LisaMorr is taking 2017 seriously

I've decided I need to make serious progress on my series. I've looked through all my series and plan to make progress on 17 of them. I'm also planning on having 3 other categories - CATs and KITs, Books from Lisa (it was one of my categories in 2016 that I didn't do a great job with!), and a misc category that I plan to fill with 1001 books and Virago Modern Classics.

I've read 64 books so far in 2016, which was way better than I've done in the last 8 years. I'm not sure if I'll do as well in 2017 because quite a few of my series have long books, but I'll go for 64 again in 2017.

I'll add a ticker here and try to 'beautify' my thread after I'm back from vacation!

1. Engines of God by Jack McDevitt
I read the first book in this series in 2016. I have 4 more on my TBR.

2. The Alphabet Mysteries by Sue Grafton
I haven't read any yet and I have 3 on my TBR.

3. The Dark Tower by Stephen King
I've read the first 3 but plan on starting over from the beginning and read all 7.


1. The Gunslinger (April)
2. The Drawing of the Three (July)

4. The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
I've read the first three so far and have 6 more on my TBR.

5. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
I haven't read any so far; I have the first 6 on my TBR.


1. Ender's Game (June)
2. Speaker for the Dead (September)

6. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
I read the original trilogy ages ago; I plan to re-read those and I have 3 more on my TBR.

7. Frost in May by Antonia White
I have all 4 and haven't read any yet.


1. Frost in May by Antonia White (January)

8. Harry Hole by Jo Nesbo
I've read 2 and have 7 more on my TBR.

9. His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
Haven't read this yet.


1. The Golden Compass (April)

10. Kingsbridge by Ken Follett
Haven't read either of these yet.

11. Simon Serrailler by Susan Hill
I have the first 3 to read.

12. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin
I've read the first one and have 3 more on my TBR.

13. Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris
Loved the HBO series, haven't read any of the books yet.

14. Vance Weston by Edith Wharton
I haven't read either of these by Wharton yet.

15. Commonwealth Universe by Peter F. Hamilton COMPLETED
I'm currently reading Pandora's Star and have the next one on my TBR.


1. Pandora's Star (February)
2. Judas Unchained (June)

Good luck with your series. I'm also concentrating on series this year!

16. Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
This will be the biggest challenge of the year - there are 14 books plus a prequel and most of these are tomes! I had previously read up through book 6, but then I stopped because it was taking so long for each book to come out. I will do a re-read of the first 6 and try to finish the whole thing in 2017 - most of the books as I remember are more than 500 pages long!


1. The Eye of the World (March)
2. The Great Hunt (September)

17. Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx
I have 2 on my TBR

18. Books from Lisa

1. Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey (January)
2. A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler (September)

19. CATs and KITs

1. Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas L. Friedman (January)
2. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (April)
3. Swing Time by Zadie Smith (May)
4. A Peacock in the Land of Penguins: A Story About Courage in Creating a Land of Opportunity by B. J. Gallagher (May)
5. The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard (August)
6. The Black Book by Orhan Pamuk

20. Misc - hopefully for 1001 books and Virago Modern Classics

1. The Reluctant Sorcerer by Simon Hawkes (series) (February)
2. Dust by Hugh Howey (series) (February)
3. Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth (1001) (March)
4. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson (1001) (April)
5. The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe (1001) July
6. The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty (1001) August
7. The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter (1001) August

16. Science-related: Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas L. Friedman
13. Read a CAT: Frost in May by Antonia White for CATWoman
20. Debut work: Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey
5. One-word title: Dust by Hugh Howey
15. Owned more than 5 years: The Reluctant Sorcerer by Simon Hawke
1. A satire: Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth
24. Set in a time before you were born: The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
9. Made into a movie: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
14. Author shares your first & last initials: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
21. Book or Title About an Animal: A Peacock in the Land of Penguins: A Story About Courage in Creating a Land of Opportunity by B. J. Gallagher
2. Set in a Country You've Never Been: Swing Time by Zadie Smith
6. Author uses initials: Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton
23. Set in a beach community/resort: The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King
22. Place name in title: The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
4. Set in a place you want to visit: The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
7. Appeals to the sense: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
25. Next book in a series: Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
3. Color in the title: A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
11. Book about books: The Black Book by Orhan Pamuk
19. Author born/book published in 1917: Summer by Edith Wharton

Seems like most of us are either going to be concentrating on series and/or our humongous TBR piles next year. Good luck with your challenge!

Welcome back and good luck! It will be very satisfying for you to make progress on all those series :)

Always good to make a dent in all the series - they breed on their own!

You have a wide assortment of series and I think you'll enjoy continuing all of them. I read the whole Sookie Stakhouse series as they were published. You're in for a treat there. I've read the first three of the Song of Fire and Ice series but had to stop (not stopping the HBO series - no sir!). I also read the first two in the Wheel of Time series. They are on my back burner. The Follett books may look long but they read amazingly fast.

Enjoy your reading in 2017! I hope you make great progress in the series.

I'm terrible at reading series. I start and then never finish. Always with good intentions. I've started and not finished a few of your choices up there. I'm going to try to dedicate my fluff to Discoworld novels this year, but we'll see how that works out. (There's a discworld reading challenge in the blogging world that I'm going to participate in.)

There's a group reading the 14 Wheel of Time books in the blogosphere if you are interested in joining them. I want to join, but I don't have that much time. http://lonestaronalark.com/2016/12/sign-up-for-the-wheel-of-time-re-read-along/

Great theme! You have some excellent books and series planned.

Good Luck with your series reading. I see you have the Kinsey series up there. What cracks me up about myself is I have no idea where I am in the series, and what's easier to follow than the alphabet?

Years ago when my father was in the hospital we donated a ton of books to the hospital and we didn't do an inventory of them and this series was part of the donation. Luckily they're all available at the library and I don't mind doing a re read.

Yay for series reading in 2017!

Got back from vacation on Wednesday and have lots of catching up to do!!!

>24 DeltaQueen50: Thanks!
>25 rabbitprincess: Yes!
>26 -Eva-: Yes, they do, don't they!
>27 mamzel: Thanks for your thoughts on the series you have read! I'm definitely excited about Sookie Stackhouse.
>28 The_Hibernator: Thanks for the link to the The Wheel of Time re-read along.
>29 VivienneR: Thanks!
>30 lsh63: That's funny about Kinsey's alphabet mysteries.
>31 The_Hibernator: Thank you and happy new year to you too!
>32 lkernagh: Yes!

Looking forward to your reading adventures Lisa.

>34 luvamystery65: Thanks Roberta - right back at ya!

A little late to lay out January reading plans, but I was just getting around to reading all of the January CATS/KITS this past Sunday!

Currently reading Hot, Flat and Crowded and hope to finish soon! Will count for CultureCAT.
Frost in May for the CATwoman and AlphaKIT
Elizabeth is Missing for the AwardsCAT and AlphaKIT (and almost forgot RandomCAT!)
Dust for the SFF/SF KIT

And if I still have time, I will read The Reluctant Sorcerer, assigned to me from the Go Review That Book group: https://www.librarything.com/groups/goreviewthatbook which I just joined from a recommendation from whitewavedarling.

I'm not a big series reader, I think because I find fiction a bit intimidating (I read much more non-fiction), and committing myself to one fiction book is already quite a big commitment for me!! There are a few exceptions, but mainly for quite gentle and not too demanding series, like the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency (although even there, I own 3 or 4 of them but have actually only read the first so far!). I'm impressed with your commitment!

>37 Jackie_K: Thanks Jackie - we'll see how well I do! I'm impressed with anyone who reads lots of non-fiction; I find that a lot harder and slower for me (and more intimidating!). Although last year's Dewey Decimal challenge really helped me with reading more non-fiction.

I've also only read the 1st of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (just read it last year); I don't have anymore of them, but I would want to eventually read more.

I just had to stop by and tell you that I started reading 20th Century Ghosts--and, oh my gosh, it's wonderful! And incredibly creepy! I'm so glad you pushed me toward moving it up Mount TBR :) I'm already a third of the way through, and I can't remember when I've ever enjoyed a short story collection so long. I'll have to slow down some now that my work week starts up again tomorrow, but... well, yeah. Thanks :)

>39 whitewavedarling: That's great to hear! I'll have to get to that one sooner than later.

I brought my assignment, The Reluctant Sorcerer, with me on my current business trip but haven't had much time to finish my other book yet or start this one.

Howdy Lisa! Are you headed my way this year?

>41 luvamystery65: I am! I'm actually in Houston this week and will be here fairly often this year (I can count 3 more trips to Houston between now and the end of February). Would be great to meet up!

>42 LisaMorr: I'm headed to Vegas tomorrow, but PM your schedule and when you are available. Definitely want to meet up on one of your next trips.

>43 luvamystery65: Sounds like a plan. Enjoy Vegas!

Finally getting around to my 2016 Meme:

Describe yourself: An Unquiet Mind
How do you feel? Summer Will Show
Describe where you currently live: The Road
If you could go anywhere...? Treasure Island
Favorite form of transportation: A Train of Powder
Your best friend is: Code Name Verity
You and your friends are: The Twelve
What's the weather like? Stone Cold
Your favorite time of day is: Just After Sunset
What is life for you? The Getting of Wisdom
You fear: The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana
Best advice: Go Figure!
Thought for the day: Press Start to Play
How you would like to die: Unquenchable Fire
My Soul’s Present Condition: Between Shades of Grey

I like how the answers worked out this year. The Road was especially accurate given how much I traveled last year. But Unquenchable Fire is not really how I would like to die...

I was reading some of the summaries of people's 2016 reading; I hadn't done that formally on my 2016 thread but it did get me to think about how I did with male/female authors last year and what I would do this year.

Last year 61% of my reads were by male authors; I'd like to do better than that, but I wasn't thinking about it when I picked my series for this year - only 6 of the 17 series I picked are by women authors. I have a CATs and KITs category, a Books from Lisa category and a misc category which I'm hoping to fill with Virago Modern Classics (mostly all female authors) and 1001 books. I'll have to make a concerted effort to fill these categories with books by women to get my average up!

And, finished my first book of the year yesterday (finally!).

1. Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - And How It Can Renew America by Thomas L. Friedman
412 pages
read for CultureCAT
fits the science-related Bingo square
3.5 stars

This took me a long time to read - I was trying to finish it last year to complete my BingoDOG card - I think the reason it took me so long is because I was pretty depressed that we probably won't see much happen in the US with some of the great ideas in this book anytime soon. It was written when oil prices were hovering around $140/barrel; I don't see the current administration pushing a green revolution to tackle the combined problems that a hot, flat and crowded world intensifies. Friedman discusses how these problems (energy supply and demand, petropolitics, climate change, energy poverty and biodiversity) have developed and then ways in which we might combat them. Would be great if we could implement some of the proposed solutions in the book (to say the least...).

>46 LisaMorr: I read slightly more male authors than I do female authors and I too am hoping that reading more VMCs and participating in the CATWoman challenge will improve the balance.

>45 LisaMorr: I like your meme answers and congratulations on finishing your first book of the year!

You obviously read the right books last year! I love how your meme worked out.

>48 mathgirl40: I agree - the CATwoman will help and reading VMCs will naturally help. I think I may actually identify the 1001 books I want to read this year and have them all be by woman authors.

>49 VictoriaPL: Thanks! And I've finished two more now, so I'm finally getting going!

>50 DeltaQueen50: Thanks - I like how you put that!

2. Frost in May by Antonia White
221 pages
read for CATwoman, fits AlphaKIT and for my own series challenge
bingoDOG: read a CAT
4 stars

This is the first Virago Modern Classic published. A nine-year old girl enters a convent for schooling - her father has recently converted to Catholicism and wants her to learn what it means to be a Catholic. It explains in a very detailed way what life was like in the convent, what she studied in class, the rhythm of the days, feast days, celebrations and retreats. Her relationships with her classmates and the nuns are explored. She embraces it but it leads to a bad ending when she leaves the convent at fourteen.

3. Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey
275 pages
read for the AwardCAT and RandomCAT and fits AlphaKIT
bingoDOG: debut work
category challenge: books from Lisa
5 stars

Elizabeth is Missing was the winner of the 2014 Costa first novel award and it was excellent. Written from the point of view of a woman in her 80's who I think is suffering from Alzheimer's, it's tells of the mysterious disappearance of the narrator's sister 70 years earlier. It's wound together with the disappearance of one of the woman's current-day friends. As the novel progresses, you can see how the woman's mind deteriorates. It's very sad and frustrating and also compelling and satisfying that the woman is able to solve the mystery (with some help).

January summary

3 books, 908 pages
2 female authors / 1 male author
2 fiction / 1 non-fiction
1 book for my series focus
Books read covered CultureCAT, CATWoman, AwardCAT, RandomCAT and AlphaKIT
3 bingoDOG squares

After reading more books last year since I've been tracking in 2008, I have to say my January reading was disappointing with only 3 books read. And I know it's not just about books read and page count - my first read of the year was a slow one and I have also been incredibly busy at work - still, I hope I can do better.

I am wondering now if I am going to make as much progress as I planned on my series reading - I think I had kind of planned on only participating in the CATS when it would overlap with my series reading, but I find myself being pulled in anyway. I know it's only January, but February looks the same! Reading good books is always positive, so we'll see how this goes.

You've reversed your % of male and female writers in January, so give yourself points for that! Regarding your comments in >47 LisaMorr:, given the number of POTUS cronies and members of the administration with interests in the oil industry, I think gas prices will be significantly higher in a year or two. How's that for good news?

>55 RidgewayGirl: LOL! Thanks for the good news/bad news post!

4. The Reluctant Sorcerer by Simon Hawke
199 pages
read for the Go Review That Book! group
BingoDOG: owned for more than 5 years
Category challenge: Misc (it does turn out that this is the first book of a trilogy, so it generally fits with my category challenge)
3 stars

Dr. Marvin Brewster is a genius working for a corporation that supports him in researching whatever he wants as they make a lot of money off of his patents. Brewster has been working for quite some time on his latest secret project, a time machine. When he goes for a test drive, instead of going back in time, he reaches a parallel universe where magic exists. Brewster's scientific expertise makes it look like he's a wizard in this world - the only problem is that he's not a member of the wizard's guild!

This was a fast read for me. There is a good sense of humor throughout and a few amusing instances of breaking the fourth wall. The one thing that really annoyed me is that I felt it should've gotten further than it did - I really wanted to see Brewster meet up with the wizards of this parallel world, but the book never got there and instead is cut off too quickly with the last sentence asking the reader to continue the tale in The Inadequate Adept.

I vacillated quite a while between 2.5 and 3 stars, finally giving it 3 stars because I do want to know what happens next.

5. Dust by Hugh Howey
458 pages
started in January for the SF/SFFKIT, meets February AlphaKIT
BingoDOG: one-word title
Category challenge: Misc (finishes the Silo trilogy)

A good conclusion to Hugh Howey's Silo trilogy. This novel starts where the first book, Wool ends (the second book, Shift, describes the backstory of how the silos came to be). I don't want to go into too much detail as there would spoilers for anyone who hasn't read the first two books. There were a few surprises and I would say that most things were tied off.

I gave it 4 stars.

I'm currently working on finishing Pandora's Star, which will fit the SF/SFF challenge and the AlphaKIT.

Books on deck:
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks for the CultureCAT, CATWoman and AlphaKIT.
Wolf Hall for the AwardsCAT and AlphaKIT.
The Eye of the World for my category challenge series focus and AlphaKIT.

I'll be interested to hear what you think of Wolf Hall. Will have to borrow it from my parents soon. The TV series was great.

>58 LisaMorr: I haven't gotten to Dust yet but thanks for not giving it away... and glad you enjoyed it!

>53 LisaMorr: - Heard about this one on a book podcast that I listen to and though it sounded interesting. Happy to see it's worth the read.

>58 LisaMorr: I still have Wool and Shift on my tbr shelves so it's always good to see a positive review for a later book in the series. Glad you enjoyed it.

Stopping in really quick (after a month-long LT hiatus) to say I dig your plan of working through series.

I loved His Dark Materials, and I'm excited to see your thoughts on The Dark Tower. I read the first four Dark Tower books ages ago when I was obsessively reading everything King. Then, he took too long to get around to finishing the rest of the series, so I never got around to finishing it. At this point, I'm going to have to go back and reread, working my way through the series all over again. But I'm always reluctant to commit to any series over 3-4 books long these days. Too much of a commitment. lol.

Howdy Lisa! Just popping in to say I look forward to our meetup next week. I'll be in a class all day Tuesday, but I'll text you when I get home.

>60 rabbitprincess: Sadly, I didn't get around to Wolf Hall yet. I've read one other book by Hilary Mantel, Beyond Black, which I gave 4 stars, so I'm definitely looking forward to this one, although I know it will be much different than Beyond Black! Still hope to fit in this year sometime.

>61 VictoriaPL: and >63 AHS-Wolfy: Howey's Silo trilogy was worth it!

>62 LittleTaiko: My first 5-star read this year! I just realized I need to add my rating to my comments above!

>64 andreablythe: I'm excited about my series reading this year too! Great to hear you liked His Dark Materials, that series has been on my TBR for quite a while - really interesting that he is planning on writing a follow-up trilogy!

I'm in the same place as you about The Dark Tower, I just couldn't wait for him to continue the series, so I'm in to do some re-reading and finish it off.

Same for The Wheel of Time series - I just started re-reading The Eye of the World and it's great, I'm excited to get through the whole series!

>65 luvamystery65: Thanks again for the meetup last week, it was great Ro!

6. Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton

988 pages
read for RandomCAT, SFFKIT and AlphaKIT
BingoDOG: N/A
Category challenge: Commonwealth Universe series
4 stars

Pandora's Star is an epic alien invasion story. Worm-holes are used for travel between planets, but when an anomaly at the far reaches of the known universe is observed by an astronomer, the quickest way to get there and check it out is by developing and building a new kind of starship. It was a bit of a slow starter because there were sooooo many characters to follow, but it ratcheted up to a rip-roaring finale!

February summary

3 books, 1645 pages
0 female authors / 3 male authors
3 fiction / 0 non-fiction
2 books for my series focus (1 book that was in the formal plan)
Books read covered CultureCAT, RandomCAT, SFFKit and AlphaKIT
2 bingoDOG squares

Again only 3 books this month, but 700+ more pages than January. One series book that was part of my planned series reading and one other series book that closed out a series (but I hadn't made it part of my defined 2017 series reading).

March reading plans

Started my re-read of The Eye of the World - really excellent and it has me excited to be finally completing this series this year.

I also started Castle Rackrent for the RandomCat and it will give me my first 1001 book this year.

I've got a long trip this month with hours and hours on planes and in airports and I haven't decided what books I want to bring with me yet. I leave on Friday, so I'll figure it out by then!

>69 LisaMorr: Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong And the New Research That's Rewriting the Story

That's why I love my Kindle. I have a library of books to choose from!

>70 mamzel: That looks interesting - did you get that as an early reviewer book?

That's definitely the benefit with a kindle! I haven't been able to convert to a Kindle and still bring my physical books with me.

On my last trip (to Azerbaijan), I brought The Eye of the World, Castle Rackrent (both of which I finished on the trip), The Little Stranger (which I started), The Gunslinger, The Golden Compass and The Great Hunt...three extra books to carry, but better that than to not having an appropriate book at hand!

7. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
814 pages
fits AlphaKIT
BingoDOG: N/A
Category challenge: The Wheel of Time series
4.5 stars

Re-read for my 2017 goal to read and complete the entire series. Just as good as I remember it being the first time I read it in 1990. A rollicking good beginning to an epic fantasy series. The only thing that kept it being a 5-star read was that I was starting to get a bit irritated with some of the behaviors of the teenagers in the book by the end.

8. Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth
127 pages (including explanatory notes)
read for RandomCAT and fits CultureCAT and AlphaKIT
BingoDOG: A satire
Category challenge: Misc (1001 book)
3.5 stars

Published in 1800, Castle Rackrent is described in the introduction as one of the most famous unread novels in English.

Also from the introduction, 'combining the subtle wit of the French tale, the Gaelic cadences of Irish oral tradition, and Gothic intrigue over property and inheritance, Castle Rackrent has gathered a dazzling array of firsts - the first regional novel, the first socio-historical novel, the first Irish novel, the first Big House novel, the first saga novel.'

How all this could fit in 114 pages, which includes a preface and a glossary by the author, is pretty amazing. But on reflection I guess it does! I read this along with the glossary and explanatory notes - the glossary was so much more than a glossary, taking 3 pages to explain the Irish lamentation for the dead, a couple of pages on Fairy Mounts and explaining well and truly what a raking pot of tea is (raised eyebrows...). It's about four inhabitants of the Castle Rackrent, Sir Patrick, Sir Murtagh, Sir Kit and Sir Conolly and how the run their estate.

I picked this up ostensibly to fit in a short 1001 book that also met the March RandomCAT and I'm so glad I did!

(edited to change BingoDOG to a satire - I don't normally change my selection, but since I haven't read any other books yet where this would change anything on the card, I decided to because I'm not sure I'll come across another satire in my planned reading this year anytime soon!)

Currently reading The Little Stranger for the CATWoman and the AwardCAT. The Golden Compass is on deck for the SFFFKit.

>73 LisaMorr: I'll take a book bullet for that one. The most famous unread novel? How can I resist?

Azerbaijan! I'm with you on the need to bring a few extra books, especially when traveling to places where English language books are not available in abundance.

9. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
501 pages
read for AwardCAT and CATWoman and fits CultureCAT
BingoDOG: Set in a time before you were born (the 1940s)
Category challenge: CATS and KITs
3.5 stars

A really well-written gothic novel. Very well done - still not sure exactly what happened - was it a haunted house, were one or more people possessed, was it a family 'taint' (madness)? And along with it being a gothic novel, there was an examination of life among the landed gentry and what life was like for them after WWII, and how they interacted with the 'common' folk (and even a doctor is considered part of the 'common' folk.).

March Summary

3 books, 1442 pages
2 female authors / 1 male authors
3 fiction / 0 non-fiction
1 book for my series focus
Books read covered CultureCAT, RandomCAT, AwardCAT and AlphaKIT
2 bingoDOG squares

My summaries are getting pretty easy - again only 3 books this month and 1442 pages - ahead of the game on page count anyway! One series book that was part of my planned series reading. And one 1001 book, so that's good also.

So far all books are off my shelves - that's part of the plan also.

On deck for April - an ambitious plan!

Currently reading The Golden Compass. Then is no particular order: Swing Time for the RandomCAT, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit for the CATWoman and hopefully also the Culture CAT, The Gunslinger for the SFFFKit and Lonesome Dove for the AwardsCAT.

>75 LittleTaiko: I hope you like it!
>76 RidgewayGirl: It's an interesting place to visit, quite modern and the people are very friendly. Definitely wanted to make sure I had lots to read - also needed to survive long flights and long layovers!

10. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
399 pages
started for March SFFFKit, fits April CultureCAT
BingoDOG: Made into a movie
Category challenge: His Dark Materials series
3.5 stars

The first book in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, The Golden Compass is about the adventures of Lyra, a young girl who lives in a world like our own, but where humans all have daemons. They're not demons as we would know them, but creatures that are bonded to humans such that each can feel the other's pain and they cannot be very far physically from each other without pain. In this world, a version of the Catholic Church is in power, although the papacy itself has been abolished. Witches exist, as so armored bears and other creatures. Lyra is involved in a mystery surrounding children that keep disappearing, including her friend Roger who works in the kitchen of Jordan College, where Lyra has grown up amongst the scholars. Very good start to the trilogy and I'm looking forward to the rest.

11. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
171 pages
read for CultureCAT and CATWoman
BingoDOG: N/A
Category challenge: Misc (1001 book)
4 stars

This novel which has been described as semi-autobiographical (Winterson says in the Introduction, "Is Oranges an autobiographical novel? No not at all and yes of course."), tells the story of young Jeanette who is adopted by an English Pentecostal family. Jeanette believes she will grow up to become a missionary and writes sermons and preaches. She also falls in love with a young girl and her mother and other members of the church pray to get the demons out.

This novel had an interesting structure - each chapter was named from a book of the old testament, in order starting from Genesis. There were also two other stories being told within the main story of Jeanette - one about Sir Perceval as he searched for the holy grail and another about a young woman who became a wizard's apprentice.

A 1001 book, I thought it was well done.

12. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
858 pages
read for AwardCAT
BingoDOG: Author shares your first and last initials
Category challenge: CATS and KITS
5 stars

Wow, just wow. Let me just say that I don't read westerns - I can't for the life of me remember ever reading a western before this. This was amazing. McMurtry has such a way with words. Every character (and there were quite a few) was so well developed. Every sense was titillated. I felt the sand sting, heard the thunder crack, saw the lightning, felt the pelt of the hail, heard the Indian war cry, felt my mouth parch... I was Gus, Call, Lorena, Deets, Newt... Cannot recommend this enough. Go read it!

I'm glad you liked Lonesome Dove as much as I did!

>83 LisaMorr: I am thrilled you loved Lonesome Dove. I always tell people that it's not a Western, it's a novel that takes place in the West. It truly is a beautiful story with some amazing characters.

You don't need to watch the mini-series, by the way. It shows its age (everyone is clean and well-groomed all the time) and there's nothing in it that wasn't done a lot better in the book.

I read LD many, many years ago. So far back that all I can remember is that I (like you) enjoyed it as the only Western I ever read.

Like you, I don't read Westerns, but I really liked Lonesome Dove! I'd also recommend Doc by Mary Doria Russell as an excellent Western for people who don't read Westerns.

>88 christina_reads: I second Christina's suggestion of Doc :)

>84 RidgewayGirl:, >85 luvamystery65:, >86 RidgewayGirl:, >87 mamzel:, >88 christina_reads:, >89 rabbitprincess: Thanks and nice to hear from all of you LD lovers!
>86 RidgewayGirl: Thanks for the non-recommendation on the mini-series, happy to pass that up!
>88 christina_reads:, >89 rabbitprincess: And thanks for the recommendation on Doc - on to the list it goes!

Have any of you read more by McMurtry? Any recommendations?

13. The Gunslinger by Stephen King
231 pages
read for SFFKit
BingoDOG: N/A
Category challenge: The Dark Tower series
3.5 stars

I read (re-read) the revised and expanded version. I remember reading this when it was first published in 1982 and I hungered for more immediately. It's a bit less dark now then it was then with some of the added context on Roland's life. Still a great start to a great series.

April Summary

4 books, 1659 pages
1 female authors / 3 male authors
4 fiction / 0 non-fiction
2 books for my series focus
Books read covered CultureCAT, AwardCAT and CATWoman
2 bingoDOG squares

Finally got 4 books in this month! And still ahead of the game on page count anyway! Two series books that were part of my planned series reading. And one 1001 book!

And all books off my shelves - that's part of the plan also.

So far this year 5 series books read.

accidentally repeated a post!

May reading plans:

Currently reading Swing Time for the CATWoman. Then planning on reading Judas Unchained for the SFFKit. For the RandomCAT thinking about Close Company: Stories of Mothers of Daughters. For the AwardsCAT, I'm planning on reading The Siege. For the CultureCAT, Special Agent: My Life on the Front Lines as a Woman in the FBI is on the list, which will also fit the AlphaKit.

>91 LisaMorr: I caught the trailer for the new Dark Tower series. It looks really good!

Getting caught up with some threads as well as your more recent reads. Happy to see you enjoyed The Little Stranger. Not a fan with everyone. Some readers feel that the pacing of the story is a tad slow but I thought it was perfect. ;-)

Yay, you loved Lonesome Dove!

>83 LisaMorr: if RidgewayGirl's bullet hadn't hit the target, yours would have. My only problem is that McMurtry's books are so huge my arthritic hands have difficulty holding them, so I've added Lonesome Dove to my kindle wishlist.

>95 mamzel: I think I've seen links to that trailer popping up - I need to check it out.
>96 lkernagh: I agree with you - the pacing was excellent!
>96 lkernagh: and >97 VivienneR: A solid 5-star read for me, Lonesome Dove will stay with me for a long time.

>77 LisaMorr:
I really enjoy Sarah Waters' writing. Need to pick up more of her work.

>82 LisaMorr:
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit sounds like a fascinating read. Got hit with a BB with that one.

>83 LisaMorr:
Woah. A five star, and I've heard such great things about it. Another BB.

>91 LisaMorr:
I've just put The Gunslinger to the top of my TBR pile for a reread as well. I also loved it when I read it years ago and made it through the first four books – would have finished the series, if it hadn't taken him years to finish it. Now I'm feeling like I want to start from the beginning and work my way through again. Will have to see if it still grabs me in the same way.

Howdy Lisa! Super fun meeting up with you on Wednesday. Glad that our storm Cindy was really just some rain for us. Have a great weekend.

>95 mamzel: I saw a couple of the trailers - The Dark Tower looks very good!
>99 andreablythe: Thanks for stopping by and glad to send some BBs your way!
>100 luvamystery65: It was great catching up with you Roberta! Hopefully we can connect next month as well.

14. Swing Time by Zadie Smith
453 pages
read for CATWoman, counts for year-long AlphaKIT and May AlphaKIT
BingoDOG: set in a country you've never been
Category challenge: CATS and KITS
2.5 stars

I wanted to like this. I tried to like this. But when a 453 page book takes me almost a month to read, there's something wrong. I started it with high hopes, but soon I was just plodding along, reading a few pages before I put it down to find something else to do. It's about the lives of two young girls growing up in the London suburbs and trying to achieve their dreams. They both love to dance, but only one has real skill and innate talent. There are also themes about growing up bi-racial in the early 80's. This is one of those books that starts with a prelude to the ending, and then it goes back and forth between when the two girls first met and the relatively current events building up to what was hinted at in the prelude. I didn't like the characters and there wasn't a whole lot happening. Also, what was alluded to at the beginning was really just a non-event to me. I've heard a lot of great things about this before, and I will give another book of hers a shot, but I can't recommend this one.

15. A Peacock in the Land of Penguins: A Story About Courage in Creating a Land of Opportunity by B.J. Gallagher
126 pages
read for work - counts for AlphaKIT
BingoDOG: book or title about an animal
Category challenge: CATs and KITs
3 stars

I saw this book recommend on lkernagh's thread and decided to pick it up. I thought it would be useful at work, and I have used it in a couple of diversity and inclusion moments, and it has worked really well. It's about a company run by penguins; some of the penguins have traveled to other lands where different kinds of birds are having successes, so the penguins decide to bring one of them into their company - a peacock. It's a fairly simple fable of something I have definitely seen in some companies where I have worked. A good little story, nicely illustrated.

And finally, my summary for May (at least posted before June is over!)

Only 2 books read, 579 pages read
2 female authors / 0 male authors
0 books for my series focus
Books read counted for CATWoman and AlphaKIT
2 BingoDOG squares (and still no Bingo)

I was distracted in May; I've already read more pages in June, so that's a good sign!

16. Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton
1008 pages
read for SFFFKit, also worked for CultureCAT and CATWoman
BingoDog: Author uses initials
Category challenge: Commonwealth Universe COMPLETED
4.5 stars

Really exciting conclusion to Pandora's Star about an alien invasion. Tons of characters, which luckily were easier for me to follow having read the first book a couple months ago (and with the inclusion of a dramatis personae). Hamilton does an excellent job of fleshing out this myriad of characters, although sometimes I would get frustrated leaving one character at a very exciting point to jump over to another character, knowing that we wouldn't be getting back to the first character for quite a while!

17. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Cover from my omnibus version that also includes Speaker for the Dead
279 pages
read for SFFFKit
BingoDOG: N/A
Category challenge: Ender's Game
4 stars

The first entry into the Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card was very good. I didn't really know what it was about, aside from reading the info in the front cover and seeing some of the previews of the movie, and so I knew it was about using children to fight a war with an invading alien, the buggers. Ender (his sister's childhood pronunciation of Andrew) was monitored early on to see if he could make it to Battle School. The instructors use every tactic in the book to see if he is the one who will lead their troops to victory. Pretty well done, but not very many developed female characters (his sister and the one female who made it to battle school). I'm looking forward to reading Speaker for the Dead, the next in the series, in July.

June Summary

Again only 2 books read, but 1287 pages read, a lot more than May; I'm behind on books read this year so far, and also slightly behind on pages read (although pages read is a bit closer to the target).
0 female authors / 2 male authors
Both books for my series focus
Books read counted for SFFFKit
1 BingoDOG squares (and still no Bingo)

Both good reads in June, one a 4 star and one a 4.5 star.

July reading plans (well, 'plans' may be a bit optimistic! I haven't read all the books I've planned to in any month so far this year...I think I will just say that maybe I will get to these this month!):

Finished The Drawing of the Three this morning - excellent second book in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series!
The Mysteries of Udolpho - reading this for the July RandomCAT with Roberta(luvamystery)
Speaker for the Dead and The Great Hunt for the SFFFKit
Mango Season for CATWoman

18. The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King
407 pages
started reading for June SFFFKit and fits July SFFFKit, also fits July CATWOman and CultureCAT
BingoDOG: set in a beach community/resort
Category challenge: The Dark Tower
5 stars

OK, this is really weird. I know I read this before, probably close to when it was first published, in 1987. I re-read The Gunslinger in May and I remembered it pretty well. I barely remembered this one at all - I remember the 3 main characters (of course one was the Gunslinger from May), and a couple of plot points, but for the most point I didn't remember hardly anything. Logically, I think that should mean I shouldn't give it 5 stars, because I already read it and I hardly remember it! But, it was so good! I'm gong to blame this on a concussion I had in 1986...I can't think of any other good reason for why I forgot so much of this book.

>103 LisaMorr: - Glad to see the book was useful for you!

>106 LisaMorr:
I enjoyed Ender's Game as well (despite the lack of women). It was interesting to follow the psychological progression of turning a kid into a weapon.

>109 LisaMorr:
Ahhhh, I really need to reread all of these. :)

>106 LisaMorr: I loved Ender's Game. First read it many years ago and it hooked me on OS Card.

Having said that, I think the series turned into a cash cow. I loved Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide. Children of the Mind had some very interesting ideas. If you get that far, you might like to stop there ;)

>110 lkernagh: Yes, and I've recommended it to others!
>111 andreablythe: Yes, it was really interesting. I am interested to see how the next book turns out and where he goes with this.

I'll be interested to see what you think with a re-read!

>112 sirfurboy: I was planning on reading all the ones I have, which include two more past Children of the Mind... sounds like I might lose a bit of interest at some point!

19. The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
693 pages
read July RandomCAT, fits July CATWoman and Culture CAT
BingoDOG: Place name in title
Category challenge: 1001 book
2.5 stars

What a tome - and in my view just too many words! For what it's worth, I do now understand about all the mysteries of Udolpho... This is a gothic story of a young woman who loses both her parents and comes under the guardianship of her aunt who is not very nice. Her aunt marries someone even less nice who eventually takes his new wife and her niece to live in a castle/fortress in the Italian countryside where he tries very hard to get the women in his life to sign over their assets. Ann Radcliffe would start every chapter with a quote from a poem or Shakespeare and she would also include a variety of sonnets within the novel - something like, she walked along and the scenery was so beautiful she put to pen to paper and came up with the following verses. I have to say after the first few, I ritually was skipping those sonnets...

July Summary

Again only 2 books read, 1100 pages.
1 female author / 1 male author
One book for my series focus
Books read counted for SFFFKit, RandomCAT, CATWoman and CultureCAT
2 BingoDOG squares (and still no Bingo)

One 5 star read and one 2.5 star read.

20. The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
180 pages
Fits AlphaKIT
BingoDOG: N/A
Category challenge: 1001
2.5 stars

It's about a young (well, youngish, I'm not sure of her age) widow who comes home when her 70+ year-old father tells her he needs to see the doctor for trouble with his eyes. Her widowed father married a woman not much older than her when he was 70, and the new wife and the daughter don't get along. I found the new wife to be horrid and pretty much wanted to smack her. Well, the father goes in for eye surgery and the remainder of the book has the daughter exploring her parent's life together as well as her own short-lived marriage. I didn't find it very satisfying.

I try to focus on Virago Modern Classics in August for AV/AA: All Virago, All August. I'm also hosting the AwardsCAT, and I certainly want to read some books for that.

So, I have a big pile set aside...

For AVAA, I picked out all the VMC books (except Pilgrimage - too big to get much else read...) that are also on the 1001 list that I haven't read yet:

After the Death of Don Juan
The Birds Fall Down
The House of Mirth
The Passion of New Eve
The Well of Loneliness
The Optimist's Daughter

So far I've finished The Optimist's Daughter and I'm close to finishing The Passion of New Eve (very weird, by the way).

After I finish New Eve, I'll dig into the books for the AwardCAT - and one of them is a VMC, yay!

The Great Fire for the Miles Franklin award and Fingersmith for the Stonewall award.

I might also try to read My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin, which is also a VMC.

We'll see!

21. The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter
191 pages
BingoDOG: N/A
Category challenge: 1001
2.5 stars

I guess you can describe this as a futuristic dystopian novel. Evelyn, an Englishman visiting New York City, gets caught up in the violent break-up of that city and escapes, driving across the country to the desert. There he is kidnapped by a militant feminist group that turns him into a woman, the perfect woman. Now, as Eve, she escapes that group only to be kidnapped by Zero and his band of seven wives, to become wife #8. They make a pilgrimage to the home of legendary Hollywood star Tristessa. Eve and Tristessa then escape, only to be captured by a band of young militant boys who are bound for California to fight in the civil war there. Just a little too surreal, too weird for me - I didn't enjoy it.

>114 LisaMorr: - Looks like I can skip the Radcliffe book and just find other books to read when I am in the mood for gothic literature. Great review!

Sorry to see that your last three reads have been sub-par. I hate when that happens.

>119 lkernagh: Thanks! And no worries about the bad spate of books - I knew I was in for a good one soon, and I really enjoyed The Great Fire!

22. The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
314 pages
read for AwardCAT, fits CATWoman
BingoDOG: Set in a place you want to visit (New Zealand)
Category challenge: CATs and KITs
4 stars

Beautifully written novel about a soldier after WWII. A decorated veteran, Aldred Leith 'walked' across China in the two years after the war to document a China that would be forever changed by the Chinese Civil War. He then arrives in Japan to survey the aftermath of Hiroshima, where he meets an Australian military family and falls in love with the 17-yr old daughter. The novel brilliantly describes what it must have been like to travel across the world during that time - the protagonist goes to Japan, Hong Kong, the UK and New Zealand.

August Summary

3 books read, 685 pages
3 female authors / 0 male authors
Zero books for my series focus
Books read counted for CATWoman, AwardCAT and AlphaKIT
1 BingoDOG square (and still no Bingo)

September plans: I finished Fingersmith last weekend and I would really like to read 2-3 series books this month. I'd also like to read A Spool of Blue Thread for the AwardCAT.

Currently reading Speaker for the Dead; I think the other two series books will be The Waste Lands (3rd book in the Dark Tower series) and The Great Hunt (2nd book in the Wheel of Time series).

23. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
548 pages
read for AwardCAT,
BingoDOG: Appeals to the sense
Category challenge: CATs and KITs
4 stars

This was about a young woman who is a 'fingersmith', or thief, getting involved in a big con job with another con artist. The first part is written from the point of view of the young woman involved in the con of a second young woman, the second part in the point of view of the second woman and part three goes back to the first young woman's point of view. I thought it was very well done and I must say I was caught off guard by the ending of part one. Following along similar events to part one but with a different point of view was interesting.

Fingersmith was a 2003 Stonewall honored book.

>123 LisaMorr:
I loved Fingersmith so much. I thought it was such a fun read. I keep meaning to pick up more of Waters' work.

>124 andreablythe: I've now read three of her books (The Little Stranger and Affinity were the other two) and have enjoyed them all. I have The Night Watch on my TBR and The Paying Guests on my wish list. I should probably add Tipping the Velvet to the wishlist - have heard lots of good comments on that one as well!

>125 LisaMorr:
That's awesome. I just requested Tipping the Velvet from the library, and I should probably grab The Little Stranger since I'm a fan of ghost stories.

Bingo Dog Plans

Almost the 4th quarter, so it's time to see what I can do to complete my bingo card!

I hope to get two more squares in this month, with A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler for 'color in the title' and Summer by Edith Wharton for 'author born/book published in 1917'.

And for the rest:
Foundation by Isaac Asimov for 'published in the 1940's-1960's'
Close Range by Annie Proulx for 'short stories'
(both included in my series focus for this year, luckily!)
The Black Book by Orhan Pamuk for 'books about books'
Told by an Idiot by Rose Macauley for 'title refers to another literary work'
Crash by J. G. Ballard for 'author born in the 1930's'

Then I just need 'author abroad'; I'm posting the guidance from the main BingoDOG thread here to remind me as I think about this category:

This could be authors writing about their travels (such as Dumas writing about his travels in Russia, or Patrick Leigh Fermor walking across half of Europe); authors who live in another country and set their books there (for instance Martin Walker's mystery books set in France, Donna Leon's series set in Venice); writers who had to go into exile (for example Thomas Mann or Salman Rushdie?); authors who left their country of origin, for whatever reason, and started writing in the language of their new home (such as Nabokov or George Mikes).

OK, some ideas from my books for 'author abroad'

The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
True at First Light by Ernest Hemingway
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson

>128 LisaMorr: Lisa, I read In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson for that square and I really enjoyed his take on Australia. It's a light, humorous and fairly quick read.

>129 DeltaQueen50: Thanks for the recommendation - that's the only book where I'm not 100% sure where it is in my house...! I should have time to find it though.

I just realized that I let my thingaversary just blow right by me! That being said, it was on 25 August, which was the day Harvey hit Houston and I was taking an earlier flight to get out of town. While I was in Houston, I did visit the awesome Kaboom bookstore and got a bunch of books, so I guess I celebrated without even knowing it...

Later this week I'll report my thingaversary book haul.

Happy belated Thingaversary! Hurray for inadvertent celebrating!

Happy belated Thingaversary!

Happy Thingaversary!!! It’s great that you were already buying books at that time.

>132 rabbitprincess:, >133 RidgewayGirl:, >134 LittleTaiko: Thank you very much!

And it was a book haul...I feel the need to explain. When I got to Kaboom, besides looking for Virago Modern Classics, I got the idea that I would look for 1001 books that I didn't already have. I have the 1001 book app on my phone and sorted by author, so I started with A... And that ended up being a ton of books. So, after finishing with A, I did my normal complete sweep of the bookstore and picked up a few more books that caught my eye. And these are used books, so it wasn't that expensive...

1001 books by 'A' authors:
Hawksmoor and The Lambs of London by Peter Ackroyd
The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon by Jorge Amado
Lucky Jim and The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis
Dead Babies, Money, London Fields, Time's Arrow and The Information by Martin Amis
The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric
Deep Rivers by Jose Maria Arguedas
Obabakoak by Bernardo Atxaga
Moon Palace by Paul Auster
The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela

Only 1 VMC (but also a 1001 book!):
The Thinking Reed by Rebecca West

A few more 1001 books that caught my eye:
The Diaries of Jane Somers and The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing
An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
Queen Margot by Alexandre Dumas
Dead Air by Iain Banks
Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks
Possession by A. S. Byatt

Wow, that is a haul and a half!

Excellent haul and congrats on finding so many 1001 Books! I am constantly on the lookout for books from the list but find they are few and far between. I have the most luck with my Kindle.

>136 Jackie_K: I went a little overboard...!
>137 DeltaQueen50: I was so excited to move through the 'A' shelves and find so many that I didn't have!

Wonderful book list! How nice that you were able to get so many 1001 books.

>139 LittleTaiko: Thanks! I was really thrilled to get so many 1001 books at a good price all at once.

>135 LisaMorr: Happy belated Thingaversary! That is some book haul!

24. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
Cover from my omnibus version that also includes Ender's Game
354 pages
read for RandomCAT
BingoDOG: Next in a Series (first bingo!)
Category challenge: Ender's Game
4 stars

Great continuation to Ender's Game. I found it to be so very different from the first book, where Ender was a child forced to grow up quickly. In Speaker for the Dead, he's all grown up, and travels the universe to speak for the dead - to find out about someone who has died and present their life to those who knew him or her. It touches on similar issues from the first book - what do you do when you meet an alien species? Very well done.

25. The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
548 pages
read for RandomCAT
BingoDOG: N/A
Category challenge: The Wheel of Time
4.5 stars

The second book in Robert Jordan's EPIC Wheel of Time series, The Great Hunt is a great contribution to the series. I first read this 27 years ago, and while I remembered the general storyline, I forgot the big climactic finish! The only thing that irked me a bit (and as I remember, I was irked through all the books I managed to read in this series the first time) is the main character's constant complaining about not wanting to have or use his powers. I'm hoping he grows out of the complaining eventually!

26. A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
358 pages
read for AwardCAT
BingoDOG: Color in the title
Category challenge: Books from Lisa
3.5 stars

This is a story about a family. A family whose roots are unknown to the family itself, and will remain that way, but the reader gets a glimpse. It started with a stark, short phone conversation between father and son and I was grabbed right away. However, I have to admit that it was pretty boring for awhile and while I was committing to finish it (and not Pearl rule it), I was thinking that I wasn't going to like it in the end - it just seemed like a book about a slightly dysfunctional but normal family. But then things started to get interesting, and it turns out this family, or at least its origins, were not normal at all. I'm smiling a bit now at how I was almost fooled into thinking this wouldn't be a worthwhile read.

>142 LisaMorr: I enjoyed the first 3 books in the series quite a lot. That one surprised me with how different it was from Enders Game. I really should get around to reading the 4th book and picking up the Shadow series as well at some point.

>141 VivienneR: Thanks Vivienne!

>144 LisaMorr: I'm looking forward to carrying on with the series!

September Summary

4 books read, 1858 pages - a big uptick in pages read this month
2 female authors / 2 male authors
2 books for my series focus
Books read counted for AwardCAT and RandomCAT
3 BingoDOG squares (and first 2 Bingos!)

October reading plans:

Currently reading The Black Book by Orhan Pamuk for the AwardCAT and it will fit the RandomCAT; also gives me another Bingo square and I've been meaning to read and review this one for the Go Review That Book group. I want to continue The Dark Tower series and read The Waste Lands, which will also fit the RandomCAT.

Then I guess I'll pick from the following pile of books that will help me complete my Bingo card. The first two fit my series focus for this year, and all the rest fit other categories for this year that I want to continue to make progress on.

Foundation by Isaac Asimov for 'published in the 1940's-1960's' - fits series focus
Close Range by Annie Proulx for 'short stories' - fits series focus
Told by an Idiot by Rose Macauley for 'title refers to another literary work' - a Virago Modern Classic
Crash by J. G. Ballard for 'author born in the 1930's' - a 1001 book
Summer by Edith Wharton for 'author born/book published in 1917' - a 1001 book
True at First Light by Ernest Hemingway for 'author abroad' - books from Lisa

I've noticed that I haven't posted in a while - I'm still stuck on Orhan Pamuk's The Black Book - which means I didn't finish any books in October, ugh! This was probably the time to try and read two books at once.

I have 115 pages left and I will finish it; I do want to know what happens (and I hope something happens in the end to make it all worth it). This is one of the most dense books I've read in a long time. I've been mulling over my review and am looking forward to writing it, but need to finish the book first! I gotta believe that I can finish it this week...

Good luck with those last 115 pages. I always know I am getting bogged down when I find myself counting how many pages or chapters remain in the book.

>149 DeltaQueen50: Thanks! Yes, counting pages remaining is not a good sign...

>143 LisaMorr: Yes, this series is indeed epic, isn't it? I'm thinking of tackling the 5th book The Fires of Heaven soon. So many pages ....

Stopping by to get caught up and happy to see you enjoyed your read of Fingersmith!

I finally finished The Black Book - phew! My thoughts about this book are burbling through my head...hmmm...

>151 mathgirl40: Not sure if I'll get to The Dragon Reborn before the end of the year, we'll see!
>152 lkernagh: I have been enjoying Sarah Waters, that's for sure!

The book on the top of the pile is Summer by Edith Wharton, which at 205 pages should be a quick read and make me feel better about taking so long on The Black Book. Then I plan on reading Annie Proulx's short story collection Close Range: Wyoming Stories.

I'm still going to go for completing my Bingo card, which would be a first for me.

>106 LisaMorr: I read this book many years ago but never read any of the others of the series. Here at school I like to pair it with a book about child soldiers.

>118 LisaMorr: Ew! Sounds like a hot mess! Probably why the cover is such a mess, too!

All caught up now!

27. The Black Book by Orhan Pamuk
466 pages
Started for AwardCAT and RandomCAT, completed for Go Review That Book
BingoDOG: Book about books (another bingo!)
Category challenge: CATs and KITs
2.5 stars

This book took me over a month to read, which contributes to the rating I finally gave it - 2.5 stars. It started with promise - Galip, a lawyer living in Istanbul, comes home one day to find that his wife has left him. She leaves him a 19-word note (we never find out what the note said). Galip thinks maybe she has gone back to her first husband, or maybe to his cousin, a very popular columnist who is his wife's half brother. He looks for clues all over Istanbul, and in the writings of his cousin, to try to find where his wife has gone.

The good things about the book are that I learned a lot about Istanbul and about the culture and history of Turkey. I found the structure of the book to be interesting - every other chapter was an essay written by his cousin the columnist.

It was a bit surreal - the things Galip does to ostensibly find clues to where his wife has gone are just crazy. Also, the writing was at times a bear to get through - it was a very dense book! I think I understood this a bit more when I read the translator's afterword - the Turkish language doesn't have the verb to be, there are many more tenses than in English, the passive voice seems to be preferred - all of this combines together to make for very long sentences.

I kept wondering if I would learn where Galip's wife was by the end of the novel and why she left him; I did understand what finally happened to her, and I think I understand the answer to the mystery (although it is ambiguous...), but I can't say that getting through this book was worth it!

I love translators' notes! That's really interesting that the Turkish language doesn't have a "to be" verb and has so many more tenses. Wonder if there's a history of the language around somewhere.

28. Summer by Edith Wharton
205 pages
BingoDOG: author born/book published in 1917
Category challenge: 1001 books
4 stars

Summer is one the last few books I've selected to complete my BingoDOG card. At 205 pages, it was a quick read - a beautifully written novella about a young woman adopted by a family living in a poor New England town, who has a love affair with an educated young man from the big city; you know it can't end well for her!

>157 LisaMorr: Wow! "At 2015 pages, it was a quick read" That stopped me in my tracks! Then I noticed your typo!

And a bullet hit as well.

>158 VivienneR: That made me laugh out loud... typo corrected... :)

Always so busy this time of year - getting ready to go on vacation on Wednesday and have a pile of work to get done before we leave - ugh!

So, a quick check in - will get some reading done before the new year on vacation but won't have a lot of access to free, quick internet, so I'll probably have to finish off the thread in January (and still haven't started my 2018 thread, oh well!).

29. Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx
30. Crash by J. G. Ballard CURRENTLY READING

On deck to complete my bingo card: True at First Light, Told By An Idiot and Foundation.

Haven't yet decided what else I'll bring with me on vacation, I should have time to check back in later this week.

Hi Lisa, stopping by to wish you and your loved ones peace, joy and happiness this holiday season and for 2018!

Happy Holidays! Wishing you all the best and many new, glorious books to read!

>161 lkernagh:, >162 VivienneR:, >163 andreablythe: Thanks so much! All the best to you and yours!

I finished Crash and True at First Light while on vacation and made a good start on Told By an Idiot, but alas I did not complete by BingoDOG card this year. Oh well - there's always 2018!

Which reminds me I need to start my 2018 thread!

But first I'll close out this one!

Happy New Year Lisa!