That's right... the great experiment begins tomorrow! (or at midnight tonight... if I can't sleep, I might get a head start!)
My car, Lola, broke down on Sunday. My first car. :( I loved her very much, and I will miss her. I have to take the train up to my parent's house tomorrow night, and I'm looking at it as a very good thing. I'll have plenty of time to read on the metro, waiting for the train, on the train, waiting in Philly for the rail, and on the rail. And maybe even when I get home. I might get through 2 books on the very first day!
Thank you to all of you who have decided to come along for the ride. I'm not sure what's going to happen, but I hope it'll never be boring.
Lots of love, goodnight world!
September 30, 2010
September 29, 2010
Anfangen ist leicht, beharren eine Kunst
"To begin is easy, to persist is art"
The list is finalized! It's not in any particular order (as I finish the book, it'll appear with a line through it in the side bar). I'll be starting with 100 Demons and ending with On the Road. The books in the middle are in no particular order, but I'm going to aim for roughly one book a week, and if I get through more than one a week at times, even better. I'd rather finish up early and add to the list than have to crunch at the end. It's an exercise in time management.
Saying I'm going to tackle this project is easy; blogging about the books I want to read is simple. Following through? Not so much. But I've set out to do this, and I'm going to do it. Even if it kills me. Although, I don't think anyone has ever died from reading too much. It might be a first. Maybe I should get a Life Alert...
I also really want to go to Budapest to visit Danny and Brooke. Maybe I should just do it, throw caution to the wind, spend the money. How often do I have more than one person in a European country that would be willing to put me up? And think about how many books I could read traveling that far???
With that, it's time to grade papers and get some sleep. Goodnight, world!
The list is finalized! It's not in any particular order (as I finish the book, it'll appear with a line through it in the side bar). I'll be starting with 100 Demons and ending with On the Road. The books in the middle are in no particular order, but I'm going to aim for roughly one book a week, and if I get through more than one a week at times, even better. I'd rather finish up early and add to the list than have to crunch at the end. It's an exercise in time management.
Saying I'm going to tackle this project is easy; blogging about the books I want to read is simple. Following through? Not so much. But I've set out to do this, and I'm going to do it. Even if it kills me. Although, I don't think anyone has ever died from reading too much. It might be a first. Maybe I should get a Life Alert...
I also really want to go to Budapest to visit Danny and Brooke. Maybe I should just do it, throw caution to the wind, spend the money. How often do I have more than one person in a European country that would be willing to put me up? And think about how many books I could read traveling that far???
With that, it's time to grade papers and get some sleep. Goodnight, world!
September 28, 2010
The cutting room floor
I have 2 days left before the experiment begins. The list is currently at 59; it needs to be narrowed down to 52. Let me know if you think something has to stay, or if something really can go.
I also decided I'm starting the project with One Hundred Demons, but I still haven't decided on a final book. Part of me wants to end with On the Road.
1. An American Childhood
2. Catch-22
3. Ender's Game
4. How to Win Friends and Influence People
5. Angela's Ashes
6. Going After Cacciato
7. The Polar Express
8. The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh
9. Wide Sargasso Sea
10. The Great Gilly Hopkins
11. Water for Elephants
12. Nineteen Minutes
13. Waiting for Godot
14. The Handmaid's Tale
15. Caucasia
16. The Alchemist
17. One Hundred Demons
18. Wolf at the Table
19. On the Road
20. Stitches: A Memoir
21. Bastard out of Carolina
22. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
23. Lucky
24. Grendel
25. The Hours
26. Crime and Punishment
27. The Historian
28. The Grapes of Wrath
29. Sophie's Choice
30. Blankets
31. The Old Man and the Sea
32. Almost a Woman
33. The Unbearable Lightness of being
34. The Picture of Dorian Gray
35. The Naked Lunch
36. The God of Small Things
37. The Crying of Lot 49
38. Rabbit, Run
39. Midnight's Children
40. Underworld
41. One Hundred Years of Solitude
42. The Indian in the Cupboard
43. The Watsons go to Birmingham
44. Uglies
45. The Perks of being a Wallflower
46. Watership Down
47. Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry
48. Memoirs of a Geisha
49. The Screwtape Letters
50. The Joy Luck Club
51. A Prayer for Owen Meany
52. Atlas Shrugged
53. Food Rules: An Eater's Manual
54. The Corrections
55. A People's History of the United States
56. Animal Dreams
57. Storm of the Century
58. Disgrace
59. Insomnia
I also decided I'm starting the project with One Hundred Demons, but I still haven't decided on a final book. Part of me wants to end with On the Road.
1. An American Childhood
2. Catch-22
3. Ender's Game
4. How to Win Friends and Influence People
5. Angela's Ashes
6. Going After Cacciato
7. The Polar Express
8. The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh
9. Wide Sargasso Sea
10. The Great Gilly Hopkins
11. Water for Elephants
12. Nineteen Minutes
13. Waiting for Godot
14. The Handmaid's Tale
15. Caucasia
16. The Alchemist
17. One Hundred Demons
18. Wolf at the Table
19. On the Road
20. Stitches: A Memoir
21. Bastard out of Carolina
22. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
23. Lucky
24. Grendel
25. The Hours
26. Crime and Punishment
27. The Historian
28. The Grapes of Wrath
29. Sophie's Choice
30. Blankets
31. The Old Man and the Sea
32. Almost a Woman
33. The Unbearable Lightness of being
34. The Picture of Dorian Gray
35. The Naked Lunch
36. The God of Small Things
37. The Crying of Lot 49
38. Rabbit, Run
39. Midnight's Children
40. Underworld
41. One Hundred Years of Solitude
42. The Indian in the Cupboard
43. The Watsons go to Birmingham
44. Uglies
45. The Perks of being a Wallflower
46. Watership Down
47. Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry
48. Memoirs of a Geisha
49. The Screwtape Letters
50. The Joy Luck Club
51. A Prayer for Owen Meany
52. Atlas Shrugged
53. Food Rules: An Eater's Manual
54. The Corrections
55. A People's History of the United States
56. Animal Dreams
57. Storm of the Century
58. Disgrace
59. Insomnia
September 22, 2010
A könyvek néma mesterek
For my Hungarian audience out there (and by that I mean Brooke haha), I went with a Hungarian proverb as my title for this post. I teach Multicultural Lit, and we start most classes with a cultural proverb. Students have to answer three questions about each proverb; What does this mean in your own words? What might it suggest about the culture from which it comes? and What other quotes/proverbs/situations can you connect to this proverb? Generally speaking, about half sit and stare at me in silence, but occasionally they are brilliant in the things that they say. Currently we are watching Roots, and it's interesting to see how they've changed since the beginning of the film when they would giggle at the name Kunta Kinte to now, when they get legitimately angry at the way Kunta and Fanta are treated. Maybe there is some hope for the future of America.
But back to the proverb. Translated, it means 'books are silent masters.' Which I love. I think the idea of books being a quiet background to changing the way people think and act is such a part of my personal ideology. Why read a book if it isn't going to change something about you, even if it's just changing your mood? Last night before going to sleep I reread a few David Sedaris stories. Did they change my life? No, but it did put me in a good mood before bed.
Just some thoughts for the day. I took a sick day to deal with some life stuff, but I feel kind of crappy, so it all works out. The list for the great experiment is at 52, but I'd like to have it to at least 60 so I can narrow it down. I've decided to begin with 100 Demons but I'm still searching for the book to end the project. I've already read The Little Prince, which at least 3 people have suggested.
Also wondering about short story and poetry collections. Can they go on the list, too?
But back to the proverb. Translated, it means 'books are silent masters.' Which I love. I think the idea of books being a quiet background to changing the way people think and act is such a part of my personal ideology. Why read a book if it isn't going to change something about you, even if it's just changing your mood? Last night before going to sleep I reread a few David Sedaris stories. Did they change my life? No, but it did put me in a good mood before bed.
Just some thoughts for the day. I took a sick day to deal with some life stuff, but I feel kind of crappy, so it all works out. The list for the great experiment is at 52, but I'd like to have it to at least 60 so I can narrow it down. I've decided to begin with 100 Demons but I'm still searching for the book to end the project. I've already read The Little Prince, which at least 3 people have suggested.
Also wondering about short story and poetry collections. Can they go on the list, too?
September 20, 2010
Where in the world...
I have followers! Who knew?
Blogger has a really cool feature where you can look at your stats; how many page views your blog has, where the traffic is coming from, and the countries where people are looking at your postings. Obviously the majority of traffic is coming from the US, but I have people in Hungary, France, Canada, Belgium, Italy, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. According to Blogger. I know Brooke is my Hungarian viewer, and Tom maybe is Belgium/France, but who is reading in Canada and Italy? And who is reading in Bosnia? And where the heck is Herzegovina? (I just googled it; it's the Southern part of Bosnia. I'm very sorry I didn't know that). But really, if you are reading from those countries, leave me a comment! I'd love to know who's checking things out!
The countdown continues... Less than two weeks, and I still haven't finished putting the list together. Hopefully it'll be mostly done by the end of the week, and then I can narrow down to the final list. Keep sending suggestions! And thanks for reading :)
Blogger has a really cool feature where you can look at your stats; how many page views your blog has, where the traffic is coming from, and the countries where people are looking at your postings. Obviously the majority of traffic is coming from the US, but I have people in Hungary, France, Canada, Belgium, Italy, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. According to Blogger. I know Brooke is my Hungarian viewer, and Tom maybe is Belgium/France, but who is reading in Canada and Italy? And who is reading in Bosnia? And where the heck is Herzegovina? (I just googled it; it's the Southern part of Bosnia. I'm very sorry I didn't know that). But really, if you are reading from those countries, leave me a comment! I'd love to know who's checking things out!
The countdown continues... Less than two weeks, and I still haven't finished putting the list together. Hopefully it'll be mostly done by the end of the week, and then I can narrow down to the final list. Keep sending suggestions! And thanks for reading :)
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