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

Top Reads for August

Not read as many books as I'd hoped, but for the best reason - family visitors.  I can't complain too much as they both bought books with them, which, as the weather seems to have turned here, will keep me occupied until the new school year.

Once again, I was trying to keep apace of my 1001 reading challenge, not doing badly despite distractions! 

My favourite would have to be Invisible Cities, which is a short book, but not a quick read. The prose is beautifully written, Marco Polo's musing on cities as told to Kublai Khan, though really he is describing one city and throughout time.  I also read Half of a Yellow Sun, a book off my long-term TBR pile and also one of World Book Night's 2011 selection,  is not just a warts and all account of civil war, but also a history lesson. I really felt drawn in by her narrative style and the story she wove, the terrible realities of civil war and very human reactions to it, the positive and the negative. I also enjoyed The Rainbow, which was strangely compelling, I say strangely because at times I wasn't sure what kept me reading. Curiousity maybe, interesting characters certainly, but also possibly because of the lack of external dialogue. I did find the reading exhausting, if that is the correct word, almost binging on a chunk of text, then having to put the book down to digest the narrative.

As is normal over the summer, I did read my fair share of thrillers, The Ghost was the best of the bunch.  The author takes as a starting point a ghost writer called in to help finish the memoirs of a former British PM, modelled on our very own Tony Blair.  This is not non-fiction, but rather a story which takes its starting point in reality, covering many current grievences - the invasion of Iraq, the War on Terror, the use of torture, Guantanamo Bay, Britain's Pro-American stance under Blair.  The Righteous Men was also good, a thriller based around a Jewish tradition of Righteous Men.  Much better than the Da Vinci Code which it has been compared to.

As for the rest, I got an Ian Rankin out the library, The Flood, not a Rebus book, but one of his earlier works, with a view to bumping that series up my TBR pile when I get back to the U.K.  I don't often get to read books set in the area around where I went to school, especially not one which shows this side of Fife life. Small town superstition mixed with the harsh reality of unemployment, Rankin brings many elements together which make up this gripping read.  The House of Sand and Fog stood up its reputation, surpassing the good film which I saw a few years ago.  It is very tensely written, showing how a clerical error causes complete chaos for an American girl and an immigrant Iranian family.  My brother brought a few books with him, all Latin America themed, I have read one so far, Bitter Grounds, which follows three generations of women through El Salvador's bloody recent history.  Well-written and informative.

Top Reads in May

I cracked on with my 1001 challenge and read quite a few. They were very varied, both in nationality of the authors and in genre. Three of my 1001 books were WW1 and 2 related. The first, Closely Observed Trains is a short 1001 book. I saw the film back when I lived in Prague, and it was pretty faithful to the book as far as I remember. A young man Milos, working for the Czech Railways under German occupation, has just come back to work after a suicide attempt stemming from unconsumated relationship with Masha. It is comic, but also full of tragedy. I dusted off Suite Francaise as part of a Librarything readalong. Suite française are the two books that Irène Némirovsky wrote in WW2, before her death in Auschwitz. The two books themselves are rather different, but as can be seen from the first appendix, the author planned to tie the threads together. This is not a book about heroes, rather this is the reality of people living in terrible times. At first, in the first book, I found it hard to sympathise with the characters, until I tried to place myself in their shoes, surely our own survival is the most basic of instincts. All Quiet on the Western Front, a reread for me, I was chosen by World Book Night to hand out the book in March, and so I read it on its way to a friend. I wanted to give out the book because, despite being written about a war which started nearly a century ago, I think it's still relevant today. All politicians should be made to read this before being sworn into office.
I especially enjoyed Burmese Days, I am a big George Orwell fan, and this is another of his good books. This is a biting look at life in Burma, the machinations of the British, Burmese and other nationalities. Diary of a Nobody was a lighter read from the list, very amusing! I have had this for a while, but it was only at Christmas that I realised it was on the 1001 list, so I bumped it up to the top of my reading pile. Mr. Charles Pooter is a nobody, well, he is no Pepys or Johnson, but he won't let that hold him back. What makes this funny is that Pooter takes himself rather seriously, opening himself up to being laughed at by others.



As for non-1001 reads, Seven Years in Tibet, I finally read it after being put off the beautiful but terribly dull film. The book is Harrer's own words, his experience in Tibet, a country which, even today, is one of the last really mysterious places on Earth. Harrer arrived in Tibet after escaping from a POW camp in India, a great adventure in itself. He writes about all aspects of Tibetan life, from life in the provinces to life in the capital, Lhasa, where he became a tutor of sorts to the Dalai Lama. Recommended.



I also read a good mystery, A Case of Exploding Mangoes. I bought this for the title, who could resist such a provocative one, especially with a great cover. I must admit, I know very little about Pakistan, and the case that the book is about, the suspicious death of General Zia, was completely unknown of by me. The book opens with an assertion of the ending, the death of Zia, and then moves back to explain how Shigri comes to be the only survivor. Keeping with the military theme, I also read Captain Pantoja and the Special Service. Captain Pantoja is ordered to Iquitos to deal with a military problem, he has to stop the frustrated servicemen jumping on the local women. His orders are to organise the "special service", where "specialists" provide "services". Pantoja applies his military ethos to the task in hand, making "Pantiland", as his enterprise becomes known, a great success. As to be expected, "Pantiland" is not universally popular, especially among the good burghers of Iquitos and the clergy. Very funny.

World Book Night - the list

World Book Night offered 25 different books, a good mix, with something for everyone.  I have read quite a few, but am taking up new Bookcrosser  LucyInTaunton's challenge to read the rest of the list by next year's World Book Night.  I have even already signed up for next year, as I think it is a great cause, and because of the bemused, but happy, look on the faces of those I gave books to.

 1. A Fine Balance

 this is on my TBR pile, I have crammed it into my suitcase and brought it back to Spain to read.

2. A Life Like Other People’s

 I know nothing about this and will have to find myself a copy.  Last year I read his book, The Uncommon Reader, which I thought was brilliant.

  

3. Agent Zigzag

  I am curious about this one, but have never read it.

4. All Quiet on the Western Front

 This was the book I gave away, a classic book about young boys sent to die in a pointless war.  Unfortunately still relevant today.

 5. Beloved

  I must admit that I didn't enjoy this, I found it tough to get into, and in the end felt it missed the mark.

 

6. Case Histories

  My second choice to give away.  I really like Atkinson's style, this is a quirky mystery.

 

7. Cloud Atlas

  I really liked reading this, some people found some of the interconnecting stories less enjoyable, but not me.  It was what made it different, the different settings took the book to a new level.

 8. Dissolution

 I haven't read this, but Mum is a big fan.  I will steal her copy ;)

 

9. Fingersmith

 One of the best books on the list and one of my favourite books.  A well-written mystery with lots of twists and turns and emotions.

 

10. Half of a Yellow Sun

 On my pile at home to read.

 

11. Killing Floor

  I think of all the books, this looks least like my cup of tea.

 

12. Life of Pi

  Brilliant prize-winning book.

 

13. Love in the Time of Cholera

Not his best book, I found it rather rambling.  I much preferred 100 Years of Solitude.

14. New Selected Poems

I don't often read poetry, but I did enjoy studying his poems at school, one of the few poets I did like.  I will look this one out.

 

15. Northern Lights

  Excellent opening to a great series.  For YA or adults.

 

16. One Day

  I read this recently, it is about a couple meant to be, but with bad timing.  Well-written, good for commuting, a weightier piece of holiday fiction.

 

17. Rachel’s Holiday

 I read this at school, and was quickly drawn in by the plot.  Told through the eyes of Rachel, slowly she pieces her life together and sees how she has affected those around her.  Very good.

 

 18.  Stuart

 I am not usually one for this kind of book, but if I find a copy, I'll give it a go.

 

 

19. The Blind Assassin

  This was my first Atwood, very well told, this inspired me to find more of her work,  though I must say I think my favourite is The Handmaid's Tale.

 

20. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

  A quirky book, with an unusual narrator.

 

21.The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

 I read this last year, a short read, but very interesting.  The effect of a teacher on "her girls".

 

 

22. The Reluctant Fundamentalist

 I already had this on my TBR pile, and have brought it back to Spain to read.  Also a 1001 Book.

 

 23.The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

 There is a copy of this at work, so will check it out.

 

 24. The World’s Wife

  I haven't heard of this one, or even the writer.  Must investigate.

 

 25.Toast

I was given a copy of this by a fellow WBN giver, my Dad snaffled it, but I hope to get it back to read before passing it on.