Laurel’s
Comments
(group member since Dec 30, 2013)
Laurel’s
comments
from the All About Books group.
Showing 261-280 of 703
Some random stats:Books read: 50
Pages read: 15,604
Goal #1 Random Reads: Only 4
Goal #2 Daytimers: 11 (the 12th book was read in a previous year)
Goal #4 Author Madeleine L'Engle: 3
The leftovers and A Good Yarn themes are hard to count, since one was a catch-all, and the other listed books more than once...
4 books were rereads
11 Non-fiction
5 historical fiction (not counting the 20th century)
Audiobooks - at least 14
Ebooks - 4
New series started - 8
Next in series - 11
Children's books - 12
Fantasy/SciFi - 11
Chunky books (over 450 pages) - 5
#50
The Map of Salt and Stars5 stars
Didn't finish the other book, so I'll end the year with a nice round number. 50 isn't bad! I came close...
#49
Claxton: Field Notes from a Small Planet3.5 stars - Excellent writing, but it would have been greatly enhanced by at least a few photos.
Almost there, and only one more day to go. 3 books to finish. I'll finish two of them tomorrow, and the 3rd may carry over onto Jan. 1 but I'll still count it for 2019.
#48
White Birch, Red Hawthorn5 stars - A short but very powerful book about ancestry, and honoring not only the places they came from, but the people and places they conquered. My favorite book of the year. Or one of them, anyway!
#47
Many Waters4 stars
#3 in the series according to internal chronological, although it is the fourth book written. Interesting blend of Biblical story with mythological creatures. Science takes a backseat here.
That's great! I have 6 books to go... Wish me luck!
It's getting down to the wire with three days left in the year. I may count books finished on Jan. 1 as part of this year, just because...Here's what I have left:
READ The Map of Salt and Stars - Listening to this on the way home from Rapid City - 1 hour, 58 mintutes left.
READ Claxton: Field Notes from a Small Planet - been reading small sections of this all year - 57 pages left.
READ White Birch, Red Hawthorn - been reading a chapter a day, but I'm one chapter behind to finish - 47 pages left.
READ Many Waters - 5 1/2 chapters left. Children's book. I'll finish it today.
A Swiftly Tilting Planet - Next up in the series. I should be able to get it read.
Christmas Bells - Just started. Only read two chapters. 287 pages to go. It may carry over to the 1st, but we shall see!
#46 Wuthering Heights - Audible, read by Joanne Froggatt5 stars.
No link for this one because I couldn't find one. I'm still reading the Norton Critical Edition and will take more time with it, probably into January. But for now I have finished listening to this rendition. Ms. Froggatt was marvelous, and of course she knows the Yorkshire dialect. One of those books I've always supposed I must have read long ago, but now I know I never did! Loved it!
#45
A Wind in the Door4 stars - Not quite as memorable as the first book, but I still love everything Ms. L'Engle writes!
#43
The Garden in Every Sense and Season4 stars - A lovely book to be savored slowly over time, as I did.
December isn't over yet, but I'm going to go ahead and list my top 10 reads of the year. I don't like to include graphic novels, children's books, or rereads in this list. In no particular order or rank:1. A Gentleman in Moscow
2. The Butcher Bird
3. Before We Were Yours and/or Where the Crawdads Sing
4. Boone's Lick
5. Pachinko
6. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
7. Earthly Joys and sequel Virgin Earth
8. The Chilbury Ladies' Choir
9. Wuthering Heights - not finished yet, but definitely in the top 10
10. Bertie Plays the Blues
And possibly an honorable mention to
White Birch, Red Hawthorn which I've just started, but I think will be 4 or 5 stars...
January plans:READ If The Creek Don't Rise (Goal #2 Daytimers)
Library of Souls (Goal #3 Good Yarn)
Letters from Skye (Goal #3 Good Yarn)
READ The Cold Light of Mourning (Goal #3 Good Yarn)
READ The Bear and the Nightingale (Goal #2 online group read)
When God Was a Rabbit (Goal #2 online group read)
READ Wuthering Heights - critical edition with essays
Leslie wrote: "Ooh, I strong recommend Shards of Honor & the rest of the Vorkosigan series (except for the last book, Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen which I didn't much like)!! I r..."Bujold has been on my radar for years, and I have all of the Vorkosigan titles as ebooks from Baen. I might be adding her to Goal #4 as a new "author of the year" to focus on. I just have so many leftovers, I don't know if I want to add that. I'm also going to be editing my post #2 Random Reads. I haven't drawn slips yet for 2020. What you see above right now are all the leftovers from 2019 copied and pasted as a place holder for now. I will be drawing slips and making changes to this post...
Yes, thanks Leslie. "Pie in the sky" is an idiom that means the aspiration is unrealistic. I can set these goals, but the reality is that most of these books listed will remain unread. Laura, I also chose it as sort of a reference to my Daytimer's theme this year. I intentionally picked a number of books for the group that have stars in the title, but also sky and moon. There are 5 on that list, plus the book we are reading this month which is The Map of Salt and Stars. So I might be adding some other "star" and "sky" titles to read as well. So I'm adding that to post #1 to track those reads.
Goal #5 - Leftovers and Library Books:Series
Wolf Hall
Bring Up the Bodies (Wolf Hall #2 - #3 not out yet)
Pride and Predator (Ben Reese #2)
The Pillars of the Earth
World Without End (Kingsbridge #2)
On the Night Stand(s)
Whiskey Distilled: A Populist Guide to the Water of Life
The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers
...And Ladies of the Club
King Hereafter
READ The Demon's Brood: A History of the Plantagenet Dynasty
The Sparrow
The Prague Sonata
First Impressions: A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen
Dreadfully Ever After
The Canterbury Papers
Eleanor de Montfort: A Rebel Countess in Medieval England
The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors
Blood & Roses: the Paston Family and the Wars of the Roses
Blood Sisters: The Women Behind The Wars Of The Roses
The Lusitania Murders
The Plum Tree
The Half-Drowned King
The Fountain Overflows
His Dark Lady
Making Marion: Where's Robin Hood When You Need Him?
READ Murder in A-Major
Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Too Many Crooks Spoil the Broth
A Rather Lovely Inheritance (trilogy)
The Fugitive Wife
Gretel and the Case of the Missing Frog Prints
Pride and Prescience: Or, A Truth Universally Acknowledged
The Pendragon Murders
The Ludwig Conspiracy
The River of No Return
Black Rabbit Hall
Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer
Yankee Doodle : the story of a pioneer boy and his dog
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Miss Garnet's Angel
From the library
Library of Souls
A Map of Days
Awayland
The Evening Chorus
Dark Winds Rising
The Sparrow Sisters
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two
Boone: A Biography
City of Dreams: A Novel of Nieuw Amsterdam and Early Manhattan
READ The Spies of Shilling Lane
Lady Macbeth
Dark Fire
Heartstone
READ A Mighty Dawn
Goal #4 - Authors and Series lefoversNew:
Diana Gabaldon
Virgins - short story
Outlander
The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel
Dragonfly in Amber
A Fugitive Green -short story
Voyager
Lord John and the Hellfire Club - novella
Lord John and the Private Matter
Lord John and the Succubus - novella
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade
Lord John and the Hand of Devils - novella
The Custom of the Army - short story
The Scottish Prisoner
A Plague of Zombies - short story
Besieged - short story
Drums of Autumn
The Outlandish Companion: Companion to Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, and Drums of Autumn
The Fiery Cross
A Breath of Snow and Ashes
An Echo in the Bone
Written in My Own Heart's Blood
A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows - short story
The Space Between - short story
The Outlandish Companion, Volume Two
Madeleine L'Engle(continued from last year)
Here is "sort of" a chronological list of books featuring the Murrays, the O'Keefes, the Austins, and a few other crossover characters, and maybe a few books that don't have any crossover but I'm including them anyway...
The Other Side of the Sun
READ 2018 Ilsa
The Small Rain
And Both Were Young
The Joys of Love
Camilla
A Winter's Love
Love Letters
------------------------------------------
READ 2019 A Wrinkle in Time
READ 2019 A Wind in the Door
READ 2019 Many Waters
READ A Swiftly Tilting Planet
------------------------------------------
Meet the Austins
The Moon by Night
------------------------------------------
The Arm of the Starfish
Dragons in the Waters
A House Like a Lotus
------------------------------------------
The Young Unicorns
A Ring of Endless Light
Troubling a Star
------------------------------------------
An Acceptable Time
------------------------------------------
Certain Women
A Live Coal in the Sea
A Severed Wasp
Other leftovers from previous years:
Alexander McCall Smith:
44 Scotland Street series:
#09 Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers
#10 The Revolving Door of Life
#11 The Bertie Project
#12 A Time of Love and Tartan
Corduroy Mansions series:
#3 A Conspiracy of Friends
Rita Mae Brown:
Mrs. Murphy series:
#13 Cat's Eyewitness
#14 Sour Puss
#15 Puss 'N Cahoots
Alan Bradley:
Flavia de Luce series:
#01 The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (reread)
#02 The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag (reread)
#03 A Red Herring Without Mustard (reread)
#04 I Am Half-Sick of Shadows (reread)
#05 Speaking from Among the Bones
Goal #3 - A Good Yarn, Reading the AlphabetA year-long challenge. Will post here books read that fit the challenge...
JANUARY:
L is for Light
READ The Cold Light of Mourning
A Vision of Light
Where the Light Enters
L is for Libraries
READ The Library at the Edge of the World
Library of Souls
Title beginning with L:
READ The Library at the Edge of the World
Library of Souls
FEBRUARY:
M is for Money
READ The Spies of Shilling Lane
M is for Murder
READ Murder on the Ballarat Train
Title beginning with M:
READ Murder on the Ballarat Train
MARCH:
N is for Night
Night Birds' Reign
Thirteenth Night
READ All three book in the WINTERNIGHT trilogy by Katherine Arden
N is for North
The Long Walk Home (by Will North)
READ The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria
Title beginning with N:
READ Never Buried
READ Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia
Nelly Dean: A Return to Wuthering Heights
APRIL:
O is for Orange
READ There There
O is for One
One for Sorrow
Title beginning with O:
Outlander
One for Sorrow
The Other Side of the Sun
MAY:
P is for Persons
READ Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
P is for Pioneers
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
Title beginning with P:
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
Pride and Predator
READ The Pull of the Stars
JUNE:
Q is for Queens
The Catherine Howard Conspiracy
Queen By Right
The Summer Queen
Q is for Quiet
READ A Quiet Life In The Country
Title beginning with Q:
READ A Quiet Life In The Country
Queen By Right
JULY:
R is for Race
READ How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America
R is for Renaissance
READ Hamnet
Title beginning with R:
READ Rest You Merry
AUGUST:
S is for Summer
The Summer Queen
READ Summer at the Garden Café
S is for Scandinavia
READ A Mighty Dawn
Title beginning with S:
The Summer Queen
READ Summer at the Garden Café
SEPT:
T is for Trees
T is for Translations
From Hand to Hand: the Welsh novel O Law I Law
READ War and Peace
Title beginning with T:
Troubled Blood
READ This Tender Land
READ Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man
OCTOBER:
Paused the group for the rest of 2020. Will continue with U in January 2021.
Leftovers:
A is for Africa
Boy, Snow, Bird
READ When Stars Are Scattered
B is for Body Parts
Heart of a Samurai
From Hand to Hand: the Welsh novel O Law I Law
C is for Clothing
Courting Mr. Lincoln
READ Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love - has a dress on the cover
D is for Directions
Queen By Right
READ The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria
D is for Dancing
READ Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia
I is for Ice
Independent People
J is for Jungle
Into the Jungle
J is for Japan
Heart of a Samurai
Title beginning with J:
The Joys of Love
K is for Key
READ Murder in A-Major
K is for Kings and Kingdoms
Hollow Kingdom
READ The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria
Title beginning with K:
King Hereafter
Kristin Lavransdatter
READ Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
READ The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria
Goal #2 - Book ClubsDaytimer's Book Club
Read all 12. Themes: Stars, Water, Native American
READ Jan: If The Creek Don't Rise
READ Feb: The Fault in Our Stars
READ Mar: There There
READ Apr: The Shell Seekers
READ May: The Stars Are Fire
READ Jun: Manhattan Beach
READ Jul: The Current
READ Aug: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
READ Sep: The Water Dancer
READ Oct: Beneath a Scarlet Sky
READ Nov: This Tender Land
READ Dec: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek -too many holds still on The Giver of Stars....
Online group reads:
READ The Bear and the Nightingale (All About Books, December 2019)
READ Christmas Bells (On The Porch Swing, December 2019)
READ The Starless Sea (You'll Love This One! buddy read)
READ Hamnet (Tudor History Lovers, December 2020) (Reading Loft, December 2020)
READ Rest You Merry (Cozy Mysteries, Dec. 2020 featured author)
Goal #1 - Random Reads from my TBROn second thought, my random reads are not so random this year. There are too many things I've started and want to finish, or books that have been on my night stand forever. There will be more than 30 listed here. The goal is at least 12.
*Starred items are previous random reads from 2018 and 2019.
Nonfiction:
READ The Demon's Brood: A History of the Plantagenet Dynasty - owned
READ Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia - meant to accompany War and Peace
The Outlandish Companion: Companion to Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, and Drums of Autumn - meant to accompany a reread of the Outlander series...
The Celtic Gods: Comets in Irish Mythology
Whiskey Distilled: A Populist Guide to the Water of Life
READ *The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria
Wales and Arthurian:
READ The Cold Light of Mourning
Arthur Rex
Yseult: A Tale of Love in the Age of King Arthur
The Fall of Atlantis
From Hand to Hand: the Welsh novel O Law I Law
*The Long Walk Home
*The Story of the Champions of the Round Table
*To Carry The Horn (Book #1, Hounds of Annwn)
*The Book of Joby
Next in Series:
A Conspiracy of Friends
His Dark Lady
A Pitying of Doves
City of Masks
*Bloodline (Wars of the Roses #3)
READ *Murder on the Ballarat Train (Phryne Fisher #3)
Next in series of books just read...
READ Summer at the Garden Café (Finfarran #2)
The Mistletoe Matchmaker (Finfarran #3)
A Brush with Death (Penny Brannigan #2)
Death at Victoria Dock (Phryne Fisher #4)
The Mastersinger from Minsk (Hermann Preiss #2)
Never Sorry (Leigh Koslow #2)
Two for Joy (John the Eunuch #2)
The Heavens May Fall (Detective Max Rupert #3)
In the Market for Murder (Lady Hardcastle mysteries #2)
A Rose for the Crown (not really a series, but the next book chronologically...Wars of the Roses)
New Series:
A Game of Thrones
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
*Shards of Honor (Vorkosigan Saga #1)
*One for Sorrow
*Death in Bordeaux
Themes (old and new):
The Sparrow
The Plum Tree
The Sparrow Sisters
Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer
Pride and Predator
The Plover
Pride and Prejudice: The Scenes Jane Austen Never Wrote
*The Chocolatier's Wife (Wife titles)
*The Seventh Magpie (Bird titles)
*Railsea (Moby Dick)
*The Drago Tree (Tree titles)
*Peregrine (Bird titles)
*Blackbird House (Bird titles)
*Orfeo (Music and musicians)
*A White Wind Blew (Music and musicians)
Historical Fiction:
Courting Mr. Lincoln
Wolf Hall
The Pillars of the Earth
The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers
King Hereafter
Kristin Lavransdatter
READ War and Peace
*The Golden Horn (11th cent. Vikings)
*The Summer Queen (12th cent. France)
*Queen By Right (15th cent. England)
*Season of the Raven (12th cent. England)
*When Knighthood Was in Flower
*By Honor Bound
*Searcher in the Dawn
Other:
Hounded
Songs of Love and Death: All-Original Tales of Star-Crossed Love
...And Ladies of the Club
Library of Souls
Independent People
Hollow Kingdom
Awayland
*Stone's Fall (19th/20th cent.)
*The Evening Chorus (WWII)
*Letters from Skye (dual timeframe, 1912, 1940)
*Waterfall Glen (contemporary Scotland)
*Mothering Sunday (20th cent. England)
*Neverhome (Civil War - U.S.)
*Freshwater Road
*Wicked Like a Wildfire
