Books: 999 Challenge

These are the books I read to complete my 999 Challenge. I picked 9 categories and read 9 books in each category in 2009. Sorry for the lengthy post, there's just no great way to list these.

-New Authors

-"Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer" by: Steven Millhauser - ★★★☆

-"Bowl of Cherries" by: Millard Kaufman - ★★★

-"Rabbit Hole" by: David Lindsay-Abaire - ★★★★

-"Revolutionary Road" by: Richard Yates - ★★★★☆

-"Before You Know Kindness" by: Chris Bohjalian - ★★★☆

-"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" by: Seth Grahame-Smith - ★★★☆

-"Wit: A Play: by: Margaret Edson - ★★★★

-"Atlas Shrugged" by: Ayn Rand - ★★★★☆

-"The Good Women of China" by: Xiaran - ★★★★

-Favorite authors

-"Black Dogs" by: Ian McEwan - ★★★☆

-"Shakespeare: The World As A Stage" by: Bill Bryson - ★★★★

-"When You Are Engulfed in Flames" by: David Sedaris - ★★★★

-"The Martian Chronicles" by: Ray Bradbury - ★★★★☆

-"Babylon Revisited" by: F. Scott Fitzgerald - ★★★★

-"Echoes" by Maeve Binchy - ★★★

-"F is for Fugitive" by: Sue Grafton - ★★★★

-"Treasure Box" by: Orson Scott Card - ★☆

-"Out of the Silent Planet" by: C.S. Lewis - ★★★★

-Nonfiction

-"The Middle Place" by: Kelly Corrigan - ★★★★

-"A Girl Named Zippy" by: Haven Kimmel - ★★★☆

-"Freakonomics" by: Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner - ★★★★

-"Fever Pitch" by Nick Hornby - ★★☆

-"Brave Men" by: Ernie Pyle - ★★★★

-"Nickel and Dimed" by: Barbara Ehrenreich - ★★★★

-"A Beautiful Mind" by: Sylvia Nasar - ★★★☆

-"Partly Cloudy Patriot" by: Sarah Vowell - ★★★★

-"My Life in France" by: Julia Child - ★★★★

-Recommended

-"The Muse Asylum" by:David Czuchlewski - ★★★★☆

-"Winesburg, Ohio" by: Sherwood Anderson - ★★★★

-"Looking for Alaska" by: John Green - ★★★★

-"The Brothers K" by: David James Duncan - ★★★★★

-"The Penelopiad" by: Margaret Atwood - ★★★★

-"Sherlock Homes: A Baker Street Dozen" by: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - ★★★★

-"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by: Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows - ★★★★

-"Close Range: Wyoming Stories" by" Annie Proulx - ★★

-"Blessings" by: Anna Quindlen - ★★★★

-Amy's List (a list of books a friend created for me as must reads)

-"The Portable Dorothy Parker" by: Dorothy Parker - ★★★★

-"Anna Karenina" by: Leo Tolstoy - ★★★★★

-"The Name of the Rose" by: Umberto Eco - ★★★☆

-"My Sister's Keeper" by: Jodi Picoult - ★★★★

-"Bee Season" by: Myra Goldberg - ★★★☆

-"Uncle Tom's Cabin" by: Harriet Beecher Stowe - ★★★★

-"Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky - ★★★★

-"Time and again" by Jack Finney - ★★★★

-"Old School" by Tobias Wolff - ★★★☆

-1,000 books to read before you die

-"White Noise" by: Don Delillo - ★★

-"Things Fall Apart" by: Chinua Achebe - ★★★☆

-"Wide Sargasson Sea" by: Jean Rhys - ★★☆

-"Hideous Kinky" by: Esther Freud - ★★★☆

-"The Prime of Miss Brodie" by: Muriel Spark - ★★★☆

-"On Beauty" by: Zadie Smith - ★★★★☆

-"The World According to Garp" by: John Irving - ★★★☆

-"The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien - ★★★★☆

-"The Corrections" by: Jonathan Franzen - ★★☆

-Young Adult

-"Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz" by: L. Frank Baum - ★★★

-"Anne of Windy Poplars" by: L.M. Montgomery - ★★★☆

-"The Call of the Wild" by: Jack London - ★★★

-"Peter and the Star Catchers" by: Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson - ★★★☆

-"Eggs" by: Jerry Spinelli - ★★☆

-"The Hostile Hospital" by: Lemony Snicket - ★★☆

-"Inkheart" by: Cornelia Funke - ★★★★☆

-"The Graveyard Book" by: Neil Gaiman - ★★★★

-"Because of Winn-Dixie" by: Kate DiCamillo - ★★★☆

-Sequels

-"Perelandra" by: C.S. Lewis - ★★★

-"The Well of Lost Plots" by: Jasper Fforde - ★★★★

-"Something Rotten" by: Jasper Fforde - ★★★★

-"Dexter in the Dark" by: Jeff Lindsay - ★★★☆

-"Dearly Devoted Dexter" by: Jeff Lindsay - ★★★★

-"Teacher Man: A Memoir" by: Frank McCourt - ★★★★

-"Eclipse" by: Stephenie Meyers - ★★★★★

-"Son of a Witch" by: Gregory Maguire - ★★★☆

-"Coming Attractions" by: Robin Jones Gunn - ★★★★

-Book Club

-"Isaac's Storm" by: Erik Larson - ★★★★☆

-"The Ride of Our Lives" by: Mike Leonard - ★★

-"Cry, the Beloved Country" by: Alan Paton - ★★★☆

-"Peace Like a River" by: Leif Enger - ★★★★☆

-"The Soloist" by: Steve Lopez - ★★★★☆

-"A Mercy" by: Toni Morrison - ★★

-"The History of Love" by: Nicole Krauss - ★★★★★

-"The Grapes of Wrath" by: John Steinbeck - ★★★★★

-"Manhunt" by: James L. Swanson - ★★★

My Rating System (I rate on my personal reaction to the book):

★ = one star

☆ = 1/2 star

★★★★★ - a must-read

★★★★ - liked it a lot

★★★ - nothing special, but OK

★★ - not my cup of tea

★ - a waste of time

Photo by moi.