Marie's "If your name's not down, you're not coming in" Plan 2018

[Marie]

Literally just finished week 27 and I'm still stressed:



I can't remember the last time a book got me that worked up! It was absolutely fantastic. Even though I've seen the movie I wasn't prepared for that. Mark Watney is now one of my all-time favourite literary characters. The Martian by Andy Weir was a book about surviving a hardship, and I'm going to have a cup of tea and a biscuit to calm down because I'm a wimp and clearly wouldn't survive any hardship.

[Marie]

Week 28 done:



This was the third of the 4 books linked by the 4 elements: Water and I chose Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool for the author's watery name, but it also has a watery cover and a whole lot of water in the content.

It's was an award-winning children's book, but it doesn't feel childish - it's kind of darky and scary, and very cinematic - I feel almost like I've watched a movie.

I'm excited about the next one - it's been way too long since I've read any Ben Aaronovitch, so I'm happy to be spending the weekend with Peter Grant. The weather's awful, I hope it stays that way until Monday morning!

[Marie]

Week 29 only took two days:



A book with a "Clue" weapon on the cover or title gave me an excuse to read The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch thanks to the noose hanging off the T in Tree on the cover of my copy (but not Goodreads' paperback cover).

I love the Peter Grant books, which is why I can get through nearly 400 pages in two days, and why I'm really sad that it only takes me two days to read them. I'll have to make sure to work one into my plan for next year.

Spooky coincidence - when looking at the bookshelves whilst doing a property search, Peter finds a copy of We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which happens to be up next on my plan.

[Marie]

Feels like I'm going downhill now! Week 30 finished:



We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson was a short book - only 147 pages on the kindle. It took me a while to read though, between being at work (boo) and me just not getting that into it. I loved Merricat, but found the story in general a bit frustrating.

Next I'll be having a virtual trip to Australia with Bill Bryson. I'm really looking forward to this one. I'm hoping for an encounter with a koala that goes horribly wrong.

[Marie]

Week 31 done:



My book set in a country you'd like to visit but have never been to was Down Under by Bill Bryson. Disappointingly there were no koala mishaps, or koalas at all. I kept getting sidetracked by googling the things he was mentioning, so it took longer than expected.

I was surprised how old this book is - published in 2000, but it seemed that he was actually in Australia in 1998 or 1999. I'm trying to make allowances for the changes in technology since then, but I was frustrated with his lack of planning for the trip. Why would you go all that way and not bother to check what the weather was like at that time of year, what the best area of a city was to stay in or how long the average driving times are for the route of your road trip? I feel almost like I missed out on the stuff he was going to do and couldn't because of not researching and planning properly. So now I have to go myself! If only I could have a couple of months off work to actually do it.

Next I have a horrifically massive hardback version of 11/22/63, so I might double up and read Wild as well, since that's a nicely portable paperback.

[Marie]

My careful plan has gotten a bit messy recently, thanks to going on holiday.

Week 32 is ongoing - I couldn't face lugging five pounds of Stephen King around in my backpack for over a fortnight, so it's on pause about a third of the way through.

Week 33 was finished almost two weeks ago:



Wild by Cheryl Strayed was linked to a word "born" in the same year as me.
The word was wafflestomper, which is a type of hiking boot. Coincidentally, my holiday was part hiking. I really enjoyed the book, but was equal parts horrified and inspired by her story. Not that I'd ever consider hiking the PCT, but maybe something a bit shorter and flatter!

[Marie]

I finished Week 34 last night on the plane home:



This was a suggestion from the AtY 2018 polls, that didn't win but was polarizing or a close-call: a book, any genre, dealing with loss and grief, and I chose Annabel Pitcher's My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece. It was a weird combination of quite simplistic, maybe because it's from the point of view of a 10 year old, but also well written. I wouldn't recommend reading this in public - I had a hard time fighting off ugly crying in a bar and had to put it away (another coincidence - it was the bar in the Stanley Hotel, allegedly the inspiration for The Shining).

Finishing this hasn't tidied things up, I started Week 35, Career of Evil, nearly a week ago, so that needs reading before I can go back to 11/22/63.

[Marie]

Ana A wrote: "I browsed through your list and noticed that for week 43. A book with a title that is a whole sentence, A Year of Marvellous Ways by Sarah Winman isn't a whole sentence (it should have a subject an..."

I disagree. The prompt says whole sentence, not regular or major sentence. I chose to go irregular - totally within the rules to interpret the prompt that way. If the person who'd suggested it wanted to be strict they should've been more specific in their wording.

[Marie]

Ana A wrote: "I'm an English teacher. I have the authority to say that a fragment is not a sentence. Sure, it's your list, but the prompt is being stretched to "a long fragment" instead of a whole sentence. I ha..."

Honestly, I don't care what you think. I'm happy with it.

[Marie]

Ana A wrote: "If you don't take my word for it, Zaz said the practically the same thing about what a sentence is (needs a subject and a verb) in this group's Weekly Topics discussion: https://www.goodreads.com/t..."

Thanks for coming into my plan and being critical of my interpretation when I didn't ask for your opinion.

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Is it bad that I'm an avid reader and I've had a really hard time deciding if a book's title was a whole sentence?

Language is hard, guys :P

But in all seriousness, Ana A, if Marie wants to change her book then your list is really helpful. It looks like you had good intentions. But as we've stressed to all members, we don't want to police people's choices too much.