R.I.P Challenge IX

(artwork by Abigail Larson)

Well, seeing how I'm totally getting my blogging mojo back, why not join a challenge, while I'm at it It's that time of the year, after all, and I'm up for some spooky treats anyway.
For anyone who doesn't know, The R.I.P. Challenge involves the reading of the following:

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

Basically, anything HALLOWEENY.

I'm going with Peril the First: Read any four R.I.P.ish books.

• Wicked by Gregory Maguire (Because WITCHES)  - I'm on it already.
• Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Because FREAKS)
• The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (Because MYSTERY and SUPERNATURAL)
• The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs by Jack Gantos (Because CURSES)

All books I've wanted to read for ages :)

Once Upon a Time IV

This is the first challenge I officially join this year, and I've been really looking forward to it.
I'm not reading as much these days as I used to, but I'll try my best to do Quest the Second, which means reading a book for each category: Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Folklore and Mythology.
My pool of possibilities is not very exciting as they are books I've been listing more than once and never actually read them. Let's see how I get on this on this time.

Fantasy: The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud. (This one has been on my shelf for aaages, it's unbelievable).
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (A reread, of sorts. I have read this three times in the Italian translation, but never in English).

Fairy Tales: The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. (I promise I'll read it this time!)
The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (again, yes).

Folklore: Wonder tales of Ancient Wales
The Dreaming place by Charles de Lint.

Mythology: The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

That's it. I can't wait to start reading them!

LGBT Challenge - Once Upon a Time III Challenge wrap up

I had promise to myself not to join anymore challenges, because there is not much point when I don't actually read the books meant for that challenge. Even without lists! But since there's no challenge police, I'll join anyway! I can't resist this one.
It's hosted by Amanda at The Zen Leaf, and it requires the reading of 6 books in 6 months, all LGBT related, starting July 1 and ending December 31.
Incidentally, I'm already reading Baby Be-bob by Francesca Lia Block so the first book is sorted!
What else could I read?
I'm thinking:
Carol by Patricia Highsmith (The first lesbian novel with a happy ending, or so I'm told)
Beebo Brinker by Ann Bannon (lesbian pulp fiction of the 1950's)
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (the T is for Transgender, after all)
I'm not myself these days by Josh Kilmer-Purcell (about the life of a drag queen)
My tender matador by Pedro Lemebel (which has been waiting for 3 years now, as it's also about a transgender woman)
Also I should probably try to read Oranges are not the only fruit by Jeanette Wintersone again...

These are already at home...don't let me start with whatever I could get in the library because it's a road full of perils, we all know it ends in me wanting to read too many books as humanly possible.

ps: Here we say LGBT instead of GLBT. I'm used to it, and also I like it more ;)

Now for the Once upon a time III...er...


...I probably was in the mood for more realistic fiction than usual lately, because I managed to read 2 books only, out of the original 4:
-The Poison Throne by Celine Kiernan (fantasy)
-The Absolute Sandman vol 1. by Neil Gaiman (I decided to consider it mythology although it could fit in basically all four genres. But I thought The Sandman is a mythological figure, and these comics are a reinterpretation. Also there are many other mythical references in it).
I read some Charles de Lint stories for the Short Stories Weekend, but I reviewed only one, from Tapping the Dream Tree. Still have one to go, to finish the collection.

Speaking of Challenges, I think this year is the last for me. I know I haven't joined too many, but they're a lot for me and I feel constricted. Next time round I will stick to a VERY limited selection of these torture devises. I think they are fun only when they are the exception to my reading routine, not the norm.

"Try Something New" mini challenge wrap-up post

Finally here is my post on Nymeth's "Try something New" mini challenge. Of course I had to be true to myself and not be on time...but aaaanyway.

My challenge-mate was Natasha from 1330V. We decided to read some short stories, as we both felt they weren't in our usual reading comfort zone. Then we interviewed each other about what we read. I'm really curious to read her answers!

Now. When I thought about short stories I instinctively picked Tapping the Dream Tree by Charles de Lint. As I read a couple of stories, though, I realised this was too close to my comfort reading! Yes, they are short stories, but it's fantasy! Duh! So, since the challenge was encouraging us to try something really new, I picked a collection by Alice Munro in the library, called Open Secret. I never read anything by her before, but I had always wanted to try something. I read the first 3 stories. Wasn't impressed. They had great premises, alluring writing, all very readable. But they left me cold when they ended. Dunno why. Maybe I wasn't in the mood. Maybe I was too eager to go back to my Charles de Lint. Which, to be fair, had waited patiently its good amount of years ( 3, to be precise!).
All this to say "Yes, I've tried something new, now can I talk about Charles de Lint again?". Or better "I would have talked about Alice Munro, but Natasha wanted to know more about Tapping the Dream Tree, how could I say no?" *big grin*


Here we go:
Q: Why did you pick up this collection?
A:It's been sitting on my shelves for 3 years now! I bought it in this little second-hand bookshop in Galway, owned by this lady who sat behind the desk with her narky dog on her lap all the time. I hope to go back one day to that shop, it was great!

Q:How much of the collection have you read?
A: Most of it. I have only three left to go.

Q:How does Tapping the Dream Tree compare to other books by de Lint that you've read?
A: I have only read The Blue Girl so far. It's a YA and it's set in Newford, just like the stories in Tapping the Dream Tree. The Blue Girl is one of the most captivating book I have read recently, but I have to say, most of the stories in the collection are up there with The Blue Girl's level. Same charm, same sense of wonder and excitement. Of course, the themes are more adult, and maybe more complex. But they all retain the magic that I loved in Blue Girl.

Q:What is your favorite story so far?
I've already talked about "Pixel Pixies". It won me over COMPLETELY! Bookshop - check. Brownie (or hob, as he is called there)- check. Fairy creatures walking among us as humans - check. It seemed tailored especially for me.
But I'd like to mention another story which could compete for the top spot. It's called "Granny Weather". Its main heroin is Sophie Etoile, a painter who can travel to dreamland whenever she sleeps, where she has created a whole new world called Mabon. Jilly Coppercorn is convinced she has faerie blood and I'm inclined to believe her. In this story, Sophie is visited by a bogle from fairyland looking for help. Apparently Granny Weather has been eating bogle babies, and now the bogles are calling for Sophie's help to stop it. The thing is, Sophie had already helped Granny Weather once, when the bogles wanted to steal the moon. And bogles are known to be liars, on top of being nasty, ugly little creatures. So, what's the deal this time? Has Granny Weather turned into the evil witch of fairy tales or there's something else going on?
I don't even know where to start naming the things that make me love this story so much. Sophie, for one thing, is such a fascinating character. When she sleeps, she visits this world she has created without even wanting to. And the world now has a life of its own which exists beyond Sophie's control. I love this concept. Then there's Granny Weather. She lives in a cottage with chicken legs, and hides great powers behind the frail old lady's look.
You think she's so helpless until you look into her eyes. There you find all the mysteries of the world lying thick and dark and you realize she's much more than what she seems to be. Powerful and earthy. Formidable. The proverbial goodwife, living in her cottage, deep in an enchanted forest.
The sole inclusion of these two great characters would be enough. Then there's the whole excitement of the adventure, which could go wrong in so many ways.
And the feeling that you're only starting to know these people. That they're part of a greater tapestry of stories and connections that I'm eager to become familiar with.
I also find irresistible how de Lint can use elements of fairy tales and folklore, and make them feel completely new and fresh. Or maybe I just get easily excited when magic is given so many ways to express itself.
I'm going to share another passage, the story's final paragraph, because it explains what I mean better that I ever could. It's Sophie's talking about painting:

Jilly's right. It is magic, set free from the dreamlands by our imagination. Any act of creation is, from the fine arts to building a mudpie or a cat's cradle.
And if that's faerie blood, then we've all got its potential somewhere inside us, just waiting for us to call it up. Don't ever let anyone tell you different.


Q: Can you give us a favorite passage or line?

A:The one above is a great one!

Q: Would you read more short stories by de Lint? Are you eager to pick up more short stories in general?

A: Definitely to both questions! I want to read every single Newford book de Lint has written, and possibly the rest as well. And I am, really, looking forward to reading more short stories in general. I have a couple of collections I've set my eye on already.

Q: Would you recommend either The Blue Girl or Tapping the Dream Tree to others who don't read fantasy?

A: Yes Yes Yes! The beauty of these stories is that they use magic to embrace a multitude of themes that could touch a wide range of people. They're about being true to oneself, trying to do the right thing at the right time, finding confidence in one's potential...And they are very accessible. They are after all "urban". They all start off a very real setting, which could help the newcomers to adjust to the introduction of magic in the stories.

Q: [This is a question I share with Natasha]. What is your general attitude towards short stories? And has this book changed this attitude?

A: I generally shy away from short stories. I like the feeling of a longer read, where I can slowly get attached to characters and situations, while short stories, being short, can't give me that feeling. Also I usually like to read just one thing at a time, and reading a collection of short stories all in one go is something I'm not very good at. So I don't go and look for them willingly.

That was then. Now I think I can say that my attitude has changed. I've realise just how much I loved these stories, that it feels unfair to dismiss other collections who might give me the same, or even greater, rewards. Beside, I've finally come to terms with the fact that I can just read one story every now and then, and enjoy the story even more! I feel I'm ready to venture in these new dimension eagerly! I'm also willing to give Alice Munro another chance, if somebody has some great story to recommend.

Phew. Done. Sorry about the long post, I can get carried away easily when talking about something I really love like de Lint's writing! I had to stop myself from going on and on about all the other stories, so be grateful I ended it here :P

Herding Cats II - Attack of the Hairballs!

And it's here again! Last time I managed to read only 2, but they were among my favourite reads of the year, High Fidelity and Fingersmith. So if I can just equal that, I'd be happy. I'm expecting a mindboggingly long master list to choose from, but the most fun part is to choose the books to recommend. So here we go.

Here are the rules Herding Cats II (April 1st, 2009 - December 31st, 2009):

1. Make a list of five books you love. Directions:

• Five. I'm as serious as a beached whale.
• All titles must be books you've read in 2007, 2008 or 2009.
• Please don't list a series; just the first book. If you really want to list a book in the middle of a series, you can, but it has to be that specific book.
• Feel free to share why you're putting the book on your list, because I am nosy.

2. Post your list:

• in your own journal, in the comments here, whatever is fine. Share the list here.
• Lists should be public (no locked entries, no logging in to view).

3. Browse the new book list. Stay a while. Read a few (eta: if you want; not even reading is required this time around if you don't have time to commit to a new challenge but still want to share your favorites).

4. If you review your books, you can share the reviews. You know, if you want. No pressure. Definitely not.

Five Books I Love:

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli My very first post! I don't think I've blabbed enough about it here. I thought it was wonderful. So read it.

Hellfire by Mia Gallagher So completely absorbing and mesmerising.

Gold by Dan Rhodes A gem of a book that every fan of Nick Hornby I think should read. And everyone else too.

War for the Oaks by Emma Bull Where urban fantasy began.

Finding Violet Park (for US readers: Me, the Missing and the Dead) by Jenny Valentine Among the best YA I've recently read.

Provisional List of Books I might read:

Life as We Knew it
Invention oh Hugo Cabret
Amulet of Samarkand
Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
Shadow of the Wind
Embroideries
Tender Morsels
The Ice Queen

(still to be decided...)

Once upon a time challenge III (21st March-20th June)

How can I miss this? "Once upon a time" hosted by Carl celebrates what reading is all about for me. Getting lost in a magic world, being charmed by different cultures' folklores and mythologies, being lulled by well known fairy tales retold with new and exciting twists...
I can't possibly skip this, although I haven't been the fastest reader (or blogger) lately and I'm already committing to more challenges that I can actually finish, but who cares! It's fun to join and to choose all the books that I will (not) read!
As usual these are not lists but just possibilities that could change every minute. I'd like to read at least one book for each category, so it has to be quest number 2 for me.

Mythology:
Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner

Fantasy:
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones
The Poison Throne by Celine Kiernan
In The Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce
The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (illustrated edition)

Fairy tales:
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Folkore: Wonder Tales of Ancient Wales

AND for the Short Stories Weekend, I plan to continue reading Tapping the Dream Tree by Charles de Lint. I've loved almost all the stories so far, but I've been savouring them at my own pace, to put it nicely. Now I'll try to finish it...
So if I remember I'll post my first review for the Short Stories Weekend!

Link to Once Upon a time III Challenge Review Blog

One More Challenge and other stuff

In the last few days I have noticed just how much I'm unread in terms of Classics (mostly British, American and French and the odd Russian), so I told myself: this is ridiculous. You can't be a booklover and a bookworm, not to mention a bookseller if you haven't read THE CLASSICS!
It's not that I'm completely unaware of what those books are, I have studied them at school, read the excerpts required in class, wrote essays about them...but never actually read the whole thing!
You can observe what asserted above on this meme I've done on Facebook.

I've marked with a cross those that I've read:

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien X
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte X
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling X
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee X
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte X
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman X
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Running Total: 6

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien X
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
Running total: 7

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House- Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams X
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
Running total: 9

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy X
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis X
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini (reading it now!)
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
Running total: still 11

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez X
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery X
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood X
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding X
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
Running total: 15

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon X
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Running total: 16

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road- Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Running total: 16

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath X
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
Running total: 17

81 A Christmas Carol- Charles Dickens X
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton X (Only the Faraway Tree,I'm too old for those now!)
Running total: 20

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad X
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery X
93 The Wasp Factor
94 Watership Down- Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers- Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

TOTAL: 22/100

Ok, other than The Bible and Ulysses, which classic should I run and read right now?

I was thinking:
Pride and Prejudice
Great Expectations
The Grapes of Wrath
Of Mice and Men
Cather in the Rye
Winnie-the-Pooh
Wind in the willows
The secret Garden
Watership down
Little Women
Animal Farm
1984
Hamlet
Dracula
Madam Bovary
Frankestein
Middlemarch
Crime and Punishment
Cath 22
Orlando
Slaughterhouse-five

I'm not going to make a proper list cause we all know it's gonna put me off it, no matter how changeable it would be. But I hope to read at least 4 for the challenge from April to November (1st April-31st October).

I should also suggest a classic for beginners. If you haven't read it, totally Jane Eyre.
Ditto for To Kill a Mockingbird and Lord of the Flies.

For the new classics....can I say The Book Thief again?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On a complete different note, I just wanted to say I really enjoyed the Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer Event in chapters last tuesday!
Nymeth sent me this picture where you can actually see me standing and looking really bored (or asleep), but I wasn't! I really liked it!

I'm wearing the green "Reading is crazy" t-shirt. More pics here.
Also the event has been reviewed comprehensively here so I'm not going to repeat what has been said already. Just that it was awesome. I love listening to Neil Gaiman reading and even though I didn't know who Amanda Palmer was, I thought she was great. Best song on the ukulele was about her best friend, the house, being on sale now. Sad and funny at the same time.
I'd love to get their new book, but I doubt I can afford to buy it, which leads me to the final thing I wanted to mention: my being broke and my enrollment into the IndieBound.org affiliates!!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, I sold my soul...but for a good cause, or two
1) my financial state, which is crying at the moment.
2) And the independent bookstores (only in the US though, but better than nothing).
From now on I will link to their websites, so if you're interested in the books I've reviewed, you can get them pronto from an indie local bookstore, and hopefully it'll help me as well raising some funds! yay!

Graphic Novel Challenge 2009

It's snowing so hard today! It's so beautiful to sit beside the window and see the snow falling! It's all so white!!!
Anyway, I'm here to talk about Graphic Novels. In the past few days it's all I want to read. I'm still reading books and enjoying it, but I suddenly feel the urge to read everything that's been published in a graphic form. It's quick (so no guilty feelings) and usually visually stunning. I was a devourer of comics when I was younger, so it's no surprise that I should love graphic novels now!
I've applied for this challenge, then, just to give me an excuse, so I figure I'll post a little post about it. I shouldn't even start looking at all those reviews on the blog though, because look at the list I already pinned down (from reading the Rough Guide to Graphic Novels, blogging, browing shops, etc..)

Alice in Sunderland (interloan requested- my first, hope it works!)
American Splendor
American born chinese
Black Hole
Blankets
Bone out from Boneville
The Borden Tragedy
Boulevard of broken dreams
Box Office Poison
Brooklyn Dreams
Castaways
Castle Waiting
Chicken with plums (Library)
Epileptic (Borrowed!)
Ethel and Ernest (Library)
Exit Wounds
Death: the high cost of living (will read soon, already borrowed from library)
Fables
From Hell (Library)
Fun Home (interloan requested)
Ghost World
Laika
Maus (library)
Mother Squirrel Stories
La Perdida
Palestine (Library)
Safe Area Gorazde (Library)
Same difference and other stories
Absolute Sandman (interloan requested from Cork. Yay! I'm so happy, can't wait till it arrives!)
Shortcomings (Dewey's reading challenge)
Skim
Watchmen (shop)
We are on our own (Dewey's reading challenge)
When the wind blows (will read soon, borrowed from library)
Yossel, April 19, 1943

Now the main problem is MONEY. I'm broke at the moment, so all I can do is hope the library have them, or hope I can mooch them. Otherwise bribe our buyer to order more graphic novels for our pathetic section in the shop. So I can't say I will read all these, it's just a wishlist really, I'll take what I can get!

Another List, a.k.a. EW’s New Classics Books Perpetual Challenge

Another list! I've been meaning to post this for ages, but I didn't find the chance. Now here's my chance: a challenge about it, hosted at The Review from Here.
Oh how I love these lists, even if they're incomplete, even if they make me feel like I wasted my time and never read the books that count, even if I will never complete them.
Anyway, this challenge is a perpetual one. Just cross the books off as you read them. I know I'm really bad with these perpetual thingies. Just look at my Booker Project...Basically I just read whatever, and if it happens to suit the project, fine. Otherwise, I won't make any more efforts towards it. I expect to do the same with this.
(In Italics those on the tbr shelf).

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (199 8)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (198 8)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (198 8)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (199 8)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (198 8)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Green (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1998)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World’s Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (199 8)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (199 8)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators’ Ball, Connie Bruck (198 8)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

[In red the books I've read after joining the EW challenge]

The Pub 2009 Challenge

I've noticed this year how I don't tend to read many new books, because I always have so many old books at home that need to be read first, so although I add them to my wishlist, I usually manage to get around them when they're not new anymore. But then at the end of the year, I look at the "Best of the year" lists and I feel awful because I haven't read *any* of those. Hence the need to have an excuse to read new books. I have some ARC aside so I don't even have to add more books to the tbr list. The rest I can borrow from the shop:P
The rules are to read 9 books published in 2009. No children/YA (which is good, so I read something different and more suitable to my age) and at least 5 fiction (which shouldn't be a problem either)
Here is the official blog for the challenge.

Young adult challenge 2009

I think I've read more the 12 YA books this year, but they weren't those that I chose originally. I didn't like changing the list completely, because it felt like cheating. So as I said, this year no choosing before hand. The rule is to read 12 YA books, one for each month. Is it really a challenge? nahhh...
To join go to J. Kaye's!

More Challenges

OK, I like joining challenges but then I don't like following them, feeling obliged to read certain books I decided to read months before. So what I'm going to do is, not choose the books! I'll join the challenges only if it's possible to pick the books along the way.
So far I've picked:

Dewey's Reading Challenge, in memory of Dewey.



We can pick 6 books for each year that Dewey blogged, or 5 books from any year. I've browsed her blog and there's so much to choose from! From my experience is more fun to choose books that I don't already own, and wouldn't have picked, if not for the review. It doesn't help tackling the pile, but it's more fun!
For now I've noticed a couple of books I might want to read, for example Spelldown by Karen Luddy, Misfits by James Howe, Dykes to watch out for and some others.

The second, and last for now, is the Manga Reading Challenge, hosted by Rhinoa.



I have no idea what I'm going to read and that's part of the fun of it. I was an avid manga reader in Italy. Here there isn't such a big selection, so I'll have to search for some good ones, and hope for the best.
As in my comments to Rhinoa's blog, I'd like to suggest a few manga that I've loved in the past, and some others that could be interesting too.

Anything by Rumiko Takahashi is great. She's funny and incredibly inventive. My favourite of hers is Maison Ikkoku. Set in a shared house full of quirky characters, is the story of awkward student Godai, who falls madly in love with the manager of the house, the lovely Kyoko. This manga is a lot about romance and humour and misunderstanding, but in dealing with all this, it shows japanese culture in a way I haven't encountered in any other manga.
There's also an anime of this series, like for most of Takahashi's works. She's one of the most famous mangaka, so if you don't know where to start, I think she's a good introduction.

Another author I've read as a teenager is Masakatsu Katsura, a sort of legend for any manga lover. He's the creator of Video Girl Ai. This manga was so popular in Italy that I remember going to a theatre representation of it! OK it wasn't very good, but it gives you the idea.
The drawings are gorgeous, and kind of erotic too, but not XXX! It's a very tender and romantic story, with elements of science fiction. It's essentially for young adults, although I think anyone should try it at least, because it's a classic.
It's about Yota, a young guy hopelessly in love with Moemi. When he realises that Moemi is in love with his best friend, Yota finds himself in a video store to rent a porn movie and console himself. He ends up taking a video starring a girl called Ai Amano. What Yota doesn't know is that the video is a special one. It contains a Video Girl especially created to cheer up the renter of it, by physically coming out of the video in human form. Unfortunately Yota's vcr is broken so when Ai jumps out of the screen she's not what she should be. First of all she's cranky. But most importantly, she starts feeling emotions towards Yota. Something a Video Girl should never do. If it sounds weird, it is! But it's also incredibly emotional and tender, and it deserves to be discovered.

Another favourite author of mine is Tsukasa Hojo. He's the author of City Hunter, but I'm not mad for it. As a child I loved the anime Cat's Eye, but as a manga, my favourite of his would be "Under the dapple shade". It's the poetic story of a girl who can talk to trees. It's really beautiful, both graphically and storywise. It's not on Amazon but it can be read on-line here. If you can bear to read on a screen, it's absolutely recommended. There's also tons of other manga to read on this website!

Other honorable mentions are: RG Veda by the Clamp. The artwork is fabulous. The story is interesting, but some of the morals of some characters, I think, are questionable, depending on what you make of them.
if you like fantasy comedy, try Those who hunt elves. I should actually look for it as well, cause the series was interrupted in Italy.
For sci-fi and action fans I'd choose Battle Angel Alita . Also Ghost in the shell (although I've only seen the anime), Eden, and obviously Akira (again, never read the manga, should probably pick it myself!)

Right now, I'm really into a manga called Nana. It's still in progress, and since Italy is publishing at the same time as Japan (plus the time for the translation) it's going really slow! I hope I can pick up the latest issue when I go home for Christmas :)
There's a lot of smoking going on but if you manage to bypass that it's kind of addictive. Darla has reviewed the first two issues on her blog. I love the relationship between the two Nanas ( I secretely have a little crush on punk Nana) and right now I'm waiting to see what will happen to their friendship. Ai Yazawa, couldn't you draw and write faster??

For more realistic manga try Mars by Fuyumi Soryo. It's oh so romantic.

Ok I'd better stop here, I'm getting carried away again. Please, if you've read any good manga, feel free to recommend it to me, I'm very open to try anything:)

Me and Challenges...

... don't seem to get along. I love the idea of joining and to set a goal and then share your experience with others... but when it comes to actually pick a book up, I haven't been much in the mood for any of those books I "should" read. Is it because I should? Or because I'm just too fickle and can't be bothered with following a schedule or a deadline? I don't know. The thing is I don't think I'll manage to finish any of the challenges I joined this year, except for the Once upon a time. And I'm torn because I know that I might love a lot of the books I chose to read, but right now, I'm not pushed to read any of those. So the point of this post is:
1) Looking for sympathy. I know I'm not the only one :D
2) Looking for incentives to read those books. Maybe if I get you to encourage me to read them, I will overcome this impasse and I won't think about ALL those books that I'd rather read first.
So here is the list of the books I should read before the end of the year. Which one should I absolutely read?:

YA challenge:
A swift pure cry by Siobhan Dowd (I had actually started to read this one, but then I saw that the sequel to The Declaration had come out and that HAD to have the priority!)
Epic by Conor Kostick
Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce
The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
Over Sea,Under Stone by Susan Cooper

What's in a name challenge:
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Non-fiction challenge:
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes by Joan Ryan
Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy
No Logo by Naomi Klein

(Actually I only need to choose two out of these three. It ends in September so I guess I should give them the priority, but I'm SO not in the mood for them...I can change them though. So I'm thinking of replacing one with "Bury me Standing - the gypsies and their journey", something I'm very interested in at the moment).

tl;dr challenge:

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
The Changeling Sea by Patricia McKillip
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (I thought I was gonna get a free copy from a rep, that's why it's in the list. But I didn't)
Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo by Obert Skye

(This ends at the end of November, but I should only read two more).

The Classics Challenge:
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (I kinda read this,but I couldn't finish it. I thought I would have gone back to it, but it looks unlikely so I should just cross it off. But I feel guilty cause I think it was probably my fault not the book's.)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
bonus book: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

That's it!

Now, when I sat down and did my usual "What am I gonna read next" list, scrolling down
my TBR tag on Lybrarything, this is what I came up instead:

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce
High Fidelity by Nick Horby (challenge book)
In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce
Poppy by Avi
Come dio Comanda by Niccolò Ammaniti (his latest book which won the most prestigious literary prize in Italy)
A Swift pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd (challenge book)

I decided for the latter, but then, as I said, I abandoned it for The Resistance.
I know what you're thinking. Just stop moaning and go read the two you chose, which are actually part of a challenge! But I know that when I'm finished with the book I'm reading, my mood will have changed already, so I need encouragements!

Yes, I know how to complicate my life with useless problems :D

The Classics Challenge 2008

Oh yeah, another challenge! But to be honest I haven't joined too many and I was actually looking forward to something like this, to give me an excuse to read all those classics that are calling me from the shelves of bookshops and libraries (yes, because I don't already own them, but they are urging me to read them so badly) so here we are. Thanks to Trish we now have a Classics Challenge!
The rules are as follow:

* OPTION 1: Read FIVE classics.

* OPTION 2: Read FIVE classics from at least THREE different countries

* OPTION 3: Read FIVE classics with any combination of at least THREE different countries and TWO different genres (see above for genres).

* Cross-posting with other challenges is allowed (and encouraged!); Audiobooks are fine; books must be finished after July 1st to count for the challenge although re-reads are acceptable.

* Lists don't have to be set in stone; you can change your selections at any time.

* Have Fun. Oh ya...there will be a drawing for a prize or two. To be entered you must complete any one of the above options. You do NOT need a blog to participate.

I will be opting for the first choice. Read 5 classics, full stop.I already have a list with more than 5 titles, but as usual I'll write them down and then choose when the challenge actually starts in July...Plenty of time! Actually too much time, I wanna read them now! But I suppose they will make perfect summer reads so the wait will be worth it.

What I want to read:

- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett











- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum









- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain











The Handmaid's Tail by Margaret Atwood














Those above must be read with those covers and no other. I know, it's shallow, but what can I do.
Then I also might read:
- The Borrowers by Mary Norton
- Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
- 1984 by George Orwell
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'engle
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
I still have to look around to decide which cover I prefer for these...

342,745 Ways to Herd Cats, OR tl;dr

This is brilliant. Another challenge, similar to "Something about me", but not quite.
Choose 10 favourite books. Then browse the master list and choose 3 books or more to read between May 1st and November 30th. Easy Peasy. Click on the pictures for details and for joining.

My list(I've looked at the list so far and people already added some of my favourites so maybe I'll try and choose different ones)

The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman
The Tiger in the Well by Philip Pullman
Charlotte's web by E.B. White
Momo by Michael Ende
The Snapper by Roddy Doyle
The Blue Girl by Charles De Lint
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
The clan of the cave bear by J.M.Auel
Ronja by Astrid Lindgren

A very random mix. Some children's, some classics, some (very) adult fiction...something for everyone and books I think should be in that master list.

For what I can see now the books I'd like to read are:

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint
Life Of Pi by Yann Martel
Castle Waiting: Volume 1 by Linda Medley
Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo by Obert Skye
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Changeling Sea by Patricia A. McKillip
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith



Of these I only own 3 so this is definitely a provisional list to be changed or updated shortly before the challenge starts!

"Once upon the time" Challenge

I love everything about this challenge. The name, the theme, the quests, the no pressure attitude. You can read the full details at Carl's blog Stainless Steel Droppings.
To complete quest 2 I'll have to read at least 4 books in 4 categories: fantasy, mythology, fairy tales and folklore.
I've had some issues distinguishing folklore and fairy tales, but I think I came up with a nice list, which most importantly is still committed to the number one rule: you will not join challenges with books you don't already own!
and indeed I didn't.

My List

Fantasy:
Tales from Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin
War for the oaks by Emma Bull

Fairy tale:
Book of a thousand days by Shannon Hale

Mythology:
Dream Aengus by Alexander McCall Smith
Percy Jackson and the lightning thief by Rick Riordan

Folklore: Irish Folklore by Brid Mahon
added: Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones (thanks Nymeth!)

For this last category I'm open to suggestions. I don't think I actually own anything more substantial, at least not here in Ireland, so I'm willing to borrow something (no buying!).

A few of these will fit nicely in my ever-changing Young Adult list so it's all good:-)

wish me happy reading!

Non-fiction Challenge and Meme

I was looking forward to the Non-fiction Challenge 2008. I think I need a reason to read some non-fiction, and without a challenge I don't think I will ever be able to abandon my comfortable novels so I'm happy that it's finally up at Thoughts of Joy.
The Rules are HERE
I don't have a full list yet, but I'll come up with some more later.
For now I have:
Current Affairs: The Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire by Arundhati Roy - I've had this for ages, it's high time I read it!
Biography: Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt - same as above
Travel Writing: There's an Egg in my Soup by Tom Galvin - It's about the experience of an Irish Man in Poland in the 90's. The Polish population in Ireland is amazingly big, therefore the need to learn more about their country and culture.

I might add something for History, True Crime, more Current Affairs (I've never read No Logo by Naomi Klein and this might be the right time), or possible some more biographies.
I have time till may to come up with something and the list can change anytime.

Edited: I've come up with 4 more titles!
- Little Girls in pretty boxes by Joan Ryan. It's about the hidden world of elite gymnastics and figure skating. It's almost a text book for any gymnastics fan, even though it casts a dark light on my beloved sport, I think I have to read it.
- No Logo by Naomi Klein. Another title I need to read!
- The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium: An Englishman's World by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger. Daily life in the year 1000, should be interesting.
- Female Chauvinist pigs - women and the rise of raunch culture by Ariel Levy. I've been wanting to read this for a while now.
There. I like my new list. I'm not sure I'll be able to read them all but I'll do my best!


So, since I'm here talking about Non-Fiction, I figure I'd do this meme I've seen everywhere, created by Guatami at My own little reading room!

a). What issues/topic interests you most--non-fiction, i.e, cooking, knitting, stitching, there are infinite topics that has nothing to do with novels?
I'm interested in many topics: art, biographies, mythology and folklore, politics...
I LOVE cookery books, especially those with beautiful pictures. I also like handcrafts and knitting books but I don't have many because I find knitting books hard to understand!

b). Would you like to review books concerning those? yes, of course, I like reviewing anything I read.

c). Would you like to be paid or do it as interest or hobby? Tell reasons for what ever you choose. Definitely!! It would be a dream job, second only to writer and editor.

d). Would you recommend those to your friends and how? Yes, why not. If I think a friend would be interested in the topic I would probably buy it for them or just talk about it a lot!

If you have already done something like this, link it to your post. I've reviewed Nadia Comaneci's autobiography and that'it, for now.

f). Please dont forget to link back here or whoever tags you Nobody did, I tagged myself!

"What's in a name?" Challenge

Ever since I saw this challenge I wanted to join, so here I am. Annie had the idea and now she even has a blog for it, with lots of Mr Linkys to post our reviews in the right places. Rules and conditions are here.
I had some problems finding a book with a plant in its title. Do fruit qualify as plants? If they don't I'll try and think of something else, but I'm trying to use only books that I already have, which is not easy! Anyway,this is what I came up with:

COLOUR
THE BLUE GIRL BY CHARLES DE LINT
I'm reading it now and I also included it in the Young Adult challenge. I'm absolutely loving it, I think it's safe to say I'm already a Charles de Lint fan! Sometimes it's good to judge a book by its cover :)

ANIMAL
I WAS A RAT! BY PHILIP PULLMAN
My secret Santa present!

NAME
PADDY CLARKE AH AH AH! BY RODDY DOYLE
I've no idea why I haven't read this yet,given that I'm such a fan of Roddy Doyle's writing, but each book has its own and right time to be read, and I think its time has come now. It will also qualify for the Booker Prize project, for which, so far, I've only read one!!! shame...

PLACE
HOMAGE TO CATALONIA BY GEORGE ORWELL
I've started this and then I left it unfinished. But I've always meant to go back to it because I really want to know more about the spanish civil war from someone who was actually there. I've loved the film by Ken Loach, "Land and Freedom", which was inspired by this book, so I think I should like this. Maybe the right time has come for it as well.


WEATHER EVENT
ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY BY MILDRED TAYLOR
I'm only using this because it was the only book that I own, with a weather event in the title! It's not a book that I've been wanting to read, I got it for free, but maybe it will surprise me.

PLANT
JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH BY ROALD DAHL
You can't go wrong with Roald Dahl. Well, at least if I can get away with a giant peach been counted as a plant. Which it is. Right?

Young Adult Challenge!

New year, new Challenge...
I've already seen tons and tons of challenges all over the places and I'd love to join them all because they're great fun, but since I'm not that good at reading books that I *have* to read, I've decided to keep the number of challenges for 2008 very low, meaning no more than 2 or 3! This at The Thoughts of Joy seems like the perfect one to start with. I do read a LOT of young adult novels anyway, and hopefully it will help me through the ever-growing pile of TBRs!(yeah, another rule that I will introduce this year is DON'T JOIN CHALLENGES WITH BOOKS THAT I DON'T HAVE ALREADY!, given the enormous amount of unread books that I keep accumulating).

So, for this challenge you have to choose 12 YA books to read during 2008, so it's 1 a month. I do read more than one a month usually, but I plan to read "adult" books too:P
They also can overlap with other challenges which is nice.

Here's the list:
(If by any chance I'll read any of these before 2008 I'll replace them with some others)

1) A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd

2) Epic by Conor Kostick

3) Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce

4) Raven's gate by Anthony Horowitz

5) Secret of the Fearless by Elizabeth Laird

6) Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce

7) Holes by Louis Sachar

8) The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud

9) The Wish House by Celia Rees

10) The Year the Gypsies Came by Linzie Glass

11) Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

12) Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper



done!

"Book to movie Challenge"

When I started this blog I had no idea of what challenges were, didn't even know they existed! But now I'm hooked, and I'm afraid I'll get addicted like so many bloggers:P
Now this is my second only, but I can see it coming! This one is easy enough, just choose 3 books that have being made into a film and read them between September 1 and December 1 (three months). It's hosted by S.M.S. Book reviews. I have checked my TBR list and I found 3 books perfect for this challenge:

1) Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt - Film by Alan Parker (1999)










2) I'm not scared (Io non ho paura) by Niccolò Ammaniti - Film by Gabriele Salvatores (2003)










3) Oranges are not the only fruit by Jeanette Winterson - Film(tv) by Beeban Kidron (1990)










If I'm allowed to pick books that haven't been made into films yet I also would like to read
- Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer and
- Percy Jackson and the Lightning thief by Rick Riordan
before they come out:-)