Break's 9-9-9

I barely made the 75 book challenge for 2008 (as you can see in my topic), but ready to signed up for 2009. My categories are:



I. Science fiction
1. The Wave by Walter Mosley (added 3/18/2009, read 1/25/2009)
2. The Ugly Little Boy by Isaac, and Robert Silverberg Asimov (added 3/18/2009)
3. Letters from Atlantis by Robert Silverberg (added 1/13/2009)
4. Coraline by Neil Gaiman (added 3/21/2009, read 3/20/2009)
5. Transcendent (Destiny's Children) by Stephen Baxter (added 7/30/2009, read before 7/30/2009)
6. Magic Street by Orson Scott Card (added 10/12/2009, read 10/12/2009)
7. This Crowded Earth by Robert Bloch (added 10/28/2009, read 10/16/2009)
8. The Poison Belt by Arthur Conan Doyle (added 10/28/2009, read 10/18/2009)
9. Looking Backward from 2000 to 1887 by Edward Bellamy (added 12/24/2009, read 12/15/2009)

II. Alternate history
1. 1632 by Eric Flint (added/read 8/7/2009)
2. The Sky People by S.M. Stirling (added/read 8/31/2009)
3. Empire by Orson Scott Card (added 10/6/2009, read 10/4/2009)
4. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (added 11/25/2009, read 11/16/2009)
5. The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson (added 11/25/2009, read 11/19/2009)

III. Historical fiction
1. Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon (added/read 9/20/2009)
2. The other queen by Philippa Gregory. (added/read 9/20/2009)
3. Fort Pillow: A Novel of the Civil War (added 10/6/2009, read 9/22/2009)
4. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (added 11/25/2009, read 11/13/2009)
5. The Birth of Venus: A Novel by Sarah Dunant (added 11/25/2009, read 11/24/2009)
6. The Kabbalist by Geert Kimpen (added 12/24/2009, read 12/21/2009)

IV. Jewish fiction
1. The Genizah at the House of Shepher by Tamar Yellin (added 12/16/2008, read 1/13/2009)
2. The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank (added 1/13/2009, read 1/13/2009)
3. The Centaur in the garden by Moacyr Scliar (added 1/13/2009, read 2/4/2009)
4. Szonyecska Lûdmila Evgen'evna Ulickaâ (added 3/18/2009, read 2/5/2009)
5. Rashi's Daughters, Book I: Joheved by Maggie Anton (added 3/18/2009, read 3/3/2009)
6. The Jade Cat by Suzanne Brogger (added 10/12/2009, read 10/10/2009)
7. A New Life by Bernard Malamud (added 12/24/2009, read 12/10/2009)

V. Jewish non-fiction
1. Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths by Karen Armstrong (added 3/21/2009, read 3/21/2009)
2. Annie's Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret by Steve Luxenberg (added 7/30/2009, read 8/23/2009)
3. Teddy Kollek. The Man, His Times and His Jerusalem byRuth Bachi Kolodny (added 7/30/2009, read 8/25/2009)
4. The Temple at Jerusalem: A Revelation by John Michell (added 10/8/2009, read 10/5/2009)
5. The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan (added 11/25/2009, read 11/22/2009)
6. We Look Like the Enemy: The Hidden Story of Israel's Jews from Arab Lands by Rachel Shabi (added 12/24/2009)

VI. Kabbalah
1. Dreams of being eaten alive by David Rosenberg (added 12/16/2008, read 3/10/2009)
2. Jewish Tales of Mystic Joy by Yitzhak Buxbaum (added/read 9/20/2009)
3. Kabbala: A Dictionary of Terms, Practices and Applications by Rephael Yedidya (added/read 9/20/2009)
4. Ecstatic Kabbalah by David A. Cooper (added/read 9/20/2009)
5. Kabbalah: A Love Story by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner (added 10/6/2009, read 9/24/2009)
6. Ask the Kabala Oracle Cards by Deepak Chopra (added/read 10/12/2009)
7. The Kabbalah Deck by Edward Hoffman (added/read 10/12/2009)

VII. Hungarian fiction
1. Dr. Noha történetek by István Eörsi (added 3/18/2009, read 2/2/2009)
2. Halálugrás a szakadékon át by Béla Balázs (added 7/30/2009, read before 7/30/2009)
3. Visszakézbol kisregény by István Csörsz (added 7/30/2009, read before 7/30/2009)
4. Csendes forradalom a golyóstoll regénye by László József Bíró (added 7/30/2009, read before 7/30/2009)
5. A zsido menyasszony (The Jewish bride) by Patrícia Eszter Margit (added 7/30/2009, read 8/5/2009, my review )
6. Csodaidok: Az Ogfák vöröse by Raana Raas (Görgey Etelka) (added 10/28/2009, read 10/22/2009)
7. Csodaidok: Kiszakadtak by Raana Raas (Görgey Etelka) (added 12/24/2009, read 12/31/2009)
8. Csodaidok: Arulas by Raana Raas (Görgey Etelka) (added 12/24/2009, read 1/1/2010)


VIII. 1001 books to read before you die
1. Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin (added 1/13/2009, read 1/13/2009)
2. Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe (added 1/13/2009, read 2/15/2009)
3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (added 8/24/2009, read 8/20/2009)
4. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (added 8/24/2009, read 8/23/2009)
5. Erewhon by Samuel Butler (added/read 8/26/2009)
6. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton (added/read 9/20/2009)
7. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (added 10/6/2009, read 10/6/2009)
8. Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (added 12/24/2009, read 12/3/2009)
9. The way of all flesh by Samuel Butler (added 12/24/2009)

IX. Mixed
1. Up From the Underground: The Culture by Anna Szemere (added 12/16/2008, read 3/18/2009)
2. Az újhullámtól az elektronikáig by Jávorszky-Sebok (added 7/30/2009)
3. Nyilván tartottak titkos szolgák a magyar rock körül by Tamás Szonyei (added 7/30/2009)
4. A Graveyard for Lunatics by Ray Bradbury (added 7/30/2009, read before 7/30/2009)
5. My Antonia by Willa Cather (added 7/30/2009, read before 7/30/2009)
6. One Year Off: Leaving It All Behind for a Round-the-World Journey with Our Children by David Elliot Cohen (added/read 12/08/2009)
7. A Hundred And One Days: A Baghdad Journal by Asne Seierstad (added/read 12/02/2009)
8. The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd (added 1/8/2010, read 1/4/2010)
9. The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster (added 1/8/2010, read 1/6/2010)

P.s. I will keep updating this post as I fill in the categories.

I will be watching what you put into your Hungarian Fiction category. I'm trying to fill in the gaps in my reading by slowly working my way east. Will you let us know what you think of each book?

Sure, will do. I posted a review of every book I read this year and plan to keep it up next year as well.

A caveat though. I plan to read Hungarian fiction in Hungarian. And I haven't decided whether to write a review in Hungarian or English. I know that for this site (LT) English would make more sense. On the other hand writing the review in the language a book was written (and read) also makes sense to me. Ideally I would write a Hungarian review on my own blog and an English one for LT. I doubt that I will find that much energy/time. So I guess I will just go case by case.

Also, I already read a lot of classic Hungarian fiction, so I will probably go for more modern authors next year. Unless, I end up getting an e-book reader. In that case I may download some classics (available free legally) I have not read yet.

I will also have to decide what category to count sci-fi written in Hungarian. There are some good ones out there...

There you have it. More than you ever wanted to know... :-)

Note to myself. The 1001 list is here:
http://johnandsheena.co.uk/books/?page_id=160
and here
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pB9jaZi6GsJPuSFDunAZ2HA
and here
http://www.1001beforeyoudie.com/

As mentioned here:
http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=39149

I'm keeping an eye on your Jewish fiction and non-fiction - mainly to see if you'll have anything on it I'd want to read!

Best of luck on your challenge!

I'll also be keeping an eye on your Jewish categories. Good luck with your reading.

SqueakyChu and avatiakh,

Thank you for dropping by.

Considering that I am a librarian at a synagogue my books for the Jewish categories will most likely come out from that library. I.e. It's unlikely that they would be newly published books, if that's what you are looking for. The Kabbalah books will come from my own shelves. I have about 75 Kabbalah books and haven't read about half of them yet. I am somewhat of a collector those.

I'm really more interested in what kinds of books you'll be posting.

Here on LT, I recently helped my own rabbi catalogue a collection of books which he will donating to other places. I thought I'd find lots of interesting books while cataloguing, but really only a very few of them captured my personal interest. It was a fun thing to do, though, and I'd love to help him catalogue any more books in the future.

I actually didn't make a category for Jewish books in my 999 Challenge because such books span my other catagories. I love contemporary Israeli fiction. I'm building a small lending library for a CSA (community supported agriculture) group that we run from our synagogue. I also like reading other more general books of Jewish interest whether they be fiction or non-fiction.

It might be interesting to highlight in some way the books of Jewish interest to really see how many there are...

*runs off to do this*

I just went back to my 888 challenge and found 9 of 54 books completed were of Jewish interest. Interesting!! :)

Our book club at shul has these scheduled till July, so I am sure these will be included on my list as well:
Tamar Yellin: The Genizah of the House of Shepher
Moacur Scliar: Centaur in the Garden
Maggie Anton: Rashi's Daughters
Greg Mortenson: Three Cups of Tea
Irene Dische: Empress of Weehawken
Dalia Sofer: The Septembers of Shiraz
Geraldine Brooks: The People of the Book

I might end up putting some of these under "historical fiction"

I'll be interested in seeing how you like The Genizah in the House of Shepher. I won it as an LT Early Reviewer book but was disappointed in it. I really want to read Three Cups of Tea and heard from my best friend that the People of the Book was great read.

I'm not familiar with other books on that list, but People of the Book was great.

I am amazed by the ability of other challenge takers, who can set up their 9x9 schedule in advance. I think I will fill in slowly the list, usually 1-2 book ahead. I just added the first three in the first post above to the list.

So now, I know that I have to read The Genizah at the House of Shepher by January 7, when our bookclub meets. This will go under Jewish fiction. (and yes SqueakyChu, I will write a review)

I have a book for the Kabbalah section I started to read, but won't have a chance to finish it before the end of the year: Dreams of being eaten alive by David Rosenberg.

The third will go under Socology: Up From the Underground: The Culture of Rock Music in Postsocialist Hungary by Anna Szemere. I was very much part of the scene the book is about, so I am curious what the book can tell me I didn't know. I just ordered it for $4 (+S&H) from Amazon. Considering that the cheapest copy of the same book now sells for #24 I feel lucky.

I just checked and it turns out I read already 88 out of the books on the 1001 list (2008 edition.) Unfortunately I have seen the movie adaptation of another 20 or so. I am afraid my reading experience of those would be tainted. So I still have 900 to go. :-)

Like SqeakyChu and avatiakh, I'll be following your Jewish-themed categories closely, as I've got one myself! Best of luck to you with your reading this year!

Like the others, I've starred your list and will be following along! Please.....reviews in English....please. My Hungarian is, well, non-existent!! :)

My listed challenge books are only a wishlist for myself of what I'd like to get through - mainly to sort my own head out. They've already changed and will probably continue to change.

I've read a lot of varied reviews of The Genizah at the House of Shepher and it's on my amazon wishlist, so I'd like to know what you think.

Best of luck with your challenge!!

You know what I think of The Genizah at the House of Shepher because I already posted my review of it! I would give that author another chance, though. The author did a beautiful job of describing the people and the environment within the city of Jerusalem. It was just the story I didn't like! :)

fannyprice, I also starred your 999 items. City of Oranges looks interesting; looking forward your other books on the list.

bookoholic13, I starred you as well.

SqueakyChu, I am working hard on avoiding reading reviews of The Genizah at the House of Shepher, before I read the book. But I will check out your review after I am done writing my own.
----
In addition to starring each other's items, we could talk about books relate to Judaism in the new topic I just created:
Books with Jewish/Israeli themes/authors in the 999 challenge

--> 17

Er, I hope you like it better than I did! :)

I am at a friend's house, who is a librarian at a Hillel, and he did not like it either. It is hard to avoid being influenced prior to reading the work. I tried. :-( I still want to give it a fair chance.

I am unbelievably impressed that you wrote a review for every book last year. That is awesome. Just the thought of reviewing every book I read makes me feel overwhelmed!

Amy,

My six continuous years in college (for an AA, a double BA and an MA) ended last March. I got used to writing so I missed it, when I was done with schooling. I like to think, while I write, so this was a great way for me to keep up the habit.

Meanwhile I started the Genizah book and am halfway through Dreams of being eaten alive.

How do you like Dreams of being eaten alive so far? I've heard really mixed things about it. If I came across it in a bookstore I'd probably file it as an impulse buy and see for myself, but I don't want to order it from Amazon just to end up really hating it! :D Though with amazon.de at least shipping is free (over €20, but I can't get under €20 for the life of me!).

BTW it's great that you're reading Kabbalah and Hungarian fiction and SF, you seem to be my ideal one stop shop for reading lists ;) I'm also meaning to read books on Kabbalah for my religious literature category, and as for Hungarian literature, I read Hungarian literature all the time so in retrospect I should've made a category for it myself. (I *did* say I had 2-3 spare categories in stock! :D )

I liked th first third Dreams of being eaten alive very much. I haven't read much of the (very different) middle third to form a strong opinion. I will post review when I am done.

Meanwhile I just posted reviews for the first three books I read this year:
1. The Genizah at the House of Shepher by Tamar Yellin
2. The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank
3. Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

And these are the books I am in the middle of now:
Dreams of being eaten alive by David Rosenberg
The Centaur in the garden by Moacyr Scliar
Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe
Up From the Underground: The Culture of Rock Music in Postsocialist Hungary by Anna Szemere

Thanks for posting your reviews!! Your and SqueakyChu's opinions of The Genizah at the House of Shepher moved it from my amazon wishlist to my maybe-bookmooch list. It helps - the amazon wishlist is overstocked as it is... :)

No time to read books or write reviews, but I updated the first post in this item with my progress. Finished only 12 books this year.

I will be staying in Hungary from April through July (as opposed to my usual location in the US). I hope I will be able to read more then, but who knows.

I updated the opening post with the books I finished in Hungary, and also a few I am reading right now. (The latter doesn't include a "read" date.)

The book I finished this morning is
A zsido menyasszony (The Jewish bride) by Patrícia Eszter Margit (my review )

In order to reach the 999 goal I would need to read a book every two days for the rest of the year. I am fairly certain that's not going to happen. But I am committed to make as big a dent as I can in the pile.

1632 by Eric Flint (added/read 8/7/2009, my review)

I slowly finished only two more books.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

At this point of the year my goal is more like 6/9/9: reading six books in each of 9 categories this year. That is more doable, putting less pressure on myself.

Finished another one: Teddy Kollek. The Man, His Times and His Jerusalem by Ruth Bachi Kolodny. I reviewed it, but didn't like it much. :-(

Finished one more for the 1001 category:
Erewhon by Samuel Butler (added/read 8/26/2009)

I read a book for my "alternate history" section, although it would fit more into the sci-fi:
The Sky People by S.M. Stirling (added/read 8/31/2009)

Since I last posted I finished another 6 books. Reviews are up for all of them here.

I finally started my "historical fiction" category with one good and one not so good. Similarly two of the Kabbalah books I read were great; the third not so much.

And I am glad I caught up o Paton's classic about pre-apartheid Africa,

Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon (added/read 9/20/2009)
The other queen by Philippa Gregory. (added/read 9/20/2009)
Jewish Tales of Mystic Joy by Yitzhak Buxbaum (added/read 9/20/2009)
Kabbala: A Dictionary of Terms, Practices and Applications by Rephael Yedidya (added/read 9/20/2009)
Ecstatic Kabbalah by David A. Cooper (added/read 9/20/2009)
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton (added/read 9/20/2009)

Read four more books and added to the topic opener's appropriate sections:

Meanwhile I finished a few more:

Fort Pillow: A Novel of the Civil War by Harry Turtledove
Kabbalah: A Love Story by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner
Empire by Orson Scott Card
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

That Kushner book looks interesting - do you think it's still a good read for someone who knows a little, but isn't supremely well-versed in Kabbalah?

That's exactly the kind of person this books is the best for. It introduces the spirit and some key concepts of Kabbalah, but doesn't overwhelm the reader, because they are embedded into the story.

You may want to read the guiding questions as well and keep them in mind as you're reading the book.

P.s. it is a short and easy to read novel.

Finished last night The Temple at Jerusalem: A Revelation by John Michell and posted its first review today.

#37

Thanks, break! *on the wishlist it goes*

I had no time to write reviews. Maybe after we move this weekend. But I finished a few books in October:

The Jade Cat by Suzanne Brogger (added 10/12/2009, read 10/10/2009)
Magic Street by Orson Scott Card (added 10/12/2009, read 10/12/2009)
Ask the Kabala Oracle Cards by Deepak Chopra (added/read 10/12/2009)
The Kabbalah Deck Edward Hoffman (added/read 10/12/2009)
This Crowded Earth by Robert Bloch (added 10/28/2009, read 10/16/2009)
The Poison Belt by Arthur Conan Doyle (added 10/28/2009, read 10/18/2009)
Csodaidok : az ogfák vöröse by Etelka Görgey (added 10/28/2009, read 10/22/2009)

I got only five new books since last time. Updated the first post. Here are the new additions.

Historical fiction
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (added 11/25/2009, read 11/13/2009)
The Birth of Venus: A Novel by Sarah Dunant (added 11/25/2009, read 11/24/2009)

Alternate history
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (added 11/25/2009, read 11/16/2009)
The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson (added 11/25/2009, read 11/19/2009)

Jewish non-fiction
The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan (added 11/25/2009, read 11/22/2009)

I finished only 8 more books since I last wrote here. They are all added the thr topic opener,along with one I am working on now

Looking Backward from 2000 to 1887 by Edward Bellamy
The Kabbalist by Geert Kimpen
A New Life by Bernard Malamud
Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
One Year Off: Leaving It All Behind for a Round-the-World Journey with Our Children by David Elliot Cohen
A Hundred And One Days: A Baghdad Journal by Asne Seierstad

Csodaidok: Kiszakadtak by Raana Raas (Görgey Etelka)
Csodaidok: Arulas by Raana Raas (Görgey Etelka)
The last two are the second and third volumes of a Hungarian sci-fi tetraology. That's the only I posted an impression/reviw about in LT. (here.

My tally for the "real" 2009 year: 1 category where I read 9 books (sci-fi), 2 with 8 books (1001 books, Hungarian fiction), 3 with 7 books (Jewish fiction, Kabbalah, mixed), 1 with 6 books(historical fiction), and 2 with 5 books (alternate history, Jewish non-fiction)

This means I still need to read 19 books to fulfill the 999 challenge. I think I will keep doing it even if I end up finishing it in March 2010.