2014 Reading Self-Challenge

[Snowborn]

21/30!

This month:

• Bluebeard, by Kurt Vonnegut.
  
• The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker.
  
• The Man Who Watched the World End, by Chris Dietzel.
  
• Stonewielder, by Ian Cameron Esslemont.
  
• King of Thorns, by Mark Lawrence.
  

[Inigima]

10. Bill Willingham - Fables Vol. 4 - Probably the best of the series to date.

11. Chris Wooding - Retribution Falls - A middling-fun airships-and-piracy story, as written by a four year old with a box of crayons.

Slogging through Haldeman's The Forever War right now, not hating it quite enough to quit but not liking it enough to read it regularly :(

11/30

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I read 6 books in May. So far I'm at 33/75.

Doing poorly at one of my sub goals is to read 5 classics. I've only read one to date, The Great Gatsby.

[Biter]

Somehow I'm at 14/26. I've read some works by Swedish authors lately - City in the World by Fogelström, Doctor Glas by Söderberg and Egenmäktigt förfarande (I believe it translates to Criminal conversion) by Andersson.

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

A month of excellent books.

Read

- The Forever Watch by David Ramirez. An exceptional SF novel dealing with the nature of government control, the need for secrecy, and the dangers of too much information. The characters, the setting, and the story were all wonderful. 5/5

- The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North. A riveting and fascinating read about people who relive their lives constantly from end-to-end. I appreciated how fully and plausibly this concept was explored, and again the characters and plot were exceptional (the setting was nothing special, being Earth). 5/5

- Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick. A fun read, in the vein of Gentlemen Bastards. Well-written and with a fascinating setting and unpredictable plot. 4/5, good fantasy novel - check it out if you haven't.

- Sworn in Steel by Douglas Hulick. The sequel to the above, the plot is not as riveting but the prose has improved. Another very solid book. 4/5

- Leviathan Wakes by James SA Corey (aka Daniel Abraham & Ty Frank). I can't say enough about this series - I am re-reading all three books and both novellas leading up to June 17. This one in particular is powerful due in part to its structure and the haunting final chapter of Miller's POV. 5/5

I also read The Butcher of Anderson Station, but as it was only 40 pages I am not counting it.

So that puts me at 25/52 with 5/25 by women. I am well ahead of schedule and on track to read 4-5 more this month.

[RedEyedGhost]

I'm lagging a bit, only 20/60.

[Inigima]

Only one book last month, because I was reading two and didn't really like either of them all that much, but I'm on my second of the month for June already and Goodreads says I'm back on track for my challenge, finally.

12. Chris Wooding - Retribution Falls - Good lord did I hate this book. The story itself is passable if derivative, but the writing is abominable.

12/30

As always, more detailed reviews on my Goodreads.

[Night's_King]

15/25

Finished my Emperor: Gates of Rome-Reread and finally wrote a review on goodreads.

[Fragile Bird]

I've completely lost track of this thread and my count. I've been buying cookbooks lately, I don't think they count. I also did a complete GoT reread, which I guess also doesn't count.

But latest reads - The Cuckoo's Calling, by J. K. Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith. I love detective stories, going way way back to when I was 9 or 10, reading Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury alongside Agathe Christie and Ngaio Marsh, after having been introduced to Nancy Drew which was way too boring.

I thought it was a great read for anyone who loves classic British dectectives. As much as I enjoyed the Dragon Tattoo books and Silence of the Lambs and the other gory detective fiction so popular now, this is a style of writing I can really get into. I'm looking forward to The Silkworm.

Next, and just finished, I read Beatrice and Virgil, by Yann Martel. I knew the play with the animal characters was a holocaust allegory, but I was lulled at the beginning and like the narrator, caught unawares, even as horror was being discussed. The last fifth of the book, starting with Henry's home tragedy and rapidly getting graphic with Beatrice and Virgil thereafter, leading to the grim ending, kept me on the edge of my seat and had me reading with tears flowing down my face. The Games Henry created at the end were just the poisoned icing on the cake.

From Beatrice and Virgil I went straight into The Zoo Station, by John Russell, more Nazi horrors. The narrator is a divorced British journalist who has lived in Germany for 15 years, and stays because he has a young son. The book opens at the end of 1938, New Year's Eve, and quickly includes scenes of Nazi brutality. A former socialist/communist, he's asked by the Russians to write slanted articles for them, about how many good things the Nazis are doing for Germany, and soon is asked by everyone else, including the Germans, to spy for them. I'm not finished, but I'm really like the dark writing, and have ordered the next 2 books in the series.

Now I'll check my count and see where I'm at for the year. Two, at least. :P

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

A ASOIAF reread totally counts. That's thousands of pages and many hours of reading.

[sperry]

I haven't finished anything in a while, but I am currently in the final 20% of at least 5 books. If I can finish all 5 of those by the end of the month (which I think I can), that will put me at 8 for the year. Gonna have to pick up my pace in the second half.

[deleted01]

I agree with Wrath, plus it's up to you what counts :)

I loved The Cuckoo's Calling. I pre-ordered The Silkworm a few days ago, should be here on or around the 19th of June.

40/60 so far - still reading Red Country, and really enjoying it.

[Isildur's Mane]

I keep forgetting to update my reads on here

now up to 10/20

Finished reading Carrie by Stephen King - my first ever horror novel I've read. I thought it was pretty good, though not nearly as scary as I thought it would be.

So far I have read:

Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett

Fortunately, the Milk - Neil Gaiman

1214 - Year of the Magna Carta - Danny Danziger and John Gillingham

Wild Women: History's Female Rebels, Radicals and Revolutionaries - Pamela Robson

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy- Douglas Adams

The Hero Within - Carol S. Pearson

Sexuality in Medieval Europe - Ruth Mazo Karras

Eats, Shoots and Leaves - Lynne Truss

The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference - Writer's Digest

Carrie- Stephen King

I'm thinking that I will probably pass my goal, but I will leave it as it is for the moment.

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

Carrie is not Stephen King's best. I would try Pet Sematary (the movie is a pretty faithful adaptation, so avoid it if you don't want spoilers ... Although the book is excellent regardless).

[Isildur's Mane]

Carrie is not Stephen King's best. I would try Pet Sematary (the movie is a pretty faithful adaptation, so avoid it if you don't want spoilers ... Although the book is excellent regardless).

Yeah, Carrie wasn't my favourite read, but out of all the Stephen King books available in the bookshop that was the smallest book (I wanted a quick read).

I've been trying to broaden my reading to include horror because I have an idea for a couple of horror short stories and novels. Pet Sematary is on my to read list though (Amoung others).

[Biter]

If you're looking for a short King novel, I'd recommend The Gunslinger if you haven't read it already. You should be aware that it doesn't really belong to the horror genre, and also that it is the first in a series of progressively longer books.

[Isildur's Mane]

I believe I've read that one before - I'm not sure how I felt about it at the time though. I might need to read it again though - but afterI've ticked off some more books on my to -read -list. It's past 700 and climbing (scary)

ETA - but I have crossed off 84

[maarsen]

I've completely lost track of this thread and my count. I've been buying cookbooks lately, I don't think they count. I also did a complete GoT reread, which I guess also doesn't count.

But latest reads - The Cuckoo's Calling, by J. K. Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith. I love detective stories, going way way back to when I was 9 or 10, reading Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury alongside Agathe Christie and Ngaio Marsh, after having been introduced to Nancy Drew which was way too boring.

I thought it was a great read for anyone who loves classic British dectectives. As much as I enjoyed the Dragon Tattoo books and Silence of the Lambs and the other gory detective fiction so popular now, this is a style of writing I can really get into. I'm looking forward to The Silkworm.

Next, and just finished, I read Beatrice and Virgil, by Yann Martel. I knew the play with the animal characters was a holocaust allegory, but I was lulled at the beginning and like the narrator, caught unawares, even as horror was being discussed. The last fifth of the book, starting with Henry's home tragedy and rapidly getting graphic with Beatrice and Virgil thereafter, leading to the grim ending, kept me on the edge of my seat and had me reading with tears flowing down my face. The Games Henry created at the end were just the poisoned icing on the cake.

From Beatrice and Virgil I went straight into The Zoo Station, by John Russell, more Nazi horrors. The narrator is a divorced British journalist who has lived in Germany for 15 years, and stays because he has a young son. The book opens at the end of 1938, New Year's Eve, and quickly includes scenes of Nazi brutality. A former socialist/communist, he's asked by the Russians to write slanted articles for them, about how many good things the Nazis are doing for Germany, and soon is asked by everyone else, including the Germans, to spy for them. I'm not finished, but I'm really like the dark writing, and have ordered the next 2 books in the series.

Now I'll check my count and see where I'm at for the year. Two, at least. :P

Try Alan Furst's series of novels set at about the same time. I found them absolutely fascinating. They have the same sort of themes and are deliciously dark.

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

IM: yeah, check out Pet Sematary. It's a better and scarier novel, but not nearly as long as IT or The Stand.

[Isildur's Mane]

Will do, cheers. Ill probably look at It and the Strand too, but maybe next year