Challenges, Challenges.....

Yeah, I know. It's crazy to think of joining more challenges. But last year's Non-Fiction 5 Challenge hosted by Joy from Thought's of Joy was one of my favorites. It was a chance for me to break out of the norm, and really CHALLENGE myself. Non-fiction literature has always been difficult for me to read. But I found some incredible books last year, one's that I would have missed if it hadn't been for the challenge.

This year, Joy is hosting again! All you have to do is read 5 non-fiction books between May and September. At least 1 book has to be a different from the other choices. Visit Joy's blog to sign up! As with last year, I had a horrible time trying to narrow down my list. So I've included the 5 I would like to read and some alternates. Without further adieu, here is my list:

• A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
• The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star by Nikki Sixx (this has a FANTASTIC soundtrack that goes with the book!)
• The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed the World by Erik Larson
• Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich
• Hope's Boy: A Memoir by Andrew Bridge
• Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Alternatives:

• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
• Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil by Deborah Rodriguez
• Thunderstruck by Erik Larson
• Bush At War by Bob Woodward (Book 1 of a Three Part Series)
• Infidel by Ayaan Hirisi Ali
• Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through his Son's Meth Addiction by David Sheff
• A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Sheesh. I just couldn't decide!! We'll see how many I get through!!

Katrina from Callapidder Days is hosting a Spring Reading Thing 2008. Sign-ups begin on March 20th. I had so much fun with this one last year, that I can't resist trying it again!! The challenge runs from March 20 - June 19th. No set amount of books. Read as many or as few as you want!! This is a chance for me to get some books off the pile!!

• The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
• Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
• Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
• School's Out by Christophe Dufosse
• Psyche in a Dress by Francesca Lia Block
• Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
• Better Than Running at Night by Hillary Frank
• Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
• The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari
• Divorcing Dwayne by J. L. Miles

These books have been sitting around for months!! I need to make a dent in my piles somehow!!

Any other challenges I'm missing?? I'm still waiting not-so-patiently for Carl's Once Upon a Time Challenge II.

Another Winner from Jodi Picoult

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (464 pgs) is a book that I choose to read for the Spring Reading Thing Challenge. I'm glad I did. I was so disappointed with The Tenth Circle that I almost passed on this one. In the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, it's a timely piece and one that makes a person think, as do most of Picoult's books.

In Nineteen Minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes you can bake scones or get a tooth filled at the dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five. Nineteen minutes is how long it took the Tennessee Titans to sell out of tickets to the play-offs. It's the length of a sitcom, minus the commercials. It the driving distance from the Vermont border to the town of Sterling, New Hampshire. In nineteen minutes, you can order a pizza and get it delivered. You can read a story to a child or have your oil changed. You can walk a mile. You can sew a hem. In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off of it.

In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge.

And so starts the story of Josie Cormier and Peter Houghton. Josie is the daughter of Alex Cormier, a single mother AND a superior court judge. Josie is beautiful, smart and one half of the "IT" couple at Sterling High School. Peter is a geek. He has spent his life trying to blend in to the woodwork. If you aren't noticed, then you aren't picked on. When they were younger, Josie was the only friend Peter had. She was always there trying to help him when the others were being mean. Alex and Lacy, Peter's mother, were friends until they had a falling out when the kids were in grade school. From that moment on, Josie wasn't allowed to go to Peter's house any more. But they were still friendly at school...at least until Josie got noticed by the popular kids and started hanging out with them. And this hurt Peter immensely.

Could it be possible that this mild boy is the same one that methodically walked into Sterling High School one morning with 2 sawed-off shotguns and 2 Glock pistols? Is he the same kid that executed 10 people that day and injured 19 others? Hundreds of witnesses will say that it was. But did they really know WHO Peter Houghton was? Did anyone?

As with all of Picoult's books, this one brings up issues that are incredibly sensitive. You want to be able to hate a person that is cold-bloodied enough to plan an attack on a high school. You want to think of him as a monster for executing his teachers and class mates. But Picoult shows a side of things that we normally don't see. She shows us the killer, and how he was victimized his entire life. She creates an empathy for this boy that was pushed so hard he snapped. And she shows us that just because kids are beautiful and popular they aren't always happy. I sometimes have a hard time reading Picoult because I know she is going to say things I don't want to hear. But her writing is so smooth and addictive, it grabs you by the throat and won't let go. As always, there is a "surprise" ending....this time I figured it out long before the climax of the book. That being said, this is one of Jodi Picoult's best books, at least of the 5 or 6 that I have read. I would definitely recommend it, especially if you have children. 4.5/5

Satire or Reality?? You Choose......

Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart (352 pgs) was named one of 100 New York Times Notable books of 2006. This is the main reason I chose to read it, for both the NY Times Notable Challenge and the Spring Reading Thing Challenge. It's not exactly the type of book I would normally pick up, although I do like a good satire. There is a lot of understated politics in this book, and to be honest, I don't know a lot about the breakup of the former Soviet Union. However, I really did enjoy this book.


The story revolves around the narrator, a man by the name of Misha Vainberg. Misha, or "Snack Daddy" as he was aptly nicknamed by his college friends, is grossly overweight, rather naive and has a lot of self-esteem issues. He is the son of Boris Vainberg, the 1238th richest man in Russia, Jewish, and a local mafioso. He gained most of his wealth and "fame" after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Boris raised Misha alone in St. Petersburg after his wife passed away. He sent Misha to the United States to be educated like an American at Accidental College in New York City. And Misha LOVED New York. He studied "multi-cultural affairs", ate lots of food, listened to rap music, and made many acquaintances - but very few friends. After graduating, Misha took an internship, and moved to a fabulous loft-apartment. It is then that he met Rouenna. Rouenna is a ghetto-girl from the Bronx who spends her days in a bikini, serving shots at a local bar. She takes an immediate liking to Misha, and sees him as a way to get out of the 'hood. Not only does she take Misha's virginity, she takes his heart.


But here is where Misha's happiness gets sidetracked. He gets called back to Russia by his father. While there, Boris kills an Oklahoma businessman. Misha finds himself stuck in St. Petersburg with no hope of getting another American Visa and going back to New York. When he father is assassinated, Misha decides to get out of Russia by any means possible. He develops a plan to buy a Belgium Passport and from there find a way back to the US. To do this, he travels to Absurdistan. But shortly after he arrives, a war breaks out over control of the Absurdi oil (hmmmm...doesn't this sound a little familiar?) Here is where all Misha's troubles seem to get exponentially worse.


This book is rather raw. There are some seriously vulgar sex scenes dealing mostly with Misha's size that were just a little TOO detailed. But there are also many extremely humorous parts, most notably Misha's circumcism at the age of 18. And I really, really liked Shteyngart's whole depiction of Absurdistan, the country. He creates two groups of warring people that are doing whatever it takes to make headlines on CNN. I have a feeling there is a lot of reality in his view's on this fictitious country. Especially as they are dealing with the US and "Golly Burton" (Halliburton). And while it takes awhile for Shteyngart to get to his point, he delivers a rather scathing attack on world politics as it applies to us today. He is a very clever author who subtlety makes his views known. And he really doesn't pull any punches. Although he describes a pretty bleak existence for Aburdistan, he does it with humor and an almost insider's view. I'm definitely going to have to read his first novel, "The Russian Debutante's Handbook". All in all I'm really glad I decided to choose this book. 4/5

Challenges

What is it with me and the word "Challenge"?? As a new blogger, especially one that deals mostly with books and the written word, I have been AMAZED at the amount of challenges that seem to float through the blog nation. And every time I see a new one, I just can't seem to help but put my name next to it!! Since I failed miserably at the Winter Classics Challenge, one would think that I would be a little more selective at the challenges that I get myself involved in. But no...that doesn't seem to be the case!! Of course, now that I have conceded that there has to be some cross-challenge books, it's a little easier to justify it to myself!! So I guess I should just get to posting the new challenges that seemed to have jumped onto my radar:

Well, Michelle at 3M said she started this as a personal challenge, and there was so much interest, she opened it up to all. It was originally 15 books for 15 decades, but she said you can do as many (or as little) as you want, as long as they are in consecutive decades. Well...it looks like it will be 18 books/18 decades for me. Mostly this is just because I wanted to add Wuthering Heights, but if I stayed in the 1840's, that was only 17. And 17 just sounded so uneven!! Anyway, here is my list:

• 1830's - Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickley by Charles Dickens


• 1840's - Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte *also used for the TBR challenge


• 1850's - The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas


• 1860's - Little Women by Louisa May Alcott *also used for the TBR Challenge


• 1870's - Far From the Maddening Crowd by Thomas Hardy


• 1880's - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain


• 1890's - Dracula by Bram Stoker


• 1900's - House of Mirth by Edith Wharton


• 1910's - O'Pioneers by Willa Cather


• 1920's - The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald


• 1930's - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley *also for the Banned Books Challenge


• 1940's - Methuselah's Children by Robert Heinlein


• 1950's - My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier *completed 2/19 for Winter Classics Challenge


• 1960's - Caravans by James Michener *Essencia Island Read


• 1970's - Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow


• 1980's - Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood *also used for the TBR Challenge


• 1990's - Outlander by Diana Gabaldon *also used for the TBR Challenge


• 2000's - Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors

Finally, I saw this challenge and decided to add myself to the list. Figured 5 books would do. It is hosted by Katrina at Callapidder Days. March 21 - June 21st. Read books! Isn't that easy? I'm thinking, I can handle this!! Here are my 6 books:

• Little Children by Tom Perotta
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
• Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller
• Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart
• Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult *just added because I just bought it!

Do you think this is enough to keep my mind occupied? I also have the TBR Challenge, The Banned Book Challenge, The Non-Fiction Five Challenge and the Chunkster challege. Rumor has it, there is also a Fantasy challenge coming up that I might like to get in on.......I think I need to have my head examined!!

Later !