Sunday, January 10, 2010

State of the Blog, Part One: The Lists



It is now winter, a new year, and time to assess what progress I made on my lists in 2009 and what I hope to read this year.

My List of Lists is over in the right-side column. These are Prize Winners, Must Reads, and other lists of books I have read or intend to read for some reason or another. Also in the right-side column is a list of my favorite authors. I add to both lists from time to time.

This is a three-part assessment. This first part addresses the book lists. Part Two, coming soon, will deal with the challenges I participated in last year and plan to join this year. Part Three will run through the author lists.

THE LISTS

1899 Top 100
Books read so far: 7/100
Books read in 2009: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2
  1. The Moonstone by Willkie Collins
  2. Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz
Books on my TBR shelf: 13

All-TIME Top 100
Books read so far: 73/100
Books read in 2009: one-third (I read The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.)
Books I hope to read in 2010: two-thirds (I really hope to finish The Lord of the Rings.)
Books on my TBR shelf: 15

Anthony Burgess
Books read so far: 26/99
Books read in 2009: one (How to Save Your Own Life by Erica Jong; reviewed here)
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2
  1. A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
  2. Strangers and Brothers by C.P. Snow
Books on my TBR shelf: 20

BBC's Big Read
Books read so far: 52/100
Books read in 2009: 5+
  1. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham(reviewed here)
  2. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens(reviewed here)
  3. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
  4. Crime and Punishment
  5. I Capture the Castle
  6. plus another one-third for The Fellowship of the Ring
Books I hope to read in 2010: maybe none
Books on my TBR shelf: 11

Book Club
Books read so far: 15/16
Books read in 2009: 6
  1. Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Keysey
  2. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
  3. Davita's Harp by Chiam Potok
  4. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
  5. Plainsong by Kent Haruf
  6. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Books I hope to read in 2010: 6 (but I don't know what they are yet)
Books on my TBR shelf: one (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz)

College Board
Books read so far: 75/101
Books read in 2009: one (Treasure Island)
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath)
Books on my TBR shelf: 14

Costa Book of the Year
Books read so far: 3/24
Books read in 2009: two
  1. Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson, reviewed here 
  2. The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney, reviewed here
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2
  1. The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
  2. Small Island by Andrea Levy
Books on my TBR shelf: 2

Easton Press
Books read so far: 55/100
Books read in 2009: 3
  1. Great Expectations (reviewed here)
  2. Treasure Island
  3. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan)
Books on my TBR shelf: 25

Edgar Award
Books read so far: 4/55
Books read in 2009: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith)
Books on my TBR shelf: 5

Erica Jong
Books read so far: 29/100
Books read in 2009: one (The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley)
Books I hope to read in 2010: several, including
  1. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
  2. Rebecca by Daphne duMaurier
  3. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
Books on my TBR shelf: 19

French Connection
Books read so far: 42/107 (and counting -- there are more books to add to the list)
Books read in 2009: one (Au Revoir to All That by Michael Steinberger; reviewed here)
Books I hope to read in 2010: at least 2
  1. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
  2. The Flaneur by Edmund White
Books on my TBR shelf: 20

Books read so far: I don't keep track, because I delete them after I read them
Books read in 2009: same
Books I hope to read in 2010: 5
  1. The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos
  2. The Art of Disappearing by Ivy Pochoda
  3. The Evolution of Shadows by Jason Quinn Malott
  4. Portland Noir, edited by Kevin Sampsell
  5. The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt by Rulka Langer
Books on my TBR shelf: 5

James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Books read so far: 8/96
Books read in 2009: one (Saturday by Ian McEwan)
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry)
Books on my TBR shelf: 7

LT Early Reviewers

Books read so far: 21/25
Books read in 2009: 10
  1. The Amish Cook at Home by Lovina Eicher (reviewed here)
  2. Blackbird, Farewell by Robert Greer (reviewed here)
  3. American Rust by Philipp Meyer (reviewed here)
  4. Au Revoir to All That by Michael Steinberger (reviewed here)
  5. Forbidden Bread by Erica Johnson Debeljak (reviewed here)
  6. The Tricking of Freya by Christina Sunley (reviewed here)
  7. The Stettheimer Dollhouse by Sheila W. Clark (reviewed here)
  8. Joker One by Donovan Campbell (reviewed here)
  9. The Fire by Katherine Neville (reviewed here)
  10. American Lion by Jon Meacham (reviewed here)
Books I hope to read in 2010: 4
  1.  Maimonides: and the Biblical Prophets by Israel Drazin
  2. Homer and Langley by E. L. Doctorow
  3. The Wall in My Head: Words and Images from the Fall of the Iron Curtain, published by Words Without Borders Anthologies
  4. A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (audiobook)
Books on my TBR shelf: 4

Man Booker Prize

Books read so far: 21/43
Books read in 2009: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: at least one, but I don't know which
Books on my TBR shelf: 14

MLA's 30
Books read so far: 21/30
Books read in 2009: one and 1/3
  1. The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
  2. one-third for The Fellowship of the Ring
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver)
Books on my TBR shelf: 4

Modern Library
Books read so far: all of them!
Books read in 2009: zero ( finished this list a couple of years ago)
Books I hope to read in 2010: none
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

National Book Award

Books read so far: 24/63
Books read in 2009: 4
  1. The Echo Maker by Richard Powers
  2. The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
  3. The Fixer by Bernard Malamud (reviewed here)
  4. Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth (reviewed here)
Books I hope to Read in 2010: 2 (for the Battle of the Prizes Challenge, but I haven't picked yet)
Books on my TBR shelf: 13

NBCC Award
Books read so far: 15/33
Books read in 2009: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2
  1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
  2. Counterlife by Philip Roth
Books on my TBR shelf: 9

Nobel Laureates
Authors read so far: 19/105
Books read in 2009: 3
  1. The Complete Short Stories by Earnest Hemingway (reviewed here)
  2. The Beggar by Naguib Mahfouz (reviewed here)
  3. The Plague by Albert Camus
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset)
Books on my TBR shelf: 30 (but most by authors already read)

Observer's Top 100
Books read so far: 55/100
Books read in 2009: 3+
  1. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (reviewed here)
  2. Men Without Women by Ernest Hemingway
  3. The Plague by Albert Camus
  4. plus another one-third for The Fellowship of the Ring
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2+
  1. Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
  2. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
  3. the last two book in The Lord of the Rings
Books on my TBR shelf: 19

Orange Prize
Books read so far: 1/13
Books read in 2009: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (Small Island by Andrea Levy
Books on my TBR shelf: 4

Oregon Books
Books read so far: 3/20
Books read in 2009: two
  1. The River Why by David Duncan
  2. Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey 
Books I hope to read in 2010: maybe none
Books on my TBR shelf: 2

Pulitzer Prize
Books read so far: 38
Books read in 2009: 3
  1. Advise and Consent by Allen Drury (reviewed here)
  2. The Fixer by Bernard Malamud (reviewed here)
  3. March by Geraldine Brooks (reviewed here)
Books I hope to read in 2010: at least 2, maybe 3:
  1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
  2.  something for the Battle of the Prizes Challenge, but I haven't picked yet
Books on my TBR shelf: 19

Radcliffe's Top 100
Books read so far: 86/100
Books read in 2009: one-third for The Fellowship of the Ring
Books I hope to read in 2010:6+
  1. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
  2. the rest of The Lord of the Rings
  3. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
  4. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
  5. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster
  6. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
  7. Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
Books on my TBR shelf: 11

RCR Top 10
Books read so far: 10/10 (it's my list)
Books read in 2009: zero (the list did not change -- so far)
Books I hope to Read in 2010: maybe a new book will make it to the list
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Well-Stocked Bookcase
Books read so far: 35/60
Books read in 2009: zero
Books I hope to Read in 2010: one (The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath)
Books on my TBR shelf: 14

I am thinking of concentrating on the Radcliffe list in 2010 because I have a shot at finishing that one once and for all. The books remaining also overlap with several other lists, so I could really make hay.

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