75 Books...More or Less! discussion

I managed to read 75 books in the first six months of 2014, so I'm going to try to read another 75 (at least) by the end of December. See my first discussion page here and my first 75 in the list below, behind the tag:

(view spoiler)[2014 Reading List, 1-75:

1. Motherfucking Sharks by Brian Allen Carr
2. A Melon for Ecstasy by John Fortune and John Wells
3. The Finishing School by Muriel Spark
4. Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler
5. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by Horace McCoy
6. Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel by Truman Capote
7. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
8. Morphine by Mikhail Bulgakov
9. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
10. Mrs Dalloway's Party: A Short Story Sequence by Virginia Woolf

11. The Dead by James Joyce
12. The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark
13. To Room Nineteen: Collected Stories Volume One by Doris Lessing
14. The Sunlight Dialogues by John Gardner
15. Animorphs: The Andalite Chronicles by K. A. Applegate
16. For Today I Am a Boy by Kim Fu
17. Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote
18. Madison Cooper by Marion Travis
19. Asylum Piece and Other Stories by Anna Kavan
20. Stingray (Dalkey Archive Library of Korean Literature #1) by Kim Joo-young

21. The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf
22. Animorphs #1: The Invasion by K. A. Applegate
23. The Martian by Andy Weir
24. Animorphs #2: The Visitor by K. A. Applegate
25. A Most Ambiguous Sunday, and Other Stories (Dalkey Archive Library of Korean Literature #5) by Jung Young Moon
26. The Long Song of Monkey by Michael S.A. Graziano
27. Animorphs #3: The Encounter by K. A. Applegate
28. The Scent of Pine by Lara Vapnyar
29. No One Writes Back (Dalkey Archive Library of Korean Literature #10) by Jang Eun-jin
30. Silk by Alessandro Baricco

31. When Adam Opens His Eyes (Dalkey Archive Library of Korean Literature #3) by Jang Jung-il
32. Animorphs #4: The Message by K. A. Applegate
33. The Resurrection by John Gardner
34. At Least We Can Apologize (Dalkey Archive Library of Korean Literature #7) by Lee Ki-ho
35. Animorphs #5: The Predator by K. A. Applegate
36. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
37. Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf
38. Animorphs #6: The Capture by K. A. Applegate
39. Animorphs #7: The Stranger by K. A. Applegate
40. Without Blood by Alessandro Baricco

41. The Story of the Stone, Volume I: The Golden Days by Cao Xueqin
42. The Divine Farce by Michael S.A. Graziano
43. Animorphs: Megamorphs #1: The Andalite's Gift by K. A. Applegate
44. Animorphs #8: The Alien by K. A. Applegate
45. The Story of the Stone, Volume 2: The Crab-Flower Club by Cao Xueqin
46. Mathilda by Mary Shelley
47. Animorphs #9: The Secret by K. A. Applegate
48. Animorphs #10: The Android by K. A. Applegate
49. Animorphs #11: The Forgotten by K. A. Applegate

50. The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy
51. Tales of Belkin by Alexander Pushkin
52. On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
53. The Story of the Stone, Volume 3: The Warning Voice by Cao Xueqin
54. The Pigeon by Patrick Süskind
55. The Story of the Stone, Volume 4: The Debt of Tears by Cao Xueqin and Gao E
56. Eight Mortal Ladies Possessed: A Book of Stories by Tennessee Williams
57. The Story of the Stone, Volume 5: The Dreamer Wakes by Cao Xueqin and Gao E
58. The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty
59. Martha and Hanwell by Zadie Smith
60. Butterball by Guy de Maupassant

61. Animorphs #12: The Reaction by K. A. Applegate
62. Animorphs #13: The Change by K. A. Applegate
63. Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
64. The Knightly Quest: A Novella and Four Short Stories by Tennessee Williams
65. Maître Mussard’s Bequest by Patrick Süskind
66. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
67. The Blind Contessa's New Machine by Carey Wallace
68. Shakespeare's Dog by Leon Rooke
69. Three Stories and a Reflection by Patrick Süskind
70. The Punk by Gideon Sams

71. Mr. Summer's Story by Patrick Süskind
72. Old New York: Four Novellas by Edith Wharton
73. Gigi and The Cat by Colette
74. Animorphs #14: The Unknown by K. A. Applegate
75. Animorphs #15: The Escape by K. A. Applegate (hide spoiler)]

Tip: Short books. They help.

2014 Reading List, 75-80

76. Polynia by China Miéville
77. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
78. After Claude by Iris Owens
79. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
80. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

2014 Reading List, 81-90

81. Animorphs #16: The Warning by K. A. Applegate
82. Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler
83. Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
84. Animorphs #17: The Underground by K. A. Applegate
85. Q's Legacy by Helene Hanff

86. Animorphs #18: The Decision by K. A. Applegate
87. Xorandor by Christine Brooke-Rose
88. Animorphs: Megamorphs #2: In the Time of Dinosaurs by K. A. Applegate
89. We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
90. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff

Lol. Short books. Except for y'know, Gone With the Wind. Lol.

It's the only 1000-pager I've read this year, so far. I intend to get to a few others, but most of the books on this list are 250 pages or shorter.

Congrats!

I do the ABC for both Authors and Titles and never completed the list. So glad to see an X title.

Hillary wrote: "I do the ABC for both Authors and Titles and never completed the list. So glad to see an X title."

It's an interesting book, and a bit unusual: It's essentially a transcript of two (twin) siblings talking about their encounter with an alien, told entirely in unattributed dialogue, so your only clue as to who is talking when is the parts where they refer to each other by name. You get used to it fairly quickly, though, so it's nothing to worry about.

Jacob, if I can find a copy, I will read Xorander for the same reason as Hillary! But it does sound interesting.

91-100

91. Animorphs #19: The Departure by K. A. Applegate
92. Nightwood by Djuna Barnes
93. The Lady with the Red Shoes and Other Stories by Ita Daly
94. Animorphs #20: The Discovery by K. A. Applegate
95. Animorphs #21: The Threat by K. A. Applegate

96. Animorphs #22: The Solution by K. A. Applegate
97. Jubilee by Margaret Walker
98. Animorphs: The Hork-Bajir Chronicles by K. A. Applegate
99. Corregidora by Gayl Jones
100. Animorphs #23: The Pretender by K. A. Applegate

101-110

101. The Time: Night by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
102. Animorphs #24: The Suspicion by K. A. Applegate
103. Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman
104. Animorphs#25: The Extreme by K. A. Applegate
105. Seducers in Ecuador & The Heir by Vita Sackville-West

106. Animorphs #26: The Attack by K. A. Applegate
107. Academic Exercises by K. J. Parker
108. Dolores by Jacqueline Susanne
109. Animorphs #27: The Exposed by K. A. Applegate
110. Transformation by Mary Shelley

111-120

111. Animorphs #28: The Experiment by K. A. Applegate
112. The Wild Party by Joseph Moncure March
113. Animorphs #29: The Sickness by K. A. Applegate
114. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
115. The Nose by Nikolai Gogol

116. Animorphs: Megamorphs #3: Elfangor's Secret by K. A. Applegate
117. Animorphs #30: The Reunion by K. A. Applegate
118. The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth
119. Animorphs #31: The Conspiracy by K. A. Applegate
120. Alfred and Guinevere by James Schuyler

For those interested, I wrote a fourteen-stanza review of Vikram Seth's novel in verse The Golden Gate. It contains some swear words and vulgar jokes, but if that doesn't bother you, you can read it here.

121-130

121. Dawn (Xenogenesis #1) by Octavia E. Butler
122. Animorphs #32: The Separation by K. A. Applegate
123. Animorphs #33: The Illusion by K. A. Applegate
124. Animorphs #34: The Prophecy by K. A. Applegate
125. Animorphs #35: The Proposal by K. A. Applegate

126. Animorphs: Visser by K. A. Applegate
127. A Meaningful Life by L. J. Davis
128. Animorphs #36: The Mutation by K. A. Applegate
129. In the Garden of Iden (The Company #1) by Kage Baker
130. Animorphs #37: The Weakness by K. A. Applegate

131-140

131. How the Two Ivans Quarrelled by Nikolai Gogol
132. The Devil by Leo Tolstoy
133. The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth
134. Blood Kin by Ceridwen Dovey
135. Tell Me a Riddle by Tillie Olsen

136. Animorphs #38: The Arrival by K. A. Applegate
137. Sky Coyote (The Company #2) by Kage Baker
138. The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss
139. Animorphs #39: The Hidden by K. A. Applegate
140. Animorphs #40: The Other by K. A. Applegate

Jacob, wow! It sure looks like you will hit your double-the-75 goal this year.

I'd better savor it while I can--next year I'm going to read as many thousand-page books as I can, so I'll probably struggle to get my usual 75.

Jacob wrote: "I'd better savor it while I can--next year I'm going to read as many thousand-page books as I can, so I'll probably struggle to get my usual 75."

That's a very interesting goal, Jacob. I'll enjoy seeing what you read next year. I've read a few books that long, and enjoyed getting lost in the longer stories . . . I admit to trying and failing to get through War and Peace TWICE, though.

141-150

141. Animorphs: Megamorphs #4: Back to Before by K. A. Applegate
142. Goodbye, Columbus, and Five Short Stories by Philip Roth
143. Animorphs #41: The Familiar by K. A. Applegate
144. Villette by Charlotte Brontë
145. Animorphs #42: The Journey by K. A. Applegate

146. Mr. Gwyn and Three Times at Dawn by Alessandro Baricco
147. Animorphs #43: The Test by K. A. Applegate
148. Animorphs #44: The Unexpected by K. A. Applegate
149. Animorphs #45: The Revelation by K. A. Applegate
150. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

Finished! Double-75 goal completed! Mostly due to short books, though. Next year will be tougher.

Karol wrote: "That's a very interesting goal, Jacob. I'll enjoy seeing what you read next year. I've read a few books that long, and enjoyed getting lost in the longer stories . . . I admit to trying and failing to get through War and Peace TWICE, though."

I read War and Peace back in 2009, mostly because I was too stubborn to quit even after I realized I wasn't enjoying it. I've been meaning to give it another try, in a better translation, but there are too many other books I want to get to first. Maybe in a few more years, though. We'll see.

Jacob wrote: "Finished! Double-75 goal completed! Mostly due to short books, though. Next year will be tougher."

We bow down to your greatness! Congrats on making your double challenge. Wow!

Jacob wrote: "Finished! Double-75 goal completed! Mostly due to short books, though. Next year will be tougher."

Congrats on doubling, Jacob!

151-160

151. Animorphs #46: The Deception by K. A. Applegate
152. Animorphs #47: The Resistance by K. A. Applegate
153. Animorphs #48: The Return by K. A. Applegate
154. Animorphs #49: The Diversion by K. A. Applegate
155. Animorphs #50: The Ultimate by K. A. Applegate

156. The Poor Clare by Elizabeth Gaskell
157. Animorphs #51: The Absolute by K. A. Applegate
158. Animorphs #52: The Sacrifice by K. A. Applegate
159. Animorphs #53: The Answer by K. A. Applegate
160. Animorphs #54: The Beginning by K. A. Applegate

How many Animorphs books are there?

64 total: 54 in the main storyline, 8 "specials" (Titled "Megamorphs" and "Chronicles"), plus two choose-your-own-adventure-type "Alternamorphs." Meant to space them out more evenly over the year, but kept procrastinating and ended up trying to finish the last 15 this month alone. I have one more book to read before the year is over (The Ellimist Chronicles), and I'm skipping the Alternamorphs just because.

I'm finishing up a few more books, so my final total for the year will probably be 165, or 62 Animorphs books and 103 others. All in all, it's been a fairly productive year.

I would say productive is an understatement!

161-165

161. The Dialogue of the Dogs by Miguel de Cervantes
162. A Sleep and A Forgetting by William Dean Howells
163. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
164. Animorphs: The Ellimist Chronicles by K. A. Applegate
165. The Last Horror Novel in the History of the World by Brian Allen Carr

Okay, that felt good. On to 2015!

Great job, Jacob!

Amazing! What a year for you, Jacob!