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BW52: 2015 Year End Wrap Up!


Robin M
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Happy Sunday dearhearts!  Welcome to week 52.  As Winston Churchill said "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."    Our quest for the year is not over, but has come full circle.  Our reading adventures took us around the globe, rambling and roaming in pursuit of literary adventures, thrilling mysteries and regency romances.  We delved into the capricious and cunning, debunked the banned, dipped into the fascinating world of creative non fiction, hiked into history and scrutinized the supernatural and spectacular ghostly tomes. We expanded our horizons as we burrowed into translated stories thanks to Archipelago Books, Europa Editions and Literary Saloon pointing us in new directions.  Let's wrap up our 2015 reading year before we do it all over again next year.

 
 
Please share what you are reading this week as well as your reading lists and tell us about your reading year:
 
 
 
 

How many books did you read this year and did you meet or beat your own personal goal? 

 

Share your top 5 (or more) favorite books. 

 

Which books or authors you thought you'd never read and were pleasantly surprised to like them? 

 

One book that touched you - made you laugh, cry, sing or dance! 

 

Share your most favorite character, covers and/or quotes? 

 

One book you thought you'd love but didn't? 

 

What countries or centuries did you explore? 

 

What books would you recommend everybody read? 

 

What was your favorite part of the challenge? 

 
 
Congratulations and thank you to everyone for joining in and to those who followed our progress.  I may have challenged our comfort zones a bit this year and probably will even more so in the new year as we sail around the world.  Once I stepped outside my own reading box, I discovered so many new worlds. Plus it made me appreciate my comfort reads even more.  No matter what we read, whether it's fiction or nonfiction, literary or contemporary, historical or futuristic, a chunky book or a cozy, the most important thing is the reading.  For me, reading is as necessary as breathing. It is an escape or should I call it a decampment from the real world. I get rather crotchety without my books.  How about you?  I really appreciate you sharing your reading journeys with me.  I hope you had fun along the way, following your own reading paths and  rabbit trails and enjoyed your bookish journeys.  I look forward to 2016 and sharing another reading year with you all.  
 
Best wishes for a Happy Reading New Year! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Things I finished this week:

Gilgamesh: A New Rendering in English Verse - David Ferry

The History of the Medieval World - Susan Wise Bauer

The Fourteenth Goldfish - Jennifer Holm (recommended by my dd9)  :)

The Death of Ivan Ilyich - Tolstoy. I was inspired to read this by Being Mortal.  Kind of fitting, starting and ending the year with Russian reads.

The Year of Lear - James Shapiro

 

Year in Review:

How many books did you read this year and did you meet or beat your own personal goal? 

I read 190 books, which beat my personal goal of 150.

47 books (25%) were nonfiction

96 books (51%) were school-related – read to, with, or at the recommendation of a child, or read as a preview for what we might read/study together. I’m surprised that’s not higher

56 books (29%) were read as a result of specific recommendations, read-along challenges, or gifts in the mailbox from BaWers.  Thanks, guys! These were all books I would not have read if it weren’t for this group.

Share your top 5 (or more) favorite books. 
The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson was probably my favorite book of the year

Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead was the best MG/young YA book I’ve read in a long time

The Forest Unseen by David George Haskell is my favorite nonfiction read, although that was a tough choice – 8 of 20 books I gave 5 stars were nonfiction

Ancillary Justice/Sword/Mercy was my favorite sci-fi/fantasy series

 

Which books or authors you thought you'd never read and were pleasantly surprised to like them? 
Definitely the Game of Thrones series. I tried it on a whim and got immediately hooked

 

One book that touched you - made you laugh, cry, sing or dance! 
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman made me blubber like a baby

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande made me cry, think, reflect, and maybe will make me a better person

 

Share your most favorite character, covers and/or quotes? 
“Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. Truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world.†
― Neil GaimanThe Ocean at the End of the Lane

 

Favorite characters: Breq of the Ancillary series; Elizabeth Bennet, Pride & Prejudice; Dodger; Mary from His Dark Materials; Andy Gage of Set This House in Order;

 

One book you thought you'd love but didn't? 
The Water Knife – Paolo Bacigalupi.  To brutal and bloody

Prince Lestat – Anne Rice.  I loved her vampire books in my 20s, but I guess that ship has sailed

 

What countries or centuries did you explore? 
Time frame: Most of them! I definitely hit all the major eras, from earliest written history (Gilgamesh) to the imagined far future

Countries: Middle East (ancient & modern), Africa (North & sub-saharan), Southeast Asia, India, Indonesia, China, the Balkans, England, Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Greece (ancient & modern), Russia, Brazil, Mexico, the Asian steppes, even Antarctica and outer space!  Oh yeah, and the US too.

 

What books would you recommend everybody read? 
Being Mortal – Atul Gawande

The Great Disruption – Paul Gilding

Between the World & Me – Ta-nehisi Coates

Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant – Roz Chast

 

What was your favorite part of the challenge? 

You guys!! Friends to talk about books with, something sorely lacking from real life.  Also the push outside of my comfort zone that led me to read so many books I would not otherwise have read.

 

Here is a link to my goodreads Year in Books if anybody wants to see the whole list:

 Chrysalis Academy's year in books

Edited by Chrysalis Academy
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This week I finished Predictably Irrational and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. My goal is to finish The Power of Myth and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World before the end of the year. 

 

Predictably Irrational was a fun book, one that shows how humans make irrational economic decisions, often against their own best interest, and how this is different from economic models which mostly assume perfect rationality and self-interest. One of the most interesting examples was about lawyers who charged high rates who balked at giving lowered rates to low-income people who needed help, but who were happy to give their services for free. When offered a chance to do free work, they mentally compared it to other opportunities to volunteer and give, but when asked to lower their rates, they compared the lowered rate to their going rates instead. Another example was one on which college students were given a choice of buying Lindt truffles for 8 cents and Hershey's kisses for 1 cent and many more chose Lindt (considered higher quality) than the kisses. But when the prices were changed to 7 cents and free, respectively, many more people took the kisses even though the price spread was the same.  

 

I finished The Heart is a Lonely Hunter at 2:00 am. I had originally picked up this book after Jane discussed it a few weeks ago.

 

Allow me to back up and digress. One of my favorite songs is the

. Knowing this, my friend called me during Michael Jackson's memorial service to tell me to watch the Smokey Robinson eulogy when it was eventually posted to Youtube. So I did, and
 and how he couldn't believe such a young child could sing that song with so much knowledge and soul, as if he was much older than his years. That's how I felt about Carson McCullers and this book. How in the world she could have so much soul and understanding about her environment and what makes people tick, at such a young age?

 

At first my view of the book was affected by To Kill a Mockingbird, and I waited for some big event to create a climax in the first third or middle of the book. By the time the book was 75% done and all I had were some rambling (but interesting) plot points, I figured it was just going to be an book of Southern character sketches and that was more than enough, because I had become so invested in the people themselves; I felt love for them. But I had a niggling feeling which in retrospect I believe was possibly caused by my simultaneous reading of The Power of Myth, and as I progressed through the last quarter of the book, I just cried the whole time. I often tear up when reading things which resonate with me, but this was what I call "Where the Red Fern Grows bawling." And I was just so angry and my heart just hurt for everyone in the book. 

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My 2016 list stands at 94 books but it will be 96 before the year is over as I do not have that many pages left in both H is for Hawk and The Good Soldier Å vejk.

 

There were five books that really stood out for me this year:

 

  • A Treatise on Shelling Beans (MyÅ›liwski)
  • My Struggle, Book I (Knausgaard)
  • The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (Smollett)
  • Copenhagen (Frayn)
  • Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (Watson)

Copenhagen is an interesting play that took on an unexpected meaning for me.  My dear friend who had lost her scientist husband of many, many decades found the voice of a scientist's wife captured exquisitely by Frayn.  She saw me reading the play while I was spending some time with her and asked if she could borrow the book when I was finished.  The play served as a launching pad for some wonderful discussions and memories of her own husband. 

 

More to say regarding Robin's other questions later.

 

And here is the list:

 

94) Trout Fishing in America, Richard Brautigan, 1967

93) The Golden Legend, Jacobus de Voragine, 1260; translated by William Granger Ryan

92) The Frozen Thames, Helen Humphreys, 2009

91) A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway, 1964

90) The History of the Medieval World, Susan Wise Bauer, 2010

89) The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers, 1940, audio

88) The Gap of Time, Jeanette Winterson, 2015

87) The Miracle Game, Josef Skvorecky, translated by Paul Wilson, 1972

86) The Winter's Tale, William Shakespeare, 1611

85) Detroit: An American Autopsy, Charlie LeDuff, 2013

84) The Spoils of Poynton, Henry James, 1897

83) An Alligator Named Daisy, Charles Terrot, 1954

82) Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, 1932, audio

81) The 100 Year Old Man who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson, 2009, translated by Rod Bradbury

80) Tristano Dies, Antonio Tabucchi, 2004, translated by Elizabeth Harris

79) Asheden, or the British Agent, Somerset Maugham, 1928

78) Another Shore, Nancy Bond,1988

77) A Boat Load of Home Folk, Thea Astley, 1968

76) Miss Buncle Married, D.E. Stevenson, 1936

75) The Crow Trap, Ann Cleeves, 1999

74) A String in the Harp, Nancy Bond, 1976, audio

73) The Folly, Ivan Vladislavic, 2015

72) From Bruges with Love, Pieter Aspe, 2015, translated by Brian Doyle
71) Imperium, Christian Kracht, 2012, translated by Danield Bowles
70) My Struggle, Volume One, Karl Ove Knausgaard, 2009, translated by Don Bartlett T*****
69) The Log from the Sea of Cortez, John Steinbeck, 1951
68) Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, Elizabeth Taylor, 1971
67) The Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown, 2013
66) My Brother Michael, Mary Stewart, 1959
65) The People of Privilege Hill, Jane Gardam, 2008
64) Alex, Pierre Lemaitre, 2011, translated by Frank Wynne
63) Irene, Pierre Lemaitre, 2006, translated by Frank Wynne
62) The Room, Jonas Karlsson, 2009, translated by Neil Smith
61) The Hollow Land, Jane Gardam, 1982
60) Camille, Pierre Lemaitre, 2012; translated by Frank Wynne
59) God on the Rocks, Jane Gardam, 1978
58) Safe Area Goražde: The War in Eastern Bosnia, 1992-95, Joe Sacco, 2000 (Read in memory of the 20th anniversary of the massacre in Srebrenica)
57) Scarlet Sister Mary, Julia Peterkin, 1928
56) Unseen Academicals, Terry Pratchett, 2009, audio
55) A Hero of Our Time, Mikhail Lermontov, 180; translated by Maria Schwartz 2004
54) Soaring with Fidel: An Osprey Odyssey from Cape Cod to Cuba and Beyond, David Gessner, 2007

53) The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, Tobias Smollet, 1751*****
52) The Lady who Liked Clean Restrooms, J.P. Donleavey, 1995
51) Piece of My Heart, Peter Robinson, 2007, audio
50) Departure Lounge, Chad Taylor, 2006
49) What Did It Mean?, Angela Thirkell, 1954
48) Death in the Garden, Elizabeth Ironside, 1995
47) Copenhagen, Michael Frayn, 1998  *****
46) The Cocktail Party, T.S. Eliot, 1950
45) Dekok and Murder by Melody, A.C. Baantjer, 1983; translated by H.G. Smittenaar 2005
44) This Life, Karel Schoeman, 1993; translated by Else Silke 2005
43) Time Ages in a Hurry, Antonio Tabucchi, 2009; translated by Martha Cooley and Antonio Romani 2015
42) Guantanamo Diary, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, 2015
41) A Treatise on Shelling Beans, Wieslaw Mysliwski, 2006; translated by Bill Johnston 2013 *****
40) Oishinbo: The Joy of Rice, Tetsukariya and Akira Hanasaki, 2001; translated by Tetsuichiro Miyaki
39) Can We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, Roz Chast, 2014
38) White Masks, Elias Khoury, 1981; translated by Maia Tabet 2010
37) The Wee Free Men, Terry Pratchett, 2003 (audio)
36) Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Winifred Watson, 1938 *****
35) Selected Poems, Corsino Fortes, 2001; translated by Daniel Hahn and Sean OBrien, 2015
34) The Professor and the Siren, Guiseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, stories published posthumously 1961; translated by Stephen Twilley 2014
33) Lentil Underground, Liz Carlisle, 2015
32) Time Present and Time Past, Deirdre Madden, 2014
31) Private Enterprise, Angela Thirkell, 1947
30) A Hat Full of Sky, Terry Pratchett, 2004, audio book
29) Does Santa Exist?, Eric Kaplan, 2014
28) County Chronicle, Angela Thirkell, 1950
27) Girl Meets Boy, Ali Smith, 2007
26) Bring up the Bodies, Hillary Mantel, 2012
25) The Glass Key, Dashiell Hammett, 1931, audio
24) The Strange Adventures of Mr Andrew Hawthorn & Other Stories, John Buchan, stories originally published 1896-1932
23) Sidney Chambers & the Perils of the Night, 2013
22) Every Man for Himself, Beryl Bainbridge, 1996
21) The Good Lord Bird, James McBride, 2013
20) A Shilling for Candles, Josephine Tey, 1936
19) Spies of the Balkans, Alan Furst, 2010; audio book
18) A Test of Wills, Charles Todd, 1996
17) Extraordinary Renditions, Andrew Erwin, 2010
16) The Light of Day, Eric Ambler, 1962
15) Interesting Times, Terry Pratchett, 1994; audio book
14) Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte, 1847
13) The Return of Martin Guerre, 1984, Natalie Zemon Davis
12) The Letter Killers Club, Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky, 1925 or so; translated by Joanne Turnbull, 2011
11) Murder in the Round, Dorothy Dunnett, 1970
10) The Secret Adversary, Agatha Christie, 1922
9) Twenty Thousand Saints, Fflur Dafydd, 2008
8) After Dark, Haruki Murakami, 2004; translated from the Japanese by Jay Rubin, 2007; audio book
7) A Short Walk: A Preposterous Adventure, Eric Newby, 1959
6) A Useless Man, selected stories, Sait Faik Abasiyank written in the first half of the 20th century, translated from Turkish by Alexander Dawe and Maureen Freely, 2015
5) Absolute Truths, John le Carré, 2003, audio book (leftover from 2014)
4) Lost, Stolen or Shredded: Stories of Missing Works of Art and Literature, Rick Gekoski, 2013 3) The Unicorn Hunt, Dorothy Dunnett, 1994 (leftover from 2014)
2) History of the Ancient World, Susan Wise Bauer, 2007 (leftover from 2014)
1) Women's Work: The First 20000 Years, Elizabeth Wayland Barber, 1994 (leftover from 2014)

*Chunksters

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Angel -  DD is already asking when the second illustrated HP book is coming out.  I told her next Christmas.  She's hinting it would make a great Christmas present next year also.  What does your DD think of it?

Skye loves it!  She is already talking of owning the whole set.  She has brought it to me many times to point out certain illustrations.

 

 

The Fourteenth Goldfish - Jennifer Holm (recommended by my dd9)  :)

 

We have enjoyed Holm's Turtle in Paradise, a lovely little book!

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Answers to Robin's questions:

 

How many books did you read this year and did you meet or beat your own personal goal? 

 

I've read 50, but I'm finishing 2 more before the end of the year, so I will have met my goal.

 

Share your top 5 (or more) favorite books. 

 

In order of reading, not preference: 1Q84, Ulysses, The Most Dangerous Book, The Sparrow, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, and Marva Collins' Way. Yes, that's 6. Sorry, I tacked on one more at the end!

 

Which books or authors you thought you'd never read and were pleasantly surprised to like them? 

 

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed The Spoils of Poynton by James.

 

One book that touched you - made you laugh, cry, sing or dance! 

 

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter touched me the most.

 

Share your most favorite character, covers and/or quotes? 

 

Leopold Bloom (Ulysses) and others I need to think about.

 

And from The Power of Myth, a poem by Guiraut de Borneilh (ca. 1138-1200?):

 

So through the eyes love attains the heart:

For the eyes are the scouts of the heart, 

And the eyes go reconnoitering

For what it would please the heart to possess. 

And when they are in full accord

And firm, all three, in one resolve, 

At that time, perfect love is born

From what the eyes have made welcome to the heart. 

Not otherwise can love either be born or have commencement

Than by this birth and commencement moved by inclination. 

 

By the grace and by command

Of these three, and from their pleasure, 

Love is born, who its fair hope

Goes comforting her friends. 

For as all true lovers

Know, love is perfect kindness, 

Which is born—there is no doubt—from the heart and eyes. 

The eyes make it blossom; the heart matures it: 

Love, which is the fruit of their very seed.

 

 

One book you thought you'd love but didn't? 

 

Ender's Game. After hearing so much about it I thought I would like it but I found it disturbing and strange. 

 

What countries or centuries did you explore? 

 

Japan, various takes on the 19th century, Ireland, England, the U.S. (Southern, Chicago, CA pioneers among those), Germany, Italy, a small patch of South Africa.

 

What books would you recommend everybody read? 

 

Ulysses, The Most Dangerous Book, The Power of Myth, The Sparrow, anything by Murakami, The Waste Land, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, off the top of my head.

 

What was your favorite part of the challenge? 

 

The books suggestions from everyone else and the community here. The suggestions really broadened my horizons and I feel lucky to be part of this supportive and fun group. My only regret, as they say, is that I didn't start sooner!

Edited by idnib
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I finished The Heart is a Lonely Hunter at 2:00 am. I had originally picked up this book after Jane discussed it a few weeks ago.

 

Allow me to back up and digress. One of my favorite songs is the Jackson 5 cover of Smokey Robinson's Who's Loving You. Knowing this, my friend called me during Michael Jackson's memorial service to tell me to watch the Smokey Robinson eulogy when it was eventually posted to Youtube. So I did, and Smokey talked about the first time he heard Michael Jackson singing  his song and how he couldn't believe such a young child could sing that song with so much knowledge and soul, as if he was much older than his years. That's how I felt about Carson McCullers and this book. How in the world she could have so much soul and understanding about her environment and what makes people tick, at such a young age?

 

At first my view of the book was affected by To Kill a Mockingbird, and I waited for some big event to create a climax in the first third or middle of the book. By the time the book was 75% done and all I had were some rambling (but interesting) plot points, I figured it was just going to be an book of Southern character sketches and that was more than enough, because I had become so invested in the people themselves; I felt love for them. But I had a niggling feeling which in retrospect I believe was possibly caused by my simultaneous reading of The Power of Myth, and as I progressed through the last quarter of the book, I just cried the whole time. I often tear up when reading things which resonate with me, but this was what I call "Where the Red Fern Grows bawling." And I was just so angry and my heart just hurt for everyone in the book. 

 

Oh idnib!  :grouphug:

 

I am delighted that you read Carson McCullers! My first reading of the book took place before I resided in the South.  At the time (I was not much older than the author when she wrote the book), I was moved by the lonely spheres in which her characters operated despite their regular intersections with each other in their  small town life.  On this second go around, I was simply blown away by her understanding of race and class issues as a young woman who had not seen much outside of her small Southern town in pre-WWII America.

 

Heads up:  I am rereading Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio at some point in 2016.  He is the other author mentioned by Vladislavić in that article that I had linked.

 

 

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Thank you! And I would love to learn how you turn titles or your own words into a hyperlink, I've never figured out how to do that.

 

Open a new tab and copy the URL of the page you will be linking to. Go back to the WTM tab, highlight the text you want to turn into a link, click the button that looks like a chain link (to the left of the numbered list button) and paste the URL you previously copied into the pop-up box.

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Oh idnib!  :grouphug:

 

I am delighted that you read Carson McCullers! My first reading of the book took place before I resided in the South.  At the time (I was not much older than the author when she wrote the book), I was moved by the lonely spheres in which her characters operated despite their regular intersections with each other in their  small town life.  On this second go around, I was simply blown away by her understanding of race and class issues as a young woman who had not seen much outside of her small Southern town in pre-WWII America.

 

Heads up:  I am rereading Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio at some point in 2016.  He is the other author mentioned by Vladislavić in that article that I had linked.

 

Thanks for the hugs. Another thing, which I didn't mention is that it made me cry for my children. Part of this was the lost independence they have in today's world, and part of it had to do with how precious gifts can be locked away by the realities of survival. I'm being vague here to avoid spoilers.

 

I will join you in a new-to-me reading of Winesburg, Ohio. I remember that from the article you linked but it had fallen off my radar so I'm glad you mentioned it again. Let me know when.

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I finished Ficciones by Borges and Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johson, which puts me at 84 books for the year. I may or may not try to squeeze in a final novella before the year ends - haven't decided. 

 

Metaphors We Live By is a nonfiction book that is part psychology, part philosophy, part linguistics. It is not about writing or literature. The book aims to show how we think in terms of metaphors, and how these metaphors affect the way we behave. For instance, if you're living by the metaphor TIME IS MONEY, then you may be so concerned with "spending" your time wisely that even your leisure time is a chore. Because these metaphors are so ingrained in our culture and language, we don't even notice ourselves using them. They seem obvious and natural. But if we can recognize them, then we can think of other metaphors that might be more healthy or moral, that might allow us to see things from a different perspective and perhaps change for the better. We will also be able to see when politicians are using metaphors to frame the way we think about things in order to gain support for their plans or actions. IMO, this is an important book, but it is not light reading. 

 

How many books did you read this year and did you meet or beat your own personal goal? 

 

84 and yes. My reading goal this year was to read less in order to make more time for writing (without going below 52 books). That happened. I also read at least one issue each of ten different literary magazines, which satisfied another personal goal.

 

Share your top 5 (or more) favorite books. 

 

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Citizen by Claudia Rankine

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

Bad Behavior by Mary Gaitskill

Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson

 

Which books or authors you thought you'd never read and were pleasantly surprised to like them?

 

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was on my ought-to-read list for some time, but not on my want-to-read list because of all the reviews I had read about how much of a boring slog it is. My friend picked it for us to read together, and I enjoyed it.

 

Stephen King is not an author whose books I thought I'd read until last year when I read On Writing and swore to give his fiction a chance. I read Carrie this year as an October spooky read and enjoyed it enough that I'm sure I'll eventually read more of his shorter books. Perhaps Misery.

 

One book that touched you - made you laugh, cry, sing or dance!

 

The Things They Carried made me cry.

 

Share your most favorite character, covers and/or quotes? 

 

From Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges:

 

“To think, analyze and invent," he also wrote me, “are not anomalous acts, but the normal respiration of the intelligence. To glorify the occasional fulfillment of this function, to treasure ancient thoughts of others, to remember with incredulous amazement that the doctor universalis is thought, is to confess our languor or barbarism. Every man should be capable of all ideas, and I believe that in the future he will be."

 

One book you thought you'd love but didn't.

 

I really thought I'd love Ficciones, but while I tend to be annoyed by books that are fun but not interesting enough, I felt that Borges went too far in the other direction. His ideas are interesting, but the stories were no fun to read. I kept comparing him to Calvino. They both write idea stories, in which the idea is the driving force, not the characters or the plot, and they are both interesting, but Calvino's stories are so much more fun.

 

What countries or centuries did you explore?

 

Not sure. :blushing: 

 

What books would you recommend everybody read?

 

Citizen and The Things They Carried are both important and both are moving.

 

What was your favorite part of the challenge?

 

The author flavor of the month helped me make sure I read some great novels this year, not just poetry and nonfiction, and I really enjoyed the Marco Polo read-along.

Edited by crstarlette
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I'm not good in wrapping ups.

But I'll try to share some things.

 

I read a lot of French literature in Dutch.

It was good to see that the character of these books are so different compared to English literature.

Living in a more France oriented country it was good to do.

Next year I'll tackle the list for German literature...

 

Reading English became more difficult during the year so I became more dependend on translations.

I loved Middlemarch though :)

North and South (Gaskell) was a little too predictable.

I hope to find more translations, though, because I like the genre.

 

Besides German literature I plan to pick another book of DH 'all times favorites' list.

(Read: another book from a Russian author).

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I will join you in a new-to-me reading of Winesburg, Ohio. I remember that from the article you linked but it had fallen off my radar so I'm glad you mentioned it again. Let me know when.

Can I join?

 

This book came with our house, and I'd like to read it before I toss it. (It's moldy, so not a candidate for passing on.) I tried this year, but couldn't get into it at the time. I think company will help.

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Now, to answer some of those other questions...

 

Which books or authors you thought you'd never read and were pleasantly surprised to like them? I'll agree with idnib and say The Spoils of Poynton.  In my (ahem) youth, I struggled with James but found this to be a pleasant read.

 

One book that touched you - made you laugh, cry, sing or dance! A Treatise on Shelling Beans.  What a book! I sobbed when finishing it, when thinking about it, when writing about it...

 

Share your most favorite character, covers and/or quotes?  Among my favorite characters was the wonderful Miss Pettigrew who came to the rescue not only in the book but also in Nan and her Mom's lives when they needed a rescue.  How's that for the power of literature?

 

What books would I recommend everybody read?  Safe Area Goražde: The War in Eastern Bosnia, 1992-95 and Guantanamo Diary.  OK.  Not everybody can handle these sorts of books but perhaps if more people were aware of our government's policies, civilian casualties, and the so called "fortunes of war", maybe, just maybe, we could work our way toward peace.  Maybe.

 

My favorite book cover is from Imperium, a novel by Kracht, which wins another award for the funkiest word of the reading year:  cocovore.

 

9780374175245.jpg

 

One other reading note:  I read 23 books in translation--thanks to this thread.

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My year-end wrap up will follow later; here's a quick week 51 wrap-up.

 

I mentioned already that I finished Night this past week. I also finished C.S. Harris's Where Shadows Dance and today I should finish When Maidens Mourn, both Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries. I'm enjoying the series very much and will probably have them all read by the time the next is published in March. More later.

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How many books did you read this year and did you meet or beat your own personal goal? 

I got past 52, which was my numerical goal. I didn't meet all my 5/5/5 challenge reading, but that's mainly because I diverted to other very important things.

 

Share your top 5 (or more) favorite books. 

Err. Terry Pratchett...

 

Which books or authors you thought you'd never read and were pleasantly surprised to like them? 

Nothing in this category, since I was mainly reading from my towering to be read pile.

 

Share your most favorite character, covers and/or quotes? 

I want to be Tiffany Aching, but without the sheep. 

 

One book you thought you'd love but didn't? 

Faerie Queen. Thank goodness we were only listening to an abridged version. *yawnarama*

 

What countries or centuries did you explore? 

There were a couple of medieval books, but I didn't think to write down dates. 

Countries:
England

Australia

US

Mexico

India

South Africa

France

Turkey

Rwanda

Sweden

Ireland

Spain

 

What books would you recommend everybody read? 

The most *important* book I read was 'People Like Us: How arrogance is dividing Islam and the West,' by Waleed Aly and it could be paired with Courera's 'Constitutional Struggles in the Muslim World.' More people working through these would raise the level of conversation on this topic, and that can only be a good thing because Waleed's book *should* be obsolete by now, but the world is still having the same conversations over and over that were being had a decade ago.

 

What was your favorite part of the challenge? 

I did manage more personal reading this year. Last year I felt almost completely consumed by read alouds. :) Which are good, but, well, it's nice to get in some personal reading. :)

Edited by Rosie_0801
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I'm writing this under the influence of beer and tamales -- after playing 2 church services this morning I am now on vacation with no gigs or lessons to teach til after New Year's.  The fire is going (It was 32 degrees this morning.  In Southern California. We don't deal well with this kind of weather!) and I have a crochet project next to me along with a new stack of books and the dog, of course near by.  Ahhhh!!

 

On to the year end wrap up.

 

My list stands at 65, though I should finish 2 or 3 more this week. I don't think I had a personal goal -- I just try to read a mix of genres outside of my mainstays of mysteries and fantasy.  

 

Favorite books? I've got 7:

 

Death Comes for the Archbishop

Far from the Madding Crowd

Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell 

The Buried Giant

The Shepherd's Life

Barbarian Days: A Surfer's Life

 

Never thought I'd read any romance books, but I read 5 this year, each of which was the right thing at the right time.  The Georgette Heyer books, especially, were gentle entertaining fluff.

 

Of the 29 mysteries I read this year, I'd recommend authors Tana French (Ireland), Alan Furst (WWII spy novels) and Arnaldur Indridason (Iceland). I was a little obsessed with all of Ann Cleeves' Shetland Island mysteries mostly because of the setting rather than the mysteries themselves.  I wish I could find some of her Vera books in print as I've enjoyed the series on PBS.

 

Spoils of Poynton was the most unexpected book on my list, but Violet Crown did a great job of selling it!  

 

I have a very, very long list of titles I've jotted down over the year while reading this thread. No doubt it will be the same in 2016! I never did keep up with Good Reads, though I may give it another try in the new year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Of the 29 mysteries I read this year, I'd recommend authors Tana French (Ireland), Alan Furst (WWII spy novels) and Arnaldur Indridason (Iceland). I was a little obsessed with all of Ann Cleeves' Shetland Island mysteries mostly because of the setting rather than the mysteries themselves.  I wish I could find some of her Vera books in print as I've enjoyed the series on PBS.

 

 

Indridason just went on my library list, Jenn.

 

I bought the first of the Ann Cleeves' Vera books at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, an independent bookstore.  I'd send you the book Jenn but I have promised it to another friend.  Quail Ridge is an indy bookstore that features a section of imports.  It would seem that your community might have such a store too??

 

But wait!  Put those Vera books on your London shopping list!

 

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I have spent a few hours today copying my Good reads list into my book journal. I started a fresh one at the beginning of the year but never quite left the old one with it's lists behind . Somehow I never recorded beyond the first few books. This means I will have no country list or challenges completed to report. I have had a chance to reflect on what I read and will put my answers together and post tomorrow.

 

Goodreads has a summary of your reading year on your "my books" section. I was really enjoying it until I discovered that not all of my 5* books (contender's for the favourites list) have a big cover. I do have to admit my big covers are a combination of longtime favourite authors like Sue Grafton and CS Harris with some new authors like Lauren Willing mixed in.

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... and tell us about your reading year:

 

 

I'm very much enjoying the reading year reviews.

 

I don't keep track of books read nor do I generally do the reading challenges.  This year, I did do the spell one's name challenge which was fun. [i also do the summer reading bingo at my local library.]  I suspect that I've read several hundred books this year, the vast majority of which were romances and twelve of which were for my book group.

 

One noteworthy cover was on Heidi Cullinan's Dance With Me.  I finally located the name of the photographer of the stunning cover; it's Alexander Yakovlev.  You can see a number of his photographs here --

 

Explosive Dance Portraits By Alexander Yakovlev

 

My favorite part of the book a week community is learning about new books, the convivial conversation, and the peek into your thoughts and lives.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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But wait! Put those Vera books on your London shopping list!

 

Vera books are perfect for charity shop browsing with a purpose. Popular author and popular series. If they ask if you are looking for something specific ask..... shops have large storage areas frequently.

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I love reading everyone's year in review posts!  I am having a lovely laundry-and-reading day today.   I mentioned that I started HotRW, and I decided last night that I was going to revel in some of the great historical fiction about women of the period while I'm at it, so that will be a rabbit trail I'll be following this year, alongside pre-reading for our year of Ancient studies that will begin in August.  To that end, I pulled out the very dusty The Conqueror, by Georgette Heyer. It's my favorite kind of historical fiction. Of course the personalities and conversations are all imagined, but the description of what it was like to live in the 1000's in feudal Europe is just stellar - it really makes you see, hear, feel, (and smell) what it might have been like. 

 

I'm also reading Angle of Repose (my Bingo birth-year book), Reading the Environment, a book of excerpts from environmental/ecological writers that we'll probably use for ES next year, and The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh.  It was a pre-read, and I don't think I'll have Shannon read it, but I am enjoying it and it's good background both for our Gilgamesh studies, and also very enlightening about colonial relations in the middle east and North Africa during the Victorian era.

 

Oh, and I'm re-reading the Ancillary series by Ann Leckie, almost exactly one year after I first began it. Now that the 3rd book has come out, I want to re-read them back to back.  I can already tell I'm going to be bumping this from a 4-star to a 5-star read. Now that I'm familiar with some of the quirks in the storytelling, I'm deeply enjoying the themes about autonomy and selfhood, free-will and choices. As well as the stories we tell ourselves to get us through the night.

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My copies of Plato's Timaeus and The Unseen Forest just arrived, not so coincidentally packaged with my Chemex coffee filters.  ;)

 

Ah, I knew there was a reason that you are my soul sister!  I bought a stainless steel filter from Able (in Portland) for my Chemex.  Just sayin'...

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When I started this year, I pretty much knew I wouldn't read 52 books, and I didn't.  :P  I didn't really set a goal, other than trying to read at least a little on most days.  That, I mostly met, except for some time periods that were really chaotic.  I didn't think of including read-alouds with my kids, but even with those, I didn't do so hot.  I didn't log the books or keep track of the number, but I am going to guess a total of maybe 10 or 12 this year (only counting grown-up full-length books).

 

The ones I remember off hand:

 

Bleak House

Return of the Native

Portrait of a Lady

The Age of Innocence

The Sea Wolf

Lord of the Flies

The Ides of March

The Broker

Mutation

Most of these books had sat in my basement for decades.  Many of them were not very interesting and some were pretty hard to get through - just not my type of read.  I probably should have given some of them up so I could read better stuff.  But I'm stubborn about finishing books once I start them.

 

So I can't really name a book I really liked etc.  Maybe next year.

 

Last week I mentioned that I started Rabbit, Run.  I am maybe one-third of the way through it.  (So far I don't like it, but I will probably finish it anyway.)  I forgot to bring it on my trip, so I bought another book by John Grisham, and I haven't gotten very far in that.  We'll see if I finish it over the trip.  It depends on how soon I finish the work I brought with me.

 

I should probably start keeping a list for 2016.  I think it might be motivating.

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What books would you recommend everybody read? 

Being Mortal – Atul Gawande

The Great Disruption – Paul Gilding

Between the World & Me – Ta-nehisi Coates

Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant – Roz Chast

 

Three of these were on my to-read list, but I had never heard of The Great Disruption. I'll look into that one, and thanks for the nudge on the rest of them!

 

 

And after all the posts about The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, that one's on my to-read list too. I'm enjoying the wrap-ups so far!

Edited by crstarlette
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All right, I've been updating my list and doing a little statistical analysis on my 2015 reading. Here we go:

 

68 books read (counting one more Sebastian St. Cyr I expect to finish before Friday). I don't really care if I make it to 52 books as long as I keep reading. Maybe one of these years there'll be fewer books read, but more chunksters or more short stories or whatever. 

 

Of those:

53 fiction (78%)

15 non-fiction (22%)

36 by women authors (53%)

32 by male authors (47%)--I'm kind of surprised by the parity here--I would have guessed way more female authors, but not this year.

10 classics (15%)

 

My Top 5

I've really been enjoying my regency mysteries, but I'll go a little less fluffy here:

In no particular order

Station Eleven

The Boys in the Boat

The Buried Giant

Unbroken

Infinte Home

 

Books I read that I think everyone should read:

Everyone has different tastes for pleasure reading, but I think these are important books to read--

Guantanamo Diary

Night

Fahrenheit 451

 

My 3 Least Favorite books I read this year:

These brought out serious negative feelings toward their authors!

Villette-Bronte

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up-Kondo

Wild-Strayed

 

One Book that Touched Me: Infinite Home-Alcott

 

Most Favorite Character: I'm enjoying Sebastian St. Cyr. I enjoyed Death in Terry Pratchett's Mort and Reaper Man earlier this year.

 

Countries/Centuries: I'm pretty much always in America or England, 19th, 20th or 21st century. Brief visits to Nigeria, Canada, Japan, Poland, France, Germany

 

Favorite part of challenge: seeing what everyone else is reading!

 

Edited by Ali in OR
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All right, I've been updating my list and doing a little statistical analysis on my 2015 reading. Here we go:

 

68 books read (counting one more Sebastian St. Cyr I expect to finish before Friday). I don't really care if I make it to 52 books as long as I keep reading. Maybe one of these years there'll be fewer books read, but more chunksters or more short stories or whatever. 

 

Of those:

53 fiction (78%)

15 non-fiction (22%)

36 by women authors (53%)

32 by male authors (47%)--I'm kind of surprised by the parity here--I would have guessed way more female authors, but not this year.

10 classics (15%)

 

 

 

Ah, some other good ways to look at our lists.  

Mine came out 64/190 women authors, only 34%.  I'm a little surprised by that, although it's not something I consciously paid attention to while choosing books. Maybe because most of the nonfiction I read was by male writers? Not sure why but it seems to have turned out that way.

30 were classics, ~15%

66 were sci fi/fantasy, 35% - definitely my biggest single genre.  Maybe that's why my author list skews male?

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66 were sci fi/fantasy, 35% - definitely my biggest single genre.  Maybe that's why my author list skews male?

 

Some articles that might be of interest ~

 

Top 10 Fantasy Novels by Female Authors (list inspired by 'The Killing Moon')

 

Feeding the Hunger – female writers are storming the male citadels of sci-fi

 

14 Women Writers Who Dominate The Universe Of Sci-Fi

 

The 23 Best Science Fiction Books by Female Authors

 

Regards,

Kareni

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How many books did you read this year and did you meet or beat your own personal goal? 

 

I've read 71 so far, which may be 72 if I manage to finish The Incarnations in the next few days. Didn't necessarily have a goal of anything other than 52, so I met that goal.

 

Share your top 5 (or more) favorite books. 

 

If I have to limit it to five (well, I'm going to make it six), they are:

9781594632785.jpg9781400034208.jpg9780375435041.jpg9781566894098.jpg9780684833637.jpg9780914671312.jpg

 

Honorable mention includes:

Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson

The Martian by Andy Weir

 

Two oldies & favorites that were re-reads for me this year:

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

 

And three that didn't make my favorites list, but that I am fortunate & very glad to have read:

Rue du Retour by Abdellatif Laâbi

Guantánamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

 

Which books or authors you thought you'd never read and were pleasantly surprised to like them? 

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. I thought it would be too violent & was on the fence about reading it. Yet, at the same time, I had felt drawn to it for years. So glad I finally picked it up & read it.

 

One book that touched you - made you laugh, cry, sing or dance!

The Good Lord Bird made me laugh & think.

Hemingway's story of his road trip with F. Scott Fitzgerald (in A Moveable Feast) made me howl with laughter (along w/ my dh & dd who laughed along too as I read large portions of that section out loud to them).

 

Share your most favorite character, covers and/or quotes?

Favorite characters include Elliot (The Razor's Edge), Billy Pilgrim (Slaughterhouse-Five), Onion & John Brown (The Good Lord Bird), Highway (The Story of My Teeth), Mr. Pew (Lighthousekeeping), & Ernest Hemingway & F. Scott Fitzgerald (as themselves in A Moveable Feast). I also enjoyed Mark Watney (The Martian).

 

Will post some quotes later.

 

One book you thought you'd love but didn't?

Johannes Cabal: The Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard. I enjoyed the beginning but it got too dark for me.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. I think it's important & critical reading, but I didn't actually *like* it very much (too much imbalance between bigger issues vs. very personal family things; felt like an intruder while reading it).

 

What countries or centuries did you explore? 

Africa (Angola, Burkina Faso, Congo Republic, Ghana, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa)

Asia (China, India, Japan, Mongolia)

Caribbean (Cuba, Jamaica)

Europe (England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Spain)

Latin America (Brazil)

Middle East (Israel, Saudi Arabia)

North America (Mexico, USA)

Oceania (Australia, New Zealand)

 

Didn't finish my Antarctica reading this year & not sure I'll get to it by the end of the year.

 

What books would you recommend everybody read?

Guantánamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi

 

What was your favorite part of the challenge?

Being here among friends! :grouphug:

 

 
Edited by Stacia
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I read All Creatures Great and Small - 4 Stars - Most people know by now that James Herriot wrote about his life as a country vet in the 1930s and ‘40s. I strongly recommend this memoir to every Anglophile and animal lover. The stories are hilarious in some parts and brought me to tears in others. It is books like these that teach me to appreciate all the little things around us.

 

9781250057839.jpg

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

 

 

 

 

 

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How many books did you read this year and did you meet or beat your own personal goal? 


I don't like to set goals when it comes to reading. For Good Reads purposes, I kept adjusting my goal. Yes, I beat it. I read 60 books. 


 


Share your top 5 (or more) favorite books. 


I loved every single Bill Bryson and Jennifer Worth book. :)


9781784161194.jpg  9781608198061.jpg   9780984913664.jpg   9780753823835.jpg 9780936197449.jpg 9781439102817.jpg 9780140186390.jpg 9780743289696.jpg 9780552152167.jpg 9781847376640.jpg   


 


 


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Which books or authors you thought you'd never read and were pleasantly surprised to like them? 


Jennifer Worth


John Steinbeck


John Williams ("Stoner")


 


One book that touched you - made you laugh, cry, sing or dance!


Most of the above, but if I had to choose just one it would be the entire Call the Midwife series, including her final one, "In the Midst of Life". 


 


Share your most favorite character, covers and/or quotes? 


All of the above, basically as far as characters go. I love Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Love Bill Bryson. Love them all. Far too many quotes to share. Here are some:


From "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant":


“Once you pass your physical peak - let's say 25 - the falling off is incremental. Every year - unless something ‘happens’ - you get a little slower, a little saggier, until you hit 90. At that point, things start to fall apart at a much faster rate. Which is why when I hear about people trying to figure out how to live until they're 120, I want to ask them: ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?†


 


From "Nomad":


“The trap of resentment. It is probably the worst mental prison in the world. It is the inability to let go of anger and the perceived or real injustices we suffer. Some people let one or two, or maybe ten unpleasant experiences poison the rest of their lives. They let their anger ferment and rot their personality. They end up seeing themselves as victims of their parents, teachers, their peers and preachers.†


 


One book you thought you'd love but didn't? 


The Monuments Men


 


What books would you recommend everybody read? 


"Infidel" followed by "Nomad" - pretty much all of the above, but hers especially.


 


Favorite part of the challenge


All of us being here - supporting one another and the consistency. :) Thank you Robin, for another wonderful year.   :grouphug: 


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I will join you in a new-to-me reading of Winesburg, Ohio. I remember that from the article you linked but it had fallen off my radar so I'm glad you mentioned it again. Let me know when.

 

 

Can I join?

 

This book came with our house, and I'd like to read it before I toss it. (It's moldy, so not a candidate for passing on.) I tried this year, but couldn't get into it at the time. I think company will help.

 

When do you want to read Winesburg, Ohio?  I will plan to write up a paragraph or two on the novel and its author, Sherwood Anderson, for those interested in following along.

 

I am still enjoying the holiday hubbub on this end which has limited my reading time.  Nonetheless I have decided on my first two books of 2016:  Agatha Christie's archaeological memoir Come, Tell Me How You Live and To Siberia by Norwegian author Per Patterson.

 

Having an archaeologist in the family has led me to reexamine a number of Agatha Christie books.  Sure, I love a good mystery and she is a master.  But the background stuff in her espionage novels, often set in the Middle East, has intrigued me. Christie traveled to some fairly exotic places with her husband, the archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan. Come, Tell Me How You Live was first published in 1946. The post war viewpoint should be interesting.

 

Per Patterson has won numerous literary awards but he has not been on my radar.  I stumbled on To Siberia at a library book sale.  More on the author and this novel in an article that was published in The New Yorker in 2008.

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I'm at 62 books so far, but I'm hoping to get to 63 because I'm eager to finish Zorba the Greek (a book club selection) and get on to something more worthwhile.

This was a year with few flops, but also no 5-star books. Admittedly, I am stingy with 5-star ratings.

Approximately 40% of my books this year were written by men. (I'm working off a written list, and I can't remember the author for a couple of them.)

The nonfiction/fiction split was 20%/80%.

Slightly over a third of my books were science fiction or fantasy.

Top 5 books of the year:

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Share your most favorite covers 

Probably my favorite cover, but not my favorite book:

 

9781447250920.jpg 9780062306845.jpg

 

I gave it 3 stars, thinking throughout that it would be 4 or 5 stars for me. I read it because it takes place in Amsterdam and we were about to visit. We stayed at a B&B which was built in the same time period (1600's) and probably in the same type of location as where this story takes place. 

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Hi! I'll be posting my wrap up later, when I have time to compose it. 😊

 

Last night I stayed up late to finish First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen. The title fit with my usual "cold" theme which I love to do through to January. This was one of her weakest books so far, but I enjoyed it any way. Next up is The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K. Dick, for my IRL book club.

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Please share what you are reading this week as well as your reading lists and tell us about your reading year:
 

How many books did you read this year and did you meet or beat your own personal goal? 

 

So far I've read 122 books, and I will probably get in one or two more since I will be travelling by train tomorrow. 

 

Share your top 5 (or more) favorite books. 

 

The Understatement of the Year by Sarina Bowen (recommended by Kareni and it sent me down a rabbit trail that I still in and which led to all my other favourites from the year.)

HIM by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

Carry the Ocean Heidi Cullinan

Home & Away by Samantha Wayland

 

Which books or authors you thought you'd never read and were pleasantly surprised to like them? 

 

Didn't have any like this this year.

 

One book that touched you - made you laugh, cry, sing or dance! 

 

The ones on my top 4 list spring to mind, but if I had to pick one then I would pick Carry the Ocean. It made me cry several times, but it also made me understand myself better. Also Focus on Me, I will be re-reading it at some point but not yet, it kind of broke me.

 

Share your most favorite character, covers and/or quotes? 

 

Favourite character? Oh so many, the books I read were all character driven and there were so many likeable characters. If I had to pick some then I would pick Rikker and Graham, and Jamie and Wes. All four boys left me wanting more and wanting to be their friends. 

 

A quote that I think sums up my reading for the year is probably this one from Home & Away

 

"I promise you, if Yankee Candle had a Soothing Scent for Hockey Players, it would smell like old, used socks and sweaty jock straps. Seriously, have you been in the locker room?"

 

I read so many sports romances that this quote seems fitting, and I cannot see a Yankee candle without thinking about it :D

 

One book you thought you'd love but didn't? 

 

Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates by Kerry Greenwood. I love love love the tv series and usually the book is better, in this case, not so. 

 

What countries or centuries did you explore? 

 

My reading was NOT of the exploring kind, maybe 2016 will be one.

 

What books would you recommend everybody read? 

 

Not sure that I have any, although I think everyone would do well to read Carry the Ocean I know it would not be to everyone's taste. It is however a good book to understand those of us whose brains are wired a wee bit differently.

 

What was your favorite part of the challenge? 

 
Finding new books. I always get such good recommendations here. Plus it is always nice to chat to you ladies. 
 
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Hm, still analyzing my female/male ratio.  One interesting thing I noticed: for female writers, there were 8 authors I read multiple books by, 24 books in all (average 3 per): Austen, Brooks, Christie, Cooper, Engdahl, Leckie, Pearson, Winterson

For male writers, there were 16 authors I read multiple books by, 48 books in all (average 3 per): Ackroyd, Alexander, Card, Colfer, Dick, Gaiman, Hawthorne, Lewis, Martin, Owen, Pulllman, Quammen, Shakespeare, Weisel, Wells, Wilson

 

For fantasy/sci fi, that ratio is 3:10. I'm definitely reading more sci fi series by male writers.  

 

Looking at those lists Kareni linked, I don't feel like I'm neglecting the major female sci-fi writers.  Ann Leckie's Ancillary series was my top series of 2015. I have read and enjoyed everything written by Octavia Butler and Madeline L'Engle in past stages of my life.

 

Other major female sci-fi writers haven't held up as well for me, in the sense that I've really liked one of their books, but not others.  Margaret Atwood (loved The Handmaid's Tale) and Ursula LeGuin (loved Left Hand of Darkness) are two prominent ones in that category.  I did try Jemisin's The Fifth Season, but it took too long to get started, and parts were written in the 2nd person *and* the present tense - too much.

 

Oh well, just something interesting to pay attention to in the future.

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Hm, still analyzing my female/male ratio. One interesting thing I noticed: for female writers, there were 8 authors I read multiple books by, 24 books in all (average 3 per): Austen, Brooks, Christie, Cooper, Engdahl, Leckie, Pearson, Winterson

For male writers, there were 16 authors I read multiple books by, 48 books in all (average 3 per): Ackroyd, Alexander, Card, Colfer, Dick, Gaiman, Hawthorne, Lewis, Martin, Owen, Pulllman, Quammen, Shakespeare, Weisel, Wells, Wilson

 

For fantasy/sci fi, that ratio is 3:10. I'm definitely reading more sci fi series by male writers.

 

Looking at those lists Kareni linked, I don't feel like I'm neglecting the major female sci-fi writers. Ann Leckie's Ancillary series was my top series of 2015. I have read and enjoyed everything written by Octavia Butler and Madeline L'Engle in past stages of my life.

 

Other major female sci-fi writers haven't held up as well for me, in the sense that I've really liked one of their books, but not others. Margaret Atwood (loved The Handmaid's Tale) and Ursula LeGuin (loved Left Hand of Darkness) are two prominent ones in that category. I did try Jemisin's The Fifth Season, but it took too long to get started, and parts were written in the 2nd person *and* the present tense - too much.

 

Oh well, just something interesting to pay attention to in the future.

I read all of Jemisin's published books in the last 14 months, and The Fifth Season is definitely the hardest to get into, although I'm glad I stuck with it.

 

Killing Moon is her easiest book.

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No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. I thought it would be too violent & was on the fence about reading it. Yet, at the same time, I had felt drawn to it for years. So glad I finally picked it up & read it.

 

Oh dear, you reminded me that I read this but never wrote it down! If my brain wasn't so full of things, I would have remembered this as one of my favorites of the year, although I think one of the reasons it left my mind was because it was a re-read. Thanks for reminding me!

 

When do you want to read Winesburg, Ohio?  I will plan to write up a paragraph or two on the novel and its author, Sherwood Anderson, for those interested in following along.

 

Would February or March work?

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