Hemlokgang's 100 in 2012

Welcome to a fresh new year of reading! I hope it is a wonderful year for all in terms of peace, fellowship, health and, of course, for literature and the joy of reading our way into other worlds. I am aiming for 100 books this year.......

Thanks for setting up the group, hemlokgang! Looking forward to reading in 2012.

Yes, thanks for setting this up! I'm looking forward to following your reading again this year.

#1 - Nightwoods by Charles Frazier - *****

Looks like a great start to the year! :)

#2 - Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa - *****

I think Aunt Julia was my favorite of MVL's books that I read last year - although I liked The Bad Girl a lot, too. Part of me wonders if I'm missing something, or if I'm just not literary enough, because I liked his lighter works better than I liked his great, big, epic, political novels.

#3 - Silence by Shusaku Endo - *****

#4 - A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley - ***

#5 - A Short History of Tractors in the Ukraine by Marina Lewycka - ****

#6 - Stay Awake by Dan Chaon - ****

#7 - The Infinities by John Banville - ****

Big dilemma!! Two novellas, separate authors, one jacket. Does that count as two books or one? Am I nuts for even wondering about this?

One, I think. Unless they're both on the 1001 list or something, separately. And you are not at all nuts. Not even a little bit. Unless we're all nuts around here...

Thanks! I think maybe we all are, just a bit mad.....about books anyway!

#8 - Two Spanish Picaresque Novels by Francisco de Quevedo - ***

And I was going to say, two! ;)

But that's because I will cherry-pick books out of an omnibus, or read other books between, etc. I think of a "book" as one story, rather than one physical entity.

But however you want to do it is fine, of course!

^ What wookie said.

I think owning the Great Books collection may have helped me decide how to handle that issue. Were I to count any bound collection of work as only a single book, it'd take me forever to finish one! (Not to mention, how useful would a review like that be?)

Just my opinion. :)

I'd say if it's a book of short stories it counts as one but if it's an omnibus which has multiple books in it, you would count the stories. Personally, I've never quite figured out what novellas are -- short books or long short stories? I have a few that have been published by themselves and in anthologies.

I am conflict though if you don't count the stories in an anthology separately. It doesn't seem fair when you have some anthologies out there that only have one story in them that is worth the paper it is written on. Which comes back to whatever seems best to you! LOL

Okay...love the comments! Think I will err on the conservative side and say one, although there are compelling arguments on both sides of that discussion!

#9 - Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World by Catalina de Erauso - ***

#10 - The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West - *****

Oh, I've heard that's a great book! I must see if I can find a copy anywhere.

#11 - The Road Home by Rose Tremain - *****

#12 - A Secret Kept by Tatiana de Rosnay - ***

I've never quite figured out what novellas are -- short books or long short stories?

Yes.

Actually, I think there's a word-count that makes something novella, but since I don't count the number of words in any short story or book I read, I don't find that so helpful.

I go by whether it is published in a collection or not...informal determination at best.

#13 - 11-22-63 by Stephen King - *****

#14 - The Red Badge Of Courage by Stephen Crane - ****

#15 - Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier - *****

For once, hemlokgang, we have different opinions on a book. I hated Night Train to Lisbon, I thought it was a lot of bombastic (see what I did there?) b.s. But it is good for Mercier that a lot of people do love it.

That's what I love about LT....the honesty! Have you read Fernando Pessoa at all? I would love to know what you think!

#16 - The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender - ****

#17 - Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwell - ***

#18 - Deep River by Shusaku Endo - *****

#19 - Red Mist by Patricia Cornwell - ****
#20 - The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach - ****

#21 - Vertical Motion by Can Xue - *****

#22 - Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope - ****

Ah, Phineas. I love him.

Glad to know I am not alone there! I plan on working my way through the Palliser series over the course of this year.

I've read all but the last one, The Duke's Children. The title of chapter 1 revealed to me that Trollope was about to kill off my favorite character in the series and I didn't want to read it. The Palliser series is great, almost as good as Barchester. Have fun with it!

#23 - In The Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje - ****

#24 - Great House by Nicole Krauss - **

What a great list of books here. I see you liked the Stephen King too. Some people (my husband) finished it and said meh! I could not believe his reaction.

#25 - A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear - ****

#26 - Mr g: A Novel About Creation by Alan Lightman - ****

#27 - 2666 by Roberto Bolano - *****

#28 - The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides - ***

#29 - The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean - ****

#30 - Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy by Jacqueline Kennedy - ****

#31 - The Best Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis by Caroline Kennedy - ****

#32 - Haikus For Jews: For You, a Little Wisdom by David M. Bader - ****

#33 - Scandal by Shusaku Endo - *****
#34 - Hell's Corner by David Baldacci - ***

#35 - Restless by William Boyd - ****

#36 - The Odds: A Love Story by Stewart O'Nan - ****
#37 - This is The Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett - ****

#38 - Against All Enemies by Tom Clancy - **

#39 - One For The Money by Janet Evanovich - ****

#40 - Collected Short Stories by Anthony Trollope - ***

#41 - Evidence by Jonathan Kellerman - ***

#42 - Kalki by Gore Vidal - ****

#43 - On The Road by Jack Kerouac - ****
#44 - The Condition by Jennifer Haigh - ***

#45 - The Member of The Wedding by Carson McCullers - *****

#46 - Everything in This Country Must: A Novella and Two Stories by Colum McCann - ****

#47 - Digging to America by Anne Tyler - ***

#48 - Elegy For Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear - ****
#49 - The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography by Sydney Poitier - ***

#50 - Absolution by Patrick Flanery - *****

#51 - Two For The Dough by Janet Evanovich - ***

#52 - State of Wonder by Ann Patchett - ****

#53 - Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift - *****

#54 - The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura - ****

#55 - The Coffin Dancer by Jeffrey Deaver - ****

#56 - Pirate King by Laurie R. King - ****

#57 - In The Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and An American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson - ****

#58 - The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan - ***
#59 - The Mill On The Floss by George Eliot - *****

#60 - Lila Says by Chimo - *****

#61 - Doc by Mary Doria Russell - ***

#62 - Still Alice by Lisa Genova - ****

#63 - The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney - ****
#64 - Pravda by Edward Docx - *****

#65 - The Expats by Chris Pavone - ****

#66 - Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol - *****

#67 - The Post Office Girl by Stefan Zweig - *****

#68 - The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill - ****

#69 - Pot Pourri: Whistlings of an Idler by Eugenio Cambaceres - **

#70 - The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian - ***

#71 - Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan - *****

5 stars? 'Immediately added to my virtual TBR pile....

#72 - Matters of Honor by Louis Begley - ****

#73 - The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan - ***

#74 - I Am An Executioner by Rajesh Parameswaran - ****

#75 - The Warden by Anthony Trollope - *****

I am always so happy to see people getting into the Barchester series. Enjoy!

#76 - A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor - *****

#77 - The Samurai by Shusaku Endo - ****

#78 - Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott - **

I picked up a copy of Flatland because it was almost free and I collect Penguin Classics, but I'm not sure if I'll ever try to read it. It looks painful, and your review backs up my assumption.

#79 - Mission to Paris by Alan Furst - ***

#80 - Children in Reindeer Woods by Kristin Omarsdottir - ****

#81 - Tenth of December by George Saunders - ****

#82 - The Guinea Pigs by Alexander Durrell - *****

#83 - The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Phillipp Sendker - ****

#84 - Sarah Orne Jewett's Best Short Stories by Sarah Orne Jewett - ****

#85 - The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea - *****

#86 - The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny - *****

#87 - Swamplandia by Karen Russell - **

#88 - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - ****

#89 - Tell The Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt - ***

#90 - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce - ****

#91 - Claiming Ground by Laura Bell - ****

#92 - Defending Jacob by Laura Bell - ****

#93 - The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope - *****

#94 - The Bat by Jo Nesbo - ***

#95 - The Empty Chair by Jeffrey Deaver - ***
#96 - Care of Wooden Floors by Will Wiles - **

#97 - Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult - **

$98 - The Bone Bed by Patricia Cornwell - ***

#99 - Garment of Shadows by Laurie R. King - ***

Almost there!!!

#100 - Notes From Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous man and selections from The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky - ***

Congrats on reaching 100!

Thanks!

Congratulations on the 100 !
Notes is a Dosty I haven't read, what did you think of it ?

Generally I like Dostoevsky very much. However, "Notes From Underground....." is darkly discouraging. The best way I can describe this collection is as a series of philosophical snapshots taken at distinct periods in the author's life. Clearly he was eternally struggling to make meaning of life and it was an anguish filled process. Apparently I prefer the author's storytelling to his autobiographical philosophizing.

#101 - Crashing Through: A True Story of Risk, Adventure, and the Man Who Dared to See by Robert Kurson - ***
#102 - The Informationist by Taylor Stevens - **

Congrats!

#103 - Gabriel's Gift by Hanif Kureishi - *****

congrats on 100!

#104 - The Crystal Frontier by Carlos Fuentes - *****

#105 - Back to Blood by Tom Wolfe - *****

#106 - Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - ***

Wow, you are smokin' through quite a pile of books! Congrats on reaching and surpassing, 100!

#107 - Natural Woman: A Memoir by Carole King - ***

#108 - The Women of Algiers in Their Apartment by Assia Djebar - *****

#109 - The Last Kind Words by Tom Piccirilli - ***

#110 - The Vanished Man by Jeffrey Deaver - ****

#111 - The Final Martyrs by Shusaku Endo - ****

#112 - Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler - ***

#113 - The Sculptress by Minette Walters - ****