Bridget: 7/26: Deception Point by Dan Brown

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0671027387/102-6975924-6760904?v=glance

This was the other book I was reading as I was reading my "children's books" :).

Summary: 558pp. Definitely a book to recommend for those who have never read "DaVinci Code" or "Angels and Demons" (because they were better books). Still an easy to read thriller because of Brown's quick paced action and non-complex characters. Also a good book to recommend for those who like Tom Clancy-like books (likes books with detailed information on how the government works) but doesn't like ALL of the detail Clancy gives.

This was a typical Dan Brown book where you have characters who are amazingly smart and are amazingly resilient when it comes to life and death situations. We learn a bit about NASA, the NRO, and the diabolical mind of a politician. There are the lovable protagonists and the slimy antagonists. This book is just screaming to be made into a movie starring Harrison Ford or Matt Damon!

Great airplane and layover reading. Recommended.

Rich (2/26) "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut

In high school, I read my first Vonnegut, "Welcome to the Monkey House," a collection of short stories. It was really good, but then that was the time I thought science fiction was really good, too.

Then, a few years ago, I returned to Vonnegut and read his first novel, "Sirens of Titan." A bit stranger, less impressive, but one of his lesser known works. It's a passable first book.

Then, I read "Breakfast of Champions." What total garbage. I didn't even make it through the entire book. The satire was just so thick, that I got tangled up in the comic illustrations and absurdity of the characters. But, they made it into a movie. Somebody must have thought something of it.

So, here I am, giving Vonnegut another try. There was once magic in his work, and for fifty cents at a book sale, I ought to give his best-regarded work, "Slaughterhouse Five," a shot. The book was in pretty good condition, too. But, I have to say, my expectations weren't sky high.

The book was alright. Vonnegut's style is quirky, and thus disarming. He makes you chuckle at a few things and then throws in a dose of reality, the type which one normally treats with kid gloves -- but you're so used to shooting at the bad guys, that when the innocent bystander pops up, you shoot him, too. You even know it's coming, but you willingly step into his trap, because, well, you agree with the son-of-a-gun. And his creative style just serves to emphasize his point.

But, today's audience is more jaded and desensitized to be shocked by his message. I think this is the main problem; history has since one-upped him. Still, his deftness with his modern stylings put him in an elite group of writers.

Read him if you haven't already read him or Joseph Heller. If you're already read some of his other stuff, you ought to read this one. If Catch-22 was too much for you, then skip this one.

Bridget: 6/26: Kira-kira by Cynthia Kadohata

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0689856393/qid=1125442082/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-6975924-6760904?v=glance&s=books

Summary: 244pp. Also a children's book (although I have some issues with the classification). Won the 2005 Newberry Award. Feels like I am just going down the awards booklists to see what other people think is good! Great book, tissue box is a must!

Story about a Japanese family that is forced to move from their Iowa home to a prejudiced community in Georgia (because there is work there for the parents). Kira-kira means "glittering". The story is mainly focused around the three children and how they play together because there is no one else that will play with "colored" children. The family interaction is really touching.

Worth a read! Oh, the thing I had a problem with is that this is a children's book and the author swears a few times. Recommended (even for people our age).

Bridget: 5/26: Coraline by Neil Gaiman

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0380977788/qid=1125441469/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-6975924-6760904?v=glance&s=books

Summary: 162 pp. This was such a great book! I admit that it was somewhat of a children's book in the world of Neil Gaiman but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. It also won a 2005 Nebula.

This book was creepy in a Roald Dohl kind of way (like James and the Giant Peach) but still retains the innocence of a children's book :)

Basic Plot with no spoilers: It is the story about a little girl who lives in an apartment building facing the mundane life of a child with weird neighbors. She one day discovers unlocks a door that leads into a flat just like her own where the toys are better, the food is tastier and there is another "mother" and another "father" that looks just like her own. There is a twist and some sinister happenings (you will have to read the book to discover what they are).

Great book, great characters. Fast read. Highly recommended.

Bridget: 4/26: He's Just Not That into You by Greg Behrendt & Liz Tuccillo

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/068987474X/102-6975924-6760904?v=glance

I just got back from vacation and didn't get to read many books but got a few in on the plane rides.

Summary: 165 pp. This book is geared toward women but there are some men I know who have read it (ahem... swingbeat :). This was like candy for my plane ride.

The book is very easy to read because it is set up Dear Abby style. I am assuming Liz made up a bunch of fake letters supposedly written to Greg about excuses her man has made or what their relationship is like, then Greg writes a response telling the woman why she should get the heck out of Dodge.

The basic theme of this book is... if a man gives you excuses for not treating you like a princess, he is "just not that into you". My favorite words of advice Greg gives all women who are stuck in relationships with guys who are not treating them right is: "Don't waste the pretty!"

Recommended. Solely for entertainment purposes, although I think that many women who get into bad relationships could take some of this advice and run with it.

swingbeat: 3/26: Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss, 209pp.

Lynne Truss talks about punctuation in a witty and clever manner, and readers actually learn things along the way. She waxes about the decline of punctuation in society, but she's not one of those uber-sticklers - she understands that language evolvs over time.

Truss presents a history of various punctuation marks (which is more interesting than it sounds), and also gives real-life humorous examples of misplaced punctuation (some with far-reaching consequences).

"On the page, punctuation performs its grammatical function, but in the mind of the reader it does more than that. It tells the reader how to hum the tune."

Truss's style is eloquent, and the reader doesn't get bored. Did you know that punctuation was originally used in Greece, to indicate to actors when to take a breath. And that back when the Bible was written, punctuation didn't exist in Hebrew? Take look at this:

"Verily, I say unto thee, This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise." (dude will go to heaven today)
"Verily, I say unto thee this day, Thou shalt be with me in Paradise." (dude will go to heaven someday, opening the way for Purgatory).

also:
"Comfort ye my people" (dude, go and comfort my people)
"Comfort ye, my people" (comfort yourselves, people)

She then goes on and describes a punctuation mark per chapter, humorously. I won't ruin the analogies and imagery she uses to describe them (As an example: commas are sheepdogs, keeping words in their place, rounding them up, etc.) but they are worth reading and help describe to the reader how particular punctuation should be thought of as.

Finally, she talks a bit about the Intrenet (not from a Luddite point of view, thankfully), and makes humorous comments on emoticons and keyboards :). This book has taken a familiar subject to most of us and brings up some new ideas about punctuation, and I laughed aloud at some parts (British witty humor).

Recommended. Took me two days to read.

From the editor:
Most of us are off to a comfortable start on the reading challenge, with Bridget on a mad pre-school sprint to the lead at 3/26. However, reaching the goal in the long haul is of the essence here; so you marathoners, keep your pace!

We haven't heard from Ms. Ricecake or Jonny. You OK?!

A couple of us are starting school / studies soon. Let's see how this lil' race unravels....

I found myself reading for the sake of the challenge, and not for the joy itself. It wasn't pleasant. I took a step back, and have now regained my composure. How are you doing?

- K

yong : book 2/25 : Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card

This is my latest stall tactic in my ongoing procrastination of tackling Les Mis . At least it was on Wednesday. Then I procrastinated about writing up this entry for my procrastination book, all the way to today. An easy-peasy read, I'd feel a little guilty about tallying this up as a notch on my challenge bedpost, 'cept that I'd have read it anyway. I'd been waiting for this and the previous book in the series to come out, ever since the first two books took me in hook, line, and sinker.

Book 3 wasn't so impressive. This fourth one also seems to be Card writing for the paycheck rather than anything groundbreaking or truly inspired, but it's good enough to be enjoyable and fun and wrap up this series satisfyingly enough if he so chooses. Of course, it also leaves the door open for a fifth book. Cha-ching! You need to have read the first three to understand it, and you need to have been hooked by the first three to enjoy it. But if you have and you're hungry for resolution, then this is your big, tasty hamburger and fries. Nothing fancy, nothing you haven't had before, but it does hit the spot.

That said, I did love the first two books, Ender's Shadow and Shadow of the Hegemon, even more than the original Ender's Game. Rich and I had been talking about how there are stories we used to love when we were younger that we just can't read any more. The specific example we both had in mind was science fiction. (Particularly Asimov.) Ender's Shadow was one of my few recent exceptions to this. (A couple others: Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower, Joe Haldeman's Forever Peace.)

Here's a thought: If you were a precocious child, you should totally be able to relate to Card's main characters. He's pretty good at building up child characters. He also seems to be equally poor at creating believable adult characters. I wonder if he was a precocious child himself who never really grew up...

I started this book Wednesday afternoon, took a break to hang out with our challenge host Kayan and mooch a home-cooked dinner off her, then came home and read till I finished at 4:24am.

You can read the first three chapters here.

--y

swingbeat: 2/26: Windhaven (George R. R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle)

Windhaven was written by George R. R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle. It wasn't as good as his seminal work, "A Game of Thrones", but it was not bad. I blame it on either:

1. He wrote it 20 years ago

Or

2. He wrote it with another author.

Windhaven takes place on another planet, named Windhaven, where the air density is low enough such that people can fly with wings. The flyers on this planet are considered to be upper class, and they inherit their metal wings from their parents. The wings come from the remnants of the original starship that crashlanded on the planet.

The flyers on this planet are valuable because they are the fastest mode of message-bearing. There are no telephones. Sailing is possible on this world, but the seas are very dangerous because of the wind and giant sea creatures.

Given this backdrop, we are presented with Maris. Maris is a woman who was adopted by a flyer, and loves to fly. But then the flyer conceives a child, so Maris is about to lose her chance at inheriting the wings. Her stepbrother Coll, however, doesn't care to fly - he wishes to be a singer (bard), to travel the seas and sing his songs.

There are three parts to this story - it is really about the life of Maris, more than anything. The first part is about how Maris attempts to buck tradition and get herself the wings that her stepbrother eschews. I'd go into the other two parts, but to speak of them would spoil part 1.

It's a pretty good read. The imagery and story isn't as details as George R. R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones", but it's worth taking a look.

Recommended.

Kayan : 1/26 : Much Ado About Nothing

Read it online!
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare @ MIT!

Much Ado About Nothing presents two portraits of love: the dive-in-head-first, love-at-first-sight, blaze-of-glory, she-blinded-me-with-science variety; and the sophomoric, I'm-not-gonna-call-him-unless-he-calls-me dating game. Of course, since this is Shakespeare, there is deceit and misunderstanding in the progression of the former, and elbow-jabbing hilarity in the latter.

You know how, when you watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and you watch that blond chick walk into the woods, and you *know* what's gonna happen, and it frustrates you, and you know you can stop the tape or change the channel to skip the frustration, but you watch it anyway? You get that at the part where Claudio was duped. And you know how, in high school, you liked a boy, but you didn't want anyone to know, so you made up some roundabout way to ask other people whether he was at the mall last weekend? You would, like, so identify with Beatrice, OMG. How timeless!

Not having read Shakespeare since high school, I kept referring to the footnotes to make sure I was getting the double entendres. I quickly found this to be distracting, and decided to read through an act before going back to check the spots I was unsure of. This method proved to be much more enjoyable.

This book made me smile on the bus.

Recommended: Breezy
Beverage pairing: 1999 Beringer's Merlot

Bridget: 3/26: Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0380979020/002-5475172-1556832?v=glance

Still no picture...

Summary: 464p. Decided to read it because it won both the 2005 Hugo & Nebula awards. Did not know that it was a sequel. Started out to be a BIG mistake but started to figure the book out along the way. If you want to read the first book in the series, it's called "The Curse of Chalion." I would recommend that because I imagine that it would have made this book more enjoyable.

The author does not write in Harry Potter fashion. She assumes that you have read the previous books and know who the heck all of the characters are. I thought of punting this book but after a dozen or so chapters, there is a retelling of what the main character's special gift is and a clue to how this gift ties into the plot. After the retelling, the story got really good.

Basic plot: the main character Ista is trying to escape her past as well as her special gift (which gives her very cool abilities). She was given this gift by one of the 5 gods (Father, Mother, Brother, Sister, Bastard) portrayed in the story. She puts herself on a journey to escape the gods and her gifts but finds herself regifted and in contact with the gods again. Cool twist (not a spoiler), Ista is a saint who is given the ability to see the essences of the spirit world. She also has the ability to fight off demons.

Recommended. But like I said earlier, read the first book first.

Tina can read: 1/26: Madame Bovary (Gustave Flaubert)

Greetings to the group! Although I finished this book fairly recently, can this go into the book bag? I read this book because another book, Reading Lolita in Tehran by Asar Nafisi, made references to it. Madame Bovary is definitely one of those ahead-of-their-times novel, written during an era where women stayed at home, bounded by societal rules of how a lady should be, this book depicts a woman's regression, anger, passion, resentment, deceit, greed and lust after she follows the rules of getting married and procreating.

I finished this book with a sense of sadness. Her life of beauty and hope quicly turned ugly, boring and meaningless. In the end, I was angry with her character because the changes were so quick and it didn't offer the readers much explanation and hope for her character as well as our own.

I think I'm going to drop the tragic 19th century drama and go for something lighter next: Harry Potter! :)

Rich (1/26). "Henderson the Rain King" by Saul Bellow

Henderson heard voices in his head -- "I want. I want. I want!" It nearly drove him insane, even though most would already classify him as eccentric, anyways. His wife wouldn't understand or be sympathetic -- she couldn't suppress her laughter at his idea of going back to medical school. It wasn't a polite laugh, either -- it was a spew-the-food-in-your-mouth uncontrollable outburst. Sure, Henderson was an old, overweight man, but she was an odd cookie, too. So,
what's Henderson to do?

He couldn't buy a sports car either; this wasn't your ordinary mid-life crisis. Henderson didn't care about helping others, making his mark, or making the world a better place for his children. He didn't owe any one any favors -- he had made it by himself. But, the voice was getting to him.

Henderson ended up tagging along on a friend's honeymoon to Africa, oblivious to the gigantic inconvenience he was causing. He soon split from the couple (irreconciliable differences with his friend's wife) and hired a guide to lead him to the most remote village. What made him think that the answers would be any clearer there?

Henderson isn't your typical lovable loser; he's really not that lovable and not quite a loser. But, the reader is as anxious as the hero is to find the answer to that voice, "I want. I want. I want."

I did like this book, but not as much as I think I should have. It won a Pulitzer; it *must* be very good. Don't get me wrong -- I did like it. I just didn't leave with that "oh, that was good" feeling. Henderson, he's on this terrificly impossible quest, and he acts like he's just a kid trying to impress the other students in the class. A little infuriating. Maybe one of you will read it, so we can talk about it. Definitely not light summer reading, though.

yong : book 1/25 : The Keys of the Kingdom by A. J. Cronin

Around the middle of yesterday afternoon, I was ready to curse my aunt in Korea--albeit lovingly and gratefully--for giving me a lead on a book so poorly suited for powering my way through as part of a quantity-based reading challenge, and something completely inappropriate for light reading over the din of airplane engines and a hundred fellow passengers on the flights I'd be taking this coming weekend. I mean, here I was after two hours of solid reading, and I was only on page 41?! WTF?

Unbeknownst to me, she had taken up a reading challenge of her own, one that makes our 26 in 52 seem like a 5k walk. Before I even mentioned what I was doing, she told me via email that she had taken up her priest's recommendation to read 100 religious books. She mentioned two authors that she'd particularly enjoyed. One was non-fiction, and the other was this one. Sweet, I thought, as hard a time as I have finding good authors to read these days--when I was a kid, I could pick just about anything with an interesting title off the kids' shelves and enjoy it--it's nice having some leads on books to fulfill my 26 (25). The local library had them, so off I went.

Now I ain't a particularly religious fellow. Certainly not in any formal sense. So how much could I possibly expect to relate to an unheard of novel written by an unheard of Scot in 1941 about the life of a Catholic priest? You wouldn't think that'd sound very promising. You wouldn't think so, that is, if you didn't know that I have the coolest aunt in the whole wide world.

The first ninety pages of this book were not dreadfully slow. They were deliciously slow. So rich with emotion and drama, I couldn't help but slow down and savor each morsel of story when what I'd initially been hoping to do was just tip back and chug. Forced to pause between chapters and relish the taste lingering on the tongue rather than immediately move on to the next. Like after a really good movie when you just want to sit in the darkness for a while longer, not because you need to read the credits but because you're not ready to let the spell be broken just yet, need to let it soak in and digest a little while longer.

It's the story of a boy who grows up to be a priest. It's about religion and finding your way and living. It's about being true to yourself and not bowing down to the man. You can relate to it if you're turning 30 and you're starting to wonder if you're living your life alright. Or if you like Christianity. Or if you have issues with Christianity. It's about hope. It's certainly given this non-Christian more hope for Christianity.

It's really quite good.

(Fear not, fellow challengers, the rest of the book does go by a little quicker. I started the book around 10:30a yesterday morning. My reading was interspersed with a long phone call and having to go to school for several hours in the late afternoon. Got back home, made some dinner, and got back to it. I finished the last page at 4:14a. 344 pages.)

--y

From your editor:
Our Seattle competitors are fierce!
But I have a feeling us Bay-Areans are going marathon pace ;)
(right?)

I am doing the parallel-reading method, working on 3 books concurrently. (Is there a scientific term for this?)

How do you read? Discuss in comments!

- K

swingbeat: 1/26: Aloft by Chang-rae Lee

Link



I wasn't sure how to start reading this book. The author is a Korean-American in his 30's, and the narrator of the book (first person) is Jerry Battle, a caucasian 59 year old grandfather. It was hard to just think of this guy as "just another author", as opposed to an "Asian-American author". Those were my first thoughts. Plus, this book takes place in Long Island, NY, where I'm from. Even though I didn't grow up in a such a neighborhood, whenever I think of Long Island, I think of salty-aired beaches and gray skies (not necessarily a fair or true characterization).

This book starts off with Jerry Battle in his private plane, and it's just the story of his life. Really, that's all it is. He married and Asian-American female (Daisy) who died while the children were young, and he had a relationship with a Hispanic female (Rita) for 20-odd years afterwards. He has a father in a nursing home, and two adult children who have complex relationships with him. The plot takes place during a period of a few months in Jerry's life, when lots of things (good and bad) happen to him and the Battle family. His son, Jack, runs the family landscaping business that Jerry left for him. His daughter, Theresa, is engaged to a struggling Asian-American writer, and she is the rebellious one in the family. There are lots of issues in this dysfunctional family, and the author just walks us through, with a denouement that satisfies and provides closure.

To be sure, I can tell you more about the plot, but anything coming from me would sound dull and drab. The enjoyable part of this book comes from the beautiful writing. I would compare it with George R. R. Martin's, although it is wordier, but not as wordy as Nicholson Baker's writing. Chang-rae Lee teaches writing at Princeton, and there were times when I thought to myself, "if I were there, I'd definitely take his course." He constructs (there is no other word for it) his prose well, and there were various times I thought to myself, "Dang, that is quotable, I better write this down" but I never bothered because to do so would require me breaking the flow of my reading. I was amazed at Lee's ability to step into the mind of his main character Jerry. Chang-rae Lee is obviously not a 59 year old man with grandchildren, whose experiences did he draw from to create this character and to mold him and his motivations and the minutiae of his thoughts? I'd like to know how he does this - I was truly impressed.

Throughout the middle of the book, though, I found myself not being as drawn into it. Maybe it was my state of mind, but sometimes your mind just isn't prepared to read Lee's writing - e.g. if you're sleepy you might have to read the sentence twice. But if you're wide awake and are interested in getting an influx of new ideas, metaphors, imagery, and whatnot into your head, then Lee does very well in this respect.


Recommended. It's not as good as "A Game of Thrones" that Bridget reviewed below, but worth a read.

Bridget:2/26: Boundaries in Dating by Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0310200342/002-3929313-8968810?v=glance

Sorry, no picture again. I really don't know how to do that!

Summary: 280 pgs. My boyfriend asked me to read this book because he liked the book and wanted us to be on the same page when we communicate relationship issues with one another :) One of my roommates asked "Do you always highlight your books?"

Great book for anyone to read if they are in a dating relationship or if they are wondering why his/her dating relationship doesn't work. They (Cloud & Townsend) have authored many other books after their parent book "Boundaries". Basically the book talks about how to set boundaries to define us (to show what we are or what we are not) and to protect us (to keep the good things in and the bad things out). It also addresses the idea that most relationship struggles are caused by problems in the area of freedom (making choices based on own values and not on fear and guilt) and of responsibility (doing your part to keep relationship healthy but not taking blame for things you aren't responsible for).

Through the various chapters, readers are introduced to multiple anecdotes, tips, and words of advice when "dating or non-dating" people encounter various personality types that may control, strike fear, or seize with guilt. It also gives advice to those who have examined their own soul and would like some advice on what to do with the vices and bad personality traits they possess.

Recommended

Bridget: Book 1/26 : A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

Let's see if I can get this right! Rules! Okay here goes...
Link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553573403/002-0381204-2090424?v=glance
Tried really hard to post a picture but don't think I have enough high tech skills

Summary: Watch out this book is 800 pages long, font is small, and hardly more than .3" margins on any side of the page. Is the first book of a trilogy. Borrowed it from the library and anxiously waiting for the next book to become available.

The book was recommended to me by Swingbeat :) Fantastic novel. I don't know if it is classified as fantasy but it has knights, kings, and battles for power. The book is really excellent because of the quality of the writing and the character development. The characters are great because they are not easy to stereotype. You truly don't know what to expect from any given character from one chapter to the next. I also liked this book because, throughout, each chapter is being narrated by a different character (could be a woman, man, child). Martin does a good job making his characters and their complex thoughts and feelings take form as the book progresses. With the different narrators you get different angles and dimensions to story plot lines. The appendix reminds me a little of Beowulf because there is a geneology of the "various" houses (families) represented in the book.

Basic plot no spoilers: Many families going to war over ruling the "7 kingdoms". Time of lords, ladies, kings, and queens & old family histories and the nobility associated with it. Corrupt royal politics, nepotism, chivalry, romance, sword fights, references to dragons, wolves, horses. It's easy to get drawn in to the story because there is so much good content and not too much filler (like I find in some other fantasy novels).

Highly Recommended.

It's like a disease.

At least no one is upping the ante. 26 (or 17) is plenty.

One last rule:
No more rules.

I guess there are more than 3 suckers now!

Wow, I hope I can keep up with the competition!

Rules and Regulations

Now that we have a handful of challengers, let's keep this place clean.

Book Reviews
1. Format for book review title, which you are required to submit as a participant:

Post Title: [Your Alias/Name] : Book [n]/[goal] : [Book Title] by [Book Author]
Example: Kayan : Book 1/26 : The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

2. When possible, link title of book to your favorite bookseller.

3. ***If and only if you can do so neatly***, include image of book. Like this:


4. No spoilers!!!!

- K

I'm in!

Howdy all, I'm definitely in! I'm also going to be a sucker for counting the book I'm reading now: Aloft by Chang-rae Lee.

Hey Kayan, can I count the book I finished last week - The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sikes? Dang.. if only she started this a week sooner :)

As for upcoming books, besides "Aloft" I have in mind:
The Richest Man in Babylon - Already got from la biblioteca
Freakonomics - heard it's real good. on hold at the library
Harry Potter #6 - goes without saying
Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman. Of course!

Random other stuff. Hey do Graphic Novels count?

26 books in how many weeks?!

so i was innocently reading kayan's xanga post this morning. quickly scanning, i find her list of upcoming reads. of course i read on -- it is a pretty good list of books. then i get to her challenge.

gulp. did she just throw down the gauntlet to read 26 books in a year?

i am a sporadic reader but whenever i get into that mode, i read like a fiend. i'll read classics, contemporary, and works that won't make the literary guild anytime soon. ;) and here's an opportunity for me to work on becoming more consistent. and aside from the public library, i have access to a bookshelf full of books i haven't read! hee-hee!

i'm looking forward to this challnge. thanks for organizing kayan!

We Have New Challengers!

Tina and Yvonne, readers of my Xanga blog, have decided to take the challenge!

Yvonne even has a booklist ready!

Current 26-52ers beware - Tina and Yvonne are fierce competitors.

I have invited them to join this blog as members. However, I have decided to keep the title of this blog as "3 suckers" since:
- In the beginning there were 3.
- There still *are* only 3 suckers.

- K

yong : book 0/25 : In The Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami

sucker #3, checking in.

web virgin : book 0/25 : In The Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami
Gads. Never even made a real web page in my life--hell, I've been actively avoiding acquiring that skill--and now you expect me to blog?? In html?!? Madness.

But then madness is what this is all about, isn't it? I hesitated when Kayan threw down the challenge, I admit. Didn't think I had it in me. Hell, I still don't. I read, but only irregularly now. But I suppose it takes the point out of challenges if you only take on the ones that aren't...challenging. Only the ones you know you can do. Go ahead, paint me yellow and ask me to cluck.

So I'm in. If I were a betting man, I'd bet against me. I'm a reading sprinter, not a marathon man. I read in bursts. But I'm game to see just how far I do (or don't) get. 'Sides, just ain't no backing down when a woman starts talking smack. Lose-lose situation be damned, a guy's got the pig-headed reputation of the whole male gender to uphold here.

I'm taking a one book handicap by counting the book I read on Friday. I'd been reading some Haruki Murakami lately, so I picked up In The Miso Soup because I succumbed to the titillating cover blurb about the Japanese sex trade. Realized immediately that it was different, and confirmed that it was by a different translator, but I still didn't pick up until I was a third of the way through the book that it was by an entirely different author: Ryu Murakami. Story was okay, if a little overly twisted for my tastes. Felt a little ill through the first part of it, probably due to a combination of the darkness of the story itself along with my stomach not agreeing with the Polish hot dog I'd just eaten. Interesting insight into some of the things wrong with Japanese society that would lead to the current trend of high school girls doing "compensated dating," but psycho killers just aren't my thing.

My aunt in Korea just wrote me an email with a couple leads on prospective authors to read next. Maybe I'll delay Les Mis just a little longer. Walking over to the library now...

--y

Don't push me.

I'll do 17, by golly. And maybe more.

s. #2

Is this thing on?

sucker #3
testing one, two, three...

It all began innocently enough.

A haphazard challenge. To read 26 books in 52 weeks.

I didn't think anyone would take me up on it.
Very soon, I realized I underestimated the dive-in head-first gumption of my friends.
(Translate: I messed with the wrong people.)

The Pact:
K: 26 books in 52 weeks
R: 17 books " " " (so as to "enjoy" the process. pah!)
Y: 26 books " " "

Let the countdown begin!

- K