All About Books discussion

What are you planning to read in December?

Hmmm, I'm still working on my November books! However, I do know that I will be reading:

The Death of Ivan Ilych (AAB readalong)
The Snow Child (AAB readalong)
Frost At Christmas (BoTM for English Mysteries)
The Secret of Annexe 3 (English Mysteries readalong)
Zuleika Dobson (to finish my A-to-Z challenge)

The Quest for Christa T.
Mother Departs
The Reed of God:

These three are certain. I might also add To the Lighthouse.

For AAB readalongs:
City of Bones
The Snow Child

For fun:
How to Kill a Rock Star
The Book Thief
Little Women (maybe on Christmas day)

I will also try and read some Christmas books.

My last two November books will be Little Women which I am currently reading (and hope to finish soon) and The Child Thief (which is a readalong).

December Readalongs:
A Christmas Carol-Tattered Tales
City of Bones-AAB Readalong starting on the 14th of Dec
Anthem-Tattered Tales Group Read

I would also like to read Gift of the Magi, Wind in the Willows, and others in December. I got Nightmare Abbey for January too if we are still reading it here. I don't know what else yet. Got my comic star punch girl which I got today to read too so may read it early. we'll see.

At the moment I've decided my readalongs here:

Cassandra Clare, City of Bones
Leone Tolstoy, La morte di Ivan Il'ič
Margareth Atwood, Alias Grace
Eowyn Ivey, The Snow Child
Alberto Manguel, A History of Reading
Hopefully - but I don't know if I'll have time, also Christa Wolf The Quest for Christa T.

I have a couple of readalongs this month which I am excited about.

The Snow Child
City of Bones

December is looking like a massive ball of group reads and readalongs in various groups. Most of them are short, and a few I've read this month/am currently reading

Brave New World - currently reading
Alias Grace - read late November
Paradise Lost - currently reading
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Death of Ivan Ilych
Anthem
A Christmas Carol
The Bell Jar - read in November
Northanger Abbey

I tend not to make reading plans but just to pick up what catches my eye. However December is a special month, and I want to read something wintersih/christmassy :-)

So it will be either The Snow Child, and/or the rereading of Daniel Pennac's amazing The Scapegoat. I highly reccomend this one, it's the story of a guy, Benjamin Malaussene, who works in Paris as scapegoat at the shopping mall, dealing with angry costumers. He lives in Belville (the Arab quarter) with a incredible number of younger and funky brothers and sisters, and when somebody during Xmas time starts putting bombs at the mall he becomes of course the main suspect. It is an hilarious read really, perfect for the holidays!

I'm still working through November, which means finishing -
Catch-22 half way through
The Return of Sherlock Holmes half way through
Allegiant will read end November/ beginning December

I probably won't have time to even start these -
The Turn of the Screw
The Thirteenth Tale
Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford

December books AAB -
A History of Reading group read
The Snow Child readalong
Jane Eyre readalong

Other groups BoTM read -
Brighton Rock
The Handmaid's Tale
The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Personal choices (which I might get time for) -
The Valley of Fear
A Christmas Carol
Extras to finish the series

The only ones I know for sure are City of Bones and The Snow Child for this group, and then anything else I get through. I think I'm going to be quite busy through December with a uni assignment so only time will tell what else I get through.

Pink wrote: "I'm still working through November, which means finishing -
Catch-22 half way through
The Return of Sherlock Holmes half way through
Allegiant will read..."

Your choices for December look great Pink!

I will have to read about 20 books in December to make my goal for the year. HELP. Stupid November, being all busy and stuff...

However, I'm not above kinda-sorta-cheating. I'll be checking off as many shortish books from my to-read list as I possibly can, so pfffft.

The tentative list as it stands right now -

The House of the Dead
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
A Christmas Carol (annual Christmas treat)
The Haunted Man (ditto)
Jamaica Inn
Collected Ghost Stories (M.R. James collection I got for my birthday)
Haroun and the Sea of Stories (my bro's favourite book ever, which he graciously loaned to me)
Time and Again
The Dead Secret
Teacher Man
The Abolition of Man
Aunts Aren't Gentlemen (was supposed to be my birthday read, but I had no time!)
The Girl in Blue
James Herriot's Dog Stories
The Custodian of Paradise
The Great Gatsby
100 Canadian Heroines: Famous and Forgotten Faces
The Book Thief
Paradise Lost (readalong here)

Faye wrote: "I will have to read about 20 books in December to make my goal for the year. HELP. Stupid November, being all busy and stuff...

However, I'm not above kinda-sorta-cheating. I'll be checking off as..."

Good luck, Faye!

I'll be reading Alias Grace, followed by something "snow or cold", not sure what yet. Also Beloved, which I picked up a few weeks ago and then put down again. Hopefully I will be able to read over the Christmas hols, as I have really fallen behind with my reading plan over the last couple of weeks :(

Shirley wrote: "Good luck, Faye!"

Thanks, I'll need it!

My library got city of bones in too early so I have to read it before it is due back to the library on december 8th so will read that one and the child thief. Will probably start tonight on city of bones. I really wanted to get it for the readalong though. So am reading it now so will prob write my review of it after I finish.

I've just finished reading To Kill a Mockingbirda book I enjoyed very much, and I'm gonna start Breakfast at Tiffany's: many people told me it's a really good book,even if it seems pretty short.

Giacomo wrote: "I've just finished reading To Kill a Mockingbirda book I enjoyed very much, and I'm gonna start Breakfast at Tiffany's: many people told me it's a really good book,even if..."

I would love to hear what you think of Breakfast at Tiffany's. It's in my 2013 challenge.

My December plan

1. The Death of Ivan Ilych
2. The Snow Child
3. Alias Grace
4. The Importance of Being Earnest
5. Christmas at Thompson Hall: A Mid-Victorian Christmas Tale

And I've got to finish my current read! I hope I will fit it in, I start a new job on Wednesday and I spent most of December on nights so they might not all happen!

I'm trying hard not to plan too much, but have committed myself in my mind to:
Alias Grace
The Importance of Being Earnest (both for this group)
A Christmas Carol (readalong)
and maybe The Secret of Annexe 3 for another group, although we may be having a break there
and for my own personal monthly Gerald Durrell read
The Drunken Forest
If I have time I may also read:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age Stories which I bought in readiness for another group's December read, but which is now a low priority for me.
Or I may just choose something totally at random from my (or the library's) shelves!

Giacomo wrote: "I've just finished reading To Kill a Mockingbirda book I enjoyed very much, and I'm gonna start Breakfast at Tiffany's: many people told me it's a really good book,even if..."

I really liked both of these, but for very different reasons!

Jean wrote: "I'm trying hard not to plan too much, but have committed myself in my mind to:
Alias Grace
The Importance of Being Earnest (both for this group)
[book:A Christmas Carol|5..."

Aww Jean, I loved A Curious Case of Benjamin Button, if you just read this story from the collection, it's super super short. I found the rest of them hit and miss.

That's a very good idea Pink :) Thank you

Faye wrote: "I will have to read about 20 books in December to make my goal for the year. HELP. Stupid November, being all busy and stuff...

However, I'm not above kinda-sorta-cheating. I'll be checking off as..."

@Faye -- I just noticed that Aunts Aren't Gentlemen was on your list. Did you know that this is going to be BBC Radio 4's 'Book at Bedtime' starting next Monday? I don't know where you live, but it is available over the internet here.

I will be traveling most of December so won't have as much reading time but I'm looking forward to getting stuck in to The Hunger Games.

I am going to prob read a christmas carol soon while I wait for my next read 4 review book to come. Got 1 that the file wouldn't open for me and told the author of that one thanks for sending it but can't read it if the file won't open for me. It wasn't even in epub format but in ms which those files don't work on my tablet.

Leslie wrote: "Faye wrote: "I will have to read about 20 books in December to make my goal for the year. HELP. Stupid November, being all busy and stuff...

However, I'm not above kinda-sorta-cheating. I'll be ch..."

Thanks, Leslie! I had never heard of Book at Bedtime... what a cute idea for a radio show!