November Wrap-up

Another month of reading done... my, how time flies. I feel like I haven't read anything this month, what with all of the schoolwork and such taking over my life, but I seem to have done pretty well! Good work, self. :) I'm on vacation right now, so I think I'll leave it at that and get back to the relaxing and the reading. Lovely times.

The numbers!

Days spent reading: 24
Books read: 9
...in fiction: 8
...in memoir: 1
...in mystery: 2
...in thriller: 1
...in fantasy: 4
...in classics: 1
...in young adult: 4
...in children's: 1

Series reads: His Dark Materials, Leviathan, The Amanda Project

Favorite book: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time 10/10

Challenges
My Year of Reading Dangerously Challenge: +2 books for 9/12
The Baker Street Challenge: +0 books for 2/3
Back to School Challenge: +1 books for 1/4
Critical Monkey Challenge: +0 books for 1/6
Countdown Challenge: +6 books for 20/55

Support Your Local Library Challenge 2010

One more challenge, and then I think I'm done for a while (famous last words?). But
this one is practically not a challenge, as it simply requires me to check out books from the library, which I do, like, all the time. :) I am going to super-size myself and commit to checking out 100 library books next year — I probably have already done that this year, so no prob!

The list, as it happens:
1. First Lord's Fury, by Jim Butcher (Review)
2. The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness (Review)
3. The Secret of the Old Clock, by Carolyn Keene (Review)
4. Shades of Grey, by Jasper Fforde (Review)
5. The Secret Hour, by Scott Westerfeld (Review)
6. Schrödinger's Ball, by Adam Felber (Review)
7. The Hidden Staircase, by Carolyn Keene (Review)
8. The Bungalow Mystery, by Carolyn Keene (Review)
9. Cake Wrecks, by Jen Yates (Review)
10. Boomsday, by Christopher Buckley (Review)
11. The Mystery at Lilac Inn, by Carolyn Keene (Review)
12. The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan (Review)
13. How We Decide, by Jonah Lehrer (Review)
14. The Secret of Shadow Ranch, by Carolyn Keene (Review)
15. Wife of the Gods, by Kwei Quartey (Review)
16. Across the Nightingale Floor, by Lian Hearn (Review)
17. The Secret of Red Gate Farm, by Carolyn Keene (Review)
18. The Clue in the Diary, by Carolyn Keene (Review)
19. The Wide Window, by Lemony Snicket (Review)
20. The Miserable Mill, by Lemony Snicket (Review)
21. Cat Breaking Free, by Shirley Rousseau Murphy (Review)
22. The Austere Academy, by Lemony Snicket (Review)
23. The Ersatz Elevator, by Lemony Snicket (Review)
24. The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag, by Alan Bradley (Review)
25. This World We Live In, by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Review)
26. Nancy's Mysterious Letter, by Carolyn Keene (Review)
27. Meanwhile, by Jason Shiga (Review)
28. Déjà Dead, by Kathy Reichs (Review)
29. Lord Sunday, by Garth Nix (Review)
30. The Summer Before, by Ann M. Martin (Review)
31. Sharp Objects, by Gillian Flynn (Review)
32. The Pox Party, by M.T. Anderson (Review)
33. American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang (Review)
34. The Maze Runner, by James Dashner (Review)
35. The Sign of the Twisted Candles, by Carolyn Keene (Review)
36. Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan (Review)
37. The Monstrumologist, by Rick Yancey (Review)
38. Going Bovine, by Libba Bray (Review)
39. The Compound, by S.A. Bodeen (Review)
40. The Word Snoop, by Ursula Dubosarsky (Review)
41. The Plain Janes, by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg (Review)
42. Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher (Review)
43. How I Live Now, by Meg Rosoff (Review)
44. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler (Review)
45. If I Stay, by Gayle Forman (Review)
46. I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President, by Josh Lieb (Review)
47. Death Note Vol. 1, by Tsugumi Ohba (Review)
48. A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson (Review)
49. Last Exit to Normal, by Michael Harmon (Review)
50. Catalyst, by Laurie Halse Anderson (Review)
51. The Death of Jayson Porter, by Jaime Adoff (Review)
52. Death Note Vol. 2, by Tsugumi Ohba
53. Janes in Love, by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg (Review)
54. Almost Astronauts, by Tanya Lee Stone (Review)
55. I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This, by Jacqueline Woodson (Review)
56. Hold Still, by Nina LaCour (Review)
57. Password to Larkspur Lane, by Carolyn Keene (Review)
58. Death Note Vol. 3, by Tsugumi Ohba (Review)
59. In the Woods, by Tana French (Review)
60. The Clue of the Broken Locket, by Carolyn Keene (Review)
61. The Likeness, by Tana French (Review)
62. Faithful Place, by Tana French (Review)
63. The Chalk Circle Man, by Fred Vargas (Review)
64. Tell-All, by Chuck Palahniuk (Review)
65. The Physics of the Buffyverse, by Jennifer Ouellette (Review)
66. The Invisible Gorilla, by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons (Review)
67. Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go, by Dale E. Basye (Review)
68. The Forest of Hands and Teeth, by Carrie Ryan (Review)
69. Foiled, by Jane Yolen (Review)
70. Death Note Vol. 4, by Tsugumi Ohba (Review)
71. Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters (Review)
72. The House of Tomorrow, by Peter Bognanni (Review)
73. The Black Minutes, by Martín Solares (Review)
74. The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss (Review)
75. Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins (Review)
76. Biting the Wax Tadpole, by Elizabeth Little (Review)
77. Mildred Pierce, by James M. Cain (Review)
78. The Quickening Maze, by Adam Foulds (Review)
79. High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby (Review)
80. Death Note Vol. 5, by Tsugumi Ohba (Review)
81. Orion You Came and You Took All My Marbles, by Kira Henehan (Review)
82. Word Freak, by Stefan Fatsis (Review)
83. The Dead-Tossed Waves, by Carrie Ryan (Review)
84. The Postman Always Rings Twice, by James M. Cain (Review)
85. Double Indemnity, by James M. Cain (Review)
86. Y: The Last Man Book 1, by Brian K. Vaughan (Review)
87. The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson (Review)
88. When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead (Review)
89. The Unit, by Ninni Holmqvist (Review)
90. Y: The Last Man Book 2, by Brian K. Vaughan (Review)
91. The Little Stranger, by Sarah Waters (Review)
92. Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race (Review)
93. Y: The Last Man Book 3, by Brian K. Vaughan (Review)
94. Y: The Last Man Book 4, by Brian K. Vaughan (Review)
95. One For the Money, by Janet Evanovich (Review)
96. Mr. Peanut, by Adam Ross (Review)
97. The Night Bookmobile, by Audrey Niffenegger (Review)
98. The Vile Village, by Lemony Snicket (Review)
99. Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld
100. The Hostile Hospital, by Lemony Snicket (Review)
101. The Carnivorous Carnival, by Lemony Snicket (Review)
102. The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho (Review)
103. Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, by Bryan Lee O'Malley (Review)
104. Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro (Review)
105. The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook, by Eleanor Davis (Review)
106. How to Be Alone, by Jonathan Franzen (Review)
107. Death Note Vol. 6, by Tsugumi Ohba (Review)
108. The Caretaker of Lorne Field, by Dave Zeltserman (Review)

testing, please ignore!

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Nancy Drew Challenge

I don't know about you, but I was once obsessed with a certain girl sleuth. I have definitely read all of the books for this challenge already, but they are totally worth reading again (and they're short, so it shouldn't be too hard)!

The goal here is to read all 56 yellow hardcover versions of the Nancy Drew stories by the end of 2010. I'll plop them here in this post as I read them!

1. The Secret of the Old Clock (Review)
2. The Hidden Staircase (Review)
3. The Bungalow Mystery (Review)
4. The Mystery at Lilac Inn (Review)
5. The Secret of Shadow Ranch (Review)
6. The Secret of Red Gate Farm (Review)
7. The Clue in the Diary (Review)
8. Nancy's Mysterious Letter (Review)
9. The Sign of the Twisted Candles (Review)
10. Password to Larkspur Lane (Review)
11. The Clue of the Broken Locket (Review)

The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger (21 November)

So... I never read this in school. Ever. Which is apparently some kind of sacrilege on the part of my school district, because it seems like everyone else has read this! Alas. And I think my teachers' oversight has led to me not liking this book as much as the aforementioned "everyone else" seems to. I don't know.

I think that an appropriate subtitle for this novel would be "Three Days in the Life of Holden Caulfield," because (unless I miscounted the number of days, which is possible), that's what this book is. Holden gets kicked out of school, decides not to wait until the semester break to come home and skips out early, stays in a hotel in his hometown of New York City to avoid his parents until the official expulsion letter comes, decides to run off to the West Coast, and then doesn't.

I hope that didn't spoil it for you, but it shouldn't since the story is in the details. Example: Holden spends a lot of time at the beginning of the story describing just how ordinary (and lame) his school and his schoolmates are, including a very squick-inducing description of a boy with oozing acne lying down on Holden's pillow. -twitch- That's gross, dudes.

This book really reminded me of a compacted On the Road, with the general dissatisfaction with life and the grand plans that don't really come to fruition. It didn't quite resonate with me so much, though, which might be a function of being eight years older and wiser than Holden and thus having survived the crap that is high school. I don't know. Opinions?

Rating: 7/10
(Reading Dangerously Challenge)

See also:
[your link here]

Pass me yours, if you've got 'em.

Musing Mondays (23 November)

Today's Musing Mondays: What books did you read while in school? Were there any that you particular liked, or even hated? Did any become lifelong favourites?

This sort of goes off of yesterday's Flashback Challenge post... how convenient! I've read a lot of books for school, probably the same number that I've "read" for school, but I really only remember the ones I loved and the ones I absolutely hated. You know how that goes.

Of the ones I enjoyed, I'd have to put To Kill a Mockingbird, The Outsiders, The Giver, and Bridge to Terabithia at the top of my list. The first one I read in ninth grade, the second and third in eighth, and the last in, like, third. Not sure about that one. They are all wonderful in different ways, but I would recommend them to anyone.

On my hated list, which includes books that I've "read" (due to the aforementioned hate), I would put up Return of the Native as a strong first, then A Tale of Two Cities and The Power of Myth, all read or "read" at some point during high school. The last one's not even a proper book, for crying out loud!

Flashback Challenge

So, as we might recall from the Summer Lovin' Challenge, I am not much of a book re-reader.
Even when I love a book so much that I purchase it, it tends to take me a while (if ever) to get around to reading it again. This is a sad thing.

And now that I'm on GoodReads, I find myself marking down books I've read long ago but that I could not for the life of me tell you what they're about. Even the ones that I remember enjoying as a kid! No idea! Crazy! !!!

So I'm going to enter this challenge on the "Literati" level, which is the level in which I read more than six books... I'm going to try to read one per month, but I think "more than six" is a good goal. :)

A list of books that I should probably re-read:
The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery
Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
Matilda, by Roald Dahl
Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton
...um, that's not 12, but I'm sure I'll think of more as I go. :)

The re-reads:
1. The Secret of the Old Clock, by Carolyn Keene (Review)
2. The Wide Window, by Lemony Snicket (Review)
3. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel (Review)
4. The Giver, by Lois Lowry (Review)
5. In the Woods, by Tana French (Review)
6. Matilda, by Roald Dahl (Review)
7. Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh (Review)