break's 75 for 2009

In 2008 I managed to finish my 75 challenge, only by including the 43 children books I read. On the plus side, with the exception of 3 books, I wrote at least a paragraph long review of every books I read.

In 2009 I plan to read more than 75, at least 81 non-children books. 81, because I signed up for the 999 challenge too. Here is my item for that. In this topic here, I will post the books in the order I am reading, while over at 999 They will be thematic too. Meanwhile, just like last year, I am sure I will end up reading lots of children books as well. So, just like last year, I will put a serial number for them in parentheses.

Welcome back, break! Glad to see you here.

Welcome back. I'm looking forward to reading your posts.

Thank you both

I just posted my reviews for the fiurst three books I read this year:
1. The Genizah at the House of Shepher by Tamar Yellin
2. The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank
3. Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

Books in progress:
Dreams of being eaten alive by David Rosenberg
The Centaur in the garden by Moacyr Scliar
Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe
Up From the Underground: The Culture of Rock Music in Postsocialist Hungary by Anna Szemere

So nice to see 'books in progress' -- no way can I seem to read just one at a time. Of course, this is helped by the fact that I lose my books at least daily within the house and pick up another...

I'm looking forward to your thoughts on the Centaur in the Garden. It's on my shelf and I'm wondering whether to move it closer to the top of the TBR pile.

Suslyn, do you live in a big house. I think my place is too small to lose anything.

Arubabookwoman,I will probably finish the book by Tuesday,so I will get back to you.

Meanwhile I finished and wrote up a little review for
Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe

I have to admit seeing that the book already 87 review decreased my interest of adding one more. I prefer to be the first reviewer. But going through the 1001 list I will probably encounter many books I plan to read with numerous reviews.

>7 break: At present we have a stupidly big company-provided rental. But we lived 5 years in 34 square meters and I had the same problem there!

I have no time to read books and write reviews. But here is what I finished since the last post:
4. Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe
5. The Wave by Walter Mosley
6. The Centaur in the garden by Moacyr Scliar
7. Dr. Noha történetek by István Eörsi
8. Szonyecska by Lûdmila Evgen'evna Ulickaâ
9. The Ugly Little Boy by Isaac, and Robert Silverberg Asimov
10. Rashi's Daughters, Book I: Joheved by Maggie Anton
11. Dreams of being eaten alive by David Rosenberg
12. Up From the Underground: The Culture by Anna Szemere

#9: Looks like some pretty good reading there, break!

13. Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths by Karen Armstrong
14. Coraline by Neil Gaiman

#11: Definitely putting Jerusalem on Continent TBR. I just finished reading The Faith Club not long ago, so it sounds right up my alley.

looks like a varied list :) Hope you're enjoying some of them.

15. Transcendent (Destiny's Children) by Stephen Baxter
16. Halálugrás a szakadékon át by Béla Balázs
17. Visszakézbol by István Csörsz
18. Csendes forradalom a golyóstoll regénye by László József Bíró
19. A Graveyard for Lunatics by Ray Bradbury
20. My Antonia by Willa Cather

#14: My Antonia is my favorite by Cather. Have you read any of her others?

Not yet. But I really enjoyed this one. I listened to its audio version while working out in the gym. The descriptions of the hot summer plains along with its animal, plant and human inhabitants made me sweat more, which was good. :-)

21. A zsido menyasszony (The Jewish bride) by Patrícia Eszter Margit (my review, in English)

22. 1632 by Eric Flint (my review)

23. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
24. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

(Posted short reviews for both, but I probably didn't add much new content to the hundreds of existing reviews)

25.Teddy Kollek. The Man, His Times and His Jerusalem by Ruth Bachi Kolodny

This was a great Victorian dys and u topia. I like to read books where I have to think and even formulate arguments.

26. Erewhon by Samuel Butler (added/read 8/26/2009)

#21: I have not read that classic. Looks like I need to get to it. Thanks for the recommendation.

I read a light scifi/alternate history over the weekend.

27. The Sky People by S.M. Stirling (added/read 8/31/2009)

Since I last posted I finished another 6 boxes. Reviews are up for all of them here.

28. Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon (added/read 9/20/2009)
29. The other queen by Philippa Gregory. (added/read 9/20/2009)
30. Jewish Tales of Mystic Joy by Yitzhak Buxbaum (added/read 9/20/2009)
31. Kabbala: A Dictionary of Terms, Practices and Applications by Rephael Yedidya (added/read 9/20/2009)
32. Ecstatic Kabbalah by David A. Cooper (added/read 9/20/2009)
33. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton (added/read 9/20/2009)

I'm so glad you enjoyed Flint's 1632 -- me too.

If you're looking for more in the category, may I suggest Household Gods by Tarr & Turtledove and Pastwatch by Card? They're both really quite good. I'm thinking that if you stretch the category a teensy bit Doomsday Book would also fit. And it too, is superb, imo.

Enjoying your reviews -- thanks for including the links.

Thank you suslyn for the recommendations. I read Pastwatch when it came out. I am glad to see that two more volumes are coming out on that series.

Meanwhile I finished a few more:

34. Fort Pillow: A Novel of the Civil War by Harry Turtledove
35. Kabbalah: A Love Story by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner
36. Empire by Orson Scott Card
37. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

38.The Temple at Jerusalem: A Revelation by John Michell

#27: That one looks interesting. I will look for it. Thanks for the review and recommendation.

I had no time to write reviews. Maybe after we move this weekend. But I finished a few books in October:

39. The Jade Cat by Suzanne Brogger (added 10/12/2009, read 10/10/2009)
40. Magic Street by Orson Scott Card (added 10/12/2009, read 10/12/2009)
41. Ask the Kabala Oracle Cards by Deepak Chopra (added/read 10/12/2009)
42. The Kabbalah Deck Edward Hoffman (added/read 10/12/2009)
43. This Crowded Earth by Robert Bloch (added 10/28/2009, read 10/16/2009)
44. The Poison Belt by Arthur Conan Doyle (added 10/28/2009, read 10/18/2009)
45. Csodaidok : az ogfák vöröse by Etelka Görgey (added 10/28/2009, read 10/22/2009)

Good luck with the move!

Thank you alcottacre. We'r all settled and most of the books are out. But, as usual, we ran out of shelves before all fo them could got unboxed.

Still no time to do reviews, but here are the few books I managed to read in November.

46. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (added 11/25/2009, read 11/13/2009)
47. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (added 11/25/2009, read 11/16/2009)
48. The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson (added 11/25/2009, read 11/19/2009)
49. The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan (added 11/25/2009, read 11/22/2009)
50. The Birth of Venus: A Novel by Sarah Dunant (added 11/25/2009, read 11/24/2009)

Congratulations on reaching 50 books for the year!

Thank you alcottacre. It's quite far from the 75. I could cheat and count the dozens of children books I read, but instead I acknowledge that I failed. On the other hand I managed to read 58 books, including this last batch:

Looking Backward from 2000 to 1887 by Edward Bellamy
The Kabbalist by Geert Kimpen
A New Life by Bernard Malamud
Csodaidok: Kiszakadtak by Raana Raas (Görgey Etelka)
Csodaidok: Arulas by Raana Raas (Görgey Etelka)
Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
One Year Off: Leaving It All Behind for a Round-the-World Journey with Our Children by David Elliot Cohen
A Hundred And One Days: A Baghdad Journal by Asne Seierstad

58 is still pretty darn good!