January 2020 Monthly Reading Discussion

[Jody]

That list was interesting! I’ve read 336 of them. There were an awful lot of Nicholas Sparks books on there. One of those was enough for me! 😂

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I have no idea how they picked the books either, but I did appreciate the variety in genre and years published lol.

Jody, I marked Read on all of the Jodi Piccoult and Nicolas Sparks books because I'm almost certain I read their entire catalog in a summer, so I just assumed I read the ones that made the list lol.

Steve, deleting Facebook off of my phone was the best thing I ever did for my mental health lol.

Tracy, JOIN US in the spreadsheeting mania!

[[deleted user]]

Steve wrote: "Emily wrote: "...I probably should have just spent the time I was taking the quiz reading instead, but here we are...."

Or the amount of time we spend playing with our spreadsheets...

Tangentiall..."

I completely deleted my FB account last fall when I decided to get back into reading more seriously, as well as left a couple of online forums, (I'm really into nutrition/food/weight management issues, but it can be such a time vacuum!).

It's crazy how much time I was spending on various online outlets. I can see why last year I read a total of 52 books, (a big chunk of those after I started deleting the other online stuff), and this year I've already read 10 books, only 22 days in! I'm fortunate that I do have a lot of down time, I just need to be intentional about my focus :)

[Lin]

The list did have a wide variety. I read 141, with about 5 DNFs.
There are about 15 books on my tbr for this year's challenge.

Way too many Stephen King books. I read a couple when I was younger, but not my thing now.

[Jody]

I deleted Facebook in 2014 and haven't looked back. I don't miss it at all! I have an account set up linked to my business page, only because you can't create one without it. It has no friends and it's as close as I want to get to it again. I also deleted Instagram at the end of last year, and apart from a week or so of muscle memory of my finger going up to open the app, I haven't missed that either. I feel much better without them!

[[deleted user]]

Jody wrote: "I deleted Facebook in 2014 and haven't looked back. I don't miss it at all! I have an account set up linked to my business page, only because you can't create one without it. It has no friends and ..."

Oh my, yes to the muscle memory-for several weeks after I deleted FB I kept going to it, without even realizing it, ugh lol. It's crazy how it gets so ingrained as a habit!

Now I just need to work on reducing my news/politics obsession- one of my majors was in politics and I could spend alllll day surfing different news sites and getting into shouting matches in the comments sections, lol :p I need to limit myself to only going on a couple of them during my lunch time, and maybe trying to limit it to local news sites, which are way more boring and don't have comment sections haha.

[Steve]

Emily wrote: "Steve, deleting Facebook off of my phone was the best thing I ever did for my mental health lol."

And as a school counselor, I felt slightly hypocritical discouraging social media for my students while using it so frequently myself. I don't even know if it's for my mental health: I just realized I spent so much time on there and it's mostly a mindless endeavor. I scroll through my feed and realize there's not a whole lot I care about. Cute photos of my friends' kids and animals? Awesome. Political articles and memes that only apply to a subset of people? Meh.

Jody wrote: "and apart from a week or so of muscle memory of my finger going up to open the app, I haven't missed that either."

That's exactly what I'm going through right now! I probably scrolled to open the Facebook app at least 7 times yesterday. It was such a default "well I've got nothing else to do..." habit for me.


ANYWAY... back to reading related things! I scored 204 on the 1000 books you may have actually read. Definitely a +/- a few there because all the Shakespeare comedies I read in college kind of blurred together; same with all the Grisham novels. There are a few more that I can't remember if I read completely or if I was supposed to read for a class and only read enough to be able to speak coherently about it! It was definitely an eclectic list; not one I'd ever want to try for 1000/1000 for because way too much Nicholas Sparks and the ilk for my taste. I got excited when I saw books that I didn't think others liked as much as I did like The Silver Linings Playbook.

[Milena]

334 for me. I agree with Jody on the Nicholas Sparks, one was enough for me. And so much Stephen King. I consider myself a fan, and I have not heard of half of those.

[Jody]

There was a lot of Stephen King! I’ve read a bunch of his older books (I had a spree in my teens) but almost none of his recent stuff, other than 11/22/63 which I didn’t care for. I think teenaged me loved him, and that’s where I’ll leave him.

[Kathy]

332 for me. I haven't read any Stephen King and John Grisham and only one Nicholas Sparks.

[Tracy]

Jody wrote: "That list was interesting! I’ve read 336 of them. There were an awful lot of Nicholas Sparks books on there. One of those was enough for me! 😂"

I read 338 and I was so confused about the Nicholas Sparks books because as far as I'm concerned if you've read one you've read them all lol. I had to stop and look at them and try and figure out if I had read it ( i got through a few of his books before giving up on him) or just saw the movie.

I did however read all but (I think) one of the Stephen King books and allllllll the childrens books , so that helped.

Almost all of that list is on my TBR or challenge backlists.

@Emily, YES I really need to jump on the spread sheet bandwagon too, not only to track my books but so I can throw it on my resume. It's a little challenging right now though because I couldn't even remeber that the program is called EXCEL last night and it was killing me. I also couldnt remember the name of the street I drive up to get to my street which was disturbing, but I was getting a migraine today so that might explain the memory lapses. My brain isn't functioning right anymore.

[Lizzy]

Tracy wrote: "Sabrina wrote: "Emily wrote: "You do know that February is two days shorter than January, right? 😂"

my brain is aware of this but my desire to read all the things is not"

I knocked off half of my..."
So I guess that makes it a book a day -- hope there are no really long ones in there.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Tracy, if you want a head start, here's a blank copy of my spreadsheet that you can make a copy of and use for yourself!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

[Tracy]

Karissa wrote: "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."

Pumpkinheads was adorable :-)
I spent all of Monday reading the three graphic novels I had out. All of them were really good.

[Tracy]

Emily wrote: "Tracy, if you want a head start, here's a blank copy of my spreadsheet that you can make a copy of and use for yourself!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/......"

Thank you !!!! I still haven't figured out emojis on my chromebook, but I'm putting a smiley face here...

[Sabrina]

Lizzy wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Sabrina wrote: "Emily wrote: "You do know that February is two days shorter than January, right? 😂"

my brain is aware of this but my desire to read all the things is not"

I knocked ..."

just about haha. I have 2 kinda chunky fantasies on there but the rest are definitely on the shorter side along with a couple graphic novels. It's my last semester in college so I'm kinda in "fuck it" mode before joining the real world where reading so much won't be possible

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I don't know what you're in school for, but I had SO MUCH more time for reading for pleasure since I've finished school.

[Sabrina]

Emily wrote: "I don't know what you're in school for, but I had SO MUCH more time for reading for pleasure since I've finished school."

Well I didn't have much time most semesters because I was premed but since I dropped that and all I have to do is finish up my psych degree, it's smooth sailing

[Sherri]

I finished Darktown (Darktown #1) by Thomas. I used it for a book with a form of transportation on the cover. Police car.

[Rachel]

Emily wrote: "I don't know what you're in school for, but I had SO MUCH more time for reading for pleasure since I've finished school."

Same! I barely read anything just for fun when I was in school, even though I brought books with me to read between classes whenever I could.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I was an English education major, so all of my reading was literary and classics... not my first pick, if I had my choice lol. So I read a lot but nothing for fun.

[Colleen]

So far this year I've gotten a few book crossed off my list:

22. A book with the major theme of survival: Severance
25. A book related to the arts: Daisy Jones & The Six
26. A book from the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards: Red, White & Royal Blue
37. Two books related to each other as a pair of binary opposites (book #1): The Astonishing Color of After

I think these are all the ones I'm gonna get to this month and I've enjoyed all of them a lot! Can't wait to keep crossing books off my list!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Those are awesome reads, Colleen. Astonishing Color of After is such an underrated book in my opinion... I want everyone to read it! What are you pairing with it?

[Colleen]

Emily wrote: "Those are awesome reads, Colleen. Astonishing Color of After is such an underrated book in my opinion... I want everyone to read it! What are you pairing with it?"

It took a little bit for me to get into it but once I was into it I was so hooked! It was a lovely read. I'm paring it with Night by Elie Wiesel

[Sabrina]

Ugh just finished my 7th book The Turn of the Key and it was such a let down! I was sure it was going to be at least a 4 star, if not a 5 if the ending was that good. And then the ending was a complete let down and it ended up being a 2.5. *sigh*

Kind of a sad reading month for me in general! Not a single full 5 star book, Pretty Girls coming the closest at 4.5, and this is the third 2/2.5 star book this month!

If there's any hope for a 5 star (or at least a couple more 4s) in my January TBR before the month ends, it'll be either Thunderhead or Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption so fingers crossed!!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

One of my students just finished Turn of the Key and said it was a MUST READ. She kept gushing about it. Now I'm worried it won't live up to her hype lol.

The only 5 star book I've read (listened to) was Know My Name: A Memoir, and I gave The Sun Down Motel 4.5.

[Sabrina]

Emily wrote: "One of my students just finished Turn of the Key and said it was a MUST READ. She kept gushing about it. Now I'm worried it won't live up to her hype lol.

The only 5 star book I've read (listened ..."

It was very good for like 95% of it and then the ending was just totally rushed and lackluster, so it really depends on how you feel about the last little bit of the book. I'm definitely looking forward to Sun Down Motel though!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Sun Down was opposite of that... there was a lot of build up, but the final 75 pages was a whirlwind of amazing thriller goodness. Such a great read!

[[deleted user]]

Emily wrote: "One of my students just finished Turn of the Key and said it was a MUST READ. She kept gushing about it. Now I'm worried it won't live up to her hype lol.

The only 5 star book I've read (listened ..."

How did you already read The Sun Down Motel, I thought it didn't come out til next month?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I got it as my Book of the Month Club pick for January. They often have early release books!

[[deleted user]]

Emily wrote: "I got it as my Book of the Month Club pick for January. They often have early release books!"

I'm jealous :) St. James is one of my favorite authors, so impatient to read her new book!

[Bec]

I'm pumping through the books in January! It's good whilst I'm on leave and before busy starts...10 books already. that's a record for me!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

That's awesome Bec!

[[deleted user]]

Bec wrote: "I'm pumping through the books in January! It's good whilst I'm on leave and before busy starts...10 books already. that's a record for me!"

Nice!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Anyone in here Book of the Month club members (sorry to all of you who don't live in the US)?

The February picks are:
The Girl with the Louding Voice
The Holdout
Anna K.: A Love Story
You Are Not Alone
American Dirt

I'm definitely not getting American Dirt, but I kind of want to read all of the other four lol. Help?

[Jill]

I've read 11 books so far for the challenge. That has to be a record for me. I do think this year's challenge has been more open than previous years, or maybe it just suited me more this time

[Lieke]

Emily wrote: "Anyone in here Book of the Month club members (sorry to all of you who don't live in the US)?

The February picks are:
The Girl with the Louding Voice
The Holdout
[b..."

[book:The Girl with the Louding Voice|50214741] sounds interesting, but I'm not a big fan of thrillers so that already excluded two of the other choices.

[Brooke]

@Emily, I am with you! I always want to read most of the choices too. I am definitely selecting You Are Not Alone because I have a couple of friends in another GR group who also want to read it, so we already have a buddy read scheduled. But I haven’t decided if I am going to add any extra books yet.

[Karissa]

For those of you who read and loved Long Bright River, if I am 30% into the book and not at all hooked on the writing, plot, or characters, should I continue reading it? I don't dislike the book, I just feel very meh about it. Trying to decide if I should move on to the next book on my TBR or continue to give this book a chance.

[Johanne]

I just had two audio holds come in at the same time - both Erin Morgenstern's 'The Starless Sea' and 'Night Circus'. Which one should I start with so as not to be disappointed with the other? (I think I've seen someone here commenting along the lines of 'if I had read this first, then...')

[Alicia]

As the month comes to an end, I'm feeling good about my progress on the challenge. This is my first book challenge and I'm actually doing this one and PopSugar.

For this challenge, I've read the following:
Red Rising
Morning Star
The Giver
The Bear and the Nightingale - loved this book, highly recommend!
There There
The Bell Jar
Brave New World
The Hand on the Wall

15% done with the challenge! Onto my February reads.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Johanne, I think I would start with Night Circus, as the plot is more accessible and it will give you an idea of Morganstern's worldbuilding. Then move on to Starless Sea, which is stranger and a bit harder to follow.

[Johanne]

Emily wrote: "Johanne, I think I would start with Night Circus, as the plot is more accessible and it will give you an idea of Morganstern's worldbuilding. Then move on to Starless Sea, which is stranger and a b..."

Ha! Thanks, I of course just started The Starless Sea (due to more holds since it´s newer)...

[Steven]

I had 226 of the list. Almost all the children's books (I worked in a kindergarten classroom and my mom is a preschool teacher). Lots of the classics/ones you should have read in school (I've worked in high school English classes). And a smattering of the literary bestsellers. And currently reading Shipping News, which was on the list too.

[dalex]

Karissa wrote: "For those of you who read and loved Long Bright River, if I am 30% into the book and not at all hooked on the writing, plot, or characters, should I continue reading it?"

I looked at your "Favorites" shelf and based on some of the titles there I really think you will end up liking Long Bright River. Maybe give it another 100 pages or so? Or perhaps set it aside for now and come back to it later? I honestly don't think you should DNF it entirely.

[SarahKat]

Karissa wrote: "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 cho..."

I know I'm half a month late to this comment, but last year I did the entire ATY challenge with graphic novels. I'm not doing that this year because I feel the need to own graphic novels before reading them, and I'm all caught up on the ones I own now and have some big expenses (having a new house and a baby) this year so I can't justify purchasing 50+ more books.

Anyway, suggestions:
I read a lot of Batman and I love Scott Snyder's New 52 run, IF you like the somewhat superhero-y stuff.
The Sandman series is also a big deal but I can see where that wouldn't be a good place to start because it can be a bit overwhelming. Although, The Sandman: The Dream Hunters (a side story with really pretty art) was my very first graphic novel ever and I loved it.
Descender, Vol. 1: Tin Stars
Oz: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Those were my non-Batman 5-star ratings last year. I'm a sucker for unique art.

[Karissa]

dalex wrote: "I looked at your "Favorites" shelf and based on some of the titles there I really think you will end up liking Long Bright River. Maybe give it another 100 pages or so? ..."

Thanks for responding. Based on your comment, I think I'm going to keep reading and give it to the 50% mark and then reassess. I really want to like this book so hopefully something grabs me!

[Sabrina]

I've read 9 books this month but I always like to start fresh at the beginning of a new month so I'm gonna try really hard to finish off Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers. I had like 3 or so more books I wanted to get to this month but I always plan for more than I know I'll actually get to so I'm still pleased. An even 10 for the month would be an awesome start though!

[[deleted user]]

Just finished a book this afternoon and that brings January to a close! Had a really solid reading month, some stats-
-15 books completed
-4,722 pages read
-5 new-to-me authors
-3, 5 Star ratings Soulless (re-read), Night Shift and The Word Is Murder

I have a very aggressive TBR list for February, including King's chunkster, Under the Dome. Excited for the new month!

How did everyone else do for January? Any 5 Star reads?

[Bana AZ]

I read 4 books and 1 short story. Favorite for this month is Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng - 5 stars. I read it for the transportation on the cover prompt.