Book Scavenging.
I realized last night, after working on blog entries for school, that my nonfiction 'tween reading is sorely lacking. So I hit Dude's bookshelves, asking him to pull any historical fiction and history-related books he had for me. He's recently become very interested in World War II, after a strong unit on the topic this past school year, and he handed me I Am David by Anne Holm, insisting that I read this before anything else. He also insisted that I find a copy of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne.
I also want to read some nonfiction from periods other than WWII, so I took to one of my fellow SLIS students' blogs, The Fourth Musketeer, who never disappoints (she reviews nonfiction and historical fiction for children and teens). So now, I've got Bootleg by Karen Blumenthal, Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey (yes, it's historical fiction, but like Margo, I'm a bit obsessed with Antoinette), Titanic, Book One: Unsinkable by Gordon Korman, the too-much-fun-titled Big Wig: A Little History of Hair by Kathleen Krull, and I'll Pass for Your Comrade: Women Soldiers in the Civil War by Anita Silvey.
I can already feel my library card heating up.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Okay, so "tomorrow" as a term is relative in my world. Here's the other half of the meme:
Favorite cookbook?
Miracle Muffins (sadly, out of print) has some of the best muffin recipes on the planet. True story.
Most inspirational book you've read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
Does Zombie Haiku count? Hey, it's inspirational to see someone lucid enough to not only write, but write in haiku, as he transforms into a zombie. You try it, then judge.
Favorite reading snack?
I'll say popcorn, but ultimately, what goes better with a book than a nice cup of coffee (or another hot beverage of your choice)?
Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
I'll give you two: The Nanny Diaries and The Devil Wears Prada. They were such letdowns.
How often do you agree with critics about a book?
It's hit and miss; critics tend to dismiss my favored genre(s), science fiction and fantasy, as so much fluff. Sometimes, it's deserved, other times, they're so far off the mark I have to wonder if they've even read the book. On the other hand, critics tend to go berserk over so-called literary fiction that has left me wanting to bang my head against a wall repeatedly.
How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
I've gotten a lot better at it, but I'd like to think I provide solid reasons. I also make sure that peole know it's MY point of view, not a sweeping generalization. Reading is a subjective experience; what one person enjoys, another doesn't like. Someone put (we would hope) a lot of their time and passion into their pages, before tearing it down, I'd better have damned good reason to.
If you could read in a foreign language, what language would you choose?
Elvish. Oh, okay, killjoy. French or German.
Most intimidating book you've ever read?
Aside from some college textbooks, I'll say The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. I've read it twice - once when I was a preteen, just to say I did; next, when the movies came out to see if I actually could retain anything other than "the Silmarils are pretty jewels and the Balrog is badass".
Most intimidating book you're too nervous to begin?
At the moment, anything involving metadata.
Favorite poet?
Shel Silverstein.
How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
If I'm talking about books for me, probably 2-3, depending on my class syllabus. If we're talking Cutie Pie, I've shambled home with 15 books, at least. And yes, I am counting them as books I read - he reads them to me or I read them to him.
How often have you returned a book to the library unread?
A few, less often now.
Favorite fictional character?
I refuse to pick just one. Since this is a book meme, I'll just deal in the written word. Gandalf and Aragorn vie for the number one spot; Neil Gaiman's Morpheus rounds out the top three. Andalthough I didn't like the book she had on her own, Polgara the Sorceress (from the Belgariad and the Mallorean) kicks serious booty.
Favorite fictional villian?
Now we're talking. Saruman of Many Colors. Professor Moriarty. Bellatrix.
Books I'm most likely to bring on vacation?
Something light and fun, probably a Doctor Who novel. Or I'll bring something that will keep me up nights, like Stephen King's The Cell.
The longest I've gone without reading.
I think I could probably get two days in before I get the DTs.
Name a book that you would/could not finish.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Sorry, Jane fans, I couldn't even get through the Cliff's Notes. Ask Sister Peggy Linane over at Saint Agnes, she'll back me up. Also? The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway. No. Can. Do.
What distracts you easily while you're reading?
"Mommy? Mommy? Mommy?"
"Wanna know what Dude/Cutie did/said to me?"
"Roe, can you help me a second?
"Mommy?"
"Roe?"
Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
The first one of that comes to mind is The Lord of the Rings. Come on, it doesn't matter that Tom Bombadil wasn't in it, for crying out loud. Return of the Living Dead was pretty nifty. It's a short story, but Something Wicked This Way Comes was pretty great, too.
Most disappointing film adaptation?
There are so many. Right now, I can think of The Lightning Thief. Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix, but then again, I couldn't stand the book either.
The most money I've ever spent in a bookstore at one time?
Before children and rent, when I had disposable income, Mike and I would do some damage in Barnes & Noble. Easily over a hundred bucks, I'm sure. But now I work in publishing and try to get my stuff for free/cheap.
How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Every time.
What would cause you to stop reading a book halfway through?
Complete lack of interest or if something really bothers me about it.
Do you like to keep your books organized?
I'd like to, but considering the amount of space and the number of books we've got, it's not happening any time soon.
Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you've read them?
I read an article on organizing once, and adopted this advice: Think of a book like an old friend you see one day and have coffee with. If you can imagine visiting with this friend again, keep the book. If it was a nice enough time for you both, but will live just fine with the memory of that chat, let it go.
Are there any books you've been avoiding?
Not lately.
Name a book that made you angry.
The Boy from Baby House 10 by Alan Philps - when I read about the conditions that babies lived in at Russian orphanages, I was upset, appalled, and ultimately just wanted to punch something. Ditto for Farm Sanctuary by Gene Baur. When I learned about factory farming and how most food arrives at my plate, I wanted to cut all animal products out of my diet. Now, it just fueled me to find better ways to eat. No living creature deserves to live in those conditions.
A book you didn't expect to like but did?
Hmm... have to get back to you on that one.
A book you expected to like but didn't?
Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter. What a bill of goods that one was.
Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
Anything Neil Gaiman, a Doctor Who or Torchwood novel, or late '90s chick lit, preferably from the UK, before the US hype machine killed the genre.
Favorite cookbook?
Miracle Muffins (sadly, out of print) has some of the best muffin recipes on the planet. True story.
Most inspirational book you've read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
Does Zombie Haiku count? Hey, it's inspirational to see someone lucid enough to not only write, but write in haiku, as he transforms into a zombie. You try it, then judge.
Favorite reading snack?
I'll say popcorn, but ultimately, what goes better with a book than a nice cup of coffee (or another hot beverage of your choice)?
Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
I'll give you two: The Nanny Diaries and The Devil Wears Prada. They were such letdowns.
How often do you agree with critics about a book?
It's hit and miss; critics tend to dismiss my favored genre(s), science fiction and fantasy, as so much fluff. Sometimes, it's deserved, other times, they're so far off the mark I have to wonder if they've even read the book. On the other hand, critics tend to go berserk over so-called literary fiction that has left me wanting to bang my head against a wall repeatedly.
How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
I've gotten a lot better at it, but I'd like to think I provide solid reasons. I also make sure that peole know it's MY point of view, not a sweeping generalization. Reading is a subjective experience; what one person enjoys, another doesn't like. Someone put (we would hope) a lot of their time and passion into their pages, before tearing it down, I'd better have damned good reason to.
If you could read in a foreign language, what language would you choose?
Elvish. Oh, okay, killjoy. French or German.
Most intimidating book you've ever read?
Aside from some college textbooks, I'll say The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. I've read it twice - once when I was a preteen, just to say I did; next, when the movies came out to see if I actually could retain anything other than "the Silmarils are pretty jewels and the Balrog is badass".
Most intimidating book you're too nervous to begin?
At the moment, anything involving metadata.
Favorite poet?
Shel Silverstein.
How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
If I'm talking about books for me, probably 2-3, depending on my class syllabus. If we're talking Cutie Pie, I've shambled home with 15 books, at least. And yes, I am counting them as books I read - he reads them to me or I read them to him.
How often have you returned a book to the library unread?
A few, less often now.
Favorite fictional character?
I refuse to pick just one. Since this is a book meme, I'll just deal in the written word. Gandalf and Aragorn vie for the number one spot; Neil Gaiman's Morpheus rounds out the top three. Andalthough I didn't like the book she had on her own, Polgara the Sorceress (from the Belgariad and the Mallorean) kicks serious booty.
Favorite fictional villian?
Now we're talking. Saruman of Many Colors. Professor Moriarty. Bellatrix.
Books I'm most likely to bring on vacation?
Something light and fun, probably a Doctor Who novel. Or I'll bring something that will keep me up nights, like Stephen King's The Cell.
The longest I've gone without reading.
I think I could probably get two days in before I get the DTs.
Name a book that you would/could not finish.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Sorry, Jane fans, I couldn't even get through the Cliff's Notes. Ask Sister Peggy Linane over at Saint Agnes, she'll back me up. Also? The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway. No. Can. Do.
What distracts you easily while you're reading?
"Mommy? Mommy? Mommy?"
"Wanna know what Dude/Cutie did/said to me?"
"Roe, can you help me a second?
"Mommy?"
"Roe?"
Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
The first one of that comes to mind is The Lord of the Rings. Come on, it doesn't matter that Tom Bombadil wasn't in it, for crying out loud. Return of the Living Dead was pretty nifty. It's a short story, but Something Wicked This Way Comes was pretty great, too.
Most disappointing film adaptation?
There are so many. Right now, I can think of The Lightning Thief. Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix, but then again, I couldn't stand the book either.
The most money I've ever spent in a bookstore at one time?
Before children and rent, when I had disposable income, Mike and I would do some damage in Barnes & Noble. Easily over a hundred bucks, I'm sure. But now I work in publishing and try to get my stuff for free/cheap.
How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Every time.
What would cause you to stop reading a book halfway through?
Complete lack of interest or if something really bothers me about it.
Do you like to keep your books organized?
I'd like to, but considering the amount of space and the number of books we've got, it's not happening any time soon.
Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you've read them?
I read an article on organizing once, and adopted this advice: Think of a book like an old friend you see one day and have coffee with. If you can imagine visiting with this friend again, keep the book. If it was a nice enough time for you both, but will live just fine with the memory of that chat, let it go.
Are there any books you've been avoiding?
Not lately.
Name a book that made you angry.
The Boy from Baby House 10 by Alan Philps - when I read about the conditions that babies lived in at Russian orphanages, I was upset, appalled, and ultimately just wanted to punch something. Ditto for Farm Sanctuary by Gene Baur. When I learned about factory farming and how most food arrives at my plate, I wanted to cut all animal products out of my diet. Now, it just fueled me to find better ways to eat. No living creature deserves to live in those conditions.
A book you didn't expect to like but did?
Hmm... have to get back to you on that one.
A book you expected to like but didn't?
Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter. What a bill of goods that one was.
Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
Anything Neil Gaiman, a Doctor Who or Torchwood novel, or late '90s chick lit, preferably from the UK, before the US hype machine killed the genre.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Okay, so while I try to narrow down what I'm going to be writing about, I decided to take the easy way out and start with a book meme, courtesy of Booking Through Thursday. Feel free to copy and write up your own. If you do, leave me a link so I can visit!
1. Favorite childhood book?
Easy one - Grover and the Monster at the End of the Book. Mom would read it to me and over and, and obliged me by adopting Grover's voice (which I'm sure was hell on her vocal cords - thanks, Mom). Years ago, Karen bought me a copy of the book when we were talking about our favorite books and I lamented its loss. I loaned it to my children when they were babies, but it's back on my shelf now.
2. What are you reading right now?
Believe it or not, I blogged about this book almost two years ago, and I'm still inching through it: Mary, a fictional autobiography of Mary Todd Lincoln, by Janice Cooke Newman.
3. What books do you have on request at the library?
With school not in session yet, none. I've been trying to request a book for Will, but the OPAC is giving me a hard time (Library-school talk: OPAC, or Online Public Access Catalog, is the library system's online card catalog) with the request.
4. Bad book habit?
Really, is any reading at all bad?
5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
A back-breaking number of children's books.
6. Do you have an e-reader?
Nope.
7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
I like reading one at a time, but sometimes I get schizo and will go after two. I don't count school reading here, though.
8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
Not really, I was a sci-fi nerd then, am now.
9. Least favorite book you've read this year (so far)?
Ugh, where do I begin? I'll say Palo Alto by James Franco; I had to write a reader report on it. It was awful.
10. Favorite book you've read this year (so far)?
Ooh... that's a tough one. Let me say it's a toss-up between The Lightning Thief and The Graveyard Book.
11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
Pretty often; I review books for book clubs.
12. What is your reading comfort zone?
Sci-fi and fantasy.
13. Can you read on the bus?
I used to be able to, but now I get horribly car sick.
14. Favorite place to read?
Where almost everyone else's favorite place is - sprawled out on my living room couch.
15. What is your policy on book-lending?
I'm fairly rough these days, I've lost too many. Only to people I can trust to take care of my books, and I'd really like to get it back in a somewhat reasonable amount of time.
16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
Only if there's some pressing reason, and never a hardcover.
17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
Nope.
18. Not even with text books?
Okay. Sometimes.
19. What is your favorite language to read in?
English, although Klingon amuses me.
20. What makes you love a book?
Make me feel something - even the most deplorable villain, if he gets an visceral reaction from me, can make the book. Don't bore me. Have characters that come alive and for crying out loud, don't overwrite. The fifth Harry Potter book drove me up a wall; the last 150 pages could have been the entire book.
21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
See above.
22. Favorite genre?
See the bit about my comfort zone.
23. Genre you rarely read but wish you did?
Hmmm... I can't realy say that there's a genre I don't read that I wish I did.
24. Favorite biography?
I enjoyed Mick Foley's Have a Nice Day.
25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
Yup. Not one of those touchy-feely things, I read stuff like Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life and Organizing From the Inside Out in my neverending quest to get my crap until control. And wellness books. That kind of stuff.
Okay, this meme has 50 questions, so more to come tomorrow.
1. Favorite childhood book?
Easy one - Grover and the Monster at the End of the Book. Mom would read it to me and over and, and obliged me by adopting Grover's voice (which I'm sure was hell on her vocal cords - thanks, Mom). Years ago, Karen bought me a copy of the book when we were talking about our favorite books and I lamented its loss. I loaned it to my children when they were babies, but it's back on my shelf now.
2. What are you reading right now?
Believe it or not, I blogged about this book almost two years ago, and I'm still inching through it: Mary, a fictional autobiography of Mary Todd Lincoln, by Janice Cooke Newman.
3. What books do you have on request at the library?
With school not in session yet, none. I've been trying to request a book for Will, but the OPAC is giving me a hard time (Library-school talk: OPAC, or Online Public Access Catalog, is the library system's online card catalog) with the request.
4. Bad book habit?
Really, is any reading at all bad?
5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
A back-breaking number of children's books.
6. Do you have an e-reader?
Nope.
7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
I like reading one at a time, but sometimes I get schizo and will go after two. I don't count school reading here, though.
8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
Not really, I was a sci-fi nerd then, am now.
9. Least favorite book you've read this year (so far)?
Ugh, where do I begin? I'll say Palo Alto by James Franco; I had to write a reader report on it. It was awful.
10. Favorite book you've read this year (so far)?
Ooh... that's a tough one. Let me say it's a toss-up between The Lightning Thief and The Graveyard Book.
11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
Pretty often; I review books for book clubs.
12. What is your reading comfort zone?
Sci-fi and fantasy.
13. Can you read on the bus?
I used to be able to, but now I get horribly car sick.
14. Favorite place to read?
Where almost everyone else's favorite place is - sprawled out on my living room couch.
15. What is your policy on book-lending?
I'm fairly rough these days, I've lost too many. Only to people I can trust to take care of my books, and I'd really like to get it back in a somewhat reasonable amount of time.
16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
Only if there's some pressing reason, and never a hardcover.
17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
Nope.
18. Not even with text books?
Okay. Sometimes.
19. What is your favorite language to read in?
English, although Klingon amuses me.
20. What makes you love a book?
Make me feel something - even the most deplorable villain, if he gets an visceral reaction from me, can make the book. Don't bore me. Have characters that come alive and for crying out loud, don't overwrite. The fifth Harry Potter book drove me up a wall; the last 150 pages could have been the entire book.
21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
See above.
22. Favorite genre?
See the bit about my comfort zone.
23. Genre you rarely read but wish you did?
Hmmm... I can't realy say that there's a genre I don't read that I wish I did.
24. Favorite biography?
I enjoyed Mick Foley's Have a Nice Day.
25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
Yup. Not one of those touchy-feely things, I read stuff like Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life and Organizing From the Inside Out in my neverending quest to get my crap until control. And wellness books. That kind of stuff.
Okay, this meme has 50 questions, so more to come tomorrow.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
6/11/09 - Editing this post to delete the pictures, in hopes that my blog layout returns to normal. Sorry!
Chocolate Parties!
I had the luck of being invited to a chocolate party. Yes, a chocolate party. Nancy had a Werther's Party through HouseParties, so we turned up to get some free snacks. BAGS greeted us. Not little snack-size, 100 calorie bags. BAGS. Like, grocery-store, full-on purchase sized bags. Of Werther's caramel chocolates. Dark AND Milk. Bliss.
The verdict: Chocolate good. Caramel chocolate better. Dark caramel chocolate BEST.
Chocolate Parties!
I had the luck of being invited to a chocolate party. Yes, a chocolate party. Nancy had a Werther's Party through HouseParties, so we turned up to get some free snacks. BAGS greeted us. Not little snack-size, 100 calorie bags. BAGS. Like, grocery-store, full-on purchase sized bags. Of Werther's caramel chocolates. Dark AND Milk. Bliss.
The verdict: Chocolate good. Caramel chocolate better. Dark caramel chocolate BEST.
I've been reading obsessively these days. I finished another book for review, The Boy from Baby House 10, by Alan Philps and John Lahutsky. What an amazing story. John was born as Ivan, nicknamed Vanya, and spent 9 of the first 10 years of his life in a 'baby house' - basically, a baby gulag in Moscow where he and the other children were sent if the state or their parents determined that they were not able to be cared for in the home. Because being stripped of belongings and abused and neglected by your so-called 'carers' is MUCH better. As a human being, I was mortified. As a parent, I was furious. But it's a book people need to read. It's coming out in a few months, keep an eye out for it.
I'm almost done with another Doctor Who novel, The Wishing Well. Martha Jones is the companion in this one, and I have to keep reminding myself it's not taking place in the American Old West but a British village. Love the story, but my American brain is just having a hard time imagining a little old British town with a wishing well as opposed to an old Western gulch town - you can thank television, I guess, for that one. I should be done and onto the next one shortly.
I'm also reading another one for review, House of Cards, about a card writer/editor's time at Hallmark. More to come on that one, but it is as hilarious as the narrator is tedious and irksome. I think it's hilarious BECAUSE he's tedious and irksome, because I don't think he realizes that he actually comes off like a narcissistic jackass. Ever experience that?
Oh, and I haven't given up on Canticle for Leibowitz by any stretch. I'm off to renew it at the library today. I'm off, and since we're expecting a 91-degree day, I'll be filling up a big bottle of water to accompany me.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Spring Break!
Mercifully, my children aren't at the age where Spring Break is synonymous with "South Beach" or "MTV". For Spring Break this year, we escaped the Concrete Jungle and headed to literally greener pastures - Amish Country, in Lancaster, PA. We took my mom along, who really needed a break herself.
Let's hear it for Waffle House!
There is something very relaxing about waking up and seeing green everywhere. Our EconoLodge was right next to a farm, so we got to see (yes, and smell) the cows every morning. No alarm clocks, no work stress, no e-mail - it was bliss.
I was blown away by the amount of craftsmanship that still exists in Lancaster. There are handcrafted gifts in every store, from the beautiful quilts that Amish Country is known for, to the incredible amount of woodworked gifts - I treated myself to a little tin star (so many of the homes have the beautiful bigger ones on their doors - where am I putting that? My living room?) that's hanging in my kitchen, and the cutest little sheep - I've recently gotten little sheep figures in a couple of my knitting swaps, so I've kind of fallen into collecting them.
I also went to the Lancaster Yarn Shop, which was just gorgeous. I could have bought every single thing they had, if there wasn't that whole money thing involved. Just amazing yarns. I did have great deal of restraint - I didn't buy a thing. Lately, I've found that just increasing my stash hasn't helped when I go to find something to knit. I take part in a few swaps, so I love getting my stash increased that way, and it also helps me knit things for me - if I buy my stash, I end up knitting for everyone else.
Speaking of knitting, I had started a Stargazer sweater over the drive - figured the stockinette sleeves would make for good car knitting. For some reason, though, I got about halfway through one sleeve and I just noticed several little holes - I thought I was knitting evenly, but they were really on my nerves, so I frogged the sleeve. Yes, the whole sleeve. Augh.
I'm still working on the Cirque sock, but that required a completely different level of attention, so it ended up languishing in my knitting bag for the trip.
I'm still reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which I'm enjoying much more than I thought I would originally would. But I've got to say, it's completely different from Blade Runner, the movie - in a good way. I'm looking forward to reading the supplement which details more about the making of the movie, because I'm thinking Ridley Scott used Dick's novel as a jumping-off point for telling his own story using Rick Deckard and the idea of retiring replicants. I think I'll watch the movie just after finishing the book, so it's fresh in my mind and I can get a full picture.
Back to Amish Country. We visited Kitchen Kettle Village, a shopping village where we got to take the kids and Mom on a buggy ride and wander around enjoying the beautiful day. We ate fresh kettle corn - I may never be able to eat the 99% fat-free microwaved stuff again - and Mike and the boys enjoyed freshly made ice cream.
Heartbreaker was looking forward to his funnel cake, so when he finally got a chance to have it, he expressed his glee. And that funnel cake was HUGE.
All in all, the boys thoroughly enjoyed having Nana spend three days with them. And the feeling was more than mutual.
Mercifully, my children aren't at the age where Spring Break is synonymous with "South Beach" or "MTV". For Spring Break this year, we escaped the Concrete Jungle and headed to literally greener pastures - Amish Country, in Lancaster, PA. We took my mom along, who really needed a break herself.
Let's hear it for Waffle House!There is something very relaxing about waking up and seeing green everywhere. Our EconoLodge was right next to a farm, so we got to see (yes, and smell) the cows every morning. No alarm clocks, no work stress, no e-mail - it was bliss.
I was blown away by the amount of craftsmanship that still exists in Lancaster. There are handcrafted gifts in every store, from the beautiful quilts that Amish Country is known for, to the incredible amount of woodworked gifts - I treated myself to a little tin star (so many of the homes have the beautiful bigger ones on their doors - where am I putting that? My living room?) that's hanging in my kitchen, and the cutest little sheep - I've recently gotten little sheep figures in a couple of my knitting swaps, so I've kind of fallen into collecting them.
I also went to the Lancaster Yarn Shop, which was just gorgeous. I could have bought every single thing they had, if there wasn't that whole money thing involved. Just amazing yarns. I did have great deal of restraint - I didn't buy a thing. Lately, I've found that just increasing my stash hasn't helped when I go to find something to knit. I take part in a few swaps, so I love getting my stash increased that way, and it also helps me knit things for me - if I buy my stash, I end up knitting for everyone else.
Speaking of knitting, I had started a Stargazer sweater over the drive - figured the stockinette sleeves would make for good car knitting. For some reason, though, I got about halfway through one sleeve and I just noticed several little holes - I thought I was knitting evenly, but they were really on my nerves, so I frogged the sleeve. Yes, the whole sleeve. Augh.
I'm still working on the Cirque sock, but that required a completely different level of attention, so it ended up languishing in my knitting bag for the trip.
I'm still reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which I'm enjoying much more than I thought I would originally would. But I've got to say, it's completely different from Blade Runner, the movie - in a good way. I'm looking forward to reading the supplement which details more about the making of the movie, because I'm thinking Ridley Scott used Dick's novel as a jumping-off point for telling his own story using Rick Deckard and the idea of retiring replicants. I think I'll watch the movie just after finishing the book, so it's fresh in my mind and I can get a full picture.
Back to Amish Country. We visited Kitchen Kettle Village, a shopping village where we got to take the kids and Mom on a buggy ride and wander around enjoying the beautiful day. We ate fresh kettle corn - I may never be able to eat the 99% fat-free microwaved stuff again - and Mike and the boys enjoyed freshly made ice cream.
The FOOD. I can't even describe it. We went to a few Amish-type places, where we had corn fritters with powdered sugar (heavenly!), homemade noodles in a chicken pot pie, brown buttered noodles (caramelizing the butter at the bottom to give it extra flavor) - I could go on and on and on. Heartbreaker managed to find macaroni and cheese everywhere we went, and Cutie Pie actually ate - at one point, after polishing his third hot dog off at Jakey's Amish Barbecue, Mike and I considered a move to Lancaster County, since we finally found a place he'd eat.
We also found several petting zoos, which I enjoyed as much as the boys did. Kitchen Kettle Village even had a llama, which I was desperate to shear and spin. ;) As you can see from the picture below, he was quite interested in being fed - right after this picture was taken, he managed to lean over enough to headbutt my Mom as she got the feed out!
Heartbreaker was looking forward to his funnel cake, so when he finally got a chance to have it, he expressed his glee. And that funnel cake was HUGE.
All in all, the boys thoroughly enjoyed having Nana spend three days with them. And the feeling was more than mutual.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
I Finished Two Books...
I finally finished To Heaven by Water. While it wasn't as bad as I feared it was going to be, it's not my literary cup of tea. But I did enjoy the way the author layered his story - I cringed, thinking it was going to be one particular storyline, but that was only the opening scene. The novel unfolded, and seeing how each of the main characters struggled to move on after the death of their mother/wife drew me in quite a bit. Good stuff.
I also finished a re-read of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. You know when you're in the mood to revisit an old book friend? I'd gotten a jonesing to reread H2G2 a few weeks ago, so I hit the library and ended up with that, A Canticle for Leibowitz, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - I've been on a Blade Runner kick since I got my suitcase of DVDs a couple of weeks ago.
I have to say, I enjoyed re-reading H2G2, but the re-read didn't make it any clearer than it was the first time I read it almost two decades ago. Which, I guess, is the point. It was a lot of fun, and I still love Marvin the manically depressed android. Having Alan Rickman voice him in the movie was an example of perfection in casting. I think I want to sit down and watch the movie again, having the book fresher in my mind now. I do remember them covering a bit more in the movie than the book had, so I may have to check out Restaurant at the End of the Universe sooner rather than later. I've only ever read the first book in the series. Feedback, anyone?
I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and/or Passover!
I finally finished To Heaven by Water. While it wasn't as bad as I feared it was going to be, it's not my literary cup of tea. But I did enjoy the way the author layered his story - I cringed, thinking it was going to be one particular storyline, but that was only the opening scene. The novel unfolded, and seeing how each of the main characters struggled to move on after the death of their mother/wife drew me in quite a bit. Good stuff.
I also finished a re-read of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. You know when you're in the mood to revisit an old book friend? I'd gotten a jonesing to reread H2G2 a few weeks ago, so I hit the library and ended up with that, A Canticle for Leibowitz, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - I've been on a Blade Runner kick since I got my suitcase of DVDs a couple of weeks ago.
I have to say, I enjoyed re-reading H2G2, but the re-read didn't make it any clearer than it was the first time I read it almost two decades ago. Which, I guess, is the point. It was a lot of fun, and I still love Marvin the manically depressed android. Having Alan Rickman voice him in the movie was an example of perfection in casting. I think I want to sit down and watch the movie again, having the book fresher in my mind now. I do remember them covering a bit more in the movie than the book had, so I may have to check out Restaurant at the End of the Universe sooner rather than later. I've only ever read the first book in the series. Feedback, anyone?
I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and/or Passover!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Another Book Down, Another Knitting Project Complete.
I just finished another book for the book clubs. This one, called On The Divinity of Second Chances by Kaya McLaren, was practically written to be a Lifetime Movie for Women. Great if you like that sort of thing, not so much my cup of tea. It's a dysfunctional family comes back together with the help of wacky outsider help-type of story.
Granted, I am partial to space battles and zombies and not so much the women's books, so I'm not the audience it was written for, but sometimes it came off as a bit TOO much. The youngest daughter is an Earth Mother-type, complete with bare feet and spirit guide/imaginary friend. But we discover there's more to it - she’s a reincarnated African-American preacher who died in a KKK-fueled church fire and was reborn into the body of a white girl; her constant canine companion was a dog who died in the church fire, and her spirit guide was a parishoner. The eldest daughter is the overachieving, power exec who lives with a loser slacker, only to dump him, discover she’s pregnant, and head off to live in a mud house she creates on her grandmother’s property. The brother is hiding a horrible secret, so he took off at the age of 14 to go live in a tree. In the woods. And then we have the tap-dancing troupe of elderly women – it’s the Red Hat Society in tights and taps. It just feels like it was constructed to have all the major elements of a ‘women’s book’ – it’s a good story that just tries a bit too hard to appeal to its audience. But like I said, I'm not the audience for this book, so I'm pretty sure I'm reading too harshly.
I've also finally finished a knitting project, after endless starts and pauses. Pictures to come, but it's a blanket for one of Heartbreaker's former teachers, who I always thought highly of and whose baby is due in a few short weeks. It was a pretty garter stitch (easy to work on while watching TV!) pattern that I put some color work into, and I think the end result was nice. I even tested by crochet mettle by putting a little border onto it.
Still trying to get an answer on the issue I've come up against with the Baby Boyd birthday gift - I e-mailed Interweave about it, but have yet to hear. Normally, when I've contacted a magazine about a problem with a pattern, I've heard right away - anyone have any experiences with Interweave?
My Ravelry queue/projects/stash is just a mess. I need to do a lot of updating. I've been spending entirely too much time on Facebook; need to get a lot of stuff buttoned down when the boys go back to school on Monday. I haven't even been spending much time on Ravelry, so I totally feel out of the loop.
Being home for this long is starting to weigh on me. Thankfully the weather's starting to perk up, because I find myself settling into this daze that takes up most of the day. I need to start moving around more, because I'm beginning to notice that it's all too easy for me to spend an entire day just zoning out at the computer. I need to give myself things to do and not tell myself they'll take too long - where am I gong?
I just finished another book for the book clubs. This one, called On The Divinity of Second Chances by Kaya McLaren, was practically written to be a Lifetime Movie for Women. Great if you like that sort of thing, not so much my cup of tea. It's a dysfunctional family comes back together with the help of wacky outsider help-type of story.
Granted, I am partial to space battles and zombies and not so much the women's books, so I'm not the audience it was written for, but sometimes it came off as a bit TOO much. The youngest daughter is an Earth Mother-type, complete with bare feet and spirit guide/imaginary friend. But we discover there's more to it - she’s a reincarnated African-American preacher who died in a KKK-fueled church fire and was reborn into the body of a white girl; her constant canine companion was a dog who died in the church fire, and her spirit guide was a parishoner. The eldest daughter is the overachieving, power exec who lives with a loser slacker, only to dump him, discover she’s pregnant, and head off to live in a mud house she creates on her grandmother’s property. The brother is hiding a horrible secret, so he took off at the age of 14 to go live in a tree. In the woods. And then we have the tap-dancing troupe of elderly women – it’s the Red Hat Society in tights and taps. It just feels like it was constructed to have all the major elements of a ‘women’s book’ – it’s a good story that just tries a bit too hard to appeal to its audience. But like I said, I'm not the audience for this book, so I'm pretty sure I'm reading too harshly.
I've also finally finished a knitting project, after endless starts and pauses. Pictures to come, but it's a blanket for one of Heartbreaker's former teachers, who I always thought highly of and whose baby is due in a few short weeks. It was a pretty garter stitch (easy to work on while watching TV!) pattern that I put some color work into, and I think the end result was nice. I even tested by crochet mettle by putting a little border onto it.
Still trying to get an answer on the issue I've come up against with the Baby Boyd birthday gift - I e-mailed Interweave about it, but have yet to hear. Normally, when I've contacted a magazine about a problem with a pattern, I've heard right away - anyone have any experiences with Interweave?
My Ravelry queue/projects/stash is just a mess. I need to do a lot of updating. I've been spending entirely too much time on Facebook; need to get a lot of stuff buttoned down when the boys go back to school on Monday. I haven't even been spending much time on Ravelry, so I totally feel out of the loop.
Being home for this long is starting to weigh on me. Thankfully the weather's starting to perk up, because I find myself settling into this daze that takes up most of the day. I need to start moving around more, because I'm beginning to notice that it's all too easy for me to spend an entire day just zoning out at the computer. I need to give myself things to do and not tell myself they'll take too long - where am I gong?
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Still Reading, Still Knitting...
So the first semester's pretty much in the can for me, and I have to say, school is every bit as great as I hoped it would be. I know things will ratchet up a notch next semester once the papers and research kick in, but for now, it was a wonderful re-entry into the world of college. I've been checking out various webcasts the school has, learning about different areas of study, and have been interested and thrilled to find that library studies has so many great places for me to go. I've said all along that I'd likely go into public librarianship, specializing in children's library studies, and I'm still pretty married to that, but archival studies with an eye toward working in museums is also right up my alley. So for now, who knows? I may specialize in one field but skew my electives toward the backup field. I feel hopeful and excited, which is nice these days.
I'm still reading the Mary Todd Lincoln fictional autobio, which is very good; I do have to wonder how fictional this is - I can't imagine this is very close to the bone, but it's good reading and good fun. The author seems to have Lincoln's bouts of depression down pretty well (from what I've read about Lincoln in the past), and I may be tempted to read an actual biography of Mary Todd Lincoln down the line to see how well the author 'got her'.
I also finished a book for review a couple of weeks ago called The Wisdom Trail, which features profiles of women now ages 73-90. They've been there, done that, and blazed the trail while doing it – women who came of age during the ‘40s and ‘50s, when women’s roles were in transition from Rosie the Riveter back to Donna Reed, and they bucked the trend by getting a college education and using it. Most of them married and became the women who ‘had it all’ – eventually, the model we as women have today. Not a ‘how to’ book, but an important look at where we were and how we got here. The main age range of the women profiled in this book is 73-90, most college educated, all wanted to make a difference.
It's an inspiring book, and an interesting read but I had two glaring issues arise while reading it - first, where were the single women? Most of the women profiled were married, had children, and figured out how to work a career by working around their husbands or by waiting until their children started school. And second, most of the women profiled are Caucasian – where are the African-American voices? Where are the Asian-American women? There is a small handful in here, but I would have liked to see a little more diversity. Other than that, it's an interesting book that I think should open up a dialogue between generations of women.
Okay, I see a cool meme I'm going to pick up, so I'll pause this post for now.
So the first semester's pretty much in the can for me, and I have to say, school is every bit as great as I hoped it would be. I know things will ratchet up a notch next semester once the papers and research kick in, but for now, it was a wonderful re-entry into the world of college. I've been checking out various webcasts the school has, learning about different areas of study, and have been interested and thrilled to find that library studies has so many great places for me to go. I've said all along that I'd likely go into public librarianship, specializing in children's library studies, and I'm still pretty married to that, but archival studies with an eye toward working in museums is also right up my alley. So for now, who knows? I may specialize in one field but skew my electives toward the backup field. I feel hopeful and excited, which is nice these days.
I'm still reading the Mary Todd Lincoln fictional autobio, which is very good; I do have to wonder how fictional this is - I can't imagine this is very close to the bone, but it's good reading and good fun. The author seems to have Lincoln's bouts of depression down pretty well (from what I've read about Lincoln in the past), and I may be tempted to read an actual biography of Mary Todd Lincoln down the line to see how well the author 'got her'.
I also finished a book for review a couple of weeks ago called The Wisdom Trail, which features profiles of women now ages 73-90. They've been there, done that, and blazed the trail while doing it – women who came of age during the ‘40s and ‘50s, when women’s roles were in transition from Rosie the Riveter back to Donna Reed, and they bucked the trend by getting a college education and using it. Most of them married and became the women who ‘had it all’ – eventually, the model we as women have today. Not a ‘how to’ book, but an important look at where we were and how we got here. The main age range of the women profiled in this book is 73-90, most college educated, all wanted to make a difference.
It's an inspiring book, and an interesting read but I had two glaring issues arise while reading it - first, where were the single women? Most of the women profiled were married, had children, and figured out how to work a career by working around their husbands or by waiting until their children started school. And second, most of the women profiled are Caucasian – where are the African-American voices? Where are the Asian-American women? There is a small handful in here, but I would have liked to see a little more diversity. Other than that, it's an interesting book that I think should open up a dialogue between generations of women.
Okay, I see a cool meme I'm going to pick up, so I'll pause this post for now.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Let's Hear it for The Wimpy Kid!
Here is a really enjoyable article from USA Today about the Diary of a Wimpy Kid phenomenon - Heartbreaker is a huge fan of these books and I'll be running over to Barnes & Noble today to pick up the newest one, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw, so he'll have a little present to come home to today.
I think I'll even take a break from Mary Todd Lincoln to finally read these myself. Heartbreaker's been raving about them (along with many other kids) and telling me how I need to read them as well, and it's been far too long since Will and I have read a book together (other than Inkheart, which we're working through right now). When I helped staff the school's book fair this year, this series sold like hotcakes (as did the Camp Rock novelization, but Heartbreaker's not into that so much). Kids love this stuff. Hey, any book that gets kids excited about reading wins my vote hands-down.
I remember my cousin stressing out to me about her son, who's the same age as Heartbreaker, not wanting to read; I recommended Captain Underpants; a favorite of Heartbreaker's at the time. She proceeded to get all sanctimonious on me about the 'bathroom humor' of the book and how she'd never let her son read that.
Oh, please. Do you want your son to read? Do you think that not reading Captain Underpants, or any 'bathroom humor'-related book is going to stop your son from sniggering at a good fart joke? I'm a 38-year old female that thinks fart jokes are absolutely hilarious, provided they're done well. Drop the pretenses of being Victorian; you live in a split-level in New Jersey.
That said, kudos to teachers and librarians who have championed Captain Underpants and now, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, in all their boogers- and fart-related glory. Reading things that are written to speak to kids is the way to get them to read, particularly since we now know that boys learn differently from girls.
And if you have a boy, by the way, check out author Jon Scieszka's site, Guys Read - it's his literacy program to help boys find things they like to read. I first 'met' Scieszka through Nancy, who read The Stinky Cheese Man to Heartbreaker when he was but a toddler. He darn near giggled his Blues Clues socks off, and Scieszka went on to become one of his first favorite writers.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Book Blogging
I've decided to blog about the books I read this year. I read a lot of books, and looking back at the end of the year, I'm never able to quite remember everything I've read, for better or worse.
I ended last year and began this year with a book called Strange Nervous Laughter by Bridget McNulty, which'll be coming out in March. I've got to admit, this one left me cold. I'm able to read a book that doesn't necessarily appeal to me and still find something good about it, or pick who it will appeal to, but this one was just on my nerves from about five pages in.
The two biggest issues I had were the shallow characters that the author tried to make deep and a major storylines that just went nowhere. I felt like the author wrote this book to show how literary she is. For instance, one of the most irritating characters in the book is a woman who wears a “corset of cynicism”. Good. Lord. Maybe it's just too experimental or surrealistic for me - that's one genre of literature I've never been able to completely get on board with.
The story begins with an interesting scenario – a robbery at a grocery store in Durban, South Africa. Three of the main characters are in the store being robbed, but the robbery just becomes a throwaway reference point after it's over. The scene was just there to introduce the characters.
And speaking of the characters, there are six main characters, all of whom not only have their own little dysfunctional superpower but who have also had some abysmal childhoods. These six damaged folks end up pairing off and eventually falling apart.
I was frustrated with this book early on, and looking back, I still can't say I found something I truly enjoyed. I'll have to see what the word is on this book when it hits the shelves.
I just picked up a book I got during my BEA 2006 run; I've been dying to read it for ages and just decided to take a break from everything else and grab it. Mary, by Janis Cooke Newman, is a fictional autobiography of Abraham Lincoln's widow, Mary Todd Lincoln. History nerd that I am, I've been interested in her for years and the book is very readable. It's told in the first person from Mary's point of view, right after her commitment for insanity 10 years after President Lincoln's assassination; she's looking back at her life and currently, I'm up to when her father remarries her stepmother, who's apparently a wicked witch. I think I'm going to enjoy this read.
I've decided to blog about the books I read this year. I read a lot of books, and looking back at the end of the year, I'm never able to quite remember everything I've read, for better or worse.
I ended last year and began this year with a book called Strange Nervous Laughter by Bridget McNulty, which'll be coming out in March. I've got to admit, this one left me cold. I'm able to read a book that doesn't necessarily appeal to me and still find something good about it, or pick who it will appeal to, but this one was just on my nerves from about five pages in.
The two biggest issues I had were the shallow characters that the author tried to make deep and a major storylines that just went nowhere. I felt like the author wrote this book to show how literary she is. For instance, one of the most irritating characters in the book is a woman who wears a “corset of cynicism”. Good. Lord. Maybe it's just too experimental or surrealistic for me - that's one genre of literature I've never been able to completely get on board with.
The story begins with an interesting scenario – a robbery at a grocery store in Durban, South Africa. Three of the main characters are in the store being robbed, but the robbery just becomes a throwaway reference point after it's over. The scene was just there to introduce the characters.
And speaking of the characters, there are six main characters, all of whom not only have their own little dysfunctional superpower but who have also had some abysmal childhoods. These six damaged folks end up pairing off and eventually falling apart.
I was frustrated with this book early on, and looking back, I still can't say I found something I truly enjoyed. I'll have to see what the word is on this book when it hits the shelves.
I just picked up a book I got during my BEA 2006 run; I've been dying to read it for ages and just decided to take a break from everything else and grab it. Mary, by Janis Cooke Newman, is a fictional autobiography of Abraham Lincoln's widow, Mary Todd Lincoln. History nerd that I am, I've been interested in her for years and the book is very readable. It's told in the first person from Mary's point of view, right after her commitment for insanity 10 years after President Lincoln's assassination; she's looking back at her life and currently, I'm up to when her father remarries her stepmother, who's apparently a wicked witch. I think I'm going to enjoy this read.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Joy!
After what seems like forever, I am finally reconnected this week - Mike just got my cell phone fixed and, earlier this week, dealt with Best Buy in a way that my temper would never allow and got my camera replaced. Huzzah!
Counting the days 'til Florida - less than 7 full days now (it's actually 7 days, but at this time, we'll be in Florida, relaxing by the pool)! I think it may be safe enough for me to pack, at least some stuff. I get antsy when I can't pack early. Packing makes me feel that much closer to leaving.
I've got serious knitting ADD lately - I finished the first Kimono sock last night (and it is adorable), but felt the need to cast on something entirely different to head off second sock syndrome. So I decided to start up a little sweater for Mike's cousin, whose baby shower is in early October. I still have the ever-going stockinette stitched French Market bag sitting in my stash bag. And I finished the Celtic Cable neckwarmer, but haven't gotten the buttons for it. Don't ask me about the Tree of Life afghan. We do not speak of such things.
Finally finished the Torchwood novel, Slow Decay and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's written very much in the vein of the show, which I've come to love and I definitely want to check out more of the novels. I still have three Doctor Who novels to get to, and I just saw a Primeval book in Border's, and since I like that show, I'm sure I'll be getting that book. Yup - too many books, too little time.
I'm still working my way through Twilight. Not sure if it's my speed or not. I know it's really become very popular outside of the 'teen and 'tween market, but I think I need to finish it before I make a decision on how I feel about it. I've got World War Z finally on my nightstand, which has been one of those books I've sworn I was going to read for about a year now. It's in the on-deck circle, finally.
Sigh... then I still have the rest of the Dresden Files.
So, I've been working on my vacation reading. I'm hoping to have Twilight done, so I'll be toting World War Z in my carry-on bag. I always like to have a back-up, so I'll probably bring a Doctor Who novel with me. Or maybe a couple of magazines, this way I can lighten my load and dump them when I'm done.
Vacation knitting - I'll probably just bring the second kimono sock and be done with it. And maybe some baby hat goodness for the shower. Or a baby sweater. Something small and portable.
Must mull this over.
After what seems like forever, I am finally reconnected this week - Mike just got my cell phone fixed and, earlier this week, dealt with Best Buy in a way that my temper would never allow and got my camera replaced. Huzzah!
Counting the days 'til Florida - less than 7 full days now (it's actually 7 days, but at this time, we'll be in Florida, relaxing by the pool)! I think it may be safe enough for me to pack, at least some stuff. I get antsy when I can't pack early. Packing makes me feel that much closer to leaving.
I've got serious knitting ADD lately - I finished the first Kimono sock last night (and it is adorable), but felt the need to cast on something entirely different to head off second sock syndrome. So I decided to start up a little sweater for Mike's cousin, whose baby shower is in early October. I still have the ever-going stockinette stitched French Market bag sitting in my stash bag. And I finished the Celtic Cable neckwarmer, but haven't gotten the buttons for it. Don't ask me about the Tree of Life afghan. We do not speak of such things.
Finally finished the Torchwood novel, Slow Decay and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's written very much in the vein of the show, which I've come to love and I definitely want to check out more of the novels. I still have three Doctor Who novels to get to, and I just saw a Primeval book in Border's, and since I like that show, I'm sure I'll be getting that book. Yup - too many books, too little time.
I'm still working my way through Twilight. Not sure if it's my speed or not. I know it's really become very popular outside of the 'teen and 'tween market, but I think I need to finish it before I make a decision on how I feel about it. I've got World War Z finally on my nightstand, which has been one of those books I've sworn I was going to read for about a year now. It's in the on-deck circle, finally.
Sigh... then I still have the rest of the Dresden Files.
So, I've been working on my vacation reading. I'm hoping to have Twilight done, so I'll be toting World War Z in my carry-on bag. I always like to have a back-up, so I'll probably bring a Doctor Who novel with me. Or maybe a couple of magazines, this way I can lighten my load and dump them when I'm done.
Vacation knitting - I'll probably just bring the second kimono sock and be done with it. And maybe some baby hat goodness for the shower. Or a baby sweater. Something small and portable.
Must mull this over.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Happy Father's Day!
Happy Father's Day to all the Daddies out there!
This weekend was a whirlwind, like they've been for the most part lately. We had Will's delayed birthday party yesterday - same bat-time, same bat-channel (i.e., Nathan's, where he's had the past two or three birthday parties).
Nathan's on Old Country Road, by the Source Mall? WOW. They've done some big-time renovations, including adding a separate party room with two large screen HDTVs for the kids, the Burritoville is finally open, and a Ray's Pizza is coming. Yum.
It was great for Will, because we had 19 kids there; he was surrounded by his friends and family, and I am pretty sure the kid had a blast. And the stash of presents? Don't even get me started.
Happy Father's Day to all the Daddies out there!
This weekend was a whirlwind, like they've been for the most part lately. We had Will's delayed birthday party yesterday - same bat-time, same bat-channel (i.e., Nathan's, where he's had the past two or three birthday parties).
Nathan's on Old Country Road, by the Source Mall? WOW. They've done some big-time renovations, including adding a separate party room with two large screen HDTVs for the kids, the Burritoville is finally open, and a Ray's Pizza is coming. Yum.
It was great for Will, because we had 19 kids there; he was surrounded by his friends and family, and I am pretty sure the kid had a blast. And the stash of presents? Don't even get me started.
Will and the guys chowing down
Birthday cake time! It was an Iron Man cake - ROCKIN'.After the party, I met up with Piera and we went to a book party - GOD, it was so nice to go to one again! I really, REALLY miss book publishing. And the added fun was that it was a friend of mine who wrote the book - no, not another book from Dan just yet - Robb wrote a Q Guide to Sex and the City, and had a book party at Book Court, a fantastic little honest-to-goodness bookstore in Brooklyn, last night. No mega-super-multi-floored stores, no Starbucks counters (full disclosure: there is one down the block, and I did have a tall skim latte), just a space that felt deliciously like my own living room, books, and people that knew not only how to talk books, but how to make a wicked Cosmo. Yay!
Piera, David and me - together again!
Author-Man Robb Pearlman, and David
Like the show? Buy this book!
It was awesome. And as I settled into bed last night, I whipped out the book and read half of it. I finished it this morning. Reading Robb's book is like sitting down to a Sex & The City marathon with some of my best gay husbands (well... it was written by one of them, after all), dish, snark and all. If you like the show, you'll love the book. Not a gay man? Seriously, this is Sex & The City - all the more reason for you to read it, girls.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
What's Your Favorite Book?
I just read this in Publishers Lunch and had to share:
Poll Asks, Name Your Favorite Book
Harris Interactive surveyed American adults to find out "What is your favorite book of all time?" The answers:
1. The Bible
2. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
3. Lord of the Rings (series), by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
5. The Stand, by Stephen King
6. The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
7. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
8. Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown
9. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
10. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
I've got to say, I love and hate these polls. I love seeing what other people's favorite books are, but I lose all memory when it comes to me. I blurt out the obvious - the Lord of the Rings series and The Hobbit - but I know I've got so many more bouncing around in my head. For someone who loves books as much as I do, it's almost panic-inducing when I'm asked that question.
So am I going to try and answer it? Of course I am.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Yeah, I think I've got to say that one. I return to it every now and then just for the sheer love of the book. It's honestly the most dysfunctional love story of all time.
Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier. Come on, girl meets boy, girl marries boy, girl has to contend with crazy housekeeper who loved boy's first wife and finds out that boy shot first wife and dumped her body at sea. And then finds out that first wife was a slut who wanted to die because she had cancer so she taunted boy until he did the deed. What's not to love? Daytime television had nothing on Du Maurier.
Bridget Jones' Diary, by Helen Fielding. The original chick-lit book. Hilarious and just enough girly stuff to make me happy. And big girl panties will never be the same again.
The Vampire Lestat, by Anne Rice. For a while there, I was insane for Anne Rice. (Until she went berserker and started believing her own hype. But I digress.) Interview with the Vampire was amazing; The Vampire Lestat ratcheted it up a couple of notches. While Mike rolls his eyes at Rice's vampires, snarling "Eurotrash" every time I mentioned them, I love this vision of the vampire - the tortured, immortal Louis, the devil-may-care, eff 'em if they can't take a joke Lestat - it's all good. The original three Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice will always be aces in my book, but if I had to pick just one, this is the one I'd take to my desert island.
Okay, I've got more, but I hear Alex having a fit so I think Mike is washing his hair 'wrong' again.
I just read this in Publishers Lunch and had to share:
Poll Asks, Name Your Favorite Book
Harris Interactive surveyed American adults to find out "What is your favorite book of all time?" The answers:
1. The Bible
2. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
3. Lord of the Rings (series), by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
5. The Stand, by Stephen King
6. The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
7. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
8. Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown
9. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
10. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
I've got to say, I love and hate these polls. I love seeing what other people's favorite books are, but I lose all memory when it comes to me. I blurt out the obvious - the Lord of the Rings series and The Hobbit - but I know I've got so many more bouncing around in my head. For someone who loves books as much as I do, it's almost panic-inducing when I'm asked that question.
So am I going to try and answer it? Of course I am.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Yeah, I think I've got to say that one. I return to it every now and then just for the sheer love of the book. It's honestly the most dysfunctional love story of all time.
Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier. Come on, girl meets boy, girl marries boy, girl has to contend with crazy housekeeper who loved boy's first wife and finds out that boy shot first wife and dumped her body at sea. And then finds out that first wife was a slut who wanted to die because she had cancer so she taunted boy until he did the deed. What's not to love? Daytime television had nothing on Du Maurier.
Bridget Jones' Diary, by Helen Fielding. The original chick-lit book. Hilarious and just enough girly stuff to make me happy. And big girl panties will never be the same again.
The Vampire Lestat, by Anne Rice. For a while there, I was insane for Anne Rice. (Until she went berserker and started believing her own hype. But I digress.) Interview with the Vampire was amazing; The Vampire Lestat ratcheted it up a couple of notches. While Mike rolls his eyes at Rice's vampires, snarling "Eurotrash" every time I mentioned them, I love this vision of the vampire - the tortured, immortal Louis, the devil-may-care, eff 'em if they can't take a joke Lestat - it's all good. The original three Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice will always be aces in my book, but if I had to pick just one, this is the one I'd take to my desert island.
Okay, I've got more, but I hear Alex having a fit so I think Mike is washing his hair 'wrong' again.
Monday, April 07, 2008
So, Who's The Last Cylon?
BSG did not disappoint on Friday. From Starbuck telling poor Anders that she would put a bullet between his eyes if she ever found out he was a Cylon (gulp) to Baltar finding God in a pair of boobs (I asked Mike if he wrote that week's episode), it was intense storytelling that made me yell at the screen a few times - always the mark of a good episode. Heck, I didn't even knit, afraid I'd miss a crucial camera shot or reaction shot (like Anders being activated - that's how I took it, anyway). Now I'm counting down days until next episode (that would be 4). Oo-Ga.
Finished the Dr. Who Family of Blood episodes, and I've got to say, if the rest of the episodes are that good, I will be a Dr. Who fanatic in no time. Great storytelling - if I'm reading Wikipedia's entry on these episodes right, they were nominated for a Hugo Award for dramatic presentation and it is well-earned. I've DVR'd a bunch of episodes, and luckily for my addictions, Sci-Fi channel appears to be gearing up to air them as well, because there is a Dr. Who marathon during the day on Friday.
I just checked out USA Today's book section and a fellow Gen-Xer has written a book defending our poor slacker-named generation. I think I may have to check this out.
BSG did not disappoint on Friday. From Starbuck telling poor Anders that she would put a bullet between his eyes if she ever found out he was a Cylon (gulp) to Baltar finding God in a pair of boobs (I asked Mike if he wrote that week's episode), it was intense storytelling that made me yell at the screen a few times - always the mark of a good episode. Heck, I didn't even knit, afraid I'd miss a crucial camera shot or reaction shot (like Anders being activated - that's how I took it, anyway). Now I'm counting down days until next episode (that would be 4). Oo-Ga.
Finished the Dr. Who Family of Blood episodes, and I've got to say, if the rest of the episodes are that good, I will be a Dr. Who fanatic in no time. Great storytelling - if I'm reading Wikipedia's entry on these episodes right, they were nominated for a Hugo Award for dramatic presentation and it is well-earned. I've DVR'd a bunch of episodes, and luckily for my addictions, Sci-Fi channel appears to be gearing up to air them as well, because there is a Dr. Who marathon during the day on Friday.
I just checked out USA Today's book section and a fellow Gen-Xer has written a book defending our poor slacker-named generation. I think I may have to check this out.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Book Post
Lest everyone think I've abandoned my bibliomaniacal ways in favor of knitting, I decided to post a book meme today. Questions are courtesy of the Booking Through Thursday meme site, which I've just come across. Check it out, it's entertaining!
What book would you choose to give to a friend and why?
I know I'm in danger of having books thrown at my head, but I'd have to say The Hobbit by the master himself, J.R.R. Tolkien. It's a perfect book. It's light, fun, it's fantasy, has endearing characters, and an incredible quest. And Gandalf, possibly my favorite literary character ever.
It doesn't have the darkness that comes with the subsequent Middle-Earth adventures, so I wouldn't bring anyone down.
I've got one more - Grover and the Monster at the End of the Book. Because it's my favorite kids' book. Grover is still the greatest Muppet.
Lest everyone think I've abandoned my bibliomaniacal ways in favor of knitting, I decided to post a book meme today. Questions are courtesy of the Booking Through Thursday meme site, which I've just come across. Check it out, it's entertaining!
What book would you choose to give to a friend and why?
I know I'm in danger of having books thrown at my head, but I'd have to say The Hobbit by the master himself, J.R.R. Tolkien. It's a perfect book. It's light, fun, it's fantasy, has endearing characters, and an incredible quest. And Gandalf, possibly my favorite literary character ever.
It doesn't have the darkness that comes with the subsequent Middle-Earth adventures, so I wouldn't bring anyone down.
I've got one more - Grover and the Monster at the End of the Book. Because it's my favorite kids' book. Grover is still the greatest Muppet.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Two Down!
Alex, ready to take on the world in his TMNT backpack today
Will and Alex at the playground for Will's first day, yesterday
Alex, ready to take on the world in his TMNT backpack today
Will and Alex at the playground for Will's first day, yesterdayI've got two kids in school. It feels so weird to say that.
Will started third grade yesterday - I think the bloom is off the rose, so to speak. He's happy to be around his friends again, but I'm not sure how much he loves school. I think he's turning into a 'dude'. I'm a little worried, what with this being the first year of the state tests that our NYC Public school kids must endure, so I'll have to sit tight and brace for the rough ride. I'm hoping I'm worrying for naught.
Alex, on the other hand, LOVES school. Walking with him today, I asked him if I could cry. He told me no, because he'd "be home later!" First into his classroom, he greeted his teachers with a happy "GOOD MORNING!", happily chose his own cubby, and proudly displayed his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles backpack for them. Then he put his picture on the attendance board and ran to the circle time area to read. I barely got a kiss on the side of my ear because his new buddy, Jason, had arrived.
It's very strange, after being home for 9 months, to suddenly have 2 1/2 hours to oneself. I went back to Will's school to help escort new kindergarten parents and kids to the classrooms, and then took a nice, long walk. I figured if I rushed home just to sit in silence, I'd be pissed at myself for wasting two hours on a beautiful day. So I walked into Forest Hills, ended up at Barnes & Noble with a $25 gift card from my CafeMom Secret Sister (mwah! Love ya!), and browsed the crafting titles with an intensity normally reserved for parent-teacher conferences.
I ended up getting three kids' books and a free Halloween tote bag. Hey, I've got $6.50 left on the gift card, I'll get a new magazine; maybe the next issue of Interweave Knits.
I saw a chapter book for Will that looked interesting - and honestly, anything that keeps him reading these days, when it's getting tougher and tougher, is a book I'm going for. I've got the first in a new series, Fred and Anthony's Escape From the Netherworld. It's definitely going for the Captain Underpants audience, a couple of years older. And it claims to have "Ghosts! Monsters! Blood! Guts!" on the cover, so I'll take it. Wish me luck.
Alex, for whom reading and being read to is still a pleasure (please, please, PLEASE stay that way!), got two books (well, I figure he and Will could share one). Max's Halloween, which is a cute board book featuring Max from Max and Ruby, who Alex loves. Very cute stuff. I also saw a book by Carl Reiner, Tell Me a Scary Story - But Not Too Scary. It even came with a CD of Carl Reiner reading the book, with sound effects. For $7.99 and the chance at getting a free tote bag, it sealed the deal. The book is a home run with both boys, by the way - I've played the CD for Alex three times today, and Will's just put it in now. Score, baby!
I've finished off two books myself, but I'll blog more about them later. I'm wiped and I still have to get one kid out of the bath and put one in. And work out. And iron. I think I should rename myself Cinderella.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
BEA, The Madness Continues...
Okay, so I'd left off as I working myself into a frenzy describing the sweet swag from BEA. So, being mom of the year, most of the stuff was for Will and Alex. I'll pick up where I left off from yesterday...
- The Boy's Body Book, by Kelli Dunham from Cider Mill Press. I told Mike he can give it to Will... and he promptly chickened out. It's a cool book, written basically for ages 9-10 and up, and doesn't cover the terrifying stuff just yet. It's really about being a good friend, making sure boys don't bow to peer pressure, and starts to touch on the basics of just taking care of your body and such. I gave it to Will and offered to read it with him or have him read it and come to Mike or I with any questions. He sat down on the couch and curled up with it, so let's see what comes of it...
- The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech from Harper. Any book with a cover that resembles an illuminated manuscript is going in my bag. Nancy got an autographed copy, the lucky dawg.
- Peanut Butter & Jeremy's Best Book Ever! by James Kochalka from the Alternative Comics table. It's cute, it's about a cat who thinks he works in an office and wears a little hat and tie, and an irritating crow. Heck, I read it before I handed it off to Will. It's cute!
- Soupy Saturdays with The Pain & The Great One by Judy Blume. It's Judy Blume, therefore I must have it. Heck, I may even give it to Will when I finish it...
- The Thief Queen's Daughter by Elizabeth Hayden from Starscape. It's fantasy, there's a dragon on the cover, what's the question?
- Yo! I Know Stuff! Brain-Building Quizzes - Got this from the World Almanac for Kids table; Will is all about those quizzes and bizarre facts. Predictably, he grabbed this one first.
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie from Little, Brown. I have no idea what this one's about, but it was all over the place at BEA and I had about three different folks hand me a copy. Let me know if you read it.
- The What's Happening to my Body? Book for Boys by Lynda Madras over at the Newmarket Press table. This one is for older boys; I'll hang onto it for a while. Can you guess I'm terrified of having an all-too rapidly approaching 'tween son? I'm arming myself with as much information as I can get.
- Fairy Haven & The Quest for the Wand, by Gail Carson Levine over at Disney Press. This is an example of me getting caught up in the freebie haze. I saw the title, figured it for some good fantasy to read with Will, and grabbed it, only to come home and see that it is a Disney Fairies adventure. After asking Will if he'd still be interested and getting the look of the century, I've decided that this will be a lovely addition to my 5-year old god-daughter's library.
- Nightmare Academy by Dean Lorey from Harper. Yeah, baby. Demon on the cover, spooky funky font - Will and I are all over this one.
- Pirate's Passage by William Gilkerson from Trumpeter. Yes, these books are in fact for Will, do you doubt me? He happens to be developing stellar taste in his literary genres.
- Alex and the Ironic Gentleman by Adrienne Kress from Weinstein Books. Another hot one at BEA, tons of them being given out. Kid frees his teacher from pirates. Whoo hoo!
- Homework Helpster Grade 3 from the Black Dog & Leventhal table. Cool little homework helper with its own little prop-up stand. Will gave me a somewhat hairy eyeball but accepted my gesture of love.
Speaking of hairy eyeballs, I'm getting one now, which tells me I've apparently overstayed my time on the computer. More to come...
Okay, so I'd left off as I working myself into a frenzy describing the sweet swag from BEA. So, being mom of the year, most of the stuff was for Will and Alex. I'll pick up where I left off from yesterday...
- The Boy's Body Book, by Kelli Dunham from Cider Mill Press. I told Mike he can give it to Will... and he promptly chickened out. It's a cool book, written basically for ages 9-10 and up, and doesn't cover the terrifying stuff just yet. It's really about being a good friend, making sure boys don't bow to peer pressure, and starts to touch on the basics of just taking care of your body and such. I gave it to Will and offered to read it with him or have him read it and come to Mike or I with any questions. He sat down on the couch and curled up with it, so let's see what comes of it...
- The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech from Harper. Any book with a cover that resembles an illuminated manuscript is going in my bag. Nancy got an autographed copy, the lucky dawg.
- Peanut Butter & Jeremy's Best Book Ever! by James Kochalka from the Alternative Comics table. It's cute, it's about a cat who thinks he works in an office and wears a little hat and tie, and an irritating crow. Heck, I read it before I handed it off to Will. It's cute!
- Soupy Saturdays with The Pain & The Great One by Judy Blume. It's Judy Blume, therefore I must have it. Heck, I may even give it to Will when I finish it...
- The Thief Queen's Daughter by Elizabeth Hayden from Starscape. It's fantasy, there's a dragon on the cover, what's the question?
- Yo! I Know Stuff! Brain-Building Quizzes - Got this from the World Almanac for Kids table; Will is all about those quizzes and bizarre facts. Predictably, he grabbed this one first.
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie from Little, Brown. I have no idea what this one's about, but it was all over the place at BEA and I had about three different folks hand me a copy. Let me know if you read it.
- The What's Happening to my Body? Book for Boys by Lynda Madras over at the Newmarket Press table. This one is for older boys; I'll hang onto it for a while. Can you guess I'm terrified of having an all-too rapidly approaching 'tween son? I'm arming myself with as much information as I can get.
- Fairy Haven & The Quest for the Wand, by Gail Carson Levine over at Disney Press. This is an example of me getting caught up in the freebie haze. I saw the title, figured it for some good fantasy to read with Will, and grabbed it, only to come home and see that it is a Disney Fairies adventure. After asking Will if he'd still be interested and getting the look of the century, I've decided that this will be a lovely addition to my 5-year old god-daughter's library.
- Nightmare Academy by Dean Lorey from Harper. Yeah, baby. Demon on the cover, spooky funky font - Will and I are all over this one.
- Pirate's Passage by William Gilkerson from Trumpeter. Yes, these books are in fact for Will, do you doubt me? He happens to be developing stellar taste in his literary genres.
- Alex and the Ironic Gentleman by Adrienne Kress from Weinstein Books. Another hot one at BEA, tons of them being given out. Kid frees his teacher from pirates. Whoo hoo!
- Homework Helpster Grade 3 from the Black Dog & Leventhal table. Cool little homework helper with its own little prop-up stand. Will gave me a somewhat hairy eyeball but accepted my gesture of love.
Speaking of hairy eyeballs, I'm getting one now, which tells me I've apparently overstayed my time on the computer. More to come...
Monday, June 04, 2007
Book Whore 2007 (or, Roe's Weekend at BookExpo)
I am a shameless book hussy. Those covers give me that sly wink, a subtle nod, and I'm all over them, caution flung to the wind. So you can imagine what it's like for me at BookExpo, when I'm in a place like the Jacob Javits Center - packed to the seams with books for the taking (for the most part).
I worked BookExpo this time around; normally I'm merely a visitor. Booth duty can be long and tough, but when you get a chance to wander every now and then, it makes it all worthwhile. Seeing so many of my friends was great, too. It's been a while for some of my Bookspan friends so it was a little like a reunion. And Nancy was there on Friday, so that was fun, chasing each other via voicemail to meet up somewhere (eventually, we met up - on the ride home that she and her parents were kind enough to extend to me!).
So where to begin? I brought home about 60 books and assorted other stuff. I got some great autographs and met some very cool people. Nancy got a crazy amount of autographs, I'm jealous. ;-) I did get Will a signed copy of Wizardology, which he was most excited to receive. I was Mom of the Year for like, five whole minutes or something. Wow.
I totally missed the Sabuda signings - he did like two or three - but I was determined to get this one. It is quite cool, and I'm sure we'll be curling up on the couch and reading this one after I get through Thor's Wedding Day, which I borrowed from Nancy eons ago...
The DC booth was rocking with grade-A freebies. Not only did I score tons of bookmarks for the kids, and buttons of Green Lantern, Flash and Superman, but I got hardcover copies of Justice (rocking the Alex Ross cover) and Identity Crisis, and a trade paperback of Watchmen . I also got two issues of Mad Kids magazine and an issue of Mad Magazine for Will.
Continuing in my "I'm a good Mom" vein, I scored more for Will and Alex:
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TPB of Out of the Shadows from the Titan Books table. (They're also doing a Stargate: Atlantis companion, which I scored a copy of for Mike - I'm a good wife, too). And Supernatural fans, wait - they're doing companions for that show, too (which I'm probably going to have to get Will). Back to TMNT - it's penned by Peter David, so I may have to read it myself...
- signed copy of What Stinks? by Marilyn Singer for Alex. Come on, with a name like that, I was supposed to pass it up?
- F&Gs (folded & gathered signatures, kind of a version of a galley for picture books) for Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems (Nancy got a signed copy... garrrr!), The Longest Christmas List Ever by Gregg & Evan Spiridellis (they're the brothers who did the hilarious This Land animation with Bush and Kerry; check it out on JibJab.com); and Do Unto Otters: A Book on Manners by Laurie Keller (complete with sheet of stickers!).
- Two more Hot Dog & Bob adventures, to go with the first two I picked up for Will last year.
- Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Eric Carle and Bill Martin, Jr. I was psyched not only to get copies of these books, but to find out that Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See? will be coming out in August. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is one of Alex's fave books, so I was happy to bring him this news. He was even happier to get the poster.
Okay, I've got a lot more to describe but I'll pick this up tomorrow. I'm still exhausted. Later.
I am a shameless book hussy. Those covers give me that sly wink, a subtle nod, and I'm all over them, caution flung to the wind. So you can imagine what it's like for me at BookExpo, when I'm in a place like the Jacob Javits Center - packed to the seams with books for the taking (for the most part).
I worked BookExpo this time around; normally I'm merely a visitor. Booth duty can be long and tough, but when you get a chance to wander every now and then, it makes it all worthwhile. Seeing so many of my friends was great, too. It's been a while for some of my Bookspan friends so it was a little like a reunion. And Nancy was there on Friday, so that was fun, chasing each other via voicemail to meet up somewhere (eventually, we met up - on the ride home that she and her parents were kind enough to extend to me!).
So where to begin? I brought home about 60 books and assorted other stuff. I got some great autographs and met some very cool people. Nancy got a crazy amount of autographs, I'm jealous. ;-) I did get Will a signed copy of Wizardology, which he was most excited to receive. I was Mom of the Year for like, five whole minutes or something. Wow.
I totally missed the Sabuda signings - he did like two or three - but I was determined to get this one. It is quite cool, and I'm sure we'll be curling up on the couch and reading this one after I get through Thor's Wedding Day, which I borrowed from Nancy eons ago...
The DC booth was rocking with grade-A freebies. Not only did I score tons of bookmarks for the kids, and buttons of Green Lantern, Flash and Superman, but I got hardcover copies of Justice (rocking the Alex Ross cover) and Identity Crisis, and a trade paperback of Watchmen . I also got two issues of Mad Kids magazine and an issue of Mad Magazine for Will.
Continuing in my "I'm a good Mom" vein, I scored more for Will and Alex:
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TPB of Out of the Shadows from the Titan Books table. (They're also doing a Stargate: Atlantis companion, which I scored a copy of for Mike - I'm a good wife, too). And Supernatural fans, wait - they're doing companions for that show, too (which I'm probably going to have to get Will). Back to TMNT - it's penned by Peter David, so I may have to read it myself...
- signed copy of What Stinks? by Marilyn Singer for Alex. Come on, with a name like that, I was supposed to pass it up?
- F&Gs (folded & gathered signatures, kind of a version of a galley for picture books) for Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems (Nancy got a signed copy... garrrr!), The Longest Christmas List Ever by Gregg & Evan Spiridellis (they're the brothers who did the hilarious This Land animation with Bush and Kerry; check it out on JibJab.com); and Do Unto Otters: A Book on Manners by Laurie Keller (complete with sheet of stickers!).
- Two more Hot Dog & Bob adventures, to go with the first two I picked up for Will last year.
- Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Eric Carle and Bill Martin, Jr. I was psyched not only to get copies of these books, but to find out that Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See? will be coming out in August. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is one of Alex's fave books, so I was happy to bring him this news. He was even happier to get the poster.
Okay, I've got a lot more to describe but I'll pick this up tomorrow. I'm still exhausted. Later.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Books
I've been reading like crazy lately, but it's pretty much the stuff I get paid to read. Sometimes it's great, as in the case of stuff like The Last Chinese Chef and the insanely funny Ant Farm and Other Desperate Situations, and sometimes... well, sometimes it's not. I love getting paid to write book reports, but sometimes, I just miss reading 'my' books. So... shhhh... I put one of the less enticing books aside for a couple of days to steal some Roe reading time and revisited Jim Butcher's first Dresden File, Storm Front.
I've really got to say, if you haven't read these yet, please pick them up. They're quick and compulsive reads. And if you are watching the Sci Fi Channel show, please understand that while the show is entertaining, you are missing so much by not reading the books. There are eight books now - check one out. It's worth it.
I checked out a webinar on Search Engine Marketing today. It was a brief overview, more about what career path you can take with it, but it was interesting. I think I'll check out a few more; they're on the SEMPO website (professional organization for search engine marketing). Anything I can to do pump up the resume and learn something new.
I've got so much running through my head. It's all driving me nuts. I wish I could just blink and it would all go away sometimes. It's frustrating, trying to deal with everything life throws at me when it feels like everything's coming all at once.
I'm wiped, time to go check out Battlestar Galactica (I'm catching up) before Lost starts at 10.
501 Great Books...
Got this from a cool librarian's blog. I've bolded the ones I've read, and am feeling mightily under-read right about now (and that's saying something!)... however, I do feel like I've seen quite a lot of movies, hee hee...
Before I get to "The List", I'm thinking that I may need to compile a list of Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror books - anyone interested in helping me compile one?
1. "Little Women," Louisa May Alcott
2. "Fairy Tales," Hans Christian Andersen
3. "Peter Pan," J.M. Barrie (I've read the kids' version, does that count?)
4. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," L. Frank Baum
5. "The Last Unicorn," Peter S. Beagle (still have it, have the movie...)
6. "The Secret Garden," Frances Hodgson Burnett (good movie, ashamed to say I've never read the book)
7. "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)
8. "Pinocchio," Carlo Collodi (Carlo Lorenzini)
9. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," Roald Dahl (I re-read this and its sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, often)
10. "Sophie's World," Jostein Gaarder
11. "The Wierdstone of Brisingamen," Alan Garner
12. "The Wind in the Willows," Kenneth Grahame
13. "Children's and Household Tales," Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm
14. "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," Mark Haddon
15. "Emil and the Detectives," Erich Kastner
16. "Just So Stories," Rudyard Kipling
17. "The Complete Nonsense Books," Edward Lear
18. "A Wrinkle in Time," Madeleine L'Engle
19. "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," C.S. Lewis (honestly, who are you talking about here? ;-)
20. "Pippi Longstocking," Astrid Lindgren
21. "Dr. Dolittle," Hugh Lofting
22. "At the Back of the North Wind," George MacDonald
23. "Nobody's Boy," Hector Malot
24. "Winnie-the-Pooh," A.A. Milne
25. "Anne of Green Gables," L.M. Montgomery
26. "Five Children and It," E. Nesbit
27. "Tom's Midnight Garden," Philippa Pearce
28. "The War of the Buttons," Louis Pergaud
29. "Fairy Tales," Charles Perrault
30. "The Tale of Peter Rabbit," Beatrix Potter
31. "The Colour of Magic," Terry Pratchett
32. "Northern Lights," Philip Pullman
33. "Swallows and Amazons," Arthur Ransome
34. "Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang," Mordecai Richler
35. "Harry Potter and the [Philosopher's] Sorceror's Stone," J.K. Rowling
36. "The King of the Golden River," John Ruskin
37. "The Little Prince," Antoine De Saint-Exupery
38. "The Human Comedy," William Saroyan
39. "The Misfortunes of Sophie," Comtesse de Segur
40. "Where the Wild Things Are," Maurice Sendak
41. "And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street," Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel)
42. "Black Beauty," Anna Sewell
43. "The Golem," Isaac Bashevis Singer
44. "Heidi," Johana Spyri
45. "Treasure Island," Robert Louis Stevenson
46. "The Fellowship of the Ring," J.R.R. Tolkien (Do I really need to list this, or is it just a given?)
47. "Mary Poppins," P.L. Travers
48. "Charlotte's Web," E.B. White (still cry like a baby...)
49. "The Sword in the Stone," T.H. White
50. "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm," Kate Douglas Wiggin
51. "The Happy Prince and Other Tales," Oscar Wilde
52. "The Epic of Gilgamesh," Anonymous
53. "The Thousand and One Nights," Anonymous
54. "Sense and Sensibility," Jane Austen
55. "Old Goriot," Honore De Balzac
56. "Vathek: an Arabian Tale," William Beckford
57. "Lady Audley's Secret," Mary Elizabeth Braddon
58. "Jane Eyre," Charlotte Bronte
59. "Wuthering Heights," Emily Bronte (the book that defined the dysfunctional relationship... and I still read it like it's the first time I've ever picked it up)
60. "The Pilgrim's Progress," John Bunyan
61. "The Canterbury Tales," Geoffrey Chaucer (heh heh heh... good stuff...)
62. "The Collected Stories," Anton Chekhov
63. "The Man Who Was Thursday," G.K. Chesterton
64. "Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure," John Cleland
65. "The Moonstone: a Romance," Wilkie Collins
66. "The Hound of the Baskervilles," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
67. "Heart of Darkness," Joseph Conrad
68. "Robinson Crusoe," Daniel Defoe
69. "The Christmas Books," Charles Dickens
70. "Our Mutual Friend," Charles Dickens
71. "Crime and Punishment," Fyodor Dostoyevsky
72. "Middlemarch: A Study in Provincial Life," George Eliot
73. "Tom Jones," Henry Fielding
74. "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald
75. "Madame Bovary," Gustave Flaubert
76. "Howards End," E.M. Forster
77. "North and South," Elizabeth Gaskell
78. "The Sorrows of Young Werther," Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
79. "The Vicar of Wakefield," Oliver Goldsmith
80. "The Power and the Glory," Graham Greene
81. "King Solomon's Mines," H. Rider Haggard
82. "Jude the Obscure," Thomas Hardy
83. "The Scarlet Letter," Nathaniel Hawthorne
84. "Moby Dick," Herman Melville
85. "The Portrait of a Lady," Henry James
86. "The Iliad," Homer
87. "Les Miserables," Victor Hugo
88. "Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of The Dog)," Jerome K. Jerome
89. "Kim," Rudyard Kipling
90. "Bliss and Other Stories," Katherine Mansfield
91. "Utopia," Sir Thomas More
92. "Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque," Edgar Alan Poe
93. "In Search of Lost Time," Marcel Proust (I read a big chunk, but not the whole thing.)9
4. "A Sicilian Romance," Ann Radcliffe
95. "Clarissa," Samuel Richardson
96. "Waverley," Walter Scott
97. "Frankenstein," Mary Shelley
98. "The Red and the Black," Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle)
99. "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde," Robert Louis Stevenson
100. "Dracula," Bram Stoker
101. "Gulliver's Travels," Jonathan Swift
102. "Vanity Fair," William Makepeace Thackeray
103. "War and Peace," Leo Tolstoy
104. "Barchester Towers," Anthony Trollope
105. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," Mark Twain (Langhorne Clemens)
106. "Candide," Voltaire (Francois-Marie Arouet)
107. "The Castle of Otranto," Horace Walpole
108. "The House of Mirth," Edith Wharton
109. "The Picture of Dorian Gray," Oscar Wilde (Mike and I had one of our first conversations thanks to this book, hee hee...)
110. "To the Lighthouse," Virginia Woolf
111. "La Bete Humaine," Emile Zola
112. "London, the Biography," Peter Ackroyd
113. "Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life," John Lee Anderson
114. "The Hour of Our Death," Phillipe Aries
115. "Berlin - the Downfall," Antony Beevor
116. "The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Phillip II," Fernand Braudel
117. "The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century," John Brewer
118. "Frozen Desire: An Enquiry into the Meaning of Money," James Buchan
119. "Hitler and Stalin - Parallel Lives," Alan Bullock
120. "The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy," Jacob Burckhardt
121. "Daily Life in Ancient Rome," Jerome Carcopino
122. "The Accursed Kings," Maurice Druon
123. "The Age of the Cathedrals," Georges Duby
124. "The Stripping of the Altars," Eamon Duffy
125. "Rites of Spring," Modris Eksteins
126. "The Wretched of the Earth," Franz Fanon
127. "Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire," Niall Ferguson
128. "Millennium," Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
129. "Pagans and Christians," Robin Lane Fox
130. "The End of History and the Last Man," Francis Fukuyama
131. "The Naked Heart," Peter Gay
132. "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," Edward Gibbon
133. "The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy," Martin Gilbert
134. "The Cheese and the Worms," Carlo Ginzburg
135. "God's First Love," Friedrich Heer
136. "Histories," Herodotus
137. "Hiroshima," John Hersey
138. "The Fatal Shore," Robert Hughes
139. "Pandaemonium," Humphrey Jennings
140. "A History of Warfare," John Keegan
141. "A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies," Bartolome de las Casas
142. "Seven Pillars of Wisdom," Thomas Edward Lawrence
143. "Islam in History," Bernard Lewis
144. "Chinese Shadows," Simon Leys (Pierre Rychmans)
145. "The Crusades through Arab Eyes," Amin Maalouf
146. "The Defeat of the Spanish Armada," Farrett Mattingly
147. "The Story of English," Robert McCrum
148. "The Ornament of the World," Maria Rosa Menocal
149. "The Women's History of the World," Rosalind Miles
150. "Pax Britannica: The Climax of an Empire," James Morris
151. "Medieval Cities: Their Origins and the Revival of Trade," Henri Pirenne
152. "Parallel Lives," Plutarch
153. "Flesh in the Age of Reason," Roy Porter
154. "Citizens - A Chronicle of the French Revolution," Simon Schama
155. "Leviathan and the Air-Pump," Steven Shapin
156. "The Decline of the West," Oswald Spengler
157. "The Trial of Socrates," Isador Stone
158. "Annals of Imperial Rome," Tacitus
159. "The Origins of the Second World War," A.J.P. Taylor
160. "A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century," Barbara M. Tuchman
161. "A People's History of the United States," Howard Zinn
162. "Paula," Isabel Allende
163. "Journal Intime," ("Amiel's Journal") Henri-Frederic Amiel
164. "Aubrey's Brief Lives," John Aubrey
165. "Confessions," Augustine
166. "Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter," Simone De Beauvior
167. "My Left Foot," Christy Brown
168. "The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini," Benvenuto Cellini
169. "The Unquiet Grave: A Word Cycle by Palinrurus," Cyril Connolly
170. "Boy: Tales of Childhood," Roald Dahl
171. "My Family and Other Animals," Gerald Durrell
172. "An Angel at My Table," Janet Frame
173. "The Diary of a Young Girl," Anne Frank
174. "Journals, 1889-1949," Andre Paul Guillaume Gide
175. "Poetry and Truth: From My Own Life," Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
176. "Father and Son: A Study of Two Temperaments," Edmund Gosse
177. "Ways of Escape," Graham Greene
178. "Black Like Me," John Howard Griffin
179. "84, Charing Cross Road," Helene Hanff
180. "Pentimento," Lillian Hellman
181. "Childhood, Youth and Exile," Alexander Herzen
182. "The Diary of Alice James," Alice James
183. "Memories, Dreams, Reflections," Carl Gustav Jung
184. "Diaries 1919-23," Franz Kafka
185. "The Story of My Life," Helen Keller
186. "The Book of Margery Kempe," Margery Kempe
187. "I Will Bear Witness," Victor Klemperer
188. "In the Castle of My Skin," George Lamming
189. "A Grief Observed," C.S. Lewis
190. "The Towers of Trebizond," Rose Macaulay
191. "Journal of Katherine Mansfield," Katherine Mansfield
192. "The Seven Storey Mountain," Thomas Merton
193. "The Pursuit of Love," Nancy Mitford
194. "Borrowed Time," Paul Monette
195. "My Place," Sally Morgan
196. "Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited," Vladimir Nabokov
197. "Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books," Azar Nafisi
198. "Memoirs," Pablo Neruda
199. "Portrait of a Marriage," Nigel Nicolson
200. "Running in the Family," Michael Ondaatje
201. "Down and Out in Paris and London," George Orwell
202. "Autobiography of a Yogi," Paramahansa Yogananda
203. "Diary," Samuel Pepys
204. "Letters," Pliny the Younger
205. "Confessions," Jean-Jacques Rousseau
206. "Words," Jean-Paul Sartre
207. "Journal of a Solitude," May Sarton
208. "Walden," Henry David Thoreau
209. "De Profundis," Oscar Wilde
210. "Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit," Jeanette Winterson
211. "Autobiographies," William Butler Yeats
212. "Things Fall Apart," Chinua Achebe
213. "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands," Jorge Amado
214. "Le Grand Meaulnes," Alain-Fournier (Henri Alban Fournier)
215. "Take a Girl Like You," Kingsley Amis
216. "Winesburg, Ohio," Sherwood Anderson
217. "Surfacing," Margaret Atwood
218. "The New York Trilogy," Paul Auster
219. "Tales of Odessa," Isaak Babel
220. "Giovanni's Room," James Baldwin
221. "The Sweet Hereafter," Russel Banks
222. "The Regeneration Trilogy," Pat Barker
223. "Herzog," Saul Bellow
224. "Ficciones," Jorge Luis Borges
225. "Nadja," Andre Breton
226. "The Master and the Margarita," Mikhail Bulgakov
227. "The Naked Lunch," William Burroughs
228. "Possession," A.S. Byatt
229. "If On a Winter's Night a Traveller," Italo Calvino
230. "The Outsider," Albert Camus
231. "Auto da Fe," Elias Canetti
232. "Oscar and Lucinda," Peter Carey
233. "The Kingdom of This World," Alejo Carpentier
234. "The Bloody Chamber," Angela Carter
235. "What We Talk about When We Talk about Love," Raymond Carver
236. "The Horse's Mouth," Joyce Carey
237. "Journey to the End of Night," Louis-Ferdinand Celine
238. "Soldiers of Salamis," Javier Cercas
239. "The Stories of John Cheever," John Cheever
240. "Disgrace," J.M. Coetzee
241. "Cheri," Colette (Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette)
242. "Victory," Joseph Conrad
243. "A House and Its Head," Ivy Compton-Burnett
244. "Fifth Business," Roberson Davies
245. "Captain Corelli's Mandolin," Louis De Bernieres
246. "Underworld," Don Delillo
247. "Seven Gothic Tales," Isak Dinesen
248. "Berlin Alexanderplatz," Alfred Doblin
249. "Once Were Warriors," Alan Duff (never read it, but the movie is amazing - like a gut punch)
250. "Rebecca," Daphne Du Maurier (I LOVE this book)
251. "The Lover," Marguerite Duras
252. "The Alexandria Quartet," Lawrence Durrell
253. "The Name of the Rose," Umberto Eco
254. "The Neverending Story," Michael Ende (never read it, loved the first movie and still have the 45 by Limahl)
255. "The Sound and the Fury," William Faulkner (I wanted to dig him up and shoot him after I read it)
256. "The Wars," Timothy Findley
257. "The Good Soldier," Ford Maddox Ford
258. "Wildlife," Richard Ford
259. "A Passage to India," E.M. Forster
260. "The Corrections," Jonathan Franzen
261. "Birdsong," Sebastian Faulks
262. "The Blue Flower," Penelope Fitzgerald
263. "From the Fifteenth District," Mavis Gallant
264. "One Hundred Years of Solitude," Gabriel Garcia Marquez
265. "Our Lady of the Flowers," Jean Genet
266. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding
267. "July's People," Nadine Gordimer
268. "FerdyDurke," Witold Gombrowicz
269. "The Tin Drum," Gunther Grass
270. "Hunger," Knut Hamsun
271. "The Blind Owl," Sadegh Hedayat
272. "The Old Man and the Sea," Ernest Hemingway
273. "The Glass Bead Game," Herman Hesse
274. "Lost Horizon," James Hilton
275. "A High Wind in Jamaica," Richard Hughes
276. "The World According to Garp," John Irving
277. "Berlin Stories," Christopher Isherwood (does knowing Cabaret by heart count?)
278. "The Remains of the Day," Kazuo Ishiguro
279. "Ulysses," James Joyce
280. "The File on H," Ismail Kadare
281. "The Trial," Franz Kafka
282. "It," Stephen King
283. "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," Milan Kundera
284. "The Leopard," Giuseppe Di Lampedusa
285. "The Diviners," Margaret Laurence
286. "Women in Love," D.H. Lawrence
287. "The Golden Notebook," Doris Lessing
288. "The Periodic Table," Primo Levi
289. "Changing Places," David Lodge
290. "The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas" J.M. Machado De Assis
291. "The Cairo Trilogy," Naguib Mahfouz
292. "The Executioner's Song," Norman Mailer
293. "God's Grace," Bernard Malamud
294. "An Imaginary Life," David Malouf
295. "The Magic Mountain," Thomas Mann
296. "Embers," Sandor Marai
297. "Life of Pi," Yann Martel
298. "Cakes and Ale," Somorset Maugham
299. "The Group," Mary McCarthy
300. "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter," Carson McCullers
301. "Enduring Love," Ian McEwan
302. "The Sea of Fertility," Yukio Mishima
303. "A Fine Balance," Rohinton Mistry
304. "Cold Heaven," Brian Moore
305. "Beloved," Toni Morrison
306. "The Progress of Love," Alice Munro
307. "The Sea, the Sea," Iris Murdoch
308. "Lolita," Vladimir Nabokov
309. "A House for Mr Biswas," V.S. Naipaul
310. "The Third Policeman," Flann O'Brian
311. "A Good Man is Hard to Find," Flannery O'Connor
312. "The English Patient," Michael Ondaatje
313. "Where the Jackals Howl," Amos Oz
314. "The Messiah of Stockholm," Cynthia Ozick
315. "Gormenghast," Mervyn Peake
316. "Mr. Weston's Good Wine," T.F. Powys
317. "The Nephew," James Purdy
318. "Interview with the Vampire," Anne Rice
319. "Barney's Version," Mordecai Richler
320. "Hadrian the Seventh," Frederick Rolfe (Baron Corvo)
321. "The Radetzky March," Joseph Roth
322. "The Human Stain," Philip Roth
323. "The Satanic Verses," Salman Rushdie
324. "Pedro Paramo," Juan Rulfo
325. "Bonjour Tristesse," Francoise Sagan
326. "Short Stories," Saki (Hector Hugh Munro)
327. "Catcher in the Rye," J.D. Salinger
328. "Staying On," Paul Scott
329. "Austerlitz," W.G. Sebald
330. "Last Exit to Brooklyn," Hubert Selby Jr.
331. "Unless," Carol Shields
332. "The Magician of Lubin," Isaac Bashevis Singer
333. "The Engineer of Human Souls," Josef Skvorecky
334. "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," Muriel Spark
335. "The Man Who Loved Children," Christina Stead
336. "The Grapes of Wrath," Joseph Steinbeck
337. "Sohie's Choice," William Styron
338. "Perfume," Patrick Suskind
339. "The Confessions of Zeno," Italo Svevo
340. "Declares Pereira," Antonio Tabucchi
341. "The White Hotel," D.M. Thomas
342. "The Master," Colm Toibin
343. "Felicia's Journey," William Trevor
344. "The Palm-Wine Drinkard," Amos Tutuola
345. "The Accidental Tourist," Anne Tyler
346. "Couples," John Updike
347. "The Time of the Hero," Mario Vargas Llosa
348. "In Praise of Older Women," Stephen Vizinczey
349. "Brideshead Revisited," Evelyn Waugh
350. "Voss," Patrick White
351. "Memoirs of Hadrian," Marguerite Yourcenar
352. "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy," Douglas Noel Adams
353. "Hothouse," Brian Aldiss
354. "Brain Wave," Poul Anderson
355. "I, Robot," Isaac Asimov
356. "The Handmaid's Tale," Margaret Atwood
357. "The Crystal World," J.G. Ballard
358. "The Demolished Man," Alfred Bester
359. "Who Goes There," John W. Campbell
360. "The Invention of Morel," Adolfo Bioy Casares
361. "Planet of the Apes," Pierre Boulle
362. "The Martian Chronicles," Ray Bradbury
363. "The Sheep Look Up," John Brunner
364. "A Clockwork Orange," Anthony Burgess
365. "Erewhon," Samuel Butler
366. "Cosmicomics," Italo Calvino
367. "2001: A Space Odyssey," Arthur C. Clarke
368. "A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder," James De Mille
369. "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch," Philip K. Dick
370. "To Your Scattered Bodies Go," Philip Jose Farmer
371. "Neuromancer," William Gibson
372. "Stranger in a Strange Land," Robert A. Heinlein
373. "Dune," Frank Herbert
374. "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley
375. "Two Planets," Kurd Lasswitz
376. "Left Hand of Darkness," Ursula K. LeGuin
377. "Solaris," Stanislaw Lem
378. "Shikasta," Doris Lessing
379. "Stepford Wives," Ira Levin
380. "Out of the Silent Planet," C.S. Lewis
381. "I Am Legend," Richard Matheson
382. "Dwellers in the Mirage," Abraham Merritt
383. "A Canticle for Leibowitz," Walter Miller
384. "Ringworld," Larry Niven
385. "Time Traders," Andre Norton
386. "Nineteen Eighty-Four," George Orwell
387. "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket," Edgar Allan Poe
388. "The Inverted World," Christopher Priest
389. "The Green Child," Herbert Read
390. "The Laxian Key," Robert Sheckley
391. "City," Clifford D. Simak392. "Donovan's Brain," Curt Siodmak
393. "Lest Darkness Fall," L. Sprague De Camp
394. "Last and First Men," Olaf Stapledon
395. "More than Human," Theodore Sturgeon
396. "Slan," A.E. Van Vogt
397. "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth," Jules Verne
398. "Slaughterhouse-Five," Kurt Vonnegut
399. "The Island of Dr Moreau," H.G. Wells
400. "Islandia," Austin Tappan Wright
401. "The Day of the Triffids," John Wyndham
402. "More Work for the Undertaker," Margery Allingham
403. "Devil Take the Blue-Tail Fly," John Franklin Bardin
404. "Trent's Last Case," E.C. Bentley
405. "Trial and Error," Anthony Berkeley
406. "The Poisoned Chocolates Case," Anthony Berkeley
407. "The Beast Must Die," Nicholas Blake
408. "Psycho," Robert Bloch
409. "Double Indemnity," James Cain
410. "Thus was Adonis Murdered," Sarah Caudwell (Sarah Cockburn)
411. "Farewell, My Lovely," Raymond Chandler
412. "No Orchids for Miss Blandish," James Hadley Chase (Rene Raymond)
413. "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd," Agatha Christie
414. "The Woman in White," Wilkie Collins
415. "Unnatural Exposure," Patricia Cornwell
416. "The Moving Toyshop," Edmund Crispin
417. "In the Last Analysis," Amanda Cross (Carolyn Gold Heilbrun)
418. "Rose at Ten," Marco Denevi
419. "Vendetta," Michael Dibdin
420. "The Glass-sided Ants' Nest," Peter Dickinson
421. "He Who Whispers," John Dickson Carr
422. "The Big Clock," Kenneth Fearing
423. "Blood Sport," Dick Francis
424. "Quiet as a Nun," Lady Antonia Fraser
425. "The Sunday Woman," Carlo Fruttero
426. "Death in the Wrong Room," Anthony Gilbert (Lucy Beatrice Malleson)Probably.
427. "Red Harvest," Dashiel Hammett
428. "Suicide Excepted," Cyril Hare
429. "Bones and Silence," Reginald Hill
430. "A Rage in Harlem," Chester Himes
431. "Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow," Peter Hoeg
432. "Malice Aforethought," Francis Iles (Anthony Berkeley Cox)
433. "Hamlet, Revenge!" Michael Innes (John Innes Mackintosh Stewart)
434. "The Murder Room," P.D. James
435. "The Sleeping-Car Murders," Sebastien Japrisot (Jean Baptiste Rossi)
436. "Death of My Aunt," C.H.B. Kitchin
437. "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold," John Le Carre (David Cornwell)
438. "The Mystery of the Yellow Room," Gaston Leroux
439. "The Last Detective," Peter Lovesey
440. "Final Curtain," Ngaio Marsh
441. "An Oxford Tragedy," J.C. Masterman
442. "The Steam Pig," James McClure
443. "The Seven Per Cent Solution," Nicholas Meyer
444. "How Like an Angel," Margaret Millar
445. "The Red House Mystery," A.A. Milne
446. "A Red Death," Walter Mosley
447. "Deadlock," Sara Paretsky
448. "Dover One," Joyce Porter
449. "The Chinese Orange Mystery," Ellery Queen (Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee)
450. "The Man in the Net," Patrick Quentin
451. "A Judgement in Stone," Ruth Rendell
452. "Gaudy Night," Dorothy L. Sayers
453. "Mr. Hire's Engagement," Georges Simenon
454. "The Laughing Policeman," Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
455. "The Red Box," Rex Stout
456. "The Man Who Killed Himself," Julian Symons
457. "A Pin to See the Peep-Show," F. Tennyson Jesse
458. "The Daughter of Time," Josephine Tey (Elizabeth Mackintosh)
459. "Above the Dark Circus," Sir Hugh Walpole
460. "Born Victim," Hillary Waugh
461. "The Bride Wore Black," Cornell Woolrich
462. "Travels," Ibn Battuta
463. "The Scorpion-Fish," Nocholas Bouvier
464. "The Road to Oxiana," Robert Byron
465. "In Patagonia," Bruce Charles Chatwin
466. "The Voyage of the HMS Beagle," Charles Darwin
467. "My Journey to Lhasa," Alexandra David-Neel
468. "On the Narrow Road to the Deep North," Lesley Downer
469. "The Traveller's Tree," Patrick Leigh Fermor
470. "Seven Years in Tibet," Heinrich Harrer
471. "Kon Tiki," Thor Heyerdahl
472. "The Purple Land," W.H. Hudson
473. "The Last Place on Earth," Roland Huntford
474. "Video Night in Kathmandu," Pico Iyer
475. "Journey to the Hebrides," Samuel Johnson and James Boswell
476. "Eothen," A.W. Kinglake
477. "The Seasick Whale," Emphraim Kishon
478. "A Rose for Winter," Laurie Lee
479. "Golden Earth," Norman Lewis
480. "The Cruise of the Snark," Jack London
481. "Arctic Dreams," Barry Lopez
482. "The Danube," Claudio Magris
483. "The Snow Leopard," Peter Matthiessen
484. "Destinations," Jan Morris
485. "Never Cry Wolf," Farley Mowat
486. Among the Believers: an Islamic Journey," V.S. Naipaul
487. "A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush," Eric Newby
488. "Roads to Santiago," Cees Nooteboom
489. "La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West," Francis Parkman
490. "Into the Heart of Borneo," Raymond (Redmond) O'Hanlon
491. "The Travels," Marco Polo
492. "Dead Man's Chest: Travels after Robert Louis Stevenson," Nicholas Rankin
493. "Sailing Alone Around the World," Joshua Slocum
494. "Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile," J.H. Speke
495. "Travels with Charley: In Search of America," John Steinbeck
496. "Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes," Robert Louis Stevenson
497. "The Valley of the Assassins and Other Persian Travels," Freya Stark
498. "The Great Railway Bazaar," Paul Theroux
499. "Southern Cross to Pole Star," A.F. Tschiffely
500. "A Tramp Abroad," Mark Twain
501. "On Fiji Islands," Ronald Wright
Got this from a cool librarian's blog. I've bolded the ones I've read, and am feeling mightily under-read right about now (and that's saying something!)... however, I do feel like I've seen quite a lot of movies, hee hee...
Before I get to "The List", I'm thinking that I may need to compile a list of Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror books - anyone interested in helping me compile one?
1. "Little Women," Louisa May Alcott
2. "Fairy Tales," Hans Christian Andersen
3. "Peter Pan," J.M. Barrie (I've read the kids' version, does that count?)
4. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," L. Frank Baum
5. "The Last Unicorn," Peter S. Beagle (still have it, have the movie...)
6. "The Secret Garden," Frances Hodgson Burnett (good movie, ashamed to say I've never read the book)
7. "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)
8. "Pinocchio," Carlo Collodi (Carlo Lorenzini)
9. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," Roald Dahl (I re-read this and its sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, often)
10. "Sophie's World," Jostein Gaarder
11. "The Wierdstone of Brisingamen," Alan Garner
12. "The Wind in the Willows," Kenneth Grahame
13. "Children's and Household Tales," Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm
14. "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," Mark Haddon
15. "Emil and the Detectives," Erich Kastner
16. "Just So Stories," Rudyard Kipling
17. "The Complete Nonsense Books," Edward Lear
18. "A Wrinkle in Time," Madeleine L'Engle
19. "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," C.S. Lewis (honestly, who are you talking about here? ;-)
20. "Pippi Longstocking," Astrid Lindgren
21. "Dr. Dolittle," Hugh Lofting
22. "At the Back of the North Wind," George MacDonald
23. "Nobody's Boy," Hector Malot
24. "Winnie-the-Pooh," A.A. Milne
25. "Anne of Green Gables," L.M. Montgomery
26. "Five Children and It," E. Nesbit
27. "Tom's Midnight Garden," Philippa Pearce
28. "The War of the Buttons," Louis Pergaud
29. "Fairy Tales," Charles Perrault
30. "The Tale of Peter Rabbit," Beatrix Potter
31. "The Colour of Magic," Terry Pratchett
32. "Northern Lights," Philip Pullman
33. "Swallows and Amazons," Arthur Ransome
34. "Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang," Mordecai Richler
35. "Harry Potter and the [Philosopher's] Sorceror's Stone," J.K. Rowling
36. "The King of the Golden River," John Ruskin
37. "The Little Prince," Antoine De Saint-Exupery
38. "The Human Comedy," William Saroyan
39. "The Misfortunes of Sophie," Comtesse de Segur
40. "Where the Wild Things Are," Maurice Sendak
41. "And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street," Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel)
42. "Black Beauty," Anna Sewell
43. "The Golem," Isaac Bashevis Singer
44. "Heidi," Johana Spyri
45. "Treasure Island," Robert Louis Stevenson
46. "The Fellowship of the Ring," J.R.R. Tolkien (Do I really need to list this, or is it just a given?)
47. "Mary Poppins," P.L. Travers
48. "Charlotte's Web," E.B. White (still cry like a baby...)
49. "The Sword in the Stone," T.H. White
50. "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm," Kate Douglas Wiggin
51. "The Happy Prince and Other Tales," Oscar Wilde
52. "The Epic of Gilgamesh," Anonymous
53. "The Thousand and One Nights," Anonymous
54. "Sense and Sensibility," Jane Austen
55. "Old Goriot," Honore De Balzac
56. "Vathek: an Arabian Tale," William Beckford
57. "Lady Audley's Secret," Mary Elizabeth Braddon
58. "Jane Eyre," Charlotte Bronte
59. "Wuthering Heights," Emily Bronte (the book that defined the dysfunctional relationship... and I still read it like it's the first time I've ever picked it up)
60. "The Pilgrim's Progress," John Bunyan
61. "The Canterbury Tales," Geoffrey Chaucer (heh heh heh... good stuff...)
62. "The Collected Stories," Anton Chekhov
63. "The Man Who Was Thursday," G.K. Chesterton
64. "Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure," John Cleland
65. "The Moonstone: a Romance," Wilkie Collins
66. "The Hound of the Baskervilles," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
67. "Heart of Darkness," Joseph Conrad
68. "Robinson Crusoe," Daniel Defoe
69. "The Christmas Books," Charles Dickens
70. "Our Mutual Friend," Charles Dickens
71. "Crime and Punishment," Fyodor Dostoyevsky
72. "Middlemarch: A Study in Provincial Life," George Eliot
73. "Tom Jones," Henry Fielding
74. "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald
75. "Madame Bovary," Gustave Flaubert
76. "Howards End," E.M. Forster
77. "North and South," Elizabeth Gaskell
78. "The Sorrows of Young Werther," Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
79. "The Vicar of Wakefield," Oliver Goldsmith
80. "The Power and the Glory," Graham Greene
81. "King Solomon's Mines," H. Rider Haggard
82. "Jude the Obscure," Thomas Hardy
83. "The Scarlet Letter," Nathaniel Hawthorne
84. "Moby Dick," Herman Melville
85. "The Portrait of a Lady," Henry James
86. "The Iliad," Homer
87. "Les Miserables," Victor Hugo
88. "Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of The Dog)," Jerome K. Jerome
89. "Kim," Rudyard Kipling
90. "Bliss and Other Stories," Katherine Mansfield
91. "Utopia," Sir Thomas More
92. "Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque," Edgar Alan Poe
93. "In Search of Lost Time," Marcel Proust (I read a big chunk, but not the whole thing.)9
4. "A Sicilian Romance," Ann Radcliffe
95. "Clarissa," Samuel Richardson
96. "Waverley," Walter Scott
97. "Frankenstein," Mary Shelley
98. "The Red and the Black," Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle)
99. "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde," Robert Louis Stevenson
100. "Dracula," Bram Stoker
101. "Gulliver's Travels," Jonathan Swift
102. "Vanity Fair," William Makepeace Thackeray
103. "War and Peace," Leo Tolstoy
104. "Barchester Towers," Anthony Trollope
105. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," Mark Twain (Langhorne Clemens)
106. "Candide," Voltaire (Francois-Marie Arouet)
107. "The Castle of Otranto," Horace Walpole
108. "The House of Mirth," Edith Wharton
109. "The Picture of Dorian Gray," Oscar Wilde (Mike and I had one of our first conversations thanks to this book, hee hee...)
110. "To the Lighthouse," Virginia Woolf
111. "La Bete Humaine," Emile Zola
112. "London, the Biography," Peter Ackroyd
113. "Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life," John Lee Anderson
114. "The Hour of Our Death," Phillipe Aries
115. "Berlin - the Downfall," Antony Beevor
116. "The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Phillip II," Fernand Braudel
117. "The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century," John Brewer
118. "Frozen Desire: An Enquiry into the Meaning of Money," James Buchan
119. "Hitler and Stalin - Parallel Lives," Alan Bullock
120. "The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy," Jacob Burckhardt
121. "Daily Life in Ancient Rome," Jerome Carcopino
122. "The Accursed Kings," Maurice Druon
123. "The Age of the Cathedrals," Georges Duby
124. "The Stripping of the Altars," Eamon Duffy
125. "Rites of Spring," Modris Eksteins
126. "The Wretched of the Earth," Franz Fanon
127. "Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire," Niall Ferguson
128. "Millennium," Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
129. "Pagans and Christians," Robin Lane Fox
130. "The End of History and the Last Man," Francis Fukuyama
131. "The Naked Heart," Peter Gay
132. "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," Edward Gibbon
133. "The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy," Martin Gilbert
134. "The Cheese and the Worms," Carlo Ginzburg
135. "God's First Love," Friedrich Heer
136. "Histories," Herodotus
137. "Hiroshima," John Hersey
138. "The Fatal Shore," Robert Hughes
139. "Pandaemonium," Humphrey Jennings
140. "A History of Warfare," John Keegan
141. "A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies," Bartolome de las Casas
142. "Seven Pillars of Wisdom," Thomas Edward Lawrence
143. "Islam in History," Bernard Lewis
144. "Chinese Shadows," Simon Leys (Pierre Rychmans)
145. "The Crusades through Arab Eyes," Amin Maalouf
146. "The Defeat of the Spanish Armada," Farrett Mattingly
147. "The Story of English," Robert McCrum
148. "The Ornament of the World," Maria Rosa Menocal
149. "The Women's History of the World," Rosalind Miles
150. "Pax Britannica: The Climax of an Empire," James Morris
151. "Medieval Cities: Their Origins and the Revival of Trade," Henri Pirenne
152. "Parallel Lives," Plutarch
153. "Flesh in the Age of Reason," Roy Porter
154. "Citizens - A Chronicle of the French Revolution," Simon Schama
155. "Leviathan and the Air-Pump," Steven Shapin
156. "The Decline of the West," Oswald Spengler
157. "The Trial of Socrates," Isador Stone
158. "Annals of Imperial Rome," Tacitus
159. "The Origins of the Second World War," A.J.P. Taylor
160. "A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century," Barbara M. Tuchman
161. "A People's History of the United States," Howard Zinn
162. "Paula," Isabel Allende
163. "Journal Intime," ("Amiel's Journal") Henri-Frederic Amiel
164. "Aubrey's Brief Lives," John Aubrey
165. "Confessions," Augustine
166. "Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter," Simone De Beauvior
167. "My Left Foot," Christy Brown
168. "The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini," Benvenuto Cellini
169. "The Unquiet Grave: A Word Cycle by Palinrurus," Cyril Connolly
170. "Boy: Tales of Childhood," Roald Dahl
171. "My Family and Other Animals," Gerald Durrell
172. "An Angel at My Table," Janet Frame
173. "The Diary of a Young Girl," Anne Frank
174. "Journals, 1889-1949," Andre Paul Guillaume Gide
175. "Poetry and Truth: From My Own Life," Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
176. "Father and Son: A Study of Two Temperaments," Edmund Gosse
177. "Ways of Escape," Graham Greene
178. "Black Like Me," John Howard Griffin
179. "84, Charing Cross Road," Helene Hanff
180. "Pentimento," Lillian Hellman
181. "Childhood, Youth and Exile," Alexander Herzen
182. "The Diary of Alice James," Alice James
183. "Memories, Dreams, Reflections," Carl Gustav Jung
184. "Diaries 1919-23," Franz Kafka
185. "The Story of My Life," Helen Keller
186. "The Book of Margery Kempe," Margery Kempe
187. "I Will Bear Witness," Victor Klemperer
188. "In the Castle of My Skin," George Lamming
189. "A Grief Observed," C.S. Lewis
190. "The Towers of Trebizond," Rose Macaulay
191. "Journal of Katherine Mansfield," Katherine Mansfield
192. "The Seven Storey Mountain," Thomas Merton
193. "The Pursuit of Love," Nancy Mitford
194. "Borrowed Time," Paul Monette
195. "My Place," Sally Morgan
196. "Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited," Vladimir Nabokov
197. "Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books," Azar Nafisi
198. "Memoirs," Pablo Neruda
199. "Portrait of a Marriage," Nigel Nicolson
200. "Running in the Family," Michael Ondaatje
201. "Down and Out in Paris and London," George Orwell
202. "Autobiography of a Yogi," Paramahansa Yogananda
203. "Diary," Samuel Pepys
204. "Letters," Pliny the Younger
205. "Confessions," Jean-Jacques Rousseau
206. "Words," Jean-Paul Sartre
207. "Journal of a Solitude," May Sarton
208. "Walden," Henry David Thoreau
209. "De Profundis," Oscar Wilde
210. "Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit," Jeanette Winterson
211. "Autobiographies," William Butler Yeats
212. "Things Fall Apart," Chinua Achebe
213. "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands," Jorge Amado
214. "Le Grand Meaulnes," Alain-Fournier (Henri Alban Fournier)
215. "Take a Girl Like You," Kingsley Amis
216. "Winesburg, Ohio," Sherwood Anderson
217. "Surfacing," Margaret Atwood
218. "The New York Trilogy," Paul Auster
219. "Tales of Odessa," Isaak Babel
220. "Giovanni's Room," James Baldwin
221. "The Sweet Hereafter," Russel Banks
222. "The Regeneration Trilogy," Pat Barker
223. "Herzog," Saul Bellow
224. "Ficciones," Jorge Luis Borges
225. "Nadja," Andre Breton
226. "The Master and the Margarita," Mikhail Bulgakov
227. "The Naked Lunch," William Burroughs
228. "Possession," A.S. Byatt
229. "If On a Winter's Night a Traveller," Italo Calvino
230. "The Outsider," Albert Camus
231. "Auto da Fe," Elias Canetti
232. "Oscar and Lucinda," Peter Carey
233. "The Kingdom of This World," Alejo Carpentier
234. "The Bloody Chamber," Angela Carter
235. "What We Talk about When We Talk about Love," Raymond Carver
236. "The Horse's Mouth," Joyce Carey
237. "Journey to the End of Night," Louis-Ferdinand Celine
238. "Soldiers of Salamis," Javier Cercas
239. "The Stories of John Cheever," John Cheever
240. "Disgrace," J.M. Coetzee
241. "Cheri," Colette (Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette)
242. "Victory," Joseph Conrad
243. "A House and Its Head," Ivy Compton-Burnett
244. "Fifth Business," Roberson Davies
245. "Captain Corelli's Mandolin," Louis De Bernieres
246. "Underworld," Don Delillo
247. "Seven Gothic Tales," Isak Dinesen
248. "Berlin Alexanderplatz," Alfred Doblin
249. "Once Were Warriors," Alan Duff (never read it, but the movie is amazing - like a gut punch)
250. "Rebecca," Daphne Du Maurier (I LOVE this book)
251. "The Lover," Marguerite Duras
252. "The Alexandria Quartet," Lawrence Durrell
253. "The Name of the Rose," Umberto Eco
254. "The Neverending Story," Michael Ende (never read it, loved the first movie and still have the 45 by Limahl)
255. "The Sound and the Fury," William Faulkner (I wanted to dig him up and shoot him after I read it)
256. "The Wars," Timothy Findley
257. "The Good Soldier," Ford Maddox Ford
258. "Wildlife," Richard Ford
259. "A Passage to India," E.M. Forster
260. "The Corrections," Jonathan Franzen
261. "Birdsong," Sebastian Faulks
262. "The Blue Flower," Penelope Fitzgerald
263. "From the Fifteenth District," Mavis Gallant
264. "One Hundred Years of Solitude," Gabriel Garcia Marquez
265. "Our Lady of the Flowers," Jean Genet
266. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding
267. "July's People," Nadine Gordimer
268. "FerdyDurke," Witold Gombrowicz
269. "The Tin Drum," Gunther Grass
270. "Hunger," Knut Hamsun
271. "The Blind Owl," Sadegh Hedayat
272. "The Old Man and the Sea," Ernest Hemingway
273. "The Glass Bead Game," Herman Hesse
274. "Lost Horizon," James Hilton
275. "A High Wind in Jamaica," Richard Hughes
276. "The World According to Garp," John Irving
277. "Berlin Stories," Christopher Isherwood (does knowing Cabaret by heart count?)
278. "The Remains of the Day," Kazuo Ishiguro
279. "Ulysses," James Joyce
280. "The File on H," Ismail Kadare
281. "The Trial," Franz Kafka
282. "It," Stephen King
283. "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," Milan Kundera
284. "The Leopard," Giuseppe Di Lampedusa
285. "The Diviners," Margaret Laurence
286. "Women in Love," D.H. Lawrence
287. "The Golden Notebook," Doris Lessing
288. "The Periodic Table," Primo Levi
289. "Changing Places," David Lodge
290. "The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas" J.M. Machado De Assis
291. "The Cairo Trilogy," Naguib Mahfouz
292. "The Executioner's Song," Norman Mailer
293. "God's Grace," Bernard Malamud
294. "An Imaginary Life," David Malouf
295. "The Magic Mountain," Thomas Mann
296. "Embers," Sandor Marai
297. "Life of Pi," Yann Martel
298. "Cakes and Ale," Somorset Maugham
299. "The Group," Mary McCarthy
300. "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter," Carson McCullers
301. "Enduring Love," Ian McEwan
302. "The Sea of Fertility," Yukio Mishima
303. "A Fine Balance," Rohinton Mistry
304. "Cold Heaven," Brian Moore
305. "Beloved," Toni Morrison
306. "The Progress of Love," Alice Munro
307. "The Sea, the Sea," Iris Murdoch
308. "Lolita," Vladimir Nabokov
309. "A House for Mr Biswas," V.S. Naipaul
310. "The Third Policeman," Flann O'Brian
311. "A Good Man is Hard to Find," Flannery O'Connor
312. "The English Patient," Michael Ondaatje
313. "Where the Jackals Howl," Amos Oz
314. "The Messiah of Stockholm," Cynthia Ozick
315. "Gormenghast," Mervyn Peake
316. "Mr. Weston's Good Wine," T.F. Powys
317. "The Nephew," James Purdy
318. "Interview with the Vampire," Anne Rice
319. "Barney's Version," Mordecai Richler
320. "Hadrian the Seventh," Frederick Rolfe (Baron Corvo)
321. "The Radetzky March," Joseph Roth
322. "The Human Stain," Philip Roth
323. "The Satanic Verses," Salman Rushdie
324. "Pedro Paramo," Juan Rulfo
325. "Bonjour Tristesse," Francoise Sagan
326. "Short Stories," Saki (Hector Hugh Munro)
327. "Catcher in the Rye," J.D. Salinger
328. "Staying On," Paul Scott
329. "Austerlitz," W.G. Sebald
330. "Last Exit to Brooklyn," Hubert Selby Jr.
331. "Unless," Carol Shields
332. "The Magician of Lubin," Isaac Bashevis Singer
333. "The Engineer of Human Souls," Josef Skvorecky
334. "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," Muriel Spark
335. "The Man Who Loved Children," Christina Stead
336. "The Grapes of Wrath," Joseph Steinbeck
337. "Sohie's Choice," William Styron
338. "Perfume," Patrick Suskind
339. "The Confessions of Zeno," Italo Svevo
340. "Declares Pereira," Antonio Tabucchi
341. "The White Hotel," D.M. Thomas
342. "The Master," Colm Toibin
343. "Felicia's Journey," William Trevor
344. "The Palm-Wine Drinkard," Amos Tutuola
345. "The Accidental Tourist," Anne Tyler
346. "Couples," John Updike
347. "The Time of the Hero," Mario Vargas Llosa
348. "In Praise of Older Women," Stephen Vizinczey
349. "Brideshead Revisited," Evelyn Waugh
350. "Voss," Patrick White
351. "Memoirs of Hadrian," Marguerite Yourcenar
352. "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy," Douglas Noel Adams
353. "Hothouse," Brian Aldiss
354. "Brain Wave," Poul Anderson
355. "I, Robot," Isaac Asimov
356. "The Handmaid's Tale," Margaret Atwood
357. "The Crystal World," J.G. Ballard
358. "The Demolished Man," Alfred Bester
359. "Who Goes There," John W. Campbell
360. "The Invention of Morel," Adolfo Bioy Casares
361. "Planet of the Apes," Pierre Boulle
362. "The Martian Chronicles," Ray Bradbury
363. "The Sheep Look Up," John Brunner
364. "A Clockwork Orange," Anthony Burgess
365. "Erewhon," Samuel Butler
366. "Cosmicomics," Italo Calvino
367. "2001: A Space Odyssey," Arthur C. Clarke
368. "A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder," James De Mille
369. "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch," Philip K. Dick
370. "To Your Scattered Bodies Go," Philip Jose Farmer
371. "Neuromancer," William Gibson
372. "Stranger in a Strange Land," Robert A. Heinlein
373. "Dune," Frank Herbert
374. "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley
375. "Two Planets," Kurd Lasswitz
376. "Left Hand of Darkness," Ursula K. LeGuin
377. "Solaris," Stanislaw Lem
378. "Shikasta," Doris Lessing
379. "Stepford Wives," Ira Levin
380. "Out of the Silent Planet," C.S. Lewis
381. "I Am Legend," Richard Matheson
382. "Dwellers in the Mirage," Abraham Merritt
383. "A Canticle for Leibowitz," Walter Miller
384. "Ringworld," Larry Niven
385. "Time Traders," Andre Norton
386. "Nineteen Eighty-Four," George Orwell
387. "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket," Edgar Allan Poe
388. "The Inverted World," Christopher Priest
389. "The Green Child," Herbert Read
390. "The Laxian Key," Robert Sheckley
391. "City," Clifford D. Simak392. "Donovan's Brain," Curt Siodmak
393. "Lest Darkness Fall," L. Sprague De Camp
394. "Last and First Men," Olaf Stapledon
395. "More than Human," Theodore Sturgeon
396. "Slan," A.E. Van Vogt
397. "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth," Jules Verne
398. "Slaughterhouse-Five," Kurt Vonnegut
399. "The Island of Dr Moreau," H.G. Wells
400. "Islandia," Austin Tappan Wright
401. "The Day of the Triffids," John Wyndham
402. "More Work for the Undertaker," Margery Allingham
403. "Devil Take the Blue-Tail Fly," John Franklin Bardin
404. "Trent's Last Case," E.C. Bentley
405. "Trial and Error," Anthony Berkeley
406. "The Poisoned Chocolates Case," Anthony Berkeley
407. "The Beast Must Die," Nicholas Blake
408. "Psycho," Robert Bloch
409. "Double Indemnity," James Cain
410. "Thus was Adonis Murdered," Sarah Caudwell (Sarah Cockburn)
411. "Farewell, My Lovely," Raymond Chandler
412. "No Orchids for Miss Blandish," James Hadley Chase (Rene Raymond)
413. "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd," Agatha Christie
414. "The Woman in White," Wilkie Collins
415. "Unnatural Exposure," Patricia Cornwell
416. "The Moving Toyshop," Edmund Crispin
417. "In the Last Analysis," Amanda Cross (Carolyn Gold Heilbrun)
418. "Rose at Ten," Marco Denevi
419. "Vendetta," Michael Dibdin
420. "The Glass-sided Ants' Nest," Peter Dickinson
421. "He Who Whispers," John Dickson Carr
422. "The Big Clock," Kenneth Fearing
423. "Blood Sport," Dick Francis
424. "Quiet as a Nun," Lady Antonia Fraser
425. "The Sunday Woman," Carlo Fruttero
426. "Death in the Wrong Room," Anthony Gilbert (Lucy Beatrice Malleson)Probably.
427. "Red Harvest," Dashiel Hammett
428. "Suicide Excepted," Cyril Hare
429. "Bones and Silence," Reginald Hill
430. "A Rage in Harlem," Chester Himes
431. "Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow," Peter Hoeg
432. "Malice Aforethought," Francis Iles (Anthony Berkeley Cox)
433. "Hamlet, Revenge!" Michael Innes (John Innes Mackintosh Stewart)
434. "The Murder Room," P.D. James
435. "The Sleeping-Car Murders," Sebastien Japrisot (Jean Baptiste Rossi)
436. "Death of My Aunt," C.H.B. Kitchin
437. "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold," John Le Carre (David Cornwell)
438. "The Mystery of the Yellow Room," Gaston Leroux
439. "The Last Detective," Peter Lovesey
440. "Final Curtain," Ngaio Marsh
441. "An Oxford Tragedy," J.C. Masterman
442. "The Steam Pig," James McClure
443. "The Seven Per Cent Solution," Nicholas Meyer
444. "How Like an Angel," Margaret Millar
445. "The Red House Mystery," A.A. Milne
446. "A Red Death," Walter Mosley
447. "Deadlock," Sara Paretsky
448. "Dover One," Joyce Porter
449. "The Chinese Orange Mystery," Ellery Queen (Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee)
450. "The Man in the Net," Patrick Quentin
451. "A Judgement in Stone," Ruth Rendell
452. "Gaudy Night," Dorothy L. Sayers
453. "Mr. Hire's Engagement," Georges Simenon
454. "The Laughing Policeman," Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
455. "The Red Box," Rex Stout
456. "The Man Who Killed Himself," Julian Symons
457. "A Pin to See the Peep-Show," F. Tennyson Jesse
458. "The Daughter of Time," Josephine Tey (Elizabeth Mackintosh)
459. "Above the Dark Circus," Sir Hugh Walpole
460. "Born Victim," Hillary Waugh
461. "The Bride Wore Black," Cornell Woolrich
462. "Travels," Ibn Battuta
463. "The Scorpion-Fish," Nocholas Bouvier
464. "The Road to Oxiana," Robert Byron
465. "In Patagonia," Bruce Charles Chatwin
466. "The Voyage of the HMS Beagle," Charles Darwin
467. "My Journey to Lhasa," Alexandra David-Neel
468. "On the Narrow Road to the Deep North," Lesley Downer
469. "The Traveller's Tree," Patrick Leigh Fermor
470. "Seven Years in Tibet," Heinrich Harrer
471. "Kon Tiki," Thor Heyerdahl
472. "The Purple Land," W.H. Hudson
473. "The Last Place on Earth," Roland Huntford
474. "Video Night in Kathmandu," Pico Iyer
475. "Journey to the Hebrides," Samuel Johnson and James Boswell
476. "Eothen," A.W. Kinglake
477. "The Seasick Whale," Emphraim Kishon
478. "A Rose for Winter," Laurie Lee
479. "Golden Earth," Norman Lewis
480. "The Cruise of the Snark," Jack London
481. "Arctic Dreams," Barry Lopez
482. "The Danube," Claudio Magris
483. "The Snow Leopard," Peter Matthiessen
484. "Destinations," Jan Morris
485. "Never Cry Wolf," Farley Mowat
486. Among the Believers: an Islamic Journey," V.S. Naipaul
487. "A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush," Eric Newby
488. "Roads to Santiago," Cees Nooteboom
489. "La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West," Francis Parkman
490. "Into the Heart of Borneo," Raymond (Redmond) O'Hanlon
491. "The Travels," Marco Polo
492. "Dead Man's Chest: Travels after Robert Louis Stevenson," Nicholas Rankin
493. "Sailing Alone Around the World," Joshua Slocum
494. "Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile," J.H. Speke
495. "Travels with Charley: In Search of America," John Steinbeck
496. "Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes," Robert Louis Stevenson
497. "The Valley of the Assassins and Other Persian Travels," Freya Stark
498. "The Great Railway Bazaar," Paul Theroux
499. "Southern Cross to Pole Star," A.F. Tschiffely
500. "A Tramp Abroad," Mark Twain
501. "On Fiji Islands," Ronald Wright
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