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Rumpelteazer's 2020 Reading Challenge
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HomeInMyShoes
(last edited Apr 06, 2020 03:10PM)
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Apr 06, 2020 02:51PM
Cool. I like architecture. Maybe that's the tidbit that pushes me over to reading the first one. Hmmm...Overdrive through my library is a bit irksome. 0 of 2 copies available and the wait lists on Overdrive are rather long in most cases.
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Mortal Arts by Anna Lee Huber.A great read. I love historic mysteries, but they often have too much romance thrown in for my liking. This series has some romance, but it isn't soppy and annoying. It reminds me of C.S. Harris' Sebastian St. Cyr series.
My next read is a new release, almost three weeks ago, but it isn't on GoodReads yet. Which is annoying.
You're in luck. Maybe.If you go to How do I add a book to the Goodreads database there is a link saying here that might let you add the book. Apparently anyone who's been around more than a week can add a book.
Thanks, I've added the book. I knew I would be able to add it myself, I just couldn't be bothered to figure out how. One of those days, I guess.
Mary by Amy CrossOkay, a nice quick read.
I've four series where I have only one book left to read. I've decided to get those finished, then I can start some new series.
The Belly of the Beast by Desmond Doane.One series finished, three more to go. Luckily they're all genres I'm into at the moment, which makes finishing them a lot easier.
The Secret of Cold Hill by Peter James.Okay. Like with the first book in the series more could have been done with the original haunting.
Two down, two to more series to go!
I've noticed that in the past week I'm more likely to read than to get creative. Am I getting my reading mojo back?
I also saw that Grady Hendrix has a new book out, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, only the title is already super intriguing. According to the blurb murderinos and fans of Stephing King will love the book. I'm both. I haven't bought it yet; I have so many other things on my Kobo. But next weekend I'm going to my sister's place from Friday until Monday, it's a bank holiday, so I might just treat myself.
Usher's Passing by Robert R. McCammon.I think this is the first audio book I listened to in full. I liked the story. The reader/voice actor was okay, although the whiny voices were mostly appropriate it got to be annoying at times.
Next week I get my next credits. I've decided to spend it on Stephen King's It, I did read it last summer, but I've been thinking about a lot lately. I also, still, want to listen to The Stand, but not just yet.
Colony of the Lost by Derik Cavignano.I liked this story. Definitely influenced by Stephen King's It, but not in a bad way. I would have liked more about the monster and the history.
Up next is Grady Hendrix's latest book. If I manage to finish it before the end of the month, and that's very much possible, since I have a long weekend, then I've had a very good month of reading. Almost 3000 pages. Which in other years is less than my monthly average. But for the past eight months that's pretty good. There are just two months I read slightly more. I've noticed that during the last couple of weeks I've been doing less creative things and more reading. Maybe my reading slump is over, maybe not, maybe I find a good inbetween.
You've got a lot of reading in. Are you going back to work this week or has the stay-at-home been extended in your area? I have recently acquired both It and The Stand in audiobook. Probably summer listens.
In the Netherlands we have, what our prime minister refers to, an "intelligent lockdown". People are encouraged to work from home if possible, restaurants, cafés and the like are closed except for pick-up and/or delivery, stores are allowed to stay open if they adhere to certain rules. A lot of the bigger stores closed, though more are now reopening. Some smaller stores also closed, but those are also reopening (the government handouts to businesses is more limited than most expected). With some minor adjustments our store was able to stay open. But it's a lot more quiet than normal. So I'm working two full days instead of four. Usually I work two morning on weekdays and the full Saturday. But we've been flexible about it; last week I worked four mornings, so I had Saturday off and stayed with my sister during the weekend. Today I'm working my third morning, two shipments came in on Tuesday and we want to get the product on the shelves as quickly as possible. Later today we decide whether I work tomorrow morning or half a day on Saturday.
So I've got more time off. Some of that is spend reading and diamond painting, and whilst doing the latter I can listen to an audio book. But to be honest a lot of that time is spend on playing Animal Crossing. That game is addictive.
I've noticed that during the last couple of weeks I spend more time reading and less time diamond painting. At the moment I'm just going with the flow, doing whatever I feel like doing. Just like I'm reading whatever I feel like reading, I'm not forcing myself to follow a plan.
I found my cd box set of The Stand earlier this week. I bought it years ago off eBay. I digitized it and will put it on my iPod later today. So I now have two Stephen King audio books to look forward to, over 100 hours of listening.
Haha. Animal Crossing. I loved the original version I had on the Gamecube. Doing errands. Teaching the animals to say things. Collecting useless things for the house. So much mindless entertainment.
HomeInMyShoes wrote: "Haha. Animal Crossing. I loved the original version I had on the Gamecube. Doing errands. Teaching the animals to say things. Collecting useless things for the house. So much mindless entertainment."Great game during this messed up time. I got my sister to go over to the dark side. When she first saw the game she loved it but wasn't willing to buy a Switch only for that game. This weekend she bought a Switch Lite (because the regular one is sold out) and the game. Now we'll have to figure out how to visit each other's island.
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix.Best read of 2020 so far. For some reason it reminded me of Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot. Although the only things it has in common is a vampire terrorizing a small community and a not so happy ending. Great read, recommended.
A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab.A nice end to the trilogy. Although it leaves you wanting for more.
That leaves only one book left of my mini challenge of finishing off several series, the last in the Shadow Police series by Paul Cornell. And although it's set in a realistic world, it's still got a hefty dose of fantasy. And since I've been reading fantasy/monster heavy books lately I thought it would be nice to change it up and read the latest Ruth Galloway book by Ellie Griffiths.
There has been a lot of releases of series I like lately, and it's time to catch up. Plus, I still need to read the latest Comoran Strike book, that was released over a year and a half ago. The next book is set to be released in September. It's a nice mixture of styles, so it won't be too hard to get through those in a timely manner. That's going to be my next focus (since I'm not really doing any more challenges this year).
The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths.The latest in the Ruth Galloway series. I really enjoyed it, even if "the team" seems to have dispersed a bit. A great series if you like Midsomer Murders. It isn't a cozy series, but not as grim as other crime series.
Ghostland by Duncan RalstonA fun and quick read. The foot/end notes don't work quite well in the story, but I don't see another method how to solve the problem of giving the extra information about the ghosts and hauntings without it disrupting the flow of the story.
Up next, Camino Island by John Grisham. The first in the Camino Island duology.
Camino Island by John Grisham.I loved this story. Like most of the Grisham books there isn't much action, but the build up of the story is great.
I've been really lucky choosing which books I want to read. I had promised myself that if I wasn't able to get into a story I would put it aside quickly, but that hasn't happened.
I've chosen an easy read as my next book, the third in the Lady Darby series. That should tide me over until after the bank holiday Thursday. After that I want to finish The Shadow Police series.
A Grave Matter by Anna Lee Huber.I'm really enjoying this series. I expect to finish it way too soon and then I have to find another, similar, series. Which is hard, I like historic mysteries, but they shouldn't contain too much romance and also shouldn't be too serious.
Up next is the last/latest book in the Shadow Police series. That means I've almost finished my mini goal. After that I'm focusing on catching up on my older series.
I saw that I'm 14 books ahead of my 52 book goal this year. So that's good. This month I've been averaging 100 pages a day. Which is really good compared to the last nine months. If my reading slump doesn't come back I might be able to read 75 books or even more!
Who Killed Sherlock Holmes? by Paul Cornell.Overly complicated. This is the third book in the Shadow Police series, which was supposed to be five books, but Cornell's other series took off and this one was left in limbo.
My goal of reading 100 pages a day this month won't happen. I fell behind this past week. Partially because of this book, but mostly because of the Family Thing. Which after seven years (minus nine days) is finally resolved! I just didn't have the energy to concentrate on reading the last couple of days.
Another slow reading week. Oh well. It was a combination of things, mostly I had to do some other things and I was in the mood for other hobbies.I'm cleaning at the moment, so that will take up time for a while. After that I think it's time to digitize all my cd's, so I can get rid of most of those. I will need to get an external cd/dvd player for my notebook, which doesn't have one of those.
The Forgotten by Tamara Thorne.A good and original ghost story. Not for those who dislike sex and mild gore.
I follow her on Facebook and she's got my type of humor (which isn't for everyone).
Although I really liked it it was somewhat of a slow read. I hope my next book, the latest in the Sigma Force series is a bit quicker.
The Last Odyssey by James Rollins.A good addition to the series, though the ending isn't super good.
Die Again by Bill Thompson.
I like that this book was set in the middle of New Orleans, instead of a more remote location, like most of the books in the series. I'm really enjoying this series and can't wait for the next release.
Who Speaks for the Damned by C.S. HarrisAnother great story in this series. It's book 15 in the series but it's still going strong.
The Anomaly by Michael Rutger.Highly entertaining, reminded me of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child books. Definitely inspired by Josh Gates' Expedition Unknown series.
As soon as my credit card is unfrozen I'll get the second, and so far last, book in the series. My prepaid credit card is owned by Wirecard, which is involved in a scandal and authorities have now frozen the prepaid credit cards (possibly also other accounts). Luckily I only had €11 on it, and it's supposed to be safe. But annoying, I had to cancel my Audible account, luckily I still have 19 hours of It and another audio book of 3 books to listen to. The biggest problem is getting ebooks, since Amazon doesn't do Paypal, all other things I can use alternative payment methods. I might look into getting a regular credit card, but the prepaid is fairly safe and since I almost never have a lot money on it I will not lose a lot of money if the details are stolen and used.
The Remaking by Clay McCloud ChapmanOkay-ish horror.
The Silent Wife by Karin Slaughter.
Great story, again one of those series that keeps on being good.
It seems that when I read book I really, really like I'm able to read them fast. If it find the really good or less it might take longer for me to read it.
Deep Night by Ambrose IbsenThe first book in a new series with main character Harlan Ulrich, a PI. Who has moved to a smaller town, hoping to avoid paranormal cases. His first case seems to be a simple stalker case, but it turns out much more sinister, of course.
The Possession by Michael Rutger.Second book in The Anomaly Files series. Okay, a fairly standard horror story. I liked the first one better, it was a bit ridiculous and reminded my of Lincoln Child & Douglas Preston books.
I'm going house sitting for two weeks from tomorrow (could be shorter if Corona gets worse in Belgium). This time I'm not only looking after dog Keira, but my friends also got a one year cat Pien. Pien's a skinny little thing with huge eyes, hopefully we'll get along. It took a while for their previous cat to warm up to me, but when that happened he turned into a big cuddle monster.
The Man From Taured: A breakneck mystery-thriller by Jeremy Bates.Meh. Though part of the Scariest Legends series this book wasn't very scary. Luckily it wasn't very long.
Bianca wrote: "The Man From Taured: A breakneck mystery-thriller by Jeremy Bates.Meh. Though part of the Scariest Legends series this book wasn't very scary. Luckily it wasn't very long."
I think I pre-ordered that one then completely forgot that I had it. Guess there's no rush. LOL It's kind of sad that his World's Scariest Places series was so awesome but this Legends series just can't seem to get to that level.
Christa wrote: "I think I pre-ordered that one then completely forgot that I had it. Guess there's no rush. LOL It's kind of sad that his World's Scariest Places series was so awesome but this Legends series just can't seem to get to that level. "I couldn't agree more. The first one was okay, but the last two were just meh. On September 1 the latest book in Places is released, dealing with the Chelsea Hotel. Which is a topic that interests me. Hopefully it's up to par with the rest of the series.
Violet by Scott ThomasA creepy horror, where everything is slowly revealed. I'm normally not into horror stories where a family moves to a house (temporarily or not) after a mother/father/child has died. It's been done to death over the last couple of years.
However, I really enjoyed Thomas' Kill Creek last year, so I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. This is not your typical bereavement horror story. It isn't a full blown slasher horror, either. But a slow burner, where you know from the start something isn't right, but is it a ghost or is it imaginary?
Recommended.
The House of Dolls by David Hewson.I really enjoyed this book. It's set in Amsterdam and often when non Dutch authors write about Amsterdam or the Netherlands the book is filled with stereotypes, but I think this book represents the Netherlands and the Dutch very well.
Bianca wrote: "The House of Dolls by David Hewson.I really enjoyed this book. It's set in Amsterdam and often when non Dutch authors write about Amsterdam or the Netherlands the book is filled wi..."
Thanks for the tip. I'm adding book to my To READ collection.
Voices in the Snow by Darcy Coates.The first in the Black Winter series. It started as a ghost story, turned into a post-apocalyptic ghost story and then into a post-apocalyptic WTF story. In a good way. Usually I'm not into post-apocalyptic stories, but the emphasis wasn't heavy on this part of the story. I think it will be in the later books, but I don't think that will be a problem for me. Good book, a bit different from her other books.
Murder of the Bride by Faith MartinGood story, although it took a while for me to pick up this third book of the series I am enjoying it. The stories aren't too complicated or gruesome. Just nice little mysteries that aren't too long.
and
The Caretakers by Eliza Maxwell
A good enough story. I generally like mysteries which have a historic story line and one set in the present. However, usually the two story lines are more intertwined than in this book. Still, it was hard to put down.
Bianca wrote: "Voices in the Snow by Darcy Coates.The first in the Black Winter series. It started as a ghost story, turned into a post-apocalyptic ghost story and then into a post-apocalyptic WT..."
I'm about 85% of the way through this one. Loving it! And I adore Dorran! I don't usually like romance in my books these days but it feels natural in this one and doesn't overrun the plot.
Christa wrote: "I'm about 85% of the way through this one. Loving it! And I adore Dorran! I don't usually like romance in my books these days but it feels natural in this one and doesn't overrun the plot."
I feel the same about the romance aspect of many novels nowadays. It's the reason I don't read Heather Graham or Nora Roberts, I love the spooky parts of their stories, but there's just too much romance. If I'm in the mood I can just about deal with Barbara Michaels.
Camino Winds by John GrishamGood enough. I'm looking forward to the new Jake Brigance book later this year.
Without realizing I accomplished my 52 book goal. I'm hoping to eventually reach somewhere around 75 books. Though the last three months of year, and especially December, tends to be slower reading months for me in general. So we'll see.
I'm just under three hours away from finishing the audio book of Stephen King's It. I'll add the number of pages of the paperback edition I have onto my list. At over 1100 pages that's a nice total, almost half of my monthly average this year.
No One's Home by D.M. PulleyOkay read, it reminded me a lot of the first book in the House on Cold Hill series by Peter James. I did like this book better than the Peter James one, though.
I'm failing on bringing back the number of first in series I have. I started with 125 of those (some of which are rereads of series I read a long time ago), I've read seven first in series book so far and the total number of has gone up to 133 FIS books.
The Darkest Evening by Ann Cleeves.I love the Vera Stanhope series, both the books and the TV series. I deliberately took my time reading it because I wanted it to last for a little while. Great book.
I recently found out there was a series by Douglas Preston I hadn't read before. I have the books, but I didn't catalogue them as a series. Since I was in the mood for a silly adventure thriller I started the first book in the Wyman Ford series. I'm not far, but I'm enjoying it.
September has been a busy month so far, hopefully in a week things will slow down a bit and I can spend more time doing things I like and which relax me.
It by Stephen KingMy first time listening to it and I loved the narrator, Steven Weber (who played Jack Torrance in the mini series of The Shining). I will need to check if he narrated more audio books.
I've already started to listen to the next audio book, which is comprised of the first three in the Dark Yorkshire series, by J.M. Dalgliesh. I'd never heard of this series or the author, but it took my fancy on Audible. It gets a good rating on GR and so far I'm liking it.
Bianca wrote: "Camino Winds by John GrishamGood enough. I'm looking forward to the new Jake Brigance book later this year.
Without realizing I accomplished my 52 book goal. I'm hoping to eventua..."
Yay! When I was working, I think the best I did was 30 books a year. Yay to 52! As to Stephen King, I have obtained several of his books in the last year including It and still haven't gotten round to them. As an audiobook, it is over 30 hours so will be part of next year's goal to listen to one 30+ hour audiobook per month.
A Pressing Engagement by Anna Lee Huber.As far as short stories in a series goes this one was quite good, long enough to be proper story and not just a appetizer for the next full length novel.
It did take me a week and a half to read. Which means I'm in a slump again. I have spend my evenings working on a cross stitch project (a bee) which is a present for my sister. I have a few more excuses, but I simply wasn't in the mood to read. During the last couple of weeks the whole pandemic thing is really getting to me and reading doesn't offer enough distraction at the moment.
Divided House by J.M. Dalgliesh.An audiobook and first in the Dark Yorkshire series. I got it in a bundle, there are two more in the same series left to listen to.
I enjoyed the story. A bit stereotypical with the main character having personal problems. The person reading the story was okay, except that he made all women sound annoying and weak. But it doesn't annoy me enough not to continue listening to the other books in the bundle.
I haven't done much reading. For the past two weeks I've been dealing with what turned out to be an infected tooth, which needed an root canal. It took three visits (initial treatment and start of the root canal, infection came back and it needed to be cleaned again and then the finishing of the root canal) to get it done. I did get some reading done yesterday and today. Which was nice.
The Wrong Girl by David Hewson.The second book in the Pieter Vos series. Again, Hewson did his research about the Netherlands, Amsterdam and Dutch traditions. But, even though the book was released in 2015, not that long ago, it feels a bit dated when it comes to the blackface tradition of the Black Pete's during Sinterklaas. Luckily a lot has changed in that tradition since, though more should change.
I really liked the story. As is standard now it took me a while to read, due to a combination of life and the slowing down of my reading.
My next book is a horror, since it's the time of year for that.
It's been a tiring and stressful couple of months.Over the last six months or so my mother's mobility has been decreasing rapidly. Initially she used doctor Google to self diagnose, but eventually she got scared enough in October to call our GP. Eventually she was diagnosed with a stenosis in her neck (narrowing in the spinal cord due to arthritis, pinching the nerves) and mid November she was operated on.
I already did most of the house hold chores but when she got home most of her care fell on me. She's doing a lot better now, and can mostly take care of herself again. She is putting off making an appointment with the physiotherapist, so we will probably need to force her in the new year.
Add to that November and December are the busiest months of the year in our store. And with Corona fuses of customers are short and you have constant discussions about how many people we allow in our store ("but we are a bubble"), about customer keeping 1.5m apart from each other and us, about customers not parking their bicycles in front of the store (due to waiting lines that might form) and upset customer because things are sold out (Corona also makes shipments from China more difficult).
At the end of the day I didn't have the energy to read. I did a lot of cross stitching and watching easy TV (paranormal shows and a restart of X-Files).
On the 14th last week the government announced a lockdown to start at midnight. Most stores, including ours, are now closed until at least January 19, on the 12th the government will hold another press conference to let everyone know if the lockdown will continue or eased. Yes, it sucks that we have to close during the busiest time of year. But it also reduces the stress enormously.
Over the last week I've been reading more, and more importantly, enjoying it.
For my challenge next year I'm going to take it easy and see how it goes.
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Books mentioned in this topic
The Twisted Ones (other topics)As Death Draws Near (other topics)
The Wrong Girl (other topics)
Divided House (other topics)
A Pressing Engagement (other topics)
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