30 of 52
A book set in high school*: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark. First published by Macmillan in 1961. Audio performed by Miriam Margolyes.
I was a bit apprehensive about this category. I can't even watch Daria any more, because I either identify with the annoyances too much or am disdainful of everything else that goes on. Good news was that none of the young women was as insipid as I had feared. Bad news was that Miss Jean Brodie was. I thought the book well written, but I didn't like the story or any of the characters. I only kept reading because I liked the narration.
*I realize that "high school" doesn't exist in the UK in the same way it does in America, but the students are at the same school for the duration of the novel, and much of it takes place when they're 14-18 years old, so that's close enough for me.
Onward and upward: I've started Tamora Pierce's Terrier, the first in her three-book Beka Cooper series. I'm halfway through Wendy C. Fries's The Day They Met, which is fifty different ways Sherlock Holmes and John Watson might have encountered each other.
EDIT: Just to see which books fit which categories -- and in case I want to switch things around -- I've done another spreadsheet to keep track. Every book I've read fits at least four categories, and one of them fits twelve out of fifty-two. But even after thirty books, there are three categories that have no books: a book published this year, a book published the year I was born, and a book written by an author with my initials.
I like this spreadsheet especially because it helps me keep track of one extra caveat I've imposed upon myself: I want at least half of the books to have female authors. I may not reach that goal, but if I keep it in mind as I go along, then line 9 should have quite a few X marks in it by the end of the year. (Thirteen out of thirty so far.)
Why yes, I am a huge nerd. Why do you ask?
I was a bit apprehensive about this category. I can't even watch Daria any more, because I either identify with the annoyances too much or am disdainful of everything else that goes on. Good news was that none of the young women was as insipid as I had feared. Bad news was that Miss Jean Brodie was. I thought the book well written, but I didn't like the story or any of the characters. I only kept reading because I liked the narration.
*I realize that "high school" doesn't exist in the UK in the same way it does in America, but the students are at the same school for the duration of the novel, and much of it takes place when they're 14-18 years old, so that's close enough for me.
Onward and upward: I've started Tamora Pierce's Terrier, the first in her three-book Beka Cooper series. I'm halfway through Wendy C. Fries's The Day They Met, which is fifty different ways Sherlock Holmes and John Watson might have encountered each other.
EDIT: Just to see which books fit which categories -- and in case I want to switch things around -- I've done another spreadsheet to keep track. Every book I've read fits at least four categories, and one of them fits twelve out of fifty-two. But even after thirty books, there are three categories that have no books: a book published this year, a book published the year I was born, and a book written by an author with my initials.
I like this spreadsheet especially because it helps me keep track of one extra caveat I've imposed upon myself: I want at least half of the books to have female authors. I may not reach that goal, but if I keep it in mind as I go along, then line 9 should have quite a few X marks in it by the end of the year. (Thirteen out of thirty so far.)
Why yes, I am a huge nerd. Why do you ask?