2014 Reading Self-Challenge

[Garett Hornwood]

Officially achieved my goal 35/35 yesterday.

[Fragile Bird]

I have a few books on the go, and it's just been too hard to pick them up again, too much to do this ummer. And I keep buying more books, and get distracted away from the ones I have going. I bought too many books at Loncon, for example.

One of the books that derailed me off others was Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger, the author of The Time Traveler's Wife. I picked up that book in the bookstore and tried the opening pages, but couldn't get into it, so I surprised myself here. I loved the book, but having just been in London may have made it easy to slip right into the book. I am now kicking myself for not going to Highgate Cemetery - I had printed out the information on how to get there and a map, but there was so much to do in London. I think I went to see Antony and Cleopatra at the Globe Theatre instead.

For those interested, events happen in three flats in a building that borders Highgate Cemetery. The owner of the middle flat, Elspeth, has died and left everything to her nieces, who are mirror-image identical twins. Elspeth and their mother were also twins. Elspeth's younger lover Robert, who is writing his thesis on the history of the cemetery and is a volunteer there, lives in the flat below, and Martin, a brilliant linguist who has severe OCD, lives in the flat above, alone, after his wife has given up hope that he will ever get better and leave the apartment. Reviews of the book are mixed, The Guardian found it contrived, the New York Times found it complex and inventive. The truth is probably somewhere in between, but I found the characters interesting and likable and enjoyed the plot twist, which you can easily see coming and honestly made me cry. :)

And speaking of distractions, I was going through old books, sending boxes full to charity, and had to re-read a couple, Agathe Christie's N or M and Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October. Reading through this thread makes me want to read books people have mentioned that I read 20 or 30 years ago, but I have too much to read. :) I just picked up the first book in Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series, The Bat, and all my London stuff, Terry Pratchett, Scott Lynch, Connie Willis and Edward Cox, among others. And the rest of the John Russell Station series that I bought.

So, up to 10/26.

[Eponine]

Four to go, you bastards.

Why are you reading books by your least favorite authors ever? Both those books are relatively popular, but they're hardly "essential".

I took it upon myself to read the entire Westeros 101 book recommendation list. The rules I set for myself were that I don't have to re-read things I've already read, that I can skim but must finish stand-alones, and that I only have to read the first book in a series. In four books, I'll start a separate thread about it.

[Winter's Knight]

September was a good month.I got through 34 books, bringing my total up to 75/100.

Out of these 34, my faourites'd easily be :

1. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray: a flawed yet beautifully wriitten YA urban fantasy set in a Victorian boarding school. There are strong women characters who are flawed and heartbreakingly real.
   
2. The Plantagenets by Dan Jones: an exciting narrative history of the lives of English kings from Stephen to Richard II.
   
3. Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue: Sapphic reworkings of classic fairy tales.
   
4. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisn
   

Of the 75 books I covered so far, 47 were by women.

[Er Rn]

22/30

-An Autumn War (Long Price Quartet #3) by Daniel Abraham

-The Price of Spring (Long Price Quartet #4) by Daniel Abraham

-Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

[Garett Hornwood]

I'm currently at 37 books for the year for 37/35.

[Snowborn]

Currently at 42/30 books... I'm not updating my goal because I want to see how far I can make it without setting any marks to hit.

Nine books this month, not in order:

• The Reality Dysfunction, by Peter F. Hamilton. It was alright, really slow to get going, but after the 60% mark or so it got a lot better. It was interesting enough for me to want to read the sequel, but if The Neutronium Alchemist is as slow as TRD, I don't know if I'll feel like finishing the series. Someone created a thread about tropes they don't believe in, they can read this book for a clear example of a Gary Stu in Joshua Calvert.
  
• Dune, by Frank Herbert. It was a reread, and while the first time I liked it, this time I LOVED it. I hadn't loved a book this much since the last Book of the Fallen.
  
• Dune Messiah, idem Dune. It was beautiful and poignant.
  
• Children of Dune, idem previous two. Loved and hated the ending.
  
• God Emperor of Dune. Not as good as the previous three.
  
• Heretics of Dune. Better than God Emperor in terms of pacing, still not as good as the first three.
  
• Sandman: The Doll's House, by Neil Gaiman. Awesome graphic novel, great story arc.
  
• Sandman: Dream Country. A collection of short stories in comic format, really good, a couple were quite disturbing.
  
• Book for university.
  

[Eponine]

23.75/26

I think I started with 26, anyway I definitely have 2.25 more to go.

0.5 Tigana - Even though it's still not my thing, I can see why some people here like Kay. After reading Lions, I was like what is WRONG with you people, but this is less melodramatic (although still more melodramatic than anything I'd pick), the characterization is less obnoxious, and the pacing is faster

0.75 Transmetropolitan (vol. 1) - on the other hand, I thought I'd really like this but it hasn't grabbed me yet. It's amusing but I feel like it was aiming for a dark pseudo-realism that isn't convincing to me yet

1 We (Zamyatin) - Not starting until it's actually the last book to read

[Maithanet]

4 books in September, putting me at 46/52 for the year. Two of the books were by women, so I'm at 14/24 there. Still a bit behind, but I still think it's doable to read 10 books by women in the final three months of the year.

The Long Road Home by Martha Raddatz - Detailing an engagement between the Army and the Mahdi militia in Sadr City in 2004. Not terribly insightful, but captured my interest well enough.

Reporting Iraq: An Oral History of the War by the Journalists Who Covered It by Mike Hoyt - This book is oral history of journalists and covers the Iraq War 2003-2006. I learned a good bit about how things fell apart in Iraq and why stabilizing and improving infrastructure/institutions is so difficult. I like oral history generally. It often makes clear the difference between what is true (did this really happen) and what is accurate (is this experience typical of the greater situation). Journalists try to be accurate when reporting the news, but in an oral history, they can just settle for what is true. The problem is that an awful lot of the book was about why things in Iraq falling apart made it particularly hard for journalists, which seems like a minor issue in the grand scheme of things.

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood - Sort of an interesting concept for a story, but in the end it didn't really take me anywhere I didn't expect. Not my favorite Atwood.

Across the River and Into the Trees by Ernest Hemingway - An army colonel reminisces about his life and how he's turned into such a sourpuss while wooing a beautiful and naive Italian girl. If you're looking for plot, look elsewhere. In the end, left me feeling unsatisfied - there are better Hemingway books I could have been reading.

[deleted01]

71/60, number 72 is Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson, which I've almost finished, and have loved from the first page.

Read some great books lately - Company of Liars by Karen Maitland in particular was a surprisingly good read.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I've read 63/75 to date, and ahead of schedule. Work has not been as busy as I thought it would be. Still a bit behind in my classics subgoal. Read 3/5 to date. I do plan to read Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. That classic came with my e-reader when I bought it almost 2 years ago. :blushing:

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

I've been pretty bad about updating ... another two months to do! I am 100% sure that I'll forget some of what I've read.

Read:

The Shadow Throne, by Django Wexler. An excellent sequel - better in almost every respect than the first, which was no slouch. 4/5

Half a King, by Joe Abercrombie. A fast, page-turning read, but a little too much on the YA side for me. 2.5/5

Rogues, anthology. Not my favorite. A couple of decent stories, nothing fantastic. 2/5

The Tyrant's Law, by Daniel Abraham. Reread this one to get myself re-acquainted with the D&C world before the new book. Even better than I remembered. 4/5

The Widow's House, by Daniel Abraham. Extremely well-written and full of interesting development, this one nonetheless felt like more of a "middle novel" than any of the rest. 3.9/5

The Magicians, by Lev Grossman. One of my favorites. Holds up well to multiple rereads. 5/5

The Magician King, by Lev Grossman. A worthy successor, but not quite up to the standard of the first. 4/5

The Magician's Land, by Lev Grossman. This one was interesting - plot was a bit all over the place, but the conclusion to the trilogy was perfect, in terms of emotional satisfaction. 4.5/5

Traitor's Blade, by Sebastien de Castell. A pretty fun read, with original concepts and plenty of badassery. I'd give it 3.8/5

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by CS Lewis. I'm glad I read it, but I probably won't be reading any more of the series. If Abercrombie's YA is too childish for me, this took it to ten. 2/5

World War Z, by Max Brooks. I've read it several times, and it's always great. 4.8/5

Altered Carbon, by Richard Morgan. Had a hankering to read it for the second time. This one actually didn't hold up as well as I'd hoped, but it is still a great book. 4/5

Broken Angels, by Richard Morgan. Not as good as the first, but plenty of action to keep the pages turning. 3/5

I feel like I've left something off, but so be it.

Currently Reading:

Right now I am reading Blood and Iron by Jon Sprunk and The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan. Been a while since I'd read it and TCC, so rereading before buying Dark Defiles.

So, overall I am at 45/52 with a paltry 5/45 by a woman author. I guess I am a ways ahead of schedule at this pace!

[mashiara]

79/75. I guess I reached my goal a second time. Not sure it's worth changing it again. I'm pretty sure I'll make it to 90 books by the end of the year, but I doubt it's going to be 100, not unless I obsess about it and avoid long/difficult reads. I definitely don't want to do this.

[Eponine]

I'll finish the last this weekend, I think it was 26/26. I'm in the mid-60s for total books read.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

Finished Prince of Thorns last night to hit my revised goal of 25/25.

[Maithanet]

8 books in October, and with that, I've read 54 books and officially passed my goal of 52. I don't see any particular need to up the goal per se. Three books by women, so I'm at 17/24 on that front. We'll see if I can make it.

War on the Waters: The Union and Confederate Navies by James McPherson. Well written to keep your attention. I do enjoy reading about the Monitor and Merrimack.

My Invented Country by Isabel Allende. This book had perhaps the most lying jacket I've ever encountered, and to a great extent it ruined the book for me. The jacket indicated that this book was contrasting the 9/11/73 coup in Chile with with 9/11 attacks on America. However, that was not in any way what the book was about. The book is chronological, and doesn't get to the coup in Chile until more than 3/4ths through the book, and never covers the 9/11/01 attack at all. So yeah, I didn't like that.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life in a Mumbai Slum by Katherine Boo. The fact that this book is nonfiction is kind of stunning. If you are at all interested in India or third world development, I cannot recommend this highly enough.

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. Better than I expected. Enjoyable, light reading.

Watchmen by Alan Moore. My second reread of the year, and Watchmen always delights.

Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. Well thought out sci-fi is always a good thing. The book is not without its issues, but overall enjoyable.

Frog Music by Emma Donaghue. I liked Room, so I wanted to give her latest book a try. The setting in late 19th century San Francisco was interesting, and some of the characters were great, but the book suffered from a main character/narrator who was frustrating, boring and at times very stupid.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass. It's easy to know that slavery is awful. But this kind of book gives you an idea of the insidious impacts (both obvious and subtle) that slavery had on all of society where it is practiced. Memorable book from a memorable man.

[EruditeFool]

Half a King, by Joe Abercrombie. A fast, page-turning read, but a little too much on the YA side for me. 2.5/5

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by CS Lewis. I'm glad I read it, but I probably won't be reading any more of the series. If Abercrombie's YA is too childish for me, this took it to ten. 2/5

See, I liked Half a King. It was everything most current YA fantasy isn't: Original, short and concise, the characters had depth, and there were a couple good twists. In many ways, it was like he was showing what YA should be: a gateway into more mature offerings.

As for Narnia, Lion Witch + Wardrobe is somewhere in the middle in terms of quality. If there is one more book I'd recommend you read it's The Horse and His Boy, as it's pretty self-contained and one of the best books of the series. It also has a good jab at the "automaton horses" in literature

that never seem to tire.

[Garett Hornwood]

Finished four more books for a total of 41/35, I might achieve a personal best this year.

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

Updating on time this month!

Read:

Blood and Iron, Jon Sprunk. Didn't really care for it, despite some interesting concepts. Very cliche and formulaic, to the point where the author must be intentionally writing a "throwback" fantasy similar to Raven's Shadow, only less well-written. 2/5

The First Law Trilogy, Joe Abercrombie. I haven't reread the whole trilogy ever, and just wanted to do it again. Just as good this time around. I give 5/5 for the whole trilogy, though the first two books are probably 4/5 by themselves.

Currently Reading:

Still slogging through Steel Remains, which is not nearly as good as I remembered it, and rereading Best Served Cold.

I am now at 49/52, 5/49 by women.

[Er Rn]

26/30

October reads:

Black Mountain Breakdown by Lee Smith. One of my favorite authors but I didn't enjoy this book. I love the way she writes female characters but this one fell flat.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. Quick and fun pre-Halloween read.

'Salem's Lot by Stephen King. I loved this book. Dark and creepy and suspenseful but not over the top with gore.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. My favorite of her books. I mostly figured out the mystery before the big reveal but it was still a satisfying conclusion. I also found Libby to be the most likable of her main characters; she's damaged and done some horrible things and her development seems very realistic.