Smilee306's 999 challenge

I just recently found LibraryThing, so I'm a little late catching up on all of these groups, but I'm excited to be joining! I don't have 9 categories yet, so I'm going to check out some of the other member's lists, but these are my ideas so far:
Vampire (I tend to read a lot of these)
Good for Me (ie Nonfiction)
Good for Me (ie Classics)
Humor
Period fiction
Mystery
Music Related
I don't remember everything I've read this year, but there are several I'm going to go back and add to these lists, including one I just finished that needs to be given away. I'm excited!

Have fun with it, and welcome!

Thanks so much! I got too many ideas from the first few threads, but I think I've decided on my categories, and I'm trying for some clever names too.
I. Books that suck (Vampire novels)
II. Eat Your Veggies! (Nonfiction)
III. They're good for you (Classics)
IV. Funny People (Humor)
V. Once Upon a Time (Period Fiction)
VI. In the study with the candlestick...(Mystery) COMPLETED
VII. They're Playing Our Song (Music Related)
VIII. It came from outer space! (Sci-Fi)
IX. Easily found treasure (From the library's new shelf) COMPLETED

I. Books that suck (Vampire novels)

1. Twilight - Stephanie Meyers
2. New Moon - Stephanie Meyers
3. Eclipse - Stephanie Meyers
4. Breaking Dawn - Stephanie Meyers
5.
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8.
9.

II. Eat Your Veggies! (Nonfiction)

1. Freakin' Fabulous! (also New Shelf) - Clinton Kelley
2. He Was Some Kind of a Man - Roderick McGillis
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8.
9.

III. They're good for you (Classics)

1. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
2. Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
3.
4.
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9.

IV. Funny People (Humor)

1. When The Meatloaf Explodes, It's Done - Martha Bolton
2. I Am Not a Cop! (also New Shelf) - Richard Belzer
3. Christmas on Mill Street - Joseph Walker
4. The 775 Stupidest Things Ever Said - Ross and Kathryn Petras
5. Dave Barry's Guide to Marriage and/or Sex
6. Babies and Other Hazards of Sex - Dave Barry
7. Stay Fit and Healthy Until You're Dead - Dave Barry
8. Claw Your Way to the Top - Dave Barry
9.

V. Once Upon a Time (Period Fiction)

1. The Confidential Life of Eugenia Cooper - Kathleen D'Yarbo
2. Honolulu (also New Shelf) - Alan Brennert
3. The Day the Falls Stood Still - Cathy Marie Buchanan
4. Turncoat - Aaron Elkins
5. Moloka'i - Alan Brennert
6.
7.
8.
9.

VI. In the study with the candlestick...(Mystery)

1. Curses! - Aaron Elkins
2. Icy Clutches - Aaron Elkins
3. Murder in the Queen's Armes - Aaron ElkinsAaron Elkins
4. Murder in the dark (also New Shelf) - Kerry Greenwood
5. Murder on the Eiffel Tower (New Shelf) - Claude Izner, trans. Isabel Reid
6. Hark! The Herald Angel Screamed (New Shelf) - Mignon F. Ballard
7. 'Tis the season! (New Shelf) - Lorna Landvik
8. The hidden man (New Shelf) - Anthony Flacco
9. Twenty Blue Devils - Aaron Elkins

VII. They're Playing Our Song (Music Related)

1. Bahama Burnout - Don Bruns (also Mystery, New Shelf)
2. Vivaldi's Virgins - Barbara Quick (New Shelf)
3. Symphony (New Shelf, Period) - Jude Morgan
4. Music Teacher (New Shelf, Period) - Barbara Hall
5. Sonata for Miriam - Linda Olsson (New Shelf)
6. The Earth Hums in B Flat - Mari Strachan (this one is a stretch, but I'm not going to finish these lists this year, so...)
7.
8.
9.

VIII. It came from outer space! (Sci-Fi or Ray Bradbury, turns out)

1. Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
2. One More for the Road: A New Short Story Collection - Ray Bradbury
3. We'll Always Have Paris (also New Shelf) - Ray Bradbury
4. Now and Forever - Ray Bradbury
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6.
7.
8.
9.

I'm still debating how I'm going to format all of this, and if I'll do short reviews here or do lengthier ones in my library. I've really just started adding things to my library here, and I'm not going to add books that I don't want to own. Thusly, my thoughts on Martha Bolton's book. I wanted them to be quick, but apparently I needed to rant.

I knew I had a problem when in the author's description on the back cover, the first detail was that she writes a monthly column for a Focus on the Family newsletter. Focus on the Family is big in Colorado Springs down south, and I don't think I've ever agreed with anything they've thought. Also, I don't really care for anything but humor in my humor books. I certainly don't care for an unrelated God idea at the end of each anecdote, but that's what I received. I probably wouldn't have minded so much if it had made sense, but it was so contrived and often didn't fit with the story, or the statement was contradictory to what the Bible teaches or even her point in an earlier chapter. I believe my mom bought this for me at a Friends of the Library book sale at least 7 years ago - it sat on my shelf unread until now when I was trying to clean up. Mission accomplished. I read it, and now I can get rid of it. Yay.

welcome!

IX. Easily found treasure (From the library's new shelf)

1. Amberville - Tim Davys
2. The Local News - Miriam Bershow
3. Lost Recipe for Happiness - Barbara O'Neal
4. Houston, We Have a Problema - Gwendolyn Zepeda
5. The Accidental Santera - Irete Lazo
6. Serendipity - Louise Shaffer
7. The Blue Notebook - James A. Levine
8. A Dog Named Christmas - Greg Kincaid
9. Bothers - Yu Hua

I had a few chuckles over the names of your categories. My favourites are "Books that Suck" and "Eat your Vegies"

Good luck with your challenge!

Well thank you. I was hoping to be clever. :) I'm really enjoying the challenge.

I just finished reading Sonata for Miriam by Linda Olsson, and I really enjoyed it. I particularly enjoyed the settings - places that I'd love to see were described so well that I felt their moods. I also liked that it wasn't so straightforward, that we had to live with the characters as they figured themselves out, that the readers aren't omniscient but working it out at the same time. This was of particular interest to me as a violinist, but I think I'll check out her first book as well.

One of the classics that I read for the first time this year was Barchester Towers. I really enjoyed it. I think a few others on here read it for the first time this year too.

Thanks for the suggestion! Sounds good...if I can ever get through the pile I've checked out from the library. That new shelf gets me every time!

I just finished Honolulu by Alan Brennert, and I thought it was absolutely brilliant. It was well-written and well-researched while still enticing with great characters and stories. Brennert weaves the lesser-known bits of Hawai'i's early 20th century into a moving story about a Korean girl. I stayed up late too many nights because I really wanted to know what would happen to these characters, and I'm still thinking about parts of the book now. I want to purchase this book, and will look for his earlier book about Moloka'i as well.

I finally finished Brothers by Yu Hua - it was such a large book and I was reading it while still reading other books, which is unusual for me. Although much of the syntax was at the least strange and sometimes clunky or repetitive, I really enjoyed reading this translation. It gave me a very different perspective of Chinese culture - the book covers the time span of right around the cultural revolution until about 2004, and often times I felt like it was even older than that. So many of the elements of everyday life in the village seemed so ancient to me - having a "dentist" waiting to pull teeth outside in his folding chair, shared community lavatories that were basically trenches, bringing the dead back to the house all seem to come from another time, but were happening in recent memory in China. This story of two brothers really was stirring and emotional and well-crafted, and I'm hoping that there are other translations of Yu Hua's works.

This was such a fun challenge! It really encouraged me to look at some of the classics...though not enough obviously! I'll be looking for a similar challenge this year. Thanks all!