2016 Group Bookshelf Reading Calendar/Planning

[Sarah]

Okay guys, we've opened up voting for 2017! Yay! Here the link to the thread that explains everything.

www.goodreads.com/topic/show/18341797...

[Richard]

Sarah Anne,

I like the way arranged and set up the polling for us on the side reads. Here's a question, can we change things for our own choices in case we have already read a selection for a month. I have a solid track on all of the books I have read on the shelf, and I really would rather read new material than re-read old. Let me know how you think I should approach this?\

Also, is there a way to take the ballot and make a physical, electronic copy for our use out of the confines of the group. I want to be able to see and color code books I have read and books I plan to read as well as books I have started but not finished. Is that possible?

Finally, I am also committing myself to read a series a year for as long as I can. This year, 2017, I am going to be reading all of The Dark Tower series by Stephen King, FYI.

Richard Bueo
Temple, TX USA

[Sarah]

Richard wrote: "Sarah Anne,

I like the way arranged and set up the polling for us on the side reads. Here's a question, can we change things for our own choices in case we have already read a selection for a mont..."

Sorry I didn't answer you Richard. I definitely don't read the books chosen if I've already read them and you're always welcome to pick things up on the side. There are plenty on the shelf that never seem to get in that I read on my own here and there. We're free to pick whatever we choose. As long as it comes off the shelf it counts towards the challenge.

[Sarah]

Richard wrote: "Sarah Anne,

I like the way arranged and set up the polling for us on the side reads. Here's a question, can we change things for our own choices in case we have already read a selection for a mont..."

Not that I'm aware of. This is the list I typed up of all of the books on the bookshelf. Maybe you could copy and paste into a program and print that?

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami 925p
Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman 278p
Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn 305p
Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher 630p
Against the Tide of Years by S.M. Stirling 454p
Algebraist by Iain M. Banks 434p
Alif the Unseen by Willow G. Wilson 433p
Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip 291p
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan 526p
American Gods by Neil Gaiman 480p
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman 384p
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie 386p
Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie 356p
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer 195p
Anubis Gates by Tim Powers 387p
Armada by Ernest Cline 349p
Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb 480p
Black Company by Glen Cook 319p
Black Prism by Brent Weeks 629p
Blackout by Connie Willis 610p
Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie 517p
Blood Song by Anthony Ryan 591p
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest 416p
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley 268p
Briar King by Greg Keyes 553p
Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes 464p
Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey 595p
Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr 335p
Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach 297p
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut 179p
Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov 206p
Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones 252p
Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke 224p
City & the City by China Mieville 312p
City of Bones by Martha Wells 488p
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett 452p
Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin 761p
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell 509p
Cold Magic by Kate Elliott 528p
Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett 228p
Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm 500-900p
Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks 471p
Crown Conspiracy by Michael J. Sullivan 296p
Dawn by Octavia E. Butler 248p
Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham 228p
Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente 352p
Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson 499p
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams 306p
Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin 387p
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick 256p
Doctor Who The Coming of the Terraphiles by Michael Moorcock 343p
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis 578p
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow 208p
Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham 555p
Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey 299p
Dune by Frank Herbert 604p
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson 638p
Embassytown by China Mieville 345p
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card 324p
Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman 531p
Eye of the World by Robert Jordan 814p
Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde 374p
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 238p
Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien 398p
Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin 468p
Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson 541p
Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge 613p
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes 311p
Forever War by Joe Haldeman 278p
Foundation by Isaac Asimov 256p
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 273p
Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher 503p
Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi 303p
Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin 835p
Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson 666p
Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey 460p
Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison 446p
Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker 486p
Good Omens by Gaiman/Pratchett 430p
Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman 312p
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett 376p
Gun, with Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem 271p
Gunslinger by Stephen King 231p
Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood 311p
Haze by L.E. Modesitt Jr 352p
His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik 353p
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 216p
Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien 366p
Homeland by R.A. Salvatore 343p
Hounded by Kevin Hearne 292p
Hyperion by Dan Simmons 483p
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson 160p
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov 225p
In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente 483p
Infernal Devices by K.W. Jeter 384p
Island in the Sea of Time by S.M. Stirling 608p
Island of Dr Moreau by H.G. Wells 160p
John Dies at the End by David Wong 469p
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke 1006p
Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin 418p
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler 264p
Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey 1015p
Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle 294p
Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski 384p
Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin 176p
Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin 304p
Legend by David Gemmell 345p
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld 440p
Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey 561p
Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins 388p
Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch 722p
Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay 528p
Little, Big by John Crowley 538p
Long Earth by Terry Pratchett 336p
Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet 512p
Machine Man by Max Barry 185p
Magic of Recluce by L.E. Modesitt Jr 501p
Magician (Riftwar Saga) by Raymon E. Feist 681p
Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick 259p
Martian by Andy Weir 369p
Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury 182p
Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov 407p
Midnight Riot/Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch 310p
Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein 382p
Mort by Terry Pratchett 243p
Mote in God's Eye by Niven and Pournelle 596p
Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss 662p
Native Star by M.K. Hobson 387p
Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan 334p
Neuromancer by William Gibson 271p
Neverending Story by Michael Ende 396p
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman 370p
Nexus by Ramez Naam 460p
Night in Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny 280p
Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko 455p
Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny 175p
Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman 178p
Old Man's War by John Scalzi 362p
On the Ocean's of Eternity by S.M. Stirling 630p
Opening Atlantis by Harry Turtledove 440p
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood 400p
Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton 988
Passage by Justin Cronin 766p
Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings 304p
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville 623p
Player of Games by Iain M. Banks 320p
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence 384p
Princess Bride by William Goldman 398p
Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan 545p
Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi 239p
Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi 336p
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 374p
Red Country by Joe Abercrombie 469p
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson 572p
Red Rising by Pierce Brown 382p
Redshirts by John Scalzi 320p
Regarding Ducks and Universes by Neve Maslakovic 344p
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke 252p
Road by Cormac McCarthy 241p
Rook by Daniel O'Malley 486p
Sandman, Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman 240p
Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick 219p
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson 881p
Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe 262p
Shadow's Son by Jon Sprunk 278p
Sheep Look Up by John Brunner 388p
Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb 880p
Silent Tower by Barbara Hambly 369p
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut 215p
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson 470p
Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge 448p
Soulless by Gail Carriger 365p
Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell 431p
Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon 369p
Sphere by Michael Crichton 371p
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson 458p
Stand by Stephen King 1153p
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein 335p
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 336p
Storm Front by Jim Butcher 355p
Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder 510p
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein 528p
Suicide Collectors by David Oppegaard 304p
Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay 383p
Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe 256p
Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber 224p
Terror by Dan Simmons 769p
Those Who Hunt the Night by Barbara Hambly 350p
Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone 336p
Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin 400p
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay 771p
Time Machine by H.G. Wells 118p
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis 493p
Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin 180p
Ubik by Philip K. Dick 288p
Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay 573p
Uprooted by Naomi Novik 438p
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull 336p
War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells 192p
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson 688p
Warded Man by Peter V. Brett 416p
Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold 372p
Watchmen by Alan Moore 416p
Watership Down by Richard Adams 478p
Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks 645p
Weaveworld by Clive Barker 721p
Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson 590p
When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger 288p
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm 251p
White Cat by Holly Black 310p
Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler 320p
Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi 359p
Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss 994p
Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin 183p
Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind 836p
Wool by Hugh Howey 509p
Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin 160p
World War Z by Max Brooks 342p
Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon 414p
Zodiac by Neal Stephenson 308p
Zoo City by Lauren Beukes 416p

[Michael]

Wow, thanks for the printable list!

I just picked up Embassytown for December, looking forward to it. I was surprised the paperback is under 400 pages, since I remember seeing a lot of high page counts in Mieville's dossier. Will make my December a little easier to manage tho...

[Sarah]

Embassytown is brilliant! I actually used the audio and read along and it was like an immersive experience! The aliens speak with two voices. In the book they showed it over a dividing line and in the audio they did one voice in each ear. That book is totally fantastic. You will love it.

The list is one that I typed up so that when it came time to create the google doc I could just copy and paste. It seemed more efficient in the long run. I think Edwin thought I was crazy, though. :)

[AndrewP]

Thanks for that list Sarah. I made myself a group checklist in Evernote to keep track of all my reads. Looks like I have read 78 of those so far.

[Sarah]

Great job :)

[Amanda]

Thanks Sarah! I made a document and went through to mark what I've read. Thanks to my new love of audiobooks I've made it up to 52 read so far!

[Sarah]

It looks like there might be some interest in starting discussions a bit early so here are December's threads (even thought I've yet to comment on November...)

"The Lions of Al-Rassan" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"The Lions of Al-Rassan" The Ending *Spoilers*

"Embassytown" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"Embassytown" Final Thoughts *Spoilers*

[Katy]

Thank you Sarah Anne!

[Sarah]

No problem :)

[Jen]

Sarah Anne wrote: "Embassytown is brilliant! I actually used the audio and read along and it was like an immersive experience!"

Sarah Anne, thank you for mentioning this... I am going to do the same thing, just started Embassytown today. I found this helpful for The Grace of Kings to learn how to pronounce names and places. I call it the "Sarah Anne Method" :)

[Sarah]

Oh, I'm glad you're going to try it! It makes that book so amazing. The way that the alien voices are done in each format is interesting but the audio made them eerie. And it's interesting to see how he did that and the ambassadors' names in the book. It's so fascinating!

[Sarah]

We're going to be starting next year's planing in mid Nov. I'd like some feedback from you guys in what worked and what didn't.

From my perspective there's been very little participation but the method of voting was much easier to track. Opinions? Suggestions? Love, kisses, and moral support?

[Christopher]

One thought is that two side reads a month might be too many? I always want to do the side reads, but prioritize the monthly reads and often don't get around to the side reads let alone both of them. If the membership that is doing the side reads is small to begin with and they only get to 1 that cuts the size down further if they don't all pick the same one. Anyway just a thought I know the group has a wide range of how much reading time people get per month.

[Chris]

I suggest doing a poll again, but make it non-binding. Then in the scheduling thread, anyone can say, "I want to read X within the next couple of months. Anyone want to join me?" The poll will give us an idea of what's popular, but the conversation in the thread will be a better indicator of who is visiting GR, reading a lot, and posting.

[Maggie]

there were about 6 books I WANTED to read, but they ended up mostly being in months I couldnt get to them, so the problem as I saw it was the scheduling. I dont know anything that would neccesarily solve that, but maybe chris's idea is worth thinking about.

[Valerie]

I like having it scheduled so that I can plan ahead. However, there weren't that many books selected this year that I had not already read.

Having said all of that, my participation this year was much lower due to some major life changes. I hope to be back in the mix in 2018.