Another Update to the CRL

So rather, going all the way back to January 2014's entry post highlighting my updated Comprehensive Reading List (compare this list with the original from Jan. 2013!), I decided to just create a new post instead (and it'll make it easier for me to go back in case I add (0r subtract books in the near future, which probably will happen quite soon). Without further ado, here is my current (and updated) reading list:

Color-Code:

Books added Pre-2013: Orange

Books added in 2013: Green

Books added in 2014: Fuchsia

Reading in Progress: Blue

Finished Title: Black/White (in published form)

001. This Bridge Called My Back - A Feminist Anthology
002. Go Ask Alice - Anonymous
003.-004. The Iliad and Odessy - Homer

005. Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom
006. The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom

007. Borderlands (La Frontera) - Gloria E. Anzaldùa
008.-010. The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri

011. The Long 20th Century - Giovanni Arrighi
012. What You Have Left - Will Allison
013. Invitation to Sociology - Peter L. Berger

014. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

015. The Social Animal - David Brooks

016. The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks
017. The Stranger - Albert Camus
018. The Rebel - Albert Camus
019. Myth of Sisyphus - Albert Camus
020. Notebooks - Albert Camus

021. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

022. Jurassic Park - Micheal Crichton

023. Next - Micheal Crichton
024. Dancing in the Dark - Morris Dickstein
025. Room - Emma Donoghue

026. Drudge Manifesto - Matt Drudge

027. A Tale Of Three Kings - Gene Edwards

028. The Lost Witness - Robert Ellis

029. Dead Space: Martyr - B.K. Evenson

030. Then We Came To An End - Joshua Ferris

031. The Unnamed - Joshua Ferris

032. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

033. A Thing or Two About Curtis and Camilla - Nick Fowler
034.An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
035. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
036. Looking For Alaska - John Green
037. Paper Towns - John Green

038. Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales (On A Break...)

039. The Books Of Rachel - Joel Gross

040. Policing As Though People Matter - Dorothy Guyot

041. Retribution - Jilliane Hoffman

042. Prince of Thieves - Chuck Hogan

043. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

044. The Know-It-All - A.J. Jacobs

045. The Year Of Living Biblically - A.J. Jacobs
046. Drop Dead Healthy - A.J. Jacobs

047. Shining Like Stars - Douglass Jacoby

048. Survivors - Zion Ben Jonah

049. What Technology Wants - Kevin Kelly
050. Angry White Men - Michael S. Kimmel
051. Masculinity as Homophobia - Michael S. Kimmel

052. Flowers For Algernon - Daniel Keyes

053. Cell - Stephen King
054. The Walking Dead Compendium I - Kirkman/Adlard/Moore/Rathburn
055. The Walking Dead Compendium II - Kirkman/Adlard/Moore/Rathburn

056. Getting The Most Of The Bible - G. Steve Kinnard

057. Frankenstein - Dean Koontz
058. Unequal Childhoods - Annette Lareau

059. The Satanic Bible - Anton Szandor LaVey

060. Fresh Kills - Bill Loehfelm

061. Our American King - David Lozell Martin
062. The Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx
063. The German Ideology - Karl Marx,  Friedrich Engels
064. The Gift - Marcel Mauss

065. Sin City: The Hard Goodbye - Frank Miller

066. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For - Frank Miller

067. Sin City: The Big Fat Kill - Frank Miller 

068. Sin City: That Yellow Bastard - Frank Miller

069. Sin City: Family Values - Frank Miller

070. Sin City: Booze, Broads, & Bullets: Frank Miller

071. Sin City: Hell and Back - Frank Miller

072. The Complete Guide to the Bible - Stephen M. Miller
073. The Sociological Imagination - C. Wright Mills

074. V for Vandetta - Alan Moore/David Lloyd

075. Watchmen - Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons

076. The Will to Power - Friedrich Nietzche

077. 1984 - George Orwell

078. Animal Farm - George Orwell
079. Damned - Chuck Palahnuik

080.Three Dollars - Elliot Perlman

081. Seven Types of Ambiguity - Elliot Perlman

082. The Reasons I Won't Be Coming - Elliot Perlman

083. 01-01-00 - R.J. Pineiro

084. Bahgavad Gita (As It Is) - His Divine Grace Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

085. Where The Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls
086. Save Your Marriage Ahead of Time - Jacqueline Rickard

087.The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin

088. The Book Of Vice - Peter Sagal
089. Cosmos - Carl Sagan
090. No Exit - Jean-Paul Sartre
091. The Wall - Jean-Paul Sartre

092. Married To Murder - Robert Scott

093. Derailed - James Seigel

094. The Dark Room - Rachel Seiffert

095. Hamlet - William Shakespeare

096. Much Ado About Nothing - William Shakespeare
097. Forces of Labor - Beverly Silver
098. Coping with Crisis - Gustave Simons

099. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ - Joseph Smith

100. Mostly Murder - Sydney Smith
101. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning - Lemony Snicket
102. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room - Lemony Snicket
103. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Wide Window - Lemony Snicket
104. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Miserable Mill - Lemony Snicket
105. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Austere Academy - Lemony Snicket
106. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator - Lemony Snicket
107. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Vile Village - Lemony Snicket
108. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Hostile Hospital - Lemony Snicket
109. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Carnivorous Carnival - Lemony Snicket
110. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Slippery Slope - Lemony Snicket
111. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Grim Grotto - Lemony Snicket
112. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Penultimate Peril - Lemony Snicket
113. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The End - Lemony Snicket

114. Baseball In April And Other Stories - Gary Soto

115. Of Mice And Men - John Steinbeck

116. AMERICA (The Definitive Guide) - Jon Stewart

117. Mr. Clarinet - Nick Stone
118.Brief Interviews with Hideous Men - David Foster Wallace

119. The Purpose Driven Life - Rick Warren
120. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism - Max Weber
121. The Methodology of the Social Sciences - Max Weber

122. I Am The Messenger - Markus Zusak
123. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

124. A+ Guide To Managing And Maintaining Your PC 6th Ed. (Textbook)

125. Criminal Justice, Citrus College Custom Ed. (Textbook)

126. Electronic Technology Fundamentals (Textbook)

127. Psychology 2nd Ed. (Textbook)

Total Books Read: 60 of 127 (47.24%)

New Books

This is actually a first: normally, whenever I mention that I added books to my CRL, I usually make a simple post to say so. This time around, I figure I'll mention which books I've added to my ever-expanding (seldom-shrinking) CRL, rather than have you attempt to figure out what books have been added to the list. Without delay, here the additions I have made to my list:

002. Go Ask Alice - Anonymous

010. The Long 20th Century - Giovanni Arrighi

024. Room - Emma Donoghue

034. Looking For Alaska - John Green

083. Forces of Labor - Beverly Silver

106. It's Kind Of A Funny Story - Ned Vizzini

This now brings up the total number of books up to a nice round number of 111 books on my list. Until next time, friends!

The New (and Color-Coded) CRL

So, in short, I've decided to take some time and redo my whole Comprehensive Reading List (or CRL, for short) to make it more colorful and modern (somewhat). To recap, this list began about 3 years ago, with the intention to motivate me to simply read as much as possible. While this list has been around for some time, it wasn't until last year that I've became quite persistent to cross off every title in my list. Although, the tricky part of this list that I can easily manipulate the list to add/subtract books from the list, which  can make the whole "read --% of the books in my CRL" a pain in the neck or a piece of cake. So without much ado, here is my new, improved, and color-coded CRL for this year!

Color-Code:

Pre-2013: Orange

2013: Green

2014: Fuchsia

Reading in Progress: Blue

Finished Title: Black/White (in published form)

001. This Bridge Called My Back - A Feminist Anthology
002. Go Ask Alice - Anonymous
003.-004. The Iliad and Odessy - Homer

005. Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom
006. The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom

007. Borderlands (La Frontera) - Gloria E. Anzaldùa
008.-009. The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri

010. The Long 20th Century - Giovanni Arrighi
011. What You Have Left - Will Allison
012. Invitation to Sociology - Peter L. Berger

013. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

014. The Social Animal - David Brooks

015. The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks
016. The Stranger - Albert Camus
017. The Rebel - Albert Camus
018. Myth of Sisyphus - Albert Camus
019. Notebooks - Albert Camus

020. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

021. Jurassic Park - Micheal Crichton

022. Next - Micheal Crichton
023. Dancing in the Dark - Morris Dickstein
024. Room - Emma Donoghue

025. Drudge Manifesto - Matt Drudge

026. A Tale Of Three Kings - Gene Edwards

027. The Lost Witness - Robert Ellis

028. Dead Space: Martyr - B.K. Evenson

029. Then We Came To An End - Joshua Ferris

030. The Unnamed - Joshua Ferris

031. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

032. A Thing or Two About Curtis and Camilla - Nick Fowler
033. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
034. Looking For Alaska - John Green

035. Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales (On A Break...)

036. The Books Of Rachel - Joel Gross

037. Policing As Though People Matter - Dorothy Guyot

038. Retribution - Jilliane Hoffman

039. Prince of Thieves - Chuck Hogan

040. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

041. The Know-It-All - A.J. Jacobs

042. The Year Of Living Biblically - A.J. Jacobs
043. Drop Dead Healthy - A.J. Jacobs

044. Shining Like Stars - Douglass Jacoby

045. Survivors - Zion Ben Jonah

046. What Technology Wants - Kevin Kelly
047. Angry White Men - Michael S. Kimmel
048. Masculinity as Homophobia - Michael S. Kimmel

049. Flowers For Algernon - Daniel Keyes

050. Cell - Stephen King
051. The Walking Dead Compendium I - Kirkman/Adlard/Moore/Rathburn
052. The Walking Dead Compendium II - Kirkman/Adlard/Moore/Rathburn

053. Getting The Most Of The Bible - G. Steve Kinnard

054. Frankenstein - Dean Koontz
055. Unequal Childhoods - Annette Lareau

056. The Satanic Bible - Anton Szandor LaVey

057. Fresh Kills - Bill Loehfelm

058. Our American King - David Lozell Martin
059. The Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx
060. The German Ideology - Karl Marx,  Friedrich Engels
061. The Gift - Marcel Mauss

062. The Complete Guide to the Bible - Stephen M. Miller
063. The Sociological Imagination - C. Wright Mills
064. The Will to Power - Friedrich Nietzche

065. 1984 - George Orwell

066. Animal Farm - George Orwell
067. Damned - Chuck Palahnuik

068.Three Dollars - Elliot Perlman

069. Seven Types of Ambiguity - Elliot Perlman

070. The Reasons I Won't Be Coming - Elliot Perlman

071. 01-01-00 - R.J. Pineiro

072. Bahgavad Gita (As It Is) - His Divine Grace Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

073. Where The Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls

074.The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin

075. The Book Of Vice - Peter Sagal
076. No Exit - Jean-Paul Sartre
077. The Wall - Jean-Paul Sartre

078. Married To Murder - Robert Scott

079. Derailed - James Seigel

080. The Dark Room - Rachel Seiffert

081. Hamlet - William Shakespeare

082. Much Ado About Nothing - William Shakespeare
083. Forces of Labor - Beverly Silver

084. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ - Joseph Smith

085. Mostly Murder - Sydney Smith
086. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning - Lemony Snicket
087. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room - Lemony Snicket
088. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Wide Window - Lemony Snicket
089. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Miserable Mill - Lemony Snicket
090. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Austere Academy - Lemony Snicket
091. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator - Lemony Snicket
092. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Vile Village - Lemony Snicket
093. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Hostile Hospital - Lemony Snicket
094. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Carnivorous Carnival - Lemony Snicket
095. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Slippery Slope - Lemony Snicket
096. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Grim Grotto - Lemony Snicket
097. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Penultimate Peril - Lemony Snicket
098. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The End - Lemony Snicket

099. Baseball In April And Other Stories - Gary Soto

100. Of Mice And Men - John Steinbeck

101. AMERICA (The Definitive Guide) - Jon Stewart

102. Mr. Clarinet - Nick Stone

103. The Purpose Driven Life - Rick Warren
104. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism - Max Weber
105. The Methodology of the Social Sciences - Max Weber

106. I Am The Messenger - Markus Zusak
107. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

108. A+ Guide To Managing And Maintaining Your PC 6th Ed. (Textbook)

109. Criminal Justice, Citrus College Custom Ed. (Textbook)

110. Electronic Technology Fundamentals (Textbook)

111. Psychology 2nd Ed. (Textbook)

Total Books Read: 57 of 111 (51.35%)

New Reading List (CRL UPDATE!)

Perhaps what had made this Fall Semester so successful is the fact that I've learned to approach my professors with all sorts of questions - from the class material itself, to supplemental readings, and even discussing critical observations of the real world (these discussions were the favorites among myself and my professors). At the end of my semester, I've made it a point to talk to each of my professor to develop more academically focused reading list for me to have and to develop further as time passes on.

In some ways, there's an ulterior motive to this list: I hope that the readings will help me develop a focus in the field I'm studying (Sociology) for the sake of my final semester (research, internship, and thesis) and, if I'm daring enough, Grad School (wherever I may go since I've yet to really give this much thought). 

In the sake of fairness, these titles will also be a part of my (personally) infamous Comprehensive Reading List. These books, plus all the personal novels (and the like) that I want to read this year will skyrocket the number significantly. This will, in fact, force to reconsider my 75% goal that I always set for myself and perhaps consider a lower number (roughly 50-65%, if I'm fortunate enough). But the new and improved CRL won't be available for another few days (to add and even color code my reading list to account for the major changes soon to come).

In some ways, I do hope that you (the reader) will perhaps consider reading some of the books on my list and perhaps gain the same insights I've had from Flowers for Algernon (for example). Until next time, my fellow readers!

Reading and Falling Behind

Once again, I've edited my Comprehensive Reading List, CRL for short (as always), for what seems like the 10th time this year. My book count, over this year, has jumped exponentially from 51 or 52 (pretty much somewhere in the low 50's) to a new total of 68. As of now, I'm at approximately 63.63% of accomplishing my goal of this year. It's been such a hard trek in trying to read as much as possible. The cool (and annoying part) of this is that I'm more likely to go down on my progress than go up. This is so mostly because I add books than cross them off, but I'm doing my best to read two books for every one that's added. So, that's a good thing. =D

However, that's not where I'm falling behind actually. For one of my classes that is studying social changes on a macro level (this meaning across a lengthy period of time - in this case, human history), we have to read this textbook called Social Transformations: A General Theory of Historical Development (Expanded Edition) by Stephen K. Sanderson. Our professor warned us that this book will be a challenging read, since the book was written for Sociology grad students, not undergrad students. And reading this book is, well, pretty damn hard. In one of my earlier sociology classes, my professor pointed out that many books academic books are written with a specific lingo or lexicon that seems to shut out any other curious minds outside of that particular field (in other words, she argues that academic books should serve to enlighten everybody, including the everyday man, instead of a select few). 

Anyhow, reading this book makes running in water an easier task to perform. I was supposed to read chapter 1 by Saturday (yesterday), chapter 2 by tomorrow (Monday, which I haven't) and chapter 3 by (Wednesday, which probably won't happen) if I'm going to fully comprehend the lectures and classwork that I'm expected to complete effectively. Hence, I've fallen behind already.