Zoe's 999

For historical comparison, my 888 Challenge can be viewed here

The list:

Dewey Decimal Challenge (8/9)
The Screwtape Letters
New York's 50 Best Bookstores for Book Lovers
Race Against Time (Massey Lectures)
Losing Confidence: Power, Politics, and the Crisis in Canadian Democracy
Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization
The Good Pirates of the Forgotten Bayous
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Who Turned Out the Lights?
(The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind)

Ancient World (5/9)
The Secret Magdalene
The Archimedes Codex
Hand of Isis
The Babylonian Genesis
The Exact Sciences in Antiquity

Math or Science (6/9)
The Genius Factory
The Planets
Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea
Longitude
A Mathematician's Lament
Letters to a Young Mathematician
(The Archimedes Codex)
(The Exact Sciences in Antiquity)

Fantasy and Supernatural (9/9)
Mistborn
Sirena
The Game by Diana Wynne Jones
The Graveyard Book
Bewitching Season
Betraying Season
The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and the Struggle
The Vampire Diaries: The Fury and Dark Reunion
Once a Witch

Dystopia or Post-Apocalyptic (9/9)
Brave New World
The City of Ember
The People of Sparks
Among the Hidden
The Ends of the Circle
Among the Impostors
Among the Betrayed
Among the Barons
The Knife of Never Letting Go

Children's/YA Fiction (9/9)
No More Dead Dogs
Le Petit Prince
Pagan's Crusade
The Prophet of Yonwood
Son of the Mob 2: Hollywood Hustle
The Adoration of Jenna Fox
Little Brother
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Avonlea

Arabian Nights, the Arab World, and Africa (5/9)
Seven Daughters and Seven Sons
Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and its Discontents
28: Stories of AIDS in Africa
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Castle in the Air
(Race Against Time (Massey Lectures))
(A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier)

Fairies and Fairy Tales (8/9)
The Goose Girl
Kissing the Witch
Ink Exchange
The Hunter's Moon
The Summer King
Spinners
Beast
The Rumpelstiltskin Problem

Just Because (7/9)
Carry On, Jeeves
Jeeves in the Offing
My Sister's Keeper
The Uncommon Reader
Freakonomics
The New 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth
Odd and the Frost Giants

I'm going to list potential categories and even books here, even though I don't think I ended up reading a single one of my planned books last time!

Revised Jan. 2, 2009

Dewey Decimal Challenge
Aristotle's Children
Tulipomania
The Story of French
The Island of the Colourblind
Masterminds
The Abolition of Man
The Screwtape Letters
The Gnostic Gospels
Empires of the Word

Ancient World, Fiction or Non
The Secret Magdalene
In Search of the Trojan War
The Gilded Chamber
Nobody's Princess
The Greeks Overseas
Scribes and Scholars
The Keys of Egypt
Ten Discoveries that Rewrote History
The Discovery of the Greek Bronze Age

Math or Science
Godel, Escher, Bach
The Sleepwalkers
The Exact Sciences in Antiquity
Incompleteness
The Book Nobody Read
The Mystery of the Aleph
Innumeracy
A History of Greek Mathematics, vol. 1
Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture

Fantasy
Terrier
The Grand Tour
Mistborn
The Well of Ascension
The Name of the Wind
Inkheart
Fire by Kristen Cashore
Deerskin
Water by Robin McKinley

Dystopia or Post-Apocalyptic
Brave New World
The Ends of the Circle
The Dome in the Forest
The Fall of the Shell
An Ambush of Shadows
Among the Hidden
The Declaration
The City of Ember
We

Childhood Rereads
Into the Land of the Unicorns
Little House in the Big Woods
The Indian in the Cupboard
The Fairy Rebel
Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and the Struggle
Vampire Diaries: The Fury and Dark Reunion
The Midwife's Apprentice
The Diddakoi
Secret Vampire

Arabian Nights
The Arabian Nights, Volume 2 by Jack Zipes
The Arabian Nightmare
Seven Daughters and Seven Sons
Chimera
Scheherazade by Anthony O'Neill
Castle in the Air
Pancha Tantra
In Arabian Nights
The Storyteller's Daughter

Fairies and Fairy Tales
Ink Exchange
The Fairy Rebel
The Hunter's Moon
The Summer King
Ironside
The Stolen Child
Fragile Eternity
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Kissing the Witch

Just Because
The Host
The Dead and the Gone
Sunshine
Pagan's Crusade
Letters to a Young Mathematician
The Genius Factory
The Rise of the Indian Rope Trick
28: Stories of AIDS in Africa
King John of Canada

I've already started revising my categories. I got rid of Math/Science since I've only read one book in this category this year, and I replaced it with "LT Group Reads and ER". And I changed Children's/YA Fiction into Childhood Rereads. I should really get read of Already Started too because so far this year I haven't read one single book in that category, but I think it's an important one so it's staying for now.

I have The Dress Lodger in my reread category. I was blown away the first time I read it and want to see if I am still as affected by it. In any case, it's not a cheerful read, being bleaker than Dickens at portraying the poverty of the Industrial Revolution.

I was looking forward to watching your Math/Science books!

>4 RidgewayGirl: I'm glad to hear good things about that book! I'm not sure it will actually make it into my 999 at this point; I may end up reading it this year instead!

>5 sjmccreary: Ooh, now I'm tempted to revise my categories again.... I can add that one back in and turn "Already Started" into a bonus category, since the Already Started books will probably fit elsewhere as well.

The thread about most and least favourite categories in the 888 group inspired me to revise my categories yet another time, to make them a bit more specific.

So, I added two new categories: Arabian Nights and Faeries. I think they'll both be a lot of fun!

I deleted the LT Group Reads/ER category.

And yes, adding two categories and deleting only one means that I currently have ten categories.... I haven't quite decided what to do about that. I may combine Fantasy and Historical Fiction into one, since they'll both have some overlap with other categories (Faeries, Ancient World, and Childhood Rereads).

I think I have more fun planning out my categories than actually reading the books! My 888 challenge doesn't seem nearly as exciting as this one anymore.

I've changed my "Faeries" category to "Fairies and Fairy Tales", to add a bit more flexibility. Also, I'm not sure all the books on my Fairies list are going to make it until the new year without being read!

I, too, have noticed that a book's attractiveness increases enormously as soon as I put it on a list saying that I can't read it until next year.

Once the new year comes, I'm sure the books in my Challenge will instantly lose their allure and all the books I left off my lists will start shouting at me.

I've been thinking about changing one of my categories to Dystopias so am interested in your list. I was already intending to read Brave New World for my 1001 books category but if I enjoy it I think I'll do a whole category of similar.

>9 RidgewayGirl: Yup, that's exactly how it works!

>10 sanddancer: Ooh, do you have any idea what other books you might do in that category? It's always fun to see how someone else approaches the same category. I hope you do choose to do it so that I can get new ideas! (Not that I don't have more than enough unread books in that category already... but still, new ideas never hurt :))

I'll start with Brave New World and then The Day of the Triffids because they are both on the 1001 list anyway. If I enjoy The Day of the Triffids I think quite a few of John Wydham's books may fit this category so I may read another of his. I haven't read The Handmaid's Tale or Fahrenheit 451 so I'd try those too. I was also going to read The Declaration which you have on your list as I've heard good things about this.

I liked Day of the Triffids, but I was actually disappointed with Fahrenheit 451. I felt like once I knew what it was about, reading the story didn't really add anything. I'll be interested to hear what you think about it!

I should really read The Handmaid's Tale someday....

Well, I've removed Fingersmith from my list since I ended up reading it this year.... It seems like I may end up eliminating my historical fiction category altogether, because I somehow don't have a very long list of books that I'm planning to read for it.

Due to early reading, I've also had to get rid of The Hunger Games (but it was worth it!).

And I did decide to scrap the Historical Fiction category, so I'm now down to 9.

I'll look in when you get to the Brandon Sanderson books. I'm interested to see what you think.

I think it will probably be near the beginning of the year. I just read Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians and Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones, so I'm in the mood for some more Brandon Sanderson. I just have a couple of 888 books that I have to get through first.

Book #1 is done: The Secret Magdalene by Ki Longfellow, in my Ancient World category. This is sort of bittersweet: I'm glad to be making an early start, but I was supposed to finish this book yesterday to complete the Historical Fiction category of my 888.

The book itself was fantastic, though--very thought-provoking and informative.

Glad your first one was good. maybe that's a sign!

I hope so! If all my books are so good, it will be one amazing year!

I've made a final revision to my list of planned books, just to fill out a couple of categories that weren't yet complete. The book I finished yesterday was already on the list, so there was no cheating ;)

Book #2 is read: No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman. Korman is one of my favourite children's authors, and I still enjoy his books now; they're quick reads, but entertaining and satisfying. This one was about a boy who refuses to lie, and gets in trouble for writing an unacceptably honest review about one of those typical award-winning books where the dog dies. Other craziness ensues.

Unfortunately, this falls in the Just Because category--not a good sign when it's only my second book of the year! I have a feeling my Childhood Rereads category is going to end up turning into a plain Children's/YA Fiction category, like I had in my 888. There are a lot of books that I really do want to reread, but there are also so many new ones that I'm not sure I'll have time to revisit old favourites.

I've also enjoyed Korman's books and remember No more dead dogs as being a really good read.

I added The Secret Magdalene to my TBR list the other day, after looking at your list here!

I also added (and bought!) The Memoirs of Cleopatra after your recommendation, so now I was wondering if you had read Mary, called Magdalene from the same author? I saw it at the store on the day I bought the Cleopatra book, and it looked very interesting too!

avatiakh, I'm always glad to hear that someone else likes Korman too!

kittykay, I hope you enjoy both of those books! I'll be checking your thread to see what you think (and to follow your reading in general, of course). I do own Mary, Called Magdalene, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet--maybe this year! I think Margaret George has also written a book about Helen of Troy, which I'd also like to read eventually but don't currently own.

Two more books read: Mistborn in the Fantasy category and The Screwtape Letters in the Dewey Decimal Challenge category.

I enjoyed Mistborn--not as much as Elantris by the same author, but I'd still recommend it.

I wasn't so much a fan of The Screwtape Letters, which consists of advice from an experienced devil to a novice devil. I found it pretty slow going despite how short it was. It was supposed to complete last year's Dewey category, but it ended up taking me about three weeks to get through it. Not sure why.

I think it's a good sign that the four books I've read so far are in four different categories.

I liked Mistborn too, but I think you're right - Elantris was better. I have The Well of Ascension on my 999 challenge. Maybe I will change my mind when I read it.

But I *love* The Screwtape Letters. Every time I read it, I get something new out of it.

You're right, maybe I'll like it more after reading The Well of Ascension. It's calling to me from my TBR pile....

And now, less than two weeks into the challenge, I've made my first category change. Even though there are lots of books I want to reread, there are so many new books too.... So I got rid of the Childhood Rereads category, and replaced in with plain Children's/YA Fiction. This will probably be the easiest category in my whole challenge, but I figure it doesn't hurt to have a few easy ones.

Another book read: Le Petit Prince in the Children's/YA fiction category. It was a reread, and I didn't enjoy it quite as much this time--the flower annoys me. Still, it's a great book overall and I'd highly recommend it.

Pagan's Crusade, yet again in the Children's/YA Fiction category. I was disappointed by this one; I had heard good things about it on LT, but I found that I didn't care about any of the characters at all.

Also, my categories are starting to look a bit unbalanced. I think I may end up adding a Historical Fiction category, so books like this one could go there rather than in Children's/YA Fiction. But then I'd have to get rid of another category, and I don't want to do that....

On a more positive note, I realized that I'm doing better than last year at reading books from my TBR pile. 4 of the 6 that I've read so far were even on the list of books that I planned to read! I actually haven't purchased any books yet this year, with the exception of a textbook and workbook that don't really count since they aren't for reading through. So when I exclude those, I'm actually on track for reading 2 books for every one that I acquire: I've only acquired my two Secret Santa books (which really should have come last year anyway) and one ER book.

That's great Zoe! I've also made a new rule for myself. I'm not allowed to buy it or bookmooch it if my local library carries it.

I could really use a rule like that! I don't think I'd be strong enough to stick to it though.

30> I heard good things about the Pagan series on historical fiction listservs/egroups, and did enjoy Pagan's Crusade when I read it for my historical fiction book group. I went through the rest of the books in the series, and now am considering reading the author's non-historical fiction titles.

Other members who weren't so fond of Pagan enjoyed another juvenile Crusades title we read better: Blood Red Horse by K. M. Grant. It's the first in a trilogy that continues in Green Jasper and Blaze of Silver, in that order.

Thanks for the suggestion! The ratings graph for that one does look more promising.

Just finished 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa in my Just Because category. This is a really powerful book and I highly recommend it. I think Nolen's straightfoward journalistic writing style is perfect for this kind of material; she lets the story tell itself. It's a sad story, but worth reading.

Also, I can now say that I've already read more books from my list of planned reads than I did last year (5, as opposed to 4 for all of last year). I think this time I put more care into filling my categories with books I really wanted to read. Also, thank you to whoever suggested actually gathering the books and putting them together on a shelf! I think it's helping me to see how many good books I already own, so I'm not always rushing out to buy more (though I know I'm going to end up ordering some in the next couple of weeks....)

I agree Zoe with the Put them on a physical shelf theory. I actually have almost all my books now physically staring at me. The excitement is great because I now can see what I'm really going to read. I keep adding to the TBR list, but it's now called Next Time.

Yes, I'm with the shelf theory too!
Although I keep the books on my desk rather than on a shelf. All the books around my computer are TBR books, and having them constantly under the eyes really motivates me. I see the piles getting smaller (and bigger, sometimes...) and I have an idea of what's coming next. Then, when I finish a book, come the fun part of finding the right place for it in the bookcase! It really gives me a feel of the time passing by, but through books.

I used to keep all my TBRs on separate bookcases, and I loved finally being able to move them into their permanent homes! I had to give up on that method a few years back, though; with 700+ unread books, it got to the point where I just couldn't find anything and other members of my family started buying books that I already owned (this was pre-LT). So I'm really happy that I could partially return to that system by gathering just one year's intended reads together! I'm glad to hear other people believe in the shelf theory too :)

I'm already thinking of revising my categories significantly. I just started reading Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli, and I can't figure out where it will go: it's based on mythology and takes place at the time of the Trojan War. So is this Ancient World, Fantasy, or Fairies and Fairy Tales? I think what I need to do is create a category called Mythology, Fairy Tales, and Folk Tales that consists of some books that would have been in my Fairies and Fairy Tales category and some books that would have been in my Arabian Nights category. Then, for the Fairies part of the Fairies and Fairy Tales category, I'd create a category of Urban Fantasy and Supernatural, which would include both fairies and vampires (since I think I'm going to end up with at least four books about the latter). I can't decide whether to go ahead with the change, though.... I really *like* my current categories "Fairies and Fairy Tales" and "Arabian Nights". Such difficult decisions....

I've finished Sirena and added it to my Fantasy category, though I'm not sure that's the best place for it--it's based on Greek mythology, so it almost seems like Fairy Tales could be a better fit. Anyway, it was a great book and I'd highly recommend it. It's short and sweet, but manages to have a lot of depth at the same time. I'll definitely be reading more of Napoli's books!

Zoe, I saw you're always on the lookout for a laugh -- try The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes or The Satanic Nurses (both are riffs on literature), or Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (if you're up for laughs mixed with tears).

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm a bit worried that I'm not well-read enough to appreciate fully the riffs on literature, but I think I'll probably give them a try anyway.

I'm all science background, sorely deficient in literature ... which I'm trying to turn around :) The parodies in The Satanic Nurses are almost literary themselves; the satire in McSweeney's is sillier (note: not stupid) and felt more accessible.

Zoe - as per your comment way back in Message 13 in November, I've just finished Fahrenheit 451 and I completely agree with your comments. I liked the idea, but thought the execution was poor. It didn't seem to go deep enough into either character development or how else the society was run.

Thanks for the extra info, detailmuse! Silly is good. I think I'll look for McSweeney's to start.

And thank you sanddancer for remembering to come back here and tell me what you thought of Fahrenheit 451! I'm impressed; I didn't even remember my November post and had to reread it to find out what I'd said ;). It also makes me happy that you agree with my assessment of the book, especially since I usually hear only praise for Bradbury.

January Reading Summary

I read 8 books this month, but they fell into only 5 categories.

Dewey Decimal Challenge 1/9
The Screwtape Letters

Ancient World, Fiction or Non 1/9
The Secret Magdalene

Fantasy 2/9
Mistborn
Sirena

Children's/YA Fiction 3/9
No More Dead Dogs
Le Petit Prince
Pagan's Crusade

Just Because 1/9
28: Stories of AIDS in Africa

This means I haven't yet read any books the following categories: Math/Science, Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic, Arabian Nights, and Fairies/Fairy Tales. I'm not particularly worried about Dystopia; I'm almost done reading Brave New World, and several of the other books I'm planning in that category are the beginning of series, so I may end up reading several in a row. Fairies/Fairy Tales should be okay too. I'll see what happens with Math/Science and Arabian Nights....

Finished Brave New World in my Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic category yesterday. I enjoyed it and am still thinking about it, but I'm not sure quite what to say.

Hi Zoe!

I read Brave New World too; it was a while ago so I don't remember it precisely, but I know at the time it made quite an impression on me. It's a book that gets you thinking!

I had never heard of the Stories od AIDS in Africa; it's something I would appreciate, I think, to have a non fiction read of that kind. I added it on my wishlist!

I hope you enjoy it! I was going to ask you to let me know what you think when you've read it... but then I realized I'd see that in your thread anyway!

I'm thinking of adding a New York City category to my challenge. This would include both non-fiction about New York and fiction set in New York. Possible titles are:

The Mini Rough Guide to New York City (yes, I'm reading this travel guide straight through)
Time Out 1000 Things to Do in New York
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Dead and the Gone

I haven't thought yet about which category I'd get rid of....

I finally read my first P.G. Wodehouse book: Carry On, Jeeves, a collection of ten short stories. I enjoyed it, and will be looking for more (well, maybe "looking" isn't the right word... I know there's a whole shelf of them at the discount bookstore down the street, and I'll probably make a trip there this afternoon...). There were some laugh-out-loud moments, and I really liked his writing style. My one complaint is that some of the plots were so similar that I almost got confused about which story I was in.

This is the second book this year that falls in my "Just Because" category, which isn't really a good sign since I've only read ten books. Still, I can always rearrange the categories later.

I just finished another Wodehouse book, Jeeves in the Offing. It wasn't quite as good as Carry On, Jeeves, but still an entertaining read, especially since I was just reading whatever happened to be available at the discount bookstore rather than choosing Wodehouse's most popular works.

This is the third book in my Just Because category, so it's starting to look like I'll have to redo my categories significantly. I'm even considering adding a whole Wodehouse category. And I may end up with a category that consists of books from categories that I ended up eliminating.

I'm already looking ahead to 101010 too, and I'm starting to think that 10 books in a category is just too many--I find it less satisfying when the categories are too broad, but I don't want all my reading to be restricted to ten very specific categories. So I'm thinking instead of ten categories of ten I may do twenty categories of five next year. That way my reading can be specific and varied at the same time.

I've been wanting to read some Wodehouse too for a while, but with all my other "want to read" books, I don't know when I'll get to it.

For your categories, I have a suggestion. In my 999 challenge, I used to have a "1001 books to read before you die" category, but I soon realized that many of those books could fit in other categories; so, I decided to change this category for another, but I am still doing the "1001 books" thing. Could it be the same thing with your Dewey challenge? I looked at it and it seems this challenge gives you a lot of variety too, so maybe you could exchange this category for another. Just an idea ;-)

By the way, I feel a little the same way about the 101010 challenge, although I think I'll just go with with broader categories, probably similar to the ones I have this year; some categories are more specific, while others could fit almost anything!

Somehow despite the many TBR books I already own, I have a way of finding more that I just must buy and read immediately.... I wish I were better at focusing on my already-existing want-to-read books!

Getting rid of one broad category and fitting all the books into other ones is a good idea! I think Fantasy is probably the one to get rid of first, and then I'll see what kind of books I'm reading for DDC. DDC tends to be a lot of random non-fiction that wouldn't fit as well in my other categories, but Fantasy overlaps a lot with Fairies/Fairy Tales, and Children's/YA (not that I'll have a problem filling that one!), and even Arabian Nights.

I just finished The Genius Factory, a non-fiction account of one man's attempt to improve the world by starting a sperm bank whose donors were all Nobel prize winners. I'm classifying it somewhat reluctantly in my Math/Science category. It's more about the social implications of science, but about half of the copies on LT give it a Dewey number of 576, which is definitely science, and I figure my Math/Science category can probably use all the help it can get. I was actually tempted to put it in my Dystopia category, though, since it deals with the same sort of themes. Or I could put it under Dewey Decimal Challenge.... Oh well. I may move it later.

#57 I saw your post about this book over in the Dewey Decimal challenge group. I'm having a hard time telling whether you really liked it or not. It does sound intriguing, though. I will probably end up looking for it sooner rather than later!

I definitely liked it, but I didn't love it--I gave it 4 stars. Even though I didn't think it quite lived up to its promise, it was still a really interesting read, especially at the beginning. I wrote a slightly fuller review in my 75 Book Challenge thread and copied it to the works page; I'm always a bit hesitant to post the exact same thing in all of my threads, but maybe I should in the future, since different people read different ones.

I also think this book suffered a bit from taking longer than I expected to read--I started it on Wednesday and didn't end up finishing it until first thing this morning, when I had expected to be done with it at least a day earlier. I was ready to move on before reaching the end of the book, which may have tainted my whole view of it a bit.

But also, once it turned out that many of the donors weren't really that special, my interest in the story decreased. The story of a child searching for a father is still interesting (and there was one particular child-father story that I loved), but it's not fascinating in the way that schemes to improve the human race through technology are fascinating. I always preferred speculative fiction to contemporary real-world fiction, though, and I think my non-fiction tastes are similar.

I love P. G. Wodehouse too, Zoe! First thing I read in England to get a feel for the place. Not the real place, of course. But a place that exists in the English imagination. Laughed so much I used to weep. I must read these again. And all of Oscar Wilde.

I note you liked The Secret Magdalene. At the moment it's my favorite book. And oddly enough, there were moments of laughter there too.

I'm glad to see that someone else has read The Secret Magdalene! I think it deserves much more attention than it's received. It's one of the highest-rated books on LT, but owned by surprisingly few people.

I've somehow never read anything by Oscar Wilde, though I've seen several performances of The Importance of Being Earnest. I'll have to remedy that one of these days.

Oh, I think you'll love Oscar. Aside from his theatrical wordplay, he wrote charming stories for children and fairy tales, as well as the wonderful The Canterville Ghost and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

It's possible that The Secret Magdalene is one of those books with a low profile that will stay the course. Unlike those with a high profile which won't. I think a perfect example might be The Da Vinci Code. I've looked it up on wiki. There's a movie in the making. That might change things.

Zoe & Shaggy, you've convinced me to put The Secret Magdalene at the top of my wish list. With only 54 people rating the book, 48 have given it 5*! Amazing!

My book budget's spent at the moment (yes, I have to give myself limits), so I probably won't be able to get it until sometime in March.

Trust me, I understand about limits! I've been trying to keep my book purchases in line with the number I actually read, and I'm not particularly succeeding.

But March is just the day after tomorrow.... happy reading! :)

I was a bit dubious to hear about a film version, but looking at the wiki article it sounds like it's a serious filmmaker at least. I do think the book will eventually get more attention, one way or another.

Oh, and I think I forgot to record my last read: The Game by Diana Wynne Jones. A children's book, and a novella at that, so it didn't have very much depth. Still, it's Diana Wynne Jones, so I don't regret reading it.

I liked The Game. Not as much as some of her others, but it was fun making the connection with all the gods and figuring out who was who and seeing what happened next.

February Progress Update

Books listed were read in February; totals are for the whole year.

Dewey Decimal Challenge 1/9

Ancient World 1/9

Math or Science 1/9
The Genius Factory

Fantasy 3/9
The Game

Dystopia or Post-Apocalyptic 1/9
Brave New World

Children's and YA Fiction 3/9

Arabian Nights 0/9

Fairies and Fairy Tales 0/9

Just Because 3/9
Carry On, Jeeves
Jeeves in the Offing

It was a slow month for me--I blame the fact that it was short! Seriously, though, it's not that I haven't been reading, I just haven't been finishing books. There are too many books and too little time, so I can't seem to focus on one long enough to finish it. I'm currently in the middle of:

The Planets (which I hope to finish today)
Kissing the Witch
The Brothers Grimm: from Enchanted Forests to the Modern World
The Mini Rough Guide to New York City
New York's 50 Best Bookstores for Book Lovers
The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and the Struggle

These are all books that I started in February and am still actively reading. No wonder I'm not making any progress! My consolation is that I should eventually finish a lot of books all at once.

Oh Zoe, you make me feel really good. I too often have 3-5 books going at once, and never seem to be making progress; then ALL AT ONCE, the train jumps ahead on the track and I get to list a bunch at the same time. It's the sign of a broad and active mind. Don't lose faith. At the end of the year, you'll be way ahead of the rest of us. BTW, I like how you do you monthly recap...

I have four books in progress now, in three categories. Also kinda started another two, but I'm not far enough along or sure enough that I'm going to continue to count either as in progress. I'm finding the challenge useful for keeping me confined to so few. I could so easily scatter into a dozen and never finish any. I mentally keep rough track of pages read each day, so even if I get distracted after ten pages and switch to another book I've still contributed to the total.

If it makes you feel better, I had to create a whole category for books that I've started and then just keep putting aside! I can't seem to read one book at a time, unless it is a really good one... And then I just keep putting the ok books off because I think well, maybe the next one will be more interesting!

Oops :)

So at least you plan on finishing yours soonish! :)

Well, planning to finish soonish isn't quite the same thing as actually doing it! We'll see how it goes. I do have a bad tendency to put books aside half-read, so I already have a couple of semi-abandoned ones from January. I had an Already-Started category in my 888, but I ended up not completing a single one of those books! Needless to say, I learned my lesson and chose not to repeat that category.

Tina, thank you for the encouragement! I like the sound of "a broad and active mind" :). It's always nice to put a positive spin on things.

Now I just need to get away from LT and back to the books....

Well, I did end up finishing The Planets yesterday, for my Math/Science category. I'm not sure quite how to describe this book, or my opinion of it. There's a chapter about each planet, plus the moon and the sun, and these chapters describe the planet, its history, and the history of our knowledge of it, while each chapter also has a different focus relating to the impact of the planets in our culture. The Venus chapter includes selections of poetry, while the Saturn chapter discusses the role of the planets in music. My favourite chapter was actually the Earth one, which described the history of earth exploration. On the strength of that chapter, I'm really looking forward to reading another of Sobel's works, Longitude. I already owned that one, and I also ended up buying a copy of Sobel's other work, Galileo's Daughter.

So, the fact that I want to read more books by this author suggests that I liked this one. But it wasn't entirely satisfying. The chapters varied in quality, and by the end I was happy to move on to another book. Still, I loved the beginning of it, and the fact that I managed to read through the whole book without interrupting it much for other reading says something, considering my usual reading habits. Of course, the book is also very short, and fairly light on the science. I'm wavering back and forth between 3.5 and 4 stars.

Zoe- I read Galileo's Daughter a couple years ago, but I'm not sure if I ever finished it. I remember I got dragged down, but don't think it was the author. So it's on my re-read list. I also have Longitude on my 999 list (it will do double for dewey) --own them both and based on your comments, I'll have to put Planets on the list too.

I read Longitude a couple years ago during an exploration/navigation kick. Fascinating stuff, IMO. A basic and essential question: where am I? and where is everything else?

Tina, it will be interesting to compare notes after we both read Longitude. I think I've left my copy at my parents' house, but I'll try to find it next time I'm there. I'm not sure whether I'll get to Galileo's Daughter this year--I guess it depends on how much I like Longitude!

Qebo, if I end up enjoying Longitude and looking for more books on exploration/navigation, I'll be asking you for recommendations! It's not an area I've read much about.

A couple of days ago I finished another book in my Just Because category: New York's 50 Best Bookstores for Book Lovers. I'll copy what I wrote about it in my 75 Book Challenge thread:

Since I'll be moving to New York in September, this seemed like an essential read. It's hard to evaluate it before I've actually arrived in New York, but I think it had some good aspects and some bad aspects. I appreciated the detail that Claxton provided about each bookstore's history and owners, but towards the end the descriptions all started to seem a bit the same (I know, I know, this book probably wasn't intended to be read straight through). I'm not sure whether it actually is the case that most bookstores in New York are best for fiction and art/design/architecture etc., but I got pretty tired of reading about it. I know that almost any bookstore I go into will have a decent selection of the literary classics, and this book didn't really help me in figuring out where to go for general non-fiction. Even when a store is "best for fiction", it can still have a good non-fiction selection too; but that's far from guaranteed--lots of used bookstores carry hardly any non-fiction at all. So, I'd like to know more than just what the store is "best" for. I have a feeling there are more than a few places to get "scholarly" books in New York, but this book may not help me find them.

I just realized that New York's 50 Best Bookstores for Book Lovers actually falls in a Dewey Decimal category that I hadn't read yet, so it's moving into the Dewey Decimal Challenge category from Just Because. Suddenly my progress is looking a lot better: rather than 4 books in Just Because and only one in DDC, I'm now at 3 and 2.

#76 I've been doing some of that, too - placing a book in a different category than I chose it to fill, just because another category is looking kind of puny and it also fits there.

Eek, I'm a bit behind on this thread! I've read three more books since I last updated, The Goose Girl for my fairy tales category (the first one in that category, yay!) and The City of Ember and The People of Sparks in Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic. I'm pretty happy with my progress so far: I think I'm just about on track to finish 81 books by the end of the year (I don't want to cross-list any), and I'm not doing too badly at spreading them out between the different categories (with the exception of poor neglected Arabian Nights).

So, the new reads:

The Goose Girl is a YA retelling of the fairy tale by the same name. I enjoyed it and read through it quickly. In comparison to my next two books, though, I can see that this one wasn't really amazing.

The City of Ember and The People of Sparks, on the other hand, I loved. They're intended for children, but I still found them thoroughly engaging and satisfying. Post-apocalyptic stories are always favourites of mine. The premise of The City of Ember is that an underground city has been created to preserve humanity in the event of worldwide destruction (this isn't revealed at the beginning, but it's pretty clear that the city must be underground, and it's not hard to guess at the motivation either). The city was initially well-stocked, but after more than 200 years supplies are beginning to run low. Even worse, the electricity is starting to fail....

I won't say anything about the plot of The People of Sparks because it would probably contain spoilers for The City of Ember, but I'm happy to say that I enjoyed it just as much as the first one. I highly recommend both books, and I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series soon.

Another for the math/science category: Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea.

I was initially skeptical about this book, because in the early chapters I felt like Seife sometimes presented questionable anecdotes as fact. Plus, for the chapters that I knew the most about, I lamented the lack of footnotes, which isn't really a fair criticism of a popular science work. The book quickly won me over, though, and I often found myself reluctant to put it down. The story presented here is about much more than math: there's history, philosophy, religion, and modern physics too. Much of the material was already familiar to me, but Seife brought it all together into a satisfying overview of the evolution of western thought. I would recommend this even to people who don't particularly like math; it's not very technical and is full of information that would be interesting to anyone.

I happy to have read a third book in this category, since last year I think I only read one math/science book in total. This time my progress is a lot more balanced.

I've just finished the second book in my Fairies and Fairy Tales category: Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue, a collection of fairy tale retellings. I read this book because I've enjoyed Donoghue's historical fiction (Slammerkin, The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits).

I always find it difficult to evaluate short story collections: there were some stories that I loved, and others that I didn't. Overall, I tend to enjoy story collections less than novels, since there's no overarching plot pulling me along. In this book the stories were especially short, which was a bit of a problem for me. Still, I'm glad I read it and would cautiously recommend it; even though it's not my favourite book, Donoghue's retellings are original and often powerful. I'm wavering between 3.5 and 4 stars.

March Progress Update

Books listed were read in March; totals are for the whole year.

Dewey Decimal Challenge 2/9
New York's 50 Best Bookstores for Book Lovers

Ancient World 1/9

Math or Science 3/9
The Planets
Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea

Fantasy 3/9

Dystopia or Post-Apocalyptic 3/9
The City of Ember
The People of Sparks

Children's and YA Fiction 3/9

Arabian Nights 0/9

Fairies and Fairy Tales 2/9
The Goose Girl
Kissing the Witch

Just Because 3/9

I'm much happier with this month's progress than last month's; I managed to read mostly books in more challenging or neglected categories, so all my categories are looking pretty balanced right now (which the exception of Arabian Nights, which I may end up broadening to Arabian Nights and the Arab World).

I've read 20 books in total this year, which means that I'm on track for 80 by year's end. I'm hoping to fit in one extra somewhere, in order to complete the challenge without double-counting any books. Of course, it will get harder to read in the right categories as the year progresses, but I can dream, anyway.

I've fallen behind in my updates here. So far this month, I've read three books, my thoughts on which are mostly copied from my 75 Book Challenge thread:

1. Race Against Time in the Dewey Decimal Challenge category. This is a powerful account of how the world is failing to accomplish the Millennium Development Goals, which aimed to reduce poverty, hunger, AIDS, etc. by a certain amount by 2015. This book really made me want to do something about it, which I think is the ultimate sign of success. I'd recommend this book to anyone.

I have to admit that the fourth chapter dragged a bit--Lewis didn't really convince me that complete equality for women was as important as preventing starvation and death by disease, though he claimed repeatedly that without equality it wouldn't be possible to achieve the rest of the goals--but overall, the book was very readable and the message was certainly worth it.

2. The Prophet of Yonwood in the Children's/YA Fiction category (sadly, I couldn't even count this as Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic). I actively disliked this book, which was surprising to me because I loved the first two Ember books. It's important to note, though, that while this is called the Third Book of Ember, it's actually a prequel with very little connection to Ember. I was a bit disappointed when I first realized that, but I still had high expectations for this book.

Boy, was I wrong. I found a large part of the book almost unbearable, because I couldn't stand the main character. Like the other Ember books, DuPrau has a message to get across here, but unlike the other ones, it doesn't make for a good story. Nickie wants to do something good for the world, so she's quick to accept the word of a stranger that it's necessary to root out sinners. This basically results in her becoming a big tattle-tale, despite herself doing things that she must realize she shouldn't, like secretly keeping a dog in her house. She's quick to accuse other people for very little reason, causing a lot of harm, and I really didn't enjoy reading about it.

Then there's the fact that all the different threads in the story don't really resolve into a satisfactory whole; it was more like one random disappointment after another. I can't resist including some SPOILERS here: the supposed terrorist in the woods turns out to be an albino bear (what?), the coded message that Nickie's father is sending from the top-secret mission that he's on turns out just to say what state he's in (what's the point?), and the mysterious flashes in the sky are really a way to see into parallel universes, which leads to the discovery of extraterrestrial life and so intrigues the important people in Washington that they put off going to war with the terrorists (WTF?).

Rather than being left with a sense of satisfaction when everything was explained in the end, I was deeply disappointed. I felt that this story was much less than the sum of its parts.

3. The Graveyard Book, also in the Children's/YA Fiction category. I don't quite consider this fantasy, but I may end up reconsidering. Children's/YA Fiction is filling up too quickly, and will end up overflowing into Just Because. But I don't think I'll really have a problem finishing my Fantasy category either, so moving this book probably wouldn't help much. We'll see.

Anyway, I'm sure everyone already knows what this book is about, but just in case: it's the story of a boy who is raised by ghosts in a graveyard after his parents are killed when he's a baby. It was inspired by The Jungle Book, though I can't say much about the similarities or differences because I'm only familiar with that story from the Disney movie. After reading The Graveyard Book, though, I do want to read the original eventually.

I read this book because I'd heard lots of good things about it, and because it just won the Newbury, and because I've enjoyed other books by Neil Gaiman in the past. I had actually been meaning to wait to buy the paperback, but someone in my family had gotten the hardcover from the library, so I read it after they were done. This meant that I couldn't really wait until I was in the mood for it, since the due date was looming, and my first indication that it was a good book was that I quickly got into it anyway.

I ended up enjoying this book even more than I'd expected. Based on what some people had said, I'd thought that the individual stories would seem more random, but I found that they did fit together into a cohesive whole after all. This still isn't going to become my favourite book, but I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to others.

>78 _Zoe_:, Zoe, the YA dystopias sound really good. Dystopias are such a favorite of mine, which probably says something bad about me. I've downloaded a sample of the first one and will see how I like it. I see four books total on Amazon. Do you know if they end after that?

>79 _Zoe_:, Also, thanks for your thoughts on Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea - I've been intrigued by that for a long time.

>82 _Zoe_:, oooh, sucks to see that the third book in the series was not so good. I hate when that happens! (Can you tell I'm catching up on this thread in the wrong order?)

Heh, whatever bad thing it says about you, it says the same thing about me--it's not for nothing that I have a whole category of dystopias! I think the fourth book is supposed to be the last one, but since it's fairly new (still in hardcover), I wouldn't be entirely surprised if she eventually ended up writing more.

I hate to say this, but I'd actually recommend skipping the third book, or at least reading the fourth one first. I still haven't gotten to the fourth one, because the third one really didn't make me want to read more, but I've heard that it's better.

I feel like I'm constantly playing catch-up in these threads! There are times when I even fall behind on my own.

I'm a bit behind again. I've read:

The Archimedes Codex in the Ancient World category (but it may be transferred to Math/Science if necessary). I have no idea whether other people would enjoy this, but it's exactly the kind of thing I like reading about: a lost manuscript of Archimedes has been rediscovered, and it's in terrible condition after first being erased and written over, then left to grow mould and otherwise deteriorate. But modern imaging techniques have made it possible to recover the lost text, which may alter our understanding of Greek mathematics. There is some math in here, but the book as a whole is quite accessible.

Son of the Mob 2: Hollywood Hustle in Children's/YA Fiction. I picked up another Gordon Korman book for a light read when I was at my parents' house and hadn't brought enough books (I have a bad habit of carrying around way more books than I could possibly need, but in trying to adjust, I sometimes hit the other extreme).

As I'd expect from Gordon Korman, this one was amusing and quick. The protagonist has gone off to university and is hoping finally to get away from his father's business (i.e., the Mafia), but somehow the business manages to follow him, and ridiculous escapades ensue.

And Hand of Isis in Ancient World. After loving Jo Graham's previous book, Black Ships, I found this one a bit of a disappointment. Hand of Isis is a decent read, but nothing spectacular.

Hand of Isis is the story of Cleopatra's handmaiden Charmian, but really it's just the story of Cleopatra. Charmian doesn't independently do anything of importance, and on the one occasion when she faces a difficult decision that could lead her apart from Cleopatra, her ultimate choice seems rushed and not well explained. In Black Ships, Gull's own story was sufficiently distinct from Aeneas' that the reader didn't know exactly how everything would end, but in Hand of Isis, that's not the case. There's no sense of urgency to read on and find out what will happen, because the reader already knows. So this is the story of Cleopatra, which is already an overly-familiar one, but since we're not seeing it through Cleopatra's own eyes, we're a bit distanced from the main action. Needless to say, this isn't an improvement.

The other issue I had with the book was the role of the gods and fate. Key events happened just because of fate, or because of one person's religious actions, which I thought detracted from the story. I'd rather see all the characters' decisions combining to drive events, and people losing wars because of political decisions; in a story where we know so much about the historical context, relying on the gods to determine the course of events seemed sort of like a cop-out at times and made me care a lot less about what the characters did. I was also a bit dubious about the emphasis on re-incarnation; the constant reminders that Caesar was Alexander come again didn't really add anything to the story, as far as I'm concerned. In Black Ships, I thought the issue of fate was well-handled and added to the story, but here, it seemed a bit out of place.

I think that Graham's main strength in Black Ships was her ability to set a legend in a historically-plausible world, and I hope she'll return to more legendary stories in the future. I'll probably still read her future work, but I'll check the reviews more carefully next time rather than rushing out to buy on the strength of her name alone.

Of course, readers who aren't already familiar with the story of Cleopatra will probably enjoy this book more than I did. For an introduction to Cleopatra, though, I would recommend Margaret George's Memoirs of Cleopatra rather than Hand of Isis.

I would strongly recommend Black Ships, though.

I hadn't read anything of Korman's until I read the 39 Clues book of his. I enjoyed it, but it's good to see that his other books are fun as well.

April Reading Summary

This wasn't my best month. I read six books, but three were in the Children's/YA category that's going to be full way too soon.

Dewey Decimal Challenge 3/9
Race Against Time (Massey Lectures)

Ancient World 3/9
The Archimedes Codex
Hand of Isis

Math or Science 3/9

Fantasy 3/9

Dystopia or Post-Apocalyptic 3/9

Children's and YA Fiction 6/9
The Prophet of Yonwood
The Graveyard Book
Son of the Mob 2: Hollywood Hustle

Arabian Nights 0/9

Fairies and Fairy Tales 2/9

Just Because 3/9

The year is now a third of the way done, and I'm one book behind where I should be, since I don't want to cross-list any. I'm doing surprisingly well at spreading my reading between categories, though. Each category should now be at 3 books, and the actual numbers are pretty close: 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 6, 0, 2, 3. It's a bit unfortunate about the 6 and the 0, but I'm generally happy with my progress.

This has been a really slow reading month, but I've still managed to fall behind in posting!

I read Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr in my Fairies and Fairy Tales category (in this case, fairies). It's YA urban fantasy, and the sequel to Wicked Lovely. I didn't think this one was as good as Wicked Lovely, but it was still a decent read.

And I read Losing Confidence: Power, Politics, and the Crisis in Canadian Democracy by Elizabeth May in my Dewey Decimal Challenge category. It was in the Canadian history DDC category, but as the title suggests, it's more about politics than history. May is the leader of the Canadian Green Party.

I think this was a worthwhile read, though it didn't really tell me much that I didn't already know. May raises a lot of important issues and revived the anger that I feel at our whole political system, but she was a bit disappointing when it came to saying what individuals could actually do about it. Basically, she told us what reforms were needed in the system, but she didn't have much to offer about how we could bring about those reforms.

Still, the book was very readable, and I like to read first-hand politicians' ideas about politics.

I think next year I need a 101010 category called Politics and World Issues, since I seem to be reading a lot of that kind of book lately.

I'm so far behind again! I haven't been reading as much as I'd like lately.

Here's my tiny and belated May update:

May Reading Summary

Dewey Decimal Challenge 4/9
Losing Confidence: Power, Politics, and the Crisis in Canadian Democracy

Ancient World 3/9

Math or Science 3/9

Fantasy 3/9

Dystopia or Post-Apocalyptic 3/9

Children's/YA Fiction 6/9

Arabian Nights 1/9
Seven Daughters and Seven Sons

Fairies and Fairy Tales 3/9
Ink Exchange

Just Because 3/9

So, it's looking like I won't actually finish the challenge this year (which isn't really a surprise). But I'm still happy with my progress: I'm doing better than last year, and I'm reading more in what I consider my important categories: Dewey Decimal Challenge, Ancient World, and Math/Science (I've also read one book in the Math/Science category this month, so the total is actually 4). If I only finish those three categories, I'll be happy, since they're mostly non-fiction.

I'm starting to think that I didn't need both a Fantasy category and a Fairies/Fairy Tales category, since one is a subset of the other and neither has a huge number of books in it yet. But I'll see how it goes; I'm not going to make any changes yet.

I did finally read a book in my Arabian Nights category, but I'm not sure how well that category will work out either.

And the two books I haven't yet commented on:

Seven Daughters and Seven Sons (Arabian Nights category): This is a YA retelling of an Arabian folktale, about a girl who disguises herself as a boy and moves to a new city to start a business in order to support her family, who are struggling to get by with seven daughters in need of a dowry and no sons to help out. Of course, she falls in love while in disguise, and various complications ensue.

The love story was actually the worst part by far; it's extremely simplistic and just generally disappointing (possible spoilers: I particularly didn't like the fact that he figured out she was a girl immediately upon realizing that he had feelings for her, because of course there was no other option, and the fact that just as he was about to find her again at the end, she chose that day to go for a long walk in the desert and managed to meet up with him en route--an annoying and unbelievable coincidence that added nothing to the plot).

I loved the book up until she met her romantic interest, though, and I would still cautiously recommend it.

Longitude (Math/Science category): As the subtitle suggests, this is the story of the man, John Harrison, who came up with a workable method for finding longitude while at sea. He did this by means of a clock, while many other people favoured an astronomical solution, and there's some interesting description of the conflict between the two groups, which was probably increased by the fact that there was a huge monetary prize associated with finding a solution. I enjoyed reading about the eighteenth-century scientific community.

I would have enjoyed reading a bit more about the actual science, too. This is a pretty light and quick read--actually a bit too light for my liking. Sobel mentions various improvements that increased the accuracy of clocks, but I felt like most of the descriptions of the inner workings of clocks were a bit too vague to really give me an understanding of what goes on in there. For example, we learn that "the grasshopper escapement--the part that counted the heartbeats of the clock's pacemaker--took its name from the motion of its crisscrossed components. These kicked like the hind legs of a leaping insect, quietly and without the friction that had bedeviled existing escapement designs." This is all that's said about it, so it wasn't at all clear to me how exactly an escapement worked, and I would have liked to know.

Still, this was a fairly informative book, and probably worth reading, even if it's not anything outstanding. A lot of people will probably be grateful for the fact that Sobel doesn't go into more scientific detail.

Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization (Dewey Decimal Challenge: 330 Economics). This was definitely an interesting read, and I found it very accessible. Rubin manages to maintain a conversational tone without sounding condescending. I appreciated the fact that while some parts of the book were disturbing (like the description of how the car companies deliberately destroyed public transit), there's a lot of optimism here too. There are aspects of Rubin's predicted future that certainly seem like an improvement over the present, like an end to long commutes and a transition to locally-produced food. I would actually have liked to see more of his longer-term vision of the future world; while the economics of why our world will get smaller are certainly worth understanding, I think I'm even more interested in the "what next?" aspect. After finding out the economic facts from Rubin, I'm hoping that he or someone else will write a more speculative book that goes into even more depth about the implications for our everyday lives.

A Mathematician's Lament: How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating and Imaginative Art Form (Math or Science Category). This is an interesting indictment of our current system of mathematics education, a subject that I almost always enjoy reading about (I very nearly became a mathematics teacher myself not long ago). Lockhart makes his point clearly, eloquently, and succintly--this is a very quick read at only 140 pages of fairly large type.

I agree with much of what he says, though I do think that his claims sometimes go a bit too far: he doesn't seem to see much point in learning to add in an age of calculators, for example.

The main problem I had with this book is that, as far as I'm concerned, Lockhart doesn't offer up a viable alternative to the status quo. It's always easy to criticize, but it's a lot harder to come up with a better way of doing things. Lockhart does offer some ideas about how the ideal mathematics education should function: a mathematics teacher should be a practicing mathematician himself, and should be so engaged in the subject that he has no need for lesson plans or curricula, but can rely solely on his passion for mathematics. Teacher training should be abolished, since someone either is a good teacher or isn't, and nothing can change that. While this sounds nice in theory, it just doesn't seem feasible. I'm not convinced that all these perfect mathematics teachers will suddenly appear, and if they don't, we're left with nothing (which I suppose Lockhart would say is better than the current state of affairs). To me, this doesn't seem like a solution. After reading about how terrible the current system is, I'd like to have seen some real suggestions for how it could be reformed.

Still, this is a worthwhile read, and one that should generate a lot of interesting discussion; despite the fact that I wasn't entirely satisfied with it, I plan to encourage my family to read it so that I can see what they think. And there were parts of it that I loved, particularly the initial description of a musician's nightmare that provided a powerful insight into how ridiculous mathematics education can be. So, even with its shortcomings, this is a book that I would recommend.

I've started thinking about my 101010 categories, and I'm going to keep track of my ideas here so I don't forget them.

I definitely want to keep my Dewey Decimal Challenge, Ancient World, and Math/Science categories, because I think they're really worthwhile and I feel satisfied when I make progress in them. I'm also going to keep my Children's/YA Fiction and Just Because categories, the former because a lot of my reading fits there and the latter because I need to maintain some flexibility here.

I'll probably get rid of the Fairies and Fairy Tales category, because I don't need both that and Fantasy. I'm not entirely sure I'll keep Fantasy exactly, but there will be something like it, possibly Speculative Fiction.

I want to add in a category called Foreign Language, for books written in other languages (including French, though as a Canadian that's not really foreign) and also grammar books etc. I think this will be a challenging category--I haven't read any non-English books so far this year--but a rewarding one. (edit: I realized I was wrong about this--I did reread Le Petit Prince this year)

I'm not sure I'll keep my Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic category; I may broaden it into something like Science Fiction (or even combine it with Fantasy to make Speculative Fiction).

I may add a category called Supernatural or Vampires et al. or something, mainly to fit in the re-reads of L.J. Smith's Nightworld series that I'm expecting to do soon. This is a series that I loved when I was about 13, but she stopped writing suddenly, and the last book is finally supposed to come out soon after a gap of about 10 years.

I'm not sure about the Arabian Nights category. Even for this year's challenge, I'm going to have to change it into Arabian Nights and the Arab World. That's the category I'm doing worst in right now, so I'm not sure I'd want to try it again--though Math/Science was my worst category last year, and is now one of my best.

I may also add a category called something like Politics and World Issues, since I seem to be reading a lot of that sort of thing this year.

So, the tentative list is as follows:

Dewey Decimal Challenge
Ancient World
Math/Science
Foreign Language
Politics and World Issues
Fantasy
Speculative Fiction (science fiction, dystopias, and overflow fantasy)
Children's/YA Fiction
Supernatural
Just Because

Phew! I'm glad I'm not the only one. The last week or so all I can think about is my reading list for next year.

It's funny, because initially I was so enthusiastic about this year's list... but with the year only half done, I'm already ready to move on! I think I enjoy making the lists almost as much as I enjoy reading the books ;)

And even though it's only been 20 minutes since I posted my tentative list of next year's categories, I've already thought of a new one that I'd like to fit in if possible: Education and Intelligence. I've bought a lot of books about education that I haven't yet gotten around to reading, and including intelligence as well would give me a bit more variety. Maybe I'll get rid of Fantasy and just stick with Speculative Fiction, though that wouldn't leave me with a lot of fiction categories.

I'm starting to think I may be crazy. If I do go with the Education and Intelligence category, here's a possible list of books:

The Gatekeepers
The Bell Curve
The Mismeasure of Man
Real Education
Embracing the Wide Sky
What's Wrong With University
The End of Ignorance
The Learning Gap
Miseducation
Failing Our Kids

The Babylonian Genesis (Ancient World Category). To say that this is not the most exciting book I've ever read would be a vast understatement; when I was only 30 pages from the end, I put it down for two weeks because I just didn't care enough to go on.

The premise sounds interesting enough: this is a collection of Babylonian creation stories in translation, accompanied by "a detailed examination of the Babylonian creation accounts in their relation to our Old Testament literature". The creation stories themselves were certainly worth reading, if a bit repetitive and dry at times. But the comparison to the Old Testament was not at all what I had expected. I had mistakenly supposed that the focus would be on similarities between the Babylonian and Biblical accounts, and I find that unexpected connections between different cultures are always interesting to read about. Unfortunately, though, the emphasis here was mostly on differences. We would be presented with some details from the Babylonian story, followed by some details from the Biblical story, and told how the two were different. This was repeated several times, and it just didn't make for an engaging narrative.

There was some discussion at the end of structural similarities, but this had too much of a Christian emphasis to really appeal to me. One of the "problems" with the theory that the Bible might have been influenced by the Babylonian Enuma Elish was that this might contradict the doctrine of divine inspiration which "is, of course, indisputably taught in Scripture". So, Heidel explained how the concept divine inspiration could be understood in a way that would allow this influence. I'm just not concerning with reconciling history with the Bible; I wanted to know the historical facts on their own.

I don't mean to say that this is a bad book, just that I don't fit into its intended audience. If I had read the introduction rather than only the back cover before purchasing the book, I would have seen that it was intended for the "Old Testament scholar and the Christian minister". These are the people who might care most about preserving traditional views of the Bible in the light of fairly recently-discovered Near Eastern texts, and I'm just not one of them. Anyone who's interested more in the Near Eastern texts themselves can probably find a more appropriate and more recent book; this one is almost sixty years old. I don't know of any alternatives to recommend, but I can't recommend this one.

Zoe, I spent an hour last week selecting books for next year's challenge! So you are definitely not the only one.

No, definitely not the only one working on nest year. I started my 101010 list weeks ago. I think the appeal is that I can produce a very impressive list in just a few hours. Reading all those books - much as I love them - will take months. The sense of accomplishment just comes so much faster with the list-making!

I'm glad to hear I'm not alone! I think you're right about getting a quick sense of accomplishment from making lists. I'm actually hoping the 2010 group will get started soon, even though it's so early....

My Sister's Keeper (Just Because category). This had been sitting in my TBR pile for two years, and I finally decided I needed to read it when I started seeing previews for the movie and worrying about spoilers. It has the kind of concept that I usually enjoy, but from a women's-fiction viewpoint that I was a bit hesitant about. Anna is a "designer baby" created to be a perfect genetic match for her sister Kate, who has leukemia and needs frequent donations of blood, bone marrow, etc. The book centres around the ethical issues raised by this: does Anna have the right to be her own person, or is she obligated to spend most of her life in the hospital undergoing medical procedures that can help Kate?

I enjoyed this book overall, except for the ending that seemed sort of like a cop-out. I think the whole book could also have been shorter; there was a major sub-plot that I didn't particularly care about. Still, I find that I'm still thinking about the characters several days later, so on that basis alone I can recommend this book.

Among the Hidden (Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic category). I admit it, I read this children's book partially because I felt like I was falling behind in my challenges and wanted to make a bit of quick progress. This brings my Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic category up to 4, which is the minimum any categories should be at halfway through the year.

Among the Hidden is about a third child in a totalitarian future world where families are allowed only two children. Luke has to stay hidden from everyone except his immediate family, which becomes much more challenging when a new neighbourhood is built right next to his family's farm, preventing him from even going outside anymore. It was this one point that kept me from fully enjoying the book: if population is strictly controlled, why is there a need for new houses in a previously undeveloped area? Other than that, though, this was a good read, and certainly a quick one. I'm planning to go on to the sequels, and would recommend this to anyone looking for a light dystopia.

Thinking about my categories again... if I do read the rest of the Shadow Children books (Among the Hidden is the first), my Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic category could fill up pretty quickly. If that happens, I might change Fantasy to Speculative Fiction, so that overflow dystopias could go there. My Fantasy category currently seems to be struggling a bit because the Fairies and Fairy Tales category is stealing books that would otherwise be in Fantasy (I'm not cross-listing any books, which may mean that my challenge is just doomed to failure. Oh well).

Plenty of time left Zoe. You can do it!

Thanks for the encouragement!

#102 In my own challenge, I've sometimes listed books in a "secondary" category - not necessarily the one they fit best in - so that the categories have been filling up pretty evenly. I'm not doing any overlaps, either, but have left myself the option of moving books around after they've been listed - if I need help filling up harder categories. Hopefully, I'll learn something about myself and the books I'm attracted to when it comes time to commit to categories for next year's challenge.

As VictoriaPL says, there is lots of time left to make whatever adjustments you need to your categories or to your choice of books. Just don't forget that this is supposed to be fun!

>105 sjmccreary: Thanks for the support :)

I've decided that I will change my Fantasy category to Speculative Fiction. I was thinking about the purpose of this challenge--to encourage me to read more in certain areas, with a few easy categories thrown in for fun and a sense of progress--and I realized that it's really not my goal to read more fantasy at the expense of, say, science fiction. Fantasy was supposed to be one of my easy categories; it just turned out not to be because of the similarity with Fairies and Fairy Tales. Also, my definition of Fantasy was very rigid--I hadn't even wanted to count The Graveyard Book. With the change to Speculative Fiction, I've moved The Graveyard Book into there from my Children's/YA Fiction category, and so those two categories are now much more balanced: 4 and 5 books read, rather than 3 and 6.

Since I don't think I'll finish a book today, here's my June progress update:

June Reading Summary

Dewey Decimal Challenge 5/9
Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller

Ancient World 4/9
The Babylonian Genesis

Math or Science 5/9
Longitude
A Mathematician's Lament

Speculative Fiction 4/9

Dystopia or Post-Apocalyptic 4/9
Among the Hidden

Children's/YA Fiction 5/9

Arabian Nights 1/9

Fairies and Fairy Tales 3/9

Just Because 4/9
My Sister's Keeper

I'm actually pretty happy with my progress overall. Most of my categories are at either 4 or 5, which is where they should be at the halfway point. Fairies and Fairy Tales is slightly behind, at 3, but that can be fairly easily remedied. So the only real problem is Arabian Nights (which will eventually become Arabian Nights and the Arab World).... But that's okay. Since I've decided not to do overlaps, I'll still consider the challenge a success if I only finish 8 of the 9 categories, which would be the required 72 books. Even that won't be easy, but it will be doable!

Among the Hidden does sound interesting & I always love a dystopia!

Apparently it's already time for my July summary... eek!

July Reading Summary

Dewey Decimal Challenge 5/9

Ancient World 4/9

Math or Science 5/9

Speculative Fiction 4/9

Dystopia or Post-Apocalyptic 6/9
The Ends of the Circle
Among the Impostors

Children's/YA Fiction 5/9

Arabian Nights 1/9

Fairies and Fairy Tales 5/9
The Hunter's Moon
The Summer King

Just Because 5/9
The Uncommon Reader

Not quite as much progress as I'd like, but I was away for a week volunteering at a Girl Guide camp, and I've also been preparing for a move to New York City at the end of this month, so I haven't had a lot of free time. I'm also in the middle of about three books, so I may suddenly get several completed at once (or they may end up sitting in my unfinished pile... oh well). And maybe I spend a bit too much time playing board games.

I'm also several books behind on my summaries; I'll try to remedy that soon.

To begin my catch-up, here are two mini-reviews that I posted in my 75 Books Challenge thread and somehow forgot to cross-post here.

The Ends of the Circle--Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic Category
This is the second book of the Pelbar Cycle, a seven-book post-apocalyptic series. I loved the first one when I read it several years ago, but I was disappointed by this one--perhaps even more so since I had such high expectations. Being disappointed by sequels seems to be sort of a pattern for me lately. I found the plot sort of frustrating--characters wandered around encountering different groups of hostile people, whom they tried to help or at least made an immense effort not to kill despite extreme provocation, and in the end the characters barely escaped with their lives. Repeatedly. Also, I found the dialogue sort of unnatural. But fortunately, I've heard that the rest of the series is better, and I'd still definitely recommend the first book.

The Hunter's Moon (Book 1 of the Chronicles of Faerie--Fairies and Fairy Tales Category)
This book, I absolutely loved! It's rare that I find a fiction book I can recommend without reservation. The first of Melling's Chronicles of Faerie, this is the the story of two cousins who set out across Ireland searching for the fantastic worlds that they've always dreamed of, but run into trouble when they actually find what they're looking for. I loved the writing, which manages to be rich and evocative while at the same time clear and unpretentious. And I really appreciated the differences between this book and the sort of YA urban fairy stories that are popular lately; this story has a sense of innocence and wonder that I found lacking in some of the gritty real-world fairy stories I've recently read. There's no drug abuse, no dysfunctional families, not even any swearing. Instead, there are positive relationships set against a rich background of Irish lore. It was refreshing to be reminded of how magical YA fantasy can be.

I also read The Summer King (Fairies and Fairy Tales Category), the sequel to The Hunter's Moon, and thought it was very good as well. I didn't personally enjoy it quite as much as The Hunter's Moon, but I know there will be people who enjoy it more since it deals with some heavier issues. I'm definitely planning to continue with the third and fourth books of this series (though I don't know whether the fourth is even out yet).

And I read Among the Imposters (Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic Category), the sequel to Among the Hidden. I raced through this one and really enjoyed it overall, though again there were a couple of points that I found unsatisfactory. I hope you do try this series, fannyprice! It's intended for children, but there are times when a quick, light read is a good thing.

Finally, I read The Uncommon Reader (Just Because Category), a novella about the Queen's discovery of reading and the influence it has on her life. There are some ideas here that really ring true, and the book is humorously written. It was a bit too short for me to really get into it and say that it was a fantastic book, but it's definitely worth reading.

>109 _Zoe_:, Among the Imposters is on Kindle for under 6 bucks. How could I not at least try? Although, I confess that right now I am snowed under with reading the Southern Vampire Mysteries series, which my boyfriend turned me on to! Curse him - it's his fault that I want to do nothing right now but read those!

>110 fannyprice: I've heard lots of good things about the Southern Vampire series! I don't usually read mysteries, but I'll probably give the first one a shot eventually.

I'd recommend starting with Among the Hidden rather than Among the Imposters if you can, since the second refers a lot to the events of the first.

>111 _Zoe_:, for what it's worth, the "mysteries" are very much tied in with the supernatural - vampire scheming, werewolves, all that.

I meant to say Among the Hidden - I would never dream of starting a series in the middle!

The Hunter's Moon sounds good to me. I have also been disappointed in the dark, drug-infested tone of some of the urban fantasy. This one sounds more my style.

If you're still looking for books for your dystopia category, I have to recommend Hunger Games. I didn't think I'd like it, but it was one of the best books I read this year.

I would never dream of starting a series in the middle!

Oh, good! I had been inclined to shout "Noooooo!" at the thought and had to restrain myself ;).

I've enjoyed some supernatural books in the past, though that's also not a genre I actively seek out. But thinking about Among the Imposters vs. Among the Hidden, I realized that I actually preferred Among the Imposters because there was more of a mystery in it, so maybe I secretly do like mysteries after all and just haven't realized it!

I haven't actually read many mysteries; I think I may have been turned off the genre by a traumatic experience in Grade 6: I wrote a book report on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which the teacher marked ridiculously, so that I ended up re-doing the whole thing.... There was rubric, so we were supposed to be marked on specific points, but she basically decided on the mark she wanted to give and used the rubric to produce that mark, rather than the other way around. So I got marks like 3/5 for vocabulary with the comment "vocab excellent, but not your usual clear and succinct writing style"--which should not have resulted in deductions in the vocab section!--or 4/5 for spelling, even though there were no spelling mistakes. As you can tell, I'm still bitter. Anyway, I think that may have tainted my whole perspective of mysteries. But I will probably get around to the Southern Vampire books eventually, since I keep seeing praise for them here.

I have also been disappointed in the dark, drug-infested tone of some of the urban fantasy.

I'm glad to hear it's not just me.

>114 BookLizard: BookLizard, I actually did read The Hunger Games last year, and really enjoyed it! Thanks for the good recommendation; it's exactly the kind of thing I would have been looking for. I'm not sure how I failed to put the sequel on my planned reading list for this year; I may have thought that it would come out too late for me to get around to it before January. But I think the release date is actually something like September, so it will probably end up getting read.

More thoughts about next year...

Definite categories:
Dewey Decimal Challenge
Ancient World
Math/Science
Just Because
Children's/YA Fiction

Possible categories:
Education and Intelligence
Fairy Tales, Legends and Folklore (or something along those lines)
Foreign Language
Fantasy, Supernatural, and Science Fiction (I don't like this name, but I think I may dislike "Speculative Fiction" even more. Maybe I'll go with something like "Not the Real World". Names are so hard.)
New York or United States in general (since I'll be moving to New York in just a few weeks!)

I'm a bit concerned that I don't have enough easy fiction categories here, but we'll see....

#116 Fiction set in New York or in USA would be an easy category, I'd think. Or were you thinking of non-fiction for that category?

Either fiction or non-fiction would be fine, though I'd probably lean more toward non-fiction. If it's fiction, I'd want books where the setting is actually significant--I don't want to read something that could just as easily be set in Canada. Any suggestions, for either fiction or non-fiction?

Oh, goodness, there must be hundreds - depending on what you like to read. There is a challenge group which is reading books set in each of the 50 states - you might take a look over there for New York/USA books. I think most people are trying to choose books where the setting is significant to the story.

http://www.librarything.com/groups/fiftystatesfictionor

For non-fiction, there are hundreds more related to the history or geography of New York or USA in general, plus biographies of important people. Have you ever studied American history?

I've realized that I need to review which books I'm planning to read in order to finish this challenge. Since I'm moving very soon and won't have much space for storing books, I have to be very selective about what I take with me. (I won't actually be getting rid of any books, but my old bedroom at my parents' house is somehow going to be holding many more books than it does now.)

Books Still to Be Read

Dewey Decimal Challenge (3 books)
Inside the Apple
1001 Pitfalls in German

Ancient World (4 books)
The Keys of Egypt
The Silver Pigs
A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC
Flow Down Like Silver

Math or Science (4 books)
Letters to a Young Mathematician
Innumeracy
The Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements, vol. 1
Lewis Carroll in Numberland (not yet owned)

Fantasy and Supernatural (3 books)
The Lies of Locke Lamora (in progress)
Alcatraz versus the Knights of Crystallia (not yet released)
The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and the Struggle

Dystopia or Post-Apocalyptic (1 book)
Catching Fire (not yet owned)

Children's/YA Fiction (3 books)
The Vampire Diaries: The Fury and Dark Reunion
The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Nightfall

Arabian Nights (7 books--eek!)
Aladdin's Lamp
The Arabian Nights II: Sindbad and other popular stories
The Arabian Nights: A Companion (in progress)
Castle in the Air
The Storyteller's Daughter
In Arabian Nights
Scheherazade

Fairies and Fairy Tales (3 books)
The Light-Bearer's Daughter
The Stolen Child
Celtic Wonder-Tales

Just Because (3 books)
The Mini Rough Guide to New York City
Across the Endless River
The Host

I'll work on filling in the gaps.

>119 sjmccreary: Thanks for that link! I'll spend some time exploring that group.

No, I've never studied American history, so I don't know much about it (but would suddenly like to learn--it's amazing how the knowledge that I'll be living in a country can make me develop a sudden interest in its history).

Last night I finished The Exact Sciences in Antiquity, which is currently in my Ancient World category (it could move to Math/Science if necessary). Honestly, this one was a bit of a slog. I enjoyed the parts about Egyptian and Babylonian mathematics, but some of the astronomy sections were really slow going. I felt like I just didn't have the necessary astronomy background, and Neugebauer didn't seem to give much thought to the reader who isn't familiar with astronomy. I've read and really enjoyed The Copernican Revolution in the past, so I know that it is possible for astronomical concepts to be written about in a very accessible way.

I'm also worried that I've become too focused on number of books read lately, and maybe didn't give this book the attention it deserved because I was trying to rush through it. Hmm.

#122 I've become too focused on number of books read lately As I'm getting down to the very end of the challenge (only 10 books left) I find myself doing the same thing - putting my first choice book aside in favor of another, shorter, book that I can finish more quickly, just so I can count off another book towards the goal.

>123 sjmccreary: I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one. This is the one thing that might make me lean toward a 55-book step challenge for next year, rather than a 100-book attempt. I really want to try for 100 books, though... we'll see how this year goes.

I've been neglecting this thread again, so here are my last two reads (cross-posted from my 75 Book Challenge thread... so feel free to stop reading here!)

Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and its Discontents (aka For Lust of Knowing)--in my Arabian Nights and the Arab World category. This was a really interesting look at the history of Orientalism. I liked reading about all the scholars of the past, and Irwin's writing was accessible and often entertaining. He strongly disapproves of Edward Said's Orientalism, and his strong feelings help ensure that the book is never dry. So many Orientalists were mentioned that I know I can't keep them all straight, but that didn't really detract from my enjoyment of the book (what did detract from my enjoyment was my initial attempt to read the bibliographic endnotes after every chapter; once I gave up on that and didn't have to look at lists of the same titles again and again, it moved along much more smoothly).

Among the Betrayed--Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic category. This is the third book in the Shadow Children series, which starts with Among the Hidden and Among the Impostors. Initially I felt like Haddix's ideas were getting a bit stale and I had read this before, but in the end I did get caught up in the story and find myself enjoying it. I'm still planning to read the next in the series, because these are nice quick reads that still manage to be pretty satisfying.

>124 _Zoe_:, Zoe, are you a completist when it comes to series books? I find that once I start a series, I have a hard time not seeing it through to the end, even if I don't think its fabulous.

I used to be more of a completist than I am now. It's gotten to the point where there are so many books that I want to read that I just won't continue with a disappointing series.

Here's an extremely belated August update:

August Reading Summary

Dewey Decimal Challenge 5/9

Ancient World 5/9
The Exact Sciences in Antiquity

Math or Science 5/9

Speculative Fiction 4/9

Dystopia or Post-Apocalyptic 8/9
Among the Betrayed
Among the Barons

Children's/YA Fiction 5/9

Arabian Nights 2/9
Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and its Discontents (aka For Lust of Knowing)

Fairies and Fairy Tales 5/9

Just Because 5/9

It was a busy month full of preparations for a move, so I didn't get much reading done--and the busyness continues. Still, I'm happy with the progress I've made on the challenge overall, and particularly with the fact that my easiest categories (Speculative Fiction, Children's/YA Fiction, Just Because) haven't filled up first.

I've also been thinking more about whether I'm a completist, and I've realized, not at all. I regularly see the continuations of bad series on display in the bookstores, and I have almost zero interest in reading them.

It was driving me crazy that I hadn't finished any books lately, so I read two YA books in the past two days:

Spinners (Fairies and Fairy Tales category). This is the second of Donna Jo Napoli's books that I've read, and it won't be the last. I really enjoyed her take on Rumplestiltskin despite being a bit dissatisfied by the ending.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Children's/YA category). I always like books that deal with medical ethics issues, and this was no exception. Jenna has just woken up from a coma and can't remember anything. Her family is treating her strangely, they've just moved across the country, and there's something Jenna's not being told.

I love seeing my categories creep towards completion. I'm almost certainly not going to finish the challenge this year, but I'm still having a lot of fun. It's so much more satisfying after the halfway point, when it seems that each book I add to a category brings it almost to the end. I imagine it won't be as satisfying once my easier categories are completely done and I'm left with just the hard ones, but I've been doing a pretty good job of balancing my reading so far. I still have 4 spots left in my Just Because category, so another category could overflow a bit if necessary. Maybe it's almost time to read that last dystopia....

Freakonomics--Just Because category (my Dewey Decimal Challenge category is getting harder and harder... it's too bad I've already read one book about general economics!)

I had been meaning to read this for ages, but I have to say, I was a bit disappointed (to be honest, anything with cover blurbs like "Genius... has you gasping in amazement" is pretty much asking to disappoint, but that's another issue).

The book consists of largely disconnected studies with surprising outcomes; for example, the legalization of abortion is given as the cause for a decline in the US crime rate: the people who were most likely to become criminals (unwanted, from low-income families with teenage mothers, etc.) just weren't born in the first place. I really enjoyed reading the individual stories and found that the pages went by very quickly, but at the end, I was left with the feeling that the whole was actually less than the sum of the parts. This may have been due to the fact that the treatment of the last issue was by far the weakest, or by the fact that the main book ended very abruptly and was followed by several related articles. Or it may have been due to the fact that the overarching theme (if it can be called that) that things aren't always what they appear and common knowledge can be deceiving isn't nearly as shocking and earth-shattering as it was apparently supposed to be.

At a more nit-picky level, I was also a bit irritated by the feeling that the reader was sometimes deliberately being misled in order to make for a better narrative. We're repeatedly told that the key to making interesting discoveries like the ones in Freakonomics is to ask interesting questions--but the silly questions that appear in the book were obviously made up after the fact. Somehow I'm just not convinced that Levitt started with the question of what do teachers and sumo wrestlers have in common and worked from there to discover that both of them had incentives to cheat and did in fact do so. Especially in a book that purports to be about how the techniques of economics can be applied to real-life situations with surprising results, it seems a bit strange to that an actively misleading approach was taken.

Despite all my criticisms, though, this was definitely an enjoyable book overall, and I'm glad that I read it. It was an easy and interesting read, just not as important and amazing as it wanted to be.

#129 Great review, Zoe. I've never really been tempted by this book, but I think your review just convinced me not to give it another thought.

>129 _Zoe_: I agree completely. If you're still interested in reading along these lines, I also caution you to avoid Simplexity by Jeffrey Kluger. For interesting topics, well-researched and well-written, stick with Malcolm Gladwell.

>130 sjmccreary: Thanks!

>131 detailmuse: Thanks for the advice. I seem to remember hearing mixed things about Malcolm Gladwell too, but maybe I will give him a try eventually. And knowing what books to avoid is definitely a good thing!

Well, it's time for a September recap, even though I hardly got any reading done during the month (or at least, I hardly completed any books--maybe all the ones I read in part will be finished someday)

September Reading Summary

Dewey Decimal Challenge 5/9

Ancient World 5/9

Math or Science 5/9

Speculative Fiction 4/9

Dystopia or Post-Apocalyptic 8/9

Children's/YA Fiction 6/9
The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Arabian Nights 2/9

Fairies and Fairy Tales 6/9
Spinners

Just Because 6/9
Freakonomics

Bewitching Season (Fantasy and Supernatural category). I was looking for a light and distracting read after a long week, so this was exactly what I needed. It's a YA romance/fantasy: Twins Persephone and Penelope have spent their childhoods being tutored in magic, among other things, by their governess Ally, but it's time to go to London for their first season. Penelope (Pen) is looking forward to it, while Persephone (Persy) wishes she could stay at home and study forever. Meanwhile, Ally has mysteriously disappeared....

The plot of this book was entirely predictable (complete with one bad-horror-movie urge to shout at the silly characters not to go that way), but I still read it in one sitting and came away satisfied. Persy, with her love of books and learning, was an easy character to relate to (and only occasionally did really dumb things), and Pen was much more likeable than I'd expected; it would have been easy for the more social twin to seem flat and stereotyped, but that wasn't the case. Plus there were some great minor characters. So, while this wasn't great literature, I enjoyed it for what it was, and I may even read the sequel eventually.

On another note, I'm considering getting rid of this Fantasy and Supernatural category and replacing it with something more generic, like New-to-me Authors. I've found that I've become stressed about this challenge since reading the sixth book in my Just Because category earlier this week; I find it worrying that I only have 3 "free choice" books left for the whole year--although this should be plenty if I continue at the same rate as before, I think it's harder and harder to stick to the challenge as the year goes on, so I may need more flexibility. And I'm not particularly attached to my Fantasy/Supernatural category anyway. Taking books from Fantasy/Supernatural and Just Because, 7 of them would already fit under New-to-me Authors, so it would be an easy category to fill. We'll see what happens.

Speaking of rearrangements, I may have to make an even more drastic change to my challenge: I had been planning to do this with no overlaps, without really expecting to finish. And since I've only read 48 books so far, it seems pretty safe to say that I won't be reaching 81. But 72 is actually within sight, though still challenging. So I may have to get rid of my poor neglected Arabian Nights category (only two books read so far--though that could still change!) and replace it with something that basically consists entirely of overlaps, like "Favourite book from each category".

Cross-posting from my 75 Book Challenge thread:

Good Pirates of the Forgotten Bayous (Dewey Decimal Challenge Category). A very interesting account of some of the people who stayed behind during Hurricane Katrina and how they managed to survive, both during and after the storm. Many of the stories are amazing, or amazingly sad, or both.

My only complaint is that there were sometimes too many descriptions of boats for my liking and comprehension.

Betraying Season (Fantasy and Supernatural Category. I said only a week ago that I might "sometime" read this sequel to Bewitching Season, and I guess "sometime" has come sooner than I thought.

I wanted to recapture the feeling I had while reading the first, of deliberating relaxing and losing myself in a light, not-serious book. But I wasn't quite able to do it. I wasn't as feeling as tired and deserving of a break, which meant that I spent more time noticing the story's flaws. The main one is the passivity of the main character, Pen, and her willingness to believe anything good while disbelieving anything bad, regardless of what's true. The doctor is a bit concerned about the mysterious medicine that makes the governess sleep for 20 hours a day? Oh well, it's probably all good. There's a mysterious man sneaking around the backyard at night? Well, that adds to the nice Gothic atmosphere of the place. (Possible spoilers) I didn't believe it when I was told she was planning to murder someone, and now she's getting me to say this spell about death and stopping breath and so on... I wonder what that's all about?(End spoilers) Also, there were occasionally flaws in the editing that seem to be the result of trying to make the writing more old-fashioned: "What has that have to do with it?", or something along those lines.

It still wasn't a bad book; I chose it as a light read, and that's what I got. I still liked the main character, too. But I didn't enjoy this as much as the first one.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (Dewey Decimal Challenge category). I just finished this book about an hour ago and need a bit of time to let it sink in. It's not at all the kind of thing I usually read--too depressing, especially at first when he was just roaming around the country trying to survive. I actually liked it more once he became a soldier, which is probably the wrong attitude to have. Anyway, I think this was a worthwhile read, and it made me want to find out more about what went on in Sierra Leone. Despite the fact that this is a memoir and the author was young at the time, I would have liked to know more about the politics behind everything. Pretty much all we learn is that the rebels, while supposedly fighting for freedom, murdered civilians in horrible ways, and it made me wonder how a situation like that could come to be.

#137 Wouldn't it be nice to have a "History Channel On Demand" for times like this? I guess that's what the internet is for. The book doesn't sound like something I'd normally read, either, but it's good to know it was worth the effort. Are you planning to post a review?

I don't know whether I'll write a review. It's the kind of book that I find difficult to consider critically; I think I tend to assess books pretty harshly, but when he's describing personal and terrible experiences like this, I feel like I'm in no position to judge. Plus, it's far enough outside my normal reading that I don't really have anything to compare it to.

So I'll think about it over the next few days, but I'm currently leaning toward no.

Letters to a Young Mathematician (Mathematics or Science category) by I. Stewart--I'll leave it to your imaginations to decide what the "I" stands for ;)

As the title suggests, this book is written in the form of letters to a "young mathematician", offering advice and generally discussing what mathematics is and what it means to be a mathematician. The back cover promises that it "tells readers what world renowned mathematician Ian Stewart wishes he had known when he was a student", and I was intrigued because I had a mixed experience with mathematics in university and always wondered what I could have done differently.

I have to say, my experience with this book was also mixed. First of all, lest the title mislead, I think it's actually more suited for a general non-mathematical audience than for someone who's actually in the process of becoming a mathematician--which wasn't a problem for me, since I read it for general interest and not as an aspiring mathematician.

Stewart raises a lot of interesting points here, but he often doesn't discuss them in as much detail as I would have liked. I think this is part of a series, and it was probably a requirement that the book be barely 200 pages long, but there are times when a bit more depth would have been nice. It was good in a way that the book left me wanting more, and it did include references to other interesting reading throughout, but it wasn't quite satisfying enough in itself. Many people will probably appreciate the brevity, though.

A more serious concern for me was the fact that I just didn't agree with some of his more important points. I know, he's the mathematician and I'm not, but still. The book got off to a bad start, in my mind, with the initial chapter entitled "Why Do Math?". Stewart's reason, briefly, is that math is everywhere. There's a bit too much focus on the utility and not enough on the beauty of it. The same is true even in his chapter on proofs: "it would be silly to suggest that this agreement (with experiment to an accuracy of nine decimal places) is an accident, and that no physical principle is involved.... (but) it is equally silly not to try to find out the deep logic that justifies the calculation. Such understanding... will surely advance mathematics." So even proofs are presented not as necessary, but merely as useful (a view that he steps back from slightly in the following chapter, but to my mind, the damage was done).

Another point that left me wondering is his claim that not everyone can be a mathematician, because "originality is one of those things that you either have or you don't." I really appreciate the fact that he expressly disagrees with the politically-correct view that everyone can be good at everything, but I think he simplifies the issue a bit too much. In particular, I'm just not convinced that originality is the key. He compares it to the attempt of a tone-deaf person to become a great musician, but there's nothing in there to make me think that creativity is the problem rather than some more basic musical/mathematical aptitude. His explanations about how he excelled at math without effort from the time he was 10 didn't convince me either; the mathematics that one does at age 10 is so different from "real" mathematics that it can barely be called the same subject. Creativity certainly isn't the main factor there. I wonder whether Stewart's various unconvincing arguments are a direct result of the book's extreme brevity; maybe I would have been more convinced if he had elaborated his position further.

On the other hand, I think the fact that I have so much to say about this book speaks in its favour. Regardless of whether I agree with everything Stewart says, he makes plenty of interesting and provocative points in a short space. And there's a fair bit of humour, too, including a whole chapter on what not to do as a tenure-track professor that consists mainly of humorous anecdotes about various mishaps ("I was once abandoned inside a Dutch mathematics building when my hosts went off to the parking garage to go to a restaurant. I had to make my escape through a window, setting off a burglar alarm.") So in the end, I think I would cautiously recommend this book, as long as you don't take Stewart's views as the be-all-and-end-all when it comes to what mathematics is.

Very nice review, Zoe! It's probably not a book I will read, but I did like reading your review. And just to tease you a bit... the philosophy of mathematics comes into play in Flow Down Like Silver. I'm sure that having read the Stewart book will give you more depth than I had on this aspect of Longfellow's book.

#140 Is this the book that starts out "Call me Ishmael"? ;-)

I agree with Ivyd, a great review, but I don't think I'll be aout looking for the book.

Somehow I suspected that this wouldn't be the most popular book :)

>141 ivyd: Oh, I know, I was definitely thinking that Hypatia might intrinsically be more interesting to me than Mary Magdalene! I've read other things about the philosophy of mathematics as well, and I was just telling Sandy that I'm actually doing my PhD in ancient mathematics. So really, it should be the perfect book for me....

I've realized, though, that I haven't been particularly interested in reading fiction lately, other than light YA fiction when I need something mindless. I need more long periods of free time so that I can let myself fully get lost in a good story.

>145 _Zoe_: What an interesting PhD subject! I guess it explains some of your categories... and I'm sure your background and interests will contribute to your appreciation of Hypatia. I'm afraid most of it is beyond me...

Yup, I guess it would explain them.

I think I'm starting to go crazy (again). I'm becoming more and more interested in this book, and yet for some reason I can't actually bring myself to *read* it yet....

Instead, I devoted my attention to revising my categories. I noticed that I've been reading a lot about Africa this year, while my Arabian Nights and the Arab World category has been suffering (only two books read so far!). So that category has now been transformed into Arabian Nights, the Arab World, and Africa... a slightly strange mix, but at least there's a bit of geographical unity. So I now have a solid 4 books in that category, plus two more that could be cross-listed there if necessary--and I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that those nine cross-listed books will be inevitable. Since I've only read 53 books so far, even 72 will be a bit stretch, but I think it's within reach. I'm amazed at how much my new 15-minute subway commute has increased my reading lately.

Also, one of the four books in my new Arabian Nights, the Arab World, and Africa category:

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. What an amazing story! I can't remember the last time I read such a gripping work of non-fiction, if ever; I tore through this book yesterday afternoon/evening despite having other things that I should have been doing, and came away thoroughly satisfied. Even before I read the book, I was hooked by the premise: a Malawian boy, living in the midst of poverty and famine and with limited educational opportunities, reads about windmills in a library book and decides that electricity is the solution to his family's problems. So, using various scraps of metal and relying heavily on the book's diagrams, he goes ahead and builds his windmill. And it works.

It was so nice to read a positive book about Africa for a change. The problems aren't hidden; there's plenty of talk about famine in particular, including good explanations of the reasons behind it, but the overall outlook is optimistic. I also liked book's the writing style (it was co-written with a former journalist), found Kamkwamba easy to relate to, and generally enjoyed the whole reading experience. I have a feeling this will end up in my Top 5 for the year.

Zoe...I have an ARC of boy who harnessed the wind and haven't had a chance to get to it, so I gave it one of our teenagers at the library and asked him to read it.....he loved it! Said it was really inspiring and interesting. So I think I'll let the teenies circulate it around before I get to it. It does sound fascinating.

146 - It sounds really good. I'll have to look for it.

I recently finished The New 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth, an ER book that I was supposed to have read and reviewed months ago... oops. It was fine for what it was, but I think I'll stick to more narrative ER books in the future.

Since I'm running out of time for this challenge, I'm making a list of must-read books: books that I can't cover by my nine cross-counts of books I've already read.

Must-Reads Remaining

4 Ancient World
1 Math or Science
1 Dystopia or Post-Apocalyptic
3 Arabian Nights, the Arab World, or Africa
3 Fairies or Fairy Tales


plus 6 more for sheer numbers (three of these can be "Just Because", and I still have space in easy categories like YA or Fantasy)

So while there are still quite a few to go from a numbers perspective (at least for me--I've read no more than 8 books in any month this year, and now I'm hoping to do 18 in two months and two days), I've actually done really well in terms of categories, so I have a lot of flexibility remaining.

Possible reads for the Must-Read spots:

Flow Down Like Silver
A History of the Ancient Near East
The Silver Pigs
The Keys of Egypt

Lewis Carroll in Numberland

Among the Brave

Castle in the Air
In Arabian Nights
The Arabian Nights: A Companion

The Lightbearer's Daughter
Celtic Wonder-Tales
The Various

Not too overwhelming, I think... though I'm a bit concerned about avoiding long books. And 6 "free choice" reads isn't really very much.

You're getting so close, Zoe! I liked the very end of the challenge the best, I think, because I was really focused on getting just the right books for certain "slots". Good luck on a strong finish!

Thanks for the encouragement! It is definitely exciting, I just wish I weren't cutting it quite so close!

October Reading Summary

Dewey Decimal Challenge 7/9
The Good Pirates of the Forgotten Bayous
A Long Way Gone

Ancient World 5/9

Math or Science 6/9
Letters to a Young Mathematician

Fantasy and Supernatural 8/9
Bewitching Season
Betraying Season
The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and the Struggle
(November) The Vampire Diaries: The Fury and Dark Reunion

Dystopia or Post-Apocalyptic 8/9

Children's/YA Fiction 6/9

Arabian Nights, the Arab World, and Africa 4/9
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Fairies and Fairy Tales 6/9

Just Because 6/9
The New 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth

These numbers are still not including the 9 repeats, though I've started listing them (in parentheses) in my complete list at the top.

I've decided to work on my 999 and 101010 challenges at the same time. For the last two months of this year and the first two months of next year, books can count toward either challenge.

Finally, an Arabian Nights themed book for my now much expanded category formerly known as Arabian Nights.

Castle in the Air is reminiscent of Aladdin, which is a good thing in my eyes. Abdullah starts out as a carpet merchant in a crowded bazaar and goes through plenty of adventures with a wish-granting genie in a bottle and a magic carpet, all in pursuit of the Sultan's daughter. There are bandits in the desert and evil djinns and all that good Arabian Nights stuff. The best part, though, is that the author doesn't take these themes (or herself) too seriously; she sometimes plays up the familiar concepts to the point of the ridiculous, and I found myself laughing on more than one occasion. If you like the Arabian Nights or DWJ's other work, I would definitely recommend this one.

Beast (Fairies and Fairy Tales category). I can't say that I really enjoyed this book. It's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, a story that I love, but in this case I didn't find that the retelling improved on the story at all. The premise is intriguing enough: this is Beast's story, starting from before he met Beauty and explaining how and why he came to be a Beast. Unfortunately, I thought the reason for his transformation was unsatisfying, the descriptions of his time as a beast were distasteful, and he was a pretty unlikeable character overall.

Beast is set in Persia, and the protagonist is a prince. As his servant is preparing a camel for sacrifice at a religious festival, he notices that the camel has a scar that makes it unfit for this sacrifice. The servant has no alternative camel ready, an oversight that could result in a severe penalty, possibly even death. The prince, who has a good heart and a dislike for the suffering of others, weighs the risks and benefits and decides that the camel should be sacrificed despite the flaw. This will save the servant and help the people, who receive portions of the meat. And, he reasons, God is merciful.

It's not entirely clear why this reasoning breaks down. The prince is turned into a beast (a lion, in particular) not by God, but by the angry spirit of the camel. I can't honestly say why the camel was angry, because it wasn't explained what exactly happens to an animal that is sacrificed inappropriately. For whatever reason, though, the prince is punished for his attempt to do good by being turned into a lion, and the curse will only be broken if he wins a woman's love (this part is explained by the camel being female, though again, the logic here isn't entirely clear to me). Needless to say, if the goal is to bring the Beast to life by providing his backstory, the backstory needs to make sense. I wasn't exactly satisfied in this regard.

So then the prince is a lion, and does lion things. Although as a man he has never laid eyes on a women other than his mother, his first act as a lion is to mate with some female lions in the palace hunting grounds. This wasn't described in very much detail, but I still could have done without it. I just didn't need to hear about his “thrusting”. Also, note that this is a YA book, or possibly even children's. The prince also spends a lot of his time hunting, which I didn't find very interesting. Basically, I wasn't really into the story until the requisite scene where Belle's father encounters the beast while seeking shelter from the storm; i.e., until Napoli's story converges with the traditional version. Unfortunately, this didn't happen until more than halfway through.

I did enjoy the development of the Beast's relationship to Belle, but I couldn't fully like him because of the way he treated her pet fox. This fox was possibly the best character in the story; he was loving, playful, loyal, forgiving, and basically wonderful all around. And the Beast constantly thought things along the lines of “What a stupid animal” or “That foolish fox....”, for no particular reason that I could see. I'm not sure how he changed from someone who seemed so compassionate initially into someone who thought badly about innocent animals; and no matter how well he treated Belle, I think his ideas about the fox were more telling about his personality.

So, an initially likeable man is transformed into a beast because he made a religious error while trying to help others; once he's a beast, he becomes less likeable rather than learning any sort of valuable lesson.

I've enjoyed other books by Donna Jo Napoli in the past, but I think I'll stick to Robin McKinley for Beauty and the Beast.

The Rumpelstiltskin Problem (Fairies and Fairy Tales category). This is a collection of six Rumpelstiltskin retellings, based on the premise that the classic tale of Rumpelstiltskin doesn't make much sense--Why did Rumpelstiltskin want a baby in the first place? Once he was about to win, why did he give the girl another chance, offering to let her guess his name with no potential benefit for himself? How did he manage to fall through the floor? The introduction, where Vande Velde bitingly points out these flaws, makes for some pretty entertaining reading.

As for the stories themselves, I have to say first of all that I'm really not a short story person (I know, so why do I keep reading short stories? That's a good question). I find that they generally don't have enough depth to be really memorable. So I spread out the reading of this book over a couple of weeks, and already I'm having trouble remembering the earlier stories. They were enjoyable enough at the time, though, and there was one that I really loved. The one criticism I would make is that the characters' behaviour etc. still wasn't always satisfactorily explained, something that's especially important here when the whole point is to make the stories more coherent. For example, in the first story, Rumpelstiltskin is a troll who wants a baby to eat, but for some reason he's unable to steal one in a straightforward fashion and therefore has to contrive this whole complicated scheme.

I think I may be more critical than usual because I recently read a full-length Rumpelstiltskin retelling, which did explain (almost) everything in a satisfying way, so these short stories paled a bit in comparison. Still, it's always interesting to get some new perspectives on familiar stories, and in the end I'm glad I read this book.

Only one book remaining in this category!

Thanks for the great reviews! I just finished a reread of Howl's Moving Castle and it was still just great. I'll have to think more about Beast, but I really enjoyed The Rumplestiltskin Problem. I thought it was fun.

If you're considering Beast, you might as well just give it a try because it's pretty short (and because I'd be curious to hear what someone else thought of it!).

Have you read any other Rumpelstiltskin retellings? I enjoyed Spinners earlier this year, and I'm planning to read Straw into Gold in the near future--both The Rumpelstiltskin Problem and Straw into Gold were discoveries from another challenge group :)

I read The Crimson Thread this year, I think, and didn't enjoy it. I generally like this series, but this one didn't do it for me. My review can be found at this link, also user name cmbohn. I haven't read Spinners or A Curse as Dark as Gold.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1932042.The_Crimson_Thread_A_Retelling_of_Rum...

Edited to ask who wrote Straw into Gold?

I haven't read any of the books in that series, though I think I've accumulated a few of them. I wasn't able to find your review at GoodReads, probably because I'm not familiar with the interface--is there a way to search for a review by a given user rather than checking through each page individually?

Straw into Gold was written by Gary Schmidt, who also wrote The Wednesday Wars. I've been hearing huge amounts of praise for The Wednesday Wars over in the 75 Book Challenge group, but Straw into Gold seems more appealing to me.

Also, I can't get any touchstones to load anywhere--I inserted the Wednesday Wars link manually. Is anyone else having this problem? I hate being unable to edit my initial post to update my progress, but I don't want to lose all the touchstones that I have there :(. If anyone else wants to complain about it, I started a Bug Collectors thread here.

Last night I read Once a Witch, a cute light YA novel about a girl who comes from a family of witches. At birth it was proclaimed that she would be one of the most powerful of them all, but when her Talent failed to show up at all by her eighth birthday, she became sort of an outcast instead. So when a stranger comes looking for help and mistakes her for her very Talented sister, she isn't too quick to disillusion him, and ends up getting into all sorts of trouble....

This one was set in New York, so I was tempted to count it in the New York category of my 101010 rather than here, but I don't think I'll have much trouble filling that category anyway--it's nice reading about familiar places. Instead, I'm including this in my Fantasy and Supernatural category here, which brings it to 9 books... done! This is the first category that I'm officially proclaiming finished, even though my Dewey Decimal Challenge category is finished if I include two overlaps. Children's/YA Fiction and Just Because could also be finished with three overlaps each, but that would be pushing it a bit.

I was disappointed with Beast too. It's been 8 years since I read it and I didn't make a note of why I didn't like it so I don't have specifics for you. But I only gave it one star, so it must have left a foul taste in my mouth.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one. Have you read any other books by the same author?

No, I haven't. Can you recommend any of her others?

I really liked Sirena when I read it earlier this year, and I also enjoyed Spinners.

I'll keep those in mind, Zoe.
I'm so ready to dive into my 1010 books!

I've decided to work on my 999 and 101010 simultaneously for the last two months of this year and the first two months of next year--the best of both worlds!

Yay! So I won't be alone in doing this odd thing. :)

ETA: I knew there was no way I could read 81 books in one year!

>169 SqueakyChu: I'm glad you (and others?) started doing this first! I don't know whether I would have thought to modify the timeframe on my own. And I feel much better now that I have; I'm not rushing anymore, and I'm not worried about completed 999 categories meaning that I can't read any more of those books for the rest of the year, since they can just go in my 101010 instead!

It's interesting, I had much less of a problem with leaving the challenge unfinished when I knew I was nowhere close.... Last year I only read 40 books, so my 888 was nowhere near done. But now that my reading numbers are into the low 60s, I really want to finish the challenge, even if it takes a couple of extra months.

And speaking of finishing, I just read the last book for my Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic category!

Little Brother. In some ways, this is not the kind of book I usually read--phrases like "techno-geek" on the cover don't tend to appeal to me. But I picked this one up because both my brother and sister really liked it, and I'm glad I did. Doctorow raises a lot of difficult questions about the trade-offs between security and privacy, and tells a gripping story too.

Marcus is a high-school student in the not-too-distant future, at a time when surveillance is increasing and school-issued notebooks record every keystroke a student makes. Being concerned with privacy and good with computers, Marcus has hacked his notebook to get around the surveillance features and takes other measures like putting gravel in his shoes to outsmart the gait-recognition devices in the school hallways. He's not really a bad guy, though, more concerned with getting out of school to play games with his friends than with using his abilities for any greater, malicious purpose.

Unfortunately, after a terrorist attack in San Francisco, the authorities don't see Marcus' behaviour in such an innocent light. He's grabbed off the street almost arbitrarily by the Department of Homeland Security and accused of being a terrorist. When he isn't immediately willing to give up all his privacy and insists, for example, on seeing a lawyer, the situation only worsens. He's subjected to mild forms of torture until he yields completely, and is eventually released with instructions to tell no one about what happened and a warning that his every move will be watched from then on.

Rather than giving in, though, Marcus decides to fight back against the Department of Homeland Security. As more and more citizens' rights are taken away in the name of safety, Marcus develops an underground network devoted to preserving privacy and freedom. Nothing here is completely black-and-white, though, and many of Marcus' friends and family members oppose his actions. The result is a thought-provoking examination of how far you should go in standing up for your beliefs.

As a side note, the author of this book strongly opposes DRM and has released all his books in free, unprotected electronic formats at the same time as the print releases. This makes him a good guy in my books.

It sounds good. Was it written for teens or just about them?

Written for teens, but not nearly as light and fluffy as a lot of the YA stuff I read.

After a long break due to heavy end-of-semester workload, I've finally managed to get a bit of reading done again:

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic category). A very interesting YA dystopia set on another planet where the colonizers' dreams of a peaceful new life have somehow gone horribly wrong. Todd is about to reach his 13th birthday and become a man, but there's also something more sinister going on, and nothing is quite what it seems....

Who Turned Out the Lights? (Dewey Decimal Challenge category). This was an ER book; review below:

This is a basic introduction to the energy crisis, written in an accessible and humorous style. I was initially concerned that the pop-culture references would be a bit too much (both Homer Simpson and Paris Hilton make appearances on the first page), but in the end I actually enjoyed some of them.

The goal of the book is to present possible solutions to America's energy problems in an unbiased way. The pros and cons of each solution (more nuclear power, increased oil drilling, a tax on carbon emissions, etc.) are explained, and the authors try to avoid making judgements about what's best, leaving it for the reader to make up her own mind.

I do think that they succeed in explaining the issues clearly, though ultimately, I can't really say that I learned very much from this book. I suspect that, like me, many of the people who would be inclined to read something like this are already reasonably well-informed.

Still, I think this is a good introduction to the topic. Perhaps the highest indication of its success is the fact that I'm considering reading the authors' previous book, Where Does the Money Go?, about the federal budget crisis. As a Canadian who just recently moved to the United States, that's something that I really know nothing about--making me fit perfectly into the target audience.

So, in brief, Who Turned Out the Lights? is a good introductory book, very accessible and easy to read, but not necessarily for those who are already familiar with the topic.

Zoe, did you want to read Anne of Green Gables before the end of the year? It would be fine with me, since it would fit as 1 of the 2 remaining books I have left on my mini-challenge, and I'll have no trouble finding 10 books for my L.M. Montgomery challenge next year without including this one. The week after Christmas would be best for me...

Sure, that works for me. I don't actually know where my copy is, but it's the kind of book that I can easily get from the library (though I know I have problems when I have to go to the library for books I already own...).

I hope you enjoy the book (Anne of Green Gables)- it is based in my home area!

It's so well-loved, I don't see how I couldn't enjoy it!

I've never had a chance to go to PEI. One of these days....

I recommend sometime during the June - September period, it is not so great right now ;)

Yeah, I can imagine!

Anne of Green Gables (Children's/YA Fiction category).

Well, here it is! I'm a bit ashamed that I had never read this book before now. I think everyone was pushing it a bit too much when I was younger, which of course had the opposite effect than they'd intended. Also, it's not quite the kind of book I usually read--more character-driven than plot-driven, and set in the real world.

But I can say now that everyone else was right and I was wrong. I'm really glad I finally got around to this one. All of the characters are just wonderful, and you can't help loving them. The descriptions of PEI are great too; I'm definitely inspired to visit. Plus, I enjoyed getting a sense of what Canada was like a hundred years ago.

It was interesting to see how much of the story was already familiar to me. I had seen a school play of it when I was in Grade 2, and I had also seen bits of movies or TV shows, so I often knew what was going to happen. One part in particular that I knew was coming still made me cry when it actually happened, though. I had hoped that was in a future book, but no such luck.

I was planning to write a proper review, but I don't think I can do it justice. Suffice it to say that I'd definitely recommend this to anyone else like me who had somehow avoided reading it for years. I'm sure the sequels will make an appearance in my thread before too long.

Zoe, I'm so glad you liked Anne of Green Gables! I was really interested in finding out what you thought of it, when you hadn't read it as a child. I started it last night (will probably finish tonight), and I'm finding it just as wonderful as I always have, and seeing some things in it that I don't think I saw before.

I am also glad to hear that you enjoyed it! If you ever do make it up to PEI let me know and I'll show you around!

I actually think there are parts that I enjoyed more now than I would have as a child. I'm looking forward to the discussion! (Also, I'm now more than halfway through Anne of Avonlea....)

Amckie, I hope I'll eventually have a chance to take you up on that offer! Montgomery has really caused me to move PEI up a fair bit on the list of places to be visited.

Anne of Avonlea (Children's/YA Fiction category).

This finishes up this category. I'm not actually going to complete the challenge, but I've made much better progress than last year so I'm happy.

As for the book itself, I enjoyed it but don't have much to say. The thing that struck me most was how 16-year-olds could become teachers and start contributing to society, in contrast to the drawn-out education process of today.

Odd and the Frost Giants (Just Because category). This is an extremely short children's book inspired by Norse mythology. Not being especially familiar with Norse mythology, I can't say how closely it follows a particular myth, but the well-known gods and settings are there.

It's a cute story, but just too short for my liking. I didn't have enough time to really start caring about the characters, and I would have liked to get a bit deeper into the mythological background. For example, the title character encounters a pool of water with various magical properties, and there's reference to a great cost that one of the gods had to pay to drink from the pool at some point, but we never get more than this vague allusion to its history. Maybe someone more familiar with Norse myth would have appreciated this as a sort of inside joke, but I was just left with the feeling that I had missed something. Also, there were occasional very modern-sounding phrases that I found a bit jarring.

So overall, while I don't regret the short time spent reading this, I can't say I was very impressed. I enjoyed Gaiman's other children's books more.

Earlier this month I heard Gaiman read two chapters from Odd and the Frost Giants. It was great. Hearing him voice the eagle and the bear and the fox was amazing. Maybe it needs to be an audio book? Then again, maybe I was just enraptured by being in the presence of Gaiman. I did stand in line for 7 hours.

I would be interested in hearing an audiobook of this done by Gaiman himself, even though I'm not really an audiobook person in general.

Zoe, regarding a YA book with mythology, etc... have you read Runemarks by Joanne Harris?

No, I haven't--thanks for the suggestion!

You may find the same thing, re: not catching all the references to Norse gods. I don't own it and it's been a few months since I've read the story, so I'm a little fuzzy on it. It's not a great book, but I did find it to be entertaining and clever. And, I'm sure it will be interesting to see another author's spin on a the subject. It's her first YA book and I'm hoping she'll write more.