Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic 50 Book Challenge

I just joined a nice live journal community that is challenging people to read at least 50 books this year. I thought this might be a nice challenge to share with all of you. I know I spend a lot of time reading fanfiction but it has been a really long time since I made room for normal books in my life. I used to read them all the time when I was in highschool but once I started college I let that drop out of my life. Sadly I read maybe 3-4 books a year now. This is pretty pathetic. So this year I am challenging myself to try to accomplish reading the 50 books. If you want to know more about it you can find it here:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/50bookchallenge/

If enough people are interested, we could keep a little log here of the books we are reading and share suggestions with each other. Maybe together we call all do it. ^_~

Very interesting, JoJo. I'm currently reading 'Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life'.

Fascinating! I don't know how many books I read a year, but I'm always up for sharing my current titles! And I definitely can't buy 50 books LOL. I collect books and don't rent out of the library. I don't think my bank account can handle that number heh.

I just finished Cross by James Patterson. Gory, heinous, and creepy as usual. Not for the weak stomached, but I love murder mysteries, especially serial killers.

I've got three others from Christmas that I'm going to start reading:
-A type book, which unless you're a graphic designer, could be like reading the dictionary to some. Or an advanced user manual to something you don't own. <g>
-The Innocent Man by John Grisham. I've read all of John Grisham's books, so I'm assuming this will be good as well. <g>
-Son of a Witch by Gregory Macguire (sp?). I loved Wicked, so I'm gearing up for another one by Gregory.

JD

One year or so, I kept track of all of the books I read. I had a notebook that had Title, Author, and # of Pages. I had a ton of 130-page novels that I went through quickly, since I could finish them in a little over an hour. I read way too many books that year -- several hundred, I think, or more.

I may keep track again this year. I'm currently reading Eragon. Right before that, I read Stork Naked by Piers Anthony, but I'm counting that as last year, since I can't remember when I finished it. Next will probably be a Dragonlance novel, or I'll borrow a Forgotten Realms book that the hubby has.

Only 50?!? Piece of cake! I usually read at least twice that in a year (possibly even six months, I've never really kept track), if I'm not reading fanfic!

Okay, I'm glad to see other people are interested as well.

My first book for the year: Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

Just 50?

Okay, so far this year I've read:

Split Second - Alex Kava
A Cold Heart - Jonathan Kellerman
Show of Evil - William Diehl

If I get into a really good book that I'm enjoying, I just tend to shut out the world and keep going till I'm done. And I tend to read well into the small hours of the morning when Stuart's working a night shift. And, being retired, I have all the time in the world to read whenever I want to...so I probably have an unfair advantage or two.

I have a huge pile of books here in the office that I gathered from a very successful raid on my favourite charity bookshop and Christmas and early birthday presents, so I expect I'll have gotten to 50 by summer at the latest! If not much sooner.

Jen, do you have a charity store nearby? I was in the same fix, always struggling for something to read, until I found a wonderful local charity store at the start of last year which has a ton of secondhand books for sale and they kept me supplied all year round. I visited every six weeks or so and ended up always having a book beside the sofa. I've been in book heaven all year!

On my last visit, at the start of December, I had my most successful visit yet, coming out with 32 books! At 50p a paperback/£1 a hardback, it's great value for money (I'm sure your prices would be similiarly cheap) and you have the added bonus of knowing you're contributing to a good cause.

And one of the other bonuses is that you get introduced to a ton of new authors in the genres you enjoy that you never knew were out there. Or find yourself able to revisit old genres you once read but have drifted away from. I'm enjoying picking up the odd historical novel here and there, for example. I used to read this kind of thing in my teens but haven't for years. But reading books like Joanne Harris's Holy Fools or Rosalind Laker's To Dance With Kings has been a real, rediscovered pleasure.

You get more adventurous, too, I find. I've picked up books I might not have chanced if I was buying them new, but which don't seem so much of a risk when it's only 50p, and surprised myself by enjoying them immensely.

LabRat

Oh, I will definitely play! I do keep track of mine anyway on LibraryThing , and it is telling me that in 2005 I read 70 books and in 2006 I read 63. I used to read a lot more than that but my attention span isn't what it used to be, so a book has to really grab me if I am going to finish it. Plus I read a lot of fanfic.

First book of 2007 (in progress): The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.

Once upon a time I bought all my books, but then I couldn't eat. (You that saying by Eramus, right? "When I get a little money I buy books and if any is left I buy food and clothes.") So now I am all about the library. Daniel is a librarian, so I reserve the books I want online under his card, and he brings them home. If I buy a book, it is usually because I already read it and loved it.

I don't know how many books I read on a regualr basis, but my sister, when she was in high school, used to read about 50 books a month. She'd go to the Library almost every week and get 10-15 books, read them throughout the week, then go back again.

It's six days in, and I haven't read any books this year yet--but then again, I've been sick and bingeing on M*A*S*H. Once I start something literary, though, I'll certainly keep track.

MrsMosley.... that has to be the neatest site to keep track of books ever! I have been looking for something like that for years. I used to keep a list of books I had read in a notebook. I was going to bring it home with me this year and keep the tradition up but forgot it.

But this site... perfect! ^_^

You know, that LibraryThing is pretty neat. I might just use that instead of using my own MSAcess database when I catalogue all my books. It won't be able to tell me how many I read this year, but it WILL tell me what books I do and don't have!

The Library Thing is quite fun! I seriously have no life and don't know anyone in this fine state of Georgia, so I started adding which books I can remember; most of them are at my parents' house until I'm finally ordered to clean out my bedroom...which I'll do over the summer. As I speak, it's becoming their new exercise room.

JD

I am glad you all find LibraryThing so useful! I practically fainted from happiness when I discovered it about a year ago.

Sure it can, going forward just create a tag called "read in 2007". Of course, for this to work, you have to list all the books you've read whether you own them or not. For that reason I have a "books I own" tag as well. Of the 557 books in my catalog, I only own 446.

Yeah, I figured that out right after I posted. I marked the 34 books I've already catalogued with an "I own" tag, and as soon as I have the time (after I manage to recover as much data as possible that used to be on my dead hard drive) I'll finish cataloguing the rest of my books, and start keeping track of which ones I read this year.

Great idea! I've never thought to count how many books I read (can I count that high?). I think I'm currently on book #3 for the year, and I just happily picked up #4 yesterday (Just got into Susan May Warren and am now going through all her books, I'm enjoying them so much.) This is actually slow for me as I'm having fun watching all the seasons of ST: Voyager; so I haven't been reading much.

I find I read more when I'm overly stressed which I've been a lot the past year or so. I know I went through a weekend where I read at least 3-4 books alone.

I'll have to check out those sites...thanks!!

Jo

Great idea! I'm wondering if, when people list a book they might also tell us the genre - adventure, fantasy, etc as well as maybe one reason why they liked the book - writing style, plot, character, etc (assuming here you likely wouldn't finish it if you didn't enjoy it and so wouldn't be listing it )

That might help us decide whether we'd like to try the book too.

My latest - Margaret Atwood: The Penelopiad. - a Homer fanfic focusing on Penelopes's POV - strong writing, loads of irony. Also a short book.

c.

Well, since I do have a problem affording that many books, I started reading my favourites time and again. There was one year where I actually recalled everything, and it was over fifty books I read that year - though not necessarily fifty different books.

Unfortunately, I don't have that much time for reading any more, and the time I have I spend reading fanfic (much cheaper!), offering feedback and, last but not least, writing some myself. But when I really get into a book, I literally devour it, close everything out (I'm just trying to train me out of that habit) and don't stop for anything but the very basic needs - or my daughter. She certainly knows how to get my attention while I'm reading!

That LibraryThing is so cool!

I've added two books to LibraryThing in the last two days, and I even brought them to work to read, but I haven't even cracked the bindings yet! I'm just not in the mood to read a book right now, know what I mean? It's kinda frustrating, 'cause at the rate I'm going, I'll probably only read 12 books this year.

Haha, Gosh I'm so slow...

I finally finished my first book. "Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment" It was a cute action/fantasy/mystery. There is a sequel out right now and indeed the book does end in a cliff hanger. I gave it a 3 1/2 out of 5. Just because it wasn't my favorite book ever but it was pretty decent. I recommend it. It is a very light read and very entertaining.

Next book on my list: Enders Game (maybe if I can get the book from the person who is letting me borrow it)

You'll love 'Ender's Game'! And don't miss the sequels. The style of the novels is very different, but they're good anyway. And, while you're at it, I'd recommend you to read 'Ender's Shadow' directly after 'Ender's Game'. It explains a lot of what's going on behind the scenes.

Ooh! Ender's Game is my absolute favorite! And I have the entire series too, including "First Meetings in the Ender-verse."

The girl I am borrowing it from hasn't gotten it to me yet, so instead I'm currently reading "Dragon Flight" by Anne McCaffery. I read it a long long time ago but had forgotten most of it. I think I'm going to take on her Pern series for part of the book challenge.

Yay! Pern! My dad has the whole series, and I recently read from Dragonsdawn straight through to The Skies of Pern--again.

I just finished this today. I don't know why my reading has fallen off so much in the last year. For the first 26 years of my life, I read voraciously. Then suddenly I just didn't want to so much anymore. It feels very odd.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It's really two stories, the first about the creation of the World's Fair in 1893, the second about a serial killer who was operating in Chicago at the time. For a history lover like me, it was a really fascinating read. Like Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit, it is a nonfiction book that reads like a work of fiction.

Yes, Pern is great! *sigh* Wish I owned them. I borrowed tham back then. But never, *never* try to play the game "Dragonriders of Pern". It's not worth its name.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=jojo_da_crow

To show my current progress. I'm on book #6.

It took me a while but once I discovered ebooks my reading has sped up quite a bit. Here is a nice site for those of you wanting to read a bit. Part of it is in Russian but there are a ton of english books on there:

http://fictionbook.ru/

I'm on book 4?

1. Eragon
2. Romance novel
3. Shorter romance novel.
4. A Hundred Orcs by RA Salvatore

At 3pm this afternoon, I finally finished my second book of the year: Anna Karenina.

It was so ridiculous--it took me two months to read it! That's the longest it's ever taken me to read ANYTHING. Before, the longest it had taken me to read a book was two WEEKS, and that was Little Women!

But wow . . . I finally finished it. Now I can read something else!

I think it's going to be something thinner, and more modern this time--then I won't have to think so much while I'm reading, just to be able to understand the plot and the characters' thoughts.

Two down . . . forty-eight to go.

I'm still on #7. Hahaha! I really need to get my butt in gear.

Really? Oh, wait, sorry. My mind went somewhere else. At least Jojo will understand that one.

JDG! Jojo's not the only one . . .

And while I'm still here, I might as well say that I put up a review of Anna Karenina in my library at LibraryThing. It's more of a rant than a review, but it's all I could think of to say about the book itself.

Whoow I really don't know how one would ever get to read 50 books in a year.. (I'm a very slow reader...)

I've read about 5 books now and about 3 of them were because I had to for university (we have to read literature in several languages, which I don't really like, so next year I´m only going to take dutch, english and latin classes instead of dutch, english, latin, greek, french AND german )

Ok, well, most of em aren't in english, but in case you might be interested;;

1. Want Dit Is Mijn Lichaam - Renate Dorrestein
2. Crazy - Benjamin Lebert
3. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
4. Het Gouden Ei - Tim Krabbé
5. Burnt Toast - Teri Hatcher (I finally bought it, started reading it yesterday )

Selinde

Selinde, could you translate those Dutch titles so that we could maybe get an idea what the books are about by the titles? That would be really interesting, I think.

I used to read tons. Not so much anymore. Now I work, and with travel time, I only have about 4 hours available on weekdays. And I have no library to go to (I'm not in school anymore, and I'm not going through the trouble of stopping somewhere).

Also, I've become pickier, I think, more willing to just put down and book and not pick it back up if I don't like it. I've always been the type to re-read books, and I still do, though not as much as I once did, because now I read less fanfic and fiction, and more message boards and the like.

I've probably read 14 books this year, some of them several times over. But all 14 were part of kids' series, so they probably don't count. I have an affinity for Australian kids' shows and I like kid's fantasy novels, too.

I read fiction. Fantasy, mostly - especially the swords & sorcery variety, but other types of fantasy, too. I like to watch science-fiction more than fantasy when it comes to movies and television, but prefer to read fantasy over sci-fi. I'm not a big fan of dark and gritty and people being mutilated (much). And I want the good guys to win. I want the heroes to be good, if flawed - I don't like anti-heroes. I do like romance in my books (though I'm perfectly fine without it), but I don't like triangles. It's hard to find fantasy I like for two reasons: firstly, the grittier stuff seems more popular, and secondly, I've gotten to where I'm afraid to buy a book, having bought several that I quit reading 30 pages in.

I like books where good people, heroes, are brave and strong and work hard and triumph over evil and save the innocents. And I like books where people who aren't so good learn to be and become better. And I like a bit of magic tossed in.

JDG:

I'm glad people are still doing this. I am honestly reading a lot of fanfiction lately. I should really start counting some of those as books since they are as long as a novel. *sigh*

~Jojo, who has a tendancy to go back and reread fics that she loves over and over again.

Wheeee I just typed a whole lot of stuff here and then it just kind of crashed and now I don't want to do it all over again

So I'll keep it really short;

"Want dit is mijn lichaam" ("Because this is my body"); about a disabled woman whose father remarries a woman (girl, rather) that is about as old as his grandson.

"Het Gouden Ei" ("The Golden Egg"); about a couple that goes on vacation and the woman disappears. Years later, her killer comes back and asks the man whether he wants to know how his girlfriend was killed. He kills him the same way. (kind of creepy, I know )

Btw, I'm looking for some new books to read. Are there any books that are really cool/interesting/beautiful/funny/whatever that really should be read? Please tell!

Ok and now I'm gonna ctrl+c this BEFORE I post it, so that if the pc crashes again I won't have to type it all over again

My recommendations:

Anything by Orson Scott Card that you can possibly get your hands on--he's my favorite author. He writes mostly fantasy/sci-fi, but he's also written bible/scripture/religion-based fiction.

Anything by Anne McCaffrey, especially the Dragonriders of Pern series. There are two orders in which you can read that series: 1) in chronological story order, starting with Dragonsdawn, or 2) in publication order, starting with Dragonflight.

I also like the Song of Ice and Fire cycle by George R. R. Martin and the King's Blades series by Dave Duncan.

The DragonLance series is also good, provided you don't get into the Fifth Age.

And since I just finished reading it, I might as well recommend Anna Karenina.

Also, Winter Rose by Patricia McKillip is good too.

Ah, what the hey, just look at my library . Any of the books/authors there that I haven't already mentioned which have either reviews, ratings, or both listed in my catalogue, are the ones I like the best.

Thanks, DSDrangon!
That'll keep me busy for a while

Weeeeeell, now that you mentioned it, I definitely read more than 50 books a year. I hasten to add that this reading is often other imposed. More than I'd care to admit, I have to valiantly stave off sleep or nausea while reading--which really sucks the joy out of the endeavour. But, the latest few I've read that I actually enjoyed are:

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
La femme gelee by Annie Ernaux
Delirio by Laura Restrepo


I'm guessing those last two are translated to The Frozen Woman and Delirium respectively. Always assuming they actually exist in translation of course. And assuming the translations are any good.

But my favourites of all time remain the super famous Anna Karenina and rarely mentioned La placa del diamant. Apparently I'm not alone in my love of Tolstoy as this link to a Time article from earlier this year can attest to:
The 10 Greatest Books of All Time

I agree wholeheartedly with the questioning of some of the supposed favourites of favourite authors, but it's an interesting lineup to see.

PS:

DSDragon wrote:
Read your review. Because I'm a collector of random information and thought you might be too, she's never referred to as Anna Oblonsky because she's married. And she's not referred to as Anna Karenin because in Russian, the last names are always reflective of the person's gender. Therefore, Karenina.

This thread is so much fun ) and I can't wait to read em

Somehow I think I'll pass the 50 books no problem. Last year's list:

1-4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
5. Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop
6-9. Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, Digital Fortress, Deception Point by Dan Brown
10-12. The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan
13-15. Pellinor by Alison Croggon (waiting for book four to be published)
16-18. The Bitterbynde by Cecilia Dart-Thornton
19-22. The Axis Trilogy, Sinner by Sara Douglass
23-45. The Belgariad, The Malloreon, Belgarath the Sorcerer, Polgara the Sorceress, The Elenium, The Tamuli, The Redemption of Althalus, The Dreamers by David and Leigh Eddings
46-54. The Witches of Eileanan, Rhiannon's Ride by Kate Forsyth
55-56. Dragon Sleeping, Dragon Burning by Craig Shaw Gardner (still trying to find book two in the bookstores)
57-63. The Ancient Future Trilogy, The Book of Dreams, The Celestial Triad by Traci Harding
64-75. The Deverry Series by Katherine Kerr (waiting for book thirteen to be published)
76-78. Trinity by Fiona McIntosh
79-80. Eragon, Eldest by Christopher Paolini
81-85. The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, Mort, Sourcery by Terry Pratchett (Discworld Series)
86-88. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
89-90. The Sleeping Dragon, The Sword and the Chain by Joel Rosenberg
91-96. Harry Potter by JK Rowling (waiting for book seven to be published)
97. A Castle in the Window by Laura C Stevenson
98. The Queens Gambit by Walter Tevis
99. Shadows of Myth by Rachel Lee
100-109. The Chronicles of Narnia, Space Trilogy by CS Lewis

Plus any number of Agatha Christie novels. I have them all. I randomly pick one from the collection when I want a break from fantasy.

I've actually stopped reading lately to concentrate on my WiP "Begin the Begin", so I haven't read anything that wasn't on these boards since the beginning of March. Of course, I *have* read absolutely every fic posted during that time.

But in January and February I read these:

1-3. The Isavalta Trilogy by Sarah Zettel
4. Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
5. Rosa and the Veil of Gold by Kim Wilkins
6. 1610: A Sundial in a Grave by Mary Gentle
7. Snare by Katherine Kerr

And that's just the *printed* books I've read this year. I've been working through the archive and the message boards as well. They would *far* outnumber these.

Sam

Wow--if this post did nothing else, it proved to me that I'm definitely an oddball FoLC in the reading category. A large share of responders seem to be SF/Fantasy fans. Not to mention those I know of who didn't post but are avid romance readers.

I guess I can see how liking this fandom would be similar to both genres.

Oh, I joined this community back in January as well. I didn't see this thread here back then.

Of course, I'm a bit behind on my reading. :p But it's coming along.

Julie

I haven't been reading too many books (busy in school; rarely have any time to sit back and read a good book), but I got into the Janet Evanovich's Plum Series. She currently has twelve books of the series out (thirteenth coming out this summer).
Here's the link to the author's webpage:
www.evanovich.com

I don't think these books are indicated for the younger audience (violence and sex), but for those of you who don't mind laughing out loud while reading a book (hard to control when in a public place ), I'd suggest at least taking a look at the first one, "One For the Money". Here's an excerpt .

I read books one, two, and three in January, and this last week (yes, THIS LAST WEEK ), I finished reading numbers 4, 5 and 6.

It seems I can devour one book (which has about three hundred and thirty pages in paperback) in a few hours, absolutely cannot put them down until I finish. I have number 7 with me, but since I didn't expect to read the three first so fast, I'm going to hold on to it for a few days (at least) so that I don't feel the urge of buying the rest of the series right this minute.

Of course, I have other things to do for school that I have been procrastinating, and now I'm covered in schoolwork for this week. Yikes! Got to put away the book for a least a week.

Got to go back to schoolwork.

malu

Capes said:
If you are an oddball folc, then so am I. I will occasionally read science fiction and romance... but only occasionally. I have a problem with romances because so many follow a tried and trusted formula. If I read more than about two or three at once, I get bored. I think it's a couple of years since I last read one!

I have read some wonderful and clever science fiction stories in my time, mostly because they have been recommended to me by friends (or book sellers!). If someone recommends a story, I might give it a go, but I don't go out of my way to find SF books.

I had a look at the link Capes posted to the Top 10 books, and a feel woefully ignorant now because I haven't read any of them!

In fact, I find reading a huge amount quite a struggle these days, mostly because I have to read so much for my job. Too many words at work make me unable to face too many words at home, I think, even if the words are completely different in nature.

So... this year I have read four novels so far. (I've just started on my fifth.) If anyone is interested, they are:

Reginald Hill's The Stranger House
Steve Bochco's Death By Hollywood
Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom
Bernard Cornwell's The Pale Horseman.

The first was a gift, the second a recommendation (which made me laugh, and I read in a single evening), the third a find in a charity shop and the fourth the sequel to the third, which I just had to read. (I'm now reading the third in that series.)

Oh, and I have a load of books scattered around, waiting to be read. Very eclectic the collection is too: more gifts and more charity shop finds (including a few Scottish authors I feel I should investigate)...

Krissie <who wonders how Sammy finds the time for all that reading!>

I didn't notice this post earlier in the year, so I don't remember everything I've read. I do remember "The Shunning" by Beverly Lewis (Amish Christian fiction) and its two sequels, several of the "Politically Incorrect Guide" series (I believe one on literature, one on feminism, maybe a third), and then I discovered P. G. Wodehouse. I've read about ten of his books so far, about eight of them Jeeves books. Great fun. Somewhere in there I also reread "Ella Enchanted" (does that count?) and read its new sequel, "Fairest." So that's probably at least 15-20 so far. Since I feel like I've hardly been reading books at all, doing mostly online reading, like www.townhall.com, I shouldn't have trouble reading 50.

It's March and I still have not read a novel. Only fanfic, text books (for fun) and books on how to do certain crafts or how to do plumbing.

So I guess none of it counts.

My husband says that's is very sad of me since the room I'm in at the moment has hundreds and hundreds of books. *sigh*

Good Faeries Bad Faeries
Author: Brian Froud
I reread.

Creative Wire Jewelry
Author: Kathy Peterson
Not much text!

In the Shadow of Man
Author:Jane Goodall
I'm currently rereading this one when I have a chance during my lunch hours at work.

Stitch 'N Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook
Author: Debbie Stoller
An amusing read. I've read it a few times, but have knitted NOTHING! I have a couple from this series.

I still can't get into the Harry Potter series adn I'm so upset about that. I'm taking a week of that follows the Canadian May long weekend. I hope to fit some reading in there along with planting my own garden for the first time! I have seen some books I want to read on the grasses and flowers native to my region. I want to put the text books aside and find something more colourful in regards to this topic.

I have some of the ones listed above. Hopefully I will go and read them!

<adds to list: read books = more interesting>

I want to read some more romance novels, but I am rather shy to wander through that area of the bookstore/library. Since I love LnC, can anyone suggest a romance novel that would jive with that love? I would like to read some novels!

Happy reading everyone! For those who live in wintery climates. Are you looking forward to reading out in your backyard or balcony this summer?

I mostly just read and reread old romances and other favorites, Watership Down, all the Jane Auel Earth's Children series, tons of Dragonlance novels and anything with humor like Death Rat, by Mike J Nelson of MST3K and The Rants from Dennis Miller. If I could I will promote and recomment my current favorite:

Chronicles of Dubya, Volume I by Frankj of www.imao.us fame.

The man is brilliant, just making "teh" funny with all the press conferences and other idiosyncrasies of the media. I love this book; it's the one that keeps me occupied on the park bench while the little one utilizes the play ground.

That, I think I knew. But in the book itself, she's not ever referred to as "Anna Karenina." And I was LOOKING. Instead, she was either referred to as "Mrs. Karenin, or a couple of times as "Anna Arkadyevna"--or something like that (can't remember exactly), and I couldn't figure out WHERE that name had come from AT ALL.

Arkadyevna is her maiden name. I believe Anna Arkadyevna is used when Tolstoy wants to distance her from the Karenin part and emphasize what she was before/her single mindset. I'm sure someone, somewhere has written a whole paper on it. Not that that means anything

How can Arkadyevna be her maiden name, if Oblonsky is her brother's last name? Wouldn't she have been Anna Oblonska before she was married then? Russian names are confusing!

Ah hah! I think I can explain this one! Arkadyevna is not her maiden name.

Russians have three names: forename, the patronymic and the surname.

For a woman, the patronymic is formed by the father's name plus an ending, usually 'ovna' (but in this case 'evna').

For a man, the equivalent is formed by the father's name plus an ending (usually 'ovich').

Thus, a woman whose father was called Ivan would be called, for example, Olga Ivanovna (plus surname). Her brother's name would take the form Pavel Ivanovich (plus surname).

Wow. I never thought that 'O' level knowledge would come in handy...

Chris

I know nothing about Russian, so thanks for the explanation, Chris. I always figured it was her maiden name because in some cultures the children get both the father's and the mother's names. So Arkadyevna would be her mom's name and Oblonsky her father's. But WRONG.

I love how much random information I learn on these boards. So I offer a suitable graemlin for the occasion.

So, it's like a specialized middle name then? Interesting.

So Anna's maiden name really WAS Oblonsky?

Ditto. I haven't read a sci-fi book or a romance book in ages. I'm woefully underread in British lit and contemporary American lit (even though I'm a big Faulkner fan). I generally tend to prefer Latin American fiction (currently reading Roa Bastos' "I, the Supreme" which is a totally on crack, but really interesting take on dictatorship) and general oddities (like House of Leaves). I do have a long list of random books I would love to have the time to read, starting with:

The Road: Cormac McCarthy
Woman in the Dunes Kobo Abe
Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad
Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe
Rosario Tijeras Jorge Franco

The list goes on, but I'm currently drowning on nonfiction. Someday...

Finally! I've found some common ground with another FoLC's reading list! (Maybe not a lot of common ground, but at least some!

Alcyone, when I was a student, we were encouraged to read novels that were related to the areas / topics we were studying. (I was a geography student.)

That's how I came to read John Wyndham's The Kraken Wakes, which dealt with the flooding of London.

I read one of Achebe's books, too, though I cannot remember the name. And I also read Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years Of Solitude. (I tried to get into books by V S Naipaul (sp) but failed, and Isabel Allende plus some other Latin American authors are still on my 'to read' list.)

But, wow. Achebe and Latin American literature! Thanks for reminding me of them!

Chris

Oooh, that sounds really interesting! Got a blurb?

I may be more focused on sci-fi/fantasy/mystery/political thrillers, but every once in a while, I need to read something else--sort of a way to "cleanse the pallet of my brain" before jumping back into my usual genres.

From your post, DSDragon, I'm not sure whether you realise that The Kraken Wakes is science fiction or not. Whatever, you might want to take a look at Amazon\'s listing , which has a -- not very helpful -- blurb, as well as some more detailed reviews.

Given that I read the book <ahem> years ago, and it was dated then, I suspect that it will definitely be showing its age now! Mind you, one of the reviews actually made me want to read the book again!

Chris

Well, I'm always up for more sci-fi anyway!

I don't care if it's dated--ever read The Chronicles of the Lensmen (or is it "Lensman?") by E.E. Doc Smith? That's like ORIGINAL sci-fi, from way back in the '20s or '30s, and I thought it was pretty awesome when I borrowed the series from my dad last year.

Chris said:

and Alcyone said:

I am so incredibly thrilled to see there are those who share both my closet addiction and an interest in Hispanic literature. But I read both sides of the Atlantic.

I just got done with Bastos's "Hijo de hombre/Son of Man". Unfortunately, that was not just for fun. Never is these days. Good thing I like it a lot.

I'm with LabRat. Only 50? Gosh, not counting fanfic, I've read over 30 books so far this year. Um...might try that LibraryThing site, although it would be the work of a week to input all my books...might be worth it, though.

SuperRoo, you might possibly try Diana Palmer. I'd suggest checking out your local public library for these to see if you like them. Her quality has seriously gone down in the past three or four years, but the previous stuff was wonderful. As Krissie said, romances are formulaic, and Diana Palmer is absolutely that way, BUT she keeps the focus on romance, not sex, and some of her books are superb. Another of my favorites is Vicki Lewis Thompson's Nerd in Shining Armor - funny as all get out, not too steamy. For much, much steamier, try Lori Foster. She's...wow, a great writer, but it's definitely about the sex, not the romance.

Anywho, you might try those three writers, find out where your comfort level is, then check them on Amazon. Most of the romance writers have lots of lists attached that can lead you on to other writers that you might like. Here's an example:

[Sorry, mmmouse, I had to delete the url link as it was seriously distorting the rest of the thread due to its length. I did try various ways of shortening it within the post, to no avail. - Admin]

Gosh, I hope that works - you guys make linking look so darn easy!

Anyway, have fun!

mmouse

PS Just finished Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter (adventure? and the novel on which the movie Shooter is based), The Great Influenza by John M. Barry (history, about the 1918 flu pandemic), Spring Forward by Michael Downing (history, about the insanity we call Daylight Saving time), Miss Potter by Richard Maltby Jr (absolutely charming book about Beatrix Potter), and Ghost Rider by Greg Cox, which was so good I went to see the movie.

Next up is Black Light by Stephen Hunter because I LOVED Point of Impact and want to read more about Bob Lee Swagger.

I'd be like you and LabRat, mmouse, except for a certain thing that I did a couple years ago.

It was spring break from my college, and I decided I wanted to re-read the entire Dragonriders of Pern series. So, I started reading. I read, and I read, and I read. I read 8 books in 8 days before I started to feel a little burned out.

I didn't finish the series again until after school was back in session, but I think the pressure that I'd put on myself to read that series so fast kind of turned me off of reading any book for more than a couple hours/chapters at a time.

Now, I have to switch between fanfic, actual books, and other activities frequently, or I just have no motivation to do anything whatsoever.

Add to that the fact that I read Anna Karenina as this year's second book for me. That book took a TON of concentration, so I had to be fully awake mentally to be able to read and comprehend what was going on in the book.

So, I spent even less time every day reading than usual. It took me two months to read it, which is currently my record for the longest time taken to read a book--Little Women comes in second, with only two weeks.

Anyway, while I would normally be able to read more than fifty books in one year (or at least I could before Spring 2004), I'm not so sure I can do it anymore, considering it's already April and I've only read four (I finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets yesterday) so far.

Oh, and as for the cataloguing books at LibraryThing? I have 518, and not including the 30 or so I'd catalogued before I moved, it only took me 2-3 days to catalogue them all.

But then, I have a laptop, so I was able to take the computer up to my room and watch TV while I did my cataloguing from the bed.

DSDragon,
Thanks for the info! I, too, have a laptop, but I share it with the husband, and so only have it for an hour at night. However, my job wanted me to go to full-time, and with three kids who are more important than any job, I decided to quit and stay home. That means that for the next couple of months, I'll have the computer all to myself during the day, and so maybe I can put all my books in.

Off-topic, I'm really looking forward to having more than an hour, so that maybe I can get past the ARGH arc. Never saw season 4, have the DVDs, refuse to skip ahead, but, ARGH! Can't get past that darn not-wedding!

Phooey. Anyway, reading has always been my refuge, my escape from the world. And for Christmas, my beloved got me a Sony e-book, and man, does that thing rock for fanfic! It makes it so easy to download my favorites and read them again and again. So, actually, my reading rate has really dropped. Of course, I'm like LabRat in another way - those second-hand book stores are the best discovery for a reader.

Firmly yanking /me back on-topic. When I had to read (in college), I hated it. I only found one book in college that I wouldn't have read if left to myself but greatly enjoyed despite being forced to read it. So I'm very sorry that you burned yourself out, especially on such a good series. Bummer, that. Anna Karenina is a tough read, and yes, it took me five bloody long weeks to read that monster. I kept having to go back and find out who was who again. I finally broke down and did a chart of who is who, even a minor mention got written down. Bloody confusing, that book. And the translation I had used convoluted English that sometimes required diagramming the sentances to figure out what had actually been said.

Anyway, /me is scuttling back to my hole.

Thanks, DSDragon.

mmouse

Um ..... *looks rather sheepish* I would love to join this but I think I might have already passed the 50 book mark. I just read three different books tonight.

I tend to speedread. I tend to read everything. Wish I knew about this at the beginning of the year so perhaps I could have kept a better track of all the books I have read.

But here's a list of what I have read so far:

- Artemis Fowl
- Yeats: Selected Poems by Seamus Heaney
- Complete Collection of Nonsense Poetry by Edward Lear
- four Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett
- Three Fushigi Yugi books
- Three Case Closed volumes
- One Maison Ikkoku volume
- One Dramacon volume by Svetlana
- Farewell My Lovely and The Big Sleep Phillp Marlowe Novels by Raymond Chandler
- Wandering Angus (can't remember exact title) by Alexander McCall Smith
- Two volumes of Spike Milligan's war memoirs
- Two Lipsticks and a lover by Helen Frtiz Powell
- The unadulterated cat by Terry Pratchett
- Three Perry Mason novels by Erle Stanley Gardener - Amorous Aunt, Daring Decoy and one other that I can't remember.
- reread The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- Three Invisible Detective novels by Justin Richards
- Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
- a novel/thesis on philosophy that I haven't finished digesting yet.

I think that's about it that I can remember. Which means I have read 30-31 books so far for the year that I can remember.

Had I known I would have slowed myself down to keep pace from the start of the year.

Sorry.

The Little Tornado.

Is anyone still shooting for this? I'm trying to catch up in vain. I'm on #10 right now. I just finished "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer. Really awesome book. Probably my favorite that I have read this year. ^_^

I'm now onto "A Long Way Down" by Nick Hornby. I'll let you know how that is going.

Here is my full list so far:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/jojo_da_crow

I have a few recommendations that I wanted to share, even if I'm afraid to keep track of how much I read!

The Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine. It is a fun fantasy/SF series with a bit of romance thrown in. The sixth book just came out this month.

The Katie Chandler books by Shanna Swendson. Another fun fantasy series--but this one is more like Chick Lit with a definite romance thread woven into it. Three books in this series, and both of these series are best if you read them in order.

For straight romance, I love anything by Kathleen Gilles Seidel , particularly her older books "Until the Stars Fall", "Again" and "Summer's End". I own at least 10 of her books.

Oooh! What an awesome thread. I can't believe I missed it. I've read over 50 books, I think, but I haven't been keeping track. Anyway, I just wanted to recommend a book. Anybody read Twilight by Stephenie Meyer? It's located in the teen section (which was a blast from the past when I walked over there, let me tell you) but it's pretty long and definitely a wonderful read. From the back it looks a little strange. Vampires... eh... but it's wonderful. One of my absolute favorites! Okay. Long Twilight spiel done. Just... wanted to let everyone know it existed. It's actually a series, but only the second and third books are out. They're good, but nowhere near as wonderful as the original.

Goodbye 2007! Did anyone read 50 books? I didn't; only got to 30. Here's my list:

Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky
The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty
Made in America by Bill Bryson
Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words by Bill Bryson
Blue Screen by Robert B. Parker
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares
The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson
Sea Glass by Anita Shreve
Whitehorn Woods by Maeve Binchy
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
The 2-Second Commute by Christine Durst
The Paris Option by Robert Ludlum
Spare Change by Robert B. Parker
The Longest Night: The Bombing of London on May 10, 1941 by Gavin Mortimer
Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich
Parenting With Love And Logic by Foster W. Cline
Ethel and Ernest by Raymond Briggs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Died in the Wool by Rett MacPherson
Now and Then by Robert B. Parker
Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon
Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born by Tina Cassidy
A Practical Handbook for the Boyfriend by Felicity Huffman
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
Austenland by Shannon Hale
Murder In Chinatown by Victoria Thompson
The Sugar Camp Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini

Lisa

^_^ I'm so glad some of you did this challenge with me! I didn't quite make it either sadly. Mostly because 95% of my books were read after July. I slacked a bit.

This year I am taking the challenge again because it had been so long since I had read so many books. I used to read all the time but it fell by the wayside. I did enjoy reading again this year. Here is my list in the order I read them:

1. Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment - James Patterson
2. Dragonflight - Anne McCaffrey
3. The Secret - Julie Garwood
4. Ransom - Julie Garwood
5. The Bride - Julie Garwood
6. The Wedding - Julie Garwood
7. Perfect - Judith McNaught
8. A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
9. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel - Jonathan Safran Foer
10. A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby
11. The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman
12. The Subtle Knife - Philip. Pullman
13. Stardust - Neil Gaiman
14. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
15. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
16. Wicked Lovely - Melissa Marr
17. A Girl's Guide to Vampires - Katie Macalister
18. Sex and the Single Vampire - Katie Macalister
19. Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 1) - J.R. Ward
20. Lover Eternal (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 2) - J.R. Ward
21. Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 3) - J.R. Ward
22. Lover Revealed (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 4) - J.R. Ward
23. The Enchanted Land - Jude Deveraux
24. Lover Unbound (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 5) - J.R. Ward
25. Stardust of Yesterday - Lynn Kurland
26. Fantasy Lover - Sherrilyn Kenyon
27. Dragonswan - Sherrilyn Kenyon
28. Night Pleasures - Sherrilyn Kenyon
29. Night Embrace - Sherrilyn Kenyon
30. Dance with the Devil - Sherrilyn Kenyon
31. City of Bones - Cassandra Clare
32. Darkfever - Karen Marie Moning
33. Bloodfever - Karen Marie Moning
34. Someone to Love - Jude Deveraux
35. Secrets of a Summer Night - Lisa Kleypas
36. Not Quite a Lady - Loretta Chase

Well, I seriously missed this goal last year. I didn't even break 20 books! Hopefully, I'll do better, and stick to fiction this time. (It was the non-fiction which caught me last year, since I spent many months reading one book, and only just finished it today.) Here's the list of 15½ books I read in 2007 (in alphabetical order by title, since I didn't keep a chronological list):

• The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them) by Jack M. Bickham
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy -- this one took me two months to read, even though I read as much as I could as often as I could. Before the last book I read last year, this was the longest it had ever taken me to read a book, followed only by Little Women, which only took me two weeks. Now, it's the book that took the 2nd-longest amount of time.
• The Catteni Cycle by Anne McCaffrey (I can't remember if I have the order right here or not, but there are four books in the cycle):
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• Freedom's Landing
• Freedom's Choice
• Freedom's Challenge
• Freedom's Ransom

[*]The entire Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling (YAY for DH!):

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Sorry, I'm American, so my book says "Sorcerer.")
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

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[*]How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card
[*]Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip (this was actually the first book I read last year)
[*]Plot by Ansen Dibell (half last year, half this year) -- I had a reason to finish this book (I wanted to start reading a book that was mentioned in OSC's book that I listed above, but wanted to finish Plot before I started a fiction novel), but just could not find the motivation to finish reading this book in a timely manner, despite the promise of something much more interesting afterward! It was rather frustrating, actually.</ul><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">
I also started reading The Complete Idiot's Guide to Feng Shui, but I'm not counting that as actual reading, because a) I haven't even wanted to finish it in months, and b) it's on my PDA.

And now, to start on my 2008 reading!

ETA: By the way, JoJo, was that the first time you'd read [i]Dragonflight, or had you read it before? Have you read any of the rest of the Pern series? I've read the whole thing (plus anything else I've been able to get my hands on by Anne McCaffrey, and I absolutely adore it! I have to say though, that Anne McCaffrey is only my second favorite author, but she comes in very close after Orson Scott Card.

GRR! The board keeps adding stupid HTML font tags to my post, and whenever I try to edit them out, they just keep showing up again!