One Book a Week Club 2021

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

Welcome to the LibriVox One Book a Week Club, edition 2021 - the "everything will get better" year.

Sign up and set your goal for 2021 - how many books do you want to read this year?
Or do you just skip the goals and read as you go?

Anything goes: novels, non-fiction, audio- or e-books...
Anytime goes: one per day/week/weekend/month/quarter...

Update your post with your latest read, if you like, you can give a rating or even a short synopsis.

But most of all: Have fun! :D

This seems to be one of the oldest and longest going traditions on LibriVox. Threads from previous years are here - how do you compare? :wink:
2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2007
Cheers, Ava.
Resident witch of LibriVox, channelling
Granny Weatherwax: "I ain't Nice."

--
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Availle
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Post by Availle »

Happy 2021! :D

According to last year's post, I have completed 28 books, which, given everything else happening in 2020, is not too bad I guess.

As mentioned elsewhere, I'm also planning on reading 4 solos for LV; one by my favourite (dead) author, one German book by an Austrian, one book related to Japan, and one science book. I guess I'll do quite a bit of moving the big list below to keep my usual distinction of:

"Real" books or ebooks :shock: for my own entertainment/edification/or for work:
1. The Counterfeiter and Other Stories by Yasushi Inoue. Very literary. Not much happening but I liked the language.
2. Geisha, Harlot, Strangler, Star by William Johnston. Biography of Sada Abe, who killed her lover, cut off his member, and became a star.
3. 29 Kurzgeschichten aus Wien by various authors. Collected shorts from authors living in Vienna. Lots of local colour from Austria.
4. Der Unbesiegbare by Stanislaw Lem. Sci-fi. An old favourite of mine, I read it ever so often...
5. Von Beruf Schriftsteller by Haruki Murakami. NF. Kind of an autobiography.
6. Six Four by Hideo Yokohama. A thriller set within police headquarters. No dead bodies, but office politics can be murderous...
7. On Writing by Stephen King. Part Memoir, part text book. Brilliant.
8. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata. Autistic woman meets annoying incel and suggests relationship of convenience...
9. The Ten Loves of Mr. Nishino by Hiromi Kawakami. Vignettes of love stories centered around the elusive Mr. Nishino. I was a bit underwhelmed by it.
10. Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima. Tragic love story set in 1912 Japan. First book of "Sea of Fertility". Apparently a masterpiece of Japanese literature, but I prefered his "Golden Pavilion". I may revise my opinion upon reading the other SoF books though.
11. Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima. Shows the radicalisation of a group of young men in 1930s Japan. Very much die author's own views on nationalism and the samurai spirit I'd say. Second book of "Sea of Fertility".
12. The Temple of Dawn by Yukio Mishima. Japan 1950s. Centers on the lawyer Honda who's infatuated with a young girl he believes the reincarnation of a school friend. Third book of "Sea of Fertility".
13. Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro. 6 music-related love stories by one of my favourite authors. I do prefer his novels though.
14. The Decay of the Angel by Yukio Mishima. Lawyer Honda adopts a youth he believes the reincarnation of a school friend. Things do fall apart in 1070s Japan... Last book of "Sea of Fertility".
15. No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai. Fictional diary. Literary. Not sure what to think about this. Goes on my "reread" pile.
16. Oshiri Tantei, first book. Japanese picture book about a detective who's an ass. No, literally. Only in Japan...
17. Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami. Short stories that fit the title. Some excellent, some not so much.
18. Game of Thrones by GRR Martin. Pretty much the same as the series, with little surprises. Still liked it very much.
19. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Reread. Didn't realise how brilliant the writing was until now.

Audiobooks FROM LibriVox for my own entertainment/edification on commutes and during housework:
1. Die Entfuehrung by Joseph von Eichendorff. Cute Story with double twist.
2. The Great Galeoto by Jose Echegaray y Eizaguirre. Great play about how gossip can destroy a relationship, even if unfounded.
3. Police Operation by H. Beam Piper. Short and sweet. Interesting stuff about different timelines.

Audiobooks FOR LibriVox for my own entertainment/edification and possibly that of others:
1. Chapters on Evolution by Andrew Wilson. As DPL for jo. Interesting, but many names of species to keep track of.
2. Korea and her Neighbors by Isabella L. Bird. Lovely travelogue through Korea, and the border country in Mongolia and Russia.
3. Das Spinnennetz by Joseph Roth. The Rise of the Nazis in 1920s Germany. Published 1923 and eerily prophetic.

I have accepted the 2021 reading challenge by mightyfelix, so I'm copy/pasting the list here to see if anything I'm reading fits:

[*] A Complete Volume of Poetry by a Single Author or A Poetry Anthology – Anything from Mother Goose to the Oxford Book of English Verse
[*] A Book (or Selection) of Letters
[*] A Book of Essays
[X] A Collection of Short Stories - The Counterfeiter and Other Stories
[*] A Book from Your To-Be-Read Stack
[*] A Book You Have Avoided
[X] A Book in a Genre You Don’t Normally Read - Oshiri Tantei
[*] An “Out of Your Comfort Zone” Book
[*] Reread a Book You Read for Schoolwork
[*] Finish a Book You Started but Never Finished
[*] A “Guilty Pleasure” Book
[*] An Ancient Greek or Roman Work – A play, epic, or collection of myths
[*] A 14th, 15th or 16th Century Book – A book written in, set in, or about
[*] A Shakespeare Play
[*] A Victorian Novel
[X] A Contemporary Novel - Convenience Store Woman
[*] A Book by a Minor Author
[*] A Classic Book by a Female Author
[X] A Lesser-Known Book by a Well-Known Author - Von Beruf Schriftsteller
[*] An “Other World” Book
[X] A Foreign (Non-Western) Book - Sea of Fertility Tetralogy
[*] Something Russian – A play, short story, novel, or novella
[X] A Travel Book – Anything from Travels with a Donkey to A Walk in the Woods - Korea and her Neighbors
[*] A Regional or Local Book
[X] A Book on Education, Art, or Literature - On Writing
[X] A Biography or Memoir - Geisha, Harlot, Strangler, Star
[*] A Book on History
[*] A Historical Fiction Novel
[*] A Classic Detective Novel
[*] A Classic Children’s Book
[*] A Devotional Work
[*] A Light Comedic Novel – Such as P. G. Wodehouse
[*] A Satire
[*] A book in French, Spanish, Dutch or Japanese
Cheers, Ava.
Resident witch of LibriVox, channelling
Granny Weatherwax: "I ain't Nice."

--
AvailleAudio.com
CSCO
Posts: 393
Joined: April 6th, 2010, 10:48 am
Location: Toyokawa, Japan

Post by CSCO »

A Happy New Year to you all!

I have no goal. I will read steadily.



HALF FINISHED:
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Story of O by Pauline Réage [Translator: Sabine d'Estree]
Elia; and The Last Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb
緋色の研究 (A Study in Scarlet) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [Translator: Nobuhara]
恐怖の谷 (The Valley of Fear) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [Translator: Nobuhara]
もつれっ話 (A Tangled Tale) by Lewis Carroll [Translator: Yanase]
ニルスのふしぎな旅 (The Wonderful Adventure of Nills) by Selma Lagerlöf [Translator: Kagawa and Kagawa]
ヴォネガット、大いに語る (WAMPETERS, FOMA AND GRANFALLOONS) by Kurt Vonnegut [Translator: Tobita]
アエネーイス (The Aeneid) by Virgil [Translator: Izui]
[I'm in the Book 3 now. (12 November, 2021)]



FINISHED:
ユダヤ戦記 1 (THE WARS OF THE JEWS (Vol. 1 of 3 Vols)) by Flavius Josephus [Translator: Hata]
[To be continued... (10 January, 2021)]
猫のゆりかご (CAT'S CRADLE) by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. [Translator: Ito]
[The novel reveals all about Kurt. I suppose the novel is a failure. But, the novel taught me a lot. (2 February, 2021)]
[Kurt had strongly adored Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway had ignored Kurt. Kurt wrote nothing from his experience of war in the novel although he could write nothing except for his war experience. In short, Kurt escaped from his heavy load in the novel. Bokonon? Nonsense! Hemingway disappointed with the novel, I suppose. (The novel shows Kurt's (all?) writing techniques.) (PS 25 February, 2021)]
タイタンの妖女 (THE SIRENS OF TITAN) by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. [Translator: Asakura]
[The first half was wonderful! (25 February, 2021)]
[I dislike Kurt's preaching on God but the novel is a masterpiece. I found two flaws in it. The first, he could write it a little shorter. The second, he could write it more carefully. And I found two virtues in it. The first, the novel is full of his anger to wars. When he wrote it, he felt no fear. The second, he wrote it freely although it is a rough novel. My rating of the novel is 90/100. I suppose the novel is very important as same as A Farewell to Arms. (I am overwhelmed with surprise on Kurt's genius...) (13 March, 2021)]
緋文字 (THE SCARLET LETTER) by Nathaniel Hawthorne [Translator: Yagi]
[Great and dark. I dislike the novel. But I don't want to stop reading it. Hester was about to be deprived of Pearl. But it didn't happen last night. (25 April, 2021)]
[Very beautiful prose. (24 May, 2021)]
[I know Hawthorne gave inspirations to Hugo and Nabokov. So, I read the novel. Great prose: beautiful, precise, and delicate. The greatness came from Hawthorne's great brain. It can't come from my small brain. *SIGH* The novel has a little flaws. The first: It is highbrow. It couldn't welcome everyone. The second: The theme is a private matter. I dare to say it's a small problem. Now, I must give a rating to the novel; it's a tough question. If I would give 100 points to Les Miserables, THE SCARLET LETTER would have from 95 to 105 points, I suppose. (10 June, 2021)]
ただマイヨ・ジョーヌのためでなく (It's Not About the Bike) by Lance Armstrong with Sally Jenkins [Translator: Ajimine]
[I read the book as a fairy tale. My rating is 80 points as a great fiction. (15 June, 2021)]
母なる夜 (MOTHER NIGHT) by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. [Translator: Ikezawa]
[I have just finished reading the book. I am at a loss. I can't find any words to say now. A great novel. I dislike the last scene. I want to read your comment about the novel after you have read it. Kids must read the book once someday. In the looking glass, I saw the evil ones: that's me; that's you. I am overwhelmed. (20 June, 2021)]
ユリシイズの冒険 (The Adventures of Ulysses) by Charles Lamb [Translator: Yamanouchi]
[The work is the best present for your boys. I couldn't get no unsatisfaction from it. (Because I'm an grown-up.) (27 July, 2021)]
やかまし村の子どもたち (ALLA VI BARN I BULLERBYN) by Astrid Lindgren [Translator: Ootsuka]
[Wonderful! Very gentle! I wonder why the author is unknown. :) (5 August, 2021)]
イリアス (上) (The Iliad (the first half)) by Homer [Translator: Matsudaira]
[I'm reading the Book 5 now. (16 August, 2021)]
[I read the Book 6 the last night. I found out that Homer couldn't teach me important things. I'm afraid that the Iliad would be beautiful and empty. My lord is Jesus. I must be small. I am not a hero but a lamb. Homer's works are poisoned for me. Hector asks for a duel tonight. (31 August, 2021)]
イリアス (下) (The Iliad (the second half)) by Homer [Translator: Matsudaira]
[I'm in the Song 15 now. (5 October, 2021)]
[Great and great. I sighed. (2 November, 2021)]
太平記 (たいへいき, or Taiheiki) (6 vols) by 横山 まさみち (Yokoyama Masamiti)
[Original Taiheiki is a very long war tale and it is almost nonfiction. Which is a very important work to know about Japan and Japanese people. The tale's background is the longest civil war in Japan. (Then Japan had two Tenno's at the same time.) But the original Taiheiki is very difficult and it is sometimes dull. Because it has many parts of incorrect quotations from Chinese Classics and the strange explanations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiheiki

Yokoyama-sensei's Taiheiki is very easy to understand. Not only is it Manga but also he composed it plain and simple. I suppose he read Taiheiki many times. Yokoyama-sensei (CSCO's senpai) was well-known as a great cartoonist of light eroticas. I believe this was his pride. But remember he left us the greatest introductory manga of Taiheiki, which is worthwhile to be put into many languages.
https://www.amazon.co.jp/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?__mk_ja_JP=%E3%82%AB%E3%82%BF%E3%82%AB%E3%83%8A&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=%E6%A8%AA%E5%B1%B1%E3%81%BE%E3%81%95%E3%81%BF%E3%81%A1%E3%80%80%E5%A4%AA%E5%B9%B3%E8%A8%98
https://www.amazon.co.jp/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?__mk_ja_JP=%E3%82%AB%E3%82%BF%E3%82%AB%E3%83%8A&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=%E6%A8%AA%E5%B1%B1%E3%81%BE%E3%81%95%E3%81%BF%E3%81%A1
https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%E6%A8%AA%E5%B1%B1%E3%81%BE%E3%81%95%E3%81%BF%E3%81%A1+%E3%82%AA%E3%83%83%E3%83%88%E3%82%BB%E3%82%A4+%E3%81%A9%E3%81%98%E3%82%87%E3%81%86&hl=ja&tbm=isch&ei=klWXYZniM5fh2roPkLCwmAw&start=0&sa=N
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A8%AA%E5%B1%B1%E3%81%BE%E3%81%95%E3%81%BF%E3%81%A1
(18 November, 2021)]
暴力は絶対だめ! (Aldrig våld!) by Astrid Lindgren [Translator: Ishii]
[A minor writer's speech. Astrid was merely a dreamer and she realized her hope in the speech was only a hope. She knew evil people indeed. A wicked appears in her novel. God created evil people for evil day. She knew this world is bad. And she had heard there are bad parents. Why are bad parents bad parents? Because of poverty? If so, the matter is real representatives' and real economists' (Marxian economists') labors. Because of mental weakness? If so, the matter is real doctors', real religious leaders', and real novels' labors. The speech is not useless as well as evil people is not useless. Unfortunately she didn't know good people can't be good representatives. I know she was a brave writer. She hated any violence with all her heart; she saved even a dog in her novel. If only she could have been more brave to be a sober writer. I have been an abused son. My stepmother has been bad; my father has been bad. I know this matter deeply and deeply. So I feel the speech was thin. I suppose some people had abused her name and a flower in her mind. However, oh my God, I'm a her fan now. I wonder why she is unknown. :) (26 November, 2021)]



DISCARDED:
Last edited by CSCO on January 3rd, 2022, 1:43 am, edited 53 times in total.
!!!!!!.!!!!!!.!!!!.!!!!!!!!!..!!!.!!!!!!!!!!!...!!!!!!!!!.!!!!!!.!!!!.!!!!!!.!!!!
No way. He stole away a pretty thing, you know.
That's your heart.
!!!!.!!!!!!.!!!!.!!!!!!!!!..!!!.!!!!!!!!!!!...!!!!!.!!!!!!.!!!!!!!!.!!!!!!.!!!!!!
ColleenMc
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Post by ColleenMc »

Availle, is it okay if I (or others) copy and paste your layout? It's an excellent format, and I'm doing the other challenge as well also.

Thanks!
Colleen
Colleen McMahon

No matter where you go, there you are. -- Buckaroo Banzai
ColleenMc
LibriVox Admin Team
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Post by ColleenMc »

My reading goal for this year is the same as last year: 52 books or one per week. My biggest goals are to 1) put down the internets and READ at bedtime and 2) remember to track all year instead of just for a couple of enthusiastic weeks in January....
Colleen McMahon

No matter where you go, there you are. -- Buckaroo Banzai
MaryinArkansas
Posts: 1402
Joined: October 4th, 2008, 8:06 pm
Location: Arkansas

Post by MaryinArkansas »

I reached my goal of 52 books last year. It was a bit of a stretch, as I started a few books that I didn't finish, so they didn't get counted.
50 is a nice, round number, so it's 50 books for 2021.
“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.”
―Diane Duane, So You Want to Be a Wizard.

Mary :)📚
Peter Why
Posts: 5813
Joined: November 24th, 2005, 3:54 am
Location: Chigwell (North-East London, U.K.)

Post by Peter Why »

I'll try to keep my record up to date this year. Let's say 60 books.

Completed in January
1 Lock Picking for Complete Beginners & Intermediates; author Charles Prince. (about 85 pages .. they're not numbered) If the subject interests you, don't bother with this book; there *must* be better ones on the subject (in fact, the booklet I received with a set of practice locks was much better produced and infinitely more helpful)! Not well edited. (-)
2 Unnatural Issue - by Mercedes Lackey. One of the Elemental Masters series. A re-read. Magic, necromany and romance in London around the early 20th Century and WW1. An involving read, weakened a little by the infatuation-at-first-sight of the main protagonist. (++++)
3 Going Postal; author Terry Pratchett. A re-read. Another Ankh-Morpork story, our first encounter with confidence trickster Moist von Lipwig. Von Lipwig, without his knowledge, is set against against a group of what might be called "entrepreneurs" who, by embezzlement and use of legal loopholes, have taken over the semaphore "clacks" system which had been created by enthusiast engineers who have no protections against the manipulations of their financiers. (+++++)
4 The Pinhoe Egg; author Diana Wynne Jones. A re-read for light entertainment. One of her novels set in the Chrestomanci universe. After we first encounter Cat in Charmed Life, there are a couple of novels (of which this is one) and a few short stories which tell us how his powers are developing. (+++++)
5 The Hidden Life of Trees; by Peter Wohlleben. A forester in Germany shares his feelings and his knowledge about trees, and the need for ancient woodland to be preserved and created, untouched by "forest management". Involving, interesting and written by someone who had the best interests of trees and the environment at heart. (+++++)


Current or planned books:
The New Hite Report - by Shere Hite
London Vagabond, the life of Henry Mayhew - by Christopher G. Anderson

Abandoned books:
On Having No Head - by D.E. Harding ... not read. I found myself skipping, trying to extract any useful nuggets. Much too wordy; author too smug and self-worshiping. His premise could have been handled in a couple of pages, or one koan.

Peter
Last edited by Peter Why on March 22nd, 2021, 11:00 am, edited 18 times in total.
"I think, therefore I am, I think." Solomon Cohen, in Terry Pratchett's Dodger
mightyfelix
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Post by mightyfelix »

I had 32 books in 2020. I'm just proud of myself for keeping track of them all! :clap:

This year, I again have no goal, except to continue to track my books all throughout the year.

Current reads: (I am clearly not a book monogamist.)
  • The Marquis of Lossie, by George MacDonald. My current solo, and the sequel to my last solo, Malcolm. I read this once before, but it was many years ago, so a lot of it will feel new to me!
  • Heather and Snow, by George MacDonald. PLing this one for HannahMary. She's doing a great job!
  • Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo. Yes, I know I just read this last year. But I loved it enough that I pressured my husband into reading it with me. We'll be working on it for awhile. Update: He is really enjoying it. I'm so happy! :D
  • Kristin Lavransdatter, by Sigrid Undset. This comes highly recommended to me from people whose opinions I respect.
  • Ships of Pearl, by F.W. Boreham. Reading this as a kind of weekly study with a friend of mine.
  • Villette, by Charlotte Bronte. This is a new one for me. I'm only a few chapters in. Good so far!
  • Watership Down, by Richard Adams. Reading this for the umpteenth time. My favorite!
Finished:
  1. Boy: Tales of Childhood, by Roald Dahl. "This is not an autobiography," the author states in his dedication. :wink: Nevertheless, it is a non-fictional account of his own childhood, and is utterly fascinating!
  2. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle. A classic. :) I hadn't read this in years. Some friends started talking about the series, and I realized I needed to reread them all.
  3. A Wind in the Door, by Madeleine L'Engle. Second in the series. And oddly enough, it didn't feel familiar as I read, although I thought I'd read it before.
  4. Many Waters, by Madeleine L'Engle. Third in the series chronologically, fourth published. I was torn as to which order I should follow, but maybe it's not as important here as it is for Narnia. :wink: I liked this one a lot! My favorite so far!
  5. Ghost Hotel, by Larry Weinberg. A very cool kid's story, with ghosts, history, time travel, and the underground railroad! I read this and loved it when I was in elementary school, and I'd been trying to find it again for awhile! The title has almost nothing to do with the story, so it was hard. But I finally came across the sequel in a box of books at my mom's house, which jogged my memory. This is one story that is still just as fun, even years later. :9:
  6. Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes. My husband got this one for me for Christmas! :D It was pretty fun, I guess. Not quite what I was expecting. (UPDATE: I found out later that the edition I have is abridged/adapted from the original. I suspected it at the time, but hadn't confirmed it until recently. I'll read the original eventually, but this was good as an intro.)
  7. A Swiftly Tilting Planet, by Madeleine L'Engle. I've read this one before, as recently as a few years ago, I think. There were still a few parts I didn't remember. It's a good one.
  8. An Acceptable Time, by Madeleine L'Engle. This one was new for me. And even though it was listed next in the series on the list I saw, I think there are actually a few more in between. It was pretty good.
  9. The Will of God, by Leslie D. Weatherhead. I read through this one with a friend of mine. It's a look at the three different things we could mean when we say "God's will," and why we should be careful to differentiate between them. It was good, but I didn't like that the author seems to deny that God has foreknowledge. He didn't explicitly say so, but... I have questions.
  10. The Arm of the Starfish, by Madeleine L'Engle. Another new one, and in quite a different genre from any of her books I'd read before. (Which is obviously the reason it's part of a different series, even though it's about some of the same people.) This one is like an international spy/suspense thriller. You have the requisite wealthy and unscrupulous businessman, the honest priest, the crooked priest, the fascinating young woman, the hapless child who gets caught in the middle, the secret code words... Enjoyable.
  11. Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy. LV listen. Picked this one out on the recommendation of strangers who happen to like books that I like. I haven't been interested in it before, and I've only read one other Russian novel (The Brothers Karamazov, which was awesome). So I have really no idea what I'm in for! :lol: UPDATE: I finished it. But I haven't decided yet what I think of it. I'm puzzled. :?
  12. Dragons in the Waters, by Madeleine L'Engle. Another thriller. More murder mystery than spy thriller, and it was a bit slow to get going. But with a pretty satisfying ending, more or less.
  13. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. LV listen. My second time through the book. My first was perhaps 15 years ago, and I appreciated it so much more this time. A excellent book.
  14. The Tyranny of the Dark, by Hamlin Garland. Gutenberg text. I am interested in doing a DR of this one, so I read it in order to be able to prepare a script. Fascinating book about materialism and spiritualism. Are seances real, or are they all trickery and psychology? The book never quite gives a definitive answer, and the reader is left to draw their own conclusions.
  15. St. George and St. Michael, by George MacDonald. Read this aloud with my husband. I've read it once before, and finally convinced him that we should read it together. I think I enjoyed it more than he did. :lol:
  16. Dante's Inferno. I started this as a read-along with a group of friends. But after we got started, it was clear that only one or two people were really committed to it. But then a professor I follow started doing a free seminar on it, so I picked it back up. I hope we cover the other two in the same class, but it'll be a ways down the road if so.
  17. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein. The same professor mentioned above is now doing a class on this book, so I read it, even though it's not my usual genre, and was pleasantly surprised!
  18. Dark Waters Inn Mysteries, by Bekah Bancroft and Jaxon Reed. Technically, what I read was 5 books bound in one volume. But it should have just been published as one book. Fun premise, but not well written. Set mostly in Galveston, TX (and a bit throughout other parts of the state), supernatural mystery fun. Nice fluff book.
  19. The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House, by Mary Chase. Short kid's book from 1968, the kind you can read in an afternoon. It was pretty fun! Magic and time travel.
  20. The Power of Sympathy, by William Hill Brown. LV listen. I listened to it for the quality of the readers, but this was not a good novel, in my opinion. Far too didactic, contrived plot, contrived tragic ending.
  21. Phantastes, by George MacDonald. I first read this about 15 years ago. I think it was my first MacDonald read. I've been wanting a re-read ever since, but for some reason haven't gotten all the way through ever since. But now I'm doing a readalong at The Rabbit Room, led by a MacDonald scholar. There have been some great discussions! :9:
  22. Descent Into Hell, by Charles Williams. My first Charles Williams read! I'd heard his books are very weird and confusing, and it was true. There was a lot I didn't understand, but I liked it overall.
  23. Antigone, by Sophocles. My new favorite podcast, The Literary Life podcast, did a couple of episodes on this play. I liked it more than I expected to!
  24. How much Land Does a Man Need, by Leo Tolstoy. Not really a book, but a short story. This was also covered on the Literary Life podcast. Very good!
  25. In This House of Brede, by Rumer Godden. An accomplished, successful woman in her forties decides to walk away from her career to become a nun. I loved it!
  26. Flatland, by Edwin A. Abbott. This is a very cute book that I first heard about here at LV and picked up at a very good price recently. It's about a two-dimensional world and what life is like there. Fascinating!
  27. Deep Secret, by Diana Wynne Jones. Fairly fun fantasy adventure. But it left me feeling disappointed for some reason.
  28. Children of the New Forest, by Fredrick Marryat. The children of a nobleman are forced to disguise themselves as a forester's children and learn to support themselves when the political tides turn against their family.
  29. Twenty Minutes Late, by Pansy. Very well read by the lovely TriciaG. :D A cute feel-good story about a girl who accidentally goes to Philadelphia by being twenty minutes late for the train home.
  30. The Princess and Curdie, by George MacDonald. Reread this for a book club by listening to HannahMary's excellent LV rendition. :9:
  31. The Prince and the Pauper, by Mark Twain. I knew the bare outline of this story (I watched Wishbone as a kid), but it had plenty of surprises for me! Entertaining and thought-provoking.
  32. A Dog of Flanders, by Ouida. A good book, but very sad. I saw the movie a long time ago, so I knew not to expect a happy ending.
  33. The Christmas Reindeer, by Thornton W. Burgess. I DPLed this book for Jude Somers. Very cute story, and a great reader!
  34. Reunion, by Fred Uhlman. WW2 novella. Read for the Lit Life podcast. Not as heartbreaking as most WW2 literature. A sweet and simple story.
  35. At the Back of the North Wind, by George MacDonald. This was a reread. I love noticing details I'd forgotten!
  36. Leaf by Niggle, by J.R.R. Tolkien. A short story, and also a reread. Very good.
  37. Thieftaker, by D.B. Jackson. S'ok. I got it for free with a coupon from my local library's book sale. Parts of it annoyed me (the hero is not very smart and keeps getting beat up), but it was entertaining.
  38. The Cappuccino Club, by Michael Phillips. A so-called "theological novel." I think I would have preferred if it was written as straight theology. The novel aspect of it is kind of a failure, I think. The story is slow and rather contrived.
  39. Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates, by Mary Mapes Dodge. I remember reading and liking this as a child. But I couldn't remember the name until I saw the book at my grandmother's house last year. It was very good, in spite of some tangential action towards the middle that slows down the main story.
  40. The Markenmore Mystery, by J.S. Fletcher. Really good so far! I'm not trying too hard to guess the whodunnit, just enjoying the ride. :) (UPDATE: The ride was fun, but I was unsatisfied with the ending.)
  41. Rappaccini's Daughter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hauntingly beautiful short story. I read this in high school, forgot the name of it, and later spent ages looking for it again, thinking it was a Poe story. :roll: So glad to have found and reread it.
  42. Violet Spiders of Methusela's Grove, by Taniel. Sort of a fantasy dystopia. It was fun, but there were some metaphysical aspects of the world it's set in that I think are problematic.
  43. The Necklace, by Guy de Maupassant. Intriguing short story. This was my first time reading it, but I've been meaning to get to it for some time, and may need to come back to it in the future.
  44. The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey. A laid-up policeman begins a series of inquiries about King Richard III, merely to pass the time, and soon finds himself fascinated and drawn on to discover more, all without leaving his hospital room.
  45. The Wise Woman/The Lost Princess/A Double Story, by George MacDonald. It was published under various titles. :lol: A short fairy-tale-like story. A princess and a shepherd girl both grow up selfish and conceited. A wise woman takes both of them off to her cottage to help them become better people. It's better than this synopsis makes it sound, I promise!
  46. The Rocking Horse Winner, by D.H. Lawrence. A short story about a materialistic woman and her family. It was pretty good.
  47. The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins. This is my first experience of this author, but he was recommended very highly, and with good reason. I loved this book!
  48. One Corpse Too Many, by Ellis Peters. I discovered the Cadfael mysteries! I'd encountered Cadfael the TV show some years back, but just learned that it was based on a 20-something-book series! This is second in the series (my library doesn't have the first), and I loved it.
  49. Monk's Hood, by Ellis Peters. More Cadfael! Cadfael is a Benedictine monk in 12th century England. When weird and suspicious things happen in his neighborhood, you can be sure that he'll be there to find the truth behind it. This one involves poison! :shock:
  50. St. Peter's Fair, by Ellis Peters. Fourth book in the Cadfael series. :9:
  51. The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow, by Anna Katherine Green. A young woman is shot with an arrow in one of New York's finest museums. But no one saw how it happened... Or did they?
  52. The Leper of St. Giles, by Ellis Peters. Fifth Cadfael mystery!
  53. Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Really impressive work. I mean, I think we all know the twist at the end, and yet the details are just so intriguing!
  54. The Discarded Image, by C.S. Lewis. In this work, Lewis explains the mindset and worldview of the Middle Ages, and how that understanding of the universe informs and undergirds the best examples of Medieval literature. I really enjoyed it, but it was a challenging book.
  55. Saint Brandan: a medieval legend of the sea, edited by Thomas Wright. This was so fun. I found a reference to St. Brendan in The Discarded Image and didn't know who he was. So I found and read this lovely tale of his voyage.
  56. The Winter's Tale, by William Shakespeare. My second time reading this play. It's even better the second time. It was also really fun reading it along with The Discarded Image. I could see some overlap (even though Shakespeare isn't medieval).
  57. An Experiment in Criticism, by C.S. Lewis. This book had been highly recommended, so I finally bought it, and I'm so glad I did! What a wonderful way to approach reading.
  58. Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen. Second time reading this, I think. It's still not my favorite Austen, but I think I understood it better this time.
  59. Gaudy Night, by Dorothy Sayers. My first Sayers novel. I didn't really get into it for the first few chapters, even though I could see what Sayers was doing with setting things up. But I ended up enjoying it.
  60. The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick. This is a marvelous book. I loved it.
  61. Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen. My second time through, I think. This one is delightfully funny.
  62. The Virgin in the Ice, by Ellis Peters. Sixth Cadfael book. This was a good one.
  63. The Importance of being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde. Hilarious satire!
  64. Dead Man's Ransom, by Ellis Peters. Cadfael, book 9. I had this one figured out way before Cadfael did! :wink:
  65. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe. I enjoyed this one, but I'm sure I missed a lot of good stuff in it. I'll have to come back to it one day.
  66. Sir Gibbie, by George MacDonald. Probably my third time through this book. As much as I enjoy MacDonald, this one was never one of my favorites. But I enjoyed it much more this time around!
  67. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carrol. A quick and fun read.
  68. Silas Marner, by George Eliot. This was my first time reading this author. I really enjoyed the book!
  69. Lost in the Cosmos, by Walker Percy. Nonfiction. A so-called "anti-self-help" book. It was a weird book. Parts of it I liked a lot, and I think I liked the overall drive of it. But it was strange.
  70. The Book of the Dun Cow, by Walter Wangerin Jr. A sort of fable. Or parable. Or epic. I don't know. But whatever you call it, it was phenomenal.
  71. Sintram and His Companions, by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué. Set in Norway. A tale of a boy who becomes a knight, but who has terrible visions of Death and Satan every Christmas.
  72. The Vicar of Wakefield, by Oliver Goldsmith. I liked it. I didn't love it, but I liked it. Slow to get going, but it picks up about halfway through, and there were some very funny and some very profound moments.
  73. Carasoyn, by George MacDonald. I had never heard of this MacDonald story until a couple of days ago, and so I immediately read it through in one sitting. So satisfying! A really sweet fairy tale. Familiar to me because I know MacDonald, but a totally fresh and new story.
  74. The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco. Set in the 14th century. A number of monks are found dead, and a visiting monk from another order needs to discover the link between them. Could it have something to do with the strange library, which no one is allowed to visit, and which is said to be guarded by diabolical presences? UPDATE: Fun story, but the ending wasn't satisfying. I mean, the author did that on purpose, and that's fine, but, well... It wasn't my favorite.
  75. Christus Victor, by Gustaf Aulén. Theology. Pretty dense, but it's all good stuff. I'd like to find a book on the same topic, but less scholarly. More for us regular folks.
  76. The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis. It's been a very long time since I first read this. Since then, I think I've flipped through it here and there, but this might be my first full reread.
Abandoned:
  • The Riddle of Joy. A collection of scholarly talks about C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton, which were all delivered at a conference in 1987. I read the first two or three essays, then got distracted. I'm sure the rest are good.
  • The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, by Jonas Jonasson. I got a few chapters in and realized I didn't care. Everything in this book so far is highly sensational. And it seems that it's going to continue that way. And I realized that I'm not buying it and I don't care. So I'm moving on.
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Post by Availle »

ColleenMc wrote: January 1st, 2021, 8:44 am Availle, is it okay if I (or others) copy and paste your layout? It's an excellent format, and I'm doing the other challenge as well also.
Oh, I didn't see that until now - sure, go ahead.
Cheers, Ava.
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Post by ColleenMc »

Thank you!

Colleen
Colleen McMahon

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

Official placeholder to track my progress in 2021:

I have accepted the 2021 reading challenge by mightyfelix, so I'm copy/pasting the list here to see if anything I'm reading fits:

--A Complete Volume of Poetry by a Single Author or A Poetry Anthology – Anything from Mother Goose to the Oxford Book of English Verse

--A Book (or Selection) of Letters

--A Book of Essays Hope Farm Notes - Herbert W. Collingwood (Mar)

--A Collection of Short Stories Short Science Fiction Collection 075 - Various (Feb)

--A Book from Your To-Be-Read Stack Culture Warlords - Talia Levin (Mar)

--A Book You Have Avoided

--A Book in a Genre You Don’t Normally Read Closing In: Marines in the Seizure of Iwo Jima - Joseph H. Alexander

--An “Out of Your Comfort Zone” Book

--Reread a Book You Read for Schoolwork

--Finish a Book You Started but Never Finished The Spirit War - Rachel Aaron

--A “Guilty Pleasure” Book

--An Ancient Greek or Roman Work – A play, epic, or collection of myths

--A 14th, 15th or 16th Century Book – A book written in, set in, or about

--A Shakespeare Play

--A Victorian Novel

--A Contemporary Novel

--A Book by a Minor Author

--A Classic Book by a Female Author

--A Lesser-Known Book by a Well-Known Author

--An “Other World” Book

--A Foreign (Non-Western) Book

--Something Russian – A play, short story, novel, or novella

--A Travel Book – The Handbook to the Rivers and Broads of Norfolk and Suffolk - George Davies (Jan)

--A Regional or Local Book Wild Life in a Norfolk Estuary - Arthur Henry Patterson

--A Book on Education, Art, or Literature

--A Biography or Memoir Confessions of a Tradesman - Frank Bullen (Feb)

--A Book on History [The Beginning of the Middle Ages[/b] - R.W. Church (Jan)

--A Historical Fiction Novel

--A Classic Detective Novel The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandlerb]

--A Classic Children’s Book

--A Devotional Work

--A Light Comedic Novel – Such as P. G. Wodehouse

--A Satire

--A book in French, Spanish, Dutch or Japanese (I can't do this one so I'll settle for a book in translation from one of these...)


JANUARY


I'm in progress on multiple books, but these are the several that I finished:

1. New X-Men vol. 1: E is for Extinction

2. New X-Men vol. 2: Imperial

3. New X-Men vol. 3: New Worlds

Three graphic novels. I stopped reading a lot of the superhero comics in the 90s, and I'm enjoying the Wandavision MCU tv show currently on Disney+, and fan speculation is that it is part of or setting up the "House of M" storyline from the mid-2000s. I want to read that, and I'm told that I should catch up on Grant Morrison's X-Men run first, which is 7 volumes collected.

4. The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn (audiobook)

5. An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn (audiobook)

Enjoyed the Bridgerton tv series so much I decided to revisit the books, which I read in paperback as they came out back in the early 2000s. I re-read the very first one, The Duke and I, last year - that was the storyline adapted for season one of the show. Viscount and Offer are 2 and 3 in the series, and since the library has them as audiobook, I decided to try that version this time, and have been enjoying immensely. There's 2 more audiobooks on Hoopla from my library and I guess after that I'll go back to reading the book versions for the remainder (There are 8 Bridgertons to marry off so 8 books in the series, plus some spinoff novellas which I may or may not bother with).

6. The Handbook to the Rivers and Broads of Norfolk & Suffolk by George Christopher Davies (LV audiobook)

I've been prooflistening several books about the Norfolk broads for TND and I'm enjoying his reading and the armchair travel to an area of the UK I've never visited (but now intend to one day!) so I listened to this one, which is a nice travelogue through various rivers and broads by boat. Not as charming as the Arthur Patterson books but enjoyable.

7. The Beginning of the Middle Ages by R.W. Church (LV audiobook)

Prooflistening project completed this month (though started last year-that counts, right?) Overview of European history, mainly political/nationbuilding, of the years between the end of the western Roman empire and the end of the major Viking invasions. Good short work about a period I've read relatively little about. I knew Charlemagne and that was about it. Now I know more!

FEBRUARY

Busy month work-wise so I haven't gotten too much reading in, though I'm still in progress with multiple works (mostly the same as last month) -- all my completed works this month were finishing off Librivox prooflistening projects!

8. Confessions of a Tradesman by Frank Bullen (LV audiobook)

Another prooflistening project finishing up. Bullen has a very readable, self deprecating style as he narrates his disastrous experience as a small shopowner in suburban London, candid about his own mistakes but also decrying the crazy obstacles that defeated his best efforts at making a go of it. Fascinating insight into the nuts and bolts of making a precarious living in the late 19th century.

9. Short Science Fiction Collection 075 by Various (LV audiobook)

More prooflistening - since I listened to every story in the set I think that should count as a full title read, yes?

10. The Story of Aristotle's Philosophy by Will Durant (LV audiobook)

And still another prooflistening project that was completed in February. Short work with biographical sketch of Aristotle and a brief overview of his philosophy and major works.

I'm slooooowly working my way through The Aeneid and Bleak House (both Librivox audiobooks) as well as a couple of contemporary works (more Julia Quinn! a fantasy novel I wandered off from last year! And one I should really just give up on because it's not grabbing me but I'm feeling stubborn about it...hopefully more to report next month!

MARCH

I did a good job making time to read and keeping track of what I read in March, I've just been slow to sign in here and post my list! So here it is:

11. Harley Merlin and the Secret Coven by Bella Forrest

This is the one that I was dragging through and being stubborn about finishing it. Typical YA person with magic powers finds out that she's not alone like she thought and there's a whole magic society out there. There was nothing wrong with the book, I just never cared that much about any of the characters or situations. Not gonna keep on with the series.

12. Dead and Gone: Classic Crimes of North Carolina by Manly Wade Wellman

Just okay--older true crime stories from North Carolina by an author I was more familiar with from his horror and fantasy writings.

13. Hope Farm Notes by Herbert W. Collingwood

A prooflistening project for Librivox -- collection of essays on farm life and homespun wisdom, largely enjoyable. One of those long out of print and forgotten works that I'd never have discovered without this lovely place!

14. Dark Angel by Mary Balogh and
15. Lord Carew's Bride by Mary Balogh

I was in Florida and spending a good bit of time poolside so I read an ACTUAL paperback! This was a 2-in-1 reprinting two of Balogh's Signet Regency Romances from the early 1990s, before she went mainstream/hardcover famous. The two novels were companions - Dark Angel deals with one cousin making her debut but already engaged to a man who turns out to be a jerk, and whose compromising of her forces her into marriage with the real hero. Lots of drama and a good bit of suspense. Lord Carew's Bride was quite nice and tame in comparison, as the cousin of the main character from the first novel is 6 years older and still scarred by the same bounder from the first book who also toyed with her affections. She's considered an old maid now and can wander about unchaperoned. She encounters a nice man at the estate next door who she thinks is the gardener at first (he's actually the titular Lord Carew) who has own issues. Two nice people with scars (physical and emotional) who find each other.

16. Culture Warlords by Talia Levin

Non-fiction book by a journalist who went undercover in online right-wing extremist circles and reports back on what she learned about the actors involved. Depressing but important to know about as these voices get louder and more mainstream.

17. Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

A nice long drive to Florida and back made time to enjoy another Bridgerton book, this is the 4th in the series, featuring the romance of Colin Bridgerton with Penelope Featherington, who has loved him from afar for years and in this book, he FINALLY notices that she is more than just a pal.

April so far has been pretty slow reading-wise -- too much time on social media and reading news articles. Still making progress with Bleak House and Aeneid audiobooks, and reading a fun book about murder in ancient Rome.


APRIL

Well, this is embarrassing. I finished NO books in April. Still making slow progress on some of the ones I'm in the middle of. Hopefully May will be better!


MAY

Spoiler: May wasn't better. I've continued progressing on several books I'm still in the midst of (the Aeneid, Bleak House...) and added several more that I started. But I am making pretty steady progress on a couple and should definitely finish some this month! Also I have multiple prooflistening projects winding up so that will give me a few more finishes!

Other books I'm in the midst of: City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty (fantasy novel, first of a trilogy set in the world of Middle eastern culture/mythology, listening to it on audio from the library) and The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, which I'm getting close to finishing. I have the annotated edition and the annotations are fascinating and really helpful BUT if I read the annotated edition I get too sidetracked by the footnotes to savor the story, so I'm actually reading it twice -- I have an unannotated version and I read a couple of chapters, then flip over to the annotated version and reread the chapters with the footnotes. So it's slow going but I'm really enjoying it.

JUNE

Yay! I finished a bunch of books in June! A mix of prooflistening projects finishing up and slow-going books that I finally finished. The Aeneid and Bleak House are still going though -- in fact I've had to backtrack a bunch of Bleak House when I realized I was completely and totally lost on one of the (gazillion) subplots that seems important...


18. Closing In: Marines in the Seizure of Iwo Jima by Joseph H. Alexander

Prooflistening project. I'm counting this as my "book in a genre I don't ordinarily read" since this was straight military history -- I read a lot of history but tend more to the political and social subgenres. Very well written short history of the battle for Iwo Jima made me really appreciate what those soldiers went through. I always knew that battle was a slog but the details were pretty horrific.


19. Locke by Thomas Fowler

Another prooflistening project, a biographer of the English philosopher Thomas Locke, about whom I knew nothing and who lived a pretty interesting life.


20. The Spirit War by Rachel Aaron

Fourth book in a 5-book fantasy series I've really been enjoying. Pretty interesting worldbuilding in terms of supernatural stuff and magic systems, a quartet of main characters I care about, and good suspense ratcheting up book by book leading to the final clash with a literal goddess. I'm counting this as my "Finish a Book Started by Never Finished" because I took this out of the library in February of 2020 just before things shut down and had it out for over a year! I started it early on during lockdown but wandered off to other things. I finally sat down and plowed through the second half because our libraries reopened and the books I had checked out in 2020 were finally TRULY due and starting to accumulate fines! When I returned it I checked out the fifth and final book...let's see how long it takes me to get through that one!


21. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

One of those classics I've meant to read for years. I almost want to count it twice because I was reading between two editions, a straightforward one and thoroughly annotated one. I tried reading the annotated one on its own but I would get too distracted bouncing between the story and the notes (and Google plunges triggered by the notes) so I stared reading the unannotated version a chapter or two at a time, then switching over to the one with notes to get all the deeper insight and contemporary references that were going over my head 80 years later. I enjoyed it and look forward to trying more Chandler; meanwhile The Maltese Falcon by Dashiel Hammett was on sale on Kindle the other day so I picked that up to check out the other big name noir/hard-boiled pioneer...I'm entering this as my Classic Detective Novel.


22. Wild Life in a Norfolk Estuary by Arthur Henry Patterson

Another prooflistening project, another book about the Norfolk Broads by A.H. Patterson. I don't know why I'm enjoying so much detail about the natural world of a place I've never visited but I am! I've told my wife that if I ever get to visit the UK again, the Norfolk area is on my to-do list just so I can see some of these places in person! This will be my Regional or Local book for the reading challenge.


23. True Detective Stories from the Archives of the Pinkertons by Cleveland Moffett

Prooflistening on an abandoned solo that was picked up by another reader to complete the second half of the book. To be honest, I was only on board for the last three of the six sections of the book so it should only count as one-half, but I'll join it up with the approximately extra half a book I read with the annotated Big Sleep and count it as a whole one...


24. The Art of Conversation by Josephine Turck Baker

One more prooflistening project that finished up -- when it rains, it pours! Delightful little book of twelve chats between a man and a woman in which they lay out and discuss "twelve golden rules" for being a good conversationalist.


25. True Crime Case Histories, volume 1 by Jason Neal
26. True Crime Case Histories, volume 2 by Jason Neal
27. True Crime Case Histories, volume 3 by Jason Neal

Finished the month with a little true crime binge - kind of a random assortment of well-told true crime tales, some were familiar and some were not. Mostly murder, set in the US, Canada, or UK with I think one or two from Australia. Since I'm the sort of person who falls asleep listening to old episodes of Forensic Files on YouTube, or the podcast version of Dateline, a couple of chapters a night made good bedtime reading for me!

Hoping to keep the momentum up in July!
Last edited by ColleenMc on April 12th, 2021, 8:54 am, edited 4 times in total.
Colleen McMahon

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

A book in French, Spanish, Dutch or Japanese (I can't do this one so I'll settle for a book in translation from one of these...)
This one is my own addition to the list upon Kevin's suggestion. Feel free to leave this one off :wink:
Cheers, Ava.
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Granny Weatherwax: "I ain't Nice."

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Post by commonsparrow3 »

I read at least 30 books last year, counting both audiobooks and paper books. The 2020 list is here.

My goal last year was to remember to update the list once a month, so I wouldn't have to work from memory at the end of the year. I posted one book on New Year's Day 2020, then forgot about it entirely until today, more than a year later. Of course, I tend to forget about that list at some point every year, but this year I forgot more thoroughly and sooner than usual. My excuse this time is simply - "Hey, it was 2020!"

So this year, I'll set the same goal -- update once a month -- and try to remember!

I have a couple of books in progress as we begin 2021, but haven't quite completed any to begin listing here yet. I'll edit this post to add my books soon!

Books Read from Library --
1. Dear Miss Kopp by Amy Stewart
2. The Color of Law: a Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
3. A Walk Around the Block: Stoplight Secrets, Mischievous Squirrels, Manhole Mysteries, and Other Stuff by Spike Carlson
4. The Sum of the People: How the Census Shaped Nations by Andrew Whitby
5. The Library Book by Susan Orlean
6. Last Man Off by Matt Lewis
7. On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed
8. Let Us Dream by Pope Francis
9. Stampede: Gold Fever and Disaster in the Klondike by Brian Castner
10. The Nation Must Awake: My Witness to the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 by Mary Jones Parrish
11. Making Sense: The Glamorous Story of English Grammar by David Crystal
12. First Principles by Thomas E. Ricks
13. Work Won't Love You Back by Sarah Jaffe
14. One Person, No Vote by Carol Anderson
15. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Audiobooks Listened to --
(Note: the complete set of Ellis Peters' Cadfael books on CD was a 2020 Christmas gift.
Tree Grows in Brooklyn was an audio CD set from the library.
All other audiobooks listened to were downloaded from LibriVox.)

16. A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters
17. One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters
18. The Story of the First Trans-Continental Railroad by William Francis Bailey
19. Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock
20. Monk's Hood by Ellis Peters
21. Saint Peter's Fair by Ellis Peters
22. The Leper of Saint Giles by Ellis Peters
23. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
24. The Virgin in the Ice by Ellis Peters
25. The Sanctuary Sparrow by Ellis Peters
26. The Devil's Novice by Ellis Peters
27. Wild Life on a Norfolk Estuary by Arthur Henry Patterson
28. Dead Man's Ransom by Ellis Peters
29. The Pilgrim of Hate by Ellis Peters
30. An Excellent Mystery by Ellis Peters
31. Woman Suffrage and Politics by Carrie Chapman Catt
32. The Raven in the Foregate by Ellis Peters
33. LibriVox Short NonFiction Collection Vol 83
34. The Rose Rent by Ellis Peters
35. The Hermit of Eyton Forest by Ellis Peters
36. State of the Union Addresses 1934-1945 by Franklin D. Roosevelt
37. The Confession of Brother Haluin by Ellis Peters
38. Examining the U.S. Capitol Attack by U.S. Senate
39. The Heretic's Apprentice by Ellis Peters
40. The Potter's Field by Ellis Peters
41. The Summer of the Danes by Ellis Peters
42. St. Francis of Assisi by G. K. Chesterton
43. LibriVox Short NonFiction Collection Vol. 85
44. The Holy Thief by Ellis Peters
45. Brother Cadfael's Penance by Ellis Peters
46. A Rare Benedictine by Ellis Peters
47. LibriVox Short NonFiction Collection Vol. 86
48. How to Have Bird Neighbors by S. Louise Patterson
49. Silas Marner by George Eliot
50. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Books Recorded at LibriVox --
51. Report on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident (group project, read some sections, listened to all when done)
52. The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield (solo project)
53. Selected Lead Articles from The Dawn by Louisa Lawson (group project, read some sections, listened to all when done)
54. LibriVox 16th Anniversary Collection (group project, read one section, listened to all when done)
55. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (dramatic reading, read the part of Miss Phoebe, listened to all when done)
56. LibriVox Insomnia Collection Vol. 5 (group project, read one selection, dozed off to others when done)
57. LibriVox Christmas Short Works Collection (group project, read two selections, listened to all when done)
58. LibriVox Christmas Carol Collection (group project, contributed two selections, BC'd and PL'd all)

---------------------
Having looked back at my 2021 booklist, now that the year is over, it strikes me how heavily my list skews towards audiobooks as opposed to paper books. This has been a somewhat hectic year, and it seems that I haven't had time to sit down with an actual book very often. But I could listen to an audiobook on the car CD player, as I drove back and forth to my jobs, and get through a lot of books that way. I also notice that this year's list has a lot more fiction than is usual for me, since I usually tend to heavily lean into nonfiction. A lot of that is probably due to the Ellis Peters CD's which lasted me through most of the year. But I also found myself listening to several long audiobook novels, and getting very drawn into them. Maybe in these stressful times, fiction helps us to escape.

Anyway, I'm now off to launch my 2022 booklist!
Last edited by commonsparrow3 on January 1st, 2022, 9:08 pm, edited 12 times in total.
CSCO
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Post by CSCO »

:lol: :lol: :lol: :wink:
!!!!!!.!!!!!!.!!!!.!!!!!!!!!..!!!.!!!!!!!!!!!...!!!!!!!!!.!!!!!!.!!!!.!!!!!!.!!!!
No way. He stole away a pretty thing, you know.
That's your heart.
!!!!.!!!!!!.!!!!.!!!!!!!!!..!!!.!!!!!!!!!!!...!!!!!.!!!!!!.!!!!!!!!.!!!!!!.!!!!!!
MaryinArkansas
Posts: 1402
Joined: October 4th, 2008, 8:06 pm
Location: Arkansas

Post by MaryinArkansas »

I'm actually getting the books I've read in January posted on February 1st. That may not happen again this year, but at least I'm on schedule for one thing!

"Smiling at Strangers" by Nancy Lewis. Kindle e-book. Book written by a friend of a friend. A first time writer at the age of 80+ Very nice, enjoyable essays

"Off the Mangrove Coast" by Louis L’amour. Book from library sale. Some excellent, entertaining short stories.

"The Tenth of December" by George Saunders. Library audio download. Short stories by writer of “Lincoln in the Bardo” Some excellent descriptions. Very good

"The Collected Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer" by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Book from library sale. Nice variety of stories. Enjoyed some more than others. All in all, very good.

"The Lady" by Conrad Richter. Book from library sale. Excellent short novel about conflict during frontier days in New Mexico. I read this years ago and liked it a lot then. Just as good...perhaps better...on the second reading.
“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.”
―Diane Duane, So You Want to Be a Wizard.

Mary :)📚
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