lit*chick

Happy New Year! Bring it 2012...

(created at tiny prints)

Winter has arrived in Maryland and it is even more unpleasant than I remember. It is the wind - blustery is too Winnie the Pooh sweet for the bone chilling gusts we are getting. It is enough to make me seriously consider adding socks to my wardrobe. (You all know I never wear them right?) How's that for cold? And even though the boys finally returned to school today after an 18 DAY BREAK (good for teachers and travellers, not so much for me - THEY ARE ALL YOURS!), I cannot bring myself to run errands because I have turned into a cold wimp. So here I am with my hot cuppa creamer laden coffee (see below), my pajamed girl, and my neglected blog.

I am not letting the fact that I did not follow through on a single goal from 2011 deter me from making new ones in 2012.  I may not be a strong finisher but I remain hopeful. Plus, even though I didn't complete my grand plans (like 24classics) -I did read eight (8 is great!) classics I would not have otherwise started.

Some are big -  (find a house, declutter this one & pack), some are little (like transitioning to BLACK coffee, no zhuzhing (sp?)). Some are continuations from last year (16classics, Bible reading plan). Some are new - Project Life & Photo a Day. Some are business - grow the wholesale portion and carve out time to work on new designs. Some are not - take better care of myself AND return to favorite hobbies like scrapbooking. And some I've already slacked on - like Photo a Day - I forgot to take a photo yesterday after having coffee with dear Jill . Like it's every day (or every two years) friends drop out of the sky from North Dakota for coffee. Which just shows how out of the picture taking habit I am -yeesh.

Like fellow book blogger Erin, I am tired of getting caught up in the reviewing rat race. Not that I am ungrateful for the free books and lovely relationships with kind publicity offices and other bloggers, but it takes a toll. And I am increasingly falling behind as the demands of life rightly intrude..which can be guilt inducing at best, and make reviewing books seem more like a job and less like a hobby. Last year I thought I was going to slow it down and I didn't - now I'm ready.  Up for consideration: moving my book operation over to goodreads and continuing to mention bookish things here....after I fulfill my current (and past) commitments.

And I am turning 40 this year...ahem, in a few days to be exact. I'm not sure if I believe it is the new 30 and I'm not sure I want it to be. My 30s were blissfully long and eventful and my prayer is for my 40s to be all that and a bag of chips more (although I don't usually throw . Although perhaps with a bit more direction, hence the goals...you see it all comes full circle.

Won't it be fun to see what sticks? What about you?  Direct me to your blogs or just leave me a note.

Back soon with my list of favorite 2011 reads...

The End.

Update on 24 Classics in 2011

   
how cool is this? vintage 24 sign from donkee house on etsy

A great big thank you to everyone participating in the discussion over the past couple days. I'm having so much fun already. This is not a closed challenge in any way so hop on in there while we swap out a few titles and hash out the details. Please forgive late night/early morning ramblings, but I wanted to address a few questions.

As you can see to the right, I have put most of the choices into a list for easier reference. They are not in any order since the schedule is fairly fluid, but I will add a note to each with the month we plan to read it as it goes.

I have decided, for the very simple reason it contains the word winter in the title, that John Steinbeck's The Winter of our Discontent will be one of the February reads.  Hopefully that gives you a bit of time to prepare if you are reading along. As for the 2nd Feb book....any you'd like to read sooner vs later?

Also, my intention is to have a regular weekly post checking progress and open for discussion. For example, next Friday (the 14th)  will be all about My Antonia. I will leave it at the top through the weekend so you can drop in whenever. Obviously you do not need to be finished in a rigid every 2 weeks kind of way but this will serve to hold me accountable and give us a few progress markers. It will also be a place to entertain talk of what may be the next pick - and who knows what else since I tend to get sidetracked easily.  This may have to be tweaked along the way, but I think it's a good start. What do you think? Is there a better way to do this part?

Finally I want to encourage you to set yourself up for success here. Whatever that means for you. For me it means planning fun reads for when it gets too intense and I need something a little lighter. From other book bloggers on Twitter, I found this White House Chef mystery series by Julie Hyzy. You know how I love foodie mysteries!

 

 

 

 

2011 Reading Plan: Back to the Basics - 24 Classics

  (photo from Amazon, Penguin Hardcover Collection)

 How did I arrive here?  Well, the number of classics on my To-Be-Read (TBR) list is not in danger of shrinking if I allow them to linger there another year. Toward the middle of 2010 , I experienced some burnout - my review schedule was entirely too full. I over committed and agreed to review books I wouldn't ordinarily read, much less want to write about. The lack of freedom to post off topic left me frustrated. I imagine most book bloggers at some point have to deal with how to balance the books so to speak - but my answer is go Back to Basics. Reading what I want, when I want, and getting sidetracked looking at pretty non bookish things. One trend from last year was incorporating authors into novels: The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott , What Alice Knew (Henry James and family), and Alice I Have Been(Alice Liddell and Lewis Carroll) . My super challenging, yet oh so rewarding experience with Anna Karenina last fall gave me some needed confidence in tackling hard books. And sealing the deal - The Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse was my finale read of 2010. It was a marvelous tale of two serious book lovers and their journey to open a shop that only carries "good novels". The whole concept brings up so many questions that it begs for a discussion for another time, but I found the notion intriguing, especially considering what was already bouncing around in my head.

The order remains pretty loose because I don't thrive in a heavily structured reading environment. Also if you, dear reader, are determined to read Lonesome Dove while vacationing in out West this summer- I'll pick it up then too. The pace is set at 2 per month to leave room for other deliberate reading choices or to allow for a month when tackling an 800 pager.  Compare this to your list and see if any match up - I would love to coordinate if possible.  Many of these titles I either already have, are free or $1 on Kindle, or super easy to acquire via library or used book store. We can even trade them...

The Back to Basics list:

• My Antonia - Willa Cather
• The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
• Middlemarch, Silas Marner, Daniel  Deronda - George Eliot (3 books)
• Around the World in 80 Days - Jules Verne
• The Nine Tailors - Dorothy Sayers
• Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
• Villette - Charlotte Bronte
• Faulkner - I'm open to suggestions here
• Our Mutual Friend OR Dombey & Son OR Little Dorrit  - Charles Dickens
• The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene
• Brideshead Revisited OR A Handful of Dust - Evelyn Waugh
• My Man Jeeves - PG Wodehouse
• The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
• Crime & Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• Winesburg, Ohio - Sherwood Anderson
• The Minister's Wooing - Harriet Beecher Stowe
• Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (newly trans. by Lydia Davis)
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - Frederick Douglass
• The Man Who Was Thursday - GK Chesterton
• The Winter of Our Discontent - John Steinbeck
• The Leavenworth Case - Anne Katherine Green
• The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Emmuska Orczy
  
• Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
• The Beautiful and Damned - F Scott Fitzgerald
• Kristin Lavransdatter - Sigrid Unset (1000+ pages yikes!)
  
• Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
• Night - Elie Wiesel
• Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
  
• also considering Henry James and Anthony Trollope titles
  

Bravo to you if counted and see the list has more than 24 titles. Three reasons - 1. I love making lists   2. I already read one (My Antonia) , and began two others last year (i'll probably have to reread a bit, but still I don't want you to call me cheater cheater pumpkin eater as Owen likes to say) and 3. I worry I may not be able to finish a couple (due to timing or boredom or both) so I padded it. And yes, some of these titles may seem a bit obscure, but I have read a few classics in my day - mostly the obvious ones (Austens, Jane Eyre, To Kill a Mockingbird, Gatsby, etc.) And if I get really desperate, I can always watch the movies, wink wink.

As a heads up, I'm planning to read Madame Bovary next.  If anyone wants my copy of My Antonia, I'll be happy to give it to you, just leave your request in the comments section.

If you'd like to see a comprehensive list of classics lookie here - Penguin Classics Backlist.

I'd love to see your classics list or your self-made reading plan for 2011. And if you are considering playing along (because this is supposed to be enjoyable) please share your thoughts! There is no hurry, feel free to let it simmer for a few days. I have had the benefit of thinking about it for a few months. Just check in from time to time and maybe you'll catch a spark.

The End.

Resolve or Not to Resolve

I'm not a resolution maker. This year, I feel like I have a good excuse since my future is already a little bit predictable ... I fully support all you resolution makers. I do set some goals for reading, housekeeping (stop laughing)/organization, and try to come up with One Little Word (still working on it).

Last year my reading goal was for quality over quantity - and wouldn't you know I read the most books EVER (136, I think). And I managed to read about half the books on that Dec 2007 list.  For 2009, Wodehouse, L'Engle, the Yellow Lighted Bookshop, and Shadow of the Wind remain. I am still on my library fast and pleased with my progress on the to-read shelf.  I have lots of reviews to write, but am entertaining plans of more multiple review condensed posts. Efficiency makes me happy.

I am still working out the plans for the reading round robin. Where we will trade books in circle journal style, one title per month. So you will never be without something good to read. Details coming very soon.

Finally, I'll be lightly tweaking some of the site...trying to make it easier to find my yearly booklists & the reviews that match.

What are your reading plans for 2009?

The End.

The Big Read: Plus a Q&A

I've seen this list of 100 books (taken from the BBC Big Read , thanks Jill) floating around various blogs and had already written a post about books you should have read. I thought it would be nice to combine the two. So here is the list - I've highlighted ones I've read for a grand total of  32, lest you think I'm some literature snob. And the italicized are the ones I'd like to read someday.  Apparently those of you who are big  Harry Potter fans are in pretty good shape. In case you missed it...I couldn't get through the first book. I was bored. I have made it through the Austens and the Steinbecks, the latter coming from an extensive college course where I read the man's entire catalogue.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

Honestly, there aren't many here I feel bad about missing. But I do have some reading guilt about not having read the following:

1. My Antonia - Willa Cather
2. Light in August - William Faulkner
3. Night - Elie Wiesel
4. Agatha Christie
5. Margaret Atwood - i dimly recall reading The Handmaid's Tale and thinking it was weird, but this was back in the days when I was only reading Patricia Cornwell and Tom Clancy.

Again, this is my personal list of regrets. I think all readers have a list like this. Please share a couple of your "books i should have read" and choose one to read before the end of the year. I'm choosing Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin. Having just received a copy through Book Mooch means I won't even have to step away from the NEW shelf at the library. (This whole mooching thing is way out of hand, but that's a story for another time.) I need a good excuse to step back from trying to keep up with the latest reads - they just won't stop publishing and let me catch up!

C'mon, what's it gonna be?

The End.

here's what you're reading:

finished:

• Did I Expect Angels? by Kathryn Maughan
• Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
• Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
• Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Piccoult
• Antiques Maul by Barbara Allan
• Going Loco by Lynn Truss
• Empress by Shan Sa
• Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen
• Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
• The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold
• Harry Potter #7
• Consumption by Kevin Patterson
• The Sound of Butterflies by Rachael King

reading now:

• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by
• Loose Girl by Kerry Cohen
• A Thousand Splendid Suns  by Khaled Hosseini
• Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
• Persian Girls: A Memoir by Nahid Rachlin
• The Worst Thing I've Done by Ursula Hegi
• The Gathering by Anne Enright
• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
• The Translator by Daoud Hari
• The Shaping of the Christian Family by Elisabeth Elliot
• The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle
• Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

next up:

• East of Eden by John Steinbeck
• Keeper and Kid by Edward Hardy
• Leftovers by Laura Wiess
• The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
• The Birth House by Ami McKay

What a fantastic array of books - a most impressive list :). I love that you all have a reading plan, even if it's short term - as in "this is my next book". Nice work.

My list has already changed...I finished Her Last Death and Madonnas of Leningrad, and am preparing to start The God of Animals and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

If you haven't already shared your past, present, and immediate future reads - go here. I'll add you to this list and take another roll call soon.

The End.

roll call

alright you lurking gals...time to 'fess up. and to my bookclub peeps, book blog peeps,SIStv peeps, cousin Trish, Aunt Carol, and anyone else who hasn't said hello in a while- here's your question for the day:

WHAT ARE YOU READING RIGHT NOW?

AND

WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU FINISHED?

I'll start.

I am reading Her Last Death: A Memoir by Susanna Sonnenberg right now and plan to pick it up again when I finish typing. There are a host of other books I have started reading that are stacked on my nightstand. But you already knew that.

The last book I finished was: The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu

Your turn.

The End.

Resolve to Read

Not an official resolution, let's call it an intention.

Here is the super loose, rough draft version of my 2008 reading plan. I did a quantity based goal (100 books) last year, this year I'm going for quality. I am compiling a list of specific titles and/or authors to read.  So far the list includes:

• Helene Hanff
• Agatha Christie
• Madeleine L'Engle
• PG Wodehouse
• Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo
• What is the What - Dave Eggers
• Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky
• The Yellow Lighted Bookshop - Lewis Busbee
• The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak
• The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
• The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
• The Whistling Season - Ivan Doig
• The Zookeeper's Wife - Diane Ackerman
• The Birth House - Ami Mckay

In the past, I have only tracked books I finished. This year, I want to record the titles of books I haven't finished.  Just to see my reasons (perhaps intellectual laziness?) for stopping.

I encourage you all to either set a reading goal whether it be making a list of 10 you absolutely must read, or trying to read 5 more than last year, or to read a classic each month. Whatever it may be, whenever you decide, please share it here.  I'll do my best to help you toward your goal and we'll have fun along the way. There may be prizes involved too - I love to give stuff away.

Speaking of which, please email me your bookswap list if you are interested in participating. I'll plan to post the list on Thursday.

In July 2007 I started this blog in order to share my passions for crafting, cooking, the kiddos, and most of all reading. Thanks for making these past few months so much fun and sharing little pieces of yourselves with me. It has been a pleasure to get to know people I never would have met otherwise. I look forward to meeting more of you in the coming year.

Happy New Year!!

The End.

Tie Up Loose bookEnds

There are a few books that I need to finish reading. These are books I started this year and just couldn't make it to the end for various reasons.

Excellent Women had to be returned to the library. I'm on the waiting list to get it back. Sure I could have bought it, but I am enjoying the battle between me and the only other person in Howard County reading this book.

Pretty Birds I still want to read but was not in the right frame of mind to read it. I felt the same way about watching Schindler's List, you kind of need to gear up for it. Miss Joni says yes to this one.

Intepreter of Maladies - I love short story collections. The only problem is that you can read a couple, then forget about picking it up again. That is the issue here.

Then We Came To The End - made the NY Times top TEN for 2007.

It read like a literary version of Office Space. I made it through the first 2 chapters, then had to give it back to Mr. Miller (the name of my local library branch). I think the hubs would enjoy this one so we may have to buy it. And I love the cover.

Are there any books you still need to finish (not out of guilt)?  Are there any you are glad you didn't finish?

The End.

100 books

I don't make new year's resolutions - big surprise, I know.

And while I keep a reading journal (more of a list with notes), I hadn't ever set any specific goals. Well, in 2007 I quietly endeavored to read 100 books. Just to see if I could. Just to see how much time finishing 100 books requires. A lot. And not, as it turns out.

Today the list ends at 92 and I am SO okay with it. Over the next few days I'll list the titles.

Part One:

1. Housekeeping vs the Dirt  - Nick Hornsby
2. Blue Water - A. Manette Ansay
3. Digging to America - Anne Tyler
4. Angel's Rest - Charles Davis*
5. An Alphabetical Life - Wendy Werris
6. Scoop - Rene Guteridge
7. PosterChild - Emily Rapp*
8. The Grace that Keeps this World - Tom Bailey*
9. Summer of My Amazing Luck - Miriam Toews
10. Gods in Alabama - Joshilyn Jackson
11. The Double Bind - Chris Bohjalian*
12. Family Tree - Barbara Delinsky
13. Window Across the River - Brian Morton
14. 90 Minutes in Heaven - Don Piper
15. Maisie Dobbs -  Jacqueline Winspear*
16. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen*
17. I Feel Bad About My Neck - Nora Ephron
18. The Bright Forever - Lee Martin*
19. Little Children - Tom Perotta
20. In Cold Blood - Truman Capote*
21. The Sad Truth About Happiness - Anne Giardini
22. The Sidewalk Artist - Buonaguro
23. BlackGirl/White Girl - Joyce Carol Oates
24. Arlington Park - Rachel Cusk
25. Family & Other Accidents - Shari Golden
26. A Most Uncommon Degree of Popularity - Kathleen Gilles Siedel
27. Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy - Lindsay Moran
28. The Post Birthday World - Lionel Shriver
29. The Space Between Us - Thrity Umrigar*
30. Grace Eventually - Anne Lamott

Those with the * I recommend.

I forgot to add The Bright Forever to my Favorites list.

I would avoid The Post Birthday World - not only is it long, it's pointless too.

If you have any questions about these books, email me.

The End.