Nickelini's 888

While I wasn't originally going to participate in this challenge, after reading all your posts I couldn't resist. And as mapped out my plan, I realized that it's just another way of charting the reading that I'm already doing. Here are my categories:

1. The Oldest Books in My Closet (completed)
2. Books for University (completed)
3. Canadian Literature
4. 1001 Books to Read . . . (completed)
5. Big Books (over 400 pages) (completed)
6. Books for My Book Club
6. updated: Plays (completed)
7. World Literature (authors from outside Canada, UK, US)
8. Eight More Books from My Closet

Here's my progress:

One- The Oldest Books in My Closet

Time to move these books along--either read them, or get rid of them.

1. West With the Night, Beryl Markham (completed May 2008)
I bought this in 1987, started it but got interrupted and never went back to it. I've packed it through four moves, knowing that one day I'd get around to finishing it.
2. The Color Purple, Alice Walker (completed March 2008)
I picked this one up for free at least 8 years ago.
3. Peace Shall Destroy Many, by Rudy Wiebe (completed April 2008).
Not sure how long this one has been hanging around--probably since the very early '90s.
4. Lucky Man, by Michael J. Fox (completed May 2008). Not sure how long this one has been around--probably 3 or 4 years.
5. The Looking Glass, by Michele Roberts (completed May 2008). Picked this one up for free about 4 years ago.
6. Marley and Me, by John Grogan (completed June 2008). I've had this one loan for 2 years and it was time to return it.
7. The Lady and the Unicorn, by Tracy Chevalier (completed October 2008)
8. Picnic at Hanging Rock, Joan Lindsay (completed December 2008)

Two- Books for University

1. Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskell (completed February 2008)
2. Bleak House, Charles Dickens (completed March 2008)
3. Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, RL Stevenson (completed March 2008)
4. Lady Audley's Secret, Mary Elizabeth Braddon (completed March 2008)
5. Civilization and Its Discontents, Sigmund Freud (completed September 2008)
6. Survival in Auschwitz, Primo Levi (completed November 2008)
7. Helen in Egypt, H.D. (completed November 2008)
8. Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace, 9th ed., Joseph Williams (completed November 2008)

March '08: I've also read six Shakespeare plays this term, and since they were each published in book form, I could technically add them to this list and finish off this category. But the year is still young -- I think I'll see what else I read at university in '08.

Three- Canadian Literature

1. Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery (completed June 2008). Read out loud to my 8 year old daughter, Charlotte.
2. Peace Shall Destroy Many, Rudy Wiebe (completed April 2008)
3. A Recipe for Bees, Gail Anderson-Dargatz (completed May 2008)
4. Bachelor Brothers Bed & Breakfast, Bill Richardson (completed May 2008)
5. Fugitive Pieces, Anne Michaels (completed July 2008)
6. Alice, I Think, Susan Juby (completed August 2008)
7. Why I Hate Canadians, Will Ferguson (completed September 2008). Not really "literature," but a fun piece of very Canadian writing.
8. Surfacing, Margaret Atwood (completed December 2008)

For some reasons, I can't get any touchstones to work on this thread after book #3. Weird.

Four- 1001 Books to Read . . .

1. Burger's Daughter, Nadine Gordimer (completed January 2008)
2. Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskell (completed February 2008)
3. Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, RL Steveson (completed March 2008)
4. Indigo, or Mapping the Waters, Marina Warner (completed March 2008)
5. The Color Purple, Alice Walker (completed March 2008)
6. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan (completed April 2008)
7. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro (completed May 2008)
8. The Water-Babies, Charles Kingsley (completed June 2008)

Five- Big Books (for me that's anything over 400 pgs)

1. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte (completed January 2008) reread, my edition has 548 p
2. Bleak House, Charles Dickens (completed March 2008) Including notes, intro, etc, my edition has 1039 p
3. Family Matters, by Rohinton Mistry (completed April 2008), 487 p
4. Middlemarch, by George Eliot (completed May 2008), 889 p
5. Alias Grace, by Margaret Atwood (completed June 2008), 564 p
6. The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver (completed July 2008), 543 p
7. The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregory (completed August 2008), 661 p.
8. Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie (completed August 2008), 533 p.

Six- Books for My Book Club Cancelled this category and replaced it with Plays (Oct 2008)

1. Snowflower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See (completed April 2008)
2. Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (completed April 2008)
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Our January book was Enduring Love, and our February book was Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, both which I read last year. Somehow our March meeting got scheduled in April, so I'm off to a slow start with this challenge.

Seven- World Literature (Authors from outside of Canada, US, UK)

1. Burger's Daughter, Nadine Gordimer, South Africa (completed January 2008)
2. Family Matters, by Rohinton Mistry, India (completed April 2008). I know that Mistry is really a Canadian writer, but he came to Canada as an adult, and the book is set in India, so I'm putting it here rather than in my CanLit group.
3. Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigeria (completed April 2008)
4. Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys, Dominica (completed May 2008)
5. Silk, by Alessandro Baricco, Italy (completed May 2008). I'm counting this one as Italy because the novella was written in Italian. This feels a little odd, however, as the story takes place in France and Japan.
6. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, by Julia Alvarez, Dominican Republic (completed June 2008)
7. The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Mohsin Hamid, Pakistan (completed August 2008)
8. The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, Peter Handke (December 2008)

Eight- Eight More Books from My Closet

1. A Cup of Tea, by Amy Ephron (completed April 2008)
2. Portuguese Irregular Verbs, by Alexander McCall Smith (completed April 2008)
3. The Heat of the Day, by Elizabeth Bowen (completed June 2008)
4. The Cottagers, by Marshall N. Klimasewiski (completed June 2008)
5. A Thousand Days in Venice, Marlena De Blasi (completed July 2008)
6. The Waves, Virginia Woolf (completed August 2008)
7. Gods Behaving Badly, Marie Phillips (completed December 2008)
8. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Mariel Spark (completed December 2008)

Okay, I have my categories all lined up. Now all I have to do is go read! But I have one question: Can a book only count in two categories? For example, I hope to read The Blind Assassin. It would count in 1001 Books, Big Books, Canadian Lit, and Books from My Closet. I can't use the same book four times though, can I? Thanks for the clarification.

Well, the idea is to not have more than 8 duplicates. So if you use it for four lists, that would use up two of your duplicates. Or maybe three?

I'm making a ninth list . . .

Books that I put on more than one list:

1. Burger's Daughter (1001 & World Lit)
2. Cranford (1001 & Books for University)
3. Bleak House (Books for University & Big Books)
4. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1001 & Books for University)
5. The Color Purple (1001 & Oldest Books in my Closet)
6. Family Matters (World Lit & Big Books)
7. Peace Shall Destroy Many (Oldest Books in my Closet & CanLit)
8. Half of a Yellow Sun (Book Club and Global Literature)

I personally look at putting books on more than one list as a sign of efficient reading, good planning and effective organization. I've now used up my alloted 8 repeats, but I'm going to continue to track books that I've read that could have counted in multiple categories because somehow there is important info in that fact.

Progress in January:

1. Jane Eyre, which I'm not entirely comfortable counting because it's a reread, but it was over 500 pages, and I studied it in great detail, so it would just be silly not to count it.
2. Burger's Daughter

I'm busy reading other stuff that I need to read for school. I still have full faith that I'll do okay on this challenge despite my slow start.

Updated:

Hamlet, Shakespeare

Progress in February:

3. Cranford

If I can quickly read the last 300 pages of Bleak House by the end of the day, I'll add that one too. (Not going to happen.) Very little progress this month because of other obligations, but I see things picking up in the next month or two.

Updated:

King Lear (no touchstone)
Winter's Tale

Progress in March:

4. Bleak House
5. Lady Audley's Secret
6. Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde
7. Indigo: or Mapping the Waters
8. The Color Purple (touchstone going wonky)

It feels so satisfying that I've picked up the pace here, even though I knew all along that I would. My reading schedule for April is at this point blank (I've finished all my reading for school and just have to get through final papers and exams), so who knows what I'll end up reading next month.

Updated:

The Tempest

Progress in April:

9. Family Matters
10. Snowflower and the Secret Fan
11. The Thirty-Nine Steps
12. A Cup of Tea
13. Peace Shall Destroy Many
14. Half of a Yellow Sun
15. Portuguese Irregular Verbs

Looking back on this month, I'm exhausted! A Cup of Tea was a light read, but the other books were tough. I've lived on the brink of poverty in Bombay, had my feet bound in 19th century China, been chased by Nazis through the Scottish Highlands, worked on a farm and struggled with philosophy in WWII-era Saskatchewan and now, just come through the Biafran war. I need a rest.

So, I also have a Canadian category in my challenge, to a slightly different end then yours I think. I'll be moving to Edmonton soon for grad school and I feel the need to educate my self on Canadian fiction and history. Do you have any suggestions? I would like to be educated and entertained if possible.

Hi, Nikkles--I noticed that you had that category but that you live in the US. I've been meaning to ask you about that! I'm ashamed to admit that although I grew up in Canada, I've sadly neglected Canadian literature and really totally neglected Canadian cultural studies. That's one of the reasons I've given myself a CanLit challenge. I must remedy that. Anyway, I'll give it some thought and post my suggestions on your thread.

thanks

On the list of books I've read recently that I've been recommending a lot lately is Before Green Gables. It is the prequel to the Anne of Green Gables series, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. The descriptions of Canada in this book are wonderful.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll be looking into it.

Progress in May

16. Never Let Me Go
17. West With the Night
18. Middlemarch
19. Lucky Man
20. Wide Sargasso Sea
21. The Looking Glass
22. A Recipe for Bees
23. Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast
24. Silk
25. The Water-babies

I just realized that I won't be able to complete challenge #6: Books for My Book Club. I had already read the January and February selections, and then our March meeting got pushed to April, so we skipped a month there. We just decided to make our June meeting a potluck only--everyone was feeling overwhelmed with life and no one could think of a quick light read (that would still generate conversation). After summer we meet in September to pick our books, and we don't meet in December. So that only leaves October and November, which means I'll only be able to read four books for this category.

Moral of my story: Don't take on a category that depends on other people!

I just thought of a twist on this challenge that I may try next year. I'm a big fan of putting a book in more than one category. In fact, I would like to put more books in more categories: forget the limit of 8 overlaps. My goal is to read a book that fits as many categories as possible. To me this is a sign of efficiency, and it has more value than how many books I can read. I'm going to give it more thought, but right now, for 2009, I'm leaning toward the 888 Super-Efficient version.

Progress in June

26. The Cottagers
27. Anne of Green Gables
28. Marley and Me
29. The Heat of the Day
30. Alias Grace
31. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

With Water-Babies, I've completed my first category, 1001 Books To Read . . . . This is not an especially good thing, because I tend to read a lot of 1001 books, and now I'll have to be creative fitting them into other categories.

Is something exciting about to happen?

Nope. Sorry to disappoint you. I was just experiencing some bizarre cyber-behavior. I'll let you know for sure if something exciting ever does happen.

Progress in July

32. A Thousand Days in Venice
33. The Poisonwood Bible
34. Fugitive Pieces

Progress in August

35. The Waves
36. The Reluctant Fundamentalist
37. The Other Boleyn Girl
38. Midnight's Children
39. Alice, I Think

Progress in September

40. Civilization and Its Discontents
41. Why I Hate Canadians

Updated:

Oresteia (touchstones refusing to cooperate)

Progress in October

42. The Lady and the Unicorn

Updated with new numbering:

47. Antigone
48. Medea
49. Helen (no touchstone)

You are a busy LT lady, Nicklini. I am getting tired just following you around.

(Did you vote today?) The guy took my ballot today, opened it flat (could see the tick) and then refolded it (evidently there is only one way to fold the ballot).

They're not allowed to do that!

Yes, I voted. I'm in one of those areas where my vote doesn't count because the same person and party always wins by a huge margin. But I go anyway. I'm always surprised to see all the candidates on the ballot who I haven't heard of. For example, we had a Libertarian. Who knew? Not me.

I'm not bothered that one of my categories (Books for My Book Club) was a wash-out because I had no control of the situation. Not worth getting stressed about. But I just realized that I can swap it out for a new category that I DID complete: plays. I don't think I'd ever read a play before 2008, but I took three classes that included plays, so I ended up reading twelve this year. After all this play reading I still maintain that reading plays is not something I particularly enjoy, and I don't care if I never read another one. It's only the format that bothers me though--some of the actual stories were great. Without further ado, here is my new category #6:

Plays

1. Hamlet, Shakespeare
2. King Lear, Shakespeare
3. The Tempest, Shakespeare
4. Winter's Tale, Shakespeare
5. Oresteia, Aeschylus
6. Antigone, Sophocles
7. Medea, Euripides
8. Helen, Euripides (touchstone balking at Helen)

Progress in November

50. Survival in Auschwitz
51. Helen in Egypt
52. Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace, 9th ed.

Progress in December

53. Picnic at Hanging Rock
54. Surfacing
55. The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick
56. Gods Behaving Badly
57. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

As of December 6, I have four books and three categories remaining to complete this challenge. Almost there!
Dec 9 - another category done--two remaining.
Dec 13 - global category complete -- just the Eight More Books from My Closet left

Woo hoo! I have officially completed my 888 challenge. This year I've read 91 books, so far, and I was able to shoe horn 57 of them in to the 888 categories.

CONGRATULATIONS on completing your goal, Joyce. Will you do it again next year??

Yep, I'm all set up to do the 999 challenge. I'm doing it with unlimited overlaps though, because reading a set number of books is not the point for me. Are you doing the 999? Someone recently suggested a 7-8-9, which I would have preferred, but I'd already committed to this one. Here's my thread:

http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=47170

No, Joyce. I am a very linear person and one recording of my books read is as much as I can take.

Plus I like to look forward to endless possibilities of choice, silly as I know that is.....