Books: 2nd Edition

[Meltintalle]

I tend to speed read; I'll race through a book and get an overall impression. If it's really good I'll go back and do it again sometime. I'd say I read about an hour or two a day...

As for how many books... my book list has a REALLY LARGE number because I'll add essays and other small stuff I might want to look back at later, but it's +100...

[ValiantArcher]

mm1991, good questions! For me, it depends a lot on what time I have available. Most of my reading happens over lunch breaks at work now, so nominally I read about an hour a day. If the week is busy, though, or if we have lunch meetings, that number goes down drastically. Also, I'll often have two or more books being read at once---one at home and one that I put in my lunch bag, unless one is incredibly absorbing.
I tend to speed read, but if the book is kinda boring, I take my time. As for the annual number of books read, it will vary, partly depending on how much I've been traveling (I can usually get a good amount of reading time in on a plane ) and how big the books are I've been reading. I'm guessing I'll end the year with around 75-80 this year.

I finally have gotten into The Way of Kings. Some parts are kind of boring, but I really like Kaladin's sections, even if they're also really painful. I actually have skipped around a bit to read his (something I never do!), though I go back and read the others. I'd realllllllly like to finish the book before New Year's, but I think I'm only around 400 or 500 pages, and there seem to be at least a 1000, so...

[SnowAngel]

I had had this new fantasy YA book on my shelf for over a month, so the week before Christmas I sat down and read it. It called Unblemished by Sara Ella and I really enjoyed it. Problem it is yet another series that started in 2016. I can't believe much fantasy I have read and enjoyed in 2016.

I did not get to finish Notes From A Tilt-A-Whirl before it had to go back to the library. I am going to finish it next year. I have not read Death by Living, Valia, and my library doesn't have it. However I "need" to order from Christianbook.com and it's $5.99 for the hardcover, maybe I should just buy it.

I got The Legend of Sam Miracle by N.D. Wilson and The Choosing by Rachelle Dekker from the library this week, I also have Leepike Ridge on hold and still need to pick it up. I am going to make myself finish reading Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge before starting either library book. So it will probably sometime in 2017 before I start reading my library books.

I have read over 120 book this year and that includes some rather short YA books. I read a bunch to start the year off and then again in the summer/early part of fall. I lagged in my reading in late November into December, but still made my goal of 120 books. What I read in 2016 was probably 90+% fiction (or too much fiction according to my older sister).

SnowAngel

[ValiantArcher]

Congrats on reaching 120 books, SA! Enjoy all the Wilson you have to read next year.
Are you hoping to read more non-fiction next year, or are you happy with the ratio of fiction to non you had?

I finished The Way of Kings! For a little while I figured I wouldn't make it, but I did. I did skip forward a few times to read Kaladin's sections, but I went back and read the other sections. Overall, I liked it. Kaladin was my favourite character (if you couldn't tell ), but Adolin, Shallan, Syl, and Renarin were also good. I also really liked the Bridge Four crew. Elkohar and Jasnah have started to grow on me, and I felt really terrible for Szeth. I was disappointed in the twists/betrayals about Saedas and the king with the hospitals. Also in Dalinar, and I didn't really like Navina...
Kaladin definitely had my favorite scenes (and the saddest): the Chasm scene where he decides he's already dead and there's nothing he can do worse by protecting folks, the training and chasm scenes with Bridge Four, and making the decision to go back for Dalinar and his men.
I was figuring Shallan had killed her dad (in defense of her brothers possibly?), and she seems to have a Shardblade though she has yet to draw it...
And less keen on another 'dead god' story, but oh well...
At any rate, I'll be curious to read the next book.

I counted it up and, excluding comics/manga but including rereads, I read around 85 books this past year. Which, considering the size of some of the books, I'm pretty happy with. And that was about what I guessed earlier.

Does anyone have any book goals for 2017?

[fantasia]

Does anyone have any book goals for 2017?

I'm just excited that I managed to read several books this year.....maybe 10? Hoping to keep that up this year.

[Bookwyrm]

I'm going to try for 100. I'm kind of cheating a bit, I have three books I'm close to finishing right now, so I'll get a head start.

[fantasia]

Hey Rose, how are you coming on the Middle-earth books (did I spell that right Tolkien peoples?)

I actually decided I'm ready to try reading LotR again. Every time I start I get bogged down in the middle of TTT and stop reading. We'll see if I can make it through this time. Maybe if I keep posting in here about it I'll be more motivated to finish.

So if you read LotR, does that count as one book or three or six?

Also, I think there may be a stalker on NWeb that lives near me and keeps reading about the books I want to check out at the local library. Now the Mistborn series is checked out, and the Ashtown Burials are not at my local library so I'll have to get it through inter-library loan.

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

I'm about three-quarters of the way through The Hobbit and enjoying it very much, fantasia! I'd have had it finished last month, except a) crazy busy, and I tend to gravitate towards non-fiction when life is like that, and b) a minor health issue has, among other things, included pain that made curling up with a book rather uncomfortable. (Oh the humanity. ) I'm doing better now, though, and I'm looking forward to finishing it soon! Bilbo is pretty awesome... I feel like he is a huge inspiration to homebodies everywhere.

Between hopping back and forth between books like a frog and listening to a lot of audiobooks as well, I'm extremely hazy on my reading count for this year... I feel fairly sure that it's more than it was for 2015, but I really need to get a Goodreads account to help keep track of this. I do tend to take my time, mm1991, unless the book isn't impressing me and I just want to get it over with or jump to a part that is more interesting.

[SnowAngel]

My reading goal for 2017 is currently set at 110 books. I think the year could be a bit busier than 2016.

I ordered from Christianbook.com and I found 7 books I need to add to my library and 1 book to gift to a friend. Average price was $2.74 a book, I am so happy. I bought two books by Melissa Tagg (Here To Stay and From The Start), two by Amanda Cabot (At Bluebonnet Lake and In Firefly Valley), Wrapped In Rain by Charles Martin (gift for friend), Talon by Ronie Kendig, The Inheritance by Micheal Phillips (I might actually finish reading it now), and Death By Living by N.D. Wilson.

I went ahead and read The Legend of Sam Miracle, it was a fabulous way to start the new year.

I have had a Goodreads account since fall 2015, that's how I know for sure the number of books I read in 2016, and I love it. Plus I write reviews every once in a while and I actually need it for that. Anyway, it really is great for keeping track and on schedule reading.

SnowAngel

[aileth]

I tend to speed read; I'll race through a book and get an overall impression. If it's really good I'll go back and do it again sometime. I'd say I read about an hour or two a day...

As for how many books... my book list has a REALLY LARGE number because I'll add essays and other small stuff I might want to look back at later, but it's +100...

That's a really good idea (though I only put in books and the very few videos I watch). Being able to go back later and actually find what you vaguely remember is such a boon. As well as a physical journal that I write in, I also put my list on the computer, so that I can search it. It surprises me how much I use it. 17 years of keeping a book journal, and I only wish I had started sooner. I don't put in re-reads, as some people recommend--way too many for that, as probably half my yearly intake is re-reading.

108 (new) books this year--sad compared to some years in the past, when the average year was 250-300 new books. Mind you, I collect children's fiction, so we're talking about ~200 pages per book, vs 600-800 pages. Alas! reading and writing don't mix very well, I find; that might explain the lower number.

My sympathies, SA, most of my reading is fiction, too. Right now, though, I'm plowing through volume 2 of "Salute the Sappers" by Neil Orpen. It is a fairly detailed work on the South Africa Engineering Corps's (SAEC) work in Africa and Italy throughout WWII (so far my grandfather's been mentioned twice by name, making it worth the insane price I paid).

And now, Melty, more than 2 years later :
While browsing through said journal, I saw that this past year I read the Graustark novels by George Barr McCutcheon (using a mix of online and hard copies; all but the last one. Couldn't lay hands on it ) Have you read those ones?

Which brings me to the point of discussing Anthony Hope and the Ruritanian stories. It seems that the chief difference between the Ruritanian/Graustarkian sub-genre is that in the former, it is a British foreigner, and in the latter, an American, who provides the necessary action. The other difference is that each Graustark book ends

SHOW SPOILER

happily, as a rule, unlike Hope's works.

I liked Hope's writing, just not most of his endings. With Zenda I was ambivalent, Rupert was 'hijous;' Heart of Princess Osra did have a good ending, but oh, the agony! on the way. Let's just say that I'm glad I'll never be so beautiful as to drive men to madness or to cause

real wars, and all Narnia and Archenland, Telmar and Calormen, Galma and Terebinthia, were laid waste with the fury of the kings and dukes and great lords who fought for her favour.

as wrote a certain author of our acquaintance.

Hope's Half a Hero was interesting, in a way. I didn't mean to read it: it just happened. It's more a political "romance" and ends nastily, but with a similar element as in Rupert--a decision for good or bad, we don't know which. It wasn't until I read Phroso that I was unreservedly happy. Such a nice book--and a nice ending!

Then there was Harold MacGrath. Yes, yes and yes. As well as The Goose Girl, I read The Princess Elopes, which is the same story, written earlier and from a slightly different point of view. Still can't decide which version I prefer. And then there was The Carpet from Baghdad. I'd like to read more by him.

In my spare time...

[ValiantArcher]

10 books sounds like a great goal, fk! I hope you make it.

Also, I think there may be a stalker on NWeb that lives near me and keeps reading about the books I want to check out at the local library.

Well, at least they have good taste...

Hope the 100 book goal goes well, Booky!

Glad to hear you're enjoying The Hobbit, Rose! Have you finished it by now? And I'm glad to hear you're doing better.

Will you adjust your reading goal if 2017 is indeed much busier that 2016, SA? Or try to meet it anyhow? And hurrah for the book splurge! I still need to read Sam Miracle, especially as I know two people who have it and would lend it to me...

Congrats on your 108 books last year, aileth!

I'm almost finished with The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp (yes, that Maria), and have been enjoying it immensely. Having grown up on The Sound of Music, it's been quite interesting to see where they took liberties and changed timelines, combined characters, etc. Another interesting thing is that only probably a third of the book is covered by the movie; the rest deals with life after.

[johobbit]

That's wonderful you are reading Middle-earth books, Rose! And for you for re-reading The LotR, fk. ♥ Both of you, keep us posted!

Valia, I really appreciated The Story of the Trapp Family Singers; also Maria, another autobiography of her life—one that covers a broader timespan than her Trapp Family years. My mom introduced me to these books, having really enjoyed them, herself, over the years. Yes, it is interesting to see what they changed in the beloved movie.

I'm currently reading:
*The Saddest Ship by Allison Lawlor: the history of the 'coffin ship', the MS St. Louis from WW II, so sad!
*God and Churchill still, by Jonathan Sandys (Churchill's great grandson) and Wallace Henley: it's my 'waiting' book, so while it's a great read, I go through it more slowly because I don't pick it up every day.
*Christmas Bells by Jennifer Chiaverini: the story of the writing of I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day by Longfellow (one of my favourite Christmas carols) during the American Civil War.
*The Surprising Imagination of C.S. Lewis by Jerry Root and Mark Neal

I'm also reading bits and pieces of our former pastor's recent PhD dissertation, which is and more than a bit overwhelming. But amazing too.

I'd like to start Wounded Tiger by Martin Bennett soon ... after my hubby's done with it. Mitsuo Fuchida is the pilot who led the attack on Pearl Harbour, and whose life was changed dramatically afterwards. My husband says that 'though the editing isn't very well done, the true story, itself, is fascinating.

When I'm working in the kitchen, I'm listening to FotF's Oliver Twist radio theatre production. Wonderful, as usual! We received Anne of Green Gables for Christmas (eager to listen to that). Then I want to purchase Little Women for Nellie for her birthday; also, an audio reading of Lewis' space trilogy for her. Does anyone have a good recommendation?

P.S. I just finished listening to radio theatre stories of William Wilberforce, John Newton, and Olaudah Equiano. This is a British period about which I am enthralled, with all three of them being heroes of mine, particularly Wilberforce. These dramatizations were very well done, but they concluded Wilberforce's too early, imho, and didn't see it through until the slave trade was abolished. Still, what is there is really, really good. Newton's is highly inspirational; Equiano's is so, so moving and powerful.

[SnowAngel]

My sympathies, SA, most of my reading is fiction, too. Right now, though, I'm plowing through volume 2 of "Salute the Sappers" by Neil Orpen. It is a fairly detailed work on the South Africa Engineering Corps's (SAEC) work in Africa and Italy throughout WWII (so far my grandfather's been mentioned twice by name, making it worth the insane price I paid).

I really should read more non-fiction, but I love fiction and I have so many favorite authors. And fiction is usually less expensive when book shopping.

Oh, that's cool!

Will you adjust your reading goal if 2017 is indeed much busier that 2016, SA? Or try to meet it anyhow? And hurrah for the book splurge! I still need to read Sam Miracle, especially as I know two people who have it and would lend it to me...

Yes, if I have less time I will shoot for 100 books instead. But if I have more time to read I will definitely raise the bar. I think I might have more time after all...my favorite NASCAR driver is retiring, so I probably not be watching as much NASCAR on the weekends and that equals (hopefully) more time to read.

So I have four non-fiction books with bookmarks in them that I started last year and after I looked at my list of finished books for 2016 I only finished 5. So I plan to read at least 10 non fiction books this year.

My current stack of library books:
Leepike Ridge by N.D. Wilson
Bunker Hill by Nathaniel Philbrick (non-fiction)
The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines (non-fiction)
The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice #1) by John Flanagan
The Burning Bridge (Ranger's Apprentice #2) by John Flanagan

SnowAngel

[ValiantArcher]

I don't think I'd heard of Maria before, Jo; I'll have to keep an eye out for it, thanks. Does it cover some of the same material as The Story of the Trapp Family Singers?
All of the books you're reading sound quite interesting.

Well, regardless of how your book goal for 2017 shifts, SA, I hope you make it! What non-fiction books have you read and enjoyed? I hope you like Leepike Ridge and the Ranger's Apprentice books. I've read the first four or five RA books, but then kind of lost track of them and didn't have time/interest enough to track them down and figure out where I was. Mel loves them, though.

I realized I never said anything about my book goals for 2017. I don't have a set goal or number of books to read, though I would like to make it at least halfway through my unread books shelf(shelves...). Other goal is to continue to pare down books as I read them and to make some (hard!) decisions about whether I actually want/need copies of everything I have. Even with the second bookshelf, I've managed to mostly fill up the shelves in my apartment, and I've still got a lot of books on shelves in my parents' house, not to mention boxes more of books... And that's not to mention the three library booksales I plan to go to this year and books coming out this year that I'll acquire...

Also, this isn't really a goal, but I need to keep better track of my books: I've got books loaned out to various peoples and I can't find my copy of KoA, which shouldn't be loaned out since everyone I would've loaned it to has read it and/or owns it. I did finally find my copy of Dandelion Fire...turned sideways on a shelf in the apartment. Anyone else have problems losing books?

I'm currently reading The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson. Once I finish it (...or maybe while I'm working on it), I'm going to try to hit a few unread books before I go back to the library and/or hit up some friends/sisters for books. Maybe more Sanderson... I'd like to read some more Lewis and Sayers this year as well. I also need to do a reread of The Westing Game as the homeschool drama club is doing a version of that as their spring play.

[SnowAngel]

Well, regardless of how your book goal for 2017 shifts, SA, I hope you make it! What non-fiction books have you read and enjoyed? I hope you like Leepike Ridge and the Ranger's Apprentice books. I've read the first four or five RA books, but then kind of lost track of them and didn't have time/interest enough to track them down and figure out where I was. Mel loves them, though.

Most of the non-fiction books I have read are about the WWII, Band of Brothers and the like. My brother has been collecting military non-fiction for years and he has quite a few books about WWII. On the other side of non-fiction I love Elisabeth Elliot's books. I would like to reread several of her books this year.

I also have a commentary on John by Michael Card (the singer and songwriter) that I really should read. Even though I have had the book for over two years, I have only read the first couple chapters.

I finished Leepike Ridge, it was good. I didn't enjoy it as much as his other books, but it was worth reading.

I am trying to find more books for my bookworm younger sisters that's how I stumbled on the Ranger's Apprentice. I thought I read a lot as a tween/teen, my sisters are always reading. Of course as cold as it is January why would anyone want to do anything, but drink tea or coffee and read good books. I haven't started the series yet.

My Christianbook.com order arrived today, but since I haven't made much progress on my library books I probably won't be reading my new books until next month. I am currently reading The Magnolia Story and Bunker Hill.

SnowAngel

[johobbit]

I don't think I'd heard of Maria before, Jo; I'll have to keep an eye out for it, thanks. Does it cover some of the same material as The Story of the Trapp Family Singers?

It's been a few years since I re-read them, but yes, the Trapp Family Singers is focused on the family years, while Maria expands on her life before, as well. Really, really interesting!

This week I'm beginning Wounded Tiger, yay (hubby's nearly done ).