2011 11-Authors Challenge

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1.China Miéville: The City & The City - 9/10

At first I was a bit reluctant to read this book because the main focus of the plot revolved around a detective solving a murder, and in general I do not read crime fiction and detective novels, but I love surrealism and alternative realities so I was really intrigued by the concept of these two different cities coexisisting within the same location.

Over all I really enjoyed this book, though I do have some mixed feelings about certain aspects of it. On the one hand I found the realistic approach the author took to the concept was an interesting one, and the way in which it was an examination of urban life, society, politics, and so forth. On the other hand I have to admit a part of me was hoping for a bit more "fantastic" moments and perhaps hoping that it would bend the bonds of reality even further than it did.

2. H.G. Wells: The Time Machine - 9/10

Generally I am not really into sci-fi but I figured Wells is a classic, so I should give him a try and all in all I ended up quite enjoying this book. I did find that it was a bit slow at the start, but once he actually began to travel back into time and was telling of his adventures it really picked up. I have always liked those kind of adventure stories which involve traveling to strange new places and encounters with strange and new creatures/people.


3. Theodore Dreiser: Sister Carrie -10/10

I was a bit daunted by the size of this book but once I started reading it, it actually went by rather quickly. I found it to be quite an interesting story and I really enjoyed reading it. I really liked Dreiser's style of writing and the complexity of his characters. This really makes me want to read an American Tragedy now.

4. Nevil Shute: A Town Like Alice -9/10

Since I have posted an official review for this one I will try not to repeat myself too much again here. Only say that this book took me by surprise. I liked it a good deal more than I thought I would. I loved the narrative style and I found the story engaging to read and I loved the characters.

5. David Mitchell: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet -8/10

It starts out really slowly, though I did enjoy the history of the book as it is about the Dutch Trading company in Japan, which was quite interesting, because of the isolation laws of Japan there was this man made island built called Dejima which is where the traders were housed because they were not allowed to enter the country. But the first half of the book was a bit tedious to read, but it did begin to really pick up once you got into and the story took off and overall I quite enjoyed it.

6. Marguerite Duras: The Ravishing of Lol Stein-9/10

This is a beautifully lyrical, haunting and somewhat bizarre little book which really does provide the reader with a very unique reading experince. I was spellbound by the story as it started to unweave itself.

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7. Hillary Mantel: Wolf Hall-8/10

I love historical fiction, and only recently started really getting into Tudor history and this book was all the rave and very hyped up. I have to say I have rather mixed feelings about it. I was not quite as blown away by it as I would have expected from everything I heard, yet I cannot say that I found it to be a disappointment either. It did have its interesting points and I liked the perspective for the story, telling it from Cromwell's point of view which I thought was quite a unique way to approach the story. But I did not altogether agree with the way in which she went about trying to portray Cromwell as a sympathetic character, as I think there was a heavy author bias in the story. Also I did not care that much for the narration style of the book which at times was difficult to follow, confusing, and for me failed to truly explore the depths of the characters so that I never really got completely drawn into the story.

8. Michel Faber: The Crimson Petal and the White -8/10

An exploration behind the veneer of the Victorian age, and most particularly focuses upon the issue of prostitution of that time, and with the freedom of the modern age explores into the subject of the sexual oppression which bred hypocrisies and depravity and addresses the way in which in many ways both men and women were victims of the age.

Recently finished The Moon and Sixpence by William Somerset Maugham.
Prior to that:
Cooper's "Last of the Mohicans"
Ian Fleming's "Goldfinger"
Anton Checkhov's "Ward No 6" and "On the Road".

Still making my way through the "Inferno" and Cicero's "On Moral Duties"

.

For this summer I have a lot of authors lined up to read that I haven't read before. So far:

1. Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness

2. Stephen Lawhead - Hood

3. Jane Austen - Emma

4. Victor Hugo - The Hunchback of Notre Dame

5. Mark Twain - Adventures of Tom Sawyer

6. Cormac McCarthy - The Road

Up next I will be reading Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose

Now this would surely be a challenge for me. Eleven different authors by whom I have yet to have read anything before. But I think I shall give this a try. Right next to me a see what might be a first book of choice, Pierre Cornielle's The Theater of Illusion. After that...? I'll need to carefully browse my shelves in search of someone by whom I've yet to read anything... and yet someone by whom I want to read something. A challenge, indeed!:ihih:

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Originally Posted by stlukesguild

Now this would surely be a challenge for me. Eleven different authors by whom I have yet to have read anything before. But I think I shall give this a try. Right next to me a see what might be a first book of choice, Pierre Cornielle's The Theater of Illusion. After that...? I'll need to carefully browse my shelves in search of someone by whom I've yet to read anything... and yet someone by whom I want to read something. A challenge, indeed!:ihih:

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Have you read any Kelly Link?

Have you read any Kelly Link?

No. Recommendations?

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1.China Miéville: The City & The City - 9/10

At first I was a bit reluctant to read this book because the main focus of the plot revolved around a detective solving a murder, and in general I do not read crime fiction and detective novels, but I love surrealism and alternative realities so I was really intrigued by the concept of these two different cities coexisisting within the same location.

Over all I really enjoyed this book, though I do have some mixed feelings about certain aspects of it. On the one hand I found the realistic approach the author took to the concept was an interesting one, and the way in which it was an examination of urban life, society, politics, and so forth. On the other hand I have to admit a part of me was hoping for a bit more "fantastic" moments and perhaps hoping that it would bend the bonds of reality even further than it did.

2. H.G. Wells: The Time Machine - 9/10

Generally I am not really into sci-fi but I figured Wells is a classic, so I should give him a try and all in all I ended up quite enjoying this book. I did find that it was a bit slow at the start, but once he actually began to travel back into time and was telling of his adventures it really picked up. I have always liked those kind of adventure stories which involve traveling to strange new places and encounters with strange and new creatures/people.


3. Theodore Dreiser: Sister Carrie -10/10

I was a bit daunted by the size of this book but once I started reading it, it actually went by rather quickly. I found it to be quite an interesting story and I really enjoyed reading it. I really liked Dreiser's style of writing and the complexity of his characters. This really makes me want to read an American Tragedy now.

4. Nevil Shute: A Town Like Alice -9/10

Since I have posted an official review for this one I will try not to repeat myself too much again here. Only say that this book took me by surprise. I liked it a good deal more than I thought I would. I loved the narrative style and I found the story engaging to read and I loved the characters.

5. David Mitchell: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet -8/10

It starts out really slowly, though I did enjoy the history of the book as it is about the Dutch Trading company in Japan, which was quite interesting, because of the isolation laws of Japan there was this man made island built called Dejima which is where the traders were housed because they were not allowed to enter the country. But the first half of the book was a bit tedious to read, but it did begin to really pick up once you got into and the story took off and overall I quite enjoyed it.

6. Marguerite Duras: The Ravishing of Lol Stein-9/10

This is a beautifully lyrical, haunting and somewhat bizarre little book which really does provide the reader with a very unique reading experince. I was spellbound by the story as it started to unweave itself.

7. Hillary Mantel: Wolf Hall-8/10

I love historical fiction, and only recently started really getting into Tudor history and this book was all the rave and very hyped up. I have to say I have rather mixed feelings about it. I was not quite as blown away by it as I would have expected from everything I heard, yet I cannot say that I found it to be a disappointment either. It did have its interesting points and I liked the perspective for the story, telling it from Cromwell's point of view which I thought was quite a unique way to approach the story. But I did not altogether agree with the way in which she went about trying to portray Cromwell as a sympathetic character, as I think there was a heavy author bias in the story. Also I did not care that much for the narration style of the book which at times was difficult to follow, confusing, and for me failed to truly explore the depths of the characters so that I never really got completely drawn into the story.

8. Michel Faber: The Crimson Petal and the White -8/10

An exploration behind the veneer of the Victorian age, and most particularly focuses upon the issue of prostitution of that time, and with the freedom of the modern age explores into the subject of the sexual oppression which bred hypocrisies and depravity and addresses the way in which in many ways both men and women were victims of the age.

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9. Michelle Moran: Madame Tussuad: A Novel of the French Revolution-9/10

I have always been interested in the French Revolution but never had the chance to read anything about it within the realm of historical fiction so I was very interested in this novel. I really enjoyed it I thought it was a well crafted story that moved along quickly and was engaging from the start.

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Originally Posted by stlukesguild

Have you read any Kelly Link?

No. Recommendations?

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Start with her first short story collection, Stranger Things Happen. Then her second collection, Magic for Beginners.

1. Pierre Corneille- Theatre of Illusion (tr. Richard Wilbur)- A baroque play of the usual "he loves her, but she loves him, and he loves somebody else..." variety complete with costumes, mistaken identities, comments of class, etc... ala Beaumarchais, Moliere, Shakespeare, Mozart, etc... But this is given a unique twist with an intriguing frame story and an unexpected ending and a great comic blowhard which altogether undermines the the rule of French classical theater which Corneille and Racine essentially established.

For the time being I've decided to stick with the French and so I'm now reading Marguerite Yourcenar's Oriental Tales.

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?????


???

......

Fiction
1) Frankenstein - Mary Shelley 3.7/5
2) Night - Elie Wiesel 3.9/5
3) The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison - 4.2/5
4) Cat's Cradle - Vonnegut - 3.8/5
5) Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett - 4.2/5
6) The Vagina Monologues - Eve Ensler - 2.0/5

Non-fiction
1) Yes! - 4.5/5
2) Nudge - Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler - 3.8/5
3) Borges in 90 Minutes - Paul Strathern - 2.5/5
4) Six Pixels of Separation - Mitch Joel - 3/5
5) Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs - Chuck Klosterman 3/5
6) The Truth about the Drugs Comapnies - Marcia Angell 4/5
7) Neuroscience and Philosophy - Maxwell Bennet 2.5/5
8) What Would Google Do? - Jeff Jarvis 3.8/5
9) Practical Ethics - Peter Singer 4.8/5 (The best book I've read this year)

10) The Problems of Philosophy - Bertrand Russel 3.8/5

**Currently Reading The Aeneid, The Selfish Gene, The Wisdom of Crowds, The inferno, Hegemony or Survival**

My list starts with 'A Fine Balance' by Rohinton Mistry

Actually read Borges. While his collected non-fiction is a daunting task it is ultimately valuable.

You could also try Eduardo Galeano for shorter works. I enjoyed "Upside Down - A primer for the looking glass world."

Fiction
1) Frankenstein - Mary Shelley 3.7/5
2) Night - Elie Wiesel 3.9/5
3) The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison - 4.2/5
4) Cat's Cradle - Vonnegut - 3.8/5
5) Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett - 4.2/5
6) The Vagina Monologues - Eve Ensler - 2.0/5

7) Iphigenia in Aulis - Eurpidies - 4.8/5 - just saw this performed in Chicago at an incredibly small venue.. I'm talking the size of like 2-3 living rooms and was really blown away

Non-fiction
1) Yes! - 4.5/5
2) Nudge - Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler - 3.8/5
3) Borges in 90 Minutes - Paul Strathern - 2.5/5
4) Six Pixels of Separation - Mitch Joel - 3/5
5) Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs - Chuck Klosterman 3/5
6) The Truth about the Drugs Companies - Marcia Angell 4/5
7) Neuroscience and Philosophy - Maxwell Bennet 2.5/5
8) What Would Google Do? - Jeff Jarvis 3.8/5
9) Practical Ethics - Peter Singer 4.8/5 (The best book I've read this year)
10) The Problems of Philosophy - Bertrand Russel 3.8/5

11) The Wisdom of Crowds - 4.8/5 - really liked this one. Recommended for anyone interested in sociology, business, or political science/philosophy

Got 11 Non-fictions, just need 4 more new fiction authors.

**Currently Reading The Aeneid, The Selfish Gene, The inferno, Hegemony or Survival**

Update
6. The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies by Robert Kirk and Andrew Lang (1893) - This book is a very interesting collection of fairy lore that dabbles in insane twists when Kirk describes his time in "Fairyland" Worth reading.

7. The Temptation of St. Antony by Gustave Flaubert - A novel that although is grand in scope, falls apart at several places where it is unclear where the character is. Worth reading if your into Christian philosophy, otherwise stay away

8. The Town by Chuck Hogan - A very interesting, action packed read that keeps the reader interested from beginning to end. Some of the chapters read long but it never ends up dry.

Can't edit my original post, so here's an update:

1. Richard Yates: Eleven Kinds Of Loneliness (6/10)
2. Richard P. Feynman: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (6/10)
3. Sam Harris: Letter To A Christian Nation (7/10)
4. Fred Hoyle: The Black Cloud (7/10)
5. Robert Trumbull: The Raft (8/10)
6. Douwe Draaisma: Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older (6/10)
7. David Mitchell: Cloud Atlas (9/10)
8. Naomi Wolf: The Beauty Myth (4,5/10)
9. Chuck Palahniuk: Diary (6,5/10)
10. Mari Jose Olaziregi: An Anthology Of Basque Short Stories (5/10)
11. Ernest Becker: The Birth And Death Of Meaning (6/10)

Almost done. :) (edit: Done!)

After the challenge: David Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas" was a real treat and I am definitely going to pick up some of his other books. I think Trumbull never wrote anything else but I'll probably give Becker, Yates, Palahniuk and Harris another go.

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Originally Posted by Mr. Bungle

Can't edit my original post, so here's an update:

1. Richard Yates: Eleven Kinds Of Loneliness (6/10)
2. Richard P. Feynman: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (6/10)
3. Sam Harris: Letter To A Christian Nation (7/10)
4. Fred Hoyle: The Black Cloud (7/10)
5. Robert Trumbull: The Raft (8/10)
6. Douwe Draaisma: Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older (6/10)
7. David Mitchell: Cloud Atlas (9/10)
8. Naomi Wolf: The Beauty Myth (4,5/10)
9. Chuck Palahniuk: Diary (6,5/10)
10. Mari Jose Olaziregi: An Anthology Of Basque Short Stories (5/10)
11. Ernest Becker: The Birth And Death Of Meaning (reading atm...)

Almost done. :)

After the challenge: David Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas" was a real treat and I am definitely going to pick up some of his other books. I think Trumbull never wrote anything else but I'll probably give Becker, Yates, Palahniuk and Harris another go.

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Check out Harris's "The Moral Landscape" it's excellent. This is, however, coming from a pretty hardcore utilitarian :).

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Originally Posted by Rores28

Check out Harris's "The Moral Landscape" it's excellent. This is, however, coming from a pretty hardcore utilitarian :).

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Thank you for the tip, Rores! I will look out for this one.

(Just for the record: 'Letter To A Christian Nation' probably deserves a higher rating. It is the first book of Harris that I had the pleasure of reading but I've heard him lecture many times before and there wasn't a lot of new ground broken in the book - hence the slightly lower rating.)

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Originally Posted by IceM

Alright. Update.

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. 8.5/10
The Great Gatsby by Jay Gatsby 8/10
Things Fall Apart from Chinua Achebe 7/10
The Road by Cormac McCarthy 6.5/10
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller 7.5/10

Now add:
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka: 9/10. Thoroughly heart-wrenching, sad end for Gregor Samsa. Great story.

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt: 7.5/10. I loved the story, was fond of the writing, not fond of the ending, became a tad bit repetitive. For a great beginning, the memoir to me became a chore to read and was no longer as enjoyable.

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Update:

Song of Solomon 8.5/10
Things Fall Apart 7/10
The Road by Cormac McCarthy 6.5/10
Death of a Salesman 7.5/10
Metamorphosis 9/10
Angela's Ashes 7.5/10
Great Gatsby 8/10

Langston Hughes's selected poems: 8.5/10. Excellent poetry, just a bit repetitive, as can be expected from selected poems. I found much to be thankful for in his powerful verse, it just fell flat on certain sections of this book.

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman: 10/10. He defined American free verse. Nobody could write in that style before him, nobody will reach the beauty of his stellar work after him. So magnificently moving that, while getting away with conventions otherwise unusable today, is just brilliant. Unfortunately, this has effectually ruined my poetic voice, because I now feel myself imitating him unconsciously.

The Sonnets by Jorge Luis Borges: 9.5/10. Some of the sonnets were prosaic, most were less poetic than I expected. Yet Borges carries a delicate beauty in his words. I find myself thinking they're prosy sonnets, but I just don't know how to feel yet. Enthralling writing.

Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake: 7/10. The poems were good, I just found most of these poems forgettable. I agree with T.S. Eliot when he says Blake is a second-rate poet. I'll need to revisit this book later. I was pleased by Blake's work, but it didn't carry the beauty of other poets whose works I have read.

FINISHED!

I know I'm joining a little late, but this is a great idea! There's been a lot of works over the years that I "keep meaning to read".

My list of what I will read (and then I'll cross them off for myself once I've read them, and post ratings/reviews once I've completed the list, or made significant progress):

1. Tristram Shandy - Laurence Sterne
2. Finnegans Wake - James Joyce
3. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
4. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
6. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
7. The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
8. The Island of Dr. Moreau - H.G. Wells
9. Around the World in Eighty Days - Jules Verne
10. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
11. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

It`s a good thing I work in a library.

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Originally Posted by Etain

2. Finnegans Wake - James Joyce

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You'll never read Joyce again if you read Finnegan's Wake. Read Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man instead. It's so much more coherent, which itself is a major plus.

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Originally Posted by IceM

You'll never read Joyce again if you read Finnegan's Wake. Read Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man instead. It's so much more coherent, which itself is a major plus.

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Thanks for the suggestion! I had chosen Finnegan's Wake because a friend was bugging me for years to read it. But I think I'll take your advice and save it for another time lol.

1.) The City and The City - China Miéville
2.) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
3.) a visit from the goon squad - Jennifer Egan

boy am I behind.

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Originally Posted by Etain

Thanks for the suggestion! I had chosen Finnegan's Wake because a friend was bugging me for years to read it. But I think I'll take your advice and save it for another time lol.

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Am reading Portrait now myself, it's excellent!

Only joined but thanks to college work I have read alot of new material so far this year.

Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Go Between by L.P Hartley
The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood
Paradise Lost by John Milton
Portrait of the Artist as a young man by James Joyce

On the to do list:
Bram Stoker's Dracula
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Lord Of The Flies

I'll get that far and ask you guys for some direction..
Just realised I managed to avoid some prominent titles until this year!!

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Originally Posted by IceM

You'll never read Joyce again if you read Finnegan's Wake. Read Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man instead. It's so much more coherent, which itself is a major plus.

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A Portrait is coherent, but boring. Finnegans Wake completely incoherent but interesting. I would suggest starting Dubliners (Norton Critical ed.) and with his play Exiles.

Fiction
1) Frankenstein - Mary Shelley 3.7/5
2) Night - Elie Wiesel 3.9/5
3) The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison - 4.2/5
4) Cat's Cradle - Vonnegut - 3.8/5
5) Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett - 4.2/5
6) The Vagina Monologues - Eve Ensler - 2.0/5
7) Iphigenia in Aulis - Eurpidies - 4.8/5 - just saw this performed in Chicago at an incredibly small venue.. I'm talking the size of like 2-3 living rooms and was really blown away

8) Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino 5/5 - Fantastic! This book totally blew my mind. Stop reading whatever it is your reading and read this instead. Do it.


Non-fiction
1) Yes! - 4.5/5
2) Nudge - Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler - 3.8/5
3) Borges in 90 Minutes - Paul Strathern - 2.5/5
4) Six Pixels of Separation - Mitch Joel - 3/5
5) Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs - Chuck Klosterman 3/5
6) The Truth about the Drugs Companies - Marcia Angell 4/5
7) Neuroscience and Philosophy - Maxwell Bennet 2.5/5
8) What Would Google Do? - Jeff Jarvis 3.8/5
9) Practical Ethics - Peter Singer 4.8/5 (The best book I've read this year)
10) The Problems of Philosophy - Bertrand Russel 3.8/5
11) The Wisdom of Crowds - 4.8/5 - really liked this one. Recommended for anyone interested in sociology, business, or political science/philosophy

Got 11 Non-fictions, just need 4 more new fiction authors.

**Currently Reading The Aeneid, The Selfish Gene, The inferno, Hegemony or Survival, How Capitalism Will Save Us.**

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1.China Miéville: The City & The City - 9/10

At first I was a bit reluctant to read this book because the main focus of the plot revolved around a detective solving a murder, and in general I do not read crime fiction and detective novels, but I love surrealism and alternative realities so I was really intrigued by the concept of these two different cities coexisisting within the same location.

Over all I really enjoyed this book, though I do have some mixed feelings about certain aspects of it. On the one hand I found the realistic approach the author took to the concept was an interesting one, and the way in which it was an examination of urban life, society, politics, and so forth. On the other hand I have to admit a part of me was hoping for a bit more "fantastic" moments and perhaps hoping that it would bend the bonds of reality even further than it did.

2. H.G. Wells: The Time Machine - 9/10

Generally I am not really into sci-fi but I figured Wells is a classic, so I should give him a try and all in all I ended up quite enjoying this book. I did find that it was a bit slow at the start, but once he actually began to travel back into time and was telling of his adventures it really picked up. I have always liked those kind of adventure stories which involve traveling to strange new places and encounters with strange and new creatures/people.


3. Theodore Dreiser: Sister Carrie -10/10

I was a bit daunted by the size of this book but once I started reading it, it actually went by rather quickly. I found it to be quite an interesting story and I really enjoyed reading it. I really liked Dreiser's style of writing and the complexity of his characters. This really makes me want to read an American Tragedy now.

4. Nevil Shute: A Town Like Alice -9/10

Since I have posted an official review for this one I will try not to repeat myself too much again here. Only say that this book took me by surprise. I liked it a good deal more than I thought I would. I loved the narrative style and I found the story engaging to read and I loved the characters.

5. David Mitchell: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet -8/10

It starts out really slowly, though I did enjoy the history of the book as it is about the Dutch Trading company in Japan, which was quite interesting, because of the isolation laws of Japan there was this man made island built called Dejima which is where the traders were housed because they were not allowed to enter the country. But the first half of the book was a bit tedious to read, but it did begin to really pick up once you got into and the story took off and overall I quite enjoyed it.

6. Marguerite Duras: The Ravishing of Lol Stein-9/10

This is a beautifully lyrical, haunting and somewhat bizarre little book which really does provide the reader with a very unique reading experince. I was spellbound by the story as it started to unweave itself.

7. Hillary Mantel: Wolf Hall-8/10

I love historical fiction, and only recently started really getting into Tudor history and this book was all the rave and very hyped up. I have to say I have rather mixed feelings about it. I was not quite as blown away by it as I would have expected from everything I heard, yet I cannot say that I found it to be a disappointment either. It did have its interesting points and I liked the perspective for the story, telling it from Cromwell's point of view which I thought was quite a unique way to approach the story. But I did not altogether agree with the way in which she went about trying to portray Cromwell as a sympathetic character, as I think there was a heavy author bias in the story. Also I did not care that much for the narration style of the book which at times was difficult to follow, confusing, and for me failed to truly explore the depths of the characters so that I never really got completely drawn into the story.

8. Michel Faber: The Crimson Petal and the White -8/10

An exploration behind the veneer of the Victorian age, and most particularly focuses upon the issue of prostitution of that time, and with the freedom of the modern age explores into the subject of the sexual oppression which bred hypocrisies and depravity and addresses the way in which in many ways both men and women were victims of the age.

9. Michelle Moran: Madame Tussuad: A Novel of the French Revolution-9/10

I have always been interested in the French Revolution but never had the chance to read anything about it within the realm of historical fiction so I was very interested in this novel. I really enjoyed it I thought it was a well crafted story that moved along quickly and was engaging from the start.

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10. Ian McEwan: On Chesil Beach-9/10

This is a book which I never would have thought to read on my own. As I know they say don't judge a book by its cover, but based upon the cover of the book, the title, and the person who wrote it I would have presumed it to be some romance story, and though one could argue it is a romance, it was not some insufferable, sappy, sentimental romance. But my mom read this book and told me she thought I might like it, actually the way she put it was, this books was kind of weird so you would probably enjoy it. We have very different reading tastes but she knows what I don't like so I trusted it would not be some eye rolling love story. And I ended up enjoying the book a lot more than I would have guessed and I was surprised by the beauty of the writing itself.

Just finished Dante Alighieri – “The Inferno”.
Still working on Cicero’s “On Moral Duties” and I will now add Thor Heyerdahl’s “The RA Expeditions” to the list. The book has been in the family library for years, but I have yet to read it.

1. James Fennimore Cooper - "Last of the Mohicans"
2. Ian Fleming's "Goldfinger"
3. Karel Čapek - R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)
4. Anton Checkhov's "Ward No 6" and "On the Road"
5. William Somerset Maugham – “The Moon and Sixpence”
6. Dante Alighieri – “The Inferno”

.

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1.China Miéville: The City & The City - 9/10

At first I was a bit reluctant to read this book because the main focus of the plot revolved around a detective solving a murder, and in general I do not read crime fiction and detective novels, but I love surrealism and alternative realities so I was really intrigued by the concept of these two different cities coexisisting within the same location.

Over all I really enjoyed this book, though I do have some mixed feelings about certain aspects of it. On the one hand I found the realistic approach the author took to the concept was an interesting one, and the way in which it was an examination of urban life, society, politics, and so forth. On the other hand I have to admit a part of me was hoping for a bit more "fantastic" moments and perhaps hoping that it would bend the bonds of reality even further than it did.

2. H.G. Wells: The Time Machine - 9/10

Generally I am not really into sci-fi but I figured Wells is a classic, so I should give him a try and all in all I ended up quite enjoying this book. I did find that it was a bit slow at the start, but once he actually began to travel back into time and was telling of his adventures it really picked up. I have always liked those kind of adventure stories which involve traveling to strange new places and encounters with strange and new creatures/people.


3. Theodore Dreiser: Sister Carrie -10/10

I was a bit daunted by the size of this book but once I started reading it, it actually went by rather quickly. I found it to be quite an interesting story and I really enjoyed reading it. I really liked Dreiser's style of writing and the complexity of his characters. This really makes me want to read an American Tragedy now.

4. Nevil Shute: A Town Like Alice -9/10

Since I have posted an official review for this one I will try not to repeat myself too much again here. Only say that this book took me by surprise. I liked it a good deal more than I thought I would. I loved the narrative style and I found the story engaging to read and I loved the characters.

5. David Mitchell: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet -8/10

It starts out really slowly, though I did enjoy the history of the book as it is about the Dutch Trading company in Japan, which was quite interesting, because of the isolation laws of Japan there was this man made island built called Dejima which is where the traders were housed because they were not allowed to enter the country. But the first half of the book was a bit tedious to read, but it did begin to really pick up once you got into and the story took off and overall I quite enjoyed it.

6. Marguerite Duras: The Ravishing of Lol Stein-9/10

This is a beautifully lyrical, haunting and somewhat bizarre little book which really does provide the reader with a very unique reading experince. I was spellbound by the story as it started to unweave itself.

7. Hillary Mantel: Wolf Hall-8/10

I love historical fiction, and only recently started really getting into Tudor history and this book was all the rave and very hyped up. I have to say I have rather mixed feelings about it. I was not quite as blown away by it as I would have expected from everything I heard, yet I cannot say that I found it to be a disappointment either. It did have its interesting points and I liked the perspective for the story, telling it from Cromwell's point of view which I thought was quite a unique way to approach the story. But I did not altogether agree with the way in which she went about trying to portray Cromwell as a sympathetic character, as I think there was a heavy author bias in the story. Also I did not care that much for the narration style of the book which at times was difficult to follow, confusing, and for me failed to truly explore the depths of the characters so that I never really got completely drawn into the story.

8. Michel Faber: The Crimson Petal and the White -8/10

An exploration behind the veneer of the Victorian age, and most particularly focuses upon the issue of prostitution of that time, and with the freedom of the modern age explores into the subject of the sexual oppression which bred hypocrisies and depravity and addresses the way in which in many ways both men and women were victims of the age.

9. Michelle Moran: Madame Tussuad: A Novel of the French Revolution-9/10

I have always been interested in the French Revolution but never had the chance to read anything about it within the realm of historical fiction so I was very interested in this novel. I really enjoyed it I thought it was a well crafted story that moved along quickly and was engaging from the start.

10. Ian McEwan: On Chesil Beach-9/10

This is a book which I never would have thought to read on my own. As I know they say don't judge a book by its cover, but based upon the cover of the book, the title, and the person who wrote it I would have presumed it to be some romance story, and though one could argue it is a romance, it was not some insufferable, sappy, sentimental romance. But my mom read this book and told me she thought I might like it, actually the way she put it was, this books was kind of weird so you would probably enjoy it. We have very different reading tastes but she knows what I don't like so I trusted it would not be some eye rolling love story. And I ended up enjoying the book a lot more than I would have guessed and I was surprised by the beauty of the writing itself.

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And I have finished!

Last one

Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita -9/10

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aliengirl

1. Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco - 10/10
2. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - 6/10

3. The Monk by Matthew Lewis - 8/10.

4. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys - 8.5/10. It is a very poignant novel with some very exquisite passages. I have not read such a good prequel before especially as it was written by a different author.

5. Kanthapura by Raja Rao - 6/10. Rao could not match Narayan in irony.

6. Anne of the Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery - 9/10. I wonder why I have not read it earlier. Great fun!

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It seems a long time since my last update. I have been reading authors most of whom I've read before. But I hope I'd finish my list before the year ends.

Update

7. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood - 9.5/10. Absolutely loved it. Will surely read more by Atwood.

8. The Inscrutable Americans by Anurag Mathur - 1/10. After reading it I wondered who was the fool - the Americans, the Indians, or the reader. Thank God, I didn't spend my money on it. It was lent by someone. Gave it a point because the poor guy has at least worked upon the plot...to keep it uniform from beginning till end. Disgusting!

9. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller - 8/10. Quite absurd and funny, full of dotty characters. Various inter textual references make it more interesting.

Just two more to go and I am working on them.

Finished all 11

1. Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist -
2. The Terror by Dan Simmons:
3. Lilith by George MacDonald
4. Pan by Knut Hamsun
5. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
6. The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies by Robert Kirk and Andrew Lang (1893)
7. The Temptation of St. Antony by Gustave Flaubert
8. The Town by Chuck Hogan
9. The Portrait of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
10. Camilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
11. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Best
1. Let The Right One In - Very dark in scope but humanistic take on vampires.
2. The Terror - Very interesting take on a folklore, epic, makes you want to read more
3. Lilith - Fantasy at its best
4. The Town - Very well written exciting novel
5. Camilla - Gothic and sometimes erotic, this short story sucks you in.
6. The Alchemist - Best novel I've ever read, due to the lessons contained in its pages

Meh
1. Les Miserables - Dont get me wrong, this is a great novel, but once Javert dies, it falls flat
2. The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies by Robert Kirk and Andrew Lang (1893) -This provides interesting details on these creatures but its often hard to follow
3. The Portrait of Dorian Grey - Great novel, but the main character is just a *******. Maybe the ending was meant to be that grim. A slight Meh

The Ugly
1.Pan - Boring, enough said. This is a basic story with some sex, but oddly little emotion
2. The Temptation of St. Antony - Alot is done with this play, but its difficult (from a readers standpoint) where exactly this occurs. I missed the point entirely.

Just finished Thor Heyerdahl’s “The RA Expeditions”. Still working on Cicero and deciding on another, possibly the "The Confessions of St. Augustine" or "The Travels of Marco Polo" -???

1. James Fennimore Cooper - "Last of the Mohicans"
2. Ian Fleming's "Goldfinger"
3. Karel Čapek - R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)
4. Anton Checkhov's "Ward No 6" and "On the Road"
5. William Somerset Maugham – “The Moon and Sixpence”
6. Dante Alighieri – “The Inferno”
7. Thor Heyerdahl’s “The RA Expeditions”


.

Finished the Challenge some while ago, but haven't posted yet.

Here goes:
1. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
2. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
3. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
4. The Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin
5. Dracula by Bram Stoker
6. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
7. Complete Works by John Keats
8. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
9. Ditte Menneskebarn by Martin Andersen Nexø
10. Lingua Tertii Imperii by Victor Klemperer
11. The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

My goal for 2011 is to get into anglo-saxon literature as I have been neglecting it in favour of Russian, German and Scandinavian literature. Hemingway really caught my attention and Jack Keroucs Original Scroll was brilliant (not listed among the eleven).

Nice challenge, I'm ready for the 2012 challenge next year :)

Fiction
1) Frankenstein - Mary Shelley 3.7/5
2) Night - Elie Wiesel 3.9/5
3) The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison - 4.2/5
4) Cat's Cradle - Vonnegut - 3.8/5
5) Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett - 4.2/5
6) The Vagina Monologues - Eve Ensler - 2.0/5
7) Iphigenia in Aulis - Eurpidies - 4.8/5 - just saw this performed in Chicago at an incredibly small venue.. I'm talking the size of like 2-3 living rooms and was really blown away
8) Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino 5/5 - Fantastic! This book totally blew my mind. Stop reading whatever it is your reading and read this instead. Do it.
9) Exit Wounds - Rutu Modan 4/5
10) Fables - Bill Willingham 3/5

Non-fiction
1) Yes! - 4.5/5
2) Nudge - Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler - 3.8/5
3) Borges in 90 Minutes - Paul Strathern - 2.5/5
4) Six Pixels of Separation - Mitch Joel - 3/5
5) Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs - Chuck Klosterman 3/5
6) The Truth about the Drugs Companies - Marcia Angell 4/5
7) Neuroscience and Philosophy - Maxwell Bennet 2.5/5
8) What Would Google Do? - Jeff Jarvis 3.8/5
9) Practical Ethics - Peter Singer 4.8/5 (The best book I've read this year)
10) The Problems of Philosophy - Bertrand Russel 3.8/5
11) The Wisdom of Crowds - 4.8/5 - really liked this one. Recommended for anyone interested in sociology, business, or political science/philosophy

Got 11 Non-fictions, just need 4 more new fiction authors.

**Currently Reading The Aeneid, The Selfish Gene, The inferno, Hegemony or Survival, How Capitalism Will Save Us.

Fiction
1) Frankenstein - Mary Shelley 3.7/5
2) Night - Elie Wiesel 3.9/5
3) The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison - 4.2/5
4) Cat's Cradle - Vonnegut - 3.8/5
5) Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett - 4.2/5
6) The Vagina Monologues - Eve Ensler - 2.0/5
7) Iphigenia in Aulis - Eurpidies - 4.8/5 - just saw this performed in Chicago at an incredibly small venue.. I'm talking the size of like 2-3 living rooms and was really blown away
8) Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino 5/5 - Fantastic! This book totally blew my mind. Stop reading whatever it is your reading and read this instead. Do it.
9) Exit Wounds - Rutu Modan 4/5
10) Fables - Bill Willingham 3/5
11) The Inferno - Dante 3.33/5

Non-fiction
1) Yes! - 4.5/5
2) Nudge - Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler - 3.8/5
3) Borges in 90 Minutes - Paul Strathern - 2.5/5
4) Six Pixels of Separation - Mitch Joel - 3/5
5) Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs - Chuck Klosterman 3/5
6) The Truth about the Drugs Companies - Marcia Angell 4/5
7) Neuroscience and Philosophy - Maxwell Bennet 2.5/5
8) What Would Google Do? - Jeff Jarvis 3.8/5
9) Practical Ethics - Peter Singer 4.8/5 (The best book I've read this year)
10) The Problems of Philosophy - Bertrand Russel 3.8/5
11) The Wisdom of Crowds - 4.8/5 - really liked this one. Recommended for anyone interested in sociology, business, or political science/philosophy

Got 11 Non-fictions, just need 4 more new fiction authors.

**Currently Reading The Aeneid, The Selfish Gene, Hegemony or Survival, How Capitalism Will Save Us.

Just finished my 11 non-fiction. Anyone out there going for more than 11? I think I'm gonna try to hit 14 fiction and 14 non-fiction if I can.

I've finished.

Here is the final list-

1. Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco - 10/10

2. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - 6/10

3. The Monk by Matthew Lewis - 8/10.

4. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys - 8.5/10.

5. Kanthapura by Raja Rao - 6/10.

6. Anne of the Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery - 9/10.

7. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood - 9.5/10.

8. The Inscrutable Americans by Anurag Mathur - 1/10.

9. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller - 8/10.

10. The Green Knight by Iris Murdoch - 6/10 It was a little boring in the beginning but when I trudged half way through it began to get interesting. The end was somewhat like a fairytale but it was unexpected.

11. Changing Places by David Lodge - 8/10
I've never read any work of fiction by Lodge before. Having read his non-fiction I hoped for a good read and was not disappointed. In fact it was a trilogy followed by two more novels - Small World (9/10) and Nice Work (8.5/10). Enjoyed a lot. Finished all the three novels in just twelve days.

FINISHED!!!

I think I can continue the challenge as a quarter of the year is still left and my TBR list is getting longer and longer with many new authors on it.

Dante: Inferno
Anthony Burgess: A Clockwork Orange
J.D. Salinger: The Catcher in the Rye (Reading)
Jonathan Stroud: The Amulet of Samarkand (Reading)
Arnaldur Indridason: Hypothermia
William Golding: Lord of the Flies
Yevgeny Zamyatin: We
Joe Dunthorne: Submarine
Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights
Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita

Whoa I indeed read a lot of books by new authors this year. :D One more to go!

Oh **** I forgot to rate them. Basically they are all amazing, especially Inferno, A Clockwork Orange, Lord of the Flies, and We. Submarine and Lolita are good at the beginning but it gets boring towards the end. Wuthering Heights's pretty okay but it's just a pain in the *** since it's my literature book.