Books 1-10 on the 50 book challenge

[marathoner452]

1. The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories-455 pages (1/455)
2. The Tornado: Nature's Ultimate Windstorm-324 pages (2/779)
3. Islam: A Short History (audiobook)-6 hours 45 minutes (3/6:45)
4. Storm of the Century-317 pages (4/1096)
5. Ordinary People-363 pages (5/1459)
6. Don't Know Much About History (audiobook)-18 hours (6/24:45)
7. The Kite Runner-373 pages (7/1832)
8. A Million Little Pieces (audiobook)-10 hours (8/34:45)
9. Tuesdays with Morrie-192 pages (9/2024)
10. Breath, Eyes, Memory-234 pages (10/2258)

43/365 days-11% complete
10/50 books-20% complete
2258/15000 pages-15% complete
34:45 audio hours

Favorites of the month would have to have been Storm of the Century and The Kite Runner. Storm of the Century because I'm a weather freak and read about hurricanes in my spare time, and The Kite Runner because it's just about the most powerful, compelling, and well-written book I've ever read. Ordinary People didn't do much for me; just no context for it I guess. The fact that the author lied so much in A Million Little Pieces says a lot about addiction but is disappointing because you don't know what's true and what's made up.

I've been flying through books so far this year, so I'm upping the ante to 100 books for the year.

~Bethany

Comments

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

I had been thinking that the 50-book goal was being conservative for you, with the rate you've been going through books thus far this year. I'll hit 50, no doubt, but you're going through them like I go through running shoes in summertime. :-) Bravo, my dear. I'll be getting to some of those 10 in the coming months, especially Kite Runner and A Million Little Pieces.

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

Where are you books-wise?

~Bethany

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

I finished Once a Runner last night and started Morrie after that. I should be done with that by Saturday, and then on to Kite Runner. So that makes...8 once I get to Kite Runner.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Even with a lot of it being false, I still think A Million Little Pieces was a really strong book. Someone was telling me that he had originally wanted to publish it as fiction but his agent pushed for memoir feeling that was more marketable. I don't know if that's really true but it matches what my first thought had been when the controversy broke out. I couldn't decide if he had gone for memoir to make it more marketable or more powerful but I really wish he had stuck with fiction since I think it's still pretty well done.

What did you think of Islam: A Short History? I keep hearing Islam means peace but I haven't read the Koran myself and I only know one Muslim family. While I couldn't imagine them being violent, the bulk of what I see of Muslim is what the extremists do and it leaves me rather confused about how peaceful their religion really is. (though to be fair, plenty of violence has been initiated in the name of Christianity too in the past)

I liked Tuesdays with Morrie and I keep hearing so many good things about The Kite Runner that I'll definitely grab that out of the library if I see it.

You're just plowing through books this year!

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

I think A Million Little Pieces would have been much better as fiction based on his experiences. If what you said is true and his agent pushed for it to be a memoir, that's really too bad because I doubt all this controversy would have happened had the book not been published as a memoir.

Wow, I could write a book on your next question. I think any religion can be interpreted as violent, judgemental and intolerant if you only listen to the news and the leaders of those groups. If you want to see what a religion really is (or at least what it should be) you have to look beyond the headlines to the individuals who do little things to make the world a better place. I think a lot of the justification for violence in the name of religion is passages taken out of context.

I'm going to cut myself off there before I write an essay. I took a class on religious fundamentalism in college, so if you want to talk further about that, let me know.

The Kite Runner is really an awesome book. You definitely need to check that out.

~Bethany

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I couldn't corroborate the stuff about whether or not it was his agent. The closest I could find was that Frey had shopped it around as fiction first and got a bunch of rejection slips. So then he (presumably) cleaned up the parts that were fictionalized and resubmitted as memoir and then it got picked up. But I couldn't find anything that nailed down whose idea it was to do that.

So while there are always nutty leaders in just about any group, how is it that the nuttiest Islamic leaders are able to coax so many of their followers into such violence so often? Is it a byproduct of being raised in a fundamentalist environment where you just learn to take the leader's words as fact? So if he says violence is necessary, you just believe him?

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

Let me read up on that and get back to you. I know what I want to say, but I want to be able to back it up.

Rain check?

~Bethany

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Sure...no hurry.