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Pam's 2017 Reading Self Challenge
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Pam
(new)
Jan 02, 2017 03:36PM
Another challenge - as I managed 150 last year, I've made that the target this time.
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Good luck - I'd love to read that many books, might actually make a dent in the TBR pile!!
Thanks Desley.Read the first one: The Robber Bride
by Margaret Atwood and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1853974891.
Second book of the year - again by Margaret Atwood - Good Bones
- reviewed at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1867145413
Finished Wilderness Tips
by Margaret Atwood and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1869024837.
Meanwhile, l read a history book The Hittites
and posted a review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1875847193
Finally finished this short book - too many other distractions - The Ghost On The Hill and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1844809694.
Not as good as other John Gordon spooky tales I've read.
Finished a darkly humourous horror tale The M.D. which unfortunately fell apart in the last third as I've explained - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1877788731
Still reading In Winter's Shadow, last part of Gillian Bradshaw's Arthurian trilogy. Started it in December and am finding it hard going, so I keep breaking off to read other things instead!
A friend passed on a copy of The Girl on a Train this week, so have read the first section of that also.
Finished and posted a review of Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1693679832
.
Finished The Girl on the Train but haven't had a moment to do a review of it yet....
Finished The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1877789809
Had another go at that last Gillian Bradshaw but found it such slow going I started another book instead! Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks, based on the true story of the Derbyshire village which eventually quarantined itself after the plague spread there via a bolt of cloth from London.
Well, what a disappointment that was! Finished Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. Reviewed it here - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1883937254
Reading an old 'how to write' book that I've had a long time - The Complete Guide to Fiction Writing by Barnaby Conrad and the staff of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. Quite good so far, though having written for some many years and read quite a few of these types of books, nothing has jumped out as new, but it's good reinforcement.
Pam wrote: "Finished The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."I'm really surprised at the hype this book got. There's so many better books out there.
Pam wrote: "Well, what a disappointment that was! Finished Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. Reviewed it here - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...[bookcover:Year of Wonders: A Nov..."
Doesn't sound like a good one to pick up. Anachronism are irritating, but character flip flops are worse. Thanks for the review!
Patti (baconater) wrote: "Pam wrote: "Finished The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."I'm reall..."
Just one of those unpredictable things as to what's popular and what isn't. I wouldn't have picked it up unless someone had given me their copy, but having read it can understand why people like it and I enjoyed reading it myself - it is a page turner. As I've just read an old how-to write book which cites a lot of very popular writers from the late 80s, it's been a reminder that a lot of books are very popular for a while and then sink without trace - some of the authors are still known now, some I know of from genres I read, and some of them who apparently sold millions of copies I've never even heard of.
Alicia wrote: "Pam wrote: "Well, what a disappointment that was! Finished Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. Reviewed it here - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...[bookcover:Year of Wo..."
My pleasure Alicia. Went a bit to town on it but I tend to do that when I'm really annoyed and disappointed with a book. If I was disappointed but it was acceptable just not that enjoyable, I would give it at least a 2 and not do a rant!
Read a writing advice book - The Complete Guide to Writing Fiction - and reviewed it https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1887501143
Pam wrote: "Alicia wrote: "Pam wrote: "Well, what a disappointment that was! Finished Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. Reviewed it here - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...[bookc..."
I admire you finishing it, more than anything else - I have never had that kind of dedication and patience. But it is fairer to evaluate a book on its whole.
I don't review very often (not enough brain cells, for one), but I dump more things than I finish because I have such limited reading time right now.
If I like something, I make the effort to review.
Latest read and review, of a Diana Wynne Jones book - Deep Secret and review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1893696156
Another DWJ, a sort of follow-up to the first - The Merlin Conspiracy- with my review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1893763482.
Have been reading two books of social commentary as TV criticism or vice versa by Harlan Ellison - The Glass Teat and The Other Glass Teat.
Didn't think I'd ever get to the end of this - Gillian Bradshaw's third segment of her Arthurian trilogy - In Winter's Shadow. Reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1390905968.
Finished and reviewed the two volumes of TV and social criticism from the late 1960s/early 1970s by Harlan Ellison - The Glass Teat and The Other Glass Teat.
Read a dystopian SF novel by Jo Zebedee, Inish Carraig and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1638858471
Part way through a book on proofreading - The Pocket Book of Proofreading and Copy-Editing by William Critchley.
Finished Broken by Kelley Armstrong, a bit disappointing. Reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1901548933
Finished a book that initially looked very promising, but sadly didn't deliver - Dragon's Winter by Elizabeth Lynn - and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1638824780
Read first in Suzy McKee Charnas' dystopian series Walk to the End of the World and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1908983536.
Finished Suzy McKee Charnas' book, which is much better than the first: Motherlines and reviewed it https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1909068219
Then finished The Pigman by Paul Zindel and reviewed it https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1883148433.
Wow - how many books so far then?
Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Wow - how many books so far then?"23 so far Desley and I'm about to add another ;-)
Forgot to mention I have been reading The Furies, book 3 of the Holdfast series by Suzy McKee Charnas, which I've just finished and posted a review for - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1914468705.
Finished The Undertaker's Gone Bananas by Paul Zinder, and posted a review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1914537787.
Pam wrote: "Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Wow - how many books so far then?"23 so far Desley and I'm about to add another ;-)"
Wow!!
Started a re-read of Tanith Lee's first published novel, at least for adults - not sure if she had some YA published earlier - The Birthgrave.
Finished Tanith Lee's The Birthgrave and posted a review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1915121441
In some respects a tour de force of writing but also quite a slog - the character's disinterested alienation from her environment and passivity, although explained at the end in a rather strange infodump means that you don't feel involved with her especially as she is meant to be literally a superwoman.
Read book 2 in the Birthgrave trilogy by Tanith Lee, Vazkor, Son of Vazkor, and posted a review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1915122689. 
Different vibe this time; the journey of self-discovery by the son of the character in book 1, but his and other men's attitudes and behaviour to women are repellent.
Forgot to mention I've been reading John Gordon's The House on the Brink and I'm just about to start the third in the Birthgrave trilogy by Tanith Lee, The Quest for the White Witch.
Finished Tanith Lee's Quest for the White Witch and posted a review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1915122722.
Finished John Gordon's spooky tale, The House On The Brink, and posted a review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1920818306.
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