# 50 Book Challenge - 2 months left! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 8, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-book-challenge-2-months-left/212101 "2003-11-08T19:40:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-book-challenge-2-months-left/212101/1 "2003-11-08T19:40:07Z")
Well, it’s November 8th today and according to my (pretty bad) calculations, to be exactly on track one should have read 42 books so far. How is everyone doing? I’m not going to post the whole list, but I will say I’m at 39 and am about to finish 40 today. I’m behind enough that I think it’ll be a bit of a struggle to finish, especially since this month is full of school. I nevertheless have high hopes! Worst comes to worst, I’ll read all the way through my Christmas break. Selections from my list: 4) Giovanni and Lusanna – Gene Brucker 9) The Grass Crown – Colleen McCullough (I read up to and including the October Horse this year, I won’t bother listing the rest) 13) Helen of Troy and her Shameless Phantom – Norman Austin 17) The King Must Die – Mary Renault 20) Life of Pi – Yann Martel 28) Zero – Charles Seife 29) Fire From Heaven – Mary Renault 32) Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court - John Matthews 35) Cartoon History of the Universe III – Larry Gonick 37) Hen’s Teeth and Horse’s Toes – Stephen Jay Gould ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-book-challenge-2-months-left/212101/2 "2003-11-08T22:25:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LaurAnge \* > **Helen of Troy and her Shameless Phantom – Norman Austin** I wouldn’t mind getting your opinion of this book . . . I just read a (probably biased) review of it not long ago, and it sounds like something I’d be interested in. Regarding the Challenge, by my count I have six books to go . . . although if I was liberal, I could already be done, since I’ve read a few rather short “books” this year. God, it’s terrible–I used to read between one and two hundred books a year. But now that I’m in school, ironically, I’m not able to read at all. Weird . . . Anyway, I should have fifty books devoured by December 31. I’ll post my list in a day or two (the list is at home right now and I am not). ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-book-challenge-2-months-left/212101/3 "2003-11-08T22:50:06Z")
I’m at fifty nine books right now. My thanks go out particularly to Philip Pullman and David Eddings for keeping their novels relatively short. I’m about to start _Middlemarch_, though, and it’s likely to take up most of the rest of November. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-book-challenge-2-months-left/212101/4 "2003-11-08T23:08:11Z")
**Mephisto** , I read it along with two others about the development of the Helen mythology to write a paper. It was my favourite of the three - very informative. The topic is absolutely fascinating, although I admit I was not reading it very critically, I was reading it to use it as a source. I haven’t been counting plays or re-reads, but I think everyone is counting in their own way. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-book-challenge-2-months-left/212101/5 "2003-11-09T01:11:17Z")
I reached fifty early in July, IIRC, but ended up getting behind and never continuing the list. I somehow never got into LJ. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-book-challenge-2-months-left/212101/6 "2003-11-09T01:22:58Z")
I finished book 49 today. If I was counting re-reads, and hadn’t read something like 500 fanfics- several of them novel length- this year (seriously) I’d be well over 50 by this point. I’m pretty sure my goal to read 50 new books isn’t going to be out of reach with less than 1 to go 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50-book-challenge-2-months-left/212101/7 "2003-11-09T05:51:39Z")
I’m nearly finished with book number 44. I hope to be posting the entry for it tomorrow.