One Book a Week Club 2022

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Availle
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Post by Availle »

Welcome to the LibriVox One Book a Week Club, edition 2022 - the "we'll beat that pandemic alright" year.

Sign up and set your goal for 2022 - 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 - or make a new post every book/month/quarter... If you like, you can give a rating or even a short synopsis too.

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:
2021, 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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AvailleAudio.com
Availle
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Post by Availle »

Happy 2022! :D

According to last year's post, I have completed 25 books. Everything went well until September, then all hell broke loose in RL... Maybe I'll do better this year - even though I might have forgotten to list a book or two in the frenzy of the last quarter of 2021.

Once again, I'll try for 4 solo recordings for LV. So far, I haven't made up my mind which ones (my list is endless), but I'll come up with something soon. :wink:

"Real" books or ebooks :shock: for my own entertainment/edification/or for work:
1. The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal. Disappointing. Didn't realize it was a family history, only touching on Japan/the netsuke. My interest perked up around WWII, but the 6 years of it were completely skipped over.
2. Newcomer by Keigo Higashino. Interesting approach to a crime novel - told through the eyes of the witnesses.
3. Prefecture D by Hideo Yokoyama. Inner workings - and schemings - of the Japanese police in 4 short stories.
4. Aria by Nazanine Hozar. Great story about a girl growing up in Teheran in the 60s and 70s. Traces her life from miniskirt to hijab.
5. Vita Sexualis by Mori Ogai. "Erotic novel" from 1909, officially banned weeks after publication. Wouldn't earn that label today. [Read in German for free on archive.org]
6. Death in the Dojo by Sue Leather. From the library. Didn't know it was a graded reader. Left quite some questions open.
7. The Beach by Alex Garland. Unputdownable, and I can't really say why...
8. Ikebana by Shozo Sato. Great insights into history and the how-to of different styles. Excellent photos.
9. The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. A slow burning fairy tale with an unexpected "villain".
10. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Fantastic novel, and I had images from the film flash through my mind ever so often...
11. Coraline by Neil Gaiman. Even though it's meant for kids, I got scared a few times in the later chapters. Great book!
12. The Best New True Crime Stories: Unsolved Crimes & Mysteries by Mitzi Szereto. Anthology about murders, disappearances, and an art heist that were never solved. Most stories are very good.
13. Tokyo Redux by David Peace. Historical Fiction/Crime novel about the - as yet unsolved - Shimoyama Incident in 1949. Interesting view into occupied Tokyo after the war.
14. Von der Liebe... by Peter Hoeg, re-read. A set of 6 short stories, all centred around love (in one way or the other) and a single night.
15. The Sea and Poison by Shusaku Endo. Inspired by a real-life Japanese war crime. Haunting, even though there it's more psychological than outright gore.
16. The Alhambra of Granada by Lluis Camals and Feliz Rayon. More pictures than text, but they are worth it.
17. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. View on India/Pakistan history from the viewpoint of a Muslim born in India on their independence day.
18. Snakes and Earrings by Hitomi Kanehara. A glimpse into life on the edge of Tokyo's society, reminiscent of Ryu Murakami, but not as good (I don't like explicit sex and violence).
19. Tokyo Ueno Station by Miri Yu. The life of a homeless person living rough in Ueno Park, and how he got there. Heartbreaking.
20. The Third Man by Graham Greene. Vienna in the time of occupation after WWII. This novella is essentially the screenplay to the film, which I haven't watched (yet).
21. The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi / Arrowroot by Junichiro Tanizaki. Enjoyable novellas; the second one is grounds for further research on Japanese history.
22. Yoshiwara - The Pleasure Quarters of Old Tokyo by Stephen and Ethel Longstreet. Interesting, with many translations of contemporary sources.
23. The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga. An introduction to Adlerian Psychology, and a completely new look on life!
24. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. 400 pages of brand names. But my banker friend assures me that this is all they talk about...
25. The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada. Starts off terribly, then plods on for a while to finish in an amazing denouement of the killer.
25. Nero Corleone & Nero Corleone kehrt zurueck by Elke Heidenreich. On the surface, a book about a brave cat. Just below: a love story.

Audiobooks FROM LibriVox for my own entertainment/edification on commutes and during housework:
1. Sarrasine by Honore de Balzac. A love story with an extremely unexpected but of course tragic ending.
2. The Creature from Cleveland Depths by Fritz Leiber. Why did the Ticklers remind me of modern smartphones? :hmm:
3. The Cat of Bubastes by G.H. Henty. Lovely adventure book set in Ancient Egypt. Lots of research went into this, there was almost too much exposition at times...

Audiobooks FOR LibriVox for my own entertainment/edification and possibly that of others:
1. De Kinderen van Kapitein Grant by Jules Verne. DPL'ed for Bart in Dutch.
2. The Chemical Constituents of the Active Principle of the Ava Root by Alice A. Ball. DPL'ed for Jo.
3. Der Prozess von Franz Kafka. A very difficult read, aloud, at least.
4. The Moral Obligation to be Intelligent by John Erskine. DPL'ed for Beeswaxcandle.
Cheers, Ava.
Resident witch of LibriVox, channelling
Granny Weatherwax: "I ain't Nice."

--
AvailleAudio.com
mightyfelix
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Post by mightyfelix »

Last year, I read 76 books. I'd like to match that for this year, but also I plan on reading several longish works, so I won't be disappointed if it's less.

I also have some categories I'm going to try to fill in. Some of these will be easy, others will be very challenging!

Two poets (11 poems from each):
Alfred Lord Tennyson
John Keats

Two favorite authors of a favorite author:
Undine, by Friedrich de La Motte-Fouque
Hamlet, by William Shakespeare

Two biographies (one living person and one dead):
How Dante Can Save Your Life, by Rod Dreher (technically a memoir, but I'm told it counts!)
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by Mark Twain

Two Victorian novels (one female author and one male):
Villette, by Charlotte Bronte
Hard Times, by Charles Dickens

Two dramas (one comedy and one tragedy):
Measure for Measure, by William Shakespeare
The Trojan Women, by Euripides

Two Inklings books (one by an Inkling and one about an Inkling):
Smith of Wooton Major, by J.R.R. Tolkien
A Well of Wonder, by Clyde S. Kilby

Two "international" books (set/based anywhere other than USA):
Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
A Girl Named Disaster, by Nancy Farmer

Two topical books with opposing viewpoints:
The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius
Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius

Two classic lit books (one new read and one reread):
New: Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe
Reread: The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Two detective novels (one classic and one contemporary):
Classic: Death on the Nile, by Agatha Christie
Contemporary: The Decagon House Murders, by Yukito Ayatsuji

Two collections of essays (one from this century, one from last):
Breaking Bread With the Dead, by Alan Jacobs
On, by Hilaire Belloc

Current reads (I am not a book monogamist):
  • The Marquis of Lossie, by George MacDonald. My current solo, and the sequel to my last solo, Malcolm. Going pretty slowly. I let myself get bogged down with obsessing over accents. :roll:
  • Heather and Snow, by George MacDonald. PLing this one for HannahMary. She's doing a great job!
  • Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo. I loved this book enough that I pressured my husband into reading it with me. 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.
  • Watership Down, by Richard Adams. Reading this for the umpteenth time. My favorite!
  • The Ethics of Beauty, by Timothy Patitsas. Nonfiction, exploring ethics and trauma through a "Beauty-first" approach, as opposed to a rationalistic, Truth-first method.
  • Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. With notes and commentary by George MacDonald!
  • Paradise Lost, by John Milton. I've attempted this once before, but I don't think I got past Book 2. I'm determined to finish this time!
  • The Cloister and the Hearth, by Charles Reade. This is my first time reading this author, and he is really connecting with me! I love this book so much already; it's speaking to me in so many ways. :9:
  • The Road, by Hilaire Belloc. Fascinating book about the history and developments of roads, and the English road system in particular. I'm DPL for this one.
  • Within and Without, by George MacDonald. A dramatic poem. (Get ready to see this on in our Dramatic Works forum next year!)
  • The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, by Catherynne M. Valente.
Finished:
  1. Death on the Nile, by Agatha Christie. This was my first Christie, and I really enjoyed it.
  2. Villette, by Charlotte Bronte. I wish I could remember who recommended this to me. I loved it, but the ending just about broke me.
  3. A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare. Doing this as a read-aloud with some online friends!
  4. Cranford, by Elizabeth Gaskell. Starts off slowly, but by the end, I love the Cranford ladies so much! I wish there had been at least a half dozen more chapters. I wasn't ready to leave!
  5. Undine, by Friedrich de La Motte-Fouque. Recommended by George MacDonald as a quintessential fairy tale. I was disappointed to realize, however, that it was not moving towards a happy ending. :(
  6. Purgatorio, by Dante. I read this along with the 100 Days of Dante group. Loved it. Canto 27 blew my mind!
  7. The Portent, by George MacDonald. I'd been longing for a reread of this for a long time now. It's so beautiful. :9:
  8. Dracula, by Bram Stoker. My first time reading this. It was so fun!
  9. The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis. Another re-read, and I went through it very quickly this time. Probably missed a lot because of it, but it was fun!
  10. Phantastes, by George MacDonald. Another reread for a book club.
  11. The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius. This book is life changing. This was a reread for me, and I went through it too quickly to do it justice, but I'm counting it anyway.
  12. How Dante Can Save Your Life, by Rod Dreher. My first book by this author. It was enjoyable. I may pick up another of his books sooner or later.
  13. The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, by James Hogg. This was really good, but also I don't know how I feel about it. I need to think about it some more.
  14. The Carasoyn, by George MacDonald. A delightful fairy tale that I first read late last year. I read it again for my book club. So fun.
  15. The Mysterious Howling, by Maryrose Wood. This is the first in a series that was recommended to me. It is fun in a silly kid's book kind of way. Not terribly well written, but entertaining. I plan to finish the series, anyway.
  16. Hard Times, by Charles Dickens. I really enjoyed this one. I wasn't ready for it to end.
  17. The Hidden Gallery, by Maryrose Wood. Second in the series mentioned above, The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place. The plot thickens.
  18. The Unseen Guest, by Maryrose Wood. Third in the Incorrigible Children series. I accidentally came across a spoiler for the series, but I probably would have figured that part out halfway through this book. Lots of fun mysteries to unravel.
  19. The Interrupted Tale, by Maryrose Wood. Fourth in the series. Some funny twists in this one.
  20. The Abolition of Man, by C.S. Lewis. I've read this one a couple of times and never really "got" it. Lots of it is still way above my head, but at least I get the gist of it more than I used to.
  21. The Enchanted April, by Elizabeth Von Armin. This is delightful. I laughed all the way through. :9:
  22. The Trojan Women, by Euripides. This was my first time reading this play. There was a lot I didn't understand, but I liked it overall.
  23. Paradiso, by Dante. I finished The Divine Comedy! :clap: What a ride.
  24. Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke. Magnificent. I loved it. So much.
  25. Ships of Pearl, by F.W. Boreham. A book of essays/sermons. I read this as a kind of weekly study with a friend of mine.
  26. Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe. I get why it's a classic. And I enjoyed parts of it. But overall, this book was not as enjoyable to me as I expected. A flaw in myself, I'm sure. :?
  27. Lilith, by George MacDonald. This was the third or fourth reading. It just gets better and better.
  28. The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. I hadn't read this since 5th grade or thereabouts. There was a lot of stuff in here that I'd forgotten. It might have even sailed right over my ten-year-old head back in the day. The punnery is just as delightful as I remember.
  29. The Unmapped Sea, by Maryrose Wood. Fifth book in the Incorrigible Children series. Still fun. Pretty obvious where the series is headed at this point, although I was surprised at how this volume ended.
  30. A Preface to Paradise Lost, by C.S. Lewis. Although it is called a preface, this book was well worth reading in its own right, even if I don't go on to Paradise Lost itself! I will though, of course.
  31. The Long-Lost Home, by Maryrose Wood. Sixth and final book in the Incorrigible Children series. Pretty much what I expected at this point. There were some interesting adventures along the way, and the ending is satisfying, partly because you can see it coming. Fun series, but I will probably never reread it.
  32. Breaking Bread With the Dead, by Alan Jacobs. It was very interesting reading this alongside Lewis' Preface to Paradise Lost. Sometimes they seem to be echoing each other, and sometimes they seem to disagree. Once Jacobs used a direct quote from the Preface that I had just read an hour previously! :shock:
  33. The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas. LV listen. The soloist did a good job, and has done the sequels as well. I may or may not go on to listen to them one day, but I enjoyed this one. It's funnier than I expected!
  34. A Lost God, by Francis William Bourdillon. A narrative poem. I love it. So much that I just launched it as a DR.
  35. Dymer, by C.S. Lewis. Narrative verse, begun when Lewis was only 17, and published when he was 26. I read this for LV as a solo, and very much enjoyed it.
  36. The Picture of Dorian Grey, by Oscar Wilde. This was a good book, but emotionally difficult.
  37. Doctor Dolittle's Zoo, by Hugh Lofting. I PLed this one for Phil Chenevert. He did a great job, and the book was very enjoyable.
  38. Paul Faber, Surgeon, by George MacDonald. Just what I needed to pull me out of a funk, a new-to-me MacDonald! I don't think this is one of his best, but there was a very cool sort of Much Ado About Nothing theme to it that I liked!
  39. The Discarded Image, by C.S. Lewis. One of my online book groups did this together. It was so helpful to be able to talk about the concepts and help each other understand what Lewis was saying.
  40. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This was my first time reading this book since high school. I didn't remember much. The funny thing is, I liked it a lot in high school. And I think I understood it much better this time around, but I don't know if I liked it as much.
  41. Agatha Webb, by Anna Katharine Green. A murder mystery. I think this was my third story by this author now, and I've enjoyed each of them very much!
  42. Here Be Monsters, by Alan Snow. I am sorry to say that I didn't enjoy this book much at all. It has at least one glaring plot problem which is never resolved, and is just so silly at times as to be almost unreadable. I read it because the movie Boxtrolls was based on it, and I loved the movie so much. I was expecting the same level of excellence, but nope. They took a bad-to-mediocre book and made a wonderful film!
  43. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. This is a reread for me. It had been about 20 years since my first read. There was a lot that I had forgotten, and I enjoyed it as much or more this time around.
  44. A Girl Named Disaster, by Nancy Farmer. What a wonderful book. It's a middle grade book, and I read it when it was new, back when I was the target audience. It really stands up to an adult reading.
  45. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. This was my first time reading this classic. I'm glad I read it, but I didn't enjoy it much. Frankenstein is kind of a whiner, and he got on my nerves.
  46. The Decagon House Murders, by Yukito Ayatsuji. Written in the style of a Golden Age murder mystery, it makes several nods to Agatha Christie and other writers from that day. What a masterpiece!
  47. The Leavenworth Case, by Anna Katharine Green. Another Green mystery! I'm really enjoying these.
  48. That Hideous Strength, by C.S. Lewis. I've been itching for a reread of this for a long time. I love this book, and I see more and more in it each time.
  49. Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. This was my first read, and I enjoyed the book. It struck me that it's a bit like a detective novel, but from the perspective of the criminal.
  50. Through the Looking-Glass, by Lewis Carroll. I hadn't read this one in a long time, and enjoyed this reread thoroughly. I'll soon be going through it with other people who are smarter than I am, and I'm very much looking forward to those discussions.
  51. The Heroes, or Greek Fairy Tales, by Charles Kingsley. I was DPL for a group reading of this. Very fun. It made me want to read other versions of these stories.
  52. Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by Mark Twain. I enjoyed this very much.
  53. The Unconditional Freeness of the Gospel, by Thomas Erskine. I DPLed this book, and really liked it a lot. Of course, as DPL, I listened to it all out of order, so I kind of want to go through it again to be able to follow the book's ideas better.
  54. The Two Noble Kinsmen, by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher.
  55. Richard II, by William Shakespeare.
  56. Henry IV part 1, by William Shakespeare.
  57. Henry V, by William Shakespeare.
  58. King Lear, by William Shakespeare.
  59. Macbeth, by William Shakespeare. Can you tell I'm taking a Shakespeare class?
  60. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott. I didn't enjoy this much. I gave it a chance, but it didn't make me love it. Or even like it all that much.
  61. Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius. This was recommended to me, so I gave it a shot. Some interesting stuff. I didn't love it. I probably didn't understand parts of it.
  62. Measure for Measure, by William Shakespeare. Probably my new favorite Shakespeare play! I loved it!
  63. Hamlet, by William Shakespeare.
  64. The Marrow of Modern Divinity, by Edward Fisher. LV listen. Who doesn't love a little seventeenth-century theology, amiright? I did enjoy this. The readers did a good job!
  65. North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell. This one's been on my list for a long time. I really liked it.
  66. On, by Hilaire Belloc. LV listen. Fun book of essays.
  67. The Castle of Otranto, by Horace Walpole. Widely regarded as the first Gothic novel. I'll be taking a class on the Gothic tradition next year, so I decided to get a head start with our first assigned reading. It's a really fun book!
  68. Hind's Feet on High Places, by Hannah Hurnard. I love this book. This was a reread, along with a friend of mine.
  69. Cinnamon and Angelica, by John Middleton Murry. This was a strange play. I don't think I totally understand it.
  70. From the Earth to the Moon, by Jules Verne. Funny story. Very different from my norm.
  71. Smith of Wooton Major, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I've been wanting to get to this story for ages. I finally decided it was time. It is a sweet story.
  72. For the Time Being, by W.H. Auden. I did a readalong of this with a few other folks. It was my first experience of it. It is an interesting dramatic poem for Christmas, almost a modernized Nativity story in verse. I'm sure there was a lot I didn't understand.
  73. A Well of Wonder, by Clyde S. Kilby. Posthumous book of essays on Lewis, Tolkien, and the Inklings, by one of the earliest Inklings scholars and the founder of the Marion E. Wade Center in Illinois. I really enjoyed it!
  74. Round the Moon, by Jules Verne. Sequel to From the Earth to the Moon. It was ok.
  75. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne M. Valente. Really fun! This woman knows her fairy tales.
Abandoned:
[*]Sting and Religion, by Evyatar Marienberg. What I read was very interesting. But then I got bored.
[*]Elon Musk, by Ashlee Vance. Again, interesting. Biographies just really don't do it for me.
MaryinArkansas
Posts: 1402
Joined: October 4th, 2008, 8:06 pm
Location: Arkansas

Post by MaryinArkansas »

My goal for 2022 is 50...just like 2021.

Gosh...2021 is over! Soon it will be time to start Christmas shopping for 2022! :D
“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.”
―Diane Duane, So You Want to Be a Wizard.

Mary :)📚
commonsparrow3
Posts: 3101
Joined: January 17th, 2013, 9:16 pm
Location: Rochester, NY

Post by commonsparrow3 »

Another year flown by already! My 2021 booklist ended up with 58 entries -- and only 15 of them were actual paper books -- all the rest were audiobooks. I think this is the first time that audiobooks have so thoroughly dominated my list, which is usually more half-and-half. But it was a busy year in real life, and audiobooks could be listened to "on the fly", while driving to and from work.

Time to launch the 2022 booklist! We will see how it goes this year! (Goal is to remember to update this list regularly once a month.)

Paper Books Read from Library --
1. When the Stars Begin to Fall: Overcoming Racism and Renewing the Promise of America by Theodore R. Johnson
2. The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For by David McCullough
3. The Book of Gutsy Women by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton
4. The Sea Captain's Wife by Martha Hodes
5. Four Streets and a Square by Marc Aronson
6. Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman
7. Vigilance: The Life of William Still by Andrew Diemer

Books Read From My Own Bookshelves --
8. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
9. An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor
10. Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren
11. Golden Age Locked Room Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler

Library Audiobooks Listened to --
12. How Music Works: The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds by John Powell
13. Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean
14. Neither Snow Nor Rain: A History of the US Postal Service by Devin Leonard
15. Watership Down by Richard Adams
16. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

LibriVox Audiobooks Listened to --
17. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
18. Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 89
19. Mob Rule in New Orleans by Ida Wells Barnett
20. Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock
21. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
22. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
23. Return to Gone-Away by Elizabeth Enright
24. Dog: A Selection of Stories by Various
25. Middlemarch by Elizabeth Gaskell
26. LibriVox 17th Anniversary Collection
27. Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
28. The Modern Woman's Rights Movement by Kathe Schirmacher
29. Serbian Fairy Tales
30. My Thirty Years in Baseball by John McGraw
31. All About Coffee by William Ukers
32. Christmas Short Works Collection 2022
33. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Books Contributed to and then Listened to at LibriVox --
34. Understood Betsy (DR) by Dorothy Canfield Fisher

January 1, 2023 Update -
Only 34 books this year. Life has been too busy - (working two jobs, often at work all 7 days in a week) - so little time to read. Even more so than last year, I've turned more to audiobooks than to paper books, because they can be listened to while driving or doing chores. Only one single LV participation entry this year. Unfortunately, my latest solo has languished untouched for months. And for the first time since I've been at LV, I missed out on contributing to either the Anniversary Collection or the Christmas Collection. In conclusion, I say "Thank goodness for audiobooks, or I wouldn't be reading anything!" AND "Here's hoping that I can get back to contributing something at LV in 2023!" The 2023 list begins here!
Last edited by commonsparrow3 on January 1st, 2023, 1:51 pm, edited 13 times in total.
CSCO
Posts: 393
Joined: April 6th, 2010, 10:48 am
Location: Toyokawa, Japan

Post by CSCO »

A Happy New Year to you all!

My goal is only 4 books this year. I will read The Old Testament once more this year. Yes. I am a christian. I need only 3,000 words and IT terms.

[Postscript: It's too busy (because I must learn from wonderful novels) to write my novels! It's my pity! (28 Jully, 2022)]


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]
ユダヤ戦記 2 (THE WARS OF THE JEWS (Vol. 2 of 3 Vols)) by Flavius Josephus [Translator: Hata]
ヴォネガット、大いに語る (WAMPETERS, FOMA AND GRANFALLOONS) by Kurt Vonnegut [Translator: Tobita]
Winnie-the-Pooh (reread) by A. A. Milne
The New Testament (CEV) (reread)
十八史略 (A Digest of 18 Chinese History Books) by 曾先之 (Sou Sensi) [Translation: In Classic Japanese]
[I'm very surprised because I found out that there are movements to disgrace 十八史略 in Japan now. I like 曾先之's prose. You Japanese (except me) are blind. You respect 中島 敦's {(なかじま あつし, or Nakajima Atsushi)'s} proses and you disgrace 曾先之's prose. You are blind. I know they are at the same level at Nakajima's best.

Nakajima's best work is 李陵 (Li Ling, りりょう). But Japanese Readers in the high school can't accept it because it is a little bit long.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8D%81%E5%85%AB%E5%8F%B2%E7%95%A5
(12 April, 2022) (postscript 26 April, 2022) (postscript 27 April, 2022)]
[I have finished Book 1 reading. (29 September, 2022)]



FINISHED:
アエネーイス (上) (Aeneidos (The Aeneid)) by Vergilii (Virgil) [Translator: Izui]
[I'm in the Book 3 now. (12 November, 2021)]
[I'm in the Book 7 now. (2 January, 2022)]
[The Book 7 is great: Flowery and powerful. (4 January, 2022)]
ヨシュア記 (reread) (JOSHUA) [Translation: The Old Testament in classic Japanese]
[Joshua's distribution is very hard to image because many of the cities' old names are unknown on my shabby The Holy Bible Maps. (In short, Joshua placed his border clearly, but I can only image it ambiguously.) This is my great pity. But I suppose the scholars also are in mist (the same as me). (31 January, 2022)]
アエネーイス (下) (Aeneidos (The Aeneid)) by Vergilii (Virgil) [Translator: Izui]
[I'm in the Book 9. I also see this work is not completed. (15 January, 2022)]
[I'm in the Book 9. (31 January, 2022)]
[I'm in the Book 10. (17 February, 2022)]
[Honestly speaking, Izui-sensei's translation is very venturous. He applied Japanese seven‐and-five syllable meter. And it is not good for me. It is painful to me sometimes. (Vergil's dactylic hexameter is far quicker than Japanese seven‐and-five syllable meter, I guess.) Aeneidos has only two Japanese translations. The one makes me tired. And the other is high expensive books. Aeneidos is unfinished work. It is dull and rough and it is brilliant sometimes. (22 March, 2022)]
ヨエル書 (reread) (JOEL) [Translation: The Old Testament in classic Japanese]
[I am very happy because I have The Holy Bible. (24 March, 2022)]
ある小さなスズメの記録 (Sold for a Farthing) by Clare Kipps [Translator: Nashiki]
[I like this book. I am getting old and my parents are very old now. Honestly speaking, I hate my parents. (This is a very sad thing. Jesus!) So, this beautiful and humorous love story is a dagger in me. But I'm very happy because Clare Kipps and her sidekick taught me many important things while my parents are. This is a very good book. My rating is 79 points. (5 April, 2022)]
不都合な真実 (AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH) by Al Gore [Translator: Edahiro]
[Very good. Al Gore is very brave. (5 May, 2022)]
出エジプト記 (reread) (EXODUS) [Translation: The Old Testament in classic Japanese]
[Great. If you are a leader, you can learn to be a leader from EXODUS. I have got many writing techniques from EXODUS. (11 May, 2022)]
士師記 (reread) (JUDGES) [Translation: The Old Testament in classic Japanese]
[Great. 士師 means The Leader Of An Army. It is the JUDGES, which must be already in your hearts. I'm going to study Nabokov's works around Lolita to know a woman's dark side. But this effort is empty at all. We can learn the story of Samson and Delilah in JUDGES without payment and it's much easier task to know a woman. (Literature is to write human (if you know human, you can get to know our society), and a woman is the half of human. If you can get what a woman is, you can live on writing. So, a man-and-woman-relation is very important matter in literature. Because we are here indeed! Don't pretend to be a holy angel. We are a worm in most moments!) You would say, "The Holy Bible is not enough for you to learn English language." And I would ask you, "Micah's mother was Delilah?" (In short, we don't know that we know nothing on both writing and the Holy Bible.) (13 May, 2022)]
阿部一族 (あべいちぞく) (a medium-length story) (The ABE FAMILY) by Mori Ougai (もり おうがい, or 森 鴎外)
[Ougai is very important in the Japanese Literary History. Because he introduced the Western Literature and mixed it to our traditional literature. In short, Ougai is a giant in the Japanese Literary History. By the way, as an author, Ougai is important still? I dare to say Ougai is an old timer as a novelist.
In fact, Ougai was a novelist of the Meiji Era, and Ougai treated his current Japanese problems: Meiji Japan and new Japanese. The ABE FAMILY presented a great question to the educated people at that time in Japan. And I suppose the problem is obsoleted now. Ougai didn't treat human's eternal problems. In short, Ougai was a current writer so that Ougai couldn't left any eternal work except for two works. (He left two important works: the one is 高瀬舟 (たかせぶね, or A Takase Boat) and the other is ヰタ・セクスアリス (ゐた・せくすありす, or Vita Sexualis). Oh, I have not yet read Vita Sexualis.) Ougai's writing style is wonderful. I want to follow his writing style. I adore his writing style. But, Ougai's many works are empty now. (19 May, 2022)]
高瀬舟 (たかせぶね) (a short story) (A Takase Boat) by Mori Ougai (もり おうがい, or 森 鴎外)
[This is a diamond of Japanese Literature. Japanese Readers in the high school include Ougai's 舞姫 (まいひめ, or A Dancer Girl). But A Dancer Girl is too hard for highschoolers to read. Because this work is in classic Japanese (ぶんご, or 文語). So, many Japanese run away from Ougai's works afterwards. (The Japanese Government wins!) I suppose A Takase Boat is the best choice as Ougai's best work for Japanese Readers in the high school. But, A Takase Boat faces to poverty so that the government parties can't hear me. Ougai was a genius. But he had much things to protect. Ougai couldn't throw his life into Literature. (A true novelist is killed by the powers narurally.) This is a very sad thing. By the way, Ougai's sister's grandson is Hoshi Shinichi (ほししんいち, 星新一), a well-known novelist. I loved Hoshi-sensei's very short stories (ショートショート, or Short Short) very much when I was a junior high schooler. Hoshi-sensei impressed me. (19 May, 2022)]
じいさんばあさん (じいさんばあさん) (a short story) (An Very Old Couple) by Mori Ougai (もり おうがい, or 森 鴎外)
[Great. I like this story. I enjoyed his great prose. This short story is a commonplace and has too many characters even though it is a short story. In short, the plot is simple and Ougai's explanations are not simple. But I like this story. (21 May, 2022)]
ルツ記 (reread) (RUTH) [Translation: The Old Testament in classic Japanese]
[This is a great example of a short story. What a wonderful opening! What a wonderful closing! I like RUTH very much! (25 May, 2022)]
アモス書 (reread) (AMOS) [Translation: The Old Testament in classic Japanese]
[Great! (26 May, 2022)]
カメラ・オブスクーラ (Камера обскура) by Vladimir Nabokov [Translator: Kaizawa]
[This novel is much better than Lolita. Камера обскура is literature. (13 June, 2022)]
飛ぶ教室 (Das fliegende Klassenzimmer) by Erich Kästner [Translator: Ikeuchi]
[Great and wonderful!!! When my eyes stood tears the third time, I started to count how many times this work should make me weep. But the effort was in vain. The last half didn't let my eyes dry. I'm a fan of Kästner now! Kästner is much greater than Nabokov. Much and much and much!!! (22 June, 2022)]
The New Testament (CEV)
[God blesses me. I'm very happy! :D (22 June, 2022)]
ドン・キホーテ (abridged) (EL INGENIOSO HIDALGO DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA) by Miguel de Cervantes [Translator and Editor: Ushijima]
[This abridged version in Japanese is the best gate to enter the DON QUIXOTE world! (23 July, 2022)]
ふたりのロッテ (Das doppelte Lottchen) by Erich Kästner [Translator: Ikeda]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYPV6EEQ1Qo
Another arrange (for N.H.K. family drama Yumekazoku (夢家族, ゆめかぞく), which is based on Das doppelte Lottchen) is very sentimental and very gool. I strongly claim to N.H.K. to air the drama again and again. (23 July, 2022)]
[I challenged a challenge to Kästner again. (Yes, I won't cry.) At the first half, I didn't weep. (Of course, this is a lie.) But at the last three chapters, my eyes couldn't dry up, you know. If it were a baseball game, the game would be called off because it was one-side game and a heavy rain. Also my soul poured out of my eyes. I cried and cried with a cry for the first time by a novel, for kids and ex-kids. Because it is wonderful and wonderful and holy and holy. I found out my teacher on writing a juvenile. (28 July, 2022)]
オバデヤ書 (reread) (OBADIAH) [Translation: The Old Testament in classic Japanese]
[Great! (29 July, 2022)]
ヨナ書 (reread) (JONAH) [Translation: The Old Testament in classic Japanese]
[Great! (29 July, 2022)]
ヨブ記 (reread) (JOB) [Translation: The Old Testament in classic Japanese]
[Great! (29 September, 2022)]
ダニエル書 (reread) (DANIEL) [Translation: The Old Testament in classic Japanese]
[Great! (29 September, 2022)]
ヘーシオドス 仕事と日 ('Érga kaì Hēmérai' and 'Certamen Homeri et Hesiodi') by Hesiod and Alcidamas [Translator: MATSUDAIRA]
[I wonder Hesiod's style is great: simple, plain, and holy! (24 October, 2022)]



DISCARDED:
Last edited by CSCO on October 24th, 2022, 10:05 am, edited 57 times in total.
!!!!!!.!!!!!!.!!!!.!!!!!!!!!..!!!.!!!!!!!!!!!...!!!!!!!!!.!!!!!!.!!!!.!!!!!!.!!!!
No way. He stole away a pretty thing, you know.
That's your heart.
!!!!.!!!!!!.!!!!.!!!!!!!!!..!!!.!!!!!!!!!!!...!!!!!.!!!!!!.!!!!!!!!.!!!!!!.!!!!!!
Dulcamara
Posts: 7565
Joined: December 23rd, 2020, 1:14 pm
Location: Barataria

Post by Dulcamara »

:oops: :oops: :oops: I did not finish my list last year. I had intended to write a short comment on each book I read or proof-listened. Unfortunately, at some point it was just too difficult to catch up... :shock:

Anyway, that's the beauty of a new year... I get a new chance!

I have three goals:

1) I expect to reach Dec 31st 2022 with an updated 2022 Book List.
2) I plan to read no fewer books than I did in 2021.
3) I want to read more books in Spanish than I did last year.

Same as last year, some entries will be in Spanish, some in English.

1) Memorias de un loco, de Nicolas Gogol
. Revisado en Librivox, leido por el talentoso Epachuko. El diario de un empleado de oficina va registrando su descenso a la locura. La historia es inquietante a la par que exhibe un innegable sentido del humor.
Last edited by Dulcamara on January 17th, 2022, 3:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Jasna

Second to the right and then straight on till morning.
huwozir

Post by huwozir »

I don't have so much free time, so I won't set unachievable goals. 50 books for this year will be enough, and I'll do my best to read even more than I plan.
Dulcamara
Posts: 7565
Joined: December 23rd, 2020, 1:14 pm
Location: Barataria

Post by Dulcamara »

Update

2) Cuentos del Oeste, por Bret Harte. Coleccion revisada en Librivox, leida por nuestro amigo Victor Villarraza. Muy entretenida seleccion de historias ambientadas en el lejano oeste. Ofrecen personajes que muestran lo mejor del ser humano aun enfrentados a situaciones limite. Las escuche tan atentamente como solia leer en mi infancia las novelas de Zane Grey.

I strongly recommend these stories by Bret Harte. He creates attractive, complex characters who uphold their values in extreme situations.

3) La Hermandad de los Siete Reyes (Meade y Eustace). En la tradicion de Sherlock Holmes, Mr Head y su amigo Dufrayer combaten una sociedad criminal secreta. Revisado en Librivox. Retorcidos planes homicidas, joyas misteriosas y maldades varias se entremezclan en las maquinaciones de una mujer brillante al margen de la ley. A veces la prosa puede ser un poco pesada, pero la historia entretiene.
Jasna

Second to the right and then straight on till morning.
Dulcamara
Posts: 7565
Joined: December 23rd, 2020, 1:14 pm
Location: Barataria

Post by Dulcamara »

Update

4) The Cat Who Went To Heaven, by Elizabeth Coatsworth (USA 1930; UK 1949). Art by Kiddell-Monroe. An original little tale that draws from several Chinese legends, it successfully recreates the mood of those fairy tales. Although it was intended as a children's book, it will appeal to all ages. The illustrations are beautiful. It's a welcome breath of serenity. In a few years, I hope, it will make an amazing collaborative project. :9:

5) Leviathan Wakes, by James S.A. Corey. I discovered that's actually the pen-name of two writers who work together. This book is the first of nine-book long The Expanse series. It's extremely well written, fast-paced, with well constructed characters. It was nominated to the Hugo award in 2012. I think it's the best science fiction novel I've read in a long time.
One word of warning, though: the lovecraftian element is just suggested. I would have liked it to be developed more.

Currently listening to Peter Pan, first version, on Librivox. 8-)

Update 03/02/2022

6) Peter Pan, downloaded from Librivox. The old charm is there! Somehow, I can compare listening to ( some portions of ) it with doing meditation. This is a book I'd probably like to read to my grandchildren (if I ever have them). Perhaps I'd edit out a couple PI bits, though. :D

7) The Calumet Book of Oven Triumphs, by General Foods Coorporation. This is one of several recipe books tastefully selected, and coordinated by Larry (silverquill). Scrumptious cakes, cookies, pies, you name it. I loved DPLing it from beginning to end. :birthday:

8) Cadiz, by Benito Perez Galdos.(Spanish) Another adventure-packed volume in the Episodios Nacionales series, read by Alexelmagno (Alejandro Castillo). Spain gathers all her forces in this beautiful city to face the French invaders. Attractive and full of colour, it was great fun to DPL.
Las fuerzas restantes de Espana se concentran en esta bella ciudad para hacer frente al invasor frances. Aventuras y colorido por doquier, fue muy entretenido hacer la revision de audio. Ya sea que te interesen las aventuras, la historia o incluso la linguistica o la etnografia, encontraras mucho que disfrutar.

9) Los Mil y Un Fantasmas, Vol 1, de Alexandre Dumas, proyecto colaborativo coordinado por Epachuko. Un grupo de amigos relata historias sobrenaturales en una version gotica de Las Mil y Una Noches.
A group of friends sit in the gathering darkness to tell mysterious stories in what becomes a gothic version of Thousand Nights and One. These long winter nights were the ideal setting to DPL this book. :D

10) La Caja de Amatista, de Anna Katharine Green, leida por Victor Villarraza (phileasfogg). Escritora estadounidense del siglo XIX, no ha recibido todo el credito que merece por sentar las bases de la historia de detectives e inspirar a autores como Conan Doyle. Entretenida historia, muy bien construida y facil de seguir. Posiblemente esta historia sea mi record como DPL: no podia revisar solo un capitulo, tenia que ver que pasaba despues! :lol:

AKG was my big discovery last year.(Thank you, Victor!!!) She was a real trail blazer in the genre, establishing the foundations of the detective story long before Conan Doyle wrote his famous Holmes stories. I intend to read as many of her stories as I can find and I strongly recommend them.

CURRENTLY READING/ LEYENDO: a) Reacher. Short stories (Lee Child) b) How Fascism Works ( J. Stanley) c) An essay on Liberation (Marcuse). The last one is a challenge. I want to see how much I can understand. El ultimo es un desafio. Quiero ver cuanto logro entender.
Jasna

Second to the right and then straight on till morning.
MaryinArkansas
Posts: 1402
Joined: October 4th, 2008, 8:06 pm
Location: Arkansas

Post by MaryinArkansas »

Here's my list for January Not many books, but it's a start to a new year of reading.

"Gaudy Nights" by Dorothy L. Sayers. BBC Radio Drama. Interesting mystery. Great cast.
"Stormy Weather" by Carl Hiaasen. Library audiobook download. Fun, entertaining book. Fast moving and often humorous
"One of Ours" by Willa Cather. Ebook. A little slow at first, but generally very good novel about a young man from the small town Midwest who fights in WWI. Book was a Pulitzer Prize winner.
“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.”
―Diane Duane, So You Want to Be a Wizard.

Mary :)📚
MaryinArkansas
Posts: 1402
Joined: October 4th, 2008, 8:06 pm
Location: Arkansas

Post by MaryinArkansas »

Here are my books read in February. Pretty good number of books for a short month. Probably due to being in the house so much during several days of snow and ice early in the month, then a few days of sleet and ice towards the end of the month. 🥶

"Snowflakes" by Ruth Ware. Kindle audiobook. Chose this short story to test wireless earbuds with the Kindle Paperwhite bought in December. Not the genre I usually like, but well written.

"In the Music Library" by Ellen Hunnicut. Book bought at local library. Nice assortment of short stories, many with a theme or a sense of music. Some are quite good.

"The Things They Carried" by Tim O’Brien. Kindle e-book. Excellent collection of short stories about soldiers in Viet Nam. combined together in a sort of novel format.

"The Fugitive Blacksmith" by James W. C. Pennington. Gutenberg E-book. True story written by Mr. Pennington, who escaped slavery in the 1840s. Very impressive.

"The Splendid and the Vile" by Erik Larsen. Library audiobook download. Excellent history of the early days of WWII in the UK.
“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.”
―Diane Duane, So You Want to Be a Wizard.

Mary :)📚
MaryinArkansas
Posts: 1402
Joined: October 4th, 2008, 8:06 pm
Location: Arkansas

Post by MaryinArkansas »

My post for books read in March.

"The Edge of Lost" by Kristina McMorris. Kindle e-book. Very good fiction set in early 20th century Ireland, New York and Alcatraz prison.

"Bloodless" by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Library audiobook download. The latest in the Pendergast series. About 3.5 stars for me. I liked the story, but I don’t especially care for the sci-fi, fantasy part, as I’m not a fan of that genre. Even so, great plot and characters, as always.

"The Invisible Man" by H. G. Wells. E-book. Even though I'm not a sci-fi fan, I wanted to read this classic sci-fi. Glad I did, as I liked it a lot

"The Nigger of the Narcissus" by Joseph Conrad. LibriVox download. There is so much more to this book than the title. Excellent book. Excellent performance by Peter Dann

"Towers at the Edge of a World" by Virgil Burnett. Book from library sale. A series of somewhat connected short stories in the fantasy vein, about a fictional Medieval town. Beautiful illustrations at the beginning of each chapter.

Looks like March was my fantasy month!
“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.”
―Diane Duane, So You Want to Be a Wizard.

Mary :)📚
mightyfelix
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 11103
Joined: August 7th, 2016, 6:39 pm

Post by mightyfelix »

My local library is starting their summer reading program this coming Monday. I'm also off work all next week, so I expect I'll get a good head start on my reading hours! We're approaching the halfway point of the year, so pretty soon, I'll need to look again at the reading challenge I took up for this year and take stock of how I'm progressing.
MaryinArkansas
Posts: 1402
Joined: October 4th, 2008, 8:06 pm
Location: Arkansas

Post by MaryinArkansas »

Not a lot of reading during the past two months, but some good books.

April 2022 "Nostromo" by Joseph Conard. LibriVoxAudiobook read by TheBanjo (Peter Dann). Beautifully written, complex book with lots going on. Excellent reading performance by Mr. Dann

May 2022 "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving. Kindle ebook. Unusual story and main characters. Almost old fashioned in the development of characters. Very good novel.

May 2022 "The Disenchanted" by Budd Schulberg. Book. Excellent fictionalization of the time that Mr. Schulberg worked with F. Scott Fitzgerald in late 1930s Hollywood.

Two good books started for June. Should be a good reading month.
“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.”
―Diane Duane, So You Want to Be a Wizard.

Mary :)📚
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