75 Books...More or Less! discussion

1. Dracula By: Bram Stoker 5/5
2. The Other Queen By: Philippa Gregory 5/5
3. Then Came Heaven By: Lavyrle Spencer 4/5
4. The Inheritance By: Louisa May Alcott 4/5
5. Foul play By: Janet Evanovich 4/5
6. Gracelin O'Malley By: Ann Moore 5/5
7. My Sunshine By: Catherine Anderson 5/5
8. Catch-22 By: Joseph Heller 4/5
9. A Girl's Best friend By: Kristin Billerbeck 4/5
10.The Little Giant of Aberdeen County By: Tiffany Baker 5/5
11.Moral Disorder By: Margaret Atwood 5/5
12.The Restoration By: Douglas Liversidge 3/5
13.A modest Proposal By: Jonathan Swift 5/5
14.Little Women By: Louisa May Alcott 5/5
15. The Historian By: Elizabeth Kostova 4/5
16. Dead Until Dark By: Charlaine Harris 4/5
17. Water Dancers By: Terry Gambler 4/5
18. Captivated By: Nora Roberts 3/5
19. Anna Karenina By: Leo Tolstoy 5/5
20. Cutting For Stone By: Abraham Verghese 5/5
21. The Portrait of a Lady By: Henry James 4/5
22. Two For the Dough By:Janet Evanovich 3/5
23. People of the Wolf By:W. Michael & Kathleen Gear 5/5
24.Weep No More, My Lady By: Mary Higgins Clark 5/5
25.Leaving Ireland By:Ann Moore 5/5
26.Living Dead in Dallas By: Charlaine Harris 5/5
27.Stillwatch By: Mary Higgins Clark 4/5
28.The Magnificent Ambersons By: Booth Tarkington 5/5
29.The Kite Runner By:Khaled Hosseini 5/5
30. A Cry in the Night By:Mary Higgins Clark 3/5
31. Jane Eyre By: Charlotte Bronte' 5/5
32. Wicketts Remedy By: Myla Goldberg 4/5
33. Three To Get Deadly By: JAnet Evanovich 4/5
34.Firefly Beach By: Luanne Rice 4/5
35. The worlds Most Haunted Places By: Jeff Belanger 5/5
36.Wizards First Rule By: Terry Goodkind 5/5
37.Gilead By: Marilynne Robinson 4/5
38. Vanishing Acts By Jodi Picoult 5/5
39.Mother of Pearl By: Melinda Haynes 2.5/5
40. C is for Corpse By Sue Grafton 4/5
41. Great Expectations By: Charles Dickens 5/5
42. Outer Banks By: Anne Rivers Siddons 5/5
43. Keeping the Moon By: Sarah Dessen 4/5
44. The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank By: Anne Frank 5/5
45.Moment to Moment by: Barbara Delinsky 4/5
46. Little house in the Big Woods By: Laura Wilder Ingalls 5/5
47.Little House on the Prairie By: Laura Wilder Ingalls 5/5
48. Farmer Boy By: Laura Ingalls Wilder 5/5
49. Haunted Theaters By: Barbara Smith 5/5
50. On the Banks of Plum Creek By Laura Ingalls Wilder 5/5
51. Talking to Depression By: Claudia Strauss 4/5
52. Miss Julia Throws a wedding By: Ann B. Ross 5/5
53. Miss Julia Hits the Road By: Ann B. Ross 5/5
54. Miss Julia's school of Beauty By Ann B. Ross 4/5
55. Montana Sky By: Nora Roberts 5/5
56. Savannah Blues By: Mary Kay Andrews 5/5
57. Downtown By: Anne Rivers Siddons 5/5
58. Haunted Hotels By:Jo-Anne Christensen 5/5
59. Ramona the Pest By: Beverly Cleary 5/5
60.The Mystery at Lilac Inn 5/5
61.Harriet the Spy By: Louise Fitzhugh 5/5
62.D is for Deadbeat By: Sue Grafton 4/5
63.E is for Evidence By: Sue Grafton 4/5
64.The Bungalow Mystery By: Carolyn Keene 4/5
65.F is for Fugitive by: Sue Grafton 4/5
66. Haunted Houses By: Edrick Thay 5/5
67. Four to score By: Janet Evanovich 4/5
68. The Scarlet Letter By: Nathaniel Hawthorne 4/5
69. The Swan Thieves By: Elizabeth Kostova 5/5
70.Every Last One By: Anna Quindlen 5/5
71.Victorine By: Catherine Texier 4/5
72. G is for Gumshoe By: Sue Grafton 4/5
73.The Winding Ways Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini 4/5
74. The Silver Needle Murder by: Laura Childs 5/5
75. Visions of Sugar Plums By: Janet Evanovich 5/5
CHALLENGE MET!!!!

76. The Lost Quilter by:Jennifer Chiaverini 5/5
77. H is for Homicide By: Sue Grafton 5/5
78. The Crowning Glory of Calla Lilly Ponder By: Rebecca Wells 4/5
79. The Aloha Quilt By: Jennifer Chiaverini 5/5
80. Fireside By: susan Wiggs 4/5
81. A New Song By Jan Karon 5/5
82. Candy Cane Murder By: Joanne Fluke 4/5
83. Someone to Love By: Jude Deveraux 4/5

I am really excited to be joining this challenge again in 2010! It really is the perfect # for me as 50= not enough of a challenge 100= WOAH!, I don't think so! So, when I saw this group I had to join!! Kay was great in allowing me to join late, this year, but I am excited to start with a fresh slate with all my fellow 75 book challenge readers in 2010! Good luck to everyone with their challenges!!!

Oh yeah and to add a bit of CHALLENGE to my challenge I will be attempting to read (start to finish) 2 huge chunksters in the forms of Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" and "War and Peace" this year!!! We will see how I do with that!!! =P

Joy wrote: "Oh yeah and to add a bit of CHALLENGE to my challenge I will be attempting to read (start to finish) 2 huge chunksters in the forms of Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" and "War and Peace" this year!!!..."

YIKES! That's some heavy-duty reading, Joy. I think the longest book I hope to read in 2010 is Stephen King's "Under the Dome" at just over 1000 pages. But I would have to say those pages aren't nearly as challenging as Tolstoy's . . .

Kay- you took the words out of my mouth! YIKES!

Joy, I read Anna Karenina and loved it! If you like a book it goes almost as fast as a regular book...lol

I hear that Anna Karenina is wonderful! So I am excited about that one, the War and Peace? I will probably be reading it just for tthe sole reason of being able to say I did it! =) But you never know! And you are so right, Andrea! If a book is good and you like it, the length won't be a problem...it may even be a good thing, cause who wants a good book to end? The longer the better!

Kay wrote: "Joy wrote: "Oh yeah and to add a bit of CHALLENGE to my challenge I will be attempting to read (start to finish) 2 huge chunksters in the forms of Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" and "War and Peace" ..."

I have "The Stand" in my TBR pile right now for 2010, so that will be my Stephen King reading for the year. I already have the Tolstoy situation under control. =) If I read only 10 pages a day I will have them both nailed during the course of the year!! I just have to be diligent that when I set it down to have the discipline to pick it up the next day and plow through the next ten pages. I think that will be my mantra for next year..."Just ten pages...just ten pages...just ten pages!" lol Then I will reward myself with a fun book. =)

Joy, you inspired me to pick out a BFB for this year. I'm going to look and see what I have in my piles.

I read Pillars of the Earth (loved it)last year so the sequel- World Without end will be 1 of my BFB's for this year!

OOOh!! I have been wanting to read Pillars of The Earth, Merri!!! That one has to go on my TBR list!! Good luck with the BFB Andrea! I can't wait to see what you pick! =)

I'm reading Anna Karenina right now (started it on Sunday but counting it for 2010) and hope to tackle War and Peace too.

Joy, I ,might go with Merri and read WWE since I real POTE this year and loved it. Stay tuned....lol

Can't wait to see what you do!! =)I've been wanting to read them for awhile now....don't know if I will be able to get many more chunksters in though, and still reach the 75 mark...

Joy- I really enjoyed POTE- My issue was that it took a long time and I could have read 3 or 4 books in that period-and believe it or not I was worried about not reaching my 75 books! LOL Well I was no where near 75 last year- I will try to read more this year-but I have promised myself that the book is more important than the # I reach- What I love about this group- is the recommendations-reviews-good and bad and it pushed me to read more!

I know what you mean, Merri, I read the Fountainhead, and I think that slowed me up a little too, but not too much, as I am a "rotation reader" which means I always have at least 3 books going at the same time, everyday I try to read 100 pages, my main book I read 50 pages/day the second one I read 30/day pages the last 20/day. That way even if I am reading a big fat one, at least two others are still moving forward...when the 50 pager is finished then the 30 pager moves into it's spot and the 20 pager goes to the 30 page spot and then I start a new one. I don't know if it helps me get more read or not, but sometimes when you are reading a big one like that it helps you still get others finished at the same time.

LOL! that sounds complicated Joy! I'm a one book at a time kind of gal... which is probably why I never made the 75..ha ha! oh well!!=)

Joy, no wonder we click! I have a similar system and always have several books going!

Joy wrote: "Kay wrote: "Joy wrote: "Oh yeah and to add a bit of CHALLENGE to my challenge I will be attempting to read (start to finish) 2 huge chunksters in the forms of Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" and "War..."

That's a great way of tackling a longer, intimidating book. I've never tried that, but I just might have to!

Exactly!

Take it from someone who read War and Peace: it can be done...although, y'know, it can also be skipped. But if you do decide to tackle the monster, try not to do it all at once. Most editions are divided into three or four sections, so I'd recommend taking short breaks in between to avoid burnout.

But seriously, you don't have to read it. Really. Try Les Miserables instead. Roughly 200 pages shorter, but many times more interesting.

Jacob wrote: "Take it from someone who read War and Peace: it can be done...although, y'know, it can also be skipped. But if you do decide to tackle the monster, try not to do it all at once. Most editions are..."

Skip it?! did you say SKIP IT?! I cannot just sKIP it! Life is FULL of challenges, and you can't just SKIP THEM!! You must buck up and face them with bravery and conquer!!! ::Looking at daunting HUGE Leo Tolstoy book in the corner, and trembles::

I think that book just snarled at me!!!!!

Joy wrote: "Skip it?! did you say SKIP IT?! I cannot just sKIP it! Life is FULL of challenges, and you can't just SKIP THEM!!"

Life may be full of challenges, but life is also full of GOOD challenges. And War and Peace is NOT a good challenge. Dull story, dull characters, dull writer. All I'm saying is (and, if you'll forgive a bit of self-promotion, take it from me) a challenge isn't worth it if the task itself is unpleasant and unsatisfying. Les Mis is a much better reward. You should add it anyway, even if you do read W&P.

Maybe I shall do just that! =) I am reading Anna Karenina right now...it's not bad...but I would really like to be able to say I have read W&P...Just to say I've done it...2009 I read Moby Dick,and hated most of it, but I DID it....we'll see what happens! =)

Joy, do you want to try and read it together? Maybe that would make it fun!

Sure, that works for me!! =) I just started Anna Karenina, so I will probably be ready to read it around March or April.Or...now...lol...I'm a glutton for punishment! ;P

That sounds perfect for me!

#1Dracula



Yay I finished #1!! 74 to go!!

Life may be full of challenges, but life is also full of GOOD challenges. And War and Peace is NOT a good challenge. Dull story, dull characters, dull writer. All I'm saying is (and, if you'll forgive a bit of self-promotion, take it from me) a challenge isn't worth it if the task itself is unpleasant and unsatisfying. Les Mis is a much better reward. You should add it anyway, even if you do read W&P.


Jacob, I am really enjoying Anna Karenina and will probably try War and Peace next - but I love Les Mis. I've read it six times(I think). You are right - It is a rewarding book.

#2 - The Other Queen

#3- Then Came Heaven

Boy, you are really spinning them out!

=) We'll see how long this lasts! lol

#4- The Inheritance

#5- Foul Play

Joy, I like your new profile pic!

Thank you, Andrea! =)

#6- Gracelin O'Malley

#7-My Sunshine

Joy, you are off to a very strong start! I've only read 2 books so far this month. (Sigh)

It's ok, some of them I started last year, and fnished this month,and two were audio...so even though it looks like a lot, I think it may be slowing down here now...=)

#8- Catch-22

#9- A Girl's Best Friend

#10- The Little Giant of Aberdeen County

[image error]

Joy, I'm reading this right now as well! It is going pretty slow because of work and school and I may have to return it if I can't finish it up because I'm overdue wwith it.

Andrea wrote: "Joy, I'm reading this right now as well! It is going pretty slow because of work and school and I may have to return it if I can't finish it up because I'm overdue wwith it."

oops. I totally understand how that is!! I got it from the library too! I loved it, I thought it was a good/quick read!! i actually pinched this one from you!! I saw it in your feeds and clicked "To read" and then sorta forgot about it,and then when i was at the library, I saw it and remembered "Oh yeah, Andrea's reading that, I should pick it up." So, I actually thought of you when I got it! lol

#11-

Moral Disorder: and Other Stories

#12- THE RESTORATION

Awww, I'm glad you thought of me in the library!...lol I still have not finished Little Giant, pretty sure it will have to go back to the library before it is any more overdue...lol

I have had to do that too, I love that I can recheck them out online now...cause I have definitely needed extra time on some of mine. I really should not go to the library, as my own TBR shelf overfloweth already!! But I can't help myself!! Free books?! Granted you have to return them, but there are so many books out there that I want to get to, I rarely re-read any anymore....

#13- A Modest Proposal This one was short, only about 48 or so pages, but I figure with all the chunksters I plan on devouring this year I'm intitled to a thin one like this! lol