Wk18: Catch-up

I used this week to finish John Dies at the End and ran out of time to start a new book consequentially.  Oops.

Wk17: Little Black Sambo

Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman was unique.  First, I did not know this book was a children's book.  Second, I did not know it was illustrated.  The book is a very fast read as it is only 40 odd pages.  I read the free Gutenberg EPUB illustrated version (gutenberg.org) on my Nook and of the 11 total pages, six were for copyright information. 
I was unaware of what kind of book Little Black Sambo was going to be and I assumed it would be a novel that addressed race issues in some way.  While I am sure there are many topics and motifs that can be analyzed and studied, the straightforward and simplistic nature of this book's genre makes them dependent on the reader.  More than anything, I think the book is a child's parable that holds a life lesson.  A (very) quick read that that has taught me nothing new.

Wk16: The Brothers Karamazov

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevksy is a long Russian novel that I was unable to finish within the week.  It starts out slow, but I hope the story can build on that and get some momentum. 

Wk15: SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE

SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by KURT VONNEGUT turned out to be an interesting read.  I don't think I knew what I was getting into.  I will have to reread it, but it is interesting enough to warrant.  The story is odd, but in an author-wants-it-to-be way.  I can see why so many people have read this book to study as the question topics are nearly limitless.  I wouldn't teach the book, but I'd recommend it. 

WK14: John Dies at the End

John Dies at the End by David Wong is interesting, but I'm not sure how.  The book is written for a college-party audience and is out there enough to be appealing.  The story doesn't really pull you in and the story gets bogged down by the author being and author.  I didn't finish it on time, but I will finish it to see what happens at the end; the story is engrossing enough for that.

FINISHED: 5/6/11
John Dies at the End is very wordy.  While the author paints a very descriptive picture, the extra details become tedious and slow the story down.  I can visualize the scene,awesome; continue the story.  The novel is broken into three connected stories that move well on their own and are complementary in way that doesn't stop and restart between focuses.  The story line was initially a web-book back in-the-day so I think the extra illustration was to bring the reader back between postings.  Great for a short story, but unnecessary with a longer book.  This book stands on its own, though I think a sequel is in the works and I can see an easy connection into that.  I'll read the sequel to see what happens. 

Wk13: Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe is one of those book I have always wanted to read, but never got around to it.  Unfortunately, I could not finish it in a week.  The story turned out to be me more than I had expected and I did not want to skim through it to just knock it out.  I also downloaded the Google Books version through Barnes & Nobles so that it would transfer to my Nook wirelessly.  Usually this method works well, but the scanning software Google used added characters and changed the formatting.  The story is still there, but it is more difficult to read.  Next time I will just use the Project Gutenberg version and transfer it to my Nook with the cable. 

Wk12: The Big Short

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine is very interesting, though rather dense.  I want to understand the financial crisis and this good has the data and insight to help me do that.  The problem is that I cannot skim the book; luckily, I do not want to do that either.  I need to digest the numbers and and try and look at them in a "big-picture" context.  The author also references studies and memos that I want to consider on my own.  I've found a few of those memos, and those are just as thick and interesting.  This book turned out to be a multi-weeker as I am not finished.

Wk11: The Year of Living Biblically

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A. J. Jacobs is an interesting concept and liked his attitude towards the challenge.  I, however, have yet to finish this book.  I was going to take it to read on a cross-country flight, but of course I forgot it at home.  I lapsed on my week during my trip and this book has now been relegated to the "to do" pile.

Wk10: Skip

My brothers came out for Spring Break and nothing productive on the reading front got accomplished.  We did a lot of course.  We went to the beach, but didn't swim.  We went snowboarding when the temperature was in the 50s.  We even made it out to the Pac-10 Basketball Tournament.  If you add in drinking and bar hopping during the evenings, you can see they didn't leave me much time to read.  This week is just a skip and I'll try to pick up the on Sunday. 

Wk9: Catch-up

I'm calling this week a "catch-up" week. I drove back to Arizona for my brothers 21st birthday and I didn't have too much time to read. I tried to go through my pile of started books, but I didn't get too far. Too much fun socializing and not enough reading. I did finish The Bell Jar, though. 

Wk8: The Bell Jar - Failed

The Bell Jar turned out to be my first failed book.  I started it, but I couldn't finish it on time.  I tried, thought that just isn't good enough.  For shame. . .

Update: The book is finished as of the next week, 3/4/11.

Wk7: Picture of Naked People

Naked Pictures of Famous People is an easy and fun read, but it is more of a bathroom reader than anything else.  I liked how the stories are not related so I could skip around the chapters at will.  I always liked reading from the last few parts of a book and then meeting in the middle when I start from the beginning.  That method seems to changes the reading scenery if-you-will.  The stories are silly and embracing to think about, but not plausible or serious.  I only needed to read it once, though if I had this book on a flight and nothing else to do, I'd reread parts. 

Wk6: Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Oh, I was not in the mood to read this week.  I really liked Water for Elephants and I think I have post-good-book-burnout (PGBB).  I tried to knockout Heart of Darkness, but I had trouble finishing it on time.  I even thumbed through Brave New World, but I couldn't find my groove.  Once either of these are done, I'll count them as a book read this year, but not this week.  I tried, but I really just wanted to veg out and watch TV instead.

Wk5: Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants is a great book.  I meet an Australian school teacher that recommended this book while we were in Vietnam and I'm glad he did because this became an instant classic for me and I will keep it to be reread.  The chapters flew-by as the story was so engrossing and left me wanting more.  Because the story goes back and forth between an old man recanting his youth and his present day, I was afraid that this book was going to go Nicholas Sparks The Notebook on me and end with a sappy, touchy-feely, love story.  While there is a romance in the main characters history, it ends well and the book stays upbeat and triumphant.  I've never been to a circus, that I remember, and I may have to see what all the hub-bub is about now.  The story was great, the characters kept me enthralled, and the experience left me wanting more rather than hoping it would end.  A great read. 

Wk4: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time turned out to be an interesting and fun read.  The plot was about an autistic teen that is writing a story about his neighbor's murdered dog.  Throughout the book, the main character described his life and surroundings through his eyes as he investigated the crime.  At times I was worried for the character as it felt like he was letting me into his troublesome life.  The book was clever and eyeopening at the same time.  I think this book could even become a reread. 

Wk3: Think and Grow Rich

Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill turned out to be a different kind of book than I expected, and I still liked it.  I thought this book would be more like a business textbook that gives examples about investing or running a business.  Instead, this book was more like a personal, self-help book. 
Hill wrote the book during the Great Depression and as such, he focuses on getting people back into the proper mindset to be successful.  Without detailing what kind of companies or corporate strategies are successful, he implies that anyone can be financially successful as long as they really want to be.  Using anecdotal evidence of rich individuals from the early 20th century, Hill lists attributes that anyone can have as long as they want the goal, any goal.  He essentially says that if you really want something and can come up with a way to get it, you will have it.  The book is a good motivational tool and it got me thinking in detail about what I want, but it will not help you come up with that perfect strategy to being financially independent.  I will keep this book around and I will reread it from time to time because it does do a good job of resetting the mind-frame to be more motivated. 

Wk2: Death to the BCS

Death to the BCS: The Definitive Case Against the Bowl Championship Series by Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter, Jeff Passan turned out to be a good read as Auburn beat Oregon.  The author's main goal is to replace the BCS with a real playoff tournament like March Madness is for NCAA basketball.  Without giving away too much of their plan, the authors want a 16 team play off that would take place during the same time that the current BCS takes place.  They then show how it would be more profitable and entertaining for the teams and fans.  One point that I didn't really agree with them on is that they want to "kill off" the BCS, but still say that the bowl games can continue because the games are necessary for teams that don't make the tournament.  I think either have one or the other, but don't keep both just to pander to the system. 
It is interesting to see the politics and money involved in the BCS highlighted and referenced with facts and situations.  I think most fans enjoy the games as a way to end the college football season, but there are too many no-name games that just aren't worth watching.  The book was clearly born out of this frustration and it does a good job of noting the most common gripes and offering some type of alternative.  The book does a good job of walking the reader through the history of the bowl series, the reason it has lasted so long, and why it should be eliminated.  The book does gets a little redundant at time, but it stays focused.  I wonder if this will spur any changes next year. 

Wk1: Failed

OK, this is going to be harder than I thought.  I have this huge backlog of books to read and I wanted to start this goal off right with a real winner.  Big mistake.  I started the week with The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, and I made it to Tuesday when I knew I wasn't going to finish it by Saturday.  I was about 60 pages in when Darwin decides to detail some birds he raised and how their physical appearance chaged between generations.  Ten pages of this and I knew it wasn't going to be a quick read.  I kept trying to come back to it, but the book is not put in the to-finish pile.

I then tried to read Walden by Henry David Thoreau, which was better, but still not an easy read.  I found the book more interesting, though now I was halfway through the week and I just ran out of time to finish the book.  This one, too, will be placed in the to-finish pile. I'm going to start the next week with a more lively book and try and take baby steps into finishing a book each week. 

52 Books in 52 Weeks

So I have a giant backlog of books that I want to read.  Most are pretty old now that I've delayed the process so long.  I know many of the books on the list are high school readers, but I either only read a bit to analyze a passage, or they were not on my reading list.  Not all these book will be "fun reads" but I'm hoping to knock a few out for my own betterment.  

The List (in no order until linked):

1. Fail
2. Death to the BCS: The Definitive Case Against the Bowl Championship Series by Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter, Jeff Passan
3. Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
4. Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
5. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
6. *Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
7. Naked Pictures of Famous People by Jon Stewart 
8. *The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
9. *Catch-up
10. *Skip
11. *The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs
12. *The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewi
13. *Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
14. John Dies at the End by David Wong*
15. SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by KURT VONNEGUT
16. *The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevksy

17. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman 

18. *Catch-up 

19. Abraham

20. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells 

21. A Struggle for Power: The American Revolution by Theodore Draper
22. The Little Book of Big Dividends by Charles B. Carlson
23. The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated by Timothy Ferriss
24. Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
25. Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking
26. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
27. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
28. Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin
29. The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman
30. Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Thomas L. Friedman
31. 13 Bankers by Simon Johnson
32. Freefall by Joseph E. Stiglitz
33. The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria
34. The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek
35. The Street Lawyer by John Grisham
36. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
37. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevksy
38. The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach
39. Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
40. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
41. Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
42. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
43. Deception Point by Dan Brown
44. Under the Dome by Stephen King

45. How to Sail Around the World by Hal Roth

46. Decision Points by George W. Bush 

47. The Bible

48. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
49. Personal Memoirs by Ulysses S. Grant
50. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

51. Griftopia by Matt Taibbi

52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

53. Death Clouds on Mt. Baldy by Cathy Hufault

54. ?

55. ?

Other books that I finished and were not a part of my one-a-week schedule:

• Don't Blink by James Patterson & Howard Roughan

The Resolution: The Challenge

I want to make a difference in 2011 and no single resolution will suffice.  Rather than make one iffy, generic resolution that will either be too hard to complete or too easy to be considered worthwhile, I'm going to set multiple weekly goals over the whole year.  I want to do the following once a week, every week:
- Read a new book
- Patron a new-to-me, local restaurant
- Brave a new bar
- Try a new beer
- Try a new wine
- Make a new recipe
- Send a postcard to my mom
- Donate to a charity

In the end, I will have done each 52 times over the 52 weeks in a year.  Most are just interesting things that I've been trying to do for a while; like I can't even count of how many local restaurants I pass everyday as I go to the same-old places again.  A few will be real challenges; for example I have started to read more frequently, but my book wish-list keeps getting longer.  I really look forward to the ones that will help others; such as finding more than several charities that could benefit from a new donor.  I really just want to set a good goal and finish it next year.

The general rules:
I have from 12:00 a.m. Sunday to 11:59 p.m. Saturday to complete each task for the week.  These times will be based on whichever time zone I happen to be in on those days.  2011 makes it easy to follow this schedule as I will have 52 full weeks, with only January 1, as a by-day.  This blog will be used as a way to keep my accountable and then document my progress.  Finally, the most important rule is that I want these to be new things.