All About Books discussion

I'm going to keep it relatively simple this year as I've felt a bit pressured towards the end of the year to get my challenge done and it takes away from the enjoyment of reading a bit for me. So for 2016 I want to read at least:

10 books from my TBR pile (on my TBR prior to 1 Jan 2016)

1. Still Alice (on my TBR since July 2014)
2. Burial Rites (on my TBR since Jan 2014)
3. The Thing Around Your Neck (on my TBR since July 2015)
4. Longbourn (on my TBR since Feb 2014)
5. The Danish Girl (on my TBR since Dec 2015)
6. How to Be Both (on my TBR since Jan 2015)
7. The Driver's Seat (on my TBR since Nov 2015)
8. We Were Liars (on my TBR since Sep 2014)
9. Dubliners (on my TBR since June 2013)
10. A Little Life (on my TBR since July 2015)

Extras
11. Where'd You Go, Bernadette (on my TBR since June 2015)
12. A Spool of Blue Thread (on my TBR since Oct 2015)
13. I Hear the Sirens in the Street(on my TBR since Oct 2013)
14. The Rosie Effect (on my TBR since Nov 2014)
15. The Reluctant Fundamentalist (on my TBR since July 2015)
16. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (on TBR since Sep 2015)
17. Things Fall Apart (on my TBR since Aug 2015)
18. The Miniaturist (on my TBR since July 2014)
19. Notes from a Small Island (on my TBR since April 2014)
20. Tu (on my TBR since July 2015)
21. The Glass Castle (on my TBR since Mar 2014)
22. Whisky Charlie Foxtrot (on my TBR since Nov 2013)
23. A Suitable Boy (on my TBR since April 2013)
24. The Rehearsal (on my TBR since Jan 2014)
25. The Little Prince & Letter to a Hostage (on my TBR since Nov 2015)
26. Nefertiti (on my TBR since Mar 2014)
27. An Appetite For Wonder: The Making of a Scientist (on my TBR since Sep 2015)
28.A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories (on my TBR since Sep 2015)
29. Silence (on my TBR since Oct 2014)
30. Wolf Hall (on my TBR since April 2013)
31. Station Eleven (on my TBR since Dec 2014) CURRENTLY READING

10 books from my home bookshelf (on my bookshelf prior to 1 Jan 2016)

1. Still Alice
2. The Thing Around Your Neck
3. Paula
4. How to Be Both
5. Oliver Twist
6. Dubliners
7. Where'd You Go, Bernadette
8. A Thousand Splendid Suns
9. Isaac's Storm: The Drowning of Galveston
10. The Feminine Mystique

Extras
11. Factotum
12. Notes from a Small Island
13. Tu
14. Whisky Charlie Foxtrot
15. A Suitable Boy
16. The Rehearsal
17. Bullfighting: Stories
18. The Undeground Man
19. The Tea Rose
20. An Appetite For Wonder: The Making of a Scientist
21. The New Girl
22. Wolf Hall


5 books from this Guardian list http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009...

1. Solaris
2. The Day of the Triffids
3. Oliver Twist
4. The Driver's Seat
5. Things Fall Apart

Extras:

6. A Suitable Boy
7. The Little Prince & Letter to a Hostage
8. Silence
9. Cider With Rosie

5 monthly group reads

1. Solaris - for January
2. The Versions of Us - for June
3. Silence - for November
4.
5.

5 books from B.A.M.E authors - black, asian, minority ethnicities

1. The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
2. Nights In The Gardens Of Spain by Witi Ihimaera
3. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
4. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
5. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Extras:

6. Tu by Patricia Grace
7. The Calligrapher's Daughter by Eugenia Kim
8. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
9. Silence by Shūsaku Endō

I think I only managed one group read this year so definitely looking forward to joining in a bit more with those next year!

Erica I really like your challenge, the combination of books you already own, and books you already know you are interested in reading, along with books that come up throughout the year. I know you are going to ace your challenge!

Yeah I've kept it fairly easy this year so I can enjoy it and not feel rushed at the end of the year.

that's a great idea. I need to set myself a challenge for 2016 for sure

Thanks Hippieff :) I like trying to tackle the Guardian list as well cos it encourages me to read those classics and modern classics that often sit on your tbr shelf for years haha

I was just watching a booktuber video (can't remember who it was) talking about her goal to read more books by b.a.m.e. authors - e.g. books by black, asian or ethnic minority authors. I understand they're still very underrepresented in the publishing world these days.

I had a look at my own reads form 2015 and see I've only read 3 books from authors that fit that description! out of 60 books for the year as well which means only 0.05%. I did try and read books written by authors from countries other than just Britain and the U.S. but they were still predominantly white.

So this year I might try and broaden my horizons a bit! I'm still trying to keep my challenges rather light so I feel a bit freer in my reading this year so I'm going to aim for 5 but will definitely try to be more aware of this in the future as well.

Just for my reference, these are some books on my TBR shelf and my home bookshelf that fit that category:

READ The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

READA Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

READTu by Patricia Grace

Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West by Blaine Harden

When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge by Chanrithy Him

The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany

Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston

The Hairdresser of Harare by Tendai Huchu

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Colours Of The Mountain by Da Chen

The Makioka Sisters by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki

READ Silence by Shūsaku Endō

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

Great selection of books and lovely challenge. Good luck!

My first book of the year finished! I stayed up to midnight last night reading it and then dreamt about it all night; a definite 5* read from me...what a way to begin the year!

It was Still Alice by Lisa Genova.

I just wish I'd read it years earlier when my Nana was living with dementia - I think it would've really helped me understand what she was going through better. So if any of you out there know someone with dementia or alzheimers - you should read this book now! :)

I've thought about reading that book. Both my Grandad's suffered and I work with many people with it. I imagine it is really sad.

Erica I read Still Alice shortly after my Dad was diagnosed with dementia. I found it amazingly comforting. 5 stars from me too!

Heather you should definitely give it a try. It is sad although less depressing than I was expecting. It was quite heartwarming too - a balance that probably contributed to my 5* rating.

Just finished Burial Rites. I really enjoyed this book; the first I've read by Hannah Kent. I thought it was very impressive, even more so as it was her debut novel. The writing was very evocative but clear and succinct, which I think must be a hard balance to strike. A solid 4* read.

So glad to have finally read it as well as I've had my eye on it for a while!

Next up, my first group read for the year and my first group read in aages! Looking forward to stepping out of my comfort zone with a sci-fi classic Solaris

Just finished The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

I gave it 3.5*. A solid set of short stories that I enjoyed but there was only really one stand out for me and that was 'Jumping Monkey Hill'.

I'm looking forward to checking out more of Chimamanda's more recent and famous work later this year, including Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah.

Erica wrote: "Just finished The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

I gave it 3.5*. A solid set of short stories that I enjoyed but there was only really one stand ..."

I have Half of a Yellow Sun in my to-read list and I hope to read it this year.

We'll have to compare notes on it Dely :)

Erica wrote: "We'll have to compare notes on it Dely :)"

Sure!

Just finished Nights In The Gardens Of Spain by Witi Ihimaera.

I really enjoyed this story. It was well-written, never slow and gave what I thought was a good insight into what it must have been like being a repressed homosexual during the 1980's. I gave it 4*

Currently reading The Dressmaker but this doesn't fit with any of my challenges, was just lent to me by a friend.

Just finished Paula by Isabel Allende.

Amazing memoir; beautiful writing, colourful characters and a heartwrenching story. 5*

Finished Longbourn last night. I really enjoyed it and gave it 4*. It managed to take you back into the world of Pride and Prejudice without retelling the story or changing it, but actually adding a whole new level to it.

Just finished The Danish Girl in anticipation for seeing the movie. It was an ok read but nothing as interesting, thought-provoking or moving as the subject matter deserved. I felt that when I picked it up it was pretty easy to read but I often didn't really feel like picking it up - it didn't have me wanting more.

I think the best thing about reading too is that you have a chance to walk in another's shoes...understand how they lived their life and what they experienced etc. After reading this book I only have a very basic understanding of the character's lives etc but nothing more.
3*

I finished How to Be Both last week. I thought it was good. I got the version with the modern story first and then the historical story second. I think this was lucky for me, I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much the other way around. I think it's the type of book you would get more out of the more times you read it and if you studied it at school or the like as there seem to be many layers to the story. I gave it 3*

I'm still going through Oliver Twist and I'm enjoying it. Although Charles Dickens' writing is not exactly fast-paced so I'm taking it slow :)

I also picked up The Giver Quartet - Gathering Blue which I am flying through! I read The Giver late last year and really enjoyed it so looking forward to reading the rest of the series this year.

Just finished Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. I liked it much more than Great Expectations. Gave it 3*

About to start Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own. I think as I get a bit older I'm appreciating the classics a bit more so trying to read more this year.

Just finished The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark. This is the first book I've read by the author. I thought she created a really eerie tone with her writing...reminded me somewhat of The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides. I gave the novella 3.5*

Wow I am really churning through my TBR shelf at the moment! Almost completed my challenge of reading 10 books from my TBR (as it was prior to 1 Jan 2016).

I just finished We Were Liars - a nice, fast-paced YA novel after having read a few classics in a row. I thought it was clever and gave it 4*

Another classic that I've finally picked up and read off my home bookshelf - Dubliners. I preferred the shorter stories that made up the first half of the book. I think it would probably be an interesting book to study but enjoyment-wise it was just ok for me. I gave it 3*

Erica wrote: "Another classic that I've finally picked up and read off my home bookshelf - Dubliners. I preferred the shorted stories that made up the first half of the book. I think it would prob..."

Cool. Added to my list.

Finished A Little Life last night...finally! I've heard other people say they read it non-stop for like 3 nights. I found it so harrowing and depressing that I needed to read other books at the same time. Really well-written though and the length gives you the chance to really get to know some of the characters - although I think a tad more editing wouldn't have got astray - there was a bit of repetition but maybe that was to really hammer home the point.
4* read for me.

So that I don't have to keep trawling the Guardian list that I'm trying to read from this year, below are some books that I want to get to:

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee

Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Fingersmith and The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky

Oh, I have Cider With Rosie on my list to read this year! Also the Sarah Waters books :)

Yeah I heard about it on booktube and it sounded really good so will try and get to it this year! I also have the Sarah Waters' The Night Watch on my bookshelf so I've got no excuses for not getting to that one haha

Just finished A Spool of Blue Thread. I really enjoyed the unravelling of this family drama over three generations. 4*

Just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns...a book that actually belongs to my sister but that I've had sitting on my bookshelf for years now. I thought this was much better than the author's novel The Kite Runner. It made me really thank my lucky stars that I was born in a safe and peaceful country like New Zealand. I gave it 5*

Just finished Isaac's Storm: The Drowning of Galveston by Eric Larson. I thought it was very well-written non-fiction. It was captivating, enlightening and really brought the period in America history to life. Will definitely check out more of his works in the future. 4*

Just finished The Reluctant Fundamentalist. It was definitely engaging and very unique in the way the story was told. I gave it 3.5*

I'm almost finished The Rosie Effect! Should be finished in the next day or so. That's part of my offline challenge to finish some of the series I'm in the middle of.

So with the completion of The Feminine Mystique I've now completed my first two challenges for the year : to read 10 books each off my TBR list and my personal bookshelf at home. These are what I consider my more important challenges so glad to have made great headway on them!

I'm likely to finish my BAME challenge by the end of the month.

As predicted I finished my B.A.M.E challenge this month when I finished reading Things Fall Apart. This is considered a classic of African literature. I thought it was really fascinating for such a short book. 3.5*

Erica wrote: "As predicted I finished my B.A.M.E challenge this month when I finished reading Things Fall Apart. This is considered a classic of African literature. I thought it was really fascinat..."

Congrats on completing your BAME challenge Erica! I see that you only have 2 challenges left to go so you are in good shape :-)

Yeah I went easy on myself this year so I could read more randomly...although I've signed up to several month-long challenges from June to August so that's gone out the window haha

Congrats on completing your challenge Erica.

Thanks Pam!

I've just started the absolute beast of a book, with approx. 1500 pages, A Suitable Boy. Despite having completed most of my challenges this one contributes to several as it has been on both my physical bookshelf and goodreads tbr since at least 2013. It is also on the Guardian list and is written by an Indian author so fits into my Guardian and B.A.M.E challenges.

I'm 100 pages in and really enjoying it so far - I can tell it's going to be a really rich book with a lot of character development.

Did you see Bette's post about Vikram Seth in the "This Day in Literary History" thread yesterday? Very informative, I thought...

Just finished Whisky Charlie Foxtrot. I've had this book on my shelf at home for years and finally picked it up. I thought it was an easy read despite the hard-hitting topic. Main character annoyed me at times and there were a few cheesy moments but I did still keep wanting to read, read, read. Gave it 3.5*

Just finished A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. What a feat of writing! A really cleverly written book of epic proportions that wove the tales of several families together. I gave it 4*

Just finished The Rehearsal. A 5* read for me. Beautiful writing paired with a clever structure - it really makes you think. Don't be put off by the low rating on Goodreads.

Erica wrote: "Just finished A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. What a feat of writing! A really cleverly written book of epic proportions that wove the tales of several families togeth..."

I've just bought this, as it's on offer on kindle at the moment. Looking forward to reading it, as everyone speaks very highly of it.

Shirley wrote: "Erica wrote: "Just finished A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. What a feat of writing! A really cleverly written book of epic proportions that wove the tales of several f..."

It's a masterpiece! How the author managed to keep all the threads together is remarkable - you really feel like a part of an indian community when you read this. Enjoy!

Erica wrote: "Shirley wrote: "Erica wrote: "Just finished A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. What a feat of writing! A really cleverly written book of epic proportions that wove the ta..."

Sounds excellent!