Stumbling upon this reading challenge was just what I needed! I have been thinking lately that my reading over the last year was so disappointingly hit-and-miss…I read some wonderful books and then there were all the ho-hum books that I read just because they were there and easy to get. I knew I needed a plan. Then voila! I came upon the 888 reading challenge. (The short explanation is 8 categories of 8 books each with 8 books overlapping for a total of 56 books.) Who wants to join the fun?!?
Here is my list as it stands now.
8 History Books
1. Mistress of the Elgin Marbles
2. Walk Through the Bible
3. A Short History of Nearly Everything
4. The Odyssey **
5. Cat of Bubastes **
6. Desire of the Everlasting Hills
7. The Gifts of the Jews
8.
8 Novels
1. Washington Square
2. Persuasion
3. Cry, the Beloved Country
4. Lake Wobegon Days
5. Love in a Time of Cholera
6. The Silence
7. Middlemarch
8.
8 Mysteries
1. Maisie Dobbs
2. Murder on the Orient Express
3. Father Brown
4. The Name of the Rose
5.
6.
7.
8.
8 School Related
1. Cat of Bubastes **
2. Voyage of the Dawn Treader
3. As You Like It
4. Till We Have Faces
5. The Odyssey **
6. The Tempest
7.
8.
8 Non-Fiction
1. Shakespeare, by Bryson
2. Summer at Tiffany
3. Reading Like a Writer
4. Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog
5. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
6. How to Read a Book
7. Small is Beautiful
8. Conflict of Visions
8 Food Books
1. The Perfectionist, Life and Death in Haute Cuisine
2. The 64 Dollar Tomato
3. Blithe Tomato
4. My Life in France
5. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
6. Dining Out on Adventure
7.
8.
8 Book Club Books
1. The Future and its Enemies
2. Stop Dating the Church
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
8 Religious Books
1. Screwtape Letters
2. The Cost of Discipleship
3. Orthodoxy
4. Mere Christianity
5. Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance
6. Steering Through Chaos
7. For the Life of the World
8.
Here is a book to add to your food book (I think it would go under that category?):
http://www.masumoto.com/epitaph-for-a-peach.htm
My uncle the farmer recommended it.
Have you read any Laurie King Mary Russell books? Not the Kate Martinelli Books!
Have you read Dorothy Sayer’s Lord Peter Wimsey series? I think her characters are much more developed than Agatha Christie’s. Christie’s characters often seem to come across as plot devices, rather than actual people; whereas Sayer’s stories are as much about the characters as they are about the mystery
Thanks for the recommendation Kami. I am going to add at least one of those to my list.
Funny thing though…When I looked up the name, I knew it had a familiar ring to it…She lives right here locally and we have a bunch of her books at the little library I work at. I just haven’t read any of her books yet! And I just noticed yesterday that she is speaking at special mystery writers event soon.
Thanks Sara, I’m going to add that book. With the addition of Humble Pie, the story of Gordon Ramsey, I have that category filled!
Mika, Lord Peter Wimsey!!! That is the key series I was forgetting! Thanks for the suggestion. I have heard great things about these books.
I have to admit that the last time I picked up an Agatha Christie, I was not hooked, but I decided to give it another try.
Leah have you read Woman in White? I can’t remember. I don’t know if this counts as mystery, but I have this great book that is written in the style of Sherlock Holmes, but all the mysteries are solved by logic or math. You try to solve them yourself. Also, I have a few of the books you have on the list if you need to borrow any of them.
Another suggestion for your Food list (the entire list looks great, by the way)
A Slice of Life: Contemporary Writers on Food (Bonnie Marranca).
It is one I check out from the library on a somewhat regular basis.
Crissy
Krista, I think I have the mystery book you’re referring to and it is loads of fun! Keeps Jason and busy for hours. Sometimes I can’t sleep until we figure it out.
This book reading thing looks very interesting, though lately, I’m happy if I’m able to read my Bible consistently every day.
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