Can valerie2 do 888?

Since failing the 2007 50 Book Challenge (having spent too much time at work and not enough at play!), I have signed up confidently for the 2008 50 Book Challenge, and somewhat less confidently for this 888 Challenge - I can but try!! Here are my categories: I will add the actual books as I go, because I don't tend to plan my reading too far in advance - and I like to think that I haven't yet considered or even heard of some of the books that will make my list for the year (or maybe 'discovering' new authors - ie. category 2 - might lead to identifying new favourites to pursue for category 6...).

I'll update this post with books read; any comments on the books will be added in separate posts.

Categories:

1. 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
1.1 Cat's Eye: Margaret Atwood
1.2 The Secret History: Donna Tartt

2. Authors I've not previously read
2.1 The Sonnet Lover: Carol Goodman
2.2 A Walk to Remember: Nicholas Sparks
2.3 Wonder When You'll Miss Me: Amanda Davis
2.4 Kafka's Soup: Mark Crick
2.5 Orpheus Lost: Janette Turner Hospital
2.6 Giraffe: J.M. Ledgard
2.7 The Floating Island: Anna Ralph

3. Books first published prior to 1950
3.1 Tess of the d'Urbervilles: Thomas Hardy
3.2 Anne of Avonlea: LM Montgomery
3.3 Anne of the Island: LM Montgomery
3.4 Anne of Windy Willows: LM Montgomery
3.5 Anne's House of Dreams: LM Montgomery
3.6 Anne of Ingelside: LM Montgomery
3.7 Why Didn't They Ask Evans: Agatha Christie

4. Award winners
4.1 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay: Michael Chabon
4.2 The Queen of the Tamborine: Jane Gardham
4.3 Mister Pip: Lloyd Jones
4.4 Love in the Time of Cholera: Gabriel Garcia Marquez

5. Non-fiction
5.1 Mao's Last Dancer: Li Cunxin
5.2 Marley & Me: John Grogan
5.3 The Glass Castle: Jeannette Walls
5.4 Dibs In Search of Self: Virginia M. Axline
5.5 The Last Lecture: Randy Pausch

6. Favourite authors
6.1 On Chesil Beach: Ian McEwan
6.2 Change of Heart: Jodi Picoult
6.3 Animal Dreams: Barbara Kingsolver
6.4 Picture Perfect: Jodi Picoult

7. Authors born in countries where English is not the primary language
7.1 The Kite Runner: Khaled Hosseini
7.2 The Alchemist: Paulo Coelho
7.3 The Dream Life of Sukhanov: Olga Grushin
7.4 A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian: Marina Lewycka
7.5 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: Dai Sijie
7.6 Death and the Penguin: Andrey Kurkov

8. Comfort reads & miscellaneous (includes feel-good books, chick-lit, books previously read and enjoyed, etc.)
8.1 Those Faraday Girls: Monica McInerney
8.2 The Friday Night Knitting Club: Kate Jacobs
8.3 The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox: Maggie O'Farrell
8.4 13 Little Blue Envelopes: Maureen Johnson
8.5 Anne of Green Gables

edited 28 Feb to amend category 8 to 'comfort reads and miscellaneous' (I realised there were a number of books I want to read that didn't fit any of my other categories).

edited 2 Mar to remove touchstones - the problems with loading touchstones seem to get worse the more I add to this list, and it's too frustrating to have to correct problem links and wait for them to load (if they eventually load!) every time I add another book to this list. I will keep the touchstones below in the monthly posts.

January Reads

1. Those Faraday Girls by Monica McInerney
Assigned category: (8) Comfort reads (1/8)
Could have been categorised as: --

2. The Sonnet Lover by Carol Goodman
Assigned category: (2) Authors not previously read (1/8)
Could have been categorised as: --

3. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
Assigned category: (1) 1001 Books ... (1/8)
Could have been categorised as: (2) Authors not previously read

4. On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Assigned category: (6) Favourite authors (1/8)
Could have been categorised as: --

5. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Assigned category: (4) Award Winners (1/8)
Could have been categorised as: (2) Authors not previously read

6. The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
Assigned category: (8) Comfort reads (2/8)
Could have been categorised as: (2) Authors not previously read

I love the idea of "comfort reads." The author that comes to mind for me is Elizabeth Berg, especially her earlier novels. I'll keep watching your entries in that category.

Edited to add: Surprisingly (because they're thrillers), Nelson DeMille's novels are also comfort reads for me.

Hi Detail Muse - and thanks for your post. I think it's only right that we can take comfort in all sorts of literature - for example, I think some people would find it weird that I would put many books that make me cry buckets in my 'comfort reads' category, but I believe it's good for the soul to have a good cry now and then.

I have only read one Elizabeth Berg book - Talk Before Sleep. I did enjoy it, but not as much as anticipated based on the reviews I had read. While the friendship aspect was fantastic (we all need a close knit group of friends), I couldn't quite warm to the way the characters were portrayed - there was an underlying sense of selfishness in some characters that I wasn't comfortable with. That said, I have a personal history with the illness at the centre of the book, so perhaps that coloured my judgement somewhat. So ... are there any other of her books you'd specifically recommend, because I'm quite willing to give her a second go.

Others that I'd put in my 'comfort reads' category (whether or not I read them as part of this challenge) include books by Maeve Binchy, Monica McInerney or Rosamunde Pilcher (not great literature, just nice stories), classics such as Little Women, Seven Little Australians (an Australian childhood classic) .... and many more. I'll see what else I can find in the coming months.

February reads

7. A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks
Assigned category: (2) Authors not previously read (2/8)
Could have been categorised as: --

8. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Assigned category: (7) Authors born in countries where English is not the primary language (1/8)
Could have been categorised as: (2) Authors not previously read

9. The Queen of the Tambourine by Jane Gardham
Assigned category: (4) Award winners (prize = Whitbread) (2/8)
Could have been categorised as: (2) Authors not previously read

10. Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin
Assigned category: (4) Non-fiction (1/8)
Could have been categorised as: (2) Authors not previously read OR (7) Authors born in countries where English is not the primary language

11. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell
Assigned category: (8) Comfort reads and miscellaneous (3/8)
Could have been categorised as: --

Hope you enjoyed reading The Kite Runner as much as I did. I just got back from seeing the film and thought it was excellent. I'd recommend that you see the movie as well as read Hosseini's newest book A Thousand Splendid Suns. You'll enjoy reading that book as well.

>4 valerie2:: valerie2
That’s wild -- I have Talk Before Sleep in my 888 Challenge but your comment sounded familiar ... I checked my copy and found a bookmark on page 36! I think I felt as you did.

I’ve rated most of Elizabeth Berg’s books as 3 or 4 stars -- safe, emotional places to rest. (I’ve recently migrated toward Ann Patchett in this area because her novels are more substantive in language and topic.) I especially liked the first two Bergs I read, which probably made me more forgiving of the others: Ordinary Life, a collection of short stories, and Open House, a novel. I’m thrilled to discover that she has a second collection of short stories coming out in April: The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: And Other Small Acts of Liberation.

Re #6 ... Thanks SqueakyChu - I really enjoyed The Kite Runner, although I was embarrassed about being so ignorant of the tragedies that have occurred in Afghanistan, particularly given that the troubles there are such recent history. I have had this book in my TBR pile for quite a while, but my impetus to finally read it was the fact that the movie was coming out - I always prefer to read a book before I see the movie version (even though sometimes the movie portrayal of various characters doesn't quite match the mental picture I've created). I will definitely be getting hold of A Thousand Splendid Suns - I've held off buying it until now to see whether I liked Hosseini's writing style, which I did very much.

Re # 7 - Thanks for the other Elizabeth Berg suggestions Detail Muse - I'll have to look them up. I was also interested to hear that you're inclined toward Ann Patchett: the first I read of hers was Bel Canto, which I absolutely loved (the writing is beautiful) - I see you have it tagged as a favourite also; late last year I read Run: while I didn't feel it was really of the same standard I would still recommend it as a good read. I will definitely be looking for more of her books. Oh - another book I'd put in my 'comfort reads' category would be Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer. It has some fairly mixed reviews on LT, but I loved the writing style, the individual stories that are portrayed, and the way the stories gradually wind themselves together as the book progresses.

Thought it was time to try one of these...

March reads

With the first book of the month under my belt I have now read at least one book from each of my 8 categories - yay!

12. Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Assigned category: (3) Books first published prior to 1950 (1/8)
Could have been categorised as: (1) 1001 Books...

13. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Assigned category: (7) Authors born in countries where English is not the primary language (2/8)
Could have been categorised as: (2) Authors I've not previously read

14. Wonder When You'll Miss Me by Amanda Davis
Assigned category: (2) Authors I've not previously read (3/8)
Could have been categorised as: --

15. Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Assigned category: (4) Award winners (3/8) (Award = 2007 Commonwealth Writers' Prize)
Could have been categorised as: (2) Authors I've not previously read

16. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
Assigned category: (8) Comfort reads & miscellaneous (4/8)
Could have been categorised as: (2) Authors I've not previously read

17. The Dream Life of Sukhanov by Olga Grushin
Assigned category: (7) Authors born in countries where English is not the primary language (3/8)
Could have been categorised as: (2) Authors I've not previously read

Oh well - so far so good, if things keep progressing at this rate I should meet the challenge! Progress as at the end of March:

What did you think of 13 Little Blue Envelopes? I'm currently reading P.S. I Love You, and the premise seems somewhat similar. I had added 13 envelopes to my list of wanna reads, but I was wondering if you'd recommend it.

I think it depends what you're looking for: it's target audience is young adults (females), and unlike many other YA books I've read I don't think its appeal really extends beyond younger readers. That said, it wasn't horrible - it was a light, reasonably entertaining read, but not a book I gained much from.

I have actually reviewed this book (the only review I've written!) but don't know how to link it here: if you go to my profile page and click on reviews it will come up.

Well, based on your (very well-written) review, and my massive TBR pile, I think I'll pass on that one then. It's unfortunate it wasn't any better - the plot certainly seemed like one that had loads of potential.

April reads

18. Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
Assigned Category: (6) Favourite Authors (2/8)
Could have been categorised as: --

19. Marley and Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan
Assigned Category: (5) Non-fiction (2/8)
Could have been categorised as: Authors I've not previously read

20. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Assigned Category: (1) 1001 Books .... (2/8)
Could have been categorised as: --

(hmmm - touchstones misbehaving...)

Aargh! April was a pretty bad reading month!! Progress as at the end of April:

May reads

21. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
Assigned Category: (7) Authors born in countries where English is not the primary language (4/8)
Could have been categorised as: Authors I've not previously read

22. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Assigned Category: (5) Non-fiction (3/8)
Could have been categorised as: Authors I've not previously read

23. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Assigned Category: (7) Authors born in countries where English is not the primary language (5/8)
Could have been categorised as: Authors I've not previously read

Aargh - at this rate I'll be lucky to meet the 50 book challenge let alone this 888 challenge!! Still, May was a very busy month work-wise, so hopefully I'll get more reading time this month. The weather's cooling off here too, which makes snuggling up with a good book all the more inviting.

I'm also frustrated because I appear to have lost a book I was two-thirds of the way through and was enjoying very much - The Time of Our Singing - I think I may have left it on an airplane last week. I shall have to try and track it down, or else will have to buy another copy.

Anyway, on with the June reads....

24. Kafka's Soup by Mark Crick
Assigned category: (2) Authors I've not previously read (4/8)
Could have been categorised as: --

25. Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov
Assigned category: (7) Authors born in countries where English is not the primary language (6/8)
Could have been categorised as: Authors I've not previously read

26. Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
Assigned category: (6) Favourite authors (3/8)
Could have been categorised as: --

27. Orpheus Lost by Janette Turner Hospital
Assigned category: (2) Authors I've not previously read (5/8)
Could have been categorised as: --

28. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Assigned category: (8) Comfort reads & miscellaneous (5/8)
Could have been categorised as: Books first published prior to 1950

OK - I'm going to have to pick up the pace a bit if I'm going to get through this challenge (without counting books in more than one category). I'm pretty confident I'll get through a fair few in the next few months though. Here's my July books so far:

29. Giraffe by J.M. Ledgard
Assigned category: (2) Authors I've not previously read (6/8)
Could have been categorised as: --

30. Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
Assigned category: (3) Books first published prior to 1950 (2/8)
Could have been categorised as: Comfort reads & miscellaneous

More July reads:

31. Anne of the Island by LM Montgomery
Assigned category: (3) Books first published prior to 1950 (3/8)
Could have been categorised as: Comfort reads & miscellaneous

32. Anne of Windy Willows by LM Montgomery
Assigned category: (3) Books first published prior to 1950 (4/8)
Could have been categorised as: Comfort reads & miscellaneous

33. Anne's House of Dreams by LM Montgomery
Assigned category: (3) Books first published prior to 1950 (5/8)
Could have been categorised as: Comfort reads & miscellaneous

***I know, I skipped Chronicles of Avonlea and Further Chronicle of Avonlea - to me these always stood 'off to the side' but I'll go back and read them at some point.***

Oh well - everything has fallen in a heap (or, at least, this reading challenge has!). The last few months have been a bit of a reading vacuum - th same thing happened last year, and I thought it was just because I was busy with having a swimming pool installed, but it's starting to look as though that's a busy period every year. Suddenly, making it to 64 books for the year is looking rather unlikely.

Here is the paltry list of books read between August and October (I think I've remembered them all):

34. Floating Island by Anna Ralph
Assigned category: (2) Authors I've not previously read(7/8)
Could have been categoried as: --

35. Anne of Ingleside by LM Montgomery
Assigned category: (2) Books first published prior to 1950 (6/8)
Could have been categoried as: Comfort reads & miscellaneous

36. Why Didn't They Ask Evans by Agatha Christie
Assigned category: (2) Books first published prior to 1950 (7/8)
Could have been categoried as: --

37. Dibs In Search of Self by Virginia M. Axline
Assigned Category: Non-fiction (4/8)
Could have been categoried as: --

38. Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult
Assigned Category: (6) Favourite Authors (4/8)
Could have been categoried as: --

39. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Assigned Category: Non-fiction (5/8)
Could have been categoried as: --

I may just be able to squeeze another one in before the end of October, but I'll never get through 24 more before the end of the year. Oh well - at least I still have a hope of meeting the 50 book challenge!

Oops - I did forget one...

40. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Assigned Category: Award Winners (4/8)
Could have been categorised as: Authors born in countries where English is not the primary language

While the author won is a prior winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, the book itself was awarded lesser honours, such as the Los Angeles Time Book Prize (1988).