You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
Challenges: Monthly
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March 2017 - Bubble and Squeak
OH FLIBBERTYGIBBERT!!!!Please re-look at the page scoring. It was backward to how I intended. Don't post challenges while distracted.
Apologies for the impact on gophering.
I wish to reward those of you who nearly got there, and then had to put it down. Instead of those who read 100 pages (eg. Rusalka) and got distracted.
Rusalka wrote: "I will think on this. I think I have a solution for you Edited: sorry, not sure why I thought I needed to help Kristie."
No worries. You may have thinking of Peggy. She mentioned not having any books early on.
My shelf is called "on hold". I have a couple books that I might get back to that are not on that shelf for various reasons, so I'll do a quick list here if anyone needs one. 
- The Light Between Oceans, I started this one, but couldn't get into it. It was highly recommended, so I figured I'd try again later. 
- My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories, I got this book for review, then put it down for other reads, then it was no longer holiday season, so I plan to read it later this year. 
- Hidden Bodies, Another review. I put it aside for other reads and just never got back to it. I've picked it up several times and read little bits, just need to actually finish it. 
- The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend, Same. A review book that I put aside for other reads. (Clearly I need to start prioritizing my review books!) I want to get back to this one soon! 
- Stars Above, I started this one just because. It is short stories that go with a series that I completed and I want to read them. As with other books, I put it aside for other reads. Definitely want to get back to it. 
- The Murder of Mary Russell, A book I received for review that I put aside for other reads....I seem to be saying that a lot. I'm seeing a pattern here. 
- Serafina and the Black Cloak, I picked this up for a group read in another group, but was listening to it with my grandson and decided it was a little too dark for his age. I figured I would pick it up again after he went home (he was visiting during summer break), but never did. 
- The Darwin Elevator, I won this in a Goodreads giveaway, but struggled to really get into it. I think it was me more than the book, so I decided that I still want to give it another try. 
, Bitterblue - This the third book in a series that I was reading. I picked it up just because I enjoyed the first two books and really wanted to read it. I put it aside for other reads and never got back to it. I am constantly thinking that I will read it this month or next month, but it never happens. I think that's all of them! I really need to finish the book I'm reading, even if it means I miss out on a group read or challenge. I'm so bad about it.
I also have 6 books on my "abandoned" shelf that I DNF because I couldn't get interested and figured the books weren't for me. Those were:
Hitler: The Psychiatric Files
The Invisible Library
In the Mirror
The Great Zoo of China
84, Charing Cross Road
Life After Life
I won't be reading any of my DNF books, but if anyone else wants to I can give you more info. Good luck everyone!
LOL, this thread is really making me think that I'm the odd one out when it comes to reading habits. Thanks for the list Kristie, I might just use one of your books.
Seems to me you just have better reading habits. lol
Well ....... would have been rude for me to say ;)
I used to have a strict rule that if I started a book, I would finish it. I finally decided there were way too many good books out there to make myself finish a book that I wasn't enjoying. So I now have an "abandoned" shelf of books that I have no desire or interest in ever finishing, and an "on hold" shelf of books that I think I will like, I just couldn't get into or was in the wrong mindset for at the time I started them. I have 10 books on my abandoned shelf and 4 on my on-hold shelf.
On-Hold:
The PureLights of Ohm Totem
The Fallen (audiobook)
Knight's Cross
The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
And not on the list but I distinctly remember starting and stopping because I wasn't in the right mood for Veronika Decides to Die.
Of my abandoned books, I don't see any that I might want to pick back up.
Alice in Deadland sounded so interesting, and I love Alice in Wonderland, but I remember being extremely disappointed.
Ethereal sounded like something I would really enjoy too. But it was really bad.
The Grass Sweeper God - all I remember is I hated it.
The Dog That Laid Eggs had a description that sounded bizarrely fascinating. But it ended up just being annoying and trying so hard to be quirky and funny that it just ended up being dumb. And I remember reading on it for over a week and hadn't even made it 80 or so pages in.
If anyone is curious about what books other people most often bounce on, I found a list of popular "try again later" books. https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...The winner is The Book Thief which has been shelved 25 times as "try again later."
Thanks for the list Casceil. There are actually some really good books on there.
I need a bit of calification (no being a native speaker), I don't understand this phrase:"How many pages you had to finish the book as at 1 March 2017? (no matter how many you actually read this month)"
The amount of pages I need to read in order to finish my abandoned book is not equal to the amount of pages I have to read this month for the challenge? Am I missing something?
Also: The book itself has to be 175 pages long, no matter how many pages are left to finish the book, OR there must be at least 175 left in a book, to be read for this challenge?
Sorry, if my clumsiness with the language made me ask the obvious
I had 16 books on my list, and after reviewing some of them, I decided that I was never going to finish 9 of them, and removed them from my list of books. The others, I am keeping, because I still want to finish them. On my current list is:
Far from the Madding Crowd
Sarah's Key
Noah's Compass
Timeline
Tipping the Velvet
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
The Given Day
I cannot decide what I want to read yet.
Casceil wrote: "If anyone is curious about what books other people most often bounce on, I found a list of popular "try again later" books. https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...The winner is..."
I can agree with One Hundred Years of Solitude. I had to run at it 3 times before I finally finished. I have many of the books on my list as "want to read," but I have also read many others - and on the first try.
I read One Hundred Years of Solitude about 25 years ago, and I thought it was brilliant. I tried to read it again about two years ago and gave up. I could not keep the names straight, and I was getting more and more confused. There are quite a few books on the list that I have read, and some that I, too, bounced on. It took me more than one try to get through American Gods.
Casceil wrote: "If anyone is curious about what books other people most often bounce on, I found a list of popular "try again later" books. https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...The winner is The Book Thief which has been shelved 25 times as "try again later." ..."
Wow! So many of them are 5 star reads for me!
Here's my Bring 'Em Back Alive shelf (view spoiler)!Phantom Evil (Krewe of Hunters, #1)
Fanny Hill, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Ghost at Work (Bailey Ruth, #1)
I generally delete a book from my gr shelf if I dislike it enough to leave it unread. I did find one, plus two others on my physical shelf that fit the challenge criteria. All were prior to my pre-gr/pre-YLTO involvement.Annabel - I started this one on my ereader, then it quit working. I came across a physical copy at a thrift store awhile ago. This might work for my annual challenge.
The Hobbit - I know! I must be the only person in the world who hasn't read this. I started reading it many, many years ago, but being fantasy, it didn't hold my interest. I still don't like fantasy much, but it probably worth making the effort.
Cry, the Beloved Country - I started this book many years ago, and have no idea why I abandoned it.
Mariab wrote: "The amount of pages I need to read in order to finish my abandoned book is not equal to the amount of pages I have to read this month for the challenge? Am I missing something?..."If you were to restart the book this month you would not be able to count the pages you were re-reading.
Casceil wrote: "If anyone is curious about what books other people most often bounce on, I found a list of popular "try again later" books. https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...The winner is..."
I have a lot of those books on my TBR and about half a dozen from the first page I have read and gave 4 & 5 stars whith one 3 star.
Almeta - I love the name of your shelf!TrudyAn - I have not read The Hobbit yet either and I own it so I have no excuse.
Dawn - I will have to look again, but I didn't think you necessarily had to re-read for the challenge, just finish the book.
I interpreted the challenge as your overall book has to be over 175 pages, but the amount you need to read can be any amount. It's always possible that I am interpreting that incorrectly though.
Dawn wrote: "Mariab wrote: "The amount of pages I need to read in order to finish my abandoned book is not equal to the amount of pages I have to read this month for the challenge? Am I missing something?..."..."
Oh. OK
Kristie wrote: "Dawn - I will have to look again, but I didn't think you necessarily had to re-read for the challenge, just finish the book. ..."Yes, that is correct. But IF you do reread, you can not use those pages for points.
That's why it's so specific about remembering where you were when you quit in the description.
Casceil wrote: "I read One Hundred Years of Solitude about 25 years ago, and I thought it was brilliant. I tried to read it again about two years ago and gave up. I could not keep the names straight, and I was get..."You should try the audio book version, if you are interested in doing it again. Since I already knew most of the stories, listening to all of the Spanish names was WONDERFUL!
Almeta wrote: "Casceil wrote: "If anyone is curious about what books other people most often bounce on, I found a list of popular "try again later" books. https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/......"Me too, Almeta. That was the first thing that I noticed.
Almeta wrote: "Here's my Bring 'Em Back Alive shelf [spoilers removed]!Phantom Evil (Krewe of Hunters, #1)
Fanny Hill, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure
[book:Jonathan Strange & Mr No..."
It seems like a lot of people get started with Jonathan Strange and put it aside. I can understand though, because it is so long. It is one of the reasons that I have never started it. I still remember AmyK talking about it.
Of the 7 books on my shelf, only three of them have any indication of progress. I would have to start any of them over again, except for Tipping the Velvet, which was put aside not so long ago. I think I was doing this as a Buddy read. I only read 47 pages of Timeline - I had picked it up at a library sale and I wanted to see what it was like. I know that I read about 25% of Sarah's Key. I think I was going to reading this for something, and bought it because I liked one of the author's previous books. I started Far from the Madding Crowd because I saw someone's gushing review and thought it should read it because it is a Classic. The others were library picks when I was between books and they were thrown over for something else and I never got back to them.
Dawn wrote: "Kristie wrote: "Dawn - I will have to look again, but I didn't think you necessarily had to re-read for the challenge, just finish the book. ..."Yes, that is correct. But IF you do reread, you ca..."
I got that too. I just thought you meant that you had to reread, so I wanted to clarify. Seems we were both in agreement to begin with. :)
Kristie wrote: "TrudyAn - I have not read The Hobbit yet either and I own it so I have no excuse. "Kristi, Do you think you will ever read it? I have owned it for years too. That, and the Lord of the Rings, which I also need to get to. I think I may read it for the annual challenge, though, as I need a book with a brown cover.
TrudyAn wrote: "Kristie wrote: "TrudyAn - I have not read The Hobbit yet either and I own it so I have no excuse. "Kristi, Do you think you will ever read it? I have owned it for years too. That, and the Lord of..."
I think so. I don't know when though. I own The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, and The Two Towers. It's a series that I was told I should read because it is so excellent, but it makes me nervous because it's not my typical genre. I'm afraid I'll be lost while reading.
Almeta wrote: "Wow! So many of them are 5 star reads for me! "
For me as well. I'm surprised at how many of them I have read. The Book Thief is one of my all time favourites.
Cherie wrote: "Of the 7 books on my shelf, only three of them have any indication of progress. I would have to start any of them over again, except for Tipping the Velvet, which was put aside not ..."I gave Sarah's Key 4 stars. Because of it, I will read more of her books.
Kristie, just my 2 cents, but having read The Darwin Elevator, I don't think it was you. It was the book. I was disappointed. I agree that Serafina and the Black Cloak was very dark. I was surprised at how dark. I didn't love it, but it wasn't bad. Just not engaging enough for me to want to read the next in the series.
And I felt that Bitterblue was the weakest of the series. It did wrap things up and bring them full circle, though.
Okay, so I have a good but didn't finish shelf with plenty of options, but they were all pre goodreads and I have no idea where I stopped or why, so can I still participate and just not score points for those categories?
Thanks, Lara. I have tried The Darwin Elevator several times and even tried the audio once. The audio was worse for me. As I was reading I kept thinking that it seemed like a good book, but I just couldn't get into it. Glad to know that it's not just me.Serafina I was listening to with my grandson. He was just turning 8 and I was afraid to give him nightmares while he was staying with me!
Bitterblue I really want to read, but I have a bad habit of starting a book and not having time to finish it before I need to start a group read, challenge book, buddy read, etc. I feel that I am more obligated (for lack of a better term) to read those than the books I choose to read just because. I seem to over judge my reading abilities. lol
Lori Z wrote: "Okay, so I have a good but didn't finish shelf with plenty of options, but they were all pre goodreads and I have no idea where I stopped or why, so can I still participate and just not score point..."Do you maybe have any physical copies that you left a bookmark in? I do that sometimes.
Kristie wrote: "I'm afraid I'll be lost while reading."That is my thought, too. I have read a few fantasy books since I joined YLTO, but the bug hasn't been bitten yet.
Lori Z wrote: "Okay, so I have a good but didn't finish shelf with plenty of options, but they were all pre goodreads and I have no idea where I stopped or why, so can I still participate and just not score point..."You can indeed. I will accept approximations for pages left too. Usually I can work out about where I left off, even if it was a rare occasion i didn't leave some sort of bookmark in the book. But if you really cannot work it out at all, then yeah no points. But I don't expect that if you have started the book before.
Thank you Dawn for the explanation. Does that make more sense Mariab? And don't worry, sometimes I am incredibly unclear.And Kristie, you good too? Sounds like you've got it though, but just checking in.
See Kristie and Lara, that is why this is such a great group to be part of!We are all different and we all love some and hate some of the same books. I happen to be one who loved The Darwin Elevator. I bought and listened to all three books of the trilogy in audio and supplemented with print copies from the library. I thought the first book was fantastic and could have been left as a stand alone. I enjoyed book two, but not as much as the first. Book three was a must read, only to see how the author was going to end the trilogy. It was my least favorite of the three, but I had to give the author credit for trying really hard for a good wrap up. It was strange but not as bad as it could have been, in my opinion.
I find that many times when I listen to an audio book that has many characters and lots of action happening, that it helps to have a print or ebook copy to follow along with or even read parts of without the audio. Seeing names just jells them in my memory and makes it easier to "hear" them and keep them straight. I am sure that this is what I would have done if I had not devoured The Game of Thrones in print.
As for the Hobbit and LoTRs, if you know the stories from the movies, audio would be the way to go with these too. If you can get the audio from your library, you can refer to your print copies if things get confusing. But, beware - the movies ARE definitely different from the books.
Hmmm, I've never checked to see if Far from the Madding Crowd is available in audio.
Cherie wrote: "Hmmm, I've never checked to see if Far from the Madding Crowd is available in audio. "It is at least as an audio CD, since I just got it from the library. Don't know about Audible though.
I was one of those who abandoned Jonathan Strange. I actually read quite a bit of it too. Not interested enough to go back to it though. I also struggled getting in to Darwin Elevator like some of you. Also One Hundred Years of Solitude I abandoned.
I only checked the first page of the Try Later list, and I also have many 5 and 4 stars. I also have a few in my to be read. Crazy.
Cherie - I'm going to try The Darwin Elevator again. It's one that I still want to read. I just need to be sure I'm in the mood for it and I will read the paper copy. I'm glad it can be a standalone. I'll probably only read the one. I have audios for the LotR books from an Audible sale, so I'll go that way with that group. Thanks for the heads up about the movies being different. I didn't realize that.
Rusalka - Yes, I'm good. :)
Cherie, I haven't seen the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings movies either. I actively avoid fantasy! I like your idea of listening to it. I am going to make it to the end this time - motivation provided by a YLTO challenge.
TrudyAn, You might find it easier to get interested in The Fellowship of the Ring, (the first book of the trilogy), rather than the Hobbit. I have always found the Hobbit less appealing for some reason.
Oh yes, I remember giving up on One Hundred Years of Solitude too now... I had it on audiobook with a rotten mp3 player... got stuck in a time loop (re-listening to the same scenes over and over again because I could never find my place) It didn't even make the 'did not finish' list, I was so frustrated. I have a better app now...
Casceil wrote: "TrudyAn, You might find it easier to get interested in The Fellowship of the Ring, (the first book of the trilogy), rather than the Hobbit. I have always found the Hobbit less appealing f..."I agree. The Hobbit is more like a pre-quell. And I can't recommend the movies enough. But then, I love fantasy and Tolkien is the quintessential fantasy author.
Casceil wrote: "TrudyAn, You might find it easier to get interested in The Fellowship of the Ring, (the first book of the trilogy), rather than the Hobbit. I have always found the Hobbit less appealing f..."The Hobbit does provide the back story, but was written for children rather than adults, possibly why it's less appealing to you Casceil?
As an adult, I much prefer the Fellowship of the Rings too. I must admit to speed reading the Tom Bombadil chapter though - it felt so irrelevant and I would have called it a day otherwise.
You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
Books mentioned in this topic
The Essex Serpent (other topics)The Essex Serpent (other topics)
Bitterblue (other topics)
What the Body Remembers (other topics)
Howl’s Moving Castle (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
David Mitchell (other topics)John Shors (other topics)
J.R.R. Tolkien (other topics)
Diana Wynne Jones (other topics)
Susanna Clarke (other topics)
More...
Thoughts at the moment are:
The Historian - remember reading this around the time Dad got really sick and putting it down. So 2010? Pre-Goodreads, and definitely pre-YLTO
The Feast of the Goat - August 2015 Challenge read I never finished
The Narrow Road to the Deep North - we did a Monthly Read of this one in 2015?? maybe?
Dissolution - 2016 Nov challenge read
Shakespeare: The World as Stage - I was reading this in 2010, and put it down for some reason. I vividly remember reading this in my old job's tearoom for some reason.