Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

So I am caught up on books already read. I happened to finish this one late last night. If you want to read along I just started Gone Girl.

Go check out, rent, buy borrow or steal this book right now, (Don't really steal that's bad). You need to stop what you are doing or reading and read this book. It is absolutely phenomenal and is such an incredible story. It is a true World War 2 story so yes it is sad, but this one isn't a holocaust story and doesn't take place in Europe, Yay. It is about Airman and Olympian Louis Zamperini and his struggle to survive as a castaway and prisoner of war in Japan. I don't know if any of you are in my boat but I had never heard much about the fighting in the pacific with Japan other than Pearl Harbor and the Dropping of the bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Apparently the Japanese were just about as bad as the Germans. While they didn't go after Jews (not a lot of Jews in Asia), they went after non Japanese. So pretty much they wanted to control and kill the rest of Asia focusing on Korea, China and the Philippians, if I understand correctly don't quote me. They also didn't follow the rules for having POWs, they didn't feed them properly, stole Red Cross rations, worked the officers and beat and tortured the prisoners. Also how inadequate our Air force was at first and how dangerous really surprised me. I guess growing up next to an Air force base clouded my judgement. This book is very well written and you learn a lot about the war and other people involved not just Louis Zamperini. Read it now before the movie is released in December. Read it now. Yes you read it.

An Abundance of Katherines John Green

Loved this book it was again more like Paper Towns and less like Looking for Alaska. I thought the idea of a child prodigy who only likes and dates Katherines was intriguing and well thought out. The journey of finding out about all his Katherines' and His new journey to move on past them was a playful tale full of humor and self discovery of both Colin and his Friend Hassam. I would suggest this to anyone who loved Paper Towns or John Green and is OK with a male narrator. Two thumbs up.

The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood

So to be honest I didn't finish this book. I had if for 5 weeks and didn't even get half way done and I decided to not waste my time and move on. I might try it again some other day but not now. This book was really hard to follow it jumps through time and is a book within a book. Just as you get drawn into one story it ends and the other starts and you get drawn into in to have it change back. While an intriguing idea I had a hard time getting interested in either story because you would need to remember what was happening last time you read about this character. It also reads like a personal narrative with not a lot of rise in a plot it sits stagnate at the bottoms. If you happen to be a fan of Atwood then by all means read it but I would suggest spending your time reading instead of convincing yourself you need to keep reading like I did.

Looking For Alaska John Green

So I loved Fault is our Stars and Paper Towns (both read before the list). So I added this to my list. While a good book I did not like it as much as Fault in Our Stars or Paper Towns. It was again like tfios a tragic tale but like paper towns a coming of age tale. I felt like the combination was not quite right. It was still a great tale but half the time I was thinking get over it and move on. Unlike the kids in tfios or paper towns these kids were smart but did really dumb things just because they could. I felt like it wasn't the most inspiring tale but did teach you that you can never truly know a person no matter how well you think you do. One and a half thumbs up.

The Color Purple Alice Walker

So this happens to be one of my favorite movies. Whenever I need a good cry I watch The Color Purple. My favorite line is Oprah's "You tolds Harpos to beat me" speech. The book was also very moving though I didn't cry. Once you get around the speech, it is her journal. It is a moving read on the harshness dealt to African Americans after slavery both by the Whites and people of there own race. The part I find most heart wrenching is when Sophia is jailed and then forced to work for the mayors wife. They say she can visit for Christmas but she is there hardly 10 minutes before the mayor's wife makes her leave because she can't get the car to work right. It is a wonderful commentary on the harshness of life and the human spirits way of persevering. Warning it is very graphic and much was edited so the movie would not be R. For those faint of heart or looking for something a little cleaner but still uplifting try the movie or another book.

Everybody Sees the Ants A.S. King

This book was an interesting coming of age book that deals with the issue of bullying. Bullying is a big problem that often gets overlooked or goes undetected because the victims are to afraid to speak up fearing more punishment. The "hero" of this story is a 15 year old named Lucky. He is constantly bullied by the same kid, but no one will do anything because the kids father threatens to sue everyone and everything. You can see where this kid gets his mean streak. His mom removes him from the bully by taking them to visit his Aunt in Arizona for a few weeks, Lucky is schooled by his Uncle and in his dreams his Grandfather who went missing in Vietnam. I bet you can figure how it ends. It is an entreating story with some mystery and lots of lessons to learn. Two thumbs up especially good if you need to learn to stand up to a bully at any stage of life.

If I Stay Gayle Forman

So this one is now of movie which is being released today. I did not read it because of this I just got lucky that it got read near the first. It was a horribly sad book but was also very moving. I loved the perspective of the book as well as all the flash backs so you got to know everyone and see how this tragedy affected them. The movie looks like it will remain close to the story of the book which I loved. This one also happens to have a sequel but again I'll read it later when my library actually has a copy without a hundred holds on it. I hope you enjoy this one it is a very worthwhile and quick read.

Life as We Know It Susan Beth Pfeffer

First off loved this book got really hard to put down. This book is a apocalyptic tale about a girl her family and there struggle to survive as the world is appearing to end. An asteroid hits the moon and knocks it closer to the earth messing up just about everything. It is really interesting because it is written as a diary of the main character. You see from her eyes the lengths her and her family have to go to survive and how extreme situations can make people do unbearable things or bring out the best in people. Lets just say I hope this doesn't happen in real life. This is a series but I have not bothered to try and locate any others, maybe later.

Book Number One Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

So I actually started reading the list about a month ago so here is catch up on the ones I have already read.

I had trouble getting through this book, not going to lie. While it was an interesting story is was complicated and hard to follow. For being so short it took forever to read. The basic story line for those who don't know is about a Utopian society with no problems and no morals. They genetically make the population to what they want and create a class system before the children are even born. People unwilling to follow the system or who are born naturally live in reservations as uncivilized. It was written a long time ago so the writing is interesting and the science is a little faulty. It was ok but won't be reading it again.

Reading List (including authors)

Here Is My Reading List

11/22/63                                                         Stephen King

1984                                                               George Orwell

20 Something 20 Everything….                       Christine Hassler 

A Beautiful Dark                                              Jocelyn Davies

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena                 Anthony Marra

A Great and Terrible Beauty                            Libba Bray

A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius                                                         Dave Eggers      

A Home at the End of the World                      Michele Cunningham

A Night to Remember                                      Walter Lord

A Ring of Endless Light                                    Madeleine L’engle

A Separate Peace                                            John Knowles

A Thousand Splendid Suns                              Khaled Hosseini

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn                               Betty Smith

A Visit from the Goon Squad `                        Jennifer Egan

Across the Universe                                         Beth Revis

Actual Air                                                        David Berman

Alien Vs. Predator                                           Michael Robbins

All the Kings Men                                            Robert Penn Warren

American Born Chinese                                   Luen Yang and Lark Pien

An Abundance of Katherines                           John Green

An American Tragedy                                     Theodore Dreiser

And The Mountains Echoed                            Khaled Hosseini

Animal Farm                                                   George Orwell

Anna Karenina                                                Leo Tolstoy

Arise                                                               Tara Hudson

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe                                          Benjamin Saenz

Ashes Ashes                                                    Jo Treggiari

Ashfall                                                             Mike Mullin

Athletic Shorts                                                 Chris Crutcher

Atonement                                                       Ian McEwan

Beastly                                                            Alex Funn 

Beautiful Creatures                                           Kammi Garcia and Margaret Stone

Before I Fall                                                     Lauren Oliver

Behind the Beautiful Flowers                            Katherine Boo

Beloved                                                           Toni Morrison

Beneath a Meth Moon                                      Jacqueline Woodson

Between a Rock and a Hard Place                   Aron Ralsotn

Between Shades of Grey                                  Ruta Sepetys

Birthmarked                                                     Caragh M. O’Brien

Blood and Chocolate                                        Annette Curtis Klause

Blood Magic                                                    Tessa Gratton

Bootcamp                                                        Todd Strasser

Bossy Pants                                                     Tina Fey

Boy 21                                                             Matthew Quick

Brave New World                                            Aldous Huxley

Bright Lights Big City                                        Jay McInerney

Call Me By Your Name                                    Andre Aciman

Catch 22                                                           Joseph Heller

Catcher in the Rye                                             JD Salinger

Cats Cradle                                                       Kurt Vonnegut

Cinder                                                               Marissa Meyer

Clockwork Orange                                            Anthony Burgess

Code Name Verity                                             Elizabeth Wein

Confessions of a Shopaholic                               Sophie Kinsella

Crank                                                                 Ellen Hopkins

Dairy Queen                                                       Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Dante Club                                                         Matthew Pearl 

Dark Life                                                            Kat Falls

Dark Places                                                        Gillian Flynn

Daughter of Smoke and Bone                              Laini Taylor

Daughter of the Lioness/trickster                          Tamora Pierce

Daughters of the North                                        Sarah Hall 

David Coppperfield                                             Charles Dickens

Deadline                                                              Chris Crutcher

Dear Diary                                                           Lesley Arfin

Delirium                                                               Lauren Oliver

Devilish                                                               Maureen Johnson

Distant View on Minaret and Other Stories           Alfa  Rifaat

Dodger                                                                Terry Pratchett

Dune                                                                    Frank Herbert

East of Eden                                                         John Stienbeck

Elliot Allagash                                                       Simon Rich  

Enders Game                                                        Orson Scott Card

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues                                Tom Robbins

Everneath                                                             Brodi Ashton

Everybody Sees the Ants                                      A.S. King

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close                    Jonathan Safran Foer

Fahrenheit 451                                                      Ray Bradbury

Fast Food Nation                                                  Eric Schlosser

Fated                                                                     Alyson Noel

Fathers and Sons                                                    Ivan Turgenev

Feed                                                                       M.T. Anderson 

First Love                                                               James Patterson and Emily Raymond

First Part Last                                                         Angela Johnson

Fish Change Direction in Cold Weather                   Pierre Szalowski

Flight                                                                       Sherman Alexie

For Whom the Bell Tolls                                          Ernest Hemmingway

Found                                                                     Margaret Peterson Haddix

Fracture                                                                  Megan Miranda

Freakanomics                                                         Steven D. Levitt and Stephan J. DuBrer

Friday Night Lights                                                  H.G. Bissinger

Garden of Eden                                                       Ernest Hemmingway

Generation X                                                           Douglas Coupland

Ghost in the Wires                                                    Kevin Mitnick

Go Big or Go Home                                                 Will Hobbs

Gone Girl                                                                 Gillian Flynn

Gone With the Wind                                                Margaret Mitchell

Gone                                                                       Michael Grant

Graceling                                                                 Kristin Cashore

Gym Candy                                                             Carl Deuker

Half Brother                                                             Kenneth Oppel

Hard Boiled Wonderland a the End of the World                                                    Haruki Marakami

He’s Just Not That into You                                     Grey Behrenat, Liz Tuccillio

Heart of Darkness                                                    Joseph Conrad

Hex Hall                                                                   Rachel Hawins

Hiroshima                                                                John Hersey

His Dark Material                                                    Phillip Pullman

Horns                                                                       Joe Hill

Hourglass                                                                Myra McEntire

Housekeeping                                                         Marilynne Robinson

How to be a Woman                                               Caitlin Moran

How to Cook Everything                                        Mark Bittman

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People               Toby Young

Howls Moving Castel                                              Diane Wayne Jones

I am Legend                                                           Richard Matheson

I am Number 4                                                       Pittacus Lore

I am the Messenger                                                Mark Zusak

I Capture the Castel                                                Dodie Smith

I Don’t Care About Your Band                              Julie Klavsier

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings                        Maya Angelou

I’m With the Band                                                 Pamela Des Barres

If I Stay                                                                 Gayle Forman

Imperial Life in the Emerald City                            Rajiv Chandrasekaran

In Cold Blood                                                       Truman Capote

Incarceron                                                            Catherine Fisher

Infinite Jest                                                            David Foster Wallace

Into Thin Air                                                          Jon Krakauer

Is Everyone Hanging out with Me                           Mindy Kaling

Island of the Blue Dolphins                                    Scott O’Dell

It’s Kind of a Funny Story                                     Med Vizzini

Jane Erye                                                              Charlotte Bronte

Jellicoe Road                                                         Melina Marcreetta

Jip His Story                                                          Katherine Patterson

John Adams                                                           David Mccullough

Julie of the Wolfs                                                   Jean Craighead George

Just Kids                                                               Patti Smith

Just Listen                                                             Sarah Dessen

Kaffir Boy                                                             Mark Mathabane

Kitchen Confidential                                               Anthony Bordain

Kite Runner                                                            Khaled Hosseini

Knights of the Hill County                                      Tim Thapp

La Seduction: How the French Play the Game of Life                                              Elaine Sciolino

Legend                                                                   Marie Lu

Les Miserables                                                      Victor Hugo                                                                   

Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls                           David Sedaris

Letter to Young Contrarian                                     Christopher Hitchens

Life as We Know It                                                Susan Beth Pfeffer

Lit                                                                           Mary Karr

Little Women                                                          Louisa May Alcott

Looking for Alaska                                                 John Green

Love and Leftovers                                                 Sarah Tregay

Love Water Memory                                              Jennie Shortridge

Lovely Bones                                                         Alice Sebold

Lucy                                                                      Jamaica Kincaid

Lunar Park                                                             Brent Easton Ellis

Main Street                                                            Sinclair Lewis

Matched                                                                Ally Condie

Maus                                                                     Art Spieglman

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl                              Jesse Andrews

Me Talk Pretty One Day                                       David Sedaris

Middlemarch                                                         George Eliot

Midnighters                                                           Scott Westerfeild

Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children                                                               Ransom Riggs   

Moby Dick                                                           Herman Melville

Monster                                                                Walter Dean Myers

My Life Nextdoor                                                 Huntley Fitzpatrick

My Misspent Youth                                              Meghan Daum

My Sisters Keeper                                               Jodi Picoult

Mystery and Manners                                           Flannery O’Conner

Never Fall Down                                                  Patrick McCormick

Never Let Me Go                                                 Kazou Ishiguro

Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist                            Rachel Cohen and David Levithan

Nineteen Minutes                                                  Jodi Picoult

No Future without Forgiveness                              Desmond Tutu

No Ordinary Time                                                 Doris Kears Goodwin

November Blooms                                                Sharon M. Draper

Obsidian                                                               Jennifer L. Armentrout

Oliver Twist                                                          Charles Dickens

On the glory of it All                                              Sean Wilsey

On the Road                                                          Jack Kerovac

One Hundred Years of Solitude                             Gabriel Garcia Marquez

One Thousand Gifts                                               Ann Voskamp

Outliers: The Story of Success                                Malcom Gladwell

Partials                                                                   Dan Wells

Pastoralia                                                               George Saunders

Peak                                                                      Roland Smith

Perks of Being a Wallflower                                   Stephan Chbosky

Persepolis                                                              Marjane Satrapi 

Poetry 180                                                             Billy Collins

Promised                                                                Caragh M. O’Brien

Quicksand                                                              Nella Larsen 

Ready Player One                                                  Ernest Cline

Rebecca                                                                 Daphne Du Marrier

Reconstruction Amelia                                            Kimberly McCreight

Replay                                                                    Ken Grimwood

Revived                                                                  Cat Patrick

Revolutionary Road                                                Richard Yates

Room                                                                     Emma Donoghue

Sabriel                                                                    Garth Nix

Sailing Around the Room                                         Billy Collins

Seductive Delusions                                                Jill Grimes

Seraphina                                                               Rachel Hartman

Serena                                                                   Ron Rash

Sharp Objects                                                       Gillian Flynn

Shattered Souls                                                      Mary Lindsay

Ship Breaker                                                          Paolo Bacigalupi

Shiver                                                                     Maggie Stiefvater

Single: The Art of Being Satisfied Fullfiled and Indpendent                                                   Judy Ford

Slaughter House 5                                                   Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Slouching Toward Bethlehem                                  Joan Didion

Snow Falling on Cedars                                          David Gutterson

Something Wicked this Way Comes                       Ray Bradbury

Son                                                                        Louis Lowery

Song of Solomon                                                    Toni Morrison

Starcrossed                                                            Josephine Angelini

Stargirl                                                                   Jerry Spinelli

Swimming Antarctica                                              Lynne Cox

Taming of the Shrew                                               William Shakespeare

The Absoultley True Diary of a  Part-time Indian                                                         Sherman Alexie

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay                                                            Michael Chabon

The Art of Racing in the Rain                                  Garth Stein

The Barcode Tattoo                                               Susan Weyn

The Beautiful and Damned                                       F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Beet Fields                                                       Gary Paulsen

The Bell Jar                                                             Sylvia Plath

The Blind Assassin                                                  Margaret Atwood

The Blue Sweater                                                    Jaqueline Novogratz

The Blue Sword                                                      Robert McKinley

The Bluest Eyes                                                      Toni Morrison

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Woa                                                                 Junot Diaz

The Call of the Wild                                                Jack London

The Cellar                                                               Natasha Preston

The Chocolate Wars                                               Robert Cormier

The Circle of Magic                                                Tamora Pierce 

The City of Embers                                                 Jeanne DuPrau

The Collected Poems of Audre Lord                       Audre Lord

The Collected Poems of Kenneth Koch                   Kenneth Koch

The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes               Langston Hughes

The Collected Stories                                              Ernest Hemingway

The Color Purple                                                     Alice Walker

The Complete Poems of Anne Saxton                     Anne Saxton

The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night Time                                                        Mark Haddon

The Deptford Trilogy                                               Roberston Davies

The Devil in the White City                                       Erik Larson

The Disenchantments                                               Mina Lacour

The Diviners                                                            Libba Bray

The Edible Woman                                                  Margaret Atwood

The Elegant Universe                                               Brian Greene

The Elements of Style                                              Strunk and White

The Eleventh Plauge                                                Jeff Hirsch

The Emperor’s Children                                          Claire Messud

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles                            Patrica C. Wrede

The Fifth Wave                                                       Rick Yancey

The Fortress of Solitude                                          Jonathan Lethem

The Geography of Bliss                                           Eric Weiner

The Girls Dressed in White                                     Jennifer Close

The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing                    Mellisa Bank

The Glass Castle                                                    Jeanette Walls

The Group                                                             Mary McCarthy

The Hero and the Crown                                       Robin McKinley

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy                      Douglas Adams

The Hobbit                                                           J.R.R. Tolkin

The House of Scorpion                                         Nancy Farmer

The House on Mango Street                                 Sarah Cisreros

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks                    Rebecca Skloot

The Immortals                                                      Tamora Pierce

The Joy Luck Club                                               Amy Tan

The Keep                                                             Jennifer Egan

The Knife of Never Letting Go                              Patrick Ness

The Last Unicorn                                                  Peter S. Beagle

The Lone Ranger and Toto Fistfight in Heaven                                                             Sherman Alexie

The Lord of the Flies                                           William Golding

The Lord of the Rings                                          J.R.R. Tolkin 

The Lullaby                                                         Sarah Dessen

The Miseducation of Cameron Post                     Emily M. Danforth

The Monuments Men                                          Robert M. Edsel

The Most of Nora Ephron                                   Nora Ephron

The Moviegoer                                                    Walker Percy

The Naked Ape                                                   Desmond Morris

The Namesake                                                    Jhumpa Lahiri

The New and Collect Poems V.1                    Mary Oliver

The Omnivore Dillema: A Natural History of Four Meals                                             Michael Pollan

The Pact: A love story                                        Jodi Picoult

The Paris Wife                                                   Paula Mclain

The Phantom Tollbooth                                     Norton Juster

The Picture of Dorian Grey                                Oscar Wilde

The Plot Against America                                  Phillip Roth

The Poisonwood Bible                                       Barbara Kingsolver

The Portable Dorothy Parker                             Dorothy Parker

The Princess Bride                                             William Goldman

The Queen of Kentucky                                     Alecia Whitaker

The Rachel Papers                                              Martin Amis

The Raven Boys                                                 Maggie Stiefvater

The Road of Lost Innocence                              Somaly Mam

The Rum Diary                                                  Hunters Thompson

The Scorpio Races                                            Maggie Stiefvater

The Secret History                                             Donna Tartt

The Spectacular Now                                        Tim Tharp

The Splendor Falls                                             Rosemary Clement-Moore

The Sun Also Rises                                            Ernest Hemmingway

The Train                                                           Geroges Simenon

The Truth about Forever                                     Sarah Dessen

The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls                                                  Julie Schumacher

The Unbearable Lightness of Being                    Milan Kundera

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer                         Michelle Hodkin

The Wettest Country in the World                     Matt Bondurant

The Wizard of Oz                                              L. Frank Baum

There is No Dog                                               Meg Roscoff

Things I Have to Tell You                                  Betsy Franco

Thirteen Reasons                                               Jay Asher

Tiger Lilly                                                          Jodi Lynn Anderson

Tipping Point                                                     Malcom Gladwell

To Kill a Mockingbird                                       Harper Lee

Traveling Mercies                                             Anne Lomott

Treasure Island                                                  Robert Louis Stevenson

True Confessions of a Heartless Girl                  Martha Brooks

Tuck Everlasting                                               Natalie Babbit

Tuesdays with Morrie                                       Mitch Alborn

Twisted                                                            Laurie Halse Anderson

Tyrell                                                               Coe Booth

Uglies Series                                                    Scott Westerfield

Unaccustomed Earth                                        Jhumpa Lahiri

Unbroken: A WWII Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption                          Laura Hillenbrand

Uncle Tom’s Cabin                                           Harriet Beecher Stowe

Under the Blood Red Sky                                 Graham Salisbury

Unearthly                                                          Cynthia Hand

Unwind                                                             Neil Shusterman

Up in the Old Hotel                                           Joseph Mitchel

Wake                                                                Lisa McMann

Walking with the Poor                                       Bryant Meyers

War Women and the News                              Catherine Gourley

What I Did Wrong                                           Liz Pryor

What I Know Now: Letters to my Younger Self                                                                Ellyn Spragins

What is What                                                   Dave Eggers

What She Saw                                                 Lucinda Rosenfeild

Where Things Come Back                               John Corey Whaley

White Cat                                                        Holly Black

White Teeth                                                     Zadie Smith

Wild                                                                Cheryl Strayed

You Hear Me                                                   Betsy Franco 

My Very First Post

Hello World, welcome to my new blog. I've taken upon my self of reading list of 344 titles to complete when I can. I have decided to share my journey with you the world. I will review the books as I read them and things I learn. I'll post the list so if any of you want to follow along or read along you can. Some books are the first in a series so the list is in effect a lot longer. I started this because of Pinterest yes I have a problem. I had pinned tons of book lists but hadn't attempted any of them so I decided to compile a list of my own and it got a little out of hand. I hope you enjoy.