State of the Blog, Part One: The Lists

Christmas is sadly over, the new year approaches, and it is time for me to assess my reading progress for the year.  I approach this "winter" assessment with trepidation and excitement, since it lets me see how much progress I did -- or didn't make -- in 2010 and let's me plan ahead for 2011.  Out with the old; in with the new!

This is the first of my quarterly blog assessment posts.  This first part addresses the book lists. Part Two, coming soon, will take a look at the author lists.  Part Three will deal with the challenges I joined 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.

NOTE: If you are working on any of these lists, please leave a comment here or on the post for the list (click on the title below or in the right-hand column) and leave a link to any related post. I will add the links on the list post. 

In 2010, I read aaround 45 books from my various book lists. I got the most bang for my book buck by finishing The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien, so I could scratch The Lord of the Rings off several lists, and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas, which was also on several lists. 

THE LISTS

1899 TOP 100

Books read so far: 8/100
Books read in 2010: one, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
Books I hope to read in 2011:

1. The Moonstone by Willkie Collins
2. Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz

Books on my TBR shelf: 19

All-TIME TOP 100

Books read so far: 76/100
Books read in 2010: 2 and 2/3

1. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
2. Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion (reviewed here)
3. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien (one-third of The Lord of the Rings)
4. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien (the last third of The Lord of the Rings)

Books I hope to read in 2011:

1. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carre
2. White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Books on my TBR shelf: 14

ANTHONY BURGESS

Books read so far: 30/99
Books read in 2010: 2

1. A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (reviewed here)
2. Titus Groan by Mervin Peake (reviewed here) 
3. The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux

Books I hope to read in 2011: a couple, but I don't know which ones yet
Books on my TBR shelf: 19

BBC'S BIG READ

Books read so far: 58/100
Books read in 2010: 6 and 2/3 (wow!)

1. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
2. Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake (reviewed here)
3. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (reviewed here)
4. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
5. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien (one-third of The Lord of the Rings)
6. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (reviewed here)
7. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien (the last third of The Lord of the Rings) 

Books I hope to read in 2011:  Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Books on my TBR shelf: 6

BOOK CLUB

Books read so far: 19/19
Books read in 2010: 4

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
2. The Red Tent  by Anita Diamant
3. Small Island by Andrea Levy (reviewed here)
4. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2011: six, but Cutting for Stone is the only one I know so far
Books on my TBR shelf: none

COLLEGE BOARD

Books read so far: 75/101
Books read in 2010: one (Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney)
Books I hope to read in 2011:

1. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (I am reading this now)
2. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Books on my TBR shelf: 20

COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR

Books read so far: 6/24
Books read in 2010: 3

1. The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (reviewed here)
2. Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney 
3. Small Island by Andrea Levy  (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2011: Felicia's Journey by William Trevor
Books on my TBR shelf: one

EASTON PRESS

Books read so far: 57/100
Books read in 2010: 2

1. The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
2. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas 

Books I hope to read in 2011:

1. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (I am reading this now)
2. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Books on my TBR shelf: 20

EDGAR AWARD

Books read so far: 8/56
Books read in 2010: 3

1. New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith
2. Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (reviewed here) 
3. Down River by John Hart

Books I hope to read in 2011: The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carre
Books on my TBR shelf: 6

ERICA JONG

Books read so far: 33/100
Books read in 2010: 4

1. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbon (reviewed here)
2. Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion (reviewed here) 
3. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (reviewed here) 
4. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Books I hope to read in 2011:

1. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
2. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
3. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Books on my TBR shelf: 22

FRENCH CONNECTION

Books read so far: 48/113 (and counting -- there are more books to add to the list)
Books read in 2010: 5

1. The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris by Edmund White (reviewed here) 
2. L'Affaire by Diane Johnson
3. My Life in France by Julia Child (reviewed here)
4. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas 
5. Corked by Kathryn Borel (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2011:

1. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
2. Death in the Truffle Wood by Pierre Magnan
3. The Messengers of Death by Pierre Magnan 
4. The Food of France by Waverley Root

Books on my TBR shelf: 24

GUILT LIST

Books read so far: I don't keep track, because I delete them after I read them
Books read in 2010: same
Books I hope to read in 2011: 11 more (but my resolution is to not freak out about it)

1. The Evolution of Shadows by Jason Quinn Malott
2. Soldiers in Hiding by Richard Wiley
3. Jumptown: The Golden Years of Portland Jazz 1942-1957 by Robert Dietsche
4. Another Way the River Has: Taut True Tales from the Northwest by Robin Cody   
5. An Architectural Guidebook to Portland by Bart King 
6. The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees
7. To the Woods: Sinking Roots, Living Lightly, and Finding True Home by Evelyn Searle Hess 
8. 42 States of Grace by Maureen Hovenkotter
9. Where the Crooked River Rises: A High Desert Home by Ellen Waterston
10. Fish With What You Find by Jim Gilsdorf
11. Because You Might Not Remember by Don Colburn

Books on my TBR shelf: 11

JAMES TAIT BLACK MEMORIAL PRIZE

Books read so far: 8/96
Books read in 2010:

1. The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry; for my Battle of the Prizes, British Version  challenge
2. The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux

Books I hope to read in 2011: 3

1. G by John Berger; also for my Battle of the Prizes, British Version challenge
2. Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd
3. White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Books on my TBR shelf: 10

LT EARLY REVIEWERS

Books read so far: 29/33

Books read in 2010: 8

1. A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (reviewed here)
2. Maimonides: and the Biblical Prophets by Israel Drazin
3. Homer and Langley by E. L. Doctorow (reviewed here)
4. The Wall in My Head: Words and Images from the Fall of the Iron Curtain, published by Words Without Borders Anthologies (reviewed here)
5. Short Stories, Book I by Anton Chekhov (reviewed here)
6. A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks (reviewed here) 
7. Burmese Lessons: A True Love Story by Karen Connelly (reviewed here)
8. Peaceful Places, Los Angeles by Laura Randall (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2011:

1. Just Enough Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
2. American Terroir by Rowan Jacobsen  

Books on my TBR shelf: 4

MAN BOOKER PRIZE

Books read so far: 22/43
Books read in 2010:

1. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
2. The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2011:

1. G by John Berger (for my Battle of the Prizes, British Version challenge)
2. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
3. How Late it Was, How Late by James Kelman or Shindler's List by Thomas Keneally

Books on my TBR shelf: 13

MLA'S 30

Books read so far: 23/30
Books read in 2010: 1 and 2/3

1. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
2. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien (one-third of The Lord of the Rings) 
3. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien (the last third of The Lord of the Rings) 

Books I hope to read in 2011: maybe David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Books on my TBR shelf: 4

MODERN LIBRARY

Books read so far: all of them!
Books read in 2010: zero (finished this list a couple of years ago)
Books I hope to read in 2011: none
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

Books read so far: 27/64
Books read in 2010: Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (reviewed here)
Books I hope to Read in 2011:

1. Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon
2. The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck
3. Them by Joyce Carol Oates
4. Morte d'Urban by J.F. Powers

Books on my TBR shelf: 15

NBCC AWARD

Books read so far: 16/34
Books read in 2010: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Books I hope to read in 2011:  

1. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 
2. Counterlife by Philip Roth

Books on my TBR shelf: 11

NOBEL LAUREATES

Authors read so far: 20/106
Books read in 2010: Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney
Books I hope to read in 201: Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
Books on my TBR shelf: 32 (but most by authors already read)

OBSERVER'S TOP 100

Books read so far: 59/100
Books read in 2010: 3 and 2/3

1. Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
2. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler 
3. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
4. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien (one-third of The Lord of the Rings) 
5. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien (the last third of The Lord of the Rings) 

Books I hope to read in 2011:

1.  The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (I am reading this now)
2.  David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Books on my TBR shelf: 15

ORANGE PRIZE

Books read so far: 3/15
Books read in 2010:

1. Small Island by Andrea Levy (reviewed here)
2. The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2011: maybe none
Books on my TBR shelf: 2

OREGON BOOKS

Books read so far: 3/20
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2011: maybe none
Books on my TBR shelf: 2

PEN/FAULKNER

Books read so far: 7/30
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: 3

1. The Human Stain by Philip Roth (which I am reading now)
2. Soldiers in Hiding by Richard Wiley (also on my Guilt List)
3. Seaview by Toby Olson

Books on my TBR shelf: 12

PULITZER PRIZE

Books read so far: 41/85
Books read in 2010:

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
2. Olive Kitteridge is Elizabeth Strout (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2010: at least 2 (for the Battle of the Prizes Challenge) 

1. One of Ours by Willa Cather
2. Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler

Books on my TBR shelf: 25 (thanks, in part, to a great Christmas present)

RADCLIFFE'S TOP 100

Books read so far: 91/100
Books read in 2010: 4 and 2/3

1. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster (reviewed here)
2. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
3. The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells (reviewed here)  
4. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien (one-third of The Lord of the Rings) 
5. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (reviewed here)  
6. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien (the last third of The Lord of the Rings)  

Books I hope to read in 2011:

1. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (I am reading this now)
2. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
3. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein

Books on my TBR shelf: 6

RCR TOP 10

Books read so far: 10/10 (it's my list)
Books read in 2010: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbon (reviewed here)
Books I hope to Read in 2011: one change this year is a big step already
Books on my TBR shelf: who knows?

WELL-STOCKED BOOKCASE

Books read so far: 35/60
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to Read in 2011

1. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
2. Them by Joyce Carol Oates

Books on my TBR shelf: 14

List of the Day: NBCC Award

First awarded in 1976, the National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote the finest books and reviews published in English.

The main awards fall into six categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Memoir/Autobiography, Biography, and Criticism. Awards are not given to titles that have been previously published in English, such as re-issues and paperback editions.

This is the list of fiction winners.  So far, I've read exactly half, 17 out of 34.  Those I have read are in red.  Those currently on my TBR shelf are in blue.

2009 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

2008 2666 by Robert Bolano

2007 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

2006 The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

2005 The March by E.L. Doctorow

2004 Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (reviewed here)

2003 The Known World by Edward P. Jones

2002 Atonement by Ian McEwan

2001 Austerlitz by Winfried Georg Sebald

2000 Being Dead by Jim Crace

1999 Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem

1998 The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro

1997 The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald

1996 Women in Their Beds by Gina Berriault

1995 Mrs. Ted Bliss by Stanley Elkin

1994 The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

1993 A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines

1992 All the Pretty Horses by Cormac Mccarthy (reviewed here)

1991 A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

1990 Rabbit at Rest by John Updike

1989 Billy Bathgate by E. L. Doctorow

1988 The Middleman and Other Stories by Bharati Mukherjee

1987 The Counterlife by Philip Roth

1986 Kate Vaiden by Reynolds Price

1985 The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler

1984 Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

1983 Ironweed by William Kennedy

1982 George Mills by Stanley Elkin

1981 Rabbit is Rich by John Updike

1980 The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard

1979 The Year of the French by Thomas Flanagan

1978 The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever (reviewed here)

1977 Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

1976 October Light by John C Gardner

NOTE

Last updated on December 30, 2010

OTHERS READING THE BOOKS ON THIS LIST

(If you would like to be listed here, please leave a comment with links to your progress reports or reviews and I will add them here.)

Review of the Day: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The ever-perky Juliet Ashton is in a slump after the success of her book, Izzy Bickerstaff Goes to War, a collection of her popular, London-during-the-Blitz newspaper columns.  Looking for love – and an idea for a new book – leaves Juliet torn between a post-war fling with a dashing American publisher and her first-hand investigation of the German occupation of the Channel Island of Guernsey.


The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is told through a series of lively letters among the many characters, primarily Juliet, her editor, and a group of Guernsey residents who survived the war.  Juliet is delightful and witty without being cloying, the islanders are quirky and charming, and the supporting characters do their part as straight men to the comedians.

There are a few places where the epistolary structure teeters – where an important story point or key transition too perfectly arrives in the morning post, just in time to move the narrative forward.  But the book is so short and the story moves along at such a quick pace that it is easy to rush past without noticing these minor flaws.

Mary Ann Shaffer wrote the book after years of researching the not widely known history of Guernsey’s occupation during World War II.  She includes horrific details of the war, including slave labor, executions, collaboration, and concentration camps, but telling the story from the post-war perspective provides needed distance, and the humor and cheerfulness of her characters make the darker themes tolerable.  Shaffer’s niece, Annie Barrows, finished the book when her aunt became too ill to complete it.

OTHER REVIEWS

So Many Precious Book, So Little Time

(If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.)

Teaser Tuesday: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I know of three women who are mad for him -- he'll be snapped up in a trice, and I'll spend my declining years in a grimy bed-sit, with my teeth falling out one by one.  Oh, I can see it all now: No one will buy my books, and I'll ply Sidney with tattered, illegible manuscripts, which he'll pretend to publish out of pity.

-- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows.

I loved this lively, funny, sweet little novel. I wish I had read it a year and a half ago, when my friend Cynthia first gave it to me.  My review will be up tomorrow.

 Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Merry Mailbox Christmas Monday

Lady Q at Let Them Read Books is the December host of Mailbox Monday. Thanks Lady Q!

I'll be hosting in January, so please stop by next Monday to leave your first list of 2011.  And come back for all five Mondays in January because I will be hosting a book giveaway each week.

Santa came through for me this Christmas in a big way.  He brought me a lovely nine-volume set of Alexander Dumas novels published in 1893.  Each book has the same cover and the set includes:

The Count of Monte Cristo;  
The Three Musketeers;  
Viconte De Bragelonne (in 2 Volumes);
Marguerite de Valois and Chicot, the Jester;  
The Forty Five Guardsmen, The Conspirators, and The Regent's Daughter;  
Memoirs of a Physician;  
The Queen's Necklace and Taking the Bastille; and  
The Countess de Charney and The Chevalier de Maison Rouge.   

But the biggest surprise -- and the project that took Santa a lot of time on Ebay -- was an incredible collection of gorgeous Easton Press and Franklin Library editions.  Some are personal favorites, others are classics, and several are Pulitzer winners I've been looking for for a long time.

The Pultzer winners in the bunch are:

Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington;
One of Ours by Willa Cather;
Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes;
The Store by T.S. Stribling;
Honey in the Horn by H. L. Davis;
Dragon's Teeth by Upton Sinclair;
Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin;
Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens;
Andersonville by Mackinlay Kantor;
Advise and Consent by Allen Drury;
The Reivers by William Faulkner;
The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau;
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner;
Humbolt's Gift by Saul Bellow; and
Rabbit is Rich by John Updike