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

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

I’m hoping to start The Name of the Rose this weekend. Do you think you will get to it this year?

Pam’s 2025 Non-Fiction Challenge

I’m going to challenge myself to read 10, which is a few more than my usual. I’m hoping to tackle ones I own first.
✔️- Finished
* - Currently reading

Completed: 3/10

✔️1. Question 7 by Richard Flanagan
✔️2. All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler by Rebecca Donner
✔️3. Merlin's Tour of the Universe: A Traveler's Guide to Blue Moons and Black Holes, Mars, Stars, and Everything Far by Neil deGrasse Tyson
*4. The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan
*5. How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them by Jason F. Stanley
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Lea wrote: "Oh, I love your list. I really loved Gilead, The Age of Innocence, The Pillars of the Earth, and the Magician's Nephew. You have so many other books on the list, that I want to read too!"

Thanks! I hope I love them also! I have so many, it was hard to choose.

I've made a few changes, removing UK and US setting/authors since I started a 2nd 12+4 challenge to include only UK and US authors. I left Clavell, even though he was British, since the setting is in Japan and this is one book I am reading for a group read. I added books from Poland, Czech Republic, and Italy.

Bill wrote: "Pam wrote: "Bill wrote: "Such an interesting list. I've only read The Paradise (it was excellent. Did you ever see the TV series based on it? It was set in England) and Shogun, loved it to.. Ah Mar..."

I do plan to read it and will post my comments somewhere! I'm not the best about writing reviews.

I'm creating a 2nd 12+4 challenge to capture US and UK authors that I want to read. I tend to forget about them because I focus so much on translated books. These are all books I own except for two. I am continuing with my goal of reading books I own despite being a huge library patron. It's a difficult balance.

✔️- Finished
* - Currently reading

Completed: 2/12

1. Playground by Richard Powers (Hoopla)
2. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
3. November Road by Lou Berney
4. Time Out of Joint by Philip K. Dick
5. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
6. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
7. Desolation Mountain by William Kent Krueger
8. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
9. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
✔️10. Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Park (Libby)
11. Coal Black Horse by Robert Olmstead
✔️12. Shōgun, Part One by James Clavell

+4
13. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
14. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
15.The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan
16. A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher

I think it will be Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck, which won the 2024 International Booker Prize. I had planned to read it this year so I don’t want to push it off too long and then lose interest.

I read Demon of Unrest in 2024. I enjoyed it and also learned a lot. Russka is my favorite Rutherfurd novel. I highly recommend it! Good luck with your challenge.

I love cover prompts so I'm in. Thank you Madeline!

Lea wrote: "How interesting, Pam! I don't think I've read any of these books, but they look great. Enjoy all of your travels! :-)"

Alondra wrote: "Good luck with your choices and happy reading.

Thanks Alondra and Lea! I wasn't planning to do this challenge this year since I never finish it but I thought I'll try again! Why not? No reason to feel discouraged. I never understood why it's so hard to pick 12 books out of the 60+ I read but, there it is, it's hard and, therefore, it's a challenge!

Bill wrote: "Such an interesting list. I've only read The Paradise (it was excellent. Did you ever see the TV series based on it? It was set in England) and Shogun, loved it to.. Ah Marikasan... Konichiwa (apol..."

Thanks Bill! Yes, I did watch the TV series based on The Paradise and really enjoyed it! And, Shogun, I watched the mini-series back in the '70s. It's one of my husband's favorite books. I just bought the new edition a few months ago. I feel a little bad as I left out Canada but I'm hoping to finish the 3rd book in The Deptford Trilogy this month.

This year I am selecting only books I own, with each one being either set in or by an author from a different country. I decided to go with all fiction (except for one). There were so many other books I wanted to include but these books all fit other challenges, or group reads so I think it is a good list for me. Maybe this will be the year I actually complete the challenge!

✔️- Finished
* - Currently reading

Completed: 1/12

16 Books From Around the World (excluding US and UK)

1. Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck (Germany)
2. My Struggle: Book 1 by Karl Ove Knausgård (Norway)
3. The Paradise by Émile Zola (France)
4. Independent People by Halldór Laxness (Iceland)
5. The Old Man Who Read Love Stories by Luis Sepúlveda (Chile)
6. The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk (Poland)
7. The Wandering Earth by Liu Cixin (China)
8. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (Australia)
9. Whitehorn's Windmill by Kazys Boruta (Lithuania)
10. The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng (Malaysia)
11. The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas (setting - Netherlands)
✔️12. Baba Dunja's Last Love by Alina Bronsky (setting- Ukraine)

Plus 4:
13. Dreams of My Russian Summers by Andreï Makine (Russia)
14. The Obscene Bird of Night by José Donoso (Chile)
15. Pessoa: A Biography by Fernando Pessoa (Portugal)
16. The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante (Italy)

Alondra wrote: "I have the Secret History and might try that on next year's list..."

Alondra - I was disappointed with the book. I had very high expectations since so many readers LOVE it. The story didn't appeal to me or feel authentic, none of the characters were likeable, and it was really long. I see readers saying how they love dark academia (and mentioning this book) so it could be the genre is just not my cup of tea. I don't care for thrillers either.

Bill wrote: "Pam wrote: "I’m currently reading Fifth Business and should finish it this month. I think that will be it for this list. Books #1 and 10-13 will be carried over to next year. I did knock off a few ..."

I just finished Fifth Business and thought it was great! I found used copies (nothing available through my library) of the 2nd and 3rd books in the trilogy and hope they are just as good. I'm not very familiar with Can Lit and plan to continue exploring it and finding new-to-me authors.

How did I forget The Murderbot Diaries?! Thanks to several people for the reminder. I read the first 2 books in the series this year. I may also consider adding Ken Liu’s The Dandelion Dynasty Quartet.

Graphic Novels & Manga
✔️- Finished
*- Currently reading

The Way of the Househusband

* SPY×FAMILY 1

I like this idea even though I don’t read a lot of series. I’m certainly not a completist when it comes to mystery & thriller series. But, I do have some other series that I’m interested in reading, one of which is the Kingsbridge series. I’m only listing the first one, The Pillars of the Earth, though to start with. I’m hoping to finally read it in 2025!

Speculative Fiction, Sci-Fi and Fantasy:

Hainish Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin
(Have only read #4 The Left Hand of Darkness)
- Rocannon’s World
- Planet of Exile
- City of Illusion
- The Word for World is Forever
- The Disposessed
- The Telling

Mystery

Erast Fandorin series by Boris Akunin
4 - Death of Achilles

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
3- The Bullet That Missed
4- The Last Devil go Die
5- ???

Literary Fiction and Historical Fiction
✔️- Finished
*- Currently reading

The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies
✔️1. Fifth Business (5 stars)
✔️2. The Manticore (3.5 stars)
3. World of Wonders

Kingsbridge series by Ken Follett
1. Pillars of the Earth
2.World Without End
3. A Column of Fire
4. The Evening and the Morning

Earth’s Children series by Jane Auel
3. finish The Mammoth Hunters
4. The Plains of Passage
5. The Shelters of Stone
6. The Land of Painted Caves