Captain's (Reading) Log: Stardate 2013.01-.365

[Desolation]

1. A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

[Bibliophile79]

January
The Woman Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde 12/24/12 - 01/02/13 ***
The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick 1/02 - 1/03 *** ½
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl 1/03 - 1/07 *** ½
Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl 1/07 - 1/10 ***
Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl 1/10 - 1/13 *** ½
Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl 1/13 - 1/14 ***
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion 1/22 - 1/24 ****
Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris 1/24 - 1/27 ****
Room by Emma Donoghue 1/28 - 1/29 **

February
Lust for Life by Irving Stone 1/29 - 2/6 **
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin 2/6 - 2/22 ****
Touching the Surface by Kimberly Sabatini 2/23 - 2/26 ***

March
The Further Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Greg Matthews 2/26 - 3/2 ****
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote 3/2 - 3/6 ****
World's End by T.C. Boyle 3/6 - 3/12 ****
Summerland by Michael Chabon 3/12 - 3/15 ****

[prendrelemick]

The Prophecy by S J Parris. 7/10

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. 6/10

The Suppliant Women by Aeschylus 7/10The Persians by Aeschylus. 7/10

The Widows Secret by Brian Thompson. 7/10 (Book club choice)

Prometheus Bound. by Aeschylus.

[NikolaiI]

The Illearth War by Stephen R. Donaldson

9/10

[The Comedian]

Song of Roland annon. 4/5 (Translated by John DuVal)
I enjoyed reading this poem of Medieval knights, Charmaine, and the Battle of Roncesvalles. The rhythm and sound of the translation was outstanding (not that I know old French to compare it to). It makes me want to read the epic of el Cid sometime later this year.

[Paulclem]

The Damned United by David Peace - A football novel based upon real people and events in the football league in 1970s England written in a stream of consciousness style with intercut flashbacks.

[kiki1982]

After a disappointing performance last year (6, shame on you! Work work work), I have started off by finishing Eugénie Grandet by Balzac and decided to have some fun with the sequel to The Warden, Barchester Towers by Trollope.
Sir Lambda Mewnew and Sir Omikron Pie still makes me smile.

[Silas D]

4. The Magus by John Fowles 9/10.

[Helga]

Eneas by Virgil 7/10
The Valley of fear by Arthur Conan Doyle 9/10 (this is probably my favorite Holmes)
Germania By Tacitus 6/10
A Ghost story by Platus 7/19
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle 7/10

[Babyguile]

I'm not going to rate books, but if I feel compelled to make comments on them I will do so.

1. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
The sentimental melodrama of the third part was a chore to read, but everything before that was exceptional.

[prendrelemick]

The Prophecy by S J Parris. 7/10

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. 6/10

The Suppliant Women by Aeschylus 7/10The Persians by Aeschylus. 7/10

The Widows Secret by Brian Thompson. 7/10 (Book club choice)

Prometheus Bound. by Aeschylus

The Lost World. by Arthur Conan Doyle. 7/10

[kasie]

....... as part of my 13-seconds reading challenge.

You can read a book in 13 seconds????

So that's how you manage all these Reading Challenges - I've often wondered....

[Scheherazade]

1. The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin (S1) ~ 8/10

2. A Short Story of Tracktors in Ukranian by Marina Lewycka (W1/N1) ~ 7/10

3. Decameron by Boccaccio (R11) ~ 8/10

4. Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris (W2/S2) ~ 7/10

5. The Cider House Rules by John Irving ~ 9/10

6. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (W3/N2) ~ 6/10

7. The Bostonians by Henry James (S3) ~ 8/10

8. Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett (N3) ~ 7/10

9. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (W4/S4) ~ 8/10

10. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (W5/S5) ~ 7/10 I was expecting this to be a rather tragic love story but Atwood has no time for romance, tragic or otherwise. And in a post-apocalyptic world, there is no time for romance either, anyhow... Only for memories.

11. The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham (N4) ~ 5/10 Felt utterly bored reading about the poor rich people. Almost like Gatsby, without its charms.

12. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (W6/S6) ~ 8/10 As good as Patchett's other book Bel Canto. A search for a missing colleague turns into a discovery of self in the middle of Amazon.

13. The Ballad of the Sad Cafe and Other Stories by Carson McCullers (W7/S7) ~ 10/10 Beyond doubt, she is one of my favourite authors. Touching, tragic and sad... So much so that it is funny.

14. The Honorary Consul by Graham Greene (S8) ~ 7/10

15. White Teeth by Zadie Smith (W8/S9) ~ 7/10

16. The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald (R1) ~ 9/10

17. The Sweet Thursday by Steinbeck (R2) ~ 9/10

18. Changing Places by David Lodge (N5) ~ 6/10

19. One of Ours by Willa Cather (W9/S10 ~ 4/10

20. Ann Veronica by HG Wells ~ 3/10

21. A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh (S11) ~ 8/10

22. Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen (N6) ~ 8/10 Ideal summer read.

23. Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer by Steven Millhauser (N7) ~ 7/10

24. Paddy Clark, Ha Ha Ha! by Roddy Doyle (N8)~ 8/10

25. A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler (N9) ~ 9/10

26. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway ~ 6/10

27. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides (S12) ~ 9/10

28. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (N10) ~ 8/10

29. Pygmalion GB Shaw (R3) ~ 9/10

30. Dolores Claibourne by Stephen King (S13) ~ 8/10

31. Tinkers by Paul Harding (N11/P) ~ 9/10

32. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by Horace McCoy (N12) ~ 8/10

33. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (N13/P) ~ 7/10

34. The Reivers by Faulkner (P) ~ 9/10

35. Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman (N14)

36. 39. Sputnik, Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami (S16)

37. A Country Doctor’s Notebook by Bulgakov (S15) ~ 8/10

38. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman 7/10

39. I Should Have Stayed Home by Horace McCoy (S14) ~ 6/10[/I]

40. Crying Lot of 49 by Thomas Pynchon (N16) ~ 7/10

41. The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler (W11/S17) ~ 8/10

42. Brighton Rock by Graham Greene ~ 9/10

43. The Time Machine by HG Wells ~ 7/10

44. The Year of the Flood by Atwood (W10) - 5/10

46. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut ~ 8/10

47. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder (N15/P)~ 5/10

48. Kafka On the Shore by Murakami ~ 10/10

49. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie ~ 8/10

You can read a book in 13 seconds????

Only on a slow day!

[Lykren]

I posted this on the new authors reading challege as well, but that's only because I'll be reading ALL new authors this year. Besides, my opinions have changed. For example...

1. The Golden Notebook seems in retrospect as though it dealt with some very interesting, difficult problems of modern society; for example, what is the relevance of love in a sexually 'liberated' society? Whereas...

2. Lady Chatterley's Lover has not really changed yet for me. I still have a problem with its dualistic approach to civilization vs. nature and felt somehow as though a better alternative to civilization was not really offered - though I admit the relationship was occasionally quite touching.

Still reading Of Human Bondage, though I'm almost done. I can't say I think it's a favorite or that I want to read more Somerset Maugham, BUT... it occasionally makes me feel like crying and I have no idea why. So that's a plus.

[kasie]

...... Only on a slow day!