#9 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

I just finished Alice's Adventures in Wonderland this morning while waiting for my son to get out of Kindergarten. It was the 9th book I've finished. I almost feel like I'm cheating because, like the last book I read, I am very familiar with the story (who isn't?). As I expected it was a fun read and I can't help but think that Lewis Carrol would have been a blast to hang out with. There is nothing much else to say. I knew I'd enjoy it and I did. Plus, I don't actually feel as though I'm really done since I moved right into my 10th book, Through The Looking Glass . Gotta love getting two books for the price of one.

#8 Atonement pt 2

Ok I finally finished Atonement  today. As I said before, I was slow to get into the story. I don't know if it's because I knew the story line from seeing the movie or maybe I just had too much going on that day. However once I was about 100 pages in I was able to really connect with the story and found myself trying to make more time to read it. I also found that despite knowing how it turns out in the end, it still broke my heart. Of course I felt awful for Robbie and Cecelia and the direction their lives and love took but I really connected with Briony. I've made mistakes and lived with the guilt that came from it but nothing to the magnitude of hers. Her guilt was all consuming and so immense, it was almost palpable, and she carried it for her entire life. The idea of living like that forever and never being able to make proper amends is really just unimaginable and it hurt my heart. All in all I truly enjoyed the book. I think it was a great place to start my journey, even if it made me depressed for the rest of the day.

Frustration!

So, I decided I wanted to pick my books at random. I had some fanciful notion of leaving it to fate and allowing the universe to guide me to the books I should read next. I spent two hours tearing up paper into tiny pieces and numbered them from 1-1001, leaving out the numbers I've read. I through them all in a bag, shook it and pulled out a couple of numbers. I wanted to have a list of four or five to take to the bookstore so I'd have a backup if the first book was unavailable. Yeah so that plan totally blew up in my face! I had a list of five books and was unable to find any of them. It appears if I want to leave this up to fate I need to order my books online instead of hoping the local Barnes and Noble has them in stock. Epic Fail! My poor four year old daughter was dragged along my journey through the bookstore, whining and complaining the whole time until she was pacified with a book of her own. I ended up staring at the classics section while my daughter danced around until I found a few I remembered being on the list. I ended up with the following.
and
Now I just have to pick which one to read next. I only have about 100 pages left in Atonement and will finish either tonight or tomorrow. I'm really in a hurry to knock a few of these books out quickly. I'm finding myself a little self conscious of my super small number of only 5 books read. It makes me feel pathetic. On the up side it's driving me to turn the TV and computer off and pick up the book which was my true goal.

Atonement

So, I'm a couple of days in and have made it through about 100 pages of Atonement so far. It started out a little slow but it's starting to pick up now so hopefully I'll have it finished by the end of the weekend. I'm enjoying it so far but then again, I enjoyed the movie and the book is always better, so this is no surprise. This month is a bit busy with other obligations I have to attend to but I'm thinking once that passes I'll be able to focus more time on reading. At the moment I'm debating how to choose my next book. Do I just pick a title that I've been wanting to read? Something new, that I've never heard of? Or do I close my eyes and point. I'm actually thinking that maybe I'll write out the numbers 1-1001, with the exception of the numbers I've already read, put them in a hat and then pull one out. I'm kind of liking the idea of just letting fate decide my next course of action. However the idea of tearing up that many little pieces of paper is an unpleasant one. I guess I have a few days to decide.

Here We Go

So I start my goal 7 down, 994 to go. I've decided that I'm not going to go in any predetermined order or anything like that. It'll be more like a close-my-eyes-and-point way of picking my books from here on out. I did choose my first book out of convenience more than anything.
I noticed that Atonement by Ian McEwan was on the list.

I already have this book so it was an easy place to start. No trips to the book store or library for me, I can just jump right in. Perfect.
I bought the book after seeing the movie and just haven't gotten around to reading it yet, life kept getting in the way. So now it's just going to be a good jumping off point.

Wish me luck.

Intro

My name is Rachel. When I was younger I was an avid reader. My school would often have a contest to see who could log the most reading minutes or who could read the most books. I was always among the top students in those contests, I even have a nifty plastic statue to prove it. Now that I'm grown and have children, a husband, a house to clean and am trying to finish my Bachelors degree I find that I rarely read anymore unless it's expressly required for one of my classes. Of course as a culinary student it's rarely required of me to read anything outside of a textbook or cookbook.

I recently started taking an english class  for one of my general ed credits and it reawakened my love of reading. I remembered a goal I made back in high school. I wanted to read all the classics, the books that everyone is 'supposed' to read. I decided to finally attempt that goal but needed a more concrete goal to finish. I work best when I have a list that I could check off as I go. It enables me to mark my progress and gives me a finish line to work towards. I cam across the book 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die and decided that, while it is a lofty and possibly unattainable goal, it would probably be fun to give it a go. I managed to download a spreadsheet even that lists the books and allows me to check them off as I go. 

I am ashamed to admit that I was only to able to check off 7 books as having already read, most of which I read way back in high school. So I only have 994 books left to read. Wow! That's not daunting at all is it? I am a quick reader but this is still feeling like a decade long project....at least. Good thing I'm only 27, God willing, I should have enough time to finish it.