(no subject)
An entire semester's-worth of reading, go!
43. *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix-J.K. Rowling : 870 pages
44. **My Name is Asher Lev-Chaim Potok : 350 pages
45. **Survival in Auschwitz/Se questo è un uomo-Primo Levi : 187 pages
46. **My Left Foot-Christie Brown : 184 pages
47. Good Bones and Simple Murders-Margaret Atwood : 164 pages
48. The Reader-Bernhard Schlink : 218 pages
49. **The Plague-Albert Camus : 308 pages
50. *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince-J.K. Rowling : 652 pages
-goal achieved! -
51. *Rebecca-Daphne DuMaurier : 380 pages
52. Never Let Me Go-Kazuo Ishiguro : 288 pages
= 18,346 pages
43. Harry Potter V: Harry, you are so whiny. This one is definitely not my favorite of the series.
44. My Name Is Asher Lev: Read for Beneteau's class, for which I read more than I did for any of the classes for my actual major. Asher Lev was interesting, to be sure, and I enjoy reading about the interplay of religion/religious communities and, y'know, actual life; I just didn't get sucked into it. It was a good discussion aid, though, which I guess means it served its purpose for our class. Also my choice was this or Humboldt's Gift, and after reading about a hundred pages of the latter, I was very glad to be able to switch. Saul Bellow, that was so not worth my time.
45. Survival in Auschwitz/Se questo è un uomo: Also for Beneteau, with the Italian title included because I read about half of it in the original Italian, and then had to switch because I really needed to finish it for class. Somehow, it was much more immediate in Italian, perhaps because it doesn't have the additional care and distance of a translation. It was terrible to read in any language, though, being Holocaust literature. And then there's the almost obscene feeling that you get reading it, when you're thinking "how can I even sit and think about this, how can I even begin to understand." So...it's not exactly enjoyable, but it is recommended reading.
46. My Left Foot: Guess what class this was for! It's about Christy Brown, who had severe cerebral palsy, and the ridiculous obstacles he had to overcome to even be able to speak. Seriously, though, for all the seriousness of the subject and undertaking, this book was slow. And then the movie (with Daniel Day-Lewis!) had nothing to do with the autobiography at all.
47. Good Bones and Simple Murders: A bunch of short works by Margaret Atwood. As usual with her, some of it was brilliant and some of it was just good. Love her.
48.The Reader: Borrowed from Mary over the summer, it sat on my shelf at school all semester and I didn't end up reading it until I got home for break. Typical. But this book was crazy. I really enjoyed it, though sometimes the philosophical musings interspersed with the story got to be a little much. And then the ending was unexpected and not what I wanted, so it was tough. I want to see the film now, though, because having read it I really like the casting.
49. The Plague: Read, very belatedly, for Beneteau's class. I really love existentialism, and the story here actually managed to be interesting. The whole middle just dragged so much that it took me forever to finish it. I guess I'll try The Stranger soon, it's much shorter.
50. Harry Potter and His Latest Movie: I think this is my favorite of them all. I used to really hate how different the plot was from the previous models, but I really appreciate the whole sense of growing darkness and seriousness.
51. Rebecca: I love this book. I love it. I hadn't read it since the summer before freshman year, and I remembered liking it a lot, but I am so glad I re-read it. The atmosphere is just so perfect. It can be a little maudlin at times, but oh my goodness, I don't even care. I have nothing intelligent to say about it because I enjoyed it so much. And then I moved on to Jane Eyre and seriously, I do not get the hype.
52. Never Let Me Go: So I put Jane Eyre away for the moment and raided my brother's required reading pile. Seriously, the kid's in high school and he has a better reading list than I do. Never Let Me Go was an interesting reading experience because I went into it expecting something totally different from what I ended up with. It's sort of a mystery, and you realize that there's something going on that you're not quite getting. It was one of those books where the process (i.e. the reading) was definitely much more satisfying than the achievement (i.e. finishing it). So it was perfect for my lazy, reclusive winter break.
43. *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix-J.K. Rowling : 870 pages
44. **My Name is Asher Lev-Chaim Potok : 350 pages
45. **Survival in Auschwitz/Se questo è un uomo-Primo Levi : 187 pages
46. **My Left Foot-Christie Brown : 184 pages
47. Good Bones and Simple Murders-Margaret Atwood : 164 pages
48. The Reader-Bernhard Schlink : 218 pages
49. **The Plague-Albert Camus : 308 pages
50. *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince-J.K. Rowling : 652 pages
-goal achieved! -
51. *Rebecca-Daphne DuMaurier : 380 pages
52. Never Let Me Go-Kazuo Ishiguro : 288 pages
= 18,346 pages
43. Harry Potter V: Harry, you are so whiny. This one is definitely not my favorite of the series.
44. My Name Is Asher Lev: Read for Beneteau's class, for which I read more than I did for any of the classes for my actual major. Asher Lev was interesting, to be sure, and I enjoy reading about the interplay of religion/religious communities and, y'know, actual life; I just didn't get sucked into it. It was a good discussion aid, though, which I guess means it served its purpose for our class. Also my choice was this or Humboldt's Gift, and after reading about a hundred pages of the latter, I was very glad to be able to switch. Saul Bellow, that was so not worth my time.
45. Survival in Auschwitz/Se questo è un uomo: Also for Beneteau, with the Italian title included because I read about half of it in the original Italian, and then had to switch because I really needed to finish it for class. Somehow, it was much more immediate in Italian, perhaps because it doesn't have the additional care and distance of a translation. It was terrible to read in any language, though, being Holocaust literature. And then there's the almost obscene feeling that you get reading it, when you're thinking "how can I even sit and think about this, how can I even begin to understand." So...it's not exactly enjoyable, but it is recommended reading.
46. My Left Foot: Guess what class this was for! It's about Christy Brown, who had severe cerebral palsy, and the ridiculous obstacles he had to overcome to even be able to speak. Seriously, though, for all the seriousness of the subject and undertaking, this book was slow. And then the movie (with Daniel Day-Lewis!) had nothing to do with the autobiography at all.
47. Good Bones and Simple Murders: A bunch of short works by Margaret Atwood. As usual with her, some of it was brilliant and some of it was just good. Love her.
48.The Reader: Borrowed from Mary over the summer, it sat on my shelf at school all semester and I didn't end up reading it until I got home for break. Typical. But this book was crazy. I really enjoyed it, though sometimes the philosophical musings interspersed with the story got to be a little much. And then the ending was unexpected and not what I wanted, so it was tough. I want to see the film now, though, because having read it I really like the casting.
49. The Plague: Read, very belatedly, for Beneteau's class. I really love existentialism, and the story here actually managed to be interesting. The whole middle just dragged so much that it took me forever to finish it. I guess I'll try The Stranger soon, it's much shorter.
50. Harry Potter and His Latest Movie: I think this is my favorite of them all. I used to really hate how different the plot was from the previous models, but I really appreciate the whole sense of growing darkness and seriousness.
51. Rebecca: I love this book. I love it. I hadn't read it since the summer before freshman year, and I remembered liking it a lot, but I am so glad I re-read it. The atmosphere is just so perfect. It can be a little maudlin at times, but oh my goodness, I don't even care. I have nothing intelligent to say about it because I enjoyed it so much. And then I moved on to Jane Eyre and seriously, I do not get the hype.
52. Never Let Me Go: So I put Jane Eyre away for the moment and raided my brother's required reading pile. Seriously, the kid's in high school and he has a better reading list than I do. Never Let Me Go was an interesting reading experience because I went into it expecting something totally different from what I ended up with. It's sort of a mystery, and you realize that there's something going on that you're not quite getting. It was one of those books where the process (i.e. the reading) was definitely much more satisfying than the achievement (i.e. finishing it). So it was perfect for my lazy, reclusive winter break.