The Reading Challenge Group discussion

25 is an approximate figure, ideally I'd like to go bigger but I tend to abandon all during exam periods and such (out of necessity :c)

Goals:
Complete at least one full series of books (the Liveship Traders by Robin Hobb, the Old Kingdom trilogy by Garth Nix, etc)

Read at least 5 classics

Read at least 3 non-fiction books

Specific books I want to read at some point:
Phillip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly
Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd
Joseph Heller's Catch 22
Maria Semple's Where'd ya go, Bernadette?

A month by month list seems most sensible:
JAN:
1. Life of Pi, Yann Martel
2. Cheri, Collette

FEB:
3. The Last Continent, Terry Pratchett
4. The Tiger's Wife, Tea Obreht
5. Summer, Edith Wharton

Feel free to recommend me things you think I'd like (:

Catch 22 is phenomenal, although it takes a while to get into, and certainly isn't for everyone. It's definitely a marmite-book.

I might have to join you in reading Far from the Madding Crowd. I've been meaning to read some Hardy for ages.

have you ever read Little Women? That was a pretty good read. Definitely check it out. I'm planning on reading the second book of the series at the end of march with a bookclub buddy.

Holly wrote: "Catch 22 is phenomenal, although it takes a while to get into, and certainly isn't for everyone. It's definitely a marmite-book.

I might have to join you in reading Far from the Madding Crowd. I'v..."

I think that might be why I've not read Catch-22 the whole way through. I keep getting distracted and abandoning it - but, I want to like it for some reason.

Maybe we can do a buddy/group read for some of Hardy's stuff. I don't think I've read anything by him before, but he's been recommended to me over and over

I started it like 3 times before really getting into it. If it isn't for you, don't worry though. I know a lot of people who have said they hated it. I personally found it very experimental, and I generally like experimental books.

I'd definitely be interested in doing a buddy read of Hardy's stuff. We could do a general author read, considering he's written rather a lot. That way we aren't limited to one book.

I loved Jude the Obscure when I had to read it for school. I haven't read any other Hardies, but would love to! :)

Amber wrote: "have you ever read Little Women? That was a pretty good read. Definitely check it out. I'm planning on reading the second book of the series at the end of march with a bookclub buddy."

I have read Little Women, and I loved it! I didn't realise it was part of a series though? Might look into that, too

Holly wrote: "I'd definitely be interested in doing a buddy read of Hardy's stuff. We could do a general author read, considering he's written rather a lot. That way we aren't limited to one book. "

A general author read sounds great! I'm guessing Aitziber would be interested in it, too?
I'll throw up a thread for Hardy in the Buddy Read section and we can see who wants to join/what we wanna read and then maybe try and decide suitable timings to read such? Maybe we can start something for March (:

Specific books I want to read at some point:
Phillip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly
Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd (currently reading)
Joseph Heller's Catch 22
Maria Semple's Where'd ya go, Bernadette?
The Double, Dostoyevsky
The Signature of All Things, Elizabeth Gilbert

MAR:
6. A Scanner Darkly, Phillip K. Dick
7. The Goddess and the Thief, Essie Fox
8. Howard's End, E. M. Forster
9. Factotum, Charles Bukowski
10. Stardust, Neil Gaiman

And that's all she wrote for March! I think I could have finished a few more, but life got in the way a bit toward the end of the month.

Long awaited update here, let's jump to it:

Specific books I want to read at some point:
Phillip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly
Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd (abandoned)
Joseph Heller's Catch 22
Maria Semple's Where'd ya go, Bernadette?
The Double, Dostoyevsky
The Signature of All Things, Elizabeth Gilbert

APR:
11. The Shock of the Fall, Nathan Filer
12. I Capture the Castle, Dodi Smith
13. Far from the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
14. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark
15. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou, RIP
16. Ignorance, Milan Kundera

MAY:
17. The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman
18. Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn
19. Girl, Interrupted, Susanna Kayson
20. Bel Canto, Ann Patchett
21. The Devil and Miss Prym, Paulo Coelho

Bolded are books that have become particular favourites from the past couple of months, but with the exception of "Far from the Madding Crowd" I would say I enjoyed all of them. I feel like I lagged a bit in May, so I hope to pick it up a bit in June.

If you stick with Catch-22, I found it to be an immensely fascinating and enjoyable book. I hesitated for months on whether or not to read it, and I just decided one day that I was going to read it.

Read it with a pinch of salt. Expect to be confused, but it's worth it.

Holly wrote: "If you stick with Catch-22, I found it to be an immensely fascinating and enjoyable book. I hesitated for months on whether or not to read it, and I just decided one day that I was going to read it..."

Holly, I agree with you completely. :)

Thanks Holly and Judy, I'll bare it in mind for when I get to it! Perhaps even this month (:

Long awaited catch up:

JUN:
22. Chronicle of a Death Foretold
23. Ship of Magic
24. Save Me the Waltz

JUL:
25. Fortunately, the Milk
26. Where'd You Go, Bernadette
27. The Old Man and the Sea

AUG:
28. Mrs. Dalloway
29. The Scarlet Letter
30. The Goldfinch
31. The Double
32. American Gods
33. The Bell Jar
34. Bossypants

SEPT:
35. Rivers of London
36. The Signature of All Things
37. Tampa

Specific books I want to read at some point:
Phillip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly
Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd (abandoned)
Joseph Heller's Catch 22
Maria Semple's Where'd ya go, Bernadette?
The Double, Dostoyevsky
The Signature of All Things, Elizabeth Gilbert

OCT:
38. Everything Under the Sky: A Novel
39. Oryx and Crake
40. Under the Skin
41. A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing
42. Starbook

NOV:
43. The Light Fantastic
44. Equal Rites

currently reading:
The Night Circus
Moon Over Soho

coming along now, aren't we? (:

DEC:
45. Moon Over Soho
46. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
47. Slaughterhouse-Five
48. The Night Circus
49.A Single Man
50.I Feel Bad about My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman
51. Like Water for Chocolate
52. Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day

and, that's all she wrote!
I think next year, as well as an increase on numbers, I'll try to read more non-fiction. (Also, maybe I'll actually even read Catch-22)

Well done :-)