MobileRead Book Challenges discussion
2013 Individual Challenges
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HomeInMyShoes 2013 Challenge - A Year in the Life
Heh I was going to attempt the Discworld challenge but gave up before I even started reading a single one.
39 books is rather daunting. But I love Pratchett. Good Omens (not Discworld) is one of my favourites. This will be book number eighteen in the series for me.
People seem to have troubles with the first one. Maybe it's just Rincewind. I'd start with Equal Rites or maybe even go with Wyrd Sisters and do witches out of order a bit. Discworld isn't for everyone, but I love the use of storylines (Wyrd Sisters for Shakespeare, Eric for Faust) and the social satire. These are not books to take seriously, although in some ways the satire is spot on and can make you think about humanity.
I hated the first book, too.
Book number 44. Small gods by Terry Pratchett. Good fun. I really liked the part about the lions. I didn't mark another year off though, so I'm still holding at five years to go to finish this year's challenge: 1987, 1991, 1997, 2007, and 2013.
Homey, because of your challenge I'm considering making part of my reading for 2014 be a book for every year since I was born. We'll see if I actually pull it off. One thing I thought would be cool would be to also pick a non-fiction topic to revisit every 5 or so years to see how ideas and knowledge about it change over time.
I'm honoured. I like the revisiting to see how ideas change idea, but I'm not a re-reader.I am disappointed that in my challenge books I didn't go more into the non-fiction area because the two I did pick I loved and some of the 70s and 80s sci-fi and fantasy while funny for the ideas weren't as engaging.
I started reading Nicotiana a couple of years back, but had to stop for fear of hurting myself with the number of times I was slapping my forehead with my hand. I will probably try again some day.
I'm not a re-reader either. My vague plan would be to start in 1975 and track down a copy of something on, say, a pop psychiatry topic. Then find another published in 1980, 1985, and so on. You know, a good topic for this would be marriage and/or relationships. The hard part will be finding original editions from those years, not revised editions published later, so I'll probably be limited to used paperbacks.
To the person that marked up the book I just borrowed from the library: you suck. You purposely marked it by underlining every other word and asterisking things. It's distracting and making it difficult to just fall into the story. In my world you would pay for the book plus fund the purchase of another book for the library.
:-D
Don't most people read when on vacation? I take ten days off and read nothing.
Well, I wasn't counting the newspaper. That's not really reading.If I coast much longer, I'll be stopped.
Homeinmyshoes wrote: "Don't most people read when on vacation? I take ten days off and read nothing."I always read on Vaca. We'll see how much I get done this year. Last year it was....12 books in 6 days.
I'm definitely winning the coasting to the finish line contest right now.
Thankfully I finished another year before the end of July. Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Spendid Suns. Only four more years left now and I've started reading one of them already. I might finish my challenge in August yet.
And three more years left in the challenge. A replacement with Paul Quarrington's King Leary.Almost done a 2013 book as well so I might be down to two years this week.
Book number 47. Only two more years left 1991 and 1997. Doll Bones by Holly Black. A very fun read from the YA section. Well worth the $1.99 sale price at Amazon. Probably 3.728674 stars, but I'm generous today and rounding up to four.
Number 48. Tom Holt's Doughnut. Good fun. Definitely try another Holt title in the future. I still have two years left on my challenge and a pile of library books to read that aren't those years. I suppose that's why I tried to stay on target for so long. Definitely in coasting mode as far as finishing my challenge goes.
Whew, finally updated the books read list. Looks happy.
Book number 49. Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Five stars. No review, just read it. A wonderful story for those that like a little folklore, a little scare (but not too much.) I'm dissappointed that the MobileRead bookclub didn't read this book instead of Neverwhere (of course it wasn't out) as this is just a much better story. I enjoyed Neverwhere, but this is an absolute gem.
Book number 50. Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. I liked that. One of the better MobileRead book club selections to me.
Book number 51. Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut. So, not one of Vonnegut's finer stories. Not really a story either. Gets two stars, but it's a 1.9647 on a good day.
The lady in line at the coffee shop this morning was muttering mostly incoherent things, but I caught a few things such as the "I don't like books" and "don't want no more books" comments. I'm sure the books love her too.
Book number 52. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. Very enjoyable. A bit of weak writing for grammar in a couple of places and a bit predictable, but it was a good story. I enjoyed it.
I finished book number 53, A Good Fall by Ha Jin. A good collection of short stories, but suffers from too much of the same. Ha Jin writes character studies and this book would have been better enjoyed by reading one story a month over the year instead of all at once. Just too much of the same again and again in this collection of stories. The differences in characters are subtle and that can get lost trying to read it all at once.
Book number 54 was Fun & Games by Duane Swierczynski.More importantly, I finished book number 55 and the year 1991. Terry Pratchett's Reaper Man.
Which means, that I have now read a book published in every year of my life and my challenge is complete. Woohoo!
Book number 56. Scarlett Thomas's Going Out. Very enjoyable. Not as great as Popco for me, but still very good. Now on to some more Tery Pratchett with Witches Abroad.
Book number 58. Detroit an American Autopsy. Like a car crash you just can't look away. Much recommended for what a Charlie Foxtrot Detroit is.
I finished book number 59. Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked this way Comes. Very enjoyable.Off to Stanley Elkin now with George Mills. This one will take a while to finish.
Book number 60. The Secret River by Kate Grenville.
Finally updated the actually read list. Feels good to be up to date.
Book number 61: George MillsBook number 62: Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos
Book number 63: The Sisters Brothers
61: I'm done with Elkin. I think there is only so many titles you can read by him, I think that number is 2. I have read 4 now.
62: a fun little young reader book. Curses, Egyptian artifacts, museums, bad guys in a noire sort of way. Very fun.
63: A bit dull for the first thirty pages, but I really enjoyed the book. Highly recommended.
Book number 64. Starting to hit some rhythm in clearing off books with some fun youth series reads.Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris by R.L. LaFevers. Good fun. I picked up books 3 and 4 for the Kindle the other day as well as requesting The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There and Hell and Gone from the library. Definitely in the mindless reading phase of the year now. :)
Book number 65. Diane Duane's Wizard's Holiday. Good fun. A great series that has gotten better and better.
Book number 66. R.L. LaFevers Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus. Good fun again. Not as deep as the Young Wizards series, but I've always liked Egyptian stuff so this series is a lot of fun.
Number 67. Hell and Gone by Duane S. Entertaining and I liked the background concept. Kafka-esque a bit.
Number 68.Theodosia and the Last Pharaoh. To finish off the series at least so far. There is a rumoured book five, but it is not out and I like where this one left it. Open to some speculation.
Numbet 69. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There. Five stars. I remember really liking the first book, but this was brilliant. Maybe it was because it was the perfect book for curling up with your cold in a chair with a fuzzy blanket and a cup of soup and a ginger ale and the space heater keeping you warm on the coldest day of the year so far. Just so much in her writing.
Homeinmyshoes wrote: "Numbet 69. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There. Five stars. I remember really liking the first book, but this was brilliant. Maybe it was because it was the..."Ooooh! I book1 but never read it...
Just about 40% of the way through Hogfather and I was wandering around FictFact checking what I should maybe read to finish up the year.I could read And Another Thing..., but I seem to think a book in a series not written by the author isn't really part of the series.
Fool Moon? While the action was okay in Storm Front, I found the humour tired and irritating instead of funny.
I should probably read Point and Shoot to finish off Charlie Hardie, Mr. Unkillable. But the first was great, the second okay and I've heard the third is the worst. It's short though.
What about The Omen Machine by Terry Goodkind? I'm not sure I'm tolerant enough for another doorstop anymore.
I could read Forever Odd and continue that. The first was pretty entertaining.
Or maybe The Jennifer Morgue. I've really enjoyed Stross, but I can see that the entertainment value might wear thin after a while.
Okay, Charlie Hardie it is. I'm halfway done already and I'll have a series finished off.
Finished book number 70! Point and Shoot by Duane Swierczynski (sp, probably). Entertaining and now it's done hooray! One more series done.Now to finish Hogfather and be done with the reading for this year. Maybe. 71 is a good number to have completed.
Homeinmyshoes wrote: "Finished book number 70! Point and Shoot by Duane Swierczynski (sp, probably). Entertaining and now it's done hooray! One more series done.Now to finish Hogfather and..."
Hogfather - I need to get back to this series...
^I find I enjoy Pratchett as my take a break books so four or so each year is a nice pave. I'd hate to finish the series too fast as I'll be a little sad when it is over. Of course four books a year means I still have five years of Discworld to go. :)And I'm not planning on reading any Discworld in 2014 so I'll be stuck at 21/40 for a while.
Homeinmyshoes wrote: "^I find I enjoy Pratchett as my take a break books so four or so each year is a nice pave. I'd hate to finish the series too fast as I'll be a little sad when it is over. Of course four books a yea..."Good deal!
I do a reread of Kste Daniels every time she releases the next book...
Book numbre 71. Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. Nice. And with that I think I'm calling uncle on this year's challenge. I could probably fit two or three more titles in, but next year's challenge is just too interesting so I think I'll start reading a bit from those books and just take a nice break before next year. I do need to update the books read list at the top, so I'll get around to doing that.
MobileRead Book Challenges
Books mentioned in this topic
Hogfather (other topics)Hell & Gone (other topics)
Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus (other topics)
Wizard's Holiday (other topics)
Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris (other topics)
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I like Coupland a lot. Microserfs, All Families are Psychotic, JPod. I've read a lot of his stuff, but haven't read a few ones I should. Some time. Off to Small Gods by Terry Pratchett to try and make a dent in the Discworld challenge.