19 out of 111 Books of 2011 (7/13/11)

#19 in this book list is ranked in my all-time top 10 favorite books I've ever read.

# 19. "On Wrting: A Memoir of the Craft" by Stephen King

It's absolutely AMAZING. I recommend this book to anyone, even if they don't write themselves. It's way more than just a book about writing. And, in addition to reading this book, which I believe has helped me learn for my own wrting endeavors, I hope to read all of Stephen King's writing list (along with a few of his own novels, including "1408" which I watch the movie of and didn't know he wrote, and "Misery" the story that I find intriquing)..
Stephen King's book list:

1. "A Perfect Crime" by Peter Abrahams
2. "Lights Out" by Peter Abrahams
3. "Presure Drop" by Peter Abrahams
4. "Revolution #9" by Peter Abrahams
5. "A Death in the Family" by James Agee
6. "Lives of the Monster Dogs" by Kirsten Bakis
7. "Regeneration" by Pat Barker
8. "The Eye in the Door" by Pat Barker
9. "The Ghost Road" by Pat Barker
10. "In The Night Season" by Richard Bausch
11. "The Intruder" by Peter Blauner
12. "The Sheltering Sky" by Paul Bowles
13. "The Tortilla Curtain" by T. Coraghessan Boyle
14. "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
15 "Thank You For Smoking" by Christopher Buckley
16. "Where I'm Calling From" by Raymond Carver
17. "Werewolves in Their Youth" by Michael Chabon
18. "Latitude Zero" by Windsory Chorlton
19. "The Poet" by Michael Connelly
20. "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad
21. "Family Values" by K.C. Constantine
22. "Underwold" by Don DeLillo
23. "Cathedral" by Nelson DeMille
24. "The Gold Coast" by Nelson DeMille
25. "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens
26. "Common Carnage" by Stephen Dobyns
27. "The Church of Dead Girls" by Stephen Dobyns
28. "The Women Who Walked into Doors" by Roddy Doyle
29. "The Dick Gibson Show" by Stanley Elkin
30. "As I Lay Dying" by William Faulkner
31. "The Beach" by Alex Garland
32. "Deception on His Mind" by Elizabeth Gearge
33. "Gravity" by Tess Gerritsen
34. "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
35. "Furnace" by Muriel Gray
36. "A Gun for Sale" (aka "This Gun for Hire") by Graham Greene
37. "Our Man in Havana" by Graham Greene
38. "The Fifties" by David Halberstam
39. "Why Sinatra Matters" by Pete Hamill
40. "Hannibal" by Thomas Harris
41. "Plainsong" by Kent Haruf
42. "Smilla's Sense of Snow" by Peter Hoeg
43. "Dirty White Boys" by Stephen Hunter
44. "A Firing Offense" by David Ignatius
45. "A Widow for One Year" by John Irving
46. "The Tooth Fairy" by Graham Joyce
47. "The Devil's Own Work" by Alan Judd
48. "Good Enough to Dream" by Roger Kahn
49. "The Liars' Club" by Mary Karr
50. "Right to Life" by Jack Ketchum
51. "Survivor" by Tabitha King
52. "The Sky in the Water" (unpublished as of the time that "On Writing" was published) by Tabitha King
53. "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
54. "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
55. "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee
56. "Our Guys" by Bernard Lefkowitz
57. "The Ignored" by Bentley Little
58. "A River Runs Through It and Other Stories" by Norman Maclean
59. "The Moon and Sixpence" by W. Somerset Maugham
60. "Cities of the Plain" by Cormac McCarthy
61. "The Crossing" by Cormac McCarthy
62. "Charming Billy" by Alice McDermott
63. "Ancient Shores" by Jack McDevitt
64. "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt
65. "Enduring Love" by Ian McEwan
66."The Cement Garden" by Ian McEwan
67. "Dead Man's Walk" by Larry McMurtry
68. "Zeke and Ned" by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana
69. "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter M. Miller
70. "Zombie" by Carol Joyce Oates
71. "In The Lake of the Woods" by Tim O'Brein
72. "Top Speed Queen" bt Stewart O'Nan
73. "The English Patient" by Michael Ondaatje
74. "No Safe Place" by Richard North Patterson
75. "Freedomland" by Richard Price
76. "Close Range: Wyoming Stories" by Annie Proulx
77. "The Shipping News" by Annie Proulx
78. "One True Thing" by Anna Quindlen
79. "A Sight for Sore Eyes" by Ruth Rendell
80. "Waiting" by Frank M. Robinson
81. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" by J.K. Rowling
82. "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azakaban" by J.K. Rowling
83. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling
84. "Mohawk" by Richard Russo
85. "Reservation Road" by John Burnham Schwartz
86. "A Suitable Boy" by Vikram Seth
87. "The Young Lions" by Irwin Shaw
88. "The Crater" by Richard Slotkin
89. "The Illusionist" by Dinitia Smith
90. "Men in Black" by Scott Spencer
91. "Joe Hill" by Wallace Stegner
92. "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
93. "A Patchwork Planet" by Anne Tyler
94. "Hocus Pocus" by Kurt Vonnegut
95. "Brideshead Revisited" by Evelyn Waugh
96. "The Ax" by Donald E. Westlake


Read Beautifully,
--Blair

18 out of 111 Books in 2011

#18. "Old & New Testaments" by Lynn Powell

--Blair

Book #17

I just finished reading book number 17 last night.

17. Looking For Native Ground: Contemporary Appalachian Poetry by Rita Sims Quillen

This is a collection of analytical essays on the nature and themese in Appalachian poetry. I read it to supplement an interview I was conducting with the author. Fascinating stuff!

--Blair

16 out of 111 Books

Ok so I wasn't very off on my number. I've read 16 out of 111 books toward my goal. Here they are (in order of how I read them too!)

1. "Fearless" by Francine Pascal
Okay so I first read this book my sophomore year in high school. It's now my sophomore year in college. I'll admit to everyone it's a bit too childish for a college kid's reading level. But something about Gaia and her story just draws me in. I re-read it this year because I 1) moved to a bigger city which means that 2) there's a better bookstore and 3) I somehow managed to read extracurricular books and still pull off a 4.0!! Hurrah for me! Anyway, to anyone who has never experienced Francine Pascal's Gaia Moore, they need to at least read the original, first, "Fearless." If you can stop after the first, you have more self discpline than I do.

 2. "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" by Harriet Jacobs.
This book--along with about eleven others--was part of the required text for my Honors American Lit class last spring (a class I made an A in!) But I read it cover to cover (skimming is cheating!) so I get to count it on my list. I'm not a very emotional reader. I don't cry at every sad part in a book. I did not cry during this book, but crying is a sign of weakness and so I try and avoid it at all cost. Normal people will probably cry. It is a very moving book about slavery and the trecherous trek a slave attempts to make to win their freedom. If you've never read a slave narrative, this is the one you should start with. It's so well written it will leave you itching for more--especially with the era-cliche "Reader, I..." ending.

 3. "Fearless 2: Sam" by Francine Pascal
Like I said, if you can stop after the first one, you're more self-disciplined than I.

 4. "Fearless 3: Run" by Francine Pascal.
This is one of my favorites. If you have read the first two you HAVE to read this one. I LOVE the scene between Gaia and Ed in the school hallway. Ha! Now that I've brought up a specific scene you HAVE to read it. Aren't I brilliant?

 5. "Fearless 4: Twisted" by Francine Pascal
No comments. I've been sucked into this series like soda up a straw.

 6. "Fearless 5: Kiss" by Francine Pascal
I wanted to read this a.) because I'm addicted to Fearless momentarily and b) for the title. I'm into anything that's "love story-ish".

 7. "Fearless 6: Payback" by Francine Pascal
There are like, thirty of these books. How can you write thirty books about the same thing? Why not just combine it and make a mega-novel?

 8. "As I Lay Dying" by William Faulkner
Another required for American Lit but this one is...interesting. It's written in what's called a "Stream of Consciousness". I would recommend it simply so you can experience reading a book that is written the way people think-hence a 'stream of consciousness'.

 9. "Howl and Other Poems" by Allen Ginsberg
Isn't it funny how I like all these poets that are inspired by Whitman, yet Whitman himself I cannot bear to finish his book?? Ginsberg is good, I'll just tell you that. He was a revolutionary and this book was very controversial in his day. It was almost banned from America. And any book that's almost been banned from American is a book that needs to be read.

 10. "What My Mother Doesn't Know" by Sonya Sones
Ok, so my Mom actually read this years before I did, and I put off reading it because she wasn't very pleased with it (probably because she didn't want the title giving me any ideas). But now I've read it and I have to say it is PREDICTABLE! I knew from like the third poem how the ending was going to play out. That doesn't mean I didn't absolutely adore the story though (It's a love story--an absolutely sweet, well written, heart-melting love story). The book is set up poem-style, and it takes maybe two hours to read, but it is definately worth it.








11. "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher
I cannot sing enough praises of this book. I think EVERYONE needs to read this book--not just because it is one of the most well written and thought out books with an original plotline--but because it really makes you think about how your actions, no matter how insignificant they may be to you, can really impact someone. Jay Asher also has this amazing way of getting into the mind of a teenage girl in a way I would never have imagined a man could. He is a truly gifted and talented writer and I hope that I see more books from him. This book make me cry incessantly. It is definately a book I want to buy (I read it while my Mom shopped at Walmart a chapter each time we went for groceries, and then eventually I borrowed it from the library). I want Jay Asher to sign my book, and then I want to read it again, and cry all over again. In fact, I might want to cry now just thinking about it. Hannah Baker will live forever in the hearts of everyone who reads her story. When I'm a college professor one day, I will chose this book as a required reading. People need to be aware of the snowball effect.

 12. "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf" by Ntozake Shange
This book is interesting, but didn't really have an impact on me until I read crystal and beau willie's story near the end, which is told by the Lady in Red.

 13. "Generation Dead" by Daniel Waters
Although a dissapointment from my hyped up expectations from wanting to read this since high school, I still enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the rest of the series.

 14. "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner" by Stephenie Meyer
I read all the the Twilight Saga BEFORE THE MOVIES WERE EVEN THOUGHT ABOUT!!! I AM A TRUE TWILIGHT FAN, NOT A WANNA BE LIKE THESE TWILIGHT MOVIE FANS ARE. TWILIGHT WAS A WORK OF LITERARY GENIOUS UNTIL THE FILM INDUSTRY RUINED IT FOR THE LITERATURE SOCIETY. NOW INSTEAD OF BEING CELEBRATED FOR THE WORK OF WONDER IT IS, IT IS BEING SCOFFED AT!!! and ok, the sparkling vampires don't help, but at least it's a unique alterative to burning in sunlight....

 15. "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" by Sherman Alexie
A collection of short stories that all seem to revolve around the same people so it's sort of like and out of order book. It's very unique....also did you know that tonto and tonta are Spanish for silly?

16. "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
This man is a god himself. Perfectly written, beautifully creative. My only wish is that Laura....oops! I'm not one to ruin endings.