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Sophie's Multiple Choice Reading Plan
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Looks your map is available via permission only, Sophie. I couldn't check it out. BTW, did I ever tell you that I love the word play on the title of your challenge? ;)
Thanks Emm, I didn't think about removing the "private" option. Is this link working better?The word play was at first totally unintentional, as I truly couldn't make my mind, but then it hit me ;)
Yep! It works! I can see it now and it's very nice.
I really need to read more book set in South America, it's terrifyingly empty!
I just finished The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing, it's the 5th book with red on the cover, and I'm not even doing it on purpose!
I just finished Brave New World, I really liked the world, the story and the philosophical tone to it, but I didn't like the character of John at all, so I gave it 4 stars.
I'm watching The Hobbit Bonus DVD, they're talking about the history of the elves and I'm taken by an urge to re-read The Silmarillion after 15 years... I'm going to add it as an option for the book with a title beginning with the 1st letter of my name, along with Sabriel.
The Fold is awesome! I highly recommend it.
Great, I'm just waiting for a good deal on Amazon to read it!
Glad you liked RPO, Sophie! It was my book crush in 2015. ;)
Sophie wrote: "I just finished Brave New World, I really liked the world, the story and the philosophical tone to it, but I didn't like the character of John at all, so I gave it 4 stars."I'm still planning on reading this one, so that's good to hear!!
You definitely should Marina, it's a classic, and a good one!
I added:Hollow World, thanks Zaz
Wayward (Pines #2), because my boyfriend is reading them and I want to talk about it with him
Attachments our February book of the month
The list is just starting to get longer O_o
Yey! The spamming girl in me is very happy. Anyway, you won't be disappointed, it's perfect :p (I think I'll re-read it this year).
January Wrap-up
ATY
Harrison Bergeron (51): really short story, liked it, 4 stars
The Cuckoo's Calling (29): liked it, but would have loved to follow the detective reasoning, 4 stars.
Ready Player One (48): loved loved loved this one, 5 stars (the audiobook is fantastic!)
The Dragon Keeper (29): loved to go back to Hobb's world, but not much happened, 3 stars
Coraline (40): really liked it, 4 stars
The Gospel of Loki (38): loved it, 5 stars
Popsugar
A Feast for Crows (18): a bit boring, plus I didn't like the audiobook's narrator, 3 stars
Side-reads
Rogues: 3 short stories
The Penguin History of New Zealand: 5 chapters
That's a total of 1374 pages and 53 hours of audiobook. I didn't think I would do that well this month, let's hope it's going to continue like that!
February Wrap-up
ATY
Attachments (26): February BOTM, I liked it, 4 stars.
Hollow World (13): Amazing sci-fi, loved it, 5 stars (thanks Zaz for the rec!).
The Angel's Game (7): Very good follow-up to The Shadow of the Wind, but at moment a bit confused, 4 stars.
Of Mice and Men (8): A bit disappointing, 3 stars.
American Gods (42): I loved Gaiman's writing as always, but it was very long and some bits weren't necessary IMO, 4 stars.
The Fold (3): Very good book, but the end was a bit crazier than what was called for, 4 stars.
The Way of Kings (6): not finished yet, as the audiobook is 46 hours long and I've been listening to it for a month now, but it is amazing and totally deserves its high rating!
Popsugar: nothing read this month.
Side-reads
Rogues: 1 short story (I'm not always able to read one short story between books, I'm often to eager to start the next one).
The Penguin History of New Zealand: 3 chapters.
Total : 2354 pages read (1000 more than last month!) and 40 hours of audiobook.
The Penguin History of New Zealand sounds really good to me! I've added it to my TBR list. I have wanted to go to NZ for a long time. I like your idea of reading a few chapters every month before you go!
It is an interesting book, I'm already learning so much about this country, it's definitely a plus when visiting a new place to know how it was built.
March wrap-up
ATY
This month, I listened to a lot of audiobooks:
The Way of Kings: finally finished it in the beginning of the month. I loved it, 5 stars. I'm just a bit worried about the number of books planned for this series...
You're Never Weird on the Internet: loved it too, especially because it's read by Felicia herself, I love the way she talks and she puts humour into her story, 5 stars.
Frankenstein: I was so surprised by the beauty of this book, especially the writing. 4 stars.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane: this one totally reinforced my Gaiman fangirling haha, especially since it's read by the author himself (his voice is so soothing). 5 stars.
1984: terrifying, but great. 4 stars.
On ebook, I read The Time Traveler's Wife, which took me sooo long to finish, because the second part didn't leave up to the expectations of the first part at all. 3 stars.
Uprooted: loved loved loved this book! 5 stars.
Popsugar: nothing read this month.
Side-reads
2 chapters of The Penguin History of New Zealand (I really need to continue Rogues!)
That's a total of 935 pages read and 38 hours listened to.
April wrap-up
Doing this wrap-up helped me write reviews for those books, which was one of my goals for 2016, I'm happy!
ATY
The Man in the High Castle: I liked the premise and the writing, but not the end. 3.5 stars.
The Husband's Secret: loved it, 5 stars.
A Criminal Magic: loved it also, 5 stars.
Popsugar
The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly: absolutely loved it, 5 stars.
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing: I gave it 4 stars, because it contains some interesting quotes and concepts.
Side-read
Diary of an AssCan: A Mark Watney Short Story: a funny very-short-story, 5 stars.
Rogues: it was a prolific month to move through this collection with 5 short stories read. The ones I'm most excited about are at the end (George Martin and Patrick Rothfuss), I can't wait!
On the whole I read 5 books, 6 short story and half of Dexter Is Delicious, that's a total of 1772 pages, almost twice as last month :)
I started listening to a lot of podcasts, so I fell out of the habit of listening to audiobook, but I need to start again!
Yay, the chook book! I know I commented when you read it, but I'm so glad you loved it. <3
May wrap-up
I made good progress this month with great books, I'm happy!
ATY
Dexter Is Delicious: it's always nice to read Dexter's voice again, I love how the stories are completely different from the tv show. 4 stars.
Wayward & The Last Town: I binge-read the end of this great series and the ending is good. 5 stars for both.
Winter of the World: this audiobook's narrator is amazing at doing accents, which makes the story telling so vivid! The story is really interesting and focuses on less famous events or topics of this extensively written on subject that is WWII. 5 stars.
The Silmarillion: I'm planning to listen to the Lord of the Rings this year, so I wanted to re-read The Silmarillion to see if I pick up some elements in LotR books. The stories are interesting but the writing is awful. 3 stars.
Popsugar
I re-read To Kill a Mockingbird and while I really enjoyed it, it didn't leave me the incredible feeling I had when I read it as a teen. It's still a good book though and I'm really curious to read Go Set a Watchman now (I chose them both for the "book & its prequel" prompt). 4 stars.
Side-read
I'm almost finished with Rogues, with 4 short stories read this month.
That's a total of 1722 pages read and 26 hours listened to.
If I was only planning on reading one book for each category of our challenge, I would have reached half of it (I read 26 books yet), but I planned more than one for some categories, so I have to wait a bit to say that ;)
June Wrap-up
ATY
Animal Farm: I really liked this story, a bit terrifying, but not as much as 1984. I like these quite short books that really pack a punch (wasn't it a suggestion last year? It would fit great in it). 5 stars.
The Rose of Fire: I would have loved more actual explanation about the Cemetery, but it was still good (especially the end). 4 stars.
Blood Promise: this series also packs a punch and the fourth one totally hooked me when I was on holiday. I love my little annual guilty pleasure ;) 5 stars
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: another very good classic. 4 stars.
The Blind Assassin: not what I expected and sometimes a bit long-winded, but still good. 4 stars.
Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances: I'm technically not finished with this one (1,5 hours to go), but since I read 130 pages and listened to 5 hours of it, it might a least count ;) I really like those stories and they're even better read by Gaiman (his voice is so soothing, it helps me get my mind off work after a hard day).
Popsugar
Great Expectations: reading it I continually thought "this is exactly what I don't like in classics". 2 stars
Side-reads
I finally finished Rogues, overall it was a great short-stories collection even if some were better than others. I think if you go here you may see a short review of every story (hopefully the link works).
That's a total of 1452 pages, a little less than last month, because I was quite slowed down by The Blind Assassin. On the other side I listened to more than 30 hours of audiobook.
July wrap-up
Without me expecting it, July has been my most prolific reading month yet, with 9 books read for ATY and a few side-reads, yay!
ATY
Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances: at the beginning of the month, I finished this amazing short stories collection. 5 stars.
Ajax Penumbra 1969: a little spring back into the world of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, very nice short story. 5 stars.
The Girl with All the Gifts: loved loved loved this book, definitely 5 stars!
I Work at a Public Library: A Collection of Crazy Stories from the Stacks: the stories didn't make me laugh that much and I found them quite average. 3 stars.
Cat's Cradle: a miss for me, but I still gave it 3 stars because... I don't know exactly why anymore haha
Phantom: again another nice story, but sooooo long (I want to go through Mr Goodkind's books with a hatchet). 3 stars.
Lock In: a very nice crime story in an interesting universe. I also read Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome, the short-story prequel and I recommend starting with this one to better comprehend the world Lock In is in (not that it's a difficult world, but to explain how it came to be). 5 stars for both (I was generous with my stars in July).
Les Trois Mousquetaires: I really liked this classic full of fun and silly stories, the characters where very fun, even though I would have loved them even more with another audiobook (the narrator wasn't very lively, and it's an understatement). 4 stars.
Night Watch: I finished this one an hour ago, but I still count it for July, because if not for a weekend in Amsterdam from which I just came back, I would have finished it sooner. The world and the story where quite good ideas, but the translation was horrendous and the story when all over the place. 3 stars (almost made it to 2 stars).
Side-reads
Brimstone and Marmalade: a nice little short story, 4 stars.
Saga, Volume 1 & Saga, Volume 2: After a crazy few months at work I'm finally able to chill out and I do. Reading comic books on my computer ;) But ssshhh I try to be discrete! 5 stars.
That's a total of 2039 pages and 36 hours of listening to audiobooks.
Wow Sophie, you're doing great! I thought I would get some more reading done here in the summer, but it didn't really happen. But you are on a roll!
Reading on my terrasse is my favorite thing to do during the week-ends and my boyfriend has been really understanding! hahaBut you've got quite a lot on your plate, when are you getting married? (congrats by the way)
Me, I'm already married :-) Been for 1,5 year now. Wow, time flies! But we bought a house and moved in in February so we have a lot of projects on the go. And we were "babysitting" for my sister for 12 days and had their dog here while they were out travelling. There's just not enough time! And well we had some personale stuff going on, which meant I didn't really feel like reading in the start of this month. I'm planning on catching up in 2017 :-DI have spent some hours out in our garden with a book. It's one of my favorite things to do in the summer! Boyfriends and husbands just need to accept that. Your boyfriend doesn't read as much as you?
Sorry Marina I mixed you and Laura up! That's what happens when you're tired and don't check hahaI totally understand how life can come in the way of reading (pff, silly life haha)! My boyfriend likes to read but I don't know why he never picks a book up during the day, he only reads before going to bed. I'm trying to motivate him to read more instead of watching silly videos on youtube, but it doesn't seem to work...
Is your husband a reader?
Zaz, I finally decided on my French childhood classic, I'm going to re-read Les Fables de la Fontaine. I had this massive illustrated book when I was a kid, so big I could hide behind it while reading, so it brings back nice memories. Plus, I want to see if I still remember Le Corbeau et le Renard, did you also have to learn it at school?
Ah nice choice, I own a small illustrated edition (by Frédéric Pillot). I read some of the fables for school but not too much, and the only one I remember I needed to learn was Le Héron. Le Corbeau et le Renard is of course very familiar, like La Cigale et la Fourmi :)
August wrap-up
This is the month I most read (probably in my life), thanks in part to the read-a-thon! I only have 6 categories left for my ATY challenge, with 2 well on the go. My goal is to finish ATY at the end of September, next catch up on a lot of series and try to finish Popsugar (although the prompts interest me less).
ATY
A Brief History of Time: very efficient teaching about science. 4 stars.
Doctor Who: 12 Doctors, 12 Stories: loved these stories that perfectly captured the specificities of each Doctor. The quality of the recording was not the same throughout the collection though, this is was happens when authors read their work instead of professional narrators. 5 stars.
Wonder: loved this little story, I can join everyone saying that everybody should read it! 5 stars.
Ender's Game: good book, but I was expecting more space opera instead of school-fighting. 4 stars.
Dead and Gone: always happy to meet Sookie again. The audiobook was amazing, I felt like Anna Paquin was reading the story to me. 4 stars.
In Cold Blood: the writing is amazing but I wasn't entranced by the story, and the end dragged too much. Still gave it 4 stars because it invented the true crime genre!
The Forgotten Garden: love love this story! Even if it drags a bit sometimes, it is beautiful and the audiobook was great. 5 stars.
The Silver Linings Playbook: cute story, great for people wanting to read about mental illness but not from a depressing book. 4 stars.
Face Paint: The Story of Makeup: very interesting history of makeup. I would have liked more pictures though. 4 stars.
Fables: not as fun as I remembered from my childhood and sometimes even incomprehensible! 2 stars.
Big Fish: cute, but I prefer the movie, as it does a better job capturing the magic in this story. 4 stars.
Currently reading
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale: listened to 7,40 hours.
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang: read 102 pages.
Popsugar
We Were Liars: meh... Not that interesting nor thrilling. 3 stars.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea: apart from the long bits about fish classification, a very good classic! Read in French of course... 4 stars.
Side-reads
Saga, Volume 3: I really like this graphic novel series and have to refrain myself of reading them all in a row. 5 stars.
That's a total of 2269 pages and 50 hours of audiobook.
September wrap-up
I finished the ATY challenge!!! So so happy, I never thought I would be able to finish it in 3/4 of the time, while reading multiple other books for Popsugar, side reads and doubling some ATY categories :D
ATY
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang: the story was good, but told in a weird unflattering way. Still deserved 4 stars.
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale: I really wanted to like it, but it was just too much for me. Plus, I made the mistake of listening to the audiobook, with allowed me to tune out far too often! I even felt guilty marking it as read ;) 2 stars.
Battle Royale: Great book, similar concept as The Hunger Games, but totally different at the same time. I only gave it 4 stars because it was bloody long... Did the author have to kill so many students in different ways???
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe: Cute story, very accurate in depicting teenagers, but the parents where less realistic for me. 4 stars.
Slaughterhouse-Five: This one didn't do it for me, it's the second Vonnegut book I don't like, I don't think this author is for me. 2 stars.
The Pink Fairy Book: Not the best fairy tales collection IMO. 2 stars.
Popsugar
Sandstorm: Love this adventure-packed book, I recommend it to any Clive Cussler fan! 5 stars.
Side-reads
Havana Storm: Speaking of Clive Cussler... I liked this adventure, but it wasn't as thrilling as what I'm used to in his books. 4 stars.
That's a total of 1739 pages and 43 hours of audiobook, less than last month, but I still made great progress.
Congrats Sophie! I agree with your Vonnegut comment. He's not for me either. I liked Aristotle and Dante also but related to the parents much more than the boys.
Congrats, Sophie... Well done! Maybe you could finish the rest of my challenge :-D
Pam wrote: "Congrats Sophie! I agree with your Vonnegut comment. He's not for me either. I liked Aristotle and Dante also but related to the parents much more than the boys."About Aristotle and Dante, didn't you find weird (view spoiler).
Katie wrote: "I really like your monthly wrap-up idea. Think I'll have to steal that for next year! :)"
Glad to be able to inspire you! :)
Sophie wrote: "Pam wrote: "Congrats Sophie! I agree with your Vonnegut comment. He's not for me either. I liked Aristotle and Dante also but related to the parents much more than the boys."About Aristotle and D..."
I don't remember the specifics, since I read the book last year, but sometimes parents are more observant of things than kids realize. I don't know if the dialogue was realistic but the emotional pain is real for parents, seeing your children suffer.
Congrats :)Which books in the challenge were your favorite?
Zaz, I was looking at my ATY shelf sorted by stars and just thought "Wow I read so many amazing stories this year!". I can't just pick a few, so here are the "wow" books (in no particular order) ;)
(I told you there were a lot ;) ).
Hey, no problem in loving plenty of books, it's nice to have a great year of reading :)
Wow! You've read an impressive list of books! Vonnegut is not for me either. I've tried more than one of his books because people keep telling me how great he is.
I love your map. I might try one of my own next year.
You need to read some Canadian arctic books too! ;)
I love your map too, it's really great.
Haha I completely forgot about my map and haven't updated it for months! Thanks for reminding me of it!MJ, do you have som Canadian arctic books to recommend? I love stories set in cold places, so I can snuggle in my blanket ;)
If you like reading about misery and horrible deaths, I do!North To The Night is one of my faves, and it doesn't have any death in it! (Just misery)
The Ice Master and Ada Blackjack, are both by Jennifer Niven. They are related only in that the carnage of the first is mentioned in the second, but you don't have to read about Karluk (the first one) to understand Ada Blackjack's story. I love all three, but I am an arctic nut.
The first is the only one that takes place in Canada, the other two are closer to Siberia and Alaska.
The last two could fit for 49: a book from (my) someone else's bookshelf, 43: a chilling atmosphere, 28: non-fiction, Ada Blackjack is 14: a strong female character (an understatement) or 26: an adventure (although most of the people in Niven's books went out of necessity).... if you're wondering how you could fit them in. :)
Thank you very much for you recommendations MJ! I already have quite a few non fiction planned for next year, so maybe I won't tackle them, but I'm definitely keeping them in mind :)
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
A Monster Calls (other topics)Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances (other topics)
Hollow World (other topics)
Animal Farm (other topics)
The Girl with All the Gifts (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Clive Cussler (other topics)Alison Weir (other topics)
Charles Dickens (other topics)
I'm starting Brave New World now!