Well it’s been almost a year since we started the 50 book challenge. I actually started Earlier, on Christmas of last year so I only have three weeks left. However I am currently on book 51. Below is my list of books, not all of them have authors because I forgot to write them down and then got rid of the books. I also read two “kids” books, but made Lord of the Rings as one book so I think I’m covered. I also read a few non-fiction books this past year, which while not new, I don’t usually read that many of them.
So who else got through all 50, or will at least be close?
1 Ignorance Milan Kundera
2 Harry Potter 1
3 The Princess Bride William Goldman
4 Flow My Tears, the Policeman said, Philip K Dick
5 The English Assassin Daniel Silva
6 December 6 Martin Cruz Smith
7 Eye in the Sky Philip K Dick
8 Life is Elsewhere Milan Kundera
9 Circles James Burke
10 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Philip K Dick
11 Lord of the Rings Tolkien
12 Solaris Stanislaw Lew
13 Slaughter House-Five Kurt Vonnegut
14 The Book of Laughter and Forgetting Milan Kundera
15 Harry Potter 2
16 A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess
17 The Parallel Universe of Liars Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson
18 Slowness Milan Kundera
19 Minority Report Philip K Dick
20 Abarat Clive Barker
21 The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster
22 Bad astronomy: misconceptions and misuses revealed, from astrology to the moon landing ‘hoax’ Plait, Philip C.
23 Presumed Innocent ???
24 Ancient Mysteries ???
25 Harry Potter 3
26 Of Mice and Men Steinbeck
27 Madame Bovary Gustave Flabert
28 Atlantis Found Clive Cussler
29 Young Miles Lois McMaster Bujold
30 Fletch Reflected Gregory McDonald
31 Harry Potter 4
32 Harry Potter 5
33 Newgrange Michael O’Kelly
34 Newgrange and other Incised Tumuli of Ireland
35 Neanderthal ???
36 ‘Tis Frank McCourt
37 Fletch Gregory McDonald
38 The Philip K Dick Reader
39 Confessions of a Crap Artist Philip K Dick
40 Meg Steve Alten
41 A Maze of Death Philip K Dick
42 2001 Arthur C Clarke
43 The Mouse and the Motorcycle Beverly Cleary
44 Planet of the Apes Pierre Boulle
45 Valis Philip K Dick
46 The Sphinx and the Megaliths John Ivimy
47 Shadow Woman Thomas Perry
48 Angela’s Ashes Frank McCourt
49 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie
50 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man James Joyce
51 The Fountains of Paradise Arthur C Clark
I didn’t, officially, sign up for this, but I kept a list anyway … made it quite comfortably. (And, I must say, it’s been interesting looking at other people’s lists, too … )
I’ve read 47 books* so far, and am in the middle of book #48, so I think I’ll make it. I didn’t bother to keep a running list, I just kept track of the numbers and posted the books on the LJ as I finished.
*Well. I’ve read more than 47 books total, but I only counted new books, not re-reads.
I just finished Middlemarch on Monday, pushing my total to 72. However, I must admit that I failed to finish six of those, so my total of books completed is actually 66. I’m now starting on a reread of George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire sereis, which, at almost three thousand pages will probably take up most of December. If I do have some spare time at the end, who knows?
I’m up to 56 because I don’t count rereads (nor novel length fanfics, of which I read many this year.) I’m going to leave the grades on the list, because it’s too much work to remove them
Blue Moon by Laurell K. Hamilton B+
Series of Unfortunate Events: A bad Beginning (#1) by Lemony Snicket C+
Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry B+
Black House by Stephen King, Peter Straub D
The Prayer of The Bone by Paul Byers B
Jurassic Park by Michael Crighton B
Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler B
A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton B
Coldheart Canyon by Clive Barker D
Legacy of Lies by Elizabeth Chandler B-
The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing B+
Icy Sparks by Gwyn Rubio B+
The Right Hand Of Evil by John Saul B-
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire B-
One Door Away From Heaven by Dean Koontz B
Jewel by Bret Lott B+
House of Leaves by Mark Danielweski B-
Caress of Twilight by Laurell K. Hamilton B
Phantoms by Dean Koontz B+
The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier B
By the Light of The Moon by Dean Koontz B
eXistenZ by Christopher Priest B
A Winter Haunting by Dan Simmons B-
A Knight of the Word by Terry Brooks B
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett B
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke B
Beauty by Robin McKinley B-
Timeline by Michael Crighton B-
Dick For a Day by Fiona Giles D+
The Twelve by Howard and Susan Kaminsky C-
Harry Potter:Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling A
Jennifer Government by Max Barry A-
Magical Kingdom for Sale- Sold! by Terry Brooks B
Once… by James Herbert C-
No Greater Love by Danielle Steel B+
Dragon’s Gold by Piers Anthony & Robert Margroff B
Serpent’s Silver by Anthony & Robert Margroff B-
The Martian Child by David Gerrold A+
Chimaera’s Copper Piers Anthony and Robert Margroff C
Almost Adam by Petru Popescu A+
A Theory of Relativity Jacquelyn Mitchard A-
What We Keep by Elizabeth Berg B/B-
Wish You Were Here By Rita Mae and Sneaky Pie Brown B
Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear B+
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood A+
Tansin by Peter Beagle B
The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst B+
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon B/B+
Candle in the Darkness by Lynn Austin B
Lost Boy Lost Girl by Peter Straub B
Priestess of Avalon by Marrion Zimmer Bradley C/C-
The Door in The Lake by Nancy Butts B
Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley B(plot)/C(style&prose)
The Seventh Tower: The Fall by Garth Nix B
Strangewood by Chistopher Golden A
The House Next Door by Richie Tankersley Cusick B-
Regina’s Song by David and Leigh Eddings B/B-
…or I read 57 books, since I seem to have had 44 listed for 2 different books.
I had not yet discovered the Straight Dope this time last year, but this sounds like fun. Are you guys planning to do it again this year? I’d like to join in if you do!
