PokPok's 2019 book reading extravaganza of sorts!

Hi there...checking in and starting my thread, while I'm here on LT. I'll update on January 1st, what exactly I'm challenging myself to do. January 1st I traditionally send out an email with all the books and mini reviews, that I read the year prior. I've been doing this about 15 years or so now. This year, I'll also post here!

Note to self: Self, do pull out about 4-5 books that I want to ensure I read in 2019.

1. Text Me When You Get Home
2. A Spy Among Friends
3. Nine-And Death Makes Ten
4. Wool
5. Shift
6. Dust
7. Outwitting History
8. Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult
9. Dissolution
10. Sovereign
11. Revelation
12. Heartstone
13. Lamentation

Today is new year's day, and as is my morning ritual, I account my books and send the list out of the books I read to my friends. I read 22 books last year. I'd like to up it to 25, but most of last year's were very light, at least half genre books. If I mix it up more, my totals may be lower. Though I would also like to push myself to spend more time reading less time interneting. So I think I'll stick with 20 for now, and see where I'm at in June.

I did set aside 5 books that I've been hanging on for a long time or want to read soon to pass on to others. I will at least start them, and see if they pass the 50 page rule (a few I'm dubious on). These 5 are:

Wool
A Beautiful Life (Stephen Jay Gould. This was my mom's and she passed in 1996 for gosh sake's... read or pass on!)
Nine--and death makes ten (John Dickson Carr)
We could not fail (about African Americans at NASA... to give to my niece when I see her in fall)
The Elusive Pimpernel (Baroness Orczy). I acquired most of and read a few of the Pimpernel books in the late 90s. They weren't great. I want to try the last few, at least for the 50 page rule, and pass on if I don't like them. They are/were hard to find (some of my first amazon purchases!) so they should move on.

I'm also starting the year out with a book a friend gave me she'd like returned; "Text me when you get home" about female friendship.

Yes, I'm too lazy for touchstones. Its early....

Happy New Year!

>2 PokPok: Good luck with your books. I hope you pass the 50-page rule with Wool at least. I liked that one very much myself and hope to finish the 3rd book in the series sometime this year.

I am off to a fantabulous start reading for the year! I started Text me when you get home this morning and just sat down and read a hundred pages. I know I will be gifting it to many of my girlfriends!

HNY to all!

3

I'm looking forward to Wool; that's not one of the ones I'm particularly worried about not liking. :)

Gah, remind me again how you get the " >2 PokPok: " and tag for the person??

Finished my first of the year and I positively devoured it. I'll post my review when I write it up... but for all my female friends here, I heartily recommend Text Me When You Get Home about women's friendships.

Now starting (no irony intended) A Spy Among Friends

>6 PokPok: You just need to type a ">" symbol before the post number. Looks like you were successful in doing it here.

>7 PokPok: Glad to hear your first of the year was a good one!

>7 PokPok: Thanks for the recommendation. Added it to my wishlist.

Just finished my third book of the year. Nine- and Death Make Ten A locked room mystery by John Dickson Carr that had tons of ambience and gothic mood. I'm off to a great start, as the past 5 years or so I've averaged 20-25 books a year. I'm picking up # 4, Wool.

>10 PokPok: Congratulations on the strong start to the year!

Ok, I devoured the rest of the 'Wool ' Series... have 7 books in. Next week will catch up more on reviews/this board. I hope you are all doing well!!

>12 PokPok: Glad you liked the Wool series. I keep meaning to get to that third book ....

HI there....I've been reading a ton. Will try to update more over the next week or so, but wanted to check in. I particularly loved "And so it goes", a biography of Kurt Vonnegut.

Anyone else a Vonnegut fan?

Even if you're not, the biography was very well done. Balanced, gave a deep view of the man.

>14 PokPok: I can't call myself a real fan of Vonnegut, but I have read a couple of his books and thought they were very good. The biography would be interesting.

Hello everyone--- I had some life stuff happen, including changing my computer set up ---and while I've been reading, I haven't been here updating. I came on to do a specific journal entry so I could then bookcross a book. I should be updating more over the next week or two.

I finished Outwitting History about a man who literally rescued over a million Yiddish books, before being destroyed as their owners were nearing the end of their respective lives. It was similar to what you might expect from the description. I learned a fair amount about Jewish cultural history, and I'll say it was different facts/ideas than what I normally see or have experienced for myself. For that reason, I'm glad I read.

I hope you are all well!

>16 PokPok: Thanks for the update. Glad to have you back!

Hello again!! I have since finished Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult. It was a hard book for me to rate, as there were parts that were slow for me, and I didn't love it as much as I thought I would. yet when I looked back, I had two dozen sticky notes of passages I wanted to remember.

Over the next two weeks I hope to catch up on past reviews/journalling, and then stay current with this board.

I hope you are all having a good spring!

>18 PokPok: I've a bit (or lots) of catching up to do myself, with respect to reviews and such. Good luck!

Hello again-- trying to catch up on some of my reviews. (I know this isn't Bookcrossing, but...) I'm having a ton of problems with the search not working on BC. I know that's a known bug, but its been hindering me. And now here, reviews don't post to Facebook. Between the two, I'm getting lazy, LOL.

If you like historical mysteries, I've been devouring the Matthew Shardlake series by C.J. Sansom. Sansom is an actual Tudor era historian, and includes pages at the end of what subtleties were real and what were made up -- down to things like "this storm really did happen and disturb the King's progress, but the second storm was made up" (my paraphrase, but it was an actual comment).

Shardlake is a lawyer, who works with and has run ins with all sorts of historical figures in the time, particularly Archbishop Cranmer, Richard Rich, Thomas Cromwell, the King Henvy VIII, a few Queens (!!), and most recently "Lady Elizabeth" and William Cecil has now entered the scene in this latest book.

Not at *all* contrived, and much more authentic than this genre that is so often "clean and squee". Highly recommended. My favorite so far is Heartstone (I believe Book 5 in the series) that builds up with psychological tension, with the bulk of the book. Only at the end do you find out what was going on.

>20 PokPok: Thanks for the recommendation. This sounds like a series I'd enjoy, so I've made a note of it.

>20 PokPok: I love the Shardlake series as well. I read Lamentation a few months ago and just finished Tombland this week. I think the latter is one of Sansom's best since the original Dissolution. I listened to Heartland and sometimes when I listen to an audiobook I don't get as caught up in the action as with books with actual pages.

Gosh, I'd like to say that I'm consistent in at least not being online very much this year, but that's not true...sigh.

But I did do more reading than expected, and I've read a ten star book this year. Can't say enough about this astonishing biography.

Becoming Superman

I hope you're all doing well.

>23 PokPok: Thanks for the recommendation! I've made a note of that book.