Pam’s Comments (group member since Dec 07, 2021)

Pam’s comments from the On The Same Page group.

I’m happy to see Dune on your list! I’m also planning to read All the Birds in the Sky. I recommended it to our library’s sci-fi book club since I’ve owned it for several years. I hope it’s good! Enjoy your selections!

Yay! Congrats to the group! I was going to add a bunch more if we needed them. Happy New Year everyone! 🎉🎉🎉

🍀Pam S’s 2023 Reading Spot🍀
Every year I plan for 52 books. I have some really LONG books I want to read this year and, possibly, some books in Spanish I’m going to attempt to read, so I’m scaling back on challenges. But, I still think I can finish 52 books!

January:
1.
2.
3.
4.

I didn’t get any books for Christmas but bought 2 by Aldous Huxley, Antic Hay and After the Fireworks, at the used book store. I also bought a few for my grandson and plan to read one of them - James and the Giant Peach. And, I bought one new book today - The History of Science Fiction: A Graphic Novel Adventure.

Doc is excellent! Mary Doria Russell is one of my favorite authors. Hope you enjoy your selections!

I'm now at 23 books! I finished #2 - A book that takes place in New York, New Mexico, New Jersey, New Hampshire. I read the 2022 Newberry Medal winner The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera. (Cuentista translates to Storyteller.) I really enjoyed it! It was a nice break from reading Russian classics. It is a sci-fi story about humans leaving the Earth, in anticipation of a cataclysmic event, and the events that unfold when they reach their destination. I've read a few of these types of stories but this one was different with the storytelling aspect of the main character Petra and the main characters being children. It's set in 2 locations, New Mexico and outer space, and alternates between the two.

I thought about doing a 2nd list also and I’ve never come close to finishing this challenge! Thanks for the motivation. Good luck w both of your challenges!

The 2 books I voted for were Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and I Must Betray You. I recommend both of them! Hope the rest are really good and not over rated!

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was one of my top books this year and Cloud Cuckoo Land was a fave from 2021, but it’s not for everyone probably because of the alternating stories and timelines. Both are terrific, in my opinion! Happy reading in 2023! 📚

Congrats! 😃

Completed: 25/25

✔️1. A book with a villain.
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
✔️2. A book written by an author with the first initial of A or Z.
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
✔️3. A book released over 5 years ago.
Miguel Street by V.S. Naipaul
✔️4. A book with a protagonist that is over 40.
Victory City by Salman Rushdie
✔️5. A book that has an even number of pages.
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (176 pp)
✔️6. A book with an intriguing title.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
✔️7. A book involving a lie.
Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
✔️8. A book with alternating time periods.
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
✔️9. A book about revenge.
Moonraker by Ian Fleming
10. A book set in the 1980’s.
✔️11. A book that is dusty on your shelf
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
✔️12. A book under 300 pages.
Masters of the Dew by Jacques Roumain (180 pages)
✔️13. A family drama.
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante
✔️14. A book with a one word title.
Julius by Daphne du Maurier
✔️15. A book centered around a holiday.
Hercule Poirot's Christmas
✔️16. A book that starts with “H”.
How Do You Live? by Genzaburo Yoshino
✔️17. A book with a beautiful cover.
The History of Science Fiction: A Graphic Novel Adventure by Xavier Dollo
✔️18, A female author that is new to you.
My Neighbor Totoro by Tsugiko Kubo
✔️19. A new book by your favorite author
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (Aug)
✔️20. A story about a road trip.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Aug)
✔️21. A book that is co-authored.
Monday Starts on Saturday
✔️22. A gothic or noir novel.
House of Mist: A Novel by María Luisa Bombal
✔️23. A book with an autumn vibe.
Psycho by Robert Bloch
✔️24. A book set in a place you want to visit.
Dolphin Island by Arthur C. Clarke
✔️25. A book with a purple cover.
Milky Way Railroad by Kenji Miyazawa
✔️26. A book with a happy ending
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

Thank you everyone! This is an ambitious list for me but I’ve decided to cut back on my 52 book challenge (reduce to 26 maybe?) so that I can focus on reading some of my more challenging long books.

I've chosen 16 books, all ones I own and by authors from different countries. Some of them are doorstops and I'm a bit intimidated by them but they are on the list anyways! I'm hopeful that this will be the year I complete this challenge! I might make a few changes before Jan 1 but plan to keep the countries the same.

Finished: 4/12
*- Currently Reading

✔️1. Argentina (Sweden & US): In the Distance by Hernan Diaz (The author's nationality isn't identified.)
*2. Australia: Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
✔️3. Brazil: The Alienist and Other Stories of Nineteenth-Century Brazil by Machado de Assis
4. Canada: Sweetland by Michael Crummey
5. China: Lenin's Kisses by Yan Lianke
*6. Columbia: Collected Stories by Gabriel García Márquez
7. Germany: The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
✔️8. Italy: The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante
9. Japan: I Am a Cat: I by Natsume Sōseki
10. Malaysia: The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
11. Mexico: Happy Families: Stories by Carlos Fuentes
*12. Peru: Captain Pantoja and the Special Service by Mario Vargas Llosa

Plus 4 Alternates:
1. Poland: The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk
2. Russia: Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov
3. Turkey: The Black Book by Orhan Pamuk
✔️4. UK: A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes Read : Feb 21 4 stars

1847. I Must Betray You
1848. Don't Look Now
1849. Klara and the Sun
1850. Travels with Charley: In Search of America
1851. The Magician
1852. Nives
1853. The Betrayers
1854. Midnight at Malabar House
1855. VALIS
1856. My Cousin Rachel
1857. The Winter Station
1858. Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers
1859. The Glass-Blowers
1860. The Lola Quartet
1861. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
1862. Squeeze Me
1863. My Brilliant Life
1864. My Brilliant Friend
1865. First Person Singular: Stories
1866. The Sentence
1867. The Invention of Morel
1868. The Beach of Falesá

Running out of time to finish this challenge! It wasn't a good year for non-fiction for me. Maybe next year will be better! I highly recommend The Immortal Irishman by Timothy Egan.

I will probably get to 22, maybe 23 books. I think I will be shy a few to complete the challenge.

Well, I have finished one tome so far - The Winners by Frederick Backman. I enjoyed it a lot BUT my one criticism is that it was too long. I'm planning to finish Anna Karenina, which will increase my results to 2!

Eliminate 2, 3, 4, 11, 20, 21, 28, 29, 33, 35. Thanks!

Trying to finish Valis by Philip K. Dick. Such a bizarre book!

Finished books 10-16 but I'm too lazy to write a blurb for each one right now! Everything I've read has been really good except for Cat's Cradle. I am not a Vonnegut fan and only read the book for a library book club meeting, which I had to miss because I was quarantining due to COVID. Ugh.
I highly recommend Nives, The Magician, I Must Betray You, Don't Look Now, and Klara and the Sun.