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%)

The Fault In Our Stars & Hesitation Marks (100th Post!!!)

The Fault In Our Stars...just wow. I spent almost all of my free time reading all of it. While it sucks to admit that I didn't tear up (which I thought I would), the love, the loss, and the side effects of dying were truly, deeply felt. I really appreciated the wry humor that had emerged from tragic situation, revealing the very human side from a very inhuman disease. For some reason, Hazel seriously reminded me of Juno from...Juno. At some point, I put Ellen Page's face to Hazel, for that reason alone. Perhaps I'm thinking too much into it, but John Green did an amazing job revealing just how very differently people with diseases are treated differently. This was most obvious with girl's mother at the mall, as well as Hazel and Augustus acknowledging the myriad eyes watching them at the airport. Kaitlyn, Lidewij, and even that little girl at the mall were outstanding (as far as social norms go) by not treating Hazel with unnecessary sympathy and pity. All in all, The Fault In Our Stars was an amazing read. I'm quite happy with myself for buying the book.

In other news, I've got my hands (rather ears) on the new Nine Inch Nails' album, Hesitation Marks. My quick review is that the band is definitely heading in a new direction. However, I will say that my first impression of the album is fairly positive. Musically, it doesn't sound as post-industrial as his other band How to Destroy Angels, nor does this new material sound remotely similar to any of his previous work. Lyrically, still the same Reznor we've all always known. Hence, it's safe to say that album is a reflection of the band going in a new direction. 

Also, I realized that this is my 100th post!!! Wow, I didn't think I'd spend so much time here. For a while, I debated on terminating this account and beginning a Tumblr account, but out of laziness (I'm being honest here), I've decided to stick with this quaint Blogger account. Thank you for your love, support, and constant reading. Here's to another 100 posts. Cheers, mates!

"The Fault In Our Stars"

I finally finished reading Robert Ellis' The Lost Witness yesterday. Though it wasn't an "edge-of-your-seat" thriller kind of book (though honestly, I don't know what that looks like), I'm looking forward to reading John Green's The Fault In Our Stars now. I honestly have no idea what this books is about. Like at all. When I stumbled upon the book, it was first featured as "this month's book club reading" at a store, I immediately dismissed it. The Fault In Our Stars didn't really capture my attention at the time. Now friends, fellow bookworms, and even some YouTube personalities were positively responding to how well the story was written. Thus, I impulsively bought a collector's edition the book at a Barnes and Noble (I know, I know - though in my defense, I knew that I would be able to find the book there: the collector's edition of the book was just icing on the cake). So here I am, telling you that I'm about to read the book, while the book is sitting to my right, just waiting to be read. Life is funny like that.

Ender's Game and CRL

Ender's Game is the 41st book I have completed for my Comprehensive Reading List, or CRL as I call it. As I have mentioned a few times throughout the year, the goal is to read 75% of the 67 books I have listed on that list. As of now, I'm at approximately 61.19% (or 61.19402... to be exact). If I didn't add an additional 10 books to the list, I'd be much closer to accomplishing my goal of reading 75% (I'd be only 2 books away, instead of 10 away at the moment). But I'm cool with it! I made this list to be fluid, being able to add and remove books whenever I wanted. There have been times where I removed a book or two because I felt that I didn't take away anything from a book or reading it felt like a waste of time. I still have roughly 3.5 months before the year is over, so I'm hoping to get really close to that magic number.

Ender's Game was a fascinating read. There were times that I had to be reminded that Ender was a boy of nine years, even though he had the maturity of a young man. I can understand why this book was met with much friction, especially from mothers and school teachers. Events that transpired among students aboard the Battle School seemed illogical for children to commit and attempt, ranging from humiliations, bodily harm, and even murder. "Children should be children, not be forced to be adults at such a young age," I guess is the main argument. However, a book like this can have us reflect our actions and behavior toward others and ask ourselves, "Were my actions justified? Or was I malicious and excessive?" While the characters involved (with the exception of Graff, of course) and overall plot was nowhere near morally ambiguous, the actions of certain people were. I've read somewhere that some branches of the military actually recommend reading Ender's Game for its philosophical implications, especially knowing that many soldiers can and will commit actions that we, as civilians, won't ever comprehend unless we were there in combat also. Maybe somebody can confirm this for me? I personally can't wait for the film adaptation to be released. I'm very confident that some scenes that transpired in the novel will, without a doubt, be altered considerably. I don't mind this at all, as long as the core message of the novel stays the same, which we should always hope for in adaptations. 

Next on my reading list is Robert Ellis' The Lost Witness, which I don't know what the novel is about or what to expect. The book was given to me by a friend since he didn't have time to read it and he knew that I have a collection that is constantly growing. I'm hoping it's a good read!