Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Readathon Stack



I've decided on the books I'm most likely to draw from during the readathon on the 24th.

From the top, and with their opening sentence:

Zeitoun. Dave Eggers.

On moonless nights the men and boys of Jableh, a dusty fishing town on the coast of Syria, would gather their lanterns and set out in their quietest boats.

The Servants' Quarters. Lynn Freed.

If every family chooses someone to punish, I was the one chosen by mine.

The Blank Wall. Elisabeth Sanxay Holding.

Lucia Holley wrote every night to her husband, who was somewhere in the Pacific.

The Men Who Stare at Goats. Jon Ronson.

This is a true story.

The Collected Stories of Caroline Gordon.

We were sitting on the porch at the Fork--it is where two creeks meet--after supper, talking about our family reunion.

The Haunt. A.L. Barker.

When the Griersons moved from Wimbledon to Cornwall it was more a flight of fancy than a leap in the dark.

Her Fearful Symmetry. Audrey Niffenegger.

Elspeth died while Robert was standing in front of a vending machine watching tea shoot into a small plastic cup.

13 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:09 AM

    Her Fearful Symmetry is an awesome choice!

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  2. Sounds like a great stack you have there! I love evaluating books based on the first sentence, paragraph, or page.

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  3. Very nice selection and the quotes are so intriguing, especially the one for The Servants' Quarters.

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  4. Is this the 24-hour readathon? And does that really mean that you read for 24 hours? I don't think I could do that. I read a ton, but I don't think I could do it in such a concentrated way.

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  5. I picked up 'Her Fearful Symmetry' from the library over the weekend and am really excited about reading it. But I have two others I have to read first. How do I wait?

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  6. I'm so tempted to pick up Zeitoun, as I adored What is the What. But want to wait for the paperback (my current issue with shelf space and moving and having to pack hardcovers). Not sure till when I can hold off.. Great readathon stack!

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  7. A friend gave Zeitoun to me for my birthday--we're going to read it together. I've read What is the What and she sings the praises of You Shall Know Our Velocity, so we're both Eggers fans.

    I think The Servants Quarters and Her Fearful Symmetry will be the two I concentrate most on.

    Thomas, I have only pulled an all-nighter once in my life, and that was from worry, so you can rest assured that I won't manage 24 hours worth of reading during that time--although others will. At some point during the evening I'll read an hour or two at a stretch, but from past readathons I can tell us that I'll spend only 30 minutes or so most hours on reading.

    The great fun of the readathon is that there are cheerleaders who praise your efforts in comments instead of making fun of you for being a dweeb!

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  8. Great stack for the read-a-thon. I've been eying Servants Quarters, and I also want to read Her Fearful Symmetry too. Have fun..

    thanks for sharing your story about Claudius :)

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  9. That is a wicked, WICKED stack.

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  10. I haven't read You Shall Know Our Velocity yet. I liked the first half of A Heartbreaking Work but didn't care for How We Are Hungry. I'm hoping Zeitoun is closer to What is the What. Also looking forward to The Wild Things.

    By the way, may I borrow your idea of listing the opening sentences for my own readathon stack? :D

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  11. I'd be happy to have three or four hours uninterrupted reading time. My family would never let me get away with a whole day of it! :) I'm reading the Niffenegger right now. I'm really curious about Lynn Freed's book. I checked it out from the library a while back, but of course it went back unread...

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  12. I wish I had Her Fearful Symmetry to read this weekend. Looks great! Good luck!

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