No books for me this year, but it looks like you guys took in some pretty good hauls! I might just have to take advantage of the after-Christmas sales instead. :lol:

I bought 2 books for my brother for Christmas and he pointed out to me that it's kind of funny that I bought him books when I'm constantly yelling at him to stop buying and start using the library :lol:

At this point I don't really buy fiction anymore - just cookbooks and kids books - i'm lame like that. :p

Just finished reading Swamplandia! - started out interesting, then it dragged through the middle- and then the ending was all rushed. Anyone else read this book?

Originally Posted by Knerd

Total Books: 50 / 50 (100%)
Total Pages: 14,532 / 15,000 (96.88%)

Hooray! I've managed to complete my challenge for the year with only a few days to spare. :boogie:

I didn't get any books for Christmas, but my boyfriend got three. His mother, my mother, and I each got him a steampunk-themed book. =3

Woohoo! My boyfriend ended up getting my a Kindle for Christmas. :boogie:

Now I just have ot figure out what I want to put on it first. It's easy enough to find free books on Amazon, but I should be able to put pdf files on there as well. it's just a matter of siting down and taking the time to fiddle with it.

Hurrah!

I use Calibre to manage my Kindle. I had a lot of EPUB files I'd already downloaded on my phone so it was nice to be able to be able to convert them rather than trying to track them all down again.

Thanks! Calibre looks interesting, I'll have to read up on it a little bit more.

I browsed the Free Classics section of amazon for a little while last night and found a couple books to put on my Kindle. Looks like I'll be reading Leaves of Grass, Anna Karenina, and The Portrait of Dorian Grey soon. :yes:

Okay, I'm going to make my... third attempt at this now? I decided a few months ago that I need to do more reading, and I finally found a convenient way to work it into my life, so I've been going at a pretty good pace of a book every week or so! So I'm going to start fresh for 2012 and see how many books I can read! 50 would be amazing, but I don't know if I'll make it to that.
Knerd: It feels silly to ping you when you've just posted, but you requested all new lists ping you, so.

Add me on Goodreads (but say who you are!)

Currently Reading:

• "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" - Stieg Larsson
• "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" - Susanna Clark

Read:

• 1. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" - J.K. Rowling (734) *
• 2. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" - J.K. Rowling (870) *
• 3. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" - J.K. Rowling (652)
• 4. "The Fault in our Stars" - John Green (315)
• 5. "Paper Towns" - John Green (305)
• 6. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" - J.K. Rowling (759)
• 7. "Looking for Alaska" - John Green (221)
• 8. "Agorafabulous! Dispatches from My Bedroom" - Sara Benincasa (255)
• 9. "Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I've Learned" - Alan Alda (272)
• 10. "Down Came the Rain" - Brooke Shields (226)
• 11. "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" - Ransom Riggs (352)
• 12. "Going Postal" - Terry Pratchett (377)
• 13. "Burmese Days" - George Orwell (279)
• 14. "The Hunger Games" - Suzanne Collins (374)

Pages: 5,721/9,000

To Read:

• "John Dies at the End" - David Wong
• "Next" - Michael Crichton
• "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" - Gregory Maguire
• "Lord of the Flies" - William Golding
• "Brave New World" - Aldous Huxley *
• "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" - Agatha Christie
• "Great Expectations" - Charles Dickens *
• "It" - Stephen King *
• "The Hobbit" - J.R.R. Tolkien *
• "The Fellowship of the Ring" - J.R.R. Tolkien
• "The Two Towers" - J.R.R. Tolkien
• "Return of the King" - J.R.R. Tolkien
• "Sabriel" - Garth Nix *
• "A Spell for Chameleon" (and the ensuing Xanth series) - Piers Anthony *
• "Otherland" (and the ensuing Otherland series) - Tad Williams *
• "The Invisible Man" - H.G. Wells
• "The Silence of the Lambs" - Thomas Harris
• "Sense and Sensibility" - Jane Austen
• "Emma" - Jane Austen
• "A Wrinkle in Time" - Madeleine L'Engle *
• "Samba and the Monkey Mind" - Leonard Williams
• "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" - Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
• "Girl Reading" - Katie Ward
• "Lucky" - Alice Sebold
• "Between the Bridge and the River" - Craig Ferguson
• "1776" - David McCullough
• "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" - Mark Twain
• "An Invisible Sign of My Own" - Aimee Bender
• "How the Dead Live" - Will Self
• "The Shining" - Stephen King
• "IT" - Stephen King *
• "The Giver" - Lois Lowry *
• "Gathering Blue" - Lois Lowry *
• A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket *
• "The Poisonwood Bible" - Barbara Kingsolver
  Note: These are only books I currently own
  

Wishlist:

ShowX

This list is abridged and not always up to date. If you're dying to know, you can see my full list at Goodreads. I keep it pretty up to date.

• "An Abundance of Katherines" - John Green
• "Will Grayson, Will Grayson" - John Green and David Levithan
• "Catcher in the Rye" - J.D. Salinger
• "The Color of Magic" (and the ensuing Discworld series) - Terry Pratchett
• "American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot" - Craig Ferguson
• "Metamorphosis" - Franz Kafka
• "The Subtle Knife" - Philip Pullman
• "The Great Gatsby" - F. Scott Fitzgerald
• "Lolita" - Vladimir Nabokov
• "Survivor" - Chuck Palahniuk
• "Fight Club" - Chuck Palahniuk
• "Bossypants" - Tina Fey
• "Machine Man" - Max Barry
• "A Rumor of War" - Philip Caputo
• "Darkly Dreaming Dexter" - Jeff Lindsay
• "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa" - E.B. Sledge
• "The Great Gatsby" - F. Scott Fitzgerald
• "The Catcher in the Rye" - J.D. Salinger
• "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" - L. Frank Baum
• "The Picture of Dorian Grey" - Oscar Wilde
• "Magical Thinking: True Stories" - Augusten Burroughs
• "A Wolf at the Table" - Augusten Burroughs
• "Unbearable Lightness" - Portia de Rossi
• "1Q84" - Haruki Murakami
• "Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries" - Tim Anderson
• "Women Without Men: A Novel of Modern Iran" - Shahrnush Parsipur
• "Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's" - John Elder Robison
• "Down and Out in Paris and London" - George Orwell
• "Homage to Catalonia" - George Orwell
• "Keep the Aspidistra Flying" - George Orwell
• "The Road to Wigan Pier" - George Orwell
• "Shooting an Elephant" - George Orwell
• "Coming up for Air" - George Orwell
• "A Clergyman's Daughter" - George Orwell
• "Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac" - Gabrielle Zevin
• "I Am The Messenger" - Markus Zusak
• "The Book Thief" - Markus Zusak
• "American Psycho" - Bret Easton Ellis
• "A Game of Thrones" - George R.R. Martin
• "Marcelo in the Real World" - Francisco X. Stork
• "Wicked" - Gregory Maguire
• "Catching Fire" - Suzanne Collins
• "Milkweed" - Jerry Spinelli
• "Making Money" - Terry Pratchett
• "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" - Douglas Adams
• "Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone" - Kat Rosenfield
• "The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America" - Erik Larson
• " Five Chimneys: A Woman's True Story of Auschwitz" - Olga Lengyel
• "A Wizard of Earthsea" - Ursula K. Le Guin
• "Slaughterhouse-Five" - Kurt Vonnegut
• "To Kill a Mockingbird" - Lee Harper
• "The Grapes of Wrath" - John Steinbeck
• "The Handmaid's Tale" - Margaret Atwood
• "Watership Down" - Richard Adams
• "In Cold Blood" - Truman Capote
• "On the Road" - Jack Kerouac
• "Dune" - Frank Herbert
• "The Princess Bride" - William Goldman
• "Howl's Moving Castle" - Diana Wynne Jones
  Note: These are only books I do not own
  

* Reread, or previously and significantly attempted, but not finished

No problem! I always forget to check back here if I don't get pinged, so don't worry about it.

I think that you'd really like "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell." It's a great mixture of Victorian literature, fantasy, and coming of age. I'm not a big fan of the plot itself, but it has some of the best character development that I've ever read. You'll probably breeze right through it.

What was wrong with the plot? Just out of curiosity. I'm probably going to read it either way.

You just have to keep in mind that it really is a YA novel, so it doesn't always flesh out some scenes, instead moving fast in order to hold your attention. There were a couple parts where I could guess how the plot was going to turn and where the story was going. That took out some of the excitement. I also thought that the ending was a bit inconsistent with the characters' personalities throughout the rest of the book, but that might have just been because I would have preferred to see it finish a different way.

Ah, I see. I didn't know it was a YA novel, actually. I'll adjust my expectations accordingly. I like YA for light reading (especially good for reading right before bed, when I can't handle a more complex book - which is when I'm doing most of my reading now, to be honest), but it does have its faults. Thanks!

I just flipped through my copy of it and remembered a part that I had completely forgotten about - Are you a fan of footnotes? If you like extra factoids that don't always relate to the plot, then the footnotes are heaven. If not, I guess that you could always skip over them. :lol:

Getting a Kindle has been encouraging me to read so many more classic novels! I'm making my way through "The Picture of Dorien Gray" by Oscar Wilde right now and I'm pretty tempted to read "Anna Karenina" next. Has anyone else read those?

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" is one of my favorites! I'm a big Oscar Wilde fan and most of it is due to that novel. Some of my favorite quotes are things said by Henry through the course of the story

Footnotes are fine by me. :)

I haven't read either of those. I'm very, very vaguely aware of the general premise of Dorian Grey, but my familiarity is down to a one sentence synopsis I saw for the movie adaptation. :lol: Do let us know what you think!

Has anyone read Discworld? I've been looking into it a bit and it looks fun. I put the first on my wishlist, but I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on it outside of amazon reviews.

Originally Posted by Kamikaze Kendra

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" is one of my favorites! I'm a big Oscar Wilde fan and most of it is due to that novel. Some of my favorite quotes are things said by Henry through the course of the story

It seems like everyone who has read it has a huge, amazing reaction to Wilde's writing. I can't wait to get farther into it! Glowing reviews are just flying at me from all sides. :lol:

Originally Posted by Cherry Flavored Antacid

Has anyone read Discworld? I've been looking into it a bit and it looks fun. I put the first on my wishlist, but I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on it outside of amazon reviews.

I've only read one: Small Gods. It was a really fun book that kept me entertained the whole time, and had quite a lot of good commentary on state religions. Pratchett managed to poke fun at religion without insulting you in the process. Not to mention that the story was a pretty exciting fantasy and I really grey to like the characters.

I can't speak for the rest of his books or Discworld as a whole, but Small Gods gets two thumbs up from me. :yes:

Sounds interesting! I'll be sure to keep an eye out for that one in particular. :)

I would also like to attest to the excellence of The Picture of Dorian Grey! It's a wonderful book. I would like to reread it sometime.

I love Discworld, my dad and uncle are big fans so there's always been books around the house. The Watch books (starting with Guards! Guards!) are my favourites. I like to refer to the reading guides but I accidentally read the Death novels in the wrong order and still enjoyed them. :)

So it'd be safe to say that I could probably just pick up any Discworld book and enjoy it, without having read any of the others?

I think Pratchett has said something along the lines of that The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic should give you enough of an idea of the Discworld to be able to read any of the other books. Books that belong to a series do refer to past events but from my experience never so much so that they can't stand alone.

Time for a new list for 2012! I didn't make it last year, so here's to hoping this year goes better. :yes:

[Book List 2009] [Book List 2010][Book List 2011]

Iltu's 2012 Book List

1.) Dark Swan: Shadow Heir by Richelle Mead - 390 pages - Completed on 1/8/12
2.) A Song of Ice and Fire: A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin - 1,129 pages - Completed on 1/28/12
3.) Singing the Dogstar Blues by Alison Goodman - 261 pages - Completed on 2/1/12
4.) Abarat: Absolute Midnight by Clive Barker - 569 pages - Completed on 2/11/12
5.) Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica: The Dragon's Apprentice by James A. Owen - 376 pages - Completed on 2/19/12
6.) Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare - 127 pages - Completed on 2/24/12
7.) Justice by Micheal J. Sanders - 269 pages - Completed on 3/6/12
8.) A Song of Ice and Fire: A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin - 1,058 pages - Completed on 3/20/12
9.) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien - 398 pages - Completed on 4/23/12
10.) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien - 322 pages - Completed on 5/3/12
11.) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien - 277 pages - Completed on 5/19/12
12.) The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery - 325 pages - Completed on 6/09/12
13.) A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin - N/A Pages - Completed on 7/03/12
14.) The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Pakhurst - 264 pages - Completed on 7/07/12
15.) Firebirds edited by Sharyn November - N/A - Completed on 7/07/12
16.) Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones - N/A -
17.) City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
18.) This Same Sky: A Collection of Poems from Around the World edited by Naomi Shihab Nye
19.) The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
20.) The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks
21.) City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
22.) City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
23.) City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare
24.) Beowulf (Author unknown)
25.) Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli
26.) Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
27.) The Way of King Arthur by Christopher Hibbert
28.) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou - N/A - Completed on 12/12/12
29.) City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Total Books Read: 29/50
Total Page Count: 5,765
Books Read Based On Page Count: 19

Date Started: 1/1/12

Added you to the front page. :)

Got any books in mind to start off with?

Ack! I completely forgot to post this year's challenge! At least I've been writing down the books I've read....

Challenge started: 1 Janurary 2012

Books Read: 100

Read:

1) Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Forgotten War by William R. Forstchen
2) Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Q Continuum: Q-Space by Greg Cox
3) Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Q Continuum: Q-Zone by Greg Cox
4) Star Trek The Next Generation: The Q Continuum: Q-Strike by Greg Cox
5) Geist by Philippa Ballantine
6) Spectyr by Philippa Ballantine
7) The Dream Bible by Brenda Mallon
8) Avalon-Web of Magic: Circles in the Stream by Rachael Roberts
9) The Quest for Karn by Robert B. Wintermute
10) Star Trek: The Next Generation: Gemworld (1 of2) by John Wornholt
11) Star Trek: The Next Generation: Gemworld (2 of 2) by John Wornholt
12) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling
13) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
14) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
15) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
16) Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix by J. K. Rowling
17) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling
18) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
19) The Engineer Reloaded by Neal Asher
20) Eragon by Christopher Paolini
21) Eldest by Christopher Paolini
22) Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
23) Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
24) Flinx Transcendant by Alan Dean Foster
25) Valor's Trial by Tanya Huff
26) Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday By Alan Dean Foster
27) Dhampir by Barb & J.C. Hendee
28) Engineman by Eric Brown
29) Star Trek: The Captain's Table: War Dragons by L.A. Graf
30) Star Trek: Voyager: Death of a Neutron Star by Eric Kotani
31) Star Trek: Prime Directive by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
32) Transformers by Alan Dean Foster
33) Night Play by Sherrilyn Kenyon
34) Seize the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon
35) Sins of the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon
36) Unleash the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon
37) Transformers: The Veiled Thread by Alan Dean Foster
38) Dark Side of the Moon by Sherrilyn Kenyon
39) The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel: The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
40) The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel: The Magician by Michael Scott
41) The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel: The Sorceress by Michael Scott
42) The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel: The Warlock by Michael Scott
43) Devil May Cry by Sherrilyn Kenyon
44) The Dream-Hunter by Sherrilyn Kenyon
45) Upon the Midnight Clear by Sherrilyn Kenyon
46) Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon
47) Dream Chaser by Sherrilyn Kenyon
48) Dream Warrior by Sherrilyn Kenyon
49) The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel: The Necromancer by Michael Scott
50) One Silent Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon
51) Bad Moon Rising by Sherrilyn Kenyon
52) No Mercy by Sherrilyn Kenyon
53) Retribution by Sherrilyn Kenyon
54) Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations: Forgotten History by Christopher L. Bennett
55) Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Betrayal by Aaron Allston
56) Star Wars: Legacy of The Force: Bloodlines by Karen Traviss
57) Star Wars: Legacy of The Force: Tempest by Troy Denning
58) Star Wars: Legacy of The Force: Exile by Aaron Allston
59) The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce
60) The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
61) The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
62) The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
63) The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
64) The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
65) Star Wars: Legacy of The Force: Sacrifice by Karen Traviss
66) Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (novel) by Alan Dean Foster
67) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
68) Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
69) Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer
70) Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer
71) Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer
72) Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer
73) Star Wars: Legacy of The Force: Inferno by Troy Denning
74) Star Wars: Legacy of The Force: Fury by Aaron Allston
75) Star Wars: Legacy of The Force: Revelation by Karen Traviss
76) Star Wars: Legacy of The Force: Invincible by Troy Denning
77) Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer
78) Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer
79) Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer
80) Prelude to Foundation by Issac Asimov
81) Star Trek: The Next Generation: To Storm Heaven by Esther Friesner
82) Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Last Stand by Brad Ferguson
83) Foundation by Issac Asimov
84) Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories vol. II by Sir Conan Arthur Doyle
85) Pheonix Rising by Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris
86) The Ties That Bind by Makoto Inoue, original concept by Hiromu Aarakawa
87) Under a Faraway Skyby Makoto Inoue, original concept by Hiromu Aarakawa
88) Foundation and Empire by Issac Asimov
89) Second Foundation by Issac Asimov
90) Wrayth by Philippa Ballantine
91) Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
92) Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
93) A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix
94) Foundation's Edge by Issac Asimov
95) Stargate Atlantis: Rising by Sally Malcom
96) Stargate Atlantis: Reliquary by Martha Wells
97) Stargate Atlantis: Casualties of War by Elizabeth Christensen
98) Stargate Atlantis: Blood Ties by Sonny Whitelaw and Elizabeth Christensen
99) Stargate Atlantis: Dead End by Chris Wraight
100) Stargate Atlantis: Death Game by Jo Graham

CHALLENGE IS FINISHED!!!!!

Thanks, Knerd! :)
I actually just finished Shadow Heir by Richelle Mead about 20 minutes ago. Probably shouldn't have started the year with fluff, but it's nice to have fun, easy reads. Not entirely sure what to read next. I'm leaning towards Arthurian Romances or a A Storm of Swords. Maybe Erak's Ransom since I've been trying to get through it for the longest time, but I feel a bit bad going straight for another bout of fluff right after Shadow Heir. I've been trying to be better about reading more books with that have more substance than just being a pleasure to read.

How's the Picture of Dorian Grey treating you, if you're still reading it?

Good luck, Taiyo!