Pam's 2021 Reading Challenge

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Yay, that's good Pam

[Pam]

Catching up on a few reviews:

Jayne Anne Krentz Light in Shadow - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4044307076

Aldous Huxley's The Devils of Loudun - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4058162878

Kath Middleton's The Flesh of Trees - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4058205235

Jonathan Hill and Kath Middleton Is it Her? - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4058230427

[Pam]

Finished 54 books now, and an amazing 9 books ahead.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Wow, that's good Pam

[Pam]

Been catching up on some of the books on my Kindle which have been on there for a few years now - here's another:

Read World War II London Blitz Diary, Volume 1 by Ruby Side Thompson and reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4062198494

[Pam]

Read Catherine Ryan Howard's The Best of Catherine, Caffeinated: Caffeine-Infused Self-Publishing Advice - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4062231172

[Pam]

Read the 2nd editon of a book on Kindle then discovered the 4th is out now and is free so have downloaded that. Can't record though that I have read the 2nd as it isn't shown separately on GR so not able to claim that otherwise I think I'd be 10 ahead.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

How annoying Pam, but at least you are still ahead

[Pam]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "How annoying Pam, but at least you are still ahead"

Thanks Desley. Yes, if I do a review of the 2nd one, it will be marked read though maybe I could create two separate records. Think though I will do one review when I finish the 4th but just point out the key differences.

[Pam]

Read Scott Bartlett's Finished with Life but Unable to Die - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4085059366
and
Wanted by Tim Arnot - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4085078386.

[Pam]

Read Cell by Stephen King and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4090894065"

[Pam]

Big catchup on reviews:

52 Ways to Get Unstuck: Exercises to Break Through Writer's Block by Chris Mandeville - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4110099854

The Colossus trilogy by D F Jones:
Colossus:The Forbin Project - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4114093933

The Fall of Colossus - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4114139204"

Colossus and the Crab - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4114559855

The Raven by Aderyn Wood - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4110369778

The Banished of Muirwood by Jeff Wheeler - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1619655811

[Pam]

One more - just reviewed - Robert Louis Stephenson's Treasure Island - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4119475786

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Are you still ahead Pam? I'm thinking of altering my target

[Pam]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Are you still ahead Pam? I'm thinking of altering my target"

Amazingly I am 13 ahead at present. Hope it lasts, having fallen short last year.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

That's great - are you going to leave it as it is, or be brave and increase your target?

[Pam]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "That's great - are you going to leave it as it is, or be brave and increase your target?"

I'm going to wait until nearer the time and see how it's going in case I slow down. Little bit cautious having not quite managed last year's target.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

I did wonder if I was doing it too early, and I was only 9 ahead!

[Pam]

Enjoyed this freebie read which I hope will help me to improve my book marketing skills.
Let's Get Digital: How to Self-Publish, and Why You Should - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4072171770

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Hope it helps Pam

[Pam]

A couple of 2 star reads:

Old Testament Legends: Being stories out of some of the less-known apocryphal books of the Old Testament edited by M R James - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4140366957

Watcher's Web by Patty Jansen - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4134433859

[Pam]

Enjoyed this story - hope the author doesn't pass out because I finally got round to it! - Few Are Chosen by M. T. McGuire - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1638826879

[Pam]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Hope it helps Pam"

Thanks Desley!

[Pam]

Been reading, but a bit behind with the reviews. Now catching up:

John Bude's The Cornish Coast Murder - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4123353959

M, T. McGuire's Escape from B-Movie Hell - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1605378579

[Pam]

And this which was quite a meaty read - The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present by Ronald Hutton, reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4136618280

[Pam]

Big catch up on reviews:

Stephen King's Under the Dome - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4183947458

The Bear Pit by S G McClean - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3494502002
and in the same series
The House of Lamentations - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4184499200

Forbidden Books of the Original New Testament by William Wake - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4171253572

and Later by Stephen King - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4123218748

[Pam]

Just reached 80 books so I think I will be extending my goal but I will wait till just before the end I think.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Ooh, hope you can manage to extend your goal Pam. i haven't read either of those Stephen King books, another author I need to catch up on, but they rarely come on offer!

[Pam]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Ooh, hope you can manage to extend your goal Pam. i haven't read either of those Stephen King books, another author I need to catch up on, but they rarely come on offer!"

Thanks Desley. I wasn't keen on the Dome one, but I enjoyed Later. Not quite full price as got it in the supermarket.

[Pam]

Another history book - Carlo Ginzburg's Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4184042648

[Pam]

Catching up on a few reviews:

Koko by Peter Straub - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1840410487

Mystery by Peter Straub - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1840407531

The Second Sleep by Robert Harris - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4193896521

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Have you thought any more about whether to keep your challenge or increase it?

[Pam]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Have you thought any more about whether to keep your challenge or increase it?"

Sorry Desley been hugely busy and not in Goodreads. I may very well do so but I'm also probably going to do NaNo in November and might not get much reading time.

[Pam]

Catch up on reviews of reads since mid Sept:

The first two by Christopher Fowler, in the Bryant and May series (but not both book 17 as Goodreads has them):

The Lonely Hour - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3184700055

Oranges and Lemons - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3849911968

and the third, the final book in Peter Straub's Blue Rose trilogy, The Throat - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1840407457

[Pam]

Read 87 and am 12 ahead but will wait awhile before raising challenge as have a busy couple of months coming up.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Ah, that makes sense - good to be so far ahead, think I am 9 ahead, only got to read 4 more this year, did contemplate increasing again!

[Pam]

Read Stephen King's If It Bleeds - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4275296086

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Ooh, I went to the charity shop again today to find some more recent Stephen King, but they never have any in. Luckily going to market towns the next couple of weeks, so hopefully they will have some.

[Pam]

Hope you find some.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

4 charity shops and a second hand bookshop yesterday, no books! Fingers crossed for next Sat

[Pam]

Read a couple of Peter Straub's, unfortunately wasn't keen on either, especially the second:

Lost Boy Lost Girl - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1840410324

In the Night Room - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1840410763

[Pam]

Finished a short fiction collection by Peter Straub, Houses Without Doors and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1840410802

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

I need to read some more Peter Straub.

[Pam]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "I need to read some more Peter Straub."

I would have said before the binge read of his stuff that I loved it - now I still love Mystery and enjoyed The Throat but have found the other books a bit of a letdown sadly.

[Pam]

Big catchup as I don't seem to have posted links to my last five reviews:

Avenging Angels: The Young Women of the Soviet Union's WWII Sniper Corps by Lyuba Vinogradova - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4303852345

Stephen King's The Mist - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4307248795

Felix Holt: The Radical by George Eliot - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4307279053

Octavia Butler's Parable of the Talents - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4323654367

and V2 by Robert Harris - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4334086904

[Pam]

Just finished Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4334432658

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Are you still ahead?

[Pam]

Yes thanks Desley - I was 10 ahead just now and had read 99 with the next 2 I'm posting here so I have increased the target modestly to 105 as it is very very busy here, what with doing NaNoWriMo and various Christmas preparations.

[Pam]

Read Out of the Silent Planet by C S Lewis - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4346303316
and
Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair at Styles - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4355722926

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Ooh, great you've been able to increase your target