TBR challenge for 2009

Here's my list of minimum books to read in 2009, as part of the To Be Read Challenge. I didn't get through the entire list and alternate list in 2008, so I'm carrying some books over from 2008.

List One:
1. Baghdad Burning by Riverbend
2. The War of the Nerves by Ben Sheppard
3. Brasyl by Ian MacDonald
4. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen
5. Shriek: an Afterword by Jeff Vandermeer
6. Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes Vte
7. Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury - currently reading
8. Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West
9. Wandering through Vietnamese Culture by Huu Ngoc Vte
10. Espresso Tales by Alexander McCall Smith
11. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
12. Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen

Alternate List:
1. Echo House by Ward Just
2. A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry
3. A Mercy by Toni Morrison
4. Indignation by Philip Roth
5. Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
6. Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku
7. 2666: A Novel by Roberto Bolano
8. The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker
9. Sly Mongoose by Tobia Buckell
10. Kirinyaga by Mike Resnick
11. A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif
12. A Grand Delusion by Robert Mann

My TBR challenge - still to be reading

I made this list of books to read for the TBR challenge - and I seemed to read everything else, except what I had on this list. Well, just have to carry the unread books over to next year.

My list of twelve books is:
1. The White Castle by Orhan Pamuk read in Feb
2. The Pakistani Bride by Bapsi Sidhwa - April
3. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott - still carrying it around with me.
4. Mortals by Norman Rush read in Jan
5. Carnival by Elizabeth Bear Vte
6. The Vision of Emma Blau by Ursula Hegi - April
7. Was by Geoff Ryman January
8. The Biographer's Moustache by Kingsley Amis March
9. Brasyl by Ian MacDonald Vte
10. The War of the Nerves by Ben Sheppard SLV
11. Baghdad Burning II by Riverbend SLV
12. A Door into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski read in Feb SLV


Alternative Books:
1. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen
2. The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank
3. Shriek: an Afterword by Jeff Vandermeer - XK
4. Ammonite by Nicola Griffith SLV
5. The King of Torts by John Grisham XK
6. Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes Vte
7. Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury - currently reading
8. Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West XK - starting to read; it's a big book about different times!
9. The Terrorist by John Updike
10. Farthing by Jo Walton - read in March
11. Wandering through Vietnamese Culture by Huu Ngoc Vte
12. Espresso Tales by Alexander McCall Smith SLV

My World - Xieng Khouang

The weather has been cold, clear and windy. The flowers on the plum tree are blossoming.

Path

After the first day of our animal raising/ veterinary workshop, I took a long walk in the hills outside Phonsavanh. The weather has been cold, misty and drizzly but this afternoon, the clouds opened up and let the sky shine through. I followed this path as the sun set, always wanting to go around the next curve to see what's beyond. I turned back just beyond this point, before the next curve, so I could get home before dark.

Skywatch Friday for 26 December

Work has been labor intensive the past few months, so I've been neglecting my blogs.

But I'm still taking lots of photos, so here a few highlights from the past month:

Misty morning on the Mekong River on 11 December. It's cool and dry season now, meaning fog in the early mornings and usually clear afternoons.

People playing football the night of the full moon in December.

The Xaisett River on 14 December - we were driving back from Salavan to Vientiane.

Dry rice fields in Phonsavanh, Xieng Khouang Province.

This picture was taken on Christmas Day. It's along a ridge in the mountains in northern Xieng Khouang province. The family who owns the house is very poor - we helped them after two members were injured in a cluster bomb explosion when they were cooking over a fire which ignited a cluster bomb buried in the ground.

We invited the families to attend an animal raising training that we'll be starting tomorrow. After which, we'll give grants so they can buy animals and slowly but surely generate some more funds to improve their lives.

This is my contribution to Skywatch Friday, whose members post pictures of the skies around the world.

My World - Salavan

Salavan is in the southern part of Laos. This time of the year is the cool and dry season, very misty in the mornings but clear skies in the afternoons. I took the picture above while on a walk near my house in the morning.

This is my contribution to My World, with lots of pictures from all over the place.