The 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge continues! (scroll down for more info)

I’ve just finished the 27^th book, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams…only 23 more books to go! (For a cool quote from the book, go my blog.)

Next up is….The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (1951)

For those keeping score: this is book #28, week #27

A little info on J. D. Salinger and his work:
Jerome David Salinger was born in New York in 1919. He was considered a mediocre student until he reached Columbia University where a professor, Whit Burnett, the editor of Story magazine, became his mentor. Salinger’s short stories began to be published on a regular basis. His post-modernist approach mixed naturalism with fatalism. Later in life, he became a practitioner of Zen Buddhism and those tenets began to infiltrate his work. He also incorporated “the Jesus Prayer,” an Orthodox Catholic formulaic prayer, into his book Franny and Zooey. During WWII, Salinger was on Utah Beach on D-Day and took part in the Battle of the Bulge. He also was involved in liberating one of the concentration camps. Salinger only wrote one novel, The Catcher in the Rye. His short work was collected in Nine Stories (1953), Franny and Zooey (1961), and Raise High the Roof, Carpenter (1963). Salinger came to live a reclusive life, publishing his last short story in 1965. His final interview was in 1980. Salinger passed away in 2010.

The 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge is a fundraiser for RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network). I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19). I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. Sponsors don’t have to pay anything until after the Challenge finishes (6/1/19).

To sponsor me, click HERE. For more info and a list of the 50 books, go to the posting pinned to the top of the official 50 in 52 Facebook page.

Click HERE for the 50 in 52 blog posts.

Thank you!

Twitter: @50_in_52Project
Instagram: 50_in_52_Project
GoodReads: goodreads.com/michaelpatrickharrington
RAINN on Twitter: @RAINN

#50-in-52
#RAINN

A 50 in 52 Project Quote!

“…funerals are pretty compared to deaths. Funerals are quiet, but deaths—not always.”

from: A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (that’s him in the photo)

What is the 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge?

I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19) to raise money for RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network).

I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. You choose the amount. You don’t have to pay until after 6/1/19. To sponsor me & make a pledge, click HERE. Be the hero in someone else’s story!

For more info, see the post pinned to the top of the 50 in 52 Project Facebook page.

Click HERE for the 50 in 52 blog posts.

Thank you!

#50-in-52
#RAINN

Twitter: @50_in_52Project
Instagram: 50_in_52_Project
RAINN on Twitter: @RAINN

1971: US playwright Tennessee Williams (1911 – 1983). (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images)

The 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge continues! (scroll down for more info)

I’ve just finished the 26^th book, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck…only 24 more books to go! (For a cool quote from the book, go my blog.)

Next up is….A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (1947)

For those keeping score: this is book #27, week #26

A little info on Tennessee Williams and his work:
Thomas Lanier “Tennessee” Williams III was born in Mississippi in 1911. At times considered a late modernist, Williams broke through with a classic of post-modernist drama, The Glass Menagerie (1944), which he called his “memory play” because of its autobiographical themes and situations. While he also wrote novels, short stories, and a memoir, Williams is best known for his plays, including A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), The Rose Tattoo (1951), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), and The Night of the Iguana (1961). Both A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Elia Kazan would go on to direct successful film adaptations of both. Williams passed away in 1983.

The 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge is a fundraiser for RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network). I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19). I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. Sponsors don’t have to pay anything until after the Challenge finishes (6/1/19).

To sponsor me, click HERE. For more info and a list of the 50 books, go to the posting pinned to the top of the official 50 in 52 Facebook page.

Click HERE for the 50 in 52 blog posts.

Thank you!

Twitter: @50_in_52Project
Instagram: 50_in_52_Project
GoodReads: goodreads.com/michaelpatrickharrington
RAINN on Twitter: @RAINN

#50-in-52
#RAINN

A 50 in 52 Project Quote!

“How can we live without our lives? How will we know it’s us without our past?”

from: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (that’s him in the photo)

What is the 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge?

I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19) to raise money for RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network).

I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. You choose the amount. You don’t have to pay until after 6/1/19. To sponsor me & make a pledge, click HERE. Be the hero in someone else’s story!

For more info, see the post pinned to the top of the 50 in 52 Project Facebook page.

Click HERE for the 50 in 52 blog posts.

Thank you!

#50-in-52
#RAINN

Twitter: @50_in_52Project
Instagram: 50_in_52_Project
RAINN on Twitter: @RAINN

AN OPEN LETTER:

I need your help.

I’ve known women who have been raped. I’ve known women and men who’ve been sexually abused or assaulted; I’ve known people who’ve survived incest. I bet many of you do as well. A majority of these people never receive the help they need. Many of them shove those experiences way, way down. RAINN (the Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network) is dedicated to helping these survivors. After Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony to the Senate, calls to RAINN’s hotline number, which offers confidential support services, went up 338%, which is astounding. Besides the hotline (also available online), RAINN.org works to educate the public and acts as a nonpartisan advocacy group.

I started the 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge fundraiser because I thought I needed to give back. So many people have helped me or supported me since I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2002. I felt I owed a debt. RAINN seemed to be the right organization for me to help. The idea was to challenge myself to read 50 books in 1 year (I made a list of classics), and I’d ask folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book read—any amount. No one would have to pay until my Reading Year was up, which is June 1, 2019. I had NO idea how stressful it would be to read 50 books in 1 year—it’s been fun but crazy! WELL, I JUST FINISHED BOOK #25—HALFWAY THERE!

Would you please sponsor me? You don’t have to pay until June (and you’ll get a receipt for your taxes). To sponsor me, click HERE. For more info and a list of the 50 books, go to the posting pinned to the top of the official 50 in 52 Facebook page.

Thank you so much for joining me, sponsoring me, and believing in me.

Michael-Patrick Harrington

#RAINN
#50-in-52-Project

I’M HALFWAY THERE! HELP ME CELEBRATE BY SPONSORING ME!

The 50 in 52 Project continues! (scroll down for more info)

I’ve just finished the 25^th book, There Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston…only 25 more books to go!

Next up is….The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (1939)

For those keeping score: this is book #26, week #25

A little info on John Steinbeck and his work:
John Steinbeck was born in California in 1902. After some time at Stanford University (without earning a degree), he worked as a laborer and a journalist. His first novel was Cup of Gold (1929), but he didn’t achieve popular success until Tortilla Flat (1935). He often championed the downtrodden, the indigent, and the everyman. Injustice was a major theme in his work. He also, at times, obsessed with fate. His best known books include: Of Mice and Men (1937), The Grapes of Wrath (1939), Cannery Row (1945), The Pearl (1937), East of Eden (1952), the travelogue Travels with Charley: In Search of America, and the posthumously released The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976). In 1962, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Steinbeck passed away in 1968.

The 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge is a fundraiser for RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network). I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19). I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. Sponsors don’t have to pay anything until after the Challenge finishes (6/1/19).

To sponsor me, click HERE. For more info and a list of the 50 books, go to the posting pinned to the top of the official 50 in 52 Facebook page.

Click HERE for the 50 in 52 blog posts.

Thank you!

Twitter: @50_in_52Project
Instagram: 50_in_52_Project
GoodReads: goodreads.com/michaelpatrickharrington
RAINN on Twitter: @RAINN

#50-in-52
#RAINN

A 50 in 52 Project Quote!

“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the same horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men. Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember, and remember everything they don’t want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.”

from: There Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (that’s her in the photo)

What is the 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge?

I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19) to raise money for RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network).

I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. You choose the amount. You don’t have to pay until after 6/1/19. To sponsor me & make a pledge, click HERE. Be the hero in someone else’s story!

For more info, see the post pinned to the top of the 50 in 52 Project Facebook page.

Click HERE for the 50 in 52 blog posts.

Thank you!

#50-in-52
#RAINN

Twitter: @50_in_52Project
Instagram: 50_in_52_Project
RAINN on Twitter: @RAINN

The 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge continues! (scroll down for more details)

I’ve just finished the 24^th book, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner…only 26 more books to go! (For a cool quote from the book, go my blog.)

Next up is….Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1937)

For those keeping score: this is book #25, week #25

A little info on Zora Neale Hurston and her work:
Zora Neale Hurston was born in Alabama in 1891. During her time at Barnard College, she was involved in ethnographic research, which led to her earning a BA in anthropology. After college, she became friends with the poet Langston Hughes, among other writers, and soon become a central figure of the Harlem Renaissance, an explosion of African-American culture that began in the 1920s. The Harlem Renaissance brought national focus to intellectual and artistic achievements (across all mediums) by African-Americans. (Just some of the names that came out of this modernist movement: Duke Ellington, Josephine Baker, and Jean Toomer.) Hurston only published four novels during her lifetime (but over fifty short stories). Their Eyes Were Watching God is her most famous work. But for decades after her initial acclaim, her writing was largely marginalized, her achievements generally unrecognized by the literary world, but novelist Alice Walker (The Color Purple) changed all that with an article in Ms. Magazine: “In Search of Zora Neale Hurston” (1975). Hurston dealt with much racism during her various careers, but she was unflappable, writing, “Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can anyone deny themselves the pleasure of my company. It’s beyond me.” Zora Neale Hurston passed away in 1960.

The 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge is a fundraiser for RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network). I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19). I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. Sponsors don’t have to pay anything until after the Challenge finishes (6/1/19).

To sponsor me, click HERE. For more info and a list of the 50 books, go to the posting pinned to the top of the official 50 in 52 Facebook page.

Click HERE for the 50 in 52 Project blog posts.

Thank you!

Twitter: @50_in_52Project
Instagram: 50_in_52_Project
GoodReads: goodreads.com/michaelpatrickharrington

RAINN on Twitter: @RAINN

#50-in-52
#RAINN

A 50 in 52 Project Quote!

“I could just remember how my father used to say that the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time.”

from: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (that’s him in the photo)

What is the 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge?

I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19) to raise money for RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network).

I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. You choose the amount. You don’t have to pay until after 6/1/19. To sponsor me & make a pledge, click HERE. Be the hero in someone else’s story!

For more info, see the post pinned to the top of the 50 in 52 Project Facebook page.

Click HERE for the 50 in 52 Project blog posts.

Thank you!

#50-in-52
#RAINN

Twitter: @50_in_52Project
Instagram: 50_in_52_Project

RAINN on Twitter: @RAINN

The 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge continues! (scroll down for more details)

I’ve just finished the 23^rd book, Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence…only 27 more books to go! (For a cool quote from the book, go my blog.)

Next up is….As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (1930)

For those keeping score: this is book #24, week #24

A little info on William Faulkner and his work:
William Faulkner was born in 1897. He was raised in Oxford, Mississippi, where he would spend most of his life. Faulkner’s use of stream of consciousness narration, as well as his attention to diction and cadence made him a towering figure in literature. As opposed to Hemingway’s terse prose and Fitzgerald’s ironic narratives, Faulkner’s writing was nakedly emotional and often cerebral. His intricate prose was sometimes subtle and other times bordered on the gothic. His oeuvre includes The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I Lay Dying (1930), Light in August (1932) and Absalom, Absalom! (1936). Faulkner won the Nobel Prize in 1950. He passed away in 1962.

The 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge is a fundraiser for RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network). I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19). I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. Sponsors don’t have to pay anything until after the Challenge finishes (6/1/19).

To sponsor me, click HERE. For more info and a list of the 50 books, go to the posting pinned to the top of the official 50 in 52 Facebook page.

Click HERE for 50 in 52 Project blog posts.

Thank you!

Twitter: @50_in_52Project
Instagram: 50_in_52_Project
GoodReads: goodreads.com/michaelpatrickharrington

RAINN on Twitter: @RAINN

#50-in-52
#RAINN