The Reading Challenge Group discussion

November is tip-toeing up on little cat feet like the fog. It's a tad early but I intend to be fully engaged by the October Readathon very soon. :) So, what are your plans for Sweet November?

My plan is to read two non-fiction books:

Keeping the Rabble in Line: Interviews with David Barsamian by my crush Noam Chomsky
No Logo by Naomi Klein

And two novels written by POC:

On Beauty by Zadie Smith
The Island of Bicycle Dancers: A Novel by Jiro Adachi

Although I might read some earlier, depending on when I finish my current book.

Edit: Oh, and if Laura is still up for it, I'll buddy read The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus with her.

Planning to read

Non fiction

Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

Apart from this I have these books that I have already started but need to finish

Fall of Giants

1Q84

Crime and Punishment

And after these, I plan to pick up

Schindler's List

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

and

The Museum of Innocence

Resists squealing over Crime and Punishment!

I'm really going to try get at least 1 or two Non-Fiction books under my belt in November! I've hardly read any!

Hahahaha Holly :D :D Go ahead and squeal! :D

I have already started the book and am truly enjoying it. However, we have our big festival coming up this week in India, so won't get time to read at all. So pushing it to November.

Incidentally, if you like autobiographies and also like Agatha Christie, you can read An Autobiography, if you haven't already. I have heard that it is really good.

Loved Quiet! Also, The Introvert Advantage was terrific, if you find you want more on the subject.

Crime & Punishment has been languishing on my "taking a break" list for awhile now. Along with Wild Swans and Don Quixote. Although I am just chapters away from finishing 1Q84.

Sadly, You will probably finish all of them before I do! :P

I have heard so many good things about Quiet that I am quite excited to start it! Will definitely look into the other book as well. Thanks :)

Hahaha am not so sure about finishing them either, given that I have a really active 7 year old who takes up all my time and often leaves me really tired these days. :P

Seven is such a great age! So much fun!

Yeah it is. Highly inquisitive too. She also loves books and reading, so often starts reading my books with me, which means I have to stop reading some times to explain words to her. Let me tell you it can get quite embarrassing at times! :P :)

I'm thinking Book Chat rather than Buddy Read. I'd like to hear how others made it through.

Make that "Specific Book Discussion!" :D

I might join in!

Just opened the thread. Hopefully, Holly and others will have some encouragement for us, as well.

If I ever finish A Storm of Swords I am planning on moving on to Rebecca. I am also planning on continuing to read The Oz series so where every I am by November is what I will be reading. I am currently reading the second book in the series. I still have to figure something nonfiction out.

I'll def be getting to The Cause next month as it is a read for review ebook request for a friend and prob Northanger Abbey. Don't know what else yet.

It's so cool the you're continuing with the Oz series, Roseanne! Are you still reading with you daughter or just curious?

Yes we are still reading together. The first 5 books are going to be rereads for me but it was so many years ago that I read them I am finding I don't remember a lot of it.

That sounds like so much fun Roseanne!

I don't think I will be making a plan for November. For now I'm focusing on what to read in the readathon and then November will likely just be finishing off those that I didn't finish in October as well as those that have haunted me all year long!

I'll have completed by 100 books this year by November, and I'm planning on slowing down my reading a little bit as a respite before next year. I'll also take advantage of the free time between annual challenges to read some larger books.

So, for larger books:
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
The Name of the Wind
and I'd like to embark on War and Peace though honestly I'm not really sure I'll be ready for that one at this point.


I'm not a huge non-fiction fan honestly, so I've only got one book planned for the genre challenge:
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America

and then for other fun books I've been planning to read:
The Miniaturist
Code Name Verity

-Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (this has been on my list since Jan.)
-Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Spain by Chris Stewart (on my list since June); READ 11/6/14
-Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt; READ 11/18/14
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom; READ 11/9/14

We will see after these three...

Well, continuing on with:
-The Charioteer by Mary Renault
-The Stand by Stephen King
-Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Leftovers from October:
-The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson; READ 11/20/14
-The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde; READ 11/24/14

Group Reads:
-The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Van Arnim
-Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Poetry:
-The Madness Vase by Andrea Gibson; READ 11/25/14
-Annabel Lee by Edgar Allen Poe; READ 11/29/14

Short Stories:
-The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving READ 11/1/14
-Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving; READ 11/3/14
-The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe; READ 11/2/14
-The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allen Poe; READ 11/18/14
-There's No Such Place as Far Away by Richard Bach; READ 11/18/14
-Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne; READ 11/24/14

YA READS:
-Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys; READ 11/30/14
-Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai; READ 11/30/14

Children's Books:
-Maps and Globes by Jack Knowlton; READ 11/3/14
-God speaks Numanggang by David Hazel; READ 11/14
-Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis; READ 11/21/14
-Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes; READ 11/24/14
-Julius, the Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes; READ 11/24/14
-Marigold Garden by Kate Greenaway; READ 11/24/14
-Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool; READ 11/29/14
-Night Noises by Mem Fox; READ 11/29/14
-Science in Ancient Greece by Kathlyn Gay; READ 11/29/14
-On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur by Cathy Goldberg Fishman; READ 11/30/14

Melissa wrote: "-Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (this has been on my list since Jan.)
-[book:Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Spain|19..."

I think I have Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil too, Melissa. I probably got it in one of my secondhand bookshop frenzy shopping attacks.

Oh Aitziber, how I love the "secondhand bookshop frenzy shopping attacks." There are too many of these books piled high in my sitting room and by my bed.

Do you think this will be on your 'To Read' list for November?

Melissa wrote: "Oh Aitziber, how I love the "secondhand bookshop frenzy shopping attacks." There are too many of these books piled high in my sitting room and by my bed.

Do you think this will be on your 'To R..."

Probably not, Melissa. I have a test coming up on Nov 29, so even if I finish all the books I've planned for, I'll dedicate the rest of the time to studying. But December is a little more likely. :) Either way, I'll keep an eye out for your review.

Okay, this is probably highly optimistic considering I have like 4 essays due mid November. But anyway:

Non-Fiction (Genre Challenge):
The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life - READ
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
Orange Is the New Black

University Reading:
The Catcher in the Rye - READ
The Book of Illusions
A Streetcar Named Desire (re-read) - READ

Other:
My Cousin Rachel
The House on the Strand

If I get time, which is unlikely:
Fangirl
The Enchanted April

Bird by Bird is lovely. Another good writer's memoir/advice book is called Writing Down The Bones (Nadine Goldman, I think).

I've been firmly planted in The Writing Zone lately (outlining a rather complex apocalyptic trilogy that is eating my brain alive), which is why I haven't been able to read much. My poor little brain can't handle another author's world while it's so busy trying to create its own! Unfortunately, that means I am currently 8 BOOKS BEHIND SCHEDULE, which must be rectified!

So, November is going to be my month of Books That Inspire, Inform, and Ignite My Urge To Write, which will include nonfiction about writing and religion, and some science fiction. *nods* And some ancient-epic type of stuff that could fall under either of those last two categories, depending on who you ask. ;)

Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life
Out of the Silent Planet
Mere Christianity
Words to Live By: A Guide for the Merely Christian
Creating Character: Bringing Your Story to Life (Red Sneaker Writers Books)
Story Structure: The Key to Successful Fiction
Perfecting Plot: Charting the Hero's Journey (Red Sneaker Writers Book Series)
Exodus
The Serpent's Teeth
The Fall of Jerusalem

I shall conquer!

You can do it, Faye!!! You have a wonderful list!

Thanks, Melissa!

Sending you motivational thoughts, Faye!

I'm going to slide the rest of the year. I got lucky this year and completed my challenge early, so I am going to read whatever falls off the library shelf, and maybe some longer works that take me forever to read.
I am thinking about my 2015 challenges, might increase my goal to 60 books.

Thanks, Holly!

Do you have structural issues at your library, Michael? Books just fall off the shelves?!

Wow Faye, it sounds like you have a real adventure on your hands (or in your brain, as it were?!) Best of luck with the novel...and with catching up. You can do it!

Thanks, Kassandra!

Good luck with your writing&catching up, Faye! :D


I guess I'll have to do a lot of reading for my advanced training & probably will have long working hours, too. Therefore I'm trying to keep my list short and just go and pick up books from my TBR pile next to my bed if I progress better than I thought...

The Book Thief
Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog
Maybe: The Fallen or Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

For me between now and November it is going to be finish the read for review requests I got to do with any books for reading challenges and library books and then December do The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and go from there.

Yeah about 9 of them to go, Sandy. and 1 I have to read in November because it doesn't come out until the 28th of the month to be published.

Thanks Sandy. :)

This thread was posted so early, so I had no idea what I wanted to read next month; now I finally do:
Full Dark, No Stars
The Goldfinch
Murder on the Orient Express
Wuthering Heights
Mrs. Dalloway
The Hours

Good luck with your writing, Faye. Personally, I take a more freestyle approach to writing; I don't think I could stick to an outlike... much less for an entire trilogy!

Thanks Alessandra, Sandy, and Gavin! Good luck to all of you, too!

Gavin - I would be terrified to try writing this monster by the seat of my pants! There's going to be so much allegory and foreshadow involved that I'm having to plan every single detail in advance so I don't forget or misplace anything, or worse, add things in that later I find didn't make sense. I don't always outline to this extent, but I'd be lost without it in this instance.

Everyone ready to get their November reading started?!

Last week I was in Amsterdam and visited the Anne Frank Huis and it was both interesting and devastating at the same time. At the end of the museum I picked up her diary. So that's my first port of call for November reading.

Lovely connection, Gareth.

I'm ready to C.S. Lewis it up. :D

Love the start of a new month :) My reading list for November is-

-The Troop, by Nick Cutter (starting it this afternoon)
-Burn for Me, by Ilona Andrews
-The Girl with All the Gifts, by M. R. Carey
-This House is Haunted, by John Boyne

...and if I have time-Dawn's Early Light, by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris.

Kate-
I really enjoyed The Girl with All the Gifts! Can't wait to hear what you think of the twisty bits. :)

I read No Logo in October, so I'm posting the revised list:

Keeping the Rabble in Line: Interviews with David Barsamian by Noam Chomsky (in progress)
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
The Island of Bicycle Dancers: A Novel by Jiro Adachi
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai

And if I read these with time to spare, then I may add:

The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk by Randy Shilts
The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus by Richard Preston

And any of the books I've set aside for December.

That's an awesome list, Aitziber!

Aitziber wrote: "I read No Logo in October, so I'm posting the revised list:

Keeping the Rabble in Line: Interviews with David Barsamian by Noam Chomsky (in progress)
On Beauty by Zadie S..."

I've heard good things about The Hot Zone, I hope to get to it in 2015 :)

Besides the group reads my list includes:
The Glass Castle
Collision Course
Boys in the Boat
Unbroken