The Next Best Book Club discussion

My goal is to read the books I already own by the end of the year.

One of the ways I will accomplish is to watch less TV - I'm going to be cancelling my cable.

I am currently reading Cold Mountain.

Through Black Spruce
Wideacre
The Bone People
The Solitudes
Love & Sleep
Daemonomania
Endless Things: An Aegypt Novel
The Good Earth
The Sandcastle
The Book and the Brotherhood
The Princes of Ireland
DogFellow's Ghost
The Alibi Man
The Child in Time
The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness.
The Middle East
The City of Words (CBC Massey Lecture)
Three Day Road
Runaway
Before the Fall-Out: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima
The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie
Collected Essays - George Orwell
Lessons from the Fatosphere: Quit dieting and declare a truce with your body- Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby

Good Luck Loretta!!!

I just realized I haven't included on that list my audio books. I don't do audio books very often, but I'm about to drive to New Brunswick for a holiday (it's a 12 hour drive, but I'll break it up over two days). I have "The Power of Now" and Stephen King's "Lisey's Story" to listen to for the ride.

And then of course I'll be on vacation, so will be bringing some books with me to read. Haven't quite decided which yet, but I think to start:

Cold Mountain
The Princes of Ireland (this is a fat book...might be enough, but just in case will also bring...)
The Alibi Man
(and just in case I do have time, cause the Alibi Man looks quick) The Good Earth

Lori wrote: "Good Luck Loretta!!!"

thanks Lori!

Finished Cold Mountain. Absolutely loved it.

Think I'll pick up the Alibi Man, as it looks to be a quick read and I'll finish it up before I head back home.

Remembered a book I own that I hadn't included on the list - George Orwell's Essays. Oopsie. Added now.

Realistically, I may not get these all ready by the end of the year - but that'll be okay. Just want to keep crossing them off.

Since I know I'm not going to be able to stop buying books, though, I may start a new shelf called "to read in 2010", so as not to get discouraged by the ever growing list...

As suspected, I burned through The Alibi Man today. It was alright - not great, but not terrible either.

I think I'll move on to The Good Earth next - I'm more likely to get it finished in time to move on to the book club read I have to get done by Sept. 30th. (Through Black Spruce). Princes of Ireland is a rather big read, so I'm better to leave that for when I don't have a deadline.

Finished the Good Earth, and enjoyed it a lot more than I had thought I would.

I'm on the road heading back to Ottawa today and tomorrow, so will be continuing listening to "Lisey's Story" during the drive. Haven't decided what to start next - I might just do the book club read, or pick up something short to read first.

Back home again, and decided to start Princes of Ireland after all. I have all this weekend to read, and if I don't get it finished by around the 15th I'll put it down and pick up Through Black Spruce for the book club. I don't do that very often (have two books on the go at the same time, at least not novels), but a change in my habits is what this challenge is all about.

I'm actually making pretty good headway through Princes of Ireland - it's a big book, but not too dense, so I'm getting through quickly.

Of course, I bought another book yesterday, one I don't want to wait until 2010 to read, but I'll burn through it today: "Lessons from the fatosphere" - so adding it to the list.

And, I just discovered 2 MORE books sitting on my shelves that should be added to the list - except they are MONSTERS. War and Peace, and Anna Karenina. I've had these books for over 20 years - started them once or twice, but couldn't get into them, and couldn't bring myself to get rid of them. So those, I will add to the 2010 list.

Back to the books...

Finished off the "Fatosphere" book. A good and necessary read for me. And now, back to Princes of Ireland. I'm mostly liking it alright, although it gets a little "history text" at times.

Still plugging away at Princes of Ireland. I've had something going on every evening this week, so haven't had the time to really dig into it. I'll finish it this weekend, though - only around 100 pages left.

It's an alright read, but I'm not loving it. Don't think I'll bother with the next book in the series.

I have some travel next week, so I might pick up a shortish paperback for plane reading, and then start Through Black Spruce once I'm back - it's a hardcover, so less convenient for the plane.

Finally finished Princes of Ireland. It was okay, but not great. But I can cross it off the list now! Yay!

Picking up City of Words now - it's a little book, which I'll hopefully get through before my trip to Halifax. (I sadly have to do some work and shopping this weekend, so can't just burn through it in a day). I haven't settled on what I'm going to take on the plane, but possibly either Runaway or Orwell's essays - I can leave either of those aside easily if I don't finish and need to start on Through Black Spruce.

Finished City of Words. Really wonderful, thought provoking little book, that I am going to have to re-read to really absorb all of it, I think. I want to write a more thoughtful review of it some day.

Today and tomorrow will be tied up with work and other stuff. So I'll pick out my next book for the plane tomorrow night.

I picked up George Orwell's Esssays, and it's great. So clearly written, thoughtful, interesting, and still for the most part relevant today, 60 years later.

Then had to put that down to start my book club read, Through Black Spruce. I am absolutely loving it. Will have to try and write a thoughtful review when I finish it, and will also have to go straight to the other Boyden book I have, Three Day Road.

Burned through Through Black Spruce last night, and then finished it up this morning while in the waiting room at a clinic. Waited for almost two hours, but couldn't have cared less as I was completely absorbed by the book.

Loved it. And lots to discuss with my real life book club - really looking forward to it.

Now picking up Boyden's first book, Three Day Road - the main character of which, I realized, is the father and grandfather of the two narrators of Through Black Spruce. So I've gotten some hints of his story, but that's alright. Looking forward to it.

Done with Three Day Road. I really liked it, but suspect I'd have liked it even more if I hadn't read it right after Through Black Spruce. I loved that so much that the expectations just couldn't be met. Plus, I was a little spoiled.

I think I'll go back to Orwell and keep plugging away - I have a busy weekend so won't have time to really delve into another novel until next, so dipping into the essays will be good.

There's still an awful lot of not-crossed off books up there. Ah well. There may have to be a revision of the goal come 2010, but that's alright.

I'm still plugging away at the Orwell essays. Really enjoying it, but it's not a quick read and life has been really busy lately.

I needed something else to change things up, so picked up The Solitudesby John Crowley. I absolutely ADORED Little, Big, so am looking forward to getting started on this four book series.

Seriously not going to get through all those books by the end of the year, with the way work is kicking my butt lately. But that's alright. It's an "aspiration" I will continue to work towards.

Finished The Solitudes, and it was well worth it. Moving on to the next book in the Aegypt cycle, Love and Sleep, although I might work my way through another Orwell essay or two before I start.

Was a little slow going, but finished Love & Sleep. I liked it, but really, I have to reserve judgment on the whole thing until I've read the whole series - It's really one big book published in four parts, unlike most series these days - the story moves forward, but there is no real resolution of anything. And this one ended on a bit of a cliffhanger...which is unfortunate since I can't start the next one right away!

I have to move to two books that aren't on this list - one is for my book club, Olive Kitteridge A Novel in Stories; and the next is because I'm going to see the author speak at our local book festival on Oct. 27th and really want to have read this first - The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.

So I'll be moving on to those, but I think they'll both be quick reads and I'll be back to ticking books off this list soon.

finished - and really loved - both of the books not on this list (The Little Stranger and Olive Kitteridge).

I also finally knocked off the last few essays in the Orwell collection. That was a slow read for me, but very well worth it.

Going back to John Crowley and the Aegypt series now - starting #3, Daemonomania.

Haven't made much progess - I'm still reading Daemonomania, but slowly - because I decided, at rather the last minute, to do NaNoWriMo. So that's taking priority over reading, at the moment.

I'll get back to this list in December, but clearly am not going to finish all the books. I think I'll just make a new goal when the New Year rolls around to include the several books I've bought since doing this one...

Finally finished Daemonomania. Big fat meh on that one, but I'm a completist and am hopeful the final book in the series will go back to the quality of the earlier books, so will be starting Endless Things now.

Part of the reason it took me so long to finish, of course, was that I am working away on my nanowrimo project, which is coming along - I'm at 32000 words, a little behind where I should be but not bad at all. Will have more time to get back to this list of books in December.

I finished my Nano Novel! Whoot!

Which is to say, I met the 50k word goal, but the story actually isn't finished yet, so I'll keep working on that through December. But without the crazy deadline I'm hoping to be able to do some more reading and cross off a few more of these books before the end of the year.

Planning to spend the morning with Endless Things and a mug of coffee to celebrate.

I FINALLY finished Endless Things. Overall, disappointed. The beginning and middle of the book was almost incoherent, but towards the end it did at least get back to the characters I cared about and came to some sort of resolution. But it was a real struggle to get through, and the series as a whole was a disappointment. I'm going to wait a good long time before reading Crowley again.

I now have to read a book not on this list for my book club. Going home for the holidays next week, so I'll see how many books on the list I can get through before the end of the year, and then make a new goal for 2010. I should get through at least 3 or 4, if I choose wisely...

I just finished a book which is not on this list, Michael Crummey's The Wreckage, which I really enjoyed - that was for book club, tonight.

Will be returning to the list now - have some travel coming up, back home for Christmas, and some days off of course, so am hoping to read at least a few more before the end of the year, although I won't finish it all. Bringing 4 books from the list home with me: The Child in Time (I love McEwan); DogFellow's Ghost (written by a friend of a friend!); The Sandcastle (Murdoch is another favourite); and The Bone People (I visited New Zealand a couple of years ago and am looking forward to seeing it again in this book...)

Finished DogFellow's Ghost - not really my thing.

Am 80 pages into McEwen's "The Child In Time" and liking it lots.

FinishedThe Child in Timeand really enjoyed it- beautifully written and characterized book.

Will decide in the morning what to pick up next, but likely The Sandcastle.

I have so far finished 14 of the 24 books I had listed back in August. I'll likely finish 2, maybe 3 more by the end of the year. Progress, anyway.

15 out of 24 books now done - just finished The Sandcastle by Iris Murdoch, and really liked it. Not my favourite of hers, but still full of the qualities I enjoy in her novels - deep, rich, complex characterization and real insight into the messiness and glories of human relationships.

Starting The Bone People next, which will probably take me back to Ottawa. Just realized this thread will end up bracketed by trips to NB. Interesting.

Finished The Bone People. Wonderful book, although also quite dark and bleak at times. Enough that I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars.

So I have finished 16 of the 24 books on my list of books I own to read for 2009. Realistically, I might make a good dent in one of the remaining ones by Dec. 31st, but they're all on the hefty side - I don't think there's any I could finish, since I do have to work. But maybe I'll pick up one last one, and aim to have it finished on Jan. 1st; and then I'll start the 2010 list.

I think I'll go with Wideacre. Hopefully it'll be as much of a page turner as the other Philippa Gregory books I've read, although I've seen some negative reviews of this series. We'll see.

Final report for 2009: completed 16 of the 24 books. I haven't gotten very far into Wideacre - will sit down with it again later today, but so far it's not pulling me in .

So will sign off on this thread, and put together a new list (adding the books I've acquired since I made this list, oops) for 2010.