One Book A Week Club 2018

Everything except LibriVox (yes, this is where knitting gets discussed. Now includes non-LV Volunteers Wanted projects)
Cori
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Post by Cori »

Wearing that t-shirt, too, Devorah! I've read several dozen books so far, and have just spent half an hour updating only a handful in my list here. I enjoy doing the mini-reviews, but they do take time, and I'm also updating Goodreads as I go ... argh!

Next year, I might try and follow a rule of updating on each book before starting the next.
There's honestly no such thing as a stupid question -- but I'm afraid I can't rule out giving a stupid answer : : To Posterity and Beyond!
MaryinArkansas
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Post by MaryinArkansas »

Here is my list for September. Some good books, but nothing outstanding.

We of the Never Never”, by Jeannie Gunn. LibriVox download. Story of a young, newly married woman living in the outback in Australia. A classic of its time, telling about life in the remote areas of Australia. The movie is supposed to be good, so I’ll check it out. The racial attitudes of the time that were normal would be considered prejudiced now. Book ends very abruptly…perhaps because it was too painful to include details.

Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and Other Stories” by Agatha Christie. Archive.org download. Entertaining stories, very nicely read by Hugh Fraser (Hastings in the Poirot TV series)

Shadow Man: The Life of Dashiell Hammett” by Richard Layman. Hardback book. Fairly good. I felt that the writer spent too much time on details of Hammett’s books. I did enjoy other parts of the book. Hammett’s service in WWII was very interesting, as well as his involvement in the McCarthy hearings. This book piqued my curiosity in Hammett, so I’ve begun reading “The Maltese Falcon”.

The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros. Paperback bought from thrift store. A good, short read. “coming of age” novel in vignette form written by and about a Latina girl in Chicago.
“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.”
―Diane Duane, So You Want to Be a Wizard.

Mary :)📚
J_N
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Post by J_N »

Updated my list... for the first time since May, apparently... and it's also the first time in forever that I have spent a WHOLE month without reading a single book. I probably didn't even read a single page of a book in August. I had completely lost any interest in reading books. It's still not completely back and I just don't really know why... :hmm: Oh well...
Julia - Introverts, unite! Seperately... in your own homes.

Spend your free time the way you like, not the way you think you're supposed to. ― Susan Cain

Author death +70 yrs? Legamus!
Cori
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Post by Cori »

One year, I only read 5 books in total -- however, that was the year I first got 'unlimited' broadband internet and I was reading for hours each day in a busy forum. Perhaps it's only because of the title of the topic, but it is interesting that we really only tend to 'count' reading if it's in a book format (whether poetry, short stories, plays, novels or non-fic.) 50 emails, nope, totally ephemeral. 10 wikipedia pages, how nice, but no tally kept.

Hope you're having just as much fun doing other stuff, though, Julia. The books aren't going anywhere ... just a'piling up waiting for when you feel like it again. :D
There's honestly no such thing as a stupid question -- but I'm afraid I can't rule out giving a stupid answer : : To Posterity and Beyond!
Piotrek81
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Post by Piotrek81 »

J_N wrote: October 11th, 2018, 12:32 am Updated my list... for the first time since May, apparently... and it's also the first time in forever that I have spent a WHOLE month without reading a single book. I probably didn't even read a single page of a book in August. I had completely lost any interest in reading books. It's still not completely back and I just don't really know why... :hmm: Oh well...
Yeah, my reading drought continues this year too. I actually did read a book recently, for a change, though. I have another one lying around and I'll probably get round to reading it soon. Probably...
Cori wrote: October 11th, 2018, 11:31 am One year, I only read 5 books in total -- however, that was the year I first got 'unlimited' broadband internet and I was reading for hours each day in a busy forum. Perhaps it's only because of the title of the topic, but it is interesting that we really only tend to 'count' reading if it's in a book format (whether poetry, short stories, plays, novels or non-fic.) 50 emails, nope, totally ephemeral. 10 wikipedia pages, how nice, but no tally kept.

Hope you're having just as much fun doing other stuff, though, Julia. The books aren't going anywhere ... just a'piling up waiting for when you feel like it again. :D
5 books sounds like my book totals in each of the recent years (well, closer to 10). And the Internet is to blame in my case, too. Speaking of "ephemeral" internet reading/audiobook-style listening, I could add all the creepypasta recordings and SCP stuff (for fiction) and Wikipedia and various documentary-style YT channels (for non-fiction) :lol:
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J_N
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Post by J_N »

Cori wrote: October 11th, 2018, 11:31 am 50 emails, nope, totally ephemeral. 10 wikipedia pages, how nice, but no tally kept.
I am completely with you on this topic, but my "other reading" did not increase.
I have a good guess why my motivation dropped during August, but I was surprised that it effected my reading as well. Even during uni I managed to get at least a bit of reading for pleasure done. This was kinda a first for me. I rotate through hobbies/interests all the time, but reading has always been a constant, so for me this was ood. :D
I did get a good amount of binge-watching, computer gaming and cross-stitching in, though... :mrgreen:
Julia - Introverts, unite! Seperately... in your own homes.

Spend your free time the way you like, not the way you think you're supposed to. ― Susan Cain

Author death +70 yrs? Legamus!
ColleenMc
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Post by ColleenMc »

I just found this thread. I've been keeping a list of my own, but it's a little frustrating -- I have no idea how many books I've started and read or listened to in part but never finished. I'm so easily distracted these days....

Anyway, here is what I have for 2018 so far -- my goal is 52 but I don't think I'll get there unless I give up podcasts and Twitter and magazines etc. for the rest of the year!

1. Dog On It by Spencer Quinn (mystery story narrated by the main detective character's dog)

2. Angel of Terror by Edgar Wallace (Librivox audiobook)

3. Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff (all the good stuff was in the many interviews and write ups of the book)

4. Nexus Vol. 1 by Baron and Rude (graphic novel collecting first several issues of one of my favorite 80s indie comic books)

5. Silent Partner by Jonathan Kellerman (Kellerman re-read but I didn't remember much of this book from the first reading back in the 90s)

6. The Rooster Bar by John Grisham (my first Grisham in many years, enjoyed it!)

7. War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (Librivox audiobook)

8. The Diabolical Baron by Mary Jo Putney (started audiobook of The Rake, below, realized that there was a prequel, so stopped and read this before getting back to The Rake -- loved both books, and loved that The Rake's hero was the sort-of villain of The Diabolical Baron. Love romance novels with a good, genuine redemption story in them!)

9. The Rake by Mary Jo Putney (audiobook)

10. The Duke and I by Julia Quinn (found out that one of the projects Shonda Rhimes has contracted to produce for Netflix is a TV series adaptation of Quinn's Bridgerton series -- squee! In celebration, re-read the first of the series and am planning to re-read more...soon...)

11. Paperbacks from Hell by Grady Hendrix (audiobook) - Hendrix has a deep love for "trashy" horror novels of the 70s and 80s (though he would argue that many of them are underrated from a literary point of view) and especially their lurid covers. Probably better as a text read since there are lots of illustrations of the covers in question, than an audio, but I have been a fan of Hendrix's blog so was familiar with the covers from reading it. Fun listen anyway, and added a bunch of old OOP horror novels to my list of books to watch for in secondhand stores)

12. True Stories of Crime from the District Attorney's Office by Arthur Cheney Train - recorded for Librivox

13. Sleeping Beauties by Stephen and Owen King - The women all fall mysteriously asleep and the world goes to hell

14. HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt - excellent horror novel. Heuvelt is a Dutch author but Americanized the setting and circumstances of the book for the English translation. A woman executed as a witch in the long distant past haunts a town and the residents all just kinda live with it. The rules are, once you move in, you can't leave (you go crazy and commit suicide if you stay away too long), you leave the apparition alone, and everyone in the town keeps her presence a secret. Then some teens get the bright idea of experimenting with the witch and making videos for a "secret" website... I loved the way the author worked out the logistics of "dealing with" such a thing in the modern day with video surveillance -- for example, everyone in town has to have an app on their phone that gives updates of where the apparition is hanging out at any particular time. I was hooked by the opening scene in which the witch shows up in the home of the main characters, a couple with two teenage sons, and the witch is in the house just standing in the corner with a dishtowel casually thrown over her head to hide her face. Anyway, if you like horror, highly recommended.

15. Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear - audiobook

16. The Infinity Gauntlet - by Jim Starlin and George Perez - graphic novel collecting 6 issue limited series that the most recent and next Avengers movie are based on (with lots and lots of changes).

17. Avengers vs. Thanos by Jim Starlin and various artists - ( graphic novel collecting back story of Thanos from earliest appearances in various 1960s and 1970s comics)

18. The King Tides by James Swain - first book in a series of mystery/suspense novels featuring ex-Navy SEAL character. I liked Swain's other series set in Las Vegas casinos, so giving this one a try.

19. Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear (audiobook) - 2nd Maisie Dobbs mystery. Loving this series so far! Started 3rd book already.

20. The Qur'an - prooflistening gig for a new audiobook version of recent English translation. Had to be word-perfect so it was slow going, but finally finished this week!
Colleen McMahon

No matter where you go, there you are. -- Buckaroo Banzai
SlickWiggler
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Post by SlickWiggler »

Oh man I am definitely going to jump in on this. I've been trying to work my way through my six-foot-tall stack (well, three two-foot-tall stacks) of books I've been meaning to read but never got around to. I'm going to go for one every two weeks, because most of my books are huge epic fantasy novels, haha. I'm partway through the first Mistborn book right now so I'll give myself one week to finish that and then two weeks for the rest. My schedule for the rest of the year, then, will be:

The Final Empire, finish before November 2

The Well of Ascension, finish before November 15

The Hero of Ages, finish before November 29

Elantris, finish before December 13

The Emperor's Soul, finish before December 27.

I've been on a big Brandon Sanderson kick since I finished the Stormlight Archives. My bones are aching for the next book but it doesn't come out until 2020. :(
Please give me feedback! I'm always trying to improve!

Matt Bounds
MaryinArkansas
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Post by MaryinArkansas »

It's the beginning of a new month, so time for my list of books read the previous month. (Posting these seems to be my one consistent habit.) Anyway, October was a pretty good month for reading. Listened to several LibriVox books and even got in a werewolf book for Halloween season!

"Wessex Tales" by Thomas Hardy. LibriVox download. Beautifully read by Tadhg (THynes) An interesting assortment of stories.
"The Lying Game" by Ruth Ware. Book. Entertaining mystery. Somewhat predictable, but still an enjoyable read.
"The Door of the Unreal" by Gerald Bliss. LibriVox download. Early 20th century werewolf story. Pretty good. Very nicely read.
"Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens. LibriVox download. One of Dickens’ best. A great reading by Mil Nicholson. I’d read this a couple of times years ago, but had forgotten a lot of details of the story. A great book to revisit from time to time.
"Catherwood" by Marly Youmans. Book from library sale. A short novel about a mother and her baby who become lost in the woods in the early years of American colonization. Very good, thought provoking. Will look for other books by this writer.
“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.”
―Diane Duane, So You Want to Be a Wizard.

Mary :)📚
MaryinArkansas
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Post by MaryinArkansas »

Hello, Lonely Little Forum! It's time for me to post books read for November. Not very many this month, but good books:

The Master Butcher’s Singing Club” by Louise Erdrich. Library audiobok download. Very good novel about a German solder. After surviving WWI he returns to his village and marrys the pregnant girlfriend of his best friend, killed in action. With his new family he sets out to America, continuing the family’s traditional career as a master butcher. Lots of interesting characters. Good, entertaining book.

Order No. 11” by Caroline Abbott Stanley. LibriVox download. Very good novel about people in the Missouri Kansas border area and how the Civil War’s General Order No. 11 (1863) affected them. Not a well known story in modern times, but popular when it was written. The author was born and raised in the area where the story takes place. Thank you to all LibriVox volunteers involved in this book.

Germinal” by Emile Zola. One of the free Gutenberg e-books that came with an e-reader I bought. Rough reading at times because of the realism, but an excellent book. Probably Zola’s best novels

One more month of reading for 2018. Happy Holiday Reading to All :)
“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.”
―Diane Duane, So You Want to Be a Wizard.

Mary :)📚
MaryinArkansas
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Post by MaryinArkansas »

These are the books that I read in December. There are also a couple of short stories, as well as BBC Radio dramas.

"Rebecca"by Daphne DuMaurier. This is the third time I've read this book. I bought the book from the library sale several years ago, and promise myself I would read it this year. Excellent book!

"Before I Go to Sleep" by S. J. Watson. BBC radio drama. Entertaining mystery.

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Thurston. Library audiobook download. Excellent

"Anything Can Happen" by George and Helen Papashvily. Book from library sale. True story about immigrant from George (country) to U.S. Made into movie in early 1950s. Movie deviates from the book, but it does have the book's mood and atmosphere.

"The Third Life of Per Smevik" by O. E. Rolvaag. Book from library sale. Autobiographical fiction of Rolvaag's first few years in the United States.

"Dickens Confidential. Series 2" by Mike Walker. BBC Radio Drama. Entertaining fiction about Dickens' time as a newspaper editor.

"Murder with Masala" by Suk Panu. BBC Radio drama. Lightweight murder mystery. Good cast, very entertaining.

"The Black Monk" by Anton Chekov. Short Story Gutenberg download. Good story

"The Quest of the Copper" by William Charles Scully. Short Story Gutenberg download. Good story by South African (Irish born) writer from the Victorian era.

"The Amber Heart" by Eden Philpott. Short Story Gutenberg download. Pretty good

"The Amethyst Comb" by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman. Short story Gutenberg download. Liked this one a lot. Will look for other stories by this author.

Happy New Year to All - Hope 2019 brings entertaining reading to all.
“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.”
―Diane Duane, So You Want to Be a Wizard.

Mary :)📚
commonsparrow3
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Post by commonsparrow3 »

Um ... okay ... I forgot to update my 2018 reading list since July. But I just did my best to complete it, here: viewtopic.php?p=1425910#p1425910

Now I'm off to start my 2019 list. I am determined to update it at least once a month this year!
ColleenMc
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Post by ColleenMc »

I didn't do that great with my 52 books goal in 2018--but it's a new year, and I've committed to reading more and doing a lot less pointless internet stuff with my spare time! So let's wrap up 2018 and move on...

19. HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt - super atmospheric and fascinating horror novel. Read it in two big gulps because I couldn't put it down!

20. Avengers vs. Thanos by Jim Starlin plus artists - big graphic novel compilation of all the stories leading up to the original Infinity Gauntlet miniseries (aka The One With the Snap). Decided to catch up on Thanos reading after seeing the movie.

21. Dawn of Medieval Europe - a Librivox book read by Pam Nagami. Learned a lot about a time period that I was unfamiliar with. Great reading by Pam!

22. When Humans Nearly Vanished by Prothero - explores the theory that humans were nearly wiped out, at one point down to less than 10,000 "breeding pairs". Learned lots about human evolution, how the world was populated (and repopulated) and the various extinction-level events that have hit the earth in the past.

23. But Not Forgotten by BJ Bourg - first in the series of Clint Wolf mysteries. It was okay, not sure if I will go back for more...

24. Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear - part of the Maisie Dobbs mystery series. My library has them all on audiobook through Hoopla, so I've been listening to them that way. I believe this was the third in the series.

25. Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts by Mary Gibson - historical fiction set in the years immediately around WWI, about the lives of custard factory girls in Bermondsey, with focus on the struggles of one main character through strikes and labor unrest, family drama, and a "torn between two men" romance subplot. I liked this well enough that I plan to read more by this author.

26. Cicero by David Llewelyn - not sure whether this counts because it was all audio, there isn't a print version. It's a Big Finish (best known for the Doctor Who audio productions) production, but completely original, not a series tie-in like most of their stuff. It's a mystery featuring THE Cicero as a Roman lawyer solving a murder to save a client from a horrible death as an accused parricide. I really enjoyed it and hope there are more to come. But is it a book? Not sure.

27. Plot to Hack America by Malcolm Nance - thought this would be outdated because it was published shortly before the election, but it was actually extremely informative about the back story of Putin and his career, recent Russian history and politics, and everything we (publicly) know about Russian hacking up to the point of publication. Too bad more people didn't read it before they voted....

28. Dumplin' by Julie Murphy - was in TBR for a long time, but I jumped on it because I wanted to read it before the movie. The movie on Netflix was really fun, and I even liked it a little better than the book.

29. A History of the Four Georges v.1 by Justin McCarthy - another awesome Librivox read by Pam Nagami, again learning a lot about a period of British history that I had only a vague knowledge of. I went right on to volume 2 after finishing this one, but that will be a 2019 finish.

Onward!
Colleen McMahon

No matter where you go, there you are. -- Buckaroo Banzai
MaryinArkansas
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Post by MaryinArkansas »

ColleenMc wrote: January 3rd, 2019, 8:13 am

26. Cicero by David Llewelyn - not sure whether this counts because it was all audio, there isn't a print version. It's a Big Finish (best known for the Doctor Who audio productions) production,
Onward!

I've wondered if some of the radio programs I've listened to (BBC radio plays, Wisconsin Public Radio's "Chapter a Day" programs, etc.) as well as short stories that I've read should count in the "book a week club" category. I mainly read fiction for entertainment, with some non-fiction for knowledge and...many times...entertainment. (Until I started listening to LibriVox, I rarely read any non-fiction.) While audio isn't the written word (though there must be scripts so it's written down somewhere) and a short story doesn't count as a book, I've read books by several writers that I've discovered by listening to one of their radio plays or reading a short story or article by them.

Anyhoo, I made a unanimous decision of one and decided, "Yup."
“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.”
―Diane Duane, So You Want to Be a Wizard.

Mary :)📚
ColleenMc
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Post by ColleenMc »

I absolutely count audiobooks that are the direct recorded version of a physical text. It's just taking in the work through the ears instead of the eyes, but otherwise it's the same experience as reading the book. I am still up in the air about the original audio works and radio adaptations. For example, I listened to an (awesome) adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology from BBC radio 4 over the holidays. I have the book but have not yet read it, and I'm pretty sure all the stories included in the radio show came right from the book, but they were adapted into scripts for actors. So I don't count that as having read the book. In retrospect I probably should not count Cicero since I don't count the Big Finish Doctor Who productions as they feel more like listening to a tv show than listening to a book. If that makes sense.

Anyway, what I do count:

-- books I read for myself for pleasure or self-education
-- books I read completely for Librivox (either DPL or recording solo)
-- audiobooks I listen to completely for myself for pleasure or self-education
-- audiobooks I listen to completely from Librivox (either DPL or listening for own benefit)

I would only count a Librivox short-piece compilation if I listened to the whole thing or nearly all of it -- like if one or two of the selections didn't appeal and I skipped to the next one, I would consider that the same as skimming a story or an essay in an anthology, and would still count it as a book read. But I don't count it when I jump in and out of a compilation and just listen to a piece or two.

I don't count magazines even if I read them from cover to cover, though I wonder sometimes about the fiction magazines because they feel a bit different from a Martha Stewart Living or a People. Maybe because there's so much reading material vs. illustrations and ads. I subscribe to Ellery Queen and Fantasy and Science Fiction, though I'm way behind on reading them!

I don't count blogs, news sites and articles, or general internet reading (I'm sure I've read several novels worth of my favorite drama-laden subreddits) and this is the stuff I want to get away from, even though a well-argued and constructed Twitter thread can be as edifying as a book chapter! It's the sort of, "just a few minutes of this then I'll switch to my book" reading that eats up my time and leads me to not read as many actual books.

By the same token, I'm going to make a practice of reaching for an audiobook in progress when I'm driving or walking dogs, instead of podcasts, which I also don't count, even if it's a limited one that has 6 or 7 episodes and tells a complete story. That feels more like watching a limited-series documentary on PBS or Netflix than reading....

The internet reading is what gets me. I've always been a reader and I've always inhaled books. I am constantly reading. But internet reading of blogs, news articles, social media etc. is so evanescent, it doesn't feel the same even though I am still reading millions of words per year. I just have to draw a line under it when I've done enough of it for one day!

Colleen
Colleen McMahon

No matter where you go, there you are. -- Buckaroo Banzai
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