52 x 1001 Books in 2011

I've now reached my target of 52 1001 books read this year.  My final baker's dozen were a mixed bunch, but at least I got some long-term TBR's read.  It's always tough to choose the my favourite out of 13 books which have made it on the 1001 list, but I'll have a go!  Good Soldier Schweik was very funny and subversive, I need to get my own copy of it, and a few more to give to as gifts.  Unless blew me away, it had so much more going on than just a narrative.  The Virgin Suicides was another that took me by surprise, I had seen the film, but the book makes it realer, more powerful.  The one I enjoyed least, pretty much down-right disliking it was On the Road, what a load of BLA BLA BLA. 

40. Billiards at Half-Past Nine
41. The Swimming Pool Library
42. Unless
43. On the Road
44. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Penguin Modern Classics)
45. Good Soldier Schweik
46. Choke
47.  So Long a Letter (African Writers)
48. The Sea, The Sea (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)
49. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (Coronet Books)
50. The Woman in White (Penguin Popular Classics)
51 Women in Love (Wordsworth Classics) 
52. The Virgin Suicides

12 in 12 Category Challenge

Here I am again!  Another year, another challenge, The 12 in 12 Category Challenge.   I have decided to take full advantage of the fact the group allows early birds, having started my own on the 29th of September.  I move around a lot, so wanted to start when I knew I had access to a lot of my TBR pile, I have a stack of over 60 books here with me in Spain (brought over by family, friends and myself) which is enough to be going with.  I have decided to read 12 books in 12 categories, keeping track of my progress here: Soffitta1's 12 in 12.  My categories will change, they always do (they already have!), but they will contain the usual suspects: 1001 books and Asian books.  I'm looking forward to seeing which books I read, concentrating on reducing the amount of books I have sitting in the U.K., where I have over 200 books cluttering up my parents' house. 

Here are my categories, as well as the first few books I've read:
 
Category 1: 1001 Books

This is a life time challenge, so will be part of every Librarything year challenge I do until I am at least 70.

 

Category 2: Films

1. Chocolat
2. On The Beach

 

Category 3: Asia

I have a huge amount of Asia-themed books on my TBR mountain.

Category 4: Spanish

I live in Spain and will be here until at least June next year, so seems apt.

1. Tintin Prisoners of the Sun (In Spanish)

 

Category 5: Crime

I enjoy mysteries, and again I have a stack at home.
1. The Last Testament

Currently reading: The Woman in White **1001 Book, ** Group Readalong

 

Category 6: Books in a Series

I have a few series sat at home TBR - Agatha Raisin, The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Hamish McBeath, Rebus and seried by Jean Auel and Tom Rob Smith. The plan would be to get cracking on one or more of them.

Category 7: Road Trip

Inspired by one of Katrinat's categories last year. The idea is that each book comes from a country bordering the previous one, e.g. a book set in Spain followed by one set in Portugal.

TBR - provisional journey, depending on my mood, I will start this journey in Spain or Pakistan.

Spain - France - Germany - Austria - Hungary / Romania - Ukraine - Russia - Mongolia - China - Bhutan - India - Pakistan

Here's the map I'll update as I travel.
Road Trip 12 in12

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Starting point: Spain ... Fighting in Spain
Over the Pyranees to the French capital, Paris... The Lollipop Shoes
Then across the border to Cold War Berlin ... The Spy who came in from the Cold

Category 8: Fforde Ffebruary

I was very excited to see Jasper Fforde suggested on the group reads thread, even more so to see a whole month dedicated to him! Well, I have 6 of his books on my TBR pile, so I plan to read Thursday Next books as well as books related to them. To start things off, I have never read Jane Eyre, so how can I read The Eyre Affair?

Category 9: World Book Night

I took part in WBN 2011, giving out copies of All Quiet on the Western Front, and have joined the group which is trying to read all of the WBN books by World Book Night 2012. I had already read some, so am just reading those I haven't already read. As I did well in the charity shops a couple of weekends ago, even finding a WBN copy of A Life Like Other People's, I thought I'd change this category. These add up to 8, but as the next WBN is in April, I'll add from the new selection later. Check out www.worldbooknight.org for more details.

Category 10: Historical

Another favourite, I read a lot of historical fiction.

 

Category 11: Africa
Books by African writers or set in Africa.



1. The View from Africa

 
Category 12: Women Writers


Inspired by Carol Shields' Unless, there are so many great female writers out there. These will be prize winning and/or 1001 books.

1. The Sea, the Sea **1001 Book

11 in 11 Step Challenge: Final Overview

66 books in 12 categories read between June and October 2011.

Well, I appear to have a three-way-tie for the top 1001, all good, but very different. Invisible Cities wins the prize for the mst beautifully written, Good Soldier Schweik for the best satire and Unless for being the most thought-provoking.

The best mystery goes to The Little Stranger, a book which combined all the classic ghost story elements. The funniest goes to The Diary of a Nobody and the most fun to Fantomas. The most romantic goes to Jamilia.

As for the other end of the scale, the most overhyped goes to On the Road, and for promise shown that ultimately led nowhere, the prize goes jointly to The Resurrectionist and The Swimming Pool Library.

I am happy though, I gave far more 4 and 4 1/2 star ratings than 2 1/2. I found some new authors, dusted off some long-term TBR's, and had great conversations with people about them.

All that's left now is to finish my reviews :S

11 in 11 Step Challenge: Final Quarter

The final quarter of my 11 in 11 Step Challenge brought a few surprises, I was at home, so ended up reading completely different books to what I had expected.  Reading a lot of long-term TBR books, I found some gems, but a few were mediocre. 

The top books would be, unsurprisingly, the two 1001 books, Choke and So Long a Letter.  The former about a sex addict and mental health was amusing and I read it rather quickly, the latter was a short, but interesting book, Mariama Ba had a great writing style, with her work offering insight into Senegalese culture.  Basta de Historias, a journalist journey around the world trying to find out why some countries out do others in education, looking at politics, culture and education systems.  As a teacher, I found it very thought-provoking.  I also thoroughly enjoyed The Gunpowder Gardens, a travalogue following tea through China and India., while the book was written 20 years ago, it was still worth a read.  Reading The Tales of Beedle the Bard was great fun, especially as I'd just seen the final Harry Potter film.

The two most disappointing books were Shanghai Baby and  Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence, the former because it just dragged and didn't ring true, the latter because I wanted to know more, this book is too short and leaves you with more questions than answers.

11x 1001 Books

10. Choke

11. So Long a Letter

10x Crime


Already Completed

9x Films



Books adapted for the big screen, small screen and stage.

7. Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence
8. The Tales of Beedle the Bard
9. Into the Wild

8x Spanish


From Spanish speaking world or in Spanish

7. Walking the Lions
8. Basta de Historias

7x British
Already Completed

6x Asian Books



I usually read a lot of books set in Asia or by Asian writers, hopefully some from my huge TBR pile.
4. Shanghai Baby
5.Chang
6.The Gunpowder Gardens

 

5x Food and Drink


3. The Secret Mandarin
4.Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 

5.Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto

 

4x History


3. The Resurrectionist
4. The Queen of Subtleties

3x French
Already Completed

2x Short Stories

Already Completed

1x Tome
A big, fat, scary book.


1.  The Famished Road

11 in 11 Step Challenge Completed Category: 1 x Tome

A big, fat, scary book.


1. The Famished Road
A long term TBR, and exactly 500 pages long.

11 in 11 Step Challenge Completed Category: 4x History

1. Year of Wonders
2. The Alchemist's Daughter
3. The Resurrectionist
4. The Queen of Subtleties

The top book would have to be Year of Wonders, a story of the plague. Of the others, none was awful, but I felt both The Resurrectionist and The Queen of Subtleties missed the mark.

11 in 11 Step Challenge Completed Category: 5x Food and Drink

1. Water for Elephants
2. The Coroner's Lunch
3. The Secret Mandarin
4. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
5. Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto

A strong category overall. I was really happy to be given a copy of Water for Elephants, I kept seeing other people reading it when travelling around. The Coroner's Lunch, the first in the Dr. Siri series, was also very good. I'm not going to pick a worst as I enjoyed them all.

11 in 11 Step Challenge Completed Category: 6 x Asian Books

I usually read a lot of books set in Asia or by Asian writers, hopefully some from my huge TBR pile.

1. Jamilia
2. The Swallows of Kabul
3. Lord Jim ** 1001 book
4. Shanghai Baby
5. Chang
6. The Gunpowder Gardens

One 1001 book, a true classic, Jim's tale was grand and exciting. Jamilia, a beautiful love story, and The Gunpowder Gardens were my favourites of the bunch, the latter because I drink a lot of tea and also because the author's travels mirrored some of my own in HK and China.

As for the duffer, that would be Shanghai Baby, it tried too hard to be shocking and just ended up like cheap imitation.

11 in 11 Step Challenge Category Completed: 11 x 1001 Books

11x 1001 Books


1. Agnes Grey ** Group Read
2. The Vicar of Wakefield
3. Three Lives
4. Half of a Yellow Sun
5. Invisible Cities
6. Billiards at Half-Past Nine
7. Unless
8. On the Road
9. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
10. Choke
11. So Long a Letter

Picking the best among 1001 books is rather a big ask, but I just loved Invisible Cities, gorgeous narrative, and also Unless, which I just connected with in a big way (so much so, it has inspired a category in my 12 in 12 Challenge!).

As for the worst, On the Road wins hands down, I really didn't like it, I reckon it's one of those Marmite books.

11 in 11 Step Challenge Completed Category: 8x Spanish

From Spanish speaking world or in Spanish

1. Dreaming in Cuban
2. Inkdeath (in Spanish)
3. Journey to the Alcarria **1001 Book
4. Bitter Grounds
5. The FARC ** Early Reviewer Programme
6. Still Love in Strange Places
7. Walking the Lions
8. Basta de Historias

Well, I bumped this category up to 8 books after my brother gave me a stack of books. Only one 1001 book, I must do better next year. I found the Early Reviewer copy of The FARC very interesting, a good introduction to the guerrillas. As for the best book, I really enjoyed Bitter Grounds, a good story with a well-constructed backdrop. The last book, Basta de Historias, was especially interesting as it dealt with education and how the state of one country's education system affects its economic wellbeing. I was also pleased to get a copy of Dreaming in Cuban, a long term wishlist book, and it was worth the wait.