Challenge: 50 Books discussion

This will be a real challenge for me as a new mom, but I'm giving it a go to prevent mommy-brain from becoming permanent. I plan to mix'n match genres. There'll probably be a fair amount of light reading mixed in with some non-fiction and hopefully more than a few books with some actual literary merit. Wish me luck!

Good luck, Betsy!

I did start this book last year, but I'm going to finish it this week. Really interesting. Contains a history of the LDS Church as well as an account of the events leading up to the "revelations" that led to the murders.

Betsy,

I can certainly relate to the new mom thing...been there done that years ago. It's a busy time and I applaud your effort to find time to relax and read.

At the end of last year I read "The 19th Wife" by David Ebersoff, actually I did it in my car on the way to work in audiobook form.

I read Krakauer's book a while back and found it interesting. Ebersoff weaves a current day story about a boy who was excommunicated from a separate LDS sect with a historical story about well-known LDS historical characters in an engaging story.

Enjoy your reading and new baby and check out "The 19th Wife" if you would like to read another good book with the same subject matter.

Thanks for the recommendation!

Years ago, when I was a non-Mormon teenager living in a predominately Mormon town in Utah, I read the The Twenty-seventh Wife. It too goes into the history of the LDS church in the story about one of Bringham Young's wives. I read Under the Banner of Heaven a couple of years ago and it was interesting to see how some people can get sidetracked from the mainstream. I am adding The 19th Wife: A Novel to my TBR list.

I just clicked on The 19th Wife: A Noveland saw in the book notes that it has the story about Ann Eliza Young who is the wife that Irving Wallacewas writing about in his book. Wallace wrote his book in 1961. Now I am really wanting to read the newer book to see what the authorDavid Ebershoff has uncovered in his research for his book.

Finished with Under the Banner of Heaven. Great read if you're interested in learning about LDS and FLDS history. Very troubling, but fascinating nonetheless.

Next up is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon .

Just finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. Very good, and a very quick read if you're looking to catch up to the book-a-week pace after something a little more intense.

I'd also recommend this for readers who are commuting or traveling. Not too hard to "get back in" after being interrupted.

Also finished Witch's Brew: Good Spells for Peace of Mind. A lovely little book.

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time is up next!

Loved Three Cups of Tea! I've borrowed the sequel from my mom, and its on my to-read list.

I finished Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. I can absolutely see why she won the Pulitzer for it. The character descriptions are beyond amazing.

This collection of short stories has me looking forward to reading all of her other books.

I'm currently reading Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. Always fun to read - or listen to on This American Life. He's definitely a fave. Couldn't be more different that Lahiri, though.

Just finished Me Talk Pretty One Day, and now I'm about halfway through Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade - and How We Can Fight It. Really amazing. It was being considered for the Summer Reading program at my alma mater, and now I'm extremely disappointed that it wasn't selected.

I'd definitely recommend it for HS students or first year college students. It's organized in such a way that I think it holds your attention. Each chapter has several narratives running through it. One will be an account of a former slave who was released, and another will be of an aid worker or founder of an aid organization who is working in the abolitionist or aftercare movement.

Some might find it difficult to read because of the back-and-forth organization of the narrative, but I think the short attention spans of today's 14-20 year-old set would be well-served by this structure.

I've just joined an in-person book club, so I'm reading In the Woods by Tana French. Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade - and How We Can Fight It is going back on the shelf until I get my book club read finished. I'm just at the beginning, but its got me hooked!

I also started listening to an audio version The Pillars of the Earth. Sadly, it makes me want to drive everywhere and take the long way since I really only listen in the car. Better load it on my iPod so I can listen at the gym, too.

I didn't finish In the Woods in time for my book club meeting, and I'm still working on it. I just got too busy with work. As usual I've taken on too much recently. Oh well.

I have, however, finished the book for this month. We read The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I enjoyed it, but it was pretty frightening. I was almost relieved that it was over.

Still working on Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade - and How We Can Fight It, but I've also zipped right through the first Percy Jackson book.

The Lightning Thief was a blast. I'm now reading The Sea of Monsters before I drift off to sleep each night.

Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade - and How We Can Fight It is really good, but not my fave before-bed reading. The stories are mainly successes where people have been pulled out of slavery, but its not the best subject matter to have floating about in my dreams at night. I'd much rather dream about The Olympians :)

So far, I guess my "finished book" tally is at 8.

Just finished The Titan's Curse .

That's 10 finished books! Yay for YA to help me catch up to the pace!

Now working on the last book in the Percy Jackson series.
I've finished reading The Battle of the Labyrinth and I read another book while I was waiting for The Last Olympian to arrive from Amazon.

I went back to another series I hadn't finished. Peter Mayle's books on Provence. I had read the first two, (which I enjoyed more), but I hadn't gotten around to reading this one. This one got better at the end - when he had finished dismantling Reichl.
Encore Provence: New Adventures in the South of France

Finished with Book #12 on to Book #13!

I haven't updated in a while. Lots of books to add here.

Book #13: The Last Olympian

Book #14: The Glass Castle

Book #15: I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World

Book #16: Dead in the Family

Still working on American Gods.

Book #17: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

Book #18 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Looks like I desperately need to catch up. Book #18 finished during week 23. Hmm...

Book #19 Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage

Book #20 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Book #21 is a re-read. I dorked out on Eclipse again after I saw the movie. Those books are so much fun, even if they are a little light on the intellectual stimulation front :)

Book #22 is The Old Man and the Sea.

Book #23 is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Book #25 is Breaking Dawn. Still dorking out on Twilight. Couldn't resist.

Book #26 is The Host by Stephenie Meyer. Definitely fun reading, but it won't make you smarter :)

Book #27 is Persuasion by Jane Austen. Love this every time I read it.

Doesn't look like I'll meet my goal of 50 this year, but I'm happy that I have definitely set more time aside for reading than I would have otherwise. I'll continue to do so, and maybe I'll get close!