Looking for suggestions again

Last year I asked for your must-read books. From your suggestions I crafted a reading challenge. A number of my friends joined me in this challenge, and I think it has been one of the more valuable challenges that I have done this year. I have thoroughly enjoyed the books that I have read for it and I intend to do it again next year.

Since I have several books in progress that I want to finish by the end of the year, and because I read one of my alternates, I know that one of my choices for this year will carry over to next year.

So again, I ask you, what books have you read that--for whatever reason--you would recommend highly. They can be serious or fun. Fiction, non-fiction, acclaimed or obscure. The only requirement is that you love them.

Please comment here and not on the Book of Face, so that I can keep track of your replies. Thanks in advance.

Reading troubles

I have a book blog, mostly to keep track of the various reading challenges that I engage in each year. I post the occasional review and sometimes progress reports and updates, but, in the main, it is my way of keeping track of what I am, or should be, reading.

I say "should be" because, for me, the challenges function as a curb. They, theoretically, keep me from reading too much fluff. They steer me toward some specific books, some higher quality literature, and more variety than I would likely consume if left completely unchecked.

Some years this works better than others. This year I am in a bit of trouble with my challenges, partially because I've been lazy, partially because I've had a couple of crazy busy times, partially because of my eye trouble, and partially because I have had lots of opportunity to peruse--and check out--the new books at the library.

Another problem is that I've had a couple of books that have really bogged me down. They've been slow going. I just decided that I've had enough of one of them. After half the book, I'm calling a halt. I won't count it for any of my totals, but I will check it off of the challenges that required this particular book, because I am DONE with it.

My sons don't understand it, but I really don't like Dostoyevsky. I didn't like Crime and Punishment. And I have now abandoned The Brothers Karamazov. In fact, I don't believe that I have as yet particularly enjoyed a book by a Russian. I can appreciate certain things about the book, but I don't enjoy it. I figure that I am old enough at this point to not spend any more time on a book that I am practically skimming to get through.

I am about 1/6 of the way through Middlemarch and am enjoying that, but for tonight I think I'm going to curl up with something completely different. Tam Lin and The Book of Three--both recommended and chosen for my "Friends" challenge--arrived last week from Amazon, so I think I'll choose one of those.

I may not do as well with some of my challenges this year as I thought I would. I hate not finishing them. But I also don't want to ruin one of the greatest pleasures in my life by turning it into too much of a chore.

Looking for suggestions

This is something that I would normally put on my book blog, but since no one but me really reads that one, I'm putting it here. There are all sorts of book lists floating around out there, but I want to know what books people love.

What are your must-read books? What books have you loved for the story, the writing, or for some other reason? What books can you not imagine not having read? I'm looking for three, or five, or ten. . .whatever number it takes. I don't want The Bible. It's an easy answer. I don't want titles that you feel like you SHOULD suggest. I want to know the books that you've really loved.

To start you off, I'm going to list the first five that popped into my mind in no particular order:
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, . . . And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmeyer, The Little House Books (Yes, I know that's more than one), Katherine by Anya Seton,  and The Captains and the Kings by Taylor Caldwell. These are all three books that in some way have influenced me, and that I have read multiple times.

I will list the rest of mine after I see what you all have to say.

How do you read so much?

I get this question frequently and it came up at book group last night. I explained that I always have a book with me, read while I do mundane activities like blow drying my hair, etc.

But I forgot the biggest thing. I don't watch TV. I have watched less than 20 hours of TV this year, and that includes several nights of Gilmore Girls episodes while Bethany was here visiting. I stream Downton Abbey and Project Runway, usually while I'm fixing dinner.

I don't play computer games any more. I don't watch movies, except on very rare occasions as a family activity.

I used to watch a lot of TV. I used to play a lot of computer games. I didn't make a conscious decision to stop, but we got rid of our satellite a year ago and have not missed it. I didn't decide to stop playing computer games; I just don't really enjoy them any more.

I used to lose a lot of time to Facebook and websurfing, but I gave up on trying to keep up with every bit of news from everyone that I know. Now I check in briefly several times a day. I don't just go looking to see if I can find something to read. I check specific sites and then get off.

If I want to relax, I read a book. And I do read quickly. That's how I read so many books.

Books and reading

I am having a lot of fun with my various reading challenges this year and have started doing a few book reviews again. I also have some mini-reviews in my monthly progress report posts. Now that I'm writing again, my genealogy blog may be next to rise from its moribund state.

Book club

It has been several years since I've been part of a book club and I have really missed it. I've been lucky to have an informal book group in my house--my kids and I have read and discussed many books over the years--but with Bethany gone even that is dying off. I read voraciously, but it is usually a solitary pursuit, and I'm not exactly the solitary type.

So you can imagine my excitement at having a book group again.

We met for our first discussion tonight. It was good: thoughtful, respectful, insightful. A couple of us liked the book better than the others, which is always going to be the case. That generally makes for more interesting discussion. I think we have a good mix of people. Everyone is well-educated, but in different areas. We range in age from mid/late 20s to late-ish 40s. We are all moms, but our kids range from 3-25. Most of us know each other, but there are a few people who aren't part of our usual group, and that adds something, too.

I think this is the start of something good. I like it.

Why Janie can't read

I am, and have always been, a reader. But this year has been rough. I am way off pace. My concentration has been horrible. I have to really be in the perfect mood for a particular book to be able to read it. I keep trying to figure out why this is. It would seem that my favorite relaxing pastime would be just the ticket when things have been a bit crazy, but that doesn't seem to be the case right now.

Very few books that I've read this year have really grabbed my attention. Those that have, have. If you want to see my reading lists, challenges, etc., I have a book blog.

I'm hoping that life getting back to normal helps. We'll see.

The bright side

My schedule is currently such that I am away from home most of the day. I'm doing a lot of driving and a lot of sitting in the car and waiting. These waits are short enough that there is no way to conveniently get errands or other useful tasks done. It frustrates me, because I feel like I'm losing huge chunks of time and getting behind on things I need to do, but I am finding a bright side. I am getting tons of reading done!

Usually much of my reading in done in small bits of snatched time. I read while I am making my coffee, drying my hair, waiting for a train or in line at the grocery store. (This is what a bookaholic does for a fix.) So a forty-five minute reading opportunity in a parking lot seems almost decadent. It's been especially nice this week because it's been sunny and I've soaked up the rays through my car window while I read.

So, while I am feeling angst over my never-home, crazy, driving all over town schedule, I am also flying through the books. Definitely a silver lining.

Resolved

As with last year, I was relieved to look back tonight and see that I had made no resolutions. What a relief!

I did, however, have a few reading challenges to complete. While I was mostly successful, I came up slightly short.

Update: For a more thoughtful look at resolutions: Wit & Whim.

Books, books, and more books

I'm planning my reading challenges for this year. I read a lot of books this year, but not as much quality as I would like. So, for 2010 I'm going to do a bit more brain-stretching. If you have suggestions, I'm talking about it here.

Reading

Since I joined several reading challenges for this year, I am a lot more aware of what other people are reading and it has made me curious about why people read and why they read what they read.

I read because I can't not read. I read whatever is in my line of vision: boxes, pamphlets, signs, magazines, newspapers, bumper stickers, Twitter feeds, etc. When I get a chance I read books, and compared to most people I read a lot of books.

The thing that I don't understand is the people who read tons of books, two, three, four times as many as I read, but they read romances. They read nothing other than what I call junk books. Really, I have nothing against junk books. Sometimes that's all my brain can take, but I try not to over do it. There are so many excellent books to read that it seems a shame to waste the time on the print equivalent of potato chips.

So, if you are a reader, what do you read? How do you decide what to read?

I have to be in the right mood for a particular book. Right now I'm in the middle of a major non-fiction streak, but I can feel it waning and I'm in the middle of a couple of books that may be set aside for a while so I can scratch the next mental itch. This makes reading library books difficult. What I'm in the mood for on Monday, may look totally uninteresting by Friday. Maybe this is part of my ADD? Does anyone else do this?

How do you read so many books?

Soon after I posted my first reading challenge post, I got this question from a friend. Since then it has been repeated many times. So I started thinking about it and came up with an answer. Or several answers.

Reading is my default activity. If I'm not actively doing something else I'm reading. I read while I'm waiting, whether it's for a train, an appointment, or on hold with an insurance company. I read on the treadmill or recumbent bike. I read while I dry my hair. I read while I cook--although that is more likely to be a magazine--and I have been known to read while I vacuum.

I read while I eat, unless we're all sitting down for supper together. I read while I "watch" TV or a movie unless it's really, really good. (House, Lost, 24, or The Office.) I read before I fall asleep, sometimes for far longer than I should.

I also read fairly quickly. I found out when I was about 12 that there were people who paid to take classes to read like I do. Unless I'm doing genealogical research I read in "chunks" not words. When I look at a page I see sentences or phrases as wholes.

Like many other things, I think that reading improves with practice. Exposure to a wide vocabulary and range of writing styles makes reading easier. Working through a difficult book exercises the muscles of literacy that make the next one go faster. This is why I read my kids a large variety of books when they were small. I wanted them--from the beginning--to hear many different ways words could be put together: the rhythms of Seuss, the vocabulary of Beatrix Potter, the stories of a host of authors too numerous to mention, but many of which enriched my own childhood.

And if you still wonder how I read so much, come and see my house. I would far rather read, scrapbook, write, cook, search for dead relatives...than clean my house.

Oh, by the way, here are a couple more people who read a lot of books.

Book review

I have a book about homeschooling to recommend. This kind of surprises me.

First, it is unusual for me to read a homeschooling book. Most of them make me crazy. And after thirteen years of this lifestyle, I certainly don't want to read that I'm doing it wrong! Secondly, many of them are useful to new homeschoolers or a subset of homeschoolers, but no one else would really want to read them. Homeschooling: A Family's Journey is a good book for long-timers, newbies, wannabes, and folks who would just like to understand homeschoolers a little bit better.

After I got this book home from the library I was trying to figure out what made me pick it up and look at it. It does say "HOMESCHOOLING" in red letters on the front, so I guess it isn't entirely surprising that I looked at it. But I think that what really got my attention was the picture of the family on the front. It was what we like to call a "pile picture." The family is kind of piled in, leaning on each other. They like each other. They aren't stuffy. They look like a family we could be friends with.

But the thing that made me bring it home was this sentence inside the front cover: "Today's homeschoolers succeed not because they do "school" things better than schools do--but because they do better things than school." Yes. In a nutshell. (This is part of the reason calls for accountability to the school-ish powers that be drive us crazy.)

So I decided to read it last night. Not with the highest of expectations, because it has been years since I read a book about homeschooling that really did anything for me. But I found myself engaged. I stayed awake late reading. I finished it this morning. I marked pages as I read because I kept finding nuggets that resonated. This book is about family and what education is.

Several of the pages I marked are going to turn into blog posts of their own. The book I read is from the library, but I'm going to buy my own so that I can mark it up and--eventually--loan it out. It is that good.

2008 Reading Challenge revisited

My first reading challenge went pretty well. I didn't quite finish all of the categories, but I read more books than it required since some didn't fit.

I'm looking forward to doing this year's reading challenges, and have set up an additional blog to handle the ongoing updates to my reading lists.

Reading challenge: 100+

I love this challenge. It's simple. Read at least 100 books in 2009.

Here are the rules:

1) You can join anytime as long as you don’t start reading your books prior to 2009.

2) This challenge is for 2009 only. The last day to have all your books read is December 31, 2009.

3) You can join anytime between now and December 31, 2009.

I'll be listing my books here. As I read books I will gray them out and put the date completed. I can hardly wait to get started!

1. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
2. Pretty in Plaid by Jen Lancaster
3. The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper (have you read this EC?)
4. Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fisher
5. A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffery Archer
6.

Reading challenge: Suspense and Thriller

When I saw that there was a Suspense and Thriller Challenge, I knew that I had to join. These are the kind of books that always show up and divert my attention from other books I plan to read. These are my favorites for a quick, can't-put-down read.

Rules of this challenge:

* Read TWELVE (12) different sub-genres of thrillers in 2009.

* You do NOT need to select your books ahead of time. Also, you may change as you go.

* Your books can crossover into other challenges.

The sub-genres are listed at the challenge site.

I'll be listing my books here.

1. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

2009 Reading Challenges: World Citizen

I've decided that I want to put a little more effort into my reading challenges this year so I'm searching out some different ones that are out there. I've picked a few that I'm going to do. The first is The World Citizen Challenge.

I am picking this one for several reasons. First, it is non-fiction, which I have only really started reading for pleasure during the past couple of years, but enjoy immensely. Second, it encompasses things like history, economics, culture, and politics from an international perspective. Those are things that I would be reading about, but it will help give me some focus. Third, it's only seven books and can fit in nicely with the others that I am doing.

I'll be listing my books here and will link to it in my sidebar.

1. The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper (need to figure out category)
2.

Books, books, books

I've updated my reading challenge list again, but I forgot to add the books I read for about a month, so I have to try to remember what they were.

I've enjoyed having a kind of guide for my reading this year, even though I haven't completely followed it. (and the books that I haven't gotten to show up my mental laziness.) Is anyone taking a challenge or constructing a guide for your reading for this year? I'm trying to decide what I'm going to do, but I'm definitely going to do one. I'd love suggestions.

Books

I have been neglecting my reading list, both reading the books on it and making note of what I read. I tried to get it up to date today, but I have read several books in the past couple of months that aren't coming to mind. If they do, I'll get them added.

I also have a couple of new must-reads that I'm going to have to fit in.

Even though I have deviated from it substantially, I still think that having the list has been worthwhile and I am going to do it again next year.

Reading challenge again

My reading challenge list is coming along nicely. I don't think I'll be making any more changes to the lists themselves, because I still want to read those books this year. I have been a bit sidetracked by the rush of summer fiction. I have also gotten a few Early Reviewer books that I have needed to read, and those weren't originally on my list.

So, even though I've changed my lists a bit, I still like having the list of books that I intend to read. It has helped keep me on track.