Coronavirus 2020

And with that... we're going to stop going to school or work now. Enough is enough! Our Spring Break starts Saturday but it feels so arbitrary and insane to go in one more day just to make it to the official Spring Break.

Also, Kevin went to the doctor today because he has congestion in his chest, so we should also quarantine since he's sick. No one can get a test in Nebraska unless they just came back from China or touched someone that was somehow able to get the test already.

So that's that, we're not going out again except to grocery store after I pick up kids from school today.

Book Riot’s 2018 Read Harder Challenge

I finished Read Harder 2018! I put a little pink asterisk next to the ones I especially liked.

1. A book published posthumously: The Bright Hour by Nina Riggs * (2/28) 
2. A book of true crime: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote 2/19, The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean 2/9
3. A classic of genre fiction (i.e. mystery, sci-fi/fantasy, romance): City of Illusions by Ursula K. Le Guin 1/27, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin 2/4
4. A comic written and drawn by the same person: Nimona by Noelle Stevenson * 2/22 
5. A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, or South Africa): Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy * 2/24
6. A book about nature: Cape Cod by Henry David Thoreau 3/1 
7. A western: Sackett's Land by Louis L'Amour 4/5
8. A comic written or drawn by a person of color: Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, Book 1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates 3/23
9. A book of colonial or postcolonial literature: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie * 9/11
10. A romance novel by or about a person of color: Indigo by Beverly Jenkins 7/13
11. A children’s classic published before 1980: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery * 1/19
12. A celebrity memoir: Just Kids by Patti Smith 2/10
13. An Oprah Book Club selection: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, Becoming by Michelle Obama * 12/2
14. A book of social science: Evicted by Matthew Desmond * 1/12
15. A one-sitting book: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor 3/4
16. The first book in a new-to-you YA or middle-grade series: The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima * 3/5
17. A sci-fi novel with a female protagonist by a female author: Mem by Bethany C. Morrow 9/14
18. A comic that isn’t published by Marvel, DC, or Image: Quantum and Woody by James Asmus (Goodreads Author) (Writer), Tom Fowler (Artist) 9/29
19. A book of genre fiction in translation: The Neverending Story by Michael Ende * 10/17
20. A book with a cover you hate: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess 9/27
21. A mystery by a person of color or LGBTQ+ author: Shelter by Yun Li 10/15
22. An essay anthology: Freedom Is a Constant Struggle by Angela Y. Davis * 2/2,  Not that Bad by Roxane Gay 11/8 
23. A book with a female protagonist over the age of 60: The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher 5/30
24. An assigned book you hated (or never finished): Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck 7/10

Reading Resolutions 2018-2019

It's hard to check my general goals to read more of particular authors last year so I won't do it this year, but I can check some of the specific books I said I wanted to read.

Kevin recs:
Anna Karenina - Pevear translation
Madame Bovary - Lydia Davis translation
Tender is the Night- Fitzgerald
Alice Munroe Selected Stories
Flannery O'Connor Complete Stories
Lunch Poems by Frank O'Hara
Elizabeth Bishop Complete Poems
Stop Time- Frank Conroy
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munroe

Dad related goals:
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
The Decay of the Angel by Yukio Mishima
Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima
The Temple of Dawn by Yukio Mishima
Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter
The Shining Mountain by Peter Boardman

Okay, so for 2019, I want to read these:
2061 by Arthur C. Clarke
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins
Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry
The Unincorporated Man by Dani Kollin
The Magus by John Fowles
A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter
The Shining Mountain by Peter Boardman
Tender is the Night- Fitzgerald
Stop Time- Frank Conroy
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Book Riot's 2017 Read Harder Challenge

Last year, I vaguely attempted Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge, but then I forgot about it. I just checked to see how I did (mostly by accident) and I got 19/24. I might try to get back to the ones I missed (highlighted below) after I finish tackling the 2018 challenge.

1. Read a book about sports. Forward by Abby Wamback
2. Read a debut novel. Lots- Chemistry by Weike Wang and Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnet were favorites
3. Read a book about books. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
4. Read a book set in Central or South America, written by a Central or South American author. Fail.
5. Read a book by an immigrant or with a central immigration narrative. Exit West
6. Read an all-ages comic. March I, II, III by John Lewis and Saga Vol. 1 & 2
7. Read a book published between 1900 and 1950. A bunch, but let's say The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf
8. Read a travel memoir. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
9. Read a book you’ve read before. Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau (because Trump)
10. Read a book that is set within 100 miles of your location. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
11. Read a book that is set more than 5000 miles from your location. Everything Belongs to Us by Yoojin Grace Wuertz
12. Read a fantasy novel.  A lot but my favorites were Dune by Frank Herbert and The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula LeGuin
13. Read a nonfiction book about technology. Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari
14. Read a book about war. Dispatches by Michael Herr
15. Read a YA or middle grade novel by an author who identifies as LGBTQ+. Not sure. Fail?
16. Read a book that has been banned or frequently challenged in your country. Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence
17. Read a classic by an author of color. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (best memoir ever)
18. Read a superhero comic with a female lead. Fail.
19. Read a book in which a character of color goes on a spiritual journey. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
20. Read an LGBTQ+ romance novel (From Sarah MacLean, author of ten bestselling historical romance novels) Fail.
21. Read a book published by a micropress. Bad Feminist and Hunger by Roxane Gay
22. Read a collection of stories by a woman. What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah
23. Read a collection of poetry in translation on a theme other than love. (From Ausma Zehanat Khan, author of the Esa Khattak/Rachel Getty mystery series, including The Unquiet Dead, The Language of Secrets, and the forthcoming Among the Ruins) Fail
24. Read a book wherein all point-of-view characters are people of color. (From Jacqueline Koyanagi, author of sci-fi novel Ascension) The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Shakepeare Project Continued 2018

I made a lot of progress in trying to read all of these over 2016 and 2017. Here's my update. 15/38 done.

Play- Date First Performed (date read)

1. Henry VI, Part II- 1590-91  (10/19/16)
2. Henry VI, Part III- 1590-91 (4/29/17)
3. Henry VI, Part I- 1591-92 (9/23/16)
4. Richard III- 1592-93 
5. Comedy of Errors- 1592-93 (10/17/16)
6. Titus Andronicus-1593-94 (10/25/16)
7. Taming of the Shrew- 1593-94 (9/16/16)
8. Two Gentlemen of Verona- 1594-95 (11/26/16)
9. Love's Labour's Lost- 1594-95 (11/30/16)
10. Romeo and Juliet- 1594-95 (high school)
11. Richard II- 1595-96  (12/13/17)
12. A Midsummer Night's Dream- 1595-96 (3/2005)
13. King John- 1596-97 
14. The Merchant of Venice- 1596-97 
15. Henry IV, Part I- 1597-98 
16. Henry IV, Part II- 1597-98 
17. Much Ado About Nothing- 1598-99 (2004, 1/2/18)
18. Henry V- 1598-99 
19. Julius Caesar- 1599-1600 
20. As You Like It- 1599-1600 
21. Twelfth Night- 1599-1600 
22. Hamlet- 1600-01 (high school)
23. The Merry Wives of Windsor- 1600-01 
24. Troilus and Cressida- 1601-02 
25. All's Well That Ends Well- 1602-03 
26. Measure for Measure- 1604-05  (saw play)
27. Othello- 1604-05 
28. King Lear- 1605-06 
29. Macbeth- 1605-06 (high school)
30. Antony and Cleopatra- 1606-07 
31. Coriolanus- 1607-08 
32. Timon of Athens- 1607-08 
33. Pericles- 1608-09 
34. Cymbeline- 1609-10 
35. The Winter's Tale- 1610-11 
36. The Tempest- 1611-12 (4/8/14)
37. Henry VIII- 1612-13 
38. The Two Noble Kinsmen- 1612-13 (maybe not written by Shakespeare) 

Favorite Books I Read In 2017

Pulitzer Prize Update

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction:

2017) The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (read)
2016) The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
2015) All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
2014) The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
2013) The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
2012) No award... Finalists:

          Train Dreams by Denis Johnson (read it and love it!)

          Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
          The Pale King by David Foster Wallace

2011) A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (read)
2010) Tinkers by Paul Harding (read)
2009) Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
2008) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (read it and love it)
2007) The Road by Cormac McCarthy
2006) March by Geraldine Brooks
2005) Gilead by Marilynne Robinson  (read it and love it!)
2004) The Known World by Edward P. Jones
2003) Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (read)
2002) Empire Falls by Richard Russo
2001) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
2000) Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (read)
1998) American Pastoral by Philip Roth (read)
1974) Did not get the prize but: Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (read)
1961) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (read)
1957) The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (read)

Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction:

2017) Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
2016) Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS by Joby Warrick
2015) The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert (read)
2014) Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation by Dan Fagin
2013) Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America by Gilbert King
2012) The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt
2011) The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee (read)
2010) The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy by David E. Hoffman
2005) Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden ... by Steve Coll (read)
1998) Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond (read)
1974) The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker (read)


Other Pulitizer Prizes:
2010) Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed (read)
2002) John Adams by David McCullough (read)
1998) Personal History by Katharine Graham (read)
1992) Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman (read)
1957) Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy (read)

Thinking About My Dad on Father's Day 2017

It's been seven Father's Days without you, Dad. The last few years, I've been reading your books which means that in a way you are with me quite often and you are still teaching me things (economics, foreign policy, anthropology, philosophy, and physics) and even having fun with me (Cat's Cradle, The Lathe of Heaven, Anathem!). I've branched out a bit too and bought books published by some of your favorite authors after you died.

It's hard that you don't know my children- you would have loved them so much. Your namesake James even plays chess and he's not all that interested in sports. Miranda is just like all your favorite girls were, loud-mouthed and bossy. I'll do my best to try to get them to know you by following your example as a parent: playing with them, answering their questions thoughtfully, and eventually, maybe they'll read your books too. I love you as much as ever and I miss you.

Dad reading in my apartment in Brooklyn in 2010

Dad's Books:
Title- Author- Date Published- Date read

• Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed- Diamond, Jared - 2004 - Jun 17, 2017 
• The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics - Susskind, Leonard - 2008 - May 29, 2017
• Being Peace (Being Peace, #1) - Nhất Hạnh, Thích - 1987 - May 23, 2017
• The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation - Nhất Hạnh, Thích - 1975 - May 16, 2017
• Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy - Stiglitz, Joseph E. 2010 - May 15, 2017 
• Moonraker (James Bond, #3) Fleming, Ian Jan 01, 1955 May 02, 2017 
• The Soft Machine (The Nova Trilogy #1) Burroughs, William S. 1961 Apr 29, 2017 
• Cat's Cradle Vonnegut Jr., Kurt 1963 Apr 24, 2017 
• The Celestine Prophecy (Celestine Prophecy, #1) Redfield, James 1993 Apr 22, 2017 
• Worlds at War: The 2,500-Year Struggle Between East and West Pagden, Anthony - 2008 Apr 21, 2017
• Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy - Chomsky, Noam - Feb 10, 2007 - Apr 12, 2017 
• The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism - Rand, Ayn 1961 - Apr 04, 2017
• The Beasts of Tarzan (Tarzan, #3) - Burroughs, Edgar Rice 1914 - Mar 21, 2017 
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values - Pirsig, Robert M. 1974 - Mar 20, 2017 
• Salome - Wilde, Oscar 1891 - Mar 19, 2017 
• Lady Windmere's Fan - Wilde, Oscar 1893 Mar 18, 2017 
• An Ideal Husband Wilde, Oscar Apr 01, 1893 Mar 16, 2017
• Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 Coll, Steve 2004 Mar 15, 2017 
• The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable Taleb, Nassim Nicholas * 2007 Mar 05, 2017
• The Big U Stephenson, Neal * 1984 Mar 02, 2017 
• The Picture of Dorian Gray Wilde, Oscar 1891 Feb 27, 2017 
• The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are Watts, Alan W. 1966 Feb 26, 2017 
• The Lathe of Heaven Le Guin, Ursula K. 1971 Feb 24, 2017 
• Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA Weiner, Tim * Jan 01, 2007 Feb 20, 2017
• The Voyage Out Woolf, Virginia 1915 Feb 13, 2017
• Heart of a Dog Bulgakov, Mikhail 1925 Feb 11, 2017
• Angels and Insects Byatt, A.S. 1992 Feb 07, 2017 
• The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism Capra, Fritjof Jan 01, 1975 Feb 05, 2017 
• Live and Let Die (James Bond, #2) Fleming, Ian Apr 05, 1954 Feb 04, 2017 
• The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash Morris, Charles R. - 2008 - Feb 02, 2017 
• I and Thou Buber, Martin 1923 Feb 2017 
• Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1) Morgan, Richard K. Feb 28, 2002 Jan 31, 2017 [
• The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World Ferguson, Niall Nov 2007 Jan 29, 2017 
• Casino Royale (James Bond, #1) Fleming, Ian 1953 Jan 25, 2017 
• The God Delusion Dawkins, Richard * 2006 Jan 23, 2017 
• Anansi Boys Gaiman, Neil * 2005 Jan 22, 2017 
• De Profundis Wilde, Oscar 1905 Jan 20, 2017 
• When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management Lowenstein, Roger Jan 01, 2000 Jan 15, 2017 
• The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism Bacevich, Andrew J. Aug 05, 2008 Jan 09, 2017 
• The Post-American World Zakaria, Fareed Jan 01, 2008 Dec 30, 2016
• Cryptonomicon Stephenson, Neal * May 1999 Dec 20, 2016 
• The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad Zakaria, Fareed Apr 2003 Dec 20, 2016  
• The Broom of the System Wallace, David Foster 1987 Dec 04, 2016 
• Use of Weapons (Culture, #3) Banks, Iain M. 1990 Nov 23, 2016 
• Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance Chomsky, Noam 2003 Nov 11, 2016 
• The Player of Games (Culture, #2) Banks, Iain M. Aug 1988 Nov 10, 2016 
• Stranger in a Strange Land Heinlein, Robert A. Jul 01, 1961 Oct 25, 2016 
• The Dead Lecturer Baraka, Amiri Oct 1964 Oct 24, 2016
• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West Brown, Dee 1970 Oct 24, 2016
• Gravity's Rainbow Pynchon, Thomas Feb 28, 1973 Oct 17, 2016 
• I, Robot (Robot #0.1) Asimov, Isaac Dec 02, 1950 Oct 14, 2016 
• The Return of Tarzan (Tarzan, #2) Burroughs, Edgar Rice 1913 Oct 11, 2016 
• Pebble in the Sky (Galactic Empire #3) Asimov, Isaac Jan 01, 1950 Oct 02, 2016 
• Anathem Stephenson, Neal * Sep 09, 2008 Sep 26, 2016 
• Consider Phlebas (Culture, #1) Banks, Iain M. Apr 23, 1987 - Sep 16, 2016
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1) Larsson, Stieg Aug 2005 Sep 08, 2016
• The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality Greene, Brian 2003 Sep 06, 2016
• Tarzan of the Apes (Tarzan, #1) Burroughs, Edgar Rice Oct 1912 Aug 29, 2016 
• The Currents of Space (Galactic Empire, #2) Asimov, Isaac 1952 Aug 26, 2016 
• The Stars, Like Dust (Galactic Empire, #1) Asimov, Isaac Jan 01, 1951 Aug 22, 2016 
• I Am America Colbert, Stephen Oct 09, 2007 Aug 21, 2016
• The World Without Us Weisman, Alan Jul 10, 2007 - Aug 17, 2016 
• The Widows of Eastwick (Eastwick #2) Updike, John 2008 Aug 13, 2016 
• Anthem Rand, Ayn May 1938 Aug 11, 2016
• Man's Search for Meaning Frankl, Viktor E. 1946 Jul 11, 2016
• American Gods (American Gods, #1) Gaiman, Neil * Jul 2001 Jun 02, 2016
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide, #1) Adams, Douglas 1979 Apr 27, 2016 
• The Witches of Eastwick (Eastwick #1) Updike, John 1984 Apr 14, 2016 
• Codex Grossman, Lev * Jan 01, 2004 Mar 24, 2016 
• Galaxies Like Grains of Sand Aldiss, Brian W. 1959 Oct 03, 2013 
• Water for Elephants Gruen, Sara * - 2006 - Jun 06, 2010
• Schrödinger's Cat 1: The Universe Next Door Wilson, Robert Anton Nov 01, 1979 Jun 27, 2007
• Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies Diamond, Jared 1997 Jan 2005 
• Civil Disobedience Thoreau, Henry David 1849 Apr 15, 1996 
• Walden Thoreau, Henry David Aug 09, 1854 Apr 26, 1995 
• Have Space Suit—Will Travel Heinlein, Robert A. Sep 01, 1958 Jan 1993

Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon - April 2017

Wrap up time! I read 5 short books during the readathon in addition to spending time with my family at Miranda's soccer practice, James's t-ball game, and cooking out on our deck. A wonderful day! My favorite book of the readathon was definitely Coraline. I read a total of 687 pages! My reviews for all the books are below.

The Murders in the Rue Morgue	Poe, Edgar Allan	38 pp
The Soft Machine	Burroughs, William S.	184 pp
The Grownup	Flynn, Gillian*	64 pp
King Henry VI, Part 3	Shakespeare, William	239 pp
Coraline	Gaiman, Neil*	162 pp

My original TBR pile was Moonraker (which I started pre-readathon), The Soft Machine, and TInkers. The only one of those I read was The Soft Machine, so I'm going to try to wrap up Moonraker today, and start Tinkers this week.

Favorite Books I Read In 2016

These are not books that came out in 2016, but books I read in 2016. I read about 180 books in 2016, so I had some difficulty narrowing it down, so I broke it down into categories to make it more useful if people want to use them as recommendations. Here are some of my favorite reads for 2016.

Best Fiction:

The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler
Lila by Marilynne Robinson
Tenth of December by George Saunders
The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Read it for the first time this year)
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Nobody Is Ever Missing by Catherine Lacey (technically I read this in 2015)
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein (a reread I love)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

Best Nonfiction:

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari (anthropology)
The Case for God by Karen Armstrong (history/ anthropology/ religion)
The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond (anthropology)

Undeniable by Bill Nye (biology/ evolution)
The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee (biology/cancer)
The Dorito Effect by Mark Schatzker (biology/ nutrition)
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (biology/ nutrition)
The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee (biology)

The Future of Freedom by Fareed Zakaria (foreign policy)
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely (psychology/behavioral economics)

The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl (psychology)
Attached by Amir Levine (psychology)
Waking Up by Sam Harris (psychology/ mindfulness)

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (memoir/ social justice)
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance (memoir/ sociology)
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi (memoir/feminism)
My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem (memoir/feminism)

The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene (physics)
The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking (physics)

Fun Fiction:

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (SciFi/ Fantasy/ Dystopian)
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (SciFi)
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld (Chick Lit)
The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis (Fantasy- a reread but one I love)




Fun Nonfiction: 

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
100 Things Virginia Fans Should Know by Brian J. Leung

How About Those 2016 Reading Resolutions?

So this is odd, my reading resolutions went extremely poorly. Except for Personal History by Katharine Graham, I haven't read any of the books I planned to read in 2016. Maybe 2016 just refused to be "expected" in any way. On the other hand, I read more books - and listened to audiobooks- than I have in many many years. I read 189 total books this year. So I'm not making any specific reading resolutions this year, but my number goal for 2017 is 200 books. Wish me luck!

Reading Addiction 2016

https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2016/1947301

Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon - October 2016

On Saturday, I participated in Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon where you read as much as you can for 24 hours. In my time zone I was supposed to start around 8 a.m. and finish Sunday at 8 a.m. Sleeping is optional. My friend Michele came to town though, so I tried to read as much as I could before seeing her, and a little bit the next morning while she was sleeping, but I definitely did not spend 24 hours reading this time. I'm excited to try again in April!

In preparation for the readathon, I pulled the smallest books I could find from my dad's books, and a few other books that I had already started working on. I knew my pile was way too ambitious, but everyone else had big exciting piles so I wanted one too.

Too ambitious for one day.

I ended up reading three small books, mostly while riding on the LIRR to get to and from New York. The Doors of Perception and The Dead Lecturer are my dad's old books, so I made a little dent in my project to read all his books. I also read little bit of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Stranger in Strange Land (which is a re-read for me).

My three readathon books.

Shakespeare Project 2016

I am trying to read many (maybe not all) of these.

Play- First Performed Date

1. Henry VI, Part II- 1590-91
2. Henry VI, Part III- 1590-91 
3. Henry VI, Part I- 1591-92 
4. Richard III- 1592-93 
5. Comedy of Errors- 1592-93 
6. Titus Andronicus-1593-94 
7. Taming of the Shrew- 1593-94 
8. Two Gentlemen of Verona- 1594-95 
9. Love's Labour's Lost- 1594-95 
10. Romeo and Juliet- 1594-95 
11. Richard II- 1595-96 
12. A Midsummer Night's Dream- 1595-96 (saw play)
13. King John- 1596-97 
14. The Merchant of Venice- 1596-97 
15. Henry IV, Part I- 1597-98 
16. Henry IV, Part II- 1597-98 
17. Much Ado About Nothing- 1598-99 
18. Henry V- 1598-99 
19. Julius Caesar- 1599-1600 
20. As You Like It- 1599-1600 
21. Twelfth Night- 1599-1600 
22. Hamlet- 1600-01 
23. The Merry Wives of Windsor- 1600-01 
24. Troilus and Cressida- 1601-02 
25. All's Well That Ends Well- 1602-03 
26. Measure for Measure- 1604-05  (saw play)
27. Othello- 1604-05 
28. King Lear- 1605-06 
29. Macbeth- 1605-06 
30. Antony and Cleopatra- 1606-07 
31. Coriolanus- 1607-08 
32. Timon of Athens- 1607-08 
33. Pericles- 1608-09 
34. Cymbeline- 1609-10 
35. The Winter's Tale- 1610-11 
36. The Tempest- 1611-12 
37. Henry VIII- 1612-13 
38. The Two Noble Kinsmen- 1612-13 (maybe not written by Shakespeare) 

Reading Resolutions 2016

Happy New Year! This year my goal is 12 books from the below list: 3 from Dad, 3 from Kevin, 3 from friends, and 3 that won the Pulitzer Prize.

Three Novels My Dad Loved:

• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (on night table)
• Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter 
• The Shining Mountain by Peter Boardman 

Three Books Kevin Recommends:

• Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage (short stories) by Alice Munro (on night table)
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 

Three Recommendations from Friends:

• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (on night table) - Michele
• Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
• Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
• Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
• Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushde
• Invisible Circus by Jennifer Egan/ Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy- Jaime
• Personal History by Katharine Graham- Allison
• Life and Other Near Death Experiences- Chrissy
• anything by David McCullough- Sarah B

Three Books That Won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction (highlights are ones I read):

• 2015) All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
• 2014) The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
• 2013) The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
• 2012) No award... Finalists: 
•  Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, Swamplandia! by Karen Russell 
•  The Pale King by David Foster Wallace 
• 2011) A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan 
• 2010) Tinkers by Paul Harding 
• 2009) Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout 
• 2008) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz 
• 2007) The Road by Cormac McCarthy 
• 2006) March by Geraldine Brooks 
• 2005) Gilead by Marilynne Robinson 
• 2004) The Known World by Edward P. Jones 
• 2003) Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
• 2002) Empire Falls by Richard Russo 
• 2001) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon 
• 2000) Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
• 1999) The Hours by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
• 1998) American Pastoral by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin)
• 1990) Rabbit At Rest by John Updike
• 1983) The Color Purple by Alice Walker (Harcourt Brace)
• 1982) Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike
• 1979) The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
• 1967) The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
• 1961) To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• 1953) The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

How About Those 2015 Reading Resolutions

I read 24 books this years but they weren't all the ones I prioritized the most. Below is my 2015 list with the one I read highlighted:

• Gilead by Marilynne Robinson 
• Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
• Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munroe 
• Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Also fun reads (bonus):

• the rest of Game of Thrones 
• GOT 4
• GOT 5
• GOT 6 (got so boring, can't decide whether to push through)
• the third Magicians 
• Enders Game 

Using KonMari to Reduce Dad's Books 2015

As you may know from earlier posts, I had kept about 26 boxes of my dad's books after he passed away. After 4 years, I had still reduced or read very few of them. I had tried just looking through them, getting a friend to help (hi Ash!), and finally doing one author letter at a time. The last strategy was going a little better... but still really slow.

Enter Kondo. In three days, the books I chose to keep are in three bookshelves, and hundreds of books that I would not have ever read were donated. I was shocked how much clarity I had in the book selection after 4 years of being totally confused. When I look at the bookshelves they spark joy! I want to read the books, and the arrangement reminds me of being at home and visiting my dad.

Suddenly I have clarity on my dad's books! Donate! Donate!

 

Less than half the number I started with, but still, admittedly, a lot.

Okay, we still have a lot of books. We probably always will. But when I look at them they make me happy now in a way they did not before. They don't stress me or make me feel guilty. They make me look forward to pulling the next adventure off the shelf.

Authors Beginning with C

As I explained in a previous post, I'm finally dealing with the hundreds of books I took home when Dad passed away by going through them by author last name. Dad's books by authors beginning with the letter C.... not a lot of stuff I'm super excited about here.

These are the ones I decided to keep- fiction and nonfiction mixed...

This is the "no" pile.

Kevin and Ericka's previously owned fiction*

Kevin and Ericka's previously owned fiction (cont.)


Kevin and Ericka's previously owned non-fiction


My e-books, all free fiction in this case.

Any arguments in favor of some of the ones we're donating? Would you like one of those? Or against any of the ones I'm keeping?


*I left out Kevin's poetry books because he keeps those on a separate shelf and I don't want to disturb their order. Maybe I'll do an extra post about the poetry at the end.

Reading Resolutions 2015

I didn't read quite as many as I'd hoped last year, but in my defense I had a baby! Here's my shorter reading wish list for 2015:

• Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (started)
• Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
• Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munroe 
• Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Also fun reads (bonus):

• the rest of Game of Thrones 4-6 
• the third Magicians 
• Enders Game 

Authors Beginning with B

As I explained in a previous post, I'm finally going to deal with the hundreds of books I inherited when Dad passed away by going through them by author last name. Dad's books by authors beginning with the letter B was voluminous so it took me much longer than A. I actually had a bunch of my mother's Dave Barry books in this section too. And I know you can't read all the titles, but there were just too many to photograph perfectly. It's more important to push through than to have it be perfect. And hey, now I'm theoretically 1/13th done!

These are the ones I decided to keep- fiction and nonfiction mixed...

And these. Hey there were a lot of B's!


This is the "no" pile.

Kevin and Ericka's previously owned fiction*

And these... and yes we have 3 copies of the Bible... and yes, maybe we should keep them
with nonfiction but we keep them with our fiction because we like the fiction books better 

Kevin and Ericka's previously owned non-fiction


My e-books, all free fiction in this case.

Any arguments in favor of some of the ones we're donating? Would you like one of those? Or against any of the ones I'm keeping?


*I left out Kevin's poetry books because he keeps those on a separate shelf and I don't want to disturb their order. Maybe I'll do an extra post about the poetry at the end.