Jump to content

Abby's Reading Log (started 2009)


AbielleRose

Recommended Posts

Books are as much a part of me as water and carbon. I tend to read very quickly and after a while forget the books I have read, even the ones that I loved. So, here I am, on this wonderful forum website writing a blog so that if I ever get that deja vu feeling of 'I know I've read that before...haven't I?' I can just come back here and find out for sure!

 

Someday, when the time is right, I hope to be a writer myself. Unfortunately school is just not an option for me at the moment so I am relying on the greats such as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Tennyson, Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, J.R.R. Tolkien, James Patterson, J. K. Rowling, etc... to inspire me to pick up a pen and work on my own dream works.

 

One book that I have recently finished is a beautifully written Sci-Fi YA Fantasy by Cassandra Clare called The Mortal Instruments Series. If you are looking for a book full of passion, demons, epic fight scenes, and a creative 'good vs. evil' plot line than this would be a great choice. It is one of the most compelling works I have read recently and the characters are very easy to identify with. The main character, Clary Fray, is one of my favorite characters ever written. Trust me people, she is sitting up there with Elizabeth Bennett, Frodo, and Harry Potter (yeah... weird combo... I know...).

 

I just picked up 6 books yesterday and am looking forward to starting Mister B. Gone by Clive Barker (thanks to whoever on this site recommended it!)

 

If anyone happens upon this little thread please feel free to leave me some recomendations. I love having a long reading list; it makes me feel good. You can make my day by leaving me a book or two to tack onto it! :D

Edited by CaliLily
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 343
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

How about The Hundredth Man by Jack Kerley, or The Straw Men by Michael Marshall? These are terribly good books. If you like, pop onto my McRecommends thread, because I'm always topping that one up.

 

Hoping this finds you well. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Updated Reading List for 2010 (updated 10/20/2010)

 

Abby’s Books

 

(Auto-) Biography

 

The Beatles- Lewisohn

 

Reading Lolita in Tehran- Nafisi

 

John Lennon- The Life- Norman

 

A Child Called ‘It’- Pelzer

 

Prime Green- Remembering the 60’s - Stone

 

Classics

 

Essential Shakespeare

 

Irish Fairy Tales

 

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

 

Women and Literature (textbook containing multiple authors)

 

Jane Eyre- Bronte

 

The House of the Seven Gables- Hawthorne

 

To Kill a Mockingbird- Lee

 

Dramatic Life- Ludlow

 

The Bell Jar- Sylvia Plath

 

Catcher in the Rye- Salinger

 

Romeo and Juliet- Shakespeare

 

Frankenstein- Shelley

 

The Picture of Dorian Gray- Wilde’

 

Cookbooks

 

The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook- Bucholz

 

Poetry

 

Japanese Death Poems

 

Selected Poems of William Blake

 

The Collective Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning

 

The Collective Poems of Emily Dickinson

 

Essays and Poems of Ralph Waldo Emmerson

 

Refrence

 

American Heritage Dictionary

 

Druid Magic

 

The History of Witchcraft and Demonology

 

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Royal Britain

 

Revision and Self Editing- Bell

 

Romance/ Mystery/ Historical Fiction/ Other

 

Thanks for the Memories- Ahern

 

Warlord-Bell

 

The Heir- Burrows

 

Secrets of Mary Magdalene- Burstein

 

Hero- Brooks

 

The Reckless Surrender- Campbell

 

Stories I Wouldn’t Tell Nobody But God- Clark

 

A Secret Kept- de Rosnay

 

Learning to Die in Miami- Eine

 

A Lady’s Guide to Improper Behavior- Enoch

 

Sun Stroked- Fox

 

Water for Elephants- Gruen

 

A Thousand Splendid Suns- Hosseini

 

The Devotion of Suspect X- Higashino

 

Seabiscuit- Hildenbrand

 

A Kiss at Midnight- James

 

Echoes- Jones-Gunn

 

Filthy Shakespeare- Kiernan

 

Traveling With Pomegranates- Kidd/Taylor

 

The Breach- Lee

 

God’s Guest List- Macomber

 

The Secrets of Seduction- Mallory

 

More Tales of the City- Maupin

 

O. Juliet- Maxwell

 

The Road- McCarthy

 

A Man No More- McPhee

 

The Heretic Queen- Michelle Moran

 

Adam and Eve- Naslund

 

Voice of America- Osondu

 

Sunday at Tiffany’s- Patterson

 

The Monster of Florence- Preston

 

Irish Born Trilogy- Roberts

 

Push- Sapphire

 

The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud- Sherwood

 

The Man Who Ate the 747- Sherwood

 

The Lovely Bones- Sebold

 

Dear John- Sparks

 

Wolf Fever- Spear

 

The Lady Elizabeth- Wein

 

Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Paranormal

 

Halloween Horrors (Multiple Authors)

 

Bitten- Armstrong

 

Doctor Who- Autonomy- Blythe

 

The Alchemist- Coelho

 

Wicked Appetite- Evanovich

 

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies- Grahame- Smith

 

House of Horror- Holzer

 

First Grave on the Right- Jones

 

Shadow Bound- Kellison

 

Shadow Fall- Kellison

 

Through the Faerie Glass- Klein

 

The Historian- Kostova

 

Ghost Country- Lee

 

The Next Queen of Heaven- Maguire

 

Doctor Who- The Glamour Chase- Russell

 

Born to Bite- Sands

 

Lord of the Rings- The Two Towers- Tolkien

 

YA Fiction

 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1- 3 stories (Multiple Authors)

 

Brightly Woven- Bracken

 

Glass Houses- Caine

 

Clockwork Angel- Clare

 

Hunger Games- Collins

 

Revolution- Donnely

 

Inkheart- Funke

 

Nightlight- The Harvard Lampoon

 

Heavenly- Laurens

 

A Wrinkle in Time- L’Engle

 

The Mermaid’s Mirror- Madigan

 

Once a Witch- McCullough

 

Evermore- Alyson Noel

 

If I Should Die Before I Wake- Nolan

 

Before I Fall- Oliver

 

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix- Rowling

 

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince- Rowling

 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Rowling

 

The Forest of Hands and Teeth- Ryan

 

The Book Thief- Zusak

 

 

Edited by CaliLily
updating list
Link to comment
Share on other sites

How about The Hundredth Man by Jack Kerley, or The Straw Men by Michael Marshall? These are terribly good books. If you like, pop onto my McRecommends thread, because I'm always topping that one up.

 

Hoping this finds you well. :)

 

Thanks Mac! I will definately look into those and check out your thread :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great news! I just checked out Cassandra Clare's blog and the ink is officially dry! The Mortal Instruments Series is currently in the process of being adapted to the big screen! It is still in the beginning stages but a screen writer has been hired and Ms Clare has high hopes for a great end result!

 

Here is the link to her blog/website if anyone is curious about checking it out. http://cassandraclare.livejournal.com/33056.html

 

In other reading 'news' I have been lazy today and have not managed to read a page yet... then again, it is only about 10 in the morning so there will be plenty of time for that later :D

 

We have a beautiful waterfall park in town that has lots of grassy hills overlooking the falls. It is one of my favorite places to relax and read so I am planning on going out there for a few hours today to soak up some sun and stories. There couldn't be a better day for it either! Not a cloud in the sky, no humidity and just a light breeze.

 

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday before returning to the world of work tomorrow. I know I will!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Mister B. Gone is going rather slowly. Since I can only read before bed and I tend to dream about the books I read (weird... yes, I know) reading a thriller isn't exactly the best thing. Hopefully I will spend some more time on it this weekend since it is a holiday.

 

I did, however, finish the 3rd book in Melissa de la Cruz's Blue Bloods series (Revelations). I am addicted and cannot wait until October when the 4th book (The Van Alen Legacy... yes, I have pre-ordered it already) comes out. It is one of the most creative vampire series out there and de la Cruz blends traditional vampire myth into upscale New York society better than anyone else could ever hope to! I have pulled up Google several times just to check out some of the refrences to history/geography she has made... aka, I am learning as well as being entertained :D What more could you want from a book?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see that you're also reading the Stephanie Plum series. How are you finding it? I have the first one in front of me right now and am trying to resist the temptation to start reading it until I finish my current read.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see that you're also reading the Stephanie Plum series. How are you finding it? I have the first one in front of me right now and am trying to resist the temptation to start reading it until I finish my current read.

 

Don't resist, dig in! I just started number 12 today and they are so great! The first book is still my favorite out of the series but each one is different with good pace and more laughs than I have ever gotten out of a book series! You will love them :D (Grandma Mazur is my favorite character. She is hillarious!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finished another Stephanie Plum novel today (Twelve Sharp). It is definately my favorite (so far) in the series.

 

A while ago I purchaced Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov but just kept putting off reading. For one of my Lit classes in college we had to read a book called Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. Ever since reading that very moving memoir I have been wanting to read Nabokov.

 

Reading Lolita in Tehran dosn't have much to do with Nabokov's book aside from the namesake but it is a very powerful and disturbingly real account of women in one of the most oppressed countries in the world. If you haven't read it please put it on your list. It is one of the books that changed my life and made me appreciate my freedoms as an American woman in today's world.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

We are only 2 and a half weeks away from the beginning of a new year so I have been making my list (and checking it twice... hehe) of literary goals I want to accomplish in 2010.

 

Goal #1: Read all of the books I have purchaced but haven't read yet.

Goal #2: Read more of the classics.

Goal #3: Reread my favorites.

Goal #4: Start sampling genres I haven't read or have only read a little of previously.

 

All in all, fairly simple goals. I am going to try and read 1 book a week minimum (5ish books/month).

 

January Goals:

The complete works of Jane Austen in the order of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Lady Susan.

 

As much as I love Jane Austen I have never been able to read all of her stories back to back. Hopefully this will be a good (and do-able) challenge to kick off the start of the new year!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hiya CaliLily, I see you have many great goals for next year, me likey!

 

Goal #1: Read all of the books I have purchaced but haven't read yet.

 

I was wondering how many books that might be? This was the goal I liked the best, always a good decision to read the books we buy, don't you agree :17:

 

Goal #4: Start sampling genres I haven't read or have only read a little of previously.

 

I liked this one very much too, I think it's good to broaden one's horizons and I always applaud the people who are so openminded that they don't mind trying just about anything. I hope you make some great finds :D Happy reading!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some of the best books I've read have been ones that I bought and let sit on the shelf for a few months (aka, years). :giggle: Usually if there is a lot of talk about one I will buy it even if I'm not motivated to actually read it.

 

I just finished going through both of my bookshelves and the list of unread is:

1. Phantom of the Opera- Gaston Leroux

2. The Glass Lake- Maeve Binchy

3. Little Women- Louisa May Alcott

4. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox- Maggie O' Farrell

5. The Historian- Elizabeth Kostova

6. Essays and Poems- Ralph Waldo Emerson

7. The Divine Comedy- Dante Alighieri

8. The House of the Seven Gables- Nathaniel Hawthorne

 

As soon as I finish with my January goal of reading all of Jane Austen's I will work my way down the list.

 

I seem to stick around the classics and fantasy with a little bit of chick lit here and there. I would really like to start reading some historical fiction and mysteries. One particular author I would like to get into is James Patterson. It seems like every time I am in Barnes and Noble I pick up and carry around one of his books and then decide not to get it just before I check out. I am going to make a point to actually buy and read at least one of his sometime soon.

 

If you or anyone else has a reccomendation for me I would appreciate it! The best way to discover a new world is to keep your eyes and your mind open to the one in front of you :blush:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Phantom of the Opera- Gaston Leroux

5. The Historian- Elizabeth Kostova

 

I also have these two on my TBR list.

 

3. Little Women- Louisa May Alcott

 

I dislike Winona Ryder which is why I always refused to read Little Women but this year I finally gave in and I really enjoyed it. Since you like Jane Austen, I think you might enjoy this one too, although it's more for a younger audience, and about younger people. But a very enjoyable read!

 

 

4. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox- Maggie O' Farrell

 

I've heard about this one, if I'm not totally mistaken it's been a reading circle book on here some time ago? It sounds like a really intriguing read.

 

7. The Divine Comedy- Dante Alighieri

 

I took a couple of literature courses some time ago and this novel was talked about at lengths and the teacher made it sound like it was a really difficult read with a lot of metaphors and symbolism. So my hats off to you for this one!

 

I'd say that if you've been eyeing them Patterson novels so many times you have to actually buy one sometime and get on with it! Then you'll know what to think of it :blush:

 

I think there's a thread here on historical fiction and you'd probably get a lot of great tips from there. Historical fiction is something I'd be interested to try more myself so I'll be watching your reading blog closely next year :giggle: As for the recommendations, I'll put my thinking cap on someday and see what I'll come up with.

Edited by frankie
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Phantom of the Opera- Gaston Leroux

 

5. The Historian- Elizabeth Kostova

 

 

Phantom is a brilliant book. One of my favourites and highly underrated. I love the musical also, which I saw prior to the book and it's very different but enjoyable all the same.

 

The Historian is also awesome if not a little tedious. You'd want to be REALLY into your history to not get bored, but personally it was just my cup of tea.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Phantom is a brilliant book. One of my favourites and highly underrated. I love the musical also, which I saw prior to the book and it's very different but enjoyable all the same.

 

I guess you're right about that, I didn't even know it was a book until I joined BCF. Before that I only knew about the opera.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess you're right about that, I didn't even know it was a book until I joined BCF. Before that I only knew about the opera.

 

I didn't know it was a book either until I saw it in the bookstore a few months back. The musical is brilliant!

 

I mainly want to read Paradise Lost so that I can use it as a refrence for a few scenes in my own little writing project. Hopefully it is what I am hoping it will be, but I guess we'll see. I'm currently reading Paradise Lost by John Milton and it is one of the most difficult works I have read. I can't imagine Dante being worse.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just finished going through both of my bookshelves and the list of unread is:

1. Phantom of the Opera- Gaston Leroux

2. The Glass Lake- Maeve Binchy

3. Little Women- Louisa May Alcott

4. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox- Maggie O' Farrell

5. The Historian- Elizabeth Kostova

6. Essays and Poems- Ralph Waldo Emerson

7. The Divine Comedy- Dante Alighieri

8. The House of the Seven Gables- Nathaniel Hawthorne

 

Just found one I had previously missed in my initial search :giggle:

 

9. Lolita- Vladimir Nabokov

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Books are as much a part of me as water and carbon.:blush:

 

I like how you put this, i agree, and i'm sure many others here do too :giggle:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm currently reading Paradise Lost by John Milton and it is one of the most difficult works I have read. I can't imagine Dante being worse.
I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but... if by 'worse' you mean 'more difficult', then yes it is :giggle:.

 

As you won't be reading Dante in the original, a lot will depend on the translation (my dad recommends the one done by Dorothy Leigh Sayers as the most faithful, though I myself have never read him in English), however in Italian at least the language, style and metre are fairly archaic - it's a 14th century text, and Italian is a far more rapidly changing language than English is so it reads even older.

 

Paradise Lost, for instance, reads to me pretty much like modern English, give or take the occasional word that's fallen out of use; ok the language is heightened and there's rethorical figures galore but the syntax is pretty much what it is now - so if you found Paradise Lost difficult, you will indeed find The Divine Comedy even worse, as the syntax of the text can appear quite dense. As well as that, the historical, literary, etc. references are numerous and you will need footnotes to understand how these fit into the text as a whole.

 

This is not to discourage you; Inferno (Purgatory and Paradise are the tedious ones in pretty much everyone's opinion, 'cos all the interesting people are damned :blush:) is a masterpiece of poetry, a fascinating work of theology and the amazing testimony of the conflict between the poet's Catholic faith and his empathy for his fellow human being - there's figures he couldn't help but condemn, yet you feel in his voice pity and admiration. Definitely recommended, then; just, make sure your edition is furnishing you with the best tools to appreciate it :lol:.

 

@ Frankie: 'The Divine Comedy' a novel ;)?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@ Frankie: 'The Divine Comedy' a novel :giggle:?

 

I knew that the word would come and haunt me when I decided to call The Divine Comedy as such!! You have to excuse me, it was 1 AM when I wrote that and I didn't remember what the blooming Comedy was to be exact so I just went with 'a novel' :blush:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...