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2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

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My Progress:


9 / 30 books. 30% done!

2024 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California (3)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho (2)
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
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- Kentucky
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland
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- Michigan
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- New York (1)
- North Carolina (1)
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- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania
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- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (1)
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia (1)
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.*

International:
- Australia (1)
- Canada (1)
- England (5)
- France (1)
- Ireland (1)
- Scotland (1)
- The Netherlands (1)

My Progress:


12 / 51 states. 24% done!

2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


10 / 50 words. 20% done!

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


15 / 50 books. 30% done!

Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge

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32 / 50 books. 64% done!

2024 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


27 / 52 books. 52% done!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


21 / 40 books. 53% done!

2024 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


13 / 40 books. 33% done!

2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

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5 / 25 books. 20% done!

2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

2024 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

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17 / 26.2 miles. 65% done!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

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15 / 100 books. 15% done!

2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


34 / 104 books. 33% done!

Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


31 / 52 books. 60% done!

Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge

My Progress


32 / 165 books. 19% done!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Insomnia, Or More Accurately, Indigestion

So, it's 2:36 a.m. and I'm awake with an upset stomach (note to self: Mountain Dew and Reese's is not the best combo to partake of before bed). I am exhausted, too, since my 3-year-old woke me up at 5 a.m. yesterday morning. Ugh. Oh well. The house is quiet, and what else do I have to do but blog surf (fold laundry, clean off my desk, unload the dishwasher, polish my toenails ... )?

I found this on Marg's blog and thought it was interesting:

Entertainment Weekly has come up with a list of the 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008. Just for fun, I highlighted the ones I've read in blue.

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)

2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)

3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)

4. The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr (1995)

5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)

6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)

7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)

8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)

9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)

10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)

11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)

12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)

13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)

14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)

15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)

16. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)

17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)

18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)

19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)

20. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)

21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)

23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)

24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)

25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)

26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)

27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)

28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)

29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)

30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)

31. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (1990)

32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)

33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)

34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)

35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)

36. Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)

37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)

38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)

39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)

40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)

41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)

42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)

43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)

44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)

45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)

46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)

47. World’s Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)

48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)

49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)

50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)

51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)

52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)

53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)

54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)

55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)

56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)

57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)

58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)

59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)

60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)

61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)

62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)

63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)

64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)

65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)

66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)

67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)

68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)

69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)

70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)

71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)

72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)

73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)

74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)

75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)

76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)

77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)

78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)

79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)

80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)

81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)

82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)

83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)

84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)

85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)

86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)

87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)

88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)

89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)

90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)

91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)

92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)

93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)

94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)

95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)

96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)

97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)

98. The Predators’ Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)

99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)

100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

Wow! I've only read 16 out of 100. In my defense, a lot of these books are on my TBR list. Has anyone made a challenge out of this yet? It would be a good one. In the meantime, I think I'll make it a personal challenge (of the open-ended-no-pressure variety).

How many of these have you read? Which ones do you consider must-reads? Which could you have done without?

It's amazing how much better a nice, long list of books makes me feel. I think I'm ready to go back to bed. Let's just hope my toddler lets me sleep in until at least 5:30!

Thanks for the early-morning diversion, Marg!

11 comments:

  1. I'm at 23, or maybe 23.2, since I've read Brokeback Mountain from Close Range, but not any of the rest of the stories. Those 23 include some major favorites (Poisonwood Bible, Cold Mountain, His Dark Materials, Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Atonement, Cloud Atlas), but also quite a few that I thought were over-hyped and over-rated (Kite Runner, The Glass Castle, The Lovely Bones, The Road). I also occasionally feel like the only person on the planet who doesn't like Gabriel Garcia Marquez (although I liked Love in the Time of Cholera better than A Hundred Years of Solitude).

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've read 21.5 - the 0.5 is Possession - I couldn't get past the poetry. I'm impressed to see Random Family on the list. Fantastic book, journalistic style, but seriously depressing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I blogged this list yesterday and I think I've read about 22 or so. Lots of them I haven't heard of, so I'll be keeping a look out for them in future!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mountain Dew and Reeses sounds like the BEST of all possible worlds, though, if it's right before bed, make that caffeine-free. Shall I bring you a couple cases next time we're down your way?

    Lists like this make me feel really depressed. I'm jealous that they make you feel good. I think they used to make me happy back when I actually enjoyed reading "classics."

    Enjoyed Bridget Jones and McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses (though that's not on there, but haven't read The Road). And loved Cold Mountain UP TILL THE END. Why must we have tragedy in order to be important? WHY?

    Can't believe you haven't read The Handmaid's Tale -- shocking :). It's good, though classically depressing.

    Like "magically delicious," only "classically depressing!"

    ReplyDelete
  5. oh, and loved the movie of Atonement, again, UNTIL THE END.

    James McAvoy is yummy!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great idea for a post. I liked it so well I did the same thing on my blog (with a shout out to you, of course).

    I've read 29 of the ones on the list and have some more in a pile waiting for me. There are a couple I only half finished like Kavalier & Clay so I didn't count those.

    I was just thinking you might like two of my favorite books from the last five years, History of Love by Nicole Krauss and The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Maybe when you're done with some of your challenges you can take a gander at them. Great books. Love your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Lol..I don't mean to laugh at your misfortunes but the headline made me laugh :) I think I might post this on my blog too; I'll certainly have to compare with my Read List and my TBR list. Thanks for the link.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've read 20. Can't believe I've actually read more of them than you. Of course, these are from the 80's on and I am much older! I second Melanie's two suggestions. I really liked both of those books.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think all of you have read more from this list than I have. I haven't even heard of many of these. I guess I better get crackin' so I can catch up - LOL.

    Fyrefly - I definitely think there are some overrated titles here (The Da Vinci Code comes to mind), but otherwise I think it's a pretty good list.

    Tara - I'll have to try Random Family. Sounds interesting.

    Suey - I hadn't heard of a lot of them either.

    Jane (it always feels weird to call you that!), you'll be glad to know Atonement is actually next on my TBR list. I love James McAvoy, too :) And, yes, bring on the Mountain Dew. When are you coming down next?

    Mel - I haven't read The History of Love, although it's definitely on my TBR list. I did enjoy The Devil in the White City.

    Katie - I'm glad I made you laugh :)

    Laurel - I'm not surprised at all! I love that you read so much and always have great recommendations.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I've read very few books on the list, but I'm interested in reading many books on the list including The Lovely Bones, Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Atonement, High Fidelity, etc. :-P

    ReplyDelete
  11. I noticed that a lot were in my TBR collection too--or I had books by the author, just not the one mentioned. I have only read about 15 books on the list.

    ReplyDelete

Comments make me feel special, so go crazy! Just keep it clean and civil. Feel free to speak your mind (I always do), but be aware that I will delete any offensive comments.

P.S.: Don't panic if your comment doesn't show up right away. I have to approve each one before it posts to prevent spam. It's annoying, but it works!

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