And another challenge, because I am out of control and possibly in need of a bookish intervention:
Inspired by Wendy at caribousmom, I will attempt to read 12 books from the New York Times Notable Books List of 2006 before December 31, 2007 (Wendy, like a champ, is aiming for 20).
I have already read my January "selection" (luckily for me, since January is now over), the excellent and light-imagery-evoking "Suite Francaise", and am about to move on to another while I am here in LA for the week: "Beasts of No Nation" by Uzodinma Iweala, whose brilliant sister happened to be in my high school class.
Wendy posts the full list (at the link above), so I will content myself with a shorter list of books I specifically want to attempt:
Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Arthur and George, by Julian Barnes
The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai
Twilight of the Superheroes, by Deborah Eisenberg
Beasts of No Nation, by Uzodinma Iweala
All Aunt Hagar's Children, by Edward P. Jones
Gate of the Sun, by Elias Khoury
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
Black Swan Green, by David Mitchell
**Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky** - finished!
Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl
Digging to America, by Anne Tyler
I may make changes over the course of 2007, but let us call this my provisional list.
SYCORAX PINE
"I have no more ambition for this book than that some day someone will be lying in bed and read out a single line - and that their companion will turn away from them in silence..." - Don Paterson, "The Book of Shadows" ~
"I have no more ambition for this book than that some day someone will be lying in bed and read out a single line - and that their companion will turn away from them in silence..." - Don Paterson, "The Book of Shadows" ~
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So glad you are going to do this with me! I absolutely LOVED Half of a Yellow Sun. You are targeting most of the books I'm also interested in :)
Oh...forgot to mention, I also added you to my bloglines so I can cheer you on as you work on this challenge :)
p.s. Do you belong to Library Thing? I love that site. I'm "writestuff" there.
Seems like a worthy challenge. I've already read 8 of those. I can probably sqeeze in a few more between the other 3 challenges I'm doing.
I can't wait to hear what you thought of 'The Road'. I thought it was easily the best book of the year.
That's a great list. I'm eager to see what you think of the Pessl book. I want to read it as well.
Wendy- This is such an exciting challenge! I am so glad you thought of it. And I do belong to LibraryThing. I am "sycoraxpine" there as well.
Kookiejar - I will certainly tell you what I think of "The Road" (I have just put in an order for it from the library). I must admit that I am dreading it a bit even as I look forward to it, because all the reviews I have read describe it as an absolutely devastating reading experience. What are the other 8 you have read? What did you think of them?
Bybee- Thanks for the encouragement! I will be sure to let you know how "Special Topics" goes. From what I've heard, it is a love it or hate it sort of book.
I'll be posting today at my blog which ones I have read and what I thought of them, as well as which ones I'll be reading for the challenge. As far as "Special Topics ..." goes. I got half way through and decided that I hated the whole pretentious mess. It does seem to be a love it or hate it type of book.
"The Road" is quite an experience. It is so dark, so grim, so utterly depressing, it makes you glad you don't live in it. Having said that, though, it is incredible, and I couldn't put it down.
I'll put you on my watchlist at Library Thing (isn't it the most wonderful site??!?).
I plan to review all the books I read for this challenge. Will you also be writing reviews? I like that the people doing this challenge are overlapping books so we can talk about them :)
That's a great list. Personally, I'd reccomend Digging to America and Black Swan Green as two absorbing, emotional and simply but skillfully written reads. The Road is stunning- I read it in one sitting and have made my sister, dad and long-suffering friends read it.
Hi! I see you already added the NYT Notable Book Challenge Blog...how will this work? I think it is a very good idea to have a space where people can post their reviews etc...how is that administrated? Will multiple people be able to post at will, or will it need to be done by one person? You can email me and we can figure out how this will work, okay?
caribousmom@aol.com