Sue's 2021 Challenge Buffet

[Sue]

Sara wrote: "And I have Elyse to thank. She kept telling me I had a huge hole in my reading if I hadn't read Stegner. The wonder of GR. I started with Crossing to Safety and knew I had to read them all."

I just purchased Crossing to Saftey the other day! Not sure if I'll get to it this year with all these challenges, but definitely by next year.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

It is still my favorite, Sue. I'll be looking for your review when you are able to get to it.

[Sue]

I updated for The Song of Achilles this was a letdown for me after Circe. I loved the first half but from 1/4 of the way on it was 100% about Achilles and Patroclus love story with no significant conflict in it and it became boring.

[Sue]

Sara wrote: "It is still my favorite, Sue. I'll be looking for your review when you are able to get to it."

More than Angle of Repose!? I have to get to it this year. I'm missing AOR so much. I renewed it from the library twice even though I finished it in the first week of the original loan. I need to buy it.

[Kathleen]

Sue wrote: "I updated for The Song of Achilles this was a letdown for me after Circe. I loved the first half but from 1/4 of the way on it was 100% about Achilles and Patroclus ..."

Interesting, Sue! I haven't got to either of these yet, but I can understand what you're saying here.

And I have Angle of Repose coming up sometime. So excited!

[Eva]

Sue wrote: "I updated for The Song of Achilles this was a letdown for me after Circe. I loved the first half but from 1/4 of the way on it was 100% about Achilles and Patroclus ..."

Hi, Sue, I also really liked Circe but didn't want to jump right into Song of Achilles because I wanted to read The Iliad first. If you're interested in an unconventional take on the topic, I would suggest The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker, which is pretty much The Iliad from the point of view of Briseis, when possible. She's not always present to move the action forward, so you'll get a third-person narrator when that's the case. Some critics thought that interrupted the flow, but I was fine with it.

Briseis also portrays the lives of other captive women in the camp -- those with absolutely no voice -- something we really don't think about much but should.

[Sue]

Kathleen wrote: "Sue wrote: "I updated for The Song of Achilles this was a letdown for me after Circe. I loved the first half but from 1/4 of the way on it was 100% about Achilles an..."

I can't wait for you to read Angle of Repose Kathleen!

[Sue]

Eva wrote: "Sue wrote: "I updated for The Song of Achilles this was a letdown for me after Circe. I loved the first half but from 1/4 of the way on it was 100% about Achilles an..."

Thank you Eva. I also came across The Children of Jocasta that imagines the story of Oedipus and Antigone from the women's perspective

[Ila]

I'm sorry to hear that about The Song of Achilles. To me, it remains a fine retelling of the Iliad about the greatest ever love story. But I guess we can't all like the same books and thank goodness for that.

Circe is high up on my reading list for this year. I have great expectations from Miller's lyrical prose and lucid worldbuilding.

[Sue]

Ila wrote: "I'm sorry to hear that about The Song of Achilles. To me, it remains a fine retelling of the Iliad about the greatest ever love story. But I guess we can't all like the same books and thank goodnes..."

I know I'm in the minority Ila, the overall rating is high. I'm not generally attracted to love stories unless there are conflicts to resolve in them.

[Sue]

I've decided to add a few more challenges but the only ones I'm trying (for now) to keep unique between them are Old and New, Decade, Genre and BINGO.

I completed another one on my Decade Women's author (or authors I thought were women) with a 2018 selection that I thought was 2019. In the interest of not lengthening my title once again, I'm forgoing my 2018 choices and happily filling it with Call Your Daughter Home 5 Stars - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Anne]

Sue, are all the challenges you mention the new ones?

[Sue]

Anne (on semi-hiatus) wrote: "Sue, are all the challenges you mention the new ones?"

No, I added the short story one and the 2nd chance or better one recently. With those two plus the Group read one and the New to me Authors one I'm using books from other challenges to complete them.

[Anne]

Sue, I see. You have a lot of challenges going. Good luck. ;))

[Sue]

Anne (on semi-hiatus) wrote: "Sue, I see. You have a lot of challenges going. Good luck. ;))"

It's a bit crazy, I know. I said I wasn't going to do this but here I am! Thanks, Anne.

[Kathleen]

You're enjoying and reading great books, so yay! And you've already finished the new author challenge--congrats on that. :-)

[Cynda]

Wow Sue you are are checking off goals left and right. Well Done!

[Sue]

Kathleen wrote: "You're enjoying and reading great books, so yay! And you've already finished the new author challenge--congrats on that. :-)"

Thank you for pointing out that I completed one Kathleen! I forgot about that.

[Sue]

Cynda wrote: "Wow Sue you are are checking off goals left and right. Well Done!"

Thank you Cynda. I still have a long way to go. We'll see what happens.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Sue wrote: "Cynda wrote: "Wow Sue you are are checking off goals left and right. Well Done!"

Thank you Cynda. I still have a long way to go. We'll see what happens."

You have made quite a lot of progress! Like Kathleen said your New Authors Challenge is complete and your short story challenge is mostly complete. You have also made a good bit of progress on the Old and New School Challenge - more than I have. I find that one difficult. Congratulations

[Sue]

Lynn wrote: "Sue wrote: "Cynda wrote: "Wow Sue you are are checking off goals left and right. Well Done!"

Thank you Cynda. I still have a long way to go. We'll see what happens."

You have made quite a lot of ..."

Thanks, Lynn. I agree that the Old and New is the hardest one. I'm trying to focus on it to make sure I get it done.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

You really are doing well. Aren't you glad it's a buffet and you can go back and help yourself to more

[Sue]

Bob wrote: "You really are doing well. Aren't you glad it's a buffet and you can go back and help yourself to more"

Thanks Bob! You just made me realize that I'm doing the bad part in going back for more and more. Heehee.

[Sue]

I'm surprised at how long I went without updating here.

I only have one left for the Old and New! I'm so excited. I'm a little worried about The Known World because I tried to read it before and gave up pretty quickly. I'm hoping I'll have an experience like I did with The Portrait of a Lady where the 2nd time was a completely different experience.

For Old and New I've finished:

Treasure Island - it was fine, but not really my type of book. I gave it 3 stars.
The Bell Jar - There were things I liked and things I didn't. I gave it 3.5 stars.
The Way West - 5 star fantasic! Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Keepers of the House Another 5 star fantastic! https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished one for my women's century
Call Your Daughter Home 5-star Fantastic! I never would have found this had I not been searching for something with this publication date. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I also finished Legs 4 stars and The Big Sky - 3 stars for the genre challenge.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Wow, that is a lot of progress in one post! You and I feel so similarly about the books we read. I think you might have a better experience with The Known World this time around. It isn't an easy novel and has a somewhat rough beginning, but it ties together and in the end is stellar.

[Sue]

Sara wrote: "Wow, that is a lot of progress in one post! You and I feel so similarly about the books we read. I think you might have a better experience with The Known World this time around. It isn't..."

Thank you, Sara. I have to get better about updating! I'm so glad you mentioned the rough beginning in The Known World so that I know to stick with it. I feel we have very similar states too so it's encouraging to know that you loved it.

[Kathleen]

Wow Sue--you have been a reading machine--congrats! I'm glad so many have been so good. I really want to get to The Keepers of the House this year. Off to check your review.

[Laurie]

Only one left for your OaN challenge! That is awesome. You are really tackling your challenges. I also loved The Keepers of the House, and I haven't read any more by Grau yet but I should.

I will be interested in your opinion of The Known World. I started it once and bailed very quickly, but I feel like I need to try again.

[Anne]

Sue, I want to add my congrats on your challenge. I just put myself on the waiting list at my library for Call Your Daughter Home. It was already on my tbr but you pushed me to the last step by writing again "fantastic." You clearly love this novel.

[Sue]

Kathleen wrote: "Wow Sue--you have been a reading machine--congrats! I'm glad so many have been so good. I really want to get to The Keepers of the House this year. Off to check your review."

I think you will love it Kathleen. I couldn't do it justice in a review.

[Sue]

Laurie wrote: "Only one left for your OaN challenge! That is awesome. You are really tackling your challenges. I also loved The Keepers of the House, and I haven't read any more by Grau yet but I should.

I will ..."

Thank you, Laurie. I put The Known World on my O&N since you can't change it. If I hate it again this time, I can go to an alternate. I'm hoping that timing will make a difference.

[Sue]

Anne (On semi-hiatus) wrote: "Sue, I want to add my congrats on your challenge. I just put myself on the waiting list at my library for Call Your Daughter Home. It was already on my tbr but you pushed me to the last step by wri..."

I think you would love it Anne. It has really good audio performance. I switched between that and Kindle depending on where I was. I can't remember if it was separate actresses but either way the voices were distinctly different for each of the characters and each chapter is narrated by one of the 3. It's really easy to follow on Audio.

[Ila]

Congrats on your amazing progress on the challenges!

[Sue]

Thank you, Ila!

[Lori]

What fantastic progress, Sue! I am amazed at the amount of reading you've done this year. And very high quality reads! My buffet challenge is slowly coming along, but it's my first time. Glad you're enjoying your success!!

[Sue]

Thank you, Lori! I still think I bit off more than I can chew when it comes to BINGO too and may start duplicating.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Wow! you really are tearing through these challenges.

[Sue]

Bob wrote: "Wow! you really are tearing through these challenges."

Thank you, Bob! I'm doing better than I expected to, but I'm feeling that I'll have to be using some of these for BINGO. I'm going as long as I can without doing that because there are so many books that I want to get to this year.

[Sue]

I finished This Is How You Lose the Time War for my decade woman's challenge and 5-star loved it! Only 3 more to go now. Review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished A Summons to Memphis for my genre challenge which put's me at 50%. This one was somewhere between 3-4 stars. I loved that it made me think, but some parts were a bit tedious with unimportant detail.

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Sara, Old School Classics]

So glad you had a 5-star experience with This is How You Lose the Time War and only 3 to go is marvelous.

I think A Summons to Memphis is one of those books that seems to become more important in retrospect. At least it was that way for me.

[Sue]

Sara wrote: "So glad you had a 5-star experience with This is How You Lose the Time War and only 3 to go is marvelous.

I think A Summons to Memphis is one of those books that seems to become more ..."

Thank you, Sara. I completely agree. I started out with 3 stars and then thought it had to be 4. It's probably about 3.75 for me.

[Kathleen]

Such fantastic progress Sue--you only have one left on your Old and New!! And two more excellent reviews. I'm really enjoying following your reading. :-)

[Sue]

Thank you, Kathleen. I'm excited to have only one left for O&N.

[Carolien]

You're making excellent progress, Sue! I have to read This is how you lose the Time War based on your review. It looks excellent.

[Sue]

Carolien wrote: "You're making excellent progress, Sue! I have to read This is how you lose the Time War based on your review. It looks excellent."

Thank you, Caroline. It's a wonderful book and short enough to take a chance on.

[Sue]

I forgot to update for the 5 star amazing The Color Of Lightning on my last update. Review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I also finished the Moll Flanders which was 5 stars also. Review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And I accidentally jumped the boat thinking The Goblin Market was this months short story instead of July's. 4.5 stars for me. Review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Now I've only got two left on the Genre challenge and I'm started on one of them. Whoohoo!

[Cynda]

Hi Sue. I am starting Moll Flanders later this week. I look forward to seeing what you also wrote in the discussion thread. . . . Good review!

[Sue]

Cynda wrote: "Hi Sue. I am starting Moll Flanders later this week. I look forward to seeing what you also wrote in the discussion thread. . . . Good review!"

Thank you Cynda. I hope you like it too and look forward to your comments as well!

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Glad to see you enjoyed Goblin Market. I intend to read it in July.

[Sue]

Sara wrote: "Glad to see you enjoyed Goblin Market. I intend to read it in July."

I think you will like it Sara. I can't wait for the discussion because there are so many ways to interpret it.