Update to Blame Nick Hornby for this post...

Well, here it is, December 1st.  On September 28th, I set myself the challenge of reading 38 books by December 1st.  The original list saw several other books added along the way, a few abandoned, and a few not started.  Here's my update...  (Apologies for the lack of photos...I used various colors and what not to make up for that...although if you scroll to the bottom of this post, you will find my favorite Christmas song...)


My list, after additions, ended up including 44 books.  Here's the breakdown of what got read, abandoned, started, or not started:

• Finished: 19
• Started: 19
• Not Started: 3
• Abandoned: 3

Interesting the way my numbers shook out though, isn't it?  19 and 19, 3 and 3.  I will admit I'm a nerd...I think the numbers turned out pretty cool.



Of those that are started, many are borrowed from my school library, and due back on December 17th.  But...I also checked out an additional 6, and ordered 1 from Amazon.com.  The one from Amazon will take priority as two of my tutoring students are reading it, and I typically read along so that I am able to give the best help (even if I've read the book numerous times already).



For those curious about which books landed in which category, please read on...
A little key:
F - fiction, NF - nonfiction, P - poetry
AS - Already started (before making the list)
S - Started the day I made the original list (Sept 28)
Line through the title - Finished!
R - Rereading

The books: 
FINISHED:
Suzanne Collins - Catching Fire (F, AS) 
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird (F, R) 
Jill Somlinski - The Next Thing On My List (F, AS, R)
Nick Hornby - The Polysyllabic Spree (NF, S), Juliet, Naked (F)
Jo-Ann Mapson - The Owl and Moon Cafe (F, R)
Paul Arden - It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be (NF, AS, R)
Jeanne Birdsall - The Penderwicks (F) 
Joan Didion - The Year of Magical Thinking (NF, R)
Elizabeth Berg - The Year of Pleasures (F, R)
Abigail Thomas - Three Dog Life (NF)
Donald Platt - Fresh Peaches, Fireworks, & Guns (P)
Ayn Rand - Anthem (F)   
Fred Marchant - Full Moon Boat (P, R)
Jack Kerouac - Trip Trap (P); Pomes All Sizes (P); Heaven and Other Poems (P)
Seamus Heaney - Human Chain (P, AS)
Ted Hughes - River (P)


IN PROGRESS:
Nick Hornby - A Long Way Down (F)
Richard Lavoie - The Motivation Breakthrough (NF, AS)
Debra Bell - The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling Teens (NF)
Kari Chapin - The Handmade Marketplace (NF, AS)
Alice Schroeder - The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life (NF, AS)
Peg Tyre - The Trouble with Boys (NF, AS)
Donald Sturrock - Storyteller (NF, AS - biography of Roald Dahl)
Suze Orman - Suze Orman's Action Plan (NF, AS, R)
Madeline L'Engle - A House Like a Lotus (F, R)
Fred Marchant - The Looking House (P)
Kathleen Jamie - Mr. and Mrs. Scotland are Dead (P); Waterlight (P)
Sylvia Plath - Ariel (P, R)
William Golding Lord of the Flies (F)
Ted Hughes - Letters of Ted Hughes (NF, AS)
Randall Jarrell - A Sad Heart at the Supermarket (P); The Woman at the Washington Zoo (P)
Pablo Neruda (William O'Daly translations) - The Sea and the Bell (P); The Hands of Day (P)
 


NOT STARTED: 
Magnus Mills - Explorers of the New Century (F); All Quiet on the Orient Express (F)
Jack Kerouac - The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (P, R, AS)

ABANDONED: 
Ian McEwan - black dogs (F, S)
Drew Milne - Mars Disarmed (P, S)
Jack Kerouac - Scattered Poems (P) 


My next reading challenge...
Now that my December 1st deadline has arrived, and with the impending due date for library books, I'm setting myself to a new challenge:

• Finish everything on my started pile.
• Finish the book ordered from Amazon.
• Finish at least three of the 6 from the library (they will be slower to read as I am doing research, and thus taking notes at the same time).

So the new reading list is 26 books long:
Started and to be finished by Dec 17:
Nick Hornby - A Long Way Down (F) * likely to finish Dec 1 Finished December 4
Madeline L'Engle - A House Like a Lotus (F, R) * likely to finish Dec 1 Finished December 7
Fred Marchant - The Looking House (P) * likely to finish Dec 4
Suze Orman - Suze Orman's Action Plan (NF, AS, R) * likely to finish Dec 4
Kathleen Jamie - Mr. and Mrs. Scotland are Dead (P) * likely to finish Dec 4; Waterlight (P) * likely to finish Dec 2
Sylvia Plath - Ariel (P, R) * likely to finish Dec 4
William Golding Lord of the Flies (F) * will finish by Dec 4; tutoring read-along Finished December 5
Peg Tyre - The Trouble with Boys (NF, AS) * likely to finish Dec 4 
Richard Lavoie - The Motivation Breakthrough (NF, AS)
Debra Bell - The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling Teens (NF)
Kari Chapin - The Handmade Marketplace (NF, AS)
Alice Schroeder - The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life (NF, AS)
Donald Sturrock - Storyteller (NF, AS - biography of Roald Dahl)
Ted Hughes - Letters of Ted Hughes (NF, AS)
Randall Jarrell - A Sad Heart at the Supermarket (P); The Woman at the Washington Zoo (P)
Pablo Neruda (William O'Daly translations) - The Sea and the Bell (P); The Hands of Day (P)

Ordered and MUST finish due to tutoring read-along:
Ranchor Prime - Ramayana Finished December 6

Research Reading:
Sylvia Plath - Letters Home (R, NF)
Harold Bloom, editor - Sylvia Plath (NF)
Steven Gould Axelrod - Sylvia Plath (NF)
Neil Roberts - Ted Hughes: A Literary Life (NF)
Ted Hughes - Moortown (P)
Erica Wagner - Ariel's Gift (NF) 


Amendment: I also have three book set aside specifically as vacation reading.  We will be on vacation from December 18 to January 4th.  I have these books ready to go:

Additional books read:
Cortney Davis - Details of Flesh Finished December 9


Vacation reading:
Mary Karr - Lit
Barbara Kingsolver - The Lacuna
Suzanne Collins - Mockingjay