[Book a Week 2017 - BW1: Welcome to an adventurous prime reading new year!]

[about The Circle] I definitely recommend it. It's a chilling modern dystopia with lots of satirical elements. 

 

I read the Circle in 2015. I did finish it, but it wasn't a favorite at all, I found it very American and a bit of a slog. Now Rose mentions that there are lots of satirical elements.....it probably means I didn't pick up on those :blush: (I'm not American).

 

If you want to include a re-read in your 2017 count, just make sure that the "Date I finished this book" is set to a 2017 date, and it will be automatically included.  You can also set up shelves where you shelve books completed in a specific year - "books of 2017" or some such thing. That does move it from a previously read time period to the current time period, I don't know of a way to list it in both places inside goodread's calculations, but you can always shelve it in more than one place - I have some re-reads shelved in more than one "books of 201_" shelf.

 

Likewise, if you read most of a book in 2016 and want it to show up there, just set the "Date finished" to Dec 31.  

 

Also, if you finish a book, you can give a rating and adjust bookshelves etc and there is also a box 'number of times I have read this book'. HTH.

[Book a Week 2016 - BW52 - 2016 it's a wrap!]

I read the first book, didn't finish, tried again, didn't finish, tried again, finished then reread it to catch all the things I missed the first time. I liked the re-read better than the initial read. There's so many characters, storylines, settings, and themes and the world is so foreign that I couldn't absorb it all at once.

 

I tried the second book, I really did. I have a visceral reaction to leaving a book unfinished. But... I just couldn't do it. I got half way through when it was due back at the library and I haven't felt an urge to pick it up since. To me, it was like an entirely new series. The effort it took to get up on the knowledge curve for both books wasn't worth the few nuggets of interesting story.

 

From other reviewers, I've heard the third book is when things really pick up.

 

One day, maybe, I might return to the series. It's clear there's fascinating worldbuilding, and the speed with which Erikson completed the books is amazing. But I have a really long TBR list and in my opinion, the work involved for an initial read wasn't worth the enjoyment.

 

I think a re-read will be much easier and more enjoyable.

 

I get it! It's really unfortunate that Erikson chose to have completely different characters and setting for the second book in the series. It's like a completely new start and a difficult one at that.

 

Book 2 is also very, very dark and gutwrenching. I'm not one to cry over books, but I was completely devastated at the end of this book. I don't think I have ever been so angry at a book before. Actually, book 2 was the reason I decided to do a reread of Wheel of Time before doing a reread of Malazan. I had abandoned Wheel of Time at book 6 or 7 or so and wanted to restart that again too. After finishing WoT this summer I even contemplated rereading Malazan and just skipping book 2 :lol: .

 

While reading Leigh Butler's Reread of WoT I discovered that I missed quite a bit while reading WoT, so I decided to check out the reading groups of Malazan on goodreads for book 1 and 2, but to my surprise no new things came up. Maybe because Erikson forces you to think, while Jordan let's you relax, I don't know.

 

[Book a Week 2016 - BW52 - 2016 it's a wrap!]

My 2016 books read. I don't think I'll finish up any more books this year as I don't have any books in progress that are close to being finished.

 

Erin, I see you read Gardens of the Moon, by Steven Erikson. Did you like it? Are you going to read the other Malazan Book of the Fallen? :bigear: I read the first 7 or 8 books a couple of years ago, but never finished the series. So now I'm going to start all over. I'm really looking forward to it.

[Book a Week 2016 - BW52 - 2016 it's a wrap!]

Congratulations and well done! I seem to have lost your email. Please pm again so I can send your bingo prize!

 

Will do, Robin. And thank you.

 

 

Hawai looks awesome, Jennifer. I could use a vacation to Hawai about now. I have been coughing soooo much the past few weeks, every time I stand or walk or try to talk to anyone :glare:. 

[Book a Week 2016 - BW52 - 2016 it's a wrap!]

Thank you so much. That was so random it made me ridiculously happy (and gave me a few ideas for the coming year)!

 

Yes, so many fun categories!! :thumbup:

 

[Book a Week 2016 - BW52 - 2016 it's a wrap!]

I read 146 books this year, which is more than my goal of 2 a week. I had no goals regarding themes or countries, I only wanted to read as much Dusty books as possible. I'm embarrassed to say I've only read 46 Dusty books, which is not going to make a dent in the amount of Dusties in my house :blushing: . I really need to do better in 2017. (*=Dusty)

 

Fiction:

 

Chimamandi Ngozi Adichi – Half a Yellow Sun*

Faulkner – The Unvanquished

Patrick O’Brian – Master & Commander*

Euripides – Medea*

Solomon Northup – 12 Years a Slave

Marissa Meyer – Cinder

Chinua Achebe – Things Fall Apart*

Chinua Achebe – No Longer at Ease*

Chinua Achebe  - Arrow of God*

Chesterton – The Man Who Was Thursday

Samuel Richardson – Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded

Kate Atkinson – A God in Ruins

Margaret Atwood – Handmaid’s Tale

Margaret Atwoord – The Penelopiad (Penelope: de mythe van de vrouw van Odysseus)*

Margaret Atwoord – MaddAddam

Margaret Atwoord – Oryx and Crake

Margaret Atwoord – The Year of the Flood

Jean Rhys – Good Morning, Midnight*

Jean Rhys – Wide Sargasso Sea*

Pete Hautman – Stone Cold

Dorothy Canfield Fisher – Understood Betsy

Sharon Dogar – Annexed (De jongen in het Achterhuis)

Marjane Satrapi – Persepolis*

Sonya Sones – Stop Pretending: What Happend When My Big Sister Went Crazy (Nooit meer doen alsof: Wat er gebeurde toen mijn grote zus gek werd)

Meg Rosoff – How I Live Now (Hoe ik nu leef)

Clare Dunkle – Close Kin (Hollow Kingdom 2)

Clare Dunkle – In the Coils of the Snake (Hollow Kingdom 3)

Clare Dunkle – The Hollow Kingdom (Hollow Kingdom 1)

Clare Dunkle – Sky Inside

Anne McCaffrey – Dragon Song

H.E. Bates – Fair Stood the Wind for France*

Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (Het wonderbaarlijke voorval met de hond in de nacht)

Lois McMaster Bujold – Falling Free

Frank Herbert – Dune

Frank Herbert – Dune Messiah

Jenny Downham – You Against Me (Jij tegen mij)

Sarah Dessen – Lock and Key (De sleutel naar geluk)

James Rollins – Black Order

James Rollins – Map of Bones

James Rollins – Sandstorm

Brandon Sanderson – Steelheart

Steven Erikson – Gardens of the Moon

Steven Erikson – Deadhouse Gates

Robert Jordan - Wheel of Time, book 11

Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson – Wheel of Time, book 12

Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson – Wheel of Time, book 13

Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson – Wheel of Time, book 14

Leigh Butler – Reread of Wheel of Time, book 1-4, book 5-6

J.D. Robb – Witness in Death

J.D. Robb – Vengeance in Death

J.D. Robb – Strangers in Death

J.D. Robb – Survivor in Death

J.D. Robb – Treachery in Death

J.D. Robb – Seduction in Death

 

 

Non-Fiction:

 

Susan Wise Bauer – History of the Renaissance World*

David Quammen – Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Pandemic (Van dier naar mens)

Mary Beard – Pompeii*

Norman Doidge – The Brain that Changes Itself*

Laura Hillenbrand – Seabiscuit*

Irvin D. Yalom – The Spinoza Problem (Het raadsel Spinoza)

Nicholas Carr – The Glass Cage (De glazen kooi)

Bill Gifford – Spring Chicken

Jacques Barzun – Begin Here*

Michelle Alexander – The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

Caroline Alexander – The War that Killed Achilles, the True Story of Homer’s Iliad and the Trojan War*

Sharon Astyk – Depletion and Abundance, Life on the New Home Front*

James Wallman – Stuffocation (Ontspullen: meer leven met minder)

Antonin Sertillanges – The Intellectual Life, Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods*

Jacob Lund Fisker – Early Retirement Extreme

T.R. Glover – The Challenge of the Greek and Other Essays*

Blaine Ray – Fluency Through TPR Storytelling

Katy Bowman – Movement Matters

Epistles of St Clement of Rome and St Ignatius of Antioch*

Teresa van Avila – The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself*

Seneca – On the Shortness of Life*

Homeric Hymns*

Thomas Dubay – Happy Are You Poor

Thomas Dubay – Saints: A Closer Look

Thomas Dubay – Deep Conversion/Deep Prayer

Francesca Ambrogetti – Pope Francis, Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio*

Maria Montessori – The Mass Explained to Children*

Jeff O’Neal – Start Here, Read Your Way into 25 Amazing Authors

Jeff O’Neal – Start Here, volume 2: Read Your Way into 25 Amazing Authors

Daniel Coyle – Little Book of Talent (Ontwikkel je talenten)

Nathalie S. Bober – Abigail Adams, Witness to a Revolution*

Sarah Knight – The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F#uck

Hal Elrod – The Miracle Morning

Ericsson – Peak, Secrets from the New Science of Expertise

 

 

 

Non-Fiction, homeschool:

 

Dena Marie Luchsinger – The Reader’s Odyssee: An Individualized Literature Program For Homeschooling Middle and High School Students

Carol Jago – With Rigor for All, Meeting Common Core Standards for Reading Literature

Nancie Atwell – The Reading Zone: How to Help Kids Become Skilled, Passionate, Habitual Critical Readers

Nancie Atwell – In the Middle, A Lifetime of Learning About Writing, Reading, and Adolescents

Franki Sibberson – Day-to-Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop, making informed instructional decisions in grade 3-6

Penny Kittle – Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers

Aidan Chambers – The Reading Environment & Tell Mee (Leespraat: De leesomgeving & vertel eens)

Rafe Esquith – Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire*

Marva Collins – Ordinary Children, Extraordinary Teachers*

Steve Leveen – The Little Guide to Your Well Read Life

Charles Pearce – Nurturing Inquiry: Real Science for the Elementary Classroom*

 

 

 

 

Latin: (Only kiddy Latin, because I want to support these new publishers - last two titles)

 

Hans Orberg – Colloquia Pensonarum

Rachel Ash – Pluto, Fabula Amoris

Christoher Buszek – Iter Mirabile Dennis et Debrae

 

 

Dutch Fiction:

 

Anke Kranendonk – Altijd Vrolijk

Annegreet van Bergen – Gouden Jaren*

Agave Kruijssen – Lancelot

Marloes Morshuis – Koken voor de keizer

A.Alberts – De vergaderzaal*

Ton Lemaire – Het lied van Hiawatha

Kader Abdolah – De kraai*

Kader Abdolah – De meisjes en de partizanen*

Louis Couperus – Extase*

Louis Couperus – Stille Kracht*

Sjoerd Kuyper – De rode zwaan

Hella Haasse – Sleuteloog*

Harry Mulisch – Siegfried*

Harry Mulisch – De zaak 40/61

Per Nilsson – Ik ben geen racist

Jan van Aken – De dwaas van Palmyra*

Jan van Aken – De valse dageraad*

M.G. Leonard – Keverjongen

Simone van der Vlugt – Jacoba, dochter van Holland*

Stefan Hertmans – Oorlog en terpentijn

Arthur Japin – De zwarte met het witte hart*

Benny Lindelauf – De hemel van Heivisj

Mark Schaevers – Orgelman: Felix Nussbaum, een schildersleven

Annejet van der Zijl – Anna: het leven van Annie M.G. Schmidt*

Jan de Leeuw – Babel

Franz Werfel – Het lied van Bernadette*

 

Dutch Non-Fiction:

 

Ralph Moorman – Hormoonbalans voor vrouwen

Bram Bakker – De verademing

Bram Bakker – Bewegen voor beginners

Jan Jacob Cremer – J.J. Cremer en de Leidse fabriekskinderen

Rutger Bregman – Waarom vuilnismannen meer verdienen dan bankiers

Hein van Dolen – Odysseus

Koen de Jong – Koud kunstje, wat kun je leren van de Ice Man

Katja de Bruin – Zitten is het nieuwe roken

Gerhard Hormann – Het plakband pensioen

Rudi Westendorp – Oud worden in de praktijk

Rudi Westendorp – Oud worden zonder het te zijn

Joris Luyendijk – Een goede man slaat soms zijn vrouw

Kris Verburgh – Veroudering vertragen

Eric Moonen – Dwaalspoor Dyslexie

Fik Meijer – Macht zonder grenzen*

Jane de Iongh – Margaretha van Oostenrijk, hertogin van Savooie*

 

 

[Book a Week 2016 - BW52 - 2016 it's a wrap!]

Looking forward to the 2017 Bingo. These are my 2016 Bingo titles:

 

 

B

 

Female Author: Penny Kittle – Book Love

Historical: Nathalie S. Bober – Abigail Adams, Witness to a Revolution

Pick based on the cover: Sarah Knight – The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F#uck

Translated: Seneca – On the Shortness of Life

Epic: Homeric Hymns

 

I

 

Published in 2016: Ericsson – Peak, Secrets from the New Science of Expertise

Revisit an old Friend: Steven Erikson – Gardens of the Moon

Over 500 Pages: Robert Jordan – Wheel of Time, book 11

Banned: Margaret Atwood – Handmaid’s Tale

Nautical: Patrick O’Brian – Master & Commander

 

N

 

Number in the Title: Solomon Northup – 12 Years a Slave

Fairy Tale Adaptation: Marissa Meyer – Cinder

Library Free Space: Chinua Achebe – Things Fall Apart / No Longer at Ease / Arrow of God

Mystery: Chesterton – The Man Who Was Thursday

18^th Century: Samuel Richardson – Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded

 

G

 

Dusty: Jacques Barzun – Begin Here

Written in Birth Year: Anne McCaffrey – Dragon Song

Classic: Couperus – Stille Kracht

Color in the Title: Annegreet van Bergen – Gouden Jaren (Golden Years)

Arthurian: Agave Kruijssen – Lancelot

 

O

 

Picked by a Friend (Loesje): Irvin D. Yalom – The Spinoza Problem (Het raadsel Spinoza)

Play: Euripides - Medea

Non Fiction: Nancie Atwell – In the Middle

Nobel Prize Winner: Faulkner – The Unvanquished

Set in Another Country: Chimamandi Ngozi Adichi – Half a Yellow Sun

 

 

[Book a Week 2016 - BW51: Happy Winter Reading Wonderland]

In other news, after more than a year of medical testing and long trips to the big city, I finally have a diagnosis of (progressive) MS. We find it helpful to have a reason for the constellation of symptoms and are focusing on things I can do, rather than things I can't as easily do. Weird sort of space to inhabit!

:grouphug: Ethel. It can be good to finally have a diagnosis, but still be difficult. Wishing you strength.

[Book a Week 2016 - BW50: Best of 2016]

I finished Medea (Play) and O'Brian's Master & Commander (Nautical), which completes my Bingo blackout :hurray: .

I will spend some time this weekend typing up all my titles.

 

We started our Christmas break today. The Dutch schools still have one week to go, so it feels very luxurious to be on break already :D . My husband is home too.

 

2016 has been a very difficult year migraine-wise. In November the neurologist started me on Topamax and I managed to get through the first month without any of the weird side effects Topamax is known for. This month I could double the dose and things have been going very well. I'm starting to get cautiously optimistic for 2017.

[and we made it through AoPS pre-A Chp. 2]

My dd zoomed through Ch 1-5 and had a nervous breakdown at Ch 6 :D. No telling when AoPS it going to hit your child the wrong way ;) .

[Book a Week 2016 - BW 49: Delectable December]

I'm nearly finished with my Bingo card blackout. I had three spots open: play, birth year, and Nobel prize winner. I'll post more on my weekly update Sunday, but I just wanted to praise Toni Morrison. I'd read Beloved in high school, but never picked up another one of her books until now. I was browsing the library and chose Song of Solomon.

 

Wow.

 

I love her voice, her cadence, her descriptions. I read the book slowly and savored every word. I finished then started up at the beginning right away so I could catch what I'd missed the first time. Though much of the book is set in the US North, it has a Southern Gothic feel and the South is prominent in Milkman's search for his family's history. The scene where Pilate threatens a man had such a beautiful rhythm to the dialogue that I could hear her speaking in my head. I could go on, but I'd like to save it for the weekly update (I keep them in my personal files). 

 

I likely would have gotten around to reading her again as every few years I go on a literary kick, but it would have been some time before I discovered the book. This is why Book of the Week Bingo is such a great idea. I highly recommend Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. It's my favorite book of 2016 and giving The Remains of the Day a run for my all-time favorite.

 

Thank you, Erin.

 

I'm making plans for my 2017 reading lists and this bumped Song of Solomon (a long time dusty on my shelf) right on it :D.

 

[Book a Week 2016 - BW 49: Delectable December]

I'm almost at a blackout at our Bingo card, not that difficult with 126 books read this year :D.

The only thing I still need is a play. I thought for sure I had read a play this year (I don't really like reading plays), but every title I remembered was from 2015....

 

The plan is to finish up Master & Commander for Nautical and then read Medea.

[Book a Week 2016 - BW 49: Delectable December]

Norwegian Wood is the Murakami I was thinking of as I typed my post. ;) Obviously I 'm happy with that one but my overdrive now has a pretty good collection so willing and hopefully easily able to read whatever you folks pick. If people want to read different books by Murakami thats fine too.

I can read Norwegian Wood too. That and Kafka on the Shore are the only ones I own (courtesy of my lovely neigbourhood free library). Norwegian Wood isn't going to make me go......blech, right? Right?

[Book a Week 2016 - BW48: Foodie Books]

This brings up another question for the BaWers: now that we have (almost) finished Susan's histories, is there another Read Through the Year in the offing?

 

I have finished HoRW :hurray: and was wondering the same. After three years of having a weekly history reading assignment, not having any is feeling a bit funny :D.

[Do other countries have a "Black Friday" shopping frenzy?]

Today, for the first time ever, I saw shops with 'Black Friday' banners. I'm in the Netherlands.

 

A lot of people are gift shopping for Sinterklaas (December 5th). We don't give gifts at Christmas, although that is also changing. Sigh.

[I have a difficult life]

:grouphug:  Praying for you and your family!

[Book a Week 2016 - BW41: my first stephen king novel]

There is a brand new Du Maurier biography, which gets very good reviews in the Netherlands.

 

It will be available to you......April 2017..... :svengo:

It's available in Dutch and French now.

(I don't understand a thing about book publishing!)

 

 

 

[Book a Week 2016 - BW39: Book News]

What book are you on now?

Angel,

 

I recently finished WoT and I know you wanted to talk about it.

I don't have much computer time, but will try to read this thread more :).

[Prayers needed. Missing hiker in Colorado is my brother...]

Praying :grouphug:

[If anyone has any spare good thoughts sitting about tomorrow . . . - Update in 1st Post]

I hope things go well!!

[For the love of lemon juice, apple cider vinegar,coconut oil and all that's healthy]

Those miracle-cure-by-eating-weird-stuff people are annoying.

 

The 'you probably don't want to be healthy, otherwise you would already be cured' people are beyond annoying :banghead:.

[Iconic Movies / Film Appreciation]

You might like this book:

 

http://www.bookdepository.com/Best-Old-Movies-for-Families-Ty-Burr/9781400096862

 

I really like it, but I have trouble finding the movies. You might have better luck, because you are in America.

[Article: 2 in 5 High Schools Don't Offer Physics]

Is there any subject to "replace" Latin and Greek or does the students in Atheneum just have two subjects less?

The Gymnasium students have less hours Dutch and English, but need to cover the same content.

[Article: 2 in 5 High Schools Don't Offer Physics]

If the student is on the borderline, or if there's just no interest in an eventual academic career, the parents often reject a VWO advice and choose a lower program. The VWO is understood as being hard, and if the student isn't cut out for it and doesn't want it, why go through the stress?

 

The middle track(s) also lead to post-secondary education which in America would also fall under the heading of "University."

That's true!

 

However, if a student is borderline VMBO-HAVO most parents want to try HAVO, because VMBO schools are often seperate from HAVO+VWO schools and are thought to have more discipline problems.

 

Large schools usually have 7th grade classes for VMBO-HAVO or HAVO-VWO, in order to give children another year to see which track would be a good fit.

[Article: 2 in 5 High Schools Don't Offer Physics]

Netherlands VWO track is described as PreU on the internet. Not sure what percentage of cohort is track to VWO.

About ~15% of the students attend VWO, ~20% attend HAVO (middle track), ~65% attend VMBO (lowest track, which contains 4-5 seperate tracks).

 

Of those top 15% who attend VWO, roughly half attend Gymnasium (with Latin and Greek added to English, French, and German), the other half Atheneum (same courses, just no Latin&Greek).