All About Books discussion

January is famous for New Year's Day & New Year's Resolutions, which inspired this theme. 'New Starts' Theme challenge is to read a book that is by a new author or is the beginning of a series new to you.

I will leave it up to each of you whether a new author refers to one who has just recently published a first book or whether it refers to an author you have not read before.

Huh......how seredipitious! I just finished a book by a new author (new to me), that as the first of a trilogy and deals with "new beginnings" (genetic engineering). I think it fits here well.

New-To-Me Authors:
1. Beggars in Spain
2. Christine Falls
3. The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore
4. Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account
5. Cain
6. Wit
7. Bad Monkey
8. To Build a Fire and Other Stories
9. The Complete Jack the Ripper
10. The Reader
11. The Shoemaker's Wife
12. An Unfinished Life
13. The Snow Child
14. Buddha, Vol. 1: Kapilavastu
15. The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity
16. Watership Down

I am currently reading I Should Know That: Great Britain: Everything You (and the Prime Minister) Really Should Know About GB, it's the first time I'm reading a non-fiction completely for enjoyment (nothing to do with school or university work) and it's the first book I have read by Emma Marriott.

Mine will be Dorothy Dunnett, The Game of Kings

Just realizing that I will be reading 4 books this month of authors I haven't read before:

The Time Regulation Institute
Let the Great World Spin
Robinson Crusoe
Crossing to Safety

Nightmare Abbeywas my first peacock book. I liked it though the family was depressing and the science talk was boring. LOL. :)

Amber wrote: "Nightmare Abbeywas my first peacock book. I liked it though the family was depressing and the science talk was boring. LOL. :)"

I am going to read that too! so that makes 5 books. Clearly my literary subconscious had a concept it was following there for January ;)

Awesome Jenny. I hope you enjoy it. It's our book club's January group read. :)

My "New Starts" book will also be Nightmare Abbey

cool Jean!

Actually also Nightmare Abbey could go for me: I really didn't know this author before

I am going to number my entries, because I can't keep track otherwise! My goal is to read at least 2 books in each Theme over the course of the year... hopefully more :-)

1. Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock (new-to-me author)

I am in! (we could crown little theme kings and queens by the end of the year;))So here we go:

1.Let the Great World Spin by Column McCann (new-to-me-author/January)

Leslie wrote: "I am going to number my entries, because I can't keep track otherwise! My goal is to read at least 2 books in each Theme over the course of the year... hopefully more :-)"
Hope the same!

I'll write down the first titles:
Thomas Love Peacock, Nightmare Abbey Read
Herrny Bernstein, The Invisible Wall Read
Albert Camus, La Peste Reading now
Dorothy Dunnett, The Game of Kings - About to start

1. Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain (author new to me)

Great theme. I am taking these from my 2014 challenge.
First up
The Silk Weaver's Daughter: A Novel of Love, Loyalty and Faith
The Huguenots had to make a new start in England. Elizabeth Kales discovered her Huguenot heritage and has written a book about what life may have been like for one of her ancestors. I have just discovered that my great grandparents on my father's side were silk weavers in London so almost certainly Huguenots. There is to be a major exhibition this year about the Huguenots as well!
Next :I took advantage of the Christmas Kindle sale to buy
A Game of Thrones
The first in the series and my first encounter with this hugely popular author.
Thirdly:
The New Shostakovich
The biography that helped set out for the layman the truth about Shostakovich and his music.

Alannah wrote: "I am currently reading I Should Know That: Great Britain: Everything You (and the Prime Minister) Really Should Know About GB, it's the first time I'm reading a non-fiction complete..."

Great choice Alannah!

Petra wrote: "Huh......how seredipitious! I just finished a book by a new author (new to me), that as the first of a trilogy and deals with "new beginnings" (genetic engineering). I think it fits here well.

It ..."

This sounds intriguing Petra, I look forward to seeing your review.

I'd love to read the Shostakovich book - it looks as though it might "correct" the "official" view of him...

I've just requested Amazon put it on Kindle, but who knows if/when that will happen, so be sure to let us know what it's like.

My 'new starts' book is "The Bastard of Istanbul" by Elif Shafak. She is a new author for me.

Rahat wrote: "My 'new starts' book is "The Bastard of Istanbul" by Elif Shafak. She is a new author for me."

Oooh, that sounds interesting! I look forward to hearing what you think :)

I read my first zach whedon book yesterday and it was pretty good. Dr. Horrible and Other Horrible Stories

New Authors
Margaret Craven's Again Calls the Owl
New Series
The 5th Horseman by James Patterson. It's the first of the Women's Murder Club series that I've read.

Read If I Stay - both a new author and a new series :)

2. Twelve Drummers Drumming, both a new-to-me author and the beginning of a new series. I am not sure that I will follow this series though...

Lynne - yes I think these do benefit a lot from being read in the correct order. In fact the third one The Risk of Darkness follows straight on from the previous novel in the series The Pure in Heart so much so that it really forms part of the same long novel.

all new to me authors in January so far
2. Crossing to Safety – Wallace Stegner
3. Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
4. Nightmare Abbey – Thomas Love Peacock
5. The Time Regulation Institute - Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar

Just finished Twelve Drummers Drumming which is a new author to me, the first of a series, and the main character is making a new start in a new location. I liked it very much! Here's my review if anyone is interested - http://welshbookworm.wordpress.com/20...

2. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, new author to me.

Wind in the willows is new to me and its pretty good so far.

3. The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, new-to-me author

Amber wrote: "Wind in the willows is new to me and its pretty good so far."

Oh Amber you are reading that wonderful book. When you have finished you might like to try The Willows in Winter which was a sequel written by William Horwood.

I have begun The Xenophobe's Guide to the Welsh there is a whole load of these Xenophobe's guide books. I have lived in Wales and am married to a Welshman so finding this pretty funny and spot on. Especially when it comes to talking about Welsh mothers!

I've just finished The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones, a new to me author. Next up is The Fault in Our Stars by John Green who, again, I haven't read anything by before.

Have read a few new (to me anyway) authors so far this year:
1. Rosamond Lehrmann - Dusty Answer
2. Thomas Peacock - Nightmare Abbey
3. Micheal McBride - Snowblind
4. WG Sebald - Austerlitz
5. Graham Joyce - Some Kind Of Fairy Tale

6. Adrift on the Nile by Naguib Mahfouz (obviously I can't have Laurel overtake me ;)

lol ;)

Jenny wrote: "6. Adrift on the Nile by Naguib Mahfouz (obviously I can't have Laurel overtake me ;)"

That is another author I have been eyeing! Did you like it?

I did, but it really isn't subway literature! And it might have even been a five star read if only I knew more about life and politics in Egypt in the 1960's. It's the kind of book that is best read in a few long sittings with no distractions. I did write a wee review if you are interested: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Jenny, you are responsible for the increasing length of my TBR list :)

Apologies!!! See I just can't tolerate the fact that you only have 60 when I am almost have...oh good grief...I really almost do have 600. I think I am going to have to opt for eternal life in order to get them all read (+ the ones being added day by day!) ;)

I might tweedledum. we'll see what happens. my tbr list is pretty big at the moment and wind in the willows was on that list.

Thomas Love Peacock, Nightmare Abbey Read
Herrny Bernstein, The Invisible Wall Read
Albert Camus, La Peste Read
Dorothy Dunnett, The Game of Kings Read

And to add to my new author of Thomas Love Peacock I would like to add a whole new genre, for me, of Graphic Novels. (How annoying. There's no link to a genre.) Now that doesn't happen very often! :D

Jean wrote: "And to add to my new author of Thomas Love Peacock I would like to add a whole new genre, for me, of Graphic Novels. (How annoying. There's no link to a genre.) Now that doesn't happ..."

A whole new genre deserves a bonus - ♕, your crown m'lady...

Hahaha thank you, Leslie :D

7. Dr. Katzenbergers Badereise – Jean Paul
8. Kinder Than Solitude – Yiyun Li
9. Erinnerungen an Anna Achmatowa – Nadezhda Mandelstam
10. A History of Reading - Alberto Manguel
11. Arcadia – Tom Stoppard
(all new to me authors)

I think my crown has been well and truly dislodged :(

LOL Jean, I think genre still beats me!! (but I am realizing that I read much more new authors to me than known authors to me. Which I wouldn't have known without this thread. But then again, one month isn't really what one would call representative)