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Well, I know I read more than 28 from the list. My points list for this group notes 28, but I noticed about a month ago that I had missed listing some others!I had quite a few faves this year, list books and off list. It really was a good reading year. In the context of this group, I'd note: The Leopard and The Moonstone.
I read many books that I would call 'intense' for 1001, such as: Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids (kind of harrowing, but well worth seeking out and reading - I still remember it well which says a lot considering it was my second book of the year, out of 140 for 2019); The Hour of the Star (this book was SO hard to read, because of the subject; but once again well worth it. Thanks to George who kindly gifted me his copy).
I loved my randomizer list, even though I did very poorly with it! I did read the WL book - The Engineer of Human Souls which I am so glad I chose to right away because the Ontario government made deep cuts in the library services budget and inter-library loan was one of the casualties. Because of that, this book is kind of bittersweet.
Finally, my least favorites! Yes, plural. Ugh to The Wings of the Dove. The only reason I stuck with this book was because I was using it for another group's challenge. James apparently never met a word he didn't want to use. There is a gem of a story in that book, hidden in all the verbiage. Then there is Virginia Woolf.... Mrs. Dalloway was my second kick at the can with Woolf. As I said in my review the technique is fine (and applaudable) but I just can't stand the completely vacuous people she writes about. Bleck. The humor in this is that the randomizer hates me for 2020 (probably because I read so few on it's list! ha, ha....) and chose yet another Woolf for me!
My only opinion is that the Mods are all doing a great job! Thanks.
What was your favorite books in 2019? and why?My favourite book of the year was Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang. I have gifted it to as many people as I possibly could... (it's not in the 1001 list)
How many books did you complete during 2019 from the complete list for Books To Read Before You Die?
5, I fully intend to read many more next year.
What was Your least Favorite books This Year? and Why?
Unfortunately, it was Alice in Wonderland. It's never been one of my favourites, now that I finally read the entire book, it still isn't for me.
What were the highlights in 2019 for Reading 1001 for you?
I have never read so many books in one year as I did this year! I discovered Scribd which has so many books available! It is a great addition to my local library (where I go when I really want to read from paper instead of a screen). I'm travelling a lot by train and use that time to read.
>b>Any special requests or opinions that you would like your admins to know?
I am amazed by the work and organisation of the Mods, thank you!
My most memorable read of 2019 was Pilgrimage and I feel a huge sense of accomplishment at having finished it. I will miss Miriam, she has been with me all year. I need to check my points list for the total and to remind me of the book I liked the least.
I read 40 list books and liked most of them, some very much indeed. My least favourite was Slow Man by Coetzee. I have read several of his and not liked any of them much. The biggest surprise was Angela Carter. I had never heard of her until I listened to Wise Children, which I loved. The challenge I enjoy the most is the TBR, it is fun choosing titles from my collection. I don't think that I will ever run out of something to choose each year.
Mod
I had quite a few faves this year, li..."
Valerie, I agree with your sentiments on Woolf. Sounds like a great reading year with 140 books.
Mod
My favourite book of the year was Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang. I have gifted it to as many people as ..."
Jessica, welcome to the group. We will enjoy reading with you this year.
Mod
Congratulations on finishing the annual read. I am glad that you like the TBR takedown. We see it is a popular challenge. Peace to you in the new year:)
Mod
What was your favorite books in 2019? and why?
I had four 5 star reads this year: Suite Francaise(seeing the notes from the author who wrote the book in hiding from the Nazi), 1Q84(Murakami of course), Americanah(love this author) and The Color Purple(heart breaking story that brought me to tears).
How many books did you complete during 2019 from the complete list for Books To Read Before You Die?
I completed 27 list books this year. I hope to exceed that next year.
What was Your least Favorite books This Year? and Why?
My least favorite book this year was Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey. It was not a clunker, I gave it 3 stars, but more than 50% was a chore to read for me and it was long.
What were the highlights in 2019 for Reading 1001 for you?
I enjoy all the different options we have to reading the list. It help keeps me motivated.
Any special requests or opinions that you would like your admins to know?
I have been a part of this group in one place or another since 2013 and I love it more each year. Happy reading everyone.
What was your favorite book(s) in 2019? and why?The History of Love, Never Let Me Go, and A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian were my favorites this year.
How many books did you complete during 2019 from the complete list for Books To Read Before You Die? I finished 52 List books so far this year.
What was Your least Favorite book(s) This Year? and Why?
Ulysses. It's really just not a very readable book.
What were the highlights in 2019 for Reading 1001 for you?
I finished all my TBR Takedown selections. I also finished Ulysses, A Suitable Boy, Cryptonomicon, and the Forsyte Saga.
Any special requests or opinions that you would like your admins to know?
I'd love it if the 2018 books on the locked The LIST post in the General folder could be edited to have all the author names.
Mod
The History of Love, Never Let Me Go, and A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian were my favorites this year.
How many books did you complete du..."
Not sure if I can do that, will have to check into it. That was started by John who is not with us anymore. I will check it out. I might have to copy and repaste it with the shelf personality. It would be one of those housekeeping task that might take awhile.
The authors are there so not sure I am understanding.
Kristel wrote: "Jamie wrote: "What was your favorite book(s) in 2019? and why?The History of Love, Never Let Me Go, and A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian were my favorites this year.
How many books did y..."
I'm just referring to your post on there, adding in the last edition's books. The rest of the list looks pretty, but for instance Americanah in that post has just the author's last name. I edited them for my own list but only you can edit your own post, I think. It's really not a big deal of course, just a silly detail that bugs me a little over time.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tarth
The Circle by Dave Eggers
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Aidichie
The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner
A Girl is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride
H is for Hawk Macdonald
10:04 by Ben Lerner
The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Fernandez
Winter by Ali Smith
H(A)PPY by Nicola Barker
Mod
The History of Love, Never Let Me Go, and A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian were my favorites this year.
How ..."
I can fix that!
Jamie wrote: "What was your favorite book(s) in 2019? and why?The History of Love, Never Let Me Go, and A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian were my favorites this year.
How many books did you complete du..."
I think you deserve special mention for reading all of your TBR numbers/books picked. Because of the other challenges I do I was unable to do that - so I applaud you!! :)
I read over 50 List books this year. I especially like the TBR Challenge and the Random List. The Random List forces me to read books I have never even heard of and the TBR Challenge gets me to read those things I have always meant to read.I ended up really appreciating having read Pilgrimage and 1Q84. Other surprise highlights of the year were: A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Ethan Frome and Half of Man Is Woman.
I think my favorite might be Memory of Fire but that may be because it is so fresh in my mind having just finished it.
My least favorite was probably: The Left-Handed Woman
I really appreciate reading other people's opinions on the books, especially when some one doesn't like what I like or has a totally different take on a book. I learn a great deal from those offsets. Plus, it is so wonderful to share great books together.
Valerie wrote: "Well, I know I read more than 28 from the list. My points list for this group notes 28, but I noticed about a month ago that I had missed listing some others!I had quite a few faves this year, li..."
I have a hard time with Woolf as well. I have not enjoyed the books by her that I've read and I'm not looking forward to the rest.
Jamie wrote: "What was your favorite book(s) in 2019? and why?The History of Love, Never Let Me Go, and A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian were my favorites this year.
How many books did you complete du..."
Congrats on finishing all your TBR Takedown picks! This is one of my accomplishments for this year as well, although I think it contributed to my reading of far less book of the month choices than last year.
What were your favorite books in 2019 and why?I am having a hard time with using the word favorite this year, so I'm going with my most memorable reads from the 1001 books list instead. At the top of that list is The Tale of Genji which I read with a readalong group on Litsy. It was sometimes tough and/or frustrating, but it is the book I have kept thinking about since I finished it in February. Other books I truly appreciated from the list were Trainspotting, In Cold Blood, and Atonement. Of the non 1001 books I read, The History of the Hobbit and The Length of a String were some of my favorite and most memorable reads.
How many books did you complete during 2019 from the complete list for Books To Read Before You Die?
I completed 30 books from the list this year. That's a few less than the average of 3 books per month that I was hoping to accomplish.
What was your least favorite book this year and why?
Justine, or the Misfortunes of Virtue was my least favorite for this year and all time. It was violent and disturbing, there was no growth for the character, and there was no consequence for the evil.
What were the highlights in 2019 for Reading 1001 for you?
I was happy to complete all 12 of my TBR Takedown books this year and the wish list book on my randomized list (also the only book from my randomized list this year). I did not do as well on monthly books this year, but I hope to participate more again next year.
Any special requests or opinions that you would like your admins to know?
Only thanks so much for all of your work! I really enjoy participating in this group and appreciate the variety of ways you provide to read and share the books on the list.
It’s been a great year for list books for me. Big thanks to this group for hosting all the fun challenges that have really motivated me to go full tilt on the list :) My favorite list books this year were (and there were many) Memory of Fire, Wild Swans, Testament of Youth (I’m clearly a history nerd lol), A Home at the End of the World, Fall on your Knees (about my home province- ayyy), and Elegance of the Hedgehog.
I’ve read 116 list books this year (so far- I’ve got a couple of small ones to finish up still). I read 131 books total but most of the extras were parts of the Taebaek Mountains I could only count as 1 list entry lol.
The only 1 star I handed out this year was for Justine lmao…hey at least we went through that one together XD. That was clearly my least favorite book. I was also super eh about Myra Breckinridge.
Highlights from the group: finding it in the first place! It’s been an awesome year here. Also completing many of the challenges: my TBR since I joined for March, 8 randomizers, all the quarterly’s, the annual, all the BOTMs I hadn’t read previously, and the diversifys.
On a personal level feel super accomplished about reading so many large books this year : I finished 6 books over 1000 pages (Gone with the Wind, 2666, Pilgrimage, Taebaek Mountains, Cryptonomicon, Kristen Lavransdattir), and another 13 more over 600 pages.
Also read 2 non-english books: Taebaek again (in French) and Gimmick! Which I bought as a German ebook then had translated to English. Also have 15 pages of New World translated from Amharic, but I’d like to have 20 done total while I’m off this week. Life is too busy for me to have got it done this year, but I’m going to keep trying for 20 pages a year.
Just want to the mods to know that I appreciate what you guys put into the group and that I’m super satisfied with the challenges here. Keep it up! Looking forward to my first full year here :)
Agree with everyone that the mods do a great job which I really appreciate. Also, Myra Breckinridge is on my Random list for 2020 so I have a “meh” to look forward to because I totally trust that Amanda is right about that.
lol thanks Gail...but who knows you might like it. My big problem with it was I found it's portrayal of trans women to be....yikes.
Also super agree with you Gail that one of my favorite things is hearing the different opinions on books to get different perspectives: esp in the same way you said about someone loving a book I hate or vice versa. Just the fact that we are all reflecting on all of the things we're reading is great, and the variety in opinion and safe space to disagree makes me happy. Like I just saw Diane posted a 1 star review for a book I gave 4 stars to and my first thought was "ha! awesome"
I also finished all my TBR books, which I realise was quite a feat while struggling with my husband's illness. Some months it was my only read. I have read more in the last couple of weeks because I have had family here and they have given me time to sneak off for an odd hour.
Pip wrote: "I also finished all my TBR books, which I realise was quite a feat while struggling with my husband's illness. Some months it was my only read. I have read more in the last couple of weeks because ..."Yes, it is quite a feat! I hope you gave yourself a big pat on the back! That is the beauty of reading, you can sneak in a few moments of productive 'down time' just for yourself.
What was your favorite books in 2019? and why? I had several that I really liked this year:
The Grass Is Singing by Lessing- I just loved this timeless story and her writing. She deserved that Nobel Prize!
Leaden Wings by Zhang Jie- It's unusual to find Chinese literature from the workers, and this was not only fascinating, but also timeless.
Native Son by Wright- I think I'm seeing a pattern with the timeless theme. This was so well done, and heartbreaking as well.
A Woman's Life by Maupassant- I think Maupassant is a very under appreciated author- overshadowed by others of that time period. He wrote with humor and empathy.
Cider House Rules by Irving-another timeless subject, and it's Irving. Enough said!
Kristin Lavransdattar by Undset-what a gem! I loved this so much- the history, the characters, the settings, everything.
Lost Illusions by Balzac- Oh, my goodness. What a story. A long story, but the struggles and follies of the characters, the depiction of greed and generosity, and the descriptions of the scenes and the process of printing just made this a great read. I listened to this on Librivox, and the narrator was fantastic.
The biggest 5 star surprise for me was How It Is by Beckett. Super short, but packed so full. This was about grief, and it was poignant and heartfelt, without being sappy or too sentimental. I highly recommend it.
I read 123 books from the list this year- my New Year's resolution was to knock at least 10 off the list per month, and I did it. I certainly didn't lose the weight I wanted or organize my life, but, hey, I met my reading goal!
My least favorite was a tie between Justine by deSade and King Solomon's Mine. No explanation needed on Justine- just yuck. King Solomon's Mine was racist and sexist, and was just hard to take. I know it was a product of its era, but I just couldn't enjoy it.
I love the TBR takedown. I have several books that have been gathering dust on my shelves, and this is a great motivation to read them.
Thank you to the admins for all their hard work- you really keep the ball rolling.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone!
What was your favorite books in 2019? I have a bunch of favorites, since I read so many. My favorites of the year are The Book of Disquiet, Americanah, Daniel Deronda, The Garden of the Finzi-Contini's (made extra special since I was able to visit the town where it was set this year - next year I plan to visit the cemetery), and Memory of Fire. It was close, but I would say that The Book of Disquiet was my favorite. This book completely blew me away. It is perhaps the best writing I have ever read. Truly on a level by itself.
How many books did you complete during 2019 from the complete list for Books To Read Before You Die?
Depends how you look at it. Counting books within books (Pilgrimage, Memory of Fire, and Kristin Lavransdattir) I read 157 books. Pulling off those from the total, my total is 142. 10 of those, however, were re-reads (I REALLY need to reduce this number next year), making the total of new-to-me 1001 entries 132.
What were Your least Favorite books This Year? and Why?
Crash is by far the least favorite, followed closely by Adjunct. Honorable mentions for least favorite include Myra Breckenridge, L'abbe C, Blue of Noon, Trawl, and Couples, Passersby.
What were the highlights in 2019 for Reading 1001 for you?
Being able to meet and exceed my 1001 reading goal and hit a significant milestone. Being able to complete all the books in the TBR challenge. Being able to complete all of the challenges I intended to meet this year in all of my reading (I did enter one challenge in another group that I had no intention of completing). And, as others have mentioned, seeing the divergences in opinions and personal insights into various 1001 books.
Any special requests or opinions that you would like your admins to know?
I think you are all doing a fantastic job! Maybe consider more incentives/challenges for people (or don't exclude people) who have already read a high percentage of the books.
What was your favorite books in 2019? and why?I read 78 list books this year. My favorites were The Shipping News, The Yellow Wallpaper, This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, Home and Dispatches.
How many books did you complete during 2019 from the complete list for Books To Read Before You Die?
78
What was Your least Favorite books This Year? and Why?
Justine. I forgot, I also detested Crash.
What was your favorite books in 2019? and why?I really liked 1Q84 and Auto-da Fe. I re-read Life: A User Manual which is one of my top 1001 books. Still, Memory of Fire was the best book I've read this year.
What were the highlights in 2019 for Reading 1001 for you?
It was our Quarterly read - Memory of Fire. I was spellbound with everything about this book: its writing style, historical context, scientific approach by using hundreds of literary, historical and other sources; but first of all by its ability to interact with reader on emotional level. In many stories I felt like crying or laughing or usually both...
How many books did you complete during 2019 from the complete list for Books To Read Before You Die?
68
What was Your least Favorite books This Year? and Why?
Without hesitation Justine was the least favorite for me. But I also did not enjoy much reading Body Artist by DeLillo nor The Afternoon of a Writer by Handke.
Any special requests or opinions that you would like your admins to know?
Thank you for all the effort.
Mod
Pale Fire (this author is a genius)
Cat's Eye (this author is really great)
And Born in Exile and Mill on the Floss are kind of equal but I think I liked Mill on the Floss more but I also recently read that which gives it an unfair advantage over the other.
How many books did you complete during 2019 from the complete list for Books To Read Before You Die? I completed 31 books off the list this year. (I think)
What was Your least Favorite books This Year? and Why? Tale of a Tub (I didn't read Justine). I found the book really great for inducing 40 winks.
What were the highlights in 2019 for Reading 1001 for you? For me, the highlight is how smoothly things seem to go. We've become a pretty tight group, I think. I appreciate the addition of Diane Z to our admins.
What I like most about our group site is our Reviews of 1001 books. It is awesome to go there and see how each person has reviewed a particular book. It was a project I worked on this year. Thanks to all of you for making this a great group.
And many thanks for all your work. I really appreciate it.
Reading 1001
Books mentioned in this topic
The Tale of Genji (other topics)Atonement (other topics)
Justine, or the Misfortunes of Virtue (other topics)
Trainspotting (other topics)
The History of the Hobbit, One-Volume Edition (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Ted Chiang (other topics)Ted Chiang (other topics)
What was your favorite books in 2019? and why?
How many books did you complete during 2019 from the complete list for Books To Read Before You Die?
What was Your least Favorite books This Year? and Why?
What were the highlights in 2019 for Reading 1001 for you?
Any special requests or opinions that you would like your admins to know?