I’m really excited about this challenge so I can read everyone’s reviews and recommendations. I have a feeling my tbr is going to get ever higher. The challenge lasts until November 2010, and more information can be found at the Women Unbound Challenge site.

There are three options:

My list below is only the fiction titles. Nonfiction titles and picture books can be found at Publishers Weekly.

Wintergirls. Laurie Halse Anderson. [...]]]> Publishers Weekly has released their best children’s books of 2009. I’ve only read one, Catching Fire, which I did enjoy. Boy, all of these look good. Have you read any that you highly recommend?

My list below is only the fiction titles. Nonfiction titles and picture books can be found at Publishers Weekly.

Wintergirls. Laurie Halse Anderson. (more info)
Going Bovine. Libba Bray. (more info)
Fire. Kristin Cashore. (more info)
Catching Fire. Suzanne Collins. (more info)
If I Stay. Gayle Forman. (more info)
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. Jacqueline Kelly. (more info)
Purple Heart. Patricia McCormick. (more info)
The Ask and the Answer. Patrick Ness. (more info)
A Season of Gifts. Richard Peck. (more info)
When You Reach Me. Rebecca Stead. (more info)
Shiver. Maggie Stiefvater. (more info)
Marcelo in the Real World. Francisco X. Stork. (more info)
Tales from Outer Suburbia. Shaun Tan. (more info)
Lips Touch: Three Times. Laini Taylor, illus. by Jim Di Bartolo. (more info)
The Uninvited. Tim Wynne-Jones. (more info)

Source: Publishers Weekly

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6704596.html

PW Top 10

I just love this time of year when all the Best of 2009 lists come out, don’t you? Amazon has released most of their Top 100, with their Top 10 to be announced on Monday. I have only read FOUR of these (bolded). I’ve asterixed the [...]]]> UPDATE: Here are Amazon’s Top 10 of 2009 editorial picks.

I just love this time of year when all the Best of 2009 lists come out, don’t you? Amazon has released most of their Top 100, with their Top 10 to be announced on Monday. I have only read FOUR of these (bolded). I’ve asterixed the ones I’m most interested in reading. What are your guesses for the Top 10?

(Courtesy: Omnivoracious)

100. The Interrogative Mood, Padgett Powell
99. The First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder, and the Birth of the American Mafia, Mike Dash
98. The Anthologist, Nicholson Baker
97. Imperial, William T. Vollmann
96. Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals, Christopher Payne
95. The American Painter Emma Dial, Samantha Peale
94. Inherent Vice, Thomas Pynchon
93. Nobody Move, Denis Johnson
92. The BLDGBLOG Book, Geoff Manaugh
91. American on Purpose, Craig Ferguson
90. D-Day, Antony Beevor
89. The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard, J.G. Ballard
88. The Children’s Book, A.S. Byatt
87. Half Broke Horses, Jeannette Walls
86. Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life, Winifred Gallagher
85. Born to Run, Christopher McDougall
84. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, Jacqueline Kelly
83. *American Rust, Phillipp Meyer
82. Never Smile at a Monkey, Steve Jenkins
81. The Jazz Loft Project, Sam Stephenson
80. Ad Hoc at Home, Thomas Keller
79. Toby Alone, Timothee de Fombelle
78. Robert Altman: The Oral Biography by Mitchell Zuckoff
77. *Her Fearful Symmetry, Audrey Niffenegger
76. The Myth of the Rational Market, Justin Fox
75. George Sprott: 1894-1975, Seth
74. *Juliet, Naked, Nick Hornby
73. Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath, Michael and Elizabeth Norman
72. The Letters of Samuel Beckett, Vol. 1, 1929-1940, Samuel Beckett
71. Green Metropolis, David Owen
70. Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City, Eric W. Sanderson
69. Columbine, Dave Cullen
68. A New Literary History of America, edited by Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors
67. Asterios Polyp, David Mazzucchelli
66. *Await Your Reply, Dan Chaon
65. The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America, Douglas Brinkley
64. Lowboy, John Wray
63. Everything Matters!, Ron Currie Jr.
62. Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater
61. Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking, Michael Ruhlman
60. *The Forgotten Garden, Kate Morton
59. The Kids Are All Right, Liz, Diana, Amanda, and Dan Welch
58. The Lost City of Z, David Grann
57. How Rome Fell, Adrian Goldsworthy
56. The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, Lydia Davis
55. Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker, James McManus
54. Zeitoun, Dave Eggers
53. The Vagrants, Yiyun Li
52. The Magicians, Lev Grossman
51. Wicked Plants, Amy Stewart
50. Last Night at Twisted River, John Irving
49. Genesis, Bernard Beckett
48. Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven, Susan Jane Gilman
47. Blood’s a Rover, James Ellroy
46. The Scarecrow, Michael Connelly
45. A Short History of Women, Kate Walbert
44. Tinkers, Paul Harding
43. Lords of Finance, Liaquat Ahamed
42. Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins
41. The Angel’s Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
40. The Informers, Juan Gabriel Vasquez
39. The Defector, Daniel Silva
38. *The Year of the Flood, Margaret Atwood
37. Chronic City, Jonathan Lethem
36. The Good Soldiers, David Finkel
35. The Book of Basketball, Bill Simmons
34. Spooner, Pete Dexter
33. Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong, Terry Teachout
32. Open, Andre Agassi
31. Momofuku, David Chang and Peter Meehan
30. *Too Much Happiness, Alice Munro
29. The Last Olympian, Rick Riordan
28. Born Round, Frank Bruni
27. Border Songs, Jim Lynch
26. The Age of Wonder, Richard Holmes
25. Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, Wells Tower
24. Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It, Maile Meloy
23. How I Became a Famous Novelist, Steve Hely
22. *The Unit, Ninni Holmqvist
21. When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead
20. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley
19. The Help, Kathryn Stockett
18. Cheever: A Life, Blake Bailey
17. The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America, Timothy Egan
16. Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese
15. Sag Harbor, Colson Whitehead
14. This Is Where I Leave You, Jonathan Tropper
13. Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Jungle City, Greg Grandin
12. A Gate at the Stairs, Lorrie Moore
11. The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008, Thomas E. Ricks

Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. Dark Fantasy. Gothic. Horror. Supernatural.

Carl’s R.I.P challenges are so much fun, but usually I just barely make the minimum required. I’m pretty proud of myself this year. Do you see the list below — I killed it (no pun intended)! I went with Peril the First, which was to read [...]]]>

Click for more info

Mystery.
Suspense.
Thriller.
Dark Fantasy.
Gothic.
Horror.
Supernatural.

Carl’s R.I.P challenges are so much fun, but usually I just barely make the minimum required. I’m pretty proud of myself this year. Do you see the list below — I killed it (no pun intended)! I went with Peril the First, which was to read 4 books from any subgenre, but I ended up reading 22. Including mysteries and thrillers allowed me to read more books than I normally would, and I also really got into some series books as well — Twilight, Chief Inspector Gamache, Sookie Stackhouse, and the Hunger Games. I enjoyed all the books I read, but my favorites were the titles with a single asterix below. My least favorites were probably the Sookie Stackhouse books and the manga Vampire Knight. I really enjoyed Sookie at first, but then it just got into too much s*x and oc*ult stuff for my tastes and Vampire Knight was just okay. I doubt I’ll continue on with either series, but who knows by next year. The double asterixes are for those titles that best fit what I consider to be the mood of the R.I.P. Challenge.

Thanks so much, Carl, and I’ll look forward to next year!

The books I read:

1. *Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice**
2. *Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury**
3. *The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
4. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
5. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
6. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
7. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
8. Still Life by Louise Penny
9. A Fatal Grace (aka Dead Cold) by Louise Penny
10. The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
11. A Rule Against Murder (aka The Murder Stone) by Louise Penny
12. *The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
13. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
14. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
15. Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
16. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill**
17. The Inhabited World by David Long
18. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman**
19. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
20. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
21. Vampire Knight Vol 1 by Matsuri Hino
22. *The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova**

Ones I really wanted to read but didn’t have time for:

• Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
• Tales of Moonlight and Rain by Ueda Akinari

I’m not going to go through the plot as quite a few people [...]]]> I read this book for the read-a-thon, and I must say it was an excellent choice as it was quite a page turner. This book is taking the internet by storm, and while I did enjoy it, I didn’t quite love the book.

I’m not going to go through the plot as quite a few people have read it, or if they haven’t, there are plenty of sources to find that information. I will say that the plot was, in my view, the best part of the book. As I said above, it’s quite a page turner, but although I didn’t think the writing was bad per se, I didn’t feel it was up to par with The Giver by Lois Lowry or The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. The romance angle in the book irritated me a bit. I understand to a degree why it was necessary to the plot, but I thought it could have been a little more well done. Another minor irritation was the naming of the characters in the book. I suppose it was done on purpose, but I felt it distracted me from the story every time I came upon a strange name. I’ve never really noticed it in books like Lord of the Rings, etc., but in this book the names just seemed a bit silly.

Even with all that said, I did like the book quite a bit and plan on reading the entire trilogy. I hate to be too negative when I actually enjoyed it, but since it’s received so many rave reviews, I just thought I’d explain why my rating was a little lower.

2008, 374 pp.

Disclosure: I purchased this book for my personal library.

Time spent reading: 121 minutes/672 total (11 hours 12 minutes)

What I’ve been reading: Just finished Catching Fire. I’m getting soooooooo sleepy. I think I’ll take a short nap now…

Time spent reading: 121 minutes/672 total (11 hours 12 minutes)

Pages read: 125 pages/772 total

What’s up next: A nap!

Books finished: 2 – The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

I’m pretty happy with my progress so far, especially since [...]]]> What I’ve been reading: I’m now 2/3 of the way into Catching Fire and about ready to start Part III: The Enemy.

I’m pretty happy with my progress so far, especially since I had a late start. I’ll have to look back to check, but for most of the read-a-thons I think I have had about 10-12 hours of pure reading time, so I’m definitely on pace to at least meet that. I’m getting a little tired now, but who knows? Maybe I can beat my own personal record.

Time spent reading: 115 minutes/551 total (9 hours 11 minutes)

Pages read: 132 pages/647 total

What’s up next: Hopefully finishing up Catching Fire.

Books finished: 1 – The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

2. How many books have you read so far? Just one, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now? Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

2. How many books have you read so far? Just one, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? I haven’t looked that far ahead yet. If I’m tired, I might go to the audiobooks of The Historian or The Good Thief

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? Nope, my family is used to it by now!

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? Not many.

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? That so many people participated this time!

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? No, everything’s peachy.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? After participating in every single read-a-thon so far, I pretty much know what works for me. I would try not to get a late start next year, though!

9. Are you getting tired yet? A little. I know I’ll be able to finish Catching Fire, but depending on how late it is and how tired I am after that, I may have to take a nap.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? Well, YA works really well for read-a-thons, but I think a lot of people have already discovered that tip.

What I’ve been reading: I’m now 133 pages into Catching Fire and ready to start Part II: The Quell. District 12 has just been introduced to some new people and some [...]]]>

What I’ve been reading: I’m now 133 pages into Catching Fire and ready to start Part II: The Quell. District 12 has just been introduced to some new people and some new ways of doing things.

I am enjoying this series, and both books have been excellent choices for the read-a-thon, but I still think my favorite set of YA dystopian books are The Giver, Gathering Blue, and Messenger by Lois Lowry. I also really liked House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. I’ll probably know more after I finish Catching Fire. If you have favorites other than the ones mentioned, I’d love to hear about them!

Time spent reading: 117 minutes/436 total (7 hours 16 minutes)

Pages read: 133 pages/505 total

What’s up next: Continuing on with Catching Fire.

Books finished: 1 – The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

What I’ve been reading: Just finished The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and might I add that this book was perfect for the read-a-thon!

Time spent reading: 108 minutes/319 total

What I’ve been reading: Just finished The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and might I add that this book was perfect for the read-a-thon!

Time spent reading: 108 minutes/319 total

Pages read: 130 pages/372 total

What’s up next: I might as well start Catching Fire to see how this plays out!

What I’m reading: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Katniss just heard about the rule change in the Games, and I’m ready to start Part III: The Victor.

Time spent reading: 107 minutes/211 [...]]]>

What I’m reading: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Katniss just heard about the rule change in the Games, and I’m ready to start Part III: The Victor.

Time spent reading: 107 minutes/211 total

Pages read: 126 pages/242 total

What’s up next: I’m going to take a quick shower and put some clothes in the laundry, then hopefully finish up the book.  I’m really, really, enjoying it so far.

What I’m reading: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Katniss just received a surprising score after her training.

Time spent reading: 104 minutes

Pages read: 116 pages