Costa Award Reading Challenge

An ongoing project to read the Costa Prize fiction winners from1971 when the prize (then called the Whitbread) was established to the present. I will be reading all of the fiction and first novel winners and any shortlist nominees that appeal to me. There are no longlists provided for this prize and shortlists contain only four nominees. 

2012 Winners announced Jan.3, 2013:

2012 Costa Novel Award shortlist:

Hilary Mantel - Bring up the Bodies (Winner!)
Stephen May - Life! Death! Prizes!
James Meek - The Heart Broke In
Joff Winterhart - Days of the Bagnold Summer

2012 Costa First Novel Award shortlist

J. W. Ironmonger - The Notable Brain of Maximilian Ponder
Jess Richards - Snake Ropes
Francesca Segal - The Innocents (Winner!)
Benjamin Wood - The Bellwether Revivals 

Official Costa Award Site
________________________

Costa Novel Award 2011

• Pure**** by Andrew Miller (Winner)
• The Sense of an Ending**** by Julian Barnes
• A Summer of Drowning by John Burnside
• My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young     

Costa First Novel Award 2011

• Tiny Sunbirds Far Away****+ by Christie Watson (Winner)
• City of Bohane by Kevin Barry
• The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness
• Pao by Kerry Young

Winners read:

2010 Pure**** by Andrew Miller  
2010 Tiny Sunbirds Far Away****+ by Christie Watson

2010 The Hand That First Held Mine**** by Maggie O'Farrell 
2008 The Secret Scripture***** by Sebastian Barry
2008 The Outcast**** by Sadie Jones
2007 What Was Lost***** by Catherine O'Flynn
2007 Day**** by A L Kennedy
2006 The Tenderness of Wolves****+ by Stef Penney
1985 Hawksmoor***** by Peter Ackroyd (read twice)
1972 The Bird of Night**** by  Susan Hill 

Also read, from the shortlists:

2010 The Sense of an Ending**** by Julian Barnes 
2009 The Elephant Keeper****+by Christpher Nicholson (reviewed)
2009 The Music Room**** by William Fiennes (Biography)
2008 The Other Hand***** by Chris Cleave (Little Bee in US) reviewed
2008 Trauma***** by Patrick McGrath
2008 The Behaviour of Moths**** by Poppy Adams
(The Sister in US)
2007 Death of a Murderer***** by Rupert Thomson  reviewed
1983 Flying to Nowhere**** by John Fuller

On my shelves tbr:

2005 The Silk Factory by Tash Aw
2003 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
2000 White Teeth by Zadie Smith
1978 Picture Palace by Paul Theroux
1974 The Sacred & Profane Love Machine by Iris Murdoch

Which have you read and can recommend? Comments, requests for brief reviews or links to reviews are always welcome. 

Also working her way through Costa Book Award winners:
Rose City Reader.

Jewish Literature Challenge 2011

Hosted by Callista.

December 1, 2010 to April 26, 2011

"Read 1, 3, or 5+ books by Jewish authors or about Judaism."

My completed books:

1.The Finkler Question**** by Howard Jacobson
2.The Lampshade: A Holocaust Detective Story from Buchenwald to New Orleans*** by Mark Jacobson (non-fiction)
3.Sunset Park**** by Paul Auster
4.Wherever You Go***** by Joan Leegant
5.

Books on reserve at library tbr:


The Violin of Auschwitz by Maria Angels Anglada
Gratitude by Joseph Kertes
Mr. Rosenblum Dreams In English by Natasha Solomons
Running The Books: The Adventures Of An Accidental Prison Librarian
by Avi Steinberg (non-fiction)
To the End of the Land by David Grossman
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
Tightrope by Michael Karpin

Waiting on the shelves:

The Believers by Zoe Heller
Strand of a Thousand Pearls by Dorit Rabinyan
Look For Me by Edeet Ravel
Your Sad Eyes and Unforgettable Mouth by Edeet Ravel
Scheisshaus Luck by Peierre Berger (non-fiction)
The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman (non-fiction)
Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally
Return From Darkeness by Nina Vida
A Scrap of Time by Ida Fink
Snow in August by Pete Hamill
Soumchi by Amos Oz
Giving up America By Pearl Abraham
The Seventh Beggar by Pearl Abraham
Kaddish for a Child Not Born by Imre Kertesz (Nobel author)
A Blessing on the Moon by Joseph Skibell
Fima by Amos Oz
The Ghost of Hannah Mendes by Naomi Ragen
The Final Opus of Leon Solomon by Jerome Badanes
American Jewish Fiction Guide by Josh Lambert

Books completed for 2010 Challenge:

1.Beatrice and Virgil**** by Yann Martel
2.Rashi***** by Elie Wiesel
3.Day For Night****+ by Frederick Reiken
4.Man in the Dark**** by Paul Auster
5.The Sonderberg Case****+ by Elie Wiesel
6.The Postmistress***+ by Sarah Blake
7.Homer and Langley***+ by E. L. Doctorow
8.Great House**** by Nicole Krauss
9.Based Upon Availability**** by Alix Strauss
10.The Debba***** by Avner Mandelman


And a longer list of previously read and star-rated recommendations of Jewish literature.



Feel free to ask about any books that interest you, or leave recommendations or links to reviews of good Jewish lit. I'd love to read them.

Novella Reading Challenge 2010

Hosted by J.T. Oldfield at Bibliofreak.

Goal: Read novellas in November.

"Level I: Read one (just one!) novella by Nov. 30
Level II: Read four novellas (one each week, mayhaps?) by Nov. 30
Level III: Read eight novellas (two a week?) by Nov. 30
Level IV: AKA, the As Many As You Freakin’ Can  by Nov. 30 level"

Books on hand tbr:

Earth and Ashes by Atiq Rahimi (Afghanistan) 54 pages
The 210th Day by Natsume Soseki (Japan) 90 pages
The Stillborn by Zaynab Alkali (Nigeria)106 pages
Hiroshima Mon Amour by Marguerite Duras (France) 112 pages
Farwell Sidonia by Erich Hackl (Austria) 135 pages
On the Side of the Angels by Elizabeth Smart (Canada) 135 pages
The White Castle by Orhan Pamuk (Turkey) 145 pages
I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali (Yemen) 167 pages
The Typist by Michael Knight (US) 185 pages

Brief reviews will be posted here as I complete them. Which have you read, or which interest you?

Completed:

Earth and Ashes by Atiq Rahimi

A short but powerful masterpiece from Afghanistan. 4.5 stars Highly recommended reading for everyone, and very topical. This was my first experience reading Rahimi but I have his One Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fears my library and will be reading it soon. Then The Patience Stone when I acquire a copy.
Any comments on this book or author?

Also reviewed by The Boston Bibliophile
                          Bermudaonion's Weblog
                          Caribousmom
                          Seeing the World Through Books

Doctor Zhivago Group Read

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
Hosted by Frances at Nonsuchbook

Canadian Book Reading Challenge 4

Hosted by John at The Book Mine Set.

July 1, 2010 - July 1, 2011

"Read (and write about) 13 Canadian books by Canadians and/or about Canadians."

Books completed (21) with links to those reviewed for Challenge 4 (2010):

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel****+  2010
Afterimage by Helen Humphreys****+  2000
The Ghost Brush by Katherine Govier*****  2010 GG Award nom
Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant***+
The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan***** 2010
Crime Machine by Giles Blunt**** 2010
Sanctuary Line by Jane Urquhart**** 2010
Ape House by Sarah Gruen**** 2010
Water For Elephants by Sarah Gruen****+
Devotion by Howard Norman***+
The Bishop's Man by Linden MacIntyre***** 2009 Giller Winner
Room by Emma Donaghue***** 2010
Falling by Anne Simpson****
The Mistress  of Nothing by Kate Pullinger***** 2009 GG Award Winner
The Debba by Avner Mandelman***** 2010
The Singer's Gun by Emily St. John Mandel**** 2010
The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud***+ 2010 Giller Winner
Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb***** 2005 Giller shortlist
The Matter With Morris by David Bergen****2010 Commonwealth shortlist
Letters to Omar by Rachel Wyatt****
The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb*****


Books completed (18) with links to those reviewed for Challenge 3 (2009)

No Such Creature***+ by Giles Blunt
Conceit***** by Mary Novik
The Entropy of Aaron Rosclatt*** by James Sandham
The Last Woman***+ by John Bemrose
Ticknor*** by Sheila Heti
Fall on Your Knees***** by Ann-Marie MacDonald
Random Passage***** by Bernice Morgan
Nikolski**** by Nicolas Dickner
Good To a Fault**** by Marina Endicott
The Practice of Perfection**** by Mary Frances Coady
Chef***** by Jaspreet Singh
February**** by Lisa Moore
Wild Dogs**** by Helen Humphreys
The Golden Mean***** by Annabel Lyon
The Butterfly Chair by Marion Quednau
The Carnivore***** by Mark Sinnett
Breaking Lorca***** by Giles Blunt
The Heart of Buddha***+ by Elsie Sze

Books completed (27) with links to those reviewed for Challenge 2 (2008)

Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen****
Changing Heaven by Jane Urquhart****
The Fat Lady Next Door is Pregnant by Michel Tremblay***
The Disappeared by Kim Echlin****+
An Audience of Chairs by Joan Clark****
Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel****
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway****
Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richard*****
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson****
What We All Long For by Dionne Brand****
The Museum Guard by Howard Norman****
Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden*****
Ten Thousand Lovers by Edeet Ravel*****
Red Dog, Red Dog by Patrick Lane****
The Retreat by David Bergen****
The Outlander by Gil Adamson****
The Boys in the Trees by Mary Swan*****
The Letter Opener by Kyo Maclear***+
The Lizard Cage by Karen O'Connell*****
Alligator by Lisa Moore***+
Late Nights On Air by Elizabeth Hay****
At A Loss For Words by Diane Schoemperlen***+
Mister Sandman by Barbara Gowdy***
Twice Born by Pauline Gedge****
Quintet by Douglas Arthur Brown***+
Coventry by Helen Humphreys****+
Ex-Cottagers in Love by J. M. Kearns***+


Canadian literature on the shelves waiting tbr...

Yellowknife by Steve Zipp
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Too Close to the Falls by Catherine Gildiner
Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson
Wild Geese by Martha Ostenso
The City of Yes by Peter Oliva
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
Larry's Party by Carol Shields
A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje
The Cure for Death by Lightning by Gail Anderson-Dargatz
Consolation by Michael Redhill
Angel Walk by Katherine Govier
The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by vassanji
April Raintree by Beatrice Culleton
The Assumption of the Rogues and Rascals by Elizabeth Smart
A Recipe for Bees by Gail Anderson-Dargat
See the Child by David Bergen
The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy
On the Side of the Angels: The Second Volume of the Journals of Elizabeth Smart    
Eriksdottir by Joan Clark
The Widows by Suzette Mayr
The Book of Emma by Marie-Celie Agnant
An Equal Music: A Novel by Vikram Seth
Madame Zee by Pearl Luke
The Hatbox Letters by Beth Powning
Raymond and Hannah by Stephen Marche
Story House by Timothy Taylor
No Great Mischief by Alexander MacLeod
Sitting in the Club Car Drinking Rum and Karma-Kola: A Manual of Etiquette for Ladies Crossing Canada by Train by Paulette Jiles
Look for Me by Edeet Ravel
The Sudden Weight of Snow by Laisha Rosnau

Reading recommendations or links to reviews of good literary fiction (Canadian and otherwise) are always welcomed. I'd love to read them. I do not accept review copies but am happy to write brief reviews of books read if requested. Please just ask.  

Scandinavian Reading Challenge

Hosted by The Black Sheep Dances.

March 25 through December 31, 2010.

"Skal"  6 books before year end.

Read so far:

1.Benny and Shrimp***+ by Katarina Mazetti (Sweden)
2.The True Deceiver**** by Tove Jansson (Finland)

Books on hand:  

Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun (Norway)
The Journey Home by Olaf Olafsson (Iceland) 2001
In the Wake by Per Petterson (Norway)
Hanna's Daughters by Marianne Fredriksson (Sweden) 1998
The History of Danish Dreams by Peter Hoeg (Denmark) 1996
Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg (Denmark) 1995
Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaarder
The Quiet Girl by Peter Høeg (Denmark) 2007
The Road to Lagoa Santa by Henrik Stangerup
The Man Who Wanted To Be Guilty by Henrik Stangerup

Wishlist:

Babette's Feast by Isak Dinesen (Denmark) 1958

Previously read and enjoyed:

Hunger***** by Knut Hamsun (Norway) 1890
Pan**** by Knut Hamsun (Norway) 1890s
Out Stealing Horses**** by Per Petterson (Norway)
To Siberia**** by Per Petterson (Norway)
The Blue Fox***** by Sjon (Iceland) 2009
The Unit****+ by Ninni Holmqvist (Sweden) 2009
The Sound of Language****+ by Amulya Malladi (Denmark) 2007
Absolution**** by Olaf Olafsson (Iceland)
Seven Gothic Tales**** by Isak Dinesen (Denmark)
The House With The Blind Glass Windows**** by Herbjorg Wassmo (Norway) 2002
Vita Brevis : A Letter to St Augustine by Jostein Gaarder (Norway) 1998

Non fiction

Shadows On The Grass***** by Isak Dinesen (Denmark)
Daguerreotypes and Other Essays**** by Isak Dinesen (Denmark)
Selections from the Writings of Søren Kierkegaard***** (Denmark) 1880s
Fear and Trembling; The Sickness Unto Death***** by Søren Kierkegaard (Denmark) 1880s
Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft***** by Thor Heyerdahl (Norway) 1950
Aku-Aku: The Secret of Easter Island**** by Thor Heyerdahl (Norway) 1958

Crime fiction:

Borkmann's Point****+ by Hakan Nesser (Sweden)
The Return***** by Hakan Nesser (Sweden)
Voices***** by Arnaldur Indridason (Iceland)
Jar City or Tainted Blood**** by Arnaldur Indridason (Iceland)
The Devil's Star****+ by Jo Nesbø (Norway)
Nemesis**** by Jo Nesbø (Norway)
The Princess of Burundi***+ by Kjell Eriksson (Sweden)
The Cruel Stars of the Night**** by Kjell Eriksson (Sweden)
Before the Frost***+ by Henning Mankell (Sweden)

Recommendations of good literary fiction or requests for brief reviews of any books read are always welcomed from readers.

Jewish Literature Challenge

Hosted by Callista.

February 27, 2010 to September 10, 2010

Read 5 books or more of Jewish literature.

Books completed:


1.Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel****
2.Rashi by Elie Wiesel*****
3.Day For Night by Frederick Reiken****+
4.Atmospheric Disturbance by Rivka Galchen****

5.The Sonderberg Case by Elie Wiesel****+  

On my shelves tbr:

Tightrope by Michael Karpin
The Believers by Zoe Heller

Strand of a Thousand Pearls by Dorit Rabinyan

Look For Me by Edeet Ravel

Your Sad Eyes and Unforgettable Mouth by Edeet Ravel

Scheisshaus Luck by Peierre Berger (non-fiction)

The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman (non-fiction)

Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally

Global Challenge 2010

Hosted by Dorte at DJSKrimiblog.

I have chosen the EXPERT CHALLENGE:

"Read two novels from each of these continents in the course of 2010:

Completed books are linked to my thoughts on them.

Asia:

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa (Japan)
The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. K. Lee (Hong Kong)

Africa:

Dead Man's Share by Yasmina Khadra (Algeria)

Colourful Reading Challenge 2010

Hosted by Rebecca at Lost in Books.

Jan.1-Dec.31, 2010.

"Read 9 books with 9 different colors in the title.

Completed books are highlighted or linked to reviews:

1.Black Swan Green**** by David Mitchell
2.The Blue Flower***** by Penelope Fitzgerald
3.Blacklands***** by Belinda Bauer
4.The Golden Mean****+ by Annabel Lyon  


On my shelves tbr:

Plum Wine by Angela Davis-Gardner
The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble
Yellowknife by Steve Zipp
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
The Golden Bowl by Henry James
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
The Green Library by Janice Kulyk Keefer
The Green Knight by Iris Murdoch
Girl in Hyacinth blue by Susan Vreeland
The Blue Mountain by Meir Shalev
Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen
The White Earth by Angrew Mcgahan
The White Mary by Kira Salak
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris
Grey is the Color of Hope by Irina Ratushinskaya
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
The Red and the Green by Iris Murdoch
Blood Orange by Drusilla Campbell

Books with 'colourful' titles previously read:

The Blue Door***+ by Andre Brink
Midwife of the Blue Ridge**** by Christine Blevins
The White Tiger****+ by Aravind Adiga
The Color Purple***** By Alice Walker
The Bluest Eye***** by Toni Morrison
The Yellow Wallpaper****+ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Scarlet Letter**** by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop***** by Lewis Buzbee
The Picture of Dorian Gray***** by Oscar Wilde
The Golden Bowl**** by Henry James
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion**** by Yukio Mishima
Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates**** by Mary Mapes Dodge
The Silver Swan**** by Benjamin Black (john Banville)
Red Dog Red Dog**** by Patrick Lane
The Red and the Black**** by August Stendhal

Books completed in 2009 Colourful Reading Challenge:

The Blue Fox***** by Sjon

The White Garden***** by Stephanie Barron

Through Black Spruce***** by Joseph Boyden
Silver Birches***+ by Adrian Plass

There really are a lot of titles that have colours in them when you start to look around your shelves. And Rebecca has a long list of titles here.

I hope you'll join us for the Colourful Reading Challenge 2010.

Year in Review 2009

Hosted by Kathrin at Secret Dreambook of a Bookoholic.

January 1- December 31, 2009.

Keep track of the number of pages read in all forms of books. I am aiming to read 40, 000 pages this year; a wild guess since I have never recorded this information before. My running total:

1.The Gravedigger's Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates (592 pages)

2.Letters Between Us by Linda Rader Overman (168 pages) Total: 760 pages

3.The Museum Guard by Howard Norman (320 pages) Total: 1080 pages

4.The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean (256 pages) Total: 1336 pages

5.The Rabbi's Cat 2 by Joann Sfar 2008 (144 pages) Total: 1480 pages

6.Hannah's Dream by Diane Hammond (336 pages) Total: 1816 pages

7.What We All Long For by Dionne Brand (336 pages) Total: 2152 pages

8.We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (432 pages) Total: 2585 pages

9.The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (336 pages) Total: 2921 pages

10.Jenford: A Short History of Upland by Henrik E. Sadi (200 pages) Total: 3121 pages

11.The Awakening and Selected Stories by Kate Chopin (320 pages) Total: 3441 pages

12.What Happened to Anna K. by Irina Reyn (256 pages) Total: 3697 pages

13.The Bird of Night by Susan Hill (176 pages) Total: 3873

14.The Seamstress by Frances De Pontes Peebles (546 pages) Total: 4419 pages

15.A Mercy by Toni Morrison (176 pages) Total: 4595 pages

16.No Such Creature by Giles Blunt (288 pages) Total: 4883 pages

17.To Siberia by Per Petterson (256 pages) Toatal: 5139 pages

18.Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (160 pages) Total: 5299 pages

19.The Sister by Poppy Adams (288 pages) Total: 5587 pages

20.Disquiet by Julia Leigh (128 pages) Total: 5715 pages

21.The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway (272 pages) Total: 5987 pages

22.Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards (384 pages) Total: 6371 pages

23.The Leper by Steve Thayer (400) Total: 6771 pages

24.A Father's Affair by Karel Van Loon (199) Total: 6970 pages

25.Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (270 pages) Total: 7240 pages

26.The Spanish Bow by Andromeda Romano-Lax (554 pages) Total: 7794 pages

27.The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe (542 pages) Total: 8336 pages

28.Dog On It by Spencer Quinn (320) Total: 8656 pages

29.Tales of the Ten Lost Tribes by Tamar Yellin (200 pages) Total: 8856 pages

30.Mudbound by Hillary Jordan (336 pages) Total: 9192 pages

31.The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson (468 pages) Total: 9660 pages

32.The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff (364 pages) Total: 10,024 pages

33.Shelter Me by Juliette Fay (433 pages) Total: 10,457 pages

34.Little Bee by Chris Cleave (271 pages) Total: 10,728 pages

35.The Interrogation by J.M.G.Le Clezio (243 pages) Total: 10,971
36.Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf (200 pages) Total: 11,171pages
37.A Mad Desire to Dance by Elie Wiesel (274 pages) Total: 11,371pages
38.An Audience of Chairs by Joan Clark (350 pages) Total: 11,721pages
39.The Blue Fox by Sjon (112 pages) Total: 11,833 pages
40.The Brightest Moon of the Century by Christopher Meeks (324 pages) Total: 12,157 pages
41.The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald (64 pages) Total: 12,221 pages
42.The Music Teacher by Barbara Hall (292 pages) Total: 12,513 pages
43.Asta in the Wings by Jan Elizabeth Watson (314 pages) Total: 12,827pages
44.I Had a Black Dog by Mathew Johnstone (48 pages) Total: 12,875 pages
45.The Cradle by Patrick Somerville (204 pages) Total: 13,079 pages
46.The Sum of Our Days by Isabel Allende (321 pages) Total: 13,400 pages
47.Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (357) Total: 13,757 pages
48.The Fat Lady Next Door is Pregnant by Michel Tremblay (252 pages) Total: 14,009 pages
49.The Disappeared by Kim Echlin (2009) (235) pages Total: 14,244 pages
50. This One and Magic Life by Anne Carroll George (276 pages) Total: 14,520 pages
51.The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville ( 308 pages) Total: 14,828 pages
52.The Winner of Sorrow by Brian Lynch (368 pages) Total: 15,196 pages
53.Mind's Eye by Hakan Nesser (280 pages) Total: 15,476 pages
54.The Madwoman of Bethlehem by Rosine Nimeh-Mailloux (368 pages) Total: 15,844 pages
55.The Spare Room by Helen Garner (196 pages) Total: 16,040 pages
56.The Snow Geese by William Fiennes (254 pages) Total: 16,294 pages
57.Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (353 pages) Total: 16,647 pages
58.Possession by A.S. Byatt (562 pages) Total: 17,209 pages
59.The Prospector by J. M. G. Le Clezio (340 pages) Total: 17,549 pages
60.The Accordionist's Son by Bernardo Atxaga (488 pages) Total: 18,037 pages
61.Hard Rain by Janwillem Van De Wetering (314 pages) Total: 18,351 pages
62.Carpentaria by Alexis Wright (517 pages) Total: 18,868 pages
63.The Italian Girl by Iris Murdoch (176 pages) Total: 19,044 pages
64.Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel (247 pages) Total: 19,291pages
65.Wanting by Richard Flanagan (256 pages) Total: 19,547 pages
66.The Great Lover by Jill Dawson (310 pages) Total: 19,857 pages
67.The Pages by Murray Bail (199 pages) Total: 20,056 pages
68.Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos (398 pages) Total: 20,454 pages
69.The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing (133 pages) Total: 20,587 pages
70.Becoming Abigail by Chris Abani (125 pages) Total: 20,712 pages
71.Ben, In the World by Doris Lessing (178 pages) Total: 20,890 pages
72.Home Repair by Liz Rosenberg (328 pages) Total: 21,218 pages
73.The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (466 pages) Total: 21,684 pages
74.The Jewel Trader of Pegu by Jeffrey Hantover (243 pages) Total: 21,927 pages
75.Little Bee by Chris Cleave (272 pages) Total: 22,199 pages
76.The Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar (367 pages) 22,566 pages
77.Molly Fox's Birthday by Deirdre Madden (232 pages) Total: 22,798 pages
78.The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (531 pages) Total: 23,329 pages
79.Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome (169 pages) Total: 23,498 pages
80.And Let the Earth Trembles at its Centers by Gonzalo Celorio (50/152 pages) Total: 23,548 pages
81.The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey (374 pages) Total: 23,922 pages
82.Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea (343 pages) Total: 24,265 pages
83.Addition by Toni Jordan (260 pages) Total: 24,525 pages
84.The Mysteries of Glass by Sue Gee (346 pages) Total: 24,871 pages
85.The Signal by Ron Carlson (184 pages) Total: 25,055 pages
86.Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura (180 pages) Total:25, 235 pages
87.This is How by M.J.Hyland (377 pages ) Total: 25,612 pages
88.The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby (157 pages) Total: 25,769 pages
89.The Sign for Drowning by Rachel Stolzman (194 pages) Total: 25,963 pages
90.Conceit by Mary Novik (403 pages) Total: 26,366 pages
91.Silver Birches by Adrian Plass (192 pages) Total: 26,558 pages
92.All in the Mind by Alastair Campbell (297 pages) Total: 26,855 pages
93.A Short History of Women by Kate Walbert (239 pages) Total: 27,094 pages
94.Novel About My Wife by Emily Perkins (279 pages) Total: 27,373 pages
95.An After-Dinner's Sleep by Stanley Middleton (224 pages) Total: 27,597 pages
96.The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry (390 pages) Total: 27,987 pages
97.The Entropy of Aaron Rosclatt by James Sandham (193 pages) Total: 27,790 pages
98.After the Fire, a Still Small Voice by Evie Wyld (397 pages) Total: 28, 187 pages
99.Dancing Backwards by Salley Vickers (261 pages) Total: 28,448 pages
100.In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien (303 pages) Total; 28,751 pages
101.The Music Room by William Fiennes (216 pages) Total: 28,967 pages
102.The Last Woman by John Bemrose (323 pages) Total: 29,290 pages
103.The White Garden by Stephanie Barron (326 pages) Total: 29,616 pages
104.Invisible by Paul Auster (308 pages) Total: 29,924 pages
105.Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (507 pages) Total: 30,431 pages
106.Blackmoor by Edward Hogan (272 pages) Total: 30,703 pages
107.Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon (324 pages) Total: 31,027 pages
108.Duchess of Nothing by Heather McGowan (216 pages) Total: 31,243 pages
109.The Broken Teaglass by Emily Arsenault (370 pages) Total: 31,613 pages
110.The Appointment by Herta Muller (214 pages) Total: 31,827 pages
111.Before You Know Kindness by Chris Bohjalian (430 pages) Total:32,257 pages
112.The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker (243 pages) Total: 32,500 pages

Books abandoned:

1.2666 by Roberto Bolano after140 pages
2.Sleepwalking in Daylight after 50 pages
3.City of Dreaming Books after 40 pages
-------------------------------------------------
Total for 2009 : 32,730 pages
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
While I have your attention:

Books read in 2009?

112, down from last year's 143 but nothing to sneeze at.

All were fiction except 4:

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
The Music Room by William Fiennes
The Snow Geese by William Fiennes

Male/Female author ratio?

48 male/62 female

The Best:

Possession by A.S. Byatt
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
A Mercy by Toni Morrison
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
The Blue Fox by Sjon
Becoming Abigail by Chris Abani
The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville
Wanting by Richard Flanagan
The Winner of Sorrow by Brian Lynch
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
The Madwoman of Bethlehem by Rosine Nimeh-Mailloux
Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards
The Disappeared by Kim Echlin
The Leper by Steve Thayer
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
The Appointment by Herta Muller
The Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar
The Mysteries of Glass by Sue Gee
Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura
Conceit by Mary Novik
All in the Mind by Alastair Campbell
The White Garden by Stephanie Barron
The Jewel Trader of Pegu by Jeffrey Hantover
The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

Those reviewed.

Donated to The Camel BookMobile charity through The Year of the Reader 2009: $112.00

All comments or questions welcomed.

1% Well-Read Challenge 2009

Hosted by Michelle at 1morechapter.
April 1, 2010 through April 30, 2011. 

I chose to "Read 13 titles from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list.

Completed books 2011:

1.Silk by Alessandro Barrico****
2.A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul****+
 

On my shelves tbr:

The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
White teeth by Zadie Smith
Timbuktu by Paul Auster
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Stone Diaries By Carol Shields
Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg
Remembering Babylon by David Malouf
Jazz by Toni Morrison
Wittgenstein's Mistress by
Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally
Fatelessness by Imre Kertesz
The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Bell by Iris Murdoch
Under the Net by Iris Murdoch
A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch
Faces in the Water by Janet Frame
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
Rashomon by Akutagawa Ryunosuke
Kokoro by Natsume Soseki
Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
Auto de Fe by Elias Canetti
Call it Sleep by Henry Roth
Wuthering Heights by Emile Bronte
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
_______________________________________

Previously read:

Invisible****+ by Paul Auster
The Awakening***+ by Kate Chopin
The Mysteries of Udolpho***+ by Ann Radcliffe
Possession***** by A.S. Byatt
Kitchen**** by Banana Yoshimoto
Love in the Time of Cholera**** by Gabriel García Márquez!
Jacob's Room**** by Virginia Woolf
The End of the Affair***** by Graham Greene
Fall on Your Knees****+ by Ann-Marie MacDonald
Mrs. Dalloway*** by Virginia Woolf
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao**** by Junot Diaz
2666 by Roberto Bolano (quit after 160 pages)
The White Tiger****+ by Aravind Adiga
The Elegance of the Hedgehog**** by Muriel Barbery
Home***** by Marilynne Robinson
The Gathering**** by Ann Enright
Never Let Me Go**** – Kazuo Ishiguro
Saturday***** – Ian McEwan
Carry Me Down**** by M.J. Hyland
The Sea****+ – John Banville
Snow**** by Orhan Pamuk
The Lambs of London**** – Peter Ackroyd
Unless**** – Carol Shields
Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
Atonement – Ian McEwan
The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen
Life of Pi – Yann Martel
Amsterdam – Ian McEwan
The Heretic by Miguel Delibe
Veronika Decides to Die – Paulo Coelho
The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
Enduring Love – Ian McEwan
Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald
The Reader – Bernhard Schlink
The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides
Possessing the Secret of Joy – Alice Walker
Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
The Book of Evidence – John Banville
Foucault’s Pendulum – Umberto Eco
Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
The Temple of My Familiar – Alice Walker

The Music of Chance – Paul Auster
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
Arcadia – Jim Crace
Black Dogs – Ian McEwan
The Black Prince – Iris Murdoch
Sula – Toni Morrison
The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch
Song of Solomon – Toni Morrison
If Not Now, When? – Primo Levi
The Color Purple – Alice Walker
Hawksmoor – Peter Ackroyd
Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez
The Drowned and the Saved – Primo Levi
Beloved – Toni Morrison
Black Box by Amos Oz
The New York Trilogy – Paul Auster
The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
If This Is a Man – Primo Levi
Under the Volcano – Malcolm Lowry
The Heart of the Matter – Graham Greene
Cry, the Beloved Country – Alan Paton
The Grass is Singing – Doris Lessing
The End of the Affair – Graham Greene
Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison
The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
Lord of the Flies – William Golding
Go Tell It on the Mountain – James Baldwin
The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath  
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
Dark as the Grave Wherein My Friend is Laid – Malcolm Lowry
On the Road – Jack Kerouac
Seize the Day – Saul Bellow
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning – Alan Sillitoe
A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
Labyrinths – Jorg Luis Borges
Franny and Zooey – J.D. Salinger
Mother – Maxim Gorky
The Secret Agent – Joseph Conrad
Three Lives – Gertrude Stein
Death in Venice – Thomas Mann
Ethan Frome – Edith Wharton
The Return of the Soldier – Rebecca West
Jacob’s Room – Virginia Woolf
Siddhartha – Herman Hesse
Cane – Jean Toomer
The Magic Mountain – Thomas Mann
Billy Budd, Foretopman – Herman Melville
Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Trial – Franz Kafka
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie
The Death of Ivan Ilyich – Leo Tolstoy
Germinal – Émile Zola
Hunger – Knut Hamsun
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
The Kreutzer Sonata – Leo Tolstoy
New Grub Street – George Gissing
Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
The Invisible Man – H.G. Wells
What Maisie Knew – Henry James
The Awakening – Kate Chopin
The Turn of the Screw – Henry James
Sister Carrie – Theodore Dreiser
Lord Jim – Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
The Immoralist – André Gide
The Golden Bowl – Henry James
The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Les Enfants Terribles – Jean Cocteau
Look Homeward, Angel – Thomas Wolfe
Orlando – Virginia Woolf
Steppenwolf – Herman Hesse
Tarka the Otter – Henry Williamson
Passing – Nella Larsen
A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas – Gertrude Stein
To Have and Have Not – Ernest Hemingway
The Radetzky March – Joseph Roth
Journey to the End of the Night – Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway
Native Son – Richard Wright
The Outsider – Albert Camus
Embers – Sandor Marai
Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
The Mysteries of Udolpho – Ann Radcliffe
Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
Hyperion – Friedrich Hölderlin
The Sorrows of Young Werther – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Humphrey Clinker – Tobias George Smollett
Candide – Voltaire
Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
The Red and the Black – Stendhal
Le Père Goriot – Honoré de Balzac
Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lonely – Harriet Beecher Stowe
Les Misérables – Victor Hugo
Notes from the Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky
Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
Erewhon – Samuel Butler
Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
Return of the Native – Thomas Hardy
___________________________________
Total:149 Books

The 1001 list is very interesting. This is the second year that Michelle has held this challenge, some of us were doing it on our own but I hope this challenge will continue.

What have you read from the list that you can recommend? Any stinkers in your opinion? I welcome all comments and questions. No Spoilers please.

New Year Read-a-thon update 1

Hosted by Kristen at Bookworming in the Twenty First Century.

I started at 5:00 pm, read for 10 hours, spent 2 hours reading blogs and commenting. Then to bed at 5:00 am.

Have read:

1.Ticknor*** by Sheil Heti 2005 Canada (109 pages)
2.Introduction to Moby Dick by Herman Melville 1851 US (51 pages) - for the Moby Dick Monday group, hosted by Ti at Book Chatter.
3.So Many Ways to Begin**** by Jon McGregor UK (343 pages) - for the Typically British Reading Challenge, hosted by Book City Chick.

Started:

4.Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf 1925 UK (172 pages) - for the Woolf in Winter Challenge, hosted by Sarah at What we have here is a failure to communicate.

Next:

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell - for the Colorful Reading Challenge, hosted by Rebecca at Lost in Books.
The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald - for the Reading From My Shelves Project, hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea

I hope you are enjoying your weekend. Have fun with the read-a-thon.

I'm always open to questions about works or authors mentioned on my blog, comments, reading suggestions (literary fiction only and No Spoilers please), dissenting opinions, or links to reviews. I'd love to read them.

21 Cultures Reading Challenge Wrap up

Hosted by Rebecca at Lost in Books.

Jan.1- December 31, 2009

"Read 21 books about 21 different cultures. It can be modern culture or old traditions and customs of a culture. It does not have to be nonfiction, but it should not be a fictional culture."

Books completed with those reviewed highlighted:

1.African American - A Mercy****+ by Toni Morrison
2.Japanese - Kitchen**** by Banana Yoshimoto
Shipwrecks***** by Akira Yoshimura
3.African Canadian/Vietnamese - What We All Long For**** by Dionne Brand
4.French/Parisienne - The Elegance of the Hedgehog**** by Muriel Barbery
The Diving Belll and the Butterfly***** by Jean-Dominique Bauby
5.Russian - The Madonnas of Leningrad***** by Debra Dean
6.Brazilian/Portuguese - The Seamstress**** by Frances De Pontes Peebles
7.Danish - To Siberia****+ by Per Petterson
8.Yugoslavian - The Cellist of Sarajevo***** by Steven Galloway
9.Dutch - A Father's Affair***+ by Karel Van Loon
10.Jewish - Tales of the Ten Lost Tribes***** by Tamar Yellin
11.Spanish - The Spanish Bow***** by Andromeda Romano-Lax
12.American - Olive Kitteridge***** by Elizabeth Strout
13.Canadian - Mercy Among the Children***** by David Adams Richards
14.English - The Behaviour of Moths**** by Poppy Adams
Blackmoor**** by Edward Hogan
Possession***** by A.S. Byatt
The Winner of Sorrow***** by Brian Lynch
The Great Lover**** by Jill Dawson
The Little Stranger***** by Sarah Waters
15.Hawaiian - The Leper****by Steve Thayer
16.Rural - Jenford: A Short History of Upland**** by Henrik E. Sadi
17.Immigrant - What Happened to Anna K.****by Irina Reyn
18.19th Century American- The Awakening***+ and Selected stories by Kate Chopin
19.18th Century Italian - The Mysteries of Udolpho***+ by Ann Radcliffe
20.Iraqi/Kurd - My Father's Paradise**** by Ariel Sabar
21.Native Canadian/Ojibway - Through Black Spruce***** by Joseph Boyden

22.French Canadian - The Fat Lady Next Door is Pregnant*** by Michel Trembly

23.American South - Mudbound***** by Hillary Jordan
This Once and Magic Life**** by Anne Carroll George

24.Icelandic - The Blue Fox***** by Sjon

25.Nigerian - Little Bee**** by Chris Cleave

26.Iranian - Reading Lolita in Tehran**** by Azar Nafisi

27.Cambodian - The Disappeared***** by Kim Echlin
28.Aboriginal Australian - Carpentaria**** by Alexis Wright
29.Burmese - The Jewel Trader of Pegu***** by Jeffrey Hantover
30.Nigerian - Becoming Abigail***** by Chris Abani
31.Mexican - Into the Beautiful North**** by Luis Alberto Urrea
Lacuna***** by Barbara Kingsolver
32.Australian - After the Fire, a Still Small Voice***** by Evie Wyld
Wanting***** by Richard Flanagan
The Pages**** by Murray Bail
Addition**** by Toni Jordan
The Lieutenant***** by Kate Grenville
33. Romanian -The Appointment**** by Herta Muller
34.Swedish - Mind's Eye**** by Hakan Nesser
35.Victorian - Three Men in a Boat*** by Jerome K. Jerome
The Mysteries of Glass***** by Sue Gee
36.17th century London - Conceit***** by Mary Novik
37.Palestinian - The Madwoman of Bethlehem***** by Rosine Nimeh-Mailloux

I had a great time doing this one. My reading must be varied to keep me interested so this challenge fit right in. Some may quibble with my cultural categories but that's the way I saw it. There are some really good novels here. I'd love to do this one again. Thank you Rebecca.

I am always open to questions about works or authors mentioned, comments, reading suggestions (literary fiction only and No Spoilers please), dissenting opinions, or links to reviews. I'd love to read them.