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2018 Reads & Personal Challenges
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Laurel's 2018 Reading Choices
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Goal #1 - Random ReadsRead 12 books from this list of 30 titles, drawn randomly from selected categories as described in the overview above.
Nonfiction:
READ Nov Britain Begins
Claxton: Field Notes from a Small Planet
READ Jan The Frozen Thames
Wales and Arthurian:
The Long Walk Home
The Story of the Champions of the Round Table
Flint
Next in Series:
Bertie Plays the Blues (44 Scotland Street #7)
READ Jan Conspirata (Cicero #2)
READ July Virgins (Outlander #0.5)
New Series:
Shards of Honor (Vorkosigan Saga #1)
READ July Publish & Perish (Ben Reese #1)
Death in Bordeaux (Superintendent Lannes #1)
Themes (old and new):
Railsea (Moby Dick)
The Chocolatier's Wife (Wife titles)
The Drago Tree (Tree titles)
Peregrine (Bird titles)
An Exaltation of Larks (Bird titles)
The Seventh Magpie (Bird titles)
Historical Fiction:
The Golden Horn (11th cent. Vikings)
The Summer Queen (12th cent. France)
Queen By Right (15th cent. England)
The Aviary Gate (16th cent. Constantinople)
Searcher in the Dawn: A thrilling blend of murder mystery and historical romance (17th cent. England)
By Honor Bound (18th cent. France)
Other:
Angels and Insects (Victorian)\
Stone's Fall (19th/20th cent.)
The Evening Chorus (WWII)
Freshwater Road (1960s)
Wicked Like a Wildfire (teen fantasy)
READ Jan The Barn: From the Beginning (comic strip collection)
Goal #2 - Daytimer's Book ClubRead 12
READ Jan: A Man Called Ove
READ Feb: The Language of Flowers
READ Apr: The Paris Wife
READ May: The Nick Adams Stories
READ Jun: Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
READ Jul: My Brilliant Friend
READ Aug: The Tiger's Wife
READ Sep: Never Let Me Go
READ Oct: The Handmaid's Tale
READ Nov: The Life We Bury
Dec: Mary Poppins
Older, not yet read:
The Pillars of the Earth
Wolf Hall
READ Apr A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
The Tall Pine Polka
Goal #3 - other (online) book group reads, buddy reads, etc.Read 12
Possibilities:
READ 2017 The Witch's Daughter (Reading Loft Oct 2017)
READ Mar Corduroy Mansions (Reading Loft Mar 2018)
READ May Plague Land (to reread) (Reading Loft Sep 2017)
READ July The Outcasts of Time (Reading Loft)
READ Aug The Essex Serpent (Reading Loft Jan 2018)
Behind the Scenes at the Museum (Reading Loft Mar 2017)
Earthly Joys (Reading Loft May 2017)
The Summer Queen (Reading Loft Nov 2017)
A Time To Change (Reading Loft Dec 2017)
Jerusalem (Chunky Books)
Kristin Lavransdatter
King Hereafter (Open Sea)
The Plum Tree
And Ladies of the Club
The Alice Network (BookiesToo Jan 2018)
Goal #4 - Free ChoiceRead 12
READ Jan All's Faire in Middle School
READ Jan Dictator (Cicero #3)
READ Feb FukuFuku: Kitten Tales 1
READ Feb The Wine of Angels
READ July Caroline: Little House, Revisited (arc to read and review)
READ Aug The Tea Dragon Society
READ Sep Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder
READ Sep The Wild Iris
READ Sep The Dog who Came in from the Cold
READ Oct My Prairie Cookbook: Memories and Frontier Food from My Little House to Yours
READ Oct What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia
Library of Souls
Still Me
The Bear and the Nightingale
The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Frontier Landscapes that Inspired the Little House Books
All About Books 2018 Challenge - author's nameM A Man Called Ove
C Conspirata
C A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
A All's Faire in Middle School
L Love Over Scotland
L The Life We Bury
S
M My Brilliant Friend
I Ilsa
T The Tiger's Wife
H Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
Besides reading titles that spell out the name, this is my author of choice to reread this year, so I'm going to be rereading the 44 Scotland Street series. Bertie Plays the Blues was next up on my list, so I'd like to get at least that far.
READ Apr 1. 44 Scotland Street
READ Apr 2. Espresso Tales
READ Oct 3. Love Over Scotland
READ 4. The World According to Bertie
5. The Unbearable Lightness of Scones
6. The Importance of Being Seven
7. Bertie Plays the Blues
8. Sunshine on Scotland Street
9. Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers
10. The Revolving Door of Life
11. The Bertie Project
12. A Time of Love and Tartan: A 44 Scotland Street Novel
Will also be starting the Corduroy Mansions series with an online group. Fortunately, there are only 3 in that series, so far...
READ Mar 1. Corduroy Mansions
READ Sep 2. The Dog who Came in from the Cold
3. A Conspiracy of Friends
Would like to continue the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. I think I'm only on #4. Don't know if I'll reread or not. Not going to try and read them all this year...
1. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - READ
2. Tears of the Giraffe - READ
3. Morality for Beautiful Girls - READ
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4. The Kalahari Typing School for Men
Adding another author, to be continued into next year...
M
A
D The Dog who Came in from the Cold
E
L
E
I
N Never Let Me Go
E
L
E
N
G
L
E
Lots of Es and Ls, so we'll see....
Here is "sort of" a chronological list of books featuring the Murrays, the O'Keefes, the Austins, and a few other crossover characters, and maybe a few books that don't have any crossover but I'm including them anyway...
The Other Side of the Sun
READ Ilsa
The Small Rain
And Both Were Young
The Joys of Love
Camilla
A Winter's Love
Love Letters
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A Wrinkle in Time
A Wind in the Door
Many Waters
A Swiftly Tilting Planet
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Meet the Austins
The Moon by Night
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The Arm of the Starfish
Dragons in the Waters
A House Like a Lotus
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The Young Unicorns
A Ring of Endless Light
Troubling a Star
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An Acceptable Time
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Certain Women
A Live Coal in the Sea
A Severed Wasp
On the Porch Swing 2018 Challenge1. Read a book with Widow or Widower
The Widow Makers
2. Read a book with your birthstone or birth month
Miss Garnet's Angel
3. Read a book with a direction
Queen By Right
4. Read a book that is set around a bookstore or library
Library of Souls
5. Read a book with a scent/smell
READ Feb The Language of Flowers
6. Read a book with adjective
Spell STACKS:
S
T
A All's Faire in Middle School
C Caroline: Little House, Revisited
K
S
Monthly themes at the library, January through June:Jan 1: COZY Read a cozy mystery. Or a book with a cozy sounding title or something cozy on the cover (a crackling fire? an armchair? )
Jan 2: WINTER/HOLIDAY Pick a book with a winter or holiday theme. Or read a book with winter, snow, ice or something wintery in the title.
Jan 3: CRAFTS Read a book that features a craft (knitting, quilting, yarn shop, etc.)
READ The Frozen Thames (winter)
Feb 1: LOVE / ROMANCE Read a love story or romance. Or read a book with love, romance, roses, or hearts in title or on cover.
Feb 2: JEWELS Read a book with a jewel or jewels in the title or on the cover. (Examples: diamond, amethyst, garnet….)
Feb 3: February is the SHORTEST month. Read a short story or collection of short stories, or read a book with short in the title.
READ Virgins (Bonus points: heart on cover AND short story)
Mar 1: CELTIC holidays -- St. David’s Day (Wales), St. Piran’s Day (Cornwall), and St. Patrick’s Day (Ireland) are all in March! Read something Celtic or with Celtic motifs on the cover, or a book with a green cover.
Mar 2: EASTER is April 1st. Read a book with a rabbit or eggs on the cover or pastel colors on the cover.
Mar 3: March is WOMEN’S HISTORY Month. Read a biography of a woman, or read an historical fiction book with a real woman as a character.
READ Espresso Tales (set in Scotland AND green cover)
READ Caroline: Little House, Revisited (historical fiction about Caroline Ingalls)
Apr 1: RAIN / SHOWERS Read something with Rain or Showers (or similar) in the title. Or read a book with BOOTS or an UMBRELLA on the cover.
Apr 2: SPRING BULBS Read a book with tulips, daffodils, crocuses, etc. on the cover or in the title.
Apr 3: March is National POETRY Month. Read a book of poetry, or something to do with poetry in the title.
The Long Walk Home (boots on cover)
May 1: GARDENS / FLOWERS Read a book about gardens or gardening, or a book with a flower in the title or flowers on the cover.
May 2: BIRDS Spring migration brings lots of birds through Minnesota. Read a book with a bird in the title.
May 3: MOTHER’S DAY Read a book that reminds you of your mother – an author or setting she likes, or a character/author/title that shares your mother’s name, or set in her home state,
or ???
READ The Language of Flowers
Gilead (to reread - reminds me of mother - minister's wife and set in Kansas)
June 1: SOMETHING OLD
June 2: SOMETHING NEW
June 3: SOMETHING BORROWED
June 4: SOMETHING BLUE
READ The Wine of Angels (bonus, bonus, bonus, bonus points: 1. old - on my TBR for a long time, 2. borrowed several times from the library, then purchased 3. new as both ebook and from audible, and 4. it has blue lettering on the cover)
Monthly themes at the library, July through December:July 1: PATRIOTIC Read a book with red, white, AND blue on the cover. Read a book set during the Revolutionary War era in America.
July 2: BASTILLE DAY (July 14) Read a book with a person with no head showing on the cover. Read a book set in France.
July 3: Head to the BEACH Read a cover with beaches, sand, or swimming. Read a book with SUMMER in the title.
August 1: DOGS Read a book with a dog on the cover, or read a book with a dog as a major character.
August 2: HEAT (and summer weather) Think hot, summer sun, sunburns… Drought, thunderstorms, fever…
August 3: GRILLING (Hotdogs, anyone?) Backyard cooking, food associated with summertime… or maybe camping, campfires, etc.
READ The Dog who Came in from the Cold
Sept 1: LABOR DAY Read a book with an occupation in the title.
Sept 2: Back to SCHOOL Read a book set in a school, or featuring a teacher or professor. Or read a book with a school on the cover.
Sept 3: BOOKS Read a book that features a bookstore or a library. Or reread a book you had to read in school, or read a book you were supposed to read but didn’t.
A Wrinkle in Time
Oct. 1: FALL is here Read a book with fall or falling in the title. Read a book with leaves on the cover, or with the colors of autumn leaves.
Oct. 2: HAUNTED HOUSES Read a book that features a house. Gothic is good - houses can be haunted by memories or past tragedies, not just ghosts….
Oct 3: GHOSTS Read a book that features a ghost, or scary creature – witches, vampires, zombies…
The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors
Finally finished
The Witch's Daughter. It was the October book for another online group. So it won't count for 2018, but it'll count as one of my goals (#3) above.Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Edited message #5 - besides spelling out the name McCall Smith, I'm making it a goal to reread the 44 Scotland Street (1-6) and then continue with #7. Will also be reading Corduroy Mansions for an online group read in March. May or may not try and reread and continue the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. I'm only on #4 in that series...
Happy New Year!I'm so eager to get going on those random reads now that 2018 is here. There are several that I think I could knock off in a day, and it's too cold to go anywhere today...
READ The Barn: From the Beginning - a collection of my favorite comic strip by Ralph Hagen.
READ Virgins - a short story in the Outlander series
READ All's Faire in Middle School - a children's graphic novel. Shouldn't take too long!
Need to finish:
Yseult: A Tale of Love in the Age of King Arthur to finish a 2017 challenge... but it's going to get set aside, for other things today at least...
READ Conspirata and
READ Dictator- audiobook
READ The Wine of Angels - but probably won't happen this month. I've left it sitting too long and should start over. Would like to find it on audio - that's the only guarantee I'll get it read. I do like it and I like the characters - it's just so long....
For book clubs this month:
READ A Man Called Ove
READ The Essex Serpent
To start soon, hopefully:
READ The Frozen Thames - a fairly short little book.
Library of Souls - I've had this checked out from the library forever, so it's another one I'd like to get to sooner rather than later
READ 44 Scotland Street - to kick off my reread of this delightful series
So those are my January plans!
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End of month update:
Read 6 books. Excellent! Two more in progress.
Favorite book of the month was A Man Called Ove
First book of 2018 read:
The Barn: From the BeginningA long time favorite comic strip of mine. Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finished
All's Faire in Middle SchoolAnother quick read to get off my Mount TBR! Here's my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Wow, 2200 books is a lot! I guess with that amount picking a choice must be almost impossible so your idea of the slips is brilliant.
Good luck with your challenges!
Good luck with your challenges!
Three down already! Finished
Conspirata 4 starsHere's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've already started listening to Dictator to finish the trilogy.
Heather wrote: "Wow, 2200 books is a lot! I guess with that amount picking a choice must be almost impossible so your idea of the slips is brilliant. Good luck with your challenges!"
Thanks, Heather! I've tried other schemes for picking random reads, but this one has really gotten me motivated. I've already finished two books from the 30 slips I drew. I have them in a gold drawstring bag on my desk. Right now I know which books I want to get read first, but at some point I hope to dip into the bag to see what I'll read next...
#4.
The Frozen ThamesMy review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
4 stars. A nice meditative little book for cold nights.
#5.
DictatorLeaned at times toward 5 stars, but I left it at a solid 4 for this third book of the trilogy, and a solid 4 for the trilogy as a whole. Thoroughly researched and brilliantly brought to life, it covers the last 15 years of Cicero's life.
I'm not generally a fan of ancient Rome or politics! But I read this because I'm trying to read as many Walter Scott nominees as I can. Conspirata (or Lustrum) was on the shortlist in 2010, and Dictator in 2016 so I can cross those off now.
#6.
A Man Called OveDefinitely 5 stars. This is a great book and my favorite read for January. I probably don't need to say much about it, since I'm probably about the last person to read it, but here's my Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
February plans: Currently reading:
READ The Essex Serpent
After that I will get back to:
Yseult: A Tale of Love in the Age of King Arthur
Just started:
READ The Wine of Angels - I broke down and did a free trial of Audible (which I am continuing). This was one of two free selections I got to pick, and it was not available on audio through the library. I started reading this in 2016, and got about halfway before other things got in the way and I just never seemed to get back to it. It'll finally get finished this month! Yeah!
For bookclub (end of Feb.):
READ The Language of Flowers - audiobook
After that, maybe
READ 44 Scotland Street to start my reread of that series.
After finishing Yseult above, these are on my agenda:
READ Virgins
Miss Garnet's Angel
The Rose of York: Love & War
The Lives of Tudor Women
Laurel The Language of Flowers is an excellent book club book, I also read it for my book club and we had one of our best ever discussions on it. Enjoy!
Laurel wrote: "#6. A Man Called OveDefinitely 5 stars. This is a great book and my favorite read for January. I probably don't need to say much about it, si..."
Glad you enjoyed it, Laurel. I thought it was a great read too. Surprisingly, the film version was very good too - great casting and excellent portrayal of the book (subtitled though!).
#7.
FukuFuku: Kitten Tales 1I probably shouldn't even count this - it's a children's graphic novel that took me all of 30 minutes to read. I loved the Chi's Sweet World series by this author, so I had to read it. Her cats are so wonderfully portrayed! Didn't quite have the emotional impact that Chi had. I gave it 4 stars which might be a tad generous, just because I love cats. It's certainly a pleasant way to fill a lunch break though!
#8.
The Wine of AngelsFINALLY finished this one after I got it from Audible. 4 stars. I liked it, and already got the next one in the series.
#9.
The Language of FlowersThis one was all right. I didn't LOVE it. 3 stars.
That finished out my February reads.
Monthly total: 4 books
Favorite was The Wine of Angels.
Plans for March, which is almost over (ha ha): Still want to read, and not getting back to them...
READ The Essex Serpent
Yseult: A Tale of Love in the Age of King Arthur
READ Corduroy Mansions - monthly book for The Reading Loft
Continuing with Alexander McCall Smith and kicking off my reread of the
READ 44 Scotland Street series.
Started The Hidden Lives of Tudor Women: A Social History but had to return it because it had a hold waiting. I placed a hold to get it back...
I've already read the March book for Daytimers (The Zookeeper's Wife) and not planning to reread it, so I've checked out the audiobook for a previous Daytimer's read that I didn't finish then...
READ A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
#11.
Corduroy MansionsSimilar in style to the 44 Scotland Street series. Not as keen on the characters (yet), but I will continue the series. Next though, I am currently rereading (audiobook) 44 Scotland Street.
#12 and 13. Two more I probably shouldn't count. My interest was piqued by the bunny on the cover (bunnies and owls will get me every time...) and the general topic. I could relate to stuff about being an introvert, but otherwise I'm probably not the audience for these, which are aimed at young adults.
Adulthood Is a Myth
Big Mushy Happy LumpI'm skipping #3 in the series.... for now.
Catching up on posting!#14
44 Scotland Street - McCall Smith reread#15
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena - old Daytimer's read finally read#16
Espresso Tales - McCall Smith reread#17
Plague Land - reread on audio#18
The Paris Wife - Daytimer's#19
The Nick Adams Stories - Daytimer's#20
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis - Daytimer's
July update and plans:4 behind on overall goal. 3 behind on Random Reads goal. Remedied that by knocking off
#21
VirginsA fun little romp for Outlander fans, but in the overall scheme of things I didn't feel it added any thing of value to the series.
I sorted the remaining Random Reads by length to prioritize some of the shorter ones. I'm itching to draw new slips, but I must read at least the minimim in each sub-category first... So for "New Series" I have requested
READ Publish & Perish from a nearby library system. It will take a week or so to get.
Meanwhile, The Golden Horn is next up for shortest on the list, but I have it on Kindle where I have stopped reading
Yseult: A Tale of Love in the Age of King Arthur which was leftover from a challenge last year. So that needs to be finished first.
The July Daytimer's book is
READ My Brilliant Friend
I'm currently listening to
READ Caroline: Little House, Revisited in the car, so will start My Brilliant Friend next.
Then, I want to get back to the McCall Smith rereads, and I have
READ Love Over Scotland on CD from the library waiting...
I've started
READ The Outcasts of Time for some online group or other, and it is due back next week at the library with a hold waiting, so it's now or maybe never...
And then I have devised some monthly reading themes for the library and for a quarterly book group that I started there, and there are always titles that I would LIKE to read for that, but I'm not restricting myself to reading them within the designated month, especially since I have several themes each month to give folks some choices. I'm posting those above in my placeholder posts (message 8 and 9). Would like to maybe meet 12 of those, but I know that means some of my other goals may suffer. Oh well, it's all just ways to choose my next book isn't it! Still, I want the Random Reads to have priority, so I can get those books off my TBR mountain!
#22
The Outcasts of Time4 stars - I liked it. A little slow to start, but I liked the social commentary, and the philosophical musings.
#23
Caroline: Little House, Revisited4 stars - Not quite what I expected. Follows Laura Ingalls Wilder's book too closely, but lovely writing.
#24
Publish & Perish3 stars - liked it better than I thought I would, and have started the 2nd in the series. Trying to knock off some shorter books to get caught up on my goal of 48 for the year! Only 4 behind now...
Plans for August:Currently listening to:
READ My Brilliant Friend - not liking this very much, and tempted to DNF since bookclub was today, but I'm over halfway, so will try and stick it out.
Just started:
Pride and Predator - #2 in the Ben Reese series.
Still need to finish and haven't touched all year:
Yseult: A Tale of Love in the Age of King Arthur
READ The Essex Serpent - will look for this on audio
The Hidden Lives of Tudor Women: A Social History
Next on audio (for bookclub):
READ The Tiger's Wife
Next on my radar:
Library of Souls
Awayland - saw this and fell in love with the cover, so I HAD to check it out. I might buy it, just for the cover!
Claxton: Field Notes from a Small Planet
#26
The Tea Dragon SocietyHow could I not love this, when it combines dragons and tea and keeping old traditions alive and wonderful artwork? 5 stars
#27
The Tiger's Wife4 stars. With its multiple themes, interwoven stories, and magical realism there is much to ponder here.
It's almost September. I did manage three books of my August plans which is quite good actually. I'm still 4 behind my annual total though.I've gotten distracted from the books I keep trying to finish, namely
Yseult: A Tale of Love in the Age of King Arthur
READ What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia
The Hidden Lives of Tudor Women: A Social History
I've caught up with bookclub books for the moment. So I am listening to
READ Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder
which I've had on hold for quite a while and it came in this week.
Not sure what I will do for bookclub. The group met today, but due to Labor Day weekend I totally spaced it off, and I know 2 or 3 of the women were going miss it because of a funeral. Our book for September was supposed to be When We Were Orphans, but the bookclub in a bag kit has been withdrawn from the library and there are not enough other copies. I've substituted
READ Never Let Me Go, but the audio has a long waiting list. I'd still like to discuss
READ The Tiger's Wife so maybe I will let every one just read whatever book by Ishiguro they would like. In that case, I would read The Buried Giant.
I have Veil of Lies currently downloaded from the library. It was an impulse thing, but now I feel I have to read it before it expires!
And I've gotten distracted today, hashing over Madeleine L'Engle's books after watching the DVD of A Wrinkle in Time, but I'll do a separate post about that....
I've always loved Madeleine L'Engle, and recently watching A Wrinkle in Time I am itching to reread it, and of course the whole Time series. But that gets me into the O'Keefes and the Austins and even some of her other novels because of crossover characters.So I thought maybe I should just add another author read this year, to be continued into next year. So I'm adding it with the McCall Smith challenge - post # 6 above...
#29
Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder3 stars: Lots of info, but couldn't help feeling it was very biased.
#30
The Wild Iris3 stars: Liked the structure of the book, but not the individual poems.
#31
The Dog who Came in from the Cold4 stars. Some of the characters in this series are starting to grow on me...
October already! I'm falling farther behind on my annual goal. Only read 3 books in September. Not going to rehash all the ones I've started and need to finish. I have foolishly gotten attracted to 3 different group reads all going on NOW:Middlemarch
Cryptonomicon
The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors
The first two are chunkies and certainly won't be read in a month.
Currently listening to:
READ Love Over Scotland
This is supposed to be a reread for me, but I so far am not recognizing any of the plot. I think I would remember Cyril getting stolen, Bertie being cast as Baron Von Trapp in a school production of The Sound of Music, and Dominica sojourning among pirates in Malaysia, among other things.
Next is:
READ Never Let Me Go
and
READ The Handmaid's Tale
for bookclub.
And what should be a quick read:
READ The Wild Robot
a children's book I checked out because I loved the cover.
#32
My Prairie Cookbook: Memories and Frontier Food from My Little House to Yours4 stars - Comfort food with trivia and photos from Little House on the Prairie's Melissa Gilbert.
#33
What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia3 stars - Some good information, but mostly an angry diatribe against J.D. Vance.
#34
Love Over Scotland4 stars - Thought I was re-reading this, but it was not familiar at all...
#35
Never Let Me Go3 stars - a contemporary classic, but creepy and unsatisfying
#36
The Handmaid's Tale5 stars - another classic, thought I wouldn't like it, and loved it, even though it feels all too plausible...
#37
The Life We Bury4 stars - a great debut, lovely writing, but not a great mystery plot...
#38
Britain Begins4 stars - comprehensive and scholarly
November.... I've already finished this month's book club book. Currently listening toREAD Lethal White
which several online groups are reading and I didn't want to risk spoilers. The library waiting list was going to be 6 months so I got it from Audible.
Still want to read the first three I listed for October, but they got set aside when I got Britain Begins. It was an interlibrary loan, so I had to get it read within the alloted time and everything else got set aside. Now, I have to read Oppenheimer and Sykes....
READ The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story
Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland
I've also started
READ Ilsa by Madeleine L'Engle
and still want to read
READ The Wild Robot
#39
Lethal White5 stars - the best one yet
#40
The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story2 stars only because I have a high interest in the topic and managed to read the whole thing. Just read the epilogue.
#41
Ilsa4 stars - "a still life of the south in all its inertia and its persistence for the past"
#42
The World According to Bertie5 stars just for the comfort factor - #4 in my reread of this series
#43
The Wild Robot3 stars - mostly because it seemed unfinished and ended only so there could be a sequel.
Closing in on my goal of 48 books for the year. But only because 9 of them have been children's books and a few more will be children's books.I "have" to read
The Wild Robot Escapes
and my Daytimer's book group will be reading
Mary Poppins for our December meeting. I'm hoping to get to several of the sequels as well.
I am almost finished listening to
The Unbearable Lightness of Scones, #5 in my reread of the 44 Scotland Street series. I have a long road trip for the Christmas holidays, so I may be able to finish at least one more audiobook by the end of the year.
All About Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Cryptonomicon (other topics)A House Like a Lotus (other topics)
A Severed Wasp (other topics)
The Pillars of the Earth (other topics)
Kristin Lavransdatter (other topics)
More...
I've been working on two things this year, and I'm absurdly pleased with the results, so I'm sharing here. One project has been to get all of the books that I have obtained free or purchased for Kindle or Nook (or Kobo or PDFs...) listed on my Goodeads account. The other project has been to create little slips for every book on my TBR (ebooks and print books) - about 2,200+ ! ) so that I can randomly pick a certain number of books to read for 2018. For next year, I want to add all the print books I own to both Goodreads and slips, but that's another story...)
So I divided my 2,200+ slips into 6 categories and put them in ziploc bags: 4 large categories (historical fiction (pre-1900), themes (I've had themes every year, like read 12 books related to Moby Dick, or Pride and Prejudice, or titles with Wife in them, or birds, or music, or whatever...), books in series (more than 3), both new series, and series I want to continue, and Other (20th century fiction, fantasy, sci fi, etc. Then I have 2 smaller categories of nonfiction, and books relating to either Wales or King Arthur. Then I randomly drew slips from each bag, 6 from the 4 large bags, and 3 from the two small bags to make 30 titles.
My first goal is to read at least 12 books out of the 30 for 2018. Another goal is to read the 12 books for my real life book club that I'm in, 12 more will be other book groups' reads (like this group), and then 12 free choice, which may include things I started but didn't finish this year. I say I'm going to read 48 books every year, and I never make it - my average is about 36 - but I still try.
Then add in challenges from different groups, but I think I'll only do them concurrently - that is, the same titles can be used for different challenges. Also, although I call this my 2018 list, I reserve the right to start now!