Pick-a-Shelf discussion

What a fun challenge! I don't have high hopes that I'll finish, but what I love about this challenge is that I won't have to buy a single book--love chipping away at my stacks at home! :)

5 books from your stacks/shelves at home that you haven't read yet.
1. Here be Dragons 9/4/2010 ****
2. The Tudor Rose 7/26/2010 ***
3. People of the Book 8/6/2010 ****
4. Mistress of Rome 7/22/2010 ***
5. The Confessions of Catherine de Medici 7/23/2010 ****
5/5

5 books you have borrowed (from friends, family, the library) so you can return them and make room.
1. The Hours
2. Atonement
3. therapy *** 7/17/2010
4. The Constant Gardener
5. Far from the Madding Crowd **** 8/15/2010
2/5

5 books recommended to you by a friend.
1. The Mill on the Floss
2. The Traitor's Wife
3. The Stolen Crown: The secret marriage that forever changed the fate of England
4. The Bronze Horseman *** 8/10/2010
5. I, Claudius: From the Autobiography of Tiberius Claudius, Born 10 B.C., Murdered and Deified A.D. 54 **** 8/13/2010
2/5

5 books that you have been dreading to tackle either due to reviews you have heard, content or the sheer length of them.
1. The Count of Monte Cristo
2. Roma: The Novel of Ancient Rome
3. Russka: The Novel of Russia
4. Mary, Called Magdalene
5. London: The Novel **** 7/12/2010
1/5

The 5 books that have been on your TBR the longest.
1. Oliver Twist *** 8/20/2010
2. Myself, My Enemy
3. Wuthering Heights **** 8/18/2010
4. Anna Karenina
5. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes **** 8/18/2010
3/5

The 5 shortest books from your TBR that aren't picture books.
1. Cruel as the Grave
2. The Queen's Man
3. The Priest
4. Night *** 8/17/2010
5. Girl, Interrupted *** 11/28/2010
2/5

* Spell something (your name, child's name, anything you choose) with 5 picture books or graphic novels using the first letter of each title.
1. S The Sunsets of Miss Olivia Wiggins ***** 8/24/2010
2. I I'm in Charge of Celebrations ***** 8/24/2010
3. S Stone Soup ***** 8/24/2010
4. T Today I Feel Silly: And Other Moods That Make My Day ***** 8/24/2010
5. E Eric Carle's Dragons, Dragons ***** 8/24/2010
6. R The Recess Queen ***** 8/24/2010
6/5

5 non-fiction books.
1. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China **** 7/17/2010
2. When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge ***** 7/13/2010
3. The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl 7/21/2010 *****
4. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon 9/8/2010 ****
5. Get Me Out of Here: My Recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder 11/27/2010 ****
5/5

5 books from series, in order to complete some.
1. Curse of the Spellmans **** 11/28/2010
2. Revenge of the Spellmans **** 11/30/2010
3. The Spellmans Strike Again **** 11/30/2010
4. Silent in the Sanctuary **** 11/28/2010
5. Silent on the Moor **** 11/29/2010

5/5

5 books started but never finished.
1. Bel Canto
2. Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time
3. Marie Antoinette: The Journey *** 7/14/2010
4. The Spellman Files The Spellman Files **** 11/28/2010
5. Comes the Darkness, Comes the Light: A Memoir of Cutting, Healing, and Hope
2/5

Finished:

Tasks 2/10

Books 25/50

So exciting to be starting the new challenge! First book on dock is London: The Novel. Started it today and in just a few chapters in am loving it already!

I just finished London and am thinking of choosing something light and fluffy to read next--wish I had more of them built into my challenge! What was I thinking?

Add some light and fluffy picture books to your plan! :D

ETA: And you know you can always CHOOSE to change your plan - right up until the time you read the book. :)

And WOW!! Already a 1000+ page book read! I'm impressed!!

Don't be too impressed--I probably wouldn't have chosen to read it first. . . but I had chosen it for a July History read and since it was a doorstop of a paperback and I definitely didn't want to take it on the plane with me and lug it all around on holiday, I was motivated to be focused and to read it quickly ;)

Finished my second one--page length was shorter, but subject matter was much heavier! When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge. I highly recommend this book! My review is in the July History Review thread.

Finished one of those books that I had started, got 19% in (% courtesy of kindle) and stopped. Yay! Finally finished Marie Antoinette: The Journey by Antonia Fraser. Happy dance! Great to have that one done :)

Natasha wrote: "Yay for happy dances!"

Any excuse to have a happy dance is good, but finishing MA is an especially good reason for me to dance! That one has been haunting me saying 'finish me. . . finish me' for months now. It's like catching my white whale! Now I can relax into the rest of the challenge :)

Yay, Tina! I know I'll feel the same when I finally finish Moby Dick, speaking of white whales. :)

I finished Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang **** which was a good "thinking" book.

I also finished therapy by Sebastian Fitzek *** which was a pretty good "don't have to think" book.

Tasks: 0/10
Books: 5/50

So I started my vacation in the States by spending the first five days in the hospital with pancreatitis among other things so I had lots of time to read! (Small Kansas hospital--didn't have wifi!)

Out of all I finished (4 books), I cannot say enough about The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl--it is probably one of my top three books ever!

Now I'm off to play catch up on all the good times I missed for the remaining time in my holiday (one week)!

Five days in the hospital! Yikes!! At least you got in some great reading, right? I hope you're all better now and can enjoy the rest of your holiday!

I think this was my favorite flight back ever. I couldn't sleep (who can?) and curled up in the tiny seat (they get smaller each flight) with Heathcliff, Sherlock Holmes and Watson, and then Oliver Twist. Great books made the flight(s) much more bearable!

It's good to be home!

Today I filled out the Spell Something part of the challenge. . .

This summer, I was able to spend four whole weeks with my sister. I haven't done that since we were kids--I loved and treasured every minute of it! She is my best friend. We share a love for reading and spent countless hours perusing the shelves in used bookstores, or curled up on our respective couches, reading, just happy to be in the same room together.

She has a spotty internet connection (small town Kansas) that prevents her from joining goodreads, but I'm happy to share with you all a collection of books that, I think, are a good reflection of some nuance our relationship through the years.

S The Sunsets of Miss Olivia Wiggins
I I'm in Charge of Celebrations
S Stone Soup
T Today I Feel Silly: And Other Moods That Make My Day
E Eric Carle's Dragons, Dragons
R The Recess Queen

Oh, Tina! I LOVE how you incorporated your trip with your sister into your challenge. And I added a couple of your picture books to my TBR.

Well, I crashed an burned for a couple of months on reading! Work certainly got carried away for awhile. I'm glad to be reading again and I even finally finished a book to put me back on the board (it was a "work" book about Borderline Personality Disorder, but it still counts :)

Get Me Out of Here: My Recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder It was a good memoir about BPD if you're interested :)