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Stacie's 2020 RYS Challenge
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Stacie
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Dec 21, 2019 06:29AM
This year I'm going big! I'm aiming for 61 books: 12 physical books off of my shelves and my entire backlog of 49 audible books.
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1.
The American Civil War Comprehensive and clearly delivered, though I did have to speed it up to keep from being annoyed by the narration. I've had this for a couple of years, but it was worth the wait.Audio
2.
Darkfall I've had this for several years- I picked it up as a freebie because I vaguely remembered reading it way back when and enjoying it. Wow. Past Me, really? I mean, wow... this didn't exactly hold up. Ok, I cringed most of the way through this, and not in a good way. But, it's off of my TBR list, finally, and I'll just forgive my past self for her reading tastes the same way I forgive her for her hairstyles, lol!Audio
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Darkfall I've had this for several years- I picked it up as a freebie because I vaguely remembered reading it way back when and enjoying it. Wow. Past ..."lol hey we age, we mature, we learn, and our tastes change! It's okay! I'm actually afraid to re-read some books for fear of losing that OMG I LOVED THIS feeling I had when I was a teenager reading them for the first time.
3.
A History of Greece, Volume 2 I've had this one for about 7 years. I picked up both his Greek and Roman histories, and got through the first volume in each set and then stalled. They definitely reflect the time they were written, and lets just say that delving into ancient history via the lens of early 20th century British biases requires a focus that I'm not always in the headspace for! That said, they are good for what they are.Audio
5.
Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver At least this was only purchased last year... and not half a decade ago, lol!Audio
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Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver At least this was only purchased last year... and not half a decade ago, lol..."haha you're catching up!
6.
The 30 Greatest Orchestral Works This has been sitting on my shelves for a year and a half (give or take). It was good, but at nearly 25 hours (all of it requiring focus and attention) it was a bit of a monster!Audio
7.
In the Name of Rome: The Men Who Won the Roman Empire The first physical book off of my shelves- it's one I've had for about 10 years, or so. It was excellent!Physical
8.
The Secret Commonwealth I got this the day it came out last year... and then struggled to get through it :/ Audio
Whew! I haven't fallen behind yet, lol! (to meet my goal I need to average 1 physical book and 5 audiobooks per month, and ebooks are icing on the cake. I'm not even going to do the math on those... 'cause, yeah... never going to finish that list.) January's recap:
7 Audio
1 Physical
0 Ebook
9.
The Modern Scholar Astronomy II: Stars Galaxies and the Universe. I bought this, along with two others by the same professor, several years ago. Then I listened to the first one and discovered that I didn't really like him and shoved the rest of the titles to the bottom of the heap. Sadly, I wasn't particularly impressed with this one either. At least I can mark it as finished, and I did wind up learning a lot, so not a total loss I guess. Audio
10.
The Modern Scholar: Heavens Above: Stars, Constellations, and the Sky So many people like his courses, but unfortunately I wasn't one of them. This was the most enjoyable of the three, but I definitely won't be looking for anything else by him! Still, another one off of the long term waiting list and I haven't fallen that far behind yet ;)Audio
11.
The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches12.
The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches IIHoly sweet mother of God...! This is the worst thing I've ever read... and I read fan fiction... and self-published stories... and vanity press issues... I even helped edit my High School's Literary Magazine... and this is worse than all of those. I need to readjust my criteria for rating, this thing was so bad. This makes everything I have ever read seem better in comparison. I read a review (after the fact, dammit!) that describes it perfectly: "This is spectacularly bad, spiritually bad, grammatically, morally, ecumenically bad. This is the kind of badness that Ed Wood can only dream of, brought on by the potent combination of a gigantic ego and a truly stunning lack of talent."
I'm giving these two books a single review because they were originally one single book that was split (badly) into two, re-titled and given new chapter names, and then re-released (and apparently marketed as children's books- which they are absolutely not). I skipped and skimmed but I am counting them as done because I am never, ever, going back to them. Not only will I never touch anything else put out by this author, I will never touch anything else from this publisher!
Audio
13.
Artemis I got this as soon as it came out but then never got around to it, afraid that it wouldn't live up to The Martian... and it doesn't. It's not terrible, just kind of "meh". I liked the description of life on the moon... but I just wasn't invested in the main character and never really cared about the plot. Audio
15.
The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome. I've had this one for about 5 years, and I kept putting it off because it's a wide-ranging chunkster and I knew it would require a lot of focus to keep straight, but it was good and it aged well (one of the benefits of writing about ancient history- while discoveries are still being made, they don't tend to upend the understanding of events as rapidly as modern historical scholarship tends to). I'm hoping to get around to the third book and finish off the series before another 5 years passes!Audio
16.
There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra I've had this one for a couple of years and it was a good, if sad, read. I'd recommend the text version over the audiobook, though.Audio
17.
Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play It I've had this one for a while. I'm not sure why I kept passing over it, it's a subject I adore and the book itself was light and fun. Only, now I want to go out and buy the rest of the manuals I don't have...Ebook
Let's face it... by this point there is no way I'm going to complete my original goal! At least I can say that I haven't added to my TBR... and I see no reason to make a challenge a chore, so I'm not terribly upset :)
18.
Up from Slavery It's one of those things you read excerpts form in school and always intend to get around to the whole thing... someday. Glad I did! (I've had this on my Kindle for 11 years, hahahahahahah!)Ebook
19.
Pacific Destiny: The Three-Century Journey to the Oregon Country. The subject was interesting, but the writing wasn't the best. But, it's another physical book cleared off the shelf!Physical
21.
A Trail Through Time I loved the first two books in the series, and enjoyed the third, but by the time I was about halfway through this one everything had just become so tedious. Audio
22.
The Unexpected Mrs. PollifaxAudio
23.
The Mysterious Affair at StylesEbook
75 Books...More or Less!
Books mentioned in this topic
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (other topics)The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (other topics)
A Trail Through Time (other topics)
Washington's Crossing (other topics)
Pacific Destiny: The Three-Century Journey to the Oregon Country (other topics)
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