14 Books I Read in 2006 Absolutely Free, Thanks to My Local Library

Ken Davis reveals his list at Bookgasm.

(photo credit to Könrad)

Classics Reading Challenge

The challenge, from A Reader's Journal, is to read 5 classics in the months of January and February.

To help you out, I supply this list of short classics:

Kafka, Franz (60 pages) The Metamorphosis

Tolstoy, Leo (60 pages) The Death of Ivan Ilych

Mann, Thomas (71 pages) Death in Venice

James, Henry (83 pages) Daisy Miller

de Saint-Exupéry, Antoine (83 pages) The Little Prince

Hemingway, Ernest (93 pages) The Old Man and the Sea

Melville, Herman (98 pages) Billy Budd

Weisel, Elie (109 pages) Night

Conrad, Joseph (110 pages) Heart of Darkness

Orwell, George (113 pages) Animal Farm

Wells, H.G. (115 pages) The Time Machine

Hesse, Herman (119 pages) Siddhartha

Stevenson, Robert Louis (119 pages) The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Rand, Ayn (123 pages) Anthem

Camus, Albert (123 pages) The Stranger

Steinbeck, John (124 pages) Of Mice and Men

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor (136 pages) Notes from the Underground

Twain, Mark (143 pages) Pudd'nhead Wilson

Wharton, Edith (144 pages) Ethan Frome

-- Try also Wharton's Summer (200 pages)

Voltaire (144 pages), Candide, or Optimism

Wilder, Thornton (148 pages) The Bridge of San Luis Rey

Pynchon, Thomas (152 pages) The Crying of Lot 49

McCullers, Carson (153 pages) The Member of the Wedding

Solzhenitsyn, Alexander (158 pages) One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Goethe, Johan Wolfgang von (167 pages) The Sorrows of Young Werther

Bradbury, Ray (179 pages) Fahrenheit 451

Achebe, Chinua (181 pages) Things Fall Apart

Chopin, Kate (192 pages) The Awakening

Burgess, Anthony (192 pages) A Clockwork Orange

Baldwin, James (197 pages) If Beale Street Could Talk

(page numbers given are approximations and will vary with edition)

I apologize, I can't remember where I got this list, but I thank the anonymous compilers!

Another Reading Challenge: the Chunkster Challenge

Read a big fat book (over 400 pages) -- or several, you decide -- between January 1 and June 30, 2007. Here are the Bookfool's guidelines.

The Underrated Writers 2006

The folks at the blog 'Syntax of Things' polled some of their favorite readers, those, in their words, who fill their time by hanging out in the "dustier corners of literature." They asked those readers to name writers they feel aren't getting the attention they deserve, those writers they feel are "underrated"—however they choose to define it.

The result? A delightful list of "writers from almost every continent, poets from the past, essayists who are concerned for the future, and novelists desperate to understand the now."

(photo credit to ciro@tokyo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciro/sets/)

Nancy Pearl's 2006 Fic Picks

A librarian I admire very much, Nancy Pearl, has unveiled her favorite fiction of 2006. Here it is:


Lori Lansens. The Girls
Kevin Brockmeier. The Brief History of the Dead
Kelly Link. Magic for Beginners
Susanna Clarke. The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories
Michelle Wildgen. You’re Not You
Eliza Minot. The Brambles
Valerie Trueblood. Seven Loves
Elizabeth Strout. Abide with Me
Debra Dean. The Madonnas of Leningrad
Sarah Dunant. In the Company of the Courtesan

Want to know more about the kinds of books she likes? Check out the Nancy Pearl Book Review Archives.

Kate Fleming/Anna Fields, Audio Star, Dead in Seattle Storm

The actor Kate Fleming, who also recorded as Anna Fields, was a wonderful recorded-book voice artist. She died in Seattle this week, drowned when a storm sent floodwaters into the basement of her home and recording studio.

I particularly enjoyed her recordings of books by Lydia Adamson and Donna Leon.

Bookmooch

The blog Renee's Book of the Day has introduced me to Bookmooch. Maybe a librarian isn't supposed to think this is a good idea, but I do.

(the image is from the cover of one of my favorite books, SZOPKI KRAKOWSKIE [Cracovian Christmas Cribs]. The chances I'll offer it up on Bookmooch are nil, but if you want to buy it, Polonia Bookstore in Chicago is the place)

2007 TBR Challenge

Cool idea. Paraphrasing SuzyQoregon, for this challenge you pick 12 books - one for each month of 2007 - that you've been wanting to read for 6 months or longer, but you haven't gotten around to. Then, starting January 1, 2007, read one of these books from your list each month, ending December 31, 2007. The first step of the plan is to post your list of books for this challenge by December 31, 2006.

To join the list of TBR Challenge participants, go to Miz B's blog, Literary Cache.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

I am reading a book so good that I have to tell you about it. It's Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. Warning: it's most definitely not a warm and fuzzy kind of book. Don't read it unless you have a strong tolerance for learning more about very damaged people and the sometimes horrific damage they in turn inflict on others. Scary but very, very well done.

Fiction Allsorts Goes Weekly

Stop the presses. We are now doing the adult storytime (aka the Fiction Allsorts storytime for knitters) every Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m.

Best Books of 2006?

Bookdwarf points out some 'best books' lists.

(photo credit to ISphoto)