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

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Mission 101 (Part I) Complete!

Woot! So I did it. I finished my (first) Mission 101! With less than a few hours to spare. I feel great! So great, that I am doing it again! I am starting over with another 101 books to read in a 1001 days. This time I hope to read more than that many books in 1001 days.

If I had to choose my top 12 books of the Mission they would be as follows:

1. What is the What
2. The Secret History
3. A Piece of Cake
4. Have You Found Her
5. The Kite Runner
6. A Thousand Spendid Suns
7. Eat, Pray, Love
8. Special Topics in Calamity Physics
9. Sweetness in the Belly
10. The Bookseller of Kabul
11. The Namesake
12. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

So, above this post you can see the list of books I actually read. Now below, in case anyone is interested, is the list of books I had orginally listed for this mission. (in case you are too lazy to compare, I crossed out the ones I read!) So out of the oringal 101 books, I only read 14 of them. I can't believe it! (I blame my discovery of bookmooch and paperback swap.) The list was always changing. But I am still making a brand new list for Mission 101 Part II. It helps me to be organized. I know the list will still change.... maybe just not as much at Part I? We can only wait and see...... and on we go.

1. Bridge of San Luis Ray -- Thornton Wilder
2. The Facts Behind Helinski Roccamotios -- Yann Martel Finished 9/5/06!
3. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close -- Johnathan Safron Foer
4. Juneteenth -- Ralph Ellison
5. The Story of B -- Daniel Quinn in progress
6. Dear Exile -- Hillary Liftin in progress
7. No Longer at Ease -- Chinua Achebe
8. The Obituary Writer -- Porter Shreve
9. An Unfinished Life -- Mark Spragg
10. I Am A Pencil -- Sam Swope
11. The Love Germ -- Jill Neville
12. A Superior Death -- Nevada Barr
13. Life of Pie -- Yann Martell
14. The Unbearable Lightness of Being -- Milan Kundera
15. Babyji -- Abha Dawesar
16. The Known World -- Edward P. Jones
17. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter -- Carlson McCullers
18. Lamb -- Christopher Moore
19. The Mambo Kinds Play Songs of Love -- Oscar Hijuelos
20. A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf -- John Muir
21. Sapagonia -- Ana Castillo
22. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down -- Anne Fadiman in progress
23. The Orchard Keeper -- Cormac McCarthy
24. The Sleeping Father -- Matthew Sharpe
25. The Confessions of Max Tivoli -- Andrew Sean Greer
26. The Little Friend -- Donna Taritt
27. Middlesex -- Jeffrey Eugenides
28. Reading Lolita in Tehran -- Azar Nafisi
29. Dawn -- Elie Weisel
30. Living to Tell the Tale -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
31. The Poisonwood Bible -- Barbara Kingslover
32. Malinche -- Laura Esquivel
33. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn -- Betsy Smith
34. Hey Ranger! -- Jim Burnett
35. Donald Duk -- Frank Chin
36. Caramelo -- Sandra Cisneros
37. Drop City -- T.C. Boyle in progress
38. The World According to Garp -- John Iriving in progress
39. The Namesake -- Jhumpa Lahiri
40. The Tao of Pooh -- Benjamin Hoff
41. The Te of Piglet -- Benjamin Hoff
42. The Monkey Wrench Gang -- Edward Abbey
43. Idyll Banter -- Chris Bohjalian
44. About Grace -- Anthony Doerr
45. Magical Thinking -- Augusten Burroughs
46. Innocent Erendria -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
47. In Evil Hour -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
48. Jasmine -- Bharati Mukherjee
49. One Life at Time, Please! -- Edward Abbey
50. Prodigal Summer -- Barbara Kingslover
51. Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules -- David Sedairs
52. The Sound and the Fury -- William Faulkner
53. Driving Over Lemons -- Chris Stewart
54. Iron Lake -- William Kent Kruger
55. Into Thin Air -- John Krakauer
56. Hayduke Lives! -- Edward Abbey
57. Little White Car -- Danuta De Rhodes
58. Nectar in A Sieve -- Kamala Markandaya
59. The Bridegroom -- Ha Jin
60. War Trash -- Ha Jin
61. Son of a Witch -- Gregory Maguire
62. Crows in the Wheatfield -- Adam Braer
63. The Blue Flower -- Penelope Fitzgerald
64. The Prophet of Zongo Street -- Mohamned Nasshu Ali
65. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly -- Jean-Dominque Bauby
66. The Mistress of Spices -- Chitra Divakaruni
67. The Language of Threads -- Gail Tsukiyma
68. A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains -- Isabella Bird
69. The Secret Lives of Cowboys -- Tom Groneberg
70. The Third Life of Grange Copeland -- Alice Walker
71. Native Son -- Richard Wright
72. Villa Incognito -- Tom Robbins
73. A Walk in the Woods -- Bill Bryson
74. Wilderness Tips -- Margaret Atwood
75. Everything is Illuminated -- Johnathan Safron Foer
76. The Infinite Plan -- Isabel Allende
77. The Devil, Deflina Verlea and the Used Chevy -- Louis Garcia Robinson
78. The Night My Mother Met Bruce Lee -- Paisley Rekdal
79. Crackpots -- Sara Pritchard
80. Baggage -- Emily Barr
81. Journal of the Dead -- Jason Kersten
82. Caramba! -- Nina Marie Martinez
83. Cuba -- Emily Barr
84. The Bookshop -- Penelope Fitzgerald
85. Handmaid's Tale -- Margaret Atwood
86. Things You Should Know -- A. M. Homes
87. Lucky -- Alice Seabold
88. Delicate -- Mary Sojourner
89. Death Be Not Proud -- John Gunther
90. Aunt Carmen's Book of Practical Saints -- Pat Mora
91. Goat -- Brad Land
92. The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams -- Nasdijj
93. I, Lucifer -- Glen Duncan
94. A Loyal Character Dancer -- Xiaolong Qiu
95. Fluke, Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings -- Christopher Moore
96. Under the Banner of Heaven -- Jon Krakauer
97. The Bookseller of Kabul -- Asne Seierstad
98. Solace -- Mary Sojourner
99. Dead Men Tapping -- Kate Yeomans
100. Agua Santa = Holy Water: Pat Mora
101. Peel My Love Like an Onion -- Ana Castillo

Ex Libris

So, as with most short stories/essays, I always tend to have trouble. I did actually enjoy most of these essays. A few I had a hard time relating to, but even so I was able to take away something from them. I think my favorite is still the very first essay called "Marrying Libraries". It came at a perfect time as actually this is happening to me at this moment. I am not getting married but my boyfriend and I are combining books/libraries. So I could relate! I also really liked "Ancestral Castles".

Anyhow, I chose this book to read right now because I thought it would be a great ending to my challenge! This was book 101! I did it! With, actually, less than a day to spare... more on this in the next post!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Gossip of the Starlings

I was hoping for a little more depth in this book, but I still really enjoyed it. I was hoping for a little more of something like The Secret History and this didn't quite compare. However, the language was beautiful. This was wonderfully written. I had a hard time with the whole Latin American undertone and could have done without it. It just didn't quite seem to fit in with the rest of the story to me. Overall, I really enjoyed this book.