North Liberty Readers discussion

Here are (some of?) the books that we mentioned today:

House of Leaves - split it into sections, and spread over the course of a few months. I think that if we start this in June (after your tax season) and aim to finish it in three months, it should be manageable.

Also:
Don Quixote
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment

I am planning to read the following with Pamela. We could always invite her to the group and read them together if you're interested...

Shogun
The Eye of the World
Even Silence Has an End
A Neal Gaiman book - possibly American Gods

I would also like to read:

To finish the Emperor Series by Conn Iggulden:
The Death of Kings
The Field of Swords
The Gods of War

To finish the Millenium Series by Stieg Larsson:
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

To continue the Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon:
Voyager
Drums of Autumn
The Fiery Cross
A Breath of Snow and Ashes
An Echo in the Bone

The Eragon series by Christopher Paolini:
Eragon
Eldest
Brisingr

The books you are planning on reading with Pamela sound interesting. The only one I'm not sure I would read is The Eye of the World.

Sonja wrote: "I would also like to read:

To finish the Emperor Series by Conn Iggulden:
The Death of Kings
The Field of Swords
The Gods of War

..."

All good books! I've read most of those, except for the rest of the Conn Iggulden books. I should try to work a couple of those in!

Maybe I should do a Series challenge. X number of Series completed...

LOL that's a good one!

I think I might forgo trying to do an A-Z author challenge next year, and might focus on a few chunkies... I don't know!! Argh.

Or maybe I could do a series challenge too. There are several series books that I'd like to read. Maybe I'll that!

You could do chunkies and an author challenge... You're doing more than one this year.

I think I'm going to do a chunky challenge, a 12 + 2 book challenge (like the one you did this year...) and see how many places around the globe I can visit (maybe keep a side list to see how many states I can go to...).

What is going to be our guideline for a chunky book? 800 pages?

Have we decided if a series that's all in one book counts?

800 pages sounds good to me! I think a series all in one book should count...

Woot woot! I agree on both counts! :)

I've got it! I'll do a "Read the books of Sonja's That I Have" challenge!

Scarlett
Stones from the River
Day
The Reader

That might actually be all of them. I can't remember for sure right now, but they're all sitting next to each other on my bookshelf in my bedroom. :)

lol! You also have a big "borrow from Sonja' pile...

You did have the Genghis books, but I took them back. I have the second one back from Coco now though...

I love the "Borrow from Sonja" shelf... isn't it cool?

I like it! I should start a "Borrow from Jenni" shelf... I usually look at your shelf before I list a book on swap so that I don't give away a book that you want to read...

So, for a series challenge... maybe read a minimum of two or three books in a series, unless it's the last book and you finish that one?

This way one could try a new series out, and not have to stick with it if it sucks...

Sounds good. I also would like to at least start that Rick Riordan series that you bought the first few of.

Sonja wrote: "Sounds good. I also would like to at least start that Rick Riordan series that you bought the first few of."

Me too!

Maybe a "Read a bunch of books that I already own" challenge?

Isn't that like the 12 book challenge that you did this year (ane I want to do next year)? You'd just have to make it a 24 book challenge or something like that... I'm going to try to not buy any more books for a while. I'm sure I'll go through withdrawals, but I really have plenty to read...

If you're wanting to do a "Judge a Book by it's Title" challenge, look at JoAnna Carl.

Hmmm, I might just try one!

Okay, I'm thinking of doing:

12+2
Chunky Challenge (I'm thinking 8 books?)
Judge a Book by its Title (Maybe 10?)

Shogun sounds good. I'll read it with you next year! I found an electronic version on Alibris for $5.39. I just need to find a couple more so that I can use the coupon that I got.

Sounds good!

Sonja,

Here it is:

1. Shogun by James Clavell
2. The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny
3. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
4. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
5. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
6. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
7. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
8. An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
9. Out of Captivity: Surviving 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle by Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, and Tom Howes
10. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
11. The Tale of Murasaki: A Novel by Liza Dalby
12. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin - I have no idea what this book is about, but my brother in-law highly recommends it... we'll see!

Alt 1. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Alt 2. Big Red Tequila by Rick Riordan

Let me know what you're interested in reading with me... Pamela is also reading some of these... maybe we can manage to read some together! :)

Here's my first draft:


1.The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
2. Shogun by James Clavell
3. Der Zauberberg (The Magic Mountain) by Thomas Mann
4. My Father's Country by Wibke Bruhns
5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
6. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
7. Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
8. Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier
9. The Gates of the Forest: A Novel by Elie Wiesel
10. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
11. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
12. Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Alt 1. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Alt 2. The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama

What do you think? I'm pretty sure I can read all of them...

LOVE IT!!

It looks like we have about five books in common! :) I really want to read Schindler's List - let me know when you tackle it, and I'll try to tackle it with you.

I think I might start the year with Anja the Liar and Street of a Thousand Blossoms so that I can give them back to you. After that I want to read Fall of Giants.

I am SOOOO reading Fall of Giants! I just couldn't put it on the list because it wasn't written pre-2010.

I know. I wanted to put it on the list too...

Sonja!!! I want you to know that I'm super excited about the Genji book. I've done some digging, and I was right! The book is The Tale of Genji. When Arthur Waley translated it back in the 1920's, he released it as six volumes. Here's a picture of the volumes - http://themargins.net/images2/bib/D/D... .

This translation sounds neat! It's very unlike the modern translations. I guess that all of the snooty people say that this translation is more for people who know nothing about Japan, while the newer ones are more true to the story, and accepted as a good translation by scholars.

Soo, I may have to consider trying to track down the other 5 volumes in the series!!!

If you're interested, I found lots of good info at http://books.google.com/books?id=O5Ad... and http://themargins.net/bib/D/d26.html .

Regardless, I think I'm going to read this volume after reading the newest translation of Genji... and see how I think the three translations compare. :)

So, there are actually 4 translations... I guess you have a lot more reading ahead of you!

And I know what I can get you for your birthday/Christmas next year...

Well, I've already read one translation... 1 down, 3 to go!

At least with the Waley Translation, you don't have to read the whole thing at once...

Part of me thinks the original 1882 translation by a Japanese translator would be interesting to read.

It would be!

Did you know they made a movie?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/6303578055?t...

There's also a website: www.taleofgenji.org

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listin... is a one book edition with all six parts of Waley's translation.

I noticed that... That one is probably going to be the best way (and least expensive) to get a copy of all six volumes... but I kind of like the 1927ish one...