2011 11-Authors Challenge

[Captain Pike]

This still happening? I wish I'd seen it earlier in the year. BTW: how do you get a plug right on the short story contest page? That IS something.

Let's see:
0) Joseph Conrad -- Victorious.
1) Pearl S. Buck -- Uncle Tom's Cabin.
2) Charles Dickens -- A Tale of Two Cities
3) Ernest Hemingway -- For Whom the Bell Tolls. [Must've read Ernie as a kid]
reading more Dickens now, I'll never make it...

[Rores28]

[QUOTE=Rores28;1073350]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
12) Blankets - Craig Thompson 4.2/5
13) Fun Home - Alison Bechdel 4.2/5
14) Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth - Chris Ware 4.8/5 An excellent graphic novel, but not for the meek
15) Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi 3.9/5 - A harrowing and edifying story, propped up by mediocre writing.
16) Three Men In A Boat - Jerome K Jerome - 3.7/5

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



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

[Rores28]

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
12) Blankets - Craig Thompson 4.2/5
13) Fun Home - Alison Bechdel 4.2/5
14) Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth - Chris Ware 4.8/5 An excellent graphic novel, but not for the meek
15) Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi 3.9/5 - A harrowing and edifying story, propped up by mediocre writing.
16) Three Men In A Boat - Jerome K Jerome - 3.7/5
17) Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 3.9/5

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



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

[Rores28]

I realize I'm the only person still adding to this thread, but I'm going until the full year is up damnit.

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
12) Blankets - Craig Thompson 4.2/5
13) Fun Home - Alison Bechdel 4.2/5
14) Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth - Chris Ware 4.8/5 An excellent graphic novel, but not for the meek
15) Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi 3.9/5 - A harrowing and edifying story, propped up by mediocre writing.
16) Three Men In A Boat - Jerome K Jerome - 3.7/5
17) Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 3.9/5
18) Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad 4.2/5
19) Stitches - David Small 3.9/5

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



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

[aliengirl]

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.

UPDATE!

12. The Stranger (The Outsider) by Albert Camus - 8.5/10. I need to read it again to rate it honestly but on the first go it seemed highly intriguing.

13. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak - 9/10. Full of so many characters that it was difficult to keep track of all of them in the beginning. But I was drawn to it by its beautiful description of landscape and equally interesting lives of people inhabiting it. Quite strangely all the major characters suffer or die due to war but the minor ones survive, even prosper.

[Rores28]

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
12) Blankets - Craig Thompson 4.2/5
13) Fun Home - Alison Bechdel 4.2/5
14) Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth - Chris Ware 4.8/5 An excellent graphic novel, but not for the meek
15) Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi 3.9/5 - A harrowing and edifying story, propped up by mediocre writing.
16) Three Men In A Boat - Jerome K Jerome - 3.7/5
17) Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 3.9/5
18) Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad 4.2/5
19) Stitches - David Small 3.9/
20) Quitter - Harvey Pekar 2.3/5
21) Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy 4.7/5

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



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

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

Just finished Marcus Tulius Cicero – “On Moral Duties”
and St. Augustine – “The Confessions”

A couple of quotes from St. Augustine that inspired me:

“I developed a passion for stage plays, with the mirror they held up to my own miseries and the fuel they poured on my flame. How is it that a man wants to be made sad by the sight of tragic sufferings that he could not bear in his own person? Yet the spectator does want to feel sorrow, and it is actually a feeling of sorrow that he enjoys. Surely this is the most wretched lunacy”

“I have seen the lines drawn by architects, some as fine as a spider web; but the truths are different, they are not the images of such things as the eye of my body has shown me. To know them is to recognize them interiorly without any concept of any kind of body whatsoever…Let whoever does not see these truths laugh at me for talking thus; while he laughs at me I shall feel sorry for him”

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 Heyerdhal – “The RA Expeditions”
8. Marcus Tulius Cicero – “On Moral Duties”
9. St. Augustine – “The Confessions”

Given the recent furor over FF&H, I have decided to introudce myself to all three of them concurrently and see what all the fuss is about. I thought Hemingway would make 11, so I will make him 12. Therefore I will first complete my eleven with:

10. F. Scott Fitzgerald – “The Great Gatsby”
11. William Faulkner – “Absalom, Absalom!"

Hemingway...?? not sure which one to go with at this time.

.

Completed The Great Gatsby and Absalom, Absalom!. Besides introducing myself to new authors, my secondary reasoning for seelcting these two, was driven by an older thread comparing Faulkner, Fitzgerald and Hemingway. I have to say Fitzgerald was far easier to read and comprhend as compared to Faulkner, of course that is based on one book for each. It could be that Absalom, Absalom happens to be one of Faulkner's more difficult reads.

That takes care of my 11:
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 Heyerdhal – “The RA Expeditions”
8. Marcus Tulius Cicero – “On Moral Duties”
9. St. Augustine – “The Confessions”
10. F. Scott Fitzgerald – “The Great Gatsby”
11. William Faulkner – “Absalom, Absalom!



I'm now on to Hemingway.

.

[Rores28]

Completed The Great Gatsby and Absalom, Absalom!. Besides introducing myself to new authors, my secondary reasoning for seelcting these two, was driven by an older thread comparing Faulkner, Fitzgerald and Hemingway. I have to say Fitzgerald was far easier to read and comprhend as compared to Faulkner, of course that is based on one book for each. It could be that Absalom, Absalom happens to be one of Faulkner's more difficult reads.

That takes care of my 11:
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 Heyerdhal – “The RA Expeditions”
8. Marcus Tulius Cicero – “On Moral Duties”
9. St. Augustine – “The Confessions”
10. F. Scott Fitzgerald – “The Great Gatsby”
11. William Faulkner – “Absalom, Absalom!



I'm now on to Hemingway.

.

Faulkner is generally a more difficult read than Fitzgerald from what I gather. As I Lay Dying is no walk in the park either. I mean I love the book, but would not describe it as easy.

[Rores28]

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
12) Blankets - Craig Thompson 4.2/5
13) Fun Home - Alison Bechdel 4.2/5
14) Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth - Chris Ware 4.8/5 An excellent graphic novel, but not for the meek
15) Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi 3.9/5 - A harrowing and edifying story, propped up by mediocre writing.
16) Three Men In A Boat - Jerome K Jerome - 3.7/5
17) Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 3.9/5
18) Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad 4.2/5
19) Stitches - David Small 3.9/
20) Quitter - Harvey Pekar 2.3/5
21) Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy 4.7/5
22) Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier 4.0/5

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 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



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

[papayahed]

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

4.) Rubicon, The Last Years of the Roman Republic - Tom Holland

Yes. I realize I have failed miserably at the Challenge. I shall never surrender, even if it takes me years...

[mona amon]

This was a really good challenge. I didn't quite make it, alas, but I did get to read authors I wouldn't have normally tried, and at least three of the books were excellent. I also had fun with some of the lighter reads.

Here's my list -

1. The Scarlet Pimpernal by Baroness Orckzy - My mom used to love these, and I can see why, but not my kind of book.

2. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James - Great book, I can see that. Beautifully written, very well drawn characters. So well written in fact that I wonder if it isn't a case of too much of a good thing. At any rate, it proves to me that good writing isn't everything. It stirred no deep emotion in me, except for annoyance at the main character.

3. Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh - Loved this book! I was able to understand the dialect after a few pages. 10/10 if you ask me to rate it.

4. The Magician by Micheal Scott - :thumbsdown: Written for younger readers, I thought it would be an enjoyable light read, but it turned out to be every bit as bad as the Da Vinci Code.

5. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding - Ha, this was a lot of fun! Saw the movie soon afterwards and was thrilled with Colin Firth in another Darcy-ish role. Now I've forgotten which movie scenes were in the book and which were not.

6. After Dark by Haruki Murakami - I liked it, but felt it was too slight and unsatisfying. Then I read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by the same author, and it was everything I could have wished for. It blew me away! Fantastic book.

7. The Cleft by Doris Lessing - Quite the worst book I've ever read in my life. Tediously repititive, humourless, asinine, mindless drivel. It's cheating to include it here because I didn't quite make it to the end (and it was only about 250 pages long).

8. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon - A very enjoyable book about an autistic (or something) boy who does some 'detecting' and discovers something rather unexpected.

9. King Rat by China Meiville - Fairly readable, quite well written, and I suspect it's not even the author's best. May give some of his others a try.

10. Possession by A S Byatt - Starts off rather dry and scholarly - British Museum-y and Cambridge-y, but soon livens up. The correspondence between the two poet lovers was wonderful, but had to skip the long poems. Anyway, it's an excellent book, a mixture of all kinds of interesting stuff - poetry, history, myth, fairy tales, love story, detective story, and even a small 'foil the bad guys on our own' sort of subplot at the end, which reminded me of Enid Blyton!

Well, that's it! Just one book short, what a pity!

[papayahed]

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
4.) Rubicon, The Last Years of the Roman Republic - Tom Holland
5.) We - Yevgeny Zamyatin

[papayahed]

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
4.) Rubicon, The Last Years of the Roman Republic - Tom Holland
5.) We - Yevgeny Zamyatin
6.) In the Garden of Beasts - Erik Larson


Never Surrender.

[papayahed]

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
4.) Rubicon, The Last Years of the Roman Republic - Tom Holland
5.) We - Yevgeny Zamyatin
6.) In the Garden of Beasts - Erik Larson
7.) The Boys from Brazil - Ira Levin

[qimissung]

Proud of ya, papayahed. How did you like "A Visit from the Goon Squad," by the way?