Anne’s Comments (group member since Dec 26, 2014)

Anne’s comments from the 2017 Reading Challenge group.

Cristine wrote: "I like the idea of more of a variety. Anne, I posted a list of categories in your first thread about volunteers if you want to take a look at that??"

Thanks!

Regine wrote: "Isn't that almost like having 50 wild card categories?"

Not really - if you have 100 categories to choose from, but the goal is to read 52 books (or whatever number) from those categories you're still limiting yourself - but with more choice.

A wild card category can be absolutely anything, and doesn't have to be a category from the challenge.

I've sent Natalia a message and hope to hear from her soon. She did volunteer to take over, but something may have come up that is preventing her from taking action.

If I don't hear from her in a couple of days, I'll put something together.

The voting/tallying last year turned out to take a very long time. What if we just have a very long list of categories, with more leeway for people to select those that appeal to them?

Less complicated, and the organization of the threads could be simpler, too...


Thoughts?

Hi everybody!

It seems that our volunteer for 2017 hasn't been able to get the new list going. I'll see what I can do...

Natália wrote: "I'll have a more laid back approach to next year's challenge, but I like how we make our own challenge and how easy this group is to manage! And since I'm always on GR anyway, I'm more than up to m..."

That's great Natália. Laid back is good. I'll switch your status right now! As I mentioned, the group pretty much runs itself.

Greeting everyone!

I have been away from the group for a while, and am happy to see everyone getting on with things. That's one thing I love about this group - no drama, no pressure - people just read and have a great time working on the challenge!

We're well past the halfway point of the year, and it's not too soon to start thinking about next year's challenge. I've had a great time running the group for the last two years (the group pretty much runs itself). However, I'm not up to doing it again. The selection of categories was a lot of work and though I enjoyed it I'm ready to hand it off if there are any takers.

So - any takers? I'll elevate you to moderator status and you can run with it!

I am so not anywhere near finishing the challenge...

Oh my. I'm up to 24 for this challenge, but I've read 51 books so far this year (my goal is 100). I could probably stick a few of those into the wild card slots, but there's still many months to go...

I've been reading what I want, and fitting them into the categories if they fit. I'll probably target some categories again soon. I've got a nice stack of books ready for my upcoming camping trip!

Most definitely Yana! So many books fit different categories, and as you read through the year you might find better books for some categories, and move something to fit another.

Cheers!

QueenAmidala28 wrote: "Anne wrote: "For some reason this book caught my attention not long ago when I was poking around a book store - the subject matter sounded intriguing, and frankly I think Alan Cumming is cute as a ..."

I'll have to check it out for my long drives. Maybe because I've already read it, it won't be quite so hard. Thanks for the recommendation!

Cristine wrote: "Whoops, you can disregard that. It's Bc I was on the ap and not on the regular site. :)"

The app doesn't always play nice...

I picked this one up because I visited Monterey, California last fall, and will be going back again in October. I enjoyed being able to visualize the beaches, and have a vague sense of the setting.

The story didn't really grab me much. It was all right - a collection of vignettes about the residents of the area and their interactions, with a loose plot about some of them wanting to throw a party for Doc. I felt like a lot of characters were introduced, but we only got to know them on a superficial level.

Oh well - I'm really looking forward to going back to Monterey in October, and now I've read the book!

What a delight! Author Annick Smith (also known for her filmmaking) travels from Montana to Chicago with her chocolate lab Bruno, to take her 97 year old mother for a week at their vacation home on Lake Michigan.

The chocolate lab was what drew me to this book, but Smith didn't write a whole lot about him. However, she wrote about her immigrant family (Hungarian Jews), and a great deal about her life in Montana and her relationships with family. As she travels to and from Chicago, she writes about PLACE - the natural history, the human history, and the memories these things evoke.

I enjoy books with strong places, and especially the west. So many locations in her book were familiar to me in some way.

Great book - perfect for the memoir category too.

A very powerful, thought-provoking book. I believe everyone should read it.

Congratulations!

Nash wrote: "Trying to plow through my current not so interesting read to get to this one. Been very eager to read it."

It's a treat! I nearly read the whole thing in a day, but was just too tired to stay up. Enjoy!

I really enjoyed this one, and almost read it in a day!

Carrie Brownstein is a member of the band Sleater-Kinney, and also one of the creators of Portlandia. This book is about growing up in the suburbs near Seattle, and how she found herself in music. I loved her honesty about her own problems and insecurities, as well as the triumphs and tribulations of Sleater-Kinney. Carrie makes no bones about how unglamorous it is to be in a band - exhausting tours, hard work, band politics.

I highly recommend it if you are a fan of Carrie's work, or enjoy books about what it's like to be in a band.

crashqueen73 wrote: "I've just read a few books by Michelle Horst and then I discovered she was born in South Africa and one of the books I read had a character that was born in Africa and moved to England. Can these b..."

Yes!

Judy wrote: "Question: if I started a book last year but finish it this year, can I count it? I've got a few that are hanging..."

Yes! I did that too.