The 50 Book Challenge 2009

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Jeremy
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The 50 Book Challenge 2009

Post by Jeremy »

So in case people don't know the story, the goal is to read 50 books for the year, slightly less than one a week. Each book you read you post up here with a quick review (if you like) and preferably the page number to keep us honest. You don't have to get to 50 and you can keep going past 50 if you like too.


1. The Joke's Over; Memories of Hunter S Thompson Ralph Steadman 387pg


I've owned this book for a few years and I'm not sure why I didn't read it earlier but I wanted to read something awesome and epic for my first book of the year and as soon as I looked over my large piles of unread books, this jumped out as the obvious choice. Incredible, hilarious, gripping, satisfying and sad. It made me want to immediately buy every book written or illustrated by Steadman, but I'm trying to resist that urge for the moment. Definitely a must read for any Gonzo fans and probably even more enjoyable than some of HST's autobiographical work like The Kingdom Of Fear. Of course if he were still alive then he'd kill me for writing such gibberish.
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Post by Zac Miley »

I am down once again.

I got 34 last year.

I read most of this one before 2009, but I'll list it here:

1. Streams of Silver (RA Salvatore)
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Post by Cnick946 »

I'll get in on the action!

I too read most of my first before 2009, about half, but here it is

1. Eragon by Christopher Paolini 496 pgs

Jeremy, I too have a habit of buying a book and not reading it for a while. I'll be reading most of the books that have collected dust on my shelf.
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Jeremy
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Post by Jeremy »

Yeah you can count books you started reading last year for sure - especially since you're not counting them towards last years tally so you miss the last couple of days of the year and add them to the next year. I started reading The Joke's Over on the 30th I think (or maybe the 31st?)
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Post by Blue_turnip »

Not much of a reader but I've got a huge list of books to get through so I might as well go. Atm I'm reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Intelligent Investor.
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Post by daLai »

I'm in again too, but this year with more books :P I got 11 last year, which is not very much.
First two books will be Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe and The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow.

Good read everyone! :D
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Post by HG »

1. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
2. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
3. Animal Farm by George Orwell
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Post by HippieTom »

1. Ilse Witch- Terry Brooks
started before new year but read most of it yesterday haha
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Post by colefieldhouse22 »

daLai wrote:First two books will be Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe and The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow.
Things Fall Apart is a really interesting book. I look forward to hearing what you have to say about it once you are done.

I am going to get in on this. Starting with Entertaining an Elephant which is supposedly a really inspirational book for teachers.

I want most of the books I read to help educate me about things I am interested in, so books about education, social studies, and Spanish/Hispanic culture.
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Post by mtoolan »

I wanted to do this last year but never was motivated enough so I'm going to give it a shot. I just started Earth: The Sequal by Fred Krupp.
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Post by Blue_turnip »

Okay here we go:

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

As expected, this book rocked my jocks. I really don't have much to say except to advise others against reading any of the Harry Potter books, because they leave you with this depressing empty feeling once you've finished them.
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Post by JoshC. »

Zac Miley wrote:I am down once again.

I got 34 last year.

I read most of this one before 2009, but I'll list it here:

1. Streams of Silver (RA Salvatore)
Did you like that book? I read all of his books a few years ago. I thought they were awesome!
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Post by bigdirtyfoot »

Good job everyone! I'm still working on finishing my first book... I came down with bronchitis so reading has been giving me a headache. I wanted to congratulate everyone on their reading and to add that it would be nice if others joined up on goodreads.com ... so far it's just me and Jeremy, I think. It's got a good interface and it's cool to get reading updates from your friends.
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Post by Asmus »

I am trying this again. Hope to atleast keep posting in here for the entire year.

"Oh, Romeo" by Merete Pryds Helle (126 pages)
Modern version of Romeo and Juliet. Juliet is the daughter of a rightwinged local politician and Romeo is a refugee from Iran.
I read it for danish class

I am halfway through the next book and have alot of others lined up.
Hope to keep at it.
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Post by HippieTom »

2. Antigone- Sophocles haha for school but definitely enjoyable
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Post by daLai »

1. Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart 197p.

Indeed a very interesting book. It was ncie to learn things about the situation of African clans when it came to colonisation, I only hoped for more confrontation between the two parties - the book could have been 50 pages longer. It was also my first book from an African author, thus the first book from this perspective. The ending is indeed very tragic as the book itself is written in a very melancholic mood all the way in my opinion.
I would recommend this to everyone who's interested in a good, short read about the feelings of the African culture in times of colonisation, because otherwise I believe you'd find most parts of the book somewhat boring.
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Post by Cod »

I finished the 2008 edition with 26 books which is exactly 1 book per 2 weeks. I read total number of 8643 pages which is about 23 pages per day :). Lets begin a new year!

1. Duma Key, Stephen King, 638pgs

I started it in 2008 but finished few days ago. It was pretty interesting. Especially characters King created were really cool. I still can't say I'm in love with King's books but I really like to read them.
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Post by HippieTom »

3. Antrax - Terry Brooks very good book haha :]
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Post by mc »

I just bought The Joke's Over, thanks for the heads up, Jeremy.
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Re: The 50 Book Challenge 2009

Post by Jeremy »

1. The Joke's Over; Memories of Hunter S Thompson Ralph Steadman 387pg
2. Bottomfeeder; How the fish on our plates are killing the planet Taras Grescoe 357 pg



I think both these statements are true; ignorance is bliss and knowledge is power. I guess though, if you have enough knowledge you can use your power to change things, and I think that's even better than ignorant bliss. This book is fantastic and very conscious raising. It's already changed my eating habits. I'll post more of the technical details in the Fish topic anyway. Very well written. Funny at times, easy to read and very informative. Grescoe travels around the world meeting scientists and people working in fisheries to investigate the state of the world's fish and which fish we should eat and which we shouldn't. Pretty depressing I guess but it would be even more depressing to wake up one day with cancer and no wild fish in our oceans (based on current trends, the latter is predicted to happen in 2048 - not extinction, but the collapse of all wild fisheries). It's important to read books like this with a little scepticism, and I'm going to do a lot more research, but one of the things this book really drives home is how little I know about fish and fishing, so it's definitely wetted my appetite for knowledge (and fish). My main criticism, which is probably also a recommendation to most people on this forum, is that it's very North America and Europe centric. It barely discusses the Southern Hemisphere at all or our fisheries. Obviously if I'm to eat safe and sustainable fish, I need to do my own research. Highly recommended.
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