Pam's 2017 Reading Self Challenge

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Shame they haven't been the best books. Must update my thread

[Pam]

Now re-reading a C J Cherryh SF novel, Brothers of Earth.

Must've enjoyed it previously as I kept it, but I'm finding it very slow going and the main human character is a right wimp. And I don't find it very believable that an alien puts up with him to the extent that he loses everything - the bloke punched him in the face after all!

[Pam]

Bit disheartening - despite those two reviews just posted I'm apparently 9 books behind on my 2017 challenge :-(

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Wow, I'm shocked by that, how many have you read?

[Pam]

52 out of 150 Desley.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Wow!

[Pam]

Well, it's 53 now but I am 11 behind, can you believe it?

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

That doesn't seem right

[Pam]

Have been mega busy and haven't had time to post this review for Brothers of Earth, but here it is at last - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2013663949.

[Pam]

Also just finished Andre Norton's Merlin's Mirror and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2016867252

[Pam]

Well, 54 books read and now 12 behind my target!!

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Pam wrote: "Well, 54 books read and now 12 behind my target!!"

I can't remember the last time I read over 50 books in a whole year!

[Pam]

It's not very encouraging - it's saying I'm 13 behind schedule now!

[Pam]

Started reading a Rebecca Tope crime novel, then a list of series inside the front cover implied I should read another one first. However, it turns out to be about a different set of characters, confusingly. Because the two books are part of two different series, not a 'West Country' series as the publisher has it.

So now I'm reading Dark Undertakings, the first in the Drew Slocombe series, although I had previously started Death of a Friend, the second in the Den Cooper series (which I'd already read and enjoyed book 1 of some time ago.

[Pam]

Read Dark Undertakings by Rebecca Tope, and wrote a review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2028502124.

[Pam]

Read Death of a Friend by Rebecca Tope and posted a review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1946596005

[Pam]

Read Jayge Carr's first science fiction novel, Leviathan's Deep, and posted a review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2037051453.

[Pam]

Finished Jane Yolen's Merlin's Booke and reviewed it https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2040150360.

58 books but still 14 behind in my challenge - oh dear!

[Pam]

Just read a short prequel which is available free via a link on the Goodreads page to the Patrick Ness trilogy - The New World - and reviewed it: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2040237297.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

You'll have to read quicker :-)

[Pam]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "You'll have to read quicker :-)"

Ha ha!

Just finished volume 1 in the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness, The Knife of Never Letting Go and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1811505728.

[Pam]

About to start volume 2 in the Chaos Walking series, by Patrick Ness - The Ask and the Answer

[Pam]

Read The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness, and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1811505806 but as it is so grim, have decided to read something lighter before tackling volume 3.

[Pam]

Have started a re-read of, and am enjoying, book 5 in the Witch World series by Andre Norton, Sorceress of the Witch World

[Pam]

Read book 5 in the Witch World series by Andre Norton, Sorceress of the Witch World and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1716692837.

[Pam]

Now reading Susan Cooper's Over Sea, Under Stone, first in her The Dark is Rising sequence.

[Pam]

Finished the first in Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising sequence, Over Sea, Under Stone and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1366155267.

[Pam]

Now started a SF novel, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell.

[Pam]

Read the short story by Patrick Ness, The Wide, Wide Sea, which fits after book 2 of his Chaos Walking trilogy, and reviewed it https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2041750455.

The short stories (this is the second) that he does aren't critical to the series, but interestingly are told in a straightforward third person narrative and, in this case at least, have a little bit more optimism than the series itself which so far has been rather a downer.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Sorry to hear the series isn't great.

[Pam]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Sorry to hear the series isn't great."
Parts are implausible, but the main problem with volume 2 which was a lot better plot wise than book 1 is that it is unrelivedly grim.

Speaking of which I nearly gave up on Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow and found it implausible too - review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2049505312

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Oh dear, hope your books improve

[Pam]

And now for something completely different .... started reading Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks.

[Pam]

And finished Charlotte Grey last Monday - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2053681886.

[Pam]

Since Monday, have been reading The Little Friend by Donna Tartt and enjoying it.

[Pam]

Since Tuesday, have also been reading Lord of No Time, the late Louise Cooper's first novel.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Ooh, making lots of progress

[Pam]

Thanks Desley, but can you believe I'm still 14 books behind my target?

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

No, I really cant!

[Pam]

Finished The Little Friend by Donna Tartt which I really enjoyed, though it wasn't quite perfect enough for 5 stars - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2062140806.

[Pam]

Finished my re-read of Louise Cooper's Lord Of No Time and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1422905458.

[Pam]

Re-read of book 1 of Louise Cooper's Time Master series, The Initiate which I reviewed https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2064525583. A keeper.

[Pam]

A re-read of book 2 of the Time Master trilogy, The Outcast, reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2067720202

[Pam]

Read book 3 of the Time Master trilogy, The Master, by Louise Cooper and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2064528040.

[Pam]

Read Midnight Sun by Ramsey Campbell, and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2077985229.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

I like Ramsey Campbell

[Pam]

Me too, just this one wasn't one of his best. Not awful but not really gripping.

Can you believe, I've read 72 books but I'm still 14 behind on the challenge! Didn't think I'd have a problem as last year I had a goal of 100 and read 150... oh dear!

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

What a shame - I find that you are behind astonishing!!

[Pam]

I know. Last year I finished 150 books quite comfortably - I'd only done a 100 book challenge. So I didn't think I'd have this problem. Most of them haven't been doorstops either.

[Pam]

Catchup for two books just read:

The Bridge by Iain Banks, reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2078259886
The Turning Wheel, And Other Stories by Philip K Dick, reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2081242865