Book a Week 2018 - BW52: Year End Wrap Up

[Liz CA]

I have seen these book threads for years now and have been hesitant to join. For once, a certain amount of my reading is very specific - work related and the other part is an attempt to escape into something else. 🙂

Also, I used to read the beginning threads and then there would be a line like this: "Mr. Linky is set up for you." I would be so scared of Mr. Linky that I left the thread quickly...I don't know who he is.  😲

What happens if I don't get to 52? Am I banned from the book thread only or from the WTM altogether?

Edited December 28, 2018 by Liz CA

[RootAnn]

24 minutes ago, Liz CA said:

"Mr. Linky is set up for you." I would be so scared of Mr. Linky that I left the thread quickly...I don't know who he is.  😲

What happens if I don't get to 52? Am I banned from the book thread only or from the WTM altogether?

*waves* I only ventured in last year at this time. The people here are so welcoming even if you only pop your head in once or twice. You'll find they'll listen closely if you choose to share anything, offer opinions only if you want them, find you a comfy spot to curl up if you want to stay and visit, or just smile warmly in your direction if you want to sit by the wall and listen to them talk about their book journeys.

I was here for a couple of months and then didn't post again until this thread. I didn't get to 52. No one minds how big or small your stack is. We judge our own selves by the goals we set for ourselves. You couldn't find a better spot to drop in for some company than this group.

I'll let someone else explain Mr. Linky. 

[Robin M]

1 hour ago, Liz CA said:

I have seen these book threads for years now and have been hesitant to join. For once, a certain amount of my reading is very specific - work related and the other part is an attempt to escape into something else. 🙂

Also, I used to read the beginning threads and then there would be a line like this: "Mr. Linky is set up for you." I would be so scared of Mr. Linky that I left the thread quickly...I don't know who he is.  😲

What happens if I don't get to 52? Am I banned from the book thread only or from the WTM altogether?

Oh my goodness, poor mr linky. Why I’m reminded of the incredible mr. Limpet I don’t know. 😁  Mr. L is a widget for linking to blogs for those who like to post reviews on their sites.  Not mandatory, but available.  He’s remarkable nice and quiet too, doesn’t mind being ignored.  😉

Nope, you don’t get banned or thrown out if you don’t reach 52.  It’s a goal to strive towards. Some of the ladies didn’t think they would ever be able to read 52 books so they set their own goals and sometimes they reach or surpass and other times not.  We can blame it on the chunky books which we all love to read.  And no you don’t have to read a book a week, just read what you want and don’t worry about the number.  There are lots of mini challenges thrown in which are completely optional.  

Jump on in anytime! 

Edited December 28, 2018 by Robin M

[Robin M]

1 hour ago, Seasider too said:

I have not been a regular in these weekly threads - tbh I find them a bit intimidating! - but I love seeing the thread titles come up, as they inspire me to continue to read as often as time allows.

I always aim for 52 and only manage to make it in a really good year. This year I hit 35. I’m not unhappy about that, when I look back at the year’s events, it’s actually good. 

This year I met the talented pen of Jandy Nelson in I’ll Give You the Sun. She has a brilliant style. However, I think I’m too old for the themes of current young adult fiction. It’s edgy stuff these days. 

My last book of the year was The Last Days of Summer by Steven Kluger. As an epistolary novel with most of the correspondence between a young professional baseball player and a 13yo boy, it’s rather crude, but totally delightful. Recommend, especially if you enjoyed Guernsey Literary Society. 

I managed to get in some nonfiction as well. Looking forward to again aiming for 52 in 2019! No theme for me, just read whenever I can. Bradley’s 2019 Flavia (The Golden Tresses of the Dead) is already on hold request at the library for me. 

Thanks for hosting, RobinM!

You are welcome and it’s always my pleasure. Happy we inspired you.  Cheers to a wonderful new reading year.  Lots of fabulous books to discover.  What nonfiction books did you read?

Edited December 28, 2018 by Robin M

[Liz CA]

31 minutes ago, Robin M said:

Oh my goodness, poor mr linky. Why I’m reminded of the incredible mr. Limpet I don’t know. 😁  Mr. L is a widget for linking to blogs for those who like to post reviews on their sites.  Not mandatory, but available.  He’s remarkable nice and quiet too, doesn’t mind being ignored.  😉

Nope, you don’t get banned or thrown out if you don’t reach 52.  It’s a goal to strive towards. Some of the ladies didn’t think they would ever be able to read 52 books so they set their own goals and sometimes they reach or surpass and other times not.  We can blame it on the chunky books which we all love to read.  And no you don’t have to read a book a week, just read what you want and don’t worry about the number.  There are lots of mini challenges thrown in which are completely optional.  

Jump on in anytime! 

 

Thank you! Since Mr. Linky seems harmless, I will maybe join you all in 2019. Seems a good time to start. I was somewhat surprised that a preliminary look at my goodreads stats showed 47 books read in 2018. Don't know how accurate it is since I have been known to neglect updating my pages. But I think it may be fun - now that I know that Mr. Linky is not out to get me - and I will see titles & authors I did not know existed.

[marbel]

6 hours ago, Liz CA said:

 

Thank you! Since Mr. Linky seems harmless, I will maybe join you all in 2019. Seems a good time to start. I was somewhat surprised that a preliminary look at my goodreads stats showed 47 books read in 2018. Don't know how accurate it is since I have been known to neglect updating my pages. But I think it may be fun - now that I know that Mr. Linky is not out to get me - and I will see titles & authors I did not know existed.

You will definitely find your to-read list expanding as you read this thread.

I also was intimidated at first.  Not only do many people read much more than I, they read better stuff.  Upthread you can see my "confession" about reading nothing but fluff all year. If anyone is sneering at me, they are doing it privately.  Really I find this a refreshing place to spend time. There's no arguing; people can like the books they like and dislike those they dislike. Basically we all cheer one another on to keep reading.  

[Loesje22000]

I encourage everyone who want to join, to try. I am not every year a weekly poster, but I do read :-).

A goal can also be 10 books a year ... or 2. Just how life happens.

[Penguin]

The year before I joined this thread (2016) I read 17 books. The two years I participated here (2017 & 2018), I read over 60. In my case, I do believe that the correlation does imply causation 🙂

[Violet Crown]

13 hours ago, Liz CA said:

Also, I used to read the beginning threads and then there would be a line like this: "Mr. Linky is set up for you." I would be so scared of Mr. Linky that I left the thread quickly...I don't know who he is.  😲

 

I've been hanging out on BaW for five years and I still don't know who Mr. Linky is. I think he might be that obnoxious animated paper clip from Microsoft Office Assistant.

[marbel]

37 minutes ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

(Waving madly) @Liz CA Welcome!!! Please do join us. You have perfect timing as I just created the Theologica Reads (thanks for the title Robin!) club and was coming here to post the link. 

<snip>

Oh boy. This sounds like fun!  And The Benedict Option is on my list.... so I'll see you over there.

In other news, I have set up a spreadsheet to record my USA nonfiction reading, and have been busy in Goodreads looking for books to add to a dedicated shelf. And I have two books on hold at the library, ready to pick up... we'll see how long this lasts.  After my year of fluff, I do feel the need to expand my horizons.

[Liz CA]

1 hour ago, marbel said:

Oh boy. This sounds like fun!  And The Benedict Option is on my list.... so I'll see you over there.

In other news, I have set up a spreadsheet to record my USA nonfiction reading, and have been busy in Goodreads looking for books to add to a dedicated shelf. And I have two books on hold at the library, ready to pick up... we'll see how long this lasts.  After my year of fluff, I do feel the need to expand my horizons.

 

Fluff has its place. It keeps us sane and is a cheaper escape into another world than an actual trip where you pack suitcases...  🙂

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I went to the library for our books for an upcoming road trip. I picked up three audiobooks and two print books. There are four of us traveling and trying to find audiobooks that are appropriate for all of us was a bit difficult. I stayed with non-fiction and hope they are all G or PG. One is David Sedaris' Let's Discuss Diabetes with Owls. I tried this with Playaway a couple of weeks ago but the device was broken and would stop playing after 5 minutes; very frustrating experience. The current audiobook is on CD and I'm praying for no scratches or skips.

I'm staying in this afternoon for some quiet reading time and hope to finish a book and begin a new one. I've got my tea, a fire in the fireplace, and a comfy reading spot.

 

[Violet Crown]

13 minutes ago, The Accidental Coach said:

One is David Sedaris' Let's Discuss Diabetes with Owls.

I was just listening to Sedaris's Santaland Diaries on the radio podcast while jogging. Hilarious!

Having just enough time for one more book, maybe, before the end of the year, I can't settle on one, so I may be done. But there'll be three finished quick in the New Year.

[Robin M]

4 hours ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

(Waving madly) @Liz CA Welcome!!! Please do join us. You have perfect timing as I just created the Theologica Reads (thanks for the title Robin!) club and was coming here to post the link. 

This club is essentially for BaW or other forum members who want to delve a bit deeper into discussion surrounding theological/religious reads mentioned here on the threads without clogging up the BaW threads. 

Our first read/discussion, for anyone interested will be The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher. I know everyone is still busy with the year end wrap up, so I was thinking of "officially" starting week of Jan 6 to give anyone who wants to participate time to acquire the book. We can figure out going forward if we want to do a planned book a month or something similar, or if it's just better to have multiple threads for multiple books going for whoever is interested. 

Please pass along to anyone on the boards you know that might be interested. You don't have to frequent the BaW threads, or read a book a week to join! 

Thank you for setting this up and looking forward to the reads/discussions.  First question: Should we have read part of the book prior to Jan 6 or will we have a reading schedule of sorts?

[melmichigan]

I failed in my attempt to check in weekly this last year, but I'm hoping to do better in 2019!   According to Goodreads I have finished reading 89 books, which was short of my goal, but I might sneak another one or two in before the official end of the year.  I ended up listening to 30 of the books on audible as I'm still struggling with my memory.   

I completed a reread of the Guild Hunter Series by Nalini Singh, including her new book Archangel's Prophecy, which created some online chaos and suspense for those who follow the series.  I adore both the Guild Hunter and the Psy/Changling books.  

I finally got around to reading the Fatal Series by Marie Force, which has been recommend here a few times, including her new book, Fatal Invasion.  I love the combination of cop, mystery, and romance; it's nicely done.  It reminds me of a present day J D Robb.

I started reading the Dark Pitt Series by Clive Cussler, but got stuck on Crescent Dawn.  It's a series that I cannot read in order, but something that I'll have to come back to over time, otherwise I get bored with the formula.  

I read the Elemental Mysteries Series by Elizabeth Hunter.  Again, something that I've seen recommended here as well.  It was a nice addition to the Elemental World as I've already read The Irin Chronicles.

I loved the spin off story in Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews.  I didn't think I'd like reading about Hugh D'Ambray, but it was a great twist to the final storyline of Magic Triumphs, the last in the Kate Daniels series.  I highly suggest you read it in that order.  It was a great wrap up in the series, and I'm grateful the husband and wife team chose to end the series where they did.

I was privileged enough to read an ARC of The Circle of the Moon, the 4th book in Faith Hunter's Soulwood Series, which is due to be released on February 26th, 2019.  If you have read the Jane Yellowrock Series, which included this year's new title Dark Queen, then you really need to read the Soulwood Series!  Faith Hunter is the true queen of the long game.  Circle of the Moon successfully pulls threads from early on in the Jane Yellowrock Series and winds them into the current mystery surrounding Nell and Rick LaFleur.  You'll find some familiar characters crossing over from Dark Queen, and a continuation of the timeline, so keep that in mind if you're not up to date on that series.

Other notables:  Bloody Sunday (Dewey Andreas) by Ben Coes, Leverage in Death by J D Robb, Claimed in Shadows by Lara Adrian, Wild Hunger by Chloe Neill, and Dearest Ivie by J R Ward.  

 

 

Edited December 29, 2018 by melmichigan

[RootAnn]

1 hour ago, melmichigan said:

I started reading the Dark Pitt Series by Clive Cussler, but got stuck on Crescent Dawn.  It's a series that I cannot read in order, but something that I'll have to come back to over time, otherwise I get bored with the formula.  

I love Dirk. I'm not as fond of the other Cussler characters. Huge dislike for his Kurt Austin character and disliked his Isaac Bell series. I don't mind the Juan Cabrillo stories, but I will always read Dirk stories. (One of my boys answers to the nickname of Dirk.) I can't imagine reading them all in a row though. 

If I don't keep getting sidetracked, I might finish Green Glass House before the end of the year. It is my Christmas break fluff!

[mumto2]

1 hour ago, melmichigan said:

I failed in my attempt to check in weekly this last year, but I'm hoping to do better in 2019!   According to Goodreads I have finished reading 89 books, which was short of my goal, but I might sneak another one or two in before the official end of the year.  I ended up listening to 30 of the books on audible as I'm still struggling with my memory.   

I completed a reread of the Guild Hunter Series by Nalini Singh, including her new book Archangel's Prophecy, which created some online chaos and suspense for those who follow the series.  I adore both the Guild Hunter and the Psy/Changling books.  

I finally got around to reading the Fatal Series by Marie Force, which has been recommend here a few times, including her new book, Fatal Invasion.  I love the combination of cop, mystery, and romance; it's nicely done.  It reminds me of a present day J D Robb.

I started reading the Dark Pitt Series by Clive Cussler, but got stuck on Crescent Dawn.  It's a series that I cannot read in order, but something that I'll have to come back to over time, otherwise I get bored with the formula.  

I read the Elemental Mysteries Series by Elizabeth Hunter.  Again, something that I've seen recommended here as well.  It was a nice addition to the Elemental World as I've already read The Irin Chronicles.

I loved the spin off story in Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews.  I didn't think I'd like reading about Hugh D'Ambray, but it was a great twist to the final storyline of Magic Triumphs, the last in the Kate Daniels series.  I highly suggest you read it in that order.  It was a great wrap up in the series, and I'm grateful the husband and wife team chose to end the series where they did.

I was privileged enough to read an ARC of The Circle of the Moon, the 4th book in Faith Hunter's Soulwood Series, which is due to be released on February 26th, 2019.  If you have read the Jane Yellowrock Series, which included this year's new title Dark Queen, then you really need to read the Soulwood Series!  Faith Hunter is the true queen of the long game.  Circle of the Moon successfully pulls threads from early on in the Jane Yellowrock Series and winds them into the current mystery surrounding Nell and Rick LaFleur.  You'll find some familiar characters crossing over from Dark Queen, and a continuation of the timeline, so keep that in mind if you're not up to date on that series.

Other notables:  Bloody Sunday (Dewey Andreas) by Ben Coes, Leverage in Death by J D Robb, Claimed in Shadows by Lara Adrian, Wild Hunger by Chloe Neill, and Dearest Ivie by J R Ward.  

 

 

Waving...I have missed your posts!  I just checked the first Guild Hunter out on Overdrive.  I have planned to read these for years thanks to BaW and never get around to it.  I also discovered that I already own the first Elizabeth Hunter......it sounds really familiar but since I bought it in 2018 I doubt it is the book I have very vague memories of.  I moved it into the stack.....😀

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I finished #51 yesterday - Fresh Ink An Anthology. It is published by We Need Diverse Books. WNDB's mission is to encourage writers to use heroes and heroines who do not fit the current protagonist stereotype (white, wealthy, super intelligent, hetero, perfect bodies), especially within young adult fiction. The anthology has short stories in which each of the protagonists is unique - black, Muslim, LGBTQ, gangbanger. Some of the stories are excellent and I hope the authors flush out longer plot lines and character development and write full length novels. Other stories are awful and I struggled just to get through the 10 or so pages.

I'm staying in again today (feeling a bit ill) and reading Brandon Mull. It's a nice bit of fluff that won't tax my brain. I'm excited that I should be able to finish 52 books this year.

-

A big hearty welcome to the newbies! I'm glad you jumped in to introduce yourselves. This is a wonderful and welcoming group. 2017 was my first year (I, too, was a bit intimidated) and I simply began tracking what I read in my bullet journal. I set the goal of 52 books and used a combination of audio and print books to reach that goal. I don't blog so have never visited Mr. Linky. I love the idea of him looking like the Microsoft paperclip guy. 😃

I'm looking forward to sharing our book choices and experiences in 2019.

Edited December 29, 2018 by The Accidental Coach

[Penguin]

23 hours ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

(Waving madly) @Liz CA Welcome!!! Please do join us. You have perfect timing as I just created the Theologica Reads (thanks for the title Robin!) club and was coming here to post the link. 

This club is essentially for BaW or other forum members who want to delve a bit deeper into discussion surrounding theological/religious reads mentioned here on the threads without clogging up the BaW threads. 

Our first read/discussion, for anyone interested will be The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher. I know everyone is still busy with the year end wrap up, so I was thinking of "officially" starting week of Jan 6 to give anyone who wants to participate time to acquire the book. We can figure out going forward if we want to do a planned book a month or something similar, or if it's just better to have multiple threads for multiple books going for whoever is interested. 

Please pass along to anyone on the boards you know that might be interested. You don't have to frequent the BaW threads, or read a book a week to join! 

I might be interested in some of the later selections, but I am not interested in The Benedict Option. Will you be mentioning the monthly selection here each month? Or would you prefer that people join now and just jump into the discussion later?

[brehon]

On 12/27/2018 at 10:30 PM, Liz CA said:

I have seen these book threads for years now and have been hesitant to join. For once, a certain amount of my reading is very specific - work related and the other part is an attempt to escape into something else. 🙂

Also, I used to read the beginning threads and then there would be a line like this: "Mr. Linky is set up for you." I would be so scared of Mr. Linky that I left the thread quickly...I don't know who he is.  😲

What happens if I don't get to 52? Am I banned from the book thread only or from the WTM altogether?

This is me almost to a tee, including being more than slightly suspicious of Mr Linky.  Lots of work related reading plus leading several large projects in addition to my regular shift work. I’m exhausted at the end of the day (or shift). 

However, I’ve been really enjoying a philosophy podcast which has made me want to dive back into reading. I’d love to join the theological reading group as well. 

[Robin M]

20 hours ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

I was going to see what the preference was, since I’ve alreay read it and this will be a reread. I know you mentioned you couldn’t start until January so I’m fine with a start on the 6th or after. Whatever works best for y’all. 

If the majority of ladies have already read the book, then I'm fine with jumping into the conversation or being a fly on the while for a bit. Will start reading this weekend and see how far I get. 😘

[Robin M]

14 hours ago, melmichigan said:

I failed in my attempt to check in weekly this last year, but I'm hoping to do better in 2019!   According to Goodreads I have finished reading 89 books, which was short of my goal, but I might sneak another one or two in before the official end of the year.  I ended up listening to 30 of the books on audible as I'm still struggling with my memory.   

I completed a reread of the Guild Hunter Series by Nalini Singh, including her new book Archangel's Prophecy, which created some online chaos and suspense for those who follow the series.  I adore both the Guild Hunter and the Psy/Changling books.  

I finally got around to reading the Fatal Series by Marie Force, which has been recommend here a few times, including her new book, Fatal Invasion.  I love the combination of cop, mystery, and romance; it's nicely done.  It reminds me of a present day J D Robb.

I started reading the Dark Pitt Series by Clive Cussler, but got stuck on Crescent Dawn.  It's a series that I cannot read in order, but something that I'll have to come back to over time, otherwise I get bored with the formula.  

I read the Elemental Mysteries Series by Elizabeth Hunter.  Again, something that I've seen recommended here as well.  It was a nice addition to the Elemental World as I've already read The Irin Chronicles.

I loved the spin off story in Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews.  I didn't think I'd like reading about Hugh D'Ambray, but it was a great twist to the final storyline of Magic Triumphs, the last in the Kate Daniels series.  I highly suggest you read it in that order.  It was a great wrap up in the series, and I'm grateful the husband and wife team chose to end the series where they did.

I was privileged enough to read an ARC of The Circle of the Moon, the 4th book in Faith Hunter's Soulwood Series, which is due to be released on February 26th, 2019.  If you have read the Jane Yellowrock Series, which included this year's new title Dark Queen, then you really need to read the Soulwood Series!  Faith Hunter is the true queen of the long game.  Circle of the Moon successfully pulls threads from early on in the Jane Yellowrock Series and winds them into the current mystery surrounding Nell and Rick LaFleur.  You'll find some familiar characters crossing over from Dark Queen, and a continuation of the timeline, so keep that in mind if you're not up to date on that series.

Other notables:  Bloody Sunday (Dewey Andreas) by Ben Coes, Leverage in Death by J D Robb, Claimed in Shadows by Lara Adrian, Wild Hunger by Chloe Neill, and Dearest Ivie by J R Ward.  

So happy you checked in. I've been wondering how you've been doing.  Hugs!  We have pretty similar tastes in authors right down to Ben Coes.   Oh my gosh, I'm green with envy that you already got to read The Circle of the Moon.  Love, love,love Jane Yellowrock and Nell.   Singh's Silver Silence and Ocean Light are both on my reread list for next year.  😘

[Robin M]

Just a reminder I won't be posting a new thread tomorrow and the new year's thread will go up on Tuesday. 

[Liz CA]

10 hours ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

Wrapped up Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel's Deadly Response by Aaron Klein today. I'm only giving it 2 of 5 stars. The first 1/4 was fine, but it became a bit dry and disjointed afterwards. I think perhaps my expectations were too high- I was hoping for something along the lines of a Mark Bowden book, like Killing Pablo. That definitely didn't happen, which is a shame. I'd like to read more on the topic for sure. 

 

The topic is definitely very interesting to me too. I remember hearing about this as a little kid and the shock of the adults who were discussing it. 

[Ali in OR]

My reading year in review. I am reading less now that I'm working and I'm fine with that. I finished 44 books for the year. The breakdown:

44 books read:
30 fiction and 14 nonfiction
24 female authors and 20 male authors
36 written in the 21st century, 6--20th century, 2--19th century. So many "young" books!
28 library books and 16 that I own (or bought for my kids to read for school)--almost 2:1 from the library
Of those in an identifiable country (not counting most non fiction), 13 in US, 11 in England, 5 other European countries, 2 Mexico

In picking my top 3 fiction and non-fiction, I'm looking past the enjoyable fluff and picking books that grabbed me more substantially.
Top 3 fiction:
A Gentleman in Moscow
Augustown
Middlemarch

Top 3 nonfiction:
We Were Eight Years in Power
Born a Crime
Mathematical Mindsets

The List:

Edited December 30, 2018 by Ali in OR

[LostSurprise]

On 12/28/2018 at 10:18 PM, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

I finished Artificial Condition, Book 2 in the Murderbot Diaries on Audible tonight. It was a bit of a letdown after the first book. The supporting characters simply weren't compelling to me, which made the story line fall a bit flat. 2/5 stars. I'm not sure if I'll continue on to Book 3 or not. Might save it for when I need some more fluff later on if I find it on sale. I can't justify spending $10 on it on Kindle at the moment.........

I felt the same way about book 2, but I felt like it picked up a bit in book 3. I think there was more pouting/introspection at the beginning of book 2 and not enough Al or plot action. Book 3 felt more balanced. Because they are so short, I just ordered from my library. 

 

[Liz CA]

1 hour ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

I was talking to my parents about it- I couldn’t believe how badly Germany handled it. I mean, seriously. My Dad then proceeded to fill me in on even more stuff than the book had that has given me a few new opinions towards Germany. 

I felt like this author was not being at all sympathetic to the Israelis too which I think made me dislike it even more. It’s one of those books I got annoyed with but had to finish. 

 

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/germany-maintained-contacts-with-palestinians-after-munich-massacre-a-852322.html

The above article was interesting but one has to keep in mind it's the Spiegel.

On one hand there seems to have been such an effort of trying to appease Black September and insure they would leave Germany out of any future plans after Adenauer / Brandt / Scheel  tried to reestablish some kind of decent reputation 25 years after WWII, however, I wonder if it had made much more impact if they had gone after the terrorists in a more unrestrained fashion to make a point to the world that they would not tolerate this and that they were not afraid to stand with the victims.

[Robin M]

On 12/29/2018 at 10:36 AM, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

Wrapped up Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel's Deadly Response by Aaron Klein today. I'm only giving it 2 of 5 stars. The first 1/4 was fine, but it became a bit dry and disjointed afterwards. I think perhaps my expectations were too high- I was hoping for something along the lines of a Mark Bowden book, like Killing Pablo. That definitely didn't happen, which is a shame. I'd like to read more on the topic for sure. 

 James and I watched a series Evolution of Evil on the American Heroes Channel (Owned by Discovery) and there was some background about the massacre which involved Gaddafi in the Gaddafi segment.  The series is hard to watch but eye opening and educational.  Also there's a documentary I haven't seen yet called Munich 72 and Beyond which has been released. 

Edited December 30, 2018 by Robin M

[Robin M]

14 hours ago, Ali in OR said:

My reading year in review. I am reading less now that I'm working and I'm fine with that. I finished 44 books for the year. The breakdown:

44 books read:
30 fiction and 14 nonfiction
24 female authors and 20 male authors
36 written in the 21st century, 6--20th century, 2--19th century. So many "young" books!
28 library books and 16 that I own (or bought for my kids to read for school)--almost 2:1 from the library
Of those in an identifiable country (not counting most non fiction), 13 in US, 11 in England, 5 other European countries, 2 Mexico

In picking my top 3 fiction and non-fiction, I'm looking past the enjoyable fluff and picking books that grabbed me more substantially.
Top 3 fiction:
A Gentleman in Moscow
Augustown
Middlemarch

Top 3 nonfiction:
We Were Eight Years in Power
Born a Crime
Mathematical Mindsets

The List:

Well done and so many interesting books. i have Middlemarch in my stacks and hope to read it sometime this coming year. Haven't been in the proper mindset to appreciate the story.  Also want to read Gentleman in Moscow.  On my want list for when I get through my current chunky books in my stacks. 

[Robin M]

James asked me to read Star Wars: The Last Jedi by Jason Fry, an adaptation of the film and I finished it last night.  Interesting to find out more background on the villains and thoughts and emotions of the characters not revealed in the movie.  Otherwise, the book mirrored the film.    Ready Player one is next as James just got the movie for Christmas.  I haven't finished the book yet, dipped into it a few weeks ago and didn't get back to it.  He likes to watch the movie first, then read the book.  Me, I prefer the read the book first, then watch the movie.  Guess I'll be finishing out the year with Ready Player One.   

Added two more romances to my finished list - Rescue My Heart and Rumor Has It which are #3 and 4 in Jill Shalvis's Animal Magnetism series. Love the characters and there are three more books in the series.  As karenI would say, lots of adult content.  

😘

Edited December 30, 2018 by Robin M

[Liz CA]

I squeezed in "The Cove" by Coulter. Was a fast read. Evidently I felt starved for some crime after having read May Warren. Her books are fine just not quite enough happening for me. Now I am on a Coulter kick and listed all her books in my Goodreads list. I will finish Dreher's "Benedict Option" in between. 

[aggieamy]

On 12/23/2018 at 2:45 PM, Negin said:

 

                                 

Just seeing this book on your list made me happy. I've read them all to my kids and they still delight me.

On 12/28/2018 at 11:43 AM, Violet Crown said:

I've been hanging out on BaW for five years and I still don't know who Mr. Linky is. I think he might be that obnoxious animated paper clip from Microsoft Office Assistant.

LOL. I had to explain that to my kids and then had to pull it up on youtube. Along with the sound of a dial up modem. History is now done for the day. 

[aggieamy]

I've got three books I'm trying to finish before midnight tomorrow. I still won't make my goal of 100 books but I'll be closer. I'll post my recap then.

I'm so thankful for this thread. I kind of went blackout on the internet for a few weeks this year ... turns out getting dinner on the table and doing my work stuff done was about all I could handle. 🙂 I did read some great books though. *cheers* And onto 2019. Hopefully it'll be a year filled with more home cooked meals and less Costco lasagna. A year where I am on time to at least an occasional appointment. A year where I'm not running around as the carpool shows up on Monday morning wondering why nobody told me the night before that there weren't any clean uniform skirts in the house.

 

[Guest]

On 12/28/2018 at 12:43 PM, Violet Crown said:

I've been hanging out on BaW for five years and I still don't know who Mr. Linky is. I think he might be that obnoxious animated paper clip from Microsoft Office Assistant.

Lol! That is exactly the image that pops into my head whenever I read the bit about Mr. Linky! 

[Matryoshka]

Okay, I think I've finished my last book of the year (have 3 others in-progress, but no plans to finish them by tomorrow...), so I'm finally ready to post my year-end wrap-up!

I read 135 books total (for any newbies, the year before I joined I read eight books total, and set a goal of 26 for the year because 52 seemed astronomical.  And I've also retired from homeschooling and am only working very part-time.  And I may use reading as an excuse not to do housework. )

My challenges to myself last year were: 

1.        6 or more Nobel prize winners (read 7 of which 4 were authors new to me)
2.        10 or more books over 500 pages (read 12)
3.        12 books each in Spanish and German (read exactly 12 of each)
4.        A-Z Title (listed below)
5.        A-Z Author (listed below)

A-Z Title

A: Augustown, Kei Miller
B: La Belle Sauvage, Philip Pullman
C:  Celine, Peter Heller
D: The Dark is Rising, Susan Cooper
E: Embassytown, China Miéville               
F: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, David Grann
G: Children of God, Mary Doria Russell
H: Sein eigener Herr, Haldor Laxness
I: Inés del alma mía, Isabel Allende
J: The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain, María Rosa Menocal
K: Kalpa imperial, Angélica Gorodischer
L: We Are Legion (We Are Bob), Dennis Taylor
M: Middlemarch, George Eliot
N: The New Spaniards, John Hooper
O: The Door into Ocean, Joan Slonczewski
P: The Wizard and the Prophet, Charles Mann
Q: The Queue, Basma Abdel Aziz
R: Ring of Swords, Eleanor Arnason
S: Sommerhaus, später, Julia Hermann
T: The Girl in the Tower, Katherine Arden
U: The Unwomanly Face of War, Svetlana Alexievich
V: Te vendo un perro, Juan Pablo Villalobos
W: The Way Station, Clifford D. Simak
X: The Devotion of Suspect X, Keigo Higashino
Y: We Were Eight Years in Power, Ta-Nehesi Coates
Z: Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, Reza Aslan

A-Z Author

A: Ayòbámi Adébáyò, Stay With Me
B: Leigh Bardugo, The Language of Thorns
C: Clare Dudman, One Day the Ice Will Reveal All Its Dead
D: Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow
E: Edwidge Danticat, Claire of the Sea Light
F: Frank Herbert, Dune
G: Gail Tsukiyama, The Samurai’s Garden
H: Mohsin Hamad, Exit West
I: Arnaldur Indriðason, Menschensöhne
J: Jaroslav Kalfař, Spaceman of Bohemia
K: Kory Stamper, Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries
L: Mur Lafferty, Six Wakes
M: Margareta Magnusson, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning
N: Nadeem Aslam, The Golden Legend
O: Tommy Orange, There There
P: Ada Palmer, The Will to Battle
Q: Qiu Xiaolong, The Death of a Red Heroine
R: Rachel Kadish, The Weight of Ink
S: Kamila Shamsie, Home Fire
T: Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey
U: Ursula K. Le Guin, No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters
V: Evgenij Vodolazkin, Laurus
W: Connie Willis, The Doomsday Book
X: Xueqin Cao, The Golden Days - Story of the Stone vol. 1
Y: Yuri Herrera, Señales que precederán al fin del mundo
Z: Stefanie Zweig, Nirgendwo in Afrika

Edited December 30, 2018 by Matryoshka

[Matryoshka]

And then BaW challenges!  

I finished Bingo (no bonus squares, though): 

Written or set in the 14^th century – The Girl in the Tower
Music – White Tears
Biography or Memoir – Heart Berries
Foodie Book – Twain’s Feast
Crime - Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

Art – Frida Kahlo’s Diary
Book to movie adaptation – King Leopold’s Ghost
Feminist Author- The Penelopiad
Fantasy - Circe
Written or set in the 18^th century – The Indigo Girl

Micro history- The Wizard and the Prophet
Written or set in the 15^th century – Laurus
Free space – Theory of Bastards
Science fiction – Six Wakes
Self Help - The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

Mystery - The Devotion of Suspect X
Translated - Unwomanly Face of War
Nobel Prize Winner- La fiesta del chivo (The Feast of the Goat)
Written or set in the 17^th century – The Weight of Ink
Indie Author- Wondering Sight

Cozy- Magpie Murders
Philosophical- The Will to Battle
Written or set in the 16^th century- Inés del alma mía (Inés of My Soul)
Comic or Graphic Novel – The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage
Cartography – The Mapmaker’s War

I did very little Brit-tripping.... Only 14 books out of the 135 I read were set in England, and of those, most were in London or Oxford.  Looks like I managed 7 counties besides that, but I did none of the 'plus ones' for any of the ranks, so looks like it's a Bertram Wooster for me!  

While I wasn't in England, I was hopping all around the rest of the world (and outer space)... Countries visited: Albania, Argentina (2), Belgium, Chile (4), China (4), Congo, Czech Rep. (2), Denmark, Dominican Rep., Ecuador, Egypt (2), England (14), France, Germany (3), Greece (2), Haiti, Iceland (3), Israel, Italy (3), Jamaica, Japan , Japan, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico (4), Mongolia, New Guinea, Nigeria, Norway (3), Outer Space (16), Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Russia (3), Scotland, Spain (2), Sweden, Switzerland (2), Turkey (3), US (36).

Edited December 30, 2018 by Matryoshka

[Violet Crown]

Ali on OR, good job! Nice list of books.

Matryoshka, you are a reading goddess. Well done!

Edited December 30, 2018 by Violet Crown

[Matryoshka]

Just now, Violet Crown said:

Matryoshka, you are a reading goddess. Well done!

LOL, I feel like a lightweight when I read your lists!! 

Edited December 30, 2018 by Matryoshka

[Guest]

Here’s my general question to any of our reading high-achievers: What do you do when you have a book hangover? Or maybe you don’t get those? Some books I feel need to gel in my brain for at least a few days before I can move on to a new read. 

Also, if you set a book down for a while, is there a limit before you call that book Abandoned? I am eliminating some of my books in progress because, while they were fine books, I have forgotten the thread at least some. Might as well start the new year fresh. 

[JennW in SoCal]

Oh good, I can still post my wrap up!  I was out of town for the holidays and hadn't kept up with the threads, so was afraid I'd missed out! Will go back and read everyone's wrap up reports after posting this.

I read 66 mostly wonderful, often excellent and occasionally stupid books. Some random stats:
33 female authors, 33 male authors. 
29 mysteries
15 sci-fi/fantasy
13 literary fiction
9 nonfiction (6 of which are memoirs)

Among my favorites are:
Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
Famous Father Dad by Jamie Bernstein
Circe by Madeline Miller
The Mere Wife by Maria Davana Headley
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett

Mysteries remain my go-to genre for engaging but mindless comfort reads. I'll go with the armchair psychology explanation of mysteries being satisfying because someone puts a chaotic world back in order. 

And the one book I abandoned half way through was Kristin Lavransdatter. I was satisfied with what I read and just wasn't compelled to go further.

[Robin M]

2 hours ago, Quill said:

Here’s my general question to any of our reading high-achievers: What do you do when you have a book hangover? Or maybe you don’t get those? Some books I feel need to gel in my brain for at least a few days before I can move on to a new read. 

Also, if you set a book down for a while, is there a limit before you call that book Abandoned? I am eliminating some of my books in progress because, while they were fine books, I have forgotten the thread at least some. Might as well start the new year fresh. 

When I have a book hangover and the story and characters are still in my head, I'll play games or browse youtube or facebook videos. It's impossible for me to get into another story until I can process and move on.  Some books are abandoned if I've tried three times to get into the story and simply can't. It goes on the shelf with a wave of bye bye.  If you started and then just never went back and you don't think you'll ever go back, because hey, a newer shiny is on the horizon, then I'd consider it abandoned rather than saving it to read for a later time when in the mood. If it's a good story and really want to read it, then starting over is good.  I've done that several times. Hope this makes sense.  😋    

[Robin M]

3 hours ago, Matryoshka said:

Okay, I think I've finished my last book of the year (have 3 others in-progress, but no plans to finish them by tomorrow...), so I'm finally ready to post my year-end wrap-up!

I read 135 books total (for any newbies, the year before I joined I read eight books total, and set a goal of 26 for the year because 52 seemed astronomical.  And I've also retired from homeschooling and am only working very part-time.  And I may use reading as an excuse not to do housework. )

My challenges to myself last year were: 

1.        6 or more Nobel prize winners (read 7 of which 4 were authors new to me)
2.        10 or more books over 500 pages (read 12)
3.        12 books each in Spanish and German (read exactly 12 of each)
4.        A-Z Title (listed below)
5.        A-Z Author (listed below)

A-Z Title

A: Augustown, Kei Miller
B: La Belle Sauvage, Philip Pullman
C:  Celine, Peter Heller
D: The Dark is Rising, Susan Cooper
E: Embassytown, China Miéville               
F: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, David Grann
G: Children of God, Mary Doria Russell
H: Sein eigener Herr, Haldor Laxness
I: Inés del alma mía, Isabel Allende
J: The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain, María Rosa Menocal
K: Kalpa imperial, Angélica Gorodischer
L: We Are Legion (We Are Bob), Dennis Taylor
M: Middlemarch, George Eliot
N: The New Spaniards, John Hooper
O: The Door into Ocean, Joan Slonczewski
P: The Wizard and the Prophet, Charles Mann
Q: The Queue, Basma Abdel Aziz
R: Ring of Swords, Eleanor Arnason
S: Sommerhaus, später, Julia Hermann
T: The Girl in the Tower, Katherine Arden
U: The Unwomanly Face of War, Svetlana Alexievich
V: Te vendo un perro, Juan Pablo Villalobos
W: The Way Station, Clifford D. Simak
X: The Devotion of Suspect X, Keigo Higashino
Y: We Were Eight Years in Power, Ta-Nehesi Coates
Z: Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, Reza Aslan

A-Z Author

A: Ayòbámi Adébáyò, Stay With Me
B: Leigh Bardugo, The Language of Thorns
C: Clare Dudman, One Day the Ice Will Reveal All Its Dead
D: Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow
E: Edwidge Danticat, Claire of the Sea Light
F: Frank Herbert, Dune
G: Gail Tsukiyama, The Samurai’s Garden
H: Mohsin Hamad, Exit West
I: Arnaldur Indriðason, Menschensöhne
J: Jaroslav Kalfař, Spaceman of Bohemia
K: Kory Stamper, Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries
L: Mur Lafferty, Six Wakes
M: Margareta Magnusson, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning
N: Nadeem Aslam, The Golden Legend
O: Tommy Orange, There There
P: Ada Palmer, The Will to Battle
Q: Qiu Xiaolong, The Death of a Red Heroine
R: Rachel Kadish, The Weight of Ink
S: Kamila Shamsie, Home Fire
T: Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey
U: Ursula K. Le Guin, No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters
V: Evgenij Vodolazkin, Laurus
W: Connie Willis, The Doomsday Book
X: Xueqin Cao, The Golden Days - Story of the Stone vol. 1
Y: Yuri Herrera, Señales que precederán al fin del mundo
Z: Stefanie Zweig, Nirgendwo in Afrika

 

3 hours ago, Matryoshka said:

And then BaW challenges!  

I finished Bingo (no bonus squares, though): 

Written or set in the 14^th century – The Girl in the Tower
Music – White Tears
Biography or Memoir – Heart Berries
Foodie Book – Twain’s Feast
Crime - Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

Art – Frida Kahlo’s Diary
Book to movie adaptation – King Leopold’s Ghost
Feminist Author- The Penelopiad
Fantasy - Circe
Written or set in the 18^th century – The Indigo Girl

Micro history- The Wizard and the Prophet
Written or set in the 15^th century – Laurus
Free space – Theory of Bastards
Science fiction – Six Wakes
Self Help - The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

Mystery - The Devotion of Suspect X
Translated - Unwomanly Face of War
Nobel Prize Winner- La fiesta del chivo (The Feast of the Goat)
Written or set in the 17^th century – The Weight of Ink
Indie Author- Wondering Sight

Cozy- Magpie Murders
Philosophical- The Will to Battle
Written or set in the 16^th century- Inés del alma mía (Inés of My Soul)
Comic or Graphic Novel – The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage
Cartography – The Mapmaker’s War

I did very little Brit-tripping.... Only 14 books out of the 135 I read were set in England, and of those, most were in London or Oxford.  Looks like I managed 7 counties besides that, but I did none of the 'plus ones' for any of the ranks, so looks like it's a Bertram Wooster for me!  

While I wasn't in England, I was hopping all around the rest of the world (and outer space)... Countries visited: Albania, Argentina (2), Belgium, Chile (4), China (4), Congo, Czech Rep. (2), Denmark, Dominican Rep., Ecuador, Egypt (2), England (14), France, Germany (3), Greece (2), Haiti, Iceland (3), Israel, Italy (3), Jamaica, Japan , Japan, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico (4), Mongolia, New Guinea, Nigeria, Norway (3), Outer Space (16), Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Russia (3), Scotland, Spain (2), Sweden, Switzerland (2), Turkey (3), US (36).

Wow!  Your reading really took off.  You read some great books of which I'll be adding a few to my want list. Congratulations on completing bingo and A to Z!    Yes, reading is a good excuse not to do housework, especially if you can get someone else to do it.  😘

[Violet Crown]

4 hours ago, Matryoshka said:

LOL, I feel like a lightweight when I read your lists!! 

Nonsense. We're all just reading books.

On a serious note, since we have people considering this thread for the New Year....  No one should ever feel bad for not preferring to read more Literary (capital L!) texts. I like my food just fine from out of a can, or a package, or frozen, but have friends who make Food (capital F!) skilfully with fresh, organic ingredients; which I know is objectively better food, but I prefer my shopping, cooking and eating to be quicker and less demanding.  I drink instant coffee, watch lowbrow flicks (to dh's dismay) and corny tv shows, and wear cheap clothes from Target or Savers, even though I know that there is better quality coffee, clothing in better taste, etc. If I have literary tastes in reading, it's because in just that particular corner of my life I would rather do the labor involved, and really can't tolerate a poorly written book, just like I have friends who can't drink cheap coffee and so go to the trouble of preparing something tastier. But there's no particular virtue in it.

Edited December 31, 2018 by Violet Crown

[-M-]

Hello again! I'm here to update and expand on my post from last week. With only two evenings remaining in the year, I’m not sure if I will finish any of the seven books I’m currently reading, so I am calling it at 138 books read this year. (As always, I have included only cover-to-covers.) Here are a few numbers:

— 51 novels (not including graphic works)
— 30 non-fiction works (32, including graphic works)
— 13 plays
— 1 poetry title (Virgil's Aeneid)
— 43 graphic works (2 of which were non-fiction titles)

And here are the standouts:

Even better on rereading:
■ Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro; 2005. Fiction.)
■ Childhood’s End (Arthur C. Clarke; 1953. Fiction.)
■ Daytripper (Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá; 2011. Graphic fiction.)
■ Mrs. Caliban (Rachel Ingalls; 1983. Fiction.)

Forgot how wonderful this writer is:
■ Memento Mori (Muriel Spark; 1959. Fiction.)

For those who loved The Elementals (Michael McDowell; 1981):
■ The Reapers Are the Angels (Alden Bell; 2010. Fiction.)

Fabulous story for a long car trip:
■ American Kingpin (Nick Bilton; 2017. Non-fiction.)

Honorable mention:
■ The Idealist: Aaron Swartz and the Rise of Free Culture on the Internet (Justin Peters; 2016. Non-fiction.)

The most engrossing books I read this year (not including rereads):
■ Behold the Dreamers (Imbolo Mbue; 2016. Fiction.)
■ An American Marriage (Tayari Jones; 2018. Fiction.)
■ The Third Hotel (Laura van den Berg; 2018. Fiction.)
■ Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup (John Carreyrou; 2018. Non-fiction.)
■ Euphoria (Lily King; 2014. Fiction.)

Honorable mention:
■ Killers of the Flower Moon (Dan Grann; 2017. Non-fiction.)
■ An Abbreviated Life (Ariel Leve; 2016. Non-fiction.)
■ After the Eclipse (Sarah Perry; 2017. Non-fiction.)
■ The Hole (Hye-young Pyun; 2017. Fiction.)
■ Bel Canto (Ann Patchett; 2001. Fiction.)
■ Things We Lost in the Fire (Mariana Enriquez; 2017. Fiction.)

Cannot stop talking about the ideas in these books:
■ Janesville: An American Story (Amy Goldstein; 2016. Non-fiction.)
■ Squeezed: Why Our Families Can’t Afford America (Alissa Quart; 2018. Non-fiction.)
■ Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century (Jessica Bruder; 2017. Non-fiction.)
■ Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth (Sarah Smarsh; 2018. Non-fiction.)

Even better than War and Peace:
■ Kristin Lavransdatter: The Wreath (Sigrid Undset; 1920. (Trans. Tiina Nunnally; 1997.) Fiction.)
■ Kristin Lavransdatter: The Wife (Sigrid Undset; 1921. (Trans. Tiina Nunnally; 1999.) Fiction.)
■ Kristin Lavransdatter: The Cross (Sigrid Undset; 1922. (Trans. Tiina Nunnally; 2000.) Fiction.)

Best graphic work I read this year:
■ The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt (Ken Krimstein; 2018. Graphic non-fiction.)

Despite all of that great reading, I didn’t make much progress on my 2018 reading resolutions:

1. Read from the shelves.
Of the 138 books I read cover-to-cover this year, 55 were published this year. So, yeah, “Read from the shelves” was a bust in 2018, but as I've mentioned, I have a plan: In 2019, I will read one hundred books from my shelves (i.e., the book must have been in my collection before the end of 2018), including at least twenty-four non-fiction titles and at least one book from each of the following “special collections”: Shakespeare, poetry, NYRB, Vonnegut, Joyce Carol Oates, philosophy, art, and children’s / YA. Since I’ve been finishing between 120 and 150 books annually for the last few years, this goal leaves me a little room for impulsivity.

2. Complete a close reading of Moby Dick.
Next year marks the two hundredth anniversary of Herman Melville’s birth. I’m reading serendipity/synchronicity/synthesis into missing this goal because obviously it will be more fun to complete it in 2019, right? (Edited to add that I’ve read Moby Dick (conventionally, words on a page) once and listened to the spectacular audiobook (William Hootkins; 2004) dozens of times, but I would still like to reread it because it bears returning to. If you're up for it, please join me!)

3. Reread at least one Vonnegut novel.
Sirens of Titan is part of my unfinished business. (By the way, my (tentative) 2019 selection is Player Piano.)

4. Finish reading several books abandoned in 2017 (or *gulp* earlier).
Ayup. I am a shamelessly promiscuous reader, good books don’t deserve such treatment, and I will do better.

5. Read at least thirty non-fiction titles.
Twenty-six was been my goal in the past, so I raised the bar this year. It’s the only resolution I kept. This year, I read 32 non-fiction books, two of which were graphic works.

My 2018 list:

January
■ Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro; 2005. Fiction.)
■ An Enemy of the People (Henrikson Ibsen; 1882. Drama.)
■ The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning (Margareta Magnusson; 2018. Non-fiction.)
■ The Perfect Nanny (Leila Sliman; 2018. Fiction.)
■ Saga, Volume 8 (Brian Vaughan; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Postal, Volume 6 (Matt Hawkins; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Bitch Planet: Triple Feature, Volume 1 (Kelly Sue DeConnick; 2017. Graphic fiction.)
■ Descender, Volume 5: Rise of the Robots (Jeff Lemire; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Disappearance at Devil’s Rock (Paul Tremblay; 2016. Fiction.)
■ Fire and Fury (Michael Wolff; 2018. Non-fiction.)
■ You Deserve Nothing (Alexander Maksik; 2011. Fiction.)
■ The Woman in the Window (A.J. Finn; 2017. Fiction.)
■ Inheritors (Susan Glaspell; 1921. Drama.)

February
■ Killers of the Flower Moon (Dan Grann; 2017. Non-fiction.)
■ Shelter in Place (Alexander Maksik; 2016. Fiction.)
■ Childhood’s End (Arthur C. Clarke; 1953. Fiction.)
■ Landscape with Invisible Hand (M.T. Anderson; 2017. Fiction.)
■ Emilie (Lauren Gunderson; 2010. Drama.)
■ Memento Mori (Muriel Spark; 1959. Fiction.)
■ Alive, Alive Oh! (Diana Athill; 2016. Non-fiction.)

March
■ Briggs Land, Volume 2: Lone Wolves (Brian Wood; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Dead People Suck (Laurie Kilmartin; 2018. Non-fiction.)
■ Instead of a Letter (Diana Athill; 1962. Non-fiction.)
■ The Walking Dead, Volume 29: Lines We Cross (Robert Kirkman; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ A Moon for the Misbegotten (Eugene O’Neill; 1947. Drama.)
■ Mary Stuart (Friedrich Schiller; 1800. (Trans. Peter Oswald; 2006.) Drama.)
■ Educated (Tara Westover; 2018. Non-fiction.)
■ Candide (Voltaire; 1759. (Trans. John Butt; 1947.) Fiction.)
■ hang (debbie tucker green; 2015. Drama.)
■ Dying (Cory Taylor; 2016. Non-fiction.)
■ The Reapers Are the Angels (Alden Bell; 2010. Fiction.)
■ Injection, Vol. 3 (Warren Ellis; 2017. Graphic fiction.)
■ Letter 44, Vol. 5: Blueshift (Charles Soule; 2017. Graphic fiction.)
■ Letter 44, Vol. 6: The End (Charles Soule; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Exit West (Mohsin Hamid; 2017. Fiction.)

April
■ Little Fires Everywhere (Celeste Ng; 2017. Fiction.)
■ Everything I Never Told You (Celeste Ng; 2014. Fiction.)
■ Black Hammer, Vol. 1: The End (Jeff Lemire; 2017. Graphic fiction.)
■ The Female Persuasion (Meg Wolitzer; 2018. Fiction.)
■ If We Were Villians (M.L. Rio; 2017. Fiction.)
■ American Kingpin (Nick Bilton; 2017. Non-fiction.)
■ Fractured (Catherine McKenzie; 2016. Fiction.)
■ Harmony (Carolyn Parkhurst; 2016. Fiction.)
■ Lazarus X+66: The End (Greg Rucka; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ An Abbreviated Life (Ariel Leve; 2016. Non-fiction.)
■ With or Without You (Domenica Ruta; 2013. Non-fiction.)

May
■ I’m Supposed to Protect You from All This (Nadja Spiegelman; 2016. Non-fiction.)
■ I’ll Be Gone in the Dark (Michelle McNamara; 2018. Non-fiction.)
■ A Higher Loyalty (James Comey; 2018. Non-fiction.)
■ The Rules Do Not Apply (Ariel Levy; 2017. Non-fiction.)
■ After the Eclipse (Sarah Perry; 2017. Non-fiction.)
■ The Best We Could Do (Thi Bui; 2017. Graphic non-fiction.)
■ The Perfect Mother (Aimee Molloy; 2018. Fiction.)

June
■ Red Clocks (Leni Zumas; 2018. Fiction.)
■ Daytripper (Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá; 2011. Graphic fiction.)
■ Mrs. Caliban (Rachel Ingalls; 1983. Fiction.)
■ Suddenly, Last Summer (Tennessee Williams; 1958. Drama.)
■ Sometimes I Lie (Alice Feeney; 2017. Fiction.)
■ Buried Child (Sam Shepherd; 1978. Drama.)
■ The Idealist: Aaron Swartz and the Rise of Free Culture on the Internet (Justin Peters; 2016. Non-fiction.)
■ Behold the Dreamers (Imbolo Mbue; 2016. Fiction.)
■ Macbeth (William Shakespeare; 1606. Drama.)
■ Royal City, Vol. 2: Sonic Youth (Jeff Lemire; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Sorry to Disrupt the Peace (Patty Yumi Cottrell; 2017. Fiction.)
■ Macbeth (Hogarth Shakespeare) (Jo Nesbø; 2018. Fiction.)
■ Hamlet (William Shakespeare; 1602. Drama.)
■ The Lying Game (Ruth Ware; 2017. Fiction.)
■ The Hole (Hye-young Pyun; 2017. Fiction.)

July
■ Papergirls, Vol. 4 (Brian K. Vaughan; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1: Unmanned (Brian K. Vaughan; 2003. Graphic fiction.)
■ The Cabin at the End of the World (Paul Tremblay; 2018. Fiction.)
■ Bel Canto (Ann Patchett; 2001. Fiction.)
■ Victims of Duty (Eugène Ionesco; 1953. Drama.)
■ Redlands, Vol. 1 (Jordie Bellaire; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Give Me Your Hand (Megan Abbott; 2018. Fiction.)
■ Alone (Chabouté; 2008 (2017, English). Graphic fiction.)
■ An American Marriage (Tayari Jones; 2018. Fiction.)
■ Janesville: An American Story (Amy Goldstein; 2016. Non-fiction.)

August
■ Mockingbird, Vol. 1: I Can Explain (Chelsea Cain; 2016. Graphic fiction.)
■ Mockingbird, Vol. 2: My Feminist Agenda (Chelsea Cain; 2017. Graphic fiction.)
■ Park Bench (Chabouté; 2012 (2017, English). Graphic fiction.)
■ Midlife: A Philosophical Guide (Kieran Setiya; 2017. Non-fiction.)
■ 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne; 1870. (Trans. Anthony Bonner; 1962.) Fiction.)
■ Squeezed: Why Our Families Can’t Afford America (Alissa Quart; 2018. Non-fiction.)
■ The Outsider (Stephen King; 2018. Fiction.)
■ Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century (Jessica Bruder; 2017. Non-fiction.)
■ Hope Never Dies: An Obama Biden Mystery (Andrew Shaffer; 2018. Fiction.)
■ Things We Lost in the Fire (Mariana Enriquez; 2017. Fiction.)
■ Outcast, Vol. 6 (Robert Kirkman; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ The Aeneid (Virgil. (Trans. Robert Fagles; 2006.) Poetry.)
■ When You Reach Me (Rebecca Stead; 2009. Fiction.)
■ Proof (David Auburn; 2001. Drama.)
■ Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (Chabouté; 2014 (2017, English). Graphic fiction.)
■ The Soul of an Octopus (Sy Montgomery; 2015. Non-fiction.)

September
■ The Children (Lucy Kirkwood; 2016. Drama.)
■ Vox (Christina Dalcher; 2018. Fiction.)
■ The Water Cure (Sophie Mackintosh; 2018. Fiction.)
■ Dept. H, Vol. 1: Murder Six Miles Deep (Matt Kindt; 2017. Graphic fiction.)
■ The Walking Dead, Volume 30: New World Order (Robert Kirkman; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ His Favorites (Kate Walbert; 2018. Fiction.)
■ The Incendiaries (R.O. Kwon; 2018. Fiction.)
■ Kristin Lavransdatter: The Wreath (Sigrid Undset; 1920. (Trans. Tiina Nunnally; 1997.) Fiction.)
■ The Devoted (Blair Hurley; 2018. Fiction.)
■ Grass Kings, Volume 1: New World Order (Matt Kindt; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Descender, Volume 6: The Machine War (Jeff Lemire; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Dept. H, Vol. 2: After the Flood (Matt Kindt; 2017. Graphic fiction.)
■ Dept. H, Vol. 3: Decompressed (Matt Kindt; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Beverly (Nick Drnaso; 2016. Graphic fiction.)

October
■ Saga, Volume 9 (Brian Vaughan; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ The Third Hotel (Laura van den Berg; 2018. Fiction.)
■ Kristin Lavransdatter: The Wife (Sigrid Undset; 1921. (Trans. Tiina Nunnally; 1999.) Fiction.)
■ Postal, Volume 7 (Matt Hawkins; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ When She Woke (Hillary Jordan; 2011. Fiction.)
■ Gorilla and the Bird (Zack McDermott; 2017. Non-fiction.)
■ Gideon Falls, Volume 1: The Black Barn (Jeff Lemire; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Kristin Lavransdatter: The Cross (Sigrid Undset; 1922. (Trans. Tiina Nunnally; 2000.) Fiction.)

November
■ Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom (Ken Ilgunas; 2013. Non-fiction.)
■ Mansfield Park (Jane Austen; 1814. Fiction.)
■ The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt (Ken Krimstein; 2018. Graphic non-fiction.)
■ Oblivion Song, Volume 1 (Robert Kirkman; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Royal City, Vol. 3: We All Float On (Jeff Lemire; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ The Woods (Harlan Coben; 2007. Fiction.)
■ The Heretic’s Daughter (Kathleen Kent; 2008. Fiction.)
■ The Sculptor (Scott McCloud; 2015. Graphic fiction.)
■ Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth (Sarah Smarsh; 2018. Non-fiction.)
■ Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them): A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying (Sallie Tisdale; 2018. Non-fiction.)
■ Sabrina (Nick Drnaso; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Lost Dogs (Jeff Lemire; 2005; reissued, 2012. Graphic fiction.)

December
■ Hazards of Time Travel (Joyce Carol Oates; 2018. Fiction.)
■ Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism (Scott and Kimberly Hahn Carreyrou; 1993. Non-fiction.)
■ Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup (John Carreyrou; 2018. Non-fiction.)
■ On Living (Kerry Egan; 2016. Non-fiction.)
■ Euphoria (Lily King; 2014. Fiction.)
■ Dept. H, Vol. 4: Lifeboat (Matt Kindt; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents (Pete Souza; 2018. Non-fiction.)
■ The Prince and the Dressmaker (Jen Wang; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Home after Dark (David Small; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ The Daily Stoic (Ryan Holiday; 2016. Non-fiction.)

Edited December 31, 2018 by Melissa M

[Robin M]

4 hours ago, aggieamy said:

I've got three books I'm trying to finish before midnight tomorrow. I still won't make my goal of 100 books but I'll be closer. I'll post my recap then.

I'm so thankful for this thread. I kind of went blackout on the internet for a few weeks this year ... turns out getting dinner on the table and doing my work stuff done was about all I could handle. 🙂 I did read some great books though. *cheers* And onto 2019. Hopefully it'll be a year filled with more home cooked meals and less Costco lasagna. A year where I am on time to at least an occasional appointment. A year where I'm not running around as the carpool shows up on Monday morning wondering why nobody told me the night before that there weren't any clean uniform skirts in the house.

 

Waving Hi!  We've missed you.  ~Cheers for a less hectic year in 2019. 

3 hours ago, JennW in SoCal said:

Oh good, I can still post my wrap up!  I was out of town for the holidays and hadn't kept up with the threads, so was afraid I'd missed out! Will go back and read everyone's wrap up reports after posting this.

I read 66 mostly wonderful, often excellent and occasionally stupid books. Some random stats:
33 female authors, 33 male authors. 
29 mysteries
15 sci-fi/fantasy
13 literary fiction
9 nonfiction (6 of which are memoirs)

Among my favorites are:
Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
Famous Father Dad by Jamie Bernstein
Circe by Madeline Miller
The Mere Wife by Maria Davana Headley
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett

Mysteries remain my go-to genre for engaging but mindless comfort reads. I'll go with the armchair psychology explanation of mysteries being satisfying because someone puts a chaotic world back in order. 

And the one book I abandoned half way through was Kristin Lavransdatter. I was satisfied with what I read and just wasn't compelled to go further.

Well done!  Glad you had lots of fun with your family!  Thumbs up for comfort reads.  Added Circe to my virtual stacks! 

[Robin M]

19 minutes ago, Melissa M said:

Hello again! I'm here to update and expand on my post from last week. With only two evenings remaining in the year, I’m not sure if I will finish any of the seven books I’m currently reading, so I am calling it at 138 books read this year. (As always, I have included only cover-to-covers.) Here are a few numbers:

— 51 novels (not including graphic works)
— 30 non-fiction works (32, including graphic works)
— 13 plays
— 1 poetry title (Virgil's Aeneid)
— 43 graphic works (2 of which were non-fiction titles)

And here are the standouts:

Even better on rereading:
■ Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro; 2005. Fiction.)
■ Childhood’s End (Arthur C. Clarke; 1953. Fiction.)
■ Daytripper (Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá; 2011. Graphic fiction.)
■ Mrs. Caliban (Rachel Ingalls; 1983. Fiction.)

.Even better than War and Peace:
■ Kristin Lavransdatter: The Wreath (Sigrid Undset; 1920. (Trans. Tiina Nunnally; 1997.) Fiction.)
■ Kristin Lavransdatter: The Wife (Sigrid Undset; 1921. (Trans. Tiina Nunnally; 1999.) Fiction.)
■ Kristin Lavransdatter: The Cross (Sigrid Undset; 1922. (Trans. Tiina Nunnally; 2000.) Fiction.)

1. Read from the shelves.
Of the 138 books I read cover-to-cover this year, 55 were published this year. So, yeah, “Read from the shelves” was a bust in 2018, but as I've mentioned, I have a plan: In 2019, I will read one hundred books from my shelves (i.e., the book must have been in my collection before the end of 2018), including at least twenty-four non-fiction titles and at least one book from each of the following “special collections”: Shakespeare, poetry, NYRB, Vonnegut, Joyce Carol Oates, philosophy, art, and children’s / YA. Since I’ve been finishing between 120 and 150 books annually for the last few years, this goal leaves me a little room for impulsivity.

2. Complete a close reading of Moby Dick.
Next year marks the two hundredth anniversary of Herman Melville’s birth. I’m reading serendipity/synchronicity/synthesis into missing this goal because obviously it will be more fun to complete it in 2019, right?

5. Read at least thirty non-fiction titles.
Twenty-six was been my goal in the past, so I raised the bar this year. It’s the only resolution I kept. This year, I read 32 non-fiction books, two of which were graphic works.

 

Okay, if Kristin Lavransdatter is better than War and Peace than I must finish it.  It's been on my mind the past few days so planned to dive back in soon. Congratulations on surpassing your non fiction goal. I was close but no cigar.  I just downloaded Mrs. Caliban after reading the excerpt on Amazon.  Thank you!   I'll join you in reading from the shelves for 2019.  Extending my buying ban so I won't be tempted to add more.    Hmm! The 200th anniversary of Melville's birth!   Yes it will be more fun to complete in 2019.  I may join you.  

 

I'm having loads of fun perusing everyone's lists and trying not to go wild adding lots and lots of books to my shelves at the last minute. So difficult~ 

😘

[Matryoshka]

21 minutes ago, Melissa M said:

Is that your house?  I have a room full of bookshelves, but it is not so tidy.  I have stacks of books all over the floor as well.  But I don't think I could read mostly from my bookshelves.  I actually don't have that huge amount of Dusties.  I've been trying very hard to mostly take books out of the library.  I do have a big stack of German/Spanish books I've bought since joining BaW, as they are harder to get from the library.  Probably a good goal to read mostly them vs. buying more...

Quote

2. Complete a close reading of Moby Dick.
Next year marks the two hundredth anniversary of Herman Melville’s birth. I’m reading serendipity/synchronicity/synthesis into missing this goal because obviously it will be more fun to complete it in 2019, right? (Edited to add that I’ve read Moby Dick and listened to the spectacular audiobook (William Hootkins; 2004) dozens of times, but I would still like to reread it. It bears returning to. If you're up for it, please join me!)

I have never read Moby Dick, and I'd already been thinking about finally tackling it this year - although most likely on audio.  Is the Hootkins the audio you'd recommend?  Knowing this is an anniversary year, maybe I should make this a firm goal...

Quote

3. Reread at least one Vonnegut novel.
Sirens of Titan is part of my unfinished business. (By the way, my (tentative) 2019 selection is Player Piano.)

I love Vonnegut, but have not read through all his works, including either of those you mention above.  Will take the suggestions!

Quote

5. Read at least thirty non-fiction titles.
Twenty-six was been my goal in the past, so I raised the bar this year. It’s the only resolution I kept. This year, I read 32 non-fiction books, two of which were graphic works.

I read 28 this year (out of 135).  Technically I'm lowballing my goal at 10 (for the 10x10), but maybe I should aim higher...

Quote

My 2018 list:

Looking at your list, I feel like we have a lot of books in common. Are you on Goodreads, perchance?  

[-M-]

13 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

Is that your house?  I have a room full of bookshelves, but it is not so tidy.  I have stacks of books all over the floor as well.  But I don't think I could read mostly from my bookshelves.  I actually don't have that huge amount of Dusties.  I've been trying very hard to mostly take books out of the library.  I do have a big stack of German/Spanish books I've bought since joining BaW, as they are harder to get from the library.  Probably a good goal to read mostly them vs. buying more...

Yes! And an image of another section is attached. 📚

 

I have never read Moby Dick, and I'd already been thinking about finally tackling it this year - although most likely on audio.  Is the Hootkins the audio you'd recommend?  Knowing this is an anniversary year, maybe I should make this a firm goal...

The Hootkins audiobook is wonderful. My husband and I think Moby Dick would be a bestseller if everyone could hear it. 😉 

I love Vonnegut, but have not read through all his works, including either of those you mention above.  Will take the suggestions!

I read 28 this year (out of 135).  Technically I'm lowballing my goal at 10 (for the 10x10), but maybe I should aim higher...

Looking at your list, I feel like we have a lot of books in common. Are you on Goodreads, perchance?  

Long ago, I joined but never kept up with it. Do BaWers connect there, too?

 

Edited December 31, 2018 by Melissa M

[mumto2]

From Robin’s OP......copied and pasted a couple of times so hopefully it works.

Please tell us about the highlights of your reading year:

During your travels did you have time to stop and smell the flowers with our Blossom Bookology challenge or explore a plethora of mysteries with 52 Books Bingo?

  I had a great time spelling my way through the flowers!🙂. I also did the Detective bingo extension which tied into Brit Tripping really well.

 

Did you stay on the detective bus, join the rebel bus or hang around with Bertram Wooster?  

Dectective Bus!

Did you remain earthbound or take off for worlds unknown? 

I read at least 7 Sci-fi books!  This is an area I am trying to grow into so I am pretty happy about this.

Did you reach your reading goal or did you decide to just meander about and follow rabbit trails and end up getting lost in the enjoyment of reading?  Waving my hand as I lost track halfway through the year.  I completed my challenges so am really pleased.

I managed to complete my challenges but I wandered all over and was rarely in the Brit Trip County I belonged in each week!

Where did your armchair travels take you?  Which countries and time periods did you journey through?

Mainly to England..... apparently 200 of my books were at least partially set in England!

I also read 15 books in translation so I went a few other places too.  I went to Japan 5 times with Murakami! Some Chinese Sci Fi and some assorted Nordic Noir. A few Asian Detectives.......

Which books stayed with you the longest?  

One book I am grateful to have read is What Made Maddy Run which was recommended by a BaWer.  It is the story of a college athlete’s suicide,  trying to answer why?  Part of the why appeared to be the pressures of social media.   Shortly after I read it a friend’s Dd attempted suicide.  Her mother was struggling to figure out some of the whys.....the pressure of an online world seemed to figure heavily in both girl’s depression.  I was grateful to be a bit prepared to talk to the mom.....I also sent her the book, she said it was helpful.

Did you set any aside to read again at some point and savor the story all over again?

Actually one of my goals is returning to a reading life where I reread beloved series frequently.  I think I forgot the pleasure that can be found with old friends.  I am currently rereading Patricia Brigg’s fantasy series and Rivers of London.  I am sure I will read CS Harris and the wonderful St. Cyr again!

 

 Did you discover any new to you authors or genres?

I fell in love with CJ Sansom’s books this year although I read the first in the series previously.  I also discovered Cassandra Clarke and Ariana Franklin.❤️. Obviously historical mysteries were favorites this year.

I think I became more comfortable with Sci Fi.  Which is exciting because my daughter has moved away from many of our shared mystery books and is spending what little book time she has to read with Sci Fi.  I missed our book talks and am glad to share books again.

 Which books intrigued or entertained, made you laugh, cry, dance or sing? 

I loved listening to Agatha Christie’s and Dorothy Sayers this year.  Having them read made me love books I thought I disliked. 😂  I still can’t believe I actually enjoyed The Big Four by Christie.

Share your favorite titles, covers, quotes and of course, your reading lists.

Woman in White was great! 😉. I have already mentioned many of the favorites and Goodreads is not willing to sort my 5 stars for me tonight.  I think this was the year of the audiobook for me.....I finished 74 of them!

I loved Brit Tripping and want to thank Amy and Robin for making it possible.  It was so much fun!  One of my 2018 highlights!

Edited December 31, 2018 by mumto2

[Matryoshka]

 

Quote

The Hootkins audiobook is wonderful. My husband and I think Moby Dick would be a bestseller if everyone could hear it. 😉 

Thank you! I am totally finding that one and listening to it this year! 
 

Quote

Looking at your list, I feel like we have a lot of books in common. Are you on Goodreads, perchance?  

Long ago, I joined but never kept up with it. Do BaWers connect there, too?

Yes!!  I'm Erin H over there, with the same Matryoshka avatar as here.  I may (ahem) update my books there almost daily.  I love the way it sorts my to-read list.  But I'm also friends with a lot of BaW people who give me lots of great book ideas!  

 

8 hours ago, Melissa M said:

Yes! And an image of another section is attached. 📚

8 hours ago, Melissa M said:

 

This is gorgeous!

I can possibly paste a very old pic of my 'library' when it was less cluttered.  Methinks yours holds way more books.  I am jealous!  I need more bookshelves!!!
(If this works, those are my now 20yo twins in their jammies in that pic...)  The wall on the right also has some bookshelves, but a piano and a closet take up most of it...

 

 

Edited December 31, 2018 by Matryoshka
Thought the better of putting up a kid pic on a public site...