Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction discussion
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Did GR send you a message saying "See what you read in 2014" or something in this sense?I received one of these, but it's strange: it reports only a part of the books I read. For instance, I read several series, but it counted just one of each.
It isn't important, I was just wondering how did this thing work.
Simona wrote: "Did GR send you a message saying "See what you read in 2014" or something in this sense?I received one of these, but it's strange: it reports only a part of the books I read. For instance, I read ..."
I thought I had the same problem. It took a while for the page to fully load but it did eventually show all my books.
Mine worked too but it did take a little bit to load them as it's set to infinite scroll instead of a set amount of books per page.
Dawn wrote: "Mine worked too but it did take a little bit to load them as it's set to infinite scroll instead of a set amount of books per page."Same here.
No, the page does work. It's the message from GR: "this year you read 30 books...." 30? I checked and many weren't in the list it showed.
Simona, when I looked at your shelves...you've only got read dates on 30 books and that's how the program tells what you've read. If you look at your shelf of books read and sort it by date read...you'll see that half way down the second page is as far as your 2014 dates go.
Dawn wrote: "Oh, that's odd. Mine was right."My was as well.
Speaking of this year in books....how did everyone do with their challenges and goals?? Did you read more or less than planned?
Best and Worst of the Year?
Something interesting you learned?
Etc.....
And do you have a plan for next year??
I personally managed to finish both my official and unofficial 2014 Reading Challenge. I set it at 132 and hoped for 200 and I'm currently at 207.I think my favorite book of the year was Lark Rise to Candleford and my worst The Scarlet Thief
I have a dozen goals for 2015 and for the first time ever I've started a book schedule to keep track of the books I need to read each month for all the group and buddy reads I've been setting up. Craziness!! :)
I read more than planned. Originally I'd set it to 50, but with problems at my job, I was able to listen to a bunch and that got me to reset for 75. I've read 77, and hoping for 1 or 2 more.Best book - probably The Gospel of Loki my worst. hmm, probably one of the business books I had to read.
For next year, I'm hoping to finish a bunch of books I started, and a few books that belong to series that I enjoy.
Also, it'll be uber-austerity for me, so no book-buying. If I haven't got it, and the library hasn't got it...it'll have to wait. Add to that, things have settled with my job and if things go as planned I won't get a lot of free time.
On top of that my best friend is pregnant, and there's all sorts of that stuff going on too. This will be a busy year.
Dawn wrote: "Speaking of this year in books....how did everyone do with their challenges and goals?? Did you read more or less than planned?
Best and Worst of the Year?
Something interesting you learned?
Et..."
I read more than originally planned. I actually changed my challenge a few times this year.
I think don't think I can pick one book as a favorite from this year but my two favorite authors this year were Kate Quinn and C.J. Sansom. I am excited they both have books in the coming year. Worst book I read this year was Frog Music. For those of you who missed my drama with that book, please see my review.
I don't know if it's interesting but some of my reading has really lead me to take a long hard look at Elizabeth I and her Gloriana myth. I am beginning to question if she deserves a lot of the praise she is given especially when she's compared to her predecessor and sister Mary I
Plan for next year? So far? No. I should get in some more reading time when my twins start speech therapy at the beginning of the year. Each twinker has two, hour long appointments a week and mom is not allowed to leave the building where the appointments are being held. The group Historical Fictionistias has a yearly challenge. If they continue it again into next year, I might try it.
Dawn wrote: "Speaking of this year in books....how did everyone do with their challenges and goals?? Did you read more or less than planned?
Best and Worst of the Year?
Something interesting you learned?
Et..."
Yeah Im doing Grand! 1 Ahead of my target... smirks...
I am 2 under but way down on last year when iread 80.
With a TBR like yours Mark, you can't be reading less!
Dawn wrote: "With a TBR like yours Mark, you can't be reading less!"That made me laugh out loud, now co-workers are looking at me oddly. heh
Afraid so, it seems I have gone for quality this year.
Dawn wrote: "Speaking of this year in books....how did everyone do with their challenges and goals?? Did you read more or less than planned?
Best and Worst of the Year?
Something interesting you learned?
Et..."
Hi, all, I'm a recently joined so-far lurker but thought I'd respond to these easyquestions :-)
I haven't formally joined any Goodreads challenges but I always have a goal and usually achieve it. I read 100 books in 2013 as planned but tried to cut down this year so I'd write more. Ending up with 80 rather than fifty butno regrets! Next year will try again to keep it down to 50-60.
My favorite book this year, and a clear winner at that, was Nicola Griffith's Hild, which hit on every cylinder: historical verisimilitude; quality of prose; characterization, you name it. And I did learn interesting things from the experience. For one, I was very surprised (being less than familiar with the time period, being more into later medieval eras)to read afterward that virtually none of the details of Hild's life for the ten years covered in Griffith's novel were based on fact, since the historical Hild isn't referenced at all until later in her life, and even then with little detail, which I'm sure Griffith will exploit just as adroitly when she returns to Hild in the planned sequel. Other historical fiction I enjoyed this year included the first three Foreworld Saga graphic series (Symposium, The Dead God, and Cimarronin), Scott James Magner's second Foreworld novella Blood and Ashes, and Magner's self-pubbed serial Seasons of Truth. All bring to life various aspects of their historical eras very nicely, and often with some humor (like zombies in Pompeii - and I'm really not usually a zombie guy!)
Yes! Someone else who loved Hild. I read it last year and thought it was awesome.Welcome to the group Mike. :)
Mark wrote: "Afraid so, it seems I have gone for quality this year."I just want you to know that if you keep this up you will need to live 131 more years to finish....
Mike wrote: "Hi, all, I'm a recently joined so-far lurker but thought I'd respond to these easyquestions :-)"Easing you into the tough ones. ;=)
Welcome aboard Mike.
Darcy wrote: "That made me laugh out loud, now co-workers are looking at me oddly. heh"You've got to be used to it by now!
This year was a bust as far as reading was concerned. I think I read fewer than half the books I'd hoped to read. But, I have a really good excuse: I started a new job this year and have been focused on getting settled in that job. Not a bad reason for slow going on the reading front!
Darcy wrote: "Dawn wrote: "With a TBR like yours Mark, you can't be reading less!"That made me laugh out loud, now co-workers are looking at me oddly. heh"
Oh no you have turned into Andy,he said the same last year. lols
Dawn wrote: "Speaking of this year in books....how did everyone do with their challenges and goals?? Did you read more or less than planned?
Best and Worst of the Year?
Something interesting you learned?
Et..."
My best was Lord of Emperors or maybe Strategos: Island in the Storm and the worst was The Denouncer
My goal was 160 and I read 243. I have no particular plan for next year; I just read them as it takes my fancy.
Learning about this whole period: wonderful nonfiction A War Like No Other: How the Athenians & Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War
Dawn wrote: "Simona, when I looked at your shelves...you've only got read dates on 30 books and that's how the program tells what you've read. If you look at your shelf of books read and sort it by date read...."
Yes, thank you, I checked. I guess I didn't marked as read several books...doesn't matter, I'm happy I've read them anyway!
This year I managed to come back to reading after several years of almost no pleasure reading. So, while I don't have a goal to compare it to, I'm very happy with that.
Deborah wrote: "We got a heart monitor and some weird contraption to monitor your motion... I think it is meant to be to encourage us to exercise and it does look reasonably good if you like that kind of thing. I ..."I would use it deb if you are going to give it away??
I'm on book 200 of my goal of 200 for this year. I'm taking it slow due to the fact that I have quite a few days to finish. I haven't gotten my 'books of 2014' notification yet but when I do i'll offer up my fave and not so favorites of the year.
Brian wrote: "My favorite book this year was, And Then There Were None. It was the first book i'd read by Agatha Christie and I liked it so much, I read fourteen additional books by her this year...."I love Agatha, I have 12 of her books left to read and then I will have to find something else!
Catherine wrote: "This year was a bust as far as reading was concerned. I think I read fewer than half the books I'd hoped to read. But, I have a really good excuse: I started a new job this year and have been focus..."A new job does seem like a good reason, hopefully next year will be better now that you're getting settled in!
Jane wrote: "My goal was 160 and I read 249...."I saw that you over achiever!!
Beth wrote: "This year I managed to come back to reading after several years of almost no pleasure reading. So, while I don't have a goal to compare it to, I'm very happy with that."That must mean you've been busy in school. :)
Kimber wrote: "I'm on book 200 of my goal of 200 for this year. I'm taking it slow due to the fact that I have quite a few days to finish. I haven't gotten my 'books of 2014' notification yet but when I do i'll o..."I'm going to make a guess. I think Raising Steam for favorite and The Luxe for worst...
Dawn wrote: "Beth wrote: "This year I managed to come back to reading after several years of almost no pleasure reading. So, while I don't have a goal to compare it to, I'm very happy with that."That must mea..."
The no books run started in my first year of grad school, so I was pretty busy. The main cause of no books was that I was recovering from mental health issues due to a trauma though. At any rate I'm glad to have the books back finally. Busy though I am, some fiction reading mixed in is good for me. Feeding the brain nothing but surface science papers and quantum mechanics is not good for it :)
Glad you are back to the books then. My poor brain would probably combust if I fed it all that science and math, it can barely handle the legalese it must deal with already!
Kimber wrote: "I'm on book 200 of my goal of 200 for this year. I'm taking it slow due to the fact that I have quite a few days to finish. I haven't gotten my 'books of 2014' notification yet but when I do i'll o..."When you are doing the chemo and radiation, Kimber, are you too sick to read? Or is it a good time to sit and read while getting the drip feed?
Catherine wrote: "This year was a bust as far as reading was concerned. I think I read fewer than half the books I'd hoped to read. But, I have a really good excuse: I started a new job this year and have been focus..."You are not alone, mate. I too only got to half the amount I wanted to get to.
Dawn wrote: "Jane wrote: "My goal was 160 and I read 249...."I saw that you over achiever!!"
That's why I'll probably be going slowly on my 'currently reading'. :)
Dawn wrote: "Darcy wrote: "That made me laugh out loud, now co-workers are looking at me oddly. heh"You've got to be used to it by now!"
Until recently I'd been working from home, so I hope not ahahaha
I've tweeted it on our Twitter, posted it on the blog and posted it on our Facebook page. Time to post it here now. :)******************************************************************************
To all those who celebrate Festivities this month, and to all those who don't, but do enjoy some public holidays, we hope you have a lovely time.
Eat, drink, be merry and most of all, do it safely.
Kind regards from the A&M gang,
Terri, Dawn and Darcy
<{:-)
Happy christmas Happy hanukah Happy kwanza to all my favorite literary buddies around the world I wish you peace joy and hundreds of wonderful books to read and enjoy
Happy Christmas to You all A&M gang! Thanks for taking personal (and reading) time to make this all happen. You are marvellous.Lots of love from Mexico to all of You and your families!
BTW, in other order of things, big disappoinment my wife and myself had from the TV show "The Librarians". Not a good one.A mixture of Indiana Jones, Warehouse 13 and Harry Potter, and Noah Wyle and Rebecca Romijn has absolutely not comic talents to be fronting this show.
We were licking our lips in anticipation but now We are up to other TV shows.
What's your opinion on this?
Carlos wrote: "BTW, in other order of things, big disappoinment my wife and myself had from the TV show "The Librarians". Not a good one.A mixture of Indiana Jones, Warehouse 13 and Harry Potter, and Noah Wyle a..."
Annoying Carlos. But will give a watch next week to see if it improves.
Thank you Carlos!Happy winter solstice, to those in the northern hemisphere! Happy summer solstice, to those in the southern!
And if you're at the equator, well, every day and night is the same... at least lengthwise.
Carlos wrote: "Happy Christmas to You all A&M gang! Thanks for taking personal (and reading) time to make this all happen. You are marvellous.Lots of love from Mexico to all of You and your families!"
You are welcome, Carlos. :)
Terri wrote: "Kimber wrote: "I'm on book 200 of my goal of 200 for this year. I'm taking it slow due to the fact that I have quite a few days to finish. I haven't gotten my 'books of 2014' notification yet but w..."Darcy - I think you might be right. Raising Steam is definitely up at the top and The Luxe is near the bottom. I might have a few others to throw in there.
Terri - I start both on Monday. I can't read during radiation because I'll be lying in a big machine that kind of looks like a MRI machine on steroids but chemo is the perfect time to catch up on some reads. My first session is six hours long so I'm taking my kindle, a big ol' bottle of water, food and a pillow to nap!
Darcy - Sorry but I just looked at my list and I have to add in the ENTIRE OUTLANDER Series as a top honorable mention. Just realized I started them after Christmas last year and read them straight through! Love me some Jamie and Claire :D
Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction
Books mentioned in this topic
The Berry Pickers (other topics)Fortune's Child (other topics)
Hild (other topics)
Sharpe's Command (other topics)
Edenglassie (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Amanda Peters (other topics)Nicola Griffith (other topics)
Bernard Cornwell (other topics)
Bernard Cornwell (other topics)
Allan Hands (other topics)
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That's good