Kathy's 999 list...

As I figure this is a good way to reduce my TBR pile of over 300 books (piddly compared to some LTers...) and include some books I've been avoiding (...) here are my categories:

1. Series books
2. Books from my friend Sylvie (she reads mostly bestsellers)
3. Books from my friend Genevieve (she reads foreign and literary fiction)
4. Classics
5. In Translation (any book originally written in a language other than English or French)
6. Books I have but have been avoiding
7. Sci-fi, fantasy,horror
8. TBR potpourri (books that may not fit in the other categories
9. Authors I've never read

1. Series books

1. Naked In Death by J.D. Robb - Eve Dallas book 1
2.The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber - Blossom Street 1
3. Stalemate by Iris Johansen - Eve Duncan book 6
4. Her Mother's Shadow by Diane Chamberlain Kiss River book 3
5.Vendetta: Lucky's Revenge by Jackie Collins Lucky Santangelo 4
6.The Kill Fee by Laura van Wormer Sally Harrington 5
7.The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton Anita Blake book 2
8.Glory in Death by J.D.Robb - Eve Dallas book 2
9.Immortal in Death by J.D. Robb - Eve Dallas book 3

Sylvie's books

1. High Noon by Nora Roberts
2. Long Time Coming by Sandra Brown
3.No Greater Love by Danielle Steel
4. I've Heard That Song Before by Mary Higgins Clark
5. Copy Cat by Erica Spindler
6. Hey, Good Looking by Fern Michaels
7. Sweet Anger by Sandra Brown
8. Champagne Gold by Nicola Thorne
9.The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen

Genevieve's books

1.Animal Instincts by Gena Showalter
2. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
3. La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes by Gaetan Soucy
4. Mysteria Davidson/Grant/Showalter/Cast
5. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
6. Cosmopolis by Don Delillo
7. Merde Happens by Stephen Clarke
8.The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster
9.The Ruins by Scott Smith

Classics

1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
2. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
3. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

In translation (or books in french originally)

1.Le vieux qui lisait des romans d'amour by Luis Sepulveda originally in Spanish (Chile)
2.Chronique d'une mort annoncee by Gabriel Garcia Marquez originally in Spanish
3.The Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell originally in Swedish
4.Ou es-tu? by Marc Levy
5.Ceux qui vont mourir te saluent by Fred Vargas
6.
7.
8.
9.

Books I own but have been avoiding

1.Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley
2. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
3.The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
4.The Innocent Man by John Grisham
5.In The Hand of Dante by Nick Tosches
6.A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
7.Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
8.
9.

Sci-fi/fantasy/horror

1.The Good House by Tananarive Due
2.Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip
3.Teatro Grottesco by Thomas Ligotti
4.The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
5.Lisey's Story by Stephen King
6.Dean Koontz's Frankenstein book 1 Prodigal Son by Dean Koontz & Kevin J. Anderson
7.Dean Koontz's Frankenstein book 2 City of Night by Dean Koontz and Ed Gorman
8.Dean Koontz's Frankenstein book 3 Dead and Alive by Dean Koontz
9.The Ruins by Scott Smith

TBR potpourri

1.The Fourth Estate by Jeffrey Archer
2.Colder Than Ice by Maggie Shayne
3.Hiding From The Light by Barbara Erskine
4. Disordered Minds by Minette Walters
5.Rapture in Death by J.D. Robb
6.Book of Top Ten Lists by David Letterman
7.For the Defense by Kate Wilhelm Barbara Holloway 3
8.Mr. Murder byLaura Van Wormer Sally Harrington 6
9.Whiskey Island by Emilie Richards

Authors I've never read

1.Motion to Suppress by Perri O'Shaughnessy - Nina Reilly book 1
2.Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
3.Fascinated Bertrice Small,Susan Johnson,Thea Devine,Robin Schone
4.The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
5.My Favorite Thief by Karyn Monk
6.Champagne by Nicola Thorne
7.Dead Until Dark by lCharlaine Harris
8.Case Histories by Kate Atikinson
9.Charley's Web by Joy Fielding

Just posting to keep the thread current - am working on my first "series" book of the challenge (I have a feeling that category might get finished first as I have quite a few series in the TBR pile...)

Will be adding completed books in the empty spaces in the previous posts as books are read...

At the rate I'm going seems my toughest category is going to be "classics" - think I'm going to go from Jane Eyre to some horror next...

Good luck on your challenge!!

Thanks! Good luck on yours too - I just starred your thread!!!

Hi, Kathy,
I found you. Thanks for giving me your topic title. What horror book are you reading? If I think of a good classic book, I'll let you know. I did read one that I loved this year that is short. It is The Old Man and the Sea. Some people don't like it, but it was only about 125 pages long. Have a great day!
--BJ

I'm 100 pages into The Good House by Tananarive Due : this is the synopsis on the book jacket:

The house Angela Toussaint's late grandmother owned is so beloved that townspeople in Sacajawea, Washington call it the Good House. But is it?

Angela hoped her grandmother's famous "healing magic" could save her failing marriage while she and her family lived in the old house in the summer of 2001. Instead, an unexpected tragedy ripped Angela's family apart.

Now, two years later, Angela is moving past her grief and taking control of her life as a talent agent in Los Angeles and she is finally ready to revisit the rural house she loved so much as a child. Back in Sacajawea, Angela realizes she hasn't been the only one to suffer a shocking loss. Since she left, there have been more senseless tragedies, and Angela wonders if they are related somehow. Could the events be linked to a terrifying entity Angela's grandmother battled in 1929? Did her teenage son Corey, reawaken something that should have been left sleeping?

With the help of Myles Fisher, her high school boyfriend and clues from beyond the grave,Angela races to solve a deadly puzzle that has followed her family for generations. She must summon her own hidden gifts to face the timeless adversary stalking her in her grandmother's house and in the Washington woods.

So far it's keeping me interested - maybe even enough to search out her other work...(I could put this in the "Authors I've never read" category but I still have plenty of those to fill the requirement - worse case scenario this could be an overlap at the end of the year...)

Cheers!!
Kathy

The Good House sounds fantastic!! I may just have to look for that at some point. Just reading what you posted has me wanting to know what happens. Thanks for posting the synopsis.

Glad to be of help!!! :) I'll let you know if it stays good 'til the end or if it gets silly...

Okay thanks. I checked and it is only available online at borders. So I will be ordering it sometime just not sure when...

Hey Monica!!!!

Finished The Good House - thankfully it stayed good 'til the end - if you're into voodoo it's pretty good!!!

I am open to read new stuff.

So far have avoided reading 2 books from the same category: my next pick is a book i've been avoiding for years - Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley the "sequel" to Gone with the Wind: i was avoiding it because I was afraid i'd have to read GWTW again to keep up - i just started and so far it's ok...

Will you then read the other two "sequels", Rhett Butler's People and The Wind Done Gone? It would be interesting to compare them all.

I read Scarlett and I enjoyed it - no Gone with the Wind, but that's OK.

On the other hand, Rhett Butler's People, which I read last year, was not very good; it's on my give away pile and I rarely give away books. It is written about Rhett, much as the original is written about Scarlett. Also, it does not incorporate what happened in Scarlett. I didn't really like how Rhett was characterized in the book - I would have much rather stayed with the feelings about Rhett's character that I had from the original and from Scarlett.

My 2 cents!

edited to fix touchstones

RidgewayGirl and LisaMorr:

I'm more than halfway through Scarlett - it's going better than expected (when I read GWTW when I was 16 it took me 3 months which is why I wasn't too keen on having to read it again in order to read Scarlett - I'm enjoying it on the whole but it could still be shorter... :)

As for the other 2 books, I'm not planning on reading either of them - I have more than enough other books in my pile for now (including all the Outlander books so I think I'll stop after this one...

Cheers!!

22-25> If I remember correctly, McCaig was hand-picked to write a sequel to GWTW (aka Rhett Butler's People), and Randall(?)'s Wind Done Gone was a parody challenged by the estate (think it survived, because I don't remember having to pull it from bookstore shelves).

But what was the status of Ripley's Scarlett? Was that in between: not sanctioned by the estate but not litigated against? I don't remember anything about it other than a vague memory that it (or a sequel to the sequel?) had been panned.

Anybody know?

>26 ReneeMarie:: Mitchell's estate sanctioned Scarlett. I don't think Rhett Butler's People was sanctioned. You're right about Wind Done Gone - the estate tried to suppress it, but it was protected as a parody.

-edited to fix touchstone

Still have a category to start but couldn't hold off on The Thirteenth Tale any longer... just don't know where to put it!!!

What a wonderful read The Thirteenth Tale was!!!!! Definitely my favorite this year so far and will probably be my book of the year!!! I strongly recommend it!!!

10 books down, 71 more to go - thankfully the weather's warming up so it'll be easier to read outside waiting for the bus...

Plugging along at 13 read... gotta catch up on categories I've only read one of so far...

Considering some Dickens next... A Tale of Two Cities

Have finished my first Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities (no touchstone): interesting subject but it took me a while to get into the style - and the font in my edition was really small which didn't make it enjoyable to look at...

Onto something lighter...

Just noticed that out of the 14 books I've read so far for the challenge, 8 of them are by authors I've never read before - I could have a whole category finished with 1 more book... but that would be too simple!!

Still plugging away... at 16 read total so far it's not going as well as I'd hoped - funny how I'm drawn to the same categories all the time (sigh...) Should I decide to do another category-type challenge I think I'll throw in some page number-related categories... :)

Am not giving up but am pretty sure I won't get to complete the challenge judging from my poor progress... That being said I'm still proud that all these books come from my TBR pile and aren't recent acquisitions (recent meaning added in 2009...)

Trying for 20 books read by Thursday... so if I don't succeed in completing the challenge, I might at least average 5 books/month and I will have 60 books less in my TBR pile... :)

Reading something for my Horror/Sci-fi/Fantasy category now - will have to focus on "Potpourri" and "Books I've been avoiding" next...

I have so many "series" books in my TBR pile that it seems that every second book I pick up fills a space in that category - that'll obviously be the one that gets finished first... I may amend the "TBR Potpourri" category to TBR and series continued" :)

Going to read 2 of "Sylvie's books' next - I think - it'll depend on what grabs me going through my piles... not proud of my book count, however my page count is slightly over last year's at the same time...

Will read 2 of "Gen's books" next - in a couple of weeks I have 2 weeks off (my husband's on a contractual job so no time off for him this year except civic holidays) which means I should be able to get quite a few read...

Just wanted to drop a line to say that I really like your categories. Especially your "Books I've Been Avoiding" one - I'm not brave enough to tackle something similar, mostly because "Moby Dick" would be on there and I'm still really okay with not having read it.

Good luck with the challenge!

I have started Moby Dick three times without successfully making it out to sea! But I did finish The Canterbury Tales this year.

Hi Laura!!!

The "books I've been avoiding" category - which as you can see I'm still avoiding :) - the books I'm thinking of reading in that category are books I've been really wanting to read but haven't for various reasons. Example: I have all the published Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon and I'm waiting for her to be finished writing them because I don't really want to reread books of more than 1000 pages more than once because I've forgotten parts of them: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark because I have the trade paperback version and I commute to work by bus and subway and it's too hefty: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson because I don't like the typeface...

Mostly I seem to be shying away from the really big books on my TBR - David Copperfield, War and Peace, The Brothers Karamazov - I'm finding them more daunting as I get older...

Happy reading!!
Kathy

Hi cm!!

I have read Moby Dick - it was a really long time ago: wasn't thrilled and don't remember much about it now - I know I should really read more "classics" which is why I made a category for them and I figure with 3 read so far this year I'm ahead of the game!! Congrats on reading The Canterbury Tales - it looks interesting but not sure about the whole 'in verse' thing...

After reading four "non series" books I figured I could slip one in :) so have started book 2 of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake books...

Am on vacation for 2 weeks and am contemplating my TBR pile - hoping to get in 1 from "in translation" 1 from "classics" and 1 from "fantasy, horror,sci-fi"...

By the end of this week I will have read 4 books during my 2 weeks off: 1 from "Authors I've never read", 2 from "Sci-fi/Fantasy/Horror and 1 from "Sylvie's books"...

Trying to keep a good balance between categories... up next: a book I've been avoiding due to it's length, size and the fact that I do the bus/subway thing to work The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber - a colleague of mine is reading it also... I hope we both enjoy it!!!

I'll be watching for your reaction to The Crimson Petal and the White. I read it several years ago, and while I found it fascinating, I never have decided whether or not I liked it.

Hi Ivy!!!

Well I finished The Crimson Petal and the White on Friday, and aside from the rather abrupt ending I really enjoyed it - it did have some slower parts but on the whole it was very good...

I had been avoiding it due to its size - it took longer to read as it rained for most of the 2 weeks it took to finish it and I couldn't read while waiting for the bus :) I'll probably be having surgery some time in the next few months so will tackle an equally big sucker then: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, because I know now that I won't be dragging that huge volume to work with me (I have the trade paperback edition)

Well, one category's done - Series books -

1. Naked In Death by J.D. Robb - Eve Dallas book 1
2.The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber - Blossom Street 1
3. Stalemate by Iris Johansen - Eve Duncan book 6
4. Her Mother's Shadow by Diane Chamberlain Kiss River book 3
5.Vendetta: Lucky's Revenge by Jackie Collins Lucky Santangelo 4
6.The Kill Fee by Laura van Wormer Sally Harrington 5
7.The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton Anita Blake book 2
8.Glory in Death by J.D.Robb - Eve Dallas book 2
9.Immortal in Death by J.D. Robb - Eve Dallas book 3

I was hoping by doing this challenge to succeed in reducing my TBR pile - between my friends giving me books they've read and going on my yearly buying trip with 2 of them, I'm still almost at the same amount as I was when I started the challenge...

Oh well - besides the David Letterman book, all the ones I've read were in the pile prior to 2009 so I'm still making a small dent... ;)

Congrats on completing a category!

Thanks Victoria!!!

It seems to be a question of "too many books, too little time" lately - I think that besides the "series" category I kind of boxed myself in a corner: maybe I should have gone with "page number" categories instead - it might have been easier...

Guess I'll try to at least finish the categories I have the least left in first and take it from there...

Happy reading!!!

Kathy

Close to finishing 3 more categories... no way I'll be able to complete the challenge by December 31st but at least the ol' TBR will be somewhat diminished...

Will definitely be coming up with different categories should I decide to do this again in 2010 ...

Just posting to stay current... family issues have put a dent in my reading lately... concentration is pretty much shot...

Finally, finished another category... so the 2 I've finished are:

Series books

1. Naked In Death by J.D. Robb - Eve Dallas book 1
2.The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber - Blossom Street 1
3. Stalemate by Iris Johansen - Eve Duncan book 6
4. Her Mother's Shadow by Diane Chamberlain Kiss River book 3
5.Vendetta: Lucky's Revenge by Jackie Collins Lucky Santangelo 4
6.The Kill Fee by Laura van Wormer Sally Harrington 5
7.The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton Anita Blake book 2
8.Glory in Death by J.D.Robb - Eve Dallas book 2
9.Immortal in Death by J.D. Robb - Eve Dallas book 3

Sylvie's books

1. High Noon by Nora Roberts
2. Long Time Coming by Sandra Brown
3.No Greater Love by Danielle Steel
4. I've Heard That Song Before by Mary Higgins Clark
5. Copy Cat by Erica Spindler
6. Hey, Good Looking by Fern Michaels
7. Sweet Anger by Sandra Brown
8. Champagne Gold by Nicola Thorne
9.The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen

Congrats on finishing 2 categories. I know I haven't been doing well with my challenge yet I am enjoying all the books I have been reading. I wish you luck on the rest of your categories and your challenge. Hope to see you at the 1010 challenge!!

Happy Reading!!

Monic'a

Finished 2 more categories; they are:

Sci-fi/fantasy/horror

1.The Good House by Tananarive Due
2.Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip
3.Teatro Grottesco by Thomas Ligotti
4.The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
5.Lisey's Story by Stephen King
6.Dean Koontz's Frankenstein book 1 Prodigal Son by Dean Koontz & Kevin J. Anderson
7.Dean Koontz's Frankenstein book 2 City of Night by Dean Koontz and Ed Gorman
8.Dean Koontz's Frankenstein book 3 Dead and Alive by Dean Koontz
9.The Ruins by Scott Smith

and

TBR potpourri

1.The Fourth Estate by Jeffrey Archer
2.Colder Than Ice by Maggie Shayne
3.Hiding From The Light by Barbara Erskine
4. Disordered Minds by Minette Walters
5.Rapture in Death by J.D. Robb
6.Book of Top Ten Lists by David Letterman
7.For the Defense by Kate Wilhelm Barbara Holloway 3
8.Mr. Murder by Laura Van Wormer Sally Harrington 6
9.Whiskey Island by Emilie Richards

Close to finishing 2 more categories but there's no way I'm going to complete the challenge by December 31st (even if I put books in 2 categories)...

Doing alot better them me. I think I only have 2 categories done. I am hoping to get some reading done tonight but won't finish a book that is for sure.

Good Job on finishing 2 more categories.

My "Authors I've never read" category is complete - woo hoo!!

Here it is:

1.Motion to Suppress by Perri O'Shaughnessy - Nina Reilly book 1
2.Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
3.Fascinated Bertrice Small,Susan Johnson,Thea Devine,Robin Schone
4.The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
5.My Favorite Thief by Karyn Monk
6.Champagne by Nicola Thorne
7.Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
8.Case Histories by Kate Atikinson
9.Charley's Web by Joy Fielding

I have also amended the "In Translation" category to include books written originally in French - I just recently got a spanking new library card and a lot of what I will be borrowing will be in French (buying them is so much more expensive than books in English...)

Tried to "double up" some books in 2 categories but still didn't manage to complete the challenge... Did get my first Dickens read though so for 2010 will have to try to get through either the Dostoevski or Tolstoy in the TBR pile...