Space Station Mir

This week's topic at The Broke and the Bookish. I'm feeling the need to be a little more specific, so I've grouped books according to book club type. Most of these are books I felt I got more out of through reading in a class or would have gotten more out of through discussion. American Literature Book Club 1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 2. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville 3. My Antonia by Willa Cather Classics Book Club 4. Candide by Voltaire 5. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce Women's Book Club 6. The Awakening by Kate Chopin 7. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (a short story, but I want to include it anyway) Nerdy LOTR book club 8. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien 9. Beowulf (The Tolkien translation) 10. Everything else in the Tolkien ouevre In conclusion, who wants to start a nerdy Tolkien book club?

I missed this Top Ten Tuesday topic for The Broke and the Bookish , and this week's a freebie, so here goes. 1.Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain 2. Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War by Clive Barker 3. The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak 4. Catherine the Great by Robert K. Massie 5. Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear 6. Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisa Peshl 7. Insurgent by Veronica Roth 8. Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares 9. At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson 10. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson

4. The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen It definitely feels like an accomplishment to finish the book I've been saying I'm going to read for at least the past two years now. I will say it took me a bit to get into it, to get used to the writings and maps in the margins and connect them with the rest of the story, but once I became accustomed to it, I read much faster. Although I'm not a cartographer or a fan of maps and charts in general, there was something about the patterns and connections of T.S.' thinking that felt familiar to me. There is never just a straight narrative in my head, there are always other tangents and questions on the side, so I appreciate Larsen's acknowledgment of that aspect of how we think. I'm not much of a spatial learner, but I'm trying to develop more appreciation for maps etc. and I think the book was helpful to me in that regard. T.S. Spivet, a 12 year old from a ranch in Montana, constantly draws maps and make...

In reviewing my reading last year, there was quite a significant lack of nonfiction, and I've decided this year that I would like to more actively seek out nonfiction to read. I know I will always prefer and probably have more fun reading fiction (although I'd love to hear of books that will challenge this assumption), but I do enjoy biographies and some memoirs (not of the celebrity or gimmicky variety i.e. I liked Reading Lolita in Tehran , reading Kim Kardashian's memoir I would regard as a punishment), and I've enjoyed being challenged by Stephen Hawking's The Theory of Everything and Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene . Bill Bryson has been recommended to me, so he's on the list, and I think I would be fond of travel writing, which I've heretofore mostly pursued in article rather than book form. What nonfiction books do I have to read? Which authors will make me change my mind about the relative entertainment value of nonfiction? Which books wil...

3. Divergent by Veronica Roth In the wake of The Hunger Games , I can't help but anticipate Divergent 's popularity soaring to even greater heights. Right now, it's a slow buzz, but it deserves to grow and fans of The Hunger Games and dystopian lit with a strong female protagonist everywhere will be pleased. Beatrice Prior was born into Abenegation, one of five factions formed after an apocalypse. Those who blamed selfishness chose Abnegation, those who blamed stupidity chose Erudite, those who blamed cowardice chose Dauntless, those who blamed dishonesty chose Candor, and those who blamed aggression chose Amity. On her sixteenth birthday, Beatrice will be allowed to choose which of the factions she will spend her life with. Faction comes before blood and if she chooses a different faction, she may never see her family again. On the day of her choice, however, Beatrice discovers that she does not fit neatly into one of the categories, but is instead Divergent, a dangero...

2. The Fallback Plan by Leigh Stein I suppose it's not surprising that my mother would find it amusing to buy me a book about a college graduate who moves back home with her parents. Fortunately, that's where the similarities between my life and that of the main character, Esther, end. (Okay, that and that we're both Jewish with obviously Hebraic names). The plot, which I'm not sure exists, revolves around Esther's job babysitting for a couple who has recently lost their younger child. She befriends the mother, adores the daughter, and embarks on a vague affair with the father. As far as I can tell, the character has little depth beyond her love of the little girl, no ambition except to mooch off her parents forever, and does not change at all from the beginning to the end of this insipid production. The character doesn't even have the redeeming quality of making me want to hate her, she's simply not worth it. I don't care about her feelings on any...

1. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger I received this one from Bookmooch recently, and got to it right away since I found myself, unexpectedly, to be such a big fan of The Time Traveler's Wife . This book's plot and characters are not as intriguing, but are undeniably haunting. Where Chicago plays a role in the earlier book, Highgate Cemetery in London is the star of Her Fearful Symmetry . The author is a certified tour guide at Highgate, as is one of the main characters. Twins Julia and Valentina inherit a flat in London from their aunt Elspeth, whom they cannot remember meeting. Elspeth is their mother's twin, but the two had an unspecified falling out before the twins' birth. Robert, former lover of Elspeth and future lover of Valentina, is our Highgate Cenetery tour guide. Martin, a middle-aged neighbor whose severe OCD caused his wife to leave him, becomes a project for Julia. I found both Robert and Martin to be more relatable and interesting characte...

My reading goals for 2011 were: 1. Find 10-20 good quality science fiction/fantasy novels 2. Make a dent in my list of seminal works to read The second one was virtually ignored, so let's just forget about that. However, I promised a round-up of SFF Literature and I will deliver, although I think this will continue to be an ongoing project here. I read 16 SFF titles this year, 17 including Gloriana's Torch , which has a large alternative history element. Of these, I'm going to designate 6 books/series as part of the elusive category, "Literature." My qualifications for Literature may be slightly or even radically differently from anybody else's, but essentially I look for a distinct and effective writing style that uses language appropriately and creatively, a plot with a distinct structure (beginning, middle, and end, not necessarily in that order but present) that is appropriate to the genre/topic/characters, and characters that feel like real peop...

How many books read in 2011? 52, including The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides and The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno. I started Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger before the New Year, but finished it afterward. How many fiction and non fiction? 47 fiction and 5 nonfiction. Oops, might want to work on that! Male/Female author ratio? Not counting authors twice, I read 22 male authors and 15 female. I'm actually surprised it wasn't more even. Favorite book of 2011? It's a tough call, but I probably derived the most pleasure from Elizabeth I by Margaret George. Least favorite? A Song of Ice and Fire kind of got on my nerves. So, looking back, did Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress. Any that you simply couldn’t finish and why? If I couldn't finish anything, it was probably for a class and because I didn't have enough time. I also never finished The Origin of Species , probably because I wasn't in the right mindset. Oldest book re...