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2018 Reading Self-Challenge


Fragile Bird

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On 8/3/2018 at 9:28 PM, kairparavel said:

@Mlle. Zabzie Did you abandon History of Wolves? It's on my TBR.

Er, to keep on topic I'm at 20 of 25 books. 

http://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/11321536

I did.  Given that I have a four year old son, I couldn't emotionally take it.  I've set it aside for now but will come back to it.

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  • 1 month later...

Goal is 30.

- William Shakespeare's The Jedi Doth Return, by Ian Doescher
- Elric of Melniboné, by Michael Moorcock
Imperium in Imperio, by Sutton E. Griggs
Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving and translation by Philippe Jaworski
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, translated by Daniel Lauzon
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, translated by Daniel Lauzon
Cyrano de Bergerac, translated by Christopher Fry
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, by Hayao Miyazaki
William Shakespeare's The Phantom of Menace by Ian Doescher
- William Shakespeare's The Clone Army Attacketh, id.
- Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Three other comic books which I count as one
William Shakespeare's Tragedy of the Sith's Revenge by Ian Doescher
Orlando Furioso by Ariosto and Italo Calvino
Il visconte dimezzatto by Italo Calvino
Röde Orm, Volume One by Frans Gunnar Bengtsson
Portrait du traducteur en escroc by Bernard Hoepffner
Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley
Il barone rampante by Italo Calvino
Röde Orm, Volume Two by Frans Gunnar Bengtsson
Il cavaliere inesistente by Italo Calvino

21/30

Translations read: Completed
Non-fiction: 0/3
Books in Spanish: 0/1

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  • 4 weeks later...

I didn't set an official challenge this year, as I found the pressure of meeting a benchmark forced me to waste my life finishing shitty books. Here's what I've finished thus far:

1. Redefining Realness by Janet Mock.
2. Love My Rifle More Than You by Kayla Williams.
3. American Sniper by Chris Kyle.
4. Fire & Fury by Michael Wolff.
5. Conscience of a Conservative by Jeff Flake.
6. The Good Soldiers by David Finkel.
7. Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay.
8. Watchmen by Alan Moore.
9. Nightflyers by George R.R. Martin.
10. Hunger by Roxane Gay.
11. The grace of Kings by Ken Liu.
12. Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh.
13. Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata.
14. Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler.
15. An Untamed State by Roxane Gay.
16. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua.
17. Dreaming in Chinese by Deborah Fallows.
18. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
19. Wish Lanterns: Young Lives in New China by Alex Ash.
20. Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage by Kay Bratt.
21. China in Ten Words by Hua Yu.
22. The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom by John Pomfret.
23. Nine Continents: A Memoir in and Out of China by Xiaolu Guo.
24. Age of Ambition Evan Osnos.
25. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss.
26. Midnight in Peking by Paul French.
27. To Live by Hua Yu.
28. The Outsider by Stephen King.
29. Lost in Translation by Nicole Mones.
30. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison.
31. The Long Walk Richard Bachman.
32. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn.
33. The Bedwetter by Sarah Silverman.
34. Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert.
35. On China by Henry Kissinger.
36. The Soul of America by Jon Meacham.
37. We Band of Angels by Elizabeth M. Norman.
38. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer.

Wow, less than half fiction. Didn't realize that until typing it all out.

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I like to read one work of fiction and one work of non-fiction at any given time. Non-fiction works best on my commute. That being said, I've read a ton of fiction this year and only a bit of non-fiction. But, I'm currently reading The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan and really enjoying seeing history from a non Euro-centric perspective.

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On 4/21/2018 at 12:58 PM, Iskaral Pust said:

I was thinking that ~30 would be a good number to expect, but Goodreads shows 17 complete already this year. 

But my reading goals are generally more qualitative: keep a good variety of styles, tones, genres and depth; try new authors; be patient with some books that aren’t really hitting the spot, while knowing when to drop ones that aren’t going to be worth it; throw in some non-fiction too, although I already read a lot of short form non-fiction for work; don’t waste time on stuff that’s supposed to great but is really just trading on reputation (Holden Caulfield, you whiny bastard, you phoney), and don’t disdain genre novels that might be well written. 

It’s so easy to keep track now that Kindle automatically updates Goodreads.  I’m at 43 so far for 2018, so well ahead of the original goal.  I have a feeling I may have underestimated my rate of reading in the past.

I am keeping to the goal of varying genres and styles each time, and trying plenty of new authors.  It’s less consistently enjoyable than reading authors I already know I like, but I got tired of being in a rut. 

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1.  The Rift by Nina Allen:  Unreliable narrator about the fall out when someone who has been missing for decades returns, claiming to have stepped through a portal to an alien world.

2.  Under the Volcano by Malcom Lowry:  20th Century Classic.  Planning on reading 5 from Modern Library list that I have never read this year.  

3.  The 101 Dalamations by Dodie Smith:  Childhood classic.

4.  Cast In Deception by Michelle Sagara:  Complete YA guilty pleasure

5.  Persepolis Rising by James A. Corey:  No summary needed on this board :)

6.  Grant by Ron Chernow:  Biography of the general and president.  Highly recommend.

7.  Provenance by Ann Leckie

8.  River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey - love me some hops.

9.  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:  CS Lewis. childhood classic.

10.  Misty of Chincoteague:  Marguerite Henry, Childhood classic.

11.  Death on the Nile - Christie

12.  Taste of Marrow - Gailey

13.  The Westing Game (I forgot how good it is - kids adored it.  They made me read pretty much until I had no voice.  Interestingly my husband didn't like it, but read it - it's way, way, way ahead of its time).

14.  The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Christie

15.  Murder on the Links - Christie

16.  Down Among the Sticks and Bones - McGuire

17.  Gnomon - Harkness

18.  The Last Days of Night - Moore

19.  The Invasion - O'Guilin

20.  Girl of Ink and Stars

21.  An Argumentation of Historians - Taylor

22.  Dark Queen - Hunter

23.  Death in the Clouds - Christie

24.  The Collapsing Empire - Scalzi

25.  Cards on the Table - Christie

26.  The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August - North

27.  Starless - Carey

28.  Quiet - Cain

29.  Spinning Silver - Novik

30.  Revanant Gun

31.  The Nonesuch - Heyer

32.  The Black Sheep - Heyer

33.  A Record of a Spaceborn Few - Chambers

34.  The Dark is Rising - Cooper

35.  Greenwitch - Cooper

 

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On 8/3/2018 at 9:28 PM, kairparavel said:

 

Er, to keep on topic I'm at 20 of 25 books. 

http://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/11321536

I'm now at 29/25, with the audiobook  of Song of Achilles currently on the go for my commute. Most recent first, this is what I've read this year:

Bring Up The Bodies - Hilary Mantel (audiobook)

Pretty Girls - Karin Slaughter (audiobook)

Black-Eyed Susans - Julia Heaberlin (Kindle)

Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty (audiobook)

In A Dark, Dark Wood - Ruth Ware (audiobook)

Spinning Silver  - Naomi Novik (Kindle)

The Trespasser  - Tana French (audiobook)

Hex Hall/ Demonglass/Spell Bound - Rachel Hawkins (audiobook 1&2, Kindle 3)

The Secret Place - Tana French (audiobook)

Career of Evil - Robert Galbraith (audiobook)

The Winner's Curse/The Winner's Crime/The Winner's Kiss - Marie Rutkoski (audiobooks)

A Court of Frost and Starlight - Sarah J Maas (Kindle)

American War - Omar El Akkad (audiobook)

Fever Series Books 1-5 - Karen Marie Moening (Kindle)

Rebel Belle/Miss Mayhem/Lady Renegades - Rachel Hawkins (audiobooks)

Tell the Wolves I'm Home - Carol Rifka Brunt (audiobook)

The Cruel Prince - Holly Black (Kindle)

Romancing the Duke/When a Scot Ties the Knot - Tessa Dare (Kindle)

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  • 1 month later...
On 3/6/2018 at 7:45 PM, Starkess said:

I'm in! Last year I fell just a little short, and I'm already way way behind my goal for this year, so I had to revise it downwards on Goodreads. Even so I am very far behind still. Oh well, that's what goals are for! I'm aiming for 52.

  1. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
  2. The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin
  3. The Obelisk Gate by NK Jemisin
  4. The Stone Sky by NK Jemisin
  5. Rocket Men by Robert Kurson
  6. Three Daughters by Consuelo Saah Baehr
  7. Caught in Crystal by Patricia C. Wrede
  8. All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin
  9. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
  10. Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters
  11. Midnight at the Electric by Jodi Lynn Anderson
  12. The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand
  13. Artemis by Andy Weir
  14. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
  15. The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
  16. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
  17. The Raven Ring by Patricia C. Wrede
  18. Merchanter's Luck by CJ Cherryh (re-read)
  19. 40,000 in Gehenna by CJ Cherryh (re-read)
  20. The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien (re-read)
  21. The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien (re-read)
  22. The Return of the King by JRR Tolkien (re-read)

Well then. I fell quite a bit short, didn't I?? Not sure why my reading drive took such a nosedive this year. Maybe burnout from having to do so much academic reading for school/work. In any case, I think this was the least I've read in a year since maybe ever.

Favorite New Read: The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin

Favorite Read: The Return of the King by JRR Tolkien

Least Favorite Completed Read: All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin

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I finished with 33/25. Pretty pleased with that. I started the year in a reading funk and decided to try something completely different to get me back into my groove. The first two books I read this year were regency romance books by Tessa Dare. They were delightful and exactly what I needed to get out of my rut. 

My favourite book this year: The Song of Achilles 

Honourable mentions: Spinning Silver, American War, Bring Up The Bodies, and Tell The Wolves I'm Home 

Most recent first, this is what I've read this year:

Down Among the Sticks and Bones - Seanan McGuire (audiobook)

The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry (audiobook)

Lethal White - Robert Galbraith (audiobook)

The Song  of Achilles - Madeleine Miller (audiobook)

Bring Up The Bodies - Hilary Mantel (audiobook)

Pretty Girls - Karin Slaughter (audiobook)

Black-Eyed Susans - Julia Heaberlin (Kindle)

Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty (audiobook)

In A Dark, Dark Wood - Ruth Ware (audiobook)

Spinning Silver  - Naomi Novik (Kindle)

The Trespasser  - Tana French (audiobook)

Hex Hall/ Demonglass/Spell Bound - Rachel Hawkins (audiobook 1&2, Kindle 3)

The Secret Place - Tana French (audiobook)

Career of Evil - Robert Galbraith (audiobook)

The Winner's Curse/The Winner's Crime/The Winner's Kiss - Marie Rutkoski (audiobooks)

A Court of Frost and Starlight - Sarah J Maas (Kindle)

American War - Omar El Akkad (audiobook)

Fever Series Books 1-5 - Karen Marie Moening (Kindle)

Rebel Belle/Miss Mayhem/Lady Renegades - Rachel Hawkins (audiobooks)

Tell the Wolves I'm Home - Carol Rifka Brunt (audiobook)

The Cruel Prince - Holly Black (Kindle)

Romancing the Duke/When a Scot Ties the Knot - Tessa Dare (Kindle)

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