2023 Read All The Books: A Decade of AtTENding the Shelf

[Ellen]

Thanks Diane!

[Marc]

weird, my updated list reverted from 10 back to 5...

[Marc]

so here's my new list! (* means read)
1) Ubik - Phillip K Dick *
2) Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes *
3) The City We Became - NK Jemisin *
4) A Scanner Darkly - Philip K Dick *
5) Station Eleven - Emily St John Manden *
6) Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik *
7) Babel-17 - Samuel R Delany *
8) Parable of the Sower - Octavia E Butler
9) The Word for World Is Forest - Ursula K Le Guin *
10) Shadow of the Torturer - Gene Wolfe

[Beth]

Not-much-progress report for page 4:

Goal: 7 books. (6/7)

Completed


Currently Reading

(RP1 in tandem with the "372 Pages We'll Never Get Back" podcast episodes)

On Deck

[CBRetriever]

finished the 6th out of 10

When Gravity Fails
The Goblin Emperor
The Quantum Magician = #6
Legends & Lattes
Elatsoe
The Sheep Look Up

[CBRetriever]

and I forgot to add this one in my spreadsheet, so make it 7 out of 10

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

[Stephen]

So I’ve just abandoned The Summer Tree after 225 pages, a bit short of halfway through. I’ve read and enjoyed Kay’s most recent 5 novels so this is quite a disappointment.

I’ll read Moon of the Crusted Snow instead.

[Beth]

Just finished listening to the audiobook for Ancillary Justice for my 2nd SFFBC bookshelf read of the year. I've updated message 154 to reflect it.

[Stephen]

I just finished Dreamsnake, which gets me to 4/10.

I was pleasantly surprised by the book. Not sure what I expected.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Dreamsnake was an unexpected win for me, too!

[Stephen]

Moon of the Crusted Snow, another good book.

5/10

[DivaDiane]

I enjoyed Moon of the Crusted Snow, too! We had a good discussion on it in VBC

[Stephen]

DivaDiane wrote: "I enjoyed Moon of the Crusted Snow, too! We had a good discussion on it in VBC"

I liked it very much.

[Marc]

Starting my 7th book, Spinning Silver from Naomi Novik!

[Beth]

Finished Neom over lunch break today. I wasn't super impressed with The Bookman a number of years ago, but this one was quite cool. Will update message 154.

[CBRetriever]

I'm at 9 out of 10

Legends & Lattes = Done
When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
The Quantum Magician by Derek Künsken
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
Neom by Lavie Tidhar

[Beth]

Not even halfway through the year and you're nearly done with the challenge! Awesome, CBR.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Very impressive!!

[CBRetriever]

Allison wrote: "Very impressive!!"

not when you look at the grand total where I've only read 159 out of all the books on our shelf :(

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

If that view inspires you to press on, continue! But we all know that while every book on this shelf won, not all of them are winners (for any given person). Also, we keep adding, which is really quite rude of us. Why do we make these challenges so hard?!

[CBRetriever]

and Six of Crows was one of the options for the Kindle Insights Challenge on amazon.com. I actually liked that one enough by the end to by the second part of the duology

[Dj]

CBRetriever wrote: "I'm at 9 out of 10

Legends & Lattes = Done
When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger
The Goblin Emperor by [author:Katherine Addis..."

Of the ones that I have read on that list I really enjoyed them. Hope that holds true as I get to the others.

[Meredith]

CBRetriever wrote: "and Six of Crows was one of the options for the Kindle Insights Challenge on amazon.com. I actually liked that one enough by the end to by the second part of the duology"

I enjoyed both of the books in the duology. I wished that there was an audio book option (for me) for the second, since the audio for the first was such a good production.

[Marc]

And... finished my 7th! Spinning Silver was a very very good book! Now I'm on to a non-challenge book...

[Dj]

Playing catch up with my reviews again. The new job had me off pace on my computer time for a bit. But I have a new schedule worked out so I can get back into a grove (mostly)

Twisty, convoluted, and occasionally unfathomable. This tale seems to resist taking a straight line in plot building as if it were something catching, while these qualities can ruin a story in this case with the short format it seems only to add to the enjoyment of it. This is part mystery and part Sci-Fi and it makes for a very good mix. I would say that this book is not for everyone but for those that can deal with the plot flow it is a great read.

Babel-17

[Stephen]

CBRetriever wrote: "I'm at 9 out of 10

Legends & Lattes = Done
When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger
The Goblin Emperor by [author:Katherine Addis..."

I’ve always been curious about The Sheep Look Up, but put off by the idea that it might be mainly just a long downer of a read.

[CBRetriever]

Stephen wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: "I'm at 9 out of 10

Legends & Lattes = Done
When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger
The Goblin Emperor by [au..."

I thought it was excellent and it was a bit of a downer, but hopeful at the end

[YouKneeK]

Stephen wrote: "I’ve always been curious about The Sheep Look Up, but put off by the idea that it might be mainly just a long downer of a read."

I read it a couple years ago and I thought it was one of the bleakest things I’d ever read. It helped that I read it during the summer, because I sat outside a lot while I read it. The fresh air and green things were a reassuring contrast. Then I'd go inside and eat some fresh fruit and drink some fresh water!

I’ve read plenty of horror and books with graphic violence and various depressing topics, usually without being bothered too much, but I had some trouble with this one. I don’t remember it as being particularly graphic or anything, although I'm maybe not the best judge of that, but it was relentless.

And I still think it had one of the most horrible things I’ve ever read in it. I literally dropped my Kindle when I realized what I’d read. It was just a short throw-away line that had zero impact on the plot, but it's the main thing I still remember two years later and it's the first thing I plan to eradicate when safe and effective brain bleach is invented. :)

I had a lot of complaints about the book, but I don’t remember feeling like it was a chore to get through – it held my attention well enough. I gave it a 3 star rating in the end.

[Stephen]

Wow. Thanks to YouKneeK and CBRetriever for those thoughts.

[Hanne G]

Yes thanks YouKneeK and CBRetriever for those comments. I’ve had that book on my shelf for years with the “should read” idea, but it did always come across rather bleak. Given what I need - and do not need!- from my books, I suspect this will be a Not For Me.

[Hanne G]

I love this list and comments BTW, as I’m trying to broaden my reading. On a fantasy binge currently and got caught in Jordan’s Wheel of Time early in the year, of which I’m now on the 8th, The Path of Daggers, as IRL books. Have Paolini’s Inheritance series on audiobook, up to #4 Inheritance, and currently have Reynold’s Revelation Space series on ebooks, on #3 Absolution Gap. Each for different situations. And realistically also depending on how I’m feeling. I’m not always up for the sadism elements of various characters and the way its treated in the latter books. I don’t buy into the perverse idea that sadistic/violent/rapey/“gritty” equals serious/good and anything else is fluffy and of lesser value. Its easy to do gross and violent and make an impact, its harder to write impactful without resorting to that.

I’m stalled in LeGuins Earthsea series omnibus. I’m finding the writing style dull, which is disappointing given how much I’ve heard about this series.

The SFFBC list is great for inspiration! Now I just have to work out how to do this reading challenge as well as a general ‘number of books per year’ one.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Yay! Hope you find lots of great reads on your journey!

[Dj]

Deep, thoughtful, and very introspective. One thing that I learned from reading this book is why the two movies based off it weren't that impressive. There is almost no action, most of the dialog is internal making it a work that is hard to translate into a visual medium. What a wonderful and thought provoking work. What a premise to base a work on. What happens when we meet an alien intelligence, how do we tell if it is intelligent or not?

Solaris

[Mihai]

I try to read all the current books on time for this one and I`m like five books behind. I reread The Stormlight Archive in spring :D

Up to now.

Amatka
Legends & Lattes
Contact
Spirits Abroad
Spear
A Half-Built Garden
The Marrow Thieves

[Marie]

So last year I went for 30 and finished with 19. So obviously I went again for 30 this year...
I know I can do it if I just pick up the right books, but then there are ARCs and mood reads and series to finish and this is the result:

On the Oceans of Eternity 4*
The Warded Man 5*
Legends & Lattes 4* review
Dune (re-read) 4*

Currently reading: The Thief

But there is still time to catch up, right?

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

absolutely!!

[Dj]

I was a little underwhelmed by this book. The other reads I have had by this author were decisive and flowed in a fashion made sense within the parameters of the story. The Characters were well developed and their actions and thinking were in line with what you would expect from that kind of a character. Sometimes the build was slow other times it wasn't, still in all those other reads were very enjoyable. This book on the other hand seems to be an earlier attempt to polish his style. This book seems to be much more convoluted then the others I read and seems to have problems deciding which character is the prime point of view at any given time. The story line was done well enough, but the introduction of so many characters so early in the work distracted from it more than added to it. Worse that that the characters seem more like cut outs that haven't been fully developed. All in all it made the book less enjoyable than I had been expecting.

The Summer Tree

[Dj]

Fairy Tales that everyone has grown up with. At least some of them. Well at least a kinder, gentler version of them. Some of the tales have happy endings, some don't but even the ones that do are not nearly as user friendly as the Disney versions. Names were changed and always some of the details, no cutting of the feet for Cinderella, or Snow White actually being thought to be dead, three times. It is an interesting look at how things can change over time.

The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales

[Meredith]

I've read four more, so I'm at 10/20

Spear Cuts Through Water 5⭐️
Neom 3⭐️
Bone Shard Daughter 4⭐️
Invisible Library 2⭐️

[Dj]

This book started off well even with the unacceptable premise of a huge land mass between Europe and North America not being 'discovered' prior to the time frame of the book. From what was implied but not actually stated it would seem to be around the time of the War of the Roses. But it bounces from one story to the next, not keeping it a coherent whole the only joining features are the same family is the foundation and the location. Each story changes the time frame and moves it forward dealing with issues that seem a little out of sync since they are taking place on the same massive landmass that wasn't found by accident/ or on purpose by all the sailors that roamed the Atlantic, like the Basque's who are suspected of fishing off the Grand Banks and not telling anyone about it, or the Vikings who told lots of people about Iceland, Greenland and even North America, although the last was written off as a fancy. Heck even the Irish should had a shot at finding it since they thought there was a paradise in that direction. The longer the 'story' goes on and the more often it changes the main character the less it works for the suspension of disbelief and the enjoyment of the fanciful situations.

Opening Atlantis: A Novel of Alternate History.

[CBRetriever]

finished the 10th book from my pledged 10

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

[Kaia]

CBRetriever wrote: "finished the 10th book from my pledged 10

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow"

Congratulations on reaching your goal!

[CBRetriever]

Kaia wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: "finished the 10th book from my pledged 10

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow"

Congratulations on reaching your goal!"

I had to save a few for next year (6 so far)

[Ellen]

CBRetriever wrote: "finished the 10th book from my pledged 10

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow"

Congratulations CBR

[Beth]

A new record for me, probably: finished two BOTMs in one day! Both three stars. The Space Between Worlds in paper and Legends & Lattes as an audiobook.

I've recorded my progress in message 154.

[Bonnie]

I am at 15 out of 25.
https://www.goodreads.com/user_challe...

Next up:
Remarkably Bright Creatures
Red Mars
The Prey of Gods

[Marc]

finally starting my next book on my list, NK Jemison - the city we became. looking forward to it, loved her broken earth trilogy!!

[Beth]

An easy completion at 6 or so hours long, is the audiobook of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I've read it three times since starting on Goodreads, and at least once before that, so it was snuggling into a warm familiar blanket of a book.

Next up is RP1, which I've been looking forward to as a tandem read with the "372 Pages" podcast. It was their first selection, so I'm interested in seeing if Mike and Conor had things down from the beginning, or if there were some growing pains.

I've updated post 154 to reflect the completion and the new read.

[CBRetriever]

well, I'm now at 12 (original pledge = 10) since Ive already read Mexican Gothic which is one of the two books for September

[Anna]

CBR, you can do what I do and count new/previous reads separately! If I've read it before it's BOTM, it doesn't count for RATB :)

My current situation as an example :D

05/24 Group Reads 2023 (read in 2023)
10/24 Group Reads 2023 (previously read)
03/24 Group Reads 2023 (to read)

(I do count books I read before they became group books if I read them the same year, it's easier that way since that's how the challenge tracker works.)