Suzanne's 2015 Reading Lists

[Suzanne]

I don't know how I missed this thread! I am ALL about lists! I currently have 3 lists I'm working off of. First is the 2014-2015 Around the USA in 52 Books list. Second is my book club list (A friend and I started a book club many, many years ago and now she and I are the only ones in the club! We try to read a book a week and one a month for the three summer months - June, July & August. I use summer to read "extra" books. Lastly, I've embarked on the YLTO Serial Killer Challenge.

[Suzanne]

List #1 - Around the USA in 52 Books

Here are the books I haven't read/completed yet:

Kentucky - Seabiscuit: An American Legend
Maine - Under the Dome - completed 05/31/15
Vermont - Lost Nation - completed 06/17/15
Massachusetts - Here on Earth - completed 06/23/15
Rhode Island - The Great Hurricane: 1938 - completed 06/30/15
Connecticut - The Rathbones - completed 07/14/15
Delaware - Song Yet Sung - completed 07/24/15
Virginia - Virgin Earth - completed 08/01/15
Pennsylvania - The Twelve Tribes of Hattie - completed 08/06/15
West Virginia - Storming Heaven - completed 08/25/15
Louisiana - The Awakening - completed 08/31/15
Tennessee - A Blaze of Glory
Mississippi - The Little Friend
Montana - Winter: Notes from Montana
North Dakota - The Master Butchers Singing Club
Minnesota - Orphan Train
Wyoming - Little Blog on the Prairie
South Dakota - Searching for Calamity: The Life and Times of Calamity Jane
Iowa - Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression
Nebraska - Full Dark, No Stars
Utah - When the Emperor Was Divine
Colorado - Plainsong
Kansas - The Widow's War
Missouri - The Maid's Version
Alaska - If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska
Oregon - Undaunted Courage: The Pioneering First Mission to Explore America's Wild Frontier
Idaho - Angle of Repose
Nevada - The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride
New Mexico - The Twelve
Oklahoma - The Harvey Girls: Women Who Opened the West
Texas - Texas

[Suzanne]

List #2 - Book Club Books

The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones - completed 06/20/15
The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen by Jacques Pepin - completed 07/24/15
A Footpath in Umbria: Learning, Loving & Laughing in Italy by Nancy Yuktonis Solak - completed 08/21/15
Red China Blues: My Long March From Mao to Now by Jan Wong - completed 08/31/15
One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson - completed 09/09/15
Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel - completed 09/15/15
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund
Recapitulation by Wallace Stegner
Elizabeth Street: A novel based on true events by Laurie Fabiano
A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
Wait Till Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin
On Hallowed Ground: The Story of Arlington National Cemetery by Robert M. Poole
Digging to America by Anne Tyler
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
The Family: Three Journeys into the Heart of the Twentieth Century by David Laskin
The Son by Philipp Meyer

[Suzanne]

List #3 - YLTO Serial Killer Challenge

Level 1
A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin - completed 5/18/15
A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin - completed 06/17/15
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson - completed 06/26/15
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson - completed 07/08/15

Level 2
The Twisted Sword by Winston Graham - completed 07/20/15
Bella Poldark by Winston Graham - completed 07/31/15

Level 3
Always Jan by Roxanne Henke - completed 08/16/15
Sea of Silver Light by Tad Williams - completed 08/26/15

Level 4
Now Face to Face by Karleen Koen
The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory
A Blaze of Glory by Jeff Shaara
A Chain of Thunder by Jeff Shaara
The Smoke at Dawn by Jeff Shaara
The Fateful Lightning by Jeff Shaara

Level 5
The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
The Queen's Foolby Philippa Gregory
The Virgin's Loverby Philippa Gregory
The Other Queenby Philippa Gregory
The Runes of the Earth by Stephen R. Donaldson
Fatal Revenant by Stephen R. Donaldson

Level 6
Against All Things Ending by Stephen R. Donaldson
The Last Dark by Stephen R. Donaldson
An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 by Rick Atkinson
The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 by Rick Atkinson
The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 by Rick Atkinson

[Janice, Moderator]

There are some great titles on your lists. You and your friend must be fast readers to read a book a week. Our book club reads a book every other month, and even then we've had people drop out because they can't fit them in.

[Cherie]

I am definitely pouring over your list of books, Susan! The first two especially.

My Australia books have slipped behind and my AtW challenge is gasping. I am hoping to revive it with my next couple of series levels though.

Welcome!

[Suzanne]

Janice - That's the great thing about our book club consisting of just two people right now. We can read at our pace (which is fast!). We love to compile our reading lists and already have the 2016 book club list put together.

Cherie - I know what you mean. My Around the USA list was started last year, but I decided not to pressure myself and carry it into 2015. Who knows - I may be finishing it up in 2016...

[Cherie]

I think you need to fix your My Antonia state (I think it is Nebraska) in your state list. I almost decided to buy the Pepin book from your 2nd list for the toppler. His book sounds interesting.

[Suzanne]

Cherie wrote: "I think you need to fix your My Antonia state (I think it is Nebraska) in your state list. I almost decided to buy the Pepin book from your 2nd list for the toppler. His book sounds interesting."
Thanks for catching the error, Cherie! Also, enjoy the Pepin book - I should be reading it in two weeks!

[Cherie]

Suzanne wrote: "Cherie wrote: "I think you need to fix your My Antonia state (I think it is Nebraska) in your state list. I almost decided to buy the Pepin book from your 2nd list for the toppler. His book sound..."

I ordered it from the library, but I am not sure when it will arrive.

[Tasha]

I love your idea of the states reads. Very cool!

[Ariane]

You have some great books on your lists; I added some of them to my TBR

[Suzanne]

I decided to nix Willa Cather, so I've had to rearrange my serial killer list. Still, some good reading there!

[Suzanne]

A little more tweaking because I wanted to finish books I already owned:)

[Cherie]

Suzanne wrote: "I decided to nix Willa Cather, so I've had to rearrange my serial killer list. Still, some good reading there!"

I listened to O Pioneers! last week and liked it very much. I just downloaded The Sound of the Lark in audio yesterday. It has a different narrator. I already own My Antonia in print.

[Suzanne]

Cherie wrote: "Suzanne wrote: "I decided to nix Willa Cather, so I've had to rearrange my serial killer list. Still, some good reading there!"

I listened to O Pioneers! last week and liked it very much. I just..."

I read about 50 pages of The Song of the Lark and just couldn't continue. Too slow for me right now. Maybe another time:)