Book Challenge: 2012 Edition

[mendoza11]

I do believe it's that time again.

2012 BOOKAPALOOZA
(The 2011 edition is over here)

I, for one, like being able to go back and look at a list of what books I've read over the past year, and that's what this thread is for. It's also for setting an arbitrary goal of how many books you want to read this year, and then failing to meet that goal and feeling guilty about that fact twelve months later. If this sounds like your idea of a good time, then you have come to the right place.

Instructions:
1. Make a post, preferably stating a goal of how many books you want to read this year.
2. Edit that post as you read throughout the year, slowly adding to the list of books you've read. Sorting the list by month is recommended.
3. Errr, that's it.

Let's do this thang

[mendoza11]

I'm going to shoot for 50 again.


January
This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff
Pulphead by John Jeremiah Sullivan
Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

February
The Battle for Christmas by Stephen Nissenbaum
消えたマンガ家 by 大泉実成
The Shallows by Nicholas Carr
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer

March
The Noonday Demon by Andrew Solomon
Enemies by Tim Werner
New York Burning by Jill Lepore

April
Mad as Hell by Dominic Sandbrook
Masscult and Midcult by Dwight Macdonald
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

May
Rule and Ruin by Geoffrey Kabaservice

June
Eugene McCarthy and the Rise and Fall of Postwar American Liberalism by Dominic Sandbrook
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Chairs Are Where the People Go by Misha Glouberman

July
Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky
American Colossus by H. W. Brands
Magic Hours by Tom Bissell
The War Lovers by Evan Thomas
Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned by John A. Farrell
Why Trilling Matters by Adam Kirsch
The Liberal Imagination by Lionel Trilling

August
Island of Vice by Richard Zacks
American Studies by Louis Menand
1861: The Civil War Awakening by Adam Goodheart
The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro

September
Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow
苦役列車 by 西村賢太

October
The Guardians: Kingman Brewster, His Circle, and the Rise of the Liberal Establishment by Geoffrey Kabaservice
William F. Buckley, Jr.: Patron Saint of the Conservatives by John B. Judis

November
Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story by D. T. Max
Inventing Japan by Ian Buruma

December
Ike's Bluff by Evan Thomas
Rebellions, Perversities and Main Events by Murray Kempton
Last Call by Daniel Okrent

37/50

Other hobbies have been prevailing for me lately -- it's not looking good for me this year.

[muppet]

I reached 26 out of my stated goal of 50 books in 2011. Will go for 50 books again this year, definitely would like to surpass last year's total at least.
January
Dance Dance Dance (Haruki Murakami)
Exit Music (Ian Rankin)
JAMRACH'S Menagerie (Carol Birch)
Kokoro (Sōseki Natsume / 夏目 漱石) [translated by Edwin McClellan]
February
TRESSPASSERS ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD The Race for Lhasa (Peter Hopkirk)
The Silent Cry (Kenzaburo Oe) [Translated by John Bester] {Kenzaburo Oe　/  大江健三郎....Japanese title is  万延元年のフットボール　/ Man'en Gannen no Futtoboru, literal meaning is 'Football in the First Year of Man'en'}
THE DEVOTION OF SUSPECT X (Keigo Higashino) [Translated by Alexander O. Smith with Elye J. Alexander] {Keigo Higashino / 東野圭吾...Japanese title is 容疑者Xの献身/ Yougisha X no Kenshin}
Shiokari Pass (Ayako Miura) [Translated by Bill & Sheila Fearnehough] {Ayako Miura /三浦綾子...Japanese title is 塩狩峠 / Shiokari Tōge}　　
March
Botchan  (Sōseki Natsume / 夏目 漱石) [translated by Umeji Sasaki]
Tokyo Station (Martin Cruz Smith)
The Mind's Eye {An Inspector Van Veetern Mystery} (Håkan Nesser)  - Translated from the Swedish by Laurie Thompson;  Original title: Det Grovmaskiga Nätet

April

May
A History of Korea {An Episodic Narrative}  (Kyung Moon Hwang)
The Road to Samarcand (Patrick O'Brian)
The Temple of The Golden Pavillion / 金閣寺 (Kinkakuji) ( Yukio Mishima / 三島 由紀夫) [Translated by Ivan Morris]


June

The Troubled Man (Henning Mankell) / (originally published in Sweden with the title "Den orolige mannen") [Translated by Laurie Thompson]
While America Sleeps A Wake-up Call For The Post-9/11 Era (Russ Feingold)

July
Villian /  悪人 (Akunin)  (Shuichi Yoshida / 吉田修一) [Translated by Philip Gabriel]
BUSHIDO The Soul of Japan (Inazo Nitobe)

August
War Trash (Ha Jin)
Nineteen Eighty (David Peace)

September

October

November
Blossoms and Shadows (Lian Hearn)
Chronicler of the Winds (Henning Mankell)
March (Geraldine Brooks)
For All the Tea in China (Sarah Rose)

24/50

[Hart]

I'll try to redeem my self over last year's failure.

I doubt I can read 50 books this year. I'll start small and set my goal for now at 10 books. If I reach that, then I'll add another 10 books. Like last year, graphic novels and mangas will count as 1/4 of a book.

January-March
A Clash of Kings, George R. R. Martin - Completed

April
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins - Completed
Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins -Completed
20th Century Boys, Vol 01 "Friends" - Naoki Urasawa - Completed
20th Century Boys, Vol 02 "The Prophet" - Naoki Urasawa - Completed
20th Century Boys, Vol 03 "Hero With a Guitar" - Naoki Urasawa - Completed
20th Century Boys, Vol 04 "Love and Peace" - Naoki Urasawa - Completed

May
Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins - Currently Reading

June
Kick-Ass, Mark Millar & John Romita Jr. - Completed
Kick-Ass 2, Mark Millar & John Romita Jr. - Competed

July
The Walking Dead, Vol 01 "Days Gone Bye" - Robert Kirkman & Tony Moore - Completed
The Walking Dead, Vol 02 "Miles Behind Us" - Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard & Cliff Rathburn - Completed

September
A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin - Currently Reading

October
Serenity, Vol 01 "Those Left Behind" - Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, & Will Conrad - Completed
Serenity, Vol 02 "Better Days -And Other Stories-" - Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, Will Conrad, Zack Whedon, Patton Oswalt, Chris Samnee, Jim Krueger, & Patric Reynolds - Completed
Serenity, Vol 03 "A Shepherd's Tale" - Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, & Will Conrad - Completed
Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol 001 - Naoki Urasawa & Osamu Tezuka - Completed
Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol 002 - Naoki Urasawa & Osamu Tezuka - Completed
Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol 003 - Naoki Urasawa & Osamu Tezuka - Completed

November
Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol 004 - Naoki Urasawa & Osamu Tezuka - Completed
Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol 005 - Naoki Urasawa & Osamu Tezuka - Completed
Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol 006 - Naoki Urasawa & Osamu Tezuka - Completed
Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol 007 - Naoki Urasawa & Osamu Tezuka - Completed
Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol 008 - Naoki Urasawa & Osamu Tezuka - Completed

8.75/10

[Amplifier]

Gonna aim for maybe 20, gotta pick up my game.

January
   A Game of Thrones - GRRM
Total (1)

February
   A Clash of Kings - GRRM
   A Storm of Swords - GRRM
Total (2)

March
   A Feast For Crows - GRRM
Total (1)

July
   A Dance With Dragons - GRRM
Total (1)

September
   On the Road - Jack Keraouc
Total (1)

October
   Into the Wild
   The Road - Cormac McCarthey
   Some book about chocolate
   The Emperors of Chocolate
   Some uni textbooks x3
Total (7)

Grand Total:
   13 Completed

[xerony]

No idea on how much books I will read

Started with a dance with dragons by George R.R. Martin this month!

On my wishlist to read:
At home by Bill Bryson
Anything Lee Child (those silly books you can finish in 1 day marathon reading lol).
Anything I'll stumble upon!

How are you liking 1Q84 amp? It might be one of the best books Murakami wrote

[arun.yothin]

I've gotta make up for my failure last year too. 100 is a lot, but I'm gonna shoot for it again. I WILL DO IT THIS YEAR!
The hell with that. I'm going for 50.

January
1. House of Holes by Nicholson Baker
2. Lucky at Cards by Lawrence Block
3. Fade to Blonde by Max Phillips

Damn. I need to pick up the pace. I've got about 30 hardboiled pulp novels that are fun to read and easy to get through. February is gonna be all-crime month for me. I thought House of Holes would be my favorite book this month since it is so filthy, but it's a little too silly (and not in a fun way) to be really hot. Lucky at Cards ended up being my favorite, which surprised me since I picked it off my shelf randomly. I don't remember what made me start wanting to read it, but I loved it all the way through.

February
None.

March
4. Hoodtown by Christa Faust

April
5. Slave to the Machine by Aishling Morgan
6. Dutch Uncle by Peter Pavia

[Disco]

Once again, I'm trying for fifty.

January
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World - Haruki Murakami
A Series of Unfortunate Events - The Reptile Room - Lemony Snicket
Dance Dance Dance - Haruki Murakami
Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
February
This Side of Paradise - F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Series of Unfortunate Events - The Wide Window - Lemony Snicket
Dubliners - James Joyce
A Series of Unfortunate Events - The Miserable Mill - Lemony Snicket
The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton
March
The Return of the Soldier - Rebecca West
The Castle - Franz Kafka
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
April
The Moor's Last Sigh - Salman Rusidie
The Stranger - Albert Camus
In Our Time - Ernest Hemingway
May
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce
Against Nature - J. K. Huysmans
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion - Yukio Mishima
June
The Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner
Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald
July
None
August
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway

22/50

[almond]

I'm going for 50 again!! Last year I got SO CLOSE - 48.25/50... I know I can do it this time


In January, I started rereading some of my old favorite books from when I was in, like, late-elementary / middle school. Since I breeze through these, I'm counting them as half a book and I'm not bothering to list them all. I'll just list the series and the number of books from it I read. Also, the Snark Squad is hilarious if you ever read any of these (but since this is a male-heavy thread, I doubt anyone did)

January
The Lexicon of Stupidity by Ross and Kathryn Petras (a semi-gag gift from one of my bosses )
Baby-Sitters Club by Ann M. Martin - 27 books (counts as 13.5)


Currently Reading - A Short History of Everything by Bill Bryson, More BSC books

[Deft-Monkey]

I'm gonna get in on this this year!! Considering that I only read one book last year that wasn't a textbook or manga, I'm going to start off with a goal of 10 books and see how I go from there. I won't count manga series, because I read heaps of those.

January
1. Me by Mel Thompson

February

March
2. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin - fin.

April

May
3. A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin - fin.

June
4. A Storm of Swords Part One: Steel and Snow by George R. R. Martin - fin.
5. A Storm of Swords Part Two: Blood and Gold by George R. R. Martin

3/10

[EternalSkies]

Target is 50 books again.

January

23rd Dec-3rd Jan :: City of Fallen Angels - Cassandra Clare
4th Jan - 10th Jan :: Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare
11th Jan - 19th Jan :: Clockwork Prince - Cassandra Clare
19th Jan - 22nd Jan :: Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
22nd Jan - 4th Feb :: Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
February

4th Feb - 10th Feb :: The Long Walk - Stephen King
10th Feb -17th Feb :: Shakespeare's Landlord - Charlaine Harris
17th Feb - 20th Feb :: Shakespeare's Champion - Charlaine Harris
20th Feb - 22nd Feb :: Shakespeare's Christmas - Charlaine Harris
22nd Feb - 24th Feb :: Shakespeare's Trollop - Charlaine Harris
24th Feb - 26th Feb :: Shakespeare's Counselor - Charlaine Harris
26th Feb - 28th Feb :: Shadows - Amy Meredith
28th Feb - 29th Feb :: The Hunt - Amy Meredith
29th Feb -

Target: 13/50

[mendoza11]

I'm going to shoot for 50 again.

[...]

37/50

Well, that didn't work out too well.