The Sunday Salon: Challenge Challenged

At last, this week, I'm nearly caught up with reviews, and I've finished a book that was plaguing me for nearly 2 weeks: Songs in Ordinary Times. I was so happy to finish that book! I picked up The Cellist of Sarajevo as soon as I finished the book above, and I have just a couple of chapters left in that. Sitting in my library bag to read next are a light read, Joshilyn Jackson's Gods in Alabama, and a heavy read, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun.

I need to pay more attention to my challenges, including the Life Books Challenge that I am running here. Only a handful of people have signed up thus far, but I've found lots of books to add to my TBR list from their choices.
* Here's my own list. I've since remembered titles that I should have included, of course!
* Becky at Becky's Book Reviews has a long list here. From her list I am going to add The Girl With the White Flag.
* Jessi at Casual Dread has a list of 10 books. From her list I'm going to add one that I can't believe I've still never read: Like Water for Chocolate.
* Sandy at Falling Like Rain has several I've never heard of, including this one that I'm going to put on my list for World War II reading later this year with my kids.
* Washwords also has a list up, but right now her blog page won't load. I'll have to check that out later!

This is an on-going challenge. Most of the challenge is not in the follow-through reading but in the thinking of your own life books: the books that, in some aspect, define you. I'd love to read some more lists!

I haven't read anything for the New Classics Challenge, although I did try to find The Road at our library, and I've added just a couple of titles to the Books Around the World Challenge. I suspect I may be challenge challenged. What happens is that … I just forget. I am more strongly motivated by my own TBR list than by anything else! Whittling away on that is enough of a challenge.

Book Review: Atonement

Now—after reading On Chesil Beach and Atonement in less than 24 hours— I know why everyone is reading Ian McEwan (and why McEwan is on Entertainment Weekly's list of New Classics). He is brilliant.

The writing in Atonement isn't as sparse and conservative as it is in On Chesil Beach. This is a more complicated novel in terms of characters and twists and turns. There is more to keep up with in this novel that spans several decades, but you won't feel as if you're working to keep up.

The most basic storyline itself is a terrifying one: a precocious 13-year-old girl, Briony, creates her own truth about an event, and everyone believes her. With her gigantic lie, she alters the lives of her whole family. Does she have the courage to take back what she said?

The novel begins with Briony at 13 and ends with her in her 70s. Through much of the novel I longed to slap Briony across her silly, smug face. But the possibility of a lie being told and stuck to: terrifyingly true. How many times as children did we tell a little lie and have to remember it and stick to it later? Most of our lies were probably "innocent" cover-ups ("I'm not the one who broke the glass!"), but even a little lie is just a step away from one that is big enough to alter our world.

As I said in my review of On Chesil Beach, McEwan is a master storyteller and a true craftsman. I will be reading through the rest of his novels soon.

New Classics Challenge

Joanna at Lost in a Good Story is hosting The New Classics Challenge, and I figured it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to join since I've already posted and discussed this list of new classics compiled by Entertainment Weekly here on my "Pondering the Classics" post. Also, I have 6 of books—the required number—already on my TBR list, so I don't have to add any to my list. I am, however, adding a couple of alternates.

So the challenge rules are:

1) Copy the list and bold the titles that you have already read.
2) Choose at least 6 other books from the list , read and review them between 1 August 2008 and 31 January 2009.
2) Go back to Lost in a Good Story and post links to your reviews.
3) In January 2009, cast your vote for which one of the 100 books on the list is your favorite (and write a post on why). The winning book will be sent to a lucky winner chosen by the scientific method favored here in the blogosphere, i.e. names in a hat.

Below is the list (with books I've read already in red), and here are the books I'm planning to read for this challenge:
The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
The Liars' Club, Mary Karr (1995) Read and reviewed 8/08
Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002) Read and reviewed 8/08
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)

My alternates:
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)

EW's List

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars' Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)

7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)

8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World's Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators' Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

You can take part in the challenge by following the links above.

Life Books Challenge

(This is a sticky post. Please scroll down for exciting new SmallWorld Reads posts!!)

Who doesn't have a list of favorite books? Chances are, those books are favorites because they tell a universal truth, and, most likely, because they say something about you. This challenge is in three parts.

Part I: Choose Your Life Books
What are the books that, in some aspect, define you? Think about who you are in terms of spirituality, love, economics, values, worldview--the list could go on and on. These might be nonfiction, self-help, fiction, picture books, children's books, etc. These don't have to be the best books ever written; concentrate on pinpointing books that are significant to you. Give us your life in books. To see my example, click here. After you've picked your life books, write a post and leave the link on Mr. Linky. Be sure to copy and paste the icon above on your blog somewhere!

Part II: Discover Something New
Check out the blogs of other participants and find at least two titles to add to your TBR list. (If you are near the top of the participants' list, be sure to come back in a few days and check out the new postings.) Let us know what books you are adding by linking a second time to Mr. Linky with (Something New) by your name. That'll let readers know to go back and read your new post.

Part III: Read the Books
When you've read the new books, write a review and leave a link to your post in the comments. I'll create a new post with all the reviews listed.

Timeline: I've decided to make this without a time-line. Anytime you want to join in and read the books, just sign up and finish when you can!

Spread the Word: Let your blog readers know about the Life Books Challenge so they can ponder their existence, too! Just grab the button and use it on your post and/or your sidebar and link back here.

And so the challenge in short (this is the part you copy on your blog!):

Part I: Choose Your Life Books
What are the books that, in some aspect, define you? Think about who you are in terms of spirituality, love, economics, values, worldview--the list could go on and on. These might be nonfiction, self-help, fiction, picture books, children's books, etc. Give us your life in books. To see my example, click here. After you've picked your life books, write a post and leave the link on Mr. Linky. Be sure to copy and paste the button above on your blog somewhere!

Part II: Discover Something New
Check out the blogs of other participants and find at least two titles to add to your TBR list. Let us know what books you are adding by linking a second time to Mr. Linky with (Something New) by your name.

Part III: Read the Books
When you've read the new books, write a review and leave a link to your post in the comments here.

So do some pondering, mull it over, and make your lists. Let's find out more about each other!

The Sunday Salon: Life Books Challenge

There are a lot of things I could be doing on this rainy summer day. I could be napping or reading or peeling off wallpaper in the kitchen. Instead, I've finished something I've had in mind for some time now: I've created a Reading Challenge. I figure now that everyone is done with the 24-Hour Read-a-thon over at The Hidden Side of the Leaf, it's time for something new.


And so I've created the Life Books Challenge. It's something I've been mulling over for awhile—how certain books capture an element of our lives that somehow add definition. Serendipitous books. Books that hold memories that are part of who we are. I hope some of you will join my challenge. It's the first one I've created, and it may be a colossal failure; but I'd venture to guess other voracious readers can relate. Intrigued? Click on the link above to read more about the challenge and to join and send me some Sunday Salon love. Here's my own list for the challenge.

In other reading news, I finished and reviewed two books this week: the astounding I Have Lived a Thousand Years and the disappointing A Beginning, a Muddle, and an End. I am over halfway through Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth, and I am absolutely blown away. Lahiri is a master of short story. I love every single thing about this collection except that I want each story to be a novel. More on this next week.

Until then, happy weekend! And come join my challenge!

My Life Books (Challenge Part I)

Here's what my own Life Books Challenge requests:

Part I: Choose Your Life Books
What are the books that, in some aspect, define you? Think about who you are in terms of spirituality, love, economics, values, worldview--the list could go on and on. These might be nonfiction, self-help, fiction, picture books, children's books, etc. Give us your life in books. To see my example, click here. After you've picked your life books, write a post and leave the link on Mr. Linky. Be sure to copy and paste the button above on your blog somewhere!

Part II: Discover Something New
Check out the blogs of other participants and find at least two titles to add to your TBR list. Let us know what books you are adding by linking a second time to Mr. Linky with (Something New) by your name.

Part III: Read the Books
When you've read the new books, write a review and leave a link to your post in the comments here.

**********
My Life Books

The Bible: (Everything) Patrick Henry is quoted as saying, "The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed." Daniel Webster wrote, "If there is anything in my thoughts or style to commend, the credit is due to my parents for instilling in me an early love of the Scriptures."
I can't say it any better than that.

To Kill a Mockingbird: (How to Live) For all the reasons why I love Harper Lee's one and only novel, click here.

One and Sonnets from the Portuguese: (Love and Marriage) More than any others, these two books represent Dr. H. to me. We've always quoted to each other from Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese. Not just her most well-known, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways," but the lesser known ones, as well. Richard Bach's One is probably not a well-known book, but for Dr. H and I, it spoke to the fear of our "what if" and to the relief of how it really all turned out. (You can read about our "Happy Ending" here.) Bach presents in this book the stories of what could have happened if the characters had made other choices; it's a book of parallel lives. What if, for example, I'd not stayed for summer school that last year? What if you'd chosen to go to a different restaurant that night? What if?

Crunchy Cons: (Politics, socioeconomics, the culture debate) This book by Rod Dreher was an “a ha” book throughout for me. In nearly every chapter I had those moments of thinking (or saying outloud and then reading passages to Dr. H.), “Yes! Exactly!” and “So THIS is what I am—and there are tons of people like me!” You can read the rest of my review here.

The Total Money Makeover: (Finances) Dave Ramsey's "proven plan for financial fitness" has changed the direction of our life. From a post on my home-life blog in 2006: " Dave's favorite word is FREEEEEDOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM, and we are tasting it. People have said to us, 'How can you stand to be strapped down to a budget?' As parents, we know that kids to better with a structured life. They have freedom in knowing what is expected of them. It's the same way with finances: we feel a sense of relief knowing that this is what we have to spend--and no more." Two years later, we are still digging ourselves out of debt, but we are closer every month. Freedom.

Good-night Moon: (Parenthood) We've read hundreds of books to our children in the past 15 years, but this is the one that started it all. Margaret Wise Brown's classic bedtime book will always, for me, represent all the good things of being a mama.

Dumbing Us Down: (Education) Because homeschooling is a huge part of my life, this treatise on public education by John Taylor Gatto, a recipient of the NY State Teacher of the Year Award, speaks powerfully to me.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves: (Grammar freakiness) This is another one of those "a-ha!" books. It is a relief to find out that author Lynn Truss is also horrified by dangling modifiers. For my review, go here.

Apples: (Inheritance) Let me explain. My family is filled with generations of apple growers. Frank Browning's Apples traces the apple from the mountains of Kazahkstan to Cornell University to huge commercial growers and the little guys, too. I will always remember reading this, reading Browning's description of my father, and thinking, "Oh! That's my inheritance!" It's not money or books. My father's legacy is wrapped in the sweetest smelling fruit and handed down, seed by seed.

Phew! So that's my list. What are your life books?

Books Around the World Challenge

This week's Weekly Geeks challenge is to organize any challenges. While I'm generally afraid of getting too consumed by challenges and deadlines, The Books Around the World Challenge appeals to me tremendously. I started this back in November but haven't been terribly dedicated about keeping up with it. I needed a challenge to remind me of my challenge!

Being a huge fan of Sonlight as the main course of our homeschooling, I have developed quite a taste for learning about other cultures via literature. The premise of this challenge is to read a book for each country in the world. The book should help us learn something about that country and not just be one written by somebody who lives there. I believe there are something like 193 countries in the world, so this challenge should take a few years. That suits my lackadaisical approach to reading challenges.

And so, here is the list thus far. Obviously many countries are missing. If you have a book for a country either listed here or not listed, please let me know. The books with an asterisk are ones that were suggested didn't look particularly appealing to me, and the ones linked or in italics are ones I've read. So help!


Afghanistan
The Bookseller of Kabul (Asne Seierstad) (review here)
The Kite Runner
A Thousand Splendid Suns

Antarctica
*Decipher (Stel Pavlou)

Argentina
THE MINISTRY OF SPECIAL CASES. By Nathan Englander.

Australia
A Town Like Alice (Neville Shute)
Mutant Message from Down Under by Marlo Morgan (already read)

Bolivia
*I Am a Taxi (Deborah Ellis)

Botswana
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

Brazil
*Keeper (Mal Peet)
Child of the Dark: The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus

Cambodia
The Stones Cry Out: A Cambodian Childhood by Molyda Szymusiak

Canada
Crow Lake
The Other Side of the Bridge (Mary Lawson)
The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
Latitude of Melt (Joan Clark)
The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie Macdonald

Chile
Portrait in Sepia

China
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Peony in Love
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan (review here)

Colombia
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (already read but should re-read)

Congo:
The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)--already read

Croatia
The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andriæ

Cuba
*Our Man in Havana (Graham Greene)
DANCING TO “ALMENDRA.” By Mayra Montero.

Egypt
*Napoleon’s Pyramids (William Dietrich)
DOWN THE NILE: Alone in a Fisherman’s Skiff. By Rosemary Mahoney.
Mara, Daughter of the Nile (already read)

England
Black Swan Green (David Mitchell)
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Atonement by Ian McEwan

France
Chocolat (Joanne Harris)

Germany
The Book Thief
The Nazi Officer's Wife

Greece

Haiti
BROTHER, I’M DYING. By Edwidge Danticat.

Hong Kong
The Language of Threads (Gail Tsukiyama)

Iceland

India
Beneath a Marble Sky (John Shors)
Great Hedge of India : The Search for the Living Barrier That Divided a Nation by Roy Moxham (already read)

Iran
Veil of Roses (Laura Fitgerald)
THE SEPTEMBERS OF SHIRAZ. By Dalia Sofer.
Persepolis 1 & 2 by Marjane Strapi (reviews here)

Ireland
An Irish Country Doctor (Patrick Taylor)

Israel

Italy
A Thread of Grade (Mary Doria Russell)

Japan

Kenya

Laos

Libya
IN THE COUNTRY OF MEN. By Hisham Matar.

Lebanon

Morocco
Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail (Malika Oufkir)

New Zealand
The Bone People (Keri Hulme)

Nigeria
Purple Hibiscus (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)

Norway
OUT STEALING HORSES. By Per Petterson.

Pakistan

Portugal
Alentejo Blue (Monical Ali)

Russia
The Madonnas of Leningrad (Debra Dean)
The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig

Rwanda
Left to Tell: One Woman's Story of Surviving the Rwandan Holocaust. (Imaclee Ilibigiza)
We Wish To Tell You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevitch

Scotland
*My Heart’s in the Lowlands (Liz Curtis Higgs)
Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott

Sierra-Leone
LONG WAY GONE: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. By Ishmael Beah.

Somalia
KNOTS. By Nuruddin Farah.

Spain
*The Shadow of the Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafon)

Sweden
Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olsson

Switzerland

Tibet/India
Daughter of the Mountains by Louise Rankin (already read)

Turkey

Wales
How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn (already read)

Reading Challenge Completed

September 14, 2007

I've finished my first-ever reading challenge. If you haven't yet visited Sherry at Semicolon, you should. She posts a fabulous Saturday Review of Books each week, and I've added many books to my list from the reviews there. Her challenge was to read 6 books from the Review list between now and December 31. Several of these books are on my reading list anyway, but I picked up a few extras. I picked more than six in case some weren't available, and indeed, I never did find one so I took it off my list.

1. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. Reviewed by Framed and Booked. Reivewed by 3M. Reviewed by Stefanie at So Many Books. Reviewed by Stephen Lang. Reviewed by Lisa at Breaking the Fourth Wall. Reviewed by Booklogged. Reviewed by Sherry at Semicolon. Reviewed by Krakovianka.
My review here.

2. Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Freedman. Reviewed by Leslie at Abiding.
My review here.

3. The Nazi Officer’s Wife by Edith Hahn Beer. Reviewed by Literary Feline. Reviewed by Bookfool.
My review here.

4. Night by Elie Wiesel. Reviewed by Jane at Much Ado. Reviewed by Sherry at Semicolon.
My review here.

5. The Other Side of the River: A Story of Two Towns, A Death, and America’s Dilemma by Alex Kotlowitz. Reviewed by Wendy at Caribous Mom.
My review here.

6. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Reviewed by Carol at Magistramater.
My review here.

7. Wrapped in Rain by Charles Martin. Reviewed by Jewellspring.
My review here.

Saturday Book Review Challenge

For the first time ever I've encountered a reading challenge that I can master. Sherry at Semicolon posts a fabulous Saturday Review of Books each week. Her challenge is to read 6 books from this list between now and December 31. Several of these books are on my reading list anyway, but I've picked up a few extras. I've also picked more than six in case any aren't available at the library between now and then.

1. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. Reviewed by Framed and Booked. Reivewed by 3M. Reviewed by Stefanie at So Many Books. Reviewed by Stephen Lang. Reviewed by Lisa at Breaking the Fourth Wall. Reviewed by Booklogged. Reviewed by Sherry at Semicolon. Reviewed by Krakovianka.

2. First We have Coffee by Margaret Jensen. Reviewed by Leslie at Abiding.

3. Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Freedman. Reviewed by Leslie at Abiding.

4. The Nazi Officer’s Wife by Edith Hahn Beer. Reviewed by Literary Feline. Reviewed by Bookfool.

5. Night by Elie Wiesel. Reviewed by Jane at Much Ado. Reviewed by Sherry at Semicolon.

6. The Other Side of the River: A Story of Two Towns, A Death, and America’s Dilemma by Alex Kotlowitz. Reviewed by Wendy at Caribous Mom.

7. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Reviewed by Carol at Magistramater.

8. Wrapped in Rain by Charles Martin. Reviewed by Jewellspring.