2022 Book and Movie Challenge

2021 was the year I read Les Miserables on a whim — and it wasn't even on my list!

And it was the year that I fell in love with silent movies. In a big way.

 BOOKS

In 2021 I discovered some new favorites and was even inspired to read a book not on my list at all that I'd dropped twice before — Les Miserables. I didn't read every single book on my list. But even the ones I dropped (sorry War and Peace!) were given a fair try. And that's all I promise any book on my list. Read all about the 2021 reading challenge it here.

As usual, I'll have some challenging reading coming my way just because of outside influences. Two of Scott's choices for A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast sound rip-roaring - cowboys and Vikings!

•  Lonesome Dove (Update - to my chagrin this book is one that I hated although I really wanted to love it. I read 100 pages before calling it quits.)
•  Njal's Saga (a real Viking saga that's really long).  (Update - liked it well enough.)
  

My Catholic women's book club will be making me face a book I've managed to avoid until now:

• The End of the Affair by Graham Greene.  (Update - loved it!)
  

 The literary podcasts I listen to are doing the same with books I either have ignored or avoided. Close Reads has hit several for me this year.

• Anna Karenina — quite good with a lot of insight. I didn't love Anna herself but maybe I wasn't supposed to? At any rate, I'm glad I read it.
  
• 1984 — a great cautionary tale, not a great novel. I appreciated it but didn't love it.
  
• Laurus — magical realism, holy fool, Russian literature. What was I thinking? I hate all those things and so it makes sense that I couldn't get too far with this book. Abandoned it.
  

I hardly need to add to this list, do I? And yet ... I have a few that people keep pushing at me and I keep ducking. Let's see where an honest try takes me!

(Titles are marked in red when finished, with a few words on how they hit me.)

• Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card — because my brother-in-law (and others) will not stop telling me it is better than Ender's Game and that I should read it. Okay, okay!
  DID NOT READ — I just couldn't make myself read more than a few pages. It turns out mentally I am done with Ender's story and that universe. To be fair, I already had to struggle to read the first book, though I did wind up really liking it.
  
  
• The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz. I tried a book by Horowitz once and didn't get too far. But, again, people just won't stop pushing this author in my face. I like the sound of this series where he writes himself in as the Watson to the main detective.
  FINISHED — I liked this pretty well. Horowitz does love to go on and on about himself and being an author which I liked at first and got tired of later. I did like his recreation of a modern Sherlock style detective. Without an adoring Watson (like the original stories) we see how annoying that type of person is. And also how brilliant. I don't know if I'll read any others in the series. Going to see how it settles as I think about it.
  
  
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel — I tried this a couple of times and was never interested enough to pick it up after putting it down. However, my daughter, Hannah, really liked it and recommended it. Heck, maybe the third time is the charm. FINISHED — mixed feelings on this one. I loved the writing style but something about the ending felt as if it was off. It seemed to trail off into nothing. It didn't feel like real science fiction and then when I looked up the author I found she's a novelist who liked the idea on speculating about 15 years after civilization collapses. And then wrote a novel about it. Which was unsatisfying. So I didn't love it and I didn't hate it.
  
  
• The City of God by St. Augustine — I got halfway through and then put it down, the way you do with a super duper long theology discussion. Nothing against it, but I'd read a lot and was ready for a change. Now is the time to pick it back up! NOT EVEN PICKED UP — I just couldn't get in the mood so this one isn't happening this year!
  
  
• Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray — This one's my daughter Rose's fault. She talked about how funny it is and that hooked me. To be fair, I forgot I meant to read this next year and began listening recently. What a snarky, fun novel so far!
  FINISHED — Aside from the humor, it was also surprisingly action packed. However, there were very long sections which today would have been cut. For me the section when the little boys were growing up was too long, but that is my modern sensibility coming through. Otherwise, though I can highly recommend it for someone who would like a big helping of snarky humor with their novel.
  
  
• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke — I had to be forced to read Clarke's previous novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell which I liked overall. I tried this and wasn't crazy about it. However, a lot (and I mean a lot) of people love it. So I'm going to give it a better try.
  DID NOT READ — the lyrical descriptions of The World were beautiful and haunting, but 50 pages in almost nothing had happened aside from some sea gulls and The Other, both of whom I feel will be instrumental later in the book. But I just didn't care and was bored with the continual descriptions of that world when nothing else was going on.
  
  
• Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope — recommended by my daughter Hannah who fell in love with Trollope's novels this year.
  FINISHED — loved this one. So funny and insightful. Rather reminded me of the overall tone in Vanity Fair except not quite as snarky and moved along at a brisk pace.
  

More silent films - yay! Also, Batman. (Yay?) And I will finally venture out of India for my foreign Shakespearean adaptations.

• Grand Hotel starring Greta Garbo and John Barrymore — somehow watching Our Man Godfrey this year made me think of this movie which I saw a really long time ago.
  
  
• Freaks directed by Todd Browning — Rose has long pushed this movie and after seeing Browning's direction of the original Dracula this Halloween I am finally on board.
  
  
• Sherlock, Jr. starring Buster Keaton (silent) — the ultimate (perhaps original) meta-film where a bored film projectionist daydreams himself into the movies he is showing. FINISHED —A slight but sweet little film but good escapist entertainment.
  
  
• Dark Knight trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan — I never saw the last movie of the Dark Knight trilogy and it's been so long that I've got to rewatch them all now. FINISHED — The third movie solved my big problems with the way that the second movie ended. Well done.
  
  
• It starring Clara Bow (silent) — Not the horror movie but the movie that made Clara Bow a star and defined sex appeal for the Jazz Age. FINISHED —Not as hilarious now as it probably was back in the day, but Clara Bow was adorable and a really modern woman. She really had "It."
  
  
• Throne of Blood directed by Akira Kurosawa — Lear, Japanese-style. I tend to like foreign adaptations of Shakespeare better than seeing English or American ones. I've explored Indian versions and now am going to see what the master in Japan did with the Bard.
  
  
• Ran directed by Akira Kurosawa — MacBeth, also by the Japanese master.
  
  
• Hamlet starring David Tennant — I love Hamlet and I also love David Tennant. So why not?
  
  
• It Could Happen to You — Rose's recommendation of a romcom with a cop and a waitress who share a winning lottery ticket. FINISHED - fine, but nothing to write home about.
  

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

In 1922 Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin.

Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him a doorway into a much larger world of  discovery.

It is with sheer delight that I move this from my 2021 Book Challenge list to my Best of 2021 list. I read it first of my challenges simply because there are so many requests at the library that I wouldn't be able to renew it. 

It is a wonderful balance of whimsy and history, fairy tale and reality. It tells us how to survive the rules imposed by others and how to turn dreams into reality. 

I didn't expect to be breathlessly excited by the last act but I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Not a thing was introduced that wasn't called back into use by the end. And the end was absolutely perfect. Now I've got to buy my own copy.

2021 Book and Movie Challenge

It's been a while since I've challenged myself with a big list of books and movies to read in the upcoming year. But lately I've had an urge to tackle War and Peace. Maybe it's because reading all Dickens left me with a taste for big books. Maybe it's because I read Crime and Punishment last year and so I'm not as afraid of Russian authors as I used to be. 

Whatever the reason, it took me back to the days when I'd put together a list at the beginning of every year and see how I did.

I'm keeping it as short as I can because I already know I've got some big reads coming up next year. Scott and I are going to tackle The Epic of Gilgamesh and Gone with the Wind over at the podcast. The Close Reads podcast is going to take on Anna Karenina on their Patreon feed so that will help pull me along (they are why I was able to read Crime and Punishment this year). And my Catholic women's book club always keeps my reading list pretty full. 

Plus some of the books below are real doozies. But they are all doozies I'm interesting in giving a fair trial to and possibly getting all the way through.

(Titles are marked in red when finished, with a few words on how they hit me.)

• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Anthony Briggs translation) — because it's there. Result – I just couldn't care about any of the characters although I was 250 pages in. That was reason enough to stop reading.
  
  
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell — I loved the movie. Let's see if the book is as good or even better! Result - no. No it isn't. I got 50 pages in and gave up.
  
  
• Moved to next year — Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry — everyone's told me to read this. Time to stop fighting them. We will be reading this for a 2022 discussion on A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast so I will wait until then for the McMurtry experience!
  
  
• The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco — Did not read. I gave this a very fair trial - to page 250 but in the end the insanely detailed immersion in medieval things did me in. I no longer cared who killed those monks. I just wanted out of that nutty abbey!
  
  
• Cannery Row by John Steinbeck — the Novel Conversations podcast made this sound light and fun as opposed to Steinbeck's usual doom and gloom. So I'm trying it. Result — it was more a series of vignettes than an actual novel. Not bad but nothing I cared about much.
  
  
• A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles — another one that's been recommended  a lot and the last time it finally sounded good to me for some reason. Result — I loved this book. My review is here.
  
  
• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell — the book I've fought hardest against in recent years. Let's see if my instincts were right or wrong. Result — Both the plot and the characters got more interesting once Elizabeth was established in Milford though I did find the romance tiring after a while. It is a book I can imagine rereading in the future although not nearly as eagerly as I look forward to reading my beloved Dickens. Elizabeth Gaskell was soooooo serious, without much to lighten the mood, and that got tiring also. However, good enough and I'm glad I read it.
  
  
• And It Was Good by Madeleine L'Engle — Did not read. This was from the early 1980s and showed it in the way L'Engle is noodling around with thoughts about faith and religion and personal approaches. Most of it was unexceptional and, I must admit, occasionally inspiring. However, there was enough of a New Agey feel and approach that made it feel just relativist enough that it kept kicking me out of the book mentally.
  
  
• Wilding by Isabella Tree — been wanting to read this since I read the WSJ review. Enjoyed this, especially the bits following the author and her husband as they reintroduced animals as like the original  ecosystem as possible and watched what happened. A lot of what happened was unexpected. (Fuller review at Goodreads.)
  


• Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay — a very recent recommendation from a podcast listener. Result - 50 pages in I realized that I just didn't care about a gigantic Roman alternate history story.
  
  
• Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts: Twelve Journeys into the Medieval World by Christopher de Hamel — this was a gift some time ago but I haven't done more than sample it. This is the year to read it all! I read this very slowly but enjoyed meeting each manuscript and the window it gave into earlier ages.
  

================

Further reading inspired by the book challenge, in a way:

• Les Miserables — I've not been able to read so many big books that when I watched Les Mis and loved it yet again, then I wanted to try the book again. By judiciously using my expert skimming skills to skip things like the history of the convent and multiple chapters on Waterloo, I'm loving it.
  
  FINAL REPORT: It took three months and so much skimming but I'm glad I read it, although I will never read it again. And I'm very impressed that the Les Miserables movie (Hugh Jackman) did such a good job of carrying through important characters and themes. In fact, if I hadn't seen the movie about 5 times I would occasionally have gotten lost in the novel. As it was, I was fascinated at the places where the plots diverged between the two with both still carrying the same message. In fact, I wound up being surprised that the movie's ending was so overtly religious when the book handled religious elements in that spot with much less emphasis.

• William Wyler — we're slowly working our way through this director's filmography. We're up to Wuthering Heights and will see how far we get this year. My personal challenge here is not to skip any (such as Wuthering Heights, for example).
  
  
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) starring Lon Chaney — this has been on my list ever since reading Joseph's review. Result — Lon Chaney is why I wanted to watch this and he rewarded my viewing with a stellar performance as Quasimodo. I also enjoy a good epic historical film and this also hit that target. This movie challenge has hooked on silent films so much that I'm looking for other silent movies to try when these choices are all done.
  
  
• The Rules of the Game directed by Jean Renoir (son of the painter) — a classic that has been mentioned many times in our house by Rose. I want to know why. Result — Another of the best movies ever made that I don't love as much as I should.
  
  
• The Man Who Laughs — another classic mentioned by Rose a lot. Result — an enjoyable over-the top melodrama with the little grotesque, off-kilter touches that German expressionism did so well. Conrad Veidt was fantastic in the title role since his expressions had to be done solely with his eyes and forehead.
  
  
• Metropolis — a classic mentioned by everyone! Result — This movie was nuts. And I mean that in a good way. Starting with a sexy robot, mad scientist, and lots more. See my review here.
  
  
• The Phantom of the Opera (1925) — I really didn't like the modern musical. This surely has to be better! Also, some review (I can't remember where from) loved it. Not as good as Hunchback, but Chaney was still amazing.
  

================

Further viewing inspired by the movie challenge since it turns out that I'm hooked on silent movies now:

• It — not the "it" you think. This is the silent movie that made Clara Bow the "It Girl." A cultural phenomenon.
  
• The Haunted Carriage — I've wanted to see this ever since reading about it years ago. The library finally has a copy. Also silent. Simply stunning drama, which is not what I expected from a 100 year old Swedish silent movie. My review here.
  
• Sherlock, Jr. — the original meta film, maybe? 1925 silent Buster Keaton film.
• The Adventures of Prince Achmed — A very creative and fun telling of an Arabian Nights style fairy tale done by a German female director. The use of detailed, intricate silhouettes was expert, with a lot of stop motion movement which was very smooth. Really impressive and the first animated feature length movie (no matter what Disney says).
• The Lodger — the most famous of Alfred Hitchcock's silent films, based on a famous story by Marie Lowndes. Artfully shot and told, with a surprisingly modern vibe for a lot of it. It grabs you from the first shot. The story is nothing new to the modern mind almost a hundred years later but it was quite suspenseful at a few moments when we were genuinely unsure who the serial killer might be. If you know Hitchcock's favorite themes and style already then it is a real pleasure to see how well he expresses them here.
   

2018 Challenge - Books and Movies

I have to admit it — my challenge for last year was mostly a bust. I abandoned it pretty early in the year mostly, I think, because I made the list out of a sense of duty. I'd done all those other yearly challenges, after all. Why stop now?

2017 turned instead into a year of reading and watching whatever I picked up and that morphed, surprisingly, into series. You can see some of that in My Year of "In Order."

• I read Terry Pratchett's books in order of publication, stopping only short of when his Alzheimer's began manifesting in bad books.
  
  
• We are just two movies shy of watching all the James Bond movies. It's been very interesting.
  
  
• Star Trek still has about a season and half to go before we can move on to The Next Generation. (Yes, this "in order" may take the rest of my natural life, but what a way to go!)
  
  
• We began watching The Avengers. They have proven to be just as whimsical and clever as I recalled. We're halfway through the second season and then will sample some Wild, Wild West to see if it is as spy-fy-ish / steampunk as I recall.
  
  
• I finished reading the Bible in chronological order. That began in 2016 but became a treasured habit. So much so, in fact, that I promptly began all over again. I'm using a different translation — Knox edition — as well as my study Bible which has become the place where I put all my notes from commentaries and studies. 

The result is that I've got a different approach this year which is much looser.

Once we finish James Bond, we're going to begin watching Billy Wilder's movies in order. We will also sprinkle in a little Akiro Kurosawa (in order, natch) through the year as we go.

I have a couple of series I'd like to reread:

• Slough House (begins with Slow Horses)
• Night Watch (which I've reviewed quite a few of, if you check the Book Reviews page, beginning with Night Watch)

Mostly, I have a big list of books that I began but never finished. Some are really long and I just dip into them occasionally. This is especially the case with Paul Johnson, Louis L'Amour, and Sense of Wonder.  Others, though, were put down when the next shiny new book came along. They're too good to abandon but I need to stop adding new books and finish them.

• A History of the American People by Paul Johnson
• Lone Star: A History Of Texas And The Texans by T.R. Fehrenbach
• Heroes & Heretics of the Reformation by Phillip Campbell
• Heroism and Genius: How Catholic Priests Helped Build — and Can Help Rebuild — Western Civilization Hardcover by William J. Slattery
• The Big Book of Adventure Stories edited by Otto Penzler (rereading)
• Plain Tales from the Hills by Rudyard Kipling
• Sense of Wonder: A Century of Science Fiction by Leigh Ronald Grossman
• Acts of the Apostles (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture) by William S. Kurz SJ
• Hebrews (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture) by Mary Healy
  
• The Gospel of John (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture) by Francis Martin and William M. IV Wright
  
• God or Nothing by Cardinal Sarah
• Meditations Before Mass by Romano Guardini
• Theology and Sanity by Francis Sheed
• The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton (rereading)
• Louis L'Amour's complete short stories
• Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts: Twelve Journeys into the Medieval World by Christopher de Hamel
  

You've got to admit, that's a pretty big stack of great books — tragically unfinished. It could take a year. Especially since I've got some other "assigned" reading as I go for various podcasts and my book club. For example, Kristin Lavransdatter (1,100 pages) is taking up most of my reading time now. But we shall see how it goes for whittling this list down!

2017 Book and Movie Challenge

My 2016 Book Challenge went really well and I updated my post so you can see how it went, if you like. Some of it was planned and some I fell into ... so I'm curious to see how this year goes.

1. Chronological Bible Reading
   I made it partway through Jeremiah last year. And into the Book of Wisdom from the middle column. I'm waiting to read the New Testament until I get done with the old one first. I'm not on a timetable. There's no reason to rush through just to read the Bible in a year.Here's the plan I'm using.
   
   
2. The High Window by Raymond Chandler
   This is the last Chandler I haven't read. Might as well finish all that lovely prose this year.
   
   
3. A History of the Jews by Paul Johnson
   
   
4. The Interior Castle by Teresa of Avila (reread)
   
   
5. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
   I was looking around for another author somewhat like Dickens and Gaskell's name kept coming up.
   
   
6. Thomas More by Peter Ackroyd
   I've always wanted to try Ackroyd's writing and who better to read about than Thomas More? It might be more More than I want (haha) but it can't hurt to try.
   
   
7. Robert Heinlein Mature Science Fiction
   Looking around for new science fiction to try, I wound up back in an unexpected spot — back with one of the acknowledged masters from 40 years ago. I thought I'd read a lot of Heinlein's books but it turns out not to be the case. I'm looking forward to diving into both the juveniles and adult books. There's nothing like old science fiction, after all!
   
   UPDATE: As I entered the new year, I found myself with lots of science fiction authors from Heinlein's time (which spanned a considerable part of science fiction history in my lifetime). I am going to read Heinlein, to be sure, but I am also going to look for more authors who I've just plain missed.
   • Pat Murphy: The City, Not Long After
   
   
8. Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza
   
   
9. I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity Izzeldin Abuelaish
   

This is going to be my year of Shakespeare movies, I think. There are several I've been wanting to see and plenty more to discover once I begin seriously looking. I've always shied away from Shakespeare but Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing made me want to dig deeper.

I've got just a few to begin with - will add more as I go.

1. Hamlet - David Tennant
2. Hollow Crown series
3. Macbeth
4. Taming of the Shrew

2016 Book Challenge

You can find my 2015 Book Challenge here, with the results recorded. I went off target about halfway through the year and yet that list prompted me to do some reading I'd never have done otherwise — like poetry — which was very rewarding.

This year, considering the lack of attention I paid last year, I thought about not doing a list. However, I realized I do actually have some goals for this year. They are fewer and more focused, which is all to the good.

1. Dante's Divine Comedy [done]
   I feel as if this is going to be my year of Dante. Last year my interest in Louis Markos' Heaven and Hell put Dante on my mind. I began reading Anthony Esolen's translation. I wanted to read through with as little use of notes as possible this time through.
   
   I read John Ciardi's translation my first time around.
   
   Once I finished the Esolen translation, I began listening to the Benedict Flynn translations which were done specifically for audio and read by Heathcote Williams. They were simply fantastic and added to my understanding of the book (at least on the surface level).
   
   And then I read it a third time for conversations at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. And a FOURTH for my Catholic women's book club! I didn't intend a Year of Dante but it turned out that way!  - Inferno (Good Story #135) - Purgatorio (Good Story #137) - Paradiso (Good Story #139)


2. Finish Dickens' novels: [done]
   
   • Martin Chuzzlewit — liked this despite expecting to hate it because Dickens' savages America in the middle. That part was so one-dimensional that it slid right off of me. 
   • The Old Curiosity Shop — there was more to this than I had been led to expect. And I liked it!
   • Mystery of Edwin Drood — read this one last. Liked it even though it was only half finished upon Dickens' death.
   • Hard Times — the biggest surprise of all was liking this book which I'd heard was dour, dark and ... hard. Loved it!


3. Reread Middlemarch — never did it
   I've been wanting to do this for the last half of 2015. It's time to let it happen.


4. Use my "To Read" list
   I have pages listed of interesting fiction and nonfiction titles that I never get to because something shiny distracts me to the latest new thing. No more! There is a reason I wrote those names down. I need to try them out!


5. Read the Bible in Chronological Order - ADDED IN APRIL
   Now I won't be doing this in a year, but it is a new reading goal, so I'm tossing it in here in case anyone else is interested. I'll keep track of what I've read here (fingers crossed I remember) — I actually have been doing this pretty regularly and enjoying the heck out of it. It has led to some surprising realizations. For example, did you know that when Isaiah was prophesying doom and gloom initially ... there were several other prophets also doing the same thing? And still no one listened. Oy veh! I'll be continuing this in 2017.

1. Use my "To Watch" list
   It's the same problem I have with books. So many reviews have prompted me to keep lists of movies and then I never use the list! No more!
   

2015 Book Challenge (and some movies) - UPDATED

UPDATE - END OF 2015
I wound up getting distracted from a lot of these about halfway through the year. The movies list was especially ignored. Yet, I am glad for this list because it did give me direction and I read books I might have missed otherwise.

==========

I was really delighted to get an email recently from a couple who follow along on my book challenges. They actually have read some of the books that I myself am reading.

This is power indeed! I will try to always use it for good and not evil. Therefore, rest assured that no Dostoevsky will enter these portals again!

You can find my 2014 Book Challenge here, with the results recorded. Overall it was very rewarding with only a few duds in the batch and I actually read most of the books on my list.

As before I'm carrying a few books over. And I may not get through all these. It isn't an assignment but a way to keep from getting distracted from these goals.

FICTION

1. Don Quixote
   I thought I'd read this last year but did what I have done twice before: read the first adventure, put it down "for a little while" and never picked it up again. I have the audiobook narrated by Simon Vance, thanks to the library, and will give this a try that way since audio has opened up so many good books to me which I couldn't get through otherwise.
   REACTION: even with an audiobook I only got through 20 chapters before feeling as if every adventure was a repeat of the one before. More or less. On the other hand, I did get through 20 chapters. I'm willing to admit this is a classic for good reason. Those reasons will just have to remain hidden from me as I'm giving up and moving on.
   
2. The House of Seven Gables
   I love his short stories and enjoyed The Scarlet Letter. Let's see what this lesser known novel is like.
   READ IT: loved this book which is so different from The Scarlet Letter. It almost is like a shorter Dickens novel with the oddball characters and descriptive passages.
3. North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell
   I was intrigued because Rose enjoyed this book and Heather Ordover did it last year at CraftLit. However, I wasn't crazy about the narrator and having seen that Juliet Stevenson has a reading at Audible (voice of Jane Austen, audiobook narrator extraordinaire) I thought I'd mosey along at my own pace.
   
4. Philip K. Dick
   I'm not sure which book I'll choose but I enjoyed The Galactic Pot-Healer so much when I read it a few years ago that I thought I'd try another.
   
5. Poetry
   I'm not sure why I've suddenly gotten interested in poetry but I am going to find a basic classic poetry anthology and read a poem aloud every day. We'll see how that works out.
   
   (Just to clarify I have never cared about poetry and so have ignored it most of my life. I know about the fog on little cat feet and the road less taken, as well as the man who wasn't there ... but that's about the extent of it. Any recommendations to read T.S. Eliot are going to have to wait until I can tell Tennyson from Wordsworth.)
   
   READ IT: 101 Classic Poems edited by Roy Cook - love this book and my poem a day. In fact, I love it so much I'm rereading it, a poem per day.

NONFICTION

1. Art - A New History by Paul Johnson
   I've been taking my time and enjoying this greatly but really would like to finish this book. 2015 is the year! It will happen!
   REACTION: It took me three years but I finished it! What a wonderful book! It is one I could easily see myself leisurely rereading. The intertwining of history outside of the art world made it really come alive and it has come to mind in a variety of contexts since I began reading it. It really enriched my worldview.
2. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
   It is interesting just how often I am helped in everyday life by The Hobbit, believe it or not. I want to know Tolkien's thoughts in his own words now instead of just reading his fiction.
   REACTION: I really enjoyed the personal letters. Unfortunately there weren't nearly as many of those as I'd have liked. Most of the letters had to do with answering questions about The Lord of the Rings. At the time this book came out that was probably a good choice. People hadn't minded Tolkien's letters for information and no books were available which summed up a lot of that info for us. However, now there is a lot of that information out there and so I eventually wound up skipping over those letters. I'll probably never reread this (as opposed to my feelings about The Habit of Being) but I'm glad to have read them once.
3. Churchill: The Power of Words
   Tom read this and really liked it, except for a few speeches here and there. I'd like to read it but if I don't put it on this list it will never happen.
   ABANDONED: NOT because of the book but because I picked up the audio version of Boris Johnson's The Churchill Factor. That covered Churchill's life and used enough of his speeches that I have had enough Churchill for now. It was a really entertaining way to learn more about that great man. Perhaps some other time for this one.
4. Through a Night of Horrors: Voices from the 1900 Galveston Storm
   Another one that Tom read which I'd like to read. Tom's grandmother survived the great storm when she was 6 and so he's got a natural interest in the event. Flipping through it I was caught up in the immediacy of the voices as the story unfolded via letters, diary entries, and interviews.
5. The King's Good Servant But God's First: The Life and Writings of St. Thomas More by James Monti
   I've been wanting to read about St. Thomas More's life and his writings. This looks tailor-made!

REREAD

For no other reason than I enjoyed them the first time round but want to see if they stand up to rereading.

1. The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman
   REACTION: I loved this book just as much as the first time I read it. I couldn't put it down and read it obsessively until I finished it in a few days. Highly recommended.
2. The Soul of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman—decided I didn't want to reread this after all. One Ruhlman this year was enough.
3. Cruel Beauty

MOVIES

I see that I didn't challenge myself last year. The results - without a list I didn't challenge myself much. So let's queue that baby up again.

1. Sophie Scholl - The Final Days
2. Laura
   REACTION We loved this classic noir film, especially the hard boiled detective investigating the murder.
   

   Mark McPherson: When a dame gets killed, she doesn't worry about how she looks.
   Waldo Lydecker: Will you stop calling her a dame?

3. Deliver Us From Evil
4. Tsotsi
5. City of God
6. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
7. Rashomon
8. Cloud Atlas

Book Bingo 5: A Book That is More Than 10 Years Old

Rumpole on Trial by John Mortimer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The bingo challenge gave me another that is familiar ground.

However, I let the decision wait for a few day. Then rearranging and cleaning out books I came across my collection of Rumpole books. I hadn't picked them up for some time, being familiar with the solutions to most of the mysteries.

When dipping into them I remembered the other reason for reading these delightful short stories. John Mortimer's style and Rumpole's personality are so engaging that it really doesn't matter if one knows the solution. These stories transport you to a different time with a rumpled knight in shining armor who just wants to get on with doing the one thing he may be able to control ... his job in getting various villains (and sometimes an innocent person) off of their legal charges.

What a joy it was to pick up this book at bedtime and dip into it before dropping off to sleep.

Book Bingo 4 - A Book With Mystery

Now this is an easy one. I'd finished an audio book and was wanting to get back to my favorite back-up audio, something featuring Sherlock Holmes read by Derek Jacobi.

In this case, the audiobook I turned to is the last collection of Holmes short stories: The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes.

Nothing could be more splendid than the way Jacobi characterizes Holmes, lightly and with a touch of playfulness ... almost like a seriously minded Bertie Wooster. It lightens up the Holmes-Watson relationship quite a bit and makes these a sheer delight. I'm on the third or fourth story and they do seem to be more of a mixed bag than the usual lot, but Jacobi's narration makes me simply enjoy the ride no matter where it takes us.

Book Bingo Challenge 3: Read a Book Published This Year

Well, well, well, Book Bingo Challenge. We meet again.

And this time you will not make me look to the Heavens, howling, "Noooooooo!"

Because I just began a book that's not even coming out until next month. Yeah, you heard me. Next month.

Is that "This Year" enough for ya?

Book Bingo Challenge, meet Jesus: A Pilgrimage by James Martin S.J.

Which I'm enjoying very much, by the way. Very much indeed.

Book Bingo Challenge 2: Read a Best Seller

WHAT?

NOOOOOOO!

Maybe the real challenge is for me not to react that way every time a square pushes me out of my comfort zone. Which is two for two now, I'll just add.

If there is something I loathe it is a Bestseller List. I so rarely see anything on there that I'm interested in. Although I see that, had I begun this challenge a mere month earlier, I'd have been able to sweep up two entries ... The Rosie Project and The Martian. The Rosie Project was force on me by mother (who did know best) and The Martian was being mentioned everywhere I turned at the time my most recent Audible credit popped up, so I listened.

I was tempted to cheat. Hey, Great Expectations is a best seller, right? One for the ages. But that's cheating. I knew what they meant. After three times through the New York Times Bestseller List (fiction, nonfiction, hardcover), finding a few candidates ... I ran into another problem.

I am unwilling to spend hard cash on this challenge. The library has ridiculous numbers of people ahead of me for the few books I was interested in reading [such as David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell (94)].

Finally, I saw something that had escaped me ... a picture book! And one with only 2 people ahead of me in the hold line.

Humans of New York it is!

Plus there's a blog which I can begin reading now. Because like The Rosie Project and The Martian, this looks like a bestseller I can enjoy.

Book Bingo Challenge 1: Read a Book Based on a True Story

As I mentioned in my Reading Bingo post, I am amused by the idea of using a random factor to push me out of well-worn reading habits.

I'm going to go for blacking out the entire Book Bingo board (now hanging on my fridge).

The first opportunity arose this weekend when I finished my fiction and was looking around desultorily for something else. And then I remembered. Book Bingo to the rescue!

1. A Book Based on a True Story —

What? No! I hate that sort of book!

The random factor is not so beautiful when it is pushing me out of my comfort zone, is it? Dash it all!

I looked through my "to read" list and actually found a candidate: Rabble In Arms by Kenneth Roberts. It is historical fiction about the Revolutionary War and although I love Roberts' books I haven't read this one.

Rabble in Arms was hailed by one critic as the greatest historical novel written about America upon its publication in 1933. Love, treachery, ambition, and idealism motivate an unforgettable cast of characters in a magnificent novel renowned not only for the beauty and horror of its story but also for its historical accuracy.

Roberts is second only to Samuel Shellabarger in my opinion. Both pack so much accurate history into their books it is surprising. And both tell compelling stories so that the history slips down like "a spoonful of sugar." Shellabarger's fictional style is more graceful than Roberts and Roberts stuck strictly to American history while Shellabarger roamed Europe (and Mexico in one book).

I also realized that Charles Dickens wrote one book of historical fiction, Barnaby Rudge, about the Gordon Riots (whatever they were).  Love Dickens and am very slowly working through his novels. I have an as yet unchosen Dickens novel on my 2014 challenge list also.

In the end, though, I'm going with Rabble In Arms. It's been far too long since I read any Kenneth Roberts. Luckily the library has 3 copies so one should be here soon.

 — Rabble In Arms

2. A Best Seller —

WHAT?

NOOOOOOO!

Maybe the real challenge is for me not to react that way every time a square pushes me out of my comfort zone. Which is two for two now, I'll just add.

If there is something I loathe it is a Bestseller List. I so rarely see anything on there that I'm interested in. Although I see that, had I begun this challenge a mere month earlier, I'd have been able to sweep up two entries ... The Rosie Project and The Martian. The Rosie Project was force on me by mother (who did know best) and The Martian was being mentioned everywhere I turned at the time my most recent Audible credit popped up, so I listened.

I was tempted to cheat. Hey, Great Expectations is a best seller, right? One for the ages. But that's cheating. I knew what they meant. After three times through the New York Times Bestseller List (fiction, nonfiction, hardcover), finding a few candidates ... I ran into another problem.

I am unwilling to spend hard cash on this challenge. The library has ridiculous numbers of people ahead of me for the few books I was interested in reading [such as David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell (94)].

Finally, I saw something that had escaped me ... a picture book! And one with only 2 people ahead of me in the hold line.

Plus there's a blog which I can begin reading now. Because like The Rosie Project and The Martian, this looks like a bestseller I can enjoy.

— Humans of New York it is!

3. A Published This Year —

Well, well, well, Book Bingo Challenge. We meet again.

And this time you will not make me look to the Heavens, howling, "Noooooooo!"

Because I just began a book that's not even coming out until next month. Yeah, you heard me. Next month.

Is that "This Year" enough for ya?

Book Bingo Challenge, meet Jesus: A Pilgrimage by James Martin S.J.

Which I'm enjoying very much, by the way. Very much indeed.

4. A Book With a Mystery —

Now this is an easy one. I'd finished an audio book and was wanting to get back to my favorite back-up audio, something featuring Sherlock Holmes read by Derek Jacobi.

In this case, the audiobook I turned to is the last collection of Holmes short stories: The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes.

Nothing could be more splendid than the way Jacobi characterizes Holmes, lightly and with a touch of playfulness ... almost like a seriously minded Bertie Wooster. It lightens up the Holmes-Watson relationship quite a bit and makes these a sheer delight. I'm on the third or fourth story and they do seem to be more of a mixed bag than the usual lot, but Jacobi's narration makes me simply enjoy the ride no matter where it takes us.

5. A Book That Is More Than 10 Years Old —

Rumpole on Trial by John Mortimer


The bingo challenge gave me another that is familiar ground.

However, I let the decision wait for a few day. Then rearranging and cleaning out books I came across my collection of Rumpole books. I hadn't picked them up for some time, being familiar with the solutions to most of the mysteries.

When dipping into them I remembered the other reason for reading these delightful short stories. John Mortimer's style and Rumpole's personality are so engaging that it really doesn't matter if one knows the solution. These stories transport you to a different time with a rumpled knight in shining armor who just wants to get on with doing the one thing he may be able to control ... his job in getting various villains (and sometimes an innocent person) off of their legal charges.

What a joy it was to pick up this book at bedtime and dip into it before dropping off to sleep.

My 2014 Book Challenge List

My 2013 book challenge was so rewarding, making me pick up books I would just keep skipping over in favor of lighter reading. I'm doing it again for the third year in a row.

Some books are carried over from last year and some I dropped because ... well, I'm not married to these lists. If am inspired at all to reach higher than before, that's good enough for me.

As before, I may not get through all of them in a year, but I will be trying always read one of them despite other distractions. In no particular order.

Fiction

1. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
   This was on my 2013 list and having begun it about a week ago, I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Unabridged. Of course.
   
   Result: oh the agony! I loved the first bit about the bishop. Then I was gratified to see that the general plot had been well represented in the musical. However, the constant meandering here and there drove me crazy. I'm not usually a "don't bore us, get to the chorus" reader but Hugo beat me. Quitting this book.
2. Rabble in Arms - Kenneth Roberts
   My second favorite historical fiction author. This is a big 'un I overlooked somehow about the Revolutionary War.
   
   UPDATE: This book wound up overlapping with my Book Bingo Challenge as A Book Based on a True Story. It kind of saved me because I really hate books based on real stories usually. But it don't get much realer than the Revolutionary War. Especially the way Kenneth Roberts tells his stories.
3. The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra —
   One of Rose's favorites which she's been pushing on me for a long time. Also, Scott from Good Story said he was interested in reading it this year. They were too much for my weak will.
   
   UPDATE: This will be one of Scott's choices for A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast for 2015 - so I don't need to keep it on a challenge list.
4. Charles Dickens novel
   Not sure which one yet. I'm wavering between Our Mutual Friend and Nicholas Nickleby.
   
   Result:  Ok, this was decided when a kind friend gave me Simon Prebble's reading of Great Expectations. Not the book I'd have chosen, but it is Dickens and that's good enough for me.
   
   I struggled my way through Great Expectations (chronicled here). Later I picked up The Pickwick Papers with the idea of something light, Dickens-wise. I raced through it in about a week, really enjoying it (as chronicled here). I'm now very slowly enjoying the novel from the other end of Dickens' timeline, Our Mutual Friend.
5. Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength - C. S. Lewis
   I've had this pushed at me by everyone and his brother. Never been able to get past the first few chapters of Silent Planet but recently I tried the audio. That did the trick so I have begun. I'll give myself a year. That should be long enough.
   
   Out of the Silent Planet: Thanks goodness for the audio version or I'd never have made it. As it was I went in and out of being interested in the story, primarily because I was much more interested in the world development and exploration than in Ransom's dealings with his fellow Earthmen. Lewis was fantastically inventive about what the planet and living beings were like. I didn't know he had it in him! The scientist's final letter to the author really caught my attention. In particular, his comments about death among the Hrossa were mind-blowing in their implications about our own life here on fallen Earth. I also really liked the use for "bent" instead of "evil," showing just how we are turned from what we were meant to be. However, this does seem very obviously aimed at those who have Christian interests or mindsets, just as The Screwtape Letters was. I wonder if non-Christians enjoy this book.
   
   Perelandra: Just as with Out of the Silent Planet, I found the beginning of the book fairly uninviting. However, also just as in that book, having the audio helped me past that to the point. This book is so different from Out of the Silent Planet and yet we see C.S. Lewis's vivid and inspiring imagination just as clearly. I am simply blown away by his vision of creation on Venus. For me at one point, close to the end, I kept thinking that these are almost glimpses of the sort of creativity and inspiration that we will see in Heaven. Amazing insights as to battling evil, the dance of God's creation and plan, and our part in it. I find Lewis's style rather heavy-handed. What I'd change I'm not sure. I think it is simply that these books would go on the theology shelf in my library while something like The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings would go in more general reading. It is not Lewis's fault, and in fact I now want print copies of these books for rereading, but I prefer the purer fiction style to this one.
   
   That Hideous Strength: As with the other two books in C.S. Lewis's "space trilogy" I found this one difficult to get into and, yet, once I got past the indefinable point where it was no longer a struggle, I couldn't read it fast enough. Consequently this was a 24-hour book for me. It is a testament to Lewis's imagination and writing skill as to how different all three of the books are in this trilogy, while simultaneously all carrying out the same basic theme. No wonder J.R.R. Tolkien loved them.
   
   Speaking of Tolkien, I was stunned to see Numinor mentioned twice and Middle Earth once in this book. I never dreamed there was such a deliberate, direct connection between this book and the Lord of the Rings, which was not yet published in its entirety when this book came out as Lewis says in the introduction. One can see the way these books and LOTR go hand in hand with similar themes, although expressed differently through the authors' different styles.
   
   This book itself was really terrific and left me striving to be a better person, to be truer to myself, as did the other two. Not many other books really leave one feeling that way.

Nonfiction

1. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien — this will move to the 2015 book challenge
   I chose Tolkien as my 2013 saint last year (admittedly not a recognized saint, but at the very least as an inspiring Catholic I wanted to help me on my heaven). It was an amazing year filled with lessons that have definitely helped me. I want to know Tolkien's thoughts in his own words now instead of just reading his fiction.
2. A Song for Nagasaki: The Story of Takashi Nagai: Scientist, Convert, and Survivor of the Atomic Bomb - Paul Glynn
   Takashi Nagai isn't recognized by the Church as a saint but in my eyes he's qualified. I find him extremely inspiring and am going to spend 2014 in his company, as I did last year with Tolkien. I've begun this and it is really fascinating.
   
   Result: Superb and inspirational. My review is here.
3. Art: A New History - Paul Johnson — I'm about halfway through. This will move to my 2015 book challenge
   It's been on my coffee table for about a year. I've very slowly read some and loved it. This may help me read it more dedicatedly.
4. America: The Last Best Hope (Volume II): From a World at War to the Triumph of Freedom - William J. Bennett
   I really enjoyed the first volume last year. This is on my book stack and, as with Art, I hope this will get me to crack it open. That's all it will take, I have a feeling, to hook me.
   
   UPDATE: still sitting on my shelf. I'll get to it but not as a book challenge.
5. The Scarlet and the Black: The True Story of Monsignor Hugh O Flaherty, Hero of the Vatican Underground - J.P Gallagher
   This also was on last year's list. I am really enjoying Song For Nagasaki and hope I'll also enjoy this true story of faith under crisis just as much.
   
   Result - The story itself is fascinating. The writing is less impressive with everything strung together so fast that it can be hard to keep track of events. The book could have done with just a touch of breathing space.
   
   That said, this is still very worth reading. One realizes that although the Vatican's official neutrality had to be maintained (as did that of others highlighted in the book), there was a lot of frantic activity below the surface to save lives in Rome right under the Gestapo's nose.
6. Something that Takashi Nagai wrote. Since he wrote over 40 books I'd like to see what one of those was like. After reading A Song for Nagasaki, that is.
   
   Result: I read The Bells of Nagasaki which was really amazing. I'm glad that I read Glynn's book first and, yet, also very glad that I didn't let it rest there as Nagai's own words corrected a few things that Glynn had glossed over. My review is here.

My 2013 Personal Book Challenge

My 2012 book challenge was so rewarding, making me pick up books I would just keep skipping over in favor of lighter reading. I'm doing it again this year. Some books are carried over from last year and some I dropped because they just didn't look interesting to me right now. But you can see I have plenty of others to fill in the gaps.

As before, I may not get through all of them in a year, but I will be trying always read one of them despite other distractions. In no particular order.

Classics

1. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (required of self after seeing musical)
2. Middlemarch* - Eliot
3. Belly of Paris* (Emile Zola)
4. Wuthering Heights* - Charlotte Bronte (began this in 2012, finishing it in 2013)

Modern

1. Momento Mori - Muriel Spark
2. Last Call* - Tim Powers (not a true classic, I know ... but still a "challenging" read which is what all these are for me)
3. Galactic Pot Healer - Philip K. Dick (I wanted to try a novel instead of short stories and this was recommended as being one of the most complete stories told in a novel.)
4. Journal of the Gun Years - Richard Matheson (I'm so curious to see what sort of Western Matheson writes since he was such a science fiction award winner)

Religion

1. Introduction to the Devout Life* - St. Francis de Sales (began this in 2012, finishing it in 2013)
2. The Way of Perfection* - St. Teresa of Avila
3. A Song for Nagasaki - Glynn
4. The Scarlet and the Black - Gallagher

Rereading

1. The Sand Pebbles*
2. Nine Princes in Amber - Zelazny

Nonfiction

1. Tolkien's Letters
2. The Inklings - Humphrey Carpenter
3. H.V. Morton travel book
4. King Peggy

* Carried over from the 2012 Book Challenge.

Julie's 2012 Personal Reading Challenges [FINAL]

FINAL results on books I've read (or dropped) thus far. Originally written in December 2011.

One Sunday, when we'd gone to the Vigil Mass on Saturday to avoid getting embroiled in a local marathon that shuts down all the streets around our church (don't ask ... Tom has been enraged before to the point of risking arrest for civil disobedience).

Wait, what was I saying?

Oh. Right.

Anyway, we were sitting around until about 1 p.m. in our jammies talking about cabbages and kings and whether pigs have wings ... and about reading and classics. I realized that I have a handful of certifiable classics which I really want to read but that I keep acting as if the Reading Fairy is going to drop extra time and a book on my lap when I'll suddenly begin reading.

Bravely taking responsibility on myself, I made a list.

I love making lists. Don't you? And crossing things off them.

So here are my "must reads" ... I may not get through all of them in 2012, but I will be trying to always be reading one of them despite other distractions. In no particular order.


2012 Classics

1. The Brothers Karamazov - Dostoyevsky (begun on Jan. 1 - dropped in a few weeks. Looking for either an audio version or a different translation as I just couldn't connect with that one, though I read 150 pages. Began it again a month later. Dropped it again.) Turns out that our book club chose this for 2013 ... so I will be reading it but will take it off my "personal" reading list since it is no longer a self-imposed book.
2. Bleak House- Dickens ... loved it! (review here,  review/discussion at A Good Story is Hard to Find)
3. Middlemarch - Eliot
4. Belly of Paris (Emile Zola)
5. Last Call - Tim Powers (not a true classic, I know ... but still a "challenging" read which is what all these are for me)
6. A Movable Feast - Hemingway
7. The Four Quartets - T.S. Eliot
8. Wuthering Heights ... partway through and then had to take a break because I just hate Catherine and Heathcliff so very much. Will resume in 2013.

2012 Religion

1. Introduction to the Devout Life - St. Francis de Sales ... have begun this.
2. The Way of Perfection - St. Teresa of Avila
3. The Sabbath - Abraham Heschel (read this in the spring and, although Heschel's writing could be high concept at times, found it riveting. The idea of living in sacred time, of time being our temple on earth is fascinating and one that I find very helpful in prayer.)
4. Introduction to Christianity - Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI LOVED IT! Dense but accessible in tons of places. (excerpts and review at Goodreads)
5. Joan of Arc - Mark Twain

2012 Rereading

1. The Sand Pebbles
2. Fahrenheit 451 - Bradbury (read this for A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast and found it very thought provoking and more poetically written than I recalled.)
3. Fire and Hemlock - Diana Wynne Jones
4. Lark Rise - Flora Thompson

2012 Nonfiction

1. A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bryson (tried it a couple of times and realized that I didn't actually care about the short history of nearly everything. Not Bryson's fault. So it is off the list.)
2. Keeping House: The Litany of Everyday Life - Margaret Kim Peterson
3. On Pilgrimage - Jennifer Lash
4. Twain's Feast - Beahrs
5. Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature (A good although flawed look at how revisionist tactics and understanding literature do not mix. The flaws come more from the author's vehemence and also some surprising gaps in authors covered. I mean to say, can one really discuss American literature without even mentioning Steinbeck?)