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Top Ten Tuesday - I Just HAD to Buy... But are Still Sitting on My Bookshelf

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. If you can't come up with ten, don't worry about it---post as many as you can!

This week's list is pretty difficult for me to write.  For the past year, I've lived mostly out of boxes.  I haven't even seen most of my books that entire time.  I've bought a ton of books in the past few years and most of those are still sitting on "shelf."  I buy books and then check books out from the library.  Sometimes I get back to the ones I own, and sometimes they just stay somewhere.  I have one box of books sitting in my room, so I'll look at those.

1-2. Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager by Diana Gabaldon -- C made me read Outlander (while reenacting, what a trip!) and I fell in love with the story of Claire and Jamie.  I had to get the other books and read the rest of the Outlander series.  So I rushed out to the used book stores and found Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager and what did I do?  Left them on the shelf.  I started Dragonfly a few months back and something happened.  I got distracted or something and didn't finish it.  So I've got these great books sitting here and haven't read them yet.  Thankfully I have joined the Outlander series reading challenge so I am going to read the entire series this year, but it probably won't be until August (to coincide with my Year of Reading challenge).  I promise I will get to them.

3. Wideacre by Philippa Gregory -- I love historical fiction.  I read The Other Boleyn Girl and told myself that I had to read more from Gregory.  So I had to buy this when I saw it on the used book store shelf.  And again, I have let it sit on the shelf.  No matter, historical fiction is another one of my reading challenges.

4-5. Inkheart and Inkspell by Cornelia Funke -- I watched the movie Inkheart and really liked it, so I just had to read the book right?  Then I found out it was trilogy.  Oh, well, okay I can do that.  So I found Inkheart and Inkspell, but have yet to find a cheap copy of Inkdeath.  I keep telling myself that I haven't read them because I don't have the third, but really I just keep getting distracted by other books.

6. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins -- Another must read after hearing about it for so long.  I found a copy for cheap and snatched it up.  It's only been on my shelf for about two weeks so far. I have high hopes that this one will be read soon.

7. The Magicians by Lev Grossman -- J's said that I had to read this one.  And his description of the book made it really sound like something I would like.  I found a cheap copy at Half Price Books about three weeks ago.  I just need to work it into my crazy reading schedule now.

8. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez -- Up until this year, I read mostly nonfiction or "classics."  This is one of those books that I always considered a "classic," but hadn't read.  So I found a copy sometime last year thinking that I would tackle it in the coming weeks and promptly forgot about the book.  It sat in a box until I unearthed it last night while trying to think of entries for this post.  I'll try to get to it soon, but I know it's one of those books that I'm going to have to devote actually dedicated reading time.  Maybe during a trip or a snow day...

Okay, so I only found eight for this week.  That's not to say I only have eight books in my purchased TBR pile.  These are just the eight books that I was super excited to find and read and then not read for one reason or another.  I am going to try really hard to put these into my must read pile.  We'll see how it goes.  I'm not making any promises.

tags: lists, Top Ten Tuesday
categories: Books
Tuesday 03.01.11
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
Comments: 3
 

Top Ten Tuesday - Book to Movie Adaptations

Top Ten Tuesday: Book to Movie Adaptations

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. If you can't come up with ten, don't worry about it---post as many as you can!

Very excited about this post, but how to narrow it down?  After thinking long and hard, I think I've gotten my favorites in here.  Caution: Long post ahead!

1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy -- Easy choice.  Peter Jackson did the books justice; something I don't think a lot of people thought could happen.  I know he cut out some and changed a bit, but the movies stay true to the main stories of the books.  Also, the cinematography is just amazing!  Those landscapes, those sets, those wide shots!  How could it get any better.  As an added bonus, I loved the portrayal of Eowyn and Faramir in the movies.  They even made last week's Top Ten Tuesday: Love Stories.  Great movies.  BTW they must be watched from the extended editions.  None of this theatrical version crap!  (I love The Fellowship of the Ring, so had to add that poster)

2. Persuasion -- Has anyone picked up that I love Jane Austen?  And specifically Persuasion?  My favorite Austen of all.  Of course, for this post I had to pick an Austen adaptation and I do so love this one.  The 2007 ITV version aired on PBS as part of the Jane Austen marathon on Masterpiece Theater.  I was so excited to sit in front of my antenna-only TV and watch Jane Austen adaptations for two months of Sundays.  This was far and away my favorite adaptation.  (Northanger Abbey was my second favorite)  Sally Hakwins plays Anne Elliot as quiet and demur, but with strong emotions and opinions just beneath the surface.  Exactly how I pictured her!  And Rupert Penry-Jones as Captain Wentworth!  Divine casting!  I know this version took some liberties with the book, but I felt that they were all done keeping the heart of the book intact.  My favorite change is the scene after Sally gets Wentworth's letter and goes racing through Bath to find him.  Awesome camera work and music!  Love it, love it, love it!

3. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events -- I sped through the book series in about two months.  (I was late to the band wagon and didn't start reading them until they were all published).  And then I found out they were making a film version.  The film does condense the first three books of the series, but again the changes kept true to the heart of the books.  Hmm... Jim Carrey as Count Olaf.  I'm not the biggest fan of him, but this was perfect casting.  And the Baudelaire children were perfect.  I loved the supporting cast!  Billy Connolly, Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman, Catherine O'Hara, Craig Ferguson, Cedric the Entertainer, Jane Lynch, Luis Guzman, Jennifer Coolidge and Jude Law's narration.  How did they get all those people into this movie!  It really makes the movie a lot of fun.  And those sets!!!!  Like a fairy tale! And the costumes!!  Amazing!  I want Violet's dress.  So adorable.

4. Where the Heart Is -- I liked the book by Billie Letts, but it wasn't one of my favorites.  And then I saw the 2000 movie, and absolutely fell in love with it.  Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd are adorable.  I think my favorite character from the book and from the film is Sister Husband played by Stockard Channing.  I love her to death.  I want her to take me in when I give birth to a baby in the Walmart!  And her death was just so tragic.  I cry every time I watch the movie.

5. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams is a genius for writing the series.  And the 2005 film was a great adaptation.  Of course with cast of Martin Freeman (so adorable on The Office), Zooey Deschanel (love her!), Sam Rockwell (crazy as usual), Mos Def (great Ford Prefect), Bill Nighy (he plays such a range of characters), and Alan Rickman (who doesn't love Alan Rickman) how could it not be good!  My favorite part of the book series is the Guide interludes.  I'm excited that the film included a few with exciting animation.  My favorite: definitely the Volgons!  And speaking of Volgons, how awesome was that puppetry.  They looked just fake enough to be real but comical.  I loved all of them.  And the opening Dolphin song... genius! (BTW opening narration by Stephen Fry is the best casting I've heard in a long while)

6. Coraline -- Okay so I saw the movie before I read the book.  I loved the creepy sense of wonder in the movie version.  The Other Mother is very scary (understandably so) in the final battle.  And the black cat... I've always thought that cats were creepy, this just confirmed it for me.  After seeing the movie, I went and read the book.  Great story, but the visuals really didn't it for me.  I got the graphic novel from the library the other day.  After this post, it's moved up on my TBR list.

7. Interview with a Vampire -- I was too young to see the movie when it was released in theaters, but I did start reading Anne Rice about that time.  I loved (still love) her writing and especially the first four of the Vampire Chronicles.  I had definite images of all the characters in my head before seeing the movie.  The movie versions don't really match, but that's okay.  I see the movie and the book as two different entities.  They are definitely not the same, but that's okay.  I think the movie did a great job reimagining Rice's novel.  And Rice wrote the screenplay and was a consultant during the filming.  My fave from the movie: Stephen Rea as Santiago... very sinister.

8. The Secret Garden --  There is only one movie version of The Secret Garden and it's the 1987 Hallmark Hall of Fame version.  I remember watching this movie as a young child. The opening scenes in India scared the begeezus out of me.  And they were supposed to.  The transition to the moors of England sets the mood for the entire book.  I love it!  The sets are wonderful and full of atmosphere.  The music is extra moody at all the right times.  The actress who played Mary gave her just enough spunk and defiance.  I recently let C borrow the movie because she wanted to show it her daughters.  She agrees, this is the only version of the book.

9. Harry Potter Series -- I love the books.  And I love the movies.  They are different, but related.  I understand that the movie makers had to cut things out of the books to fit onto the screen.  There's just too much going on in the books to put everything on screen.  I've read the books, so some of the movie scenes (especially from the 5th and 6th movies) make more sense.  But I still love the movies.  My favorite, hands down, is The Goblet of Fire.  I love the book and the movie did great job showcasing my favorite scenes.  The final task: the labyrinth is awesomely shot with special effects and zooming camera angles.  I loved it so much.  I am so excited and so sad to see the last movie this July.  It's already on my calendar!

10. Little Women -- Another favorite childhood book.  I loved the March sisters and would read and reread the book growing up.  The movie version is one of my favorite movies from my younger days.  The adaptation is true to the book while allowing for the transition to film.  The actors are wonderful.  I loved Winona Ryder as Jo March.  She plays her just how I pictured.  Susan Sarandon gives a great performance as the matriarch of the clan.  I would love to have her as a mother.  And I have to mention Christian Bale as Laurie... so dreamy!  I really love him as an actor.  My only problem (and it's a problem with the book, not just the movie) Laurie should have ended up with Jo not Amy!  Alas, I must live with the story as is.  It's still one of my all-time favorites.

The best part of this list --- I own all the movies listed.  So I can watch them again and again!

tags: lists, Top Ten Tuesday
categories: Books, Movies
Tuesday 02.22.11
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
Comments: 2
 

Top Ten Tuesday - Love Stories

Top Ten Love Stories

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. If you can't come up with ten, don't worry about it---post as many as you can!

My Top Ten:

1. Anne Elliott and Captain Wentworth from Persuasion -- Favorite Austen novel. Her best characters.  Awesome story of love lost and found again. Wentworth!

2. Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall from Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series -- Long (very long) and complicated love story, but amazing nonetheless.

3. Pooh and Christopher Robin -- different type of love story, but still a classic love story

4. Cecilia Tallis and Robbie Turner from Atonement by Ian McEwan -- a doomed love, but so beautiful. And the movie was just gorgeous.

5. Arthur Dent and Trillion from Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Funny, nerdy love.

6. Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning -- Yes I know, not a literary story, but an awesome literary love story.

7. Wesley and Princess Buttercup from The Princess Bride -- Horrible names, but a good story.

8. Eowyn and Faramir from LOTR -- I know, I know Arwen and Aragon is the favorite couple, but I definitely prefer the other love story.  I love these characters so much more.

9. Jo and Laurie from Little Women -- I know they didn't end up together, but they should of ended up together.  Laurie marrying Amy just seemed like a conciliation prize.

10. Mary and Colin from The Secret Garden -- Another love story that ended with tragically with Colin dying (sorry spoiler, but it is a classic, everyone should have read this already) and Mary marrying the other guy (cannot remember his name, that's how memorable he is).

To many I am a pessimist when it comes to love, but deep down I am romantic at heart.  I love a good love story.  Not those crazy Harlequin romances (every once in a while, but nothing that's really going to affect me), but deep stories of love.

tags: lists, love, Top Ten Tuesday
categories: Books
Tuesday 02.15.11
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
Comments: 4
 

Top Ten Tuesday - Names

Top Ten Characters I'd Name My Children After

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. If you can't come up with ten, don't worry about it---post as many as you can!

My Top Ten:

1. Elizabeth Rose: After Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice.  Lizzie or Eliza for short.

2. Georgiana Jane: After Georgiana Darcy from Pride and Prejudice.  Gigi or Georgie for short.

3. Arthur Dent: From Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  J insists, but I'm actually okay with this choice.

4. Emmeline: After Emma Woodhouse from Emma. I don't like just Emma, but Emmeline can be shortened to Emma if we choose.  (Notice the Jane Austen trend?)

5. Dorian Grey: From The Picture of Dorian Grey. Not a good, morale character, but such a great name that I had to add it.

6. Ophelia: From Shakespeare's Hamlet. Horrible ending for the character, but I so love her name.

7. Frances Price: After Fanny Price from Mansfield Park. Another great Jane Austen character and name.  Plus, Frances is my middle name, so keeping it in the family.

8. Evelyn Lyra: After Lyra from Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy.  First names must be able to be shortened, so Lyra cannot be a first name.  Perhaps a middle name.

9. Sophie Anne Elliot: After Anne Elliot from Austen's Persuasion, my favorite book, but the name needs a bit more.

10. Alice (or Alyss) Heart: After Alice from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  One of all-time favorite books.

Some other possibilities: Cordelia (King Lear), Katharina (Taming of the Shrew), Josephine (Little Women), Rosalind (As You Like It), Edmund (Mansfield Park), Penelope (The Odyssey), Sam (The Maltese Falcon)... I could keep going, but I think that's a good list.

I would love to name my future children after great literary characters.  Names with meaning, strength, beauty, etc.  Plus, it would also be an interesting story.

tags: lists, Top Ten Tuesday
categories: Books
Tuesday 02.08.11
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

The Centurions of 2011 Reading Challenge

Yesterday I was reading A Year of Reading (one of the many book blogs I follow) and found this great group on Facebook: The Centurions of 2011.  A goal of reading 111 books by January 2012 and a place to share those books and progress, I just had to join! I'll just add this goal to the 10+ reading challenges I have joined.  I think I'm a bit addicted to reading challenges and book groups.  I might need an intervention soon.  But it's a good addiction, right?  Right?  Right?  I take from the silence that's it a great addicition.  So, I'm gong to keep reading and try to get ahead on these challenges.

If you're like me and addicted to books, check out the group on Facebook.

tags: lists
categories: Books, Reading Challenges
Monday 01.24.11
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

The Book List

Look at the list and bold those you have read. Italicize those you intend to read. Underline the books you LOVE. Strike out the books you have no intention of ever reading, or were forced to read and hated. Reprint this in your journal and share.

  1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
  2. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
  3. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
  4. The Harry Potter Series – JK Rowling
  5. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
  6. The Bible
  7. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
  8. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
  9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
  10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
  11. Little Women – Louisa M Alcott 
  12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
  13. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
  14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
  15. Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
  16. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
  17. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
  18. Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
  19. The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
  20. Middlemarch – George Eliot
  21. Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
  22. The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald 
  23. Bleak House – Charles Dickens
  24. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
  25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
  26. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
  27. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
  29. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
  30. The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
  31. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
  32. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
  33. Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
  34. Emma – Jane Austen
  35. Persuasion – Jane Austen
  36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewi
  37. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
  38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
  39. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
  40. Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
  41. Animal Farm – George Orwell
  42. he Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
  43. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
  45. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
  46. Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
  47. Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
  48. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
  49. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
  50. Atonement – Ian McEwan
  51. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
  52. Dune - Frank Herbert
  53. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
  54. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
  55. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
  56. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
  57. A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
  58. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
  59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
  60. Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  61. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
  62. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
  63. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
  64. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
  65. Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
  66. On The Road – Jack Kerouac
  67. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
  68. Bridget Jones’ Diary – Helen Fielding
  69. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
  70. Moby Dick – Herman Melville
  71. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
  72. Dracula – Bram Stoker
  73. The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
  74. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
  75. Ulysses – James Joyce
  76. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
  77. Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
  78. Germinal – Emile Zola
  79. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
  80. Possession – AS Byatt
  81. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
  82. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
  83. The Color Purple – Alice Walker
  84. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
  85. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
  86. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
  87. Charlotte’s Web – EB White
  88. The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
  89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  90. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
  91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
  92. The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
  93. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
  94. Watership Down – Richard Adams
  95. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
  96. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
  97. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
  98. Hamlet – William Shakespeare
  99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
  100. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

Some Comments: I know the instructions said to strike out any book you don't have any intention of reading, but I just can't.  I would never say never when it comes to books.  I do read according to my mood.  For example, right now I am reading a lot of contemporary fiction.  Two years ago it was all nonfiction history books.  Five years ago, it was all the American classics.  And so on...  I will keep some of these books on my TBR list, possibly for years, but they're stay there until I get around to reading them.

How many have you read?

tags: classics, lists
categories: Books
Monday 01.10.11
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

Challenged List

I’ve copied the list of the most-challenged books of the 1990s straight from the ALA website. I’ve highlighted the ones I’ve read.

  1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
  2. Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
  3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
  4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
  5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
  6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
  8. Forever by Judy Blume
  9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
  10. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
  11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
  12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
  13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
  14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
  15. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
  16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
  17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
  18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
  19. Sex by Madonna
  20. Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
  21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
  22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
  23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
  24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
  25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
  26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
  27. The Witches by Roald Dahl 
  28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
  29. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
  30. The Goats by Brock Cole
  31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
  32. Blubber by Judy Blume
  33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
  34. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
  35. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
  36. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
  37. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
  38. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
  39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
  40. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
  41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
  43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
  44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
  45. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
  46. Deenie by Judy Blume
  47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
  48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
  49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
  50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
  51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
  52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
  54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
  55. Cujo by Stephen King
  56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
  57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
  58. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
  59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
  60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
  61. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
  62. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
  63. Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
  64. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
  65. Fade by Robert Cormier
  66. Guess What? by Mem Fox
  67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
  68. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
  69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
  70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
  71. Native Son by Richard Wright
  72. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
  73. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
  74. Jack by A.M. Homes
  75. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
  76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
  77. Carrie by Stephen King
  78. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
  79. On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
  80. Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
  81. Family Secrets by Norma Klein
  82. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
  83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
  84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
  85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
  86. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
  87. Private Parts by Howard Stern
  88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
  89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
  90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
  91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
  92. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
  93. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
  94. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
  95. Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
  96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
  97. View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
  98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
  99. The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
  100. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

In the future, I want to read all the books on this list.  I'm sure I'll get to them at some point.  Just need to start plugging away.  For my take on censorship, specifically in relation to literature, check out the entry on my education blog, The New Athenian Academy.

tags: classics, lists
categories: Books
Thursday 01.06.11
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

Trip and a Challenge and Geeks!

Interested little book full of useless information... just what I love. Where else can you learn to say "Where is the bathroom" in 12 languages?  Or  6 great moments in pre-1980 Kung Fu movies (of which I have seen 2)?  How about Band Trivia from America's Top Universities?  Must have for anyone wanting to add to their ridiculous knowledge basis.  And just for good measure: 5 Latin phrases to shout while heading into battle.  Per aspera ad astra!  (Debuting as my own personal Latin motto) State of the list:

  • Bespelling Jane -- Mary Balogh, Colleen Cleason, Susan Krinard, and Janet Mullany
  • Holidays are Hell --Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Marjorie M. Liu, and Vicki Petersson
  • The New Dead -- edited by Christopher Golden
  • This Christmas --Jennifer Coburn and Liz Ireland
  • Dashing Through the Mall -- Sherryl Woods, Darlene Gardner, and Holly Jacobs (started yesterday)
  • The Geeks' Guide to World Domination -- Garth Sundem
  • The Lightkeeper's Daughter -- Colleen Coble (going to not read; wait until Jan. 1 to include in Historical Fiction Reading Challenge)
  • Rogue Angel: Destiny -- Alex Archer
  • ArchEnemy -- Frank Beddor (going to not read; wait until Jan. 1 to include in Fantasy Reading Challenge)

One more trip and a challenge update to go before it's back to normal. Time to get started on all those reading challenges I signed up for.

tags: lists
categories: Books
Friday 12.31.10
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

Book Lust and More Book Lust by Nancy Pearl

I picked these two reference books up last week at the library.  I am a sucker for lists of books that I should be reading.  These two did not disappoint.  The author picked specific authors or gave some examples of good reads based on topics. I love making lists.  My mother thinks I am weird.  I've always loved making lists.  Lists for school projects, lists of movies I've read, lists of good restaurants, lists of great reads, lists of bad reads, etc.  These books really allowed for some good reading lists.

Examples of some great categories:

  • Famous Alices
  • Armchair Travel
  • Books About Books
  • Dinosaur Hunting
  • King Arthur
  • People You Ought to Meet

At this point I probably have a "To Read" list of over 2000 books.  I'll never get to all of them, but that's kind of the beauty of the lsits.  I tend to pick books based on my mood.  I have a list of books to look for every time I go to the library.  I find a book, review the summary or check out the cover.  If it strikes my fancy, I check it out.  Once I get it home, I start in to the book.  If the book doesn't catch me within about 40 pages, I close it for good.  I don't feel the need to finish every book I start.  If I don't like it, I move on to the next one.  So every time I go to the library I usually get 10+ books.  Out of those books, on average, I finihs about 6 of them.  My ridiculously long list offers lots of selections.

I've gotten at least 400 book selections out of these reference books.  But next week, I will probably get another reading list book and add to the "To Read" list.  And that's all part of the fun of reading!

tags: lists, Nancy Pearl, reading behavior
categories: Book Reviews
Thursday 11.18.10
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 
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