LisaMorr's 1010

Hello everybody!

I got a bit bogged down last summer and wasn't posting very much, but I was still reading, and I really enjoyed attempting the 999 challenge.

I got nowhere near completing the challenge, but I read a lot of books in different genres that I would not have save for this challenge. So, for me it was a success!

I like this idea of 10 categories with as many in each category as you like. I made a lot of changes on my lists of books last year so I'll try not to get so far ahead of myself this time around.

Looking forward to it!

Not completely sure about my categories, here are a few I think I will go with; eventually they'll add up to 10...

1. Fantastical Creatures
2. Older Than Me
3. Authors New to Me
4. Anthologies
5. Non-fiction
6. Coffee Table Books
7. Biographies
8. Gifts and Other Books I Didn't Buy (ARCs, member giveaways, etc.)
9. Books acquired no later than 2008 (I have only been tracking since then...but do hope to read more of the ones that have been around for a LONG time)
10. Square Pegs (doesn't fit anywhere else - so I can take credit for everything else I read somehow...!)

I like the idea of at least 5 books in each category, so I'm going to try for that.

I can see that I could have lots of overlaps, but I'm only aiming on putting each book into one category; 50 books should really be achievable for me.

1. Fantastical Creatures
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks READ see msg 14
Fables: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham READ see msg 24
Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey READ
Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey READ
Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky READ

2. Older Than Me
Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf READ see msg 13
Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon READ

3. Authors New to Me
Confessions of an Ivy League Pornographer by Sam Benjamin
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney READ
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson READ
In the Woods by Tana French READ
The Collector by John Fowles READ

4. Anthologies
Wayward Girls and Wicked Women edited by Angela Carter READ
Good Evening Mrs. Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-DownesREAD

5. Non-fiction
Idiot America by Charles P. Pierce READ
A Course Called Ireland by Tom Coyne

6. Coffee Table Books

7. Biographies
The Ascent of George Washington by John Ferling READ
John Adams by David McCullough READ
Frank Lloyd Wright by Meryle Secrest READ

8. Gifts and Other Books I Didn't Buy
Hello America by J. G. Ballard READ see msg 25
The Great Ship of Knowledge by William Bailey READ
Ribbons for Their Hair by Estelle Chasen READ
Sydney Sheldon's After the Darkness by Tilly Bagshawe READ
The Passage by Justin Cronin READ

9. TBR books (books acquired no later than 2008)

10. Square Pegs
Revenge of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz READ
The Camel Club by David Baldacci READ
The Simple Truth by David Baldacci READ

The first book I finished this year was Orlando: A Biography, in my Older Than Me category.

On the back cover it states that this is one of Virginia Woolf's most popular and entertaining works. Last year I had read Mrs. Dalloway, my first Woolf, and enjoyed it a lot more.

(VERY MILD SPOILERS)
The book was interesting, but it didn't grip me. It is a fantastical biography about Orlando, starting with him as a 16-yr old boy sometime in the 1500's, who eventually turns into a woman (I don't think this is a spoiler - it's written on the back of the book...), and is still a relatively young woman when the novel ends in 1928. Orlando is rich with a large estate and is in good favor with the Queen. He has a romance with a Russian princess (at least we think she is), and many others, gets to be Ambassador to Turkey, turns into a woman, has more affairs, and so on.

There was lots of just the narrator stepping in and saying how this part is boring. Also, there were some confusing bits, like at one point I think she got pregnant, but it wasn't really clear. But then years later (I think) she gives birth. And then no mention of her child. I was used to that a bit from Mrs. Dalloway, but it was a lot worse in this book.

It took me a lot longer to read than it should have; I figured I definitely would have finished it by the end of the year, but it just dragged on and on, and it was a chore to finish.

I haven't said a lot of good things about the book, and I'm sorry about that. There were interesting parts here and there, and it did spawn a neat movie, but all in all, I didn't think it was that great.

I'm going to give it 3 stars; I'm vacillating a bit, quite ambivalent about it, but I think that's what it should get on my scale.

3 Stars
Why I Chose This Book: Picked it up in September, and decided to susbtitue it for one of the 'Older Than Me' books I had on last years 999 Challenge. Thought since I liked the movie so much, and enjoyed Mrs. Dalloway, that it would be a quick read...oh well!
What I Read Next: World War Z

Book #2 was World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, the first book in my Fantastical Creatures category.

I breezed through this after grinding through Orlando. As noted by the title, this is about the zombie war. It is a set up as a series of recorded interviews by the author with key persons about the beginning of the war (first infection) all the way to after the war has been 'won'.

I really liked this format. Each interview gives the location, a little info on the person being interviewwed, and then includes the questions and answers during the interview, along with info on the behavior of the interviewee. It's all in very discrete chunks. Many different types of people were interviewed, doctors, government bureaucrats, military types, heroes, people on the street, etc. I was left wanting more, which I think is a good thing. I wanted to know more about what happened to different individuals talked about in the interviews and more about what happened to the interviewee after the interview. Some were interviewed more than once in the book, and that was interesting too. For others, it was left to your imagination.

I give this book 4 stars and would like to read more by the author.

4 Stars
Why I Chose This Book: Saw this recommended by judylou and needed a quick read!
What I Read Next: Fables: Legends in Exile

"Older than me" is now officially my favorite topic in all the challenges I've read! It really tickled me.

Thanks auntmarge! I never thought it was particularly imaginative, so glad it tickled you. I went to look at your thread, and recognized your review of Society Without God - saw it on the home page, I believe - which I really enjoyed. Now THAT'S impressive!

I've seen several people give World War Z good reviews. Have you read Monster Island by David Wellington? It was my favorite zombie book last year.

see that you read the first Fables trade. how did you like it?

it's one of my favorite graphic series. ok, i only really like 3, so that's not as impressive, but it's my favorite out of the 3!

>17 VictoriaPL: I'll have to check out Monster Island - looks interesting.

>18 leahbird: I did like the first Fables - interesting take on the subject, haven't really seen anything else like it. In the end, an entertaining mystery. It makes me want to read some more, so it was successful!

i will say that after the first 2 trade paperbacks, the tone of the series changes a bit but it really finds it's storyline after that. also, i highly, highly suggest 1001 Nights of Snowfall, which is a companion piece. it's AMAZING. it tells the back stories of many of the characters and features artwork from several wonderful illustrators.

I really liked World War Z as well. Be warned that The Zombie Survival Guide is a big letdown though.

21> I don't think I'm going to check it out - more time for better books!

>20 leahbird:, I was waiting until I got back from my trip to look at my copy of Fables: Legends in Exile because it had something in the back which explained a little bit about the adversary, and how the characters came to the 'mundane lands'. It's called A Wolf in the Fold, just a few pages of prose. So, I am definitely interested in 1001 Nights of Snowfall - thanks for the info!

Book #3 was Fables:Legends in Exile, the second book in my Fantastical Creatures category.

A leftover from the 999 challenge, it fit well into a 1010 category, and was still sitting out from last year's attempt!

The graphic novel starts with the report of a grisly crime - Rose Red of fairy tale fame is missing and her apartment is covered in blood. The story continues as essentially a mystery and as we follow the solving of the crime, we find out who these people are (fairy tale chracters) and how they came to be living in our 'mundane' world.

A found it to be a light enjoyable little story and well-illustrated. At the end of the graphic novel portion, there are a few pages of prose entitled, A Wolf in the Fold, that provide some additional context and history for how the fairy tale characters came to our world.

I'm giving it 3.5 stars - it makes me want to read more of the Fables series, but I'm not 100% sold yet...!

3.5 Stars
Why I Chose it: I read my first graphic novels as part of the 999 challenge last year; this one was recommended by nmhale, and was still sitting out in my 999 tbr pile
What I Read Next: Hello America

Book #4 was Hello America by J. G. Ballard, the first in my Gifts and Other Books I Didn't Buy category.

As I finished this book, I was describing it to the girlfriend who gave it to me and she wanted to know if she should read it. I really couldn't give her an answer, I just kept getting stuck with saying, "It's weird." She did say in the end that she wanted to read it....!

I do like apocalyptic, post-apocalytic and dystopian novels, and this fits that bill; I have read three of these relatively recently that were about the downfall of the US and written by British authors - The Pesthouse and Down to a Sunless Sea were the other two, and I always find it amusing to see what aspects of American life are played up by these authors.

So, if you think the idea of the eastern half of the United States turning into a great desert with the western half turning into a jungle sounds intriguing, this might be the book for you. Throw in an animatronic army of former US presidents, nuclear missiles and huge holograms of John Wayne, Henry Fonda and... Charles Manson(?) and it makes for an interesting mix.

This is a tale of a journey westward across the United States by a group of explorers from Europe, all who have ties to the previous United States of America. They have different motivations for this journey and they are changed by the trip in different ways.

Bit of trivia - I read some of the info in the back of the book after finishing the novel - information about the author, about the book and where to find out more, and it said that the movie Crash was based on a J. G. Ballard story. I checked into this further, and of course, this was not the 2004 movie that won 3 Oscars, but the 1996 movie directed by David Cronenberg, that looks REALLY distrubing, and I guess I'll have to check it out.....

I'm giving it 3 stars; I wasn't totally pulled into the book and found that the way the author changed the narrative style throughout the book was distracting. And it was just too weird in many parts. I did finish it though, and it still resonates with me.

3 Stars
Why I Chose It:In the mood for this genre, plus I was going to be spending some time with my girlfriend from across the pond who gave it to me, so I could chat with her about it
What I Read Next:The Great Ship of Knowledge

if you like dystopian fiction, i would highly recommend Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. this was given to me through SantaThing this year and i really enjoyed it. the follow-up Catching Fire wasn't quite as strong, but i chalked that up more to the fact that it left me hanging... because there will be a third volume.

it is also set in what used to be the United States.

I remember reading your review of Hunger Games and it did sound interesting; I think I'll pick them all up at once when the third volume comes out. Thanks!

LisaMorr, Crash is really, really weird. It's a supposedly psycho-erotic story about people who get off on car crashes, particularly the mutilation of the cars and bodies involved. The Cronenberg movie is actually better and makes more sense than the book. It is also less disturbing, if you can believe it!

Thanks for that info, glammonkey - I will check out the movie, I'm definitely interested.

Book #5 was The Great Ship of Knowledge by William Bailey, the second in my Gifts and Other Books I Didn't Buy category.

A lot of people here seem to give a book 100 pages before quitting. I have never really needed to use something like that - I just pretty much finish all books I start...eventually.....

I was counting the pages left until 100 before I hit page 25. However, it got more interesting by about p.70, and I DID finish the book.

This book has two different stories going on in it. The story you start with envelops the other story. Essentially it is about how life on earth ends and how, somehow (we don't find out in this book - perhaps Volume II will tell us), all life will flower again on another planet.

I found the story-within-a-story to be more interesting; eventually I was just skimming the 'outer story.'

This book needs lots and lots of editing. I was constantly being thrown out of the book because of the writing. One of the major problems for me was the level of detail of the descriptions - they just went on and on, and were so detailed and technical as to eventually lose me completely and then I had no idea of what the object being described even looked like at all. The use of the word futuristic, especially when used to describe things in the future also threw me off. In the story within a story, something else I made note of was that during a gun battle, it seemed like every gun shot was followed with descriptions of splattered brain, bone and blood....The excessive level of detail in the descriptions was also tough to take when the end of the world was being described, all the dead and dying people.....

I'm giving it 1/2 a star. I compared it to other books I have given low ratings, and the writing is what really killed me with this one. If the book had a really good going over with respect to grammar and word choice, and lots of editing, it would move up, but just can't give it anymore.

0.5 stars
Why I Chose It: I felt overdue in reading and reviewing this book, which I received in a Member Giveaway last year
What I'm Reading Next: Wayward Girls and Wicked Women

January Summary:

5 books read

1. Fantastical Creatures
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War - 4 stars
Fables: Legends in Exile - 3.5 stars
2. Older Than Me
Orlando: A Biography - 3 stars
3. Authors New to Me
-none-
4. Anthologies
-none-
5. Non-Fiction
-none-
6. Coffee Table Books
-none-
7. Biographies
-none-
8. Gifts and Other Books I Didn't Buy
Hello America - 3 stars
The Great Ship of Knowledge - 0.5 star
9. Books I Acquired No Later Than 2008
-none-
10. Square Pegs
-none

Average: 2.8

Hope your reading year improves beyond a 2.8 average!

I like J.G. Ballard a lot, so I'll look for Hello America.

For something slightly different than what he usually writes, but absolutely fabulous, you might try Empire of the Sun, his memoir of his time spent as a young boy in a Japanese POW camp in Shanghai, China after he was separated from his parents during World War II. Empire of the Sun was also made into an excellent movie.

too bad that .5 really brought your average down...

>32 arubabookwoman:, 33 - I'm sure it will improve! That was my first ever 1/2 star...I'm not proud of it!

February is a short month, but I'm sure I'll get some good reading in!

I did see in the back of Hello America that Ballard had written Empire of the Sun, and although I didn't see the movie, I heard it was very good, so I definitely want to read the book, and then eventually see the movie. Thanks for the extra recommendation!

The only Ballard I've read so far (and I thought it was pretty good) has been Millennium People though I do have Hello America and The Crystal World on my tbr shelves.

>35 AHS-Wolfy: Thanks for the additional Ballard ideas; I will eventually delve into more of his works.

Thanks for the tip regarding John Adams. I did see that but wasn't sure how it would work, so I figured I would just keep checking back. Everyone I know who read the book has said it's great. It's been on my shelf way too long, so I'm hoping that this is the push that finally gets me to read it.

I really like your catagories, you definitely have some titles I'm going to check out.

>Glad you like the categories! I need to start filling a few of them out with some my more definite planned reads.

Great that you will do the John Adams group read. It'll be my first group read and I'm looking forward to getting more out of it this way!

Have to do my February summary soon - only one book read, and another started - how terrible! And I'm still reading that same book I started in Feb! I have had a really busy time with work and travel lately - have been on the road since 23 Feb. Oh well, my reading is a bit cyclical I guess...

Every year this happens to me - I get too ambitious and then shortly into the new year I get behind in how I want to review and list my books....ugh

So, here is an update for the year, and I think I will scale down my own expectations next year for posting comments. And that way maybe I can live up to them!!!

As of this moment, I've read 25 books. I've updated the listings in the posts at the beginning of this thread. I'm reading about 3 books right now - not sure if I will finish any of them by the new year...we'll see!

I said I was trying for 5 books in each category, and with 25 books, didn't get anywhere close! It's interesting to see how I did in each category.

Fantasical Creatures - read 5 books (always a category I will do well in I think!).

Older Than Me: read 2 (the 2 anthologies I read would've counted here as well).

Authors New to Me: read 4 - there were several in other categories that would've fit here also.

Anthologies: read 2.

Non-fiction: read 1 (the 3 biographies would've fit here as well).

Coffee Table Books: did not read any; I think I will make a point of at least reading one in the new year - I wanted to read this book on Frank Lloyd Wright's houses that I have, and do that in conjunction with the FLW biography I read. That will probably be the first coffee table book to read in 2011 - it's tough though because I travel so much, and this is not the kind of book you take with you on trips!

Biographies: I read 3 and they slowed me down a bit; still I'm glad I did and I will continue to include biographies and other non-fiction books in my reading - the quality not the quantity, right?

Gifts and Other Books I did not buy: Read 5. I received 3 Early Reviewer books this year, which was amazing! I also read and reviewed a book from Member Giveaways. There are 5 more I think in other categories that were gifts.

TBR books - NONE! This is really something I need to do better with in the new year. I need to cut back on buying new books (yeah, right...although I did buy and receive a lot fewer books in 2010 than in 2009). I have so many books in the house that I've had for a long time and I need to make a dent in the 'older' TBR pile. One book I'm reading now falls in that category - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, so maybe if I finish it by the end of the week I can say I read 1! It's the book I've been keeping by my bedside, reading a little before bed every night.

And the last category, Square Pegs - any books that didn't fit anywhere else. I read 3 in this category.

So there you go - maybe I'll be back here to update this if I finish reading anything else this week!