One Book A Week Club 2020

[Scarbo]

11/2020 “Buried Alive” by Arnold Bennett. LibriVox download. Entertaining book. Excellently read by Simon Evers. Very enjoyable.

I've been listening to a ton of Bennett lately and enjoying it. I've added this one to my to-read list!

[JayKitty76]

I just read:
-Tuck Everlasting (one of my personal favorite stories ever!) by Natalie Babbitt
-Lily's Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff
I'm in the process of reading (maybe like fifteen pages left hahaha)
-Leia, Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray (I'm a really big Star Wars fan, but I wouldn't really recommend this one- it wasn't that great. Needed more description.)

[Availle]

It's a new year, and a new book club for 2021 has opened its doors here: viewtopic.php?f=25&t=84577

Finish up your book list and see you in the new and much improved venue!

[MaryinArkansas]

Here's my list for December. I did reach my 52 books goal. Kind of surprising, as I spent a considerable amount of time working on other projects. All in all, a good year of book reading. Time to start book reading for 2021...actually, I've already done that.

Happy New Year to all.

12/2020 "The Last King of Scotland" by Giles Fodan. Library audiobook download. Very good fictional book about dictator Idi Amin, as told by Scots doctor who worked for him (Amin is a real person, doctor is fictional)

12/2020 "The Pink Shop" by Fergus Hume. LibriVox download

12/2020 "The Cat Who Came in from the Cold" by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson. Book from library sale

12/2020 "All the Devils Are Here" by Louise Penny" Library audio download. Excellent. The latest 3 Pines mystery

12/2020 "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery. Kindle library book. Quite good. Different type of story

12/2020 "Life on the Mississippi" Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) LibriuVox download. Excellent. Clemens’ journals and writings of various times of his working and traveling on the Mississippi, as well as other times of his life

12/2020 "My Cave Life in Vicksburg" by Mary Ann Loughborough. Gutenberg ebook (reading Twain's book inspired me to read this one.) True diary account by a southern woman who lived in Vicksburg, Mississippi during the Civil War siege of 1863. Excellent account of what people in Vicksburg went through at that time

12/2020 "The Old House and Other Tales" Fyodor Sologub. Gutenberg ebook. Some good stories. Fairly good little book.l

[ColleenMc]

I gave up on my book tracking (and movie tracking) sometime early in pandemic lockdown. A lot of life went to the wayside this year. On to 2021!

[thestorygirl]

[*]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!
...
[*]Out of the Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis. This was maybe my fourth time reading this book, or thereabouts. First in Lewis' Space Trilogy, it tells of Dr. Ransom and his unwitting journey to the planet called Malacandra by the inhabitants.
...
[*]The Horse and His Boy, by C.S. Lewis. BBC radio theatre recording. I've read the story many times, and know and love it well. I picked up this 3-disc recording at the Salvation Army for $3, and loved experiencing the story in a new way!
[*]Pride and Prescience, by Carrie Bebris. Our story begins on the wedding day of Jane and Elizabeth Bennet to Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy. Circumstances force Mr. and Mrs. Darcy to change their plans to spend Christmas at Pemberley, and before they know it, they are deeply involved in a suspicious series of accidents surrounding the Bingley family. I enjoyed it, however, I thought it skewed too much to the supernatural, particularly toward the end. It didn't feel quite right to me to blend those genres, like adding cayenne pepper in your English breakfast tea.
[*]Tales From Watership Down, by Richard Adams. Sequel to Watership Down, which is still my favorite and most-often-read book. Sadly, it will never be PD in my lifetime, barring some drastic legal changes, as Richard Adams died only two or three years ago. I enjoyed it, though not as much as the first one. This was not as immersive, being mostly a collection of short stories.
[*]The Club of Queer Trades, by G.K. Chesterton. LV listen. Short and enjoyable, a series of separate but related short stories, each an hour or less. One of Chesterton's favorite themes is here strongly at work: that the one who appears to be completely and utterly insane is actually the only thoroughly sane and reasonable one.
...
[*]The Machine Stops, by E.M. Forster. LV listen. A dystopia in which everyone lives in their own room and has all of their needs met, including their communication with each other, through The Machine. I didn't quite like it like I wanted to, though I can't figure out why.
[*]Parables of the Cross, by Lilias Trotter. LV listen. I can't recommend this one enough for devotional reading. Beautifully narrated and wonderfully written. The book shows how plants and flowers can give us a picture of the Christian Life and the surrender God requires.
[*]Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, by Gregory Maguire. Library book. I'd been wanting to read this for many years, ever since seeing the made-for-TV movie based off of it. A Cinderella story, set in Holland and told from the perspective of the younger of the two ugly stepsisters. A bit darker than the movie.
...
[*]Malcolm, by George MacDonald. My most recent LV solo. It took me much longer than I expected, but it's done! I've decided to move on to the sequel for my next solo.

We seem to have similar tastes in reading. Commentary:
You read the original versions with all the antiquated Scottish colloquialisms? Wow! Good for you! I read the edited versions by Michael Phillips (though, not for LV!). I really liked the atmosphere of the first one, not so much the second. But I appreciated the allegory of the returning Lord of justice.
I've read out of the Silent Planet and trying to get myself to read the next one. Having a harder time getting into it but I may enjoy it more now that I'm older.
Love the Horse and His Boy audio drama! My favorite!
Hm, now I'm rethinking reading the Bebris series. Thanks for the tip.
LOVED Watership Down and wanting to read this one too. I also have several of Adams' other novels on my bookshelf, unread as yet.
I enjoyed The Club of Queer Trades. I also liked the BBC audio dramas of them.
I'm adding The Machine Stops to my TBR!
Have you seen the docu drama on Lilias Trotter (Michelle Dockery plays Lilias)? That's on my TBW...
I tried to read Confessions of an Ugly Step Sister and gave up. The movie was much better!

[thestorygirl]

"Andrew the Glad," by Maria Thompson Daviess; for LV


"Teach Us to Want," by Jen Pollock Michel (non-f)


"The Doctor's Lady,"  by Jody Hedlund


"The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes," by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle


"Ivanov," by Anton Chekhov


"Broken Hearts," by W.S. Gilbert; for LV


"Dear Enemy," by Jean Webster


"Becoming Worldly Saints," by Michael Wittmer (non-f)

"The Hero Within," by Carol Pearson (non-f)

"Enchantress of Numbers," by Jennifer Chiaverini


"Germ," by Robert Liparulo


"The Divine Symphony," by Calvin Miller


"The Divine Embrace," by Ken Gire (non-f)


"Glamorous Illusions," by Lisa T. Bergren


"Dawn of a Thousand Nights," by Tricia Goyer


"Rainbow Valley," by L.M. Montgomery


"A.D. 30," by Ted Dekker


"The Road to Serfdom," by Freidrich Hayek (non-f)


"A Home for the Soul," by Anthony Lawlor (non-f)


"Tuck," by Stephen Lawhead

[mightyfelix]

We do have similar tastes, you're right!

We seem to have similar tastes in reading. Commentary:
You read the original versions with all the antiquated Scottish colloquialisms? Wow! Good for you! I read the edited versions by Michael Phillips (though, not for LV!). I really liked the atmosphere of the first one, not so much the second. But I appreciated the allegory of the returning Lord of justice.

Well, at first I didn't have much of a choice! The first MacDonald that I read that wasn't fantasy was Malcolm, in the edited version. This was many years ago. At the time, I didn't even realized it was edited! Then when I finished it, I needed the sequel like I needed air, and I couldn't find the edited one right away, but I knew that PG had the original for free. At first, I was a little discouraged, but I was so invested in the story that I muscled through it. Now I almost never have a problem understanding the scotch. Actually pronouncing it for LV, though, well......

I've read out of the Silent Planet and trying to get myself to read the next one. Having a harder time getting into it but I may enjoy it more now that I'm older.

The whole series is amazing! Perelandra is beautiful and will make you think about the nature of things like temptation, sin, obedience, etc. But That Hideous Strength is my favorite. It's not like the first two, and it took me awhile to understand the genius of it. But it is pure genius!

LOVED Watership Down and wanting to read this one too. I also have several of Adams' other novels on my bookshelf, unread as yet.

So far I've read Plague Dogs and Shardik. Both are great, although both are a bit darker than Watership. Actually, Shardik is a LOT darker. But I've learned that Adams is good at bringing light out of darkness.

Have you seen the docu drama on Lilias Trotter (Michelle Dockery plays Lilias)? That's on my TBW...

No, I haven't! This was my first and still only experience with her. I'll need to find some more!

I tried to read Confessions of an Ugly Step Sister and gave up. The movie was much better!

Honestly, the movie was better than any made-for-TV movie has any right to be, if you ask me! I love it!

[JayKitty76]

As there’s no 2021 thread as far as I can see, I’ll post here...
I’m currently reading Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, as well as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In 2020 I read 40+ books for school, none of which were exceptional. I read To Kill a Mockingbird with my family and that was absolutely incredible, especially in light of all the racial prejudice going on across the world.
I reread the entire Harry Potter series this year and I read the first two original books of Percy Jackson but didn’t end up liking them so stopped fairly quickly. For my DR I had to reread Little Men and absolutely loved it. I also read Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls for the first time since I was little (made myself skip one graphic scene) as well as The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare.

All in all I think I did a lot of reading last year, considering the fact that I was writing my own short stories nonstop. I’ve probably forgotten some books but for now that’s as much as I can remember off the top of my head.

[MaryinArkansas]

As there’s no 2021 thread as far as I can see, I’ll post here...

Here's the 2021 thread.

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=84577

[JayKitty76]

As there’s no 2021 thread as far as I can see, I’ll post here...

Here's the 2021 thread.

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=84577

Thanks! I’ll update that thread as I read more. Most of my last post was books read in 2020 anyway.

[commonsparrow3]

I did an abysmal job of keeping my 2020 reading list updated as we went along, but I've done my best update the list today, with the help of my public library card's circulation list, my LV reader page, and my sloppy habit of leaving my own recently read books unshelved and lying randomly around the house.
Here's my 2020 list:
viewtopic.php?p=1663836#p1663836
I'll try to keep up as I go along on the 2021 list!