Undeterred, Booksloth tries again

I failed last year but that won't stop me having another go. This year, study books count (because I bought them all back in 2010) and I plan to make a determined effort to buy fewer books (though, then again, I planned that last year too). At around 120-150 books a year, making 50 of those ones I have already paid for shouldn't be impossible by a long stretch. Good luck to everyone having another crack at the challenge.

So it's time to create this year's 'ticker' - how about this?




1 The Nature of Monsters - Clare Clark
2 How to Read the Victorian Novel - George Levine
3 Goldengrove - Francine Prose
4 Lucy - Jamaica Kincaid
5 The Man Who Loved Children - Christina Stead
6 Sister - Rosamund Lupton
7 Kiss of the Spider Woman - Manuel Puig
8 Something Sensational to Read in the Train - Gyles Brandreth
9 Jasmine - Bharati Mukherjee
10 A Good School - Richard Yates
11 Callisto - Torsten Krol
12 Girl Meets Boy - Ali Smith
13 Monkey - Wu Ch'eng-En
14 Of Bees and Mist - Erick Setiawan
15 The Disappeared - Kim Echlin
16 The Uses of Enchantment - Bruno Bettleheim
17 Ghost of a Chance - Rhiannon Lassiter
18 Pain of Death - Adam Creed
19 Blackbird House - Alice Hoffman
20 The Woman Who Walked Into Doors - Roddy Doyle
21 Schopenhauer's Telescope - Gerard Donovan
22 City of Bones - Michael Connelly
23 Shirley - Charlotte Bronte
24 The House of Special Purpose - John Boyne
25 The Rottweiler - Ruth Rendell
26 Brighton Rock - Graham Greene
27 God is Not Great - Christopher Hitchens
28 Days of Grace - Catherine Hall
29 Dead Men Do Tell Tales - William R Maples
30 The Shrimp and the Anemone - L P Hartley
31 Burned - Thomas Enger
32 The Sheltering Sky - Paul Bowles
33 Waterland - Graham Swift
34 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
35 Kim - Rudyard Kipling
36 Our Mutual Friend - Charles Dickens

Good to see you making another start. I too intend to buy less than I read this year. Since I only read around 50 a year, that might be hard. Good luck to you!

What is it they say? The road to hell is paved with good intentions? I sometimes wish there could be a ban on pulishing new books for a year or two just to help me whittle down the TBR pile but every year new goodies appear and the gods of reading assume I'm going to have will-power. They should know better

Hi Booksloth!

Good luck to you. I don't think I'll keep a separate challenge thread but might flag books purchased in 2010/earlier in my 75 book challenge thread for this year.

Wishing you all the best in 2011,
Karen

>3 Booksloth:: I know what you mean. Every month fantasticfiction.com lists the books that are being published in that month. And usually tht means my wishlist grows.

You too karen. I hope you'll still be reporting back on your reading (though I'll be doing my best to ignore all those wonderful recommendations!) Maybe the answer for me is to get those 50 'off the shelf' ones read as quickly as possible, then I can buy without guilt. Have a great year!

Welcome back and good luck with your 2011 challenge, I'll be dropping in to root for you.

Okay - I got started! Book number one in the challenge is The Nature of Monsters by Clare Clark. I love Clark's books - they give an almost perfect depiction of the seamier side of 18th/19th century London. Thos one was a delightfully gripping tale of a young pregnant woman who is sent to live with a London apothecary. At first she believes he has agreed to terminate her unwanted pregnancy but, as time goes on, she discovers his motives are much more sinister than that. I sat up until 3 this morning to finish this one.

Thank for your support DeltaQueen50! I'll be doing the same for you.

And that's number 2 out of the way - How to Read the Victorian Novel. It's so easy at this time of year before I've had the chance to get near any bookshops. I do still have a Christmas token to use though - that's where the trouble will start.

I know the feeling - my mother gave me a check for Christmas and I'm trying to think things through and not just rush out and buy books.

Nice problem to have, though!

Oh, it's a wonderful problem to have - I wouldn't be without it!

Book number 3 - Goldengrove. Just lovely, as I would expect from this exquisite writer.

Congratulations! Three books already. Very good!

Thanks, lbradf, so far it's easy 'cos 'old' books are all I've got. Soon the new ones will start arriving and then it may be a very different story :(

Book #4 was quick and easy - Lucy but the next one (The Man Who Loved Children)will take longer. Stiil, so far only one new book has arrived this year and it's one I can put off for a while though it will have to be read sooner or later as it's a study one. ETA - If only I were clever enough to create a graph that would demonstrate how this progress slows down throughout the year with every visit to a bookshop.

(Aha! That sounded like a book-sized thump on the porch carpet . . . toddles off to check . . . comes back 50% relieved and 50% disappointed - it was only the new yellow pages.)

There goes number 5, The Man Who Loved Children. I know I won't want to read this one again so it's probably the first beek this year that is not only 'off the shelves' but also out of the house. And it's quite a fat book so it could even make room for 2 new ones!

Sigh... Just looked at the detail page of How to read the Victorian Novel. That title could go with quite the literary comedy, but alas, that book looks... droll? Was it? Or did it describe all there little euphemisms?

Pretty dull, I'm afraid. It was for study purposes rather than enjoyment - not that that should make any difference, some of my course books are fascinating - but this wasn't exactly gripping. One great thing about this year's challenge is that I bought all my course books last year so they will all count towards it - and since they're going to constitute most of this year's reading I have some small hope of succeeding where I failed last time around (though I'm already reading a new one, Dark Matter, but I'm allowed some fun too, aren't I?)

Hi, you're on a great start! I didn't get near my goal last year but think (hope) something clicked, it sort of rearranged me for this year. Who knows -- as you say, so early in the year we almost can't help but read books already owned!

Just wanted to thank everyone for their encouragement so far. New books have started arriving so I'm going to need that more than ever now!

Yes, you need some fun. And yes, course books should count... and a grr to the person who wrote your Victorian book. It should have been more fun! Is the author a truly humorless person? Victorians were funny, whether they meant to be or not. ;)

It did have some flashes of light and I've certainly read worse, just not many laughs!

ETA - Just looked at your profile, cammykitty. Your dog is gorgeous (you probably already knew that).

Thanks! He can be cute when he wants to be. :)

I slithered off for a couple of rereads there (The Crimson Petal and the White and The Apple) and a lot of studying but I'm back on track now with Sister, which has kept me very gripped indeed. I'd recommend it highly for anyone who enjoys 'lightish' thrillers.

The totals aren't looking great so far - that's 6 'old' books read this year and (so far) 6 new books bought (and still a few on their way). I suppose it could be worse - even if I can keep those levels about the same I should manage about 75 'old' and 75 'new books by the end of the years. What keeps me going at the moment is how much I'm enjoying some of the ones that have been staring pleadingly at me since before last Xmas. The Nature of Monsters, Goldengrove and Sister, in particular, are books I'd have read a long time ago if I'd known how good they were going to be.

Book #7 was Kiss of the Spider Woman - interesting but a little dated now.

26> Good to know. I was wondering if I should try that one. I think I'll read something more current.

#27 Well, it has its fans but I don't really think I'd count as one of them. It's a hard book to read because it has very long footnotes (mostly about the nature and causes of homosexuality and these are the parts that feel so dated - lots of stuff about Freud's crazier ideas and almost all of it theories that have now been disproven) that go on for several pages so it's all too easy to lose your place every time you decide to follow up a footnote. The main story is worth reading but I'm sure it must have had more of an impact when it was first published. Still moving in parts but I should probably have read it when I first bought it.

Although I only read a few pages today, I have finally read all I'll ever want to of Something Sensational to Read in the Train (book # 8) and got this doorstep of a book off my shelves and headed for the nearest charity shop. Certainly the man has been in the right place at the right time to be, if not involved, then near enough to seem that way at some interesting points in the past 50 years or so of history. Sadly, what could have been some fascinating anecdotes reads as nearly 700 pages of insufferable smugness. I'm glad to see the back of this one.

>26 Booksloth:-28
I thought it was great when I first read it, but I suspect you're right about it not ageing well. My shelves are full of gay classics from the 70s: re-reading them is often a bit like getting out a once much-loved piece of cheese from the back of the fridge...

#30 Don't get me wrong here, the story itself is great, it's all the waffle about what was believed at the time to cause gay people to be 'flawed' and how they might be 'cured' that made my hair stand on end and definitely detracted from my enjoyment.

ETA That poignant image of you with your much-loved piece of cheese will keep me smiling for a very long time, thorold!

>29 Booksloth: - Too bad the book was not good - it has such a promising title.

29> I'll cheer you on though for getting rid of it so quickly! Too many books to spend time on one you don't like.

& 31> That would make my hair stand on end too. I'm starting to not count the YA "OMG, the guy I have a crush on as gay" books as being terribly gay friendly, although ten years ago, they were. Now I'm looking for gay characters that are allowed to be normal people who happen to be gay.

Oh dear, I'm afraid it wasn't quick at all. I've been picking it up and putting it down again after a few pages since September!

I knew it would turn out to be a good thing that I bought all my study books last year. Next one out of the way is Jasmine, another that I've been reading concurrently with several others (both old and new). This is yet another Jane Eyre spin-off and I've just hit saturation point with these. It's probably a great book but I couldn't concentrate on a word on it. I'll be hanging on to it though, and will read it again when the course is safely behind me.

I've never read The Kiss of the Spider Woman, but the movie blew me away when I saw it as a teen-ager.

I still haven't seen the movie yet - I'm guessing it can't be full of footnotes so I'm looking forward to it next time it's on TV.

Got here following you! ;-))

Nice to have you here - thanks for coming!

Just finished book#10, A Good School. Things are going really well so far and I'm making a very determined effort to read 2 'old' books for every new one. Will that last? Well, the new ones are starting to appear with frightening regularity but it shouldn't be too much to ask. Should it?

Maybe?

You're doing great! January 1, it looked easy to read only the books in the house. But I keep ... getting ... distracted ... it's ... only... what was I saying? Oh yeah, only human.

Ooooo - shiny object! And a squirrel....

Point!

Hi Booksloth - just checking in to say hi and congrats on all the good reads.

I saw Kiss of the Spider Woman and like Ridgewaygirl was blown away by it, although since it came out in 1985 I was 32, not a teenager.

I think I'm going to have to get the DVD - you know who will get the blame, dont you;-)

I thought it was a cool movie too. Rent it! Buy it! We'll take the rap.

15 new books came home yesterday. They just followed me, I swear! But I'm resisting them so far - I'm determined to read 2 oldies for every one new book so I finished Callisto (incidentally a really enjoyable read, though not quite as great as his earlier book, The Dolphin People) and I've picked out a fairly short Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith to get out of the way before I'm allowed to touch any of the new books. That little plan of reading more than I buy seems to have gone to hell though.

Over time, booksloth, over time. It will work. We have to believe that or we will all give into despair.

Fight on! And let us know how Girl Meets Boy is.

Ah, isn't it bad when you visit the dog pound and 15 puppies follow you home. What can you do? They picked you. ;)

#49 Aw, that sounds lovely. You've made me go all soppy now. I wonder if my husband would fall for that excuse? (To be honest, he'd probably just be mad he didn't think of it first.) Being followed home by 15 books can only come a very close second to being followed home by 15 puppies (and at least I don't have to feed them, I know they'll get on with existing dog and they won't chase the cats).

Girl Meets Boy was rather lovely in the end. It's a retelling of the myth of Iphis and comes from the 'Canongate Myths' series. It's a very quick read and it's encouraged me to move my other Ali Smith book (The Accidental) somewhat higher up Mount TBR.

And in recompense for all those new books, I'm moving on to yet another off the shelf before starting them. This one is Night Calypso and it's half drawing me in and half putting me off right now. Can't swear I'll finish it but either way it'll be off the shelf.

I think your plan of two oldies for every new one is excellent. If you stick to it you will be clearing those shelves out before you know it!

It sounds good in theory, doesn't it? i've abandoned Night Calypso for now - sometimes you just pick up the wrong book and it isn't what you need at that moment - but I'm allowed a newbie at this point and that plan does seem to be working pretty well. Not allowing myself to touch any of the new ones would be more than I could bear and yet it still wouldn't stop me buying them.

But, somehow, the new books take up just as much space on the shelf as the old ones. Or more, because there are more of them.

Oh well. Happy reading either way.

Another two - Monkey and Of Bees and Mist. The latter, in particular, was immensely enjoyable - a fairytale for grown-ups that started slowly but blossomed into something memorable and affecting. If I can keep going at the rate of around 10 a month I'll have reached my target by the end of May - then just think of all the new stuff I can read! (It's not going to happen.)

And two more - The Disappeared, which was glorious and certainly didn't deserve to be left on the shelf for as long as it was, and The Uses of Enchantment. So that's 16 books off the shelf (in theory - in practice there are only 5 of those that'll I'll actually be discarding) and (up to and including today) a mere 63 new books since the year began. Something's going wrong here.

But 16 pre-owned books read in less than two months is QUITE an accomplishment, regardless of how many newbies came in!

You are kinder than I deserve, thank you for the encouragement.

Husband laughed when I told him about your 63 new books but completely understood - I keep buying new too.

Just as long as you're reading, it's all good!

I agree with lbradf! 16 books is over my total right now, and that's including new and library books. & you're not reading skinny books either.

#60 You should see the size of the one I'm on at the moment (The Dark Side of Love)! Sadly it's a new one that won't count towards the challenge but it's certainly slowing things down;-)

The Dark Side of Love took a lo-o-o-o-o-o-ong time and doesn't even count towards the challenge but I'm back at last with an ER book - Ghost of a Chance by Rhiannon Lassiter. A disappointment but another one off the shelf at last.

Well, I'm sure it took up at least three inches of space. Housecleaning wise, it's gone. That's got to help.

Housecleaning wise? You think I dust these things? ;-)

Nah!!! I didn't think you dusted them. I just thought you could take two books off one of the piles lining your hallway. ;)

Two more - Pain of Death by Adam Creed (another ER book and another disappointment) and Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman.

And #20 is The Woman Who Walked Into Doors.

#21 Schopenhauer's Telescope

#22 City of Bones

City of Bones is on my TBR. What did you think?

I thought it was okay - pretty good, in fact. I wouldn't say I'm exactly a crime connoiseur but I do enjoy a good murder mystery just now and again and this one felt just right after some pretty heavy stuff. It touches on some very dark possibilities without getting too gruesome. It's not the kind of book I'll reread but every time I put it down I was keen to get back and see what was going on. Definitely worth a bash, I'd say.

Hi Booksloth!

Glad you enjoyed City of Bones. I love Harry Bosch. I also loved The Lincoln Lawyer - you might want to check it out the next time you're in the mood for crime.

Hiya! This was actually my first encounter with Bosch and I'm certainly interested in trying some others but the list inside the cover of Connelly's other books didn't tell me a lot. Should I try to go back and read them in order? If so, which is the first? If not, which would you say are the best? It's a genre I love to return to from time to time but I wouldn't say I'm an avid reader of this kind fo book; that means that I probably read one every 3 months or so and will almost certainly have forgotten one by the time I get on to the next so I suspect reading the series in order may not be for me. And how many are in the series? (Sorry to turn this into 20 questions.)

The Lincoln Lawyer definitely sounds like my kind of thing. Any recommendations for more 'courtroom' stuff (which I'm assuming, perhaps wrongly, that is)? This is never listed separately on book sites but thrown in with general crime and I'd really love some more fiction books that concentrate on what goes on in the courtroom if I can find any - I'm think To Kill a Mockingbird crossed with 12 Angry Men. All recommendations gratefully recieved. (Why am I asking for more recommendations when I have a TBR list of 329?)

Touchstones playing up yet again.

ETA - I'm also thinking preferably not John Grisham or Scott Turow!

E again TA - Anyone have any views on Richard North Patterson? The crimes I like are 'personal' ones - not corporate, Mafia-style or political.

At the risk of stating the obvious, but since you don't seem to have any John Mortimer in your catalogue: what about Rumpole?

You're right, I don't. I did consider his books not long ago but was put off by a review that called them 'comic' and 'twee'. Unbelievably (I suspect), I never watched the TV series so I have no idea how accurate that might have been but I did shudder a bit as 'comic and twee' are both qualities I really don't want in a crime book. What do you think, thorold, was the reviewer being fair?

BTW - Never fear being obvious here. Sometimes 'obvious' is exactly what I need.

You can go to fantasticfiction.com to see what book is first of the Harry Bosch - I've read a lot of them. I find fantasticfiction great for keeping track of series reading or just to see what else an author I like has written. It can also be bad for the wishlist as every month you can pull up what books are being published that month - hardcover or paperback. Don't say you weren't warned...

Hi Booksloth!

I didn't read the Harry Bosch books in order and in hindsight I think it might have been a good idea. Not devastating, but if I ever decided to re-read them (and I've got the first 15 on my shelves), I'll definitely read in order. City of Bones is the 8th book in the series actually.

According to LT, the first three books of Harry Bosch are
The Black Echo
The Black Ice
The Concrete Blonde

I can't think of too many courtroom series off hand. Perry Mason springs to mind, but those are phenomenally dated (I tried to re-read one recently and gave it up).

Of course, being that I'm re-reading Sayers right now, I'd recommend Strong Poison, wherein Peter Wimsey meets, falls in love with, and rescues Harriet Vane from the hangman's noose by finding the murderer of Harriet's lover Philip Boyes. Lots of fun courtroom stuff there, but even there not the main thrust of the book.

Probably someone else can come up with LOTS of courtroom mysteries. I might even be able to think of some once I submit this message.

I've neither watched nor read Rumple either.

Even though as a rule I've stopped reading Grisham, I do have a Grisham that I love and re-read frequently - The Pelican Brief. Great book.

Thank you both for your suggestions! There do seem to be quite a few of the older type of courtroom fiction around but really nothing very modern - I guess it's just a genre that has gone out of fashion. dudes22 I sometimes think things can't get any worse than they already are re the recommendations!

>75 Booksloth: - Rumpole

Hmm. I don't think they should make you shudder, but it's a question of taste, of course. Mortimer cared deeply about things like justice and human dignity: the stories illustrate in a beautifully clear way what the law is supposed to do to protect those values, and contrasts that with what it actually can do. Satire apart, the comedy is all in Rumpole's narrative voice and the ritual jokes he uses to isolate himself a bit from the nastiness of the world (once you've heard Leo McKern doing it once, you always hear it that way in future).

Mortimer never makes fun of the nastiness of crime and the people who get caught up in it. There's always an unspoken tragic element, like Don Quixote or Falstaff. Rumpole quite often loses his cases, or wins when he would rather have lost, and he's usually on the point of death towards the end of the book. I think he gets Reichenbached at least three times.

"Twee" I can't see. There's a sort of robust, red-nosed, heterosexual camp in all the ritual Rumpole jokes, but nothing remotely twee. Hilda would soon put a stop to it...

It turns out that I've got The First Rumpole Omnibus on my shelves so, along with the other books I want to read, I'll pull it out and see how soon I can get to it. You make Rumpole sound quite interesting, thorold!

I, myself, love Rumpole, but it is quite comic, in an ironic, British sort of way. If you're look for an intense courtroom drama, Rumpole isn't it. If you think Rumpole's strong wife being referred to as "She who must be obeyed" is amusing, you'll probably like them.

Excuse me, cammy, but if memory serves, the lady in question is referred to as "She Who Must Be Obeyed." The capital letters lend a certain air of...dread.

;-)

Oh yes! Definitely caps. I'll confess to "reading" most of my Rumpole on audio books... read of course by Leo McKern.

Yup, you did it thorold. You definitely make them sound good. I may not buy a new one yet but I'll be keeping an eye out around the charity shops and libraries and will give at least one a try. I suspect they may not be what I thought I was looking for but something else equally enjoyable. (You do know you've just added to my TBR pile, don't you? Bad thorold.)

>84 Booksloth:
Talking about them has made me want to re-read a few, so we're probably even.
Anyway, my ticker's been stuck on 22 for nearly a week, and I'm only halfway through a doorstep biography that doesn't count for the challenge, so there's a lot to be said for undermining other people's off-the-shelf efforts. :-)

Lol! Just off to sneak round to your library and rearrange all the books.

*ç%&ç%!
I should have known it was a bad idea to post from the office.

#23 was Shirley by Charlotte Bronte. It was an enjoyable read though I did have to rush it rather (and it still took me a week to get through!) because I was reading it for study purposes and I have an assignment deadline. Sadly, although I loved the 'trouble at t'mill' stuff I found the romances tacked on and somewhat pointless. It's certainly not up to the standard of Jane Eyre and there are quite a few points where it feels as if the story is marking time, not quite sure of where it is going. All the same, it also has some glorious passages - as you'd expect from any one of the Brontes - and I've been meaning to read it for a long time so it's another welcome notch on the ticker.

Interesting comments on Shirley. It's been on my should read list for awhile, but I'm thinking a reread of Jane Eyre might be in order first. I know they aren't a series. I'm just thinking more Jane Eyre could never hurt.

#number 24 - The House of Special Purpose. I love John Boyne's writing and thoroughly enjoyed this. It didn't tell me anything I didn't know about the end of the Romanovs but it made history personal and the love story that runs concurrently with the historical one is very touching. Just one more book and I'll be at the halfway mark!

#25 Hitting the halfway mark with The Rottweiler although it's more 'off the shelf' than atually read because I abandoned it less than half way through. Rendell is one of those writers I always imagine I know well but that isn't the case at all and, judging by this book, I understand why - poorly written rubbish.

As I recall, I got halfway through the challenge about this time last year too - I obviously didn't try hard enough with the second half so I need to be more determined this time around.

You are really making headway with your challenge - half way there - why you can have those 50 books dealt with by July or August!

Well . . . maybe September. I think what went wrong last year was that I took a break round about this time (thinking I was nicely ahead of the game) and started reading all the new ones. I have to try not to do the same thing now.

Hi Booksloth!

Wow, a Rendell that is "poorly writen rubbish"? I can't think of a single one of her books I haven't liked - but I admit that I have probably only read about 20% of her books and haven't read The Rottweiler.

Good luck in keeping the momentum going this year.

I know! One thing I;d always assumed about her was that she was a good writer but this one made me want to take out my red pen and start correcting things. Several people have mentioned they didn't think this is one of her best so I won't judge any of her other books by The Rottweiler, I promise.

And here's another 2 off the list - Brighton Rock and God is Not Great.

Wow, Booksloth, halfway through! That's nice work. Keep up the good work, but maybe a new book beside an oldie is permitted by now.;-)

Ruth Rendell's earlier books are better than the ones written in the last eight or ten years. Try something really early and see what you think.

Thank you, connie! I have to say it's (mostly) been a real pleasure so far. I knew there must have been a reason why I bought all these books in the first place.

Back to the challenge after a bit of a break. ook # 28 is Days of Grace, which is another book that should never have waited so long to be read. It's the story of a girl who is evacuated during WWII to live with a country rector and his family. As she grows up she realises she has fallen in love with the rector's daughter but it is a love that leads to tragedy. A bit different from the usual 'coming of age' novels and a really enjoyable read.

In my opinion, tragedies are the best outcomes to any romance books.

And then another quickie - Dead Men Do Tell Tales

Oh, I love that book. He's so dry and matter of fact. I think he should have named his skeleton Skeletor, but that's just a quibble.

Is it odd to really like a book about forensic pathology? And, no, I don't watch Bones.

I don't think it's odd at all - it's sort of like a puzzle being solved. I've read some of the Bone's books and will be putting this on my wishlist once BM comes back up.

>102 RidgewayGirl: It's not odd to really like a book about forensic pathology. But I used to have to warn my son to be careful when he went to school with his Encyclopedia of Serial Killers in his backpack. I was sure I'd be getting a call from someone!

104> I've got that book too. Excuse, trying to write a mystery. So next time you have a son with that book who gets in trouble, you know how to answer.

I bought it originally to help with story-writing too but I must admit I got utterly engrossed and 'dry and matter of fact' describes it perfectly. I used to be far more into that kind of thing than I am now didn't really expect to find it as interesting as I did.

Book no 30 - The Shrimp and the Anemone. I was a little disappointed with this though it's no fault of the book's or the author's. It's just that I love The Go-Between so much and I'd been hanging on to this one in anticipation of something equally great. That's a recipe for disaster, I know, so it's not surprising that I found this just a little slow-moving and that it didn't really grab my attention despite being a sweet story about (eventually) quite engaging characters.

I got very excited there for a while because for some reason the ticker was showing that I'd read 46 books and not 30, as is really the case - not sure what happened there. Anyway, that's why I just took a huge break from the oldies. Back on track now with a corrected ticker and another ER book, Burned, by Thomas Enger (no touchstones), a disappointment as a story but another nudge towards that 50 total.

Argh!!! Hate it when the ticker lies!

Hi Booksloth - just wandering by to say hi.

Congrats on getting so many books off the shelf read so far this year.

Thanks honey! You also just reminded me I haven't posted to BOTM Club yet for May - must check that out.

Naughty girl. I just took a huge break from reading oldies but I'm back at last with #32, The Sheltering Sky. Very '50s and slightly weird but I'm glad I read it.

Hi Naughty Girl!

Hope you're doing well. I've been going crazy for about a year and a half now (money woes, family health woes, and daughter's school issues, now happily resolved since she's graduated and been accepted at Pfeiffer University here in NC to study history and music) and only now coming back to normal, so to speak, but things are tenuous - she goes on the 19th and we're getting her stuff ready. Part of me's excited, part of me's so far down bottom looks up.

So I'm reading mysteries and non-challenging stuff, which brings me to my point - we should always read what we want when we want (unless there's credit in school, of course!) So you're not really a Naughty Girl at all.....

Perhaps I should bet back to the BOTM Club too. Yup, guess I'll head on over there.

Hi karenmarie, I'm pleased to hear your life is calming down a bit. You remind me of when my daughter went to uni - she wanted to go and had been really looking forward to it but her boyfriend was off to a different one and she'd had a fit of nerves so there were a few tears when we finally left her there. There were then quite a few more (from me) all the way home, I've never felt so down. By the time we rang her later to say goodnight she was sitting around with a bunch of new friends having the best time ever. Before she went there she'd been such a quiet shy little thing and it made her into another person altogether - confident, determined and pro-active in everything she does, I really think they were the best days of her life. I do hope your daughter experiences the same kind of thing. And, let's be honest, much as we adore our kids, there's a lot to be said for freedom for mums too (and we appreciate them more than ever when they come home).

As for the BOTM club, I didn't quite make it back there yet but I will. I just had my holiday and that always messes up my efforts to keep a record of what I've read. Swear I'll try harder.
x

Hi again!

I just posted on the Book of the Month Club July thread - it was very satisfying to put comments about each book I've read. I hope to keep posting over there.

Thanks for the supportive words. I'm hoping daughter has a wonderful time at school. She is excited about it. I am actually looking forward to the time - husband has started a 2nd shift job at the company I work for (very strange indeed) and once daughter is off at school I'll actually have some Time to Myself at Home. I feel guilty sometimes when I keep hoping that he doesn't get offered a first shift job.

I'll have quite a bit of time on my hands actually. Once daughter graduated HS I turned over the Band Boosters Treasurer's reins and now find myself with at least 4 more hours a week. My only responsibilities now are home and work. Nice. I'll probably get antsy in the fall to do something of a volunteer nature, but don't know what it is yet. It will present itself, I'm sure.

Even keeping track of books seems like homework some times, but I do feel that for me, getting back into the Book of the Month Club will benefit me greatly. This may sound pretentious since you're the founder and administrator, but hope to see you there!

Doesn't sound pretentious at all - sounds very kind and welcoming. Yes, I'll be back eventually. Like you, a couple of years ago I found myself with lots of spare time so that's why I signed up for this course I'm doing. Naturally, no sooner had I done that than I was asked to take on extra shifts at work (luckily only part-time) and that's how I now find myself fighting the clock just to fit in a bit of LT time! One day I guess I'll get the balance right but it hasn't happened yet.

#33 - Waterland. I've certainly slowed right down with this challenge since the novelty wore off and the pile of new books crept nearer the ceiling. Though I've more or less given up any hopes of reaching my target this year I'll still keep adding and see how close I can get. There's just something about a new shiny book that I can't resist.

I'm with you on that one.

Me too. I'm not doing to well on this challenge, and I'm going to blame the 11 11 category challenge for me. In 12 12, I've put a bar for BOS right in the first post. Still might not make it, but it will make me think twice before I chose a book.

>119 cammykitty: - I saw that and think I might do the same thing too. Good way to keep your eye on the prize.

*the prize being room for more books - of course

119 - Heh, I was blaming the 11/11/11 challenge too but now that I am finished that one, it's time to face the music! I have pulled 10 oldies from the shelf and I am forcing myself to at least look at them and then decide whether to keep them or donate them.

#120 *the prize being room for more books - of course

You're assuming books are discarded when read though, aren't you? Rarely happens in my house. :(

>122 Booksloth: - yes - I was - mistake on my part. I just don't have room to keep very many.

I like the prize! Although, there are piles of books that are in places that just shouldn't have books. I do rehome a few, but not so many. Hopefully I'll be better at using the library though. I've started checking if the library has it before I buy anything from Amazon. In a brick & mortar store, restraint is much more difficult!

#123 Don't get me wrong - I don't have the room either. Somehow I still have the books though.

I have this mental picture of my shelves, a single book deep and filled with my well-chosen favorites.

What I have is books double or triple shelved, with more crammed in on top and an extra row on top of the shelves.

I'm double and triple shelved, too, RidgewayGirl!

My daughter kindly moved all the photo boxes/photo albums, etc. taking up the top of the bookcases in the sunroom off to some inaccessible shelves in the upstairs den so I moved 2 shelves of easier-to-get-to books to the top of the bookcases and have TWO EMPTY shelves in the sunroom. Major excitement.

Maybe we could pretend that some of our books on the shelves are new arrivals. Sometimes I "find" a book simply by switching the books behind and the books out front.

Rearranging the TBR does make for a whole new selection. While I do prefer an alphabetical by author arrangement, I've done a reverse alphabet and arranged by spine color, which was beautiful, but disastrous when I wanted to locate a specific book. Maybe I'll try alphabetical by title for a change.

Arranged by... a system? Wow! What a luxury!

Okay, mine are sort of arrange by subject/style, but eventually they get arranged by where will this book fit?

Well, yes. That's when I pull everything out and rearrange.

I only re-arrange on the shelf the book is already on because I've got my books tagged with a location tag - Room,Shelf,Row. Every once in a while I'll find an author and put all her/his stuff together (and change tags appropriately), but mostly my stuff's cataloged by the type of book - hardcover, trade paperback, mass market paperback - based on shelf height. So every shelf may have fiction, nonfiction, memoir, reference, romance, mystery, etc.

Where will this book fit? therefore, is a perfectly acceptable way of cataloging books.

The advantage of location tags is that I never have to re-arrange books based on having to add one to a shelf and therefore having to take on away. The newest Charles Todd goes on S23, regardless of the fact that all the other Charles Todd books are on shelves S22-S27. I love location tags.

After I joined LT and BM and started acquiring more books, I bought a new bookcase and everything fit nice, the shelves were mostly alpahabetical by shelf ( double and triple stacked of course). And I had tags too (shelf 1, etc). But when I ran out of space and started putting them on a closet shelf, my tag only said "closet". When I went into another closet in another room, it still only said "closet". When I started putting paper bags on the floor of the closet, I kind-of stopped tagging. So once the weather turns nasty and I don't want to be outside anymore, I'm probably going to take my TBR list and try to find and rearrange my books. Great project for a rainy weekend.

Limping sadly and pathetically towards the end of the year now. I've added two more to the totals - Kim and Midnight's Children and I suppose, technically, I could still hit my target by the end of the year but it's not going to happen: my love of buying and reading new books has won again. It's not my fault, of course: Waterstone's are now doing a promotion where you get a stamp for every £10 spent and when you get 10 stamps they give you a £10 voucher. I mean to say, not taking advantage of something like that would be very nearly criminal negligence, wouldn't it? . . . wouldn't it? Maybe next year I should set up a 'read new books' challenge - I'd excel at that.

#132 How's the great book sort-out going dudes22? My bet is that curling up with a good book on a rainy weekend seemed a lot more appealing when it came down to it but I may be misjudging you ;-)

It is almost impossible to go back to books on the shelves instead of new books, isn't it, Booksloth? I'm just as guilty as you are, although more times than not it's used books I'm adding from various thrift stores. I do have several series that I simply must buy the newest entry for, though - I usually get those new from Amazon.

I think just reading what you want is best. Some of them might be already on your shelves, some might be new. They all are worthy. Less stress.

Well, never mind - I'm sure doing a course with a heavy reading list only increases the desire to pick your non-course reading-matter freely. You've got 35 books off your pile, at least!

The point of an exercise like this should be to make us look more carefully at what we've bought and forgotten, and maybe give us that little extra nudge we need to read something that we've been putting off. I've found that helpful, and discovered a few gems and quite a bit of dross lurking unsuspected on the TBR shelf. But it ceases to be fun if you get too authoritarian about it and end up forever having to eat stale bread...

You're absolutely right, of course, even though I hate leaving a challenge uncompleted. I have found a number of gems lurking that I probably wouldn't otherwise have ever got round to reading - in particular Goldengrove, Callisto, Girl Meets Boy, Of Bees and Mist, The Disappeared, Shirley, The House of Special Purpose and Midnight's Children. I'll keep adding to the list for the rest of the year if I dig out any more oldies and maybe next year I just need to be less ambitious with the totals.

>133 Booksloth: - I'm not planning to start until after the first of the year. Things just get to busy now. A good book is always more appealing, you're right.

Probably the last one of the year - Our Mutual Friend

Hi Booksloth:

Dickens, eh? One of my "should read" authors. I read David Copperfield in 8th grade and have read A Christmas Carol, but that's all. Bad me.

karenmarie - by reading two of his books I think you've fulfilled your 'should read' quota so you only have to read the others if you really want to. I love his books and that applies to OMF as well as the others, but I still wish it had been about 100 pages shorter. Stephen King is often referred to as the 20th century Dickens and I do agree that one thing they both have in common is the inability to stop once they get started. Both make great reading though.

I've become very fond of Stephen King in the last year or so, having never read any his books earlier than then. I listened to Duma Key and became hooked, although I do not like the Dark Towers series.

I just got, and devoured, his newest - 11/22/63. I thought it was brilliant. The only problem is that I can't write a review of it without giving things away - like how my favorite part makes me feel. *grumble*

Just please don't review it till after Xmas then;-) It got quite a big mention in my letter to Santa and I'm hopeful.

good work on reading Our Mutual Friend. That's a long one!

I probably won't even officially review it here on LT for that very reason. I personally avoid reviews of something I'm planning to read like the plague, but sometimes catch something out of the corner of my eye - very upsetting.

So no discussions. Just a comment that it's a wonderful book.

I hope Santa comes through.

Well put, Thorold. I think you did just fine, BookSloth. You beat me by one!

I never thought about reviews ruining it for other readers, but it is like a 'spoiler'. I guess I always post a review so I remember what the book is about, whether I like it or not, if there was something memorable about it, and to try to get other readers excited about it. Perhaps it is a bit selfish of me to post so many reviews.

Don't worry about it mandymarie - we do have a choice as to whether to read the reviews after all. I like to know just a little about a book before I start it so I often do glance quickly at the reviews but I try really hard to miss any spoilers. A warning at the start that your review contains spoilers should be sufficient to keep people away if they don't want to know how it all comes out. I know karenmarie's taste well and so would be very tempted to read her review now she's mentioned having read and enjoyed the book but it would still be my choice.