Project 2010/52

[Padraic]

Huzzah, I read my 6th and 7th books over the period of two days. Thats what happens when you're too smart for your math class, and that history is really boring.

6. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas/April 21 2010
7. Speak/Laurie Halse Anderson/April 22 2010

[Treize]

I just finished reading Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. I thought it was pretty good. It seemed like it was a little rushed, but it's a play, so it's meant to be short.

I'll probably finish The Sign of Four tomorrow or the next day. At the rate I'm going, I don't think I'll be able to make 52, but I might be able to pull off 30 some books. I would like to read more, but there isn't enough time in the day. <_<

[DragonHeart]

Yeah, my reading pace has slowed down considerably now that the weather's nicer and I've got more stuff to do. Winter is the best season for reading, imo. Despite that I'm officially halfway to my goal, finished my 26th book of the year just a few days ago.

Unfortunately that means I'm now between books and having a hell of a time finding something new. Usually I start flipping through the samples I have and the first one I read the entire sample of is the one I pick to read. Nothing's really jumping out at me right now, though. I've probably read 20 different samples and not a one's grabbed me. I think I need to start looking for 'beach reads', most of what I have now is heavier stuff.

~DragonHeart~

[Treize]

I just started reading The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas yesterday. I'm still reading The Sign of Four because I've been really busy and didn't get the chance to finish it, but I thought I would try to read both of them. I decided to read the unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo because I heard a lot of the good parts were cut out in the abridged version, so it'll probably take me more than a month to finish. It's over 1200 pages. I hope it doesn't take too long to finish.

[Psiko]

I hope it isn't too late to join in on the fun, officially, here at TFF. Progress so far, though I don't have dates:

1. Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
2. Queen of Sorcery by David Eddings
3. Magician's Gambit by David Eddings
4. Castle of Wizardry by David Eddings
5. Enchanter's End Game by David Eddings
6. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
7. Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
8. Moby **** by Herman Melville
9. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
10. Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
11. Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
12. Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
13. Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
14. Bang the Keys by Jill Dearman
15. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
16. The Dragon and the Unicorn by A.A. Attanasio
17. The Eagle and the Sword by A.A. Attanasio
18. The Wolf and the Crown by A.A. Attanasio
19. The Serpent and the Grail by A.A. Attanasio
20. Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss
21. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
22. Americans' Favorite Poems; Edited by Robert Pinsky and Maggie Dietz
23. Sabriel by Garth Nix
24. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
25. Lirael by Garth Nix
26. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot
27. Abhorsen by Garth Nix
28. The Writing Group Book: Creating and Sustaining a Successful Writing Group; Edited by Lisa Rosenthal
29. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
30. Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
31. The Merchant of Death by D.J. MacHale
32. There and Back Again: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
33. The Lost City of Faar by D.J. MacHale
34. The Never War by D.J. MacHale
35. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
36. Damn the Rejections, Full Speed Ahead by Maralys Wills
37. Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

[DragonHeart]

It's never too late, bro. Glad to see you back on here.

I'm curious about the A. A. Attanasio books you have listed. I've never heard of the author before but the titles are intriguing. Care to give a bit of an overview?

The book I'm reading right now is, erm, interesting and boring at the same time. Weird. It's also loooong. x-x I'm debating starting something else and reading chapters of this one between other books.

~DragonHeart~

[DragonHeart]

Well it's been almost a month so I'm going to update this a bit. I've been having a hard time hunting down new books (again) lately but I finally settled on one, so that's good. My Nook needs to be replaced though. Stupid manufacturing defect. At least I can still use it until the replacement arrives.

How's everyone else been doing with their reading?

~DragonHeart~

[Psiko]

My reading has been going great. I'm up to 37, and about a hundred pages off from finishing another book. I'm currently working through three separate series, although I've previously read two of the three. The Pendragon series by D.J. MacHale has been surprisingly good so far, and of course Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter are renowned for a reason.

For the record, Bird by Bird may be the best writing book I've ever read. And I have read some really good ones.

[DragonHeart]

Bird by Bird is on my to-read list, just haven't gotten there yet. XD Haven't been writing much lately either, but that's a subject all on its own.

It's been awhile since I updated, mostly because I've only finished one book in July and so far one this month. Partly due to summer, mostly due to a lot going on at my house. I'm still on track though, perhaps just a little behind. I plan on catching up as much as possible before I start college.

~DragonHeart~

[DragonHeart]

And I've gone from being a little bit behind to being quite a bit ahead of my goal. XD I'm currently reading book #41. I don't think I've read this many books in one year since I was in middle school. When the books were only a couple hundred pages, at most. >_> I think a lot of it has to do with the type of books I'm reading too though. I've kept away from straight/epic fantasy for much of this project, resulting in much shorter books than usual lol. This revelation came when I realized how short 400 page books felt. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

It's not that I don't like fantasy anymore, it's that all the big releases I'm interested in are still hardbacks and I'm too poor to afford them, so I have to wait for the ebooks to match the paperback pricing. Or they just plain aren't out yet.

On the bright side it's a nice change, particularly my recent crime thriller binge. It does feel weird going so long without reading fantasy in some form though.

~DragonHeart~

[DragonHeart]

42. Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson - I read this one at the very end of last month. I read Elantris, his debut novel, last year and liked it quite a bit. As far as fantasy goes, it's unconventional in a good way. This trend continues with Warbreaker, even more with his magic.

If you like fantasy but you're tired of the same old elemental wheel, this is the author you need to read. Warbreaker's magic system is based on Breaths and colors. The sheer inventiveness of this sort of magic is just amazing.

Characterization is also decent, with few characters being who they appear at first. It's quite refreshing, particularly since there's no real clear cut good and evil here. The characters, however, believe otherwise.

Warbreaker isn't without weaknesses, though. Mainly to do with plot. It definitely felt like he let his characters run away from him for awhile, and the lack of setup for the Big Bad's reveal left me annoyed. Believable yes, but it just doesn't work as well in the confines of fiction. A little streamlining could have gone a long way.

43. Next up was Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay, the conclusion to the wildly popular Hunger Games series. I can't really talk much about this one without spoiling it, but suffice to say I was, alas, disappointed. So many directions she could have taken this story and she chose that? Meh. I'll think twice about reading anything else she writes.

44. And finally, late last night I added Children of Amarid by David B. Coe to my list. Bit of an unusual case here in that I actually read Eagle-Sage, the concluding volume of the trilogy, years ago. I was young, the cover was interesting. Read it anyway. Liked it a lot. Don't know why I never went back for the other two, but CoA does have an ebook version so I decided to grab it.

First thing, I don't blame the author and it didn't reflect in my Goodreads rating but man, the formatting of this ebook was horrible. Clearly they didn't proof it before they uploaded, just dumped it in a PDF and sent it off. This is highly visible in a certain character's name, which appears with about three different spellings over the course of the book. I was actually confused at one point due to this glitch. I am considering emailing the author to let him know how badly his book has been treated. I am also annoyed that they haven't released the other two books as ebooks, as it would be stupid of me not to finish it now, having reading two of the three books.

Anyway, the book itself. It is both a debut novel and a 90s era epic fantasy. It shows, badly. 100 pages could easily have been cut from the narrative, if not more. Travel descriptions in particular are needlessly long-winded, making the book seem a lot longer than it is. I could only read about 100 pages at a time because of this, which is why it took me so long to read it.

There are other problems, as well. At first it reads to be very generic, the standard Epic Journey that filled the shelves near to bursting in the time when it was published. Thankfully it quickly sheds this persona, though not quite quickly enough to save it from some well-worn tropes.

What really shines through, despite these shortcomings, is the premise and the characters. I won't reveal too much, but there are a number of memorable moments throughout the book. The problem is that most of them happen after the halfway point. The characters redeem the first half and come into their own in the second, luckily. Baden, Sartol, and oddly enough, Theron himself make it readable. Jaryd I'm 50/50 about and Alayna really could have used some more character development, as could most of the secondary characters.

Overall though, for all its faults I think it's a worthy read. Maybe I'm biased because I have such fond memories of Eagle-Sage. Reading back, I see a lot of strikes against it. The fact that the story is so strong even with all those problems is an endorsement in itself, I think.

And that brings me up to 44 books so far this year. Not bad at all, only 8 more to hit my goal. And these are all new books in that I have never read any of them before. I'll keep going even when I do hit 52, but I'll also allow myself some rereads. Some books I plan on reading just won't make sense without a little refresher from the previous installments.

~DragonHeart~

[Kaiden]

I keep pushing it on here, but I know Sanderson picked up a lot of readers when he was named to finish the Wheel of Time series. I have heard really good things about "Elantris". Everyone who read it talks about his writing style being a very easy read. That is often the hardest part for fantasy writers in my opinion. Most fantasy writers make it so hard to finish their books because they go off on tangents about misc. details that don't add to the story and cause readers (at least me) to set books down for months at a time.

Update:
I haven't really been trying to finish 52 books or whatever, but I read a book or two a month and that is fine with me. I am currently reading "For the Win" it’s a fictional book covering online gaming. It was a recommendation from a friend, not very far in it, 100 pages or so. The book makes people who play games look really bad.

[DragonHeart]

About six weeks left in the year and I'm up to 48, just 4 more to hit my goal. Pretty awesome. I may do a year end wrap up and if anyone's interested, a new thread for next year's personal reading goals/challenges.

~DragonHeart~

[Kaiden]

I was actually wondering if people would be interested in a TFF book club starting next year. Basically we just agree to read a book and start a discussion thread on that book. We would have to figure out reading paces and how to deal with spoilers. Ill start a new thread in a bit here, but just something to think about.

Quick update, I finished "For the Win" and am onto the new Wheel of Time book. Almost done, I am really enjoying the book.

[DragonHeart]

That's a good idea in theory but it probably wouldn't work in practice, unfortunately. We just don't have many active people in this forum. It really is a shame, the other forum I go to has multiple different book clubs (by genre, usually) that do the exact thing you're talking about and it's always fun to do.

In other news, I've reached my challenge goal with an entire month to spare! Awesome. Of course, I'm not stopping just because I hit the goal, I actually just started my 53rd book of the year last night.

If I did actually read every day I probably could have doubled the number. Hmm...

Anyways, the books since my last update:

45. 10/10 How to Become a Straight-A Student by Cal Newport - Nonfiction

Yes, my inner nerd revealed. This is a very useful book with some great strategies for getting things done without sacrificing all your free time. Study smarter, not harder is the overall theme. I've put several of the tactics into use already, to great success. One of my teachers even posted very similar paper-writing tips online.

46. 10/11 Zeitoun by Dave Eggers - Nonfiction

This is one of those books I'd wanted to read for awhile put always picked up something else instead. Finally got around to this one and while it wasn't quite what I expected, it was still a damned good (and scary) read about what really happened in New Orleans after the storm. Definitely worth reading.

47. 10/22 A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines - Classic Literature

Assigned for my English class, but that doesn't make reading it any less valid. Amazing how what's on the surface as a simple story can have so much meaning underneath. The last chapters of this book will be haunting me for a long, long time.

48. 11/14 The Flock by James Robert Smith - Thriller

I miss Michael Crichton dearly and when I saw the summary for this book, I knew I had to get it because it reminded me so much of his work. The Flock is not heavy on science like the average Crichton thriller, but the premise of the book minus said science is very reminiscent. Essentially, a flock of near-sentient terror birds has been surviving for thousands of years in the Florida Everglades, and a newly built town is encroaching on their territory. Chaos ensues. Good bloody thriller fun.

49. 11/18 Wild Cards and Iron Horses by Sheryl Nantus - Steampunk Western Romance

Fluffy and creative, the romance part of the book was of little interest to me but the worldbuilding certainly was.

50. 11/20 Blaze of Glory by Sheryl Nantus - Superhero

The Incredibles, reality-TV edition. Fun.

51. 11/25 The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett - Fantasy

Heard a lot about this book since its debut. Finally got around to reading it and I'm pleased to say, the hype was not without merit. There were some bits that annoyed me to no end but by and large it's a dark, bloody story about what happens when the status quo is fear and those who will change it.

52. 11/30 The Monster of Florence - Douglas Preston, Mario Spezi - True Crime

Like Zeitoun, I've been wanting to read this book for ages. The titular Monster was the original inspiration, at least in part, for one of the most iconic characters in both literature and cinema: Hannibal Lecter. The part that makes this story scary as hell? It's true, and they never caught the Monster. The authors laid out a good case for who it actually is but, from the state of things by the end, it's very likely he'll never be brought to justice. It's a story of terror, politics and Florence.

~DragonHeart~