January 2020 Monthly Reading Discussion

[Karissa]

So I ended up DNF'ing The Paragon Hotel 10% into it. I disliked it pretty much from page one. Something about the main character just grated me the wrong way. So I'm going to pivot on prompt two (author has one syllable last name) and start reading Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid instead.

[Jody]

@Sabrina, I don’t usually read thrillers either, but I’m keen try try Pretty Girls now! One I did read on a whim that I ended up really liking was Shutter Island. You might like it!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Chelsey, I was waiting to hear what people thought of that one. I listened to Children of Blood and Bone on audio and it's SO LONG, so I was kind of waiting to pick up the second one to see if it's worth it.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I just finished my second book of the year, which is super discouraging, because this time last year I had read like 4 books. But school has been so, so busy and I've been too exhausted at night to do more than eat supper and go to sleep.

I've knocked my first 40 Before 40 book off my list for the year, though, with My Cousin Rachel... the narrator was SUPER ANNOYING but I flew through the book and was looking forward to finding out how it ended, so I can't say it was bad.

[Ellie]

I wish they would re-record the Daphne du Maurier audiobooks. I listened to Jamaica Inn last year and the narrator made the women sound like whimpering fools, so it's put me off listening to more.

[Sabrina]

Jody wrote: "@Sabrina, I don’t usually read thrillers either, but I’m keen try try Pretty Girls now! One I did read on a whim that I ended up really liking was Shutter Island. You might like it!"

ooh yes that one's definitely on my list! I hope you like Pretty Girls! And I definitely recommend the audiobook for it, it's very well acted.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

My book club chose The Silence of the Girls as their January pick, and I was worried about fitting it in with ATY, but my lucky jar gave me #32: Related to the 2020 Olympics, and the book is set in ancient Greece! I'm so grateful to my jar lol

[Jody]

I need a new audiobook! Just finished my Dresden Files book this afternoon, and then knocked over the rest of my book I was reading on my Kindle. Time to refresh!

[Chelsey]

Emily wrote: "Chelsey, I was waiting to hear what people thought of that one. I listened to Children of Blood and Bone on audio and it's SO LONG, so I was kind of waiting to pick up the second on..."

I would say it is worth it, I am enjoying it. Just annoyed by that one incident.

[Johanne]

@Jody, I just counted audiobook hours and figured I have audiobooks lined up for the next 4 months, so I won't have to think of anything except timing the ones there are holds on... (I usually only listen on my commute so I can work it out quite easily).

[Hannah]

I have just read Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption and it was one of the best books I've read. I read the whole book in less than 24 hours.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I listened to the audiobook of Unbroken, Hannah, and it was amazing. Narrated by Ed Hermann (who played Richard Gilmore on Gilmore Girls).

[Jody]

Johanne wrote: "@Jody, I just counted audiobook hours and figured I have audiobooks lined up for the next 4 months, so I won't have to think of anything except timing the ones there are holds on... (I usually only listen on my commute so I can work it out quite easily). "

That's impressive!! I have the rest of the Dresden Files to listen to, but I don't like to do series books back to back (I don't know why!), so I've been hunting for some good nonfiction ones. I'm currently tossing up between This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate and We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families. And now I really want to listen to Pretty Girls! (Damn, just checked Audible and they only have it in German here. 😩)

[Hannah]

Emily wrote: "I listened to the audiobook of Unbroken, Hannah, and it was amazing. Narrated by Ed Hermann (who played Richard Gilmore on Gilmore Girls)."

I was tempted to listen to it as an audiobook, Emily, but I was a bit worried that with a book like this, the tone / feeling the narrator used to read it would be different to what I would get by reading the physical book.

[Hannah]

@ Jody, I really liked listening to Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI last year. I’m not sure if true crime is your thing, but this book was so interesting I ended up going walking for the day so I could finish it.

[Jody]

Hannah, I haven't had the best luck with true crime - I loved In Cold Blood, but I'm struggling to think of another one that I really liked! I've seen lots of good things about that one, but I haven't really thought about reading it. I'll have a look! I also did the audiobook of Unbroken - I loved it. I knew next to nothing about the American involvement in WWII, so it was interesting to hear a different perspective.

[Joan]

Doing pretty well with January, although I have to say I cheated as 3 of the books I started in 2019... but I consider a book I finished in 2020 to be the "first" books of the new year!

I like to read out of order, and so I don't feel too restricted sometimes I like to pick books for whatever reason and then fit them into a category later on. Easier categories (like #10: a book between 400-600 pages) can always have books retroactively fitted in later!

#28: A book by an Australian, Canadian, or New Zealand author:


#16: A book set in a rural or sparsely populated area:


#51: A book with an -ing word in the title:


#8: Two-word title where the first word is "the":


#18: A book by an author you've only read once before:


#23: A book featuring an LGBTQIA+ character or by an LGBTQIA+ author:

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I listened to Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI on audio at the very end of December, and I don't know if it was my mood or I'm just not big on true crime (although I, like Jody, enjoyed In Cold Blood), but I just really didn't enjoy the book. I couldn't find my groove with the narrators.

[Ashley]

I finished a few books, some that I am using for this challenge and some that I am not. I read Digital Fortress and it was okay but it was lacking in the action and fast-paced book that I expected. I received A Widow's Tale by Frances Paul in a giveaway and really enjoyed it. It was fast-paced and the beginning grabs your attention and it keeps you reading.

One I am using for this challenge is The Long Winter. This was another enjoyable book in the series. The girls are getting older and doing more. This one has a slightly different focus at times because of the storms that kept hitting the town. It was focused on the town a little and what they all did, as well as how the family survived. I read this for week 16: a book set in a rural or sparsely populated area.

[Kelly]

My intent was to read the prompts in order. One of my reading goals this year is to read more books from the TBR that I already own so I populated as many prompts as I could with these books. There were a few prompts however where I used books that I didn't own but really wanted to read this year. One of those is for prompt #3 - a book that you are prompted to read because of something you read in 2019. For me, this is The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz.

It did not arrive in time so I moved to the longest book on my January list which is The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson which I am reading for prompt #5 - the first book in a series you have not read.

As I finished the Sanderson book, the Horowitz book arrived so I'm back on track! Happy reading all!

[Steve]

3rd week check-in:

So far this year, I've read 5 books. I'm well on my pace to my 65 goal! (Life will get crazier as the year goes on, so I have no intentions of maintaining my current pace of 152 books).

The reads for this first half of the month:
Normal People - Completed as an audiobook.
Good not great. It was well hyped and on so many lists of best reads. It's meant to shine as a modern romance, but I didn't see anything "special" about it. I enjoyed it while reading it and it was engaging, but I found it above average rather than stellar.

American Pop - This was a challenging book in that it had no linear plot. It's a family saga with about 8-10 main characters spanning about 100 years of narrative. There's no logical connection as to whose narrative comes next and what time frame of their narrative we'll be in. Extremely difficult to track of.

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know - completed as an audiobook. I wanted to like this because I like Gladwell's works. I felt like his thesis was never truly proved and the examples didn't support the ideas too well. He seemed to want to write about recent hot topic social issues (like police brutality cases, Amanda Knox, and Brock Turner) and shoehorned them into the idea that they related to our inabilities to understand strangers.

The Nickel Boys - completed as audiobook. This was a pretty good read, though I think it could have been developed more. I don't think enough was done to show how "brutal" the school was.

The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers - I enjoyed reading this one; the back and forth novel-in-a-novel is a tough form to pull off, and I think this accomplishes that fairly well. A little too fluffy romantic for me at times (which is interesting in contrast with the somewhat vulgarness of some of the sex scenes throughout), but I loved the settings of Paterson, NJ (so close to where I grew up) and Bar Harbor, ME (one of my favorite places to visit).

Up next:

I'm working on Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the '80s Changed Hollywood Forever right now and really enjoying it. The group of comedians discussed created some of my favorite films, so I love the insights so far. I just started The Tortilla Curtain as an audiobook this morning; I've had the book on my shelf for a long time, so let's finally tackle it.

Other books I'm planning to read in the coming weeks: Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult, Long Walk Home: Reflections on Bruce Springsteen, and The Line Becomes A River: Dispatches from the Border. I've got a few audiobooks on my shelf, too, including To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, The Unnamed, and Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman.

[Alexx]

Yesterday, I finished The Killing Lessons by Saul Black, which I read for Prompt 2. I really liked it, so I've rated it 4 stars!

I'm now starting on my book for Prompt 4 because I'm still waiting on my book for Prompt 3. I'm currently reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne which I think I'll finish by Wednesday.

I'm also still going with War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, although I am about 4 days behind. Planning to catch up tonight though!

[Traci]

I'm still at 0/52 for ATY this year. I felt my first attempted book didn't fit into my extra restrictions (The Madonnas of Leningrad - too much of the plot was in the US), so I slotted it into ATY rejects instead. I was about 7 hours (out of 16) into audio of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness when I realized I had no idea what was going on and didn't even recognize the names of the characters they were discussing. So, I'm abandoning that and going to try again in print later in the year. After my current print book, I'm going to find one that definitely fits so I can check off at least one ATY book this month!

[Lonnie]

Currently working on my fifth book for January, Life of Pi. I know, I know, I'm late to the reading party. I usually read three books simultaneously so I'm not sure if that's cheating or not, but I'm currently reading Sacred Hunger, Life of Pi, and just finished this morning The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, which I enjoyed immensely despite some of the more scathing reviews. I'll probably start reading a Robert McCammon book to fill my currently empty third book spot next. Which book, I'm not sure yet. He's such a great author.

[Jill Renee]

So far I've read 3:

30. A book from the New York Times '100 Notable Books' list for any year
2019-Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

9. A book that can be read in a day
The Sarah Book by Scott McClanahan

41. A mystery
Conviction by Denise Mina

Happy reading everyone. I love this challenge. :)

[Lizzy]

Steve wrote: "3rd week check-in:

So far this year, I've read 5 books. I'm well on my pace to my 65 goal! (Life will get crazier as the year goes on, so I have no intentions of maintaining my current pace of 152..."

Steve -- I read The Tortilla Curtain when it first came out, and was very touched by it. I'll be interested to see how you like it, as I have not particularly enjoyed the last couple of T.C. Boyle's books that I've read. Have you read any other of his books?

[Rachel]

Sabrina wrote: "I just finished Pretty Girls last night and WOW!! First 5 star of the year (well 4.5 but I'm rounding up for GR). I've only read 3 or so thrillers including this one but this really..."

Glad to see that! I'm planning on reading this book at some point this year. I've never read Karin Slaughter and I've been a bit nervous to try her because I've heard her books are gory.

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Rachel wrote: "Sabrina wrote: "I just finished Pretty Girls last night and WOW!! First 5 star of the year (well 4.5 but I'm rounding up for GR). I've only read 3 or so thrillers including this one..."

I don’t remember it being gory. But I did gift it to my mom and she specifically mentioned the graphic content. I suppose I’m just desensitized. But it is probably something to keep in mind.

[Pam]

I got ambitious at the end of 2019 and put a bunch of e-books on hold at the library for 2020. So, I’m reading 2 of them- Digital Minimalism and Us Against You. The others I pushed out 1-3 months so they don’t all come in at the same time! I’m also reading a GR giveaway win, a non-fiction, Superbugs by Matt McCarthy. All of them are good! I’m bouncing between them. When I finish them, I’d like to read Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, which is a group read in another GR group.

[Amy]

I've completed 4 books for the list so far. Some are later prompts but they came in early from my request so I read through them. I have options on my list so when the week comes for these prompts I might read a different selection. Or move around as needed.

1. A book with a title that doesn't contain the letters A, T or Y 3 stars
2. A book by an author whose last name is one syllable 4 stars
14. A book by an author on the Abe List of 100 Essential Female Writers (link) 5 stars but was disappointed in the end. 5 stars because I couldn't put it down.
15. A book set in a global city 3 stars

[Sabrina]

Rachel wrote: "Sabrina wrote: "I just finished Pretty Girls last night and WOW!! First 5 star of the year (well 4.5 but I'm rounding up for GR). I've only read 3 or so thrillers including this one..."

It's definitely quite a dark read, theres never a "fade to black", it's also described pretty vividly. But I didn't think anything Slaughter did was gratuitous (unlike how a lot of male mystery/thriller writers write), which I appreciated.

[Jill]

I have read 5 books for the list so far, which doesn't seem bad for me considering we are only half way through the month. My favourite so far is Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania for 27. The history or historical fiction. I was amazed at the politics going on behind this terrible event.

[dalex]

Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer
ATY - A book from a genre or sub genre that starts with a letter in your name (xenofiction)
4 Stars


Dead Letters by Caite Dolan-Leach
Rejects challenge - a book with or about twins
Rating: 4 Stars


The Dictionary of Animal Languages by Heidi Sopinka
ATY - A book by an author from Australia, New Zealand, or Canada (Canada)
Rating: 3 Stars


A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton
ATY - A book related to one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse (war)
Rating: 3 Stars

[Tracy]

I have a problem :/

Been in custody court with the girls father and I have a full no contact order against him, so the girls have to be dropped off/picked up by their grandparents.....what is the designated location?????

THE LIBRARY.

So who went inside the library and grabbed a bunch more books this weekend?


I spent all weekend reading Ninth House and I absolutely LOVED it. So much that I'm having a hard time getting into another book right now.

I've also read Drama, The Old Man and the Sea, Where the Crawdads Sing, and The Things She's Seen (@ Milena- it was quick, but I agree it wasn't the greatest. I didn't care until the very last chapter and I got way more out of the authors note at the end).

Right now I have The Whisper Man in progress. Should finish tonight or tomorrow, The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics( on my kindle and I'm surprised how much I like it), The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone on audio, and I'm still slowly working my way through A Game of Thrones which I love!! I'm watching episodes of the show as I'm reading the chapters. I'm about halfway through.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Tracy, I love seeing you kick butt on these books!

Sadie was one of my favorite reads of last year. So suspenseful and well-written.

[Tracy]

Emily wrote: "Tracy, I love seeing you kick butt on these books!

Sadie was one of my favorite reads of last year. So suspenseful and well-written."

Can't wait to read that one ! I'm excited to be enjoying reading again. Finally making progress :-)

[Jody]

Tracy wrote: "Been in custody court with the girls father and I have a full no contact order against him, so the girls have to be dropped off/picked up by their grandparents.....what is the designated location?????

THE LIBRARY."

Way to make lemonade out of those lemons, girl! 👊🏻

[Lizzy]

Tracy wrote: "I have a problem :/

Been in custody court with the girls father and I have a full no contact order against him, so the girls have to be dropped off/picked up by their grandparents.....what is the ..."

I was really surprised how much I liked Boys in the Boat as well. If anyone still needs a suggestion for the Olympic prompt or the transportation on the cover prompt, I would definitely recommend.

[[deleted user]]

Tracy wrote: "I have a problem :/

Been in custody court with the girls father and I have a full no contact order against him, so the girls have to be dropped off/picked up by their grandparents.....what is the ..."

I've given up counting how many books from the library I have out, I lost track somewhere's around 13 :P

I'm not doing the ATY challenge right now (may jump in later this year though?), but I'm having a solid reading month so far-finished my 7th book yesterday, which is crazy for me since last year I only read 53 books for the whole year!

So far I've had two 5 star reads Soulless (a re-read) and then Night Shift.

[Steve]

ZeeJane wrote: "Tracy wrote: "I have a problem :/

Been in custody court with the girls father and I have a full no contact order against him, so the girls have to be dropped off/picked up by their grandparents......"

I'm in the same boat. I went to the library today to return some books (I think like 8 books got returned) and wound up walking out with 4 more books (would have been 6 but 2 I wanted got checked out yesterday). That'll add them to the 5 other books I still have checked out!

[Karissa]

I decided last night to add a goal this year to get into reading graphic novels. I read my first one ever (plus three or four more) in November so I could vote in the category for the Goodreads choice awards. Before then, I had the ignorant assumption that graphic novels were just books about superheros. I was so pleasantly surprised by the few I read. So I would love to hear your recommendations and/or your favorite graphic novels! Time to build up my graphic novel TBR!

[Tracy]

Jody wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Been in custody court with the girls father and I have a full no contact order against him, so the girls have to be dropped off/picked up by their grandparents.....what is the designa..."

LOL Jody. Exactly :-)

[Tracy]

Karissa wrote: "I decided last night to add a goal this year to get into reading graphic novels. ..."

Karissa, I've become slightly obsessed with graphic novels since the challenges introduced me to them. A few that I have loved from the past 2 years are :
The Complete Maus
The Complete Persepolis
Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened

and I am a huge fan of Raina Telgemeier, who writes graphic novels for middle grade children:
Drama
Smile
Ghosts
Sisters

I also loved Roller Girl, which is middle grade.

I have 3 out from the library right now, I'll let you know what I think of them:
Pumpkinheads
White Bird
The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees

[Sabrina]

I think I’m gonna try something new in February where at least one of the books I read that month is going to be left up to “fate”, as in I’m going to use a random number generator on my want to read gr shelf (which has nearly 500 books) and whatever it lands on, I’m either gonna read it, or take it off my TBR for good. Hopefully this will help me knock out some of my backlist titles, instead of just waiting for that never gonna actually happen “eventually”.

If the first book I land on happens to be Les mis.... I’ll have to dishonor the fate gods and try again

[[deleted user]]

Sabrina wrote: "I think I’m gonna try something new in February where at least one of the books I read that month is going to be left up to “fate”, as in I’m going to use a random number generator on my want to re..."

Love this idea!

[Karissa]

Thanks Tracy, adding those to my TBR now! Pumpkinheads was actually the first graphic novel I read. I thought it was a really cute story, and I loved all the fall detail in the images.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Karissa, I love Isabel Greenberg's books. They are LGBT+ as well, so that's great. My favorite was The One Hundred Nights of Hero, which is a lesbian retelling of Arabian Nights.

[Karissa]

Thanks Emily! I actually added The One Hundred Nights of Hero yesterday after searching Modern Mrs Darcy's site for graphic novel recommendations. Since it comes highly recommended from both of you, I'll be moving it to the top of my list.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I'm really bummed because I had the idea to just have a Goodreads challenge for print books (ignoring my audio). My reasoning was that I wanted to be intentional about reading more physical books after work and not relying on audio to carry me in my challenge.

But I just finished my first audio and when I added it to my exclusive read-audio shelf, it still counted it in my challenge because the date was set to 2020.

I know I could just erase the dates for audio so they won't be counted, but I was really hoping that the challenge was only counting my Read shelf. I like having the dates read so now I'll have to rethink my Goodreads challenge.

[Karissa]

Emily, you could create a tag for 2020 physical books to keep track of how many you've read this year. Or, I know you like spreadsheets so you could keep track of your physical books in a spreadsheet. You could create formulas to give you the same info that the GR challenge does (% done and how many books you need to read each week to complete your challenge).