poingu's 2015 challenge

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poingu's 2015 challenge

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1poingu
jan 29, 2015, 4:51 pm

I love this idea! Way more fun than those sites that make you publicly declare your weight loss goals.

I'm new to Library Thing (signed up a year or so ago, but only got around to actually importing books yesterday) and right away I felt shamed by my male vs. female authors stat of books read, so my challenge books are weighted for diversity:

1. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
2. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
3. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
4. Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfooz
5. The Waves by Virginia Woolf
6. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
7. The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
8. No No Boy by John Okada
9. Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
10. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
11. To Live by Yu Hua
12. Beloved by Toni Morrison

2artturnerjr
jan 29, 2015, 5:49 pm

>1 poingu:

Welcome! Good luck and happy reading. :)

3poingu
jan 29, 2015, 5:59 pm

Thank you Art! (I'm a Goodreads refugee)

4billiejean
Redigerat: jan 29, 2015, 9:28 pm

You have some great reads on your list! I read Beloved several years ago, and it tied for best read of the year for me. I also read Invisible Man but it did not make as big an impact on me as Beloved. You have lots on your list that I am hoping to read soon, so I look forward to seeing what you think of them. Good luck with your challenge!

5poingu
jan 29, 2015, 10:13 pm

Thanks for the good luck wishes. I've noticed that some books need to ripen before I'm ready to appreciate them. I must have started Beloved three times and every time I'm blown away by the first chapter and then, something happens.

I'm 'reading' Invisible Man now via audiobook, read by Joe Morton. He is an amazing narrator and it has made the book a joy to 'read.'

6artturnerjr
jan 29, 2015, 10:50 pm

>3 poingu:

You're welcome. I've been an LT member since 2008. I've been tempted to get on Goodreads, too, but generally find most of my literary geek needs are pretty well met here at LT. :)

7billiejean
jan 30, 2015, 7:29 am

Not everyone likes Beloved. I bought the book when it was first published, but knowing what it was about, I was unable to read it. I had small children at the time. Much later, when my kids were in high school, I decided that I wanted to read all the books they read in high school that I had never read. They both read Beloved, so I decided to give it a try. It was a different experience all those years later.

8Cecrow
jan 30, 2015, 1:40 pm

Welcome aboard! I read Carson McCuller's last year and was impressed with it. Definitely want to read the Ellison some time (and I'm intrigued with the story behind his second novel). I'm tackling Middlemarch for the first time this year, so that makes at least two of us visiting George Eliot. Mahfooz is an eventual TBR for me.

I keep hearing so much about Ann Radcliffe, I may have no choice but to sample her eventually. Toni Morrison ... I saw the movie when it was in the theatres and detested it, so the book's never interested me despite its acclaim.

I keep a Goodreads account since it runs some nice stats, makes it easy to mark TBR titles and hey, more book conversations to keep an eye on. But I like the groups and reviews systems here much better.

9poingu
jan 31, 2015, 9:49 pm

Cecrow, you might want to check out Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers which I've read a few times and love. Even thought Heart is a Lonely Hunter is supposedly her masterpiece I've had trouble sticking with it so far, which is why it's on my list now.

I finished Invisible Man today. Wow. I wrote a review if anyone cares to read it...not too sure yet how links work on Library Thing.

10artturnerjr
jan 31, 2015, 10:30 pm

>9 poingu:

Here's the link to your review (which was quite good, btw):

https://www.librarything.com/work/2203/reviews/115874703

All you have to do is click on the little "link" symbol at the bottom of your review (next to the date). This will send you to a page with your review at the top. Just cut and paste the URL of that page, and voilà, link! :)

11abergsman
feb 1, 2015, 7:49 am

Great list! I loved the Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz.

I should give Invisible Man another try. I picked it up once, ages ago, in high school, and didn't like it. One of these years I'll try again!

12poingu
feb 1, 2015, 9:01 pm

Thanks for showing me how to link, Art.

Abergsman, Invisible Man was much more enjoyable to me as an audiobook. It's also how I got through Ulysses.

My TBR goal just got thrown a curve ball...we do 'family reads' still even though my kids are teens and my 15 year old just picked Gravity's Rainbow for our next book. I've never read any Pynchon. The first 5 pages are surprisingly terrific (surprising to me, anyway, because I didn't expect to think so) but it's still 800 pages to go.

13Cecrow
feb 2, 2015, 8:01 am

Your 15-year-old likes a challenge, not to mention knows his/her literature. Nice! It's often rated one of the most obtuse books to understand ever, probably up there with Ulysses.

14poingu
feb 2, 2015, 9:15 am

Oh, gosh, Cecrow, I have no idea what's going on. But I like it somehow.

15billiejean
feb 2, 2015, 10:06 am

I am glad that you are reading Gravity's Rainbow. It is also on my shelf, but I have been too intimidated to read it. You are encouraging me!

16poingu
feb 2, 2015, 10:21 am

I'm just sorry I didn't somehow put Gravity's Rainbow on my TBR list above. It hasn't ever been particularly on my TBR list, though.

Progress report:

1. I have bought all 12 books on my list that I didn't already own.

2. I have lined them up neatly in a row.

3. I have read three very short books that have nothing to do with this TBR list but that gave me a sense of accomplishment and relieved me from feeling like a procrastinator.

4. I did finish Invisible Man, thanks to a terrific audiobook version, plus my need to do a lot of driving lately.

5. I have made many plans to read these books.

Ok! Enough fooling around.

I have The Mysteries of Udolpho in my hand!

I've opened it!

17artturnerjr
feb 2, 2015, 11:55 am

>12 poingu:

You're welcome. :)

>13 Cecrow:

I was thinking the same thing!

18billiejean
feb 2, 2015, 5:12 pm

I have also been wanting to read The Mysteries of Udolpho, so I look forward to seeing what you think of that, as well.

19LittleTaiko
feb 2, 2015, 5:48 pm

Welcome! Your list has quite a few titles that fall into the 'I should really read that someday' category. Hopefully your thoughts will help prioritize which ones I get to first!

20abergsman
feb 3, 2015, 8:43 am

I am also active on Goodreads, I use it mainly for keeping track of what I am reading, and my TBR list. I prefer the groups on LT for actual discussion!

21poingu
feb 3, 2015, 12:55 pm

Hi abergsman. I'm using both too--some things about Goodreads are easier for me. I'm still juggling and trying to figure out what works. There are a couple of Goodreads groups I like, or find useful for finding books. They have a population over there to sustain serious groups about African lit or Middle East lit, for example.

But one reason I looked into Library Thing was that a -moderator- (!) seriously flamed me in a group discussion of "1984." It was weird because I am a waffler when it comes to my book judgments and I can be persuaded very easily that I'm wrong about them. The other reason I want to be a Library Thing person is that Amazon is starting to feel seriously evil to me. I thought I was safe by buying all my books on Abebooks and then learned Amazon owns them, too :-/

22LittleTaiko
feb 4, 2015, 11:16 am

I'm active on Goodreads, but mainly as a way of cataloging my books. It's much easier to use the app to add books to various shelves, especially my wishlist shelf. Makes it handy when I'm out shopping to see what I might be interested in. Also, it lets me see if I've already read a book so I don't buy it again. I tend to use LT for more of the social aspect of book discussions.

23poingu
feb 5, 2015, 1:28 am

Ok! I've added my 12 alternates, which I've taken care to be shorter novels so I have some chance at this!

1. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
2. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
3. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
4. Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfooz
5. The Waves by Virginia Woolf
6. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
7. The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
8. No No Boy by John Okada
9. Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
10. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
11. To Live by Yu Hua
12. Beloved by Toni Morrison

Alternates:

1. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
2. Passing by Nella Larson
3. O Pioneers by Willa Cather
4. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
5. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
6. Sula by Toni Morrison
7. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
8. The Tuner of Silences by Mia Couto
9. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
10. Visitation by Jenny Erpenbach
11. By Night in Chile by Robert Bolano
12. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie

24Cecrow
Redigerat: feb 5, 2015, 7:31 am

Same thing I did, lots of short alternates. Sargasso is great if you've read Jane Eyre. I keep meaning to get around to Willa Cather, and more Austen.

What - no more George Eliot? I thought that was the plan! :)

25poingu
feb 5, 2015, 12:07 pm

Oops! I forgot George Eliot! I think it's because I just finished Silas Marner, the obvious short alternative to the ones on my list, in January.

26artturnerjr
feb 5, 2015, 12:51 pm

>23 poingu:

Haven't read either of the Toni Morrison titles on your lists, but I thought her Song of Solomon was excellent. I've read The Awakening but have very little recollection of it other than it's short. :)

27LittleTaiko
feb 5, 2015, 12:56 pm

Oh I absolutely loved The Sense of an Ending! I hope it's one you have time for. Really, really did not like The Wide Sargasso Sea but have found myself to be in the minority with that opinion.

28poingu
feb 5, 2015, 2:41 pm

LittleTaiko, I know you are also doing the "Tournament of Books" readings this month...me too, and that means my serious TBR efforts will be put on hold for a while (Mysteries of Udolpho just when back on the shelf so I can read Untamed State) but I know I'll make time for The Sense of and Ending this year.

29billiejean
feb 5, 2015, 7:09 pm

Nice list of alternates. I have been looking for my copy of Sula, but I haven't located it yet. Lots of people seem to be reading it this year.

So what is the Tournament of Books? Can I watch?

30poingu
Redigerat: feb 5, 2015, 7:29 pm

billiejean, every year for about a decade now Powells Books in Portland OR has sponsored Tournament of Books, a contest for the best novel of the year, where a long list is announced in December, and a 'short' list of 16 books is announced in January. The actual Tournament of Books is held in March where the books are pitted in a 1-1 "contest" with brackets something like a tennis tournament. Just one judge weighs in for each of these 1-1 match-ups, and they freely share their biases in longish posts where they try to defend their choice. It's very interesting to see what judges come up with when, say, Good Lord Bird is matched 1-1 with The Goldfinch, which is what happened last year.

Here is the 2015 announcement of the short list:

http://www.themorningnews.org/article/announcing-the-morning-news-2015-tournamen...

Here is a link to the 2014 brackets, where you'll probably see some familiar titles:

http://www.themorningnews.org/tob/

LittleTaiko started a discussion in the 2015 challenge group here on LibraryThing:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/186146

I'm also participating in two Goodreads groups that have been really fun. Some people try to read all the long list and others try to anticipate the long list and read books throughout the year that they THINK will be chosen. If you search "Tournament of Books" on Goodreads you'll probably get to both of these groups.

31billiejean
feb 5, 2015, 7:30 pm

Thank you! My daughter lived a couple of blocks from Powell's bookstore until last August for her internship. So I have actually been to that fab book store (and bought too many books). How many stores have a section called Nautical Fiction? I was in heaven.

32LittleTaiko
feb 6, 2015, 2:33 pm

That is the best bookstore! Portland is one of my favorite cities to visit and no trip is complete without going to Powell's.

33poingu
mar 6, 2015, 1:44 pm

This self-challenge has weirdly motivated me to compulsively read everything not on the list...nearly 40 books so far in 2015 which is about 10x more than my usual speed of reading. BUT I finally did read one of the books on my "alternate" list: Northanger Abbey. Wow. My only regret is that I now have zero Jane Austen novels left in my lifetime to read for the first time.

34Cecrow
mar 6, 2015, 2:56 pm

Sometimes I wish I was a faster reader - I'm just never going to get through everything before I die of old age, am I? - but by now I've learned that about 1,000pgs/month is my best compromise between speed and absorption.

The good news is, Jane Austen is regarded as an author of classics for the very reason they can be enjoyed again and again.

35LittleTaiko
mar 6, 2015, 6:03 pm

Congrats on finishing another book from your lists! What did you think of Northanger Abbey? It's one I enjoyed quite a bit more than I expected to.

36poingu
mar 8, 2015, 10:48 am

I enjoyed it more than I expected to as well. It converted me 100% into a Jane-o-phile after many years of resistance and pained wondering why she is so much more widely read than George Eliot these days.

I thought this first novel highlighted so well all of Austen's unique talents. It's amazing to see she had these talents from the beginning--the irony, the humor, and most of all the masterful use of dialog to reveal characters' inner selves.

I enjoyed Catherine Moreland as a character too because she just says whatever is on her mind, very directly--later heroines are more circumspect, sometimes absurdly so. Austen uses social decorum/the NOT saying of things as a plot device too often for my taste in later novels and she carries this device to what I sometimes feel is ridiculous extremes where it just isn't plausible that someone would not say something, for the sake of a loved one. I was glad to learn that it isn't the rule that people behave obtusely in all circumstances.

I was delighted most of all to learn that women "take a turn about the room" in Northanger Abbey, too. I love the idea of women needing to walk around the perimeter of a room together to have any kind of exercise or private conversation.

37abergsman
mar 9, 2015, 3:40 pm

>33 poingu:

That happened to me last year! This year I'm striking a better balance between reading from my TBR list, and everything else.

38billiejean
mar 9, 2015, 3:48 pm

I also liked Northanger Abbey, and Jane Austen is definitely one to read over and over.

>34 Cecrow:: 1000 pages a month sounds like a tremendous amount of reading. Congrats for that!

39artturnerjr
mar 9, 2015, 4:26 pm

>33 poingu:
>37 abergsman:

I've read nine books so far this year, three of which were for this challenge. Could be better, could be worse.

40billiejean
mar 11, 2015, 12:29 pm

>39 artturnerjr:: That puts you right on target!