2018 Group Bookshelf Reading Calendar

[Sarah]

Crap! I forgot to mention that we're taking votes! I'm sorry, guys!

[Patricia]

I, too, am not getting the newsletter. Will check account settings.

[Sarah]

We're up to 76 votes. This is where we stand.

Ender's Game - 16
Perdido Street Station - 15
Neverwhere - 15
Handmaid's Tale - 15
Old Man's War - 15
The City & the City - 14
Armada - 14
Ready Player One - 14
Brave New World - 14
Fahrenheit 451 - 14
Ubik - 13
The Fifth Season - 13

-------------------------------------------

Man in the High Castle - 12
Good Omens - 12
Flowers for Algernon - 12
Ocean at the End of the Lane - 12
Elantris - 11
Furies of Calderon - 11
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - 11
Kindred - 11
Neuromancer - 11
Wool - 11
Golem and Jinni - 11
Snow Crash - 11
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - 11
Princess Bride - 11
1Q84 - 11

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Good lord, we're going to start the year exploring every prominent dystopia we can find!

[Rachel]

Not just star! Looks lovely or a whole year of arguable dystopias!!! Guess that why Ive already read so many?

[AndrewP]

Only 6 out of those 27 that I haven't already read so should be an easy challenge for me :)

[Rachel]

Oops. Star=start.......great job ‘smart’phone

[Dj]

Rachel wrote: "Oops. Star=start.......great job ‘smart’phone"

I might be considered a Luddite for this, but I hate the thought of having a phone that thinks it is smarter than me.

[Sarah]

Rachel wrote: "Oops. Star=start.......great job ‘smart’phone"

Yet we all botch words like that so often... I knew exactly what it was supposed to say :)

[Rachel]

I guess a lot of us speak ‘autocorrecteese’ these days!

[Sarah]

At 81 votes with 10 days to go.

Ender's Game - 17
Neverwhere - 17
Handmaid's Tale - 17
Old Man's War - 16
Brave New World - 16
Fahrenheit 451 - 16
City & the City - 15
Perdido Street Station - 15
The Fifth Season - 15
Armada - 15
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - 14
Kindred - 14
Man in the High Castle - 14
Ubik - 14
Ready Player One - 14

------------------------------------

Good Omens - 13
The Golem and the Jinni - 13
The Ocean at the End of the Lane - 13
The Dispossessed - 12
Neuromancer - 12
Wool - 12
Snow Crash - 12
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - 12
Flowers for Algernon - 12
Princess Bride - 12
The Last Unicorn - 12

[Silvana]

I have three books on the top 12.
Would be great if Good Omens will be moving up soon! There will be a miniseries in 2018 so it would be great to read it together.

[YouKneeK]

If the poll were to end in the above state, with a five-way tie for 11th place, would all 15 books get scheduled or just the first 12? I can't remember if that happened in previous years.

From that list, I voted for 4 of them and there’s a 5th (Ubik) above the cutoff line. That’s much better than how it looked directly after I first voted, with only 1 of my choices in the first 12. :) Mine are short standalones, with all but one being under 300 pages, so I’m not too worried about fitting them in.


Silvana wrote: "Would be great if Good Omens will be moving up soon!"

I was hoping Good Omens might get a boost before the voting deadline too. So far I’ve only read Pratchett’s Discworld books and I’d like to try some of his other work.

[Chris]

YouKneeK wrote: "If the poll were to end in the above state, with a five-way tie for 11th place, would all 15 books get scheduled or just the first 12?"

Last year, Sarah used random numbers as a tiebreaker to give us exactly the target - 12 in this case.

[Donald]

I'm running at 8 out of the top 10 already read so at least it shouldn't require too much extra reading activity!

[Dj]

Donald wrote: "I'm running at 8 out of the top 10 already read so at least it shouldn't require too much extra reading activity!"

Hmmm, I have read 11 out of the total. Only four in the top ten, so guess I will have to actually read a bunch of them before discussing them. Not such a bad thing in regards to the reason for the group. LOL.

[Sarah]

Good memory, Chris :)

[Sarah]

It looks like I have five that I would willingly read. Four are rereads :)

[David]

Sarah Anne wrote: "It looks like I have five that I would willingly read. Four are rereads :)"

The phrase "would willingly read" implies that there's some other set of books you might be forced, tricked or coerced into reading...? Is that a problem that commonly occurs in your life? :)

[Sarah]

David wrote: "The phrase "would willingly read" implies that there's some other set of books you might be forced, tricked or coerced into reading... .."

Lured and enticed...

[Dj]

Sarah Anne wrote: "David wrote: "The phrase "would willingly read" implies that there's some other set of books you might be forced, tricked or coerced into reading... .."

Lured and enticed..."

Hmmm, a little wordsmithing to entice you with?

[YouKneeK]

Silvana wrote: "Would be great if Good Omens will be moving up soon!"

Hey Silvana, I just went to check the current poll results and Good Omens is up to 8th on the list with 16 votes. It may have a chance. :)

[Silvana]

YouKneeK wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Would be great if Good Omens will be moving up soon!"

Hey Silvana, I just went to check the current poll results and Good Omens is up to 8th on the list with 16 votes. It may have ..."

Goodie! Thanks. I now have 4 books in the top 12. Already a very good amount. Hopefully it stays that way.

[Beth]

I have zero matches, which is a little disappointing, but I only voted for five so the odds weren't in my favor. Some of the current second-tier books are of interest, among the ones that I haven't read already. Worse come to worst, I can do my own lil' reading project (that involves some threadcromancy?).

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Beth wrote: "I have zero matches, which is a little disappointing, but I only voted for five so the odds weren't in my favor. Some of the current second-tier books are of interest, among the ones that I haven't..."

Doooo itt. Resurrect threads like it's Pern! (And seriously, I think a lot of people have read the "more common" favorites, so if you announce a plan to read something else, you might get a few taggers on. I've had good luck with small group side reads in this group ^^)

[Sarah]

Beth, I'm always willing to pull threads and post them here if you need them.

[Beth]

Sarah Anne wrote: "Beth, I'm always willing to pull threads and post them here if you need them."

That's very kind, thanks!

[John]

Beth wrote: "I have zero matches, which is a little disappointing, but I only voted for five so the odds weren't in my favor. Some of the current second-tier books are of interest, among the ones that I haven't..."

Don't feel bad I voted for allot more than 5 and so far out of all of the ones for which I voted for one of them has made it. Of course, I only chose the Fantasy Fiction as that is my Genere of choice when it comes to reading. For some reason can't get into SCI-Fi. I've tried but it just doesn't do it for me.

[Sarah]

90 Responses!

Neverwhere - 19
Handmaid's Tale - 19
Ender's Game - 18
Good Omens - 18
Brave New World - 18
The City & the City - 17
The Man in the High Castle - 17
Armada - 17
Old Man's War - 17
Fahrenheit 451 - 17
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - 16
Perdido Street Station - 16
Wool - 16

Elantris - 15
Kindred - 15
Ubik - 15
Golem and the Jinni - 15
Fifth Season - 15
Dispossessed - 14
Ready Player One - 14
Last Unicorn - 14

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Oh hey! Less doomy, too! I have roughly five on this list I need to get to.

[Sarah]

This would be my third time for Handmaid's Tale and fourth for The City & the City. I don't know if I can resist, though. They're 5 star books every single time!

[Sarah]

Of these I think I'd read Handmaid's Tale, Brave New World (I can't remember if I've read this?), The City & the City, Fahrenheit 451, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and maybe Wool.

[Dj]

Allison wrote: "Oh hey! Less doomy, too! I have roughly five on this list I need to get to."

Well this is the first time doing this and I think I have five on the list as well. I feel pretty good.

[John]

From what I can remember it looks like there is 2 maybe 3 for which I would be reading. One being the Last Unicorn and I believe Golem and Jinni was the 2nd one.

I still need 3 more books to read by the end of the year to make my goal of 20 books read.

[YouKneeK]

Of the current top 13, I voted for 4 and have previously read 8. The 13th is the beginning of a series I'd like to read someday, but probably not in the near future.

I also have a couple below the cutoff line that have been falling in and out of the top 12 for a while. Reading Hamlet last week may have done additional damage to my mind. Now, every time I see Ubik below the cutoff line, all I can think is, “Alas, poor Ubik.”

[Sarah]

YouKneeK wrote: "“Alas, poor Ubik.” ..."

You have no idea how hard I laughed at that.

[Donald]

I'd probably re-read Neverwhere because I love that book, but I probably won't touch Handmaid's Tale. After that it plays out quite well so far - The Man in the High Castle has slipped through the gaps in my reading and I want to read it, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell I'm stuck 16% in and need a forcing function, and I haven't heard of Armada or Wool so I'd give them a go.

Once we fall below the line it's a much higher rate of books I've never come across.

[HeyT]

I feel like I'm on the opposite side of the bookshelf than the majority of voters. I've read a large portion of the contenders and nothing I voted for made the cut.

[Sarah]

There are still a few days to go.

[Rachel]

HeyT I feel the same- I’ve read...8/12 I think? 3 others are recently tv or movies which leaves neverwhere for me....I was hoping for more classics I haven’t read....

[Sarah]

94 responses.

Handmaid's Tale - 20
Man in the High Castle - 19
Neverwhere - 19
Fahrenheit 451 - 19
Brave New World - 19
Ender's Game - 18
Good Omens - 18
Armada - 18
The City & the City - 17
Old Man's War - 16
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - 16
Perdido Street Station - 16
Wool - 16

Elantris - 15
Kindred - 15
Ubik - 15
Golem and the Jinni - 15
Fifth Season - 15
Last Unicorn - 15

[Cordelia]

It keeps changing - looks better now than a couple of days ago

[Silvana]

Four dystopias in the top five, wow.
I see The Dispossesed is no longer in the running?
I still have four TBR in the top 12 but slightly worried over The City and the City.

[Sarah]

It looks like I didn't post below 15 votes this time and last time I went down to 14.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Sheesh. I think I'm going to corner the market by starting tin foil hats for everyone now. Who wants a tin foil hat? Looks like we're going to be reading about every way humans might doom themselves, so you'll want the insurance a tin foil hat can provide. Also doubles as food preservation, and DIY dryer sheets, so Lifehack tells me.

[John]

After looking at the list there is now only one book for which I'm looking forward to reading and that is "Last Unicorn".

[Valerie]

So far, there is one book that I have not read that is set to make the list. I will have a lonely reading year, although it serves me right since I spent most of this past year in distraction.

[Dj]

Allison wrote: "Sheesh. I think I'm going to corner the market by starting tin foil hats for everyone now. Who wants a tin foil hat? Looks like we're going to be reading about every way humans might doom themselve..."

Can I get one that looks like a Samurai Helmet?

[Amanda]

Dj wrote: "Allison wrote: "Sheesh. I think I'm going to corner the market by starting tin foil hats for everyone now. Who wants a tin foil hat? Looks like we're going to be reading about every way humans migh..."

I want one that looks like a swan.

[John]

Allison wrote: "Sheesh. I think I'm going to corner the market by starting tin foil hats for everyone now. Who wants a tin foil hat? Looks like we're going to be reading about every way humans might doom themselve..."

I want one that looks like a dragon