Modern Library: 100 Best Novels

So I decided to take on a new personal challenge. Last year The Modern Library printed a list of the best 100 novels. I was looking through and realized how few I have read. So I have decided to start on this list and see how many of these books I can read. In the next ten years. Ha ha. No really I am going to start going through the list and reading all the books I have never read. If you are interested in the list check it out here.

2011 Audio Book Challenge March-July

Once again I am very behind in my posts. I have listened to quite a few audio books in the last few months.

7. Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte. After enjoying Jane Eyre so much I figured I would also give this book another chance. However I still didn't like Wuthering Heights. SO depressing. And why in the world is Mr. Heathcliff looked upon as a romantic figure? He is terrible!
8. The People of Sparks Jeanne DuPrau. I enjoyed the sequel to the City of the Ember very much. It was better than the first book. It had more action and interesting characters.
9. Divine Justice David Baldacchi. This was another Camel Club book. Oliver Stone is on the run after killing two important people. I like this book because he is put into this new setting with some really good new characters.
10. Inkspell Cornelia Funke. This was the sequel to Inkheart and I loved it!! The book was read by Brandan Fraser and he did a terrific job. He had an amazing voice for each character. The book was mesmerizing and I hated when it was over.

11. Hothouse Orchid Stuart Woods. I said I wouldn't read one of his books again because they are annoying. And I did. And I disliked it! This is my last Stuart Woods book I promise!

12. Avalon High Meg Cabot. Anyone who knows me knows I love young adult books. I love Meg Cabot Princess Diaries books so I decided to give Avalon High a listen. It was a pretty decent and enjoyable book. It was a modern day retelling of the King Arthur story.
13. The Spy Clive Cussler. This is from the Isaac Bell adventures. I enjoyed this as I do all Cussler's adventure/suspense stories. It got a little corny in some places but that is to be expected with his books!

14. The Collectors David Baldacchi. Another Camel Club book this one is before the last few I have read. It is the book that introduced Annabelle to the Camel Club. I already knew what happened so that made it a little less exciting than some of his other books but I still enjoyed it.
Since I passed my last challenge I will try for the last one of Obsessed which is 25 audiobooks. I am currently listening to two good audiobooks: one on my ipod and one in my car. I will do a new post when I finish those. Or in 2-3 months:-)

2011 Audio Book Challenge Jan-March

I have been doing well on this challenge for the year. I love a good audiobook on my long commute to school. It definitely makes the miles zip by! Since January I have listened to six audio books so I have already met my goal! I am going to try to get to Addicted now which is 12 audiobooks.

1. Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
I never really liked Jane Eyre when I was younger. It was a very depressing, sad book. But I really enjoyed it this time. The people who read it had good voices and made it interesting so that helped. I always thought that Mr. Rochester had deliberately burned down the house with his wife in it but that wasn't the case. I am glad I gave this book another chance!



2. Two Dollar Bill Stuart Woods
I decided to read this book because my dad told me the author was from the small town he grew up in. The book was a little hokey in places and typical of an adventure/suspense/mysery story.

3. Stone Cold David Baldacci
I love David Baldacci books and I enjoyed this Camel Club book. It was the first Camel Club I read even though it is in the middle of the series. I really liked this audiobook because it had some nice sound effects which I felt added to the drama. It was a great story and kept me in the car long after I would reach my destination!



4. The City of Ember Jeanne DuPrau.
I got this audio book to listen to on the way to Florida for spring break. My sister likes these types of books like I do so I figured it would be something we could both enjoy. We were a little disappointed and felt the book dragged too much. They seemed to stretch out parts too much and not make other parts longer that could have been more exciting. However I probably will still read or listen to the other three books in the series.


5. Inkheart Cornelia Funke
We also listened to this on our spring break trip and I loved it. I loved the concept of it and I loved the story. I always love a good story with people who are passionate about books!

6. Don't Blink James Patterson
This book started out so gross at the beginning that I almost turned it off. But it got better and the story intrigued me and pulled me in.

What's In A Name 4--Travel or Movement

I decided to read Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne for this category. I have never read the unabridged version so I was looking forward to this. One of my favorite books of all time is 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I remember sneaking in the closet in the middle of the night when I was little to read it after I was supposed to be in bed. I had read several abridged versions of Journey so I was excited to read the full edition on my Nook. This was a great book! It is very adventoruous and I love how crazy the uncle is and how the nephew & guide follow him to the center of the earth. One of my favorite parts is when they get caught up in the underground ocean and don't even know where they are. Verne wrote so vividly that at times I felt like I was really right there with them. This was a great read!

2011 E-Book Challenge

I finished my first e book of 2011. Well technically it was my 2nd but the other one I started in 2010 so it didn't count for the challenge. I am going to try to just do one post for all my ebooks so it might look funky as when I update the date doesn't change.

January 2, 2011

1.

I started reading The Hunger Games books after seeing so many tweets about how good they were. I was sucked in quickly. I started reading the first one on my new Nook Color Christmas Day. They were such a novel concept and I really enjoyed every moment reading them. They are definitely hard to put down. I started Mockingjay on New Year's Day and read it until I decided to be polite and watch a movie with my husband. I had to get up at 6 am to work this morning and I couldn't wait to get home and read. As soon as I got home I settled down with my Nook and plunged back into Katniss' world. This time I really couldn't put it down( although I did take a break when my sister came to visit me). I was happy with the ending although was very saddened on certain parts(no spoiler alerts:-) I was really sad when I realized it was the final book in the series because I hadn't known that. That is the drawback of a Nook book. There wasn't a big Final book notice on it like the real book. However I loved reading it on my Nook, which I love. For so long I fought the idea of an e reader because I love real books. But I have to admit the e reader is very handy and easy to read. I don't enjoy reading the left side of the page anyway! Anyway so my first e book of 2011 was a winner. Wonder what will be next?

March 30, 2011

Well I have been so busy with school and photography that I have been bad about writing in this blog. I have been reading though. A lot! I can't remember the exact dates of when I read these books but these are the ebooks I have read since Janaury until today. I will try to write my thoughts about these books some time! I just wanted to write them down before I forgot. Since I have already surpassed my goal of 12 books read I have decided to change my level to possessed and attempt to read 50 ebooks before the end of the year.

2. A Tangled Web by L.M. Montgomery

3. Kilmeny of the Orchard L.M. Montgomery

4. A Reliable Wife Robert Goolrick

5. Roses Leila Meacham

6. The Unlikely Disciple Kevin Roos

7. Wish Alexandra Bullen

8. The Prince and The Pauper by Mark Twain

9. Firefly Lane Kristin Hannah

10. State of the Onion Julie Hyzy

11. Hail to the Chef Julie Hyzy

12. This Lullaby Sarah Dessen

13. Eggsecutive Orders Julei Hyzy

14. The Sherlockian Graham Moore

15. Two-Way Street Lauren Barnholdt

16. The Truth About Forever Sarah Dessen

17. Gone With the Wind Margaret Mitchell

July 2, 2011

I really, really love my Nook!! Here are the books I have read since last I checked in
18. Keeping the Moon Sarah Dessen
19. Along for the Ride Sarah Dessen
20. Dreamland Sarah Dessen (Seeing a pattern here? I LOVE Sarah Dessen)
21. Switched Amanda Hocking
22.Torn Amanda Hocking
23. Kate the Making of a Princess Claudia Joseph (hey it was free:-)
24. Dead Reckoning Charlaine Harris
25. Ascend Amanda Hocking
26. Pandora Henry James
27. The Summer I Turned Pretty Jenny Han
28. It's Not Summer Without You Jenny Han
29. We'll Always Have Summer Jenny Han
30. 13 Blue Envelopes Maureen Johnson
31. When It Happens Susanne Colasanti
32. Wings Aprilynne Pike (Free Friday selection. Terrible!)

December 31, 2011

I am such a terrible blogger not updating in six months. Here is the last e-books I have read of the year. Did I make my goal?

33. The Unsuspecting Mage Brian S. Pratt

34. Fires of Prophecy Brian S. Pratt

35. Canary Island Song Robin Jones Gunn

36. Peach Keepers Sarah Addison Allen

37. The Book Thief Markus Zusak

38. Confessions of a Prairie Bitch Allison Arngrim

39. Something Like Fate Susanne Colasanti

In between here I went over a month reading no Nook books thanks to school.

40. Drinking With Strangers Butch Walker

41. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Steig Larsson

42. Pegasus Robin McKinley

43. Buffalo West Wing Julie Hyzy

44. The Bullpen Gospels Dirk Hayhurst

45. On Mystic Lake Kristin Hannah

46.Christmas Wedding James Patterson

47. Hunger Games Suzanne Collins (Second reading was even better!!!)

48. Catching Fire Suzanne Collins

49. Mockingjay Suzanne Collins (the book I started out the year with! How fitting!)

50. Explosive Eighteen Janet Evanovich

51. Then Came You Jennifer Weiner

I made my goal!!! So happy and looking forward to 2012 challenges!

2011 Challenges

I had so much fun participating in the Thankfully Reading challenge that I decided to attempt some year long challenges in 2011. I found a lot I wanted to participate in but had to narrow it down to three since I will be very busy with school and photography this year. These are the challenges I decided on. Special thanks to Jenn of Jenn's Bookshelves for her post that inspired me!



I am really excited for this challenge hosted by Beth Fish Reads. It sounds like so much fun. I have to read books in the following categories:

1. A book with a number in the title
2. A book with jewelry or a gem in the title
3. A book with a size in the title
4. A book with travel or movement in the title
5. A book with evil in the title
6. A book with a life stage in the title

I already have a few books in mind such as Evil Under The Sun by Agatha Christie and Journey To the Center of the Earth(which *gasp* I have never read).

I am going to do this one because I have been listening to a lot of audio books with my long commute to school and once the summer come around again to my work commute. I have signed up for the Fascinated level which means I have to listen to 6 books. Should be easy enough!




Of course I have to do this challenge since I received my beautiful Nook for Christmas. I am going for the Addicted level which means I will have to read 12 e books. I would go for 20 but I am afraid that would negatively affect my pocketbook and studying time!
So I have decided to do these three challenges. I may add another if I find something else that strikes my fancy. Looking forward to a great 2011!

Thankfully Reading Saturday & Sunday Plus Wrap Up

First I want say thanks to Jenn's Bookshelves, Beth Fish Reads and Devourer of Books for hosting this weekend. It was a wonderful idea and definitely inspired me to read more! Let me share my readings for the rest of the weekend and then do a quick wrap up.

Saturday, November 28th

I finished Sisterchicks Go Brit right after breakfast. I ended up really enjoying the book. They visited a lot of sites in London that I remember visiting on my trip 10 years ago(Oh my God was that TEN years ago!!??). It brought back a lot of wonderful memories. After I finished that book I decided I had to start re reading the Betsy-Tacy high school books again. I went on a hunt for Betsy Was a Junior so I would have that before I started reading Heaven to Betsy. Shockingly I found it in the second stack of books I looked through. Miracle! So my fourth book was Heaven to Betsy by Maud Hart Lovelace.
As I have said many times in this blog I love the Betsy-Tacy books. I love how these books are based in the early 1900's but they feel so fresh and I can relate to them easily. Betsy is a freshmen in high school in this book and I love reading about the changes she goes through with moving to a new house, making new friends while still retaining her old friends, falling in & out of love and making decisions about pulling away from her parents religion. Sound familiar? Probably so because I am sure most people go through these feelings. I love this book and even though I have read it over ten times I still thrill at every word(yes I am a dork!). I read almost the whole book but left two chapter to finish on Sunday.

Sunday, November 28th
I knew Sunday would be my lowest read day because I had to work that morning. After freezing to death for 6 hours I finally got home around one, fixed myself a Thanksgiving left over plate and settled down to finish Heaven to Betsy. It ended like it always does and I moved on to the next book. I decided to wait to pick up on the next Betsy-Tacy books until Christmas break. I went to my TBR pile and chose Heaven's Wager by Ted Dekker.

Heaven's Wager is in the Martyr's Song series. I read the first book Martyr's Song and it was really good. This book is good but a little sad. It is about a man who has invented a new banking system and is about to become a multi-millionaire. He is on the top of the world and his life is going to change forever. Of course I knew this was too good to be true. You know in books when everyone is too happy that something bad is going to happen. It is interesting because his wife, son and mother-in-law keep getting glimpses into heaven. It will be interesting to see what happens in the book. I made it through about one hundred pages before I decided I needed to actually spend some time with my husband:-)

Wrap Up
So I only read four books and a little part of a fifth. That is not as many as I thought I would read. I deliberately didn't set a goal for myself. I felt like I wanted to relax and just read for enjoyment not to make some goal. All the books I read, except one, were books in my TBR pile. I have a bad habit of re-reading books instead of going to my TBR pile so that was good. I spent quite a few hours on my books. Probably too many in my husband's opinion! This was a great weekend and participating the Thankfully Reading Weekend was so fun!