75 Book Challenge
Written byPosted on January 2, 2006
Filed Under 75 Books, Reading
I’ll see your 50 books and raise you twenty-five. Seventy-five books, folks. I’ll be reading 75. Who’s with me?
[UPDATE: Tayari Jones has some very good guidelines about what to read, although I would add the following ideals: a mystery book, a science fiction book, a "chick lit" book, a book written for popular audiences (We don't have to be literary snobs all the time, do we? Besides it helps to know what everyday people are reading from time to time.), a book that is at least 800 pages, a book that is less than 100 pages, a children's book, a substantial percentage of books written by women and minorities, a memoir written by or about a truly whacked out individual, a lengthy nonfiction book about a subject I know absolutely nothing about, a microhistory, et al.]
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Books To Jump Up and Down Over
Beyond Heaving Bosoms by Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan. The famed writers behind Smart Bitches, Trashy Books have written a very funny and thoughtful volume about romances, both Old Skool and New Skool. Here is a book that any smug and humorless literary manboy beating his flabby passive chest over Banville or Bolano should probably read pronto, if only for the distant possibility that he might get over himself. While the Choose Your Own Adventure segment at the end caused me to have a very disturbing dream involving Shelley Long (don't ask), Sarah and Candy did have me rethinking many of my own misperceptions when I wasn't busy laughing. They're not afraid to take on the New York Times Bok Review or even the groupthink within certain sectors of the romance community.
Alice Fantastic by Maggie Estep. This wild and highly enjoyable narrative involves two sisters (presumably, the third one was still being rented out by Chekhov), a hippie ex-junkie mother who lives with seventeen dogs, a murder, gambling, and libidinous Hollywood actresses who live in Woodstock. But this is the wonderful Maggie Estep we're talking here. And what seems at first like a quirky yarn becomes something unexpectedly moving about connectivity. What I love about Estep's work is the way that she'll juxtapose an extremely astute observation (now that you mention it, why do cab drivers always have somebody to talk with on the phone past midnight?) with an often outrageous story development.
Generosity by Richard Powers. It doesn't come out until September 29th, but Richard Powers's latest will have anyone committed to books reconsidering their literary fervor. I foresee some animosity from the vanilla critics hostile to idea-driven novels, but book bloggers, YouTube chroniclers, and MFAs would do well to plunge into this chance-taking narrative, which introduces vital questions about what the reader's relationship is with media, scientific dissection, and "creative nonfiction." Are we rats fleeing to happy cities? Or can we find the humanism within the purported plague?
Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon. Lennon is one of the most underrated fiction writers working today. Much as On the Night Plain proved that Lennon had a lot more in the toolbox than heartfelt (and often very funny) suburban satire, this slim but fascinating volume juxtaposes 100 small-town anecdotes -- arranged by category -- in a manner that reads, at times, like Nicholson Baker's passions for minutiae and, at other times, Stewart O'Nan's concern for psychological detail. The result is fiction that makes us wonder about whether one person's subjective view of particulars can entirely be trusted. This book never found a publisher in 2005. But thankfully, Graywolf has released it in the United States, along with Lennon's latest novel, The Castle.
Wonderful World by Javier Calvo. This wonderfully raucous volume has been completely ignored by the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. But it's probably one of the most delightful reading experiences I've had this year. Calvo cavalierly mashes up multiple genres and manages to mix up familial subtext with larger-than-life, almost cartoonish characters. (Indeed, one might argue that one mobster's penis is a character of its own in this sprawling novel.). This is not an easy thing to pull off, but Calvo makes it work. And it's helped immeasurably by Mara Faye Lethem's idiom-specific translation. (See longer post.)
The Means of Reproduction, Michelle Goldberg This thoughtful book tackles the complicated (and little discussed) subject of reproductive rights from numerous angles, which includes a number of unpleasant but necessary ones. The upshot is that there isn't a quick fix solution for declining birth rates and fundamentalist abuses. Just about every political faction has contributed to the friction. But you'll want to read this book anyway to refamiliarize yourself with the topic, but also to understand just what's occurred during the past several decades to get us where we are today. (See also podcast interview with Goldberg.)
Right there with you Sam. Officially per the blog/website last year I finished off at 65 – but I’ve got a few more under my belt that were not reviewed (LBC nominees and those I’m waiting for interview responses from) so I’ll actually start 2006 off with a few quick ones!
Enjoy,
Sam? WTF? Sorry Ed, I just read an email from the Golden One and then responded to your post.
Well, considering I read 37 books in December alone…
Just choked a little bit there. 37 during that hectic month? Can the Wayne’s World ‘we’re not worthy’ be seen online?
I’m in! I’m in! But can New Yorkers count as fraction of a book? I have a huge stack waiting for me.
I’m in too, if only because I think it will force me to keep better count. (Even if, perhaps, this may somewhat sabotage my goal to read more short stories from magazines.)
Amateurs!
Will Don Quixote count as two? How about Bleak House? That should count as three. Let’s say I read every single William T. Vollmann novel in one month, will I get an automatic pass?
Knock yourself out, Darby. I’m planning to pad my total reading YAs.
I’m in. 1 down/74 to go.
I read 73 this year, so 75 will be a challenge as my daughter (11 mos.) gets older.
I only read 23 in the hectic month of December, but my year-end total still hit 365. Haven’t decided yet what to follow it up with in ‘06.
I can drive 55. I mean, 75.
I’m moving the decimal. 7.5 or bust.
Actually, I read 119 books in 2005. So this shouldn’t be a problem at all. I just wanted to float a number for the hard-core literary.
Of course, unlike Kevin, I’m also a single man. Likely the number would be severely chopped had I spawned. So kudos to Kevin for reading 73 while parenting. That’s a lot more than Neal Pollack, also a father, who couldn’t even meet the 52 book challenge.
Funny you mention it. I do plan on catching up with some Vollmann titles, if only to revive the Vollmann Club. So that should compromise the 75 figure. I now have everything he’s written, save the seven-book set and “Afghanistan Picture Show.”
And 37 books in December, Sarah? 23 books in December, Lauren? Jesus, where does the time come from?
I’m insane, Ed, that’s the excuse I always give. And I do it while raising a kid and writing a few books a year. Funny, people should mention Vollmann: I was considering making him my ‘06 challenge.
Okay, I’m in too. I have this terrible habit of reading almost an entire book, and stopping 20 or even 10 pages from the end – it’s this thing where I just don’t want it to end. Weird, I know. But at the rate I’m tearing through books this month, I think 75 shouldn’t be a problem – just have to do a little better keeping track of them this year than I did last, but thanks for the inspiration.
I don’t know if you have a list of 75 books already designed, but it not, I have an excellent book to recommend.
The book is titled “The Fall of Lucifer”, written by Wendy Alec.
The book opens with the three Angelic brothers, Lucifer, Michael and Gabriel, in heaven before the fall. Over the course of the book, the essence of the angels is developed. The controversy arises when God created man to be higher than the angels, in that we are created in the image of God. Lucifer was embittered to the point of rebellion.
Various historical events are incorporated, and the plot offers the perspective of an angel into the events. The novel develops the beauty of heaven and the grotesque quality of hell, the depths of evil, and the beauty of grace. It communicates these themes through beautiful imagery and an intriguing plot. The beautiful imagery would make for amazing scenery!
This is a fast read, 300-page novel that is consuming to the imagination and penetrating to the heart. I hope they make this book into a movie. It would be amazing. If you have time, I hope you enjoy it!
Sounds like a great idea!
I read about 116 books this year, but a large majority of them were mystery/thriller/suspense novels. I’d like to broaden my reading horizons a little bit.
I’m in – I read 177 last year although I was hit by the flu in December and don’t remember reading much of anything that month (I mostly remember lying in bed and moaning.) I like the idea of mixing it up a lot subject wise – the only way I survived reading “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom” last year was to intermix it with a lot of lighter stuff. Even then – it was easily the hardest book I have ever finished.
I’m in. I made it to 77 last year, so I ought to be able to do this.
Bring it on! I read 38 books in January alone.
I read 402 books last year. No joke. 
I am 26 books in, on initial target of 100 by end next year if not before. I live in Supported Housing so books and academia are a cherished rescourced.
I am aiming to read 2000 books with exclusion periods if i should re-enter Higher Education. I have about 50 books in possession and am on 27 out of First Hundred. I need to read a ’saving’ Academics Rate if future plans are to succeed.
The best of luck and blessings on your reading. It is so good to see other like-minded online.
300 is my goal for this year…I do not intend to repeat the performance, I just want to be able to say….’I read 300 books in 2008′. It’s a little sad…BUT, it’s also kind of great.