MobileRead Book Challenges discussion

2016 reading goals:

* Have fun
* Try to keep the number of active series reasonable
* Try to reach 40000 pages

* Select at least one genre/topic of the list below and read at least 4 books relating to that topic.
* To not discourage me from choosing longer books, books that are longer than 800 pages are counted as two books for this challenge and books longer than 1200 pages count as 3 books.
* I can choose more than one topic per month and there can be overlap (for instance The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo can count both for Scandinavian and thriller), but I do have to complete both topics in one month.

List:
* series (full month)
* stand alone (full month)
* horror/ghosts/paranormal
* thriller
* crime
* cozy
* long on TBR list
* new best sellers
* new to me authors
* old favourites
* tv/film
* classics
* historical
* non-fiction
* mystery
* young adult
* British
* Scandinavian
* Far East
* Australia
* Wishlist
* Calibre

Statistics

Books read: 119
Pages read: 41904
Average length: 352
Books abandoned: 2

Series stats

Active series:

* Guido Brunetti (12/23)
* Lincoln Rhyme (7/11)
* The Body Farm (10/11)
* Shetland (1/4)
* Department Q (5/6)
* The River (4/12)
* Cormoran Strike (2/3)

Series finished/up to date/abandoned:

* Merrily Watkins (up to date)
* World's Scariest Places (up to date)
* Sigma Force (up to date)
* Simon Serrailler (finished)
* Blackwater Saga (abandoned)
* Rizzoli & Isles (up to date)
* The Spirit World (up to date)
* Sebastian St. Cyr (up to date)
* Ruth Galloway (up to date)
* Sigma Force (up to date)
* Pilgrim (up to date)
* Mary Russell (up to date)
* The Ravencrest Saga (up to date)
* The Boylan House Trilogy (finished)
* Odd Thomas (finished)
* Checquy Files (up to date)
* Outlander (back burner)
* The Morganville Vampires (back burner)
* The Cabin (finished/up to date)
* The Great Library (up to date)
* Mary Russell (up to date)
* The Descent (up to date/finished)


Page count comparison
(average 2012-2015)

January 3841 (3530)
February 2742 (2605)
March 3755 (4090)
April 3558 (3294)
May 4528 (3858)
June 4141 (2942)
July 4502 (3676)
August 2849 (3540)
September 2749 (3673)
October 3291 (3517)
November 2914 (3372)
December 2612(3308)

January - Horror/Ghosts/Paranormal
1. Friends of the Dusk by Phil Rickman
2.Helltown by Jeremy Bates
3. Asylum Lake by R.A. Evans
4. The Flood by Michael McDowell
5. The Levee by Michael McDowell
6. The Influence by Bentley Little


February - Series (full month)

1. The Midnight Watch by James Rollins
2. The Bone Labyrinth by James Rollins
3. The Soul of Discretion by Susan Hill
4. The Absent One by Jussi Adler-Olsen
5. Die Again by Tess Gerritsen
6. The Almshouse by Blanche King
7. The Inquisitor's Key by Jefferson Bass
8. Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood
9. The Bank of the River by Michael Richan

Crime

1. The Soul of Discretion by Susan Hill
2. The Absent One by Jussi Adler-Olsen
3. Die Again by Tess Gerritsen
4. The Inquisitor's Key by Jefferson Bass
5. Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood

March - TV/Film
1. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
2. The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
3. The Black Ice by Michael Connelly
4. Gin & Daggers by Jessica Fletcher

April - Historical
1. The Witch's Daughter by Paula Brackston
2. When Falcons Fall by C.S. Harris
3. The Woman in Blue by Elly Griffiths
4. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
5. In the Blood by Steve Robinson

May - Thriller
1. Ice Limit by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
2. The Cold Moon by Jeffery Deaver
3. I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
4. The Lost Girls of Rome by Donato Carrisi

June - Wishlist
1. The Genesis Secret by Tom Knox
2. Witch Island by David Bernstein
3. The Boylan House Trilogy by Ron Ripley
4. The Ghosts of Ravencrest by Tamara Thorne & Alistair Cross
5. The Haunting of Blackwood House by Darcy Coates

July - Old Favourites
1-3. It by Stephen King
4. The Cat Who Tailed a Thief by Lilian Jackson Braun

Calibre/No Spend (full month)
1-3. It by Stephen King
4. The Cat Who Tailed a Thief by Lilian Jackson Braun
5. The Body Reader by Anne Frasier
6. Fiercombe Manor by Kate Riordan
7. Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
8. Sacred Treason by James Forrester
9. The Alexander Cipher by Will Adams
10. Moonfall by Tamara Thorne
11. Jordan's Stormy Banks by Jefferson Bass
12. Cut to the Bone by Jefferson Bass

New Authors
1. The Body Reader by Anne Frasier
2. Fiercombe Manor by Kate Riordan
3. Sacred Treason by James Forrester
4. The Alexander Cipher by Will Adams

August - British
1. Belgravia by Julian Fellowes
2. Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley
3. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)
4. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two by Jack Thorne & J.K. Rowling
5. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

September

October - Stand Alone (full month)
1. The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood
2. Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
3. The Haunting of Ashburn House by Darcy Coates.
4. Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben
5. Charnel House by Graham Masterton
6. Someone in the House by Barbara Michaels
7. Dead Lake by Darcy Coates
8. The Romanov Conspiracy by Glenn Meade
9. Thunderhead by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
10. Mistral Bed and Breakfast by Darcy Coates

November - Mystery
1. The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe
2. No Wind of Blame by Georgette Heyer
3. The Obsession by Nora Roberts

November & December - Non-Fiction
1. American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst by Jeffrey Toobin

reserved

First! :p

I've hot lots of Scandinavia, Far East options if you're looking for suggestions.

Homeinmyshoes wrote: "First! :p

I've hot lots of Scandinavia, Far East options if you're looking for suggestions."

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I think I'm okay for Scandinavia; I've got got a bunch of Scandinavian crime and thriller books on my TBR pile. For the Far East I'll have to look what I've got.

For January I've already chosen Horror, because I'm planning on going on vacation at a bungalow park for a week and it'll be a lazy week with lots of reading and catching up on series and films.

I think that for the categories I'm less familiar with I'll make a list of possible reads to get me started.

Why did I not get notifications for thiiiiiiis?

Homeinmyshoes wrote: "First! :p

I've hot lots of Scandinavia, Far East options if you're looking for suggestions."

Also, you suck. LOL :-P

11 days for a you suck response? Words fail me.

For January I've chosen horror as theme. Mostly because I'm going on vacation for a week and for some reason I always read horrors when on vacation.

I've decided to go for Michael McDowell's Blackwater Saga, which is 5 books and together they are over 800 pages long. I've got all the book in one collection, but I'll need to do some work because it doesn't have an index. That will be a nice Christmas project.

I plan to start reading before I go on vacation. I usually finish a book on Saturday or Sunday and I'll start it then. That way I should be able to finish it and have time to read more on vacation.

I added the themes of ghosts and paranormal to the horror theme. These seem to overlap and it's hard to define where a ghost story becomes a horror. I'm not easily scared, so that isn't a good benchmark to define horror for me.

I finished the first book of the year!
Friends of the Dusk by Phil Rickman.
Excellent addition to the Merrily Watkins series, can't wait for the next one!

Wow! Already!?! Congratulations!

Where as I just finished my first chapter of the new year! lol

Nyssa wrote: "Wow! Already!?! Congratulations!

Where as I just finished my first chapter of the new year! lol"

It isn't as impressive as it sounds. I started the book on Christmas Day and because of the busy time of the year didn't finish it until today.

Helltown by Jeremy Bates.
I loved the first book in the World's Scariest Places series, the second one was almost a carbon copy of the first but in a different setting and it was okay. This third one isn't a copy of the first two but I merely liked it. There are characters that are important to the ending of the story but hardly feature in the rest of book, they are interesting character and would have liked to know more about them. I also think a lot of the scary bits are put in the book to shock and do not further the story much.

The Lake House by Kate Morton
Great book. Like all her books is split into two different times; in this instance the 1930s and 2003. And there is a mystery spanning that time that needs to be solved.

Homeinmyshoes wrote: "11 days for a you suck response? Words fail me."

And I'm now getting a notification for this.

GR sucks. lol

Nyssa wrote: "Wow! Already!?! Congratulations!

Where as I just finished my first chapter of the new year! lol"

^

I've barely felt like Ive read anything so far this year. *sigh*

Hooray for free time!

Or is it that what you are reading is not registering in your synapses. That would be tragic.

Homeinmyshoes wrote: Hooray for free time!

Or is it that what you are reading is not registering in your synapses. That would be tragic."

I've been reading a lot of non-fiction stuff for some online classes. I don't think of that as reading, lol. It's not voluntary.

You can still put the books in your list though. Reading is reading. I'm hopeful cereal boxes make it onto GoodReads at some point.

Homeinmyshoes wrote: "You can still put the books in your list though. Reading is reading. I'm hopeful cereal boxes make it onto GoodReads at some point."

LOL!

Homeinmyshoes wrote: "You can still put the books in your list though. Reading is reading. I'm hopeful cereal boxes make it onto GoodReads at some point."

I've found that reading food packaging can be a dangerous thing. When studying at uni in the UK we found out, one boring evening, that the cheese we'd been enjoying only consisted of 11% cheese. Not a thing you want to know when you've got a grilled cheese sandwich on your plate.

Asylum Lake by R.A. Evans.
Very good horror story. At the end a sequel is promised, but has yet to materialize. Since this book was published in 2010 and Evans' last activity on his blog was in 2013, I won't get my hope up.

Bianca wrote: "Asylum Lake by R.A. Evans.
Very good horror story. At the end a sequel is promised, but has yet to materialize. Since this book was published in 2010 and Evans' last activity on his ..."

I can see why.

Bianca wrote: "
I've found that reading food packaging can be a dangerous thing. When studying at uni in the UK we found out, one boring evening, that the cheese we'd been enjoying only consisted of 11% cheese. Not a thing you want to know when you've got a grilled cheese sandwich on your plate."

eewwwww.

There's a quote the thread option? Aye carumba!

:P

The Flood by Michael McDowell.
I had planned on reading the first three of the Blackwater Saga books in a row, then read another book, before finishing the last three books of the series.

However, this first book reads very slow so I decided to take a break from the series after each book. I did like it, I liked McDowell's The Elementals and this series has the same type of atmosphere. I do think that although the series was published as 6 seperate books (each of around 150 pages) it will read more like one longer book.

The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen

The Levee by Michael McDowell

The Keepby Jennifer Egan

You read so many authors I've never read that I'm always surprised to see one I have. The ever divisive Jennifer Egan. I read Goon Squad a couple of years back. Is this one worthwhile. I wasn't totally enamored by the first read I had.

Homeinmyshoes wrote: "You read so many authors I've never read that I'm always surprised to see one I have. The ever divisive Jennifer Egan. I read Goon Squad a couple of years back. Is this one worthwhile. I wasn't tot..."

I don't think it was worth the read. It promises to be a gothic story, it wasn't. The only gothic thing is the setting of the castle and keep. The twist isn't really surprising, the main characters aren't likeable and both storylines are left open at the end.

I'm okay with leaving story lines open and I wouldn't be looking for it to be gothic, but I'm thinking you're siding with the reviewers that believe the author has a lot of friends in powerful places.

Homeinmyshoes wrote: "There's a quote the thread option? Aye carumba!

:P"

pffffffft


*shamed face*

Lol.

Homeinmyshoes wrote: "I'm okay with leaving story lines open and I wouldn't be looking for it to be gothic, but I'm thinking you're siding with the reviewers that believe the author has a lot of friends in powerful places."

I don't mind open endings if done well. There are two stories, the main one, which I don't mind that it's open ended. Then there is the story in the story and it just didn't feel finished; not just the open ending and hinting there is more but also story lines that aren't really resolved and important things left unexplained. And, yes, there is a reason for it (won't say so I won't spoil the surprise) but it just left me annoyed.

MrsJoseph wrote: "Homeinmyshoes wrote: "There's a quote the thread option? Aye carumba!

:P"

pffffffft


*shamed face*"

Goodreads is doing weird things, today I double posted twice in this thread whilst I know for sure I only pressed the post button once each time.

I might still read it. She's on the list of potential second chance authors if and when I do that challenge again. It worked well because I liked the Ballard I read in comparison to the first and it was nice to revisit Faulkner. But I read so much from the US that I won't just pick it up for no other reason than to read a book. Too much weird stuff I want to try before that.

It is doing strange things. I'm just now getting notifications for this thread. In fact, my notifications have been messed up for a while now. :(

The Twelfth Card by Jeffery Deaver.
Good addition to the series, though the last part was a bit annoying IMHO, where they think the mystery is solved, but it isn't. This is pretty standard in mystery books, but it just doesn't happen once but three or four times.

The Influence by Bentley Little.
I just couldn't get into this story. Not sure if it's just my mood or the book or a bit of both.

The Cat Who Said Cheese by Lilian Jackson Braun.
I started this 209 page book on Monday and only finished today. Usually I read a The Cat Who book in a day or so, which means I'm officially in a reading slump. At the moment it's very hard for me to get into a book, once I'm about half way through I finish it quickly, but getting to that point is very hard.

^I'm there too. I think I might have solved that with a couple of books, but I had some very slow reads. The books weren't bad, just not screaming page turners that made me read constantly.

Thanks to my week away I will have a good page count this month. However, I didn't read as much as I wanted in that week. A good excuse to book another "reading retreat" in June, summer months are always good for reading for me.

I've got a couple of books I'm really wanting to read, however, they are part of series and next month is Series month for my reading challenge, so I've been saving them. Hopefully I'll get my reading mojo back.

So two days ago I'm complaining about having a reading slump and then I find a book and finish it quickly.

The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge.
It recently won a prize and caught my eye. It turned out that this YA historical novel with a dash of fantasy was what I needed. It was very hard to put down.

Now, since it's fifteen minutes until February starts I'm going to kick off my second theme: series. Which is one of the two themes I have to do a complete month of, instead of just 4 books. It should be doable; I've got a bunch of latest released in series and a bunch of series on the go. If I do crave something new I can try out one of many first in series I've on my "to try" list.

The Midnight Watch by James Rollins
Short story released before the new, full length Sigma Force book was released. These short stories are never really my favourite. Too short for me, but at times they reveal important information or introduce new characters, so you can't skip them either.

The Bone Labyrinth by James Rollins.
Despite it taking me almost a week to read it was a great book. One of the best in the series so far. At times a bit gruesome and the ending made me tear up and it gave a bit of an ominous hint for future books.

Looking at my average page count since 2012 I see that February has always been a slow month for me, so my current reading slump seems to be normal for this time of year.