Welachild's 1010 Challenge!!!!

My categories:

--South America
--U.S. Presidents
--Short Story Collection
--Memoirs
--NY Times Nonfiction Bestseller
--Baby-related
--Steampunk
--Religious
--Fyodor Dostoyevsky
--Published in 2010

My rules:
I will try and read atleast 5 in each category but no more than 10 per category. I will stick to these categories and will probably just write a one sentence summary/rating/etc.

South America

1. The Lost City of the Incas by Hiram Bingham (msg. 40)
2.
3.
4.
5.

U.S. Presidents

1. American Lion by Jon Meacham (msg. 24)
2.
3.
4.
5.

Short Story Collection

1. My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (msg. 20)
2. Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro (msg. 33)
3. Amsterdam:A Traveler's Literary Companion edited by Manfred Wolf (msg. 68)
4.
5.

Memoirs

1. Suprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis (msg.22)
2. Operating Instructions by Anne Lamott (msg. 29)
3. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (msg. 46)
4. persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (msg. 48)
5.

NY Times Nonfiction Bestseller

1. Bias by Bernard Goldberg (msg. 58)
2. The Blind Side by Michael Lewis (msg. 66)
3.
4.
5.

Baby-related

1. The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp, M.D. (msg. 22)
2. Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin (msg. 28)
3. Husband-Coached Childbirth by Robert A. Bradley, M.D. (msg. 29)
4. On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam, M.D. (msg. 37)
5. The Complete Book of Breastfeeding by Marvin S. Eiger, MD (msg. 41)
6. Baby Facts: The Truth about Your Child's Health from Newborn through Preschool by Andrew Adesman (msg. 47)

Steampunk

1. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (msg. 16)
2. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman (msg. 21)
3. 3259::The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (msg. 25)
4. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1 by Alan Moore (msg. 45)
5.

Religious

1. The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila (msg. 14)
2. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (msg. 39)
3. Buddha by Deepak Chopra ( msg. 65)
4.
5.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

1. Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (msg. 15)
2. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (msg. 54)
3. Poor Folk by Fyodor Dostoevsky (msg. 61)
4.
5.

Published in 2010

1. The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees (msg. 57)
2. The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli (msg. 64)
3.
4.
5.

Very impressed you have a whole category devoted to Dostoyevsky! Crime and Punishment is one of my all-time favourite novels, and I have The Brothers Karamazov on my 2010 list. I'll be interested in seeing your choices and comments on them.

Hi Mathgirl-- I've started The Brothers Karamazov before and it was very good but I just never got around to finishing it. I've always wanted to and to also read Crime and Punishment and The Idiot. I will be happy to read even five of his novels!

I just finished The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila and I have to say it was pretty good. It's main goal is to discuss prayer with the Sisters of our Lady of Mt. Carmel. She uses the idea of a castle that has seven dwelling places in it where one finds themselves in different degrees of grace and temptation from the devil. She had my attention from the beginning when she states, "It is a shame and unfortunate that through our own fault we don't understand ourselves or know who we are." I think that is an idea that anyone can relate to, whether your religious or not. Her big thing is humility and she is constantly telling the reader that she doesn't know what she is saying. But the thing that really stuck out to me was her harping on confessors being God's substitute on earth. But several times throughout the book, she made these remarks about confessors who are afraid of what they don't know or confessors who are not spiritual and I just thought that was kinda funny. I got the impression that she had some beef with certain confessors and I wanted to know about that drama! She only made a couple remarks about the Roman Catholic Church, so in my opinion, I think this book would be a great read for anyone who values prayer in their lives. But then again, she asks the Sisters to pray for "light for the Lutherans" in the epilogue...I don't know how different Lutherans are from Catholics but maybe Lutherans wouldn't agree with this book, I don't know.

Notes From the Underground is a short but intense novel. The narrator starts by stating, “I am a sick man…” so you’re made aware from the beginning that you might not like what he has to say. But it isn’t so much that I didn’t like him but that he was constantly contradicting himself and it seemed like quite a few chapters started out with, “Ha, ha, ha!” like he expects the reader to be laughing at him (even though he doesn’t expect anyone to read what he writes!). But even he says he doesn’t respect himself, so how are we supposed to respect him? I tried really hard to understand what he was getting at but was left confused most of the time. He definitely believes in free will, even if it means we must deal with the consequences of people making bad decisions, otherwise we just become “a stop in an organ”. He also harps on his idea that “two times makes four” and that is absolute and there is nothing man can do to change that but it is not right to live life by any formula. But after all the arguments he tells the reader, “there is not one thing, not one word of what I have written that I really believe”. So again, I am confused. In part two he tells us some incidents from his life and then I really started to abhor this man. Is part two an illustration of his contradictory ways? To me, he seems like he is reasoning with himself to the point of making himself mad. But he spent the whole of part one renouncing reason and science and yet he lives his life by reason, and it seems to stifle his free will. I could be wrong but even the prostitute says he sounds like a book. As if he is trying to live his life by “two times makes four”!

I heard that The Golden Compass was steampunk and so jumped at the chance to read it and fulfill a category. I remember hearing about this book when the movie came out but I didn't think I had the time to check it out. I haven't even seen the movie. But boy am I glad I picked up the book! The action is fast-moving and the story is interesting. I liked the characters and really thought Pullman did a great job of creating a believable society and a whole different world. I appreciated the underlying ideas of the story but was glad that it didn't get in the way of the storytelling, which was great. I can't wait to read the sequels (and I guess I will have to see the movie eventually).

You've already read some great books this year! Regarding Lutherans and Theresa of Avila, Lutherans believe in "the priesthood of all believers" and so would chafe against Theresa's recommendations regarding confessors. It's been awhile since I have read The Interior Castle, but another big area of disagreement would regard the place of Mary (and whether one should pray to her or not). I agree with you, though, that almost anyone could benefit from Theresa's focus on humility and could find ways in her writing to improve their own spiritual lives.

I enjoyed your review of The Interior Castle. I have been wanting to read something by Teresa of Avila. I am reading a book of short sermons or parts of sermons by Bernard of Clairvaux right now.

Interesting review of Notes from the Underground. Dostoyevsky is pretty interesting, but I find him somewhat difficult.

I look forward to seeing your coming reviews!
--BJ

wrmjr66,
thank you for the clarification. I must be Lutheran way deep down, because growing up Catholic I always had a little bit of a problem with confessors. I get that telling an actual person your sins makes them real and then you are more likely to deal with them but I've never been very open about personal matters. But I've never had a problem with intercessors!

BJ,
I'm excited to see what other religious books you will read this year. I'm going to try to read a book from the different major religions of the world even though I think I will read several christian books. The christian religions are so different sometimes, that I feel okay doing that.

Just finished My Man Jeeves and I really enjoyed it. I am reading a rather long book right now so it was nice to take a break and read a short story every now and then. I thought all the stories would be about Jeeves and Wooster but it turns out some are about Reggie Pepper. Reggie seems a lot like Bertie though, and the writing style of the two different povs are the same. But I still prefer the Jeeves stories because it makes me laugh when Bertie is sooo suprised at his genius. I liked the last story, "The Aunt and the Sluggard" the best.

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman is the sequel to The Golden Compass and I was really excited to get my hands on it. Before I picked up TGC I had heard the controversy over the attack on religion and thought the religious types were just being overly sensitive. I mean, it is a made up world and church, come on. And then I read The Subtle Knife and went, 'oh, that's why everyone is so upset'. TSK is definitely darker and more violent than TGC but it is also more blatantly anti-church. One of the characters says the church tries to suppress and control natural impulses and then states, “That is what the Church does, and every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling”. In this same paragraph the sexual mutilation of children by some churches is also mentioned. The entire book seemed very mature in its content and I can see why people would be concerned with young children reading it. But it seems the only argument against it is ‘Pullman has an atheist agenda’. So what!! Doesn’t every author have an agenda of some sort when they write a book? It just seems to me that books are supposed to expand our minds and introduce us to different ways of thinking, and I think that should apply to young readers as well. I didn’t like TSK as much as the TGC. The first book was in a different world and I thought Pullman did a great job with the story. TSK was so much darker than the first book that it kind of felt like a different series. But I can’t wait to read the third book to find out what happens to the characters, even though I think I already know. These books would make a great selection for a book club. There is just so much going on in the story and so many ideas and themes to discuss.

Well I haven't been on LT for a while but I have read several books in the meantime.
First up, Suprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis. It took me a long time to get into this book. His childhood was really boring but he did have some interesting insight into how children handle grief differently than adults. I learned that he enjoyed reading norse mythologies and also counted Austen and Bronte among his good reads. His discussion about his conversion to God was very interesting. I think I will read Mere Christianity for my religious category.

The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp, M.D. was a very interesting book mostly about how to soothe a crying child. I enjoyed reading this book because he gave good examples of his system. But he also admits that some babies won't need the whole system and that there are some babies you'd have to try everything with. I really felt that he was open minded about child rearing even though he clearly feels passionately about his system. I will be a first time mother this July so I don't know how practical his ideas are but I can't wait to try out what I learned.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown is not a book that fits any of my categories or my TBR list but my mom really wanted me to read it. I figure I will list any books that don't fit my lists here so I can keep track of what I read in 2010. I also read The Satanic Verses in January for my TBR challenge.

I'm currently reading American Lion and hope to have it finished soon. I have a lot of catching up to do if I want to hit 50 books at the least!!!!!!!!

Congrats on the upcoming little one! :) I am interested to see what you think of Mere Christianity. I have been wanting to read that myself.
--BJ

Thanks BJ, I'm really excited but also a little terrified of being responsible for another human being!

Finally finished American Lion by Jon Meacham. I enjoyed this book but had a hard time keeping everyone straight in my mind at the beginning. Meacham jumps around chronologically and so I sometimes had to stop and remind myself that he had jumped back a year and so on. Once I got used to his writing style and started to keep people straight the book became much more enjoyable. About Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt said, "Jackson had many faults but he was devoutedly attached to the Union, and he had no thought of fear when it came to defending his country..." It seems his biggest fault was even though he was principled and was a champion of the peoples rights,looking after them as a father would his children, he didn't count slaves or Indians as a part of his people or his country. It is interesting to me that on his death bed he recognized that, "Christ has no respect to color".

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman. I am so sad that I am done with this series. This third book in His Dark Materials was the most mature of all. With the Golden Compass I felt I was reading a children's book, then Subtle Knife raised the bar and had a much darker and grown-up feel to it, but The Amber Spyglass blew the other two out of the water. I really started to see why the Catholic Church advises parents to keep their kids away from these books; the series really is a warning against organized religion and the Catholic Church gets called out in The Amber Spyglass. One of the characters who is a physicist and a former nun says at one point, "The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that's all." And to me that statement sums up the thesis of this series. I am really impressed that Pullman manages to create such a wonderful and fast-paced story that has such a powerful message. After finishing, I really came to appreciate this series as a myth. A myth for the atheist perhaps. I am a christian in the sense that I believe in Christ and his divinity and I believe there is a God so I can't really speak for the atheists. I saw this series as a mythology because myths have long been the guides to spiritual illumination throughout history (something I learned from reading Joseph Campbell) and it seems that this series makes as good a guide for a godless world as the creation stories do for a world with God. Even as a christian I feel that this series was illuminating and The Amber Spyglass really had some inspiring parts in it. I would absolutely recommend this series to anyone who likes a good story that expands your mind and leaves you thinking about it long after you've finished, I know I will.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson was an excellent read. Once I got towards the end I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning just because I couldn't put it down without finding out what happened. I can't wait to read the sequel.

Just finished reading Emissaries from the Dead by Adam-Troy Castro and I really enjoyed it. Even though it is sci-fi and has some really good sci-fi elements, it was a fast moving who-done-it. I really need to start reading books that fit my catagories here, he he.

Ina May's guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin-- I read this to fulfill my baby related category and I am really glad I did. It seems to me that society at large likes to make women scared of childbirth and I certainly had people I know perpetuate that idea. Ina May talks about the naturalness of childbirth but more importantly the natural abilities of a womans body to handle childbirth, we are built for it. After reading not only her professional observations but also the first hand accounts on childbirth told by many different women, I became more confident in my ability to have a child, without fear. I will admit I thought the accounts a little too hippy dippy for me and you really have to feel comfortable in your own skin to take on some of her suggestions but everything made sense to me and I am willing to try atleast some of the methods.

I finished Operating Instructions: A Journal Of My Son's First Year by Anne Lamott a while ago and just forgot to note it. My sister lent me this book and said I had to read it. At first, the author was kinda off-putting. Because this book is in journal format she is speaking directly to the reader and is very blunt. I found her to be a little crazy and in possession of a wicked sense of humor. Once I got used to her style of writing and let myself laugh at what she was writing, the book got better and extremely enlightening. The author is a recovering drug and alcohol addict, as a writer she has an unsteady income and she is a first-time single parent. It all makes for a very interesting perspective on the first year of a child. This was a fast read.

Husband-Coached Childbirth by Robert A Bradley, M.D. is a book I read because I am not taking any childbirth classes but I felt that I wanted to use the Bradley Method. I am currently using the exercises and relaxation techniques explained in the book and I feel really good! The book itself had choppy writing and was somewhat repetitive. Repetition wouldn't have been so bad if the first couple chapters didn't read like a defense for the Method and a commercial for the Method. Obviously I am willing to give the Method a chance if I am reading that far in the book. I just felt that the first couple chapters could have been condensed into one. Also, this book is directed at the husband or partner of the pregnant woman. I am still glad I read it because I know my husband won't and this way I have already started using the Method to prepare for childbirth.

Under the Dome by Stephen King was a fast read and I really enjoyed it. I hadn't planned on reading it but I'm glad I did. Even though it is a fairly big book the pace of the story made me feel like it wasn't that long. I just wish it fit into one of my categories!

I just finished The Time Traveler's Wife and I am in the middle of Nocturnes by Ishiguro, which will fit in my short story category and Ulysses which I am actually just in the beginning. I recommend The Time Traveler's Wife.

I have got to read that book (TTW)! Also, can't wait to hear what you think of Nocturnes. I haven't heard of it before.
--BJ

I really enjoyed Nocturnes:Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro. I found myself laughing out loud a couple of times and each story was very interesting. I especially liked "Come Rain or Come Shine" I would put the book down after each story so I could absorb the tale and it was still a really quick read. I would say read it, especially if you are a fan of Ishiguro (who is slowly becoming one of my favorite authors).

Great review! I am definitely adding it to my wishlist!
--BJ

Thanks BJ!
I just finished A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller and I really enjoyed it. I was worried the latin phrases would trip me up but Bj was right, the context really does help and once I got used to the heavy use of latin it did add some atmosphere to the monastery setting. The book left me with lots to think about and those are the best kind of books in my opinion. I did find it sad in the end but well worth reading.

Another positive review for Canticle. Thanks Welachild, I'll have to get to it soon.

@ 36--I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam, M.D. was an interesting read. It seems like the last couple baby books I've read liked calling out other theories and putting them in their place. That was a turn-off to me and I don't even know anything about attachment parenting. I just didn't feel like I needed all the lectures on why attachment parenting doesn't work. I'm reading this book for YOUR theory not so you can refute other theories in such a snide manner! This book also had a lot of repetition, which also seems to be common in the baby book genre. With the Babywise theory, I felt that a lot of what they have to say sounds common sense to me. Maybe that is the reason for all the repetition in the book, there is only so much that you can say about babies and sleeping. I felt like reading this book was helpful because with all the articles and books I'm reading even when I don't agree with some things being presented I find that I learn something new everytime I read about babies and parenting.

Yes, I found that annoying when I was reading all the baby books. Just because I was pregnant didn't mean I was an idiot, so stop repeating yourself. This was especially irksome when I was trying to find something specific and all I could find were the same things repeated over and over. And it was all so dogmatic, with no flexibility or acknowledgment that different things work for different families with different babies.

@38- Hi RidgewayGirl, I only have one more month to go and the bigger I get the more everyone freaks out about me lifting anything (even moving a chair causes a big stir). It is so funny how a belly changes how people talk to you and react to everything you do, hello I'm still the same person I was before :) Pregnancy has definitely been an interesting experience.

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis is one of the best books I've read on Christianity. His writing style makes the subject interesting and he is really good at giving examples for the points he's making. I can only imagine that if one didn't know anything about Christianity this book would be perfect for answering any questions. But even being a Christian I feel that this book does a great job of reminding the reader of the simple yet complex foundation on which the Christian faith stands, minus all the rituals and practices of specific religious groups.

The Lost City of the Incas by Hiram Bingham was a really interesting read. I liked that he wrote about the history of the Incas and then talked about discovering the places in the history. It turns out that archeologists today do not agree with Binghams correlation between the histories he had read about and Machu Picchu. Bingham had me convinced it was a spiritual destination and the last city of the Incas whereas most other archeologists say it was an elite resort for the rich and not the last city of the Incas. After reading this book I would really like to go visit Machu Picchu and see for myself these ruins. I've always thought it would be an awesome place to visit because of the pictures which make the city look like it is sitting in the clouds. It seems like a magical place to me.

The Complete Book of Breastfeeding is mostly a reference book that I read to prepare to breastfeed my baby. This book is full of useful info and is pretty well organized. I just think there was just too much information and I found myself having to go back and refresh myself on certain information especially after my baby arrived. We had a rough start to breastfeeding and the book deals with generic scenarios and only touches on the problems you might run in to in the simplest way. But I am glad I read it and I still go back to it for motivation or just to make sure I am remembering certain info correctly. My daughter is now 4 weeks old and I am finally starting to feel like we are on the same page with the breastfeeding!!

Congrats on your new baby girl, Welachild! I was thinking about you and wondering when your due date was. And you finished Ulysses in the midst of having a newborn? Awesome!!!
--BJ

Thanks BJ, it has been so much fun having a newborn but it is also a lot of work! I only get to sleep in 1 to 2 hour blocks of time!! I'm lucky if I get 4 hours of sleep a day because our girl will only sleep in her crib maybe twice a day, all other times she wants to be held. And I swear she has the fastest metabolism in the world, I am basically feeding her non-stop. Luckily she has caught on really quickly and so I am able to read during feeding sessions! It is the only time I get to myself (kind of) so breastfeeding has been a pleasure even though we still have some difficult sessions at night. Now I just have to figure out how to eat more than sandwiches while breastfeeding!!

Sounds like things are going really well! I am so happy for you!
--BJ

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1 is one of the first graphic novel I've read (After Samurai Champloo) . I really enjoyed it. I actually had to study the pictures in this book because the artist put some interesting little funny bits into the background and characters. The story was great because it had different characters from the literary world working together to save the city. I am interested in reading other volumes but I have so many books on my tbr list that it may be a while.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert was a suprisingly good read. I never really felt compelled to read this book but then a book club picked it and I sure am glad they did. The writing style was funny and interesting. Reading about her adventures made me want to learn Italian and take up meditation.

Baby Facts: The Truth about Your Child's Health from Newborn through Preschool was a really handy book to read in 10-15 min increments. The author debunks common myths about parenting. One of my favs was that reading in dim light will ruin your eyes. My mom always told me that one and it turns out not to be true, which is good news for an avid reader!

Persepolis is a memoir about growing up during the islamic revolution in Iran. I got the complete Persepolis at the library and I was excited to read this because it is in graphic novel form and I couldn't imagine how that would work for a memoir. The black and white style and the simplicity of the graphics really add to the story and I have to say this is one of the best memoirs I've read in a while. Satrapi's experiences are told in such a powerful way that I completely forgot I was reading a graphic novel and felt totally immersed in the story. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

I read that book last year, and I also thought it was terrific. I look forward to seeing what you think of the sequel. I haven't read it yet.
--BJ

The edition of Persepolis I read had both part 1 and 2. The sequel picks up where part 1 left off pretty seamlessly, so I didn't realize it was the sequel. I think you'll like the sequel. She has a knack for bringing up interesting questions just by recounting a small incident. I like how she shows her personal flaws without being too self-depricating.

Thanks!
--BJ

Slightly late, but congrats on the new baby girl! I hope you are sleeping better now.

Thank you, I am sleeping better now but I sure do miss being able to get all my sleep in on one go! But she is worth it :)

Crime and Punishment took me a while to finish because I was reading other books at the same time but I also didn't want it to end. Everytime I picked CandP up I was instantly immersed into the story and the emotions that just leapt of the pages. I loved this book... until I got to the Epilogue. I feel like the ending fell flat and it kinda ruined the whole vibe of the entire book. I'm hoping that time and a re-read will show me something I am missing in the Epilogue because other than that the book was a great read.

That is a book that I have been wanting to read for a while. I just can't find the copy around here. My kids read it for school, and so far, I have liked everything that they were assigned in school.
--BJ

Crime and Punishment is the only book I wanted to hurl across a room (it was a library book,however) and it was because of the ending. It was just so out of nowhere. Really enjoyed it (well, as much as you can something so miserable) up until then.

@55--Hi BJ, I would be really interested in what you think of Crime and Punishment. Don't you hate when you misplace a book you want to read!

@56-- I am so glad that I'm not the only one who felt that way! I have never heard or read about anyone finding fault with this book so I was suprised I did. I think I will try to re-read it eventually and try and make sense of the ending because I honestly felt like I missed something. You are right, it did feel like it came out of nowhere.

The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott was an okay read. I never knew anything about LMA except that Little Women was somewhat autobiographical, so I was pretty much open to anything the author threw my way. The story moves fast but that left me feeling like I didn't get to know the characters that well. This is the kind of book I'd consider a beach read.

Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News was an interesting read. Everyone is biased in one way or another so I wasn't surprised with the premise but what was interesting to me is his examples. He does a good job of supporting his charge of liberal media bias. I would consider myself a liberal and I had never really thought about the liberal bias in the news but I sure notice the conservative ones. His examples made it easy to see things from a different angle. He writes, "But to the liberals in the media, these aren't liberal views at all. They're just sensible, reasonable, rational views, which just happen to coincide with their own." If you replace liberal with conservative that sentence would be just as true. I found the lesson to be we should all be wary of how a news story is presented to us and be willing to think critically about what we hear or read in the news.
It was a little too convenient that in all his recollections of discussing bias with colleagues, he always comes off sounding like the only reasonable and unbiased voice and it seems to me he may have rewritten history to place himself as the only person courageous enough to stand up against the media elite. He also wants us to believe he has no personal beef against Dan Rather, he spends much of the intro beating that horse, but then he spends the first few chapters trying to cut Rather down to size. It was really annoying but once I got past those chapters I was glad I did. This book would have been really great if he would have left the obvious grudge he holds against Dan Rather out of the discussion.

Bias sounds like it might be one of the books I'd like to skim at the library before possibly taking home. Interesting subject. Off it goes onto the TBR pile!

Just finished The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett and I loved it. This book was highly entertaining and it was so hard to put it down. Follett sure knows how to keep a story interesting, which is no small feat for a book nearly 1000 pages long. The book is fast-paced and the characters are all interesting. I would recommend this book to any one.

Poor Folk by Dostoevsky was a short and interesting read. The story is told in the letters written between two characters. I actually had a hard time getting into the story at first because it was just too sad and now that I have finished it I don't really know what to think. At one point in the story, one of the characters writes how hard it is for some to go out in public, especially if their "civic and family life" have to do with literature because then everything will be printed and people will laugh at and discuss the gossip. I was wondering if that was a comment by Dostoevsky about his own experiences but I don't know anything about him. It just makes me want to read a biography of Dostoevsky.

I'm paraphrasing one of TomcatMurr's lectures on the topic, but apparently Dostoevsky, with his first book at 24, was heralded as the new Great Russian Novelist and the accolades went to his head. He ditched his old friends for the literary elite, but when his next book was released, it was harshly criticized and it took him years and years to recover his reputation.

Thanks RidgewayGirl, that's interesting to know. I had no idea he started getting published so young. I always imagined him as a wise and mature writer.

I recently finished The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli and that book was amazing. I wasn't sure I was going to like it at first because I found some of her phrasing to be cumbersome. Once I got into the book, the story just took off and I was hooked. I didn't want the book to end!

I also read Grania: She-King of the Irish Seas by Morgan Llywelyn and it didn't keep my attention like I thought it would. I read The Lion of Ireland by the same author and I didn't want that book to end either but Grania just wasn't as satisfying. The author is great at telling a story but I felt that the story just dragged on to long and didn't really have my interest even though the characters were interesting. But I'm reading more of Llywelyn for 2011 and I hope this was just a fluke. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for this story because I really do like the author.

Buddha by Deepak Chopra was an interesting read about the life of Buddha. I appreciated how Chopra discussed Buddhism at the end of the book.

Angry Housewives Eating Bon bons by Lorna Landvik was a suprising gem. I picked it up because of a book club and was really happy to be introduced to such a great cast of characters. The book follows a group of women who form a book club over three decades. I couldn't put it down

I just finished The Blind Side by Michael Lewis and it was a very interesting read. I learned more about football but especially grew an appreciation for linemen. I had already seen the movie, which I liked, but the book is more in-depth about the game. The author does a great job of weaving the story of Michael Oher together with the evolution of the game.

It was a great movie, I thought. I will have to check out the book.

Happy New Year, Welachild!
--BJ

Thanks BJ, happy new year!
I need to add one more book before the year is up. Amsterdam: A Traveler's Literary Companion is a collection of stories written by Dutch authors with Amsterdam as the unifying theme. I fell in love with Amsterdam when my husband I visited last year, so i was really excited to revisit the loveliness that is Amsterdam. These stories do a great job of capturing the unique feeling of the city. My favorite story is "Soft Landings" by Remco Campert. It is a bittersweet tale where you loathe the main character and feel sorry for him at the same time. This was a great selection to end the year with.

It looks like I only made it 58% through my challenge, sigh. I am lowering my goal for 2011 to 44 books and hopefully I will reach it! (I'm also not participating in the TBR challenge which might help, but I always manage to read books that do not meet any of my challenges. What can I say, some books are like Sirens.)

Are you over at the 11 in 11 challenge?
--BJ

HI BJ,
I hope you had a great ringing in of the New Year! I've made finishing my 11 in 11 challenge a new years resolution. Here is the link if you want to take a look at what I'm reading this year:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/101080