1. Stories We Could Tell – Tony Parsons
2. Survivor – Chuck Palahniuk
3. The Dice Man – Luke Rhinehart
4. Factotum – Charles Bukowski
5. Slaughterhouse-Five – Kurt Vonnegut
6. JPOD – Douglas Coupland
7. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
8. The Perks Of Being A Wallflower – Steven Chboski
9. The Contortionists Handbook – Craig Clevenger
10. Rant – Chuck Palahniuk
11. Naive.Super – Erland Loe
12. Cell – Stephen King
13. Dogrun – Arthur Nersesian
14. Women – Charles Bukowski
15. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling
16. Shampoo Planet – Douglas Coupland
17. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
18. Into The Wild – John Krakauer
19. The Losers Club – Richard Perez
20. The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides
21. Wait Until Spring, Bandini – John Fante 5 years ago

Late entry, but my last three books for this goal were Death Message by Mark Billingham, Catcher in the Rye, and Catch 22. 5 years ago

Books read

1. Carmen Laforet – “Nada”
2. Living japanese style illustrated
3. “The three kingdoms” (don’t know exact translation, read it in chinese)
4. Lucía Baquedano – “Fantasmas de día”
5. Jane Austen – “Pride & Prejudice”
6. Pretty Face 1 (manga)
7. Pretty Face 2
8. Pretty Face 3
9. Pretty Face 4
10.Pretty Face 5
11.Pretty Face 6 5 years ago

1. Gandhi: His Life and Message for the World
(Louis Fischer)

I was reading this book while fasting and it was a great companion. It was a great way to start off the New Year and I plan on reading his autobiography to start off 2008.

2. The Little Prince
(Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

I wish I got a hold of this sweet little book sooner. It has become one of my favorites.
“Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always explaining things to them.”

3. Holidays on Ice
(David Sedaris)

Love David Sedaris as he’s just hilarious. Great Christmas book about his time working as a mall elf.

4. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
(Marjane Satrapi)

Loved this memoir, graphic novel? I’m excited to see the new film that’s out!

5. Flynn
(Gregory Mcdonald)

I love Gregory Mcdonald and have read most of his Fletch books. I may even love Flynn as a character more though! I love noir/detective type films and these books are excellent as it’s all about the wit and snappy lines of dialogue.

6.James and the Giant Peach
(Roald Dahl)

The 4th grade class I helped teach in was reading this book and I realized I never read it myself. I need to catch me up on some classic Dahl.

7. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
(Jonathan Safran Foer)

One of my favorite books I read this year. It reminds me of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon but I liked this book a great deal more! While the former was more obvious about the character and him being autistic, I felt this book handled it in a much richer and more interesting way! I still need to read Everything is Illuminated by Foer as well.

8. Running from Safety: An Adventure of the Spirit
(Richard Bach)

I think the appeal that was Richard Bach is starting to fade away from me. I read Illusions years ago, and it blew me away. It hit me at just the right time in my life. However this book was a nice tie in with all the other books he has written. So if you are a fan of Bach’s it’s still worth a read.

9. The Kite Runner
(Khaled Hosseini)

I read this just in time before all the hype surrounded it. I actually picked it up a few years before in a Vietnamese book market, but it sat on my shelf. I finally read it in Peru (of all places) and just adored it. The book reads like an epic movie (which explains the film coming out) But I think most the talk about it is deserved and it got me really excited about kites again!!

10. The Motorcycle Diaries : A Latin American Journey
(Ernesto Che Guevara)

I read this during my trip in Peru, and it was rewarding to see Che talking about things that I was seeing before my eyes. As good as the book was, the added bonus of a speech Che gave to university of medical doctors at the end of the book is worth picking up this book alone.

11.Ishmael
(Daniel Quinn)

I loved the ideas expressed in this book, although I will admit the actual writing leaves a little to be desired. But the book really isn’t about that so I give it some slack. “Teacher seeks pupil, must have an earnest desire to save the world.” Despite this claim the book doesn’t offer up many answers on exactly how to do this, but perhaps it’s not its job to do so either. Overall I did enjoy this book and think it’s a wonderful book for discussions or a book club.

#12. The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
(Alan Watts)

I felt this book was the perfect follow up to reading Ishmael. Alan Watts is quite witty and this is probably my favorite book I read this year. I love the ideas Watts expresses about life, and I feel he never comes across as stuck up or a know it all as some philosophers do. I would recommend this book to everyone, especially those looking for growth.

13. Jonathan Livingston Seagull
(Richard Bach)

Again as I mentioned before Bach has lost a little of his charm with me. Especially after reading The Book, his ideas just seem so lackluster to me now. That and the fact that he seems to say the same thing in all the books he writes. But again, I love Illusions and everyone should read that if they want a great Bach book.

14. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Book 1)
(J. K. Rowling)

I know I’m a bad person. I haven’t read any of the Potter books yet. I love this first one though, and the pages just whiz on by. I felt the suspense was kept throughout and it’s definitely not just a kid’s book.

15. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2)
(J.K. Rowling)

Same as above, but I didn’t like this one as much as I did the first. I didn’t have the 3rd book and got distracted with other books, so looks like I’ll have to finish the series in ‘08.
(And sadly I think I may have had the last book spoiled for me. I really hope I didn’t but it’s bumming me out!)

16. Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return
(Marjane Satrapi)

Just as good as the first one I think. I’m really excited about seeing this on film! As it keeps the same art style as the books.

17. The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
(William Goldman)

I adore this movie to death and felt like I owed it to myself to read the fricken book!
Apparently I am a putz as I was really confused about the whole “retelling of S. Morgenstern’s classic Tale” and was wondering if I picked up the wrong book. I soon realized that it’s all made up and one big joke. However a rather large chunk is devoted to this gag before the book even begins, and may just be worth skipping and starting directly at the first chapter. Comparing the book to film, I really have no complaints, I felt the film captured all the magic of the book, but it probably helps since William Goldman also wrote the screenplay.

18. Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived
(Ralph Helfer)

I adored this book! It’s now one of my favorites, and is such an enchanting tale! It reminded me a lot of Life of Pi at first, since both deal with India, the love of animals, and a ship wreck involving animals. I adored this a great deal more though, and the fact that this elephant really exists makes it all the more special.

19. Son of Fletch
(Gregory Mcdonald)

Again the Fletch series is superb. This book I actually didn’t like as much as the others, as it seemed it’s main point was to introduce the son of fletch, and create a series of books that is still essentially the same character as Fletch, but starting a new.

20. Alice in Wonderland (Includes Through the Looking-Glass)
(Lewis Carroll)

Technically I’m not quite finished with this, but I’ll count it regardless. Full of magic and charm, Alice is such a fascinating character to follow through this enchanting world. 5 years ago

Did 14/20 and grew my knowledge on broader things. Will go for 20 in ‘08. 5 years ago

This book has given me inspiration to get up and get moving… I am on day 6 of exercising and continue to strive toward my triathlon goal on May 18th. 5 years ago

I’ve surely read the 2 more but I lost count. ^^’ but even if not, what’s the difference between 18 and 20? I tried and it counts. 5 years ago

1 – Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
2 – The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
3 – Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
4 – Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
5 – Perfume by Patrick Suskind 5 years ago

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

9th book in english

Beautiful and inventive. I was afraid I wouldn’t like this novel all that much because I liked to no end his other novel: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, but I was wrong. Foer’s use of language is impressive, his prose is amazingly beautiful and his characters incredibly complex and real, I already knew that but it’s always nice to have a confirmation. I thought that Alex’s mistakes were laugh-out-loud funny at first but ended up getting a little annoying and distracting as the novel goes on, making his segment my least favorite, altought I was in awe by the end, when his grandfather tells Hershel story, and Foer stops using commas, periods or any sort of punctuation, turning the whole thing into an intense sequence of horrible events that took my breath away.

4.5 out of 5 5 years ago

Why stop at 20? There are so many excellent books out there! 5 years ago

The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac

Disappointing. I don’t really know why but I was expecting something more…intense than meditation and alpinism. Kerouac’s style is amazing, I guess it’s called spontaneous prose or something like that, but I often felt like he tried to control it, using it sporadically and not letting it flow like he should, making the whole thing not spontaneous at all. I did found his writing to be very evocative and somewhat thought-provoking, though

3 out of 5 5 years ago

The back of the book says, “A dark and disturbing suspense gripper.” This quote from the Seattle-Post Intelligencer sums it up pretty well.

It was so gripping that it kept me up a little later than usual the past few nights.

I don’t know why I’m reading gruesome tales at Christmas time. 5 years ago

OK, so I know I’m cheating by reducing this goal from 25 books to 20 books, but I’ve figured that I’m allowed to do this. This is because for the past few months (since September) I’ve been doing legal work for my distance learning uni course. So, reading about a dozen legal texts books (a few of them cover to cover) counts as the equivalent of 5 books, so I can knock 5 books off my target.

That’s my skewed thinking because for the past few weeks my bed-time reading has been about the laws of evidence in Scotland and England instead of the usual novel that I like to read and I don’t want all that reading to count for nothing (although it is counting for something, as hopefully I’ll get my uni degree if I do well!). 5 years ago

So technically I accomplished the 20 books goal, but this started off at 50, which I then dropped to 25. I’m glad that I accomplished this, because I can’t say I did this last year. Next year I’m going to straight up try for 25. 5 years ago

My high school English teacher got me this book. A Thousand Acres is Jane Smiley’s modern day retelling of King Lear, which is my favorite Shakespeare play. This was interesting, because it really took the side of the two sisters, Ginny and Rose (Goneril and Regan). It also vilified Larry (Lear). When I was reading Lear, I took a similar perspective, I’m glad I’m not the only one.

As for the book itself, it was slow at times, but towards the end it really picked up pace. It wasn’t quite what I expected, but I wasn’t disappointed. 5 years ago

I read all these Shakespeare plays for my English 111 course. My professor enjoyed the weird plays, and Cymbeline was no exception. This was a typical “Everything works out in the last scene!” plays. But this one was so bizarre in the final execution. It ended way too perfectly, so perfectly it was actually hysterical. 5 years ago

Hamlet was the first Shakespeare play I loved. Everything just seemed to work, Revenge, Pretend Madness, Real Madness, Ghosts… It just was awesome. Reading it this time around, I saw some things in a different light, like I understood why Hamlet kept putting off the revenge. I was impatient when I read it in 10th grade, this time around it made sense. 5 years ago

This must rank among Shakespeare’s most bizarre plays. Titus Andronicus also has to rank among the bloodiest and most violent. Good ol’ Billy didn’t skimp on the gore and limb lopping. Yeah… Not one of my favorite plays. 5 years ago

...and the fact that the books on my list need to be cleaned. Definitely not going to make it. But, I’ll try again next year. 5 years ago

Now I’ve read 20 books this year! 5 in Swedish, 5 in Finnish, 5 in English and 5 in French. This is more books per year than I’ve read in many years and I’m quite proud! And on top of these novels I’ve read some none-fiction too. Plus school books. Plus a lot of serious magazines, so all in all I’ve read a lot. 5 years ago

(French book number 5)

Written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in 1943.

This is by far my favourite book! I love it! It’s so fantastic it makes me cry on almost every page! 5 years ago

This murder mystery takes place in Alaska. There was incidental information about building a modern log cabin, a bit about the life of dog sled teams, the heinous crimes of Robert Hansen (Alaska’s first serial killer), and life in Alaska in June. I enjoyed it. 5 years ago

(Finnish book number 5)

Written by Johanna Sinisalo in 2006.

This was a tiny little book that caught my eye when I was passing the time in the library. As I had nothing better to do, I read it. I guess you could say it was just a short story, but still printed all alone.

The story was interesting: A young woman who has just moved to a new town and feels lonely meets a nice guy in a café. They get on very well, and whe the man leaves he gives the woman, Anna, the coordinates of a place. Anna finds out about geocaching, and then finds the place. There she finds new coordinates to a new place and is asked to leave a photo of herself there. She does, but in the box she finds the pictures of 3 other women and the next coordinates. Now Anna gets really interested in this guy, and really wants to meet him, so she goes to the third place. There she finds articles about three women who have disappeared. Then the man appears from beyhind a tree and kills Anna.

This story was very interesting and in the beginnig it was very romantic. I, as Anna, thought that she would meet the guy at last and they’d become a couple. But the moment when Anna realizes what has happened to the three other women and that it will happen to her too, is very scary. And when the guy appears, laughing, with a knife in his hand… It was really really frightening!

(Oh yes, the title means “Hidden”.) 5 years ago

(Finnish book number 4)

Written by Reko and Tina Lundán in 2006.

I’ve wanted to read this book for a long time, or for as long as I’ve known about it. Some years ago I read a book by Reko Lundán and a while after that I found out that he had recently died. He had a tumour in his brain.

So this book is like a diary, written by a man, who finds out about having a brain tumour, and his wife. The names in the books are changed, but it’s actually about Reko and Tina. That made the book really touching.

(The title means “Weeks, months”.) 5 years ago

(English book number 5)

Written by Agatha Christie in 1953.

I don’t usually read detective stories, and this was the first book by Agatha Christie that I’ve read. I liked it.

So, this was the last English book this year. Now I only have one French and two Finnish ones left. I’ll start on Le Petit Prince today and then I’ll ahve time to read the Finnish books during Christmas, so I’m quite sure I’ll make it. 5 years ago

An addicting book about the first winter ascent up Mt. McKinley. Being from Alaska, I was drawn to this book. I can’t imagine going through what those mountaineers went through up there. I can barely stand it when it hits freezing, let alone 148 below zero. 5 years ago

I had never invested any time into reading about Martin Luther King Jr until now. I was marvelled at what all he had been involved with at such a young age. I had NOWHERE near that kind of maturity when I was his age. A good and enlightening book. 5 years ago

Perfume by Patrick Suskind

Original and beautiful. Twice I caught myself feeling compassion and sympathy for the main character, which is a cold-blooded serial killer and twice I caught myself asking weather the story, which is often described as absurdist, is based on real events or not. The way I see it, if an author can accomplish that he can accomplish anything. Suskind’s prose is beautiful and horrific at the same time, he managed to get me addicted to the story and his descriptiveness of the smells, which sometimes felt a little overdone, was so constant and vivid that I almost could smell them myself.

4.5 out of 5 5 years ago

From my DH’s paperback collection. I wasn’t sure that I’d like it, but I did! Just finished it yesterday. 5 years ago

Kathy Reichs – Bones to Ashes

Another excellent book in the Tempe Brennan series, the inspiration behind the TV show Bones.

I’m trying to catch up with this before the end of the year, since in the last 3 months my reading for pleasure has given way to reading law textbooks for my distance learning university course! 5 years ago