Monday, May 11, 2009

Mission 101: Read 101 books in 1001 days.

Here's the deal. I have already started my Mission 101 through livejournal. I decided to make a new blog dediciated just to this project.

I plan to use this medium for keeping track of my progress and sharing my feelings on books in general.


(NOTE: I have dated this post for the end date of my mission, because I always want it to appear as the top entry, just scroll one down to see the newest post..)

Start Date: August 8, 2006

End Date: May 11, 2009


Here is my progress so far:


1. The Burn Journals -- Brent Runyon Finished 1/12/08!
2. A Piece of Cake -- Cupcake Brown Finished 8/20/07!
3. Gifted -- Nikita Lalwani Finished 03/05/09!
4. Eat, Pray, Love -- Elizabeth Gilbert Finished 1/22/08!
5. Eyes, Breath, Memory -- Edwidge Danticat Finished 3/10/09!
6. So Many Books, So Little Time -- Sara Nelson Finished 3/8/08!
7. House of Paper -- Carlos Maria Dominguez Finished 3/9/08!
8. Summers with the Bears -- Jack Becklund Finished 1/26/08!
9. Julie and Julia -- Julie Powell Finished 8/31/07!
10. Marley and Me -- John Grogan Finished 12/29/2008!
11. Bunny Tales -- Izabella St. James Finished 11/25/07!
12. The Talking Horse and The Sad Girl and The Village Under the Sea -- Mark Haddon Finised 3/20/2009!
13. Burned Alive -- Souad Finished 7/15/07!
14. Wonderful Tonight -- Pattie Boyed Finished 5/14/08!
15. The Keeper of the Lime Rock -- Lenore Skomal Finished 5/10/07
16. Forever Lily -- Beth Nonte Russell Finished 2/1/08!
17. Girlbomb -- Janice Erlbaum Finished 4/20/09!
18. Hey Ranger! -- Jim Burnett Finished 1/28/09!
19. The Dogs Who Found Me -- Ken Foster Finished 9/9/07!
20. Have You Found Her -- Janice Erlbaum Finished 12/1/08!
21. The Bookseller of Kabul -- Asne Seierstad Finished 6/2/07!
22. The End of the Alphabet -- CS Richardson Finished 1/11/2009!
23. Marked for Life -- Joie Davidow Finished 4/1/2009! (sort of)
24. Why New Orleans Matters -- Tom Piazza Finished 4/30/07!
25. Take the Cannoli -- Sarah Vowell Finished 5/22/08!
26. How I Learned English -- Tom Miller Finished 11/11/08!
27. The First Verse -- Berry McCrea Finished 7/27/07!
28. Superfoods RX -- Steven Pratt Finished 1/26/09!
29. Free Food for Millionaires -- Min Jin Lee Finished 9/22/08!
30. Special Topics in Calamity Physics -- Marisha Pessl Finished 4/13/08!
31. Falling Man -- Don DeLillo Finished (sort of) 10/15/07!
32. The Uncommon Reader -- Alan Bennett Finished 3/20/2009!
33. Here's the Story -- Maureen McCormick Finished 3/22/2009!
34. What is the What -- Dave Eggers Finished 7/1/07!
35. Restless Virgins -- Abigail Jones Finished 2/21/08!
36. The Headmaster Ritual -- Taylor AntrimFinished (sort of)9/29/08!
37. Upstate -- Kalisha Buckhanon Finished 8/15/08!
38. My Sisters Keeper -- Jodi Picoult Finished 10/27/2008!
39. The Mole People -- Jennifer Toth Finished 2/4/2009!
40. Hope and Other Damgerous Pursuits Finished 2/18/2009!
41. A Breath of Fresh Air -- Amulya Malladi Finished 9/4/07!
42. The Polysyllabic Spree -- Nick Hornby Finished 12/6/07!
43. Gossip of the Starlings -- Nina de Gramont Finished 5/2/2009!
44. The Year of Magical Thinking -- Joan Didion Finished 11/8/2008!
45. Autobiogrpahy of a Face -- Lucy Grealy Finished 7/9/08!
46. Sickened -- Julie Gregory Finished 7/29/07!
47. The House on Mango Street -- Sandra Cisneros Finished 4/22/2009!
48. Kabul Beauty School -- Deborah Rodriguez Finished 8/9/08!
49. A Confederacy of Dunces -- John Kennedy Toole Finished 1/23/2009
50. The Worst Noel --- Various Finished 12/16/07!
51. Assassination Vacation -- Sarah Vowell Done (sort of) 7/11/07
52. Truth and Beauty -- Ann Patchett Finished 7/21/08!
53. Half in Love -- Malie Meloy Finished 2/6/08!
54. The Noodle Maker -- Ma Jian Finished 8/3/07!
55. The Kiss -- Kathryn Harrison Finished 4/5/2009!
56. Snow Flower and The Secret Fan -- Lisa See Finished 9/14/07!
57. A Thousand Splendid Suns -- Khaled Hosseini Finished 11/10/07!
58. Playgound -- Jennifer Saginor Finished 11/16/07!
59. The Reader -- Bernard Schlink Finished 5/18/07!
60. American Dreams -- Sapphire Finished 12/16/07!
61. The Myth of You and Me -- Leah Stewart Finished 1/25/08!
62. Ex Libris -- Anne Fadiman May 10, 2009!!
63. The Zookeeper's Wife -- Diane AckermanFinished!(sort of) 10/12/2008
64. The Almond -- Nedjma Finished 1/7/08!
65. A Long Way Gone - Ishmael Beah Finished! 3/28/2009
66. Sweetness in the Belly -- Camilla Gibb Finished 6/4/08!
67. Darfur Diaries -- Jen Marlowe Finished (sort of) 4/20/08@
68. Delicate -- Mary Sojourner Finished (sort of) 9/26/08!
69. Desert Dawn -- Waris Dirie Finished 10/6/07!
70. Love, Stargirl -- Jerry Spinelli Finished 3/5/08!
71. Anthropology -- Dan Rhodes Finished 12/10/07!
72. The Love Hexagon -- William Suttcliffe Finished 12/22/07!
73. Windows on the World -- Frederic Beigbeder Finished 5/5/07!
74. Dying to Cross -- Jorge Ramos Finished 1/10/2009!
75. Grayson -- Lynne Cox Finished 10/21/07!
76. The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu Finished 12/2/07!
77. Dark -- Kenji Jasper Finished 4/7/07!
78. Digging to America -- Anne Tyler Finished 12/15/06!
79. The Namesake -- Jhumpa Lahiri Finished! 8/12/06
80. The Man of My Dreams -- Curtis Sittenfield Finished 12/26/06!
81. How Are We Hungry -- Dave Eggers Fished 2/25/07!
82. Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather -- Gao Xing Jian Finished ??
83. Caramba! -- Nina Marie Martinez Finished! 9/27/06
84. Peel My Love Like An Onion -- Ana Castillo Finished 1/10/07!
85. The Bridegroom -- Ha Jin Finished! 9/16/06
86. Are You Experienced? -- William Sutcliffe Finished 3/4/07!
87. Ties that Bind, Ties that Break -- Lensey Namioka Finished 10/1/06!
88. Lucky -- Alice SeaboldFinished 1/3/07
89. John -- Cynthia Lennon Finished 3/25/07!
90. The Monkey Wrench Gang -- Edward Abbey Finished! 8/24/06
91. For One More Day -- Mitch Albom Finished 11/6/06!
92. My Moral Enemy -- Willa Cather Finished! 2/14/07
93. A Spot of Bother -- Mark Haddon Finished 3/21/07!
94. The Kite Runner -- Khalde Hossein Finished 1/9/07!
95. Funny in Farsi -- Firoozeh Dumas Finished! 10/21/06
96. Dear Exile -- Hillary Liftin Finished 10/22/06!
97. Mr. Muo's Traveling Couch -- Dai Sijie Finished 1/28/07
98. The Facts Behind Helinski Roccamotios -- Yann Martel Finished 9/5/06!
99. The Secret History -- Donna Tartt Finshed 12/6/06!
100. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close -- Johnathan Safron Foer Finished 10/10/06!
101. Hotel of the Saints -- Ursula Hegi Finished! 2/9/07

17 comments:

Stefanie said...

That's some list! Are you going to allow yourself substitutions if something else you really want to read comes along? I am terrible at sticking to lists.

goldiebear said...

Yes of course! The list has already changed a few times.. plus I am into bookswapping, so I am always finding new books to add!

I love your blog by the way.. Angie and Tara introduced it to me!

Stefanie said...

Thanks! Angie actually told me about yours today and I am glad she did :)

caveblogem said...

How did you choose these? Obviously you didn't go for easy reads, some of these are a little ambitious for me.

goldiebear said...

Well, I actually own all these books.. they are sitting aroudnd my tiny apartment!

They are all books that of course interest me, I have a mix of tastes. These books were just ones that I have really wanted to read... plus the list has changed a few times...

Which books seem ambitious? I am just curious!

Unknown said...

Hello,

We just exchanged Reese's The Book Of Shadows...I visited your site and have read several of the books on your list.

What is your opinion of Donna Tartt's The Secret History?

Elizabeth Kostova, author of The Historian recomends it. I recently finished The Historian and enjoyed it.

Good luck meeting your goal!

goldiebear said...

I LOVED The Secret History. It's not my typical style of book, but I just was completley absorbed in this book. To the point where I was having dreams about the characters.
What did you think of it?


I am looking forward to reading The Little Friend. Have you read it? What did you think?

Bobbie said...

I continue to be amazed at how our tastes in books are so similar. I've read or want to read many of the 101 books on your list as well as some of those which you have already read. Gosh. 101 books in 1001 days is quite an fun undertaking.

I've posted a few books on my blog under "books" tab if your are interested:

http://grannie-blog.blogspot.com/

Right now I am into reading of life among the Arabs and just finished "The Yacoubian Building" about the inhabitants of a building in Cairo.

You know me as pecospearl on bookmooch.com

Jim Jannotti said...

Hello there,

I'm one of your bookmoch traders... you recently mooched two books from me in rapid succession. I believe both are still on the way to you.

Anyway, was looking over your top 25 list and noticed "Roads" by Larry McMurtry. It is one of my favorites too. I'm wondering what propelled it into the top 25 list for you. Seems like you have quite an affinity for travel narratives, judging by Roads, and the two books you mooched from me.

Incidentally, I blogrolled you at my own place so I can keep track of your quest.

Charb said...

WOW... that is a great purpose.

lawgrrl07 said...

I'm very impressed with your list! You mooched "Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading" from me awhile back, so I'm just dropping in to say "hi"! I think I'll add some of the books on your list to my BookMooch wishlist...you seem to be interested in books about Arab culture. Any particular reason? (My excuse is that my husband is Palestinian and my in-laws live in Kuwait ;-)...) Happy reading!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
goldiebear said...

Well thank you! I don't know about genius.. but who knows! ;-)

Where can I find your 101 in 1001? I would love to see it! I clicked on your profile, but it said it couldn't be displayed...

Unknown said...

I mooched a book from you a few days ago and saw the link to this site in your profile. I hope you don't mind, but I have used your idea and started my own 101 in 1001. I gave you credit in my About Project 101 in 1001 section. I hope you don't mind. Please let me know if you do. You're a freaking genius.

Aimée

Here is MY blog

http://project101in1001.wordpress.com/

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Jonna and Peter Meidal said...

holy crap!! I'm impressed!!! I probably could beat you since there's no TV in Indo and I'm getting bored of playing Gin Rummy with Peter. :)

I'm glad you're visiting my blog!! How are things on the NOrth Side? Still good?? Tell everyone I said HI!!!

JOnna