Babbling On

I missed a few days on the blogging. So NaBloPoMo is basically done for me. I could have posted something quick and pointless but didn't want to. I didn't want to force myself to write something just for the sake of writing something. Yes, sometimes you have to push through and just write. Maybe it's good, maybe it's not. I do it with fiction all the time. But the stuff that sucks, I put aside and work on it another day. Sometimes I make it into something that's not too bad. Other times it gets worse. I just can't do that with blog posts. Well I could but putting them aside for later wouldn't get them posted that very day, so I would still be missing a post right now. So instead I didn't post at all because I didn't want to post the same thing over and over or something pointless just for the sake of posting.
Sure I had a few topics listed that I could have wrote about but once again I didn't want to write them in haste just to make sure I posted for the day. They deserve better than that and so do the few of the people who actually read these posts.
Instead I used the little time that I had to work on my fiction. And that went okay. I'm still behind on NaNoWriMo but even if I don't write another word on that story this month, I still have over 10,000 words of a new story, which I know is way more than I would have had I not joined NaNoWriMo.
The month's not over yet and I haven't given up on my writing goals. I'm just reassessing them and being more realistic about what I have time for given the fact that I have a job, errands, chores and most importantly, people that I have to make time for. If that means not putting up a lame post every now and again, that's okay. Just as long as it doesn't become a habit...again.

I just got back from a mandatory meeting at work. As if I'm not there enough. Tonight I had to go back just a few hours after leaving and sit there while I could have been home watching The Office or 30 Rock. By the time I got home from my day shift and ate dinner it was time to head out again. I just got in about ten minutes ago and I have to work in the morning also.
After my day shift tomorrow, I'm off for the weekend so here's everything I need to get done.
-Finish my short story, send it out to be critiqued.
-Finish making comments on friend's short story.
-Finish scene for writing group, read others stuff for writing group and then go to writing group.
-Catch up on NaNoWriMo, if that's possible.
-Post once daily.
Simple enough, right?

When I used to be a waitress, I carried around a notebook to write large orders on or notes about things I needed to stock. Most restaurants have gone to computers and gotten rid of the old school tickets. And when the crowd was slow or any of my tables didn't need anything, I would write notes or parts of stories, or really good lines that I heard or thought of.
That's just one example of how I've been able to fit writing into the jobs that I've had, even if it was just on my breaks.
At my current job there aren't any moments to jot something down. And I try to read and write on my breaks and lunch but since I'm only one of two people that could do certain things, I'm constantly interrupted. It doesn't really make it easy to get anything written down.
And then there's the people around me. The people who don't know what the word 'discrepancy' means. The people who don't read books. The people who say things such as "you so..." instead of "you are so..."
I guess what I'm trying to say is that if there were ever a job that stunted a writer, this is it. The only good thing is the really crazy things that the customers and the employees do. They could all make for good stories one day. I'll just try not to use words with more than two syllables.

It's my week to work five days straight and today was my first of two nights to close. Before work I had to go grocery shopping and check on my sister's dog. After work I ate dinner and answered some e-mails. Now I'm posting before going to bed. And the whole point of this post is to say that I got absolutely nothing done today. I've fallen even further behind.

On the bright side last night I finished the book I've been reading. It's called "The City and the City" by China Mieville. When I first started reading it it took me a while to remember who was who because all of the names were unique to me. The story is an interesting idea but it takes a lot of thought to follow what's going on, especially in the beginning. It gets easier to understand further in when the writer has revealed more about how this particular society works but once I got to the end I felt a little let down. It's a murder mystery and the whole murder revolves around this huge and complicated idea but ends with such a simple explanation.
Although, to be fair I think I might have scanned over the last few pages a little too quickly. I was trying to finish it before falling asleep. Either way I finished.
Now I'm starting a new book by an author that's had work published in the magazine that I'm writing my story for. Hopefully, it will help with some insight.
Here's hoping tomorrow is more productive.

It was 60 degrees here today, which is pretty awesome for November in Michigan. I've been getting a headache from staring at the computer screen too much this past week and it was too gorgeous to be inside. So I took my notebook outside, sat on the porch next to my dog and wrote part of my short story. It's always hard to say how much I got done since long hand and computer typing is quite different when you're counting pages but I got something done. Now I just have to take the time to type what I wrote.
I just got done reading a short story that my friend wrote and now I'm thinking over what I read. I'll probably reread it again tomorrow and then write down my thoughts.
Right now, I'm getting ready to watch Castle. The awesome TV show about a murder mystery writer.
Then it will probably be off to bed. I'll read first and I think tonight I'll finish the book I'm reading.

Today was my day off and it was a busy day. We had breakfast with my dad and my dad's dad. Then I got the yard raked. After that, I went to an exhibition game for the MSU women's basketball team. (They won by 35 points!) and I actually got some writing done too. Not as much as I'd like considering that tomorrow I go back to work for five days in a row. Two of those days will be closing shifts. My goal is to write, even if it's not a lot, every little bit helps me from falling behind.
This week my plan is to finish my first draft of my short story. Try to catch up on my NaNo novel and finish a section for writing group, which should meet next Sunday. And of course, make a post everyday.
And I'd like to finish the book I'm reading. It's been a hard book for me to read. The more I read it the more I understand what's going on but still it's taking me a really long time to get through it. Once again, I can't give up.
So that's the plan for the week. I think the first week of November went pretty well. I have over 11,000 words on my NaNo novel. That's not right on track but much closer than 0. I've posted everyday. I've started another story that at first I wasn't sure I could do anything with and now I have a lot of ideas. It's all progress, even if it's slight.

I got my laundry done tonight but I didn't get much else done at the laundromat. I usually go with my sister so that neither one of us has to face the potential creepiness alone. Too many weird old guys have it in their brain that the laundromat is a good place to pick up ladies. Yikes.
Anyway, the only thing really productive that came from the laundromat was that my sister actually had a cool moment. She's been reading the Twilight saga because every one of the grown women in her department has fallen in love with it and won't stop talking about it. My sister's a moderate reader. She doesn't read a lot but she does read. So she decided that she would try these books so she'd know what the heck everyone was talking about.
I'll admit I've read all four but regardless of whether I like something or not, I will struggle through it. I tell myself it could get better or I could think on it a while and realize that maybe it was good. If neither of those things happen I call it a learning experience.
I'm not trying to rip on Twilight. It's got the young people reading instead of watching TV, which is good, but Harry Potter it is not. And if one more person calls it that I will scream.
The books are okay  and I can see why young girls fall in love with them. But the last one was the hardest for me to read (*spoiler alert*) because it was completely boring and unrealistic. The main character ends up with everything. She's immortal but gets to keep her mortal family. She's rich, well-dressed, beautiful, has a child (half mortal/half vampire) and despite the fact that she's only been a vampire for mere months she manages to stand up to an entire coven of the world's oldest and strongest vampires and, surprise, she has a super power that protects her family and friends from them. Oh and she doesn't lose her best bud/other love interest because she's going to let him marry her daughter. So they all just live happily ever after. There isn't even a cool battle in the end. They all show up to fight and then talk it out. LAME! 
To me it was too perfect. Real life has tragedy and if a writer completely avoids that I think it makes a book pointless. There's has to be downs for there to be ups.
I could really go on in a bit more detail abou the book and what I didn't care for but it's not really something I feel I have to do.
Now back to my original story. So my sister's cool moment came when she was in the middle of Breaking Dawn, the final book, she drops it to the ground and says, "will you just tell me how this crap ends because I can't stand to read it any longer?"
Of course, when you don't read all that much, you probably don't want to waste your time on a novel you don't really like. Regardless, she had the power to walk away and for that I commend her because it is not something that I can do.

Oh man. It's the day I was talking about when I close tonight and then open tomorrow. So the words that I'm writing right now are about all that I will be writing today.
Today is the first day that I feel I'm falling behind on my goals. I'm not getting any NaNoWriMo written and I'm not getting any of my short story written. I almost forgot to write this post.
Also today we decided that our writing group, which is suppose to meet on Sunday, will probably have to wait until next Sunday. That's almost a good thing as much as it is a bad thing. I wasn't quite finished with my section of Incognito, my comic turned prose, that I had intended on sending. I had put off rewriting that because I've been so focused on my NaNo and short story goal.
Well I open at work tomorrow, so the plan is to come home from work and write. I have to go to the laundromat sometime this weekend but that's what notebooks are for. So instead of watching my clothes whirl around in the dryer, I'm going to be productive.

Today was my first day working the closing shift since November started. I feel that the days I close at work are the days I'm least productive at home. I like to sleep late and by the time I get up and get ready it's time for work. Once I get home, it's late. I eat, check my Internet stuff and then read until I fall asleep. It just seems the whole day is wasted.
So I was worried that today would be the day I started to fall behind on my grand writing plan. That didn't happen though, I just finished a part of my NaNoWriMo novel. It wasn't a full 1667 words but it was enough to keep me in the game.
And while I didn't do much writing on my project story, I did give the first little part to someone to read and got a lot of feedback. We discussed a lot of ideas today and if I weren't about to fall asleep right now, I'd probably stay up and write some more.
Tomorrow I have another closing shift but it's the worse kind. The kind where I have to open the next day so staying up late to write isn't an option(well not a sensible one). I hope I can manage to hang in there. Once I get behind on anything I fear that I'll get too far to catch up.

I'm going to take a break from talking about my current projects and talk about my notebook.
Three years ago I bought a red three subject notebook with the intent of writing a story in it. Then I had a tiny notebook I would carry around for ideas. The only problem was that the tiny notebook wasn't good enough. It was too small. I would get inspired to write a scene and would struggle to fit it in the little notebook. That's when I decided the giant red notebook would go everywhere with me.
And over the last three years I have filled it with story notes, blog ideas, pieces of fiction, random lines, doodles, play lists, song lyrics and to do list. Then last week I noticed it was full. I went through and pulled out pages that went with certain stories and filed them away with my notes for each story. I went through to find anything I might need in the near future and then I filed the notebook away in my filing cabinet.
Two days ago, I started a new notebook. It's just one subject, not nearly as big as the old one but that's okay. I really don't think I need to be carrying around three years of notes anymore.
It's kind of fitting that it should be full now because I feel like I'm starting a new chapter in my writing endeavors. Over the past year or so I've put very little effort into my writing. But now I'm trying to get back on track and I think starting fresh with ideas and notes is just another thing that needed to change.

The next project that's on my list is a little different from my usual thing. I don't really have a title for it and the idea was not my own.
It all started when I bought a Writer's Market. Yes, last Sunday I went out and bought the new Writer's Market. I didn't buy one in 2009 but I bought one in 2006, 2007 and 2008. And in those years I took all the short stories that I had completed at the time and went through every magazine listed to see if it was a match. I then sent each story to every place it seemed to fit. Obviously, this didn't have a lot of success.
So I took this new Writer's Market with my when I went to meet a friend and he had an idea. What if, instead of trying to find a magazine to fit the story, we each write a story to fit a magazine. And that is the plan.
We went through the Writer's Market and found a magazine that we both were interested in and decided that would be our first goal. We are giving ourselves a month to write a short story that fits all the guidelines of the magazine. Then we're going to send it in and start another story for another magazine. If we get a rejection letter than we'll send the story somewhere else that it might fit but the idea is to write it with a specific place in mind.
My old way never worked so I'm hoping this goes better. It's also good because it makes me have to write. I have a deadline and a general idea of what I need to write. I know the genre and how long it has to be. It's kind of like being back in class with a writing assignment.
For this month I have to write a dark science fiction story that's around 4,000 words. Right now I have an idea. It's more dark than science fiction and I'm trying to think of a way to make it more science fiction otherwise I might need a new idea.

 I'm at 3680 for NaNoWriMo in case anyone is wondering.

I get the next two days off from work so I'm going to be a writing machine. Bam!

My goal for the next few posts is to write a greater explanation for each one of the writing projects I am working on this month.

First up is NaNoWriMo. I've participated in it two previous years, 2005 and 2006. I did sign up in 2007 but decided that the novel I started was something that meant too much to me to try and rush it.

This year, like all other years, I don't expect to write an entire novel in one month. 50,000 words isn't a novel and I'm not even sure I'll get that many words done.

In 2005 I had over 40,000 words by the end of the month and in 2006 I was just shy of the 30,000 word mark. In both cases it took me several months longer to finish the actual story.

And I'll admit that both of those novels were awful, but it was cool to say that I wrote a novel. I was no longer the person 'writing a novel' or with 'an idea for a really cool novel.' I was a novel writer even if it sucked.

Both of those years I had strict outlines and new exactly where I was going and what I had to do. I think a lot of the reason the novels didn't turn out so well was that I forced my story from one point on the outline to the next.

This year I'm doing things a little differently. I started with an idea. Just a scene that is kind of a vision I had one day. And I'm going to try and make it up as I go along.

I have a few ideas in my head of where it's going but what's going to happen and how it all ends is a mystery to even me. The only thing I know for sure is that it's a horror story.

Maybe it will be good. Maybe it will be bad. Either way the goal is to average 1667 words a day. It's day one and I've written 1499.

It's November and I'm insane. There is so much going on with writing this month. And I can't make any excuses to not get it done because I've committed to a lot of people.

First off, I committed to NaNoWriMo. I'm doing this along with my writing group so I can't let them down.

Second off, I committed to NaBloPoMo. I'm doing this with my Ms. Jenni so I can't let her or my blog/livejournal readers down. (Especially D.B. Echo who has probably given up on my ever posting.)

Then there's my writing group. Aside from NaNoWriMo, I probably need to work on another section of my current story that I've been taking.

And there's this new thing I've got going on. I've met with a friend and we came up with a plan for actually submitting writing. But first, we must write a story. It's a great plan that I will explain much more thoroughly in a post coming soon!

Oh and did I mention that Jenni and I have actually been working on Behind the Naugahyde. She sent me a big section last month. I sent notes back. And now it's up to me to write the next part.



That's all the projects I've gotten on the burners. (I need two stoves!) But I've been making excuses for too long and I've got a lot of wasted time to make up for.

Yesterday, I met with a friend of mine, who also happens to be a writer. We talked about many things such as finishing what we started, finding time to write and the list goes on. It was a really good conversation and we're going to try to meet more often either to talk about writing, submitting and our work. I think it will be very productive.

One of the other things we talked about was this blog and my livejournal. I have both and I have always kept them separate. I started this blog first about my writing and later started the livejournal so that I could friend my friends. The livejournal has always just been personal posts. Occasionally, I have posted the same stuff both places. I've often wondered what would be the easiest way to get people who read the livejournal to read blogger and people who read blogger to read my livejournal. And not everyone has both so if they follow me on blogspot or livejournal they may never get the other one. I've tried links but that's still a hassle. I thought about giving one up but either way it would be inconvenient for one set of "friends."
After talking about it I'll keep them both but start posting the same thing on each. I mostly post about writing anyway and have seriously neglected the livejournal. I think there was a whole year on livejournal where I posted maybe five times so I'm clearly not writing many personal things that don't link to writing somehow. So now Ink On Paper and Babbling On are the same. I might change them to the same name. I haven't decided which one or maybe just a new name altogether. I also have to decide whether or not to transfer posts from one to the other. Lots to think about but for now I post the same thing on both. So no need to click the link anymore. I'll try it for awhile and we'll see how it goes.

Also, our conversation also came around to Castle the awesome TV show I recently posted about (ABC Monday nights @ 10pm). The book that the character wrote is a real book on the New York Times Bestseller List. I saw the advertisement for it and thought it was a fake to promote the show but it's a real book. How cool is that?

"The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise, we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them."
-Thomas Merton

I think this has been around before, but  I'm doing  it  again since it's been well over a year.

1. Bold the books you've read.
2. Italicize the ones you started but never finished.
3. Star/Asterisk the ones you loved (****).
4. Strikeout the ones you hated.
5. Mark ones that are on your shelf that you intend to read with carets (^^^^).
6. At the end, add another book you've read and loved.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee****
2. Harry Potter Series, J. K. Rowling ****
3. The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien****
4. The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger****
5. Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden****
6. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen ****
7. The Curious Incident of the Dog, Mark Haddon
8. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini****
9. My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult****
10. The Hitchhiker's Guide, Douglas Adams
11. Life of Pi, Yann Martel
12. The Stand, Stephen King****
13. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
14. 1984, George Orwell
15. Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery
16. The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis
17. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
18. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
19. The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd ^^^^
20. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
21. The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien ****
22. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
23. The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
24. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
25. The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom
26. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
27. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving
28. The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith
29. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
30. Watership Down, Richard Adams****
31. Perfume, Patrick Suskind
32. Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
33. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
34. Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
35. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
36. Animal Farm, George Orwell
37. Lamb, the Gospel According to Biff, Christopher Moore
38. The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
39. Persuasion, Jane Austen
40. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith
41. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
42. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
43. The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger
44. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
45. Year of Wonders, Geraldine Brooks
46. Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
47. Eragon, Christopher Paolini
48. 100 Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
49. 84 Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff
50. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley^^^^
51. The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint Exupury
52. Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
53. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
54. Dune, Frank Herbert
55. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
56. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colferlcott
57. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
58. Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier
59. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
60. Discworld Series, Terry Pratchett
61. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens^^^^
62. Stephanie Plum Series, Janet Evanovich
63. The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
64. The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck
65. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
66. To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis
67. A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
68. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
69. The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco
70. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
71. The Neverending Story, Michael Ende
72. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
73. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. The Virgin Suicides, Jeffrey Eugenides
75. A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket
76. Atonement, Ian McEwan
77. American Gods, Neil Gaiman
78. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsk
79. Emma, Jane Austen
80. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
81. Little House Series, Laura Ingalls Wilder
82. Possession, A. S. Byatt
83. Lord of the Flies, William Golding
84. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
85. Sabriel, Garth Nix
86. Saturday, Ian McEwan
87. Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
88. Stones from the River, Ursula Hegi
89. The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne Frank
90. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
91. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle
92. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
93. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
94. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
95. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
96. Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
97. Doomsday Book, Connie Willis
98. East of Eden, John Steinbeck
99. Fingersmith, Sarah Waters
100. I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith
101. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
102. Outlander Series, Diana Gabaldon
103. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
104. Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett
105. Small Island, Andrea Levy
106. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
107. Wicked, Gregory Maguire
108. Winnie the Pooh, A. A. Milne
109. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
110. Tomorrow, When the War Began, John Marsden
111. Clan of the Cave Bear, Jean M. Auel
112. The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri
113. Frankenstein, Mary Shelly
114. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
115. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
116. Battlefield Earth, L. Ron Hubbard
117. Wit'ch Fire, James Clemens
118. The Dark Elf books, R.A. Salvatore
119. Marley and me. J. Grogan
120. The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
121. Generation X, Douglas Coupland
122. The Edible Woman, Margaret Atwood
123. Animals in Translation, Temple Grandin
124. The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky
125. The Man in the Brown Suit, Agatha Christie
126. The Phantom of The Opera
127. The Prydain Chronicles (The Book of Three, et al) by Lloyd Alexander
128. Enduring Love, Ian McEwan
129. Scarlet Pimpernel, The by Baroness Orczy
130. Mara Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
131. The Prestige by Christopher Priest
132. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
133. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolfe
134. Candide by Voltaire
135. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
136. Seduced by Moonlight by Laurell K. Hamilton
137. The Basketball Diaries, Jim Carrol
138. Dangerous Angels(The Weetzie Bat Books), Francisca Lia Block
139. The Uglies Series, Scott Westerfeld
140. Vertigo, Lauren Baratz-Logsted
141. Carrie, Stephen King****

 I'm stealing this idea once again. Books read in 2007

The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Illness as a Metaphor and AIDS as a Metaphor by Susan Sontag
The Dive From Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer
Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris
Writer's of the Future Vol. 21 by Various Authors
The Eagle Kite by Paula Fox
What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day... by Pearl Cleage
My Own Story by Ryan White
My Pet Virus by Shawn Decker
America by The Daily Show with John Stewart
Hemophelia by Edward Willett
Depression by Wendy Moragne
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby 
The Stand by Stephen King
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Love Is A Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield 
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling 
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling 
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling 
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling 
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling 
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf 
Watership Down by Richard Adams 
Alanna:The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce
Woman Who Rides Like A Man by Tamora Pierce 
The Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce
The Catcher In the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty
Peter Pan by Sir James Barry
Charmed Thirds by Megan McCafferty 
Beowulf by Author Unknown 
Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk
Wonderful Tonight by Pattie Boyd
Fourth Comings by Megan McCafferty
Forest King:Woodlark's Shadow by Dan Mishkin 
Giving by Bill Clinton
Debt of Bones by Terry Goodkind
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

You're Watership Down!

by Richard Adams

Though many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you're
actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their
assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they
build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'd
be recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

I stole this from

1. Bold the books you've read.
2. Italicize the ones you started but never finished.
3. Star/Asterisk the ones you loved (****).
4. Strikeout the ones you hated.
5. Mark ones that are on your shelf that you intend to read with carets (^^^^).
6. At the end, add another book you've read and loved.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee****
2. Harry Potter Series, J. K. Rowling ****
3. The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien****
4. The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger****
5. Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden****
6. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen ****
7. The Curious Incident of the Dog, Mark Haddon
8. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
9. My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult
10. The Hitchhiker's Guide, Douglas Adams
11. Life of Pi, Yann Martel
12. The Stand, Stephen King
13. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
14. 1984, George Orwell
15. Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery
16. The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis
17. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
18. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
19. The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd ^^^^
20. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
21. The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien ****
22. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
23. The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
24. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
25. The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom
26. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
27. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving
28. The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith
29. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
30. Watership Down, Richard Adams****
31. Perfume, Patrick Suskind
32. Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
33. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
34. Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
35. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
36. Animal Farm, George Orwell
37. Lamb, the Gospel According to Biff, Christopher Moore
38. The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
39. Persuasion, Jane Austen
40. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith
41. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
42. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
43. The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger
44. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
45. Year of Wonders, Geraldine Brooks
46. Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
47. Eragon, Christopher Paolini
48. 100 Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
49. 84 Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff
50. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
51. The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint Exupury
52. Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
53. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
54. Dune, Frank Herbert
55. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
56. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colferlcott
57. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
58. Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier
59. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
60. Discworld Series, Terry Pratchett
61. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens^^^^
62. Stephanie Plum Series, Janet Evanovich
63. The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
64. The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck
65. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
66. To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis
67. A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
68. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
69. The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco
70. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
71. The Neverending Story, Michael Ende
72. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
73. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. The Virgin Suicides, Jeffrey Eugenides
75. A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket
76. Atonement, Ian McEwan****
77. American Gods, Neil Gaiman
78. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsk
79. Emma, Jane Austen
80. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
81. Little House Series, Laura Ingalls Wilder
82. Possession, A. S. Byatt
83. Lord of the Flies, William Golding
84. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
85. Sabriel, Garth Nix
86. Saturday, Ian McEwan
87. Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
88. Stones from the River, Ursula Hegi
89. The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne Frank
90. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
91. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle
92. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll ****
93. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
94. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
95. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
96. Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
97. Doomsday Book, Connie Willis
98. East of Eden, John Steinbeck
99. Fingersmith, Sarah Waters
100. I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith
101. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
102. Outlander Series, Diana Gabaldon
103. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
104. Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett
105. Small Island, Andrea Levy
106. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
107. Wicked, Gregory Maguire
108. Winnie the Pooh, A. A. Milne
109. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
110. Tomorrow, When the War Began, John Marsden
111. Clan of the Cave Bear, Jean M. Auel
112. The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri
113. Frankenstein, Mary Shelly
114. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
115. Moby Dick, Herman Melville ^^^^
116. Battlefield Earth, L. Ron Hubbard
117. Wit'ch Fire, James Clemens
118. The Dark Elf books, R.A. Salvatore
119. Marley and me. J. Grogan
120. The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
121. Generation X, Douglas Coupland
122. The Edible Woman, Margaret Atwood
123. Animals in Translation, Temple Grandin
124. The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky
125. The Man in the Brown Suit, Agatha Christie
126. The Phantom of The Opera
127. The Prydain Chronicles (The Book of Three, et al) by Lloyd Alexander
128. Enduring Love, Ian McEwan
129. Scarlet Pimpernel, The by Baroness Orczy
130. Mara Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
131. The Prestige by Christopher Priest
132. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
133. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolfe
134. Candide by Voltaire
135. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
136. Seduced by Moonlight by Laurell K. Hamilton
137. The Basketball Diaries, Jim Carrol
138. Dangerous Angels(The Weetzie Bat Books), Francisca Lia Block
139. The Uglies Series, Scott Westerfeld
140. Vertigo, Lauren Baratz-Logsted

[Unknown LJ tag]

 Here's a link to a writing blog. Even if you're not a writer this post is hilarious!