Elena Returns to Mars After a Year on Everest

[Elena]

I took a break in 2019 by only (!) setting the goal of 100 books, and I made it, but my mountain of unread stuff didn't actually get any smaller. (I blame, in part, a charity bundle I purchased to help a favorite author, which ended up giving me 31 new books. Thankfully they're digital, but that's still so many!)

So 2020 is the year I will actually read more of my own books than I acquire through whatever method. I'm sure I'll still get books as gifts, but I will buy far fewer! So the goal is 150 once again, I have returned to Mars!

[Elena]

1. Sunshine 1/4/20
2. Bound to Be a Bride 1/5/20

[Leslie]

Good luck with your climb and your resolution to buy fewer books, Elena!

[Elena]

Leslie wrote: "Good luck with your climb and your resolution to buy fewer books, Elena!"

Thank you! I'm going to break my book buying ban in March when my Thriftbooks free-book coupon is about to expire, so I can use it, but until then I will buy nothing. It definitely helps to have a set date to stick to rather than being open-ended!

[Elena]

Quirkyreader wrote: "Welcome back to the climb."

Thanks!

Checking in now with:

3. Full Dark, No Stars 1/8/20

[Elena]

4. Autonomous 1/9/20
5. Golden Fool 1/13/20
6. Next Year in Havana 1/14/20

[Elena]

7. So I'm a Spider, So What?, Vol. 1 1/14/20
8. The Age of Innocence 1/17/20
9. Break the Rules 1/18/20

[Elena]

10. The Black Tides of Heaven 1/20/20
11. Station Eleven 1/23/20

[Elena]

12. Sing Your Heart Out 1/24/20

[Elena]

Quirkyreader wrote: "Hurrah on reaching Pike’s Peak 🐸"

Thank you! Time to climb over it.

13. Hold Me 1/24/20
14. The Bromance Book Club 1/25/20
15. Red Rising 1/26/20

[Elena]

16. The Singer 1/29/30
17. The Secret 1/30/20
18. Breakaway 1/31/20
19. Barefoot with a Bodyguard 2/1/20
20. Picking up the Pieces 2/2/20
21. From a Buick 8 2/4/20
22. Make Him Wild 2/5/20
23. A Secret Affair 2/7/20
24. Pantomime 2/10/20

[Elena]

25. Beauty Is a Wound 2/11/20
26. Kitchens of the Great Midwest 2/15/20
27. The Return of the Black Widowers 2/17/20
28. Fiona's Flame 2/19/20
29. The Miniaturist 2/21/20

[Elena]

30. The English Patient 2/24/20
31. The Only Harmless Great Thing 2/24/20
32. His Custody 2/25/20
33. The Heart of What Was Lost 2/27/20
34. Blind Attraction 2/29/20

[Marie]

You go girl and be cool 😎

[Elena]

35. I Am a Cat 3/3/20
36. Wabi-Sabi: For Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers 3/4/20
37. Dreams Underfoot 3/7/20
38. The Inexplicable Logic of My Life 3/8/20
39. The Bride Test 3/10/20
40. The Thing About December 3/13/20

[Elena]

41. By Degrees 3/14/20
42. Bayou Moon 3/18/20
43. Coraline 3/20/20
44. Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States 3/24/20
45. Shy Girls Write it Better 3/24/20
46. Erstwhile 3/26/20
47. The Memory of Running 3/27/20
48. Starlight on Willow Lake 3/29/20

[Elena]

49. State of Wonder 4/1/20
50. Fool's Fate 4/8/20
51. The Night Watch 4/11/20
52. Tikka Chance on Me 4/12/20
53. The Bridges of Madison County 4/14/20
54. Trick 4/15/20
55. Johannes Cabal the Necromancer 4/18/20
56. Craving for Love 4/19/20
57. The Perks of Being a Wallflower 4/21/20
58. The Duchess War 4/22/20
59. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 4/25/20

[Elena]

Quirkyreader wrote: "Wow surpassing Mt. Ararat and onto Mt. K."

I am going really fast this year, but it helps that I didn't get any library books out until this past week when I wanted some audiobooks--thank goodness for Hoopla!

[Elena]

60. Wasted Words 4/27/20
61. Lost Lake 4/30/20

[Elena]

62. The Dragon Keeper
63. Fate's Edge

[Elena]

64. Steel's Edge 05/09/20
65. The Complete Cosmicomics 05/13/20
66. The Bone Witch 05/16/20
67. Ancillary Justice 05/20/20
68. The Murmur of Bees 05/21/20
69. First Frost 05/22/20
70. The Necessary Beggar 05/24/20
71. Room 05/25/20
72. Melting Steel 05/27/20
73. Never a Mistress, No Longer a Maid 05/28/20
74. Sexy in Stilettos 05/30/20
75. Sultry in Stilettos 05/31/20

[Elena]

Quirkyreader wrote: "And it’s off to El Toro🐸🐙🦋🐝"

I almost can't believe I'm half done exactly a month early!

[Elena]

76. Dragon Haven 6/2/20
77. One Perfect Night 6/3/20
78. Wednesday 6/5/20
79. Love On My Mind 6/11/20
80. Along Came Love 6/12/20
81. The Tropic of Serpents 6/14/20
82. A Princess in Theory 6/15/20
83. No Ordinary Star 6/16/20

[Elena]

84. Desperation 6/17/20
85. City of Dragons 6/19/20
86. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World 6/23/20
87. Secrets of a Summer Night 6/24/20
88. The Remains of the Day 6/29/20
89. The Art of Peeling an Orange 6/30/20

[Elena]

90. Ancillary Sword 7/5/20
91. The Neverending Story 7/8/20
92. General Winston's Daughter 7/9/20
93. Sphere 7/11/20
94. The Light Between Oceans 7/13/20

[Elena]

Oh, for pity's sake, it's really been more than a month since I updated? This is going to take a while:

95. Childhood's End 7/17/20
96. An American Marriage 7/Rosewater: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival24/20
97. Your Irresistible Love 7/24/20
98. Knocking Boots 7/25/20
99. The Runaway Bride 7/27/20
100. Blood of Dragons 7/30/20
101. Buzz 7/31/20
102. In Other Lands 8/3/20
103. Norwegian Wood 8/6/20
104. Shantaram 8/7/20
105. Rosewater: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival 8/10/20
106. Wildwood Dancing 8/12/20
107. The Great Passage 8/14/20
108. Witchmark 8/16/20
109. Homegoing 8/24/20
110. Dragonsong: a short story 8/24/20
111. Highlander's Desire 8/27/20
112. War and Peace 8/27/20

[Elena]

113. Heart Signs 8/28/20
114. One Dom to Love 8/29/20
115. Insomnia 9/3/20

[Elena]

116. Dirty 9/4/20
117. Amethyst 9/5/20
118. The Other Boleyn Girl 9/7/20

[Elena]

Okay, I haven't updated since September, so here goes:

119. Autobiography of a Corpse 9/14/20
120. At This Moment 9/17/20
121. And the Mountains Echoed 9/21/20
122. The King's Man 9/23/20
123. Ancillary Mercy 9/26/20
124. No Plain Rebel 9/29/20

125. Behold, Here's Poison 10/4/20
126. A Song for Arbonne 10/8/20
127. Dread Nation 10/13/20
128. Haunted 10/14/20
129. The Hangman's Daughter 10/15/20
130. Acheron 10/19/20
131. Needful Things 10/27/20
132. An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew 10/29/20
133. Sell Out 10/30/20

134. Nemesis Games 11/02/20
135. Forever Buckhorn: Gabe / Jordan 11/03/20
136. Dreams of a Dark Warrior 11/04/20
137. Fool's Assassin 11/07/20
138. Cloud Atlas 11/10/20
139. His Bride for the Taking 11/10/20
140. Fool's Quest 11/15/20
141. Rose Madder 11/23/20
142. Screw Up 11/24/20
143. The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. Le Guin 11/29/20

144. Secrets in the Attic 12/02/20
145. Four Past Midnight 12/07/20

[Leslie]

You are almost at the top Elena!

[Elena]

Leslie wrote: "You are almost at the top Elena!"

I am! I'm going to make it! Though I'm cutting it much closer this year than usual.

On that note:

146. Yellowstone Heart Song 12/10/20

[Elena]

Done!

147. Flight Behavior 12/13/20
148. The Regulators 12/16/20
149. Bittersweet 12/17/20
150. The Unreal and the Real: The Selected Short Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin 12/23/20

And bonus reads, mostly thanks to a readathon I participated in from Christmas Day - New Year's Eve:

151. The Replacement Crush 12/24/20
152. Paper Towns 12/25/20
153. The Voyage of the Basilisk 12/28/20
154. Back with the Stuntman 12/28/20
155. The Blue Castle 12/31/20