Jayanth's Mission Impossible 2017

[Sankara Jayanth]

I plan to read a minimum of 52, 70 100 books this year..... Or that's the plan, anyway.


Books read: 20


Currently reading:
1. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
2.


Current Slow Reads:
1. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Temporaryily abandoned:
1. Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
2. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
3. The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True by Richard Dawkins
4. The Best of Roald Dahl by Roald Dahl

Current Audiobooks:
1.


Recently read:
1. The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket {Rating: 4/5}
2. The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy {Rating: 4/5}
3. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (re-read) {Rating: 4/5}
4. The Martian by Andy Weir (re-read) {Rating: 5/5}
5. The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket {Rating: 4/5}
6. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy {Rating: 5/5}
7. Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb {Rating: 4/5}
8. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
9. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
10. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
11. The Awful German Language / Die schreckliche deutsche Sprache by Mark Twain
12. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
13. The Double-Barrelled Detective by Mark Twain
14. In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka
15. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
16. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
17. The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
18. White Fang by Jack London
19. His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
20. The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket

To-Read Based On Genres
a. Fiction/Fantasy/Magical Realism
1. The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom
2. The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
3. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
4. Kafka on the Shore by by Haruki Murakami
5. The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
6. Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
7. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (3 books)
8. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett

b. Crime/Mystery
1. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
2. Journey Under the Midnight Sun by Keigo Higashino
3. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
4. Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
5. Still Life by Louise Penny (8 books)
6. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by McCall Smith, Alexander
7. Death on the Nile by by Agatha Christie

c. Historical Fiction
1. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
2. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

d. Sci-Fi
1. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
2. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
3. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
4. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin
5. The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs (DNF)

e. Biographies/Autobiographies
1. I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
2. Playing It My Way: My Autobiography by Sachin Tendulkar
3. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

f. Science/World Issues/Philosophy/Psychology
1. The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True by Richard Dawkins
2. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
3. Cosmos by Carl Sagan
4. Chaos by James Gleick

g. Non-fiction
1. Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
2. Man's Search For Meaning: The classic tribute to hope from the Holocaust by Viktor E. Frankl
3. Night by Elie Wiesel
4. The Awful German Language / Die schreckliche deutsche Sprache by Mark Twain

h. Horror
1. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King (The Shining #2)

i. Short stories and collections
1. The Best of Roald Dahl by Roald Dahl
2. Diary of an AssCan: A Mark Watney Short Story by Andy Weir

j. Re-reads
1. The Martian by Andy Weir
2. Harry Potter Set: Signature Edition by J.K. Rowling (7 books)
3. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
5. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

k. Series of books
1. A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (13 books - 6 completed)
a. The Ersatz Elevator - book #6
b. The Vile Village - book #7
c. The Hostile Hospital - book #8
d. The Carnivorous Carnival - book #9
e. The Slippery Slope - book #10
f. The Grim Grotto - book #11
g. The Penultimate Peril - book #12
h. The End - book #13

2. Lord of the Rings Trilogy (3 books)

3. Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb
a. Assassin's Apprentice
b. Royal Assassin
c. Assassin's Quest

4. Temeraire
a. His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

i. Bill Gates' recommendations from gatesnotes.com
1. The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
2. The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert


Catching Up On Classics
I'm a sucker for classics, so I'm planning as many classics as I can in 2017.

1. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas - [Published 1844]
2. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe - [Published 1719]
3. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - [Published 1890]
4. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez - [Published 1967]
5. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
6. The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy
7. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Books based on themes
1. A classic book with less than 200 pages
The Stranger by Albert Camus

2. A book with one of the five W’s -or H in the title (Who/What/Where/When/Why/How)
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling

3. A fairytale from a culture other than your own
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss

4. A book about mental illness
5. A book about an anti hero
6. A book you're embarrassed to read in public
7. A book with a great opening line
8. A book that was mentioned in another book
The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K. Dick


I'm still compiling the rest of the list. And I will be reading the books that this group picks up each month. Also, I'm looking for any recommendations, of books you recently and are itching to tell someone to read because you loved it. ;)

[Em Lost In Books, EmLo is my Name, PIFM is my Game]

good luck Jayanth!

have read Shadow of the Wind and its simply amazing. hope you have a great time reading it. :D

[Sankara Jayanth]

Manju wrote: "good luck Jayanth!

have read Shadow of the Wind and its simply amazing. hope you have a great time reading it. :D"

Thank you! I'm actually very excited about this particular book because of the synopsis I read on the back of the cover. :)


Hey, sine you are a mod here, I have a doubt. What's the difference between the group read pick and the corresponding threads, and the life-time buddy read threads? :D I'm new to goodreads' discussions, so it's a bit confusing for me.

[Em Lost In Books, EmLo is my Name, PIFM is my Game]

group reads are what IR readers select as the monthly read. one of the mod first put a thread for nominations where IR members nominate books and by 10th each month a poll is put up based on those nominations. Winner is read the next month.

corresponding threads are where two or more people pick one book to read together, they are termed as Buddy Reads and threads for those are mostly created in Cozy corner folder.

Life-time are where two or more people keep reading books and updating the thread by making a log mostly in first comment itself.

Hope this helps!

[Sankara Jayanth]

Manju wrote: "group reads are what IR readers select as the monthly read. one of the mod first put a thread for nominations where IR members nominate books and by 10th each month a poll is put up based on those ..."

Yes, now I understand it a lot better, thank you!! :) Once the year starts, I will get used to how this all works :D

[Em Lost In Books, EmLo is my Name, PIFM is my Game]

great! and you can join any of those BR if any of the book catches your fancy. :)

[Ahtims]

good luck, Jayant :)

[Sankara Jayanth]

Em wrote: "good luck, Jayant :)"

Thank you! :) And good luck to you too!

[Sankara Jayanth]

Manju wrote: "great! and you can join any of those BR if any of the book catches your fancy. :)"

Great! Will most definitely read along with others :)

[Ahtims]

thank you :)

We usually send a notification when group read starts.
For BR, I usually see which of my friends have marked the book I read as toberead. ..and then message them asking whether they are interested in joining in. if they are then we create a thread in cozy reads folder.
I also check what others are reading and then join in if possible.

[dely]

Jayanth wrote: "5. A book about an anti hero"

Go with A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov. I didn't like it that much but in this book you will have an excellent anti hero.


Good luck!

[Sankara Jayanth]

Em wrote: "thank you :)

We usually send a notification when group read starts.
For BR, I usually see which of my friends have marked the book I read as toberead. ..and then message them asking whether they a..."

Oh. Okay. Will be looking forward to reading along with you :)

[Sankara Jayanth]

dely wrote: "Jayanth wrote: "5. A book about an anti hero"

Go with A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov. I didn't like it that much but in this book you will have an excellent a..."

Will definitely check it out and consider it for this category. Thanks for the recommendation :)

[Rebecca]

Curi about which book you will be reading with a great first line.

[Sankara Jayanth]

Rebecca wrote: "Curi about which book you will be reading with a great first line."

Hahaha! I don't know yet. I have to read quite a few books' first sentences to decide which one impresses me the most. Do you have any suggestions? :)

[Rebecca]

Yes. The Martian.. Don't kill me after reading the first line.

[Sankara Jayanth]

Rebecca wrote: "Yes. The Martian.. Don't kill me after reading the first line."

I read the book already :( It's one of the best first lines for sure! Hahhahaahaha! Amazing book! ;) :) Mark Watney is a brilliant character. I will probably re-read the book in 2017.

Any other suggestions?

[Sankara Jayanth]

Rebecca wrote: "Yes. The Martian.. Don't kill me after reading the first line."

I just saw that there a novella/short story, prequel for The Martian. It's called Diary of an AssCan: A Mark Watney Short Story, hahahahaha! Have you read this?

[Rebecca]

No . Am hearing about it for the first time. And all I can remember with great first lines are 2 classics The tale of two cities and Pride and Prejudice.

[Rebecca]

And do tell me when you read Kafka on the shore. it is on my 2017 list too.

[Sankara Jayanth]

Rebecca wrote: "And do tell me when you read Kafka on the shore. it is on my 2017 list too."

I will :)

[Sankara Jayanth]

Rebecca wrote: "No . Am hearing about it for the first time. And all I can remember with great first lines are 2 classics The tale of two cities and Pride and Prejudice."

Oh! I will check them, meanwhile, I read the first line of The Scarlet Pimpernel and loved it, I think I might consider it for this theme.

The line goes:
"A surging, seething, murmuring crowd of beings that are human only in name, for to the eye and ear they seem naught but savage creatures, animated by vile passions and by the lust of vengeance and of hate."

[Sankara Jayanth]

Log entry, January 1:

Started and completed reading The Scarlet Pimpernel. Loved the book. Rated and reviewed it on goodreads.

Reading details:
Ebook + Audiobook
Pages: 262
Rating: 5

Finished it at 3 A.M. on January 2, so a good start to the year. :D

[Em Lost In Books, EmLo is my Name, PIFM is my Game]

Wow!!

Nice first line. And if you find anything better you can always replace it.:)

[Sankara Jayanth]

Manju wrote: "Wow!!

Nice first line. And if you find anything better you can always replace it.:)"

Yes. Do you have any recommendations, any books which have stumped you with the very first line? :)

[Ahtims]

Jayanth wrote: "Log entry, January 1:

Started and completed reading The Scarlet Pimpernel. Loved the book. Rated and reviewed it on goodreads.

Reading details:
Ebook + Audiobook
Pages: 262
Rating: 5

Finished i..."

Thumbs Up :)

[Rebecca]

Jayanth wrote: "Log entry, January 1:

Started and completed reading The Scarlet Pimpernel. Loved the book. Rated and reviewed it on goodreads.

Reading details:
Ebook + Audiobook
Pages: 262
Rating: 5

Finished i..."

Good Going!

[Sankara Jayanth]

@Em and Rebecca: thank you guys! :) joining this group has given me extra motivation to read. Hope you guys are enjoying your reads as well. :)

[Sankara Jayanth]

Log entry, January 2:

Reading details:
1. Small great things by Jodi Picoult (unfinished)
Ebook
Pages: 124/467

2. The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket (finished)
Ebook
Pages: 123/123
Rating: 4

Total pages read: 247


I started with "Small Great Things" and really like the story and how it was panning out. But it was emotionally draining due to the theme of the book and how it is depicted. It's depressing even more to know that such form of intense hatred and racism is actually present even in the present day. So I put down the book after 124 pages as I felt exhausted mentally.

And took up book #6 of "The series of unfortunate events": The Ersatz Elevator. Even this book is all about dark and unfortunate incidents happening to 3 orphans, but it is a light read, humorously written. I was able to finish the book as it is very short. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series as this book has set the scene for widening of the plot which has remained limited, yet interesting until the end of 6 books.

[dely]

Good opening lines? Try Journey to the End of the Night.

Here's how it started. I'd never said a word. Not one word.

[Ahtims]

247 pages a day is quite good. I barely manage a 100 on working days!

[Sankara Jayanth]

Em wrote: "247 pages a day is quite good. I barely manage a 100 on working days!"

:D :0 I was on leave, at home, cozily on my bed all day. That's the secret to reading so many pages :P Hahahaah

[Srividya]

I loved your list of books, Jayanth. Have read quite a few of them and can say that you are definitely in for a treat. Happy reading and wish you a great 2017! :)

[Jaya]

Thats a great list!
Hope you have a goodtime with them. Happy reading!

[Sankara Jayanth]

Srividya wrote: "I loved your list of books, Jayanth. Have read quite a few of them and can say that you are definitely in for a treat. Happy reading and wish you a great 2017! :)"

Thanks a lot, Sri Vidya :) :) I'm glad to hear that you already read a lot of these books, I'm more pumped now :) I wish you a great year ahead too, may you read and collect as many wonderful books as possible...and recommend some of them :P :) ;)

[Sankara Jayanth]

Jaya wrote: "Thats a great list!
Hope you have a goodtime with them. Happy reading!"

Thank you, Jaya :) :) I hope I do have a good time with them. I wish you the same, hope you have a great year ahead with your reading :)

[Sankara Jayanth]

Log entry, January 3:

Reading details:
1. Small great things by Jodi Picoult (unfinished)
Ebook
Pages read: 124/467
Pages read today: -
Rating: TBD

2. The Martian by Andy Weir (re-reading)
Paperback + Audiobook
Pages read: 180/369
Pages read today: 180
Rating: 5

Total pages read: 180

Notes:
Started with reading and listening to The Martian at 00:00, as sleep continued to elude me.

I listened to the audiobook while on commute to work, while at work and while going back home. Mark watney is f###ed and it's fun to read his logs.

21:08 - I will probably stop reading 'The Martian' for the day and resume 'Small Great Things' and exhaust myself to sleep.

23:06: I stopped reading The Martian but haven't started on reading the other book yet. Sleep is not my friend, so I will probably start reading after a while. Browsing Goodreads seems to be becoming an addiction. Sigh!

[Ahtims]

Am going to steal your LOG ENTRY style.. though I may not be diligently counting pages.. :)

[Sankara Jayanth]

Em wrote: "Am going to steal your LOG ENTRY style.. though I may not be diligently counting pages.. :)"

Please do! :) Now that I read yours, I'm going to steal your template and also add more descriptions, not just statistics. :P :)

[Ahtims]

he he... welcome

[Sankara Jayanth]

Log entry, January 4:

Reading details:
1. The Martian by Andy Weir (re-reading)
Paperback + Audiobook
Pages read: 320/369
Pages read today: 140
Rating: 5

2. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (re-reading)
Ebook + Audiobook
Pages read: 80/267
Pages read today: 80
Rating: 5

Total pages read: 220

Notes:

00:57: I watched season 4 episode 1 of Sherlock, didn't feel like reading. Now I will listen to the The Martian and try to get some sleep.

01:35: Sleep eludes me. Oh well, I might as well go on an adventure along with The Hobbit, the wizard and the dwarves.

08:21: I slept off when thief Bilbo bagginsessss was able to escape Gollum. Will continue The Martian while on commute to work.

14:57: Work is boring and frustrating. My thoughts keep wandering to what Mark Watney must be doing on Mars right now and how the hobbit and dwarves are faring in their journey. It's still at least 3 hours before I run out of office. Sigh. But again, I am active on goodreads even at work. This surely is becoming an addiction. I don't know how to stop it.

00:00: Listening to The Martian. It's about to be over, but Watney is in for a f###ing scary ride.

[Aparna]

Great List Jayanth...Good luck..and hope you have a fantastic year with books....
Have read a few from your list....shadow of the wind , and scarlet pimpernel was amazing...
Currently reading 3 musketeers , its a fun read...

[Sankara Jayanth]

Aparna wrote: "Great List Jayanth...Good luck..and hope you have a fantastic year with books....
Have read a few from your list....shadow of the wind , and scarlet pimpernel was amazing...
Currently reading 3 mus..."

Thanks a lot, Aparna. :) I hope you have a wonderful year with book too. :)

I'm very excited about three Musketeers :)

[Sankara Jayanth]

Log entry, January 5:

Reading details:
1. The Martian by Andy Weir (finished)
Paperback + Audiobook
Pages read: 369/369
Pages read today: 49
Rating: 5

2. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (finished)
Ebook + Audiobook
Pages read: 267/267
Pages read today: 177
Rating: 5

3. The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy
Ebook + Audiobook
Pages read: 75/75
Pages read today: 75
Rating: 4

Total pages read: 301

Notes:

09:36: I stayed up late to finish The Martian. (reminder to self: link my review in main post). I plan to listen to The Hobbit audiobook while on commute to work. I plan to finish it today.

16:44: Finished reading/listening to The Hobbit. Posted the review on goodreads. I plan to start The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas when I get home. This classic will take quite some time to complete, I assume.

I've not touched 'Small Great Things' again after the first sitting on January 2. The emotional drain I expect from that book is making me avoid it, perhaps. Sigh!

23:53: Completed The Death of Ivan Ilych in a couple of hours and wrote a review. It was emotionally draining, this short story. A morbid walkthrough of the life of a man who struggles to accept his deteriorating health and the imminent arrival of death. Sigh!

[Sankara Jayanth]

Review of 'The Hobbit':

Started this year with a wonderful, jolly story about a hobbit who was afraid of adventure but was forcefully taken out on one. He is like us introverts who resist fun and go to extreme lengths to avoid it. But when we are forced our hands, we do quite enjoy it but never admit it out loud.

I remember this story well from my first read but not the characters or the finer details, so this re-read helped me enjoy those details again. I wrongly remembered that Gandalf will have a huge role to play in this book, surprised that he only makes 3-4 appearances.

Smaug is a bad-ass dragon. Well, at least in royal, majestic talk. His interactions with Bilbo Baggins were so fun to read, would have loved more of him in the book. :D Overall, this was a great adventure book and I thoroughly enjoyed Nicol Williamson's Audiobook version of The Hobbit. He does a wonderful job of enacting and modulating voices, I especially loved his takes on Gollum and Bilbo. Especially, the Gollum and Bilbo conversation, that whole scene was eerie and kinda spooky when listening to. I loved that, 5/5 for the audiobook.

[Ahtims]

Great log entries.
And a good start to the year :)

[Sankara Jayanth]

Em wrote: "Great log entries.
And a good start to the year :)"

Thanks a lot, Em! :) I'm lurking on your thread and log entries too :D How is the audiobook coming, have you had time to start listening to it yet? :)

[Ahtims]

Haven't yet started the audio. Waiting to finish off another audio before starting this one.
:)

[Madhu]

Audiobooks are actually very cool. I started with the Divergent and enjoying it so far. Happy reading!

P.S I plan to start reading "Great Small Things " too.

[Em Lost In Books, EmLo is my Name, PIFM is my Game]

Lovely log entries Jayant. And you already have finished four books! Nice going.:)