Can you believe 2009 is almost over? This was the first year I spent keeping up a dedicated book blog, and I've met so many amazing people and read so many great books as part of the reading challenges I signed up for in the early days of Evening All Afternoon. Now that they're all finished I'm thinking about what my 2010 reading project(s) will be. Far fewer challenges, I think (although I am planning on joining Women Unbound - and just maybe the GLBT Challenge). I'll continue with my thoughts on the Great Ideas series. I'm greatly looking forward to the Woolf in Winter readalong in January and February, and further readalongs that will follow. Other than that, I think 2010 will be a year of less directed, more spontaneous reading. Sounds lovely.
And with that, here are the finished list, with links to all my reviews. They're in reverse finishing order.
Decades '09
(10 out of 10 completed)
- 1890s: Tess of the D'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy
- 1900s: Sister Carrie, by Theodore Dreiser
- 1910s: Of Human Bondage, by W. Somerset Maugham
- 1920s: The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner
- 1930s: Roman Fever and Other Stories, by Edith Wharton
- 1940s: Delta Wedding, by Eudora Welty
- 1950s: A Good Man Is Hard to Find, by Flannery O'Connor
- 1960s: Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys
- 1970s: Sula, by Toni Morrison
- 1980s: Illywhacker, by Peter Carey
Japanese Literature Challenge 3
(1 out of 1 completed)
- The Ark Sakura, by Kobo Abe
Orbis Terrarum
(10 out of 10 completed)
I have to give a special shout-out to the Orbis Terrarum Challenge. Without it I wouldn't have met Richard, Claire, Sarah, and probably others of my bloggy friends as well (it's hard to keep track of where y'all came from!). MUCH THANKS to Bethany for putting it all together.
- Portugal: Blindness, by José Saramago
- Austria: The Assignment, by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
- Ireland: Ulysses, by James Joyce
- Russia: Death and the Penguin, by Andrey Kurkov
- Chile: 2666, by Roberto Bolaño (the Parts About The Critics, Amalfitano, Fate, The Crimes, and Archimboldi)
- Germany: The Magic Mountain, by Thomas Mann
- France: Ourania, by J.M.G. Le Clézio
- Japan: A Quiet Life, by Kenzaburo Oe
- United States: Home, by Marilynne Robinson
- England: A History of Hand Knitting, by Richard Rutt
Dewey Decimal
(10 out of 10 completed)
- 000s (Generalities, Books on Books): The Book on the Bookshelf, by Henry Petroski
- 100s (Philosophy, Psychology): Savage Girls and Wild Boys: A History of Feral Children, by Michael Newton
- 200s (Religion): Gleanings from Old Shaker Journals, by Clara Endicott Sears
- 300s (Social Sciences): The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, by Kate Summerscale
- 400s (Language): Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language, by Seth Lerer
- 500s (Natural Sciences, Math): Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads: The Culture and Evolution of Natural History Museums, by Stephen Asma
- 600s (Technology): Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages, by Anne Mendelson
- 700s (The Arts): Feminine Endings: Music, Gender, and Sexuality, by Susan McClary
- 800s (Literature and Rhetoric): Death and the King's Horseman, by Wole Soyinka
- 900s (Geography): Nathaniel's Nutmeg, by Giles Milton
What's in a Name
(6 out of 6 completed)
- Relative: A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick
- Profession: Death Comes for the Archbishop, by Willa Cather
- Medical Condition: The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood
- Building: Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons
- Body Part: The Ivory Leg in the Ebony Cabinet, by Thomas Cooley
- Time of Day: Blood Meridian: Or, the Evening Redness in the West, by Cormac McCarthy
9 for 2009 Challenge
(9 out of 9 completed)
- Long: Europe Central, by William Vollman
- Free: Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design, by Deborah Nadoolman Landis
- Dusty: For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
- Used: The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck
- Letter: Edith Wharton, by Hermione Lee
- Strange: All About Love, by bell hooks
- Cover: After Dark, by Haruki Murakami
- Alive or Not (prizewinners): True History of the Kelly Gang, by Peter Carey
- Distance: Show Boat, by Edna Ferber
You picked super interesting books for all your challenges, Emily. Like you needed to hear it from me. :D Hope you have lots o' fun thinking about next year's reading!
I think a lot of people are aiming for less structured/challenge filled reading in the new year! I know I am too!
Great reads this year!
Oh, I'm so impressed! Well done, you! And, thank you for participating in the Japanese Literature Challenge 3. It's so nice getting to know you. I hope you'll join the next time it comes around, when I host it again in July, 2010.
Yay for more spontaneous reading in the new year! I've completed 13 out of 16 challenges this year, but feel bad about the 3 that I most probably won't finish. I've decided to not do any challenges, although that might change, as some are looking so tempting. But I think if ever I do that they won't add up to more than five. I would still love to be doing read-alongs though, as they are so much fun, especially with you all.
Richard: Thanks! I thought they were interesting, but it's good that someone else thinks so too. :-)
Rebecca: I've noticed that too, the tendency toward a more open reading schedule. Good luck with yours!
Bellezza: Thank you so much! It does feel good to see them all listed out like that. And thank YOU so much for hosting! I'll definitely be joining again next year; I have two Japanese novels waiting on my to-be-read shelf already!
Claire: Yay, more readalongs! I feel the same way; it's great fun to read with the group. And I'm amazed that you even finished thirteen of your sixteen challenges! You should be feeling proud of yourself, but I don't wonder you're in the mood for a less structured year in 2010! :-)
What a great variety of books and an impressive challenge completion rate! I went for more spontaneous reading this year and it was nice though about halfway through I had to make a short list of books for directed reading because I felt so much at loose ends.
Was the Orbis Terrarum Challenge translated fiction? Frances ran a similar challenge and I had pretty much already completed it by the time I found it.
I'm not big into challenges myself, though. I greatly prefer read-alongs.
Stefanie: Thanks, lady! You made me chuckle with your anecdote about needing to give yourself a little more structure - that may be me in a few months' time! :-)
EL Fay: Orbis Terrarum was lit from different countries, translated or not (so, three of mine were originally written in English, just from the US, England, and Ireland). I must admit, the list-making and individual exploration aspects of challenges are very appealing to me, but I love a good readalong, too.
Wow, nice work. Your book choices cover such huge range! It's been pretty hard work for me to complete ONE challenge this year, but it's been a hugely rewarding experience. I don't have specific reading plans for beyond February, so I may pick a challenge to join, but like everyone else here I'm not opposed to a more casual reading year!
I just read your comment on Sarah's blog about being wary of The Savage Detectives because the plot sounded too much like On the Road, which you didn't like.
Don't worry: there are some similarities, but Bolaño is BY FAR the superior writer. There is so much more to Detectives than a couple poets running around.
Since you disliked On the Road, I thought maybe you'd enjoy this review.
What a great job you did with those challenges! I especially like the Orbis Terrarum one. I'd love to read more books from around this world this coming year. But I'm going for lots of unstructured reading next year as well. I'm doing a TBR list challenge, but that's it.
Love the thoughtful selections for these challenges and understand the need for less structure this coming year. I am in the same spot right now. Just the group reads for now lest my hobby begins to feel burdensome.
Sarah: Thanks, lady! Yeah, casual is sounding nice, isn't it? I'm looking forward to Mrs. Dalloway, too!
EL Fay: Thanks for the reassurance. Having loved 2666, I figured Bolaño wouldn't let me down by pulling a Kerouac, but the similarities were just enough of a turnoff to make me put off starting it. And yes, the SELF-ABSORPTION in Kerouac is definitely a huge turn-off for me as well; that review nailed it.
Dorothy: Thanks! The TBR challenge you're doing is another one that's tempting me...but I'm holding strong so far. :-)
Frances: Being in the midst of struggling with transforming another of my hobbies into a paying job, I'm SO totally with you on the difficulty of walking that boundary between pleasure and burden. I hope your coming year is 100% the former!