100 Shots of Short Challenge - Completed

Rob at Robaroundbooks hosts this perpetual challenge. I will be using a 5 out of 5 rating system but where indicated you will be able to click on a more detailed review. As for the rating system, 5 means excellent, 4 means very good, 3 means I liked it, 2 means I could have done something better with my reading time, and 1 means avoid at all costs.

1. The Five Orange Pips by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (3/5)
2. A Scandal in Bohemia by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (3/5)
3. The Red-Headed League by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (4/5)
4. A Case of Identity by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (3/5)
5. The Boscombe Valley Mystery by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (3/5)
6. The Man with the Twisted Lip by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (4/5)
7. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (3/5)
8. The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (4/5)
9. The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (5/5)
10. The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (4/5)
11. The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (3/5)
12. The Adventure of the Copper Beeches (4/5)
***All of these stories are in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Here is my review.

13. The Shadow Passes by P.G. Wodehouse (3/5)
14. Bramley is Bracing by P.G. Wodehouse (4/5) (review)
15. Up from the Depths by P.G. Wodehouse (4/5) (review)
16. Feet of Clay by P.G. Wodehouse (4/5)
17. Maigret's Christmas by Georges Simenon (3/5) (review)
18. Excelsior by P.G. Wodehouse (4/5)
19. The Tuesday Night Club by Agatha Christie (3/5) (review)
20. The Idol House of Astarte by Agatha Christie (5/5)
21. Ingots of Gold by Agatha Christie (2/5)
22. Rodney Has a Relapse by P.G. Wodehouse (4/5) (review)
23. Tangled Hearts by P.G. Wodehouse (3/5)
24. Birth of a Salesman by P.G. Wodehouse (4/5)
25. How's That, Umpire by P.G. Wodehouse (3/5)
26. Success Story by P.G. Wodehouse (3/5)
27. The Book Bag by W. Somerset Maugham (4/5) (review)
28. The Bloodstained Pavement by Agatha Christie (4/5) (review)
29. The German Refugee by Bernard Malamud (5/5) (review)
30. The Storks by Hans Christian Anderson (2/5) (review)
31. The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin (5/5) (review)
32. The Key by Isaac Bashevis Singer (2/5) (review)
33. Motive v. Opportunity by Agatha Christie (4/5) (review)
34. The Thumbmark of St. Peter by Agatha Christie (3/5)
35. The Blue Geranium by Agatha Christie (3/5)
36. The Companion by Agatha Christie (4/5)
37. The Four Suspects by Agatha Christie (3/5)
38. The First Seven Years by Bernard Malamud (5/5) (review)
39. The Country Husband by John Cheever (2/5) (review)
40. A Christmas Tragedy by Agatha Christie (3/5) (review)
41. The Second Tree from the Corner by E.B. White (4/5) (review)
42. The Silver Dish by Saul Bellow (3/5) (review)
43. The Literary Life of Laban Goldman by Bernard Malamud (3/5) (review)
44. The Herb of Death by Agatha Christie (3/5) (review)
45. The Affair at the Bungalow by Agatha Christie (4/5)
46. Death by Drowning by Agatha Christie (3/5)
47. Miss Marple Tells a Story by Agatha Christie (2/5)
48. Strange Jest by Agatha Christie (4/5)
49. The Case of the Perfect Maid by Agatha Christie (5/5)
50. The Case of the Caretaker by Agatha Christie (3/5)
51. Tape-Measure Murder by Agatha Christie (3/5)
52. Greenshaw's Folly by Agatha Christie (2/5)
53. Sanctuary by Agatha Christie (4/5)
54. A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell (5/5) (review)
55. The Other Woman by Sherwood Anderson (2/5) (review)
56. In the Gloaming by Alice Elliot Dark (4/5)
57. Christmas Gift by Robert Penn Warren (2/5)
58. Theft by Katherine Anne Porter (2/5)
59. The Man Who Knew Too Little by James Thurber (2/5) (review)
60. The Catbird Seat by James Thurber (4/5) (review)
61. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber (3/5) (review)
62. My Dead Brother Comes to America by Alexander Godin (3/5) (review)
63. Here We Are by Dorothy Parker (2/5)
64. Don't Look Now by Daphne du Maurier (3/5) (review)
65. Seven Little Crosses in a Notebook by Georges Simenon (4/5) (review)
66. The Stroke of Twelve by Elizabeth Enright (4/5) (review)
67. An Hour in September by Elizabeth Enright (3/5) (review)
68. I Pine for Thee by Elizabeth Enright (5/5) (review)
69. Morgan's Rest by Elizabeth Enright (4/5) (review)
70. Free Dust by Elizabeth Enright (3/5) (review)
71. A View by Lightning by Elizabeth Enright (2/5) (review)
72. Siesta by Elizabeth Enright (3/5)
73. Rex by Elizabeth Enright (3/5)
74. A Distant Bell byElizabeth Enright (4/5) (review)
75. Doublefields by Elizabeth Enright (4/5) (review)
76. The Lady's Maid's Bell by Edith Wharton (3/5) (review)
77. Dental or Mental, I Say It's Spinach by S.J. Perelman (5/5) (review)
78. Suspicion by Dorothy L. Sayers (4/5) (review)
79. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (4/5) (review)
80. God Sees the Truth but Waits by Leo Tolstoy (2/5) (review)
81. The Blue Cross by G.K. Chesterton (3/5)
82. The Leader of the People by John Steinbeck (4/5) (review)
83. Mr. Know-All by W. Somerset Maugham (4/5) (review)
84. Vanka by Anton Chekhov (2/5)
85. The Open Window by Saki (2/5) (review)
86. Roman Fever by Edith Wharton (5/5) (review)
87. The Secret Garden by G.K. Chesteron (3/5) (review)
88. The End of the Party by Graham Greene (4/5) (review)
89. The Duplicity of Hargraves by O. Henry (4/5)
90. The Angel of the Odd by Edgar Allan Poe (2/5)
91. A Visit to the Asylum for Aged and Decayed Punsters by Oliver Wendell Holmes (2/5)
92. The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe (3/5) (review)
93. The Haunted House by Charles Dickens (2/5) (review)
94. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (2/5) (review)
95. The Body-Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson (3/5) (review)
96. The Jolly Corner by Henry James (3/5) (review)
97. The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe (2/5) (review)
98. The Eyes by Edith Wharton (3/5) (review)
99. The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell (4/5) (review)
100. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving (4/5) (review)

Books Read in 2008 (Part Three) - Analysis

My favorite read of the year was Hans Brinker and The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge. The story is set in Holland and centers on one family who has fallen on hard times. There are several ice skating adventures that take place along the canals and mysteries to be solved. What most attracted me to the story was the element of goodness...the young characters searching themselves to know they were acting in a way that was kind to others and uplifted those around them.
A close second in my line of favorites was Good Dog, Stay by Anna Quindlin. If you have loved a dog and lost a dog (as we have, several over the years), this feels like a love letter to all dogs who have ever meant something to someone.
I rarely say this but I actually hated one of the books I read this year. I disliked Foreskin's Lament so much, I actually threw it away after reading (please don't compare this to censorship...I am not asking for it to be banned). I usually donate books I don't care for but this book made me feel so icky I did not want to be responsible for bringing that feeling to someone else. My daughter asked me why I continued to read it if I hated it so much...I had to know if this man's life ever changed or if he would be miserable for the remainder of his days. He chose misery and self-pity and comtempt and so on down the list.
Another book I could have done without reading was How I Write: The Secret Lives of Authors. I love books about authors and their writing process but this one just wasn't very interesting.
My favorite tie-in book was Wicked: The Grimmerie. We saw Wicked the musical and the Grimmerie is the perfect companion to find out how the show came to be, the story behind its success and lots of information on the actors, sets and costumes.
The undeserved bad rap for a book award goes to Hilary and Jackie, a biography of Jacqueline du Pre written by her siblings. Several of the people who knew her later in life critized the book as being a hit piece on the famous cellist but her brother and sister were the closest to her except for during her short marriage to Daniel Barenboim (in which he was largely absent especially after Jackie became ill and he began a family with another woman while still being married to her). I think her siblings were the ones who knew her best and showed her to be wonderful as well as flawed (as most of us are).
Other notable reads were Boy and Going Solo by Roald Dahl, and The Language of Baklava by Diana Abu-Jabar. All three perfectly delightful.

Books Read in 2008 (Part Two) - Commentary

My daughter and I started a tradition in 2007 where we track all the books we read during the year. On New Year's we go to Starbucks and talk about the books...which ones we loved, disliked, actually hated, etc. We also make a competition out of who read the most...I won in 2007 and my daughter won, huge, in 2008. For reasons I am still sorting out, I had a reading slump in 2008. I am the type of person who always has a book going but I went whole months without reading. I would pick up a book and lose interest a few pages in. I felt kind of lost and very sad. Towards the end of the year, I began searching for funny writers and found Florence King. I began lauging out loud while reading and I couldn't remember when I had ever done that. I have cried, smirked, smiled, grunted in disgust, but laughing out loud in the style of watching an episode of Seinfeld was foreign to me. So after exhausting King, I tried Wodehouse and the same thing happened. When I look back at the books I have read over the past few years, they tended to be on the dark and depressing side. The books that did make me smile were rare. So I will be making a shift in my reading pattern this year by trying to balance the heavy with 'sweetness and light'. I wondered if all the planning that goes into making reading lists for challenges would help or hinder this shift. I am finding that the planning allows me to find that balance.

Books Read in 2008 (Part One) - The List

1. Confessions of a Carb Queen by Susan Blech and Caroline Bock
2. Good Dog, Stay by Anna Quindlin
3. Start Living, Start Losing by Weight Watchers
4. Foreskin’s Lament: A Memoir by Shalom Auslander
5. Cupid Chronicles by Coleen Murtagh Paratore
6. The Adultery Diet by Eva Cassady
7. Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge
8. How I Write: The Secret Lives of Authors by Dan Crowe and Philip Oltermann
9. Wicked: The Grimmerie by David Cote
10. D is for Dahl by Roald Dahl, Wendy Cooling, and Quentin Blake
11. Matilda by Roald Dahl
12. Boy by Roald Dahl
13 Going Solo by Roald Dahl
14. The Language of Baklava by Diana Abu-Jabar
15. The Greatest Skating Race by Louise Borden and Niki Daly
16. Horowitz: His Life and Music by Harold Schonberg
17. Lang Lang: Journey of a Thousand Miles by Lang Lang
18. Hilary and Jackie by Hilary du Pre and Piers du Pre
19. With Charity Towards None by Florence King
20. Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady by Florence King
21. Lump It or Leave It by Florence King
22. STET Damnit by Florence King
23. Reflections in a Jaundiced Eye by Florence King
24. Modern Manners: An Etiquette Book for Rude People by P.J. O’Rourke
25. Carry On, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
26. Plum Pie by P.G. Wodehouse
27. Leave it to Psmith by P.G. Wodehouse
28. Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
29. Young Men in Spats by P.G. Wodehouse
30. The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse

100+ Reading Challenge - Completed

Completed Books

1. The Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford (review)
2. Bears and Forebears: A Life So Far by Michael Bond (review)
3. A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond (review)
4. The Dog Department by James Thurber (review)
5. Evelyn Waugh: Portrait of a Country Neighbor by Frances Donaldson (review)
6. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (review)
7. Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico (review)
8. Mrs. 'Arris Goes to New York by Paul Gallico (review)
9. Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Parliament by Paul Gallico (review)
10. Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Moscow by Paul Gallico (review)
11. Dog is My Co-Pilot: Great Writers on the World's Oldest Friendship (ed. by The Bark) (review)
12. The Mother-Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick (review)
13. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (review)
14. Much Ado about Anne by Heather Vogel Frederick (review)
15. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (review)
16. A Book of Ages by Eric Hanson (review)
17. Uncle Fred in the Springtime by P.G. Wodehouse (review)
18. Old Books, Rare Friends by Rostenberg and Stern (review)
19. Bookends by Rostenberg and Stern (review)
20. Ice in the Bedrooom by P.G. Wodehouse (review)
21. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (review)
22. The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (review)
23. Nothing Serious by P.G. Wodehouse (review)
24. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (review)
25. Called Out of Darkness by Anne Rice (review)
26. The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong (review)
27. Animal Farm by George Orwell (review)
28. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House by Eric Hodgins (review)
29. The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold by Evelyn Waugh (review)
30. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (review)
31. I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (review)
32. A Great Idea at the Time by Alex Beam (review)
33. Blandings Castle by P.G. Wodehouse (review)
34. P.G. Wodehouse: A Biography by Frances Donaldson (review)
35. Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie (review)
36. Novel Destinations by McKenna Schmidt and Rendon (review)
37. The Cruellest Month by Hazel Holt (review)
38. Spring Fever by P.G. Wodehouse (review)
39. Scratch Beginnings by Adam Shepard (review)
40. Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace (review)
41. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (review)
42. Very Good, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (review)
43. The Teashop Girls by Laura Schaefer (review)
44. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (review)
45. All Quiet on the Western Front: Literary Analysis and Cultural Context by Richard A. Firda (review)
46. Psmith in the City by P.G. Wodehouse (review)
47. The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright (review)
48. The Four-Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright (review)
49. Then There Were Five by Elizabeth Enright (review)
50. Spiderweb for Two: A Melendy Maze by Elizabeth Enright (review)
51. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (review)
52. Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (review)
53. Much Obliged, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (review)
54. His Last Bow by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (review)
55. Ethel & Ernest: A True Story by Raymond Briggs (review)
56. In-N-Out Burger by Stacy Perman (review)
57. My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (review)
58. Ring for Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (review)
59. Jeeves in the Offing by P.G. Wodehouse (review)
60. East Hope by Katharine Davis (review)
61. The Apprentice by Jacques Pepin (review)
62. Coming Up for Air by George Orwell (review)
63. Murder is Binding by Lorna Barrett (review)
64. North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley (review)
65. Stephen Fry in America (review)
66. The Juniper Tree and Other Tales from Grimm (review)
67. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (review)
68. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (review)
69. The Reader by Bernard Schlink (review)
70. Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers (review)
71. The Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud (review)
72. Knickers in a Twist by Jonathan Bernstein (review)
73. Julia Child: A Life by Laura Shapiro (review)
74. Julie & Julia by Julie Powell (review)
75. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (review)
76. Imagined London by Anna Quindlen (review)
77. Miss Buncle's Book by DE Stevenson (review)
78. The Fixer by Bernard Malamud (review)
79. Not Becoming My Mother by Ruth Reichl (review)
80. The Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton (review)
81. The Vicious Vet by M.C. Beaton (review)
82. Doublefields by Elizabeth Enright (review)
83. Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym (review)
84. Summer Lightning by P.G. Wodehouse (review)
85. A Winter Haunting by Dan Simmons (review)
86. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild (review)
87. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (review)
88. The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn (review)
89. Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley (review)
90. Thank You, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (review)
91. Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill (review)
92. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill (review)
93. French Milk by Lucy Knisley (review)
94. The Awakening by Kate Chopin (review)
95. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (review)
96. Xenophobe's Guide to the Dutch by Rodney Bolt (review)
97. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (review)
98. Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast by Bill Richardson (review)
99. A Child's Garden of Verses by RL Stevenson (review)
100. The Wonderful O by James Thurber (review)
101. Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener by M.C. Beaton (review)
102. The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith (review)
103. The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald (review)
104. Village School by Miss Read (review)
105. On the Other Side: Letters to My Children from Germany 1940-46 by Mathilde Wolff-Monckeberg (non-review)
106. Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (review)
107. Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley by MC Beaton
108. A Fortunate Grandchild by Miss Read (review)
109. Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage by MC Beaton
110. Village Diary by Miss Read
111. Time Remembered by Miss Read (review)
112. The Christmas Mouse by Miss Read
113. Storm in the Village by Miss Read
114. No Holly for Miss Quinn by Miss Read
115. Miss Clare Remembers by Miss Read
116. Over the Gate by Miss Read
117. The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck
118. Village Christmas by Miss Read
119. Tales from a Village School by Miss Read