There is a reason these books are so damn popular. I hated putting this down. When I did I just kept thinking about getting back to it. I even finished the book by reading the last chapter during commercial breaks in the Michigan game. There's a reason J.K. Rowling is worth more than The Queen nowadays.
The great thing about this book is that you are introduced to so many different characters that it is easy to get people confused or forget the details about them but you just don't with this book. Now it may change a bit as the books get longer and more characters are introduced but I doubt it.
Last time I read this book was well before the movies came out. I remember thinking Hermione was pronounced 'herm-eh-win'. But now that the movies are out I not only know how to say names but I have a legit face to place with the person.
Now not everything is perfect. The one major thing I would address with this book was the ending. It seemed a bit rushed. The fight at the end could have gone longer but instead it turns into a 'wake up in the hospital and tell you what happened when you were blacked out' situation. But no worries because if this book does anything, it makes you want to read the next one. That's how you sell books and that's how you make money as an author. Bravo.
Did I have to walk under the little gateway at the library to enter the Children's Books section of the library to check it out? Yes. Was it a bit embarrassing? Yeah. but I am happy I read this book and will easily recommend it to anyone.
NEXT UP: #5 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
#12 The Catcher in the Rye
I really liked this book. This is one of those books that it seemed like I should have read in high school but I don't think I ever was assigned it. I could have been and just skipped over it but I really liked it.
It is all about the life of this kid, Holden Caulfield as he spends a few days in New York City after leaving his boarding school a few days before break and he didn't want his parents to find out so he spent his days wandering around town.
It was told as a narrative by Holden as he retells the story to us. Holden was a very odd kid that was really battling some demons it seemed like but was easily annoyed by people and also had some annoying tendencies himself. He was always repeating himself for emphasis and it seemed his favorite word was 'Chrissakes'. It got a bit tedious and bothersome but didn't take away from the book itself.
For a literary classic that it is regarded, the book had some good laughs. Holden is only 16 I believe but is able to drink at bars a few times and there is a scene where he is plastered and calls a girl he likes in the middle of the night (Who hasn't done that right? Didn't know drunk dialing dates back to the 50s.) and the conversation they have is pretty damn funny.
Overall it is a very good read that is entertaining as you follow the troubled teen as he finds his way through the big city but it all wraps up into a touching end that helps him realize what is really important in life. I would pu this as the best of the 3 books read so far.
For my next book, I break into the Harry Potter series as I want to get through all seven while the 7th movie is still in theaters.
NEXT UP: #4 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
It is all about the life of this kid, Holden Caulfield as he spends a few days in New York City after leaving his boarding school a few days before break and he didn't want his parents to find out so he spent his days wandering around town.
It was told as a narrative by Holden as he retells the story to us. Holden was a very odd kid that was really battling some demons it seemed like but was easily annoyed by people and also had some annoying tendencies himself. He was always repeating himself for emphasis and it seemed his favorite word was 'Chrissakes'. It got a bit tedious and bothersome but didn't take away from the book itself.
For a literary classic that it is regarded, the book had some good laughs. Holden is only 16 I believe but is able to drink at bars a few times and there is a scene where he is plastered and calls a girl he likes in the middle of the night (Who hasn't done that right? Didn't know drunk dialing dates back to the 50s.) and the conversation they have is pretty damn funny.
Overall it is a very good read that is entertaining as you follow the troubled teen as he finds his way through the big city but it all wraps up into a touching end that helps him realize what is really important in life. I would pu this as the best of the 3 books read so far.
For my next book, I break into the Harry Potter series as I want to get through all seven while the 7th movie is still in theaters.
NEXT UP: #4 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Monday, October 18, 2010
#42 The Five People You Meet in Heaven
I had to put this and Tuesdays with Morrie on the list. Mitch Albom is a Detroit treasure, need to support the hood. But I actually liked this book a whole lot more than I thought. It wasn't so much about religion and Heaven as it was about finding purpose and meaning in your life when it seems there is little. It was definitely a book I didn't like to put down and wanted to find time to read some more.
the story was about a guy named Eddie that has worked as the maintenance man at an amusement park on a boardwalk his whole life. During a freak accident, Eddie was killed and was sent to heaven where he discovers every person has five people from his or her life that they meet to learn five important lessons.
There were parts I found bothersome...in the middle I felt it dragged a bit when Eddie refused to understand what was going on. He was on his third of the five people and still seemed to have no clue what was going on. Seems to me that once your mind is blown with the first guy and he explains it that you just sit by and go along for the ride because it is all going to be hard to believe until it's done.But he was a stubborn old man when he died so why would he change in heaven.
What was really odd about reading this book is how much more I understood the final episode of LOST. I had difficulty wrapping my head around some of the themes and meanings of the end of that show but this book gave me some supplemental information that helped connect the dots.
Overall the book is definitely worth a read. It's not too long and reads really quick. It is written with a chopped up style that is entertaining and keeps you engaged.I'm excited to get to Tuesdays with Morrie since that is supposed to be Albom's best work. I'm starting to enjoy this challenge, who knew reading could be fun? Does Pizza Hut still have their reading for pizza program?
Next up on the list will be #12 The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger.
the story was about a guy named Eddie that has worked as the maintenance man at an amusement park on a boardwalk his whole life. During a freak accident, Eddie was killed and was sent to heaven where he discovers every person has five people from his or her life that they meet to learn five important lessons.
There were parts I found bothersome...in the middle I felt it dragged a bit when Eddie refused to understand what was going on. He was on his third of the five people and still seemed to have no clue what was going on. Seems to me that once your mind is blown with the first guy and he explains it that you just sit by and go along for the ride because it is all going to be hard to believe until it's done.But he was a stubborn old man when he died so why would he change in heaven.
What was really odd about reading this book is how much more I understood the final episode of LOST. I had difficulty wrapping my head around some of the themes and meanings of the end of that show but this book gave me some supplemental information that helped connect the dots.
Overall the book is definitely worth a read. It's not too long and reads really quick. It is written with a chopped up style that is entertaining and keeps you engaged.I'm excited to get to Tuesdays with Morrie since that is supposed to be Albom's best work. I'm starting to enjoy this challenge, who knew reading could be fun? Does Pizza Hut still have their reading for pizza program?
Next up on the list will be #12 The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
#1 The Great Gatsby
This is book was unanimously listed as a top ten book of all time. A perfect masterpiece if you go by the reviews on the back. And I have to say that I enjoyed it. Was it a good read? Yeah. Did it change my life? No.
It's been a long time since I read seriously so maybe this is as good as it gets. I will have a better idea in a few weeks.
The thing I kept thinking as I read the book is what genre does this fall under? It's not a mystery or a thriller or a drama. Do books even have genres like that? Anyways, it was just a nice twisted tale of hidden, long lost love and mistaken identities. It has a mysterious wealthy character (who is NOT a magician after all) who throws lavish parties just for the small chance his lost love stumbles in.
The main character Nick Carraway just sees to be an innocent soul who is okay with his struggle through life that just gets entangled in the problems of the wealthy. He ends up seeing and learning things he never thought he would and probably having one of the most unpredictable summers anybody has ever endured.
The book was good. It kept my attention and I kept having the little deja vu moments as I read that took me back to 9th grade as I skimmed through the pages hoping to buzz by some of the quiz questions.
Instantly made me happy I started this challenge. Good start.
Next on the List: 5 People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom.
It's been a long time since I read seriously so maybe this is as good as it gets. I will have a better idea in a few weeks.
The thing I kept thinking as I read the book is what genre does this fall under? It's not a mystery or a thriller or a drama. Do books even have genres like that? Anyways, it was just a nice twisted tale of hidden, long lost love and mistaken identities. It has a mysterious wealthy character (who is NOT a magician after all) who throws lavish parties just for the small chance his lost love stumbles in.
The main character Nick Carraway just sees to be an innocent soul who is okay with his struggle through life that just gets entangled in the problems of the wealthy. He ends up seeing and learning things he never thought he would and probably having one of the most unpredictable summers anybody has ever endured.
The book was good. It kept my attention and I kept having the little deja vu moments as I read that took me back to 9th grade as I skimmed through the pages hoping to buzz by some of the quiz questions.
Instantly made me happy I started this challenge. Good start.
Next on the List: 5 People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom.
The 50 Books
Again, I will not be reading them in order....
The 50 Books
1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
5. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
7. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
8. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
9. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows by J.K. Rowling
11. 1984 by George Orwell
12. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
13. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
14. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
15. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
16. Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
17. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
18. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
19. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
20. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
21. Animal Farm by George Orwell
22. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
23. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
24. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
25. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
26. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
27. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
28. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
29. 9 Stories by JD Salinger
30. Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
31. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
32. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
33. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
34. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
35. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
36. Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
37. The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
38. The Shining by Stephen King
39. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
40. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
41. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
42. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
43. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
44. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
45. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
46. Night by Elie Wiesel
47. Dune by Frank Herbert
48. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
49. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
50. The Giver by Lois Lowry
First up is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald because it inspired the whole idea.
The 50 Books
1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
5. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
7. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
8. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
9. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows by J.K. Rowling
11. 1984 by George Orwell
12. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
13. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
14. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
15. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
16. Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
17. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
18. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
19. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
20. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
21. Animal Farm by George Orwell
22. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
23. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
24. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
25. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
26. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
27. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
28. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
29. 9 Stories by JD Salinger
30. Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
31. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
32. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
33. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
34. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
35. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
36. Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
37. The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
38. The Shining by Stephen King
39. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
40. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
41. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
42. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
43. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
44. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
45. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
46. Night by Elie Wiesel
47. Dune by Frank Herbert
48. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
49. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
50. The Giver by Lois Lowry
First up is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald because it inspired the whole idea.
And so it begins....
I was watching the HBO series 'Boardwalk Empire' last week and realized I loved the era. The 1920s seemed so interesting. That lead me to remember reading The Great Gatsby in 9th grade. I wanted to read it again. That lead to me thinking I need to read more. Which then lead me to the idea to make a list of 50 books and I will not stop until I have read them all. Sounds fun, doesn't it?
To compile the list I googled 'best books of all time', 'american classics', 'best books of the decade', books I must read'...things like that. I took some of the common answers between them and added books I wanted to read again (The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies), books I have always wanted to read (Catcher in the Rye, Catch-22) and books that are popular nowadays (Twilight, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).
Did any of you have the Accelerated Reader program in your school? We did in elementary and middle school. You read books and then afterward took a quiz and you got points for how many you got right. The books were ranked by how difficult they were to read with the points. Most books were 8-10 points, Jane Eyre was like 65. Ahhh, 6th grade. THAT was the last time I read seriously.
So I figured with this blog I will read the book and then write what I thought about it. I have them in numbered order but won't read them that way but will probably read series' together. If you keep coming back and reading my posts, great! If not, I don't mind. I just think having something like this will help me focus on the book and stay committed to the list.
I don't promise being very thorough with my reviews because I'm just not smart enough to read into the themes and such...I will just post what I liked and what I didn't and maybe if I recommend it.
The next post will be the book list. If you have any books I should add or maybe one on the list that I should avoid....let me know. I won't get mad.
To compile the list I googled 'best books of all time', 'american classics', 'best books of the decade', books I must read'...things like that. I took some of the common answers between them and added books I wanted to read again (The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies), books I have always wanted to read (Catcher in the Rye, Catch-22) and books that are popular nowadays (Twilight, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).
Did any of you have the Accelerated Reader program in your school? We did in elementary and middle school. You read books and then afterward took a quiz and you got points for how many you got right. The books were ranked by how difficult they were to read with the points. Most books were 8-10 points, Jane Eyre was like 65. Ahhh, 6th grade. THAT was the last time I read seriously.
So I figured with this blog I will read the book and then write what I thought about it. I have them in numbered order but won't read them that way but will probably read series' together. If you keep coming back and reading my posts, great! If not, I don't mind. I just think having something like this will help me focus on the book and stay committed to the list.
I don't promise being very thorough with my reviews because I'm just not smart enough to read into the themes and such...I will just post what I liked and what I didn't and maybe if I recommend it.
The next post will be the book list. If you have any books I should add or maybe one on the list that I should avoid....let me know. I won't get mad.
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