Every year I try to read about 50 books (or about a book a week). I find it's a reasonable goal and keeps my reading skills sharp. My tenth grade English teacher gave me this idea, except he set the somewhat more ambitious goal of 100 books a year. Since these past 12 months were ridiculously busy for me, I had a little trouble meeting my deadlines for this year's 50 books and had to read more than my usual number of young adult books in order to keep on schedule. However, I'm hoping my number for this next year will be somewhat higher, I'm aiming for 60!
1) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
2) Dear America: West to a Land of Plenty by Jim Muphy
3) Dear America: Voyage on the Great Titanic by Ellen Emerson White
4) Dear America: A Journey to the New World by Kathryn Lasky
5) Dear America: My Heart is on the Ground by Ann Rinaldi
6) The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
7) Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
8) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
9) Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
10) The Sleeping Beauty by Mahlon F. Craft
11) I Sing the Body Electric by Ray Bradbury
12) Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
13) The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
14) Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
15) Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle
16) An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
17) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
18) Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
19) A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
20) The Road by Cormac McCarthy
21) Atonement by Ian McEwan
22) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
23) Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
24) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
25) Looking for Alaska by John Green
26) A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
27) Ways of Seeing by John Berger
28) Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit
29) Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
30) The Hanged Man by Francesca Lia Block
31) Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
32) Z is for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien
33) A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
34) Dogsong by Gary Paulsen
35) Politically Correct Bedtime Stories by James Finn Garner
36) Stones in Water by Donna Jo Napoli
37) Jedi Apprentice: The Rising Force by Dave Wolverton
38) All I Need to Know I Learned from Watching Star Trek by Dave Marinaccio
39) The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
40) 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith
41) Demian by Hermann Hesse
42) Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
43) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
44) Tithe by Holly Black
45) Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block
46) Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
47) Into the Land of Unicorns by Bruce Coville
48) The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key
49) A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
50) Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
A blog about the em[power]ment of books.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Just Finished Reading...
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| Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie |
This is the story of a little boy named Peter Pan, a mischievous boy who can fly, and who refuses to grow up. It is the story of his grand adventures in Neverland with Wendy Darling and her brothers. His mates are Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, and the Indian Princess Tiger Lily. They have grand adventures and fight the pirate Captain Hook and his crew. The novel was original a play inspired by J.M. Barrie's friendship with the Llewlyn-Davies children.
This is a grown-up book in the disguise of a children's book. Everyone twenty and older should read this book so that they can remember how to be a little kid again.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Just Finished Reading...
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| A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson |
Despite my troubles getting through it, I really enjoyed reading it. I feel most of my problems stemmed from the fact that the last book by Bryson I read was In a Sunburned Country, which I read just before leaving for Australia to study there for a semester. The book therefore took on an entirely different meaning for me than this one did, since I was soon headed for the very places he was describing. I didn't feel that connection with this book, having no immediate plans to go hike the Appalachian Trail. After reading this, however I'm feeling pretty inspired to head out into the wild and take on the "AT" myself. Hey, if Bill Bryson can do it, why not? I think this is what I love most about travelogues: they not only inspire me to want to see the world, but they also act as a stand-in, a way to see the world through another person's eyes and let you experience new and interesting places from the comfort of your own living room sofa.
Just Finished Reading...
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| Into the Land of Unicorns by Bruce Coville |
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| The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key |
I read these books so fast that the plot is already a little fuzzy. One was about unicorns and had pretty much the entire story crammed into the last ten pages. The other was about an alien boy who accidentally falls onto our planet through a timey-wimey-spacey-wacey door thing. He looks human, except where he's from everything is awesome and there is not violence or war or any need for laws, government, money, etc. I'll let you sort out which plot belongs to which book. I do remember LOVING these books when I was young, so that must mean they are awesome. Unfortunately I seem to have grown past reading elementary school level books. Sad day.
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