2015 Reading Challenge [Closed] discussion

Here is the main part of my reading plan for the challenge.
As I have a huge pile of books to read waiting for me since my son is born, I entend to use this challenge as an apportunity to read those books that I left aside for too long.
I'll try to fit the missing categories with my friend's and with others members lists of this awesome group!

1. a book with more than 500 pages
Dune - Frank Herbert



2. a romance
Rainbow pour Rimbaud- Jean Teulé



3. a book that became a movie
The Help - Kathryn Stockett



4. a book published this year
Hollow World - Michael J Sullivan


5. a book with a number in the title
Les trois medecins - Martin Winckler



6. a book written by someone under 30
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket - Edgar Allan Poe



7. a book with nonhuman characters
Three Bags Full - Leonie Swann



8. a funny book
Letters from London - Julian Barnes



9. a book by a female author
The Living Reed: A Novel of Korea - Pearl S. Buck



10. a mystery or thriller
Anno Dracula - Kim Newman



11. a book with a one-word title
Podium - Yann Moix



12. a book of short stories
Sherlock Holmes Son dernier coup d'archet - Arthur Conan Doyle



13. a book set in a different country
The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank



14. a nonfiction book
Nos Ancetres Les Gaulois - François Reynaert



15. a popular author's first book
Fight Club - Chuck Palaniuk



16. a book from your favorite author that you haven't read yet
Racines (Le Soldat Chamane #8) - Robin Hobb



17. a book a friend recommended
La vie suspendue(Tobie Lolness T1) - Timothée de Fombelle



18. a Pulitzer-prize winning book
The Road - Cormac McCarthy


19. a book based on a true story
La Cavale - Albertine Sarrazin



20. a book at the bottom of your to read list
Le Zéro et l'infini - Arthur Koestler


21. a book your mom or dad loves
Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes - Maurice Leblanc


22. a book that scares you
Battle Royale - Koushun Takami



23. a book more than 100 years old
The Overcoat and Other Short Stories - Nikolai Gogol



24. a book based entirely on its cover
American Gods - Neil Gaiman


25. a book you were supposed to read in school but didn't
Vol de nuit - Antoine de Saint Exupéry



26. a memoir
Chernobyl: Confessions of a Reporter - Igor Kostin



27. a book you can finish in a day
The Last Vampire - Willis Hall



28. a book with antonyms in the title
L'ombre du vent - Carlos Ruiz Zafon


29. a book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit
Fool's Quest - Robin Hobb



30. a book that came out the year you were born
L'apocalypse est pour demain - Jean Yanne


31. a book with bad reviews
Rule Britannia - Daphné du Maurier


32. a trilogy (the first)
The Giver - The Giver #1 - Lois Lowry



33. a trilogy (the second)
Gathering Blue - The Giver #2 Gathering Blue - Lois Lowry



34. a trilogy (the third)
Messenger - The Giver #3 Messenger - Lois Lowry



35. a book from your childhood
L'Amour aveugle - Patrick Cauvin


36. a book with a love triangle
Le Fantôme de l'Opéra - Gaston Leroux



37. a book set in the future
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein


38. a book set in high school
The Wave - Todd Strasser


39. a book with a color in the title
Black Feathers - Joseph D'Lacey


40. a book that made/makes you cry
La Supplication - Svetlana Alexievitch



41. a book with magic
The Prestige - Christopher Priest


42. a graphic novel
The Complete Maus - Art Spiegelman


43. a book by an author you've never read before
Sous Le Règne De Bone - Russel Banks



44. a book you own but have never read
Tortilla Flat - John Steinbeck



45. a book that takes place in your hometown
Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes - Robert Louis Stevenson


46. a book that was originally written in another language
Le Pavillon d'Or - Yukio Mishima



47. a book set during Christmas (or similar holiday)
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens



48. a book written by an author with your same initials
Timeline - Michael Crichton


49. a play
Macbeth - William Shakespeare



50. a banned book
Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut



51. a book based on OR turned into a tv show
Little Women - Louisa May Scott


52. a book you started but never finished
Neuromancer - William Gibson

Slaughterhouse Five is a great idea for week 50, maybe I'll do pick this one as well!

Lol you'll read the same book as me for the recommended one, I hope we'll like it a lot because I don't want to disappoint the friend :p
I liked Arsène Lupin when I was young, I have to read it again when I'll finish the Sherlock's ones.

I'll read Elantris by the same author than your trilogy. If I'll like it, it will be nice to know your advice on this one.

Why is there a Soldier Son book on week 16? You didn't had enough of this bad story during the past year? You want to suffer more? :D

I know that we're often disagree on books with "that friend" but usually not on children ones so i'm quite optimistic!
A Gibert employee told me this trilogy was perfect for a Hobbian when I was looking for a gift for Alexis and he devoured the 3 books in just a few weeks, so I want to try it.
Weeeeell, maybe I'm masochist but I keep saying to myself that if I went through all 7 books I'll have to read the last one, so the challenge will force me to end this :p

Completed almost all categories except one: author with my same initials.
Added Hollow World, because my friend Zaz is very enthousiast about it and the plot looks made for me.
Sitched Anno Dracula from non-human characters to mystery book, in fact I already read this one but this is an extented rewritten version so I need to read it, this book is so perfect.
Added Three full bags for the non-human characters instead, looks pretty cool.
Wanted to read The Road for years and it appears to be a Pulitzer prize winner so that fits perfectly well.
Added American Gods, wanted to read it for years too and the new french edition cover is really beautiful, it catched my eyes at the bookshop.
Added The Shadow of the Wind for antonyms one, it has been on my to read list for some time now.
Added The Wave for the High School one, I want to read it even if I know it will be quite disturbing.
Added Black Feathers (Black Dawn T1) for the color in the title (spotted by its gorgeous cover on Zaz's plan) reviews are pretty good and the plot is intriguing.
Added Tom Sawyer, The Moon is a harsh mistress, Maus for graphic novel (yeah, I know, still haven't read that masterpiece, I'm ashamed), Little Women.
For the "book in your hometown" I chose the Stevenson's "travels with donkey in the Cevennes, because it is close to my hometown, it's the place where my grand-parents lived and were I went to hike with my aunt as a kid, and as a Stevenson's fan I wanted to read this one for a long time.
That's it for the moment :)

I'm so contagious :p
"Very enthusiast", it's totally me, spamming everybody :D
I'm happy you'll join me for some books this year, and I hope you'll like them ^^

I read more graphic novels than you and never read Maus. It's a serious topic, so I'm pushing it away a little.

Same here for Maus, I had many occasions to read it (lots of friends had it) but never found the courage to...

Finally added the "author" with same initials, it will be my first Michael Crichton's book "Timeline".
So far I read2 books from my challenge, a very disappointing one (Rainbow for Rimbaud by Jean Teulé) and a delectable one that I intent to read again, Hollow World by Michael J. Sullivan.

I read some Chrichton's books, starting with the 2 Jurassic Park (I liked them). I was not convinced by the overall quality and when I tried to re-read Jurassic Park, I became borred quickly. I don't know Timezone, so I hope it's one of his good books.

Hollow World is the best :D

Your list is really impressive! We're reading a few of the same books but I think I slotted them into different categories! Battle Royale is the book I'm currently reading, as my book with more than 500 pages, Little Women I put as my book that's more than 100 years old and American Gods I have as the book set somewhere I've always wanted to visit (never been to America). Also, although not the same book, we're both reading a Stephen King book at some point in the challenge!

I finally started the 500 pages one, Dracula the un-dead, and I just stopped.
As a all time passionate about Bram Stoker's Dracula I was eager to read this one, but it is a shame to be a descendent of the author if the only purpose is to totally disrespect and saccage its legacy. So far I had only stood to read 130 pages but I can't continue anymore, it is awful, very badly written and all characters acts the opposite of their original personality, Such a deception.

So I switched "Les 3 medecins" to the 500 pages category and I need to find a new one for the number in the title.

Zaz: I don't really know what to except from Crichton, I don't even know about his writing style, so I'll let you know how it goes ;)

Francesca: thanks for your comment, it's pretty cool to see the books in different categories. I'll try to go see your reading plan to get some more ideas :)

Luckily, you liked Hollow World and The Help, it compensates for Dracula!

I've to read Winckler (something else than his website and tweets :p), but for the moment none of his books is appealing enough. Maybe later.

For the number in the title, Ready Player One and The 5th Wave are appreciated a lot. Maybe you can have a look at the summaries ;)

Long time no see, here's an update.

About categories:
- switched again "Les 3 médecins" to the "number in the title" one and added "Dune" to the more of 500 pages" one.
- started to read "Full dark no stars", short stories from S. King and though I read almost all of his old works some years ago weeeeell I think I can't stand his kind of horror story anymore? So far only went through half of the first story and I'm bored and disgusted...so I'll try a little bit more but I'm not optimistic.

About my readings:
- "The Help" was perfection, I read it very quickly because it was so interesting, moving, and I was anxious to see what would happen to the characters. I cried a lot during this one, he left me wounded and yet hopeful, instant classic.
- Had a blast reading "Three bags full", it was well written, very funny, and with a lot of ideas close to mine about animals, I loved it so much I bought it in french so my mom could read it and she loved it too :D
- "Les 3 médecins" from Winckler was beautiful, moving and made me think a lot, as this guy books always does, he never disappoints me.
- "Letters from London" was quite uneven, some letters were hilarious and very acid towards the british government, some others were too much full of details that made me sleepy, but the overall was a quite interesting insight through UK from the end '80s and start of '90s.
- "Anno Dracula" was a re-read with this new enhanced edition but it was way less interesting than in my memories, maybe I've changed ;)
- "The Living Reed" from the great Pearl Buck was delightful, exciting, very well written and really moving about the history of Korea. I've almost read every book of this talented and flawless woman and each one is a precious treasure full of humanity.
- I read "Podium" almost as a joke, a friend gave it to me and I liked the idea exposed in the french movie inspired by it...and I ended being quite surprise by the quality of the book. The story's background is full of originality, characters are as fascinating as they are pathetic, and the encyclopedic style shows a big investment from the author to fulfill his idea to the most high level. Quite a good surprise.

That's it for the moment, may you forgive my mistakes in english ^^"

Zaz: read the summaries for the 2 books, I think I see to many distopies those days (and I have already some to read in my challenge), I'll save these for my old days :D

Another update:
due to the fatc that I'm already quite late in the challenge, I switched 2 big books to small ones:

- Full dark no stars (S. King) is replaced by Sherlock Holmes, his last bow (A.C. Doyle)
- The last of the Mohicans (J.F. Cooper) is replaced by Le zéro et l'infini (A. Koestler)

I don't think I'll be able to end the challenge but I keep trying. I have too many books late and my problem is that I chose too many 600 pages books for that challenge :(
Switched again some books to add smaller ones and better ones.
I started to read Wicked (in the "bad reviews" cat.) but it really was awful, horribly written and made me feel quite nauseous in its way of describing things.
I have to find another trilogy for this year, the Brandon Sanderson one is waaaay too big to fit in, I'll read it next year.

I'll read Mistborn next year too, the books are really big and I've things I want to read before :)

BTW if you have a tiny trilogy to recommend to me I'll take it :D

The only series I finished this year are Divergent, Legend and Riyria :p
You can use the first three books in a series and it seems you haven't read The Giver (oooooohhhh). You definitely need to try them and they are children-young adult so you'll read them fast!

Didn'nt answered here yet but The Giver was one of the best reading for me this year, I thank you so much for your recommendation.