overly long, but they are there. They would be easy to skip as you know when they are coming. And you won't miss anything but skipping that section. Other than the two scenes, the book does not have lots of sex talk.
On swearing: There is some, but it isn't the most vulgar swearing and it is not very frequent. The book is following circus life in the depression era, if anything I think the swearing is probably less than what you would really hear. Not that it makes the swearing any better, just know that the author didn't add more just for sensationalism.
Also we picked our next book....we are reading The Other Side of the Sky by Farah Ahmedi.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Book Club
So I've started a book club. I've never been part of book club before, and neither has anyone else who is participating so we will need lots of advice. Any of you out there who have been in a book club before, please help. The club started as Me, Emily, and Maggie. It now contains Me, Emily, Maggie, Ally (Emily's friend), Jenn (Emily's roomate), Andrew (my husband), Jessica (Maggie's roomate), Sara (my friend). Did you notice that Andrew is the only guy so far? We accidentally let it slip to a few of our other reading friends and it started growing. I guess book clubs sound more exciting than we thought. We have picked our first book.
Most amazing, none of us have ever read it before. We are meeting in about a month and having a potluck dinner. Do I need to plan more structure than that? What do you do to prepare for a book club? Do you have any suggestions for other books to read?
Most amazing, none of us have ever read it before. We are meeting in about a month and having a potluck dinner. Do I need to plan more structure than that? What do you do to prepare for a book club? Do you have any suggestions for other books to read?
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Something New
I have always loved reading, I kind of devour books. I have tried several times before to keep track of all of the books that I have read and how I felt about them, but nothing ever stuck. I recently started blogging about my reading on our main blog. But after only 2 weeks, I am thinking that my books could take over the blog. So I am moving my book diary here. I think it will help it be more organized and user friendly, I want to be able to find my thoughts someday! Just like I was doing before, I plan to explain what the book was about and a few thoughts on why I did or didn't like it. If you have any reading recommendations leave me a comment, I am always looking for a good book!
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