memoir of jane austen

Title: Memoir of Jane Austen
Author: James Edward Austen-Leigh
Finished: September 30
Pages: 352
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publish Year: 2008
ISBN: 0199540772

Genre: Non-fiction, memoir.

What do you think motivated the author to share his or her life story? James Edward Austen-Leigh is a distant relative of Jane Austen and I believe, much like he has said throughout the book, that his purpose was so people could know the real Jane Austen and share her more personal life and her journey in writing six very amazing books.

Share a favorite part of the book: My most favorite part of the book would probably be the never before published chapters from Persuasion and then a number of chapters from the last book Austen was writing before she died. It had no title and they weren’t even able to tell who the main focus was to be on, even though she had at least a dozen chapters completed.

How would you rate this book? Three and a half stars. 3.5/5

Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week officially kicked off on Saturday, September 27 and goes through October 4.

Below is the complete ALA 100 Most Challenged Books from 1990-2000. Those I have read are in bold. Those in italics are books I currently own but have yet to read.

1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
8. Forever by Judy Blume
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
10. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
15. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
19. Sex by Madonna
20. Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
29. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
30. The Goats by Brock Cole
31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
32. Blubber by Judy Blume
33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
34. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
35. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
36. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
37. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
38. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
40. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
45. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
46. Deenie by Judy Blume
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
55. Cujo by Stephen King
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
58. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
61. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
62. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
63. Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
64. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
65. Fade by Robert Cormier
66. Guess What? by Mem Fox
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
68. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
71. Native Son by Richard Wright
72. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
73. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
74. Jack by A.M. Homes
75. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
77. Carrie by Stephen King
78. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
79. On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
80. Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
81. Family Secrets by Norma Klein
82. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
86. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
87. Private Parts by Howard Stern
88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
92. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
93. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
94. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
95. Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
97. View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
99. The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
100. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

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Book Awards II

I didn’t participate last year but ran across this new challenge just recently. The goal is to read 10 books from August 1, 2008 – June 1, 2009. You have to choose from at least five different eligible award lists (ie Pulitzer, Agatha, etc).

Here’s a partial list I will be choosing from:

• Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Alex Awards)
• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (Alex Awards)
• My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult (Alex Awards)
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Alex Awards)
• the Curious Incident of Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Costa/Whitbread)
• Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (National Book Award)
• Atonement by Ian McEwan (National Book Critics’ Circle Award)
• A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley (Pulitzer Prize)
• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (Nebula Award)

Completed Books in Challenge:

1. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult (Alex Awards) – SEPTEMBER
2. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Alex Awards) – OCTOBER
3. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (Alex Awards) – OCTOBER
4. B is for Burglar by Sue Grafton (Anthony Awards) – NOVEMBER
5. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (Nebula Award) – NOVEMBER
6. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Alex Awards) – NOVEMBER
7. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Hugo Award) – DECEMBER
8. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey  Niffenegger (Alex Award) – DECEMBER
9. Stiff by Mary Roach (Alex Award) – DECEMBER
10. Middlesex (Pulitzer) – JANUARY

Weekly Geeks #18.2

As  I said before, I was pretty caught up on everything when I joined Weekly Geeks but I’ve been spending a lot of time exploring my new challenges and groups.

The 24 Hour Read-A-Thon is coming up quickly so I’ve been trying to think hard about what books I want to read and how much I am planning on participating. A few book ideas are:

• Away Laughing on a Fast Camel by Louise Rennison
• Dancing in My Nuddy Pants by Louise Rennison
• Cat and Mouse by James Patterson
• Eight Tales of Terror by Edgar Allan Poe
• Four Past Midnight by Stephen King
• Journals by Kurt Cobain

Here is the status of my current challenges:

• 888 Challenge (68/80 plus 6 extra credit books in finished categories)
• 50 Book Challenge (75/50)
• Dewey Decimal Challenge (30/1000 categories finished)
• Library of Congress Challenge (20 categories finished)
• A-Z Challenge (19 authors, 21 books)
• 1,001 Books (38/1,001)
• TBR Challenge (starting next year)

Weekly Geeks #19

In preparation for the Weekly Geeks top books of 2008, we’re creating our lists of the best books we’ve read that were published in 2008.

I’ve read more than I thought and I enjoyed every single one. Here’s my list:

• Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton
• The Wishing Year by Noelle Oxenhandler
• Between Here and April by Deborah Copaken Kogan
• Say Goodbye by Lisa Gardner
• Stori Telling by Tori Spelling
• 7th Heaven by James Patterson
• Smoke Screen by Sandra Brown
• Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
• Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
• Sundays at Tiffany’s by James Patterson

I think of these Breaking Dawn was probably the best and most interesting. 7th Heaven was my quickest read from this list, like most James Patterson books. Each was very unique in it’s own way, and only two were non-fiction, which continues to prove that I read more general fiction than anything else.