1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up

Birdie over at Birdie's Nest posted about another challenge based on the 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up list. Now, amazing as it may seem, I am NOT going to sign up for this challenge. But I was interested to see how many of these books I had read. Here we go:

1. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne)
2. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
3. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain)
4. Aesop's Fables (Aesop)
5. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll)
6. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (Judy Blume)
7. Around the World in 80 Days (Jules Verne)
8. Bedtime for Frances () [read to my son]
9. The Berenstain Bears (Stan & Jan Berenstain) [read to my son]
10. The Blue Fairy Book (Andrew Lang)
11. The Bobbsey Twins (Lauren Hope)
12. Caps for Sale (Esphyr Slobodkina) [read to my son]
13. Captain Pugwash (John Ryan) [read to my son]
14. The Cat in the Hat (Dr. Seuss)
15. The Catcher in the Rye (J. D. Salinger)
16. Charlotte's Web (E. B. White)
17. A Child's Garden of Verses (Robert Louis Stevenson)
18. A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
19. Clifford the Big Red Dog (Norman Birdwell)
20. Corduroy (Don Freeman) [read to my son]
21. The Cricket in Times Square (George Seldon)
22. Curious George (Margaret Rey)
23. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (Mark Haddon)
24. Eloise (Kay Thomspon) [read to my son]
25. Emil & the Detectives (Erich Kastner)
26. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
27. Frog & Toad Are Friends (Arnold Lobel) [read to my son]
28. Go dog Go (P. D. Eastman) [read to my son]
29. Good Dog Carl (Alexandra Day) [read to my son]
30. Goodnight Moon (Margaret Wise Brown) [read to my son]
31. Hardy Boys #1 The Tower Treasure (Franklin W Dixon)
32. Harold & the Purple Crayon (Crocket Johnson) [read to my son]
33. Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone (J. K. Rowling)
34. Harry the Dirty Dog (Gene Zion)
35. The Hobbit (J. R. R. Tolkien)
36. The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
37. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (Laura Numeroff) [read to my son]
38. The Incredible Journey (Sheila Bainford)
39. Journey to the Center of the Earth (Jules Verne)
40. The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
41. The Little House in the Big Wood (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
42. The Little House on the Prairie (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
43. The Little Prince (Antoine De Saint Exupery)
44. Little Toot (Hardie Gramatky)
45. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
46. The Little Mermaid (Hans Christian Andersen)
47. Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
48. Make Way for Ducklings (Robert McCloskey) [read to my son]
49. Mike Mulligan (Virginia Lee Burton) [read to my son]
50. Miss Nelson Is Missing (Harry Allard)
51. The Mouse & the Motorcycle (Beverly Cleary) [read to my son]
52. Mr. Popper's Penguins (Richard Atwater) [read to my son]
53. Mrs. Frisby & the Rats of NIMH (Robert O'Brien)
54. My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes (Eve Sutton)
55. Now We Are Six (A. A. Milne)
56. Oh the Places You'll Go (Dr. Seuss)
57. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (T. S. Eliot)
58. The Outsiders (S. E. Hinton)
59. Peanuts (Charles Schulz)
60. The Phantom Tollbooth (Norton Juster)
61. The Pied Piper of Hamlin (Robert Browning)
62. Pippi Longstocking (Astrid Lindgren)
63. A Pocket for Corduroy (Don Freeman) [read to my son]
64. Prince Caspian (C. S. Lewis)
65. The Polar Express (Chris Van Allsburg)
66. Pollyanna (Eleanor Porter)
67. Redwall (Brian Jacques) [read to my son]
68. Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe)
69. The Secret Garden (Frances Burnett)
70 The Secret of the Old Clock (Carolyn Keene)
71. The Snowy Day (Ezra Keats)
72. Stellaluna (Janell Cannon) [read to my son]
73. Stone Soup (Marcia Brown)
74. The Story of Babar (Jean De Brunhoff) [read to my son]
75. Stuart Little (E. B. White)
76. The Summer of the Swans (Betsy Byars)
77. Sylvester & the Magic Pebble (William Stieg) [read to my son]
78. The Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck (Beatrix Potter) [read to my son]
79. The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher (Beatrix Potter) [read to my son]
80. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Beatrix Potter) [read to my son]
81. Thomas the Tank Engine (Rev. Awdry) [read to my son]
82. Through the Looking Glass (Lewis Carroll)
83. The Three Musketeers (Alexander Dumas)
84. The Ugly Duckling (Hans Christian Andersen)
85. The Velveteen Rabbit (Margery Williams)
86. The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle) [read to my son]
87. A Visit From St. Nicholas (Clement Moore)
88. Voyage of the Dawn Treader (C. S. Lewis)
89. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
90. The Westing Game (Ellen Raskin) [read to my son]
91. When We Were Very Young (A. A. Milne)
92. Where the Sidewalk Ends (Shel Silverstein)
93. Where the Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak)
94. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears (Verna Aardema)
95. The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame)
96. Winnie the Pooh (A. A. Milne)
97. A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L'Engle)

Not bad...I was also interested to see how many I had read because I had a son. I remember discovering Captain Pugwash with Kyle. That's when he was all pirates, all the time. Captain Pugwash is a VERY fun book (and series; there's more than one Pugwash book). I also discovered the Tintin series with Kyle--although the library did not have the one Tintin book that made this list (Tintin in the Land of the Soviets). May have to track that one down to make my Tintin reading more complete.

PS: I miscounted the first time, Birdie. 97, instead of 95!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a bookish meme hosted by Book Journey. It's where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It's a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list. So hop on over via the link above and join in...and leave a comment here so I can check out what you are reading.

Books Read Last Week (click on titles for review):
Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald: An American Woman's Life by Linda Wagner-Martin
The Girl in the Green Raincoat by Laura Lippmann
Something New by P. G. Wodehouse
The Silk Stocking Murders by Anthony Berkeley

Currently Reading:
Zubin Mehta: The Score of My Life by Zubin Mehta Captures the life of this celebrated musician, including a review of his childhood days in Bombay, his early education in music in Europe, his great success with orchestras around the world, and his receipt of the United Nations Lifetime Achievement Peace and Tolerance Award. - (Baker & Taylor)


Up Next:
The Thornthwaite Inheritance by Gareth P Jones: Ovid and Lorelli Thornthwaite have been trying to kill each other for so long that neither twin can remember which act of attempted murder came first. But whoever struck first, trying to take each other's lives is simply what they do. Until one day a lawyer arrives at their house to take stock of its contents, and his accompanying son attracts their attention. Soon a new battle evolves - one in which the twins have to work together to solve the mystery of their parents' deaths. Can Lorelli and Ovid overcome their old animosities, and will they ever get to finish that game of chess?

Leave It To Psmith by P. G. Wodehouse: The next Blandings Castle book for my Wodehouse Challenge.

The Alphabet in Crime Fiction: Letter G

Kerrie over at Mysteries in Paradise is sponsoring The Alphabet in Crime Fiction community meme. Your post MUST be related to either the first letter of a book's title, the first letter of an author's first name, or the first letter of the author's surname. So you see you have lots of choice. You could write a review, or a bio of an author, so long as it fits the rules somehow. (It is ok too to skip a week.) Link your post for the week back to Kerrie's site.

This week we are featuring the letter G.

For me, that means Anna Katharine Green. If Edgar Allan Poe was the father of American crime fiction, then surely Anna Katharine Green was its mother. She wrote The Leavenworth Case which was originally published in 1878--nine years before Doyle's A Study in Scarlet. It is often considered the first full-length detective story written by a woman. It was an enormous success with the public, reportedly selling more than 750,000 copies in its first decade and a half, and, for nearly half a century, Anna Katharine Green was one of America's most popular authors. She wrote many other mystery novels (over 30), but what reputation she has today rests on this foundational detective story--noted by mystery authority Howard Haycraft as "one of the true milestones of the genre."
Green managed to introduce in her initial novel many of the mystery standbys that fans of the the genre will recognize at once: the crusty old man on the verge of changing his will, the body in the library, a dignified butler, a coroners' inquest (called and arranged in what seems to be whirlwind haste), ballistics expert pinpointing the weapon used, a scene-of-the-crime sketch, and mysterious letters. Readers of today may sigh at some of these components, but would do well to remember how fresh these clues and incidents were in Victorian-era American crime fiction.

Be A Star!

Cheryl over at CMash Loves to Read has recently started a new Sunday meme called Sunday's Shining Star. Cheryl is an absolutely lovely blogger whom I have been lucky enough to become virtual friends with over the course of my first year in blogging. And I don't just say that because she's decided to feature me as this week's shining star. Cheryl is a terrific lady with a wonderful sense of humor. She reads the books I'm too scared to read (all those thriller-type books). And she manages (with the help of Gina at Hott Books) to keep all of us Challenge Addicts in line.

So, hop on over to Cheryl's place and check out her beautiful blog. And while you're there...you just might read my little write-up too. 'Cause at least for today--I'm a star!

Library Loot: February 16-22

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire (The Captive Reader) and Marg (The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library. If you'd like to participate, just write up your post, feel free to steal button, and link up using the Mr. Linky on Claire's site this week. And, of course, check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

This week's haul is pretty slim pickings with only one new book and one leftover and nothing from the Library's bookstore (this has got to be an all-time low for me).

New Book: First off, let me just say that I LOVE my local library. This is the fourth time I have suggested that they order up something that they didn't already have in circulation and they didn't even bat a virtual eyelash at it (the request is an online form). I suggested that they order The Thornthwaite Inheritance by Gareth P Jones a mere four weeks ago and it was ready and waiting for me on the hold shelf today. I'm not generally an YA or mid-age book reader at this stage in my life, but when I came across a review for this one over at Fleur Fisher's , I just had to read it. Here's the scoop:



Ovid and Lorelli Thornthwaite have been trying to kill each other for so long that neither twin can remember which act of attempted murder came first. But whoever struck first, trying to take each other's lives is simply what they do. Until one day a lawyer arrives at their house to take stock of its contents, and his accompanying son attracts their attention. Soon a new battle evolves - one in which the twins have to work together to solve the mystery of their parents' deaths. Can Lorelli and Ovid overcome their old animosities, and will they ever get to finish that game of chess?

Leftover Loot (see past Loot post for description):

Zubin Mehta: The Score of My Life by Zubin Mehta (reading now)

Quote It! Saturday

Freda's Voice has an awesome Saturday meme for quote lovers called Quote It! And I have another blog, Quote Mistress, which is entirely devoted to the quotes I have collected over my lifetime. So my Saturday Quote It! may be found on my quote site. I'd love for you to visit...and be sure to visit Freda's Voice too!

The Silk Stocking Murders: Review

The Silk Stocking Murders by Anthony Berkeley (1928) is another fine example of the Golden Age amatuer detective. Independent and a writer of best-selling novels as well as a crime-themed article for The Daily Courier, Roger Sheringham is interested in detection and always ready to help the officials out when they seem to be going astray.

Sheringham is first brought into this mystery by a note from a country parson. His daughter Janet had left home to try and ease his burden of feeding five daughters and to try and make her way in the world well enough to send home support for her sisters. After writing faithfully for some time, her letters simply stopped. The vicar doesn't want publicity and doesn't want to involve the police, but, having read Sheringham's articles, thought he might be willing to investigate. Sheringham is touched by the letter and the vicar's faith in him and sets out to find the girl. Unfortunately, he has been set on the trail too late and he soon finds that Janet is dead. She was found hanged by her own silk stocking and the coroner and his jury quickly found for a case of suicide. But then other girls, including a society darling, are found dead in similar circumstance and Sheringham and the police begin to wonder if this is simply a case of copycat suicides or something much more sinister. It takes one final attempt on the sister of the first victim for Sheringham to finally work out who the culprit is. But there is no real evidence and he is forced to perform a reconstruction of the crimes in order to flush the villain out.

Sheringham is, as I said, another example of the Golden Age detective...with a twist. He is by no means infallible...and makes several mistakes along the way to the solution. He is also young and brash and very sure of himself--and the police, primarily in the person of Inspector Moresby, are often on hand to see his brashness land him in one of his many mistakes. It is refreshing to have an amatuer detective who isn't perfect and always right. I was a bit dismayed at how long it took Sheringham to figure out that he had murder on his hands and not suicides. I realize that I, as the reader, had a head-start on him--after all, the book wasn't titled The Silk Stocking Suicides--but still. Would a girl really hang herself with one sock on and one sock off, as it were? I don't think so.

I hadn't read any of Berkeley's mysteries since The Poisoned Chocolate Case (one of his best) and have missed his style and his detective. Even though I was ahead of Sheringham throughout (I fingered the culprit early on, although I could not for the life of me figure out how he managed to be in two places at once), I thoroughly enjoyed this romp through the Golden Age. And I absolutely love Sheringham's parting shot to Inspector Morseby: "Do you know what's the matter with your real detectives at Scotland Yard, Morseby? You don't read enough of those detective stories." Three and a half stars.

 

My copy = without dust jacket

Saturday Snapshot February 19

Saturday Snapshot is a meme hosted by Alyce at At Home with Books. All you have to do is "post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and then leave a direct link to your post in the Mr. Linky on [her] blog. Photos can be old or new, and be of anything as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give is up to you." All she asks is that you don't just post random photos that you find online.

This photo was taken by my son for one of his Photography class assignments. I love how he set up his Star Trek model with the lighting behind it.

Book Beginnings on Friday

Book Beginnings on Friday is a bookish meme sponsored by Katy at A Few More Pages. Here's what you do: share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments section . Include the title and author so we know what you're reading. Then, if you are so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line, and if you liked or did not like that sentence. Link-up each week at Katy's place.


Here's mine from The Silk Stocking Murders by Anthony Berkeley:

Roger Sheringham halted before the little box just inside the entrance of The Daily Courier's enormous building behind Fleet Street. Its occupant, alert for unauthorised intruders endeavoring to slip past him, nodded kindly.

Not the most exciting beginning...but at least we know where Roger works.

Friday 56

The Friday 56 is a bookish meme sponsored by Freda's Voice. It's really easy to participate.

*Grab a book, any book.

*Turn to page 56.

*Find any sentence that grabs you.

*Post it.

*Link it up at Freda's site.

Here's mine from The Silk Stocking Murders by Anthony Berkeley:

It wouldn't be difficult after that, I imagine, to remove one of her stockings; and then he could proceed with his preparations at leisure, screwing the hook in the door, arranging a chair to stand her on, and all the rest of it.

Follow Friday 40 & Over (38)

It's (almost) Friday and time again for the Follow Friday 40 & Over blog hop. Sponsored by Never Growing Old, this blog hop asks: Are you a blogger over 40? Yeah, welcome to the club! Please join in the fun and get to know your fellow bloggers!!

The RULES to join in are very simple:

*Grab the button
*Add your link to the list on the blog site
*Visit as many blogs as you can
*Follow the ones you like (and comment to let them know you're following)

Something New (aka: Scarab, Scarab, Who's Got the Scarab?)

Something New (1915) is the first installment of P. G. Wodehouse's Blandings Castle stories. This story follows Ashe Marson into the drafty halls of Blandings Castle, where he will try to make "something new" of his life by purloining a rare Egyptian scarab — all for the best motives, of course.

Ashe Marson is a hack writer who churns out pulp detective stories which involve The Adventures of Gridley Quayle. Tired of this life, but not quite knowing what to do about it, he makes the acquaintance of his upstairs neighbor Joan Valentine. She prompts him to action: "Read the papers. Read the advertisement columns. I'm sure you will find something sooner or later. Don't get into a groove. Be an adventurer. Snatch at the next chance, whatever it is." And he does. After reading and answering the following want ad:Wanted--Young Man of Good Appearance who is poor and reckless, to undertake delicate and dangerous enterprise. Good pay for the right man.
 
He finds himself in the employ of J. Preston Peters. He will appear as this American millionaire's valet on a trip to Blandings Castle, but his real mission will be to steal back a priceless scarab which has made its way into Lord Emsworth's collection through a series of misadventures. What follows is a delightful romp through the halls of the English country home...it seems everyone in the Castle has a reason to be roaming about at night and what should be a very simple little matter of picking up the scarab (it's not even in a locked case) and stowing it away in a handy pocket becomes a veritable circus of unlikely events. Who knew so many people would be interested in the scarab?

This may be early Wodehouse, but he is already on the top of his game with ready wit and impossible situations. I found myself chuckling throughout the entire piece. The night-time adventure involving Baxter (Lord Emsworth's impeccable secretary), a bottle of wine, a bit of cold tongue and various bits of crockery and furniture is the highlight of the adventure. I look forward to future adventures at Blandings Castle as I make my way through the remainder of my Wodehouse Challenge books. Four stars.

Booking Through Thursday: Romance

This week Booking Through Thursday wants to know: What’s the most romantic book you’ve ever read? (Mind you, I don’t mean the hard-core stuff you hide in plain wrappers under your mattress. I mean True Love, Romance, deeply emotional, heart-tugging, and all that stuff.) And, secondly, did you like it? Is it your usual kind of reading, or did it take you by surprise?

Most romantic book ever? Crimson Roses by Grace Livingston Hill. First real romance novel I ever read and one of my all-time favorites (it's stuck with me over 25 years....). I had to go back and read it a couple of years ago just to see if it really was as lovely as I remembered. It was.

Short synopsis: This is a heartwarming, enchanting story by a favorite Christian romance author. When a secret admirer brings the prospect of romance into Marion's lonely life, she finds herself wondering if she can find her place in his world of wealth and glamour.

Honorable Mentions:
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Persuasion by Jane Austen
The 4-book love story for Lord Peter Wimsey & Harriet Vane by Dorothy L Sayers
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Miranda by Grace Livingston Hill

Theme Thursday: Love

Hosted by Reading Between the Pages

A brand-new meme brought to my attention by Freda's Voice.

RULES:
* A theme will be posted each week (on Thursdays)
* Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
* Post it and don’t forget to mention the author and the title of the book
* Since we may take a few days to finish a book, this event is open for one whole week

This week's theme, appropriately, is LOVE.

Here's my snippet from Something New by P. G. Wodehouse (p 85-6):

In every man's life there is generally one moment to which in later years he can look back and say, "In this moment I fell in love." Such a moment came to Ashe now....In the almost incredibly brief time which it took the small but sturdy porter to roll a milk-can across the platform and bump it with a clang against other milk-cans similarly treated a moment before, Ashe fell in love.

Whatcha Reading Wednesday

Rules:
1. Grab your current read, go to the page you are on and post the next full sentence you are about to read.
2. Link back to Busy Moms Who Love To Read

Here's mine from Something New by P. G. Wodehouse (pp 76-7):

The modern young man may do adventurous things if they are thrust upon him, but left to himself, he will edge away uncomfortably and look in the other direction when the Goddess of Adventure smiles at him.