What are U reading these days? (PART TEN (2014) (ongoing thread for 2014)

[Jim]

How did everyone do on their reading this year? I haven't finished figuring mine out, but it looks like I'll read a few less books. More of them were ebooks & audio books, a lot more of the latter.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

My reading is way down this year.
How do you figure out your reading rate, Jim?

[Werner]

I've read 31 books this year, all but five of them print books (those five were e-books, a high proportion for me). Of the 30 that I rated, 11 got five stars from me, and nine more got four, so that makes about two thirds that I really liked; and I liked almost all of the rest. There was only a single two-star in the bunch, and no one stars. Genre-wise, speculative fiction accounted for the lion's share as usual, with 18 books, more than half.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Werner, thanks for the great summary of your reading experiences this year. Looks like you've had a good year!

[Jackie]

I read 44, halfway through another. I join the goodreads challenge so my total is always on my homepage.

[Jim]

Joy H. wrote: "My reading is way down this year.
How do you figure out your reading rate, Jim?"

It will sound complicated, but really makes sense. I reshelved most of my books so I can break them up into audio, paper, or ebook, as well as fiction, nonfiction, & sort-of-nonfiction, besides the regular exclusive & genre shelves. I have a spreadsheet with a macro that breaks them up into these columns so I can total & graph them easily. I just export my bookshelves, sort by "date read" & keep them grouped in different worksheets, then total them on another.

It's far better for me than the stats page that GR gives us
https://www.goodreads.com/review/stat...
since it lets me compare & group them better. For instance, the stat page lumps the type of media with every other shelf, but the spreadsheet breaks them out in the totals. I still use the stats for tracking the various ratings, but might include that in the spreadsheet later.

For the past 2 years, I've read over 200 books each year, almost 100 more than what I used to read due to audio books. They allow me to 'read' as well as work out in the shop or get other chores done. I can also read one in paper or ebook format & keep listening to another easily, especially if they are different genres.

At a glance, I didn't have quite as many 5 star reads this year as last (22 & 32), but less 2 star, so it worked out about the same. I've read 204 books so far this year & read 220 last year. I think my reading this year was a bit more adventurous. Rather than sticking to my regular fiction genres, I read a lot more nonfiction, some YA, & other genres I normally avoid.

Of course, this year's total will still change. I just finished a book this morning while turning the last of a batch of offset candlesticks I'm working on & started a new one. That change isn't reflected on GR yet. Quite a few partially read books aren't in my stats, either. I get an awful lot of new authors giving me books to read for review - more every year. I just spent over a week reading half a dozen, but didn't care for them enough to publicly review them. I hate to break new authors' hearts, so I just don't say anything.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Thanks, Jim. I went to MY BOOKS and clicked on STATS. It shows that I read only 10 books this year. I think some of them were audiobooks.

I came across an interesting review I wrote about the book, Stumbling on Happiness.
Here's the link: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I almost forgot about that book!

[Jim]

Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner by Judy Melinek was a 4 star read. There was one chapter on her work during 9/11, but most of the book was just about being a medical examiner. If you like CSI or Bones, you might not want to read this. I gave it 4 stars here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim wrote: "Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner by Judy Melinek was a 4 star read. There was one chapter on her work during 9/11, but mo..."

Jim, I'm usually fairly squeamish when it comes to stuff like that. However, it didn't bother me to listen to the audiobooks of Mary Roach who wrote:
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
and
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal.

Mary Roach has a good style which makes her work easy to listen to. It was narrated by two other people.

Here's my short review of Gulp: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

As for Stiff, according to my review, I still haven't read it. It's still on my "Keep in Mind" shelf. I must have forgotten to update the review. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Having recently been in the hospital for a month, I'm not so sure I'm anxious to go back and listen to Stiff". :)

[Jim]

"Working Stiff" has its moments, but the author isn't as funny as Mary Roach. "Stiff" was better overall, but this one was pretty good.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Yes, Jim, Mary Roach has a great sense of humor.

Another book of hers which I listened to was: Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. I gave it 5 stars but refrained from saying too much in my review [ https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ], except that it was excellent.

At the book's page it says that Burkhard Bilger, a staff writer at 'The New Yorker', calls Mary Roach, "the funniest science writer in the country".

[Joy H., Group Founder]

PS - In Trevor's Goodreads review of Bonk, he says: "If this book is about anything I think it would be fair to say that it is about the absurdity of sex. This is the second of Roach’s books I’ve read lately and I must say sex is much funnier than death. This book was laugh out loud funny."

Trevor writes a good review. This one of his is at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Jim]

I didn't love it, but gave Scent of the Missing: Love and Partnership with a Search-and-Rescue Dog written & read by Susannah Charleson 3 stars. It was closer to 4 stars at points. I reviewed it here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Nina]

Joy H. wrote: "Jackie wrote: "I see, that's good to know. I just didn't want you ordering a movie and then getting a bunch of unexpected episodes, lol Does it tell you on Netflix that there's multiple episodes?..."I am trying out to see if there is any response to this message. I'll post it and see if anything comes of it. No daily messages from goodreads to me in the last ten days.

[Jim]

Test for Nina

[Nina]

Thanks Jim, not sure this would come on my computer if you hadn't answered. We'll see if another one comes later. I appreciate your input. nina

[Nina]

Jim wrote: "How did everyone do on their reading this year? I haven't finished figuring mine out, but it looks like I'll read a few less books. More of them were ebooks & audio books, a lot more of the latter." I don't have a list of how many books I have read just which ones were the best and others I didn't like. I am reading a crazy one now/"A Hundred Year Old Man Climbed Out a Window." It might be up there as one of the best as it keeps me clearly inside the characters minds and actions and I laugh out loud at situations that really shouldn't be considered funny. Great writer.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

I'm reading In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming. It's an excellent crime/suspense book. I don't usually read this type of book but this one has me hooked. I got it from the library as an audio book but when some of the discs were scratched I changed over to reading the ending of the book. Recommended. This book was a selection of my local library book group.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

PS-Here's the book which Nina mentioned: The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

[Jim]

You don't keep all your reading here on GR, Nina? I try to. My memory for books has been slipping. There was a time when I could list them a lot easier, but so many are so alike that if I can't keep some of them straight.

[Jim]

Bad Science by Ben Goldacre is a must-read for everyone in our complex world today. While he concentrates on medicine, his are of expertise, Goldacre teaches the reader how to make sense of our complex world despite poor reporting & fads. I gave it 5 stars here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim, any book that can make sense of this complicated world were in, is a welcome read. Who is it that said: "Progress has gone too far!"?

[Jim]

I don't think progress has gone too far. We've both solved & caused some issues on the way. Ignorance certainly isn't going to keep the solutions nor clean up the problems. Full speed ahead! It's tough to keep up sometimes, especially in the face of media coverage that is promoting sensationalism over content. We need to change our reactions from an emotional response to an intellectual one & question the information. Does it make sense? Too often I find that it doesn't.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim, too bad that the emotions overpower the intellect most of the time.

[Nina]

There is a review of the movie opening here today, "Unbroken," based on the book. I think you might be reading it Joy. The reviewer took offense at the ending of the book which lets everyone assume the main character is truly "unbroken," which we now know isn't the case as he turns into an alcoholic and possibly ruining a marriage and suffers from War syndrom until he meets up with Billy Graham who turns his life around with "found" religion.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

I'll have to look for that movie review, Nina. I'm still reading the book in my Amazon Cloud. I've spread myself to thin, reading and listening to too many different things at one time.

[Jim]

Father and I Were Ranchers by Ralph Moody was a 4 star listen. A New England family move to Colorado to make their living in the early 1900's. While it's told from the point of view of 8 year old Ralph, it's not just a YA book. It is first of a series of 8.

My review is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Nina]

I loved your review Jim. I will read that book and perhaps get one copy for my grandson. Thank you for alerting me to it.

[Nina]

Hey everbody,we just had an after Christmas present born this morning very early. Lucy Page McBride is our beautiful thirteenth great grandchild, Mother and daughter doing well after an almost delivery en route to the hospital/one hour later she appeared on her scheduled date. Hope she's on time like that the rest of her life.

[Jim]

Glad to turn you on to it, Nina. I'm just about done with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass read by Christopher Plummer. He goes a bit over the top with some voices & the sound could be equalized a bit better, but his reading is the best I've ever heard overall.

I actually have finished both books, but this edition (not the one linked to) has an alternate ending chapter to 'Looking Glass' included. I'm partway through it.

[Werner]

Nina, congratulations on the newest edition to your family! Christmas in olden times was a twelve-day festival, so Lucy Page sounds like a perfect present for the second day of Christmas. :-)

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Congrats to Nina on the new great grandchild!

[Jackie]

Hello everyone! Sorry I've been absent, I've got a lot of things going on here. I won't bore you with the details. I'll join in more frequently as I can. Just know I read all your posts, even if I don't respond.

Congratulations Nina on a wonderful new healthy great grandchild!

And I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

[Werner]

Happy New Year to you and yours too, Jackie!

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Good to hear from you, Jackie! It sure is a busy season. Hope everything is OK at your house. A happy new year to all of you!

I started watching a film adaptation of Cranford with Judi Dench. Looks pretty entertaining. The Constant Reader Group at GR is reading it as a group selection.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974077/?...

[Jackie]

TY, Joy, Cranford is my kind of series! I never heard of it before, and I really like Judi Dench. Now to find it!

[Jim]

Dancing Barefoot written & read by Wil Wheaton was short & very good. I gave it 4 stars here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass was also a 4 star listen when read by Christopher Plummer. My review is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Thanks, Jim.

[Nina]

I love Christopher Plummer's voice no matter what he is saying.

[Nina]

Welcome back Jackie. Hope the New Year is good to you and to the rest of my Goodread friends. Stay as healthy and happy as you can.

[Jim]

Werner recently reviewed one of Donald Hamilton's books & I couldn't recall it which bothered me. Hamilton is a favorite author, so I went through his books (which have their own, special shelf) & found to my horror that I don't own 2 of his including his very first, Date with Darkness! The other is a collection of stories he edited, Iron Men and Silver Stars.

Both have been ordered & when the first gets here, I'm going to read it & then the rest of his books in order of publication that I haven't reviewed here on GR. There are 9 of them. I'm fairly sure I've read most, if not all of them before, but it's obviously been a while if they're not reviewed here. This month is my 7th anniversary on this site.

[Jim]

Nina, congrats on the new great grandbaby. I thought them earlier, but see I didn't type them in! Sorry for the delay.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim, I can't believe how many books you read. To me that's incredible. You must be a very fast reader. I'm such a slow-poke.

[Werner]

Actually, Jim, I wrote that review a while back; I just posted it (and a few other Hamilton reviews) to the Book Review Exchange recently, and that's probably where you saw it. Thanks for re-introducing me to the author! I'll be interested in your upcoming reviews.

[Jim]

Joy H. wrote: "Jim, I can't believe how many books you read. To me that's incredible. You must be a very fast reader. I'm such a slow-poke."

It's audio books, Joy. I think 3/4 of the books I 'read' this year were in that format. They leave me free to do all kinds of cool things & still read.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Oh, I see, Jim. Yes, audio books are handy that way.

[Nina]

I haven't ever kept track of how many books I've read this year. Joy, you suggested I put it on my goodreads list. I'll try to do this sometime soon.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina, there's just too much to do this time of year!

[Jackie]

I finished Magyk, why it took so long I have no idea, a 5th grader could have read it in 2 days. I'm started the long awaited Outlander, a friend got it for me for Xmas, she's been trying to get me to read it for a couple years now. So we'll buddy read it together. I saw the TV series and it's excellent and I expect the book to even better.

[Nina]

Is that the one set in Scotland?